**And one more for the road. Enjoy. **
I woke up Saturday morning to my phone going off left and right. I groaned as I turned over, patting around my nightstand until I could grab it and pulling it back under the blanket in which I was hiding from the sun. my eyes still felt heavy as I fumbled my way through unlocking it and pulling up my messages app.
MALIA – I WANT TO ME HIM.
MALIA – TODAY IF POSSIBLE.
MALIA – IS THAT TOO SOON? SHOULD I WAIT?
MALIA – SORRY. YOU'RE PROBABLY STILL SLEEP. I DIDN'T REALIZE WHAT TIME IT WAS. THIS CAN WAIT.
MALIA – CALL ME WHEN YOU WAKE UP, PLEASE.
I flipped over, sat up and wiped the drool from the side of my face before shaking my head to further wake up and hitting connect on her number. She answered before it fully rang out.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't realize it was still so early when I started texting. I just woke up and knew that I needed to do this, and I didn't want to procrastinate in case I change my mind." She rambled.
"Malia, its okay. I understand and I don't mind being woken up." I soothed.
"I'm scared or… nervous or something. I want to do this, I'm too curious not to but at the same time, I'm worried it will go bad or won't be like I imagine it will be. Though I'm not really sure what I am expecting. I mean he doesn't even know about me. But what if he decides he doesn't want to know me or after I meet him I decide I don't want to know him. Should I wait to do this?"
"Whoa, first breathe. its okay to be nervous, I think its normal for something like this. But I don't want you going into this with any expectations other then putting a face to the name. that's it. this is more of a meet and greet and it doesn't have to go any further then that. And if you decide at the last minute not to actually meet him, that's fine as well."
"But won't he be mad, once he finds out and then I change my mind?"
"Maybe, but that's not important. I can handle Peter, well me and Derek can handle him. This is about you. If you really want to meet him, I can arrange that for today. I just want you to be sure."
I could hear her pacing on the other end, and I could just imagine her bottom lip stuck in her teeth as she did. there was a knock on my door before it opened and Isaac walked in, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. His brow creased when he noticed me on the phone. I placed a finger to my lips for him to stay quiet. He nodded and took a seat at my desk, waiting. Malia blew out a loud breath.
"Okay, I want to meet him. I don't know about anything after that but… I need to at least see him for myself." She said, confidently.
"Okay, let me call Derek and see if we can do it at his place, that way Cora and he are already there. Then I'll call you back with a time and the plan to do this, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. that's good. That's really good." She said, and she was back to pacing.
"Are you going to be okay? Do you need to go for a run? I can come over." I offered.
"No, Cora took me last night to run. I'm fine. I just want to get this over with."
"I'll call Derek in about an hour since its still early and then I'll let you know what's going to happen."
"Okay, I'm going to try to keep my mind off of it. Maybe I'll read or something. Oh, I can finish the season of supernatural I was watching. I'm up to season 3." She said excitedly. I chuckled, shaking my head. Isaac was snickering quietly, able to hear the whole conversation.
"Yeah, you have fun with that. Talk soon." I told her. she agreed and disconnected. Setting my phone down I flopped back on my pillow.
"I take it that Malia wants to meet Peter?"
"Yep."
"Are you worried about that?"
"Hell yeah, man. Peter's a dick on a good day and a complete asshole on a bad one. I just don't want him to be that way with her. She doesn't deserve that."
"I don't think he will be. For one you'll be there to make sure, and Derek will help keep him in line. And don't forget Cora still wants to kick the shit out of him most days and she likes Malia. She won't let him even get snarky with her." he reasoned.
"Yeah, you're right. I need to remember that. Anyway, what's up? I doubt you came in because of that call."
"I passed mom on the way back from the bathroom. She's going to freshen up now. But she said she got breakfast on her way home. She wants us to have a family meal before she goes to sleep for her overnight tonight."
"Oh, cool. I'll get dressed and be down in a minute. Did you want to go for a run after breakfast?"
"That'd be great. I'm starting to feel antsy again. But its only been a couple of days. Is it always like this?" he asked.
"Around the time of the full moon it is. Especially if you are not used to it. That takes time. It will even out eventually." I told him. he nodded and stood.
"At least its normal. I'm going to go get dress. See you downstairs." He said walking out. I laid there for a moment staring at the ceiling before deciding to say screw it and called Derek. I know I said I would wait and call in an hour. Yeah I couldn't do that, now I was getting antsy. the phone rang three times before he picked up.
"Scott, its 7:45 in the morning. Why are you calling me? Is someone on fire?" he answered grumpily.
