Chapter 5: Building Alliances

*****A Week Later*****

It'd been nearly a week since they'd stopped the madness caused by the hunters and the latest supernatural threat to Beacon Hills. Since that time Scott had listened to his mother and father's lectures about prioritizing school. He'd missed the first two weeks of class, so he was going to have to enroll for the spring semester. This meant that he could go on a trip to Europe with Malia. However, it was hard for him to let go.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer seemed too good to be true. She'd offered support and resources. There were even a few places he and Malia could stay in Europe as they traveled that she had contacts at. Slayer houses she called them. Ethan and Jackson had already gone back to London with promises to coordinate with the Slayers in England. Scott was glad that they would have some support since they were so far away.

He had trouble trusting her offer, though. She seemed too good to be true. Then Oz had come to town with his son.

"Hey," Oz said. His eyes held a wealth of pain and intelligence, and Scott felt an instant connection.

"This is my son," Oz said, holding up his boy. "He's a natural born wolf like Derek. His mother's family wasn't bitten like you and me."

When Oz held out his hand to Scott, Scott just knew. "You're an alpha like me," he said in awe.

Oz nodded, flashing his red eyes. "I'm an alpha without a pack. They're all dead," he said flatly.

Buffy glared at him. "You so too have a pack! You belong with the Scoobies!" she insisted.

"What's that?" Scott asked.

"It's us," Buffy said.

"We're the original Scoobies," Xander said, throwing his arm around Oz.

"As in Scooby-Doo?" Scott wondered with a grin. Surely, they didn't name themselves after a cartoon?

Willow nodded. "The Scoobies solved crime and beat the bad guy. That's sort of what we spent our high school years doing. Every year, there was some big bad we had to defeat," she explained.

"Thus, the Scoobies!" Xander said with a proud grin.

Scott laughed and shook his head. They were just an odd combination of ruthless intensity and levity. Then Derek came into the room, and Buffy lit up. It was the only way to describe it. She was an attractive woman, but when Derek was around, it was like she became even more attractive. He'd never seen any woman react to Derek this way. Stiles' sour wolf wasn't so sour anymore. The warm smile that Derek threw her way said everything. Buffy's feelings weren't one-sided because Derek was equally smitten. It amused Scott to see this side of Derek. Stiles had to go back to school, so he wasn't getting to see this. When Scott called him and told him, he wouldn't believe it.

Buffy's friends were also quick to note how she reacted to Derek's presence. They'd not seen this particular expression on her face since her early days with Angel. Xander hoped that this relationship ended much better than that one.

"Scott was just finding out that Oz is also a true alpha," Buffy told Derek.

"That's impressive," Derek said, holding out his hand to meet Oz. Buffy had mentioned her werewolf friend, but she'd not shared that detail. The look of trauma in the shorter man's eyes was one Derek recognized.

"Nice to meet you," Oz said.

"You, too," Derek said. "I'm sorry for your loss. I was a teenager when hunters set my house on fire and killed almost my entire family, so I know how you feel. I lost my mother, my brother and sister, cousins, and an aunt. There were eleven members home at the time. One of my sisters was at school with me when it happened. Peter and another sister survived the fire. My mother was our alpha."

Oz looked sick. "I don't understand how anyone can be that evil," he said.

"Some of my family weren't even werewolves. The gene doesn't always manifest," Derek explained.

"So what's the plan?" Xander asked Buffy, not wanting to think about the horror of Derek's childhood. It took a lot to make the hellmouth childhood seem benign.

"We're going to move to Beacon Hills," Buffy announced, surprising him and Willow.

"We are?" Willow asked.

"Giles said your findings were pretty conclusive, Will. There's a hellmouth forming here. Things could get worse," Buffy said. "This is Derek's home. We're going to help him, and Scott defend it."

"You are?" Derek asked, looking down at her.

Buffy took his hand and pulled him aside. Scott and Oz, of course, could hear their conversation.

"I hope it's okay," she said. "I probably should've spoken to you when we were alone, but Giles called me this morning. He agrees that this town needs our help in a major way. Not just with the slaying side, but the healing side."

"I think it's great that you want to stay," Derek said. He was afraid to ask her. Too many times had he been disappointed in love. She was so amazing, so unlike any woman that he'd ever known. The chemistry between them was explosive.

"I want us to take time to see if this can be something between us," Buffy said, feeling shy but determined to let him know what she was feeling.

"I'd like that," Derek said. He leaned down and gave her a soft kiss.

Xander and Willow exchanged grins. "It's about time Buffy met a guy I don't want to kill," Xander said.

"She had some bad luck, too?" Scott asked.

"I don't think having an ex try to kill her and all her friends and destroy the world qualifies as bad luck," Xander said. "More like a curse."

Scott laughed. "They might be soulmates because Derek had the same exact thing happen with Jennifer, our English teacher. She slaughtered a lot of people."

"What are the odds?" Xander said in bemusement. Buffy and Derek held hands as they walked back to them.

"So, Lydia's mom is the principal of the high school, right?" Buffy asked.

Scott nodded. "Yea."

"And she knows about the supernatural?" Buffy asked.

He nodded again. "She does, but she's still in denial for the most part," he said. "She even let that murderous hunter, Ms. Monroe, back into the school. She was the school counselor."

Buffy looked pissed. "She allowed the school counselor to recruit from her school and did nothing?" Her words came out in a cold tone as her rage was strong. "Where is she? I'm going to have a little chat with that woman!"

"She's dating the sheriff, and we love Lydia," Scott said, trying to head off a pissed slayer.

"I don't care," Buffy said. "She has a responsibility to not stick her head in the sand and protect her kids."

"Didn't Lydia get shot?" Derek asked. "I thought Stiles said something."

Scott winced and nodded. "Yea, the hunters shot up my house, and she was hit," he shared.

"Unbelievable! And she still let the evil counselor in her school? She wasn't at least fired?" Buffy asked, fuming.

Scott realized that Buffy had a good point. Lydia's mom could've done more to protect Liam and the students. At the very least, keep the woman out of the school once her activities had become known.

"Buffy, you don't want to alienate the principal," Willow cautioned.

"What are you thinking, Buff?" Xander said. "You and Will work for the school?"

"I am a certified counselor now," Buffy said. "And Willow has teaching credentials for computers and science."

"Really?" Scott asked. Having a slayer and witch actually on campus would really relieve his mind. He wanted to go to college, but he felt guilty for leaving. If she was serious, it would help him let go.

"Yes," Buffy said. "I was a peer counselor at Sunnydale before it was destroyed. Then I finished my degree just recently. I don't have a master's, but I should have qualification to get work at the school."

"And there's a convenient opening," Xander said with a smirk.

"We also need to do something about the student body," Willow said. "These kids aren't like the ones in Sunnydale. They know the supernatural is real, and they've been programmed to be afraid."

"Yes. They turned on us is such large numbers," Scott said, grimacing. "It was upsetting. I've only ever tried to protect this town."

"We need them to see you and your pack as protectors," Buffy said.

"Like the X-Men!" Xander said, grinning. "They were the good mutants protecting people from the bad ones."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you're not related to Stiles?" he asked.

Buffy laughed. "It's actually a good analogy. One the kids can relate to," she said.

"We have to get a meeting with the principal," Willow said. She looked at Scott expectantly. "Can you arrange that?"

"I guess," Scott said. He hoped there wouldn't be an argument. Buffy still looked pissed.

"Should you get Lydia involved and let her smooth the way?" Derek suggested.

"I will talk to her," Scott said.

"How about I talk to her?" Willow suggested. "I mean, I can go with you. I only met her that one time."

"Okay," he said, glad it was her and not the slayer.

"Maybe the school needs an IT guy?" Willow wondered, looking at Oz.

"You a computer guy?" Derek asked, curious about the stoic wolf.

Oz shrugged. "I'm a guitarist and a Buddhist, but I know computers," he said.

"He's a genius—like off the charts. He just isn't overly motivated with the schooling," Willow said, flashing him a loving smile. He returned it. Being with his Willow again was soothing. She understood his pain since she'd lost Tara to senseless violence.

"School's cool, but it just wasn't my thing," he said.

Scott grinned. "Man, is Stiles going to love you," he said.

