Chapter 5 – Common Ground

"Hey guys." Avery greeted as she and Lydia walked up to the picnic table outside of school.

"Hey, I was just about to text you again." Teagan said with a soft smile as she leaned back against Isaac's body, feeling his grip tighten around her.

Avery smiled at the sight of Teagan sitting on Isaac's lap, they looked happy. And with everything that had been happening lately, it wasn't a look she saw very often on her best friends face.

Lydia waved to Allison as the other girl joined them and sat down next to Isaac, and Lydia sat beside her.

Feeling an unnatural gust of window blow past her, Avery looked around to see that for the moment the leaves on the trees were still. A chill ran up her spine as she sat down across from Allison, and looked around her breathing slightly labored.

Just as she stared to ask where Stiles and Scott were, they sat down on either side of Avery, who looked side to side smiling at both friends.

"So… history or…" Teagan started to ask but Allison cut in.

"Econ, let's start with econ."

"Ooh!" Avery exclaimed as she pulled the current nights assignment out of her folder and said, "I already did tonight's homework."

With an arched brow Lydia pointed out, "You mean you had someone do your homework for you."

"Point is… the assignment is done and a guaranteed A. And considering everyone's grades except for mine and Lydia's are dropping…" Avery was saying but stopped as she heard a soft giggle from her best friend. Looking up she saw Teagan and Isaac lost in their own little conversation.

"Teagan!" Avery said loudly but shot her a smile as she continued, "You might wanna copy these answers down."

With a proud, wide smile she looked around the table as she said, "I actually already did all of my homework so far!"

"Do you want me check it?" Lydia asked, trying not to offend her, but it was no secret that Teagan hadn't been preforming at a hundred percent lately.

"It better be right, I already copied it during free period." Isaac spoke up, causing his girlfriend to playfully gasp as she accused, "You said you were just comparing our answers!"

The table broke out into laughter, except for Stiles who was looking at his own assignment paper with the hand he was trying to write with trembled uncontrollably.

Avery frowned and let out a small sigh, wishing she knew some way to help him read again, but she didn't have a clue how to help with that.

Reaching over she took his blank paper and pencil from him as she read the answers off her own assignment upside down, as Allison had the paper facing her, and messily scribbled them down on his paper trying to make it look like his hand writing.

Stiles sighed in disappointment at himself as he placed his elbows on the table and rest his face in his hands. It was just reading, a skill he'd picked up sooner than most of his peers and now he couldn't even read a simple word.

Things had been a little awkward, to say the least since Avery had chosen Derek over him, and then apparently Derek had left Beacon Hills.

Of course he still loved Avery, she was one of his closest friends, but it still made things a little awkward; not to mention whenever she'd have to help him with reading something he got the feeling it was mostly out of feeling sorry for him. If there was one thing he didn't need or want, it was someone else's pity.

Scott stared down to his book as he drummed his pen against it. Everyone seemed worried about getting their homework done, or more so, copying the work Avery had –had done for her. But all he could think about was how he'd almost lost control and hurt his friends.

"Come on golden boy." Avery softly said when she and Allison were done writing down the answers. With a nudge she pushed the paper his way.

"No." He reminded her, as he handed it back.

When Avery rolled her eyes, he clarified, "I need to do this myself."

"Yeah, he won't even let me copy his work when he does it." Isaac said, causing Teagan to laugh as she pointed out, "Because you need to do your own work too."

"I can't just sit here and do this study group." Scott complained as he said, "We have real problems going on here."

Slamming his text book shut he looked at his friends as he said, "Serious problems that we can't find the answers to in any text book."

Stiles looked over the homework Avery had finished for him and nodded in agreement, he couldn't keep going on the way he was.

Teagan took in a shaky breath; she'd been having a good day after a nightmare free night, which never happened for her anymore. The last thing she wanted to do was bring it all back up, what if it triggered something and it all started again?

"It's okay, babe… I'm right here." Isaac whispered, feeling the tension pouring off of her.

