Gerard Argent had been dead less than twelve hours, and Stiles desperately wanted to resurrect the bastard, just so he could have the pleasure of killing the sick son of a bitch himself, and then maybe revive him once more, just so that Derek could have a go at the monster who had engineered so much of the awful stuff he'd endured. God help Gerard if he did manage to bring himself back again. Stiles would make sure justice was served in abundance. Until then, Stiles would have to try and clean up the messes one evil man had managed to leave in their lives.
He had left his mates; one still recovering from the previous night's bullet wound, and the other worried and very, very confused, by his ridiculous excuse for leaving. He had dreamed of her, of the woman who'd stolen his body, who'd possessed him and left her foul memories in his head. He'd remembered what might be the worst crime of her awful, spiteful life. She'd stolen Derek's family from him, not once, but twice, and done it both times on Gerard's orders. He had to put things right, but until he knew, really knew for sure, he couldn't say anything to Derek. After everything he'd endured, this might be the final straw, if it went wrong.
Stiles had been wracking his brains, trying like Hell to trigger another memory, to find out what had happened, but there was nothing there, only the one haunting memory of those eyes. Leave it to Kate to be contrary as possible, as unhelpful, even when it was only her memories. He needed help, and the only person left who might help him was now fifty percent more likely to tell him to go fuck himself.
Still, he had to try. That's why he found himself banging on a familiar door at nine in the morning. He could tell by the polite look, it was Chris who'd answered the door, instead of Victoria. "We need to talk about Kate. I know she's here too, and I don't... no after everything I just can't trust her, so if possible can she just stay out of this?"
Chris took one look at him and nodded. "I understand and I'll keep her out of this as much as possible. Come on in. You want some coffee or juice?"
Stiles followed and nodded. "Yeah, some juice if that's okay. I always avoided coffee, you know, before. I'm fairly sure the one time I tried it the consensus was to compare me to a rabid squirrel on speed, so I never really got a chance to get a taste for it." Stiles knew he was rambling, but it was familiar, and let him calm down a little. Chris handed him a glass of juice and they both sat down.
"So what did you want to discuss, Stiles?" Chris asked, looking at Stiles curiously.
"You know she was well, possessing me for want of a better word." Stiles started. "I don't know if it's the way the spell is supposed to work, if it's because of how I pushed her out or if it's just some strange wrinkle in the whole damned mess, but I have a lot, if not all of Kate's memories."
Chris was more than a little stunned by the revelation. "You still have her in your head?"
"No! Thank God. No, it's like, it's like having a box full of someone's home movies, except these home movies are like super High Def, or like the Holodeck or something. I get the whole surround sound deal with bonus fucked up thought processes. And all those home movies? They just occasionally start playing on their own."
"So you're saying you're having something like memory attacks?" Chris had shifted over to all business and seemed to be analyzing the problem.
"Something like that, I mean the the thing is I'm remembering her baggage. I remember people she was with, like that hunter last night the one with the hand issue? Kate was screwing him and messing with his head before she died. Hell, that's probably why he was so keen to shoot Derek."
Stiles looked up then to catch the pained, and slightly nauseated, expression on Chris's face before he quickly blanked it out. "Ugh, sorry man, I didn't mean to bring up family sex lives, not really, but there are things I need to know that sort of involve that, but I promise no details if I can possibly help it."
Chris was giving him that 'You idiot' look Stiles had been used to seeing aimed at himself for almost a decade, and any other time he'd probably protest, but yeah he'd just brought up the dead sister's sex life... he'd probably earned the look ten times over with that little gem. "Here's the thing; While Kate was actively in my head I got a lot of access. I thought I knew all the shit she'd done, when it came to Derek. I mean you get that he was barely sixteen right? And she was twenty-two? And she didn't exactly play fair when it came to attracting him, either. She used some sort of pheromones."
"Wait... Kate and Derek?" Chris half stood, arms braced on the table top. He looked quite a bit more nauseated now than he had a few moments ago. "He was just a kid; younger than Allison."
"I thought you knew. I'm sorry." Stiles said, honestly sorry, because he could see just how angry and sick Chris was over what he'd just learned.
"She... he was a child. How could she?" Chris looked lost, like somehow this last wrong topped the murder and the arson and the lies. Stiles wasn't sure he disagreed, honestly.
"From what I can tell, there's more. Things I just remembered. I was dreaming, but once I woke up I knew this was a memory, not just some random dream, and I need answers."
