"Stiles."

Stiles looked up from his tea, seeing Chris Argent standing at the booth he was occupying. Why the man was here at two in the morning, Stiles didn't know. He didn't necessarily care either. Maybe he was a little curious but by far not enough to ask.

"Do you mind?" Chris asked, gesturing to the seat across from him.

Stiles studied him silently before he shook his head.

Chris sat down across from the teenager he had been watching since the death of the former Alpha. Something had changed and Chris wasn't sure what it was. Although it seemed obvious that the boy in front of him had a bad case of PTSD, maybe even insomnia if him being here was any indication. While he could probably put the blame on Peter's death, this reaction seemed… more for some reason. He let out a sigh, leaning his elbows on the table "What happened to you? This can't just be because of Hale."

Stiles blinked in surprise before a small, wry smile stole its way across his lips "You're the first person to ask me that who knows what happened," he admitted quietly "Not even the Sh... my dad noticed that anything was wrong."

"Are you going to tell me?"

Stiles shrugged, stirring his tea "Not much to tell. You wouldn't believe me anyway."

Chris raised his eyebrows "Try me."

"Why?" Stiles asked, looking up defiantly. He did trust Chris but he had to remind himself that this Chris wasn't his Chris. Not yet. They hadn't been through the same shit. At the moment, the man was still the enemy "Because you've been such a good person? You have been trying to hurt my pack – will be trying to hurt them. Why should I tell you anything?"

"Is this really just because of Mc…"

"This has nothing to do with Scott," Stiles cut him off, sick of hearing about Scott. He hated how everything had been about him back then. Everything had always revolved around Scott until the Nogitsune came and it hadn't "He betrayed me – Will betray me… Whatever."

Chris frowned "Will betray you?"

Stiles hid his face in his hands "It's complicated."

"I know I did nothing to earn your trust but there's something I can offer you. I'll listen and whatever you say I'll believe," Chris pointed out. He wouldn't normally talk to the boy but he was Allison's age and the fact that he had been spiralling was getting to him. In part, it felt like it was his fault, Kate's fault. A lot of things wouldn't have happened had it not been for his sister and maybe Stiles would not have been brought into all this.

"Big offer," Stiles mumbled, fishing out his phone. He bit his lip before he texted Tony.

It only took a minute for him to get an answer 'If you think he should know, go for it. I've been thinking about telling Rhodey and Happy. They already noticed something… Pepper's been asking questions as well but…'

'But you don't want her to know. I get it. If you need me at any point when you tell them, call me. Whenever it is. Promise me, Tony.'

'I promise if you do the same,' Tony texted back.

Stiles smiled faintly 'Deal.'

"Okay," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair "I hope you have time because this is a long story."


Chris knocked back the glass of whiskey he had poured himself a couple of minutes ago. Sometime during Stiles' story, he had gotten up to grab a bottle of alcohol. It sounded fantastic and yet... He didn't think the boy even scratched the surface with his tale. Yes, he had told him a lot but somehow it felt like the worst part was still missing "That's -"

"Told you that you wouldn't believe me," Stiles shrugged tiredly. He hated telling the story but Chris would be a good ally. He hadn't been close to the man at all - mostly because of what happened to Allison but it was in his best interest to stop things from happening the way they did before. He got to keep his daughter and his wife if that was what he wanted.

"I do believe you," Chris told the teen "I was going to say that it's a lot to go through for a - how old were you again? Twenty-something?"

"Twenty-seven," he murmured.

Chris frowned, trying to put together a timeline "Wait, does that mean that HYDRA kidnapped you at seventeen?"

Stiles smiled wryly "They didn't need to do any kidnapping. Scott and the others handed me over. Well, they put me into Eichen which just happens to be a HYDRA base."

"They never found out?"

"Dunno," Stiles shrugged, acting as unconcerned as possible "Don't necessarily care either. They dropped me long before that - after the Nogitsune."

Chris chucked another glass of whiskey "That's another thing. How the hell did that happen? I mean… You don't just get possessed by millennia-old demons every day."

"Lots of coincidences," Stiles grumbled, looking at the whiskey longingly. He blinked and looked down at his hands "Then again, the fates loved to fuck with me, so maybe it was planned from the beginning." He tugged at his hair in annoyance "It wouldn't surprise me. Ever since Scott was bitten everything just went downhill."

Chris studied the broken man in front of him. So much pain and he was even younger than him - even if not by much. He wondered how hard it was to be back in his sixteen-year-old body. From what Chris remembered, being a teenager was horrible. All those feelings and all those hormones "Why did you tell me? Why did you come back?"

"Because you asked," Stiles shrugged, deciding to ignore the second question. He wasn't ready to talk about Thanos and the - the Snap. It was bad enough that he could still hear it echoing through the whole universe as more and more people turned to dust "And while I didn't like you much in the past, you're one of the few hunters that are decent. Just a bonus that you believe me."

