" We're fine, Melissa. We will be ok." Stiles said as Melissa made me sit down.
" Uh-uh-uh! You completely and have a concussion, Stiles. Lie back down. The doctor said you're not leaving without a CT scan. And you have a concussion and bruised ribs young lady." She told us as Stiles tried to explain himself.
"I still haven't paid for the last one." Stiles said nervously.
" Oh, no, no, no! Meredith is at the station. Your dad said it could take some time, but he will get her to talk." Melissa said she kept her gaze on us.
" Even if I let you go... What would you do?" Melissa asked us.
" Drink away the pain of continuing to get our asses kicked." I said with a hardy chuckle.
" No time for jokes." Melissa said as I sat down on the bed.
" Okay, fine. Can you do me one little favor?" Stiles asked her.
" Anything." Melissa replied as Stiles sat down with me.
" Can you get us a tape player?" He asked her.
" Like, cassettes?" She asked as I nodded.
" We have to solve this." I told her.
" I will see what I can do." She told us before leaving the room.
"How's the pain holding?" He asked as I winced at my ribs hurting.
" It's there, but endurable." I said leaning on him.
" I think I am finally getting used to being human. Is that weird?" I asked as he chuckled before bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing it.
" No not at all." He replied as I smiled. It felt like an hour before Melissa returned.
" You find a tape player?" Stiles asked as Melissa shook her head.
" No... But I found someone looking for you." Melissa said before Malia came into view.
" Ain't this a surprise." I say with a grin.
" I heard you both were almost killed." Malia said as Melissa shut the door behind her as she left.
" WE heard you almost got killed." I told her as she looked concerned.
" You okay?" She asked us.
" Brunski punched me in the face. Turns out, he was a serial killer." Stiles said as I chuckled.
" He kicked me in the ribs pretty damn hard and reopened my fucking head wound. Hate not being able to fucking heal." I said as Stiles rubbed my shoulder.
" Makes sense. Everyone gets hurt." Malia replied as she seemed to try and distance herself from us.
" Yeah... What about you?" Stiles asked her.
" We almost got set on fire. It sucked." She replied as I smirked.
" Bound to happen to us all." I replied to her.
" Everyone okay?" Stiles asked her.
" Basically." She replied sternly.
" Are you ok is the real question? Finding out you are Peter's daughter." I asked, but she turned away from us.
" I'm gonna go." She said as she backed towards the door.
" You don't have to leave." I said as she went to the door and tried to open it, but to our surprise, it was shut.
" It's locked." Malia said as she tried the door.
" Why would she lock the door? What the fuck for?" I asked as I got up.
" Hey, Melissa? Melissa!" Stiles called out.
" Can you let us go?" I called out.
" I could break it." Malia said as she believed that strength would be the answer.
" How about you not? I already owe this hospital enough money." Stiles said as I put my hand on his back to comfort him.
" Why would she lock the door?" Malia asked as I could hear the anger.
" Maybe so we could all have a civil conversation." I said as Malia was still trying the door.
" You don't accidentally lock a door…" Malia said with slight anger.
" Okay, well, maybe she wasn't thinking, exactly?" Stiles said as I thought of what I could say.
" Maybe she was hiding things to protect those she trusts." I say as Malia turns to me and looks bewildered.
" Then she's stupid." Malia replied as she had her hand on the door still.
" No, even smart people can do stupid things!" Stiles told her.
" And sometimes people find something out, it changes everything they thought was true." I told her as she crossed her arms.
" Is she going to keep trying to make things right?" Malia asked as she turned to us.
" She might." Stiles told her as Stiles took my hand in his.
" I don't have much practice in things like... forgiveness. Some things, I'm picking up fast. But other things are like…" Malia says as she stumbles over her words.
"...Like math?" Stiles asked her.
" Like studying?" I asked her.
" I hate math!" Malia said with annoyance.
" You hate us?" Stiles asked her, she shook her head.
" I don't want to lose you two." She said as she looked a bit easier.
" I think we can work with that." Stiles said as I saw the door ajar.
" We should try to figure this thing out with the tapes." I say as Stiles nods, I give Malia a pleading look and she nods.
" To the Stilinski home." I say as we three head back to Stiles' place. We sat and listened to the recording for what felt like hours.
" No. No, I don't think you're gonna be taking me anywhere. I can hear the recorder in your pocket. It's on now, isn't it? You're making a tape... Just like you taped the others." Lorraine's voice was deep and concerned.
" This didn't happen at Eichen House." Stiles said as he listened deeply.
" Then where did it take place?" I asked as I was so confused and so drained from all of this.
" Where did she go?" Malia asked as I turned my head. The pain of getting the shit beaten out of me sucked ass.
" That's what we need to find out." Stiles said as I slung my head back.
" No. No, I don't think you're gonna be taking me anywhere…" Lorraine's voice echoed in my ears as humanly as it could.
" That's it- that's where it is. Play it again and turn it up." Malia says as I hold the tape player.
" No. No, I don't think you're gonna be taking me anywhere. I can hear the recorder in your pocket. It's on now, isn't it? You're making a tape... Just like you taped the others." Lorraine's voice rang again.
