A/N: My classes are kicking my ass, but I still got this chapter done in a reasonable amount of time I think, especially considering how long it ended up being :P Enjoy the Scott/Stiles/Allison/Lydia dynamic feels!
(ALSO: Did you guys see 5x04 ! Oh my Stydia heart is singing.)


UNIVERSE 237

"Okay," said Allison, "so now that we've established that our Lydia's have been switched, what now?"

During the long talk that had ensued after Lydia brought up the possibility of being switched, the rest of the pack had slowly drifted upstairs and were now perched on various surfaces in Allison and Scott's bedroom.

Isaac paused in curiously sniffing a bottle of Allison's perfume to look up. "Try and switch them back?"

"But how would we even do that?" Kira pointed out, folding her arms. "The witch did it, anyway."

"So- so, maybe then," Stiles said, sitting up beside her on the bed, "maybe we just have to find the witch in this universe, and get her to put everything back to normal."

His tone was hopeful, but Lydia couldn't help but scoff. "It won't be that simple."

"It never is," Deaton said thoughtfully. "What do you know about the witch, Lydia?"

She sighed. No sense in hiding anything now. "Her name is Kalku," she said. "Her real name, anyway. She was going under an alias before she revealed herself."

"Alias being?" Deaton prompted.

"Morgan Lefebvre," she replied. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Allison reel back with shock, but didn't have time to address it before Stiles spoke up.

"Morgan Lefebvre?" He repeated incredulously. "And you guys couldn't figure out that there might be something suspicious about someone who's name sounds like one of the most well known witches of all time?"

She gave him an annoyed look. "We might've, if we even knew there was a witch in Beacon Hills in the first place," she shot back. "But we didn't. Deaton even said, witches are rare and powerful, but mostly rare." She looked at Deaton and he nodded with a slight smile on his face.

"That's pretty accurate of my knowledge on the subject."

"Go on, Lydia," Scott prodded gently, ever patient. "What else?"

She cleared her throat. "Right. Well, she was a new teacher at the high school."

"Wait, let me guess," Stiles spoke, putting one hand up. "Chemistry."

She felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips. "Correct." He muttered something that sounded like "should've been the biggest hint" but she ignored him. "We were friends."

The room exploded with a chorus of "Whaaat?"

She rolled her eyes internally at their drama. "She wasn't evil sounding, really. She was nice, in fact." She cleared her throat. "I only knew her for a few weeks, but she was only trying to make me let down my guard; I realize that now. We went for a walk and we went through the part of the forest that we'd set up barriers against for the supernatural- "

"Lydia," Stiles groaned. "You led her right to the Nemeton? Right through all the protection that we put up so that no supernatural except people who were with us could get through?"

"Shut up, Stiles," Allison said, shooting him a look. Lydia smirked; she really, really missed Allison. "Sometimes you trust people that you really shouldn't have. We get it," she said, shooting a reassuring glance at Lydia. "And besides, humans can pass through our barriers just fine."

"Exactly," Lydia said with a shrug. "I never got any vibes off of her. Anyway," she said loudly, "That's when she revealed herself, and that's how we got where we are right now."

"But this witch hasn't revealed herself in this universe," Deaton mused. "Why?"

"I don't think we should sit around to find out," Malia piped up from the corner of the room, slamming her fist into her other palm. "I say we find her and deal with her now."

Everyone made noises of agreement.

Scott looked up from scrolling through his phone. "She's on the high school's website. 'Morgan Lefebvre'. She's new, just started a few months ago. We should go talk to her."

"Lydia introduced her to me, a few weeks back," Allison spoke finally. "I knew she and her were friends."

"In this universe, too?" Liam rubbed his hand over his eyes. "This is too confusing." Lydia was inclined to agree.

"Just remember to be careful," Deaton cautioned. "There's no telling what she'll do, but if she's anything like the one in the other universe, she's dangerous."

"So are we," Stiles countered, grinning with his fangs. If the collective sigh of the room to this display of power was anything to go by, he liked to show off.

Malia cracked her knuckles. "So alright, what are we waiting for? Let's go."

"No," Lydia said, and everyone turned to look at her. "What?" she said, shrugging. "It's night time."

"All the better to sneak up on her," Cora piped up, eyebrows raised.

Stiles offered her a sour look, apparently not having forgiven her quite yet for insinuating Lydia was evil. "Um, no." He then turned to Lydia. "So, why aren't we charging in right now, again?"

Lydia managed to stifle her smile and replied, "Look, we're friends here too, right?" Everyone nodded along. "So if we go to her like we don't know anything, then it could be beneficial for us. We could at least get a sense of what we're dealing with. Get the upper hand."

