The spoon clinked against the sides of the bowl as Leah chased the last of her cereal down before scooping it up. She brought the spoon to her mouth as Tara walked into the kitchen, her dad behind her.
"Morning." Tara greeted Leah. Leah gave her a smile, watching as her mom and dad walked around the kitchen island.
"I think you have something for me." Leah said after she swallowed her cereal. She held out her hand and raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"Do you promise to be on time this afternoon?" Tara asked, eyebrows raised just as Leah's were.
"Uh, duh. Yes." Leah made a face, "Punctual is my middle name." She waggled her fingers, "Keys, please."
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Tara asked, looking to her husband. Drew gave her an amused smile before wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
"You specifically told me you didn't want to be trapped in the hospital until two in the morning."
"Right." Tara let out a breath, looking at Leah, "Promise?" She asked Leah, eyebrows still raised.
"Yes, promise. God." Leah rolled her eyes as Tara dropped the car keys into Leah's palm.
"Thanks!" Leah chirped out before hopping off the stool. She grabbed her cereal bowl and set it on the ground so Webster could drink the leftover milk. "See you at six." Leah said as she turned to walk out of the kitchen.
"It's five thirty!" Tara shouted after Leah. Leah turned around to walk backwards.
"I know." Leah made her eyes bigger and moved her head around, "Just seeing if you were paying attention."
"Be careful!" Tara reminded Leah.
Leah grabbed her backpack, and piled on her other duffel bags before she went out the front door. She hurried over to Tara's car, which was lingering in the driveway. It was a manual Toyota that her mom had had since before Leah's time. The air conditioning didn't work and they couldn't get it fixed because they would just total the car, it was that old.
Leah quickly unlocked it and tossed her bags in the trunk before getting into the driver's seat. She reversed out of the driveway and headed towards Scott's house, planning on catching him as he left for school.
She pulled up to the McCall house just as Scott was coming down the front porch steps. Leah manually rolled down her window and beeped the horn to get his attention.
"Hey!" Leah called out as Scott grinned at her.
"You got the car?" He asked, coming up to the window.
"Tara was feeling generous." Leah gave him a charming smile. "Come on, get in. I have stories." Leah unlocked the car letting Scott shove his bike in the back seat before he jogged around to the passenger side door. She hadn't gotten a chance to tell him about Derek's little visit, mostly because she wanted to see his face when she told him.
"You have stories? I have stories too." Scott said as he buckled himself. Leah grinned at him as she shifted the car's gears.
"You go first then." Leah said as Scott reached for the radio.
"My mom thinks you're giving me drugs." Scott casually said.
"One time!" Leah groaned, tipping her head back, "That was one time and it was only weed. And she didn't even find out!" Leah looked at him. Scott shrugged.
"She asked me if I was doing drugs. And I was like right now? And she asked me when I had ever done drugs." Scott settled on a station that he liked and sat back as he finished his story.
"Classic Melissa." Leah laughed to herself. "And technically, it wasn't my weed." Leah looked at Scott, "It was Connor's." Scott grinned at her.
"I talked to Stiles about Jackson too." Scott changed subjects, "We talked about Jackson and how I separated his shoulder." Leah made a face and rolled her eyes.
"You didn't separate his shoulder." Scott looked at her, "Okay, well, yeah, technically, but he deserved it." Leah grumbled to herself. There was a beat of silence before Scott opened his mouth again.
"Derek Hale came by and threatened me." Scott said, glancing at her as he settled back into his seat.
"Oh no way!" Leah laughed out, shaking her head. "He came to my house last night too."
"What!?" Scott cried out, head snapping to look at her, "Leah! Why didn't you tell me!?"
"I am telling you! Right now!" Leah cried back, hand waving around a bit.
"Well, what did he do? Did he hurt you?"
"No! No!" Leah let out a sigh, "No, he came over for dinner." She ran her hand through her hair before shifting gears again.
"Dinner!?" Scott cried out, "What!?"
"Tara invited him over for dinner!" Leah shouted back, "I had no say in any of it! I was vetoed! Overruled!"
"Oh my God." Scott whispered out, "He threatens to rip my throat out and then goes to your house for a homecooked meal."
"I mean he threatened you to me too." Leah said, glancing at him. Scott met her look, "He said if you played on Saturday…he would rip your throat out."
"Yeah, sounds familiar." Scott sighed. Leah chewed on her bottom lip as she looked back at the road,
"Do you think he's serious?" She asked as she turned into the school parking lot.
"Probably." Scott sighed again, shoving a hand through his mop of hair.
"What are you gonna tell Coach?" Leah asked, finding a parking spot. Scott glanced at her.
"To put you in." Scott simply said with a shrug.
