Simplicity

by StarBurnedOut

After the ending of their respective relationships, Malia and Scott end up turning to each other to fill the void the loss left in them. Set post-5B and diverging from canon from there.

7. 07

07

Leaning on his lacrosse stick, Scott grinned as he watched Corey launch yet another shot past the goalie. The chimera had been on fire all practice, the extra work they'd all put in with him over the holidays paying dividends now. And he wasn't the only one, Liam running around the field like a man possessed, dodging defenders and scoring goals, making his intent to be the next team captain clear to everybody watching.

"We did a good job with those two," Stiles said, as he stepped up next to him and threw an arm over his shoulders.

Scott snorted. "Yeah, we sure did. I mean, I helped them improve their shooting and learn to read opposing players better, and you... uh, what exactly did you do again?"

Face twisting in mock pain, Stiles clasped a hand over his heart and shook his head. "Ouch, man, that hurts. Isn't it obvious? I helped build their confidence by letting them score on me so much. And it clearly worked. I mean, look at them." With his free hand, he gestured toward Corey, who'd just scored again, then wiped away an imaginary tear. "Beautiful. And both of us are equally responsible for it."

"Letting them score, huh?" Scott said, shooting his friend an amused smirk.

"That's my story and I am sticking to it."

Before he could reply, a shrill whistle sounded, signalling the end of practice. Everybody slowly made their way to the sideline, where Coach was standing, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "That was pathetic," he stated as they gathered around, "but at least some of you had some hustle. Next time, I'd better see improvement! I'll replace every single member of this team. I don't care." Pausing, he glared around at the group, meeting everybody's eyes before he pointed at the school. "Now hit the showers and get the hell out of here. Coach has places to be." He waved his arms wildly toward the parking lot, then turned and stormed off.

"Good talk, Coach!" Stiles yelled after him. "Real motivational!" Shaking his head, he frowned and muttered, "We should have left him in rehab."

Chuckling, Scott gave his friend a shove toward the school. "Let's go. The girls are waiting." Lifting a hand, he pointed toward the stands, where Malia and Lydia were sitting with Mason and Hayden. Stiles took a step in their direction, before he caught him and redirected back toward the school. "Shower first, man. You kind of reek."

"Thanks, buddy," was the dry reply he got, as they both trailed after Corey and Liam, heading for the locker room.

Eager to get out of there, to get back to Malia, he wasted no time in getting cleaned up. He felt like the small amount of time they'd spent together this morning, and the few minutes after they'd told Lydia about them wasn't even close to enough, especially given the change in their relationship status. With no work to do, no plans, no worries about being discovered, and no calls or texts from Argent, he intended to take full advantage of his empty house to prove to her exactly how good of a boyfriend he could be.

The first one out of the showers, he didn't wait around, heading back outside and straight for the parking lot as soon as he was dressed. He found Hayden waiting right outside the door and told her Liam was coming before he continued on his way. The second he stepped onto the asphalt, his eyes found Malia, leaning against her car, talking with Lydia and Mason as they waited. Mason spotted him first, lifting a hand in greeting as he approached, and drawing everybody's attention to him.

"Hey," he said, as he drew even with the group, briefly nodding at his friends before his gaze settled on Malia.

The smile that spread across his face when she immediately extended her hand for him to take was massive, happy. It struck him hard then, as he reached for her, how great it felt that they could do that now, whenever they wanted, whenever they got the urge. Focused entirely on her, he didn't even notice the look of surprise on Mason's face, or the little smile on Lydia's.

"Hey," she said back, giving a little tug on his arm, bringing him toward her. His hands went to her waist as she pulled him in for a kiss, lingering just a long enough to get his heart beating a little faster. When they broke apart, she arched an eyebrow, a smirk twisting her lips. "You looked awful out there."

Grinning, he snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, well, I was a little distracted. Didn't think you were gonna be there."

The plan they'd briefly discussed before practice had been for her and Lydia to go eat, and then meet back up with them after practice. So when he'd looked up halfway through and spotted the two of them in the stands, it had caught him off-guard. It wasn't his fault he'd been in the middle of a play at the time, defending the goal, and his momentary lack of concentration had ended up with him getting flattened by a charging Liam. Or that his smirking Beta had taken every opportunity the rest of the way to remind him of what he'd done.

"At least you didn't get shown up by a freshman this year," she offered, before he leaned back in for another kiss.

