Okay guys, I know I should have updated Masquerade but my Muse seems to have run off with my motivation and eloped in Vegas, along with everything in my RL going to shit. But it looks like the honeymoon's over and my Muse has come crawling back to me, since this was supposed to be a short ficlet I thought up while I was swimming in our pool (cuz that's how we roll in Canada - it's not too cold unless there's iceburgs floating in the water). So here's a little headcanon that I have. Enjoy! Hopefully it's not to angsty for you - although I do have to caution those who might be triggered by mentions of abuse, infant death and death of a character (although we all know that Stiles' mom dies in the show so it's not a surprise).

Scott and Stiles did not meet on the playground at school, or at the park one day with their mothers or by chance in kindergarten when Jackson stole Scott's purple crayon and Stiles lent him his.

This is what they tell people who ask how they met, because neither of them like telling the real story.

Not that it's a secret - in a small town like Beacon Hills, secrets are hard to keep. For instance, everyone knew that Roger McCall liked to drink too much. After the factory on the edge of town went out of business and laid off much of the town, Roger took to drinking like a fish to water. Melissa had to get another job to help support the family and pay for Scott's medical bills. Scott's inhalers for his asthma cost a lot of money, but like every other five-year-old in existence, he was constantly losing his.

Everyone also knew that Melissa and Roger's marriage had never been what would be considered stable, for all that it was the all-American-dream of the football quarterback marrying the head cheerleader after graduation. If most people tended to squint at the fact that Melissa gave birth her first child only six months after the wedding, no one else was willing to point out basic math to them.

And everyone knew about the six months after that, just as most of Melissa and Roger's former classmates were about to head back to college for their sophomore year, they delayed leaving town to attend the funeral of the tiny daughter who just stopped breathing one day, despite a frantic mother's CPR.

Not everyone knew, however, that Roger blamed Melissa for the death of their child, calling her a terrible mother and an incompetent human being who cost him a football scholarship because of an unwanted baby.

But everyone knew Melissa blamed herself anyways, despite what doctors had said about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome being unpreventable.

Everyone knew how two years later Melissa tried desperately to hide the growing child from her distant husband, and the neighbours knew first-hand about the argument (read: screaming match) that took place when he found out.

So naturally, everyone waited with baited breath for baby Scott to come along to see what would happen with the McCalls.

Roger surprised everyone, including himself, when Scott was born and he held him for the first time and felt the little boy grab hold of his finger and he broke down in tears of joy and kissed his wife. For the first time in two years, he sobered up, and promised things would be different.

Things seemed to get better for the small tragic family after that point, until the factory closed down when Scott was five and Roger took to the whiskey again instead of looking for another job.

Everyone knew that he couldn't hold down a steady job after that and if the townspeople hired him for odd jobs despite his temper, it was more for Melissa and Scott's sake than anything else.

No one knew about the bruises that Melissa meticulously covered up for her shifts at the diner or the beatings that occurred with an increasing frequency. Disowned by her family for marrying Roger in the first place, and scraping to make ends meet as it was, leaving wasn't an option so she kept her head high and the residents of Beacon Hills in the dark for as long as she could.

Everyone knew Stiles and his family moved to Beacon Hills when he was seven and a half, because his mother wanted out of the city she had lived in for so long, and his father had gotten a job as Deputy Sheriff there. Stiles didn't know - but the townspeople did because gossip spreads like wildfire - that his mom was dying of cancer and wanted her final days to be spent in the peace and quiet of a small town.

Nobody knew the first - and only - time Melissa McCall and Genevra Stilinski met was an unusually warm October day when a tearful Melissa brought Scott into the ER for a broken arm after he 'fell out of a tree.'

While Scott was sleeping off the anesthetic after the doctors set and plastered his arm, Melissa stole out back of the hospital and indulged in the smoking habit she hid from her husband.

"Those things will kill you, you know," came a voice that held a hint of a smile from behind her.

