"Danny, we need to talk," Ms. Morrell said as she clasped her hands together and set them on her desk. Scott stood behind her, peering over her shoulder and reading Danny's file. Danny felt his right eye begin to twitch. "You've been, well, not a model student, but a relatively good kid since you started Junior High. Which is why your actions yesterday have me concerned."
"You, my mother, my friends..." Danny started before realizing he wasn't supposed to be speaking.
"This is serious, Danny," she said with a dour voice. "You really upset a lot of your fellow students. Why would you be shouting that you saw Scott?"
Crossing his arms and staring at the other boy, Danny shrugged. "Like I told the teacher, it was just a case of mistaken identity."
"Do you expect me to believe that?" Morrell asked as she looked over her shoulder, staring right at Scott's midsection. The boy stepped back, but said nothing.
"Do I look like I care?" Danny usually wasn't this dismissive of authority figures, but it was better than having everyone think him crazy. He still wasn't sure he wasn't crazy.
Looking back to Danny, the guidance counsellor was clearly unhappy. She didn't even try to smile. "I'm going to recommend a three day suspension, Danny. You haven't been remorseful at all. It was a very cruel idea of a prank."
"Three days?! But nobody got hurt! It wasn't that serious," Danny objected, biting his tongue to keep from yelling at Scott. "This is so unfair."
"Talk to Melissa McCall about unfair. She's the one who had to bury her son."
Again, Danny let his eyes flick to Scott. "So, when does my suspension start?"
Scott mouthed an apology to Danny, but didn't receive a reply. Danny just rolled his eyes.
"Why are you acting like this?" Morrell asked Danny with a disappointed sigh. "I've never had to have you in here before for disciplinary action, Danny. Were you and Scott close? I talked to Coach Finstock and he seemed to think that the two of you were involved. Is that why you're acting out?"
The look on Scott's face made Danny burst out laughing. Ms. Morrell was not impressed. When he managed to calm himself, Danny assured her that they were teammates and nothing more. "Scott was straight and not my type."
"Why aren't I your type? What's wrong with me?" Scott inquired, offence in his voice. Danny continued to ignore his presence.
"I can see this is going nowhere. You can go back to class. Your parents will be receiving a phone call letting them know your punishment."
With nothing to say, Danny left the office with Scott hot on his heels. He was mad, and didn't want to listen to Scott's repeated and rushed apologies.
"Just let it go," Danny ordered as soon as he was sure nobody was around. He remembered he was supposed to be in Physics class, but decided he didn't want to run of the risk of Stiles seeing him again. The memory of his hyperactive classmate screaming in his face wasn't one he wanted to revisit. Also, Allison had gotten really, really scary since Scott died.
"But I really am sorry," Scott insisted as Danny did his best to quietly open the basement boiler room door and slip inside unseen. "Listen, I know this is weird for you, but imagine how weird it is for me. I'm a freaking ghost!"
"Or I'm insane. Let us not forget the insanity. Because there is no way that ghosts, and werewolves, hunters, druids, vampires, and everything else exists," Danny yelled now that he wasn't afraid of being overheard. "Also, you still haven't explained why you're haunting me of all people."
"There isn't a guide to this. I tried talking to Stiles and Allison and even my boss Deaton and not a one of them was even aware I existed. You are the only one. Literally."
Danny grabbed one of the folding metal chairs that were stored in the basement and sat on it, face buried in his hands. "And now that you have someone you can talk to, I can't talk to anyone about it. Why, again, can't I tell your friends that you're haunting me even though they know that you were a freaking werewolf?"
"Because the last thing I want to do is make you a target."
"Oh, right, because Peter Hale, some guy I've never even met, killed you to steal your Alpha powers or something. And I still don't know why I'm not supposed to tell them. You said they killed him before."
"Yeah, and he came back from the dead looking better than he did before."
"I still think I'm crazy. Except, if I were crazy, I wouldn't be hallucinating you. It'd be, like, Ethan or something."
"You would rather have Ethan, your ex-boyfriend the murderer, than me?"
Danny's eyes bugged out of his head. "What?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you? I forgot that I didn't tell you. There were a lot of things I still haven't told you. Yeah, Ethan and Aiden are werewolves. Alphas, like I was, but they were bad guys and killed Boyd and other people. Almost killed me a few times."
"If Ethan were a sociopath murderer type, why the hell wouldn't you tell me? Did you guys know Matt was a serial killer, too?" Danny was not happy. He hadn't been happy once since he saw Scott McCall's ghost and everyone in town started hating him, but this unhappiness was different. This was betrayal. And if it weren't for the fact that Danny was talking to Scott's ghost, he probably wouldn't even entertain the thought that Ethan was killer. A jerk who left town without even bothering to dump him, yes, but a murderer? And a werewolf on top of that? It was lunacy.
"Stiles would argue differently, but nobody knew about Matt. He was a real sociopath. Ethan... we were trying to protect you from Ethan. If you didn't know, he ideally wouldn't have a reason to hurt you." Scott sat on the floor and looked up into Danny's face. "I know it's a lot to deal with. Hell, I could barely process it while I was alive. And if it weren't for being able to talk to you, I'd probably go mad."
"I'm still not convinced I'm not going mad," Danny argued. Really, insanity was the most logical choice Danny had.
"Danny, if you think about what I told you, and everything that's happened in the last year or so, then you'll see that it all makes sense. Maybe we shouldn't have, but we all agreed to keep you in the dark. It kept you safe."
"Except for the kaminal thing," Danny pointed out. "You know, when Jackson turned into that lizard thing and paralysed me?"
"Kanima," Scott corrected without blinking. "We were trying to maintain a low profile."
"You and Stiles were in a gay club where people were getting randomly paralysed. Does any part of that say low profile to you, Scott? You were like a big, heterosexual sore thumb."
"What about Stiles?" Scott objected.
"Nobody really knows what Stiles is," Danny said thoughtfully. "Anyway, you still waited until after you died to even tell me why you were there."
