I listened to their explanation about how Allison's dad thought he brought the shadows here. He told us the story about him fighting them. Everyone who had been touched by one that night looked exhausted and decided to take off after the explanation. I saw a few people pat Derek on the back as they left. Isaac hugged me one last time before nodding at Derek and escorting Ally out with him.

That left Derek and me. He stood there looking at me, I felt like all the air was sucked out of the room. I was hyper-aware of him as he moved. He rubbed the back of his neck while looking at me. "Hi," he said.

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Instead, I nodded at him. He moved slowly towards me, I fought the urge to back up. Then he was there, looking down at me. "Sorry I've been gone for so long," he moved down to brush his lips against mine, and I couldn't help the rush of guilt I felt. He froze "You and Stiles are on again?" he asked.

"Not exactly," I told him not meeting his eyes.

"Arielle, look at me," He demanded; when I did he waited for my response.

"I'm sort of involved," I choked on the words "with Peter,"

He was very frozen. So much so that it scared me. I reached out and shook him "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," he growled and threw himself backward. I could smell the disgust "You are with my uncle? The same man who murdered the people close to him?"

"Not….emotionally. Just physically," I could see him practically gag. "I didn't even know if you were coming back. You didn't know if you were going to be coming back! Stiles and I are on the outs and well you have always known I'm attracted to older guys….obviously." I motioned to him. His eyes flashed, and then he was chucking his table across the room.

"No!" he told me. I ignored the table toss and kept my attention focused on him. "End it," he said walking back up to me with his fists squeezed tight.

"No. I don't know when you're leaving again, and he has never left except to go get you. I need someone stable, even if I don't feel the same way about him as I do you.

"Get out," He snarled. I booked it out of there.

000000000000000000000

My car was in the shop, which is the only reason that I am currently listening to a hyperactive Stiles arguing with himself about what these shadows could be. Currently, all of his theories sounded far-fetched. Then again this is Beacon Hils. He only paused when he pulled into a parking spot and looked at his phone "The twins are going to be following Scott all day, man they are still trying to get into the pack," I could feel his anger in the air, and I couldn't help but agree. "Scott wants to chat with me right now, mind if I see you in class?" he asked easily like we were just normal friends. It was almost nice. I wedged the feeling down.

I actively ignored the twins who were watching me as I unloaded most of my books off into my locker. I did not want to venture into that rabbit hole. Idly I wondered where Issac was. If I had to guess he was with Allison since they seem to be tied at the hip. I'm not bitter about it at all.

The first bell went off, Stiles and Scott had left the classroom. Stiles looked pale and a little withdrawn. I shot a curious look at Scott who sighed. "I think Stiles is really tired," I took a second to really look at him, besides being pale he had dark bags under his eyes and he wasn't flailing about as he usually would.

"Stiles, I'm going to take you to the hospital. Scott, your mom is working today right?" I ignored Stiles' protest, Scott confirmed. He tried to ignore me and head to class, but I was able to grab his arm and force him back the way we had come this morning.

"I don't need to go to the hospital, I just need a nap," He groaned.

"I'll feel better when Melissa confirms it for me. Would it make you feel better if I told you I'm going to have her check me out too after all the stress I've been dealing with?" He looked at me.

"Let's do this," Smiling I led him to the jeep. He threw a huge fit when I tried to get him into the passenger side, so I let it go and just watched him carefully so we both wouldn't die if he passed out.

I found Melissa thankfully at the nurse's station. She nodded when I told her we were worried about Stiles and that he needed to see someone "Dr. Gardner's not back until next week. Do you want to try waiting for one of the urgent care doctors or…" Stiles's eyes got watery and began backing up. I gently placed my hands on him to stop his backward movement "Stiles. Are you all right?" Melissa asked, now as concerned as we are.

"I don't know. I guess I guess not really." My anxiety ramped up when I heard him say it, he needed help.

Melissa got up and took my place guiding him down the hall "All right, kiddo. All right. Come with me. It's okay," She guided him to a private room.

"Do you want me to wait outside?" I asked him.