"Didn't break anybody's bones either," he murmured against her lips. "Which means my night is completely free. How about yours?" He could hear the desire in his own voice, and from the anticipatory grin that formed on her face, he figured she heard it too. Aware they had an audience, he resisted the powerful urge to really kiss her, to lose himself in her, and settled instead for a heated look and a squeeze of her waist before he pulled back.

"So..." Mason said slowly when they broke apart, drawing their attention toward him. "I guess you two are..." He trailed off and gestured vaguely between them. "Together now?"

Malia arched an eyebrow. "What gave it away?"

Scott chuckled as he settled in next to her, shoulder to shoulder, and slipped an arm around behind her. "Yeah," he said, nodding at Mason, "we're together. Speaking of, would you mind doing us a favour?" he added, making a spur of the moment decision. "Would you mind spreading the word to everybody else? We're gonna take off."

"Whoa, whoa!" Mason blurted out, throwing up his hands. "What do you mean spread the word? Doesn't everybody already know?"

"Stiles knows. Lydia knows. And now you know. And as much as I'd love to stand around here and fill in everybody else, we kinda have..." He cleared his throat. "Uh, somewhere else to be." Lydia let out a little amused noise then, drawing his attention toward her and the knowing smirk on her face. Very briefly, he pondered why it didn't embarrass him to realise just how transparent he was being, but then Malia leaned into his side, flooding his senses with her scent, her warmth, and all he could think about was getting somewhere private as quickly as possible. "So, yeah, we're gonna just... yeah."

"Get out of here," Lydia said, amusement dripping from her words. "I'll let everybody else know. You want me and Stiles to get everybody up to speed on our little twin problem too?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he replied gratefully, a little annoyed with himself for forgetting Argent's request to let his friends know. "Just let me know if he's already got the pictures of them. I don't know if Argent gave any to Sheriff Stilinski or not. If not, I'll send them to you, all right?"

"Okay, sure."

"But once that's done, don't bother us," Malia warned as she pulled away from him and headed around to the driver's side of her car. "Our phones will be off."

Chuckling at her lack of subtlety, Scott caught Lydia's eye and shook his head at the entertained look on her face. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Maybe," Malia stated, as he opened his door and slid in next to her. When he shot her a questioning look, she shrugged. "What? I think you had the right idea this morning. Maybe we'll just call in sick tomorrow. I'm thinking spending the day with my boyfriend is a little more fun than school. Especially if we're naked."

"Just a little?" he asked, grinning as she started the engine. "Wow, I must have been doing something wrong all this time. Pretty sure watching paint dry is a little more fun than school. Thought I was better than that." Pausing, he shook his head, a mock frown on his face. "Guess I'm gonna have to step up my game."

"Hey." Meeting his gaze, her hand found his across the center console. "I've got no complaints so far... but a little extra effort never hurt anybody," she teased, an impish grin twisting her lips. "There are a few things I've been thinking about trying out..."

Throwing his head back, he let out a burst of laughter, his hand squeezing hers gently. "Good thing we've got all night. Let's go."

-l-l-l-l-

Staring up at his ceiling, Scott let out a little amused breath as he slowly stroked his hand up and down Malia's back. She was lying over him, her head pillowed on his chest, one arm thrown across his stomach. "I know you're awake," he murmured, tilting his head to look at her just as she shifted and looked up, a little grin on her face. His hand came up and cupped the side of her face, stroking her cheek tenderly with a thumb before he leaned in for a soft, lingering kiss.

"What time is it?" she asked quietly once he pulled away.

Letting out a grunt, he reached out blindly with his left hand, fumbling around on his bedside table until he found his phone. Turning it on, he tilted his head just enough to see it, squinting against the sudden brightness, then groaned, and let it drop back down. "Three-thirty. I'm definitely not going to school tomorrow. Or today, whatever."

She frowned. "You didn't sleep at all?"

"In and out," he replied, shrugging, before a grin spread across his face. "I think you've kinda messed up my sleep patterns a bit. Which, uh, yeah, that's a sacrifice I'm more than happy to make."

Shaking her head, she craned her neck to kiss him again, then slowly sat up, straddling his waist. "I'm a bad influence on you," she said, as his hands instinctively moved to her hips.

"No." He shook his head, absently rubbing little circles against her warm skin with his thumbs as he looked up at her. "We've just had an unusually long period of no crazy attacks or monsters out to murder us. I guess it's easy to get a little complacent when you're not running for your life every night." That drew an amused huff from her, and he grinned back in response. "No, I think we should just consider this training for the next time something comes along and we're spending our nights just trying to survive."

"The practical advantage of having sex every night?" she asked, arching an eyebrow, a little smirk playing about her lips.

