Chapter 16 - Call and I'll Come Running
Some dances later, Teagan was standing off to the side trying to catch her breath while Isaac grabbed more drinks for them; when Allison walked over to her.
"Ally A!" Teagan called out happily, as she hugged the brunette close.
"Hey, T!" Allison said, as she hugged her back, "Having fun?" She asked with a smile, seeing how drunk her friend was.
"I'm having a blast." Teagan said. "Oh! And thank you for my present. I'm wearing it now; see." She said, as she placed her wrist in front of Allison's nose.
"I'm glad you like it." Allison laughed, "I figured it would be a good present for you and Isaac." She added.
"It is! He hasn't stopped sniffing me all night." Teagan stated.
"I asked Scott to casually ask Isaac what his favorite scents were, then picked something close to what he liked and what I thought you would like." Allison admitted.
"Well, you picked out the best one. I love it and I think it is safe to say he does too." Teagan said with laugh. She turned to face her friend, reaching out to grab her hands, as she added, "Thank you, Allison. For everything. For everything you have taught me, for everything you still need to teach me, and for just being a great friend. I don't know what I would do without you."
Allison smiled at her words, as she stepped forward to hug her again. "Thank you for forgiving me and letting me back in your life, Teagan. I truly am sorry for everything." She said.
Teagan shook her head, as she pulled back to look at her, then said, "That is all in the past. I now realize how easy it is to let the voices in your head do something you regret. No matter how strong you are, sometimes you just give in –hoping it goes away, but it never does."
Allison lowered her eyebrows in concern, realizing Teagan was speaking about herself. She grabbed her hands, giving it a squeeze as she asked, "Teagan, what does the voice want you to do?"
Teagan opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, they heard someone cheering out as they called out their names. The two girls looked over to see Stiles making his way over toward them, dancing spastically to the music.
"Stiles!" Teagan called out happily, bouncing back quickly from her talk with Allison. She went over to him, giving him a big hug as he wished her a happy birthday. The two began to do silly dance moves with the music, which is where Isaac found her when he finally made his way back to her after grabbing drinks.
She gave her boyfriend a nod to thank him, then took the cup from his hands, drinking it all in one swallow. When she was done she placed the empty cup in Stiles hand, then grabbed the front of Isaac's shirt, pulling him toward her as she began to move her hips from side to side with the music.
Teagan shot him a shy grin then turned around, rubbing her butt against the front of his pants. He placed his hands on her sides, lightly rubbing his fingertips up and down her skin, giving her goosebumps; which only intensified when he leaned forward to place his lips against her bare shoulder. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning out, as he kissed across her shoulder and began to nibble on the side of her neck.
She pulled away and turned around to face him. Shooting him a playful look, as she mouthed the word, "Tease."
He chuckled and leaned forward, placing his lips against her ear as he whispered, "You started it."
She laid her hands on her his chest, grinning up at him, as she ran her hands down to his stomach. She slipped one hand under his shirt, lightly running her fingernails across the skin right above the waistband of his pants, causing him to suck in a shaky breath.
Isaac reached down to grab her hand, if she kept doing that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from taking her right there on the floor in front of everyone. He placed her hands on his shoulders as he shook his head and said, "Okay, you win. No more teasing."
"I like winning." Teagan said, smiling. She ran her hands across his shoulders, laying them against the side of his neck on either side. She began to move them up to mess with his ears, another spot she knew that turned him on. Just because she won, didn't mean she was done teasing him.
She leaned forward to kiss him, then paused when she felt something behind his ear. When he saw her stop and saw the concern look on her face, he asked her what was wrong.
"There's something behind your ear." She stated, as she raised on her tip toes, trying to get a closer look but with all the black lights it was hard to see anything.
"What?" Isaac asked confused, as he reached back to feel what it could be.
"Come on." Teagan said, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him through the crowd to get to the bathroom. Pulling him towards the mirror she turned his head to the side, as she said, "Look, back there. There's something there. Do you see it?"
"Yeah." Isaac mumbled, as he leaned closer to the mirror. "What is it?" He questioned, not getting a good look at it.
"I don't..." Teagan began to say, trying to look at it. Once she finally got a good look at it, she added,"It-It looks like five. Like the number five."
"What does it mean?" Isaac questioned out loud, but neither one had an answer.