Nodding she said, "Okay… we can talk, but honestly I'm doing a lot better. Are you guys?"

Stiles rubbed a hand through his hair and said, "Considering Avery just had to do my homework… again, no I'm not doing any better."

"And I almost ripped Avery and Stiles apart." Scott said, and then turned to look at Avery.

"Please." She mumbled waving her hand to dismiss him as she stated, "Already forgotten."

"Not by me." He said, giving her an apologetic look.

"Speaking of you, Avery. How are you doing?" Allison asked, as she closed the rest of her books she'd had opened and scattered.

"Fabulous."

"Look, you did the same thing that they did… you can't tell me it didn't affect you." Allison said with a concerned look.

Immediately, her hand went to her mom's necklace as she rubbed the smooth silver charm and shrugged, "It was different, I wasn't being a surrogate sacrifice… I just needed to get to the same state of consciousness as Teagan to help her. Two completely different things."

"They don't sound all that different." Isaac admitted.

Avery looked over in his direction, her eyes locking with Teagan briefly before she looked away and said, "I'm fine." Turning her attention to Stiles she held out her hand and said, "History."

He looked down to his folders, only able to tell the difference from colors, as he looked at her with a defeated expression and handed her the packet of their homework for the night.

Shaking his head he sighed again looked the other way, trying to ignore the look she'd just given him.

"Okay." Scott said looked over to Stiles and then to Teagan, "We had a near death experience…"

Teagan avoided his eyes, wishing she'd just skipped their study group for that day.

"So what happens to someone who has an experience like that and comes out of it seeing things?"

Chiming in Stiles added, "And is unable to tell what's real or not."

Teagan's gaze snapped to him as she shakily breathed out, "You can't tell reality from your nightmares?" She knew she wasn't the only one going through it, but she didn't realize that maybe Stiles and even Scott could have it as bad as she was.

She'd been feeling so unstable, snapping at everyone she cared about and even pushing Isaac away. From what she'd seen, Stiles and Scott appeared to be holding things together better than her.

"I don't even know if this is real." Stiles whispered, just loud enough his friends could hear him.

"I could pinch you." Avery said with an innocent smile and a small jolt of attitude as she slid his finished homework back to him.

Lydia and Allison lightly laughed as Stiles scooted away some and stumbled over his sentence. "No, I don't need you to pinch me. I'm still bruised from the last time."

"Don't forget being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives." Allison added, looking over to Teagan as she spoke.

"I'm okay, honestly. No more nightmares, no waking hallucinations. I'm very aware that this is all real." Teagan assured them.

Teagan thought about pinching Allison the way Avery had threatened to do to Stiles, she knew she was still worried about her but she was actually feeling good and wanted to keep it that way.

"What happens to someone with all of that? They get locked up, because they sound crazy." Isaac spoke up.

"Ha!" Stiles snapped bitterly, "Can you at least try to be helpful, please?"

"He's still learning how to play with others." Avery said, flashing him a smile as he narrowed his eyes at her and pointed out, "For half of my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

Teagan frowned, a rush of anger surging through her at the thought of Isaac's dad treating him like that. Isaac was one of the kindest, gentlest people she'd ever met and the idea of anyone at all, treating him so horrible made her sick.

"Dude, you really still milking that?" Stiles asked as he slammed one of his folders shut and pushed it into a textbook, crinkling the pages as he did.

"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that." Isaac responded.

But Avery's mind was elsewhere, barely paying attention to her friends anymore as she watched a single bird flying in the early afternoon sun. Her mind flashed back to walking out of the old distillery and seeing all of the small, feathered corpses littering the ground around them, her finger and thumb still absent mindedly rubbing the charm on her necklace.

The bird landed on a slightly bare tree branch, before it's small body dropped to the ground.

Avery gasped as witnessing the bird's sudden, unexplained death.

"Are you okay?" Teagan asked concerned as all eyes went to the blonde.

"I just remembered something is all." She laughed, quickly covering the frightening moment.

