Chapter 31 - Don't Chase Me, Don't Leave Me

"I want to go back inside…" Avery complained as she stumbled a little from being pulled along by the guy who'd led her out of a side exit of the bar to the alley.

Pushing her against the building he didn't respond as he roughly pushed his mouth against hers with such force she could feel her bottom lip starting to swell against her teeth.

Turning her face and breaking the kiss she saw a few guys standing with beers in their hands outside of the bar watching the scene as they nudged each other and a few of them whistled and yelled something she couldn't understand as the guy moved his mouth to her neck, she could feel his hands starting to slide up her thighs, raising the bottom of her dress with them.

"Uh-uh." She breathed grabbing his hands and stopping him as she said, "I'm not near drunk enough for this."

"Come on, I see you here all the time… and we both know you're not just here to drink." He breathed out, but she couldn't understand what he was saying, his voice sounded robotic and her ears felt like they were full of water, muffling every single sound.

"What…" She gasped, confused trying to understand him, but before she could even get her question out, his mouth was back on hers.

With a groan she pushed him back and wiped her mouth as her heart started to race, from fear when she still couldn't focus on a single sound. Pinning her eyes shut she let out a frustrated yell, not sure what was happening to her. Sure, she'd been drinking but not enough for this to be happening.

As her eyes slowly fluttered open and she gasped as she watched the face of the man who'd pulled her outside twist into a terrifying sight, the only word she could think to describe it was that his features shifted into something demonic.

Mumbling under her breath about how this wasn't real she pushed him away again and started for the front of the alley, continuously slapping hands away from the guy who kept following her and trying to stop her from leaving.

She'd expected everything to go back to normal once she was out of the alley, but as she neared the street she saw all of the other people who'd came outside looked just as demonic as the one who was currently holding onto her arm, and not letting her walk any further.

Gasping for air she flipped her head back and forth trying to keep an eye on her surroundings but it was like neither her eyes nor ears could focus and process anything at all.

"Let go of me!" She shrieked, as she tried to pull away from the man's rough, tight hold on her, but he was unrelenting as his hands and arms tangled around her, trying to pull her back away from the street.

In her state of panic she realized the other people who'd been outside started to file back into the building, and she didn't understand what was happening, she couldn't even tell it was someone's hands and arms on her anymore, all she could focus on was the feeling that something was holding her back and the overwhelming darkness around her, seeming to swallow her whole.

Finally breaking free, she started to run as she looked over her shoulder to see if anyone or anything was following her she ran right into someone, who gently grabbed onto her to keep her from falling down.

Tears stung her eyes as she slowly looked up, expecting to see some other twisted face or maybe even nothing but pure darkness, but instead her gaze locked with a pair of green eyes and finally her state of panic broke.

Still a little dazed she looked over to the police car with it's lights going and realized that's why everyone else had gone inside.

As Parrish gently pushed her back behind him and start to angrily say something to the guy who from what he'd seen, had been trying to force Avery into something and that's why she was screaming and trying to get away from him, her ears slowly began to bring sound back into focus.

She could hear the guy claiming he was just trying to keep her from running out into traffic and claimed to have no idea what had set her off.

Looking back over to where a few people were starting to come back out of the bars watching the scene with prying eyes, Avery lowered her head in embarrassment.

"He's right, he didn't do anything." She finally spoke up.

"That's not how I saw it." The deputy argued looking to where Avery was now standing beside him.

"I just saw something that freaked me out is all." She down played the situation and tried to block the terrifying hallucination she'd had from her mind.

With a heavy sigh Parrish gave her a look showing he didn't believe her but there was really nothing he could do if she refused to speak out against him.

Turning away from them Avery wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at her reflection in the window of the police car, she had to immediately pin her eyes shut when the reflection staring back at her wasn't her own –it was her mother.

Shaking her head it took every ounce of strength she had to not start crying as all of her worst fears were seeming to come to life. What if she was turning into her mom? Getting swallowed up in the darkness… maybe she was just born bad, any of it seemed possible now.

"Avery…"

She gasped and jumped moving away from the hands that had gently landed on her upper arms.

