Doing this was always a rush. The first time I did it, it was to save Stiles. It was uncomfortable but it was also a blur. I had one goal at that time, one focus so I pushed past the feeling to help him. The second time I did this I was too angry to really think about the feelings of invading someone's mind. It was when Liam was taken, and I just wanted to find my beta and friend. Both times was to get information of some kind. This time though, it took a lot of energy and focus to push my memories into his mind without switching to pulling information from his. I didn't want to invade his privacy like that. It also took a lot of concentration to show him just those events and keep more personal times to myself. It felt like fast forwarding a movie and hitting the highlights instead of giving the whole documentary. By the time the last memory, the one of me lying on the cold ground with his and other faces above me, had faded, I was feeling a bit weak.
A sharp gasp left Derek as I disconnected from him. I staggered back a few steps leaning heavily on the table behind me. Stiles came over to check on me, gently taking my hand and wiping the blood from my fingers with a cloth that smelled of antiseptic, just as Cora went to Derek, doing the same. It only took a second for me to get my bearings and then I was fine.
"All that happened in the span of 3 years?" Derek asked.
"Yes." I answered.
"And you saved my life a few times." His back still to me.
"To be fair you saved mine as well, so I guess we're even."
"How do I know everything you showed me was real? How do I know you weren't just showing me things to get me to trust you?" he asked, turning in his chair to look at me.
"Fake memories have a tinge to them, they come over fuzzy as if in a haze. Did you get any of that from what Scott showed you?" Deaton stepped forward to ask. Scrubbing a hand down his face, he shook his head.
"Did I really have that much facial hair?" he asked. I laughed.
"You really did. It was really weird to see you clean shaven again."
"I can't believe all that happened and most of it stemmed from Kate returning… and Peter." He growled, his eyes flashing.
"As you saw, he had his reasons. Not saying that it was a good thing or sane thing to do but you can see why he has done the things he's done." I told him.
"Does he know about any of this, what all will happen and where you came from?"
"He knows about Kate and enough about what's going to happen with this first event, nothing else. Even though in the future he was a tad bit better than he is now, I don't trust him with that much information. I have been feeding him the basics of what's going on and coming up with plans on how to handle things that puts no one else in danger."
"Wait, Peter was involved. How? I thought-." Cora started.
"He's been lying about his condition. He's perfectly fine." Derek said, I chuckled. "Okay so physically he's fine." He conceded.
"So, Peter's the alpha we've been looking for? Peter's your maker?" Derek asked. I nodded.
"Hold on. Peter's the alpha. Are you saying that he… that he?" Cora asked. Derek sighed but nodded.
"Yes, Peter's the one that killed Laura. And I am not making excuses for what he did, but I really don't think at that time he was in his right mind. Honestly, I still don't think he's in his right mind. It's clouded by the idea of vengeance, which I get. Despite what he did he does love you both."
"How can you say that? He killed Laura." Cora shouted.
"Yes he did and there is nothing he can ever do to make up for that. And you have a right to be angry and grieve in your own way. I am in full support of any kind of retribution you decide to take on him, short of killing him. But right now, we have other important things to deal with." I told her, feeling kind of bad about downplaying the death of their sister but we really didn't have time to focus on that right now. She opened her mouth to argue more but Derek stopped her, grabbing her hand and squeezing.
"He's right, Cora. We can kick the shit out of Peter later, right now we have a bigger problem."
She growled her eyes glowing gold before she grunted in acceptance.
"All those things I saw, I have so many questions." Derek said.
"I know and I really want to sit down and talk to you about all of it. As you can see, in my future we grew close, almost like brothers. As much as I would love to have that relationship back I know that in this reality it might not be the same. But still, you can see now, I really am on your side. We need to plan and figure out how to stop the first of many threats that will come to Beacon Hills."
He stood, walking slowly up to me, and stopping, crossing his arms, and studying me.
"Okay, I'm with you. We can talk about all this later and see what we can do as far as what we were before. My mother use to always tell me she wished she could have given me a little brother. I guess in a way she got her wish." He rolled his eyes. I laughed. "But don't call my eyebrows doom and gloom again." He said threatening, but the smirk he was fighting still came through. Everyone else chuckled.
"No promises." I smirked, holding out a hand. He looked at it for a minute then shook with another roll of his eyes.
"So, what are we doing now?" he asked.
"Well," I said hopping up on the table, him joining me. Stiles took the one across from us and patted the spot next to him for Cora, who joined him. Deaton stayed quietly standing in the doorway.
"Well tomorrow I meet with Lydia to tell her what's going on. If she decides to activate her powers fully now instead of a year from now then we'll do that. She could be very useful in things to come. And then… I think we need to talk to Argent."
He raised the brows of gloom again.
"You want to tell him about all this? All of it?"
'Does this have anything to do with what Allison said at lunch?" Stiles asked. I nodded to him.
"Kate moved up her timeline. I don't know what changed. Before she wasn't supposed to be here for at least another two weeks. But Allison said she finished something early and is coming, she'll be here on Sunday."
"And you think Argent is going to help take his sister down? How do you plan to get him to believe you? I doubt you want to use the same method you used on me, on him." Derek asked.
"Definitely not. But he does know about the Nematon, and he has a bestiary, so I am hoping he has some info in there about the Ad Initium. I have some information for him as well that could save his family. If nothing else that will get him to listen."
Derek nodded, probably thinking about what he saw at the loss of not only Allison but his wife as well.
"And I want you there when I meet with him."
He jerked back looking at me.
"You want me there. Why?"
"Because I think he needs to fully understand what Kate did. He doesn't know she set the fire; I don't even think he knows she was here back then; he wasn't. And I fully believe that Gerard sent her to do what she did behind his back. Right now, Argent goes completely by the code, he's devoted to it, his father, sister, and wife, not so much. I think if you explain how and when you met Kate he will get the full picture of what all happened. Real hunters have a code for those that go rogue as well. And besides, you saw what he was like in the future. He also saved your life, and you saved his. I'm pretty sure you weren't really friends then, but you weren't enemies either."
He stayed silent, thinking. Normally I wouldn't rush him, but we needed to act fast on this. We had less than a week before she got here.
"I can meet with him, the first time, without you if you like and then bring you in a day or so later. But he would be a huge asset for this. He already has the in. he knows Kate and his father better than anyone. He may be able to provide insight on how they work and what we can expect."
"No, you're right, he should be brought in. and as much as I hate even thinking about that part of my life, if it helps I will tell him." he said, clenching his jaw. "When do you want to do this?"
"Wednesday. I plan to give him the information I have collected already tomorrow and leave the door open for him to contact me. for the meeting I want to do it somewhere public, I trust him to not do anything but why tempt fate, especially now. And" I looked at Stiles for this next part. "I want you and your dad there as well."
"My dad? Why?" he asked.
"Because he's a cop, the sheriff and he knows about all this, thanks to our talk. I want Argent to know that he knows. It will make him more cautious in what he does from now on. Like I said I trust him, but right now only so much."
"Okay, I'll tell dad later. Just let me know a time and place." He agreed.
"I'm going too. If the human gets to go then so do I. No offense." Cora said.
"Offense taken." Stiles told her with a smile.
"The human, as you put it, is a lot tougher then you are giving him credit for. This Stiles may not have gone through everything the one I knew in the last timeline did, but it's because of him that I survived a lot of things. He went through hell with me and stuck by my side through everything. He will be included in everything we do." I told her.
Derek laughed.
"Yeah I saw that as well. I have to say, you got a lot of guts kid." He said nodding to Stiles. "Can I ask, what plans do you have for Boyd, Erica, and Isaac? If you have a plan for them at all."
"I've been thinking about that as well. First, Isaac is safe. We got him out just this past Friday and he's at home, my home, right now adjusting."
He nodded, relieved.
"Boyd and Erica. Those are the two I'm having a problem deciding on. They both thrived as wolves, like they never did as just humans. Granted Erica turned into kind of a bitch but I'm not sure I completely blamed her. The fact that Erica is epileptic makes me want to change her. But I honestly am not sure if I could completely trust her either. Boyd was too loyal and by the book I think to stab me in the back. But her, I'm just not sure. I've been rolling around thoughts on that but right now there's no plan in action for them. And they weren't changed before until the second half of sophomore year."
"I can understand that. Knowing what I know now I would miss having them as pack but then thinking about the fact that they died because of me, I don't know."
"That wasn't your fault. Neither of those were, not really. Yeah I think it was stupid to turn dysfunctional teens to build your pack, but it wasn't you that killed them, even Boyd. If you want to blame anyone blame Kali and the alpha pack." I told him. He scoffed at the first part but nodded at the second.
"And Jennifer. Let's not forget about her." he added.
"Yeah, in this reality please avoid her like the plague."
"Trust me, I have no plans to date her." he assured me.
"Wait, who's Jennifer?" Cora asked.
"You're brother's future ex who turned out to be a dark druid who sacrificed people to gain power." Stiles answered as there was a knock on the front door. Deaton, who had stayed quiet through all of this, chuckled, and went to see who it was. Cora looked from Stiles to Derek in shock.
