When I opened the door I found Stiles, phone in hand, pacing between the living room and dining room. He stopped when I closed the door behind me.

"Geez man. What the hell? You scared the crap out of me. What happened? Was that Peter? What did he say? You don't look banged up so I'm guessing he didn't hurt you. What happened?" He rambled, his hands gesturing wildly.

"Whoa, first calm down." I said bracing his shoulders. "I'm fine, everything is fine."

He took a breath, and I felt the tension ease a bit.

"Sorry, I'm just… my nerves are really wracked right now. Today has just been one shock factor after the other."

"I know. I get it and I'm right there with you. So far not much from before is the same. But just breathe man. Why don't you have a seat and I'll find us something to eat then we can talk, okay?"

"Don't bother. Your mom left a note. She made lasagna, and it just needs to be put in the oven. I already started the preheat." He said waving me off and flopping down on the couch.

I looked into the kitchen to see a covered tray on the counter. My stomach grumbled at the thought. I went ahead and put it in and started the timer before sitting in a chair across from him, scrubbing a hand down my face. This has been the longest of long days and I was exhausted but there was still too much to say.

"Don't keep me in suspense. What happened with Peter?"

"Well, first off, you're safe. Peter agreed to leave you alone. In fact, he agreed to leave all of us alone. He's going to lie low for a while."

"What? How did you get him to agree to that?"

"By agreeing to help him."

"Wait, so now you're going to help him kill people. Weren't we trying to prevent him for killing people?"

"No, I'm not going to help him kill people. I came up with a plan, sort of. Like I said, right now he is going to lay low. So, he's not going to be killing anyone."

"I think I need to hear this from the beginning and don't skimp on the details." Stiles said, leaning forward.

I relayed my conversation from the moment he came out of the shadows until I came inside. I went into details about what the plan, that I basically came up with on the fly, was but should still work. But I also had to explain how I knew the things I told him about Mr. Harris and Mr. Garrison. Stiles listened, nodding along and only stopping me a few times to ask questions but once I was done, he relaxed back in his seat feeling relieved.

"So, you saved two but still offered up 3?"

"Technically yes. But I never said anything to him about killing Kate, Gerard or the other hunter involved. Honestly, I'm tempted to just let him follow through with Kate and Gerard at least. It would save everyone the headache of the future I came from. "

"How so? I mean I can understand why you would feel that way. they apparently were a huge problem then. But what exactly are you hoping to prevent?"

"Remember when I said in Deaton's office how Gerard was part of the reason I came back?"

"Yeah."

"That wasn't an exaggeration. Monroe was a recruit of Gerards. He recruited her for the purpose of exposing all the supernaturals in Beacon Hills and turning the town against us. She started out, from what I know at least, as a guidance counselor after we graduated. From what I remember Liam telling me she already had a healthy fear of supernaturals because she was almost a victim of the beast. Gerard manipulated that fear into anger which set her on her path of recruiting other kids who had run across the beast and other supernaturals but survived. She then used those kids to create an army. Well, actually it wasn't just the kids, and it wasn't just her. Gerard helped unleash a creature that could induce severe levels of fear."

"right, the Anukite. I remember you talking about that."

"Right, his power of fear was so strong that we were essentially run out of town, and they started using cruel methods to test anyone to make sure they weren't also supernatural."

"What kind of methods?"

"You know that I can self-heal very fast, right? Well, they had a room set up in the school where they would test the kids. They would stab them in the hand and wait to see if it started to heal up on its own."

"Jesus. Are you serious?"

"Yeah I am. Anyway, I was only barely able to face the Anukite, but I had to blind myself to do it. We only trapped it because of you."

"Me? What did I do?"

"you saved the day, what else would you do?" I grinned at him.

'But you were the one facing it and did you say you did it blind?"

"Yes I did it blind. I had too. Part of its power was using fear to turn people to stone, kind of like medusa. You couldn't look directly at it. But you, you fearless human, burst through the doors at the last moment and threw mountain ash at it which turned it back to stone. It kind of worked as a mirror I guess. It threw its power back at it."

"I… I did that? so I faced it while still seeing? Shouldn't I have turned to stone then?"