"I'm sorry." Parrish quickly apologized as he took a step back away from her.

"It's okay." She said flashing him a smile as she excused her jumpiness, "You just startled me."

With an expression to show he didn't believe a word coming out of her mouth that night he said, "Come on." As he opened up the passenger door to his car.

She'd called for a car to get her to the bar that night, because she'd went fully intending to get drunk and forget who and what she was, but nothing had gone according to plan, so she didn't protest as she kept her head down and got into the car, staring down to her lap as he shut the door behind her.

Leaning forward she rested her head in her hands and listened to the sound of him moving something around in the trunk and closing it.

As he got into the driver's seat he softly said, "Here."

Rubbing her face before moving her hands so she could see, she saw he was holding out a light green t-shirt.

Confused she looked down to see that in her struggle to get away, one of the straps on her dress had gotten broken, and the top of the fabric on that side was hanging down exposing that side of her black strapless bra.

No wonder he didn't believe the story that the guy was simply trying to keep her out of the street, which in all honesty she didn't remember what was happening.

Looking down to the light color fabric she asked, "I don't suppose you have anything in black… maybe even gray?"

Sighing he admitted, "All I have are the clothes that I was going to change back into when I got off work."

Taking the shirt she hid the smile on her lips as she realized it smelled like him, "Change back into?"

He nodded in response.

"So you're giving me your dirty clothes to wear?" She asked as she pulled it on over her head, feeling a bit better than she had moments before, when his comforting scent from the shirt filled her nose.

"It's not that dirty." He defended as he watched her for a few moments before starting the car and driving off.

Closing her eyes she snuggled back into the seat, expecting a quiet drive to her house, after all normally she was the one who had to lead their conversations but she didn't get her wish as he looked over at her and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She sighed, keeping her eyes closed.

"What I saw back there didn't look fine to me." He admitted, as he looked over at her.

"If had known this was going to be an interrogation I would have just called for a car." She replied, as she glanced over at him.

"I'm not trying to interrogate you." He assured her then pointed out, "I'm just trying to understand…"

"Well you're not going to." She snapped, then felt bad as she swallowed hard and mumbled, "I'm sorry… but I've had the worst day ever."

She pinned her eyes shut as she thought back to the events earlier in the night of trying to save Stiles from the Oni, even though they'd managed to fight them off –Derek had gotten injured and they were no closer to saving Stiles. Or Teagan for that matter, everything was falling apart.

Eyeing her out of the corner of his eye he reasoned, "So tell me about it."

"My day?" She asked with a dry laugh.

He nodded and glanced back over at her as she shook her head back and forth.

"I can't." She answered honestly. If she'd tried to tell him that her and her werewolf friends were trying to save the sheriff's possessed son, he'd lock the doors and drive her straight to Eichen.

"Can't… or you're just not going to?" He pushed as he pulled to a stop at a red light.

Swallowing hard she thought of being back in Eichen House with the nogitsune feeding off of her pain, it was the most painful thing she'd ever been through and even though she knew it wasn't really Stiles –that was face she associated with the memory.

"I can't…" She admitted, her voice a little hoarse as she shook her head, trying to rid the nightmares from her mind, but it didn't work.

When she heard him take a breath and start to say something she cut him off with the most honest thing she'd said all night, "Please, don't ask me anymore questions… I really don't like lying to you."

The car fell silent and she leaned back into the seat again wrapping her arms around herself, breathing deeply as the subtle notes of his cologne started to ease her nerves a little and for the first time since going into Eichen House, she started to feel a sense of safety, but just as quickly as that feeling started to sink in –so did sadness.

Looking over at him she realized in just a few minutes they'd be at her house, and he'd leave –taking her feeling of security with him and she'd be left alone, yet again.

Tears stung her eyes and she wasn't sure if it was from all the pressure she'd been under lately, or her haunting nightmares, maybe her fear of losing Stiles and not being able to save Teagan. But for whatever reason a few tears rolled down her cheeks and she quickly turned her head away from him as she focused on controlling her breathing. But with every new tear that made it's way down her face, she grew angrier at herself for crying.