"Who is Stiles?" Oz asked.

"He's their token human—like me," Xander said.

"So he's your heart?" Buffy asked.

Scott liked that description and nodded. "Yes, but he'd say he was also the brains," Scott said. "Lydia is our genius, but Stiles is the one who comes up with all our plans. He's kind of the Leia in our group if I was Luke and Derek was Han Solo." After graduation, he finally gave in to Stiles and watched all the Star Wars movie.

Willow's eyes lit up. "I totally get that!" she said.

"Yea," Oz agreed.

Derek groaned. "I'm surrounded by nerds," he said.

"Hey, I'm no nerd," Buffy said.

"But you got the analogy," he pointed out.

"Well, yes, that's 'cause I don't live under a rock, and when your best friends are nerds—you have to learn nerdy things," Buffy said. "But our friend Andrew is the king of nerds and obsessed with Star Wars."

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Xander declared.

Scott couldn't help but agree.

*****The Next Day*****

Lydia decided that inviting Buffy and Willow over to her house to meet her mother with Scott present was the best way to go. The school would be a more formal setting, and her mother was more likely to hide behind her official role. Lydia, like Scott, was forced to start college in the spring due to the events that delayed her starting classes. Stiles was upset at her delay, but he understood.

When they arrived, Lydia greeted the two women. She'd spent more time with Willow, who was like a female Stiles in so many ways. Even her rambling conversations reminded Lydia of Stiles. Lydia had trouble believing that she was a deadly witch, who could stop bullets with her magic. Buffy, though, seemed liked a harmless Barbie doll. Lydia couldn't picture the stories she heard about the slayer—it seemed too farfetched.

"Hi, Lydia. Thanks for this," Willow said.

"No problem. My mother can be difficult, so I hope it goes okay," Lydia said. "I think you guys working at the school is a great idea."

"Lydia?" her mother questioned, stepping into the room.

"Mom, these are the two women I was telling you about. Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg," Lydia said. "This is Natalie Martin, my mother."

Willow was a bit surprised to not see red hair on Lydia's mother, but she was very attractive with the bright blue eyes, especially for a principal. "Hi, it's so nice to meet you," Willow said. "You definitely don't look like any principal we had back in Sunnydale."

Natalie laughed. "Why thanks," she said. "Won't you sit down?" She gestured to her sofa.

"Thank you," Buffy said. "It's nice to meet you. We appreciate you allowing us to invade your home like this."

"Lydia said it was important, so its fine," she said. She gave Scott a frown. "Scott, why are you here?" she asked him.

"Well, I know these women and was directly involved in what was going on at the school with your former counselor," Scott said.

"I'm having a hard time understanding how the woman responsible for recruiting students to take up guns and shoot up Scott's house and even convinced the Sheriff's deputies to turn on him was allowed back in your school?" Buffy asked, not wasting time on niceties.

"Not that I have to answer to you, but no one actually bothered to tell me about her direct involvement," Natalie said, glaring at her daughter and Scott. "Not even the Sheriff told me."

"It all happened so fast," Scott defended. "I thought Lydia would've mentioned it."

"You're never receptive, Mom, when I try to talk to you about things," Lydia said pointedly. "I figured Stiles' dad would've told you."

"Well, the days of pretending the supernatural isn't real are over," Buffy said flatly. "This town has been through too much. I've confirmed that a hellmouth has formed in Beacon Hills, and we've got to put a lid on things before the dark energy from the hellmouth stirs up even more trouble."

"Hellmouth? What are you talking about?" Natalie asked.

"A hellmouth is an area of dark energy that conceals a doorway to hell, which is why we use the word hellmouth," Buffy explained.

"Hellgate would be more accurate," Willow added. "It draws dark creatures to it. The town will never be the same again."

"That's insane!" Natalie said.

"So is me being a banshee or Scott a werewolf," Lydia said. "You can't pretend anymore that this town is normal, Mom."

"You have students that thought it was okay to hunt down and kill other students," Buffy said. "They were eager to do it or pressured into it. Either way, trauma on a massive scale has occurred."

"So where do you fit in exactly? Do you even live in Beacon Hills?" Natalie asked.

"We are moving here. I have to find a big enough place for us because I brought a lot of help with us," Buffy said. "I'm a vampire slayer. I fight vampires, demons, and any other evil thing that tries to hurt people. That means I am stronger, faster, and able to fight creatures much bigger than me."

"Like Scott?" Natalie asked. It was hard to believe that such a slight figure could fight evil.

"I'm stronger than most werewolves and definitely more of a fighter," Buffy said. "I'm an expert in weaponry and have accelerated healing and agility. I also get prophetic dreams that let me know sometimes when bad things are coming."

"Like Lydia?"

"Not exactly but it's similar," she said. "I'm a certified counselor with experience working in schools and with teenagers. Hire me to be in the school. Not only can I actually help the kids, I can keep an eye on things. Make sure things never get out of hand again."

"Things haven't been that bad on campus," Natalie defended.

"Mom, Liam was cornered more than once at school. He wasn't the only one. You have no idea how bad things were," Lydia said, giving her mother a frustrated look.

"If Liam hadn't been a wolf, he might've been permanently injured in the last attack," Scott said. "The teacher just stood there and let it happen. No one tried to stop it."

Natalie looked upset but had no words of defense. "I don't want the kids involved in this kind of thing," she said.

"Sometimes, there isn't any other way. Willow and I grew up on a very active hellmouth. I was called at fifteen to fight the forces of darkness. Like Scott and Lydia, I had no choice in what happened to me," Buffy said. "I've died twice and been to both heaven and hell. At our graduation, our mayor turned into a giant snake and ate our principal. I had to arm my classmates, and we fought for our lives. Sometimes, Ms. Martin, kids can't escape their fate. All we can do is prepare them and equip them to handle whatever life throws them."

Everyone was silent a moment. Then Natalie said, "I'm not sure what to do with all that information, but I guess I can give you a job at the school. We do need a counselor."

"Willow is a certified computer and science teacher. Do you think you could use her anywhere?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I'm fully staffed, but we can always use a substitute teacher in the building. We don't have a full-time one," Natalie said.

"That's great. It'll allow Willow to have time to get settled in town. She's got a few trainees to take care of anyway," Buffy said.

"Trainees?" Natalie asked.

"Oh, well, I'm a witch. I have some students who are learning from me," Willow said.

Natalie stood up. This was too much. "Witchcraft? You want to bring witchcraft into a public school? I cannot allow that!" she insisted.

"Oh, no, I'm not saying that!" Willow exclaimed. "I would never proselyte. Total believer in Separation of Church and State!"

"Besides, Willow's not interested in spreading her religion—she's a non-practicing Jew, by the way," Buffy added. "She's all about the power. She's got more magic in her pinky that any other witch on the planet."

Natalie looked dubious. "I'm all for people believing whatever they want, but don't expect me to believe in magical powers. Banshees and werewolves are biological creatures. I'm a science teacher, and I know they're part of the evolutionary process. Magic isn't."

"Well, I'm a scientist myself," Willow said. "And it can explain a lot. But it can't explain everything." She waved her hand and turned Scott into a black puppy.

"What did you do?" Lydia asked, freaked out.

"It's just a demonstration," Willow said, petting the Scott puppy, who licked her hand.

Natalie decided she couldn't take anymore and fainted.

Luckily, she fell back into the chair she had risen from.

"Great," Buffy muttered. "Change him back before Lydia joins her mother."

"I would never faint!" Lydia said, deeply insulted.

Willow changed Scott back while Lydia revived her mother. "Sorry, Scott. A demonstration is sometimes necessary," she said.

Scott looked a little wide-eyed. "You made me a dog—an actual dog! That's insane!" he exclaimed, freaked.

"There's no harm done," Buffy said dismissively. "I was a rat once."

"Seriously?" Lydia asked.

"Well, this demon came to town and put the whammy on the parents, and my mom and Willow's tried to burn us and another girl at the stake for being witches. Amy, the other girl, was an actual witch—Willow was just a dabbler then. Amy turned herself into a rat. Willow took two years to figure out how to turn her back. Another time, her evil witch mother turned me into one," Buffy explained.

