Sometimes,
I still can't believe it. That you happened

and I happened and this was the best we could
do. Our nest of rubbish, our flowerless

garden—we slept here. Made love among
the bottle caps and ants and mold.

— Sierra DeMulder, Uninhabitable

PREVIOUSLY ON "TOO MUCH PLOT/NOT ENOUGH BUTT SEX"

Isaac was attacked by Cora and Alicia, who began to beat the crap out of him before Jackson arrived and saved him. They went to school and discussed what happened in the locker room, where Boyd appeared to be in a very sour mood.

Stiles saw some weird herbs in Jessy's basement window, and discovered that might mean she had a barrier spell set up.

Allison's cousin Catherine began to stay in Allison's room, while Allison slept at Lydia's.

Isaac wasn't the only one to notice Boyd's foul mood, but throughout the day not a single person was able to get anything out of him. No amount of emphasizing, cajoling, annoying or demanding was able to illicit any response longer than three or four words. By the end of the day, Jackson and Isaac had given up trying to talk to him. While Erica let it go for the time being, she decided to bide her time until she could get him alone. Then she would turn him upside and shake it out of him if she had to.

When school was out, everyone set off to Derek's loft to discuss the attack against Isaac.

"It's just weird, isn't it?" Stiles started off, falling back on the couch next to Scott. "I mean, every other attack always had the same things in common. They paralyzed their victim, scooped out their brains... they never just beat them up."

"They did once," Lydia pointed out. She was seated at the kitchen counter, and was absently doodling in a notebook. When Jackson looked over he saw the page covered with crescent moons. Jackson thought that was odd, since they now knew the meaning of the crescent moons: Cora and Alicia both wore that symbol on their neck. Typically, once Lydia was able to discover the meaning being one of her drawings, she went on to drawing something else. "Jessy."

Stiles frowned. "What about Jessy?" He asked, sounding slightly defensive.

Isaac nodded. "Yeah, Lydia's right. When we found her, she wasn't paralyzed and she was bleeding from her head. She seemed so freaked out that night, we never really asked her what went down, we just figured she got away somehow."

"But you think there's something else going on?" Scott questioned.

Lydia shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe they had the same motive, when they went after Isaac and Jessy. We should talk to her, find out more information. If there's a connection between Jessy and Isaac, maybe we can learn something."

"I'll talk to her," Stiles volunteered. "She trusts me..." He scratched his head. "Besides I've been meaning to talk to her about a few things anyways."

As the others continued their discussion of what had happened that morning, Jackson looked over to Derek. He seemed tense, and the frown on his face was deeper than usual. Moving closer to him, Jackson tried to think of something to say that might hold some comfort for him. Nothing came to mind. Feeling useless, Jackson snaked his arm around Derek's waist and pulled him close. Derek put his arm over Jackson's shoulder, and pressed a quick kiss against his temple.

In the back of her closet, behind the racks of clothes and shoes that seemed to have doubled in volume of the last few years, Allison kept a solid wooden crate, filled with weapons. While her father kept most of their weapons in what had originally been designated the "guest room" of their apartment, Allison had a fair of amount of mostly melee weapons that she kept herself. Looking carefully through the crate, Allison tried to decide which ones she would use tonight.

"I know, it's even harder than choosing an outfit, right?"

Allison looked over, and saw Catherine leaning against the frame of her door. She smiled, and brushed a piece of hair off her face. "I just want to be prepared," she explained.

Catherine nodded, walking into the room. She took a seat on Allison's bed, which for the past few weeks had been hers. "Your Dad tells me you and your friends go out patrolling almost every night," she commented. "Looking for something specific?"

Allison shook her head, and turned back to her crate of weapons. "No, just... trying to help out however we can," she said.

"Well, be careful, it's dangerous with those girls out there." Catherine warned. "Although, based on the pattern we've put together, you should be safe..."

Allison's hand paused on the hilt of a dagger. "Oh? What pattern?" She asked, trying to sound casual.

Catherine was quiet for a moment. "Well... I'm not really supposed to be telling you this, but you're one of us so..." She said. "So far, all of the victims have been supernatural. Not a single human has been killed."

Allison looked to her cousin. "You've been following these girls for a while... is that their usual M.O?"

"I haven't, actually, been following them for a while. Viola and a few of the others were dealing with tracking those girls, I didn't even know about them until we came over here. For some reason Viola wanted as many of us as she could get. But from what I've learned, this is pretty par for the course. Those girls have a long history of hunting the supernatural." Catherine frowned. "Although something is... different."

Allison raised her eyebrows. "What's that?"

Catherine hesitated. "It's just, the bodies... I don't know, they're off. I've tried talking about to Viola, but she keeps brushing it off like it's nothing." She seemed bothered by this.

