Chapter 25 - Committed

"Hey, you ready to go?" Deputy Parrish asked as Avery walked out of one of the bathrooms at the station.

"Yeah, I think I got most of the blood." She said with a small shrug as she looked down to her hands and arms.

He nodded and led her past the cleaning crews towards the door and out to his patrol car.

She looked around, the night air still had a singed scent to it no matter how hard she'd scrubbed her hands with soap and water the coppery scent of blood was still fresh in her nose.

Getting into the passenger seat of the car she leaned back into the seat and let out a small content sigh to finally be sitting down after hours of running back and forth trying to help the responders save lives.

"How are you holding up?" He asked, as he started the car and backed out of the parking spot.

"I'm okay…" She quickly answered as she looked over to him, seeing his blood stained uniform when they passed under a streetlight.

After a few moments of silence she asked, "What are they going to do with Derek Hale and Chris Argent since the station will be closed for at least a few days?"

"Canaan P.D is holding them at their station until everything is back in order here." He explained.

She nodded thinking to be honest they were probably better off in another county, getting out of Beacon Hills might be anyone's best chance at survival now.

"What?" She asked when she noticed he was paying more attention to her than he was to the road as he drove them towards the school.

His voice was quiet and a little unsure as he questioned, "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm…" she playfully hummed, "My favorite color is silver glitter, my favorite flower is black orchids… I have a thing for champagne diamonds and barefoot midnight walks on the beach."

Letting out a laugh he said, "That's not what I was going to ask…"

But she cut him off, thankful for the distraction from the awful day she'd had as she continued, "My favorite book is The Beautiful and Damned. Hmm, I love music in general but my favorite song would probably be Manic Monday…"

"The Bangles song… from the 80s?" He asked with raised eyebrows as he looked over at her.

Nodding with a wide smile she said, "That's the one."

"And before you ask… yes, I am very single." She teased, looking over at him from under her mascara darkened eyelashes.

She laughed and he shook his head laughing along with her, being around her was quickly becoming one of his favorite things. And for her, the time she spent alone with him somehow managed to chase away the vast feeling of emptiness and darkness inside of her, even if it was temporary.

"I was uh, I was actually going to ask about you and Derek." He admitted not looking over at her.

Slowly she turned her head around to face him as she pointed out, "I just said I was single…"

"I heard you." He assured her, then pointed out her slip up earlier, "But earlier you said someone you loved was in there, and I saw you rush right to him."

"Why are you asking me this?" She questioned, with a frown.

He looked over at her and admitted, "Well, I saw in his file that he tried to kill you and your friends…"

"Those charges were dropped." Avery pointed out, wondering why he'd even been looking into Derek, in the first place.

"I also read that." He agreed, then admitted, "Honestly… the way you act sometimes, it's like something really bad happened to you. I'm just trying to look out for you." He explained, which was the truth. But he didn't give the whole truth, which was that she was always on his mind and Derek's files weren't the only ones he'd been looking into recently.

When he saw the look of disbelief on her face he sighed and admitted, "I was on patrol the other day and I saw him coming out of your house… since that day I've seen you spiral into hallucinations on a few different occasions and honestly, it worries me."

"First off; Derek is not the cause of my problems, I don't know why everyone just assumes that. Furthermore, I don't care what his file says… he's not a bad guy. Secondly; I'm not having hallucinations, okay? Because that would mean I'm crazy… which I'm not."

She faced forward expecting him to get mad right back at her, shut the conversation down just like everyone did when she got that way with them.

But he surprised her when he apologized for upsetting her and pointed out that he really was just worried about her and the way she'd been acting.

Normally she'd have stayed mad at someone, she could easily hold a grudge for days, even weeks over silly little disagreements. But there was something about the way that he continued to try and talk through things with her that made it impossible to remain mad.

Sighing in defeat she said, "It's really complicated…"

He glanced over at her surprised she was opening up after almost biting his head off for even bringing Derek up.

"We're not together, haven't been for a long time… but I'll always care about him." She quietly said with a slightly pained expression.

Pulling to a stop at a red light, he asked, "What happened?"

