****I do not own Teen Wolf****
Sitting in the back seat of Stiles' jeep, Charlotte's thumbnail was between her teeth as they sat parked in front of the hospital, a feeling that something horribly wrong was about to happen as she looked at the sign.
She had already explained to Derek and Stiles about what happened with the photos, Stiles excitingly going and getting more pictures for her to touch to see what would happen. The first couple of times, nothing had happened. She had nearly thrown the framed photo in frustration when Derek had stopped her.
"What were you doing the last time?" He had asked.
Charlotte shook her head. "Nothing? I accidentally knocked over one of the photos on the Sheriff's dresser and all I did was pick it up." She groaned in frustration as she pushed her hair out of her face. "How am I supposed to figure this crap out when I don't even know how I did it the first time?"
Derek stood there and thought about it for a moment. He had no clue how Empaths did anything, Charlotte was the first one he's met. But what he did know was that it seemed like whenever Charlotte was angry or frustrated that her powers didn't work. "Then don't figure it out, just do it."
Looking up at Derek with her brows furrowed, "That makes no sense."
"No, wait," Stiles interjected. "That actually does make sense." When he saw the look Charlotte was giving him, he explained. "You were literally just picking the picture up when you felt everything, right?" Charlotte nodded. "So just pick it up. Don't think about it, just do it."
Looking at the photo that Derek held in his hand, Charlotte took a slow and deep breath. "Don't think about it, just do it." slowly reaching for it, her heart beating fast against her ribs.
Her fingers finally made contact with it, grabbing it and taking it from Derek's hand. Once it was no longer in contact with Derek, it was when it all hit her.
The photo was of Stiles and Scott at the ages of twelve. Scott was staying the night over at Stiles' and in the photo, they were holding a huge bowl of popcorn. Stiles had a handful ready to shove in his mouth, and Scott was just sitting there on the couch with a big smile on his face.
Charlotte looked over the photo, feeling the innocence, the happiness that the two boys felt. She could feel the closeness between the two best friends. It brought a smile on her face as the warmth from the photo had filled her heart and mind.
Derek and stiles looked at her expectingly. "Did you do it?" Derek asked, and saw the excitement on her face grow.
Charlotte threw her arms around Derek, surprising the werewolf with the hug. Charlotte was squealing in excitement as she let go of Derek and hugged Stiles next. "I did it, I did it! I can do this!"
But now her excitement was gone, as she stared at the hospital, trying to figure out why her mom was somehow apart of this whole thing.
Stiles was on the phone with Scott, "Yeah, I did, and it looks just like the drawing."
Scott had sent them the photo of Allison's necklace and compared it to the drawing Laura did before she died. And it was the exact image on both.
"Hey, is there something on the back of it?" Derek asked after grabbing Stiles' arm to bring the phone closer to him. Stiles showing obvious pain from Derek's grip. "There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something."
Charlotte was trying to wrap her head around everything. She felt like she was so close but so far away from putting all the pieces together.
"The Alpha is connected to Derek's family, he's connected to the fire. He had to have been there when it happened. My first few dreams were proof of that, I see that now. But who is he? What does that necklace have to do anything? Maybe it had to do with the previous owner."
Charlotte was taken out of her thoughts when she heard Stiles' head slam against the dash. "Oh, God! What the hell was-"
"You know what that was for." Derek retaliated. "Now go." Stiles stared at Derek in disbelief "go!"
"Stiles, wait!" Charlotte quickly got out of the jeep before Stiles got too far away. "I'm coming in with you."
Derek scrunched his brows together. "Why? What's wrong?" He got out of the jeep and caught up to her.
"What's wrong?" Charlotte huffed out a short, bitter laugh. "Derek, everything is wrong! And I'm not gonna hide out here when my own mother is now somehow involved in this." Something in the pit of her stomach felt wrong. "I just… I have this feeling that if I go in there with Stiles, I'm gonna have a lot of answers to most of the questions I keep asking myself since this whole thing started." There was an itch, a deep feeling in her gut. She didn't want to say out loud that she also wanted to go in there because something in her was saying to protect Stiles.
Derek watched her. Her heart was beating fast, and she kept clenching her fists. Her breathing was hard and her body looked like it couldn't decide between flight or fight. She knew something was wrong in there, and Derek knew she wasn't going to let anyone stop her from going in.
Derek nodded, understanding what she was doing. He wanted to protect her, to make sure that his friend and the only person he could really trust was safe. But he also knew that she was stronger than he realized. "If anything happens-"
"I'll be okay." Looking back at Stiles, who was just standing there watching them. "We got this."
Looking back over to Derek, she really wanted to hug him. To get one final connection with him before something bad happened, and she felt like it was gonna be bad. But she knew that sort of affection wasn't Derek's style. So she settled with a smile and hoped he could see the real meaning behind it. "Just get back to the Jeep, we'll be okay."
Derek gave her one last sweeping look before nodding and climbing back into the jeep so no one would be able to see and recognize him.
Walking over to Stiles, she let out a cold and shuddering sigh. It was like the night Derek attacked Deaton thinking he was the Alpha, the feeling she had in her stomach.
"Why do I get the feeling you know something terrible is about to happen?" Stiles spoke once they walked through the doors. He saw the look on her face, the way she was speaking like she was afraid of something. He wasn't a werewolf, and he wasn't an Empath, but Stiles knew when something was wrong with his friends.
Gnawing on her lip, eyes scanning the area. She could never explain how she felt when things were happening to her like this. When her abilities were there but she didn't know what they meant. Looking at Stiles, seeing the worried look in his eyes. This kid didn't deserve to be involved in all of this. He was just a normal kid. Well, as normal as Stiles could be. But he was such a sweet kid that got thrown into a crappy situation, and she wanted to protect him as much as she could. To protect Scott, to protect her mother, even to protect Derek. She needed to be there for the people she cared about. "I just hope I'm wrong."
Looking around, they couldn't find Charlotte's mom anywhere. Stiles had Derek on the phone, so he could know what was going on the entire time.
"The Hales, the Argents, the alpha, the fire. They're all connected." Charlotte's mind was in a frenzy. The longer she was in the hospital, she kept sensing something, someone. It was there, he was there. But who was he? "It's getting fuzzy… Familiar. Why is it so familiar? I've seen his face, but who is it?" Looking over the space they were in, her mom wasn't there. "Hale. Hale house. The fire. Why was I always there in my dreams with the Alpha?"
"Yeah, I said I can't find her." Stiles said to Derek on the phone.
Something struck Charlotte. Nothing physical, but mental. From where she stood, she slowly turned to face a room that had an open door. Her head started feeling dizzy, like from the first time she was in that room. "Shit." She muttered under her breath. She finally got it, scolding herself for not seeing it sooner. For not seeing it the first time.
Reaching behind her to grab Stiles, she wanted him out of here. "Stiles."
"Look, as for Jennifer." Derek's voice could be heard from Stiles' phone. "She's been looking after my uncle."
Stiles sighed as he turned towards Charlotte, seeing her stare intently at the room where Derek's uncle should be. Charlotte held on to Stiles' shirt as they began to walk to the open room.
Charlotte's heart began to beat fast and hard as she saw the room was vacant. She needed to get Stiles out now. Before he showed up, even though she already knew he was there somewhere. Waiting for them.
"Yeah, well, he's not here either." Stiles sighed, looking over his shoulder at Charlotte, whose grip on his shirt tightened. He finally saw her face, how scared she looked.
"It's him." She said in a shaking tone. "It's his uncle."
They could hear Derek's voice over the phone, he had heard what Charlotte said. "Charlotte, Stiles, get out of there right now! Get out!"
Pulling Stiles out of the room, they made to run out of the hospital, but he was already outside of the room waiting for them. That's when she saw his aura, the darkness that surrounded him.
She pushed Stiles behind her to protect him as much as she could at the moment.
Half his face was still burnt from the fire. He looked between the two of them with a smile on his face. "Nice to finally meet face to face, Charlotte." Looking at the young teen behind her. "You must be Stiles."
Taking a step backward, they heard another voice behind them. "What are you two doing here?" The nurse asked. "Visiting hours are over."
Stiles finally pieced everything together and started to stammer as he looked between Peter and the nurse. "Oh my god, I'm gonna die." He stayed close to Charlotte.
Charlotte's eyes never left Peter. So this is who has been plaguing her nightmares for the past two months. This is who killed Laura. He killed his own niece.
Hearing a commotion behind her, she finally looked away and saw that Derek was there now and had knocked out- or possibly killed the nurse, and felt somewhat of a relief. A relief that was short-lived as she remembered that they were now dealing with the Alpha in person.
"That's not nice," Peter said once the nurse hit the ground. "She's my nurse."
"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people." He stepped forward towards his uncle. He looked over to Charlotte and Stiles. He wasn't going to let them get hurt. "Get out of the way."
Stiles cursed as Charlotte pulled him out of the way and ducked down as the two wolves started to fight each other. "Stiles, we need to move." nodding in agreement, they moved out of the way. Charlotte couldn't help but look back. Seeing how strong Peter was, seeing Derek do his best to put up a fight. Derek was putting all his strength into the fight. Against his own family.
Pushing themselves up against a wall, Stiles turned to Charlotte. "How did we end up in this mess?" Stiles asked with heavy breathing.
Charlotte just looked over at the young teen, her face straight. "You dragged my little brother into looking for half of a body out in the woods late at night and he got bit by that asshole that is currently beating the crap out of Derek." She deadpanned.
"Oh, so now this is my fault?"
Hearing something she could only guess was Derek being thrown to the ground, Charlotte flinched and looked over to the door and saw Derek struggle to get up. She heard Peter speak, but she was more worried about the fact that blood was coming out of Derek's mouth.
"I gotta do something," Charlotte muttered under her breath. "I can't just let him get the crap beat out of him like this."
