Ellie Argent had seen her fair share of weird shit since moving to Beacon Hills.
Honestly, she was kind of expecting things to go back to the semblance of normal it had been before the night of the winter formal. Back then, she had been completely, blissfully ignorant to the supernatural aspects of the town. Her biggest problem had been struggling with her new orphan status, something she'd come to terms with since meeting Scott McCall.
But now things were different. Ellie was still in love with her boyfriend, that hadn't changed, but she understood things now. She understood why he'd lied to her, why he'd been so evasive and why he made out with her best friend and her cousin three days after she broke up with him (with totally valid reasons).
All of the bad things were because he was a werewolf.
So, now, two weeks and one uncomfortable trip to Washington later, she was ready to pick things up where they left off.
Yeah… That may not be as easy as it should be.
;
Ellie and Scott were enjoying a nice date out on the preserve. Scott had muttered to her that he wanted to take her to dinner or something extravagant, but he couldn't afford a restaurant. He was embarrassed about it, but Ellie just smiled and told him that she didn't like that sort of thing anyway.
"As long as I'm with you, I don't care where we are." She'd said sweetly.
Scott had decided to take her on a picnic to watch the sunset. He couldn't stand the thought of not being around her for an extended period of time after the days he'd spent with no contact with her at all.
They laid out a blanket in front of Stiles' jeep (something he'd very generously loaned to his best friend after agreeing that he wouldn't be using it any time soon – Stiles was too busy waiting outside of Lydia's hospital room) and dropped onto it together. The grass beneath them was slightly dry, and there were clouds blocking the sun, but it was peaceful. Tall trees circled the clearing, with an uneven dirt track flowing through the foliage.
Conversation blossomed; he told her about his quiet holiday with his mum and how he'd successfully dodged a call from his dad – she told him about being locked in her room most of the time and how off Allison had been acting when regarding the topic of werewolves.
After around three hours, all of the food was gone and they were packing away. He pouted about cutting the afternoon short, which made her giggle and kiss him. The kiss lasted longer than she'd meant it too, and he lifted her by the legs to sit on the bonnet of the jeep.
"We…" she gasped out, "Are… supposed… to… be leaving."
"I don't want to go," he nuzzled his face into her neck, and he placed a kiss on her pulse point. "I think we should stay here for at least a couple more hours."
"Hours?" Ellie brought his face back up to rest their foreheads together, "I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration if last time is anything to go by."
Scott made a disgruntled noise. "Hey! That is unfair. You can hardly judge every possible sexual occurrence between us on our first time."
"First time? What makes you think there'll be a second?" she teased lightly. Her boyfriend groaned, cheeks turning pink. "Aw, come on, don't be embarrassed. If you're cheeks get any darker I'll have to call you Clifford."
"Clifford?"
"Yeah." She grinned to herself for a moment, but when Scott's face scrunched up in confusion she explained: "Like Clifford from the books. Clifford the Big Red Dog. Because you were blushing… and you're a werewolf…"
"Oh," his eyes narrowed, "Can you not cool it with the wolf jokes? Even a little bit?"
"Nope."
He growled playfully, sweeping a hand over her cheekbone. "Don't make me angry; you won't like me when I'm angry."
"I guess I'll have to call you Cujo, then." Ellie told him seriously.
Scott leaned back down to kiss her, but before their lips could touch he was wrenched backwards and shoved onto the ground. For a moment, Ellie was disorientated – then she noticed who'd pulled him off of her.
It was her Uncle Chris.
For months he'd been trying to sabotage their relationship, but now, with the knowledge that Scott was a werewolf (the Argent family's natural enemy), he was even more invested in keeping them apart.
If it had been Allison that was dating him, maybe they would've been broken up by now. But it was Ellie, and Ellie was incredibly stubborn. She refused to be controlled by her uncle just because he had some warped view on what was best for her.
"Uncle Chris!" she yelped, "What the hell?"
