INTERLUDE (WITHIN AN INTERLUDE): BONDS
Both Mrs. Kean and Sheriff Stilinski put their houses on the market, and used the money to purchase a luxury home in the community that Jackson's father had finally opened to the public. The boys picked out their own bedrooms, and on moving day elected to rent a truck rather than use a service since between the boys and their friends, the job would likely take half the time.
The couple looked at their children feeling a similar ache in their chests at how those children had grown and…changed. Danny walked by, eyes yellow, panting only slightly as he carried a grandfather clock over to the truck and hopped in. Stiles was next, easily carrying the living room sofa over his head, whistling. "Showoff!" called Danny. His father shook his head.
"I guess I don't have to worry about school bullies picking on our boys anymore."
Maria smiled, then leaned her head into his shoulder. "They are both warriors, and always have been. You should be very proud of Stiles…he has faced much with a brave heart."
Stilinski, remembering how nearly he had lost his son (the memory still made him break down into tears) nodded his head.
"Stiles is brave. Makes me look like a coward. I worry about what Derek says is coming. But I agree, the Argent boys have to be stopped. Not jailed. I realized I stopped being Sheriff when they hurt my son, because all I wanted to do was kill the bastards. This will be my last term. I will be officially retired, and am looking forward to collecting my pension. The office deserves an objective, impartial policeman. That isn't me anymore."
Maria was silent, inwardly grateful at hearing this since her one concern was worrying about the danger of his job. Beacon Hills had recently become a very dangerous place to live.
The Sheriff drove the moving van with Stiles, while Maria took Danny in her car to the new home.
Stiles was still whistling, when the Sheriff made a coughing sound.
The whistling stopped. Stiles turned his wolf-yellow eyes on his father. "Yeah, dad?"
The Sheriff glanced at him. "Can you turn that off? It's kind of creepy."
Stiles passed one hand over his face, his eyes a familiar brown a moment later.
"Ta-da!"
"Oh, lord, this is going to take some getting used to. You, and Danny. A week ago, I didn't know werewolves existed. Now I've got two of them."
"You don't have a werewolf, dad. You have me, your son, Stiles. I am the same kid I used to be. And so is Danny, although you didn't know Danny that well before he was bit, so you have no way of knowing the old him…" For the first time ever, Stiles self-regulated one of his ramblings and quieted down. The old Stiles couldn't have done that.
"Why are you stronger than the rest of them? Danny is bigger than you, but he keeps out of your way when he sees you coming."
"Not sure. Maybe it's because so many of us were there when Derek bit me. He says we're stronger together, maybe his bite was more powerful or something."
"Derek, he's different than you boys."
"Derek's an Alpha, a pack leader. We have to do what he says. Unless it's a strip tease. We'd never do that, not that he'd ask. Well, maybe Danny would-"
Stiles shut up when his father groaned aloud.
"Are you going to fight the Argents with them?"
Stiles was quiet for a minute. Then: "I have to, Dad. The Pack is my family, too."
"Stiles, when they told me you might never wake up, all I wanted to do was find a deep dark hole and fall into it. I can't stop you. You're not a little boy I can send to his room anymore. I am asking you not to fight. I keep seeing you almost dead in that ridiculous wolf costume-"
"Snarls."
"What?"
"The mascot's name is Snarls, dad. And when I wore him, that was the first time in my life I felt I fit in with the guys."
"They dunked you in GATORADE!"
"Only because they're too afraid of Derek. Do you know what it's like to see the most popular kids in school run up to you and carry you on their shoulders, to know that every time they win a game, they feel they owe some of that victory to you? The Argents hurt me, Dad. Hurt my friends. No way am I going to let them down." Stiles let out a deep breath. "I know how you feel. Believe me, I do. Every night I would lose sleep worrying that the phone would ring, and it would be a voice telling me that you were killed in the line of duty. I kept wondering what I would do without you, how I would even get through the next day. I never thought I would make it. I'm sorry I made you feel like that for even a minute, Dad. You had no way of knowing Derek could save me. But all I remember you telling me when I was little was that 'Stilinskis stand up for themselves, no matter what.' Now, you tell me the truth. I'll be able to hear it if you lie. Would your respect for me go down even the tiniest bit if I sat out the fight?"
"Son, I love you no matter what." He said in a thick voice. Tears shimmered in the older man's eyes. He struggled to control himself.
"I know that's true. But that isn't what I asked."
"Stiles-"
"I'm fighting, Dad."
With a broken sob, the Sheriff gave up, tears freely flowing down his face. No matter how the battle turned out, he had still lost his little boy.
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Elsewhere, Scott and Allison walked through the forest surrounding the Hale house, although Scott did not intend to see Derek until much later. The forest held many memories for them both, and they found themselves able to talk and think more freely here when a difficult subject needed to be discussed.
"Allison, I know you want to fight with us, but it worries me that you're human and it will be Standing Room Only for werewolves and Hunters. You could get hurt, and…"
He had been going to say: "You're the only reason I'm doing this." But he realized that was no longer true. Scott and Stiles had both grown up in single parent homes as only children, and Scott never realized what he had been missing by not having a large family. It occurred to him that he was doing this for all of them. Every member of his Pack, Derek, their families…
Had Allison suddenly declared love for someone else and moved away, he would still be here fighting for his life alongside his brothers.
"I've made my choice, Scott. And I've already paid the price for it. My parents are the only members of my family who will talk to me now. They all figured it was me who called in that anonymous tip. Idiots, they don't realize I probably saved their lives. The town would have lynched them for what they did. I still cannot believe they put all of those kids at risk. That bomb was set to go off the moment someone opened the door. How could they possibly know it would be Derek? They didn't care. As for the ones that are still out there, Mark and his friends…" her voice grew suddenly cold: "…they deserve what's coming to them."
Scott shivered, thankful that he was not on her bad side.
"Do you regret…that I'm one of them?" Scott asked quietly.
"Oh, Scott. You know it threw me to find out, but that was shock…and I was a little hurt that you hadn't told me. Then there were the lies. And the disappearing acts. And the –"
"Okay, okay. I get it." He said, laughing guiltily.
"I'm just glad that part is over with. Things have been great with us since then. If I wish you were human, it's only because things are so much more dangerous for us now. Does it bother you that I'm still human?" she asked, poking him in the ribs.
"WHAT? No! You don't have to worry about that, by the way. Derek would rather bite off his own arm than turn an Argent, and he's the only Alpha around.
Scott looked at her sideways.
"You would make a hot werewolf, though. Just saying."
Allison smacked him on the head.
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At the Hale house, Derek and Jackson went over their battle plans. Derek realized he was talking to himself when he noticed Jackson's eyes were completely unfocused.
"What is it, Jackson?"
"Why did you pick me to be your second in command, Derek?" The question had been running around in his head all day.
Derek looked up at him.
"Don't you know? You were my first. I know Scott's got seniority, and Stiles is a walking Disaster Area but you were my first Pack member. And I admire how every time I gave you an assignment, you came through with flying colors. If I had known, I wouldn't have given you such a hard time that first night. Hell, I would have bitten you, like it or not."
"You know, you were the first person to see the real me. Past the looks, the car. You saw the shallow spoiled uncaring shit I was, and took a chance on me anyway. I will never stop…being grateful for that. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if you rejected me."
"Jackson, the real you was UNDER all of that shallow bullshit. I just had to blow it up with dynamite to get the real you out. THIS is the real you. The one who has been trying to free himself his whole life. I wonder if that was the side of you that wanted the bite, seeing a chance to escape. I could never understand how, as terrified as you were, you came to that house. That is not the mark of a shallow, self-centered coward. Something in you made you risk that pretty face of yours."
Jackson chuckled.
"I would rather die than disappoint you, you know. In a way, I look at you like my Dad."
Derek groaned. "I am not nearly old enough to be…"
"I know! That's not what I meant. Crap, that came out wrong. I mean that you have all my respect, and all I can think of is how I can make you proud of me. You know I was adopted, and I never did find out who my parents were, or why they gave me up. My folks took me in and gave me a life that other kids would kill for, but I felt that I never… earned it. I love my folks. They did so much for me, but there is literally nothing I could do to disappoint them. I thought they would be proud of me for being Lacrosse Captain, getting the girls, getting the grades…and they were. But one day, I realized I could hand them a crumpled piece of paper and say it was an art project I made for them, and my mom would have it framed. You…you gave me goals, set the bar pretty high, and let me fly or fail on my own. It didn't matter where I came from, you dealt with me…and if you say you're proud of me, I know I earned it. Don't ever stop being 'Hard-ass Hale' with me. I need it."
"Is that what the kids call me these days?" Derek smirked.
"As if you didn't know."
"Well, I have to say, I never thought anyone would want me to keep being…as demanding as I am."
"After we take down the Argents…I want to know…if I can stay with you. Ever since I've been in your Pack, I realized I never wanted to be anywhere else. You guys are all I think about. It killed me when you moved out of that guest cottage."
"That's a side effect of being in a Pack, Jackson. All of the kids feel it to some degree, even Scott…now. You're only 18. I don't want to stand in the way of your life-"
"This is my life. The Pack is my life." He hesitated only a second. "You're my life." And as no lie can be spoken between werewolves, Derek looked down and said: "Let me think about it."
