Chapter 17

There was pin-drop silence in the room. Danny stood rooted to the spot, his eyes wide and expression frozen. Lydia stared at the ground, her hand over her mouth in horror. Stiles, Derek and Scott just stared at each other, at a loss. Each one of them was slowing processing the revelation, bit by bit, and it was much tougher than any of them had expected. Between the collective looks of horror and disbelieve, stood one expression; of defeat. Jenna hung her head low, so that her hair fell about her face, hiding the tears slowly sliding down her cheeks. Finally Lydia let out a small gasp.

"Oh my God!" she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes.

Stiles went over to her and put an arm around her shoulders, comforting her. He then turned to Jenna, but when he saw her, he suddenly couldn't find enough courage to look her in the eye. He swallowed dryly and cleared his throat.

"So they left and you set the building on fire?"

Jenna shook her still bowed head. "God, no! They took care of the Walshes. Ethan, Aiden and Mike were supposed to take them out, and they did. Kyle found me and then you know what happened. I honestly don't even remember much except that they saved my life."

Danny moved, for the first time since Jenna had started her narration. He wrapped his arms around the girl, letting her hide her face in his shoulder. Jenna stood there, Danny holding her tightly. She could feel Danny's t-shirt under her cheek slowly getting wet, from her tears but she didn't care, and she knew Danny didn't mind. He gently patted her head, and whispered, "I'm so sorry I made you tell." Jenna hugged him back and shook her head.

"No, it's okay. It's just the first time I have ever recounted anything."

"I know," Danny whispered.

Scott and Derek still sat side by side, wondering what to do, what to say. Derek had always been socially awkward, but today even Scott was at a loss. The whole perception any of them had of the twins had changed, turned on its head. Suddenly, everything seemed so clear. Scott remembered how Ethan had told them about being omegas, "bitches of the pack" to be exact. He could suddenly understand their devotion to Deucalion. Deucalion had taken them in when they had nothing, had faced years and years of abuse and torture and faced enormous loss. He had taken two frightened, broken and damaged kids and turned them into powerful beings, a unit, a monster that no one messes with. Someone to be feared. Of course the twins would owe their lives to him! But even then Ethan had made a choice, a choice to be true to Danny, to try and save Derek's life, and Aiden had followed him, for Lydia. Every time they had called the twins 'killers', they had accepted it graciously, knowing the accusation to be true, but never telling them why. Scott could see the same thoughts flitting through Derek's mind. They suddenly saw exactly what had gone down at the warehouse, why Aiden had frozen, why Ethan had jumped in front of his brother, why it crushed Aiden when Lydia accused him of not being able to protect his brother. They never knew! Scott felt a crushing feeling within himself. He felt a pat on his shoulder and looked up to see Derek. Derek nodded towards the door.

Ethan stood there, his arms wrapped around his middle, obviously in pain, but still standing. The group sprang up from their seats, taken off guard by the sudden arrival. Jenna hurried towards him.

"What are you doing up? You should be resting!" she said, pulling his free arm over her shoulder, supporting his weight. Ethan didn't refuse and was probably thankful for that but his face evidently showed displeasure.

"You told them," he stated, simply. Jenna looked at him and took a deep breath.

"I am sorry Eth—"

"I made her. Ethan, I'm sorry. I thought I was being helpful, I didn't realize..." Danny trailed on.

Ethan stared at his boyfriend for a long while and then nodded.

"Look, we don't want your pity ok?" he said, looking around the room, "and please, don't ask me or Aiden, or even Jenna anything else!"

"We won't," Derek spoke up, "and we don't pity you, Ethan. For the first time, I don't mind saying this, but I'm proud of you. And I admire you and your brother."

Ethan gave Derek with an unreadable expression. Jenna's eyes danced between the two wolves but she couldn't get a reading on either of them. Finally, Ethan's breath hitched. He screwed his eyes shut in pain and Jenna quickly guided him back to him room, leaving the McCall pack and Danny flabbergasted.

AN: IT'S SLOW, I KNOW! BUT DO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK? ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO!