Chapter 11 - Field Fright

Scott's knee bounced up and down frantically as he sat on the bench on the lacrosse field. His stomach was tied in an anxious knot, and it wasn't just because he was about to play in one of the most important games of the season. The whole day had just been terrible. It was bad enough that he, Stiles and Sadie were now working with Derek to close in on the Alpha. That had led to the catastrophic confrontation with Allison earlier, which in turn had led to him sneaking into her house to steal her necklace, currently their only clue to who the Alpha might be. On top of that, Jackson had somehow managed to find out he was a werewolf, and Stiles was on the verge of a panic attack every five minutes because he was playing on the field in the lacrosse game for the first time ever. He'd been on the verge of puking when Scott left the locker room, and Stiles assured him he'd catch up with him in a bit.

That was why Scott was out on the bench on his own, teammates padding up beside him, the stands at his back full to the brim. But he was on his phone, his despair growing steadily with each ring.

"Hello?"

Scott let out a sigh of relief at Sadie's voice. At least she was okay. She'd gone to the hospital with Derek to investigate the text message Allison had received when they were locked in the school. They'd traced it earlier to a computer, his mother's account at work, but Scott knew it couldn't have been her. When Stiles had called to tell him the plan, he'd casually brought the topic around to his mom, about how you could send text messages from computers. It hadn't been the smoothest way to interrogate her, but she hadn't noticed. She'd raised an eyebrow and admitted that she had no idea that was possible, which didn't surprise him considering her basic knowledge of technology. Whatever the case, she hadn't lied, which mean that she couldn't have sent the text. Now it was all up to Sadie and Derek to figure out who'd hacked her account at the hospital, and how that tied in to the mystery of the Alpha.

"Did you get the picture?" he asked her, not wasting any time. He heard her sigh through the line.

"Yeah," she admitted. "Compared it to the drawing and it looks exactly the same." She was interrupted by a slight scuffle before Derek began speaking instead.

"Hey, is there something on the back of it?" he called, presumably a little farther from the phone than Sadie was. "There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something!"

"Get your own damn phone," he heard Sadie grumble and shook his head.

"No, no, the thing's flat," he replied to Derek's question, shaking his free hand slightly in an effort to relieve his nerves. "And no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing."

"So if it's just a family heirloom, that means it just has to do with the Argents, right?" Sadie asked. Scott felt his stomach drop instantly.

"What would the Alpha want with Allison's family?" he asked quickly. He knew that it was a stupid question. There were plenty of ways the Alpha could be linked to a family that had hunted werewolves for centuries. Sadie pointed this out almost immediately.

"They're hunters," she reminded him. "There's gotta be loads of werewolves with vendettas against them, right?" Scott's chest constricted sharply. This was too much to worry about. The necklace was one of their only links to the Alpha, because Derek's sister had been looking into it. But they didn't know how it was related to the Alpha. Was the necklace supposed to belong to the Alpha or something? If it was a family heirloom, that meant someone in Allison's family was doing a damn good job at hiding their condition. But he knew that wasn't likely. Sadie's thought was much, much more likely. The Alpha was looking for the person with that necklace too. And right now, that person was Allison.

Scott's head was pounding. He was already worried enough about Allison's safety as it was, and he already couldn't get close to her. She wasn't being hunted by the Alpha. She wouldn't be the next victim in a long line of Beacon Hills animal attacks. Right now, she was safely seated in the bleacher behind him, right next to her father and her aunt. They weren't the safest people for Scott, but he had faith they'd at least be able to keep Allison safe from an Alpha. He couldn't let himself think about it right now. He had to take a deep breath and focus on one problem at a time. Allison was safe with her family, Sadie was safe with Derek, looking for the Alpha, and he and Stiles had a lacrosse game to win.

"Sadie, where are you?" he groaned, ducking his head slightly as Stiles appeared at the end of the bench. He was pale and still looked twitchy and nervous, but his eyes were glued to the stands, searching for the one person who wasn't there yet. Sadie had to be there. "The game's gonna start in a couple minutes, and I don't mean to be pushy but Stiles is freaking out." Sadie sighed on the other end, and though he couldn't actually hear it, he knew her well enough to know how her heart had just skipped a beat and then plummeted at the mention of Stiles.

"Yeah, I know I…" She trailed off, fighting to find the right words as Stiles slowly shuffled towards the place where Scott was seated on the bench. "We got a little caught up, but I'll be there as soon as I can. Just remind him to take a couple deep breaths, okay? He worked hard for this."

"Do you wanna talk to him?" Scott asked hopefully. He'd thought maybe hearing Sadie's voice might be able to calm Stiles down, ease his field fright a little if he knew she was safe and on her way. But Sadie immediately shot that thought down.

"No!" she yelped. "Uh, no. I should go, just… Just tell him I'm on my way and I'm gonna be a little late, okay?"

"Yeah," he breathed in disappointment. He didn't know why the two couldn't just get their act together. It was one of the most frustrating things he'd ever had to deal with. "Yeah okay."

"Okay. Good luck."

"You too, Sadie," he finished, praying that Derek was enough to keep her safe. But it was just the hospital. There would be plenty of people there, and if someone got hurt for some weird reason, there'd be plenty of people to help. He had nothing to worry about.

Scott hung up the phone and quickly tossed it into his bag as Stiles collapsed on the bench beside him, his neck still twisted as he looked over the crowd.

"Hey," Scott greeted uneasily. "Feeling any better?"

"Dude, where is she?" That was the only reply Scott got as Stiles craned his neck, stretching to see the highest seats in the bleacher.

"Sadie's on her way," Scott assured him. "She and Derek got a little hung up at the hospital, and she's gonna be here as soon as she can." At the mention of Derek, Stiles's eyes snapped right to Scott, analyzing the words at a mile a minute.

"They got hung up? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," Scott shrugged, already sensing the prickling precursors of Stiles's jealousy. "She didn't say." Stiles's jaw clenched, and he turned to face forward, elbows on his knees as he flexed his hands.

"I swear to God if he touches her…"

"Stiles, dude, come on," Scott replied bracingly, nudging him a bit. "You know that's not what she meant."

"Dude, no I don't!" Stiles snapped back. "Okay? You just said you didn't know what she meant!"

"Yeah, maybe not specifically, but I know it's not that," he insisted. "Look, it was probably traffic or a cop or something. Maybe they had a hard time finding the right person to talk to. All she really cares about right now is coming to watch the game. Promise." Scott noticed that Stiles's knee started bouncing double time as he thought that possibility over, blinking at the field in concentration. He could almost see the wheels turning in his head as his eyes flashed from goal to goal. After a few seconds, a smile began to tug at his lips.

"You know, she made me a sign," he informed him, doing a terrible job at hiding his pride. Scott did an equally terrible job hiding his smirk.

"Yeah, I know. You told me like, four times." But Stiles didn't seem to hear the jab, too wrapped up in the possibilities he was running through his imagination.

"What do you think she's gonna put on it?" he asked. "What'd she put on yours? Name, number…"

"She threw a couple hearts on there," Scott reminded him slyly. "She could be drawing a bunch of hearts around your name or something." He'd been hoping to get Stiles's imagination revving, and it worked decently for a few brief seconds. Scott watched as his friend's eyes widen slightly as he imagined Sadie cheering for him in the crowd, probably holding up a big sign that said "I Love Stiles" in a huge heart. But all too soon he shook his head, blinking hard and turning back to the crowd.

"Yeah, maybe," he replied casually. "Just uh…let me know if you see it, 'kay?" Scott raised an eyebrow in amused disbelief.

"You really think I'm gonna notice before you do?" Stiles clearly heard the skepticism in his voice, and his head immediately snapped to look at him, affronted.

"You've got werewolf senses," he said defensively. "Besides, it's my first game. I'm gonna be in the zone. Completely focused."

"Right," Scott agreed sarcastically. "So you're not going to be scanning the crowd every four seconds until Sadie shows up?"

"Sadie and Lydia," Stiles corrected, before he caught himself. "I mean, no!" He snorted, though it was a pretty pitiful argument considering he was practically standing upright at that point, looking toward the stream of spectators filtering in from the parking lot. He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing each and every person for a few more seconds until he noticed Scott was still smirking at him. He chuckled as Stiles sunk back down to the bench in the most casual way he could manage. "What? I'm completely focused."

"Completely," Scott repeated sardonically, making Stiles roll his eyes.

"Shut up," he grumbled, pulling his gloves on and violently adjusting the straps.

Scott shook his head, his smile fading slightly as all his worries came rushing back to him. Stiles and Sadie. There was another problem he'd have to add to his list. He felt like he was pretty close to getting them together soon. Maybe if Sadie got here in time with her sign, and Stiles helped win the game, maybe it'd be the last push they needed. They could get all caught up in the energy of the game, an accidental celebration kiss, and boom. He'd finally be able to stop worrying about them.

But he had a terrible feeling gnawing at his stomach. Something wasn't right, and he couldn't put his finger on it just yet. He tried to convince himself that Sadie would be perfectly safe with Derek. What were the chances that the Alpha would be at the hospital? They had to be slim. But Sadie was still all the way down by the hospital, and the game was about to start. By the time she got her answers and got back… He just really hoped that she'd get here in time. Not just to support Stiles, but because he wasn't sure he could handle her being hurt on top of all the other crap that was going on. Sadie needed to be fine just like Allison needed to be fine.

Coach Finstock blew the whistle, calling all the players into a huddle on the field, and Stiles let out a strange, strangled whine. Scott clapped him on the back, attempting to shake off his worries and focus on the game. One problem at a time. Win.

He spared the bleachers one last glance before turning to the field. There was Allison and her family, his mother, Stiles's dad. But that was it.

"Come on, Sadie," he whispered to himself. "You've gotta be here." But then Coach was calling his name, and his mind was back on lacrosse. She'd be fine. She would be just fine.


A/N: Hey guys. So I'm not too crazy about the way this one came out, but I really wanted to do it. Might be the last you hear of me for a while, since we're approaching midterm week, which means I am going to be completely bogged down with work. BUT! I've picked out a title for the sequel, and I'm done plotting it out. So we've just got a few more of these that I want to do, and then I can start working on that. Wooh! Anyway, please let me know what you think, because I always love hearing from you!

-Brittney