A/N: Dylan is mentioned a lot in this chapter since he's a big problem regarding Isaac and Stiles. I do throw in a few other moments with the Hales, and also with Allison. Just felt like I'd warn you since he's technically a background OC I made up for the plotline hahaha.

Also, I'm borrowing from the detention scene with Isaac and Allison getting locked in the closet. It doesn't play out exactly the same as in the show, and of course, Allison isn't involved. But Isaac does get worked up and wolfs out so it's a bit of a stressed scene. Forewarning is all, no one gets hurt though, I promise.

*Tuesday*

*Stilinski Home*

Stiles rubbed his eyes and sighed, today was going to be a reeeeeeaaally long day- he'd been up all night! He'd been so preoccupied with what Jackson had told him, wondering how to fix it… It had taken him forever to do his homework, Scott and Isaac heading to bed way before he did. Thankfully the past few nights Isaac had stayed inside, satisfied to stay with them (or being too tired to answer the Alpha's calls perhaps). They were all staying in their own rooms, so hopefully he'd continue to be okay. If not, well Stiles was up so he could keep an ear out. Around midnight he finally finished his homework but he still sat at his desk, scribbling ideas on a piece of paper. It hadn't taken him long to get frustrated and start grumbling to himself and his door creaked open, a glowy-eyed Isaac standing there.

"Hey, uh, everything okay there Isaac? Is the Alpha calling you or?"

But Isaac didn't answer, he just came in and lifted Stiles from the chair, taking him over to the bed. "Stress," was all he said.

Stiles was pulled away from the memory of last night as Isaac started snuffling against his chest. Isaac felt concerned about his new status, worried he wouldn't be able to control it yet, at the first sign of his brother being in trouble, he was right there. The downside was that with his brother laying on top of him, he wasn't able to get much planning done on how to deal with Dylan… and now it was 7 and his alarm was going off.

"Why is your alarm so loud?" Isaac whined, suddenly awake and covering his ears.

"Sorry Bro, normally you aren't in here with me and I have trouble waking up sometimes. So I set a loud alarm. Come on, in the shower, Scott should be up soon."

Isaac stretched now that the loud noise was gone, "What am I doing in here anyways?"

"You… you don't even remember coming in?" Stiles asked, yawning widely. He was going to need a lot of his medicine to stay focused today…

"No… was I um… wolf-y?" Isaac asked in a quiet voice.

"Eh, you had glowing eyes but that's about it. I think you were stressed or something… I asked what was up and that's what you said, stress." It was a lie, even with this new side of Isaac, Stiles knew his brother well-his concern for Stiles's well being was obvious last night.

Isaac sighed, "Yea, I am stressed… after the night of the party and now Dylan… We haven't really been able to talk with Laura either… I don't want to do anything bad..."

"We'll get through this, you're doing good so far. And now that we know a bit about what triggers you, we'll do better. Plus we at least know that Dylan is mad so, that helps."

Isaac nodded and left the room, intending to take a shower; after he was gone, Stiles sighed and opened his medicine bottle, shaking out a few pills. Long day indeed…

*Hale Motel Room*

Cora huffed, barely sitting on the edge of one of the beds, not having slept much last night. "So what are we going to do, we haven't heard from the Argents, we have no idea where Kate is or what she's planning…"

"We'll stay away from her, it's no secret that we don't like her, she should just stay away from us if she wants to settle this. Then she can go back to terrorizing whatever town she came from," Laura answered. She was itching to shift into a wolf and do something but she knew she needed to stay Human, waiting for Victoria or Chris.

Derek was a bundle of clenched muscle, sitting beside Cora, unsure of what to do. It was important that he didn't interact with Kate- he'd lose it if he saw her. Hearing her voice had been awful enough.

"Chris and Victoria know how we feel about her, they'll take that into consideration while planning everything for tomorrow night. We just have to have faith in them."

Cora narrowed her eyes, looking at her brother, stressed beyond belief. "I don't trust any of them. The only reason I'm not attacking them is because you're my Alpha, and I will listen to what you say. But I'll be watching our backs and at the first sign of betrayal, I will slaughter them all."

Laura sighed, "Cora, there are at least 13 of them now, and that's if Kate came alone and didn't bring her own men. I will not lose another family member to the Argents so please, do not foolishly attack them when we're outnumbered. Be on guard for betrayal, be watchful of their every move- but don't do anything foolish."

"I promise… I'm just angry! But, I can stay in control, you've trained me well," Cora said, eyes softening. She may be brash and angry but she wasn't a fool, she'd wait for her chance to strike. But only if it came to that, Laura was right… it was possible that Chris and Victoria were truly on their side. Even Cora couldn't deny that Chris had given his word to find out who had destroyed their family, even if it was his sister. But ten years was too long! How come no one had any answers?

"Can I go out? I need to… work off some steam, please?" Cora blurted out suddenly, unable to sit in the dingy room any longer.

"Don't go far, I need to be able to call you back if we get word from the Argents. Did you want to go Derek?" Laura asked. It was easy to guess that Laura was uneasy about letting Cora go out alone, but at the same time, she didn't want to force Derek out into the open if he didn't want to go.

But to their surprise, Derek nodded, "I think a run will do me good right now. Let's see if Cora can keep up."

"Oh, feeling peppy are you? Let's see you smile after you've been eating my dust!" Cora shot back.

Laura smiled as the two of them left, Derek making sure to grab one of the keys; they were so excited they didn't even bother with the stairs, just leaping over the railing and into the parking lot. She was thankful that Parkour was becoming more widespread, and with Humans as well. Now it wasn't so strange to see someone jumping from buildings and over cars… hopefully they didn't draw the Hunters' attention though, they still didn't know who the rat might be.

*School*

*Lunch*

Stiles set his tray down on the table, leg bouncing as he looked over at Jackson and the other 'good' players. His leg was bouncing of its own accord as he remembered what Jackson had told him after practice.

