The room was cold and sterile, but the people were warm and friendly. Lydia hated it. She missed her husband and her son. In her blood, she could feel them. They pulsed through her veins, calling out to her and she couldn't answer them.
The people who used to be her parents had visited earlier. They cooed and awed and swore they'd help her get better, but when Lydia pleaded for her real family they ignored her. So she hit them until the nice people in scrubs turned mean and held her down.
When she woke up, her door was locked and she was alone. Except, she would never be alone.
TW
"He's my best friend and he's needs a pick me up," Scott pleaded as he and Danny walked the grounds of the school together.
"I will dump you. Right here and now," Danny joked with a laugh. "After my parents found out we vanished from the hospital, my mom started looking up ankle monitors online. If anyone needs a pick-me-up, it's me."
After looking around, Scott nervously gave Danny a peck on the lips. Nobody in the area said anything, though a few did look a little longer than necessary.
"It's progress. I suppose," Danny told Scott as he grabbed his hand. He was pleasantly surprised when Scott didn't avoid the gesture. "But the answer is still no."
"I'm trying," Scott argued as he held up his and Danny's hands. "You know how new to me this all is. It's just one little thing."
"How are my favourite gays?" Stiles interrupted as he wedged himself between Danny and Scott. He threw his arms over their shoulders. "Did y'all miss me at the company picnic yesterday?"
Scott looked at Danny, but received a silent "no" in return.
"You came home kinda late," Scott noted as he let go of Danny's hand so they could actually move. The trio walked into the school together, Stiles still sandwiched between Scott and Danny. "I haven't had a chance to catch you up. We'll do it at lunch. How's your dad?"
"He's still the same. And we'll have to catch up during study hall. I already have a lunch date," Stiles informed them as he stopped at his locker. He let them go and wished them well. "Later."
"See, he's fine," Danny acknowledged as they continued walking. Scott slipped his hand back into Danny's. Appreciating the meaning behind the gesture and how hard Scott was trying, he sighed. "Fine. Just this once. And you owe me dinner."
"Thanks," Scott smiled.
"Stiles!" Danny called as he turned around. The teenager pulled his head out of his locker, half a candy bar sticking out of his mouth. "You, uh, you look cute today."
"YES!" Stiles shouted around his candy bar as he posed dramatically.
Danny looked back at Scott and shook his head. "You. Owe. Me."
TW
Allison was sitting outside under a tree when Stiles found her. She was eating an apple.
"I would've thought you'd be sick of those things by now," he laughed as he sat beside her. "I kinda heard that's all you guys ate on the grand road trip."
"Honestly, I've always loved them. Don't tell Scott and Danny that, though. They'd accuse me of spoiling myself at their expense," she replied with a smirk before biting into the apple again.
"Cross my heart and hope to... uh, I'm just gonna cross my heart," Stiles promised. "Thanks for last night. I think we both needed a good cry."
"But you didn't," Allison pointed out. "If my memory is correct, and it should be, then I was the only weepy mess last night."
"That's because I waited until you left like every big, strong man should," Stiles bragged with a puffed out chest. Allison poked it with her finger and he let it collapse with a deflating sound. "You really know how to kill a man's ego."
"Something tells me that yours is going to be just fine."
Stiles was glad Allison was better. The hard exterior she'd been wearing was melting away and the girl he'd befriend was finally coming back. He'd missed her. Allison had changed after her mom died, and it definitely wasn't for the better.
"This is true," Stiles agreed as he nodded his head. "Did you hear Lydia is back to being crazy?"
"Hear? I saw it. She thinks she's in love with Peter Hale and that Danny is her son."
"Scott's Danny?" he asked without thinking.
"I wouldn't put it that way," Allison said darkly as she took another bite from her apple. "I'm allowed to not like him, right? Like, I know everybody likes Danny, but I don't think I should have to like him since he's dating my ex-boyfriend."
"I guess," Stiles shrugged as he leaned back against the tree. "He thinks I'm cute, though."
"He has lousy taste in men," Allison laughed as she nudged Stiles with her elbow. "Come on. Say something."
"I don't think I'm allowed to trash my best friend's boyfriend. It's gotta be against some kind of rule," Stiles said as he looked up at the leaves in the tree. "Besides, not everyone thinks I'm cute."
Allison leaned against Stiles, laying her head on his shoulder. "I think you're cute."
"Why, Miss Argent, are you coming onto me?" Stiles asked with a mock horrified face.
"Cute like a little brother." Allison grinned. "It's gonna be a long night, you know."
"Why is that?" Stiles wondered.
"I can't believe you'd forget that tonight is the full moon. My dad and the others are gonna be hunting. And I'm gonna be trying to keep them from killing anybody I like."
