Chapter 11:

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or have any affiliation with the show. I wish I did, that would be awesome. Sadly, I am just a fan. The characters Nora, Sal and Tanya are my creations.

Nora POV

"…Just that I know nothing about girls and that they're totally psychotic." Scott was saying as Nora approached the lunch table where he and Stiles sat.

"Hey, I take offense to that." Nora said, sitting down at the table. "Actually, that's 100 percent true." She said, reconsidering.

"Okay, I came up with a plan B just in case anything like this happened." Stiles told the two.

"What's plan B?" Scott asked.

"Just steal the stupid thing." Stiles said.

"What are you stealing now?" Nora teased.

"Couldn't we at least try getting to Harris?" Scott whined.

"What about Harris?" She asked.

"My dad put him on a 24-hour protective detail, okay? The necklace is all we got. Steal it…thank you." Stiles replied, his voice tinged with slight annoyance.

"Why does Harris need protective detail? And what necklace?" Nora asked again, getting more irritated by the second.

"We had a busy night last night." Stiles began. "First off, Derek is alive. And we may or may not have helped him escape my dad and the Argent's in a car chase last night."

"Seriously?" Nora said. She leaned across the table and slapped Stiles on his chest. "You idiot!"

"Ow! Yeah, seriously." Stiles said, giving her an exasperated look before continuing. "Anyways, Derek thinks the Alpha wants Harris for something, we don't know what."

"And the necklace?"

"Derek's sister had a drawing of a symbol when she died. It's Allison's necklace. He thinks it's important." Stiles' face lit up as he thought of something. "Hey, you can ask to borrow it!"

"Uh, no. It's a family heirloom or something. Not exactly something you lend to people. She already thinks I'm hiding something – which I am, thanks to you guys." After the incident at the school, Allison wasn't too pleased that she had sided with Scott. The two girls avoided the subject of him entirely – it was just easier that way. Regardless, Allison was leery of Nora's secrets.

"Fine, sticking with plan B. Scott steals it." Stiles relented, shooting a look at Scott.

"So anything else new I should know about?" Nora asked. She was hoping there was nothing else. Things were already complicated enough.

"Jackson knows about me." Scott admitted sourly.

"What! How did he find out?"

"I have no idea. He just…he's watching us!" Scott yelped. Nora watched as Stiles and Scott attempted to avoid Jackson's gaze. After a moment, Scott's expression changed. His eyes bulged and he looked incredibly nervous.

"What's wrong?" Stiles asked his friend.

"Jackson's talking to me. He knows I can hear him…Look at me! Just talk to me. Act normal. Pretend that nothing's happening. Say something! Talk to me!" Scott replied.

"I can't think of anything. My mind's a complete blank!" Stiles cried, his arms flailing uncontrollably over his head.

"Your mind's blank? You can't think of something to say?" Nora couldn't believe it. Stiles almost never stopped talking.

"Not under this kind of pressure!" The hyperactive boy retorted. "FYI, he's not even sitting with them anymore." He said to Scott. The three scanned the expanse of the cafeteria for Jackson. Nora spotted him near the vending machines. She could see his lips moving – he was still talking to Scott.

Stiles and Nora watched Scott as he listened to Jackson's taunts. He was visibly getting angrier with each second. "Yes." He growled in response to something Jackson said.

"Scott, come on. You can't let him do this. You can't let him have this kind of power over you. Okay?" Stiles said, but Scott wasn't listening. Whatever Jackson was saying was holding Scott's attention.

Scott's anger reached a peak. He let out an angry growl as the tray holding his lunch snapped into two, finally giving way to the pressure.

…

"Lydia, you okay? You're being awfully quiet." Nora asked as she shut her locker. Lydia, who usually had something to say, was eerily silent.

"Jackson broke up with me." Lydia admitted.

"WHAT?" Nora shouted in shock.

Lydia pulled out her cell phone and opened a text message. "Lydia, please give up my spare house key at your earliest convenience as we are no longer dating." She read.

"A fucking text message!" Nora cried. "That's how he does it. Oh my god, I'm going to kill him. I could make it look like an accident, you know. No one would suspect me. It'd be the perfect crime." She rambled on, plans already forming in her mind. "Okay, fine, I won't kill him. What do you need? Ice cream?" Nora relented, seeing Lydia's somber expression.

"Retail therapy. I need to go shopping." The strawberry blonde said. With that, Nora looped her arm through Lydia's and pulled her towards the school parking lot.

Beacons Hills, for being a small town, had a surprisingly nice mall. The girls hit up a few smaller clothing stores, before hitting the extravagant Macy's department store. It was several stories and Lydia's favorite. Lydia quickly began piling item after item onto her left arm; her right arm was already piled down with her previous purchases. Nora's selection of items was pathetic in comparison. Neither Sal nor Tanya made a lavish income, so Nora was always careful with the money they allowed her. Lydia, however, came from a rich family and could spend to her heart's content. Her frequently absent father had bestowed her with a magical piece of plastic that seemingly had no limit. It came in handy on days like this when only clothes and shoes could fill the breakage of Lydia's heart.

Nora's phone buzzed, alerting her of a new text message from Stiles. "Hey, how well do you know Danny?"

"Decently, why do you ask?" Nora sent back.

A few minutes later, she received his response. "Nevermind, I figured it out. I'll talk to you after the lacrosse game. You're coming right?"

"Wouldn't miss it :)" She responded, a real smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"What's got you so smiley?" Lydia asked, noticing.

