A/N: Soooo, kinda a short chapter but I know I've been absent for a bit and this is what I came up with. It was a good place to stop or else it would be even longer until I got to post! Also, I'm having to do a bit of juggling here XD I wrote Lydia in the earlier chapters as scared of Peter (which, I do feel makes sense, considering their past). But also, we have Canon evidence that Lydia... isn't quite so terrified of him? Obviously she doesn't trust him but if she were terrified, there would be no way (not even with Allison as backup) that she would have gone to Peter for "lessons." So, I'm trying to merge the two sides of Lydia in this chapter and the next. So I'm sorry if the reasoning I gave for Lydia's "fear" don't quite match up to what I had put earlier... that was an oversight on my part since I wasn't thinking about how we'd seen Lydia in Canon. I was thinking from a more logical standpoint that she would have some strong PTSD concerning everything... I think I did a good job of merging the two though! I hope... Let me know! More notes at the end as well.

*Stairwell*

Lydia ran up the stairs, knowing that it didn't lead to an exit but, it was the first path that she saw. She heard the footsteps behind her and pushed faster- why couldn't they see she just wanted space! Her foot caught on one of the steps and Lydia fell forward, hands bracing to catch herself. But strong arms wrapped around her before she hit the stairs and Lydia hung her head… someone always needed to protect her…

"You're okay Lydia," Derek stated, carefully pulling her back upright.

"No I'm not! Peter should be dead- we killed him! And now he's back… he has every right to hate us for setting him on fire…" She was so afraid… just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Back then Peter had made it so clear that he didn't take disobedience well. So what was he waiting for? Lydia just wanted to be prepared for when Peter took action.

"Well, he was going around killing people, how else were we supposed to stop him?" Derek asked, slowly sitting on the stairs and pulling Lydia with him.

The redhead rolled her eyes, "Most of the time, when you kill someone, they stay dead… How can we trust that Peter isn't going to betray us all? If anyone is the type for revenge, it's Peter… And if anything deserves revenge, it's getting killed. I know you said, 'Kira wouldn't do that' but like I said earlier-"

"I know," he interrupted softly. "If Kira were to fall under some sort of control, like with what happened to you, yes it would be hard for us to protect ourselves. But Kira has her Fox to help protect her from something like that. So if someone were to try and brainwash Kira, they'd have to brainwash her, and the Fox spirit. That isn't easy to do. Not that that makes you weak, for not being able to stop Peter, they are just different circumstances. And if it makes you feel better, when I uncovered the truth about the two of them, I flipped out and attacked Peter."

Lydia looked over at him in surprise, "You did?"

"I wasn't very successful," Derek admitted quietly. "He kicked my ass. But I deserved it- I accused him of forcing himself on Kira when I clearly should have known that he hadn't."

"What do you mean?" Lydia knew some stuff about Were senses but there was a lot that no one had thought to fill her in on. Really, there hadn't been time to ask questions…

"Chemo-signals, we can pick up on strong emotions, both from a person and from traces left behind if we come across the scent soon enough. When I came into the loft, it smelled like sex- the combined scents of Kira and Peter just completely threw me for a loop. But there were no signs of anything… bad; it would have reeked with pain, fear, and emotional hurt if… that had happened. I just refused to believe my nose. So when Peter appeared, I accused him and he got pissed. That was when he showed me the Claim mark… And even then, I still thought Peter was being… underhanded. Noshiko showed up before we really started fighting, and that was when I learned that she knew about it all. Well… she knew that Peter was training Kira. Apparently the sex had surprised her too."

"So, Kira really did go to Peter, asking to be trained?"

Derek nodded, "Yea. And she's learning so much- I know you weren't there to see it but, that first time Liam freaked out at school, Kira is the one that saved Stiles. She saved Liam too, because if he had hurt Stiles, Scott and Malia would have probably killed him. I remember Peter from before the fire- he wasn't a standup citizen back then either but he wasn't murderous-"

"You mean to tell me he only got his blue eyes from killing his niece?" Ha, that was unlikely.

