Stiles looked around the diner and ran a hand through his wet hair, wiping the wet hand on the arm of his jacket as the waitress, Anna, waved them over. She recognized them- it felt like another lifetime since the last time they were here together.
"Your usual booth just opened up", she said cheerfully, grabbing two menus. "Come with me, I'll get your usual coffee and some extra paper napkins for you guys to write on."
He slid in his side of the booth and shrugged off his jacket. "Thanks", he said it with a surprised tone. It was weird how she remembered when he almost didn't.
***Flash***
"It's 10 at night and we're at a diner that's known for its breakfast. Why are we here again?" Derek asked
"Because the waitress already knows us and has probably heard weird stuff coming from this booth, and hasn't questioned it or kicked us out yet", Stiles told him, pulling out a pen and clicking it as he pulled a napkin from the dispenser and jotting down some descriptions before pointing the pen at Derek. "Also, breakfast for dinner is the dream. Don't ruin it."
Derek look at him, amused. "You have really odd aspirations."
"It's what makes me loveable", Stiles replied cheerfully, writing down some more descriptions before turning the napkin to the side and pushing it towards the center of the table. "Okay. So the way I figure, we need to figure out who's in charge. And the only way we're going to do that is if we write down as much as we know and go from there."
"We've only seen four or five of them", Derek pointed out. "Whoever is in charge, they're powerful. The pack has to be bigger than that."
"My money's on the blind guy", Stiles said, circling that description on the napkin and pulling out another one. "It's always the blind guy in the comic books. If we find someone who's paralyzed from the waist down, it'll be a toss up."
"I don't think we're going to find someone paralyzed from the waist down", Derek replied, grabbing the pot of coffee that was set down in front of them five minutes ago and pouring himself a cup.
"Why, because of the healing?" Stiles asked. "Because there's a blind guy, Derek. If that's a thing, paralysis can't be impossible. Hey, did you think you were going to regrow your arm last year? Can you guys do that?"
***End Flash***
"Can you make it decaf?" He heard Derek asking Anna.
"Sure", she answered, leaving them before Stiles could reply.
"So you're ordering for me now?" He asked, opening up the menu and not reading it. He shook his head once. "I don't need the coddling. We don't have time for this." He looked up as the waitress set down the pot of decaf and napkins, smiling before she turned around and walked away.
He set aside the menu and pulled out the territory map, carefully smoothing it out on the table. It was still damp, the red dots still blurring together and creating streaks on the page.
"We're making time", Derek replied. Stiles watched as he set a mug in front of himself and then in front of Stiles next to the map, pouring liquid in both cups before grabbing some sugar for his own.
Stiles pushed his cup away so that it wasn't anywhere near the map. He wondered if Cora had a hairdryer back at the loft, if he could borrow it to dry it off. He glanced over at Derek, whose hair was dried off, looking just like it always did. His own hair was probably sticking up in different places. Unfair.
"Everyone's mad at you right now", Derek continued. "You're going to want to give them time to cool off, and you're going to want the excuse to leave."
He looked up from the map. "I can handle it."
"Lydia almost called your father, did you know that?" Derek asked. "She had a lot of extreme theories as to what was going on with you."
Stiles rolled his eyes. Lydia did that sometimes on purpose to get him to stop doing something or to get other people moving. Looked like it worked on Derek. She usually avoided Peter and Cora, so he had no idea if it worked on them too.
"Who else did it work on?" He asked Derek, his eyes still on the map.
"There was a lot that you didn't tell Isaac or Boyd. Boyd was mostly quiet, just listened. Isaac yelled. A lot."
Stiles raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like Isaac to yell. "At whom?"
"Peter and Cora. They're on your side."
"They know what's important", Stiles replied evenly.
Derek sipped on his coffee quietly, giving Stiles a disappointed look as he did so. He could feel Derek's eyes on him.
He looked up for a second. "Okay, what?" Stiles asked
"You're the person who brings up the fact that Peter's up to no good", Derek told him setting the cup down. "You're the one who reminds me that he can't be trusted, the one who reminds me what he did."
