The next couple of days went by speedily for Ashley, dreading what would happen every time a day passed.
First off, the next morning Jace was picked up by his parents, and it was definitely a teary farewell for everyone. Stiles was allowed to be just late enough for school to be able to say goodbye to him, and her uncle stood next to him and received tight hugs from the little boy, already missing having him around. Not only did they get hugs, but Gwaine did as well, and right before he left, he asked Ashley why Derek wasn't there to say goodbye."Derek isn't too happy with me right now."She says to him regretfully, knowing the child was fond of the brooding wolf."I'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye to him."
"Are you going to make up with him?"He asks, tears in his eyes as she kneels in front of him, him hugging his blanket tightly."That's what friends do. That's what superheroes do."
"I'm going to try."She says, giving him a hug then kissing him on the forehead tenderly."I'll miss you very much kiddo. Do you remember what we talked about before? About what all your momma and papa don't need to find out about?"The last part she whispers, not wanting to arouse suspicion from the adults packing Jace's stuff into the vehicle."You don't want me getting into trouble, do you?"
"No. I won't tell them, I pinky promise."He says solemnly, twisting his pinky around hers."I'll miss you too."
After one more hug for them, then a hug from her mom and step-dad who thank her once more for watching Jace so they could have some alone adult time, they manage to drag Jace away and pack him in, driving away while everyone watches in silence. Ashley sighs silently and kneels back down on the ground, wrapping her arms around a warm Gwaine who in turn places his head in the crook of her neck and whines quietly. They stay like that for a couple of minutes, feeling her uncle pat her softly on the back before heading inside. Stiles stays there beside her, a silent presence as she lets Gwaine comfort her in the only way her can, one of the few times in his life he is ever that quiet due to his slight ADHD and need to just constantly be making noise.
Maybe the runes were helping after all.
"You gonna be ok?"He finally asks after she stands up, breathing deeply to relax herself."I'm gonna miss him too, ya know. He was a riot to have around, even if he did break into my room that one morning and wake me up with soapy hands slapped against my face."
Ashley gives a quiet giggle, his intended goal."The poor kid, somehow he could reach the soap but not the water, he just wanted to wash his hands."Thinking about that seems to bring her mood up a bit, even though she still keeps her hand on Gwaine for a type of support."Yea, I'll be ok, just sad to see him go, that's all. I got used to having him around."
"I hate to say it, but he's safer not being here. There are too many supes around here for anyone to really be safe to tell the truth, but we live here so we can't complain. Too much. Ok, we can but it won't do much to help."
"I know he's safer not being here with our...concentration of supernatural activity, but honestly there are creatures everywhere so it's not quite as much a difference as you might think."She says, walking back towards the house, Stiles behind her."Lucky for us, the smart ones usually try and blend in since they don't want to get caught, and according to Luce they have a good reason to hide right now."
"Really? What's going on?"
"Oh no, we have enough problems as it is, I'm not getting you involved with Winchester stuff quite yet. Maybe once we get all this settled, but not before."She says, giving him a look that has him gulping and nodding in agreement."For now, let's just get through this Darach nonsense. Oh, and the fact you're going on a road trip with your favorite coach ever, and the rest of the cross-country team."
"Ugh, don't remind me."Stiles says with a groan, plodding up the stairs behind her and heading to his room, grabbing his away bag and a jacket, then turning to face her."Bad enough we're being forced to go on this stupid trip, and with Coach Finstock of all people? The only redeeming thing is that Allison and Lydia are following us there for moral support. Not in the bus, of course, too dirty for Lydia, but in a nice, air conditioned car with a radio and no yelling coach. Oh, and to top it off one of the twins will be there, with Issac and Boyd probably glaring murderously at him the entire time."
She smiles at him as he grabs his keys and heads towards his baby, leaning against it with a plop, Gwaine stopping next to him and cocking his head up at him curiously.""Yes, but he won't do anything to push them anymore, so hopefully there won't be any fighting along the way. They're our allies now, whether they like it or not. So just, I don't know, please try and keep the peace with them at least. Maybe talk a little bit with everyone at the hotel about the Darach situation."
"Is that a command from my omega?"Stiles says with a pained grin, causing her to punch him in the arm with a laugh.
"No you jerk, it's a request from your cousin who doesn't want to see you turned into wolf chow. I'm sure Deucalion is giving the twins a speech just like this one."
"Probably with more implied threats. It's still weird how you managed to put this together you know. You're like a crazy person whisperer or something."
