The sun was shining brightly through the open curtains, but that wasn't what woke Stiles up. What did was the shutting of a cabinet door and the smell of bacon. It was a fairly pleasant way to wake up after a much-needed sleep.

Stiles, eyes still closed, rolled off his warm pillow expecting to find a colder one. Instead he was met with the sun-warmed softness of the guest room's carpeting. He sat up slowly rubbing the sleep out of his eyes trying to re-orient himself.

Clear in his mind were the events of last night. Lydia's reassurance that everything would be alright and her favorite memories with him. Unfortunately he fell asleep before she could get very far with those. What he remembered last put a grin on his face.

He had woken up in the middle of the night; a soft snoring had alerted him to an open mouthed sleeping Lydia. Two pillows had been placed under his head and a blanket had been draped over his body. Lydia however, slept sans blanket with one hand under her head with the other curled softly underneath her chin. Stiles had shook his head small laugh. The girl was so caring but sometimes forgot to take care of herself. Stiles removed one of the pillows from beneath him and carefully placed it under Lydia's head. She had stirred slightly but continued sleeping. In the process, the shorter pieces of her hair that had come out of her braid fell over her face. Stiles gently moved them tucking them behind her ear. He had grabbed the blanket and extended it to cover the peacefully sleeping girl next to him and slowly drifted back to sleep.

As he snapped out of his thoughts Stiles realized that his companion's pillow was missing.

"She must've gone home," he thought as he stood up.

He gave him self a good stretch as he assessed the situation. Lydia's pillow had been placed on the bed rejoining the decorative pillows. His father insisted the frilly pillows had no purpose but kept around because his late wife had picked them out. Stiles turned to make his way to the door. He noticed Lydia's shoes by the door as well as her outfit from the night before neatly folded up next to them. He smiled at he smiled at her precision.

He made his way out into the hall crossing into the bathroom, quickly brushing his teeth and splashing some water on his face. Even with the sleep he still had dark circles under his eyes. He quickly looked away from his reflection and left the bathroom

The hardwood floor creaked as he made his way down the stairs following the scent of the bacon.

He heard voices coming from the kitchen. He lightened his step hoping they wouldn't hear him.

"How long do you think you can keep pretending everything is normal between you two.?"

It was his father speaking. He gingerly moved down a few more steps to hear better. But what he heard next made him come to a halt.

"You're right. I don't know how much longer I can be friends with him."

It was Lydia. His heart sank.

As he made his way into the kitchen he kept his head down, careful to avoid eye contact. He felt the two pairs of eyes following him as he headed toward the cabinets.

"Stiles you're awake," his dad said from his spot at the kitchen table. "Thought you could've slept for at least a few more hours." He said with a chuckle.

"Yeah well, the cabinets woke me up," Stiles said in a monotone voice as he poured his cereal into a bowl.

"Oh that must've been Lydia. She cooked me breakfast. Not very often do I get eggs bacon toast all the works." He replied sipping his coffee.

Back still turned to the pair at the round table kitchen, Stiles dug around in the fridge grabbing the carton of milk. He made his way back over to his bowl and began to pour.

"We're out of milk." He deadpanned as the last few drops fell into his cereal.

Finally she spoke.

"I made you a plate. Didn't know when you'd be up though so I stuck it in the microwave." She said quickly almost nervously.

He sighed slamming down the carton on the countertop looking out the window. Above the sink. How could she just sit there and just keep up this charade. He knew what he heard. She couldn't stand to be with him. He was sure it was too hard for her after seeing how "he" acted. He knew this was bound to happen no matter how hard he hoped what she said was true, that she wouldn't leave him. He'd been manipulated enough why couldn't she just give it to him straight.

He turned to face the two. She her hair was wet from a recent shower. She was wearing his clothes. Why was she doing this to him.

Lydia played with her fingers nervously, while the sheriff's eyes followed him cautiously as he made his way to the table.

"I'll just eat it dry." He mumbled as he shoved a spoonful of dried Cocoa Puffs into his mouth.

The tension was palpable. Neither Lydia nor the Sheriff knew what to say. It stayed silent as Stiles slowly crunched on his food. He looked at Lydia out of the corner of his eye. She was still intent on her fingers as she slowly chipped at her nail polish. She felt his gaze; she looked up at him giving him a small smile.

"Stiles are you okay? I mean…" he paused looking up at his son.

Stiles broke eye contact with her.

"I have a head ache that's all. I'll be fine relatively. Shouldn't you be at work?" Stiles responded softening his voice. He knew his Dad genuinely cared about him. There was no reason for him to snap at his father after all he had just gotten him back.