"He's not manipulating me", Stiles responded. "It took a long time to get Peter to be a team player, but he's there."
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he wants you to think that so that you'll trust him?"
"You sound like Lydia", Stiles commented.
"Smart girl."
***Flash***
"You said that you heard Laura screaming in your head." He watched as Peter's laughing expression fell and he froze. "I want to know when the screaming goes away."
Peter was silent for a moment. "I don't know", he answered, putting a hand on Stiles' shoulder. "I'll let you know when I do."
***End Flash***
"He understands what he did better than anyone else, okay?" Stiles told him.
Derek was shaking his head. "Stiles, can you just look at me?" He asked in a pained tone.
Stiles looked up. "Yeah, what's up?"
"You're not going back out there tonight. You might as well put it away."
"So you're ordering for me and telling me what to do, now, is that it?" Stiles asked.
"Is this the part where you tell me once again that you're the one in charge?"
"Are you going to shoot red eyes at me and say 'I'm the Alpha'? Because I'm not a Beta that you can control, Derek."
Derek let out a frustrated breath and grabbed the map before Stiles could, putting it on his side of the table. Stiles tried to reach for it, but Derek grabbed his wrist in mid-air and set his hand back down on the table, keeping Stiles' hand there.
"What do you think you're going to do, Derek? You're going to punch through the wall?"
"You're going to find the answers that you're looking for", Derek told him, pulling him away from his thoughts. "But you're not going to find them this way and you're not going to find them today."
But he had to. It had to be today.
***Flash***
"It healed", Scott said, both surprised and disappointed.
"Ah...thank God", Stiles replied, still wincing and holding an ice pack to his head. "I hated it." He saw the look on Scott's face. "Sorry", he covered up.
***Flash***
"For not calling or texting Allison all summer", Scott explained. "Even when I really wanted to. Even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was just trying to give her the space she wants. Now I'm four months later, it still hurts."
***End Flash***
"Derek", Stiles breathed. "Let go."
There was an alarmed look in Derek's eyes. He held up his hands. "What's wrong?"
Stiles grabbed his jacket and slid out of the booth as fast as he could, almost running out the door. All he felt was a giant urgency to leave, but the second he could feel the rain on his face again, he stopped in place. Derek could werewolf-run his way back home, but he didn't want Derek to run through the pouring rain.
***Flash***
"What's Jackson doing here?" Stiles asked
"He's moving to London", Peter told him. "Derek wants to make sure he can control shifting by then. I offered to do it, but for some reason, Jackson just punches me. It's the weirdest thing, I'm usually so popular at parties."
"You don't think it has anything to do with the fact that you attacked and possessed Lydia? Or that you helped Derek kill him?"
"Maybe a little column A, little column B", Peter shrugged. "We're trying to track down Erica and Boyd. Is Scott around here? What happened to your face?"
"He's with Isaac", Stiles replied, slightly irritated by how often he was using that answer.
He was mad that Scott never pushed and asked about the bruises, that Scott didn't notice that he was lying to him about where he was. He was mad that Scott didn't notice that he hadn't been sleeping, he was mad that Isaac could relate to what Scott was going through more than Stiles could. He was mad that he had to apologize to Derek on Scott's behalf for forcing him to bite Gerard, and that it never occurred to Scott that it was wrong.
He looked in the distance where Derek had thrown Jackson across the forest and winced as Jackson landed on the ground. "Nothing screams bonding like beating the crap out of each other", he told Peter sarcastically.
"In this family, it's like a hug", Peter answered cheerfully as Derek offered a hand to pull Jackson up.
He wanted to joke with Peter, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before he left them all for dead. "What was killing Laura?" Stiles asked. "A big reunion party?"
"Yeah, and you throwing a molotov cocktail at me was us becoming best friends."
"Fair enough", Stiles mumbled, turning over to the book Peter was reading. "Figured out anything about the Alpha pack yet?"