"Crazy person whisperer?"She asks, cocking her eyebrow at him as he laughs as gets into the jeep, window down so he can still talk.
"Well, yea! Peter, Lucifer, Deucalion, Crowley..."
"Only one of those you named were actually crazy you know."
"Doesn't matter. Technicalities and all that jazz."
"Whatever."She says, reaching out and ruffling his short hair, causing him to jerk back and scowl."Have a good trip, win, don't kill Finstock, don't make Finstock want to kill you, and don't piss off the twins. See ya when you get back."
********************************
That trip turned out to go all sorts of wrong, what with the hotel being haunted and trying to make all the wolf students off themselves. Luckily Lydia, Stiles and Allison managed to save everyone before they could finish the job, Scott managing to fight it off himself due to what he was convinced was the runes on his pack mark. Afterwards they had a long talk in one of the rooms, sans Boyd who was still way too pissed too be cival, talking about the Darch, what they knew so far, and informing Issac about their new pack, along with the perks that came with it. Ethen didn't know much other than what Deucalion had already told him, but was willing to try and make the alliance work, even going so far as to apologize to Issac for everything. They all talked the rest of the night, which was honestly the only positive thing that came out of the trip.
Meanwhile back at school, Aiden was the only one left in her class who she could talk to about anything, and had a very interesting tidbit of information for her after coming back from Miss Blakes class. Apparently she was a lot happier than normal, though walking a bit funny, and he said she smelled like a whole lot of Derek. After putting two and two together(and trying to erase the whole walking funny comment out of her mind with a shudder), she shakes her head in distaste and manages to throw the pen she had been tossing into the air hard enough to lodge it into the ceiling. When asked why on earth he thought she needed to know that, he shrugged, smirked, and walked out of the class. Stupid wolf, going to do an anger fuck with a complete stranger who may or may not be evil.
Definitely evil. Had to be, she was too perky. And if she was walking funny it was definitely an anger fuck, one that she went along with for some reason, so she deserved any pain she felt.
People are dumb. If all of her supernatural buddies hadn't been in areas she couldn't reach them, she would be venting with them about it.
Once they got back things didn't get any better. The Darach struck again, going for healers like Chris had said it would, taking a doctor from the hospital Mrs. McCall worked at. Ethen and Danny ended up at the hospital ER that same night as Danny was extremely sick with something, and once Mrs. McCall was taking them to the back to take a look the poor guy ended up throwing up mistletoe, something that definitely wasn't in his normal diet. Melissa ended up jabbing him with a needle so he wouldn't die, and Ethen explained that him and Danny had gotten quite close, one of the reasons he was do accepting of the truce Ashley put together. It didn't matter that he had done it on orders at first, he actually cared now, and wanted to help Danny however he could. He explained that Aiden was actually the same way with Lydia, though he was a lot worse about showing it.
After that night Scott decided he was going to keep a much closer eye on his mom in fear of the Darach trying to take her too, resulting in both him and Issac falling asleep in her room during their vigil, to her amusement. According to Melissa they had both fallen asleep the first night, and she woke up to them snoring against each other.
To top it all off, the Darach ended up taking Deaton to try and make him one of the sacrifices. Deaton had called Scott right before it happened, somehow telling him it was going to happen in the first place, prompting everyone to kick into action the moment they could get away. Talking first to the school counselor(Deatons sister), then to Chris to find out if he knew anything else about the sacrifices, the teens(still sans Boyd) gathered together with the twins to combine their knowledge and try to figure out where Deaton was being kept. Ashley stayed in the background as much as she could to watch and see how well they all interacted with one another when trying to solve a problem, and was pleased to admit they seemed to be doing better despite their not so in the past issues, not to mention the fact that Issac and Allison looked to be seriously crushing on one another. After some serious brain sifting, checking to see if whatever budding powers Lydia seemed to be developing could do anything, then combining a map Chris gave them with a map Danny made for a project he was doing on currents to mark all the spots that the sacrifices needed to be made. Scott and Issac headed to the bank, one of the spots located on the map, to find Deaton hanging by his wrists, and after both slamming themselves against the mountain ash barrier to no avail(Scotts eyes changing to red as he tried), the Sheriff showed up and shot Deaton down, saying he followed a hunch he got at the vet clinic after Deaton was taken.
Which brought her to her current revelation.
