Before her life got on the crazy train, derailed, and went flying down the rabbit hole into I Don't Even Know Anymore (population: however many of them are alive today), Lydia was pretty sure she couldn't have imagined walking around an abandoned psychiatric hospital with Stiles Stilinski. It wasn't at the top of her bucket list, at any rate. Now, however, it was entirely plausible that she could waste the better part of an afternoon pretending not to be intensely creeped out and hiding her disgust as they stepped out onto the equally run-down grounds.
"Do these places follow some weird code or something?" She finally couldn't stand it anymore and shuddered as they peered into the murky, algae-filled reflecting pool from the bridge that crossed over it. She tossed her hair over her shoulder so it wouldn't swing down and touch the rusty railing. "Must have leaky plumbing, must have nicotine dripping down the walls, must have water features full of frog spawn and general nastiness?"
Stiles, who had spent almost the entire time up to now looking entirely unaffected, smirked at her distress. "This seriously bothers you? After all the stuff we've been through, this is what gets you all worked up?"
"I'm not worked up, it's just disgusting," she snapped. "Look at this! This is such a health hazard. I'll bet during the summer it's mosquito city just in this one spot, never mind any other cesspools they've left to rot."
He snorted and shook his head and she resisted a powerful urge to give him a good, hard shove. She didn't know how well the railing would hold him up, after all, and she was not riding home with him smelling like a swamp. They continued on and the next building—surprise, surprise—turned out to be just as chilling as the first.
"Maybe we should count ourselves lucky it's still light outside," Stiles said. He wiggled his eyebrows as he turned to her. "Who knows what happens in places like this after dark. Maybe the ghosts of the former patients come out at night, seeking revenge on anyone crazy enough to hang around."
Lydia chose not to dignify this with a response and instead performed another expert hair toss and left the room. Immediately, she regretted it.
"Stiles?" she said, trying to sound as calm as possible. She kept her eyes locked on what was in front of her. When there was no answer, she cleared her throat and said a bit louder, "Stiles? I found what we were looking for." A muffled curse came from the room behind her and she heard him scuffling around with his backpack. "Stiles, I really don't mean to be a bother, but if you could hurry that would be really nice."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Stiles said. Finally, she heard his footsteps behind her. He was smart enough not to come dashing out and she let out a slow breath of relief when she felt his familiar presence at her shoulder. She closed her eyes briefly, but they popped open again at the sound of muffled growling. Stiles brandished what he'd found in his backpack—a large hambone, with a bit of meat still on it.
In all her years, Lydia still would not believe what she heard him say next.
"Here boy," Stiles said. He held the bone out beckoningly and gave a short whistle. The large, red-eyed wolf in the corner of the room did not stop growling, but its eyes shifted away from Lydia at last. Stiles took this as encouragement and took a half-step forward. Lydia grabbed his shirt sleeve to prevent him from moving too far ahead of her. He waved the bone slowly and the wolf's eyes followed it. He laughed a bit. "That's right, you want the big juicy bone, don't you? You don't want to hurt Lydia, do you, Scotty?"
Lydia's eyes darted over to the exit and, keeping her hold on Stiles, she started to move them both towards it with slow, careful steps. Scott's eyes continued to follow the bone, and she was grateful to note he had stopped growling.
"Come on, Scotty," Stiles said beseechingly, waving the bone again. Slowly, the wolf started to slink out of the corner. "That's right, that's my best buddy. Come on, we're gonna go home. Soon as we get out of here I'll give you the bone and I've got like eight more in the car. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. This was definitely not the direction she'd seen her life going in before.