A/N: Okay, so welcome to the next story in this saga. I've tried putting both flashbacks and present day chapters in the same chapter... we'll try this for a bit and you guys tell me what you think. I welcome your feedback. If it doesn't work for you let me know. The first part will be the flashback, and it's separated by a bolded "Present Day" header... If you don't like it this way, give it a chance, because these chapters were both really long...it may work better with the shorter chapters.
Flashback 3.1
"Allison?" Mrs. Morrell whispered softly.
The brunette bit her lip. Her arms were folded, and she slouched in the chair in front of Morrell's desk.
The guidance counselor sighed and leaned forward. "This is a safe space, Allison. I know what's happening to you."
"You have no idea what's happening to me!" Allison snapped, immediately regretting it. "I'm…I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Morrell seemed unphased. "You're upset. You have every right to be. Getting bit wasn't exactly something you had planned."
"Not something I had planned? It's something I didn't want. I never wanted it. How am I supposed to take care of Dominic, when I could kill him without even realizing it?"
"Dominic is your son?"
Allison nodded and was silent for a moment, before beginning again, "I come from a family of hunters. If one of us were to get bit, we're supposed to kill ourselves before the first full moon."
Morrell nodded. "I'm aware of the Hunter's code." The counselor cocked her head to the side. "Are you telling me you're thinking about following the code?"
Allison shrugged. "I guess I still have a few weeks to figure it out."
"Allison won't talk to me." Stiles said as he plopped himself down in the chair.
Morrell looked up from her lunch and sighed. "Nice to see you too, Stiles."
"She's not talking to me and I'm worried."
"She's trying to process a huge change in her life, you just need to give her some time."
"But I don't want to give her time, because that means I need to stop talking to her, and then I'm afraid she'll think I'm ignoring her."
"She won't think that. Just tell her you're going to respect her wishes and leave her alone, but that you'll be there when she's ready to talk."
Stiles sighed and leaned back in the chair.
"Do you think that'll work?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out."
"Scott," Morrell began softly. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" The beta had come into her office and sat down without saying a word. "You were going to tell your parents about the supernatural...did it not go as well as you hoped?"
"No," He shook his head. "It went great. They're actually being really understanding."
"Then what is it?"
Scott sighed. "I think Malia's ignoring me."
Morrell nodded slowly. "Okay..."
"I mean, she's been with Cora ever since they found her, and right now things don't look good...they think Cora was poisoned and the last time I spoke to Malia, she was talking about giving up her alpha spark to save her sister. She wasn't sure if it would work, but I haven't heard from her, and she hasn't been at school...and I don't know if this concern is because she's the alpha, or because she's my girlfriend."
Morrell nodded again, "Well-"
Her office door swung open. "Tell him to leave me alone!" Scott and Morrell both turned to Allison.
"Allison," Morrell motioned to Scott, "I'm with another student-"
"No, it's fine." Scott shook his head and stood. "I'm sorry to bother you-"
"Scott," Morrell tried but he just shook his head and walked away. Morrell let out a deep sigh, then motioned Allison to the now-empty chair.
Allison sat slowly, obviously feeling bad for interrupting Scott's session. Morrell folded her hands and cocked her head, waiting for Allison to begin.
"It's Stiles. He won't get off my back."
Morrell let out a sigh. She tried to tell the poor boy. "He's just concerned."
The door swung open again. "Mrs. Morrell I-" Stiles began but then saw Allison sitting down. "Oh...I..."
"Stiles!" Morrell said happily. "Perfect. Please, have a seat."
"I should go." Allison tried to stand, but Morrell stopped her.
"Allison, sit. We should all talk about this together." Allison settled back and Morrell turned to Stiles. "Close the door, and uh...lock it this time. We don't need anymore interruptions. " Stiles did as he was asked and grabbed an extra chair from the corner. "Allison, please continue."
Allison looked down. "I've asked you repeatedly to give me some space. Why can't you accept that?"
"Because I'm worried about you, Ali. I'm worried that you're pushing people away when now is the time that you really need someone."
"Well, I don't need you!" Allison snapped without even looking at him.
"Wh...what?" Stiles looked as if he'd been hit.
Morrell spoke up, "Alright, let's-"
But Allison cut her off. "I've been avoiding you on purpose, Stiles. I can't stand to look at you." Stiles blinked as hot tears sprung to his eyes. "Because this is all your fault."
"M..My fault? What the hell are you talking about? I had nothing to do with you getting bit! If you want to blame somebody blame Gerard...you know...the guy who was apparently egging them on-"
"Don't bring my family into this!" Allison finally turned to look at him. "I didn't see you being much help."
"How could I help?! I wasn't even there when you guys were taken-"
"Exactly. You weren't there! Because you were off with Lydia!"
