My Note: Sorry it's been a minute, but no wifi connection and with work and summer classes, I've been going slightly nuts. But I got some writing done so that's good! Better news: My chapters keep getting longer and longer- I have no idea how it happens, my fingers have a mind of their own- it's freaky. I don't own Teen Wolf. Imagine.

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"Mmm, that smells delicious!" Laura proclaimed as she led Willow into the kitchen. They had dragged the mattress into Laura's room along with Willow's belongings. Derek was in the kitchen heating up some leftover pizza they had earlier.

"Only the best for you," Derek mumbled as he tossed some heated up pizza on a plate towards her. "You want some?" he asked looking up at Willow.

"Yes, please" she responded sitting on a stool. She was hoping for some real home-cooked food, but she rarely got pizza. It didn't matter, she was starving, she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, so obviously she taking whatever she could get.

"Here you can have this piece," Laura slid her plate over with a slice left. Willow gladly took it, scarfing it down in nearly four whole bites. "Whoa, you were hungry huh?" Laura asked with an uncertain laugh, not wanting to embarrass the hungry Were.

"Still am," Willow embarrassingly smiled with her mouth full. Slightly ashamed, Willow forgot what it was like to have manners. Still chewing she looked expectantly to Derek, who passed her a plate with some warmed up pizza. "Thanks"

After eating they settled in the kitchen around the large island Derek had put in to use as their dinner table. Laura began asking Willow questions, the exact thing she was trying to avoid. "So," Laura started, "where were you before you came here to Harper?"

Willow thought for a minute before answering. She could lie, they wouldn't be able to tell, she had gotten too good at it, you had to be good at it living the way she did. But she decided against it, they were nice enough to take her in the way they have, she could at least tell them this.

Licking some sauce from her fingers she said, "Chicago."

"Really? I always wanted to go to Chicago and see the Bulls play" Laura said. Willow shrugged at the comment, she didn't keep up with sports. "How long did it take you to get from Chicago to here?"

"About a month or two total- I'm not for sure. I stopped here and there along the way, and I'm not one to keep track of time" Willow started picking at the ice in her water that Laura had gotten her to wash down the pizza.

"What was Chicago like?" Laura kept them coming.

"It was alright, I guess. The part I was in wasn't the suburbs if you know what I mean. But I had descent company" she smiled thinking back to the pack she had gotten to know so well. If ever she was going to stay with a pack, it may as well be with the south side pack. The north side were a bunch of self-righteous assholes that protected their territory with bullshit laws and rules when coming through there. The south side pack were more than welcoming, it was like a haven for drifters. It was dirty and the definition of ghetto, but damn- did they know how to party.

Derek watched her intently, wondering what she has seen, where all she had been. He couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

"Is there a pack in Chicago?" Laura asked, hoping to hear some interesting details.

"Yeah, two. One on the north side and one on the south side. But don't ever try to get in with the north side pansies. They're a bunch of pricks. The south side is where you want to go. The pack there, they… they know how to have a good time." Willow said with a mysterious smirk.

Laura was sucking it up wanting to know more. "Like, what kind of a good time" she said leaning more onto the island counter.

"Let's just say-" Willow was cut off by Derek.

"I think that's enough" Derek said picking up their plates and tossing them into the trash.

"But Derek!" Laura started.

"Don't worry, that's what sleepovers are for," Willow said in a mocking whisper leaning in towards Laura. She took a sip of her water and winked at Derek. He tried to hide his smile.

To prepare for a long overdue sleepover, Laura piled her cds, magazines and fingernail polish in the middle of the floor, along with a bag a chips and some old cans of sodas she found hidden in the back of the fridge. Meanwhile, Willow took her time marinating in a steaming hot bubble bath.

Derek cleaned the kitchen and picked up around the house. He didn't want Willow to think they lived like animals. Although she has probably seen worse, he could tell from her scent alone. She smelled like fresh river water, and leaves and moist soil. She smelled…wild and free…something he longed for. Laura wasn't a burden, he loved his sister and he was proud to be her protector, but he did wish he could just go, and not worry about bills, or making sure she gets her homework done or work. He just wanted to go and keep going.

Lost in thought he let his senses drift out of his control. He could smell her, upstairs in the bathtub. No matter how long she stayed in there, she couldn't get her scent off of her, not that one. She has been out in the world, in the wild for too long. That is a scent that will never dissolve. If he listened intently, he could hear her humming, This Little Light of Mine.