"Like you're perfect," Scott huffed as he crossed his arms. Danny still had trouble reconciling that Scott was a ghost and that they were discussing werewolves and lizard assassins.
"Do you even have an inkling of an idea why you're here?" Danny asked even though he'd already asked Scott the question at least a dozen times before. He had made sure to phrase it differently, but still, he was being haunted and wanted to know the exact reason why.
"You know this, Danny. I was murdered. A lot of ghosts are the spirits of people who died violently. I'm shocked Beacon Hills doesn't have more ghosts, to be honest."
"And we have to avenge your death so that your spirit can move on to Heaven or whatever." Danny hadn't been one for religion, but the whole hidden supernatural world around him suddenly becoming blindingly obvious had him reconsidering his agnosticism. "So do we just kill the dude that killed you and that's it?"
"Peter Hale," Scott said darkly as he looked away from Danny.
"Right, we kill Peter Hale and all is said and done? Then let me tell your ex-girlfriend, the werewolf hunter. I mean, her family killed them for centuries and this Peter guy is one so I don't see the problem."
"The problem is that Peter came back from the dead, and I'm selfish enough to want to the same," Scott whispered in a broken voice. Danny barely heard him, but he felt his anger begin to wane. "If Peter dies before we learn how to bring me back, then I'm dead forever Danny. And being dead sucks. I can't talk to people. I can't touch anything. I can't eat or sleep, so I'm always thinking. And since I can remember the moment of my death, I think about that more than is probably healthy."
"Scott, I'm sorry, but if you do come back, how are you going to explain your miraculous return?" Danny genuinely felt sorry for Scott. They weren't close friends or anything, but he couldn't imagine what Scott and going through. He hoped he never had to experience it. "You had a funeral, Scott."
"I know. I was there," Scott replied, no longer whispering but still speaking softly and in a raw voice. Then he screamed at the top of his voice, and Danny had to cover his ears. When Scott was done, he moved on to crying. Danny very much wanted to hold him and tell him it would be okay, but he knew he couldn't. He didn't even try.
Changing the topic, Danny probed Scott about just how Peter came back. "Didn't you say Lydia was involved? Can't I just tell her about you?"
"I don't want anyone else involved in this, Danny," Scott reasoned as he wiped his eyes and tried to steady his voice. "Ideally, you wouldn't be, but I can't do anything myself. And Peter is dangerous. He was dangerous even before he killed me and took my power. He's already done enough to Lydia."
"But it's okay for him to things to me?"
Before Scott could answer, the boiler room door creaked open. The sound of metal grinding on metal reverberated throughout the basement. Danny leapt from the chair and flattened himself against the nearest wall. Scott remained sitting on the floor, curiously craning his neck to see the intruder.
Lydia Martin stepped into the dim light, but Danny remained hidden in shadows.
"Great idea, Lydia," she chastised herself quietly. "Just run out of study hall when you hear and scream nobody else can and wander in the horribly lit basement.
Danny didn't think he'd been that loud, but he stepped into the light where Lydia could see him. He held up his hands so she could see that he was unharmed.
"Sorry, that was me," he said nervously as he searched for a lie. Scott just shrugged, not even offering to help. "Ms. Morrell just told me I was suspended and I needed to vent?"
The face Lydia made was the face someone made when they smelled something horrid. Danny flashed back to Stiles getting in his face and yelling at him.
"You're lucky I don't get to decide your punishment," Lydia warned.
"Sorry," Scott said uselessly to Danny.
"I don't need your fake apology," Lydia said at she crossed her arms and glared at Danny. "If you were sorry, you never would've ruined Scott's memorial."
Scott and Danny's jaws dropped open simultaneously. They looked at each other, then Danny jogged over to Lydia. He got close, but didn't touch her. "You heard that?"
"Get away from me," Lydia warned as she made a fist.
Danny leaned back and looked at Scott. "Say something else."
"Hi, Lydia?" Scott sounded nervous about the potential new development. He hadn't wanted Lydia involved, but it was happening whether he wanted it or not.
"Scott?" Lydia's jaw began to tremble as she looked around the basement. She focused on Danny again and pushed him. "This isn't funny, Danny. Do you have a recording playing or something?"
"She can hear you," Danny told Scott as he pointed as Lydia, but actions unnecessary. Then he looked back to Lydia. "Can't you see him?"
"What are you talking about?" Lydia looked to be on the verge of tears. "Danny, Scott is dead, and whatever it is you're doing isn't funny."
"I am dead, Lydia, but I'm right here." Scott stood between Danny and Lydia, but she kept looking around him. "Can't you see me?"
"No," Lydia said quietly as tears began to fall down her face. "Scott, I can't see you."
"Why can I see you but she can't?" Danny asked, echoing Lydia. He pulled her into his arms. Even if Danny couldn't comfort Scott, he could do it with Lydia.
"I don't know. Maybe it's because Lydia is a banshee? They're connected with the dead. But it doesn't explain why you can see me," Scott guessed.
"You're a banshee? What is a banshee?" Danny looked down at Lydia, but she was too busy crying to answer.
TW
"This is stupid," Danny whispered to Scott as he hung around outside the Stilinski home. The last time Danny had been here, they were lab partners in chemistry or something and Stiles was using his beefcake cousin, who was apparently actually Derek Hale, to bribe Danny into tracing a text message or something.
Scott stood next to Danny, hands nervously shoved into his pockets. It was weird to Danny how Scott's ghostly form was able to change outfits. To explain it away, Scott just said that he'd gotten bored when everyone else was asleep or whatever and was learning what all he could do as a ghost. And apparently changing his appearance was one of them.
Danny had asked why Scott couldn't change to better hair.
"If it's so stupid, why did you agree to do it? It's not like I can actually force you," Scott pointed out as they continued to wait.
"I wish I knew. I mean, I don't even like Stiles. He's just so... loud. And he flails a lot."
