so close! so we get to 120 and early chapter! WOOT WOOT!... let's do it up... this chapter is well over 5000 words -_- longest one thus far.
So, like, I still have at least 20 chapters left to this story... maybe more like 30 and I'm all the way to the end of Season 2. So I ask you, do I wait until season 3 happens to continue the story or should I just kind of go off into my own storyline? please let me know in a review k? thanks :D
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"What is going on?" Allison asked the moment Cat got to her locker before taking a closer look at her. "You look so much more worse than yesterday."
"Well, we got-" she stopped as she turned to Allison, frowning at something above them. "What is that? And when did it get here?"
Allison turned to look her eyes widening. "I have no idea, it must be something Gerard put in."
Cat sighed and rolled her eyes, trying to move her lips as little as possible. "Then I'm not saying anything else here and I will tell you soon."
"Allison Argent, to the office please." The voice came over the PA system and both girls looked at each other with wide eyes.
"I'll walk you there, I just want to check my email, I'm not working until the afternoon. I'll wait until you're done as well and fill you in."
Allison nodded, going into the principal's office as Cat went to check her email. She smiled, seeing a new phone sitting there but when she opened her mail, the surveillance cameras suddenly made sense and Derek's warning was now at the forefront of her mind.
from: Gerard Argent
When I granted you access to my computer, I don't think I told you that I can always see the last login. I can see when that login was and what information was accessed during the session.
I hope what you learned about the Argent family was fascinating for you. What I learned about you was certainly fascinating for me. I learned that I can't trust you as much as I had hoped I'd be able to. That's disappointing. And it's led me to bring in a new secretary.
Someone I can trust implicitly. You'll meet her today.
In a way, I owe you thanks for opening my eyes. Since no one in the entire school is trustworthy, including you, my student aide, I've decided to have cameras installed throughout this massive building.
You and your mischievous friends have run amok in this place for far too long. But I'm the one in charge now. I hope this is a lesson for you in trust.
Gerard Argent
Oh she was so done for.
She quickly sent a message to Scott just as Allison came out of the principal's office, looking spooked and grabbed Cat's hand, dragging her off to the locker room, where there were no camera's.
"You got a new phone?" Allison asked, noticing the phone in Cat's hand.
She shrugged. "Gerard got me a new phone? But-" She pulled another phone out. "My dad took pity on me and got me a new one too."
Allison's eyes widened. "You can't use that Cat, what if he's done something so he has access to everything on your phone."
She shrugged. "Then I won't use it until I play around with it later. I'm sure I could wipe out anything he's done to it. I wonder if Derek is right, maybe he will want to kill me?"
"Who wants to kill you?" Stiles asked as him and Scott entered through the other door.
"Gerard."
"my grandfather won't kill you." Allison protested.
"we don't know that." Scott told her before looking at Cat. "You look-"
"Horrible? 'Cause I look pretty darn good until I remove this." the tiny teen replied with a small smile as she took off the hat to cover her bandage and the scarf around her neck. Her head wasn't so bad with the bandage covering it but her throat was bruised, swollen and just horrible looking. Her voice was still kind of raspy too.
Allison gasped, Scott growled and Stiles shook his head.
"Yikes. That is pretty scary."
She looked at Stiles with a raised eyebrow. "It feels even better."
Allison sighed. "Where's Jackson?"
"Safe." Stiles replied. "And that's all either of you need to know right now."
Cat made a face at him. She had been half asleep when Scott had woken her up saying they were moving Jackson and to sleep, he would talk to her later. She had been too exhausted to care at the time and had rolled over, falling back to sleep.
"So what now?" Allison asked.
"We try to convince him he's dangerous." Stiles replied. "I just came to check in, I'm heading back out there."
"And I'm going to talk to Danny." Scott told them.
"So we'll get in touch with you guys later." Stiles finished for him.
"I'm going to check out the old Principal's house again see if I can dig up anything new."
"And you're sure we can trust your mom?" Stiles asked.
Allison shrugged. "She may be a lot of things but a liar isn't one of them. I mean, maybe the Principal went to the hospital after they dropped him off?"
"maybe Cat saw him dragged across the school parking lot." Stiles suggested
"Maybe he happened upon an injured werewolf in the nurse's office?" Scott tried.
"Maybe he tripped over a fluffy cloud and ran away with a purple unicorn." Allison finished, sounding frustrated.
Stiles raised an eyebrow at her. "Perhaps we can find more productive ways to express our frustration, Allison."
She let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. It just feels like we're taking one step forward and two steps back."
"Well he didn't just vanish."
