Chapter Twenty Nine – Some Nights


"Hey." Teagan called out to Scott and Liam, as she opened the car door and stepped out of the car. Scott had called her earlier that day, asking if she and Avery would meet up with him and Liam at Avery's old family house. He wanted to teach Liam some basic self-defense and figured they could teach him some of the things they learned from Allison, but since Avery left town with Derek; Teagan brought Isaac along to help, which was okay with Scott.

"Why are they here?" Liam asked, as he turned to look at Scott, his eyes wide.

"Hey to you too, Liam." Isaac sarcastically said, as he exited the car.

"Teagan was trained by a hunter. She knows how they think, the type of moves they make. She can help you a lot." Scott said, answering the previous question. "It's okay, she was trained by the best." He added to reassure Liam. He glanced over at Teagan, shooting her a small smile, as they both thought about Allison.

Teagan smiled back at Scott, then turned her attention to Liam, as she asked,"Is there a reason I shouldn't be here?"

Liam glanced at her for a moment, then quickly looked away as he shook his head. It's not that he didn't want her help, he just hated seeing the marks on her face. The cut on her lip was almost healed, as was the one on her forehead. The bruises had even began to fade, but every mark on her face made him feel guilty. It was his fault that Garrett took her, it was his fault she got hurt. Everything was his fault.

"Liam?" Teagan quietly said, when he didn't say anything. She wrapped her arms around herself, as she added,"If you don't want me here I can leave."

Liam looked at her, then glanced at Isaac; who was a few steps behind her leaning against the car. He looked back at Teagan, as he said,"No, it's fine."

Teagan glanced behind her, looking at Isaac; who shrugged, as if to say he didn't do anything. He had no idea why Liam was acting the way he was. He walked up behind her, laying a hand on the small of her back, as he said,"So are we going in or what?"

"Yeah, I was just waiting on you two." Scott answered.

"You remember it's an abandoned house, right?" Teagan asked, as she smiled at the alpha.

"Yeah, right, but I just didn't want to barge in." Scott said, causing her to softly chuckle at how polite he was. He waited until Teagan and Isaac walked past, then he and Liam went in behind them.

Once everyone was in the house, Teagan asked Isaac to grab the large mats from one of the other rooms to lay out on the floor. She knew it wouldn't hurt any of the werewolves to be tossed on the hard floor, but just in case she was thrown down there needed to be some padding on the floor to break her fall.

Isaac tossed down a couple of mats, then got distracted when Teagan took her jacket off and began to stretch out. As she bent over, her butt facing him, he shot her a grin, as he asked,"Need some help?"

Teagan laughed as she stood up, then turned her head to look at him, as she said,"Yeah, you can continue to get the mats down."

Isaac chuckled along with her, as he walked up behind her, laying his hands on her hips. He leaned forward to kiss her cheek before whispering in her ear,"Or you can just bend over again and we can take advantage of these mats."

Teagan turned around to face him to wrap her arms around his neck, forgetting the other two were even in the house with them until Scott cleared his throat, letting them know they could hear them.

She glanced over her shoulder, seeing Scott and Liam were looking at anything but them. She felt her face heating up in embarrassment, knowing they heard what was said. She turned around, as she breathed out,"Sorry."

Isaac slapped her butt as he walked past her to grab more mats, causing her to hiss out his name, telling him to behave. He shot her a wink and laughed as he left the room.

Teagan turned her head back to look at Scott and Liam, as she asked,"Okay, are we ready?"

As Liam reluctantly nodded his head, she questioned him on what he might already know and learned he knew some basic self-defense, but not much. She called him over to the mat, then showed him a couple of moves that Allison taught her. With every move she showed him, she could tell he wasn't in to it. He would barely swing at her and would hardly touch her when she instructed him too. She didn't know what his problem was, but he acted like he couldn't stand to be around her.

"Okay, Liam, grab my arm here..." She began to say, as she held out her arm, instructing him to grab her in a certain place to show him how to take down someone when they grab your arm.

