CHAPTER 11- ALPHA PACT PT. 2

The tension in the car was so thick, Bennett thought he could reach out and touch it. They had gone to Ms. Morrell's office but she wasn't there so Stiles took it upon himself to go through her files. They found Lydia's files and inside of it was a picture of a tree, completely identical to the 20 trees Lydia had drawn in her notebook. Stiles realized he knew where the parents were being kept and told Bennett and Lydia to go to Derek and ask him where the root cellar was as he had been there before.

Bennett and Lydia were in Bennett's car, the music blasting and neither one talking about what had happened in the locker room. Apologies had been spoken and forgiveness had been dealt but no one truly believed the situation had been resolved. They had been sitting there listening to bad Top 40 for the last 20 minutes when Bennett abruptly shut the radio off. He was tired of feeling bad for what he had done; he was still angry. His own cousin had kissed his boyfriend. The one person he thought he could share anything with. He didn't know it also meant his man.

"You know why I'm so upset?" Bennett said, staring ahead at the road. He didn't wait for Lydia to answer before he continued. "It's not just because you were kissing him. It was because you of all people know what I've been through with men, how I was hurt before and you went and did the exact same thing he did to me."

"I remember calling you the night I discovered Adam had been cheating on me with all those people and you sat there with me all night comforting me. You told me how he didn't deserve me and that one day I would find a guy who made my heart race and he would love and respect me. Then I found Stiles. You know, at first I didn't think he would ever like me the way I liked him. And I liked him Lydia. I fell for that boy the first time I saw him but in my mind I didn't think I deserved his love. He's such a good person and I was damaged goods."

"But then all of a sudden he told me that he loved me and I can't describe to you how good that made me feel, how much I needed him to say those words. And now you've destroyed that. I know it was just a kiss, I know that. But it's not just the kiss that upsets me. It's the fact that you, the one person who knew how I've been hurt, hurt me without blinking an eye. It's the fact that that boy has been in love with you forever and he's only loved me for a month. I knew it would hurt when he chose you but I never thought it would hurt this much."

Bennett didn't wait for Lydia to answer; he simply reached forward and turned the radio back on. His eyes had never left the road so he didn't see the tears falling from Lydia's eyes as she looked at him and heard the pain in his words. And even though Bennett couldn't see her tears, he felt them. In the tiny electrical car, he felt the pain and guilt she felt and even though it hurt him to know he caused that pain, he still wasn't ready to forgive her.

Knock knock knock!

Bennett and Lydia were standing in front of Derek's front door waiting for him to answer. Neither one had spoken another word after Bennett had said what he needed to say and there was a palpable awkwardness in their interaction with each other.

When the door finally opened, a man in his 30s opened the door. He was wearing a green Henley and jeans and he had a goatee. Even though he was a little older, Bennett saw something attractive about him. He wasn't as smoldering as Derek but Bennett could see that good looks ran in the family.

"You!" Lydia said when she saw who opened the door. He seemed unfazed by the sight of her but Bennett could feel the anxiety and …fear? radiating from Lydia's body.

"Me!" He replied staring back at her.

"You!"

"Me!" Bennett replied pushing past them and walking into the loft.

"Derek," The man shouted. "We have visitors! It's Lydia and…?"

"Peter, this is my cousin Bennett. Bennett this is Peter." Lydia said looking between the two.

"Hello witch." Peter said, walking past him.

"Hello mutt." Bennett replied.

As they followed him, Bennett recalled the last time he was here. It was the night Boyd was killed and now that he was here again, he could feel so much pain and sadness held in the walls of this building. It crushed him; enveloped him; comforted him.

When they found Derek, he was sitting on a bed and Bennett could see that Cora was lying in the bed and she looked awful. Bennett had never been fond of the girl but seeing her lying there he knew she was dying and he knew it was painful. He mourned for her and for Derek.

"What do you want?" Derek said. He didn't look up from Cora's resting form.

"Hello Derek. I don't know if you remember me but I'm Bennett, Lydia's cousin. We need your help. We discovered that we may know where Jennifer is keeping the parents and we need your help finding it."

"Ok, how can I help?" He said finally meeting Bennett's eyes.

