Disclaimer: Sadly I did not write Teen Wolf.
I am so sorry for being MIA lately! This chapter is a little short because I wanted to get it up as fast as I could with my new laptop since my last one broke with everything on it… Sorry again for not writing in a while! I hope you guys can forgive me! Enjoy the chapter!
Avery thinks a lot about lines, the lines between years on tombstones to be exact. She remembers going to her sister's grave a lot before they left L.A. She would go there and stare at that little line that meant so much to her, because that line was her sisters whole life. The ups and downs, the laughing and the crying are all summed up in that line. That line meant the world to Avery and it was ripped away from her to be carved into a chunk of stone. Avery just wanted it back, so on her last day in L.A. her mom and dad took her to a tattoo parlor. It sounds crazy and impulsive but she talked to her parents about it for a long time and her stepdad's friend is a tattoo artist so they walked in and she got the years of her sisters birth and death on the side of her rib-cage. Only Avery and her parents know about it, but it's important for her to have that line near her at all times.
She thinks of the tattoo now, while looking at Derek's, and how hers has the fancy swirled numbers that mesmerizes her whenever she looks at it. The representation of her sister's life gives her strength. She stares at Derek's tattoo and compares the two. She imagines that his has some type of meaning too, but she's already afraid to look at it much less ask the meaning behind it, especially sitting next to Stiles and Danny.
This whole little "get together" started when Avery and Stiles walked back into the room after talking to the Sheriff. Of course Derek tried to show some form of force with Stiles.
"If you say one word—" Derek began to say in a threatening tone but is cut short by Stiles stupidly sticking up for himself like he always tries to.
"Like what? 'Hey, dad. Derek Hale's in my room—bring your gun?' Yeah that's right, if I'm harboring your fugitive ass it's my house my rules, buddy." Stiles adds in light tap on Derek's shoulder for an extra dramatic flare. Avery expects Derek to punch Stiles in the face but surprisingly he doesn't, instead Derek brushes off Stiles jacket. Stiles turns around smiling at Avery, as if he just tamed some wild stallion or something.
"So, did you or Scott get the necklace or what?" Derek asks finally addressing Avery out loud.
"Nope, I don't really want to steal from my best friend, thanks." Avery replies crossing her arms across her chest.
"Scott's still working on it, but there's something else we can still try. The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there," Stiles states.
"So?" Derek asks finally.
"It wasn't actually Scott," Avery sums up.
"Well, can you find out who sent it?" Derek asks impatiently.
"I can't, no, but Avery knows someone who can." That random statement leads the two boys to stare at Avery expectantly.
"I do?" Avery questions feeling as though she is being left out of a group chat that she started.
Stiles takes Avery's phone and texts Danny telling him to 'meet at Stiles house to work on a lab project'. A short while later Danny arrives at Stiles house thoroughly confused and is led upstairs into the room where Derek and Stiles are waiting.
"You want me to do what?" Danny asks with a baffled look on his face.
"Trace a text," Stiles repeats, even though it doesn't help clear things up for Danny.
"I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do," Danny clarifies yet again.
"Look Danny, nothing we say right now is going to sound like a good enough reason for you to actually help, but I'm asking you as a friend to trust me and help me out, please." Avery adds with a smile that hurts her bruised cheek. She can tell she's starting to get through to him.
"What makes you even think I know how?" Danny asks Stiles after a moment of thought.
"I—I looked up your arrest report," Stiles says with a bob of his head.
"I was—I was thirteen, and they dropped the charges." Danny spits out an excuse quickly peaking Avery's interest.
"Wait, what charges?" Avery asks leaning in a bit closer to him.
"No, we're doing lab work." Danny shakes his head and takes the seat next to Avery, so she's in the middle of Danny and Stiles. "Who is he again?" Danny throws a thumb back in Derek's direction, who is sitting on a chair in the back of Stiles room with a huge book on his lap casually flipping through it. Avery can't help but smile, the thought of Derek reading alone, is enough to make Avery laugh.
"My cousin—"Stiles begins "Miguel." Stiles spits out the first name that comes to mind and Avery has to physically cover her mouth to keep her laughter in.
"Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny questions further.
"Yeah, yes, well he gets these horrible nose bleeds. Hey Miguel!" Stiles yells turning to Derek. Derek raises his head slowly. "I thought I told you, you could barrow one of my shirts." Derek slams the book shut and throws it onto the bed. He gets up slowly and takes off his shirt while walking over to Stiles dresser.
"So anyway, we both know that you have the skills to trace that text." Stiles continues to try and talk to Danny but it's really no use since both him and Avery are staring at a shirtless Derek's muscular back as though they were in some sort of trance.
"Uh, Stiles." Derek says interrupting Stiles sentence.
"What?" Stiles shoots back obviously annoyed that his negotiating pitch is being impeded upon.
"This," Derek tugs on the Stiles-sized-shirt in his hand "no fit."
"Then try something else on" Stiles says starting to turn back around but then realizing Danny is staring rather intensely at Derek. Stiles turns back to Derek just as he's putting on a not-so-good-looking shirt. "Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh?" Stiles asks tapping Danny's arm for support. "What do you think, Danny?"
"Huh?" Danny asks dazed.
"The shirt?"
"It's not really his color." Danny says then glances at Avery for backup.
"Yeah, not really, but this whole text thing—" Avery begins but Stiles cuts her off with a wave of his hand, realizing he has a golden ticket with a shirtless Derek standing in front of Danny.
"You hear that, Miguel? It's not really your color. Maybe you should change," Stiles presses onward.
Of course Avery isn't going to complain when Derek slides off another shirt so she just glances back. She drags her eyes away from Derek's muscular body only to see Stiles studying her closely. Avery can feel heat flood up into her cheeks and feels slightly embarrassed, but then she realizes that she has nothing to be embarrassed about. If Stiles can like Lydia, then Avery can like Stiles and at least enjoy looking at Derek
"You swing for a different team, but you still play ball don't you, Danny boy?" Stiles asks cocking an eyebrow up in the air.
"You're a horrible person," Danny states.
"I know it keeps me awake at night… anyway about that text—" As if on cue shirtless Derek interrupts.
"Stiles! None of these fit." Derek says, finally kicking Danny into working on the tracing the text.
Avery and Derek share a few awkward glances at each other while he continues to look for a shirt. Well actually, Avery looks awkwardly at Derek and he looks back full of confidence. Let's just say it was a little uncomfortable being in the same room as Stiles Derek and Avery. Lucky for Avery though, Danny's hard at work so he doesn't notice the tension hanging in the air.
After a while longer Danny leans back in his chair with a sigh. "There, the text was sent from a computer," he gestures towards the screen "this one." We all lean in close to see whose it is.
"Registered to that account name?" Derek/Miguel asks trying to clarify.
"Yup," Danny confirms. Avery leans in closer and reads at the bottom of the page a nice big name in bright red letters. Melissa McCall. She lets out a small humorless chuckle.
"Of course it would be some weird shit like this… life would be too easy otherwise." She sums up and shakes her head.
After convincing Danny that he has to leave and they'll work on lab stuff another night the three of them get in Stiles jeep and speed off to the hospital. When they pull into the parking lot Stiles phone begins to ring and he announces its Scott before answering it. Avery zones out at that point, not fully invested in the topic of her best friends stolen necklace.
"I know! Look if you see my dad can you tell him I'll be there? I just might be a little late." Stiles tells Scott, snapping Avery back into reality.
"You're not going to make it." Derek of course has to chime in with his positive attitude. "And you didn't tell him about his mom either."
"Well, we have to be sure it's actually her. We can't just go flinging around accusations about someone's mom like that. It's like a start to a bad yo-mama-joke." Avery adds into the conversation.
"Oh, and one more thing," Derek says turning to Stiles.
"Yeah?" Stiles lifts looks up expectantly only to get his face slammed into the steering wheel. "What the hell was that?" Stiles asks with his face in his hands.
"You know what that was for. Go," Derek commands pointing to the hospital. "GO!" Derek repeats himself again.
"I'll come with, Stiles. Just give me a minute." Stiles glances back at Avery who has a huge smile on her face. "Look on the bright side, maybe we'll have matching bruises." Avery gives a small laugh to which Stiles responds with one of his sarcastic smiles and walks slowly towards the entrance.
"Are you going to tell me how you actually got that bruise now?" Derek asks without bothering to turn to her.
"Let's just say some bitch at school hit me… but don't worry, I got 'em back good." Avery says shaking her head. "I actually wanted to tell you that I told Stiles what happened between us." She says speaking to her hands.
"Why the hell did you do that?" He asks finally turning to her.
"It's a long story, but I just thought you should , I should go join him in there before he blows up the hospital." Avery starts to get out but Derek stops her with a hand to her shoulder.
"Are you sure that everything is ok—with your eye and all that?" He asks like he really doesn't want to but some part of him makes him.
"Aw, you old softy, you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine. I like your tattoo by the way… maybe some day I'll show you mine." With that his hand drops from her shoulder and a surprised look crosses over his face as Avery slips out of the car to join Stiles.
"What was that about?" Stiles asks trying to sound casual but coming out more invested.
"Nothing I just told him that I liked his tattoo and that it reminds me of mine" Avery shrugs as she pulls open the door.
"You have a tattoo?"
"Yup." Avery answers as she continues down the hall
"Where?" Stiles finally chokes out. Avery throws a smile over her shoulder then continues on.
"We should find Scott's mom don't you think?" Avery asks changing the subject. Stiles takes out his phone and gives Derek a call after they conclude that Ms. McCall is nowhere to be found.
"He said to ask for Jenifer, She's the nurse looking after his uncle." Stiles repeats Derek's instruction's to Avery. Avery points to the direction they need to go and they turn the corner to find an empty room.
"What now?" Avery asks bringing her hands down on her legs in frustration. Stiles relays what they see back into the phone so Derek knows the room is empty. All of a sudden Stiles get's this scared look on his face and starts tapping Avery's arm wildly.
"…get out of there! He's the Alpha!" Avery hears Derek's shouts through the phone and only one thought goes through her head… RUN!
But just as Avery and Stiles turn to run they come face to face with, who Avery assumes is, Derek's uncle. Avery grabs Stiles hand subconsciously and begins to back away slowly.
"You must be Stiles," Peter says looking only into Stiles big brown eyes.
"Stiles, we have to leave now!" Avery says pulling on a frozen Stiles arm.
"And you must be Avery." When Peter finally addresses her she understands why Stiles was frozen like a statue.
"Yes and… and you must be Peter." Avery stutters out.
"Clever girl," Peter responds while Stiles tugs at Avery's hand. Avery finally listens and turns around only to find a woman in a nurse's outfit.
"What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over." The Nurse says narrowing her eyes.
"We'll just leave then." Avery replies still clinging onto Stiles' hand while he stutters out some incomprehensible words.
"He's… you… then he's… but… Oh, my God, we're going to die." Stiles finally get's out running his free hand through his hair. Just then Derek appears and elbows the nurse in the face.
"Now, that's not nice. She's my nurse." Peter speaks to only Derek now as if the two teenagers no longer exist in his eyes, not that Avery's complaining or anything.
"She's a psychotic bitch who helped you kill people," Derek says to Peter then turns quickly to Avery, and Stiles. "Get out of the way," He speaks so fast that Avery has to think for a moment to comprehend what he just said.
"Oh… damn." Stiles says then drops to the floor pulling Avery down with him. Their hands unlink so they can crawl out of the way.
"You think I killed Laura on purpose, my own family?" Peter continues to talk as we crawl and that's when the fighting breaks out. Derek charges towards Peter and is thrown against the wall where Stiles and Avery happen to be crawling along. They crawl around the nurses station and Avery peaks her head over the top just enough to see Derek's ass get handed to him.
"Stiles, we have to do something." Avery whispers turning to his jumpy body.
"Avery, don't go out there. You could get yourself killed. Derek can take care of himself." Just then Peter sends Derek flying across the hallway and to the floor.
"Yeah, he's doing great out there." Avery shoots back sarcastically.
"What, you think you could do better?"
"I could try…"
Avery get's up slowly into a crawling position and stalks forward out in the open and stands up.
"Hey! I hate to break up the family reunion and all, but you need your beauty sleep and Derek here is late for his nap." Avery glances past Peter to see Derek motion for her to keep stalling so he can heal.
"Aw, Avery, I do believe it's time we had ourselves a little talk, since you're dating my nephew and all." Peter turns to her with glowing eyes.
"It was one kiss and it meant nothing—" Avery says before she charges.
She runs toward Peter and just as he swings out his fist she drops to the floor and slides on her knees past him, grabbing one of those metal poles that usually hold up an IV. She breaks off the bottom by slamming it against the wall and stands up quickly to face her opponent once more.
"I guess the lessons with Derek have been paying off," Peter speaks calmly.
"Ok, it's kind of creepy how you know all this. Stalker much?" Avery regrets speaking every thought that comes to mind since that particular one seemed to anger Peter enough to charge.
Avery blocks the first punch with the metal pole but the thing gets slashed into five pieces and scattered across the floor, leaving her defenseless. The next swing makes contact with her side and sends her into the wall next to them. Breathing is definitely an issue now since Avery struggles to get air into her lungs. Finally, she takes a deep breath and Avery stands.
"You don't give up easily I'll give you that." Peter repeats then takes another swing. Instead of trying to block it Avery just falls backward so it doesn't hit her face. Avery wishes silently that she could think of some snappy comeback, but knows that just breathing is enough to be grateful for. The next hit lands on her upheld arms that are trying to protect her. She can feel the bruises rise instantly and warmth flow down her arms, other then the pain though her forearms go numb. Without even realizing it Avery falls to the floor. Peter then lifts her up by the neck and pushes her up against the wall with her feet dangling inches off the ground.
Just as Avery's vision is about to go black there is a sudden flash of light and a small explosion on Peters shoulder causing him to drop her. Avery looks over to see Stiles holding a bottle of rubbing alcohol with paper towels stuffed in the top and a lighter in the other hand. Knowing that her body can't take another hit from this alpha, Avery crawls back towards Stiles behind the desk just as another explosion goes off. He drops down next to her a moment later peaking over the desk to see what's going on.
"Thanks." She says hoarsely. She rubs her neck while the world fades in and out.
"Looks like you stalled long enough for Derek to heal… They're going at it again." He ducks back down behind the desk and sees Avery's crumpled form. "Are you ok?"
"Not really," Stiles gives her a surprised look which makes Avery rethink her answer. "I mean yeah, I'm fine." She coughs trying to sound normal enough.
"Avery we have to get you out of here." Stiles says trying to get her to her feet.
"I'm not going anywhere without Derek. We're a team… all of us." Avery struggles to talk but finally gets the last few words out.
"Avery, I don't think Derek wants to be on our team." Stiles says gesturing in the direction of the two relatives walking out the door together side by side.
"You've got to be kidding me." Avery's raspy voice sounds like she smokes five pack of cigarettes a day.
"Avery, you're bleeding." Avery follows his gaze and they land on her arms. Apparently the hit she took to her arms wasn't just a hit; it was more like a violent gashing. The good thing about not realizing it at the time though, is that her adrenaline covered up the pain, but now that Stiles pointed it out the pain came in a nice big wave… just like the blood.
"I don't feel too good," and with that everything goes black and Avery falls into Stiles arms bleeding all over the floor.
The next thing Avery remembers is waking up in Stiles room alone in his bed.
"How did I get here?" Avery asks as Stiles walks into the room.
"Um… I didn't want anyone at the hospital asking questions so I just grabbed a bunch of stuff to clean you up and brought you here." He talks as he throws his backpack on the floor and takes a seat in his swivel chair.
"Smart… Um how did the whole, different shirt thing happen?" Avery tries to sound casual but as usual whenever she talks about stuff like this it comes out more awkward and her voice cracks.
"Oh… I didn't look I swear. I just put my shirt on over yours and slipped your arms out of yours and into the new one then yours just came off… I swear I didn't see anything… Yours was just covered in blood and I didn't want any of it all over the place—" Stiles babbles on worried that she might not believe him.
"It's fine Stiles I believe you… I mean you like Lydia so it's not like you would try anything anyways. I trust you." Avery looks at her hands when she speaks Lydia's name.
"Right, Lydia… about that—" Stiles begins to say something but Avery's so afraid of what might come next that she jumps to her feet ready to run out of the room. Of course she forgot how much blood she lost and almost immediately falls back on the bed. "Avery! Are you ok?" He comes to her side and takes the seat on his bed next to her.
"Yeah I'm fine. Fine and I are like best friends. I mean as far as fine goes that's where I am. I mean I'm like the dictionary definition of fine." She rambles on for a minute longer and then Stiles bursts out laughing.
"Is that what I sound like?" He asks between bursts of laughter.
"No, you sound way worse then I do. Obviously I'm still traumatized by what happened." Avery spits out excuses for her embarrassing babbling.
"Yeah, that must be it—but really Avery, how do you feel?" Stiles asks the question as though he was going to ask something else but changed his mind.
"I'm—"
"Fine, yeah I know." Stiles finishes the rest of her sentence for her. "Scott knows about Peter and Derek teaming up. They paid him a visit after they left the hospital."
"Is he ok?" Avery asks genuinely worried for her friend.
"Yeah he's—"
"Fine?" Avery asks with a smile dancing across her lips. "I swear this has to be the most two people has used the word fine in a conversation."
"Yeah probably," Stiles agrees with her then an awkward silence drapes over them, as if they have so much to say but don't know how to say it.
"Um, I should see where my parents think I am."
"Yeah, they texted you once while you were out, but I thought you should read it when you wake up." Stiles slides her phone into her hand then lays back on his bed as she reads it.
Mom- Your dad and I will be catering a last minute conference at a hotel for two nights. There's food at home. We'll be home soon. Love you!
"Well that makes my life a lot easier." Avery smiles down at the phone that just saved her from having to make a billion excuses about her multiple injuries.
"What does it say?" Stiles asks, grabbing her phone from her hand without asking. "Well that's convenient."
"Hey, can I crash here tonight? I could sleep on the couch downstairs or something. I just don't think I could drive right now and the idea of going home to an empty house is not very appealing." Avery asks while her head continues to spin.
"Would your parents be ok with it?" Stiles asks hesitantly.
"Yeah, they trust me. I've always been too good for my own good. Ha, that sounded weird… too good for my good. It makes sense though when you think about it." Avery only remembers feeling this light headed when she had her first drink with Stiles.
"So uh—you—you want to spend the night?" Stiles asks rubbing the back of his neck then glancing up at Avery.
"If it's ok with your dad," Avery glances around the room and try's to stay awake.
"Yeah, I'll ask, he's down stairs," Stiles nods slowly then jumps up and is out the door. He comes back a minute of two later with the answer. "He said sure, as long as I sleep downstairs on the couch and you sleep here in my room."
"I can't take your room, Stiles." As Avery says this she lies back in his bed and has never felt more exhausted in her life.
"Sure, you can… you already are basically. How are the bandages holding up? I don't have a lot of experience with that type of stuff." He shrugs and runs a hand through his short hair while taking a seat on the bed next to her.
"Really well actually. So what do you want to do now?" Avery asks with a yawn.
"I think I know what you want to do… sleep." Stiles moves around like a kid with a major sugar rush.
"Stiles, I am not tired at all. What do you want to do?" Avery can barley talk and her speech is a tad slurred… she might as well be drunk out of her mind right now.
"We could work on the chem. homework or watch a movie or something." Stiles offers up a list of things that don't seem very nice at the moment to Avery
"Or just talk. Talking seems easy enough." Avery brings a hand over her face as Stiles lays back next to her…at a safe distance, of course.
"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" Stiles asks sounding almost afraid.
"I don't know. Anything…" Avery places her head on Stiles outstretched arm, she knows she wouldn't normally be so courageous but for some reason he just looked so comfortable.
"Like your sister?" Avery can tell he's nerves about asking.
"Quinn, she was so nice and pretty. I don't want to talk about her though. What else can we talk about?"
"Your dad?"
"Nope… my life sounds like a bad sop opera," Avery chuckles humorlessly. "Abusive dad, dead sister-" as Avery talks she slowly starts to fall asleep on Stiles, "evil step mother, abusive ex-boyfriend, crush on a boy who loves my best friend, werewolves." She falls asleep just as the last word leaves her lips and a single thought goes through her mind.
Did I really just tell Stiles I like him?
I am so sorry it took me so long to write! But don't worry I'm already almost done with the next chapter so that will be up soon! I hope you guys liked it! Please, please, please tell me what you think about where the story's heading. I love to hear your guy's ideas and/or inputs. Sorry, about the grammar mistakes. Also I set up a polyvore account for the story! Hope you guys will check it out! The link is below but if it doesn't work then I have it posted on my profile as well.
revenge_game/collection?id=3937054