"Everything okay?" Isaac asked, leg gently nudging his.

"I just…" Stiles heaved a sigh. There was no use trying to keep it a secret. "Remember what I told you about last night?"

"That Jackson said to give Dylan some space?" Scott recalled.

Stiles nodded, "Yea, that… well that's not exactly how he said it. He wasn't mean about it or anything," he hastened to add, seeing Isaac tense up. "He told me that Dylan was pissed off, but that he knew he couldn't take it out on you. So he advised me to just not piss Dylan off but I mean… I never interact with him! And yet I'm still pissing him off. I was up all night trying to come up with something but I have no idea. I mean I can fake sick and get out of Algebra but that won't work in the long run."

"I think with Coach talking to him yesterday, it probably made it worse too… Dylan sounded hella angry," Scott revealed.

"I'm dead…"

Isaac growled, "He won't touch you."

"He didn't mean it literally," Scott explained, catching Isaac's eye from across the table. "I know you know that, right?"

He took a deep breath, telling his Wolf to stay calm, his brother was right; after a few moments Isaac nodded to Scott, "Yea, I know."

"Let's hurry up and finish, maybe I can catch a 15 minute nap out on one of the tables," Stiles told them, stuffing food into his mouth.

Scott pouted, "You should have just told us last night, then we could have stayed up and helped. We might have even come up with something and then you would have gotten sleep."

"No, I wasn't going to worry you two, not if I had been able to come up with something. I'm used to long nights, you two need more sleep than me. Besides we've been good at being in our own rooms, which I think Dad is secretly relieved about. He would never force us to stop sleeping in the same room but he still thinks it's a bit weird and the less stress we cause him, the better."

Both brothers agreed and continued to eat their lunch, Scott giving Stiles some ideas while Isaac just focused on his food. The less he focused on the Dylan situation, the less his blood pressure rose, which meant no shifting.

*Fourth Period Biology*

Danny turned Jackson as Mr. Hill told them to all pair up, he was handing out some worksheet and told them to study together- Jackson was always his partner.

"Don't fail me now Danny, we're partnering," Jackson said, seeing a look on Danny's face.

"I… I know? Why'd you say that?"

Jackson raised a brow, "You have that look on your face, like you want to say something. I thought it had to do with us working together."

"I do want to talk to you about something but it has nothing to do with class. I've forgotten just how well we know each other," Danny commented with a smile.

"Okay, shoot."

Danny looked around for a second, making sure everyone was focused on their work. "It's about Dylan-"

Jackson scowled, "What about him?"

"You heard him when Coach was talking to him- he's pissed! He threw the ball right at Stiles's head. That's dangerous, it's one of the first rules we learned! Plus if that had been a game, even with helmets on, if he was deliberately aiming at someone's head like that, he'd have gotten kicked from the game. I get it, his friend was hurt but even Andrew isn't that angry about it."

"That's because Andrew is focused on getting better. The surgeon said it wasn't as bad as we first thought. He'll be out for awhile but as long as he doesn't overdo it, he'll be back to normal pretty fast."

Danny nodded his head, "See? If Andrew isn't even that mad about it, we need to talk to Dylan, make sure he understands that he needs to let it go. Isaac is a great player, and he's gotten even better over break- like a lot better. If Dylan pushes Stiles off of the team, we'll lose Isaac, and Scott as well."

"Who cares about Scott? But yea, losing Isaac would be bad…"

"You aren't that bad of a captain, I know you've noticed his improvement. He might make it up to second string this season, which will be good in case anyone else gets hurt during a game. Plus if this continues, you know Dylan will be at risk of getting kicked off and then he'll really hurt Stiles. This leads us back to losing Isaac and Scott."

Jackson groaned, "I know, I've thought about it a lot… I'm a good captain, a damn good captain! Scott has potential, as much as I hate to admit it, I'll admit it to you at least. I'll admit it on the field too when he's better. I already have plans to talk with Coach before practice starts."

"Oh, okay then. Well, then I guess we should start studying huh?" Danny asked, smiling. He should have known Jackson was on top of the situation but it made him feel better to double check. Sometimes Jackson was a little biased in his opinions but even he couldn't deny this was getting out of control.

*Fifth Period Algebra 2*

Isaac sighed and sat down in his chair, leg bouncing up and down; he was supposed to be running laps again today. But that didn't mean some of the other players were going to behave… They'd talked about it at lunch already but it was still heavy on his mind. Dylan was obviously harboring hard feelings and was hoping to pay Isaac back somehow- by going after Stiles! As soon as Dylan entered the classroom, Isaac glared at him, he couldn't help himself. Dylan of course noticed and scowled at him, eyes narrowed and Isaac picked up the unmistakable scent of anger. He wasn't the best at categorizing those things yet but anger was quite easy, Dylan left no room for uncertainty. The boys continued to glare at each other as Dylan took his seat behind Ran, right beside Stiles… He hadn't done anything yesterday, and since Mrs. Brane was such a hardass, it was doubtful anything would happen today either. What was a nasty comment after class? Stiles could handle that and Isaac would do his best to let it go. Maybe.

Stiles chewed on his lip, pondering if he should try to say sorry, even though he hadn't done anything… but he had a feeling that Dylan would get angrier…which didn't make sense but, when you're furious at someone, everything they do tends to get on your nerves. Thankfully the bell rang and class started, taking the decision out of Stiles's hands. Maybe he'd be able to come up with something during practice, while he was running laps.

"Okay, I'm passing back your quizzes and we'll spend the first few minutes of class going over them," Mrs. Brane announced, already moving between the rows.

There were a few groans here and there as well as a few relieved sighs as the students got their quizzes back. Stiles was one of those giving off a relieved sigh, he'd gotten a B, not bad! While Mrs. Brane was still passing them out, Karen, the girl that sat on Stiles's right, leaned over and asked him a question.

