chapter fifty
the new normal

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A SOFT caress of a hand going across Odessa Stone's forehead woke her up instantly, but she didn't make it known. Holding her breath, she couldn't help her mind from going back to only a few days ago in the hood of the Dread Doctors.

Odessa had been home for only 3 days and all she had been doing was sleeping, not that she was complaining. She would wake up a couple times during the day and Melissa would pop in to check on her in between shifts. After returning home, Scott and Stiles had to travel to Mexico to retrieve Kira, who was with the Skinwalkers, trying to control her fox spirit. Odessa knew of Kira's departure from Beacon Hills and was kind of hurt that she didn't get to say goodbye to her but understood why she had to leave.

During the night, she thought she heard her bedroom door open and small whispers she recognized as the two boys who swore to have her never leave their sight again. Odessa didn't make it known that she heard them come in, knowing exactly what they were doing in there.

After her first night home, with Stiles' arms around her the entire night, he and Scott had been camping out in her room. The former, her boyfriend, was usually in bed with her, while Scott took his place on the spare air mattress. Odessa didn't really see the point in both boys being in her room while she slept, but she knew it was probably for both of their peace of minds.

"Odessa," she heard a familiar voice coo from above her, relaxing her instantly, "sweetheart, you gotta wake up."

The blonde groaned as she pleaded with her body to wake up along with her mind. Stretching to wake herself up more was still pretty difficult because of how sore her body was. After a moment, Odessa opened her eyes, smiling up at Melissa, who tucked her blonde strands away from her face. She took Melissa by surprise when she sat up on her own and curled into the woman's body. Melissa didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around Odessa's body, holding her to her chest.

Each time Odessa had woken up when Melissa was on watch duty, the two didn't talk much. The Stone would wake up and take pain pills prescribed by Deaton that would knock her out again. Of course, Melissa didn't blame her for being so out of it since returning home. The girl had been through a lot and she was still processing—they all were.

When Melissa got home from her shift, she was surprised to see Scott and Stiles in her kitchen with solemn expressions. They then sat her down and told her what happened to Odessa and that the girl was currently sleeping in her room. Melissa had been a bundle of nerves and anxiety ever since her son told her Odessa had been taken. She was immensely happy the girl she saw as her daughter was safe and sound.

Though it wasn't in the most comfortable position for either of them, they stayed in their embrace for a while. The two were so, quite literally, wrapped up in their embrace, that they failed to notice the two boys on the floor starting to wake up.

Scott and Stiles, even through their droopy eyes, smiled at what was happening in front of them. They loved seeing Odessa safe and happy, and one of the places she felt that the most was with Melissa. They were glad the woman was the one to wake her up that morning, because that morning was pretty important.

Today was Monday. Which meant Odessa had a decision to make. Was she ready to go back to school? And Melissa was the perfect person to talk to her about it.

The McCall woman was the first to lean away, still using her hand to wipe the sleepiness away from the blonde's cheeks, "you ready to go back to school, kiddo?"

Odessa pursed her lips, knowing this would be coming up. If she were being honest, she didn't know what day it was until the day after she came back home, "I think so..."

"Are you sure," Stiles made his and Scott's awakened presence known as he got up from the floor, coming to stand at the foot of the bed, "if you don't think you're ready, you don't have to be. I don't want you to push yourself."

The Stone smiled up at her boyfriend, his concern for her was refreshing, something she missed, "it's just school, Stiles. And if I don't feel well, I'll just go home."

Before Stiles could come up with a rebuttal, his phone buzzed from another area of the room. He went over, grabbed it, and read it, muttering out, "uh, yeah... it looks like school will have to wait," he glanced around the room, mostly to the two other teens, "we gotta head to the hospital."

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If there was something Odessa had to prepare herself for, it was reunions. After letting the blonde prepare herself to go back into civilization, which was pretty scary if she were being honest after what she had been through, the three teens piled into Stiles' Jeep and made one more stop before going to the hospital.

It was so nice to see Kira. Though the girl was away for some time, Odessa still missed the bubbly energy Kira carried that always brightened her day. The pack really wasn't the same if even one person was missing.

Going to the hospital was a sort of test for Odessa in her mind. This was the first time the blonde would be back in the swing of things all to do with the supernatural outside of being kidnapped and tortured. She knew she would have her boyfriend and best friends with her, but that didn't stop her body from automatically flinching at a loud noise such as a slamming of a door. She guessed that was now the new normal for her.

