A/N~ Ok first off, another fandom is more than mentioned in this chapter. Secondly no this is not going to become a crossover. I may consider writing a sequel where it becomes a three-way crossover, although I still haven't figured out how or even if that's possible. But that will be way down the road as I'm trying to finish up the stories I'm working on now. After which I will give myself a little break from writing for a bit. Don't worry this particular story still has a few chapters to go before I finish it. Read, enjoy, and review. ~A

A/N/N~ Also please be aware due to HIPPA most medical professionals do not discuss their patients with anyone, family or lovers included. Assuming the situation would be the same for the fae. Therefore the scene in the last act would honestly not take place but this is a work of fan fiction so for the purpose of my story, it did. ~A

Chapter 12

Bo was trying really hard not to miss Dyson or her best friend Kenzi but the fact that both of them had disappeared at the same time was truly messing with her zen. She was used to either having Dyson as a sex partner with benefits or at least as a friend. Now he was off finding his "mate" and it wasn't her. Yeah, ok that stung more than a little.

Kenzi was her shoulder though, her rock. Whenever something like this happened, Kenzi was the one she went to for comfort, crying on her shoulder or having a Ben and Jerry's fest. Or even just a night out on the town, at the Dahl Riata or if they were feeling really adventurous at the Carpe Noct.

She had tried to find out from her grandfather what was so special about Beacon Hills and to a lesser degree Sunnydale, the mere mention of either had a profound effect on Trick's coloring. The mention of Beacon Hills had the fae go pale, the mention of Sunnydale and his skin tone took on a slightly greenish hue. Despite Kenzi's now very rare leprechaun jokes, green really wasn't the Blood Kings color.

After some liquid fortification, namely an entire bottle of his very best top shelf Irish whiskey and the start of another bottle, her grandfather took her to his apartment/office under the Dahl and began. "First off we do not talk about Sunnydale, not ever, not anymore."

"Second thing you need to know is that there are portals of energy that fae and to a lesser degree humans can feel. Some are good, these are called Nexus, when they are harnessed, groomed and protected can give energy to the fae and when properly protected can be a beacon of hope for those all around."

"Beacon Hills." cried Bo excitedly.

"Yes, the thing is for every Nexus of power there is a Vortex, almost like a mated pair. They're usually not too far from each other and naturally balance each other because the vortex takes the positive energy that the Nexus puts out and uses it to keep a magical cap on the negative energy it tries to keep in, with the help of fae keepers. Several centuries ago now, a powerful dark fae Mage wanted to harness the power of the Vortex. So he used an army of Hunters and fae followers and made the attempt, just one problem though, the dark Mage overestimated his power and underestimated the power of the two entities he was dealing with."

"It was quite the clever plan, which is why many thought this particular Mage was believed to not have been the one behind it. He was merely the puppet and the Morrigan was the one pulling the strings. The Nexus or Nemeton as this one was called was chopped down by some of his Hunter followers, they also tried to kill the Keepers." Trick said as he downed another glass of the whiskey in one go.

"The Nemeton and the Keepers had a strong connection though so even as it was being dealt a near fatal blow it warned it's Keepers of the impending danger and they escaped and then returned to seal the wound to the Nemeton before it could truly die."

"The Vortex though felt what it perceived as the loss of its match and tried to call it's Keepers for help but the Dark Mage's minions had already killed them. When the Mage began using the spell to draw the power of the Hellmoouth, the Nemeton tried to help it's partner even as badly wounded as it was. Between the two they killed the mage and his minions but the damage was done."

The Blood King had always been a great storyteller it was an element of his fae power. He was naturally gifted in this respect and it showed, as he continued his tale, "The Hellmouth bore a scar, a never healing scar that leaked its dark energy so that it too drew fae to it like a magnet. Dark fae usually, or underfae who were too weak to resist it's call. Those fae who would then became stronger from the leakage. Then a few decades ago another dark fae, a vampire calling himself the Master went to the Hellmouth to try finishing what the Mage had started. Only this time the Nemeton was not dying but was slowly beginning to heal. It slapped a barrier between the Hellmouth and the Master and between the Master and the outside world."

"Trapping the old vampire for all eternity, or until the old bloodsucker found a way out. Finally the fae council figured the Hellmouth needed some new Keepers so it sent a special type of Hunter to watch over the Hellmouth and she collected a group of her own to help. It didn't stop the Master or others from continuing to try and harness the Hellmouth."

