Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. The Rocky Mountain Wolf Rescue and Conservation Society doesn't exist as far as I know. If it does; I mean no offence with the fictional representation of it in this fic. I do not own Beaker or the Muppets. I do not own Pop-Tarts, or Louboutin.

AN: If you want to see what Char (pronounced Sh-are or maybe Shh-R?) looks like, and what the outfit that I describe looks like, go to my profile and click on the link to Polyvore under Finding Home: Chapter 1: Waking Up- Char's First Day. It's set number 136.

Timeline: This starts during episode 1, the morning after Scott is bitten, and just before the first day of school.

Chapter 1: Waking Up

Charlotte Evelyn Kiernan woke up to an annoying buzzing sound blaring in her ear. An arm flopped out from between the heap of blankets and hit the snooze, as she groaned in irritation. It was he first day at school. Again.

Char had lost count of how many 'first days,' she'd had. Her dad, currently a Rear Admiral in the Navy ( His rank in the Navy the equivalent of Major General in other uniformed services,) was always getting shipped here and there all over the world. Char had had first days in Hawaii, Japan, England, Boston, France, Miami… The list went on and on. She had always wished she could just settle down somewhere and stay there. Build some kind of life for once. By the time she got the hang of a new school, and made friends, her dad would get another assignment and she would be uprooted again.

It was when she was 11 that she decided to stop making so much of a social effort. She concentrated on her studies, and found her own identity. One that didn't change just because of where she moved to. As she grew up and evolved her surroundings and the people she met influenced her, of course, but she stopped trying to fit in and be popular. It was just too much effort to do 1-3 times a year, and wasn't worth it when she knew she was going to leave soon, and never see any of those people again.

Well she had finally gotten her wish, she had been shipped off to live with her Uncle and cousin for the rest of her High School career. Her dad couldn't trust that she would be safe on the base he was stationed from (in North Carolina this time) after 'The Incident,' and no local school would take her anyway. She had spent three months in Juvvie for an aggravated assault charge (apparently the fact she was proficient in Krav Maga meant her hands were 'deadly weapons',) and the only thing that got her into the local High School was that her Uncle was the Sherriff of Beacon Hills and used his influence with the principle.

So here she was, in the hastily cleared attic of her Uncle's house, surrounded by the boxes she had yet to unpack, with the smell of burning toast wafting up from the kitchen.

Char groaned again in despair, rolling onto her back, and bringing her hands up to cover her face. She had gotten used to rarely seeing her dad, he was always at work. When she was very young that was okay because her mother was always there. Then her mother, her current hosts' deceased wife's sister, was killed. But that was still okay because she had her older brother Duke. Then Duke joined the Navy three years ago, and he was always gone too.

Char had then been taken care of by the consortium of Navy Wives on whatever base she was on. When she turned 15, two and a half years ago, she had gotten more independence and mostly took care of herself. Then Duke was Killed in Action18 months ago. Char had been having a really hard time of it since then.

One thing that kept her going was that in the last four years she had been able to work with a summer program in Montana that let her intern with The Rocky Mountain Wolf Rescue and Conservation Society. There she had learned to love the wolves, and the woods. She had learned so much about life, and how to work with others, and she was good friends with the head researcher there. Shelly was in her early 30's, and after she had seen how competent Char was with any work she was given during the first summer, she had pulled her from gopher duty to be her assistant. It was her military upbringing that made Char so efficient and organized, and Shelly was just exited to have a competent enthusiastic assistant every summer. Char loved working there, and was thinking of becoming a Biologist someday. If she could get decent enough grades for the rest of High School, and a high enough score on her SAT's to get into a good college that is.

After 'The Incident' last year, and the following incarceration, her father felt she needed more direct adult supervision during the school year. The fact that Beacon Hills was all the way on the other side of the country from North Carolina and Ian Hilderban may have also had something to do with it.

So, she had gotten her wish. She was stuck here for at least two years while she finished High School. And she was in the same grade as her cousin. Apparently her Uncle's influence only went so far, and she had been held back a grade. Awesome.

Char sat up swiftly as she heard banging on the attic stairs. It was her cousin, walking in without even knocking. Awesome.