Odessa kept a tight grip on Stiles' hand as they, Scott and Kira walked through the busy Beacon Hills Memorial, heading to the elevator. When Scott pressed the button to take them to the second floor, and the doors closed, Stiles looked down to his girlfriend, checking if she was okay, to which she gave him a gentle smile in return. She wished he didn't have to worry about her all the time, but after what she went through, she didn't blame him.

The four teens walked out of the elevator just in time to watch a body bag on a stretcher being rolled past them. They watched it warily as they caught up with the Sheriff, someone whom Odessa had yet to see since her capture.

"Who found them," Stiles asked his dad, still holding his girlfriend's hand with a tight grip.

Stilinski sighed, pausing at the sight of the blonde teen he hadn't seen in almost a week, before getting down to business. He could catch up with her soon, "Argent. And he said the Doctors were down there. He also said you guys might know what this thing is."

"We've got a theory."

"It's a slightly terrifying theory."

Odessa looked between Scott and Stiles with pursed lips. It was a theory she had little to no idea about. The two boys had sheltered her from any supernatural drama since her return home and she didn't know if she should be thankful or angry with them for keeping her in the dark.

The Sheriff shifted in his stance, slightly unnerved by what he was about to relay to them, "well, the ME said that victims were killed somewhere else and then dumped in the tunnels."

"Hey," Scott called his idea to attention, "what if the Dread Doctors are hiding the bodies."

Odessa tried not to tense where she stood as Kira shook her head in thought, "why would they do that?"

"Maybe they're covering for it," Stiles took his hand out of its hold to wrap the same arm around Odessa's shoulders, bringing her closer to his side. He felt her change of stature right away, "protecting it like a parent would."

Stilinski watched his son's movements with his girlfriend carefully, "protecting what?"

"A werewolf," Scott vaguely answered.

"It's called the Beast," Kira filled in the man in front of her cautiously, knowing his track record with how he reacted to discovering more supernatural threats.

The Sheriff decided to keep his cool, wanting to cut this conversation short to deal with another matter of importance who was currently under his son's arm, "we better figure out what we're gonna call Parrish. Because it looks like his dream is coming true," he then turned to Odessa, who was watching the conversation around her silently, "Odessa, can you come with me, please?"

Odessa looked up at him in surprise, nodding without hesitation nonetheless. She stepped out of Stiles' hold and followed the Sheriff down the hallway. Once they were at the end of the hall, she looked to see Scott and Kira leaving to the elevator, but was not surprised to see Stiles still waiting at the other end of the hall. He didn't want to let her out of his sight.

"Hey," Stilinski started softly, making sure his words were only heard by her and her only, "I don't really know what happened but from what I've heard from Stiles, it wasn't good. And I'm really glad you're okay."

The Stone smiled softly in return, "I'm happy you're okay, too, Sheriff."

Smiling back down to her, the man grabbed one of her shoulders gently, "if you need anything, don't hesitate to come to me, okay? You were there for me and Stiles when he needed you the most, and now it's our turn to do the same for you."

Though Stiles Stilinski couldn't hear the conversation happening on the other side of the hall, he could tell it was a good one. A small smile made its way across the boy's lips when he watched his girlfriend pull his dad into a tight hug. All Odessa wanted, needed, was support. And that was exactly what everyone in the pack was going to give her.

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By the time the four teens got to school, it was around second period, much to their relief. They didn't want to miss too much school, knowing they could be kept away from it for a while in the near future with what they were up against.

Things at Beacon Hills High we're different, to say the least. Students were tense, in small huddles to avoid having to speak to the many officers that were pacing the halls—armed officers.

Odessa and Stiles walked down the hall toward his locker, hand in hand as per usual. The blonde smiled at familiar faces from her classes that were always nice to her, knowing she hadn't seen them in a while. Her absence would just be written as a bad case of the flu. If only that were actually true.

The speaker on the PA sounded from above them, making the blonde jump a bit. She looked up at the PA with a slight panic only for a moment before remembering where she was and who she was with. She was at school with Stiles and she was safe. She sometimes had to repeat those kinds of phrases of reassurance to herself in her head to calm herself down. Another new normal.

"By order of the Sheriff, a county-wide curfew goes into effect tonight at sundown. All after-school activities are canceled until further notice. Students should go directly home at the end of the school day."

As soon as the announcement was finished, Stiles set his eyes on a familiar face of one of his Dad's deputies and immediately went to him, taking Odessa with him. Soon into the conversation, Scott had caught up to them.