Everything this girl does turns him on. He can't help it, when she winked at him earlier; it was like his world just got a little brighter. This girl is more dangerous than he thought.

Willow was not planning on ever stepping out of that tub. It has been so long since she has had a nice a relaxing bath. Usually it's a five minute shower in a pack's residence, or a quick dip in a stream. Sometimes she gets lucky and hits a shelter for a night, or truck stop or a 24/7 center with accommodating facilities. But this, nothing compares to this. She put a towel behind her neck and had leaned back. She allowed her mind to slip away from her. She thought of the handsome young man who puttered around a floor beneath her. She thought about his strong jaw line, and the shadows his eyes concealed from the world. She thought about his fluid movements for one as stacked as himself. She thought of his short slightly spiked up hair, and how deep his voice got while he was phased and anxious about their unexpected arrival.

But her thoughts were shattered with the puttering going on next door to her. She could hear Laura setting up the room for their 'sleepover'…yippy. She wasn't as downed about it as she thought she would be, she couldn't help but be a tad hopeful for tonight's events. She's never had a real sleepover before, not like this. She could picture Laura with her dark auburn hair lingering just below her shoulder blades. Her naturally pale skin matching perfectly with her naturally full dark pink lips and bright brown eyes. Her fading freckles dazzling the top half of her cheeks and bridge of her nose. She was pretty, but more plain than anything. But her dull features couldn't hide the fire deep within that she let show in her excitement and curiosity. She could get use to this girl. "Willow? I know you're not dead in there! I can hear you breathing!" Laura exclaimed from outside the restroom door. Or maybe not.

"Leave me be woman," Willow mumbled.

"No way!" Laura responded, "Chicago! That's all I'm going to say Willow, Chicago."

Willow forgot she said she'd tell Laura more about Chicago's south side pack. 'Ugh' she thought 'I'm only going to be here one night, and I can't have just a few more minutes?' But of course, Willow never one to get too attached to such luxuries, got out and got ready for her anxiously awaiting new friend.

"So?" Laura asked while sitting criss-crossed with her hands anxiously opening up a bag of chips while holding a soda at the same time. She was not wasting even a second. Laura sat on a mountain of pillows she placed next to Willow's mattress on the floor.

Willow had just barely hit the mattress, "So what?" she said grabbing for a chip from the bag.

"So what? So WHAT?" Laura began wide-eyed and shocked, but Willow interrupted her with laughter.

"I'm just kidding," Willow said popping the chip into her mouth.

Laura took reassuring breathe and laughed herself. They were both getting use to the idea of having a girlfriend to talk to like most normal teens would. Willow thought she should feel suspicious of these two, for as far as she could tell they were a couple…although they apparently slept in different rooms, so what? She's seen weirder. Maybe they're just friends or were in the same pack and got stranded alone together. From the way they made it sound earlier, it was a sad sad story that made them as alone as they are now. Willow didn't have a right to pry and ask questions, especially about as something as personal as one's lost pack. So she decided to let her stay ride out till the morning when she could sneak away and probably never see them again. The thought made her feel a slight pang of sadness herself, but she had to keep moving. She was still looking for something, and she felt she was very close to finding it.

"More chips?" Laura interrupted Willow's thoughts with the offer.

"Where was I? Chicago- right, yes" Willow took a handful of chips and opened her soda. "Well the south side pack is pretty laid back, grounded… free-spirits you could say."

"Like hippies?" Laura interrupted. Beginning to lay on her stomach to get more comfortable.

Willow didn't mind the interruptions, she was warming up to the fact she had someone to talk to and other potential girly stuff. "No, not hippies, but they do smoke like they are," they both laughed. "They're like the outcasts of society, like me. Like most Weres"

"I know what you mean there sister," Laura agreed cooly.

"Most of them had jobs like bartending, house cleaning, waitressing, you know- mucky jobs. But at night it was like a whole other atmosphere for Weres. There was drinking, drugs, dancing, singing, and just being free. Sometimes we'd go to some abandoned neighborhood and phase slightly and just run. The guys would fight- but it was never anything serious. Then day came and we'd all just wait till the sun went down."

"Drugs? You did drugs?"

