Author's Note:

Thank you to those of you who added this story to their alerts and those of you who favourited it! You guys are the best!

poorxbrokexcollegexkid: I love your reviews, honestly, they make me so happy! I'm so glad you like it! Sydney cares about people, especially those that haven't hurt her (yet anyways). I hope you enjoy this new chapter and you'll have answers soon enough mwahaha.

Alawishus: I'm so glad you loved the last chapter! I can totally see Erica liking Peter, he's got that wicked charm about him. Thank you so much for taking the time to review!

The Last of Us

Summary: Sydney didn't know what was in store for her when she knocked on his door but she knew why she was there. With no one left to turn to, would he be her hero or would she ultimately become the villain she could only dream about.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.

Chapter 4:

It somehow felt a little weird as Sydney made her way to the basement of the apartment building. The laundry basket full of her dirty clothes rested against her hip, her hand holding the opposite side. Her free hand was running through her hair, pausing as she got to the ends and admiring the amount of split hairs she hadn't exactly noticed before.

The fact that she was waiting for any form of contact from Derek weighed on her mind. She knew she should've been working out a plan in her head, or at the very least trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but instead she had found her head filled with the idea of doing laundry.

Clean clothes seemed important enough and if she didn't do her laundry soon, she'd be left with nothing clean to wear. Going to Derek's loft naked didn't seem like a good idea, however wandering around Peter's apartment without any clothes didn't seem like a terribly bad idea at all.

She knew she couldn't not wash her clothes though, which was why she found herself marching down the stairs until she located the dimly lit hallway leading to the washers and dryers.

The door to the laundry room was open and she wasn't entirely surprised to find another occupant doing the same thing she was about to do. The older lady, maybe closer to Peter's age, met her eyes and flashed Sydney a smile as she entered. Sydney tossed the woman a wave before pushing forward and heading for one of the free washers, setting her laundry basket on top of it.

She bent over and pulled the front load door open and straightened back up, tossing in her clothes one piece at a time, taking note that not all articles actually belonged to her. She let out a chuckle not intending for the other woman to hear it but the curious humming coming from behind her signified that she had, in fact, heard her amusement.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" The woman asked and Sydney tossed the last piece of clothing, one of her t-shirts, into the washer before standing up and turning towards the woman.

"New to this building, yes." Sydney nodded, hoping that the woman wouldn't get too nosy.

"So you're from Beacon Hills?"

"I lived here when I was a kid, so I'm definitely not a stranger." Sydney forced a smile, knowing that maybe having an ally in the building would be a decent thing.

"Oh how lovely." The woman nodded, a smile of her own gracing her lips.

Sydney patted her hand against her hip, brushing off the palm before extending her hand towards the woman. She mentally chanted to 'fit in' and maybe she could even help keep her cover solid. All she had to do was convince the woman she was normal.

"My name's Sydney." Sydney announced and the woman took a firm hold of her hand, shaking it lightly.

"Debbie." The woman nodded.

"Have you lived in this building for very long?"

The woman pulled her hand away from Sydney but rested it against her hip. She cocked her head to the side, almost as if she were calculating in her head the number of years she had been in the building.

"Seven years but I haven't seen you around here for very long."

"No, probably not, I'm actually staying with," she paused, not really knowing what to call Peter, "someone."

"Ah yes, that lovely gentleman from 3-C." The woman nodded.

Sydney scrunched her eyebrows together and looked at Debbie cautiously. What kind of person was that observant? She had barely been with Peter at all, yet this woman knew that he was the person with whom she was staying.

"I'd hardly call him lovely." Sydney teased back, trying to mask her confusion at how Debbie knew that and instead played it off as simply not knowing exactly who she was referring to.

"Is he family?"

Sydney leaned back against the washing machine and looked into the woman's eyes, trying to gauge her threat level. Maybe she was just a curious lady, maybe she had a thing for 'lovely gentleman', or maybe she was looking out for herself, trying to gauge Sydney's threat level on her own.

"Not really." Sydney shook her head and twisted her body around, grabbing the bottle of Tide from the bottom of her laundry basket. She twisted the cap off and dumped a little bit into the loading spot before making sure the washer door was shut tight.

