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Lacy here with the second to last episode of season two! And it's a complicated one. Starting with Matt's murder and John revealing that he knows a little something Effie and Derek thought they were keeping secret. He's a sheriff for a reason, kids. And then some distressing news from Boyd and Erica and well, the lacrosse game. We all know what happens there. Read on, everyone!
Disclaimer: I own only Effie.
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~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie woke up to Derek spooning her and placing a gentle kiss on the curve of her neck.
"Your dad's called twice in the last half hour," Derek whispered as he heard Effie's breathing change.
Effie rubbed a hand over her eyes and reached for her phone. Seeing Derek was right, Effie hit the call back button and waited for her father to answer.
"Your phone was on silent, wasn't it?"
Effie had to grin at her dad's greeting. "Yeah, I was aiming for uninterrupted sleep. Sorry, what's up?"
"I wanted to let you know before you got to school," John said. "we found Matt. It looks like he was killed, drowned."
Effie shot up, supporting her weight on her free hand. "What? When?"
"Looks like not too long after he fled from the station." John explained. "The guidance counselor wants to see you and Stiles when you get in today, make sure you're doing okay with everything that happened."
Effie sighed. "Dad, I really don't want to talk about it with anyone, forget the councilor."
"Give Derek the phone."
Effie looked back at her boyfriend, who looked as shocked as she felt. "How-"
"You think I failed to notice the extra food vanishing and how, at least once a month, you insist on doing the laundry, even though we both know you hate it? I haven't said anything because I know you're behaving and he helps you. Now give him the phone."
Effie shifted back towards Derek as she handed the phone to him. And he looked as if he'd rather be face to face with Jackson then talk to John.
"Sheriff," Derek greeted.
"You helped my kids, Scott, Melissa and I last night. I wanna thank you for that. I also wanna ask a favor."
Derek let Effie curl against his side, wrapping an arm around her. "You don't have to thank me, Sheriff. But you're welcome all the same. What can I do for you?"
"Make sure Effie goes to see the counselor. I know she doesn't want to but she's gonna need to talk. Ms. Morell knows she'll be seeing you accompany her."
Derek looked down at Effie and saw she'd faded back to sleep. "She's not going to be happy with either us."
"I think we can risk it. I gotta get back, can I count on you?"
Derek nodded. "Yes sir," he looked down at Effie after hanging up and sighed. "Yeah, you're gonna kill me."
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie tried not to glare at Derek as she pulled on a pair of light blue stone wash jeans and a fitted dark blue hoody.
"You do realize he's got leverage to make me do what he wants," Derek said from his place at her desk. "right? The whole, knowing I've been sleeping over?"
Effie sighed. "Yeah, I know. And I wouldn't put it past him to use that just so I won't clam up on the whole thing." she quickly pulled her hair into two low braids before slipping her white, knit flats on her feet. "I just never felt comfortable talking to counselors about things like this."
Derek frowned. "Doesn't your dad know that?"
Effie shook her head. "No, I let him think it helps so he doesn't have to worry."
Derek smiled a bit. "Seems you and Stiles go out of your way to make sure your dad doesn't worry."
"It started when Mom first got sick," Effie explained. "that's when Stiles was put on his meds and the doctors spent three months deciding if I should be on them too. We could see how Mom being sick was affecting Dad and made a pact to make things as easy as possible for him. So we focused on our grades, made sure to clean up after ourselves at home and after a while, it became one of our habits that we can't seem to break." she frowned for a moment. "Do you really only trust me?"
Derek sighed. "Completely trust, yes, you're the only one. But I do trust your brother to keep you safe when I can't and to try and be a voice of reason for Scott. I'm learning to trust Isaac as the stronger of my betas and your dad will always have my trust, as long as he continues to help keep the town safe."
"Why didn't you tell Deaton that?" Effie asked, moving to stand in front of Derek.
Derek placed his hands on Effie's hips and looked up at her. "It's not his place to know. Not now, anyway. In time, maybe. For now, you're my advisor. You and Stiles."
Effie barely held back a smirk. "You would go to Stiles for advice?"
Derek huffed but also had a smirk playing on his lips. "Fine, we'll call him the researcher/comic relief."
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie sat in front of Ms. Morell, or Marin as she asked Effie to call her. "Isn't it a little inappropriate for a student to call you by your first name?"
Marin smiled. "I'm not like the others here. I prefer for my students to be as comfortable as possible." she motioned to where Derek was sitting outside. "I see your father took an extra step to make you comfortable with this."
Effie gave a small nod. "Yeah," she focused on her hands, which were fidgeting restlessly in her lap. "not a lot of people in this town trust Derek but Dad's seen a positive change in me since we started dating."
"Do you see this change?" Marin asked.
Effie shrugged. "Sort of, I guess. I mean, I'm a twin, so I'm never completely alone but at the same time, Stiles and I are two different people. And I never quite felt like I fit after losing my mom."
"Fit how?" Marin asked. "Into your family or with your brother?"
"Anywhere." Effie admitted. "I felt like no one understood or knew what I was feeling. That's what started my panic attacks, the overwhelming feeling of being alone."
Marin leaned forward a bit. "And what's causing them now?"
"Fear." Effie said without hesitation. "Overwhelming, mind numbing, gut churning fear."
"Fear of what?"
"Loss." Effie nearly whispered. "Losing someone I love again. Losing Dad, Stiles, Derek." she shook her head slowly. "I'm afraid to lose."
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
"Hey," Effie came downstairs in the Hale house and over to Derek. "I've gotta go. With the game in a couple of hours, Stiles needs to be talked out of his pre-game anxiety."
Derek cocked a brow. "He doesn't even play."
Effie smirked. "Never let it be said that Stiles Stilinski works within the natural order of the universe."
Derek snorted. "Oh trust me, I've definitely learned that." he wrapped his arms around Effie's waist. "You coming back after the match?"
Effie shook her head. "No, win or lose, Dad and I are taking Stiles out to dinner. After everything recently, they need time to reconnect. And as I'm the good child and the supportive twin, I need to be there to make sure actual communication takes place."
Derek shook his head, amused by the knowledge that if Effie wasn't there, the Stilinski men would stare at their food for an hour before talking about the latest case. After giving Effie a quick kiss, he let her go so she could find her bag, only to be distracted by Boyd and Erica appearing.
"You decided," Derek said, facing his betas. "when?"
Effie was confused. She had no idea what was going on or what they were talking about.
"Tonight," Erica said.
"Everyone's gonna be at the game." Boyd added. "We figured it was the best time."
"It's not like we want to." Erica threw in.
Effie slowly connected the dots. They were leaving. Leaving Beacon Hills, leaving the pack. Leaving Derek.
"What do you want?" Derek asked.
"Since I just turned sixteen a month ago," Erica said. "I wouldn't mind getting my license. I can't do that if I'm dead, you know."
"Yeah, well I told you there was a price." Derek pointed out.
"Yeah but you didn't say it would be like this," Boyd retorted.
Effie wanted to step in and help but knew Derek needed to do this alone.
"I told you how to survive." he said. "You do it as a pack. And you're not a pack without an alpha."
He turned his back to the betas, letting only Effie see the hurt and betrayal on his face.
"We know," Boyd piped up.
Effie couldn't not say anything this time, not once she connected the dots. Stepping up to Derek's side, she took his hand, showing a united front.
"You wanna look for another pack." she said.
The betas wouldn't meet their gazes.
"How are you even going to find one?" Derek asked.
"We think we already did." Boyd said simply.
The two betas went on to explain what they'd heard in the woods the night before. Howling of other wolves. A lot of other wolves.
"There must have been a dozen of them." Boyd said.
"Maybe more." Erica added.
"Yeah or maybe only two." Derek shot back. "You know what the Beau Geste effect is? If they modulate their howls, with a rapid shift in tone, two wolves can sound like twenty."
"Look, that doesn't matter, okay?" Erica said. "There's another pack out there, there's gotta be. We made up our minds."
"We lost, Derek." Boyd said. "It's over. We're leaving."
"No," Derek shook his head. "no, you're running. And once you start, you don't stop. You'll always be running."
Derek turned away from them and Effie watched Erica take Boyd's hand before they walked out of Derek's house, and their pack.
"Maybe they're right." Derek said softly. "Maybe we have lost."
Effie shook her head. "No, don't say that. Don't ever say that. They're running because they're scared and not strong enough to face it. We're staying, we're standing strong, because we have it in us to face our fear and take it head on. As long as someone is willing to fight, we can never lose."
Derek set down the book he was holding and pulled Effie into his arms, his face finding its place against the side of her neck. Effie held him tightly, running her fingers through his hair as she waited for him to find his level ground again.
When she felt him go tense and reached for a piece of broken mirror, she knew they had another visitor. Working on instinct, Effie spun out of Derek's arms as he threw the shard and behind his back, letting him protect her from whoever was there.
And it turned out to be Peter, who caught the mirror casually just as the tip touched his throat.
"I expected a slightly warmer welcome." Peter said. "But," he smirked. "point taken. It's quite a situation you've got yourself in here, Derek. I mean, I'm outta commotion for a few weeks and suddenly there's lizard people, geriatric psychopaths and you're cooking up werewolves out of every self-esteem deprived adolescent in town."
"What'd you want?" Derek asked.
"Well," Peter tried to appear sincere. "I wanna help."
"Good," Effie said. "your hole's right there. Help by climbing back in."
Peter smirked. "So glad to see you're still here, Effie. I assume you and my nephew are an item now, yes? How's that going?"
"Well burying your sorry ass was definitely a great kick off," Effie shot back.
Peter walked towards them. "Derek, you're the only family I have left. There's still a lot that I can teach you." he put his hand on Derek's shoulder. "Can we just talk?"
Derek glanced down at Peter's hand and Effie wisely took a sizeable step backwards.
"Sure," Derek said. "let's talk."
Effie watched as Derek grabbed his uncle and threw him across the room, into what was left of the stair banister.
"You should go check on Stiles." Derek said without looking at Effie. "I'll text you to let you know how this goes."
Effie sighed but nodded. "I guess you're right. As much as I wanna see you kick Peter's ass back into his grave, Dad's expecting me at the game." she leaned up and kissed Derek's cheek. "Give him a good, solid hit for me."
Derek smirked. "Consider it done."
Effie moved to where Peter was lying, as it was her only way out, and smiled at his crumpled form. "If you're still here tomorrow, try not to heal too quickly. I'd like to see the damage."
Peter huffed a partial growl. "You two are a match made in heaven."
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie made her way towards the locker room to make sure Stiles was okay before the game. She'd talked him out of his anxiety at home but in the locker room, with all the other guys around, it might hit him again and she wanted to be safe.
"Effie,"
Effie turned and was surprised to see Melissa coming towards her. "H-Hi, Melissa."
Melissa smiled. "You and Stiles haven't come around lately."
Effie crossed her arms, shrugging. "We figured you and Scott needed time after what happened, you know, with Matt."
Melissa nodded. "It was an eye opener, I'll admit. And I'm still trying to come to terms with it but, he's my son and whatever, or whoever, he is, I'm gonna support him."
Effie smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. He was so afraid that telling you would cause a rift that couldn't be fixed."
Melissa shook her head. "Never." she linked arms with Effie. "Now, let's go make a bunch of boys feel uncomfortable by entering their locker room."
Effie laughed as she led the way. "By now, they should all be in uniform."
"Doesn't matter." Melissa said. "Scott can be fully clothed and brushing his teeth but if I come into the bathroom, he freaks, blushes like you wouldn't believe and starts stuttering."
Effie's laughter echoed down the hall as they reached the locker room. Stepping inside, they saw the lacrosse team was, indeed, fully clothed in their uniforms and Finstock's voice had just started ringing out from the PA system.
"Good morning, in less than an hour-"
Effie nearly smacked her head on the nearest locker. Oh, the man still hadn't learned another speech?
Melissa patted Stiles' shoulder. "What the hell is he talking about?"
Stiles sighed. "He does this every year."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah,"
"Wait," Melissa slowly realized what Finstock was quoting. "is this,"
"Yeah," Stiles confirmed. "it's the speech from Independence Day."
Effie ran a hand over her face. "How is he allowed to influence young minds?"
"Budget cuts?" Stiles threw out as a guess. "It's Coach's favorite movie."
"He doesn't know any sports speeches?" Melissa asked.
"I don't think he cares." Stiles commented.
"Well spoken, Coach."
Effie and Stiles went stiff as Gerard appeared behind Finstock. Great, what was he doing there? Principal or not, he wasn't known for making appearances before games.
"I might have chosen something with a little more historical value but there's no denying your passion." Gerard said. "And while I haven't been here long, there's no denying my pride in having a winning team for this school. I know you'll all be brilliant tonight, even with only one co-captain leading you. Now, I'm your principal but I'm also a fan so, don't think I'll be content to merely watch you beat this team, get out there and murder them."
Effie turned to Melissa as the team broke up and headed out. "Hey, you okay?"
Stiles turned as well.
Melissa blew out a deep breath. "For lack of a better way to put it, Gerard's in control now."
Effie and Stiles looked at each other. They could only imagine what that meant.
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
"Hey kiddo,"
Effie smiled as her father sat beside her. "Hey Dad," she leaned against his side. "I'm glad you made it and I know Stiles is too."