"No, no one's on fire." I snorted. "Sorry, I know its early but since my life is apparently one drama after another…"
"You felt the need to share that burden with me." he grumbled. "So, what is it this time?"
"Malia just text me. Actually, she sent several text in a row, in under 2 minutes flat."
"And I'm guessing she's decided she wants to meet Peter." He surmised.
"Right in one. She's really nervous and wants to do it today before she changes her mind."
"Yeah, okay. How do you want to do this? Where and when?"
"I was thinking around noon today. Mom wants to have breakfast with me and Isaac then I'm taking him running afterwards. Noon should be enough time for everyone to be prepared. I have no clue how this is going to go. Peter's as predictable as a tsunami."
"True. Noon sounds good. Where?"
"You're place? We could do it at the park or even the preserve, but I would rather do it in a more controlled environment just in case things get out of hand."
"Not your place?"
"Mom has an overnight shift tonight so I would rather not disturb her if I can help it."
"Okay, I get it. Fine, we can do it here. But you're contacting Peter. Now, how are we doing this?"
I snorted then came up with a plan with him on how to go about this. We had a pretty solid idea in mind when we hung up and I rushed to brush my teeth and get dressed. I made a quick call to Malia telling her the plan before heading down to the dining room to see mom and Isaac already starting on their own plates and talking.
"Sorry guys, I was talking to Derek about today." I said joining them. I made my own plate, my stomach growling at the smell and sight of French toast, sausage, and eggs from the local diner.
"Isaac said you are taking Malia to meet Peter today." Mom said.
"Yeah, she decided she wanted to at least meet him. And he's getting impatient for what information I'm keeping from him."
"I'm surprised he knows what patience is." Mom muttered.
"He doesn't." Isaac and I said at once.
"And before he gets even more impatient this needs to happen. I gave her the option if she wanted to be there when I tell him or not. I learned my lesson from last time, not to take that choice from her."
"What do you mean? What happened last time?" mom asked, and Isaac tilted his head in question.
"Previously, I kind of found out by accident. It was during the whole assassin thing. Her name was on the list, but it was under Hale not Tate. At the time she was dating Stiles, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her, and I left it up to him to do it. it turned into a big thing, and they broke up for a minute."
"Back up. Did you say Stiles dated Malia before?" Isaac asked. I frowned; pretty sure he was there when I told Stiles about that. No wait, he wasn't. it was when Stiles and I were on our way to find her the first time. Isaac was with mom and then was meeting us at the clinic.
"Uh yeah he did. for a good part of junior year and the beginning of senior year. That's when they really broke up. it was during another event." I explained.
"Okay, I seriously want to know what all these events are." Isaac said. I looked at him.
"You don't know? Didn't you read the list I made up of everything that happened?" I asked, confused. He shook his head.
"That may be my fault. I don't think I ever gave it back to you. I've been rereading it and trying to figure out ways I could help."
"I'll just print another one for you, Isaac. One you can keep."
"Okay, I guess I'll look it over while you're dealing with Peter."
"Just, for now, keep what you read to yourself. There are some things on there that I have yet to inform Allison and her father about. He wants to meet soon to discuss it, so you won't have to keep it a secret for long."
"Is what happened that bad?" he asked, his eyes switching to gold with his anxiety. Mom set a hand on his closed fist.
"It is. But it won't happen this time around. We won't let it." I told him, looking him in the eye. He took a deep breath and nodded, eyes back to brown.
"So, what's on the agenda for the rest of today?" mom asked, changing topics.
"Well after breakfast Isaac and I are going for a run. Then I'll head over to Derek's to deal with that. Actually, can I use the car while your resting? I'll be back way before you have to leave for work." I said, pouring more syrup on my French toast. She snatched the bottle from me and set it on the opposite side of the table, shaking her head. I have a weird love for maple syrup so anytime we have pancakes or French toast I drown mine in syrup.
"Yes, you can borrow the car, just remember to turn down the music. And Isaac, what about you?"
"I'm going to finish some homework and probably look over the list Scott has. But later Stiles, Lydia, Erica and Allison are coming over. we have a chem test to study for." Isaac said. I groaned having forgotten all about that.
"Chem, right. that test is on Monday isn't it?"
"Yep." he said around a mouth full of sausage.
"No talking with your mouth full." Mom said. "are you not doing good in chemistry?"
"I'm doing better than I was last time. Especially since I'm not running round putting out fires everywhere. But it could be better. I just really hate chem."
"But this time we have a genius helping us study." Isaac reminded me and he was right.
"Genius?" mom asked.