"They're in a root cellar. Stiles said you would know how to get there." Lydia said.

"Sorry but we can't help you." Peter replied, sitting down next to Derek. "We don't know where it is?"

"You don't know where it is?!" Lydia said, her frustration growing. "But Stiles said you've been there before!"

"We have!" Peter replied briefly glancing at Derek. "But after a few memorable experiences there Talia, Derek's mother and my older sister, decided she didn't want us going back. She knew how dangerous it was so she took the memory of its location from us."

"But then, how are we supposed to find it?" Bennett replied.

Peter gave him a shrug as if to say "I don't know" but he could see that what he meant was "I don't care." Bennett and Lydia turned to leave when Derek finally spoke.

"Wait!" He said, walking towards Bennett. "You're a witch; I can smell it on you. I need your help now."

"And I would help you why?" Bennett replied crossing his arms. "Let me guess, you need me to take you for a walk so you can do your business?"

"No," Derek said. Bennett could see he was trying very hard to contain his anger. "It's my sister. She's dying. Can you heal her?"

Bennett sighed as he looked at the werewolf in front of him. He looked tired and weak, traits you don't usually attribute to creatures that can heal as fast as they can.

"I'm sorry Derek but my magick can't heal wolves. I really am sorry." He said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"Please…" Derek pleaded, looking into his eyes. He looked so broken. "Please…just try."

"It must be at a telluric current or at the axis of the currents or something like that. I just know it's where Derek took Paige to die." Stiles said to the people in the room.

Bennett, Lydia, Stiles, Allison, Isaac, and Deaton were all at the Animal Clinic trying to deduce the location of the root cellar since Bennett and Lydia had no luck with asking Derek.

Lydia and Bennett had been at Derek's house for several hours while Bennett tried to heal Cora. He used every spell he could think of, recited every ritual in the Book but nothing would work on the she-wolf. He finally gave up and left, his body burdened by the weight of exhaustion. It was now dark outside as they all stood in the Examination Room trying to come up with a plan.

"My dad and Gerard went there once, years ago but Gerard said he didn't remember where it was." Allison said. "My dad obviously isn't here to ask."

"Yeah, mine either." Stiles replied.

"So how do we find it?" Bennett asked.

"There might be a way. But it's dangerous…we're going to need Scott." Deaton replied looking at the group.

"Ok," Lydia said. "You and Stiles find Scott; we'll stay here and do some more planning."

Stiles and Deaton nodded as they left out of the room. Stiles spared Bennett a glance as he walked out and the look broke Bennett's heart all over again. He knew Stiles was going through a hard time but he couldn't forget what he saw and he couldn't pretend he was okay. Literally. Stiles would know he's not okay.

"So, between the seven of us, what do we have?" Isaac said, looking around. "Me and Scott have the whole wolf thing, Allison's a hunter, Bennett has magick, Deaton is jam packed full of knowledge, and Lydia…"

"Knows the art of stealing a boyfriend." Bennett replied with contempt. He hadn't realized he had said it aloud but everyone was staring at him. "Sorry."

"What's going on with you guys?" Allison replied looking at the pair. She knew how close they were so she knew something was wrong. Hell, everyone in the room could feel the tension without even knowing the situation and it wasn't all due to the Darach.

"Nothing." Lydia said looking at Bennett. "Ben, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lydia turned and walked out the door and Bennett reluctantly followed. They walked down the hallway and made a turn and were now standing in a different but eerily similar Examination Room.

"Look, I'm sorry." Lydia said as Bennett entered the room. "I know what I did was wrong but we need to clear this up right now because there's a lot going on right now and we can't afford for there to be tension amongst the three of us."

Bennett spared a glance at Lydia, his arms folded across his chest.

"Maybe you should have thought about that tension before you kissed Stiles!" He snapped back.

"Bennett, just listen. I kissed Stiles because…"

"Because you were bored? Because you were lonely? Because you couldn't bear to see me happy?"

"Bennett, stop it!" Lydia shouted. "No. I kissed Stiles because…In the moment, in my head, I told myself I was doing it to save his life. I read somewhere that holding your breath can stop a panic attack so I kissed him. But I know that's not why I kissed him. It was a combination of things really. Yes I was lonely. Jackson's gone, Aiden won't talk to me and I had to listen to my cousin having sex so yes, I was lonely. But when I saw the way you two were this morning in the car, holding hands and smiling, I was so happy for you, for the love you found but it made me realize I'm alone."

Bennett sighed, walking over to Lydia and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"Didi, you're not alone. You have me. And you have Stiles, and Allison and your mom."

"I know but it's just when I was with Jackson, I loved him so no one else really mattered and then he broke up with me and ran off to London and even though I was heartbroken, I was fine. I hooked up with a couple of guys, then Aiden and I was fine. But then when you and Stiles got together it made me realize I didn't have Stiles."

"What? But he's wanted you forever; you could have had him anytime."

"I know but I never wanted him. I still don't think I want him."

"Then why did you kiss him?"

"Because it's what he represented. Throughout all my boy drama, I was always secure in the fact that if no one else wanted me, Stiles would. He was my safety net, my backup plan and for as selfish, heartless, and conceited as that sounds, I liked knowing I could have him whenever I wanted him but then he fell in love with you and all of my options were gone. And for once I felt truly alone."

Bennett looked at Lydia. He looked at the openness, the pain, and the raw emotion she had just shown him and all of the tension and animosity he felt towards her simply disappeared. As much as he was hated her minutes ago, it was no longer there. He loved her, his best friend, his cousin. And Bennett could finally let go. He could finally forgive her.

"Alright, what did you bring?" Deaton asked, looking at Stiles.

The two of them had returned with Scott and they quickly began grabbing 3 metal tubs and filling them with ice, water, and mistletoe. Deaton said this ritual would save the parents from being sacrificed as Stiles, Scott, and Allison were meant to be replacement sacrifices for them. He then told each of them to grab something which connected them to their parents. Bennett had read about a similar ritual in the Book and he knew about Nemeton's and Druid power spaces but he also knew that if this ritual were to succeed, they would be giving power back to the Nemeton and that wasn't a good thing. Bennett knew there were other things out there besides werewolves, kanima, and witches and he knew if they did this ritual, it would draw all of the things that go bump in the night to this land. His land.

"Ummm…It's my dad's badge." Stiles replied, holding up the misshapen star. "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand but I tried hammering it out. Still doesn't look great."

Bennett could feel and see the pain the relic was bringing up in Stiles and it crushed him deeply seeing him like that.

"It doesn't need to look good if it has meaning." Deaton said. Next, he glanced at Allison. She had been fiddling with something small and silver.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac asked looking at the item in her hand.

"Yea," she replied staring at the bullet. "My dad made it; it's a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to become a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

Every person in the room could feel all of the emotion swirling in the atmosphere and even those who hadn't lost someone wanted to cry for them.

"Scott?" Deaton inquired glancing in Scott's direction.

"My dad got my mom this watch when she was first hired at the hospital." He replied opening his palm to reveal a gold watch with a brown leather band. "She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that worked."

"Ok," Deaton said. "The three of you will get in and each one of us will hold you down until you are essentially, well…dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under; it needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone who has a strong emotional connection to you. A kind of 'emotional tether'".

Lydia and Allison smiled at each other, while Bennett and Stiles nervously looked at one another. Bennett could feel the question behind Stiles' actions, asking Bennett if they were still together in this. Bennett gave Stiles a small nod as he silently walked over to him and hugged him. Lydia began walking towards Allison when Deaton stopped her.

"Lydia," he said as the girl turned to look at him. "I need you to keep track of time."

He handed her a stopwatch as she nervously glanced at the people in the room. She could already deduce what this meant. If Bennett was with Stiles, and Deaton was with Scott…

"It's essential we don't keep them under longer than they need to be, to be brought back."

"Are you sure?" Allison asked. "I mean, Scott and I both have to go under."

And as she looked up at Isaac, the weight of those words fell on everyone in the room. Allison looked at Scott, a pleading look in her eyes. She never wanted to hurt him and she knew that this would definitely hurt him.

"It's ok." Scott replied looking between the two of them.

