Triune

by Lalaith Quetzalli

It is said that every ending is a new beginning. The world as they knew it ended… and then their story started over. 3 things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth. But what happens when the truth has been lost, is a future that hasn't come to pass, a past that's been erased. How long can true soulmates endure? Can love last through lifetimes and timelines? (Warning: Poly)

2. The Lily

Chapter summary: "Lydia knows death, knows it closely, intimately… she also knows life. The part of her that is a woman of science would tell her that what's happening is impossible; but she's also a banshee, and impossible is a word that's long since been erased from her vocabulary. The world's changed and this time around Lydia's not afraid, she will fight, she will protect… and she'll scream."

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Like I said before, I love time-travel fix-it fics. I truly loved writing Triune. Still a bit new writing polyamory; and I suppose that, strictly speaking, this barely counts as that, considering that the trio aren't together for most of it, but I see the journey being together as being just as important to their story as the union itself so...

This piece is a sort-of compliment to "The Raven" for all that it can stand on its own. You'll understand it better if you've read the other one first. This fic will include scenes that I skipped in the other part both because they didn't go with the flow of the story, because they'd have made that piece even longer than it was, and because they simply felt more 'right' giving charge of them to Lydia.

There are some scenes that are repeated, but bear with me and read them please. They're important for a variety of reasons. The dialogue will be the same, obviously, as for the rest... the parts of narration that are repeated, that repetition has a purpose, and there will also be different narration, because while this isn't written in 1st person, the changed focus does push for a different perspective on things.

There will not be a fourth part anymore, my muse absolutely refuses to cooperate on that front, but I did a few things in part 3 that I think wrap things up pretty nicely.

People seem to have liked the first part well enough (even if I did get less comments than I might have hoped) but still, I hope the same proves true for this one. Enjoy!

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The Lily

She's screaming before she even knows what's going on. And even when she manages to stop screaming she cannot stop crying. She has no idea what's going on, why she cannot stop crying, she can almost hear voices, feel presences on the edge of her consciousness and she begins to wonder if maybe she's going crazy, like her Grandma Lorraine… And then something happens and she screams again, stronger and louder than ever before, and she can almost hear a name somewhere in her own scream…

In the end her mother calls an ambulance and the EMTs sedate her when they cannot find what's going on, what's wrong with her. They bring her to the hospital, to the pediatric wing. Because her mother refuses to even think about them taking her to the psychiatric wing, even when it's likely that's the problem, and whatever else might be going on, she's still just a child, not even ten-years-old yet. Unknown to everyone else, that's what saves her.

xXx

Everything around her is white, so very white, Lydia doesn't understand. And then she sees it: the blackened stump of a tree in the middle of that white, seemingly endless room. But what's more important, she sees the child laying on his back on top of that stump. So small, with too long legs and arms… his name comes to mind without her even having to look for it:

"Stiles…" She breathes out, and even to her own ears her name sounds almost like a prayer.

He's not moving, and for a short, terrifying second she has to wonder if he's even alive at all. She dashes to his side, aware that his chest isn't even moving, and she can almost feel some awful, terrible pain in her own chest and then… the moment she touches her fingers to his arm a sharp inhale comes from his mouth. He's breathing then, and as she places her other hand on his chest, gingerly climbing on the tree-stump herself to better reach him, she can feel his heart beating, though it's slow, thready, weak…

"Stiles, wake up." She orders, but there's no response. "Wake up!" Still nothing. "WAKE UP!"

The end of her order seems to turn into a scream, almost a wail, and Lydia can almost believe that the whole room shakes to the sound of it. The moment it ends a pair of whiskey eyes snap open abruptly and Stiles sits up, his hands reaching for hers at the same time she does the same.

She doesn't even realize it when they're approaching, or who moved first at all. They're suddenly kissing. When they pull back neither of them is a child anymore, instead they're both fully grown, his hair is longer, he has a bit of a beard, not too thick, but it looks good on him. As for her… her hair is long, in loose waves and bright crimson (rather than her old strawberry blonde shade).

"Stiles, where are we?" She asks him, settling more comfortably on her ankles, her hand never letting go of his.

"On the Nemeton, sort of." He answers, pointing with his eyes at the stump underneath them as he too settles more comfortably, legs crossed, he too not letting go of her hand.

"You know what I mean!" She snaps at him, though on hindsight, she's not sure he does.

"What's the last thing you remember?" He asks her softly.

"Screaming… twice. The second… the second time it was for you… You died Stiles!"

"I did, I think I technically died twice."

"What?!"

"Do you remember the fight on the lacrosse field? The ex… Derek…"

"Oh my Goddess! Derek! He's… But we…"

One of her hands finally lets go of him, as it reaches to her own neck, to an injury that's not there but he's sure she must be able to remember.

"I… someone threw a knife at… at my throat…"

Stiles's closes his eyes tightly, the hand that's still holding one of Lydia's tightens the hold briefly. He can still remember the moment when her last wail cut off so abruptly, the moment when he realized that regardless how hard he might try, he couldn't save her, just like he couldn't save himself, that they'd lost… except, had they lost? They were back in time… he thought. And he'd died again… he has no idea what to believe anymore!

"I wanted another chance. Wanted to believe I could do better if I could do it all over again… Not like I thought it'd work, not really. I lost almost all my power when the Nemeton was destroyed for good."

"So… you died and we were… what? Thrown back in time?"

"You have a better explanation?"

A part of Lydia really, really wants to say it's impossible. The part of her that's a woman of science. That studied Chemistry and Physics, that got her first Fields Medal while still in grad school. That was so close to solving one of the Millennium Problems when everything went to hell for the final time. But the word 'impossible' was erased from her vocabulary when she was fifteen years old and first learned that not only the supernatural existed, but she herself wasn't entirely human and never had been. That the boy she once believed so strange would one day become a very handsome man, and one of the greatest loves of her life. The one who taught her that true, eternal love did exist.

"So we're back in time then." She agrees. "When exactly?"

"The Hale Fire." Stiles answers immediately.

"The Hale…" Lydia begins to repeat, breaking off as she fully comprehends the implications. "Then you…"

"I got them out." Stiles's smile is so big as he announces that. "All of them."

"And then..." Lydia just knows there has to be more to that.

"Then I got shot. By Kate. That was probably what made you scream."

"What made me scream… You died Stiles!"

"Only a little."

"Only a… are you for real?! When are you going to start valuing your life at least a little Stilinski?! You… do you remember what you said to me once? DO YOU?!" She begins quoting his words, verbatim, from memory: "Death doesn't happen to you. It happens to everyone around you, to all the people left standing at your funeral, trying to figure out how they're now going to live their lives without you in it… How do you think I could go on without you? Or Derek, have you even stopped to think..."

She's cut off when Stiles pulls on her arm strong enough to drag her into his lap, where he proceeds to embrace her tightly. A hug she responds to with the same ferocity.

"I'm sorry Lydia, I'm sorry!" He mumbles against her neck. "I just… I had to do it… I… it was Derek's family…"

"I know, I do understand just… don't be so dismissive with your own life please. Take care of yourself as much as you like taking care of the rest of us."

"I promise I'll try."

It's the best he can promise her, and they both know it.

xXx

When she wakes up a full day and night have passed. They still have no idea what happened to her exactly, why all the screaming and crying, so they insist on keeping her at least another day. Lydia's just fine with that, she wants to stay close to Stiles. Also, thanks to her mother's curiosity and persistence, she finds out that Stiles was in surgery for a bullet to the upper chest, which just barely managed to miss all his vital organs, and while the broken rib and punctured lung were problematic, the doctors were able to catch it in time. The real problem was when they realized that the bullet had splintered, and not just that but it was altered, that it carried aconite, which was poisoning Stiles from the inside. That was when his heart stopped for the second time (the first apparently being back on the 'scene', as the EMTs found the Hales doing their best to give the boy CPR while at the same time keeping pressure on his wound; they said it was a miracle he even survived long enough for the ambulance to arrive).

Lydia's finally allowed to go home after two days. The doctors still don't understand what happened to her, but since it hasn't happened again, they have no reason to keep her anymore. They still insist on her seeing a therapist at least for a few months, and Lydia's forced to accept. Soon enough, she sees the ways she could take advantage of things. The first is when she decides to change the way she presents herself to the world. She's done pretending to be dumb. She lets her parents think that it was the therapist's suggestion, that she might be struggling with not feeling free to be herself. But truth is that she's never cared much about what other people think about her. When she first created her facade it was so her family would be happy, when she let go of it was because she no longer saw a point to it. Now she's just reached that point much earlier in life. Also, she's hoping that when Stiles finally wakes up she'll be able to convince him to take high-school, and later on college classes with her, so they'll graduate early. She knows he's enough of a genius for it, would be even if they hadn't done it all before.

Two weeks after first waking up in the past, it's Tuesday once again, and Lydia's mother picks her up early from school and drives her to the hospital for her weekly therapy session. Natalie offers to stay with her but Lydia tells her she can go. It's one of the rare days when Harold is home, and Lydia promises her she'll be alright, they should spend some time together… the truth is much more complicated.

Lydia knows her father is unfaithful, has been probably from the very start of their marriage. She knew but she never told her mom, not even after they divorced, when Lydia was in high-school. She just didn't think her mother would be able to handle it, the way the woman just seemed to keep ignoring the signs of the infidelity, the constant 'business trips', 'work calls', all the time he spends not just away but won't answer any calls… But whether it's that she truly loves her husband, that she truly believes that she needs to be someone's wife, to have a 'picture perfect' family, that she perhaps thinks she has to stay with him for Lydia… the girl knows her mother is strong, they both are, and they don't need Harold Martin in their lives, they never did.

The one thing Lydia doesn't expect, is when, in the middle of the therapy session, something suddenly goes very, very wrong… it starts with a tremor, not too strong, but not unnoticeable either. It feels almost like the beginning of an earthquake in fact. Which confuses Lydia, because she's pretty sure there were no earthquakes in that date the first time around… As it turns out, Dr. Matthews is terrified of earthquakes (which does make her wonder, if only briefly, why he'd choose to live in California of all places!), the moment he feels the first tremor the man is on his feet and running not just out of the office, but out of the building entirely, completely forgetting about Lydia. As for Lydia herself, she's on the way out, when her banshee senses scream at her so loud she stops walking in the middle of a hallway and almost collapses. It's only when she vaguely notices someone she knows to be a Hale (even if she has no idea which of them) run past, that she looks around and realizes she somehow ended in the pediatric ward, instead of waiting room and entrance. A moment later Stiles comes to mind and then she's running not with the intention to get out of the hospital, but towards Stiles. Thankfully he's still in the same room he's been from the beginning, though he's alone now, and has been since she got discharged. She has no idea what's going on, just that something is, indeed happening. And if anything supernatural is happening, it has to involve Stiles somehow (doesn't it always?).

She's just gotten into his room, completely empty except for him, though there's a jacket and an abandoned magazine on a chair in a corner, pointing out to someone having been in the room with him until recently. Lydia feels a very odd tension inside her, like something's about to break. She doesn't even think about it as she reaches for one of Stiles's hands with one of her own, the other feeling oddly empty in that moment and then… there's a moment of sharp, burning pain high on her back and before she can even wonder at what might be happening she's opening her mouth and screaming, wailing at the top of her lungs. Everything made of glass in the room shatters in an instant and then she knows no more.

xXx

When Lydia wakes up she's once again on a hospital bed. It's not the same as the last time, because it's not the same room. Though, as she realizes quickly, Stiles is in the same room. Which helps calm her down… at least until she hears the word: coma. Then her worry shoots up so fast the nurse worries she's having some kind of panic attack (she doesn't have panic attacks!). She settles down eventually, and then it becomes a matter of dealing with the nurses, and the doctors, and with her mother. She spins a story about getting lost when she was trying to get out of the building, after the first tremor. Everyone knows by then that Dr. Matthews panicked and left her (and apparently her mother's already gone off on him for that), she explains how she lost him in between all the people, and how she accidentally ended in the pediatric ward, and then remembered Stiles… everyone's so focused on other things, worried about other things, that no one thinks to ask her how she even knows Stiles, it's not like they're friends, or even in the same grade at school! Stiles hasn't even attended classes since his mother died! And even before that his attendance was splotchy at best.

So she lets them believe that she simply worried about the kid she once shared a room with, and then that bizarre explosion in the preserve happened and the lights went out, several electric transformers blew, and so many things shattered. Half the town was in a panic, having no idea what was going on. It didn't make things any better when they found her and Stiles unconscious on the ground, half covered by a pallet and blankets. She also learns that while the fall off the bed and everything else didn't seem to truly endanger Stiles's life any, he's slipped into a coma and no one has the slightest idea as to why.

The following weeks and months aren't easy. On the one hand, Lydia's plan works beautifully. Though she doesn't find that out until three days after she's been discharged from the hospital and she realizes that her father isn't returning from a business trip, that there's nothing of his in the house anymore. Lydia's happy. Thanks to Mr. Ross, a lawyer who's apparently a friend of Peter's and lives in San Francisco, the divorce goes through in record time, and not just that, but he makes sure that it's Natalie Martin who has custody of Lydia. Natalie and Lydia choose to keep the Martin name, and the man still has to pay a pension, but that's all. Also, Lydia has plans to ensure they'll be financially independent as soon as possible.

It takes almost eleven weeks for Stiles to wake up from his coma, almost exactly three months since the Hale Fire, and Lydia cannot help but wonder if that is significant somehow… or perhaps it's the Lunar Eclipse that's taking place at the time. Lydia can feel the exact moment when he wakes up, even though she's back at her house at the time, it's like she's been zapped, like a burst of energy going through her whole body, a warmth… it's amazing. And while it also serves to remind her that a piece of it all, of herself in a way, is missing, she's just happy that Stiles is alright, that they're both there, together, that they have a chance…

The next day is Monday and she has her weekly appointment with the therapist. And thank the goddess they've gone down to once a week! Also, it's a different doctor, because her mother refused to have her go to a therapist who didn't put their patient's well-being above everything. Lydia agrees. While she might not have expected the man to put her above his own life in a life-or-death situation, as far as he knew at the time, it was just a small earthquake, and he'd fled, never even gave a thought to the child in the room with him.

It's not easy, being a child once again. Lydia's pretty sure that her mother's chalking all of her daughter's oddities on her being a genius and 'coming out' as such. She also knows that she's been blaming herself for not seeing how much of herself Lydia hid before. And while a part of Lydia does hate being the cause of her mom hurting, she's also happy; happy that her mom is standing on her own two feet, that she's seeing the true Lydia, and accepting her. Last time it took them years, a terrible divorce, screaming matches, her father throwing money around like it was going out of fashion, and Lydia herself almost getting killed by a freaking darach before the two of them could see each other clearly. This time they've gotten there much earlier. Also, her mother has gotten a job, once again as secretary in the high-school. Lydia is working on a plan that will help her and Stiles, both financially and in other ways too, though of course he needs to agree, which is why she convinces her therapist to end the session early and takes the opportunity to go looking for Stiles.

He's not alone in the room. One of the Hales is there with him, which isn't really a surprise. She knows the Hales have made a habit of taking turns to be there with him whenever his father has to be at work, or when they manage to convince him to go home to shower and sleep for a few hours. Especially since apparently the one time they left him alone was when he ended in a coma. The one there right then is Mr. Hale, or Papa Hale, as he's insisted she and Stiles call him. Of course she's met him, as she's made a point to visit Stiles after each of her therapy sessions, even if he wasn't awake before that day.

Zach smiles at Lydia when she enters, his right arm still in a sling. From what she knows he got shot the day of the fire, bled a lot, and the bone of his upper arm cracked. It wasn't too bad, until he took a bad fall two weeks later, he tried to break his fall with his hands and ended putting too much stress on his right arm, causing the already injured bone to fully break. He didn't need a cast, but his arm was splintered and he'd been wearing a sling ever since. The whole situation makes Lydia wonder if he's never regretted not taking the bite when Talia offered it, or why he's never changed his mind. Then again, Stiles told her once that even before he learned that he could not be turned as he wouldn't survive the bite, he never wanted it. He was happy enough being a human, always believed that he didn't need to be a wolf to be able to run with them. At times Lydia wishes she had his confidence…

"Good afternoon Lydia. Well, I'll leave you kids alone for a little while, go get coffee or something." Zachery announces with a smile.

Both of them smile brightly at him, counting under their breath until they're sure he's truly gone (the man might not have super-senses, but they still won't risk it).

"Tell me what happened." Lydia demands the moment she's sure they won't be overheard. "You were unconscious, then that freaky explosion out in the preserve… something was happening with you, I know it, I could feel it. And then you went into a freaking coma. So tell me what the hell happened!"

"Deaton tried to steal the power of the Nemeton, I stopped him and ended taking all that power for myself." Stiles summarizes, hand raised and a sparkling sphere of light forming above his palm with hardly a thought on his part.