"And he's my best friend and in a lot of pain. And he hates you because of me, and I want to fix that," Scott added. "I can't get everyone to forgive you, and I won't even try, but this one I can do."
"Not Allison?" Danny wondered as he idly kicked at a bush.
"I don't even know how I feel, how I felt about Allison. So no, not Allison. Besides, I guess she's with Isaac now and somewhat happy and I don't want to ruin that."
Looking over to Scott, Danny crossed his arms. "But I'm the one she hates. And she's scary. Really scary."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Scott chuckled nervously.
"Quit apologizing," Danny groaned as he pointed at Scott. "I know you mean well, but I get the point. You're dead and you're sorry. I forgive you. Okay?"
"Thanks. I think," Scott offered. His face screwed up in confusion, but he let the conversation drop.
Stiles pulled into his driveway not long after the silence had settled over the yard. Nervous, Danny gulped. "Let me do all the talking," Scott ordered, sounding just as nervous as Danny felt.
"But he can't see or hear you," Danny reminded him. It was still a mystery to Danny why he was even here. He was letting Scott dictate too many aspects of his life. And Stiles really was annoying. He'd probably be even worse, no matter how this whole thing went out.
"You know what I meant," Scott grumbled, even though Danny truthfully didn't know what Scott meant.
After climbing out of the jeep and slamming the door hard enough to make Danny flinch and Scott take a step back, Stiles walked over to Danny. Danny realized his arms were still crossed and dropped them to avoid looking confrontational.
"Not to sound like a cliche, but what do you want?" Stiles spat angrily.
"To apologize. I was an ass the other day. I could make all kinds of excuses, but none of them would be true. Or completely true, at any rate," Danny looked over at Scott, who gave him a big thumbs up. It took everything Danny had not to roll his eyes. "I just feel bad."
"You should," Stiles agreed harshly. "Is there some reason I should know or care about you feeling bad?"
Danny couldn't come up with a reason. He looked over at Scott, who just shrugged in return. It was a good thing that he didn't let Scott do all the talking like he wanted. Scott was terrible at this.
"I know about werewolves," Danny offered weakly.
"Dude!" Scott screamed in Danny's ear, making him wince. "What part of low profile don't you understand?"
For his part, Stiles had the colour drain from his face. He backed away from Danny and nervously scratched the back of his neck.
"Everyone knows about werewolves, Danny. I mean, I never read it or watched the movies, but Twilight kind of had all kinds of werewolves. And vampires, I guess. Weren't the vampires the bigger deal? I don't know. I didn't read the books or watch the movies. But I told you that already."
"Ethan told me before he left town. I know Scott and Isaac are werewolves. And that Scott was an Alpha. I don't know how the whole things works," Danny lied, making up the approach as he went along. "It doesn't really have anything to do with my apology, but I was serious about that."
Scott stood in front of Danny and glowered. "This is exactly what I told you not to do."
"Shut up," Danny replied.
"I didn't say anything?" Stiles answered as the anger start to rush back into in cheeks in red splotches.
"I was talking to myself," Danny hastily added. "I'm talking about things that I barely know about, and you're probably an expert. And I was just wondering what happened to Scott's Alpha powers now that he's dead. I mean, I looked some stuff up online, but I don't really think that's the best resource."
Stiles laughed at that, and it got Danny to crack a smile. When Stiles saw it, though, he went back to frowning. "Listen, this doesn't concern you. Just go back to school. Or whatever else you do. It's better if you stay out of it."
"Doing that is next to impossible," Danny sighed as he stepped around Scott's disapproving glare. "It's kind of Scott's fault, since he's haunting me."
"LOW PROFILES!" Scott yelled angrily, clearly unhappy with Danny's decision to out him.
Jerking his head away from and then back to Danny, Stiles looked an interesting mix between sick and pissed off. "What?"
"Scott is dead, but he's also a ghost. And apparently I'm the only one who can see him. We don't know why." Danny blocked out Scott yelling angrily behind him. It was hard doing, but not impossible. "It why I freaked out. Sorry."
Shoulders drooping, Stiles walked away from Danny and to his house. After unlocking the front door, he turned back and looked at Danny. "Are you coming?"
"What do you think you're doing?" Scott hissed as Danny approached the house. "I thought we agreed not to get other people, people I care about involved?"
"No, we did not agree. You just decided that on your own," Danny informed Scott casually. He saw Stiles' broken face waiting in the doorway. "He's your best friend, Scott. You can't protect him forever."
"Is he here?" Stiles asked when Danny reached him. He suddenly looked small and frightened. "I mean, if I find out you're lying to me, I'll kill you. But I need to know."
Danny looked back at Scott, before looking forward again to Stiles. He nodded. "Yeah, he's here. And he's pissed off."
"Why?"
"Because you don't listen to reason," Scott scoffed angrily.
"He didn't want you to know. He wanted to protect you. And I'm pissing him off by telling you," Danny explained, making Stiles crack a grin.
"That sounds like Scott. Come on inside. I guess."
Danny stepped inside and Stiles stood with the door still open. He was waiting for Scott to come in, obviously, but Scott had just walked through Danny and was already waiting in the Stilinski family's dining room. It bugged Danny when Scott walked through him, because it was so cold, and Scott knew it. Which was probably why he did it.
"He's already inside. And you don't have to hold the door open for ghosts," Danny told Stiles. The other boy closed the door silently. "It's a part of being intangible, I guess."
"Oh," was all Stiles said as he led Danny upstairs. He assumed they were going to Stiles bedroom. Scott angrily stomped up after them.
Stiles' room hadn't changed much from the last time Danny was in it. Not that Danny remembered much about the visit beyond the half-naked werewolf changing shirts. So maybe it had completely changed and he just hadn't noticed.
"So..." Danny said as he sat on Stiles bed. Stiles opted to stand and Scott stood in the corner giving Danny dirty looks.
"So how do I know you're not lying? I mean, you say you're the only one who can see him," Stiles sighed as he looked in the complete opposite direction of Scott.