Before they could think about it anymore, they heard a cell phone ringing. Realizing it was hers, she stepped closer to Isaac to reach down into his front pants pocket, which is where she had slipped her phone in earlier so she wouldn't lose it.
Seeing that it was Avery's number, she looked over at Isaac with a confused look as she realized it had been awhile since she had seen her blonde best friend.
She placed the phone against her ear, as she said, "A? Is everything okay?"
"Uh, no, this isn't Avery." A male voice said. "Is this Teagan Young?" He questioned.
"Yeah, who the hell is this and why do you have my best friend's phone?" Teagan snapped, as she placed her hand on her hip. She assumed it was some random guy Avery hooked up with and she wasn't sure why he was calling her but if he hurt her best friend, there would be hell to pay.
"This is Deputy Parrish, with the Beacon Hills County Sheriff's Department." He stated.
"Oh, my God." Teagan breathed out, as she laid her hand over her stomach, feeling like the air had been knocked out of her. "Is-Is Avery okay? Is she-please tell me she is okay?" She pleaded over the phone.
"She's going to be okay." Parrish said, as he glanced over at the blonde in the seat beside him. "You should probably come take her home though." He added.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Isaac asked, as he laid his hand on her shoulder, hoping to give her some comfort.
"I'll be right there." Teagan said to Parrish after he told her where he and Avery were.
"What's wrong?" Isaac asked again, as she ended the call.
"It's Avery. Something happened and the cops are there with her." Teagan said, as she turned to leave the room.
Isaac quickly reached out to grab her –stopping her, as he said, "Wait, if there are cops there you shouldn't be around them. You've been drinking."
"I don't care!" Teagan said, then added, "It's Avery, I'm going. Are you coming?"
Isaac sighed, knowing there was no way to stop her from doing anything once Avery was involved. He grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze, as he said, "Let's go get Avery."
~()~
Several minutes later, Isaac pulled the car into the gas station. Before he could fully park, Teagan threw the passenger side door open and jumped out –her eyes scanning the parking lot as she looked for her best friend.
She saw a young looking cop step out of his car when he saw her. She wiped her sweating hands on the side of her dress; which she was thankfully able to find before leaving the party. She didn't think showing up at the gas station barely dressed was a good idea.
She was surprised to see it was only one cop on the scene, she had feared there would be way more. She watched the deputy walk over to the passenger side of his patrol car, where Avery was sitting and open the door. He squatted down, to softly speak to her causing Teagan to raise her eyebrows.
She couldn't help but notice how close the two seemed, which was a big surprise to her. Avery wasn't the type who got buddy-buddy with cops or men in general, at least not that fast and not without telling her all about it first.
Teagan couldn't help but feel like she was watching a new romance taking place, or at least that is what she would think if this was the start of some romantic movie but with this being Avery, she had no idea what was really going on between the two.
As Parrish carefully helped Avery out of his car, Teagan rushed over to them, wrapping an arm around Avery's waist and letting her lean on her. She looked over at the deputy, flashing him a small smile of thanks.
Teagan quietly spoke to her best friend, asking if she was okay. She turned her head to look at Isaac, who was making his way over toward the two girls. He wrapped his arm around Avery, then glanced over at Teagan over the blonde's head, letting her know he had her.
He carefully picked her up, carrying her toward the car and sat her down in the backseat, none of them noticing the look on Parrish's face as they walked away. He knew he should leave, she was safe with her friends but there was just something about her that made it hard to leave.
He sat in his car, pretending he was filling out some paper work until the other teens drove off, he finally put his car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot.
The blonde girl he just scooped up off of the floor weighing heavily on his mind.
~(The next day)~
"Morning." Avery sleepily said as she walked into her best friend's kitchen.
"Hey, how are you?" Teagan asked concerned as she pulled a box of cereal from the cabinet and turned to face her.
"I'm okay… how about you?" Avery responded as she grabbed two bowls from the cabinet and spoons from the drawer.
"Better than I thought." She admitted with a small laugh then her face grew serious as she said, "I think with what happened last night it sobered me up a lot before I even went to sleep."
"But… you're still hung over?" Avery asked holding back a laugh.
Teagan held up her thumb and finger to symbolize she was a little hung over and admitted she'd already taken something for her headache.
As the girls sat down at the table together Avery asked, "Where's Isaac and your dad?"
