Admittedly, Stiles didn't know what to expect when he knocked on the wooden door of the McCall home; All he knew was that he wasn't expecting it to fly open and to be embraced in a tight hug by Melissa as she told him.

"You got tall."

"You got an MD," he responded while looking down at the medical coat she was currently wearing, which made her let go, "and I think it's the food at the office, it makes everyone tall."

She couldn't hide the soft laugh that came from her lips as she waved her hand to motion him inside; he shouldn't have been shocked that except for a cough replacement and the coffee table being glass yet again, hardly anything had changed on the inside but he didn't mind because it might have been the only place in Beacon Hills that still felt like home.

"You had breakfast?" Melissa's concerned, motherly tone came from the kitchen before she walked back into the living room with a coffee mug which most likely had her third cup in it.

"Yeah, at the Argents," she nodded with understanding, which meant that it was an adequate answer for her near-consistent worrying about him and Scott, "and I talked to Allison."

"How'd that go?" She asked as she sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. He only hesitated for a moment before sitting down as his mind once again tried to become his worst enemy.

'You left her. The closest thing you have to a mother.'

"It went well, we resolved some things," her nod was the only response he was getting, and bringing up everything that happened on that horrible night in mid-November made his stomach churn, so he moved on quickly, "But I still hurt other people who I love and I've started fixing things with Lydia and Malia, but-"

"You need to talk to Scott?" She offered an answer, and she wasn't wrong but because she was right in front of him, her hand wrapped around his, he shook his head and pictured her questioning eyebrow in his mind before he saw it as he responded.

"You're like a second mom to me. You held me as one of your own from the time I became Scott's best friend and I just left you behind with no contact. I left everyone behind but you didn't leave me behind when I needed you most and," he stopped to pull in a deep breath, he hadn't even realized he was crying, "I am so, so sorry I left you."

For the second time that day, the last thing he had expected was to be tightly embraced in the arms of Melissa McCall and her voice silencing his anxious thoughts with reassurances and support.

"If I had been in your shoes, I very well would have done the same thing. I was never mad at you, and I never will be," she stopped to pull away to make sure their brown eyes were meeting, and Stiles noticed that her eyes were nearly as watery as his as she demanded, "Do you understand?"

He nodded, knowing that he would have continued to cry if he spoke again, but he managed to compose himself somewhat quickly and managed to ask.

"Is Scott here?"

He had known Scott for nearly thirty years, including the entirety of the time that he had been becoming a werewolf; so really, Stiles shouldn't have been shocked when he had just said his name and he was already at the bottom of the stairs.

He felt Melissa gently squeeze his shoulder before standing up to grab her purse and make her way out the door towards her car, most likely heading to work; but he was more focused on the fact that Scott had taken her spot and had a strange look on his face like he didn't know what to say.

'How do you talk to someone who was once your best friend?' He had to fight against the bitter words that had come off of Theo's tongue fourteen years ago reemerging in his brain. "Because you can't lose your best friend, even though we both know you never needed him! You hate me now, but you'll get it eventually."

The fact that they couldn't bring themselves to speak to each other even though they were sitting on the couch, inches away from each other, Stiles couldn't help but wonder if after all this time, even though he was now a tentative ally, Theo had been right. That he didn't need Scott.

'But Derek,' he reminded himself as his knee bounced against the floor, incapable of being still under the amount of stress, 'you have to speak and make amends with him. You managed to do it with Malia, who was ready to kill you. With Lydia, who sent divorce papers after ten months of no contact. With Allison, who had been dead for fifteen years. You can talk to your best friend.'

But eventually, it was Scott who spoke first. He had always been the one who would reach forward and bridge the gap, so once again, Stiles shouldn't have been surprised.

"What are you doing here?" He finally asked before clarifying, "Allison texted me and told me that you're trying to save Derek. How?"

So Stiles explained the plan. How he asked Eli to take him to the Nemeton. How he had gone to Deaton and he proposed that because he had been the one to find the claw, it was a message for him. How they figured out that Derek was trapped in Bardo with the Nogitsune and to get him out, he had to make amends with his past and his friends.

The room became silent again, and Stiles started to wonder if Scott wouldn't believe him; that the night in the rain with the wrench had done more damage than he had assumed. How maybe, just maybe, it had been Lydia who brought him back from the train station and not Scott because their friendship had never fully recovered from him losing trust in him.

Until Scott finally spoke again, "I was never mad at you for leaving. I left too."

"I should have called sooner." Stiles argued before a thought crossed his mind, "Why did you leave? You were the last person I ever expected to leave Beacon Hills, except maybe my dad."

Scott became hauntingly quiet as he scratched his temple absentmindedly before returning eye contact to Stiles, "After you left, I felt lost. Like I was wasting my time staying here. I tried to stay for a few years, make things work with Malia, and be around for Eli, but when Liam left for Japan-"

"Wait, why did Liam go to Japan?" Stiles interrupted.

"He met an exchange student at college, Hikari. She happened to be a kitsune and he followed her," Scott explained quickly before continuing, "but when he left, I couldn't find a reason to stay since my only beta was gone, Monroe had been defeated, and since Deaton was moving his practice to L.A. With an animal shelter right next door, I couldn't think of a reason that I shouldn't take the opportunity. So I left. I didn't tell anyone but my mom, your dad, and Derek."

"Do you regret it?" Stiles asked, feeling himself wanting to ask about Donavan, but he pushed it back, "leaving Beacon Hills?"

"I regret not telling Malia and I regret not trying to call you. But actually, leaving? No, I don't," Stiles couldn't stop himself from raising his eyebrow, but as Scott explained, he understood why but that it was unsurprisingly his fault. "I gave Beacon Hills all I had and it just kept taking and taking, with the occasional giving back, but I needed to be carefree for a while. I needed to separate myself from the town and from being an alpha."

"If I hadn't dragged you to see the body-" he started, but Scott grabbed his hand while shaking his head.

"You can't blame this on yourself and I don't want you to. None of what happened is your fault. We were two sixteen-year-old kids who were dragged into this supernatural turf war, but none of it was our fault."

"What about Donavan?" Stiles questioned with the name of the chimera tasting bitter on his tongue and he watched Scott's face darken briefly from the mention of the name.

"We forgive each other for our parts in that," Scott shook his head again, "It wasn't your fault, it was self-defense. We know it was self-defense."

"Then why was Lydia the one who was able to bring me back from the train station?" Stiles questioned, "If our relationship was fixed fully, why couldn't you reach me? Malia and I had broken up, I know why it wasn't her. But why not you?"

"You didn't want it to be Lydia?"

"That's not what I said, I just want to know why it wasn't you."

Scott stayed silent for a little longer than Stiles would have liked, but with how he could see Scott biting the inside of his cheek, he knew that he was genuinely thinking until he finally spoke.

"I don't know why I couldn't reach you," He finally admitted, "I remembered seeing the flare, holding it in my hand before you pulled it away. I remembered everything you told me that night at the motel. It's not that I didn't want you back home, or that I still had any sort of grudge against you for what happened with Donovan. I've always thought that it had to be Lydia because she remembered you first and because she's a banshee. But if I was in that position again, I'd try harder for you."

"Your best friend?" Stiles filled in the blank, but Scott shook his head.

"For my brother."

Before pulling Stiles into his arms tightly, Stiles responded by holding him just as tightly. For the first time in fifteen years, Stiles' hyperactive mind felt at peace aside from one thing.

'Derek.'

He knew he would have to let go, to go find Eli and Parrish, and to do the ritual while holding tightly onto the silver dagger in his pocket. But for a few minutes, he could hold tightly onto his best friend and take a deep breath of relief.