Sorry, it took all summer to update, I moved, got a job at a hospital, and, well, with the Delta variant showing up, along with people not getting vaccinated, as well as being short staffed as it is I didn't have a lot of time, nor the energy, to write. So, I want to take this time to say that if you can get vaccinated, please do. I've seen the people on ventilators, I go to bed sometimes with the beeping of the machines still in my ears. I promise you that this is serious, it's always been serious.

"Why do you want to do this again?" Sawyer asked Lydia as they both stared at Jackson, who was seemingly putting his stuff in his locked.

Her friend sighed, "Because, Sawyer, we left it on bad terms and, well, even after everything I still care about him," She looked at him longingly, "He was probably one of the only people who I thought was my real friend." She paused then turned towards her, "No offense."

She snorted, "No offense taken,"

There was a pregnant pause and Sawyer looked at Lydia expectantly. The strawberry blonde seemed to be trying to hype herself up in order to talk to Jackson. Though she couldn't read minds, Sawyer didn't have to in order to tell that Lydia was giving herself a pep-talk. "Hey," She said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It'll be fine."

Lydia shook her head, "Let's hope so," Lydia practically strutted over to Jackson, putting the bravest face she could on and Sawyer watched as the two of them interacted.

She could have eavesdropped on their conversation but Sawyer felt like that was too inappropriate. This was Lydia's business and she could handle it. If she had needed help then she would have told her so; still, the thought was tempting.

The conversation they had together was brief and Jackson seemed to have left before Lydia even really got a chance to say anything. However, the abruption of Jackson's departer was not what worried her, no, what worried her was the shocked and alarmed look that was left of Lydia's face. Sawyer quickly hurried over to her, "What, what's wrong? What did the Asshat say?"

"He…" She trailed off and slowly met her eyes, "He told me to stay in tonight." There was dead silence between the two of them as a feeling of dread took over, "You don't think," Lydia paused as she tried to comprehend the words that she wanted to say, "You don't think he's a werewolf, do you?"

A horrible thought entered her mind, "Derek is looking to expand his pack ever since Scott and I refused him," She bit her lip, "And, well, Jackson…" She trailed off.

"Jackson would do anything to be the best." Lydia finished for her looking like she was about to be sick, "Jackson as a werewolf." She gulped, "That is a terrifying thought."

"Let's just hope that Derek isn't that desperate for a pack," Sawyer added, though she had a sinking feeling that Derek might actually be that desperate for a pack. It also didn't help to know that Jackson was almost exactly what Derek wanted in a beta. He was aggressive, unafraid to get his hands dirty, and had one hell of a temper on him. The only problem with Jackson is that, well, he's Jackson. Jackson, who would more likely be spotted at a Goodwill than taking orders from Derek.

This is why Sawyer is hesitant to think that Jackson was a werewolf.

"Besides Jackson, how has the first day back been?"

"Honestly?" Lydia said and sighed in disappointment, "A little underwhelming. With these past few weeks, I was expecting something really bad to happen, and instead all I got was a few people staring at me." She looked at the other teens around them, walking about, not even looking their way, "And even then, the novelty of a breakdown has already worn off."

"Well, that's just high school," Sawyer paused, "Hey, weird question, but, when you became lucid again, you didn't happen to have, say, a human liver in your mouth by chance?"

Lydia straightened her back and turned very slowly towards her, her green eyes widened while her perfectly manicured eyebrows rose, "Excuse me?" She asked incredulously.

Sawyer put her hands up in surrender, "Look, it's just, well, you got bit and nothing happened to you. Then I followed your sent to a desiccated grave with the corpse's liver taken and then you're found at a crime scene where the liver was taken." She bit her lip, "It's just…odd isn't it."

Lydia's mouth hung open just a bit, then closed it, before shaking her head. "I didn't eat anybody's liver!" She yelled causing a few stares from the people around them. She flinched and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Look, I know this won't make any sense to you, but I know I didn't attack anybody."

"But you said you didn't remember?"

Lydia bit her lip, "I don't, well, not really. I remember that it was cold and dark and I remember the…" She shook her head, "Just believe me when I say that if I had eaten a human liver, you would be the first one to know about it."

"Thanks," Sawyer said with a smile, then frowned, "I think?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a panicked-looking Allison, who was panting and gave them both a wild look. "I just found out," She breathed out quickly as she paced over to them, "Sawyer, I swear to you, I had no idea that was going to happen."

Sawyer waved her hand, "Allison, it's fine," She told her friend calmly, although she was anything but calm, "I had a feeling that you wouldn't know about it."

"Okay, pause," Lydia held her hands up stopping the two other girls from talking, "What are the two of you talking about?"

Allison bit her lip and looked to Sawyer expectantly, "My grandfather is the new principal of the school," She said finally.

Lydia made a face, "How?"

Allison shook her head, "Your guess is as good as mine,"

Sawyer sighed and the weighted feeling that had been gathering in her chest this past week came up again. The one that made her bones feel like lead, where she could barely feel anything because it was all just too much. The feeling made her want to lie down in her bed and close her eyes for eternity because she was just so exhausted.

"Hey," She said shakily, breaking the silence, "I think I'm going to go home early." The two other girls looked at her in concern, though she guesses for different reasons. She knew that ditching school wasn't probably the best thing to do, but, well, the school was supposed to be her safe place, and now it was ruined too. They only nodded and although neither expressed their concern, she could see it on their faces. It was written plain as day and Sawyer almost wished they would say something to her.

Honestly, Sawyer could not tell you how long it took her to gather her things and make it to her car. The world passed her by in blurs, either going too fast or too slow. She numbly threw her stuff into the back of her car and drove past the copy and pasted houses. By the time she came back to herself and realized where she was going, it was too late to go back.

It was stupid to pull up to the Hale House, it was probably being watched and littered with hunters, but it was the only place she thought she could go. The only place that reminded her of good memories of when she was little. A place where she had a family, a family that she loved and who loved her back; it was the sole remaindered of Cora.

Exiting her car, Sawyer swallowed the bile rising in her throat and slowly walked up the porch to enter the house. She paused at the door, almost feeling like she should knock, but shook her head and almost chuckled bitterly at the thought. The door creaked on its hinges as it opened, evidence that it was hanging on just as much as she was. Taking a deep breath, Sawyer took a step into the house that she once called home and waited for someone to kill her.

It never came. The house was quiet, the only occupant with a heartbeat was her.

Taking a few more steps into the house, Sawyer could see the damage that had been done only a few nights ago. She almost scoffed at the idea of it only being a few nights ago, to her it had almost felt like an entire year since it happened. She almost wished that it happened years ago, maybe then she wouldn't have this feeling of emptiness in her chest. Maybe then she would be able to say the name of her father without a feeling of guilt washing over her. Sawyer could hardly wait for the day that this all became a distant memory.

The feelings that she had been shoving down had managed to break through her defenses. Her emotions betrayed her as she finally realized everything that she had done. As she waits for it to become a distant memory, she lets her knees give out and screams into the dark and empty house of a place she could have called home as tears run down her face.

She was never known for being patient.

Cassidy could say that, without a doubt, being a pre-teen fucking sucked. After the incident at the edge of the Preserve Cassidy had all but swore to himself that he would never go walking out at night again. The promise lasted all of thirty minutes until he realized how boring it was being locked up in a house with nothing to do other than talking to Ozzy and homework. He had finished all of his homework and Ozzy was currently lying in the middle of his mother's bed. Well, it could be considered Ozzy's bed since his mother hasn't actually slept on that bed in, well… Cassidy is almost sure he's never seen his mother sleep on her bed.

He shook his head; boredom had really taken its toll on him these past couple of days.

Cassidy would not consider himself a brave kid, or even a cautious one, but he would consider himself a curious one. His curiosity about the strange hissing noise the other night was currently out weighting any fear that he could remember. If he could just get one more look at it…

NOPE!

NO!

NADA!

He shook his head violently and crossed his arms over his chest. What the hell was he thinking? He had been so scared the other night, why would he possibly want to try and find the thing that made him run all the way to Mr. Argent? Besides Mr. Argent was probably right; Cassidy was still in shock from everything that had happened. He hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately and probably mistook a garden snake's hiss for something that it wasn't.

Then again, he's almost positive that a garden snake doesn't hiss that loud. He's almost pretty sure that a garden snake doesn't have footsteps and heaving breathing either. Okay, so maybe he wasn't imagining things, but he still wasn't going to go out of his way to seek the thing that might have killed him the other night out.

Well…maybe?

Alright, no, no, no, he couldn't do that to his mom, not while she was coming home soon and needed to save her strength. Not while Sawyer was currently worrying about the group of hunters coming into town. He couldn't let them waste their energy worrying about him while they had so much other stuff going on in their lives.

He needed to find something to do before his own boredom did. Waiting had never been Cassidy's strong suit, hell, patience was not a trait widely known in the Rhoads family. However, Cassidy was particularly bad when it came to waiting around for something to happen. It was his natural curiosity that made him so impatient; the constant wanting of knowledge and the feeling of discovering something new was too intoxicating to him. It was why he had joined the science club at his school; it sated both his natural curiosity and helped protect him from his own boredom.

The sound of Ozzy barreling down the stairs tore him from his thoughts. Cassidy looked over to the stairs to see Ozzy all but tumbling down them. His little legs going practically hovering over the stairs as he ran closer to the door, barking all while doing so. Ozzy stopped in front of the door and started pawing at it as if trying to open the door. His bark getting more excited and louder as he did so. Cassidy only knew of one person who could send Ozzy into such a state.

Cassidy strained his ears and jumped to his feet when he heard the sound of a car door slamming shut. Melissa had said that his mom might be coming home but he didn't actually think that she would be. He was so used to plans going wrong in his life and family that the idea of his mother actually coming home on time wasn't even a possibility.

She was home, though, Ozzy only ever got that excited when it was her.

Jumping to his feet, Cassidy ran for the door and threw it open, almost ripping it off its hinges. It took him only a second to find his mother. She was standing to the side of the car, Melissa helping her out, as she fussed her away obviously trying to tell the other woman that she was fine and could walk on her own.

He couldn't help himself from yelling out, "MOM!" and bounding towards her. He stopped only for a moment before carefully giving her the tightest hug that he could without hurting her. His mom hugged him back with equal force and smiled into his hair.

"I missed you too," She whispered before pulling back and smiling down at him, "How is it that I'm only gone for a couple of days and you already look like you got taller?"

"Maybe you just got shorter," He joked back. His mom chuckled but only pulled him in closer and Cassidy felt as if everything in the world was at peace. Then his mom asked him the question he was dreading the most.

"So, where's Sawyer?"

So, much for peace.

After her breakdown, Sawyer started to notice how late it was becoming. She could feel the anger in her rising and she nearly bashed her head against the wall when she wondered why she felt so angry. It was the full moon tonight. Her first full moon without anyone to help her. Her first full moon with even more hunters coming after her. God, tonight was going to be hell.

Wait.

Tonight, was the full moon and Isaac had been arrested by the police. Tonight is going to be Isaac's first full moon and he was going to spend it in the cell of a police station. Ah, hell tonight just got even more complicated.

Taking a few deep breaths and forcing the rest of her tears away, Sawyer quickly left the Hale house and to her car. She drove as fast as she could back to the McCall house, hoping that Scott would be home, if there was anyone who was on her side now, it was Scott and Stiles. Not that she didn't want to count Lydia or Allison in, but Lydia was going through some stuff, and Allison, well, let's just say that Sawyer knew how persuasive families could be. There was also Stiles, but his dad was the Sheriff and Sawyer had a feeling that there was going to be some law-breaking tonight.

Was it too much to ask for a week off before things started going to shit…again?

Sawyer was gripping her steering wheel s tightly that her knuckles had turned white. She loosened her hands when she noticed it. The last thing she needed was to break her steering wheel while she was in the middle of driving. Plus, her car was already on its last leg, her steering wheel breaking might be the straw that break the camel's back.

Pulling into the McCall's driveway, Sawyer instantly knew that something was different. There was another smell other than the usual. It was an odd mix of bleach and Milk and Honey. It was a smell that made her pause. It invaded her nose and made her heart nearly stop because it was a smell that she had both been anticipating and nearly avoiding.

She barely remembered to turn off her car before throwing her door open and leaping from it. She did her best not to rip the McCall front door from its hinges as she searched the living room for her mother's face.

Then she found her, sitting on the couch, her skin a little paler than usual, her hair dull, but she was alive and here. For the first time, since that night, the weight in her chest lightened just a little. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Sawyer was just a teenage girl, who as finally able to see her mom again. Cassidy was there too, sitting by their mom's side; he looked lighter than the last time she had seen him. He looked happy and bright; the horrors of the last few weeks seemed to have washed away from him.

Her mother turned and saw her staring at them from the doorway. She smiled, her green eyes lighting up the entire room, and beckoned her forward. "Sawyer," Her mother said happily, "I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"Sorry," Sawyer replied sheepishly, "I-um-I got a little sidetracked."

She raised an eyebrow and gave her a look that was telling Sawyer she had some explaining to do. Her mother waited a moment before waving a hand through the air, "No worries, you're here now, and that's all that matters to me."

Sawyer was about to walk towards her mother when something large rammed into her from behind, causing her to fall to the ground with a yelp. She was able to break her fall easily thanks to her enhance reflexes saving her from any injury. However, that didn't stop her from being annoyed at whoever caused her to fall over.

"Oh-Sawyer- thank God you're here because I really need your help with…" Scott McCall trailed off as he saw the audience behind them. His panicked face quickly turned into a sweet smile as he waved at her mother, "Oh, hello Ms. Rhodes, nice to see you again, you know, conscious and not bleeding out and all."

Her mother didn't even skip a beat, "Good to see you too, Scott, and it feels good not to be bleeding out and all," She looked between the two of them, "Is there something that you need help with?"

Scott let out a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his head, "Well, you see, Sawyer here was helping Stiles and me with this project-thing, and something big happened, like, umm, really big. I-well-we, Stiles and I, were hoping that she could come over and help us fix it."

Not that she would like to admit it, but it took Sawyer a good couple of seconds to figure out what the hell Scott was talking about. However, when she put the events of the past couple of days together, along with the fact that it was a full moon. Well? Sawyer managed to figure out that Scott was talking about Isaac.

Yeah, she should probably deal with that.

Dealing with that also meant that she would have to deal with Derek.

Or she could stay home and answer some of the questions that she knew her mom had for her.

Dealing with Derek or Answering her mom?

Sawyer gave her mom a dazzling smile, "Mom, actually, he's right, we have a big project coming up and these two are helplessly lost without me."

She was lying through her teeth; Her mom knew it, Cassidy knew it, as did Melissa McCall who was watching the two of them with keen interest.

Sawyer didn't give time for any questioning as she was already heading out the door with Scott. The guilt that had disappeared for a moment already coming back full force.

I promise for the next chapter that I will finish this episode. Anyway, as always leave a comment or even a theory if you like, I'm always curious as to what you guys think.