"What…?" Probably for the first time in her life, Lydia's left speechless. "Explain Stilinski!"

Stiles looks like he's about to begin cackling, but a killer look from her is enough to stop that.

"It'd seem that, at last, we may have an answer regarding what caused the Catastrophe." Stiles explains in a very solemn tone.

When Lydia hears what he has to say she can hardly believe it.

"Power?" She half-gasps. "That was the reason all along? The power in a freaking dead tree? That's what our parents, our friends, the whole freaking town died for?!"

"Is it ever anything else?" Stiles asks, and he sounds so tired…

He's right though. From the start, it's always been about power. The Argents wanted the power to decide who lived and who died, Deucalion and the Alpha Pack wanted the same (even if they each had a very different idea as to who deserved to live and who had to die), the nogitsune, the Dread Doctors, Monroe, the government, Deaton… it was always about power in the end. Something occurred to Lydia unexpectedly.

"Why are we not dead?" And really, it was a very important question. "You say that what Deaton was doing now, it's likely he did the same in the other time. That it's what caused the Catastrophe then. But he clearly failed then, and he failed now. Yet the town wasn't destroyed in this time. Why?" Her eyes narrow as the obvious answer comes to her. "What did you do Stiles?"

For all answer Stiles takes a deep breath and holds out a hand. A small vase that's by the window and holds two yellow daffodil, a gift from the Hale twins, the flowers are several days old and beginning to wilt. He touches each of the very lightly, allowing the smallest amount of power to touch them… and suddenly they're fully yellow and almost glowing. They not only look newly cut, but like the most perfect, beautiful blossoms.

"Wha…?" For the second time in a single day, Lydia's speechless.

"Deaton seems to have done his homework this time." Stiles states grimly. "While Imala Hale might not have been the alpha right now, there was enough of a connection there, and with the mess the fire caused on a metaphysical level… it was enough for him to get the leverage he needed. That's one of the reasons we didn't all get blown up to kingdom come." He shakes his head. "The other reason, is that apparently I didn't just stop Deaton from claiming the power…"

"You claimed it for yourself." Lydia finishes for him.

"Somewhat…. It's actually a tad more complicated… but essentially yes." Stiles shrugs a bit.

He's gone from someone who needed to do all kinds of rights and pleas in order to do anything, to having direct access to a level of power the best mages in the world would envy. He's, essentially, just become exactly what Deaton wanted all along…

"What are we going to do now?" Lydia asks him.

Stiles just stares at her for several seconds, it takes her a moment to understand why, and then she realizes and her expression softens.

"I promised you, years ago, that you weren't alone Stiles, I'm not going back on that promise." Lydia assures him kindly. "This whole… time-traveling thing might complicate things a bit, but I'm not leaving you now, not ever."

She offers him her left hand, which he takes in his right, and the moment is almost perfect. Almost, because they're both painfully aware of what's missing, of their other hands, laying empty, waiting for someone who isn't there to hold them, to close the circle…

"Do you think he'll ever…" Stiles cannot even bring himself to fully ask the question.

"I don't know." Lydia admits grudgingly, if there's one thing she hates, it's not knowing things. "We can only hope."

It really was all they could do, hope… and really, they already managed to do the impossible, several times over, what was one more?

xXx

Apparently it was just a little too much to ask. First there was the meeting with the leaders of the (current) Hale pack. Alpha Talia Hale, Alpha-Mate Zachery Hale, and the Left-Hand: Peter Hale. And Lydia still got shivers at how alike and how different from the 'other' Peter this one was, both at the same time. It was clear that the man had always been clever, cunning, and absolutely ruthless; and yet while in the future he'd always put himself first… well no, not always, there in the end, he'd died for them, for her and Stiles, for the hope that they might find Derek, that together they might find a way to survive… so perhaps that, his last act, showed his true colors, and it helped Lydia reconcile 'present' Peter Hale with the one in her own memories. The memories of a future that hadn't been, that hopefully would never be.

The day Stiles finally gets out of the hospital Lydia gets her mom to drop her off there so she can get a ride with the Stilinskis to their place. She also makes sure to call "Valentina's Bistro" and put in an order for enough sandwiches and wraps to feed almost two dozen people… or a human adult, two human children and three werewolves. She knows it's better than getting pizza, or burgers or anything else, not just because of the wolves' sensitivity to processed foods and artificial stuff, but also because she's mostly a vegetarian (her tastes apparently came back with her), and while she'll always prefer Stiles's food, she's not going to ask him to cook for them on his first day out of the hospital (also, the adults might object to the idea, seeing how they're supposed to be children… even if they intend to explain at least some of the insanity that is their lives that very day).

The delivery-guy from Valentina's is already waiting for them when they arrive and Lydia catches the Sheriff's expression from the corner of her eye:

"It's all been paid already." She tells him calmly.

By the way the Sheriff opens his mouth to protest she knows he doesn't like it, but thankfully Stiles cuts him off with a line about daddy's money and Lydia having expensive tastes. It's not exactly a lie… but it's not the complete truth either. Harold Martin has indeed gone down the path of giving her a gold credit card, again, as part of his attempts at staying in contact with her. The only reason Lydia didn't refuse it, on principle, is that she's practical, she knows having a card with such a high credit limit could prove useful. Also, considering all the money Harold tends to spend on his various mistresses and the like, it's unlikely he'll pay too close attention to what she uses the card for exactly. And as soon as she has her own source of income secure she intends to never again touch the card.

The Hales arrive right after them, and the kids can see the moment when the two wolves' noses twitch at the smell of the food in the boxes, it's clear they can tell it's not the usual fast food. Zach just smiles and thanks them, as cordial as ever; while Derek might have gotten his looks from his mother, he definitely got his smile and his kindness from his father. It's almost painful to Lydia, to see the man and remember a time that no longer is… and might never be.

For over half an hour no one says a word, everyone too busy eating. Lydia cannot help but wonder if any of the wolves notices that there's just enough food for all of them, humans and wolves both; wonders if that gives them away.

They're just finishing the teas, when the Sheriff decides to be the one to break the tense silence:

"I want to thank you again, for what you've done for me and my son son the last few weeks." The Sheriff states, voice gruff with suppressed emotion. "I owe…"

"You owe us nothing Sheriff…" Mrs. Hale cuts him off abruptly.

The Sheriff stares at her, it's clear he doesn't know what to say.

"Noah, please." He murmurs after several very long seconds.

"Noah," Mr. Hale intervenes, more softly than his wife. "What Talia means is that you cannot possibly think you owe us anything. After what your son did for us… He saved all of our lives. The lives of our children… Laura and Derek were out of the house, thankfully. But Cora… the twins… they'd be dead, along with my sister, Peter, all my nieces and nephews, our whole extended family, if it weren't for Stiles…"

"It is us who owe you…" Talia states in a soft, very formal tone.

"No, you don't." It's Stiles who cuts her off then and Lydia very carefully doesn't roll her eyes, because of course it's just like Stiles to not be able to stay quiet, even when people are being nice to him, even thanking him for a change! "You don't owe me anything, for there can be no debts between pack."

Lydia doesn't sigh, she really doesn't, though it's a close thing. Then again, while they agreed that the truth would be revealed, they never agreed on a way to handle those revelations. Stiles just said he'd wing it, and while Lydia was against such blatant lack of planning on something so serious as revealing the mess that was their lives and freaking time-travel to Alpha Hale and her pack (though, honestly? Lydia's most worried about Peter, because if an insane, feral Peter was a pain in the ass, one that has all his faculties? That's terrifying).

Lydia's brought out of her musing by the flashing of Talia's alpha eyes, and while a part of her just knows that it'd be so easy to back down, to react exactly how Mrs. Hale expects them to… Lydia's been fighting too long and too hard for that. Really, her submission wouldn't even look sincere, not when it's so completely against her instincts! She submits to no one but her alpha, and he's not there so…

"What the hell?!" Noah demands.

"Time of truth daddio." Stiles states in a joking tone that Lydia knows is more than half-faked, even as he half-turns to the Hales as he adds: "Full disclosure. No half-truths, no metaphors, no lies, not this time."

"This time?" Zachery parrots, his eyes are going wide at the implications of Stiles's words, and Lydia can only wonder how he'll react when he actually learns all of it, because if he thinks that the tiny bit that Stiles is implying is big…

"What are you involved in Stiles?" Noah asks seriously.

Lydia turns to look at the Sheriff and she wants so much to comfort him… but that'd be odd. The man sees her as just a child, and he doesn't really know her yet. All the same, Lydia cannot help but admire him, his strength, it's something she's always admired about him, how he stood by Stiles through it all, he never gave up, never backed down. Her mom… she could barely handle it sometimes, and she never knew as much of what was truly going on as the Sheriff did. And when she found a bit too much… much as Lydia might love her mom, she'll never be able to forget Eichen House. Which is exactly why she hasn't told her mom a thing. Really, while the truth might help make them closer, it also might make things worse, Natalie Martin is strong, but she just was never meant for their life, and there's nothing wrong with that.

"So much dad, you've no idea." Stiles states in a completely no-nonsense tone. "Lets begin with this: the supernatural is real."

"What…?!" Noah is struck speechless by the mere idea.

"I once told you the truth, all of it, you demanded that I stop lying to you, that I stop making up stories, refused to believe what I was telling you… I told you mom would have believed me. And boy was I right!" He shakes his head. "To be fair to you, by that point I'd been lying to you for so long… you lost your position for a while, and it was all my fault, and I couldn't explain things to you, because I was trying to keep you out of it all. Because I was up to my eyebrows with all the supernatural messes going on and I knew better than most just how dangerous it all was, especially for those of us who don't heal almost instantly, and I was so terrified that if you knew what was really going on out there you'd want to do something about it, and you would refuse to stand down even being ridiculously outnumbered and outgunned, and if you did that, you were going to end up dead and I couldn't lose you! If there's one thing that's always terrified me it's losing you, I already lost mom! I… I cannot…"

Stiles is babbling, badly, the topic really affects him, she can tell, both for the babbling and because she can feel him, in a corner of her own soul, through the thin, almost fragile bond they share right now; a bond that might grow thick and strong in due time, if they only allow it to… Lydia can only hope. She begins to move, intending to reach for Stiles, to offer him what comfort she can, but the Sheriff's faster than her.

"Oh kid…" Noah stands from his chair and then pulls his son out of his, embracing him tight.

After a few seconds it becomes obvious that they won't be ready to let go just yet, and Lydia decides to give them at least some privacy.

"If you'll follow me." She addresses the Hales.

She doesn't stop to ponder on the oddity of her leading guests into the living-room when it's not her house, she's long since felt far more at home at the Stilinski place than at her own (any of the places that might once been called hers), even though the feeling comes from a time that exists only in her own memories and Stiles's now.

It takes a handful of minutes, but eventually the Stilinskis do join them.

"It wasn't just a matter of believing." Stiles is saying as they enter the living room. "Mom knew, she was part of it all too."

"Claudia Stilinski…" Talia speaks up, as if only then making the connection which Lydia thinks should have been obvious, then again, she hadn't known that Stiles's mom had been in any way connected to the Hales, neither had Stiles himself, or Derek (he'd have told them, she's sure). "I should have realized."

"You knew my mom?" Stiles blurts out in shock.

"You're a Spark…" Talia's tone shows that she's beginning to understand things.

"What's a Spark?" Noah asks, eyes narrowed.

"It's a sort-of magic user." Stiles tries to explain without confusing the Sheriff further. "The lowest in the scale really. A spark is just that, they can ignite things, but usually they don't have any power of their own. They need tools, talismans, objects and/or places with power. Living here, mom could have done quite a few things, if she'd had the blessing of the local guardians, and been allowed to tap into the Nemeton."

Lydia almost rolls her eyes, almost, because trust Stiles to be completely honest, while at the same time putting himself down. Really, he's such an amazing person, and Lydia'll always feel bad that it took her so long to notice it; but Stiles just has a way to be completely confident and deeply unsure of himself at the same time. Like, he knows all the things he can do, all the things he is, doesn't doubt his ability, but he'll never believe that it, believed that he himself, is worth much in the end. As if anyone could take in a newly turned teen-aged werewolf and manage to keep him from killing, without even knowing everything that he needs to know. As if anyone would even be willing to stand up against feral werewolves, and kanimas, and assassins and all kinds of crazy monsters, even while being completely human himself. Stiles is such an amazing man, and he doesn't realize it!

"We tried." Talia points out. "I invited her to be our Emissary, after our old one retired, she assisted us for a year or so, began learning the ropes… but then she… she lost her baby, and after that she didn't want to know anything about it."

"She thought the Nemeton was the reason for her miscarriage." Peter offers.

Lydia blinks, is that even possible? She has no idea, it's not like she has any experience. While she and Stiles were together for over a decade, they never married and never tried for family. Not because they didn't want to have those things, but not yet. First they'd each been busy, with school, and his internship with the FBI, and later his job with the FBI, and her winning a Fields Medal and trying to solve one of the Millennium problems… they hadn't even lived together for more than half of the years they were dating. Until disaster struck, the loss of Beacon Hills, of their families, their friends… but then they were living together, and while they slept in the same bed, and they had sex and most would have considered them married except for how there was never a wedding, Lydia had made sure she wouldn't become pregnant, because she just wasn't ready for a baby, not yet. She just… they knew something was missing, both of them did, even if for the longest time neither of them knew what (or rather who); and then the government decided to begin hunting down the supernaturals, the Hales, and having a baby would have been too risky. And then she died…

"That's probably not what we should be focusing on." Lydia offers when she sees Stiles and his dad struggling with it all.

"No, it's not." Zachery agrees.

"What's your role in all of this, Miss Martin?" Peter asks, eyes narrowed as he looks her up and down, as if trying to see what makes her so special for a ten-year-old child. "I mean, the young Mr. Stilinski saved us, and he's a spark, we're wolves, but what are you?"

Lydia's eyes narrow, her spine straightening as she takes a breath, because if Peter wants so much to know exactly what she is, what makes her so special, she'll show him exactly why he shouldn't be messing with her… at least that's the idea, until Stiles puts a hand on her shoulder, and just like that, all her anger flows away. Stiles has always been good at that, at calming her down, it's almost like magic, but completely natural.

"She's my everything, and that's enough." Stiles says simply.

And that, that right there, the fact that he can say something so incredibly heartfelt, with so much honesty and not just manage to not sound cheesy, or like a ridiculous love-struck teenager, but also making it sound like it's not a declaration but a matter of fact… that's the reason why she loves him, why she always will.

"Very well," Peter agrees with fake cheer, turning his focus back to Stiles. "Lets go back to you then. You saved all of our lives, you saved my son's life, my baby boy, all I have left from my beloved Olivia. I'll be forever grateful to you for that, young one. But I need to know, why did you do it?"

For a few moments no one says a thing, Talia Hale briefly looks like she might want to smack her brother, though she doesn't. Lydia says nothing either, she cannot say she wasn't expecting Peter's question, it's only to be expected, she's also expecting Stiles's response, though by the Hales' reaction, it's obvious they're not. That's normal though, they don't really know him yet, but they will.

"So you really have always been like this." Stiles snorts. "I'd wondered. Though I suppose that's why we've always gotten along so well… when we're not trying to kill each other at least." Peter opens his mouth to say something snappy, cold, and most likely cruel but Stiles just ignores him with practiced ease and continues: "Fifteen weeks ago… and I need you to bare with me, listen to my heart closely as I explain things because you're not going to believe a word of it, but I assure you, every word I'm about to say is true. Fifteen weeks ago I woke up in an old, abandoned Lake House, on the other side of the preserve from what used to be Beacon Hills. I was with the two most important people in my life: Lydia, and our m… alpha. And we were all that remained of the Hale Pack. We'd been running for months, ever so slowly making our way back here. The plan was simple. Get into the vault, find anything that might be useful and get out. We hoped to be able to get out and as far south as we possibly could before the government realized we had even been in California at all. We were so sure they weren't expecting us, that they'd bought the false trails we left that lead to Canada… And besides, whatever else might have happened, Beacon Hills was still our territory, we believed we knew the preserve better than anyone else left alive… We were wrong." His voice breaks briefly and he has to force himself to calm down, least he get lost in the memory of that awful day. "When we heard our… alpha howling, it was already too late. We still went after them, tried to get them back, because what else were we supposed to do? Run?" He scoffs, his tone going grim. "It was all we'd done for over a year, since the government turned on us all, since they realized how important the Hales were and began hunting us all down, one by one, until we were all that was left. One wolf, and two Others… We…"

He breaks off and Lydia realizes quickly that he cannot bring himself to say it. While they're both still dealing with the feelings, with the anger and the grief, Stiles has always been far more empathetic than her, and far more expressive when it comes to his own feelings. Lydia… it's not that she doesn't feel, but she can be pragmatic, can push her feelings into a box and force herself to do what needs to be done, so that's what she does. She locks down her own grief at the loss, so close and so distant at the same time, and does her best to finish the explanation Stiles has seen fit to give their guests. These Hales that are so close and at the same time so far removed from those she and Stiles once called theirs…

"We were too late." She murmurs, voice soft but strong. "We could do nothing except watch as they killed them. Our Alpha, our… they were all we had left. The loss, it broke us. Stiles was so furious he couldn't think clearly anymore and me… I was lost, in fury, in grief, and all I could do was scream…"

When Lydia opens her mouth she doesn't really mean to do anything, not really. But the way Peter stands there, looking at them, doubting them… as if everything they've been through didn't matter! As if all the years, all the good and the bad, as if none of it had happened! And the rational part of her knows that the Peter Hale in front of her is not the one she remembers, that that Peter died, he died for her and Stiles, to give them a chance; and it's not the fault of the Peter in front of her, but the rest of her… the rest of her is drowning in fury and despair and grief and she wants so much to just scream…

The power escapes her just for a fraction of a second, not quite enough for it to even be heard, except by those with particularly sensitive ears, like the wolves. Stiles's hand on her arm is enough to bring her back to the present and make her relax, her body reacting instinctively, as she curls into Stiles's body, who went to seat beside her on the couch at some point.

