Kira was thrilled. Scott had spent the rest of the day telling her everything she would need to know about Stiles and Lydia as Kira hadn't been a part of the pack from the beginning.
She'd picked up on a lot of things in the last few months, but she sure didn't know about how crazy Stiles' crush on Lydia was when he was younger, nor did she know that they'd went to the winter formal together or just how close they'd gotten since Scott was bitten. Scott even told Kira about Stiles' 10 – stretch to 15 - year plan to make Lydia fall in love with him.
To say the least, Kira was thrilled. Still, she would probably regret all the delight later. It's not normal to have a smile on one's face for so long and her cheeks will hurt, Scott's pretty sure of it but he couldn't help but smile too. He hadn't seen Kira this excited in a while, and to actually be able to do something about Stydia – that's how Kira now insisted on addressing what was Stiles and Lydia's… Well, thing – left this soothing atmosphere in the air, like what they were planning was something that was meant to be.
It felt right.
The next day after breakfast, while he answered a call on his phone, Kira - who'd rushed back to her boyfriend's house to continue scheming - was focused on a calendar trying to figure something out by herself.
Scott looks back at Kira, sitting at his desk when he ends the call. "Derek will be coming over in a minute. Says he wants to talk."
"What about?" Kira asks, still absent-minded.
"He didn't say, but he is already on his way." Scott peeks over her shoulder to a blank paper sheet all scribbled out in different colors, not able to make sense of a single thing. "How are we?"
"Oh, the plan will so be over before the ten-year mark." Kira smiles wider, glancing over her shoulder at Scott. "This is gonna be perfect."
"Don't get your hopes up. He's still with Malia, remember?"
"Yeah, I know." She frowns. "And I like Malia… I mean, not like like, but I guess she's okay." Scott thinks it's endearing when Kira mumbles to herself like this, and she continues, oblivious to her boyfriend's thoughts. "Does it make me a bad person to want my friend's boyfriend to date my other friend?" She asks insecurely. "I don't want Malia to get hurt, but by not hurting her Stiles and Lydia are suffering themselves, in a way. And it's different with the two of them, isn't it?" She pauses. "It's like they're two sides of the same coin or something. Did you notice that there are lots of things they mirror from the other? It's so cute. They don't even seem aware that they're doing it."
"Trust me, I know," he smiles. Scott is the only one who really knows how much Stiles has cared for Lydia over the years, and it was not one-sided, not as of late when they started their little banter and as they started to get to know each other. Before Malia, that is. "There were times when they kept doing this thing with their lips, like they were both pouting at the same time, completely randomly. I'm pretty sure deep inside they were just hoping they would put their lips to better use, you know? But god forbid one of them would make a move," Scott laughs.
Kira giggles. "Oh my god. I'm fangirling!" They both laugh, Kira raising her hands motioning for a pause. "Please don't stop dating me." She teases and he pecks her lips. "We should stop. We still have so much to plan."
A knock on the door reveals a slightly entertained Melissa, a faint light playing in her eyes as if she wants to ask permission for something she's not supposed to. "Scott, honey…"
He already knows what it means and interrupts her right there, not wanting to prolong the embarrassment for the both of them. "It's fine, mom. Just… Text me if you're getting home late. We are gonna head out after lunch, anyways." He manages to smile, not wanting to sound too harsh.
Melissa looks like a teenager, a bright smile on her lips and cheeks reddening. "Thanks, honey. I will." She promises. Turning around to leave, she suddenly remembers why she went to Scott's room in the first place. "Oh, Derek's downstairs. He said you're expecting him…" She makes it sound like a question.
"Yes. Derek, you can come up." Scott murmurs, knowing Derek can hear him.
"I'll leave you guys to it, then. I'll see you later." Melissa waves goodbye and is gone as soon as Derek appears in Scott's room, Kira expectantly looking at Scott, waiting just long enough to hear the front door close to blurt out to her boyfriend "What was that about?"
Scott blushes and Derek smiles. Wow, that's weird, Kira thinks. It's Derek who speaks first. "She's going out with him, isn't she?"
"Yeah." Scott scratches the back of his neck, turning to Kira. "It's the Sheriff. She kind of made him dinner the other night and then he invited her for a few drinks and I guess that's the beginning of that…"
Scott is not sure if it's possible but Kira's smile is even brighter now, just like Derek's. "Oh my god, oh my god", she shouts suddenly, jumping in her seat like a little girl.
"I guess everyone saw it coming, though." Scott beams at her amusement. "I'm happy for them, that's what matters."
"And it's not weird? For you and Stiles, I mean… Of course it's weird. But are you guys okay with it?"
Scott laughs. Kira sounds so much like Stiles sometimes. "We are. It's not like we talk much about it, but we're already brothers anyway." Scott notices that Derek went to sit on his bed. "Oh, I'm sorry, dude. You wanted to talk, right?"
Kira gets up from her chair in an instant. "I'll be downstairs if you need me." Scott nods, assuming it's some pack business Derek wants to talk about, but Derek quickly asks her to stay.
"It was something I kind of wanted to discuss with Scott alone, but if he hasn't told you yet - and he probably has - it still might be good to have a girl's perspective on this."
"Oh, okay." Kira sits again, now extremely curious. Scott stands beside her. "What is it, then?"
Derek struggles to find the right words. It's not like he is that much used to talk about someone's feelings, neither his nor someone else's. He addresses Scott. "Yesterday, when you and Lydia were alone before you two left, something happened, right? Her heart faltered."
