Chapter Twelve - Wake Up

~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~

"You guys need to go find Scott; the sooner the better." Teagan said to the group in front of her, with Isaac by her side.

Allison rushed to the door with Lydia and Stile who paused for a minute by the door when he realized Teagan wasn't following them.

"Are you coming?" Stiles asked her.

Teagan bit her bottom lip for a moment in thought, she was worried about Scott, but hated to leave Isaac after what just happened. She saw the scared look on his face earlier, whatever he saw, the hallucinations he had terrified him, there was no way she would leave him, especially after something like that.

She reached out to grab Isaac's hand, feeling him intertwine their fingers, then she looked at Stiles as she answered, "I'm going to stay here, but please call me when you do find Scott."

"Ok." Stiles said, nodding his head in understanding, as he ran out the door to search for his best friend.

Once they were alone in the room, Isaac pulled on her arm a little, pulling her to stand in front of him, as he said, "You should go look for Scott. If it's as bad for him as it was for me, he needs to be found quick."

"I agree." Teagan said with a nod. She took a step closer to him, then added, "But, I'm not leaving you Isaac. I just watched you shaking under a bed, looking scared out of your mind, do you honestly think I would leave you after that?"

"Yeah, but ..." Isaac tried to argue until she pressed his lips against his to stop him. He softly chuckled against her lips, then cupped her cheek as he deepened the kiss, needing that love and comfort from her.

He pulled back a little to look at her, then said, "Just so you know, this doesn't mean you win the argument."

She chuckled at his comment, remembering when she told him that once when he kept kissing her to stop an argument. She wrapped her arms around his neck, then with a smile said, "Aw, didn't you know, I always win baby."

"No, I think I'm the real winner here." Isaac said with a serious expression, as he lightly caressed her cheek.

"We both are." Teagan corrected him. She leaned forward to softly kiss his lips, then pulled back to see that fear still in his eyes. She laid a hand on the back of his neck, playing with his hair, as she asked, "What did you see?"

"Hmm?" Isaac asked, confused.

"What did you see? When you were hallucinating?" Teagan asked. She gripped his hand then added, "You sounded so terrified. What did you see?"

"I-I uh, I don't remember." Isaac lied, as he turned his head to look down at the floor.

"Hey, it's ok." Teagan said, as she placed a finger on his chin, turning his head back to face her. "I understand it is hard to talk about. After what I saw at Lydia's party, I just- It felt so real, it took time for me to realize it wasn't true. It took a lot of time to get over it, and honestly, I still don't think I am. What I saw was... it was my worst nightmare."

"What did you see?" Isaac questioned. She had told him about when everyone was poisoned by wolfsbane at Lydia's birthday party. He knew everyone had horrifying hallucinations, Teagan included, but she had never talked about it, she never told him what she saw.

Teagan took a deep breath, as she took a few steps away from him. She blew the breath out, as she slowly turned around to face him. "I saw... I saw Jackson and I followed him to the woods behind Lydia's house. I tried to reach out to him, tried to save him, but the Jackson I knew was gone. He uh, He turned on and I just knew he was going to kill me until..."

"Until what?" Isaac asked, as he took a small step toward her. He could tell it was hard for her to tell this story and he understood, after having a hallucination of his own, he knew how it felt to live your worst nightmare.

"Until you showed up." Teagan said, as tears filled her eyes. She knew none of it really happened, but the scene was still so vivid, it was hard sometimes to remember it wasn't real. "You showed up, to save me, and-and he killed... he killed..."

"Hey, hey, hey." Isaac said, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. He didn't know need her to finish the story, he could already imagine what happened and now understood why she never talked about until now. He knew he would never be able to get the imagine of her being killed in front of him if the roles were reversed.

Teagan buried her face in his shirt, catching a whiff of his scent and reminding herself the hallucination wasn't real. It never happened. Jackson was ok now, living in London, and Isaac was alive right in front of her. She felt herself begin to relax as he ran a hand up and down her back and kissed the top of her head.

"I saw my dad." Isaac quietly admitted.

"What?" Teagan breathed out, as she pulled back to look at him, a worried look on her face.

"I- It started as a memory. This time when I handed him the wrong wrench and he... punished me." Isaac explained, causing her heart to drop. She knew the kind of punishments his dad would give him.