"Yes, you did that. and I can only assume you did it while his back was to you. you already knew what it could do. We had discussed that beforehand. So, you acted quickly."

"wow, okay then. So, you said you were blinded by it. How did that work out? if that was the last event before you came back here, were you still blind before you were shot?"

"No, I wasn't. I actually blinded myself so I could face it. before I faced it I had help in learning how to heighten my other senses from… a friend." I said, saddened at the memory of Deucalion's death. "so, I knew I would have to not see to do it. But fighting with your eyes closed is harder than it sounds. Instincts automatically urge you to open your eyes when you are being attacked. It was the only way I knew I wouldn't succumb. And once I did that I wasn't as afraid of it. But I wasn't blind for long. It was close though."

"So, you self-healed your eyes."

"No actually. I tried but I couldn't focus enough to do it. you were trying to help and so were Derek and Lydia but a combination of the pain from gauging out my own eyes and some wolfsbane still in my system and the close call with death made it hard for me to do it on my own."

"How did you heal then?"

"Malia." I whispered with a smile.

"Malia, the girl you are in love with that is currently roaming around the woods as a what again?"

"A coyote. But yeah. we were dating by then and I loved her. through that whole ordeal we stuck together and fought together. She was trying to urge me to heal but like I said, on my own, I couldn't. But Lydia remembered something, and she told her what to do, it worked. I healed with Malia's help."

"What did she have to do?"

"Yeah, that I will explain at another time. it ties into another conversation we need to have, but only after I talk to Lydia."

"Dude, you're killing me with this waiting thing."

"I know, I'm sorry but I really think it's necessary. And some of what we need to talk about I really think Lydia needs to be informed on everything first. Just trust me, please."

"Fine. I will trust you, but eventually we are going to talk about it."

"I promise we will. Speaking of trust, there is another conversation we do need to have tonight. But I think it can wait until after dinner and we still have homework. So, I'll go get our bags from the car because we forgot to grab them, and you check on dinner. Later tonight I will explain some things."

"Am I going to hate this conversation."

"Parts of it yeah but we need to talk about it. it's important."

"Why did you have to say that. now it's all I am going to be thinking about until we do."

"Just go check on dinner." I told him, getting up and heading back out the door. I didn't fear Peter popping up this time. it may still be a bit naïve, but I was trusting him to keep his word. I didn't think Peter was a bad guy, per se, just impulsive. But I also know that he was curious about what else I was not telling him, and he wouldn't want to jeopardize getting that information by reneging on our deal.

I was nervous and unfocused throughout homework and dinner, but I managed to get through both relatively quickly. One of the perks of having gone through this before was that I remembered a lot of what I was supposed to have learned the first time around. I know I didn't have every answer correct but I was doing better than I did last time. we ate dinner with Stiles throwing me glances along the way.

Once we cleaned up and I had made sure to text my mom letting her know Stiles was staying the night, we retired upstairs. I lent Stiles some pajama's and threw his clothes in the wash along with some of mine, so it wasn't the only thing and we both showered and got ready for bed. After I had changed out the dryer I settled on the bed and Stiles settled down in front of me, eagerly waiting to hear what I had to say.

"Okay. let me start by saying that you know you can trust me, right? You know that I will always have your back no matter what. That you can come to me for anything, any reason and I will always be there for you. you know that right?"

"Of course, Scott. We've been through too much together for me not to know that and apparently we are about to go through even more." he said, concern and confusion etched on his face.

"Yeah, about that. There is one event that happened that we actually didn't trust each other, not like we should have and… it almost ruined our friendship and it split up the pack. Never mind the fact that it actually got me killed."

"Wait, what? What do you mean it got you killed? What happened?"

"Theo happened." I sighed.

"Theo Raeken? What did he do?"

"Okay, so it all started on Senior night…"

I watched him closely, completely anxious as I explained about Theo and the Dread Doctors. About the altercation between him and Donovan and how he kept it from me. Then went into detail about how I found out about all of it but was given a skewed version of the events that led to Donovan's death. Then I explained about Liam and Hayden and how, on the night of the Super Moon, the fight with Liam and how Stiles' father ended up in the hospital. I told him about my 2nd death, or third technically, and how my mother had to bring me back. when I went into detail about how on the outs we had been, he wouldn't look at me, just kept his eyes on his hands as he listened. I could feel the tension build and by the time I was done, explaining about how we finally talked, it was so thick around us, I wanted to open the window to get some air.