"He's over there," Danny noted helpfully at he pointed at Scott. "And he's still pissed."
"Scott, buddy, please tell me you're there and that Danny isn't just being a cruel asshole. Like, lift a mug or something. I've seen that Patrick Swayze movie. He did the thing with the penny for Demi Moore," Stiles pleaded rather pathetically. Danny felt horrible, like he was intruding on something private.
"He can't," Danny reminded Stiles. "He's intangible. He can't touch anything."
"I know that!" Stiles screamed at Danny before turning back and looking just to the left of Scott. "Come on, Man, just knock over a pen or something. For me."
"Tell him I'm ready to finally watch Star Wars," Scott muttered to Danny sadly when his hand kept going through the empty glass on Stiles' nightstand.
"He said he wants to watch... Wait, you haven't seen Star Wars? Who doesn't watch Star Wars?" Danny asked Scott incredulously.
"I know, right!" Stiles agreed before breaking his face open with a smile. "Scott!"
"Stiles," Scott replied with a smile of his own, even though he and Danny both knew that Stiles couldn't hear him.
"I miss you," Stiles told the air next to Scott, tears rolling down his face. "We all do, but you left me alone."
It was getting more and more awkward for Danny. He very much wanted to give Stiles and Scott some privacy, but he was Scott's mouthpiece.
"He loves you," Danny told Stiles even though Scott hadn't said it. He could just tell by the way they looked at each other. It was not dissimilar to how he and Jackson had been before Jackson found out about the adoption.
"Of course he does," Stiles sniffed and wiped his nose with his shirt sleeve. "He's my brother."
"Even though I don't want to be the asshole who interrupts this reunion," Danny said carefully, picking his words with precise care, "there is something else you should know."
"Danny, don't," Scott begged. He was ignored as Danny looked up at Stiles' bedroom ceiling. "You've already told him too much."
"He needs to know, Scott," Danny blinked, but stayed looking up so he couldn't see either boy. "Peter Hale is the one who killed him."
The sound of something crashing to the floor grabbed Danny's attention, and he looked over at Stiles who was pale and unharmed. Then he looked at Scott, who was staring at the alarm clock on the floor.
"I can touch things?" Scott murmured as he knelt next to the alarm clock and tried to pick it up. It didn't happen.
"Was that Scott?" Stiles asked Danny. "I thought you said he was intangible."
"I think it was," Danny answered. He hadn't seen it, so he couldn't be sure, and even Scott seemed confused by the development. "But whether or not it was Scott, we need your help, Stiles."
Stiles sat down in his computer chair, eyes still locked on the alarm clock and a huge grin on his face. "Whatever you guys need."
"We need to know how Peter came back. Lydia doesn't remember much," Danny told Stiles. "And I don't know anything about this werewolf stuff other than what Scott has told me."
"I thought you said Ethan told you," Stiles looked away from the clock and to Danny. He cocked his head curiously.
A shrug was Danny's first response. "I lied. Scott has been schooling me on this werewolf stuff, but half of what he says makes no sense."
"That's because Scott is an idiot. No offence," Stiles added as he looked back to the alarm clock.
"None taken," Scott smiled as he sat on the bed next to Danny. Danny shifted away from the cold sensation.
"How can you sit on things and the like but you can't pick up an alarm clock?" Danny asked Scott even though they were supposed to be talking about other things.
Scott tilted his head and bit his bottom lip. "I don't know. I just can. I'll figure it out when I'm not dead anymore."
"What did he say?" Stiles asked as he rolled over to Danny and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.
"He said that I don't like being touched," Danny answered as he jerked out of Stiles grasp. "Also, that he doesn't know. But he thinks he can come back, and that's why we need your help."
"Why do you need my help? And did you say you already talked to Lydia?" Stiles was asking a lot of questions and Danny really hated being the one having to answer them. It was only a week ago that being dumped and his best friend moving away were the worst things in his life.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Danny concentrated on blocking out everything but the important facts. "Peter Hale came back from the dead, and Scott thinks he can, too. But nobody knows how he did it and it's highly unlikely that he'll just tell us."
"And Lydia doesn't remember," Scott added.
"And Lydia doesn't remember," Danny repeated as he turned his head to look at Scott. "She found out yesterday at school. Because she's a harpy, she can hear him. But she can't see him."
"Banshee," Stiles corrected as Scott shrugged. "Lydia is a banshee. And why didn't she tell me?"
"I asked her not to, Stiles," Scott said sadly. "I didn't want to get your hopes up."
"Scott didn't want you to be disappointed if it didn't work," Danny translated with a crack in his voice. He wasn't even friends with Scott and Stiles. They were just kids who warmed the bench while he played lacrosse. "He didn't even want her to know, Stiles. But it is what it is."
"Does Allison know?" Stiles asked the spot on the bed directly beside Danny. He must have picked up that Scott had moved.
"No," Danny said before Scott could speak. "And we'd really like if she didn't. We need Peter alive for now. Just until we can get Scott back. And he seems to think Allison would go on a suicide mission to avenge him."
"She would," Stiles agreed with a nod. "So, what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"Come up with a plan?" Danny offered weakly. "Scott here has nothing, and I'm a newbie to all of this. And Lydia didn't feel like talking about Peter. Which makes sense if what Scott told me is true."
"Can you give me a night to think it over? There's too much going on in my head right now," Stiles requested. He rolled back away from Danny.
Danny looked at Scott, then back to Stiles. He stood and started for the door. "Sure. I guess I'll go talk to Lydia and let her know that you know."
"Can Scott... Can you stay? We'll watch Star Wars tonight. Just the original trilogy, not the prequels. And you can tell me all about how much you loved them when you come back."
Scott nodded and remained on the bed, wiping his eyes. Danny put a comforting hand on Stiles' shoulder. "He'd love to stay, Stiles."
TW
The car ride to Stiles' house was quiet. Stiles hadn't come to school, and Lydia offered to give Danny a ride. He suspected it was more to do with not wanting to be alone than anything else. He understood it. It was odd not having Scott buzz in his ear all day.
