...

Huddled around a laptop in the library Y/n, Scott, and Lydia look at the search results of a 'Stile'. "'Stile, an arrangement of steps that allows people, but not animals, to climb over a fence'." Scott read aloud.

"Yeah, somehow I don't think these are the stiles we're looking for." Lydia said. Y/n sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Maybe Malia's found something."

"She had a make-up test this morning, so no." Y/n informed. Scott fiddled around with the computer, trying to pull up any new or different information than what they had, when a coyote's howl echoed through the school making the three look in the direction it came from. "Oh, no."

"I guess the test isn't going well." Lydia and Y/n grabbed their bags before following Scott down the halls and towards the storage room Malia used to stay in, meeting Noah and Natalie along the way.

Scott took the lead into the room, rounding one of the shelves and spotting the blue-eyed coyote huddled in a corner and lightly growling. "Malia. It's okay. You're safe." She snarled in response. "I'm not gonna hurt you." Another snarl with bared teeth. The other four slowly came in behind Scott, careful not to move too fast for the spooked girl. "I think she's calming down."

Malia growled and Y/n gave Scott a look. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Maybe you should growl back?" Noah suggested. "Scott, you're the Alpha. Can't you just make her a little more docile?"

"The problem is we are invading her space." Y/n said. "I mean, I might be able to help calm her down, but not with so many people in what she considers her territory."

"Maybe we need to get out of here." Lydia offered.

"Yeah, come on, come on." Scott urged the others to back up to be behind the shelving again.

"Y/n brought Malia here to get through the full moons. Then we started using the lake house." Lydia explained to the adults.

"I thought you said a wild animal got in the lake house." Natalie said.

"Just be happy about all the things I don't tell you."

Y/n took a step closer to Malia and crouched to be level with her while she held her hand palm up in a placating gesture. "Hey, Mal." She spoke in a calm tone. "It's alright. I'm not gonna let anything hurt you, you're okay." Malia stopped growling and slowly inched her way to nuzzle her big sister's hand, making the witch smile.

After a few moments Malia was calm enough that she was able to shift back to human, now standing stark naked. Noah averted his gaze. "It's alright. I'm okay." She assured. Natalie came forward with the teen's clothes and Y/n moved to stand with Lydia and Scott after Malia nodded that she really was alright.

"Any idea what made her shift?" Noah asked.

"She's under a lot of pressure. School." Scott started.

"What she's gonna do after graduation." Y/n added.

"Her mom trying to kill her." Lydia finished.

"Although none of that has made her shift before."

"Could it be connected to Stiles?" Scott wondered.

"Hard to tell since we don't know what a 'Stiles' is." Lydia pointed out.

"It's a "he'." Noah cut in.

"Who?" Scott asked.

"Stiles. It's a family nickname. I never used it, but, uh, my father did." The teens looked to each other in surpruse at this new lead. During a free period Noah brought the three to his house, settling in the living room while his wife fetched a metal box of old photos. "Thanks, honey."

"Mm-hm." Claudia handed him the box and settled next to him on the couch.

"He was an Army engineer. Ended the war one brigde at a time." Noah fished around the box and found a photo of his father when he was young, handing it to Scott to look at.

"And he went by 'Stiles'." Scott said.

"So, what's this got to do with the Wild Hunt?"

Scott looked to the girls and Lydia gave him a little nod. "We think that somebody was taken from us."

"Any idea who?"

"Our memories would have been erased." Y/n said.

"Well, that's convenient."

"We found a clue." Lydia offered. "The word 'Stiles'."

"And that's why you wanna talk to Elias?" Claudia asked. Y/n's brows furrowed slightly when she felt her skin crawl a little when the woman spoke.

"Yeah, maybe he can help us figure it out. Maybe he knows who we're lookin' for." Scott answered.

"Now this is someone your age?" Noah asked.

"Yeah. I... I think he was my friend. Maybe he was my best friend." Unknowingly to him, Scott's tone turned a little sad at the end.

"I can guarantee you, my father can't help you." Noah declared as he stood and took the photo back from Scott.

"Couldn't we try?"