"Hey, what does this comment say? I can't tell…"

Stiles leaned over, squinted at the paper, "It looks like 'forgot to divide' to me…"

Karen flipped the paper over to check, "Oh right, ugh, I always forget that… thanks, her hand writing is kinda squished sometimes."

He smiled at her, agreeing. Before he could turn back around in his desk, he heard a rustle of paper and then Dylan was snickering.

"Serious, you got number 2 wrong Stiles? I didn't know you were that stupid. You must have only gotten a B by pure chance!"

He quickly spun around, glaring at the other teen, "Dude, give it back! I made a mistake, big deal."

In front of him, Isaac was clenching his fists, willing himself to not shift; it took everything he had to hold in a snarl and not leap out of his seat. Dylan was making more comments about Stiles's work and Stiles was too preoccupied with him to notice that Isaac was having trouble.

"Seriously, give it back!" Stiles whispered, at least attempting to not disrupt the class.

Ran, tired of the kid's attitude, spun around in her seat and snatched it from him, giving him a dirty look in the process.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

Stiles smiled, "Thanks Ran." He held his hand out for it but Dylan knocked his hand away.

"I wasn't done critiquing that yet."

Isaac finally stood up from his desk, staring Dylan down, hands balled into fists. He'd touched Stiles, and that was the final straw.

"That's it, all of you, detention after school! I'm done trying to talk over you all. Ran, return the quiz to Stiles and Isaac out in the hall to cool down! Dylan keep your hands on your desk!" Mrs. Brane shouted, getting all of their attention.

Isaac didn't move though, not until Stiles stood up and gently pushed on his shoulders, "Come on, let's just take a few minutes."

Thankfully Mrs. Brane didn't say anything about Stiles joining his brother out in the hall. It wasn't hard to see that Isaac was beyond pissed, so maybe having company out there would keep him from storming off.

"Okay, so Dylan is still extremely upset over all of this and acting like a 3rd grader…" Stiles mumbled to himself as the door closed behind them.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Isaac said, looking down at his hands. As he unclenched, blood dripped from his palms, where his claws had pierced his skin.

"Holy crap dude, are you okay?" Stiles asked, grabbing one of his hands.

"Already healing, I'm fine… I'm just glad they didn't end up tearing Dylan's face up… Dude, Stiles… I wanted to hurt him," Isaac whispered.

Stiles pulled his brother in close, "Yea but you didn't, that's the important part. Your eyes weren't even glowing; I don't think anyone noticed your hands. You did a really good job Isaac."

Isaac just leaned against Stiles, focusing on his heartbeat to calm himself- Laura had been right, his Wolf was focused on Stiles. It was great for calming him down but… it was also a trigger, one that Dylan was all over. After a few moments, he wiped his hands on his dark jeans, not wanting to risk heading to the bathroom and getting into more trouble for not having a pass. "Okay, let's go back in…"

*Fifth Period Biology*

Allison doodled on her notes as she waited for class to start, Mr. Hill was an interesting teacher but he always took a few minutes at the beginning of class to organize everything. She was just getting started on an intricate arrowhead design when Mr. Hill finally called their attention.

"Okay class, today we're going to be going over the human body, starting of course with our skeleton. Since I know most of you don't want to listen to me drone on, I figure I'll let you work in pairs today. This is your own personal study time so if you choose to slack off then it will show in your grades. Pick someone you can work with, not someone you'll waste time with. While everyone picks partners I'll be handing out a sheet of paper with the list of bones I expect you to know for the upcoming test."

Allison bit her lip, she didn't really know anyone in this class yet, not well enough to pick a study partner… Of course there was Ashley but Allison wasn't a fan of hers and would rather not waste time in her company. Just as the other girl started in her direction, Allison was saved by someone dropping into the chair next to her.

"Hey can we be partners? My usual partner in crime isn't in this class with me, and most of the kids I do know in this class aren't the best at studying. My name is Vernon by the way, but you can call me Boyd, everyone does."

"Yea, sure, we can be partners, I'm Allison. So um… how did you want to study this list?"

Boyd looked over the list, "Well it's in alphabetical order, I was thinking, we just start at the top. We can point on ourselves which bone we think it is; if we come to one where we don't agree, we check the book?"

Allison smiled, "Sounds like a good plan. Um the first one is the Clavicle, I know that one, my mom broke hers years ago when she was skiing." She easily pointed to her collar bone, which Boyd pointed to as well, agreeing. "Next is um-"

"Wait, before we go on, I have to hear it from you, how was the date with Scott?" Boyd asked. He knew that Isaac hadn't lied to him, but he had to get a feel for what kind of person Allison was. He may not interact with Scott much, but he knew that he was the baby brother of the three and was easily the most naïve. He also knew that Allison sat with Lydia and the other girls, he'd seen them on the bench together at lacrosse practice.

"How did… where you at the party?" she asked, eyes narrowed. Sure, gossip traveled fast in high school but Scott didn't seem like the type that people gossiped about.

Boyd suddenly laughed, realizing how he must sound, "I'm sorry, you don't know me… I'm one of Isaac's close friends, outside his brothers of course. It was crazy to hear that he was actually going to one of Lydia's parties, so of course he told me all about it. Which means little Scott is the first out of all three of them to actually go on a date. So forgive me, I'm just curious. I hardly get to talk to Scott so I haven't had the chance to ask him."

Allison visibly relaxed, recalling his face from the first practice she had gone to. "I remember seeing you after school, you were sitting with a girl right? I… some of the players were rather rude to you…"

"Yea, that's my best friend Erica, we usually aren't big on sports but since we know all three Stilinski boys we figured we'd go watch them. Jackson is one of the big reasons we don't often make an appearance though, him and his friends."

