After consuming far too much pizza, Rowan found herself dangling over the edge of Allison's bed, flipping through a fashion magazine while Cassidy perched beside her, and Allison shoved the last of their discarded plates into a trash bag to place beside the door. They had been talking about anything and everything, from the absurd amount of homework they already had to complete for Harris' class, to who they thought would be most likely to hook up or break up before the semester was done. And although Rowan had relaxed some, since her encounter with Derek Hale, the event still lingered at the back of her mind…

Lingered, until the sound of Cassidy's voice piping up from her place beside her has the entire ordeal consuming her thoughts once again.

"So - think you'll see older, sexy danger-guy again?"

"Who?"

"Older, sexy danger-guy," Cassidy repeated, grinning broadly at the skeptical glance Rowan was sending her way, and looking to Allison for a moment before going on, "Derek? Our chauffeur for the evening?"

"Oh. Him."

"Yes. Him."

"For his sake I hope I never see him again," Rowan replied, realizing that both Cassidy and Allison were eyeing her as though she had suddenly grown a second head, and releasing a sigh before attempting to explain, "We didn't exactly get off on the right foot."

"What do you mean?" Allison asked, her brow furrowing in concern as she moved back towards her bed, her arms folded across her chest as soon as she noticed the way in which Rowan bit into her lower lip for a moment before finally exhaling and attempting to explain.

"I mean he was trying to help me. Or so he claimed, at least. And I kind of-"

"You kind of what?"

"Kneed him in a somewhat sensitive place? And made things generally unpleasant?"

"Wow," Cassidy breathed, sharing a surprised look with Allison that Rowan did not miss, though she made no comment on it, instead choosing to glance back at Cassidy as her friend spoke again, "What did - what did he do to deserve that?"

"He - he snuck up on me."

"You said he was trying to help you," Allison prompted, sitting on Rowan's other side, making sure to give her just enough space to wriggle around until she was sitting upright, as well, "What did he think he was helping you with?"

That was the sticking point, Rowan realized. Trying to explain what Derek thought he was doing - what she knew he had been doing- now that Cassidy had unknowingly backed her into a corner and placed her in the position of figuring out exactly how much she should disclose. If she went around talking about seeing red eyes everywhere, a part of her feared she would be locked away in Eichen in seconds flat.

Then, there was the pesky little detail that if Stiles had been right about whatever was happening to Scott - and that was a huge if, in her opinion - Rowan knew that saying anything about wolves or bites or creatures prowling around stalking prey in general would be a sure-fire way to betray that secret without Scott's knowledge, or consent.

Whether she believed it could be true or not, she was not about to do that.

And again. Eichen was still a thing. Yammering on about werewolves wouldn't be any more sane than glowing red eyes following her every move…

"He um - I guess he was dropping by to talk to Scott, and thought I was - drunk. Too drunk to stand."

"So you kneed him."

"I did," Rowan confessed, looking between Allison and Cassidy for a moment, honestly nervous over how they would react to her attempt at a partial-truth, until she saw both of them obviously trying as hard as they could to restrain a full blown smile.

"Obviously you showed him you weren't all that drunk."

"No kidding," Allison laughed, leaning over to nudge Rowan's shoulder gently with her own, pleased to see the faint grin that tugged at her new friend's lips in response, "Good for you. I'm proud."

"You - really?"

"Of course. And I agree with you. Hopefully you never have to deal with him again."

"Can I still call him older, sexy danger guy?" Cassidy inquired, smiling as both Allison and Rowan laugh almost instantly, and leaning over to loop her arm through Rowan's not long after, "I'll take that as a yes."

For a moment after Cassidy's remark, the girls remain silent, and Rowan would have been a liar to pretend she was not more than a little relieved to have the topic behind them, at least for the time-being. But, just as she had been prepared to return their conversation to either something else far more inane, or to the prospect of selecting a movie to watch, she froze in place, the sound of Allison's mother calling up the stairs to them distracting her in no time at all.

"Allison! It's for you. You'd - I think Rowan had better come with you."

Confused, to say the least, Rowan still managed to persuade herself to get up and follow along after Allison, never once missing the fact that despite not having been included, Cassidy was moving after them, as well. She stayed back behind the wall, of course, so Mrs. Argent wouldn't see her, but even that did not mean that Rowan failed to notice the widening of her eyes as Stiles' voice reached them from his position hovering just outside the Argents' front door.

"Ro! Hey. Uh - can you - can you come down here for a second?"

Unsure of what exactly Stiles might want, but still recognizing the look that bordered on panic as it lingered on her brother's face, Rowan managed a small nod and turned to head down the stairs, while Allison's mother moved away to give them some privacy. Rowan didn't miss the slight narrowing of Mrs. Argent's eyes as they passed, though in light of Stiles having resumed his frantic pacing in the doorway, she ignored it for the time-being in favor of getting to her brother's side.

Of course, any and all attempts to not appear as though there were anything suspicious going on flew right out the window as soon as Stiles latched onto her wrist and yanked her outside, provoking a yelp before she could ever stand a chance at stopping it.

"Hey! What the - what the hell was that for?"

"We have a problem. A very big problem."

"Again?" Rowan groaned, aware of the slightly slack jawed expression her brother wore for a moment, before he gathered himself enough to nod fervently and elaborate further.

"Yes. Yes again. I lost Scott."

"Stiles, I knew that already-"

"No, I mean I found him," Stiles amended, huffing in exasperation as soon as he realized Rowan's confused expression was a direct result of his conflicting statements, "But then I - I lost him again."

"And this means what, exactly?"

"It means we have a problem! He freaked out as soon as I told him that Allison got a ride home with Derek, and-"

"Did you tell him she wasn't exactly alone?" Rowan interrupted, folding her arms across her chest, and groaning again as soon as she saw Stiles shaking his head in response, "Why not?"

"I didn't exactly get a chance. I told him the first bit of the text you sent, but he heard Allison's name and then just - lost focus."

"That still doesn't explain how you lost him again-"

"I was getting to that part," Stiles sighed, finally releasing his hold on his sister's wrist, and running both hands across his close-cropped hair before going on, "He went through the window."

"What?"

"He was in his room. He wouldn't let me in. And then he just - he went out the window."

"Stiles, his room is on the second floor," Rowan began, frowning as soon as she realized her remark had done nothing to erase the utter surety from her brother's expression, and dragging a hand through her hair not long after, "And you didn't find him on the ground outside with broken bones-"

"Nope."

"He was gone."

"Yep," Stiles nodded, feeling some manner of relief at the slowly dawning comprehension in Rowan's expression as she processed everything he had just told her, "I think maybe what we were talking about earlier-"

"The werewolf thing," Rowan finished for him, frowning as soon as she saw his fervent nod of confirmation, and biting into her lower lip for a moment before trying to find something - anything - to explain their current situation without linking it to something presumably supernatural, "Maybe he just - maybe-"

"You can't talk yourself out of believing this, Ro. Believe me. I already tried."

"Maybe you just didn't try hard enough."

"Nope," Stiles denied, part of him hating that he was the reason behind his sister's worried expression, though a still larger part was grateful that maybe - just maybe - she was starting to come around, "And that's not the worst part."

"Why am I not surprised, at this point, that all of this is still going to get worse?"

"He said Derek is the one that bit him. The one that killed that girl in the woods."

"Derek Hale?"

"No, Derek Hough," Stiles retorted, aware of the slight narrowing of his twin's eyes, and shaking his head before opting for another tactic other than sarcasm to attempt to explain what he had learned, "Yes. Derek Hale. Which means you, Cass and Allison-"

"Got a ride home from a murderer."

"A werewolf that's also a murderer."