"I can see now why I tended to knock you in the head a lot before." Derek said, rolling his eyes. I snickered at Stiles' put out face. All us wolves stiffened, sensing a new presence in the vicinity.
"Scott." Deaton called. Wondering what was going on I hopped down and walked out of the room towards the front with everyone following. I stopped in the receptionist area and heard Derek and Cora growl at the new arrival.
"What are you doing here?" I groaned, looking at Peter.
"I got impatient." He shrugged, his face now normal, fully healed. He still had the leather jacket but was dressed in a button up and jeans.
"You and your impatience." I sighed. This was not how I wanted this meeting to go. It was just to set the ground work to pull Peter in. I should have known better; I really should have.
"I really want to rip you apart right now." Derek growled. I gripped his arm keeping him back, not that I think he could get to him pass the barrier Deaton had in place. I could see that Stiles had wrapped an arm around Cora's waist to hold her back as well.
"I know and I deserve it." Peter acquiesced.
"Yes, you do and so much more." Cora snarled, yanking against Stiles as he struggled to hold on to her.
"I know what I did was wrong and horrible, but you have to understand the circumstances that drove me to it." Peter tried to justify.
"We don't have to understand a damn thing. "Derek shouted.
"I of all people do get it but I still want to kill you. We already lost so much, and you took her away. You killed her." Cora shouted.
"I know but if you would just listen." Peter spoke louder to be heard over the growling and grunting and I was done.
"ENOUGH." I roared stopping everyone in their tracks, my eyes glowing with my alpha on the surface. "We don't have time for this. I get that you both have words and probably violence in mind for Peter, trust me I get it. But we have bigger issues here, ones that if we don't take care of we all could die. You need to set aside this quarrel until later when we have time to deal with it."
I looked around at everyone. Cora had stopped struggling but I could see her claws were out and Stiles had scratches on his hands and arms. Derek was still staring at Peter but looked calmer then he had a moment ago and Peter watched both of them with sadness in his eyes.
"Fine, for now, we will let this go. But we will talk about this later." Derek finally said. I could already imagine how that talk would go.
"Derek." Cora said, looking at her brother.
"Scott's right, we have other things to take care of. We aren't letting him off the hook for this we are just putting it on the back burner, for now." Derek told her. She growled and yanked away from Stiles but didn't try to attack.
"Dr. Deaton, can you help Stiles while I talk to them?" I asked. He nodded, opening the gate to cross the barrier. To Peter's credit he didn't try to follow, standing by the front door.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Cora apologized to Stiles.
"It's fine. I get it." he told her then followed after Deaton.
"All right, listen guys. We have less than a week before Kate's back in town and if we can come together and plan this right we can get Gerard here sooner as well then we can finally implement whatever plan we come up with to bring everyone that was involved in that fire down. But we need to ALL work together on this. Do you think you can do that without killing each other?"
"Yes." Derek said and Peter nodded. I looked at Cora, quirking a brow, as she glared at her uncle. Her brows weren't nearly as doomy as her brothers, but the glare was still impressive.
"Cora?"
"I almost died in that fire as well, but I didn't kill one of my only living family members on some quest for revenge. All I can think of is that she should still be here but she's not because of him. Do you know what that feels like?" She asked.
"Do I know what it feels like for someone I was close to, someone I loved, to die? Yes, I do because they died in my arms. Do I know what it's like to almost die? Yes and I also know what it feels like to die, on several occasions. And I absolutely know what it feels like to feel betrayed by someone that I trusted implicitly. The same person I had to turn around and trust to help me. Yes, I understand exactly what you are feeling. But I also know that what we need to do cannot be done without him. I'm not saying you have to fully trust him. What I am saying is that you need to push that aside for a little while so we can get this done." I told her. She relaxed her stance, running a hand through her hair.
"Fine. But keep him as far away from me as possible, because I really don't know how much control I will have when he's around." She said, jabbing a finger in Peter's direction. "I'm going to check on Stiles." She said, turning on her heels and stomping towards the back, leaving just me, Derek, and Peter.
"Derek, I-." Peter started.
"Save it. Maybe one day I will be willing to listen to what you have to say. Right now, unless we have to meet to discuss what's going on, stay away from us." He said, following after his sister. I sighed and looked at Peter. He looked disheartened but understood their feelings.
"Dude." I groaned.
** So, Derek now knows everything. Peter is an impatient ass and Scott is run ragged. But at least he's getting his allies back. Hope you enjoyed. **