The moment he walked in her bedroom door, Allison jumped up from her bed and threw a punch at her father. Without the element of surprise to aid her, he easily dodged it and pulled her into a disarming embrace.
"Stop it," he ordered as he let her go. He stepped back and closed her bedroom door. "I called off the hunt last night."
"Thanks, I guess," Allison replied darkly as she sat on her bed. "What were you doing? Grabbing him in the middle of the hospital? You tracked us across three states!"
"I was mad. I guess I haven't moved on from your mom's death as much as I thought."
"You were going to kill him."
Allison did her best not to look at her father as he sat beside her. Thankfully, he made no attempt at touching her.
"I want to tell you I wasn't, but I can't. I don't know what I was going to do. I don't remember much of that night other than being scared of you."
"Scared? Of me?" Allison's eyes flicked to her father's face for a second before resuming their inspection of her floor.
A hand touched her shoulder but she jerked away. There was a crack in her father's voice that Allison had heard only twice before: when her mother died, and when they'd buried her Aunt Kate.
"You were off the radar, Allison. You used every trick we knew and I underestimated you. Until you called me, we had no idea where you were. We had people looking for you in Arizona and San Francisco."
"San Francisco? That's unusually specific."
Chris Argent cleared his throat. "Yes, well, when you ran off with Scott and his new boyfriend, we had an inkling that you three may head there."
Allison's eyes widened as she remembered the events of the night prior. She saw Danny kissing Scott and she felt a disembodied ache that needed suppressed.
"Scott is not dating Danny," she replied quietly as she balled her blanket in her fists. "Where would you even get an idea like that?"
"Your friend Lydia told me in front of that one kid. He never disagreed. I thought you knew."
Allison laughed deeply and coldly. "Dad, I was stuck in a car with them for three days. If anything were happening, I would know."
"You didn't know Scott was a werewolf for months," he pointed out.
When she found she didn't have a comeback, Allison simply stood up and approached her door. She opened it and stared at her father. "Get the hell out and stay the hell away from my friends. Besides, I have to finish getting ready for school."
"Sweetheart," he started sympathetically as he stood up and walked to her.
"GET OUT!" Allison screamed as she pushed him into the hall and slammed her door. She fought back the tears as she grabbed her brush and looked in the mirror.
TW
The Earth was spinning counterclockwise as Danny stumbled through the woods. He tripped over loose stone and slammed into a tree as he tried to remember what had happened. His body was weak, but all he got were flashes of Scott kissing him and fangs digging into his arm. It still throbbed and was red and inflamed. Thankfully, when he woke up it had stopped bleeding.
He had no idea where the car was. His parents probably didn't even know he was back home. If that's where he was. After twenty minutes of walking, Danny was still lost. He hadn't so much as seen a road or train tracks.
Growling from his stomach made him aware that he was hungry. He'd barely eaten for days. His empty stomach protested its poor treatment by sending shooting pains through his body every time he moved. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep. His brain wouldn't let him, though. As tired as his body was, he kept telling himself to keep moving, to find some sort of civilization.
Another hour passed before Danny found any sign of life. It was a ranger station, of all things. There was a truck parked out front and a gravel road that stretched and wound itself out of Danny's line of sight. He pounded on the door, unable to speak. It opened and a short but muscular woman appeared.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she helped hold Danny up and walk into the station. "We haven't had someone show up here lost in ages. Sit down, I'll get you some water."
Danny hadn't even noticed he was thirsty.
As the ranger grabbed him a bottle of water from a mini-fridge, Danny's head swam with half-remembered images and daydreams. He could almost see what happened, but it was fuzzy: like his brain had been wrapped in cotton. The ranger shoved the bottle in Danny's hands and helped him drink.
"I'm going to call you an ambulance. You don't look so good," she told him even as he didn't answer. "Looks like something something big bit you. You're lucky to be alive."
TW
Stiles walked through the halls at school. with Scott as everyone stared at him. Beacon Hills hadn't had any runaways since Erica and Boyd disappeared.
"Dude, ignore them," Stiles told his friend. "In two days they'll forget about you and move onto the next big thing."
