"Their tears are filling up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow"

Mad World by Tears for Fears

"Is three enough?"

Sara looked up from the counter at Kira's question. Kira, Liam, and Stiles had all brought their laptops to Scott's house to set their plan in motion—to discover the identity of the Benefactor and potentially capture them. It involved laptops tapped into the hospital cameras, a few members and allies patrolling the halls of the hospital, and, oh yeah, Scott being dead.

A terrible plan, really, and Sara couldn't slow her racing pulse.

She knew the wolves could hear it plain as day. The way Liam glanced at her in concern wasn't subtle at all, which Boyd and Isaac were better at even if she could still tell. Scott was taking it the worst by far though, seeming to feed off her anxiety, making him more and more anxious as seconds passed. At least Malia wasn't around to call out her pulse, even if the reason she wasn't around had less to do with the dumb plan and more to do with her dumb boyfriend.

Why is this even the plan? Sara asked herself, gripping the edge of the island counter they had circled around. She brought up this one thing lightning-based foxfire can do one time, and all of a sudden it's dumb plans galore. Why is temporarily killing Scott even an option?

"Depends on how many cameras they have," Stiles answered Kira. "But I think so." Out of everyone, Sara thought he'd be the one most averse to the plan but guess not.

"Are we really doing this?" Liam asked.

"We're doing it," Scott said, trying to sound confident. "Tonight."

"But isn't it kind of dangerous?"

Stiles scoffed and said, "It's incredibly dangerous and borderline idiotic." Oh, maybe that was why he didn't mind it so much.

"Have you guys done something like this before?" Liam asked, glancing around at each of them.

"Something dangerous? Or something idiotic?" Stiles asked for clarification.

"Idiotic is Stiles' day-to-day life, so you're going to have to be more specific," Isaac added.

Stiles groaned and pointed at Isaac, looking at Sara and Scott. "Okay, what is the point of him?"

"We're having this conversation again?" Isaac wondered, giving Stiles an annoyed look.

"Yes."

Boyd interrupted, "We're going to need all hands on deck if this is going to work. We don't know what or who they'll have or be."

Scott met Liam's eye with a reassuring look. "You don't have to be part of it if you don't want to."

"I'm not scared," Liam said, standing up straighter.

Doubtful, Sara thought. He reminded her of a puppy trying to square up with a large dog. Like a Chihuahua trying to assert dominance to a German Shepherd.

Stiles reached over and set a sturdy hand on Liam's shoulder. "Then you're borderline idiotic." He playfully winked before taking his hand back.

"It's okay to be scared, Liam," Sara said carefully. "We don't know what's coming if we're doing this. And it's okay to not want to be here for it."

She could spot the tension in Liam's shoulders as he nodded and assured them, "I'm not going anywhere." Well, she had to give him points for guts.

"How do we know something's definitely coming?" Kira asked.

"The tape from Garrett's bag said, 'Visual confirmation required,'" Scott explained.

"Simon said the same thing," Stiles added. "He couldn't get paid by the Benefactor until he had proof that you guys were dead."

Isaac angled his head as he shifted his weight. "A good way to make sure they're not being scammed, but if they don't get visual confirmation for a dead target—"

"—they'll still need to figure out if a target is really dead," Boyd finished. "Especially if it's someone high on the list."

"So, if he wants visual confirmation. . ." Liam said, slowly understanding the plan.

"He's going to have to come himself." Scott's jaw and gaze tensed, mentally preparing himself.

The pack was given their assignments and sent away to prepare for anything that could happen in the next few hours, leaving the two kitsune with Scott. As Kira left the room to call her mom over, since they would need her guidance, Sara was left alone with Scott, both of them glancing at each other, unsure of what to say.

It wasn't necessarily awkward, but after their near-death experience and Scott finally admitting out loud how he felt, neither knew what else there was to say. Did they move on and forget it ever happened? They couldn't, but what else? Every time Sara looked at him, she felt like she had a frog stuck in her throat, keeping her from saying what she wanted to say. Even then, she wasn't certain about what she wanted to say.

Did she ask the million questions on her mind of why and when and how? Did she tell him honestly that she had no idea how she felt or what she thought? Did she tell him that they had bigger issues at the moment than a teen romance?

