A/N: Whoo, chapter four! Holla! Okay, so thanks to 'Guest' who reviewed the last chapter, I wish you had left your name! You rock! Ha :) There is way more 'Stashley' in this chapter, so enjoy! Review, follow, and favorite! Every review makes me want to post that much more ;) I hope Stiles lives up to your expectations. Without further ado, read on...

Ashley woke up in a cold sweat. Her hair was matted to her forehead, sticky and in tangles. Her skin felt burning hot, and yet, she had the chills. Her blanket was strewn across the bottom of her legs. She put a hand to her head and wiped some of the sweat off, not that it really helped. She had been dreaming, something about Derek and wolves, she couldn't remember exactly. It was obvious that it had been terrifying enough since her brain had made sure she wouldn't remember it. She kept quiet for a moment, unsure if she had made any noise during the dream. She waited until she was certain that her parents were still sleeping peacefully. Ashley groaned after a minute, her body felt like it had been by a train, and rolled over, staring at the clock beside her bed. It was only four in the morning. She sat up, weighing her options. She could shower, but then it might wake up her parents. She could try and go back to sleep, but what if she dreamed again? Her night terrors were occurring more frequently.

Ashley decided that she would much rather work on homework and take her mind off of things than just sit in silence until her alarm rang. She pulled out her chemistry book and went over the last chapter until her body decided she was too exhausted to continue. She laid back on her pillow and closed her eyes.

The second time Ashley woke up, it was bright outside and birds were chirping. That's how she woke up actually, a particularly cheerful bird right outside her window just would not shut up. She stretched, finally peaceful. She had slept well without any dreams. She heard a car in the driveway and strolled to her window. Her dad was leaving… Crap!

She leapt out of bed and ran into the shower. She was so, so late. So late. Again. She had never been so out of sorts before. She washed with the cold water, not waiting for it to heat up, and then dried off quickly. She combed her hair as she brushed her teeth and threw on an easy outfit. She was down the stairs in twenty minutes, her mom was looking over a magazine, a cheeky expression on her face.

"Mom! You're. Supposed. To. Wake. Me. Up." Ashley said in between breaths. She put her hand on the counter to stabilize herself.

"I knocked on your door three times. It's not my fault that you lock it when you sleep."

"I didn't hear anything." Ashley ignored the second comment, she always locked her door when it was closed.

"Not my problem." Her mom sang as she walked to the kitchen and poured out her cup of coffee.

"Can we go then?" Ashley shoved her chemistry book into her bag and zipped it up, pulling roughly when the zipper got stuck. She had never been such a spaz before.

"Fine." Her mom stepped into her shoes and grabbed her purse, Ashley followed behind her. "By the way, family night tonight."

"Mom." Ashley groaned. In Florida, family night had consisted of her parents fighting over a movie to watch and her dad burning whatever they were supposed to be having for dinner. Her mom would try to salvage it, but it would put her dad in such a bad mood that the night would be ruined.

"Don't worry, I'm cooking tonight." Her mom pulled out of the driveway, double checking that Ashley was wearing her seatbelt. "Besides, we haven't all been together for dinner in a while. You've been avoiding us since we moved here."

"We just went out to a lacrosse game!" Ashley argued while shaking her hair out. She didn't want to be caught with wet hair again, but it was taking forever to dry.

"And then you promptly avoided us for the next two days. The last time I saw you was breakfast yesterday, and you never even left the house."

"Mom-"

"Don't Mom me, it's either family night tonight or we can have Dad pack you lunch for the next week."

"Fine." Ashley gave her mom a kiss on the cheek, taking in the smile on her face.

Ashley's mother was better dressed than her daughter was. She wore a pink knit sweater and charcoal grey skirt, her hair was pulled into an elegant twist and she had on her signature lucky necklace. It was a simply necklace, a small gold chain that connected to a small golden feather. Her mother had had it since she was born, and every time Ashley asked what it stood for, her mom would say it was just lucky. She never took it off, and it complimented her. She touched it then and said goodbye to her daughter.