"This is not going to be good," Stiles whispered to himself as he thought about Scott.
TW
"Stomp the wrist, kick the weapon away," Lydia ordered herself as the syringe hit the wall. She tightened the sheet that she had wrapped around the orderly's neck until he stopped fighting.
Grabbing the syringe gently, Lydia picked it up before quietly slipping out of her room. The orderly's key card was clasped between her teeth. She slowly made her way into the community area, avoiding any staff she saw. The less crazy patients milled about. One man was cradling a doll and singing lullabies. Lydia smiled. It reminded her of Peter and Danny. She needed to get to them.
The linoleum tiles were cold under her bare feet. Her palms were sweaty as she made her run for the door. She slid the card and it popped open. A nurse yelled at her to stop, but Lydia kept running. A security guard body checked her into a wall. Lydia hit it hard, but she bounced off and slammed the needle into the guard's neck and pushed down on the plunger.
Dodging and weaving through the medical staff with a combination of werewolf training and insane unpredictability, Lydia skipped the elevator and ran straight for the stairs.
TW
"Dude, it's the full moon," Stiles yelled as he drove Scott home. "We need to call Derek."
"We do not need to call Derek. I haven't had any problems with control in ages, Stiles," Scott reminded him as he looked out the window.
"Yeah, but you don't have Allison anymore. And I like Danny, even if he hates me, but I somehow think that he's not going to do for you what Allison did."
"Why?" Scott asked as he rolled his eyes in his friend's direction. "Because he's a guy?"
"No, because he's not Allison."
"I think I know that, Stiles. It's going to be fine. Now can we drop it?"
"Fine, we won't talk about how you're going to go crazy tonight and probably kill me, your mom, your boyfriend, and anybody stupid enough to be outdoors," Stiles agreed sarcastically as he turned onto a different road. "And when you find yourself being cut in half by Allison's dad don't say I didn't warn you."
"You're trying awfully hard to guilt trip me over a breakup that you weren't even involved in," Scott complained as he slouched in his seat. "But if it will make you feel better, we can call Isaac. Not Derek."
"Thank you," Stiles told Scott as he pulled out his phone. "You won't regret this anywhere near as much as you did that haircut you had when you first became all teeth and fur."
TW
When he woke up, Isaac wanted to hit Stiles. He embraced the anger and picked himself up from the floor. His jacket and t-shirt were in tatters, but the scratches Scott had left on him were already healed. Stiles, on the other hand, was untouched but hiding in Scott's closet. Isaac could smell him but not his blood.
Weren't Betas supposed to be stronger than Omegas? He'd have to ask Derek that after Scott had been found and subdued.
"Come on," Isaac said as he opened the closet door and held his hand out for Stiles. "I'm going to try to track your boyfriend, but we should really consider getting him one of those chips they put in dogs or cats."
"He does work for a vet," Stiles noted as Isaac hauled him to his feet. "I'll get the keys to my jeep."
"I don't need a jeep," Isaac reminded him as he stepped onto the sill of the open window. "Catch you on the flip side."
He wasn't as flashy as Derek, but Isaac still liked to leave an impression so he did what he considered an impressive swan dive turned somersault when he hit the ground before sniffing the air. Scott's scent was all over the yard in various stages of decay, but it only took a few good whiffs to find the most recent trail.
A werewolf's scent actually changed slightly when they shifted from human form, so that made it even easier for Isaac to track him as he ran through the streets of Beacon Hills. He pushed himself to his human limits, unwilling to shift to his much faster human form. Isaac liked Scott, but not enough to risk dying by the hands of the hunters.
Isaac was prepared for a lot of things when he found Scott. He was ready to fight him again, to stumble across his bisected corpse, but not to have him go into the Argent house. Isaac easily scaled the gutter's drainpipe and climbed into the first open window he found. It was clearly a teenaged girl's room, and lying naked on the bed was Scott in his human form. After pulling his phone from his pocket, Isaac hesitated on just who he needed to call.
TW
Allison pulled into her driveway. Isaac was waiting in the bushes just off to the side of the house. She killed the engine and pulled the keys from the ignition.
"I know you said it was him on the phone, but you're sure it's Scott?" she double-checked as she held her crossbow in one hand and her house key in the other. "It's not some other werewolf that was stupid enough to break into my house?
"Believe me, I'd recognize that... erm... anywhere. Guys say they don't look in the locker room, but we do," Isaac grinned as he raised his eyebrows.
"Is every guy I know trying to sleep with my ex?" Allison sighed as she opened her door.
"I'm not saying I wouldn't, but I'm straight, my dear. Just a little more flexible than others."