He ignored her, instead slipping a gun from his pocket and pointing it at the werewolf. "You stay the hell away from my niece!" he shouted.
"Scott saved all of our lives!" Ellie yelled at him, yanking on his arm to try and break the aim from her boyfriend. "You can't just threaten him!"
"Mr Argent!" Scott squeaked.
"You two are not to see each other!" Chris ordered.
Ellie scoffed. "You have no right to stop me from seeing him. You kept us apart for two weeks already." His arm didn't waver, "For Christ's sake, dude, put the gun down! Unless you want to explain to the sheriff why a totally innocent teenage boy turned up dead in a town where you're the only licenced gun holder."
Her uncle let his arm drop. "You can't see him anymore, Ellie." He told her firmly, "You don't understand. It's not up to you or me."
Scott stumbled onto his feet, gulping audibly before gently grasping Ellie's hand. "I love your niece, Mr Argent. I know that you don't trust me, but I would never do anything to hurt her."
"I believe you." The older man told him. "But I'm not the thing that matters, Scott. You're a werewolf and there are people on our family who aren't going to accept this."
"People like Aunt Victoria?" Ellie asked thickly.
Chris' jaw tightened. "And others." He looked at Scott, "I believe that you love my niece, and if you really are telling the truth then do this for her. Being affiliated with you won't bring anything good."
He stalked away, probably back to where he came from, leaving Ellie and Scott staring at each other and wondering why they couldn't just have a normal, stress-free evening together anymore.
(Of course, twenty minutes later they were in the backseat of the jeep with the windows steamed up and the encounter forgotten).
;
Ellie Argent prided herself on many things. She was a good bowler, and she could make any shot with a bow and arrow… and she could be really, really sneaky if she wanted to be. And, well, with a forbidden romance going on, she needed every ounce of subtlety available to a seventeen year old girl.
The day before the return to school, Ellie visited Lydia in the hospital. Her best friend was awake after an attack from Peter Hale (the psycho alpha with a tragic back story and a penchant for vengeance) and back to her usual self.
Lydia complained about how Jackson hadn't visited her, and about how overbearing her father was being. Ellie told her about the forced breakup with Scott ("Your uncle is a hard ass," the strawberry blonde commented).
"Where's Allison been?" Lydia had asked eventually, voice hurt.
Ellie frowned and rested her chin on her hand from where she leaned on her friend's bed. "She's been pretty distant lately. I think with all of the stress of what happened the night of the winter formal, and Kate's death and everything… she's taken it pretty hard. I haven't actually had a real conversation with her since we left for Washington. I don't know where she goes."
"Maybe she just needs time?" Lydia suggested.
Ellie shook her head. "I don't think so."
That night, Chris, Victoria and Allison went out for dinner. Ellie was told to say in the house and her phone was taken away from her. She wasn't allowed to communicate with anyone on the off chance that they could give and send messages between her and Scott.
Honestly, she felt like Rapunzel stuck in the tower.
At exactly seven o clock, her window was pushed up to allow a person through. She smirked at him, waiting for him to approach her.
"How much time do we have?" Scott asked, grinning.
"They'll be gone an hour."
She jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist and letting him carry her to her bed as they kissed. Her Aunt and Uncle really didn't think the situation through.
They'd managed to remove Scott's jeans and his shirt, as well as Ellie's dress. One of his hands swept up her back and the other flailed out, crashing into her alarm clock and sending it to the ground.
"Sorry!" he yelped, tucking the offending appendage back into the proximity of the bed.
Ellie giggled, "Not important. I needed a new one anyway."
Scott brought their mouths together again, hands reaching for the clasp on her back until he suddenly froze. "Do the right-side brakes on your uncle's SUV squeak a little bit?"
She frowned, wanting to get back to the good stuff. "Yeah, I guess."
"Then we're dead. I'm dead."