Allison shrugged. "I know, so that's why I'm going to go check his place again."
"Breaking and entering can carry a sentence of up to six years." Stiles told her.
"Ha. Ha." She sarcastically replied.
"He's just telling you to be careful." Scott told her.
"I know, I'll let you know what I find out."
They went to leave when Cat called Stiles back. "Do you have your laptop here? Can I borrow it?"
"Uh, yeah, sure why?"
She held up her new phone. "Gerard got this for me and I want to see what's been done to it."
"It's in my locker." He gave her his combination and the four dispersed, both pairs leaving out the way they came.
"The creepiest thing just happened." Allison whispered to her. "Gerard started asking me questions about that thing and put his fingers on my pulse to see if I was lying."
Cat gave Allison a look of disbelief. "He's creepy, completely creepy."
Allison nodded in agreement.
"Cat. Can I talk to you?" Both girls turned to see Lydia walking towards them.
"Hey Lydia." Allison said with a small smile.
"Hi." Lydia replied shortly before turning to Cat.
Allison looked a little hurt but smiled at Cat. "I need to go do some things so I'll talk to you later."
After she left, Lydia rolled her eyes. "Good, she's gone. You know, there is all this crazy stuff going on and nobody is telling me about it."
Cat smiled. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm clueless about a lot of things lately too."
"So you can't tell me anything either? Darn." Cat didn't say anything as they began walking. "Anyways Cat, I'm going shopping later. I'm trying to find a dress for my birthday. You should come, but don't tell Allison, I don't want to invite people who leave me out of things."
Cat furrowed her brow, wasn't she doing the same thing? She wisely kept her mouth shut though as she smiled at Lydia. "Sure, that sounds like fun." She was pretty sure the guys had everything under control.
"Great. I'll talk to you later." Lydia left and Cat went off to her classes for the day, trying to remember when she had last made them all in one day.
She didn't get to the office again until the end of the day and no one was more surprised than her at who the new secretary was.
"Mrs. Argent! How nice to see you again."
"Likewise Catalina. Your voice sounds a little off."
Cat grabbed at her throat. "I am feeling kind of sick, that's why I have a hat and scarf. Keep all the body heat in."
Victoria smiled at her. "I'm glad I had the chance to meet you through Allison a couple days ago. You and I will be getting a lot closer over the rest of the semester."
"oh?" She asked confused.
" I'm not just a substitute teacher. I'm also Gerard's new secretary. Surprised? I was very surprised that he talked me in to this."
"Oh, that's wonderful. So good to have you on board Mrs. Argent." She faked a smile.
"We're both working late tonight, Catalina. We're getting this place organized so whatever plans you may have had, you're not going to make it."
"Oh, right. I was supposed to go shopping with a friend, so I'll just cancel with her."
"Her? So you aren't meeting Scott? Not that I'm prying of course, I just happened to notice he hasn't been to any of his classes after the one I was teaching today."
Cat shrugged. "I haven't seen him and I didn't get a new phone until this morning."
Victoria nodded as Cat moved to her desk. "I like you, Cat, though Gerard still has his reservations about you. He's just not sure where your true allegiances lie. Allison seems to trust you implicitly, though and her judgment has proven to be quite sound. Most of the time."
"Mrs. Argent, I'm not going to lie to you, I am in love with Scott and no one is going to change that no matter what you guys think about him. I love Allison too, she's my best friend and nothing is going to change that either." Cat firmly replied.
Nothing was said as Cat turned to her computer to begin some work and finally she relaxed as she immersed herself in her work. Just as she relaxed, Victoria spoke again.
"Have you noticed that sharper lines are being drawn in our world right now?"
Cat let out a small noise of frustration as she turned around to face her again.
"You don't want to be caught in the middle. Those sharp lines just might cut you in half."
"I'm under the firm belief that if someone or something is not hurting anyone then why hurt them."
Cat hated when Victoria's eyes widened in anger like that, she looked beyond crazy.
"People are getting hurt now. There is some creature out there killing people."
"Creature. Not a werewolf." Cat pointed out.
"It's only a matter of time before Scott does hurt someone." Victoria hissed.
"But he hasn't." the small teen cried. "He hasn't and he doesn't want to and I don't think he will."
"He may not want to but it will still happen." Victoria stood up, leaning against her desk. "It isn't every day that a person comes to know the truth and still remain somewhat neutral. In fact that almost never happens. Catalina, you need to decide where your allegiances truly lie before that decision is made for you."
Cat opened her mouth to argue but was cut off.
