EARLY UPDATE FOR TWO REASONS! First reason is because I got a review that I was unable to privately respond to about plagiarism. I am aware this is on 'quotev' because I'm the person posting it on quotev. I'm the same author so don't fret, no-one is stealing anyone's work but thanks for trying to confront me! And the second reason is because I'm going to be busy on Sunday. Sunday marks the one year anniversary of my Mother's passing and I doubt I'll be up to messing with my laptop that day.

Also, I've come to the decision to NOT write in 3b to this story. I have 25 planned chapters for this fic and I'm currently working on 20 but I've hit a bit of a block on how exactly I want to write these remaining chapters. I'll continue to update every Sunday unless I get over this block and hammer out these last few chapters so I can update every other day instead of waiting an entire week. I hope that makes sense.

99.5% filler and .5% Visionary

After what felt like hours to Avery, Stiles and Derek are pulling their respective siblings off of Boyd's unmoving form. Avery and Cora are reduced to sniffling and trembling limbs as both Derek and Stiles each hug them, moving them so they're not staring down at their fallen friend and pack mate.

It's when Stiles has Avery wrapped up in a hug that Avery soon feels a hand at her back and when she turns, she finds Isaac with glossy eyes staring worriedly at her. Tears instantly cloud Avery's vision yet again as she lets go of Stiles and latches on to Isaac. Sobs wrack her body all over again as she clings to Isaac, the wolf tucking her head beneath his as if shielding her from the horrors they just witnessed.

Feet pounding against the floor sound nearer and nearer, and as everyone turns to the door- they see Scott coming to a stop behind a shell-shocked Lydia and Ms. Blake.

"Deaton's fine. He's going to be okay." He pants. "How did everything go here?" It's then that he notices a soaked Avery crying into Isaac's chest, a soaked and grief struck Cora leaning into Derek who looks just as grief struck with glossy eyes. "What did.. am I missing something?" As one, the group parts down the middle and Scott's gaze falls to Boyd's body. "Boyd?" Scott's voice wobbles as he brushes pass Lydia and Ms. Blake only to stop on the last step.

Avery moves around in Isaac's grasp so that her gaze catches Derek's. "Kali orchestrated it all." She says with as much conviction that she can muster up at the moment though her voice cracks in the end. "She gave Derek an ultimatum- either join them or we all die." Her gaze falls back down and Isaac hugs her closer once more.

"You can't be serious." Scott sighs. "What are you going to do? What are we going to do?" He asks.

"We're going to fight back." Derek answers gruffly. "After I take care of some things first."

No-one asks just what things Derek has to take care of when he walks over to Boyd, lifting the dead beta up in his arms. He looks around at everyone sadly before shifting Boyd in his arms and walking out of his loft with Cora on his trail. Avery's eyes follow them all the way out the door and the second they're gone, the only sound in the room is Avery's whimpering.

"Is she okay?" Avery then hears Scott murmur to someone.

She can feel Isaac's shoulders move before she sees Stiles move into her line of vision, reaching in and grasping her chin to tilt her head upward. "I don't think any of us are okay after what we just saw." Stiles replies as he takes in the smudged mascara beneath his sister's eyes. "And I don't think I can take Avery home like this." He sighs. "Dad's going to be in and out wanting to check on us and we can't risk him catching Avery bawling her eyes out during the night."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Your house, maybe? Call your Mom and fill her in. Ask if Avery and I can stay with you tonight."

Scott nods and jogs out of the loft as he goes to make the call. "What about us?" Lydia voices. "Do you need me to do anything?"

Stiles sighs as he turns towards his red-headed friend. "Just make sure Ms. Blake gets home safe. Isaac and I can take Avery and we'll get Scott to tail the both of you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Stiles nods as he looks back at his sister. "We're sure."

Lydia accepts what Stiles has asked of her but before she can leave, she hurriedly steps down into the loft and up to Avery, offering Isaac a sad smile before pulling Avery into a hug. "I'm sorry." She murmurs into her friend's ear, knowing how close Avery had gotten with Boyd ever since he reappeared. "If you need anything, I'm only a call away."

Avery nods, sniffling softly into Lydia's shoulder as she clings to her friend tightly before letting go. Scott comes back in, telling Stiles and Avery that his Mom is at home waiting for them to show up. As Lydia makes her way back towards the door, she tells Scott that he's to follow her and Ms. Blake home to make sure the alphas aren't lingering around. Scott easily agrees, not wanting anyone else to be hurt and gestures for the two girls to follow him. Lydia and Ms. Blake turn to leave but before Ms. Blake disappears behind the wall, she turns back towards Isaac, Avery, and Stiles. "I'm sorry about your friend." She nervously blurts. "I know it's not much but-"

"It's fine." Avery mutters. "And thank you."

Ms. Blake's lip twitch before she nods and finally takes her leave.

"Come on." Isaac finally speaks up. "Let's get to Scott's."

..

..

Seeing as Avery was in no condition to drive her motorcycle, Isaac carefully drove it in front of Stiles' Jeep so Stiles and Avery could keep an eye on him on the way to Scott's. By the time they park outside Scott's home, Melissa is opening the front door and waiting for them.

The cool night's air has Avery a shivering mess by the time they get to the door and the second Melissa mutters, "Oh, sweetheart.", the flood gates are back open and Melissa has her arms full of a sobbing teenage girl.

Stiles sighs while rubbing the back of his head because Avery had just stopped crying inside his jeep and now the tears are back just as fast. Melissa ushers them inside with Isaac shutting the door behind them.

"I called your Dad." Melissa says as she walks Avery up the stairs knowing full well that the boys are following her. "Told him that you and Avery had a project to do so you'd be spending the night."

"Thanks."

"I also told him that I'd make sure you got to school in the morning so you either get ready for bed or be a fantastic actor when we wake up tomorrow morning and fake an illness."

"Gotcha." Stiles sighs as he glances at Scott's room. "Do you need me to-" He trails off as he nods at his sister.

"I got her." Melissa assures him. "I think my pajamas will fit her better than anything Scott has."

"A-alright. If you're sure."

"Positive." Melissa smiles at him. "Why don't you boys go wait for Scott in his room or something. I'll get you if I need you."

"Yeah. Okay." Stiles nods and watches as Melissa herds his wrecked sister into her room before gently shutting the door behind them.

With nothing more to do, Isaac and Stiles numbly make their way into Scott's room. Isaac sits on the desk chair while Stiles sits on the edge of Scott's bed, letting himself fall back with a groan. Isaac opens his mouth to say something but snaps his jaw shut a second later. He knows things are bad if Stiles isn't babbling a mile a second so instead of trying to figure out a way to solve their problems, he sits back and waits for Scott to show up.

Stiles, on the other hand, well Stiles doesn't know what to think. Ever since Avery showed up, he had never seen her show this much emotion and he doesn't know what to do. For him, crying females are usually easy to handle but he knows he has tread lightly since this female is his sister and what she just witnessed is something she shouldn't have had to witness in the first place. He doesn't do well with death and if his sister's reaction is anything to go by, neither does she.

Seven minutes in their silent brooding, Scott shows up with word that Lydia and Ms. Blake are home and safe.

Stiles sits up, making room for Scott on the bed and before any of them can start talking- Ms. McCall makes an appearance. "Stiles, your sister's phone has been vibrating nonstop. She's still in the shower but I think someone should answer it."

Stiles reaches out and Melissa passes him the phone. "Thanks. I'll, uh, I'll see who it is and see what they want."

Melissa gives all three boys a sad grin before leaving the room. "Who is it?" Scott asks.

Stiles unlocks his sister's phone only to find five missed calls and several texts- all of them from Elijah. Before he can answer Scott, the phone starts to vibrate in his hand. "It's Elijah." Stiles finally tells them and accepts the call. "Hello?"

"Who are you and why do you have Avery's phone?"

"It's, uh, it's Stiles." He stammers. "Avery's brother."

"Oh. My apologies." Elijah states. "Is Avery available? It's not like her to leave her phone unattended."

"Yeah, about that." Stiles sighs as he trades wary glances with Isaac and Scott. "Avery's in the shower at the moment but I don't think she'll be up for any calls tonight."

There's a moment of silence before Elijah's voice comes through the speaker. "What happened?!"

"There was an incident-"

"What type of incident, Mr. Stilinski. Please, be specific."

Stiles rolls his eyes and then immediately thanks the Fates that Be that Elijah is on the phone and not there in person. He had a feeling Elijah wasn't the type to take rolling of the eyes very lightly. "We lost a friend of ours tonight." Stiles says. "Uh, how much has Avery told you about us here? About my best friend being a werewolf and what not?"

"I know that Scott is not the only wolf in Avery's life, if that's what you're getting at."

"Right." Stiles drawls. "Well the alpha of Beacon Hills, Avery befriended him and his beta wolves. It was one of the betas that we lost tonight. Avery witnessed it."

"I see." There's a beat of silence as Stiles, Isaac, and Scott each hold their breath and wait for Elijah's reaction. They hear him sigh before he clears his throat. "Mr. Stilinski, I hope you pay attention closely to what I'm about to tell you."

"Yes, 'sir."

"Keep a close eye on your sister. These next couple of hours, maybe days, are going to rough on her." Elijah tells him. "Make sure she has your support and her friend's support. Let her know that you're there for her."

"Of course." Stiles blurts. "W-we're at our friend's house right now. Scott's Mom has her showering and changing since we couldn't risk our Dad finding out."

"Good. That's very good." Elijah states as he pauses briefly. "There's some business that I must attend to now but I expect a call tomorrow to be updated on Avery's well-being."

"Yeah, okay, I can do that bu-"

"Goodbye, Mr. Stilinski."

And just like that, the call is ended. Stiles gapes at his sister's phone in his hand until the screen blacks out, groaning and resting his elbows on his knees as he lets what Elijah told him sink in.

..

..

Just down the hallway, Avery walks out of the bathroom that's attached to Melissa's bedroom. Clad in a borrowed light blue plaid pajama set that Melissa rarely used, Avery stumbles forward with blood-shot eyes and her bottom lip trembling as more tears threaten to fall.

"Oh, sweetie." Melissa coos and her heart instantly shatters at the distraught teen. "Come here." She says before scooting to one side of her bed as Avery moves closer. The teen crawls atop the bed, scooting up into the empty space and curling in on herself with her back to Ms. McCall.

Melissa takes no offense to that, choosing to scoot closer and the second Melissa runs her fingers through the damp hair, sobs instantly wrack the teen's body. "Why?" She cries and hugs her knees closer. "Why did they have to kill him?"

Melissa doesn't know how to answer that seeing she's still very new to the whole werewolf business so she goes with the answer that almost everyone would have given. "I don't know."

Avery seems to cry harder at that, tears soaking the pillow her head is resting on. The bed is shaking lightly due to Avery's cries and Ms. McCall does her best to soothe the hurting teen as best as she can. She pulls up the blanket so it's covering Avery's form and settles atop the blanket as to not weird the younger girl out. She leans on her elbow behind Avery while using her free hand to rub the teen's arm in a comforting manner.

The bedroom door creaks open but Avery doesn't make a move to see who it is. She sees a form move in front of her vision but with the tears clouding her sight, she has to wait a moment to focus on what's in front of her. She realizes that Stiles is now kneeling on her side of the bed watching her. He gives her a lopsided grin before reaching beneath the blanket, finding one of her hands and squeezing it in comfort.

"H-have you heard from Derek? Or Cora?" She rasps.

Stiles shakes his head. "No. I, uh, I answered your phone though. Elijah seems worried about you."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow." She says instead of getting upset over someone messing with her phone. "Just.. make sure you talk to Derek. Make sure he knows that it wasn't his fault."

"Okay but wh-"

"Just promise!" Avery cuts him off, tears filling her eyes once more. "T-the alphas. They're the one who m-made him.." She trails off as a lump forms in her throat and she has to clear her throat twice before she can speak again. "They used their strength to manhandle Derek and used his claws to-"

"They made him kill Boyd." Stiles realizes with frown.

"They did." Avery cries as Melissa softly gasps behind her. "He fought so hard but t-they -hiccup- w-were -hiccup- s-strong-"

"Okay, okay." Stiles cuts in. "We know. I'll be sure to let Isaac and Scott know too. We'll all text him and make sure he knows that none of us blame him."

Avery nods as she lowers her head back down onto the pillow. Her eyes flutter momentarily before finally staying closed and Stiles shakes her arm a bit, getting her to open her eyes. Seconds later, they close again and seeing the panicked expression on his face, Melissa quickly jumps in. "Don't worry!" She utters. "I crushed up two sleeping pills for her. She's going to need her rest for school if you all expect to go on as if nothing happened tonight."

Stiles breathes a sigh of relief, his head falling onto the mattress. "Yeah. Thanks." He mumbles before letting his sister's hand go. "I can get Scott or Isaac to help me move her-"

"Don't worry about it. She can sleep here." Melissa tells him as she scoots back to her side. "Can you stay here with her while I go shower?"

"Of course."

Melissa smiles softly at him as she climbs out of bed to stand on her feet and collects some pajamas for herself. When the bathroom door clicks shut behind her, Avery jumps awake. "W-what happened?"

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Stiles immediately soothes her back down into bed. "Ms. McCall just went to go shower."

Avery sleepily nods, blinking slowly as she scoots back on the bed. "Can you lay with me? Please?"

Her voice is so vulnerable and meek that Stiles doesn't think twice before kicking off his shoes by the bed and climbing in. He climbs beneath the blanket, laying on his side facing his sister who's laying on her side and facing him as well. One of Avery's hand is resting right in front of her face and Stiles doesn't hesitate to grip her hand in is own as both siblings scoot as close as they can together.

"Just stay until I fall asleep. Or Ms. McCall gets out." Avery yawns. I don't want to be alone."

"You'll never be alone." He tells her.

Avery falls asleep gripping his hand and halfway through Melissa's shower, he hears the bedroom door creak open. Shifting his head so he can see, he sees Scott and Isaac peek their heads in. They take one look at the cuddled siblings before fully entering and move to stand nervously at the edge of the bed.

"She didn't want me to leave." Stiles murmurs. "She has a tight grip and I don't know how I'm going to move when your Mom gets out."

"She'll deal." Scott replies with a grin. "She can have my bed if she lets us stay in here or we can move Avery back to my room."

Stiles nods before letting his head fall back down on the pillow and closes his eyes. Isaac moves to the side of the bed where Avery's back is showing, and pulls up the blanket to tuck her in. He sits behind her, laying atop the blanket and curling up behind her as close as possible without touching her. They hadn't really talked about what was happening between them and he didn't want to freak her out. There's not much room left on the bed with three teens already laying in it but Scott manages to lay at the foot of the bed since everyone had their legs curled up.

Stiles is the second to drift asleep after the day they had and only Isaac and Scott are awake when Ms. McCall exits the bathroom. She takes one look at her bed and the sheepish smiles Scott and Isaac are flashing her before making a bee-line for the sofa chair in the corner of her room.

"My room is empty." Scott pipes up. "Sleep in there, Mom. I'm really sorry for taking over your bed."

"It's fine, Scott." Melissa assures him, moving towards him as he moves to sit up and she kisses his forehead. After a day like today, she really needed to show some affection for her son and be glad that he's alive and okay. "She's going to need all of you tonight and tomorrow."

"Thanks, Mom." Scott says at the same times Isaac mutters, "Thanks, Ms. McCall."

She smiles fondly at both boys before turning off the lights to the room. "Oh and Scott," She pauses in the doorway. "-if I were you, I'd move to the chair. I have a feeling Stiles kicks in his sleep."

Isaac snorts and Scott chuckles. "I'll be fine. Goodnight, Mom."

"Night."

The following morning they all get woken up by Melissa's voice. "Kids... kids!"

"What happened? What's going on?!" Scott blurts as he falls off the edge of the bed.

Stiles and Isaac shoot up as well, Isaac's eyes flashing yellow before he realizes that it's only Scott's mom. "Nothing." Melissa grins sleepily at them. "You're going to be late for school is all."

"Oh." Stiles sighs as he wills his heart to stop beating erratically. "Oh, yeah, um.."

Avery is the only one who's still curled beneath the blanket but as Isaac takes a seat on the bed, she turns on her other side and curls behind Isaac's back.

"We need clothes." Stiles then mumbles to no-one in particular though his gaze then falls on Avery. "Do- do you want me to go get our stuff from home?" He asks.

Avery blinks slowly before uncurling herself, turns on her back before shrugging carelessly while looking at Stiles. Her gaze then meets Melissa who's standing in the doorway and who then moves forward with a frown. "You don't look so well." Melissa says as she catalogs the dark circles beneath the teen's eyes, the puffiness and redness of said eyes, and the blank expression on Avery's face . "I think it's best if you stay home. Stay here." She admits. "I can call your dad and tell him you're running a fever and that I'll look after you while he goes to work."

"Can you?" Avery mumbles.

"Mhm." Stiles, Scott, and Isaac all each look like they're about to speak up but Melissa immediately shuts them down. "You three are going to school. You," She looks pointedly at Stiles. "-are going to go pick up your things and a change of clothes for Avery to drop off here and then you, Scott, and Isaac are going to school."

"But my sis-"

"Will be taken care of by me. If I need you- any of you- I'll text you."

Stiles groans loudly before agreeing because apparently there was no telling Melissa McCall no. He takes one last look at his sister who would have been well rested if it wasn't for her waking up repeatedly in the night and choking out Boyd's name as if she were reliving the night's events in her dreams.

Not knowing what else to do, the three teen boys sigh before all climbing to their feet. Stiles and Scott shuffle out first while Isaac remains back. He shuffles from one foot to the other, his gaze darting from a clearly amused Ms. McCall to an impassive Avery. Quickly and before Ms. McCall can lecture him, he leans back over the bed- leaning over Avery while one hand goes to the back of her neck to slightly lift her up and kiss her forehead.

"I'll be back after school. Okay?"

"Okay."

As Isaac slips out of Ms. McCalls room, she grins at him as his cheeks color under her gaze.

Scott and Isaac take their time getting ready and when Stiles shows up back to their house, he's muttering about too many damn shoes for one person as he hands Avery her clothes and converse sneakers.

Ms. McCall gives Avery some privacy as she goes to check on the boys and a while later when she returns to her room to collect clothes to wash, she finds Avery zipping up a dark gray hoodie over a faded superman shirt. Stiles had picked up a pair of jean shorts as well and instead of putting on the black converse, Avery sits on the bed to slip on a pair of gray socks with turquoise and pink robots on them.

Melissa grins at Avery's cute socks before Avery stands once more, pushing her hair behind her ears and slipping her hands back up in the sleeves of the jacket before hugging herself.

"Are you hungry?" Melissa offers as she disappears into the bathroom and then reappearing with a laundry basket. "I can cook us some breakfast while you watch TV." Once more, Avery shrugs though she does do her best to offer Melissa a smile. "I'll take that as a yes." She chuckles. "Just let me get this in the wash, you go grab your phone from Scott's room, and I'll meet you downstairs after I freshen up."

