Just as a reminder to all of those who are reading: When the text is written in bold and italicized lettering "like this," that is the part of the conversation had in sign language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

(o.o)

Chapter 1.15

Stiles and I had been stuck in the back of the ambulance for a while. We sat mostly in silence waiting for either something terrible to happen or someone to come help us out of the hospital. I hated not knowing what was going on outside. What was happening to Derek? Or Scott? I even cared the smallest amount for what was happening to Peter. Even if I just found out that he was actually still alive. Peter was family at one point.

Still, I was ready to not be stuck in the ambulance anymore. I leaned over, trying to see what Stiles was seeing outside the back doors. As soon as I did, Stiles pushed us both back hiding in the darkness. The motion surprised me and I was sure that he could feel how hard my heart was beating. I grabbed his hand with mine and held it tight. The feeling was the only one I had in the darkness.

Stiles turned his head towards me. He gave me the shortest smile I have ever seen cross his face. Then he heard something. I could only tell because he moved his head closer to the side of the vehicle we were trapped inside. His head followed around to the back doors. He leaned forward, making sure they were locked and then jumped back into his head.

Scott's face appeared in the small window on the back door. He was banging on the door and had Peter wrapped around his shoulders.

Stiles got up, his hand leaving mine, and opened the doors for the two.

Scott glanced between me and Stiles. "Help me get him in."

Instinctively, I moved to sit on the gurney by Cora's legs knowing there wasn't enough room for all four of us in the back of the ambulance.

"Where's Derek and Jennifer?" Stiles asked.

"I have to go back for them and my mom."

Stiles nodded to his friend. "Two problems. Kali's got the keys to this thing and I just saw the twins, like thirty seconds ago."

I didn't. "Twins?"

Scott looked to me and nodded, before looking back at the inside of the hospital. "Stay here."

"No argument from me."

Scott closed the doors and left, leaving us locked in the ambulance again.

I could breathe easy again, at least for a little bit. I looked to Stiles, wanting to figure things out. "The twins?"

"They're that giant monster from earlier."

I nodded, somehow grasping everything. "Twins that mighty morph into a giant, rage monster. Of course." I didn't ask Stiles any more questions even though I had so many. However, I figured that we were in a life or death situation and asking all of them, probably wasn't the best idea.

Stiles reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, reading whatever had popped up. He glanced up at me. "Ready to get out of this hell trap?"

I let out a breath. There was movement like headlights outside. Peter was gaining back strength and pushed the doors open, grabbing Cora with him.

Stiles climbed out and reached for my hand for me to follow. After helping me out of the ambulance he, let me into the front seat of the car that had arrived. Finally, I noticed that Isaac was the one who had come to get us in a car that I didn't recognize.

Stiles ran back to the ambulance to close the door and stopped when he saw something on the inside.

Isaac waved Stiles along, nearly hitting me with how wildly he moved his arm.

I was watching Stiles though. He had found something. Realized something. Stiles looked between the car and back to the hospital. Shortly, he broke into a run back into the building.

"Stiles!" I shouted after him, scared for what he was doing. "Come back!"

Isaac put the car in gear and looked back at the hospital doors.

"You're not actually thinking of leaving everyone here, are you?" I questioned the tall boy that I really didn't know at all.

Isaac shook his head. "I can't. Not without Scott."

The car shook. I grabbed onto the door handle, quickly reaching for my seatbelt without another second thought. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Peter getting heated in an argument with Isaac. Probably about whether or not we should leave. I looked down at the backup camera. "Is that the twins?" As the question came out, the car jerked as it moved. He backed up quickly and then pulled forward, leaving the hospital garage.

My heart calmed, only slightly, once we were far from the hospital.

Once Isaac deemed we were a safe enough distance away, he stopped the car in the middle of the road. "You see the twins?" He asked.

I looked around, catching Peter's eyes. "No, but I see the Argents." He said, his brows furrowing.

"Allison?" I asked, catching the sight and squinting through the distance.

"Not to bring up uncomfortable memories, but wasn't the last time you saw them the time you killed Kate and then they burned you alive?"