"Jackson can be a bit in your face… and if you aren't in his circle of friends you're less than a speck of dirt to him," Allison agreed with a roll of her eyes. So Jackson wasn't her favorite person, she was polite enough when in his presence. But then she remembered his original question, "Scott is super nice though! We had a fun time at the party, even though Isaac got sick and they all left early. We're supposed to go on a second date sometime this week, depending on his work schedule."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, I'm glad Scott isn't as horribly oblivious as his brother."

She leaned forward, "Which brother?"

Boyd looked around, deciding that it might be worth it to break Erica's confidence, just this once. "Erica, my friend, she really, really likes Stiles but I don't think he has any idea. I mean, it would be one thing if he just didn't like her as anything other than a friend but…"

"It's still easy to tell when someone has clearly not noticed a crush versus when they just don't return it. Why doesn't she tell him, or you tell him?"

"She doesn't want me too, she's convinced that Stiles would never go for her and she doesn't want to ruin the small friendship they have."

Allison pouted, "Sounds like Erica needs to take a risk. I mean, I've only known Stiles for a little bit but he's a great friend. He'd never let something like that ruin a friendship, I can tell."

"I completely agree but Erica doesn't have many friends so she'd rather not risk it. As it is, she stays away from Stiles like she's worried she'll do something to embarrass herself in front of him."

"So she's even nervous to be his friend? Wow, she must really have a crush on him." Allison tilted her head, wondering if she should mention anything to Scott. She wouldn't do it to hurt Erica of course, but surely Scott would know how best to approach his brother about something like this.

"Yea well, we'll see what happens I guess," Boyd sighed. He could tell that Allison was planning something though, and maybe Stiles would finally open his eyes. He didn't want to push it too far though, he didn't really know Allison after all, so they might as well get back to studying. "Well, I don't want you to think I'm a horrible study buddy so um, let's see… next on the list is the um… Coccyx? Is that how you say that?"

"Um… that's how I'd pronounce it… I have no idea though," Allison admitted.

"Check the book? Because I don't know either…"

"Let's put a question mark next to it, then we can check it at the end, so we don't spoil ourselves on the other answers."

Boyd smiled, "That's a good point. Okay, after that one is Femur."

*After School*

"Do you think Coach is really going to make you run laps again today?" Scott asked as he pulled a book out of his locker.

Isaac looked at his older brother, "You didn't tell him? If he doesn't know then Coach will think we're just ditching."

Scott narrowed his eyes, "You aren't going to practice?"

Stiles sighed, "No, we got detention… Dylan was being an ass in math class and we all ended up with detention."

"What? That's not fair!" he cried, closing his locker. "If Coach hears about any more trouble he might bench you for the whole season."

"I'm already benched for the whole season," Stiles mumbled to himself.

"That puts you in danger of getting kicked off entirely then," Isaac told him.

He just rolled his eyes, "Then I could cheer you from the bleachers instead of the bench. Big deal… I'm only on the team because you both wanted to try out and wouldn't let me abstain. I like the game, don't get me wrong but… I'm just not a good player. Plus I hate running! Coach always makes us do Cross Country in the off season- it's torture!"

"You aren't going to quit though, right?" Scott asked. This was their thing, something all three of them did together. It was a way to ensure they spent time together, which really, it wasn't like they were going to drift apart as they got older or anything, but it was still nice to have a group hobby.

"No I'm not going to quit, and I don't actually want Coach to kick me off the team. I'm just a complainer, you know that. But you get to practice and tell him where we are, we've got to go before we get in trouble."

"I'll see you after practice then," Scott said glumly, how was he supposed to get through practice with both of his brothers gone?

*Detention*

Mr. Harris sighed as the two Stilinski brothers walked into detention- no way was he going to allow them to be together. But he'd gotten the note from Mrs. Brane as well and putting Isaac and Dylan together would result in a fight, so he'd have to keep them busy some other way. Once he was fairly certain that all the trouble makers were present, Harris started calling roll.

"Okay, so the principal has given me permission to try something new today. I figure since the lot of you want to disrupt class, we'll be giving you some labor to do. I see a few familiar faces in here so obviously just sitting here after school for an hour isn't enough of a punishment for you."

A few of the kids looked around in confusion, wondering what exactly he meant. Stiles was fairly certain Harris was lying- no way was the principal going to okay a group of trouble makers doing random labor around campus… right?

"I've made a list of things that need to be done and I expect them to be done! You'll be working in pairs- No, Stilinski you won't be with your brother, obviously."

Isaac looked up, worried, his control still felt really shaky- what if he got paired with someone that said the wrong thing?

"Stilinskis, I know I can't pair either of you with Mr. Moore, so Isaac, you'll be with Miss Watanabe, Stiles, with Mr. Brown," Mr. Harris stated, giving them a look to ensure they knew it wasn't up for debate. He then went on to finish pairing up the rest of the group.

The boys both waited until Harris wasn't looking to sag with relief, Ran was the safe choice- she wouldn't do anything to upset Isaac. They sat around and waited, Mr. Harris giving each group instructions on where they were to go and what they'd be doing. After he dismissed them, telling them to be back within the hour or risk another detention. Isaac and Ran got to clean out the small janitor's closet on the second floor; luckily enough, Stiles and his partner were going to be on the second floor as well, cleaning one of the Biology classrooms. The four of them dashed up the stairs, wanting to hurry and clean so they could just go back to detention.

Ran sighed and opened the closet, reaching in to flick the light switch but nothing happened.

"Are you serious?" Isaac groaned. "Guess the first thing we're doing is looking for a light bulb…"

Ran sighed and nodded, opening the door all the way, glad that it didn't automatically close like the classroom doors. The light from the hallway lit up the small space so it would be fine until they found a working bulb.

"I'll uh, take this side… Sorry by the way… you're in detention because of me… Dylan is mad at me."

His companion frowned and shook her fist over her open palm, right Stiles, that was how she Signed Stiles. It was Stiles that Dylan had been harassing in class, not him.

