Chapter 8-

The Fake-Up

Under the light of an almost full moon, Scott and Penelope follow Stiles down a dark path through the woods. "Can you at least tell us what we're doing out here?" Scott calls to their friend that was currently leading them, his hand grasping Penelope's while Stiles' back was turned.

"When your best friend gets dumped-" Stiles is cut off by the boy beside her, "I didn't get dumped. I broke up with her."

"Yeah, right," he scoffs "When your friend gets dumped…" Stiles pulls out a bottle of Jack Daniels from his backpack. "You get your best friend drunk."

The three teens find a spot in a clearing, Scott and Penelope using the conveniently placed boulders as a bench, Stiles sitting on the ground below them. He drank much heavier than Scott, and Penelope wasn't drinking at all. When the bottle was a quarter of the way empty, Stiles squinted at her.

"Nelly, I know you're technically a girl-" ("Wow, thanks," she interjected.) "-but you're still a part of boys night, so drink." He pushed the bottle into her hands, and she grimaced at it, a sour feeling pulling in her gut. "You know I don't like dark liquor," she whimpered, pouting at Stiles. But he just looked at her expectantly, and Scott wasn't offering much support either, so she took a too-courageous swig of the liquid. Once she swallowed, she coughed and sputtered, both boys laughing at her, and she felt a large hand rubbing her back, Scott's fingers slightly teasing below the hem of her sweater and onto the skin of her back. Penelope blushed, grinning at him, handing him the bottle which he declined before giving it to Stiles.

The night continued like this, Stiles and Penelope passing the bottle back and forth, the main objective of getting Scott drunk seemingly forgotten. But Penelope was having fun for the first time in a while, and she wanted to take advantage of it. She and Stiles laug, the giggles uncontrollable.

"Dance with me, m'lady," he bows, speaking in a posh British accent, and holds out a hand to her. Nelly takes it and laughs as the air is sucked from her lungs when Stiles immediately spins her in a circle.

"Too fast! Too fast!" she shouts as he slows their pace, and they tumble to the ground, Stiles laying in front of the rock Scott is perched on, and Penelope sits at his feet, noticing that they'd collectively drank two-thirds of the bottle.

Scott is gazing at the fire solemnly, and Stiles calls out, "Dude, she's one girl. There are plenty more girls in the sea."

Scott sighs, correcting the boy, "Fish in the sea."

"What? Why are you talking about fish? I'm talking about girls. Especially ones with blonde hair, gray eyes, five foot…" Stiles muses.

"Like Penelope?" He scoffs, causing Penelope's eyes to snap to her boyfriend.

Stiles looks so wasted. "How did you know I was talking about, wait, no, I wasn't... What was I talking about?" He eyes Scott carefully, "You don't look happy. Drink.

"I don't want anymore."

"You're not drunk?" Stiles questions.

"I'm not anything," Scott stares into the fire, the glow from the flames flickering over his face, and Penelope places a hand discreetly on his ankle, getting his attention. "What's wrong?" she asked softly. Scott's gaze softens when his eyes meet hers and he shakes his head, "I'm okay."

"Maybe it's like not needing your inhaler anymore. Maybe you can't get drunk. Am I drunk?" They hear Stiles ask, but ignore him. "Dude, I know it feels bad. But you gotta' remember. As much as being broken up hurts... being alone is even worse. Wait a minute. That didn't come out right. I need another drink." He reaches for the bottle again, but a hand grabs it first. Stiles steps back, looking up in surprise at two older twenty-somethings.

Scott is in defense mode immediately, his head snapping up to the men, his arm coming around Penelope. "Well, look at the little bitches getting their drink on," the first man laughs nastily. Stiles steps away as he laughs with an obnoxious tittering. Scott keeps his gaze leveled on them.

"Give it back," Scott growls.

"What's that, little man?" the first questions. His friend says, "I think he wants a drink."

"I want the bottle," Scott doesn't move. Doesn't even blink. Not a trace of fear on him. The men laugh again.

Penelope grabs his arm, tugging on his sleeve, "Scott, let's just go." Stiles agrees, "Yeah, Scott, come on, man."