"Sure. It could save your life."

"Well," she said, as she abruptly slid off him and stretched out along his side, "as far as selling points go, that's not bad. Not sure it's really necessary though. I think the sex kinda sells itself, don't you?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Turning on his side, he propped his head up on his hand as his eyes found hers. "But that doesn't mean you should overlook the advantages. I mean, it's good exercise. I'd choose this over jogging every single time. And you really work up an appetite, so, y'know, you gotta keep buying food. Which is motivation to get a job and make some money, stimulate that economy." Trailing off, he pursed his lips to keep from cracking up, a fight he nearly lost when he saw her struggling to do the same. "See what I mean? It's just... it's very far-reaching. The benefits are pretty much endless."

For a moment, Malia was silent, just looking into his eyes, lips twitching slightly. Then she let out a little noise halfway between a snort and a giggle and rolled her eyes. "Wow, that was... really something. Sounds like you've really thought that through."

"Hey, you're not the only one whose mind wanders during math class."

She lost the hold she'd had on her amusement at that, letting her head fall back as the laughter burst free. Chuckling himself, Scott reached out and rested a hand on her hip, smiling as he studied her face. He really liked those moments when she opened up like that. It seemed strange to think of somebody as aggressively straight-forward as Malia as restrained, but he'd come to realise that's exactly what she was. She didn't hide much, but the real emotion, good or bad, too often stayed locked up, kept close. But she was looser with him now, less guarded, and every time he saw a little of what she once would have kept inside, it touched him in a way he wouldn't have expected.

Once her laughter faded away, she locked eyes with him again, and he could see the heat in their depths. Coming forward, her lips found his again, the kiss quickly turning passionate as she slanted her mouth over his. When she caught his lower lip with her teeth, he growled and rolled them over, settling his weight on top of her and reaching up with both hands to frame her face.

Scott was fully prepared to go another round, but only a moment later, he felt her hands flatten against his chest, gently pushing him away. Confused, he drew back, brow furrowed slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, this is great," she quickly assured him, before a sheepish smile formed on her face. "But I am freaking starving."

Huffing out an amused breath, he pursed his lips and tilted his head. "Yeah, I guess we did kinda skip dinner, huh?"

"Wasn't hungry then. At least not for food." She arched an eyebrow, a flirty little grin briefly twisting her lips, and he felt a little spike of desire jolt through him. "But now I am. And as much as I'd love to keep doing this..." She wiggled her hips in a way that had him groaning and gritting his teeth. "I think we should eat. 'Cause growling stomachs? Not so sexy. And, y'know, gotta keep that energy up, right? Something about the economy."

It was hard to argue with that. Especially since now that she'd brought it up, he could feel the dull ache of hunger in his own belly. He'd eaten with Stiles before practice, but that was twelve hours and a lot of rather vigorous movement ago. So, with a sigh, he reluctantly rolled off her and sat up. "Yeah, you're right," he said, as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. "But, hey, you know I actually do find it pretty sexy when you growl, right?"

Rising up on her knees behind him, she looped her arms over his shoulders. "Like this?" Her breath was warm against his ear, and when she let out a low growl, her nails scratching against his chest, he shivered.

"Yeah, like that," he murmured, clasping his hands over hers as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. He could feel the smile form on her lips, before she slowly started to nibble her way down to his shoulder. "Wow, you really are hungry, huh?"

"Yes!" Nipping at his ear hard enough to draw a hiss of pain from him, Malia abruptly pulled away. The mattress moved under them, springs creaking, as she got off the other side of the bed and let out a sigh. "Is your mom home yet?"

"I don't think so," he replied, as he rose to his feet and stretched expansively. "I think her shift ended at three though, so she should be home anytime."

"So, clothes, then?"

"Probably a good idea."

Stepping over to his dresser, he grabbed himself a pair of sweatpants, then tossed her one of his shirts. They dressed in silence, then headed for the door, her hand finding his as she led the way out into the hallway and down the stairs. They didn't bother with any lights, both very comfortable moving around in the dark. In the kitchen, she took a seat at the table as he grabbed some leftovers out of the fridge and held them up for inspection. When she nodded, he turned and popped them into the microwave.

"So, I've been thinking," she said softly, fingers tapping a quick beat on the tabletop as he leaned back against the counter, waiting for the food heat up. "We should go out tomorrow night."

Crossing his arms, Scott tilted his head slightly as his eyes met hers. "You mean, like, on a date?"