"He's taking it out on Stiles, but it's my fault. I hurt Andrew, one of the guys on the team, and since I'm a starter he won't risk hurting me. So instead he's going after my brother," Isaac explained.

She wanted to tell him that Dylan was being a jackass but he didn't know enough ASL and she'd left her pens in her backpack, so all she could do was give him a sympathetic pat on his back.

Isaac cleared his throat, not wanting to dwell on earlier, lest he get angry again. So the two of them started to silently look through everything in the closet, organizing as they went- might as well kill two birds with one stone. Organize while they searched. They'd been at it a few minutes when suddenly the door slammed shut and there was the sound of a chair being lodged against the handle.

Ran made a disgruntled noise as she tried to push the door open but whoever had blocked it did a good job. She started pounding on the door, hoping a nearby teacher would hear and come let them out.

Next to her, Isaac went silent, heart racing. He'd been okay when the door slammed shut and they were trapped in the dark, but when Ran had started pounding on the door… his brain flashed back to when he was little, all the times he's clawed at the freezer door, crying to be let out. He shifted, terrified of being back with his father, needing to get out NOW. He leapt at the door and started clawing at it, pitiful whines coming from his throat; in his haste to get out he didn't think about the handle. It was like he was a kid again, defenseless and unable to escape.

Ran was knocked aside as Isaac scrambled to the door, was he afraid of the dark? There were splintering sounds as Isaac attacked the door in his hurry to get out. Blindly, she reached out to touch his shoulder, hoping to comfort him but Isaac jumped at the contact. He turned and snarled at her, golden eyes bright in the dark space as they looked at her. Ran screamed, the shine from his eyes illuminating enough of his face for her to know she wasn't safe in here with him.

'Get out, let me out!' Isaac chanted in his mind over and over as he pitifully attacked the door. Suddenly something touched his shoulder and Isaac jumped, terrified. Camden was in here too? He wasn't alone? Isaac turned hoping to see his brother, feeling comforted but the face that he saw wasn't his brother's and he snarled, surprised. His mind was still trying to piece together who was in the freezer with him, unsure if she was a threat, when she suddenly screamed and pulled away from him. It was the scream that finally brought him to his senses, the shrill noise ripping through the haze in his mind. He wasn't 6, he wasn't trapped in the basement, he was at school, 16… with Ran. And he was shifted. Even in the pitch black room, he was able to see, his clawed hands coming up to his face. Ran screamed again, holding her hands out in front of her. Isaac whimpered and immediately backed away, giving her space- letting her know he wasn't dangerous.

-Meanwhile-

"Dude, I don't remember leaving this much of a mess behind when we started dissecting stuff," Stiles grumbled, wiping down the tables. Seriously, Mr. Hill had always stopped class ten minutes early so they could have time to clean up last semester! This teacher obviously didn't care much about them not leaving a mess… Or maybe it had something to do with Harris. He probably told as many teachers as possible to leave their classes messy after 6th period!

"Yea, this is seriously gross," Stiles companion, Chad, agreed.

Suddenly a scream rang out, both boys stopping and looking out towards the hall.

"What the hell?" Chad wondered.

Stiles narrowed his eyes, it wasn't likely that a girl was getting assaulted, that would be way too bold, wouldn't it? Then he realized who else was on this floor with them- Ran and Isaac! Without a word, Stiles tore out of the classroom, just as Ran screamed again; he followed the sound down the hall, hoping Isaac hadn't lost control.

-Closet-

Isaac was whimpering pitifully, unsure of how to show Ran he wasn't going to hurt her; his heart was racing so it wasn't like he could just shift back. He slid to the floor, covering his face with his monstrous hands. How were they going to fix this?

Ran had pressed herself into the corner, trying to make herself as small as possible, heart hammering against her ribs. But Isaac didn't attack her, instead he curled up and looked away from her. He was making some strange noises though and Ran wasn't sure if he was safe to approach or not, figuring if she startled him again he'd lash out. So she stayed pressed into the corner, hardly daring to breathe. She heard someone calling out their names and tears of relief streamed down her cheeks, they were going to find her. But Isaac heard the voice as well and stood up suddenly, looking at her again.

Stiles was coming! He must have heard Ran, he could get her out of here, maybe explain things… but what… what if Stiles got mad at him? Ran was his friend, and Isaac was the monster… he started to hyperventilate, mind coming up with hundreds of negative possibilities in the few long seconds it took for Stiles to get to the door. It was like his dad had always yelled at him- he was a mistake! A fuck up, even at 6 years old. Now here he was, endangering someone close to Stiles. Isaac felt his control slipping again as his Wolf freaked out, wanting to protect itself from any possible harm, if Stiles was mad, he'd try to hurt the monster. He reached out and pulled Ran out of the corner, shoving her towards the door, needing her to get out, get safe.

She heard the chair scrape against the floor, she was almost free. But then she felt a strong hand grip her arm and she screamed- Ran had taken her eyes off of Isaac for a second, waiting for the door to open. She had no idea what he wanted with her but she didn't have time to register anything as she was pushed towards the door. Thankfully it opened before she was slammed into the splintered wood. Instead she was suddenly in Stiles's arms and the door slammed shut behind her. Ran cried and clung to Stiles, heart and mind both racing.

"You aren't hurt right? Are you okay?" Stiles asked, trying to examine her as she held onto him. Ran collapsed and Stiles sunk to the floor with her, arms wrapped around her as he looked towards the closed door. "Isaac?"

A snarl answered him and Ran flinched away from the sound.

"No, this isn't… this isn't Isaac… he wouldn't…" Stiles mumbled to himself, lost as to why Isaac had snarled. Was it a warning? Even if Isaac had lost that much control over his Wolf, he'd never attack Stiles. Never, he was sure of it. Did Ran do something to upset him? Did he want Stiles to take her away so he could calm down? And who had locked them in there in the first place?

