I want to thank you guys for sticking with this story. I'm finally moved, and, after two weeks, finally have everything up and running, finally settled and finally (FINALLY) have internet. I'm working on the next chapter right now but I'm having a bit of writer's block with it, so it might now come in a timely manner, and I'm sorry about that. Anyway, I'm loving the reviews, so thank you!

At first, Stiles is a little dumbfounded. Lydia felt safe with him? Nobody ever felt safe with him. He was just the little human, the boy who ran with wolves. And even after all the emissary stuff, the magical things, he was never anyone's go to guy. Well, anyone except for Scott, but everybody knew about the bromance between the two of them. It wasn't a surprise at all when Scott had chosen Stiles as his second.

But Lydia? Why in the hell would Lydia go to him for safety? He was just a guy whose weapon just happened to be magic…and a baseball bat. Don't forget about that.

"You can't believe it, can you?" she asked with a slight laugh. He watched her, his eyes meeting hers, and she smiled. "You look a little lost. So let me make this perfectly clear. Yes, I feel safe with you. I mean, the rest of them, they're good and everything, but they're also werewolves. I know they've been werewolves for a long time, but Stiles, you're human. You're human, and you're a pretty kickass one at that. I trust you and your instincts."

"I, uh…I don't know what to say, Lyds," Stiles finally said. "I'm pretty fucking speechless right now."

Lydia laughed, "I'm going to take that as a compliment, considering that for the eighteen years I lived here, nobody could get you to shut your mouth."

Stiles just shrugged, but Lydia saw the small smile that was on his lips.

And then the moment turned serious. Stiles looked at Lydia, "The pack's still here. I think most of them were afraid to go because of your showdown with Scott. What was up with that, anyway?"

"Deucalion and Aiden are not after me. They are after Kristy. Anybody with a brain knows that. Deucalion isn't going to hurt me. I think, if I'm being completely honest, that Deucalion wants Kristy a hell of a lot more than he wants to hurt me."

"But he's untrustworthy."

Lydia shrugged, "Yeah, you're right. Both he and Aiden are untrustworthy and unpredictable. But I know I'm okay."

"I really think we should take this up with pack. Lyds, I know you don't want to change Ethan's view on Aiden, and I know you don't really want to reveal what happened to you back in Boston, but it's something they've just gotta know."

Lydia sighed, "I know, okay? I know and I'll tell them soon."

-x-

Two week passed. Lydia still hadn't told the pack, and even though Stiles had promised her, he was about ten seconds away from telling Scott. Instead, though, he got Scott to call a pack meeting at Scott and Allison's apartment. When Lydia showed up with Kristy, she frowned at Stiles, "I've been ambushed."

"I'm sorry, Lyds, but the pack's gotta know."

"Know what?" Isaac asked. He always was a nosy little shit. Setting Kristy down with a few toys, even though she knew for a fact that in a few minutes Melanie would come out here and drag Kristy back to her room, Lydia sighed and said, "So maybe I wasn't completely honest about Deucalion and Aiden. I mean, just a little."

Stiles snorted and Lydia rolled her eyes.

"What about Aiden?" Ethan asked.

Lydia sighed, sending a prayer to whoever was listening that Ethan took this well. Honestly, she was more worried about Ethan's reaction than anybody else's.

"Ethan, I didn't tell you this because I don't want you to have a bad reaction. He's your brother, and he always is going to be, and I know you love him. But Aiden's changed."

Scott nodded, "You said that much before."

"He's really different, okay? Look, I don't want looks of pity, or words of pity, so don't you dare fuc- I mean, freaking," she amended, looking at her daughter. "Don't you freaking dare look at me like that." She sighed and pulled up her shirt a little so they could see the few scars on her stomach. With Stiles, yeah, she just whipped the shirt off, but she still had some modesty, so she didn't want to do that with the entire pack sitting around. She paused at a lot of their eyes widened.

"Now, before anyone says anything, Aiden caused these scars. He liked pain. I mean, he really liked pain. After the supernatural shitstorm that was here, he kinda let his wolf take over. He became a lot more…uh, more animalistic. He's different now. More about power, about pain, about domination. He and Deucalion are closer than they ever were. Aiden's his second, and they're, like, the same now. Like I told Stiles, it's not just a villain and his henchman. Not anymore. Now it's like one villain. You know, two halves to one whole."

Scott looked over at Stiles, "You knew?"

"Don't look at him like that," Lydia snapped. "I made him promise he wouldn't tell anyone. I wasn't going to tell anyone else. But he asked me and I felt compelled to tell him. I wouldn't be telling you any of this without his pestering."