There was some quiet nodding. Stiles clapped his hands over her shoulders. "I like the way you think, you evil genius," he said, giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Okay, so tomorrow we outwit the good Mrs. Lefebvre."

"Ms," Lydia automatically corrected.

"What?" He said, confused.

"Ms. Lefebvre," Lydia elaborated. "She said her husband died."

Stiles sighed loudly. "Lydia. Who cares about her cover story? She's not the person you knew."

Lydia knew that, rationally. But it was difficult.

"It's settled then," Deaton said after a pause. "Truly though, be careful. She's a witch that sent you into a different universe, Lydia. There's no telling what else she could do. Keep that in mind."

There was a heavy silence.

"Alright," said Allison, clapping her hands together, and the tension evaporated. "So… I had tacos ready if anyone wants them?"

What kind of question was that, Lydia thought with amusement as a room full of supernatural creatures whooped and jumped up, ready to follow Allison to the kitchen like she was the Pied Piper.

Allison winked at Lydia before turning to lead them off, and Stiles had somehow managed to restrain himself from leaping after tacos and instead wrapped his arm around Lydia. "Want tacos?" he said, looking at her through his lashes.

She couldn't stop the happy laugh that bubbled in her stomach. "Whatever," she said primly. He jumped up like it was Christmas and tugged her up with his hands.

Honestly? The feeling crept up in her stomach as he lead her out of the room, but she couldn't stop it. She could get used to this.


Lydia woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. She blinked a few times to get her bearings.

She was lying on the couch in Allison and Scott's living room, with Allison right beside her. Their legs were tangled together. She supposed they must have fallen asleep like this, and smiled.

The evening had been amazing. After the details were sorted out, and the tacos had all been devoured, everyone had cleared out of the house except Stiles and Lydia. Stiles and Scott had disappeared off to do something inane and boyish, Lydia was sure, while Allison and Lydia caught up on the most mundane of things in the kitchen and then, with glasses of wine in hand, drifted to the living room as the night wore on. The topics had been kept light, avoiding all mentions of alternate universes, while Lydia eagerly questioned Allison on what she was doing in her life. Allison's stories of high school graduation, college parties they'd gone to together and Scott's clumsy proposal, and Lydia as maid of honour at her wedding, among other things, had kept Lydia in tears.

Tears of both laughter and sadness. Because oh, what could have been.

Lydia had kept waiting for Stiles to appear and say that it was time to go home, but it quickly became clear that nights over were a usual thing in this universe. After all, Allison was Lydia's best friend and Scott Stiles', so she really shouldn't be surprised. But she couldn't help but think it wasn't something that really would happen in her universe. Kira was nice, and the two were genuine and close friends, but Lydia had always known, somewhere deep down inside, that no one would be able to quite take Allison's place. And besides, Kira and Scott weren't even close to getting married or even moving in together. They'd simply been dating for some time now. And Lydia now couldn't help but think it was because Scott saw things the same way as her; nobody would ever quite be able to take Allison's place.

The thought made her unnecessarily sad, so she untangled herself from Allison- her friend hardly even stirred- and made her way upstairs, looking for Stiles and Scott.

She found them in what looked to be an empty bedroom next to Allison and Scott's; one with no furniture except for a desktop computer parked on one side, a printer on the other, and a green bean bag chair in between.

She smiled at the sight. It felt like something straight out of high school.

Scott, slumped in the bean bag chair with his arms dangling off the sides and his head lolling on his neck at an awkward angle.

Stiles, limbs thrown haphazardly all over the place as usual; lying stomach down with his face resting on his hands and one leg sprawled on Scott's lap.

And the scene in front of her; the computer on sleep mode, with papers strewn all over the floor and particularly in a pile underneath the printer. The boys had been doing some research.

She walked over and nudged Stiles gently in the arm with her foot. No response whatsoever, so she nudged him a little harder.

He finally stirred a little, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "fuck off".

She kicked him in the leg. "Excuse me?"

He lifted his head, blinking blearily with eyes that were amber as the morning light hit them. "Wha…? Oh, Lyds… Sorry, I thought you were Scott," he said drowsily. Lydia huffed.

By now, Scott was stirring as well, but clearly more awake than Stiles. "What the hell man? You would just tell me to fuck off?"

Stiles muttered "I'm telling you right now, fuck off," nearly unintelligibly, lowering his head again onto the carpet.

Scott stretched languidly in the chair. "Oh, that's it, buddy," he yawned. "Say it again, I'm going to get Allison to put mountain ash in the next taco you eat."