The woman wandered closer to Sydney and leaned against the machine now too, watching with curiosity as Sydney turned the dials to set it and then pushed the start button. When Sydney met her gaze once again, the woman threw a cheery smile on her face.

"Boyfriend?" Debbie pressed, a knowing glint in her eye and a hint of smugness at her accusation.

"Um, no." Sydney quickly shook her head, wondering what this lady's angle was.

"So he's single?"

And just like that, Sydney felt her entire body relax at the question. This lady wasn't out to get her, she wasn't trying to figure out what Sydney was, or how big of a threat she was to her, at least not on a physical level, not, this woman was clearly interested in Peter, romantically. Fighting back the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and fixed the woman with a stare.

"He's fair game Debbie." Sydney giggled.

"My friends and I have been keeping an eye on him for ages now trying to figure out what his deal was. Until you, we had never seen a woman enter, or leave, his apartment."

"Yeah, well he's definitely single." Sydney added, hoping the woman would keep talking, there was no way she wasn't completely enjoying every word out of her mouth.

"But is he straight?"

Letting out an amused scoff, Sydney narrowed her eyes on the woman, "What do you think?"

"Well I was hoping, but like I said, no girls, ever. There've been a couple of guys before."

"Tall, dark hair, leather?"

"How'd you know?"

"That's his nephew." Sydney smirked, her mind drifting to Derek and his never changing style.

"And the blonde man?" Debbie asked and Sydney knew she was referring to Isaac.

"Well now, that's a little more complicated and hard to explain but I can assure you, Peter's definitely not gay."

"Oh that's his name, Peter."

Sydney nodded and Debbie's gaze moved upwards, almost as if she were daydreaming now that she had a name to put with the face. Uncrossing her arms, Sydney took the opportunity to check the woman out, glancing up and down her body. She was definitely attractive, for an older woman, and if she weren't shacking up with Peter Hale herself, Sydney would not have passed up the opportunity to set them up.

"I can mention your name to him, if you want, maybe see if he's noticed you before?" Sydney suggested and bit back the urge to cackle maniacally. Oh Peter would never approve of what she was doing at that moment, but she didn't care. It was too fun to stop.

"Oh heavens, I doubt he even knows I exist."

"Oh Debbie, don't sell yourself short, you see like a nice woman."

Sydney nodded at the woman, picturing her next to Peter. They'd definitely be somewhat adorable together, closer in age than her and him, and probably sharing more interests. This woman definitely didn't seem like the type of person to watch cartoons, that much seemed obvious.

She was more mature than Sydney, probably wouldn't provoke Peter, or instigate at all. Maybe, if he wasn't a werewolf, she could have been his happily ever after. Sydney pushed her body off the washer and looked at the woman.

"Let me see what I can do." Sydney grinned, and she knew the woman took it as an excited grin. Sydney was really excited to tell Peter about the woman, but not because she wanted to set them up, no, she was excited because there was going to be teasing to no end.

Peter Hale was in for it now.

XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX

Just over an hour later, her clothes all washed and dried, a lovely conversation shared with Debbie, and Sydney was back at the apartment, opening the front door and waltzing in, a cheerful smile gracing her features.

She wandered into the kitchen to find the man she was hoping to find, as per the usual he was perched at the island, this time though he had a laptop open in front of him, pictures of mythical creatures taking over the screen. She set the basket next to the laptop and dropped onto the empty stool, staring at the side of his face, waiting for him to glance in her direction.

"You're staring is rather rude." He remarked. "I'd ask if your mother ever taught you manners but I'm aware that you didn't actually grow up with her influence."

"Hey that's not nice." Sydney shot back but couldn't help but keep the smile present on her face.

"It's true."

She reached a hand out and punched him, rather roughly, on the shoulder. He slowly turned his head to face her and when his eyes caught sight of her devilish smile, he winced slightly.

"So I met your neighbour." She remarked casually, baiting him now.

"Which one?"

"Debbie, she lives below you actually."

"Right, is this going somewhere important?"

Sydney let out a dreamy sigh and leaned towards him, resting her palms on his thighs. He moved towards her too, pressing his forehead against hers, waiting for her to speak.

