Suspicious that this string is moving your bones:
You're hanging out with Lydia at the mall (her natural habitat), trying on makeup at Sephora when you get the call.
"Look, Allison, don't freak out," Scott starts, sounding out of breath. "But Isaac's in the hospital."
"What?" you say, loudly, too loudly, your chest seizing with fear. You shove the box of eyeshadow haphazardly back onto its shelf. "What happened?"
"I don't know, my mother just called me," he says, sounding out of breath. "She said he's awake, he's probably fine, but she didn't know if his dad knows about the whole werewolf thin-"
"No!" you interject, your knees weak at how easily everything is falling apart. "No, Scott, you have to stop her from calling his dad. His dad can't know!"
"Allison..." Scott says, sounding confused. "I...he's sixteen. They called him the second they identified him."
This is a nightmare, you think, staring blankly at the colorful shelves in front of you. If he comes to the hospital...if he tries to make Isaac come back. Obviously he couldn't make Isaac do anything he didn't want to, but...could he? Abused people go back. You know this. And the way Isaac'd tried to defend Derek...
"Allison?" Lydia says, coming up next to you, her black basket already filled with earthy-toned makeup and bright lipsticks. "What's wrong?"
"I...I have to go," you tell Scott flatly, walking out of the store without a word to Lydia, pace picking up as you head towards the mall exit. "I'll pick him up from the hospital before his dad gets there."
"Wait, Allison, I'm alrea-"
You hang up before he can distract you further, shaking as you climb down the stairs to the first floor. You can't let Isaac's father anywhere near him. You don't even think about why he was in the hospital in the first place. All you can think about is getting there, though you're less concerned about the safety of you and the other drivers on the road than you should be.
"I'm here for Isaac Lahey," you say, rushing forward to the Nurse's Station. "What room is he in?"
"Uh, who are you?" the nurse, a pretty black woman who looks barely older than you responds, looking over you carefully.
"I'm his girlfriend," you say without thinking, glancing around the hospital hallways for any sign of Isaac's dad.
"I'm sorry, I can't give you any information unless you're family," she says.
"What kind of stupid rule is that?" you snap furiously, because what the hell? Isaac was a werewolf, he was fine, and she won't even tell you what room he's in.
"Miss, you're going to have to calm do-"
"What's going on here?" another nurse says, coming up to stand next to you warily.
"Where is Isaac Lahey?" you ask angrily. "I know he's here and I know he's awake, so will you just tell me where he is and I'll stop bothering you."
"Miss, I told you, unless you're family, we're not allow-"
"I'll handle this, Denise," the other nurse says, and to your shock she grabs your arm and pulls you away from the Nurse's Station and towards the waiting area.
"What the hell- get off me!" you say, yanking your arm out of her grip. Who the hell does she think she is, touching you like that?
"Who are you?" the nurse demands, crossing her arms over his chest and staring you down. "And what do you want with Isaac Lahey?"
"I'm his girlfr-friend," you change at the last second, not that it does you much good. "And I want to see him."
The nurse just looks at you suspiciously. It's actually a very familiar look and you feel like an idiot for not getting it sooner. Scott's mom worked at the hospital, didn't she? She's the right age and they even look kind of similar.
"Isaac's not here," she says cautiously. "He left."
"He left?" you repeat, unsure of what this means. "By...By himself? His dad didn't pick him up, did he?"
"I can't give you that information."
"Did he or did he not leave with his father?" you say, beginning to get angry at her obstinate behavior. "It's a yes or no question! Did he leave by himself? Scott? Derek?"
Scott's mom's eyes widen at the reference to her son and she looks like she wants to say something for a second, but then it passes and she seals her mouth shut defiantly. You're about to start shouting at her again, when you're phone rings, and instead of Lydia's name (for the third time) it's Scott's.
"Scott," you say shakily, turning away from his mother. "Please, please, tell me Isaac is with you."
"Yeah, he's here," Scott says, and you feel dizzy for a second, like you might sink down to the white tile floor in relief. "The Alpha Pack tried to kidnap him, but some girl saved him. He's unconscious...they tried to do surgery on him, but they tried to kidnap him again, so-"
"What?" you yelp, horrified. "Why would they-Where are you?"