"Fuck off," Stiles said, enunciating his words impressively clearly for someone who looked like they were still in REM sleep.

"Alright, you two," Lydia said with amusement and enjoying this far too much. "We have work to do."

Scott stood up, stretching and bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Oh man, it's already nine? I'm going to be late for my clinic shift."

"I'm pretty sure she was talking about confronting an evil witch, not your lame job," Stiles said, finally starting to clamber up from his position on the floor.

"At least I'm not unemployed," Scott tossed back good-naturedly as he passed Lydia to enter the hall, smiling lopsidedly at her with a "'morning" before disappearing into his own bedroom.

"Hey!" Stiles complained loudly. "I have a degree in criminology, it's not my fault the economy sucks!" Scott didn't answer, or maybe he didn't hear.

Stiles was taking his sweet time stretching, so Lydia kneeled to the floor to pick up one of the sheets of paper that had fluttered down from the printer through the commotion.

She scanned it with a critical eye. "You two spent all night Googling multiverses, didn't you?" she said pointedly with a raised eyebrow, grabbing the next paper. "You could have just asked me. Would've saved you time."

"Whatever," Stiles yawned. "The point is, we read up, and I now know more about string theory than I would wish on anyone."

Lydia dropped the sheet and reached for another, expecting more of the same. Instead, it was a printed out Wikipedia article with the title Kalku.

Stiles came up behind her. "Yeah, apparently Kalkus are some sort of dark witch in Mapuche mythology. Did you know that, Lydia?"

Lydia didn't answer his teasing question, flipping over the page. "What else did you find on this?"

"Next to nothing," he sighed. "That vague Wikipedia article is pretty much the biggest source of information on Kalkus. Once again, the internet has failed me."

"Great," Lydia replied drily, letting the paper drift to the floor and making note to read it later. "Now, do we want to get going?"

He grinned at her, his cheesy grin that somehow still made her heart skip a beat. "Anything the princess wants."

And that was how, a good two hours later, Stiles' Jeep pulled up at Beacon Hills High School, carrying Lydia, Allison, Malia, Liam, Mason (who just really loved "a good stakeout" and insisted on coming along even when everyone kept repeating that it wasn't a stakeout) and the good driver himself.

Stiles spent a moment surveying the area and the teenagers running around in the bright Californian sunshine with an expression of utmost distaste before finally turning off the engine. "Alright," he said. "Let's just get this over with. Maybe if we're lucky, we won't run into Coach in the hall."

"Wait," Lydia said.

"What."

"Me and Allison will go in first, since she knows us. See if we can get any vibes off her."

Stiles exhaled, running a hand over his face. "That's your master plan? Leave all the werewolves in the car and see if you get any 'vibes' before she blasts your head off with her mystical powers?"

Stiles certainly had a knack for making even the most well-laid plans sound stupid, and this was definitely not a good plan. But Lydia's curiosity was overpowering everything else. "Just stay in the car," she ordered, hopping out. Allison shrugged and followed. "I'm sure it'll be fine, Stiles."

Malia poked her head out of the window, looking just as anxious as Stiles. "We'll be listening. You need help, you yell, yeah?"

Lydia nodded, cast one last look at an uneasy Stiles, and marched up the walkway with Allison in tow.

The hallways were relatively quiet as Lydia's heels click-clacked down them.

"How do you know her anyway?" Allison asked quietly behind her. "You never said."

"I was giving a seminar at the college, she was in the audience and had questions afterwards," Lydia replied dismissively. "We hit it off. Or so I thought," she added darkly.

Allison made an amused sound. "Okay, but really, what are we even going to say?" When Lydia didn't reply, she pressed, "Lydia, have you even slightly thought this through?"

No, Lydia thought. Her steps quickened. She knew Morgan's classroom by heart.

The door. There it was. Lydia swallowed, reaching for the handle. Moment of truth… Allison was holding her breath behind her.

She pursed her lips and swung the door open.

A class of thirty instantly swiveled their heads in their direction. In the midst of them, Lydia recognized Pav, a skinny, brown-skinned werewolf who was a new addition to the pack. He raised his eyebrows at her but Lydia ignored him for the time being, focusing on the back of the tall blonde pausing in the midst of writing equilibrium tables on the chalkboard.

Morgan Lefebvre turned around, one perfectly penciled eyebrow arched. "I'm teaching," she said, a funny look crossing her face.

"Oh," was all Lydia managed to get out, because she just looked so ordinary, like the woman she'd befriended so many months ago, and not like a scheming supernatural creature.