The three sacrifices walked over to their respective tubs, each holding their object in their hands. Allison took the first one, Stiles in the middle, and finally Scott to his left while their "emotional tethers" stood behind them. Lydia took up post in front of Stiles' tub in the middle, holding the stopwatch.

"Wait." Bennett said, bringing everyone's attention to him. He began pulling the amulet off his neck. "Stiles, I want you to wear this."

Stiles took the charm and put it over his head. "Why? What does it do?"

"It's a very powerful protection charm. I want you to wear it so I know that you come back to me." Bennett replied. "I'm sorry."

Stiles offered no other response but to wrap his arms around Bennett and kiss him. The kiss was quick and chaste but it offered Stiles all the reassurance he needed to know that Bennett would be waiting for him. In the back of his mind, he could hear Scott gasp but he didn't care. He had his boy back and it felt too right to ever be wrong.

Stiles pulled away from the kiss, a small smile on his face as he turned from Bennett and again stood in front of the tub. His eyes briefly met Lydia's and they each nodded at each other, an agreement that they were both okay with how things turned out.

Allison was the first to step into her tub and the other boys followed suit. Bennett could see the shivers wracking Stiles' body as he slowly submerged himself into the ice cold water. His already pale skin was growing paler as he slipped under, the water coming up to his chest. His lips were turning blue, his jaw wouldn't stop chattering, and Bennett could feel the cavalcade of emotion swirling through Stiles- sadness and fear, but surprising love and hope as well.

"By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you should know something." Stiles said looking at Scott. "Your dad's back in town."

The emotion that flitted across Scott's face was virtually unreadable.

No one had time to dwell on lost emotion as Deaton looked over at Bennett, Isaac, and Lydia and gave each of them a nod.

Isaac, Bennett, and Deaton moved forward and slowly began pushing each of the sacrifices into the water.

Bennett watched as Stiles' head went underwater, the beautiful hazel eyes he had grown to love closed under the glacial waves. Bennett closed his own eyes and prayed.

He prayed to any and every God that would hear him. He prayed for many things.

He prayed that his vision wouldn't come true and Stiles' father would not be killed.

He prayed for Lydia. He prayed that someone would come and allow her to feel true love.

He prayed for Stiles. He prayed that he wouldn't die tonight or any other night for a very long time.

He prayed for those who had already lost too much. He prayed for Isaac and Allison.

He prayed for Melissa McCall, Chris Argent, and John Stilinski that they hold on to their own hope. That they didn't give up.

He even prayed for Jennifer. The girl who lost everything. The girl who was betrayed by those she thought were her friends, left to die in her own blood.

He prayed for the wolves. He didn't like them but he knew there was something seriously wrong with Cora and he knew some tough choices would have to be made.

He prayed for the past. The present. And the future.

Bennett prayed for himself. He prayed that he would have the strength he would need to kill the woman who hurt so many of his people. A woman who, in her selfishness for revenge robbed people of their beloved. He prayed that he would have guidance and foresight, concentration and resolve.

But mostly, he just prayed.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

And there you have it, part 2! I hope you guys liked it! I really liked writing this chapter and I had a surprisingly easy time writing the emotional scenes, even though I'm not very emotional. I think it's because I've been rereading books like Twilight, Beautiful Creatures, and City of Bones to get my head back in the writing game.

I hope Bennett didn't come off as too bitchy and bratty in this chapter but I think when you're in love, you act crazy sometimes right? And when you're in love, crazy, and a witch…deadly combo.

The show never states what Stiles' dads first name is (I don't think) but a lot of fanfiction I read gives him the name John so why not?

I'm curious as to see what's coming to town next season now that they've activated the Nemeton.

I'm also curious to see who they're going to pair Scott up with now.

I am going to write a short Epilogue after the next chapter that kind of ties everyone together and resolves Bennett's future so I have some ideas that I hope everyone likes.

I'm sad we didn't see more of Derek this season; I like him as a character just fine but dat ass doe! If you haven't seen it, you're blind! Especially that scene last season where he unsheathes his claws and they close-up of his ass bouncing…mmmm! If you couldn't tell, I'm an ass man!

It's so weird cuz now that I've turned Bennett from just a character on paper to an actual person, when I watch the show and I see the flirtation between him and Lydia, I get jealous FOR Bennett lol.