Book 2
Chapter 6

PSA: Therapy Is Important. Go.

Scott barely had time to process the blur of dark curls before Mars yanked him in front of her and hid. "What are you doing back there?" He taunted.

"Mary alert, 3 o'clock."

"Do you really think she's not going to see you?" Mary was in fact walking right to them.

"She won't if you stop looking so weird."

"Me? Mars, I-"

"Scott. Hope you're well." Mary's voice came, they hadn't spoken outside of class since- well- that conversation. "Mars."

Mars stepped out from behind her werewolf shield. "Mum."

"You look well." Mars knew Mary was sincere, but didn't think herself ready for the conversation. Or, frankly, ready to talk to her at all. But it was better to make nice in public, she knew that much.

"Thanks. Aje get back alright?" She hadn't heard from him at all, she even double checked that her number was the same on her new phone. He must've been furious with her for telling Mary about Sayid's affair. Or leaving the house before he left for school. No matter what it was, he had plenty of reason to be cross with her. Same as everyone else in the bloody state of California.

"He did." Mars loosened the death grip on Scotts forearm, he placed a hand over hers.

"Glad to hear it." Mars said.

"Will I see you in class?"

"I can't skip it forever." She joked, Mary smiled.

"I'll see you then, then." Mary left, Mars took her hand off of Scott, muttering an apology. He gave a warm half smile, as if to say don't apologise.

"Have you not talked to her since you got back from London?" He asked.

"That ignore call button is truly a miracle."

"Don't you think she might be able to help?"

"I don't want her help." Mars snapped, and felt the urgent need to explain. "She's failed in every way so far, why should I think this time would be different?"

Scott hesitated. "You know my boss?"

"Dr. Deaton?"

"Yeah. I think maybe we should reach out to him. He knows about, well, me, I think. We haven't actually talked about it. But maybe he knows something about you, too."

"Do you think that's a good idea? Isn't it best to keep the in the know circle as small as possible? Especially considering you don't actually know he knows anything"

"It is, but I also think it doesn't hurt to ask for help sometimes. I'll feel him out first if you want." Mars heard Ms. Morell in her head, and she agreed with him.

"You know what? Sure. I'll talk to him."


"How's it going with Noah and Stiles?" Mary asked at the end of class. Mars stood 3 feet away on the other side of her desk.

"Good."

"Good."

"So, am I free to go?" Mars gestured to the door.

Mary sighed and sat. "You were never detained, I have to grade some tests anyway."

Mars felt guilt, surprisingly. Her face softened, remembering the progress they'd made before it all was irrevocably changed. "I'll get there, Mum. Just give me a minute." When she said it, she realized, completely, how Stiles felt. "The stone is working by the way."

Mary's face brightened with the news. "Fantastic." Mars had to agree. She wanted to ask if Mary had kicked Sayid out of the house yet, or if she had moved. She hoped one had happened, that Mary had enough respect for herself to leave.

Claudia would have been there for her. Mars realized. She never thought about how alone Mary must feel. Sayid was shit. Because of Mars' very existence, Mary couldn't speak to her family. Her best friend in all the world was 8 years gone, more if you counted the mental deterioration that lead to her death… Who did Mary have?

No one. Mars realized. All this time, Mars had felt so very alone. But she'd never known true loneliness. Even after all her self sabotage, all her burning of bridges, people still came back to her.

She was lucky. Mary was not.

"Is Aje back at school today?" Mars chose to keep the conversation going.

"He'll be here tomorrow. Just getting over the jet lag."

Mars wanted to go to him, to apologize for everything she'd changed while he was away, for breaking her promise to him to not tell Mum. In a strange way though, she was relieved to have a few more days of peace.

Mary chewed her lip and tried to hide her looking Mars over. "Do you have any follow up appointments? Sorry if it's out of line, I've just been wor-"

"Don't apologize." Mars insisted. "I'm going tonight to meet with Ms. Morell, I'm scheduled for every Wednesday from here until eternity."

She sighed in relief. "Good." Mars knew Mary was worried that she wasn't going to take it seriously. She tried not to let it sting, because she knew that the record she'd set was in favor of Mary's opinion. "Thank her for me?" Mars nodded, and exited the classroom.


"How were your first few days back?" Ms. Morell asked.

"Hard." Mars answered honestly. "I realized how shit my timing was getting myself sent here."

"What do you mean?"

"My friends had… a lot going on. Stuff that isn't my place to tell, and just like when I left them at the school when the Alph- the killer- was on the loose, they were in danger and I left." Mars said, cursing her slip of the tongue.

"Mars, you did what you could, with what you had to work with at that school. You coming here, getting yourself right- that was the best way for you to help. How much could you have realistically done in the state you were in? If they can't understand that then maybe they don't deserve to have you."

"That's the thing. I didn't exactly tell them where I was or how I got there. Well, I did tell Allison. She was fantastic about it, really."

Morrell's face told Mars she understood. "It's okay if you're not ready to open up. No one else has the right to know what is going on in your mind and heart. Not even your therapist." She smiled, Mars smiled back. "I have to ask though, you've told me a lot about your friend, Stiles- is he the one you've been having a hard time with?"

"What gave it away?" Mars laughed.

"He sounds a little hard headed."

"Only when someone makes a serious cock up."

"Okay, well, what was the serious screw up? What's holding you back from opening up to him?" Her beautiful brown eyes bore into Mars, she knew any lie she said would be quickly discerned.

Mars hesitated. She couldn't tell Morell about the promise she'd made Stiles. To never control his actions. She couldn't say it without context. And the context in that case wasn't exactly safe topic material.

There was one thing she could tell Morrell, though. Something that still felt far honest.

"Right before I, well, you know, went to do that whole swan dive thing… We had a moment. We kissed and it was so, so lovely." Mars raised her hand to her chest, her heart quickening at the memory of his lips on hers. "But I ruined it, like I ruin everything, and I made him go to the dance. Then 30 minutes later I was on the bridge. I just… I don't want him to think that he had anything to do with that decision… and it's selfish, but I don't- um- I don't want him to know that I would do that to him." Mars cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest.

"There is a lot to touch on there." Ms. Morell acknowledged. "First, I want to say thank you for being honest and sharing that with me."

"Felt good to say." Mars wiped a tear from her cheek.

Morrell leaned in, propping her elbows against her knees. "I don't know what led you to the bridge, I hope one day you will be ready to share that with me, but for now I want to talk about Stiles. Is that okay?" Mars nodded. "Do you want a romantic relationship with him? And if you do, is this a good time for it?"

She hesitated, looking down to her hands and turned a ring that made her finger green. "I don't want to ruin our friendship. It's rocky right now, but before that and still, he is the most important person in my life. I know, that's the co-dependency thing you mentioned talking. I know it's not a good time, but if there was a way to know it would work? Yeah, I do."

"I'm going to let the co-dependency nonchalance slide this once." She joked. "Have you tried to talk to him about the way you feel."

"It got more complicated."

"How so?"

"Um. Like I said, he was already pretty pissed at me. Then I kind of… had sex with Don. I had it in my head that we needed closure- for the record I think I was right about that- but," Mars stuck her head between her knees and looked down. "Stiles walked in on us and it was awful."

"Oh dear." She slipped. "That must have been a tough conversation?"

"He said it wasn't his business, I told him I wanted it to be yaddi yada, he said to stop giving him mixed signals and that we should just go back to normal and forget everything."

"Do you think you can go back to normal?"

"No." Mars said, plain. "Or no, I don't want to. I will if that's what it takes to keep him in my life, but no. I don't want to. I know. Co-dependent."

"Let's be realistic, okay? Let's lay out all the cards. What does your best-case scenario look like?"

Mars was completely blank, she couldn't see it anymore. Because the best case had been stolen from her when she was informed of her immortality. Tears welled into her eyes. "I don't have one."

"Yes. You do." Morrell assured her, placing a hand over hers. "I didn't say perfect scenario. I said best."

Morrell, as always, was right. "Best case." Mars started. "Best case… I tell him everything, I tell him how I feel about him and what I want and he feels the same way. We date through high school, go to college together like we always planned and be roommates, and because our names are so odd we can trick the dorms into thinking we're both boys or girls, we planned it in 6th grade after that Eurotrip movie. We'd probably get in trouble for it, but it's okay, because we'll just stay in each other's rooms like we have our entire lives until we're juniors and can get an apartment. Then when we graduate, we move to a big city and realize it isn't for us and come back to Beacon Hills where I propose to him, he says yes and we have a small wedding and Sheriff gives me away. We have kids, who I teach not to be anything like me and everything like their dad. And we grow old, he ages terribly and I look… exactly like I do right now." Mars was distant, she couldn't bring herself to the part where she would inevitably lose him.

"And the worst case?"

"I tell him how I feel and he doesn't feel the same, and I lose him forever."

"And the most likely case?"

"I tell him, he doesn't feel the same, and we move on like before, but something will always be just a little bit off."

"Okay, now that you have all of that out there, what do you think you should do? Is that best case worth risking the worst?"

"No." She stated, simply.

"Mars, I know now that you feel like your world starts and ends with him-"

"It does, though. My very first memory is of him, I've known him basically since I took my first breath-"

"I know." She acknowledged. "Hear me out though, okay?" Mars nodded. "There are going to be a lot of people that come in and out of your life, and no matter how close you are, you'll get distant. There will be hard times, and the people that are worth the pain, the people who are worthy, will always come back in. And when they do it'll be like you can't remember why you were apart in the first place. I don't want to see you living your life in the fear of inevitable things. You're too smart, too empathetic, and you have far too much to offer to shut yourself away and define yourself by this one person. The world is big. Bigger than Beacon Hills, bigger than London, bigger than Stiles. If you decide to take him with you on your journey through it then that's great, and if he wants to come with than that's even better. To do that, you need to be honest with yourself and with him, and if that means you both need to take a step back for a little while then so be it. Because when you do come back together, you'll both be stronger for it."

Mars contemplated her words, turning them about in her head. She couldn't accept the words she'd been told yet, but she knew they rang true. "So, you think I should tell him and let things take their course?"

"Only you can make that decision. I just want you to know that if it doesn't work, even though it will hurt, you will both be okay."

"I'll think about it."

"That's all I can ask of you." Morell closed her notes. "That's all the time we have for today, we will pick up next week." Mars stood. "Oh! Mars. I don't want you to be blindsided when you see me at the school. I start tomorrow as the new French teacher and guidance counselor. My time here is going to be knocked down to a couple nights a week, so, if you need anything, you know where to find me."

"Thank you." Mars said, and despite the fear of Ms. Morrell putting faces to the names she'd given her, Mars was grateful that she would be around.


A/N: Thank you for reading 100k words of my mediocre and dramatic passion project! And a special thank you for the feedback that encouraged me to get this far. There's still more coming, it just feels like a milestone. I'm going to have a soapbox moment for a second here, so if that's not your thing click on.

Pretty much the only thing I didn't like about Teen Wolf in its run was the portrayal of mental health care (and seasons 4-6, I watched them for the first time during quarantine and, can I just say, yikes). Anyway, I know there are a lot of heavy topics and themes addressed in this story. If you've never had an experience in a Mental Health Center, please know that Eichen House as portrayed in the show is not at all typical and that people really do want to help in those facilities. If you've ever felt anything like Mars, please, please, please don't hesitate to reach out.

I hope you're all staying safe and healthy!

-A.