Just as a reminder to all of those who are reading: When the text is written in bold and italicized lettering "like this," that is the part of the conversation had in sign language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

(o.o)

Chapter 1.17

So, agreeing to kill one of my new friends was probably one of the worst things I have ever done. I couldn't be the cause of someone else's death. It was eating me up inside that I agreed to it. The only thing keeping me from completely walking out of the vet clinic was Lydia telling me that they would be okay. Isaac was also helping a bit. He wasn't being too hands-on with his support, but the reassuring looks every few seconds worked. I was certain he hated what we had to do as much as I did, but it was all for a good outcome.

Right?

I sighed, pushing my hair out of my face. I had been pacing the room as the others got a bit more of a run-down for the plan of action. I didn't want to pay attention to what Doctor Deaton was saying. I didn't want to know more than I already did. I had already thought of the worst that could happen, I didn't need him reiterating all of that for me.

A few minutes passed and Stiles came up to me, but I wouldn't stop pacing. I didn't, until his hand on my arm stopped me. His hand was warm under my cold skin and it was then I realized that my shivers were showing on the outside. Stiles shed his sweater and draped it over my shoulders without a word about it.

I gave him an appreciative smile, putting my arms through the sleeves and pulling it closed around me.

"Look, I'm sorry if I guilted you into doing this." Stiles said.

"You didn't." I shook my head.

"I did, but it's cool that you think I didn't."

I cleared my throat, remembering the four words that had been burned into my eyelids a few moments earlier. "I have my own reasons for agreeing to do it. I don't like it, but I have to."

Stiles' face showed instant confusion.

I looked up seeing Lydia standing with Allison, eyeing me. I looked back to Stiles. He looked so ready to hear what I had to say. However, right now, we needed to fix his thing first. "It's a story for when this is all over."

Stiles nodded, and then turned his head behind him.

Doctor Deaton was speaking. It was time.

I took in a large breath, seeing Stiles do the same thing.

Stiles looked back at me. "Is it a bad time to say I'm terrified of drowning?" He joked with a laugh.

"It is, but you're gonna be okay." I promised. "You're gonna come back." I used every ounce of confidence I had left to say that sentence.

Stiles swallowed his fear and nodded. "Thanks."

I gave him a small smile, and took steps around him and to the head of the bucket. I watched as the three of them shed their jackets and shoes before positioning themselves next to their tubs.

Stiles went in slow, not prepared for the freezing cold ice inside. I stepped up closer to him, rolling up the sleeves of Stiles' sweater, and placed my hands on the sides of his shoulders. I gave him a tight reassuring squeeze. Stiles was shivering violently under my touch, but still he was slightly warmer to the touch than I was. He looked over at Scott and said something to him that I couldn't catch.

I looked up at my cousin who was standing across the room. I could tell that she was worried; it was written plainly on her face. This was probably one of the hardest things any of us had to do. We had to save their parents and that was the only thing that kept us going.

"Ready?" Lydia asked.

I responded with a nod. "You ready?" I asked, looking down at Stiles.

I got a nod in response. I moved my hands up to the top of his shoulders. Stiles took in one giant breath and I helped him under the water. It was easy at first, but then he started fighting when it got to be too long. The tightness in my chest only got tighter with each passing second. Finally, Stiles stopped fighting my hold and just sat in the water, lifeless.

I stepped away from the metal tub and my hands flew up to cover my mouth. "Holy shit." My breathing became heavy so I backed myself against the cabinets behind me and sat to the floor with my knees up to my chest.

Lydia and Doctor Deaton were quickly in front of me. Lydia held a towel in her hands and passed it to me to dry my arms.

I grabbed it from her and held it tightly in my hands.

Lydia placed a hand on my forearm. "CJ, it's gonna be okay." She insisted. "They're gonna be okay."

"How the hell is any of this okay?" I asked. "We just killed our friends."

"They aren't dead. Not really."

I scoffed. "Did we think about what happens if they don't wake up?" I questioned, looking to Deaton. "What happens to their parents if we can't find them because they are dead?"

"You're in shock, CJ." Doctor Deaton pointed out.

"No, shit."

Doctor Deaton smiled for a second. "I think we just need to take a couple deep breaths and maybe think about something else."

I took in the deep breath that the vet told me to, but it didn't completely help. I held the towel with one hand to dry my arm and then the other. I swallowed the heavy lump in my throat. "We're gonna need more towels." I said. "When they get out, they'll be cold and soaked."

Doctor Deaton nodded. "Good idea. Would you like to help me grab a few?"

"I think that's a good idea, yeah." I agreed. Lydia grabbed my arm and helped pull me up off of the floor. I kept my eyes off of the buckets and followed Doctor Deaton out of the room. When we got to the supply closet, I realized that I was alone with the man again. He knew Carter, maybe he knew more than I did.

"Doctor Deaton?" I questioned.

The man looked in my direction, pulling towels from the shelf.

"Did my brother work here because of what he was?"

Deaton shook his head. "Well, that's part of it. But he enjoyed having the extra boost on his resume working at a vet clinic."