Without a word, Avery does as she's told and easily finds her phone sitting on Scott's desk. There are no new notifications so she slips her phone inside her jacket and goes to wait downstairs for Ms. McCall. As soon as she gets comfortable, she can hear Scott's Mom rushing about upstairs to get things done quickly.

Avery sighs deeply, eyes trained on the blacked out TV screen as she thinks about last night. They had only planned to prepare Derek in case something were to happen. Of course they knew there was a chance of something happening but they didn't expect three alphas with two of them threatening Ms. Blake's life to show up, nor did they expect any deaths. At least, not a death of someone they were close with.

At the mere thought of Boyd and his smile from his teasing during the previous day, Avery's eyes instantly mist over. Her nose twitches as she tries to keep the tears at bay and her hand creeps into her pocket where her phone resides. She immediately goes straight to her photos and starts sliding her finger across the screen until she comes to what she's looking for.

It's a picture of her and Boyd.

The picture that Isaac had taken when she climbed atop Boyd's back when they were on the bus heading for their first track meet. It a side profile pic but you can easily see her beaming smile and the grin tilting Boyd's lips upward as he hooks his hands under her knees.

"That's an adorable picture." Melissa suddenly states and Avery jumps at the sudden intrusion. Avery's hands start to tremble at being startled and Ms. McCall immediately looks guilty. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"N-no. It's fine." Avery mumbles. "I zoned out. It's not your fault."

As Melissa walks around the sofa, Avery realizes that she has two plates of food in her hands and wonders just how long she was zoned out for if Ms. McCall had time to cook without her knowing. There's the basic scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast plated and Ms. McCall sets both plates on the coffee table in front of her before leaving back to the kitchen. When she comes back, she has two glasses of orange juice with her.

"Well, eat up." Melissa grins as she pulls one plate to herself while simultaneously turning on the TV and setting it to the morning news.

Avery feebly grins back, taking one plate for herself and picks up a piece of bacon to start nibbling on it. Even though she hasn't eaten in hours, the death of Boyd has wiped out any appetite that she might have had and the bacon upsets her stomach. Coming to the conclusion that since bacon easily upset her stomach, she figures that the eggs could possibly do the same. But not wanting to have Ms. McCall lecture her about eating habits, she forces down the bacon with the toast and sips at the orange juice.

Surprisingly, Melissa doesn't say anything when Avery finally sets the plate back down with all the eggs and two pieces of bacon untouched. Avery then curls back up with her feet tucked beneath her and her glass of OJ in hand as she settles back in the sofa to watch the news. There's nothing interesting on and with so many murders going on, it's quite a shock as to how oblivious the entire town is when they don't even acknowledge said deaths on TV.

Melissa soon finishes with her own breakfast, collecting both plates and glasses when Avery manages to finishes her juice to take them to load in the dishwasher. When she comes back to the living room, she finds Avery curled up with her phone back in her lap and the same picture on the screen.

As she takes a seat next to the teen, she manages to ask, "When was that picture taken?"

It takes a minute for Avery to answer and when she does, Melissa immediately regrets asking her. "It.. it was the day of our first track meet that got canceled." Her voice wavers but after clearing her throat, she pushes on forward. "S-scott had to really pee," She lies because even though Ms. McCall knew about the supernatural, she wasn't about to tell her about Scott's near death experience. "-and Coach wouldn't stop the bus because he didn't want to miss the meet so Stiles made made a kid on the bus throw up."

"Only Stiles." Melissa sighs with a laugh.

"Yeah." Avery chuckles as the tears slowly gather. "I can handle vampires and werewolves but not puke. Boyd joked about it but eventually caved and carried me over the puke like a gentleman. Isaac's the one who took the picture when we weren't paying attention." The phone slips a bit from Avery's hand and as her fingers slide across the screen, the picture jumps to the video before it. "Oh. Look!" Avery wipes away the gathered tears as a smile finally lights up her face. "Look at Stiles and Coach in action."

She plays the video for Ms. McCall, Scott's mom snorting in amusement at Stiles' attempt to get Coach Finstock to stop the bus. Every whistle blow has Melissa grinning wider and wider, and by the time Stiles' caves and Avery's laughter is booming through the speaker- it's then that they both notice when the phone changes hands. The video continues to show Avery curled up on seat laughing before pulling back and zeroing in on Stiles as he plops himself in a seat next to Jared near the front of the bus. Isaac moves the phone once more and before the video cuts off, it shows two seconds of Boyd smirking directly at the camera.

Avery's breath hitches and when Melissa looks over at her, she realizes that the teen hadn't known Boyd was in the video. Once again, hands start trembling and before Melissa has time to react, Avery bursts into tears. Melissa immediately wraps her arm around the teen's shoulders and pulls her into a sideways hug, rubbing her arm up and down trying her best to soothe her. "It's okay, sweetie. It'll get better. I promise."

But Avery shakes her head in denial. "It won't get better. It won't. They won't stop." She cries. "That girl Erica and Boyd are only the beginning."

Melissa doesn't say anything to that, her own eyes tearing up once hearing Erica's name leave Avery's mouth. She knew Erica, the blonde teen having been a frequent visitor to the E.R, and after Scott came clean about everything- she pieced together Erica's transformation and what had healed her. But now- this is the first time hearing any news about Erica and it wasn't at all what she had been expecting.

As Ms. McCall fights off her own tear fest, the house phone rings in kitchen. She bites her lip in contemplation on whether to answer it or not but when Avery shifts away from her to curl up in on herself, she takes the chance to go answer it.

The phone call ends up being the Hospital telling her that she needs to head in right now instead of her later shift. She tries to see if there's any other on-call attendants available because she's busy at the moment with a sick kid but they tell her she has no other option. Caving in, she tells them she'll be in as soon as she can get someone to her house to keep her friend's daughter company.

With only one option available, Melissa pulls out her cell phone and sends a quick text to her son.

'The Hospital needs me . Now! Get your butts home to comfort Avery.'

Melissa pockets her phone after she gets back a quick 'On it!', and sits with Avery on the couch until the kids show up.

..

..

By the time Melissa hears the rumble of Scott's bike, her front door is swinging opening with Allison and Lydia rushing inside. Lydia has a plastic bag in hand that looks to be carrying a tub of ice cream and the second Melissa gets up from her seat, Allison and Lydia plop down on either side of the sniffling teen who now has the hood of her jacket pulled over her head to hide from everyone's gaze.

"Oh, honey." Lydia coos softly as she places the bag on the coffee table.