"Holy shit!" Ellie rolled off of him and grabbed her clothes. "Out, out! Hurry!"
He managed to wrestle his jeans back on and dive under the window while Ellie shoved his shirt under her covers. Snatching a book from her shelf, she laid herself out on her bed as I she'd been there since her family had left.
What seemed like only seconds later – but was probably several minutes – her aunt was barging into the room like she owned the damn place (which she didn't, because they rented the house).
"If you're not going to let me have a lock on my door, or even use technology's been around for less than twenty years, you could at least knock before entering," Ellie sniffed, not looking up from – wait, what was the book? She scanned over the text and realised that it was an old paperback Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets that her mum had bought her from a book fair several years ago. "That would be the polite thing to do."
"Knocking is only needed if the person is up to something they don't want someone to walk in on," Victoria snapped, "Did I interrupt something?"
"Just my reading," the teenager replied, "And my life and my happiness… but, yeah, other than that you're totally in the right. I have no idea why I've been so angry at you for the past few weeks."
"I've got your dress and shoes for the funeral tomorrow. I figured you wouldn't want to wear the same clothes as you did to your parents' funeral," Victoria said casually, and Ellie flinched. Sure, she'd come to terms with her parents' deaths, but she still didn't like talking about it.
Her aunt moved to the wardrobe and threw the doors open carelessly, obviously trying to catch Scott. Maybe her relatives weren't as stupid as she thought they were.
"Can I go back to reading my book in peace now?" Ellie asked snidely, running a hand through her tousled hair. "Or would you prefer to do a full body cavity search? I don't think you'll find much out of place; I removed the coke as soon as possible like any other sensible delinquent teen."
Victoria scowled, poking her head of the window, and Ellie mentally crossed her fingers that Scott had moved out of the way. The older woman walked briskly to the door, giving her niece one last suspicious look before leaving. The door slammed loudly and the hinges creaked in protest.
Scott's head peaked back inside, though his face was pinched with worry. "I have to go. Stiles needs me."
"What? I thought Stiles was with Lydia at the hospital." Ellie frowned, throwing the book somewhere haphazardly.
"Yeah," her boyfriend said, "There's something wrong with Lydia."
;
Scott left really quickly after that, not giving Ellie enough time to catch up with him. He had run there, so he must've run to the hospital, too, and he barely explained the situation. She wouldn't have known anything if she hadn't yanked the phone out of the werewolf's hand when Stiles texted him the details.
Lydia was missing – she ran naked out of the hospital for no apparent reason, and now she was officially missing. That didn't seem like a very 'Lydia Martin' thing to do.
Ellie didn't have time to ponder the consequences; she stuffed herself into a pair of jeans under her dress, slipped into some boots and yanked on her coat. On the way to her window she picked up a woollen hat and then jumped onto the roof, flipping onto the pavement like she once did in order to go on a double date. She had to dive into the bushes for a few minutes to make sure her uncle couldn't see her on the way to his SUV. Two other goons were with him, so she assumed it must have been a hunting party.
Running fourteen blocks to the hospital was a very painful, tiring experience, but she managed to reach the jeep before the boys drove away.
"What are you doing here?" Scott hissed, "What if someone sees?"
"Let them. Lydia is my best friend, Scott, and we need to find her before they do." Ellie said seriously.
Scott shook his head. "I can find her before the cops can."
"Can you find her before my uncle does?"
"He knows?" Stiles asked, sounding horrified.
Ellie scoffed. "He definitely knows. I just saw him and two guys leave my house in two of the death-UVs. He's sending out a hunting party."
Scott swung the car door open. "Get in."
;
A mile down the road, toward the preserve, Stiles decided it was time to question the hunter-girl. Ellie understood that he needed answers and everything, but her family never told her anything. Her connections to werewolves apparently made her a liability.
"Alright, but if she's turning, would they actually kill her?" the pale boy asked nervously.