Derek's face closed up, "No, he did have his blue eyes before that. That wasn't my point though. Peter, back then, he was good with helping everyone find their Anchors. Mom was great too but she had so many responsibilities… she loved us all to bits and was there for us, don't get the wrong idea. But Peter handled a lot of the day-to-day training of the younger Pack members. And he was good at it. He always managed to find the thing that worked best for everyone. My point is that he's actually training Kira, no tricks. Both of Kira's parents are aware of the situation- they approved of him training her in secret- in fact, I think they preferred it was kept a secret, so something like this didn't happen and put stress on Kira… And while they were shocked about the sex, they approved of that part too."

"He's twice her age!"

"And as Noshiko reminded me when I said that same thing: she has 900 years to her husband's 40, your point?"

"I… Peter can't be trusted Derek, you know that! He's killed people!" Lydia argued.

"So have I. All of you seem to forget that… I even tried to kill Jackson, I thought he was too dangerous to try and save. Hell, Lydia, I had Erica and Isaac ready to hurt you when we thought you were the Kanima… I wanted to kill Miss Blake too because she tried to kill Cora. Let's not forget that I'm directly responsible for getting two of my Betas killed because of my incompetence. Scott hasn't held any of that against me. And I was completely sane the entire time… Just something you should take into account…"

Lydia scowled, "Oh, so the fact that he was insane makes it all okay?"

"The fact that he lost his way and his Wolf had taken over, directly influencing his frame of mind and actions, is what you need to take into account. You don't understand what it's like to live with a Wolf, to have this extra bloodthirsty persona fighting for control. Don't judge him, or his new relationship, strictly based on Human standards. We aren't Human Lydia, we live by a completely different set of rules. I know we keep throwing it in your face that you aren't a Were but that does affect your understanding of Peter's actions… I think Scott is finally starting to understand that. Like I told him the other day, revenge filled Peter's mind and while he was in that coma, he had no way to release that negative energy. And with Laura and I all the way in New York… he all but lost his Pack ties with us, he was practically a Rogue when he woke up. Which, is partially our fault, we didn't think he'd ever wake up- we didn't know that he could still feel our bond… or when we let those bonds drift apart…. A rogue Wolf is dangerous- that was the Peter we all fought beforehand, that was the Peter that… controlled you, a rogue, out-of-control Alpha. Before Kira accepted him, he was on the verge of becoming one again too. Lydia, Kira saved us, saved Peter. And if we turn him away now, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves when he turns into a Rogue a second time. But if we just accept him as Pack… he'll have no reason to betray us. Peter fully accepts his death as punishment for his previous actions and just wants us all to start over… he has no reason to get revenge for that."

"So, what, am I just supposed to forgive him? I... can't…" She knew that Peter didn't like being under Scott… it was evident in his tone- and not just his usual "Peter" tone either. She didn't think the others were really aware of it but, she could hear it. She was more intimate of Peter's ways than any of the others after all… He was resentful that his Beta had become a True Alpha. But was he angry enough to want to cause problems... or was Derek right? Peter wasn't above petty revenges and there were still plenty of things he could do to get back at Scott without actually hurting any of them. But if he really didn't hate them for killing him… No, Lydia refused to believe that Peter would just accept being Scott's Beta…

Derek sighed… of course Lydia wouldn't just be able to forgive Peter, to ask that of her was impossible. But… something needed to happen… "I think that's a conversation you need to have with Peter-"

"What?!"

Derek held up a hand, "Take it from someone that's had plenty of his own issues with Peter, you need to clear the air. For your own mental health; yell at him, curse him, hell he might even let you slap him. Let all of those negative feelings out instead of holding them all inside. Don't become like me Lydia, you're too good for that."

"What would you know…" Lydia mumbled. She was just being petulant at this point and she knew it… but that was how strong her thoughts were about the untrustworthy Wolf.

