Whatcha need to know: AU set sometime between seasons 3B and 4. Neither Allison nor Aiden died in the battle with the nogitsune (although the twins have since run off), Isaac hasn't disappeared mysteriously and Jackson's back.

Pack tentatively consists of Alpha Derek, Betas Scott, Isaac, and Jackson; honorary members Stiles, Allison, Kira and Lydia. Peter exists but is plotting elsewhere, I'm sure. Slow burn Sterek with offpairings – Jackson/Lydia, Scott/Kira, Scott/Allison, Isaac/Allison

Reviews are what make me write faster, so drop me a line with your thoughts. Love!

Croatoan

Chapter 1: The Cabin in the Woods

"This sucks." Scott whined. Stiles grit his teeth and gripped the steering wheel a little harder, trying valiantly to resist the urge to pull a Derek and smash his best friend's head against the dashboard. They were on their way to a calm, relaxing getaway with all their friends; a well deserved respite from all the mayhem and madness that consumed every waking moment of their lives. All of them had been through the ringer the past few years; no one had escaped their fair share of tragedy. Stiles himself was still trying to shake the nightmares from his round with the mummyman that mind fucked him; and as usual, Scott was bemoaning his ever-so-tragic love life.

Stiles turned the radio up, wishing to god someone had volunteered to carpool with them to save him the constant agony of playing therapist to the seemingly never-ending torrent of drama his best friend seemed to generate. When they'd all set off, Kira had been steps, mere steps away from hopping in his backseat before Lydia dragged her and Allison to Jackson's sleek sports car; Isaac rushing to the passenger door of Derek's camaro, giving Scott a wide berth.

"Man, this sucks."

"Oh, my god. You know what sucks? Having to listen to you. This sucks."

Scott slumped in the seat, Stiles wished his seat belt would choke him. "Man, what do I do? I'm so dead. There is no way I'm lasting this week."

Stiles shook his head, throwing a hand up in exasperation, "How is this a bad thing? You and Allison broke up ages ago. It can't still be awkward." he glanced over at Scott's stony face, correcting himself. "Okay, maybe it can. But I mean she's been hanging around Isaac constantly, it's not like she can say anything about you and Kira, right?"

"Yeah," Scott ran a hand through his hair, looking out the window. Stiles glanced at him, recognizing his sad puppy eyes in the reflection, smacking him in the shoulder.

"Hey hey hey, what'd you do."

"I didn't do anything!" Scott protested, tilting his head slightly as he relented, "I mean, I, I didn't mean to do anything. It's just uh, I don't know, it was just really late. And I didn't think, and I-"

"Slow down buddy, spluttering incoherently is my thing. Just tell me what happened."

Scott sighed and hung his head, cheeks growing red. "Isaac came home late last night, I was already sleeping. He woke me up, and he smelt like Allison and I wasn't really awake yet, you know? And uh." he trailed off, Stiles raised his eyebrows at him.

"What? Don't tell me you threw him at a wall again." One look at his guilty expression was all he needed. Stiles threw his head back and groaned in frustration. "Man! We're supposed to be going on this vacation to get away from all the crap we got going on at home, and you gotta assault your were-brother before we even get in the car?"

"It's not like I meant to, Stiles." Scott muttered insolently, sitting back in his seat in a huff. He rolled his eyes at him.

"Dude, I thought you were over this. You and Allison were being nice at each other, you and Kira are all lovey-dovey; what the hell?"

Scott groaned. "I know."

"So I'll ask again. What. The hell."

"I don't know! I mean yeah, me and Allison are friends and stuff, and yeah, I really like Kira, I mean, I really, really like Kira.. It's just, I don't know, it's like I can't let it go; it's like she was mine, and he took her from me. Even if I don't want to be with her anymore, I just. I don't want him to be with her."

"Is this like a weird pack thing? Did you do some sort of wolfy mating ritual while you guys were doing the nasty?" Stiles asked, following Derek's camaro down an off-ramp from the highway, Jackson's car tailing his jeep. Scott sighed heavily.

"I think it's just a normal teenage jealousy thing."

Stiles' eyes unconsciously flicked to the silver porsche in his rearview mirror, Jackson's smug asshole face in the driver's seat with a beautiful banshee riding shotgun. Jealousy was something Stiles knew plenty about.

"You got nothing to be jealous of man, Kira's awesome. Like, really awesome. And her father's pretty cool, instead of one that's trying to murder you half the time."

