A/N – Thanks again to the awesome reviewers who make my day…especially LowlifeTheory, ThePhoenixFalls, agentdouble0negative2, Obfuscator's Canard, Blooboy70, Omega696 for his great idea about 'Uncle Jackson's advice', StoryLover158 and all the others. If I become a werewolf, you are all TOTALLY in my Pack. For those people who like this story, good news…I really feel like I could write it forever.
Laurie took the photo album to her room, idly flipping through it while she waited for her father and brother to return home. She found individual shots of some of the members of the group photo, and the two that intrigued her the most were the pictures of Laura for whom she was named, and her grandmother Diana. But for their dark eyes, Laurie bore a powerful resemblance to them, and she wished she could have met these women and learned how they dealt with being what they were. The picture of her grandmother looking so…powerful and serene there in the great hall of the old Hale house…which was now the new Hale house… made her shudder every time she glanced at it. Laurie looked around and felt cold at the thought that a great many family members had been killed quite painfully in this very space simply for being what they were. She hoped they were at peace. Behind Diana, impossibly young and already with a trace of his legendary temper marring his features… was her father. What could they have been thinking when that photo was taken? What was it like growing up in a house where you knew from birth that you were part of a separate and powerful race, spoken of in legends and portrayed in horror films, and hunted by humans who could be even more soulless than the beasts that lived within them?
The picture of Laura was even more haunting. She was a teenager, perhaps a year older than Laurie at the time. She was smiling seductively at the camera, likely already aware of the power her beauty would give her over the men and women around her. She was leaning against a tree in the forest, her dark hair fanning out slightly in what must have been a strong wind. A heart carved into the tree bore the sigils 'L.H. &', but the initials of her romantic interest were obscured by the flowing mane of hair. She had been in love, and someone had been in love with her…before she had been snuffed out like a match, by her own uncle. Before that happened, she had given her brother the inestimable gift that gave Laurie and Erik a chance at life…seemingly not a moment too soon.
The tale of Peter had chilled her. The laughing man in the photo had killed Laura, because the lust for revenge had turned him into a monster…even while he was in human form. Laurie gave a small disgusted cry and flipped almost to the end of the book. Surprisingly, there were baby pictures in here. With a gasp, she realized they were of Pop as a small child. A dark haired woman appeared in every one, sometimes with Grandpa Stilinski present as well…younger and happier than she had ever seen him, it made her heart swell to know that Pop had been so loved as a child, in a normal human family. The next page was the obituary detailing her grandmother's death; Stella Stilinski, taken from us too soon…
Laurie shut the album with a snap. Tragedy stalked humans and werewolves, it seemed. Why couldn't people just be allowed to live and be happy? She shoved the album under her bed, her heart too heavy to look at it anymore just now. The thing that really bothered her, the thing that she had not been able to tell even her family…was that in just the few fleeting moments she had allowed herself to shift, to give in to the wolf inside her, she found herself (completely against her will) almost starting to like it…
"I AM who I am, and I'll always be me." she whispered to herself. She chanted it a few more times, almost like it was a magic spell. None of them seemed to get it; it was like being at the top of a long and winding slippery slope. Once you started down, there was no going back…and who knew what you would be when you reached the bottom?
The front door opened just as she caught the familiar odors of Derek and Erik…she snickered to herself at how dorky that sounded as she went out to greet them. Such similar names, and yet the two of them were polar opposites. Dad was a total chick (and dude) magnet while her brother…
She stopped and stared, her mouth an 'O' of horror. Pop had turned to look as well and promptly fell off his chair, the printed spread sheets in his hand flying through the air.
Erik usually wore brown loafers, khaki pants and an endless line of short-sleeved plaid button-down shirts whose colors attracted the eye of every bully between here and Red Falls. No doubt if he had been human, he would have needed glasses as well.
Now he wore snug high-end jeans and black leather shoes, complemented by a gray Henley t-shirt…and a new leather jacket. His hair (previously unkempt and shaggy until he eventually lost patience trying to control it and had it close cropped like Pop) was now cut and styled just like Dad's complete with an overabundance of product. He looked like such a miniature Derek that the urges to laugh and scream briefly and furiously warred with each other within Laurie before cancelling out completely.
"Oh my God…" Laurie and Pop breathed at the same time.
To his credit, Erik did look a little red-faced with nervousness. The girls were going to start flinging themselves at him like lemmings off of a cliff (followed no doubt by more than a few boys)…but it might be a while before he realized it.
"Derek…if this was you're idea…" Pop began to growl, eyes lighting up.
