thepicketfencecliche | canon au } { post-608, of lost wives and remembered sons

Sheriff: [and he's monologuing at Claudia, staring at the picture and not her because he knows now Lydia was right all along. She isn't real. He can't remember her being real in the last ten years. His last memory of her being real was this day in this picture and he hates it because it hurts]

Jody: [and as she's dropping off Alex and Claire with Sam and Dean out of town, something starts nagging in the back of her brain - like there's something she's forgetting and just can't pin down] I think I gotta go.

Alex: [glares] You're seriously not thinking about going back there, are you?

Sam: Jody, it's not safe there.

Jody: [and the more Claudia fades in front of the sheriff, the more Jody actually remembers, and they can likely see it on her face - and Alex and Claire's as they start to remember things too] No, I really have to go. I'll call and check in.

Alex: [reaches out to stop her, but Claire cuts her off, so she just makes a face and swallows hard] Be careful.

Jody: [nods with a small smile] I will. [and back in the SUV she goes to zoom back to Beacon Hills]

Sam: [confused as all hell] What is so important to go back for? [his brain isn't thinking along those lines to have the same amount of fog]

Claire: The sheriff. [and that's all she's going to say on that, before dragging Alex inside to help Michael research]

Sam: [blinks, and then it hits him] Oh crap.

Claire: [nods] Yeah. That.

Sam: I hope she gets to him in time, but I doubt he's going to want to leave.

Claire: No, probably not. Otherwise she would have said I'll be right back, not I'll call and check in.

Sam: [sigh] Well, let's get busy.

Sheriff: [meanwhile he's lost Claudia, saw Stiles for a split second, and now he's alone and just numb, sitting on Stiles' bed staring at the photograph like it's all he has left.]

Jody: [and she's going to burst through the door like she lives there (because she does) and just search through each of the rooms until she finds him and just stops in the doorway, unsure of how to approach this] Noah?

Sheriff: [and he looks up at Jody, his broken heart twinging because] God, Jody... [because he had forgotten them in his own needs]

Jody: [he wasn't the only one. but she can't just stand there with that look on his face either, and just makes her way over to him, moving to sit next to him and take his hand] It's okay. [it's ... not entirely, but she can guess enough of it to be okay right now]

Sheriff: I brought her back. I don't know how... and I just... I had to let her go all over again.

Jody: [her face softens a bit and she squeezes his hand tightly] I'm sorry.

Sheriff: [nods, taking a deep breath] I have a son. [it's firm now. He knows it. He remembers him.]

Jody: Good. [she nods with a small smile] I'm glad you remember him.

Sheriff: [he held out the picture of Stile and Claudia to her] His name is Mieczyslaw.

Jody: [takes the picture and blinks at the name] That is a mouthful.

Sheriff: It is. [chuckles] He couldn't ever pronounce it. Best he got was mischief, and Claudia used to call him that.

Jody: And from what I remember of him, highly appropriate.

Sheriff: It should have become a warning label, actually.

Jody: [she laughs] He's a good kid, though.

Sheriff: He is. And we're going to get him back.

Jody: Yes, we are. We just have to figure out how.

Sheriff: I think I know a way. [looks at her] Can you see the things in this room?

Jody: [pauses for a moment, before looking around and nodding] More or less. Why?

Sheriff: They only started to appear as I really started to believe. As I got my memories of him back. She couldn't see them because she didn't know him - not like this. Not how he is now. And whatever the Riders did... they made her not remember him at all. [jaw gritting a bit] She loved him.

Jody: [she doesn't want to bring this up, but since he mentioned earlier that this was something he thought he did ...] Maybe she didn't remember him because you couldn't.

Sheriff: As I was trying to tell her about him, she kept trying to tell me her version of our life. But ti wasn't real. It was just a fantasy I made up and I'm sorry, Jody. [he squeezes her hand] I'm sorry. [because they were still so new that losing Stiles... somehow their relationship wasn't enough to balance the loss]

Jody: Hey. It's okay. I know what it's like to lose a kid. [and a husband. especially all at once. it's a kind of void that isn't easily filled by someone you're still learning to love] You did what you had to do to stay sane - I'm not going to judge you for that.

