Chapter 14: Calm After and Before the Storm

Eichen House was soon crawling with police, EMT's and even a handful of reporters as the alarms kept blaring off in the building. Sheriff Noah Stilinski pulled in as close as he could to the entrance before he hopped out of his car when he quickly spotted Parrish by the front.

"Sheriff!" the deputy called out when he spotted him heading over.

"Parrish, where are the kids?" he asked immediately.

He pointed off to the side where he saw Scott and Kira huddled on the ground together while Lydia was standing close by, on her phone. He saw that Scott's clothes had burn marks on them and there seemed to be red spots on his arms and face. He had those arms around Kira who looked like she was barely able to keep awake.

"What happened?" he asked them.

"The Dread Doctors," Lydia answered simply. "They came here."

"Are you all alright?"

"More or less," she said as she looked down at her friends. "Kira's powers went out of control. Scott carried her out but he got burned."

"Scott?" Noah asked him.

"I'll be alright," he tried to wave off. "I can feel myself already healing."

"What about the Doctors? What happened to them?"

"They just…disappeared," Lydia told him. "I guess they left when they got what they came for."

"What was that?"

"Valack," answered Scott.

Noah went to run his hand furiously over his face. "Where's Stiles?"

"We don't know," Scott told him.

Lydia waved her phone. "I've been trying to call him for the last twenty minutes but he's not answering."

Noah was starting to get worried. "Why not? Where did he go and what could he be doing right now?"


Malia was slowly and softly laid on the bed as Stiles moved to hover over her with a soft look on his face as he gazed down lovingly at her. She let herself sink into her bed as she gazed up into his deep honey brown eyes. He then moved down to give her a hard but sweet kiss that she returned just as desperately. After a moment, they slowly broke away.

Stiles moved to run his hand over her brow to softly move some stray hairs out from covering her face. "Man have I missed you," he moaned to her.

She smiled. "I missed you too," she said lovingly back to him. She then yanked at the back of his neck to pull him in for another hard kiss.

They continued to make out, slowly moving to remove the top halves of each other's clothing all while kissing any skin they exposed with their actions. Stiles kissed at her exposed collar bone as Malia moved to pull his shirt off and Stiles moved back and lifted his arms to let her remove it. She then threw it off to the side before moving to kiss at his chest and let her fingers graze his stomach. she lifted it up. Stiles let himself moan as she did before he moved his hands to her shoulders and pushed at them to lay her back flat on the bed. Malia then let herself sink into the mattress as Stiles began to slowly kiss down her body. She closed her eyes and lost herself to the feel every kiss Stiles gave her as he slowly traveled down her body. When he got to her hips, she thought he heard a hungry growl from under his throat which made a small growl escape from hers. She felt his nose graze at her belly button before she felt him rise up and his breath pass over her face but still had her eyes closed.

She then felt his lips over at her left ear. "You are so beautiful," he whispered.

Or at least it was a whisper, but Stiles' voice wasn't the one that it was with.

Malia opened her eyes and saw that it wasn't Stiles hovering over her, but Theo. He was as shirtless as Stiles was a moment ago. In the low lighting, it was plain to see that his body was shaped differently from Stiles. His skin was more tanned and his arms and chest a bit more toned and harder than Stiles' was. But she only let herself notice it for a fraction of a second before the situation caught up with her.

"Theo?" she gasped. "What are you doing here?" She looked around and saw there was no sign of Stiles anywhere.

He quickly moved his fore and middle fingers over her lips. "Shh," he muttered with a predatorial look on his face.

A look that quickly made Malia stop talking and stare back at him. She found her heart pounding and insides heating up as she kept staring at the hungry look in his eyes. Eventually he moved in and kissed her. It was forceful and dominant and Malia found herself answering it hungrily in kind. Her hands moved to his back, digging her nails in to draw blood, as Theo began to roughly move his hands down her body. Hard growls and moans started escaping from both of them as they kept kissing and rubbing against each other.

It all ended when Malia gasped and sat up in her bed. She found that she was in her room, alone, and had a layer of sweat on her brow. Her breathing was fast paced and she held a hand up against her racing heart. Malia looked over at her clock and saw that it was past one in the morning. It had been a few hours since Theo had taken her home after that incident on the road.