***End Flash***
There was a hand on his shoulder. "Stiles, what happened?"
He was shaking his head as he turned to face Derek. It was something that had been in the back of his mind for months, something that he had been actively trying to not think about.
Stiles put his shaking hands in his pockets so that Derek wouldn't see them. "I wasn't just thirty seconds late", he realized.
"What are you talking about?"
"That night at the Motel. I kept telling myself that if I had only gotten there thirty seconds sooner, then maybe Scott would still be alive."
"Stiles…"
"Maybe if I took all of the flares from the bus so Scott couldn't take the last one, or if I had just left the twins there to die, I could have saved him."
"Or we could have lost all of you", Derek told him. "The Darach would have killed all of you."
Stiles shook his head. "What if it wasn't the Darach?" he said tentatively, almost afraid to look Derek in the eyes. "What if Ms. Morell and my Dad and the autopsy report, and the whole town- what if they're right? What if Scott actually killed himself? It's supposed to be his birthday tonight, what if he's not here because he was depressed about Allison and I never picked up on it because I wasn't there?"
"You didn't abandon him", Derek told him. There was a lot of certainty in his voice, a steadiness to it.
"I spend so much time being mad at him and trying to keep him away from all of this", Stiles shouted at Derek over a sudden clap of thunder. "I never would have done that if I knew he was going to die a couple of months later, if I knew he was going to commit suicide! I've known him since we were little kids- Isaac never would have been able to pick up on it, but I could have, I should have! We could have talked about it, I could have tried to stop him."
Stiles was panting, like just saying the words were exhausting his body, like the rain was drowning him. He was vaguely reminded of being paralyzed on the floor, trying desperately to call 911, but his fingers failing on him.
He looked over at Derek, waiting for the same look that he got from Lydia, the worried look, the one that he got from his Dad and Melissa. But Derek's face was expressionless, his hair dripping with the rain again.
"Punch me."
"What?"
He looked down as Derek grabbed his wrist and held his hand out, touching his fingers to curl them.
"Let's see that fist. Big old fist. Make it. Come on. Get it out there, don't be scared."
"It's my fault, isn't it?" Derek asked. "You're not mad at yourself, you're mad at me, remember? Punch me. I took you away from Scott this summer, didn't I? I asked you to help me look for Erica and Boyd."
Stiles shook his head. "You wanted Scott too", he reasoned. You told me to tell him the truth, that he needed to know. I'm the one who didn't want to pull him into all of this again."
"And I had no problem letting you pull yourself into it", Derek told him. "You wanted Scott to live like a normal teenager on summer vacation, and I wanted that as well. But I wouldn't let you have it too."
Stiles tried to pull back his arm, but Derek kept his hand in place. "I'm not going to hurt you", he answered.
"I'll heal. I should have turned you away every single time you showed up for your own good. It would have been the right call. And I shouldn't have left town. Because it's the same thing, isn't it? You pulled yourself in deeper into this, and I could have pulled you out, but I didn't."
Stiles closed his eyes for a second. Derek was taunting him. None of it was true, he wouldn't have manipulated him into being like this. It wasn't some sort of grand plan. But then again, maybe he didn't know Derek at all.
"Stop it", he let out.
"And right when everything had a rhythm and a routine, I came back in and ruined it for you. I came back and now Isaac's losing control on the full moon because of me. And you're willing to trust my psychotic uncle, the one who murdered my sister, possessed and attacked Lydia, but you won't trust me. You've known me for two years, and you've known Cora for two seconds, but you trust her over me. I ruined it, didn't I? You've always said that I'm lurking around all of the time, coming out of nowhere? Maybe I should have stopped Scott. Maybe I should have showed up again to save him."
Stiles felt his eyes flash white before turning brown again. "Derek", he warned.
"And even now, tonight", Derek continued. "You still think that you have time to get back to the Preserve, don't you? You're waiting for the map to dry up, but since we're out here, you have to wait longer. You're waiting for everything to make sense again so that you can get back out here. But I'm not letting you, am I? I'm keeping you here, I'm in the way. I'm the one thing that's stopping you from getting answers."