"Hi…"

Everyone turned to look at Kira as she cleared her throat and continued, "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help but overhear what you guys were talking about."

When no one responded her voice shook as she continued, "And I think I might actually know what you're talking about. There's a Tibetan word for it, it's called Bardo."

"In between state?" Teagan breathed out.

"Yeah, the state between life and death." Kira smiled at the brunette, not understanding how her words were affecting the group of friends.

"And… what do they call you?" Lydia questioned, shooting her a judgmental look.

Avery let out a small laugh at her friend's behavior, Lydia wasn't used to someone knowing more about anything than she did.

Seeing the familiar blonde, Kira quickly answered, "I'm Avery's friend, Kira."

"She's in our history class." Scott nodded with a smile, as his gaze lingered on the new student.

"Oh…" Lydia said with raised eyebrows before exclaiming, "So, are you talking Bardo as in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?"

Avery scooted closer to Stiles, and Scott scooted over closer to her to allow Kira to sit down beside him as she started to explain, "Either one, I guess. But all of the stuff you were just saying, it all happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you have hallucinations, some you can see others you just hear."

"Like seeing a dead relative?" Avery asked, thinking back to when she'd saw her mother's reflection in her window and in the mirror a few times.

But Teagan shifted a little on Isaac's lap, thinking Avery was almost calling her out in front of the new girl.

"Yeah, you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities." Kira nodded with a smile, having no clue how much her words were slowly destroying the group of friends at the table.

"Wrathful deities… meaning what? What are those?" Isaac questioned looking around Teagan and nodding a greeting to Kira.

"Demons." She said her smile growing, thinking she was on the fast track to a new group of friends.

"Demons, why not." Stiles exclaimed with a sarcastic smile and a loud nervous laugh as he started to gather up his books and folders.

"If there are different progressive states then what's the last one?" Allison asked, growing more concerned for her friends by the second.

"Death!" Kira answered, then added, "You die."

Isaac's grip tightened on his girlfriend's sides and he could hear her heart starting to race.

"How can you say that with a smile?" Teagan breathed out, she was sure her own problems had stopped, but was also well aware that Scott and Stiles seemed to only be getting worse.

Kira's smile fell to a frown as she looked at the brunette and apologized, "I'm sorry… I just…"

But Avery cut her off, "She's more twisted than I am, that's why I didn't tell you guys about her."

Looking over she flashed Teagan a smile, trying to ease her nerves some. As Lydia threw her head back and laughed, "More twisted than Avery Dukate, I doubt that."

A low rumble of laughter fell over the table as everyone started to grab their books and head their separate ways, but Kira stared down to the peeled paint of the picnic table disappointed in herself.

Even with their laughing, the mood had shifted and she could feel it.

When she finally raised her head back up she saw Avery was the only one left, as she hurriedly scribbled the answers down on one of Stiles' papers he'd left.

"I'm sorry." Kira apologized again, as she looked up to see Scott and Stiles heading towards the school talking amongst themselves.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Isaac facing Teagan under a large tree, gently rubbing her upper arms and appearing to try and calm her down, before pulling her in for a loving embrace.

"So, this Bardo you're talking about… what else do you know?" Avery finally asked, as she pulled a compact out of her purse and checked her make up.

"That's about all I know…" She sighed then her eyes lit up as she happily volunteered, "I could find more out though… print some information off and bring it to you tomorrow?"

"That would actually be really helpful, thank you." Avery said offering a smile as she stood up.

Kira pulled her bag off the table and smiled.

"Do me a favor though… bring the information to Scott, instead of me."

Kira's mouth hung open as she stuttered, "Uh, okay…" She watched as Avery left without another word to her, as the blonde headed over to where Teagan and Isaac were.

~()~

Teagan stood by the oven, her hip against the counter, as she watched the timer get closer to zero. She nervously bit her bottom lip, hoping the cake turned out right and would be edible.

Her mother was always the baker, the recipe she followed was one her mother used a million of times, but it was her first time making it alone and it needed to be perfect, the whole night needed to be perfect.

Isaac was coming over for dinner with her and her father, it would be the first time the two were in a room for longer than a few minutes since they were all in the root cellar. She knew her father still wasn't comfortable with the whole werewolf thing, but he finally agreed to having dinner with Isaac and try to see him as a normal guy, the way he use to view him, and not as a werewolf.

As the timer beeped, she heard the front door open. She quickly took the cake out of the oven, then glanced over her shoulder as she called, "Dad? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Sweet Tea, it's me." Paul called out, using his foot to shut the front door since he was holding a few paper bags in his hands.

"Where have you been? You were supposed to be here forty-five minutes ago." Teagan called out, as she removed the apron from her waist, tossing it on the counter, then rushed out of the kitchen, meeting him in the foyer.

"I know, I'm sorry, I got caught up at work and the grocery store was packed." Paul explained, as he juggled the paper bags to set his briefcase and keys down.

"We still have to get the grill going, cook the steaks, get the baked potatoes and veggies going, and-"

"And we will." Paul said, interrupting her, as he handed her a bag to carry. "It'll be okay, Sweet Tea, calm down." He added, seeing that she was getting stressed.

"I know, but it's just... this dinner is really important." Teagan said, as the two began to walk into the kitchen. "It's important to me that you don't hate my boyfriend anymore." She added, as she sat her bag down on the counter.

"Honey, I don't hate Isaac." Paul said, as he sat his bags down. When Teagan turned around to shoot him a look, he added, "I'm serious, I don't hate him. He's a nice kid, but-"

"But he's a werewolf, and you hate that." Teagan interrupted.

"It just takes some getting used to and I'm trying here, Teagan." Paul pointed out.

"I know and I do really appreciate it, Dad." Teagan said back.

The two were quiet for a moment, until Paul saw the cake by the oven cooling, then said, "It smells good in here."

"Thanks." Teagan said with a smile, as she looked over at her shoulders at the cake, it looked and smelled good, she just hoped it taste good as well. She turned back to look at her dad, as she added, "I found mom's old chocolate cake recipe and thought I'll give it a try. It looks good."

"Let's give it a try then." Paul said smiling, as he grabbed a fork then grabbed a small piece of cake to taste test it.

Teagan waited with a hopeful look, waiting to see what he thought, but when he made a face then spit the piece out, her face fell.

"Is it that bad?" Teagan questioned with a slight pout.

"How much salt did you put in it?" Paul asked, as he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"Whatever the recipe said." Teagan said, as she picked the piece of paper from the counter and looked over it. She pointed to the ingredients as she said, "Right here, it says half..." She paused for a second, seeing that a piece of chocolate batter had covered up the rest. She wiped it off with her finger, then said,"Oh. I was supposed to do half a teaspoon, but I thought it was tablespoon."

"It's okay." Paul said, as he walked over to the cabinets, looking around for something.

"No, it's not okay." Teagan said, beating herself up as she threw away the bad cake. "I can't believe I screwed this up. It was simple recipe." She added, as she leaned back against the counter, folding her arms across her chest.

"Your mother wasn't always the great cook that you know." Paul said, still looking in the cabinets. "When we first got together she tried to cook me dinner and almost killed us both by not cooking the chicken long enough. Then there was the time she didn't cook a cake long enough and the middle was raw, and the time she overcooked the bread and it turned out hard as rock, but she got better and you will too. Until then..." He began to say, as he turned around to hand her a box of cake mix, then continued, "You keep trying."

"Thanks, Dad." Teagan said with a small smile, as she took the box from his hand.

"While you do that, I'm going to change then get the grill going." Paul said, as he loosened his tie.

"Okay." Teagan said, as she began to pull the things she would need from the refrigerator. "Aspen is already in the back yard, so you'll have company while you cook." She added. She had let the dog out earlier to run around while she tried to make the cake.

"I'm sure he'll be right under me, wanting for food to fall." Paul joked, causing her to laugh, as he began to walk out of the room and go to his bedroom to change out of his work clothes.