"Dad's at work, the blackout really put his cases behind, having to do all the paperwork by hand. And Scott called Isaac not too long before you woke up, so he headed over there." She explained as she filled her bowl with cereal and poured some milk in over it.
Avery reached behind her ear and started to rub her finger over the black backwards 5 that had appeared the prior night.
Teagan frowned, "Avery I'm sorry, I should have…"
Avery waved her hand silencing her friend, "It's okay, it's not like you had time to really tell me about how those… things came after Isaac. And even if you had, who the hell thought they'd come after me too?"
The night before Teagan kept apologizing for how she should have warned her that something had happened to her and Isaac the night of the blackout. Allison's father had asked them to keep it quiet for 24 hours, plus the girls hadn't spoken much since the attack.
Ignoring the need to keep apologizing to her, a small smile spread of her lips as Teagan asked, "So… this officer Parrish…"
Not even pausing Avery corrected, "Deputy Parrish."
With raised brows Teagan said, "He's the same one who drove past the school wasn't he? I saw you guys looking at each other."
She watched as her friend avoided her eyes and continued to eat her breakfast in silence.
"I for one, thought it was really sweet how he stayed with you until we got there."
With a small sigh Avery snapped her gaze to her friend and responded, "Jordan was just doing his job, there is nothing sweet about that."
"Jordan?" Teagan gasped not able to hide the smile on her own lips.
Avery's eyes widened in realization that his first name had slipped out, not understanding what was happening she put her hand over her mouth, causing Teagan to forget about her splitting headache as she laughed.
"Tell me everything!" Teagan urged.
"There is nothing to tell." Avery defended, but her best friend saw the smile that spread over her lips.
"Avery! I know you better than anyone else. Stop lying."
"I'm really not lying. He pulled me over one night and I expertly avoided getting a ticket." She said, trying to push the internal smile from her thoughts.
"And that involved finding out his first name?" Teagan asked, so absorbed in the conversation she didn't realize the cereal was all gone from her bowl as she kept taking spoonful's of milk.
Grabbing the box and pouring more into her friends bowl, Avery accidentally let slip, "No, T… I found that out at Pammy's the next day."
When the brunette's jaw dropped Avery quickly stammered out, "He came by my house because he accidentally kept my real ID and gave me my over 21 one back."
"Oh… my god! This is serious, you took him to Pammy's Pancake Palace!" Teagan almost shouted pointing an accusing finger at her best friend.
"You're over-reacting, I think you're still drunk." Avery shrugged, trying to pretend like it wasn't a big deal. But her best friend knew she'd never taken a guy to her favorite breakfast place before.
"I'm not drunk, I'm just shocked."
Slowly turning her head Avery knew what her friend was thinking, "Jesus, Teagan… get the sounds of wedding bells out of your head. It's not like that, I mean yeah… he's hot, but that's it, I don't like him."
Teagan's voice was quiet as she said, "Okay, forget the deputy then, but you know, A. Just because things didn't work out with Derek or Stiles, doesn't mean that nothing ever will work out."
Standing up Avery said, "This isn't about Derek, okay? This is about how I've learned that relationships are too much work and I just don't think I want that ever again. Maybe it's just not written in the stars for me, you know; the big house and white picket fence… 2.5 kids and a dog. I don't like feeling tied down and we both know I'll never have a normal life, even if I tried too."
Teagan slowly nodded, losing her appetite to finish the rest of her food. She wanted to tell Avery that she was wrong, and that she was sure one day, even if it was years into the future that Avery would find that one guy who would change everything, be exactly what she needed. But she also knew the more she pushed the more she'd shut down.
Standing up she grabbed her bowl and headed for the sink where Avery was standing.
As she watched Teagan rinse both of their bowls out, Avery lightheartedly said, "Besides, I'll never be this young and this hot again… so while you're settled down with Isaac, I'll be out there –living it up for the both of us."
Teagan let out a small laugh as she shook her head and said, "It's not like that, things are comfortable with Isaac… but it's not boring."
"Of course it's not… especially not after what I got you for your birthday."
Teagan's eyes widened as she looked up and Avery winked at her before turning on her heels to head for the door.
"Yeah, I'm still waiting on my real gift, by the way." Teagan said as the girls got into her car, so Teagan could take Avery back to the gas station where she'd left her car.
Glancing behind their seats she saw the gift bag sitting in the back floorboard and said, "This was your real gift, T."