"We're at Derek's place, but Allison, listen to me, he's fine okay? Derek just said there's some internal damage, so he brought him here to heal hi-"
"He's doing-no, I don't want him anywhere near him," you say, starting to get angry again. "Tell me where you are and I'll come and get him."
"No way in hell," you hear Derek's voice comes over the line from afar. "She is not coming here."
"Look, as soon as he wakes up we'll meet up, okay?" Scott says, sounding apologetic. "I'll call you."
"Scott, wait, don-" you say, but he's already hung up.
"You have got to be kidding me?!" you say furiously, whirling around to look at Scott's mother, who is watching shocked at your outburst. The only thing that prevents you from saying something sarcastic to her, like "Thanks for your help" is the fact that she's Scott's mother.
Instead you leave without a word, throwing your purse angrily into the passenger seat and resisting the urge to punch the steering wheel when you get back into your car. You're scared and angry at the same time, so many thoughts racing through your head that you can't grab onto any one of them for more than a second. Isaac's dad knew that Isaac was in the hospital. The Alpha Pack had just tried to kidnap him. And some girl saved him? Why? Why was he even in the hospital in the first place? He'd had to have been seriously injured or unconscious for him to end up there. Was it the Alpha Pack? Your parents? What was Derek going to do to him?
You go to the train depot, but as you probably should have have known, it's been abandoned. Derek must have moved somewhere else. You haven't heard anything by one o'clock, so you have to call in sick to work, and instead sit huddled in Lydia's bed while she tries to convince you that eating chocolate and drinking wine coolers will make you feel better. Finally, at three, Scott calls you back. Actually, he doesn't. He sends you a text.
"What. The. Hell." you say, bursting into the backroom of the animal clinic. Derek, Scott, Stiles, and a middle-aged black man you've never seen before are all standing around a ice bath. Isaac is sitting on the exam table, sopping wet, shirtless, a towel wrapped around his shoulders. His lips are practically blue.
"Okay, listen," Scott says, holding up his hands defensively while Derek glowers at you. "Don't freak out-"
"What is going on?" you ask angrily, looking between Isaac and the ice bath in horror. "And who the hell is he?"
"I found Erica and Boyd," Isaac blurts out, but you don't like the way his pupils are blown out and he's shivering like mad.
"You did?" you say, confused. "With an ice bath? Why are you all wet?"
"The alphas stole his memories, so we needed to put him in a dissociative state to trigger his memory," the black man says calmly.
Werewolves can steal memories? you think, annoyed at how little you know about werewolves.
"What are you, some kind of witch?" you ask him suspiciously.
Stiles snorts with laughter. "Sorry," he says, when everyone turns to stare at him, gesturing between you and Isaac. "You two are really alike is all."
"I'm a veterinarian," the black man says, looking annoyed.
"Is that a joke?" you say, disgusted.
"Look, we don't have time for this," Derek says, glaring at you. "I'm going to get Erica and Boyd."
"And some other random girl," Stiles interjects. "Don't forget about her."
"No, wait, Derek, we need to think about this," Scott says, in vain, because Derek pushes past you, with only minimal aggression, and heads for the exit.
"Hey, are you okay?" you say gently, walking up to stand next to Isaac, completely uninterested in Derek and Scott's argument in the other room.
Isaac nods shortly, in a completely nonreassuring fashion, and ducks his head to shake water out of his hair. You step closer and wrap your arms around him, wincing a bit at how cold he feels. He wraps an arm around your waist tentatively and you lean back a little to cup his face and kiss his ice-cold mouth.
"I'm okay," he mumbles, but he looks very tired all of the sudden.
"Allison, we should go," Lydia says from behind you and you almost jump, because one you forgot that anyone else was in the room and two because you forgot Lydia came with you.
"Yeah, okay," you say, helping Isaac to his feet and rubbing his hair with the towel a bit more, wrapping your arm around his back to steady him.
"But Erica and Boyd-"
"Scott will handle it," you tell him, because you can't really care about that now. You just need to get him out of here and away from all these other people.
