Author's Notes: Well, hopefully you guys are having fun trying to figure out what's wrong with Stiles, since it's not cancer; decided to go a different route than what most are doing with the "Stiles is sick" type storylines. Anyway, I hope you like Lydia POV cause I gave it my best shot; I didn't want you to feel cheated with all the explanation that had to be given to Lydia to move her forward along with the story, but I tried to incorporate it with her starting to see that Stiles is someone she ought to be paying attention to; otherwise, without her finding out about werewolves, she wouldn't be that involved with or care about Stiles. I don't own Teen Wolf, but I sure wish I owned Stiles. :)

Stiles/Derek/Lydia/Erica *Stiles is getting some lovin' in this story* (Romance/Humor/Angst)

Synopsis: When Scott notices Stiles has the smell of death upon him, everyone must pull together...some to save him and others to love him. After Season 2 Finale.

Warning: Language & eventual sexy fun times. Mature.

Multi-POV

Lydia POV:

Getting a call from Allison saying that she and Scott needed to meet with her in an hour, 1 a.m. no less, was making Lydia slip into her bitch mode. Did they really need to do this right now? What could be so damn important. Allison on the phone 30 minutes earlier: "Got to get together tonight. It's of the highest priority." Uh, why? It seemed like everything was life or death with those two. They had been acting really strange lately; well, actually, quite a few of her friends had been acting weird recently. Even Jackson. Lydia was glad they were on a break since his freak flag had decided to fly high.

Grabbing the paper that had her handwritten directions on it, she snuck out of her house and made her way out of town, heading toward what looked to be an abandoned subway. Several cars were already parked out front, which surprised her. She didn't know this was going to be a group thing, granted, she also didn't know this meeting was going to be held in the middle of creepsville. Finding her way to a set of stairs that seemed to lead straight down into a pit of filth, she was suddenly incensed that no one had told her not to wear nice clothing and $500 heels. Why in the hell am I doing this? Oh, yeah, because I actually like Allison...and Scott too, I guess. Sighing, she moved forward and descended until she could hear voices, upset voices, growling voices.

Finally she came upon a room that held three couches filled with people, some friends (I guess Jackson counts), and some she knew but didn't associate with, one of those being Derek Hale.

"Where the hell have you been, you're late?" He said to her obviously upset about something that had nothing to do with her, yet taking out his frustration on her being...oh, let's see, 5 minutes late.

"No."

"No?" He glared back.

"No, you don't get to speak to me like that. No." Everyone stiffened. Derek look pissed, but that didn't halt her in her resolve to not be treated like an inferior. Done conversing with him, she turned to Allison and Scott, who were sitting together holding hands in what looked to be a reassuring way, and cocked her eyebrow but saying in a calm, yet controlled manner, "What? What is this? Explain...now."

"Um, well, Lydia. We're... We've..." She couldn't seemed to get the words out. Allison looked intensely frustrated, but mostly...sad. Lydia stops and sees the whole room then, who had gone quiet when she entered, all look at her with forms of melancholy written on their faces. She hates it, sensing the dread that's going to follow with her next question, but asks her friend anyway.

"What's wrong. Tell me...please." Wow, she's never heard that particular word leave her mouth, but it seemed the time had finally sprung up to use it, because this room was filled with such sorrow that she felt out of place for not feeling it too or, at least, not being sensitive to the others feeling it.

Instead of Allison answering her, Scott looked her in the eyes and started off saying, "So, there's a lot you don't know about, so I'm going to start off with the basic foundation you'll need so you can be filled in on the rest of what's happening presently."

"Okay." She said slowly trying to focus, ignoring the way Jackson is ignoring her.

He let go of Allison's hands and stood to look at Lydia eye level. "So the thing is that well...we're a pack of werewolves." Um. Lydia looked around the room at the faces of the others to she if she could identify the emotions she was looking for, like humor or shock, but no one looked any different than before. Looking back at Scott, she realized that this wasn't a joke, and then it clicked for her the reason for all the strangeness that had been occuring; they had been hiding they were werewolves. With the realization of this, she didn't know what to say, so she walked around Scott to sit by Allison where Scott had previously been.

Yet this clarification, werewolves are real, didn't supply the reason behind everyone's pained expressions.

Scott seemed to see the resolve in her eyes that she believed what he had said and continued. "It's me, Eric, Isaac, Boyd, Jackson, and Derek, who is Alpha. Regardless, of who is or isn't supernatural, we're all pack." He motioned around the room with his hand. "We're including you now, too." Fucking finally they included me after all the unexplained weirdness. Although, really she didn't feel angry at their year long exclusion of her. Oddly enough, she didn't feel scared, threatened, or overwhelmed, either; she felt surprisingly whole.

"Why now?" It just occurred to her that there must be a reason to share this with her now, since they hadn't before, and she felt the reason wasn't going to be a good one.

"I know you're not on the best terms with Stiles or any terms really."

"Yeah, and...you're acting the opposite of spastic Stiles right now. Hurry up and spit it the hell out, McCall."

"He's sick." He then looks down at the floor. "Dying, in fact." He says this softly, and as he says this to her, Lydia can hear a smashing of glass to her left. Turning, she sees that Derek has thrown what looked to be an old vase, that's a vase no more, shards covering half the floor.