It's as she's recovering that she notices something, some of her hair flew into her face during her little 'episode', that part is not entirely surprising. What is a surprise, is the fact that the strand of hair is white… it's already going back to the pale red she had as a child (strawberry blonde, her mother and Stiles both called the color), she had only ever missed it in adulthood because it was the memory of a time when she was young and innocent to the darkness of the real world (the whole world, not just the supernatural one). Her hair had turned increasingly reder, as her power grew along with her. Bright red, the color of fresh spilled blood, it was the color of banshees who'd used their power to kill, because while all banshees had a connection with death, it was entirely their choices whether they served just as messengers, or if they took a side and actually used their powers to fight… and her choice had been made early on, when she looked at herself in a mirror, at the bruising around her neck, and decided that she'd never again be a victim…

She remembers reading that the other kind of banshee, the ones who didn't use their powers to kill others, the ones that hadn't spilled blood… their hair didn't turn red, but rather white, the color of innocence. Because they symbolized the recovery of that innocence on the other side, once the souls had managed to leave behind the burdens of the living… Even with the time-travel Lydia would have never expected for her hair to go white… She didn't consider herself innocent in any sense, and it wasn't like her decision had changed, she wouldn't be a victim, and if that meant fighting… then so be it.

She doesn't really pay attention to the Hales, who're still reacting to the revelation of her heritage probably, until Stiles intervenes to finish their story:

"They found us when Lydia began screaming," He tells the rest. "But we didn't care about any of that. I'm not sure we truly cared about anything anymore by that point. We had nothing left… All we could do was make a last stand, fight and take as many with us as we could. I remember vaguely seeing someone raise a gun, aiming it at Lydia's back, I shielded her with my body," of course he did, when would the man understand he needed to take better care of himself?! Then again, would she have done any different? "was just processing that, when I heard her scream break off. I knew it was pointless. That was not a fight we could win, and what would the point have been anyway? The last thing I remember is wishing we had another chance, thinking I could do better…" Lydia reacts instinctively, entwining one of her hands with his to offer what support she can, very carefully not focusing on the hands that are left empty. "Next thing I knew I was waking up in my bed, in a room I hadn't been in in years, that hadn't existed in years. I had no idea what was going on, my mind working a mile a minute. And then I heard Lydia scream, and my magic… the same I was supposed to have lost. I didn't know what I was doing, just followed my instincts… and ran. I ran out of my house, through the preserve, until I made it to your house. It was until then I began realizing that somehow I wasn't dead, or hallucinating, or dreaming, I somehow managed to time-travel… well, that last one I wasn't fully convinced of until I woke up in the hospital a couple of weeks ago." It really is just like Stiles, to put everything on the line even when he's not fully convinced it'll mean anything in the long run; he's never been one for half-measures. "Didn't stop me from doing all I could."

"Why?" Peter presses.

"Why? Really?!" Stiles snaps. "I tell you all that? Fucking tell you that I died, that I lost everything and everyone and you're still not convinced of my intentions?!"

"You could be lying." Peter insists.

"That's why I told you to listen to my fucking heartbeat!" Stiles roars, he's finally reached his limit. "Fine, you want more proof?!"

Lydia realizes what he's about to do a moment before he does it. She says nothing as he undresses as fast as he can and spins around to show his back to everyone present. Lydia doesn't raise her eyes, she doesn't need to see the mark, she knows it from memory, has seen it, traced it with her fingers and… other parts of her too. And while they might be in child bodies now, and the triskele might look like a birthmark rather than an actual tattoo, it's essentially the same. Both on Stiles's back, and on hers… and she really rather not wonder about Derek's own. Many times since waking up in the past she's hoped and wished that he came back with them and yet… nothing. He hasn't gone to see them, hasn't looked them up, hasn't so much as been around their places, Lydia would know if he had. Does that mean that he didn't go back with them or does he just not want them anymore? Lydia's not sure she actually wants to know the answer.

"Why do you have our symbol on your back?" Talia's voice, quiet but with an edge of… so many different emotions, calls Lydia back to the present.

She can see that Stiles is having trouble finding the right words to answer that, so she gets on her feet, slowly placing her right hand over his mark, over the one thing that connects not only the two of them to each other, but also to Derek, to their beloved Alpha… her other hand she entwines with Stiles's right, as has long since become their custom.

"Because it's our symbol too." She states in a low but strong voice. "For obvious reasons I'm not about to take my clothes off in front of you all. But I'll tell you I have the same mark in the same spot on my own back. I don't know why they came back with us, but they did. They appeared on our backs the day after we woke up in this time. I think it might be because of what they symbolize. Our Alpha… it was their symbol, to them it represented the pack. When we came together we decided to get the same tattoo, to show we belonged together, that we were all… pack. As for them… they once told us that they got the tattoo when they were young, after they lost most of their pack… your pack…"

Talia's roar is sudden and very, very loud. All the power and authority expected of the strongest alpha in North America echoing around them. Lydia can feel the roar deep inside, resonating in her core, she can almost feel the blood in her veins growing hotter, and her hair… she cannot see it but she can see several strands lightening very fast, slowly turning white. It's almost as if her very power were preparing to either fight or flee for her life. But while that might be her instinct, Lydia still has complete control of herself, she neither fights nor flees, she just stands her ground, at Stiles's side, like always.

"What the hell?!" The Sheriff is yelling at the same time he reaches for a gun he only belatedly realizes he's not carrying.

Probably a good thing, the Hales wouldn't appreciate their Alpha being shot at, even if the bullets wouldn't do much more than sting for a short time.

Phones are suddenly ringing, the Hales'. Lydia has no doubt that their pack back home must have heard that roar, and they must also be able to tell who it came from. It's probably a small blessing that they decided to phone Talia and the others rather than rush in, fangs and claws out. That definitely wouldn't have been good.

Several minutes pass while Peter talks with whoever it is that phoned him and manages to calm them down and make sure there won't be a sudden invasion of wolves on the Sheriff's house. Lydia has no idea how they'd go about explaining that one to the neighbors, much less the deputies or whoever else might be called in… someone might still call in a disturbance, Talia's roar had not been quiet, not even for human ears.

The Hales leave shortly afterward, and then Lydia takes of too. She doesn't really want to go, doesn't want to leave him alone, but she knows he wants to talk privately with his dad, and she can respect that. Truth is, Lydia has missed the Sheriff too, the man was always so kind to her, he respected her, accepted her, not just as his son's girlfriend, but as her own person. In many ways, he was the closest thing to a father she'd had (the closest to a father many of those in the pack had had), and she's happy at the thought that they might be able to build such a relationship once again. Even better, because this time he'll know the truth from the start.

xXx

School is so tedious! Lydia feels that she's liable to blow something up if she doesn't find something to entertain herself with, and soon. Really, it was boring enough the first time around, but at least then she could focus on teaching herself Latin, and then Archaic Latin, that had kept her busy, somewhat. She really doesn't think she can endure something as basic as elementary school yet again, it's why she's been planning on skipping at least a year, and having some sort accelerate schooling for middle-school and high-school at the very least. However, she's not going to do it alone, she has every intention of pulling Stiles along with her.

It's why, the next time she visits his place she has a file with her plans. She's printed out the whole idea. Once the end of term exams begin she'll get her mom to request the placement tests for her. She'll make sure she does just well enough to go straight to middle-school. She also plans on making arrangements (or having her mom make arrangements) for summer courses and afternoon classes during the school-year, all high-school level. That will allow them to get through high-school faster. She has it all planned out…

"You've really thought of everything, haven't you?" Stiles comments as he looks through all the papers he's brought them.

"I cannot be bored Stiles," Lydia states in the very prim and proper tone they both know is but a facade. "When I'm bored I set things on fire."

Stiles snorts, she isn't wrong there.

"We can do this, there's nothing holding us back, unless…" She suddenly remembers something Stiles told her once, about why he never again tried to skip years or graduate early. "Is it Scott? Do you want to be in his grade again?"

"No, I…" Stiles runs a hand through his head, fighting to find the right words to explain himself, everything he's thought and felt regarding one Scott McCall. "I loved Scott, for so many years. He was my best friend, the closest thing I ever had to a brother… but truth is, that's all gone. And it's not even just about Scott dying but… I let him go long before the Catastrophe. When he turned his back on me, after Theo, and Donovan…" He shakes his head. "And as much as I may hate Theo, and really, I knew from the start he was a sociopath, and I'll find some way to stop him in this timeline before he gets that far. Still, he was never my friend, so whatever he might have tried against me, I don't really care. But Scott? He chose to dismiss my suspicions. Chose to trust Theo over me, a kid he hadn't seen since the fourth grade, over the person who'd been his friend for years, who stood by him through thick and thin. And what's worse, he looked at me and believed me capable of cold blooded murder! I always knew that Scott was a little self-righteous, believed too much in things being either black or white, and nothing else. I think… he never truly forgave me for what the fox did while wearing my face, for Allison…"

"That wasn't on you." Lydia hurries to reassure him.

"I know, but does he?" He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. The fact of the matter remains, that when Theo told him that I killed Donovan in cold blood, he believed I was truly capable of that. He didn't even hear me try and explain things. Would he have done anything to rescue me from the Wild Hunt if you and dad hadn't pushed for it? Would he have even known that I needed help?" he snorts. "Probably not. Gods, even Peter was more interested in helping!"

"Perhaps. But this isn't the same Scott."

"I know. The point I was trying to make, is that I've long since made my peace with all of that, with him. I loved my brother dearly, but he's gone. Having understood what truly happened to him in our future, I'm glad to know that he'll be safe in this one. Deaton… it's so clear to me now. He used Scott. How long did he groom him? Obviously it was before all that True-Alpha bullshit. Deaton never trusted Derek, and I always thought that it was because he didn't believe Derek deserved to be the Alpha. That perhaps he compared him to Talia Hale and found him lacking… Or maybe it was that he knew about Kate and blamed Derek for the fire. But knowing what we know now… He wanted the Hales dead all along, he wanted the power of the Nemeton. He must have known that he wouldn't be able to use Derek, so he groomed someone else to be his eventual sacrifice. How long? Since Derek lost his spark? Since Derek became alpha? Since Scott got bit in the first place?"

"Does it matter?"

"I suppose not. In any case, I've always known that Scott would have been much happier if he'd never been bitten. He made that quite clear to me, more than once. And now… with no crazy Peter, no loss of the Hale Pack, and no Deaton, there's no reason why he should ever be turned. He can grow up, finish school, and make a life for himself, like a normal person. I will never be normal. I'm… even in the other timeline I wasn't normal, but now? Having absorbed all that power? No, normal isn't in the cards for me, I suppose it never was. And I've made my peace with that too. Normal is boring anyway." He snorts. "But anyway, the other Scott was my brother. And my brother is dead. Whoever this Scott McCall is and will be, that'll be up to him. Me? I have a very different kind of life ahead of me."

"We, we have a very different life ahead of us." Lydia corrects him, entwining her left hand with his right one.

"We." Stiles agrees, pulling her hand up to his lips and placing a short kiss to her knuckles.

"Don't try to be suave Stilinski, you're much too young for that." She snaps at him, pulling her hand back and shaking her head at him in a very dramatic gesture.

But the fact that Lydia only took away her hand when he'd already lowered it, and that after she said what she did, she turned to look at him over her shoulder with a look that'd have been far more at home in her late-twenties self than her child one… Stiles knew she understood. They were both on the same page and that was perfect.

xXx

Weeks pass, almost a month since Stiles got out of the hospital, and Lydia can tell that he's slowly sinking into depression. She tries to distract him, mostly with studying materials and the guides for the tests they'll be taking to go straight to middle-school after the Summer, but since they've both been through far more than middle-school it doesn't work that well as a distraction. For either of them.

"I knew there would be consequences, you know?" Stiles murmurs.

It's late in the evening, the sky dark in the eve of a new moon. They're on the backyard, laying on an old blanket. A favorite of Claudia Stilinski, pale green and very very soft; she's been told by both Stiles and his dad that Claudia would carry the blanket with her everywhere, for picnics, or in case of an emergency, anything. Stiles had taken to doing the same later on. She can remember him pulling it out several times when they'd watch the pack training.

The banshee can also remember, many years later, all the nights Stiles would curl himself into a tight ball, the blanket all around him, and pressing his face against it, the only thing he had left of his mom after the Catastrophe, all other mementos having been lost when the town burned.

"I will never regret interfering, saving them all, how could I?" Stiles goes on. "I knew there was no way things would be the same this time around. Not with everything we've already changed, and all the things we keep changing but…"

"But you didn't see this coming." Lydia nods in understanding.

"I didn't think that things being different, would mean losing them altogether." Stiles burrows his face into her shoulder, instinctively seeking some comfort.

Lydia moves her left arm across her body, offering her hand to Stiles, who takes it with his right. They hold onto each other tightly, trying very hard not to focus on their other hands, grasping at what isn't there, looking for their missing third… And Lydia knows that's it, it's not just that Stiles is missing the pack, because awful as it might be, he never knew most of the Hales, neither of them did. Even Peter, they might have known and cared for a Peter Hale, but it wasn't the Peter Hale they'd seen that day during their little 'meeting'. No, the one they were truly missing was Derek, their Derek, their wolf, their alpha, their mate… Did he even exist at all? Because, even if there might be a Derek Hale, that didn't mean he was Theirs. Just like with Peter. And Lydia had hoped, and she knows so did Stiles, but if it were him, he'd have sought them out already, right? He was their mate!

"I miss him so much Lyds…" Stiles whispers, in a barely audible voice. "So… so much…"

"As do I, Mischief, as do I…" She whispers back, kissing his temple tenderly.

Mischief is a special nickname. One reserved only for her and Derek to use. She can remember one night, it was the single anniversary of the Hale Fire that the three of them spent together. Derek had been so very quiet, tense, grieving, Lydia held him against her chest, running a hand through his hair soothingly, not knowing how to help. And Stiles, sweet, caring, amazing Stiles, who always seemed to just know what to do. He'd spooned their beloved wolf from behind, settling his chin on the older male's shoulder, and in a whisper began telling them stories about his family, especially about his mom. Neither Derek nor Lydia had ever met Claudia Stilinski, but by the end of that day they couldn't help but feel as if they had. The one that stayed with her the most was the story of how, when very young, even Stiles himself had trouble pronouncing his own name. The best he could say was 'Mischief' and thus his mom decided to call him that. And afterwards it was what everyone would call him. Until she died… then the little boy refused to answer to that name anymore and 'Stiles' was born. The name becoming just a memory, along with Claudia herself. Until that day, the day when, as they held him in between them, Derek turned his head, kissing Stiles on the corner of his mouth and whispered: "I love you Mischief", and just like that, the name became more than a memory, it was a sign of love, their love…

Three days later they were entering California, and before the end of the week, they were all dead and being thrown back in time.

xXx

The day of the next new moon Stiles and Lydia stand hesitantly on the drive of the new Hale House. Hands clasped together for support. In her free hand Lydia's carrying a bottle of organic cider, not exactly what her parents would usually buy, her mom was more of a red-wine woman. But she knew the wolves would like it (Peter certainly did in the future) and since her father never thought about things like putting limits on his daughter's credit card… it was easy enough to buy a few bottles (if all went well, they'd be visiting more in the future, so she'd need more than one; if not, Stiles could probably find a few recipes where it'd be useful). She also knows That the box under Stiles's arms contains several batches of dark-chocolate brownies he spent the whole day before baking, pacing from one side to the other of the kitchen as he did.

She still doesn't know what's going on, exactly. When Stiles called her, terribly early on Sunday morning it was hard to get him to make sense. Apparently Peter had dropped by Stiles's room (literally!) really early, to let know they were expected at the new Hale House for lunch the following day. Neither of them had the idea what was going on exactly, especially after the almost-month-long radio-silence on the Hales' part, but still, there they were. And because it was only good manners, they each had brought something.