"Allison can't know," Lydia informed Danny as she slammed on her gas pedal to beat a yellow light.
"We already know that," he told her while gripping the dashboard so hard his knuckles were white.
There wasn't much else in the way of conversation until they pulled up to Stiles' house and Danny stumbled out of the car and fell to the ground in his knees. He called out a praise to the mother earth and Lydia slapped the back of his head.
"Come on," she ordered as she grabbed the collar of his shirt and led him into the house, the door unlocked.
"Hey, guys," Scott said as he greeted them at the door. Danny nodded and smiled, while Lydia pressed her lips together. "He's in the kitchen. We were up all night, and then he spent the morning brainstorming. He crashed about two hours ago."
"So, how do you feel about Star Wars?" Danny asked as he made his way past Scott and headed to the kitchen.
"It was okay," Scott shrugged with disinterest. "Stiles kept trying to tell me everything that was happening, but he was looking at a potted plant instead of me."
"Why didn't you just move?" Danny asked, feeling insulted on Stiles' behalf.
"Because where he wanted me to sit has terrible glare," Scott explained with a shrug.
"I hate nerds," Lydia commented. She stood off to the side as Danny squatted next to Stiles and gently shook his shoulder.
Stiles jerked awake, smacking Danny in the face with his elbow, and looked around. He saw Lydia standing in his kitchen and waved. Then he saw Danny sprawled out on the floor.
"Oh, um, sorry," Stiles said as he offered a hand to help Danny up. "I didn't know you were there."
"Clearly," Danny noted as he held his eye with one hand and grabbed Stiles hand with the other. "Do you have frozen peas or something? Because this hurts."
Lydia stroke to the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen broccoli. She made a face before throwing it to Danny. "Make do."
"Thanks," Danny said as he caught the vegetables and held them to his his. Scott was laughing at him. "Dick."
"I said I was sorry," Stiles pouted, which Danny found oddly cute. He slapped his free hand on Stiles' shoulder. "I wasn't talking to you. And Scott absolutely love Star Wars. He wants you to show him the prequels next time."
"NO!" Scott yelled at Danny.
"He did? I knew he would!" Stiles cheered as Lydia rolled her eyes. "But the prequels suck."
"Scott says he doesn't care. And he keeps calling you his wookie. You've created a monster." Danny tried to keep from laughing as Stiles looked around the kitchen.
"Dude, if you don't stop calling me a wookie I'm gonna exorcise your ass."
"Can we move on?" Lydia interrupted impatiently. "Stiles is supposed to have a plan for something or other, so we need to focus on that and not you three being nerds."
"Plan, plan, right, I have a plan. Scott and I were up all night working on it." Stiles ran to his bedroom. The other three looked at each other and shrugged before following.
Stiles was tapping away at his computer when they piled into the room. Danny grabbed the second chair at Stiles' desk and gloated to Lydia. She groused and plopped on the bed. Scott just stood behind Stiles and looked over his shoulder.
"So, yeah, Scott and I made a plan," Stiles started. Danny looked at Scott and he shrugged. "The thing is, Peter Hale kept a laptop at the Hale House with all of his research and stuff. But Derek burned the house down, and Peter has been staying at his loft, so we just need someone to fetch it for us without him noticing."
"I'll do it," Lydia offered. "Danny doesn't know the Hales, so he'll super suspicious. And they hate Stiles, so without Scott he'll never get in."
"And why would they let you in?" Scott asked, causing Lydia to look around for him. Then she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Because, Scott, Derek doesn't hate me and he doesn't know Peter is an Alpha yet. So I just need to make an excuse to go over there and I can find the laptop no problem." Lydia took out her hairband and began playing with it. "Besides, I have powers or something, so if I get in trouble I'm better off with the dudes."
"You don't know what your powers are, Lydia, or how to use them. And I don't know what Scott is saying so could one of you please translate for me?" Stiles waved his hands around and Scott leaned back out of the way.
"Yeah, yeah," Danny said as he rolled his eyes at Stiles. "And Lydia, you won't need to actually steal the laptop."
"I won't?" she said, eyebrows arching. "Then what is the point of me going over there?"
"Yeah, what she said," Stiles agreed. Scott just crossed his arms and smirked at Danny, waiting for a reply.
"We could just hack it. Does this loft have wi-fi? If you can get me the IP address I can probably access any device on the network. Nobody would have to go there, ideally."
"Oh, I already have that," Stiles stood up and walked through Scott, shuddering and looking over his shoulder.
"Scott," Danny explained, making Stiles nod.
"Ah, sorry."
"It's fine," Scott told him.
"He called you a dick," Danny snorted. Scott passed his hand through Danny's head, making the other boy push himself away from the desk. "Dude, not cool!"
"Then quit lying," Scott shot back.
"Would all you just shut up so Stiles can go do whatever it is he's supposed to do?" Lydia yelled, eyes focused on Danny. "This headache I'm developing is why I usually need Allison around as a buffer. This testosterone is killing me."
"Can you do anything with this?" Stiles thrust his phone in Danny's hands. "It's the one labelled 'Manpain'. Derek had me set it up and he doesn't know how to change it. It makes me laugh."
"I can try, but it's not a guarantee," Danny told Stiles, uncertain of his own abilities. Most of his stuff had just been screwing around, and he'd talked a good game but now he was being called on his bluff. "I'll have to use my computer at home, because yours is kinda old."
"I'll go with you," Lydia offered as she handed Stiles her phone. "Just in case we need to get a hold of you,since we have yours."
"And if somebody calls?"
"That's why people much smarter than you made voice mail, Stiles," Lydia reasoned. She stood and patted Stiles on the head. "Danny are you coming?"
"We're leaving now?" Danny asked as he looked at Scott and Stiles. Scott shrugged and Stiles scratched his nose. "But we just got here."
"And now we're leaving," Lydia ordered as she snapped her fingers.