"You don't think this is a bit much in terms of firepower for a high school," Stiles motioned to the huge military grade gun in Deputy Strauss' hands.

Strauss kept a firm grip on his weapon with a shrug, "your Dad's the one that issued these things, and he wouldn't officially say why."

The three teens were a bit surprised at finding out the Sheriff was keeping his staff in the dark as the Alpha of the three asked, "did he say anything unofficially?"

"No. But everyone's got a theory."

"What's yours," Stiles nodded toward the older man, glancing down at his girlfriend to make sure she was okay.

He was thinking he should start to get used to Odessa being so quiet when in a group setting or a public place. First the station, now school. He knew her time with the Dread Doctors changed her significantly, along with her getting her memories back. The couple hadn't much discussed the situation with her memories but he could already see a difference in her behavior since getting them back. She was much more closed off and quiet around people she didn't know well. The blonde was even quite shy around the Sheriff, whom she had known for almost 2 years. It was something everyone, including her, was starting to get used to. Again, the new normal.

Deputy Strauss scoffed under his breath, "I shouldn't be talking to you guys. Don't you have class?"

"Come on, Strauss," Stiles drawled slowly, tilting his head, "what's your theory?"

The Deputy glanced to either side of him, looking at his fellow colleagues that held their guns across their chests quite alarmingly in a school setting. He took a step toward the teens, lowering his voice to a mumble, "do you guys believe in the supernatural?"

Well, shit.

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Eichen House was the last place Odessa wanted to be, and she hated how it always had a negative effect on her. Goosebumps would rise on her arms, her stomach would pool with nerves and her hands would start to sweat at the palms. Everything she was experiencing at the moment as she walked through the halls of Eichen, holding hands with her boyfriend, and not preparing to let go just yet.

When Odessa found out what happened to Lydia, her heart broke. It made her hatred toward Theo increase tenfold. Because of the Raeken digging into her memories, though that was only something an Alpha could do, Lydia was now catatonic. And that resulted in Natalie Martin shipping her daughter to a mental hospital known to be dangerous and murderous. It was also a place where Lydia almost died not too long ago, along with Stiles.

Odessa had some choice words for Mrs. Martin if she ever got the chance to see her.

When the couple reached the room, the girl of the two stopped in her tracks at the doorway. Brown eyes locked on the unloving figure on the bed, and couldn't seem to move them away.

Seeing her hesitation, Stiles leaned down to whisper in her ear, his thumb caressing her knuckles, "you don't have to be here right now, you know? We could come back at another time."

Odessa swallowed thickly, looking up at him, "will there ever be another time after this?"

Her question hung in the air with more meaning than both of them expected. The Stone didn't wait for him to respond, already forcing herself to walk into the room which held her friend. Her steps were as slow and quiet as possible, intimidated by the utter silence of the room. It reminded her of somewhere else where the silence was deafening.

Odessa took the chair that was stationed against the wall and brought it over to Lydia's bed side. For a moment, she just sat and looked over her friend. Lydia's face was significantly paler than Odessa was used to. After a second of hesitation, the blonde reached for her friend's unmoving hand, grasping it with her own. Odessa tried not to cringe at how cold her friend's hand was.

"Stiles filled me in on your homework situation before coming here," the Stone's quiet voice cut through the tension filled air that Eichen always seemed to carry, "your teachers gave us some of the stuff you guys have been working on. They wanted us to hold on to it for you. Stiles told me he saw something about the Riemann Hypothesis. I looked it up and found things like nontrivial zeros, zeta functions and a lot of other stuff I probably can't even begin to comprehend," she let out a small chuckle at her rambling, "maybe you could wake up and explain it to me..."

Odessa got nothing in response. No sarcastic remarks, no playful roll of the eyes, no smile or even a small smirk, not even a blink. There was nothing.

Brown eyes start to water, a chin quivers uncontrollably, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I should've been here to help you. I should've protected you," a single tear falls, "you gotta come back to us, Lyds. I can't do this without you."

"I think that's enough," Odessa's tears dried quickly as a familiar voice sounded from the doorway. The blonde looked behind her to find Natalie Martin leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed, "Odessa, Stiles."

The Ember sighed to herself, letting go of Lydia's hand. Taking one last look at her friend, her stomach dropped at the sight of something she wished she didn't see, "wait a second, what is this," Odessa pulled Lydia's hair away to reveal a patch of skin. Her head had been shaved, "what are they doing?"

"All right, you need to go."