"I - how - where's Scott now?" Rowan stammered, glancing around the Argents' driveway as though she expected her friend to turn up then and there, only to find her attention once again diverted as Stiles replied.

"That's just it. I have no clue."

"We need to find him."

"I know," Stiles agreed, looking back through the doorway into the foyer which was now, at least momentarily abandoned, and exhaling slowly before looking back to Rowan once again, "You should get Cass-"

"No."

"No?"

"No," Rowan repeated, shaking her head, and leveling Stiles with the most serious expression she could manage to ensure he read her point loud and clear, "Until we know what this is - what's really going on - I don't - I don't want to drag her in until we have no other choice."

"Makes sense."

"I thought so. Just - just give me a second to tell her I need to go, and to make sure Allison is okay with her staying."

"Okay."

Turning to head back into the house, Rowan did as best she could to force herself to come up with a suitable reason for why she needed to leave, knowing that if she betrayed any hint of her uncertainty - her confusion - Cassidy would notice in seconds, and for that matter, Allison probably would, as well. She still didn't understand any of this. She didn't want to understand it. Understanding, after all, would only make it real. But as she began to head up the stairs to go back to Allison's room, Rowan knew that if she wanted to be any sort of a decent friend to Scott - if she wanted to help him with whatever this was - she did not have any other choice.

All she could do was hope that there was some other explanation for everything that had happened thus far that had nothing to do with what Stiles seemed to believe so fervently that it almost terrified her…

She honestly did not know what she was going to do if it was actually real.

…...

Stiles and Rowan had been driving for hours by the time the sun finally made its way over the horizon, and still, they had found no sign of Scott anywhere. For her part, Rowan had taken to leaning her head against the passenger side window, her eyes occasionally slipping closed even in spite of her best efforts to avoid it. She was exhausted. Stiles would never admit it, but she knew that he was, too. But just as she was about to say something, albeit reluctantly, related to how they might be better served by going home, regrouping, sleeping, and then heading back out later if Scott still had not turned up by then, she noticed someone walking a few feet up ahead, her body straightening as she sat erect, and reached over to swat Stiles' arm.

"Hey - I think - Stiles, I think that's him."

"It is," Stiles agreed, pressing down on the accelerator a bit more until they had drawn up side by side with Scott, his expression startled as he glanced their way and gave a little jump as he finally realized exactly who it was that had pulled up alongside him. Not long after Stiles had stopped the Jeep, Rowan scrambled into the back seat so that Scott could get in as well. And as they drove off once again, she could not help but notice that, even with his obvious fatigue, Scott seemed more than a little distressed, her brow furrowing in concern as she leaned forward to place a hand upon his shoulder before she spoke.

"Hey - you - you okay?"

"Yeah," Scott replied, his tone suggesting the precise opposite, which was of course something he realized almost immediately that Rowan would pick up on right away, "I - no. No, I'm not okay."

"Scott-"

"Did Stiles tell you?"

"Did he tell me about what?" Rowan asked, glancing toward her brother for a moment, before turning her attention back to Scott, a frown marring her features as she saw the very real hesitation - the fear - that was so apparent in his expression as he looked at her as though he really thought whatever he had to tell her would turn her away from him for good.

"The - the werewolf thing."

"Oh. That. Yeah. Yeah, he - he kind of told me everything."

"Great. That's just great," Scott sighed, dropping his head against the passenger side window with a soft thud, despite the fact that he could feel Rowan's hand tightening upon his shoulder in response, "So you think I'm a freak."

"To be fair, I kind of already thought that," Rowan said, her tone light enough that Scott realized it was an obvious attempt to lighten the mood, though the slight smile he gave in response was anything but convincing, "But no. In this case, I don't think that. Not - not at all."

"But I - it's - Rowan this is real. I mean, I didn't want to believe it, but - it's real," Scott persisted, finally turning back to look his best friend's sister in the eye, and startling a bit as soon as he realized that despite looking very much confused - maybe even a little scared - she was still blatantly looking him in the eye in return, without even a hint of flinching away, "I could probably hurt you. You or Stiles."

"Given that we both drove literally all night to hunt you down, I'd say that's a fairly good sign that we think it's worth the risk. Right, Stiles?"

"Right," Stiles confirmed, throwing a slightly tremulous grin back at Rowan, before risking a glance at Scott, himself, "You're stuck with us, dude. Partners in crime, remember?"

"I remember."

"Okay then. That's settled."

"Not really," Scott stated, clearly not at all convinced that the matter could be settled that easily, though given the weight of the looks both Stiles and Rowan were giving him, they were not about to allow him to continue believing that if they had any say in the matter at all, "I'm not going to convince you guys to think about this before making your decision, am I?"

"Nope."

"Not a chance," Rowan assured, forcing aside her own lingering disbelief over what was apparently very real in favor of giving Scott's shoulder another reassuring squeeze, "It's like Stiles said. You're stuck with us."

"Well we still have another problem," Scott informed, not missing the shared look that passed between Stiles and Rowan, or the resigned expression that graced Rowan's features in particular before she spoke.

"Another one?"

"Dude, if you say Allison, I'm gonna punch you in the head," Stiles cut in, the remark provoking a snort of amusement from Rowan before she could stop it, though in contrast, it did not seem to stall Scott's current thought process at all.

"She probably hates me, now."

"I'll talk to her," Rowan offered, surprising herself with the readiness of the reply, particularly as she had no idea exactly how she was supposed to come up with any sort of viable explanation for Scott's disappearing act without veering far too close to the truth for comfort, "She gave me her cell number before I left. I'll - I'll think of something to tell her."

"What if she doesn't believe you?" Scott pressed, aware of Rowan's almost immediately arched brow, and smiling faintly as he recognizes it for what it is - proof that as soon as she convinces herself that what she says is the truth, Allison will have no choice but to do the same, "Right. That answer should probably be obvious by now."

"Damn straight."

"Besides, it's not like Ro and I don't have experience with this sort of thing," Stiles supplied, glancing in the rearview mirror for long enough to realize that his sister's expression was every bit as dumbfounded as Scott's was in that moment, which of course only made his amusement grow as he waited one final moment for dramatic flair before elaborating, "We had a boa once. Or I did, and Rowan refused to come into my room as long as the thing was in there. Had to feed it live mice. If needed, we can chain you up during full moons, and do the same for you."

"Seriously?"

"Oh he's serious," Rowan laughed, finally releasing her hold on Scott's shoulder, and leaning back just a bit before going on, "But I draw the line at the live mice thing. I will, however, stick with you before and after."

"Thanks, Ro."

"Of course."

"So - you're a werewolf," Stiles added in, once again looking at Scott, before turning his attention back to the road, and taking the upcoming right turn that would lead them all home, "That's - awesome."

Whether or not Scott fully agreed with his friend's assessment at that particular moment, he did allow himself to relax just a little, regardless, the soft sound of Rowan's exasperated laughter over her brother's antics coming from the back seat giving him just enough reassurance that at least for now, maybe everything really would be alright after all.

Anything else could be dealt with as it came.

…

And so ends episode one! I'm not entirely sure it will take me the better part of five chapters to get through each one that comes after, because I do have every intent of adding extra little details in addition to canon events such that this story isn't just a repeat of the show with Rowan thrown in. But regardless of where the muses take me, I really do hope everyone is enjoying what's going on thus far! I have so many plans for this story it's honestly a little daunting and I cannot wait to share them all with you!

As always, my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, follow, favorite and review this story so far! And special thanks to ChiTown4ever for leaving such a kind review of the last chapter (and for being so patient as I yammer on endlessly about my ideas). I truly do appreciate the support, and I cannot wait to hear what everyone thinks this time around!

Until next time, angels…

MOMM