"Did Scott tell you what happened at Deaton's yesterday?" Malia asked as she stopped to lean against Lydia's locker when she found her talking to Kira. Surprisingly, since Kaya got into their lives, Peter was reaching out to her a lot more often —as in calling or texting and paying her random visits she was quick to slither out of, and during one of those he filled her in on last night's incident. Both girls shook their heads and Malia sighed, one thing she had learnt for sure was that nobody liked the bearer of bad news. She believed there was a saying about shooting the messenger as well, but she wasn't quite sure. "They were waiting for Kate and Kaya there to pick up Peter."

"Who are 'they' exactly?" Lydia asked closing her locker with a loud slam and the blonde shrugged. She was getting pretty tired of all this, apparently there was no shortage on people wanting to kill one —if not all— of them.

"Are they okay?" Kira asked and seeing Malia's weird look she rephrased. "Kaya and Kate." she still wasn't on best terms with Kate since the little stunt the she-wolf had pulled on her and Scott but since they were all in a truce she just opted to avoid her as much as possible. But Kaya, her, she really worried about.

"They're fine, I guess." Malia shrugged. "They slaughtered like ten people." she said and both girls looked at her oddly. "Well, Kate did most of the slaughtering but Peter said Kaya killed two guys too." This time there wasn't much excitement in her announcement; those who had taken a life knew it was nothing to be excited about. It was a rather sad thing to happen to a person —unless you were Peter or Kate, they seemed to be fine with killing people.

"Should we go over to Derek's to see her?" Kira asked feeling that distinctive need of hers to comfort her friends. Derek probably wouldn't be too thrilled to have a horde of teenage girls in his house but maybe Kaya needed them.

Malia had already asked about that one. Sure, she hadn't been human for long but she had learnt pretty quickly that friends don't leave friends behind —ahem— and when you feel that one of your friends needs you, you should be there even if they haven't asked you to. "Peter said we can go after school." she said and Lydia gave her a pleased smile, both that they were going and that Malia had been the one to take lead on making it happen.

Progress.

Derek woke up surprisingly relaxed. He didn't need to open his eyes to know she was there; he could smell her semi-wet hair, feel her pressed to his side. He didn't need to open his eyes to know she was awake and looking at him. "Haven't they taught you starring is creepy?" he said in a mock serious tone but didn't really mean it. In fact he was happy she was there; awake, to be creepy with him like Kate told Peter he was being with her. "How long have you been up?" he asked popping an eye open slowly making her laugh.

"Enough to get cleaned up and find Peter making me pancakes. We didn't want to wake you…" she said grinning. For a guy who didn't eat breakfast, Peter sure knew how to make a full one. And she definitely appreciated the morning pampering. "He said I shouldn't go to school today too."

"Agreed." Derek nodded not ready to let her out of his sight just yet. Lifting himself up on his elbows he looked at her as she fell back on the mattress on her back. "Did you two leave anything for me?"

"Yeah, there's a plate ready with your name on it. Coffee too." she said looking up at him, his large frame hovering a bit over her. He seemed relaxed but she noticed the worried look in his eyes too, like he was afraid something would suddenly happen or that she was suddenly going to vanish into thin air. "Hey, I'm okay."

The light note in her voice and the small smile gracing her features made him smile a bit too. Without really realizing it, he lifted his hand and stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Don't scare me like that again." he said quietly and closed his eyes. "I must have lost like ten years of my life last night, okay…"

"You look it." She chuckled lightly. "But I'll try my best, promise." In the short time they knew each other, she noted that she had never seen Derek so worried or insecure. She saw him begin losing his mind after the incident with Peter but even that was different; she couldn't quite place it but she knew it was. "I saw my dad last night, you know…"

"Oh yeah?" Derek asked and laid back on the bad pulling her close to him. A couple or so years back, such statements would have freaked him out but lately his tolerance towards the unexpected was surprising. Maybe he evolved in more ways than one… And if it made her happy, he wasn't going to throw any stones; and he knew for a fact she was happy about seeing her dad, even if it was just a dream, an illusion in her head, because that was exactly how he felt when he dreamt about his mother; happy, calm and understood. "What did you guys do?"

"We talked." she chuckled knowing how weird that must have sounded. "About you, Peter, Kate and the pack; everyone. Apparently he likes you." Kaya announced and Derek laughed a little. "What!? He said he does."