"Do you plan on standing out here all day?" Peter finally asks.

Lydia raises her head. She hadn't been paying attention, just waiting, giving time for Stiles to be ready before they walked the steps up to the porch and knock on the door. Apparently Peter wasn't quite so patient.

"Well, it's not like we actually know what we're doing here so…" Lydia drawls.

Peter opens his mouth to say something, but before he can he's being pushed aside by a woman with hair of a lighter brown than the Hales and Californian highlights.

"What do you mean you don't know what you're doing here?" The woman demands, throwing the stinky eye at Peter. "Peter was supposed to visit you yesterday and invite you both to lunch with us today?"

"Yeah well, if by 'visit' you mean he let himself into my bedroom through the window at an unholy hour on a Sunday, and by 'invite' that he let me know we were to be here for lunch today, then I suppose that's what he did." Stiles is pushing the sarcasm for all he's worth.

"Peter!" The young woman cries out, at least a bit scandalized.

"You'll take their side Mandy, dear?" Peter whines, he truly whines at her. "I'm the one who almost got killed yesterday morning!"

"That's what you get for jumping into my bedroom, uninvited and unannounced, before dawn! You're lucky I recognized you in time." Stiles mutters pointedly, before adding a bit more quietly. "Creeperwolf…"

The loud guffaw coming from inside the house lets them know that he didn't say it quietly enough.

"Creeperwolf, oh, that's gold, pure gold!" The blonde she-wolf crows in delight. Then she seems to remember herself and straightens up. "I'm Amanda Silva, though my friends call me Mandy, so feel free to do so. The Creeperwolf," she pauses to let out another giggle, "is my brother-in-law. Welcome to the Hale House."

She and Stiles follow Mandy through the house, and it takes every ounce of Lydia's will to keep from looking around, but what's more, to keep her mind from straying to the ghosts left chained to the husk of another house and another time. It doesn't take long to go through the house, stepping out and into the backyard, where adults and the older children seem to be working together to put all food and necessities on several big picnic tables. She cannot help but stare at Cora for several seconds; she didn't really get to know the youngest Hale survivor in the other time, back then in between Jackson's departure (he who was supposed to be her 'true love', how little she'd understood of love back then), her rebound relationship with Aiden, her awakening powers… it was so much some times. It's only when she looks away from her that she realizes what felt off since their arrival: there are two people missing in that backyard. And granted, Lydia's never actually met Laura Hale, except in passing in the hospital, the day she was signed out after her 'episode'. But the point remains that Laura isn't there… and neither is Derek.

"Is anyone else coming?" Lydia focuses on keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

"No, not really, why do you ask?" Zach asks politely.

"Oh, I was just wondering if we'd brought enough brownies."

As far as excuses go, it's not a very good one, but Lydia's beginning to sense the tension in Stiles as he too notices the absence. It takes her several discreet tries before Stiles thinks to hold out the box of brownies. She knows it must be just hitting him, the absence of their mate… It's painful, it's… holding one of his hand in one of hers, she's very much aware of their own empty hands, the fact that they shouldn't be empty at all yet they are. And yet Stiles still needs her, and that's what allows Lydia to stay focused, to keep up her facade, to not allow that emptiness inside her to control her. She discreetly leads Stiles to a table and makes small talk with the Hales, all while sending as much reassurance to Stiles as she can, without making it obvious that something's off with him. Their third might be gone, but they'll never let go of one another, not for anything…

Everyone loves Stiles's brownies, which doesn't surprise Lydia at all, everyone always loves Stiles's cooking, it's… he just has a gift for cooking that everyone enjoys, even if they don't always express their appreciation. Certainly never before in the way the Hales are in that moment, especially Mandy and Peter. And the look that Stiles directs at Peter when the man is about to say something tells Lydia trouble's coming their way.

"Why are you looking at Peter like that?" Mandy questions, curious.

"Like what?" Stiles asks.

And oh… that's the tone he uses when he's really trying to appear innocent even though he isn't. But it's not just the voice, Lydia can feel the very light magic he's lacing into his person to influence the way others look at him. It's very light, nothing dangerous or dark at all, but still, not a good thing to do when they're with allies; she's also quite sure he hasn't noticed he's doing it, so Lydia kicks his ankle lightly to get him to stop.

"Oh… I don't know what you were just doing but… how were you doing that?" Mandy asks, blinking and shaking her head a little, as if shaking off the mental cobwebs.

"I'm sorry, my control's still a tad iffy." Stiles admits as he scratches the back of his neck, he sounds honestly embarrased. "Though to be fair, I'd never had access to this much power, so that might be why. I'm having to relearn a lot of what I knew…"

"What are you talking about Stiles?" Zach asks.

Lydia's not sure if that's the best moment to talk about sensitive things, even if the children are busy playing with Philip, what are the chances that they aren't listening in on their conversation or something? Then again, she supposes that Stiles and/or Alpha Hale can handle that, if they really need to.

"How much do you know about the Nemeton that used to be in the Preserve, about the purpose it served for the territory and the planet as a whole?" Stiles asks in a very solemn tone.

"Used to…?" It's clear that at least Mandy knows nothing at all.

"How do you know the Nemeton is gone?" Peter asks, eyes narrowed.

And Lydia really isn't surprised at all that Peter does know. It just seems to be his thing, in any timeline. Then again, 'Knowledge is Power' and Peter understands that, as do she and Stiles, it's probably one of the reasons why they used to get along so well (when they weren't trying to kill each other, at least).

"Because I was there when it was lost." Stiles answers evenly.

"That's not possible." Zach shakes his head. "You were at the hospital when that happened. You were… that was the day you went into a coma wasn't it?"

"Hell of a coincidence…" Peter mutters coldly.

"No coincidence at all." Stiles shakes his head. "And yes, physically I was still at the hospital, spiritually… that's an entirely different matter. The Nemeton called to me."

"Why you?" It's clear that Talia is trying to decide whether to react to that statement like a mother, or like an Alpha.

"Because I qualified as a guardian for the freaking tree." Stiles rolls his eyes. "Because my being a Spark means that I could connect to it. Or no, it's not that I 'could connect' but rather that I was connected to it, always. I think it might be because I was born here, or something. I didn't realize it the first time around because… well, I didn't know about any of it."

"We used to think he had the devil's luck." Lydia admits with a quiet snort. "Surviving so much. And the way he came up with the most insane plans, and somehow always managed to make them work, against any and all odds."

"Hey! My plans were excellent!" Stiles cries out he's aiming for dramatic, probably to try and get a laugh out of the Hales, but Lydia just thinks he looks adorable, with his childish pout.

"You drove your Jeep, which was barely held together with duct tape, into a warehouse, through a freaking wall." Lydia reminds him, then turns to the others as she adds: "And I probably should add that it was a warehouse that held no less than two insane hunters, a bunch of immature and not-fully-trained bitten wolves and a kanima!"

And that's not considering the time he and Scott thought it was a good idea to go search for a dead body in the preserve in the middle of the night (and the consequences there would have been if insane-Peter had bit Stiles instead of Scott); or their repeated attempts to defeat the 'Alpha', back when they didn't know it was Peter, including the time when they finally did defeat him, and how insane that night got. Or when he, Scott and Allison decided it was a good idea to become surrogate sacrifices to the freaking Nemeton!

"A kanima!" Peter sounds half-curious, half-horrified at the prospect; though his voice at least is enough to pull her out of the barrage of memories.

"Hey! It worked!" Stiles points out, arms crossed.

"Like I said, the devil's luck." Lydia snorts.

"Anyway, that wasn't the point." Stiles makes them all focus once again. "The point is, I didn't know what I was back then, not really."

"Didn't anyone train you?" Talia asks, worried.

"Aside from a very unhelpful druid telling me to 'be the spark' and very general instructions on how to lay a mountain ash circle, no, no training." Stiles shrugs.

"That's dangerous." Peter says.

"Probably, but not actually relevant in this timeline so, moving on." Stiles snarks. "I left Beacon Hills after graduating high-school, and while I did come back every once in a while as necessary. I didn't live here anymore, so I wasn't truly connected to the Nemeton anymore. I was nowhere near when it was destroyed, along with most of Beacon Hills."

"What?!" Mandy blanches and the other three adults look about ready to do battle.

Philip and the children turn to look at them briefly, but after some pacifying words from their Alpha, they turn back to what they were doing.

"How could something like that happen?" Zach asks, horrified.

"What the fuck happened?! is the question." Peter corrects gruffly.

Talia's eyes flash alpha red and it's clear that she has a hard time keeping control of her instincts.

"The very thing that almost happened in this timeline, a few months ago." Stiles admits grimly. "A pseudo-druid tried to claim the power of the Nemeton for himself, and failed. The difference was that, in the other time, when his ritual failed and the Nemeton overloaded, there was nowhere for that energy to go, so it blew up. Destroying a good deal of the preserve and part of the town straight out, and starting a fire that destroyed almost the whole county. No one in the area survived." He pauses, taking deep breaths and brushing away the tears he cannot fully hold back. "In this timeline though, when the ritual started the Nemeton reached out, and it found me. I found myself spiritually transported to it. Where I had to use my will and my Spark to battle for the right to connect with the Nemeton. I didn't actually know what I was doing, it was all instinctive. Also, I didn't actually get there in time to stop the ritual from starting, in the end all I could do was make sure He wouldn't get what he wanted, and that we wouldn't all die when the whole thing backfired on him."

"What happened to you?" Talia asks, already half-suspecting the answer.

"Do you know what the purpose of a Nemeton is?" Stiles asks in turn.

"I was taught by my grandmother's Emissary that they're powerful entities, they filter the energy and the magic of the world." Talia answers evenly.

"That's correct." Stiles nods. "They're essentially the kidneys of our planet. Our pseudo-druid thought the Nemeton actually held power, like a battery, that wasn't the case. Still, the Nemeton was needed to filter the energy, purify it… well, at least that's what a healthy Nemeton does. The one here in Beacon Hills hadn't been healthy for many years… The point is, the ritual that the pseudo-druid intended would have never worked, because he never actually understood what a Nemeton truly is."

"You keep saying pseudo-druid, why?" Mandy asks, confused.

"Because while he might have called himself a druid, he wasn't one, not really." Stiles shakes his head with an exhale. "To be honest, I never liked the bastard. Too cryptic, evasive, would never give a straight answer, and the way he clearly believed himself to be better than us… It was until I was in college that I realized just how much he'd kept from us." He curls up slightly, feeling the weight of so many mistakes, so many wrongs left unsolved. "We trusted him, because he was supposed to be a scholar, a druid, an Emissary…"

"Deaton?!" Peter snarls, fury rising in an instant. "Alan Deaton did this? Betrayed us?! I'll kill him! I'll tear his throat out…!"

Lydia's bracing herself for whatever Peter might do next, when something completely unexpected happens: a baby wails. Lydia was never really one to look into the Hale Fire, or the Hales in general. So she doesn't realize that the baby is none other than Peter's son until the older werewolf has him in his arms. It's as if some kind of switch has been flipped, Peter's anger just… vanishes, and he focuses entirely on soothing his child, holding him close, scenting and soothing him. And it's in that moment that the image Lydia's held for so very long of Peter, as an insane, half-feral wolf, one who turned her own mind against her, who used her so callously, whom she could never fully trust… it goes up in smoke, replaced by the Peter she's seeing right now. And it's that Lydia's finally seeing just how much Peter truly lost due to the fire. Seeing what it was that truly drove him insane…

"I'm afraid it's kinda late for any of that Peter, he's already dead." Stiles offers.

"What?" All eyes turn back to him instantly.

"The ritual backfiring killed him." Stiles elaborates. "Not that I regret it or anything. I… I'm not sure if you're aware of this but… he killed Mrs. Hale… Mrs. Imala Hale, I mean."

Talia says nothing, but Lydia has no doubt that she's grieving, they all are.

"We know," Zach nods, then revises. "Well, we didn't know what had happened, exactly. But we knew that she'd been close to the Nemeton when she died, and suspected that whatever happened there was related."

"Deaton was responsible." Stiles explains. "He sacrificed her, intending to use that, and your weakened connection to the Nemeton, due to the fire, to get his ritual to work. He failed."

"Because of you." Zach finishes for him.

"No, the ritual was always going to fail, I told you." Stiles corrects. "What I did was make sure that the backfire didn't kill us all."

"What happened then?" Mandy asks. "If, as you say, the Nemeton is so important, so necessary, and it doesn't exist anymore…"

"I suppose the easy answer would be to say that I took the place of the Nemeton." Stiles shrugs.

"That… makes absolutely no sense." Peter states coldly, though he makes sure not to raise his voice, not wanting to risk waking up the sleeping baby he just placed in Mandy's arms. "You're a person, not a tree."

"He's not a Nemeton, but he now does what the Nemeton did." Lydia declares, she just knows that if she leaves it to Stiles he'll just make things more complicated than entirely necessary. "All the ley-lines are connected to him, like they were connected to the tree. He cleanses the energy and the magic. It's actually better than it was, considering how sick the Nemeton was…"

"Yeah, but because there was a hell of a backlog, to call it something, I went into a coma while my body learned how to cope with the ley-lines, and especially while it cleared out all the darkness and sickness in the energies." Stiles adds for good measure.

It was something she deduced actually, as he could never understand why he was in a coma for so long. Then again, according to what Stiles himself told her, he wasn't even aware of the time passing while he was unconscious. It was almost as if time didn't really exist for him, or at least, not in the way humans understood time. Which was actually quite logical if one considered the Nemeton and the ley-lines. She also has the belief that, back in their original timeline Stiles was, in fact, connected to them too. Only, as he spent so many years on the other side of the country and only returned to the territory the day before they all died, he didn't realize it. Such a connection would certainly explain how they all ended back in time without any spells, or rituals, nothing other than Stiles's deep, heart-felt desire for a second chance…

"So you're now the one responsible for Keeping the magic in our territory." Peter summarizes.

"That is correct." Stiles nods.

Lydia knows that it's not quite that simple (nothing is ever that simple), there are consequences for being the Keeper of the Magics in a territory, even if she has no idea what they might be just yet. But she'll find out. There's no way she's leaving Stiles to handle any burdens on his own, that's not how things are meant to be. Whatever might come their way, good things and bad, they'll handle them, together. Always together.

No one says a thing for a while and eventually everyone relaxes. The rest of the picnic goes easily enough. As evening comes Talia packs up two sets of leftovers for the children to bring their parents. Talia is the one to keep them company on the front porch as they wait for the sheriff to make his way up the drive.

"I know we've only known each other for a short time, Stiles, Lydia, but I'd like it if you'd consider officially joining the Hale pack." Talia states in a very official tone.

Lydia knows that Stiles doesn't even need to think about it, he's wanted it for quite a while, ever since he woke up in fact; but he still turns to look at her, and Lydia knows he won't accept without her. However much he might want something, he won't let her go. That's okay, while she might not feel as strongly about the pack as he does, she does like them, and she likes the idea of being part of a good, stable pack, of Derek's old pack.

"We'd be honored." They both say, practically in unison.

Stiles is feeling so much joy, he cannot really contain it, nor is he trying that hard. His smile is blinding, so much that Lydia cannot help but smile as well. She knows joining the pack won't just make everything right. The pain of Derek's absence won't just go away, but they are part of a pack once again, and that is wonderful thing indeed.

xXx

Lydia isn't at all surprised when she learns Talia's offered Stiles the position of future pack Emissary, who better for the position? The situation also seems to push Stiles himself into finally telling her at least the first of the consequences of his new 'position' in the territory. The fact that he cannot leave it for more than a few days at a time… It's not what she'd consider ideal, but truth is that, having gone to her dream school once already, she's come to realize the place isn't as important. Doesn't mean that she'll attend just any school, but she's not as picky as she once was. She will be getting her Fields Medal, and a lot more besides, but she knows she doesn't need to attend any particular school to achieve that.

Seeing Malia in the next New Moon picnic is a bit more surprising, but only because she'd never stopped to consider it. Lydia doesn't feel threatened at all by the girl, why would she? It's not even about the age or anything, she knows that as special as Malia might be to Stiles, he doesn't love her, not like he loves her at least. Also, she can tell that Peter is over the moon, having his daughter by his side, and she's developed a soft spot for Peter, ever since she first saw him with baby Oliver in his arms.

After the thing with Malia Lydia just knows that it won't stop there, Stiles will find a way to 'solve' all the 'problems' of their old pack, or at least, as many as he can.

The two of them are very different, she's not as invested in Derek's old betas, they mean nothing to her. Really, all three of them tried to kill her at least once, even if she wasn't fully aware of it. Erica and Boyd abandoned Derek when he needed them the most, and while she might feel bad that they died, they made their own choices. As for Issac… he chose to throw his lot with Scott, and then to run away. She was never close to any of them, so they aren't that important in her book, but she knows Stiles isn't wired the same way as her, and she accepts that. His caring so much is one of the things she admires about him, one of the reasons she loves him. Which means that, even if she doesn't feel the same about any of the once betas, she'll still help him do whatever it is he's planned to help them.

"So, what have you planned for the others?" She asks him at the first opportunity.

Thankfully he doesn't even try to pretend he doesn't know what she's talking about, that'd have been seriously insulting:

"Erica is already being handled." Stiles answers calmly. "After Peter kept pressing that he owed me and all that, I got him to help me a bit. He pulled some strings and she's just been accepted to receive a brand new experimental treatment for Epilepsy. One I'm fairly certain will work on her. Peter's even made sure she'll get the drug and not the placebo."

"How are you so certain?" Lydia inquires, curious.

"You remember how Boyd and I'd talk sometimes, after we got him and Cora out of the vault?" She nods but waits for him to continue. "We talked about Erica a lot, which, no surprise really. From what he said, when this particular drug came out Erica's parents were interested in it, but the doctor told them that while Erica was an ideal patient in many ways, it was only prescribed to preadolescent patients, as it was only truly effective for them. It was too late for Erica, but the drug just hadn't been available openly when she was younger. Now, thanks to Peter's string-pulling, it is. So, that's Erica taken care of." He pushes aside a file, moving to the next. "Next we have Boyd, or more precisely, Alicia Boyd. From what I remember reading in her file, she'll be taken by an unknown from the ice-rink near the end of November, the 29th to be precise. So right now the plan is to be there on the day and stop her from being kidnapped. There's nothing I can actually do about their mother, but at least with this I can help." He scribbles something on the file and puts that one to a side as well, though separate from Erica's. "As for Issac… I honestly have no idea. Far as I know nothing's actually happening just yet. At least, Issac always said his dad only got really bad after Camden died, and he hasn't even left to join the army yet. I think that's due to happen next year actually. So until then I'm not sure there's anything I can do…"

There's no mention of Scott, but Lydia supposes that the decisions concerning him have already been made. Stiles would be staying away from him, and that was it.

"Do you plan on them becoming wolves eventually?" She asks, because she feels she has to, that the question just needs to be asked.

Truth is, she just doesn't see the point. The only one who really needed the bite, whose life was saved by it, was Erica. And if the drug really works as Stiles expects it to, then that's that taken care of. Issac… if they can find a way for him to be safe from his dad, then he doesn't need it either. As for Boyd… loneliness isn't a reason to become a werewolf!

"I… no, not really." Stiles admits after what seems like forever. "Truth is… I mean, I did care for them you know. Erica and Boyd… I know Erica used to have a crush on me in middle-school, even if I didn't realize it at the time, and Boyd… he's a genuinely good person. Issac too, even if we were never close. But I just… I don't think they're meant to be wolves. They…" he shakes his head, taking a deep breath, probably to try and put his thoughts in order. "You know I wasn't exactly Derek's greatest fan back then but… truth is that he did talk to them, to each of them. He told them what the bite was about, the risks, how they'd either turn or die. He also told them about the dangers that came with being weres, the moods, the moon, the hunters… And they agreed. They went into it all with their eyes wide-open. But… I don't know if it was that they didn't really think about the dangers, that things were so easy for them the first few weeks that they expected them to be the same always… or if it was something else entirely. The point is, they all turned their back on Derek. Erica and Boyd literally abandoned him, when he needed them the most! They ran away, believing that it'd be better, like, what? Did they honestly expect that some other pack would take them in just like that, that they'd be better than Derek even if they'd never known them. I mean… it's ridiculous! Chances are, even if there had been another pack, they wouldn't have taken them in, and if they had, how would they have seen a couple of bitten wolves who abandoned the alpha who turned them?" He shakes his head. "Issac… I know that Derek fucked up that particular relationship himself, even if his intentions were good. But in the end, he too chose someone over Derek. Chose Scott, who half the time didn't even want to be a wolf! Of course then we went and abandoned us all… but I suppose that's beside the point." He exhales. "So no, I'm not planning on any of them becoming wolves. Truth is that even if I were willing to consider it, I'm quite sure Talia would refuse to bite them."

"Because she'd see they're not the right fit." Lydia nods, it was her thought too.

"I know why Derek turned them, and it's not like his reasoning was wrong exactly, but I do believe they've proven they're not meant for this."

"I agree." She smiles and extends a hand for one of the files. "So, lets plan how we're going to make sure Alicia Boyd doesn't get kidnapped in November."

xXx

The plan works, even if there are some unintended consequences. How were they supposed to know that Alicia was kidnapped by her father of all people? Though even with that unexpected development, things turn out quite alright in the end.

Matt's death is something for which they could have never planned, even knowing what they did about his past, and the reason for his terrible grudge against Mr. Lahey and the swim team.

It gets Lydia thinking, about all the things they're changing, directly and indirectly. Because them not being in certain places, not doing things, affects the history they know as much as the places they choose to be and the things they choose to do. And it's not even just them anymore, because by their own actions the Hales (or most of them) are alive and in town still, her dad is gone, Malia is around much sooner, and so many other things.

Stiles's own actions, his desire to help others, to make things better for them, pushes Lydia into considering what she might wish to change exactly. She already arranged for her parents to get a divorce much sooner than they did in the other timeline, and her father is out of their lives (though he's still trying to remain a 'part of her life'). There's a part of her that wishes she could help Meredith Walker. As much hurt as the other banshee caused her, Lydia knows that it wasn't truly on her, the woman was completely insane, and that was at least partly on her grandma. Lorraine Martin most definitely did not do right for her, and Lydia regrets that there's nothing she can do to change that. Nor for Lorraine herself either, while she's still alive, and after the closing of the part of Eichen that was in fact a psychiatric hospital she's out of that place, she's still quite crazy and half-catatonic. Nothing either she or Stiles do will be enough.

It's during one of the post-full-moon breakfasts, as she's enjoying some of Stiles's wonderful fruity-pancakes in the Hale breakfast nook while half-listening to Cora whine about Malia using her full-shift to cheat and win a race, that Lydia thinks of something they could change, and which would benefit them all in one way or another. So she goes to talk to Peter:

"How much do you remember about Malia's mother?" She asks him straight out.

"Since Talia unblocked my memories I remember her." Peter nods. "Her name's Corinne, she's a were-coyote. Those like her don't need packs and she likes to travel around. There was never anything serious between us. Talia had heard some… nasty rumors and wanted me to keep an eye on her, I followed her to a bar one night, we had some drinks, then I followed her to her flat, it became a semi-regular thing for a few months, and then she was gone. Now I know she stayed longer than I knew, but that's about it. Like I said, it was never serious."

"Those rumors you heard about her, were it about her murdering people?" Lydia presses.

"Yeah, and it's not like she could have hidden her blue eyes from me." Peter's tone turns very lewd. "The sex wasn't exactly vanilla, if you know what that means…"

Lydia rolls her eyes. She knows Peter's trying to provoke her, but she's not going to take the bait. She's not going to say anything that might give him an inkling into her sex life, or her mates'; much as she might love her kinks, exhibitionism's not one of them, not even indirectly. And while Stiles loves to trade barbs and out-sass Peter, she'd rather get to the point.

"I don't care about the sex Peter, this isn't about that." Lydia states. "This is about Corinne, about her being a danger to your daughter."

That certainly makes the werewolf stop and focus, his eyes narrowing at Lydia.

"Where I come from Corinne was better known as the Desert Wolf, she's an assassin." Lydia explains. "I don't know when or how it started exactly, though I do know it was before Malia was ever born. She never wanted to have her, because Malia's birth weakened her. I don't know if Malia's remembered this just yet, but she's the one who shot at her car, the shot that made her mom lose control of the car, crashing against a tree, which in turn made Malia shift fully into a coyote and go feral. Corinne was trying to kill her, hoping to regain the power she lost when Malia was lost. I think… I think that might have been the reason why Talia took her away, along with your memories, she was trying to protect both you, and the baby, from Corinne."

"So she said…" It's clear that Peter doesn't fully believe it.

"I know you probably think that Talia exaggerates, that we both do, but you don't know the Desert Wolf like I do, Peter. You know her in bed, we knew her on the battlefield."

"How did you meet her?"

"She came back to Beacon Hills, made another attempt to kill Malia. She allied with… someone else who was gunning for our pack." She shakes her head. "It wasn't an easy time for any of us. Though in the end Malia won."

"How? I mean, you're painting Corinne as this incredible assassin, saying that Talia was right to fear her, to take away my own child… and then you say that my daughter killed her, when she herself was… what? A teenager? That makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense when you consider three important things: 1) Malia is a werecoyote as much as Corinne is, which means they have the same instincts, that helped her. 2) That Malia had lived almost a decade as a coyote, she was as close to feral as a were can be without giving themselves away, that includes senses and instincts. And 3) She had this:"

As Lydia speaks she pulls a little wooden box out of her handbag and offers it to Peter, who hesitates just for a fraction of a second before taking the box in hand. He certainly isn't expecting what he finds when he opens it: they look almost like claws, though quite longer than even an alpha wolf's, and they have an undertone of a strange, iridescent blue…

"They're Garuda Claws." Lydia explains. "Well, actually I think the term talons is more precise in this case, but still."

"Where did you get this from?" Peter seems to be fighting between being fascinated and disgusted with the claws.

"I… liberated them from the police locker after the Eichen House case was closed." Lydia shrugs. "The Sheriff gave Stiles and I free reign, knowing that we might find some things useful, and anything that we didn't take was set to be destroyed, just to be on the safe side."

"And Stiles didn't find this useful?" Peter arches a brow.

"They're not his style." Lydia half-grins at him.

Truth is, she isn't sure if Stiles even knows what a Garuda is, what their claws do. There was so much going on back then, with Theo and the Doctors and all their insane plans, nevermind Corinne and her own plans; she cannot remember if Stiles ever met the Chimera who had them, or if he was ever around when they were used afterwards.

"So you're saying my daughter used this to kill her mother?" Peter wants to clarify.

"She used them to protect her pack, and herself, and to avenge her adopted mother and sister." Lydia says in turn.

"What do you expect of me exactly Lydia?" And she understands why he's asking, that he has his own preference, but doesn't know if she's the kind of person that can accept it.

"I know exactly the kind of person you are Peter." Lydia states solemnly. "I expect you to do what you've always done: whatever is necessary to protect the pack."

Peter nods, the message received loud and clear, so saying nothing more he slips the small wooden box into an inner-pocket of his jacket.

When a day later he hears Cora saying during lunch that Uncle Peter had to travel to Arizona abruptly for a case or something Lydia doesn't comment, and when Peter returns in the weekend with some trinkets for the children but no tan (regardless of the fact that she knows it was over 100° with a punishing sun) she doesn't say a thing, just takes the little crystal figurine he offers her (a coyote, how appropriate) and smiles.

xXx

Lydia and Stiles talk about the nogitsune exactly once:

"What about the nogitsune?" Lydia inquires. "I mean, we're planning for almost anything… all that we know how to handle, and where and when to find them. But we haven't planned for the nogitsune, I thought that would be a priority."

"I've been wondering when you'd bring the fucking fox up." Stiles admits with an exhale.

"I wasn't sure if it ought to be a priority or not, actually." Lydia admits. "On the one hand, with the Nemeton gone you'd think it'd be free, right? Except, if it were free we'd know it, I'm quite certain of that. Even if it had possessed someone without power, we would still know. And I don't think you'd be at risk anymore, even if we're in our younger bodies, the power you have now… and I think I'd know…"

She breaks off, Stiles's hands on her arms helping her calm down.

"It's okay Lyds, you've got nothing to worry about." He assures her. "Now, to answer one thing at a time, in reverse order: Yes, you'd know if it had taken me over; my power isn't exactly a guarantee, but it'd still make it harder for the thing to possess me, give me a better chance to fight off the possession; being in our younger bodies does mean I'm not protected, but it's not something we need to worry about at this time; no, I'm not at risk anymore, for a variety of reasons we'll go into in a moment. And yes, we most definitely would know if the Void were out and about, no matter who it had possessed. We'd know because, it being a creature of chaos and mayhem it wouldn't be able to not do something to call our attention; and also because my own connection to the ley-lines would let me know." He takes a deep breath. "You know, I've long had the theory that the fucking 'surrogate sacrifice' thing we did, it was never necessary at all. I mean, if we were trying to defeat Jennifer, to stop her from getting all the power, why finish the Five Fold Knot at all? Deaton might have said it was necessary, to protect our parents, and to find the Nemeton… but we also now know he was a lying fucking liar who lies so… I think he used us to finish the Five Fold Know, but with caveats that might allow him to claim the power instead of Jennifer getting it. Except, there still being an Alpha kept him from succeeding. Thankfully. And he had to have known where the fucking tree was all along!"

"Stiles, focus!" Lydia snaps at him. "The nogitsune!"

"Right so…" He breathes deeply. "You're right, with the Nemeton gone there's no way the nogitsune would still be trapped there, since it was tree that was keeping it there, even sick as it was. Then again, when the thing was placed there, the tree wasn't sick at all…"

"What are you saying?" Lydia suspects the answer and cannot quite believe it.

"I think the nogitsune was the beginning of the problem for the Nemeton. Not the only one certainly, and nowhere near the thing that truly ruined things, that was most definitely the cutting down of the tree, but still, I think that's where it started. Because Noshiko sealed that thing in such a way that it couldn't escape, but neither could it be purified. So it kept pushing out darkness, and the Nemeton couldn't fully cleanse it."

"So what you're saying is that if it hadn't been in that jar or whatever, the Nemeton would have been able to purify it, and we'd have never had any of the troubles we did with it?!"

"Maybe, it's all theoretical at this point. And not like I have either the means, or truly the interest of proving it one way or another."

"How did you even get to the point of making it a theory anyway?"

"Because the destruction of the Nemeton shattered the jar, but it couldn't destroy the nogitsune. That thing was like… a supernatural cockroach, I swear!"

He goes into a rant of freaking monsters that won't die when they should and supernatural vermin and how tired he's of it all. Lydia says nothing, just stares Stiles down until he smiles sheepishly at her and clears his throat:

"Right so, I'm not sure if the Nogitsune sensed me there, or if it was just trying to take over the ley-lines while it searched for someone to possess, in any case, that was its doom. See, I've said before that there was more than one reason that I went into a coma. And remember how I said it took a while to 'cleanse the backlog of darkness' that had been in the Nemeton? Most of it was actually the nogitsune."

"So you, cleansed the nogitsune then?"

"For lack of a better term, yes." He scratches the back of his head, he knows that the word isn't the right one, or the best at all, but it's the best he has. "In any case, that's why it's not on the list, because it's not something we need to worry about."

Lydia takes several seconds to breathe deeply a few times then she nods. The nogitsune is gone, completely gone, not a danger at all. She doesn't have to worry about it popping up at some point. Doesn't have to fear one day looking at her boyfriend in the eyes and seeing the Void looking back at her. She doesn't have to fear him using their love against her… Lydia cannot help herself, a single tear falls down her face.

Stiles says noting at all, he just cradles one side of Lydia's face with one hand, using his thumb to silently wipe her tear. It might seem like nothing at all to most, but for Lydia, who keeps her emotions so tightly guarded, that single tear is a lot. Stiles also understands what it means, both the fact that she's letting go even that much in that moment, and that she's allowing him to witness that brief moment of vulnerability.

"I love you Lydia, always." He whispers, pulling her tight against his chest and pressing a brief, tender kiss to her temple.

"Always." Lydia agrees wholeheartedly, kissing his neck, right on his pulse-point.

Life might not be perfect, not exactly, but it's pretty darn close…

xXx

Lydia always knew that her father wouldn't just give up on her, wouldn't just accept to let her go and not get 'something' out of her. She knew, because that was just the kind of man Harold Martin was. He was the kind of man who married a woman with a Degree in Administration, and then insisted she shouldn't have to work, that she ought to focus on their home, on their daughter, on him… who would proudly parade her to every party and social event he could find until said daughter was born and then… then he forgot all about her. Harold only ever cared about women for what they could give him. Men too… but that was another story altogether.

Natalie Martin met Elijah Ahmed during a Cruise through the Mediterranean. The man was the only son of a very rich businessman from Greece. He owned one of the fanciest, most luxurious and expensive hotel chains not just in that particular city, but the whole Mediterranean Coast. Though, as he always said, he didn't know a thing about the industry, so he paid others (very well, in fact) to handle things, while he enjoyed life. The Cruise in the Mediterranean being an example. He fell in love with Natalie almost as soon as he met her, but as the saying goes 'once burnt, twice shy', Natalie wasn't so quick to trust the word of a man that claimed to love her. That called her beautiful and bought her drinks, yet didn't know her at all. However, that apparently did nothing to deter Elijah, if anything, it seemed to spur him on. As he kept sending e-mails to Natalie (she at least deigned to give him her e-mail address) inviting her to art gallery openings, concerts, the theater, anything he could think of that she might like. Natalie refused him every time but, thanks to some gentle coaxing from her daughter, almost six months later she sent him a short e-mail letting him know she'd be in Paris for a weekend. She didn't tell him though, that she wouldn't be alone.