Melissa turned to see a woman emerge from the exit of the hospital, dressed in a hospital gown and a sweater, bald head uncovered in the warm autumn air and IV tower trailing behind her. Guiltily, Melissa went to snub out her cigarette as the woman neared her but stopped when the woman started laughing. It sounded full and alive and out of place from a woman clearly dying from cancer.

"Relax," the woman said with a smile, after she finished laughing. "Leukemia, not lung cancer. Can I bum one from you?"

Melissa gaped for a moment before fishing out her pack and handing it to the woman.

"Thanks," she said as she lit one and took a deep drag. "Genevra Stilinski, you must be Mrs McCall."

"How did you know?" Melissa replied.

"The nurses let me wander around on my good days and I overheard them talking to you about your son Scott," she said. Her eyes took in the fading bruises on Melissa's collarbone and lingered briefly on the spectacular black eye that blossomed on her face. "And although I've only been here a few months, you know how gossip gets around."

Melissa ducked her head and fought the blush that crept across her face while she held back tears. So she hadn't been as clever about hiding things as she thought and now the entire town knew about her shame.

Genevra looped an arm around Melissa's shoulders, ignoring the flinch that came automatically from sudden movement and too close, and hugged the other woman closer.

"It's okay to not be strong all the time," she said softly and the dam inside Melissa broke as she buried her face against a complete stranger and sobbed.

Genevra held her while she cried and rubbed her back, and after the tears stopped, listened as Melissa told her everything, from the death of her firstborn Audrey, to Roger's drinking, and how Scott didn't fall out of a tree but was pushed down the stairs because he didn't clean his room when Roger told him too.

She held her, and didn't say anything, just let Melissa let it all out and when finally the tears and the words stopped she pulled out a tissue from her pocket and handed it to her before looking her straight in the eyes.

"Do what you need to do, not only for Scott but for yourself as well," Genevra said. "But remember this, you deserve to be happy too."

Melissa looked at her and nodded. "I should go back and check on Scott."

Genevra smiled at her and gave her one last hug before turning around and heading back inside the hospital.

Everyone knows Genevra Stilinski died on a sombre, rainy day at the beginning of November, and how the new-appointed Sheriff and his young son were devastated beyond tears, and how they stood throughout the ceremony in complete silence, to grief-stricken to say a word.

Melissa McCall attended the funeral in secret, while her husband was out of town for a job that he wouldn't have very long and Scott was being watched his favourite babysitter when they could afford it, a quiet responsible teenager named Laura Hale. Melissa didn't approach the Sheriff or his son, but instead waited until after the casket had been lowered into the ground and the crowd - including the Sheriff and his son - had left, before approaching the mound of dirt. She bowed her head in silence for a moment, before slowly placing a dark pink rose on the stranger's grave.

Two weeks later, it was the Sheriff - back early from his bereavement because he couldn't stand one more hour of being in the house that still smelled like his dead wife - who answered the call to the McCall house in the middle of the night and brought his half-sleeping son along with him in the cruiser, because he didn't like to be left alone and the Sheriff had run out of people willing to babysit the boy.

Scott was used to his parents fighting; it had been going on for as long as he could remember but this time it was worse. Usually he hid under the blankets and covered his ears with a pillow but this time the pillow did nothing to muffle the names his father was calling his mom, or the glasses and plates he was breaking as he threw them around the kitchen, did nothing to silence his mom's screams as he hit her over and over again.

The sound of thundering footsteps on the stairs scared Scott into action and he launched himself out of bed and into his closet, hiding behind his clothes and praying his father couldn't find him.

His mother's voice made Scott start crying in relief as he heard her follow him up the stairs and threaten to call the cops if he laid one hand on her son. Angry words were exchanged before his mother said firmly, "Get out. NOW."

The front door slammed shut a few moments later and Scott ran out of his room to find his mother slumped against the hallway on the floor, shaking and crying. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight, while she dialed 9-1-1.

It was Sheriff Stilinski at the door when Scott opened it a few minutes later, and as the man knelt down and asked him if he was alright, Scott began to cry again. The Sheriff asked him where his mom was and Scott pointed to the kitchen where his mom was crying at the kitchen table.

