A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and follows! I apologize for lagging on posting a new chapter. I ended up getting caught up in another work but finally was able to write this one out. I hope you guys enjoy it!

6 Months Later

"This is tribe business!" Adam seethed from beside me.

"Actually, this is County business," John corrected him.

John was at the top of the steps a few feet away from the entrance to the station. Stiles was on his right and Parrish on his left. Adam, Tommy, and I were less organized. While Stiles and Parrish weren't arm and arm with the Sheriff they were an inch away and guarded him well. I was the one they'd elected to put in front of them with Adam like an enraged spirit at my back. Tommy was farther back. He spent too much time in his wolf form; Tommy was skittish around people even his own kind.

"There isn't any evidence against him at this time, John. Please. Just let us take him home for the night. I promise we'll bring him back as soon as you hear something," I offered attempting to make peace and the first time I'd spoken in the last forty-five minutes.

John smiled sheepishly at me and Stiles finally looked in my direction.

This was the first time we'd seen each other since that night I'd left. I'd heard by word of mouth he'd moved back in with his dad. He worked long hours and sometimes never left the station. When he did Stiles tried to find any supernatural cases for the pack to do. Anything he could think of that would keep his mind occupied and away from me.

But these are all things that Lydia had angrily spat in my face. She hated me. Really hated me and called me a coward; maybe I was. Lydia didn't know the whole story but she didn't have too. She was being Stiles friend and protecting her friends was all that she knew.

For a brief moment I catch him glancing over my hair.

I'd recently cut it. By recently I meant two days after I had left him.

My hair had always been long; touching down to the end of my back long. I'd never cut my hair. For Natives, your hair was a sign of your strength; an extension of your sixth sense and intuition. It was frowned upon to cut it so when Lorraine and my grandmother had saw what I had done they'd had a bitch fit.

Now my hair sat on my shoulders. I liked it and underneath the shock of the sudden change I could tell Stiles liked it too.

Ever since that night I'd gone through a lot of changes. Stiles knew of my obsessive love for all things eighties. Movies and especially the music. He put up with me blaring certain songs on repeat. But now I couldn't even stand to listen to Cindi Lauper (who was my absolute favorite). Every playlist I'd made had been with Stiles in mind. Memories of dancing to "Time After Time," in our living room flooded my mind now and I quickly had to shake the memory away.

Scott had suggested a few more recent albums to me. Currently I was listening to his suggestions of Imagine Dragons.

"I know you want what's right for the boy, Teresa. But I'm sorry. The law is the law and intentional or not, Jacob broke it."

"Can I at least see him? Please John. If only for a few minutes. This is the first time he's ever been in this much trouble. He's fourteen and-"

"I'll take you in," Stiles cut me off startling both John and I.

First words. First interaction.

My heart was thundering and my mouth dry. I licked my lips feverishly as I tried to speak past the lodged words in my throat. I could feel John's eyes darting between us. The boys behind me were growing restless; my ears picking up the beginning sound of Adam's growl.

If Stiles could speak first, I could move first.

I took a step towards the stairs and replied, my voice raspy, "I would appreciate it."

Stiles uncrossed his arms from his chest and motioned for me to follow him as he turned on his heel for the station's front door. John moved to the side so I had room to go up the stairs giving me a small nod in turn.

He hadn't even waited to see if I had actually followed closely behind him; Stiles was approximately three feet in front of me. I found myself trying to catch up to him as I squeezed through the door and maneuvered around the desks scattered inside the building.

The cells were located in the far left of the room: The wood paneling that was done all in front suddenly changing to a cold oppressive brick as I walked through the archway of the door. Stiles had already made his way to the cell; I could hear him faintly talking to Jacob. The most I caught was my name and that Jacob only had a few minutes to speak to me before he had to take me back out front.

The walk back was a straight one, with one turn on my right, and I ended up in a small corridor with 3 cells in front of me. Jacob was in the first one directly in front of me.

Without another thought I rushed forward as Stiles took a couple steps back ending with his back on the wall. He crossed his arms again as he watched Jacob move up to meet me. A large sob escaping his lips as our arms shot out to engulf each other in a tight hug. Or as tight as we could make it through the bars.

"Teresa!"

For a second Jacob choked on his sobs and I tried my best to wrap my arms around him.

"Hey, hey Jacob none of that. You're going to be fine, you hear me? Hey look at me," I ordered.

When he did I could see his eyes were puffy and red from previous crying. Jacob's cheeks stained with fresh tears as his lips quivered as he looked at me. I pulled my hands out to grab a hold of his cheeks.

"Teresa I don't want to be in here," he sobbed.

"I know, Jacob. You won't be in here much longer, I promise."

"You guys get to take me home?"

He sounded so hopeful it broke my heart too much to speak for a second. My hesitation was enough to spring forth new tears from him and I quickly wiped them away.

"It's just going to be for a little while. You won't be in here much longer."

"They think I hurt someone, Tess. I was just trying to help that lady," he cried. "I couldn't-I wouldn't kill somebody!"

"We all know that, honey. We're working out a way to post your bail by tomorrow-"

"Tomorrow?! I don't want to be in here over night. Its dark and cold-"

Jacob never finished speaking as a sob choked him up. His body shaking erratically.

"I can get you a couple extra blankets bud," Stiles offered from behind us.

I turned to look at him with a smile of gratitude on my face. Turning back to Jacob before I could see if Stiles would respond or not, I tried to make my smile wider. Hoping it was somewhat better than nothing.

"You see that? Stiles is going to look out for you tonight. Okay?" I leaned in close to Jacob's ear and whispered, "You have to promise me you won't shift while you're in here. I know you're scared but shifting and leaving this cell will only hurt you, not help you. You hear me?"

I pulled back to see him nod furiously at me. The fear of him shifting into a bird and squeezing between the bars and fleeing, was a high worry for me. The only forms that Jacob ever chose to take were those mostly of a variety of birds; the feel of the open sky and brush of wind beneath feathers did it for him more than the feel of earth under his paws.

Fear radiated off of Jacob filling the room with a more poignant smell than the stall scent of old sweat and urine. Underneath it was a small hint of anxiety but by the familiar signature it carried, I knew it was Stiles. The smell of it reminding me of all the times I smelt it during an argument.

He always wondered how I could read him so easily…technically, I cheated.

I could hear Stiles booted feet making their way quietly towards me before he even went to speak.

"Tess-Teresa," he corrected quickly. "I gotta take you back out now."

My back went rigid as Stiles corrected himself from using my nickname. His voice had been so soft but when I looked up into his face his features were hard and guarded. All I did was nod my head and move back from the cage.

"I'll be back for you," I spoke to Jacob.

I hoped he understood that meant in a different form and started after Stiles retreating figure. He was ahead of me again like last time; the literal distance between us almost like the figurative. I rushed to catch up to him just before we left the shadows of the building back outside, my hand reaching out to grasp lightly on his arm.

At the feel of my touch I watched as his back went rigid and he moved slowly to look at me. I took back my hand and tried not to think about how it felt to touch him again. Even if it was something so small.

"I-I just wanted to thank you for doing this. It means a lot-"

"I did it for Jacob. Not for you."

The words hit me as if he'd physically slapped me. His voice hadn't held any malice or grief. It had held absolutely nothing as his words washed over me and my eyes darted furiously away from his. Stiles pushed his way outside through the glass door leaving me behind for a few minutes to gather up my bearings.

Taking in a deep breathe I steeled myself and walked out the door. Not stopping to say anything to anyone as I continued down the steps and back towards the car Tommy had drove to get us here.

As I opened the passenger side door I leaned out and waved to John before I got inside.

"Come on. We have someone we're supposed to meet."

The feel of the dirt beneath my boots was enough to instantly soothe the raging thoughts I had going through my head. It was six months later. That's half a year. Half a year and still seeing him made my chest tight; not just with sadness.

Stiles always did look damn good in his deputy uniform.

The sound of approaching footsteps to the south brought my attention back to the job at hand. I felt someone sniff me and I turned, growling, to see the culprit was Adam.

Of course it was. It was always Adam.

"You smell of longing," he snipped.

I rolled my eyes.

"My emotions are none of your business."

"You know you can't be with the human, Teresa. The sooner you get it through that thick skull of yours the better off you'll be."

I stopped and turned to face him so fast Adam noticeably jumped.

"That human has a name and its Stiles. Don't for one second think you have any claim to talk about what I need asshole."

Adam went to open his mouth the anger noticeable to the moon when he suddenly closed it shut. The presence from the south finally entering the clearing no more than a few feet in front of us.

"What is he doing here?" Adam snarled.

I turned to look at Derek who look both annoyed and amused all at once. Classic Derek.

"I asked him to join us to help find clues to help get Jacob out of jail."

