Aftermath: Part 2

Scott let himself into the Stilinski house using the key taped to the bottom of the porch swing. He'd done it a hundred times before. Stiles was home alone - again. The music blasting from the second floor and the absence of the Sheriff's car from the driveway proved that. With Sheriff Stilinski at work it had been pointless to ring the bell or knock. That's why Scott knew where the spare key was hidden.

"Stiles, it's Scott!" he yelled as he climbed the stairs. The music continued to blast at the same, excruciating level. He hadn't expected Stiles to hear him. Announcing yourself was the kind of polite thing his mom would have wanted him to do. That her sixteen-year-old had actually recalled, let alone acted upon, one of her admonitions would have astounded her. In this situation Scott could appreciate its logic: guys needed to give other guys some privacy. You never knew if someone was getting lucky. Scott smiled at the picture this conjured up.

Stiles, he knew, was only interested in Lydia. Lydia was only interested in Lydia and, coming a distant second in her affections, Jackson. Everyone in school knew that Jackson had dumped her. Lydia was not the type, however, who could ever accept being the dumpee. She could only be the dumper. This meant that she had to win back Jackson's interest.

Scott didn't see how his best friend could win. He had experienced Lydia's powers of persuasion and was positive that she could get her claws back into Jackson if she applied herself. If the poor s.o.b ever fell for her line, Scott could predict with absolute certainty that Jackson would be sent packing in a manner that would be both highly humiliating and as public as Lydia could arrange.

As one predator to another, he wished her good hunting. Jackson falling back under Lydia's spell would free up Allison. It might give him the opportunity with her that he needed. Scott considered how he could handle things differently. It wouldn't include telling her the truth but maybe he could come up with enough half-truths to keep her satisfied. If she ever discovered the truth…that would be the end.

Stiles had told him repeatedly, as had Derek, that being involved with the daughter of a family of werewolf hunters was insane. But neither of them understood. Romeo had been his age and he'd had a great love. With Stiles' sarcastic voice echoing in his head, 'Did you even read the end of the play?' Scott reached the second floor and approached his best friend's room.

He knocked loudly. The volume of the music didn't change. Scott turned the knob and pushed open the door.

"Wow!" He stopped amazed.

His, wow, apparently penetrated the decibels. Stiles turned down the music and swiveled around in his chair to face Scott. "Hey, Scott. Didn't hear you."

"I repeat 'wow'. What did you do?" Scott scanned the room from a spot just inside the doorway. "How did you get in this much trouble in twenty-four hours? You've been keeping secrets from me," he accused.

The transformation was incredible. The room was no longer that of a sixteen-year-old boy. It was clean, picked up, and in order. A cloud of odors suddenly erupted out of the door driven by the hot air coming into the room from the furnace in the basement. It swept over Scott like a tsunami.

The odor of chlorine, ammonia, ersatz lemon, the scents of flowers that bloom only in the chemist's test-tube and chemical blends he couldn't identify all assaulted his nose. He sneezed violently. He sneezed again, followed by two more in quick succession. Scott backed hastily out of the doorway and away from the miasma of odors swirling in his friend's room.

"Stiles, for God's sake, are you trying to kill me? Open the window!" He wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand and then dug for a Kleenex in his pocket. He took shallow breaths trying to breathe in as little of the witch's brew that assaulted his nose as possible.

"But it's…" Stiles began a protest but Scott started to sneeze again.

"Right! Stay out there while I air out the room." Stiles hurried to his window and opened it as wide as it would go. He shivered in the cold blast coming in from outside. "I just finished a little while ago so I guess the odors are still a little strong."

Scott nodded vigorously in agreement from his refuge in the hall. He waited a full five minutes after the last sneezing attack before approaching the door again. Scott cautiously sniffed the air. "That was weird. I've never had that kind of reaction before, not even before the bite, when I still had asthma. I thought I was going to need my inhaler."

"It's your sense of smell. It's been enhanced by the transformation. Smell is the wolf's primary sense and you're just becoming more sensitized to the world around you," Stiles explained. "Derek said this would happen."

Scott gave his friend a puzzled look. "When? Did I miss that meeting?"

Stiles paused, flustered and looked around the room as though searching for help. "I'm sure that he said, or – no, maybe it was something I read on the Internet. Anyway, it seems true. You better stay away from cosmetic counters, dude. They could do you in."

Scott laughed. "That means I can't take Mr. Harrison for Algebra next year. I think he bathes in cologne." Stiles joined in his laughter.

"Okay, seriously, Stiles, what did you do? Hack the high school's computer again and change your grades?" Scott asked. "Or did you go for the big time and access the FBI database using your dad's ID? This has to be either the worst punishment ever or a preemptive strike on your part to wheedle something really big out of your dad. Which is it, man?" Scott walked cautiously to Stiles' bed and sat down on the edge. He made a production of removing his shoes before stretching out on the bed. "Fabric softener?" He turned his head to the side so he could get a better smell of the pillowcase. "You're into fabric softener?" Scott shook his head. "Maybe having Danny for a lab partner is rubbing off on you." He gave Stiles a raised eyebrow.

"I use laundry sheets to remove static electricity." Stiles said primly. "Dad buys the laundry products. If they're scented he picked them out. Okay?"

"So this is what was so important that you left me marooned at school? I get out of the shower after practice and you are gone. No one knows where Stiles went. Do you remember you said you'd give me a ride home? Now that Allison isn't around to give me lifts, it's either you or my bike."

Stiles smacked his forehead. "Yeah, sorry I stood you up. I'd been thinking about needing to clean my room all day and I just left after practice to get started. It couldn't wait." He ignored the incredulous look Scott sent his way. "And, no, I'm not in any trouble that I know about." Stiles looked thoughtful. "Unless you count dad's experience at the Parent/Teacher conference."

"Whatever his experience was it couldn't have matched my mom's. Remember, she busted me for cutting school with Allison?" Scott crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back against the headboard. His face registered amazement as his eyes roamed around the room before stopping. "A new poster. Did you have something there before?"

Stiles slowly rotated in his chair to face the wall in question. He got to his feet and walked over to the poster. "No, just an empty wall." He ran his fingertips lightly across it. "I had the poster and thought the plot of The Lost Boys was analogous to our situation. So, I put it up."

"Huh?"

"You've seen the movie. I know you have. I made you watch it with me."

"I know what the movie is about. How is it analogous to the shit we're in?" Scott rolled onto his side and rested his head on his fist. "It's about vampires."

Stiles sighed loudly. "I said it was analogous to our situation. I didn't say it was identical." Stiles went back to his desk and sat down straddling his chair. "You remember the plot?" He squinted at Scott suspiciously

"Yeah, like I said, it's a vampire movie." At the look of scorn this answer received he sighed and tried again. "Two brothers…"

Stiles interrupted him, "Like us." He pointed to Scott and then at himself. "We're like brothers. You're the…"

It was Scott's turn to interrupt. "…older brother, by 37 days."

"…And I'm the younger, smarter, better-looking brother," Stiles finished.

Scott scowled at Stiles. "…and their mother move to this creepy, California beach town." He watched the bare branches of the tree outside the window blowing in the cold, winter wind and shivered. The room was warming up now that Stiles had closed the window. "The older, cooler brother meets a chick who is really into him and he gets tangled up with vamps. Not seeing the analogy yet, man."

"That's because you're leaving stuff out including the young, tall, dark and fangy leader of the vampires. He'd be Derek's counterpart." At Scott's expression he stopped. "What?"

"Tall, dark and fangy?"

Stiles flushed. "I had considered scary, but that's just lame so I went with fangy. I… read it in a book but it fits, right?" He took Scott's silence as permission to continue and hurried on. "Who wants to turn the older brother and keeps trying to kill the younger brother. Also, like Derek."

"He hasn't actually tried to kill you, yet." Scott corrected. His attempt at fairness earned him a frown.

"The young vamp, he's the 24 Hours guy, right? Back when he was young?" Scott shook his head. "Remind me why I let you talk me into watching a gay movie!"

"What's gay about it?" Stiles sputtered.

"Guys sniffing and sucking each other's necks. That's what's gay."

His eyes wide, Stiles glanced nervously at the wall where the poster hung. "There's no…" he started before pausing and starting again more calmly, "There is no sniffing or neck sucking. 24 Hours guy used the blood of the head vampire to start the process of changing the older brother. Definitely no sniffing or biting exchanged between guys!"

"And, how were you changed?" Stiles didn't wait for Scott but answered his own question, "The Alpha, not Derek, bit you? Another similarity. And, tell me how Derek says you can be cured?"

Scott scrunched up his face. "He said if I killed the person who made me a werewolf, he thought that would cure me. But no guarantees, of course."

"It's also the same as in the movie." Stiles said triumphantly. He went on enthusiastically. "And then there's the mother…" Scott's head came up at this.

"The head vampire wanted the boys' mother." Stiles hurried on. "But he didn't get her, remember? In the end the mother was safe; the young and old vampires were dust; the two brothers were safe; and the older brother got his girl." Stiles rubbed his hand across his head. "Of course the younger brother got nothing out of it other than not getting killed." Stiles watched Scott's head sink back onto his pillow.

"Stiles."

The boy raised his head from its resting-place on his arms. "Yeah?"

"It that it?"

"Is what it?"

"The best we can hope for - not dying."

"Yeah, I think so."

"I don't know if I could stand never being with Allison again."

Stiles stared at his friend speechless.