"Lydia, she has a 5.0 GPA. She really is a genius."
"Wow, that's amazing. I'm glad you both will benefit from studying with her. Just try to keep the noise level down please. And no writing answers on your hands for the test." She warned, looking at me. Isaac choked trying to laugh and swallow at the same time.
"Mom, it wasn't me." I told her, exasperated. She gave me a look like she didn't believe me as she stood and started collecting dishes. "Just leave them. Isaac and I will clean up when we get back."
"I'll set them in the sink. You boys be careful." She said, still stacking dishes.
"we will. You ready?" I asked Isaac. He nodded, gulping down the rest of his juice.
Mom kissed both of us on the head and started taking dishes into the kitchen. Isaac and I got up and headed out the back door to the woods behind the house for our run.
**FAST FORWARD**
I took the freight up to the loft Derek was living in now. Peter was already here, I could tell. I could hear him asking questions as soon as I raised the gate. An annoyed Derek opened the door before I could knock. he rolled his eyes as soon as he saw me. I wonder how long he's been here pestering Derek about what he knows.
"Please get in here before I kill him." he said, leaving the door open and walking away. I snickered walking in and saw Peter lounging on the couch. Cora was glaring at him from her position by the stairs. Derek went to lean against the island, arms crossed.
"Ah, my protégé, so glad you could make it, finally." He snarked. I check my phone and sighed.
"It's only 11:35, I said noon. And don't call me that." I told him. he waved me off.
"Shall we start this little meeting?" he asked. Cora huffed before walking over to Derek.
"Keys?" she asked, holding out a hand. he pulled them from his pocket and handed them over.
"Don't wreck my car." He told her. she rolled her eyes and didn't respond, just slamming the door shut as she left.
"Okay, so I guess its time to tell you what I have been holding on to." I said, taking a seat on the couch next to him.
"I would say its past time. I've kept to my end of the bargain." He said.
"Yes and I appreciate you doing that. I wasn't holding on to this to torture you or to hold it over you… well, not really. I mean it was kind of fun knowing something you didn't." I grinned. "But that's not why I was keeping it to myself. Its because this secret doesn't just involve you but someone else as well. But before I tell you that, there is a smaller thing that I should probably tell you because it would probably be best to have that taken care of sooner rather then later, just in case."
"Two secrets, now I'm really intrigued. Do tell."
"The first isn't really a secret it just wasn't urgent enough to talk about before. But since we seem to have downtime for the moment I'll just get it out of the way. You need to move that money you have stored in the vault under the school." I told him bluntly. He jerked back and stared at me.
"How could you possibly know about that?" he asked. I blinked at him then looked at Derek.
"Am I going crazy, or didn't Deaton say he explained about the Ad Initium to him at the meeting?" I asked, really wondering now.
"He did, but Peter's listening skills were never the best." Derek confirmed. Peter scoffed.
"yes I understand that you came from a different time, some point in the future. But that doesn't really mean that you should know about that money. The only people who knew was the family and now that's just me, Cora, and Derek. So how could you know?"
"I know because in the future, in about a little over a year from now, it was stolen out of the vault and used to fund assassins that were sent to Beacon Hills to take out every supernatural in existence."
"Assassins. You mentioned that before. What exactly happened and how did they get to that money? Its not even in currency, its in gold bars and bonds."
I started at the beginning of that particular event, explaining about Derek being kidnapped by a shifter Kate, her turning him back to fifteen, Peter was shocked at that looking at Derek who nodded. I explained about Kate being used to access the vault and how the money was stolen, mentioning briefly about the berserkers. I went on to the first attack on supernaturals and moving through each one and until we reached the part about me, Derek, Braeden, Argent, and Satomi's pack defending the warehouse we were safekeeping the hiding shifters. I did NOT tell him about after that. there was no way I was telling him about being kidnapped and turned into a berserker and how he was working with Kate and got Derek killed.
"How the hell did all that even come to be? Who took the money and why go after supernaturals?"
"Actually, it was in part thanks to you that all of that happened. You didn't help plan it and you really didn't have a clue as to who it was or why until close to the end of it. Do you remember your thoughts when you were recovering from the fire? When you were in the hospital?"
"Yes and no. I really wasn't sane at that point so I can't recall everything I thought back then." He said.
"you say that like your sane now." Derek murmured quietly. I gave him a look. why was he provoking him? he shrugged.
"That may or may not be true but doesn't change the fact that I don't recall everything I thought over that period of time." Peter bit out.
