Chapter 6

Allison:

There was a knock on my bedroom door Friday morning. Without waiting for a response it opened and Lydia popped in. I wasn't fully awake but apparently that didn't matter. Rubbing sleep from my eyes I sat up facing her.

"Rise and shine sleepy head, we have plans this morning." She said skipping into the room and flopping down on the side of my bed.

"It's summer and both of us are jobless. What possible plans could we have?"

"Plans that don't involve staying in bed all day. So get up, you need to get dressed." She said yanking the covers off of me.

"Lydia," I whined. "What did you plan?"

"I'm glad you asked. But you won't know until you get up and get dressed. Come on we are wasting time." She jumped up and headed for the door. "I'm going to help get things set up. Meet us in the kitchen when you are ready."

"Us? Who's us?" I asked as she just skipped back out of the room. "Lydia, who is us?" I asked again only getting a giggle in return.

Groaning I got up and made my way to the bathroom to freshen up before getting dressed and following the sounds of voices to the kitchen. That's where I found, Lydia, Theo and Malia pulling out food and bowls and a mini projector set up with a freeze frame of our favorite chef showing on the wall near the table.

"What is all this?" I asked.

"We are cooking." Malia volunteered, beaming.

"Yep. I found this site that you can cook with the person on screen and…" Theo started.

"I borrowed Stiles' mini projector so we can all see it without squinting at a phone." Malia finished.

"Okay, and what are we cooking?" I laughed.

"Italian. The actual dish is a surprise until the lesson starts but we were given a list of ingredients so we aren't going into this completely unprepared." Theo answered, shrugging.

"Sounds cool. Where's everyone else? I would think they would be lining up to watch us attempt to cook edible food."

"Hey, I'll have you know that Liam has yet to complain about anything I have made so far."

"Liam is in love with you, even if he didn't enjoy it he would never say." I told him.

"Yes, but having awesome wolf senses means that he can't hide the truth from me. Besides you do know Liam, right? He has no poker face. Everything he thinks and feels is written all over his face."

"True. But seriously where is everyone else? And where's my dad?"

"Well, Argent and Isaac said they had something to do this morning. Scott is doing chores, before he heads to the sports clinic with Liam." Lydia said.

"Stiles is obsessing over looking for things, as per normal."

"Liam started volunteering at the hospital today so that's where he is before the clinic. And Corey is with Mason, learning computer things."

"Oh really now." I said grinning.

"I know, right. I so can't wait to see where this goes." Theo laughed.

"I wonder what Isaac and my dad are up to." I mused, helping getting everything set up.

"They were really tight lipped about it all before they left but I think I have an idea. If it's what I think it is then I'm not going to say. I don't want to ruin it." Lydia said giving me that knowing look.

"Fine, I won't question it. If I know Isaac he is planning something that has to do with me, so I will let him keep his secret. And he deserves this, he's been great lately." I sighed.

"Not to bring the mood down, but how are you doing?" Theo asked.

'I'm… I'm doing better. It's not really weighing me down like it did before or maybe I'm just slowly starting to accept it."

"You know, I remember everything I did when I was stuck as a coyote for all those years." Malia said, keeping her hands busy and not looking at any of us. "I remember every hiker I… crossed paths with and even though it turned out not to be my fault I remember the accident and what happened to my mother and sister. I may not have killed them but I was running on animal instinct so… I still have moments where I think about it and remember the things that I did back then and I hate myself for it, even though it was out of my control really." She looked up and her eyes were sparkling but she smiled gamely at me.

"It was hard to reconcile what I did with who I am, especially now."

"How do you do it?" I asked.

"I talk to Stiles about it. He just let me talk it out, everything. What I was feeling and what happened. Then he just hugged me and… I don't know. I felt better just knowing he didn't judge me. But he also suggested I talk to his dad. Being a vet and a cop he's had a few experiences as well."

"Did it help?"

"It did actually. It helped to know that I wasn't alone in how I felt about the things I did. It's funny with how all over the place Stiles is, Mr. S. is the exact opposite but both of them are calming and soothing in their own way."

"I've been meaning to ask. Does Stiles ever stay still? Like when he's sleeping does he, like run in his sleep or something?" Theo asked.

"No, he doesn't run in his sleep." Malia rolled her eyes. "But it's probably the only time he is ever really still for longer than 10 minutes. Even in class he fidgets."

"Huh, I guess I lost that bet." Theo hummed.

"Who did you bet?" Lydia asked.

"Liam. He bet that Stiles is only still when sleeping. I didn't think he ever stayed in one place long enough to even sleep."

"Anyway, my point is, according to Mr. S. what you are feeling is normal and the feeling will fade. It won't disappear but it will lessen over time. Just try not to dwell on it. What happened saved Isaac and probably future shifters who could have possibly been targeted by her. Try not to let it make you see yourself differently." Malia told me.

"thanks." I smiled gratefully at her.

"Okay, so are we ready?" Lydia asked.