So, this must be why everyone looks so downtrodden. She'd never gone out of her way to show kindness to Stiles, mostly disregarding him, more like. But over the years, she had observed that he was unlike others; kind, when he wasn't using his humor in his own defense, hyperactive beyond belief, and quite smart, observant. Hell, he'd even noticed that she liked to played the part of dimwit for popularity status, but wasn't actually one. He'd tried so many times over the years to connect with her, yet she always left him in the dust, pretending to take no note of him.

Lydia had never known anyone personally who had died, so she felt the onus of failing to even be civil to someone who apparently is a person of significance to so many people. Pack. Now, feeling the guilt of her rejection of him weigh on her, she reluctantly asked, "How?"

"We don't know, that's one of the problems. Both Derek and I have tried smelling what's killing him, but there's no trace in his system, so we're going to have to devise a way to find out. We figure it's one of two possibilities, either he's doing harm to him self unknowingly, because Stiles isn't going to hurt himself on purpose, or someone's trying to kill him. Why I couldn't tell you, but there it is, laid out for you."

"Um, right." Derek huffed in exasperation at her non-verbose answers, but what the hell was she supposed to say or do when finding out such things as these, werewolves and Stiles's potential demise.

Derek decided to join the conversation by adding, "Time to wrap up the explanation portion of our day and move on to the planning phase."

Lydia is many things, but she had never been one to be shy, therefore why would she be shy in a room full of werewolves and an ex-boyfriend, so she stood up and turned to face those, human and werewolf alike, in the room.

"Right, so we need to start with the easiest thing first, we need to follow Stiles around, see if he touches or comes in contact with anything harmful, but also by being with him at all times, if someone is out to get him, he will be more secure than if he were alone." Seeing everyone turn to Derek for direction in how to act on Lydia taking control irked her, so she decided to slap her hands together while whistling loudly to get their attention back to her and more importantly, the strategizing they were supposed to be doing.

Scott appeared to wake at the sound saying, "We were thinking the same...about scheduling time between the pack to keep watch of him."

"Excellent." She felt good that for once, she was helping instead of hindering. "Let's do that first. We've got the whole night for the rest." Scott nods at her, and gives a slight smile. She returns it.

Derek POV:

After spending three hours in the overcrowded room, they had ultimately hashed out a temporary safeguard for Stiles. Even though dealing with Lydia had been agitating, she took the control he relinquished and made the pack focus in a way he hadn't known could happen. She was an Alpha in her own right, though she was only human. Still, he was glad he'd been right to include her in the pack, even if he didn't show it.

Thinking back earlier, he'd had quite a bit of trouble with his betas when they'd first arrived for the pack meeting.

*Flashback - 2 Hours Earlier*

"So, you have probably been sensing my anxiety since you came in, and we'll get to that momentarily. First thing's first. We're going to be telling Lydia Martin about us being werewolves tonight and letting her into the pack."

"The hell we are." Erica spit out, just as Boyd rumbled his infuriation; Isaac just looked aghast. Derek growled at them quickly putting them in their place.

"This isn't a questioning type situation; as Alpha, I'm telling you you're going to have another pack member after tonight." That is if we can convince her werewolves are real, we aren't going to eat her, and asking if she'll work with us by being becoming pack.

After a beat, Erica calmed, and Isaac and Boyd returned their attention to Derek. He hoped that once they were told about Stiles, they wouldn't fight against having more support. This thought encouraged him to tell them the cause to which bringing more people in to the pack was necessary.

After doing so, the room felt foreboding, silent. He could only imagine the thoughts they had upon being told that their friend and pack mate was ill. Hell, he knew his feelings on the matter.

Derek heard a whimpering sound and looked up to see Isaac and Boyd holding Erica's hands; it was quite an unusual scene to witness; since Erica's turning she had encompassed herself with an imaginary shield, not showing any emotion that could be detrimental to her new hard ass persona. All betas were like that at first, but unlike Isaac and Boyd, she had yet to let her humanity show again. Derek took it as her nasty treatment by others for being epileptic for years as the reason for her hardness. Yet, here she was silently asking and getting support from her pack all because of Stiles. Apparently, Stiles wasn't just particularly important to Scott and himself.

After being contemplative for a moment, Erica said, "He's going to be alright. We will make him be alright." She gave the impression of directing this statement to him, and deep down, it made him feel the bit better for it.

*End Flashback*

For all the pack needed Stiles for, he now was in need of the pack. Alone wasn't going to be a word they would use any longer. Starting now, Stiles wouldn't be left alone even if he wanted to be.

Derek wanted Stiles to be surrounded by the pack for another reason: scent, more aptly, pack scent. If this was something supernatural in origin happening to Stiles, him being scented by his pack couldn't hurt to deter harmful forces anyway.

With this in mind, and everyone informed of their parts to play, Derek made a quick exit for his car to patrol and watch over Stiles for the rest of the night, or what little of it there was left, feeling slightly less troubled. Slightly.

POV Unknown:

Watching in a tree as half the pack left, he felt his hatred rise. Don't worry, they don't know it's me. He had made sure to stay far enough away to not be smelt by the wolves. As long as he isn't found out too soon, his plan will surely succeed.

Oh, how I love to tease. Review please.

***Chapter Music Playlist: "Wait" - M83, "Youth" - Daughter, "Morning Life" - Feeder, "Set It On Fire" - Jeremy Enigk, "How To Disappear Completely" - Radiohead, "I'm On Fire" - Stateless