"Really?" Leah asked with a slight smile. "You'd do that?"
"Yeah." Scott nodded.
"I really want you to play, Scott. You deserve it." Leah said, reaching out to rub Scott's arm.
"There's no way, Leah. Derek's gonna kill me if I play in that game." She screwed her mouth to the side.
"There's gotta be something." Leah said, looking out the windshield. "I'll think of something."
"Okay, Leah." Scott pushed out of the car, "Thanks for the ride." Leah nodded at him before turning the car off and pushing out of the car as well.
After dropping off her lacrosse gear, Leah went back into the masses in the hallway to get to her locker. She confidently spun the dial wrong twice before getting it to click open. Leah popped open the door and swung her bag around so it was in front of her. She pulled out the books she didn't need, and exchanged them for books she did need. Zipping her bag back up, Leah shut the locker door and turned to head for homeroom only to come face to face with with Allison's smiling face.
"Hey!" She chirped. Leah jumped a bit before giving her a tight smile in return.
"Morning, Ally." Leah said as she started walking, "How were the hours since I last saw your face?" Allison walked with Leah, her books to her chest. She laughed at Leah's question before getting to what she had come to ask Leah about.
"So a bunch of us were going to go out after Saturday's game." Allison said, "And I was wondering if you wanted come." She offered, glancing at Leah. Leah met her gaze with a raised eyebrow.
"Who's the bunch?" Leah asked even though she already knew the answer.
"Oh, you know, Lydia, Jackson, me and Scott and Stiles can come too!" Allison grinned, "You should come, it'd be fun." Leah made a face.
"I didn't know things involving Jackson and Lydia could be fun." Leah said, making Allison shake her head, amused with Leah.
"Just think about it okay?" Allison asked with a hopeful expression.
"Okay." Leah droned out, giving in. Allison bobbed her head and went into her homeroom. Leah walked down a few rooms before going into Harris's room.
Leah exited the her class after the first bell rang. She kept her head down, flipping through one of her notebooks to try and find her notes.
"Leah!" Scott called out to Leah as she was walking to class. Leah looked over her shoulder to see him weaving through other students, so she paused and let him catch up.
"Allison's coming to the game on Saturday and Coach said that if I don't play, he's taking me off first line. What do I do?" He whined the last part.
"Uh, play tomorrow's game." Leah said with wide eyes, "Seems like there's nothing you can really do."
"But Derek's gonna kill me." Scott whined again. Leah stopped walking, turning so she could put her hands on his shoulders.
"Then don't play the game." Leah said with a shrug, "It's not worth risking your amazingly, awesome life. Allison will still have a crush on you and you can just be on the bench with me… and Stiles." Leah sighed out, staring at her best friend. "Not a big deal."
"But this was supposed to be my year." He was still whining. Leah let out a huff and rolled her eyes as the bell rang.
"Just get to class, dude, we can figure this out later." She said, patting his shoulders before pushing away from him and heading down the hall.
Leah wanted Scott to play in Saturday's game, she really did, it would be great to start off the season with a win all thanks to Scott instead of Jackson. But if Derek's threat was serious, Leah didn't want to lose her best friend because of some stupid lacrosse game. She would rather him be on the bench and once he had the werewolf thing under control, prove to Coach that he was supposed to be on first line. And hopefully that would coincide with her probation ending.
"For this semester's project, you'll be working on your family histories." Leah's history teacher said, getting her attention, "You'll be researching your family trees. Tell me about where they came from, what they did and where they are now. I expect four to five pages on my desk by spring break." She said, "But for now, I'll pair you up to work on the study guides for Monday's test." Leah looked around the room to see her options as the teacher paired people up.
"Lydia and Leah." She said, making Leah look at her.
She felt her jaw click before looking over to Lydia, who was primly sitting in her seat. Leah gathered up her things and went over to the desk in front of Lydia. She laid her textbook in her lap and sat sideways in the chair, avoiding looking at Lydia.
"I already did a study guide." Lydia said with a sigh.
"Whoop dee doo." Leah droned out, gaze focused on the textbook. Lydia was silent for a moment.
"I could give you a copy if you want." Lydia offered. Leah looked over to her and made a face.
"No thanks." She said before returning to her textbook. Leah worked on her study guide for a few minutes before rubbing her temple.
"Alright, what do you want?" Leah asked, looking to Lydia.
"Hmm?" Lydia asked back, making Leah give her a look.
"What do you want for the study guide?" Leah asked, "Notice how I said, what instead of how much." Lydia just stared at Leah for a moment before going into her folder and pulling out a packet of paper, handing it out to Leah.
"Here. Take it." Lydia said, shaking the packet at Leah. Leah eyed Lydia warily.