Both Isaac and I looked back and saw that Peter was gone. I sighed. "Kate, like Derek's old girlfriend?"

Isaac nodded.

I shook my head. "I have so much to catch up on."

Isaac got out of the car to talk to Allison and who I assumed was her father. Another car pulled up, and I quickly recognized it as Derek's. I hurried out of the car and towards him, throwing myself into a large hug.

Derek hugged me back tightly and it was like he relaxed easily in my arms.

I pulled back. "Where's Stiles?"

Derek pushed my hair out of my face, but he seemed perturbed by my question. "Stiles is at the hospital. He's gonna hold off the cops for us. We have to go right now."

I nodded and got into the front seat of his car, not having the energy to talk to Allison right then. I needed to be somewhere on solid ground. Somewhere safe.

When we pulled up to what I assumed to be the place that Derek was living, we all made it upstairs. Derek laid Cora on the bed and insisted that I rest, too. That he wouldn't explain anything until I got some sleep. Luckily for him, I had no room to argue. I laid next to Cora and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I passed out.

Hours later, I woke up. Derek was perched in a chair by the side of the bed, watching over his sister like it was the last thing he had to do.

I sat up and moved to sit by Cora's legs on the edge of the bed.

Derek explained everything. Werewolves. Laura. Why Peter's alive. Kate. Scott and Stiles. The Alphas. The Darach. And then, finally, Carter.

"Carter called himself an omen," Derek explained. "He always saw death before it happened. He really didn't know why he could see what he did, but he kept trying to control it. He tried to handpick people and get to know them, hoping it would give him some sort of insight as to how they would die."

"That's why everyone loved him. He listened."

Derek nodded. "It never worked, though. But he saw death before it happened. And the closer it was to the person dying, the clearer the image became."

"Like Paige."

Derek looked up at me quickly, surprised by my response.

"It was one of the times he wrote about. One that I read. You told him about Paige, but he already knew."

Derek nodded, staring back down at his sister.

I felt tears start to fill my eyes. "So you really don't know anything." I realized, saying the words out loud. "You don't know how or why."

Derek shook his head.

I took a few deep breaths, debating on saying what I was thinking about, ultimately, deciding that I had to. "I see him." I finally admitted, the tears flowing down my face slowly. "I see Carter, and he talks to me."

Derek furrowed his brow and moved to kneel in front of me.

"Only at the graveyard. But I'm worried that it's not real. It seems as if I don't know the answer to a question, that he doesn't either. He won't ever just tell me."

The man in front of me wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him. He pulled away and looked me in the eye. "If I knew what triggered it, I would tell you. Carter hated what he could do. It was a curse more than a gift. But still, he dealt with it the only way knew how."

"He wrote about it."

"He always worried that if he had talked about it, it would ruin things," Derek added. "He firmly believed that things happened for a reason. If he told someone they were about to die, it could cause more problems than losing just one." Derek moved back to his chair next to the bed.

"The Butterfly Effect."

Derek nodded. "But then he saw - " Derek's voice was stopped when he turned his ear towards the entrance to the loft.

Isaac opened the giant sliding doors and walked into the room. He approached us and stood there for a moment before speaking. "She's dying, isn't she?"

I reached over and grabbed Cora's hand. My best friend was dying. Again.

"I don't know." Derek insisted.

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know."

"Want to figure something out? Because while Scott and Stiles were out there trying to help people from being killed, you were here, rolling around the sheets with the actual killer."

I was surprised by Isaac's outburst. He was angry, but that wasn't any excuse to be an asshole.

Isaac glanced at me but continued. "Do you get how many people she's killed? Erica and Boyd are dead, Cora is dying, and you are doing nothing!"

"Stop it." I pressed. "He needs to be with his sister."

Isaac rolled his eyes and leaned over Derek's shoulder. "Why'd you do this to us, Derek? Was it all about the power? Were you bored?" There was a short pause. "Were you lonely?"

I stood to my feet and pushed Isaac back. "That's enough."

