Scott awoke with Sunlight streaming across his face, he wasn't sure of the time but it felt like it was still fairly early. He closed his eyes and went to turn over and go back to sleep when his surroundings began to impinge on his consciousness. He was naked of that he was fairly sure which was weird because he always made sure to sleep with something on especially after his late night wanderings in the forest. Then the presence of warmth around him followed by the crunch of leaves under him made him open his eyes again. His legs were wrapped around and through another set of legs, and he appeared to be spooning someone. Someone familiar, a male someone who he had seem naked before in the Locker rooms at High School. Jackson was in front of him curled slightly with Scott wrapped round him; Scott's arm was also under Jackson hence his inability to free himself easily. He shifted slightly and saw a similar sight to his and Jackson's predicament happening to Damion and Derek, though they were behind Scott and bracing against his back and were facing each other. He remembered the full moon and the ceremony that had taken place, he remembered the run and his wolf being the most free it had ever been, then there had been the hunting of the Stag. After that it kind of got blurry, it became less like conscious memories more like feelings and emotions, the Pack celebrating the hunt, the journey home, Jackson and him play fighting and racing while the older wolves had watched on and joining in eventually. Then they started rubbing them self's against each other and nuzzling, that's when the jeans had come off as they had felt restrictive. It wasn't a sexual act but a bonding one they all took full measure of each other and licking and tending each other's scratches and scrapes that they had accumulated from the run. It must have been about moon set when the events had finally caught up with them and they settled for sleep in the make shift den of a rocky indent in the forest near to the town.
"Dude would you mind not spooning me so closely, thanks" Jackson interrupted his review of the night's events. Scott turned and looked at Jackson, they both made eye contact and then there gaze was anywhere else. Slowly they began to untangle themselves trying to not look or make too much contact with each other.
"Will you both stop being so retentive." Derek said quietly from behind them. Both he and Damion had woken during Scott and Jackson's antics. "Packs sleep together after hunts it's a natural thing for them to do. I did it when I hunted ran with my Father and the rest of the Pack. It's nothing to get worked up about." Both he and Damion were stretching at this point and stood up not showing the least embarrassment for their naked condition.
"Yeah you've seen naked people before at School in the Locker rooms; it's just like that really." Damion added to the Pups.
"Normally we don't end up sleeping with them though and you tend to not look at another mans... Possessions" Scott said trying not to blush.
"Grow up McCall it's not that bad and you don't have anything to be ashamed off. Allison's a lucky girl." Jackson smirked getting over his initial embarrassment. Scott punched him in the arm.
Before they could get into another fight Damion cleared his throat. "Pups as much fun as watching you two going at it again would be, it's about six. I would suggest we head back to mine and get freshened up especially if you two are going to get to School on time." He pointed the way and the Pack started to move off Jackson and Scott arguing about inappropriate comments and Derek rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the Pair. Damion just laughed and followed them.
Stiles looked at his phone and read the text message that had woke him up. It was from Scott saying they had run late into the night and Jackson was going to give him a lift to School so he would meet Stiles there before home room as normal. Stiles thought to himself "Cool don't have to get up till seven in that case. I wonder what the time is?" he looked at the clock on his phone and saw it read six twenty. Who the hell gets up at six twenty honestly, there was no point in going back to sleep because he would be sleep fuzzed all day so he might as well get up. He would have to kill Scott later for waking him up, or at least inflict pain.
"Damn Werewolves working hours, waking me up at the crack of Dawn..." He yawned to himself as he got up. He could hear his father getting ready in the bathroom. Deciding to do something family related for once he headed down stairs and started to work on a cooked breakfast. Just the sort of thing his Mum used to do for him when he was little and it was a special day. Though with her seeing the first leaves of autumn, or the Sun shining in a certain way could be a special day for her. He smiled sadly to himself as he enjoyed that memory even if it came with an ache that he knew would never really be filled. He had just finished making the waffles and was checking on the sausages when his father came down the stairs.
The Sheriff took in the sight of Stiles wearing his mother's apron, ruffles and red apples all, making breakfast for them. He smiled to himself and went to pour a mug of coffee from the percolator. "What's the occasion?" He asked Stiles.
"I saw the sun light up the sky just so." He said remembering something his mother had once said to him.
His father smiled softly knowing where that had come from. "Why don't you head up and get ready, I'll finish off down here and we can eat when you get back down."