"Oh my fucking...are you kidding me? You're bringing up my friendship with Lydia again? Be glad I was with her, because I would have been taken too and then Dominic would have been by himself for God knows how long-"
"Jackson was watching him-"
"Jackson?! Are you hearing yourself right now? He wasn't even inside the house. There was broken glass everywhere, Nic could have gotten hurt-"
"You left him alone later-"
"I left him with Lydia, someone I trust a hell of a lot more than Jackson."
"There we go again with Lydia." Allison scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"What the hell is your problem?!"
"You're my problem. Being with you has proven to be more bad than good."
Stiles glared angrily, tears still burning his eyes. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying...I don't want to be with you, Stiles." Allison looked away. "I'm saying...I wish I never met you. Any of you."
He stood from the chair, breathing heavily. "Well, fuck you very much."
Morrell blinked a few times. She'd tried several times to interject, but they wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise. "Stiles, wait-" She attempted, but then the door slammed behind him. "Well..." She began as Allison still sat there. "I feel like that could have gone better."
Allison looked up at the counselor with tears in her eyes. "I didn't mean it.."
Morrell shrugged, and told her honestly, "I think I'd beg to differ. I think you meant everything. And I think under normal circumstances you would have just kept it to yourself. But nothing about your circumstances is normal." Allison bit a quivering lip,and nodded slowly."Maybe you should apologize."
"No...it's better this way. He deserves better than me...He deserves to be with someone who's going to be around."
"Where are you going to be, if not around?"
"France. We're moving. There's someone there who's supposed to be able to help me learn control. I may be back...but I don't know when."
"Why didn't you just tell him that?"
"Because it'll be easier if he's angry with me."
"Easier for who?" Morrell asked the brunette, but Allison only shook her head.
Mrs. Morrell was headed to her car when she saw Scott walking to his. It had been over a week since he'd left her office after they were interrupted and she hadn't seen him again.
"Scott!" She called out to him and he turned to look at her.
"Hey, Mrs. Morrell." He smiled.
"You seem happy."
"Yeah, I'm going to go see Malia today."
"Oh! How is she?"
"I don't know. I just finally decided I was going to go visit her."
"Oh..."She said with surprise. "Well...be safe."
"Thanks. I will."
Morrell reached for her keys to unlock her car, when she realized she didn't have them on her. "Ugh...dammit." She muttered before turning back to head toward the school. She passed Lydia, who seemed to be annoyed as she marched past the guidance counselor. Then she noticed where the frustration had most likely come from. Morrell cleared her throat as she passed the couple whose tongues were shoved down each others' throats. They separated and she gave them a polite smile. "Caitlyn.. Stiles."
"Mrs. Morrell." They both mumbled. Morrell shook her head once she passed them. At least Stiles seemed to be moving on.
"Lydia, are you okay?" Morrell asked the strawberry-blonde as she sat in the chair across from her.
Lydia knitted her eyebrows together and looked around to see if there was another 'Lydia' she was missing. "I'm fine. You're the one who called me in here."
"Well, I've just seen a lot of your friends in my office recently. Plus Allison just moved away, and I know you two were close..."
"We're still close." Lydia shrugged. "We email like everyday. Honestly, Stiles is the one who took it hardest, but he's off screwing a different girl each night, so I think he's okay now."
"Did either of them talk about their break up?"
"You mean about how Allison used mine and Stiles's relationship to sabotage theirs? Yeah. She told me. She wanted me to hear it from her. To know it was true, but that she didn't mean it. And once she moved, I think Stiles understood it too. I don't think it made it hurt any less though."
"So, you're good?"
"I'm fantastic! I've got a wonderful boyfriend, it's the last day of school, and I'm throwing an end-of-the-school-year party this weekend. I've got this life thing pretty figured out."
"You're breaking up with me?!" Lydia exclaimed, blinking a few times. When Aaron had asked her to come over, this was not what she thought would happen.
"Lydia…"Aaron said slowly.
"I guess I should have seen this coming. You're going to go off to school, and I'm sure you want to be able to date as you wish, and not have to worry about having a high school girlfriend back home." Aaron didn't deny it, and Lydia shook her head. "I guess I can at least appreciate the fact you told me right before my party so that I can get completely shit-faced and not have to worry about the repercussions." She sniffed as she gathered her bag. "Thanks."
"Oh, hi Lydia!" Aubrey greeted her as she walked through the door, just as Lydia was trying to leave.
"Hi, Aubrey." Lydia mumbled as her eyes shone with tears.
Lydia could just make out Aubrey's voice saying, "Aaron, what did you do?" As the teenager made her way out of the house.