"I have some advice, would you like to hear it?" She didn't wait for Cat to agree before telling her. "Choose the side that lives longer, I've never met a werewolf Gerard's age. Your choices are limited. Werewolves, hunters, no matter who you align with, none of us are truly free. Your life will never be simple again. You will never be completely safe again."
Cat lifted her chin, refusing to reply. Victoria only raised an eyebrow at her before leaving her desk. "I'm going to the cafeteria, I'll bring you back a fruit cup."
She watched her leave before shaking her head and opening up Stiles laptop so she could look into the phone. Cell phones weren't really her forte, but as long as she could open it up on a computer, she hoped she would be able to do something. After plugging in the phone she began going through it, not at all surprised by finding a tracker chip in there, something more than GPS. The person would have a separate device and the ability to find her pretty much anywhere. Something told her that didn't come with the phone. She kept delving deeper, finding that anything she received or sent on the phone would also go elsewhere and she frowned, she didn't even know that was possible but it was curious indeed and something she would have to look into. If she could figure out the mechanics of it all, perhaps it could help them in the future but it would actually take time for her to figure it all out. In the meantime, she would leave the phone Gerard gave her at home and have it so that all calls were forwarded to her new phone without anyone being the wiser. That, she could do.
The phone rang and she reached over to pick it up. "Beacon Hills High, how may I help you."
"Yes, this is Sheriff Stilinski."
"Hello Sheriff, this is Cat, how are you?"
"Um I am well Cat, thank you. I'm just calling wondering if Jackson Whittemore was at school today. His parents have expressed a concern that he might be in trouble"
Cat stilled before turning away in case any cameras were on her. She knew Stiles would have taken care of this, so how did his parents know? "He's on the absent list, Sir."
"Thank you Cat. That's all I needed to know right now."
She hung up the phone just as Victoria returned. "Who was that Catalina?"
"The Sheriff. Something about Jackson Whittemore not being here? He just wanted confirmation." She forced a small smile, inconspicuously shutting Stiles laptop before turning to do more work. She forced herself to remain calm and after about 10 minutes, started getting antsy. Five minutes later, she rushed from her chair down the hall to the faculty bathroom, shutting the door as she began to fake upheave into the toilet. She exited and walked back to her desk, trying to look as sick as possible.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Argent-"
"Don't say a word Catalina. You look very unwell. Do go home and get some sleep."
She nodded. "Thank you. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow."
She slowly gathered her stuff together before leaving the school and when she did, she immediately called Scott.
"Where are you?" She asked.
"At the hospital, what's wrong?"
"Besides the cops knowing that Jackson is missing? Where's Stiles, I need to warn him?"
Scott gave her directions, promising to meet her there as soon as possible. She rushed as fast as she could to where Scott told her to go, shaking her head at seeing Stiles standing in front of a police van. These guys were crazy, so crazy.
"What? What's wrong?" stiles asked when he noticed her. "How did you find me?"
"Everyone knows Jackson is missing." She whispered. "We need to do something."
"They can't, I've been texting his parents since last night, they shouldn't have a clue."
"Your dad called me, asking about Jackson's whereabouts. His parents called him. They know."
Stiles eyes widened before he looked down at the phone in his hands, holding it out to her. She took it with the sleeve of her jacket, wiping his prints off before dropping it. He jumped into the van to get the radio, the dispatcher ordering all units to the Beacon Hills preserve.
"Get in." Stiles ordered as he got into the driver's seat. "we need to get away from here, far, far away."
They drove for a while, neither speaking until they were stopped by Scott in his moms' car just ahead of them. Cat jumped out of the van and ran to him while Stiles put the Van in park. He motioned her to be quiet, leading her away.
"If I fail a midterm, Gerard says they're keeping me back a year." He told her, waiting for Stiles to catch up.
"But you won't fail. We're catching you up, you'll be fine. Except for that Chem test you missed not long ago but I'm sure there's a make-up test or something?"
"Oh, crap." He whispered, having forgotten about it. "Let's worry about that later. Right now, we need to figure out what to do. Danny had a video of Jackson on his tablet and that might be the clue to why the Kanima was going after him. But the tablet's missing and if Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima, he won't remember stealing the tablet."
"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asked.
"What if someone else took it?" Cat asked. "I mean, when would Jackson have had the time to take it?"
"Then somebody else knows what he is." Stiles pointed out.
"The friend that he's seeking?" Cat asked scrunching her nose up in confusion.
"Okay, so hold on." Stiles said, trying to get everything straight. "Somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima and then erases part of it? So he wouldn't know? I mean- who would do that?"