"Shut up!" Stiles exclaimed, punching Derek in the stomach. Stiles immediately covered up his hand and winced in pain. "Son of a bitch!" He muttered, looking over at Derek, who had cracked a small smile, with both hands on his stomach.
"I'm sorry", Stiles rushed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. Are you okay?"
"I wanted you to", Derek told him, straightening up, his hands back to the side. "The Darach killed him, Stiles. Scott didn't kill himself."
"You don't know that", Stiles answered.
"Yes I do. Just like I know I would rather you blame me instead of blaming yourself."
Stiles shook his head. "You shouldn't have done that."
"-Years of guilt", Derek interrupted. "The only thing that made me feel better was when Boyd and Cora attacked me in that boiler room. It felt like a long overdue punishment."
Stiles didn't want Derek to have to relive that. He didn't want Derek to feel like being slashed at for hours or punched was the only way to feel better.
"I don't want that for you", Derek finished. "The Darach killed Scott", he repeated.
He wanted to believe it. He wanted to accept it as the truth and move on, but he couldn't. It didn't take away the possibility that they were both wrong.
"Just because you say it doesn't make it true", Stiles responded.
"Had to try."
Stiles paused with his hand on the sliding door of the loft. There were arguing muffled voices.
"You should have gone after him", he heard Lydia saying.
"No, what the two of you should have done was stop him from ever going out there in the first place", Isaac argued.
"What did you want us to do?" Cora asked. "Hold him captive and not let him go home?"
"You didn't know what today was- you're off the hook", he heard Isaac say. There was a slight pause. "But you two?"
"Isaac, calm down." Boyd instructed.
Stiles shook his head, still not opening the door. He didn't want Isaac and Boyd involved with the bad aspects of all of this. He wanted Isaac to remain calm, in control. This shouldn't have gotten out.
"I'm fine", Isaac insisted.
"We're not babysitters", Peter said in a frustrated voice. "Stiles is fine. He didn't go anywhere. We're just waiting on them to come back."
"You two need to get it in gear", Lydia instructed in an annoyed tone. "If he's going to go out there regardless of what we tell him, the least you could do is make sure he has back up."
"So what happens on the next full moon?" Cora inquired. "Everyone just hanging out in here? With two unstable werewolves?"
"Better two unstable werewolves than a pack of Alphas", Lydia shot back.
"He cares too much about everyone here to use magic to defend himself", Cora told her. "What do you think would happen if it came down to him potentially killing one of us with magic or letting one of us accidentally kill him? Do you want him to have to make that decision?"
"So we're just sitting around and doing nothing, is that it?" Isaac demanded. "Maintaining the status quo where Stiles could get killed every month or every time something reminds him of Scott?"
"It was Scott's birthday", Boyd told Isaac. "Stiles didn't just see something on the street that reminded him of Scott and made him react. The chances of this happening again…"
"This isn't the first time he's done something like this", Isaac reminded them. "Remember that time Peter snuck him back into Beacon Hills? Stiles drank so much he passed out."
"Why don't you kill someone?" He heard Peter start. "Kill someone and see the life fade away from every single one of their cells, hear their pulse stop, and then come back and tell me if it wouldn't make you feel better to have a drink."
This wasn't something that they needed to hear.
"Okay", Stiles interrupted, sliding open the door. "Back to your corners, all of you."
Lydia stepped over to him first. He felt her eyes scanning him, looking him over for injuries. "I'm fine", he tried to explain.
"For now", she replied coldly before heading upstairs.
Stiles looked over at the rest of the group and then at Lydia who was climbing the staircase. At least she wasn't storming out of the loft. He ran over to the staircase and started climbing it behind her. Nobody else followed them.
"I guess you're all waiting in line?" He asked them.
Peter rolled his eyes. "She's the one being dramatic." He sat down on the couch and put his legs up on the table, one foot on top of the other. "I'll raise my hand when it's my turn and everything", he promised.
Stiles nodded, chasing up after Lydia. "Come on, don't be mad."
She turned around at the top of the staircase. "What do I tell you to do on most days?" She asked.
"You're going to have to be a little bit more specific", Stiles replied.
"I tell you not to do anything stupid", she answered.
"Ah."
"I keep saying it", she continued, "Because I hope that maybe it'll stick somewhere in that head of yours. So that when you think about doing something so outrageously moronic, you'll think about it for a second and not do it."
He shrugged. "Good intentions?"
"I should have known that you were going to do something stupid today."
"Hey, it wasn't exactly planned", Stiles defended, heading into the bathroom but leaving the door open ¾ of the way. He started going through the drawers, hoping to find a hairdryer somewhere.
"It might as well have been!" She exclaimed. "You didn't get the chance to do what you usually do on the full moon- it was only a matter of time before you went rogue and made it happen anyway, right?"
Stiles pulled out a bottom drawer and pulled the hairdryer out, smiling in triumph before plugging it into the wall as Lydia kept speaking. "I thought something attacked you today, and that the school was going to go up in flames with you in it. Do you want to know what I did? I went back into the building to look for you."
He set the hairdryer down on the counter and turned around, pushing the door open all of the way. What if there was actually a fire?
"Why did you do that?" He demanded
"Stiles, you left in the middle of a test stumbling around like you couldn't breathe. The fire alarm went off a couple of minutes later. What did you think I was going to do?"
"Did you feel it?" He asked
"What?"
He grabbed her shoulders. "You're a banshee, remember? Did you feel it? The need to scream?"
She shook her head, glaring at him. "You're unbelievable. Would you listen to me if I said yes?"
He let go of her shoulders and crossed his arms. "Depends. Are you only saying yes to keep me from going out there?"
They just stood there staring at each other for a couple of minutes. He was calling her bluff, he knew it. He waited for her to break the silence, for the truth to come out.
"Derek found a note when he went by your house today. Wouldn't say what it was about. Do you want to explain?"
"I'm assuming that you didn't feel like screaming."
"Stiles", she whispered. "Did you leave a suicide note? Or a goodbye note? Did you think that you weren't coming back?"
He paused for a moment. "It was a just in case note", he answered, turning around and walking back to the hairdryer. He took out the wet map and unfolded it carefully before plugging in the hairdryer and turning it on, waving the hot air around the map.
Stiles had been trying to turn himself in for so long, always shaky around the house and trying to find a way to lessen the blow but still being here for the pack. Maybe finding answers took precedence over doing the right thing, maybe it took precedence over cleansing his soul. Maybe as long as he took down the Darach and Deucalion, it wouldn't matter how he got there.
Maybe just loving his father, just wanting to protect him and keep him alive was enough. Maybe it mattered more than the lies he told. Stiles was just tired. The fact that he hadn't had caffeine in a while wasn't helping. But he didn't want to leave and go home to bed because it would be the same nightmare over and over again, and repetition didn't make it less terrifying.
The hairdryer suddenly stopped working. He looked over at the outlet, where Lydia was holding the cord. He raised an eyebrow at her.
She dropped the cord. "If something happens and I'm still around, I will tell your father everything."
He nodded, letting out a breath, giving her a weak smile. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck and pulling him down into a hug. "Let us help you so that it doesn't come to that. Packs are stronger when they work together."
Even though he was in charge, it didn't mean that he suddenly had the bite. It didn't make him an Alpha.
He broke off the hug. "I'm not a werewolf."
She shrugged. "Neither am I."
They went downstairs and he waited until Lydia left before he turned to the rest of the group. "Who's next?"
"I would have done the same thing, and you wouldn't have been able to stop me either", Cora told him. "I'm good."
Stiles nodded and looked over at Isaac and Boyd. They were looking at him differently- that was something that he had been afraid of.