"Scott?" Melissa knocked on his door, but Scott couldn't bring himself to answer her. He squeezed his eyes closed and gathered the blanket tighter around him. He heard his door open and Melissa was walking toward him. "Hey, kiddo... do you want to eat breakfast?"
"No." Scott told her softly. He was afraid if he said much more, he would break down again. He hadn't left his room in several days and even missed Lydia's party the night before. Part of him knew she'd be pissed, the other part didn't really care.
He was grieving. After not hearing from Malia for over a week, he went to the loft that she and Derek shared. Peter answered.
"Is Malia here?" Scott asked.
Peter gave him a blank stare before replying, "She's dead."
Scott felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Wh-what?"
Peter smirked. "You heard me." He swankily took a few steps backward. "She gave her power to Cora and while she was weak..." He brandished his claws and flashed his blue eyes. "I killed her." Scott's fists clenched at his sides. "I slashed her up into little pieces and then set her on fire." Scott's eyes burned yellow. "I mean... it was only fair. She killed me first-"
"You bastard!" Scott lunged at Peter but was quickly knocked to the side, and onto his back.
Peter growled and stomped a foot onto Scott's chest.
"You should leave. And don't come back here."
"You need to eat something." Melissa gently coaxed. "I'm worried about you."
"She's gone, Mom... she's dead." He finally let himself cry, something he'd been trying his hardest to avoid.
"I know, sweetie." Melissa told him as she stroked his hair. She too was familiar with losing someone like that, after having lost her first husband, Scott's father, in the line of duty. "And it sucks, and it's terrible...and it's okay to be sad. But, eventually, you'll have to pull yourself out of bed, eat something, and start to move on." She sighed. "You have some friends downstairs, should I send them home?"
"Friends?" Scott asked as he turned to his mother.
"Yeah... Isaac, Erica, and Boyd."
When Scott appeared at the top of the stairs, the three wolves stood up.
"Malia's gone." Erica said.
Scott nodded. "I know."
"We don't have an alpha." Boyd spoke next.
Scott nodded again. "I know." He repeated as he looked down.
"So?" Isaac wondered aloud. "Scott, what do we do?"
Scott raised his eyes slowly to look at his fellow pack members. They were all waiting for him to give the word.
Lydia opened her eyes slowly and winced at the bright sun streaming through her window. A pang in her chest remind her that Aaron had broken up with her the day before.
Lydia sighed and readjusted her pillow so that it was blocking as much sun as possible. She'd definitely gotten more than a little drunk at her party last night and now her head was killing her.
Lydia was on her third drink of the night when she saw Stiles standing against the wall.
"Stiles!" She called out and awkwardly stumbled over to him.
"Hey, Lyds." He attempted a smile. "You seem a little tipsy already."
"Aaron dumped me, so I'm drinking my feelings." She raised the cup in her hand. "Cheers." Then she took a gulp.
"I'm sorry. Getting dumped sucks."
"So," Lydia smiled, "Whose bed did you wake up in today?"
"My own, thank you very much."
"Uh uh." She smacked her lips together and looked around the room, "So, then I guess the question is who was sneaking out of your house at 7 am?" Stiles's eyes flitted across the room then back to his drink before taking a sip. Lydia looked off the direction he had, and saw one girl in a circle of several guys. "Erica?" Lydia looked back at Stiles. "She's a new one. How was it?" She didn't know why she subjected herself to this torture by asking him questions that she really didn't want to know the answer to.
Stiles shrugged. "It was okay, I guess."
"Just okay?"
Stiles downed the rest of his drink. "I'm going to need another one of these if we're going to have this conversation."
What had happened to Stiles? She didn't really remember him leaving last night.
A hand suddenly fell over her torso and she looked down, alarmed. Oh...that's what happened to him.
"Ugh!" Lydia groaned as she walked into her room, and put the skeleton key on her nightstand. "Can you lock the door back?" She asked Stiles, who'd followed her in. She had kept her door locked to avoid strangers accidentally finding their way into her bedroom.
Stiles did as he was told then heard a sniffle from the other side of the room. Lydia was standing in front of her closet crying.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
"No." She sobbed. "My boyfriend dumped me, and I just wanted to make out with my best friend to get my mind off it and I get beer poured on me, and now I don't have anything to wear." She cried.
"You are so drunk." He chuckled.
She turned to him and crossed her arms. "You're drunk too."
"Yes I am." He announced proudly.
Lydia pouted and turned back to the closet. "Will you unzip me?" He nodded and strolled over to where she stood, her back to him. He helped her gather her hair and swing it over her shoulder so that it wouldn't get tangled.
Seeing the exposed skin of her neck and shoulder sent his head spinning through the already thick haze of alcohol. His fingers hesitated on the zipper, and Lydia could feel his breath on her neck sending tingles down her spine.