"We're just… no good for each other." With a pause and a weak, bitter tasting laugh she admitted, "Both of our go to emotions is anger… I don't know, it's just… we both changed so much since we first met that we just couldn't function as a couple." She breathed, rubbing her hands over her face thinking that she was lucky to even function well enough to get through the days anymore.

He nodded in understanding, feeling a little better that she'd been open and honest with him.

Her eyebrows pushed together as she looked over and asked, "Wait… why?"

Clearing his throat as he pulled into the parking lot of the school he explained, "Like I said… the situation just concerns me."

"Mhmm…" She hummed, nodding but clearly not whole-heartedly believing his excuse.

As he pulled to a stop she opened the door and got out, leaning down into the still open door frame she flashed him a flirtatious smile as she said, "Till next time, Deputy Parrish…"

His gaze fell for a few moments as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip, then looked up making eye contact as he replied, "Have a goodnight, Miss Dukate."

He watched with a smile as she shut the door of the car and went over to her Mustang.

As she drove off he thought back to how she'd acted at the police station. After getting Derek taken care of, Parrish had watched her help one fallen officer after another. Even after the paramedic's got there, she didn't stop until every last injured person was taken from the building.

Every encounter he had with her only made him want to know more about her, he'd certainly never met anyone like her before and no matter how hard he tried to focus on other things and not think about her, she was always on his mind now. He craved her presence, missed her when she wasn't around, and whenever he thought he'd figured something out, she turned into an even bigger mystery.

~()~

Avery walked into the dining room and noticed a new lock on the liquor cabinet.

Rolling her eyes she muttered, "Oh, please…"

Sighing she walked down the hallway and into his officer where she easily located the key and went back, unlocking it she glanced over the expensive glass bottles before finally deciding on one and breathing, "You're with me tonight."

As she walked up the stairs to her room she took her hair out of the bun she'd pulled it up into at the police station and rubbed her scalp, as she reached her bedroom she frowned at seeing the door was open. She thought her dad had been snooping again, but as she walked in she saw Scott sitting in one of the round ottoman chairs in her room, watching the TV.

He turned his head when he heard her come into the room.

"What are you doing here…" She asked, as she sat the bottle of alcohol down on top of her dresser.

"Waiting on you." He admitted, as he stood up and shut the TV off, dropping the remote into the chair he'd been sitting on.

"I thought you'd be back a lot sooner though…" He said, his eyes lingering on the bottle she'd sat down on her dresser.

"I didn't leave the station until everyone who'd been injured was taken to the hospital… I learned some advanced first aid training with Allison." She explained, then her eyes went to his ripped and bloody shirt as she gasped, "What happened?"

"It turns out that Stiles… wasn't really Stiles when we got to the animal clinic." He admitted a pained expression on his face as he thought of how he'd looked into his best friends eyes as he'd twisted the sword that had been stuck him.

He quickly explained how Deaton had showed up in the nick of time and injected Stiles with lichen to poison the fox until they could figure out a more permanent solution.

She stood in silence, staring down to the floor as she thought of how none of this would have happened if her friends hadn't had to be surrogate sacrifices for their parents, which the more she thought about it the more she found reasons to blame herself for it all.

"Uh…" Scott cleared his throat, "That's not why I'm here though, I wanted to talk about, you know… earlier."

"About the guy you watched die?" Avery questioned, her tired eyes searching his face.

Glancing around the room he rubbed a hand over the back of his head and said, "No… the thing that happened after that."

With furrowed brows she guessed, "With Stiles at the clinic?"

"No… before that."

Sighing and shaking her head she said, "Scott, I'm gonna be honest here… I'm really exhausted and the last thing I want to do is play 20 questions with you."

"You know…" He said motioning between them, leaving her even more confused than before.

Finally he quietly breathed, "The kiss."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, laughing then her face twisted as she asked, "Wait… why? What is there to talk about?"

"The fact that you kissed me!" He almost yelled back at her.

"To get you to focus… Scott, you were freaking out." She reasoned, acting like it wasn't a big deal.

Seeming to not hear her explanation, "It's just… I'm with Kira… or I think I am. Okay, I'm not really sure where I stand with her, but there is something there."

She looked down to the floor and held back a laugh as she cooed, "It was just a kiss… it didn't mean anything. But the fact you came here to talk about it… it's adorable."

Seeing the look he was giving her she sighed, "It wasn't that long ago that I kissed Teagan to get her to calm down."

"You… kissed Teagan?" He asked unable to hide his shock.

"Yes, to help her." Avery said rubbing her forehead as she reasoned, "I have this effect on people, I can make time stop with a single kiss."

Dramatically flipping her hair over her shoulder and flashing a smile she said, "I'm Avery Dukate, I'm just that good."

He laughed, feeling relieved from their conversation he said, "I just wanted to make sure that we're okay…"

"We're fine, and if you feel bad because we kissed behind Kira's back, I'll just kiss her too." Avery joked, then said, "But I'm warning you, if I kiss her… she might forget all about you."

Thinking back to how her kiss had rendered him speechless earlier he said, "Yeah… don't kiss Kira." She laughed at his words and started to say bye to him before he stopped as he looked at the bottle of alcohol on the dresser.

Slowly turning to face her said, "What you did earlier… helping everyone at the police station, that was amazing."

She shrugged and walked over to her closet pulling out some clothes to sleep in after her shower.

"You don't believe me…" He realized watching her.

Turning around she said, "I try… you know?" Her voice cracked for a moment before she composed herself and said, "I try really hard to be like you… and Teagan, and Stiles… all of you who are always doing the right thing. But I'm just not like you, Scott."

Before he could speak she quietly breathed, "It's like I was born bad…"

"I don't believe that, not for a second." He asserted as he walked closer and said, "There's something you said to me when I left you with Deucalion, you said that I'm better at being a hero than you… but that isn't true. Look at everything you've done, Avery. You are a hero… to all of us."

"I'm the reason everyone is in this mess in the first place!" She argued, not understanding how he could look at her without being repulsed by how mangled she was on the inside.

"No you aren't!" He exclaimed, watching her in disbelief.

"If you only knew… knew the thoughts I have, and the things I see. Something is broken in me and I don't know how to fix it…" she breathed, feeling tears sting her eyes.

"I know as much as you let me know… but I know enough. I've seen you fight for all of us, I watched you try to give up your life to save our parents. Avery, I watched you help Stiles everyday with his homework because he couldn't read, and you've helped me so many times I've lost track and in ways I can't even describe. You are the reason we're all still here." He assured her stepping closer as he felt the anguish in the air radiating off of her.

"No, I'm not." She said, as a single darkened mascara laced tear left a trail down her cheek, "But I'm trying to fix things… I'm trying to be better." She admitted.

"Hey…" He breathed out stepping closer as he pulled her into a tight embrace, "We're going to figure something out to help Stiles and Teagan… and you. We always figure something out."

Her tears soaked into his jacket as she clutched onto him and mentally demanded her tears stop flowing, they didn't listen.

"You're not alone." He said, his voice barely over a whisper.

~()~

Teagan opened her eyes, surprised to see Avery staying by the hospital bed, her hands above Isaac's arm. She sat up in the chair, rubbing her eyes, as she asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Hey." Avery said, as she glanced over at her best friend for a moment, seeing the concern look on her face. The longer it took Isaac to heal, the longer he was out, the more scared Teagan became. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." She added, knowing sleep wasn't something Teagan had done often lately.

"It's okay." Teagan said with a yawn, as she stood up from the chair and began to stretch. "What are you doing?" She asked again, seeing that Avery ignored the question earlier.

"I'm not going to hurt him." Avery said, figuring she would be worried about that.

"But will it hurt you?" Teagan questioned. As much as she wanted Isaac to be okay, she didn't want to risk Avery hurting herself.

"It'll make him better." Avery stated, avoiding the question.

Teagan open her mouth to argue, but before she could say a word, Avery grabbed Isaac's arm and closed her eyes with a pained groan. Teagan watched helplessly, as Avery twitched a few times as the lights overhead flickered.

When the machines hooked up to Isaac began to beep, Teagan looked over at them, watching all the numbers go crazy. Worried something was going to happen to her best friend, boyfriend or both, she called out Avery's name, begging her to stop.

As the beeping on the machines increased, Teagan looked over at them again with wide eyes, then looked back at Avery, seeing a trail of blood running down her face from her nose.