"She's got a little crush on you." Sydney sang and broke out into a fit of laughter.

"What are you boasting about?"

"Oh my god, it's so cute, she's like in love with you. Come on, that's adorable." Sydney teased.

"Why's that amusing to you?" Peter questioned, leaning back up straight.

"It's cute, she was asking me all about you, wondered if you were my boyfriend, I said no, then she asked if you were single, and I said yes. Finally she asked if you were gay-"

"I'm not."

"I know, I told her you weren't but she said, and I quote, 'until you, I've never seen a woman enter, or leave, his apartment'. So, you've really never had a woman in your apartment?"

He shook his head no and she couldn't help but let out a snort of amusement. He narrowed his eyes on her, clearly offended by her noise.

She gave his thighs a gentle squeeze to reassure him that she hadn't intended to hurt his feelings. He just glared back at her.

"You're the first woman to set foot in this apartment." He admitted, lessening the intensity of his glare.

"Oh, how cute." She baited.

"Sydney." Peter growled at her, not amused as she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Why am I so special then?"

"Because you banged on my door. It would have been rude to turn away a guest."

"Aw, you care."

He shook his head at her but immediately a malicious grin of his own presented itself on his face as an idea formed in his brain.

"So I should go talk to this woman?" Peter asked, a serious tone to his voice.

"Um, what?" Sydney jerked her head backwards, a pang of jealousy hitting her now. She hadn't expected him to actually ask about Debbie, no, Debbie was simply for her amusement.

"Well if she's interested in me, I should go talk to her, see if maybe I'd be interested in her too, should I not?"

"I, um, sure."

"Unless there's some reason why I shouldn't?"

"I guess there's not."

"So you wouldn't be jealous if I went and talked to her, right now?"

He slipped out of her grip and made his way to his feet. She turned on the stool and kept her eyes glued to his frame as he wandered towards the front door, making a move to grab his jacket. She cocked her head to the side and let out a low growl, wondering just how far he'd take it.

Remaining in the kitchen, she continued to watch him as he bent down and slipped his shoes on, tying the laces. Sydney tensed on the stool as he stood up straight and set his hand on the doorknob, turning it slightly and popping the front door open.

She dropped her feet to the floor and stood up, wincing slightly as he stepped out and slammed the door shut behind him. A low whimper escaped her throat and she debated chasing after him, admitting that she was a little jealous. They were bed buddies, they had a good thing between the two of them, there was no room for Debbie, not if Sydney had anything to say about it.

Moving swiftly towards the front door, she pulled on her boots and grabbed hold of the door, ignoring the fury growing in the pit of her stomach. He had chosen to go to the other woman, maybe she should let him go. He clearly didn't want her that bad.

An animalistic possessiveness flooded through her veins and she nearly ripped the door off its hinges as she pulled it open, taking off into the hall, towards the stairs.

When she got about halfway to the top of the staircase, a noise caught her attention, a noise that sounded very much like a loud laugh.

She stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned around, only to spot Peter leaning casually against the wall outside of the apartment, his arms crossed over his chest and the same spiteful grin tugging at his lips. She let out a huff of frustration and planted her hands on her hips.

"Seems as though you're not really a fan of this Debbie character. I must have gotten confused with your praising of her."

"I am not jealous." Sydney ground out; Peter pushed himself away from the wall and slowly stepped towards her.

"Then what is that I smell on you?" He purred.

"Whatever okay, I'm not jealous, I just like sex."

"Ah so I'm merely a means for you to get something you enjoy?"

"If you're going to be an ass about it, you're welcome to actually go to Debbie because with the way you're talking to me right now, you're going to be best friends with your hand if you don't."

"Oh Sydney, don't be like that." His tone of voice was still set on amused, sarcastic even, the grin never leaving its place.

"You're such a dickbag."

"You have nothing to worry about. Why would I put effort into some potential relationship when I have you, a girl who practically threw herself at me."

"Such a dick." She muttered, brushing past him before stomping into the apartment.

Sydney was already sprawled out on her stomach on the bed by the time Peter wandered into his bedroom, no more jacket, no more shoes. He gently sat down next to her and set his palm against her lower back, his thumb gingerly moving back and forth.

"Sydney I'm just teasing."