Did she tell him that it scared her?

At the very least, she knew of one thing she wanted to say:

"I'm not sure about this."

Scott looked carefully up at her, away from the shoelaces that had been oh-so-interesting. She couldn't tell what was going through his mind based on his apprehensive expression, only that something was making him hesitant. Whether it was her or the plan, it was anyone's guess.

"This plan, it. . ." Sara trailed off, looking away as she shook her head. "It's not a good one. So many things can go wrong. Kira is still learning about her abilities, not to mention foxfire is temperamental at best, and she's the only one who'd be able to pull you out of it. Mine's fire. Fire is not good for stopping or starting a heart. And then there's the whole drawing out the Benefactor thing that is just sketchy at best, and Liam is scared. He's new to this whole thing, and this is the first thing we get him into? Why is this the plan? It—"

"Sara, Sara, hey," Scott cut in softly, stepping in front of her and resting his gentle hand on the crook of her arm.

It was then that she realized her heart had begun racing faster than before, the pounding drowning out her thoughts and matching her erratic breathing, but Scott's continuously reassuring presence brought her back. He calmed her down.

Again and again and again.

He was always calming her down. With a simple look, a simple touch, a simple word.

Always Scott.

"I know it's not the best," Scott told her, keeping his voice low and meeting her eyes. The warmth of his thumb rubbing over the same spot on her arm soothed her more than it should've while struggling to take slower breaths. "But how else do you draw out someone who's out to kill us?" He tried for a playful smile, but it didn't quite hit. "Deaton didn't have any other ideas either. And any herbs we could try would burn out of our systems too quickly. This is all we have."

Scott paused and reached up to set his other hand on her other arm. He did it so carefully that she wondered if he thought he was overstepping. Maybe he was? Or maybe part of her wanted him to just hold her. To just hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

"I know it's hard, but I need someone to act like it won't be permanent," he said, pleading with his soft brown eyes.

"But it might be," Sara said, her voice shaking. "It could be."

His eyebrows furrowed as he carefully pulled back to get a better look at her. "What do you mean?"

"If you're not brought back in time, you die. Completely." She shook her head, eyes glassy and angry. "I never finished telling Kira everything about it because I never thought it'd remotely be an option ever. It was just something crazy I'd learned that some kitsune can do. And now it's the most suicidal plan I've ever heard."

Knowing she was once again talking instead of breathing with her heart wanting to pound out of her chest, she stopped, cutting herself off. Breathe. Sara took a slow breath, trying to calm herself down before looking up into Scott's eyes again.

"I don't want you to die," she said, more honest than she's ever been. "Not today, not tomorrow, not for some stupid, half-cocked plan or some supposed vendetta against supernatural creatures. If you still want to go through with this, I won't stop you, but promise me you won't die. No one else can die, especially not you."

Scott's hands were still firmly gripped on her arms, tense and warm. She could only imagine what was racing through his mind as his eyes never left her, never wavered.

Until he said, "Do you trust Kira?"

She hesitated, wondering why that was his question, why he asked that of all things.

Kira. Young, inexperienced Kira. But even with her inexperience, Sara trusted her to try. To try her best. To try everything she could. To try and bring Scott back alive. Kira was still rather new to everything, but most of the pack was. Scott, Isaac, and Boyd had only been werewolves for about a year and Lydia was a realized banshee for less than that. With enough time, energy, and training, Kira could become quite a formidable opponent, and she had to start somewhere. She had to try.

So yeah, Sara trusted her. She nodded.

"Do you trust the others?" he asked next.

Of course she did. She'd been through so much with Stiles, that his judgment was next to none. Boyd had a protective drive that rivaled any parent. Liam wanted to prove himself more than anybody, so she knew that he'd try his hardest to do what he thought was right. And Isaac, despite their rough patch, despite their differences, he'd gone through the wringer on doing his best to survive.

So, again, Sara nodded.

"Do you trust me?"

He'd once told her to trust him when facing off against Gerard, Derek's life on the line. He'd told her to trust him again when he joined Deucalion, their parents' lives on the line. He'd told her to trust him when the nogitsune tried to twist her, Stiles' life on the line.

This time, it was his own life. And everyone else's lives, but mostly his. He was the one at the heart of the idiotic temporary death plan. He was the one in the most immediate danger of dying. He was the one at the top of the kill order. He was the one trying to protect everyone else on it.

Did she trust that he wasn't throwing his life away? That he wasn't jumping into it with reckless abandon? That he'd thought it through?

Just how much did she trust Scott McCall?

With everything. She trusted him with every fiber of her being and with everything she held dear. She trusted him with her life. And she trusted him with the one thing most difficult for her to give.

She trusted him with her heart.

Sara reached up, setting her hand on the back of his neck, and pulled him close, pressing her lips against his. She could feel the sharp intake of breath from him before he set his hands on her hips and returned the kiss. She didn't know what she was expecting upon kissing Scott McCall, but the complete comfort and warmth that came with it filled every potential expectation. Like a simple kiss could ease every bit of tension from her bones.

It was perfect. And she didn't regret it.

Pulling out of the kiss and setting her forehead against his, she whispered, "Don't die. . . please."

"I won't," he promised, looking into her eyes with as much sincerity he could muster. "As long as you're right there, I know I won't. Because I trust you."

A rush of breath escaped her lips as she melted into him, nestling her head in the crook of his neck. Scott held her against him, his cheek against her hair and arms wrapped tightly around her. For a few brief moments, in the chaos that was their lives, all felt right in the world.

Noshiko instructed Scott to lay flat on his back on his bed and unbutton the top of his shirt. In any other instance, Sara would be tempted to make a joke about "buying him dinner first" or how "Ken might not approve" but nothing came out as she sat in the chair next to his bed, knee bouncing erratically. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't hide her nerves. But she could be present for the procedure. She could be there for Scott.

Tamae explained in further detail what Kira's foxfire was going to do, how the mystical properties of the jolt of lighting would force his heart into a suppressed state, and that since Scott's an alpha, his heart beating only once per minute at low pressure would be enough to keep him alive for a short period of time.

Scott forced himself to relax even as both Sara and Liam continued to quietly panic in their areas of the room. Even if he didn't see their panic, he could certainly smell it radiating off them in waves and heard Sara's heartbeat thundering in her chest. But he could do this. He had to try. For his friends, for his pack, for everyone he cared about. And for Beacon Hills.

"Are you guys totally sure about this?" Liam asked not for the first time.

"I think Liam's kind of nervous," Kira said, trying to hide the shiver in her voice. She was better about hiding her nerves, but she certainly still had plenty. "Maybe you should tell him it's going to be alright."

Scott looked at Liam and Kira as he said, "It's going to be alright."

His gaze then shifted over to Sara who was biting her lip to the point where he could smell the faintest hint of blood, and he gave her a soft smile, watching as she forced a calming exhale and released her lip. He appreciated her attempt at a brave face.

Liam didn't seem to notice as he looked at Noshiko and Tamae and asked, "So, you've done this before, right?"

"I've seen it done," Noshiko said.

"Is that just as good?" Liam's nervousness was apparent in his shaky voice.

"No," Noshiko bluntly answered.

"Mom, you're not inspiring confidence," Kira scolded.

"Good. It's a terrible idea."

"I find it rather charming," Tamae said with a hint of a smile.

"Of course, you would. The same person who thought spying on werewolves was a good idea." Noshiko rolled her eyes and then turned back to her daughter. "How do you even know about this?"

Kira looked at Sara who uncomfortably said, "I may have mentioned it when I was teaching her over winter break since Mom had described Ojiisan doing it with his foxfire. But I didn't think Kira would ever try to do it."

"Why can't one of you three do it?" Liam asked, pointing at Sara, Tamae, and Noshiko. "I thought Kira was new to the whole kitsune thing?"

"Ocean kitsune foxfire manifests as fire, not lightning," Tamae answered. "Sara is a fire kitsune; theirs also manifests as fire. Lightning is required for this."

When Liam then looked at Noshiko, she shook her head. "Mine used to be lightning, but I can't generate foxfire anymore," she said. "Not after losing my tails."