She just sat there, for a few minutes, just cooling herself down and feeling a pit in her stomach as she dwelled on what she just dreamed. Though, she did remember that she still felt a bit of Theo's lingering warmth and scent on her when she was about to get ready for bed. As well as sending a good night text to Stiles and wishing everything went okay at Eichen. Was all that what triggered that weird dream? And why did a part of her wish it hadn't ended? She let a frustrated huff loose as she let her head fall back and land right on her pillow.


Cora was holding a small bottle of formula up to Jason's lips but he just stared at it, making no move to have any. She sighed as made the tip touch his lips.

"C'mon Jason, eat. You must be hungry."

But her son just kept up his stubborn streak and kept moving his head away from what his mother was giving him. Cora let out a frustrated growl as she pulled the bottle back.

"Problems?"

Cora rolled her eyes as she looked over at Derek, who seemed to be amused at her aggravation.

"Aren't you observant," she hissed at him. "He won't let me feed him."

"Well, did you think that he maybe just isn't hungry?"

"He's a baby. They're hungry at least ten times a day. Jason hasn't eaten since lunch."

Derek moved over to them. "Okay, that is strange but that's no reason to start jumping up the walls."

"It's not just this. He's been crying and screaming for no reason and now he isn't eating. These last few days, Jason has been acting so neurotic."

"Considering who his father is, maybe that shouldn't be so much of a surprise," he threw in playfully. He looked up to see that she was giving him a very intimidating bitch face. "Just a joke."

"Not a very funny one." She sighed before she moved to sit down on the nearest chair.

"Look, it'll be okay. Give him another half hour or so and he'll start balling for him to be fed."

She sighed out heavily. "Yeah, alright."

"Why are you still so upset then?"

"I don't know, maybe your constant criticism."

"What are you talking about?"

"Him," she said as she looked over at her son. "Jason. Every time there's a problem, you always manage to bring Stiles in as the reason I'm having it."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, he sort of is. After all, he's the reason why Jason is even here."

"And that's why you have a problem with him. You liked him well enough before."

Now Derek rolled his eyes. "No, I tolerated him. Barely at that. And that was before he used my baby sister."

"It wasn't like that."

"No? Stiles went and swooped in when you were hurting. Took advantage of the whole thing and got himself lucky."

Now Cora rolled her eyes. "Oh please, if anything I used and took advantage of him."

Derek quickly turned to head on out. "I don't want to hear this."

"Yeah, that's always been your problem," she spat out.

That made him stop and turn back to look at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Whenever anything gets too serious or uncomfortable for you, then you just take off until you think it's gone away. You go off and do whatever you want and get mad when things happen or turn up when you finally decide to come back."

"Oh really?" he said, challenging.

"Yeah, really. Kate, Boyd, Isaac, Jackson. You sure you want me to read off the whole list, cause it's quite long."

Now he was glaring at her. "And what, you think by taking Jason yourself and not telling Stiles about him you're being selfless? What, you trying to be like mom?"

She furiously pointed her finger at him. "You, you don't know what you're talking about."

"No? You aren't trying to keep Stiles from knowing about Jason because you think he's needed in Beacon Hills the way that mom kept us because Dad was needed to watch over his own pack and territory halfway across the country? Cause that's what it's looking like to me!"

"No!" she spat out.

At their combined shouting, Jason started to cry. Cora moved over and took him in her arms as she tried to soothe him with shushing sounds and then moved to take the bottle and place it on his lips. This time, he eagerly moved to take it, guzzling the formula down. As he made content sounds as he ate, it seemed to settle and calm down the two Hale siblings.

"Look Cora, I'm sorry," Derek started. "I'm just trying to understand why you didn't want Stiles to know that you got pregnant. Or about Jason. It feels like you're trying to protect him or something."

"Well, at least one person should. He's earned that much."

That made Derek's eyes widen. "What do you mean by that?"

