Disclaimer : I do not own anything relating to Teen Wolf, the characters, plot or, sadly, the actors. I only own Oriana and any unrecognizable future characters added to stir the pot ;)
Thank you all for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing! I love reviews! It makes me so happy knowing that you guys like this story. Hopefully you'll all stick with me and Oriana through the next 4 seasons!
Okay guys this is a long one, so get comfy and enjoy!
Chapter 4 - Second Chance at First Line
She sat alone on bleachers watching practice start. For whatever reason Lydia and Allison couldn't make it so she was alone, which was fine. She had been instructed by Derek to be here to keep an eye on Scott anyway. Not listen to the ginger and brunette girls gossip.
She watched with amusement as Coach yelled at someone named Greenberg a lot.
"McCall what are you waiting for! Let's go!" He shouted at Scott who seemed distracted.
Scott ran at Jackson who was blocking the goal only to be launched to the ground hard.
Coach laughed as he walked toward Scott who lay on his back.
"McCall, hey, McCall!"
Scott got up, as Jackson said something douche-y as usual.
"My grandmother can move faster then that, and she's dead!" Coach taunted. "You think you can move faster then the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"
If the situation weren't so dire she'd smirk at Coach's morbid sense of humour. She'd never liked a teacher before Coach.
"Yes, Coach." Scott spoke through gritted teeth.
"What was that?"
"Yes, Coach."
"Then do it again."
"McCall's gonna do it again! McCall's gonna do it again!" Coach shouted out as Scott ran back to position.
She clenched her hands when she saw a flash of gold from under Scott's helmet as he started sprinting at Jackson. There was a dull thud as their bodies connected and Jackson fell holding his shoulder.
Scott held his head dropping to his knees. Stiles spurs he'd over, limbs flailing about.
As the Coach and team crowded Jackson Stiles bent over a crouched Scott.
"Scott?"
"I can't control it, Stiles. Something's happening." He forces out through the pain in his gums, his fangs starting to push down.
"What? Right here? Now?" Stiles panicked. "Come on get up. Get up."
Stiles dragged his friend up and ran with an arm over him back to the locker rooms.
She stood as they passed her. She caught Derek's eye as he stood near the bleachers and he nodded in the direction the boys had gone. She followed them.
When she got there she saw Scott on top of a row of lockers growling down at Stiles as he tried to scramble away from the werewolf.
Without a second thought she ran to block Scott's view of the human. That actually made it worse, as he growled louder, at the challenging beta. Her eyes flashed electric blue as she readied herself.
"Run!" She shouted to Stiles, eyes never moving Scott's feral form as he suddenly leaps at her.
She dodged at the last minute, grabbing him by the front of the shirt and using his momentum to swing him around and crash into the lockers. She growled in warning but he didn't back down. He came at her again. She tried to use defensive actions only as she didn't want to hurt him but every instinct in her was telling her to put the young wolf in his place. She could do it. She had been trained to fight, to attack but she held off.
He caught her arm as she held it up as a shield for her face and dragged her down onto her back, her head cracking against the concrete floor audibly. He jumped on top of her, his fangs trying to rip out her throat through the metal guard of his helmet. She wanted to push out her claws to shred out his jugular but instead held her palms to the helmet and pushed.
His claws pierced her bare arms as he held her down. She felt stupid for leaving her leather jacket in her locker on the hot day.
Suddenly they were engulfed in a cloud of cold smoke, Scott rolled off of her coughing as she let her shaking arms fall to cover her face. He's strong for pup, she allowed.
"Stiles?" Scott called taking off his helmet.
She looked up at Stiles who was hugging a fire extinguisher peeking around the open doorway of the locker rooms.
For a second they all panted heavily.
"What happened?" Scott asked.
Stiles entered again and dropped the extinguisher. He pulled of his lacrosse gloves off and a threw them angrily.
"You tried to kill me. And she." He nodded to Oriana who sat against the locker hand to her head grimacing in pain. "Saved me. Thank you for that."
He held out a hand to pull her up. She looked up at him, surprised by his unexpected kindness. She hesitated so he rolled his eyes and reached down to grab the hand she held to her head and pulled her up forcefully. Both underestimating his strength, she came crashing into his chest, she held her other hand to his firm bicep as he grabbed her small waist to steady her. She was considered slightly over average height for sixteen year old girl yet even in her heeled ankle boots she had to tilt her head up slightly to look Stiles in the eye.
When their eyes connected, whisky to mint, they stopped breathing. Their faces inches apart, they both felt a wave of heat engulf them.
"Uh, guys." Scott cleared his throat suddenly, jolting them both as they stepped back from each other looking down, able to breathe again. Scott looked between the two with wide eyes.
"It's like I told you before. It's the anger. It's your pulse rising. That's the trigger." Stiles told Scott after a taking a deep breath and sat on the ground I front of Scott who had pulled himself onto a bench.
"But that's lacrosse." Scott argued, "It's a pretty violent game if you hadn't noticed."
"Well it's gonna be a little more violent if you end up killing someone on the field." Stiles told him firmly.
"Which is why you can't play Saturday." Oriana piped up. They both looked to her, Scott with disbelief and Stiles with defeat.
"What? No!" Scott shouted.
She nodded.
"What do you know anyway? I bet your just saying this because Derek told you to." Scott argued.
She scoffed moving closer to stand over him, he quickly stood up to face her.
"Excuse me? Derek's trying to help you. I'm trying to help you. In case you haven't noticed there are hunters in town. You may be new to all of this but not us. We were born this way so I'm pretty sure we know more about this stuff then you."
He rolled his eyes and she felt a flash of anger roll through her. Her eyes turned blue and she growled deep in her chest. Stiles stood to the side not knowing if he should intervene but also wanting to hear what she had to say.
"Do you know what you were doing just now?!" she shouted. Scott narrowed his eyes defiantly.
"You were hunting." She spoke with harsh conviction that sobered the boys instantly to the situation.
Scott looked down ashamed.
"You attacked me because I got in the way of your prey." They flinched but she continued as if she hadn't seen. "Your instincts were telling you to defend your food against the challenging wolf. This is not a joke Scott. This is real. You almost killed Stiles. Because Coach was giving you some smack talk. What are you going to do on the field, game night with a whole crowd watching? Grow up. I do know what I'm doing. Do you?"
She challenged them. Neither responded, choosing to look at their feet almost submissively. She shook her head, walking out.
They stood in the locker room in silence for a minute, both taking in the severity of the she wolfs words.
"She's right. You can't play Saturday. You're gonna have to get out of the game." Stiles broke the silence with the soft yet demanding statement.
"But...I'm first line." Scott almost whined.
"Not anymore."
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
"We're all going out tomorrow night."
Oriana looked at Allison as she closed her locker door, folding her leather clad arms.
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah you, me, Scott, Lydia, Jackson and Stiles."
She raised her eyebrows. "And when was this decided?"
She was still mad at the boys after the whole locker room incident. She'd told Derek what had happened and he's freaked, going straight to Scott's house to threaten him. She followed him to make sure he didn't actually kill the teen but listened from beneath his window.
