Aria fell asleep on the papers. There was a lot of nothing. The papers told her what she already knew. When she wakes up, she glances through the papers again, only to throw them angrily at the wall. Cursing loudly. There's a knock at her door and she glances up. Her hair clad in a messy bun, wearing her black square glasses, in her sweatpants and wrestling shirt.
"Aria?" Her Dad is standing in the doorway.
Aria offers him a little wave, "Just a little studying. If it sounds like someone's being massacred up here, don't worry. It's just me losing my sanity."
"Anything I can help with?" He offers.
"Do you know how to close doors?" Aria asks idly.
Her Dad closes her door, than opens it again with a proud smile on his face. Aria responds to his little burst of cleverness by throwing all the papers at the door.
Aria goes to the public library. Feverishly searching for anything. She plugs in her iPod, glancing around the various aisles, grabbing a book every so often. She adds it to the top of the stack and keeps going. She settles down between two aisles, reading through the material at lightning pace. She thinks about Stiles's scared eyes every few seconds and once she starts she can't stop. She gets up, abandoning the pile of books. Aria walks through the library doors, fishing out her car keys.
"Reading, I knew you'd love to read."
Aria feels the air go cold as her mother's voice infiltrates her thoughts once more. Even through the soft indie music that was playing, Aria could hear her. Aria turns around to see her Mother holding her hand as she walks out of the public library. Little Aria is packed to the brim with books, various children books with various happy tales. Little Aria chirps her approval. Aria turns around and moves faster towards her car, opening it and quickly sliding in.
She drives home and see's that Little Aria and her Mom have beat her home. Little Aria's books have scattered all over the pavement. Aria freezes, unsure how to go ahead. She taps the edge of a book with her foot.
"Don't cry, sweetie, you'll wake them up. This is supposed to be our little secret, remember?" Her Mother hastily picks up the books, shoving them back into Little Aria's awaiting arms. "See, all better. None of them are tarnished."
Little Aria glances up at her Mom, through her tears, "The happy endings are still there?"
"Of course. Sometimes happy endings go through a rough patch." Her Mother reassures, tucking her curly golden blonde hair behind her ear. "Be quiet while you're going in. Don't want to wake up our favorite boys, huh?"
Little Aria nods eagerly, opening the door quietly and turning to her mother to purse her lips and say, "Shhhh!" Little Aria toddles her way back into the house but her Mother remains outside for a moment.
"This is real." Her Mother quietly says before entering the house.
Aria quickly follows her Mother into the house. Her Mother goes into the bathroom and Aria follows. Her mother looks into the mirror, her eyes bloodshot, she glances down at the sink, her hot tears falling down her face into the sink. "It's not." She whispers.
"Yes, yes it is." Aria reaches out to pat her back but her Mother disappears like smoke. Aria gasps, taking a step back.
"Mom?" Little Aria opens the door to see no one at all, "Mom?" She calls again, quieter but more forcefully.
Aria walks into the office to see her mother with the necklace. Aria approaches slowly, worried she'll disappear again. Her Mother reaches over for the red marker, dotting Aria's eyes.
"I can't save you." Her mother is shaking so badly, she grabs the small piece of paper, scribbling the words on it, "But you can at least try." Her Mother superglues the locket shut, "Hopefully you'll never need this." She kisses the locket before putting it into Aria's jewelry box.
Aria grabs at the broken locket around her neck. Completely forgetting she'd subconsciously put it back on even after breaking it. Aria sits down in a chair opposite of her mother. "Tell me what this means. Tell me what you know." Aria begs, looking at her mother's voidless eyes.
Little Aria toddles into the room, "There you are!" She happily whispers, "I'm about to start one of the stories, come on, Mom!"
For a minute, Aria swears her Mom looks right at her. Lightly smiling, she turns around to face little Aria, "I'll be there in a minute." She ruffles Little Aria's hair and sends her on her way. Aria watches her small self toddle out of the room, giddy with excitement over her newest secret with her mother.
Aria hears a noise behind her and she turns around to see Derek standing in the doorway. His mouth is ajar and he looks confused. "I knocked." He offers as an explanation.