"I think we need to tell your dad everything."She said to Stiles after school had ended, waiting in the parking lot for everyone else to get out of class so they could meet at the park and go over everything they knew on both ends, only without Dereks pack(he was still pissy). Normally Stiles and Scott would have both been at Lacrosse practice, but with the cross country trip they had just ended, Coach decided everyone needed a couple days break. Thus, the two of them were sitting outside with her and Gwaine, all of them leaning up against the jeep while Gwaine sunbathed on a patch of grass.
"Tell him what exactly?"Stiles asks, eyes closed while Scott looks at her curiously. When she doesn't immediately answer he opens them up and stares at her incredulously."Wait, like everything everything? That's the worst idea ever!"
"Why is that?"Scott asks with a concerned look on his face."My mom and Allisons dad knows, why not yours?"
"Your mom is a saint who found out by mistake, and Allisons dad was a scary hunter who knew about this crap already."Stiles throws back at his best friend."My dad is a sheriff who I have to hide junk food from, who just keeps landing in the wrong place at the right time."
"Kinda why he needs to know cuz."Ashley says, standing up straight to look at him."I happen to think that the sheriff needs to know what kinda weird stuff goes on around him so he can be better prepared. And since they know, they also help us when they're able to. What's going to happen if one of these days, one of the pack gets caught stopping something, when to do that we have to chop something off, or stick it with something, or kill it even, and your dad is the one to find us? Is he going to be heartbroken as he turns us in for assault or murder? We need him on our side so he knows when we're after something big, so he can trust us to do what he can't."
"You really think he's going to ever let me out of the house again if we tell him about this crap?"Stiles practically yells, and Ashley has a hard time not rolling her eyes at him."He's going to handcuff me to the bed when I'm not at school, never let me drive again, and think I'm insane!"
"Don't be so dramatic. The other parents are both off, so I say we invite him to the meeting as well as the two of them and tell him everything, that way we have both proof that what we're saying is the truth, as well as two other adults to back us up. Mrs. McCall is hardly the type to go along with the type of prank this might seem like, and Chris is way too serious to crack a joke most of the time. If he doesn't believe those two and seeing Scott change in front of him, we'll think of something else. But seriously, I think him knowing can only help."
"You just don't want to have to hide your weird friends from him anymore."Stiles says with a slight pout."Nothing I say is going to change your mind, is it?"
"Nope, sorry."
"Fine. But I'm keeping a spare pair of handcuff keys with me at all times, and Scott, you better be prepared to break me out of the house at any moment."
*
The meeting started off relatively well. It was the first that they had without one of the angels or Crowley there, so she was a little nervous that a fight might break out, but she kept her mind occupied with the Stark Phone that she had gotten in the mail that morning, already pre-programmed by Tony with several different features, including his and Peppers numbers, retinal scan to unlock the phone, complete access to his entire Vudu library and, for some reason, access to Jarvis in case she ever has an emergency and needs help. She protested that she didn't actually need that little feature on her new phone, thanking him for said phone in the first place, he told her it was too bad and she should be glad Pepper stopped him from adding on the ability to scan the phone and pay for stuff straight from the Stark business account. On a side note though, he had an extremely large Vudu library with several complete TV serieses and pretty much the entire Disney collection so far.
The good news was that he had found where the ghost kid was coming from. While searching through the records, they found out that one of the kids had fallen through the stairs the day they had closed the orphanage down. However, there was no record of them going in to rescue said child, so when they started searching under some off the fixed stair sets, they found a tiny crumpled body, legs bent at an awkward angle. Tony sent everyone out for the day, then went down with Pepper and salted the body before setting it ablaze, Pepper crying beside him as he did so. So far there was no sign of any more ghost activity, so they were pretty sure that was the only one. She pulled them up for a video call once it was over and assured them that as sad as it was, they were lucky it wasn't one of the more violent ghosts who liked to slice throats, and they did a very good thing by finally freeing the poor kid.
The sheriff was the last to show up, with everyone else sitting on basically opposite sides while they waited for him, the glares not quite as prominent as they would have been once upon a time, though in his defense Deucalion wasn't doing any glaring, merely sitting next to the twins and listening to everything around him. The only other person not glaring, other than Ashley, was Scotts mom, who they actually hadn't told what all the other pack had done. Chris kept on his normal stoic mask for when he didn't want to give anything away, though he did eventually come over to take a look at Ashley's new phone, listening in when she spoke to Tony and Pepper about the ghost kid. Gwaine decided to stay under her feet the entire time, wanting to stay close to her in case something happened, and would occasionally poke his head out when someone new showed up, looking them over before ducking back under the bench.
Once the sheriff did finally show up, the first thing they did was let him in on everything, having Scott pull him over to a shadowed area of the park and wolf out. Naturally the sheriff was a little freaked out, but when he realized that everyone else seemed to be in on it, he let the other two parents talk to him about it just like Ashley thought he would, then sat down next to them as the rest of the group went over what they knew so far. Every once in a while she would glance over at the small group and make sure everything looked ok, noting the slight look of panic and confusion on her uncles face, one that was slowly turning into consideration as Melissa and Chris spoke to him, letting the teens, Deaucalion and Ashley keep to there own counsel.
"So, we know for sure that the Darach got three Healer sacrifices then?"Ashley asks the group when they hit an uncomfortable quiet streak, the adults finally coming back to join them. Chris gives her a brief nod to let her know it all went ok, and her uncle sits himself next to Melissa, pained look on his face.
"Found the body last night."Ethen says seriously from his spot next to his brother."It looked the same way the other two bodies did."
"Which means it'll wait a week before starting again."Chris adds in.
"Well, that's one good thing going for us I guess."She says with a sigh."We won't have to worry about any more bodies being found until then."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that."Deucalion says softly.
"Why, you planning on locking anyone else in buildings?"Issac throws at him, the only one of Dereks pack willing to be there. Ashley sighs and face palms, knowing it was bound to happen eventually as the others start to look a bit mutinous.
"We've been over this, he isn't against us anymore. He's trying to help us, and has as much to lose as us if we don't catch this thing, so let's please try to be civil. Deucalion, could you please explain?"
"Of course."He says with a smirk in her direction, then loses it when he speaks."Obviously Kali wasn't too happy about our little truce, and she ran off when I told her that was the direction we were going now. She came back to the apartment last night when we weren't there and tore up all the furniture, then left us a hastily scribbled note. It basically said she didn't give a damn about our plans, and if it was the last thing she could do she would make everyone suffer, starting with Derek Hale."
"Well, fuck."She says under her breath as the teens around her start to talk loudly. Everything had been going well so far with the truce, other than the fact she hadn't spoke to Derek since that Sunday, and all she could do was hope Kali couldn't derail the entire thing her self."Is there anything we could do to stop her, trap her, convince her to not be.."
"Such a bitch?"Lydia supplies, causing everyone to laugh a bit.
"I was going to say so pissy but that works too."
"I'm afraid the only way to stop her from doing any harm would be to, as you said, trap her, or kill her. She won't listen to reason at this point, and will likely hinder any of our plans she can find out about."
"Hasn't there been enough killing?"Scott asks, his usual puppy dog eyes turned on."I say we try and trap her."
"And do what after that?"Stiles snorts, causing Scott to glare at him."Do we keep her trapped until we stop the Darach, then let her free and hope she doesn't try and kill us all in out sleep?"
"I don't know, it's just a thought."Scott says with a pout.
"I know you're adverse to harming people, but in this case it would be in your best interest to do so."Deucalion says to the young wolf sagely."Otherwise she won't stop at just making Derek suffer. It would likely spread to your dear mother, as well as the rest of your little group here. She would probably save Ashley here for the very last, knowing that to watch all of you suffer would in turn make her suffer, then she would strike when Ashley was at her most low."
Everyone goes quiet at that, looking down at the ground as they consider the ramification of letting Kali run amok. They knew Deucalion was very likely right, and as much as they hated to do so, they needed to strike.
"That's all well and good, but before we can do either, we would need to find her."Chris says, breaking them out of their silence as he looks over at Deucalion and the twins."Is there anywhere Kali liked to go to be alone, someplace she felt safe?"
Ethan and Aiden share a glance."Not that we know of, but we can do a bit of searching, try and smell out where her scent might be strongest. If she had a place like that, she didn't want to share."
"If we can find her, we could take her back to the bank and keep her there, a circle of mountain ash around her until we decide what to do with her. I have a dart that can knock her out to get her there if we find her first, and after that..we'll just have to decide then. Would that be ok?"He looks over at Ashley, causing her to cock her head at him in surprise.
"Why are you asking me?"
"You are an alpha now, right? I figure you need to be the one to make the decision."
