Chapter 08: And They Burn

July 2005

Jessica, Stiles and Cora walked hand in hand into Beacon Hills Memorial, she was taking them into see Derek who was healing much slower than what Cora had. Laura had gone to New York briefly trying to decide if that's where they were going to live after everything. Jessica kept a firm hold of both of their hands as Cora moved to race to Derek's side.

"Core, you still have to go easy on Derek," Jessica reminded her, pulling her back slightly as she crouched down before her and Stiles.

"I know...but he's strong like me," Cora muttered, she didn't like being reminded that her big brother wasn't back to normal yet.

"Stiles, I know you don't like being here...I think Melissa said that Scott was here so how about you go find him?" Stiles nodded and quickly wrapped his arms around Jessica and hugged her tightly. "Go on, I'll come find you when its time to leave," Jessica smiled at him kissing the top of his head as he let go of her.

"Promise?" Stiles questioned looking between Jessica and Cora and then over at Derek in the bed. Jessica nodded and glanced over to Derek while still holding Cora's hand.

"Hey Stiles," Derek yawned sleepily from where he was in the bed having just woken up.

"Hi," Stiles muttered before he was walking backwards from the room and wandering down the hallway to the nurses station to see if Melissa could take him to Scott.

Derek watched as Stiles disappeared out the door before Jessica and Cora were taking up his line of sight. Cora just wanted to jump on the bed but was stopped Jessica who near forced her to sit in the chair. Derek looked at both of them and offered a sleepy smile. Cora grinned and grabbed his hand while Jessica sat on the bed.

"Hey Der," Jessica smiled at him before she was helping him move the bed to a sitting position.

"Hey, when are they going to let me out of here?" Derek questioned, leaning forward grabbing Cora and pulling her close to him for a hug.

"Dad's going to talk to the doctors after his shift today," Jessica answered, hugging the two of them as Cora started to squirm being squished. "Get used to this kiddo," Jessica stuck her tongue out at Cora.

"Sheriff Stilinski said we can call him Noah," Cora announced suddenly as she remembered the conversation from breakfast that morning. "He's getting annoyed by Sheriff,"

"Really?" Derek raised his eyebrow to both Cora's statement and what Jessica had said.

"Yeah, he knows he can never take the place of your mom and dad," Jessica told him, Cora whimpered at the mention of their parents and snuggled closer to Derek. "Hey, it's okay to be sad you know that,"Jessica sighed and pulled Cora to her to let Derek breathe a little easier than having Cora near crushing his chest.

"So...he wants us to call him Noah. I think I can manage that," Derek mumbled as Cora put her hand on where Derek's right leg and drew on the pain. "Thanks Core,"

Stiles raced back into the room and launched himself at Jessica as Scott was at home due to having a cold and Melissa didn't want him getting any of the patients any sicker. Jessica held on to Stiles as he mumbled that he wanted to go home that the hospital was scary before he spoke a little louder with something to say to Derek.

"There's a girl...with strawberry blonde hair at school...her names Lydia Martin," Stiles' voice was quiet but he knew that the older boy could hear him, Cora and Laura had told him what they were as long as he it secret. "She's the prettiest girl...next to Cora and Jess and Laura," Cora giggled at the thought of Stiles calling her pretty.

"Is that so?" Derek raised his eyebrow as he looked at the small boy situated in Jessica's lap. Stiles nodded enthusiastically at him before put his head back on Jessica's shoulder.

"She's his new crush," Cora smirked, Jessica and Derek rolled their eyes as Stiles buried his head in Jessica's hair.

Present day - 2013

Stiles stumbled backwards falling onto Jessica's car as he closed his eyes tightly. One minute ago they'd been talking about when he was a child, and the next he didn't know whether what he'd remembered was real or false. Derek grabbed hold Stiles before he could completely collapse. Jessica turned around right as Derek took hold of him watching as Stiles kept his eyes tightly shut.