"Scott, he lives in a nursing home three towns over. Hasn't had visitors in years."

Their conversation faded into background noise as another sound caught Y/n's attention. The faint sound of wheels on train tracks, rustling leaves, and a woman's voice. "The following stops have been canceled." An old woman with a grey sweater appeared behind the adults on the couch. Y/n glanced around to see if anyone else was seeing the woman, but no one seemed to notice her. Y/n frowned in confusion. Was this woman a spirit? If so, then why was she seeing her without her gift? The woman walked by and stopped in the doorway of the living room looking at Y/n again. "The following stops have been canceled. The following stops have been canceled." A train whistle sounded as the woman turned down a hall.

"Y/n." Lydia quetly called. Y/n blinked as she turned to see her friend giving her an inquisitive look.

Y/n couldn't really answer, as she didn't really know what she had seen, but she did know she had to investigate. "Can I use your bathroom?" She asked the adults.

"Sure." Claudia nodded and Y/n stood, moving to follow the old woman. When she went up the stairs and turned the corner there the woman was again, only this time she was standing in front of a small table and looking straight at the blank wall.

"What were you talking about a moment ago? What stops have been canceled?" Y/n tried to ask the woman, but she received no answer, or any indication that the woman even knew she was there. Y/n glanced between her and the wall, wondering what had the woman so transfixed. "What are you looking at? Are you trying to tell me something?" There was still no answer. Y/n gave up asking and instead turned her attention to the wall, trying to see what was so special. Without thinking she slowly reached out to touch it.

"Y/n?" Claudia called up the stairs before she could, making her turn around. "Did you find it? The last door on the left."

When Y/n turned back around the woman was gone. "Yeah, I got it." She called back. She took one more glance at the wall before heading to the bathroom, waiting a few moments to make it seem like she actually used the facilities. When she returned to the living room Scott and Lydia had also stood up, trying to convince Noah to let them talk to his father, but the man was insistent on no.

"You're not hearing me. Trust me, you don't wanna talk to him."

"We just need a few minutes." Scott said.

"Scott, my father can't help you."

"Just a few questions. Five minutes."

"You know, what? You don't just talk to this guy. Okay." Noah snapped. Scott looked a little surprised at the outburst. "Just find another way."

"But, what if this is the only way?"

"Scott, you have your answer." Claudia interjected.

"Sheriff, please."

"Scott." Claudia stood, tone more firm.

"The answer's no." Noah spoke softer, but with finality. There was no changing his mind.

...

"Stilinski said no, didn't he?" Malia guessed as she put books into her locker while Y/n and Scott watched behind her.

"Yeah." Scott affirmed.

"But we're going anyway?"

"Yep." Y/n didn't really like the idea of going behind the Sheriff's back, but this Elias was their only lead, and she couldn't just let it go.

Malia closed her locker revealing Liam looking at them with a hopeful gleam in his baby blues. "Or you can stay here and help me convince Gwen she's in danger." He countered. Liam had given them a quick rundown about a future victim of the ghost riders, a girl named Gwen whose sister had apparently been taken the night before.

"It's not your job to convince her. It's your job to keep her safe." Scott told him.

"Just kidnap her." Malia suggested before they began heading for the exit.

"Do not kidnap her." Scott denied when he saw Liam was considering it.

"Yet." Y/n amended. Scott looked at her and she gave him a mischivous grin as he silently pleaded with her not to encourage them.

"We'll be back tonight after we talk to Stilinski's dad."

"Do we really have to do this?" Malia asked.

"He's our only lead."

"Okay. What if the ghost riders show up?" Liam questioned as they paused by the doors.

"Then you'll handle it, Liam. And look, you're not alone. You've got Mason and Corey and Hayden. Okay? Just find a safe place for Gwen and keep her there."

"Any suggestions?"

"It doesn't matter as long as she's safe." Scott opened the door and walked out ahead of the girls.

"Kidnap her." Malia quietly spoke.

"Do not kidnap her." Scott called back.

"Just keep it in your back pocket as a plan B." Y/n offered with a smile. "And tell Corey to be careful using his ability to see the ghost riders. Any slip up can get more people marked." She warned before she and Malia followed the Alpha out of the school, leaving the Beta to rack his brain for a place that could be safe enough to keep Gwen.