She thought it was sweet of Derek playing the overprotective brother card, because that's what he was like; Laura and him both. They were more like older siblings then cousins. Anyway she kind of liked that Derek had threatened to kill Scott for not listening to Oriana and also for hurting her too. She was twisted like that. She supposed she liked it due to all those times she didn't have any one to threaten the people that hurt her, during the time where she didn't know Laura and Derek were still alive and she was in and out of crappy foster homes and on streets. She suspected that Derek was catching up for lost time too, in his own 'Derek' way.
"Yeah, it'll be fun." Allison continued, unaware of Oriana's drifting mind.
"I thought I heard that Scott wasn't playing the game Saturday."
Allison frowned, closing her own locker. "He didn't say anything this morning when we talked about it."
Oriana gritted her teeth. "No?"
Allison shook her head surely.
"I got to get to class." She hurried away, looking for the soon to be dead wolf.
She found Stiles first so dragged him into an empty classroom as he was walking down the hallway. His arms flew about in defence, unable to see his attacker.
"Calm down." He heard her melodic voice and lowered his arms turning around to watch her close the door of the classroom.
He looked around nervously half-expecting Derek to jump out and eat him. He tried not to look at her, lest he be enchanted by her beauty and lulled into a false sense of security. He was confused. So confused when it came to Oriana. His life was good before she came along, everything was black and white. Easy. Him and his best friend got along, mostly undisturbed, as losers and they were bad at lacrosse and most importantly he was in love with the genius redhead that was Lydia Martin. Now everything was upside down. A popular girl was dating his best friend, Scott was first string making him technically popular and bringing Stiles along by association, and Lydia...well he hadn't really thought about her much. Which was unusual for him.
Stiles was confused. And even though he didn't want to think about how beautiful and surprisingly witty the girl was (who was related to the guy he was pretty sure was a murderer, and the reason his friend might be turning into one) ...he couldn't help it.
So he looked at the girl blocking the door. Her hair was pulled over her right shoulder in a long intricate fish tale braid that framed her full breast. The look exposed more of her angled jawline and pretty face. She wore a simple plum coloured loose top under her leather jacket with black skinny jeans that clung just right and tucked into a pair of badass combat boots.
She looked amazing. He groaned to himself.
"Why is Allison telling me about the get together we're all having after the game tomorrow? The one Scott's supposedly playing in?!" She shouted.
He shrugged, lost for words.
"I thought I made it clear that at Scott can't play that game. So why is he?"
He laughed, tersely. "I'm not his keeper."
"You're his little sidekick. So tell him he can't play." She told him, turning to leave.
"Sidekick?!" He shouted after her offended.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
Oriana was on her laptop in her room. Her thick hair was up in a high pony tail wavy due to the braid she'd worn it in all day. She wore low waisted yoga pants and a black racer back tank, as she was about to train with Derek in a few minutes.
"Derek!" She heard a shout. She stood up to look out her window at Scott as he jumped off his bike, storming up to the house in a rage shouting her cousin's name again. She quickly pulled on some black running shoes and ran downstairs and out the front door where Derek had just joined Scott. Scott glances at her and glared just as fiercely as he did Derek.
"Stay away from her! She doesn't know anything." He shouted to them.
They scoffed in unison and started toward him.
"Yeah? Well what if she does?" Derek asked as he jumped down onto the concrete steps and continuing his stride toward the younger male.
Oriana stopped at the steps, crossing her arms and looking down at them argue.
"You think your little buddy Stiles can just google 'werewolves' and now you've got all the answers is that it?" Derek asked stopping in front of Scott at slightly higher ground to look down at him.
"You don't get it yet, Scott, but I'm looking out for you." Derek continued. Scott started shift between feet nervously. "Think about what could happen. You're put on the field, the aggression takes over and you shift. In front of everyone." He looked Scott in the eyes as the boy's anger now combined with fear and anxiousness starts to make him shake slightly.
Derek picked up the lacrosse stick from Scott's bag and holds it loosely.
"Your mom, all your friends. And when they see you," he poked Scott's chest with the net of the stick only to have him slap it away roughly.
Derek's claws came out to tear through the strong netting in the stick, holding it up for Scott to see the damage. The boy's eyes widened.
"Everything falls apart." He finished simply.
He tossed the stick up in the air, for Scott to catch before disappearing into the woods without notice.
She rolled her eyes, her cousin was quite the drama queen. She turned to go back inside when Scott called out, stopping her.
"You stay away from her too."
She stopped in her tracks.
Scott watched the muscle in ten the girls exposed shoulders and back tense at his command. She slowly turned back to him eyes the same blazing blue he had seen that day in the locker rooms. He fought the urge to cower under her deadly glare.
"What was that?" She spoke lowly, hard as stone.
"I said stay away from Allison." He said with weakening resolve.
Her eyes locked on his she starts down the steps towards him slowly, purposely, like a prowling lion. He fought not to look down as she stopped within touching distance.
"Listen here, pup." She spat, making him flinch involuntarily. "You aren't my alpha. You aren't my anything. I am older, stronger and more experienced then you. I do not follow your orders. I will be friends with Allison for as long as I see fit and you won't do anything about it. Because you can't. I'm safer to be around then you are, pup. Don't make the mistake that just because I didn't hurt you the other day that I won't next time."
And with that she turned and with a swish disappeared like her cousin. He shook out of fear now instead of anger. He took a deep breath.
"Good luck with that one, Stiles."
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
"I'm going to get food." Oriana told Lydia, getting up. She somehow had gotten dragged into giving Lydia and Jackson a ride to the hospital due to Jackson not being able to drive because of his shoulder and Lydia's car being in the garage or something. She was turning into such a nice friend. She hated it.
When she got back she heard Stiles nervous voice rambling on like he does. She saw Lydia sitting where she'd left her, looking bored.
"I always thought that we had this kind of connection." He told her his voice shaking subtly. Lydia looked at him blankly twirling her hair around her fingers before looking away to her nails.
"You know, unspoken, of course." He continued.
Oriana sat in a nearby chair crossing her leg over the other to watch. So, she noted shortly. She'd caught Stiles confessing his undying love for Lydia. There was a funny taste in her mouth.
"Maybe it'd be kind of cool to, get to know each other a little better." He suggested hopefully.
"Hold on, give me a second." Lydia said, taking the Bluetooth from her ear behind her hair. She looked directly at Stiles then and spoke rudely. "Yeah, I didn't get any of what you just said. Is it worth repeating?"
He chuckles nervously. "Uh, no. Sorry." He stepped away awkwardly. "I'm just gonna sit right- you don't care." He flopped down in a chair on the other side of the wall Lydia sat against, reeking of embarrassment.
Lydia smiled falsely, "okay."
She took a deep breath, standing up to walk closer gaining Lydia's attention. The red head smiled and quickly said goodbye to whoever she was talking to greet her.
"I come bearing gifts." She told her holding up the packets of Reece's Cups she'd gotten from the vending machine.
She saw Stiles head snap around out the corner of her eye but ignored him as she sat down behind Lydia, basically next to Stiles too.
"Really, Oriana? Do you know how many calories are in that thing?"
She shrugged opening a packet. "Calories don't count when It's Reese's." She told the redhead, biting into heaven and giving a small moan.
"Oh my god." She heard Stiles whisper to himself near her, and the sound of slapping, presumably his hand covering his mouth, knowing she could hear him.
She acted as if he weren't there as her and Lydia chatted, waiting for Jackson. When he finally emerged Lydia stood to greet him, they talked about him taking steroids or something or other while she sat bored, looking away in disgust as they kissed in the middle of the waiting room. She caught Stiles watching them with an open mouth and longing eyes and cleared her throat loudly. He looked at her quickly and when seeing her angry eyes looked down at the magazine in his hands.
She shook her head and started after the happy couple ignoring Scott's voice when she heard it.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
"Wanna go to the diner for dinner tonight?" Derek asked leaning in her doorway.
She raise she face from her pillow to nod.
"Get dressed then, we leave in five."
She heaved herself from her warm covers to exchange her sweatpants for bootleg jeans, leaving her black tank on. She slipped her converse and grabbed her jacket. She followed Derek down to the Camaro and got in, still half asleep. She'd crashed after she'd gotten home from dropping the happy couple off at Lydia's.
"You awake there?" Her cousin teased.
"I want pie."
He chuckled.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
"Do you think..." Scott started as they were digging the hole in the Hale garden.
"What?" Stiles prompted, shovelling another mound of soil out of their hole.
"That Oriana helped."
"Helped what, Scott."
He slowed down. "Kill that girl."
Stiles shovel seemed to slip from his grasp cussing his to stumble slightly before regaining his balance. He looked at Scott.
"What?"
"Well." Scott shrugged. "They're cousins, they live together and they're both werewolves. If he killed someone she'd know right? The why is she protecting him? Or did she help?"
Stiles shook his head. "No- but- what- why would-" he gaped. It made sense, he didn't want to admit. He didn't think Oriana would be unwilling to kill, based off her general moodiness and scary death eyes she made at basically anyone who came within five feet of her.
"And if she didn't know she'd gonna be angry when she finds out we got Derek arrested." Scott said shovelling more dirt.
Stiles nodded absentmindedly, looking down at the hole they stood in and the shovel in his hands. He looked up at the charred skeletal remains of the Hale house and suddenly wondered where Oriana was when it happened and who she'd lost. Looking back down at the hole he'd helped dig, he realized he was about to take another family member away from her, possibly her last.
He wondered briefly if he were doing the right thing, if their reasoning's were justified or even worth it in the big picture. Did Scott just want to get rid of Derek so he could play the game and be with Allison or was he trying to put a criminal behind bars? Was that worth possibly ruining Oriana's life?
Scott's shovel hit something with a dull thud. "Dude, I think this is it!"
Stiles took a deep breath and bend down to help uncover it.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
"I love pie." She said stroking her stuffed belly as they pulled into their long driveway.
"You need to learn how to make your own then." He smiled with tenderness. He secretly thought it was adorable that Oriana acted like a toddler when sleepy. It thawed his heart to see his baby cousin again. After they'd been separated by the fire, when he and Laura had thought she was dead, she'd led a hard life. She was cold, harsh and most of the time emotionless, not that he blamed her. A lot of people would say she was incapable of feeling, but she wasn't like that at all. As much as she tried to deny it, it was the opposite; She felt too much. She'd been through some unimaginable things, before and after he'd met her. She'd not told him everything she'd had to see, do and live with in his absences, choosing instead to downplay the reality, but he knew. She could deny it all she wanted, but in her sleep, her screams revealed just a glimpse of the hell she'd lived. It was times like this, when she was half asleep and they were alone, that she let her guard down. In these rare moments he saw the wide eyed, innocent ten year old she used to be. That she still was deep down.
When they got home Oriana had fallen asleep in the passenger's seat. Derek smiled at his baby cousin and got out. It was raining so he took off his jacket to use to cover her head as he picked her up and carried her inside, noticing that he could faintly smell Scott and his freaky friend's scents around the house and huffed; stupid brats must have been snooping around possibly looking for him. The scent was faint, mostly due to the rain, so he decided he'd pay Scott a visit tomorrow to see what he wanted.
Too distracted with his sleeping cousin he didn't notice the disturbed ground near the side of the house or the missing wolfsbane plant.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
Oriana woke to banging on the front door. She groaned sitting up. She could hear Derek's shower running and knew that he probably didn't hear the door or guessed that she'd answer it as it was most likely just Scott. She was too sleepy to change from her pajamas, plum coloured knee length leggings and a thin, baggy, black sweater she'd stolen from Derek at some point. She shoved her bare feet into long furry slippers that were meant to look like turquoise monster feet. Her face was clean of makeup, not that she needed it, and her hair was a wild mane that she tried to tame by running her fingers through it as she made her way down stairs to the front door, flinging it open.
"What do you wa-" she stopped she saw the tall man uniform look down at her with raised eyebrows, a shiny Sheriffs badge on his chest. He was middle aged with light hair and kind eyes. He was the Sheriff.
"Hellllo." She drawled unsure of what else to say. She saw a couple of young deputies shifting behind him, trying to catch a glimpse of her.
She looked down uncomfortably.
"Guys why don't you go scope the area, I can take it from here." The Sheriff said, smiling at her in a genuine way.
He waited for them to leave before offering his hand to shake.
"Good morning. I'm Sheriff Stilinski."
She shook it cautiously, hoping Derek would hurry up.
"Oriana Hale."
His eyes widened. "Hale? You live here?"
She nodded, choosing to overlook the obvious distaste in his voice as he spoke about her family home.
"You're Stiles'..."
"Father. Yeah. Sorry for whatever he did."
She couldn't help but give a slight chuckle. "Uh, he's not here if that's -"
"Oh no, no." He assured her, his kind face turning serious.
"Is Derek Hale here?"
She opened her mouth but was cut off.
"Yes."
They both looked to see Derek standing at the top of the staircase, with wet hair and unshaven. He started down the stairs to stand beside Oriana, placing a strong hand on her shoulder.
The Sheriff watched. "Mr. Hale." He nodded. "…and you're Miss. Hale's...?"
"Cousin and guardian." He replied with forced politeness, watching the officer with cold eyes. What have Scott and Stiles done now, he thought.
"Well then. Derek Hale you are under arrest for the suspected murder of Jane Doe..." His word started to blur as she watched him take to Derek's hand from her shoulder not forcefully and turned him around gently to claps this wrists in handcuffs.
Oriana's pale orbs met her cousins. He nodded with a stony expression and a slight shake of the head.
Play dumb, he's telling her.
She followed them as the sheriff led her cousin outside toward one of the cars. She watched from the porch as Derek was helped into the back of a car, he looked toward the tree line before climbing in. She followed his gaze to see Stiles' ancient baby blue jeep, Scott leaning against it, looking at Derek almost guiltily.
"What did you do?" She whispered furiously. The boy's eyes met hers and his guilty puppy dog eyes widened in fear. She glanced around to see police tape around the spot Derek had buried Laura, cops taking pictures and walking around the area. She looked on helplessly, hatred bubbling in her chest for Scott and Stiles.
Out the corner of her eye she saw Stiles approaching the car Derek had been put in and sneaking in. Before she could even think more on it the Sheriff had come back over to her.
"I'm going to need you to come with me to answer some questions."
"Am I being arrested?"
He shook his head. "No, no, just a few routine questions."
"I don't really have a choice do I?"
He shook his head. She nodded reluctantly following him down the steps. She didn't bother asking to get anything from the house or change her clothes and he didn't offer so she crossed her arms and followed silently. He stopped by the hood of the car Derek was in.
"Wait here a second, please."
He then opened the passenger door and yanked his son out. She smirked when she heard the boy 'ow-ing' repeatedly.
"There, stand." The Sheriff told Stiles standing a little bit away from her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm just trying to help." Stiles complained.
"Uh-huh. Okay, well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this." The Sheriff waved his hand about in a very 'Stiles' like way.
Stiles sighed deeply and put his hands in his pockets casually. "We were looking for Scott's inhaler."
"Which he dropped when?"
"The other night." He shrugged.
"The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body?"
"Yes." Stiles said, bored.
"The night that you told me you were alone and Scott was at home?"
"Yes!" Stiles eyes widened. "No. Oh, crap."
"So you lied to me." The Sheriff stated not sounding the least bit surprised.
"That depends on how you define lying." Stiles pointed out.
"Well I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"
"Reclining your body in a...Horizontal position?" Stiles demonstrated.
"Get the hell out of here." He waved a hand. And Stiles nodded.
"Absolutely." He walked away scratching his head, avoiding Oriana's glare.
Despite the situation Oriana was amused by the Stilinski's. She felt like she was watching a tennis match. Both father and son were quick witted and sarcastic, making for entertaining conversation.
Oriana ended up riding to the station with the Sheriff while the car Derek was in was driven by a deputy. Derek got pulled into the back as soon as they entered the station while Oriana was brought to the Sheriff's office.
She curled her left leg under her and pulled the long sleeve of Derek's shirt over her hands to clench them in her small fists, as she sat in a chair at the Sheriffs desk as he closed the door and sat down opposite her.
As he pulled out a notebook and pen she pulled her hair over her shoulders and hunched them a little. She bit her lip and looked down at her hands in her lap. She painted the perfect picture of a naive, scared and confused teenage girl.
He looked at her with soft sympathetic eyes and she almost felt bad for deceiving the man. Almost.
"So, Oriana, can you tell anything about the body found in your backyard?"
She looked up at the Sheriff with wide eyes. "Body?" Her voice trembled purposely.
He nodded.
She shook her head slowly. "I don't..."
"You wasn't aware of it?" He asked a little sceptically.
She gulped and shook her head again.
He exhaled and wrote it down.
"Is that why you arrested Derek? You think he knows something about it?" She asked innocently.
He didn't say anything but looked at her again with a sad smile.
She gasped. "You think he did it? You think he ki-"
He nodded, "He's being questioned now as a suspect."
"He didn't do it." She told him firmly and truthfully. "He would never."
"How are you related to Derek exactly?" He asked, changing the subject. "I remember all the Hale's but not you."
She decided that this was a safe question to answer honestly but took a readying breath before answering, as it was still quite hard to talk about.
"I only lived with the Hale's for a year before the fire."
His eyebrows lifted, surprised and nodded for her to continue so she did, "I grew up with my mom in Boston until...she got into some trouble," she told the short story. "So she came and dropped me off with my dad when I was nine. He didn't know about me so it was kind of a shock. She said it was just for a week and then she'd come back for me." She took a deep breath.
"She never did."
Sheriff Stilinski smiled in a sad yet fatherly way.
"Anyway, the fire happened a year later. My Aunt Talia home schooled me because I was behind in a lot of things, and I didn't like going out around town a lot so..."
"And where were you when the fire happened?" It was a soft spoken, curious question that she, again, had to answer honestly because he could look her up and find out if she lied.
"I wasn't there." Okay, so she could lie a little. "I saw the house on fire and ran away. I was scared and thought everyone had died. I managed to get out of Beacon Hills where I collapsed and was found by a couple on a highway. I woke up in a hospital. I'm not sure where. I wouldn't tell them anything or talk at all. I was scared." She hated admitting it but it was true.
"After a few days I told the doctor I was an orphan and I was put into an orphanage in LA. Derek found out I was alive last year and came to get me. He's my legal guardian now." She finished with a heavy sigh.
She'd told him a lot more then was needed to answer his question but it kind of just all fell out, she felt comfortable with the kind man, much like his son he had a friendly open aura. It was necessary in the long run anyway, he'd feel more sympathy toward her and stop asking questions and hopefully see that she needed Derek, and that he wasn't such a bad guy for taking in an orphaned damaged sixteen year old.
"Okay, that's all." He closed the note pad and put it to the side. He leaned forward arms crossed on the desk with a friendly smile. She was glad for the change in atmosphere. It was getting a little too heavy for her.
"Do you have anyone you can stay with for a few days?"
She shook her head. She had no more family, her mother was God knows where. No friends. She wasn't going to tell him that she was friends with Allison, lest he suggest she stay there. Hell no. She didn't feel close enough to Lydia to suggest her's either. And there was no one else.
"I'll be okay on my own." She stated lifting her chin stubbornly.
"I can't just let you stay in that house in the woods all by yourself." He shook his head.
"Really, I'll be fine. I've been on my own before." She said defiantly. She was never good with authority or people caring what she did too much. None of her foster family's had cared what she did and Laura and Derek were more like older siblings then strict parents, letting her do as she wanted as long as she let them know when needed. Then there was the year she lived on the streets of Boston alone.
She almost growled when his eyes lit with pity. Sympathy she could handle but pity...just no.
"You don't have to be." He insisted.
She scoffed, her nice girl act wearing off. "I kinda do. You arrested my cousin." She snarked.
He leaned back in his chair, unoffended, with a thoughtful face.
"It's just for a couple days, right? Until you find out if he did it?" She pleaded.
He narrowed his eyes, she pouted and just like that he broke. "Okay, listen. You can go home." She smiled.
"But," he interrupted pointing a finger at her. "As it's the weekend, Stiles will pick you up and you'll spend the days at ours, have dinner and Stiles will take you home." He decided, as if it was such a simple suggestion.
"What!?" She burst, leaning forward in her chair.
"Stiles," he said with a wave of his hand. "You're friends from school right? You mentioned him earlier."
"We are not friends. He had my cousin arrested." She fumed.
He carried on as if she hadn't spoke, "and on Monday he can pick you up for school and you'll come over after. I can't just leave you in that at big house alone for days. This way I can make sure your eating and getting some company and you can sleep in your own bed. At least until we have more evidence; It'll just be for as long as Derek's here. Unless you want to stay at ours for a few days, we do have a spare room." He said it kindly but the threat was heard.
She slumped back with a groan, as the man continued talking to himself aloud. She really didn't want to see Stiles right now. Any good will or tolerance she'd build up for him was gone now. Him and his little wolf too. She wanted to wring their necks. Stupid, selfish children.
"One last question."
She looked to ten Sheriff who had stopped chattering and was staring at her with curious eyes again. She nodded in consent.
"Who is your father?"
"Peter Hale."
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
Oriana sat arms crossed glaring at the wall opposite her. The Sheriff had called Stiles telling him to come over to the station to pick her up, as he was on duty and couldn't leave. He'd told her that Stiles was going to bring her back home to change and then they could 'hang' out at the Stilinski's until the game. At least she'd gotten out of having to stay over like he'd mentioned the only other option being.
"Now you be nice to her and don't go mentioning anything about the case, okay. She doesn't need to know anything until we can figure out if we're going to be arresting her cousin for murder or not."
She heard the Sheriff say as he approached his office where she sat. She presumed he was talking to his son.
"I still don't see why she can't just go home." Stiles insisted.
"Until we know for sure that Derek did it, he's still her guardian and I don't know how long this process will take. It could be up to a week or longer. She can't stay in that big house alone for all that time, Stiles, she's still a minor. And she doesn't have anyone to stay with, and I told her that unless she wants to take our spare room this is what's going to happen." He told him son firmly. "So get in there and be nice. She's going through a hard time right now."
She heard Stiles groan loudly and smirked.
"Oriana." The Sheriff knocked on the open door. She turned around, catching Stiles peeking out from behind his father like a scared toddler.
She stood and made her way over making sure to glare at Stiles all the while. There was a moment of silence before Stiles cleared his throat from behind his dad.
"Nice slippers." He motioned to her fuzzy feet. She narrowed her eyes.
The Sheriff coughed to muffle a chuckle, "Stiles is going to take you home to changed now and then you two can study or something at ours, okay?"
She nodded. He patted her shoulder with a fatherly touch she'd never experienced.
"I'll bring some pizza in when I get back. I'll be leaving early to catch the game so I'll only be a few hours."
He motioned for her walk into the hall. She made her way through the station to the front doors.
"Be nice." The Sheriff hissed at Stiles pushing him to follow her, which he did stiffly.
She stormed past several officers and out of the station and right up to the blue jeep parked near the entrance. She opened the unlocked passenger door and hopped inside. Her eyes followed Stiles' nervous form as he hurried out of the station and around the car to the other side.
They sat in silence as he drove back to the Hale house. She was looking out the window, arms crossed. She could feel his eyes as he glanced over every once in a while and hear his breath catch as he went to say something but never did.
She gave a long sigh after the eight time he closed his mouth. She caught a familiar scent as she breathed back in. Her nose wrinkled and she snapped her head around to look at Stiles, who widened his eyes in panic, waiting for a scalding.
"Is that wolfsbane?" She asked sniffing again just to give a little gag. She held the sleeve of her long shirt to her nose to cover her burning nose.
"Uh yeah." He watched her wearily, as if expecting her to attack. She rolled down her window all the way, breathing in the fresh air.
"Why do you have wolfsbane?"
"It's uh...It was actually...It was from when we dug up the body..."
She narrowed her eyes.
"But uh..." He quickly sped. "I threw it out when it made Scott go all cray cray so...it's not here anymore. Heh." He tried to laugh it off but stopped when her glare remained unchanged. God, he thought, how can she be so hot and so scary at the same time?
"Wait, what? Where Is he?" She asked.
He shrugged. "He ran off after he went all wolf-y," he gestured to his eyes, indicating Scott's had turned gold, "on me and ran off into the woods."
She sighed and slumped back. "Great."
He panicked at her defeated posture and almost yelled, "What?!"
She shook her head. "Wolfsbane is toxic to werewolves as I'm sure you know." He nodded repeatedly. "The smell of it must have triggered his shift early. With the full moon his instincts are already on edge but the wolfsbane would have pushed him too far."
"Are you saying Scott's out there somewhere running round like wolfman?"
She raised a brow at him but nodded, "He should be okay as long as no one pisses him off. The moons not out yet so he's not too far gone. He's just in 'flight mode' from the wolfsbane. As long as he doesn't feel threatened he'll snap himself out of it."
Stiles nodded, looking mildly reassured.
"Hopefully." She amended.
"Hopefully!?"
She shrugged.
He made a noise curiously close to a growl before pulling the jeep into the Hale driveway. The area around the house was empty now, the only evidence of this morning being the remaining police tape around Laura's empty grave and a single squad car out front. As the jeep stopped an officer got out of the squad car.
She didn't even look at him as she went straight up to the steps and into her house.
The officer waved Stiles in too, having been told by the Sheriff that they were coming.
Stiles cautiously entered the house. If he thought the half collapsed charred house looked scary outside he didn't, the inside was way creepier. Like a thousand times creepier.
It was so dark and cold. He stood in the front hall. Directly opposite the front door was a set of what had once been a grand staircase that led up to an open hallway/balcony area that led to smaller walkways either side. The staircase now looked old and kind of unsafe, the once rich carpet was thin and black worn in spots to show the exposed wood of the steps beneath. The banisters had scorch marks that matched the walls of the room.
Either Side of the entry hall were large doorways that was free of doors. The large room to the right was empty and very dark. Stiles remembered seeing boards in the window on that side of the house keeping light out. The room to the left was lighter (due to the gaps in the ceiling) and also seemed empty save a new brown leather sofa and matching chair, that he could see. The dark scorched wood of the floor beneath Stiles feet ran into both rooms and the left rooms walls were also dark and peeling.
Overall from what he could see it looked like an abandoned haunted house, save the out of place new chairs. He could see how great the place must have looked when it was decorated and light, a big family home. But now it was depressing and scary. What was even creepier was that you could tell the place had been cleaned. It wasn't decorated but it wasn't dirty and there wasn't any visible dust or cobwebs so someone had obviously scrubbed the bulk of the crap away and if this was the remainder he didn't want to think of how it would have looked otherwise.
There were some disturbing spots on the floor and lower walls here and there in the hall that were a shade or two lighter that seems oddly human shaped. With a sick feeling he deduced that these must have been where the victims of the fire had collapsed. He swallowed thickly at the sudden chilling feeling he had when he realized that people had died here. God how could Oriana and Derek live here?
He waiting anxiously for Oriana to come down stairs, his hands shaking slightly in his pockets, trying not to look around much.
"Creepy, huh?"
He looked up to the top of the stairs where Oriana stood looking down at him with an evil smirk. He gulped.
"It's…uh..." He shrugged.
She started down the steps, now dressed in her usual leather jacket, dark jeans and a simple dark blue t-shirt. The heels of her knee high boots made a dull thudding sound as they hit the exposed wood of the stairs and he expected the thing to collapse under the weight of the sound alone.
"Why do you live here?" He blurted out before it could be helped.
She looked almost thoughtful before shrugging. "It's home."
She walked past him out the front door, leaving him to almost run after her, eager to leave the house behind, closing the door after himself. She presumed she didn't bother locking it because no one would think there was anything inside worth stealing insider or wouldn't chance it just by the look of it anyway.
Stiles waved at the officer as they drove away. The ride back to the Stilinski residence was quiet. When they finally got there he told her to make herself comfortable in the living room while he went into the kitchen to get drinks.
When he came back she was sitting with her shoes and jacket off, legs pulled up next to her on the couch and was flicking through the channels on the large television. He rolled his eyes, he had told her to make herself comfortable. He passed her a can of coke and sat on the other end of the couch with his own. He kicked off his shoes and crossed his ankles lending back and sipping his can.
"What we watchin'?" he asked. He'd let her choose, he supposed, he did just get her cousin arrested.
She shrugged, sipping her own soda. After a minute of searching she stopped on an early episode of The Walking Dead and put the remote down.