"I know because it's what I did. I don't think you know how much baggage there is between me and my uncle. I mean… things aren't perfect between us but they are a lot better. The other night we worked it out; we went out in the woods and kicked the crap out of each other before I finally just got the question off my chest… I asked why he killed Laura. He told me the truth, he repented… It helped us move past it- I still haven't forgiven him, but I trust him to watch my back again. As… as a Wolf, there is a distinction- it's not unlike when you're friends with someone that you don't really trust. They aren't all bad and you see them every day so you're friends, but you wouldn't tell them anything important. It's just like that only… on a much more intimate scale because it's with Pack ties. It's perfectly acceptable that I trust Peter as a Packmate but that I generally dislike him as a person because he betrayed me. And because of that Pack bond we have, I can feel that he's being sincere about this… I can feel the difference in him. It's nothing like back when he was the Alpha, he's different Lydia.

"Hell, it can't be that bad of an idea if Scott is finally relenting and willing to give him a shot… You've trusted Scott to get you through everything before, continue to trust him now. He may not have a lot of experience as an Alpha, but he's not totally dumb either. So trust that Scott's Wolf-senses are working and that Peter just might be acceptable as Pack. And I promise you, Kira hasn't been tricked in anyway; her mom is keeping a close eye on her as an experienced Kitsune to make sure she doesn't take a turn down the wrong path. Her feelings for him, as strange as the rest of us may feel about them, are all her own. Will Peter always be a jerk, of course, but he doesn't have any ulterior motives, he just wants to be accepted." Derek paused there, trying to gauge Lydia's reaction. But all he got off her was that she was extremely upset… "I'm not trying to say that your anger, your distrust- those feelings are all still valid. I don't want you to think I'm telling you to just forget everything in the past, you're allowed to hurt still. But the longer you hold all this in…"

"Yea, yea, all the therapists told me the same thing. Repressing stuff is bad- but I'm not repressing anything! I've come to terms with what happened, Peter just makes me… nervous. But… I get it… Peter's going to be sticking around,… and I have to get used to it…" It just set her on edge and she couldn't explain it. Everyone thought she was scared of Peter because of what he'd done. But that wasn't it. She was scared of what he could do to them, terrified that the next time she'd see him, he'd have red eyes again. She had firsthand experience… she knew exactly how much power Peter had while the others constantly seemed to forget. But not only that… she knew how cunning, how calculating, Peter could be. If he came into power again- she closed her eyes, not wanting to think of the possibility of being at his mercy like before.

The sudden pang of distress that came off Lydia surprised him. "Lydia… he- he hasn't done anything to you right? Since he's come back?!"

"No, he hasn't," Lydia admitted, wiping her eyes. "I just don't understand… it's so hard to see Liam, Malia, and Kira have this good relationship with him when I only remember this horrible experience." In all honesty, she'd gotten past the worst of it. She'd had nightmares for months, didn't feel right in her own skin. Her mom had sent her to a few different therapists, but that didn't help since Lydia couldn't tell them the truth about what happened. It was through the help of all her friends, and her mother, that she moved past the trauma… but she was still very pissed and very emotional. Honestly, she'd been doing okay- that's why she'd gone to him, taking him up on his offer to help with her Banshee powers. Allison had been more worked up about it than she was (although with good reason). If the thought of being close to Peter upset her that much, she would have turned down his offer, but the pros outweighed the cons. The fear came from knowing that she had to trust Peter... knowing that he had helped her figure something out… That if she wanted to learn more, she'd have to be at his mercy again. That was where she felt uncomfortable, otherwise Lydia could handle being in the same room with him if the situation called for it. That and the thought of Peter worming his way into Kira's heart just to hurt them all, that upset her too. She wanted to just hate Peter and never see him again! Life apparently had different plans, and now here he was, offering to train Liam and Malia, on top of Kira. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew, deep down, that Peter was indeed that spark that awakened Lydia's power. She was just scared to get close to him- not that Allison would let her either… It was just safer for Lydia to keep her distance from him, because she didn't want to owe him anything! But if what Derek was saying was true… that Peter really was different from before… could she bring herself to trust him? She stood suddenly, needing to get out of here, she just needed space to think! She quietly thanked Derek and hurried back into the loft to get Allison.