"What's off about the bodies?"

Catherine looked up, and raised an eyebrow. "You're awfully interested in this, hmmm?"

Allison snapped her eyes back to her weapons. "Uh, no, I just—"

"Allison, I get it," Catherine said quietly. "This is your town, and you've been protecting the people in it for years. Of course you want to know about these girls. Hell, you and your friends were probably on their trail before we were." Allison glanced over, and said nothing. "I thought so. But you're just kids, you can't handle this alone. Not without our help."

Catherine stood up. "I'm going to set up a meeting with you and Viola. She knows a hell of a lot more about these girls than I do. She can tell you what you want to know."

Allison opened her mouth, to tell her that wasn't necessary. But then, why shouldn't she learn everything she could about Cora and Alicia's past? Maybe Viola could tell her how Cora had survived the fire, or why Alicia had disappeared. She smiled. "Thanks, that would be great."

Catherine returned her smile. "Good luck tonight," she said, walking over to the weapons crate. She picked up an FS fighting knife and handed it to Allison. "Use this. Can't go wrong." She advised.

Allison nodded, and took the knife from her.

Jackson lay resting against Derek's chest. It had been a few hours since the others had left, and Isaac had retreated to his own apartment, and they'd spent the entire time since in bed. Jackson had been planning to talk to him, to discuss how he felt about his sister attacking Isaac, and his feeling in general... but then Derek had pulled him close and kissed him... told him he needed him... and Jackson had forgotten all about words and talking and feelings. He had forgotten everything but Derek, and hoped that for those few hours, Derek would forget everything but him.

Running his hand over the hard lines of Derek's chest, Jackson looked up at him and saw Derek staring at the ceiling. "What are you thinking about?" Jackson asked quietly.

Derek remained silent for a moment. "I'm trying not to think about anything," he replied. Glancing down at Jackson, Derek gave him a small smile. "Think you could help me with that?" He ran his hand down Jackson's back, and leaned in and pressed their mouths together.
With difficulty, Jackson pulled away and tried to ignore the surprised and slightly hurt look on Derek's face. "Derek... we can't." He said. "We're... falling back into old patterns. Bad old patterns," he told him. Derek looked away. "I know what it's like, to want to get away from your problems. To want to lose yourself in someone else, and forget all that pain and fear, even just for a little while. But we can't do that. It's not healthy." He placed his hand against Derek's cheek, and turned his face back towards him. "It's easy to get lost, Derek. It's not so easy to find your way back."

Derek looked at him, and Jackson could see pain in his eyes. "What if Peter was right?" Derek asked, his voice low. Jackson raised an eyebrow. "What if she didn't come back from the dead, what if she just... never died. That's more likely, right? That she survived the fire somehow..."

"I guess," Jackson said, not certain where Derek was headed with this. "It makes sense."

Derek shook his head. "All this time..." There was a deep bitterness in Derek's voice. "All these fucking years, and she was out there on her own. And I never looked for her. Not once."

"You didn't know," Jackson reminded him. "You thought she was dead."

"I should have known!" Derek snapped. "Somehow, Laura and I should have known. We—we should have sensed it, or just—" Derek broke off, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Our baby sister, and we just left her all alone." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's my fault all this is happening. All these people dying... it's my fault."

"It's not your fault! Derek you couldn't have know. You're not psychic, and you're not responsible for what she's doing."

Derek looked at him, and his eyes were red-rimmed. "If she'd grown up with me and Laura... if we'd been together, been a family... she wouldn't be doing this now. Something happened to her Jackson, to make her do these things. She wouldn't be doing it otherwise."

Jackson looked Derek in the eye, and tried to keep his voice even. "Derek, you can't take this all onto yourself. Whatever happened to Cora, whatever she went through to make her this way, it's not your fault. What she's doing isn't your fault. You can't blame yourself."

Derek looked away. "Why not?" he muttered.

"Because it'll destroy you, if you let it."

Jackson saw Derek's jaw clench. After a moment of silence turned back and locked eyes with Jackson. "Then maybe that's what I deserve.

Despite the lateness of the hour, Allison was surprised to find a few people still out on the streets, milling around on street corners, laughing with their friends. "Must have been a party somewhere nearby," Allison mused. "In this area, most people are usually in bed by now."

Beside her, Erica raised an eyebrow. "A party?" She repeated. "And they didn't invite us?" She shook her head. "Rude."

Allison smiled. "Well, we're too cool for them anyways," She said.

Erica grinned back at her. "Yeah, nothing says cool like staying out late on a school night to hunt monsters."

Both girls chuckled softly, and rounded the corner. There were less people on the next street over, and soon they were walking alone. The emptiness made Allison feel nervous. There had been a certain comfort in having others around, although she knew that if any of them were aberrants they'd be in danger.

