A Shot In The Dark ~ A Tyler Scheid AU ~

Chapter Twelve

It had been three days since Emily had had her meeting with the other group and it had been three days of radio silence from the lot of them.

She had had her phone on her non-stop just waiting for the text or phone call to let her know she was in and everyone was on edge waiting; none more so than Mark.

Every day he had asked Emily if she had heard anything and every day her response was the same: "When I hear something, you'll hear something".

That wasn't always enough to shut Mark up for long but at least for a short while it was all Emily needed to focus on other things.

Mark had been furious when Emily had returned with nothing but an empty promise of a phone call or a text from them.

He wouldn't listen to reason when it had come to anyone trying to tell him what had happened. Even when Tyler had chipped in with his logic of it giving them more time to train up and get her ready for when they did call.

As furious as Mark was, Tyler's words had finally managed to get them to calm down, getting him to listen to reason; although he still wasn't happy about it.

She had been spending most of her time with Tyler, the last person she believed she was going to grow close to, but alas here she was, spending every waking moment with him.

Tonight was no different.

Everyone had left them to their own devices. Mark was asleep or at least pacing up and down his office floor as usual, sure enough wearing a hole in the carpet. Jack had gone out on a supply run to try and get more medical supplies for Bob, who still hadn't made any progress in his recovery.

Ethan and Kathryn were somewhere in the house, more than likely in their caves working on more CCTV footage trying to find out what happened to Bob, some of them looking for any traces of Wade, although Kathryn had promised to work on Emily's background; to make it water tight to any digging that the other groups team would do.

Emily was sat alone in her room, pacing back and forth twiddling her phone between her fingers waiting for it to ring.

She couldn't find it in her to sleep. What if the phone rang and she was asleep when it came, not being able to get a hold of them again until more days or weeks had passed; it was an opportunity she simply couldn't pass up.

Minutes had passed before there was a light knock at the door, not bothering listening for a response before they entered.

Tyler poked his head through the gap in the door, his curly hair usually so kept and neat was wild and fluffy on the top of his head and his eyes looked heavy with tired.

"I heard you were awake, figured you could use some coffee." Through the gap in the door he brought forward a white mug, steam rising from the top of the fresh black coffee he had made for her only moments before.

A small smile came to Emily's face before she ushered him into the room, took a seat on the edge of her bed and motioned for him to sit beside her before taking the hot mug from his hands, a similar one in his left hand, steaming yet looking like he'd put milk in his.

"You couldn't sleep either I'm assuming?" Emily asked, blowing on the steaming liquid before taking a small sip, retracting as it burnt her lips but she welcomed the warmth as it slid down her throat.

Tyler thought a minute before answering "No." That wasn't what he had wanted to say. He wanted to say he had been asleep and had gotten up to use the bathroom when he heard her walking around and thought to keep her company; although he needed an excuse. That's where the coffee came in.

"I just keep waiting by the phone, waiting to hear from them, hoping that they tell me to come back and infiltrate." Emily looked down at the black liquid, running her finger lightly over the rim.

"I'm sure they're just waiting for the right time, maybe they don't want to call until they need a new shipment, that way they know who to call when they're desperate." It was something logical, something Emily had noticed that Tyler always seemed to think. He never had an irrational thought, not in the few weeks that she had known him anyway.

"I hope that's all it is." Emily nodded solemnly, still staring down at her mug.

"Em," Tyler reached over a large hand and placed it onto her leg, forcing her to look in his direction. "We will make sure we get Wade back, one way or another we will do it. I promise you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I don't" Tyler's small smile brought one to Emily's face, it may have been a half smile but he noted it as an achievement.

"You're probably tired it's okay you can go." Emily patted him on the leg and nodded towards the door. As much as Tyler wanted to go back to sleep, he knew he wouldn't be able to if he knew that Emily was wide awake.

"After this cup of coffee? Definitely not going to happen. I'll stay and keep you company for a little bit." Emily got up from her place on the end of the bed and planted herself at the head of the bed, making herself more comfortable on the sheets.

For the rest of the night, Emily and Tyler sat up and didn't stop talking to one another until the light was rising above the horizon, light pouring in through the windows and the birds were singing their morning song.

At that point, Emily had fallen asleep, having rolled so far over her arm was draped across Tyler's chest. He had fallen asleep for a little while but had woken up at 5am on the dot as he always did every morning.

He didn't want to wake the exhausted girl beside him so simply sat there and let her sleep peacefully. His eyes trailed over her face, in awe of the way the sunlight hit her face perfectly. He couldn't help the way he had began to feel for the young girl, she had fought her way into his life, no matter how hard he had tried to keep her at bay, he had tried desperately but he just couldn't keep away from her.

Mark was always trying to keep her in Tyler's company and if Mark was trying to force something between the pair of them to happen it was definitely working.

Tyler's eyes drifted more and more closed until he fell back into slumber beside the girl.