The bleachers on the lacrosse field were filled up as Leah dropped her stick and helmet onto the ground. She scanned the bleachers, spotting Allison and her grandfather sitting back down in the middle of the stands, but close to the side where it was easy for Allison to pass off the keys to Stiles.
Once the group had figured out that Gerard kept the keys on him, they devised a plan to steal them during the game. And since Scott and Leah would both be playing, it was up to Stiles to break into the principal's office and steal the book.
Gerard noticed Leah was looking at them and lifted his hand in a wave. The wave then turned into a beckoning motion and Leah had no choice but to go over there. She stood by the side of the bleachers, forcing a smile on her face as she looked up at the Argents.
"Sad to hear that you won't be making it to dinner tonight." Gerard said with a smile on his face.
"Oh," Leah raised her eyebrows, trying to come up with a lie, "Well, my whole family's here tonight and my mom wants to do some sort of family dinner…" Leah trailed off, gesturing to where her family was taking up a good portion of the bleachers, Melissa McCall mingling in with them. Gerard looked over to where the family sat, taking in the members who were in attendance. He noticed Connor Kane sitting next to a blonde woman who was bouncing a bundled up baby on her lap - his gaze lingered on her for a moment before he looked back at Leah,
"Looks like you've got quite the support system." Gerard said with an easy smile. Leah nodded, clasping her hands in front of her,
"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky." Leah nodded. She quickly glanced at Allison before looking back at Gerard, "Well, enjoy the rest game." She said as the whistle blew, signaling the end of half time.
"Good luck!" Allison shouted words of encouragement to her friend as Leah turned to walk away. Leah threw Allison a quick smile of thanks over her shoulder before turning away from the Argents. Gerard looked back over to where the blonde woman was leaning over to talk to Deputy Kane,
"Now that older woman," Gerard got Allison's attention, "With the baby…"
"Oh, Leah's aunt." Allison filled in the blank for Gerard, "She just came to town a few weeks ago." Gerard hummed to himself, nodding a bit as Allison turned back to watch the game start.
He kept his eyes on the woman, waiting until her eyes flicked over and landed on him. Her brow furrowed in slight confusion — she looked at him like she knew him, but just couldn't place her finger on where she knew him from. Gerard lifted his hand up in a slight wave, getting a nod back from the woman before she turned her attention back to the baby. Watching her for a moment more, Gerard felt a knowing smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he looked back to the field.
Leah sat down next to Stiles, pulling on her gloves as she glanced over to him. He was still dressed in his warm up gear since Coach had bumped him back to second line after the pink eye epidemic had been cleared up. Leah, on the other hand, was bumped up to first line full time since one of the players' GPAs dropped below the necessary requirement,
"You ready?" Leah asked Stiles, taking in his nervous leg bounce.
"Yep." Stiles bobbed his head in a nod, fists going into his pockets, "Get the keys, get the book and get out."
"Should be simple enough." Leah made a face,
"Yeah for once." Stiles let out a scoff as Leah rolled her eyes. There was a moment of silence between the two as Stiles looked over to Leah, raising an eyebrow, "Are you ready?"
"Uh, yeah, why?" Leah asked, brow furrowing a bit, "All I have to do is play lacrosse."
"Yeah, but…" Stiles gestured with his body towards the field where the Abomination was taking his position. "There's that."
Leah scoffed at the Abomination, shaking her head a bit, "I'm not scared of that." Leah got to her feet. Stiles raised his eyebrows up as he looked up at her - something he rarely did.
"Kiss for luck?"
"I don't need luck." Leah smirked at him, adjusting her lacrosse gloves.
"Yeah, but I do."
Leah rolled her eyes at him before pushing his head back with her hand. Stiles let out a groan, falling back a bit to accommodate Leah's shove. Then Leah turned away, jogging out onto the field to meet up with Scott. Stiles watched them walk out to Scott's position, pausing for a moment to talk about something or other before Leah continued across the field to get into her position. Stiles felt a little wave of relief wash over him as he realized he didn't have to actually play lacrosse; for as much as he bragged about being just as good as Leah and Scott, he knew he wasn't. And he really didn't feel like getting knocked to the ground by the Abomination - or anyone for that matter.