"Hey…" He breathed as they neared her street, "You're okay, you're safe." He said, his voice calm and soothing. Only he thought she was crying from what he'd witnessed outside of the bar, he had no idea the amount of stress she was under.

"I know." She breathed pinning her eyes shut and physically turning away from him in her seat, she swatted more tears away as he pulled onto her road and she could already feel the cold and lonely feeling creeping up, the same feeling she got every time they parted ways.

As the car started to slow down, her heart picked up speed almost feeling frantic at the thought of having to leave the safe feeling of the car. Thoughts started rushing through her head and she opened her mouth stuttering out inaudible sounds.

She wanted to tell him that the only time she felt safe was when he was around, and ask him to turn the car around, even if they just drove all night she didn't care. She just honestly didn't think she could handle another night on her own, not with the nightmares and the terror she'd been experiencing, the constant crushing weight of everything crumbling around her was beginning to be more than she could take.

With the way he always made her feel so safe and warm, a part of her felt like maybe he could even chase away the nightmares if she spent enough time around him. Or at the very least another few minutes, just a small break from everything where she could finally breathe. But her thoughts we're interrupted when he asked, "What?" with a confused expression as her stumbling over syllables in an attempt to form words.

More tears burnt her eyes as she shrugged, "Nothing…" and started to open her door to get out.

"Avery?" He questioned, feeling like she was on the verge of saying something, either telling him what was going on or asking for help. But just as the quickly as he thought he saw the small breakthrough she shut his hopes down as she mumbled out, "Thanks for getting me home."

He sighed and watched as she shut the door and started to make her way across the sidewalk towards her driveway. His mind drifted back to the sheriff's talk with him, reminding him of her age –he knew the smart thing to do would be to just make sure she got in the house safe and drive off.

But he couldn't stand how it made him feel when she shut down and wouldn't talk to him, so many times he'd felt like they were on the verge of her being honest but then she close down, put up this emotionless exterior and then it seemed like nothing could break through to her.

And just like that, reason went out the window and the sheriff's warning was the last thing on his mind. Avery was hurting; the cause of her pain, he wasn't aware of. But it was clear that her eyes held more secrets and had seen far more than anyone her age should have to deal with.

Hearing footsteps she turned around half way up the driveway and asked, "What are you doing…"

Walking up to her he thought he wasn't too sure what he was doing, just a few seconds ago he'd been convincing himself to stay in the car but now he was standing in front of her.

"I just…" He sighed, letting out a breath as he shook his head back and forth, "It just doesn't feel right… what I saw outside of the bar back there, and the way you're acting…"

"The way I'm acting… what?" She asked shaking her head back and forth as she stared at him in the illumination of the security light above the garage door.

"It just…" He started to say but she shook her head back and forth as she waved her hand and silenced him.

"It what, worries you?" she asked, rolling her eyes when he nodded, "I'm so sick of hearing that from you. I'm sick of a lot of things from you actually." She admitted crossing her arms over her chest and feeling suddenly angered by his presence, or covering her other emotions with anger; she wasn't sure which one.

"What?" He asked surprised, but a smile toyed at the corner of his lips at the expression on her face.

"You just… you show up and you save the day but then…" Her voice trailed off and she whispered quietly with a defeated shrug, "You leave me."

He frowned at her words and started to say something but she turned and headed for her door, where he caught her again and said, "Just because we can't… go there, it doesn't mean that you can't talk to me."

"I don't want to talk." She stated with raised eyebrows.

"Something is bothering you… I can see that, and I hate it." He admitted licking his lips as he continued, "But you can talk to me… maybe I can even help you."

She gave a weak smile at the offer and said, "I can't talk about it anymore than you'd be able to help."

His gaze fell to the ground and he didn't notice she'd walked closer until he looked up and she was just inches in front of him.

"You could come in…" She said quietly nodding to the door.

"I really can't." He declined as his gaze lingered on the door, before he looked back at her.

"But you want to?" She asked her voice barely over a whisper as she stared at him with a look of longing in her eyes, she needed him around her.

He opened his mouth to remind her that it wouldn't matter either way, whether he wanted too or didn't want to; the fact was for so many reasons –he couldn't. But his breath caught in his throat as she trailed her fingers down his arm and their eyes locked.