Derek grabbed my arm, stopping me. He looked up at me and then to Isaac. "Maybe I was."

Isaac nodded and then went towards the door.

"I told Cora I wouldn't leave. I'll help the others when I figure out how to help her."

Isaac turned back, holding his arms out to the side in anger. "There's no time!"

Derek saying he'd made a promise to Cora reminded me of my promise to Stiles. I sighed and looked at Derek. "I think I'm gonna go with Isaac."

Derek looked to me confused.

"I told Stiles I'd help. And you know, maybe I can see what's happening before it happens. Maybe what I see can help us find Scott and Stiles' parents."

"Okay." Derek nodded his head.

I leaned over and hugged him around his shoulders. "I love you," I whispered in his ear before pulling away and hurrying to the exit. I stood in the elevator as Isaac delivered what I assumed to be one last final blow to Derek's ego. The elevator ride was awkward. The two of us hadn't talked about how he was a werewolf or how I was involved in all of this, but I wasn't sure if this was the place to do that.

It was starting to get light outside, early morning. I saw my car parked outside next to Derek's. "Isaac!" I said, gaining his attention. I threw him my keys. "Take my car." I got in the passenger seat and Isaac drove away from the loft quickly. I turned in my seat to face the driver. "Where are we going?"

"The Argents," Isaac said. "Scott's gone off with the alphas, and they are the next ones I trust."

I nodded, hesitating in my next words. "You shouldn't have been so hard on him. We've lost Cora before and she's the last of his family. I would do the same thing." I assured. "You can't tell me that you wouldn't."

Isaac glanced at me and then kept his gaze on the road. "Both of my parents are dead. My brother's dead. Melissa took me in. This is personal."

"We'll find her."

Isaac nodded and stayed silent even after we arrived at an apartment building. He let us in and it seemed as if he knew where he was going. He stopped in an open doorway, and I stayed behind him as he spoke.

The older man in the room looked at me. "Who is she?"

Isaac looked back and waved me in.

I took a few steps forward and saw Stiles was in the room, too. "I'm CJ."

"She's Lydia's cousin." Allison put forth.

The man looked back to Allison and spoke.

"If you're gonna talk shit about me, you should do it to my face. Especially, since I can't actually hear you."

The man looked back at me with a furrowed brow.

"I'm deaf."

Allison's dad raised his brows. "Well, then it's definitely not a good idea to include you."

I scoffed. "I'm in this. I'm staying." I looked over at Stiles for a little support.

"You can come with me." Stiles insisted. "Back to school to find Lydia."

"Lydia?"

"I'll explain in the car." He took the steps towards me and led me out of the apartment once again. Once we were settled in the Jeep and Stiles started to drive, I faced him.

"Why do we have to find Lydia? Is she a werewolf, too?"

Stiles shook his head. "It's still weird knowing that you know things."

"Derek filled me in this morning."

"Lydia's not a werewolf. She's something. We're not really sure what, but she's the one who seems to know where all the bodies are before they were found. She's the reason we find the bodies."

I nodded, remembering our conversation from last night in the ambulance. I swallowed a bit of fear I felt but decided it was the right time. "Stiles?"

Stiles turned his head to me for a split second, "Yeah?"

"I'm something, too."

"What?"

"I see things. People. How they die before it happens." I looked away from him. "Last night at the memorial concert, the woman who died put her hand on my arm. And I saw it. Her lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. When she let go, it was gone. But then it happened.

Stiles looked nervous, scared of what he was thinking about. "Can you see how I die?"

I shook my head. "I don't know how it works. I can't control it. I only just found out about it."

Stiles nodded. "Then we'll figure it out."

I smiled, feeling a weight lift off of my shoulders. Stiles made it a point to drive to his house so that he could change his clothes before school and I asked if I could do the same. Spotting their cars outside, I knew my parents were home, so I asked Stiles if he would come inside with me. I knew my mother. She wouldn't yell at me with Stiles there behind me. Still, I had been out all night, and I was in for a world of trouble eventually. Just not today.