Avery moves to sit up straighter, sitting indian style on the middle cushion and letting her head fall to the left onto Allison's shoulder. The two girls share a quick look with each other before huddling closer to their distraught friend as Stiles, Isaac, and Scott come in next- the three teen boys rushing into the living room. There's a moments hesitation on the boys' part when Ms. McCall re-enters the living room and gives the girls three spoons. Allison takes them with a smile before reaching forward and pulling out a rather large tub of ice cream and setting it in her lap.

"Chocolate fudge brownie." Allison mutters. "It can cure almost every type of heart ache."

She pulls the lid off of the chocolate ice cream, sticking one spoon in before popping it in her mouth. Giving the other two spoons to Lydia and Avery, she encourages them to do the same and isn't let down when Avery finally dips in. The boys immediately gather around, sitting in any available space they can squeeze themselves into with Isaac on the floor in front of Avery.

The news playing on the TV eventually bores Lydia to tears since it's nothing relevant and ends up changing the channel. When she just keeps flipping through the channels with no sign of stopping, Scott reaches over and puts it on Cartoon Network. Lydia scoffs at the sight of Looney Tunes, angrily sticking her spoon into the ice cream as Avery smirks just the slightest at her.

Scott immediately counts it as a win when he catches sight of the smirk and turns up the TV just a little louder.

As the girls dig into the ice cream, Allison looks around before pulling a couch pillow from behind Stiles and slipping it into Avery's lap to place the ice cream on top so Lydia can reach easier. They settle into a calm atmosphere as the girls quietly devour the ice cream and by the time Ms. McCall comes downstairs in her scrubs, half the tub of ice cream is gone.

"If the Sheriff decides to stop by, you're all to fend for yourselves with excuses on why you're here and not at school." Melissa tells them. "I'm working a double shift so I'll be home in the morning. Please, behave."

Scott smiles and nods at his Mom while Isaac, Stiles, Lydia, and Allison all call out, "Got it, Ms. McCall."

She chuckles at them as she passes by, running her fingers through Avery's hair as she passes. Avery sighs contently, leaning her head back and grinning up at Ms. McCall and it takes everything in Melissa to not tear up at the sight of a genuine smile finally dawning on Avery's face without tears being in the mix.

Ms. McCall soon leaves, leaving the only occupants of the home being six teens. When the ice cream gets to watery to enjoy, Lydia passes it to Scott who throws it in his freezer in hopes of the girls forgetting about it so he can have some later. With the ice cream no longer occupying the pillow in Avery's lap, she pushes it forward just the slightest and tugs back on one of Isaac's curls. Isaac's head follows until she has his head laying on the pillow, her nails scratching gently at his scalp as he sinks further into relaxation. There's a groan of possible of disgust coming from the left, and when Avery and Allison turn towards the noise, they find Stiles grimacing and glaring at Avery for even touching Isaac in front of him.

Avery actually laughs at that, her laugh catching everyone off guard. Her free hand flies to her mouth, eyes wide as she sits in disbelief that the laugh came from her. From the girl who'd been crying on and off all night and this morning. Stiles slowly cracks a grin at her, Allison following with a snort and soon- everyone in the living room is chuckling. Avery's chuckles turn into booming laughter and before anyone knows it, they're laughing so hard with no particular reason as to why.

As the teens clutch at their stomachs from laughing, a phone ringing suddenly brings everything to a halt. The laughter slowly dies down as they look for the source only to have Avery slowly pull out her phone from her jacket pocket.

Derek's name is sitting atop the screen with a black and white picture of said Hale with his arms crossed over his chest. It was the picture that Avery had snuck of him when he was arguing with Scott not-so-quietly about Allison and Lydia helping them that day in school.

Without so much as glancing at anyone around her- 'cause she's pretty sure Allison and Lydia saw who was calling- she quickly accepts the call. "Derek?"

It's as if everyone's holding their breath in the room when the other end of the line remains silent for a couple of seconds. "Uh, no. It's Cora." Comes the reply and Avery visibly slumps in her spot. "I was just checking to see if you've seen Derek but by the way you answered- you haven't."

"Derek's missing?!" Avery immediately jumps to that conclusion. "S-since when?

"He's not missing." Cora sighs on the line. "It's just.. it's just something he does when something bad happens. I had just thought that he'd with you. You seem to be the only somewhat normal one of us all and he seems to trust you like I've never seen him trust anyone else."

Avery gapes at that. "Oh. I'm sorry but I haven't seen him."

"Well, it was worth a try. If you hear from him, let me know?"

"Of course." Avery blurts. "As long as you do the same just so I know he's okay?"

Again, there's a moment of silence before Cora speaks. "Uh, yeah. I can do that."

"Thanks."

"Uh huh. Yeah." The she-wolf mumbles before the phone line goes dead.

As Avery slowly takes the phone away from her ear, no-one speaks and even though the TV is still going- the room seems silent. When she finally pockets her phone, it's Lydia who breaks their silence.

"You have a picture of Derek on your phone?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Do you have one of me?"

"Possibly."

"Is it at least more flattering than Derek's?"

"Obviously."

"Good."

Lydia goes back to watching the immature cartoon show while Avery catches everyone's gaze. With a shrug, they all go back to watching TV though now everyone is secretly wondering just where it is that Derek got off to.

..

..

It's sometime later that Avery jumps awake only to find herself laying down with her head in Allison's lap and her feet under a pillow on Lydia's lap. Stiles, Isaac, and Scott are all sitting on the floor in front of the couch and everyone is staring at her with odd expressions on their faces.

As Avery wills her heart to stop pounding, she sighs. "I was sleep talking, wasn't I?"

"It's fine." Allison says. "It's to be expected after witnessing what you did."

"Boyd?"

"Boyd." Everyone confirms.

Avery sighs once more, sitting up and shoving her legs behind Isaac's back in front of her. As everyone goes back to watching TV, Avery slips out of her jacket because she was apparently sweating in her sleep and now she's just uncomfortable in it.

As she tries to settle down, Allison starts fidgeting. From the corner of her eye, Avery sees the Huntress repeatedly checking her phone for several minutes before she finally stands.

"Okay. Scott and I have somewhere to be. Are you four good to be alone?"

"Yep."

"Yes."

"Of course."

"Where you going?"

Simultaneously, Scott and Allison look to Stiles who's curiously staring at them. His gazing is cut short though when his text alert goes off and he checks to sees who's texting him and what it is they want. His eyes widen just the tiniest bit and, he too, is suddenly on his feet.

"So, you three good to be alone?" He too says.

Lydia and Avery narrow their gaze on him now, both females wondering where the hell everyone suddenly has to be while Isaac just nods and slips into Allison's vacated seat.