"Fine."

"I quite enjoy what we do behind closed doors."

"I bet you do."

"You started this you know."

"I was making friends." She shot back and let out a growl.

"And I was just teasing."

Without a hesitation, Sydney pushed herself up into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around him possessively. Leaning her head towards him, she opened her mouth, feeling her teeth shifting into elongated canines before barely piercing his skin with her bite. He tangled his hand in her hair and tugged gently, pulling her jaw away from his skin.

"I wasn't jealous." She murmured softly.

"I know." He nodded and felt the weight of her body relax against him.

Sydney let out a sigh and simply relished in the feel of his hands on her skin. She would never admit it out loud, to anyone, but she was most definitely jealous and Debbie wasn't going to get her hands on Peter, not while Sydney was around anyways.

There were just some things the she laid her claws in and didn't ever want to let go of. Peter Hale was one of those things.

XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX

She wandered into the kitchen, easily finding Peter exactly where she had left him. The newly purchased cookbook was still open in front of him as he searched for a meal he desired for dinner. She had set the book down in front of him once she had gotten back and his focus was immediately on the book, the pages containing mouth-watering pictures of what she could only assume were delicious recipes.

Now she had something on her mind though. As much as a good cookbook got her excited, she was way too interested in the topic floating around in her brain to join him in comparing tastes.

"You were burned alive pretty much, right?" Sydney pondered out loud, seating herself at the empty stool next to him. She rested her arm on the island top and looked at him curiously, wondering what exactly the level of pain could be compared to. Injuries, wounds and battle scars always fascinated her and at least she could maybe gain some insight from Peter.

"I guess you could say that."

"Right, okay, so was that, like, the worst pain you've ever felt then, or..." She inquired, letting her sentence trail off, hoping he'd jump in and tell her anything about his past injuries.

"It was certainly up there with getting my throat slashed." He countered, his gaze set intensely on her, wondering if he considered her small interrogation rude or just plain amusing.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that."

"What's the point to all your irritating questions Sydney?"

She cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips in thought. Should she outright tell him that she was just wondering about flesh wounds, or should she attempt to divert the conversation, keeping him in the dark about her interest with blood and guts.

"I don't know. I guess maybe I'm trying to get an idea of what kind of inflictions werewolves can actually recover from."

"It takes a certain spunk to come back from the dead though, don't you go out and not worry about life threatening injuries just because I managed to do it."

"I'm not a complete dimwit." She barked back, wondering if the man in front of her legitimately thought she was dense sometimes.

With a firm nod of his head, he settled his gaze back on the cookbook resting on the island. She hadn't figured he'd be so enveloped in the book when she brought it back to the apartment yet here he sat, slowly flipping through the pages, searching for something Sydney could make him, seeing as she had offered. Taking in a breath, she extended her hand out and rested it against his wrist, his head turning back to face her, a look in his eyes so intense, she removed her hand right away.

"What is the worst injury that you've ever sustained?" She asked hesitantly, hoping she wasn't annoying him too much. The last thing she wanted to do was piss him off to the point where he asked her to leave his apartment, leaving her homeless.

"Since I was technically dead for quite some time, I'm going to go with the throat." He nodded back, a sarcastic tone very evident in his voice.

"Okay, what about this then; what's the worst injury you've sustained without dying?"

"Are you talking most painful or-"

"Oooh yeah, most painful!" She nodded furiously, her body straightening up with excitement.

"Then probably being lit on fire."

"Interesting." She hummed, lifting her finger to her face and gently tapping it against the end of her nose. "What about the grossest?"

"When I was a teenager I was attacked by another werewolf, he nearly ripped the skin on my shoulder clean off."

"Peter fillet, nice." She remarked, her lips curving into a smile.

"I hardly think that's nice Sydney." He scolded her, wondering what on earth was going through her head.

"Right, my bad." She nodded her apologies at him.

"Now it's your turn." He could barely hold back the twitching of the corners of his mouth, the devious grin pulling at his lips. "You're grossest injury, what would that be?"

"I like this game." She beamed. "I took a tree branch to the hip, it went right through me, speared me like a fish."