"Seriously?" He asked mouth gaping as the main character jumped out of a tank and started shooting zombies.
She smirked at him. "What? Squeamish?" She asked as a zombies head exploded on screen.
"I love this show!" He yelped, sitting up. She raised a brow as he started rambling on about how amazing the effects and zombie make up was. After listing his top five favourite characters he started sprouting off facts about the show. She listened and watched the show at the same time, impressed with his devotion to the franchise.
"...and did you know that they put the extras that play the walkers through zombie school?!..."
"Did you know." She interrupted. "That when they were filming this scene a SWAT team were called in because of civilians hearing the gunfire." She pointed at the screen where a tall balding redneck was shooting zombies from the roof of a city building.
When she didn't hear a response she turned to see Stiles staring at her with wide admiring eyes. "I did not know that." He told her in a very normal reserved un-Stiles kind of way.
They watched the rest of the show in silence. They then took it in turns to put something on. Stiles put on the latest Batman movie where they argued all the any through on whether Batman was better than Iron Man. Oriana fought hard for her man Robert Downy Jr. and made some excellent points that left Stiles speechless.
Then Oriana turned on an episode of Friends to which Stiles put on The Big Bang Theory and finally about 10 minutes into Oriana's next movie choice; The Maze Runner, Sheriff Stilinski entered with a box of pizza. He joined the pair of the couch, sitting between them, the pizza box open on the coffee table in front of them, easily slotting into the banter between the teens.
Oriana kept teasing Stiles about looking like a slightly younger version of the main character 'Thomas', he didn't see it but his dad agreed with her.
After the movie had ended the Sheriff clapped his son on the shoulder. "Time for you to get going if you want to make it to the game on time. We'll meet you there." He left to bring the empty pizza box into the kitchen. The teens sat for a moment in silence eyes on the rolling credits on screen.
"Well." He cleared his throat, "I'd better go..." He pointed a thumb at the stairs. "Put on my gear." Still he didn't move.
She nodded. "Yep."
Silence.
And then as is synchronized, they turned their heads to look at each other. His whisky eyes drilled into her pale, almost translucent, orbs, softer then he'd ever seen them. She was relaxed against his sofa, long hair wild around her shoulders, strands catching on the thick navy blanket that lay at the back of their heads. Her cheeks were lightly flushed with laughter and her soft lips were curled slightly upwards. For the first time since he's known her she looked...happy. He didn't want to get up, knowing that once he did it would shatter this moment. That as soon as he left this couch she would be a Hale again, a werewolf, Derek's cousin. And he would have to go deal with his werewolf best friend and try to stop him from killing anyone.
He gave her a soft fond smile before dragging himself up from the warm depths of this comfortable space. The space where they could be just Oriana and Stiles.
As he paused in the doorway and looked back he saw her back as she pulled on her boots, shaking her hair out as she stood and replaced her leather jacket on. He sighed and walked up to his room, already feeling his shoulders get heavier.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
Oriana and the Sheriff arrived at the game just as all the players were running onto the field. She kept her face especially hard, regretting her slip earlier with Stiles, cursing herself for leaving herself so vulnerable. She had to get serious now. She was in close proximity to a hunter. An Argent nonetheless. Allison had texted her on the way here that her father was coming to watch the game with her. It was a clear sky, the full silver moon mocking her as she walked under it. She had to not only keep an eye on Scott by herself due to her cousin being otherwise disposed, but she also had to keep herself in check too. Now was not the time for weakness.
When the Sheriff or John as he'd told her to call him spotted Stiles sitting in his usual spot on the bench chewing the fingers of his glove, his leg jumping up and down, he steered her over there to greet him. She watched as John slapped his son on the back making him jolt I'm surprise.
"Hey, Kid." John leaned down to say.
"Hey." He said back his voice trembling slightly with nerves.
"So, you think we'll see any action tonight?"
"Action?" Stiles considered. "Maybe."
She avoided his eyes as they glanced up at her. Instead her gaze was on Scott who was mumbling to himself on the field.
She saw Allison and Lydia out of corner of her eye waving at her. She turned to look at them both motioning for her to join them. She might have considered it if not for the middle aged dark blonde with blue eyes that sat next to Allison. Chris Argent.
She shook her head with, what she hoped looked like, a rueful smile and pointed to the Sheriff. 'Sorry' she mouthed without apology.
"Let's go find somewhere to sit, the games starting." She told John who smiled and stood up. He patted Stiles on the back and led her over to the middle of the bleachers.
"You sure you don't want to sit with your friends?"
She shook her head with a small laugh. "I'm good."
He shrugged. He came to a stop by a pretty woman with tan skin, a wide genuine smile and dark curly hair. Her brown motherly eyes sparkled as she took in the young girl shifting almost nervously beside John Stilinski.
"Melissa, this is Oriana. She's a friend of the boys, come to sit with us old folk for the game." John introduced. The woman laughed and reached a soft hand out to Oriana.
"Speak for yourself old man. Hi, Oriana. I'm Melissa, Scott's mom."
Oriana shook her hand politely and gave her best charming Hale smile. She could defiantly see the resemblance. Both in looks and in kind smile.
"Nice to meet you Mrs. McCall."
The woman laughed. "Oh, Hun, call me Melissa."
She nodded, sitting down next to John who sat with Melissa on his other side. They all watched as the whistle blew and the players sprung into action.
Jackson immediately got the ball and passed to another player, who passed to another, completely overlooking Scott to stood wide open with his stick in the air. As they passed he threw his arms up in exasperation.
Oriana shook her head. "Stay cool, Scott." She whispered.
Scott was continuously ignored by his teammates who seemed to want to pass to anyone but him. Finally, the ball on the ground unattended, Scott and Jackson both raced over to claim it. With an almighty shove Scott was on the ground and Jackson was off with the ball. Crap.
"Oh god." Melissa stood with her hand over her mouth. John winced and Oriana cursed under her breath, mindful of present company.
Jackson scored and the crowd roared, everyone jumping to their feet but the three of them. Reluctantly they stood together to give a weak clap.
She saw Scott double take when glancing toward the stands and then Stiles look over his shoulder with a groan. She looked behind her to see Lydia and Allison standing holding a poster that read "We Luv U Jackson". She snorted as if the bad grammar offended her. Way to go, Allison. Great help.
"Brutal." Stiles said looking back at Scott who growled in agreement, shaking his head. "Oh, this is not gonna be good."
Oriana shook her head. Nope.
"Only to me." She heard Jackson tell a huddle of red jerseys. Scott must have heard too because he stopped and looked over at them. She pushed her hair behind her ear and listened.
"What if he's open?" Danny asked.
"Who's the captain? You or me?" He snapped.
"Jackson, come on, dude, I just wanna win." Danny told him fairly. This why she liked Danny.
"We will win."
"But..."
"What did I say?" Danny looked at him. "What. Did. I say?" Jackson spat.
"Don't pass to McCall." Danny sighed resigned.
Jackson smacked his chest and they all dispersed leaving Scott standing behind them open mouthed. His eyes flooded gold.
Oh yeah, this was gonna get ugly.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
Scott was bent over, you could see him breathing slow deep breaths as the cold air misted around his helmet. He was stock still, all his muscles tense and waiting, ready to pounce.
Oriana clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles turning white in anticipation.