"Avery, stop!" Teagan called out, as she grabbed her shoulder and roughly pulled her back, breaking the hold she had on Isaac as the door swung open and a nurse rushed inside. Thankfully once the connection was broke, the machines had returned to normal and the lights stopped flicking.

"What's going on in here?" The nurse asked, as she looked at the two teenagers.

"N-nothing." Teagan answered. She glanced over at Isaac for a moment as she walked over to the bed, laying her hand on his arm. She looked back at the nurse, as she continued, "We just uh, we heard the machines going off."

"So maybe you should do your job and check on him." Avery added, as she wiped the blood from her nos,e on to her pants before the nurse noticed it.

"Avery!" Teagan hissed, as she glanced over at her best friend.

The nurse rolled her eyes, then walked over to the machines, checking them as well as checking on Isaac. "He's vitals are good, they're stronger. Actually this is the best they have looked since he was brought in." The nurse said. She looked over at the teens with a shrug, as she said, "Must have been a glitch in the machine."

"Thank you." Teagan said to the nurse, before she looked back at Isaac with a small smile on her face at hearing the news.

The nurse nodded her head, then turned and left the room leaving the two younger girls alone. Teagan took Isaac's hand, giving it a small squeeze, missing the way he would squeeze it back.

She wiped a lone tear from her cheek, then turned to look at Avery, as she said, "That was really dangerous for you to do."

"You heard the nurse, he's doing better." Avery pointed out, as she pulled a napkin from her pocket, dabbing it at her nose when she felt blood running from it again.

"I know and I appreciate it, Avery, but you can't do things like that, we don't know what all of that..." Teagan began to say, as she gestured around wildly, then continued, "Will do to you."

"It doesn't matter what it will do to me… not if it helps someone else." Avery said under her breath so softly Teagan barely heard her.

"Don't talk like that…" She argued, making it known that she had heard her best friend and didn't like what she'd heard.

Hearing a machine beep, they both looked over to see his vitals were still climbing and stronger than moments before.

"Avery…" Teagan started to protest more against her best friend using her abilities like that, but before she could Avery cut her off in an attempt to distract her.

"I had to come do this today… because you might not hear from me for a few days. But you don't need to worry." Avery assured her, with a wrinkled nose at the scent of her own blood.

"What… why?" Teagan asked, already not liking the sound of her friends plan.

"Stiles thinks he's better off away from everyone… he's having his dad commit him to Eichen, until we can find a way to get rid of the nogitsune." Avery admitted.

Teagan took a slightly stumbling step backwards, holding onto the footboard of Isaac's hospital bed to steady herself as she breathed out, "Eichen House… from what I've heard that place is a nightmare…" Her voice trailed off, a part of her secretly feared she might be facing the same fate if they couldn't find some way to save her.

Bracing herself for the brunette's response Avery continued, "That place is dangerous enough… I don't think he should be in there by himself, so… tonight I'm also committing myself."

When she was met by silence Avery looked up to see Teagan staring at her with her mouth gaping open.

"T…" Avery started to say but she couldn't get another word out before her friend cut her off, "You can't just commit yourself into a place like that!"

"I have to." Avery argued.

"No, A… you don't."

"I can't leave him alone in there… I have to help him, figure out a way to fix him… but until we have a permanent solution, he needs to know that he's not alone." Avery said, swallowing hard as she thought how much comfort the meaning behind those simple words could offer, hearing that from Scott was one of the only things that made her feel better.

Teagan looked over to the bed where Isaac was still unconscious, and thought to herself that she understood. She understood both why Stiles would rather be locked way than hurt any of his friends, and she also understood the importance of not feeling alone when you're fighting a seemingly losing battle.

"There's no talking you out of it." She whispered under her breath, as her gaze slowly fell to the floor.

"I've made up my mind and I already told my dad."

"A… you have to be careful, I've already lost so much and now with Isaac…" Her voice cracked as she looked over to the bed with tears running down her face.

Stepping forward Avery wrapped her best friend in a hug as she promised, "He's improving… he's getting better and with you by his side, he's going to continue to improve. He didn't have it in him to heal on his own, but I gave him that… spark, just enough power to start healing."