He glanced over at his best friend, who was now glancing at the car behind them around the seat suspiciously, eyebrows drawn together in concern. "I don't like them both back there." he said, voice tight. "Having your ex-girlfriend and current kinda-girlfriend hanging out together is never, ever a good thing."

Stiles patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, don't worry buddy. I'm sure Jackson's presence alone will make it a sufficiently uncomfortable and awkward roadtrip."

"Yeah, and what about for the week?" he asked, turning back around, "What if they bond or something and become best friends? They'd gang up against me."

"Yeah, I can't see that happening. Allison isn't the friendliest person on the planet, if you hadn't noticed."

Scott didn't respond, Stiles glanced over at him, making a disgusted noise at the dreamy, faraway look on his face. "You're thinking about them ganging up on you in a sexy way, aren't you." he said accusingly; Scott snapped out of it and gave him a shocked look, opening his mouth to argue. "Don't bother," he held up a hand, "As a severely sex deprived individual, I can twist any situation into an erotic fantasy. The other day, coach was saying-" Scott cut him off abruptly, trying not to laugh.

"Oh god, stop. I really, really don't want to know."

Stiles snapped his mouth shut, shooting him a glare. "Okay, maybe fantasy was the wrong word-"

"Just stop." Scott shook his head, looking out the window; Stiles saw his smile in his reflection, smirking to himself in satisfaction. Now that Scott wasn't incessantly bemoaning his life, maybe he could start enjoying this trip.

Four hours later they reached their destination. They'd started north on the highway out of Beacon Hills then headed east towards the country, past roaming farmlands and through small, rugged towns. They'd turned down a road heading into the forest, following it through the uneven terrain, delving deeper and deeper into the vast expanse of thick woods. Just before they'd gotten to the house the trees had opened up to reveal a spectacular lake, a small waterfall churning up the waters and creating a sheen of fog hovering above the water's surface, shimmering in the afternoon light. A little further and their journey had finally come to an end, which Stiles' bladder was immensely grateful for. They'd reached a jumbo-sized cabin; a massive two story log structure with a window seat to the left of the door and two small balconies with wooden rails on the second floor to the right.

The dirt driveway circled by the front door, Derek pulled the camaro up past the house and parked close to the street; Stiles drove into the grass beside him, almost hitting Isaac as he shot out of the car. The porsche pulled up behind Derek; Jackson was already parked and glaring at him by the time he'd hopped out of the jeep.

"Really Stilinski? You're already defacing my family's property." he snapped, Lydia got out of the passenger seat and shook her hair back, sending him a pointed look.

"Jackson," she sang at him, dimples in her cheeks and eyelashes fluttering, "We're here to enjoy ourselves, remember?"

Jackson worked his jaw and slammed his door shut; Kira and Allison got out of the car, both looking very ill at ease. Scott rounded the front of the jeep to stand by him, he nodded at the girls and swatted his chest with the back of his hand.

"See? What'd I tell ya. Probably the most uncomfortable ride of the century."

Scott shot him a look and pushed past him, wrenching open the door to his backseat, retrieving their backpacks. He tossed his backpack at him and jogged over to greet Kira, a relieved smile spreading on her face as she took his hand; while Lydia linked her arm with Allison's as they made their way towards the door.

Stiles slung his overstuffed bag over his shoulder and approached Isaac, leaning against the back of the jeep. "Hey man, how was the ride?"

He lifted his head, squinting against the sun. "It was fine. Little quiet, he wouldn't turn on the radio. We made pretty good time, right?"

"Yeah, Derek averages a good twenty over the speed limit, he's tough to follow. Didn't Jackson say it was like a six hour trip?"

Isaac nodded, pushing his hands in his pockets. "I think so. Guess there's usually more traffic or something, I think I saw five cars the whole time."

Derek got out of the car behind them and slammed the door, rounding the back to approach them, tossing a duffel bag at Isaac roughly. "Your bag."

Isaac caught it as it impacted his stomach, "Thanks."

"So, you excited to hang out with your favorite teenagers?" Stiles slapped Derek on the shoulder with a grin; Derek looked at his hand and back up at him sharply, mouth clenched tight as hazel eyes narrowed at him.

"Thrilled." his teeth flashed as he spoke, Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat and snatched his hand back. Derek glanced at Isaac and turned to the house, hefting a black bag over his shoulder. Stiles watched him walk towards the door for a moment, then turned back to Isaac.