The whistle blew, causing the lacrosse players to spring into action. Beacon Hills had the ball and the center deftly passed it to Leah, who caught it in her cradle. She paused for a moment, taking in the defense before glancing around. Spotting an open player, Leah tossed the ball to Harry who went running for the goal, only to have the Abomination stop him. And rather forcefully. Leah cringed as Harry was thrown off his feet, flying back a few paces before hitting the ground with a thump.
"That didn't sound good." Leah mumbled to herself as Scott came jogging up to her.
While the two watched as Harry was taken off the field, the Abomination was getting congratulatory pats from his team. Leah looked to see that there were already quite a few recovering Beacon Hills players on the benches, all with ice packs and looking a bit wrecked. Coach had started filling in from second line and Leah knew that it was only a matter of time before Stiles was called in, which was why he needed to get a move on in getting the keys and getting the book.
"McCall!" Jackson suddenly shouted, forcefully grabbing Scott by his arm. Leah and Scott both looked to him, seeing that his anger was visible through his helmet, "What the hell are you waiting for!? This is the semifinals, ram that roid head into the ground!"
"Me?!" Scott responded, eyebrows raising in surprise, "You're the one who said I was a cheater." Scott pointed out.
"And you think that freak of nature on the field is fair?" Jackson shot back, "Do something!"
"I can't!" Scott said through gritted teeth, "Not while Allison's grandfather is here." Scott jerked his head to the bleachers, getting both Jackson and Leah to look over at where Allison was still sitting with her grandfather.
"Well, then you better come up with another plan." Jackson snapped out before turning away and getting into his position.
Leah looked up at Scott, who looked more than nervous. As much as she would love for him to use his werewolf abilities to take the Abomination out, she knew Scott was right. He would be exposing himself to Gerard, which would mean more trouble than the lacrosse game was worth.
"What am I supposed to do?" Scott lowly said as the pair walked back to their positions.
"Just...get me the ball." Scott looked down at Leah, eyebrows raised as he waited for her to explain, "I'm small and fast." Leah reminded him, acting as if that were enough of an explanation. Scott made a face and then nodded, jogging to go get into position.
Taking off once the whistle blew, Leah made herself open enough that Scott could toss her the ball. It landed gently in her cradle and Leah took two steps forward before stopping. The Abomination was right in front of her, twisting his stick in his hands as he gave her a smirk. Smirking right back at him, Leah darted forward, faking left before going right and ducking under his arm before kicking off the ground and sprinting towards the goal. With a flick of her wrist, the ball got past the goalie and into the net. Beacon Hills erupted into cheers and Leah fell back on her foot with a satisfied smile on her face.
Spinning around, Leah bounced on her toes as her teammates came running at her. Kyle got to her first, almost tackling her in the process. He shook her helmet as he gleefully yelled in her face, making Leah laugh. Scott came jogging up to her with a proud smile on his face, reaching to grab Leah's shoulders,
"You scored a goal!" He excitedly yelled out.
"I know!" Leah responded.
"Do it again!" Scott grinned at her.
"Okay!" Leah nodded back. The two of them took off down the field, heading back to their positions. Leah made eye contact with Scott, winking at him as the whistle blew.
Just like the last time, Scott gently handed off the ball to Leah, who took it down the field. She stopped at the Abomination, deciding he would probably know what was coming so instead, she faked right before going left.
Except the Abomination figured that would happen. So his arm went down, blocking Leah and easily shoving her back with such a force that the wind was knocked out of her. She hit the ground hard, feeling the impact radiate through her body. Letting her head loll to the side, Leah squeezed her eyes shut and groaned in pain.
The whistle blew and Leah opened her eyes to see Scott hovering over her, a concerned expression on his face, "Are you okay?" He asked, "Can you stand?" His hand reached out to her and Leah grabbed it. She couldn't do much more, but luckily Scott could.
Scott had to pull Leah to her feet, letting her put all of her body weight onto his side. He kept his hands on her, wanting to make sure she was supported in all areas. There was a moment where Scott felt a flash of pain shoot through him, but it quickly went away when Leah stepped out of his grasp.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Leah waved her hand at him, wincing slightly as she tried to take a step. Scott went to go help her off of the field, carefully setting her down on the bench with the rest of the injured lacrosse players. She gave him a tired, but grateful smile as Scott took her helmet off of her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Scott seriously asked. His brown eyes were bright with worry as they frantically darted around her face, looking for any signs of injury. He saw how hard she went down and even if she said she was fine, Scott could tell she was lying. It was sort of her thing.
"Yes." Leah made a face and took in a deep breath, controlling the wince that threatened to appear as a reaction, "Just got the wind knocked out of me, I'll be fine in a few minutes." Leah assured him. Scott looked unsure but nodded, not wanting to poke or prod anymore. "Go, go. We need all the players we can get." Leah waved her hand at him as Finstock started yelling for a lacrosse player. Scott nodded again, pushing out of his crouch and jogging back out onto the field.
Looking around herself, Leah spotted her family sitting in the bleachers. Connor gave her a grimace before raising his thumbs up at her, silently asking if she was okay. Leah nodded and returned the thumbs up before looking to her mom and dad. They waved at her and gave her sympathetic smiles. Leah returned them before shifting her gaze to where Allison and her grandfather sat. Allison had on Gerard's coat and gave Leah a subtle nod as Gerard's attention was back to the lacrosse game.
Realizing the pass off had already been made, Leah looked around for Stiles, trying to figure out where he went. It shouldn't have taken him long to go to the school and break into the office. Leah screwed her mouth to the side and got up from the bench, leaving her lacrosse gear on the sidelines as she walked away from the field.
The parking lot was dimly lit and pretty quiet as Leah walked towards the school. She looked around herself, wanting to make sure she didn't miss Stiles on his way out. If anything, she probably was going to have to help with something he messed up. The game was almost over which meant they didn't have a lot of time left to steal the book.
As she walked, Leah found herself glancing over the parked cars - then noticing that Lydia was sitting in one by herself, crying. Leah paused, looking around herself as she licked her lips. She debated just continuing on; it wasn't her problem and she shouldn't care about why Lydia was crying, but Leah found herself walking towards Lydia's car. She silently asked herself why she was going to comfort Lydia, but knew the answer was the annoying feeling of guilt poking at her.
Opening the passenger side door, Leah got Lydia's attention - pretty much startling her. Lydia could only watch as Leah slipped into her car, shutting the door behind her. She gave Lydia a look as she tonelessly asked, "Why are you crying?"
"God, first Stiles and now you." Lydia sniffed, thrown off for a moment as she looked away from Leah. "I'm not crying." Lydia straightened up in her seat, wiping under her eyes.
"I've seen you cry twice in the past few days." Leah pointed out, ignoring Lydia's lie, "It's making me uncomfortable."
"Well I didn't ask you to get in my car!" Lydia's voice became shrill, getting Leah to roll her eyes.
"Whatever, will you just tell me?" Leah asked, wanting to know what was bothering Lydia so badly so that they could move past it and Leah could stop feeling the annoying feeling in her stomach and go back to ignoring Lydia. "Is it Jackson?" Leah asked, raising her eyebrows.
"No." Lydia scoffed out. She looked away from Leah before looking at her, voice going quiet, "You'll think I'm crazy."
"Yeah, probably." Leah shrugged. Lydia gave her an unamused look, rolling her eyes back to look forward. Her gloved hands ran around the steering wheel as she sniffled again. Leah was getting impatient and she let out a sigh to tell Lydia that.
"I think I'm crazy." Lydia quietly said. Leah swallowed hard, looking away from Lydia and leaning forward in the seat to prop her elbows up on her thighs
"Yeah, same." Leah agreed, voice just as quiet. Lydia did a double take, her brow furrowing as she looked at Leah. Leah noticed and she quickly corrected herself, "I mean, me, I think I'm going crazy."
"What do you mean?" Leah took in a breath, glancing over to Lydia.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." Leah raised her eyebrows at Lydia. Lydia paused for a moment before nodding slightly. Taking a breath, Leah decided to give Lydia the short, nonsupernatural version, "I'm forgetting things. People, places, dates." Leah sighed, "And I don't know what's causing it."
"I do." Lydia simply said, getting Leah to look at her with a furrowed brow, "You play a contact sport. You've been knocked down too many times to count right?" Leah nodded, "I mean, studies show that head trauma leads to TBI and you've had loads of head trauma during your time on the field."
"No, I-" Leah went to correct Lydia before realizing that it would mean delving into the supernatural aspect of it, so she shut her mouth, "That's a good point. I'll, uh, look into it." Leah corrected herself, getting a self satisfied smile from Lydia as she nodded.
"Your turn." Leah said after a moment, raising an eyebrow at Lydia. Lydia took in a breath, looking away from Leah. The silence between the girls was deafening. It lasted long enough that Leah was sure Lydia wasn't going to tell her what was going on - and why would she? They weren't friends. But Leah was still curious and getting impatient. Before she could voice her feelings, Lydia finally spoke.
"I've been having these...nightmares I guess." Lydia's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out how to exactly explain what had been happening to her, "Or visions...I've been seeing this man - the same man who attacked me on the lacrosse field." Leah sat up a bit straighter at that, matching Lydia's furrowed brow look. Leah knew who Lydia was talking about - Peter.
"What do you mean you've been seeing him?"
"Like at the ice rink," Lydia started, turning to look at Leah, "I was on the ice and there were these purple flower petals that led to the center of the rink. And when I brushed away the ice, his face was underneath, clawing to get out." Leah watched Lydia explain what she had seen, knowing she was talking about Peter, but not understanding why she having hallucinations of him.
"I don't know what's happening to me." Lydia sighed out, sounding like she was about to start crying again.
"Please don't start crying again." Leah groaned, getting Lydia to look at her again. The pang of guilt went through her and Leah tried to think of what her mom or Allison would do in this situation.
So she took Lydia's hand in hers, gripping her fingers a bit. Lydia reacted to the touch - more surprised than anything, "There's a logical explanation for this, you know that." Leah urged, "You figured out what was wrong with me in like five seconds." Leah moved her shoulders and tossed her braid over her shoulder. "You can figure this out." She assured Lydia, "And...I can help. If you want." Leah blurted out without thinking.
"Really?" Lydia sounded skeptical.
"I don't know what I could do, but…" Leah shrugged. Lydia let out a scoff and took her hand out of Leah's grasp. There was a pause before Lydia looked to Leah,
"Thank you." Lydia nodded, giving her a small smile, "I, uhm, I wanted to talk to someone about it." Lydia shook her head, "I mean, Stiles said he was going to be back in five minutes to talk, but that was a while ago."
"Wait, Stiles was here?" Leah asked, pushing up in her seat.
"Not like that." Lydia was quick to assure Leah that it was strictly platonic, "He saw me crying and wanted to know what was wrong." Leah nodded and gave her a small smile, trying to shove down the mix of jealousy and annoyance that came up. He ditched the mission to find out what was wrong with Lydia. But then again, so had Leah.
"Do you know where he went?" Leah asked; Lydia reminded her that she was supposed to be looking for Stiles.
"Into the school, I think."
"Great, thanks." Leah pushed open the passenger side door and went to get out but she paused for a moment - not knowing what else to say to Lydia. So she got out of Lydia's car and shut the door behind her.