"Is he…" Ethan's voice was kind of breaking, like he was trying not to cry. It broke Lydia's heart, to be honest. "Is he really that bad?"

She couldn't stand it. Ethan was such a good guy, from when she had known him, and she wanted to run over there and hug him. So that's what she did. She walked over to him, sat down next to him, put her arms around him and just hugged him for a long time. She felt her own tears in the corner of her eyes, but this wasn't about her. This was about Ethan – someone who was holding on to hope that his brother was still okay, and finding out that he had turned into a mini Deucalion, it just fucking broke Lydia's heart.

They sat there for a while, holding one another, and finally Scott made a sound. Ethan was still crying, silently, and Lydia said to Scott, "Not now, okay? All of this stuff can wait. This is what's important."

A few long moments passed where nobody said anything. Finally, Ethan pulled away from Lydia, wiping his eyes, "Thanks." Lydia nodded.

"So how bad is he, then?" Isaac asked. He got a few dirty looks, but he just asked, "What?"

"He's really bad. He's become a…" she paused, trying to find the right word. "I don't know if sadist is the right word for it, but it's pretty freakin' close. He gets off on pain, and the more pain the better. He's also really into torture – physical, sure, but emotional is what he's good at. Scaring the crap out of people, really making them question whether or not they're safe. Making people feel unsafe…just waiting and waiting until just the perfect moment. He gains their confidence, makes them feel at home and safe, and then attacks. He's really good at it, too."

"He sounds like a serial killer," Stiles muttered. Everybody else was incredibly quiet, just watching her, and Lydia felt like she couldn't stand it anymore. Finally, she exploded, "Stop looking at me like that!" she said. "I can't handle it. I'm fine; I'm here. I don't want anybody to know about this. I survived, okay? I've gone through worse torture here just being a banshee."

Ethan cleared his throat, "Lydia, I gotta know. Did he ever…" his voice trailed off, trying to figure out the right way to say it, "did he ever force you into anything?"

Lydia bit her bottom lip, trying to figure out how to phrase it. Did Aiden ever force her? Yes. The honest answer was yes, he forced her into everything that he could. He made her do so very many things, and he was both physically and emotionally abusive. He was a sadist, someone who got off on someone else's pain. The comment Stiles made about Aiden sounding like a serial killer wasn't that far off from the truth. Aiden had a lot of serial killer type qualities.

"Yeah. He did. But it's okay. I mean, I've got a little bit of PTSD, it's true, but I'm fine. As long as Kristy doesn't ever see that pack, I am fine. I'm okay. I don't want you guys to make a big deal out of this. I'm okay."

Scott nodded, "Okay. I get it. So," he said, looking at the rest of the pack, "Anybody got any ideas on how to beat them?"

-x-

Since Lydia had been at Stiles' apartment, she'd been nightmare-free. She'd had some really bad ones after Aiden left, and even worse ones when she found out she was pregnant. It figures that, after revealing everything to the pack, the nightmares would come back. The first night she had the nightmare, she got up around three AM, going out into the kitchen. She always made herself a cup of tea whenever she had had a nightmare. It usually worked, too. She went out into Stiles' cupboards, trying to find out if he had any tea. He didn't have any green tea, though, so Lydia had to settle with chai. Pouring the tea, she mumbled to herself that she had to go out and get some of her own green tea. She sat down at the island counter in the kitchen, sighing.

"Lyds?" Stiles' voice came drifting through the apartment. When he showed up in the kitchen, Lydia thought he was absolutely adorable. His hair was sleep-mussed, standing up all over the place, and he was walking like a zombie. He ran into the kitchen doorway, mumbling "ouch" to himself, and Lydia found herself watching him. He wasn't wearing a shirt, only boxers, and Lydia stopped for a moment. Damn, he had really filled out. He now had muscles where there didn't used to be any. He looked…really good.

Wait - did she call him adorable? She shook the thoughts out of her head. She couldn't start thinking of Stiles like that. Sure, he had had a crush on her during their childhood, and he might still like her, but he was her ally; her friend. And right now, she really needed at least one platonic human friend.

"What're you doing up right now, Lyds?" Stiles asked, sitting down on the kitchen stool next to her. "Are you okay?"

Lydia nodded, taking a sip of her tea, "I'm fine. Just had a nightmare. The question really is, what are you doing up?"

"I'm a light sleeper. Since all the supernatural shit, I've been a lighter sleeper than I used to be. You never know when something supernatural-y is going to happen, and I like to be prepared."