"Well, next time you see him, tell him I like him too."

Kaya huffed humorously. "You can't like my dad; you know nothing about him." It was the most obvious thing to her, that in her dreaming state her dad felt about people the way she felt about them. The glint in Derek's eyes though told her he had an idea of his own.

"Well, I know you and I like you." he announced. "You came from that guy so I like him too."

"Yeah, that's what he said too…"

"I killed two people today, daddy…" Kaya said curled into a ball on her childhood bed. Her eyes were closed but she knew he was there; he was always there for her when she needed him.

"I know, princess." Phil Blake sat on a chair at the foot of her bed looking at his daughter fondly yet concerned. In all the years he watched over her, from the limbo he was stuck in, never had he seen her look so depressed. "You did what needed to be done."

"Did I?" she asked, opening her hazel eyes, unsure. If daddy said so then maybe it was true —maybe she did what she had to do to protect herself and Kate, who was risking her life to protect hers. Did she suddenly feel good about it? No. Never. But her dad, she knew, was a wise man and if he said there was no other way around for something to be done then he was usually right.

"Of course you did." Phil ensured his daughter. "Sometimes, my princess, in life, good people do horrible things because it really is the only way to do something; because sometimes, there is no other option. Do you understand what I'm saying?" he looked at her intensely.

"Did the creepy one-eyed man kill you because he had no other choice?" she asked hugging the plush toy she was holding a lot closer to her chest and bit her lip. She would never forget that day for as long as she was alive; the day her dad died. It was the first time she dreamt of him. And he had been there, every time she needed him, ever since.

"No, baby. He killed me because he knew he couldn't keep himself at war with me forever. That if I got to live and keep you, one day I would grow too strong for him to beat. He eliminated the threat early." he said and moved to seat on the bed with her. "Because you —you would have made me stronger. You are my strength, all the power in me, baby. You're the one keeping me here."

"Where is 'here', dad?" she asked and a tear escaped her eyes. She had her dad but only in her sleep, only in her time of need. But she needed him daily, in flesh; to drive her to school because she was a reckless driver and he'd be afraid she'd get herself killed, to give the boys she'd go out with the talk and glare at them till they were too scared he'd bury them in their backyard and water them along with his plants or tell her she looks pretty when she's insecure. She needed him to walk her down the damn isle one day and hold her kids. She needed her dad. Period.

"I'm with you." he smiled and messed up her hair a little. "The place I'm at isn't exactly important. But I'm a lot closer than you think…" he said cryptically and she looked at him oddly. "Don't worry, I didn't leave you, baby, I'm still dead…" he laughed but stopped seeing the solemn look on her face "Sorry. That wasn't funny."

"It wasn't."

"Tell me about your new friends." Phil said clasping his hands together. He wasn't there to live life with her but he wanted to know all about her, his baby.

"Mhhh…" she thought "There's Derek and Peter, the guys I live with. They're werewolves." she said excited even though she had lived with werewolves before. "I like them you know. They're on each other's case all day, every day, but if someone tries to pull a funny one on them they'd kill for each other, I know they would."

"They're Hale men, aren't they?" he asked and Kaya nodded. "I thought so. That family has a very colorful history… And now that Derek is a shifter too —well, a lot of people are going to come for him. So I need you to be careful."

Kaya chuckled. "Derek would never put me in danger, silly. He's protecting me, he cares."

"If you're sure about it..." he said in a lingering tone but raised his hands in surrender "Who else?"

"There's Malia, she's Peter's were-coyote daughter, and the rest of the pack. Scott is the Alpha, he took me on a ride with his bike once when people were stalking me, it was the coolest thing ever." she said acting like a fan-girl. "Stiles, his best friend, who's an awkward yet perfect human being, Lydia's a Banshee —she screams a lot and has signed me up for tutoring classes, which I skip all the time. Kira's a kitsune but I just call her Foxy to tease her. Oh and my cuddle-bear, Liam. Really dad, if Liam was a puppy I'd keep him forever." she said and Phil noted the happy glint in her eyes. "Oh and Mason; he's Liam's best friend, he's really nice, I'd keep him too."