She wasn't sure if Isaac was being crude on purpose or if it was his socially stunted form of flirting, but Allison ignored him as she readied her crossbow and silently walked up the stairs. Her father taught her that any situation could be dangerous. Even your ex-boyfriend napping in your bed with no clothes on.
Her bedroom door creaked as she opened it. Crossbow at the ready, Allison stepped into her room and Scott was indeed lying naked on her bed. It was a good thing she'd gotten home before her father. Even if Scott hadn't been a werewolf, he'd still be dead.
"Isaac, get in here," Allison called in a stage whisper. The crossbow stayed trained on Scott's unconscious form. "I need you to wake him up."
"Why me?" Isaac whined as he entered. "When did I become Scott McCall's chew toy?"
Eyes not moving from Scott's face, Allison watched as Isaac reluctantly leaned over the bed and gave Scott a hard shake. When the dark skinned boy jerked awake, Isaac stumbled backward and crashed into Allison's dresser.
"What did I do?" Scott asked in a panic as he saw Allison holding her weapon on him. Then he looked down and grabbed her blanket to cover himself. "Um..."
"I'm more interested in why you're not all 'Grrr" right now," Isaac said as he squatted beside the bed and studied Scott's face. "Back at your house, you were, like, crazy out of control."
"Where is Stiles?" Scott looked around the room before wrapping Allison's blanket around his waist. He ran over to the open window. "His jeep isn't out there. Please tell me I didn't kill him."
"Relax, he's alive and out looking for you now. I should probably let him know you're okay, actually." Isaac pulled Scott away from the window and closed it. "What you need to do is calm down and get some clothes on. Allison?"
"Guest bedroom. Down the hall. We still have my grandfather's stuff there. Scott can wear that," she answered as she kept her eyes and crossbow locked on Scott. "Don't take forever."
"I'm not going to hurt you," Scott assured Allison after Isaac left the room. "I'm perfectly calm and in control right now."
"But I don't know if I'm going to hurt you or not," she threatened loudly. She knew that even if she said it in a a reasonable manner Isaac would hear, but she wanted to be sure. "You don't get to do this, Scott. I know you didn't mean to, but it's all kinds of not cool. You don't get to dump me and move on then crash naked in my room on some sort of lunar bender.
"How am I supposed to react, Scott? Glad that subconsciously you still want me? Because that's not happening. I don't know what is, but it's not something happy. I'm pissed."
"Allison, you don't want to shoot me," Scott reasoned nervously. "I didn't cheat on you with Danny. Things happened, and I ended them with you."
Allison bit her lip and fought back the tears. "You think I care? You think waiting two weeks before moving on with your boy toy is doing me a favour? You are an idiot, Scott McCall. The biggest idiot in Beacon Hills and that's saying a lot. Listen to my heartbeat. I'm not lying when I say I don't want to kill you. I want you to be happy and healthy and alive. I just don't want to have to see it.
"There is a thing known as tact, Scott. And using me to control your werewolf urges while seeing somebody else isn't very tactful. It hurts."
"Why didn't you say something?" Scott asked her as he stood up. He walked to her with a kind face and an outstretched arm. "Allison, I'm sorry."
"Don't touch me." Her voice cracked and a tear fell free from its dam. The last thing Allison wanted was to be that girl who cried and had to be consoled by her ex. She could rationalize her breakdown with Stiles away, but not this. Not in her home. She stepped back and tightened her grip on her crossbow, but not on the trigger. "Scott McCall, don't you..."
Before she could finish, he'd already ripped the weapon from her hands and thrown it on the bed. The arrow launched from the crossbow's careless handling and embedded itself in the ceiling. Allison noticed it, but not Scott.
The other thing she noticed was Scott's body pressed against hers. His hands on her hips and his big brown eyes looking into hers. They were asking for forgiveness she couldn't give.
"Scott." Allison couldn't say anything else before he kissed her. And it wasn't a kiss goodbye. He slammed her against the wall and she dug her fingernails in his back. He hadn't kissed her like before, and Allison asked herself why . She grabbed his wrists and raised his hands above his head, then switched their places roughly. Her knee slid between his thighs.
"I think I'm going to interrupt now," Isaac spoke up as he threw a shirt and a pair of slacks at the two. It might as hell have been a bucket of cold water. "Before you do even more things you're going to regret."
"You should leave." Allison let Scott go and turned her back to him as he started to dress. Any passion she held had suddenly become cold regret. ""Go home, stay calm, talk to Danny."
"I'm really sorry," Scott pleaded. Allison didn't need werewolf senses to know he was telling the truth.
"So am I," she whispered to herself even though she knew they could both hear her. She looked at Isaac. "You take care of him. And you tell nobody what you saw. Understand?"
"Perfectly," he nodded as he helped usher Scott out of Allison's room.