John nodded. "Yeah, I am too." he looked over where Stiles was talking with Scott. "How are they doing?"
"They're boys." Effie said simply, causing Melissa to laugh from John's other side.
John looked between the two. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Melissa patted John's arm. "Don't worry about it."
The three sat in silence before noticing Finstock sending Stiles out.
"Oh no," John said. "why is my son running on the field?"
Melissa frowned a bit. "Because he's on the team?"
Effie could see it took a few moments for Melissa's words to sink in. Once they did, John got excited.
"He is," he said, pushing himself up. "he's on the field. My son is on the field!"
Effie buried her face in her hands. "Dad, please shut up and sit down. I have to go to school with these people."
John cleared his throat and returned to his seat. "Sorry,"
Effie gave him a look. "Uh huh, you're paying for my therapy."
The whistle to start the game was blown and Effie found herself, Lydia, John and Melissa on the edges of their seats as they waited to see how Stiles would play. Effie almost ignored the vibrating of her phone but knew it was probably Derek. Pulling it out fast, she saw it was from Scott.
'Gerard is threatening to have Jackson kill someone here if I don't give him Derek by the last thirty seconds of the game.'
Effie barely stopped herself from gasping out loud. Thankfully, the others were focused on the game.
'Effie, what do I do?'
Everything in Effie wanted to tell Scott to figure it out himself, it was his own fault Gerard had him by the short hairs. But that wasn't who Effie was.
'We need to get you on the field so you can stop Jackson.'
'Isaac just showed up. We've got a plan.'
Effie blew out a breath and smiled when her dad looked at her. 'Be careful.' then she opened a new text to Derek. 'We're gonna have a problem at the game. How goes the Uncle returned from the Dead?'
'Well, I feel better after beating on him,' Derek's reply came. 'He thinks Lydia can help save Jackson. That they had a real connection.'
Effie looked at her red headed friend and knew, even if it killed her to admit it. 'Peter's right. Jackson and Lydia may be shallow and arrogant but they do truly love each other.'
'Come over after your dinner with Stiles. We'll come up with a plan.'
'Got it.'
'And be careful. I love you.'
Effie smiled. 'I love you too.'
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie saw the ball roll to a stop at Stiles' feet and her eyes grew wide. No one else on the field had seen it so it gave Stiles time to do something. As soon as he started moving. Once the other team started charging him, Stiles turned and ran for the opposing goal. His screams of terror were audible, causing John to bury his face in his hands once more.
"Ah crap," came the mutter.
Effie watched in tense anticipation as Stiles stopped in front of the goal, looking unsure of what to do.
"Shoot it," she whispered. "come on Stiles, shoot it."
She and Lydia both jumped up. "Shoot it!"
They watched Stiles launch the ball into the net, scoring his first ever goal.
The entire bleacher section broke into cheers. Effie laughed and hugged John as they celebrated Stiles' goal. The game turned around for Beacon Hills at that point. Stiles seemed to turn into a whole new player and was passing the ball, dodging and weaving around the other team. Finally, the last goal of the game was made, putting Beacon Hills in the lead by one point.
Effie saw the clock hit thirty seconds and Scott's text came flying back like a kick to the gut. She looked around and saw him standing off to the side of the bleachers, a determined look on his face. Looking back at her brother, she let Scott keep an eye out for Jackson and Gerard. Nothing was going to taint Stiles' moment for Effie.
When the clock struck zero and the whistle was blown, the Beacon Hills team and fans broke into cheers and screams of victory. Effie jumped with Lydia, the two girls hugging and celebrating. They could see Stiles on the field, being mobbed by his fellow players as they congratulated him on making the winning goals.
Before the bleachers could empty onto the field to join the team, the lights around the field started shutting off. Effie felt John reach for her hand and held tightly to her father. Once the field was completely black, a terrified scream broke through the silence and suddenly the lights were back and there was a body in the middle of the field. People were panicking and running away from the field and towards the school.
Effie let her father pull her off the bleachers and towards where the teams were standing. They looked for Stiles among the Beacon Hills players but couldn't find him.
Effie started turning, looking in every direction. "Stiles! Stiles, where are you?! Stiles!"
"Where's Stiles?" John's voice joined Effie. "Has anyone seen my son? Where's my son?"
Effie started panicking. "Stiles!"
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
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So, cliffhanger? *grins sheepishly* Please don't kill me. I swear, the last chapter will be up on Saturday! Don't kill me! For now, let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading!
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