Liam's expression pinched. "How did you—"

"It's a last semester story," Sara cut in, standing from her seat. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "We can tell you later." She looked down at Scott. "Last chance."

"It's going to be alright," Scott repeated, softer that time, in a tone specifically reserved for Sara which he heard her heart skip a beat at before the thundering began to calm.

Noshiko reluctantly sighed. "Kira, put your hand over his heart."

Kira moved closer, setting her knee on the edge of Scott's bed. Before Kira could touch his chest, however, Scott grabbed her hand and looked up at the two adults.

"Hold on, what happens while I'm out?" Scott asked. "Am I gonna feel anything?"

"It might feel like you're dreaming," Noshiko said carefully.

"Good dreams or bad?"

"I suppose that's up to you."

He knew without further questioning that it might feel like something he'd gone through before. A state of existence between life and death. Bardo. He'd be stuck in limbo until pulled out. But he trusted his friends. He had to trust their plan.

Scott settled once again on his bed, forcing the tension from his limbs as he looked up at Sara. He didn't like the worry in her expression. He wanted to see her smile.

"You'll be there when I wake up?" he asked.

Sara quickly nodded. "Yes. Yes, I will."

He smiled at the conviction in her voice, and then he nodded at Kira, ready to go under. Whatever dreams he'd be forced to live, he was ready. Kira leaned in and set her hand on his chest and summoned her foxfire. His skin erupted in blinding pain before his vision went dark.

Sara immediately called for an ambulance the moment Scott's eyes closed. Tamae and Noshiko took their leave to avoid the ambulance and be at the hospital ready for when they arrived. Boyd, Stiles, and Isaac were already there along with Chris in order to set up and prepare for the hopeful outcome of meeting the Benefactor as well as keeping Melissa in the loop that the mission was a go.

Sara wished she could say the panic in her voice was fake as she ushered the paramedics up to Scott's room with the fake story of him having an asthma attack and being unable to find his inhaler, but she couldn't. The panic was very much real, permeating throughout her entire being, and she couldn't seem to stop it as it continued to build.

Kira was the one to drive Sara and Liam to the hospital after the ambulance took off. Sara could hardly keep her hands still enough to get behind the wheel.

The first few minutes of the drive were quiet as Sara tried not to fidget too much, and Liam quietly panicked in the back seat. The one who was holding it together the best was Kira which she personally found odd considering how easily panicked she often became. But she supposed if it was Boyd instead of Scott, she'd be doing the same thing as Sara, so she couldn't exactly blame her.

Which then reminded Kira— "So. . ." she slowly drew out, glancing over at Sara.

"What?" Sara asked, looking up at her.

"You kissed him."

Liam jumped up in the backseat and leaned forward, peaking his head through the front seats. "Wait, what?" he asked. "Really? When?"

"She kissed him in the kitchen," Kira said. "After the meeting."

"Oh, thank god," Liam said with a quiet groan. "Finally."

Sara's expression pinched in annoyance and confusion. "What do you mean finally?" she asked, half-glaring at the freshman. Liam shrunk back at her glare.

"Just that you two have been circling each other for ages," Kira answered for him, "and it's about damn time something was done about it."

"It became pretty obvious the moment I joined you guys," Liam added. After he got over the whole fake asking him out thing.

Kira nodded and said, "Figures it took near-death and fake death to do it."

"Shut up." Sara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hey, we mean well with the teasing," Kira said softly. "I'm happy for you."

Sara glanced over at them. Both Kira and Liam were giving her reassuring smiles which she did admit helped ease some of her annoyance and panic. She sighed. "We didn't actually talk much about it. It was just a kiss."

"I swear if you two go back to being awkward about your feelings, Boyd and I are going to lock you two in a room together," Kira threatened.

Liam gave her a large grin. "And the rest of us are going to help."

"If he survives," Sara said bitterly.

"He will," Kira said. Then she added more conviction in her tone and repeated, "He will. I'll bring him back. You know that, right?"

Her brain said yes while her heart said no. She wanted to have the optimism to say that everything was going to go to plan, but when had any of their plans worked? That was a major part of the reason why she was scared.

But she trusted the pack. She wasn't lying about that.

So, Sara nodded and said, "Yeah. Yeah, I know."