"He'll be fine," the veterinarian says as you make your way to the door, but cuts short his next sentence when you glare at him. Why the hell did they think it was a good idea to dunk him in ice water right after he'd apparently had internal injuries? You know why Scott waited to call you until now; you'd never have let them do it if you were here.
"-can't just storm in there without a plan!" Scott is saying when you enter the front room, looking extremely concerned. "We don't even know how many of them there are!"
"I don't care," Derek says stubbornly, halfway through the front door. "They've had them for weeks now-I'm not letting them sit there locked up for another second."
"Derek, wait!" Scott says, barreling out the door after him, leaving Stiles looking mournfully after them.
"So," he says turning to Lydia. "What are your plans for toni-"
"Go," Lydia says flatly, pointing at the door.
"Yup," Stiles says easily, and dashes out after Scott.
"Let's go," you say, adjusting Isaac's shivering body against your side and heading towards the door.
"So, you're Allison Argent," the veterinarian says from the examination room doorway. When you turn to look back at him, he's leaning against it casually, arms folded over his chest, looking at you speculatively.
"Who's asking?" you say suspiciously, even though it's probably his name on the door, considering he has run of the place enough to be dunking people in ice baths.
He doesn't answer, just looks at you scrutinizingly, like he's trying to dissect you with his eyes. It creeps you out, so you turn back towards the door and make your exit, because the last place you want to be is trapped in some empty animal clinic with Isaac barely able to stand.
You and Lydia take Isaac back to her house, where you bundle him in blankets and Lydia makes tea after putting his wet clothes in the dryer.
"Allison, I'm really fine," he says about an hour later when you try to stop him from shrugging off the blankets. "I'm a werewolf."
"You're still pale."
"I'm always pale."
"Shut up, we're getting to the good part!" Lydia says, smacking Isaac absently on the chest and sitting forward on the couch in anticipation of what you're assuming is the climax of 27 Dresses.
Isaac glares at her, but before he can say anything your phone rings. It's Scott.
"I'll take this outside," you mutter, and then actually go outside, all the way to the other end of the block to prevent Isaac from eavesdropping. You have a feeling you won't want him to overhear this conversation.
"Alright, here's fine," you say shortly. "What's going on?"
"I got Derek to hold off for a bit until we can do some research on the bank, but he's not going to wait long," Scott says, like he thinks you care at all about what Derek's going to do. "How's Isaac?"
"He's fine," you say evenly, unwilling to admit that you're furious at him for keeping you from Isaac. You know why he did it, and he may have saved Erica and Boyd's lives, but you don't have to be happy about it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't call you sooner," Scott says after a long pause, while you stare down at the sidewalk and kick absentmindedly at some fallen leaves. "I couldn't. You and Derek...don't get along, and we needed to figure out if Isaac had found Erica and Boyd. And Isaac agreed."
Of course he did, you think in disgust, not particularly surprised.
"Stay away from my boyfriend," you want to say, but don't, because that's a little too possessive, but also because it doesn't make any sense. It looks like you're going to have to work with Scott in order to stop the Alpha Pack, to save Erica and Boyd. You don't like them, but that doesn't matter. You have to remember that they're two sixteen year old kids, that they've been taken advantage of as much as Isaac, and they've been kidnapped. If you can do something to save them, then you have to. You are not like your parents. You will not stand by and let innocent people be killed, nor will you kill them yourself.
"I understand," you manage to get out after a second, sitting down on the curb and looking across the street to the lawn on the other side.
"Allison, I know you're mad-"
"I'm not mad," you lie, calmly though, but of course you are. It's just stupid and irrational. You'd prefer Scott not think that about you. He probably thinks differently, but you know emotions are a weakness. It's not healthy to bottle them up, but broadcasting them will probably do you more damage in the long run. The more people who know how much Isaac means to you, the more likely it is that someone will use that against you and vice versa. "You did the right thing."
"I...really?" he says hesitantly and you find yourself fighting back the urge to lash out at him for his lack of confidence. You wish he didn't feel the need to make everyone happy. His life would probably be a lot easier.
"Call me if you need any help with Erica and Boyd," you say, wanting to steer this conversation along before you lose your calm and say something you might regret. "I'm not sure how I can help, but I'm a good shot."