"A few times, never a lot. It takes nearly three to four times the dose a human would take to even affect a Were to a large capacity. A little could go a long way for us. Same with drinking, although that always holds the same consequences for us as humans. Once you get too much alcohol in you, you're susceptible to the known and often visited town of 'Stupidity' where 'Regret' is the sheriff and 'Shame' is the mayor. A town I try to avoid, but always find my way back to. I'm this close to officially calling it home, but I feel as if they'd just elect me the head Mailman or something- and I can't have that ruining my reputation."

"So what about money? For all the drugs, and drinking, and partying. Doesn't it get expensive with trying to live a some-what normal life too?"

"Depends on your connections. But mostly hustling. It's the easiest way to make money, especially if you're a drifter."

After a pause for another handful of chips, Laura asked, "What's it like? Being an Omega?"

Taken by surprise, Willow hesitates. She doesn't want to scare Laura, or have her feel sorry for her, but the truth is the truth. "It's lonely…really lonely."

"You don't have any friends? Family?"

Trying to avoid the question of family, Willow said, "Let me put it this way, I have a prepaid phone, with about 20 contacts. Only about 5 of them am I willing to call up for an emergency, and maybe another 2 if I was at a loss and needed advice or something."

"Well, that's more than I have" Laura said, hoping to try and encourage Willow, but only putting herself down in the process she realized after she had said it.

"That'll change if you every make it down to Chicago," It was Willow's turn to cheer her up. "There is maybe around 25 to 35 Weres in south side Chicago. It's kind of like a pack, but more lenient and open. There is no set Alpha, just this guy, Max. He's cool, and incredibly hot, and a total badass. He's probably the main reason why a female would join that pack," they shared another laugh, Laura's previous sign of sadness disappeared.

"What does he look like?" Laura asked excited to talk about guys with another girl instead of having to try and attempt her brother into discussing such things.

"Tall, tan and godly!" It was a non-stop giggle fest. Between breathes Willow added, "He has blonde hair that hangs right off his shoulders. The brightest blue eyes you've ever seen. He has abs of steel that make women swoon from miles away…pretty pathetic of us females, but we can't help it."

"Good lord, tell me more!" Laura begged!

"Max wasn't exactly titled the Alpha, but all the Weres looked up to him and basically asked his permission. And the Omegas wondering about would always try and see him first when passing through, or attempting to hang around. Everyone there were kinda of like me, wondering around. Omegas. They just all settled there, but still had that sense of independence that an Omega has, you know."

"Wow…so tell me about the parties!" Laura wanted more.

Derek came up stairs right after Willow made her way into Laura's for the night. He took off his shirt, beginning to strip for bed but stopped as he tuned in his hearing to listen to what Willow and his sister were talking about. Willow began telling her about Chicago. He was not excited. He didn't want her to scare Laura of the outside Were world, and he didn't want her giving his naïve little sister any ideas. That was part of the reason why he decided to park it right by his door to listen to what they were discussing. He leaned up against the frame, closed his eyes, and focused all his attention on the stranger in their household, so much so, he could practically see her in the darkness behind his eyelids.

He sat through Willow telling Laura about the drinking and drugs, something he's heard is not uncommon amongst the younger packs now a days. He was worried for Willow, more so now that he knows the dangers she was open to. He sat through her telling about the south side pack that wasn't really a pack. He even got jealous listening to her describe Max. But when she came to the part about the 'bluest eyes' he'd have to disagree, Willow won that hands down any day.

He sat and listened until her voice became one with a dream, a dream he didn't want to ever wake up from.

"You're an animal, in the truest sense of the word" Laura exclaimed with a wide eyed smile and dipping the nail polish back in the bottle to gather fresh paint so she could do more of Willow's nails. Willow told her about a handful of the wild things she's seen and done while in Chicago. Even an incident, or two, with Max where she admitted first visiting the well-known town of Stupidity. "I gotta know, was he good?" Laura emphasized the 'good'.

"Yeah he was good. Hell, he was great." Willow declared.

They continued to laughed throughout the night and did what girls do at sleepovers. Willow told her about a few guys she's met along the way, and a few girls. Laura told Willow about her closest experience to going all the way with a guy, which would have been all the way if she hadn't of gotten too excited and revealed her claws. They shared more laughs at that.

"I can't believe you've just been wondering around. I always wondered what it would be like to be an Omega." Laura yawned. "Maybe you could stay here?"

"What?" Willow said incredulously.

"Yeah, it'll be so much fun. It won't just be the two of us, but three. We'll call ourselves the three musketeers." Laura was giggling, slap-happy.

