HARSHER THAN THE BARK
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Enjoy...
Scarlett had waited for as long as she could, fighting the tiredness that had been creeping up within her all day, but eventually staring at the wall sent her to sleep. And when Derek got back she was sprawled out on top of the covers. He had never seen her sleeping before. She looked…peaceful, something that she didn't seem to be very often these days. She shivered slightly and he immediately moved the covers back, scooped her up and lay her down under them. The movement didn't wake her; she just made a slight noise and got comfy in her bed. He watched with interest, listening to her steady breaths and her heartbeat. His brows furrowed in confusion when she started to mumble things and toss from side to side.
"Der…" His name always trailed off but he could still tell that was what she was saying. What was confusing was why she was saying it. She kept repeating his name. And she didn't look peaceful anymore. She looked uneasy…like she was having a bad dream, a nightmare to be more specific. "Derek." Her voice was louder this time and it continued to get louder every time she said his name until finally she bolted up right, gasping, with tears running down her face. He was right next to her in a second, holding her shaking body and wiping the tears from her eyes. Her eyes widened when it registered that he was actually there and she turned completely towards him, practically throwing herself on him and clinging to his shirt tightly while she buried her face in his neck.
"Shh, Scar. I'm here, I'm right here." He whispered to her calmingly, stroking her hair and keeping a tight hold on her. She sniffled, taking a deep breath to slow her racing heart. Pulling back, she looked at him. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy.
"It was so real…" She croaked, coughing to clear her throat again. "You were dying… A-and there was- there was nothing I could do. I was just…stuck."
"It was just a dream." He told her, brushing his thumb across her cheek like he so often did.
Scarlett shook her head, placing her own hand over his and savouring the feeling of his touch against her skin. It was a reminder that he was still alive. "But, it felt real." She looked up at him, the tears in her eyes making them glint in the moonlight.
He leaned down slightly, pressing a firm but gentle kiss to her lips. "But it wasn't." She kissed him again before pulling back and nodding.
"Would you mind just…laying with me? Until I fall asleep?" She asked quietly. Derek smiled slightly and nodded, urging her to move over. She moved and got back under the covers while he kicked off his shoes and sat next to her so that he could hold her in his arms until she was sleeping soundly.
The feeling of him being there with her was very comforting to Scarlett and she was asleep within minutes. The only downside was that as soon as she was sleeping Derek realised he had to go. Regretfully, he moved her off of him and got out of the bed, pulling the covers around her again, wishing that he could stay there and hold her all night. Sadly though, that wasn't the case and he couldn't stay. He had to get back to his pack.
"You did what?" Scarlett hissed, putting her arm out to stop Scott from walking any further. He leaned back slightly and shook his head before sighing.
"We didn't have any other choice!" He told her. Scarlett clapped her hands together and put them against her mouth.
"Y-you didn't have any other choice other than to steal a prison transport vehicle, lock Jackson inside of it and drive it into the middle of the woods?" Scarlett questioned incredulously.
"Exactly."
"Oh my God. You dumbasses! You seriously don't think anyone is gonna realise he's missing? You don't think people are going to start asking questions when he doesn't show up at school?" Her voice rose with every question, earning looks from the passing students.
"No, Stiles has his phone and he's been sending texts to Jackson's parents since this morning." Scott replied casually, as if none of it was a big deal and it would just all go smoothly and according to plan. Yeah, because that always seemed to work so well for them.
"Oh so that makes this all okay." Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest and gave Scott a that was akin to a mother giving her child a row for misbehaving.
"Would you rather he was running around killing people while we try to figure all this out?" Scott asked. Scarlett's shoulders slumped. He had her there. Of course she didn't want people getting killed.
"I just hope you know what you're doing Scotty." She sighed, turning away and walking to her next class which Scott was in as well.
When everyone was seated, a new teacher walked in. Well, substitute teacher…that just so happened to be Mrs Argent.
"Your teacher had to go home early so unfortunately, you're stuck with me as a substitute." Victoria said jokingly as she leaned against the teacher's desk with a small smile. Scarlett's eyes widened slightly. She looked back to Allison who was also staring wide-eyed at her mother. Then, Scarlett turned to glance at Scott and he looked more frightened than surprised. And rightly so. It couldn't just be a coincidence that Gerard was the principal and now Mrs Argent was substituting in their class. Them being at school could only mean that bad things were going to happen.