"Stay cool Scott. Just breathe. Breathe." She whispered.
"You okay, kid." The referee asked as he passed Scott's prone form.
He nodded slowly, eerily. The kid in the white Jersey behind Scott must have felt the instinct humans usually do around weres during the full moon, that screamed 'DANGER', as he backed away a few steps, watching Scott's back uneasily.
"Which one is Scott again?" Argent asked from behind her.
"Number eleven." Lydia answered before Allison could. "The one who hasn't caught the ball this entire game." She said sassily.
"I hope he's okay." Allison mentioned in a small voice.
"I hope we're okay." Lydia countered. "We need to win this." She stood up. "Allison. A little help here."
Oriana looked over her shoulder to see the girls holding up yet another 'Jackson' sign. She shook her head.
Scott turned his head, hearing the conversation too, no doubt. His eyes flashed again as he growled.
And then the whistle was blown and they were off again, the ball high in the air. Scott sprung up and over a couple of players who stood in anticipation of the ball. He landed firmly on his feet, ball in his net and took off. He zoomed across the field dodging any and all that got in his way, his sights set of the goal.
Melissa jumped up and down in excitement on the other side of John.
He threw...and scored.
The crowd cheered, Melissa let out a loud 'yeah!' John gave a low whistle as they all clapped. If the situation weren't so dire, she'd have to admit that lacrosse was a good sport to spectate, especially when there was someone as swift and agile as Scott out there.
"Pass to McCall!" Coach called out to the friend of celebrating players, walking down the sidelines of the field. Stiles jumped up and down behind him as if he were doing jumping jacks. "Pass to McCall!" Stiles was echoing him loudly in his ear causing Coach to turn around and slap him upside the head. Oriana had to laugh as Coach pointed Stiles back over to the bench and Stiles ran like a bad dog.
Quickly after the next whistle a white jerseys player scooped up the ball and turned looking for an open team mate. He stopped short when he caught sight of Scott standing behind him tall, fangs out, angry golden eyes and having chest. She looked around to see if anyone saw, particularly the hunter in the stands, but he seemed clueless so she sighed in relief and returned to watch as the kid quickly passed Scott ball.
The Beacon crowd cheered while all the players on the field stood dumbstruck.
"Did the opposing team just deliberately pass up the ball?" Coach asked Stiles from the bench.
He gave a single nod. "Yes, I believe so, Coach."
Scott sighed and zagged down the field, avoiding blocks with grace.
"Interesting." Coach smirked.
Scott was at the other end of the field so fast, the White's goalie was the only other player around for a good ten feet. He launched the ball so hard that it went straight through the goalies net and into the goal.
Once again the crowd was in uproar, screams of exhilaration and disbelief deafened Oriana momentarily before she too joined in. Melissa and John high fived. Coach walked down the sideline of the field again, shouting, "There ya go! There ya go!" He didn't even care when Stiles followed behind him doing his starfish thing shouting "Yes!".
"What...?" Melissa whispered with an astonished smile.
Scott turned around to look at the suddenly loud noise, his fangs and yellow eyes on show.
"There's you go, McCall!" Coach clapped. Stiles hopped around behind him watching with a giddy smile and spaghetti arms. "What?" Coach asked the complaining Coach of the opposing team. "The ball's in the net."
"The balls in the net." Stiles echoed angrily, like a mini-Coach.
"That's the goal of the game. The balls in the net!" Coach pointed. Stiles stopped then, staring down the other Coach with surprising heat, daring him to argue.
"We got it!" Coach blew his own whistle and there his arms in the air.
The game was tied now, five all.
The final whistle blew and Jackson bent down opposite the captain of the white jerseys.
"Dude, what the hell is up with your teammate, man. What's he on?" The guy asked Jackson.
"I don't know. Yet."
The whistle blew again and they all moved. Scott had gotten the ball again and was crouched, looking around growling. Uh-oh. She quickly stumbled down the stands to stop next to Stiles.
"No, Scott, no, no." He was saying.
"He can't." she told him, grabbing his shoulder to steady herself as they watching him look around himself.
"Why not?"
She took a deep breath. "He's in hunting mode."
"Shit."
"Yep."
They both started whispering encouraging words to Scott who didn't seem to take any notice whatsoever, growling at anyone who came close. To be fair the other players gave him a wide berth, probably that human instinct kicking in. He looked as if he were about to jump at one player who got a little too close when Allison spoke.
"You can do it, Scott."
She said it calmly and firmly and...Scott listened. Kinda. His shoulders relaxed slightly and he set his sight, once again, on the goal. Oriana grabbed Stiles surprisingly firm bicep tightly and they waited.
With five seconds to spare, two brave white's ran at Scott from either side. Before they could reach him he reached his arm back and threw it forward again at an incredible speed.
The Beacon crowd screamed and flooded the field. Stiles threw his arms high in the air. "Yes! Yes!"
Oriana was suddenly grabbed around the waist and hoisted up. Stiles span her around while she tried to hold on to his hard shoulder pads. Swept up in the climax of the game and all the excitement and elation she was laughing loudly and freely cheering as Stiles span her.
"Oh my god! Yes!" Stiles continued to shout.
When he set her down she wobbled slightly, he grabbed her waist again to steady her and they laughed together. And then their eyes locked. They both had wide teeth bearing grins on their faces as their eyes were locked in an intense stare-off.
Without warning they were both squished together again, rather painfully, as John Stilinski cheered in their ears as he held them to his chest swinging left and right both laughed as they tried to stay on their feet.
"Okay, dad! That's enough!" Stiles shouted.
John stood back, letting them go as abruptly as he'd caught them and gave a loud 'whoop!' Holding both hands up. They high fives him happily and satisfied, he returned to Melissa's side as she laughed and was forced to also give him a high five.
"Sorry, about him." Stiles laughed, scratching the back of his head.
She shook her head. "No, he's great."
He raised a brow, smiling still. She shook her head and looked down her own smile fading a little.
"My dad was never..." She paused. "He's great." She said simply catching his eye again with new intensity.
Stiles gulped and nodded. "Thanks." He breathed.
The area near the benches was quite deserted now as the majority of people were celebrating on the field with the team.
"Uh-huh." They heard John say.
They both turned to see John on the phone his once exhilarant face now stern and proper.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Stiles asked.
John held a finger up, listening intently.
Stiles looked down to Oriana, as if to see if she'd tell him what the conversation was about. He saw her face was blank. Her eyes hard once again, like the first time he saw her. She watched John wrap up his call and took a deep breath.
He hung up and looked up to Oriana.
"That was the medical examiner. Whatever killed that girl was an animal. Your cousins free to go. But..." He took a deep breath. "The body has been identified as Laura Hale." He watched her with sympathetic eyes.
"What?!" Stiles yelped looking between his father and the she-wolf.
She took a deep breath and forced a shocked expression. "Laura?"
John nodded. "Come on, I'll take you home." He held out an arm and something in her chest swelled. She slowly walked into his embrace as he wrapped the arms around her small shoulders and steered her away from Stiles and toward the parking lot.
They ignored Stiles spluttering and half questions as they walked away, leaving him by the bench to lift his hands in anger and confusion.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
When they reached the parking lot, away from prying eyes she felt herself unconsciously melting into John's warm fatherly embrace, laying her head softly on his shoulder as her arms crossed over her chest as if trying to keep herself together. He squeezed the top of her arm in response. She sighed heavily.
She didn't know why she was feeling so overwhelmed all of a sudden as her eyes started to sting and her nose tingled. Maybe it was the hormones from the full moon, maybe it was the adrenaline from the game wearing off, maybe it was the intense connection she'd felt when looking into a pair of whisky eyes, maybe it was the feeling of a father holding her when she was upset; she'd never had that.
Her own father was never really like a father. Granted he'd only known her a year before he'd been taken away, not by his own doing of course but still, he was still young when he found out, about Derek's age and wasn't father material. He was more like a fun uncle. She had to admit it felt nice. Secretly, she'd always pined for a father. Growing up with an unloving deadbeat mother who never wanted her, and was open with the fact, she'd always dreamed of a father that would find her and rescue her from her evil mother and her mean boyfriends.
She'd longed for a parents embrace, and when her mother had been lacking she'd imagine the next best thing, a fathers. But that was all it was; a fantasy. When her mother had told her she was going to live with her father she'd been over the moon, expecting him to pick her up and hold her close telling her how much he loved and missed her. Instead she got a terrified face and a rant full of denial. Aunt Talia would always tell her to give Peter time to adjust, that he'd come to love her and be the father she'd always wanted.
But then the fire had happened. And then her countless foster fathers; some didn't want a hug, some wanted more. And then her year on the streets came with no positive human contact whatsoever. She'd learnt to hold herself. By the time Laura and Derek had found her again, she didn't want to hug anymore. Which was just aswell because, while caring, Laura was quite flighty and could sometimes be gone for days at a time, weeks even. And Derek was just as broken and hard as her by then that he wasn't exactly all cuddles either. Either way she could admit that John's kind embrace was welcome.
But then maybe it was the revelation that Laura's death was now official and known. She'd never forget finding her beloved cousin naked, stiff and bloody on the dirty forest floor. Or the terror she felt when looking into those milky dead eyes and discovering her missing lower half. She'd had nightmares every night since. Yet it never felt really real, even sitting at her unmarked grave, that Laura was dead. Not until the Sheriff was announcing that her body had been identified. It felt real now because the police knew. And now the police knew so would the papers, and then everyone would know and then there'd be a service and a funeral and Laura would be in a coffin and it would be real. And all they'd have left was a death certificate with her name on it.
She hasn't realized she was crying until John had stopped next to his car and was pulling her face into his chest, holding her head and as she sobbed. This just made her cry harder and he started making 'shhh-ing' noises into her hair as he held her.
After a few minutes she gave a final sniff and raised her head, swiping her wet cheeks with the sleeves of her jacket, which didn't really help as it was leather.
"I don't think it's working." John agreed. She laughed and gave up, letting the wetness dry on its own in the cold air.
"Come on. Derek'll be waiting for you." He told her softly, patting her back as he opened her door for her. She gave a quick appreciative smile before ducking into the car. As he closed her door and made his way around the car she tried to control her breathing. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She felt exhausted by foreign flood of emotion and she just wanted to sleep. Yeah, she thought at the faint sound of an angina roaring to life. John is great.
OHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOH
Derek heard the car pull up outside and hurriedly made his way out the door. He assumed it was Stiles or Scott dropping Oriana off but was surprised to see the Sheriff's car turning off and the man himself stepping out. He looked through the windshield to see the sleeping face of his cousin.
He walked down the steps to meet the Sheriff who held out his hand. He took it cautiously, looking into his eyes for any sight of trickery.
The man gave a small smile. "Derek." He greeted. "I'm sorry about..."
Derek shook his head with a charming smile. "Don't be."
The Sheriff nodded. "Well. She's exhausted." He pointed to the car behind him. "I told her about..." He looked down.
Derek nodded tensely "Laura."
The Sheriff nodded. "Did you know she was dead?"
It was a genuine curious question, as if asking a distant friend or close acquaintance. Not formal or suspicious, like a Sheriff asking a suspect.
Derek shook his head looking down. "She disappeared a few weeks ago. Said she had some business. We tracked her credit card to here, came looking..." He took a deep breath and blew it out in a loud exhale.
The Sheriff nodded, believing the painful truth behind the young man's words. He watched Derek's eyes narrowing in on the sleeping girl in his car and nodded.
"She got pretty upset when I told her. Just kind of...fell apart."
Derek looked him in the eyes with frowning confused eyes. He remembered how broken she'd been that day in the woods when she'd found Laura. He'd never seen her or anyone in his life act that broken. It had fucking terrified him. But he couldn't imagine his hard ass little cousin acting like that in front of anyone other than himself or Laura. Let alone this random Sheriff she'd just met that morning. Then again she'd been through a lot in her short years, and it was a full moon. Emotions run high. Plus he could see the Sheriff was a good kind man, and he saw the fatherly concern in his eyes when he looked toward the car. He remembered the days when little Oriana followed Peter around, desperate for attention. Just wanting to play or be held or a simple smile. He couldn't count the amount of times he'd seen his mother slap Peter upside the head for ignoring the love thirsty little girl. Now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense that Oriana would cry in front of him, if anyone.
He took a deep breath. "Did we win?" He asked the Sheriff, wanting to relieve the sudden intense air. It worked. The man laughed, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Oh we won alright. Thanks to our star player, Scott McCall."
Derek clenched his jaw and nodded slowly. "Yeah, Oriana's mentioned him."
The Sheriff nodded. "I tell ya I don't know where it came from but...he was amazing out there! Threw a ball straight through the net of the goalie's stick, and one of the other team actually passed the ball to him!" He laughed jovial, "How 'bout that?"
Derek laughed a short fake chuckle. "Imagine that."
John didn't notice the younger man's fake smile as he nodded to himself one last time before sighing.
"You'll also have to find another place to live, this place isn't safe for you let alone a sixteen year old." He warned gently. He didn't want to come outright and demand he find a suitable place for the young girl to live or she'd be taken away from him but the implication was heavy. Derek nodded, gritting his teeth. He had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
"We'll find what killed your sister, Derek. I promise you that." He told him with serious eyes. "Tell her I said that too. And tell her I said she's welcome anytime. She's a great kid."
Derek nodded, moving around to the passenger door to pick up his cousin. He held her bridal style and closed the door with his foot. He looked down at her face blotched red from crying. "She is."
With a last wave the Sheriff got into his car and circled the car, driving down the driveway and out of sight. Derek looked down at her again and sighed. "Brat."
So, what did you guys think? We got a little insight into Oriana's past here and why she is the way she is. You'll find out more in later chapters. And we saw a few different sides to her and Derek in this chapter. With the added scenes, including John, Derek and Stiles, I hope it wasn't too OOC.
Also, I realize that making Peter, Oriana's dad was a bit obvious and overdone, but I there's hardly any Malia's sibling fics out there and I can't wait to get to that! Oriana and Malia are similar in a lot of ways I think, an they both need more family. When Malia does arrive, Oriana and Stiles will adopt her like a puppy or a toddler and teach her people stuff together, I can't wait!
Thank you all! Review and let me know what you like, don't like and want to see in future chapters ")