When they had finished washing and drying the dishes, Lizzie and Liam returned to the table, sitting in silence. They could hear every word spoken in the living room, which kind of defeated the whole purpose of not joining them. Still, Lizzie felt more at ease with not having everyone watching her and waiting for a reaction. In the kitchen with just Liam, she could fidget nervously and grimace all she wanted as she listened to them work out a plan.

Liam had his head down on the table and for a while, his pulse slowed down enough that Lizzie thought he was sleeping. Every so often, though, she saw his shoulders tense at a particularly dangerous suggestion from Stiles, and a soft sigh of relief escape his lips whenever Scott and Lydia shot him down.

It was dark outside before the pack came back into the kitchen. "Dude," Stiles muttered, shaking Liam's shoulder to get him up. "It's your job to make sure she doesn't leave."

Lizzie frowned at that. It was news to her that Liam was her designated watcher. Liam saw her reaction and scowled. "Dude," he mimicked, stretching his arms over his head and barely missing hitting Stiles' face. "I told you there was no need. She's not going anywhere." Liam finished his stretch with a large yawn and leaned across the table to look at the clock. His eyes widened at the time. "I need to get home soon."

"Actually," Scott said, placing his arms on Liam's shoulders. "I was thinking it would probably be best if we all stayed here tonight." He looked around to see everyone's thoughts. That wasn't something that they had discussed in the living room.

"And do I have any say in this matter?" someone asked. Scott opened his mouth at a loss for words, and Lizzie turned around to see who it was. They had come in through the kitchen door rather than the front, standing right behind Lizzie.

"Hey, dad!" Stiles waved, plastering on a smile. Then he gestured to the stranger sitting at their kitchen table. "This is Lizzie."

Lizzie waited for the Sherriff to respond first. From the pursing of his lips, Stiles had obviously told him about her. After a moment, the Sheriff smiled and stuck out his hand to shake hers. "Nice to meet you, Lizzie."

"You too sir," Lizzie said, although she couldn't bring herself to smile back. She was probably even more nervous than the older man. It was great that Stiles trusted his dad enough to tell him about werewolves, but Lizzie wasn't confident the Sheriff's acceptance would extend to those outside of the Beacon Hills pack.

When they let go, Stiles's father turned to his son. "Now, what's this about everyone staying over?"

"Ah," Stiles said, glancing over at Scott for direction since it was his idea. "Well… given the circumstances…" At the word 'circumstances,' everyone's gaze landed right on Lizzie and Stiles coughed not very subtly. "Scott…" At that, Scott elbowed him in the side and Stiles jerked away, correcting himself, "I thought it would be a good idea for everyone to stay here tonight."

There was no way that Mr. Stilinski would agree. Stiles hadn't even put up a good argument. So, Lizzie was shocked when she saw the man begin to nod his head in agreement. "I think you're right. I'd feel better if you were all here tonight. Safety in numbers." There was a knock on the front door and everyone froze. Everyone save for Mr. Stilinski, who continued talking as he went to answer it. "Actually, that's why I invited over Melissa to stay, too. No one should be alone for the next few days."

Lizzie turned to Liam for an explanation, but by then Mr. Stilinski had already returned to his spot in the kitchen, a woman dressed in hospital scrubs following shortly behind.

"Hey mom," Scott said, wrapping an arm affectionately around the woman's shoulder. The similarities were striking with both having dark hair, tan skin, and the same smile. Melissa McCall ruffled her son's hair in return and looked over the group. Her gaze lingered on Lizzie and turned a questioning eye to her son. "Oh sorry. This is Lizzie." Scott looked more concerned about the introduction than Stiles had, and she wondered briefly if Melissa McCall knew about her son being a werewolf.

She would have to, though, if she was spending the night at the Stilinski house. Lizzie had only just met the Sheriff, but he didn't seem to be the type to hide things.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. McCall," Lizzie said, forcing a smile where she hadn't with the Sheriff.

"You can call me Melissa," the woman replied. She looked over the rest of the kids in the room. "Have you all gotten permission from your parents?" When everyone shook their heads no, she took a step back from Scott to glare. "I know it's safer to have the pack together right now, but we don't want to make anybody's parents worried in the process, do you understand?"

Although she hadn't been speaking to him, Stiles replied, "Yes, ma'am." Melissa smiled warmly at him and wrapped him in a big hug. "Alright, now everyone pull your phones out now and start making those calls." Immediately, Liam, Lydia and Kira whipped out their cellphones and began calling their parents. "You too sweetie," Melissa told Lizzie.