"Yeah." She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. "We're officially a couple now, so, y'know, we should actually go out and do couple stuff. I know we went to the movies, but that wasn't... we weren't together together then. Not openly." Pausing, she shrugged. "You don't work or have practice, and I've got nothing going on, so why not, right? I mean, if you want to." There was just the slightest bit of uncertainty in her voice, in the way she shifted in her chair, the way her heartbeat increased almost imperceptibly.

"Hey, of course I want to," he quickly said, leaning toward her, willing her to see his feelings in his eyes. It was easy to forget, sometimes, with how forward, how confident she usually was, that this was all just as new to her as it was to him. There were bound to be some doubts, some insecurities that would flare up from time to time. But never the same ones twice, if he had his way. "If you want to go out every night, I'll find a way to make it happen. Okay?" Gaze locked on his, she nodded slowly, a happy smile spreading across her face. "So, it's a date. I mean, unless something, y'know, comes up. Which, given my track record..." Trailing off, he sighed and shook his head. "I have the worst luck when it comes to dates."

Getting to her feet, she made her way over to him, slipping her arms around him as his found their way around her shoulders. "Do you? It takes two, right?" she asked, as he pulled her close, relishing the warmth of her body pressed against his. "Maybe it wasn't you who had the bad luck."

Letting out a little amused breath, he inclined his head and grinned. "Yeah, maybe. I guess we'll find out." They were interrupted then by the beeping of the microwave, and after a brief kiss, reluctantly broke apart. Scott turned toward the counter, only to pause when he heard the sound of a car door closing. "I think my mom's home."

As he finished speaking, he heard the sound of keys in the lock, and the familiar creak of the front door opening. That was normal. What was less normal was the excited giggle that followed, or the decidedly masculine chuckle that accompanied it. The unmistakable sound of two people kissing was next, then footsteps as they made their way farther into the house, closer to the kitchen. Eyes wide, he turned to the doorway just as the lights flared to life, revealing his mom locked in a passionate embrace with Argent.

"What the hell?"

His words had the same effect on the pair as an air horn would have. They immediately jumped apart, turning toward him, eyes wide, faces flushed, mouths gaping open. For a second, nobody moved, just staring at each other, waiting for somebody else to break the weird, awkward tension that suddenly blanketed the room.

Argent was the first to recover some composure. "Scott," he said, nervously scratching at the back of his neck. "We, uh, we thought you two would be asleep."

"I guess you thought wrong, huh?"

Scott's tone was light, despite his initial reaction. The shock of unexpectedly catching his mother kissing anybody, let alone a man he considered a friend, was pretty intense, but it was already fading, replaced by what felt more like amusement than anything else. Maybe it was because he was tired, or maybe because he'd been in such a good mood, but all he could think was how funny the whole situation was, almost a reversal of roles, the teenager catching the parent making out with somebody. And given what he'd just spent the night doing, it wasn't like he was in much of a position to judge.

"Well," Malia said, when both Melissa and Argent continued to stand there uncomfortably, looking everywhere but at them, "this is awkward. Scott, I'll be upstairs." Grabbing the food and some cutlery, she quickly headed out of the room, leaving the three of them alone.

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like the place to be." He tried to follow her path, only for his mom to let out a heavy sigh and step in front of him. She opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly threw up his hands and shook his head, grinning. "You don't need to say anything. Your business, the two of you, not mine. Just, please, remember Malia and I both have super-hearing, so, y'know... yeah." Reaching out, he put a hand on each of their shoulders, squeezed once, then quickly made his escape, almost jogging up the stairs.

When he stepped back into his bedroom, he found Malia already digging into the food, sitting cross-legged on his bed, fork in hand. "Sorry," she mumbled around a mouthful, "I thought you'd be longer."

"Not a chance," he said, as he closed his door and leaned back against it. "Listen, I'm all for my mom, y'know, finding somebody. I want her to be happy. And if she and Argent are... doing... stuff, I'm happy for both of them. But the less I have to talk about it, the better. That's, uh..." He trailed off and shuddered. "That's just not what I want to be thinking about. At all."

She let out a little hmm of agreement, then pointed at him with her fork and smirked. "The look on your face when they came in was..."

Shaking his head, he made his way over to the bed and took a seat on the end. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he muttered, as he reached for his own fork and pulled a plate toward him. "Not gonna be so funny when you realise what a complete mood-killer that was for me."

Locking eyes with him, Malia grinned and arched an eyebrow. "I like a challenge. Now hurry up. I've got more plans for you."

-l-l-l-l-

"Nice boxers, Scott."