" It's the record player." Malia said with eyes wide.
" What record player? Where was this?" I asked her.
" The one in the lake house, in the study." Malia explained as Stiles looked confused.
" So, she escaped from Eichen House to go back to listen to a record player." Stiles said as it sounded like he was trying to make sense of it all.
" Well, she was like Lydia, right? She was a Banshee? Right?" Malia asked as I nodded.
" Yeah, but only once. She predicted Maddy's death and then spent decades trying to predict something else." Malia says as she tries to explain it all.
" That sounds very morbid." I say as I see Malia perk up.
" Maybe she finally did." She explained as it clicked in my throbbing mind.
" And what if she predicted so many deaths that it grew too much for her?" I asked as I stood up.
" Like the Deadpool." Stiles said as Malia nodded.
" What if, all those years ago, Lorraine predicted it? And she knew there was something in the study that could stop it?" Malia said as the chill hit my spine.
" We have to go back to the lake house." I said as we gathered our things and bolted. We piled into my Camaro and I punched it. It took about a half hour to get there, but we made it. We ran into the house and ran up to the study. The nerves in my body were shot as the pain was trying to take over. My ribs and head were hurting. I pushed it back.
" What are we doing?" Stiles asked as we looked about the niche room.
" This room wasn't even made for us. No, we need someone like Lydia or Meredith, and we're just sitting here, listening to a stupid record player play a record that doesn't play anything." Stiles said before tossing the player to the side.
" Come on. There's plenty of other things we can be useless doing." He said as I could see the anger flared.
" Stiles...? Raven?" Malia asked as I looked back at her. My ribs hurt while I took a breath.
" Yes?" Stiles asked as I was worried.
" I can still hear it…" Malia said as I looked at the turn table.
" But it's not on. How can you hear it?" I asked her. She shrugged.
" Then it's something else- something spinning." She said as she looked at it. I saw the wire go into the wall.
" Pull the wire." I said as my thoughts turned.
" What?" Malia asked as I saw the confusing look on my boyfriend's face.
" Just do it!" I said as Malia scrambled and pulled the wire. We watched as the wall pulled away and a slab fell revealing machines that were spinning.
" What is this?" Malia asked as I let out a breath.
" The Deadpool." Stiles said as he took my hand in his. My pain was still throbbing pretty hard.
" I can smash it." Malia said as she brought out her claws.
" You can't just smash it to pieces, okay?" Stiles told her. She grunted at this whole thing.
" If this thing's being used to disseminate the list, then it's probably gonna keep going until everyone's dead." Stiles said as that fear came crawling back. Even if I wasn't on the list anymore, it still fucking scared me.
" Then what do we do?" She asked us. I looked at the machine and saw a keyhole.
" That's the answer." I said tapping the machine and the keyhole.
" Call Lydia." I exclaimed to him. He got her on Facecall. Thank god!
" You see it? There's got to be a way to turn it off, right?" Stiles asked her.
" I don't know. I don't know anything about computers from the 1970s." Lydia said as her face was full of panic.
" And neither do we, but we are trying girlie." I said as she sighed.
" Okay, where's the monitor?" Lydia asked as Stiles showed her what we had, which wasn't much.
" Lydia, there is no monitor. There are buttons, spindles... no monitor." Stiles said as he moved the phone to the floor.
" Wait- turn the phone back. Point it at the carpet." Lydia asked of him.
" The what?" Stiles asked her.
" What is going on Lyds?" I asked as Lydia perked up.
" The floor! Just show me the floor. Where's the stain? There should be red blotches, a wine stain." Lydia rambled as I shrugged.
" There isn't anything on the floor." I told her.
" That doesn't make sense. I didn't give the five hundred dollars I was supposed to use to hire cleaners yet." Lydia said in a confused tone.
" Lydia, what the hell does wine have to do with anything?" Stiles asked of her.
" Red wine doesn't just disappear...Unless it wasn't wine…" Lydia says as I feel my mind spinning.
" What? What do you mean? Lloyds, you gotta tell us!" I exclaimed to her through the phone.
" The ashes weren't ashes... The study isn't a study... The record player isn't a record player... So…" Lydia said in a slight stammer.
" So, maybe the wine wasn't wine...Stiles, Raven, you have to find the wine! Find the bottle. There could be something about it." Lydia explained to us. I took the phone as Stiles was looking surprised. We might have this.
" What kind? What's it called?" I asked as she gave me my answer.
" It's a 1982 Cotes du Rhone…" Lydia told us as Stiles ran downstairs. Before too long, he was back with the bottle.
" I think there's something inside. Do you have, like, a wine opener, or…" Stiles asked me, but I didn't care. I slammed the bottle on the ground. Red washed the carpet. Malia grabbed the key from the glass shards and walked to the machine.
" Shut this bitch down." I told her. She nodded before putting the key in and turning it. The machine shut down and I fell against Stiles as the pain that was numbing me up made me exhausted.
" It's finally over." I said with a tired smile. Stiles held me and kissed me.