A/N:

Well it's been ages - I'm so sorry for my delayed reply. Not only did I get busy with school, but just as I started making the gif's for this chapter, tumblr rolled out the new update and I lost motivation for making anything. But now I've gotten back my motivation and I'm determined to try and keep my updates somewhat regular. And honestly, the one thing that comforts me is the fact that the stats say the story's been viewed. I won't ask for reviews but they would be great, honestly. I don't mind them at all. But thank you, so so much bluepenquin1998, your reviews do make my day!

Trigger Warning: Depression, Suicide.

Enjoy this chappie! Many surprises to come ahead, my lovelies.

"I'm glad you finally decided to talk to someone. I'm surprised you picked me, though."

Eva flickered her eyes from the name framed on the desk, before she looked up at Mrs. Morrell, "You're the only person I can talk to. Really talk to." Eva mumbled as she glanced around the office. Marin's eyes also moved around the office she worked in at Eichen House, before her eyes moved down to Eva's face again, "Tell me what happened. What changed your mind?"

Eva licked her lips and looked down at the ground again, her mind recalling the night of her birthday party – fairly two nights ago.

Eva sat in front of the fireplace in the lake house's living room, a couple of blankets wrapped around her. She stared at the flames dancing before her eyes, before she took a deep breath and pursed her lips. It was gone. The weight was gone. It worked.

Eva looked up when she heard someone walk in, half expecting it to be Stiles, now having warmed up enough under the hot shower to talk to her. But it wasn't. Scott slowly sat down beside her on the floor and glanced sideways at her. Eva stared at him for a long moment, before Scott finally started, "Did it help?"

"What?" Eva frowned, not expecting that to be the first question to leave Scott's lips.

"Did it help? Almost drowning? Did it change anything?" Scott asked again, before he lifted both brows, "You jumped, right? You didn't fall."

Eva's eyes drifted back to the fire and she nodded slowly, "I jumped, yeah."

Scott remained silent, not persisting or asking his question again, but when Eva turned to him again, she saw the curiosity still in his eyes. Eva chewed at the inside of her cheek before she nodded slowly, "It did something."

"Not what you wanted it to do?" Scott inquired, tilting his head.

"No, not really" Eva shook her head slowly, before she turned to Scott again and sighed, "I'm sorry."

"It's…I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Scott admitted as he turned his gaze to the fire.

Eva frowned before she turned her gaze to the flames as well, "Is he upset?"

"He's shaken up." Scott started, "It really was like that other night for him, and Stiles really does care about you. You can't do this to him, Eva." Eva glanced sideways at Scott when she heard the protective tone in Scott's voice, "Stiles is like a brother to me, and I would do anything for him, even if it's to talk to his girlfriend that almost died and tell her what he's too worried or too scared to tell her."

Eva blinked slowly before she nodded once, her gaze turning solemn. "I'm going to get better."

"I really hope you do." Scott smiled briefly, "But just in case, I wanted to give you the present I got for you."

Eva looked up at Scott curiously as he pulled his phone out of pocket and started typing. When he was done, he turned to Eva and took a deep breath, "I just texted you my mom's number. My mom has been…so amazing with all of this. And she's been a mom to me, and Stiles, and Allison, and Isaac…and she can be for you too." Scott mumbled, "So I talked to her. And she's here for you. Whatever you need." Scott smiled briefly at Eva, and the girl felt her eyes well up a little.

"Can I hug you?" Eva inquired, and Scott laughed a little as he scooted closer to her to wrap his arms around her, "You're part of my family now, okay?" Scott started as he squeezed her frame once before he pulled away and stood up. "Whatever you need."

Eva nodded slowly, and watched as he walked back into the hallway. It was only a few minutes after that Stiles walked in with a blanket draped over his shoulders as well, and two mugs of something hot in his hands. Stiles plopped down beside Eva on the ground and held the mug out to her. Eva reached out to take the mug slowly, her eyes flickering up to his face, meeting his gaze. "I'm really sorry, Stiles."

"Don't apologize." Stiles shook his head once, "I shouldn't have left you by the lake alone anyways. I should have known better."

Eva frowned, "How could you have known better, Stiles?"

"Because…Because your mom's ashes in a lake…I just figured…" Stiles stuttered, his voice trailing away, and Eva sighed a little, "That I'd want to be with her?" She finished for him, and Stiles looked up, nodding slowly. "I didn't jump into the lake to drown."

"But you can't swim. You told me you couldn't swim." Stiles started, pulling his brows into a frown as he tilted his head and turned on his hunches to face her. Eva held the mug between her hands and brought it up to her lips, blowing into the hot chocolate and sipping a little at it. Stiles waited for her patiently, he too sipping at his drink. Eva finally lowered the mug and turned to Stiles, "I guess I was just…Trying to get rid of the feeling."

"The feeling that you were drowning?" Stiles asked, and Eva nodded slowly. "Did it work?"

"I don't feel it anymore." Eva shrugged once, and Stiles pursed his lips. "Is that a good thing?"

"Well I won't be throwing myself into lakes or pools anytime soon." Eva joked, and Stiles gave her a look, which made Eva realize that it wasn't a topic to joke about. And Eva realized she'd often used the dark humor to avoid the questions lately. "I guess it is. I know one thing for sure now."

"What is it?" Stiles asked, and Eva turned to him, taking a deep breath, "I'm going to talk to someone." Eva started, "I really want to get better. So I'm going to talk to someone."

Stiles' face lit up some as he scooted closer to her, "Are you serious?"

Eva nodded slowly and felt a small smile stretch onto her lips. Stiles breathed out a relieved sigh before he lifted his arm to bring his blanket around Eva's shoulders and pull her into his chest so they could both warm up by the fire, and for the first time things seemed to start to brighten up for the both of them, or at least Eva hoped they will.

"I almost drowned." Eva muttered, "I mean, I jumped into the water. But I didn't jump to like…kill myself." Eva looked up at Mrs. Morrell who took a deep breath and started, "Then why did you jump?"

"I guess….I guess I was trying feel something." Eva started and shrugged a little, "Ever since what happened, what happened with my mom, what my aunt did…I've just not been feeling myself. I felt like I was watching myself wither away and I couldn't do anything about it because I felt so numb." Eva explained as she looked up at the woman again, who nodded slowly.

"Is there anything specific that you were hoping to…feel?" Marin asked, and Eva blinked slowly as she tried to find the right words to describe it, "I guess…I guess I wanted to feel alive."

"And did you?"

"No," Eva shook her head slowly, "But I know now that I want to."

"How are you going to do that? Feel alive?" Marin asked as she swayed her chair swayed, propping her elbows on the armrest and locking her fingers together.

"I'm going to work on everything else that I feel. I mean, that's what I'm here for, right?" Eva asked, and Marin smiled at her, nodding slowly. "Right. So what did you want to talk about first?"

It was a two hour long session of continuous conversation between the two. Eva was surprised at the amount of comfort it brought her to talk about all of this, but when eventually it was over and Eva had to leave, Eva was relieved as well.

She walked through the hallways of the old sanitarium. She didn't know much about the place but she knew it had been standing here for a very long time. Eva's eyes drifted sideways to the wide rooms that had circles of chairs in them, patients sitting on the chairs and one counselor. Group therapies. Eva was uneasy about coming to Eichen House for her sessions but it was where Mrs. Morrell was called therapist. At school she'd be just a counselor, and that wouldn't help at all, especially now that she's got a very short prescription of anti-depressant that a school counselor can't prescribe.

Eva decided to take the outside route to the lobby – really needing the fresh air before she had to go and sit in the cooped up lobby. She watched the patients dressed in a uniform of grey-ish sweatpants and dark blue shirts, either long or short sleeved. She walked silently, her eyes observing the environment provided for these people – and she felt bad for them. The world saw them as mentally ill, not fit to live with normal people, and threw them in this place to treat them.

"It's miserable isn't it?"

Eva snapped her head forward to one of the patients standing in front of her, and out of instinct she stepped back briefly and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry?"

"It's a miserable place." The boy said, and Eva blinked as her eyes flickered up to his – and she stood there, trying to read him. She didn't really get much, but he stood normal, and talked normal. His clothes were the only inkling that he's a patient in this place. "Don't worry, I'm not crazy." He smiled at her, and Eva felt herself instinctively smile, an alarming sense of familiarity dawning onto her when she saw his smile. "My name's Daniel."

"Eva." She nodded once, her hands reaching to hold onto the straps of her bag on her shoulder. She glanced around, biting onto her lip curiously before she looked up at him again, "You don't look…you know."

"Crazy?' He offered to finish off her sentence, and Eva shrugged once. "Well, it's a long story. Don't let me bore you." He shrugged once, and Eva pursed her lips, nodding slowly, "What about you?"

"Me?" Eva blinked once, surprised at his curiosity, before she shook her head slowly as her brain tried to make up words to explain to this stranger, before she frowned – she didn't need to explain herself to him. She barely even knew him. "I was...I'm having my session with one of therapists here." She nodded once and pursed her lips.

"So, you're crazy." He concluded, and Eva lifted a brow as she crossed her arms over her chest, "No, I'm not."

"I saw you leave Morrell's office. Only the really messed up ones talk to her." Daniel shrugged and an overwhelmingly cocky smirk tugged at the corners of his lips that replaced any fondness Eva had for the guy with irritation. "You're one to talk." Eva pressed and shook her head once as she moved past him, but was surprised when he reached out and caught her wrist.

"I'm sorry." He said quickly when Eva turned around to look at him, and Eva took a deep breath to start and brush it off – but one of the nurse pulled her back as the others tasered Daniel to the ground, "He didn't do anything!" Eva cried out when the nurse stepped in front of her to shield her from absolutely nothing, but the one with the tazer looked up at her, "What are you doing here? Out patients are not allowed on the grounds." He barked, and Eva flinched as she stepped back.

The nurse who'd pulled her away turned to her with an apologetic expression on his face, "I'm sorry about him. Come on, let's get you to the lobby, okay?" Eva looked back at Daniel, twisting and turning on the ground, before she looked up at the nurse and started, "He really didn't do anything."

The man sighed, "That's not for me to decide. Just come with me. You really shouldn't be on the grounds." He told her. Eva's eyes flickered to the name tag on his chest that read Cole, then she looked up at him again and nodded slowly, letting him lead her back into building. "What was wrong with him anyways?" Eva asked as she looked up at him, and Cole shook his head once, flashing her another apologetic smile, "That's patient information that I can't disclose."

"I'm technically a patient, right?" Eva asked as she lifted a brow, and Cole shook his head once, "Let's just say he's had a rough childhood and he's been kicked out of so many foster homes that no other place would take him except here."

"That bad?" Eva frowned as she looked back again, "He really looks sane to me."

"Those are the ones that are the most insane." Cole pointed out, and Eva blinked slowly as she took in his words and nodded, "Here we are." Cole announced once they'd gotten to the lobby, "Please don't wander inside this place on your own again. It could be really dangerous."

Eva smiled and nodded once at the man, "I won't. Thank you." She offered genuinely, "I'm Eva, by the way." She started, and Cole smiled, "And I'm Cole." He told her before the beeper on his side went off, and he looked up at her apologetically before he turned to leave. Eva turned back to the main doors and took a deep breath before she dug through her bag and retrieved her phone. Eva frowned a little when her eyes went over the notifications she had, one of which being a text message from her father saying that he couldn't pick her up and that Stiles will. The other one was a text message from Stiles saying that Derek was going to pick her up.

And indeed, when she looked up, she saw Derek leaned against his black Camaro across the street. Eva pulled her brows into a frown before she approached him slowly, "Why are you picking me up?" She asked quietly, hesitantly, and Derek looked down at her before he took a deep breath, "I never got a chance to offer you my condolences." He eventually sighed, and Eva blinked in surprise.

"I…realize that I misjudged you. And you lost almost everything, almost like I did." Derek started, his gaze on the floor before he took a deep breath, "I'm here for something else. Something that might help you."

"You have something that might help me?" Eva questioned and lifted both brows in surprise. Derek gave her a look before he stepped aside and opened the passenger side's door, "Will you just get in and trust me?"

Eva stared at him for a long moment before she eventually slid into the car, sinking into the leather seat that made her look a thousand times smaller than she already looked. Derek got into the driver's seat and glanced sideways at Eva before he started, "You're part of Scott's pack. Whoever's a friend of Scott's is a friend of mine." Derek explained, though he kept a straight face, as he brought the car's motor to life and drove.

Eva was holding onto the edge of seat for dear life, even with her seatbelt on. When the car finally came to a stop, Eva breathed out in relief and closed her eyes. "Do you always drive like you want to die?" She turned to him, glaring.

"Says the girl that threw herself in a lake knowing she couldn't swim." Derek answered back, and Eva narrowed her eyes, "That's none of your business." Eva answered curtly, before she got out of the car and slammed the door shut. Derek rolled his eyes as he got out as well, and went to stand beside Eva, and heaved out a small sigh. "I'm…sorry." Derek breathed out through his teeth, and Eva glanced sideways at him, "I've had a couple of rough weeks." Derek mumbled, memories of being held captive by the Calaveras only to be rescued by that mercenary flashing back into his head.

Eva shrugged once, "It's fine." She told him, before she glanced around at the ordinary looking street, and the ordinary looking apartment complex that rose before them. "Where are we?" She asked as she turned to Derek, "Follow me." Was his only answer as he moved towards the complex and brought out a key, opening the door and holding it open for Eva before he followed her in.

A silent ride was the on the elevator was all they needed, too. "Where are we?" Eva pressed as she looked up at Derek, "You'll see." Eva arched one delicate brow at the man, before she took a deep breath and seethed it out through her teeth as the elevator doors opened and Derek led them through the hallway towards an apartment door.