"Stiles, you with us?" Jessica spoke quietly as she moved to in front of Stiles whiles Derek kept a hold of him. Stiles shook his head opening his eyes slowly to see everyone looking at him. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not now...later..." Stiles muttered, Derek nodded to Jessica he'd keep an eye on him like he had been doing he was a kid.

"Okay, just promise me you'll stay with Derek," Jessica smiled at him pulling him into a hug before kissing the side of his head.

"Can we do this before it gets dark and cold?" Peter questioned as he and Chris held Elspeth between the two of them.

"Yeah, okay Lydia you and Chris know what to do right?" Jessica questioned, Lydia nodded and smiled at Chris who nodded before the two of them took her into one of the vaults.

"I don't like this," Scott muttered, as the rest of them scattered to various points to check that there was no more flowers around.

"I know Scotty, I promise we'll be fine," Jessica called after him before she, Isaac and Cora joined Chris and Lydia in the vault.

In the vault Lydia and Chris had put Elspeth into a circle of mountain ash and were a little confused as to how Jessica was going to do what she'd said earlier. Jessica smiled at them as she searched her bag and produced a piece of string, she was going to literally bind the girl. Motioning for the four of them to stand back she stepped into the circle of mountain ash and wrapped the piece string around her hands.

"I take your hands in mine,

and with this string I will entwine

Your powers I'll forever bind.

From now until the end of time." Jessica spoke calmly her fingers moving around the string as it tightened by itself and eventually disappeared into her skin. Jessica repeated the spell again to ensure that it held before she stepped out of the circle.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lydia questioned, looking at Jessica who nodded and picked up her bag again.

"It stops her from doing anything," Jessica answered, smiling at them before she spoke again. "But we're not removing the blindfold or gag until after we do this,"

"Once we show you were we found it, I'm going back to Derek and Stiles," Cora announced, she didn't want to be around when the plants went up in fire.

"Just promise me that you won't run," Jessica said as the three of them left Chris and Lydia with Elspeth. Not before handing Chris and Lydia earplugs telling them to put them in and she'd let them known when it was safe to take them out.

Theo, Scott, Liam, Mason, Malia, Corey and Peter were scattered around the the bank each being able to see where Jessica, Cora and Isaac moved. Cora and Isaac showed Jessica to a room that was covered in dirt with flowers scattered around the floor and walls. Cora took one look in the room and darted back outside to where Stiles and Derek were still standing.

"Cora?" Stiles raised his eyebrow at her as he looked between Cora and Derek and then towards the bank.

"Jess is in the room...they're going to light it up..." Cora answered trailing off as she looked at Derek before she was standing as close to him as possible. "We have to stay with Stiles...and Jess gave me these we need to wear them...she'll tell us when its safe,"

"I know," Derek answered glancing at Stiles who was still staring at the bank. "Stiles, you still with us?" Derek's voice was quiet but enough to break Stiles out of the trance that he was in. Stiles looked at Derek and nodded, but his eyes said otherwise. "Come here," Derek held an arm out for the younger man who mumbled something before moving towards him. Cora nodded at the two of them before she was on Stiles other side wrapping her arms around him.

"She knows what she's doing," Stiles mumbled, before adding. "I hope she does," Cora smiled at him before she pulled him into a hug.

"You always trust Jess, remember she's the one who's been helping you master that spark," Derek told him as Stiles clambered into his arms in an familiar yet unfamiliar way. Derek had to resist kissing the side of his head as much as he wanted.

Inside the bank, Isaac had stuck to Jessica like glue and it turned out Theo wasn't all that fond of the bank either so he was by her side too. Jessica handed everyone a set of earplugs and explained that they needed them because the mandrake had to be pulled from the ground before she could destroy it. Each of the teens and Jessica put the earplugs in as Jessica walked over to the mandrake and pulled Theo with her.

Jessica gave the mandrake flower a good yank by the stem and the entire root came out, she motioned for Isaac and Theo to do the same and throw them into a pile. The second that the mandrake was exposed to the fresh air it let out an ear piercing scream, something that only happened in the presence of the supernatural. Both teenagers winced as some of the sound got through the earplugs.

"Potestates ligatum et ad animi affectus,

a quo pythonissam est cor celat.

Auxilium sibi per dolorem magnum incutit,

Nunc euismod suo benedicent." (Powers and emotions tied,

a witch's heart is where it hides.

Help him through his agony,

bless him with his memories now.) As Jessica spoke she had Theo and Scott light the flowers and their stems on fire, the fire changing from amber to green as the forget-me-nots, cyclamen and mandrakes went up in a puff of smoke.

After a couple of minutes the mandrakes stopped screeching Jessica removed the earplugs one at a time just to be on the safe side, she didn't want to end up deaf. Though Chris was completely human she thought that being in the presence of so many supernatural creatures would make him be able to hear them. One by one each of the teens, Peter and Chris removed their earplugs after seeing from Jessica that it was safe.

Outside Derek and Cora still had a hold of Stiles, only they had carefully lowered him onto the ground as he'd nearly collapsed when the flowers went up. Jessica, Lydia and Mason hadn't warned them that it would happen, mainly because Mason and Lydia didn't know and Jessica couldn't have been sure. Derek was cradling Stiles' head whilst Cora was holding his hand as they sat on the ground, Derek looking down at Stiles hoping that he man he loved was back.

Scott raced from the room that they'd been in and came to a halt at Derek's feet and looked down at Stiles, his first thought being that his friend was dead before he realised there was a heart beat. Cora kicked Scott's shin seeing what he was thinking. Slowly the others joined them with Jessica crouching down next to Stiles and Derek.

"Dumb ass, he's alive," Cora muttered, glaring at Scott as she stood up and was wrapped in Isaac's arms with his had resting on her shoulder.

"Jess, was that meant to happen?" Derek questioned, still looking down at Stiles as Jessica moved one of her hands over Stiles' forehead.

"I thought it might, but I wasn't sure that's why I wanted you to stay together...and why you wanted to," Jessica answered, closing her eyes for a second to concentrate on what she was doing to Stiles. "He's okay, his brain is just slowly re-wiring itself,"

"What does that even mean?" Liam questioned as he stood beside Theo, Mason and Corey.

"He'll be himself in few days, I hope," Jessica told them before she had Scott take him from Derek's arms so that she could get Derek onto his feet again.

"You hope?" Derek questioned as Scott held onto Stiles with a little help from Peter. Jessica nodded, before she held her arms out for Scott to give Stiles to her.

"He'll be out of it for a while," Jessica added as Derek opened the car and sat in the back sliding over to the far side. "Help me get in the middle, and then we can go...pops and Jordan'll be here to help clean up the mess,"

Scott muttered something about he should be the one sitting next to Derek which just earned him a glare from Derek, Jessica and Cora. Theo rolled his eyes at the alpha and hit him in the arm while Malia wrapped an arm around Lydia and smiled hopefully at her. Chris told them he'd stick around to help, after they freed the now former witch who wouldn't be causing any more trouble ever.

"I'll stick around here. Explain to the Sheriff," Chris said as the teenagers climbed into the various cars with Peter opting to walk.

"Just tell him that I'll explain at dinner," Jessica said before she pulled the back door shut and handed her keys to Isaac. Cora, she didn't trust to drive her car after she'd crashed the last one.

Stiles gripped at his head and screamed, before Derek was putting his hand against his forehead draining the pain. Derek looked down at Stiles as he rested his head against his chest before he looked at Jessica who offered him a smile before she took hold of his hand. Cora sat in the front passenger seat and reached her hand back to Stiles and put it on his leg.

"I told them to meet at yours the day after tomorrow," Cora said, hoping that was what Jessica had wanted them to do.

"Thanks kiddo. Der, you and Isaac stay with Stiles tonight, Core and I'll have dinner with pops," Jessica said, she knew that they wouldn't want to stray far from Stiles and it would be a mission getting Cora away from him too.