"Yeah," Scott says quietly. "I know."
You hang up before he can say anything else-something stupid about trying to find a non-violent solution probably- and head back to Lydia's house.
You leave Lydia's house after dinner and get a motel room. Lydia tries to convince you to just sleep over in one of her many guest bedrooms, but you don't like the idea of having to hide from Lydia's mother and you want some privacy.
Isaac could have died today, you realize, curled up in his chest, listening to the steady thrum of his heart beat, his lungs expanding and contracting. He could have been killed over what, Derek's stupid beef with a pack full of alphas? Why are you even getting involved in this? You feel bad for Erica and Boyd, but saving them is not worth Isaac's life. Not to you. You wonder if it would be for Scott.
"I know you're mad," Isaac says into the darkness, far after you'd thought he'd fallen asleep.
"I am," you reply, trying to sound calm. Except mad isn't even the right word. Betrayed is more like. You just...you wanted him to call you after he woke up. Not just do whatever Derek and Scott told him to. You're not surprised, but you're betrayed. Which, in turn, makes you angry. But then again, practically everything makes you angry. You've been angry for years.
"Well, don't just...say nothing," Isaac says, stiffening under you, his heartbeat speeding up. He sounds scared. "Just say it."
You want to. Of course you want to. Part of you wants to yell at him for being so stupid, for being so reckless with his own life, even if he is a werewolf. But he'd be afraid of you. Anger scares Isaac.
"You should have called me," you say through gritted teeth, and roll off him to face the other way.
"I know," Isaac says quickly and you hear him shift onto his side to face you, but he doesn't touch you. "I know, but Derek was there and you...never mind."
You can finish, you think angrily, clenching your fists uselessly at your sides. What do you think I'm going to do-hit you?
God, you hope he doesn't.
"I just don't understand how you could ever trust him," you say, because Isaac seems to want to have this out now, at one in the morning in a dingy motel room with the lights out so you can't even see each other. Coward. Or maybe you're the coward for not wanting to talk about it at all. About a lot of things.
You just don't understand how he could even bear to be in the same room as someone who did that to him. You can't look at Derek without remembering what he'd done, and he'd only slammed you against your car a couple times. He did far worse to Isaac, and you're pretty sure that wasn't the only time. But Isaac doesn't see it that way. You guess he's probably used to it. Maybe you'd be too if your parents did to you what Isaac's dad had.
"Derek? I...I dunno. He's...okay, sometimes. He's trying to save Erica and Boyd. And Scott's...I trust Scott."
"You do?" you say, sitting up and staring down at what little you can see of him on the bed next to you. "Why?"
He barely knows Scott. Why would he say that?
"I mean...he always seems like he want to do the right thing," Isaac says lamely, not moving an inch from his curled up position next to you.
For who? Everyone really. But that's not the same as wanting to do the right thing for Isaac personally. As far as you can tell, only you want that.
"I thought...I mean, you trust him," Isaac says, unnaturally still. You wish he'd sit up to talk to you.
You don't. But then again, you don't really trust anyone. Or it's never all or nothing. It's all in degrees. Isaac and Lydia are the closest people you could say you trust, but Lydia has skewed priorities and Isaac cannot be trusted with his own well-being.
"I guess," you say, lying back down next to him, because Isaac clearly has a different definition of trust than you.
Isaac says nothing for a very long time. Then:
"Are you still mad?" he whispers.
To your horror, you feel tears brim in your eyes. You can't see his face, but his tone is enough to make you cry. He sounds like a scared child. How could you ever have thought you were mature enough to handle this, qualified in any way? You don't know what to do, what to say to convince him not to be so...so scared all the time. It's enough to make you want to run and hide.
"Allison?" Isaac says, sounding even more freaked out. "Are you ok-I'm sorry, I didn't mean t-"
You crawl over on top of him and press your face into his neck, hot tears spilling onto his skin. After a couple seconds, he hesitantly wraps his arms around you and you focus on breathing deeply to avoid sobbing like a heartbroken idiot.
You're so stupid. How did you think this was going to go?