Stiles, of course, didn't want to wait in the car and saw that the boy who opened the door looked about his age, so he got out of the car and headed up the stairs of the porch. He opened the door and entered the house and quietly closed the door behind when he heard his dad's voice in the kitchen to his left. The boy who had opened the door for his father was sitting on the stairs crying, so Stiles walked over to him and, because even at an early age had no filter on his mouth, asked, "Why are you crying?"

The other boy sniffed and said, "Because my dad is really mean and hurt my mom and they're always yelling and..." He hesitated and ducked his head.

Stiles sat down on the step next to the boy and put his arm around him. "And what?" he prompted.

"And I'm really scared," he said in a small voice. He looked up at Stiles and said a little louder, "But not for me, for my mom. I don't want him to hurt her anymore."

Stiles hugged the boy and said, "It's okay. My dad's here and he's going to take care of you and your mom because he's the Sheriff and that's what Sheriff's do. They take care of people."

The boy sniffed and wiped his eyes. "My name's Scott," he said. "What's yours?"

"Genim Stilinski," he said, with a sad look on his face. "But you can call me Stiles. That's what my mom used to call me."

"What does she call you now?" Scott asked.

Stiles hung his head and blinked back tears. "She doesn't call me anything anymore. She died."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Stiles said, before changing the subject. "Want to see my comic books?"

"Do you have Batman?" Scott asked.

"Do I have Batman? Of course I do!" he said. "Wait here a second."

Stiles ran out to his father's cruiser and grabbed his backpack full of comics. The two boys sat on the couch in the living room and read Stiles' newest Batman comic together while Melissa and the Sheriff talked in the kitchen. Finally, Stiles' curiosity got the best of him and he pointed at Scott's cast.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked.

Scott frowned and looked down at his arm before answering. "My dad pushed me down the stairs, but my mom said I was supposed to tell everyone that I fell out of a tree." He looked at Stiles. "But I can't even climb trees! I'm scared of heights."

Stiles looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "Your dad sounds like a meanie but don't worry, my dad will help you guys. And when you get your cast off, I'll teach you to climb trees and I bet you won't even be a little bit afraid because we can pretend we're Batman and Robin, climbing on top of buildings to catch bad guys!"

Scott smiled. "That sounds great!"

Stiles smiled back at him.

"Want to sign my cast?" Scott asked shyly.

"Sure!" Stiles said as Scott handed him a black marker. Giggling, he wrote 'Batman' on Scott's arm and drew a bat-symbol next to it.

"Awesome," said Scott when he finished.

Melissa and the Sheriff - 'Please, call me Jonathan' - found the two boys, hours later after paperwork had been filed out and arrangements had been made and an APB had been issued for Roger McCall, curled up on the couch together, fast asleep surrounded by Batman comic books. The Sheriff had smiled and carried Scott upstairs to his room for Melissa before picking up Stiles and leaving.

Everyone knows that from that point forward Scott and Stiles were virtually inseparable. Stiles would spend time at Scott's house if his dad was working late, and Scott would sometimes sleepover at Stiles' house while his mom was at night school, studying to become a nurse. Everyone knows that Melissa wanted to become a nurse because of the six-month-old child she was unable to save, but in reality, it was all because of a complete stranger who was dying of cancer and changed her life.

No, the story of how Stiles and Scott meet for the first time isn't a secret, and even if it were, everyone would know anyways, but it's their story and they don't like to tell it.

But.

Nobody knows that every year on the anniversary of Genevra's death, Melissa always places a dark pink rose on her grave and sends up a promise to look after Stiles as if he was her own.

And nobody knows that hidden away in a shoebox at the back of his closet, Scott keeps half of the cast he wore when his arm was broken, and that sometimes he'll open the box and look down at the word 'Batman' and smile to himself, before putting it away again and heading over to Stiles' house.

It's their little secret.

Note: Dark pink roses signify gratitude.
Edited 17/09/12 because the formatting was bullshit. Carry on.