Work Text:
When Sheriff Stilinski pulled into his parking spot at the station at 5:25am he saw another vehicle in the parking lot with Parrish's. He knew that car. He knew the owner.
"Not your kid, John," he muttered to himself as he climbed out of his SUV with travel mug of coffee, the one thing he put his foot down about Stiles "healthifying". He liked his two cream, two sugar coffee and he had a gun. It wasn't happening.
He used his keycard to get into the building, a recently added security measure for the night time hours that he suspected would do very little in the grand scheme of things. But the state funded the upgrade, citing the unusual number of attacks on the station.
He had a sneaking suspicion Agent McCall might have had a hand in nudging someone higher up and for that he couldn't begrudge the guy. For once.
The point of the new security system was that it protected staff on the overnight shifts and that didn't work well when civilians were using it as a hang out. He walked into the inner office and, of course, there was Lydia seated by Parrish's desk, idly flicking a lighter on and off.
He cleared his throat as he walked through the desk area, shooting Parrish a look with his eyebrows raised. Parrish had the decency to look sheepish, at any rate.
"Miss Martin, don't you have school in a few hours?" John asked.
"Actually no, but I'll happily skip the parental lecture and take the hint," Lydia replied, picking up her purse and sashaying out of the station without saying anything to Parrish.
"Sir, she's—" Parrish started but John held his hand up.
"She's an adult, legally. She's a banshee, which I still don't understand. You're ... whatever the hell you are and I am well aware she's trying to help you figure that out. But she's also a girl I watched grow up along side my son and want only the best for," John said evenly.
Parrish looked at him cautiously. "Sir?"
"Tread lightly, is what I'm saying, Parrish. Finish up your paperwork."
Parrish nodded. "Yes, sir." Before he turned back around John caught sight of something.
"Oh, and Parrish?" The deputy looked back at him again. "Wash the soot off your hands."