She ran her hands up his chest, linking her arms behind his neck, as she leaned forward to rest her forehead against his, giving him strength to continue on with his story.

"Then when you showed up, I was- I was terrified he would get you. That he would hurt you." He pulled back some to look at her, as he added, "Teagan, if something ever happened to you, I..."

"I know." Teagan said when he paused. "Trust me, I know, but I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. We're ok."

"We're ok." Isaac repeated, as he pushed her hair from her face to really get a good look at her. He gave her a quick kiss, then pulled back to say, "We should check on Boyd. Who knows what he saw during his hallucination. He's my pack mate, I can't leave him alone."

"You're right. He shouldn't be alone." Teagan said back. She gave him a small smile, then grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers as they left the hotel room together.

They weren't sure which room he had decided to stay in for the night, but Isaac was about to get a lock on his scent and they followed it toward the back of the hotel, where their bus was parked. They were almost to the room they thought he was staying in, where they heard a noise which sounded like a small explosion near the bus.

A couple of doors down from where they were standing, a door opened and Boyd stepped out. He looked at Isaac and Teagan as he asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know." Isaac said, answering his pack mate.

"We should go." Teagan said, as she grabbed Isaac's arm and began to run toward the bus, worried something had happened to her friends.

"Oh my God." Teagan breathed out, as they saw Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Allison laying on the ground near a burning fire, which was quickly burning out.

"What the hell happened?" Isaac asked, as he, Teagan and Boyd ran over toward them to help them up from the ground.

"Are you ok?" Teagan asked them, as she looked over each person, wanting to make sure they were ok.

"We're ok." Stiles answered, as he brushed dirt off of his shirt. He was to stunned by what happened to come up with a smart-ass comment for once.

"I'll tell you one thing." Lydia said, getting everyone's attention, before continuing, "I am not going back to that hotel."

Teagan felt Isaac wrap a arm around her waist, pulling her closer, as everyone in the group nodded their heads in agreement. None of them were going back there to sleep. The boys went back to the rooms long enough to grab their bags then the whole group boarded the bus, preparing to sleep on it for the rest of the night, together.

~()~

It was early the next morning that Avery pulled up outside of her house and shut her car off.

Taking a deep breath she rested her head on the steering wheel and slowly exhaled.

She'd planned on calling Teagan or Stiles to let them know that Derek was still alive. But as she stared at her phone she couldn't do it.

It was an overnight trip and she knew they'd have to stop at a hotel, Teagan was probably with Isaac and she didn't want to interrupt their night. Plus, she knew Teagan would have questions about how Avery was able to heal Derek.

She started to call Stiles, but quickly ended the call before it even rang.

She'd just slept with Derek, she couldn't call Stiles right now.

"Ugh!" She exclaimed as she wasn't sure if she should even call them. Maybe Derek should call and tell them he was alright.

Deciding she'd get inside and figure out who to call from there she headed inside.

"Avery?" Her dad called from the kitchen, his voice sounded unsure and fearful.

"Dad?" Avery yelled back as she dropped her purse and phone on a decorative end table in the hallway.

"Avery… Run!" Richard yelled once he heard his daughters voice.

"Now, is that any way to greet your daughter?" Deucalion asked as he sat in a chair at the table opposite from Richard.

Avery darted into the kitchen and stared at her dad wide eyed.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, focusing her attention on the alpha.

"Your father isn't much of a conversationalist." He stated as he took a drink from the glass of water he'd had Richard bring him when he first got there.

"Let him go. He doesn't have anything to do with this." Avery demanded taking a few steps forward, but stopped as she saw Deucalion twisting the cap on the end of his walking stick.

She'd seen him use the sharp blade underneath to punish his pack members before.

"You see… I was sure a certain fatally wounded wolf was here, but your father insists he wasn't. He also tried to say you were gone a school trip with your friends." Deucalion explained a smug smirk present on his lips.

Avery looked at her dad shocked.

Not only had he lied to try and protect her, but he was also lying to try to and protect Derek.

"He's just trying to protect me." Avery pleaded with him not to hurt her dad.

"Relax… take a seat." He said.

"I'm here, just let him go." Avery continued.

He nodded.

"Go, dad." She ordered.

Richard stubbornly shook his head back and forth. After everything Avery had –had to face alone, he was going to try and be there for her now.

"Please, just go. It's okay. I'm fine." She tried to assure him, but he cut her off.

