Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Teen Wolf.

Chapter One

The sun danced in graceful patterns across the young woman's pale skin. She watched the shadows idly form shapes as they passed through the forested trail. A sigh hopelessly escaped her lips. Is this really happening? She couldn't believe that this is where she would be spending her entire summer.

Her father momentarily took his eyes off the road as he peered at his stone faced daughter. "It is only two months."

She rolled her eyes. Two months was a century in her mind.

"Plus, you will have Scott. The two of you were two peas in a pod while in diapers." His optimistic smile was shot down by the glare she passed him. "Look. I wouldn't be doing this unless I had to. And I have to, that is why we are doing this."

"I am never going to do anything in the medical field, ever."

"Aunt Melissa is a nurse you know?"

"Oh I know. I remember the last time we were here she left mid Thanksgiving dinner because the hospital was so backed up."

His lips pursed. "She was helping saves lives…"

"Whatever."

A tense silence followed. Her fathers grip on the wheel was turning his knuckles white. This had been how most of their conversations turned out over the last year - exasperating. Serena returned her gaze to the outdoors leaving her father to his thoughts. She hadn't seen this much greenery in her entire life.

Almost thirty minutes later they pulled up to a two-story home. It was very humble, which was a huge difference compared to the flat her father and her shared in Las Vegas. She already missed her dazzlingly dangerous city. She couldn't imagine anything eventful happening in such a peaceful town.

The front door swung open as soon as her father parked the car. It revealed her curly-haired aunt who dressed head to toe in maroon scrubs. Her father did not miss the pointed look she gave him at her attire. Her aunt wrapped her in a bone crushing hug and then released her to squeeze her brother.

"Oh Serena, you have grown so much," Melissa gushed. She raised her eyebrows at her brother questionably. "Are you sure you would not rather send her to an all girls summer camp instead? The boys will be chasing her Paul."

He frowned, the wrinkles in his brow creasing. "How would she meet boys if she's not going to be in school?"

Serena gave her aunt a bemused stare and Melissa laughed. "Scott is on the lacrosse team. My home is filled with teenage boys when they decide to actually stay home."

Serena winked at her father. He crossed his arms over her chest and gave her a hard stare. She snickered and in a sing-song voice said, "Too bad we are already here!"

Paul unlocked the trunk and all three gathered Serena's belongings. They tugged them up the stairs until they entered a spare bedroom. There was a full-sized bed in the center of the room with a quaint window that revealed the backyard. It was cozier and definitely more green compared to the desert she had grown accustomed to.

"I hope you like it. I know it's small…" Melissa tucked a stray curl that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear.

Her niece gave her a grateful smile. "Yeah, it is perfect. Don't worry about it Aunt Mel."

"Good." She bit her lip. "Scott should be home shortly. He had to step out to get groceries. All we had was some eggs and milk."

Paul motioned to his sister's scrubs. "Heading to work?"

Melissa shot them both an apologetic look. "I'm on call today. Our hospital had to do a lot of budget cuts due to… extreme circumstances. I work almost every day this week."

He rubbed her shoulder warmly. "That is unfortunate. Don't sweat it. Now, are you sure that five hundred a month will be enough? Or did you need more? I know how much Serena can consume."

"Hey!" Serena glowered, her hand clutching her stomach defensively. "I consume as much as my body requires."

"That is way too much Paul. We agreed on two hundred." Melissa's hands rested on her hips defiantly.

He gave her an equally defiant stare. "No."

Before the debate could continue the front door slammed open. There was a shuffle of bags alerting them of another presence.

"Mom! I'm home! With food, like you asked!"

They made their way downstairs into the kitchen where Scott and his best friend Stiles were in the middle of unloading the groceries into the fridge. The last time Serena had seen him he'd been a stick - her cousin had definitely filled out in the muscle proportion, which was almost difficult to wrap her mind around. At one point she remember beating him up when he threw mud at her, but now it looked like if he poked her she'd break apart.

