"I still don't see why I can't go," Mason complained for what must be the fiftieth time.

Stiles sighed as he tossed a stuffed backpack into the back of Derek's SUV. He'd wanted to take Roscoe but had been summarily outvoted.

He was only a couple years older than Mason but sometimes he felt way older than that. Had he and Scott ever been that young? Had they ever been as young and as naive and Liam and Mason seemed to be at times? He certainly had never been so whiny, that was for sure.

"Because there's no way to know how long we'll be gone," Stiles explained for the fifty-first time. "Do you want your parents sitting at the station with Liam's parents wondering where their little angel disappeared to?"

Mason glared.

"Your parents don't know about all this like ours do," Lydia said a little gentler as she changed her stylish heels into something more appropriate for their journey. She'd had to borrow the heavier boots from Malia but the jeans and sweater were her own. It was a big difference from her usual short skirts and fashion blouses but they flattered her just as well. Stiles marveled that she even owned such a mundane article of clothing as jeans. A designer brand, no doubt.

Mason crossed his arms stubbornly. "You can't tell me all the parents are okay with you guys just running off somewhere unannounced for who knows how long."

Four sets of eyes bumped each other with various degrees of guilt and nervousness. Their parents knew about the supernatural. The idea that it meant they were okay with their activities and excursions was a little generous. It was an unspoken pact that they did what they had to do and took the consequences later but they also hoped to spare Liam and Mason and their families the same worries and upsets and sets of problems that went with some of the higher risks the Scott and his friends dealt with. It was an effort that was often in vain but no one could accuse them of not trying.

Stiles, for one, knew that his dad would probably throw him in one of his jail cells at the station to keep him from what he was about to do if he knew about it.

"We also need you here to keep us updated on any news from the Sheriff and anything else going on." Kira aimed a small smile at Mason to soften the idea of continued rejection as she spoke.

"You can call the Sheriff for that..."

"Enough," Derek growled. He had been leaning against the hood of his SUV quietly as the teens transferred their backpacks from Stiles' jeep and argued with each other. Now he stomped forward and yanked one of the back doors open roughly. "We're wasting time." He pointed a finger at Mason who took a hasty step back. "You're staying."

Stiles smirked at Mason's disappointed and angry countenance as they all climbed into the vehicle and claimed their spots but he couldn't help a smidgen of empathy. Being the only true human of the pack before Mason came along on Liam's coattails (because really, he couldn't count Lydia as just human anymore, now could he?), Stiles could relate to what he imagined Mason might be feeling right now.

It wasn't easy being unable to match the strength or power that the rest of the pack had. He'd had to find his own niche and that was, by and large, his intelligence and his strategic way of thinking. His cleverness and ability at deductive reasoning. And maybe his baseball bat.

Mason didn't have a baseball bat so it was up to him to find his own ways of feeling like he benefited his friends. He'd have to carve his own niche and Stiles knew it must be infuriating to be forced to hang back. He kind of wished he'd had someone last year who had done the same for him.

He wouldn't have listened but it sure would have been nice to have someone there to give a few well-placed warnings and cautionary tales back then.


Mason watched angrily as Derek's Hummer pulled away without him. If they thought for one minute that he was going to sit back and do nothing after his best friend had been kidnapped they had another thing coming. No way was he going to stay behind and sit on his ass while they…

...his train of thought halted as the Hummer slowed several yards up. A window rolled down and Stiles' head popped out.

"Mason!" Stiles yelled and beckoned him forward.

Mason enjoyed a burst of gleeful optimism. They'd realized he deserved to go along! He reached the vehicle at a quick jog, ready to reach out and pull the door open.

"Can you drive?" Stiles asked.

"Uh..." did they want him to take a turn driving? "I have my permit."

"Here," Stiles said. He thrust a hand out and tossed something that Mason caught awkwardly.

A set of keys.

"Take the jeep home, will ya? I don't want to leave it sitting on the highway out here."

And with that, Mason watched once again as the large vehicle holding the older members of the pack drove away without him.

At least he had a way home now. No explaining why he needed a ride home from the outskirts of Beacon Hills to his parents. That did little to quell his dissatisfaction.

He stomped back toward the ugly jeep, fuming.

They definitely had another thing coming.


Stiles tapped impatiently on his knee with his fingers as he watched the scenery pass. This was the hard part. The in-between. It was a combination of anticipation, rising adrenaline and dread. The uncertainty of knowing that they might be getting closer to solving mysteries and answering questions but that they weren't yet ready to face off with the big bad, still didn't know enough. It wasn't pleasant.

In some ways it could be addicting, he'd long since discovered, but only when his friends were present and accounted for. Otherwise...there were too many horrible possibilities left open.

"Hey." Lydia nudged him. She sat in the back seat between Stiles and Kira, who had the other window seat, while Malia kept Derek company in the front. "We're getting closer."

Stiles glanced at Lydia before turning back to the window where the reflecting passing scenery threw random shadows over his face as they traveled. He'd bet money that Derek was taking the speed limit as a suggestion, at best.

"We're still a few hours away," he pointed out.

"That's not what I mean," Lydia chided him.

He knew what she meant. "It's not much to go on."

"It's something."

"Is it?"

She reached over and laid her hand over his tapping fingers, both of their hands pressing into his knee warmly. "It's more than we had. If we can find them-"

"Yeah," Stiles interrupted. "If we can find the elusive mountain pack. If they listen to us before they decide to tear us apart. If they know anything or are even willing to help us if they do. That's a lot of if."

"Maybe. But it's one more thing than we had this morning." Lydia ran a finger over the grubby bandages across Stiles' knuckles. "It's one less reason to take your frustrations out on innocent machinery."

Derek spoke from the driver's seat. "Satomi wouldn't have given us this information if she wasn't almost certain it could help us." His eyes caught Stiles in the rear view mirror and Stiles held his gaze for a moment before once again turning back to his window.

'Almost certain' wasn't very encouraging.

But Lydia was right. It was one more thing than than they'd had that morning.

Sometimes one more thing was all they needed.