So this is a story I'm writing for my big sister and best friend, Jess. I hope you like it so far, babygirl, cuz I ain't done yet!
Hiding after managing to escape had not been fun. Almost being recaptured was another thing she didn't want to think about. Giving a heavy sigh as she slipped towards the loft, she knew they were likely to be on her scent again soon. If she could just get to the building with the scent, she'd be safe. Her clothes were ragged, her hair a matted, muddy and probably bloody mess. As she stopped at the building, she took a moment to look at the door to the front of the building, and then towards the alley. A part of her was weary of it, but it would be faster via the massive windows than going door to door. With grace and speed, a flash of dark-clad blonde vanished to the alley, jumping up and pulling herself up to the stairs, climbing the fire escape and pausing long enough to look in the windows. Her head pounded, her body ached and she was fairly certain she was running a fever, but she had to do this. She needed to find her alpha, find safety and cling to it while she recovered.
-Meanwhile-
"So Kali hit her, she fell and then they just took her body away?" Stiles asked, looking at Boyd as he sat with Derek, Isaac, Scott, Peter, Cora and Boyd in the loft. The Beta nodded, clearly upset talking about it. The group had been talking about the possibility that Erica had survived, and the events leading up to her being dragged away. The human gave a sigh and leaned back. "But her body wasn't in the bank. You know, maybe they buried her."
"Stiles!" Cora said in shock, giving the male a half horrified look. She'd clearly spoken before her brother, who was shaking his head in either a resignation that Stiles had no filter between his brain and mouth, or annoyance. Or perhaps even that the human still hadn't realized how much Erica meant to the male wolf who'd been held captive with her.
"What?" Stiles asked innocently, raising his hands in an innocent gesture of confusion, as if his comment was perfectly natural. "I mean, if she had healed, don't you think there would be some kind of rumor about a wandering teenager with glowing eyes?" he inquired. "She was trapped in the Hecatolite walled bank vault for a while. Wouldn't it work on her, as well?"
"If she managed to find her anchor, it may have grounded her." Peter interjected, cocking his head to one side and looking at Derek. The older men of the pack seemed to have one of those moments where they were talking to each other with the slightest movements and looks. Stiles found it irritating when the two did it. As much as Derek swore he didn't trust Peter, moments like now made Stiles doubt how true those words were. Because it was almost palpable that te alpha and his uncle were having a conversation without doing much but moving their eyes.
"But that's an awfully big if, don't you think, asshole?" he asked to break the silent communication, ignoring the blatant "Hale eye roll" Peter gave. Stiles called it the "Hale eye roll" because all three of the Hales had it. He'd seen each of them do the exact same type of eye roll, complete with slight head roll to exaggerate the movement of their eyes. He had thought it amusing when Derek and Peter did it, but when he'd seen Cora do it the first time, he'd given up the cutesy idea. Cora's was all sass and annoyance, which was clearly the true meaning behind the action.
Cora gave an exasperated sigh and looked at Isaac, who shrugged. Getting up, she moved to the window at the back of the loft, the rain having cleared it of most of the grime. She leaned against the glass and stared out, her dark eyes watching without seeing. "It might depend on where she would hide. Or if she's even travelling on foot."
"I think it would still be obvious that it was Erica. She's very unique." Stiles mouthed off, throwing himself back on the floor with a loud smack. The action gained an arched brow from both Hale men, a saying of his name form Scott in what could only be meant as scolding, and scoffs from Isaac and Boyd.
Cora rolled her eyes, clearly unamused at the show of affection men gave their alpha's boyfriend and turned back to the window, before stopping. "Unique as in curly blonde hair?"
"Yeah," Boyd answered. His voice was so soft, that Cora had almost thought she'd imagined it.
"How about perfect hourglass figure and bad girl style?" she inquired next.
"After the bite, yeah. Why?" Stiles said, looking up as Cora yanked the glass partition open and darted out to the railing. Derek, Peter and Isaac were at the window first, and Boyd, Scott and Stiles weren't very far. Then Derek was reaching out and helping his sister pull in an exhausted, dirtied and half-sickly looking Erica Reyes. Stiles could only stare, dumbfounded as Cora and Derek knelt over the blonde werewolf.
"Cuz she just found us," Cora said bluntly, casting a 'drop dead asshole' look at Stiles as she moved to help Erica stand. The other female was stronger than Stiles had given her credit for, and he wondered how much of that was the born wolf and how much was training for Derek. As far as Stiles knew, his alpha boyfriend was still training the others. He reached out to help but found that Boyd had taken up on the opposite side if Erica, the other teen whispering in the blonde's ear. Cora carefully adjusted. "Let me get her cleaned up, you guys."Cora said, clearly leaving no room for argument. "Stiles, can you get some clothes for her?"
"What, why me?" Stiles protested.
"I'll go." Isaac said, volunteering to keep the peace. "Besides, I know where Erica's house is." The first of the Betas looked at Derek, who nodded in return, motioning to Boyd.
"You two stick together." The alpha said. Boyd seemed a little conflicted, eyes flashing between Derek and where Cora was helping Erica to the bathroom. The dark haired female seemed to sense this and turned to give Boyd a nod, a look of understanding in her eyes as she watched her pack mate with a serious expression.
