Chapter 35

Sheriff Stilinski rushed through the door of the station. The lights were out and the emergency lights pierced through the smoky darkness. He looked around, his eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. An officer laid nearby. Blood pooled underneath his unmoving body.

"Stiles!" he shouted, pulling his gun from its leather holster.

There was no immediate answer. Scott was behind him. Isaac stayed with Deaton after dropping him off at the clinic to be sure he was alright. Derek and Melanie were doing research.

"Stiles!" the sheriff shouted, getting more panic ridden.

"Dad," came a faint call.

"Sherriff?", followed by a cough. That was Parrish.

"Son!?"

Sheriff Stilinski and Scott rushed past the front desk to the office area. Parrish was kneeling on the floor by Stiles and the motionless body of Tara. He sat back against the end of a desk. Blood painted his hands. The lighting made it appear oily. Papers were strewn everywhere and a computer sparked nearby, its having been busted. Shards of glass laid around them from broken windows.

"It got her," Stiles said.

His eyes were puffy and red.

"She helped me with math in middle school and last summer when I was struggling," he hiccupped. His lips trembled. "She was a good person."

Sheriff Stilinski looked at Scott who nodded and helped Stiles up, holding him up with his arm around his waist.

"Get him out of here," the sheriff said.

"I've never seen anything like it," Parrish mumbled, shaking his head stunned.

"Parrish, calm down." Sheriff Stilinski put his hand on the deputy's shoulder. Parrish jumped and looked at the sheriff.

An ambulance showed up and took Tara away in a black, zip up body bag. Sheriff Stilinski took the boys home. Parrish insisted on staying and cleaning up the station. He wanted to keep himself busy so as not to think about what had happened. A distraction is what the cleaning was for him.

Stiles didn't talk at all during the ride in the SUV. He stared out the window. It was when they pulled up to Scott's house that he finally spoke.

"Are Melanie and Derek alright," he asked.

"Yeah," Scott replied. The car door was open and he hung half in and half out. "Stiles, what did it look like, the darach?"

Stiles shook his head and bit at his thumbnail.

"I don't know, but it was terrifying…and grotesque." Stiles stopped and shuddered.

Scott looked at the sheriff again. They shared a nervous moment.

After pulling out of the drive, sheriff Stilinski pulled out his phone. Stiles didn't reprimand him about using his cellphone while driving like he usually did. The dark outlines of town kept his tired focus. The sheriff was calling Melanie. The phone rang twice before she picked up.

"Hello," she answered.

"Are you on your way back to the house?" he asked.

"Sort of." She paused. "I'm going home."

"Melanie-" Sheriff Stilinski started, but was interrupted.

"Look, I understand that you're just trying to help, but I'm an adult…well by law I'm an adult. You can't tell me what I can and can't do, which sounds childish, but it's true. I fucked up…a lot, and everybody else has fucked up a lot. We all need the space to fix it…well, not fix it, but to breathe. Okay?"

Sheriff Stilinski didn't answer the brisk explanation right away. Her steady breathing awaited for his reply. He glanced over at his son who was leaning his head against the window. Stiles let out a restless sigh.

"Alright," Sheriff Stilinski replied. "Call me the moment you get through the front door. With the attack at the station tonight, I don't want you being attacked either."

"You know who I live with right?" she chuckled.

"I know, still."

"Alright. I'll be by for breakfast tomorrow," she said.

"Night," he said then hung up. It would've been pointless to try and argue with her. Knowing as little as he did about Derek Hale, he knew that she shared his stubbornness. Arguing with her would've only gotten her to ramble more. The girl was a renowned rambler, a terse renown rambler. No use in trying to reason with her. Her roommate was another reason why he didn't want her going home, but again, she was right. Technically she was an adult.

Melanie hung up. Derek was parked outside the house. It had been repainted. The chipping in the paint was long gone and now reminded her of the last deep tints of twilight. Isaac must've done it over the summer, she thought. There were potted flowers that lined parts of the Letting out a deep breath, she grabbed the door handle.

"You don't have to go in there right now," Derek told her.

"It's fine." She replied. "I have to go in eventually. It's my house."

Derek nodded, saying nothing. He gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"I'll call you tomorrow." She said.

"I can smell him in there," he said. "He's anxious, wondering when you'll walk through that door."

Melanie said nothing, but her heart beat harder. She opened the door and went up the porch steps. Derek pulled away after she opened the front door. She watched until his tail lights disappeared.

A rush of warmth flooded over her once she stepped inside. She kept quiet, hoping that she could quietly make it to her room. The running faucet in the kitchen stopped. Melanie's ears rang from the overwhelming silence.