"What did it do to you?" Teagan asked returning the warm embrace, as she looked over at Isaac, feeling torn. On one hand she couldn't lose Isaac; she wouldn't survive without him. But on the other hand, she couldn't let Avery endanger her own life; she wouldn't survive without her sister either.

Her hold on Avery tightened as she felt like no matter what small victory they got, it always came at such a high price.

"I'm fine, T." Avery confidently said, but she wasn't so sure anymore. Every time she used her Imperium powers, it chipped a piece of her away. She could feel it changing her and even worse, a small –ever growing part of her didn't care.

She was the reason everyone was in this mess, and she had to fix it –fix them, even if it was the last thing she did, and with the way she'd been feeling lately… it was starting to feel like it might be.

~()~

"You're sure you want to do this?" Richard asked as he pulled the car to a stop.

Avery looked over to the large, imposing structure and then down to her shaking hands.

"I don't want to." Avery whispered as she looked at the tall wrought iron fence with the word; Eichen, over the large gate.

"Good." Richard said as he started to turn the car back on, but she reached over and stopped him.

"I don't want to, but I have to."

"Avery…" He started to say but she cut him off.

"Dad don't, I heard it from you all the way here and from Teagan earlier today. I get that you guys are worried about me, but this is Stiles. Aside from Teagan, he's the one person who would do anything for me and I'm not going to let him fight this alone." She said as she slowly opened her door and stepped out into the cool night air and shivered knowing what awaited her.

"I know how much you care about him, but this isn't Stiles we're dealing with… it's the Nogitsune. He could hurt you… he could kill you, Avery." Richard exclaimed in frustration and helplessness.

Shaking her head back and forth she assured him, "The lichen is poisoning what's possessing him. Right now, he is Stiles, my friend Stiles… and he's terrified and alone and I am doing this. If you try to stop me, I'll do something to get committed on my own."

"What are you talking about?" Richard asked as he put a hand on his teenage daughters shoulder and forced her to stop walking up the stairs.

She avoided his gaze.

"You're threatening to hurt yourself?" He gasped.

Her jaw tensed as she said, "I'm telling you that we either voluntarily commit me for as long as Stiles is here, or I'll give the doctors a reason to commit me."

"Avery!" He snapped, outraged at her threats.

"You don't understand, dad. If the situation was reversed… if it were me, Stiles wouldn't give up on me and I won't give up on him. Ever."

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked as he jumped off his bike and rushed over to them. After trying to talk Stiles out of locking himself up in Eichen, he'd been headed home when he passed Avery's dad's truck and saw her in the front passenger seat.

"I'm going to keep an eye on Stiles." Avery said, thinking the idea of someone watching over his best friend would soothe his nerves but instead Scott's jaw dropped as he gasped, "What… why would you do that?"

"Because he really shouldn't be alone right now." She looked towards the building and breathed, "Not in a place like this…"

Scott stared at her, not entirely sure what to say. As much as she claimed she was doing this for Stiles, there was a part of him that felt like she was just being reckless.

"They're not just going to let you walk in there." Scott argued, with a helpless expression as he looked behind her to her dad who had the same defeated look on his face.

Avoiding his eyes she reasoned, "We called ahead… plus, they already have a file on me, so getting admitted shouldn't take too much convincing.

Turning his head and looking at the building, Scott realized, "You've been here before…"

"It doesn't matter, what does matter is getting Stiles better… So I'll see you in a few days." She somberly said as she turned and faced the large imposing gate.

"I don't like this." Scott said as he stepped in front of her.

Avery sighed at hearing her dad muttering something about not being the only one who didn't like the plan.

"Scott…" Avery started to protest his trying to stop her but he cut her off, "I don't like this… I just said goodbye to Stiles and now I feel like I'm saying goodbye to you too…"

"You're going to see me again in a few days." She assured him, offering a smile but she had the same feeling he did. A feeling like if she walked into that place it wasn't going to be her that walked back out, but it was too late now.

Without another glance at Scott she pushed through the gate with her dad on her heels.

"If I let you do this, you have to promise me you'll be careful." He pleaded; his eyes glistened in the exterior lights of the building.

"I will be." She promised the same thing, she'd promised Teagan earlier.