"S-St-Stiles?" She stuttered, hating herself for not being able to say his name normally. Hating that she was being affected this way. But then...what was he stalling for?
"Yeah?" He mumbled, but still made no move for her zipper.
Lydia closed her eyes as she took in the feeling of him standing there, his body heat radiating off of him, and the way that the air in the room had turned thick. She could almost feel his lips on her neck and she was in that oh-so-awful position of wanting more, but not wanting to move too suddenly and break them out of this moment.
She tilted her head the tiniest bit to signal to him that it was okay. That she wanted this.
His right arm snaked around her waist and his lips finally touched the skin of her neck, eliciting a gasp from the strawberry blonde. His left hand began to slowly unzip her dress, and she brought her right hand up to grasp the hand around her waist, letting him know for sure that she wasn't giving off any mixed signals.
This was different. Different than any other make-out session. Even different than the time(s) they had sex. Usually it was one of them (namely her) telling the other one audibly 'let's make out', and maybe their make out session would leave her feeling lightheaded and dizzy. This time though, just being near him put her head into a fog, and there was no reason to say anything. Maybe it was because they were both dealing with break ups. Maybe she just wanted a distraction- God knows Stiles had been looking for distractions left and right. And somewhere inside of her, she knew that's exactly what she was. But right now, she didn't care.
Lydia laid there waiting for the regret to sink in. Last night was so...heated...so unlike anything they'd ever done before. Did that mean something changed between them? Would they ever be just friends again? Had they just fucked everything up? Lydia winced as as she silently reminded herself 'no pun intended.'
Her hand had come up to rest on top of his, and she felt him tug her closer against him. She couldn't stop the smile that immediately flooded her features.
She decided she was going to roll with whatever happened. At worst, they could play it off as a drunken hook up, and it wasn't like they hadn't had sex before. 'I don't really remember anything anyway,' she practiced in her head.
She sighed and eventually fell back asleep.
When she woke up again, she had rolled over so she was facing the other side of the bed...the empty other side of the bed.
Okay, she took it back. This was definitely the worst. The worst scenario was that he would sneak off and pretend it never happened. He would assume she was too drunk to remember anything and then ignore the fact that they'd hooked up. She'd become just another notch in Stiles Stilinski's post.
'You were the first notch though,' she silently reminded herself.
"That's not the point." She whispered quietly, and swallowed the lump in her throat. How could he do this? When did he become this person? How could he-
"Oh, hey you're up." She turned her head to her door and saw him standing there, fully dressed aside from his shoes. "I was just getting started on the clean-up process."
She let out a breath which turned into a sob and she immediately covered her face with both of her hands out of embarrassment.
"Whoa, Lyds, are you okay?" He asked softly and came to sit down on the bed next to her.
"I'm sorry." She told him with a strangled laugh/sob and shook her head. She wiped her eyes as she moved her hands. "I just freaked out for a minute."
His face paled, "Why?"
"Because I-" She started to tell him confidently, but then second guessed herself and his reaction. "I..."She said again, softly and slowly. "I thought you left."
He breathed a sigh of relief, and Lydia was able to release the breath she had been holding. "Why would you think that?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "You tell me." Stiles looked away and Lydia continued. "I mean...I woke up and you weren't here...and you were here..."
"Is this your way of saying you want to talk about it?"
"I don't know...Is there something to talk about? Because for all I know I-"
Stiles put his finger on her lips to silence her. "Lydia...before you go off on a highly compelling argument about how nothing really happened... I don't...regret...what happened."
"Really?" Her speech was muffled behind his finger.
He chuckled as he moved his hand and nodded. "Really."
"I don't regret it either. I thought I would." She decided honesty was the best way to go. "I laid here for a really long time just waiting to start hating myself, and it never happened." She took a deep breath as she prepared herself to say the other thing that had been on her mind. "You have to admit...it wasn't like...how it normally is...if that makes any sense."
He nodded. "No...I get it. And it's not like we haven't...done that before...it just wasn't as...planned?"
"Not that much planning went in to anything else we've done..."
"True."
"But, I do get what you mean. It was just...sort of...in the moment."
"Yeah!"
They both went silent for a moment before Lydia finally attempted to say what they both were thinking. "It wasn't...bad."
"No..." He shook his head. "No it wasn't." He took a deep breath before saying, "It was actually...really good."
"Like... really, really good." Lydia agreed quickly and nodded.
"Right?!"
"I mean... not that last time was bad, but it was-"
"-The first time."
"Exactly."
They got quiet again. Lydia began picking at her fingernails and Stiles was tapping his hands together.
Lydia could feel a slight awkwardness as they sat there.