"Sty, he told me he wanted a new look. Why not use what works?" Derek flashed a too-wide grin at Stiles, which immediately put him on guard. Erik looked (and smelled) really nervous. They were totally hiding something.
"What?" Stiles grated, his ears beginning to point. Derek's grin faltered, and he began to look a little nervous too.
"Well, Sty, the kids are going to be sixteen tomorrow…and after the last few weeks and everything they've been through, well, I thought…" Stiles was going more and more Beta while his husband stalled for time.
"Dad bought us a car!" Erik yelled out bluntly.
"Oh for the love of…I thought we said we would wait…they've only just finished their Driver Education and Training courses!"
"I know, but come on Sty, you had a car at their age! They've had their permits for six months, this is the time to do it!" Derek argued.
Stiles couldn't believe this was the same Derek talking that he woke up with this morning. "I was in a single parent home with a father that spent maybe three hours a week away from his office so that he could support us! I needed a car, and earned every penny to buy it! Geez. I hope you bought them something sensible and safe that they can't go off drag-racing in…" Stiles went to the window and groaned. Laurie joined him a moment later, and squealed despite herself.
Dad had bought them a new Camaro, black and shining like night itself. The new models had engines that would make the Batmobile seem like a tricycle with bent wheels. It could probably drive straight up a wall.
Grandpa Stilinski walked in a moment later and handed two sets of keys to his grandchildren.
"Son, I just want to let you know I was against this!" the older man put up his hands and backed away after one look at his growling offspring.
"You're guilty by association. Derek…you are in soooo much trouble later, if you know what I mean."
Derek grinned. "I'm okay with that." Everyone else groaned. "Come on, don't be mad. How often do people get lucky enough to have such wonderful kids that deserve to be a little spoiled now and then?" Derek approached and gave his mate a hug (once he was sure Stiles wouldn't unzip his guts with an irritable swipe of his claws), and Stiles eventually shifted back and gave Derek a kiss on his cheek.
"You're still in trouble. And you two!" Stiles whirled to face his kids, causing Derek to stumble backwards and almost crash through a window. "One minute past curfew, one speeding ticket, one grade lower than a 'B' or one trip to 'Make-Out' point with whatever losers you two decide to go on a date with, and that thing goes straight to the junkyard! I better not hear one single argument about who gets to drive it either! You learn to share or you do without! Am I clear?"
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall." Derek muttered. Stiles elbowed him viciously.
"Don't worry Pop, we'll be responsible!" Laurie said excitedly, unable to tear her gaze away from the window. Erik might be all leather jacketed and Badass, but he cared as much about muscle cars as he did about skydiving. If he had any desire to do more than simply look cool while sitting in the parking lot at school, she'd eat her hat. Laurie absolutely could not wait to get behind that steering wheel and go tearing off through the back roads of Beacon Hills, preferably with Erik in the trunk.
As if reading her mind, Stiles warned her "Grandpa is going to be putting the word out that you are not to receive any second chances for traffic violations, and I am to be notified immediately so that I can have the tow truck ready!"
Laurie folded her arms and frowned at him. "All right Pop, don't blow a gasket! Let us actually break the rules before you scream at us, okay?"
"Yeah Pop, and c'mon…we've never really gotten in serious trouble before…we've been pretty good as far as kids go, haven't we?" Erik's still kind of nerdy sounding voice coming from his WB actor face made Laurie smirk.
Stiles calmed down and thought for a minute. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. It was just a bit much with the clothes, and the jacket and the car and the gel…kids, you know I'll love you no matter how you comb your hair." He sighed, sitting down heavily in his desk chair. "I guess you two are growing up. God, this isn't fair. These milestones shouldn't hurt so much." Grandpa Stilinski gave him an understanding look.
Derek stood behind him and wrapped his arms around his mate.
"Sty, the best parts haven't happened yet. I can't wait to see what they'll do, where they'll go, what they'll make of themselves. Besides, one day there will be grandchildren...(here he Alpha-Glared at the kids, who gulped nervously)…AT SOME POINT FAR IN THE FUTURE!"
Stiles brightened up immediately at the thought. "Only you could find the one thing to say that would make me feel better! All right, we'll start the kid's mandatory 50 hours of driving with licensed adults so they can take their road tests. There's two of us and there's two cars so we can teach them how to drive at the same time…"
"I already have way more than 50 hours, Pop." Laurie said unthinkingly. Derek turned red. "Oops, sorry Dad." Stiles Glared at his mate.
"Just when I thought I was out of the dog house…" Derek sighed.
"How about you Erik, has Dad been giving you secret driving lessons too?" Stiles asked.