"I'm not worried about me," Scott confessed as he stopped and opened his locker. "I'm worried about Allison. I haven't seen or heard from her since last night."
"Watching your ex suck face with someone else will do that to you," Stiles commented as he reached into Scott's locker and grabbed something off the bottom. "Ooh, chocolate. You mind?"
"Help yourself," Scott said wearily as he stuck his head in his locker and sighed. He pulled it out and turned around with typical werewolf speed. "Isaac."
"Scott," the blond kid nodded in response. "We need to leave."
"We're on our way to history. Maybe during lunch?" Stiles suggested suspiciously.
"No. Now. And I would say to do it alone, but I know Scott won't leave without you." Isaac looked Stiles up and down and shrugged.
"Works for me. I didn't do my history homework anyway," Stiles consented as he casually threw his stuff in Scott's locker and opened the candy bar. "So, where are we going?"
"We're going to find Lydia and find out what she thinks she's doing," Allison answered as she walked up to the trio. She looked at Scott with an unreadable face. "You should know that nobody has seen Danny since he left your house. He never went home. And my dad called off the hunt. Just so you know."
Stiles watched as Isaac looked between Allison and Scott, picking up on the tension. Isaac snapped his fingers but didn't say anything.
"So, do we know where we're going?" Stiles asked casually as he bit into the chocolate bar. "I mean, you must have some idea of where to start."
"Actually, we don't," Isaac confessed. "You're her stalker, so maybe you have an idea?"
"Thanks," Stiles said sarcastically with a mouthful of candy. "Is Derek coming along? Because I don't like him."
"He's not. For his own sake," Allison replied scathingly. "It's just the four of us."
"Guys, is anyone else worried about the fact that Danny didn't go home?" Scott interrupted awkwardly. Stiles watched as Allison made sure not to look at anyone and Isaac raised a curious eyebrow.
"I still don't get it," Isaac commented as he began walking away. "You two have nothing in common."
The other three followed Isaac down the hall, ignoring the morning bell warning everyone to go to class. It was weird and quiet as they burst out of the school and onto the empty grounds.
"So, we have absolutely no idea where we're going to look for her?" Stiles asked again as they climbed into Allison's SUV. He noted that Isaac and Scott opted to sit in the back, leaving him up front with an increasingly uncomfortable Allison.
"I did just have one idea, but we have to go to the Hale House. Derek won't be there," Isaac assured Allison.
"You had better hope he isn't," Allison warned as she started her vehicle.
TW
They were combing the Hale House for clues when Scott's phone rang. It was his mom, and he winced before answering it. "Hi, Mom."
"First of all, why aren't you in school? AGAIN? You just got home, Scott. Work is breathing down my neck as it is about my son and his friends fighting here, I don't need you making it worse."
"I'm looking for my friend, Lydia. Remember her?" Scott answered as he held the phone away from his ear. Everyone else was making an obvious effort not to look at him.
"You could do that after school, you know," Scott's mom chastised angrily. Then there was a moment of silence and his mom's voice softened. "Scott, the other reason I called is because that friend of yours, Andy? He was admitted to the hospital and he's asking for you. I told him I'd let you know."
"His name is Danny, Mom. And thanks," Scott whispered into the phone.
As soon as he hung up, Scott was being dragged onto the porch by Isaac. He shut the door and pulled Scott to the stairs. "Go, I'll let Allison and Stiles know why you left."
"What do you know?" Scott asked Isaac nervously as he crossed his arms.
"Well, considering you came to Derek and asked if being a werewolf makes you gay, and you're suddenly best friends with Danny Mahealani, it's not hard to figure it out," Isaac laughed. "Look, whatever you do is your business. We'll find Lydia and figure out what's going on."
"Thanks," Scott said as he jumped off the porch, scattering the leaves on the ground. "I owe you one."
"I still can't believe coach was right!" Isaac called as Scott took off running.
TW
Peter Hale paced back and forth as Lydia drew things in the dust with her fingers. There was a sun, a house, and a beast eating a woman in her picture. She wrote "Not Wolf" under it before wiping the dust from her finger on her dirty skirt. She hadn't changed clothes in days, though how many she couldn't remember. It didn't matter. Until she and Peter had finished what they had started, nothing really mattered.