Allison glanced at Erica, eager to distract herself from her nerves with conversation. "Did you ever find out what was up with Boyd today? He didn't seem like himself."

Running her fingers through her hair, Erica sighed. "I never got anything out of him, but if I had to take a guess it would be that the sudden reappearance of his long lost sister is messing with his head a bit. I mean, I know he's been holding out hope all these years that one day they'd find her... but I have to guess this isn't exactly what he was hoping for, you know? I mean, what with her being a brain-eating serial killer and all."

Allison bit her lip. "...We don't know that they're eating the brains..." she said quietly.

"No, we don't know that," Erica agreed, in a tone that implied she certainly thought they were.

Allison pursed her lips, and said nothing. She turned away from Erica and shivered slightly. Suddenly she had a strange sense, one she couldn't quite place. At the same moment as her, Erica shivered as well. Allison looked at her, and saw her frowning.

"What?" Allison asked. If she had an odd sense, then it was likely that Erica, whose senses were much more powerful and honed, would be able to tell her why. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure..." Erica mumbled. She peered into the shadowy alleyway across from them. "I have this feeling... Like we're being watched. And I thought I heard someone but there's no one here now."

"Do you want to check it out, just in case?" Allison asked, reaching for her bow.

"Yeah, maybe..." She took a step towards the alley, but then her head snapped to the side. "I heard something," she said sharply. Allison had drawn her bow and notched an arrow before Erica had even completed her sentence. "Around the corner. It's them."

"Get ready," Allison said, stepping forward.

Erica nodded. Her shoulders jerked up and her head tilted to the side, an action Allison had witnessed Derek perform countless times. Her eyes began to glow a bright gold hue as she shifted, claws and fangs emerging as her features distorted and hair sprouted on her face. Once Erica was fully shifted, they stepped around the corner to meet their enemies.

Allison paused. Nothing there. Just the empty street, and flickering street light. Allison frowned, and glanced at Erica, wondering if she could have been mistaken.

There was hissing noise from behind them, and Erica and Allison whipped around and found Cora and Alicia standing in the street. Alicia grinned, and Allison felt unnerved. She had never seen the girl smile before. Somehow it did not suit her features.

Allison fired her bow and Erica roared as both girls lunged forward, both moving faster than Allison had ever seen. They tackled Erica to the ground, and Allison fired two quick shots at them. Both arrows landed in either girls shoulders, but it was not until the arrows exploded that they reacted. Cora's shoulder was taken clean off, leaving a gruesome bloody wound in its place. Alicia had faired slightly better, but was still clearly wounded. Cora crumbled to the ground, howling in pain while Alicia took a moment to glare at Allison, before turning back to Erica. There was another hissing noise as Alicia leaned over her, but Erica moved quickly out from under her, slashing at her throat with her claws as she moved. Alicia choked and grabbed her neck, blooding spurting between her fingers.

Cora, already starting to heal, was up and went after Erica again, grabbing her by her hair. Erica snarled and tried to fight her off. Allison saw Cora's fangs grow, and she unsheathed her knife and threw it with full force at Cora's face. Cora was knocked backwards as the knife hit her face, sinking into the flesh below her eye. For a moment Allison's breath caught in her throat. As Cora fell back, her claws raked Erica's face. Erica screamed and staggered backwards for a moment, before rounding on Cora—who was down for the moment but in the midst of picking herself back up. Both girls were obviously ready to continue the fight. Erica was bleeding badly, clearly wounding but showing no signs of slowing down. Allison looked between Erica and their enemies, and then grabbed Erica by the shoulder and signalled that they should run. The two of them took off down the street. Allison ran as fast as she could, and went until she couldn't run anymore.

Several blocks away, Erica stopped her. "They're not following us." She said. "Take a moment."

"Are you... Alright...?" Allison panted, trying to pretend she was less winded than she was.

"I'm fine." Erica said, turning away. "Why'd you tap out, we could have taken them!"

Allison looked Erica over, taking in the blood on her clothes and the scratches on her face that had just begun to heal. "You're hurt..." She said plainly. That seemed reason enough to retreat.

Evidently Erica did not agree. "I'll heal," she said, her voice curt.

Allison shook her head. "They would have killed you, if they'd had the chance."

"And you would have killed them." Erica replied. Allison glanced down. She couldn't pretend that wasn't part of it. Maybe if she'd been with anyone but Erica she would have denied it, ignored it. But after what she had done to her in the 10th grade, it was impossible to pretend. "Allison, it's okay. Don't make it a big thing."

Allison glanced back up, surprised to hear what sounded like sympathy from Erica of all people. "What?"