"Sure sounds like a good idea." Stiles headed towards the door handing his father the Spatula.
"Stiles, you may want to leave the Apron here" Stiles back peddled into the room and hung the apron up in its normal place, then proceeded to dive out the room and upstairs in a flurry of limbs the Sheriff shaking his head and smiling as he tended to the stove. "You made a good one there, you'd be as proud of him as I am" He spoke softly to himself hoping his wife would hear it where ever she was.
..oo00OO00oo..
Jacksons Porsche pulled up in the Student car park. Stiles, Lydia and Allison were already waiting over by the bike racks. Scott finished texting his mum to let her know he was alright and going to School.
"That's rough having both your Mum and your Alpha on you case now about your grades and stuff." Jackson said as he reached behind him to get there bags.
"Yeah, they're going to both be on me to get my grades up. Though I suppose if I'm not having to sneak around to do Werewolf stuff it should give me more time to study. Allison said she would help me with that."
Jackson snorted. "Yeah I don't think that your study sessions with Allison are the most helpful to your education."
Scott grinned lopsided. "Yeah you may have a point there. Man I could do without Chemistry this morning. Harris has it in for me."
Jackson nodded. "It's not my favourite subject either."
They both got out the car and headed over to others. Stiles was gesticulating widely and they caught the strains of the conversation "... wand will be so cool especially if I can use it to fire lightning."
Lydia looked disinterested and was scrolling through her phone; Allison was listening to Stiles and humouring him. Scott walked to her side and slid his arm around her and they kissed. "Dude, at least get a room or something." Stiles said as making a face.
"What I missed seeing her last night and want to make up for it." Scott replied and Allison smiled.
"That will get you extra study sessions." She replied.
"Excellent maybe we can do biology..." Scott answered suggestively.
Jackson broke in at this point "Ok your hot for each other but get a grip really." Scott shrugged and Allison grinned and pushed the errant strands of hair behind her ear.
Stiles changed the subject. "So how'd it go last night? Did you get into any mischief with the full moon?"
"It was good actually, I wasn't running off and trying to kill anyone and it didn't hurt like last time. Though we did kill a Stag and eat it. Raw."
Allison made a face and said. "I hope you brushed you teeth the pair of you."
"Yeah dude. I mean of course it's going to be raw unless you stopped and baked in a little Werewolf Oven." Stiles said while making a cooking gesture as he did.
Jackson rolled his eyes at Stiles and added. "For my first full moon it was kind of intense. I didn't feel like I was in control at all after we howled at the moon. But I saw everything and didn't feel terrified at not having that control. Not like what you were telling me your first time was like." He said directing the last bit towards Scott.
Lydia snapped her phone shut and joined in. "Well I'm glad you all had a lovely walkies but I don't know if it was your howling or this seer thing but I had some really weird dreams last night. They weren't what you would call happy, and all you Wolves were in them as was Stiles and Allison."
Allison looked at Lydia with concern and Scott and Jackson looked at each other. Stiles said what was on everyone's mind. "Well if it is your Sight beyond sight. Then the best person to speak to is Damion, were heading their after practice today."
Lydia considered it and nodded. "He better have decent internet access."
"Considering the layout he had, I'd be surprised if he wasn't running his own web servers from that lair of his." Stiles added.
Scott said. "It was a pretty sweet lay out" As they talked about the various things to see and do in the lair Danny pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Jacksons car. He headed over and the others changed the conversation to what was on TV last night and what the Coach would do to them in lacrosse practise after school.
..oo00OO00oo..
During fourth period the English teacher called Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Allison and told them the Principle wanted to see them. Exchanging glances the teens got up and headed to the Principles office.
"Any one got an idea what this is about?" Scott asked mentally cataloguing his recent transgression to see if any would have come onto the Principles radar.
"No idea, but if you guys mess up my GPA I'm so going to kill you all." Lydia answered her face set like thunder.
Allison sighed and linked arms with Scott. "I guess we'll find out soon enough" She said.
A call from down the corridor made them turn and they saw Jackson and Danny sprinting up. "Guys, did you get called out to see the Principle as well?" He asked.
Stiles rolled his eyes. "No, we all thought it was the perfect time to go to the toilet and we didn't want to go alone." He answered Jacksons sarcastically.