She tensed up a bit. "I mean that…Stiles always tries to help everyone else, but hardly anyone ever tries to help him. I might not have known him for too long, but I saw enough. He always tries to help take weight off everyone's shoulders whenever he can. His dad, Scott, Lydia, you, me. But no one seems to ever do that for him. He takes all his own weight along with everyone else's. And he doesn't complain about it. Not once. I don't know, maybe I just want to pay him back for wanting to help me with my weight by not adding Jason's colossal weight on him too because I know he would want to try to take it all himself."

Derek just stood there, stunned. He didn't know what was more shocking. The fact that she just told him something so in depth about Stiles that he himself completely missed, or at how insightful she had just sounded just now. For a moment, he was reminded of their mother just now. He hated that he used her to mock Cora a couple of minutes ago.

"Well…I guess you're right. Stiles does like to take on more than he has to. Than he should. I never thought of it that way before. I always just thought he liked being nosy and annoying."

"Oh no, I think he actually does. That's the problem." That made them both share a small chuckle. "Look, it's not like I want him to not know about Jason forever. Just until he gets enough room to. Which should be easy. After all, only you, me, Maggie and Peter know about Jason and who his father is. And Peter's locked up tight at Eichen."

Cora moved down to readjust Jason's bottle a bit so she didn't see Derek flinch. That was because there was one more person that knew the truth. And he was in Stiles' company constantly and knew that he had been wrestling with the truth for a while. And made it clear how he felt that Stiles should know, soon.


Virgil was underneath a suspended car as he was worked on giving it a well needed oil change. There was rock music playing from the car radio as he worked. It was the last car he was working on for the night. Thankfully, it was a night his boss wasn't making him work late on, without pay. There was another mechanic there with him and he was treating a dent in the door of another car. He didn't mind the music while they were working and while his boss might have a few words to say about it, he had left earlier. It had been a pretty decent and easy day and it looked like it would be a good and stress free night too. That was until the music stopped suddenly and a reporter's voice sounded off.

"We interrupt this broadcast with an important breaking news bulletin. There has been some sort of domestic disturbance over by the Beacon Hills mental institution Eichen House. The Sheriff's Department has put out a statement that it had been sparked by an electrical discharge that had hit the area. Apparently, this caused a few of the automatic locks to disengage and a few patients had gotten out of their rooms and run amok. No fatalities had been reported and the patients are being re-accounted for."

"Wow," Virgil's co-worker muttered, snapping him out of his stupor. "Madness at the Madhouse. Go figure."

Virgil couldn't help but snort. "Yeah."

He had heard some stories about Eichen House since he had moved to this town. A few of the guys at the bowling alley and the bar have talked about it before. Lots of urban legends about suicides and odd rumors about the people that go there, and that work there. It had made his list about the 'strange' things that seem to revolve around this town.

There was suddenly a howling sound drifting through the air, coming from the trees across the street that lead off into the woods. It caught both Virgil and his fellow mechanic's attention.

The other guy rolled his eyes. "Probably just a dog."

Virgil narrowed his eyes. "That's no dog." He knew dog howls. He heard them a lot in his old neighborhood back in San Diego. And they never sounded like that.

The guy shrugged his shoulders. "Then it must've been a wolf. Tend to hear different kinds of howling a lot around here these days. Don't worry about it."

He moved to get back to work while Virgil moved to look out at the sky, towards the half moon.


Lydia was sitting out by her pool, just letting her feet soak in the water as she just stared off into the rose bushes at the other end of her backyard. She barely registered someone moving towards her and he sat down next to her, handing her a small mug.

"Half and Half with a splash of cream," Jordan said with a light smile.

Lydia smiled as she took it. "You remembered."

"You remembered mine. Seems only fair." He then stuck his bare feet in the water as he settled himself in.

"Thanks." Lydia moved to take a small sip of her coffee as she resumed staring off.

"Where's your mom?" he asked before taking a sip of his own coffee cup.

"Still at the school I think. She said she would be grading reports and might have to pull an all-nighter." She barely blinked as she kept looking off at nothing, with her mind going a mile a minute.

Jordan's face fell a bit at the troubled expression on Lydia's face. "What's wrong? Are you still worried about those…Dread Doctors? By the way, not really liking the name."

A small grin broke through. "Yeah, I don't think anyone does. And, yeah I'm still worried about them, but, it's something else."