"Actually, can you stay? In case I miss something?" My eyes watered. I nodded, standing on the other side of him as he hopped up on the hospital bed. Melissa started to run through questions with him. She didn't seem greatly concerned until he mentioned he only got eight hours of sleep in the last three nights. I watched as he counted on his fingers, shaking, and confirmed. Absentmindedly I lifted my hand to his head and started running my fingers through his hair, stopping to massage his scalp with my nails. He closed his eyes and leaned into it. Melissa was still asking questions, and Stiles was confirming her thoughts. When I froze my massage his eyes blinked open and focused on what I was looking at. Melissa had a needle "Uh, what's that?"

She smiled "Do you trust me?"

"When you're not holding a needle,"

"It's Midazolam. A sedative," She injected it into him smoothly and quickly.

He looked surprised "Why'd you give me a sedative?"

"Because you, Stiles, are one profoundly sleep-deprived young man." She nodded for me to leave the room, I was feeling hesitant. "You need rest and you need it now. Lie down,"

"Okay, how long's it take to Oh. Not long at all," She told him to get some rest, his eyes slowly shut and squeezed the blankets "Thanks, Mom," I saw Melissa blink back tears and booked it out of the room.

"He is going to be fine," she told me as she came out, I realized I was worrying my thumbnail, and I don't even bite my nails. "You alright? I know you have had a very rough time lately,"

"I feel like everything is going off the rails. All I want to do is distance myself from everyone but I keep getting pulled back," I told her guiltily. Especially since she knew I included her son in that statement.

"Arielle, it's pretty normal, especially with all the trauma lately. I can't blame you. But, I know you love them all. So no matter how much I hear that you are ignoring the pack, I know you will be back. Take time if you need it. Your mental health is important." I nodded.

"Do you know how long Stiles will be out?".

She nodded "I gave him a small dose, it'll probably be at least an hour or two. You should head back to school," I frowned at that. I didn't want to go back.

"Do you mind if I wait?"

Melissa smiled and touched my shoulder "Sure Hun, I'll check on you both later," I nodded and sat down, I intended to read on my phone but I felt my eyes getting heavy. I knew I was going to wait for a while, so I let myself slip into sleep. We all needed it.

A little later I woke up when Melissa ran her hand through my hair.

"Arielle honey, I'm running late to go help Scott. They think whatever these things are they are going to attack them at sunset, do you want a ride?" I felt conflicted.

"No it's okay, if they need me I'll come but I think they have everything they need, and I don't want Stiles to wake up alone," She nodded and fast-walked down the hallway. Opening the door to Stiles's room I looked in on him. He looked so calm, and I realized I hadn't seen him like that pretty much ever. I would try to pay more attention now. I decided to rest some more just in case Scott needed us later. I only woke up when I heard a loud thud down the hallway. I was up in a second, I checked in Stiles' room and he was gone. I panicked and rushed out of the room to find him, and almost ran straight into him and Scott.

"Woah sorry Arielle, you were out and I just went to find some water before I woke you up," Stiles let me know. My heart slowed down a little. I felt strange about the way Stiles was looking at me, almost calculating. I shook off the feeling since sedatives had strange side effects.

"Good, well Scott, you're alive. So what happened?"

"We let them check us," He let Stiles and I know and then retold the story of what had happened. Kira was a Kitsune, no surprise there, although I had never met one in person. I would still have to reevaluate if I wanted her as a friend. Scott let us know that if the Oni (the shadows) came after us, to let them evaluate us to make sure we were still ourselves. Never a dull moment in Beacon Hills.

00000000000000000000000000000000

"You're telling me that Derek knows about us?" Peter asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I told him the first night he was back," I told him while rolling my eyes as he looked out of his apartment window cautiously.

"You are saying he knows….and that you told him that you were not leaving me….and he hasn't tried to tear my throat out yet?"

"Oh my…..Peter, stop pacing!"

He stopped at looked at me "Why," Since he probably didn't care what I thought about his pacing I took this to mean why wasn't I jumping ship for Derek's bed.

"As weird as it sounds..you have been the most stable partner I've had. I mean not mentally of course but I can count on you to be here. You never leave town for a long while, and let's be honest the sex is great," He looked annoyed and pleased for a second "Who knows when he's going to leave town again, and I like you and your annoying snarky self,"

He leaned back to appraise me "But you like him much more, don't you,"

"Yes," I didn't bother lying to him, what would be the point.