Ashley mentally curses him as she realizes that he's right, that all of the teens would be looking to her decision as the alpha, and the adults would as the main responsible party for the truce laid out. Glancing over to see Chris giving her a sympathetic smile she gives a short nod, making her choice. Her uncle still looks confused at everything, and she honestly can't blame him for that."Fine, we trap her until we figure out what to do with her. Issac, can you tell Derek about her looking to make him suffer, since he likely won't answer my calls still, or even my texts."Issac nods shortly at her."Thank you. Chris, you said the next group will either be Guardians or Philosophers, right? We sshould probably try and come up with some sort of list of each, try and get a rough draft of who the Darach might go after next. Other than that, do we really know any good ways to take the Darach out once we find it?"
"It actually won't be that hard to kill it once we get a hold of it."Deucalion says, drawing everyones attention back to him."The problem is getting close enough to do so. With its powers it can send shock waves at you, move items telepathically and throw them at you, it has super strength that can match ours, and has various magic powers. Once we get a hold of it, all we need to do is snap its neck or slash its throat and its dead."
"Argh, so we just need to get it still with its hands tied behind its back then."Stiles groans."Easy."
"We knew this was going to take some effort."Chris chastises."And we're lucky we know what we do. Running in blind is the last thing we need."
"Says the man with an office full of weapons and other dangerous goodies! All I have is my brain and a baseball bat!"
"So we're doomed then."His dad throws in, causing Stiles to gape at him."What?"
"We're not doomed, we just have more to figure out."Ashley says, standing and stretching."For a study project, I'm going to send everyone to the library during class to look up different classical music pieces. I think you guys should take that time to do a bit of research together, see what you can come up with. We'll skip performances this week to make room for it, and just resume next week. Sound good?" Everyone in her class nods in unison."Good. I don't think we really have anything else we can go over right now unfortunately, so I guess we should all go home. You all know my number if you find something, so if there's not anything else..."
"Actually, I would like to speak to both you and Scott, if that's all right."Deucalion says as everyone stands to leave. Scott looks at her with a confused look in his eyes, then walks towards the elder wolf with Ashley, trepidation in his every step. When they make it to him, Deucalion gives a quiet chuckle at the obvious nervousness of the teenager."Don't look so nervous Scott. I'm not going to bite."
"Sorry."Scott says a bit sheepishly."Still trying to get used to all of this."
"That's one of the reasons I asked Ashley to join us, I wanted you to feel more comfortable."
"What's going on?"Ashley asks Deucalion as he leans against a tree next to him idly."Is everything ok?"
"Everything is fine. Better than fine even. Mr. McCall, has Derek or anyone else ever spoke to you about the different type of alphas?"
"Um, no, he hasn't. I know there is a regular alpha, as well as a human alpha now. Why, are there others?"
"Yes, there is, which is why I need to speak to you. Did Deaton mention anything to you about your eyes flickering red when you attempted to break through the mountain ash surrounding him? About the fact that you nearly seemed to make it through before being forced back?"
"No..he mentioned it was interesting, and that he needed to do more research on it, but that was about it."
"You know, I noticed your eyes started flickering red when I accepted you into my pack."Ashley adds in thoughtfully."I thought it was just a trick of the light at first."
"It makes sense you would see that."Deucalion says with a smile."Scott, it seems you are becoming what we call a True Alpha, a type of beta or omega that turns itself into an alpha by great strength of character or force of will. Not as rare as a human alpha, but still rare."
"I..really? I'm turning myself into an alpha?"Scott says, almost squeaking it out, much to Ashleys amusement."Are you sure about that, that I'm not just, I don't know, having some sort of weird growth spurt?"
"I'm quite sure. Most likely your stubborn nature that makes you stick to your ethics and follow your heart no matter what is a large reason for your transformation. It would be why you tend to clash with Derek at times as well, and why you were able to tame your inner beast as fast as you were."
Scott is quiet for a while, obviously letting his brain absorb what he was just told. Ashley, however, still had a question for the gravely voiced alpha."Will he still be able to stay a member of my pack, or will it cause problems?"
"Not at all. If I can have a pack of nothing but alphas, you can be a human alpha with a true alpha for a pack member. If anything it will just add more strength to the pack, and he will be able to help keep the peace for you if you aren't there, be a second in command of sorts. He will still be able to create other betas, of course, but as he himself is part of a pack under anothers leadership, the beta will need to be given your mark in order to not be considered an omega. You cannot have a pack within a pack, unfortunately."
"That makes sense."She says quietly."What do you say, Scott, want to be my second in command? It would help to have an enforcer who can actually, you know, enforce things."