Meeting Lydia didn't slow Elijah's attempts to court Natalie. He was completely fascinated by the girl, by her intelligence, her quick wit and her obvious protectiveness of her mother. He also didn't seem to be at all intimidated by Lydia's genius, the whole opposite in fact, he went as far as asking her if she wouldn't be interested in working for him one day.

"I'm a kid! I haven't even started high-school yet!" Lydia exclaimed, though she was smiling even as she said it.

"That means this is the perfect time to entice you to study… well, pretty much anything that might convince you to work for me one day." Elijah stated with a bright smile.

"Thank you," She was honestly honored. "But I've already decided I'll be my own boss."

"Nothing wrong with that." Elijah nodded. "Personally I find it's the best way to live. That way you need not answer to anyone other than those you truly want to."

Lydia realized in that single weekend in Paris that she really liked Elijah, and what was more, that he was truly interested in her mother. So eventually Natalie was persuaded to give him a chance. It didn't take too long for him to propose, or for her to accept, though with a condition: she knew that Elijah couldn't move to the States, he needed to be closer to his business, and she was willing to move with him, but not until Lydia's future was secure.

She didn't quite expect it to happen the way it did, with her daughter getting married at sixteen! Then again, Natalie knows her daughter isn't like other girls her age: she might be sixteen, but she's already done with high-school, about to start college at Berkeley with a full ride and going mostly straight to junior classes (which is apparently a new record); and finally, she's getting married to the love of her life…

It's funny because, with the kind of life Natalie has lead, married for twelve years to a man who began cheating on her as soon as she became pregnant, most would have expected her to be completely opposed to her daughter marrying young. And seeing how Lydia's still a minor, she needed parental permission to wed. But Natalie isn't blind. She knows Lydia isn't her, just like Stiles isn't Harold. Also, those two have already been together for six years by that point, since being essentially children. If the craziness of growing up, along with their insane schedules and accelerated education didn't tear them apart, then it's unlikely anything will. So Natalie gives her approval, more than that, she gives her blessing, signs the papers, and smiles as her daughter and her new husband smile and dance to a song from her daughter's favorite animated movie.

It's a perfect Friday night, by this night next week she'll be starting a new life on the other side of the world. Though before that, on Monday the new Mrs. Lydia Stilinski will be receiving her very first mathematics award: the Schafer Prize, during the high-school graduation ceremony… and Harold Martin is going to find out that the 'Martin girls' no longer exist.

It's not like Lydia's unaware of what her father's been up to the past six years. The man was a salesman, had always been, and since moving to San Francisco he'd been quite successful, making it to one of the top salesmen for a huge Auto Center downtown. The thing was, the man was a lie in every way possible. He was always portraying himself as a family man, because it allowed him to 'have something to chat about' with his prospective clients. Lydia has seen the pictures he keeps on his facebook page and the company's website. There are a few of a young Lydia, skating, in a restaurant, or from vacations to the beach, or the ski resort they went to in the mountains once, a couple of years before the divorce. Her name is never really mentioned, it's just said that she's his 'daughter from a previous marriage', though never does it say that it was his wife who demanded the divorce, or the reasons for it. He also has pictures with his second wife, and his other children, the eldest whom is a boy not even two years Lydia's junior, which is rather telling, even if it's never addressed. Also, she notices that none of the pictures are very recent, which, along with the fact that Lydia knows the second Mrs. Martin is an 'actress' who's been mostly known in indie and low-budget movies, and known especially because of the rumors regarding how exactly she got the parts in those movies, paints a very different picture to the one Harold Martin would rather show.

Image has always be everything for him. Lydia knows that after the divorce he expected his ex-wife to fail, perhaps even to beg him to return, or for Lydia to ask to go with him, neither of which ever happened. He knows nothing about them, their lives, didn't care to… until some 'intrepid reporter' found out that a teen-aged girl who hadn't even graduated high-school yet and lived in a town in the fuck-end of nowhere-California was being considered for a Schafer Prize, she went out looking for everything about her, and about her family.

When Harold first calls on them Lydia's almost sure he must have heard about her mom getting married. It's just happened. During the Spring Break Lydia, Natalie and the Stilinskis were flown to Mykonos in a private jet (because, according to Elijah, only the best for the love of his life and her family and closest friends), where Natalie and Elijah finally tied the knot. The woman happily took out the Martin from her name and became Natalie Ahmed.

Elijah offered Lydia his name too, adopting her, making her his daughter, it wasn't a priority of Lydia's. Truth was, she simply didn't care about her surname. She only remained a Martin because it was easier that way. Less paperwork. She stopped using the credit card Harold issued for her a couple of years after the divorce, when the investments she and Stiles planned began to truly pay off. And a year after that Mr. Ross, who was still technically their lawyer, arranged papers to terminate Harold's parental rights, simply to make sure he'd never be able to take her or use her against her mom. They didn't even live in the old house anymore, because that house belonged to Harold and mother and daughter both agreed they didn't want to be in any way beholden to the man. So instead they'd agreed on long-term rent of a penthouse apartment (Natalie didn't know it, but the apartment was actually part of the Hale portfolio, who charged her rent far bellow the usual price, because it was Lydia and her mom living there).

After the wedding they all stayed at Elijah's hotel for the rest of the Spring Break, at his insistence. And then they all flew back to California. The idea was for Elijah to stay with his new wife and step-daughter for a couple of months, until she graduated high-school, then Elijah and Natalie would move to Greece for good, while Lydia and Stiles were planning on getting a head-start on Berkeley. They had a few classes lined up already and everything, also, they'd be sharing a one-bedroom apartment, part of a complex the local pack liked to rent-out to college students who'd rather not live in the dorms. The Reynolds pack were aware that Stiles was a Spark, and Lydia a banshee, both slated to become Emissaries for the Hale pack upon them graduating from college and returning to Beacon Hills.

The use of a private jet during the spring break had called a bit of attention from the press, and there was a small article in a few newspaper and even a blog about the woman from a small town in NorCal, a divorcee with a teen-aged daughter, who'd managed to capture the heart of one of the richest, most handsome men from Greece. There was even a small picture of Natalie and Elijah walking away from the plane. It wasn't a big deal, and only those who truly knew Natalie would even recognize her in that picture, with the pale-golden scarf around her auburn hair and the big sunglasses half-obscuring her face. Yet when Harold first calls, Lydia's quite sure that's the reason. He must have learned that Natalie's getting married, and if he's done even the most basic research, he'll know that Natalie's leaving the country, Lydia expects her father to make some offer to have her live with him or something. 'Give them a chance'. Something he'll probably then try to use to get that promotion he's been after for a couple of years (Lydia's nothing if not through when she looks in on someone).

As it turns out, that's not it at all. The reason for the call isn't Natalie, but Lydia herself. Because Harold's just found out that Lydia's set to receive a very sought-after mathematics prize, the same day she'll be graduating high-school… two years early! Also, with a full-ride to Berkeley all ready. So, not the same reason, but the same purpose still. Lydia rolls her eyes at Harold's speech about them still being family, there still being time for them to 'reconnect' to 'forgive'… Lydia's no doubt that he believes he's the one who needs to forgive her. She hangs up on him.

Harold doesn't give up, he keeps pressing, and doing his best to persuade Lydia to meet with him, in between exaggerated praise, promises to do better, and veiled threats about suing her mom (Lydia isn't actually clear what he thinks he has against her, or how he thinks any kind of lawsuit would help him exactly). On the last she knows that Mr. Ross is not just ready but even a bit eager for the man to try anything, Lydia might not know much about law, but she has no doubt that when Peter tells her that Mike Ross is one of the three best lawyers in the country (the other two being the other name partner of his firm: Harvey Specter, and Peter himself, of course) he means it, so she doesn't worry about her father being able to hurt them in any way, and eventually she simply stops taking his calls altogether.

That's when he starts calling other people. Like DA Whittemore (Lydia isn't clear as to why, while her mom might have a friendly relationship with both Mr. and Mrs. Whittemore, what makes Harold think they'd take his side on anything?), even some of her teachers. Eventually she accepts to meet with him briefly on Monday, if only so he'll stop harassing everyone.

On Friday afternoon, she's about to climb into her car, where Stiles is already waiting for her (his Jeep having died for good the previous week). They're finally done with classes and since this time around Stiles never showed any interest in lacrosse (he was part of the track team, and very good at it, but that was it) there's nothing they need to stay behind for. The team is doing pretty good, even without half its front-line being werewolves, proving once and for all how good Jackson is both at playing the game and at captaining the team, but they're just not interested in it. Nor do they have any real friends at school, never interested in befriending people who, for them, will always seem so much younger…

It's when they're about to take off that the reporter approaches them. She's young, early twenties at most, an independent with a blog trying to get a piece of news that will allow her career to finally 'take off'.

At first it's not so bad, she asks Lydia about the school, her decision to fast-track her own studies, the full-ride to Berkeley, her favorite topic of study, which in turn leads to the prize she's won and will be getting soon enough. It's when she's asked about how pivotal her father's support has been for her getting there, that Lydia's public facade cracks.

It is then she realizes her father's plans. How the reporter found him first (that's how he found out about the prize at all, and how else would he have known? He's never cared about anything scientific), how he told her all these stories about his daughter the genius, the future superstar, his perfect daughter, the apple of his eye, he made up so much bullshit that Lydia just cannot keep up an emotionless expression and the reporter is able to tell that something is off.

"Are you telling me I've been lied to?" The reporter demands, tense.

"Extensively." Lydia answers, recovering her composure and untouchable mask. "I haven't seen Harold Martin in person since he signed the divorce papers, a little over six years ago. And before a couple of weeks ago I hadn't talked to him in at least two years. He had no interest in myself or my mother, not when we stopped playing the part he wanted us to play, not while he had another picture-perfect family he could lay claim to."

But that's not working out very well for him anymore, Lydia knows. According to some private investigator who works for Mr. Ross, the wife's filed for divorce, the children refuse to even be around him, and apparently he's so deep in debt that the bank's about to seize just about everything he owns. Even declaring himself bankrupt is unlikely to save him at this point. Which actually explains why he's suddenly so interested in reconnecting with Lydia, since the Schafer Prize comes with a monetary reward, and with Lydia being a minor, Harold might be able to claim the money for himself… or so he thinks.

Lydia knows her father has no leg to stand on. His parental rights have been terminated, but with her mother moving to Mykonos, Greece and Lydia still being under eighteen… it could be tricky. The emancipation process takes four to six months, she doesn't have that kind of time. She has no interested in moving to Greece with her mom so… that leaves her only one option: declare herself an adult in a different way: marriage.

With her to-be-father-in-law being the County Sheriff, and her mom's friendly relationship with DA Whittemore it takes no time at all for a special license to be issued. It's also probably a good thing that the people in charge of such things actually know Lydia and Stiles, it allows them not to balk at the ages in the copies of the intended bride's and groom's IDs.

And so, just before City Hall closes for the evening the two teenagers arrive, Lydia in a simple but pretty knee-length, short-sleeved ivory white dress and heels, Stiles in a two-piece black suit with white shirt underneath and no tie (Lydia's seen what he's like with a tie, it's better if he just foregoes them entirely, and the suit looks good on him without). They each have one parent with them, they sign as witnesses, along with Mr. and Mrs. Whittemore (Elijah wishes them the best but as he's not a US citizen his signature wouldn't help much). Neither Stiles nor Lydia are very religious people, so it's a very simple and to-the-point ceremony.

Once everything's legal Peter calls them and lets them know that they're awaiting them in the private room of Nisen's, the best organic restaurant in town. Unknown to most, while the place isn't actually owned by the Hales, they've always gotten preferential treatment, the best prices, etc., because it was a Hale (Talia's and Peter's grandfather, in fact) that loaned the man who first built the restaurant, the money to do so, when the banks refused (and then refused to charge him any interest for it, happy with just being paid back the original amount of money).

The dinner is superb, and at one point Stiles and Lydia are cajoled into having one dance. Cora's ready with her iPod and some wireless speakers and plays "At the Beginning". Natalie cannot help but shed a few tears as she watches her daughter dance with her brand new husband because, it might not be what she planned for Lydia exactly, but it's what her daughter's chosen, so that makes it so much better.

Everyone also takes a moment to congratulate Lydia in advance for the great mathematics' prize she's earned and which she'll be awarded officially on Monday, in the High-School, right during the graduation ceremony. Lydia herself is very proud, as she's managed to break her own record, even if the Schafer Prize isn't exactly a Fields Medal, it's one step in the right direction. She's managed to call the attention of the scientific community already, and she's just sixteen-years-old, she hasn't even started attending college yet! (Even if she's been taking online classes for years by now, same as Stiles).

"Is this everything you dreamed it would be?" Stiles asks her quietly.

"No," Lydia admits quietly after pondering on it for several seconds. "But then again, I never planned on getting married. It was something I knew would happen eventually, but it wasn't exactly a priority of mine. Yet… I am happy Mischief…" She uses that name purposefully, she knows how special it is, for him, for them, how scarcely it's used. "I'm happy to be here, with you, with our families…"

"To be Mrs. Lydia Stilinski?" Stiles asks with a goofy smile on his face.

Lydia snorts, mostly to herself, if someone had told her, back when she first met Stiles, when she first started at Beacon Hills Elementary (because contrary to popular belief, she had in fact noticed Stiles almost from the beginning) someone had told her that the funny looking, dorky, clumsy and slightly crazy little kid was meant to be the love of her life (lives!), she'd have thought that person had to be absolutely nuts. Even when the kid began trying to call her attention, claiming she'd one day love him, it had seemed ridiculous… then again, she hadn't known him back then, not really, and he hadn't known her. And while he might not be her Only love, he was certainly True, and that was more than enough.

"I'm happy to be with you," Lydia agrees, kissing him tenderly. "Everything else are just details."

xXx

Things on Monday end up being quite anti-climatic in a sense. They manage to get through the whole award/graduation ceremony pretty easily. Lydia receives her special mention, and her prize as planned, even gives a few words. The only reason she or Stiles aren't Valedictorian is because the school didn't believe it to be fair when they hadn't been in the school as long. The two of them didn't exactly disagree, and it's not like it would have changed anything. Berkeley offered them a full ride before they even started their last year of high-school.

After the ceremony is over Lydia meets with the representatives of the Schafer Prize, Stiles on her arm. He giggles briefly just before they go inside and when he says something about knowing what the 'trophy wives' feel like Lydia smacks him on the shoulder, though at the same time, his comment make her chuckle slightly, allowing her to relax just in time to go inside.

The meeting is more protocol than anything else. The group standing there all know that she already has a full scholarship and is almost halfway through a double degree in Mathematics and Chemistry thanks to all her online courses. So it's not like they can entice her to other schools, even though one of the men is from the MIT and one of the women from Harvard, both schools Lydia once (in another life) was very interested, one of which she actually attended. But a lot has changed, she has different priorities this time around.

Her mom and her husband are lead into the room as well and both express how proud they're of Lydia for all she's achieved. There are no doubts for anyone in the room when Lydia states that she'll be earning a Fields Medal next. It doesn't matter that she's so young (most would say too young for such a thing). Dr. Terrence, from Princeton, says that if she still wants a Fields Medal by the time she has a Doctorate, or at the very least a Master's Degree, he's no doubt that she'll get one, she has what it takes for it.

Eventually the group takes their leave and Lydia agrees to answer a few questions from reporters before they go have lunch at the Hale House (at Talia's insistence). It's as they're closing up the interviews and posing for a few pictures (one of the reporters even insisted on one with both Lydia and Stiles, since they're mentioning the fact that the both of them chose to accelerate their studies and will be starting at Berkeley in a few weeks) that Harold finally manages to force his way into the room.

"Lydia, princess!" The man calls dramatically.

No one reacts in the slightest to his entrance, not Lydia, and not the reporters, which he clearly doesn't like.

"Lydia sweetheart, I've been trying to reach you all morning and people keep waylaying me." Harold states in a suffering tone. "That two-bit lawyer kept insisting that I wasn't in the approved list. Which is absolutely ridiculous, I'm your father, of course I'm on the list…"

He breaks off as he realizes no one is paying attention to him, at all. It's then that he notices the reporters are already packing up everything.

"Hey!" He calls, offended. "What about me? Don't I get some pictures with the lucky winner?"

Lydia turns to look at Stiles, who'd biting his tongue and she can practically see the things he's trying very hard to keep from saying. She almost wishes he wouldn't, almost.

"We're done here, need to leave now." The reporter from San Francisco informs him evenly.

"Wait, you promised me an article, an interview." Harold presses. "Said it was going to be a big thing. For you and for me."