"Why can't we find it?!" Peter yelled at the ceiling of the abandoned house. They'd been staying there since they released Danny. He looked at Lydia and began recapping. "We thought maybe it was tied to the kids. When we ran them out of town, it didn't follow like we hoped. A man died last night."
"Did we know him?" Lydia asked as she began adding the corpse of a dead man to her picture.
"No, but the hunters found him. That's why we can't stay in one spot too long like you want," Peter told Lydia as he knelt down and kissed her forehead. "And we still don't know what happened to the sheriff. I want to write it off as a breakdown, but something tells me it's not that simple."
"You know what is simple?" Lydia asked Peter as she looked up at him.
"What would that be, my dear?" he wondered.
Lydia smacked her hand on the floor and erased her picture, leaving only the words "Not Wolf" on the floor. She reached up and touched Peter's face with her palm, leaving a smudge of dust behind. "Why, we can just ask Scott to help. I know where he is."
"How do you know that?" Peter asked Lydia as he placed a hand on her shoulders. "How could you possibly know that? You've been here with me all day."
"Because I know where our son is. Blood is a very strong bond," Lydia played with the bandage on her left palm from where she'd cut it open the night before. "Wherever he is, Scott is bound to be nearby. And I don't think we can do this alone anymore. It's been too long and we can't have them running off and leaving us to clean up the mess."
"You seem to forget I started the mess," Peter reminded Lydia as he pulled her close and held her. He smelled her matted hair and sighed. "I opened the door. You shut it."
"You cracked it open," Lydia corrected as she whispered the words against his chest. "They are the ones who knocked it down. We stopped anymore from coming out, but they are the ones who let them through."
"I'll go," Peter offered as he wiped the dust from his face. "I'll tell them."
With a sigh, Lydia grabbed Peter's hand. "We will tell them. I miss my son."
"It's not even been a day," Peter reminded her. "We will take him with us, but first we need to finish this."
"Let's make a deal," Lydia offered as she kissed Peter on his clean cheek. "You deal with one problem, I'll deal with the other."
TW
"Nothing!" Allison exclaimed as she kicked the banister of the Hale House stairs. "We've been looking for hours and we have nothing. Why did you drag us out here?"
Isaac cleared his throat and stepped away from Allison, clearly remembering the time she sliced him up like a Christmas ham. "Hey, look, the last time anyone saw her she was here. It's a logical first place to start."
"There's something you aren't telling us," Stiles noted as he smoked a pretend pipe. "I wonder what it is."
"Peter has her," Allison guessed.
"No way, why would he... Does Derek's creepy uncle have Lydia?" Stiles asked Isaac as he grabbed the front of his shirt. When Isaac grew out his claws and tapped Stiles' cheek, he let him go and smoothed out his shirt. "So, um, yeah."
"We think so. Derek is trying to track them, but he's coming up with nothing. The only reason we found Peter last time was because Lydia tipped us off. Now I'm starting to wonder if that wasn't their plan."
"Their plan?" Allison got in Isaac's face, but unlike Stiles she didn't back down when he showed her his claws. She grabbed her knife from her leg holster and held it up. "Wanna bet mine is sharper than yours?"
"Hold up!" Stiles said as he carefully separated Allison and Isaac. Then he pointed at Allison. "You! Put that away. Why the hell would you even have it with you right now? We were at school!"
"The school didn't seem to care," was all she offered as she put her knife back in its sheath and covered it with her pant leg.
"Now what is this you were saying about Peter and Lydia having a plan?" Stiles asked Isaac as the wolf retracted his claws. "Because last I knew you guys were supposed to have him on a leash."
"I'm just guessing here, but I think Peter and Lydia are still bonded from the whole making her crazy and coming back from the dead thing."
"You wouldn't be wrong," Peter interrupted as he walked into the house. Allison reached for her knife, but before she could grab it Peter had thrown her into the wall. "I really don't want anymore dramatics. Please. I just want to talk."
"What about?" Stiles asked cautiously as he sized Peter up. "Where is Lydia?"