Ran stood and tried to pull her friend away from the door, still unsure as to why Isaac wasn't attacking them. But they should escape while they still could.

"No… I have to help him, Isaac are you okay?" Stiles asked, nearing the door. When Ran whimpered, he turned to reassure her. "Isaac didn't mean it, honest. He won't hurt us, he won't. I just need to calm him down."

Ran wiped at her eyes, so Stiles knew what was going on with his brother… knew what he was. She looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity but she could still hear the low growls coming from Isaac as well. She crept closer to Stiles, hiding behind his back, fingers clutching at his shirt. Ran wasn't going to let him face Isaac alone, even if she was absolutely terrified of what she'd see when he opened the door.

Satisfied that Ran wasn't going to run off and call the cops, Stiles turned back to the door. "Isaac, it's me, Stiles, tell me what happened, please? Let me in, I can help." He reached out and twisted the handle, relieved when he realized that Isaac wasn't offering resistance anymore. The growls had stopped. He opened the door and saw Isaac curled up on the floor, clawed hands covering his face. Gently, he pulled Ran from behind him and gently moved her against the wall, not wanting her to join him in the closet. Then Stiles slowly stepped in and whispered to his brother. "Hey, come here, come here, it's okay now."

Isaac peeked through his fingers, afraid to face his brother. He'd almost hurt Ran and then he'd actually snarled at Stiles… He couldn't help himself, Isaac had gotten so worked up, thinking that Stiles was going to be mad, or disappointed in him and his Wolf had started to feel threatened. His Wolf was waiting for an attack. But Stiles didn't look mad, he didn't smell mad. He just had his arms open, gesturing for Isaac to hug him. Instantly Isaac flew off of the floor and tackled Stiles, burying his face in Stiles chest. He jumped when he heard a yelp come from beside them.

"It's okay Ran, he isn't hurting me, he isn't attacking," Stiles assured her. He hadn't been expecting Isaac to come at him with that much force. It had probably looked alarming from an outside perspective. He ran his fingers through Isaac's hair to calm him down, other arm wrapped around his back.

"W-what?" Ran stammered out in a quiet voice. She couldn't hold it in, her need for answers overriding her penchant for silence. Even though he'd done his best to hide his face, Ran had caught a glimpse of it.

"Werewolf," was all Stiles said in response. He'd managed to shift the two of them into a sitting position and sat so Isaac was shielded from Ran, knowing that his brother was feeling awful about what had happened. He reached out for her as she hurried to scoot away from them, "He isn't a monster! He just-" but Ran had stood and was running down the hall.

Isaac curled up tighter against Stiles, tears rolling down his cheeks, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, please don't hate me!"

Stiles felt his heart crack at his sorrowful tone. "Isaac, I know it was an accident, and Ran wasn't hurt, there was no blood. It was an accident. You're my brother, do… do you really think I'd hate you?"

"I just.. I heard you calling out and I got scared. Ran is your friend and she's Human and if I had hurt her the Argents would come after me. I thought I had disappointed you, that I'd done something bad and I got so worried! I didn't mean to snarl at you, I didn't!"

"I know that. I wasn't worried that you'd attack me, I was worried about you when I heard you snarl," Stiles explained. He'd started to rock them back and forth, counting his lucky stars that no one else had bothered to come and see what was going on… "I thought maybe you'd lost control, that you were warning me that Ran had upset you. But if you had lost control, I'm your Anchor, I needed to be in there with you to help you."

"My Wolf just kinda freaked out, with the thoughts racing through my head, he wanted to make sure you weren't going to try and hurt me."

Stiles was about to ask what had caused the episode in the first place when they heard footsteps coming towards them. Thankfully, as Isaac looked up in fear, Stiles saw that he had shifted back. "We'll come up with something, it will be okay."

"What the hell is going on here?" Mr. Harris called out, Ran and Chad both standing next to him. "Mr. Brown here came running in talking about hearing screaming and then Miss Watanabe all but yanked me out of my chair and pulled me up here. What happened to the door?!"

Isaac flinched at his tone, a part of his mind still thinking back to his father and the hell he went through all those years ago.

"Mr. Harris please stop yelling. I'm not sure what happened, Isaac hasn't exactly been able to explain just yet. I heard screaming and when I got here, there was a chair jammed under the closet door, keeping Ran and Isaac stuck in the room…"

Mr. Harris took in the scene, even he couldn't deny that Isaac had a faraway look in his eyes as his brother sat on the floor rocking him.

"I was back in the freezer," Isaac whispered.

Stiles sucked in a breath and hugged his brother tighter; Chad and Ran looked at each other confused, but Harris sighed… someone must have locked them in there. A quick glance into the small space and Harris knew that it must have triggered the poor boy. The light hadn't worked in there for weeks now, there was a short somewhere and if he'd been suddenly trapped in a small dark space, it would have brought all that racing back. What had happened to the Laheys ten years ago wasn't a big secret, and as much as he disliked the brothers for causing trouble, even he had sympathy.

"Go get your things and take him home. The rest of us won't speak of this, is that clear?" he asked the two other teens. Chad and Ran both nodded, still confused but not wanting to piss Harris off.

"Thank you," Stiles said, standing and keeping his taller brother tucked under his arm. Isaac stared at the floor, hurrying past the trio and holding his brother; they'd have to tell Laura about this… Who knew what Ran might say about the situation. The boys grabbed their bags and went out to the Jeep, Isaac pausing as he climbed in.

"What about Scott?"

"He still has practice for awhile… I'll text him and let him know what's up. But I'm taking you home, I can come back and pick him up when practice is over," Stiles answered, starting the car.

The ride home was quiet, Isaac not quite ready to talk about it, even though he knew Stiles deserved a clearer answer than what he'd mumbled to Harris. But Stiles didn't ask, not even as he helped Isaac up to his room and curled up with him on the bed. He just held him, rubbing his back.