***Flash***
"Purity of the soul is the only thing that matters. You understand that, since you are so desperate to preserve the purity of others. It does not count in saving your own soul. It does not clean it."
***End Flash***
Boyd already had a track record of leaving town instead of sticking it out. Stiles couldn't blame him if he wanted to bolt again, even if Boyd had told him that he promised he wouldn't do it again.
How much truth was too much? Stiles wasn't sure which was a worse outcome at this point, them potentially leaving or seeing the looks on their faces. He felt exposed and cold, but maybe it was just the damp clothes.
***Flash***
"You're upset about what we saw."
"It's a little creepy, but I'm fine."
"You're sweating", Boyd pointed out. "Your pulse is higher than normal."
"I'm hungover", Stiles told him, even though the medication was starting to kick in.
***End Flash***
"If you want to leave town, I won't blame you", Stiles spoke quietly. "Or if you just want to leave the group. I'll understand. If you need help in leaving, I'll do the best I can to get you out."
He saw Peter putting his legs down from the table and sitting up like he was about to argue. Derek crossed his arms, as if they were barriers from the statement affecting him.
"That applies to all of you", Stiles said before Peter could react. "It's safer for you all to leave."
"I told you I'm not going anywhere", Boyd answered automatically.
"Neither am I", Derek replied.
"Boyd, you felt guilty for leaving before, and Derek, I threatened you. Isaac, you told Scott that you stayed to win. Peter and Cora, you both believe that it's cowardly to run."
Stiles unzipped his jacket and let it fall to the floor with, clinking as the potion bottles stashed their made contact with each other. "If you all walk right now, everyone is forgiven. No need for guilt, no need for final goodbyes or for threats to be handed out. Nobody loses the game if they quit right now and leave town. Isaac, take Melissa with you. Boyd, the same with your family. Relocate wherever you want or head out on the first flight to London. Jackson will bitch about it for five minutes, but you can stay with him."
"We're not going to London", Peter told him. "Even though I do like Chinese food and my hair is perfect", he pointed out.
"This isn't funny", Stiles replied, trying to put on a serious tone while automatically cracking a small smile. "I want you all to seriously think about it. Whatever you decide, no judgement. Isaac, Boyd, go home before your families worry. It's getting late and it's a weekday."
"What about you?" Isaac asked
"I've got to get going too. I left something upstairs that I have to go pick up. After that, I'll be right out."
He headed back up the stairs again before anybody could respond. He went over to the bathroom and picked up the dried up map. It was stiff to the touch, but the blips were still there, flying all over the place. He turned around and saw Peter standing there, leaning against the corner of the doorway.
"What did you find out?" Peter asked
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't care that you went missing because you came back unscathed", Peter told him. "But I know that you wouldn't have tried to ship us all out of town unless you figured out something."
"And Isaac and Boyd sent you up here to figure out what it is?"
Peter shook his head. "No, they left. Too afraid to ask me for help. Don't know why, I'm always popular at parties." He mused. "Derek's worried about you."
"Why?"
Peter shrugged. "Maybe because you stole his signature move?"
Stiles raised an eyebrow, stepping out of the bathroom with the map in his hand. "What, put both hands on the table, hunch over it, and sigh?"
"No, send people away for their own good", Peter answered. "Only happens when you find out something big."
Stiles walked over to a table and lay the map down on it. "You can't see anything here other than a map, can you?"
Peter followed him and studied it. "No."
"I cast the ritual", Stiles explained. "I don't know if it's always been there or if it's a reaction to it, but there are enemy blips everywhere. There's an army of them."
"Alphas?"
Stiles shook his head. "They're supernatural enemies. I don't know if they're Alphas or if they're something else. Them on top of Deucalion and the Darach." He paused to take a deep breath. "Still want to stick around?" He asked
"Are you sticking around?"
That wasn't an answer that Stiles was expecting. All of the enemies...it didn't change the fact that the Darach had killed Scott. It didn't change his motivation, just the possibility that they would all make it out of there alive. He would get his father out of town, but that was probably not going to happen without a good explanation.