"I am not leaving you here with… him." Richard said as he eyed the alpha.

"Forgive me, Avery. I thought your dad already knew about our summer together at the bank." He said, letting her know that her dad knew exactly who he was now.

"Derek's not here. Feel free to search the entire house." She cut in, but knew it wouldn't be that simple. Nothing was ever simple anymore.

"Not currently, no. But he was here, I can smell his blood." He pointed out.

Richard's eyes widened and he looked down to floor confused, he was sure they'd done a good job of getting the mess cleaned up. But he didn't understand how strong a werewolf's sense of smell was.

Avery stayed silent, waiting for the next question. She wasn't about to open her mouth and give too much away.

"The only thing I'm interested in, is if you were able to save his life. Is your training paying off?" He asked, listing to her heart as she spoke.

"I… I did everything I could, but his wounds were really bad. Your guy did a number on him." She said through gritted teeth as she closed her eyes and pictured Derek's shredded, unconscious body lying on the very table they were now sitting at.

Before anyone else could speak she continued, "How is Ennis by the way?"

"My pack suffered a great loss tonight." He answered her.

"Hmm, tragic." Avery responded coldly.

She didn't care that he'd lost a pack member, in fact she wished the entire pack had been wiped out.

"Careful." He warned, his tone menacing.

She bit down on her tongue and glanced over at her dad who was looking paler by the second.

"Is Derek alive?" He asked.

Avery paused for a moment remembering the things she'd been reading about controlling her heart rate.

Keeping the beat steady she responded, "I did everything I could, but it wasn't enough."

"Well, then. I'm sorry for wasting your time. Forgive the intrusion." He politely responded as he faced in her dad's direction again.

"Aiden." Ducealion called out as he stood up.

Avery glared at one of the twin alpha brothers as he walked into the room and allowed Deucalion to place his hand on his shoulder, as he started to lead him from the kitchen.

"Oh, and Avery…" He said as he paused and felt the ground with his walking cane.

She quietly got up and walked closer to him, wondering what he had to say now.

"Your heart rate may have stayed steady. But deception has a very bitter scent, and I can smell Derek on you… I'm not talking about his blood either." Deucalion stated before placing his hand back on Aiden's shoulder.

Avery stood motionless as the two alpha's left the large house.

Rushing to his daughters side, Richard asked "What happens now?"

"I think… I think they might kill Derek, for real this time." She admitted, swallowing hard as she pinned her eyes shut.

~()~

Teagan was sleeping peacefully against Isaac, as the two were stretched out on a bus seat together, until she felt Isaac shifting around while he carefully tried to sit up without waking her.

She gripped on to his shirt, trying to keep him laying down with her. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "We gotta get up."

Teagan whimpered, as she sat up with him, and then opened her eyes, jumping a little when she saw that coach and the other students had boarded the bus.

"I don't want to know." Coach Finstock said, as he looked at the waking teenagers before him.

"No you don't." Teagan quietly said, causing Isaac to nod his head in agreement before kissing the side of her head.

"I really don't want to know, but in case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled, so we're heading home." Coach continued, and then added with a clap of his hands, "Pack it in. Pack it in!"

"Not the best wake up call..." Isaac began to say, referring to the coach waking them up, then he looked over at Teagan as he added, "But I did like waking up with you in my arms."

"And I liked waking up in your arms." Teagan said back, as she leaned forward to kiss him, but before her lips could meet his, she saw Ethan sit down beside Scott. She pulled back a little, taking Isaac by surprise, until she asked, "What is that about?"

Isaac glanced over at them, using his werewolf hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation.

He lowered his eyebrows in confusion then looked back at Teagan as he said, "He said they think Derek is still alive."

"Oh, my God. Really? That's-That's amazing news." Teagan said with a smile. She and Derek were never the best of friends, but she would never wish death on him. "That is amazing news right? I mean, why don't you look happy?" She questioned when she saw the worried look on her boyfriend's face.

"The alpha pack is going to make him kill his own pack and join theirs or..."

"Or what?" Teagan asked when he paused.

"Or they will kill him." Isaac answered, as he looked over at her with fear and anger in his eyes.

"God, it just never stops." Teagan mumbled, as she laid her head back against the seat. She glanced over at Isaac, seeing that he was looking down at his hands, her eyes widen when she saw his claws slide out before he looked up and stared over at Ethan.