"What?"

"Valack, he said something to me when I talked to him. He told me that the only reason the doctors are even here is because of the Nemeton. Because of what we did, giving it back its power."

"Wait, you don't think this is all your fault, do you?" He took her silence as a yes. "Lydia-"

She cut him off. "It is. If they're really here because of the Nemeton then this is our fault. Scott and Stiles are sure going to blame themselves for this. I know because I blame myself for this. I was part of the ritual too." She had been the one to hold down Stiles in that tub of water that night. And since then, the Nemeton had been bringing nothing but trouble. The Nogitsune. Kate. The Walcotts. And who knows how many others that have been hiding or escaped their attention. Now, the Dread Doctors.

"Lydia, you shouldn't listen to that guy. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Actually, he seemed to know a lot more than he should when I talked to him."

"What do you mean?"

"He knew all about me, even things that I don't know. And, I think he knows about you too."

That made him stiffen up a bit. "Me? Are you sure?"

"He didn't say you specifically, but yeah. I think he really was talking about you."

Jordan blinked for a moment and then shook his head. "No. He was probably only trying to get inside your head. To make you do what he wanted."

But Lydia shook his head. "No, he wasn't lying. I felt that he wasn't. He must've used that third eye of his."

"Yeah, well that doesn't mean that he's right. Okay, you and your friends couldn't have known that all this was going to happen."

"That doesn't mean it isn't our fault," she threw in. She then let her head bow down a bit.

Jordan set his mug down and reached over for Lydia's hand. "Lydia, look at me," he said strongly, but softly. That made her slowly move to catch his eyes. "You aren't to blame for this. None of you are. The Dread Doctors aren't your fault. None of you the reason why they're doing what they're doing. That's on them, not you. And it hasn't been all bad you know."

"Yeah, how?"

"It brought me, didn't it?" he said, raising his eyebrows at her with a calm and charming smile. "If it wasn't for the Nemeton, we probably wouldn't have met."

Lydia let herself deflate as she let that small fact sink in. It was true. The Nemeton had brought Jordan to Beacon Hills. Kira, her family and Satomi's pack too now that she thought of it. "Yeah, but we still don't know what you are yet."

"Yet," he emphasized. "And sure, we still don't know what I am, but whatever it is I know that I will try to do whatever I can to protect the good and innocent people here in this town. Just like you and your friends have and always do."

Lydia stared at Jordan for a moment and then let her head move and rest up against his shoulder. Jordan moved his arm over to pull her closer to him and let his chin rest against the top of her head. They then moved to stare at the waves in the pool together, still embracing each other. As they stared, Jordan's eyes flashed a faint orange glow.


It had taken Stiles a good while before he was able to make his way back to where he had left his jeep. He hadn't been in as much a hurry getting to it as he had leaving it earlier. He didn't know what time it was because or how long he had been out here because he had left his phone in his jeep when he bolted from it. His walk had been slow, as much of his focus was in staring and dwelling at his hands. Or rather at the claws that had appeared at the end of them.

This wasn't the first time that this happened. As he walked, he started to remember it had happened before, and not just during his fight with Donovan. It was during that night in La Iglesia when they all fought against Kate. It was how he was able to break through and pierce the Berserker's armor. After it had exploded, Stiles had been shocked and had looked at his hand and seen the claws there. He hadn't been able to dwell on it then because he had gotten distracted by everything else that followed and then completely forgot it once it was all over. But now he remembered.

Stiles decided to shift his hands and bring out his claws and saw that they were still how they normally were. But Stiles could feel a slight tingle underneath within his fingers. He put more force as he focused harder in his shift and his claws began to slowly extend. His eyes widened but he kept it going and soon enough, the longer and sharper claws from before were back.

He looked over at a thick tree to the side before looking down at his new claws. Stiles sighed before he raised his right hand and struck at it. Instead of leaving five solid lines in the bark, a chunk of the tree had snapped off, his claws digging through the bark and ripping out a small section of the trunk. And it felt easy. Stiles thought it was like cutting through paper, funny enough.

"This is-" He seemed to struggle to find the right thing to call what this was before he just shook his head as he gazed at his new "super" claws. "I don't even know what this is."