Scott's voice has an unnerving calm to it, "You brought me here to get me drunk, Stiles. I'm not drunk yet."

The first man just scoffs, taking a drink from the bottle, and Penelope gulps, knowing this would just make Scott madder, but she was still incredibly wasted, and didn't even know if she could stand by herself right now, now that her momentum from earlier was gone.

"Give me the bottle," Scott repeats. The two men look at eachother, but his friend is no longer laughing. Then, as the man raises the bottle to take another sip Scott steps closer and his eyes change, burning with a sickly yellow glow. "Give me. The bottle. Of Jack," Scott repeats, enunciating every word. Staring into Scott's yellow eyes, the man slowly and shakily holds the bottle out. Just a few feet away, Stiles notices Scott's right hand, claws extended. His fingers tense as if preparing to swipe at his jugular. "Scott," Stiles calls out. Hand snapping forward, Scott grabs the bottle of Jack out of the man's hand and turns, launching it through the air. It smashes against a tree, exploding into a million shards.

Scott helps Penelope back to the Jeep, an arm around her midsection, Stiles trailing behind them. Her feet stumble on the ground as they walk. "I guess I really can't hold my Jack," she slurs.

"I should've stopped you," Scott reprimanded, pinching her side, making her yelp.

"Yeah, but then we couldn't do drunk stuff," she whispered, her face getting close to his ear, feeling bold. She turned her head and saw that Stiles was a good twenty feet behind them, his head down. She hears him hiccup, making her laugh slightly at how cute he is.

"Drunk stuff? Does that mean you're inviting me over?" Scott smirks, his eyebrows raising significantly. Penelope smiles, nodding. They hear someone coming up behind them quickly, and Stiles starts to talk.

"Please tell me that was because of the breakup. Or better yet, because tomorrow's the full moon." Scott pauses at the Jeep to help first Penelope into the backseat, which takes them a couple minutes because she keeps getting stuck on the seatbelt in the gap, then Stiles into the passenger side. Stiles falls back onto the seat, on the verge of passing out. "Going home now. Yeah?" Stiles asks.

Penelope lays down in the back, closing her eyes, and before she knows it she's fallen asleep.

She's back in the clearing they were drinking in, the fire still burning in the barrel. But something is there that definitely wasn't there before. Human legs are sticking out of the top of the barrel, and she wants to avert her eyes but it's like she can't. She feels a presence beside her. "You haven't even tried to shift yet."

"This creature's path of revenge is an interesting one, but some things can be prevented, and you can be a part of it. You need to learn," he tells her. She can't take her eyes off the body in the barrel, shocking her to her core.

"I could've prevented this?"

"No. This event was unavoidable, I believe. Especially at your current level of knowledge. Do you remember the forms?" He asks her, and she turns to him now, racking her brain.

"Uh, a-a horse, a cat, a rabbit, and a dog," she listed off.

"Good. Now shift."

Penelope doesn't really remember how she got into her bedroom last night, but she knows it had to have been Scott. Stiles was too drunk and probably couldn't carry her up her stairs sober. Scott only could now because of his werewolf strength. She thought about her dream last night and figured she might as well try it now while she was alone and had no audience to see her stupidity.

Penelope stood in the middle of her room and channeled all of her thoughts onto the Phouka and the cat form. After about a minute, nothing happened, and she sighed in exasperation. Then she remembered something he had said, about asking for help.

"Phouka, please, help me shift," she said, closing her eyes, thinking again about the cat form. Then her head was on fire, and everything was white for a split second. When she could finally open her eyes again, she realized she was on the ground, had she fallen? She went to move, but her footing faltered, and that's when she realized she was actually standing already, but on four feet instead of two. It worked!

She shakily walked over to the floor-length mirror she kept in the corner of the room and saw that she looked just like the vision. A pitch-black cat with long hair and all-white eyes. Now how did she get back? He hadn't gone over that part! Why hadn't she thought to ask? This was stressing her out, she couldn't be a cat forever, especially not when she finally had a super hot boyfriend who she'd been in love with forever. But she didn't have to think about it very long, because she was suddenly herself again. So maybe changing back was easier than changing in the first place.

