Title: The More Things Change

Author: Michelle

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: See Part 1. Borrowed a line from a former President and I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which one (line and President). ; )

Previously…

After Terri's curt dismissal, Matt patted her on the shoulder and stood up. He was turning toward the door just as Chance and Stiles walked in.

When Chance saw Matt with Terri he turned to push Stiles back out the door, but he was too late, Stiles had seen them too. Stiles pulled away from Chance and went straight to Matt. Matt never saw him coming.

Part 59: The One You've Been Waiting For

Stiles waited until Matt was away from Terri, but he had his hand in a fist before he got there. As soon as he was close enough, he swung with as much force as he could at Matt's midsection.

"Stiles! What are you doing?" Terri screamed as she ran between them.

"Oh no," was all that Bailey could muster.

Even though Chance knew things could turn out badly for Stiles, he was smiling to himself. 'It's about time Matt got what was coming to him!'

"Terri, I'm fine, this is between Stiles and…" Matt had to cough out the rest, "me."

"Stiles" He was so focused on Matt, it was as if he didn't even see her between them. She finally had to yell to get his attention. "Stiles! What is going on?"

Stiles didn't answer her; he was angry and the only thing on his mind was making Matt pay. His rage was so blind, he would have ended up hitting Terri instead of Matt had Bailey not pulled her out of the way. Stiles swung again, this time hitting Matt squarely on the jaw and knocking him to the floor. "Get up!"

When Matt was half way up, Stiles hit him again. If the other men hadn't held him, Stiles would have kept punching him. As angry as he was, he wasn't going to stop until Matt was out.

"Hey, hey, that's enough." Stiles was fighting to pull away. "Stiles! I said that's enough!" Chance finally got him to stop struggling and pulled him back. "Okay, you got to punch his lights out. But that's not why we're here. You have to talk to Terri and from the look on her face, you better start explaining fast."

Stiles just stared at Chance for a minute then looked over his shoulder. Lex and Jackson were helping Matt; Bailey and Joshua pulled Terri aside and the rest of the department was pretending not to notice.

Stiles rubbed the top of his head. "Chance, what have I done? Am I going to loose my job over this? I can't…"

"Calm down, we'll figure out something, but don't worry about that now." Chance looked up to see Terri and Bailey talking. "Go talk to her."


"First, he gets drunk, brings another woman into our house, and has sex on my couch, now this. What is wrong with him?" Terri was hurt and angry.

Stiles walked up in time to hear her question. "I did not have sex with that woman! Unlike you, I've been faithful! If you want to know what's wrong with me, maybe you should ask your boyfriend over there!"

"He is not my boyfriend! I thought we straightened that out when we were in Chicago. That's beside the point anyway. I know what I saw last night. I was sitting at home worried sick about you and show up with some bimbo! What is your problem?"

"My problem? My problem? You're the one who told me you were going to break up with him then started screwing around the minute I leave town!"

Terri was embarrassed with everyone standing around, but without thinking, she reached around Bailey and slapped Stiles. "How dare you! I did no such thing! I have been completely faithful to you since the day we met. I told you I wasn't sleeping with him. I told you I loved you the last time we talked. I can't believe you've become that paranoid, or do you think so little of me that you think I went home and hopped in bed with him?"

Everyone in the art department was staring at the couple as they screamed at each other. Their friends were so surprised by that they were hearing they didn't say a word.

Stiles held his stinging jaw as he turned around and looked for Matt. He was comfortably out of Stiles' reach. "Paranoid? I got it from him! I saw him sitting on your bed, naked. Chance brought me by the house to see you before I left for Iraq. I walk upstairs looking for you and there he is sitting there with a towel thrown over his waist. He told me how you 'took care of him the night before!'"

Terri thought for a moment. "The day you came back from the conference in Chicago?"

Stiles pursed his lips and shook his head stiffly. "Yeah, the day I came back. I called you the night before —twice, once on the home phone and once on your cell. If nothing was going on why didn't you answer?"

"I invited Matt over to tell him we were finished—just like I told you I was. I didn't answer because I was in the middle of breaking up with him when you called. I didn't call you back because the phones were out.

"That doesn't explain why he was in your bedroom."

Terri didn't want to explain this part. She looked around at all of the expectant faces and spilled it. "There was a bad storm that night and it wasn't safe for him to go home, so he stayed—on the couch. That's it, nothing happened. I told him to be gone when I came down the next morning. I didn't see him before I left for work; I don't know why he was in my room when you got home."

Terri knew Stiles was hurt, but she was tired of explaining herself. She tried one more time to get him to understand. "Stiles, I didn't even know you were coming home that morning. I would have been home, or here. Matt left word with Joshua that he needed me to work on something at HLS that morning; I didn't see Matt again until he got to the office. He didn't mention seeing you."

"Whatever Terri.Why didn't you use your cell? I left a message." Stiles wanted desperately to believe her, but there was still the matter of her not calling him back.

"Stiles I heard the message you left on our phone, but like I said, the phones were out so I couldn't call back. I didn't see a message from you on my cell."

Stiles stood there dumbly for a minute. He didn't know what to think. "Well the story I got from him is completely different. Then last night he told me he 'took good care of' you while I was away."

Terri looked over at Matt who was still massaging his jaw and heading for the door. "Matt, wait a minute. You LET him think we were sleeping together?"

Matt hadn't made it out the door. He stopped and shrugged his shoulders and reached for the door again. He thought he should get out of the area before Terri realized he must have erased Stiles' message from her cell phone.

Terri moved as fast as she could without running. She grabbed Matt's arm just before he cleared the room and pulled him back inside. "Answer me! Did you allow my husband to think that we slept together—after I told you I loved him and wanted to work on my marriage, after what he went through in Iraq?"

Matt didn't say a word. He looked around the room for support. Stiles, on the other hand, smiled to himself, S'he does still want me.'

"I can't believe you would do that! Did you erase his message on my cell phone too?" Terri paused for a second. "I already know you kept me out of the building on purpose that morning; you knew he was coming home. I thought you were my friend! I can't believe you would do that! Even after everything that happened I thought that one day, we could go back to being friends. Right now, I would be happy if I never saw you again!"

"Terri I told you it wasn't over. He's wrong for you. Can't you see? That's probably why you couldn't remember."

Terri had heard enough. She pulled Matt's free arm behind his back and twisted as hard as she could. When he twisted back to free himself she flipped him onto the tile floor with a thud.

Stiles smiled broadly remembering his first meeting with Terri. "That's my girl."

His smile quickly faded.