A few hours later Y/n, Lydia, Scott, and Malia walk together up to the doors of Good Water Assisted Living to find Elias Stilinski. "I can't believe we're about to break into a nursing home." Scott commented.

"After the orderlies at Eichen House, pretty sure we can handle some nurses." Malia declared before taking the charge into the building.

"Malia, wait!" Y/n called, chasing after her sister only catching up as Malia grabbed the male nurse acting as receptionist by the shoulder and slamming his face into the desk.

"Oh! Mother of...!" He groaned in pain before he fell to the ground.

"Malia! I could have taken care of him, you know."

"My way was faster." Malia shrugged before taking the unconcious man and putting him in another room. Now unrestricted the four teens make their way through the building and towards the common area. They found an older man sitting by himself, an untouched tray of food and various papers layed out in front of him, old music playing lightly in the background.

He turned to face them as he heard them approach. "Yes? Oh. Is it time for my medicine?" He asked unsure.

"We don't have your medicine."

"Oh..."

"Are you Elias Stilinski?" Lydia asked.

"I am."

Y/n stepped forward, a little hopeful as she introduced herself. "I'm Y/n L/n. You don't happen to know who I am, do you?"

"Should I?"

Scott stepped closer. "Hey, Mr. Stilinski, we're looking for somebody who might be named Stiles. You went by that name in the Army, right?"

"Yes. Best years of my life."

"Do you know any of us?" Malia asked from farther away.

"Of course I do." He looked up to Scott. "How could I forget my own son?"

"Your son?" The boy repeated.

Lydia's eyes widened slightly as something came to mind. "Mr. Stilinski. What year is it?"

"1976. It's my son's birthday next week."

She turned to her friends. "He has dementia."

"Is it time for my medicine?" The man repeated. As the teens gathered closer, trying to get any information from Elias as they could, the sun steadily went down. "Scott McCall?" Elias looked up at boy before he started shaking his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no. You're my son." He insisted.

"Keep it down, old guy." Malia warned. "You'll wake the other old people." She started snacking on the peas that were on the food tray.

"I don't like her." Elias looked at Lydia.

Lydia took a seat next to the man. "Your son. He's the Sheriff of Beacon Hills." She tried getting through.

"Sheriff?" She nodded. "No, no, no, no, no. No, no. I- I- I wa- I was in the Army."

"Use your claws, Scott." Malia urged.

"It could kill him."

"I get that, but we're running out of time."

"I can't." Malia growled in frustration, bringing out her own claws. When she went to use them Scott caught her wrist. "Hey! No. We're not hurting him."

"Young lady," Elias caught Malia's attention, "you need to clip those nails." Malia huffed.

"Y/n, is there something you could do?" Lydia asked.

The witch shook her head. "His mind is too fractured. If I try poking around it could fry his brain and mine. I mean, it would be possible if he had a few minutes of clarity, but there's no telling when that will happen."

"You shouldn't be here." Elias declared after a few minutes, starting to become extremely restless. "If you don't leave, I'll have to report you."

"Uh, what' wrong with him?" Scott asked.

"The sun went down." Lydia answered, glancing at the darkened sky.

"So?"

Elias began to mutter angrily as he fiddled with his sheets of paper. "He's sundowning. It's when dementia patients lose their faculties after the sun goes down."

"I don't want to talk to you anymore!" He yelled.

"So what do we do?" Malia wondered.

"We wait till the sun comes back up."

"That's, like, nine hours from now." Y/n said.

"We can't wait that long." Malia pointed out.

"There's gotta be something we could do to keep him quiet. Y/n?" Scott looked to the witch.

"There's no telling if it'll work on someone like him."

"Leave, leave, leave, leave." Elias begged as he clutched the papers.

"I can calm him down." Malia stepped up.

"No." The three denied.

Lydia glanced at the papers, noticing the various numbers jotted down and jumped to action. "Elias. Look at the equations. Look. It's binomial probability. What's 'p'?"

"Um, probability of success?" He hesitantly answered.

"Right. And that means N minus K is?"

"The, uh, number of trials minus the number of successes." Lydia chuckled in delight.

"What's with the math?" Malia ate some more peas.

"It helps dementia patients concentrate. And this one?" She pointed to another paper.

"That's, um..." He looked closer. "Conditional probability."

"Let's find the moment of inertia." As he stood up and looked at the papers in his hand Lydia and Scott sat down to look through the others. "Elias."

"That's Mr. Stilinski." He suddenly corrected, the expression on his face no longer a scared man, but instead someone very stern. "Just who the hell do you think you are?"

"Oh, I guess the clarity came sooner than I thought it would." Y/n mused.

"You know Scott isn't your son?" Lydia asked.

"Of course I know that." Elias sneered. "Are brains getting smaller with the skirts?"

Malia stepped up with a small growl rumbling in her chest. "Malia. It's okay." Scott assured.

"So you're that McCall kid."

Scott looked up at Elias in surprise. "You know me?"

"I know your dad. Couldn't hold his liquor and he certainly couldn't keep that wedding ring on his finger. Pretty young thing would walk by and poof, that ring just disappeared like magic."

"Do you know all of us?" Lydia asked.

"Oh... You're Natalie Martin's girl. Am I right? You look like her. She was pretty once, too. And she also liked to talk like she was the smartest person in the room."

"All right, I think that's enough." Y/n stood beside Lydia protectively, giving the man a hard look. She didn't like how he was talking to her family, and she could tell Malia didn't either with her increasing growls.

"You. You're M/n L/n's bastard baby, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You must be, with that air of superiority and false bravado. Pretending to be tough when in reality you'd crumble under the right hands."

"Stop talking." Malia warned, having enough of the man's words.

"Hey, Malia." Scott jumped from his chair when he saw her eyes start to shift.

"She always wore those loose clothes, practically begging to be knocked up."

Malia's claws came out and she growled. "Malia!" Scott yelled when she lunged.

"Enough." Noah shouted, catching them at just the right moment to avoid a huge mess.

"Sheriff, uh, we-" Scott tried to explain.

"I explicitly told you not to come here. And who attacked a staff member?"

The man Malia had knocked out stared right at her from beside the Sheriff. "That's her." Malia growled lowly.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"Noah. We were just having a nice conversation." Elias said.

"You call that nice?" Y/n asked in bewilderment.

"The four of you. Out. Now." Noah instructed. They left without argument.

"Noah." Elias called, sounding like the Sheriff was ruining his good time. Noah didn't acknowledge him as he turned to follow the teens. "That's right!" Noah paused at his shout. "Act like I'm not even here! Go crawling back to your dead wife and your loser son!"

Noah turned back to his father in confusion. "What did you say?"

But it was already too late. The moment of clarity was gone. "Is it time for my medicine?"

...

In the holding cell area of the Sheriff's station Natalie paced in front of the four teens who had been taken in for what happened with the staff member. "We know this looks bad." Scott said.

"It doesn't look bad, Scott. It is bad. You broke into a nursing home, you harassed a dementia patient, and you beat up a nurse." The woman listed. "This could affect the rest of your lives. Especially you, Malia. They're talking felony assault."

"I didn't beat him up." Malia denied. "I could. But I chose not to."

"That's an improvement." Lydia commented, Y/n nodding in agreement.

Noah opened a door and leaned into the room. "By some miracle the nurse decided to drop the charges. They're free to go." He informed, making Lydia let out a little sigh of relief, before leaving the room again.

"Just because you're not going to jail, doesn't mean you're not grounded for eternity." Natalie warned her daughter.

After being let go Natalie took Lydia home, Malia went to her own, and Scott took Y/n with him to check on Liam and the situation with Gwen. They ended up going to the McCall house where they found the left overs of a highschool party. "You said to find a safe place." Liam defended as he explained the situation. Scott glanced at the broken rails of his stairway. "So we brought the party here."

"Who said to throw a party at all?" Scott countered.

"It was a good idea, Scott." Y/n tried to help Liam's defense. "Controlling the scenario to the best of their ability."

"At least we saved Gwen." Liam added.

"But you saw one of the ghost riders." Scott reminded.

"Corey made him visible so we could fight him."

"He did what?" Y/n looked at Liam in surprise. "I told you he had to be careful with his ability."

"Doesn't the book say that if you see the Wild Hunt you'll be taken too?" Scott asked.

"Everyone at the party saw him." Liam's face fell as he came to the same realization as the seniors. "Does that mean that..."

"They're marked." Y/n confirmed Liam's worries.

"They're all gonna be taken." Scott looked down at the glass that crunched under his shoe. "I should have been here."

Seeing the look on Scott's face Y/n led Liam outside, assuring him that they would figure something out before sending him home. When she came back in she found Scott in the same position she left him in. She stood in front of him and took his hands in hers, making him look up at her. She gave him a comforting smile. "Don't be too hard on Liam, alright? He's young and he makes mistakes, just like you did when you were first turned, just like any of us do. He's trying."

"I know, but I still should have been here to help. Now there's more people we're gonna have to keep an eye on."

"It'll be okay, Scotty. We'll find a way to help everyone, like we always do." When she went to give him a kiss, something that usually cheered him up before if he was always being hard on himself, something told her that it was wrong, so instead she kissed him on the cheek like she used to when they were younger. She then pulled him into a hug, thankfully not feeling anything wrong with it. She smiled at him when he pulled away, glad to see he seemed to be at least a little better than he was. "For now, why don't I help you clean up." He nodded and together they began to go around and pick up the trash left behind from the party.

Y/n and Scott were picking up crushed red cups in his bedroom when Noah came around the corner and stood in the doorway. After glancing around at the mess he knocked on the doorjamb catching the couples' attention. "Looks like a hell of a party."

"Yeah. Uh..." Scott chuckled a little. "Hopefully I can get it all cleaned before my mom comes home."

"I'll help." At Noah's offer Y/n held a hand up to stop him.

"Actually, I think I can get this done faster by myself." She claimed, and at their inquiring looks her eyes shifted. A faint shimmer surrounded the bits of trash as she made them levitate and gather in the large black trash bags that the wolf had gotten out. "What?" When she was done and her eyes had shifted back she glanced at Scott to see him smiling in amusement.

"I thought you didn't like to use magic for mundane things?"

"It's more like I try not to. My mom always said it was better to pick something up with my hands than with my... Magic." Y/n slightly trailed off at the end, a strong feeling of deja vu washing over her at the words. She shook it off as Noah chuckled a bit.

"Well, at least it's all cleaned up now."

"Yeah." Scott agreed. When Noah turned to leave again Scott called out to him. "Hey, Sheriff. I'm really sorry. We never should have gone there to see your father."

"No, no, it's... It's okay." He assured. "I should have been clearer about who he is. And maybe a part of me just didn't want to have to, uh, admit it." Noah lightly shook his head as he pulled aside his shirt to reveal a long, old scar over his collar bone and shoulder. "This is my dad, Scott. He pushed me through a glass table going after my mom. There's still tiny pieces of glass in there. The doctor told my mother that they'd probably be in there for the rest of my life, workin' their way out. Small price to pay to keep him away from her. That time." Noah sat down on the bench at the end of Scott's bed and looked up at the teens. "You know, something you said has just been bugging me all day. Somethin' about memories."

"What do you mean?" Y/n wondered.

"Have you ever had a dream that's- that's so real that you thought it was a memory?" Y/n nodded while Scott tried to think if he ever had. "Okay, in this dream, I'm lying in bed with Claudia. It's a couple weeks before we graduate from college and we're talking about the future and kids and what we'll call them. And I tell her that if we have a son, I want to name him after her father. And she laughs at me and she says, 'Why would you want to saddle some poor kid with a name like that?' And I told her, 'Because he was a great father, kind of father I wish I had, the kind I... I hoped to be.' At that point in the dream she smiles, kisses me, and says, 'Okay, we'll name him that, but it won't matter. He'll just be called Stiles anyway'." Y/n's eyes widen at that, and she looks to Scott who looks back with the same expression of shock.

~~~
Published: 3/22/23