"Hey, Char!" Stiles exclaimed cheerily, as he twitched in apparent excitement. There was now the rich smell of coffee, and the faint smell of scorching eggs drifting up the stairs. "Dad says hurry up or your breakfast will get cold." He stopped talking for a second to scoff loudly. "Why is it that he never fixes me breakfast, but for your first day of school he goes all out?" Twitch. "I mean I'm the one with good grades that never gets into trouble. Why is he pampering the Juvenile Delinquent?"

Char could hear the capitals that Stiles used for his new favorite nick-name for her. One day she would finally get fed up and kick his ass for his insensitivity, and impudence. But for now she needed to be nice as Stiles was her only source of transportation to and from school. And anywhere else she wanted to go for that matter. She had convinced her father to release enough money from her savings for her to get a used car, but first she had to find a good one.

Char glared at her bald cousin. "I'll be down shortly, Beaker." This was her own new nick-name for Stiles. He had always been a spazz, but when she had shown up in Beacon Hills a few days ago she noticed that the he had reached a whole other level. When she had first seen him when he and his dad came to get her at the airport he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, and practically vibrating in place. He had forcefully reminded her of her favorite childhood Muppet. All he would have to do is glue some poufy red hair to the sides of his head, and wear a pair of black framed glasses, and he would be Beaker incarnate. "And knock next time, I could have been naked," she said.

Stiles shivered in disgust. "EWW. Gross!" he said turning to leave. He tripped on a stack of books near the stairs. He and the books went flying in all different directions. "Geez!" Stiles said as he flailed around on the wooden floor. "Clean up a little why don't ya! Someone could get killed."

Char just glared at him as she quickly rose to rescue her books. "I haven't had a chance to put up my bookshelves yet. You were supposed to help me with it yesterday, remember?" she said as she picked up the nearest books gently. She looked over at Stiles to see his eyes glued to a page in a book that had fallen open during his mad shuffling. "What?" she demanded.

Stiles swallowed. "Can I borrow this one?" he asked.

Char rolled her eyes and moved over to see what had him so fascinated. It was a picture in one of her 'special' books. One of the books she tried to keep hidden. She wondered how it had gotten into this pile of books. The rest of the books surrounding them on the floor were novels, and some of her collection of books about wolves.

The one Stiles was looking at however, was old with a stained leather cover. The page he was looking at held a stamp of a wood carving depicting a naked woman with long flowing hair, standing in an aggressive pose with one foot planted on the middle of the back of a man who lay face down on the ground. The man was obviously dead, and the woman was triumphant.

Char knew this was a depiction of one of her ancestors Aurelia (she was Stiles' ancestor too though he didn't know it) after she had killed her husband to free herself and her children of his evil and abusive ways. He had not only been physically, verbally, and sexually abusive, but he had turned from the path of The Goddess and started using the blackest of magics. He had thought he was too powerful for anyone to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted. His wife had finally found the strength to break his hold on her, psychological and magical, and this illustration showed her in her moment of victory. The story was one of Char's favorites. It showed how strong a woman could be. The woman in the drawing hadn't just killed her husband. Oh, no. She had made him suffer first. Some may consider Aurelia's use of magic to cause another pain as dark magic, but Char had learned that the Goddess believed in justice and vengance as well as compassion and love. Aurelia had done this to protect not only herself, but her children, and her village. The rest of the village was so impressed with her strength, and so grateful, that they had immediately appointed Aurelia the new leader. Aurelia was considered the Matriarch of Char's line of witches.

Stiles didn't know any of this. Char had only found out a couple of years ago when she had been going through an old storage unit, and had found several boxes full of her mother's books. At first she didn't believe in any of it, but after she finally convinced herself to read some of her mother's journals (that she had found in one of the boxes) she became a believer. It explained so much about her memories of her mother, and the weird things that had been happening to Char all of her life.

Char knew that she would need to try and explain everything to Stiles at some point. His mother had been her mother's sister, and according to the journals she had been a witch too. Char just didn't have any clue whatsoever about how she could explain this whole thing to Stiles. He was crazy enough already. She promised herself she would tell him, somehow, soon. Just not now.

Char reached forward and snatched up the book. "No, you may not, ya freakin' perv," she said sternly. More of a perv than he knew. This was one of his antecedents he was drooling over. It made Char's gut twist a little in revulsion. It was so wrong!

Stiles pouted, and pulled himself up off the floor. "Whatever dude," he told her as he tromped back downstairs.

Once Char was finished with breakfast, which she could barely choke down, she hopped in the shower. She was thankful that her uncle said this was a one time thing. He usually left the house before Stiles got up for school, so the normal breakfast fare was Pop-Tarts, or cold cereal. After she was finished with her shower she hopped out and shrugged on her robe. She quickly blow dried her hair, and put on some makeup. She smacked her lips at herself after she smoothed on her hot pink lip gloss. She gathered her things, and hurried back up to her room.

Char looked at herself in the full length mirror in the corner of her attic bedroom. This area had her dresser and a small closet, and was enclosed partially by an oriental dressing screen. Her honey blond hair fell to mid back in shiny layers. She was pretty tall, standing 5'9 without heels. She had pale skin, blue eyes, a slightly pointy nose, and her bottom lip was slightly fuller than her top lip. She raised one hand to lightly trace the scar on her left cheekbone. It had been split open after a particularly vicious punch on that night. It had required seven stitches, and the doctor assured her it would eventually fade away completely. Part of her didn't want any of her scars to fade; At least the ones on the outside. They reminded her that she was alive; That she was a survivor, a fighter, and reminded her why she couldn't trust anyone who wasn't her blood kin.

Char dropped her terry cloth robe to the ground and looked at the rest of herself. She had another scar on her right hip bone, where it had been cut open on a jagged piece of glass. She turned a little to see her back, where she had several long thin scars where she had scraped her back on the ground. She noticed her tummy was slightly rounded, and decided she needed to pick a running route, and find a local Dojo ASAP. She wasn't fat or anything, she just hadn't been keeping up on her exercise routine the past couple of weeks. She wasn't too skinny either. She had never taken food for granted again after her time in Juvvie, so she was a healthy weight. Her body was lightly muscled from all the running, Yoga, and Krav Maga she did. She slipped on her underwear, and pulled on her bra. She did have a bit of a butt, she had since she was thirteen, but she liked the way it made her dark distressed jeans fit just right. Her boobs had just started to really come in, she was a B cup now, but if they kept growing at this pace she though she could end up as a C one day.

Char threaded a hot-pink, silver studded belt through her jeans, and buckled it. She then turned and picked up her worn 'Grateful Dead' t-shirt and slipped it over her head. She slipped on her hot-pink and orange fishy bracelet on her right wrist, and put pink jade earrings in her pierced ears. To switch it up a little she put on a five strand pearl choker, and shoved her feet into hot- pink peep toe Louboutin's. She had an aunt on her dad's side that lived in New York, and instead of sending her money, she liked to send Char clothes and shoes that she thought would look good on her. Her Aunt Jenn worked with samples from top designers for several magazines, and always got a leg up at sample sales.

Char wasn't rich, and liked to couple the things her aunt sent her with 'regular' clothes. Clothes she could afford. She had an ecclectic taste in fashion, and it usually got her some odd looks, but she liked the way she dressed. She wouldn't change herself just because other people might scoff at some of her outfits. After all fashion is all about being brave enough to take chances, and try new things, right?

Char picked out a pink skull ring to go on her middle finger of her left hand, then picked up her wolf ring and slipped it on the ring finger of her right hand. Shelley had given Char the wolf ring after her second summer working at the Rescue, and Char always had it on when she left the house.

Char grabbed her black and grey stripped messenger bag, and made sure she had everything she needed.

Notebooks? Check.

Granola bar? Check.

Bottle of water? Check.

Writing implements? Check.

Cell phone? Check.

Lunch money? Check.

Tangerine bubble gum? Check.

Folding tactical blade? Check.

Char had debated on that last one, but in the end she decided that she just couldn't go anywhere unarmed. The knife had been one of her brother's, and it fit nicely into an inner zip pocket in the big compartment of her bag. She didn't think she'd ever need to use it, but just knowing it was there would help her feel safer. In the end she was more scared of being without the knife, than of being caught on school grounds with it. It's not like she planned to hurt anyone, and she knew if the school found out she'd be expelled. She just couldn't bring herself to leave it at home.

Beep! BEEP!

Char glanced quickly at the clock, and realized that was Stiles honking at her so they could drive to school. She knew this was going to get old fast, and hoped she was able to get her own car before she lost it on her cousin. Sure he was a spazz, but Char's temper was legendary.

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