"Yep. Let's do this." Theo said rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Great, and I have these for us to wear so we don't, hopefully, mess up our clothes." Lydia grabbed a bag from the living room and pulled out aprons for all of us.

"You thought of everything. So what are your thoughts for after we finish?" I asked taking an apron and putting it on.

"Well, I figured we could go watch the guys at the clinic before coming back here to eat this delicious meal we are preparing."

"Well we can hope. But if it's not, I have the pizza place on speed dial." Malia said.

Laughing we started the video and started our first cooking lesson. I have to admit I had a blast as we joked about our boyfriends. Malia lost her filter, again but this time Theo was able to rein her in. By the time we were done we felt accomplished and I was feeling like myself again. The meal turned out great as we all kept sneaking bites of it.

"Something smells good." My dad said as he came into the kitchen. We didn't even hear him come in.

"I hope so. We worked hard on this meal." Lydia said. I laughed as I gave my dad a kiss on the cheek.

"What did you make?" He asked.

"Puttanesca for dinner and Genoise for dessert with gelato ice cream, bought from a store not homemade." Theo told him.

"Sounds good. Can't wait to try it. You will have to save me some."

"You're not joining us?" I asked.

"No, I have a date with Melissa tonight."

I could practically see my dad glowing, he was so happy. At first when he told me he decided to date, I was uneasy. It wasn't that I minded but it was hard to picture him with anyone but my mom. Then when he told me he was dating Ms. M. I was really weirded out. My dad dating my ex's mother, yeah that was surreal to me. I can admit that they were cute together. But I could never see Scott as a brother, it's just too much. I am happy for them though.

"Okay, we'll set some aside for you both to try. Where's Isaac? I thought he was with you."

"Yeah, he's at home getting ready for the sports thing. He said he would see you there."

"Oh, it's almost time. We should head out." Lydia said.

"You guys have fun. Be careful and stay out of trouble."

"You have met Stiles, right?" Theo said.

"Hey, Stiles doesn't go looking for trouble. It… just… seems to find him. That's all." Malia defended making all of us snicker.

"We should get going. I want to see Liam before he gets started." Theo said taking off his apron. We all followed suit.

"Right, see you later dad. Have fun on your date." I said giving him another kiss on the cheek as we all filed out of the house.

We made it to the field just as Stiles, Scott and Isaac pulled in and Liam, Corey and Mason right after. Everyone went up to their partner greeting them in their usual way. It made me think, when was the last time I greeted Isaac like I usually do. Usually I would jump into his arms and plant a kiss right on his lips. But since the incident I haven't done that and suddenly I really wanted too.

Smiling I jumped out of the car and ran over to him. As soon as he was out of the jeep I jumped him, wrapping myself around him and kissing him, thoroughly. He was caught by surprised but it was only seconds later that one arm was wrapped around my waist and the other hand was in my hair. I giggled when cheers and whistles went up around us, pulling us apart.

"You're in a good mood." Isaac smiled.

"I'm in a great mood."

"Good, I'm happy with that." He said with one more kiss before setting me down. "So how did the cooking lesson go?"

"It went good, I think. We managed to create something edible." I told him, taking his hand.

"Can't wait to try it." He said as we followed the others to the back entrance to the locker room.

"And I can't wait to find out where you went with my father this morning." I smirked. He huffed a laugh.

"You have no idea how badly I want to tell you. But it's a surprise. I promise that as soon as I have everything in order I will show you where we went."

"Okay, I'm holding you to that." I poked him in the side.

"Again with the poking." He laughed.

"I'm hoping soon we can play that game again." I leaned in to whisper. His eyes flashed and he gave me a wicked grin.

"And, I am holding you to that. Now I need to go get ready. Coach yells, well yells more, if we are late."

"Okay, but before you go," the guys had already gone inside and the girls, Theo, Mason and Corey were waiting for me. "Guys, go ahead. I'll meet you at the bleachers." I told them. They nodded and headed off. Turning back I wrapped my arms around my boyfriend's neck.

"I just want to say thank you." I told him.

"For what?"

"For being there for me through all of this. You have done so much in the last few weeks and I just really appreciate it. You have no idea how much having you there has meant to me and has helped me. I love you so much Isaac."

"Allison, there is nothing I wouldn't do for you, ever. I love you so much and you don't have to thank me. I will always be here for you, no matter what."

"I know and I can't tell you what that means to me. I'm feeling a lot better about things, not completely but I'm okay and it's, in most part, thanks to you."

"I am so happy to hear that. I love you, Allison."

"I love you too." I pressed as close as I could to him, kissing him with as much feeling as I could muster. The sound of a whistle made us part.

'This isn't a brothel. Lahey, go get dressed, make out on your own time." Coach yelled across the field. Giggling I moved away from Isaac.

"Sorry coach. Going now." He yelled back. "Okay, I'll see you afterwards, then I can't wait to try that dinner you made."

"Me either. Go." I said with one more kiss before heading for the bleachers.

** This story is still a work in progress but now that i am back on a regular life schedule i will be churning out more chapters. Until the next update, hope you enjoyed! **