Danny was sick of people, dead and alive, trying to order him around. "Hey, Stiles, can you give me a ride?"
Pointing at himself, Stiles shook his head in disbelief. "Me?"
"Him?" Scott and Lydia echoed simultaneously.
"Yes," Danny argued. He took Lydia's phone from Stiles and tossed it to her. She scrambled to catch it. Then he grabbed Stiles by the wrist. "I'll even treat you to ice cream."
"Is this you asking me out on a date?" Stiles wondered aloud.
"No, this is me pissing off two bitter bitches," Danny explained as he flipped the bird to Scott's laughing form. "If you tell anyone that we had a date, I'll make you sure and Scott get to spend eternity together."
"But I'm not pissed?" Lydia said, making Danny release Stiles and throw up his hands in defeat.
"Whatever!" he yelled as he stormed out of the bedroom.
TW
Despite the obvious suspicion in his demeanour, Derek let Lydia into his place. She knew he didn't buy her story about stopping by to visit Isaac, since Isaac was still living with Melissa McCall, but she didn't really care. It had gotten her in the door. She also didn't have time to come up with a better lie.
Well, she did, but she didn't have the patience for Danny to tinker with Stiles phone. So when Stiles and Danny left, so did she. She didn't know where Scott went, but she assumed with Danny and Stiles. He was always up one of their asses. Still, Lydia needed to do something. Even something this small, it was a personal victory against Peter Hale. Every small act of rebellion was. She still had nightmares about him.
Lydia sat on the sofa and waited, counting down until enough time had passed and only occasionally sneaking peeks at Derek as he did shirtless pushups. It wasn't liked she was a nun. After five minutes, she kicked her hastily thrown together plan back in gear.
"I'm bored. Is there anything to do around here besides get sweaty and gross? You don't even have a TV," Lydia whined as obnoxiously as she could in Derek's direction.
"Am I supposed to entertain people who show up uninvited? Is this a new social rule that I've not been exposed to before?" Derek growled sarcastically. "You can shut up or you can leave."
"Do you at least have a computer I can use? Facebook is calling my name and I forgot to charge my phone last night," Lydia lied rather convincingly, or so she told herself. She hoped that Derek was too focused on the nasal tone of her voice to listen to her heartbeat.
"I don't like computers," Derek answered brusquely.
A scoff was Lydia's reaction. "It's the twenty-first century. How can you not like computers? Are you my grandfather? No, wait, he plays Candy Crush. Are you my great-grandfather? Because he hates computers, but he's also dead."
Derek roared and his eyes flashed a dangerous blue, but Lydia just smiled and tilted her head at him.
"If it'll shut you up, my uncle has one. Just stay out of the folder marked 'taxes'. You've been warned." Derek walked over to and reached under his bed, producing a white laptop.
"What is it, porn? Believe me, I can handle porn," Lydia bragged as she took the offered device and leaned back into the sofa.
She booted the laptop, not willing to let Derek or even the threat of Peter scare her. As soon as she was sure that Derek had gone back to working out and couldn't see her, Lydia produced the flash drive she'd been keeping in her bra.
It clicked silently into the USB port. Despite, or perhaps because of Derek's warning, the first thing Lydia did when the computer loaded was check the "taxes" folder. It was open two seconds before she clicked it shut and started gagging. Derek laughing at the sounds of Lydia retching pissed her off.
"I told you not to open it," Derek said smugly, confirming Lydia's suspicions that he'd set her up in retaliation for annoying him.
Next, Lydia opened the browser, shocked and impressed that it was Chrome. Most people she knew over the age of forty used Internet Explorer. She logged into Facebook, then minimized the screen.
"What do you think you're doing?" Lydia heard Scott say. She wasn't entirely surprised that he'd opted to tail her, but she was shocked that he'd waited so long to say something. Nonetheless, she continued to browse through Peter's other files and ignore his presence. "Lydia, this is neither smart nor safe."
There was no way she would respond to or even acknowledge Scott. Not with Derek anywhere near them.
She began to hum to herself, trying to block out Scott, until Derek yelled at her to shut up. It was another few minutes until she found what she'd been after. Peter had kept all of his research on resurrection. Lydia right clicked and copied the entire folder and copied it to the flash drive, and she also backed it up to her cloud-based storage account.
"Wait, what is today?" Lydia asked Derek as soon as the upload ended. She was shocked at how fast the internet was. "Is it Thursday?"
"No..." Derek stopped working out again and walked to Lydia. She hastily unplugged the flash drive and stuffed it back in her bra before he could notice.
"Well crap, I'm supposed to meet Isaac here on Thursday."
"Why exactly are you meeting Isaac here, and not at Scott's house. You know he lives there, right?" Derek was suspicious, and Scott was telling Lydia to run.
"Because we're plotting how to find Scott's killer, and we can't exactly do that around his mother," Lydia lied. Even if Derek called Isaac after she left, it wouldn't matter because they already had the information they needed. All she needed to do now was get out of the loft.
"Oh, are you?" Peter Hale's presence made itself known as he walked down the stairs. Lydia felt like she'd been submerged in a lake of ice water. He initially seemed taken aback when he saw Lydia, but quickly composed himself. "Would you mind if I helped? I was fond of the young boy. He was my first Beta, you know."
Lydia's heart began racing, and she was sure that even people who weren't werewolves could hear it. "Yeah, sure, but we're not discussing anything today. Like I said, I'm supposed to meet with Isaac Thursday."
"Calm down, Lydia. You had to know that he would be here. It'll be okay," Scott whispered in her ear. "You're gonna be fine."
She nodded and swallowed.
"Surely you don't need Isaac here right now. You can talk to Derek and me," Peter suggested as he put an arm around Derek's shoulder.
Derek wasn't impressed, and he flashed his blue eyes at his uncle. "What did I say about touching?"
Peter lifted his arm off of Derek and stepped back. "Of course. I forgot. My apologies." Then his eyes flashed red and he shoved his claw into the back of Derek's head. Derek reached back, but couldn't pull himself loose. Then the blue faded from his eyes and he crumbled to the floor.
There wasn't so much as a drop of blood on Peter's claws, but licked one of them anyway. He focused his eyes on Lydia.
"It'll be okay. I'm going to go get help." Scott told Lydia, trying to reassure her.
"You do that, Scott," Peter said as he flicked his red eyes over to the space next to Lydia. "It's good to see you again."
It was impossible for Lydia to speak, but when she didn't hear Scott reply she assumed that she had been abandoned. And the entire plan had gone to hell because Peter could see Scott. How the hell could he see Scott when she couldn't?
His claws had retracted and Peter stepped over his nephew to get to Lydia. When he reached her, he grabbed her by the wrist even though she'd made no attempt to run. Why hadn't she run?
"It's been awhile Lydia," Peter purred before inhaling her scent. He breath was hot on her face. She instinctively reached out to slap him with her free hand, but he easily caught. Then he twisted it until it snapped and she cried out in pain. Why the hell had she come alone?
"What do you want?" Lydia sobbed as the shooting pains in her arms threatening to overwhelm her thoughts.
He released her injured arm and then plunged his hand into her bosom, grinning lewdly as he groped her. She bit back a sob and kicked at his shin, but just laughed. He eventually retracted his hand, flash drive in tow. Then he smashed it between his finger and threw the remnants in Lydia's face. "I don't have to guess why you're here."
Peter tightened his grip on Lydia's wrist until she gasped. "They'll never get here in time. You were mine once, Lydia. You can be again."
"Never," she whispered. Then she looked into Peter's eyes and screamed.
TW
Stiles led them, but Danny and Allison weren't far behind. They didn't know if Isaac had made it or not. He'd said that he could get there himself when Stiles had called him.
Neither Allison nor Isaac knew that Scott was with them. Stiles and Danny had agreed not to tell them. Danny hoped it was the right decision. Mostly, he hoped that Lydia was okay. He didn't know how long it had taken Scott to reach them. There was no way to tell how long Peter and Lydia had been alone together. He tried not to dwell on what could have happened to her.
The door to the loft was already open when Stiles reached it, but he slammed into it anyway and fell. Danny and Allison leaped over him and then stopped when they saw the fallout.
"What took you so long?" Lydia asked as she sat on the sofa, Isaac nursing one arm and a mason jar full of what looked and smelled like blood in the other. Derek and Peter Hale were both on the floor, unconscious. There was also what looked like a twenty pound barbell weight lying next to Peter's head. "I didn't want to wake up."
Scott was the first to speak, Danny watched as he walked over to Peter. "I'm so glad you're safe Lydia."
She looked at Danny and they had a silent exchange. He shook his head.
"I wanted to make sure he wouldn't wake up," Lydia explained when Allison asked about the weight. "Apparently, when a banshee scream loud enough it overwhelms a werewolf. Even an Alpha."
"Peter is an Alpha?" Allison asked as she pointed her crossbow at Peter's supine form. She kicked his side and he didn't stir. "So, then, he's..."
She couldn't finish the sentence, choking on a sob. So Danny finished it for her. "He's the one who killed Scott."
Isaac and Allison both looked at Danny hatefully, but Isaac was the one who asked. "Why are you here, exactly? What do you know?"
"Please don't tell them," Scott begged. And unlike when Danny had been talking to Stiles, he listened. He agreed.
"I told him," Stiles vamped, slapping a warm hand on Danny's back. "Well, we didn't know about Peter being an Alpha until Lydia told us, but it is what is. What do we do now?"
"Thanks," Scott said to both Danny and Stiles.
Danny grabbed Stiles' hand and whispered in his ear. "Thanks."
Isaac looked at them weirdly, but then turned to Allison. "Do you want me to kill him? If I do, I become an Alpha."
"NO!" Lydia shouted, startling everyone in the room. Isaac probably pressed to hard on her arm, because she noticeably winced. Then she looked to Allison. "Do you have any mountain ash?"
"Always," Allison answered curiously as she pulled out a small jar of the black powder. "Why don't you want Peter dead?"
"I just have questions," Lydia told her. She bit her lip, and Danny saw her eyes grow hard. "Just make a circle of it around him. Then he can't get out."
Agreeing, Allison and Stiles cleared the space around Peter and then Allison encircled him with the black dust. There was some leftover, so Allison handed it to Stiles. "Keep an eye on him."
"Actually," Lydia stood up, the jar of blood still in her good hand, "I need Stiles and Danny to come with me."
"You do?" Danny asked, his right eyebrow cocking up. He looked at Scott, then Stiles.
"Yes. Isaac, Allison, you guys need to be here to tell Derek what happened when he wakes up. I have something to do," Lydia ordered as she walked past Danny. Then she looked to Stiles. "We need to take your jeep. It has more room."
"But there are only three of you," Allison pointed out. Lydia ignored her.
TW
"You have wolfsbane in your glove compartment, right?" Lydia asked as they pulled into the cemetery. Every time they hit a bump in the gravel road, she grimaced, but she didn't cry out. Danny sat in the backseat with Scott, feeling unnecessary. The only reason he was there was to be a translator for Scott, but Lydia could already do that.
"You know I do. I keep it in a baggie so it wouldn't... So it won't bother Scott. Are you sure this is going to to work?"
"I had enough time to skim the files before Isaac showed up. Ideally, we would do this on the full moon, but Peter's notes also said that someone who loves the deceased could do it. A banshee is needed because our of connection to death. And the blood of the one who killed the werewolf. That's why I told Allison to leave Peter alive. If this doesn't work, we have to try again on the full moon."
"Thanks, guys," Scott said sincerely as he smiled at Danny. "I just... this is so awesome of you to do."
"You're welcome," Danny told Scott since he had nothing else to do. Stiles echoed the sentiment.