"Your life might be stranger than mine," Scott said, grinning.

Natalie blinked. Then she looked at Scott.

"I'm okay," Scott assured her.

"But I didn't imagine it? She turned you into a dog?" she asked, a note of hysteria in her voice.

"Sorry to scare you, Ms. Martin," Willow said, looking guilty. "I just thought a demonstration of my power would convince you that magic was real."

"Oh, I'm convinced," she said quickly.

"We also have a friend that is a computer expert if you need an IT person on campus," Buffy said. "Oz is a true alpha like Scott, but his wife was recently murdered by hunters along with his wife's entire family. He's got a baby to take care of."

Natalie looked horrified. "I don't understand. People are just killing whoever they want? Where are the police?" she asked.

"They hit and run, not staying in one location," Lydia explained. "It makes it harder for the police, but the FBI will pick up on it soon enough. Stiles is going to look for someone he can trust to start investigating."

"Dad is definitely," Scott said. "What happened to him at Sheriff Stilinksi's precinct really pissed him off."

"He can try the legal way, and I will try the vigilante way," Buffy said grimly. "Killing innocent humans who've harmed no one is not something we can tolerate ever. The students at your school have got to be made to understand that."

Natalie nodded. "Okay. Come to the school on Monday, and I'll get the paperwork started," she said.

"Great!" Willow said.

"Can you use Oz?" Buffy asked.

"On a part-time basis, sure. There's always things that need done," Natalie said. "He'll have to go to some schools besides the high school, though. Our district isn't that big."

"I'm sure that'll be fine," Willow said.

"We'll see you on Monday," Buffy said, standing and holding out her hand again to Natalie.

"See you then," Natalie said.

Lydia walked them to the door. "Well, that went better than I expected," she said.

"It did," Scott said, relieved.

"So Lydia, are you interested in doing some training with me and a few of the girls?" Buffy asked her. "I hear that your voice is a weapon that you use very little. How about I help you make it and you more?"

"Sure," Lydia said. "Scott and I can join you. Malia, too."

"We're leaving next week for Europe, so yea, we can. Liam, too. He's in charge while I'm out of town," Scott said.

Buffy shook her head. "No, he's not. I am. Derek is. A teenager still in school isn't in charge," Buffy said. "Didn't Derek used to be an alpha?"

"Is he sticking around?" Scott asked. Raised by a single mother, bossy women didn't bother him, so he was unoffended at her declaration. Liam didn't really want to be in charge anyway. "He hasn't actually told me for sure. He tends to come and go. I thought with you here, he'd leave because you'd take care of things, and he wouldn't have to worry."

Buffy frowned. "He's sticking around," she said.

"You might want to nail that down," Lydia said. "Derek isn't exactly the home and hearth type."

"Who says I am either?" Buffy said, pushing out the door to the car.

Willow thanked Lydia and said goodbye as Scott walked to his bike.

"So, you want to meet at Derek's tomorrow?" Scott asked as he grabbed his helmet.

"Sure," Willow said. "Two o'clock?"

They agreed, so they parted ways. Scott went to see Malia while Buffy dropped Willow off at the bed and breakfast they had rented out. It was a home, so vampires couldn't come in unexpectedly. It had eight open rooms, and they rented all of them. She and Willow were sharing until Oz arrived. He was taking Buffy's spot as she was staying with Derek at his loft. The owner of the bed and breakfast had been overjoyed to have a full house during the down time. Summer was over, so there wasn't much activity in town. Buffy had paid for a full month, so they would have time to find a more permanent location.

Derek flashed her that slow, sexy smile of his. "How did it go?" he asked.

"Good. We're going to start on Monday," Buffy shared, leaning up on her toes to kiss him.

Derek wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. He found the taste of her intoxicating and addictive. In no time, the passion built between him, and he was taking off her shirt.

"Daytime sex?" Buffy asked, grinning as she slipped her hands on his shirt, caressing him. The shirt was off in a second while her hands went down his pants, causing him to get even harder than he'd been.

"You set me on fire," he mumbled against her mouth.

"And there's no demon influence," Buffy happily declared.

"Huh?" he asked, momentarily distracted by her strange comment.

