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.

325 ~ 3809

Spencer woke up with a giant pain in her head that was slowly fading. Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed, trying to alleviate the pain. Spencer took a deep breath as her healing kicked in. "Stiles!" she called, groaning. She put a hand to her head where she felt the pain and pulled away, seeing blood on her fingertips. "Oh, shit." She pulled on the bottom hem of her shirt to wipe the blood away, knowing the cut had probably already healed. "Stiles! Wake up!" She looked over at him, his head limp against his chest. Spencer whimpered before leaning over and grabbing his arm. She shook him, using the touch she shared to take away any of the pain he may have had.

Stiles took in a deep breath and woke with a start, sitting straight in his seat.

"Hey! It's okay," Spencer calmed. "You're okay."

Stiles looked around. "What happened?"

Spencer laughed. "You really need to calm down your insane driving. Always in a rush, aren't you?"

Stiles scoffed, turning in his seat.

"Are you okay? Nothing's broken, right?" She asked, grabbing his hand again.

Stiles nodded. "I'm okay." He had just a normal soreness through his body.

"Good, we've got to go."

Stiles took his hand from Spencer and reached into the backseat, grabbing his bat for his own protection.

"You traded up to aluminum. The splitters after hitting the twins wasn't working for you, was it?"

Stiles shrugged. "Just in case."

Spencer nodded and they both climbed out of the Jeep. Spencer looked up at the moon. The eclipse almost fully encompassed the night sky. She channeled her wolf, her eyes flashing gold. Spencer sniffed the air, trying to find a scent.

"Anything?"

"No, but it's not surprising with the wind and rain."

"I don't think we're far." Stiles insisted, looked around, seemingly recognizing the trees around him. He waved Spencer along and then took off into a run, deeper into the forest.

Spencer kept up with her friend and tried to channel her wolf again after a while, but she couldn't feel the change in her. She stopped her stride, looking down at her hands, trying to draw out her claws. "Stiles, I know what happens to us during the eclipse. Why she waited until tonight."

Stiles paused and took his steps back to her.

Spencer looked up at him. "My powers are gone. And if they're gone, so are everyone else's. I'm not a wolf." As the words left her mouth, she realized. "Oh, my god. I'm not a wolf!" She said, smiling at Stiles before digging into her pocket.

"How is that a good thing? We need your senses to find Dad!"

Spencer held up the vial Deaton had given her before they left, showing it to her friend.

"What the hell is that?"

Spencer poured a little bit of the white dust into her hand and closed the glass jar off before shoving it back into her pocket. Spencer held her palms out in front of her face, whispering to the powder. "Lead me to what is lost," she said before blowing the powder out of her hands. Before her and Stiles, the dust gathered up and formed a ball of light, floating in the air in front of her. Spencer laughed in victory before looking at Stiles.

Stiles' eyes went wide. "Holy shit!"

Spencer looked back at the ball of light. "Noah Stilinski!" The ball flew around the pair of them for a moment before taking off in the direction they'd been heading in. "Come on!" Spencer yelled over the winds to Stiles. She grabbed his hand and pulled him after the light.

Finally, they came upon a large stump and the ball of light went straight through the dir before them.

"It's caving in on itself with the storm," Spencer said, looking for an opening. When she found it, she pointed it out. "The pair hurried over and jumped down into the hole in the ground. Spencer noticed the sheriff struggling to hold up the support beam and darted to it instantly, helping the sheriff and Isaac hold it up.

Beside her, Stiles joined her, placing the bat, using it as another support.

Spencer loosened her strength from the wood above her, finding it was held by the bat. She sighed in relief, finally seeing the others in the root cellar. Melissa McCall, Allison, and her father were also down here.

"I always said aluminum was better than wood." The sheriff said, breaking the tension with a slight laugh.

Stiles dove into his father's arms for a tight hug.

Sheriff saw Spencer behind his son and waved an arm for her to join them. "Get over here." He ordered the girl.

Spencer smiled at the man and made her way over to him, giving him an equally hard hug. Tears escaped her eyes knowing that the man was okay.

"You're coming back." He said into her hair.

Spencer pulled away with a furrowed brow, confused by the man's statement.

"You're moving back in with us. And you're going back to school. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Spencer nodded, unable to find words, just thankful he was alive. "Yes, sir."

The wind outside was still howling and dirt started to be the thing that came between them and freedom. Spencer kept close to the sheriff and Stiles, grabbing her friend's hand. She looked at her best friend in the eye, scared out of her mind. What if they got stuck in here and she never said anything?

Stiles squeezed her hand hard as if being able to tell what she was thinking.

Spencer opened her mouth to speak and before she could say anything, the wind stopped and the dirt stopped falling. The redhead twisted her brows together and looked around.

"Is it over?" Allison asked.

Spencer channeled her wolf, her golden eyes shining brightly. She glanced over at Isaac who was able to do the same. Spencer nodded. "I think it is," she said, letting her gold eyes fade away.

Stiles let out a relieved breath as the sheriff laughed and the two shared another hug.

Spencer shuffled her way over to Melissa McCall, pulling her into a large hug. "Are you okay?"

Melissa nodded against Spencer's shoulder before she pulled away. She held Spencer's face in her hands and gave her a proud smile. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"We were so worried," Spencer replied, the relief she felt causing tears to spring into her eyes. The only parents she had left in the world were alive and safe after having their lives threatened.

Melissa pulled her into one more hug, rubbing a hand on her back. "I love you, honey."

Spencer sniffled. "I love you, too. She took a deep breath before she could calm herself and pull away. Spencer looked around at the others, Stiles sat next to his dad and Allison with hers.

Isaac sat a foot from where they were. He was afraid of small spaces.

Spencer was within an arm's distance of him and reached out, placing a hand on his lower arm. "You okay?"

Isaac caught her eye, giving her a nervous smile. "As good as I can be, I guess."

"Okay. Just deep breaths, okay? We're gonna get out of here."

Isaac nodded, turning his head and leaning against his arm.

Stiles' phone went off from his pocket and he pulled it out, answering it quickly. "Scott?"

"Hey, are you okay?"

Stiles looked around at everyone. "Yeah, we're okay. We're all okay."

"What about you? You okay?" Spencer asked, knowing Scott would be able to hear her.

There was a bit of hesitation on his end, but eventually, Scott answered. "Sort of."

"You think you can come get us?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Great! Okay, um… Bring a ladder."

This caused everyone to laugh. It made sense. They were stuck in a hole in the ground and were definitely going to need a creative way out of it.

It wasn't long before Spencer heard Scott calling for them. She made her way over to what little opening there was left and peered up through it. Spencer called her friend's name, leading him to the opening. She grinning up at Scott. "I'm so glad to see you," She said, beaming.

"Is my mom okay?"

Spencer nodded. "She's fine." The redhead waved Melissa over, deciding that she would go up first. Spencer noticed Scott's lack of a ladder and decided she would use herself as a stepstool. Spencer crouched, sitting against the wall as if it were the back of a chair. She laced her fingers together to make the step. Spencer looked up at Scott. "We good?"

Scott leaned his hand in. "Yeah, come on."

Melissa took a step forward, before stepping on Spencer's hand. Melissa grabbed her son's hand while Spencer pushed, lifting her.

Spencer did this with everyone. Sheriff Stilinski was surprised at her strength when it was his turn. Isaac was the last one to go up after Spencer stated that she was lighter and it would be easier for the boys to pull her up from the top than to grab him.

To Spencer's surprise, she was steadied on solid ground by Derek. She smiled at the sight of him. "You're here?" Spencer questioned excitedly, jumping up to hug him around his neck.

Derek nodded against her shoulder, before pulling away. "Can we talk real quick?"

"Um," Spencer glanced over at Stiles and his father who were talking with Melissa. "Yeah, I got a minute." The pair moved to the opposite side of the clearing as everyone else. They knew that the wolves could hear their conversation, but Spencer assumed their talk wouldn't be anything to intrude on. "So, what happened to running away?"

"I left. And I came back."

Spencer grinned, "Like you always do, huh?"

Derek nodded, hiding his smirk. "You know me too well."

"I think that might be why I've been so okay with you leaving recently. Eventually, even against all odds, you come back." She smiled up at him.

"We're a pack, right?"

"Always. Even if you aren't the alpha."

"Yeah, well, that's someone else's job now." He said, looking behind Spencer.

Spencer turned, seeing that Derek's eyes landed on Scott. "Scott? I mean, I know Jennifer mentioned that true alpha stuff, but it's real?"

Derek nodded.

Spencer stared for another moment. "Huh," she said slightly surprised.

"Look," Derek said, getting her attention back. "I'm still leaving. Tomorrow. I'm gonna bring Cora back to South America. She's had a rough time here. That's where we were headed before coming back."

Spencer nodded. "Okay."

"I don't know when I'll be back."

"But you will be."

Derek shrugged.

Spencer smiled. "Don't even try that, Derek Hale. I'm not saying goodbye to you. You'll come back."

Derek kept a straight face. "We'll see."

Spencer took a couple of steps forward, closing the gap between them and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'll miss you."

Derek wrapped his arms tightly around her in return. "Me, too." He sighed.