Ashley was over an hour late and skipped her first two periods, she tried to talk to Mr. Allen about it, but he wouldn't write her a pass for sleeping in. She strolled guiltily into Chemistry. The bell had just rung and there were hardly any students in class. Mr. Harris stood at the front, looking out of the window. She didn't follow his gaze, she just sat down in the back and crossed her legs. Mr. Harris didn't address her.

When the students filed in, Ashley could hear them whispering. Something a bus and blood? She couldn't hear them that well and she wasn't actively trying to. She just wanted to get through the day without anything weird happening. Beacon Hills was slowly driving her crazy. She checked the clock, whoa was she late. She got out her pen and notebook as Stiles stumbled into the classroom after Scott. They sat together, never stopping their conversation, even when Mr. Harris sent a few obvious looks and comments their way.

It didn't surprise her when they were separated, what did surprise her was Stiles coming to sit beside her because of it. Ashley had picked a half-empty table for a reason, she liked being alone. She did not want twitchy boy infringing on her personal space.

"Hey." He nodded at her as he dropped his bag beside her. She had to physically stop herself from groaning.

"Stiles." She greeted.

"You wouldn't have happened to have done Friday's homework, would you?" He leaned back in his chair, not even bothering to take out his text book.

"Yes."

"You think, maybe, possibly, I could borrow it?"

Ashley sent him a look that could kill and Stiles just raised his hands in surrender. There was more whispering around her and she studied Stiles who just as nervous as always. Curiosity was eating at her.

"Fine." She said suddenly, making him jump a little. Mr. Harris droned on up front but she tuned him out. "I'll give you my homework if you tell me what happened."

"I, uh, don't know what you're talking about." He was lying, his eyes never meeting her face.

"Then you can take a zero for the assignment." Ashley shrugged innocently.

"You're evil." Stiles commented.

Ashley waved around the paper in front of him and he snatched it. "You didn't hear it from me."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"You didn't see the bus this morning?"

"I got here late."

"Short story, there was a lot of blood. The cops are taking care of it." He scribbled down Ashley's answers onto a semi-crumpled piece of paper.

"What?" She hissed. Blood? Bus? What the hell? Where was she going to school? "I still don't understand."

Just then a girl upfront, next to Scott, screamed out and pointed towards the window. The class rushed toward the glass, peering out. Ashley moved slowly, standing in the back. There was a man on a gurney, he appeared badly injured, and there was crime scene tape around the bus. The class fell silent at the sight of him and Ashley felt a chill. Just then, as the classroom was quiet and she could practically hear her classmate's heartbeats, the man opened his eyes and shouted. It wasn't so much a shout either as it was a terrified, blood curdling scream. Ashley jumped back, terrified. Her hand flew to her heart and she had to lean on a nearby desk to get her breath back. Her peers returned to their seats but, again, she walked slower than them.

She caught Stiles looking at Scott, both were wearing horrified expressions. She shook her head. No. No way was she going to get caught up in this mess. She bit her lip, it was gnawing at her. The mystery that she knew was there, waiting to be solved. Her fears wanted her to solve it, but equally wanted her to run away screaming. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay away from it, she just wanted things to go back to normal. She wanted to forget about all the life threatening drama. She wanted to be able to breathe normally again.

…

There were a few places that Ashley just did not liking going to. The dentist's was an obvious one, as was the doctor's, but more uncommon places included the movie theatre (sitting super close to a stranger was not her idea of a good time) and the beach (who knew what was in that water). Another unbearable place for Ashley was the high school cafeteria.

It wasn't just that she didn't have any real friends at Beacon Hills, it was that finding a place to sit and picking out the right lunch was so ridiculously nerve-racking that she considered it the equivalent to getting her feet eaten by piranha. In the first week she had been at school, she just grabbed her lunch and brought it to an empty classroom or the library. Some days she had skipped lunch entirely. But today, she was starving and had skipped breakfast. So she decided to go, sneaking quietly in the front door and going unnoticed. She twisted around the students mingling and fell into line with a sigh of relief. Ashley thought about where she'd eat, deciding the library would be the best place.

