The Last Dance

Stiles stared nervously at the wooden door he had just knocked on with a corsage in one hand. He still couldn't believe he was going to his senior prom with Lydia Martin. It hadn't even taken any convincing, he'd simply asked one day in the hallway, and she'd shrugged saying "why not?" Granted, after everything they'd been through this didn't seem like it should be a big deal-but to Stiles it was.

The door opened and Stiles was face to face with Lydia's mom. He quickly adjusted his green tie, thankful Lydia hadn't asked him to color code.

"Stiles!" Mrs. Martin said looking him up and down, "you look so handsome." She looked almost surprised even, her mouth forming into a small O. Stiles actually blushed, "Thank you," he said the comment surprisingly easing his nerves.

"Come on," she said ushering him inside, "Lydia should be down any minute. I'll go get the camera."

Stiles nodded, his nerves returning as he stood alone by the front door. What if he got the wrong color corsage? What if he ran out of things to say? What if the limo broke down and they never made it to the prom in the first place?

"Stiles?" a voice said. Stiles jerked his head up startled, and all his worries suddenly went away.

Lydia was descending the stairs in a long peach, strapless, dress. The dress almost touched the floor, but the heels of the sparkling silver shoes kept it from doing so. Her hair was swept up into some kind of makeshift bun, with a few pieces of strawberry blonde hair curling around framing her face. Long, silver earrings glimmered by her ear when she moved her head, and a matching necklace rested a few inches below her collar bone.

Lydia walked up to him smiling, "Wow, you clean up nice," she said grinning as she looked at him. Stiles couldn't stop staring, he was almost afraid his voice wouldn't work. "Not as nice as you," he managed to get out. "You look beautiful...more than beautiful." Lydia's smile widened as her eyes traveled to what he was holding in his hand.

"For me?"

Stiles nodded opening it up and presenting it to her, it was a white flower with a pink ribbon and a white band. "It's perfect," she said, Stiles let out a breath of relief, she sounded genuine.

Lydia slipped the band on her wrist, "Should we go?" she asked looking up at the clock. "Yeah," Stiles said glancing at the clock as well.

Although they had decided not to do the whole dinner thing, Stiles had a surprise for Lydia outiside, and that surprise would not be happy if they were late.

"Not so fast," Mrs. Martin said walking into the room.

"Oh Lydia honey," she said staring at her daughter with adoration, "You look so beautiful."

Lydia rolled her eyes, "Okay mom we really have to go-" "Just one picture," her mom insisted. The two agreed and moved closer together looking up at the camera with a smile. Then Lydia did something that completely caught Stiles off guard, as the camera flash went off, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Stiles on his left cheek. Stiles immediately turned red and laughed.

"We're leaving now," Lydia said grabbing Stiles' hand and pulling him out the door. She froze halfway down the porch stairs and released his hand. "You got a limo?" she asked staring at the long white vehicle, face completely neutral. "Uh...yeah but I mean we don't have to take it you know um-" Lydia giggled. "Of course we're gonna take it dumb ass."

Stiles looked at Lydia surprised, he'd never seen her like this before. Maybe it was because there were no serious threats at the moment, nothing to worry about in the big bad land of werewolves, but Stiles liked seeing Lydia this happy.

It made him even happier to know he was the cause of her joy.

"Shall we then?" he asked bravely offering his arm, just like he had two years ago. Lydia took it with a knowing gleam in her eye as they walked towards the limo.

Stiles opened the door for her and braced himself for what was coming. He heard a loud, "SURPRISE!" as Lydia climbed in.

"Oh my gosh!" Lydia said throwing her head back and laughing. Stiles climbed in and took the seat next to her. Scott, Allison, Isaac, and Kira all sat across from them wearing huge grins on their faces.

"We thought you guys were never coming out of there," Allison said as the limo began pulling onto the road. "Pictures," Lydia said the wide grin never leaving her face. "Well," Scott said getting everyone's attention, "I propose a toast..." He began passing out the wine glasses while Allison passed around the champagne, "to a semi-normal crisis free prom." "To a semi-normal prom," that all repeated laughing as they clunked their glasses together.

Stiles stood next to Scott near the punch, watching Lydia and Allison dance together and giggle. It had been a while since they could smile without worrying that Beacon Hills would explode the moment they let their guard down.

"Aren't you going to ask Lydia to dance?" Scott said looking at his friend. "We have danced," Stiles said stubbornly. The truth was, the group had all danced together to most of the songs, Stiles was afraid that if it was just him and Lydia he would mess something up, the last time they danced Lydia had been looking over his shoulder for Jackson the whole time anyway.

"You know what I mean!" Scott said slapping Stiles on the back.

"Come on this is the last dance, it's senior prom-and you're not going to share one dance with the girl you've been in love with since the third grade? Who accepted your invitation as your date?"

Stiles stood up straight, Scott was right-there was no better time like the present.

"Yeah, yeah okay...but this songs too fast, I need to wait for a slo-" Before the words even left his mouth. The fast paced song stopped, and a slow one replaced it. Scott laughed, "Okay, I'll dance with Allison you dance with Lydia...GO."

Both of the boys charged towards the dance floor, Scott pulling Allison into his arms, with Stiles following closely behind them approaching his date. "Hey Lydia, would-" "Hey Stiles, do you wanna dance?" she said before he finished his sentence. She tucked one of the stray piece of hair behind her ear and looked up at him.

"What? Um yeah, yeah of course," he said surprised, offering his hand.

She smiled and let him pull her towards the other couples awkwardly swaying to the music.

"So no cute little ass tactic this time?" she asked as they began to rock back and fourth. Stiles laughed, "I don't think that was my best approach," he said staring at her. She grinned, "It's nice not having to worry about anything you know? It's really...serene. I'm just happy that I haven't found any dead bodies recently to be honest." He smiled, "Remember to call me if you do." Lydia laughed, "Believe me, I will."

Stiles looked at Lydia, and Lydia looked back, a serious look crossing both of their faces. Stiles stared into Lydia's deep green eyes. It may have been a trick of the light, but it looked like Lydia was staring back into his, with the same wistfulness his face was portraying.

"Lydia?" he asked. "Why did you agree? To come with me?" Lydia looked down a minute, and then looked back up returning his gaze. "You can't say after everything we've been through we're not friends Stiles."

Stiles nodded looking away, she came here as his friend, as a friendly gesture. Stiles knew he shouldn't have expected anything more, but he couldn't help the surge of disappointment that immediately ran through him.

"And...I, I um..." Lydia stopped mid-sentence looking nervous. Stiles had never seen Lydia Martin at a loss for words before.

"Hey," he said gently, "It's okay, you can tell me."

Lydia looked at him, "Are you really going to make me say it?"

Stiles smiled, understanding perfectly what she was saying. They moved closer until their foreheads were pressed together, and Stiles could hear her breath going in and out, even over the soft hum of the music.

They danced in silence for a few minutes, but it wasn't the awkward type of silence, it was the comfortable one. It was the good one. It was the kind of silence that said all was well in Beacon Hills, at least for tonight that is.