"Is this a trick?" Leah asked, looking at the packet and then to Lydia. Lydia huffed in annoyance.
"Leah, take the study guide." Leah cautiously reached out to take it.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Leah asked, leafing through the packet, she glanced at Lydia for a second.
"Allison seems to have taken to liking you, so…I'm trying." Lydia took in a breath and pursed her lips.
"Ah." Leah raised her eyebrows as she nodded. Leah looked through the packet, noticing how detailed and organized it was, "This is really good, Lydia." Leah laughed to herself, "Why do you pretend to be so stupid to get ahead?" She mumbled under her breath.
"Because not all of us can have the God given gift of athleticism to get us ahead." Lydia snapped, making Leah look over to her.
Lydia shifted in her seat before looking away from Leah. Leah stared at Lydia for a second before the bell rang, making her jump. Leah started to gather up her things as Lydia stepped over Leah, heading to the door.
Leah was walking from her study period, when she saw Tara and the sheriff come of the office. Leah paused and went back around the corner she had just come from. She peered around the corner of the wall and watched them talk to the vice principal. Leah was too far away to make out what they were saying, but Tara had her hands planted on her hips, in deputy mode. The sheriff did most of the talking before he shook hands with the vice principal and they walked away from him, backs to Leah. Leah slipped out from her hiding place and followed behind them.
"Mom!" She called out, hurrying her step as Tara turned around. Leah came up to her mom as Tara looked behind her at the sheriff. The sheriff caught sight of Leah and gave Tara a nod.
"Don't you have class, Leah?" Tara asked, turning back to face Leah, hands still on her hips.
"What are you doing here?" Leah asked, "I was careful! Ask Scott! Don't make me walk home!" Leah clasped her hands together in front of herself and made an exaggerated crying face. Tara gave her a look.
"Leah." She stated, still in deputy mode.
"Right, sorry." Leah shook herself off. Tara sighed and looked around herself before looking back at Leah.
"We're instating a curfew because of the murder."
"You can't do that!" Leah cried out, "Tomorrow's the game! And when we win, we were all gonna go out! I was invited out." Leah softly finished, stomping her foot, "And besides, wasn't that like a week ago? Shouldn't you be moving on the more important crimes? I heard there was a break-in." Leah said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and crossing her arms.
"Leah, we're just looking out for your safety." Tara said, face softening a bit, "We don't want anyone else getting hurt." Leah took in a breath and looked away from her mom. She knew exactly who the murderer was and he had been in her house.
"I have to get to class." Leah said, pushing past Tara, looking down at the ground.
"Leah!" Tara called out.
"I'll see you at six thirty!" Leah called back, going down the stairs.
She was heading for her class when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her to the side and against the lockers.
"What the fuck, Stiles!?" Leah shouted at him, yanking her arm back to her body. Leah smacked his chest and glared at him, "You have such serious issues." She breathed out.
"Did you hear about the curfew?" Stiles asked, tone hurried and hushed.
"Yeah." Leah slumped against the lockers, "Apparently they're just looking out for our safety." Leah mimicked her mom and rolled her eyes.
"But we know who did it!"
"I know we know! But they don't know what we know!" Leah widened her eyes and Stiles made a face as he tried to untangle her statement. "And we can't just tell our parents." Leah made a face as she shrugged.
"Yeah, but we could do something."
"What? Find the body?"
"Exactly." Stiles raised his eyebrows and nodded, chewing on his bottom lip, "I'm cashing in that favor."
"Oh fuck no." Leah rolled her head, "There's no way I'm helping you find a dead body."
"Yeah you are!" Stiles laughed out before walking away from Leah.
Leah sighed and watched Stiles weave in and out of the crowded hallway. She turned her attention to the other end of the hallway, seeing Scott's back. Looking past him, she saw Lydia and Allison in the middle of the hall, talking to James, who was on the lacrosse team. Leah pushed off the locker and walked past Scott, getting to Allison and Lydia.
"James, let's leave the ladies alone to braid each other's hair, yeah?" Leah asked, raising her eyebrows at him. James laughed at her as she looked to Allison with a smile before tilting her head in Scott's direction. Leah maneuvered her and James to go the opposite way, walking with him before slipping out.
"See you on the field." Leah said with a wave before walking down another hallway.
Leah walked into her Math class and sat in her corner seat by the door before the bell rang. Allison hurried in a couple moments later and sat down behind Leah, looking flushed and out of breath. Leah turned around in her seat to look at her.
"Heavy make out session with Scott or something?" Leah asked, cocking a brow. Allison looked at her for a second before getting her joke. Then she let out a breathy laugh.