"Hey Ashley!" Ashley flinched before turning around. Allison was behind her looking as kind as ever. "Weird I only ever see you here."

"Allison, hi." Ashley pulled her hair out from behind her ear nervously.

"Actually, I think I saw you at the game on Saturday." She smiled brightly and Ashley tried to match it.

"Yeah, my parents wanted to go."

"My dad went too. He's, like, super overprotective."

Ashley moved forward in line, thinking of something to say. "We should trade parents for a day. Mine came because they think I don't get out enough." Did that make her sound like a loser? She frowned.

"That sounds amazing." Allison laughed.

"It's not. Trust me."

"Oh come on. When you get a boyfriend, you're going to be happy you have the parents you have."

Ashley caught on quickly. "Your dad wanted to go to the game because of Scott."

"Obvious, huh?"

"No. I'm just observant."

"Hey, you never told me why you moved to Beacon."

"Oh. My grandma died, she was the last thing tying us to Florida. And then my dad was offered a job here. It was like one big snowball effect, really."

"I'm sorry. Have you moved before?"

"Nope." Ashley replied. "My first time."

Allison leaned in closer. "It sucks, right?"

Ashley laughed genuinely. "It does. I thought I was just being a brat thinking that."

"No, trust me. We've moved a lot, my dad's a salesman. Every time it's hard. Making new friends, getting used to new places…"

"Yeah, I've never been good at making friends anyway." Ashley replied. She was surprised by her own honesty, but Allison was sweet and trustworthy.

"Consider that a problem of your past now. You can eat with me and I'll introduce you to some of my friends."

Ashley peered over to where Allison sat last time they had met. "I don't think Lydia and Jackson are my kind of people."

"Come on. Lydia's really nice once you get to know her."

Ashley and Allison paid for their meals then and Ashley was at a loss for what to do. She felt Allison grab her arm and suddenly she was dragged forward. Allison paused by her usual table before continuing to walk. Ashley was plopped down in a chair across from Stiles as Allison kissed Scott briefly on the lips. Her surprise didn't stop there as Lydia and her friends followed. Ashley had seen the people around school but had never spoken to them before. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

A guy who sat down next to her, with longer brown hair and a chubby face, gave Ashley the once over. Ashley bit her lip and glanced down at her food. She looked up and noticed Stiles was staring at her, he was in the middle of peeling an orange.

"What are you doing here?" He looked between her and Lydia, who hadn't acknowledged either one of them.

"You've met?" Allison smiled.

"He copied my homework today." Ashley muttered as if it was a reasonable explanation. She was still feeling awkward and depressed after the events of the morning.

"What is on your cheek?" Lydia exclaimed loudly. Ashley reached up and touched the scratch that was healing after about a week.

"A, uh, branch attacked me on my first day in town." Ashley said, with a very sad attempt at humor. She hated being put on the spot.

Lydia frowned. "You should try concealer."

"I think she's cute as is." The guy sitting next to Ashley draped an arm over her chair. She tried to shrug away from him.

"Whatever." Lydia stabbed a piece of lettuce.

Jackson walked toward the table, causing Stiles to frown. Jackson kicked the back of the touchy feely guy's chair and demanded he get up. He looked at Ashley first and then complained. Ashley tuned out and pushed her chair closer to Allison. As Jackson sat down, the topic turned quickly to the bus attack. Ashley's interest was definitely piqued.

"You really think that was an animal attack?" She asked loudly.

Lydia and Jackson ignored her, but Allison went on to explain. "Didn't you see the bus outside this morning? It was awful, I don't think a person could've done that."

Jackson's friend joined in, Danny or something. "You think it was a cougar?"

"I heard mountain lion." Jackson added.