"Oh, I just got a text from Stiles." Nora said nonchalantly.

"Ooo, how is lover boy?" Lydia teased.

"Lover boy?" Nora asked.

"Oh please, Nora, drop the act! I know you have a crush on him!" Lydia said with a smirk.

"I do not have a crush on Stiles!" Nora denied. She furrowed her brow in consideration. "I think…"

"You'd be cute together! You should see the way he looks at you. It's adorable."

Nora couldn't help but feel giddy by Lydia's words. She paused a moment. "I'm surprised you are encouraging this. Stiles isn't exactly on "the same social tier"" She said, using air quotes on the later part.

Lydia sighed. "Nora, you deserve someone who will treat you like a queen. From what I know of Stiles, he would definitely do that. Don't be like me and go for the asshole jock…" Nora looked at Lydia's sour expression with sympathy.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Even if I did like Stiles, which I'm not saying I do, it wouldn't matter. He has been in love with you since elementary school." Nora said

"That was before you started to pay attention to him." Lydia's sour expression turned a smug and knowing smirk.

…

"Hey Scott. Where's Stiles?" Nora asked. The lacrosse game would be starting soon and Stiles was nowhere to be seen.

"He's taking care of...um, something." Scott returned cryptically. Nora gave him a look before pulling out her cell phone and dialing Stiles' number.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Stiles, where are you? You're gonna miss your first game!" Nora told him.

"I know." He groaned. "I'm taking care of something."

"Do you need help?" Nora inquired.

"No, it's nothing." He said dismissively.

"Stiles, I really think I could help. Where are you?" She asked.

"The Hospital. Long term Care." Stiles relented.

"I'm on my way. Wait for me." She said, pulling her car keys out of her bag.

…

"Hey, so what are we doing here?" Nora asked as she got out of her car. Stiles was leaning up against his blue jeep, waiting for her. Derek Hale sat inside the jeep with his usual sour expression.

"Danny traced the text to Allison the night at the school. It came from a computer here." Stiles answered, pointing at the building. "…registered to Scott's mom." He finished.

"That can't be. It's got to be a mistake." She said.

"Yeah, let's go find her." He agreed and began walking towards the entrance to the hospital.

The long term care wing looked like the rest of the Beacon Hills Hospital, except it was much quieter. The patients here were terminally ill and primarily confided to their beds. Nora remembered the hospital her mother stayed at during her cancer treatment years ago. It was quiet there too, but there was always the steady beeping of heart monitors. Here, there was nothing. It was completely silent. Something was off about the silence. There was no nurse at the desk to greet them and all of the rooms appeared vacant.

"It doesn't look like she's here, Stiles." Nora said quietly. "Where is everybody?"

Stiles quickly dialed Derek and spoke into the phone. "I can't find her…" The faint sound of Derek's grumbling could be heard. "Yeah, I said I can't find her." Stiles repeated. Nora put her ear next to the phone to hear what Derek was saying.

"Ask for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle." Derek told them. Stiles and Nora approached another empty room. Nora pulled out the manila folder that was neatly tucked into a slot by the door. The label on the folder read "Peter Hale".

"Yeah well, he's not here either." Stiles said to Derek. "He's not here. He's gone, Derek."

Stiles face dropped, hearing Derek's response. He began to turn slowly to his right. Nora followed suit. The two were greeted by a man. He had terrible burns lining half of his face. Peter Hale.

"You must be Stiles. And who is this?" Peter said in a disgustingly sweet voice, his eyes shifting from Stiles to fall on Nora.

"What are you two doing here? Visiting hours are over." A woman said coldly from the opposite side of the hall. Her attire hinted that she was Jennifer, Peter's nurse.

"You… and him. You're the one who – oh, my – and he's—oh, my god, we're gonna die." Stiles mumbled incoherently.

Suddenly, Derek appeared out of nowhere and jammed an elbow into Jennifer's face. The nurse fell to ground unconscious with blood dripping from her nose.

"That's not nice. She's my nurse." Peter chided.

"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people." Derek corrected. "Get out of the way." He said to Nora and Stiles.

"Ah, damn." Stiles said, ducking and pulling Nora down to the floor with him.

"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Peter asked. In response, Derek let out a fierce growl and lunged at his uncle. Peter grabbed him and pushed him against a wall for a beat, before throwing him against the opposite wall.

Stiles and Nora attempted to crawl away from the battle as Peter lifted Derek with one hand closed around his neck.

"My mind, my personality were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct." Peter snarled as he dragged Derek by the neck down the hallway.

Peter then dropped Derek onto the floor. He laid in a crumpled pile while Peter retrieved a set of keys from Jennifer's unconscious body.

"You want forgiveness?" Derek said through gritted teeth as he pulled himself of the floor. Derek launched a powerful punch at Peter. Peter returned with a head-butt to Derek's face.

"I want understanding." Peter reasoned. "Do you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that."

Derek attempted several swings at Peter, but each one was deflected.

"I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you." Peter said evilly. He launched Derek through a window of glass surrounding the nurse's station.

Meanwhile, Stiles and Nora had taken cover behind a corner. Nora's arms were wrapped around Stiles' torso in a death grip.

"Stiles, we need to go." Nora said, releasing her hold on him. Stiles was still looking wide-eyed into the direction of Derek and Peter. They could still hear the muffled sounds of a struggle. If the past few minutes were any indication, Peter was winning. "We need to get out of here." She repeated. "We have to warn Scott."