"It doesn't change anything for me", Stiles answered after a moment. "But it wouldn't be fair for me to ask you all to go down with me. It's more me being stupid and stubborn than brave."
Peter nodded. "I'll be here too. I'm pretty sure nobody's going anywhere."
Stiles traced his finger over the map where the school was. There was still a blip there. "Derek and Boyd left. Cora spent half her life somewhere else."
"I've been in this town all my life", Peter told him. "And I already died once. Don't have much to lose."
Stiles nodded. "I can't guarantee that it might not happen again."
"You never did", Peter answered. "Realism is a good quality. I never liked false promises. What can I do?"
Stiles leaned against the table and faced Peter. "How much do you think Deucalion tells the Alphas in his pack?"
"If the numbers are as high as you say they are and we're assuming even half of them are Alphas, probably nothing beyond what they need to know. A circle that big just forming now? I'd say that the important things were told to the ones that we've seen around him. Ennis, the twins, and Kali. His inner circle."
Three out of the four are dead and Stiles still promised Boyd that he would get first crack at Kali. Damn it.
"But the others would know where he is, right? Or at least know his pattern?"
"You want to cut through all of them and just get to him", Peter concluded. "We've tried that once before, Stiles. It didn't work."
"No", Stiles interrupted. "I want to get my hands on an Alpha and get them to leak information.
"What makes you think they're going to say anything? They're loyal to him. They killed off Betas that they turned, and with every single kill, it bound them to Deucalion." Peter answered.
"But he doesn't tell them everything. We can use that."
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
"This", Stiles replied, pointing to the small triskele printed on the bottom right corner of the map. "Alpha, Beta, Omega, right? They're all Alphas, but Deucalion sees them as Betas. What if we separate one, make it feel like it's an Omega? It'll weaken the bond, make them more willing to talk."
"What makes you think that'll be enough?" Peter asked.
***Flash***
"Stilinski", Jackson called out.
"What?" Stiles asked. "You want a goodbye hug? Because I've totally got one with your name on it. Just surprised that you want it."
Jackson rolled his eyes. "Keep an eye on them, will you?"
"Lydia and Danny? Yeah, I've got it."
"All of them", Jackson corrected. "Even McCall. But I haven't seen him lately. Not surprised that you're both technically missing a testicle right now."
Stiles let the comment slide. "Yeah. That I can do."
"Derek too. He's a pain in the ass and he's broken and re-broken every bone in my body, but I wouldn't have been able to learn all of this in time without him."
"I think Derek will be fine once we bring Erica and Boyd back home", Stiles answered.
"He's worried he's running out of people who give a shit about him. One of our first conversations, he used the phrase 'no one cares' enough times for me to figure out that he wasn't just talking about me."
"I give a shit about him", Stiles offered. "So I think he'll be okay."
***End Flash***
Stiles shrugged. "There's nothing worse than feeling like no one's coming to save you."
"If you've learned anything from tonight's communal dramatics, it's that doing this alone is a bad idea", Peter told him.
"It's a small town", Stiles offered. "And we have a map. One of them is bound to repeat themselves."
"What about the one at the school?" Peter suggested.
"I'm pretty sure that's Kali", Stiles explained. "As long as she's nowhere near my father, I'm not going to touch her. Besides, she's in Deucalion's inner circle, right? It'll be harder to break her."
"The closer they are, the more they'll know", Peter told him. "What makes you think that doesn't apply to us? Isaac and Boyd don't live here."
"I'm not the one who told them everything", Stiles pointed out. "Who did?"
"Lydia panicked. Did I hear a hairdryer earlier? What were you two doing? Trading styling tips?"
Stiles let out a chuckle. "The first year I knew Derek, he had product in his hair, but he didn't have a mattress. You wake up in the hospital and you brag about your good looks. Jackson and Isaac both integrated scarves into their lives, and Erica bought a new wardrobe. Don't judge me."
"Don't blame me for recognizing my own good genes", Peter retorted