Ellie groaned. "I don't know. They won't tell me anything; all they say is 'we'll talk after Kate's funeral when the others get here'."
"What others?"
"They won't tell me that, either." She said blankly.
"Okay," Stiles said exasperatedly, "Your family's got some serious communication issues to work on. Scott, are we going the right way?"
Scott, from where his head was stuck out of the window (like a dog) to catch Lydia's scent, said, "Take the next right!"
;
Scott's nose led them to the old Hale house, much to Ellie's chagrin. She hated that she had to be there again; the place made her skin crawl. After everything that had happened there the night of the winter formal, she had planned not to ever go back again.
"She came here?" form the tone of Stiles' voice, he wasn't totally thrilled about being there either. "You sure?"
"This is where the scent leads," Scott confirmed.
They walked slowly forward until Stiles blurted, "But has Lydia ever even been here?"
"I've never taken her here," Ellie replied, wrapping her arms around herself. "I've only been here once." Stiles huffed and stomped ahead of the couple, and she turned to her boyfriend. "Maybe she came here on instinct. Like she was looking for Derek."
"You mean looking for an alpha," Scott said resignedly.
Ellie sighed, "Wolves want packs, right? But would that even mean that she would be drawn to an alpha? Is it an instinct?"
"We're stronger in packs."
"Like strength in numbers?"
"No," Scott shook his head. "We're literally stronger in packs. We're faster, better in every way."
"And for an alpha?" Ellie asked, holding her breath.
Scott nodded slowly. "It'll make Derek stronger, too."
"Whoa!" Stiles shouted from behind them. "Do you see this? Look! I think it's a trip wire!"
Ellie crouched next to him and examined the wire. "Cool," she muttered, before reaching out and flicking it. Behind them there was a groan of metal and a yelp.
"Stiles?" Scott said.
Stiles turned, "Yeah, buddy? Oh."
Ellie looked at her boyfriend, and saw that he was hanging upside down by the trap, arms dangling and face turning a brilliant shade of purple.
"Next time you guys see a tripwire," the werewolf said, sounding 100% done, "Don't trip it."
Ellie stifled a giggle behind her hand and told him, "Noted." The two humans stepped forward to help, but Scott quickly stopped them.
"No, no, no, wait!" he ordered, "Someone's coming. Hide, both of you."
Stiles stood dumbly for a minute, and Ellie grabbed his arm to pull him behind a bush. She watched as her uncle strolled through the trees with the two sycophants behind him, sighing when he saw Scott.
"Scott?"
"Mr Argent."
"How are you doing?"
"Good. I'm, you know… hanging in there. Is this one of yours? It's good. Nice design; very constricting."
"What are you doing here, Scott?"
"Looking for my friend."
"That's right. Lydia's in your group now, isn't she? Part of the clique? Is that the word you use? Or is there another way to put it? Part of your pack?"
"Actually, clique sound about right to me."
"I hope so. Because I know she's a friend of Ellie's and Allison's, and one special circumstance such as yourself… One I can handle. Not two."
"No."
"Scott, do you know what a hemicorporectomy is?"
"I have a feeling I don't want to."
"A medical term for amputating somebody at the waist. Cutting them in half. Takes a tremendous amount of strength to cut through tissue and bone like that. Let's hope a demonstration never become necessary."
Uncle Chris left, taking his men with him, and Stiles and Ellie immediately rushed over to him. "Are you okay? God, he's such a creep."
"It's just another life threatening conversation with your uncle. I'm actually pretty sued to them now." Scott laughed, still hanging from the trap. Ellie thought that Chris could at least have the decency to cut the boy down.
"Come on, Stiles, help me get him free." Ellie ran to the cables holing up the trap, but there was no point.
There was a snipping noise, and a thump, and then Scott's voice saying, "Thanks, but I think I've got it." He nodded to the house. "Let's go."
They searched for hours, but there was no point. Lydia wasn't there – she was still missing.