"If he doesn't want to be here, why did he even come?"

Isaac pushed off the jeep and headed after him, "Scott talked him into it. He thought it'd be a good idea if the pack bonded." he drawled, Stiles could practically hear the quotation marks around the last word. "But Jackson's aunt wouldn't let us stay here without a chaperone or something, so now it really is a family affair."

"Oh yeah, because the guy with an extensive history of being suspected for murder and arriving at hospitals with bloodied minors is exactly who I'd want chaperoning."

Isaac snorted, slowing slightly as they approached the front door, Scott and Kira visible in the entryway. Stiles glanced at him, nudging him with his elbow. "Scott told me about this morning. You guys gonna be okay this trip?"

He shrugged, "I hope so. I keep thinking things are alright, and I guess they kinda are.. Except sometimes they're not. You know?"

Stiles wandered towards the door, Jackson bustling past him with an armful of bags. "I think that's about as good as it gets for us, buddy." he said over his shoulder as he walked inside; taken aback at how large the house was.

The living room had cathedral ceilings and a delicate silver chandelier over the large fireplace, a large tv centered above the mantle and tall bookshelves flanking it. Matching couches and chairs with thick, green cushions were scattered throughout the space; fringed persian throw rugs dotting gleaming mahogany floors. The wall opposite the window seat was all glass; revealing a medium sized pool and hot tub on the other side, a sliding glass door to the kitchen on the right. An elaborate dining room was to the right past the large staircase in front of them, Jackson approached them and dumped his armful of bags at the base of the steps.

"Jackson! My jewelery box is in there!" Lydia gasped, her mouth dropping open; he stared at her in disbelief.

"Who brings a jewelery box for a week in a cabin?"

She turned her back on him, putting a hand on Allison's arm. "We should go claim rooms." she looked over her shoulder at Jackson expectantly, wide green eyes flicking to the bags on the floor and back to him. "Jackson?"

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and led Allison up the stairs; Jackson shook with fury, stalking forward and snatching up the bags he'd just dropped, stomping after them. Stiles laughed despite himself, tossing his bag by the stairs and crossing over to a couch and flopping back on it. The cushions were like marshmallows, he sank into them with a wide smile, lacing his fingers behind his head and putting his feet up.

"I'd take off your shoes, or Jackson's gonna kill you." Scott warned, Stiles ignored him.

"He's probably gonna kill me anyway, one way or another. You know what I could use? A silk smoking jacket and a thick cigar. Maybe some bunny slippers."

"You don't even smoke."

"I need a drink." Derek muttered, heading towards the dining room. Scott cocked his head at him in bewilderment, furrowing his brow.

"Wait, I thought werewolves couldn't get drunk."

Derek smirked at him, "And where'd you hear that?"

"Well, Deaton said-"

"Deaton isn't a werewolf. You can get drunk." he said, disappearing around the corner, "Just not on a full moon." he called.

"Shit, now you tell me?"

Stiles snickered to himself, imagining a bunch of drunk werewolves trying to fight each other on a full moon, crashing through the woods of Beacon Hills. Isaac wandered further into the living room, sitting in a chair beside Stiles' couch, dropping his duffel at his feet.

"Hope no one wolfs out here," he looked around at the extravagant furnishings, "Everything looks crazy expensive."

Kira looked up at Scott and tugged at his hand, "C'mon, let's go see what the rooms look like." Scott gave her a warm, lopsided smile; nodding to them before heading upstairs.

"If I held Allison's hand like that, he'd probably throw me through that window." Isaac said quietly after they were out of earshot, Stiles snorted.

"Probably."

There was about five seconds of silence before Jackson's voice echoed down the stairwell.

"Lydia, I swear to god! All the rooms are exactly the same!"

Stiles shut his eyes and hummed the theme song to star wars to drown them out with a smile on his face. He had just been through the emotional, mental and physical ringer after his encounter with the nogitsune; he wasn't going to let a single thing get to him.

No matter how self-centered or grumpy his friends were this vacation; he was going to have a good time even if it killed him.

And there we have it, first of well, lots to be honest. I'm all about the slow burn because tension is magic and I have a whole bunch of crazy ideas that will wind the gang up in a semi post-apocalyptic wasteland.. The muse has struck and I've got plenty of material; if this gets any interest I'll have no choice but to get this rolling. I'm open to all feedback :) Love!