Liam reached out to grab her arm, then froze when he saw the marks on her wrist from when her hands were tied by Garrett. He already felt guilty enough with the bruises on her face, but seeing the other marks killed him. No one told him exactly what all Garrett did to her while she was taken, but any time he saw a new mark he imagined the worst. He wondered if she was still in any pain, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her worst while she was training him.

"Liam, are you okay?" Teagan questioned, when she saw the look on his face.

"Yeah, I just need a break." Liam lied.

"Okay, well, grab some water and while you do that, I'll get Isaac to step in and show you another move, okay?" Teagan suggested.

Liam nodded his head, as he stepped off the mat and walked over toward Scott and Isaac; who was leaning against a table against the wall. Teagan turned her head to look at her boyfriend, as she asked,"Want to help me?"

"I thought you would never ask." Isaac said, as he walked over toward her with a grin.

"Okay, Liam, this next move..." She began to say, but before she could finish, Isaac stopped in front of her and laid his hands on her sides. She squealed out in surprise, as he lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulders.

He turned around to face the other two, as he said,"This is the move you do when she gets too bossy. I call it the upside down T-Bag." As she called out his name, he laughed before adding,"She says she hates it, but secretly she loves it."

"I do hate it! And you're not helping, Isaac!" Teagan called out with a laugh, as she hit him in the back with her fist. "Put me down!"

"See, she really does love it." Isaac pointed out, as he bounced her on his shoulder causing her to mumble out cuss words toward him.

Scott shook his head, laughing at the couple, as a concern look appeared on Liam's face. He flashed back to when Garrett had knocked her out. He yelled at Garrett to leave her alone, but he ignored him, as he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to his car. He wanted to get up and help her, but was in too much pain to move.

"Put her down." Liam stated.

"It's okay. Those curse words you hear are really her way of saying how much she loves it. She's fine." Isaac joked, as he slapped her butt, causing her to laugh and punch his back again.

"I said... Put her down!" Liam snapped, as he took a step toward Isaac, taking all of them by surprise.

"What the hell is your problem?" Isaac asked the younger beta, as he placed Teagan's feet back on the ground.

"What the hell is your problem?" Liam snapped back. "Do you have any idea what happened to her?"

"Are you kidding me?" Isaac questioned, as he stepped toward Liam and pushed him backwards."I'm the one who found her. I know exactly what happened. What the hell did you do to help?"

"Hey, Isaac, don't." Teagan said, as she stepped in front of the two boys. She saw the hurt look on Liam's face, then turned to look at her boyfriend, as she said,"Don't do this, okay. Just give me a minute, okay?"

Isaac looked over her head, shooting Liam a look, then turned around to walk out of the house. She turned to look at Scott and opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, he spoke up and said he would talk to Isaac, causing her to shot him a grateful smile.

Once he left the house, Teagan looked at Liam, as she asked,"Liam, what is going on? What was that about?"

"It's my fault." He softly said, as he looked down at the ground.

"What is?" She asked confused.

"He took you. He hit you and knocked you out, then he took you and I couldn't do anything about it." Liam said, starting to get angry with himself.

"Hey, Liam, it's not your-"

"Yes, it is!" Liam snapped, interrupting her, as he jerked his head up to look at her, his eyes flashing. "What's the point of all of this, all this strength and power if I can't help a friend? If all I can do is just sit there and watch him carry you away? What's the point if you're just going to get hurt anyways?"

"Hey, listen to me..." Teagan began to say, as she grabbed his shoulders, turning him to face her. "It is not your fault." She said slowly, trying to get through to him. "I should have been paying more attention. That is what Allison has always taught us, to take in your surrounding and I didn't do that. I let my guard down and he took advantage of that. But that is not your fault, it's not even my fault, it is his. He was the bad guy, Liam, he was the monster, but we're okay." She shot him a concern look, as she added,"I mean, you are okay, right? I know he hurt you too and If you need to talk I'm here, okay?"

Liam nodded his head, as he said,"At the time I was scared. I was scared about what he was going to do with you and scared if anyone would ever find me. I didn't know how much longer I had until the wolfsbane hit. Garrett said it could be minutes or hours and then I would be dead. He said there was a good chance that both of us would die."

"But you kept fighting, Liam. No matter what he said, you never gave up. You refused to let him beat you." She said, as she gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. "We both kept fighting and we made it. We're okay. We are both going to be okay." She pointed out, as she gave him a soft smile.

Liam smiled back, then took her by surprise, as he stepped forward and hugged her. As she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back, he whispered out,"I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Teagan."

She pulled back to tell him it was okay, but before she could say a word, Scott and Isaac walked back inside; the latter spoke up and said,"Trust me, my girl is a badass, she doesn't need saving."

Teagan turned her head to look at him, giving him a smile, then turned back to look at Liam. She gave him another smile and a nod, as if to ask if he was okay now. He nodded his head back, telling her yeah, then looked over at Isaac, apologizing to him for snapping at him earlier.

~()~

The sun was setting as Avery and Derek walked out of the restaurant they'd eaten dinner at, it had been over an hour since they'd gotten into town and dropped their bags off at the hotel.

Feeling her phone buzz from her pocket again she came to a stop and pulled it out to see a few more texts from numbers she didn't even recognize asking what time the party was starting and where it was.

Seeing him looking at her she quickly blackened the screen and tucked it back in her pocket before he could read anything that had been sent to her.

"Everything okay?" He questioned with an arched brow.

Pulling in a deep breath she flashed him a smile and said, "Everything's fine."

"Who keeps calling you? Teagan?" He questioned.

"No… random people really, everyone was expecting a party tonight. You know my birthday is practically a national holiday." She said with a smile as she turned to face him, as she reached up resting her hands on his shoulders and leaned up to kiss him.

His hands rubbed down her sides, before he curled them around her and pulled her close. Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers and asked, "But you're happy with all of this… right?"

Smiling she nodded, "Yeah, I mean… there's a part of me that's going to miss throwing a party to show Lydia up." They both laughed as she continued, "But it doesn't matter, not really. I'd rather be here with you… doing normal couple things."

"Normal couple things?" He quietly asked as their faces were still just inches apart.

Nodding she slid her arms back farther on his shoulders and absentmindedly played the back of his hair as she explained, "Yeah, just doing normal things like going out to dinner and maybe seeing a movie or something… just being with you doing everyday things."

His eyes searched her face as he remembered back and slowly realized out loud, "We never really did any of that before, did we?"

"No… the only real date we went on was that first one and it was a complete disaster. Then you got arrested for murder and soon after Kate found you and you practically moved in with me. You were always having to stay in hiding… from the police or hunters. We never really got to be normal." She reminded him, their eyes locking as they spoke.

His gaze dropped from her eyes as he thought of how completely unfair to her that was, especially considering she was the type of person who loved to go out. And the whole time they'd been dating they'd pretty much lived out of her room.

"I'm sorry for that." He finally breathed, catching her off guard as her brows lowered in confusion and she asked, "What? Derek, it was a long time ago."

"Not all that long ago." He corrected, cutting her off, when she opened her mouth to argue he didn't give her a chance to speak as he continued, "And I am sorry. There was a lot of things I did –things that I put you through before and none of it was fair to you."

Smiling she nodded, "But it's okay, because you're here now."

"I am." He smiled, back capturing her lips in a passionate kiss before pulling back just enough to quietly add in, "And I'm not going anywhere, I was an idiot before and one of the biggest mistakes I ever made was not putting you first. I'm not going to do that again."

He started to kiss her again, but she pulled back slightly as she quietly asked, "And why is that?"

With a small chuckle he answered, "You know why."

"But I want to hear you say it." She whispered, her eyes sparkling in the setting sun and the streetlight over them as she stared at him.

Moving his hands from her sides, he tucked some of her hair behind her ear as he took her face in his hands and admitted, "Because I love you."

Her heart skipped a few beats and her stomach fluttered with excitement, every time he said those three little words to her it felt just like the first time all over again. As he leaned down, pressing his lips against hers, she smiled into the kiss finally allowing herself to just be happy for those few seconds.

In that moment with him, she wasn't worried about the dead-pool or the fact that he was losing his power and possibly slowly dying. All she was aware of was the feeling of being in his arms and the taste of his mouth, along with her heart racing inside of her chest. Pulling back slightly she rested her arms back on his shoulders, keeping her body pressed against his as she asked, "So… what are our plans now?"

Keeping his hands on her hips he glanced up towards the quickly darkening sky with a thoughtful expressions before blowing out a breath and answering, "It's your birthday… you pick."

Smiling she raised up kissing him again before she shrugged and said, "Let's just walk for now."

"I got you your car back and you want to walk?" His eyes searched her face and he smiled at seeing how happy she looked, as she turned to walk away he gently reached down –grabbing onto her hand as he laced their fingers and walked by her side.

Biting down on the side of her bottom lip she glanced down to their hands and shook her head back and forth as even the simple gesture already had her stomach fluttering. It seemed silly, that something as simple as being able to walk down the sidewalk hand in hand with her boyfriend would mean so much.

But for her it did, when they were together he'd spent almost every moment on the run from police or hiding from the hunters. Even after they thought Kate was dead, things didn't settle down –Gerard Argent had come to their town seeking revenge and retribution.

So being able to just enjoy time alone with him –every moment since they'd arrived in town had meant everything to her. From holding hands while they walked, to kissing on the side of the road, even being able to go out to dinner together –all of these normal couple things that they'd never gotten to do before was making her already dread the idea of returning to Beacon Hills.

She wasn't sure how long they'd been walking, just lazily roaming the streets of the city talking about anything and everything –all of her attention completely focused on him until she heard it. The deep thudding beat of music from a nearby club and as happy as she was for a quiet birthday away with Derek, a part of her still wanted a party.

As they turned left onto another street the sound of the music got louder, and once she saw the building with a neon light sign and the doors open, letting the music flood out of the club she stopped walking.

He started to ask if she was okay but she faced him as she asked with a coy smile, "It's my birthday… so I get to make the plans, right?"

Shooting her a confused look he began to ask what she was hinting at –until he saw her attention being drawn to the club and he immediately shook his head back and forth.

"Come on…" She pleaded tugging on his hand as she tried to walk towards the club, "Dance with me!"

"You really want to go in there?" He sighed, clearly not on board with the idea.

"Don't you?" She asked, her eyes wide and alive with excitement.

He shook his head back and forth.

"Come on!" She exclaimed, "If you'd just go into a club, I'm sure you'd love it. The music and the energy of it… it's electric!"

"I have been in a club before." He said, causing her to roll her eyes as she argued, "Following Jackson as the kanima into a gay club to kill him, doesn't count."

"I wasn't talking about that. Years ago when I left Beacon Hills after the fire, I moved to New York and-"

She didn't let him finish talking as she let out a small squeal, "I've been to New York a few times, in fact freshman year I went with Jackson's family… there was some kind of law association convention or something, but I just remember everything being so fast paced and I loved it!"

His eyes were glued to her as she talked, a smile on his lips the whole time. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so happy or carefree.

"Long story short, by the time we got back to Beacon Hills we'd decided that after we graduated we were going to move there and get a nice apartment. He's getting a huge payout when he turns 18 from the accident that killed his biological mom and I have trusts that I get access to as well when I turn 18." She continued to ramble on, until he stopped her and asked surprised. "You were going to move to New York City… with Jackson?"

"I know, right? Terrible idea… we'd probably end up killing each other, but at the time it sounded good. Until he and Lydia got into a fight and she refused to move with us, and I couldn't talk Teagan into it over the phone either. The whole plan fell apart, but we were serious about it for a while."

He caught the glimmer of sadness in her eyes as she looked down to the sidewalk and shook her head, every trace of her happiness seemingly gone with the end of the story.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked, as he stepped closer and leaned down trying to see her face.

"It just feels like that was so long ago… when really it was only a few years ago. Sometimes, I don't know… I guess I just forget how different my life used to be before all of this werewolf stuff." Avery quietly admitted with a shrug, "I was a different person back then."

He was quiet for a moment before he asked, "If you could go back and change it, go back in time and never find out about any of this supernatural stuff, would you?"

