CHAPTER NINE

"Why'd they leave so soon?" Meredith asks as she looks over at Nyx. They're at the older girl's house, setting things up for the twins to start staying there.

"Dean would've stayed, but it's not a good idea for him to be here for long periods of time." The teenager tells her. "Not with the FBI after him."

"How do you guys deal with it?"

"We know we're doing a lot of good, we're saving people." She explains. "So, we have to sacrifice​ some things, but it's worth it."

She shakes her head as she looks away from her. "I don't think I could handle it." Meredith says.

"This life is definitely not for everyone."

"Well, I'll help here any way I can." She tells her, and Nyx smiles.

Her phone rings, and she looks at the caller ID on the screen. "Hey, how are you guys doing?" She asks Dean as soon as she answers his call.

"We'll get to that. How are the twins?"

"They're good." She tells him. "Alex has your eyes, but I think they're cuter on him." She says, and he chuckles.

"And how are you?" He asks.

"I'm​ good as long as you're good." She says, and he likes the sound of that. It sounds like something she would've said before they broke up. "So, the case?" She asks, and he sighs.

"It's a shapeshifter — a skinwalker." He tells her, and she looks down and puts her face in her hand. "It's turning into different people and robbing places."

"Be careful, please. I do not want a repeat of St. Louis." She says.

"Would you be mad if I said that I'm glad you're not here?" He asks.

"Would you be mad if I said that I wish you weren't there?"

He sighs​. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Be careful, and stay safe out there." She says. "Both of you."

"We will." He tells her, and she doesn't say anything else, she doesn't know what to say. But she wants to hear his voice, she doesn't want him to hang up yet. "I gotta go, I'll talk to you later."

Nyx sighs. "Okay... Bye." She reluctantly hangs up and then puts her phone back into her pocket.

"What is it?" Meredith asks.

"They're hunting a shapeshifter in Milwaukee." She tells her.

"A shapeshifter is the same thing that attacked you in St. Louis, right?" She asks, and the younger girl nods. "And these things..."

"There are different kinds of shapeshifters. Werewolves are the most common that people hear about, but there are also skinwalkers. They can change their form to look like anybody." She explains. "That's what attacked me."

"And it looked like Dean when it did it?"

"Yeah."

"And that's​ what they're hunting now?"

"Yeah." Nyx sighs.

—

"Hey, come watch this with me." Caroline calls as Nyx and Meredith walk into her house with the twins. "Breaking news in Milwaukee — a bank robbery."

"And why would I want to watch that?"

"Why not?" She​ counters as they walk into the living room where she and Stefan are watching the tv.

The two brunettes lay the babies down in the little portable beds that Caroline made Stefan put together for them yesterday. The twins have both been fed and changed, and now they're both sound asleep. For now anyway.

"Alright, what's going on?" Nyx asks as she sits down next to Stefan, and Meredith sits on the other side of her on the couch.

"Some guy just showed up and he locked himself​ — and everyone else in the bank — inside." Caroline tells them.

"Wait, did you guys say that this is happening in Milwaukee?" Meredith asks.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Nycole... Aren't Sam and Dean in Milwaukee hunting a shapeshifter that he said is robbing places?" She asks her.

"Oh my God." Nyx quickly pulls her phone out of her back pocket and presses the number one on her speed dial. She's starting to panic as she calls Dean twice. "Damn it, he's not answering the phone."

Caroline reaches over to her, stretching her arm behind Stefan's back, and she rests her hand on Nyx's arm. She squeezes it as Nycole's legs starts bouncing.

She looks at her blonde friend. "I should be with them. I shouldn't have stayed here." Nyx shakes her head.

"You didn't know that this would happen." She tries to reason.

"Caroline, he's still wanted for murder in St. Louis." She tells her. "One of the girls who was attacked before we got there was killed. After the skinwalker attacked me looking like him and he killed it that way, they said that he was responsible for the murder. Now, there are cops surrounding this bank, where he might be right now."

"Oh my God." Meredith mutters, and Nyx looks at her. "They just shot into the bank."

"What?" She looks at the tv.

"It looked like it was a sniper." Stefan tells her. "They fired in through a window."

"How are they even allowed to show that on tv?" Caroline questions.

"It's live, and we can't see who was shot at."

They're showing the outside of the bank, police and SWAT cars are outside, and there are snipers in the building across the street. A female reporter is telling them what's going on over there.

"We're here downtown in front of the city bank in Milwaukee, and though a short exchange of weapons fire occurred just moments ago, police and SWAT teams maintain position as we enter the third hour of this intense stand-off. Authorities estimate as many as ten hostages are being held inside the bank. No word as of yet on the identity of the suspects or—" She stops as something starts to happen behind her.

"No, no, no, no! Don't even think about it!" Dean's voice comes through the tv as he brings a man outside. "Get the hell back!" He looks right at the camera, and Nyx's heart sinks as tears fill her eyes.

On the screen, police quickly take the man that Dean let out of the bank and get him onto a gurney. Dean then pulls the door closed and quickly goes back inside the bank.

"Oh my God." Caroline whispers.

Nyx calls him again, and he actually answers. "Now really isn't a good time, babe. I'm sorry." He quickly tells her.

"No, I know. I just saw you on the news." She tells him, and he sighs. "God, Meredith said that they shot into the bank, and I thought..."

"It wasn't me or Sam. We're both alright, but I really got to go." He says.

"Be careful."

"I always am." He then hangs up the phone.

The sheriff walks into the house then, and they all look over at her. "Mom, what's wrong?" Her daughter asks.

"What's going on?" Nyx asks as the sheriff looks at her.

"I'm sorry, Nycole, but I have to take you in." Sheriff Forbes tells her.

"What? Why?" Stefan questions.

"Mom, what's going on?" Caroline repeats.

"I can hear the tv, you all know what's going on." She says. "I got a call at the station. The FBI know that Dean was here — they saw the twins' birth certificates. They know you know exactly where he is. I'm sorry, I'm doing everything that I can. But right now, Nycole, you have to come with me."

"Okay." Nyx nods as she stands up and looks at Caroline. "Don't tell Elena or Jeremy about any of this." She tells her and then leaves with the sheriff.

—

"Yes, I saw him when my kids were born." Nyx tells the agent. "He's their father, and he didn't do what he was accused of in St. Louis."

"What about in Baltimore or Milwaukee?" He asks.

"I wasn't with him then. As you well know, I was here." She says. "Both times."

"You neglected to tell authorities that he had been here when you were talked to after your children​ were born." He says. "I could charge you with harboring a fugitive."

"I was having complications, and I was scared. I trust him, so yes, I wanted him there. I went into early labor and had the twins eight weeks early. So, excuse the hell out of me if my first concern was them." She says quickly, starting to lose her temper. "So, you know what, either charge me or let me get back to my babies."

He looks at his partner and then back down at Nycole. "Don't leave town." He says and then walks out of the sheriff's office.

Nycole sighs as Sheriff Forbes looks at her. "I'm sorry, sweetie." She says, and the teenager looks up at her. "I'm doing all that I can."

"I know." She nods.

"You can go home​ or to Meredith's." She tells her. "Stefan's waiting for you outside."