A peaceful night's sleep has never been something to come easily to Isaac; each time he would close his eyes and give himself over to it, his mind would be filled with dark memories of a childhood lost - of broken dish ware, freezers, and raised voices. Tonight in particular was quite bad. They had arrived home from the cancelled meet around supper time and the images dredged up from the dark recesses of his mind by the wolfsbane the night before was still fresh; he had been expecting a more intense than usual nightmare tonight, but there was still part of him that hoped that he wouldn't.

'Grab the chains and get in'.

No, no, no, no, no... he can't. His father's voice booms in his ears, ordering him into freezer in front of him; the lid swings shut and the wall are closing in on him in the dark. The air is thin and his breathing is quick - he can't get enough air. It's not a freezer - it's a coffin. He's going to die. The walls are crushing him. He's going to die and be lowered into the ground with all the other dead bodies in the cemetery that he used to manage; an even smaller space in the ground - even more weight behind the heavy walls.

He's going to die.

"Isaac".

He's going to die in this place.

"Isaac!"

This dead space.

"ISAAC!"

Yellow-eyed and snarling, he wakes with a start. Scott's face is above him calling his name with a tight grip on his shoulders, anchoring him to the world; Scott's voice washes over him and chases the dark back into its cage. His fangs retreat and his eyes revert back to their usual colour, but his breathing remains ragged.

"Scott?"

"Are you alright?" Scott inquires, loosening his grip on Isaac's shoulders, but not removing them. He waits until Isaac's breath levels out enough for him to answer.

"I will be," Isaac returns finally after several long beats of silence; he can't bring himself to tell Scott that he will never be truly 'alright', but that's something that he suspects Scott's already aware of. "I just need a moment... Thanks. I'm-I'm sorry that I woke you."

"Dude, you know that it's okay."

They're silent after that and Scott leans away from him to release his shoulders and sit somewhat stiffly on the edge of the bed, staring at a small chip in the paint of the beside table. Neither one of them needs to comment on the cause of Isaac's night terror, on the wolf's bane and hallucinations; Scott looks just as tired as Isaac feels, but just having the other boy there relaxes some of the tension from Isaac's body. He tenses a bit again when Scott stands up to leave and causes the other boy to glance back with a reassuring quirk of his lips.

"I'll be right back." And his is; Isaac can hear the softly thumping of Scott's heart in the hallway as he makes his way to his room and back. The minute it takes for Scott to make the trip feels like forever before he's back in the doorway, toting a pillow beneath his arm.

"Scott?"

"Move over. I'll stay here tonight-it'll be easier," He says as he makes his way over the the side of the bed, nudging a slightly stunned Isaac over to the other side before sliding in. "I don't want to sleep on the floor."

"You-you don't have to. I'll be alright." His unspoken, 'I'm used to it' hangs in the air and he hopes that Scott can't hear it, though he knows that he most likely does; Scott can hear almost everything, spoken or not, and it has nothing to do with his werewolf senses. He just cares that much. "Seriously, Scott. You'll probably sleep better in your own bed."

"I won't," The reply is quiet and a bit surprising. "I haven't been to sleep yet anyway."

His tone of voice stops Isaac's from protesting further. He knows that he wasn't the only one to be deeply effected by the events of the previous night and briefly recalls Stiles' explanation and recount of what happened after they found him under the bed. Scott still faintly smells of gasoline and it makes Isaac's heart clench painfully inside him.

"This way, you can wake me too if I need it."

He says nothing and nods slightly into his pillow, knowing the other boy can't see it. Scott takes his silence as acceptance and they settle into the quiet that becomes steadily more comfortable. Scott falls asleep first; his presence behind him on the other side on the mattress is surprisingly soothing, but it's his quiet, even breaths that allows Isaac follow him into slumber. Neither of them wake again until morning.

The next morning, Isaac wakes first. His breath catches at the feel of a warm body pressed up against his side, but relaxes when he catches Scott's scent and memories of the previous night flood back into his mind. All he can see is hair and it takes his sleep addled mind a moment to realize that his face is pressed up into Scott's neck. He remains there for several minutes. He feels safe here; he's not sure why (he's never been particularly comfortable with others touching him) but with Scott it feels good - normal, even - and he's not sure if that's something that he's quite ready to dwell on yet.

Slowly, he extracts himself from the other werewolf when the need for the toilet becomes too strong. There are a lot of things that he's not sure of, but as he makes his way down the hall to the washroom, he thinks that there are a couple things that he is; he trusts Scott-he trusts him, and he hasn't slept that well in years.

This continues for several weeks. There's a silent agreement between them and if Scott's mom takes any notice in their change of sleeping arrangements, she doesn't bring it up. Gradually, Isaac beings to forget to fear the night; the voice of his father has retreated securely back into the confides of his mind, kept there by Scott's presence in the bed. It's not until one evening late in the winter, that he's reminded of how it feels to be so afraid.

It's approximately one am when he falls asleep and Scott was still over at Stiles' house working on some project or another for their English class. Melissa was working the night shift at the hospital, so Isaac busied himself with some pizza and a movie on the couch. Looking back, the horror movie was probably a poor choice; it filled his half-awake mind with the sounds of windows breaking and terrified screams.

'Are you not hearing me, son? I said get in the damn freezer!'

"ISAAC!"

He's awake, panting and half-transformed, but awake. Scott's concerned face is too close but it's chasing the voice away and he can again feel reality settle upon him. He glances quickly down at the couch cushion in his arms, his claws have ripped into it and there's stuffing floating around on the floor; he's going to owe them a new one later.

"Isaac?"

He looks back up Scott. His concern is written all over his face and Isaac still feels confusion for it. It's not like his father's abuse occurred over night. It's not like some people didn't know that it was happening, but no one made an attempt to stop it. After Camden was gone, there was no one to step in, no one who cared for Isaac. No one -except for Scott, it makes his chest hurt.

Scott was crouched in front of him, watching Isaac's breath start to even out and waiting for an answer. The crease in his eyebrows made Isaac want to smooth it out with his thumb and after a heartbeat, he does. Reaching up to the wolf above him, he slides his thumb along the crease; Scott relaxes the muscles, but the question remains in his eyes. The hand slides down and around the back of his neck, and after a moment's hesitation, he pulls the other boy down. Isaac can feel Scott immediately tense the second their lips touch and a different type of panic flairs up in his mind, but is quickly dispelled after the boy's shock wears off and he can feel the gentle return of pressure. They spend the next few minutes kissing quietly. When they surface for air, Isaac presses their foreheads together and breathes deeply.

"I'll be okay," He answers finally. "It'll be okay."

And he means it.