"She's fine, actually. She's visiting with your friends Scott and Danny right now."
Stiles noticed Allison's gaze harden as she stood, but she said nothing.
"Where have you been?" Isaac asked as he got in Peter's face. "Man, Derek is going to kill you."
"I highly doubt that," Peter argued as he casually pushed Isaac away and strode over to Stiles. He stood behind the boy and put a hand on each shoulder. "You see, the last time he killed me I was outnumbered. This time, I'm not looking for a fight. I'm here to ask for your help."
"Why would I help you?" Allison spat.
"Because I know what killed your cousin, and I know that it wasn't a werewolf," Peter answered calmly as he inhaled Stiles' scent.
"Of course, the one time someone wants to touch me it's a paedophile," Stiles sighed.
TW
"Hello?" Scott asked as he stuck his head in Danny's hospital room. "I seem to see you a lot around these parts."
"Come on in," Danny laughed from his bed. "You just missed my parents. They went to get something to eat. I'm also grounded until I'm fifty."
"Same. And I, uh, bought these in the gift shop," Scott said as he walked into the room wearing a lei. He handed one to Danny as he sat beside him. "There wasn't much I could get since I'm kinda broke."
"How very racist of you," Danny chuckled as he took the lei and put it on. "Thanks."
Danny noted that Scott wanted to say something but was holding back. "What?"
"What happened?" Scott asked him. "I mean, last night you said you were going home and instead you're here."
"I don't really know. I don't remember much after leaving your house," Danny admitted as he touched the bandage on his arm. "I just woke up in the middle of the woods with a bite on my arm and sick to my stomach. The latter went away when I met this little lady."
For emphasis, Danny reached up and tapped his IV bag.
"But that's not what you wanted to ask. Is it?" Danny looked into Scott's eyes. "You wanted to know why I asked for you, but you didn't want to look like a selfish tool."
"That could be a possibility," Scott confessed sheepishly.
"It's because I'm tired of avoiding the conversation. And last night kind of brought it out in the open."
"Danny, we should probably worry more about what the hell happened to you," Scott reasoned.
"I know you're right, but I don't care," Danny said as he leaned over and kissed Scott. It was brief, and Scott was caught off guard, but it was enough. "I like you. I like kissing you. I like spending time with you, but I don't know you."
Scott scoffed. "You don't know me? Really?"
"I know about you, Scott. I know things about you, but I don't know you. I don't know your middle name, or your favourite colour, or the kind of music you listen to when you're not trying to impress people," Danny rambled. "Let's be honest, it's not like we were really friends before all of this."
"I thought we were," Scott said nervously as he looked out the side of his eyes. "Friends, I mean."
"Oh." Danny looked up at the ceiling before looking back at Scott.
"It's fine," Scott assured Danny as he grabbed his hand. "We can get to know each other. And my favourite colour is red."
"And you're fine being seen with me? Holding my hand in the hallway at school? Because I don't date closet cases."
"Danny, you know Coach has been trying to set me up with you for months. Right?" Scott smiled as he nodded. "Honestly, the only thing I'm not looking forward to..."
"Is telling Allison?"
Scott and Danny both looked over at the doorway as Lydia walked into the room. She was filthy, her clothes covered in dried mud and Scott was surprised he hadn't smelled her body odour sooner. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and sat on Danny's other side. She tried to caress his face and he leaned as far away from her as his bed would allow.
"Lydia, where have you been? Everyone's been looking for you!" Scott exclaimed as he felt Danny's hand squeeze his rather roughly. He looked at Danny and saw that he had gone pale.
"I've been busy planning our future," Lydia answered as she reached over and grabbed Danny's injured arm. With surprising strength, she rolled him over to her and ripped the bandaged off. The wound had been cleaned but hadn't healed.
Danny jerked free from Lydia's grip and pushed her to the floor. "What are you doing?"
She stood and looked from Scott to Danny. "I'm here to clean up the mess you two created. Surely you haven't forgotten your precious 'necrostone'? Silly boys and their need to name everything like a comic book."