Stiles looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you serious?!" Charlotte looked back at him, "They're werewolves, he's an Alpha, you could get killed if you get in the middle of that!" Stiles shook his head. There was no way he was gonna let Charlotte risk her life for someone like Derek.
Charlotte sighed out. She knew Stiles was right, she could get seriously hurt if she got in the middle of two werewolves fighting. But at the same time, she couldn't let this continue on any more than it needs to. "Stiles, you don't understand that type of situation I'm in." Trying to keep her voice from shaking as she spoke. "You don't see what I see when I look at Derek and his uncle." Glancing back as she saw Peter slowly stalk after Derek. "He's full of hatred and darkness. His mind is clouded with revenge, and he won't stop until he gets it." Getting ready to stand from her position, "Derek is nothing like that. Sure, he's all broody and sour on the outside but all he wants is answers. He doesn't want to kill, he doesn't want anyone to get hurt. Stiles, Derek isn't the bad guy, he never was." Finally standing, she was going to go after them. "If I'm this thing, whatever it means to be an Empath, whatever my instincts are telling me to do… I've got to just do it to figure it out."
Stiles grabbed her wrist before she could move, he had never seen Charlotte act this brave before… Not even when they were stuck in the school before she told him and Scott about her Empath stuff. And when Charlotte looked down at him, he was surprised to see that her eyes were slightly glowing the same white they were that night.
"Stiles," Charlotte kept her voice calm, sliding her wrist out of his grasp. "I know you're scared, okay? I am too." Taking a step back away from him. "Just, stay here. I'll be back."
Running towards where she could feel Derek was at, feeling relief when she could feel that he was still alive. Entering the room that the two wolves were in, she heard Peter speak.
"But when you look this good, why wait?"
Stopping in her tracks, she could see that he had healed the other side of his face and there was no trace of any injuries at all anymore.
Sensing that she was right behind him, and seeing Derek's eyes go wide at someone behind him, Peter smirked as he turned to face her. "Charlotte, hello. Glad you could join us."
Looking over at Derek and seeing the blood coming out from his nose, Charlotte pushed past Peter to get to him and checked him over. "Y'know, Poochie, for someone that wants revenge for what happened to his family, you sure do like to try to kill them." Looking over and glaring at him, only to see the annoyed looked that he had on his face.
"What happened with Luara was an accident, like I wanted to kill her?" He tried to defend, but Charlotte wasn't having any of it.
"I think you did… to become an Alpha." Seeing the flash of red go over Peter when she said that, she knew that she was right.
Peter huffed, "Your little girlfriend is braver than I thought, Derek." Stepping closer to his nephew and the Empath, he saw her get defensive. "Then again, I should have known better than to underestimate her. You've shown to be quite impressive with your powers, Charlotte… You're learning all of this on your own." He knew he had to be careful around her, one wrong move and she would find out. Find out that he really meant to kill Laura, that he was in full control when he did it. She had an idea, but no solid proof. "Although, you could learn to be better, stronger if you would just-"
"Join your pack?" Charlotte interrupted. "Again, fat chance fleabag." She loved seeing his annoyed reactions to her "nicknames" she would spit out at him. "You tried to get Scott to kill all of us that night at the school. What you weren't expecting was him to be stronger than you thought." She smirked at him. "You should really stop underestimating the McCall's. We've been through enough shit and came out stronger than all of it."
Derek put his hand on her shoulder, he didn't want her to be apart of this. He knew she was strong and brave and just wanted to protect him, but he wasn't going to let her risk herself against Peter. "Charlotte, get Stiles and yourself out of here."
She just looked back at him with a confused look on her face. She didn't want to leave him alone with Peter. "Derek, I-"
"I'll be fine." He gave her shoulder a small squeeze. "Go."
She wanted to stay to make sure nothing happened to him, but she knew it would be better to just listen to Derek. So, she nodded in small defeat. She stood from her kneeling position next to him and turned to leave. Casting one last glare to Peter on her way. "If anything happens to him, my brother, or anyone else that I care about- I will personally hunt you down… Got it, you mangey mutt?" Then without another word from anyone, she left.
Stiles stayed where Charlotte had left him, patiently waiting for the older McCall to return so they could leave. He didn't know what to think about how her Empath abilities were affecting her lately. She seemed less scared of things, more sure of herself. The way she was so willing to protect everyone that she cared about. It was admirable in some ways, but it scared him in others.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that Charlotte was standing next to him and nearly jumped out of his skin when she nudged him with her foot. "Gah! God!" He exclaimed. "Is he okay? Can we go now?"
Charlotte nodded and offered her hand to help him stand. "He's fine. I don't think Peter is going to kill him, at least I hope." She sighed starting to get frustrated with the night the longer it went on. "Let's just get out of here." Pulling him up, she leads the way out of the hospital. "My mom is going to be pissed when she sees this mess." She looked back at all the damaged tat happened during Peter and Derek's fight.
****So like, how well do you guys think this story would go over on AO3? I want to reach other platforms, but I don't know how it would work there.****
***Also, I find it oddly satisfying to insult Peter with dog-related insults... Even though I love him***
**Hope you guys are liking this still!**