"Hey, hey, look at me." Teagan whispered, as she laid her hand on top of his, making sure to stay away from his sharp nails. She squeezed his hand, then waited for him to look over at her, before she whispered out, "It's ok. We'll come up with something. We won't let them win. It's going to be ok."

"Teagan..." Isaac began to say, going to remind her that she isn't supposed to be involved, but before he could say another word, Stiles and Scott plopped down in the seat in front of them, both turned around to face Teagan and Isaac.

"Call Avery." Stiles commanded, causing Teagan to raise her eyebrows at his tone.

"Want to ask that a little differently?" Isaac snapped, not liking his attitude toward his girlfriend.

Stiles dramatically rolled his eyes, then said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." He took a deep breath, then tried again, "Can you please call Avery?"

"Yeah." Teagan said, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

Scott leaned toward them, speaking quietly for only them to hear, "Ethan said ..."

"We know." Teagan whispered, interrupting him. She nodded her head over at Isaac for a moment, telling them that he was listening in earlier.

"We just need to know if it is true. If Derek is alive." Scott said with a hopeful look on his face. He looked down nervously for a moment, then looked back up as he added, "Cause if he is, things are about to get really bad."

Teagan nodded her head in understanding then quickly dialed Avery's number, placing the phone against her ear. She glanced back toward the back of the bus where Ethan was now sitting with Danny, then cupped her hand around the phone to whisper once she answered.

"Hey, A." Teagan said, as quietly as she could.

"Teagan? Is that you? Why are you whispering? What's going on?" Avery asked confused.

"I'll explain later. I need to tell you something." Teagan whispered. She paused for a moment, hoping what she was about to say was true, the last thing she wanted to do was give her best friend false hope, "We think Derek is alive."

"I know." Avery said back.

"Wait.. what? You know? Why didn't you call us? Did you see him?" Teagan asked, shocked.

"It's a long story." Avery said with a sigh, as she ran a hand through her hair, not wanting to get into everything that happened while they were gone. It would just open up to many questions that she didn't want to answer right now. "I will tell you, soon." She promised, then added, "But Teagan, things are about to get worse. Ennis is dead, and that means..."

"They are going after Derek." Teagan finished for her, as she looked at Scott and Stiles in front of her, then over at Isaac beside her. It was true, Derek was alive, but for how long?

~(Days later)~

"I thought we were working with weapons today." Teagan said confused as she watched Avery spin and kick the heavy duty impact bag they'd hung from the ceiling.

Allison nodded as she loaded a clip in a hand gun and said, "You guys have done amazing and you're ready to start using the weapons."

"Weapons after school." Avery grunted as she spun and kicked it hard again.

Teagan and Allison exchanged looks, Avery had been there for over an hour before they were supposed to have met.

"After school? I thought were meeting tomorrow morning." Teagan spoke up when Allison stayed quiet.

"We can't afford to take a break. This is life and death." Avery said, as she repeatedly punched the bag.

"And we also can't work ourselves past the point of exhaustion, or when we need to use these skills in a fight, we won't hold up." Allison tried to reason.

Seeing how hard Avery was pushing herself, Teagan took a few steps closer and said, "A, does this have anything to do with Derek? You still haven't told us how you saved him."

Avery stopped hitting the bag and was barely able to catch it before it knocked into her, as she sighed and looked between her friends.

"We can talk about it while you guys practice tearing down and reassembling these." Allison said as she laid several guns out on the table.

"I need something more… physical. Let's run." Avery offered as she brushed past Allison without even making eye contact.

Reluctantly both girls followed her outside and into the woods to the back of the abandoned house.

"You think she's okay?" Allison asked as she jogged at a steady pace beside Teagan.

Shrugging and looking ahead to where Avery was a few feet in front of them she said, "How are you holding up… with the whole Scott thing?"

Allison looked down to the beaten dirt trail they'd been running on for weeks and carefully avoided a tree root as she finally answered, "I watched him almost kill himself…"

"It wasn't Scott, not really. It was who… or whatever it was that put the wolfsbane inside of coachs whistle."

"I know and that's what make it worse. I saw him not too long after we got to the hotel and he wasn't acting like himself. Talking weird, and saying strange things. I should have knew something was way off." She mumbled her tone laced with self disappointment.