Jackson flicked his finger against a startled Derek's forehead.
"Don't think, Derek." Jackson placed his hand on his Alpha's chest, feeling the quickening heartbeat under the thin shirt and taut skin. Derek grabbed the wrist as if to pull it away, and then slowly, tremblingly, covered Jackson's hand with his own.
"Jackson...I can't..."
"I was terrified that first night. But I don't think I need to tell you that the bite wasn't… all I wanted. If one or both of us get killed, I just wanted you to know."
Derek rubbed his forehead with his free hand at the sweat that suddenly sprang from his overheated skin.
"We'll talk. When all of this is over. And if I never said it before, I am proud of you."
Slowly, the hands broke contact and dropped down to their sides. They went back to making their battle plans. Now it was Derek who was distracted.
The entire Pack met that night at Derek's house. They sat in a loose circle out behind the house in a small clearing. A fire blazed in the center of the ring. Overhead, a bloated and ghost white moon hung suspended in the sky, almost but not quite full.
All the boys felt the pull of the moon in their bodies. For some, it would be their first experience with the maddening increase in drives and power that their ancient goddess gave to her followers.
"Tomorrow night, at moonrise, we will be at the height of our power. It is the best time to strike. The Hunters know this, and will likely be prepared for us. Their base is up North in Red Falls. It's an abandoned pharmaceutical plant. I think some of their science people have been cooking up some kind of biological weapon. I was not able to gather any intelligence on what it does, but I imagine it is not a werewolf vitamin."
The boys snickered nervously. Jackson, on Derek's right, glanced over at Stiles and Scott on his left. All of the boys' faces were grave, and tight with worry.
"Therefore, the watchword will be 'stealth'. No rushing in to attack. We circle the place then close in slowly, taking out any armed guards as quietly as possible. You know the techniques; you've been trained in them enough times. If they are able to cry out for help, well, our job will be that much harder. If they manage to get a shot into you, frankly I don't know what would happen. Likely, you would die."
Derek looked around at them, his hard gaze seeming to drill into each of them.
"I don't want to lose a single one of you, but I find it hard to believe we will be that fortunate. You have all prepared your families?"
The boys nodded. Some of them still looked shell-shocked from the experience. Most had taken it less well than the Stilinskis.
"Tomorrow, we will be more wolf like, more deadly than ever before. Use every ounce of that power to stay alive, and destroy the Argents!" Derek's form changed, and the Alpha stood before them. The group followed suit, the bestial faces giving rise to a collective howl that froze the soul of every animal in the forest. Then they broke apart on what might be their last hunt together. Even though the moon was not yet full, the Pack surpassed the Beta phase that was the usual extent of their transformation. Their bodies were now covered with a light coating of fur, and their faces struggled to push outward into lupine muzzles. The Pack found an enormous stag, proud sharp antlers telling of great age and power. It went down under their combined fury, and the Alpha was allowed to take the choicest bits for himself before the others fed in a frenzy. These morsels he shared with one other of the Pack who never left his side. They ate together, slightly apart from the others.
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In the deep hours of the night, in a darkened hospital room, Lydia Martin lay on the pristine hospital sheets. Physically, her wounds had healed; the scarring minimal. As for her mind, the machines registered a dungeon of sleep so deep it was not even possible she dreamed. Two men stood over her, having slipped unnoticed past the reception desk.
"The serum should have rendered her immune from the werewolf contagion. Not caused…this." Said the taller of the two.
"Her body did not have enough time to build up the immunity. It should have been given to her weeks before. The serum and the contagion fight within her. We have to negate the serum, now." Said the shorter, stout man.
"But then she will become one of them!"
"It is either that, or death."
"Death might be better."
"And it is always an option, later. A corpse is of no use to us now."
So saying, a silver syringe was produced and its contents were injected into the intravenous line. The men watched the blue fluid creep slowly down the plastic tube before finally disappearing into the pale limp arm. Overhead, an EKG monitor began to blip faster.
A/N – The votes are in, and the "ship" has sailed. (I guess the story officially leaves canon, unless the writers are planning a HUGE surprise for us in Season 2) I kind of think I was planning this from the beginning anyway. Lydia fans will be happy to know she makes a (conscious) appearance in the next chapter; she's one of the characters it is a little harder for me to write (Allison is the other). Stiles is mostly (lol) straight in THIS story anyway and Danny will find love. As per a fan request, there will also be a female werewolf. Please don't think I am dragging my feet and making the plot move so slowly, writing this has been so wonderful I don't want to stop anytime soon. Thanks to everyone for ideas, suggestions, and reviews. Sorry for the short chapter! It all goes down (hopefully) in the next!