At the end of the lesson, Scarlett walked out of the class completely mind-boggled. She hadn't even paid any attention to what Mrs Argent was teaching. All she could think about was why she was there. She had mulled over everything again and again in her head and it all ended badly. With the Argents being everywhere…it wouldn't be long until they found out where Derek was. Or found out that Jackson was the Kanima. And if either were discovered they would most definitely be slaughtered.
Scarlett looked up for a second and caught sight of a camera in the corner. They had never had cameras in the school before…oh great. So this was Gerard again. Watching everything…Just the thought of being watched was enough to give her chills so she gave the camera a weird look and then kept her head down while walking to her next class which would hopefully be normal.
After school, Allison and Scarlett walked hurriedly through the woods together, heading towards where Stiles was with the transport van that had Jackson locked up inside. Scarlett still thought that all of this was a terrible idea and she didn't really want to be anywhere near the stolen van or Jackson considering he could turn at any point and kill them all.
"Oh God!" Stiles shouted, jumping slightly when they reached him. They had approached him from behind, scaring him, hence the reason he jumped.
"They know." Allison said quickly.
"What do you mean they know?" Stiles asked, confused.
"They know that Jackson's missing!" Scarlett explained, constantly looking around for any sign of the police or anyone else that wasn't supposed to be there.
Stiles' jaw dropped. "Wh- they can't know! I've been texting his parents all morning!" He held up Jackson's phone to the two girls so that they could read the texts Stiles had been sending. The only thing was, there had been no reply from Mr Whittemore which should've been a dead giveaway to begin with.
Allison shook her head. "No, my grandfather told me that his parents went to the school and the police."
"Oh my-" Stiles made a high-pitched noise, holding the phone away from him with two fingers as if it was going to explode at any second. He threw the phone to Scarlett who unwillingly kept a hold of it while Stiles ran to the van and turned on the police scanner. Allison shared a look with Scarlett and the two of them followed quickly, jumping into the van together when they heard that all police in the area were being told to go to the preserve to find them.
"Where are we gonna go?" Scarlett asked in a panic. She looked at Stiles who was dialling a number on Jackson's phone.
"As far away from this," He threw the phone out the window. "As possible." He started the van and they sped off to the opposite side of the preserve, where hopefully they wouldn't be found.
The three of them waited around until Scott finally got there and by that time it was time for Scarlett to go.
"Okay, well text me if anything happens." Scarlett said, putting her phone back into her pocket. The other three turned to look at her with confused expressions.
"Where are you going?" Scott asked her.
She gave him a blank look before sighing. "I told you. Mary invited me to Tucker's funeral. I have to go."
"Wh-"
"Go ahead Scar. We can handle things." Allison cut off what Scott was going to say, giving Scarlett a warm smile.
"Thank you." She smiled and walked away briskly, planning on how she was going to get out of the preserve without being seen by the cops.
Eventually she managed to make it out, having to sneak by deputies and hide behind trees several times in the process. Once she was in the clear she began the journey back to her house.
When she was dressed and ready Scarlett looked at herself in the mirror. As she took in her black attire an immense wave of sadness washed over her. This was really happening. She was going to have to go to Tucker's funeral and watch Mary's heart break even more than it already had. Scarlett had never really been close with Tucker per say but he was a good guy and he adored Mary with everything he had. That was the worst part about it. She was upset about Tucker's death, of course, but it was Mary who Scarlett was really worried about. She and Mary actually were close and Scarlett wasn't mentally prepared to see Mary so out of sorts considering it was Mary that was always smiling and laughing and helping people out. Seeing her at her house like that was bad enough. But now? Now they were going to have to actually face the fact that he was really dead. How was Mary supposed to cope with that? She was strong and fierce but Tucker had been her other half…a part of her, which meant that a part of her had died as well.
Scarlett sighed and shook her head. Mary would pull through…
"You never wear that much black." Scarlett jumped internally but she wasn't fazed on the outside. She really should be used to Derek popping up like that by now.
"Yeah well, I kind of have to for this occasion." She said glumly, turning to face Derek who was sitting on the bed. "It's Tucker, the mechanic's, funeral."
"And you're going why?" He asked, raising a brow at her.
"Because he was a friend. And because Mary asked me to." She explained. "Did you find it?"
"What?"
Scarlett sighed and walked over to sit next to him. "The Kanima. Last night. Did you find it?"
A look of recognition crossed Derek's face as he nodded. "I found it. Not that that did any good."
"How so?" She asked, leaning against him while he rubbed her back.
"It just gets back up again. Argent emptied an entire round into it and it still got back up but…" He trailed off, not really sure if he should tell her all of this.
"But what?"
"Gerard was there and he- he looked at it…and he wasn't afraid." Derek mumbled, furrowing his brows as if he was trying to figure something out.
"So what does that mean?" Scarlett asked in confusion.
"I don't know." He told her, shaking his head before looking down.
"Hey," Scarlett said softly, touching the side of his face so that he looked at her. "We'll figure this out...eventually." She really did believe that. But only if they all worked together. If Derek and Scott trusted each other then they could figure out everything and find a way to save Jackson and stop the murders.
Derek looked at her like she was the most priceless thing in the world, which she was to him, before leaning in to meet her lips. It felt like more than a kiss for both of them. It was filled with all of their emotions…all of the feelings they held for one another, all the things that they didn't say out loud always showed through when they kissed. And as it became more passionate, Scarlett managed to climb into Derek's lap while he wrapped his arms around her and held her as close as possible, never wanting to let her go. Just wanting to keep her as safe as possible. Scarlett slid her hands through his hair, trying to be even closer to him which at that point was virtually impossible.
"I don't want you involved in this Scar." He told her once he had pulled back.
"It's a little late for that." She said quietly. And that was the truth. They both knew it. Scarlett was a part of this as much as the rest of them and it didn't matter how much Derek wanted to never let her out of his sight…he couldn't just keep her locked up. Despite all of this shit going on around them, she needed to have a semi-normal life.
"I wish you didn't have to be." He told her, resting his forehead against hers.
"Sometimes, I wish that too." She laughed a little. "Sometimes, I wish that we lived normal lives and we could be a normal couple…but that's just not the way it is. This is our lives. They're so screwed up and crazy but we can't just stop living them. We can't run away and hide from these problems because if we don't try to fix things, who will?"
"We will." Derek told her, looking into her eyes. "'We' being me, my pack and Scott…not you."
"I hate that. I hate the fact that you and Scott are constantly in danger. And I'm completely useless and I just- I can't lose you Derek. That dream that I had felt too real and it scared me to death. I-if I lose you…I won't be able to move on and-and I know that I don't say this a lot but you mean everything to me and I-" He cut her off with a fierce kiss that told her he felt the same way, that he wouldn't be able to live without her.
Derek pulled back abruptly and stared at her. "Scarlett, you are my life. I can't let anything happen to you and I want you to understand that. I need you to understand that." Scarlett noticed the desperate look in his beautiful eyes and her heart melted. She nodded in response to what he had said but Derek shook his head. "Say it. Say that you understand how much you mean to me."
"I understand. I do. Derek I-" Just before the words could come out of Scarlett's mouth her phone went off and she immediately snapped out of the trance Derek always put her in. She immediately scolded herself for almost letting those three words slip again and got off of Derek's lap to grab her phone.
"Hello?" Scarlett answered.
Derek watched her carefully, not too focused on listening to what the person was saying. Instead, he studied Scarlett…she seemed, not older but more mature than she had been when they first met. Could being involved in all this werewolf stuff really be the cause of that? Scarlett had always been more mature than most people her age but maybe she was being forced to grow up even faster to be able to handle all of this. Derek hated the thought of that. He hated that she had been brought into this crap. He hated the fact that he was a major factor in why she was involved in the first place. He would never understand why she chose to be with him when all he brought to her life was hassle and danger but he was so glad that she did. Scarlett was his reason. His reason for everything, despite everyone else thinking it was power. If he didn't have Scarlett then he would be empty, much like he was before. Before he met her, when everything was about being hateful towards the rest of the world for what had happened to his family. Of course, he would never get over what had happened. It would always haunt him in the back of his mind but Scarlett took away a hell of a lot of the pain and anger that he had felt before and replaced it with…hell, who was he kidding? She replaced it with love. The love he held for her. That's all he felt and thought about when they were together and even when they weren't. He had to focus on his pack and the Kanima, yes, but he only wanted to focus on Scarlett. On her needs and everything she wanted. He wanted to be there for her and give her the relationship that she longed for.