Her heart started to race in her chest as their faces moved closer, until their faces were only mere inches apart. His eyes were on her lips, and her stomach erupted in flutters at the idea of how his lips would feel on hers.

But he backed up as he said, "Avery…we can't…"

She saw the look in eyes and heard the regret in his tone, but it still stung her worse she'd expected.

Seeing her hurt expression he breathed, then admitted, "I'm an adult and you're… you're 16, Avery. We just can't do this… it's wrong."

"Says who?" she breathed as she rubbed her forehead and wished he'd have never followed her to the door because now it was going to hurt even more when he left.

"The law… for one." He pointed out, "I could get into some serious trouble…"

"Then maybe you should have thought about that before you got out of your car and chased me down." She said as she took out her keys and fumbled with the locks on the door.

She knew she really had no right to be angry with him, but it was much easier to show anger than it was to admit that she was starting to feel something and that it almost caused her physical pain when he'd leave her.

"I'm not trying to upset you." He quickly said as she opened the door and walked into the house.

"Well, Deputy Parrish…" She said with narrowed eyes as she held onto the door and said, "Next time… try harder."

With those words she slammed the door in his face and leaned against it, as she stared up to the ceiling feeling bad for snapping at him.

"Avery."

With a confused expression she slowly turned and looked at the door wondering why he was still outside, anyone else would have taken off when she got mad at them.

Slowly she leaned forward looking through the peephole to see him still standing outside of the door with his arm raised like he was trying to decide if he wanted to knock or not.

"Are you there, I kind of feel like you're just inside of the door." He admitted as he dropped his arm and looked around.

Avery raised an eyebrow, but held perfectly still as to not give away her location and curious to see why he was still there.

"Well…" He breathed with a shrug, not sure if he was talking to do the door or if she was really listening, "For what it's worth… I am sorry."

She continued to watch as he slowly turned and headed down the walkway, her hand went to the doorknob, but then she stopped, feeling like nothing else could be said anyways.

Locking the door she slowly headed up the stairs to her room, pausing on the top stair to raise his shirt to her nose and breathing in another deep breath of his scent.

~()~

The next morning, Teagan softly sighed as she began to wake up. Her body was a little sore after the night she spent with Isaac, but she wasn't complaining. With a smile on her face, she rolled over, reaching out trying to find him.

When she felt the cold, empty bed where he had laid, she opened her eyes and glanced around the empty room. She lowered her eyebrows in confusion, as she sat up and wondered where he was.

For a minute, she worried something was wrong. What if he wasn't completely healed and ready to leave the hospital? What if he started feeling bad and left without waking her?

She snapped her head to the side when she heard the bathroom door open and saw him walk out of the room; showered, dressed and ready to go. She breathed a sigh of relief at seeing that he was okay.

"Babe, come back to bed." Teagan sleepily said, before falling back against the mattress with a tired groan. She expected to hear him laugh before jumping back into bed with her, but when she didn't hear anything from him, she sat back up, seeing him standing by her dresser.

"What are you doing out of bed already? Come back over here." She said, as she patted her mattress.

When she saw him staring at something on top the dresser, she stood up from the bed, pulling the shirt she had on down, it falling around her knees. It was his shirt that she stole to sleep in.

Teagan softly said his name, then walked up behind him, placing a hand on his back, as she said his name again. She softly gasped when he finally turned his head to look at her, but it was almost if he was in a daze. It's a look she had seen on her own face too many times lately.

Fearing this was just another nightmare, she closed her eyes, squeezing them tight, then opened them to look at him again. She breathed out a sigh when she saw he was looking more like himself, making her think before was just a trick from her mother.

"What are you doing?" She questioned, as she ran her hand up and down his back.

"Just looking at these." Isaac answered, as he turned his head back to look at the daggers laying on top of her dresser. She meant to put them up the night before but got distracted. "I was just thinking of how much damage they could do." He added.

"Isaac, I'm sorry." Teagan softly said, as she reached out to grab them to put them up. She thought he was thinking about the times she pulled a dagger on him, or maybe he was worried she would pull another one on him now and hurt him. She didn't want him to think that though. She didn't want him to fear her, even if he did have a reason to, but she was trying so hard to ignore her mother's shouts and not hurt him now.

"No, it's okay." Isaac said, as he grabbed her wrist to stop her. "You shouldn't hide them, you should keep them out. Actually you should have them on you at all times. You have to protect yourself, Teagan."

"I do, but there are other ways to protect myself than with weapons. Non-lethal ways, that's what Allison has been training us to do." Teagan pointed out. She lightly grabbed his arm, turning him to face her, as she said,"Babe, what is going on? Are you worried about something?"

"I always worry about you. This world isn't human friendly." He shook his head, as he continued,"You know, I'm starting to think that voice in your head is right after all."

"What?" Teagan breathed out, with a shocked expression on her face.

"Some of us are monsters, some of us can't be forgiving for the things we have done. Some of us don't deserve second chances." Isaac stated, then added,"Like the twins, look at how much hurt they have caused. They have taken a lot from all of us." He laid his hands on either side of her face, as he said,"Your mom would be beside you and not in your head if it wasn't for them and their pack. And my pack? My original pack, they would be here too if it wasn't for them."

"I know they have done a lot of bad, and I'm not trying to excuse that, but they have also done some good lately too." Teagan said, then added,"I'm not saying to forgive them or trust them, cause I still don't fully, but with everything that is going on, we need as many allies as we can get right now."

"Yea-Yeah I guess you're right." Isaac mumbled, as he ran a hand through his hair. He laid a hand on her side, as he nodded his head toward the bed and suggested,"Why don't we just lay back down?"

"I think that is a great idea." Teagan said, as she smiled over at him while he led her over toward the bed. She lowered her eyebrows in concern when she noticed the look on his face, it was the look she noticed earlier when she first woke up and saw him.

She opened her mouth to ask him if he was okay, but before she could say a word, he pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket; it was the pair Avery had given her for her birthday. Before she could do anything, he snapped the cuffs on her wrist then cuffed her to the bed frame.

"Isaac!" Teagan yelled out in surprise. She pulled on the cuffs, as she called out, "What are you-what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry Teagan, but she's right. You have to kill or be killed." Isaac stated, as he grabbed her car keys, then turned and walked out of the bedroom.

Teagan's mouth dropped open in shock from his words. "Wh-what?" She breathed out, trying to wrap her mind around what just happened. She replayed the words he said in her head, trying to ignore her mother's words as she repeated her phrase of 'Tuer ou être tué' over and over again.

Realizing what he was going to do, she jerked on the cuffs as she yelled out,"No, NO! Isaac! Isaac, come back! Don't do this."

She screamed out in frustration when she heard the front door slam shut downstairs. She turned to face the bed frame, then pulled as hard as she could on the cuffs, trying to break them with no luck. All she did was cause them to cut against her wrist.

She glanced down at the bedroom floor, tears in her eyes, as she realized she wasn't going to be able to break the cuffs off. Meaning she had no way of going after him. Meaning he was on his own as he went after the twins. He was alone and she was completely stuck.

~()~

Hearing the doorbell echo throughout the house, Richard got up from his desk and headed down the front hallway towards the door.

Opening it he looked at the officer dressed in his uniform and said, "Hello…"

Parrish looked at him and was silent for a moment, he'd fully expected Avery to open the door, not to be meeting her father.

"Can I help you?" Richard pushed when the deputy didn't respond.

"Sorry, um, is Avery home?" He questioned.

With an exasperated sigh Richard stepped to the side and ushered him in as he shut the door and asked, "What did she do this time?"

Parrish's eyes bugged as he started to stutter out his answer, but Richard cut him off.

"Look, I don't really see a reason to get a lawyer involved here. I can get my checkbook, and we can work something out, right? Does the station still need that computer upgrade?" Richard asked, quickly trying to sweep whatever Avery had done under the rug.

"Oh no, that's not necessary." He finally found his words, then continued to explain, "I was just coming to check on her after what happened last night."

"Last night?" Richard asked with raised eyebrows.

Seeing her dad had no idea what he was talking about he let out a small nervous laugh as he said, "Well, I can see this is all new information to you… so maybe I could just talk to her?"

"She's up in her room." He nodded to the stairs then asked, "Wait, how do you know each other…"

With wide eyes he stuttered out, "No, it's not like that… we're not like that. We're just friends."

When he was met by a raised eyebrow look of expectance similar to that of one Avery often gave him he rubbed a hand through his hair and said, "Uh, sir… I know that sounds strange seeing as how I'm older than her but…"

With a small chuckle at not only seeing the young officer nervous, but also at being called sir, he said, "Your age is the least of my worries right now. She's in her room." Nodding back to his office he said, "I'm in the middle of sending some emails for work."

With a confused and slightly stunned expression he called out, "You said upstairs?"

Spinning around he asked, "You really don't know where her room is?"

Matching the shocked expression he questioned, "Should I?"

Turning back around, Richard rubbed a hand over the back of his head as he questioned, "Do you really not know which room is hers?"

"No…"

"Well…" Richard said with a smile, "I'll take you up there then… plus, now I'm really curious about what happened last night."

With a nervous laugh Parrish followed Avery's dad up the stairs to her closed door.

"Uh…" Richard said looking to Parrish before knocking on the door and saying, "Avery?"

Avery looked up from the book she was trying to read, trying to keep her mind off of things and sighed at her dad bothering her.

Looking to the foot of her bed where her black cat was yawning from being disturbed from her nap, Avery let out a small chuckle and said, "Was the princess disturbed from her royal nap?"

When she didn't respond he knocked louder with an embarrassed look on his face as he yelled, "Avery, I'm serious… are you alone in there?"

Parrish raised his eyebrows and stared at Richard.

"Of course I'm not alone, I have half of the lacrosse team in here…" She said as she jerked her door open, but her voice trailed off as she saw who was standing with her dad.

"That's not funny." Richard sighed as he followed her into her room.

"It wasn't a joke, I stashed them in the closet and under my bed." Avery said with a wink that made him roll his eyes and point to where the deputy was growing more uncomfortable by the second.

Climbing back into her bed she sat with her legs crossed and tried to dismiss her dad, "Goodbye, dad."

"I'm not leaving… I want to know what happened last night." He stated.

Avery held back a laugh as a dozen comebacks that would make him cringe flooded her mind, but the worried look on his face stopped her from saying any of them.

"It's not a big deal…" Avery breathed looking over to where Parrish was standing, looking around her room, wondering what he was doing there, or what he'd told her dad.

"Yeah…" Richard said as he looked over to the officer's name tag and said, "Well that's not what Deputy Parrish told me."

Sighing she said, "Look I was just out having a good time and this guy got a little rough… that's it."

Richard's entire body tensed at her words as he walked over and asked, "Oh my god, are you okay?"

Realizing her dad had tricked her into telling him what happened she sighed, "I'm fine…" Nodding to Parrish she admitted, "He spies on me all the time so he intervened and even brought me home."

"I don't spy on her, I was on patrol." Deputy Parrish quickly cut in.

She lowered her head and smiled at his words, then looked up as her dad sternly said, "We'll talk about this later."

Standing up he paused in front of the deputy as he extended his hand with a nod of approval and said, "Thank you."

Parrish smiled and nodded as he shook his hand.

Seeing her dad walking past the dresser he said, "But you might want to take that with you."

His eyes went to the bottle of alcohol sitting on her dresser in plain sight.

"Right… I must have left this here." Richard took the blame, excusing his daughters behavior as he grabbed the bottle and left, pulling the door shut behind him.

Looking at the closed door with a frown he thought that might have explained a lot of her behavior, with a father so willing to sweep her problems under the rug she'd gotten good at not only hiding things, but thinking that her actions didn't have consequences.

"You know…" Avery said, as she nodded to the dresser, "There's another bottle in my underwear drawer… if you want to go searching for it."

He sighed as he looked at her, now that they were alone the concerned on his face grew.

Patting the bed in front of her she asked, "What are you doing here?"