"What's going on?" Avery mumbles. "Where do you all have to be all of a sudden?"

Stiles snaps his mouth shut as he waits for Allison and Scott to go first. Allison is the one who looks nervous and when Scott catches her biting the corner of her bottom lip in contemplation, he answers for her. "Allison has a hunch that her Dad knows something about the alpha pack. Or that he knows someone who knows about this alpha pack."

"And does he?" Avery mumbles while catching Allison's gaze.

The Huntress nods and refuses to meet anyone else's stare. "My grandpa. My dad knew where he was and-"

"Gerard!" Stiles yelps, cutting her off. "Gerard's still alive?!"

"Yep." Scott grunts. "And he knows stuff. I'm going to try and get it out of him."

"Son of a-" Stiles groans while wiping a hand down the front of his face. "Yeah. You guys do that. I'm going to Derek's."

"Derek's?" Isaac suddenly perks up. "You heard from him?"

The Stilinski male shakes his head. "No but Cora wants to talk. Wants to explain her brother's behavior. Maybe I can learn some new things."

The room once again goes silent and when no-one says anything, Avery rolls her eyes. "Go. Isaac and Lydia can stay with me but we're going back to our house." She says pointedly to Stiles. "No offense to your home, Scott, but I just really want to be in my own house."

"None taken."

"Are you sure?" Stiles says. "What if Dad comes home early? How are you going to explain your miraculous recovery?"

"I don't." Avery shrugs. "I figured I'd just lay against Isaac." Isaac blinks owlishly and blushes as Allison and Lydia both smirk at him- Scott and Stiles grimace. "Body heat, you weirdos." Avery sighs with a roll of her eyes. "Werewolves run hotter, remember?"

Scott and Stiles now look uncomfortable while Allison and Lydia frown. "Whatever." Lydia stands up now, placing her feet back in her shoes. "If we're leaving, Allison needs to drive me because I came with her."

"My bike is still here, right?"

"Yeah but you can't be seen driving." Stiles reminds her. "You're supposed to be sick."

"Well then Isaac can drive while I sit behind him." Avery groans because now she just wants to be home. "If he crashes, he has them nifty little healing powers and then he and Lydia can just shove a blood smoothie down my throat."

"Blood smoothie?" Lydia grimaces. "Do I even want to know?"

"Yep." Avery turns to grin at her. "Come on. There are some things you have yet to learn."

..

..

When Avery, Isaac, and Lydia finally do make it to the Stilinski household- John is nowhere in sight. Stiles had gone straight to Derek's and while Lydia climbs out of Allison's car and Scott gets out to move to the front passenger seat. Avery jogs over to Allison's car, head peaking in as she warns the two teens to stay away from closets. Allison glares at her while Scott looks confused as to why she would say that and when he realizes why she said it, the tips of his ears and cheeks burn red.

Before he can scold Avery to keep her mouth shut, Avery is jogging away while Allison starts to wheeze with laughter inside the car before pulling away from the house.

Once inside, Avery tells them to make themselves at home in living room while she goes to change in more comfortable clothing and while she retrieves her laptop for Lydia.

When she finally comes back down- Avery's in socks, black capri leggings, and a loose gray cardigan over a white tank. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail as she drops her laptop into Lydia's lap before taking a seat next to Isaac.

"Everything I've learned is on that laptop. Read away."

Lydia's eyes light up at the possibilities of what she can find as she quickly opens up the Mac and powers it on. "Thank you.. but I still want to know what you meant by a blood smoothie."

Avery snorts as she finds the remote and turns on the TV, skimming through the recorded programs. "Vampire blood heals. Remember that fight I got into with Cora that Derek told everyone about?"

"No." Lydia narrows her gaze. "What fight?"

"Huh. He must've only told the wolves then." Avery hums in thought. "But anyway, I confronted Derek over a issue with his pack, Cora didn't like it, we got into an argument that escalated to a physical altercation and she clawed me."

"What?"

"Yeah, what?!" Isaac snarled. "Derek didn't tell us that. He just said it was an argument that ended up with a few blows but nothing life threatening."

"It wasn't life threatening." Avery sighs, scooting closer to Isaac so there's not that big of a gap between them. "I just had some gashes and when I came home, I downed some vampire blood that I have in my mini-fridge and poof. Wounds healed, knitted together, vanished.. whatever you want to call it."

"Interesting." Lydia pursed her lips together. "Password, please?" She then says as she turns the laptop to face Avery.

"Just type in reynolds- all in lowercase- followed by 1920. It's the master password so you don't need every documents personal password." Avery tells her.

"I see." Lydia said as she clicks away at the keys. "I get reynolds but why 1920?"

Avery grins as she tosses the remote to Isaac, not being able to make up her mind. "The 1920s was 'lijah and Nik's favorite time. Everything was black and white suits, and flapper dresses. You should see the pictures."

Lydia seems to be ignoring her now so as Lydia does her thing, Avery's attention is solely on Isaac now. He sheepishly grins at her as he put on a basketball game and she returns the grin as she settles into the sofa. Getting as close to him as possible without actually touching him, Avery clutches a couch pillow to her chest as she focuses her attention on the game.

As the game drones on and Lydia soaks in new information, Isaac attempts to get comfortable by resting his arm on the back of the sofa he and Avery are sitting on. He can hear Avery's heartbeat speed up and it's then that he remembers Avery said they needed to talk. He can feel her tense, her heart beating erratically and his curiosity gets the best of him when she seems to tense further before slowly relaxing. When she looks up at him, he quickly plasters on a sheepish smile. She returns the gesture and even goes as far as resting her head on his shoulder.

Only minutes into what Isaac was hoping could be classified as cuddling, Avery slowly tenses once more before shooting to her feet. "I'm.. gonna get snacks. Do you guys want anything?"

Lydia immediately waves her off and Isaac frowns as Avery radiates nervousness and books it to the kitchen without waiting for his answer. Since Lydia is obviously not paying attention, he decides to check on Avery and see what's going on.

What he finds in the kitchen is Avery frantically opening and closing cabinet doors before moving on to the refrigerator.

"Mind telling me what's going on?"

Avery jumps at the sound of his voice, slamming the refrigerator door shut in the process. "N-nothing."

"Don't lie to me." Isaac sighs. "Is this about that talk you said we needed to have?"

"I- It's.." Avery bites her bottom lip as her nerves get the best of her, her gaze falling and refusing to meet Isaac's.