I entered the house after taking a deep breath. As soon as the door opened fully, my mother's head peeked into the foyer. Her face looked angry, but after I pulled Stiles through the door, her face changed. I was definitely thankful for my mother's ever-present manners in front of the company.

My mother waved, her eyes keeping on Stiles. Then she signed for me as she spoke. "Good morning. Where exactly have you been all night?"

"My friend Allison's. She texted me last night and said she was going through some stuff about some guy." The lie came easily. Mentioning being with Allison instead of being where I actually was seemed like a better idea.

"And you drove there? In the middle of the storm last night?"

"It hadn't hit yet. She said it was an emergency, so I didn't have time to say anything." I would win the sympathy vote. I loved that I knew how my mother operated. "Sorry."

My mother's right eye twitched like she wanted to interrogate me some more. She knew that she couldn't in front of Stiles.

Stiles took a step forward and offered his hand to my mother. "I'm Stiles."

I smiled at him, thankful to him for diffusing the tension.

"You drive CJ to school." My mother realized.

Stiles nodded.

"My car wouldn't start this morning," I explained, knowing my mother was confused about why Stiles was in her house. "I asked Stiles if he would pick me up before school. Allison's dad said he'd charge the battery this afternoon for me."

My mother thought. "We should just take it into the shop." She said, "That care of yours has been sitting in the driveway for months. You haven't driven since Carter - "

"Mom!" I shouted, startling all three of us. I was panicked. I still hadn't told Stiles about Carter and I wasn't ready to.

Mom looked at me in shock.

"Sorry. We're gonna be late. I just need to change and get my backpack."

My mother nodded, not finding any words.

I grabbed Stiles' hand and led him up the stairs to my room. Once the bedroom door was safely closed, I let out a breath. "Sorry about her."

Stiles turned around to face me. "It's okay."

I grabbed some clothes from my dresser and walked towards the attached bathroom. "Don't let anybody in, okay? Especially my mother." I didn't wait for him to respond and closed the bathroom door. I groaned quietly to myself.

I was smart to bring Stiles inside, but my mother almost told him about Carter. Realistically, I wondered why I hadn't told Stiles about Carter yet. I've found out a lot about him in the past day or so. The least I could do was return the favor. Maybe once we stopped the alphas and the Darach I would tell him. I hoped we were close to that.

(o.o)

At the school, Stiles and I found Lydia and quickly filled her in on everything that's happened since I left her after the memorial concert.

"I don't believe it," Lydia stated. "Scott can't really be with them. He can't be."

"You didn't see the look on his face." Stiles shared. "It was…" The boy shook his head, leaving the rest of his statement up to interpretation.

I looked to his face. The hurt was written clearly on there.

"Then what can I do?" Lydia asked. "I mean, I get that I'm some kind of, like human Geiger Counter for death, but… I don't know how to turn it on and off yet. Ll I know is that she tried to kill me because of…"

"Because of what?" Stiles asked.

"Lydia?" I questioned, trying to find where she went off in her head.

"When she called me a banshee." Lydia finished. "She was surprised by it."

Stiles furrowed his brow and looked towards me. "You heard her scream last night."

"What?"

"When you called me." Stiles continued, answering me. "Lydia screamed and you asked me if I heard it."

I nodded. "I heard it. And the one from earlier in the day. It's how I found you."

"So you guys are connected." Stiles realized.

Lydia put a hand on my arm, gaining my attention. "But if you're something, too - "

"An omen." I insisted. "That's what my brother called it." I sent a quick glance to Stiles, but he didn't push.

"If you're an omen, it doesn't explain why your mom wanted you left out of all of this."

I furrowed my brow, confused. "What?"

"Cora told us the other day that you two used to be friends. And she said your mom told her mom that she didn't want you knowing about this side of things."

"You're joking." I said, believing her, but hating that I knew it was a possibility. "My mom knows?"

Lydia shrugged.

"It makes sense." Stiles reasoned. "If your families were friends. The werewolf secret is a hard one to keep from everyone that you're associated with."