Penelope decided to push on, acting like everything was normal. She wanted to look extra nice today, and took Lydia's advice, perusing her closet. She finally chose a black long sleeve turtleneck and a plaid skirt, with black tights. She finished getting ready, applying her makeup and doing her hair, then drove herself to school.

Penelope met up with Lydia and Allison as they were walking into the school, the strawberry blonde motioning her over. "It's just weird. Everyone's talking about what happened the other night. And nobody knows it was us," Allison says, talking about the night inside the school.

"Thank you for the protection of minors," Lydia quips.

"Lydia, Penny... Do you think I made the wrong decision?" Allison asks them, and Penelope tenses. Lydia plays dumb, "About that jacket with that shirt? Absolutely."

"You know what I mean," the brunette sighs. "Hello? Scott locked us in that classroom and left us for dead. He's lucky we're not pressing charges or making him pay our therapy bills," Lydia scoffs, and Penelope stays quiet, not knowing what she could add to this.

"Your parents talk about sending you to see someone too?" Allison asks her.

"Sweetheart, I've had a psychiatrist since I was six," Lydia rifles through her bag. "Here, try this. Start with half a pill." She drops a prescription bottle into Allison's hand, leaving her staring at it mystified while she heads to class.

"I probably wouldn't take that. It's never a good idea to take things not prescribed to you," she tells Allison. The girl nods, "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in her head." They laugh, and walk together down the hallway.

When they get to Mr. Harris' class, they split up, Allison sitting in the front, and her meeting Stiles in the back of the room. A few minutes later Scott comes in, sparing an awkward glance at Allison before shuffling quickly to the back, sitting in front of Stiles, smiling at Nelly. "Hey," he mouths to her silently, before Harris places the test on their desks.

"You have forty-five minutes to complete the test. Twenty-five percent of your grade can be earned right now by simply putting your full name on the cover. However, as happens every year, one of you will inexplicably fail to put your name on the cover and I'll be left yet again questioning my decision to ever become a teacher. So let's get the disappointment over with. Begin."

Scott's POV

When Scott opens up his test booklet, he feels slightly confident. That is until he reads the very first question: An increase in imports of consumer goods is most likely to have been caused by a... He moves to write down a choice when he hears a sound so loud and excruciating it causes him to flinch. A pencil eraser dragging across a sheet of paper with an irritating scrape. Scott turns back to his test, but then hears another student coughing, a tight hacking from the back of her throat. Senses heightened, Scott can't help but focus on the nervousness around him. He looks back to the test. The next question: Why wouldn't a girl that pretty date your best friend instead? Scott gazes at the question, eyes blinking. Then looks over to Penelope who is busily filling in her own test. When Scott turns back the question on his sheet has changed to: Which one of the following statements about price mechanism is correct? Rubbing his eyes with his fingers, he marks down the answer with his pen. Then looks at the next question: When the moon is full tonight will you kill: A: All of your friends? B: Some of your friends? C: Most of your friends? D: None of the above?

Scott slams his pencil back down on the desk, squeezing his eyes shut. But with his eyelids closed, his heightened hearing begins to pick up the heartbeats around him. As the thumping becomes louder and louder, a cell phone vibrates on a desk. Someone pulls their chair forward, metal scraping over the floor and Scott can't take it anymore and darts up from his seat, grabbing his bag.

Penelope sees Scott stand from his desk, hurrying to the front of the classroom, ignoring Mr. Harris' shout as he leaves. Stiles and her share a glance as they quickly exit the classroom themselves, ignoring Mr. Harris as well.

"Scott?" he calls when they get into the hall, seeing it empty. Penelope sees his bag, tapping Stiles' arm, walking over to it. He picks it up, "Maybe I should try calling him?" Penelope nods, "Good idea." When he dials the number, they hear the other end ringing down the hall. The two friends share a look before jogging after the noise. When they come to the locker rooms, Stiles sends her an uneasy look, but she just walks straight in.

"Scotty? Where are you?" She calls out.

She heard the showers running and raced toward the back of the locker rooms, stopping just around the corner, "Scott?" Penelope finally peaked her head around, seeing him standing under the stream of water, shirtless but otherwise decent. Stiles came up behind her. Scott turns off the water, turning to look at them, hugging the wall for support.

"Nelly, I can't…" He tries.

"What's happening? Are you changing?" Stiles asks

"No... I can't... I can't breathe," He answers as she comes beside him, taking his hand. Watching him struggle with each gasp, Stiles quickly drops Scott's bag to the floor, unzips it and begins rifling inside. Finding the item he's looking for, he turns back to Scott who has crawled out from the spray of water to lean against the tile wall. "Use this," He hands Scott's inhaler to him. A breathless Scott looks down at it, confused. "Do it." Shaking up the inhaler, Scott takes a hit and holds it in. Then finally, he breathes.

"I... I was having an asthma attack?" Scott says incredulously.

"No, you were having a panic attack. But thinking you were having an asthma attack stopped the panic attack," Stiles tells him.

"Thank God you still carry yours, I have my extra in my bag but I left it in the classroom," Penelope soothes Scott's hair slightly, then backs up, remembering Stiles is in the room.

"How did you know to do that?" Scott asks the boy after sending his girlfriend a smile.

"I used to get them after my mom died. Not fun, huh?" Their usually sarcastic friend retorts. Penelope remembers helping him through his panic attacks, and catches his eye. He described the feeling of not being able to breath, thinking he was having a heart attack. She wanted to sob every time they happened, she was so scared, but she wanted to stay strong for Stiles. Scott shook his head in response to Stiles' question, still gaining his composure.

"Was it Allison?" the boy enquired again, making both Penelope and Scott stop breathing for a split second. Scott was a much quicker liar than she could ever be.

"Yeah, I saw her and it just sucked, I miss her, man," he said convincingly.

"Yeah, it's called heartbreak. There's like two billion songs written about it," Stiles replies.

Scott adds for good measure, "I can't stop thinking about her." Penelope can't help the small scoff she lets out at that, which Stiles misses but she knows Scott hears. "Well, think about this: her dad's a werewolf hunter. You're a werewolf. It was bound to become an issue," their friend tells Scott.

"Seems like a good enough reason to me," she adds, and all Scott does is nod.

"It's got to be the full moon, too. So we lock you in your room later like we planned. That way the Alpha, who is your boss, can't get to you either," Stiles explains to the two of them.

"He's not the Alpha. And I think we need to do more than lock me in my room," Scott says grimly, his head low, Penelope places a hand on his shoulder tentatively, getting his attention.

"What? You mean because if you get out you could get caught by hunters?

Scott's gaze shifts to Stiles now, "No. Because if I get out... I think I might kill someone."

Her and Scott sat together in the hallway during lunch so that they could have some alone time from Stiles. There were teachers periodically walking up and down the hall, so it wasn't like they could full on make-out or anything, but they were talking and sometimes their hands would touch. It was cute and sweet, and she was having a lot of fun.

"You have practice today right?" she asks before taking a bite of her orange.

"Yeah, you're coming." At first she thinks it's a question until she realizes it's a statement. She laughs, shoving him playfully, "Do I get any say in the matter?"

"You always come anyway, until track starts. Plus it's not just me, it's Stiles too. Double investment," her boyfriend grins, sneaking a kiss on her cheek when he sees there's no one in the hall.

"That's true, I do love my boys," she giggles, and feels him stiffen where his arms are wrapped around her. He withdraws, giving her a tight smile. "You okay?" she asks him.

"Yeah, course," he nods, and goes back to eating his food. She doesn't mention it again, and the rest of their lunch is perfectly fine, their conversation normal and fun, so she puts that weird incident out of her mind.

Scott's POV

After hearing what Penelope said during lunch, and the test, and Stiles when he was drunk, he just couldn't get the jealous thoughts out of his mind. So when Stiles brings up jealousy, he can't help but stiffen, but he answers his friend, "It's like the full moon's turned everything up to ten."

"Can you pick up on stuff like, I don't know, desire?" Stiles asks him, stopping them in the hall.

"What do you mean, desire?" Scott squints at him.

"Like, sexual desire?"