Scott stopped a moment to wave awkwardly at his uncle and cousin. Years ago he distinctly recalled Serena not wanting to play with him. She had made a huge effort to ignore him. Although, he did smash her furby to pieces.

"Hey Scott and friend," Serena greeted with a short smile.

Scott motioned beside him. "This is my best friend Stiles."

Stiles waved.

"So…" Melissa clapped her hands together. She gave Scott and Stiles her full attention. "Stay home today. Just one day. Please." Scott and Stiles both shared a look, which resulted in Melissa shaking her head objectively. "And nothing weird… Just one day, please."

Scott gave her a thumbs up.

Melissa pressed her hand to her chest. "Oh my God. Maybe I should call off?"

"Aunt Mel, it's okay. How much trouble can these two really cause?" Serena said with a light chuckle. "We will be fine."

Stiles winced at the dark look his best friend's mother was shooting him. Apparently, from the look on her aunt's face, they can cause a lot of trouble. Although, Serena was beyond opposed to getting into a bit of trouble. Her father did often tell her she was a menace to society.

"My cab has arrived!" Paul cut in. Serena hadn't even known he had called one for himself.

Paul gave his sister a tight hug and Scott a short wave. His gaze fell on Serena. A blank look was on her face as she stared up at him. He took a few steps toward her before dangling his keys before her her wide brown eyes. "Peace offering?"

She grinned almost maniacally. "You're trusting me with your car?"

He frowned as his mind slowly wrapped around what he was doing. However, Serena yanked the keys from his grasp faster than he could blink. Why was he giving his seventeen-year-old daughter his keys?

"Love you too, Dad!"

Paul embraced her like it would be the last time. Pressing a kiss to her temple he whispered, "Love you, my moon."

She groaned at the nickname. Serena secretly loved it, but not when he said it in front of other people.

Melissa, Scott, and Serena walked him to the door. He grinned at his daughter one last time before hopping into the cab.

Melissa faced her son on the porch. She grabbed his shoulders tightly. "Seriously. Just one day."

Serena raised her brows. Were they really that bad?

"Promise," Scott gave her a toothy smile. "Things have been pretty normal this week."

She laughed, "I think you and I have a very different perception on what normal is." She slapped his shoulder lightly. With a sigh she turned to her niece once more - a tired smile on her face. "If anything weird happens there are emergency contact numbers on the fridge: the hospital, my cell phone, Sheriff Stilinski, and our neighbor Mrs. Smith."

"Or I could just call 911," Serena suggested with a shrug. "Don't worry so much. I highly doubt anything bad will happen."

Melissa squeezed Serena's shoulder gratefully. Quickly, she grabbed her purse and keys before zipping out of the house. Serena followed Scott back into the kitchen where Stiles was still putting away the groceries. He shot them both a smile before continuing his task.

"So, what kind of trouble do you guys get yourselves into that makes mama McCall so worried?" Serena hopped on one of the counter tops.

"Nothing." The duo both looked at each other as the word escaped their lips at the same moment.

Scott ran a hand through his hair. "My mom just worries a lot."

"Yeah." She provided them an odd look. "Sure."

"Serenaaaa." Stiles dragged out her name while his eyes darted nervously from Scott to her. "What kind of things do you like to do in your free time?"

She cocked her head to the side slightly confused by the boys approach. He clearly was trying to change the subject. "I like to watch Netflix and eat tacos."

"That's the plan then!" declared Stiles. He slammed his hands on the counter making Serena jump at the noise. "Netflix and tacos."

Roughly an hour later the trio were in the living room with steaming Mexican food. Scott and Stiles sat on the sofa while Serena sat on the floor by the coffee table. They had decided to watch some original horror flix that Serena referred to as "movies from the stone ages." Which ended up upsetting Stiles to the point he started an argument about them being classics that only sophisticated people could appreciate. However, Scott hadn't seen the movie either so she really wasn't too worried about being "sophisticated."