"Yeah well, it'd seem I'm not the only one who promises things they cannot deliver." The reporter shrugs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harold is playing the offended part, but no one's buying it.

"It means, Mr. Martin, that you painted me a very different picture from reality." The reporter stated. "But don't worry. You wanted a big article that'd feature you, and there will be one. I just don't think it'll go like you were expecting. After all 'The Triple Fake: a husband, father and businessman who pretended to be all three yet was nothing but a liar' probably isn't what you had in mind for an article, though I can promise you, it'll sell."

"You cannot do that!" Harold cries out, furious and horrified. "I'll sue!"

"For what? Telling the truth?" The reporter snorts.

"Don't worry, we can recommend a very good lawyer." Stiles tells the reporter with a big smile.

"Who are you brat? What are you even doing here?" Harold dismisses him immediately. "Nevermind that, Lydia, we're leaving."

He spins around dramatically and stalks towards the door, until he realizes that Lydia isn't following. And not just that, everyone's looking at him like he's crazy.

"We're leaving!" He demands.

"Why?" Lydia asks, honestly baffled. "What makes you think I'd go anywhere with you? You're not my tutor, legally you have no rights to me."

"You think I don't know your bitch of a mother is taking off for Europe with her new boytoy?" Harold scoffs. "You're still a minor, which means you need a parent. And since she's clearly too irresponsible, I'll be looking after you from now on."

"Is that what you call it?" Lydia scoffs, then shakes her head. "In any case, there's no need for you to worry, 'father'. I'm not your concern anymore." Before Harold can say anything else, she's speaking again: "And about him, I don't think you've been introduced yet, this is Stiles Stilinski, my husband."

"What?!" Harold's actually going red with rage. "You… you cannot be married! You're a child! You… you'd need my permission! I never gave my permission for this stupidity!"

"I don't need anything from you, Harold, I never did." Lydia states scathingly. "It may have escaped your notice, but you're nothing to me. It's true that, because of my age I needed parental permission, and I had it. It's done, there's nothing you can do about it. Since last Friday I'm Lydia Stilinski, and that's that."

"Is everyone in this hick-town stupid?!" Harold roars.

He goes into a speech about idiotic people and so many other things most don't bother really listening to. When he gets too close to Lydia Stiles reacts instinctively, pulling her away from him. That makes the man react, and he attempts to hit him. Stiles reacts to that as well, he clamps down on his instinctive desire to fight back, to attack himself, and simply dodges the punch. In the end, that's quite enough. It's quite clear that Mr. Martin doesn't know the first thing about fighting. He overreaches so much he ends up sprawled on the linoleum floor, the fall so bad he actually ends up with a bleeding nose, without anyone ever touching him at all.

Lydia exhales, apologizes to the reporters who hurry to reassure her she has nothing to worry about, as they won't be reporting on the shameful incident, that's not the focus of their articles. All but the one from San Fran… Lydia has no doubt that she will be writing about it, at least she also knows that the reporter will make sure the only one hurt by the article will be one Harold Martin. And the chances of anyone being able to connect him to one Lydia Stilinski are next to none (the reporter has also promised to keep the Stilinski name out of it).

Lydia says nothing as she walks out of the room on her husband's arm, her mother and her own husband behind them; and she never, not once, turns to look back.

Stiles twists his hand to clench the one she has over his arm briefly, his way of asking her if she's alright. Lydia nods discreetly. It was about time she put Harold Martin behind.

"So, time to go party?" He asks with a goofy smile.

Lydia knows what he's doing, acting up to make her smile. The thing is, it works.

"I love you" She murmurs quietly, inclining her head towards his briefly.

"I know…" He replies dramatically, turning to look at her and smiling wide.

She cannot not know what he's doing there. She slaps his shoulder with her free hand and he cackles. His whiskey eyes seem to almost sparkle gold with his happiness and she cannot help but smile in response.

"You dork." She shakes her head, though she never stops smiling.

"Your dork." He half corrects. "My princess…"

They're still smiling as they climb into her car. And it's as she pulls out of her spot that she realizes Peter's still in the parking lot, in his own car. Even though he couldn't exactly join them in that room, he still had their back through it all, because that's what pack does. She smiles at him through the window but doesn't say a thing, she knows she doesn't need to.

"Lets go party." She states, and she puts her car into drive.

"Yes!" Stiles cries out excitedly.

One chapter of their life's finally closed, the rest is still straight ahead…

xXx

The rest of the week feels almost like a honeymoon for the teen-aged newlyweds. Natalie and Elijah are fully installed in Greece, leaving Lydia and Stiles with the penthouse apartment all to themselves. They do their best to enjoy it. Though they can never forget that there's something missing. It doesn't matter if they never actually talk about it, their empty hands speak for themselves.

Still, they do their best to focus on the positives. The following Wednesday is the full-moon, the last one they'll be spending with the pack for a good while, they know, since they're planning to continue their accelerated studies while in college. It's why they're living so soon, in fact, as they're already enrolled for summer-courses. Lydia and Stiles make sure to pack everything, a moving service is hired to take most of their things to the new apartment awaiting them in Berkeley, the rest will be stored in their room in the Hale Pack House.

And then the time comes for the full-moon. Those who are wolves in the pack run while the humans enjoy each other's company in the backyard, with a bonfire and some snacks while they wait for their wolves to come back. Lydia and Stiles, since they're staying at the house for the last few nights before taking off for Berkeley on Saturday, don't so much arrive, as they simply go downstairs once the sun sets. They stand on the back-porch, their sides press together, as they watch everyone arrive.

It's not that many people, just the core of the pack really. As the extended pack only really gathers together for truly big events, like the Wolfmoon in January (hence them all being in town the day of the fire) and during the Memorial Holiday (though that one Lydia's sure isn't about their wolves at all, just an excuse for a huge get-together… which they didn't do the year of the fire, probably too hesitant after almost dying).

When the moon rises Talia lets out a loud howl which everyone in the pack (wolves and human) echo automatically before darting into the preserve, leaving Stiles, Lydia, Zach, Philip and the twins on their own. The twins are immediately nagging Philip to help them make some s'mores (they're forbidden from getting close to the fire, but since Philip is an adult, he should be able to, according to them). Zach offers to help too, neither of them saying a word to the two teenagers still standing on the back-porch, their eyes fixed on nothing at all, hands clasped together so tightly their knuckles are turning white…

"Don't give up…" Stiles's words are whispered straight into her ear, so low that Lydia's sure that even if the wolves were still in the clearing they wouldn't be able to hear. "We cannot give up."

"We won't." Lydia assures him. "But Stiles, we cannot put our lives on pause for him either. That's… it wouldn't be right."

She wants to say that it's not what he'd want, but it's not like she can actually know can she? She wants to say that it's not what he's done, but do they even know for sure that he traveled back in time with them? Because much as they might want to believe exactly that, truth is she just doesn't know, neither of them do, not for certain.

"And we won't." He states, as confident as he can. "We'll live our lives, and we'll hope…"

In the end, what else can they do?

xXx

Lydia finishes her Math and Chemistry degrees in two years, at about the same time as Stiles gets his Bachelors in Psychology. She knows his current plan is to be a lawyer, though she just cannot picture it, him, as one. Stiles has always been a man of action… yet the last thing she wants is to get in the way of his dreams, or for him to think she won't support him, whatever path he chooses in life, so she just focuses on supporting him in any way she can.

It's been two years since they left Beacon Hills, and they haven't really gone back. Much as they might miss the Hales, they just don't feel ready to go back, not yet; and they seem to realize that because they don't insist. They do get visits from Noah, he spends his yearly vacations with them, either in Berkeley, or they'll all go to San Francisco; he also visits whenever he can get a long weekend. She enjoys the visits almost as much as Stiles does. As good as Elijah might be for his mom, she just cannot see him as a dad, Noah on the other hand… he's been as good as her dad since she and Stiles first got together (in both lives).

As for her mom… she needs to focus on her growing family. As it turns out, Natalie wasn't as old as she'd once believed, she could still have a child. Exactly eight months after the wedding she gave birth to fraternal twins: a boy and a girl: Zander and Zara Ahmed. The new parents have been so busy with them there's no way they'd be able to fly to the other side of the world. Lydia both wants and not to visit. She wants to because that's still her mom, and those kids are her little siblings; and yet at the same time, when her mom married and moved away she convinced herself that it was for the best, to let her make a new life for herself, one without the supernatural that she would never be able to deal with. Lydia's not quite sure who she's trying to protect with that one, and she really hates lying to herself, even by omission.

So Lydia promises herself she'll talk about it with Stiles, maybe once they get settled into their grad-studies… there are other things much more important for them to talk about, and she manages to bring the topic up one Sunday morning…

"I'm bored…" She states.

"I hope that wasn't a critique on my performance." Stiles snarks.

They're still in bed, naked, and the only reason she's not panting is because her husband really doesn't need to get a big head.

"Don't go fishing for compliments Stiles, it's not attractive." She retorts with a wave of her hand.

She would smack him, but she's just recovered her breath and cannot really think about moving enough for even that. His sassy wink tells her he if not knows, at least suspects that.

"What has you so bored my princess?" He asks her dramatically, settling on his side, holding his head up with one hand to look straight at her.

"Everything." She admits with a groan. "It's all so… easy. I mean, I'm a genius, so maybe a bit of that is expected but… studying at a different school, achieving things faster, was supposed to keep me busy, entertained, and it did, for a while. But it's no longer working."

"You don't feel challenged." Stiles concludes.

"No." Lydia exhales.

She hates to even think it but, she almost misses the other timeline. Not the deaths, and the loses, the being always afraid, always on alert, knowing the danger never, ever ended… it's just. She misses being busy, working on so many things at once, against the clock, so much depending on her, on them, and knowing that regardless of what the odds were, they were going to win because they were just that good. And more than that, she misses having a purpose.

All her studies, her awards… much as she might enjoy the admiration of so many brilliant minds. It feels almost like when she decided she wanted to be more than someone's trophy wife. She's a genius, and she knows, the whole world knows it, and while that's amazing, it's just not enough, not anymore.

"We need something to keep ourselves busy." Stiles declares.

"Like what?" Lydia inquires.

"No idea." She has no doubt that it costs him to admit that, but she also doesn't doubt that he'll come up with something, sooner or later. "I'll let you know when I do."

It takes hardly any time for Stiles to get the same idea she did, the fact that what they need is a purpose. She knows that's why he gets into his head to do that internship for the local legal buffet. She for her part decides to get to work on one of the Millennium Problems. Maybe by the time she's solved it she'll know what the rest of the plan is.

Two weeks later Stiles arrives to their apartment early and… she can almost feel the shadow hanging around him: it's pain, and fury, and loss so deep it makes her shudder. He slips off his jacket and lets it fall to the floor, and while she would usually joke about him regretting that later when they have to pay for dry-cleaning… again, she knows it's just not the time. The way he practically rips off his tie, throwing it away with such vehemence that it makes it obvious he wishes to be throwing something else or just… he's hurting, so much he wants to hurt someone else in turn, and she can only wonder how hard it must be for him to keep all that feeling contained, to keep his magic from going completely haywire…

Finally, he lets himself fall on one of their couches, hands going to his face, pressing against his eyes in a way that looks almost painful.

"I cannot do this," He murmurs, voice low and pained.

"What happened Mischief?" Lydia asks softly, because she has no idea what the hell's going on, just that it must be really, really bad.

It's worse. Slowly, in stops and starts, Stiles tells her the story: Of the woman who killed her infant daughter, who smothered her to death. The buffet had gotten involved because there was suspicion of there being some supernatural tints to the case, so one of the lawyers there had become the woman's defendant. The woman's defense? That the girl's crying was driving her nuts, she wouldn't quiet, nothing the mother did helped, she'd asked everyone she could think of for help, but the doctors didn't know what it was, her family wasn't much help (they didn't approve of her having gone on a Cruise in the Caribbean and returned pregnant and still alone), others judged her either for being a single mom, or for just not being a good one.

It had looked like a simple case. Lots of big words were being thrown around: post-partum depression, psychosis, etc. The only problem? The baby was almost a year old, so most doctors though it was a bit late for the woman to be acting like that. The ADA tried to paint her as a child-killer, the Defendant as a young, single mother who couldn't cope. One thing bothered Stiles, and it was the term the woman kept using for the baby's crying; she didn't call it crying, or weeping, or even wailing, which most would have expected, she called it screeching. Like nails on a chalkboard, she even described once. Most chalked it to her own state of mind, but it nagged in Stiles's head. So he did what he did best, he researched.

Hours later he had the answer: so apparently mermaids were a thing, most lived far away from any human settlements, but there were places where the sea was said to be especially attractive to them: like the Caribbean. Stiles's working theory was that the baby's father was a mermaid. According to things he'd read in the Hale library, while mermaids could come on land and look humanoid, they needed a special magic for their vocal chords to adapt, otherwise their voices sounded like screeching. So shrill that it could drive people crazy even…

When one of the paralegals saw what Stiles was doing she immediately brought the information to the lawyers, in hours they'd confirmed his theory. Thankfully someone in the ADA office was aware of the supernatural, so a deal was made. Minimum time, and a lot of therapy, and yet…

"So you solved it." Lydia concludes.

"I did, but what was the point?" Stiles asks, despondent.

"You saved that woman from a life in prison, or possibly the electric chair." Lydia reminds him. "That's a good thing, you know?"

"Maybe, but how must she feel now, knowing that she killed her own child? And not for anything either of them did but just… she didn't know Lydia!" And that, right there, is the core of it all. "She didn't know what her baby was! She didn't even know the supernatural existed. She asked for help, and there was no one… There should have been someone!"

He goes into a tirade that Lydia doesn't really follow word for word. She just sits there beside him and waits. She can tell the exact moment when it hits him. It's almost funny, in a way that no one actually laughs. But she understood why Stiles was going the way of law-school, in a way that he apparently didn't. Then again, that's always been the difference between them: Stiles is an instinctive thinker and planner, he doesn't care for the specifics, for reasons, only about getting things done, about making them work. In the other timeline, he never really cared about How werewolves could be real; only that they did, in fact, exist, and then all his focus went on what he should do about that. How he could help everyone? How to fight them, how to protect them, that was what mattered to him. Lydia? She was all about the theory. She needed to know the how and the why, needs for things to make sense to her. It's why she's never been very good at the magic, even though she knows she has the capacity for using it. It's why, even though she became quite good at the 'action' parts that came with being a Banshee, like the scream (both to predict death and to attack), she's never been very good at the psychic part of things (where it came to truly communicating with the dead).

"I'll be that someone." Stiles announces after what seems like forever.

"I'll be right here with you, every step of the way." She promises him.

And that's that.

xXx

When Stiles tells her about his plan to become a private investigator, Lydia smiles. It fits him. He'll get to research all sort of things, will be able to make people pay, and he doesn't have to wait for anyone to 'give him permission' to act, or to only get there until it's too late already. She knows he's still worried about how to get the word out to the right people, but Lydia knows that'll be easy, all they have to do is let the right people know, and word of mouth will take care of the rest. Peter alone has enough contacts that she has no doubt people will find out about Stiles, when he's ready.

That just leaves her with needing to find something so she's not bored anymore… She does her best to apply the same logic she did to Stiles's situation. It takes her a while, but eventually she manages to reach several conclusions: She's a genius, that's never been in any doubt. But the Fields Medal… it's been her greatest goal for so long, it's only when she's so close to winning it for the second time that she begins to realize how little difference it makes in her life. Because as much as she might be a genius in math, as sure as she is that one day she'll solve of of the Millennium Problems… it's not what she wants to be doing the rest of her life. There was a time when she wanted to prove herself, to show the world that she was more than just a pretty girl, a 'trophy girlfriend/wife', but after everything she's gone through, she's finally come to realize that she doesn't need any of it. As long as the people she loves and who love her know the truth about her, what does she care what the rest of the world thinks?

Next, she tries to think back to the moment when she's been happiest: she remembers one early morning on an inflatable mattress inside a somewhat small tent, out in the middle of nowhere. Remembers laying there, naked, in between two equally naked men, and everything had been absolutely perfect. They might have been in the run, unable to stay anywhere for long, with no place to call home, but they had been together, and that was enough. She wants that back, she wants her mates back, not just Stiles, but Derek as well. She wants them both, and she wants the things they couldn't have the first time around: a family and a home. So she begins to plan on how to get those things.

By the end of the summer she's figured it out.

Everyone's surprised when, come September, Lydia enrolls in a Biochemistry grad program. Most of her teachers were expecting her to keep going with the Math, but while she's still doing some research, on the Millennium Problems and such, most of her focus is now elsewhere.

"You've decided then." Stiles says as they get ready for the first day of the semester.

"It wasn't that hard." She shrugs as she turns to face him.

Stiles says nothing, just looks at her, waiting for her to say what's on her mind.