"I'm still nake-"
"I've noticed." He interrupted her with a nod. Lydia bit back a smile. "Okay, here's a thought." He said, apparently having used the silence to work up the nerve to suggest what was coming.
"Okay..."
"We both just recently got out of relationships."
Lydia waited a moment to see where he was going with that observation. "True?"
He shook his head. "No it's not a true/false thing... it's just a statement..."
"Okay then. Are you going to elaborate or...?"
"Yeah just...okay...you know how before Allison and Aaron, we would do that thing where we would just like..make out sometimes."
"Yes..."
"Okay good." He nodded.
"God, Stiles just say what you're thinking, because I'm having a really hard time following."
"I think we should have sex!" He blurted.
Lydia raised an eyebrow. "But...we did...like...more than once."
"I know..." He took a deep breath. "I meant that, neither of us should be in a relationship right now since we both just got out of one, and God...Lydia...that sex was really good."
"We've established how awesome the sex was."
"I know! But like.. you don't understand-"
"Then make me understand!"
"Okay, I've been with different girls since Allison and I broke up, and none of them were worth a second time."
"That makes you sound like a man whore."
"The point is, I don't know if it's just because there's so much history with us, but I think we should do that again...and again... like..over and over until we die."
Lydia thought about that for a moment. "Til death do we part? Are we getting married?"
"No?" Stiles didn't quite seem sure of himself either. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I just think that if we decide that we want to have sex with each other, it shouldn't be weird. And it should feel normal and not like we're doing something wrong."
"Are you talking about friends with benefits?"
"Yes!"
"Why the hell didn't you just say that?!"
"I don't know!" He whined as he shook his head, "I just didn't like the way it sounded...I thought it would give the wrong connotation."
Lydia was quiet for a moment as she weighed the options. "Okay..." She said slowly, and Stiles perked up.
"Okay?"
"What are the rules?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...what can or can't we do? Are we allowed to have sex with other people?"
Stiles pondered that question for a moment, then thoughtfully and slowly he said "No." Lydia raised an eyebrow and he explained, "The purpose of this agreement is to always have someone to have sex with, so we shouldn't need to have sex with anyone else. But like...if one of us is gets in a relationship, then it stops."
Lydia nodded. "Okay, agreed. Follow up question based off of your statement...what if you want sex but I don't?"
"What if you want sex and I don't?"
They looked at each other and both laughed. "That would never happen."
"Definitely not...but uh..on the off chance that either of us aren't feeling it...we'll just...figure something else out...It doesn't always have to be sex though...it could be kissing...or like...hand holding."
"Stiles...the more we talk about this...it sounds like you want to be my boyfriend...but just not call it that."
'No...because...there's no going back from boyfriend.." He put his hands together to show her the imaginary line where 'boyfriend' existed. "There's ex-boyfriend" He moved his left hand to one extreme, then moved his right hand to the other. "Or husband." He brought his hands back together. "Friends with benefits...that's safe."
"I don't know about safe." She looked down, then lifted her eyes to look at Stiles. "But...the sex is really good."
"It's so good." He agreed.
"Okay," she smiled. "Friends with benefits." She held her hand out to shake on it.
"Seriously?" He asked as he slowly raised his hand to meet hers. "We're going to do this?"
"Yes, now shake my hand before I change my mind."
Stiles quickly grabbed her hand and shook it enthusiastically. Lydia laughed and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Um..." She bit her lip. "You realize I'm still nake-"
"I literally haven't stopped thinking about it this entire time."
She giggled, still nibbling on her lip. "You know...we were pretty trashed last night. Maybe it wasn't as good as we're remembering it."
He raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying...we just entered an exclusive contract...I mean...we shook on it...what if it was all based on a fluke?"
"Are you suggesting we test our great sex hypothesis?"
"I'm saying, I'm already naked... so..."
"Fuck!" Lydia collapsed on top of Stiles, and both were out of breath. He chuckled as he tucked a piece behind her ear. She let out a breathy laugh, "Not a fluke."
"Definitely not a fluke," He agreed. She bit her lip before meeting his lips with hers. They kissed for a few moments, lips moving slowly and sensually, until Lydia suddenly pulled away.
"We probably shouldn't tell anybody about this."
"Oh..God no."
They were definitely on the same page.
Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day Present Day
Lydia looked down at the address in her hand, then back up at the wooden building in front of her.
"Is this it?" She heard next to her. Lydia looked over at Kira in the passenger's seat, then unbuckled with a shrug.
"I guess so." She stepped out into the dry Texas heat. The restaurant bar was sort of out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by stretches of road and empty land on either side.
"Why couldn't we tell Stiles and Scott where we were going again?" Kira asked from behind the banshee.
"Because she told us not to."
"Who is she? I still don't know why we came."