She felt sort of frozen in place, standing there dumbly under the fluorescent lights, at least until Allison quickly stepped up, saying "We'll come back…"

"During lunch," Morgan replied, voice clipped. "In a half hour."

"Right," Allison nodded and grabbed Lydia's arm to tow her out of the classroom. When the door had shut closed behind them and the scratching of chalk against the board resumed, Allison rounded on Lydia. "So you really did have no plan whatsoever, didn't you."

Lydia shook her head, mouth not seeming to want to form coherent sentences. "I just…"

Allison stared at her, brow furrowing as she seemed to come to an understanding. "You wanted to see. If she was the person that you knew."

Lydia nodded mutely. "I just…" she threw her hands up, "It's just so confusing," she admitted. "Being in two universes." She wondered how the other Lydia was faring. Probably not well, considering she thought she was engaged to Stiles and that her best friend was alive. Lydia cringed just thinking about the awkwardness of such a situation.

Allison put a hand on her shoulder after a minute of silence. "I get it," she said softly. And then Allison looked a little awkward, like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to say it without being tactless.

Lydia was tired of tact. "Spit it out," she told her best friend firmly.

Allison's mouth opened and closed several times. "Lydia, you said that in your universe I'm dead… so Scott…" she swallowed. "How is Scott?" And she peered at Lydia with a heartbreaking worry and concern for a man that technically, she had never met.

But things were so much more complicated than that, weren't they?

"Scott is fine," Lydia said gently, choosing to omit some of the gloomier details of his heartbreak. "He… it wasn't good, for a while… but he hasn't dwelled."

"And… and is he happy?" Allison asked quietly.

Lydia knew what she was really asking, and she wasn't sure if she should really be saying this but it came out of her mouth anyway. "He's dating Kira," she said finally. "He's grown to love her too, I think."

Allison took that in with a nod and an admirable poker face. "They've dated here too, a little bit." Her tone was flat.

Lydia pursed her lips, wanting to reassure her, because she could read Allison too, even after all this time. "He'll always love you with a special part of him that I don't think will ever change, Allison. The only thing that is different is that he's let himself be happy anyway. He knows that's what you would have wanted for him."

Allison smiled then, and it broke over her face and her dimples were out full force and her eyes a little watery. "That's all I ever wanted for him."

Lydia nodded, casting her eyes away from the emotion in Allison's eyes. Scott and Allison had always had a love so pure, so unrelenting, so unconditional that it was hard for anyone to imagine. It was something Lydia had spent time fantasizing about for herself, but not something she had ever experienced. She had always been envious of what the two had had. At least, until it had been taken away and Scott's absolute despair made her think maybe it was best that she didn't have it.

Something so strong would only hurt more when it was taken away.

"And what about you?" Allison's voice broke through her thoughts. Lydia blinked a few times to see Allison wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"What about me?"

"You and Stiles, in your universe."

Lydia almost choked. "Um, no." And then, it was out of her mouth before she could stop it. "I'm with Jordan."

Allison's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "You're engaged to Parrish?!"

"No," Lydia nearly yelled at just the thought, a thought that gave her an inexplicable panic just thinking about it. "Of course not. We're just dating. Casually. Sort of."

"Screwing," Allison supplied sagely.

"It's not like that."

"Sure."

Allison's tone was one of disapproval, and Lydia gave her friend a raised eyebrow. "So what's wrong with it if that's all it is? Can't a girl have a little sexual freedom in this oppressive patriarchal society?" she said primly, folding her arms.

Allison leaned against a locker nonchalantly. "Well of course, but I just assumed since you keep eye-fucking Stiles that there was something there."

This time Lydia inhaled sharply, unable to stop herself and her heart from beating too fast. "I- I'm not-"

"Lydia, I love you, but don't lie to yourself," Allison said a little bit too loudly. "Yesterday you looked like you wanted to climb him like a tree."

Lydia abandoned pretense. Okay, so maybe she'd sort of been eye-fucking Stiles. She rubbed her arms. "It's not like that in my universe. I think maybe because I'm in this Lydia's body, that I'm just having the same physical reaction to him as she would," she lied. It was a good lie. It made sense. And who knows, maybe that was part of it. She could rationalize it this way.

Allison studied her a moment but then seemed to buy it, shrugging. "So you don't like Stiles in your universe?"

"No," Lydia said firmly.

"Never dated?"

"No."

"But he likes you." It was a statement, not a question.

Lydia didn't dignify that with an answer. Stiles' crush on her had never really changed anything. It wasn't her duty to date someone just because they liked her. No, she had grown to like him out of her own accord, and against her better judgement. "He's just my friend." A friend that she would definitely not mind climbing like a tree, her mind added, unbidden.