"So, you believed Theo." He said, solemnly.

"I… yes, I believed Theo. I trusted him and I swear to God I wish I hadn't. Trusting him led to so much turmoil. It led to Lydia being hurt, it led to Malia being hurt, Kira, your dad, it led to Liam almost doing something he would have never forgiven himself for and…"

"It led to you dying." He finished. My hands clenched.

"Yes. I wish I had just trusted your gut feeling of him to begin with. You never trusted him. your feelings had never led me wrong before and I hate that I didn't trust it that time." I gritted out, my eyes flashing minutely. "I think I wanted to trust Theo because I wanted him to be that same kid we knew in grade school. I wanted him to be that friend we once had. I should have trusted you and I am so sorry I didn't."

"I wanted just one year there was no problems. No more being hunted, no more fighting, no more just surviving. I wanted us to have that year. I wanted to do senior night, I wanted to do homecoming, parties, prom. I wanted us to just be able to hang out with friends on weekends, visit colleges, graduate and I wanted all that without all the drama that we had been through the previous years. I wanted that one year to be normal." I said, still kicking myself over how stupid I was.

"Scott, that doesn't sound like that was all on you. I mean, yeah, I wish you had trusted me from the beginning too, but it sounds like I didn't trust you either at that time. I didn't trust that you would believe me that it was self-defense. It sounds like I was scared that you would see me differently."

"Yeah, and for a minute I did because I didn't know I wasn't getting the full story. I was getting the version Theo wanted me to have. It took days before you and I cleared the air. It was only because your dad was in the hospital, and he was dying. You needed help to save him. I had to persuade you to let me help. Even then we still weren't us again. You still didn't trust me again. It took a talk with your dad after he started getting better before you came to me for help in figuring out what the dread doctors were up too. by then we were all on the outs. I wasn't healing because I didn't have my pack. But slowly we started to come together again. First you and me, then Kira, then Malia, then Liam and then we saved Lydia from Eichen. It was only after that we figured out what the doctors were up too. But also, by then Theo had his own little pack and he was still chasing power. He couldn't get it from me, so he started looking for the beast."

"What do you mean he couldn't get it from you? Did he try?"

"He did try but he would have never been able to on his own. Its why he started manipulating Liam. A true alpha's power can't be stolen from them except by their beta, their made beta. Only Liam would have been able to take my power."

"So, he wanted Liam to kill you so he could kill Liam to become an alpha."

"Right, and when that didn't work he decided to just kill me anyway."

"You said your mom was the one that brought you back. How?"

"By pounding on my chest until my heart restarted. The look on her face when I came back…" I shook my head remembering. "I never want to see that look again in my life."

"So, what… you know what never mind. We can cover the rest of that story later. But Scott, I get why you are beating yourself up for what happened. It hurts that you didn't trust me, didn't believe me. But I kind of understand why you didn't. I should have just told you when it happened. I don't get why I was so against Theo but still trusted him when he said to not tell you what happened."

"This time around, I don't want secrets between us. This time I want to pay attention and listen to your gut warnings on things. You have always had good instincts about things, and I promise that from now on I will talk to you first before I believe someone else."

"Scott, listen. What happened was shitty, all around but I understand how and why it happened. I don't have the same memories and knowledge that you have so seeing it from an outside perspective I get it. Not that its needed but I forgive you for all of it and I apologize for previous Stiles, for not heeding his own warning and talking to you before things got to that point. You're my brother, Scott, it's inevitable that we are going to have falling outs, we're going to disagree on things from time to time but as long as we talk them through then what happened before won't happen this time, whether we can stop that event or not. We will always have each other's back, no matter what."

"Thank you."

He nodded, gripping my shoulder.

"We should probably get some sleep. Today has been long and exhausting, and I am suffering from info overload, I think."

"Join the club." I snorted, getting up to turn out the lights.