"I… I don't know who did it, we were just going through everything when suddenly the door closed. It was dark because the light wasn't working… I was okay at first but then, Ran started banging on the door because she couldn't open it. I just… remembered. I was a kid again and I was begging to be let out of the freezer, kicking at the door and crying. I… I must have shifted- I freaked out and just started attacking the door, trying to get out. When Ran saw me she screamed… probably the glowing eyes or something," Isaac started, voice emotionless. "It was the scream that brought me back, I… I was shifted but like, the Wolf wasn't really in control? It was more like I was just terrified and my Wolf was trying to help me escape. So when Ran screamed I didn't try to attack her, I didn't feel threatened by her… I guess. I realized she was scared because of me, so I tried to stay away from her, since I couldn't talk… I just curled up. Then I heard you calling and at first I was relieved but the bad thoughts started then. I got so worked up and I felt the Wolf freaking out- I didn't know what it might do! Since I knew you were close I pushed her towards the door, I knew I had to get her out before I hurt her. Then I closed the door. I was so happy when I saw that you weren't mad at me."

"Like I said earlier, I was just worried. I had no idea what had set you off or how to fix it. Ran was terrified but I knew I had to get to you, help you calm down. What kind of bad thoughts, you mentioned the Argents?"

Isaac nodded, "It's all kinda blurred together now but I remember thinking that you'd be disappointed in me or… or think I was a monster. I remember hearing my dad yelling at me, saying I was a fuck up and that no one would love me… We've been through hell together-I know that but I couldn't push those thoughts away. So I got scared that you'd take Ran's side and try to hurt me or something. That was why I snarled, since the Wolf part of me didn't want to get hurt."

"But… with that in mind, you still didn't try to defend yourself when I opened the door. Because you would never hurt me, I wasn't afraid Isaac. You aren't a monster and I love you," Stiles assured him, rubbing his nose against Isaac's cheek.

"I'm scared, what if Ran tells someone?"

Stiles shook his head, "I don't think she will… but even if the Argents do find out about it, you didn't hurt her at all. You've done nothing wrong."

"Don't let them hurt me," Isaac whispered.

"I won't let anyone hurt you. I promised to protect you all those years ago and I won't go back on that now."

*Argent-Hale Meeting*

Laura sighed with relief when her phone finally went off, Victoria's name popping up on her screen. Cora and Derek still weren't back yet but they had messaged her a bit ago saying they were still okay. She grabbed up her stuff and sent out a mental howl, calling them back. Within seconds they responded so they must have been shifted- it was easier to respond in shifted form than Human form. She locked the room and waited by the Camaro, wishing for once they'd thought to bring the truck- the Camaro was so flashy... It didn't take long for her siblings to appear, both of them with dirt smudged faces.

"Get in my wild children, we have a meeting," she laughed.

"Shotgun!" Cora called, suddenly racing forward and climbing into the front seat.

"Brat!" Derek groaned, sliding into the backseat. "But now that means I can do this," he commented, reaching around her headrest and flicking her ear.

Laura rolled her eyes, "No messing around while the car is in motion or no toys!" She was glad they were in a better mood- who knew what kind of news the Argents were going to give them.

"So, where are we meeting them?" Derek asked, sliding back into a broody mood.

"Some diner downtown; Chris promised that the mole is accounted for as well as his sister. This is the safest time to meet up.

Cora perked up, "They think they found out who was passing on info to Gerard?"

"Sounded like it in the message but we'll find out more when we get there."

-Diner-

The three Hales easily spotted their companions, joining them at a booth; surprisingly there was a third person with them.

"Who is this?" Laura asked.

"My most trusted man, the one that helped me figure out who the mole was. I brought him here so you can ask him questions yourself."

"How did you figure it out? You haven't had much time," Cora noted.

Chris shrugged, "At first it was easy, out of all the men in town, only 6 were with me that night we first spoke. One was knocked out cold by Derek and had to be carried back to the SUVs so he was out. Funnily enough he would have been my first choice since he is the most recent man sent to us, from my father's usual helpers. Turns out he's plenty faithful, just not hateful enough for my father. Really, the only reason I found out so fast was because of Brandon here. Go on, tell them what you told me."

"Well I didn't think much of it at first, not until Chris approached me the other day. That same night as the meeting, I overheard Oliver on the phone, mentioning Gerard's name clearly. It isn't rare for various Argents and their soldiers to contact each other. What is rare is for Gerard Argent himself to conduct business with us soldiers."

"So even if it's rare, what proof do you have he is the mole?" Laura asked, listening to his heart carefully.

"He was recounting the night's events, which is really the only reason I'd stopped to listen. I was manning the second search in town for the Rogue and hadn't yet been briefed. This wasn't the usual recounting, he was standing at full attention, sparing no detail. Already I thought that odd, the amount of detail but I listened regardless. It wasn't until the end that I heard him say 'Yes, of course Mister Gerard, I'll tell you as soon as I get word' and he hung up. That caught my attention but I didn't make the connection of a mole until it was brought to my attention," Brandon finished.

"That is a compelling argument, although surely you have more?" Derek asked.

Victoria smiled, "Of course. It isn't rare that I invite our men to dinner every few nights, just so they don't have to cook for themselves. We swiped his phone while he was busy eating- Brandon here has very deft hands. Oliver isn't as cautious of a man as he should be, since he was surrounded by his comrades. He never cleared his call logs and he had Gerard in his phone by name, not under an alias. Apparently Oliver had been reporting back to Gerard for most of the year, before we even got word of the Rogue. He's planning something and we don't know the larger picture yet. But it became obvious to us that he wanted us to come to Beacon Hills for a reason-"

"That makes no sense… he's kept tabs on us since we left. He wants to get rid of us so if he knew we were heading back here, he would have sent Kate in the first place. She should have been here ahead of us, ready to slaughter us," Laura cut in.