Holding up the empty container package where the glow in the dark erotic dice were supposed to be; Avery asked, "Already gave the dice a try… huh?"
With slightly flushed cheeks Teagan quickly explained, "Isaac opened those!"
Laughing the blonde dropped the container back in the bag and said, "Trust me, you'll both thank me later."
~()~
Richard walked down the stairs with the recycle bin full of empty glass bottles, with every step he took the alcohol bottles clanked together.
Hearing the door open he breathed a small sigh of relief thinking it was Avery, but when he looked up he saw someone he wasn't sure he'd ever see again; Derek.
"Derek…" He greeted with a confused expression as he stepped off the last step.
Derek nodded a greeting and asked, "Is she upstairs?"
With a bitter laugh Avery's dad responded, "Ha, if she was I couldn't have dragged these out from under her bed."
Derek's eyebrows lowered in confusion at the sight before he slowly pushed the door open for him to carry the bin outside.
"Those are all from her room?" He asked, not able to hide his shocked expression.
Standing back up and dusting his hands off, Richard looked at him with a defeated expression as he admitted, "She's… not really been herself lately."
"Uh, I'll come back later." Derek said as he turned, and started to leave. He had to find Avery to warn her about the shadowy masked beasts that had attacked him and Scott's pack the prior night.
Richard scoffed and shook his head.
Looking over his shoulder Derek asked, "What?"
Looking down to the floor he shook his head before finally answering, "I know she's not your responsibility, and I know you've got you're… werewolf stuff going on. But…"
His voice trailed off he waved his hand trying to dismiss the conversation, as he muttered, "Well, it was good seeing you, Derek."
Following him back into the house Derek pushed, "You obviously have something else you want to say…"
Richard looked up from the desk in his office to where Derek was now standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I know what's happening to her isn't your fault, god knows if I knew how to be a semi-decent father, she wouldn't be in this mess. But you can't just walk in and out of her life like this. We both know she doesn't tell me much but she said you came to a mutual agreement, that you guys decided this… thing you had between you wasn't healthy."
"We did… I only stopped by to check on her." Derek admitted.
Sitting down in his leather office computer chair, he rubbed his hands over his tired face as he explained, "The Avery I'm dealing with now is what I was dealing with up until she met you. Binge drinking, the late nights… sometimes I wouldn't see her for weeks and when she did come home, I never saw her walk through that door with the same guy twice. She was out of control and the more I tried to discipline her, the farther away she pulled and worse everything got."
Derek opened his mouth to say something but her dad cut him off, "I'm not sure if it was being with you, or Teagan moving back… or a combination of it all. But I was never as proud of her as I was this past year. And now… I don't even know her anymore.
Derek was silent as he tried to picture her like that –he'd known when they'd gotten together that she had a past she wasn't proud of. That's why she'd been so apprehensive to sleep with him, because so many other guys had only used her for sex.
But he'd only witnessed her trying and succeeding to put her life back on track.
"You're saying I shouldn't let her know I'm back?" Derek asked, wondering if his presence would make things harder on her.
"I can't tell you what to do, Derek. I can't even tell my own daughter what to do but what I can say is that she can't get better… she can't heal, if you're going to coming in and out of her life."
Seeing the pained expression on his face, Avery's dad quickly explained, "I like you Derek, always have and always will. But I'm trying to watch out for her right now, and when you're around you're what she's concerned about and not herself. She will always put you first and she can't move on because she feels so bound to you…"
"She said that?" Derek cut in, not able to stomach much more.
"She didn't have to." Richard breathed.
With a nod he tried to assure him, "I didn't come back to mess things up for her… actually my reasons for coming back to Beacon Hills don't have anything to do with her."
Shutting his laptop, Richard looked at him and nodded.
As he turned to leave Derek stopped and looked back to Avery's dad as he quietly asked "Are things really that bad with her?"
Pausing Richard looking at him with a hopeless expression, the same lost look he'd seen on Avery's face many times, "I'm not just scared for her… I'm scared of her."
~()~
After arriving at school Teagan walked down the hallway; heading for her locker as she sent Isaac a text, wondering if he was at school yet. She hadn't spoken to him since he left her house earlier after Scott called him.
She turned a corner then paused when she saw Scott and Stiles walking down the hall toward her in a deep conversation, neither one noticing her. Wondering what was going on and wanting to ask Scott were Isaac was, she called out their names and made her way down the hall, meeting up with them.