"The thing is…" I said, trying to keep us on track. "is that those thoughts, which pretty much amounted to you creating a plan to take out all supernaturals and starting over again with you as alpha, was… overheard by someone. You apparently went into detail of how you would do it, including naming a few assassins that you knew of. You even thought that you would fund it with the funds in the vault. All 117 million dollars of it. All of it was going towards the Deadpool and all of our names, including yours, was on that list."
"I thought of this plan?"
"Yep. I'm sure it was really just the ramblings of a mad man, but the thing is that the person in the bed next to you was a banshee. And somehow she had a connection to you, so she heard every one of those thoughts and when… something happened months prior she figured that was the time to put that plan into action. She even had her own name on the list."
"There's another banshee in Beacon Hills? Who?"
"I'm not telling you that. she thought she was doing what you wanted at the time. She didn't know better. She spent months in the bed next to you reading your thoughts about everything. We were able to stop the dead pool and even recovered some of the money for you. But now that you know, just in case that is still a possibility, you should really move that money. They have banks for a reason, you know."
"Well yeah, but I thought it would be safer in the vault. Apparently I was wrong. Fine, I'll put it somewhere else. You have no plans of telling me who it is that really set all of that up, do you?"
"Nope. She's still an innocent and she's suffered enough in her life. She doesn't need you going after her for something she hasn't done yet."
"I wouldn't go after her." he rolled his eyes. Derek snorted. "I wouldn't. Look I know I've done things that are questionable and some things that are just downright horrible, but I've had reasons for everything I've done. They may not be good reasons, but they are my reasons. I have no reason to go after this girl, especially if I can keep that from happening now."
"That's good to know but I'm still not telling you. I do understand your motivation for some of the things you have done or did in my previous reality but unfortunately that doesn't make me trust you with everything I know. Sorry."
"I would really love to argue that point, but I can't, so fine. Now that that's out of the way. What's the real secret?" he asked. I sighed, glancing at Derek before turning to fully face Peter.
"What do you remember of where you were and what you were doing around 17 years ago?" I asked to start things off. He frowned, watching me.
"You want me to remember what I was doing 17 years ago? I barely remember what I was doing two years ago."
"Just give it a shot. Think really hard about where you were at that time. Anything you remember, at all?"
He sighed but tried, his eyes roaming all over while he tried to remember anything from that time. my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out giving him time. it was a message from Cora.
CORA – WE'RE OUTSIDE. LET US KNOW WHEN.
SCOTT – OKAY. WE ARE ALMOST READY. I'LL SEND YOU A TEXT.
I put my phone away and went back to watching Peter, who's brows were crinkled in concentration.
"I remember traveling for a while. I had been overseas for some time and had started to make my way back to Beacon Hills, but I stopped… somewhere." He uttered, still thinking.
"You were in Mexico." I told him, remembering something Malia had told me previously. "Tijuana to be exact. And you met a woman there. Not sure if you actually knew her name or not but that didn't stop you from spending one night with her."
"I was? You're sure?"
"No, this is hearsay really. But that's what I was told." I said. he nodded.
"Okay, so I met a woman in Tijuana. That's not exactly a secret."
"No, that's not the secret. But I'm getting to that. Do you wonder why you can't remember her or that night?"
"Not really. I just assume I got so drunk that I blocked that memory." He shrugged.
"As plausible as that is, that's not why you don't remember. Its because Talia took that memory from you, that and one other." I told him. he sat up straight, staring at me.
"That's the memory she took?" he asked, surprised.
"You knew she took a memory?" Derek asked.
"Yeah, I just didn't know why. When I asked her she said it was for my own good and she was my alpha at the time, so I didn't question it further. Why the hell would she take that memory?"
"She took it for protection. The woman you slept with, Corrine, is an assassin, and 7 years ago she tried to kill what Talia was protecting."
"Okay… and what was that or who, I should say."
I stood taking my phone back out and sending a quick text to bring Malia up.
"Come on, I brought you something." I told him. he stood, confusion on his face as he looked from me to Derek, but followed me to the door, stopping a few feet away. Derek took a stance right next to him. I heard the freight stop and the gate raise. I opened the door to see a wide-eyed Malia standing there with Cora beside her. I held out a hand for her. "Come on, it's okay. I'm right here." I told her.
She clasped mine in hers, it was shaking slightly and damp with sweat. I gave it a squeeze before taking her by the shoulders and standing her in front of me.
"Malia this is Peter Hale. Peter, this is Malia Tate… your daughter."
** BUM BUM BUUUUUMMMM... It's out there now. i'm not sure if i should be hiding right now for ending this on a semi cliffy. But i am working on the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed. **