This story is set sometime before they know who the Alpha is. It contains an original character, and out of character moments for some characters though I'll try to stay true to their personalities.

Be a good egg and review.

Darcy Stilinski turned the radio down, as if that would help her see the road signs better. She squinted through her glasses, but it did no good. She probably had the worst night vision in history. She turned into the closest gas station she could find and twisted around in her seat, trying to relieve her aching back before she stepped out of the car. She stood and stretched. The last twenty miles of her 1,900 mile trek were proving to be the hardest. Probably because the backseat of a laughably small hatchback Chevy Aveo wasn't the best bed, especially in her condition.

She walked inside the gas station and went to the women's room and studied herself in the mirror. She pulled her hair into two pigtail braids, hoping that would distract from the grunginess of a skipped wash. She took her glasses off and hooked them in the collar of her shirt as she quickly washed her face. Returning her glasses to their proper place and smeared on some lip balm before she examined herself again.

"Not bad," she muttered to herself. She tugged at her shirt and the faces two members of The Beatles were further contorted by her pregnant belly. She felt huge for twenty weeks and knew that it would only get worse. She pulled at the waistband of her jeans, which had been jury rigged with a hair tie to make them fit but were still tight enough to leave little red grooves in her skin.

She quickly decided that she'd had enough of that and stepped out to look at the food selection. The suspicious looking hot dogs made her stomach turn and she retreated to a cooler filled with sandwiches in little triangular wedge containers. They were a bit more expensive than she'd expected, but she'd always believed that one could not put a price on tuna salad.

She loaded her arms with candy bars and put a bottle of water under her chin. She dropped her loot on the checkout counter and paid with a handful of bills and change from the bottom of her purse.

Once she had settled in her car and devoured her sandwich she decided that she could no longer avoid calling the California branch of the Stilinski clan. She decided that her cousin was a much less intimidating option than her uncle and dialed his number quickly.

"Hello?" Stiles said.

"I'm coming to visit. Is your dad home?"

"No. When are you coming?"

"I'll be there in about half an hour," she said.

"What? Darcy, it's the middle of the night. You shouldn't be…how did you even…what the hell is going on?"

"I'm in a bit of…trouble," she said.

"Little miss perfect, future doctor, pride of the family is in trouble?"

"Jealous much?" Darcy teased. "Be a good cousin and say I can come over."

"Of course you can."

Darcy heard a male voice in the background. There was a muffled conversation on the other end of the line. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked. "Stiles, are you with a boy?" She could practically hear him blush.

"Shut up, Darcy. For the last time I asked your hairdresser if he thought I was attractive, I never said I thought he was. I am not attracted to men." Stiles realized that he'd been very close to shouting and lowered his voice to say, "Quit being annoying and get your butt over here already."

"Wow, Stiles, I feel the love," she said.

"Just hurry, Darcy. There's…there's some sort of animal that's been attacking people lately."

"I'm on my way," she replied, starting her little car's engine to prove her point.

"Be careful," he said.

"I will…I will," she said as she hung up. Whatever animal was running around must have been pretty serious to have Stiles acting so concerned.

She arrived exactly half an hour later. Stiles was waiting for her in the drive way. She grabbed her purse and shielded her stomach with it, not quite ready yet to explain herself.

"What the hell, Darcy?" Stiles greeted her, giving her a quick hug from the side as he passed on his way to start unloading her belongings.

"I thought you had a friend over," she said, not wanting to elaborate yet on why she was there.

"He had to leave. Am I gonna get an explanation?"

"Eventually," Darcy said, reaching in her car for something light to carry inside.

"Not that I'm trying to rush you, but how soon can I expect eventually to be."

"Not right now, Stiles."

"Just checking." Stiles awkwardly swung the front door open and carried Darcy's suitcases to the guest bedroom. Darcy set down the drawstring backpack of her toiletries, but kept her purse clutched in front of her.

"Well?" he said.

"Not ready to say yet."

"Fine."

They stood in silence for a moment. "So…do you still play lacrosse?"

"Yeah, I'm still as bad as always."

"Maybe I could come to one of your games." She shifted uncomfortably.

Stiles cocked an eyebrow. "How long do you plan on staying here?"

"A while," she replied.

"Darcy…" Stiles said her name slowly. "Put down your purse for a minute."

Darcy felt like there was ice in her throat.

"Turn to the side," Stiles instructed.

She did.

"Please tell me you're smuggling a melon…"

Darcy sat on the bed. "I'm pregnant," she said, her voice hoarse.

"How did that happen? Well, I mean I know how it happened and…ew…but I mean…well, explain yourself."

Darcy took a deep breath. "There was a harvest moon and it's a hometown tradition for all the teenagers to go party around a bonfire for that. I just decided to go because…I don't know, I thought it would be fun or maybe I was just having a bad day. I was about to leave, when this guy shows up…and it just all sort of happened from there."

"So…" Stiles said, adding a low whistle. "After that?"

"I went home. I didn't even think about it again until I started getting sick and then I skipped my…"

"Ew," Stiles added.

She smiled at her cousin before she continued. "Anyway, so I did the at home test to confirm it, but I already knew. I went to a free clinic and they confirmed it again with a blood test… They did an ultrasound for me and I was about six weeks along then. I never went back because they told me I had to have a parent with me. I was able to hide it for a long time, but eventually…I just outgrew everything…"

"Yeah, I can imagine Aunt Claire didn't take it too well."

"She kindly gave me ten minutes to pack up and get out and informed me that I was no longer welcome."

"Wow, Darcy…you are in trouble aren't you?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I figured that coming here would be my best shot."

"Did you try to find the guy?"

"I did, but there wasn't much for me to go on. I wasn't drunk at all but for some reason a lot of that night is just fuzzy to me and no one else that was there claims to have seen him." She yawned.

"Get some rest, Darcy. It's like four in the morning in Texas."

"Thank you, Stiles," she said.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Stiles went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and was startled, as always, by Derek's sudden appearance.

"You know, home invasion is rude," Stiles snapped.

"Who is that girl?" Derek demanded.

"That's my cousin."

"Where is she from? Why is she here?"

"She's…wait a minute. Why are you grilling me about my cousin?"

"Answer me."

Stiles mustered up all his courage. "No, Derek. You answer me first."

"She smells…different."