Coming out of his bathroom, he nearly tripped when he heard the unexpected voice, dropping the towel he'd been drying his hair with and scanning the room with wide eyes. Malia was still sitting in bed where he'd left her, clad in his discarded shirt and openly grinning at him. Perched in his chair was Lydia, an amused smirk on her face as she looked at his heart-covered underwear.

"Oh, hey." He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, crossing his arms over his chest in a reflexive, pointless effort to cover himself. "I, uh, I didn't know you were here." He'd been humming to himself as he dried off, hadn't even considered the possibility anybody else had shown up while he was in the shower.

"Clearly." Her voice was dry as she caught his eye and raised an eyebrow teasingly.

"You're lucky." They both turned toward Malia, who still had that wicked grin on her face. "Usually, he comes out of there naked." Pausing, she ran an appraising eye up and down his body, then looked at Lydia and shrugged. "Or maybe you're unlucky."

"All right, all right," Scott said, shaking his head and huffing out an amused breath as Lydia started giggling. "It is way too early in the morning for you two to gang up on me." Turning away from them, he grabbed some clean clothes out of his dresser and started pulling them on. Once his jeans were on, he felt a little more comfortable, enough to shoot Lydia a concerned look as he shrugged on his shirt and buttoned it. "What's up? Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine," she quickly assured him. "I just wanted to let you guys know everybody's been brought up to speed. About everything. We showed them all the pictures of the Cobbs, so they'll be on the lookout for both of them." Pausing, she met his gaze, a little smirk tugging at her lips. "I sent you a text but you didn't respond. Figured I'd look in on the two of you, make sure you were at least taking breaks to eat and sleep."

Looking away, he cleared his throat, hands absently smoothing the wrinkles out of his shirt. "Oh, right. Malia, could you..."

Leaning over, she grabbed both their phones off the table and tossed his to him. At her insistence, he'd switched it back off after they'd finished eating, so he turned it on again and quickly looked at his messages. Sure enough, there was one from Lydia. There were also two missed calls, both from the same number, one he didn't recognise. He looked at it suspiciously for a moment, until sudden movement across the room drew his eye. He looked up just as Malia slid off the bed and stretched, biting back a groan at the way the action made the hem of her shirt ride up just a little bit.

"I'm gonna take a shower." As she headed past him, she paused to give him a long, lingering kiss, as his arms went around her. When she pulled away, she smirked and dropped her hands to his ass, squeezing hard enough to make him jump. "Yeah, definitely unlucky," she murmured, shooting a grin over her shoulder at her laughing friend, as Scott blushed. "See you later, Lydia."

Without another word, she headed into the bathroom, and his eyes followed her the entire way. When the door closed behind her, he let out an involuntary little sigh, completely forgetting he wasn't the only person in the room.

"Wow, you're really into her, huh?"

Shaking himself lightly, he turned toward Lydia, eyes wide, and found her staring back at him, studying his face searchingly. Smiling sheepishly, he rocked his head back and forth as he slipped his phone into his pocket. "Yeah, I kinda am. I, uh..." Trailing off, he shrugged, smile morphing into a wide grin. "She's great, and I just... yeah. Yeah." He couldn't find the words, but from the look on her face, he figured he was getting his point across.

"Good, I'm happy for you. For both of you." Rising to her feet, she stepped over to him and mirrored his position, leaning back against his dresser next to him. "I didn't get a chance to say it yesterday," she said softly, bumping his arm with her shoulder, "but I'm glad the two of you found each other. I think you'll be good together, Scott, good for each other. It's pretty clear she makes you happy, and you do the same for her. It's really nice to see the two of you so upbeat."

Turning his head, he flashed her a soft smile that quickly transformed into a smirk. "And the fact us being together gives you and Stiles a chance to spend more time with each other has nothing to do with it, right?"

"Of course not," she said, putting just enough of an edge into her voice to make him shift nervously, before she cracked a smile and bumped his arm again. "None of my motivations are ever selfish. Come on."

Crossing his arms, he chuckled and shook his head. "Right, sorry, my mistake. Hey, you and Stiles are good too, right? I mean, I haven't really asked or anything. Been kind of distracted." Looking at her, he raised an eyebrow in question. "But things are... you're happy too, right?"

"Yeah, Scott, I'm happy. We both are. Things are great. I mean, it's Stiles, so things can be a bit... trying at times," she admitted, drawing a grin from him. "But... it feels good. It almost feels like nothing's really changed between us, honestly. Other than the obvious, of course. He's still frustrating and annoying and way too loud sometimes. But then sometimes he says something, or gets this look in his eyes, and I just..." She let out a little sigh. "I love the idiot. I really do."