Aria glances down at her knees, getting up, "That's fine, I was zoning out." She quickly says, getting up abruptly and pushing past him, guiding him to her kitchen, "So what's up? Any reason for your surprise visit?"
"You've gone radio silent, that's a pretty good reason." Derek supplies, sitting at the counter as she pours herself a cup of coffee. "How long have you been awake?"
"Going on two days." Aria answers, "With the door to Stiles's mind open, I've been researching nonstop." She sips the coffee greedily, though her hands are shaky, "Why, how long have you been awake?"
Derek rolls his eyes, "You need to get some sleep."
"No, I need to help Stiles." Aria revises, "Which is much more important."
"More important than your sanity?"
"Exponentially so." Aria sits down across from him, "So can you tell me why you're here, halting my life altering research?"
"I thought you'd want to talk."
Aria sighs, "Oh yeah, the kiss thing. That must have slipped my mind, no offense or anything! The kiss was good I mean-" Aria stops talking, "Well you get what I mean."
Derek laughs, looking down at her counter, "I wanted to uh, apologize."
Aria widens her eyes, looking at him, "For kissing me?"
"Yeah."
"No need." Aria throws her hands up, "Forgiven."
Derek nods, "Good." He stands up, "So we're done here then."
"Completely." Aria follows him to the door. She opens the door, meaning to usher him out, but he pushes her against the door instead, pressing his lips against hers. She quickly sets her coffee cup on a side table that happened to be close by. Thank goodness. She wasn't that willing to break her Daryl Dixon mug for this guy. His hands travel under her thighs, propping her up, her legs around his waist. They keep furiously kissing each other. Kind of a 'fuck apologies' thing. Then, someone tries to open the door. Derek drops her immediately. Aria's boots hit the floor and she whirls around, opening the door to reveal Stiles.
"Uh, hey guys." Stiles looks confused, seeing as Aria looks frazzled and Derek's hands are still around her waist. He quickly detaches himself from her. Stiles walks into the house, looking at them with pursed lips, "Should I even ask?"
"Probably not." Aria responds quickly.
Stiles nods, making a light 'hmph' noise.
So that settled that?
Aria sits in her bedroom, it's the middle of the night, the only light a soft lamp from her bedside. She flips through the pages more furiously, licking her finger every so often to flip a page. There's a knock at her window and she glances over to see Issac.
She rolls her eyes, opening her window, "You know, the front door isn't just for decoration." She points out, watching him slide through her small door. "How did you even?" She asks, then she notices the oddly inverted tree, "Ah, I see." She shuts her window.
Issac runs a hand through his curly hair, "I just wanted to see if you were okay. You've seemed more.. spazzy, as of late. Is it Allison and I?" He asks.
Aria laughs, sitting on her bed, "Ah, I wish it was that simple. That I could get over within like, a month." Aria holds up the papers, "Unfortunately for you, it's not, my brother is dancing with his sanity, so I have to help."
Issac sits next to her on her bed, "Oh, that's good then. That it's not because of me."
"Keep down the conceition, it isn't as cute as you think." Aria grimaces.
Issac shyly laughs, "Sorry, can't really help it. You seem frustrated."
"Probably because I am. None of these say anything that can help me. So, if I don't do anything fast.. then.." Aria breaks off before she can say that Stiles will end up like her Mom.
"I was going to say sexually frustrated but that works too."
"I'm also that, but that's not really your problem." Aria shakes her head, thinking about the way Derek kisses her which causes an uncomfortable warmth to spread across her body. Her cheeks flush.
Issac glances at her in a dream-like stance for a moment, then he bolts up, "I'm kind of sorry this couldn't work."
Aria grimaces, looking away from him, "Can we not do this now? My brother is on the brink of death, and I've really had enough of this whole.. Twilight business." She finishes, not being able to find an exact metaphor.
Issac nods, "Sorry, I know you're under a lot of stress."
"Thank you. I am." Aria falls back against her pillows, "I just don't know what to do."
"You'll figure it out, like you always do."
"I hope so." She says. Then when she looks up, he's gone. The only sign he'd been there was her open window and the newly inverted tree.