Walking closer he sat down, but a ways away from where she had pointed to.

"I came to check on you..." He reminded her, as he looked over to where her phone beeped on her desk next to her open laptop.

"I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"Don't I look fine?" She questioned, motioning to the short tight shirt and the sleeping shorts she wore that could have easily passed for underwear.

His gaze traveled down but quickly went back to her face as he said, "Can you please just be serious for a minute with me?"

Her eyes went from his face down to her blanket as she shrugged, "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to be honest… with me, with yourself."

Raising her head she looked at him as she said, "I'm okay, believe it or not I'm fine after last night, that was probably one of the least traumatic events in my life."

"That's what concerns me." He admitted, watching her closely.

He looked down to where her arms were laying in her lap, with her tattooed wrist in clear view, it only took a few moments of focusing to see the raised scar under the corset lace design.

Seeing her quickly move her arms and try to cover the scar he said, "Drinking never solved anyone's problem, not for longer than a night."

Feeling defensive she started to pull at a loose thread from her pillow case and said, "Until you walk a mile in my shoes, don't judge me."

"I'm not judging you." He clarified as he shook his head back and forth, wishing she wouldn't immediately get so defensive.

The room fell silent as he could start to feel her closing down again, shutting him and her problems out, because it was easier to drink and party the pain away than to face herself.

"I'm not judging you." He tried to make her feel better, "Anyone who's been through that kind of… trauma would still be dealing with the affects."

Raising her head she stopped picking at the thread and a hurt expression fell over her soft features, "You read my file…"

"A car-jacking gone wrong… someone tried to kill you."

"Yeah, I remember that. Thanks." She snapped as she got up from her bed and shook her head back and forth, clearly upset with him.

He stared down at the carpet in her room where there were several burn marks from when her curtain had caught on fire months before as he quietly said, "I wasn't trying to upset you."

"You talk about me being honest with you, but you're going behind my back… looking into files that I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to do for personal reasons. It's not fair, when I met you I didn't get some file spilling all your dirty laundry." Her arms fell to her sides as she watched him raise his head and look at her with a defeated expression.

"You don't talk to me… not really, you shut down every time something is brought up that makes you uncomfortable. Which is pretty ironic considering you're always trying to make everyone around you uncomfortable." He confronted, feeling an intense need to not only understand her and what she was going through, but also to help her.

Her jaw tensed in anger at his calling her out on her behavior, something very few people had the nerve to do.

"You want honesty, let's start with you." She said, angrily jutting a finger in his direction.

Standing up he spread his arms to the sides as he said, "I'm an open book."

"Fine." She scoffed, "Then tell me why you went to the trouble of finding out dirt on me."

"I wasn't trying to find dirt on you, I'm trying to understand why you stay so guarded… why you always shut everyone out including me."

Her eyes met his and she coldly said, "Not good enough, being curious about someone and going through sealed records for information are two entirely different things."

"First off, the files weren't sealed. And Secondly, did it ever occur to you that maybe I went to all of this trouble, that I continually try to talk to you when all you do is push me away because I care about you? That I'm trying to help you… keep you from destroying yourself?"

They're eyes locked for a few moments of dead silence before she gave a small, weak shrug and asked, "How did everything in my file not scare you away?"

"Because you're more than just some words on a paper, you're bigger than everything that's happened to you, and like I said… I'm worried about you." He explained with a shrug of his own.

"Worried? I believe you said you cared about me." She pointed out, turning around and walking over to her window, hiding the smile threatening to overpower the frown on her lips.

"Either way, everything that I've read… everything I've seen with you, none of it scared me off." He pointed out, watching her as he spoke.

Turning around her eyes looked even duller than before as she quietly asked, "And what if I told you that what you read on paper… wasn't even half of what is wrong with me?"

"Then I'd say that you're still here, strong and fighting through it every day. But at some point, everyone needs help. And if you can't talk to me about it… there has to be someone else you can. Because Avery, the way you keep everything bottled up, it's going to kill you from the inside out."

Tears stung her eyes in response to his words, but she was determined to not break down. Everything he was saying sounded great, but the darkness inside of her would chase anyone off.