He then kept walking and eventually made it to the area where his jeep had been left. It wasn't like Stiles couldn't guess what was going on with him. After all, something like this had happened before…last year. Before and even during the night of the lunar eclipse, he had been feeling changes in his shift.. But, after what happened with the Nogitsune, he thought that was the end of it. After he got turned back, he had even gone and asked Deaton and the man told him that his wolf had been crippled and regressed which is why it took him a while to get used to being a werewolf again. He said the chances of the rank and power of the Beast emerging from him were almost non-existent.

"Almost, but not completely," he muttered, audibly finishing that thought.

When he learned that he was able to tap into event scars, a rare werewolf ability, the reason why was pretty obvious. And he had a hunch that both Deaton and Satomi probably knew it too. Deep down, Stiles felt what was happening but he guessed he had been trying to live in denial and pretend it was nothing. But, he couldn't. He couldn't deny what this all had to mean. The Beast was coming back for him.

As he caught sight of his jeep, he sighed in relief even though he was feeling anything but. Stiles didn't know what to think or do about this. After all, it wasn't like they didn't already have enough issues and problems to deal with already. Like tonight for instance. At that train of thought, Stiles then remembered all about their plan to see Valack at Eichen House.

"Oh crap," he coughed out as he moved to run for the rest of the way and hop into his car.

He had completely forgotten that he Scott, Lydia and Kira still there. Or were, seeing the time as soon as he got to his phone. Stiles had left Eichen and been out in the woods for over four hours. There were also near a dozen messages from his father, Scott, Lydia and Malia. He quickly moved to start listening to them and his eyes lit up when he heard the news that there was an attack at Eichen from Scott, Lydia and his dad. He went to start up his car but the engine just coughed and didn't start.

"Figures," he said as he let his head bang against the steering wheel.

He opened his glove compartment and reached for the roll of duct tape.


Theo was thrown up against the wall of the lab and fell to the floor in a small heap. The Geneticist had thrown him and the Pathologist was making his way for the boy, lifting him by the scruff of his shirt and then started to lift him by his throat while the Surgeon stood calmly to the side, watching. Theo was brought to his feet and made to face in the Surgeon's direction.

"You were wrong," the Surgeon muttered in his distorted voice.

Theo quickly shook his head. "No, it wasn't. I swear," he said quickly and apologetic. "Scott told me himself they were all going there together. Him, Lydia, Kira and Stiles. How was I supposed to know that Stiles would leave or that deputy would show up?"

The Surgeon tilted his head slightly at him before turning away. At that, the Pathologist released Theo, making him back up a few steps as he moved to straighten his clothes before rubbing at his throat.

"Progress is slow," the Geneticist said to the others.

"Four failures already," the Pathologist threw in.

"Subject Four appears stable," the Geneticist said back.

"No progress," the Pathologist pointed out. "Best to move on."

The Geneticist nodded. "Predisposed failure. Recommend termination."

"Agreed," the Surgeon muttered.

The Geneticist pulled out their syringe pumping device to emphasize the decision.

Theo let go of his throat. "Hey, you don't have to be so hasty. Courtney could still prove useful."

"Not for us," the Surgeon told him, still not looking at him.

"Well, I could still use her," the teen coughed out.

"Inconsequential," the Surgeon said simply. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out the tiny vial containing the small collection of Stiles' blood. "Incoming subjects may bring promise."

"Yeah? Well good luck then. Just don't you forget what you promised me," Theo spat before he moved to leave the lair.

The three barely reacted to his exit. They moved to look on at the vat filled with green liquid where the body of the genetic template was housed.

As Theo stomped off, he took a look back as his mind went into thought. Their reaction to why Stiles hadn't been there was a little surprising. Even though they didn't say why, Theo could see that it seemed important, maybe even vital. He would have to keep a closer eye on Stiles. Which wouldn't be easy as the guy was too suspicious and wary to be too close to him for long. Fortunately, he had a little something he could use to get around that, in the form of a blood stained wrench. He would just have to wait until the time was right.