"Sexual desire," he repeats.

"Yes. Sexual desire. Lust. Passion. Arousal," Stiles confirms.

"You mean from Lydia?" Scott narrows his eyes slightly.

"Well not exactly, no, in a general broad sense, can you determine sexual desire?" Stiles finally asks.

"From Lydia to you?" He says again, not wanting to say Penelope's name, who he saw up ahead talking to the strawberry blonde, presumably waiting for him.

Stiles sighs heavily, "Fine, no, from Nelly to me. I have to know if I have a chance with her."

Scott has to focus on the fact that he does love Stiles, this is his best friend, to reel in his initial anger, "Nelly? Why don't you just ask her?"

"Because you asking saves me from utterly crushing humiliation. So go over, ask if she likes me, see if her heartbeat rises, pheromones come out. Anything. Please," Stiles begs him.

"Fine," Scott finally agrees, feeling his mind start to cloud from anger.

Penelope is talking to Lydia, waiting for Scott and Stiles to come out for practice when she hears Scott, "Hey, Nels, can we talk?"

She turns to see his smiling face, and she nods, "Sure, Lyds, I'll meet you at the bleachers, okay?"

"Okay, Penny," the girl quirks an eyebrow at the two of them, Scott ignoring her, and Penelope just collects her bag before following Scott. "What's up?" She tries to ask him, but gets no response until they enter Coach's office.

"I just had to see you," he growls, grabbing her by the waist and hoisting her onto the desk. She yelps in surprise, then laughs, "Scott, what if someone comes in?"

"Let them, I don't even care anymore," he says, before roughly kissing her, his tongue entering her mouth immediately, claiming her. She moaned into his mouth, and his hands grabbed her waist tighter. Her hands went up to his hair, wrapping her fingers in the soft strands, pulling gently. Scott, clearly not feeling as gentle, brings his right hand to her scalp and grips her hair, tugging her head to the side so that he can have access to her neck. He kisses down her jaw, then begins to suck on her pulse when he reaches her neck, making her groan, and she wraps her legs around his hips.

"Scott," she whispers, her hands feeling up and down his back as he marks her. He releases her, claiming her mouth again. She begins to pull away slightly after a few more minutes of this, panting for air.

"That was, wow," she laughs, and he grins, kissing her forehead.

"That was for passing out when you promised 'drunk stuff' the other night," Scott says.

Penelope blushes and hides her head in his jersey, then hops off the desk. She runs her fingers through her hair, attempting to look presentable. "Do I look okay?"

"Yeah, you look good," Scott grins, and she plants another kiss on his lips before they exit the room one at a time, heading to the field separately.

Penelope was watching practice next to Lydia when she saw Scott go down. She bit her tongue, tensing in her seat, then somehow tensed even more when he jumped up the way he did, knowing he was pissed off. Her assumption was correct when he stopped Stiles from going next, and instead took his spot in line. He takes out the first two guards, and then knocks out Danny, before scoring the shot. Everyone is immediately concerned, and her and Lydia share a look before standing and walking down the bleachers themselves.

Lydia stands by Jackson, and Penelope walks over to Scott and Stiles, catching Scott saying, "I don't care."

"Scott, clearly you're not in the mood to listen, but that was uncalled for," she says, crossing her arms and cocking her head.

Scott ignores her but Stiles seems to be staring at something on her neck, and she has a horrible thought, her face going red. She tries to indiscreetly pull her turtleneck higher, coughing slightly, she sees Scott smirking, and Stiles just walks over to Danny.

"Did you do that on purpose? I thought you didn't want him to know either?" she whisper-shouts at him, getting upset.

"Well maybe he should know that you're mine," Scott says, reaching out to her, and she takes a step back, "Not like this, not by pushing him away. He's our best friend. Fix whatever you just did." Penelope leaves, deciding that practice wasn't worth watching anymore.

She's relaxing at home, in grey sweatpants and a black sweater when Stiles texts her that he's swinging by to pick her up to help him with Scott. She didn't think that he would want her help, let alone want to help Scott at all. But he clearly needs their help. So she should go. She puts on makeup to cover the hickey, even though he's already seen part of it, she still feels like she should. It embarasses her, and she doesn't want to feel like that, not in front of her friends. The first five minutes of the drive are unbearably quiet, until Stiles speaks, "So, you and Scott?"