Luckily, the bell rang just then, before Allison could interrogate her any further. The two pushed off the row of lockers as doors burst open simultaneously down the hall and teens desperate for reprieve streamed out, hooting and yelling.

"I feel so old," Allison commented with a giggle as they fought against the tide going towards the front doors.

"Tell me about it," Lydia said with a grin, and then they were back in Lefebvre's class, and Morgan was grinning at them through her red lipstick-coated lips.

"Well hello, Lydia and Allison, are you going to take me out to lunch?" she asked, snapping her purse shut on her desk. "It would be much appreciated. Tenth graders aren't the easiest people to deal with, even on the best of days."

"Yes," Lydia blurted. Allison shot her a funny look; this hadn't been part of the half-baked plan at all. Lydia was just making it up as she went along, though, so it didn't matter. "Yes, let's do that." She was finding it a little difficult to look into Morgan's eyes. All she could think about was those baby-blues turning a strange shade of red- not warm like true alpha irises- but the entire eye, the whole entire thing, turning a blaring red as Morgan had turned on her-

She mentally shook herself. Different universe. She didn't have to worry about that here. Morgan wouldn't hurt her until she got the Nemeton. There was no need to panic. So why was her heart beating a million miles a minute?

She took a few deep breaths while Allison engaged Morgan in idle conversation as the teacher packed her things. She could hardly hear what they were even saying. Allison hadn't seen it. Allison hadn't seen someone she thought she could trust trying to…

The door opened, and Stiles pushed through, eyes wide. "Lydia, are you-" He stopped at the scene in front of him. Morgan and Allison looked up from their discussion, and Lydia leant heavily against a desk. She attempted a weak smile at him for Morgan's benefit while shooting dagger eyes at him. I thought I told you to stay in the car.

Stiles hardly quailed at her hard gaze, looking unrepentant. "Sorry, I just- "

"Lydia," Morgan cut through, her voice amused, "Is this your fiancé?"

"My fiancé?" Lydia squeaked.

"The fiancé that you have failed to introduce me to, time and time again, even though you can't stop talking about him," Morgan elaborated with a slight smile that was too familiar for Lydia to handle. "Is this him?"

Stiles cut in, thankfully. "It is I," he said with a cheeky grin. He offered a hand to shake, but not before Lydia saw him quickly retract his claws. His demeanor was easily amicable, but Lydia knew him enough to see the quick calculation in his eyes.

Morgan took his hand, oblivious. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Stiles. I can tell you make Lydia really happy." She leaned forward and whispered theatrically: "But if you hurt her, I'll break your neck." She winked.

From anyone else, this would be a joke that they would have all laughed at, but as it were, it was a little too real for everyone in the room. Stiles coughed hastily. "Yeah. I think you'd have to get in line."

"Speaking of lines, let's go," Allison segued through the awkwardness that had suddenly made an appearance. "It's the lunch rush hour."

"Yes! Let's," Morgan agreed, gesturing for Lydia and Stiles to leave first, and Lydia felt no other choice except to turn for the door. Stiles guided her with a hand on her back and whispered in her ear, breath tickling her cheek. "You okay? I heard your heart beating really fast."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to listen to my heartbeat?" Lydia said with annoyance.

He looked slightly apologetic. "It's a matter of life and death, Lydia, I think I'm allowed a little leeway." She couldn't argue with that, but she huffed to let him know of her disapproval anyway.

They pushed through the front doors and Stiles glanced to the side, nodding at something she couldn't see. She turned around to look; Mason holding something in his hand, standing nonchalantly on the sidewalk some distance away between throngs of people. She frowned. What was he doing?

Mason dropped whatever he was holding- a dark powder that fell with a hush sound that Lydia could feel and hear even across the courtyard and she felt it in her bones.

Mountain ash.

When she whipped her head around, Allison and Morgan were already beside her, and Stiles was staring at the chemistry teacher, slack-jawed. Lydia felt she must look similarly shell shocked.

Mason had completed a mountain ash barrier after Stiles had walked across it, which meant any supernatural should have been trapped.

Except, Morgan had stepped over the line effortlessly. Which could mean only one thing.

Morgan Lefebvre… wasn't Kalku.

The woman in question turned, frowning, at the couple staring at her oddly. "Lydia? Stiles?" she said expectantly. "Where are we going for lunch?"

So who was?


A/N: If you enjoyed, I love hearing your thoughts! Next few chapters I really think you guys are going to like ;) Things are going to be kicking up a notch after this.