Scott and Kira exchange looks, knowing exactly what he's talking about. "You heard it?"
"Yes. It was Stiles, wasn't it?"
Scott just nods in response.
"You ship them too!" Kira exclaims, getting ahead of herself and feeling far too excited about the whole situation.
"I what?" Derek looks lost.
Scott can't help but to laugh at him and Kira follows suit. "Are you worried about them? I didn't think you had it in you, Derek." Scott says, smiling. This is turning out to be the weirdest week.
"It's Braeden, isn't it? She's making you a softie," Kira comments, abruptly shutting her mouth when she realizes she overstepped her boundaries. She doesn't know Derek well enough and she shouldn't have said it like that, but she's been trying to fit in the pack better, putting her social awkwardness aside.
Key word trying.
Derek, despite all odds, laughs. "Yes, my girlfriend is making me a slightly better person but I'm not insensitive, geez. We are pack. We are supposed to worry about each other."
"Sorry." Kira mumbles, already blushing when she turns her gaze to the ground.
"It's fine, Kira." Derek looks carefree, amused even. Scott doesn't remember a time when Derek would refer to someone as his girlfriend. They all just assume it for him. "And everyone in this damn town knows about Stiles and Lydia, so what are we talking about here? Because that spazz is still dating my cousin…"
"We know," Scott replies with a sigh. "But he's not in love with her. Sure he cares, but you know it's not like that, not really. We don't want to break them up or anything. We just don't want them to get hurt. Not Stiles, not Malia, not Lydia."
"What are you saying then?"
"Kira's the one with the planning thingy." Scott points to the sheet on his desk, then motions to Kira. "Maybe she should tell you."
Kira blushes immediately now that the focus is on her. "Hmm, okay. So we were just kind of planning to get Stiles and Lydia to spend more time together with the pack, not by themselves, and hoping that things would just go from there. Give them more chances to consider it, you know? But then last night we discussed something." She shares a suspicious look with Scott. "We thought that Malia, even though not being as good as Scott or you just yet, has been improving her sense of smell as part of her training. So whenever Stiles and Lydia are around each other, she should be able to smell their emotions like you sometimes do, right?" Derek nods. "But then Scott told me that Stiles has been reeking a little less when he's around Lydia, but they haven't been talking much lately, so that might be it. And Lydia is more acquainted with her powers now, so she's able to disguise her scent willingly, we're thinking."
Scott continues. "And she's getting good at it too. If I wasn't there to see Stiles ignore her and hadn't heard her heart skip a beat, I probably wouldn't have caught it. But her eyes tell a different story. She can't hide her emotions in her eyes. That's why she always leaves early when we have meetings, when she figures that she can't hide her feelings anymore for the day." He adds as Derek listens attentively. "But Malia should be able to pick these things up by now. And she knows there's history there. I am actually impressed that she didn't try to kill Lydia yet." Scott scratches the back of his neck, remembering that he's talking to Malia's cousin. "So we've been wondering why Malia hasn't done something about it. She's probably the most direct of us all, you know? She could end it in a second if she wanted to."
There's a moment of silence before Derek speaks. "That's the other reason I came to talk to you. I think that something is up."
Scott frowns. "No. No, no, no! That can't be. Everything has been good lately. Please don't tell me it's bad news."
Kira places her hand on Scott's shoulder, grounding him as she turns to Derek. "What is it?"
"Malia's been disappearing for a couple of hours at a time. And it's becoming a regular thing. I don't know what she's been doing while she's out, but I think it might have something to do with her mother."
"How?" Scott asks. Scott may be the Alpha, but Derek's the one who's always keeping tabs on everyone. "How do you know?"
"Stiles came by the loft the other day, kind of breathless. Told me he had been looking for her for five straight hours and that it was not the first time. She keeps telling him that she's just going for a run through the woods but Stiles is smart. He knows better. So he came to see if she was in the loft and I told him no, and he just went home. He texted me one hour later saying that she was back and that all was good."
"Why wouldn't he tell me any of this?" Scott blurts out, surprised that Stiles kept this from him.
"He doesn't want to trouble you. As you said, it's been better lately. He probably just doesn't want things to get out of control."
"So what are you thinking?"
Derek is blunt and wastes no more time. "I think we should go check on Peter, make sure things are as they're supposed to be and that he's still locked up. I don't have a good feeling about this. And somehow it's always Peter, so…"
Kira interrupts Derek. "Why don't you guys go? Lydia can pick me up. We already planned to spend the afternoon together anyways."
Derek stands up from the bed and starts heading for the door. "You guys meet me at the loft in twenty minutes. I'm supposed to meet Lydia there to give her some more books." He points to Kira. "Then you'll leave with Lydia and I'll go with Scott. No one else needs to know where we're going until we figure this out."
"Sounds like a plan." Scott mutters, resigned. Derek's out the door in no time, so Scott grabs his jacket and turns to Kira. "Ask Lydia if she wants to go out for lunch. The sooner we figure out what Malia's been doing the better, so our plans" he motions in between him and Kira, "are on hold." He kisses her lips softly. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She sighs while they head towards Scott's bike in a hurry, suddenly the urge of things not going their way weighing on them. "Maybe it's nothing."
They hop up, leaving for Derek's loft with an uneasy feeling trailing behind them.