"I guess."Scott says, still unsure of what to think."If it means I get to stay in your pack, then sure. I'm not sure I'm ready to be responsible for other peoples safety and well-being just yet."
"And I am?"She asks, hands on her hips and eyebrow cocked, which makes Deucalion give out a loud bark of laughter.
"I can assure you, you are perfect for the job. A little bit of a mother, a little bit of a friend, and already a teacher, all important things to consider, not to mention they already defer to your judgement, even before you were their alpha. Hell even without your special friends you would be a good choice."
"Thanks."She says with a blush, glancing over to where Gwaine is waiting next to Stiles and her uncle, everyone else having slowly made their way towards there homes, Scotts mom waiting with her family."We better head back before my uncle gets trigger happy. Was that everything you needed to tell us?"
"Yes, it was. Scott, just keep following your instincts when it comes to your powers getting stronger, they won't lead you astray. Ashley, I'll let you know if we learn anything else on Kali's whereabouts. Have a good evening."
***********************************
Once they make it home, both her and Stiles have a long talk with her uncle about what all he has been left in the dark about, much to Stiles dismay. Luckily he wasn't quite as angry as Stiles thought he would be, mainly just confused and unbelieving. Oh, he was upset, and threatened to ground Stiles until he graduated college, but he understood why it was kept a secret. Ashley even told him what really happened to her that summer, Gwaine lounged in her lap as they all sat in the living room, though she left some key details to herself(angels, demons, Apocalypse), and explained to him the whole alpha thing that was going on with her now. That actually seemed to relieve him a tiny bit, as he admitted he felt better knowing she was in charge of them rather than Derek considering he arrested him not long ago, even if he was innocent.
They both went to bed after promising(with much reluctance from Stiles) to keep him informed as much as they could, especially when his cases coincided with what they were trying to stop. In fact, he only threatened to handcuff Stiles to the house if he didn't, in fact, tell him something he needed to know, trusting Ashley knew better then to need such a warning.
Later, while relaxing in the bed next to Gwaine, his head on her stomach, she found herself wide awake, diving through the internet on the Stark Pad that idiot sent to her with the phone, all the same upgrades as the phone so far, only bigger. She needed to ask Pepper if he was like this with everyone, because she wasn't really used to being given such expensive gifts, considering she bought everything else expensive she had herself. Hell, her last boyfriend didn't even buy her stuff, unless you counted the laptop he said he got her, then sold for money the day they broke up so he could buy beer.
So far, she had read something about a hammer landing in the middle of a desert which no one could lift, researched druids on several different websites, then moved on to look up the different runes so she knew a little more about what was on her mark, which eventually led her to the subject of Yggdrasil and the Norse gods, something she knew a bit about from reading old Norse myths but was always interested in learning more. Considering Gabriel had pretended to be Loki for a while, she thought she might look up a bit more about him, and she had to say she was intrigued, if curious about how much was actually true. She couldn't see Gabriel letting anyone chain him down and let acid drip down his face. And all the kids? Surely he was more careful than that. But to be honest, the hammer that had dropped in the desert sounded a lot like Mj lnir, Thor's hammer, and there was even a leaked video that the government hadn't taken down on YouTube that showed everyone trying to pick it up, and it looked pretty damn real. She might have to ask Luce or Gabe some questions next time they popped around, find out the truth on some things.
After touring the internet for a couple more hours, finally getting sucked into the black hole known as Tumblr and going through page after page, she felt her brain start to get tired and her eyes finally starting to droop, she powered the tablet down and stuck it on the table next to her, curling up on her side and throwing an arm around Gwaine, cuddling him close and once again finding herself extremely grateful for finding him that night, knowing that without him she would be a hot mess right now, considering how much he helped her when she needed up, how his mere presence could relax her and keep her calm. He was her saving grace, her best friend, and she couldn't wait to see his puppies from Growly. It was the best thing in the world knowing that she could cuddle up to him every night and feel completely safe from everything.
However, she was starting to get a little tired of waiting around for the Darach to strike, and needed something to do, lest she go stir crazy. She hadn't heard from Peter more than twice this week, which was strange considering how big a deal he'd made about wanting to take her out while Jace was with her. Between that and Derek not talking to her, she needed something to do.
Luckily, the next day she got her wish, in the form of a phone call from the Winchesters.
*At this point, it will break to the side story about Chris and Ashley, however this story will continue next chapter after that story takes place. I really didn't think ahead of time before making it separate, sorry about that.