I grabbed the towels from him, "But you did know what he was and what he could do?"

"Unfortunately, what I knew wasn't a lot. Your brother was very secretive for obvious reasons." Deaton explained. "The outcome of one's death is a sensitive subject that not many people would be willing to share unless you were at a carnival."

"But you knew." I stressed, "Carter didn't even tell me about it, and I was - " I bit my lip. "I'm his sister. And he didn't tell me."

"Would you have believed him?"

I chewed the inside of my cheek. Probably not. I thought to myself.

"CJ, Carter didn't tell you because you didn't need to know. It was his burden. Growing up deaf wasn't exactly a walk in the park for you, and he didn't want things to be worse than they were."

"Yeah," I sighed, feeling at a loss. "Maybe that was it."

Doctor Deaton shut the door to the closet and took the towels back. "Knowing how someone is going to die, before it happens, is a very dangerous gift."

"Dangerous?"

"Things happen the way that they do for a reason. Few people ever get the opportunity to know about something before it happens." Deaton shared. "Your brother did and he protected it. Kept things the way that they were meant to be."

"Protecting the Butterfly Effect?" I questioned.

"In a way. But it's more about maintaining the balance in nature. Natural versus the supernatural. If we interfere too much, even if for the good..."

A terrifying thought made its way into my head. "Eventually the bad will come back around."

"Exactly." Deaton said, sighing. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Carter was a very intelligent young man." Deaton sent a small smile my way before he made his way back to the other room.

What if the 'bad' had been Carter dying? What if somehow he interfered in something and nature fought back? I groaned. Now would be a great time to go through Carter's computer. If only I had remembered to grab it from my room the morning prior.

I navigated the clinic, going back to the room Stiles, Allison, and Scott were unconscious in. I stopped right at the doorway, not being able to will myself inside it. I sighed before sitting on the floor just outside, leaning against the wall. I pulled the sleeves of Stiles' sweater down and wrapped my arms around myself, cozying up inside it.

I pressed my head against the wall behind me and closed my eyes, wishing I was somewhere else. I wished for a split second that I hadn't done what I did, but then remembered that we had to do it. As I lifted my head back up, I saw Isaac had joined me on the floor, sitting against the wall across from me.

"Hey." I said to my lab partner. "How are you doing?"

Isaac shrugged. "Probably better than you."

I laughed once, nodding. "Probably. I heard they did this to you a while ago."

"We were trying to find two others." Isaac nodded. "They were taken by the Alphas and held hostage."

"With Cora." I recalled. "Derek filled me in a little bit."

Isaac nodded. "Did he tell you a lot about werewolves?"

"A little." I said, wondering why he was asking. "Not really all that much. I'm kind of filling in the blanks as I go along. Why?"

"Um," Isaac lowered his head for a moment, thinking of his next words. "Well, we actually have fantastic hearing. Long range most of the time, especially around the full moon."

I felt my face pale. I clenched my fists together, nervous about him having heard my conversation with Deaton. "I couldn't help but overhear that you were talking to Deaton about your brother. In the past tense."

I crushed my lips together with my teeth and looked away from Isaac. "Yeah," I admitted. "Carter, my brother, he died. Almost a month ago now."

Isaac tapped my shoe with his, gaining my attention again. "I just - I know how you feel." He said before gauging my confused reaction. "My brother died, too. He enlisted in the army and never came home."

"Wow. I'm sorry."

"Me, too." Isaac said. "I wanted to let you know that, though. So you know you can come to me. If you needed to."

I nodded, "Thanks, Isaac." I smiled. "I got pretty lucky in terms of lab partners."

"You did." He nodded with a large smile. "But, I did, too."

(o.o)

It had been almost a full day and the others still hadn't woken up. I texted Derek a while ago to check on the status of Core, but I had yet to get a response. I assumed it was just because he was focusing on her, which I didn't blame him for at all. Cora was important to the both of us. She needed to come out of this okay.

I was quickly beginning to panic. I'd managed to work up the courage to enter the room and stand in front of Stiles' tub. Watching him just lie there was killing me. I should have been able to do something for him. Deaton said we just needed to wait until they woke up. Problem was, we were approaching the full moon. Which meant that their timeline to save their parents was just going by as they were unconscious.

Lydia came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder to announce her presence. "Hey."

"They still haven't moved. Not even a little bit." I said, bringing my hand to my face and chewing my thumbnail. "We're running out of time."

"They'll wake up soon, CJ."

I nodded, and turned my attention back to Stiles. I pulled at the length of his sleeve, covering my hand to stop myself from biting my nails.

Lydie put herself between me and the metal tub. She glanced behind me and raised her hands. "I like your sweater." Lydia signed with a knowing smile.

"Please, don't start with that." I begged, checking behind me. Deaton and Isaac were both somewhere else, which was fine. Thankfully, Isaac told me about his super-hearing, so I knew not to have this conversation out loud.

"Just talk to me for a moment." Lydia asked. "I just want to see how you feel about all this."