Lydia rolled her eyes and explained that they were the same thing. Ashley stared at her plate. She had tried to push it from her mind, but of course it was animal attack, and that could have been her. It hit her like a two-ton bus, that could have happened to her. She could have been mauled. She glanced up and noticed Stiles was staring at her and Scott was staring at his food.

"What's wrong with you?" Lydia asked Ashley. Ashley opened her mouth a few times, awkwardly, before answering.

"On my first night, I was lost in the woods and I was almost… there was an animal and it was really close to… attacking me."

"No way, you were okay though?" Allison's eyes pulled together, concern etched on her face. The others repeated the same things, "Oh my god." "What happened?"

"Was this when you were 'attacked by a stick'?" Lydia flipped her hair behind her shoulder.

"Um yeah…" Ashley looked down again and picked at her fingernails. "I was just being stupid and eventually got lost, and then next thing I knew I looked up and there was a…" Ashley paused, she didn't want to say what she actually thought it was. "Well, I think it was a mountain lion."

"You could have died." Allison muttered, her eyes were wide.

Suddenly, Stiles took out his phone and played the recent news report about the incident. The man was in critical condition at the hospital. She didn't recognize him or his name, but that didn't make the situation any less depressing.

"That's my old bus driver." Scott said, Allison immediately comforted him.

There were other exclamations, but Ashley tuned out. If Stiles hadn't been there, she could have died. Really died. All that blood that was smeared on the bus could have been hers. She looked up. He was leaning back in his chair, glancing around the table, stopping on Lydia's face a second longer than would have been considered normal.

They watched the news clip again, and Ashley could feel the two bites she had taken coming back up. There were claw marks on the bus and blood was smeared everywhere. The man looked so happy too, not a 'tweaker' like Jackson had commented earlier. She tried to swallow her nerves, but it didn't work. She was mortified. She could only picture herself in the bus driver's position. Her being attacked, mauled viciously, and leaving only pieces of her behind for people to find.

She stood up from the table, her chair scraping against the floor harshly. The people around her turned to stare, but Ashley didn't care. Her fingers were tingling and her whole body felt like it was on vibrate. Her throat was closing up, her breathing becoming fast and harsh. She made it out of the cafeteria and into the empty hallway. She leaned against a wall and sucked in air. It wasn't making its way fast enough to her lungs so she sunk to the floor. The image in her mind, of her body torn apart, wouldn't leave. She felt like she was having a night terror in the daytime, her eyes closed involuntarily.

"You should put your head between your knees. It's supposed to help."

Ashley lifted her head up weakly, leaning against the wall again, and opened her eyes. Stiles was kneeling next to her. She noticed he had ditched the blazer had worn the earlier week. He was in a checkered shirt and a hoodie, it looked more natural, more comfortable. He looked worried. For once he wasn't antsy, he was just there.

"What are you doing here?" Ashley asked, curling her hands into fists to fight the electric shocks and tingles that were only just starting to subside.

"I know the signs of a panic attack when I see one." He explained, coming to a full sit on the floor beside her.

Ashley looked at him in confusion before responding. "It wasn't a panic attack. I'm just freaked out."

"You're deathly pale and shaking. So either you've got the first few symptoms of a zombie virus, or you're having a panic attack."

"Did you come to gloat or something?" Ashley played with the ends of her hair as she began to feel normal.

"No!" Stiles said defensively, Ashley raised an eyebrow. "No. I wanted to see if you were okay. I know how bad they can be-"

"You've gotten panic attacks before?" Ashley asked.

"I used to, a while ago." Stiles brought his knees to his chest.

"Sorry."

"It's cool."

Ashley glanced down at her feet and bit her lip. "Stiles?" She could feel him looking at her with his deep brown eyes, but she couldn't turn her head to meet them. "I just wanted to say… thank you. For helping me. I'm sorry I've been giving you a hard time for it." There was a silent pause before he spoke.

"Does this mean you're going to agree to call me your hero? I'd be totally okay with that, might help my street cred with the ladies."