She was even more confused when neither one looked at her, instead the two walked into the Chemistry classroom. She had no idea what was going on but judging from the look on Stiles face before they went in he was freaked out about something. Curious to know what was going on with her friends, she rushed into the classroom after them.
Teagan walked over to stand beside Scott; who was staring at Stiles as he faced the blackboard, staring at it.
"It's gone." Stiles mumbled out, making Teagan and Scott look at each other in confusion.
"What's gone?" Teagan asked.
Stiles turned around seeing her for the first time then walked past her and Scott to go to the locked door where all the chemicals were.
"Okay, it doesn't matter though. It doesn't matter. I've still got the key." He said, as he hands shook while he looked through all the keys on his key ring. When he didn't see the key to the door, he mumbled out, "What the hell? I had it- I had it here. I had it here this morning." He looked over at Teagan and Scott, a confused look on his face as he said, "I swear to God, I had it this morning."
"It's okay, Stiles. We believe you." Teagan said, as she took a step toward him. "But-But maybe it was a hallucination. Your mind playing tricks or something." She suggested. She wasn't completely sure what was going on, what he thought he saw and it wasn't that she didn't believe him. But she knew how real a nightmare and hallucination could feel. After some of the things she saw, it took her a while to convince herself it wasn't true and she still had problems telling the difference sometimes.
"No, I had it this morning!" Stiles called out, as he took a step back from her. His hands shook more as he went through his keys again; he knew it was there, it just had to be.
Teagan glanced back to look at Scott, as he spoke up and asked, "The key you were talking about last night?"
Stiles looked up at him with a hopeful look. Iif he remembered the key, maybe that meant he remembered seeing it, he could prove he wasn't crazy.
"Yeah, I showed it to you, right? Didn't I show it to you?" Stiles questioned his best friend, Scott.
"No, you just told me about it. I never actually saw it." Scott said, seeing Stiles' face fall and wished he had seen it. He hated seeing his friend so frantic.
Stiles looked over at Teagan as he asked, "Did I mention anything about a key to you last night? Did I show you anything?"
"No, sorry." Teagan said, as she shook her head. "We just talked for a little bit and danced some. You never mentioned anything about a key." She looked at both boys, as she added, "What key is it?"
Stiles pointed over to the locked door as he said, "It's the key to that door, where all the chemicals are and I had it." He turned back to the blackboard as he continued, "I was here a couple of hours ago. And the message left to Barrow spelling Kira's name was right there on the board in my handwriting and I had the key to the chemistry closet."
"So you unlocked the chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira?" Scott questioned, making sure he was really understanding what he was trying to say.
"I know how it sounds." Stiles began to say, until Teagan spoke up.
"We know how it sounds too." She said, as she shook her head, "But whatever you think you did, Stiles… you couldn't have. You wouldn't do something like this. You wouldn't leave messages for some psycho to murder innocent people." She took a few steps toward him, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, as she continued, "You couldn't do this, Stiles. This isn't you."
Stiles shook his head as he shrugged her hand off and dug into his front pants pocket, bringing out a piece of folded up paper. "But look at this." He said out to both of them as he unfolded the piece of paper, Scott walked over to them –standing on the other side of Stiles.
Stiles handed Scott the piece of paper, as he added,"This is the news report that came out about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb that he used." He pointed to the paper, as he continued, "See this? See what he did? He used nuts, bolts and screws and then he hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"
"Coach." Scott said, as he passed the piece of paper to Teagan for her to read.
"The joke we played on Coach. That was my idea." Stiles said, as he nodded his head and getting more agitated as everything started clicking together and making sense in his mind. "You remember? That was my idea. That's no coincidence. It can't be." He added.
"I don't want to sound like I'm trying to tell you that you're wrong. But I don't think you're trying to kill people either." Scott carefully said, not wanting to upset him more.
"Stiles..." Teagan calmly said, planning to tell him she agreed with Scott, hoping the both of them could talk him down before he had a panic attack or some kind of break down.
Stiles ignored them both as he looked back at the board, and said, "It was here. It was all here."
"Dude, are you feeling okay? You're looking really tired." Scott pointed out, for the first time really looking at his best friend. He had seen that same tired, scared look somewhere else before. It was the same look on Avery's face, as well as Teagan's lately.