"hmm, maybe" Willow said doubtfully, but Laura didn't catch it. She was about to pass out any moment.

It was 6am and the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon. Laura was clearly tired, which was what Willow was waiting for. Laura said goodnight, and got into her bed. Within 2 minutes she was in a deep sleep. Willow knew it was now or never. If she had to say goodbye to this girl, she might cry, and that's something Willow Spears never did.

She got up and with her things already together, she slipped a pair of jeans over her tiny boxer shorts and her bomber jacket over her tank top. She grabbed her shoes and snuck down the stairs. She was at the front door when she heard a door creak from upstairs. She was about to run, when she heard a deep voice attempt a whisper, "Stop!"

It wasn't Lauras, she had her voice embedded into her brain by now. It was Derek's, the handsome young man who she wasn't sure how he relates to the girl sleeping up stairs. His hand was reaching out to her, as if to grab her, but he was still at the top of the stairs. He began to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he continued. "You can't just leave"

"I'm sorry. I have to. If I don't go now…look, thanks for everything, really. It means a lot, and someday maybe I'll be able to return the favor, but now I have to leave." Willow made her way out the front door and down the steps, still with Derek in tow.

"Laura will never forgive you if you leave." Derek said. That made Willow stop. She just met the girl, but already felt this connection she hasn't been able to find anywhere else. She hates the thought of Laura feeling ill towards her. But she couldn't stay…she had to keep going- she had to keep looking.

"One night. That's what we agreed on, just one night. You didn't hear her in there. If I don't go now, you may as well be stuck with me forever." Willow said hoping to scare him into letting her walk away. He had come closer to her now. Just a few feet away.

"I do know Laura. Better than anyone. And yes, I already figured she was going to latch on to you. You're the first Were we've seen since our family was murdered. Others have tried to take us in, but we couldn't fall in with their packs. So we came here just the two of us. You're the first one she's connected with, and I know you feel the same way."

Willow huffed. "And how could you know that?"

"Because your laugh sounds like it rarely gets heard," she looked at him with narrowed and speculating eyes. "I don't know what it is about you, but you… you shouldn't go, okay. My sister wants you to stay…and so do I. For a little while longer at least. Please."

Moments went by, but they felt like hours as they just looked at each other, trying to read what the other is thinking and be one step ahead of them. But Derek was not expecting what was going to come out of her mouth. "She's your sister, really?"

Laura woke up with an extreme hangover from the previous night's sugar high. She squinted her eyes against the incoming sun light that shown in through her window. She was not excited about waking up. The previous night's events came flooding in to her memory, running in the woods, meeting Willow- WILLOW! She shot up and spun around on her bed trying to remember where Willow's bed was through her sleepiness.

She spotted the mass of pillows and blankets, but no sleeping girl. "Willow?" she said to no one in particular. Did she imagine meeting the strange girl? No, she couldn't have! She clearly remembered learning about the south side Chicago Weres and about what it's like to be an Omega. "Willow?" she whispered again.

And then it clicked. Willow's an Omega. A drifter, a loner. She doesn't stay in one place for too long, she just keeps moving on. A tear slid down her face. Her friend, who she figured now was not really her friend, slipped away sometime through the early morning. Not even a goodbye.

She got out of bed and with her foot, she pushed aside the bag of chips, piles of magazines and pillows till she got to her door. Willow's bag was gone, any trace that there was another Were in the house besides her and her brother were all gone. She walked in a trance to the restroom to hide any evidence of sorrow from her face. After composing herself she walked down stairs and didn't look up and comprehend what was happening until she heard laughter.

She stumbled down the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen where she found Derek standing and leaning backwards with his elbows behind him resting on the counter. He was laughing and chewing on the end of a half-eaten breakfast burrito. She saw a mass of long black wavy curling hair, Willow- who sat facing him and away from Laura on the counter with her feet on the stool eating a hash brown and drinking orange juice. She was laughing too.

Derek seen Laura, "Hey, we got breakfast."

"Yeah, but it's kind of cold?" Willow turned around and handed the bag of food open towards Laura. Laura smiled, and grabbed a biscuit from the bag and sat on the counter next to Willow.

...

My Note: So I'm thinking about doing an Author's Twist. Which means I'm probably going to be going off the plot line and adding events and different plots of my own. But that might not be for a while now. Just a warning. Also, please review or continue with the private messaging- it really means a lot, and I'm getting more done when I hear the critiques :) Thanks peeps!