"I'm leaving right now. Okay, I'll see you in a few." Scarlett said sympathetically, ending the call with Carrie.
"Who was that?" Derek asked as Scarlett let out a breath and looked at him.
"It was Mary's mother asking where I am. So…" She trailed off, gesturing towards the door. He nodded and smiled slightly.
"Need a ride?" He asked, standing up from the bed.
Scarlett shook her head. "I'm good but I have to go or I'm gonna be late." She told him, retrieving her bag and her jacket from the chair and leading the way out of her room.
When they were outside Scarlett hurried towards her car and Derek followed. She turned as she was about to get in and gave him a chaste kiss and a flawless smile. He returned the smile and let her get into the car before he shut her door for her like a gentleman. Scarlett blushed slightly, for no reason in particular. She just felt special in a way because Derek would never do that for anyone else. It wasn't a big gesture but it was a reminder that he cared about her and that they were together.
The funeral wasn't big. Mary didn't want it to be big and Mary had the right to call the shots on everything at the time. It was mostly Mary's family and of course Tucker's family and a few friends that were invited. Scarlett sat near Mary's family and she kept silent for the whole thing. Not only out of respect for Tucker but because her mind was too clouded with thoughts of 'what if this was Derek?' She didn't want to think like that but she was incapable of not doing so. She imagined herself in Mary's position and it only served to bring more tears to her eyes. It wasn't likely that she would lose Derek, she knew that and she believed that he was more than capable of taking care of himself but she couldn't help but fret over everything. If she ever lost him…how would she go on? If the Kanima or hunters or anyone ever took Derek away from her, she would be livid and then depressed and Scarlett was so thankful that it wasn't him in that coffin, as shallow, inconsiderate and selfish as it sounded.
Mary's speech evoked more than a few tears from everyone. It was filled with touching words and a few happy memories from their past. She held herself together so well until the last line of her speech which she struggled to get through because of the tears. Scarlett praised her for that. She admired Mary's strength and for that, she took it upon herself to be that strong. She didn't, in any way, think of herself as weak but it couldn't hurt to toughen up a bit with the life that she had.
"Thank you for coming Scar, it means a lot." Mary said sincerely, pulling Scarlett in for a tight hug which she returned without hesitation.
"Don't mention it." Scarlett brushed it off, thinking it was crazy if Mary thought that she wouldn't have went. "I'm always here for you Mary and I really am, so sorry, for your loss." Mary gave a weak smile and nodded before they hugged again and Scarlett left with everyone else.
"Okay, so you have been totally holding out on me with the juicy details." Lydia smirked, raising her eyebrows suggestively at Scarlett as they walked through Macy's together.
Scarlett's brows furrowed in confusion and she gave Lydia a questioning look. "What?"
Lydia rolled her eyes. "I mean you and Derek. Derek and you. Let's hear it. How's the sex? Is it good? Is he good? Has he stayed the night yet? Have you stayed the night with him? Have you said 'I love you' yet?-"
"Lydia!" Scarlett snapped, stopping her on the seemingly never-ending list of questions.
"What? I have a right to know." Lydia pouted.
Scarlett sighed and tried to remember the questions so that she could give some answers because Lydia was right. They always told each other everything about what was happening in their relationships, it had just always been that way because they trusted each other. "The sex…is amazing. He's good. Great, actually. No, he hasn't stayed and nor have I. And…no, we, uh, we haven't said it yet." Scarlett blushed and struggled a little with getting out what she was trying to say for her last answer. It was something that had been plaguing her mind lately. She had been close to saying it before but, those words…they were a big leap and she knew they were true but she just thought that if she was meant to say it then it would come naturally. The last two times she had almost said it, she had been interrupted and she took that as some sort of sign saying that it wasn't the right time.
"So, does Scott know about said relationship?" Lydia asked subtly, taking out a cream-coloured dress from the rack and looking it over.
"He knows." Scarlett nodded, skimming through the other side of the rack. "He's not too pleased about it but yeah, he knows."
"Well…I'm sure he'll get over himself. Speaking of, why isn't Allison here again?"
Scarlett paused for a moment. She couldn't exactly tell her the truth: that Allison and Scott were in the woods with a stolen prison transport van because they had to keep Jackson on lockdown so that he wouldn't turn into some scaly-ass monster that was murdering people. Yeah, the truth was definitely a no-go.
"She's studying." Scarlett said simply. Lydia narrowed her eyes at Scarlett and in return Scarlett just smiled and walked away to look at shoes.
"You know, I was there too…I have a right to know what the hell is happening around here." Lydia complained, hurrying after Scarlett with an angry and upset look on her face.
"I don't really think you want to know Lyds. In fact, it's safer if you just don't ask any questions all together." Scarlett suggested, her tone sounding bitchier than she meant for it to be.
Scarlett turned when Lydia grabbed her arm and forced her to look at her. "I know that whatever is going on has something to do with me, something to do with me freaking out and wandering around in the woods for two days. And I just- I need you to tell me what you know about it because otherwise, I really am going crazy." Scarlett immediately felt sorry for her best friend because of her broken tone. She didn't like that Lydia had to be kept out of the loop but it just wasn't safe and she didn't want to have to drag yet another person into this. It wasn't right.
"You aren't crazy Lydia. Believe me." Scarlett said sincerely before noticing a pair of beautiful black heels. "And believe when I say that these would look phenomenal on you." She said with a smile, picking the shoes up and holding them out to Lydia who narrowed her eyes at them before smirking and nodding.
"So, tell me again why we're sitting here?" Scarlett asked confusedly. Both she and Lydia were sitting on Allison's bed in the dark waiting for Allison to return. Lydia hadn't really given an explanation so she just went along with it.
Before Lydia could answer, Allison walked in and went to the lamp to turn it on, gasping when she saw the girls in the mirror.
"You scared the hell out of me." Allison breathed out, giving them a weird look.
"Sorry." Scarlett apologised.
"We've been sitting here for an hour waiting on you." Lydia said, giving Allison and disappointed look.
"I can't hang out right now." Allison told them, turning back to the dresser to take her scarf off.
"Scar and I have already been hanging out." Lydia countered, looking at Scarlett and back to Allison. "And despite what you said, Scar, I need to talk to you both about what's going on."
Scarlett sighed and went to protest but Allison beat her to it. "I understand- we understand," She corrected herself, looking at Scarlett. "That this is important but if it can just wait."
Lydia groaned and stood up, making Scarlett eye her wearily. "Why is everyone always telling me to wait? Why can't anyone have right now available?"
"You can't have everything right now." Allison told her, not liking Lydia's bratty tone.
"Lydia, if this is about people thinking you're crazy then there's no point in talking about it again because I already told you that you aren't." Scarlett said, falling back on the bed, worn out from the day and not in the mood for Lydia's complaints.
"You're not crazy. And anything else that you want to talk about can wait because right now, I need someone to translate five pages of Archaic Latin. Obviously that's not going to happen any time soon." Allison said with a huff.
"I know Archaic Latin." Lydia shrugged making Scarlett lean up slightly and raise a brow at her.
"How the hell do you know Archaic Latin?" Scarlett asked, not knowing whether to be impressed or surprised. It was probably a mixture of both. And a little bit of her also thought that she ought to have expected such a thing. It was Lydia after all.
"I got bored with classical Latin."
"Just how smart are you?" Allison asked, sounding impressed.
"Just, show me the pages." Lydia told her, shaking her head and holding out her hand.
A little while later Scarlett and Allison stood behind Lydia, looking over her shoulder at the computer screen that had the digital copy of the bestiary on it.
"Are you sure that's what it means?" Scarlett asked with a look of confusion.
"Miss Morell said that word meant friend. The Kanima seeks a friend." Allison said, sounding sure of herself.
Lydia shook her head, not turning to face them. "She was wrong. The word means master."
"The Kanima seeks a master." Scarlett and Allison said at the same time trying to fit the puzzle pieces together, the very few that they had anyway.
"Is that important?" Lydia asked nonchalantly, standing up from the seat and moving to sit on Allison's bed again.
Scarlett and Allison gave each other a look before Allison quickly moved to sit in the chair that Lydia had abandoned to get a better look at the screen.