A couple minutes later, they pulled up to Scott's grave. Everyone was quiet, but brimming with hope. Lydia opened the glove compartment and retrieved the wolfsbane.
Danny had no idea what was going on. Stiles and Lydia stood atop Scott's grave, she with the jar of blood and he with the wolfsbane.
"Do you know what they're doing?" Danny whispered to Scott as Stiles and Lydia began intertwining their arms.
"Not a damn clue," the ghost whispered back.
Stiles dropped the wolfsbane on the dirt, and Lydia dribbled the blood on the plant. She started screaming, and Danny covered his ears, but Stiles did not. Lydia poured the rest of the blood on the wolfsbane, and the looked like the plant was growing. It quickly doubled in size, but nothing else happened.
"That was weird, wasn't it?" Danny asked Scott when he pulled his hands from his ears, but he got no answer. Then he looked around. Scott was nowhere to be seen. Danny cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out Scott's name.
"Why didn't it work?" Stiles asked Lydia as they stared the plant, which had stopped growing. "Where is Scott?"
"Oh my god," Lydia yelled, dropping to her knees and moving clumps of dirt at a time. "It did work. He's still buried!"
The three dug in the dirt for a good ten minutes, but every time they pulled a handful out and threw it more seem to fall into place.
Then a hand thrust up out of the ground. Danny grabbed it and pulled. Lydian grabbed Danny and pulled on him while a second hand popped up and Stiles snatched it. After about a minute of struggling, all four teenagers were lying on the ground breathing heavily.
"Thank you," Scott told the trio as he tried to sit up. It proved futile when a sobbing Stiles tackled him in a hug and refused to let go. Scott just laughed and held his friend. Danny had to pinch himself to prove he wasn't dreaming. Lydia soon joined in the hug.
Danny just sat off to the side, smiling. They still had Peter to worry about, but Scott was back. He was alive and that was all that mattered.
"Get over here," Scott yelled at Danny as he held his arms open. He was apprehensive, but Danny joined the group hug. A week before, he didn't really care about Scott McCall. Now, though? Now Danny was happy to feel Scott under him, warm and solid and if not human as least close to it.
TW
Allison screamed when she saw Scott. Isaac jumped on him and held him until Allison pried him off to make sure Scott was real. Derek stood in a corner brooding, and ignored Scott.
"I'm an Omega again," Scott told Peter, his eyes flashing a golden brown opposite Peter's red. "And you're lucky as hell that I don't care about the colour of my eyes."
"You're gonna let him live?" Danny asked, voicing what everyone else was thinking. "But he killed you!"
"But I'm fine now," Scott reasoned as he smiled back at Danny. He took turns reassuring every one of his friends in the loft. "Peter got what he wanted. He's an Alpha now."
"I am The Alpha," Peter roared at Scott. He pressed against the mountain ash barrier, but couldn't break it.
"Try me," Allison threatened as she held her crossbow at the same level as Peter's neck. "Just let me put this thing down, Scott. He's killed too many."
"But he won't be killing anymore. Will you?" Scott asked Peter. "You got your revenge against the Argents, you're an Alpha. What more could you want?"
"Nothing," Peter snarled.
"Glad to hear you say that. Oh, and Danny, I kinda stole your phone and made a call while you guys were closing the grave," Scott confessed.
Lydia huffed indignantly. "You said you were too tired to help!"
A shrug and a laugh was Scott's reply. "I lied." He pulled Danny's phone out of the pocket of the formal jacket he was wearing and handed it back to its owner. "Deaton and Morrell are gonna be here soon to take care of you Peter. The druids seem to have nonlethal ways of handling our kind. Even Alphas."
"I'm hungry," Lydia randomly said. She looked at Isaac. "You lived here. Go get the money from wherever Peter keeps his stash. We're going out to eat."
"But he kinda can't," Stiles jerked his thumb at Scott. "He's a high profile murder victim. Remember?"
"He can stay here with me," Derek offered, finally speaking. He gave his uncle a wide berth, but approached the group. He stopped just short of reaching them. "Until you guys figure what you're gonna do, that is. It's the least I can do since my uncle murdered you and all."
"Thanks," Scott said to Derek as he held out his hand. Derek looked at it as though it were radioactive and walked back to his corner to continue breeding.
Danny felt a hand slide into his and looked over to see Stiles speak. "We could just order in. Pizza fine with everybody? We can get delivery or I can pick it up."
Everyone seemed to slowly notice Stiles holding Danny's hand. None of them said anything, but Scott smiled.
"How about we go get the pizza, and you guys stay here?" Allison offered as she linked her arm with Isaac's. Scott's smile drooped, but didn't fall off completely. "You're all tired and dirty and we're inconspicuous."
"Thanks," Danny accepted on behalf of everyone else.
"We'll tell you guys everything when you get back," Lydia assured them. "You probably have a million questions. I know I still have plenty." She locked her eyes onto Peter, and Danny could have sworn he saw the werewolf recoil in fear.
When Allison and Isaac left. Scott crashed on the couch. He had his back turned to everyone, and Danny didn't blame him. Derek went up the stairs so he could brood where nobody would see him, and Lydia took to alternately taunting, threatening, and interrogating Peter.
Stiles was still holding Danny's hand.
"Are we the kind of people who hold hands now?" Danny asked Stiles, more unsure than angry. He hoped that came across in his tone of voice.
As if burnt, Stiles let him go. "Oh, um, sorry. It's just that you did it earlier, so I thought it was okay."
He'd never considered it, but Stiles was kinda cute. And human. And he wasn't a murderer or a serial killer, that Danny knew of, so he was a step up from his last few interests. Also, they had just kind of resurrected the dead together, and Danny needed to think that was a bigger deal than an awkward first date at some fast food joint.
"It's fine. I just didn't know, is all. Looking back, it was obvious. I've been overlooking a lot of obvious things lately," Danny laughed as he took Stiles' hand back into his own. "It's okay."
"Just kiss him already!" Scott yelled from the couch. Danny didn't argue.