She heard a cough from behind her and caught Stiles watching her analytically. He made a face that was a mixture of a smile and a grimace for getting caught staring. "So… how long are you in town for?"

"Two months," she muffled between bites.

"Oh-" Stiles laughed nervously. Scott and him shared a wide-eyed look. They were weird, Serena officially decided.

"That's like the entire summer," Scott pointed out.

"Yeah…" she frowned. "I'm aware."

"That sucks," Stiles said while bobbing his head. She rolled her eyes. Like she didn't know it sucked. "What do you plan on doing… here?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea."

Scott braced himself on his knees as he leaned over to get a closer look at Serena's face, as he was sitting on the couch behind her. "Do you like lacrosse?"

"I have never seen it before, but I like hockey."

"It's kind of like hockey, but on grass." He explained. "They also have sticks with nets on them. We try to play a couple of times a week so we don't get rusty when school starts up. You can always come with us when we practice?"

"Thanks Scott. I would like that."

"Serena," Stiles started once more. He appeared to enjoy playing the twenty questions game with her. "Other than Netflix and tacos do you have any other hobbies? Likes? Dislikes? Or any weird supernatural powers that we should be aware of - ouch."

He rubbed his arm where Scott had elbowed him in the ribs. He also didn't miss the forceful glare the alpha stabbed at him.

"No supernatural powers, unfortunately," Serena pouted. Stiles pretended to wipe invisible sweat off his brow and Scott just shook his head. "I read a lot, which I would consider a hobby."

"What kind of books?" He pressed.

"Good books."

Scott laughed at Serena's short reply. His friend leaned back in his seat and mockingly repeated 'good books' to himself.

"Besides lacrosse and being really good at not giving each other not so subtle looks." Serena faced them and gave them the look she was referring to. "What else do you guys do?"

"Normal stuff…" Scott and Stiles shared the look she had just imitated.

She snorted, "Like?"

"Like-like-like go to parties." Stiles raised both hands and almost poked Scott in the face with the fork he held. Scott swatted his hand away and Stiles winced realizing his current action. "And hang out with our girlfriends."

"You have girlfriends?" The only shocking thing about that statement was how weird they were. No denying, Scott and Stiles were good looking... but she couldn't imagine them being able to hold a conversation that any normal person would deem not awkward.

"My girlfriends name is Kira," Scott had a dreamy look on his face that caused a small dimpled smile to appear on his lips.

"Cute." Serena smirked. She raised a brow at Stiles. "And yours?"

Stiles puffed up his chest. "Malia."

"Ah! You are 'ah' boys."

"What?" Scott looked at Stiles for help, but he shook his head giving him a blank look.

Serena in took a sharp breath. She was trying to keep up the conversation, but it apparently had not gone in her favor when she tried to create a connection. "Kir-ah and Mali-ah. The ah sound."

"Oh… yeah," Scott agreed. An awkward silence followed.

Serena opted to focusing on the zombies ripping out some sorry man's throat instead of the forced conversation. How awesome was this? Being forced to communicate with someone she hadn't seen in seven years by life was always fun. Maybe she would have better luck with their girlfriends… Oh Jeez. She was the fifth wheel - this was her entire summer.

"Are your girlfriends going to come over?" Serena rotated to stare up at them.

Scott shook his head. "Not tonight. Kira is having a family dinner." He glanced at his friend curiously as if he realized something for the first time. "Where is Malia?"

Stiles pursed his lips. "Don't know."

"You should invite her over, maybe?" she proposed. "I don't want you guys to feel obligated to entertain me. I will attempt and not invade your lives as much as possible."

"It's okay. You are not invading anything," Scott assured her with a warm grin.

But the way he said it made her believe that was far from the truth. The grin didn't quite meet his eyes. Also, the way Stiles and Scott shared these odd stares… she knew she was interrupting something very, very big.

:)