Jackson made to smack him on the back of the head but Stiles dodged out the ways sticking out his tongue. They arrived at the office and the secretary motioned for them to wait. After a few minutes of milling around and several angry glare's from the secretary to Stiles as he started to play with things in the office, the Principle opened the door and motioned for them to enter the office.
Inside a figure sat with his back to the door, though the Red streak through his black hair gave everyone an indicator who was in there. "Good, good were all here. This is Mr Magus; he has just made a large donation to the School and offered to provide us with scholarship program for a few worthy individuals."
Stiles stuck his hand up. "Is that why we're here, were getting Scholarships?"
The Principle raised his eyebrow, somewhat used to the Stilinski effect as he had come to call it.
"No, those are for seniors going to college. What your here for is another program that he has suggested that you will be piloting, and no it isn't about planes before you ask Mr Stilinski. Mr Magus here has set up a mentoring program for teens in other Schools that pair or group up talented teens that may be struggling academically or facing other challenges and provides a safe environment for them to be tutored or mentored. I believe this to be an idea with potential and have decided to pilot it with you six, a mix of students some who have potential and are lacking focus or application. "He said looking at Scott and Stiles then looked at Jackson and Lydia. "Some students with strong academic qualifications and achievements but are lacking work on their interpersonal and extracurricular skills, finally some who are an excellent student and good team player to help balance these personality types." He finished up looking at Allison and Danny. "This will be an after School and weekend program for which you will gain extracurricular credits that will go towards your community requirements for Social Studies. Mr Magus here has offered his home and resources for this Pilot and if successful we will look to increasing its application. Now I have letters and Packs for you to take home to your parents with details and schedules of what we're planning, as well as consent forms. Mr Magus has been vetted by our School board so there shouldn't be any problem with using his facilities." The Principle reached over and handed out brown envelopes with each parents name on the front.
Damion stood up and faced the teens. "I'm looking forward to working with such an eclectic bunch. It should make this project interesting." He said as he placed on the desk the student records for the teens he had been reading. The Principle smiled again and nodded in agreement, almost on queue. He then indicated that the teens could leave the office.
As they filed out Danny asked "Dose any of that seem weird to anybody. I don't even remember hearing or being asked about any programs that were being set up. I also think I've met that guy before somewhere" Walking behind Danny Stiles face palmed, while the others traded looks. "Stiles wasn't that your cousin Miguel's Partner?" he asked as the face clicked into place.
"Yeah... He must have been working to set that up sure kept it quite." Said Stiles as Scott mouthed Cousin Miguel's Partner at him.
Allison took that moment to distract Danny "I'm sure it must have been in the pipe line for a while if they were looking for consent and they said he was vetted so that would mean a security check, right?" She Said.
Lydia nodded in agreement and said. "Yes if it was a pilot thing they wouldn't make a lot of noise in case it didn't work. Think of it this way we will be getting credit to hang after School which means we won't need to volunteer for anything."
Danny seemed to take that on board. "That's true. I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to do everything this year. This takes care of studying volunteering and hanging out in one go."
"Yeah not a bad thing, but we better head back to class, see you at Lunch." Jackson said as they reached the split in the corridor.
As soon as Danny was out of ear shot Stiles asked. "Did anyone else get the feeling that Mr Hoo-Doo-Voodoo Wolfie had hit the Principal with some of that hex vision of his? I know he said he would be helping out the Pack but this is like getting a get out of Jail free card for meeting up to work on Pack related stuff, and we get credit for it."
Scott mulled that over. "Looks that way, though why involve Danny? I mean he doesn't know about that stuff. Also Cousin Miguel and Partner, what's that about?" He looked at Stiles for an explanation with a raised eyebrow. Stiles waved that off for the moment.
Allison chewed on her lower lip before answering. "Maybe it was to throw any sort of suspicion off us five meeting up. I mean Danny would add to the cover story of a study group."
"Yeah and everyone would believe Scott needs to study." Added Stiles before he realised he had put his foot in his mouth as Scott growled at him. Allison put her hand on Scott's arm calming him down.
Lydia added "Well whatever is going on I'm sure we'll be the last to know as usual. Let's get back to class and we can talk at Lunch."
..oo00OO00oo..
Jackson headed back to class with Danny. "It would be cool to hang out more, seems like I never get to see you these days." Danny said.
"Yeah a lot of stuff's been happening between all the extra class work and lacrosse and trying to not kill McCall and all it's been eating up my time." Jackson replied.