As Avery tries her best to ignore him and figure out what to say, Isaac rethinks over what happened. When her heart beat picked up and when she started to tense. "You started to freak out when I placed my arm around you." He says when it suddenly dawns on him. "Are we okay?" He then asks. "Do you still-"

"Yes." Avery immediately blurts. "I still.. I do like you, a lot actually." She admits. "But the thing you have to understand- the thing you need to understand is that anything with me won't be easy." Her gaze finally meets his and it's then that Isaac notices the tears shining in her eyes. "With my past.. romantic relationships are hard to start and even harder to maintain because no-one wants to be patient.."

Avery is too busy rambling through her explanation that she doesn't see Isaac rushing towards her and only stops talking when she feels arms wrap around her. Again, she tenses and her heart hammers in her chest cavity.

"Ssh. It's okay. It's just me." Isaac tries to soothe her. "I.. I can wait. For however long you need me to."

Avery nods against his chest, willing herself to relax in his hold. "It's the t-touch that does it. Anything that can be classified as intimate makes me freak out if I'm not the one to initiate it first, and-"

"I kissed you yesterday!" Isaac cuts her off with a groan. "It was unexpected and.."

"..and totally welcomed even though you caught me off guard." She assures him. "I knew it wouldn't go past a kiss because Derek and.. Boyd," Her voice cracks over the beta's name. "-were there so I wasn't really nervous about anything then. But now, earlier in the living room.."

"It's okay." Isaac tells her. "I get it now. I understand. You initiate anything and everything from here on out, and I will just go with the flow."

Avery snorts at that before sighing in relief. Chuckling, Isaac tightens his grip on her and she finally returns his embrace with a smile. "Thank you."

..

..

The next time Avery jumps awake, it's because John is lightly tapping the bottom of her foot with his boot. She sleepily sits up, realizing that her head was cushioned by a pillow that's in Isaac's lap who is also asleep. Rubbing her eyes, she realizes that Lydia is curled up in the sofa chair that she had settled in earlier- and thankfully- her laptop is powered off and closed.

"H-hey, Dad. What time is it?" She yawns.

"Just after ten. Where's your brother?"

"Probably causing mayhem with his other twin." She answers as she sits up now, more awake than she was before. At the sound of their voices, Isaac and Lydia both stir awake. "Lydia and Isaac kept me company after school."

John grins at that as the other two teens straighten themselves out. "While I appreciate that your friends kept you company, it's a school night."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Avery stands up now and John takes a moment to critically eye her. "The fever broke earlier, if that's what you're wondering. Ms. McCall is an awesome caretaker."

"I bet she is." John laughs. "While you get your friends sorted out, I'm going to go shower. Tara, one of my deputies, sent over some soup for you. Apparently word traveled fast that I had a sick daughter and she said she hopes you feel better."

"Awesome. Thanks, Dad."

"Mhm. Night, kiddos." John calls as he takes his leave from the living room and trudges up the stairs.

As soon as John had disappeared upstairs, Avery led Lydia and Isaac outside only to realize that their mode of transportation was Avery's motorcycle. After suggesting that she could give each of them a ride home if one where to wait outside her house for her, Isaac quickly suggested that he could just run back to Scott's house while she took Lydia. Avery had immediately made a move to decline but Isaac would have it no other way and didn't budge.

With a sigh, Avery had caved and after assuring Isaac that he text her once he got there, he pecked her on the forehead and disappeared into the night. Lydia grinned at the cuteness of them two but before she could start shooting off question after question, Avery started up her bike and urged Lydia to hurry before her Dad shooed her off the bike and drove Lydia home himself in the patrol car.

..

..

By the time Avery showed up back home, Scott and Stiles are waiting out front.

"Boy, do we have a lot to tell you." Stiles sighs.

"Can it wait just a little bit longer?" Avery groans as she pockets her keys. "Dad said someone by the name of Tara sent me some soup. We fell asleep earlier and I haven't eaten yet."

"Tara sent soup?" Stiles suddenly perks up. "She makes the best soup around town."

"Yes, well, she sent me soup. You'll just have to suffer."

As Stiles whines and pouts, Scott follows Avery inside the house where she hastily heats up her soup and drinks it straight from the bowl. Stiles actually scowls at the fact that she's not using a spoon and actually gags when she starts slurping the juice. When she pulls the bowl away from her mouth, there's a noodle stuck to her chin and Scott doesn't bother hiding his amusement when Stiles tears off a paper towel from it's roll and cleans his sister up like a parent would a child.

"Okay, okay." Avery laughs. "I'm clean. Let's go talk in my room and pray Dad doesn't kick Scott out."

Stiles and Scott concede, following Avery through to the living room where she picks up her laptop before jogging up the stairs to her room. From the sounds of it, John is just finishing up with his shower and Avery is surprised that she got Lydia home and slurped down her dinner all before her Dad even realized she had left.

When they get into Avery's room, Avery immediately opens her closet door and shoves Scott inside just as the bathroom door in the hallway opens. Footsteps near her room and before Scott can say anything, John peers inside her room.

"Nice to see you home, Stiles. You and Scott done terrorizing the community?"

"Uh, yeah." Stiles answers. "Just filling Avery in on what she missed today. Finstock was pretty upset his favorite lady runner wasn't there."

"Bummer." John snorts. "Well, it seems he can have her back tomorrow. Whatever Melissa did worked. She seems better, don't you think?"

Avery rolls her eyes at her Dad and brother talking as she wasn't right there with them. "Uh huh. Yeah." Stiles laughs when he catches her rolling her eyes. "She looks a whole lot better." He then says softly.

Avery grins sheepishly as both sets of eyes turn to her. "Yeah." John sighs. "Well, I got a long shift tomorrow so I'm going to head to bed. Don't stay up too late."

"Got it, Dad." Both teens say in unison.

As John leaves, Avery holds up her hand to halt Scott from coming out of the closet until she hears her Dad's bedroom door shut. As soon as she hears it shut, she rushes to quietly shut her own door before Scott stumbles out.

"Okay. Spill. What'd you two learn?"

Avery goes over to her mini-fridge as she lets the two boys make themselves comfortable. She pulls out two bottles of juice, keeping one for herself and tossing the other to Scott who had found out he rather liked Cran-Apple juice.

"Peter told us what the color of the eyes meant." Stiles supplies. "We obviously know that red means alpha, yellow means beta, but the blue-"

"Means that the werewolf took an innocent life." Avery cuts him off.

Scott's eyes widen as Stiles deflates. "How'd you know that?"