"I've seen it happen before… Some of the strongest people I have ever met, have been the most… haunted. Going through life threatening situations it weighs on you and if you aren't careful it can tear you apart." He continued, trying to get her to understand the seriousness of what was happening.

Everything she'd said about how he didn't even know half of what was going on with her, scared him; not of her but scared for her. The girl he'd first met, the one who surprised him by offering food to a homeless man, and who had started to creep into his every waking thought was slowly slipping away right in front of him and he couldn't help her, not if she wouldn't let him.

Rubbing her forehead she forged a smile as he said, "Thanks for coming to check on me, but I think I really just need some sleep."

He nodded, knowing she was closing down again and wasn't ready to talk about what was troubling her. But he'd seen bits of true emotion show through, for a few short lived, hopeful seconds he even thought she was really going to open up, but he'd take the small progress they'd made as a win – for now at least.

Just as he reached the door of her room he turned around and remembered, "Oh, my shirt."

"Your shirt…" She breathed glancing over to where she'd tucked the light green shirt he'd let her borrow under pillows, relieved to see it was fully hidden from sight.

He nodded and followed her gaze towards the bed trying to see what she was looking at, but she snapped her gaze back to him and shrugged, "I'll have to look for it… it might not even be here, colors that light don't normally last long in my room."

"But it was just last night." He argued, sensing she wasn't be entirely truthful as his eyes scanned her room where all the décor was dark colors, mainly black.

"Mhmm." She hummed nodded but held her ground until he finally accept the answer and headed out into the hallway.

As they headed down the stairs she tried to lighten the subject of their conversation, "You work tonight?"

"Yeah, in a few hours." He answered as they walked to the front door.

With a hopeful expression she leaned forward, resting her arms on his shoulders and raising up on her bare feet as she played with the back of his hair and offered, "If you really want to make me feel better…"

Feeling his body tense up under her touch she smiled and purred, "You could stay with me…"

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, he put his hands on her sides and for a moment she thought he was going to give in, distract her from her current problems, for a few hours at least. But the way her days we're going, she'd gladly take a night off from being alone with her thoughts.

"Avery…" He said quietly, as his hands slid down her sides some.

"Yeah?" She whispered back, her heart slowly starting to gain speed when their eyes met.

"I can't."

His tone was confident but she was sure she saw a flash of regret in his green eyes as he declined the offer.

"Let me guess… it's a not good idea?" She sighed, rolling her eyes at one of the many excuses he'd use to get out of compromising situations with her, she hated that one just as much as when he brought up her age.

His eyes moved from her eyes down to her lips for a moment before continuing down her body to the floor, as he gained the strength to say, "For several reasons, most importantly… it wouldn't help you."

His eyes moved back up her body, wrapped in the tight clothes she was wearing as he tried to get her to understand where he was coming from, "All these things you're doing to take your mind off of your problems, the drinking and –sex, everything you're doing to try and take the pain away are only going to hurt you worse in the long run."

"Yeah?" She breathed, "Well I've never been a big picture type of girl." She said trying to lean against him, but he kept his hands firmly on her sides and held her in place as he took a step back.

A look of hurt spread over her face and her heart felt like it had sank into her stomach as he physically backed away from her, leaving her feeling unnaturally cold and with a tinge of abandonment.

"Goodbye." His tone was soft and just calm enough to almost put her ease, but it just wasn't enough to make her feel better because she knew he was still leaving.

She nodded but didn't respond as she closed the door behind him and locked it. Letting out a shaky breath she dropped her head forward until it collided with a thud on the hard surface.

"He's right you know."

Turning around she saw her dad standing in the doorway to the front family room, where she could only guess he'd been watching the entire ordeal.

Silently she turned back to the stairs, but paused when her dad asked, "Do you want to talk about it… about anything?"

With a small bitter laugh she said, "Contrary to what I just said to him… I just really need to be alone."

He watched with a frown as his daughter climbed the stairs, before he heard the door shut to her room. As she once again closed herself off from the rest of the world.

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

A/N- Thank you for reading! ^_^

Just 10 more chapters left for this installment of The Blue Moon Series!