As the pair rounded a corned around a large tree, they both came to a halting stop and gasped when avery was in front of them with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What are you doing?" She demanded to know.

"Uh…" Teagan stuttered out confused, as Allison starred at her with raised eyebrows.

Avery looked between them and then lectured, "I've been waiting here forever, you're supposed to be running… sprinting actually and not just taking your sweet time jogging. Do you both not even have the ability to grasp the situation we're all in? We are all in danger, mortal danger. Don't you get that? We have to be fast, strong and ready for whatever is thrown our way and we can't do that with the two of you slacking off."

"Avery!" Teagan said, in shock at the way her best friend was talking to her.

Allison wasn't sure what to say. Normally she was the one having to dish out the tough love and push her friends to their limits, but now Avery was taking that spot.

"Come on, Teagan. Allison and I are fast, but even on our best day you'd beat us at a race! So explain to me why the hell you're lagging behind me?"

Seeing Teagan's hurt expression Allison spoke up, "Avery, I'm not sure what's going on but taking it out on us isn't going to help."

Rolling her eyes, Avery flipped her long blond ponytail over her shojlder and turned as she sprinted off.

"maybe we should head back." Allison stated, trying not to be mad at Avery.

"She's right. If we start slacking off we're never going to stand a chance against Deucalion or anyone else in his pack for that matter." Teagan said as she bounced on the balls of her feet before racing off after Avery.

So many thoughts were rushing through Teagan's head as the cool morning air hit her in the face, the trees and brush turned into a blur as she picked up speed.

The only sound in her ears was the thudding of her feet on the dirt path and her breathing, for the moment she was alone on the path.

Just as the runners high started to set in and she picked up her speed even more, she caught her foot on a loose branch and was violently thrown from the path.

She landed against a large tree stump with a loud cry of pain.

Within seconds both Avery and Allison we're at her side.

"Teagan! Teagan, oh my god, are you okay?" Avery asked through her gasps for air.

Teagan was in a state of shock as she looked at their concerned faces.

Once second she was breezing down the dirt path and starting to feel on top of the world, the next minute she was on the ground.

"I think so." Teagan said nodding as she started to stand up but fell back down and tears burnt her eyes from the pain.

"Where are you hurting?" Allison spoke loudly, trying to keep Teagan alert.

As the endorphins from the run wore off, her side was starting to ache even worse.

"My side." She breathed out as she pulled up the bottom of her shirt.

"Oh mt god! Did you break a rib?" Avery gasped as she started to reach a hand out to her friends already bruised side, but Allison quickly intercepted.

"Teagan, remember what I taught you about self first-aide? You need to see if your ribs are broken."

When Allison saw Avery starting to protest she quickly continued, "We're not always going to be together when this stuff happens. A broken rib could lead to a punctured lung… which could lead to death. If you were out here by yourself, you'd have to do this."

Nodding and breathing heavily through the pain, Teagan pushed in on the sore, swollen skin and felt the bottom few ribs on that side. Luckily, all the bones were intact.

"I'm fine… aside from the excruciating pain." She finally gasped as she lowered her shirt.

"Why weren't you paying attention? You know how many holes and branches are down on the path." Allison lectured as she sat down and faced her.

Teagan glanced at Avery and then shrugged, not wanting to make her friend feel guilty.

Avery closed her eyes and sighed in defeat, "Teagan, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have freaked out on you like that."

"It's okay." Teagan said, knowing that Avery had a lot going on.

"It isn't, I'm sorry about what I said to both of you."

They watched as Avery sat down also and picked up a leaf from the ground, as she silently started to shred it.

"You've never acted that when we were training before. Normally I'm the one pushing the both of you." Allison finally said, trying to get their friend to open up.

Avery nodded and bit down on her lower lip before letting out a deep breath.

"Deucalion, wants the best of the best. He wants an absolutely perfect, all powerful pack and he'll stop at nothing to get it." She said, her voice barely over a whisper.

"I know, that's why we need to be ready to fight for ourselves and for each other." Teagan agreed.

"I know but that's not what I'm saying, T." she replied.

Allison looked up to the early morning sun.

"Then what are you saying? She finally asked blinking from the dark spots she was now seeing everywhere.