"Actually mom, she…" Scott began, but the sound of the telephone ringing interrupted him.

Before the second ring, the Sheriff had answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi."

Lizzie stood up rapidly, almost knocking over her chair. It was just one word, but she would have recognized that voice anywhere. The Sheriff hadn't noticed Lizzie's reaction saying, "Yes, hello. Um, can I help you?"

"I was hoping to speak to my daughter."

By then Lizzie had her hand on the knob of the kitchen door, ready to run. The Sheriff looked over to her at the sound of the knob turning and froze. Realization sparked in his eyes, and he mouthed "your father?" Lizzie nodded rapidly, beginning to shake.

He had found her. She didn't know how, but he already knew where she was. As Lizzie looked around at the others in the kitchen, she was suddenly struck by her stupidity. Of course he knew. He knew everything. And there she was, eating sandwiches and doing the dishes. She was putting all of those around her in danger.

There was no other option. She had to get out of there. Before anyone could stop her, Lizzie flung open the kitchen door.

She had stepped a foot outside when someone grabbed the sleeve of her shirt. "Lizzie, stop!" It was Liam. Of course it was. Overwhelmed by the terror and panic from hearing her father's voice on the other end of the phone, Lizzie laughed. It was a hollow laugh without any real force behind it. She laughed at the impossible nature of the situation. She laughed at how no matter where she went, her father would always find her. She laughed that every time she tried to run, it was always Liam pulling her back.

Sherriff Stilinski was still talking on the phone, but Lizzie couldn't make out any of the words over the sound of blood rushing in her ears. The Sherriff's back was turned towards her, and Scott started to make his way around the kitchen table, brows arched in concern.

Liam held up a hand to stop him, though, causing his alpha to freeze in surprise. "Wait! Just... just give us a minute." Liam said, one hand wrapped around Lizzie's wrist and the other reaching for the door handle. Seeing Scott's hesitation to let them out of his sight, Liam added, "We'll stay right on the other side, okay? You'll be able to hear if anything happens."

With reluctance, Scott let them go.

As soon as the door was closed, Lizzie tried to yank free from Liam's grip and make a run for it. He seemed to have anticipated that; however, and latched on even tighter, causing Lizzie to yelp in pain as his fingers pressed into her injuries.

Liam looked down in horror when he realized what he had done, and immediately let go. "Shoot Lizzie, I'm sorry."

She should have taken that as her chance to escape, but instead she just pulled her arms back and rubbed at them gently. There was a slam inside as Sherriff Stilinski hung up with her father. She sucked in a deep breath, and then another, letting the soft breeze outside wash over her and settle her racing heart. "It's nothing," she said, brushing him off, readying to explain herself - why she had dashed out of the kitchen.

"Look, I get it," Liam said. When she went to protest he cut her off. "No really, I do. But remember?" He jabbed a thumb at his chest. "Bus."

It wasn't the word so much as the serious way he said it that made Lizzie laugh. And he was right. He did get it. Somehow. Anyone else would have assumed she had been worried for her own safety, but Liam realized it wasn't about that. She wasn't concerned for herself so much as she was concerned for them.

With a relieved smile, Liam's eyes darted behind him to the kitchen door. "We should probably get back in there before Scott freaks out."

That caused Lizzie to laugh again, as she could, in fact, feel Scott's stress from the other side of the door.

With one last breath of the outside air, she let Liam lead her back into the kitchen.

To the credit of everyone in the kitchen, no let on what had just happened as Liam and Lizzie returned to their abandoned seats. They were quite the impressive group and for not the first time, she wondered just how often this sort of thing happened in Beacon Hills. Lizzie was particularly impressed by the Sherriff, who did not look at all frazzled by just talking to a murderous werewolf on the phone. He looked at Lizzie, as if expecting her to ask about the phone call, but Lizzie just shook her head and stared down at the table. She didn't need someone to tell her what was said; she had a pretty good idea.

"Melissa, why don't we go in the living room to talk for a second?" he said, walking past Lizzie and patting her on the shoulder, causing her to jump in her seat at the contact. The Sheriff's mouth turned down into a frown at her reaction and Lizzie could see Melissa's face do the same. Lizzie watched them walk out of the room and tuned in so she could hear what they were saying. "Actually, maybe we should go outside," the Sheriff said, turning around briefly to catch Lizzie's eye with a small smile before leading Melissa out the front door.

When Lizzie knew that she wouldn't be able to hear their conversation, she focused her attention on the pack members calling their parents. Lydia already had her phone put away and was sitting down beside Lizzie. "No one answered. I left a voicemail telling her I was at Stiles doing some research and it was getting late so I was going to stay over." Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear she felt the need to add, "It's not really a lie. I was doing research, just not on anything related to school… She won't care."

The brief inflection in Lydia's voice told Lizzie that not caring was a recurring theme in the Martin household. Without thinking, Lizzie surprised herself by reaching over and putting a hand on top of Lydia's. Lydia gave Lizzie's hand a tight squeeze in thanks for the gesture.

"After everyone else has gotten permission from their parents, why don't we go upstairs and get you something more comfortable to wear?" Lydia suggested. "We can see if any of the clothes that I got you will fit."

"If not, I've got a ton of stuff here that may work," Malia offered.

Lizzie wasn't at all surprised that Malia stayed at the Stilinski's frequently. From her reaction earlier in the economics classroom, and just in other little subtleties, it seemed that Malia and Stiles were practically attached at the hip.

When Liam groaned, Lizzie swiveled her head to look at him, his hand clenching on the table in frustration. "I know it's a school night," he said, obviously annoyed. His parents, it seemed, were obviously logical adults and did not see any reason for their teenage son to stay over on a school night.

Listening in on the other conversations, Lizzie determined that only Stiles and Scott had told their respective parents about the werewolf thing. Lizzie didn't blame the others. If her father wasn't a werewolf, there was not a chance that she would ever have told him.

Liam groaned again, apparently not getting anywhere. "Psstt…" Lizzie whispered, tapping his clenched fist to get the boy's attention. When he turned to look at her, she said, "Tell them that Finstock just assigned you a presentation today in class. It was last minute and you don't have it finished yet." Liam's hand released its fist and he gave Lizzie a grateful smile. Within seconds of complaining about Finstock's project and reminding his parents of what a pain the coach was, Liam had permission.

"We really do need to finish, though," Liam reminded Lizzie when he had hung up, grinning from ear to ear that he was allowed to stay over. Then it was Lizzie's turn to groan. "Come on! I let you sleep in class. You've got to do your fair share of the work, too."

At the reminder of sleeping, Lizzie's mind flashed to the realization that she would be sleeping at the Stilinski's, too. She already had a hard enough time going to sleep in her own bed, knowing the nightmares that awaited her there. Now she would be sleeping someplace different surrounded by strangers.

Liam knocked on the table in front of Lizzie. "You know, we could always pull an all-nighter." Although his tone was joking, his face told Lizzie that he was serious. He must have seen the panic on her face at the thought of going to sleep. Sometimes it was like he could read her mind.

"No one will be pulling an all-nighter," Melissa McCall said, returning with the Sheriff. Lizzie could tell that she was purposely not looking at Lizzie, no doubt the Sherriff having properly informed her about Lizzie's less than ideal situation.

"Did your parents say it was alright?" Melissa asked Kira, just as the girl slipped her cell phone back in her pocket.

Kira gave Scott's mom a tight smile. "Were they okay with the idea? No. But they said it was alright." Kira laughed drily and then brightened a little. "My dad was okay with it more than my mom, though. He really likes Scott." At that confession, she looked over at her boyfriend who had a dopey smile on his face. Lizzie couldn't imagine anyone's parents not liking Scott... aside from the werewolf factor. "Oh, and my mom said that she has some extra weapons in the basement if we need any."

Apparently Kira's parents did know about werewolves then. How convenient that they had an arsenal of weapons in their basement.

Seeing that everyone was done with their calls, Lydia said, "Come on," and motioned for Lizzie to follow. "You can have your study partner back in a minute!" she told Liam as they headed upstairs.

As always, all mistakes are mine. I've already gone over this a few times for editing, but I'm sure there are more mistakes I've missed. I just don't have the energy or desire to be a grammar fanatic right now.

So, if it seems that I'm being vague about what the plan is concerning Lizzie's father, that's because I am. I think that given the situation, Lizzie already has enough concerns on her mind at the moment, and having to think about how they may be possibly killing her father would just send her over the edge. It will happen eventually, but she needs some recovery time first. And although a lot of chapters have passed (me and my short chapters, but what are you going to do?), not a lot of time has passed yet in the actual story.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading! Like I always say - please leave a comment! I love hearing your thoughts, even if it's just a short word or two (although the longer the better - I really should follow my own advice and make longer chapters, hmmm?).

Anyways... yes... feedback... etc. etc. Have a good night!