Hey, so this story is set after 3B but obviously it is a little wrong because fucking Kate Argent isn't back as a creepy ass blue thing! Like seriously what is she? If anyone could tell me it would be greatly appreciated. Anyway… I know the timeline is a little weird when combined with my other stories but my friend (EpicPickleNinja… she has a slight Jackson obsession…) gave me a vague idea for this and I really felt like writing this soo… yea… I'm good at these aren't I? Oh, I don't own anything…
Jackson was exhausted. He had just gotten into Beacon Hills from London this morning. It was summer break and he had really wanted to visit Danny and even the rest of the pack, though he would never admit to that one. Though he had been away, he had been kept mainly caught up on what was happening in good old Beacon Hills. For instance, he knew about Lydia being a banshee, the alpha pack, that Erica and Boyd had been killed by the alpha pack, and his best friend was having an on again off again relationship with one of the alphas in said pack. Needless to say, he was not pleased. That was the one thing he had asked of McCall before he left: make sure Danny stayed safe with all of the craziness going on. The last thing he had heard, however, was that the alphas had been defeated, Scott had become an alpha, and the twin alpha freaks had changed sides and were helping out Scott's pack. That had been weeks ago.
He had read online about Allison's death, and it upset him more than it should have. She was a pretty cool girl and didn't deserve to be killed by random muggers off the street. Honestly, he didn't really believe that story because it also said that McCall and Lahey were with her and he knew that she is a good hunter, so no random mugger should have been able to kill her. Anyway, he and Danny were walking through town heading to their favorite coffee shop when they ran into Lydia. To say she looked surprised would be an understatement. She had her surprised and pissed off face on that Jackson knew so well, however she looked different. She looked pale and upset and nowhere near as put together as she usually did.
"Are you ok?" was the first thing out of his mouth.
She just raised a perfect eyebrow and gave a sideways look at Danny, obviously saying that she couldn't tell him in front of his friend. It was supernatural…
"Hey Danny, why don't you go get us some coffee? I'll be right in," he said, handing Danny some cash.
Danny gave them a weird look, with something else in his expression but Jackson didn't have time to analyze before Danny was taking the money and saying, "yea ok."
"So what has been going on, Lydia? No one has told me anything for the past few weeks and all of a sudden I hear that Allison was killed by muggers while with McCall and Lahey and we both know that is a load of shit. Tell me what is going on!" he said in a rush, all of his frustration due to lack of knowledge finally coming out.
"Why should I tell you? You left remember?" she asked him.
"She was my friend to," was all Jackson had to say for Lydia's face to crumple and her to tell him everything. About the sacrifices, the new girl Kira, the Nogitsune in Stiles, the Oni, Allison, Aidan, everything. It really only took her a few minutes to give him the rundown but by the time she was done, he felt like they had been standing there for hours.
"So that's what I'm doing now. I'm looking for Stiles, because ever since school got out he has been very good at slipping past us and going off on his own. Trust me, he does not need to be by himself right now. Every time he is, he always ends up drowning in his guilt," she finished in a rush.
"Have you checked Derek's bakery yet? He could have gone there," Jackson asked. Based on the look of surprise on her face the answer was no.
"No, I actually haven't," all of a sudden her phone rang. Looking down at it she swore and answered, "Hey mom… Yea, I'm on my way home. I just ran into Jackson. Yea, he is back visiting Danny for a while. I will. See you soon." She looked up with a pleading look in her eye. "Please, can you go check the bakery for Stiles? My mom really wants me home, and ever since Allison and Aidan she has been very overprotective."
Jackson sighed, knowing he would regret it as soon as his mouth opened. "Yea, I can take Danny and go look for him. I don't know how I will explain it to Danny, though."
"Thank you, just tell Danny that you want dessert and Derek has the best. Call me if you find him!" With that she gave Jackson a quick hug and left.
Running his hand through his hair Jackson went to go talk Danny into driving them to a freaking bakery two towns over.