When you wake up the next morning, Isaac is gone. You glance around the room blearily to see that his stuff is still there and then groan hide your head under your pillow away from the morning light. He probably went to get you breakfast. You hate when he gets you stuff. At first it was just after sex, but now it's started to bleed over into the rest of your life. Last week he'd bought you some stupid silver bracelet with a cat carved on it and you have no idea what to do with it. It doesn't look like it was very expensive, but still. It makes you uncomfortable that he thinks he needs to give you things to make you happy. You know you buy him stuff, but that's because he's, well, homeless. It's not the same at all.
You're rinsing out your mouth in the bathroom when he comes back, carrying a bag from the McDonald's down the street and a cup of coffee.
"Hey," he says, looking at you carefully when you come out of the bathroom. "I got breakfast."
"Thanks," you mutter, taking the bag from him and sitting down on the edge of the bed.
He doesn't sit down next to you, but instead leans against the desk next to the TV and just. Looks at you. Ugh. Why is he so weird sometimes?
"Wanna watch TV?" you say, taking a bite out of your McMuffin and gesturing at the TV next to him.
"Okay," Isaac says, and then actually sits down next to you like a normal person.
You find some dumb Friends rerun, and curl up against his shoulder. He seems a little surprised at your affection, but seems pleased and runs his fingers through your hair gently.
"Scott called earlier," he says after a couple minutes of silence. "They got Erica and Boyd out."
"What?" you say, turning away from the TV to stare at him in alarm. "How? Are they okay?"
"Yeah," Isaac says with a shrug, looking strangely unaffected. "Scott said something about a distraction? And that other girl is apparently Derek's sister. Who everyone thought was dead?"
"What-that's-" you say, bewildered by his non-reaction. "What did they want with them?"
"I dunno," Isaac says with another shrug. "Scott didn't either."
"I, why are you-Are you going to see them?" you ask, reaching for his chin to pull it towards you worriedly. Why is he acting like this?
"No," Isaac says, looking uncomfortable. "I told you, we weren't...They found them. It's over."
He looks a little confused about why you're so worried. "You sure?" you ask carefully, because...you like that he doesn't really feel any special connection with them, that he's really yours alone, but it's not exactly the healthiest reaction. And you'd hate to think that he's lying because he wants to make you happy.
"Uh, yeah," Isaac says, raising a quizzical eyebrow at you. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He really does look like he has no idea why he would want to be anywhere other than here, and so you maturely respond to that possibility by throwing yourself at him.
Isaac makes a surprised noise against your mouth, but falls back onto the bed easily. You get rid of your clothes quickly and for a while you revel in the feel of him lying between your thighs, his hands in your hair and broad chest pressed against your boobs. You never hear people talk about this part of sex, how nice it is just to have your bare skin touching someone else's. Isaac is always nice and warm and feels great on top of you. You like how his hands are always moving over your body, touching you everywhere, like he's so hungry for you he doesn't know where to start.
Sometimes, though, it can get a little much.
"Isaac," you groan, panting into his left ear, the one that's kind of weird shaped, clutching his shoulders. "Come on."
He's had his fingers in you for a couple minutes now, showing no indication of moving on anytime soon. Isaac has nice fingers, long and smooth, but you're going to throw the pillow at him if he doesn't get his dick in you soon. You don't understand why he likes fingering you so much; it's not like he gets anything out of it. If you didn't know any better you'd think he was trying to annoy you, but he actually does seem unnaturally interested in sticking his fingers...there. Well, that and groping your boobs.
"Isaac," you definitely do not whine when he starts sucking on your left nipple. "Condom. Now."
Isaac raises his light blue eyes from your breast and grins at you deviously, mouth swollen from kissing. It is an annoyingly attractive picture and sends a deep throb between your legs.
"Mmm, gimme a minute," he says, definitely trying to annoy you now, hitching your thighs around his hips so that his boner slides against your inner thigh, but makes no movement to get this show on the road.
"Get up here," you order, yanking on his hair to pull him further on top of you, jostling his fingers inside you so that they press up and-
You make a low moaning sound and clench reflexively around his fingers. Isaac doesn't seem to notice, kissing your neck now, but that was...The pressure just in that spot. It felt really good.