*Loft*

Peter sighed to himself, he… he should have expected that. Lydia… of course she didn't want him to be a part of the Pack… Did, was he… should he talk to her about it? That first time she'd seen him, after he'd come back… it had been really awkward. How could he possibly apologize for what he'd put her through? He only vaguely recalled it himself, he got the basics and knew that his… 'ghost' self had been just as unpleasant as his Alpha self had been. But he knew that Lydia could probably recall every interaction with such clarity. He thought he was doing the right thing by giving her space to heal, by not forcing his presence on her more than was necessary. And when she'd come to see him about her Banshee powers, he'd be really surprised. Of course that was why he'd gone to her mother about it, he didn't dare approach Lydia herself- no one in the Pack would have let him. But he wanted her to know that he could at least help her, if she wanted it. Peter still groaned internally as he remembered how much of a disaster it had been. He didn't know Allison was going to be there! Looking back, it should have been obvious, and he shouldn't have let her get to him so easily but… nothing he could do about it now.

"I'm going to go ahead and excuse us now, probably be easier for Lydia that way… I appreciate that you're willing to give me a chance Scott. I know we've had our differences but I really do just want to help," Peter said, holding a hand out to Kira. He nodded to Liam, letting him know that he was okay even though he'd lost control and ended up fighting with Malia. It happened.

"We're going to go talk to Mom now?" Kira asked. Would her parents be okay with her staying at Peter's apartment? When he nodded in response, Kira smiled and ran over to him, foregoing the outstretched hand to jump on his back. "I'm sure she'll say it's okay!"

Peter chuckled and tucked his arms under her knees, carrying her out of the apartment, ignoring the stares from everyone else. It was probably weird for them to see him act so… juvenile, but Kira was a teenager, of course she liked to be carried around by her significant other. He wouldn't deny her that just because he was older and the Pack was watching. Hell, if anything, maybe it would help them understand that he was genuinely into the Kitsune.

Scott just watched them leave, chest constricting as he recalled how Allison had done that same thing with him when they had skipped school on her birthday. That definitely wasn't the action of a girl that was being controlled.

"I still don't trust him," Allison stated as soon as they were out of sight.

"To be fair… Derek didn't trust Lydia for awhile after she 'helped' Peter resurrect himself, and it took us awhile to be okay around each other," Isaac reminded her. It was natural that they were suspicious… but, that didn't mean that they couldn't move past it, maybe.

"That was different…"

"Was it though?" Stiles asked. He recalled how he'd gotten Derek arrested and had just in general been a thorn in his side those first few months… God he thought Derek would just always hate him (and there were some days where he was certain that the Wolf still did), but for the most part they were friendly now. As friendly as he could be with the stoic Were. But he owed Peter his life, and as much as he hated to admit it, he might have to at least give Peter the benefit of the doubt this time. Derek's points had all been spot on- Peter had done so much to help them in the months he'd been back. And no sign of any funny business… at least as far as he could tell. Peter was very sneaky though, who knew what he might really be thinking.

"I don't understand the issue…" Malia said. She was curled up under Stiles's arm, silently apologizing for earlier. A part of her recognized that this probably wasn't really the time to ask but she couldn't hold it in. "I know that Peter somehow controlled Lydia, and that he killed Allison's aunt but-"

"He killed a lot of people, not just my aunt," Allison corrected.

"He's killed a lot of people but… that was all before he died, right?" Everyone in the room nodded. Technically he'd helped them attack Jackson, as the Kanima, but Derek was the driving force behind that, not Peter. Malia looked up at Stiles, "How come it's okay to forgive what I did as a coyote but… we are still judging Peter for things that happened when he was crazy?"

"Yea, I'm having trouble with that too," Liam said, shyly coming in closer to the group. "I get that killing people is bad but, I think paying for it with your own life is kinda a big price. Sure, he came back, which I still don't even understand! But, the Peter I just met seems like an okay guy- he's offered to teach me and Malia… what's wrong with that?"

"Yea, and Derek gave us plenty of examples of how he's been useful to us…" Malia added on.

Isaac smirked and crossed his arms, "She has a point you know… She might not understand Pack that much but even she understands that Peter deserves another chance."

"Isaac, I can't believe you're saying that!" Allison cried out.

"I know you hate him, but I'm still right," Isaac told her. He tried to look at least slightly apologetic… "It isn't like things have been that easy, for any of us. We've all had to come to terms with stuff. I'm not saying revenge murder is okay but, Kate did kill like 8 people in that fire- including kids. He had a reason to be mad at her. And your m-" he cut himself off; talking bad about Kate was one thing but Victoria…

"You can say it. My mom tried to kill Scott which in turn made Derek attack her, which… resulted in a Bite that she thought she had to kill herself over," Allison said for him, looking down at the ground. "And all that made me vulnerable to Gerard… I ended up hurting Boyd, Erica, and you. Yea, I know, we've all done some crappy things but… he's the only one that gives me the creeps."

"Let's just… give him a chance, he'll either be a good teacher for them… or he'll mess up and we can get rid of him once and for all," Scott told them. Derek was going to be there, he trusted Derek to tell him if Peter was up to something. But Scott was at least going to be honest, he did need help with all this and if Peter could help get Liam under control, then so be it. He just didn't want Liam, or Malia, to hurt anyone, that was more important than his pride.

"Allison, I'm ready to go," Lydia said, reappearing in the loft. Thankfully Peter had already left, that cut down some of her embarrassment.

"Alright, yea, I think all of us are," Allison nodded. She gave a quick wave to the group and on her way out, whispered to Derek, "You better watch him."

*Peter's Apartment, Later*

"See, no big deal," Peter grinned, holding Kira close. The conversation with her parents only took a few minutes, both of them understanding that they wanted to be close. Of course there were the usual stipulations of 'this won't become a regular thing' and 'no being late to school' but those weren't big deals. Peter knew he needed to be responsible with Kira.

"Yea, yea," she commented, nuzzling into his chest. "I get to stay with you tonight- I… wow."

"What?"

"I never thought… I mean, most parents don't let their kids stay over at a significant other's home. Like if I was Human and just dating Scott, another Human- never in a million years! I know that a big part of it is because neither of us are Human but still, it's just so mind boggling."

"Hmm, I've never really thought about it but then again, I grew up in a large Were family. Generally speaking we weren't allowed to Claim at a young age unless the bond was that strong, and never without permission but-"

"So you had to actively tell your parents that you were ready for sex, and Claiming?" Kira interrupted.

Peter laughed, "Things are a lot harder to hide to a Were's nose, and ears for that matter. We all learned from a young age that sex was a natural thing, we also learned how to give people a semblance of privacy. So the conversation wasn't as awkward as you'd think. So when one of us found a relationship that was serious like that, it was normal for the couple to want to be close all the time. It was allowed that they spent the night, since no one was stupid enough to have sex when the whole house could hear."

"True, that would just be super awkward."

"So, now that we actually have to okay to be together tonight, what do you want to do?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"I'm quite comfortable like this," Kira mumbled.

"It's only 5 o'clock! You can't seriously be thinking of going to sleep…"

Kira laughed, "I never said sleep, I am going to want dinner. Just, that I'm quite comfortable…"

"How about we work on your Tail then?"

"Right now?" she groaned.

"There isn't much work involved, you're still getting the hang of giving your orbs instructions. It's better than learning hand-to-hand combat and we don't have your katana so we can't practice summoning," Peter reasoned. "And last time, we didn't work on it very long."

Kira flushed but smiled warmly at the memory, "I did ask you for help with my Tails. Alright, we'll spend time learning before dinner."

"Good, go ahead and make some orbs then," the Were instructed, shifting them so Kira was sitting in his lap as he rested against the headboard. He waited until there were three orbs floating around the room. "Okay, what I want you to make them do is just, appear, fly over and touch the far wall, then float back to you and disappear."