Several minutes later, while her father was getting the grill going, she was mixing up the batter, until she heard the doorbell ring. She glanced at the clock on the wall, silently cursing at the time, she didn't realize it had gotten so late. Now Isaac was there and dinner wasn't ready.

She rushed over to the door to open it and smiled at Isaac, who was standing on the other side, with his hands behind his back.

"Hi." Teagan said, the sight of him still made her heart race and always would, no matter how long they dated.

"Hi." Isaac said back, smiling at her. Even if he was nervous about this dinner, just seeing her in front of him helped calmed him down. She always had that effect on him.

The two looked at each other for a moment, Teagan taking in his appearance, noticing how cute he looked in a pair of dark colored jeans and black t-shirt with a button down plaid shirt over it.

When he cleared his throat, raising his eyebrows at her, she took a quick step back, as she said, "Oh sorry, come on in."

"Sorry I'm such a mess." She began to say, as he walked into the house. She glanced behind her, pointed toward the kitchen as she continued, "We got off to a late start, and still getting dinner together, I'm so sorry, I-"

As she turned back around to face him, she saw that had removed his hands from behind his back and was holding up a white and pink rose, causing her voice to trail off as she smiled.

"Stop apologizing. For one; you're not a mess, and even if you were, you would be a beautiful mess, never forget that." He began to say, as he handed her the roses, leaving her speechless. "And two; I don't mind that dinner isn't ready yet. I can wait, but one thing I can't wait on, is this..."

Without another word, he wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her toward him, as he cupped her cheek and pressed his lips against hers for a gentle kiss. Teagan blew out a breath, feeling all the stress leaving her body, as she rested her forehead against his.

"You always know the right thing to say." She softly said, keeping her eyes closed. "You always know how to calm me down. It's one of the many things I love about you." She added.

Isaac smiled at her words, then leaned forward to press his lips against her for another kiss. "You taste like chocolate." He stated, as he licked his lips, then kissed her again before nibbling on her bottom lip, causing her to quietly moan.

"I'm making a cake." Teagan said, as she pulled back to look at him.

"Can I help?" Isaac offered.

Teagan nodded her head, then reached back to grab his hand, before turning around and began to walk toward the kitchen. "I love the roses, by the way." She said, as she glanced over her shoulder to smile at him.

Isaac smiled back as he came up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist, then softly kissed the back of her neck before whispering in her ear, "And I love you."

Teagan turned around in his arms, giving him a kiss to properly thank him. She pulled back to look at him, as she lightly ran her nails across the back of his neck, before whispering back, "I love you, too."

After a few more kisses, Teagan pulled away to put the roses in a vase, then went back to mixing up the cake mix. Once they were done, she put the cake pan in the oven then set the timer, before turning to face Isaac, seeing him using his finger to pick up some batter from the bowl. Before he placed his finger in his mouth, she playfully slapped his hand, telling him he was going to spoil his dinner.

Isaac chuckled, ignoring her comment, and stuck his finger in his mouth anyways. When he went to stick his finger in the bowl again, she gasp, then began to laugh as she said, "Would you stop that!"

"I can't help it. It's good." He said, then added with a twinkle in his eye, "But I know what would make it better."

As Teagan lowered her eyebrows in confusion, he ran his finger through the bowl again, then stepped closer to her and pushed the strap of the tank top she was wearing from her shoulder, before running his finger against her bare shoulder, leaving a trail of batter. Teagan kept her eyes on him, as he placed more on the side of her neck, then across her jaw.

He shot her a grin then leaned down, placing his lips against her shoulder. As he began to lick the batter from her skin, she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning out. When she felt him getting closer to her neck, she tilted her head to the side, giving him better access to the batter on her neck.

As he nibbled and sucked on the side of her neck, she grabbed on to his arms, her nails digging into his skin, as she tried to keep from falling to the floor in a gooey mess when her knees buckled.