Erica shifted her shoulders slightly, massaging a wound on her shoulder as it healed. "Yeah, you would have killed them if you hadn't run, and that freaked you out. But I know what it's like to have something inside of you that's... dangerous. And I know how scary it is when that gets out of control. But when it comes to these girls, we can't hold back. I mean, I doubt they'd show us the same courtesy."

"Are you saying we should have killed them?" Allison questioned. She had a hard time believing Erica would just take down Boyd's sister so easily.

Erica hesitated. "I don't know," she admitted. "I mean, Boyd..." she shook her head. Allison could tell she didn't really know what to think about their situation either. "I don't know what to do," she said after a moment. "But if we're in a situation where it's us or them, well... I know who I'd choose."

Allison nodded. That seemed a good way to phrase it. Maybe killing them wasn't the right thing to do, and if they could avoid it, she would—if not for the sake of Boyd and Derek, then for the sake of herself— but she would not let her friends die for the lives of two murderers.

It was past four in the morning, but neither Derek nor Jackson was asleep. Jackson was sitting back against the headboard of Derek's bed, and Derek was lying between his legs, head resting against his chest. Jackson ran his fingers through Derek's hair, smiling at the way it was now sticking up in all directions on his head.

"I never told you this, but I know almost every single word to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack." Derek said in a solemn voice. Jackson laughed. "No, really. I do. She used to listen to it every single day, for hours on end. And she'd dance around the living room, singing along and twirling around the room. Sometimes she'd bring a bunch of chairs in and sit us all down in them, and perform the whole thing for us."

For the last two hours, they had talked of nothing but Cora. Mostly, the person she had been, when Derek had known her long ago. The sweet, funny little girl she'd been back before Kate Argent had come along and burned all of the good things out Derek's life. And somehow, Cora had gotten lost amongst all the fire and horror. That sweet little girl had slipped through the cracks, and no one knew how. Where had she gone, what had happened to her? After so many years, why was she just reappearing now?

"Mmm, I still don't believe that you know all the words to every song," Jackson said.

"Believe it or not, it's true."

"Prove it then." Jackson dared, a small smirk on his face.

Derek opened his mouth and then closed it, frowning. "There's no way I'm going to fall for that, Jackson. Sorry."

"Fall for what? I have a completely scientific curiosity in whether or not you can sing all of the songs from Mamma Mia!"

"You're not going to get me to sing, so stop trying. It won't work."

"Aw, come on. Here, I'll start you off... 'Mamma Mia, here I go again...'" Jackson recited. He prodded Derek's shoulder, looking expectantly at him. "Come on, you know the rest."

"I do," Derek agreed. He stared unflinchingly back at Jackson and said nothing more.

A few moments passed and Jackson signed. Clearly, Derek was a brick wall. Nothing short of death and dismemberment could crack him. "Fine, don't sing it. But just so you know, you've denied me a lot of happiness right now."

Derek shrugged. "Seems to be what I'm best at." He said. "Derek Hale, bringing misery and destruction wherever he goes."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Yes, clearly I am incredibly miserable with you. The suffering is just endless, really." Derek frowned, which was not the response Jackson had been trying to illicit. "You know that was sarcasm right? Heavy, heavy sarcasm."

"I know..." Derek murmured. "But, do you ever think-"

"No," Jackson snapped.

"You didn't let me finish,"

"You were going to say 'do you ever think you'd be better off without me, or if you hadn't met me, or if I was dead' or something equally stupid." Jackson replied. "And the answer is no, I've never thought that. Look, before I met you I was a miserable piece of shit who never felt like they belonged anywhere, or to anyone. And alright, I'm not delusional, ok? I know things haven't gone perfectly since you came back to town, but none of that is your fault. Turning into the kanima was a freak accident, Matt doing what he did is on him and no one else, and I think we can all agree that the witches and fairies and vampires we fought are also responsible for themselves."

Derek stared up at him, and Jackson places a hand against his cheek. "I agree that misery and destruction seem to follow you around, but you don't create it and you're not responsible for it, alright? I don't blame you for anything that's happened, I never have and I never will. Besides, meeting you, it changed my life. It gave me something I never had before."

"Glowing eyes?" Derek guessed lamely.

Jackson ignored him. "Somewhere to belong."

He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against Derek's mouth. Desperately, and for the thousandth time, he wished he could make Derek understand what he meant to him, and how given the chance he wouldn't do a single thing differently.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Given the chance there was actually a lot he would do differently. But not a single one of those things involved Derek.

"I love you, Derek." Jackson whispered. "Every part of you. The misery and destruction, the pain and every wonderful thing that comes along with it. I want it all, ok?"

He took Derek's hand and squeezed it. "Do you understand?" He asked. Derek nodded slowly. "Good."