Kira repeated the idea a few times, fully controlling her orbs first, just so she could visualize what she wanted them to do. Then she dismissed them and created three new orbs, this time concentrating on the instructions part. Once they materialized, she cleared her mind, knowing that she couldn't focus on them or it would defeat the purpose. "How do I watch them… without influencing them?"

"Maybe start by not looking, I'll let you know if they do what they are supposed to. That way, you'll have confidence that you can do it and when you watch them, you won't think you're subtly influencing them," Peter offered. He reached up and covered her eyes with one hand, his other rubbing small circles on her thigh; he made sure that she was thoroughly distracted and not paying attention to the orbs at all. And yet they did continue on their journey towards the wall- they were slow, but it was movement. As they completed their job and disappeared, he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Good job."

"I did it?"

"Yea, they did exactly what they were supposed to and disappeared."

Kira pulled his hand away from her eyes and looked around the room, needing to see for herself. She could do this! Excitedly, she closed her eyes and called forth more orbs, repeating the same instructions as before. They repeated this until Kira was finally confident enough to actually watch her work, knowing that she wasn't interfering with their path.

"What's the next step? I mean, I'm sure I won't master it tonight, I'm getting hungry but, I'm curious."

"We need to concentrate your power, condense it. Once it's super condensed, it should just… evolve."

"How… how do I condense my power? I can… turn it up or down but I know that isn't quite what you mean…"

Peter smiled at her, "Well explain yourself, how do you turn it 'up' and 'down'?"

"Like I said, I made my orbs super small, limiting their power output so I wouldn't hurt anyone. Then I practiced with bigger orbs, worked on making them have less power even though they were bigger in size."

"What you just described could be classified as diluting its power. A standard orb naturally forms with so much power right?" he asked.

"Yea, and I produced smaller orbs to have less than standard power." Kira paused, following his logic, "Then I worked on producing large orbs with little power. That's diluting… So concentrating would be packing a lot of power into a small orb?"

"Exactly. What you need to do is make a small orb that produces at least the same amount of power as a standard orb. Why don't you get started on that and I'll get started on dinner."

"You cook?"

Peter lightly tugged on her hair and scoffed, "I'm offended. I'm a grown man living on my own, of course I can cook. How does chicken Marsala sound?"

"I have no idea what that is but please make it. I'm sure it will be good. Can I, um, sit in the kitchen with you?" she asked. If she was left sitting in the bedroom all alone, she'd feel weird.

"Yea of course, come on." He lifted her up and scooted off the bed, setting her on her feet before leading the way.

Kira sat at the small dining table and watched him gather up all the ingredients before sighing and getting to work. Her FoxFire was getting real easy to control now, it was almost second nature and she'd barely even practiced with it… If she spent time honing that skill… Hell, in most circumstances, she probably wouldn't even need her other Tails in order to beat an opponent. But of course she was still going to work on them- she wanted to be 100 percent certain that she could protect her friends in the future! So slowly, she worked on packing the orb down smaller, while maintaining its output. It wasn't easy… diluting the power had been much simpler… But this is what she needed to do in order to earn her next Tail. Kira wouldn't give up, period.

A/N: So yea Lydia isn't scared of Peter in the sense that she has PTSD (although by rights she should, in the show, she doesn't have it so... I have to work with a bit of what they give me XD ) Instead, she's just worried about what could happen but also, about what it really means to trust him. With all that in mind now, Lydia is going through a bit of a transformation back into her "stronger" self that we saw during Season 3B vs how I wrote her more like her "unsure" Season 2 self in the earlier chapters. Of course she is still wary of him, she's concerned about the what-ifs but isn't terrified of him strictly because he... brainwashed her... XD One of the dangers of working of posting fics as I write folks! I flesh out my characters more and then decide to make changes on them XD If I just wrote it all and then posted it all at once, I would have fixed Lydia's characterization mistake... . SORRY!

Also, I've been trying to work on my original stories AND a new game came out (Stardew Valley!) and I've been playing that SO MUCH! Sooo... it's kinda hampered my writing. I'm sorry :( but here's a new chapter!