Aria's been having nightmares, they multiply and get worse expotentially. She wakes up with sweat staining her sheets and tears falling down her cheeks. She feels her resolve draining by the day. She should have taken Deucalion's offer. She was scared. So scared.

This nightmare consisted of her mother, they were enjoying a nice dinner, just her and her mother.

"Pass the salt." Her mother says idly.

Aria grabs the salt, handing it to her mother slowly, "Is this real?" She asks, noticing the dreamlike feeling she was having.

Her mother glances up, "What was that?"

"Is this real?"

"It will be." Her mother smiles at her, "Very soon."

They're all remarkably normal but laced with hidden agendas Aria can't understand. She'd wake up, the sense of normalcy in each scene so alarming she has to scream into a pillow just to feel alive.

Aria sits in her math class, idly drawing on the corner of her paper. A cute cat donning a fez smiles back at her. Though Aria feels anything but cheery. Kira turns around when they were given work time.

"Uh, hi, Stiles's sister, right?" Kira smiles then lightly laughs, "I mean, Aria, not Stiles's sister - you are but that's just not a name-" Kira admits, easily getting flustered by Aria.

Aria weakly smiles at her, "Aria will work just fine."

"I was just uh, curious, as to how you were holding up."

"Fine."

"Really?"

Aria offers the girl a glare, "No, not really."

Kira nods, "Of course, stupid question..." She breaks off, "You seem like you have a lot on your plate. See, when I'm stressed, I do something I love."

Aria shakes her head, "I can't do anything, everything.. everything reminds me of Stiles." She admits, scratching down the answer to a math problem.

Kira shakes her head as well, "Yeah, I should have known, I'm really bad at this, in case you couldn't tell. Socializing and comforting - not my thing - not at all." Kira scratches the back of her neck.

"I could tell."

Kira freezes for a second, "Of course you could." She sighs, "I should probably leave you alone now." She says with a smile.

"It'd be for the best." Aria responds sadly.

Kira nods, "Well.. good luck. Is that the right thing to say here?"

"There isn't a right thing, but that comes close."

Kira smiles, turning around.

Aria's mechanical pencil snaps like a twig in her nimble fingers. Kira had only been trying to comfort her but instead she found herself angry. She gets up, excuses herself to the bathroom, and doesn't return.

She instead sits in the library, looking over books about Paris. She missed Paris, she missed being able to sit in a cute cafe and order french-y drinks in her faked accent. She missed when her life wasn't complicated.

Did she regret coming back to Beacon Hills so soon? Of course not. She regretted not coming back sooner.

"Skipping class."

Aria glances up to see Lydia standing over her, her arms folded over her chest.

"Is that some kind of stupid mourning mechanism?" Lydia asks, setting down her bag and sitting down next to her. "Stiles isn't dead, ya know."

Aria sighs, setting aside the book, "It's a, I'm sick of everyone pitying me, mechanism, actually." Aria corrects.

"I see you're wearing a skirt, would Stiles approve?" Lydia asks, poking at Aria's bare leg.

"Stiles isn't really in the mindset to comment on my wardrobe if you haven't noticed." Aria pulls the skirt down a tad anyways though, her cheeks burning. "Kira was trying to comfort me but I think she could feel me wanting to punch her."

Lydia sighs, leaning against the book shelf, "It's okay, anyone in your state has the right to punch someone. You probably need it. Get out all of that anger."

"Anger?"

"At yourself." Lydia points out matter-of-factly. "Aria, you couldn't have done anything."

Aria sighs, scratching the back of her head, "I just.. you don't realize how much you have until it's ripped out of your hands. Stiles is the best. He doesn't deserve any of this. When he comes out of this, he isn't going to be Stiles anymore."

"You're right, he won't be. But I'll tell you what, he'll be stronger because of it."

Aria turns to Lydia, "I don't know how, but you're the only person who makes me feel like there's a small glimmer of hope."

"That's what best friends are for." Lydia bumps Aria's shoulders with her own, "Come on, ditching class in a library is a new kind of depressing." Lydia pulls herself up from the ground, snatching up her own bag. "We need to cheer you up."

Lydia's 'cheering up' was made up of Ryan Gosling movies and French dramas. Aria laughed so hard she cried. They returned to school before their last hour, having effectively ditched 75% of the school day.

During Philosophy, Aria couldn't help but notice Issac was gone. Good, she thought, best to be rid of him now. Or Derek had placed him in a lovely shallow grave out by the bay. Either one, she was pretty cool with. The last thing she needed was guy drama.