"Wow. That's pretty big."

Meeting his gaze, she snorted softly and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, he told me he loved me, like, six times while we were talking on New Year's Eve. And I was still pissed at him then. Anybody else but him and it would have been weird. But with Stiles... it's just the way he is. Part of the charm, I guess." She shrugged. "It's definitely unlike any other relationship I've had before. And I think that's a good thing. I've been with some guys that just... well, things haven't always been so healthy. This is so different in so many ways, and I just... I think it's what I need, what I deserve. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah." His eyes involuntarily darted to the bathroom door, a little smile sliding across his face. "Yeah, I do."

They faded into silence then, both lost in their own thoughts, their own musings about their respective relationships. It was only when Malia began singing loudly that they stirred, coming back to reality at the sound of her enthusiastic but badly off-key efforts.

Scott grinned at the look on Lydia's face, a mixture of amusement and distaste, and nudged her toward the door. "Come on, she's gonna be awhile. And before you ask," he continued, as he followed her out of the room, closing his door behind them, "yeah, she knows she's not great. She just doesn't care. I asked. Oh, wait." Pausing at the top of the stairs, he craned his neck and looked down them. "Was my mom down there when you came in?"

"Yeah."

Just the way she said the word had him turning toward her, grimacing a little. "Malia told you?"

"Yep." She popped the 'p' and grinned at him, amusement written all over her face. "Your mom and Argent, huh? I'm sure that won't be weird or awkward at all."

Choosing to ignore her, he took a deep breath and started down the stairs. What he'd said to Malia earlier hadn't been a lie. If his mom was interested in Argent—and all signs pointed to yes—he was more than happy to let them do their thing, see where it went. Honestly, he kind of liked the idea of her having somebody around her who was comfortable with the supernatural, already a part of that life, his life. But given his history with the former hunter, it was a little strange to think of the two of them getting together, and just because he was okay with it didn't mean he wanted to talk or think about it anymore than he absolutely had to.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Scott found his mom sitting in her usual spot at the table, cup of coffee in one hand, book in the other. She looked up as they stepped into the room, hesitating briefly before shooting him a strained smile that turned a little more genuine when she spotted their visitor.

"Hey, Lydia. Staying for breakfast?"

"No, thanks, I already ate. I've gotta pick up Stiles and head to school. Scott, I'll text you later, all right?" Raising a hand in farewell, she smiled at them both, then headed for the door, leaving them alone.

For a moment, silence reigned in the kitchen, as he loitered in the doorway, unsure of exactly what to say. "So," Melissa finally said, putting down her book. "You're not going to school today?"

"No, it's, uh, it's a half-day anyway. Some assembly or something this afternoon. Malia wanted to spend the day together, so we're just..." He trailed off then, shoving his hands in his pockets, and sighed. "All right, let's just talk about it, get it out of the way. You and Argent."

Finally meeting his gaze, Melissa held it for a second, lips pursed, then nodded. "Yeah. We're just... I don't know." She shrugged. "There's... an attraction there, and we thought we'd, y'know, see where it goes." She spoke slowly, like she was carefully choosing her words. "And I know it must be weird for you—"

"It is," he interjected, raising his hands, cutting her off. "But that doesn't matter. What you want matters. What I said last night stands. I guess what I'm saying is you don't have to worry about me acting weird or avoiding either of you or anything. You support me, and I support you, no matter what," he said, mirroring her expression as a wide smile spread across her face. "I wasn't kidding though, y'know, about the super-hearing. So just keep that in mind. Please."

Shaking her head, she let out a little chuckle, and he did the same, relieved that things had gone so smoothly. "I'll do that," she said through her laughter, as the corner of her mouth ticked up into a teasing smirk. "And I'll let Chris know we have your approval. I'm sure he'll be very relieved."

"Yeah, I bet he's just been waiting with bated breath to get that," he replied dryly as he stepped farther into the room and sank into his chair. "Wait." His face twisted into a grimace as his eyes darted toward the stairs. "He's not here, is he?"

"No, no, he left after you went upstairs last night. The mood was kinda dead at that point. But..." she said slowly, as she headed over to the sink and rinsed out her empty cup, "we are going out tonight. On a real date. So, fingers crossed it goes better than every other date I've had in the last ten years."

"Well, at least this time you know if he runs out on you, there's a good reason," Scott offered.

"Thanks. Not helping."

"Sorry. You want me to have a word with him? I don't know how effective the werewolf stuff will be on him, but I can try. Or I could have Malia threaten to rough him up a bit if he acts like a dick. She can be pretty intimidating when she wants to be."

Leaning back against the counter, she snorted and shook her head. "No, that's all right. I think we'll be fine." Then she paused, her expression turning considering. "Speaking of Malia, I assume things went well yesterday."

"They did," he confirmed. "Stiles was really cool about it all. And I was never really worried about Lydia. But yeah, everybody knows now, so, yeah. Everything's out in the open." Even just saying it, he couldn't help but smile, still not over just how good it felt knowing that was true. "We were actually thinking about going out tonight too."

"That's great, honey. I'm glad." Then she grinned. "What do you think? Double date?"

Scott grimaced, but before their conversation could go any farther, he felt his phone go off and quickly pulled it out. His eyes narrowed when he saw it was a call from the same unknown number as before. Frowning, he sent it to voicemail, but before he could put his phone back in his pocket, it went off again. This time, a familiar name and number appeared on the screen.

"Hey, Sheriff."

"Morning, Scott. Do you think you could come down to the station for a few minutes? As soon as possible, if you don't mind." There was something in the man's voice that immediately had the hair on the back of his neck standing up. "There's something I'd like for you to take a look at."

"What's wrong?" he asked tersely.

"Nothing, nothing," Stilinski quickly said. "Just... there's something I'd like for you to see. Is Malia with you?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Better bring her along. She should probably see this too." This time, there was clear reluctance in his voice.

"Sheriff, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," the man repeated. "I've just... I've got some footage here, and I'd like both of you to take a look at it and give me your opinion, all right? It could be nothing, but... well, you'll see. You'll come?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Just give us... like, half an hour, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Scott."

After the call ended, he just stood there for a moment, a frown on his face, and looked at his phone. "If you ever catch me being cryptic," he finally said, looking up and meeting his mom's worried gaze, "I want you to slap me right across the face, all right? It's really annoying. How hard is it to just say what the problem is? I mean, really."

"What's wrong?"

Blowing out a breath, he shook his head and shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Sheriff Stilinski wants to see me and Malia. Says he's got something for us to look at." Sighing, he pocketed his phone and turned for the stairs. "I'm gonna go get her. Oh, and hey." Pausing, he turned back and flashed her a small smile. "If I don't see you again before tonight, good luck on your date. Have fun."

"Thanks, honey. You too."

-l-l-l-l-

When they pulled into the parking lot outside the police station, neither Scott nor Malia made a move to get out of her car. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he just had a really bad feeling that whatever the Sheriff wanted to show them was going to seriously mess up their day. And from the look on her face, it seemed like she had the same feeling.

"Well," he finally said, after several moments of inactivity. "Might as well get this over with. Maybe it really is nothing." He injected as much hope as he could into his words, but they still didn't sound even slightly sincere, even to his own ears.

"It's never nothing," she replied flatly. "If it was nothing, he wouldn't have called."

He knew she was right. But as he got out of the car, Scott sent up a silent prayer to anybody listening that she wasn't. Things had been so good lately, even with the mystery of the Cobb twins lurking in the background. He wasn't ready to give that up yet.

As they headed for the entrance, his phone went off yet again. When he saw it was the same unknown number from earlier, he let out a little growl as he sent it to voicemail and re-pocketed his phone with more force than was necessary. Spotting Malia's raised eyebrow, he shrugged sheepishly. "Somebody keeps calling, but I don't know the number. I wish they'd take the hint and stop trying."

"Maybe you should just answer it."

Before he could reply, the door swung open and Parrish stepped out. When he spotted the two of them approaching, he raised a hand in greeting and jerked his thumb back toward the door. "Hey, guys. The Sheriff's waiting in his office."

"Thanks, Parrish. Do you know what's up?"

The Hellhound shrugged. "Nope, sorry. Sheriff didn't say. Have a nice day, guys."

"Yeah, you too."

As he continued out into the parking lot, they headed inside the station. Nodding at one of the deputies he recognised, Scott stepped over to the Sheriff's closed office door and knocked gently on the glass. The blinds were open, and Stilinski immediately waved them in. He was on the phone, so they quietly took a seat across the desk from him and waited for him to finish up.

"Thanks for coming, Scott, Malia," he said, once he hung up and focused on them.

"No pr—"

"What happened?" Malia quickly interjected. "Why are we here?"

Pursing his lips, Stilinski leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "Okay, straight to business. Last night, we got a call about a disturbance outside of a bar. A man and a woman fighting, verbally and then physically. Which is... not out of the norm at this particular establishment. Real classy place. I sent out a couple deputies, but by the time they got there, they'd both taken off. So they took some statements, interviewed a couple people, y'know, routine stuff."