"Excuse us."

Avery and her dad looked up and moved sideways to allow the coroner and his aide to get past them down the steps with a sheet covered corpse strapped down to the gurney.

Avery's heart dropped as she screamed, "Wait!"

Causing them to look at her, as she rushed forward and pulled the sheet off the head of the body, sighing with relief to see it wasn't Stiles.

"You can't do that!" the coroner snapped as he jerked the sheet from her hand and covered up the body again.

Stepping forward Richard rested his hands on Avery's shoulders as he said, "I'm sorry she…"

His voice trailed off, at a loss as what to defend her actions with.

"Has an affinity for death." She lied, flashing them an eerie smile.

"You'll fit right in…" The aide sighed as he helped get the gurney down the stairs.

"Come on." Avery said as she nudged her dad and they headed inside.

As they walked inside the building a chill ran down her spine at the familiar interior, her eyes gazing over a young man in a wheelchair who had no control as his body twitched and jerked.

"Can I help you?" An African American woman asked as she approached them with a not so friendly smile.

"Yes, uh… I believe we spoke on the phone. My daughter needs… well, she needs help." Richard said, feeling like she was slipping away with every word he spoke.

"Ah, Dukate… right?" she asked as she nodded for them to follow her.

As they entered a small, claustrophobic feeling office with drab decorating and a depressing color scheme he shook his head back and forth, "I think this may be a mistake."

"Is everything alright?" The nurse asked him as Avery took a seat.

"I saw the dead person…" He admitted.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, normally when such an accident occurs the remains are taken out a side door. But with it being so late…" Her voice trailed off as she looked at Avery who was rocking back and forth in her seat, picking at a small freckle on the back of her hand.

"If you'll have a seat, we can begin the admission process." She instructed Avery's dad.

Sighing in defeat he nodded and sat down, taking the clipboard that was handed to him.

"It seems we already have a file on Miss Avery here." She said as she flipped through the contents of a manila folder in front of her.

"A previous suicide attempt, it says here you were temporarily housed here for almost 48 hours." She read, causing Richard to push down with the pen; he was writing so hard he broke the plastic housing.

Eyeing him for a few seconds, the nurse handed him another pen, as she explained, "Just like the last time you were here; for 72 hours there are no phone calls, emails, or visitors. We'll head from here to your assessment by the psychiatrist, speak to a social worker and be required to attend group therapy."

Avery nodded as she stood up and started to empty her pockets before she was told to do so, as her father still struggled to fill out the paperwork to commit her.

The nurse opened a desk drawer and retrieved a white tray, "I know exactly how much this jewelry is worth and the exact amount of money in here…" Avery said as she laid her wallet/cellphone holder in the tray with her jewelry.

"I mean it too, down to the last penny." She said as she eyed the nurse suspiciously.

"We'll put this in a safe place."

"Mhmm." Avery hummed as she sat down and took off her high heels, "And these shoes probably cost more than two months of your salary, so why don't you just give me those hideous slippers so my dad can take these back home with him."

After more of the rules were explained and all of the waivers signed, Avery's dad left and she was taken to change into the standard uniform of those being housed at Eichen House; sweat pants and a plain shirt.

"I'll be back to take you to your room after the assessment." The nurse who'd done her intake said as she pushed open a door and Avery walked inside, where she was met by a small framed, middle aged woman with thick framed glasses and lip stick a few shades darker than what could have worked with her skin tone.

"Hi there." She beamed with a warm smiled as she stood from her desk and extended a hand to the frightened teenager, "I'm Dr. Reynolds, you must be…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down to the open folder on her desk and said, "Miss Dukate."

A pained look spread over Avery's face as she let go of the doctors hand and crossed her arms over her chest, as she thought of Deputy Parrish and how he'd playfully call her that.

"It's, uh… just call me Avery." She stuttered out as she sat down in the chair facing the desk and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to get warm in the thin dark gray long sleeved shirt a few sizes too big on her. Her mind drifting back to Parrish again, and the warm, safe feeling she had in his presence. As a chill ran up her spine, she thought of how she'd give anything to have that feeling right now.

"I see here your check in was voluntary." The female doctor said offering up another smile.