Lydia opened the door and was met with the strong scent of beer that nearly made her gag.
"Oh, God… are you going to puke again?" Kira asked worriedly. "Because if you do, I may puke again."
"Kira…Please stop saying 'puke'. It's not helping."
"Sorry."
Lydia walked up to the bar and an older woman turned around and looked the two girls up and down. "You need to be 21 to sit at the bar. Can I see your IDs?"
"We're not 21." Lydia told her. "And we don't want to sit at the bar. We're looking for Silver."
The lady sighed and cocked her head to a table a few feet away. "Have a seat. I'll be right back."
"What's Silver?" Kira asked quietly, but panicked. "Is that code for drugs? Did we drive to Texas to get drugs?" Her pitch became higher with each question.
"Kira!" Lydia yelled under her breath. "Calm down." Kira took a deep breath. "Why would I drive to Texas to get drugs, when we could have just driven downtown?" Lydia smirked when Kira's eyes widened.
"Lydia?" A voice said from behind her. Lydia turned around to see the brunette in jeans and a tank top, a small apron wrapped around her waist. The strawberry blonde rose quickly from her chair.
"Allison!" She mumbled before hugging her tightly. Allison smiled brightly and looked over Lydia's head to see Kira at the table.
"Hey, Kira."
"Allison? Is it really you?" Kira stepped slowly over to the werewolf.
Allison shrugged. "It's actually Arian now. I changed my name." Allison turned back to Lydia. "I'm so glad you called me. You took such a long time, I was worried you weren't going to."
Lydia thought back to the letter she'd received.
Lydia,
Call this number. Ask for Silver. Please tell no one. Especially not Stiles.
"What do you mean you can't tell me?"
"It's literally only one line and it says "tell no one"." Stiles shook his head. "I'm sorry." Lydia apologized. "There's just nothing to tell."
He sighed. "Fine."
"You're mad."
"Yeah…a little…" He rolled his eyes. They sat in silence for several minutes before he felt her lips on his neck. "Lydia…" He tried to protest, but her lips were slowly making him forget why he was mad in the first place.
"Well, it took me a few weeks before I actually read the letter and then, I just didn't have time to call when nobody was around. Things have been…hectic to say the least."
"Hectic? What did I miss?"
Lydia exchanged looks with Kira. "Just… school stuff." Lydia said, as Kira did a bad job of hiding her confusion and surprise. "You know…finishing high school and deciding what college to go to."
"Really?" Allison asked happily, ignoring Kira's look, hoping everything would be explained later. "Where are you going to go?"
Lydia smiled. "Stanford."
"Not the East coast?"
Lydia shook her head. "No, I decided it was better to stay in California."
"But people are trying to kill you here!" Kira was just a tiny bit concerned.
"What if people are trying to kill us wherever we go?" Lydia posed. "At least here, we'll have a pack to protect us."
"And some sort of guardian angel." Scott rolled his eyes. "Or angel of death."
Stiles sighed. "So far it looks like they've only gone after the bad guys. If they start going after innocents, that's when it becomes our problem."
"What about you and Stiles? Are you guys friends again? Are you and Aiden still together?" Allison asked.
Kira bit her lip and look down to hide a blush.
Lydia shook her head. "Aiden and I broke up right after you left."
"What happened?"
Lydia sighed. "Stiles showed up drunk at my doorstep and I let him seep on the couch while Aiden and I were in my room…but instead of waking up in my bed next to Aiden, I woke up on the couch next to Stiles." She waved her hand in front her face. "It was because of the stupid sleepwalking stuff," She took a deep breath, "But I sort of lied by omission unintentionally, Aiden got mad, and we broke up."
Allison frowned. "I'm sorry."
The banshee shrugged. "Don't be. I'm not. "
"I can see that." The brunette smiled. "You look so happy. You're practically glowing."
Kira coughed and cleared her throat. Lydia and Allison both turned to her. "Sorry." She apologized.
"Okay…what's going on? What aren't you telling me?"
"What do you mean?" Lydia asked, feigning oblivious.
"Don't do that." Allison sighed. "Look, Lydia, you're really good at keeping your heartbeat under control. I wouldn't know that you were lying if Kira's heart wasn't practically beating out of her chest."
"What?" Kira's voice when high-pitched. "What are you talking about?"
Lydia sighed and turned back to Allison. "I'll tell you later. I promise."
"Okay." Allison nodded after a moment. "Do you guys want something to eat? I still have a few hours left of my shift, and then we can go back to my place."
"Do you have hamburgers?" Lydia asked with a hint of excitement.
Kira smiled nervously. "She really likes hamburgers now."
Allison raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but nodded. "Yeah. I'll get them to make you one. Fries too?"
"Yes, please!" Her eyes widened in glee.
