Ever since Eichen house, Malia had felt some way about Stiles. She couldn't figure it out. She wasn't used to all these human feelings. She had to remind herself who she was. Secretly she was afraid of losing her human side again.

I am Malia and Stiles is my friend.

At first, she was angry. She was so angry at Scott and Stiles for changing her back. Now she had to deal with life as a human again, and she wasn't sure she could do it. She seemed to mess up at every turn, but Stiles never judged her. Scott helped with learning how to control her coyote side. After all, he was the alpha. He was her alpha now. But Stiles never left her during the lessons.

Malia had a habit of sneaking around. She didn't know how not to. As a coyote she was always quiet, prepared to run off if things got bad. This sneaking led her to Stiles' room almost every night. She waited till her dad fell asleep, and then she would leave.

It was hard for her dad, she understood that. He thought she was dead for years and now here she was, just dropped back into her life with a shaky excuse for what actually happened. Sheriff Stilinski had helped with all the police reports and social workers and for that, she didn't know how to thank him. But her dad continued to remained stoic and detached.

As she slipped through Stiles window, she thought about this and furrowed her brow. She slipped under the sheets next to him, lightly placing her hand on his shoulder. "You are not asleep," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," he answered, "Well, you try sleeping after being possessed by a demonic nogitsune."

She tried to smile. It felt fake, but Stiles said practice made perfect. "You try sleeping after killing your mother and sister as a were-coyote and being turned human."

"Ah, touche." Stiles turned to face her. His hair was sticking up on one side. This made Malia smile. It felt slightly more real, she decided.

He pushed the hair out of her face and rested his hand on her cheek. They fell asleep that way, their legs tangled together. Malia was resting with her head against his chest. Stiles had his arms around her.

Usually, Malia woke up early enough to climb back out the window and return to her house before Stiles woke up. But today, she didn't. This was the only place she felt safe. What was the word?

I am Malia and Stiles feels like home.

She awoke the next morning to Stiles' alarm clock. She jolted awake from the abrupt beeping and scurried over Stiles and onto his floor. Her claws were out and her heart was pounding. The beeping hurt her head.

Stiles roused from sleep slowly, but when he saw Malia with her teeth bared he quickly pounded the button to make it stop. It continued to beep so he ripped the clock out of the electrical socket. "I'm sorry- I'm- Are you okay?" he asked, almost out of breath. Malia shook her hands, hoping the claws would retract. They didn't. He reached out to try to calm her, but she flinched away.

"That scared me. I didn't like that."

"Right, no. That's fine. Alarm clock gone." He picked it up off the ground and threw it out the window. "Don't worry about it."

"I am worried about it. I was scared by a beeping clock." She crossed her arms and hid her claws.

"It takes time," he said simply.

Stiles drove to school in silence. Well, technically it wasn't silence. There was country music playing quietly. Malia was sitting in the passenger seat with a jacket on, despite the 80 degree weather. She said she liked country music; it made her feel good, she told him.

School was overwhelming to Malia. It was the place she felt most inadequate. Stiles and Scott let her cheat off them while Lydia offered her help during tutor sessions. But she didn't know if she would be able to pass 11th grade even with their help. Her brain was still wired to finding her next meal, not knowing algebra equations.

"Do you use these equations often outside of school?" she once asked Lydia.

Lydia just smirked. "Definitely not."

Malia found it difficult to sit in class all day. The last time she'd been in school they had recess. Why did they not have that anymore? She wondered. At least then she could run a mile or two. She was constantly jiggling her leg or tapping her pencil. She couldn't keep still.

Malia decided to make a list during one of Mr. Yukimura's history lectures.

She split the paper into two sides and labeled either side. One read: things Malia Tate likes and the other: things Malia Tate does not like.

On the 'like' side she put country music, running, macaroni and cheese, and Stiles. She underline Stiles' name. She didn't know why though. On the doesn't like side she put: Eichen house, alarm clocks, school, and her dad's house.

It was a pathetic list, but those were the only things that she felt strongly about. She would add to it as Stiles and his friends taught her things, she decided. She pursed her lips and then added one more thing to the 'like' side:

sleeping in Stiles' bed