Ashley turned, Stiles was smiling widely. She smacked him lightly across the chest. "Shut up." She grinned.

"Come on, at least tell everyone I saved you."

Ashley got up off the floor, ignoring him for the most part.

"Please?" He continued. "It wouldn't even be a lie."

Ashley dusted herself off and looked back. "Thanks, Stiles." She grinned and moved around him, going to her locker to collect her things.

Yes, there was a man on life support in the hospital, and yes, that could've been her. But it felt good to laugh again. She was surprised that it was Stiles who had calmed her down and gotten her to laugh, but then, she was beginning to see there was more to him than she had originally thought.

"What happened to you at lunch today?" Allison asked. She had stopped by Ashley's locker at the end of school.

"Sorry, I wasn't feeling well." Ashley slid her unneeded materials into her locker and closed it.

Allison gave her an apologetic look. "You feel better now?"

"Yeah."

"Good, want to come bowling tomorrow night?" Allison asked hopefully.

"What's the catch?" Ashley wondered.

"Scott will be there."

"That's a no." Ashley answered.

"You didn't let me finish. Scott will be there, and so will Lydia and Jackson. I need a buffer, badly."

"I'm pretty sure Lydia would kill me if I came. Jackson too."

"Ashley, please, I'm begging you. I'll even ask Stiles if he'll come too so you won't be a fifth wheel."

"Still no, Allison." Ashley shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"Ugh. It's fine." Allison wrinkled her nose, deep in thought. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." Ashley added with a smile. Allison returned it and met Scott at the doors. Ashley made her way to her mother's car, waving to Stiles before she left. He returned the wave, his eyes wide.

Ashley had successfully pushed thoughts of the bus incident out of her mind, and maybe things at Beacon Hills wouldn't be that bad.

Her night was horrible. Okay, so it wasn't totally awful, just bad, but still. Her parents had taken her to the movies in the evening, she was even allowed to pick the movie but then something happened. Something every person probably fears. In the dark movie theater, watching an action adventure movie about robots or aliens or something, her parents started… making out. Like full on kissing and giggling and hand holding. In all her years, Ashley had never seen them so affectionate. Her dad was being super nice and her mother wasn't disagreeing with anything he said. Even when he suggested they get takeout from an Italian place in town, her mom agreed. She had been marinating steaks for the past twelve hours, but she didn't even put up a fight. Ashley felt like she was living in some weird sit-com.

"Brad, stop." Her mother giggled, shoving her husband playfully. "I have to go get dinner."

"Alright, alright."

Ashley watched as they took forever to say goodbye, even though her mom was leaving for like ten minutes tops. She was to the point of almost gagging when she couldn't take it anymore.

"I'll get it!" She cried out.

"You sure?" Her parents asked.

"Yes, dear god, yes." She pushed her hair behind one shoulder and grabbed her father's wallet. "I'll be back in five."

She walked up to the small restaurant, maneuvering carefully around a police car. The door dinged as she walked in and she self-consciously tugged at her blonde locks.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up an order of food." Ashley said to the hostess.

"Name?" The older girl, about twenty five if Ashley had to guess, sounded bored.

"Booker."

"It'll be about five minutes." She pointed to a few chairs by the door so Ashley took a seat.

She nervously fiddled with her pink hoodie for a few moments, tugging on the strings and tying it into a knot. Holy crap was she spastic recently. She dropped the strings and looked up.

"Ashley?" Stiles was in front of her, wearing the same clothes from earlier and looking just as rumpled as always.

"Stiles. What are you doing here?" And then Ashley looked around. "Wait, don't answer that. That was a stupid question. You were eating."

"Ding dong, we have a winner." He said sarcastically.

Ashley fought an eye roll as Sheriff Stilinski came up behind Stiles. He smiled widely, moving a doggie bag from his right hand to his left so he could shake her hand. Ashley returned the smile.