"Somebody who wanted to protect him?" Cat suggested, looking at Scott, who was looking off into the distance as if trying to remember something.
"There's something else. You said you found online that the Kanima only goes after murderers? What if that's actually true?"
Cat shook their head. "but he tried to kill all of us."
"I don't know about you two, but I haven't murdered anyone lately." Stiles said.
"I don't think it was actually trying to kill us." Scott mused, looking at Cat. "Remember when we were at Isaac's that first time? It just went right by us."
She nodded as he turned to stiles.
"And it didn't try to kill you in the mechanics garage."
"Well yeah," Stiles agreed "but it tried to kill us in the pool."
"Did it?" Scott asked.
"It would've. It was waiting for us to come out."
"It swiped at me while I was going for the phone." Cat reminded him.
"What if it was trying to keep you in?" Scott wondered, looking between them both.
"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles asked, looking completely freaked out.
"Because, there's something else going on and we don't know what it is and we don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson or why something's protecting him."
"What about last night?" Cat suddenly said, feeling the back of her neck. "Maybe it's trying to kill me, it paralyzed me."
"Maybe you just got in the way?" Stiles suggested.
"Or maybe whoever is helping him knows about Cat." Scott said, looking fearfully at her.
"But who? Four people know. And you can't suggest it was Erica because then Derek would know and that means Derek is working with him, which he isn't. Right?"
"Alright, I got it." Stiles announced. "Kill Jackson, problem solved."
"Stiles." She exclaimed, he was really pushing this whole kill Jackson thing.
Scott just glared at his friend. "He risked his life for us, against Peter Hale, remember that?"
"Yes." Stiles agreed, "But what did we just find out now? He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he got exactly what he wanted by risking his life for us. It's funny."
"It doesn't mean he's not worth saving." Scott argued.
"It's always something with him though. Cat, help me out here." Stiles pleaded with her.
She shook her head. "I told Victoria today that I'm under the firm belief that if they're not harming anyone, then why hurt them but Scott's right, he doesn't know what he's doing and if we can save him then we should try."
"He doesn't know what he's doing." Scott agreed.
"So what?" Stiles argued.
"So, neither did I." Scott reminded him.
"Sometimes, I don't know what I'm doing." Cat quietly said. "What if one time I hurt someone because of it. Would you guys off me then?"
"That's different." Stiles told her.
"Because we're friends?" She asked. "And what if you hadn't of stopped me that day for my help and then I did hurt someone still. Would you have killed me then?"
Stiles sighed. "No."
"I've had someone to stop me." Scott continued arguing. "He has nobody."
"That's his own fault." Stiles quietly replied.
"It doesn't matter. If we can save him, we should try."
Stiles sighed again. "Look, I need to go talk to Lydia. I think she's still mad about sending Cat to her the night of the pool incident. I'll be back soon."
The other two nodded as he left, waiting until he was out of sight before Scott wrapped his arms around Cat's waist, pulling her close to him. He buried his face in her hair, not wanting to move from that position but eventually she began to shiver and he pulled away, moving towards the car and getting in, turning the heat on for her.
"Thanks." She whispered after her teeth had quit chattering.
He smiled and took her hand. "How was your day?"
She sighed and shook her head, telling him all about her conversation with Victoria as well as hacking into the phone Gerard gave her that she conveniently "forgot" at the school.
He shook his head. "Don't you regret getting involved in this?"
She was already shaking her head before he had even finished the question.
"But look at everything that's happened to you." He pulled her hat off, brushing her hair back. "No one would blame you in the least if you decided to walk away from this."
She let out a small humorless laugh. "I can't walk away anymore then you can and I don't regret it. Everything is crazy but I have friends who know about me and accept me. That right there makes it worth it but I mean, I found y-" She stopped, blushing as she looked away and he grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him.
"I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me truthfully. When I told you I was falling in love with you and you said you didn't feel the same, were you lying?"
She looked at him and she knew her heartbeat had sped up and that he could hear it, finally she nodded.
"So, you do love me?"
She hesitated again before nodding.
"You know how dangerous it is to be around me." He reminded her.
"It's just as dangerous to be around me. Plus I'm gonna end up insane. One day I'll lose myself and I won't come back from it."
"You don't know that."
"It's inevitable. It happened to my-"
"You're not your mom." He interrupted her "And I would gladly spend every day for the rest of my life proving that to you."
She reached a hand up to touch his cheek, a sad smile coming to her face. "But you can't."
"Why?" He challenged.
"Scott. Must I keep reminding you? Allison."
"What if I want to be with you?"