"Uh, no." She shifted around in her seat, moving her blazer around on her desk. Leah recognized it from the party and picked it up, looking it over.
"Hey, isn't this from Lydia's party?" Leah asked, remembering that Allison had left it in Derek's car.
"Oh not you too." Allison groaned, making Leah look at her with a furrowed brow. "Scott was asking me all these questions about it too."
"Didn't know he was into fashion." Leah mumbled to herself before folding the blazer on Allison's desk.
"No, it wasn't that." Allison shook her head, "He was asking me all these questions about where I got it and how I got it back and about Derek—"
"He asked you about Derek?" Leah asked, brow furrowing again.
"Yeah." Allison whispered out, leaning forward, "I told you he gave me a ride home, right?" Leah nodded, even though she didn't remember Allison saying anything about it, "Right so he kept asking me about what we talked about in the car ride home and apparently they aren't even friends. It was weird." Allison finished as the teacher called her up to the board to solve a problem.
"Yeah, weird." Leah whispered after her as she turned to face the front of the classroom.
After the final bell rang, Leah walked out into the parking lot to try and find Scott, only she found that Scott had taken his bike and left her a note saying he had to take care of something. Leah felt her brow furrow as she got into the driver's seat.
She drove out to the entrance of the Preserve, parking her car and getting out, Leah ducked under the chain and headed into the forest.
Leah wrapped her arms around her and walked through the forest, looking around. She knew there was no one out in the Preserve, but still. She had no idea where she was going, just wandering, hoping Derek would pop out like he always did.
"Derek?" Leah called out, after walking for a few more minutes, "Derek?" Leah yelled a little bit louder.
She grumbled to herself and continued to walk forward, debating giving up, but then she found it. The Hale house. Or what was left of it. Leah made a face and shifted her weight, looking around the burnt down house. She felt like she had been there before, but she couldn't remember when or why.
"Doesn't look the same, does it?" Derek's voice said from next to her. Leah jumped, letting out a scared gasp.
"Please stop just appearing out of thin air!" Leah stomped her foot as she looked over at Derek. Derek smirked at her as Leah rolled her eyes, looking back up at the Hale house.
"And it's burnt down, so…I'd hope it wouldn't look the same." Leah said, making a face. She glanced over to him, eyeing him warily.
"Did you put Allison's blazer back in her locker today?" Leah asked. Derek licked his lips and sighed.
"Did you and Scott both plan on annoying me today?" Derek asked back. Leah scoffed.
"Scott's not the annoying one."
"Why are you here, Leah?" Derek asked, ignoring Leah's comment.
"To ask if you put Allison's blazer back in her locker cause that's pretty creepy but also kind of sweet and I'm still confused about what kind of game you're playing." Leah paused, "What's your deal, Derek?" Derek eyed her before looking away.
"Scott's still playing in tomorrow's game." He changed the subject and worded his question to sound more like a statement. Leah shifted her weight.
"Still gonna rip his throat out if he does?" Leah asked back.
"I'm trying to look out for him, Leah." Leah snorted.
"Right. Cause breaking into his home in the middle of the night is totally the right definition of looking out." Leah made a face.
"I said trying." Derek seriously said. "Like I said last night, the aggression is gonna take over and he's gonna shift." Derek paused.
"At least it'll be an interesting game." Leah lifted her chin a bit.
"If he plays, everything is going to fall apart."
"Sounds like you know from experience." Leah mumbled under her breath.
She glanced at Derek before shaking her head and going to turn away from him. But then she noticed the massive pile of dirt by the side of the house. Leah raised her eyebrows and then looked to Derek before making a clicking sound with her tongue and walking away.
After finding her car, Leah went back home to an empty house. She had just gotten inside when her phone buzzed with an incoming text. Leah looked down to see that Scott had texted her.
Found something at derek's.
Leah made a face and quickly turned around, heading back out of the house. She sprinted over to the McCall house and got there just as Stiles' Jeep screeched to a stop at the curb. Leah stopped for a split second as Stiles scrambled out of the Jeep and ran past her. Then she took back off, trying to catch up to Stiles. They ran up the porch steps at the same time and he threw the door open. Both of them tried to get into the house at the same time, but slammed into each other. Leah glared at him before shoving him back and running into the house before him.
She took the stairs two at a time to get to Scott's room. Stiles was behind her and quickly caught up, pushing Leah into the wall to get by her and explode into Scott's room.
"What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it?" Stiles rattled off his questions as they stood above Scott, "And, yes, I've had a lot of Adderall, so…" Stiles blinked hard and shook his head before glancing at Leah.
"Sup, Barbie. Glad your plastic didn't break when you slammed into that wall." Leah rolled her eyes and looked back at Scott.
