I don't own Teen Wolf.

A Garden for Claudia- Chapter 3- Would You Believe Mountain Lion?

In the days that followed the failure of a friendship dinner, Stiles felt horrible about the way he treated Scott. He knew he should've just backed off but he couldn't stand the fact that Scott was lying to him. He tried texting Scott but never received an answer. Thursday had rolled around and he realized that school would begin again on Monday. He sighed as he stared at his phone while he laid in bed. His eyes drifted to his alarm clock which read 5:47 AM.

He sighed to himself, "At least Dad will be off work within the next hour and a half." Stiles dragged himself out of bed and walked downstairs. When he reached the kitchen he heard the sound of wood crack and rushed to the back door. When he looked through the window he saw a lone, armed figure in the garden, his garden. He quickly flipped on the outside light and stepped through the door. By the time he assessed the man, a little shorter than Stiles but a lot more filled out with pale skin and dark colored hair and dressed like a paramilitary commando, Stiles realized he was scared to his core.

As the man stepped forward and trained his handgun on Stiles, Stiles realized how stupid of a decision he just made. The man asked, "Where are they?" Suddenly Stiles was consumed with rage, the sight of the broken fence and his damaged garden pushed the anger as he stepped towards the man, "Who is they? We are the only ones here asshole and I really appreciate you smashing through my garden." The man seemed surprised by the words that came out of Stiles mouth and responded, "In case you didn't notice, kid, I am the one with the firearm so just answer the question."

Stiles closed the distance between them to one pace and spat, "Really? Threatening the Sheriff's son, in his own backyard with a handgun. I guess they don't make stupid like you anymore. How about this, you can get the hell out of my backyard and maybe you can dodge being arrested." The man glanced to the hole in the fence and said, "Get a load of the balls on this kid."

Stiles yelled, "I'm not a kid!" As he yelled he stepped towards the gunman and tripped over his own feet in the process. While Stiles was falling the man had shifted his grip of the firearm in a way to use it as a bludgeoning instrument. Stiles' forearm cracked the man's wrist, as he fell, which caused his to drop the handgun. Just as Stiles caught himself by only falling to a knee, his left hand fell to the ground, just after the handgun, and landed on the firearm. With speed he didn't know he possessed, he grabbed the weapon and brought it up, the end trained center mass on the man.

Baffled by being disarmed, the man took a step back as Stiles now pointed the weapon at him. He said, "Don't shoot. I was just hunting down a couple of animals." Stiles slowly rose, "In a suburban California neighborhood?" The man weakly responded, "I wasn't going to shoot you, I promise." Confidence from his man days at the range with his father took over and Stiles said, "I know you weren't. You left this safety on." As Stiles finished saying on, he effortlessly clicked the safety off. The man, gripped with fear, ran through the break in the fence and into the forest.

Stiles stared at the hole in the fence, and his damaged plants as he let out a sigh of relief. He said, "What just happened?" Before he could regain his composure he heard movement from the shed on the far side of the garden. He saw that the door was slightly ajar as he walked up to it. He heard the sounds of two people as they had trouble catching their breath. With the pistol readied he threw open the door.

The two figures huddled together in the darkness of the shed. Both teens looked like they had lived off the land at least for a few weeks. Their olive skin was dirty and their dark hair was disheveled. Stiles said, "Who are you and what are you doing in the shed? Plus is the guy who left trying to kill you?" The young man and woman looked up at Stiles. He gasped a little when their glowing yellow eyes met his gaze. Stiles quietly asked, "Why are your eyes glowing yellow?" The young woman groaned in pain and quietly said, "Tyler, it's not getting better. It's not healing." The man looked at the woman and whispered, "Neither is mine Taylor."

More than slightly irritated, Stiles asked, "What is going on?" He looked at the two and then at the pistol he still had pointed at them and quickly clicked the safety on and shoved it into his pajama bottom pocket. They both looked at Stiles and Tyler said, "We need to get away from the monkshood." Stiles stepped forward and looked at the two. He saw that both teens had been shot. The young woman lost consciousness and her brother shook her to try and wake her up. Stiles stepped forward and grabbed the young woman's arm on the opposite side as her brother, "Help me get her up to my room before either my dad gets home or the gun totting idiot comes back." Tyler looked at Stiles with fear in his eyes and Stiles said, "I'm going to help you two, not shoot you." Tyler nodded and they both carried Taylor into the house and up to Stiles' room.