Noah was pacing around in his kitchen nervously, his heart beating almost a mile a minute as he waited for his son. He let out a giant aggravated but relieved sigh when he heard the familiar sound of his son's jeep pulling up into the driveway.

"Stiles?!" he called out as he headed for the front door.

It quickly opened and Stiles stepped through, a little dirty but no worse for wear.

"Dad?"

Stiles didn't get to say more than that as he was enveloped in a tight gripped hug. He could feel the worry pour out of his father as he grabbed him.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?" he asked as he broke away. "I mean, I had to hear from Clark to get some peace of mind."

Stiles had managed to get his jeep to re-start and made his way over to Eichen House. The messages from his friends had told him that the Dread Doctors had attacked the place. When he arrived though he saw that everything looked normal. But, he could smell lingering traces of smoke and…burnt flesh in the air. There was no sign of Scott's motorbike, but there was a sole deputy cruiser parked out front but it wasn't his dad's. It turned out to be Deputy Clark and she told him that his father and Parrish had left with his friends almost an hour ago. He quickly asked if they were all okay and she assured him that they were. She then told him that he should go and get back home and he thanked her before he headed off to do just that.

Stiles went to awkwardly rub at the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that. I left my phone in my jeep and didn't have it while I…went away," he decided to put it.

"Away? What happened to you? Scott told me that you just stormed away suddenly after you all got to Eichen House."

He narrowed his eyes as the memory and reason why he left came back to him. "Scott and I were talking and he…said some things and, I got upset."

Noah could hear the hesitation in Stiles' voice. "What things?"

"Uh, just some stuff," he said dismissively. "It doesn't matter now anyway. Is everyone okay? The Dread Doctors didn't hurt them, did they?"

Noah let out a sigh. "Scott got burned a bit and Kira passed out for a bit but they're doing much better. I brought them home to sleep it off. They should be fine by morning. And Lydia, she was just shaken up a bit. Parrish took her home."

"Oh, great," Stiles huffed out in relief as he let his head sag downwards.

As much as Noah could tell that Stiles was worried about his friends, he could also see that he was trying to change the subject. Something was wrong, he could feel it. It reminded him of the time before he learned about what had happened to Stiles and his friends. When they were hiding the fact that they were now supernatural creatures and what they were getting into. Stiles was hiding something from him, something serious. It had to be for Stiles to just up and leave in the middle of everything like that. Noah honestly thought the two of them were passed this stage of hiding things from each other.

"Stiles," he said, making his son look back up at him. "Is there something wrong?"

He rose an eyebrow at him. "Uh dad, have you seriously not been attention?"

Noah resisted rolling his eyes. "I mean, with you?" He deflated a bit as Stiles' face fell a bit. "I thought you and I weren't going to lie and hide things from each other anymore?"

"We're not-" he started.

"You are," Noah cut him off. "Something is bothering you. Really bothering you, I can tell. But, you're trying to hide it."

"I'm not trying to hide anything from you." Stiles was thankful that his dad couldn't hear his heart skip as he said that.

But Noah wasn't buying it. "You know you can talk to me Stiles, right? I mean, I might not always understand a lot of what's going on but I always try to understand as best I can."

Stiles bit his lip back a bit. If he said anything, Stiles knew that he wouldn't be able to stop as soon as he started. Yet, at that moment, he was tempted. He was tempted to just unload and tell his dad everything. Everything that was happening with Scott. With him finding that scholarship letter. With his growing suspicions about Theo. And, with what happened with Donovan.

But before anything else could be done or said, the phone rang. The two of them blinked for a moment before the Sheriff moved to go and answer it. He asked who it was and then listened for a moment before his eyes widened. He then said that he would be on his way.

"What is it?" Stiles asked as soon as he hung up.

"That was Clark. Something's happened at the school."

He then moved to take his jacket, badge and car keys and go for his car. Stiles moved to go with him. Surprisingly, his father didn't say a word about it and just let him tag along.


A/N: We're now passed the halfway point of part one of this story. It seems that things are getting complicated for a good many relationships, huh? And, Stiles is onto the fact that the Beast is coming back. He is a pretty smart guy. He wouldn't let himself be blind or intentionally delusional about what was happening to him, especially when it had been happened almost once before.