Inching Towards Exhaustion Who: Aidan, Patrick, and Darcy Where: Around town When: Late morning
Aidan was exhausted. He and Darcy had been looking for Eily, Avery, and Noah since one o’clock in the morning, but hadn’t been able to find them or anyone else. Wherever they were being kept, they were quiet and out of sight, and the weather made it virtually impossible to track them via scent. A good part of him wanted to rest for a bit, but knowing that his sister was out there made it impossible to stop. How could he be resting when she was being held captive? It didn’t seem right. He knew Darcy felt the same way, plus she was looking for Noah.
Darcy was dead on her feet. She wasn’t sure what she was running on other than fumes, fear, and probably adrenaline, but even that was starting to drain. It was like being out there again, before they settled at the farmhouse, going until they dropped because they had to. Just now again, they had to. They had to find the others. Sleep seemed like too much of a luxury.
She still had the gun in her hand, but it was slipping since the sun had come up, hanging more at her side than up and ready. She was just too tired to do more than make sure she had it on hand.
Patrick was on high alert. There were too many people missing that were close to him and he needed to be out there, finding them, now. He was waiting for Lochlan and Fiona anxiously, but in the meantime he was on a mission to see Aidan.
He didn't often go in search of him, but right now, Patrick wasn't even thinking of their troubles. He was thinking of a certain something he needed to say to Aidan, something he probably should have said a long time ago. When he found his family, he instantly hurried his pace to get to them. "Darcy!" He called, seeing her and something in her hand as soon as they came closer into view. "Aidan!"
Aidan’s head snapped up and he spun in the direction of Patrick’s voice, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of his brother. For as much as they butted heads, it was good to see him. It was good to know that more of his family was alive and well. It didn’t make him feel any better about Eily, though, nor Avery. “Hey,” he said, walking Patrick’s direction, expecting Darcy to follow, unless she decided to sit down and rest for a minute. “Any luck?”
Unlike Aidan, Darcy had no idea who was yelling at them, so just watching her brother react and then hearing her name, she spun as well, but this time she raised the gun, ready to shoot, just in case. Realizing it was Patrick she let her shoulders slump and the gun drop back to her side, but she was slow to follow, just watching them at first, letting Aidan get a few steps ahead before she started walking.
Darcy had a gun? Jesus Christ… Hands up immediately, he frowned a little. "Hey, hey, woah…." He watched Aidan for a moment then shook his head, walking past him to Darcy first. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a hug and pulled her closer to him. "We're gonna figure this all out, Darce. Promise. I just need to talk to Aidan for a minute but I wanna know you're ok first."
Darcy wasn’t expecting a hug so when Patrick did hug her she didn’t do much of anything other than lean into his chest a little bit. “Mmkay,” she said at first, about what they were going to do. “Mmfine.” She wasn’t. She was tired, scared, and half a step away from panicked.
“She’s been up all night,” Aidan said, walking a few steps closer to the two of them, his axe hanging from one hand. Thus far, they’d been both lucky and unlucky. Lucky they hadn’t run into any danger themselves, but unlucky in that they hadn’t found anyone.
Patrick was definitely concerned for Darcy and he didn't want to let her go, but he wasn't sure the conversation he needed to have with Aidan would go over very well with Darcy in earshot. So he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss to the top of her head. "Let's find you somewhere to sit down for a minute, ok? I brought you this," He said, reaching into his back pocket to pull out an oatmeal bar. It wasn't much, and it wasn't fresh, but he needed to give it to her if only for his own peace of mind. Looking back at Aidan, he tried to motion for some help, to also have him look for a place where Darcy could maybe sit down.
“I’m fine,” Darcy said as Aidan added the part where she hadn’t slept. It wasn’t like he had either. She took a step back from Patrick then shook her head, taking the bar, but not actually doing anything with it and taking a step or two away from them. “Talk,” she said waving at them.
“Just give us a minute,” Aidan said, lightly touching Darcy’s shoulder as he crossed over to talk with Patrick. He wasn’t willing to go far from her, needing her in his sight in order to remain calm. He’d lost too many people already; he couldn’t put Darcy at risk. “What’s up?” he asked, keeping his voice low. He knew Patrick could hear him just fine.
Patrick felt the same way, needing Darcy to be close enough to ease his mind. He'd already solidified her scent earlier so it was also comforting to be able to still identify that she was close by it. Looking back at Aidan, he reached out and clapped his arm with his hand. "Shit is hitting the fan and you stepped up and I just…wanted to thank you. For looking after Darcy, making sure she's ok. It means a lot." He was earnest and genuine, though he wasn't sure he'd phrased that the way he'd initially planned.
Aidan wasn’t sure what to say. He hadn’t done what he’d done for anyone’s sake other than Darcy’s, because he cared about her and wanted to see that she was safe. He didn’t feel like it was something he needed to be thanked for, especially since he’d always watched out for Darcy. “You’re welcome,” he said, guessing that was the appropriate response.
Right. Well. That was going about as well as Patrick had thought it could. He felt awkward saying it anyway, but he felt like he needed to. Patrick had to find Eily, had to find Avery, and he needed to be doing that so having someone to watch over Darcy made him feel just a little bit of relief. "You're a good O'Reilly," He said, which felt even stranger to say but it was the truth that Patrick didn't always think that of Aidan.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aidan said, his mood going from uncomfortable to offended. He couldn’t help but feel an undercurrent, one that made him want to ask ‘have I ever been anything else?’ He’d always been there for his family, at least in his opinion, and if Patrick thought differently then he’d never said so before.
"It's…not supposed to mean anything. I'm just trying to thank you here," Patrick said, narrowly keeping a bitter 'Jesus Christ' out of his voice. Why did he have to throw this in his face? He didn't even really know how to stand here and say this to Aidan, he certainly didn't need Aidan to act as awkwardly as he was or be as antagonistic as this. "I was just trying to thank you," He repeated before turning. "But I can just fucking go so you two can go back to your hunt. Don't let me hold you up," He said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice then.
Darcy could hear them. They were doing a bad job of keeping quiet, especially as she started to drift closer to them when they weren’t paying attention. She knew her cousins. She knew things weren’t going well. “You know full well he didn’t mean anything,” she told Aidan, giving him a look. “And you aren’t holding us up any more than being exhausted and having no fucking clue what we’re even looking for is,” she told Patrick. “Do you two fight like girls all the time?”
Aidan felt it meant something, but that was because he’d been there for the conversation where Patrick said he didn’t put family first, all because he had someone else bite him. He didn’t want or need Patrick’s approval; he certainly hadn’t done it for that. He was looking because he wanted to, and he didn’t need to be asked when it came to looking after Darcy. He’d been doing that for years. “Kind of,” he said, answering Darcy before focusing back on Patrick. “Look, we’re running on empty and we’ve hit a dead end. Any idea where we should even be looking?”
Patrick all at once loved and kind of hated that Darcy was setting them both straight. But this family was nothing if not powerful women so he would just have to get used to it. Listening to Aidan, he shook his head. "I don't even know where to start for everyone else either, but we're just going to…try, I guess. The Dome's never felt so big," He said, frowning. "Sorry. But I can help you look for a while."
“Yeah, well stop. Both of you.” Darcy smacked them each, but given how tired she was it didn’t do much. Not to mention they were werewolves. She could probably hit them as hard as she could and nothing would happen. “We’re just still walking that way,” she said pointing. “They didn’t come back by the house. I don’t think. Not with Noah.” They would have come after her if they’d followed her wouldn’t they? “If we’re going, can we stop talking about babying me like I’m ten? I get it. No one remembered I was around to make sure I wasn’t dead. Got it. I was pissed like four hours ago, but now all I want is to find my cousin and my boyfriend. Come. On.” Darcy grabbed Aidan’s shirt and pulled as she turned around.
“I told them you were with me,” Aidan said, covering for the lack of texts to Darcy earlier in the evening. “You were the first person to tell me anything,” he reminded her, following as she pulled him along. It was a bit like being on a leash. “Come look with us for a bit,” he said to Patrick, since they were moving again. At some point they were going to have to sleep, but for now they would look, so long as they could keep to their feet.