"Sheriff Stilinski, how are you?" She asked politely. She did not miss Stiles' eyes roll up towards the ceiling, but she ignored it anyway.

"I'm doing well, Ashley. How are you? Staying out of the woods I hope."

"Trying my best."

"Yeah, yeah. We get it, it's great seeing one another and everything is hunky-dory and you look forward to seeing each other again. Can we go home now?"

Ashley and the sheriff exchanged a look. "What's wrong with you?" She raised an eyebrow.

"He's mad I didn't take him on duty with me today." Stiles' dad shrugged as the hostess came out carrying Ashley's dinner.

She took the credit card Ashley was holding and shoved a large pizza box and two big bags into her hands. She wobbled slightly before the sheriff grabbed the pizza box and handed it to Stiles.

"He's more than happy to help."

"Dad, seriously, I am practically an adult now, you can't force me to-"

"Thanks." Ashley interrupted him.

The hostess came back and Ashley returned the card to her father's wallet. She sauntered away immediately and Ashley was left standing awkwardly with the Stilinskis.

"We'll help you carry this to your car." The sheriff pushed his son forward and Stiles went in a huff.

To say Ashley's parents were delighted at the sight of Stiles would be an understatement. Her mother got out of the car as soon as she saw that Ashley wasn't alone, and greeted both Stiles and his father with warm, welcoming hugs.

"Sheriff Stilinski! And you must be one of the boys Ashley was telling us about." Her mother's smile stretched across her entire face. Ashley stared at the car longingly, it would have been perfect to smash her head against. "Scott or… what was the other name…"

"I'm Stiles." He introduced himself while giving Ashley a curious glance.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Sheriff. And to meet you, Stiles." Her mother's mouth continued to open, and Ashley knew something even more embarrassing was going to come pouring out. "I've got to be honest, it's surprising to meet one of Ashley's friends in the flesh. She's always been a bit of a loner-"

"Mom!" Ashley shouted, placing the bags of food on the hood of their car and taking the pizza box from Stiles. "They don't need to hear my life story, I'm sure they have places to be."

"Right." Her mom glanced around as Stiles awkwardly kicked a rock. Ashley had never seen him so quiet before. "Would you two maybe want to join us for dinner? Lord knows we've got enough to feed a small army."

"I appreciate it Jill, but we've just eaten."

"Of course." Her mother looked to the ground, which meant she was thinking, and only bad, bad things came from that.

Ashley's father got out of the car and greeted the men, giving Stiles a large clap on the back. "Why don't you come over tomorrow night?"

"That's right! I have steaks marinating at home and there will be plenty of food."

"We couldn't." The sheriff argued politely.

"Consider it a thank-you for finding Ashley."

Ashley and Stiles exchanged an exasperated look. She moved closer to him. "My mom is pretty persistent. If you've got any excuses, come up with them now."

"I don't understand how you're so shy if she's your mother. Were you adopted?"

"That'd actually make sense."

"What if I said my dad's really picky and can't eat a lot due to his health?"

"Won't work." Ashley whispered back. "If my dad was cooking, I'd say you'd be off the hook. But my mom's actually a really good cook, and I can't remember the last time she served something with trans-fat."

"Sounds great, tomorrow at eight then." Sheriff Stilinski shook Ashley's father's hand and waved to her mother.

"Oh my god." Ashley and Stiles groaned in unison.

One look at her mother and Ashley knew what the woman was thinking. It was the first time she had seen Ashley talk to a boy, she was probably planning their wedding already. Why couldn't her parents be more reserved and, you know, less embarrassing? Stiles gave Ashley a nod goodbye as they left and Ashley flopped into the backseat.

"He's cute." Her mom cheered before she had even closed the door.

"If you say anything else, I will move out."

"His hair's a little short." Her dad added with a smile as he started the engine.

Ashley let out a grunt and sunk lower into her seat. She had been on roller coasters more stable than her day had been. She closed her eyes and prayed that the next day would pass by quickly and painlessly.