Erik snorted derisively. "Of course not. I've been familiar with the workings of the internal combustion engine since I was eight. The combustion of a fuel, normally a fossil fuel, occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber when the expansion of the high temperature and high pressure gases produced apply direct force to the engine's components. The force is applied typically to pistons, turbine blades or a nozzle and moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into mechanical energy. The first internal combustion engine was created by Etienne Lenoir-"
"I don't think you need to worry about Erik winding up at 'Make-Out Point' any time soon Pop…or early grandchildren either." Laurie said, punching her brother in the arm to get him to shut up.
"Terrific. All right, Derek while you train Laurie I'll teach Erik how to drive…" (Here Erik sputtered.) "…from a practical perspective. But I swear if I find out any more secrets today, I'll rip all your…" he trailed off, a smirk coming to his face.
"And at last, you understand." Derek said smiling.
"I guess I do. Kids, I apologize in advance for any head-slams I give you in the future."
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The training and driving lessons were rough for both teenagers. For all his textbook knowledge, the Camaro's engine seemed to be trying to escape Erik's hideous torture through suicide from the noises it made when he was behind the wheel. If Stiles were still able to get gray hair, he would have had a mop of it by the time Erik gained enough proficiency to take his road test. And while Derek had Laurie's cooperation as far as getting her to try and shift, her wolf required enormous prodding to come out and then was always quick to fade away, sometimes in the middle of combat. Scott started joining in on their sessions; he probably had the hardest time controlling his shift of any of the others. He fed her some of the tips and tricks he'd learned over the years, and gradually they began to make progress.
"Thank you for helping out, Scott." Derek breathed, wiping the sweat and blood from his chest with a towel after Laurie had gone inside. "I just wish I knew why the things you tell her work, and the things I tell her don't."
Scott looked at him sympathetically. "You don't get her. You were born this way, but I was bitten. Being a werewolf was a fact of your life, but it ruined mine and now it's ruining hers. She hates it, Derek…just like I did. You don't know what it's like to hate a part of yourself; it's no wonder her wolf doesn't want to come out. Until she makes peace with this…and that's not something that you can ever ever force!...she's just going to have to try harder than the rest of us."
"But with you, the wolf was always coming out! With Laurie…we can hardly get her to shift at all." Derek put his face in his hands.
"She's different than I was. Derek…I had a lot of weakness and insecurity as a kid. The wolf was so much stronger than me, and I…wanted it to come out and solve my problems for me. To gain control, I had to become stronger, and that took a lot of work. Laurie, on the other hand, is incredibly strong. She's never needed anything the wolf can give her! It doesn't come out because deep down, she doesn't want it to and she's quite capable of forcing it away. You're trying to get her to let go, to give in to it a little more…and that is totally against her nature. Laurie has a long road in front of her…unless you can teach her to like being what she is, to accept it as just another part of her. I did, eventually."
Derek looked at him, this Beta who had come so far from being the scared and angry teenage brat he was to the powerful werewolf he always had the potential to be. "Thanks. I'm going to figure out a way to make this work. I owe you."
"Remember that when I send Christine over to your 'Werewolf Hogwarts'." Scott laughed.
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Laurie was able to take her road test a week before Erik could schedule his, and so was the first one to drive them to school. Erik was exuding a pretty strong fear smell over his new cologne. She looked over at him and noticed he was starting to hyperventilate while sweat poured from his forehead.
"Laurie, the kids are going to laugh at me. They're not going to stand by and let me stop being treated like a nerd. They're going to take one look at me and shove me savagely back down into Nerd-dom."
Laurie shook her head. "First off, people only think of you as weak when they can tell you already think it about yourself. You can't be afraid, Erik…or the thing you're afraid of will happen. You've got to 'own' this whole new image thing, or they will take it from you. Remember what Dad said about Pack Hierarchy. You can't be an Omega! Meet their eyes, and then try to burn through the backs of their heads with the Glare. Think hard that you'd rip them apart if they gave you any crap. I'm telling you they'll sense it and back off. Dad's totally right about this. Besides, unless the past month has been a dream, I seem to remember that you're a bloodthirsty werewolf! You really CAN rip people apart! You shouldn't, because it would get us in trouble and Pop would probably take away the car…" She expected him to laugh, but he remained silent. "What?" she asked.
"I want people to like me, not be afraid of me. They already back away from me because I'm smart. I look like Dad, but I'm not him and that trick wouldn't work for me, not the way I want."
"Some people will always test you. You have to know when to fight and when to be cool. If they start with you, teach them a lesson. If they respect you, be friendly. If they betray your trust, its 'lesson' time again. You can show people how to behave around you."