Danny Nodded "Yeah ever since that weirdness at the Formal you almost seem like a different person. I'm glad you're giving McCall and Stiles another chance their not that bad."
Jackson rubbed the scars in the back of his neck. "You could say that I had a wakeup call after everything that went on with Lydia and the whole crap fest that happened. Took stock in a lot of things and took a long look at who I was."
"Well I'm glad. Don't get me wrong I've always know that there was a good guy underneath, wouldn't have put up with you for so long if I didn't. Just glad you're trying to let other people see it as well." Danny said as he rested his hand on Jacksons shoulder in a brotherly fashion.
"Yeah I have been a tool this year." Jackson said in a self-depreciatory manner.
Danny smirked and said. "Yeah you have been a bit of a tool." Jackson looked at him in a no one said you had to agree manner, Danny just shrugged and added. "I've said in the past I love you like a brother, doesn't mean I won't tell you when you're being a dick."
Jackson half nodded at that. "My better half keeping me honest and honourable huh?"
"Always will do bro, always will do." They arrived back at the classroom and headed in.
..oo00OO00oo..
Derek paced the front yard in front of his house and mulled over the past few days. He had just had a meeting with the project manager who would be in charge of rebuilding the house. After going through the remains the objective opinion was that it would need to be stripped to the foundations and rebuilt again. The timber that was still sound in the main frame of the right side of the building would be removed and treated then reused in the construction. They had the original plans plus the additions and alterations that Damion had added. It wouldn't look much different from the outside to the old house. Inside the layout was improved slightly with additional exits and secure areas. Plus the addition of a state of the art fire suppression system and alarm, the security system also included shutters over the windows and a special ceramic and carbon core compound that would line all the walls making it almost impenetrable from the outside when sealed up. It would be home protection on steroids.
The underground areas were also being gutted and rebuilt, in total the house would now have five levels, three above and two below the ground. There was even an underground garage for his and several cars, the entrance to which was also sealable. The Project manager hadn't even blinked at this just said something about protecting the natural beauty and good to see someone being proactive in home protection, giving Derek a feeling that this wasn't the only project of this sort that they had done.
Again all the bill had been paid in advance and a large slush fund made available for unforeseen eventualities. The work was scheduled to take four weeks for the main build after one to clear and dig out the foundations, with two to allow them to set. After that another three or four to set up the internal systems and decorate the rooms.
Just over two months and the final marker that the Hales had been slaughtered in their home would be gone. He wasn't sure how that made him feel; yes he knew he needed to move on to move past the anger and grief and vengeance, but it felt like he was hiding what had happened here.
Just then a flatbed truck started to pull round the last section of the drive way. It was a new model black double front cab; the plates on it looked like it had just been registered. Behind the wheel was Damion; in the flat bed section was a massive boulder of what looked like local granite, onside had been finished to a black mirror like surface. "Where do you want it governor?" Damion asked as he pulled up.
"What's this about?" Asked Derek feeling more confused than anything.
"Well I know all this has been a lot to take in. And the speed of things is more than enough to knock anyone of balance. So I thought to myself how would I feel if everything that had happened to my family was changing in what almost feel like a heartbeat. Well I told myself I would feel like that I was possible dishonouring them somehow or feeling that I was trying to erase what had happened. That wouldn't be a good thing I told myself. No it wouldn't I said so what would I do to rectify this. I would plant a marker to them in a special place so that I could mark what had been as I moved forward in my life. That's a good idea I told myself. Hence why I've maxed out the load of this truck and have a large block of stone for a memorial that can be placed and worded however you would like it."
Derek took a minute to process the almost Stiles like flow of words and walked down around to the boulder. He could see all sorts of colours and strata in it as well as the twinkle of quartz and other minerals; the flat side was at a slight angle. "How, when... How do you managed to know... strike that I think that it's a good idea. There that's where we used to gather as a Pack and celebrate; I think there is where it should go." He pointed over by a flattish area to the side of the house, remembering the times that the Pack had gathered for the moon celebrations or for family barbeques and birthdays. Next to the home and part of the woods it was that spot that spoke to Derek of family, and that's where he would remember his. "Can I get the name Hale at the top then the phrase "Running together forever" and the names of my family including Laura and Peter listed on it. Have it planted with and Oak and an Ash behind it." His hand traced over the surface of the stone.
"Anything you want, my friend, anything you want." Damion said quietly.