It was a weird moment for Leah; she never ever talked to Lydia as much as she did in the past few days. In fact, it was more than weird - especially because of what they talked about. It seemed the girls had much more in common than Leah originally thought. They talked about things Leah hadn't even talked to her family about yet and Lydia had opened up in response. Whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen. And deep down Leah knew that there was something wrong with Lydia. Peter had made her into his victim, just like he had done to Leah, and she would be damned if she let Peter hurt another - even if he was six feet under and even if it was Lydia.
Instead of heading for the school, Leah walked back towards the lacrosse field. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around as she stepped onto the field. The game was over and the bleachers were starting to empty out. Leah sighed, dropping her arms to her sides as she walked over to the players' bench. She scooped up her helmet and stick, looking around for her family and for Stiles.
Leah hoped that Stiles had found the book and made his way back to the lacrosse field, but there seemed to be no sign of him. Pulling off her pads from under her lacrosse jersey, Leah exchanged them for her quarter zip, pulling it over her exposed arms and then kicking off her cleats and stuffing her feet into her sneakers. She pulled her phone out of her duffel and check to see that there were no new messages from Stiles regarding the book or whatever else had been going on. Sighing, Leah stuffed her helmet, pads and other things into her duffel and picked it up over her shoulder. As she walked towards the locker room, Leah saw her brother stepping through the crowd to get to her.
"Hey there." Connor gave her a proud smile, "Nice play tonight."
"Yeah thanks." Leah sighed, cracking her neck a bit, "What else happened?"
"Uh, Scott went down - like hard." Leah straightened up at that, immediately concerned.
"What? Is he ok? Where is he?"
"He's fine." Connor reassured her, "Werewolf, remember?" Leah gave him an unamused look, "And then he went to dinner with the Argents…" Leah made a face, doing a double take.
"That's not gonna be fun." Leah mumbled out. Connor raised his eyebrows in agreement. "Any chance you've seen Stiles?"
"Haven't seen him all night." Connor shoved his hands into his pockets, "Mom and Stella are waiting in the parking lot." Connor rocked back on his heels, "Dad left after you got knocked down to get dinner ready. So we're good if you're ready to go."
"Yeah, yeah." Leah nodded before pausing, "Actually, here, can you take this?" Leah handed over her duffle. Connor took it and gave her a concerned look, "I wanna go find Stiles." Leah explained. "I'll just have him drop me off." Connor nodded and gave her a thumbs up,
"Alright. I'll see you at home." Leah raised her eyebrows at him before turning on her heel and walking past him to the locker room.
Leah ignored the last few players that were coming out of the locker room, ducking inside to try and find Stiles. She walked down to his locker to see that there was no sign of him and his things were still in the locker. Letting out a sigh, Leah stepped back from his locker and did a lap around the rest of the room, finding that there was no Stiles around.
Heading back to the school, Leah saw that Lydia's car was gone and figured she must've gone home. Leah picked up her pace, jogging into the school and heading for the principal's office. Once inside, Leah stopped outside of the office and pulled the first door open, stepping into the dark waiting area. There was no sign of Stiles so Leah stepped to the side, seeing that the principal's door was open.
"Stiles?" Leah asked as she peered into the office.
The small room looked deserted, but Leah couldn't help but step inside. She did a little investigating for herself, wanting to make sure Stiles hadn't missed anything. When it became clear that the book wasn't in the office, Leah took in a breath and walked out, leaving the door open as she went to go find Stiles.
Being in the school after dark was one of Leah's least favorite things. Especially after everything that had happened when Peter attacked Scott and Stiles and the rest. So Leah hurried down the hallway, peering into every room and wanting to find Stiles and get out as fast as possible. She pulled her phone out of her quarter zip up and dialed Stiles' number. The call went straight to voicemail and Leah let out a frustrated groan.
After searching for and not finding Stiles, Leah circled back to the office, deciding she better make it look like no one had broken in. A part of her was beginning to panic; she couldn't find Stiles, it looked like he had been interrupted during his search and Leah worried who had interrupted him. Plus, since his call went to voicemail, it was obvious she didn't have any way of contacting him.