"Each attempt damaged the Hellmouth more and made it more unstable. Until the decision was made to close it forever, a sacrifice had to be made though and a fae named William offered himself because he loved the Hunter." Another drink fortified the elder fae or simply loosened his tongue just that much more. "Closing a Hellmouth or sealing it is no simple thing. In this case it was positively cataclysmic. Sunnydale became nothing less than a barren wasteland. After that the Hunter disappeared from history. No one knows what happened to her but one of her company returned to the Hellmouth and is now its Keeper."

"The Hale Pack are the Keepers or were the Keepers of the Nemeton."

"Were?" Bo asked her voice somewhat jarring in the quiet reverence her grandfather had created with his story.

"A few years ago a twisted Hunter killed most if not all of the Pack in a house fire, as they were gathered there to celebrate the Wolf Moon. It is still unclear how many of the Hale Pack were killed or what has happened as the fae councils believe without the Hellmouth, the Nemeton is a "non-issue"… bunch of self-righteous, self-important, deluded idiots. Wouldn't be surprised if they were behind the Alpha Pack too." At his granddaughters curious look the Blood King shook his head and raised his hands.

"Another story for another time. Right now story time is over. I have a pub to run young lady." Wit that pronouncement the Way Station keeper chased the young woman out of his apartment before shutting and locking the door behind him.

~O~

Although Stiles had declared it a rule he began asking his father about the case almost before the salad course was over. Kenzi was surprised not because of Stiles asking about the case but because they actually did courses for dinner although the table was set up like a normal family dinner.

When Stiles dad started looking a little irritated with his son, the vibrating bundle of curiosity, Kenzi decided to intervene. By sating her own curiosity about the dinner arrangement. "Sheriff, I'm a little curious most family meals are pass the potatoes, hold the cabbage, you actually do a formal dinner arrangement in a kind of family style setting. I guess my question is, why"

John Stilinski smiled a little nostalgically as he answered her, while Stiles just looked a little sad. "My wife Claudia, she passed away quite some time ago now, but she had a theory. Her theory was that the breakdown of society could be directly linked to the shift of focus for society from the dinner table or kitchen to the television."

"She said that the focus of family should be on each other. Interacting at the dinner table, communicating, the connection you get during a well prepared meal, helps keep a family together. Serving the meal in courses like this, makes it last longer, while having all or most of the meal on the table, saves the Mom," here his voice hitched slightly, "meant Mom could be a part of the conversation and not be going back and forth to the kitchen all the time."

"Your wife sounds like she was a brilliant and insightful woman. My condolences on such a loss." Dyson said with more than a hint of formality in his voice.

The sheriff nodded his head while Stiles said, his eyes hooded, "She was brilliant. She was a double major in sociology and psychology from Berkley." The teen pushed his food around for a few minutes before adding, "She and dad met there. Dad was taking psychology as a part of his Criminology Major."

Kenzi sort of regretted her question in a small way because it had cast a pall on the meal. She was also kind of glad though because the conversation was giving her great insights into the Stilinski family and Stiles in particular. Stiles could talk a mile a minute on just about any subject you could bring up but rarely discussed anything at all personal.

Then she noticed the deputy who had a very odd expression on his face. It wasn't the food despite the Sheriffs suggestion that the young man might not eat much because of the case they were working, he seemed to have a healthy appetite. No this was more as if he had lost something and hadn't realized it till just now. Kenzi as a sometimes thief and grifter had learned early on how to read people. It was a useful and valuable skill for someone who relied on getting away before anyone figured out what she was really up too and either tried to get her put in jail or kill her themselves.

The deputy was a lost soul. Right then the Goth werewolf decided the Pack needed another lost soul in their midst. The petite female felt a shiver down her spine as though someone had stroked the fur of her inner werewolf approvingly.

By some unspoken signal almost as soon as dinner was over the Spark with help from Derek clears the table and began to talk about their case and the Detective and fae parts in Dyson are intrigued and a bit horrified, He asked very telling and pointed questions, which prompted the Sheriff to ask directly. "You're not a reporter are you?"

"No sir, I'm a detective, far out of my jurisdiction. Not trying to step on any toes here, this just reminds me of something I've come across. Not recently or anything, before I met you," he explained to Kenzi. When she continued to look a little curious, he added, "Long before."

"Can't be that long, you don't look that old," the Sheriff complimented.

Stiles responded bluntly, "He's a werewolf dad. They have a tendency to age well, very well." He was watching Parrish as he spoke figuring the deputy might as well get all of his shocks in one day, to get it out of his system.

The deputy snorted with laughter, it wasn't exactly unattractive but those sitting at the table got the impression that he was rusty at laughing. The voice was wrong and the actual laugh was a bit forced. When no one else laughed Deputy Jordan Parrish looked up from his well-prepared meal and said, "That was a joke, right?"

When no one answered he got a little worried and when Stiles shoved his own plate back and put his elbows on the table and looked at the deputy speculatively. The older man admitted to being downright nervous, "No." Stiles said simply, "Not kidding."

The older man who sat beside Stiles at the table, Derek if he remembered correctly put his hand companionably on the younger mans shoulder. Their eyes met and Stiles nodded at the other man who then looked up at Parrish, when their eyes met and held, Parrish felt caught like a deer in the headlights.

When Derek's face melted into another shape and his eyes shifted from bright green to gleaming red. Jordan's feeling shifted. Oh he was still the deer alright, but this, this wasn't an oncoming car this was something even more deadly. This was an Apex predator and Jordan was its prey.

Then the young woman sitting beside him also shifted and her eyes were an amber color that glowed a kind of bright gold in the subdued lighting of the dining room. Then the guy at the end of the table down from the Sheriff, Dyson his face seemed to stay pretty much the same except his eyes also glowed gold and he smiled reassuringly.

Well, what Jordan hoped was supposed to be reassuring, the deputy didn't feel all that reassured though. When he smiled, there were a lot more teeth than there were supposed to be and they were a lot sharper than they should have been. For a split second he had the distinct feeling that the meal they'd just had was merely the appetizer and he was meant to be the main course. Then Stiles started talking and things only got weirder.

"Pretty much every fairy tale, old wives tale, folklore, myth, yeah they're all true. There are things like, werewolves, the Boogey man, trolls, orcs, giants, Loch Ness monster…all of them are real. Just like humans some of them are good, some are bad and some are indifferent to humans. Others will try to eat you at the first available moment. We're telling you this in order to give you the opportunity to protect yourself and others from all things supernatural if you will?"

The funny thing was that the kid looked perfectly rational when he said it all. Even the Sheriff was giving him the fatherly look that never ceased to make the younger mans heart ache with longing for the comfort of family. Especially now that he was pretty sure that he was going nuts.

Then the red haired man said, "You tell humans about the fae here?" he asked.

The young woman Kenzi who has also moved her plate aside begins gently smacking her head against the dining room table muttering exasperatedly under her breath.

""No, we tell them about werewolves and other things that go bump in the night." the older man Derek said giving the Detective a look that was somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

The werewolf, and yes that was just as challenging for Jordan to even think let alone say as he thought it would be, Dyson actually blushed heatedly. While Stiles just looked at the werewolves and said blandly, "Uh…Oops?"

~O~

Bo arrived at the Crack Shack and noticed a note on the kitchen table from Lauren. Apparently her lover had actually been gone for three days at the clinic and apologized for causing a panic, but her cell phone had been out and she had forgotten her charger at her apartment. She further explained that she would have gone on to the apartment but Bo lived closer so she had come here. She asked to not be woken for a while she needed the sleep.

To say the Bo-ster was feeling a little guilty for not realizing her honey hadn't actually been home in the past several days, yeah that was definitely guilt she s feeling. Bo who was still a little wound up after her talk with her grandfather. She fixed herself something to eat and was moping around the living room.

Then something her grandfather had told her in the story finally registered and she ran to Kenzi's room. It took some searching through the organized chaos that was her besties boudoir before she found what she was looking for. A scrapbook.

In the scrapbook were pictures of her and the men in their lives. A few newspaper clippings of some of their cases, both her and Kenzi's, and Dyson and Hale's. Although as a rule both pairs tried to avoid the limelight by fae council edict but the little human still tried to collect the clippings as trophies of their exploits. The succubus paged through these pages until she found what she was looking for.

Attached to one of the pages with huge folder clips was a printout of Kenzi's criminal record. Her bestie had wheedled a copy of the document from Hale. She had said something at the time "What's the use of having a cop as a buddy if I don't get some mileage out of it."

There on the second page was what Bo had been looking for. A rather lengthy list of Kenzi's aliases. About two thirds of the way down that list was the name McKenza Hale. Hale the same name as the Keepers of the Nemeton. The succubus did a little more reading, further into the report was the crime reported with the name McKenza Hale.

Shoplifting from an occult shop in the town of Beacon Hills, with the then juvenile being remanded into the custody of her mother Talia Hale. Upon the recommendation of the deputy who had made the arrest of a deputy who's last name she wasn't even going to try to pronounce.

There sitting on the dusty floor in Kenzi's madhouse of a room, Bo had an epiphany. A paradigm shift of epic proportions. Her little human, the one who kept her sane when the fae shit hit the fan, was actually a fae herself. A card carrying, werewolf being fae. A Keeper of a Nexus named the Nemeton. Then she remembered something else her grandfather told her, and it hadn't sounded good but might explain why her bestie was currently dealing with a family emergency in Beacon Hills.

Dropping the scrapbook on the dusty floor the succubus was about to grab her jacket and head out the door when she remembered Laura and her attention shifted. Lauren her girlfriend who had been at work for the past three days. The succubus headed to her own room and after stripping she climbed into bed, pulling the softly snoring human into her arms,.

Later on she planned on paying a visit to a bar owner of her acquaintance. She needed to find out what an Alpha Pack was.

Several hours later: Lauren found herself being treated to a surprisingly well prepared steak not at the Dahl as she had expected but from the Carpe Noct. Bo looked around surreptitiously trying to find Vex, while Lauren explained why she had been at the light fae compound for three days straight.

"We've been playing host to one of the light fae council. He seems to think he has enough charm to become the next big thing in human politics, So anyway he was at a human political dinner. You know the kind that are a thousand dollars a plate or more." Lauren said rolling her eyes at the thought of such largesse when there were both human and fae starving on the streets of their fair city. It was one of their favorite rants for the dinner table, one of many.

"Anyway, apparently told him that the desert he was having had coffee in it," Lauren revealed in as much of a whisper as could be managed in the noisy club. Bo actually covered the lower half of her face in shock. Don't get her wrong, her opinion of both fae councils was probably not suitable for public consumption, even in the Carpe Noct and that was saying something.

Most fae knew to watch for their triggers in human society, the fact that this fae had chosen to conceal themselves even to the point of risking their health and life was just mind boggling.

Apparently the light fae had been delirious enough from the food poisoning to hallucinate on several occasions. Bo's interest was piqued enough to distract her from her Mesmer hunt when she heard the words, Alpha Pack. "What was that last bit?"

When Lauren looked at her lover a little suspiciously, Bo merely indicated the noisy club around them and moved her chair a little closer to the human doctor so she could hear her better. "I said he was talking about one of the other council members really having it in for the Hale Family for some reason because she had sent in the Alpha Pack to take care of them. That's an entire Pack of Alpha's when normally Pack's only have one and I have no idea how that would work. Apparently though this was on top of some previous event that practically eliminated the whole Pack."

"He said that apparently the oldest son had started to rebuild the Pack anew and already had quite a sizable Pack going on." Looking at the succubus the doctor asked , "How much did Dyson tell you about Pack dynamics?"

"Not much I'm afraid. Dyson's strong suit wasn't verbal communication," Bo admitted bluntly.

Lauren nodded and explained, "Usually a Pack has the Alpha, possibly his mate, and up to three Betas. This Pack has only been active for like three years I think and they already have including the Alpha 4 born wolves, 4 bitten wolves and a few humans. So that's already about twice the size of a normal Pack." Lauren explained clinically.

"Apparently they've become quite popular among the other Council members including the one I treated. That didn't sit well with whichever council member ordered the arson to kill them all, in the first place. So she sent in the Alpha Pack to initiate a Pack War and finally get rid of the rest of this Pack, fae politics are a bitch." the doctor said and this time the scientist stepped aside and the human was talking in between bites of the delicious meal.

Bo considered her nest words carefully. What she had said about Dyson was partially true he didn't like to talk about Pack things while they were in bed together but she had remembered Kenzi saying she had done research on Packs. They were territorial only one Pack for territory. Other Packs could visit but only visit or there would be a war. She wanted to make sure they were talking about the same thing. She tried for nonchalance as she asked the lady Doc, "Where is this supposed to be taking place?"

Lauren answered but suspicion and curiosity were in her eyes as she replied, "Somewhere in California, a place called Beacon something. Beacon Valley maybe?" Her phone went off just as she finished her vegetables and Lauren answered it right there. Her focus on the phone call she didn't hear the succubus whisper under her breath, "Beacon Hills. Kenzi."

She did notice that her lover had barely touched her food when she got off the phone though and asked, "Sorry, got called into work again. You want me to have them box that up and I'll take you home"

"No that's okay I'll just sit here and finish I'll catch a cab home or something." Bo kissed her but tried to feed her lover a small amount of chi. It was something that Lauren had told her she would be able to do eventually and she managed to push a little of the blue energy into the tried Doc, with the other woman perking up considerably. "Don't work too hard," she added as Lauren left for the clinic.

Bo finished the meal slowly as the crowd became a little more rowdy as the hour grew later. She would need her energy, she had a dark fae to track down, and picking the brain of a Mesmer was a challenge at the best of times.