"Is that why you sleep with a baseball bat next to your bed?" Lydia asked. Stiles looked surprised.

"I was stuck in this apartment for three weeks in a row, Stiles," she said, like that answered the unasked question. "I did a little snooping when I was bored."

Stiles just shrugged, "Yes, that's why. I need to be prepared."

Lydia smiled softly, "That's okay. I sleep with a knife in my nightstand drawer, next to my bed."

"That's not really going to stop a werewolf."

"It is when it's laced with wolfsbane," Lydia said. "I had the pack emissary back in Boston make it for me. It's done me a lot of good in the past."

"Very ingenious, Lydia," Stiles said, sounding like approval. Lydia smiled.

"It's what I do."

There was a moment of silence between them before Stiles said, "Do you wanna talk about it, Lyds? The nightmares, I mean."

She really shouldn't. She didn't really want anyone to know her pain. Sure, Erica knew all about it, because they were really close and Erica didn't know how to take no for an answer. It would be nice though, if someone here in Beacon Hills could understand her a little bit more. Finally, she caved, "Sure. I mean, if you want to."

Stiles shrugged, "It's fine. I'm good at listening."

"The first nightmare I had after Aiden left. Every time he'd leave, I would go home and cry. But no other guy was wanting to ask me out. I always told myself that I would quit whatever I had with Aiden in a heartbeat if I could find someone else who was interested. But nobody was, so I'd continue with him. The sex was pretty great…I mean, yeah, it was a little too rough, but I got used to it. The worst nights were the nights of the full moon. He really became unhinged then. But anyway, I had nightmares of Aiden hurting me, killing me, cutting my body up into little bitty pieces. Sometimes I would dream the things that he had done to me before. He had put me in the hospital more than once.

"But then, after I found out I was pregnant with Kristy, it started to get worse. I'd dream that he'd kill me and take off with her. Because, I mean, technically, she is his daughter, too. Or that he'd just kidnap her. There's no way me, a banshee, could even find him. I'm practically human. All I do is sense death. I'm one of the easiest creatures to kill. With those nightmares, I started taking self-defense classes. They had a class at the college, and I needed to make sure I could protect both myself and Kristy. And, even though I was taking self-defense classes, Erica and Boyd insisted on teaching me things that would help defend myself against a werewolf. I know about mountain ash, and, even though I'm not a spark, like you, I can still use it. Wolfsbane, however, has become one of my best friends. But, even though I know how to defend myself and my daughter, I still get really nervous around werewolves. I try to remember that Scott and Isaac and I have known each other for years – since before they became wolves, and I try to remember that Derek is practically an overgrown puppy, but nothing helps. I'm afraid of all that power they wield. They have a shitload of power in them, and if they wanted to just let go and let the wolf take over, they could tear me into pieces. That thought scares the shit out of me."

Lydia absentmindedly licked her lips, and she saw that caught Stiles' attention. But she didn't have time for that. "I get that you and Scott are brothers, and have known each other forever. I mean, hell, I've known you guys since preschool, but that doesn't stop my fear. It's irrational, and I hate anything that's irrational."

"'s not really that irrational," Stiles said, yawning. "It makes complete sense, if I have to be honest. You've been hurt, more than once, by werewolves, so of course you're going to be a little apprehensive around them. I understand it completely."

"Stiles," Lydia said, trying to hide a smile, "You really need to go back to bed. You're exhausted."

"Can't," he said, resting his head on his arm on the island counter. "I've gotta stay up to make sure that my beautiful strawberry blonde roommate is okay."

Lydia blushed at the compliment; it'd been a long time since someone had called her beautiful. She tried to hide it the best that she could, but it felt really good for someone to call her beautiful – especially with everything she had been through in the past few years.

"Really, Stiles," Lydia said, standing up to rinse her mug out and put it in the dishwasher, "You need sleep. It'll be good for you." Stiles shook his head, which was still on his arm, and Lydia was sure this was the only way for her to get him to bed, "Would it help if I went with you?"

That made Stiles' head snap up, "Uh, what?"

"Just what I said. I'll go to bed with you."

"With?"

Lydia sighed, "Yes, Stiles. If I go to bed with you. You know, you and me, in your bed. Just to sleep." She added the last part in case he was like a regular perverted guy who always had sex on the brain.

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Lydia said, nodding. "C'mon, it'll be nice to have someone to cuddle with after a nightmare."

Stiles nodded, "Sure, I guess."

Lydia could tell that Stiles was a little uncertain. Sighing, she finally took his hand, entwining their fingers and led him to his room.