"Lydia, it's over. You destroyed it. Remember?" Scott stood up and grabbed her by the arms. "You aren't acting like yourself. What's going on?"
Viciously, Lydia slammed her forehead into Scott's. While he was dazed, she elbowed him in the gut and knocked him down. Then she climbed into Danny's bed and tried to hold him. He again pushed her out and she fell to the floor.
"That is NOT how you treat your mother, young man!" Lydia shouted as she rose to her feet and slapped Danny in the face.
Scott stood up and restrained Lydia, making sure to put his wolf strength into it without hurting her.
"What the hell?" Danny yelled at Scott.
"You know her better than I do!" Scott responded.
"Do you need any help in here?" a nurse asked as she stuck her head in the room. "I heard shouting."
"We're fine," Danny answered with a wave. "Our friend here just got mad. We're fine."
"Well, I'm going to ask you to keep it down or I'll have security escort both of your friends out."
"We will," Scott promised.
Lydia tilted her head and gave the nurse a small wave of her own. "We'll be good."
"Okay. And I know your mom, Scott. Watch yourself," the nurse warned as she shut the door.
The two teenaged boys waited a few seconds in silence before Danny finally spoke up.
"Lydia, just what do you think you're doing?" Danny asked her. He was doing his best to remain calm, but what had been a rather bizarre few days was only getting weirder. It had been nice to have about two minutes of normalcy.
"I just want this all to be over so I can have my family back."
"Someone has your parents?" Scott asked as he let Lydia go and stood between her and Danny. "Lydia, is that where you've been? Did you escape?"
She shook her head and looked longingly at Danny. "No, MY family. My husband and my son."
"We didn't get married. I swear. I think," Danny assured Scott as he stared at Lydia with wide eyes.
With a giggle, Lydia walked to the window at stared into the sky. "Of course we didn't get married. Silly. Don't you remember last night? When we adopted you?" Lydia held up her left hand and ripped off a bandage, showing off a nasty looking gash.
"Who? What? You know what happened to me last night?" Danny asked as he grabbed for the IV stand. Scott helped him stand up. "What do you mean you adopted me, Lydia?"
"You can call me 'Mommy'," she insisted as she continued staring into the sky. "It would make me very happy if you did."
"Not happening," Danny fumed as he leaned on Scott. He also winked when he noticed Scott lean back to stare at his butt. "What did you do to me?"
"I made us family. My blood runs through your veins. As does your father's."
Danny wanted to vomit.
"Who is it?" Scott growled at Lydia as he began to morph into his wolf form. Suddenly, Danny was less freaked out and more scared. "Who is this father you keep talking about?"
TW
Allison stood behind Isaac. He didn't trust her not to try to kill Peter. She proved that he had good reason.
"How did you know about my cousin? Nobody knew about her. Not even Scott," Allison demanded. It took everything Isaac had to calm her down and it wasn't really working. "Who told you about Rory?"
"Told? I watched. I watched it kill her, and I watched your father and his men cover it up. And it wasn't a wolf," Peter said with a slight bow. "I always hate to see someone die needlessly."
"Why were you there?" Stiles asked from the side. "You say you watched. Why didn't you do anything?"
"I didn't know who she was," Peter replied lewdly as he ran his eyes up and down Stiles' body. "If I had, I might have helped. Though, which side I'm not saying."
Allison kicked Isaac in the back, knocking him to the floor. She leaped over him and pulled out her knife. With little effort, Peter batted her to the side. She hit the wall, again. Isaac was just glad she hadn't stabbed him this time.
"She just refuses to learn," Peter sighed with a shake of his head. Then he looked at Stiles. "Come here."
"I'm good," Stiles refused as he put up his hands.
"Now." Peter accompanied his order with a snarl and a baring of his teeth.
Reluctant, Stiles obeyed. Peter whispered something in Stiles' ear. Isaac tried to listen but even with his wolf hearing he couldn't make it out.
"Go ahead. Tell him," Peter told Stiles with a slap on the butt.
"Tell me what?" Isaac approached Stiles slowly, leery of Peter. He saw that Allison was still on the floor, seemingly unconscious. "Stiles?"