"So it's two adults with eight teenagers." Phil raised an eyebrow. "How comforting…"

"No." she said as if it was the most obvious thing and her dad had to know. "We have Scott's mom who's a nurse, Stiles' dad is the Sherriff, Parrish the badass deputy, the Argent hunter clan and don't let me forget the vet-slash-emissary, Deaton." she said and took a second to do the math in her head. "We're kind of a big crew."

"You are." Phil nodded. "But tell me more about the Argent hunters…" he knew exactly who they were, all too well in fact, and this time they were in his kid's life; Phil had to know what they were up to now. Were Chris and Kate still blinded by Gerard or had they moved on from their past and family politics?

"Kate and Chris?" she rose an eyebrow. "Chris is human, a hunter. His daughter, Allison, died last year." she said looking down a bit; she didn't know Allison Argent, but she felt deeply for the people who did. Death is never easy and it's worse when the departed is someone so young. "And then there's Kate; she was a hunter too but now she's a were-jaguar. She was there with me today, killed all those men for me…"

"And you killed one for her too…" Phil reminded his daughter softly and she nodded. "Let me tell you something, kiddo, I know who the Argents are; Chris is trustworthy." he paused. "Kate —she is nowhere near being altruistic, but mark my words when I tell you that she is someone you want to have on your side. And there are a million reasons for that."

"So what? You suddenly approve of my friends? Isn't that against the 'parent guidebook' or something?" Kaya teased.

"If you like them, then I like them —because I know you." Phil said and leaned over to kiss his daughter's forehead.

Kaya couldn't remember being happier to be at school. After a lot of grilling on Kate and Peter's side and a lot of foot stomping on Lydia and Malia's case, Derek had finally caved and stopped being the overbearing wolf she assumed his nature called for him to be, letting her out of his sight. Of course he had forced Stiles swear on his life that he'd deliver her back at his door in one piece or else he'd rip his throat out with his teeth.

Stiles called him unoriginal. Derek was not amused.

Lacrosse practice was taking long enough to start getting on her nerves, but with five of her newly acquired friends on the team she had to put her grown up girl panties on and sit idly on the bleaches watching the coach yell at the team how incompetent they were. Well, Liam was generally getting praised but sometimes he took one for the team, pretending to suck as well. That made her laugh and, although she'd never get lacrosse, luckily Lydia was constantly by her side the entire day. The strawberry blonde girl sat by her, textbook in hand, and drew something that resembled a tree in an early stage with freakishly great detail; Kaya just huffed and answered the millionth text she got from Derek asking if she was okay.

Honestly, she didn't even think Derek knew how to text; let alone at such the speed.

A pained scream echoed in the field and everyone's attention snapped towards the center of it all, the team forming a circle around the apparently fallen member of the group. Lydia shrugged when Kaya looked at her questioning and they both moved to the field to see what had happened. Stiles shrugged noticing them there and Scott nodded that they should head off before the coach noticed them. "You two!" Too late, Coach already saw them. Stiles looked up giving an exasperated eye roll and looked towards the sky. "Make yourselves useful and take this dead meat to see a doctor. I have to coach the Dumb and Dumber league into being less pathetic." he announced. "Greenberg! Get him out of my field for crying out loud."

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Liam sighed, Scott shook his head disapprovingly, Kira shrugged feeling sorry for them and Stiles face palmed. Yep, Derek was going to kill him…

The freshman they had to nurse was a sweet kid, a little whinny, but okay in the generic sense of the word. They wouldn't bother hanging out with the teen and Lydia was sure not going to invite him to her next party because of their little bonding session over his twisted ankle, but he wasn't the worst company to be stuck with. Begrudgingly, Kaya texted Derek about the small change of plans so that Stiles wouldn't lose his head to that overprotective man and within seconds Melissa McCall was there offering them refreshers and chatting them up while they waited for the doctor to call them in.

While the girls talked to Melissa a nurse asked them in —great, now they suddenly became the adult party, thanks to the Coach!

A female doctor started giving them instructions on how to do this and that with the boy's bandaged ankle and Lydia took notes while Kaya found herself taking in the presence of the other doctor in the room. He was younger than the woman there, probably in his mid-thirties or something along those lines. He wasn't her type nor was she attracted to him or anything, but for some reason she couldn't place he seemed familiar and she couldn't help but keep her eyes on him. The weirdest part was that he was looking at her too; his green eyes —so familiar— were trained on her and he often ran a hand through his short sand-blond hair. He made a grimace that resembled a smile quite a lot, a dimple softening his otherwise sharp features; angular jaw, strong bridge on his nose, all very defined and manly. She was so mesmerized by that man that she zoned out of the doctor's instructions.