"Danny, I'm really no in the mood for company tonight." Isaac came out of the kitchen and stopped at the doorway between the dining room and living room. His lips parted with his blank expression.

Melanie looked at down at her flip-flops. The heels were worn down. A few more uses and they'd have holes in the soles. They were white at one point but were nothing but a dingy yellow now. The lingering silence in the house only increased, thickening the tension. She wasn't sure what kind of tension it was. Finally looking up, she met his arctic eyes, not that they were cold. They were clear and wide.

He leaned against the wall nearby for support and stuck his hands in his pockets. Melanie looked around. Nothing had really changed. There was no mess to clean up around the house like she assumed there would be. It was clean from carpet to the dust that once coated the TV. She wondered, for a moment, how his summer had been. Several questions ran around her mind like mindless sheep, all of them circulating him.

Fidgeting with her fingers for a moment, she turned and went upstairs, leaving him there; none of the questions harbored between them came out. Not a peep.

Each step felt heavy like her feet was sinking through the carpeted stairs. Getting to her room, she closed the door quietly and flipped on the tall lamp nearby. The bulbs that swirled around one another created a subtle glow over the room. She slid down the carpet, her back against remaining against the door. Her knees sat at her chest and she rested her hands on top of them. Nothing about her room had changed either, except that the walls had been painted too and her bed was actually made.

On the other side of the door stood Isaac. His hand pressed to the door, he could hear her breathing, steady and calm. She was here and that was a start. He figured she wouldn't want to talk at first. His jaw clenched as he struggled to not knock.

In the morning, she was gone before he was up and had left no word about where she'd gone. The next few days continued like this. He went to work after school and she disappeared in the morning causing them to not see each other except for in class. Avoidance was her new ability for repelling him.

He stared at her from across the lunchroom. She and Danny had taken up their old seats near the back of the cafeteria. These few days turned into weeks quickly. Each day became more unbearable from the torture of seeing her but not holding her, seeing her but not speaking. He caught the glances that she threw his way. The looks were filled with confusion and guilt that he couldn't fully place.

"Have you two talked?" Scott asked.

"Nope," Isaac replied with a sigh. The food on his tray was cold now. "I'm wishing she wouldn't have come back now. I can't stand knowing she's right there but not. Whenever she leaves I keep wondering if she's coming back."

"You can't blame her. You two toiled while you were still with your girlfriend. She hates herself for letting it happen, like seriously hates herself. There are so many different that's she told me…" Stiles trailed off, looking up and meeting the angry glare of Scott, Lydia, Isaac and Allison. "Right, shutting up."

Isaac shook his head and stood then stormed out of the cafeteria. Scott and Allison glared at Stiles. He shrugged nervously.

Melanie tensed up as he passed the table. Each time he came within a five foot radius her back and shoulders tensed, creating knots.

"It's serious huh?" Danny asked.

"It's not," she replied. Her insides twisted and pinched.

They just needed more time for things to get back to normal between them. Telling herself that over and over was getting old though. He kept giving her the look and she kept feeling those feelings.

She shoved her tray away and rested her chin in her hand as her elbow sat upright. Her eyes glazed over ad she stared off at the walls until the bell rang. Danny finished off the apple in his hand. His loud crispy, crunching made her brain rattle.

"I have to stop by my locker," she said after they left the cafeteria.

She rubbed her chest as she went. A sharp pinching made it itch uncomfortably. It'd been happening a lot and she was considering going to the hospital to get it looked at. Pain medication wasn't helping at all.

Stupid crap, I should never have come to this town, she thought. She opened her locker and searched through it, shifting her notebooks and textbooks around, not noticing who watched her.

Isaac watched her intently. Her eyes were void of emotion and sleep. The dull, navy sweatshirt she wore hung from her small form and over her dark skinny jeans. The sleeves were nearly past her fingertips. Her hair was up in a messy clip. Tendrils of her bangs hung loosely around her face. The struggle was obvious.

"So, it's real?"

He turned and acknowledged the tender voice of his ex-girlfriend, her soft, broken brown eyes meeting his own. He suppressed the heavily burdened remorse in his chest at seeing her, all angelic seeming. She didn't smile. Her bangs hung in her eyes. She knew that if he could've kept her, he would've. They both knew that but it was truly impossible. It didn't suck any less for either of them.

They both looked back at Melanie who now talked to Danny. He leaned against the lockers beside her, clutching the strap of his bookbag and laughing as two books toppled from her locker. She jumped trying to avoid being hit in the foot with the three pound history book.