Jogging back to the office, Leah pushed open the first door to see that Scott was walking out of the principal's office, "Oh hey." Leah stopped at the sight of Scott, getting him to look up at her.
"Hey."
"What are you doing here?" Leah asked, "Thought you were at a dinner from hell?" Scott raised his eyebrows and scoffed a bit. He didn't feel like getting into the most awkward dinner of his life. It was worse than his first dinner at the Argents' and he seriously hoped he wouldn't have to have another dinner there again.
"Found the book." Scott held up the keys that were in the door, showing Leah the USB drive on the keychain.
"Oh shit. How modern." Leah made a face, "Okay, we gotta find Stiles." Scott nodded and stepped past Leah. Leah shut the office door behind them and then followed Scott into the hallway.
"Have you been looking for him all night?" Scott asked.
"Yeah...sorta…" Leah trailed off, "Whatever, I can't find him, ok? So use your super sniffer and let's go." Scott gave her an unamused look at the nickname before sighing and taking off in a light jog down the hall.
Leah followed as Scott led them both to the pool area. He pushed through the back double doors and Leah went to follow him when her phone buzzed with an incoming text. She paused, looking down at the screen to see that Connor was wondering where she was. Not bothering to text him back, Leah shoved her phone back into her pocket and went into the pool area.
Slowing down, Leah took in the scene - Derek and Stiles were both soaking wet on the deck of the pool and Scott was holding a shattered piece of glass and his face was turning back from his wolf form to human. There was a crunch under Leah's shoe as she stepped on something and when she looked up, there was giant hole in the roof. She raised her eyebrows at the boys, waiting for an explanation.
Once everyone caught their breath - literally, Leah, Scott and Stiles went outside to see what was on the USB drive. Stiles had gotten his tablet from his backpack that Leah had grabbed while she was in the locker room before he plugged the USB drive in. They swiped through the pages, becoming more and more confused as they got deeper into the text.
"Is that even a language?" Stiles asked aloud.
"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott frustratedly chimed in as he tapped on the tablet screen.
"It's called a kanima." Derek's voice got the teens' attention. The three of them turned to see Derek walking up to Scott's Mom's car, Erica trailing behind. Leah hadn't even realized that Erica was in the pool area.
"You knew the whole time." Leah sighed, not surprised by the turn of events. Derek tilted his head to the side, shaking his head slightly.
"Only when it was confused by its own reflection."
"It doesn't know what it is." Scott realized,
"Or who." Derek added on.
"What else do you know?" Stiles asked, annoyed at Derek. Derek glanced at him for a moment before returning his attention back to Scott,
"Just stories and rumors. A shape-shifter, but it's not right. It's like a…"
"An abomination." Stiles filled in the blank. Leah looked up at him, catching his eye. He let out a sigh and Leah returned her attention back to Derek, only to see him walking away.
"Derek-" Scott stopped him, "We need to work together on this."
"Maybe even tell the Argents." Leah suggested with a casual shrug, getting a glare from Derek.
"You trust them." Derek all about sneered out and before Leah could snap back, Scott was already doing it for her,
"Nobody trusts anyone!" He shouted out, "That's the problem. While we're here, arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, faster than any of us, and it's killing people and we don't know anything about it!" Scott finished his small rant with a huff. Derek nodded at the teens, giving them a parting threat,
"I know one thing...when I find it - I'm gonna kill it." Derek gritted out as he turned away from them, stalking away.
Leah heaved a sigh and looked back in between the boys. Derek may have given them an answer, but he also gave them about a million more questions. Scott's jaw clicked with frustration and Stiles looked annoyed. Stepping up to the tablet, Leah copied the file onto Stiles's tablet desktop. She skimmed through the other files, wanting to see if there was anything else that could be useful. A file folder labeled with a date caught her eye and Leah felt her brow furrow; the numbers looked familiar. But before she could open it, Scott spoke up,
"I'm seeing Allison tonight after I pick up my mom." Scott started and Leah quickly ejected the USB drive, "I can give her back the keys then." Leah handed them over to Scott with a small smile.