"I found something of Derek's." Scott started
"Yeah no shit!" Leah cried out, throwing her arms up, "That's what the text—"
"Are you kidding?! What!?" Stiles shouted out, cutting Leah off as he rolled forward on his toes.
"There's something buried there- I could smell blood." Leah felt her jaw drop. He was burying a body.
"That's awesome! I mean, that's terrible." Stiles shook his head as Scott tightened the knots on his lacrosse stick.
"Whose blood?" Leah cautiously asked, getting nervous at the thought of a body being found.
"I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder." Scott got out of his seat and pointed the lacrosse stick at Stiles. Stiles nodded his head.
"And then you help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing. Because there's no way I'm not playing that game." Scott gave Leah a glance and she nodded, arms crossed over her chest with a determined look.
Leah was sitting on the bed, reknotting Scott's lacrosse cradle as the boys chattered away. Stiles and Scott had started coming up with a plan on how exactly to find the body. So far, it sounded like they needed to figure out if the scent was the same. Leah went to put in her two cents when her phone buzzed. She looked down to see that it was her alarm, reminding her to get to the hospital to pick up Tara on time.
"Shit." Leah whispered, getting Scott's attention.
"What?" Scott asked her, looking concerned. Leah glanced up at him and flipped the phone to show him the time.
"I have to go pick up Tara." Leah said, screwing her mouth to the side. "She's at the hospital for her doctor's appointment."
"Well, looks like Barbie can't come!" Stiles said, raising his hands up in the air before letting them drop, "Too bad." He pretended to be upset. Leah made a face at him.
"Okay, well, I guess, just text me if you need anything." Leah said, rubbing her eye and shrugging. Scott nodded as Leah took a step back, "And, uh, good luck." Leah said with a nod before turning around and heading down the stairs.
Leah made it to the hospital with five minutes to spare. Settling her in one of the chairs in the waiting room, she picked up a women's magazine to torture herself. The doors slid open and closed as people came in and out. Leah watched a few of them, even seeing Lydia and Jackson walk in together. Lydia took a seat on the opposite wall as Jackson went up to the desk. He was taken down the hall and around the corner by one of the nurses, leaving Lydia in a waiting chair around the corner.
A couple minutes later, Leah heard Lydia speaking. She put the magazine down and leaned a bit to the side, trying to figure out if Lydia was talking to her or to herself. Leah was still pretty unsure so she glanced around the corner to see Lydia's head tilted to the side and she was murmuring to herself. Leah watched her for a moment, seeing her tuck her hair behind her ear—that's when the little blue earpiece became visible. Leah made a face to herself before looking back at the cover of the magazine.
"Leah?" Leah heard Mrs. McCall's voice say from above her. She looked up to see Melissa giving Leah a warm smile. "Your mom's almost done. Do you wanna come back?" She asked. Leah looked around the waiting area before nodding to herself.
"Yeah, yeah that'd be cool." Leah closed the magazine and set it back on the table, she followed Mrs. McCall down the hall, past Lydia, and down another hall.
"So I'm coming to tomorrow's game." Mrs. McCall said, making conversation. Leah lifted her chin at Melissa, making a little noise in approval.
"Scott's really…nervous." Leah settled on, "About starting."
"I'm proud of him." Mrs. McCall said with a warm smile.
"You should be." Leah instantly responded as they slowed down in front of a door.
Mrs. McCall knocked on the door before pushing it open. Leah stepped in after her to see Tara on the examination table, the ultrasound technician sitting in front of the computer.
"Hey, honey." Tara gave Leah a smile, "Just in time. We're almost done."
"Just taking a picture of the baby for your dad." The technician said, glancing over her shoulder at Leah. "Come here and take a look." She said, nodding Leah over. Leah looked at Mrs. McCall, who nodded at her, before Leah took a step closer to the computer.
"See? There she is." The technician pointed to the screen where a clear image of a baby's head was.
"She?" Leah whispered back as she stared at the screen for a second before looking to her mom, "It's a girl?" Leah asked.
"Don't tell your father." Tara said with a small smile. "He doesn't want to know."
"Holy shit." Leah laughed a bit, "There's a human inside of you."
"Yes, I'm aware, thank you." Tara gave her a look, Leah rolled her eyes.
"I think we're about finished here." The technician said as the picture of the baby printed out. "Mrs. Kane—"
"Deputy Kane." Leah corrected her, making Tara smile.
"Deputy Kane." Leah got a pointed look from the technician, "You can clean yourself up and we'll get you out of here."
"You can go wait outside, sweetie." Tara said as Mrs. McCall helped her sit up. Leah nodded and backed out of the room. She let the door shut behind her and then started back down the hallway to where she was waiting before.
When Leah turned the corner, she heard the unmistakable voice of Stiles talking to someone. Leah stopped herself, walking back so she was behind the corner, and poked her head around so she could clearly see him. He had one hand up against the wall and was putting his weight into it as he stared down at…Lydia. Leah put her hand over her mouth as she listened to him try to talk to her.
"Uh, anyway, I always thought that we just had this kinda…connection." Leah snorted at him, "Maybe it would be kinda cool to uh, get to know each other a little better." Stiles finished as Lydia smiled up at him, nodding a bit.
Leah felt her stomach drop at the thought that Lydia had actually been listening to him. Then Lydia pushed her hair back behind her ear, revealing an earpiece. Leah's stomach returned to its normal position as she felt an amused smile tug at the corner of her lips.
"I didn't get any of what you were just saying…was it worth repeating?" Lydia bluntly asked, squinting at Stiles. Stiles blanched and looked utterly embarrassed.
Leah felt someone knock into her shoulder and she looked over to see that Jackson was coming around the corner, rubbing his shoulder.
"Get your cortisone shot?" Leah asked, making him look back at her as she leaned into the wall. Jackson gave Leah the stink eye before shaking his head and walking up to where Lydia was sitting. Leah pushed off the wall and followed behind him for a second before going over to where Stiles was sitting.
"See—" Leah started, making Stiles jump about fifty feet, "if I knew that they had a pamphlet on the menstrual cycle, I would've chosen that instead of the women's magazine."
"Ha, funny." Stiles tossed the pamphlet to the side as Leah stood above him, "What do you want?"
"I want to know how your connection with Lydia works." Leah said with a smug smile. Stiles jutted his chin up as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"You're hilarious."
"Oh, I know. But your little performance gave me a run for my money." Leah said. She looked over to where Lydia and Jackson were full on making out. "Looks like it didn't work though." Leah said, making a face as she looked back at Stiles.
Stiles looked from Leah to Lydia and Jackson and made a disgusted noise, slipping down into his seat. Leah watched the couple for a moment as they broke away from each other and walked past them and out the double doors.
"So what are you—" Leah started to ask when,
"The scent was the same." Scott's voice made Leah jump about three feet. Leah placed her hand to her chest as she whirled around.
"Oh my God." Leah slapped Scott's chest with each word, "You don't just sneak up on a girl!" Leah cried out as she heard Stiles snort. Scott gave her an apologetic smile. "And what scent was the same?" Leah asked.
"The half of the body the police did find is the same scent that I smelled on Derek's property." Scott explained.
"You sure?" Stiles asked, getting to his feet and standing next to Leah.
"Yes." Scott seriously said as Leah looked in between the boys, not liking where the conversation was going.
"So he did bury the other half of the body on his property." Stiles sighed.
"Which means we have proof he killed the girl." Scott nodded.
"I say we use it." Stiles pointed out, walking past Scott, getting them to follow him.
"How?" Scott asked, looking between Stiles and Leah.
"Tell me something first." Stiles turned and stepped up a bit closer, "Are you doing this because you want to stop Derek, or because you want to play in the game, and he said you couldn't?"
Leah had to hand it to Stiles; there was truth to what he was asking. As much as Scott was a good person, she knew there was also the part of him that wanted to get Derek thrown in jail so that he could play in tomorrow's game and not have to worry about getting his throat ripped out.
"There are bite marks on the legs, Stiles. Bite marks." Scott seriously said, rolling forward on his toes a bit.
"Okay. Then we're gonna need a shovel." Stiles sighed and went to walk past Scott, but Leah grabbed his arm.
"Uh, I don't wanna come dig up a body." Leah raised her eyebrows. "I have better things to do on a Friday night." Stiles barked out a laugh and shook her off of him.
"Nice try. You owe me one."
"I swear to God, Stiles, if you make me come out there—"
"Scott, Stiles," Tara's voice came from behind Leah, "What are you two doing here?"
"Uh…" Stiles looked to Scott, who was looking at Stiles,
"Just dropping off something for my mom." Scott came up with a lie, grinning at Tara. Leah made a face at Scott and his not so great lie before she turned around to face her mother.
"Ready?" Leah asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Let's go before I have to pee." Tara joked. She bid goodbye to the boys and went out the sliding doors.
"So sorry." Leah made a face, not very sorry at all, "I have to go be a good daughter."
"Oh you're far from that." Stiles scoffed, "We'll pick you up after we get the shovels."
"Fuck you." Leah mouthed out as she walked past the boys and outside to where her mom was waiting.
Once home, Leah dropped the car keys into the basket by the door and glanced at her phone to see there was a text from Stiles, warning her that they were on their way. Leah groaned and tapped her phone against her forehead before walking into the living room where her mom was settled on the couch.