Her eyes moved back and forth as she looked over his face before her eyes locked with his and she said, "No. Because if I didn't know about any of this stuff… then I wouldn't be here with you right now, and this –being here with you is everything. But it's more than that too, I wouldn't have ever been friends with Scott and Stiles… this world as crazy as it is, it also gives my life purpose. I help people now. I've saved lives and even though I'm a million more times damaged than I was before all of this… I like this Avery better."

When she raised her head and looked back up she saw he was staring at her with an unreadable look on his face. Her eyebrows raised in question at why he was looking at her like that, in response he continued to look her in the eyes as he pointed out, "I love you… just the way you are."

She smiled, but he could tell she still wasn't having as much fun as she had been earlier before she'd brought herself down by thinking how different she was now.

"You want to go back to the hotel?" He softly asked.

She nodded and he started to lead her away until her attention was drawn back to the nightclub and she paused with a longing look in her eyes, also coming to a stop Derek looked back and said, "Look at that line, by the time we got inside the place would be shutting down."

Glancing behind her to where there was a long line people waiting outside of the club to show their ID's to the bouncer and gain entrance, she playfully raised an eyebrow as she said, "You can intimidate the guy, or I can hike this dress up some… either way it's not like we'd have to wait in the line."

"Avery…"

Rolling her eyes she crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "Fine… let's just go see a movie or something then. But I'm not ready to go back to the hotel yet."

~()~

Now that everyone had talked and cleared the air, Teagan got back to work, showing Liam a few more moves, mostly how to toss an opponent as they rushed toward you to attack. But after tossing him around for the next hour, he was done.

"Seriously? You're done?" Teagan asked with a laugh, as she looked over at the younger boy. "I had a few more moves to show you."

"I'm done. One of the others can step in." Liam said in between breaths, as he nodded over toward Scott and Isaac.

Teagan turned her attention to Scott, as she questioned,"Well, Scott.. You want to go a round?"

"No, I'm good." Scott said, as he held up his hands. After seeing her tossing Liam around, he was kind of scared of her now. He knew Allison had trained her and figured she would be good since he knew how good Allison was, but after seeing her in action, he vowed to never mess with her or Avery.

"Isaac?" She questioned, as she looked at her boyfriend. "Feel like getting your ass kicked by your girlfriend?" She teased.

"I can take you, babe." Isaac said confidently, as he walked over toward her.

The two went back and forth a few times sparring, then Isaac began to charge toward her, trying to catch her off guard, but she was ready for him each time and easily tossed him on to the mat, like she did to Liam earlier.

Once Scott and Liam began to clap for her, she turned to face them, and bowed with a chuckle on her lips. With her back turned, Isaac quickly stood up and come behind her, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug.

Teagan quickly grabbed his arms, then dropped her weight and reaching behind her to grab the side of his neck, before leaning forward more and tossing him over her shoulders and on to the mat.

"Ow! Damn. Did not see that coming." Isaac said, as he laid flat on his back.

Teagan stood above him, her legs on either side of him, as she gloated,"That is what you get for trying to cheat and sneak up on me."

"Are you really celebrating my pain?" Isaac questioned.

"You are not hurt." Teagan said with a laugh, as she playfully rolled her eyes.

"Not true. You did toss my a little too hard and I fell on my elbow wrong." Isaac said, as his lowered his eyebrows in pain.

"Oh, my God! Babe, I'm so-" She began to say, as she leaned over to check out his arm, feeling bad that she hurt him.

Before she could finish her apology, Isaac wrapped his arms around her legs and pulled her down toward him. She landed on top of him with gasp, then felt him roll them over. She was now tucked under him with her arms over her head as he had her pinned to the floor.

"You cheated again!" Teagan called out with a laugh.

"But I won." Isaac said with a grin, as he leaned toward her to press his lips against hers for a quick kiss.

"It's a cheat win." Teagan mumbled against his lips.

"What was that?" Isaac teased, as he began to tickle her side, causing her to laugh out loud and try to wiggle away from him.

"Okay! I think that is enough training today." Scott called out, getting their attention. He had a feeling where things were going between them and, he for one, did not need to see that.

"Yeah, it's getting kind of late." Teagan said, as Isaac rolled off of her, laying flat on his back on the mat to catch his breath. She stood up from the floor, as she added,"We can get together again soon and have another session."

"Okay," Liam said, as he nodded his head.

"Maybe next time Avery will actually show up." Teagan said a little harsher than she meant. She was still a little annoyed that she canceled their plans to go out-of-town with Derek. She looked over at Liam, as she added in a nicer tone,"Maybe next time we can do some two on one fighting and show you ways to escape that."

As Liam nodded his head at her suggestion, she flashed him a smile, as she tried to pretend like nothing was bothering her. The others didn't really notice, but Isaac did. He could always tell when something was bothering her and now was no different, but before he could question her, Scott spoke up,"Hey, speaking of Avery, what time is the party tonight?" Like everyone else, he assumed she would be having a huge Avery Dukate party for her birthday.

"Apparently there is no party this year." Teagan said with a hint of attitude, as she turned away from the others to grab her water bottle from the table, taking a big swallow. It's not that she was hoping for some big blow out this year, she just wanted her best friend to be happy, and she felt like after everything that happened, being surrounded by her closest friends was what Avery needed. But instead she was off alone with Derek, she just hoped he didn't do anything to ruin Avery's special day.

"You're joking, right?" Isaac questioned, as he looked over at his girlfriend; who still had her back toward him and the other two. "She's had a party every year. Her birthday is basically a national holiday and she makes sure everyone knows it. Her birthday party is always like homecoming mixed with Coachella. Not that I've ever been to one of her birthday parties, but I always heard it was the biggest bash out of all her other parties."

"Wait, is she the one who threw a black light party for Halloween?" Liam questioned. "We all heard about that at Devenford Prep."

"Yeah that was a Avery Dukate party." Scott said.

"But it wasn't for Halloween." Isaac corrected, as he nodded his head over toward Teagan.

"It was my birthday." Teagan continued, as she finally turned around to face them.

"Your birthday is on Halloween?" Liam questioned. As Teagan nodded her head, he added,"Weird. I could see Avery being born on Halloween, but not you."

"She always said it was my day, not Halloween." Teagan said, as she smiled at the memory. "One year she kept calling it Teagoween. I begged her to stop." She added with a laugh.

Scott laughed out loud, as he said,"I actually remember that. She walked into class and yelled out 'Happy Teagoween'. None of us knew what it meant, but we went around saying it all day since she did."

"I remember that too." Isaac said, as he smiled at his girlfriend. "I had a feeling it was about you and your birthday. I tried to work up the nerve to actually walk up to you and say it or at least say happy birthday, but all I could get out was 'hi' then you looked me with those eyes and I had to run away."

"You were such a dork, but I love you." Teagan teased, as she shot him a smile, causing him to wink at her.

"I heard some freshman talking about some of Avery's parties. I'm surprised she's not having one." Liam spoke up.

"Me too." Isaac said, agreeing. "Hey, do you remember one year, she had a party for 24 hours and had a new band for each hour?" He questioned them. The party had taken place while Teagan was gone, but Avery had told her all about it.

"I remember that." Scott said. "Me and Stiles wanted to go so bad. Some of our favorite bands were going to be there, but we got turned away."

"Did she have bouncers or something?" Liam questioned.

"Yes, huge ones." Scott answered, as his eyes widen when he thought about the big guys that refused to let him and Stiles in that night.

"Well, you don't have to worry about being turned away this year, cause there is no party." Teagan stated, as grabbed her jacket and angrily slipped it on.

"If she's not having a party, what is she doing? Maybe we could all get together and hang out or something." Scott suggested.

Teagan let out a small sigh, as she glanced down at the bottle of water in her hand. In her opinion that would have been a great idea, but did anyone ever listen to her? Nope.

She lifted her head to look at Scott, as she vaguely said,"She's got plans." It's not that she was trying to be difficult and avoid the question, she just didn't want to talk about it. If Scott was anything like Isaac, he wouldn't see anything wrong with Avery and Derek giving it another try and she didn't feel like having everyone ganging up against her for being against it. The others weren't there to see all the lows, all the times Derek hurt Avery, but she did. She saw it all and she did not forget.