"I don't know what to do? I can't just-"

"Go."

His head shot to her abruptly. Her breath staggered painfully but she remained strong in her stance.

"Go," she croaked again. "Don't keep putting yourself through this. You've been through enough. If she is what makes you absolute then don't torture yourself and don't let her torture herself. It's not fair to anyone."

"Allison," he reached to touch her tenderly.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be okay. It's only high school. I just—I just wish that I'll find what you have one day, that's all…the entire cheesy, stupid….whatever." she tried to laugh, teared up then turned and walked away. .

Isaac watched for a moment longer as Melanie got the books back into her locker. She was talking about Derek. He was being an ass and getting on her about staying in shape. Isaac smirked. Her sarcasm was cute. Snarky but cute.

Danny left her as she closed her locker, saying he'd see her later. She said bye, her Economic books in hand and started off in the opposite direction.

The window for them was closing and she was the one doing it, he could feel it. They couldn't keep going on like this. She was going to take Derek's advice and say no to this, to them. He gulped. No her for the rest of his life? In only a few seconds he could see it clearly. His whole life, knowing that she was forcefully rejecting this…them. His stomach wrenched unpleasantly.

Taking long strides to get to her and weaving around people, determined, he grabbed her by the arm quickly, spinning her around. The movement was so sudden. Her books fell from her hands, clambering against the floor.

For the smallest of seconds everything around them froze and he could see perfectly, like the fog that had surrounded his horrid life had cleared and was gone. It was her. Her eyes hardened.

"Really? What is the matter wi-"

He cut her off, pressing his lips to hers, moving his hands to hold her face and caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. She squealed angrily, trying to push him away, but he grabbed her around the waist with one arm, holding her firmly. The feeling of his hard body against hers made it difficult for her to fight him off. His other hand moved to the nape of her neck.

Her harsh, yet feeble pushes faded and she held his biceps, starting to kiss him back. A rush of warmth moved beyond her cheeks and down the entirety of her body, making the hairs on her arm and the back of her neck stand on end. Feeling his mouth open and take her bottom lip, she opened hers. His tongue massaged against hers smoothly, manipulating it to taste him and take in what this was to be the two of them.

"Lahey! Get off of Rouxe now!" came a harsh bark.

He held her tighter in response, squeezing a gasp from her. Neither of them pulled apart. Their surroundings had grown hazy, and the yelling sounded far away. His hand slid over her shoulder down to her waist. She wasn't fighting anymore. The struggle to stay away had crumbled completely. The dull ache over his stomach, muscles and most particularly his heart vanished.

"Lahey, I'm serious! I will bench you!" Finstock yelled.

Murmurs of students encroached in on the two, but Isaac didn't let go. Neither of them broke from the kiss. Melanie's hand moved up to the nape of his neck, her fingers tightening their hold only in the slightest as she felt him dig his fingers into her hips.

Students watched, entranced by the act. The whispers grew louder with giggles and sighs, wanting to be in their places.

"Enough! This is not Fifty Shades of Stupid!" Finstock yelled, digging his arms in between the two and shoving them apart like the Jaws of Life then holding Melanie away as if protecting her from getting ripped apart by a beast.

He had no idea what a beast he could be though, so she laughed. Among them were Stiles and Danny.

"Move!" he yelled at her. He blew his whistle in her ear, but it didn't faze her. Students parted as he pulled her by the arm through the small crowd.

For the rest of the day she could hear people talking. Some said that they had been an affair since the beginning, others saying how it was like a romantic movie. Melanie sat in a daze, not caring or even hearing the rumors. She was too busy try to sort through her thoughts, most of which weren't full and complete ones.

The scene ran through her mind over and over again. Scott could hear her heart pounding hard and fast. Her knee bounced up and down rapidly matching its pace. He looked over at Stiles who was preoccupied with looking at the ceiling.

"Hey," Scott whispered.

Stiles shot up, his foot kicking a leg of the desk. Discombobulated, he looked at Scott.

"What's wrong with Mel?"

Stiles leaned into the aisle awkwardly, nearly falling into it then sat back in his seat.

"You don't know…"

"Know what?"

"She and Isaac started this make out session in the hallway. Finstock broke them apart. It was heavy. Everybody could feel it. I mean actually feel it. It was paralyzing and…"

"That intense?"

"Yeah, it was like watching a really good chick flick…not that I watch those," he quickly defended.

Scott smirked and glanced back up at Melanie. She stared out the window. The notebook page in front of her was blank. It remained that way throughout the rest of class.

Review? Would appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter:)