"Doctor Blake, could you call a nurse to take care of the rest?" the older doctor asked, which caught Kaya's attention. She turned to look at Lydia but found that the girl was already pestering the female doctor with more questions. The young doctor, Doctor Blake, turned to leave the room passing by her with a barely noticeable smile on his face.

Despite her better judgment, and clear instructions not to leave Lydia's sight, she followed the man out the room. "Doctor Blake?" she called out hesitantly and he turned instantly as if he was expecting her to follow. Oh god, he must think she was going to give him her number or something. "I'm sorry. My —my last name's Blake too and you look awfully familiar."

The doctor smiled at her kindly, he had waited to have her so close for a long time. Oh, if only his father was there to see him standing within arms' reach from her, just talking to her… "Maybe we've met before and you just don't know it yet." he chuckled and quickly extended his hand. "I'm Steven. Steven Blake."

"Kaya." she said shaking his hand with a newfound ease but at the same time discomfort regarding his little remark earlier. Thankfully, Steven gave her a full handshake and not the limp-wristed half shake some people gave her, squeezing three fingers as if she was too delicate to touch palms. "I'm sorry, this is just weird." She laughed bringing her free hand to the roots of her hair —that was another weird thing; he was yet to release her hand.

Realizing he was still holding her hand, Steven released her quickly. "I'm sorry." he laughed uncomfortably too, realizing he was coming off too strong to a girl he just been introduced to; but he was too damn excited to think straight, to calculate the aftermath of his words and actions. She was Phil's daughter for crying out loud, the daughter of the woman he had been passionately in love with since he first laid eyes on her —but never had the guts to tell her that bit. He had barely contained his excitement when he saw her in that room, his father was right. He could recognize her from a million girls; she looked so much like both her parents that it would be a joke not to know who she is. Realizing he was just starring at her, he took a step back not wanting to appear like the creepy older guy who drooled over a 17-year-old girl, but despite that he tore a piece of paper from a notepad he had in his pocket and scribed down his number and address. He needed her to know this, needed her to know she could find and go to him at any moment. "I'm not doing this in any inappropriate way, Kaya, you have my word. But if you're ever even remotely curious about what happened in there just —you'll find me here. I'll always be available to you."

Steven slipped the small paper in her palm and put a hand on her shoulder for only a moment before he left, but the small gesture unsettled her. What was he talking about? Who the hell was Steven Blake and why would he want to talk to her? More importantly though, why did she feel the need to talk to him?

When Kaya returned to the loft barely an hour later, Lydia delivering her straight to the door, Derek all but tackled her to the floor and Peter sighed mumbling something that sounded a lot like 'so much for being subtle'. She actually found it sweet that he was so worried; she never had anyone being worried about her so openly, let alone someone who looked like him and wrapped his arms around her at any given chance. Which was a lot considering they lived together. Not that she was complaining…

"I'm fine." she said when she saw him checking her for wounds. "You're cute when you're worried." She teased him stepping further into the loft to drop her bag and jacket.

"I'm not cute." Derek frowned and crossed his hands to his chest. He was a werewolf —a fully shifting one too— he wasn't a poodle to suffice as 'cute' or any other term of endearment people attributed to pets and babies. He would accept intimidating, sexy or even sour, but not cute; never cute. "I'm just worried."

"You're cute."

The second Kaya discarded her jacket on the couch; Peter was on his feet as if he was struck by lightning. Oh he didn't like this one bit. He knew this smell, it was a very distinctive smell only he knew and had secretly been trying to trace but failed. "Mid-thirties, green eyes, blond hair, just about my height…" he mused circling around Kaya, sniffing the air around her every once in a while and she looked at him completely freaked out.

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked moving close to them and tried to smell what Peter was apparently sniffing on her but failed miserably. Or at least he didn't find the smell of other people on her that interesting… Peter was describing a man, a man that could probably be her father solely based on the age difference —wait, had she met someone? Derek shook his head, he wasn't going to go on a full blown jealous wolf mode on her; he had made no claim on her, and she owed him nothing. He had no right to ask. But that didn't mean he was okay with the idea of a man that much older to be anywhere near her.

"You met Blake." Peter said smugly. It wasn't anywhere near a question, it was a statement dangerously treading a very thin line towards accusation. Kaya took a few steps away from him and Derek suddenly stiffened, looking ready to protect the girl if he tried anything. "Don't worry, darling. I just want to know about Blake…"

"The doctor?" she asked still looking at him confused. Derek's body behind hers gave her a sense of certainty; that he was there so nothing was going to happen. She always felt safe around him and usually the same applied to Peter, but at the moment she didn't feel so sure… "His name —his name is Steven." she stammered. How the hell did Peter know Steven Blake? She had just met the man herself. Could Peter know what he wanted to talk to her about?

"Steven…" Peter tested the name on his tongue. "Doctor Blake…" he mused. Of course, now it made sense. The doctor who practically tortured him had been referred to as Blake but had never clarified on whether that was his name, last name or whatever. "I'll be damned…" he gave that trademark grin of his that screamed 'impending bloodshed'.

"Who is Steven Blake?" Derek asked cautiously, pulling Kaya a little more towards his body, discretely trying to push her behind him. "Why is it so important Kaya met him?"

"He was there." Peter said simply, his face morphing into a smirk as he pulled on his jacket. "If you'll excuse me, I have to meet with the not-so-good doctor." he announced and walked to the door not paying attention to his nephew and the mildly freaked out teen by his side.

"What…?" Kaya starting asking but the wheels quickly rolled in her head. By 'there' he meant —oh god, Steven was there when Peter was tortured. He may have even tortured him himself. Grabbing the collar of Derek's shirt she looked at him pleadingly. "Please —I know this means war but I need him alive." she looked at Derek intently, silently begging him to stop Peter. She wasn't naïve, Peter wasn't going there to talk with him, he was going to find and kill him and she couldn't have that. Not till she had her answers. "I just need a few hours with him, Derek. Please."

"Don't ask me that." He didn't understand what was going on and he hated it. All he knew was that this man, the man who had somehow managed to get to Kaya, had something to do with what happened to Peter. The pleading look on her face and the desperate note in her voice told him this was important to her, but getting answers about why he went after his family was also important. "I can't…" he stammered and she pulled away from him.

Derek wasn't going to help her. "You don't get it." she raised her voice, feeling desperate. "You didn't see it —you weren't there. He's something to do with me, I know it..." How could she explain it to him, the magnetic pull Steven had on her, when she couldn't even explain it to herself? "He's so familiar…" she said giving up a bit. Suddenly it hit her, she had his number. Reaching for her jacket she looked through her pockets for her phone and that small piece of paper that could actually save his life. Finding it, she started dialing but Derek quickly pulled the paper out of her hand.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed tearing it to pieces and she gasped. "Don't you see it? If you try to stop Peter his anger will turn on you!" he ran his hands through his hair. One way or another now he was in the middle of this —and he was going to disappoint one of them. He understood Peter's anger, his need for revenge because he felt it too. But understanding Kaya came harder this time; there was a chance the man had been honest in whatever it was that convinced her, but there was also a great risk —that he had lied to her and she was in danger. He wasn't going to risk her life on it… "Whether you're right or wrong about him you're going to get hurt. Either Peter or this Steven guy is going to hurt you." he said, hands flying in the air in front of her face, his usually collected persona flying out the window. "I'm not risking your life over it."

"Derek, please!" she begged, her voice breaking. She didn't know why but she felt it in her gut that she had to protect Steven even if it meant getting her into trouble with Peter. "Please…"

He ran his hand through his hair again pacing the floor close to her. He was torn. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and put her in a bubble where nothing could hurt her, where her life wasn't what they were risking by making the wrong call. "I… Stay here, I have to go…" he said, his head confused and walked away from her, locking the door behind him securing that she wasn't going anywhere. Yes, he was going to the hospital certain that this was where Peter went.

But was he going to stop or help him? That he didn't know yet.

"Derek!" she screamed after him. "Derek, please!" she kept screaming as she banged her fists against the door. "Please…" she kept repeating that as she slid down the door, tears starting to flow down her face. There had to be something, someone that would help her…

And it all came down to that one person.