After school, Derek picks her up, though Aria insists that she does know how to drive - and does have her own car - he still shows up. She walks down the steps, throwing her backpack into the backseat.

"Good day?" Derek asks, starting back up the car after she's secured in her seatbelt.

"Wouldn't know, missed over half of it." Aria admits with a smile.

Derek shakes his head as he starts driving, "Sometimes I forget I'm dating a rebellious teenager."

Aria smiles, "You wanted this." She turns to Derek, "Is Issac in a shallow grave?"

"Course not."

"Really?"

"The grave isn't shallow." He affirms.

Aria nods, "That's more like it." She looks over at him, "Seriously, are you going to talk to Issac?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because you trust me." Aria insists, "I picked you, not Issac. Trust me, the option was there for the taking."

Derek looks over at her, holding her eyes when they're stalled at a red light, "Did you ever consider the other option?"

"No."

"So you always had a little crush on me?"

Aria rolls her eyes, "We have this talk constantly. Yes, Derek, I had a crush on you. Hence why I'm dating you. No, Derek, I secretly hate you so I date you so I can tear you down mentally. This isn't John Tucker Must Die."

"Did you make a chick flick reference?"

"You caught it! You're growing up!" Aria says with victory in her voice.

Derek turns back to the road, rolling his own eyes in return, "It's the only language you speak." He mutters as he pulls into the driveway of Aria's house. "Your Dad isn't home that often anymore."

Aria takes out her keys, gingerly getting out of the car, Derek following suit, "Yeah, he's swamped at the station. Plus he has Scott's Dad breathing down his neck, so I don't see him that much anymore." She sighs sadly as she puts the key into the lock, "No more awkward family dinners. Just cold chinese food." She notes as she pushes open the door.

Derek follows behind her, his hand lightly on her waist as she walks into the kitchen.

"Do you want anything-" Aria asks, as she asks, his hands sweep under her thighs to pick her up gingerly and set her on the kitchen counter. "Not what I had in mind-" She's about to say but he cuts her off with his lips.

"I've missed you." He breathes.

"It's only been six hours." Aria says with a smile as his lips touch hers again.

"Too long." He insists, his lips pulling at hers for longer and more sensual periods of time.

Aria lightly laughs, her arms around his neck as he kisses her. Kissing him was an excellent distraction. She couldn't think, with being a werewolf, everything was more intense. The scent of his expensive cologne infiltrated her senses and even made it hard to breathe.

Derek breaks away from her, his forehead against hers, "I love you, Aria Stilinski."

Aria looks up at him, her eyes opening slowly, "That was random."

"It needed to be said."

Aria offers him a smile, "I love you, Derek Hale." She says to him slowly, a slow smile working it's way across her lips.

He kisses her again, picking her up off the counter, her legs wrapping around his waist. He lightly nips on her bottom lip and her response is a gasp and his lips come down on hers harder, more demanding.

He breaks away from her, his breathing rough, "Your room?" He asks.

Aria's fully aware of what he's offering, her heartbeat even racing in response to the simple two words, "Definitely." She says, her lips pressing against his again just as she feels her back fall against her domino sheets.

After their impromptu un-PG.. session, he falls asleep quickly. She quickly wiggles out of his arms, putting on her clothes, and padding downstairs. She goes into the kitchen, her arms filled with papers.

She researches the nogitsune. She prefers staying up researching rather than screaming in terror whenever she awakens.

Around 4:30 AM her Dad walks in. He's so tired and drained, he can barely raise his hand to wave goodnight to her - or question why she's still awake. She lightly smiles desperately at him as he pads his way up the stairs.

"You need to sleep." The soft angelic voice of her Mother infiltrates through her thoughts.

She glances up, but instead of her research, it's a coloring book, the page open to a photo of a wolf.

Her mother walks over to her shoulder, glancing over at the drawing, "Why are the eyes red?"

"Red is my favorite color." Aria responds with a chipper smile, "I can't sleep." Her mood suddenly declining, "I have nightmares." She whispers.

"What about, little bird?" Her Mother pulls a chair up beside Aria, "I'm sure they're not as scary as they seem."

"About you. They take you away from me." Aria looks at her Mother with tears in her eyes, "They always take you away." The sad seven year old proclaims.

Aria's put back into reality and doesn't miss a beat. She continues reading.

She had to save Stiles.

A/N: This story WILL be ending either the next chapter (chapter 26) or the chapter after that (chapter 27) - thank you all for reading and being apart of this adventure with me!