"Oh, once there was this sex demon of some kind that had Riley and I going at it like rabbits for hours," she shared.

"No ex talk when I'm trying to have my wicked way with you!" he declared with a glare.

"Hey, you asked," Buffy pointed out and dropped to her knees to make it up to him.

All was forgiven as he lost his ability to think when her lips closed around him.

An hour later, they came up for air, momentarily sated, lying in his bed.

"Wow," she said when she could form words again.

"Yea," he agreed, lazily running his hand over her bare back.

"I could get used to this," she said.

"Me, too," he agreed. Buffy was quickly becoming important to him, and he wasn't sure how to proceed. Normally by this point, things between him and a woman started to sour. If they didn't turn murderous, they got upset because he was so closed off. With Buffy, he didn't feel like being closed off. She understood his suffering and his burdens because she'd suffered in many ways more than he. Her burdens were greater than his own. She was the leader of a huge pack while he wasn't an alpha anymore. Of course, that was okay with him because he never liked being an alpha. He mostly sucked at it, and his entire pack was dead except for Jackson and Isaac. Now, he was second in Scott's pack even if Stiles wrongly though he was.

Buffy raised up to look at him. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

"That Stiles thinks he's Scott's second in the pack, but he's not a wolf," he answered honestly.

Buffy grinned. "In bed with a naked woman and you're thinking about a man? Is there something you want to tell me?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking of you first, but then I started thinking of how I'm not an alpha anymore. Although that makes me less your equal, I don't miss being alpha. I wasn't very good at being pack leader," he admitted.

"How about you let me into your pack?" she asked, not really understanding how significant that would be.

"If you want a place, it's yours," he said honestly.

Buffy sat up, making no attempt to cover herself. He was momentarily distracted by her perfectly plum-sized breasts. Kate had been better endowed, and he'd hated big breasted women ever since. Buffy was her opposite in every way—thank God.

"If you can tear your eyes from my boobs, we can talk," Buffy said smugly.

"But they're so pretty," he said, leaning down to kiss them both.

Buffy pushed him a way and grabbed a pillow to shield them from his view. "Play time is over. We need to talk," Buffy said.

"Fine," he said with a dramatic sigh. Where did this playful side come from? He was never like this, but she made him feel so light.

"I just wanted to know what your plans were," Buffy told him. "Scott and Lydia weren't really sure that you'd stick around in Beacon Hills. I want to stay to help the town, but I assumed you'd be staying here because it was your home."

"I left so that Scott could come into his own without me," Derek said. "He needed to rise up and lead without my help. Now things are different. He's going to be going to school, and he has finally become the alpha I always knew he could be."

"So you're staying?" she asked.

"I'd like to," he said. "But if you need to leave to take care of other problems, I will go with you. I'm not planted here."

Buffy's heart pounded as his words sunk in. "You'd go with me?" she asked in surprise.

"I'm not sure I'd be any good without you now," he admitted, his hand raising one of hers to his lips.

"My life is insane," she warned.

"So is mine," he said with a shrug as he turned over her hand to place a kiss on her palm.

"My best friends are a witch and a one-eyed human prone to danger," she said.

"A good match for Stiles, who is a trouble magnet, and Scott," Derek said, grinning.

"I'm sorry that Stiles had to leave. I didn't get to spend much time with him," Buffy said.

"He'll be back to annoy me at Thanksgiving," Derek said, his lips trailing up her arm to her neck. Buffy dropped the pillow.

"That's good. Faith will probably show up sometime. She broke up with Robin a few months ago and is restless," Buffy shared as she arched her neck.

"Faith's the one that likes to fight?" he asked, trying to remember all the things Buffy had told him about her friends.

"Yea," Buffy said, losing her train of thought as he sucked on her sensitive neck.

"I'll introduce her to my uncle. She can beat him up," he said. "Although he might like that a bit too much."

Buffy giggled. Then she was quiet as his lips found hers once again.

*****Chapter End*****

The last season of Teen Wolf made me a bit nuts with Monroe allowed back in the school after almost killing Lydia. It made no sense that Ms. Martin would not intervene. Reviews are lovely. Review and tell me your thoughts!