For weeks Annie tried to decide whether or not to tell Roscoe about her moving to Beacon Hills for the summer. Then she thought about if telling him would change anything, if it would make any difference in their… well, relationship. The answer was clearly no and, at the end of the day, she had no intention to meet him in person anyway. It's not that she didn't like him based on their previous conversations, it was just the fact she wanted to focus on whatever Deaton was planning to teach her. After all that was the sole reason of the whole summer school thing, wasn't it?

Since her mother couldn't join Annie because of her job, the girl packed most of her father's books and journals in the car, filling up the extra space the older woman's absence gave her. Who knew which ones she would need in the following weeks and Zoe still had more than enough space in the back seat. Part of her felt quite bad for taking their beloved dog to Beacon Hills, leaving her mother behind alone, but she needed a reminder of her family and the actual, peaceful life she had back in Los Angeles.

The road to her new, temporary home took long hours, so the moment her car finally parked on the driveway of the vet's house and the engine fell silent, Annie let out a tired sigh. She turned back to look at Zoe who immediately sat up, knowing perfectly well they'd just reached their destination. "Yes, that's right, we're finally here," she said before getting out of the car to open the back door for her.

"Welcome to Beacon Hills, Annie."

The girl glanced up and noticed her host walking towards the driveway from the front door. "Hello, Dr. Deaton," she chirped happily, locking the door behind Zoe. "How about going out to eat something? I'm pretty much starving, to be honest, and that's the least I can do for you after letting me stay for such a long time." Once she opened the trunk to get out her suitcases, the vet immediately took them from her. "Thanks."

"No problem. About that dinner," he began while she locked down the car, "it sounds great."

Her temporary bedroom was upstairs in one end of the hallway while Deaton's was on the opposite side. It was simple, just like any other guest room would be, but for now that was okay. Deaton even put in a comfortable looking bed for Zoe who immediately ran over to take a look at it before eventually lying down. It was probably a good thing to have a vet around, at least she had a feeling Zoe would be spoiled in the following weeks.

"I'll leave you to unpack but before that, I have a surprise for you," Deaton announced, earning a questioning look from the girl. "What you told me about Roscoe made me think and it wasn't so hard to figure out who he really is. You know, I think he would be a great emissary one day so I convinced him to join us in the following months."

But Annie's reaction probably wasn't even close to what he'd expected. She froze and gulped loudly while burying her fingers in her long, red hair to fight the sudden feeling of anxiety that rushed through her body. It definitely wasn't the good kind of surprise. "Will he?" she asked after a while, her voice shockingly hoarse. Once the vet nodded, she decided to ask the only thing that came to her mind. "Does he know I'll be there, too? Does he even know who I really am?"

"I mentioned it, yes."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, won't it be problematic?"

Deaton let out a short laugh as he leaned against the doorframe with his hand stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. "No, I think it will be okay. Sure, he's a bit hyperactive sometimes, but as far as I know if he wants to learn more about a topic he's interested in he can be really dedicated. And, since the point of it all is to help his best friend, he'll be more focused," he began but stopped for a moment to think. "At least I hope he'll be."

Then he left, giving her time to make herself at home. Within half an hour Annie unpacked most of her suitcases, eventually lying across the bed to catch her breath. Staying in an unfamiliar house didn't seem to be so scary anymore; in fact it was quite exciting. Her phone that she'd put on the nightstand not long ago beeped quietly, notifying her about an incoming message.

It was an email from Roscoe.

Well, knowing what Deaton had in mind, seeing that the boy had already sent her three messages wasn't very surprising. Possibly he had millions of questions just like she did. Who wouldn't in such a situation? It was much like a blind date, except not for possible lovers but lab partners.

~ \_(ツ)_/ ~

From: Roscoe

To: Zoe

Hi Zoe,

You're going to stay in Beacon Hills for months and haven't thought about telling me?

Roscoe

~ \_(ツ)_/ ~

From: Roscoe

To: Zoe

Zoe, come on, write me!

~ \_(ツ)_/ ~

From: Roscoe

To: Zoe

I'm serious. Have you talked to Deaton? If you did, you already know we'll do this together. Don't you think we should talk about it?

~ \_(ツ)_/ ~

[Roscoe]: Finally!

[Zoe]: Yeah, sorry, I was a bit busy unpacking my suitcases.

[Roscoe]: So you're really here in Beacon Hills?

[Zoe]: I am.

[Roscoe]: It's gonna be so weird.

[Roscoe]: I mean, we haven't even met yet but we'll spend the whole summer together.

[Zoe]: Well, a part of it.

[Roscoe]: Thank you, Captain Obvious. I know we won't be together all day long.

[Zoe]: :)

[Zoe]: Hey, do you think I can meet your friend at some point? It would be nice to know who you were so worried about.

[Roscoe]: Sure, why not? Just don't tell him how we know each other.

[Roscoe]: By the way, can I get your number? I wanted to text you about all this but I realized I didn't have it. Why haven't we exchanged numbers yet?

[Zoe]: I don't know but I'll give it to you tomorrow.

[Roscoe]: How about a little tour around Beacon Hills? You'll spend quite a lot of time here after all.

[Zoe]: Sounds good to me.

[Roscoe]: Awesome. See you tomorrow.

[Zoe]: Goodnight, Roscoe.

[Roscoe]: Actually, it's Stiles. Roscoe is my precious Jeep.