"What did you remember?" Chris asked clearly bracing himself for the worst.
"The birth of Kate's daughter."
TDID*TDID*TDID
Derek had woken up to something like panic or shock from Stiles. He'd tried to offer comfort or at least understand what was wrong, but stiles had pulled back, pulled away as if he didn't want Derek to touch him. Instead Stiles had jerked out of bed and threw on clothes, babbling about having an appointment, before rushing out the door, leaving Derek behind, one arm protectively wrapped around Isaac, and horribly confused.
Isaac woke up just then and turned to face Derek before cuddling into his chest. After a moment or two there was a muffled. "Are you okay?"
Derek wasn't quite sure how to answer that, not entirely, but there was one thing he desperately wanted to get crystal clear. "Isaac, so help me, if you ever pull something like that again..."
He trailed off as the curly head shifted and two dark amber eyes glowed up at him. "I couldn't not, Derek. Even if we weren't together, I still would have. Besides, it was aimed right for your heart. If I hadn't taken the hit, you'd be dead, and there is no way I'll ever just sit back and let that happen." He had started off speaking softly, but by the end he was growling and pushing at Derek's chest to emphasize his point.
"I can't let you do something like that for me Isaac. I can't be responsible for another member of my family dying." Derek stopped speaking, words abandoning him in the shock of the secret he'd let out. His first two panicked thoughts were wondering how close Peter was, and how Isaac would feel when he really understood what Derek had done, what he'd let Kate do.
Isaac had his head tilted now as he leaned back, looking at Derek as he gathered his thoughts on how to continue. "You know, even after I found out it was Matt and the kanima, I sort of blamed myself for what happened to my dad, right? I mean at the end, he was... he was wrong, I guess is the word. Something twisted up in side of him, and he did things he wouldn't have ever done before Cam died, and I hated him for those things. But he wasn't always like that, and after everything, I would always wonder, if maybe I'd have stood up to him, instead of running... If maybe I'd have tried to make him see how wrong he'd become, once I was strong enough, instead of forcing him to come chasing after me in the dark and the rain, the kanima might not have gone after him first, and maybe I could have fixed him, somehow. I mean as a wolf, I'm stronger and faster, and I made first line. You know, all the things he was punishing me for not being. So maybe since I was more of those things, he would have stopped."
"Your dad was wrong about you, and wrong for what he did. I know you still love him, but what happened to him was absolutely not your fault." Derek said pulling Isaac back into a hug.
"Then neither is what happened to your family, Derek."
Derek pulled away then. "You don't understand; It's not the same thing, at all. I-" Derek jerked away and snapped his mouth closed. Peter was standing in the doorway, looking at him with a frown.
"You were still just a kid, and you thought you loved her. That makes you human, not responsible. She already knew what we were, where we were, it honestly wasn't some secret she needed to screw out of you, so no matter what secrets you think you gave away, your pillow talk didn't cause the fire."
Derek didn't know how to respond, so he just pulled Isaac closer.
TDID*TDID*TDID
"You're just now remembering Kate's daughter?" Chris asked, his stance shifting to one of sympathy. "I know you said you have her memories and her thoughts when you experience them, but you're a smart kid, Stiles. You might feel like Kate's little girl is yours, but you know she isn't, right? You're just remembering all the love Kate had for her, that's all."
"No, Chris, you're wrong, so damned wrong." Stiles said, getting more upset.
"Now that you know about her, the memories are probably flooding in, with all the love she had for her daughter. It has to be overwhelming, but she's not your daughter, and she won't remember you at all, Stiles. You can't just take over Kate's feelings for her. It isn't right."
Stiles was glaring at Chris now, eyes shifting green with his emotions, but that was the only indication. "You really don't understand, Chris. I bet when you think of Allison you have flashes of memories of her from her entire life. The first time you held her, the first time she called you daddy, and knowing you the first time she held a bow, and you remember all the love and the hopes you have for her, right?"
Chris nodded.
"You know, I have similar feelings in here," Stiles tapped his head with a finger. "for Allison. I remember the first time Kate held her, and how amazed she was with her. I remember her pride for what Allison would become, even though the Stiles part of me thinks its sick, the way she wanted to mold her into a hunter, THE hunter, the next great Argent. Through the pride and the plans, Kate loved Allison, and no matter how much I hate the woman I can't say otherwise. She broke through her own arrogant pride for one moment in her life, and that was to bend to Peter Hale, to one of the monsters, to try and save Allison's life. Every memory I have of hers regarding Allison is filled with Kate's love for your daughter, and that is what makes this so fucking sick and horrible."
"What do you mean," Chris asked, eyes drifting upwards towards where Allison's room was in the house.
"Oh, shit no, not anything like that." Stiles said quickly, holding up his hand. "No, I what I meant was the memories I have of her daughter. I remember giving birth. I remember wanting this 'thing' out of me." Chris opened his mouth to speak then, probably with some scary anecdote about Victoria during Allison's birth, but Stiles just ignored him and continued. "I remember only going through with the pregnancy because Gerard asked me to. And, I remember fighting the urge to drowned the thing I gave birth to like some sort of unwanted puppy, because to Kate that's exactly what she was."
"If this is some bullshit about how much Kate left her daughter alone so she could hunt..." Victoria slammed forward, deciding Stiles was being some sort of misogynistic jerk.
"I'm not talking about her leaving her daughter, I'm talking about how fast she rushed to get away from 'the mongrel' because THAT is exactly how she thought of the baby. And before you suggest it, this wasn't some sort of 'postpartum' bullshit, either."
Victoria's sneer, even on Chris's face was intense.
"What I remember is Gerard sending Kate to Beacon Hills with certain orders. She drugged a boy into having sex with her, overloading his mind with pheromones and mixing up his senses until he thought he was in love with her, and then screwing him several different times until, once she was sure she was pregnant, she executed a plan that was meant to kill him and every member of his family. Thankfully she was less than successful. When she reported all this to Gerard he was furious, because there were survivors. He set things in motion to deal with the people she hadn't managed to kill, and then ordered Kate to have the baby, whether she wanted to or not."
Chris, or was it Victoria, whoever was in control of the body at the moment was in shock, by the stunned look on their face.
"I feel like I've lived through the entirety of her giving birth, and I felt her hatred and rage over the whole thing. I felt how much she loathed the thing inside herself, even as it was held up for her to see, her only thoughts were how much it looked like the thing that sired it and just how much she wished she could kill it. There was not one drop of love for that child in Kate Argent. Not. One. Drop."
Victoria spoke again finally. "Well if it's just a matter of Kate's unwanted child, and you felt all she felt, why do you give a shit about her daughter? What does some random hunters kid matter to a werewolf?"
"Jesus, lady, are you really that dense? First off I would care anyway, because despite what you seem to think, I'm not a monster without feelings. And Second? Because that boy Kate basically raped? That was my fucking mate, and that makes that little girl a Hale and my pack."
Stiles had never heard anyone actually scoff in real life before, but that is exactly what Victoria Argent did by way of Chris's body. "So we're just supposed to take your word for all this and just hand you an innocent child? And what, let you turn yet another Argent into one of the monsters?"
"And there is the answer to my question; Yes, you really are that dense. She is most likely already a wolf, idiot. Werewolf genes are dominant and while it's possible she's fully human, she's still Derek's daughter. If you've ever looked at her damned eyes you would recognize that fact."
Chris seemed to recognize that Victoria was about to explode, so he jumped back into control of their body. "I'm sure we can work this out without all the fighting. Since Kate died, and probably a lot longer if what your saying is true, Gerard had a full time nanny. I didn't want to make any changes in her living situation until things were more settled, since it was still so dangerous, so until we knew for sure Gerard was dead I just kept the nanny on to keep Talia safe and out of this whole mess."
Chris got a strange look on his face, then as if realizing something. "Her name." He said, rubbing a hand down his face. "I never even thought, until now." He looked at Stiles, who was just confused. "Her name is Talia. That was Derek and Laura's mother's name. What the Hell kind of game was Gerard playing?"
"A long and very freaking convoluted one." Stiles said, putting his head in his hands for a moment or two before speaking.
"Why push Kate to have a child, particularly one with a high probability of being one of the things we were raised to hunt?" Chris asked, confused.
"The same reason most of the world does anything shitty: money, revenge, pure sick-fuckery? I don't know which was the highest priority for Gerard, but money was definitely a factor."
"How do you know?" Chris asked, curiously.
"Well, for starters, the woman Gerard hired to be a midwife for Kate? That was Peter's long term nurse, and the bitch who lured Laura Hale back to Beacon Hills to die."