Teagan was so lost in the moment, it took her a few seconds to realize, he had stopped and took a few steps away from her. She grabbed on to the counter panting, as she looked over at him, wondering why he stopped.

As if reading her mind, he nodded over toward the door, as her father walked inside, greeting the two teens. Paul looked over at his daughter, seeing that her face was red as she tried to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" He questioned his daughter.

"Hmm? Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm-I'm good." Teagan stuttered, trying to calm down. "I'm just hot." She said, as she blew out a breath. realizing how that sounded, she quickly added, "I mean it's hot. In-In here, you know, cause of the ov-oven and all."

When she heard Isaac quietly snicker from beside her, she bit her bottom lip, refusing to look at him, as she smiled at her father and asked, "Is the grill ready?"

"Yeah, I was just coming in here to grab the steaks." Paul answered, as he walked over to the refrigerator.

While his back was turned, Teagan turned to look at Isaac, shooting him a dirty look then playfully punched him in the stomach. He smiled and tried not to laugh at her antics. When she went to punch him again, he grabbed her hand, bringing it up to his mouth, as he playfully bit her finger, causing her to softly gasp and pull her hand away, which only made him want to laugh more.

"Hey, Sweet Tea, where did you put the steaks?" Paul asked, without turning around, never knowing what was going on behind him.

Teagan quickly turned around, her back toward Isaac now, as she called out, "Bottom drawer on the right."

While Paul continued to look for the steaks, Isaac stepped up behind Teagan, resting his hands on her hips and pulled her against him. Her mouth dropped open when she felt how excited he was.

She glanced over her shoulder to look at her, as she mouthed the word, 'behave.'

"I can't." Isaac whispered in her ear, before he softly kissed her neck.

Teagan bit her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. He wasn't the only one turned on right now, but this wasn't the way to get her father to like him. As much as she hated to do it, she pulled away from him and began to walk toward her dad. She cleared her throat, as she asked, "Did you uh, did you find them?"

"Found em." Paul said, as he pulled out the steaks from the drawer then turned around to face them. He took a close look at his daughter, lowering his eyebrows in confusion as he pointed toward her jaw at the batter, and asked,"What's that?"

"Oh! I uh, I-I accidentally got batter on my face." Teagan said with wide eyes. She turned around to grab a hand towel from the counter, trying to wipe it off.

"Oh." Paul said with a nod, accepting the answer. He looked over at Isaac, as he asked, "Want to help me cook these?"

"Uh, um, y-yeah, sure." Isaac nervously said. He never really minded being around her father alone before, but now knowing Paul knew the truth about everything and wasn't comfortable with Teagan being involved it made him extremely nervous.

"He'll be out there in a second." Teagan said to her dad, wanting a minute to talk to Isaac alone.

"Okay, see you in a bit." Paul said, as he turned and walked back outside.

Teagan turned around to look at Isaac, seeing the nervous look on his face. She didn't have to be a werewolf to know his heart was racing now. She walked over toward him, taking his hands in hers, as she asked, "Are you okay? If you're not comfortable being alone with dad I can just tell him I need your help in here."

"No, it's okay. It'll be fine." Isaac said, hoping his words were true. "That's what this dinner is about, right? Me and him spending time together, getting comfortable with each other."

Teagan nodded her head, giving him a smile to thank him. She was glad both of the men in her life were trying to get along for her sake.

"Oh, by the way..." Isaac began to say, shooting her a grin, as he leaned forward to press his lips against her jaw, lightly licking the remaining batter from her skin. He placed his lips against her ears, as he whispered, "You missed a spot."

"Get out of here." Teagan said with a laugh, as she playfully pushed him away from her.

He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then made his way outside to meet up with her father. He took a deep breath; slowly releasing it as he remembered he was doing this for Teagan, then began to walk across the patio, making his way toward the grill that was set up toward the side of the house.

He came to a stop beside the grill, sliding his hands into his front pant pockets, as he watched Paul flip the steaks. The two were silent, neither one really knowing what to say first.

Paul cleared this throat, then looked over at the teenage boy for a moment. He knew the day would come that his little girl would begin to date and even fall in love, he just never thought it would be with a werewolf, pulling her into a very dangerous world.

"I'm sure you can understand why I'm not completely on board with Teagan being with you." Paul began to say, finally breaking the silence.

"Trust me, I get it. I hate that I pulled her into my world, and I worry about her every day. I've tried to keep her from getting involved." Isaac said, then added with a small laugh, "But you've got one very head strong daughter. She jumps right in without a second thought."

"She gets that from her mother." Paul said with a smile, as he thought about his late wife. "She was always stubborn and Teagan is just like her." He added, as a through crossed his mind, he continued, "I just don't want her to end up like her mother. I don't want this world to destroy her."

"I don't either." Isaac agreed, then added, "Believe me, Mr. Young, I love your daughter and I would do anything to protect her."

"I know." Paul said honestly. He saw that first hand when they were in the root cellar. He had no doubt that Isaac would give his life for hers if it came down to that. "I know that you love her, and most fathers would only worry about that. They would worry that their little girl fell too hard, too fast, but that's not what I'm concern about. I'm concern about her safety and her sanity."

"Sometimes I wished I would have talked her out of doing the sacrifice..." Isaac began to say with a sigh, then added, "But if I did, we might not would have found you and the others."

"Part of me wishes you could have stopped her too." Paul said, agreeing with him. "But like I said, I know how stubborn she can be. You wouldn't have been able to stop her." He added.

"Things are getting worse for her, aren't they?" Isaac questioned, as he looked down at the ground, a pained look on his face. He already knew the answer, before Paul spoke.

"They are." He replied, then added, "She says it's getting better and honestly, I think that is what she wants to believe, but it's not getting better." He paused for a moment, then asked, "Did she tell you what happened to her hand?"

Isaac shook his head, remembering the deep cut on her hand earlier that week, as he said, "All she said was she accidentally cut herself."

"Again, I think that is what she wants to believe." Paul said, then added, "I walked into the kitchen, she was standing in the middle of broken glass, I guess she dropped it or something, but she had a piece in her hand. I yelled at her to stop, but it was like she couldn't hear me, she was in a daze, then she sliced her hand open."

"Why?" Isaac questioned, a worried look on his face. He couldn't understand why she would do that, he also couldn't understand why she didn't tell him.

"She was sleep walking, I guess." Paul said, not really sure what it would be called. "She kept saying 'it's not real' until she finally snapped awake." He took a shaky breath, trying to stay strong, before saying, "Look, I don't really know what is going on and I don't know how to fix it. A bad grade, a broken heart or skinned knees, those things I can fix, but my baby girl losing her mind, I can't fix that, and I-I need your help, Isaac. Help me fix her."

"I will." Isaac said, then added, "I promise you, I won't give up on her. I won't fail her."

"Thank you." Paul said sincerely with a nod.

Before either one could say another word, they heard the sliding glass door open, followed by Aspen barking as he ran over toward Teagan happily, as she walked outside. She petted the top of his head, then began to walk over toward the grill, the white dog following her.

"Hey, are the steaks almost done?" Teagan questioned.

"Yeah, almost." Paul answered, as he flipped them.

Teagan stood beside Isaac, reaching out to link one of her fingers with his, then glanced over at him, shooting him a smile, making sure he was okay. She hoped her father wasn't too hard on him or tried to scare him off.

"How is everything going out here?" She questioned, as she looked at both of them. "Did you two find something in common to talk about?" She added.

"Yeah we did." Paul said, as he looked over at Isaac, who was nodding his head in agreement. The two had something very big in common, wanting to save Teagan.

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

A/N- Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you're all enjoying the story; we're getting really close to really delving into all of the action and darkness of season 3B. Also, in the next chapter a certain young deputy makes an appearance! ^_~

We appreciate your guys' support so much and if you're reading the story we'd love to hear from you, we really hope you'll take the time to leave us a review. Thank you for everything!