"Okay," Scott said slowly. "What does have to do with us?"

Stilinski held up a hand and raised his eyebrows. "I'm getting there. So, the witness descriptions were a little vague. We got a dark-haired man, mid-to-late thirties, around average height and weight, and a blonde woman, early twenties, petite. But I had a hunch, so I had my people pass around the photo of the Cobb girl." Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms and tilted his head. "She was positively identified."

Scott's eyes widened then, and he leaned forward, looking him directly in the eye. "You found them?"

"No, not quite," the Sheriff quickly said. "Whoever the guy was, he didn't match the description of her brother. But, since the fight they had was apparently something to see, I had my deputies confiscate the phones from everybody there, hoping we'd get lucky. And sure enough, somebody filmed part of it. That's what I want you to look at."

"Why?" Malia asked, brow furrowed in confusion. "If you've got the guy on camera, why do you need us?"

Instead of replying, Stilinski instead opened up the laptop sitting on his desk. "The woman filming was behind the action, so we didn't get many shots of the guy's face. But he does put on quite the show. And I... I think I recognised him. But I'd like to see if you two see the same thing I did, all right?" Looking up, his eyes moved from one to the other, drawing nods from both. "Okay, here we go." Turning the laptop around, he slid it toward them. "Hit play."

As Malia started the video, Scott felt his phone start to vibrate again and bit back an annoyed growl. Yanking it out of his pocket, he found the same number had tried again, this time sending a text. Jaw clenched, he opened it, curious.

— SCOTT ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE

"What the hell?" he muttered, eyes flickering between the message and the computer screen, where a man in a long overcoat was walking toward a short, blonde woman. The video was a little shaky, but there was no doubt the woman in question was Ashley Cobb. Suddenly, his phone went off again, and this time, he let the call go through, slowly lifting it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"What's the point of having a damn phone if you aren't gonna answer it?"

His eyes shot open at the sound of the familiar voice. "Derek?"

None of them had heard from him in nearly a year. Braeden had assured them all he was doing fine, but she hadn't hung around after the Desert Wolf was dealt with, and that was months ago. Both Malia and the Sheriff turned toward him, both with looks of surprise on their faces. She opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly put a finger over his lips, then gestured back to the video, where despite the lack of sound, their body language made it blatantly obvious Ashley and the unknown man were screaming at each other.

"Yeah, Scott, it's me. Listen, I called to warn you. I got word from a couple contacts I've still got in Beacon Hills, and you may have a problem on your hands."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, as he watched the screen, where the two had moved from yelling at each other to physically fighting. They were moving too fast, too erratically for the camera to pick up much. He couldn't even tell if either of them had shifted. "We've got a couple new werewolves in town, and—"

"No, that's not it. Your problem is—"

"Peter."

It wasn't much, just a brief close-up of his face as a powerful shove from his opponent sent him stumbling back toward the camera, but it was unmistakable. His shifted face wasn't one that was easily forgotten, or mistaken for anybody else. Especially when the last time any of them had seen it, he'd been trying to kill Scott. Peter Hale was back in town, and for some reason, he was going after Ashley Cobb.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"I'm looking at him." Scott's voice was tense, and next to him, he could feel that same tension in Malia, in the sudden set of her shoulders, the way her hands curled into fists. Reaching out, he laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly in silent support, even as he grimaced at the scene playing out before them. "The Sheriff has him on camera, fighting with one of those new werewolves I mentioned."

"Damn it! I was hoping my sources were wrong." Derek let out a low growl, then sighed. "Listen, Scott, you need to be very careful. I've been tracking Peter since he broke out of Eichen House. He's been everywhere, all over the continent, looking for something."

Scott frowned. "What?"

"What is he always looking for? Power. An Alpha's power. If he's back in Beacon Hills, that probably means he's found it. And if he has, he'll be coming after you. You need to watch your back. I'm on my way."

---

AN: So, this one took a bit of a turn at the end there. Honestly, I didn't originally intend to include Peter or Derek. It's just bad story-telling to introduce major characters this late in the game. This was supposed to be the second last chapter, but then I decided I'm not quite done with this story yet, so I figured what the hell, might as well throw some more crap in there, see what shakes out. At this point, the plan seems to be changing several times a chapter for me, so I don't know. We'll see how it plays out. The main goal remains the same, to just have Scott and Malia have a good time. But all the stuff around it is a little less clear. Hope you enjoy it though. As always, let me know what you think.