"Just waiting till you got up. But you're right I should be going," he said looking at his watch.

The sheriff got his jacket on and secured his belt. He walked over and put a hand on Stiles shoulder.

"Call me if you need anything," he said with a wary smile as his glanced flickered to Lydia.

It was just Lydia and Stiles now at the table. The only audible noise was the spoon scraping the bottom of Stile's bowl as he swished the murky brown milk around. It was Lydia who broke the silence.

"So uh.." she began apprehensively "how'd you sleep? I tried to put some pillows under your head, but there was no way I was getting you on that bed. You may be tall and lanky but man you're solid." She said with a small giggle.

It broke his heart to hear that laugh because he knew he wouldn't be hearing it for very much longer. He let the spoon rest against the side of the dish. He closed his eyes furrowing his eyebrows.

"Lydia."

He heard her breath in sharply. It was the first time all morning that he had addressed her. He opened his eyes to find her looking at him with wide eyes, intently waiting for what he had to say next.

"You don't have to keep doing this. I get it," he said with a sigh.

"Get what? What are you talking about Stiles?" she asked looking at him skeptically.

"I heard you talking with my dad." He began to twist his hands together.

"Oh Stiles. I..." she looked up at the ceiling "I was gunna tell you soon. I swear. I was just waiting for the right time. I knew it'd be a lot to take in and just didn't know if you could handle it." she said quietly

"How long were you planning on waiting to tell me? I mean last night was great. Our friendship was great. But I get it you want something different…" he trailed off pushing out from his seat.

He began to pace back and forth in the small space running his hands through his hair. Lydia watched from her seat as the he began to speak again.

"I knew we wouldn't be able to stay friends for much longer." His voice got a bit louder. " I just wish you wouldn't lie to me like this. I've been through a lot but this," he stopped gesturing between the two of them "is nothing I can't handle."

He took a deep breath trying to slow down his breathing, leaving his hands to stay still by his side.

"I get it your feelings have changed," he said to the ground.

Her chair scraped loudly against the floor as she stood up.

"How could they not after all we've just been through?! I've come to see you in a different light now. It's too hard to be friends with you anymore knowing that there's this whole other side to you." she said as if this shouldn't have been a surprise to him.

She just confirmed his worst fears. It was over.

"Okay! I get it you don't want to be friends anymore." he responded exasperated.

He didn't know how much longer he could continue this conversation. It hurt a bit too much. She wanted to sever all ties. He knew it had been too good to be true last night, nothing could be so easily fixed. He began to walk out of the kitchen.

"Of course I don't want to be friends with you anymore! I'm in love with you!" she exclaimed.

"Lydia I can't do this any…." he stopped turning back toward her. "Wait, what did you say?"

"What did you say?" she responded confused by the whole situation.

"You first," he pointed at her as he sat down trying to understand what was going on.

"I said that I'm in love with you Stiles," she repeated as she dragged her chair to sit across from his.

"But you…" he pointed at her "told my dad you didn't know how much longer we" he motioned between them "could be friends." He had a look of concentration on his face as he tried to understand what was going on.

"Because I've completely fallen for you and I didn't want to be just friends anymore." She said quietly as she sat tucking one leg underneath her letting the other folding the other one on her lap.

He let out a long sigh shaking his head.

"I'm confused as to where your confusion is coming from though." She cocked her head to the side smiling at him. "I thought we were on the same page, when you were talking about having something different and being able to handle us."

"I thought…" he paused to collect his thoughts. "I thought you had changed your mind from last night. I thought you had woken up and felt completely different. That you had come to the realization that I had been afraid of all along, that you didn't want to be around me. That you couldn't be around me. He sighed relieved that he had been wrong.

"I'm gunna be a work in progress with this whole thing Lydia, you gotta know that."

"Stiles you should know two things by now. One that I'm very honest about my feelings toward people and two that I don't give up very easily. I'm here for the long haul Stilinski. So you'd better get used to me." she said as she patted his leg.

Stiles dragged Lydia's chair closer. They were face to face. Knee to knee. He leaned forward resting his forearms on his knees.

"What I uhh, meant to say earlier was that I love you too very much." He smiled reaching out and taking her hand slowly rubbing his thumb over her hand. They smiled at each other lovingly.

Stiles leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Lydia."

"Hmm.." she responded hazily eyes closed.

He moved his head back so the corners of their mouths were almost touching.

"Where's that bacon I'm absolutely starv…."

She laughed giving him a smack on the head.

He pulled back with a goofy grin on his face and kissed her happily.