I groaned, not really caring much about that for the moment. I took a deep breath before shaking my head as I realized something. "Blake was surprised that you were a banshee." I said, my eyes looking to Lydia.

Lydia nodded.

"So that's not the reason she tried to kill you. She had no idea until you screamed, right?"

"Then why did she tried to kill Lydia?" Stiles questioned, before glancing to Lydia.

"That's what we need to find out."

"Do you think Aiden knows anything?"

"Aiden?" I asked, hating the sound of his name. "You say that like we still want to talk to him. He literally tried to kill me last night."

Lydia was obviously ignoring me because she continued. "Well, maybe we could just… We could go over there and - "

I stopped paying attention to her. Lydia kept walking and it was hard to keep up. I turned to notice that Stiles wasn't on my heels. He'd . "Stiles?"

Stiles stared hard at his phone, lost in whatever appeared on the screen.

I took quick steps towards him noticing the pure panicked look on his face. "Stiles, what's wrong?"

"It's from Isaac." He said, holding up his phone. "Jennifer, she to - She has Allison's father. She took him. She's got all three now."

Lydia joined us quickly. "Well, there's still time."

"We have time to find them, Stiles."

Stiles waivered on his feet and moved in a slow circle. His breaths were short and he looked out of sorts.

"Stiles? Are you okay?" Lydia questioned.

"He's having a panic attack." I realized.

Stiles nodded and pointed a finger at me.

"We have to get him out of here," I said, then looked to Lydia. "What room is empty right now?"

Lydia thought.

"Quickly!" I pressed, knowing Stiles needed space.

"Uh, the locker room!"

I grabbed Stiles' arm with mine and led us to the empty room. "Focus on me, Stiles. Focus on my voice." He took a breath. "Are you listening to me?"

His breaths were getting harder, quicker.

Lydia got ahead of us and opened the door for the two of us.

I grabbed the handle of his backpack and pulled it off his back to get him more breathability.

Stiles pushed himself further into the room, falling to his knees and doubling over.

Lydia joined him. "Just try to think about something else. Anything else." she encouraged.

I moved closer but kept a safe distance. I didn't want to crowd Stiles and make it harder for him to find his breath.

"Like what?" Stiles asked.

"Uh, happy things." Lydia volunteered. "Good things. Friends. Family."

Stiles looked up at Lydia in disbelief.

Lydia groaned.

"Not family, Stiles." I reminded. "Just try to focus."

"Oh, god." He groaned, still not able to breathe.

"Just try and slow your breathing."

"I can't," Stiles repeated. "I can't."

"Shhh…" Lydia calmed, putting her hands up to his face. "Shhh, look at me, Stiles." There was a moment before Lydia moved in, and then, she kissed him.

My heart pounded hard in my chest and I took a step away from the pair of them.

Stiles was obviously just as surprised by the kiss as I was. Quickly though, he relaxed into the gesture.

I couldn't do anything but stand there awkwardly as my cousin kissed my… My what? Stiles wasn't really anything but a friend to me. So why did seeing him kiss Lydia hurt so bad?

Finally, Lydia and Stiles pulled away from each other.

Stiles let out a sigh. "How'd you do that?"

"I, uh… I read once that...holding your breath could stop a panic attack. So when I kissed you, you held your breath."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did."

Stiles came out of his trance and looked in my direction. Meeting my eyes, I saw something on his face that I couldn't recognize. He corrected himself and looked back at Lydia. "Thanks. Really smart."

"I just - " Lydia had followed Stiles' line of sight and I knew she could see the hurt on my face. "I don't know. I just read it somewhere." She looked away from me. "And if I was really smart, I would tell you to sign up for a few sessions with a guidance counselor.

Recognition crossed Stiles' face. "Morrell." He quickly got up to his feet and raced for the door.

Lydia moved her fist over her chest in a circle silently. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head at her. "You did nothing wrong."

"That's not how it feels."

"It's okay. We're okay. Stiles and I aren't - "

Lydia held up her hand, looking towards the doorway.

Stiles stood there, his head peeking in, "Are you guys coming?"