Surprisingly, Danny was completely ok with going to the bakery. Apparently his cousin started working there last summer so he knows the place well. Walking into the bakery, Jackson had flashbacks of many nights spent there with the pack before he had left, before the pack had splintered. Looking in the corner of the dining area, Jackson immediately saw Stiles. The boy looked a lot paler than he had remembered. He looked exhausted and withdrawn, hunching in on himself like he didn't want anyone to notice him. Jackson knew exactly how he felt, well maybe not exactly because he had never killed any of his friends. But he knew the feeling of being controlled and trapped in your own body, having to watch your own hands kill people and not be able to stop it. He had never told anyone, but his memories of when he was the Kanima had come back to him. One of the reasons he wanted to move to London was to get away from all of the things that reminded him of his guilt.
"Hey Liz," Danny said to his cousin, "Hey, Jess," the concern in his voice not hidden very well. He and Stiles had become closer ever since Stiles figured out that Danny knew about the supernatural. Danny was still not sure how he had figured it out. They spent a long time hanging out pretending to do homework while Stiles was actually filling Danny in on what was happening in the pack and all of the other supernatural things Danny hadn't figured out yet.
Upon hearing Danny, Stiles looked up to great his friend and almost ended up falling off his seat in surprise at seeing Jackson standing there to. That was definitely not what Stiles had been expecting. He had not seen Jackson since he moved to London at the end of last summer before their junior year. It took him a minute but he finally remembered that he should probably say something instead of just staring at the boy. "Hey Danny, Jackson, when did you get into town?" Stiles asked, trying to seem interested. Honestly, he had trouble seeming interested in most things lately.
"Just got in this morning, not that it's any of your business," Jackson snarked, he didn't really know how to deal with this new Stiles. He was used to sarcastic comments and never ending rambling. This boy was still and quiet. Not the Stiles he remembered at all. Stiles just rolled his eyes, but honestly didn't expect any other response.
Danny and Liz looked on in concern. Danny wanted to say something to Stiles, but he knew he couldn't, not with Jackson and Jess there. Jackson did not know that Danny knew anything about the supernatural happenings going on in Beacon Hills, and Jess didn't know about it at all. The only other person who knew was Liz, and Danny wasn't even sure how she had found out, just that Stiles knew that she knew as well and so did Derek. Stiles swears up and down that that was the only reason Derek somewhat willingly hired her. With as much time as the pack spent there, keeping Jess in the dark about it all was getting hard, but he thought hiring Liz would be ok because she already knew.
Danny looked at Jackson and said "Hey, I have to talk to Liz for a second, I'll be right back," mainly to make Jackson go talk to Stiles. Danny knew he wouldn't if Danny was paying attention.
"Ok man, I'll just wait here," Jackson responded honestly happy for it because it would let him talk to Stiles without Danny questioning him. As Danny and Liz, who informed Jess that she was taking her break, left the bakery, Jackson walked over and sat across from Stiles. "Hey."
"Uhh, hey?" Stiles answered, wandering what the hell was going on.
"I uhh… I heard what happened," was all Jackson was able to get out.
"Lydia tell you?" Stiles asked.
"Yea… I wanted to tell you if you want to talk, I'm uhhh… I'm here," Jackson told him. He almost laughed at the expression of confusion on Stiles face.
"Why?" was all Stiles asked him.
"Because I know how it feels. I know how it feels to be controlled. To not have a say in what your body does. To watch people die or be hurt because of something you did and not be able to do a thing about it. I may not know how it feels to feel responsible for the death of a friend, but I do know that," Jackson told him in all seriousness.
"How? How do you know? You didn't even know that you were the Kanima! How could you possibly know how it feels? Because I remember everything! I saw everything as it happened. I was there, in my head, unable to move or do anything but watch as the Nogitsune twisted a sword inside of Scott. I watched as he set a bomb at the police station! When he cut the wiring at the hospital that almost killed Isaac! I sat back and watched as he tricked Scott into thinking that he was me and Coach almost got killed! I was there as he got the black tail that allowed him to take control of the Oni that killed Allison and Aidan! How could you possibly know how that feels!?" Stiles asked him in a harsh whisper. He hadn't actually meant for all of that to come out, but he was to mad at the world to care.