When they laid her down on Stiles' bed, Tyler's eyes shifted from yellow to their normal hazel. He said, "I feel a lot better now that I am away from that monkshood." Stiles looked at him with confusion, "What do you mean? Did either of you ingest any?" Tyler looked at Stiles, "No, we didn't eat your plants, they shot us with some." He looked at the wound on his arm and saw that the bullet went through and was healing. Stiles watched as the bullet hole closed up before his eyes. His eyes widened and he said, "Okay, that's not normal. What did you do and why isn't she doing it?"

Tyler sighed and looked down at his sister who appeared to be having more difficulty breathing, "Alright, I'll tell you, after we save my sister." Stiles nodded, "what do we need to do?" Tyler ran his hand through his hair and said, "The monkshood is killing her. If we can find out what kind we can stop it before it reaches her heart." Stiles smirked, "Well, short of a few varieties, my mother planted and grew just about every kind in the garden. Plus I have some things that will help." Stiles darted into his bathroom and quickly emerged holding a glass of water, a bottle of piles and a small plastic container with a screw on top.

Tyler glanced at the other teen and the supplies he held, "What are those?" Stiles set the water and pill bottle down and opened the top of the tiny plastic container to reveal an opaque white salve. Stiles grinned, "Medicine. The pill will help the body push out any toxins and the salve can weaken the poison that is on the skin." Tyler looked at the salve, "Is that made from the monkshood?" Stiles nodded, "The aconite is used in the process to make it." Tyler said, "Perfect" and grabbed the salve from Stiles. Stiles looked on in awe as Tyler fingered out some of the salve and pushed his finger into the gunshot wound on Taylor's side. Almost immediately she shot to sitting up, her eyes blazing yellow. Stiles gasped as Tyler asked, "Taylor, are you alright?" Taylor nodded and grimaced slightly from the pain. Tyler looked at Stiles, "Why do you have this?"

Stiles smiled, his eyes still firmly locked on Taylor's wound as her body pushed the bullet out and the wound sealed closed. He spoke quietly as he watched the healing for the second time, "My mother made it. I had issues with reactions to the aconite when I was a kid. My mother knew I wouldn't stay out of the garden but she also knew I would freak out if she got rid of them so antitoxins and salves for skin reactions." Stiles looked at Tyler, "So why did the salve work internally?" Taylor looked to her brother and mumbled, "Don't Tyler." Tyler immediately responded to Taylor, "I promised him." He turned to Stiles and said, "Because our werewolf healing was hindered by the monkshood and the salve neutralizes the toxins. Anything else in it would be expelled by her healing just like the bullet."

Stiles' mouth slowly opened, "Werewolf healing? You are serious, aren't you?" Taylor shook her head before she laid her head back down and Tyler continued, "Yes. The eyes and healing are a couple of the things that are different since we are werewolves." Stiles blinked a few times, "Seriously?" Tyler rolled his eyes and wolfed out as he stared at Stiles. Stiles immediately jumped back, "Oh my god, you are serious. So what were you doing in my backyard?" Tyler shifted back and said, "We travelled here to find a pack. Long story short, we had to leave our home and have been on the run for months now."

Stiles blinked a few times, the information setting in, "So you have nowhere to stay here?" Tyler sighed as he looked out the window, "No, my sister and I only have each other." Stiles responded, "Well until you have somewhere to go or are at least safe from the gun totting crazies, stay here. We have a guest room. But we have to hide from my dad. Something tells me there is a missing person's report for you two and he would be able to pull it up in no time. Oh and why were you being hunting by those guys?" Tyler sighed once again, "They are werewolf hunters. They know about us and, well, hunt us."

Stiles shook his head in disbelief, "As long as you are here, you are safe. I'm going to head downstairs and fix something to eat before dad gets home. Feel free to borrow some of my clothes after you two get cleaned up." Tyler smiled and Taylor only groaned but Stiles knew the sentiment of thanks. Stiles walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen, only pausing outside of his door to say, "Towels are under the sink in the cabinet."

Stiles fixed enough food to feed an army and his dad was surprised when he got home. After sitting down for breakfast, Stiles explained to his dad how he had a couple of friends over from school. John, not willing to argue or even push to find out more, agreed that they could stay over through the weekend but no one was missing school on Monday. After finishing breakfast John informed Stiles that he had another shift Friday night and went to bed.

Stiles brought breakfast up to the siblings and talked with them as they ate. After everyone was cleaned up Tyler and Taylor gave Stiles a quick werewolves for beginner's class. After he exhausted them from questions, Stiles let his guests get some sleep.

Stiles tried to message Scott but he received no reply to his texts nor an answer to his calls. He spent the remainder of the day hopped up on Adderall researching anything online about werewolves.

John walked downstairs as Stiles began to gather up food to cook. He asked, "Son, where are your friends?"

Stiles smiled as he looked back towards his father and said, "Yeah, they are still racked out. Long night last night."

John raised an eyebrow as he said, "Not really the way you'd want to spend your time before school."

Stiles shrugged, "You know how we teenagers are dad. Oh and I have just about everything I need for some vegetable stir fry."

John groaned and Stiles said, "Well, if you don't mind, dad, I will make stir fry with beef if you can go to the store and pick some up."

John smiled, "That sounds like a good idea."

Stiles laughed as he began to slice up the vegetables, "Thanks Dad. I figured you would like that compromise."

John gathered up his things and said, "I'll be back shortly. Don't burn down the house while I'm gone."

Stiles laughed, "Alright dad but no promises."

John laughed as he walked out the door.

After Stiles finished cutting up the vegetables he set his pan on the stove. Before he could turn on the heat he heard movement outside of the house near the front door. He stopped for a moment, as he looked towards the noise, but continued with the cooking. He turned on the stove and added oil to the pan. He laughed to himself, "I bet it is dad outside trying to mess with me. The old man will have to do better than that."

As he finished laughing, a thunderous crash was heard from the living room as a large dark figure flew through the windows. Glass shards and splinters flew through the air and sliced up Stiles as he turned to face the noise from the kitchen. His hand instinctually tightened its grip around the handle of the frying pan. The large figure appeared to be a gray, twisted version of a wolf man, standing on all fours, its glowing red eyes staring into Stiles' eyes. It barely had to look up to meet the gaze and it snarled to show ferocious teeth. Stiles struggled to catch his breath as the fear gathered into his throat and threatened to silence him.

The figure charged towards Stiles with supernatural speed, similar to how the ball flew towards the goal when Jackson threw it. Instinct took over and while Jackson's throws have only gained speed, Stiles hasn't been hit by one in years. The wolf-man flew but was immediately cracked in the side of the face by the slightly heated frying pan. It fell to the ground and for a moment, Stiles' confidence returned. He remarked, "How'd you like my frying pain?"

His confidence was short lived as the beast got to its feet and tackled Stiles into the back door. Stiles felt the wind get knocked out of him as he struck the door, but he didn't lose his grip on his cooking utensil. The beast lowered its open mouth towards Stiles' face and the only thing the young Stilinski could smell was death. His mind raced, from Adderall and adrenaline as his open hand rubbed along the wall and searched for something. He felt the cold metallic zing against his fear sweat covered hand and quickly turned the knob and fell out the backdoor, with the beast on top of him. The scent of his garden, his private sanctuary hit Stiles and a thought struck him as he laid on the ground just outside the door. He closed his eyes and took solace, "At least if I have to die anywhere, it is in my garden." He heard quick movement and felt the pressure leave his chest. Before he could gather the strength to open his eyes, he heard the sound of the wood and glass crunch as the figure left through the window in the living room that it came through.

Stiles slowly got to his feet when he heard the front door swing open and his dad yelled, "Stiles, are you alright?"

Stiles walked inside the house to see his father terrified. He barely mustered, "Yeah dad, I'm alright."

John ran over to his son and embraced him as he said, "What happened?"

Stiles slightly grinned as the embrace of his father brought him back to reality, "Would you believe mountain lion?"