"Decent?" Chris asked, narrowing his eyes. He wasn't sure whether to be offended or accept the judgement.

Stiles' eyes flashed as he focussed on the Argent "You're not following orders blindly - otherwise, Scott would already be dead but you're still an Argent."

"I didn't know what Kate did," he defended himself.

"I'm not talking about what she did," Stiles snarled "I'm talking about the old bastard who thinks it's alright to kidnap humans just because they can be used as a message."

Chris paled "Gerard… What…?"

Stiles inhaled sharply, silently screaming at himself to calm down "It won't happen as far as I'm concerned." He got up from the armchair he was seated in and glanced at Chris out of the corner of his eye "This stays between us. No one can find out. Not your wife, not Gerard and definitely not the pack or Allison."

"I wasn't going to tell anyone," Chris told him seriously "This is your story but… If you ever need help…"

"What?" Stiles smirked, scoffing "You're going to come and help me?"

Chris raised his eyebrows and crossed his arm "Yes. I will."

Stiles froze in surprise, not having expected that. He still believed that the man would use what he told him to his own gain. Not that he cared much. Victoria and Allison's survival was a small price to pay and he wouldn't be here long enough to witness the fall out of it anyway. The moment Tony came for him, the pack was on their own.

He swallowed and nodded sharply "Thank you."


Stiles was staring at the almost blank wall across from his bed. He was debating on what to do about Jackson. After the Sheriff had left, he realised that Isaac's father must be dead by now. A part of Stiles had completely forgotten that Jackson had turned into a Kanima but then again, most of his earlier memories were still a little hazy.

"I could tell Derek about the Kanima," he muttered to himself, his mind going into overdrive as he was thinking through several scenarios "No. He would never listen to me. I could just let it play out… But then the station will be hit and…" Stiles ran a hand through his hair and started pacing "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

On the one hand, he kind of wanted to help Derek to become a better Alpha… He had never been the one he was mad at. After Tony freed him from HYDRA, Stiles had looked up the remaining Hales. They hadn't been near Beacon Hills since they left. Not Cora, not Peter and not Derek. Chances are they never knew what happened to him.

But there was still the problem of Derek not trusting him and his Betas - had he bitten the other two already? - didn't so much care for him either. Still, he wanted to save Erica and Boyd this time around. If anyone deserved a happy ending it was Derek and his pups.

Before he knew what he was doing, Stiles had his phone in his hand, dialling the Alpha's number. When had he gotten it? Maybe it was from one of his research binges… It would have been easy to find Derek's number after he had gotten arrested.

The phone rang twice when Stiles was hit with a flood of doubts. What was he doing? He couldn't tell Derek… What made him think the Alpha would believe him? He never did before, so why should it be different now? Hell, he was sure that Derek hated having him around. He lowered the phone, ending the call before it could connect "I can't tell him," Stiles whispered before he turned back to the wall he had started on. Bits and pieces of events he could remember and people who were involved in whatever the monster of the week was. There were victims and places he was marking on the map of the county, trying his best to piece together the next two years. His spotty memory was making it hard but the more he wrote and put up, the more he remembered.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't hear his window open and Derek slide in. The Alpha blinked at the chaos in the room that had been so clean only days ago "What the…?" he frowned, glancing at Stiles who was staring at bits of paper, muttering under his breath "Stiles."

Stiles flinched violently, almost tripping over the stack of books that was lying at his feet "Derek," he squeaked, trying to calm down his racing heart. He still wasn't doing too well with being startled and it was only thanks to Bucky that he didn't go around attacking people who snuck up on him. It had come in handy with all the research binges he had gotten into with Tony "What are you doing here?"

Derek held up his phone "You called?"

"I… No, I -" Stiles broke off before he looked at the Alpha's face. Was it him or was Derek hiding concern in his eyes? He was sure he had never seen that before… "There's something you need to know. I'm not sure how to tell you though."

Derek narrowed his eyes and waved his hand at Stiles "Does it have anything to do with you being all… different?"

Stiles nodded and ran a hand down his face tiredly before he nodded at the wall he had been scribbling on and connecting the events with string. The whole thing looked like a mess but if he was being honest with himself, his life was a mess. Why should this be any different? "Take a look at this."

"What is it?" Derek stepped closer, letting his eyes wander over Stiles' hurried writing "Kanima? Stiles, what the hell is going on?"

"It's a long story," Stiles sighed, moving over to sit on his bed "A very long story."

"It can't be that long," Derek pointed out, curiosity welling up inside of him. He knew that there was something very different about Stiles. Something that hadn't been there when he had helped to set fire to Peter.

Stiles snorted "You have no idea." With that, he started telling Derek the same story, he had told Chris earlier today. This time, he included a few more details but still left out the majority of his life with HYDRA and the real reason he travelled back.