Odessa disregarded the woman's request, looking toward her boyfriend, who moved closer to her to have a look himself, "they shaved her head Look at it," the blonde looked at Natalie, shock and anger on her features, "did you... did you know about this? What are they gonna do? Drill a hole into her head?"

"Are you crazy," the woman hissed. Odessa felt her nose flare at the use of words—she was not fucking crazy. Natalie pushed the two aside, coming to her daughters bedside to stroke her cheek, "it's for E-C-T. Electroconvulsive therapy. They shave small portions of the scalp. It's done under general anesthesia and it's perfectly safe. Look at her," she motioned toward the unmoving girl on the bed, "she's my daughter. You don't think I'm trying everything I can to bring her out of this?"

"No, no, no, that's not E-C-T," Stiles shut down, just as upset as Odessa was, who grew quiet, seemingly in her own head about something.

Suddenly, an orderly made an appearance at the doorway due to the commotion, "is everything all right in here?"

"It's fine," Natalie assured, sending the two teens a pointed look, "our guests were just leaving," the teens didn't move, "guys, go. Or you're not coming back."

Odessa gave the woman a look of offense and disbelief. Where was Natalie's head with all of this? Everything was so backwards and wrong with the entire situation. The blonde couldn't help but think of anything that would have been different if she was present before Lydia was sent to Eichen. Could she have been able to change Natalie's mind?

Swallowing their pride, the couple left the room. They walked hand in hand down the halls, their grips tighter than usual. Odessa and Stiles hated that place and their hatred grew more and more with each visit. Coming out of the unit where Lydia was being held, the two walked down the hall, only for Stiles to bump into one of the workers who was walking the opposite direction of them.

"Sorry," the Stilinski muttered after the collision, stealthily putting something of importance in his pants pocket.

They thanked the man that opened the door for them, leading them to the main hallway that brought them to the main entrance and exit of the building. The couple collectively sighed once they were out of the building.

Once they were back in Odessa's car, she turned to him from the driver's seat, "what did you do?"

Stiles turned to her once his seatbelt was on, confused by her question, "what do you mean?"

"You didn't just bump into that guy on accident," the blonde gave the boy a knowing glance, turning her car on, "I know you too well, lovie. So, I'll ask again, what did you do?"

The Stilinski smirked mischievously, taking something out of his pocket and putting it on display proudly. Stiles had stolen an ID card from one of the workers—their ticket into Eichen whenever they needed it—which Odessa could tell was soon.

Odessa pursed her lips to contain her smile, backing out of her parking space, "I am so attracted to you, right now."

For the first time in a while, Stiles let out a heartwarming laugh that echoed throughout the car. She always had the best ways to make light of a situation. He was glad that hadn't changed.

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Odessa paved back and forth with nervousness running through her body. This was the first time trying her powers without being chained or held down by Dread Doctors—and she was nervous.

Nervous because the blonde would be trying it with Scott and Stiles in the room, and she was scared of their reactions. Would they look at her differently? Would they think she was now dangerous?

"Odie," Scott called after about five minutes of watching her pace around her room. He and Stiles were leaned up against her dresser, "you don't have to do this now if you don't want to."

The blonde turned to the boys, her features frantic, "no, no, I want to. It's just—I haven't done it yet without being forced to so... I don't really know how it works."

Stiles furrowed his brow at her struggled reasoning, "how did you do it the other times?"

Sighing, Odessa played with her hands anxiously, "when the Dread Doctors made me do it... I didn't even do anything. They just held out my hands and it happened," feeling dejected and defeated, she looked up to Scott, "I want to help with the plan. If the Dread Doctors did something to me to give me these new powers, I want to use them for good."

Before either boy could assure her she was just as much a part of the plan as anyone else, they heard the front door open and footsteps traveling to the kitchen downstairs. They were here.

The three glanced at each other, silently agreeing they would talk about this more at a later date, before heading downstairs to meet with their pack.

Odessa, Scott, Stiles, Kira, Malia and Liam stood around the dining room table that was holding a very important piece of paper. The blueprints to Eichen House. Additionally with the blueprints, there were different pictures of the building, along with a security log. Everything they needed to get into the building.

The Stone looked around the table, refreshed by the comfort she felt with being around her pack. She met Malia's eyes and nodded to her—the Tate nodding back. They hadn't had a chance to speak properly to each other since everything went down. But they would go back to the way things were before—they all would. Because they were a pack. And no one in the McCall pack was ever left behind.

"Now we get Lydia."

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