"That's old news for me." Avery shrugs it off as she opens her juice bottle to take a sip. "Elijah sent that to me a while back."

"Yes, well, did you know that before Derek became alpha- his eyes were blue?"

"No. I didn't." She breathes in awed shock. "Did he-.. who?"

"It was a long time ago." Stiles tells them. "Derek fell in love while he was in high school. It was your typical teenage romance but, of course, Peter was there to warn Derek to cool it with the girl or else she'd find out what they were. Derek was adamant that Paige wouldn't find out."

"And? What happened next?" Scott gulps.

"This is where it gets weird." Stiles admits with a frown and Avery sighs, "Of course.", as if she were expecting it to turn weird sooner or later.

"Remember Ennis?" At Scott and Avery's nod, he continues. "Apparently he was in town when a Hunter took down one of his betas. Peter said he could see just how much it affected the alpha and he said Derek saw an opportunity. A way to always be with Paige."

And then it dawned on Scott. "They turned her."

"That's what Peter said." Stiles sighed. "He said Derek spent a lot of time thinking about it and as the days passed, the more convinced he became that turning Paige was a good idea. Apparently, the Hales were well respected and other alphas were always trying to come up with a way to be in the Hale's good graces. Turning Paige for a Hale family member seemed like a good opportunity and so a note got sent to Paige to meet up with Derek at night in the school but when Paige showed up, Ennis was in his place. He attacked the girl, Derek intervened because he couldn't go through with it but it was too late. Ennis had already bit her."

"While learning this about Derek is dandy, what does it have to do with the color of his eyes?" Avery yawns.

"Paige's body rejected the bite. She was in so much pain that she begged Derek to end her life."

"Oh." Avery gasps. "That's.."

"Tragic." Stiles offered. "She apparently also knew what he was and she didn't care. She still loved him." He saw his sister's eyes tear up at that piece of information so in a bid to get her mind off if it, he offered up something else he learned. "Oh and another whammy, Morrell- our guidance counselor- she's an emissary for the alpha pack."

"Fuck." Avery groans while Scott doesn't look so shocked by that piece of information.

"Yeah, so after that, Derek changed. He wasn't the same anymore and became more closed off and wary of everyone. When Peter finished telling us, Cora and I got to talking. We only got the story from Peter's perspective. The whole time he was telling us, he seemed too passionate. Too sympathetic."

"And that's a bad thing?" Avery questions.

"It's Peter." Scott answers for Stiles. "We can't exactly trust him."

As the trio lets that information sink in, Stiles suddenly turns to Scott. "And what did Allison's grandfather have to say?

"Well," Scott sighs. "-as it turns out, Deucalion might have no eyesight but it doesn't mean he's always blind."

"What?"

"Yeah, what?" Stiles repeats after his sister. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"He can see as a wolf." Scott explains.

"And how in the world does Gerard know all this?"

Scott gulps down his juice quite easily before tossing the bottle to Avery so she could trash it. "Because Gerard's the one who did it." Scott allows the Stilinski twins to grumble and groan before continuing. "Apparently, the alphas- Deucalion, Kali, and Ennis- had gathered here in Beacon Hills, each with their own Pack before they slaughtered them all. There was a powerful alpha that resided here in Beacon Hills. An alpha who had the ability to shape shift, which is rare among our kind, and the alphas all looked up to her. She was a leader of sorts, the person they'd all go to for advice and guidance."

"Who was it?" Avery asks.

"Talia. Talia Hale."

"Hale?" Both Avery and Stiles say at the same time. "As in Derek's-"

"Mom." Scott cut off his best friend. "Yep. Derek's mom. There was a Hunter problem when one of Ennis' betas killed a Hunter and the werewolves didn't know what to do. So then Deaton, who is the Hale Emissary by the way, organized a get together between Gerard and Deucalion."

"And let me guess, the meet didn't go so well?"

"I don't know." Scott sighs as he thinks about how to answer his friend. "Just like you said with Peter, how you only got one side of the story, the way Gerard was telling us- it seemed practiced. Like he rehearsed the story over and over until he himself believed it. I was listening to his heart beat and the entire time, it never went up but it never went down either."

"Okay, so what did he tell you?" Avery asks.

"He said that the meet was an ambush. That he only did what he had to do to protect himself."

"That's bullshit." Stiles spat. "We all know how conniving Gerard can be."

"Exactly but until anyone else speaks up, it's all we've got." Scott mumbles. "Anyway, before we left, I threatened him. I told him that if anyone else gets hurt because he lied that I'd be back for him. He seemed pretty scared."

The trio falls into a silence, Avery just barely finishing off her own bottle of juice. "Well, while you two converse over our problems, I'm going to shower."

Stiles and Scott wave her off as she gathers up some clothes before heading out into the hall and towards the bathroom. Minutes into their silent thought process, Scott breaks it.

"A phone is vibrating. I think it's Avery's."

Stiles glances around the room before finding his sister's phone sitting atop her desk. Without thinking twice about it, he lunges for the phone and answers it.

"Hello?"

"How is she?" Elijah immediately asks.

"Uh, she's good." Stiles states. "Fine, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. There was a bit of a hiccup this morning but Ms. McCall rounded up the troops from school and we all hung out with her to keep her mind off of last night." Stiles tells him. "After that, she smiled and laughed. We just finished talking and she seems back to normal."

There's a moment of silence that Stiles think Elijah hung up but after looking at the phone's screen, he realizes they're still connected. "This is bad."

"What? Why?!" Stiles nearly yelps. "She's laughing and smiling. Isn't that what we want?"

"Actually, it's quite the opposite, Mr. Stilinski. With Avery, there are two things that she doesn't handle properly. That's death of someone close to her and betrayal. What you've just witnessed, that's what my brother and I like to call the calm before the storm."

Stiles and Scott share a wary look. "The calm before-"

"With death, she'll grieve before finally accepting it. But when you least expect it- she'll lash out at those responsible."

"Oh." Stiles frowns. "Well, two of the alphas actually attend high school with us. Is that going to be a problem?"

Once more, there's a moment of silence before Elijah sighs. "Just keep a close eye on her. Don't let her out of your sight."

"Okay. Yeah. We'll keep her close."

"Thank you. When Avery is available, let her know I'm here for her when she's ready to talk.

"Will do."

"Goodbye, Mr. Stilinski."

"Bye, Elijah."

With that, the phone call ends and Stiles shares a panicked look with his best friend before shrugging. "She's like a hundred and ten pounds. How much trouble can she cause?"

I apologize for any mistakes!