He shook his head at her, mentally picturing a younger Sydney wandering around temporarily with a semi-large tree branch sticking into her hip and right out the flesh of her back. The internal damage associated with that kind of injury would be immense. The branch would have potentially hit her stomach, kidneys, definitely breaching a few nerves here and there. The muscles would be shredded inside her body, blood building up around the wound and pouring out if it had some place to flow.

"And you're most painful?"

"Anything involving internal organ damage, more specifically my chest. This one fight I got into with this mean looking alpha guy, he punctured my lung and my god did it ever hurt to fucking just breathe. When it hurts to take a breath, you know you're screwed."

"So what happened then?" Peter asked, now insanely hungry for details about her vague statement.

"I got away." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"From an alpha?"

"Uh yup." She nodded.

"Sydney, I'd appreciate a full recollection, not just vague statements."

She let out a huff and hunched her shoulders. Her alpha story wasn't one she was very proud of, who would be if they were her and ended up running away, hiding in some dark alley. She didn't want Peter to know about it, it would give him all the more reason to let him believe she was as weak as Derek truly thought she was.

"I fucked up okay, wandered into this guy's territory and instead of just leaving like any normal girl, I turned on my charm-"

"You mean your attitude?"

"My charm," she ground the word out but nodded her head yes. "He was noble about it though, made all his pack stand down while he tried to kick my ass single-handedly. I held him off for a solid minute or two before he gut punched me. When I hit the ground, he stomped on my chest, broke a rib which ended up puncturing my lung."

"And then he what, just let you get away?" Peter asked, a smug look etched on his face.

"No." She shot back but let out a sad sigh. "I miraculously made it to my feet, punched him in the balls and took off as fast as I possibly could. When I laid eyes on this sketchy alleyway, I ducked behind a dumpster and waited."

"But you survived." He pointed out.

"I did, not one of my finer moments though. But you should've seen this guy, my god, he was huge! Like Arnold Schwarzenegger huge and his pack, Jesus, I swear on my life there were at least twenty other wolves with him."

"Sometimes winning the battle doesn't always involve beating your opponent." Peter remarked and moved to rest his hands on her thighs, leaning in closer to her. She raised a brow but relaxed on the stool, letting him close the distance. When her forehead came to rest against his, she let out huff.

"I know when to run and when to fight. There was no way I was going to make it out of that without being slaughtered if I didn't flee. Even if I managed to hold the alpha off, no doubt I would've had the rest of his pack eviscerating me, ripping me apart limb by limb."

"You don't always have to stay and fight. I won't judge you based on your decision to flee. If you, for one second, think that makes you weak, you're wrong."

"Yeah." She sighed and tipped her head, feeling his lips pressing against hers.

Sydney slipped her hand up and held the back of his neck, holding on to him as he kissed her. It wasn't her finest moment; it wasn't even a moment she was remotely proud of. As far as she was concerned, she'd block out the whole ordeal, denying it ever happened if someone mentioned it. Yet somehow, sitting in front of Peter, she didn't feel weak for running away, she didn't feel the need to hide her fleeing from him, no, he was wise enough to choose his own battles and all he could ever do is hope she'd follow his lead.

Pulling away from her, he leaned back on the stool and moved his hands away her from thighs. She met his gaze and forced an emotionless smile to the surface.

"Do you know what really bothers me when it comes to injuries though?" He asked, peaking her interest.

"No, what?"

"Dislocations. Obviously not the most painful, or the grossest but if you don't pop your joints back in place right away, essentially you've got a dead limb."

"Um, I guess but I really hate broken noses."

"Those are the easiest things to deal with." He argued, wondering just how she dealt with her injuries. Aside from setting the bones and waiting for them to heal, which was fairly quickly: facial wounds always healed faster, there wasn't much more involved in taking care of a broken nose.

"I know, I get that but all you taste, and smell, for days is blood." She smirked and Peter couldn't possibly argue that point. "Plus that plugged up feeling in your face, ugh, so gross."

It was one thing to be in pain from an injury, or to be covered in deep, crimson blood but to taste the coppery liquid long after the injury was healed, there was no doubt about it, that was one of the most bothersome aspects on an injury, ever.

An alpha encounter!? Poor Sydney. Let me know what you guys thought?