"I'm saying that I'm alive right now because my mom was an emissary, according to him… she was a super powerful one. Her blood runs through my veins and so does that power, and Deucalion wants it. He wants me." She finally admitted to them.

Allison's jaw dropped and Teagan was utterly speechless.

"That's why I started coming here to this house. My mom had all sorts of family records and journals about the things she'd seen and accomplished. The alpha's let me live because I'm supposed to learn as much as I can and then leave town with them once they recruit Derek." She continued.

"And that's how you saved Derek's life… you're kind of like Dr. Deaton." Allison realized.

"Kind of."

Teagan managed to breathe in a shuddering breath as she franticly shook her head back and forth. Her tongue unable to form even one of the thousands of questions running through her mind.

When no one spoke, tears welled up in her eyes as she let out a dry laugh and said, "For the life of me, I don't know why he'd even want me around them. I practically break everything I touch, I can't do anything right…because of me, everyone I care about is in danger."

"Don't say that!" Teagan exclaimed as Allison said, "Avery… you just saved Derek's life, don't you get that?"

"Yeah, and because of that my dad now knows about werewolves and everything else that's happening. He's in even more danger now because… Deucalion came to my house and my dad tried to lie to him. Not only to protect me, but he lied for Derek too." Avery slowly said.

"You're dad knows?" Teagan gasped, completely forgetting about the throbbing pain from her bruised side.

"Yeah, when Derek showed up his body was just like… one big wound and he was dying. I didn't have anyone to call for help, or anywhere to take him so I brought him home and my dad was actually there for once. He helped me." She answered shaking her head back and forth.

"But that's good right? Not so good that he found out you've been lying all this time, but good that he accepted it and still helped you." Allison offered, not sure what else to say about it.

"Is it? Because now he's in more danger, and if I'd just been home when Deucalion showed up… my dad wouldn't have known about the bank this summer." Avery mumbled.

"Wait, where were you?" Teagan asked, then pursed her lips and shook her head. Out of all the questions to ask at that point, she'd picked the seemingly most pointless one.

"Off being irresponsible."

"Wait… what?" Allison asked, thrown off by the answer.

Avery picked a small stick up from the ground and started to break it into little pieces as she said something so softly neither girl could hear her.

"What?" Teagan asked.

Looking between her friends she admitted, "I… slept with Derek."

Her eyes darted between Teagan and Allison's wide eyes staring back at her.

"Well, that's not so bad… you've done more reckless things than that." Teagan said, then her dark brown eyes grew as she blurted out, "that came out wrong, I just meant…"

"You're completely right, but the thing is… being with him made the idea of losing him for good even more terrifying. Things would have been so much easier if I had –had some self control." Avery cut her off and knew Teagan hadn't meant anything in offense to her.

Thinking of when Kate Argent had threatened Teagan's life in order to get Avery to willingly leave with her, Avery gritted her teeth and said, "Love makes you weak."

Teagan shook her head back and forth as tears burnt her own eyes, she'd had no idea Avery had been going through so much. She'd known the summer of being held captive had taken a toll on her, but she'd never expected all of this.

"No it doesn't. There was a time when I thought that too, but it's wrong. Love makes you strong, it gives you a reason to fight when the whole world is against you." Allison said as she thought about Scott.

"Allison's right, Avery just think about what happened with Jackson… love saved him. He's alive and breathing right now because the love and connection we shared, if it hadn't have been for that he would have never came back from his kanima side." Teagan said with a small gasp as her mind drifted back to when she'd watched Derek and Peter kill him after he'd changed back to human.

Allison nodded in agreement.

But Avery shrugged and stared down to the dry grass.

Feeling her phone vibrating from her pocket Allison looked at it and said, "It's my dad, is it okay if I meet you guys back at the house?"

Her friends nodded and answered her phone as she walked way.

"I want you to keep training with Allison." Avery finally said.

Nodding Teagan said, "I completely agree. We need to keep pushing past our limits and not give up."

"No, T. I mean when I'm gone I want you to keep training with Allison, if you're going to stay with Isaac then you need to be able to defend yourself against everything from monsters to rogue hunters." Avery said, her tone strong.

Teagan's heart started to race at her words, "When you're gone?"

"I either leave with Deucalion when he's done here, or I'm dead."

Holding onto her side, Teagan jumped to her feet and asked, "you're just giving up?"

"What else am I supposed to do, Teagan? He won't just come after me, he'll go after everyone I love." She said, her voice barely over a whisper.