"Do you need anything?" Leah asked. Tara waved her hand in the air, indicating she didn't need anything. Leah walked through the living room and into the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder to see her mom was already asleep on the couch. Sighing to herself, Leah went out the kitchen door, walking around the side of the house. She got to the curb as the Jeep pulled up in front of the Kane house.
"I hate you." Leah said as she got into the Jeep.
"Thanks for coming with us." Scott gave her an understanding smile. Leah took in a breath and returned the smile quickly before settling back in her seat.
Stiles drove to the Preserve, maneuvering the Jeep into the forest and towards the Hale house as Scott directed him. Both Scott and Leah talked about their encounters with Derek earlier in the day, finding out that Derek had basically told them the same thing. Stiles let the Jeep idle behind a few trees as they waited for Derek to leave. Once the Camaro drove off, Stiles pulled up to the front of the house.
"I wonder where he went." Leah mused to herself as she climbed out of the Jeep.
"Don't know, don't care." Stiles sighed out, pulling out the shovels and a few flashlights. He handed a flashlight to Leah and a shovel to Scott. As they walked to the dirt pile, Leah let the flashlight float over the skeleton of the house.
"This is exactly how I wanted to spend a Friday night…digging up a dead body."
"Wait, something's different." Scott held out his shovel to stop them from walking any further.
"Different how?" Stiles asked as Leah laid the beam of light on him.
"I don't know." Scott shook his head, taking a step forward to the pile of dirt.
"Let's just get this over with." Leah mumbled, "Dead bodies freak me out." The boys started to dig up the body.
Leah wasn't scared of what they would find, she just didn't want Derek coming back and ripping out their throats. He wouldn't be very happy to find them digging up his victim.
A few minutes later, Scott let out a groan and stopped digging. He stood up straight and looked to Leah, "This is taking too long." He complained
"Keep going." Stiles said as he tossed some dirt over his shoulder, hitting Leah. Leah flinched and made a face as Stiles kept digging. Scott blew out a breath but complied, going back to digging.
"What if he comes back?" Scott asked.
"I have a plan for that." Stiles let out a breath, "You run one way, I'll run the other and whoever he catches first…too bad." Stiles made a face. Leah rolled her eyes,
"What about me?"
"Oh you're fucked." Stiles laughed.
"Great." Leah rolled her eyes.
As the boys kept digging, Leah walked around the house, going to the side and walking along the side of the house before getting to the back entrance. Leah stepped up onto the back porch, feeling the boards creaking under her weight. The beam of light from the flashlight scanned the porch, showing nothing but rotting wood and half burnt porch furniture.
The inside of the house wasn't much better. It was like the cottage from the Blair Witch Project, minus the creepy ass dude. For the moment at least. Leah walked into what seemed to have been the living room and let her hand drag across the torn up couch. Deep down, she knew she had been in this exact room before; the couch, as torn up as it was, looked so familiar.
Two very girly screams made Leah jump and look to where the boys where. Shit. Derek had probably come back. Leah scrambled back outside, running through the front of the house and out the front door. She hurried across the front porch and jumped down off of the side, skidding to a stop behind them.
"What the hell!?" Leah cried out, making them both scream again. "That's not a girl!" Leah pointed the flashlight to the wolf's head that was at the bottom of the hole. "That's a dead wolf! A dead, dead wolf!"
"I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood." Stiles said, glancing at Scott.
"I told you something was different!" Scott shouted back. Leah rubbed her hand on her head before shoving it through her hair.
"This doesn't make sense." She whispered to herself, turning around in a slow circle, "We gotta get out of here. Or else we're gonna be in that grave right next to the wolf." Leah said, as she came back to face the boys. Scott nodded.
"Yeah."
"Okay, help me cover this up." Stiles said, leaning over the hole and flipping the tarp back over the wolf's head. Scott started to help Stiles as Leah let the flashlight go around the woods.
"Wait, pause." Stiles said to Leah. Leah snorted and kept moving the flashlight, "Leah! Stop moving the flashlight!" Leah stopped moving the flashlight, "Over to the left a bit." She did as she was told. "Right there." Leah stopped, letting the light shine on a purple flower sticking out of the ground.
"What's wrong?" Scott asked.
"You see that flower?" Stiles pointed to the purple flower.
"What about it?" Scott asked. Leah felt her brow furrow as she realized what the flower was,
"Wolfsbane." Leah whispered as Stiles said, "I think it's wolfsbane."
"What's that?" Scott asked, making Leah turn to him, shining the flashlight on his back.
"Uh…Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?" Stiles asked.
"No." Scott truthfully answered.
"What?!" Leah cried out, "You're joking."
"Lon Chaney Junior? Claude Rains?" Stiles asked, getting blank looks from Scott, "The original, classic werewolf movie?"
"No!" Scott shouted. Leah let out an audible huff as Stiles groaned. "What?" Scott asked as Stiles climbed out of the hole.
"You are so unprepared for this." Stiles mumbled.
Leah watched him go over to the flower and gently tug it up, revealing a rope attached to the roots of the flower. Stiles tugged at the rope, following it around until it hit the hole where the wolf's head was buried. Leah looked down at the hole and let out a little scream before clapping her hand over her mouth.
"What?" Scott asked, looking at her.
Leah pointed the flashlight down into the hole. Scott looked down and jumped a bit. Stiles came over and looked into the hole, flailing a bit when he saw what they saw. There was no longer a wolf head in the hole, it was a half a body. Half a girl's body that looked very familiar.
"Okay, we need to go. Now. Derek's gonna be back any minute." Leah said, looking around the property with her flashlight. She wasn't a fan of what they had just found.
The boys recovered the body with the tarp, tying it in like nine hundred knots. Leah helped them put dirt back on the body, filling the hole back up before brushing her hands off on her jeans. She had dirt smeared on her face and sweat was dripping down her face. Explaining why there was dirt all over her to her parents was going to be tricky, but Leah would figure something out.
Stiles, Scott and Leah headed back to the Jeep, throwing the shovels in the back hatch. Leah climbed into the back seat as Stiles and Scott took the seats up front. Stiles started up the Jeep as Leah opened her mouth, "How the fuck-"
"I don't know!" Scott shouted back, cutting Leah off.
"But was she a girl or a wolf?" Leah asked.
"Maybe she's a werewolf." Stiles mused. Scott and Leah both looked at Stiles. Leah made a face, nodding a bit and shaking a finger at Stiles.
"That makes no sense." Leah said, sitting back in her seat.
"That's the only thing I can think of." Stiles said with a shrug, "I mean, I don't know any other reason a wolf would change from a wolf to a girl. Especially a dead one." Leah was quiet, sitting back in her seat as Stiles got onto the main road. They were all quiet as Stiles drove.
When the Jeep pulled up in between Scott and Leah's house, Leah pushed out of the Jeep and met Scott at Stiles' window. "So we're going back out tomorrow?" Leah asked, looking to Stiles as Scott nodded, "And you're gonna tell your dad what? Just so I know what to tell Tara. And our stories match up."
"That we went out looking for Scott's inhaler that he dropped and found the hole."
"Which is our cover story for tomorrow." Leah added, "When did he drop his inhaler?" She asked.
"I'll let you know." Stiles said, bobbing his head, "Or you know, you could come up with that part of the plan." Stiles flung his hand at her. Leah widened her eyes at him.
"Oh, but I'm just a Barbie. I won't be able to come up with plans." Leah said, making her voice airy. Stiles gave her an unamused look. "Just make sure you pick me up tomorrow." Leah said, going back to her normal voice.
"Yeah, I'll pick you up at like noon." Stiles said, not sounding very happy about it.
"Just how I wanted to spend the afternoon before the game…re-digging up a body." Leah sighed and stepped back from the Jeep.
"Night, Leah." Scott softly said. Leah gave her best friend a small smile.
"Night, Scotty." She waved to him and turned away, walking up to her house.
She walked into her house to find her mom still passed out on the couch. Leah walked in the living room, over to the trunk that held various living room things, including blankets. She grabbed her mom's favorite one and spread it out over Tara.
Going to close the trunk, Leah noticed that one of the photo albums was leaning in a way that would only cause it to fall. Leah reached in and shifted some of the albums around so that everything was steady. There was a loose picture at the bottom of the trunk and Leah reached down to pick it up, ignoring the writing on it as she turned it over.
The picture was from one of Leah's birthday parties from when she was younger. Leah stared at it, her brows furrowing as she saw a few familiar faces. Leah brought the picture closer to her face before flipping the picture over to read the writing. There were names on the back: Tara, Drew, Connor, Leah, Derek, Laura, Peter, Talia...the rest of the names began to fuzz together. Leah blinked hard, trying to get the words back in focus, except she kept going back to Laura's name. Laura, Laura Hale. The girl in the woods.
"Thanks for picking me up, man." Connor sat back in the passenger seat, sending his text before locking his phone, "I figured we should talk as soon as I got back to town."
"Yeah, well, we have a lot to talk about." Derek took in a breath, glancing over to Connor.
A/N: GUESS WHO'S BACK! CONNOR! A bae for sure. Ugh, mah heart. Okay. Let me know your thoughts! xx