"Teagan, what is going on?" Isaac questioned, as he looked at his girlfriend, knowing she was hiding something.

"Nothing!" Teagan snapped. When she saw the look on his face, she reached out to lay a hand on his arm, quietly apologizing for snapping at him. She turned back to look at Scott, as she gave a small shrug, before softly said,"She's out-of-town. That's all I know."

She blew a small sigh of relief when Scott nodded his head, accepting her answer. She avoided looking at Isaac, worried he would be able to see through her lie, but without even looking, he knew she wasn't being truthful, he knew her too well. He just couldn't figure out why she was lying to him. He thought they were past lying to each other.

He folded his arms across his chest, silently watching her as she spoke to Liam and Scott a little longer until they walked out of the house. She turned to look at Isaac, flashing him a small smile, as she asked him if he was ready to leave.

He nodded his head, but didn't say anything, as he began to walk along behind her. He didn't know what she was hiding, but he was going to find out. If she was keeping one thing from him, what else could she be keeping? What could be so bad that she couldn't tell him?

~()~

Lowering his head in defeat, Derek reached out grabbing her hand as he checked the street before pulling across it, heading right for an alley than ran along the side of the club.

"What are you doing?" Avery questioned as she fought a smile as they came to a stop by a side door.

Glancing up at her, he simply replied, "Not waiting in line."

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth she watched as he easily broken the lock the on the door and opened it for them, as they both headed inside he accidentally let the door slam behind them. "Derek!" Avery hissed as she noticed one of nearby security guys look over in their direction, "Sneaking in does no good if we're gonna be tossed back out!"

She barely got her sentence out before he curled an arm around her and said in her ear, "They're not going to kick us out, we just need to blend."

"Blend? You don't even want to be in here-" She protested but her words caught in her throat as he backed them against the wall and before she could react his mouth was on hers. Successfully silencing any other argument she had.

Softly, she moaned into his mouth as she reached between them and grabbed onto the waistband of his jeans as she pulled him against her and easily matched the aggressiveness of his actions.

"See?" He breathed out against her still dampened lips, "Blending."

Quickly leaning back in she kissed him again, before pulling back with his bottom lip trapped between her teeth, causing his fingers to dig into her sides as he held onto her. Finally letting go, her sweet breath tickled his senses as she breathed, "I think I have a better way for us to blend…"

His eyes barely moved from her lips as he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's that?"

Smirking at knowing what he thought she was going to say, she leaned back towards him like she was going to kiss him, but paused just shy of putting her lips to his as she said, "Dancing!"

He hung his head and groaned as she laughed and patted his chest with both hands and repeated, "I wanted to come in here to dance."

Several minutes later Avery was weaving her way through the crowded dance club, and the mess of tangled bodies on the dance floor, until she came to as stop when she realized Derek hadn't followed her. Shaking her head back and forth she looked around with a slightly hopeful expression wondering if he'd came after her but she didn't see him anywhere.

Her eyes drifted over towards the bar and for a moment she almost went over there but then she stopped herself. She'd came in there to have a good time and if she got near that bar she'd not be able to stop and the last time she wanted to do was end her birthday as a drunken mess.

Taking a deep breath she focused on the beat of the music, feeling the thudding of the bass in her chest and she slowly started to swing her hips along with the music. After a few minutes the stress of the night slowly started to fade as she moved her body with the music, turning away from and ignoring any guy who tried to dance with her.

Finally the longer she danced amongst the crowd of Saturday night club goers, the more the temptation to drink melted away and she started to consider she needed to get out of the club and figure out where he went.

But as she lifted her hair up off her neck, still moving her body to the beat of the music she looked over and saw Derek standing close by, just watching her.

She laughed and shook her head, thinking how out of place he looked just standing there while everyone around him was dancing. Trying to ignore the feeling of being so closely watched, she continued to move along with the music.

But when she saw people around slowly starting to back away she yelled over the music, "Derek, dance or something!"

He shook his head back and forth as he yelled back, "We came in here for you… not me."

Avery bit down on the inside of her cheek and held back a laugh as she explained, "You can't just stand there and at watch me… you look like a total creep and you're scaring people."

He glanced around, noticing for the first time that he was drawing some attention but he didn't care. He'd only went in there for her and he was content just standing off to the side and keeping a protective eye on her.

"Dance with me!" She yelled loudly as she flashed him a flirtatious smile.

Glancing around at the crowd he shook his head and pointed out, "I don't dance."

"You're seriously just going to stand there and watch me?" She asked, still moving her body along with the music.

"I like watching you." He countered with a stubborn expression that made her laugh as she shook her head and him and turned back around. Finally not able to stand the feeling of being watched any longer and seeing more people starting to look at Derek with slightly frightened expressions, Avery looked over her shoulder and said, "Come on! It's my birthday…"

Looking around he tucked his hands in his pockets as he yelled, "I don't-" His voice and breath halted in his throat as she backed her body up against his, causing him to let out a groan and grab onto her hips as she danced to the music, rubbing her butt against his most sensitive area.

"Avery-" He began to say but she cut him off as she looked over her shoulder, shooting him a flirty smile as she moved her body against his and said, "I don't want to talk, or have you stand there and stare at me."

He stubbornly shook his head, trying to ignore the effect her body rubbing against his was having on him as he argued, "This isn't going to work…"

With a sultry smile, she turned and glanced down between them as she raised an eyebrow and pointed out, "Well…something's working." He opened his mouth to say something but she didn't let him get a word in as she grabbed his face and pulled it down to hers, pressing a heated, passionate kiss to his lips.

A part of her was always worried that she might need him more then he needed her, and as much as she was trying to not think about it –she couldn't just pretend his name wasn't the third cypher key. With that thought she kissed him harder, urgency in her movements as she pressed her body against his. Just needing to know that he was okay, that somehow they could find a way out of this mess and that he'd be okay.

Pulling back from the kiss, both of their breathing was labored as stared at each other and any negative emotions they'd been feeling quickly evolving into something else the longer they stared at each other in the middle of the crowded dance floor.

His fingers tangled in her hair as he brought her face back to his, claiming her lips in a kiss that sent her stomach jumping with excitement and goosebumps pepper her skin as he finally started to move his body along with hers to the beat of the music.

Both of them so entirely absorbed in the other that the rest of the crowd melted away for them and the only thing in the world they were aware of was the other.

Even with some of the doors to the building now propped open for the cool night air, the temperature kept rising inside. Not that she was complaining as she glanced down seeing his t-shirt starting to cling to muscles as they continued to dance with each other –their bodies pressed tightly together.

Running her hands up his chest she thought to herself that she was sure he'd never looked better, with that thought she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and peered up to him –seeing his eyes were still glued to her.

It wasn't long before their mouths were joined again, his hands rubbing over her body causing her fingers tips to dig into his upper arms as she softly moaned into his mouth. The sound made his body tense as he pulled back, breaking the kiss and resting his forehead against hers. His eyes searched her face, seeing her flushed cheeks before their eyes locked in a lustful gaze –both of them thinking they'd never wanted anything more than they wanted each other in the moment.

Running his tongue over his lips all he could taste was the sweetness of her mouth, blowing out a ragged breath he leaned in near her ear as he offered, "We should get out of here."

The second his humid breath rushed over the side of her face and ear her heart started to race even faster and it took a few moments before she was able to process what he said to her. She nodded in agreement, smiling as he leaned down kissing her once again before grabbed onto her hand and led them both towards an exit.


~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~


A/N- Thanks for reading! Miss E Charlotte and I always thought it was kind of funny that on Teagan's birthday ended up with a huge party and on Avery's birthday she just went out of town for the weekend –you'd really think with their personalities that it would have been reversed. But it just sort of happened the other way around! ^_^

We owe an extra special thank you to Momsen-xxxx, xxxRena, 19irene96, DancingDorisDay, ILoveSameClafin'x, and our lovely friend Iris RainbowWolf for reading and reviewing chapter 28!