Sheriff: Have I lost you too?

Jody: [shakes her head as one hand comes up to brush against the side of his face gently, her thumb catching some of the leftover tears] No. Not if you're still in this.

Sheriff: Even through all of that, I knew there was something between us. Now I just remember it.

Jody: [she laughs] Parrish used to make fun of me for it.

Sheriff: Well, we'll put him on desk duty for a while in revenge.

Jody: Sounds good. We just have to get him back from his new Nazi overlord.

Sheriff: What? [he missed this]

Jody: Oh yeah. Apparently there was a Nazi wolf-lion man eating people's pineal glands. He got one of the riders, gained rider powers, and used it to brainwash Parrish.

Sheriff: I should have known he was going to be a handful. [Parrish] Come on, let's go find Scott and what's left of his pack. I think I have an idea on how to retrieve my wayward son.

Jody: [she nods and they'll get up and head to Scott's house where they get to learn just how many of their people are on the other side]

Sheriff: [and they can start their planning on how to get Stiles back...] But unless we absolutely have to, we need to leave Cora out of this. In her condition we can't add more stress to her. She's been through too much already.

Lydia: The three of us remembering Stiles did nothing. It took you remembering him to actually do cause something. The only one who loves her more than Scott but about the same as you is her.

Sheriff: Do you guys really remember him and everything about him, or just believe in his existence. Trust me, there's a difference.

Lydia: I remember being with him. [a beat] I think.

Sheriff: You guys need more. I remember everything. Right down to how horrible of a lacrosse player he was.

Scott: [tries to remember] He was on the team. [nods] Yeah, he was.

Lydia: [squints a bit] But he won that game once. When Gerard was here.

Sheriff: Yeah, and then the other team kidnapped him and beat him up.

Lydia: Actually, that was Gerard.

Malia: I punched him in the face once!

Sheriff: [is about to ask Lydia more about that and then looks at Malia] Gerard or Stiles?

Malia: Stiles. When we were in Eichen House. [there's a beat] I think he saved me from something in there.

Scott: He did. He was possessed.

Malia: And he was my anchor. He helped me learn control.

Liam: [nods] Yeah, my first shift. He chained you up.

Malia: And then he let me go. He knew that fear was the only way I was going to learn. That I needed to take the safety net off.

Scott: He was the one who kept us all human.

Jody: I have a feeling if we're going to be rescuing everyone we have to remember more than just Stiles.

Liam: But I remember everyone else. I just don't remember him.

Jody: I mean the other people who have gotten taken. The Winchester kids. Buffy and Laura. Scott's Mom.

Scott: Pretty much most of the town. I think we're the only ones left.

Jody: So this is a way bigger project then just Stiles.

Lydia: Maybe we should just focus on Stiles for now. Until we know for sure it works.

Sheriff: And who knows - if Buffy and Argent are on the other side with Stiles, they are probably trying to stage a jailbreak of their own.

Jody: [there's a beat as she considers that] So ... time things just right for a mutual explosion?

Sheriff: They've got a head start. We're going to want to move quick.

Lydia: [starts to open her mouth but Malia kicks her in the shin before she can suggest getting Cora]

Scott: [looks at them because what?]

Malia: [purses her lips, before sighing because she agrees with her girlfriend] We should get Cora.

Sheriff: If we need Cora, I'm going to be the one to talk to her about it. [looks specifically at Lydia]

Lydia: Oh trust me. I almost lost an arm the last time I tried.

Scott: Well, then let's start figuring out our end, and see if that makes enough of a rift that we can do it without Cora.

Lydia: [sighs and nods, before looking at the sheriff] So how did you do it?

Sheriff: Come back to the house and I'll show you. Probably safer if we all stay together anyway.

Lydia: [nods and up they all get to follow him]