"We don't need your help wolf hybrid," he snapped completely ignoring me.

I put a hand on his chest to tell him to back off while Derek gave me raised eyebrows and pointed at him.

"Is he going to be a problem?"

I shook my head.

"I promise Derek. Adam is going to behave himself. Right Adam?"

I dared him to tell me otherwise but even though his eyes were murderous with rage at Derek's presence, and me allowing him to stay, let alone the one who called him, I knew he wouldn't disobey me.

"Yes," Adam replied curtly.

"Then let's get started. We don't exactly have a lot of moonlight left before the sun comes up."

Derek took a step forward and I moved towards him. He gave me a questioning look while I finished hoping over a log and stood in front of my old friend.

"I won't be going with you…"

"You're really going to leave me alone with him?"

I could already tell Derek thought I was using bad judgement and disapproved.

"Adam gave his word to me. He won't go against it. I made a promise to Jacob I would go back and stay with him."

"Teresa-"

"Please Derek. He's just a kid and he's terrified out of his mind. I don't want to leave him alone in case he decides to shift and bolt."

Derek stayed quiet for a while. Too long if you ask me. His thoughts racing behind his blue eyes before he finally gave me a brief nod. Understanding showing even in the disapproving lines that creased his face.

"Alright. I'll do what I can with Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde over here. See if we can locate anything that'll help out Jacob's case."

I smiled lightly at him and squeezed his arm instead of a long hug. Without another word I turned and started to strip out of my jacket and t-shirt. Letting them fall to the forest floor as I began to unhook my bra.

I could hear Derek behind me clearing his throat. Obviously still not used to the fact that we had to be fully out of our clothing when we shifted or run the risk of getting our animal selves caught in the fabric. When I had finally stepped out of my pants I let my mind think of the movements and body of an owl; a second later the sound of bones cracking and breaking; popping and snapping as they rejoined sounded around me. A few seconds later and my body took flight into the night sky.

I looked down with color blind eyes to see Derek watching my retreat before he turned and walked deeper into the woods.

When I arrived into town I did a brief aerial look as I scanned the area to make sure there weren't any cars or any late night deputies at the station. Or more importantly, a baby blue jeep.

After I'd found the cost to be clear I made my way to the back and found the barred cell window that held Jacob. I gave out a light whoo from my throat and waited for him to look up. When he saw me (still able to recognize me in this form) he jumped up from his spot on the bunk bed.

"Tess! You came back."

Jacob was so overwhelmed tears sprung back to his eyes as he looked up at me. I touched his hand that was clasping to the top of the windowsill gently with my clawed hand. Trying for reassuring but it's hard to do when you're a bird. I let out another whoo when I heard the sound of shuffling feet.

I swore I had seen no one around the station. The only person was just any other deputy who had late night desk duty. But when his frame came around the corner I thought my bird heart was going to explode.

Stiles stood in the entrance: blankets curled under one arm while his other hand held what looked like a sandwich, bag of chips, and a soda. He wasn't in his uniform any longer instead he was in his usual of Adidas sneakers, jeans, and a black undershirt and flannel.

Damn he looked good.

"You aren't trying to escape on me now are you?" he joked.

Stiles took a step towards the cell and, giving me one last look, Jacob moved to meet him. Stiles handed him the blankets first and finally the food.

"I didn't forget about giving you some more blankets. I also figured I'd at least make you some better food. I know the stuff here is pretty rough."

Jacob moved to sit on his bunk again. Putting the blankets beside him as he quickly tore into the plastic bag that held the sandwich.

"This is awesome! Thank you so much!"

He took a giant bit and Stiles looked on. A small amused smirk lifting one corner of his mouth as he moved to slide down the wall until he ended up in a sitting position. He spread his legs out as his wrists rested on his knees.

Jacob looked over at him and asked, mouth full, "Weren't you supposed to go home earlier?"

"Yup." Stiles replied popping the P.

"What are you still doing here?"

Stiles stayed quiet for a while before he answered him.

"Thought I would keep you some company."

Jacob took a sip of the soda and shook his head lightly. He stared forward before he turned back to look at Stiles who wasn't really looking at anything besides counting on his fingers.

"You doing it for Tess?" Jacob asked lightly.

Stiles looked at him his face still neutral. He didn't reply to Jacob at all as he turned and went back to counting on his fingers.

Sooo what did you guys think? Was it a pretty decent chapter? I thought it came out good but I'm biased (; thank you so much for reading!

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