"Stiles… I'm so sorry, we wanted to find a way to tell you, I don't know what his problem is today," she sighs.

"How long?"

"Just since the night at the school," she says quickly, assuring him.

"Oh, so not that long at all. So he hasn't been upset about Allison?" Stiles looks over at her now.

"No, you're not mad are you? I was just worried that us dating would make things weird, but I'm afraid it's done that anyway," she rests her head in her hands, huffing. "I haven't even gotten a chance to tell you guys about me turning into a cat."

The brakes slam on the Jeep, thankfully being in the front seat means she's wearing a seat belt, "Stiles!"

"Sorry!" He rights the Jeep, "But what the hell? Elaborate a little, please! Quickly, we're almost there."

"I followed the Phouka's advice from the dream, about shifting, and I picked the cat, so I turned into a cat, and that's kind of it, end of story," she hums.

"You totally gotta show me, Nels," he laughs, "That's fucking awesome!" They pull into Scott's driveway, hopping out and entering his house when Stiles pulls out a key he had made. "Creepy," she whispers.

"Scott?" They hear Mrs. McCall call out.

"Stiles," he responds, and she says, "Penelope," when they see her shocked face.

"Key," she points to the object in his hand.

"Yeah, I had one made, so…" he motions towards the door.

"That doesn't surprise me. It scares me, but it doesn't surprise me. Now if Nelly had asked me for a key, I would've just given it to her," she smiled at the girl.

"That's not fair, she's always been your favorite," Stiles huffs as he drops the duffel bag he'd been holding onto the ground, the chains clanking and rattling as he did. Penelope sighed and shut her eyes, cursing him in her mind. "What is that?"

"School project," he answers after a moment of thought.

"Guys, he's okay right?" To which they both nod.

"Who? Scott? Yeah. Totally," Stiles says.

"He doesn't talk to me that much anymore. Not like we used to," Ms. McCall says sadly.

Penelope tries to assure the woman, "He's just had a rough week."

"Yeah. I get it. Okay, be careful tonight. Full moon, you know."

Penelope and Stiles both whip around as she's walking out the door, "What?"

"There's a full moon tonight. You should see how the ER gets. All the nutjobs come out," she explains to the two teens.

"Oh. Right," Penelope laughs nervously.

"You know, it's how they came up with the word lunatic," she nods before leaving the house. Stiles goes up the stairs, and she tells him she's going to steal food from them first since Scott isn't home. She's eating a little bag of goldfish when she hears shouting from upstairs, and she runs, seeing Scott handcuffed to a radiator.

"What the-" she gapes, running a hand through her hair.

"Penelope, let me out," Scott begs her, and she almost breaks right then and there, but she shakes her head, tears welling in her eyes.

"No. Scotty, you've been acting crazy today. This is for your own good," she says tearfully.

She leaves the room, not being able to stand his hateful look, or the growl that follows. She knows he isn't in his right mind but it still hurts her to see it. She sits in the hall, her head in between her knees, Stiles tells her he's going to get water but she barely pays attention until she hears Scott shout, "I'm gonna kill you!"

Penelope jumps in shock, hitting the wall behind her, Stiles exits the room beside her, looking down at her, hesitating before turning back into the room.

"You kissed her, Scott, you marked her for fucks sake. The one girl… And for the last three hours I've been telling myself it's just the full moon, he doesn't know what he's doing, he'll be totally normal tomorrow. He probably won't even remember being a complete scumbag, total bastard, sonofabitch, unbelievable piece of crap-" Scott cuts off his ranting.

"She's my girlfriend, of course I kissed her."

Stiles just shakes his head, backing out of the room, knowing now that Scott wouldn't listen but Scott continued, "She kissed me. And she would have done a lot more. You should have seen the way she had her hands all over me. She would have done anything I wanted." Penelope felt weird to hear Scott talk about her like that, it was oddly exciting but also heartbreaking because he was doing it to be nasty and hateful. Stiles was sitting on the opposite side of the door frame now, but she couldn't lift her eyes to meet his, too mortified.

"Anything!" He shouts, before finally going quiet for a moment.

A sob shakes from her throat, unable to contain it now, and she quiets the cries that come after. She hears shifting, and feels Stiles sit beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, shushing her. Scott speaks up from inside the room, "Penelope, I'm sorry. Please don't cry. Stiles, please let me out. It's the full moon. I swear. You guys know I wouldn't do any of this on purpose. Please, Nelly, let me out, It's starting to hurt. It's not like the first time…"

Nelly looks up, glancing at Stiles, eyes widening. He grips her shoulders tighter, a clear sign that he wasn't letting her in there. She knew realistically that he was playing them, he would probably say anything to let him out. But what if he was in pain? What if they were wrong?

"Come on, Stiles. It hurts. I can't take this. It's the full moon, it's the thought of Penelope leaving me for you. And it's killing me. I feel so completely hopeless. Please, just let me out," Scott begs again. Stiles doesn't release his grip on her, and speaks for them again.

"I can't."

There's a loud yell from inside the room, and the sound of Scott pulling against the handcuffs. Penelope screws her eyes shut, wanting so badly to go in there and comfort him. But Stiles keeps his arm around her, attempting to comfort her and probably himself, if his shaking body was anything to go by. Their best friend was screaming in agony about twenty feet from them, this was not a normal everyday occurrence. Then all of his shouts are drowned out, replaced by beautiful silence, and the space behind her eyes is bright white instead of pitch black.

"Marsh and Silver."

Stiles was pulling her up, "Hey, we gotta go, he got out."

"I think I know where he's going," she gasps, her head still feeling dizzy and uncoordinated.

"What? How? Phouka stuff?" he gawked at her as they ran down the stairs and to his Jeep.

"Yeah, vision thing I think, he just said 'Marsh and Silver', and by silver I think it means Allison. I looked into her family after finding out they're a bunch of werewolf hunting psychos and apparently Argent is French for silver," Penelope explains as she gets into the passenger seat.

"Okay, so she's at a marsh?" he asked her.

"Maybe I should just try calling her," she pulls out her phone and dials Allison's number, waiting until it connects.

"Penny?" The girl sounds scared.

"Ally? What's up? Where are you?" She tries to sound casual.

"I'm with Jackson, uh, something just, never mind, sorry did you wanna say something?"

"No, no, just wanted to check in and see how you were, we should have a girls night soon," she says.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Allison tells her.

"Okay, I'll get with Lydia, and we'll all text each other, bye Ally."

"Bye," the girl ends the call.

"Okay, so something weird definitely happened, but she didn't say what. But she's okay," Penelope tells Stiles.

"Okay, now we just have to find Scott," Stiles says, putting the Jeep into reverse as he pulls out of the driveway.

"Are we gonna talk about all of that?" He says when they pull onto the first street, shocking her. She was expecting them to suppress tonight forever. To never speak of it. But here he was, talking about it already.

"Uh, I mean, what do we talk about?" she asks nervously, pulling her hands into the sleeves of her sweater.

Stiles sighs, staying silent for a moment, thinking. "Do you know why Scott was so worked up about us?"

"I-I figured there was probably a few little things, I do-"

"I asked him to find out if you liked me," he interrupts her. "Because I like you, a lot. And I couldn't stand not knowing if I had a chance with you or not, so I wanted him to use his werewolf senses to find out. Clearly I didn't know you two were already together."

"Stiles," she has to stop to think of what to say, "I care for you so deeply. And I feel so awful that I've put you through this, you're my best friend, and I do love you, so so much," she promises him.

"But you love Scott in a different way," he grips the steering wheel tighter.

"I-" she can't finish her sentence. Stiles glances at her waiting for her to continue, "Nelly?"

"I don't think I do."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Actually, I don't think this is appropriate, we should just find Scott," she blushes, looking out the window, and he harshly pulls over, turning off the engine.

"No. Five minutes, then we'll keep driving. Talk to me, please," he begs her.

She hesitantly turns back to him, her heart racing, "I don't want you to hate me. Or Scott to hate me. I almost hate myself."