As that thought crossed his mind, he turned his head to look at Teagan, seeing her looking at Stiles with a concerned look on her face and knew she saw it.
It was almost like looking in mirror for her, she could tell Stiles was being plagued with realistic nightmares and horrible hallucinations too.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping really." Stiles stated, as he glanced down, messing with his hands.
"Why don't you go home? Take a sick day or something." Scott suggested.
Stiles shook his head, he didn't need a sick day –he needed to figure this out, before it drove him crazy but before he could argue, Teagan reached out to lay her hands on his, trying to stop them from shaking.
As he turned his head to the side to look at her, seeing the look she was giving him as she softly said, "Hey, it's okay. I get it, I do. I know how it feels not being able to tell what is real or what is just a bad dream. I know how it is to have the voices in your head telling you to do things you would never dream of doing." She gave his hands a friendly squeeze, as she continued, "But one thing I do know, is that this isn't you. You could never hurt anyone, not like that."
"She's right." Scott said, agreeing with Teagan. "But whatever is going on, we'll figure out."
Stiles looked at Teagan, then over at Scott, as he finally nodded his head, then quietly said, "I think I will take that sick day."
"Good." Teagan said, then added, "Do you want one of us to go with you?"
"No, I'll be okay." Stiles said. He looked at them again, flashing them a small smile as he mumbled out a thanks.
Teagan and Scott stood side by side, as they watched Stiles make his way out of the class room with a worried look on their faces. Once he was gone, the two turned to look at each other, both replaying the conversation with Stiles in their heads, trying to make sense of it. But all they did know was, there was no way Stiles could have been involved.
Both feeling at loss about what to say, Scott gave her a nod, planning to leave the room until an earlier thought hit her and she reached out to grab his arm to stop him.
"Wait, where's Isaac?" She questioned. She still had not seen him or heard from him.
"He's at the Argents." Scott stated.
"What? Why?" Teagan asked. "Is that why you called him this morning?"
Scott nodded, as he said, "Yeah, Allison had called. Something was going on with her dad, so I called Isaac for help."
"Why didn't he just tell me that?" Teagan questioned, then added, "Whatever is going on Avery and I could have helped too."
"I asked him not to say anything yet." Scott stated. When she shot him a look, he quickly explained, "I know you and Avery can handle yourselves but after what happened last night, I thought maybe it would be best to wait until we knew more before we involved anyone else. It might not have been a smart idea, but I'm just trying to look out for you two. I don't want anyone else getting hurt." In his opinion they were part of his pack, and as alpha, he had to make the tough decisions sometimes to protect his pack.
Teagan nodded her head in understanding, she didn't like being left out of the loop but after Avery and some of the others were attacked the night before at her birthday party; after she and Isaac left, she could understand why Scott was a little hesitant to involve more of them right away.
"So what do we know so far?" She questioned, wondering what he learned while at the Argents.
He quickly filled her in, telling her about the arms deal Chris went on years ago. The demon warriors; who attacked Isaac, Avery and the rest at the birthday party had showed up and Chris was able to shoot one in the face, shattering its mask and saving a man named Katashi. Now Chris had a plan to talk to Katashi, hoping to find out more about the demon warriors but his first plan failed.
"So what's the plan now?" Teagan questioned.
"I'm not completely sure. Stiles texted me so I had to leave to meet him here and you know the rest." Scott answered. "Isaac stayed behind to help."
Whe saw the worried look on her face, he added, "Hey, you know Allison or Chris wouldn't put him in any kind of danger."
"I know." Teagan said with a quiet sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. "I would just feel better if I was there or if he called at least." She added.
As if on cue, she heard her cell phone going off and glanced down at the caller id, seeing that it was Isaac calling her. She showed Scott her phone, then told him she would talk to him later as she made her way out the room and answered the call.
"Hey, babe, I'm sorry I haven't called you back sooner." Isaac said, as soon as she answered.
"It's okay, Scott told me." Teagan said, cutting him off.
He sighed, worried she would be mad at him for keeping her in the dark, then quickly began to explain, "I would have told you, but with what happened with Avery last night, I thought you would want to stay with her and I didn't want to worry you-"
"Isaac, hey, it's okay. I get it." Teagan said with a small chuckle, as he breathed out a sigh of relief.
"I just don't want you to think I'm trying to keep things from you. We always have to be honest with each other, right?" He stated. He knew she wasn't always telling him everything when she had a nightmare or hallucination. He knew she felt like she was only protecting him but he couldn't help her if he didn't know exactly what they were up against.
"So what's the plan now?" Teagan questioned to change the subject. Now was not the time to talk about the crazy voices and thoughts in her head. They needed to find out what those shadow demons were, what they wanted and why they were going after them.
Isaac softly sighed at her ignoring his question, then said, "Chris has this idea about drawing Katashi out with a gun deal."
"Where's the deal taking place at?" Teagan asked, as she began to walk down the hallway, heading for the parking lot. There was no way she could stay at school while this was going down.
"I'm not sure, but I'll text you the address." Isaac stated. He had a feeling once she heard the plan she would want to tag along.
"I'll see you soon." Teagan said back, as she pushed the door open and rushed outside to her car.
~()~
Avery pulled onto her street with a small smile on her lips, the entire way home she'd thought about Deputy Parrish and the way being around him made her feel safe. A welcome feeling that was rare these days.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the familiar car parked across the street from her house. In fact, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until she was just a few steps away from her front door when it opened.
Raising her head she came to a dead stop as she saw who was walking out. Hearing another heartbeat Derek turned around after pulling the door shut and looked at Avery with an apologetic expression.
He'd meant to be gone before she got home.
"When did you come back?" She asked, her voice barely over a whisper as all traces of her former giddiness vanished.
"Uh, yesterday." He admitted then raised his eyebrows as he pointed out, "Came home to a raging black light party at my loft last night."
"Oh…" she breathed as she lowered her head not sure what to say or even think. He was the last person she expected to be there when she got home.
They stood in silence until she slowly walked towards the door and said, "You can come in."
Silently he followed her inside and into the front living room as she sat her purse down on the coffee table and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I just came by to check on you… and warn you, there were these shadowed figures with masks… and glowing greenish-yellow eyes…" He started to explain but the saw the color drain from her face as she instinctively reached behind her ear to the symbol now printed on her skin.
"They got you too?" He realized, taking a step forward.
She nodded and turned her head as she started to say, "They left this mark on me…"
"I've got one too." He admitted then asked with genuine concern, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Parrish showed up." She quickly answered not wanting to make him worry about her.
Cocking his head to the side he asked, "Who's Parrish?"
Her eyes widened as she stared down to the floor but he heard her heart pick up speed as she answered, "One of the sheriff's deputy's… I got attacked at a gas station and the guy working there called 911."
His gaze also fell to the floor, knowing there had to be more to the story than what she was letting on; her heart hadn't picked up speed for no reason.
Wanting out of there he said, "I should get going, I just came to check on you… and tell you that I'm not here to screw things up for you."
Her eyebrows pushed together as she quietly admitted, "I tried to call you… not too long after you left."
He stopped and looked over his shoulder as he answered, "I know… I got your message."
A bolt of pain shot through her as she said, "Then why didn't you call me back?"
Taking a deep breath he looked back in front of him, out the doorway of the room and tried not to feel her emotions in the air as he explained, "You said before that you want to be the center of someone's world and it will never be like with me, something else… anger, revenge, guilt… something else will always come first. You deserve to be happy –to be with someone who can give you everything you deserve, but that person isn't me."
She let out a shaky breath and her voice cracked as she questioned, "Then why did you come back?"
Swallowing hard he knew his words would sting her, but they were the truth, "I didn't come back for you."
He heard her let out a breath as if his words had physically hit her but he couldn't turn around. Instead he left the room and headed to the front door without even a glance back at her.
Picking up her purse she slowly walked up the stairs to her room, before collapsing on her bare mattress.
Tears fell from her eyes and seeped into the pillow under her head as she wished she had a blanket to cover up with, but they were all across the room in her closet and she didn't have the energy to get up. She'd stopped making her bed over a week ago after coming home several times so drunk she'd puked all over her sheets, and got tired of constantly remaking the bed.
So she'd given up on trying to keep her room presentable; symbolic –she though, that a simple act of not making her bed actually stood for so much more. That in many aspects, she'd given up on everything.
~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~
A/N- Thanks so much for reading!
If you're not already, you should be following Miss E Charlotte on Tumblr! She posts Blue Moon Series related content all the time and even does chapter preview snippets when there is a few days between updates. ^_^