[Zoe]: Annie. And Zoe is my dog :)

[Zoe]: Wait, wait, what kind of name is Stiles?

[Zoe]: Are you here?

[Zoe]: I guess you're not.

~ \_(ツ)_/ ~

On the morning of his first official day as an emissary in training Stiles paced back and forth restlessly in his bedroom. It was early but the raised dosage of Adderall he'd taken made sure he was wide awake already, pretty much unable to wait until it was finally time to leave the house. He thought about waiting in the car but maybe that would look a little creepy. No, it would definitely look creepy.

Letting out a groan he sank on the swivel chair and put his feet on the corner of his desk. School was over and Scott, his usual partner in crime was trying to get over Allison by spending a surprisingly huge amount of time practicing lacrosse and studying. Scott McCall was studying on his own free will; part of him was shocked while another was undeniably proud. Hopefully it would be more than just some fleeting thing for his friend.

Meanwhile Stiles felt a bit neglected and the opportunity Deaton offered was too perfect to refuse. All the things he'd seen and learned from the vet while they were trying to find and stop the kanima were intriguing, and Stiles also knew his friend needed help. Sure, Deaton was already some sort of an emissary for him, but they were best friends, brothers even, so having the knowledge to give him good advices seemed almost fundamental.

Having Zoe-no, Annie there as well was both awesome and scary. What if in real life she was nothing like the girl he'd gotten to know online? There was a huge chance she was simply playing some sort of a role all along. Then again why would Deaton agree to train her if that was the case? No, he shouldn't stress himself with this.

Then his phone finally beeped, telling him it was time to go. With a nervous grin he jumped up and raced down to the Jeep, barely wasting time to say proper goodbye to his dad who was drinking coffee in the kitchen with the newspaper lying in front of him. Stiles didn't miss the questioning frown on his face but, since his father still didn't know about the supernatural happenings of Beacon Hills, he decided not to give him the chance to start some sort of an interrogation. He was good at that game but, sadly, his father was still better.

As he got near his destination, Stiles realized he'd never been to Deaton's home before; he wasn't sure if even Scott had been there either. He wondered if it would be full of weird things that were related to his job as an emissary or if he has done secret room in the basement where he kept the most interesting things. But maybe it was just an ordinary house with ordinary things.

From the outside, as he noted only a couple of minutes later, the building looked perfectly average. After parking behind the two cars on the driveway he climbed out of the Jeep and walked over to the front door that opened before he had the chance to knock.

"Good morning, Stiles," Deaton greeted him with a smile then stepped aside to let him in.

"Morning," he replied as he walked inside, taking a quick look around the hall. Nope, there was nothing weird about it. "So... Where's Annie?"

The pair walked into the living room and while Stiles sat on the couch the vet replied, "Upstairs in her room. She took Zoe for a walk this morning and they'd only gotten back a few minutes ago."

"Oh," Stiles said disappointedly. Now he had to wait and waiting wasn't what he really wanted to do that day. He wanted to learn. A lot. And... like... right away. "What's the plan for today? How do we start this?" All he needed was a little sneak peek until the girl finally came downstairs so, despite the way Deaton rolled his eyes, he kept going. "Is there some sort of a guide for training emissaries?"

Before the older man had a chance to answer the question the sound of a dog running towards them caught their attention. It had to be Zoe and only seconds later Stiles saw the Australian Shepherd storm into the living room, almost immediately sitting down next to Deaton. She was suspicious, to say the least, and he was slightly taken aback by the strange look in her eyes. Was she about to bite him? Because she definitely looked like she was just about to bite him.

What the hell happened to you, dude? Oh, nothing, Scott, I was just bitten by this cute, fluffy dog that hated me for absolutely no reason.

This would be the perfect story to embarrass himself with in the future.

"Stiles, are you listening?" Deaton asked with a frown. Once he nodded and quickly apologized, the vet motioned towards a girl who was standing right next to him. "As I was saying, she's Annie."

She raised her hand and waved at him with a nervous smile on her lips. For one very short moment Stiles thought she looked a bit like Lydia. Okay, Lydia was a strawberry blonde while Annie's hair was red. Also, Lydia's hair was almost wavy, not like Annie's that was perfectly straight. Why was he comparing her to Lydia anyway? No, it didn't make sense and Lydia had absolutely nothing to do with all this.

After quickly shaking his head to get these thoughts out of his mind Stiles cleared his throat and returned her smile. "Hey, it's good to see you in person," he said then turned to Deaton. "So, where do we start again?"

"You're going to read a lot today."

"Are you kidding me?"

Deaton shrugged at him. "No, I'm not. Annie brought some books and journals with her and I want you two to get familiar with them. All of them."

This time even Annie gave the vet a surprised and questioning look. "Wait, what? I've already read them like a million times," she pointed out angrily. "Are you expecting me to just sit around and watch TV all day long while Stiles is reading? That's not why I came to Beacon Hills."

"You two are going to read those books," he began firmly, "and trust me, I'll know if you didn't read a page."

At that very moment Stiles wondered why he signed up for this to begin with. Was it to late to change his mind? Maybe it was. And maybe he wasn't the only one who regretted this decision, at least that's what the look on Annie's face told him.

Thank you for your kind words and support, they really mean a lot. This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be but sadly things are pretty crazy at work so I don't really have much time (and energy and patience) to write these days. Also, my family adopted this ridiculously cute dog a few days ago and... well... you know. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter :)