Chapter One

Melissa smiled tired as she watched Scott running around the playground happily, burning of a little of the energy he had had to keep cooped up in the house. Rafe had lost his temper and shouted at their son when he had run into the living room yesterday afternoon. He had been drunk, of course, but he had scared Scott and now her little boy was terrified to play near his dad.

Her and Rafe had of course had a furious row last night over it, and he had stormed out the house at 3 in the morning. She hadn't seen or heard from him since, and it made her heart sink a little to admit that she was more worried about how much of their money he was drinking away than if he was ok. She was exhausted this morning, and Scott had sweetly tried sheering her up with breakfast of dry cereal and coffee made with cold water. She had smiled though and tugged him into bed with her for cuddles as she picked at the cereal. She had decided he deserved a little time away from the house and had brought him to his favourite park to play.

She frowned when she looked back up and saw a larger kid push Scott. Her son was so sweet and quiet he would never argue back with anyone, from where she was sitting she could see him holding his hands up and talking, as though he was attempting to negotiate with the bully. She stood quickly when the kid shoved Scott hard enough to push him over and was raising his fist again, but before she could take another step a small ball of energy appeared out of nowhere with a battle cry and tackled the larger kid.

She was so shocked she couldn't move as she watched the slightly gangly little boy that couldn't be much older than Scott's 4 years try and wrestle with the bully. However considering the kids was a lot larger and some inches taller, he seemed to be losing. She was moving again, this time to protect her son's protector, when Scott let out a little battle cry of his own and pounced into the fray.

Scott was not a challenger, but here he was fighting with all he had to help out the other kid, the pair of them wrestling with the larger one.

She reached them the same time as another woman ran over, looking highly amused and as though she had run through a storm and back. Mellissa was ashamed to admit she thought that this had to be the mother of the bully, and put the amused air down to kids behaviour, she probably wasn't even going to tell him off!

However she reached into the ball of scrapping boys and unerringly plucked out the gangly little boy that had come to Scott's defense, tucking him under one arm, before her hand went in again and she grabbed the bully by his collar. Melissa quickly moved to snag Scott around the waist and pull him off the bully, tugging him away.

"Jackson Whitmore! How many times do I have to tell you about pushing around the other kids! This is everyone's playground! Your behaviour is unacceptable!" The woman scolded the bully, who was actually looking ashamed.

"They started it!"

"Jackson I watched you push that little boy over, he was doing nothing but playing! You go back to your nanny right now!" She nudged him gently and watched with a small frown as he stomped away. Her son was wriggling in her grip, his legs moving at what looked like a thousand miles an hour. "Oh alright," She gently placed him back on his feet and he raced over to Scott straight away.

"Do you want to come and play on the swings with me?" The little boy asked Scott holding out his hand. Scott looked at him considering before breaking out into a wide smile.

"Sure!" He took the hand and before Melissa could say anything the two of them were racing off.

"Jackson isn't a bad kid per say, he just gets a little jealous. He is always here with nannies, never his parents, I think he gets a little upset by it," The woman sighed looking after when the bully had stomped away to.

"Oh right, thank you for your help," Melissa stammered, this woman radiated energy and cheerfulness, her face was a bi bright smile when she turned back to Melissa.

"Its no problem at all, my son seems to have taken yours under his wing. Honestly he has stuck up for the kids Jackson picks on before, but I have never seen him go at it like that before! I do feel a little bit for your on though, my boy has so much energy in him I swear he runs in circles around me half the time, he's probably going to be shattered by the time they come back," The woman laughed. Melissa reckoned the apple hadn't fallen far fro the tree given how fast the woman was speaking.

"He never really pairs up with anyone when we come to play, its nice to see to be honest. I'm Melissa,"

"Really? Mines just sorts of forces his way in," The woman laughed brightly again. "Nice to meet you Melissa, I am Claudia,"

The two of them made their way back to the bench Melissa had been sitting on chattering. They kept an eye on Scott being towed around the park by his hand, his big grin and laughter letting them know he was completely willing. Melissa enjoyed their chat, Claudia was full of energy and excitement, she was loud and bright, full of laughter and smiles. She was also quick witted and sarcastic. And for a while Melissa was able to forget all her problems at home as she found herself unable to do anything but relax with this woman and laugh along as well.

"Oh dear we had better get going, I promised that we would take my husband some lunch, honestly if I left him to it he would survive off of burgers and chips and that is just not good for his health, he has heart conditions in his family. Come on! Lets shake a leg!" Claudia rambled making Melissa blink as her brain processed the information.

Her son and Scott came running over, both wearing a pout. Melissa pulled out Scott's inhaler from her pocket and held it out to him when she noticed he was a little wheezy, and he stepped forwards accepting it.

"What's that?" Claudia's son frowned concerned as he watched Scott take a few deep breaths. Bless he looked like he was ready to defend Scott from her if she was doing something to hurt him.

"Scott has asthma, his lungs have trouble getting air sometimes, so he takes this to help him breathe," She explained with a smile.

"Can I see?" He asked holding out his small hand. Smiling she handed it over and watched as his quick eyes inspected it. "You put this in your mouth and push this bit?" He asked Scott.

"Ah ha, I have to push three times and breathe deep between each one," Scott recited faithfully.

"And Scott always has this with him?" The little boy asked seriously turning back to look at her.

"Yes he does or I do, why?"

"I need to know if Scotty needs it when we're playing so I know what to do!" The little boy said with a determined look on his face as he handed the inhaler back to her. Claudia met her eye and the both of them grinned at the words.

"Alright come on lets get going," Claudia chuckled.

"Do we have to?" Her son pouted reaching out to clutch Scott's hand.

"Yes we do, your father will be waiting, you always like going down the station,"

"But I like Scott!"

"Oh your father will be heartbroken when he hears he has been replaced," Claudia laughed bending to scoop up her son.

"We will see you again really soon, we have to be getting home too," Melissa assured the little boy, reaching down to pick Scott up too.

"Promise?" Scott demanded.

"We promise,"

"You and Scotty's mum need each others number so you can call and we can meet up!" Claudia's son demanded. Melissa could see that the little boy had clearly got his mum's brains, Scott would never have thought about something like that, though he was nodding along seriously now and prodding her with his finger.

"Alright, there are you happy?" Claudia laughed after she had scribbled her number on a piece of paper she had pulled from her pocket and handed it to Melissa.

"Yes!"

"Bye Scotty!" The little boy called waving madly over Claudia's shoulder as she walked down the path after saying goodbye to Melissa.

"Bye Stiles!" Scott shouted just as enthusiastically.

- Teen Wolf

This next night Melissa found herself picking up the phone and dialing the number Claudia had passed her to arrange another play date. Rafe had snapped at Scott again, and once more her little boy was sad. But Stiles had seemed to manage to take that away from him for a little while, he had seemed to be able to make him smile and laugh just a little brighter.

"Hi is this Claudia?" She asked after the greeting.

"Melissa?! Oh thank goodness you called! Stiles has not stopped chewing my ear off about whether or not you have called all day, I found him in the car earlier and he demanded that we drive around until we spotted you. Honestly! We need to set up another play date, are you free tomorrow?"

As she listened to the stream of chatter she found herself smiling just a little despite the fight that she had just had, and the worry over Rafe being out drinking again. Perhaps Scott wasn't the only one who would benefit from the play date.