"What are you supposed to do? How about fight, Avery! What the hell have you been training for if you're just going to give up." Teagan yelled, outraged at the idea.

Pulling herself to her tired and achy feet, Avery looked her in the eyes as she said, "Honestly, Teagan… this is for you. You're with Isaac now and whether he and Scott are chasing some new monster or a hunter is after him you're in danger and I need to know you've got what it takes to keep yourself alive and safe."

Shaking her head back and forth Teagan stuttered out, "No, no, no… what are you trying to say?"

Tears ran down Avery's cheeks as she admitted, "I made a decision at the bank this summer… if it comes down to it and they're going to hurt someone I love, I'm leaving with them. I'm not going to let anyone die for me."

Scoffing and shaking her head as her chin quivered, Teagan's watery eyes focused on a bird in the tree behind Avery.

"You want to leave Beacon Hills with them? With a pack of heartless, murderous werewolves?" She yelled.

"Of course not. I want to stay here with you. I want to graduate beside you and go onto college… I want to be the bridesmaid at your wedding right after I throw you the most amazing bachelorette party anyone has ever seen. But in order for any of that to happen you have to be alive, Teagan. And if that means I have to leave tomorrow so you'll be safe, then I'll do it." Avery stuttered out, as more tears ran down her cheeks.

"I don't want it, not without you." Teagan argued, choked up on her tears and sadness.

Avery shook her head back and forth as she stared down to the ground.

"What happened to you?" Teagan breathed out as she wiped her cheeks.

Avery thought back to how it felt when she'd lost her mom and then how it felt when she'd lost Erica. Not to mention the many times she'd almost Derek and the time Gerard had kidnapped Stiles.

"I'm tired…" she breathed out with a shrug.

"Well then wake up, Avery." Teagan snapped as she threw her hands up in the air and dropped them to her sides.

Avery looked up at her shocked.

"don't get tired and give up. You have too many people that love and care about you to do that. What happened to my best friend? You're Avery Dukate, your name strikes fear in the hearts of half the people at our school, you're the girl who has never backed down from a fight in her entire life." Teagan explained her thoughts as she pointed a finger at her friend.

Avery opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Teagan continued, "I can't imagine what it must have been like for you this summer, and I'm so sorry that I didn't know something was wrong and find you. But instead of getting tired you need to get angry. I have been busting my ass training with you and Allison and it's not so I can be ready for some future battles. I know how dangerous duecalion is, not to mention how powerful this darach is… I understand it's life and death, but I'm not backing down here."

Avery's light brown eyes widened at Teagan's words.

Looking down Teagan pulled the side of her pants down some and exposed the butterfly tattoo as she said, "I got this over the summer to remind myself of exactly how strong I am, because no matter what happens I'll make it through… you're my best friend, my rock… my sister."

Avery wiped her wet cheeks with her hands as she managed a smile and said, "You actually got a tattoo."

Walking up to her Teagan nodded recalled what Avery had told her before their 4th grade play when Teagan found out she'd have to go on stage by herself. "You're so much stronger than you know…"

Avery shook her head back and forth as more tears poured down her cheeks.

Reaching down Teagan took her hand and said, "I'm right here with you, and I will be your rock, Avery. You've always been there for me and stayed strong when I couldn't. Now it's my turn, you can lean on me… because of you I'm a lot stronger than I used to be."

Avery nodded, knowing Teagan was right.

Both girls stared at each other, both of them with streams of tears running from their red eyes.

"I know you're tired, but I need you to hang in there. I need you to fight." Teagan said, her voice surprisingly strong through the wave of tears.

"Okay." Avery said, nodding as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Teagan.

Teagan rested her head on Avery's shoulder her best friend slowly stopped crying and was able to calm down some.

Pulling back Teagan offered her a smile and Avery laughed as she tried to dry her cheeks, "If you can sit through a tattoo, then I will fight to the end."

Teagan laugh and used the sleeve of her thin jacket to dry her eyes and smiled to herself; she'd meant every word.

A/N – Thank you all so much for reading! ^_^ I hope you all liked the chapters!

If you're not following Miss E Charlotte, you need to be! She's posted 2 mixes on 8Tracks, one of this story and the other for the first installment of the series. Such great songs to really set the mood for and accompany our stories.