"File's copied on your tablet." She said to Stiles as he reached around her to close it up.
"Thanks." He gave her a tight smile and Leah crossed her arms over her chest, feeling like he was pissed at her. Before she could start a fight, Scott had already moved on,
"I gotta go pick up my mom from work." Scott said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He jogged around the front of the car as he bid goodbye to his friends.
"Bye." Leah mumbled out as Stiles nodded at him. Scott started the car and Stiles and Leah stepped back to let him pull out of the parking lot.
After Scott had left, Leah stepped closer to Stiles, leaning her head on his arm before looking up at him, "You okay?"
"Considering the fact that I just treaded water while holding like a hundred seventy pound paralyzed werewolf for two hours?" Stiles asked back, looking down at her with raised eyebrows,
"Yeah, considering." Leah softly responded, feeling guilty that she wasn't there to help. Stiles took in a breath, knowing he couldn't be mad at her for not knowing what was going on. He lifted the arm she was resting on to wrap around her shoulders,
"Yeah, I'm okay." Stiles sighed. Leah wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, holding him for a moment before she stepped back. Stiles went to get his keys from his backpack, "Do you want a ride home?" He asked.
"Is there still blood on the Jeep?" Leah responded with raised eyebrows.
"Nah, they washed it." Leah gave him an amused smile, patting his chest as she walked across the parking lot to where Stiles's Jeep was parked.
Rachel stuffed her ID badge into her bag as she walked out of the elevator doors. She hiked her bag up onto her shoulder, heading for the automatic doors. Her night had been long - longer than most, but she was finally finished her reports. There were a copies for herself in her bag, so that her and Connor could look them over during the next day.
The official report she was planning on giving to the authorities was that it was some sort of serial killer; she had found three bodies that all had the same marking on their bodies: Mr. Lahey, the hunter and the mechanic. While Mr. Lahey and the hunter were torn apart and the mechanic was squashed - the three all had small knicks on the back of their necks. Rachel knew that serial killers liked to leave a mark to claim that the body was their kill and that the police would run with the story until something else came up.
"Hi, Rachel." At the sound of her name, Rachel turned, her grip on her coffee cup tightening slightly. She was one step away from the doors when she was called back, "It's Rachel, right?" Rachel relaxed at the sight of Melissa McCall's warm smile. The nurse was Connor's neighbor and one of the most competent nurses on the Beacon Hills Hospital staff.
"Hi, yes." Rachel nodded, noticing how Melissa relaxed at the confirmation.
"Okay, good, thought I got it wrong for a second." Melissa laughed lightly and Rachel forced a fake warm smile on her face.
"No, no, sorry. I've been downstairs all night." Rachel made conversation, waving her hand in the air, "Not many people to talk to!" She joked, giving a forced laugh as Melissa gave an amused laugh paired with a nod. Rachel tapped her finger against her coffee cup, which got Melissa's attention and Rachel immediately stopped, knowing it was her tell for when she was trying to get out of an uncomfortable situation.
"I just wanted to say hi." Melissa returned to the conversation, the warm smile plastered on her face. Rachel wanted to be suspicious, but she could tell the smile - and the comment, was genuine. "I know how crazy this place can get sometimes so it's always nice to have a familiar face…" Rachel let Melissa chatter as she glanced out to the parking lot. Sitting in front of the entrance was a rather beat up car, but Rachel was more concerned with who was standing behind it.
Scott McCall was facing off with Gerard, the two of them looking like they were just talking. Then Gerard reached up to wrap his arm around Scott's neck, pulling him in close. To anyone else, it would look like a grandfather hugging his grandson after hearing some good news, but Rachel knew it was something else. Something darker. The way Scott's jaw was clenching, his stance and the way Gerard was positioned was very similar to something Rachel had seen during her teenage years. Scott wasn't being hugged - he was being stabbed.
"Oh, I think your son's here." Rachel cut Melissa off, placing a hand on her arm to get the nurse's attention. Melissa turned and followed Rachel's line of vision, seeing Scott.
"I guess that's my cue." Melissa bid goodbye to Rachel, walking out of the automatic doors. Rachel waited a beat before following after, noticing how Gerard was walking away.
Not paying attention to the mother/son conversation, Rachel walked around the front of the car. She kept her head down as she walked by Scott, noticing the blood stains on the pavement. Melissa slammed her passenger side door shut as she got in the car, making it easier for Rachel to do what she wanted to do. As she passed by Scott, Rachel angled herself so that she would bump into him - spilling the rest of her cold coffee down Scott's shirt.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Rachel reacted as Scott flinched. She met his gaze as Scott gave her a confused look. Rachel pointedly looked down to where Scott's shirt was bloody from the knife wound, a hole where the knife went.
"Why did you do that?" Scott whispered, not getting why Derek's friend had spilled her coffee on him.
"To cover up the blood stain. I'm sure you're healed by now, but do you really want your mom to ask questions about the blood on your shirt?" Rachel asked, eyebrows raising. Scott looked down at himself before back up at Rachel, "What did he want?" Rachel hurriedly asked, knowing she didn't have much time, "Gerard. Scott, what did Gerard want?" She tried to be direct with Scott, sensing he wasn't putting it together.
"How-What-how did you know he was-"
"Stabbing you with a knife in a public place?" Rachel raised her eyebrows, "I'm my father's daughter." Scott's brow furrowed, "What did he want?" Rachel was a little more forceful.
"He knows." Scott quickly said, "He knows about me." Rachel took in a deep breath, seeing how worried Scott became.
"Okay, don't do anything or tell anyone. I'll call you later and we'll figure this out, okay?" Scott nodded and Rachel gave him a nod back before dropping down and waving at Melissa through the window,
"Sorry! That was my bad!" She gave an apologetic smile before straightening up and walking away from Scott without another word.
Stiles ended up staying at Leah's for longer than he intended - mostly because there was food waiting for them and he realized how hungry he was. After eating, the two had retreated up to Leah's room so Stiles could tell Leah exactly what happened in the pool.
"...And then you know you came in after the thing - the kanima, ran off." Stiles finished. His head was on Leah's chest as he laid sort of diagonal across her bed. Leah thought that he would be uncomfortable, but he seemed fine.
"Well," Leah raised her eyebrows as she looked up at her ceiling, "I probably wouldn't have been much help considering I don't know how to swim." She tapped her fingers down across Stiles's forehead, getting his brow to furrow.
"Yeah, you for sure would've made all three of us drown." Leah rolled her eyes and lightly smacked Stiles on top of the head.
"Ow." He mumbled before shifting up and twisting his body around so he was propped up next to Leah.
"Either way, I'm glad you're ok." Leah leaned forward to kiss Stiles. Stiles kissed her back, moving his hand to the side of Leah's face so he could pull her a little closer and deepen the kiss.
Then, something clicked inside of Stiles's head. He paused, hand dropping from Leah's face and she noticed, opening her eyes and raising her eyebrows as she pulled back, "You okay?" She quietly asked, still pretty close to Stiles's face.
"Yeah, yeah." Stiles made a face, "Just remembered something I have to do tomorrow." Stiles shrugged and moved closer to kiss Leah again.
He moved so that he was straddling Leah's lap and Leah wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling against his kisses. Stiles trailed his hand down to her hip before quickly pinching the skin and making her flinch back. Letting out a yelp, Leah pulled away from Stiles to see him looking amused.
"God, you're the worst." She grinned at him, taking his face in between his hands. Stiles smirked at her as Leah pulled him closer, kissing him again.
But Stiles still couldn't stop thinking about how Leah reminded him that she couldn't swim; the kanima couldn't either.
A/N: Questions, comments, cries of outrage?