"I feel like shit." I gestured behind her to the tub. "He's lying there dead. And there's nothing I can do about it."

"I really meant how you feel about Stiles."

My heart pounded in my chest. How do I feel about Stiles? I played with the hem of the sweater for a second before looking back at Lydia. "I think I like him."

Lydia smiled. "I think that's great." She paused, probably waiting for me to say something else, but I couldn't. I was so nervous about this conversation. So terrified about admitting my true maybe-feelings for a guy I barely knew. "Can I be honest with you for a second?"

"I hope you always are. At least from now on."

"I like how Stiles is with you." Lydia stated.

I furrowed my brow. "Meaning?"

"He's patient. And he's attentive." Lydia explained. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but he's normally a hyperactive mess."

"I've noticed." I laughed for a moment.

"With you, he takes the time to make sure you're a part of the conversation. Stiles has explained things to you after we've already gotten the gist." Lydia shrugged. "I just think it's admirable."

I felt the heat rise to my face.

"And I wish that I'd told you to kiss him instead of kissing him myself."

My eyes widened. "Lydia!"

Lydia laughed out loud. "What? I'm only being honest! Like you asked." She joked.

From my pocket, I felt my phone vibrate. I pulled it out, trying to rid my face of it's present blush. "Shit." I said, looking at the caller ID.

Lydia looked down at my phone. "You have to answer it."

I sighed. "I know. I've been gone almost two days."

"I'm surprised she hasn't called before now."

"I've been texting my dad this whole time. Telling him I'm okay." I explained. "He doesn't freak out like she does." I lifted the phone to show my face and answered the video call. I waved.

"Is that really all you're going to say to me?" Mom asked, her face red with anger. "You have been gone for days. Where have you been?"

"I've been telling Dad this whole time." I insisted. "Why are you freaking out?"

"Because a text is not an effective way of telling us that you are alive."

"Dad was okay with it. I've been with Lydia this whole time." I stretched a lie out a little bit, but she didn't need to know what I was really up to.

"Where are you right now?" She asked, narrowing her eyes and pulling her phone closer to her face, trying to figure out herself. Mom's eyes widened in horror. "Are-are you at the Vet Clinic?"

I stammered, glancing at Lydia who was shaking her head. "Lydia's dog got sick."

"Chandler?!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the tubs splash with water. Allison was bursting from the surface of her water and gasping for breath. Without thinking, I hung up the phone and stuffed it in my back pocket. I waited just a second for Stiles to pop out of the water and sighed in relief when he did. I rushed towards him, giving him my arm to help him out.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, taking a couple steps away from him.

"We passed it. There's - there's a stump… This huge tree - well, it's not huge anyone. It was cut down, but it's still big, though! Very big!"

"It was the night we were looking for the body - " I caught Scott saying to Stiles.

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, the same night you were bitten by Peter."

"I was there, too," Allison shared. "In the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."

Scott was surprised by that statement. "It was me. You almost hit me." He turned back to the four of us who had been waiting for them to wake up. "We can find it."

My face was uneasy as we had to break the news to them.

"What?" Allison asked, looking at each of us.

"You guys were out a long time." Isaac said hesitantly.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles asked, catching my eye.

I swallowed the wariness in my throat. "Sixteen hours." I said, my heart breaking as the words left my mouth.

Scott's jaw dropped. "We've been in the water for sixteen hours?"

Deaton nodded. "The full moon rises in less than four."

I went to the table I saw the towels on and grabbed them, passing them out to the three of them to dry off.

Stiles took his and leaned against the tub he'd just come out of, looking to Scott in disbelief. "No, dude, you are not going back with them."

"I made a deal with Deucalion - "

"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stiles questioned, to which I nodded.

"Why does it matter anyway?" Isaac asked, moving closer to Allison, trying to warm her with his body heat.

"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help." Scott admitted.

Allison looked towards Deaton with begging eyes. "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong."

Deaton hesitated. "I'm not so sure he is." After shocked looks from everyone but Scott, he continued. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align with people you'd normally consider enemies."

"So, we're gonna trust him?" Isaac questioned. "The guy that calls himself 'Death, Destroyer of Worlds'? We're gonna trust that guy?"

I stumbled. "Does he really call himself that?" I asked Stiles.

Stiles nodded. "Guy's a whackjob."

"Noted."

"I wouldn't trust him." Deaton insisted. "But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

Suddenly, Deaton left the room. I glanced up at Stiles and passed him a soft smile. I blushed again, thinking of my conversation with Lydia just minutes earlier. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lydia follow Deaton.

"What do you want?" Lydia asked. Someone had entered the Clinic.

I hurried after her. At the entrance to the vet clinic was one of the twins. I gasped quietly at the sight of him.

Stiles stepped in front of both me and Lydia, shielding us. "With what?"

"Stopping my brother and Kali," The twin paused, "From killing Derek."

I grabbed Stiles' arm without thinking and held it tightly. He put his other hand over mine in an effort to calm me. Stiles passed me a single nod and that was all I needed to know. We'd save Derek, too.