"Yeah." She whispered. "Someone's not protecting him…" Both she and Scarlett's eyes widened at the same time as the realisation set in.
"Someone's controlling him." Scarlett finished.
"What?" Lydia asked dully from her spot on the bed. Scarlett cleared her throat and shook her head.
"Um, nothing. It's nothing…"
"We just needed the information because the truth is…" Scarlett glared at Allison, warning her not to say anything. "That Scarlett, Scott, Stiles and myself are all part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." Allison saved quickly making Scarlett stifle a laugh at the ridiculous story.
"Yeah, exactly." Scarlett agreed, her face not looking at all convincing.
"Whatever." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Can we talk now?"
Scarlett and Allison sighed. "Of course." Allison said, getting up from the chair so that she could join Lydia and Scarlett, who had just sat on the bed.
"So why can't you just tell me what's going on?" Lydia asked disbelievingly, getting straight to the point.
"I don't know what you want us to say. I already told you that if you absolutely had to know something then we would tell you." Scarlett said, sounding defeated. It was the truth. She didn't know what to tell Lydia. Not only was Scarlett wary about letting Lydia in on the supernatural secret but Lydia was also just asking questions that Scarlett and Allison didn't have the answers to. No one knew what had happened to Lydia and it annoyed Scarlett because she wanted to know but she didn't. She had no clue so what the hell was she supposed to tell Lydia?
"Look, you two are my best friends and best friends aren't supposed to keep each other out of the loop." Lydia told them sadly.
"We're sorry Lydia." Allison shrugged hopelessly. She didn't want to have to lie to Lydia either but there wasn't any other choice. Letting her know would be too dangerous.
Lydia nodded and pursed her lips. "Okay. Don't tell me." She said, gathering her things.
"Lydia, wait." Scarlett said, reaching out for her as she got up and stormed out of the room. Scarlett and Allison looked after her with saddened and defeated expressions. "Great. Just great."
"What were we supposed to say?" Allison asked quietly. Scarlett groaned and slapped her hands over her face, falling back onto the bed.
"I don't know. And that's not all we have to worry about now. Now we have to find out who the psychopath controlling Jackson is."
"Who do you think it is?" Allison whispered, crossing her legs and resting her chin on her hand.
"Someone that wants people dead?" Scarlett suggested.
Allison gave her a dry look but then cracked a smile and started laughing. Scarlett raised a brow at her friend but then began to laugh as well. She had no reason for doing so but Allison's laugh was kind of infectious. And besides, she needed to laugh. The day had been a long and stressful one what with school, the funeral, upsetting Lydia and finding out that someone was actually telling Jackson to commit these murders. It was a lot to handle and although laughing didn't seem like the mature thing to do, it was nice. Laughing meant not worrying and not worrying was always a good thing.
Once the girls had finished their laughing fit, Allison drove Scarlett back home. The house was empty when Scarlett walked in. Typical. Scott was probably with Stiles and their mom was at work.
Scarlett sighed, making herself some tea before trudging upstairs. She flung her bag to the ground and got changed into her pyjamas, turning on the TV and climbing into bed.
As Scarlett drank her tea and watched Buffy, she couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't just be like Buffy. She was strong and smart and unafraid and Scarlett longed to be like that. Granted, she wasn't completely helpless and she knew that, it was just that it seemed as if Allison was the Buffy of reality. Maybe Scarlett could learn some hunter skills from Allison and then at least she would be able to defend herself should she ever be faced with that kind of situation. God knows that Derek would do everything in his power to prevent Scarlett from being in the face of danger but he couldn't always be there to save her.
After a while of debating with herself Scarlett decided that she would ask Allison about teaching her the next time she was with her. She knew that Derek would be furious about the whole thing but that's why she wouldn't tell him. The guilt was already there just thinking about keeping things from him but it was dull and Scarlett managed to push it away.
Not much time had passed after that before she began to dose off but right before she did she heard the front door close. Not thinking anything of it, Scarlett closed her eyes again until she heard Scott and Melissa bickering with each other. Opening her eyes she got out of bed and walked out of her room and down the stairs, careful to not make any noise.
"Do you- I mean, would you rather you had your father back in your life? Is that why you're acting out like this Scott?" Scarlett heard Melissa ask quietly. There was a silence on Scott's part before Melissa started talking again. "Have you talked to Scarlett about this? Does she feel the same way?"
At the broken tone of her mother's voice, Scarlett sighed and walked through to the kitchen making her presence known.
"I don't feel that way." She said simply. Both Melissa and Scott turned to look at her and she shrugged. "Why would you think that mom?"
"Did you know? About the so called prank your brother and Stiles played on Jackson Whittemore?" Melissa asked sternly.
Scarlett's eyes widened a fraction and she wasn't sure of what to say. "I-I um,"
"Did you?" Melissa shouted making Scarlett jump.
"Yes." She answered quickly and quietly, hanging her head. "I did."
Melissa's eyes were full of anger and disappointment towards both of her children. "You're lucky he didn't pull a restraining order on you as well."
"What? A restraining order?" Scarlett asked, her surprise-filled eyes locked on Scott who nodded solemnly.
"Yes. A restraining order." Melissa snapped. "And since you decided not to tell me about this Scarlett, I'm grounding you too." Scarlett's eyes widened again and she went to plead for her mom to reconsider but Melissa wouldn't hear it. "No TV, no shopping, no parties, no friends. End of discussion."
"Mom-" Scott tried to say but Melissa cut him off.
"I said end of discussion." Melissa held out a hand to silence Scott. "I'm disappointed in you both." She said, looking at them solemnly before making her way upstairs.
Never once in Scarlett's life had she been grounded. Sure, she'd had her phone taken off of her a few times for coming home too late but that was the extent of it. Melissa never shouted at her, or Scott, the way she did just there. Not very often anyway. Scarlett knew that the whole locking Jackson up thing was going to get them into trouble but a restraining order? And their mom being pissed at them? That wasn't the kind of trouble she was expecting. She felt like a failure for disappointing Melissa. It wasn't something that she liked to do and she felt absolutely horrible about it. Scarlett and Melissa had always been so close and when she and Scott got into any sort of trouble by their mom when they were younger, Scarlett would always take it personally. It was still like that now. She knew how hard their mom worked to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table all while trying to raise them right. It couldn't be easy being a single parent and that's why Scarlett looked up to Melissa like she was a hero because that's what she was to her and disappointing Melissa felt like disrespecting her as well and who would she be to disrespect the woman she idolized?
"What exactly happened?" Scarlett asked Scott quietly, feeling guilty and upset after Melissa's outburst.
He shook his head and sighed. "Jackson told his father about what happened and he got a restraining order taken out on me and Stiles."
"Well shit. I didn't think he would go that far." Scarlett said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Neither did we." Scott shrugged.
"So what are you going to do?" Scarlett urged, needing to know how Scott and Stiles planned to fix this mess.
"I don't know." Scott admitted, leaning his head against the wall. "Go to school, go to work and try to prevent people getting murdered I guess."
"Isn't that what you do already?" Scarlett asked, incredulous.
"Yeah except now, I'm not allowed to hang out with Stiles."
"Mom took away Stiles?" Scarlett was pretty shocked at that one. Stiles and Scott were joined at the hip. How the hell were they supposed to survive without each other? Then it dawned on her that she wouldn't be allowed out to see her friends which meant no Lydia, no asking Allison about learning hunting skills and…no Derek. Fucking fantastic.
"Pretty much." Scott shrugged again, seeming really down.
Scarlett gave him a sympathetic look and actually pulled him in for a hug which he returned slowly. "We won't be grounded for long and you'll see Stiles and Allison at school and we'll find a way to stop Jackson and whoever's controlling him." She wasn't only reassuring Scott but herself as well. She had to hold onto the hope that they really wouldn't be grounded for long and she would be able to see the people she needed to see.
Scott pulled back and gave her a look. "You know about that?" He asked, referring to Jackson being controlled.
"Yeah, I was there when Lydia translated it. I take it Allison told you?" Scarlett answered. Scott nodded in reply. There was a pause between them before Scarlett asked another question. "Do you think it's someone we know?"
Scott narrowed his eyes. "The person controlling the Kanima?" Scarlett nodded grimly and Scott seemed thoughtful for a moment before answering the question in a monotone voice. "I think it could be anyone."