"But he still sent her anyways, she's here now!" Cora growled, making sure to keep her voice low enough to not disturb the others in the diner.

"Is that what you were talking about, before? You mentioned something about 'giving Gerard the ammunition he needs,' do you think he really means to finish off the Hales?" Victoria asked.

Laura sighed, "We caught one of the men following us around a few years ago, persuaded him into telling us why he was there. He said that Wolves have no place in this world and it will bring Gerard great pleasure to wipe us all out one day. They never made a move, only occasionally we'd see someone outside our home. I think this has to do with the larger picture you're talking about. He's scheming something, and he sent Kate here to remind us of our place. But he also sent you here for a reason, and we need to figure out what that is…"

*Stilinski House, Later*

Isaac sighed when he heard their dad pull up, that meant Mom would be home soon and then Stiles would tell them about their day. Scott had been angry enough, sure that Dylan had been behind it somehow. Isaac of course was ready to blame him as well but Stiles said it couldn't have been him. Dylan and his partner were the lucky ones that got to clean the detention room under Harris's watchful eye. No way Dylan had managed to leave to go mess with Isaac.

"Do we really have to tell them?" Isaac asked for the third time.

"Yes, because they won't just let us stay home from school for no reason. You're still shaky Bro," Stiles answered in a soft voice. Even now, Isaac would flinch if one of them made even a moderately loud noise and his eyes were constantly darting around. He might feel better tomorrow but Stiles figured he deserved a break.

When Stiles had gone back to pick up Scott, Coach pulled him aside as well- Harris had told him of the incident. Stiles hadn't questioned why, it wasn't like Coach was going to blab about it or anything. Coach just wanted to make sure Isaac was okay, saying that if he needed a day off from practice, he'd understand. Stiles didn't bother to tell him that he was planning on having all three of them take a day.

"You boys staying out of trouble?" John asked, leaning in the open doorway.

Scott smiled, "Of course."

"Put on some decent clothes, Mom wants to go out to eat tonight."

All three boys smiled and celebrated.

-after dinner-

"Hey Mom, Dad, since we've been good… I was wondering if we could ask you something?" Stiles said, standing in the hall as they took off their jackets.

John narrowed his eyes, "What kind of favor are we talking here?"

"Before I explain, you have to promise to listen to the whole thing, fair?" Stiles asked.

Both parents nodded, already suspicious but they'd let him share the whole story.

"Okay so this all ties back to the Andrew thing, his friend Dylan is super pissed about the whole thing. He's said some nasty comments and tried to hit me with a lacrosse ball while I was running laps-"

"He threw it right at his head!" Scott clarified.

"Well thank goodness he missed, what did Coach say?" Melissa asked.

Isaac scowled, "He didn't miss. I caught the ball. It would have hit Stiles right in the temple if Scott hadn't alerted us. I'm just glad I was pacing with Stiles and was able to catch it."

Stiles cleared his throat, not wanting Isaac to dwell on that part, "So anyways, Coach did notice and yelled at Dylan for it. But today he was still being a total butt about it. He's in math class with Isaac and me and he snatched my quiz back and started making fun of my grade-"

John cut in, "I thought you said you were doing better in Algebra?"

"I got a B on it!" Stiles said, totally irked at the interruptions. "Totally not the point, he wouldn't give me my quiz back and we ended up causing a scene and all of us got detention-"

"Stiles…"

"No interruptions, you promised!"

"You're right, sorry," John amended, holding his hands up.

Stiles continued, "So, we go to detention, but Mr. Harris tells us that we're going to be the school's personal cleaning crew today for some reason. We all get put into pairs and off we go. Um… Isaac was told to clean the janitor's closet on the second floor. I was second floor as well um… I heard screaming and a pounding on the door. Apparently the light in the room wasn't working and some assholes went by and trapped Isaac and Ran in there. They jammed a chair under the handle-"

"I freaked out," Isaac admitted, deciding to cut to the chase. "It's been years but my mind flashed back…to the… freezer… Thankfully Stiles was nearby and figured out what was going on but, I was a mess. Harris actually let us out of detention early, that's how bad it was."

"Oh…" Melissa hurried forward and hugged her son, pulling him down to her shoulder.

Isaac wrapped his arms around her, tears leaking from his eyes. Even now, hours later, he was still envisioning himself as a little child again.

"Come on, in the kitchen," Melissa whispered, easily steering him into a chair.

Within moments, she set a warm mug of tea in front of him, sitting beside him, and just being a comforting presence. Isaac sighed and took a sip, holding the mug in both hands. He just sat there with Melissa while Stiles tried to talk their dad into letting them stay home. The mug was nice and warm in his hands and Isaac tried to let it ease his mind but his dad's voice wouldn't go away. 'Just breathe Isaac' he told himself- suddenly he heard a crack. The warm tea spilled over his hands as he opened his eyes, he had clenched and ended up breaking the mug. Isaac immediately ducked his head and shut his eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"

Melissa, who had gotten up to grab a towel, dropped it on the floor and hurried to his side. She gently grabbed his face and turned him so he was facing her. "Isaac, it was an accident, you're okay. Just calm down, you're okay. No one is going to hurt you here."

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that Melissa's first concern was him and not the mess on the table. He fell out of the chair and into her arms, "I don't want to go anywhere tomorrow, don't make me go! I don't know if I'll be okay by tomorrow…"

"See Dad… we can't leave him alone like this…" Stiles whispered.

John nodded as Melissa looked over at him, concern in her eyes. "You're right, today was obviously a lot harder on him than we thought. We'll call the school in the morning. You're still getting the homework lists and doing it!"

"That's fine, I'd rather not fall behind anyways," Scott admitted.

"You can stay home Isaac, you can relax," Melissa reassured Isaac.

"Thank you," he mumbled against her shoulder.