"I'll take care of her, Boyd. Go with Isaac." The assurance seemed to relax Boyd, and he nodded, looking at Isaac as the two teens headed out to Erica's house. Cora then finished helping Erica to the bathroom, giving thanks that none of the males had tried to help her after she said to let her clean Erica up. "Hey. You okay?" she asked, helping Erica sit on the toilet and leaning to start a bath.
A shaky laugh escaped Erica, and he blonde teen gave a nod. "I guess as okay as I can be. I'm alive, that counts for something." She moved to run a hand through her hair, sighing heavily. "It's just been hard tracking when I'm clearly not at a hundred percent." She explained.
"That might have been bad wording…" Cora said, looking at Erica. "Go ahead and get undressed. You're probably going to need help cleaning up." She explained. She turned back to the tub and put the stopper in. Turning back to the blonde, she carefully helped Erica into the hot water. "I'm just glad you're okay, Erica."
"I'm glad I'm okay," Erica said with a dry laugh. "How has Boyd been?"
Cora gave a sad smile. "He's been as okay as one can expect." She replied. "He's been clinging to the fact no one found your body." The Hale girl moved to grab a rag, handing it to the blonde. "You wash up. I'll get your hair."
Erica gave a scoff like sound. "I would have been dead if I had moved before I did. The bitch stood guard for an hour or so." She explained, there was a clear note of distaste in her voice as she spoke, her eyes flashing gold for a moment as she clenched a hand. "Getting out of the bank wasn't fun. And hiding while trying to find Derek, to get Boyd out of there before they went after him the way they did me? Pure hell." She frowned a little and took the rag, just scrubbing at her skin without soap for the moment. She just wanted the dirt off. The soap could come later. She didn't blink as Cora turned on the showerhead and pulled it down, soaking blonde curls in hot water. "How are you?"
The female had put shampoo in Erica's hair when she was asked the question. For a minute, Cora could only sit still. Nothing was great yet, but it was better. Perhaps tense and a little awkward getting used to the growing numbers, but it was relaxing to have security. She gave a small shrug and moved to lather the shampoo into Erica's hair. "I'm alright. Isaac and I are…close."
Erica laughed a little as she moved to grab the bottle of bath wash, pouring some onto the rag and beginning to lather her upper body. "Close as in friends or close as in could be a couple?"
"Shh," Cora sounded like a fourth grader with a secret. "I'm pretty sure Derek might be suspicious or he flat out knows and won't say anything, but yes, we're together." She gave a smile. "Once they get back, you'll have fresh clothes and all that jazz. I can set you up a pallet, since we don't have many beds, if you didn't notice."
"Just the one, which I'm assuming no one uses because Stiles always has it?"
Cora arched a brow as she scrubbed her fingers along Erica's scalp. "How familiar are you with these guys?" her voice was light and a smile was in the sound as the other female laughed a little.
Erica gave a shrug. "Not completely, but I can observe a great deal. Like how your brother seems standoffish but wants to be close to the hyperactive human?"
"Hey, Stiles is an okay kid. He just…doesn't think before he speaks." Cora sad, seeming a little unsure.
"And he usually doesn't think past the end of a formed plan."
"That too," Cora laughed as she turned the water back on to rinse Erica's hair. When all the suds were gone and the blonde hair was actually blonde, Cora moved to dry her hands. "Do you need more help?"
Erica shook her head. "I think I'm okay, Cora." She said. Her eyes found Cora's and a slight smile touched her lips. "Thanks. I'll call if I need anything." She watched as Cora pulled out a couple of towels and set them on the back of the toilet.
"I'll be right outside." Cora agreed.
-Across Town-
"So is that why you left together?" Isaac asked as they climbed the tree beside Erica's house and slid open the window.
Boyd was in the room first straightening his jacket and nodding. "Yeah. I couldn't let her go alone." He explained. He looked around the room. So this is where Erica had grown up. He paused and took a slow breath. The girl's scent was still heavily embedded in the room, perhaps a little stale from her leaving, but still present. Turning from the bed, he moved to grab the girl's backpack, which lay empty as her books were stacked on the desk. Isaac was gathering up some clothes from the closet, and Boyd grabbed a few more…personal items, as he explained. "You know how Derek said we'd naturally want to protect each other?" he asked, not looking up as they stuffed the clothes into the backpack.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It was stronger with Erica. The entire time Gerard had us hooked up to those batteries of current, I wasn't nearly as concerned about giving up Derek as I was whether Erica was okay." He explained. "We were losing, and leaving was our only option. When Allison's dad let us go, we ran." He paused, his eyes going gold for a moment, trapped in the memory of the preserve when the Alphas had snagged them without Derek's knowledge. "We didn't care where we went. As long as we were together." His eyes blinked, golden hues turning back to their dark color as he looked up at Isaac, who had placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay," Isaac explained. "She's alive, and she's here. You don't have to feel bad anymore, Boyd. I promise." A slight smile curved the other wolf's lips before both boys were startled by the door opening downstairs. "That's not good." He said. He went back to the window and pulled it open, jumping to the tree with ease and turning back. Boyd was right behind him, tossing the closed backpack at him. He almost dropped it, but his hand caught the strap and he moved back to let Boyd onto the limb beside Erica's room. The other male pulled himself out and turned to close the window back, sliding into the tree and shadows with Isaac. They stayed put for a little bit, waiting for the house to settle. And then, as quietly as they had snuck in, they were gone, heading back towards the loft and safety and home.