Derek opened the door and held it for Eva to walk in, before he leaned against the doorway.

"Are you going to tell me where are we?" Eva demanded as she turned to him.

"This was…actually is still, Julia's apartment." Derek breathed out, letting his gaze drop to the ground. Eva stared at him blankly for a minute, trying to register what he'd just said. "Still?"

"I'm paying rent for it." Derek explained, "After what happened…I…used to just come and sit here." Derek shook his head and shrugged once, "Why I did that is not important, I brought you here because…you need to deal with what happened." Derek started as he looked up at her, "You need to deal with how you feel."

Eva blinked in slight surprise, and felt a little violated, "You were listening in on my session?"

Derek sighed heavily, "Do you want to get better or not?" Derek asked seriously, and Eva nodded slowly, "The apartment's yours. Do whatever you want with it. Take whatever you want from it. I'll pay for…any damage." Derek started as he stepped back, "I'll pick you up in an hour." Derek nodded once and started to close the door.

"Derek," Eva called out before he closed the door, "Thanks?" She offered and Derek nodded once before he closed the door. Eva turned back to the apartment, staring at its very ordinary exterior. A small living room, two armchairs, a loveseat. A television, a small kitchen on the side. And when she peered into the hallway she saw the two doors, one must have been a bathroom, the other a bedroom. Eva's eyes flickered across the living room again, towards that settled towards the far end of the room.

Eva stepped towards the desk slowly, her hands pushing away the books and the school papers that were there, remembering briefly that Julia pretended to be a school teacher. Once she moved everything out of the way, Eva saw a map underneath everything, with x's and circles marking certain spots. Eva frowned as her eyes flickered across the names; The Bank, The Rail Depot, Derek's loft, The hospital…her house?

Eva stared down for a long time before she finally understood what it meant. Those where the places her aunt took her victims from, or killed her victims at. But why was her house marked with an X? Eva's eyes flickered from the map to the photo frame that was in the cupboard by the desk, the very same photo Eva had on her dresser framed in there. Eva drew in a deep breath.

She was her backup plan. Eva was her aunt's backup plan. It wasn't something that happened by chance.

For the first time in a long time, Eva felt anger. It gently bubbled up in her chest until it felt like fire taking over her being, making her see red. Eva reached for the lamp on the desk, and turned her head away as she smashed the lamp through the glass, before she quickly and carefully reached in for the photo and brought it forward to stare down at it.

"I hate you." Eva breathed out through her teeth, her eyes welling up with fiery tears of anger, before she, with all her might, slammed the framed against the ground, watching the glass shatter, and the frame break into pieces. Eva's eyes lingered on the photo for a very long time, and she didn't even realize what she was doing until the piece of paper went up in flames. Eva gasped, before she quickly stepped on it, once, twice, until the fire was out.

It took Eva a minute to realize that it actually made her feel better, and she turned around, her eyes searching the apartment frantically, before they fell on the desk. With one swipe of her arms against the desk, all its contents were on the ground. Eva breathed out, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she stared down at the mess she'd made. Her eyes were welling up with tears, her heart was beating fast, and she was actually feeling better.

Eva's eyes tried to take in the appearance of the living room, before she threw the lamp to the ground, and reached for the TV to tug it off the wall and throw it to the ground. Eva hurried to flip over the coffee table, before she stepped back and took a deep breath to calm herself down, and her eyes scanned over the apartment again. She was actually feeling a lot better. A lot relieved…a lot less angry.

Eva took a deep breath before she turned towards the cupboard she'd just smashed into, and stepped towards it slowly. Her eyes flickered across the books that were inside it, most of them classical novels, until her eyes finally settled on a book spine that looked too old and worn out to be a novel. It reminded her more of a…grimoire. Eva reached in slowly and grabbed the book, then slowly pulled it out. Eva looked down at small, diary looking booking, before she pushed the hardcover open to peer through the withered pages.

She frowned as she stared at the blank page in front of her – why would her aunt keep a book of blank pages? As Eva started to flip through the pages, hoping to find something written somewhere, she heard the door click, and quickly closed the book, whirling around to see Derek peering through the front door. Derek's eyes widened as he glanced around the room, "Damn, you're little, but you sure can leave a mess."

Eva pursed her lips and shrugged a little, "Can I come back some time again?" Eva started as she stepped towards him, and Derek nodded slowly, "You can come over any time." He muttered as he peered into the apartment again before his eyes flickered to the notebook in Eva's arms. "What's that?"

Eva looked down at the book before she took a deep breath and looked up at Derek again, "Something Julia doesn't need anymore." Eva muttered as she stepped past him and into the hallway.