"Then you would've been by now. The fact that you're still with Allison shows me you're still unsure and well, that's like… oh hell. Scott, we really need to quit this. I'm just as much to blame I know that but-"
"Cat?" He interrupted.
"What?" She asked.
He sighed. "Just stop, okay? I know this shouldn't be happening, we've been over that but it still has and I'm just-"
"So confused?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "If you were any other guy and this was happening, you would've been kicked to the curb a long time ago. I just haven't because there are more important things to deal with. But when I'm around you, it's like nothing else matters, I no longer care or see anything else and it's scary. It's scary to be wrapped up in someone or something that much."
"I'm sorry," He whispered, pulling her into his arms. She leaned against his chest, her eyes closed as she breathed his scent in.
"This is so unfair to you and Allison and I need to talk to her. I- Cat, I think I want to be with you."
She grew still. "Don't joke with me like that Scott."
"I'm not." He whispered. "I wouldn't. You talked about being wrapped up in someone and I thought it was bad with Allison but it's nothing compared to how I feel when I'm with you."
She didn't reply, closing her eyes as his arms tightened around her. He leaned over to put on the radio and she sighed.
"I could fall asleep in your arms." She murmured.
"I like when you fall asleep in my arms."
"I don't, you're always gone when I wake up."
"It's mostly 'cause I don't want to wake you." He whispered, placing a kiss on her head.
She let out another sigh and they briefly grew quiet again.
"Hey, what would you say if I could be normal?" Scott suddenly asked.
She pulled back slightly, looking up at him. "What? Like if you found a cure in the bestiary or on the files I found on Gerard's computer?"
"What files?" He asked.
Her eyes widened as she realized that she hadn't had a chance to tell anybody about it. "We have to look at those after. I didn't get a chance but there might be a clue or something in there. As for being normal as far as I'm concerned you are. I'm pretty sure it was Willow from Buffy the vampire Slayer who said 'So you're not much fun to be around a couple days out of the month, neither am I."
He grinned. "You're quoting a TV show?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't care that you go all wolfy. I mean, what would you say if I could be normal?"
"I think you are." He replied.
"And I don't think I am. All I know is we were both dealt certain hands in life and now we just have to learn to live with it. Even if you found a way to not be a werewolf, even if something happened and I don't see anything anymore how could we ever go back to being the "normal" we used to be before you were bitten or my sight was triggered. We know too much now to just turn our back on it and maybe, perhaps, being like we are, we're at an advantage."
He just stared at her, eyes wide in disbelief.
"What?" she asked.
"I've never thought of it like that."
She shrugged, "I've had a lot of time to think. I hate seeing things, I hate knowing that one day I just might go crazy and never come back but I still couldn't turn my back on everything I know."
"With great power comes great responsibility."
She smiled. "Ah, you do listen to my nerdish ramblings, how special I feel."
"I was just thinking of Lydia. She's like immune so if you can be immune, doesn't that mean you can be cured? Wouldn't you want that?" He asked, cupping her cheek.
She sighed. "I think the better question is, if you're cured, would you want me? I won't find a cure Scott. But if you have that chance, then take it, maybe then you can be with Allison."
He pulled away letting out a noise of frustration. "I don't want to be normal so I can just be with Allison. Derek has given all of them a choice. I wasn't given that, it was forced upon me and I never would have asked for it otherwise."
"I liked you before I knew you were a werewolf, Scott. And I'll still like you if you ever found a cure and weren't one anymore…." She trailed off unsure how to say what else was on her mind.
"But?" He pushed her.
"Like I said, I don't know if you're still going to want me."
"I'll always want you." He whispered. "Can't you just touch me and figure that out? Doesn't it work on you?"
She grew puzzled as she realized something, that never worked for her that way and she never really questioned why. "No, not really?"
"Hm, but come the end of high school, you'll be off to an amazing college, not me, my grades suck."
"For now." She reminded him. "But they won't be for long, you know that. I'm not going anywhere unless it's on a full scholarship and when it comes down to it, if given the choice, I'd go anywhere you are."
He looked in her eyes, trying to gauge how serious she was.
"I'm serious." She assured him.
"I know." He whispered, raising both hands to cup each side of her face. "I know."
Slowly he moved in and kissed her and this time, it was slow, passionate, full of love and Cat kissed him back, all her feelings poured into that kiss. He lifted her into his lap and she straddled him, reaching down to lean his seat back as she followed, never breaking the kiss. His hands traveled up her back and she pulled away so he could remove her shirt, helping him with his when he sat up.
"Cat," He whispered, reaching for her again. "I love you."
"I love you too." She whispered back, leaning down to kiss him again.
… … …