"He said you're cuter than me," Stiles groaned. "Even the paedophiles. I swear!"
With a scream Allison jumped on Peter's back and swung her knife down. Peter caught her arm and twisted it. She dropped the knife and gasped in pain. Like a ragdoll, Peter flung Allison across the room. Isaac dove and caught her. When he caught her, Peter was already out the door and calling out his farewell.
"I'll tell Lydia you all said hello. It would've saved so much time if he were here."
Stiles helped Allison up as Isaac ran out the door, but Peter was already gone.
"Where did he go?" Stiles yelled as he ran onto the porch. "He has Lydia, damn it! Where did he go?"
"I don't know," Isaac admitted as he scanned the treeline. "He knows how to cover his scent and I don't."
"I do," Allison said as she walked past both teens. She pulled out her cell phone and showed off what looked like a radar screen. "I slipped a tracking device on him. Get in the car."
Isaac could have sworn he saw her smile.
TW
Scott held Danny up as Lydia danced in the sunbeams falling through the hospital room window. She hummed a song he didn't recognize.
"I need to sit down, Scott," Danny gasped as he struggled to breathe. "Tell me I didn't hear her say that."
"You did," Scott reluctantly confirmed as he helped Danny get back in his hospital bed. "She said it was Peter."
"I've only met him a few times, but he's creepy."
"Yeah, he is," Scott agreed as he turned to Lydia.
She was spinning in a small circle and smiling. Scott didn't even think Lydia was this out of it when Peter was dead. Whatever he'd done to her, it was bad.
"Lydia, how exactly did you and Peter 'adopt' Danny? What did you do?" Scott asked as he led her to the chair beside Danny's bed. She reached out to Danny and Scott pleadingly nodded.
Danny reluctantly held Lydia's hand and she seemed to relax.
"We shared blood. Blood makes family. Danny and Peter are my family," Lydia answered in a breathy voice as she looked longingly at a grossed out Danny.
"It doesn't make everyone family," Scott whispered under his breath as he thought of his father. "Lydia, I need you to talk to me. Where is Peter now? Why did you make Danny part of your family?"
"We needed him. We need him to find it. Danny is the key that will lock the door."
"Don't you mean unlock?" Scott asked despite having no idea what she was talking about.
For his troubles, Lydia looked at him like he was an idiot. "No, dummy. We already closed the door when I broke the stone. But we need to kill it to lock it, and we hoped Danny would help us do it since he opened it. It didn't work, but it's okay. I have a son now."
"What do you need to kill, Lydia?" Scott pressed. He could tell Danny wanted Lydia gone, but they needed answers.
"The kitty cat. What else?" Lydia answered before perking up. She let go of Danny's hand and ran to the window. She jumped up and down as she looked into the parking lot, before whirling around and looking at Danny. "Daddy's here!"
Scott ran to the window and saw Peter casually strolling into the hospital. He turned around and looked at Danny. "I am so sorry."
"I need to get out of here," Danny replied as he ripped the IV out of his hand. Alarms started blaring as he stood up. Blood dripped on the floor. "Scott, you need to get me out of here."
"Lydia, sorry, but we're going for a walk," Scott told her as he grabbed Danny's bloody hand and held him up. "Can you let Peter know we'll be right back?"
"You can't leave now! Daddy will be here any second," Lydia pleaded as she grabbed Danny's other hand. He jerked free just as a nurse stormed in. Scott was relieved to see that it wasn't his mother.
"What are you doing? Get back in that bed!" she ordered as she pointed at Danny. "Look at you. You're bleeding."
"I'm afraid I can't stay," Danny insisted as he pressed for Scott to help him leave. "Now, if you'll excuse me."
"You aren't going anywhere," the nurse told him before crumpling. Peter stepped over her unconscious body.
"I'm afraid I have to disagree. This simply isn't a proper place for my new family to stay," Peter chuckled as he walked over and hugged Danny and Scott.
Scott was too stunned to know how to react.
"Now, boys, we have all the time in the world to talk, we just can't do it here," Peter said as he moved on from them and took Lydia by the hand. "If you'll come with me, I'll answer any questions I can."