It wasn't over. Allison knew it. And as she ripped the arrow from her wall, she wondered how she was going to explain to her father how she failed basic weapons safety.
TW
He had been waiting for her in the lobby, just as she knew he would. She ran to him and jumped in his arms. He held her, spinning her around before setting her down. Then she jumped on his back and they ran as fast as his legs would allow. Security never managed to find them.
Now, it was night time and he braided her hair as she closed her eyes and thought. Lydia dug her fingers into the dirt and growled. She could smell the decaying leaves and the insects that ate them. With a grunt, she arched her back and looked at the moon.
"Am I like you now?" Lydia asked Peter as she flared her nostrils and inhaled the scent of the surrounding wilderness.
"You're nothing like me," Peter told her as he ran the length of her spine with the palm of his hand. "You're perfection. You're intoxication incarnate."
"Thank you," Lydia agreed as she twisted around and kissed Peter. "So I'm not a wolf?"
"It doesn't work like that, Love," Peter reminded her as he bared his fangs. "You have to have the bit of an Alpha, and I'm just a Beta. Also, you're immune."
"I forgot," Lydia remarked before pulling at Peter's shirt until his shoulder was exposed. "I don't remember life before you too well. I don't think I want to."
She bit down on his exposed flesh: enough to break the skin, but not hard enough to draw blood. Fingers traced the fresh bruising as Lydia lifted her head back up. She climbed into Peter's lap and laced her arms around his neck.
"Are you immune to me?" she whispered against his lips as her fingers snaked their way into his hair. Lydia ground against his thighs, enjoy the involuntary sounds he made.
"Never," Peter admitted before kissing her.
TW
Stiles ran into the house, thankful that Scott's mom had the night shift. He took the stairs two at a time and burst into Scott's bedroom.
"Why is he dressed like an old man?" Stiles asked Isaac as he stopped to breathe.
"Because he's wearing an old man's clothes," Isaac shrugged. "Thing is, he's fine now."
"Yeah... How did that happen, again?" Stiles wondered as poked Scott. Scott wouldn't look at either of the people in the room.
"Allison," was all Stiles could get Isaac to say. The blond werewolf wouldn't elaborate any further.
"What did she do? Tranquilizers?" Stiles sat next to Scott and pulled the shirt up looking for wounds of any kind.
Scott slapped Stiles hands away, and Stiles responded by slapping Scott's right back. Isaac broke them up. "Look, sunrise is in a few hours and I'd like to get some sleep, so if you think your boy is good I'm gonna take off."
"Thanks," Scott apologized to Isaac. "For everything."
"Hey, it's what friends do. Derek is gonna be pissed I took off again. I kind of didn't tell him about this."
Isaac jumped out of the window and took off running into the horizon.
"I really hope we don't need him," Stiles muttered as he slammed the window shut. "Mind telling me what happened?"
"I kissed Allison?" Scott admitted, though he didn't sound sure of it. "Like, really kissed her."
With a roll of his eyes, Stiles sat on Scott's desk. "You know, one of these days you're going to be listening to sordid and varied tales of my salacious love life."
"Salacious?" Scott scratched the back of his head. "What does eating vegetables have to do with anything?"
"You know what? It'd just be easier for me if you picked being gay or being straight because this whole bisexual thing is too confusing." Stiles swung his legs back and forth.
"Tell me about it," Scott fell back on his bed. "My life was so much easier when all I had was you and Allison, y'know?"
"I seem to recall that life having about the same mortality rate as this one, actually," Stiles commented with a shrug. "I mean, far be it from me to point out the casual truths of life, but you and Danny literally just started dating and you're already making out with your ex while wearing someone else's clothes."
"Actually, I was naked at the time," Scott admitted unhappily.
"I am so glad I didn't see this. So, so glad." Stiles pulled out his phone and double-checked his messages. Nothing new. "So, what are you going to do? Dump Danny and go back to Allison? Because I think he's finally starting to like me and I will not have you and your out of control teenage hormones mess that up."
Scott shrugged uselessly. "I don't really want to break up with Danny. I like him a lot, and it's nice to not have the baggage that I have with Allison."
"But you don't love him." Stiles was so accurate he saw Scott flinch.
"It's too early to use that word. I could, someday, but with Allison I just knew. Like, it was head-over-heels-love-at-first-sight."
"I'm blocking The CW from your TV until you stop talking like that," Stiles joked. "Look, whatever happens with Danny, you need to stop toying with Allison. It's not cool. Don't be that guy. Nobody likes that guy. Except maybe Peter Hale. I don't think there's anything he doesn't like."
Stiles shivered as he recalled the feel of Peter's hand on his backside.
"Do I even want to know?" Scott raised an eyebrow in Stiles' direction.
"No, you do not."