"You may have something, kind of like the principle of Operant Conditioning, which is-"
Laurie punched him in the arm.
"Ow! Okay, I'll try it." He opened the door and got out. Heads were already turning at the sight of the black muscle car actually parked at the school and not just dropping them off. Some of the kids who had seen their Dad turned away dismissively, only to whip their heads back when they realized who they were looking at. A few kids were openly discussing his entrance and pointing. Erik fought the urge to tremble and shake.
"Remember the Glare! Don't kill anybody!" Laurie hissed from the car.
Erik composed his features and adjusted his Glare. He walked slowly towards the school building while Laurie waited in the car. She would follow him in a few minutes so he could do this on his own. He made it as far as the front steps when the first comment was thrown his way.
"What happened? Plaid go out of style? Or do they make pocket protectors for leather jackets now?" Anson Cooper was the new head of the Bully Totem Pole with Jimmy Porlock enjoying the sunny beaches of Florida (with the surviving half of his parents). Dad had talked about this; Anson was trying to assert dominance before his Pack. Winning an encounter against a weak creature gave the illusion of strength to others. Erik had to take his little victory away from him. He took a deep breath and focused his eyes directly on Anson's, imagining Superman's heat lasers blasting right through the kid's head. Anson's eyes widened…and Erik got a distinct sniff of nervousness.
"Hey Anson. You know, when I threw you head-first into that car, I was really worried… about the car. Next time I'll make sure it's something a lot harder. When you're tired of your brains being all cooped up on the inside of your head…you just come find me."
Two kids standing nearby gave an impressed snicker. Erik was glad of the three hours he spent on the Internet finding and memorizing lists of threats. There were websites for everything these days.
"You wander into your Daddy's wardrobe and think you can mouth off to me, you little punk?" It was bizarre to hear the hostile voice come from someone who smelled so nervous. Anson was unsure of himself…and bordering on being afraid.
"New look, new rules. Stay out of my way." Erik turned around and started to walk away, really thinking he had scored a point for himself. He stopped dead in his tracks at Anson's next comment.
"Maybe tomorrow, you'll go in your other Dad's closet and show up in a dress!"
About six kids laughed, and Erik felt that intangible tide of peer opinion begin to swing away from him again. He didn't need to compose his Glare when he turned around. He was freaking furious.
He walked back over to Anson, not caring if his eyes happened to be glowing. His heart was pounding fiercely in his chest as the rage built up in him, but he had a good enough sense of it now to know that he wasn't going to shift…just yet. He thought how great it would be if they were outside school right now…maybe deep in the Hale woods, where no one could hear Anson scream…
Erik shivered slightly…that thought had bubbled up from deep inside him. The wolf was awake and getting its bearings. Any second now it was going to push through. He wondered if he cared.
"Take it back. Apologize right now. Or…" something seemed to be trying to break through the door to his subconscious.
"Or what?" Anson asked. He sensed Erik's reluctance to get into it here at school. He became sure of himself again.
Erik reached out a hand, and with one finger shoved Anson a good three feet backward to crack his head into a stone support pillar, sinking to the floor. He moaned and rubbed his head, perhaps remembering the earlier injury. Erik kneeled down before him and was pleased when Anson shrank back, hitting his head again. He gave a small whine of fear when Erik whispered softly right in his ear.
"Or I'll rip your throat out. With my teeth." That threat was found nowhere on the Internet, but at that moment he meant every word of it. His pulse thundered even more loudly in his ears. The wolf was at the door…it was so close, so very close…
"All right man, I'm sorry! Geez, learn how to take a joke!" Anson got up and walked away quickly.
A few kids clapped, and one or two even cheered. Erik's breathing began to slow down as he stood, and he felt the wolf fade back into its lair…though it remained watchful.
Erik smelled the scent of the school principal a moment before a hand gripped his shoulder, and he was turned around a little more forcefully than he liked.
"Young man, I just saw what…Erik? What are you all dressed up like your…well, never mind! I just saw you shove Anson Cooper!"
"I barely touched him." Erik growled at the older man. Erik took a menacing step towards the principal, who backed up three. "But if you like, I'll call my fathers. Mr. Hale can be right in your office in just a few minutes, and you can explain to him in person why my shoulder kind of hurts where you grabbed me…I wonder what he would do if I told him you put your hands on me…"
Mr. Woodard paled despite himself. "W-well, th-there's no need to go into all of that. I'll l-let it go this time. Just w-watch yourself in the future!" Woodard turned around and fled back to his office. Erik thought he must be hearing things when he heard an actual round of applause from the other gathered kids.
Maybe High School wasn't the seventh layer of Hell after all.