"There's time to change your mind," He said while picking me up with one arm, the other drawing my legs around his waist. He kissed hard, nibbling at my lips to let him in. He kept one hand holding me up and the other he used to help me remove my shirt. Lips moved down to my collarbone, sucking harshly to mark me. I couldn't help the moan that slipped past my lips, my hands going into his hair.

He let me slip down and nudged me onto his bed. Silk gray sheets surrounded me. I sat up to take off his pants as he took off mine. He groaned as I pressed my palm against him through his pants, knowing he went commando. He leaned me back till I was laying down in his bed in only my underwear and bra. He just stopped and took me in. I felt a blush crawling up my body, but let him look "Yeah there's still time," He murmured and finally met me down on the bed. His pants were gone and he deftly had my bra off in two seconds. He mouthed his way down my body until his lips reached my panties. Hooking his fingers and pulling down just enough that he could suck on the inside of my hip bone. He continued to show me exactly why I should stay with him late into the night.

"Stiles is missing" I jerked out of bed, pushing Peter's arm off of me, with my phone to my ear. I was grumpy when answering and told them that someone had better be dead on the other end. I instantly regretted that.

"What do you mean missing, Issac?" Peter's eyes were trained on me, concerned and sleepy.

"As in, Scott getting a creepy-ass call from him saying he is in a basement with his foot caught in something, possibly bleeding, battery dying, no clue where he is and that he is freezing," We both paused.

"Is the Sheriff okay? Where are we starting to look? Is Rosco at the house?"

"Um, the Sheriff doesn't know yet, but Lydia is making the same point that I know you're going to make…..looks like we're headed to the police station to meet him. Just meet us there and we will go over everything together,"

I sighed as he hung up. I wonder if they contacted Lydia before me? I shook it off and grabbed warm clothes, it was supposed to be the coldest night of the year so far. I wonder where Stiles could have gone. Peter was up and pulling on his boots.

"Go to them, I'll go look at the old house, and what I can cover of the preserve,"

"Why are you helping?" I questioned.

He smirked "I'm quite fond of the kid, and I know you are too. So we will split up and look for him. Let me know if you hear anything," he told me, giving me a quick kiss on the lips before guiding me to my car.

Getting to the station I found Scott pacing, and Iz watching the Sheriff wearily as he kept clenching and unclenching his hands. As soon as he saw me he barked "let's go".

"No." I deadpan. Everyone looked at me surprised "I will no longer be going into situations I know nothing about until I hear everything everyone knows. I'm tired of getting hurt."

Issac came and tucked me under his chin with my back to his front as everyone explained what they knew so far. Which was pretty much nothing. Thankfully they had been searching for his jeep the whole time so when Parish came in and said they found it we finally had somewhere where we could start. He gave me a quick wave and got back to work.

I could tell that the Sheriff was frustrated we had waited so long, but we probably would have been further from the hospital than we already were. He ignored it when I sped behind him in my car, just in case we had to split up later.

So far the hospital was empty, the only two places we still had to check were the roof and the basement. I had enough of the basements so I chose to search the roof. Derek was there staring out into the night. He ignored my presence and told Scott to scent for chemosignals.

The sheriff called us to follow him to Eichen House, apparently, it was a mental health facility. Lydia had called and said she was sure he was there. Scott looked at me and asked if I was having any of my feelings about if he was there.

"I don't, I haven't been getting any feelings lately. Not since the last adventure," He sighed unsatisfied and got on the phone with Derek, who met up with Peter in the preserve. We all followed Lydia into the basement once there. We searched high and low and nothing. The sheriff yelled at her, understandingly upset, Aiden and I both reached out to comfort her.

The tension was broken when Melissa called to say she and Mr. Mcall had Stiles. We all waited at the hospital together until we heard he was going to be okay. I was exhausted, we all were. Walking out I found Peter leaning on my car sporting a black eye. I immediately hugged him and pulled back to take a closer look at it.

"Well…..he didn't kill you," I said optimistically. That got a chuckle out of him. Peter pulled me closer to kiss my forehead.

"Not yet at least, lets go get some rest," I handed him my keys, eyes suddenly heavy, and got in. The pack was there staring hard at us in astonishment. Tomorrow will be another interesting day.