"I could never," he takes her hand in his.

"Do you think it's possible to love two people?" she asks, and Stiles' eyes widen slightly before traveling to her face.

"You mean… Scott and," he licks his lips, swallowing nervously.

"Scott and- Scott and you," she nods, "It's always been us three, and I feel like we work so well together. But, I know how silly that is, you two aren't…" she trails off.

"I'm not gay," he says, "But I love Scott, he's my brother, my best friend, and I care about him more than I probably should care about a platonic friend. Also, I'll admit that he's a pretty handsome guy."

Penelope laughs, throwing her head back. When she regained her composure she looked back to him, and he was staring straight into her eyes. He places his left hand on her cheek, drawing her head closer, until his lips place a kiss onto her forehead like Scott so often does.

"Let's go find Scotty," he whispers, their faces inches apart, and she nods, drunk on the smell of his minty breath. She tries to focus her mind and watch the tree line as they drive, but they see nothing. That is until they see flashing lights in the distance, Stiles slowing the Jeep. They spot several Sheriff's Department squad cars parked next to an ambulance just by the side of the road.

"No, no…" Stiles mutters, and he hops out as soon as he parks, her following just behind. "Dad? Dad Has anyone seen my Dad?"

"Stiles?" They hear the Sheriff, "What are you doing here? Oh, hell, and stop dragging sweet Nelly along." Stiles just ignores his father, giving the man a large hug, holding him tight. The man is shocked for a moment, eyeing Penelope strangely, before hugging his son back close.

Scott's POV

After Derek left he felt like shit, he felt like shit before but now he was left to feel like shit by himself. He probably ruined things with his best friend and his girlfriend in one day, and the guilt was eating away at him. He loved Stiles, more than he loved any other friend he had besides Penelope, so he didn't know why exactly he was so upset about the thought of them together. Maybe it was just the thought of them together without him? But even that kind of weirded him out. Three people in a relationship wasn't a normal thing. In sex that was normal, Scott had seen his fair share of internet porn, but he didn't just want them to fuck each other. He wanted more. But he wouldn't even know how to breach the subject.

There's a knock on the door and he hears two heart beats outside. "Come in," he calls.

Penelope and Stiles walk in, looking slightly awkward but like they were trying not to look awkward, and Penelope smiles at him, "You made it back alright."

"Derek helped," Scott says lamely, scooting over on the bed so the two can sit.

"Derek's alive? Of course he is. I don't even have the energy to be shocked anymore," Penelope sighs, leaning onto her elbows, looking at Stiles and then Scott.

"Guys, I- I, there's no excuse, I'm so sorry," Scott chokes out, grasping onto the sheets of his bed. He feels Penelope's hand on his arm, before Stiles' hand is on his shoulder. "We forgive you," is all Stiles says.

Penelope pulls him into a hug, then pulls away, drawing Stiles in as well. They all laugh, tumbling down to the bed, Scott trying to rotate them so that Nelly wouldn't be crushed. Laying there, the three of them tangled in each other's limbs, just felt perfect. Like when they used to cuddle as children. Penelope's back is nestled against his chest, his arm is wrapped around both her and Stiles, who is facing her on the other side, their legs wrapped together, his arm around her waist and over Scott's. If his mom came home she'd probably have them all committed, but he was so happy, so insanely unbelievably happy, he can't believe he didn't notice it sooner. He loved Stiles, maybe not in the same way he loved Nelly, but he definitely loved the boy, and he wanted the three of them to never be apart.

"We're gonna make this work, right?" Stiles asks hesitantly, clearly nervous, as Scott was rubbing his nose along Penelope's neck.

"Stiles, you're not going anywhere," she assures him, caressing his cheek, and Scott's heart swells at the look of happiness on his friend's face.

"But, logistically, we can't just come out and say we're all dating," the boy continues.

"Nelly and I are still a secret, so I guess we'll just all be a secret," Scott suggests, rubbing the skin along Stiles' ribs over his t-shirt slightly.

"That's kinda hot," Stiles grins.

"Of course you would think that," Penelope rolls her eyes at him.