Begin Again
A/N: I have been waiting since season 1 for the Sheriff and Melissa to get together. I was so annoyed when he nearly went on a date with Lydia's mum instead. To get past my annoyance with the writers I've read so many fanfics of other people's ideas surrounding the topic and I finally decided to write my own version. This story takes place in season 3 after Lunar Ellipse but before Anchors. I wrote this with the assumption that Scott and Stiles have been friends since they were little meaning Noah and Melissa had been friends for years too. Story based on the song of the same name by Taylor Swift. I hope that you all like it :-)
A/N: UPDATE: Teen Wolf season 6 episode 7 revealed the Sheriff's name to be 'Noah' and not 'John' changes were made to fit this revelation.
Melissa looked at herself in her full length mirror for probably the thousandth time in the last hour. She was beyond nervous about tonight. It was the first time that she would be going on a date with someone who she truly cared about since Ralph.
It was only a few days ago that she was stuck in a root cellar with Noah and Chris waiting for their kids to save them. It was only a few days ago when Noah mentioned Claudia's death. It was only a few days ago when Noah had accepted that there were things that he couldn't explain, the supernatural.
It was only yesterday when Noah asked her on a date. They'd been friends since the boys were young, since before Claudia's death and he had finally asked her out.
Noah Stilinski walked into Beacon Memorial, hands shaking, heading towards the nurses station where he saw Melissa McCall standing reading a file.
Melissa looked up as Noah approached and smiled. He smiled back slightly.
"Hey, is everything okay with the boys?" Melissa asked hesitantly as she saw how nervous the Sheriff looked.
"Huh? Oh right, yeah, the boys are fine. Um I think. Ah they aren't why I came," Noah said uncertainly.
Melissa gave him a gentle smile waiting for Noah to speak.
"I came to ask if uh you would like to go out to dinner tomorrow night?" Noah asked.
Melissa smiled, "as in a date?"
Noah smiled, nerves disappearing, "yes Mel on a date."
Melissa grinned at his use of the nickname he had given her so many years ago.
"I would love to. Shall we meet at the little Italian restaurant at the harbour?" Melissa asked.
Noah chuckled, "I finish work at 6, I can pick you up at 6:30?"
Melissa shook her head, "I'll get Scott to drop me off at the restaurant at 6:30. He's going to your place anyway and it's on the way."
Noah decided to just agree, there was no point in arguing about it.
"I'll see you there," he said grabbing her hand and planting a kiss on her palm.
Melissa blushed as Noah let go and walked away.
Melissa looked around for her favourite high heels, finally spotting them under her bed.
She slipped the shoes on and couldn't help but remember all of the times that Ralph had gotten annoyed with her for wearing high heels. She hoped that Noah wouldn't mind, they were only small heels, she wouldn't be as tall or taller than him in them.
Melissa heard Scott and Isaac arguing over who was going to drive tonight. She shook her head and turned the radio on to drown out the noise.
'Never Gonna Be Alone' by Nickelback came on.
Melissa smiled, she loved this song. Ralph had hated it, she never found out why or cared why to be honest.
She smiled and started to sing the words softly.
It was a song that she had always connected with.
It had always made sense to her.
Now she was starting to understand why.
She had liked Noah since before Claudia got sick, before Ralph had become a drunken tool.
She had always been by Noah's side through thick and thin like best friends did.
There had always been more for her than friendship with Noah. She hoped that him asking her out had been his way to say that he had feelings for her too.
"MUM!" Scott shouted pulling Melissa out of her thoughts.
She sighed and checked herself in the mirror one last time before exiting her room.
As she walked down the stairs Scott and Isaac looked at her with bug eyes.
Melissa blushed slightly.
"Wow Ms McCall you look amazing," Isaac stated.
Scott nodded, "you look beautiful Mum."
"Thank you boys," Melissa smiled.
It was 6:25 when Melissa got out of the car and headed into the restaurant.
She looked around to see if Noah had arrived early and was surprised when she saw him stand and wave her over.
Melissa approached Noah with a small smile on her face.
Noah kissed her cheek and held her chair out for her to sit.
Melissa hadn't really expected that, it was the first time any guy had held her chair out for her before.
Noah sat across from Melissa and smiled at her.
"How was work?" Melissa asked.
"It was a long day. All I wanted to do was see you. If Stiles hadn't dropped in with lunch I probably would have come to see you at the hospital," Noah admitted.
Melissa smiled, "they must have planned it because Scott dropped by with lunch for me too."
They both laughed.
"I must say I'm curious why it's taken you so long to ask me out," Melissa said after a bit of pointless chatter about work.
Noah smiled, clearly expecting it to come up at some point.
"I guess the whole supernatural thing has to do with it. Plus I've wanted to for a long time," Noah admitted.
"The supernatural thing had to do with it?" Melissa questioned.
Noah chuckled awkwardly, "ah, yeah. Well it didn't seem to faze you that your son is a werewolf and considering that I'm new to the whole thing I could use some pointers," Noah confessed.
Melissa smirked, "so you asked me out just to talk about the supernatural?" She teased.
Noah went red, "um, ah, well, no. I mean yes. I mean not just that. I also asked you out because well Melissa I think that it's about time that we did something for ourselves for a change. We have been putting the boys first for years. Now they're out doing who knows what to save people. We save people everyday. Maybe it's time that we saved ourselves."
Melissa looked at him thoughtfully, "we do always put ourselves last. You're right it is time that we did something for ourselves. Time that we saved ourselves from unnecessary loneliness."
Noah smiled and reached for Melissa's hand across the table, she let him. Noah squeezed her hand. They smiled at one another.
It was like for the first time since Ralph left and Claudia died that they were getting what they wanted. Like they were seeing one another properly for the first time.
For the first time neither of them thought about Ralph or Claudia.
For the first time they didn't feel as though they were betraying anyone by being there together.
For the first time they didn't feel like they were hurting their sons by going on a date.
For the first time everything in their lives felt normal, well as normal as anyone's life can be when it involves the supernatural.
They ordered dinner and sat in comfortable silence when they ate, Noah still playing with Melissa's hand any chance that he got.
They decided against ordering dessert. Deciding instead to go for a walk to the ice cream parlour that was close by.
Noah paid for dinner and held Melissa's hand as they walked.
"Thank you for paying Noah," Melissa smiled.
"It was my pleasure Mel," Noah smiled back.
Melissa started to shiver so Noah took his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders. Melissa smiled at him as she put her arms through the sleeves.
"I don't think Scott would let me take you out again if you ended up getting sick," Noah joked.
Melissa laughed, "Scott would definitely be annoyed about it but something tells me Isaac would be angry about it. Scott likes you enough to know that you'll take care of me whereas Isaac isn't sure if you're trustworthy yet. You did only find out about them a few days ago, you can't blame the kid for being cautious."
Noah chuckled, "just when I thought I only had to worry about Scott's opinion. Well and Stiles cause let's face it my son can talk his way out of anything, he could probably trick me into never seeing you again if something went wrong."
They both smiled.
Realising that they hadn't smiled this much in years. They hadn't been this happy in years.
They arrived at the ice cream parlour.
Noah ordered peach ice cream in a waffle cone and Melissa ordered choc chip ice cream in a waffle cone.
Noah paid and they walked down to the beach, sitting on some rocks by the water.
"It's freezing cold and we're having ice cream," Noah chuckled.
Melissa smiled, "well I'm a sucker for ice cream. Even when it's cold. I took Scott to see snow once when he was little, we were in this broken down little shack and I ate nearly a whole tub of ice cream while Scott sat shivering under as many blankets as we could find."
"Alright yep that definitely is commitment….. To ice cream," Noah teased.
Melissa laughed and shoved Noah good naturedly in the shoulder.
Noah smiled at her adoringly.
They finished their ice creams and found themselves staring one another in the eyes.
Slowly they started to lean forward towards one another.
Their lips met in a soft, gentle kiss.
Pulling away slowly they leaned their foreheads together.
"That was…" Noah started.
"Perfect," Melissa finished.
They smiled lovingly at each other.
"I should probably get you home before Scott rips my head off. Which he probably could now," Noah half joked.
Melissa smiled, "it's a school night. They'll probably be playing video games until all hours and fall asleep from exhaustion."
"Shall we go to your place then for a nightcap?" Noah asked.
"Sounds like a perfect plan," Melissa smiled.
They shared one more kiss before heading back to the car hand in hand.
Tonight could not have gone better.
They had both finally taken the plunge and it had been worth it.
Now if they could only keep up a strong relationship with all of the chaos in their lives.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one-shot. The harbour in the story is based on Hillarys Boat Harbour in Perth Western Australia. It's my favourite place to go :-)