"Wait, don't move," you hiss when he tries to move his fingers elsewhere, grabbing his wrist to keep him still.
"What?" Isaac says, stilling dutifully and looking up at you in confusion.
You have no idea how to explain what exactly he'd done, so you just press his wrist up and squirm down on his fingers, trying to get them to the right spot again.
"Yeah," you groan when you manage to find it, one of his fingers brushing against it far too-gently. Your cheeks suddenly feel very hot, and you lean back against the bedsheets and find yourself on the verge of panting, your breasts aching even though he's lavished quite a bit of attention on them already. Shit.
"Here?" Isaac says, sounding confused, poking at you with two fingers without much finesse
You roll your eyes and grab the back of his neck for some leverage you grind down on-yes, just like that. "No, not like, just sort of rub right...uh."
You close your eyes and moan quietly as he does what you say, hips working in counter-rhythm to get just the right amount of pressure. You can feel him watching you and it should be embarrassing, but you're too preoccupied with the sudden pleasure to think about that. Is this the g-spot? You were starting to think that it was an urban myth.
You moan louder when he starts mouthing at your boobs again, and all of the sudden you realize your clit is on fire. Shit, you think, clutching the back of his neck harder, indecision flooding through you, because you want, but should you-? You've never felt the need to...not in front of Isaac.
Screw it, you think as Isaac adds another finger and hits what you're guessing is your g-spot in just the right way. You need to touch yourself or you're going to explode. You need to come, now, and embarrassment is just going to have to wait.
Once you reach down and start rubbing your clit, it takes you barely thirty seconds to come, squeezing over and over around Isaac's fingers and moaning embarrassingly loudly. Heat courses through your whole body, starting between your legs and spreading everywhere else, so wet that you're practically leaking onto the sheets. You keep your eyes closed, but you know Isaac is staring at your hand working between your legs, and he swears when your thighs clamp around his hips and his dick rubs against your upper thigh.
You slump back onto the bed when you've finished riding out the waves, little tremors causing your feet to jerk helplessly.
"Uh," you groan, bring up your arm over your eyes to avoid looking at him, surprisingly exhausted. You're not usually this worn out after an orgasm, but right now you feel like you could go right back to bed.
Isaac groans quietly and you peek up when he rolls off to the side. He has his hand around his dick, working it quickly, though he freezes in embarrassment when he realizes you're watching him. You'd like to say something funny, something to ease the tension, but you can't really think of anything and instead look up at his face and lean over to kiss him. You realize he probably really wants to fuck you right now, but you're way too exhausted for that. You feel bad, so you tentatively reach down to touch his dick, causing him to gasp into your mouth.
You roll over onto your side for better leverage and carefully pull his hand off and replace it with your own. It feels kind of weird, especially since he's leaking, but he makes nice sounds that he tries to hide in your neck and jerks against you helplessly, gripping your hip tightly. You'd never really thought much about giving him a handjob, other than it seemed awkward, but it's not as gross as you thought it'd be.
"Uh, shit, Allison," he whimpers after a minute, and then comes, which, okay, that's pretty gross, and you grimace and wipe your hand on the sheets while Isaac buries his nose in your hair and breathes heavily.
So, you think while Isaac strokes at the skin on your hip absentmindedly, fingers still shaking slightly, that was fun. You'd pretty much given up on getting off during sex, so it's nice to know that you're not completely broken.
"Was that, um," Isaac says shyly before you can think of what to say, leaning back to look at you cautiously. "Good?"
"Yeah," you say awkwardly, cheeks burning, and reach down to drag the covers over your naked bodies. You come back to lie next to him very close, your foreheads almost touching, and he hesitantly puts his arm over you.
It's very nice, lying like this. Maybe it should be awkward, your faces so close together, but you've always felt less awkward looking into to his eyes like this. It always feels like you're the only two people in the world.
"I'm really tired," you tell him, letting your eyes slide shut. "Can you wake me up before noon?"
"Yeah, okay," Isaac says fondly, pulling you closer and kissing your cheek. You fall asleep to the sounds of his quiet breathing and the TV in the background.
A/N: And we have liftoff! Please review!