Spencer gave Derek a light pa on the back. "Keep in touch? So I know you're alive?"

"I will," As Derek pulled away from Spencer he left a kiss on her forehead. "Be safe, Red." And with a blink, Derek had run into the trees and disappeared.

Spencer sighed, smiling in the direction he went. That had gone better than she expected after the phone call they shared earlier in the night. It wasn't that she hated saying those things to him over the phone, but Spencer knew that if she had to say those words to his face that she wouldn't be able to. Derek was such a big part of who she was and she wouldn't change that for the world. Telling him that they wouldn't work to his face would be a knife to her own heart just as it would be his.

Spencer heard steps coming up behind her but kept staring after Derek. A hand wrapped around hers and she recalled the touch as Stiles'.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

Spencer looked at her friend and nodded with a genuine smile. "Let's get home."

! #$# !

Stiles, Spencer, and the sheriff ended up spending the night in the living room after having picked up entirely too much Chinese food to share. When Spencer woke the next morning, she was snuggled next to Stiles on the couch. The living room had been cleaned up from the previous night's mess and the sheriff was missing. Spencer was relieved to have finally gotten some sleep after all the excitement from the past couple of days. She had been so exhausted that once her stomach was full of one too many egg rolls, Spencer had promptly passed out.

The redhead shook Stiles, trying to wake him up. The boy seemed reluctant to be up, but once Spencer reminded him that she would be moving her stuff back into the Stilinski house, he was wide awake.

The pair took turns showering before heading over to Scott's house with Spencer's truck. It didn't take long to pack Spencer's things and load up the bed of the truck. Especially with Scott and Isaac's help. Spencer moving out of Scott's house seemed to work out for everyone. Isaac ended up being able to use McCall's spare bedroom instead of sleeping on the couch downstairs. Isaac was happy to have a bed again.

They all drove to the Stilinski House and carried all of Spencer's boxes back into the room that was reserved for her, right next door to Stiles'. It was then that she sent Scott and Isaac away, giving Isaac a knowing glance. Her look was able to get Isaac to help make Scott leave instead of sticking around to help. Spencer was going to talk to Stiles about what she was feeling.

Spencer and Stiles stood at the entrance to the room and she took a deep breath, ready to start over and this time, stay where she was. She had assigned Stiles the task of putting her game and DVD cases in her TV stand, given that it was the one thing that she wasn't picky about.

"Okay," Stiles said, signifying that he had finished his job. "So your games are sorted by the system and then in alphabetical order. Now, your movies got a little weird because obviously, I couldn't separate the Star Wars or the Marvel movies. Those are grouped together and from there it's alphabetical by genre."

Spencer shook her head at him. "Well, I can't say that you didn't try your hardest."

Stiles smiled at her from the floor.

Spencer had been working on refilling her closet. In her hands, Spencer held the dress that she loved so much. The golden yellow dress with a ruffled skirt. Spencer loved the way that it flowed around her knees and how she felt when she wore it. Protected. A weird emotion to feel when you wore a dress, but it was what she wore the night of their first full moon when Derek had saved her life. The first time he did anyway. Thankfully, the dry cleaner had been able to fix it after Scott had poured gasoline all over the two of them. Looking it over for a moment, Spencer decided to put it in the back of the closet, behind her other clothes. She had finally laid things out with Derek, and now it was time to do the same with Stiles.

"Hey, Stiles?"

"What's up?"

"Yesterday I told you that I didn't like you kissing Lydia. You know before we got into the accident?" She cleared her throat getting a nod from Stiles. "Well, that's because I don't like you kissing anybody."

Stiles furrowed his brow and got to his feet. "What?"

"I know what we started doing at the beginning of the year was weird and new. And then Derek came into the mix and I kind of fucked everything up for us there. But being back here, spending time with you, talking to you again…" Spencer shrugged. "I should have tried to keep that going."

Stiles looked down at his hands. "I think we both should have tried harder." He twisted his fingers together. "I know the Lydia thing won't ever happen. She's got Aiden, and she and I are just friends."

Spencer nodded.

"But you and I?" Stiles questioned meeting Spencer by her closet. He looked into Spencer's hopeful eyes. "That was something pretty cool. My very best friend and my girlfriend, all in one? What could be better?"

Spencer smiled at Stiles. "I mean, there's definitely some things we have to iron out, on both sides. But if you're willing to give it another shot…"

"Yes. Yeah. Absolutely." Stiles said quickly.

Spencer blushed. "Good. That's good."

! #$# !

The next day was meant to be Spencer's first day back at school. She loaded up her backpack with fresh notebooks, pens, and pencils that she and Stiles went out for the previous night when they were done putting her room back together. Spencer got those first day of school nerves as she walked through the building, and she had to admit that she missed it.

They left early for the school that morning and Spencer ended up spending the first half-hour of her day in the office, refilling out all of her paperwork and picking classes. With her approved emancipation forms in hand, it made getting re-enrolled without a parent or guardian easy.

Leaving the office with a schedule that matched her friends' (save for an extra AP course she'd signed up for), she found Stiles waiting for her on one of the chairs outside the room. Spencer smiled at him as he got up to grab her hand.

"We good?"

Spencer nodded her head, smiling as she shoved her schedule in the back pocket of her jeans.

Stiles gave her hand a squeeze and pulled her along towards the main hallway in search of their best friend. They found Scott, standing by the end of the hall, grinning down the crowded hallway, not looking at anything in particular. Stiles approached Scott and clapped a hand on the back of the alpha's shoulder.

Scott looked over at him, smiling before he saw Spencer on his other side with a backpack on. "You're back?" He asked, glancing down at their hands and smirking.

"I am." She said, trying to hide the excitement she felt. "Unfortunately, to make up a credit or two, the principal is making me a new student guide, so let's hope for no more transfers."

"Good to have you back, Pence."

Spencer nodded, looking down the hallway. She spotted Lydia with Aiden, flirting against the lockers. Isaac and Allison were headed their way with smiles on their faces. And one friend that Spencer always underappreciated: Danny, holding hands with Ethan. They came out of this one alive even with the odds stacked against them. Sure, Spencer was unsure at the idea of letting Deucalion go free, but she decided that Scott and Derek had switched some sort of switch. They were doing things for the good of everyone, and that was something Spencer couldn't argue.

Spencer turned her head back to Scott. "It's good to be back, Scotty."

! #$# !

Spencer rode with Scott on the back of his bike over to the animal clinic. Scott had a shift at the clinic and Spencer wanted to talk to Doctor Deaton. When the pair arrived they found him in one of the exam rooms.

Deaton looked at Spencer. "Hello, Spencer. How was being back at school?"

Spencer shrugged. "It was alright. It's school, you know?"

Deaton gave her a quick smile.

"So, I was wondering, Doc. With me going back to school, I'm trying to get my life back on track. I was hoping to get my job back."

Deaton raised the corner of his mouth for a moment. He opened a drawer behind him, passing Spencer the set of keys to the clinic that she used to have in her possession

"Thanks," Spencer said with a grateful smile.

"And everything else?" The man asked, looking at Scott.

"It's okay. Everyone's parents are okay. Cora's okay."

Spencer nodded. "Derek's taking her back to South America to the pack that she was with down there."

"Is he coming back? Or will he stay with her?"

Spencer shrugged. "I don't know. But he promised to keep in touch. Part of me hopes he'll find something there with his sister. She's his family. But then there's still that other part that wants him to come back because he's my family."

Deaton nodded. "The Hales were always stronger together."

"I wish I knew Talia, you know. She just sounds like a really great Alpha, and I'm sad I didn't get to meet her."

"She was great."

Behind them, Scott started to clear up some of the supplies from Deaton's last patient without having been asked.

"Oh, Scott! I forgot. Is your dad still here? Or did he leave with the case being over?"

Scott rolled his eyes. "He doesn't look like he's going anywhere. But just because he's staying, doesn't mean he's welcome. I think I've slammed the door in his face at least three times so far.

"Good. I can't stand the man."

Deaton approached Scott, looking at him seriously. "How are you feeling?" He asked, in regards to how the sacrifice affected him.

"I feel it." Scott said, "So does Stiles."

Spencer furrowed her brow. Stiles hadn't said anything to her about it.

"Just like you said we would. And it makes me think about that quote Jennifer used to start our first class. Because when I feel it, it's like I'm looking 'into the heart of an immense darkness'."

"So what do you do?" The doctor asked.

Scott looked over at Spencer. "I look for my friends." He said with a smile.

Spencer felt her face blush. She loved her friends and she would do anything to make sure they were alright.

"And what about Miss Blake?" Deaton asked.

Scott shrugged. "I don't know. When we went back inside the distillery, her body was gone." He left the room with a tray without another word.

Spencer looked at the vet. "Cockroach probably crawled until she withered into nothing. I'm not worried about it." She said honestly. Then she remembered something. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the vial of white powder that the doctor gave her the previous night. Spencer placed the vial on the table between her and Deaton. "It worked," Spencer said, shaking her head. "I still can't believe it, but it helped us find our parents. Did it prove your theory?"

Deaton nodded.

"It's a pretty neat theory."