Jackson just stared at him in shock, and it took him a few minutes to find his voice. "Ok, so I may not know exactly how you feel, but I do know a little bit. I never told anyone this, and if you do I swear I will beat you to a pulp, but I remember everything. It took a while, but after a few weeks, I remembered everything I did as the Kanima. I remember all of the people Matt had me kill. I remember almost killing Scott's mom because of Gerard. I remember you being at the garage when I killed that mechanic and when I trapped you and Derek in the pool during the lacrosse match. I remember everything."
Stiles looked stunned, but strangely not that surprised. "I had figured you remembered. You don't act fine and then just randomly up and decide to leave the country one day. I just never expected you to admit it out loud, especially to me."
Jackson was once again stunned into silence, he had not expected Stiles to know that he remembered. "Does anyone else know?" He asked.
"Not that I know of. I think I'm the only one, and I wasn't even positive until just now," Stiles told him quietly. Jackson just nodded. They sat together in silence for a few minutes. Jackson was just starting to wonder how long Danny was going to talk to Liz when Stiles spoke again. "Thanks." He said it so quietly, if Jackson hadn't been a werewolf he never would have heard it.
"For what?" he asked confused.
"For telling me all of that. For not trying to convince me that it wasn't my fault. I'm not sure really what for, but thanks."
At that moment, Danny and Liz came back in and Danny gave Stiles a look when Jackson made to get up. He gave him a look that clearly said "now are you going to stop being an idiot and hiding from your friends?" Stiles answering look clearly stated "no, well, maybe… I don't hide from you?" Danny was never sure how Stiles had managed to convey so many different messages in his expressions, or when Danny and Stiles had gotten close enough for them to have non-verbal conversations, but he was glad they were. Stiles gave him someone to finally talk to about the supernatural stuff in Beacon Hills. Stiles was just as glad he and Danny were friends because it gave him someone that knew about the supernatural but was not exclusively involved in it. And Danny didn't make Stiles talk about how he was dealing with the events of the past year.
Danny then looked at Jackson and asked "Hey man, do you want to get some dessert and coffee and go back to your place? Just hangout?"
Jackson (and Danny but Jackson doesn't need to know that) looked at Stiles as if the see if he would be ok on his own, and Stiles gave a small smile and nodded. "Yea sure man, I've missed these pastries. No one in London makes them quite as good."
"Of course they don't, they are not me," Derek said coming out kitchen, making Jackson roll his eyes, Derek had really been spending too much time with Stilinski. "Hey Danny, your usual?" He asked Danny moving around to the display case.
"Yea sure," Danny told him.
"Jackson?" Derek asked.
"Just a croissant and a coffee with cream," Jackson responded, not really caring what he got, and everything was amazing here anyway.
After one last look at Stiles, the two boys got their food, paid and left. Once they were outside though, Danny looked at Jackson and asked "How come Derek wasn't surprised to see you? And how does he know your name?" He already knew the answer but really he just wanted to see how the mighty Jackson would talk his way out of this one.
"Oh... umm, he came out to talk to Jess when you and Liz were outside talking," Jackson lied, causing Danny to laugh inwardly at his poor excuse.
"Oh, ok then," he told Jackson, causing him to sigh in relief.
Back in the bakery, Derek sat across from Stiles and waited until the boy looked up. "Lydia called, she's pissed at you for hiding from them… again," he told the boy.
"Hey, just because they suck at finding me doesn't mean I'm hiding. I mean, they are werewolves. You would think they would be able to find me. And I mean come on, I come here every freakin' day, you would think they would figure out to look here." Stiles rambled. Derek smiled, the real Stiles was coming back, if only a little at a time.