Allison laughed and walked away and Lydia turned to give Kira a look.
"Sorry." The kitsune apologized again, as she bit her lip in embarrassment.
"Here it is! Home sweet home." Allison announced as she opened the door to her small apartment.
"Ari, is that you?"
"Yeah, I have some friends with me!" Allison called back, then turned to the two girls. "Everyone here knows me as Arian, so..." She looked pointedly at Kira. "Don't call me Allison."
"Hey!" A blonde girl came around the corner with her hair pulled up into a messy bun. "I'm Carys, Ari's roommate." Her southern, Texas drawl was very evident as she stuck her hand out to shake the new girls' hands.
"Lydia." The strawberry blonde shook her hand. "This is Kira."
Kira waved.
"Where's Nic?" Allison asked.
"He's asleep on the couch. Passed out during the second run-through of Monster's Inc."
"Thanks." Allison smiled. "I'm going to take them to my room. If Nic wakes up, just bring him in there."
"Will do." She nodded with a smile.
"I'm sorry." Lydia shook her head and squinted at the girl. "You look really familiar. Have we met before?"
Carys smiled and shook her head. "No, I don't think so."
Lydia apologized. "Sorry, my mistake."
"Don't sweat it! I guess I just have one of those faces."
"Yeah..."
"Come on." Allison urged and took them into her room.
"So, it's just you, Carys, and Dominic?" Kira asked.
"It's just Nic, now...and yeah. She works the night shift, so she watches him while I'm at work. He pretty much entertains himself, so the only thing she really has to do is make an extra plate of food for him when she makes lunch."
Lydia nodded before taking a deep breath. "I have a ton of questions for you-"
"I have some for you too...and you owe me an explanation for the weirdness back at the bar."
Lydia sighed, while Kira remained quiet. "You're right."
"It's noticeable. Isn't it?"
"Is what noticeable?" Stiles asked as he continued searching for his tie through the dresser drawers.
"This!" Lydia screeched. He turned to look at her pointing at her practically non-existent belly.
"What are you talking about?"
"Hello, Stiles! There's a baby in here, and it's graduation day and everyone is going to notice."
"Lyds...Sweetie...no one is going to notice anything. You'll be wearing a robe for the entire day."
"So you're saying that if I wasn't wearing a robe everyone would think I was fat?! Thanks!"
"What? No...I didn't say that!" He went to her and grabbed her hands and held them in his. "Look, you are beautiful. Okay? And you're the valedictorian! No one is going to see anything else."
Her bottom lip began to quiver. "Really?"
"Oh...don't cry. Please don't cry."
"I'm sorry!" She whined before covering her mouth running back into bathroom.
Stiles groaned. "God, I hope that mascara is water proof."
Melissa gave a couple of knocks before opening the door, "Hey!" She smiled. "How we doing in here?"
Stiles sighed. "We're in the middle of the second break-down of the day. And I can't find my tie."
"Where's Lydia?"
"I'm...in...here..." She sobbed from the bathroom.
Stiles closed his eyes and took a deep breath before pointing and repeating. "She's in there."
"Okay," Melissa stepped fully into the room. "Stiles, go borrow a tie from your dad. I'll help Lydia."
Stiles clasped his hands together and mouthed "Thank you."
"I...heard...that.."Lydia sniffled.
Stiles widened his eyes at Melissa, and she stifled a laugh. "Go." She whispered.
"Thirty more weeks." Stiles mumbled before leaving the room.
"So," Lydia began as she sat down on the bed next to Allison. "You knew about the sleep-walking."
"Of course. You carved a Japanese kanji into my counter."
"Right." Lydia chuckled. "Well, the sleep-walking was accompanied with vivid dreams, but a lot of the time, I couldn't remember the dreams...I just remembered they happened...until one day that I had a dream about Stiles getting shot, and we realized he had a healed bullet wound."
"What?" Allison was definitely not expecting that revelation. "When did he get shot?"
"He doesn't remember...just like..."She sighed and reached into her bag and pulled out a slip of paper. "Just like I don't remember this."
Lydia was laying on Stiles's bed in a tight fitting Tshirt and pajama pants, reading a book with her finger tracing circles on her tummy through the cotton. Stiles looked over from his desk to watch her.
"What are you staring at?" Lydia asked him without looking up from her book.
"You." He told her simply. He took a few moments, before saying, "I don't want you to take this negatively, but I just noticed that you have the tiniest bit of a belly."
The banshee smiled, still never moving her eyes away from the page. "I know. I can feel it." They were quiet for another moment before she tore her eyes away from the book and looked at him, "Do you want to feel?"
"Really?"
Lydia smiled and nodded. "Yeah...really."
"Right now?"
"You don't have t-"
"No, I do! I mean..." He began as he stood. "I don't have to, but I want to."
"Well, then come here." She said it almost impatiently, but with a hint of a smile.
Stiles sat down on the bed and reached his hand out slowly until was on her stomach.
"You know," He began. "It's around this time, that if you touch your stomach, the baby will move in response to you, because it's reflexes are starting to develop. You just may not be able to feel them yet."
"I did know that." She told him. "And you've been reading the book." She giggled.
"Guilty."
"I told you that you'd like it."
"You probably knew already." Lydia told the brunette as she held the ultrasound picture out to her.
Allison still seemed surprised as she took the sonogram from her. "I thought I was hearing things." She admitted. "How far along are you?"
"It looks like you're about twelve weeks now." The ultrasound technician told them as she rubbed the wand and cold gel across Lydia' belly. Both Stiles and Lydia's eyes were glued to the screen.
"It looks like a baby." Stiles noted.
"That typically happens." Lydia rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"And it is for sure just one baby, so I hope you weren't expecting more."
"Oh no. Definitely not." Stiles shook his head.
"We weren't even expecting one." Lydia joked.
The tech chuckled. "Well, twelve weeks means that you're at the end of your first trimester, so now is probably a good time to start telling people or...thinking about telling them."
"I think everybody knows already." Stiles said.
"Yeah" Lydia agreed. "It's really hard to keep secrets around our friends. They're too attentive."
"I'm about thirteen weeks now." She said carefully.
Allison looked confused for a moment, obviously doing the math in her head. "Wait...thirteen weeks? That means you were pregnant when I left."
"Yeah... it looks that way."
"But...Aiden was at school...so...who's the-"
"I don't know," Lydia said confidently, but then added"...for sure..."
"What does that mean?"
Lydia took a deep breath. "Like I said...I don't really remember, so it's really just a feeling but-"
"It's Stiles…" Allison said without looking up. "Isn't it?"
Lydia nodded slowly. "I swear, Allison, we didn't…I don't know how-"
"It's fine, Lydia." Allison gave her a small smile. "Really."
"But-" Lydia began, but was cut off by a knock at the door.
"Sorry ya'll," Carys said as she opened the door. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I was just thinking about something. Lydia," she turned to the strawberry blonde. "Have you ever done any research on Jack the Ripper?"
"What's Jack the Ripper?" Allison asked.
"It sounds like the title of a scary movie." Kira mumbled.
Lydia closed her eyes as she tried to remember how she knew that name. "He was a serial killer in the 1800s, right?"
"Yeah!" Carys replied enthusiastically. "Well…my family is kind of famous because of him. He was arrested one night after he attempted to kill a woman named Mary Kelly. If you look him up, you're bound to find pictures of her. My full name is Carys Kelly. She was a-lotta-greats-grandmother of mine, and people tell me that I look a lot like her." Carys shrugged. "I just thought maybe that's why I looked familiar."
Lydia nodded. "Yeah, maybe!"
"Okay, well that's it. Sorry about intruding again."
"She seems nice." Kira said once Carys was gone.
"She is." Allison agreed. "She's been a life saver since moving out here."
"Speaking of which," Lydia replied. "I need some questions answered now."
Allison nodded, "Go ahead."
"What happened? Why did you leave?"
"That's difficult to answer."
"Well, I ask the difficult questions." Lydia fired back. "You left Beacon Hills, you changed your name-"
"Yeah," Kira interrupted, "Why did you choose Arian anyway?"
"It means Silver." Lydia answer the kitsune. "In Welsh."
Allison sighed. "When choosing a new identity, it's better not to change yourself too much, otherwise it gets too difficult to remember. Arian has the same meaning as Argent, and it's similar enough to Allison that it was easy to adapt to."
"You still haven't answered my question." Lydia snapped.
The brunette turned to the strawberry-blonde, and glanced her up and down. The flowy shirt she was wearing made it impossible to tell if she had a bump yet. "Are you keeping the baby?"
"Allison-"
"Answer the question."
"Not until you answer mine!"
Allison bit her lip. "I was approached by a man that said I was in danger."
"Why?" Lydia asked before Allison could take a breath.
"I don't know."
"Who was the guy?"
"No clue."
Lydia groaned in frustration. "If you weren't going to tell us anything, why did you ask us to come here?"
"Because you need to know something."
"Do you think it's true?" Kira asked Lydia as they got back into her car.
"I don't know." Lydia shrugged as she pulled out her phone and called Scott. "But I'm not taking any chances."
"Hello?" Scott answered on the third ring.
"Scott, Kira and I just learned something, and I'm not sure if it's true, but if it is, you need to know."
"What is it?" He asked, and edge of worry to his voice.
Lydia took a deep breath. "Malia's alive."