"When someone needs help, you'll be there to help them." Lydia explains. "When some kind of monsters pops up and threatens people, you'll research them to kingdom come, find a way to stop them and then do it… or if not you, then you'll get Peter, or Cora, or someone else to do it. When Hunters get involved, the same. But tell me, when someone goes looking for help because they're feeling strange, like they're sick, or poisoned, what are you going to do?" She doesn't actually wait for an answer, though she can see him truly thinking hard about it. "You're going to call me. That's what you're going to do. In between the Hale library, the things we remember from before and all we have access to now, I'm going to find a way to detect what kind of poison, or whatever has been used against someone, and the best way to treat it."

No more depending on cryptic asshole druids to get their answers, no more risking everyone's lives on last shots that only work half the time, and even then tend to make other things worse somehow. She and Stiles, they're together in this. Always.

xXx

When the next year comes Lydia isn't too surprised to learn she hasn't won the Fields Medal. Officially it's because she doesn't actually fulfill all the requirements, as she doesn't have a PhD in Math, like the rest of the winners. Though Lydia suspects that if she'd at least been working towards it, they'd have agreed to push that detail aside. She knows there are those who don't quite agree with her switching programs for her grad studies, but she doesn't care. It's still her life, in the end. And the people that truly matter to her, like Stiles, and the pack, they love her and support her. Always have and always will, regardless of what she chooses to do with her life. They still fly to Korea for the ceremony and she gets a special mention for her work thus far.

Things go mostly as planned during the next eighteen months or so. Stiles gets his Criminology Degree and begins working full time as assistant for the local PI. While she gets her Masters' Degree in Biochemistry and several of her professors convince her to continue her work and her research on her biggest interest: finding a better way to test individuals for drugs, poisons, etc., with the aim of turning it into a thesis she can defend for a Doctorate. It's not exactly her biggest objective, but since she is interested in doing the research anyway…

One day she cannot help but think about how long they've been in Berkeley already: four and a half years. It doesn't seem that long, certainly no longer than most people attending college (though they've been doing a lot more than that) and yet they're not just any people, they're part of a pack. She knows that some of the members of the Reynolds pack stare at them sometimes, especially the wolves, like they're trying to decide if they're truly a part of the Hale pack, while staying away for so long…

Noah's unscheduled visit in January catches both her and Stiles by surprise. Especially when the reason for it is unveiled: apparently Peter's finally made a move, or at least one big enough to make Noah react. It's not like she and Stiles didn't know there was something between them (though she certainly would have had more tact when revealing that). And yet, in the end Stiles manages to put his dad at ease, to convince him there's nothing wrong with loving Peter, while still loving his dead wife. In that he and Peter are very similar…

If Lydia's honest with herself, she cannot imagine it. Cannot imagine herself living on without her mate. She in fact remembers quite clearly having said something to that effect to Derek once: "I will not live without you". It's hard, for the both of them, being as they are… but at least Derek isn't dead, even if he's not with them, he's alive, and that gives them hope, that one day they'll have the chance to be more, to be what they're meant to be… Lydia's not sure that even now, even after everything else that's happened, that she'd be able to survive without both her mates. Even if one remained, if she lost the other one, if she was forced to wail their name… well, she does still remember what happened the last time.

In the end Noah only stays one night, the next day he's back in the rental he drives whenever he visits them. Later that evening Cora sends them both a single picture: of Noah and Peter standing on the porch of the Hale house, kissing…

That same evening, after a bout of lovemaking Lydia's laying on the bed, still naked, Stiles's long fingers slowly, sensuously tracing the Hale triskele that marks her upper back. She in turn traces the white lily tattooed on the inside of his right arm. The tattoos were a crazy idea they had during their second anniversary, the symbol of their commitment. Because while the Hale tattoo once was about that, it's not anymore. Now it's a symbol of the Hale pack, all of it, not just the three of them. So instead they chose to get new tattoos, as a representation of their love. In the inside of the arms they always link together. His a white lily, because that is her symbol; while she got a black raven that represents him. And while they've never said it, they're each waiting in the hope of one day being able to add a tattoo to their other arms: a black wolf with bright eyes (whether they're golden, red or blue they won't care).

"I want to go home…"

It's impossible to say which of them says it exactly, or if perhaps both of them do. But once the words are out there… that's it.

It cannot happen immediately, of course not. They need to get everything in order. To finish what work they've already begun. She needs to either finish or make arrangements to continue her doctorate work from a distance, Stiles needs to finish his current cases, present his resignation to Billy and get his license once and for all. They need to talk to the Reynolds pack to thank them for their hospitality, and arrange for all their possessions to be taken back to Beacon Hills… and they need to find a place to live once they're back.

But in essence, the decision's been made: they're going home.

xXx

It takes three months for them to put all their affairs in order, which is almost enough to annoy Lydia, they should be better than that. But it's not as easy as she'd have liked. First there's the trial Stiles is the key witness for (the kid he managed to save from that kidnapper, and the way he helped put that bastard away, she knows her husband's proud of that); and she herself didn't have an easy time convincing her tutors at Berkeley that she could and would continue her research in Beacon Hills. But at least it's been settled now.

She calls Peter to see about a place for her and Stiles to live, she's most interested in them renting the penthouse where she used to live with her mom; it's a good place, even if it means she'll have to find a different one to conduct her research. Yet Peter surprises her when he assures her he has something better in mind and even sends them a set of keys and an address she doesn't recognize, neither does Stiles for that matter. And that does intrigue her, because when Peter mentioned something better, she considered the possibility of him offering them his old apartment (she has no doubt that if he hasn't moved in with Noah yet, he will any day now), but the address isn't that of Peter's apartment downtown. In fact, she doesn't remember the name of that street at all, which shouldn't be possible, she was sure between her and Stiles they knew ever corner of Beacon Hills… except, apparently not.

Stiles is the one to make the arrangements for a van that'll take most of their things back to Beacon Hills on Monday morning, everything but what they absolutely need for the extra night and two days they'll be staying, while the trial comes to an end.

On Saturday afternoon, they're almost finished with the packing, when Lydia sees the dogeared paperback in the small bookcase beside the bed, on Stiles's side. The state of the book makes it obvious that he's read it before, quite often in fact. The cover shows a half-obscured full moon and worms coming out of the dark earth; the title "Wormmoon" in big amber-colored letters right in the middle. There's something beseeching about that book and Lydia cannot help but open it on a random chapter. She only reads a couple of pages before snapping it closed abruptly, every word just hitting too close to home.

She needs to know what's going on. What's up with that book? And it's not even the only one, as she soon realizes, there are more on the bookcase, all bearing the names of different full moons… All authored by the same man: Boyce Fox. What kind of name is that? There's not even a picture of him in the back-cover. Because that's not suspicious at all… When she demands explanations Stiles tells her all about the Fullmoon series, and how he discovered the books while looking for something to read in the airport in Athens (probably during that time the layover ended up being much longer than it was supposed to). It's clear he loves the books and is eagerly awaiting for the next one in the series; all Lydia can think about is how familiar that scene she read was, how much like her own memories… or well, not exactly. Despite the titles the books are about mutants, not wolves, and the names don't sound at all like theirs but… but the general events, the happenings; the description of the places is the same, even if the names aren't. It's so strange… she isn't sure she likes it. When she brings it up with her husband he tells her that he had in fact noticed the similarities, but he just hasn't thought about it. It's like he's in some kind of denial… it hits her like a ton of bricks.

"Who's Boyce Fox?" She's quite sure she already asked that question, though she still hasn't gotten an answer, and suddenly it's much more important… "There's no photo of him here."

"Nor anywhere else." Stiles half-shrugs. "What? I got curious! Apparently he's a mostly independent author. The first three books or so were published through Amazon, before the deal with SIP was signed. He has a huge following in Europe, not so much here, not yet. Apparently mutants aren't 'in' right now."

"What I really want to know is how the hell this complete strange knows what happened that night?!" Lydia cannot help but hiss, feeling uncomfortable at the possibility of a complete stranger knowing not just that moment, but every moment… "Only three people are supposed to know about it! You, me and…"

Her voice trails off as a wild idea enters her head, and by the way Stiles's head snaps up to meet her eyes it's clearly she's not the only one thinking it.

"You think…" He breaks off, as if too afraid to even say the words.

He breaks off and Lydia isn't quite sure if it's because he doesn't know what to say, or he's afraid saying it. Stiles isn't exactly afraid of much but… yeah, Lydia understands. But she never gets the chance to tell him that, because suddenly the world is so loud. Her whole body tenses, at the same time as Stiles's does and a part of her wonders if he hears it too, the roar so loud and so… pervasive, like it's coming from everywhere at the same time, and while a part of Lydia wants to cover her ears, most of her knows it'd be pointless. She doesn't even realize she's reached for Stiles's hand until their fingers are entwined and then they're holding onto each other so tight it's a miracle nothing gets broken. They have no idea what's going on, no idea at all, just that, whatever it is, it's big.

The moment passes, her back is itching, almost burning, but she cannot focus on that, not when her head is almost pounding and… when its over, the sudden absence of sound causes a near-euphoria that is akin to that caused by the sudden absence of pain. It's also immediately followed by a very different sensation. Something like a rush, like some kind of heat under her skin, under both their skins. Because she can tell, without a doubt, that Stiles is feeling it too. From one moment to the next they're in each other's arms, embracing passionately, kissing, pulling at each other's clothes until they're completely naked. They don't even make it to the bedroom and while Lydia's never been exactly a fan of having sex on the floor, in that moment she just cannot bring herself to care. The pleasure is so keen, so sharp and sweet at the same time and… it's just more than anything ever before. She's not even surprised when they black out for a little while.

When they come to neither of them says a thing, they just hold each other, and almost without noticing, they end up gently tracing the other's triskele tattoo. They don't talk about what just happened. About how strange it was, how sudden, how intense… they also don't speak of the fact that just for a moment they didn't feel that hole in their hearts, in their bond, the empty spot that's been there for so long they've almost grown used to it, almost… They say nothing, they don't need to, because in that moment they're both doing the exact same thing: hoping.

xXx

They almost have to delay their departure from Berkeley, which annoys Lydia in the extreme, though she doesn't say a thing about it, knowing Stiles is beyond stressed-out already. The trial keeps going way too long and as she sits in the gallery she cannot help but understand why Stiles says the human justice system is extremely flawed, and why most supernaturals don't trust it either; after what she's seen during that trial, she cannot help but agree. What should have been an open and shut case has been dragged on for way too long. As if someone's just hoping that they'll all give up on pursuing the matter, on actually seeing justice done, if they just drag things on long enough.

Lydia's there both to support her husband, and because they're leaving the moment it's all over, they already emptied the apartment, gave their keys back and everything. Which means that if the trials goes on for another day they'll need to spend the night in a hotel. Not the best, but certainly better than perpetuating the mistaken idea some of those in the Reynolds pack have gotten, that they're never leaving.

Sunday was a mess, and she doesn't understand it, at all. They thought they'd made their plans clear enough. Except apparently not, because when the comment was made regarding their departure on Tuesday half of those in the pack went completely nuts. Stiles was forced to call on his power just to make everyone shut up long enough for them to state that yes, they were leaving on Tuesday, no, it wasn't negotiable, and no, they weren't theirs, they weren't part of their pack, they were Hales! If Lydia didn't believe it'd cause more troubles than the ones it'd solve, she would tell Talia just how insistent some of the members of the pack were about them staying, and how their Alpha did nothing to stop it from happening.

Thankfully the trial does end by mid-afternoon. She and Stiles take a moment to say their goodbyes to Billy, then they get into her car and drive straight out of town. Courtesy suggests they should have dropped by the pack-house to thank them for their hospitality, but after Sunday neither of them is very interested in being courteous. They stop in a small dinner just out of town to get some club-sandwiches, fries and beverages and eat while on the road (something Lydia normally wouldn't allow, as she likes her car to be spotless, but needs must); the food isn't even that great, but it's better than going on an empty stomach.

They make it to Beacon Hills by late afternoon, the sun is about to set and Lydia can almost feel the tension leaving her bit by bit. It started from the moment they crossed into Beacon County actually, but it's better once they're properly inside the town, once they're home. On the driver's seat Stiles is so tense that she can only imagine how his muscles will be aching. She considers the possibility of offering him a massage… she knows exactly what buttons to push, she would make sure he's completely relaxed, and then very turned on… it's not like they need to go see anyone just yet, that can wait until the morning. The Hales and Stiles's dad knew they might be a day or more late, if the trial didn't end when planned and as much as she loves and has missed the pack, and she knows her husband has too, she's not in the best mood, sex would help a lot. Also, she knows they won't like them smelling like another pack, and it'll take a little while, and at least several showers, to make sure there isn't even a trace of the Reynolds pack left on them, or anything of theirs.

As she opens the GPS on her cellphone and begins giving Stiles instructions to the address Peter gave them she cannot help but wonder at the state the place will be in. Will they need to clean the whole place before they can even sleep? Because that would be seriously off-putting, it's too late to do any real cleaning. And while she knows they sent most of the stuff ahead, including bed-sheets and the like, she isn't sure if anyone will even think about such things, or if they'll have to do it themselves. Another part of her mind is also considering food. Chances are the pantry and the fridge will be empty, and even if they aren't, she's not going to ask Stiles to cook when he's clearly both tense and tired. Which means take-out, but she doesn't even know where from…

Her thoughts are completely derailed as Stiles parks the car. They're in a decent-sized parking lot behind the building itself, there's enough space for three cars, probably more, and beyond the marked parking spaces the backyard of sorts continues straight into the preserve.

The first thing Lydia thinks is that the whole place looks actually kind of familiar. From the street it didn't seem so, the bakery, even empty as it was, on the ground-floor and the clearly-finished-but-still-vacant offices on the second floor completely unfamiliar to her, clearly businesses that didn't exist in the other timeline for whatever the reason. But looking at the place from behind… she's just closed the passenger door to the car when it hits her, why the place looks so painfully familiar: it's the building where Derek's old loft used to be! Does that mean… what the hell does that mean?!

Derek's old loft… how exactly did they not realize where they were going? Shouldn't it have been obvious long before they even got there? And then she realizes, the streets all have different names, because well, butterflies and hurricanes apparently. Stiles stopped the Hale fire, saved all those lives, and between that, and the other changes they managed to provoke either directly or indirectly since… Beacon Hills is a very different place than what it was the first time around. In this universe the place around them isn't the 'Old Industrial district', because the place never fell into hard times, with all the owners broke, or worse; instead it's the Business district, full of shops, and offices, and even a few apartment buildings, both old and modern.

Lydia stares at Stiles for several seconds before he turns to look at her in turn. They're both at a loss, neither of them knowing what to think, what to do, what to say… Is it a good sign? Them being there. Or is the universe mocking them by showing them a place so close to their hearts, and it not being the place of their memories at all? It's not like the loft was ever home, as many bad things happened there as good; but the place was still deeply engraved into their minds for both kinds of reasons. When they go inside, it's like they're in some sort of daze, almost like sleepwalking but not quite (and Lydia knows sleepwalking, she knows the difference). They know exactly where they're going, she knows the exact number of steps to the elevator, the seconds it takes for it to go up, and then towards the big metal door… except everything around them looks so different from the memories.

The door opens much more easily than it ever did in the other time, but neither Stiles nor Lydia truly notice, both of them entirely focused on the presence they can feel on the other side of it, because they might not be wolves, might not have enhanced senses, but they aren't human either. Lydia in particular, she can feel them, those on the other side of the veil, it's a kind of deafening silence, because no one's calling to her in that moment, not even indirectly. It's as if everyone, living and not, were holding their breaths, watching, waiting… and then the door is opened.

Lydia says nothing, doesn't move, for a moment she isn't even sure she's actually breathing, Stiles beside her and just as immobile as her (and there's something very wrong about that when it comes to him, because Stiles is never completely immobile or quiet, not even when sleeping). It's as if they're both just watching, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It doesn't feel quite real, not just yet. Even though all three of them are finally there, standing face to face for the first time since they all died, since the end of the world they knew, since they fell back through time and woke up twenty years in the past, to start their stories all over again…

It's impossible to tell who is it that moves first, perhaps they all do, somehow, at the same time. Bags are forgotten by the still-open door and soon they're all standing close together, there's no real thought in either of their minds as six hands reach out, each meeting another, coming together. Their bonds flare brightly just for a moment, and it's like they can suddenly breathe. Like they've been holding their breath all these years and hadn't even realized it, not until they could truly inhale and realized the difference; until they found themselves in each other, again. And most importantly: for the first time in so, so long, no hands are left empty…

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Full-sized poster (the one in the series/page) and other assorted fanarts (some yet to come) can be found in DA where I go by Princess-Lalaith.

Please tell me what you like, what you don't, and if there's anything you'd like to see that I haven't gone into yet. I'll do what I can.

Next chapter... well, I'm sure we all know whose perspective we're missing... and with that, the closing of this series. See ya!