Avery nodded knowing as much as she didn't want to, she was going to have to actually open up about her problems.

"Why don't you tell me about you and your family's reasons for this." She said, her voice calm.

Avery looked around the dimly lit room as she admitted, "I've been having these… nightmares."

"What happens in the nightmares?"

Avery watched as she scribbled something down in her note pad.

"All kinds of things… really intense nightmares where my friends and everyone I care about are killed, and it's always my fault." Avery admitted looking down and biting down on her bottom lip she continued, " Everything is always my fault."

"So it's safe to say that a running theme in your dreams is being left alone?" She questioned, watching the teen intently.

"Is there another common theme in these nightmares?" Dr. Reynolds pushed.

Crossing her legs up under her in the chair, Avery nervously fidgeted and pulled at a loose thread on the shirt she was wearing as she admitted, "Being haunted, I guess…"

"Haunted…by who exactly?" The doctor continued the intrusive questioning, thinking she'd seen this before, patients believing they were being haunted by a dead friend or relative. Some even believed they were being haunted by dead celebrities.

"Not who…" Avery swallowed hard, not looking up as she continued, "The darkness."

When the room stayed quiet Avery sighed, she hated the silence and felt the need to keep talking, "This darkness, it's always there… no matter what I do I can't chase it away. And I try, I try so hard but I always screw things up. I'm poison… all I do is hurt everyone around me."

A tear dripped down her cheek and she wiped it away, as she rolled her sleeves up thinking the room that had –had a chill to it had suddenly gotten so hot she could barely breathe.

"Are these nightmares only happening at night?"

The blonde teen shook her head back and forth, refusing to make eye contact again.

"So you're having hallucinations through the day as well?" She asked with an empathetic expression as she quickly jotted more notes down and focused back on the discussion.

With a pained voice Avery admitted, "They're getting worse, for a while I –I could control it, pull myself back but I'm having more and more nightmares… I feel like I'm drowning in it."

"Your file says you're not on any medication, no anti-depressants or anything?" The doctor continued to scan through the folder in front of her.

"Right." Avery agreed.

"So how have you been coping with what's happening to you?"

With a bitter laugh Avery raised her head and said, "Obviously, I'm not coping or I wouldn't be here, would I?"

Dr. Reynolds pushed the glasses further up the bridge of her nose and ignored the snarky remark as she clarified, "Have you been self-medicating? Like… using alcohol to chase the pain and your feelings away, or to get to sleep?"

Avery nodded.

"Okay…" She said writing it down in the chart as she questioned, "Over the past 14 days how many of those days would you say you abused alcohol?"

"14."

"Every single day?" The doctor asked surprised.

"I normally drink myself to sleep every night, it's the only way I get through the next day. And… I've been carrying vodka in a water bottle at school with me." She admitted, pinning her eyes shut as she spoke.

She heard the doctor blow out a heavy breath as she laid her pen down, now entirely focused on Avery and not on her session notes.

"What about drugs… prescription or street?"

Shrugging Avery said, "Not really… not since I got really sick off a pill I got at club. I try to just stick to alcohol."

"What about other vices… like sex, are you sexually active?" The doctor softly asked.

"Yeah, I am." Avery admitted.

"Okay." She said trying to offer a small smile to not make her feel judged as she picked her pen back up and asked, "In the last 90 days, about how many different sexual partners have you had?"

Avery's gaze fell to the desk, as a few moments passed in silence making the doctor think she wasn't comfortable enough to discuss her sex life.

"It's okay, we can talk about something else and come back to this question." She said, her voice still soft, but her smile fell as Avery spoke up.

"I'm still counting…"

Her light brown eyes slowly raised where she was matched by a shocked expression which the doctor quickly tried to cover as she cleared her throat and tried to think of her next question.

"I –I hate sleeping alone…" The teenager defended in a shaky voice.

"Okay." The doctor said as she closed the folder and said, "Honey… it's getting awfully late, why don't we get you settled into a room and we can discuss this more tomorrow?"

Avery weakly stood up feeling like her legs weren't steady enough to hold her and kept her gaze fixated on the cement floor as the doctor put a hand on her back and gently led her towards the door.

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

A/N- Thanks for reading the chapter! ^_^