Thank you all for being so understanding about me having to skip last week, it really means a lot to me 🥺
I had a nice break last week and I got some writing done which I'm very happy about ☺️ thank you for sticking around!

...

The door to Derek's loft slides open and Jennifer steps in. "Derek?" She calls to the darkness, flashes of lightning from the raging storm the only thing to light up the space. She pants slightly as she had rushed here. She walks further in, down the entry steps, and into the middle of the room. "Derek, where are you?"

"Right here." He answers and she turns to find him.

She sighs in relief. "Thank God." She rushes to him and pulls him into a hug, one he seemingly reciprocates. She holds him for a moment before pulling back again. "Something happened at the recital. At the school. Okay, I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear any of it from them."

"From who?"

"Y/n, Scott, Stiles. They're gonna tell you things. Things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust me."

"What is it?"

"Promise you'll listen to me."

"I promise." He nods.

She doesn't say more, but kisses him instead. She pulls away after a moment when something didn't feel right and looked at him with a darker expression. "They're already here, aren't they?" Derek looked behind her and she turned to see the teens coming around the corner. "So... They told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?"

"We told him you're the one killing people." Scott answered.

"Oh, that's right." She chuckles. "Commiting human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I-I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense." She had a smile on her face, still trying to play innocent.

"Where's my dad?" Stiles asked, his eyes subtly starting to water. Y/n takes his hand in hers, telling him without words that she's there for him.

"How should I know?" She looked back at Derek. "Derek, tell me you don't believe this." He glanced at the three before looking at her. "Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?"

"No." She whimpered with a shake of her head.

"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia." Y/n prompted, a glare leveled at the woman, still angry for everything that she's done and tried to do.

"Lydia Martin?" She asked incredluous. "I don't know anything about that."

"What do you know?" Derek asked.

"I know that these kids, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with an absurd story."

"Do you ever stop lying?" Y/n genuinely asked, wondering how someone could live when practically every word that comes out of their mouth is a fabrication.

"And one they can't prove, by the way." Jennifer continued as if the witch hadn't spoken, only making her smirk slightly when Scott held up a bottle of white powder.

"What if we can?" Scott asked.

"What is that?" Jennifer questioned.

"My boss told me it's a poison and a cure..." He stepped forward and Stiles tugged a slightly unwilling Y/n back to keep her away from what Scott was about to do. "Which means you can use it..." He unscrews the cap. "And it can be used against you."

"Mistletoe?" Jennifer sneered. Scott flung his arm, sending the jar's contents at the woman who gasps as it surrounds her. Her image flickers from her perfect façade to her darker form and she roars. The dust settles and she pants. She side glances Derek and tries to run but he catches her by the neck. "Derek, wait, wait!" She becomes alarmed when he brings out the claws. "You need me."

"What are you?" He asks.

"The only person who can save your sister. Call Peter. Call him!"

Begrudginly he does, asking Peter how Cora is as soon as the older Hale answered. "It's not good. She's in and out of consciousness. She's vomiting up black blood along with one other alarming substance."

"Mistletoe."

Peter pauses. "How did you know that?"

Derek doesn't answer, but instead hangs up as he glares at Jennifer. She gasps when his grip tightens. "Derek." Scott calls. "Derek, what are you doing?"

"Her life-" she gasps, "it's in my hands!" She grunts as Derek lifts her in the air by her neck.

"Stop. Derek, stop!" Stiles yells.

"Stilinski, you'll never find him."

"Derek." Scott calls again, but still no answer.

As much as Y/n was enjoying watching the bitch struggle, they unfortunately needed her. "Derek! Let her go." Y/n calls, and this, for some reason, clicks with him and he finally does. Jennifer falls to the ground and she gasps for breath.

She looks up after a moment. "That's right. You need me." She looks at Derek before whipping her head to look at the teens. "All of you." Y/n curls her lip in disgust.

They split up then, Derek taking Jennifer in his car while the other three follow in the Jeep, heavy rain beating against the vehicles. Y/n looked over at Stiles beside her, sensing that something was bothering him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, something feels wrong about this. You know, we proved it to Derek, but she still had this look like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all still going according to plan. You guys saw it, didn't you?" Y/n gave a small nod while Scott just thought about it. Y/n agreed with Stiles. It seemed a bit too easy, that Jennifer gave up a little too fast. But, for now, there's nothing they could really do about it.

They pulled up to the front doors of the hospital, getting out and are almost instantly soaked by the deluge. Scott looked at Stiles when he noticed his friend carrying something. "What's that?"

"Well, you got claws, she's got her magic. I got a bat." Stiles answers.

"Is that Mrs. McCall's bat?" Y/n asked, but her question went unanswered for now.

The five walked down the halls of the hospital when a voice called out. "Scott! Scott!" Melissa ran up to them making them turn to look at her. "What are you doing here? The hospital's evacuating."

"We're here for Cora."

"What, all of you?" Melissa looked over the other four. "Why does Stiles have my bat?"

"I knew it." Y/n muttered with a little smirk.

"Mom, just trust me on this. You need to get out of here." She looked them over again as she realized what kind of situation this was. "Right now."

"The building is supposed to be clear in 30 minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back. One's 10 minutes out, the other's 20. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage."

Scott nodded. "Got it."

"Okay." She watched for a moment as the group of five continued in their quest.

Derek has a firm grip on Jennifer's arm as they get on an elevator. She gives him a look before facing forward. "You don't have to keep me on a leash, Derek. I'm going to help." She suddenly looks over her left shoulder to see Scott staring at her from the corner. She looks over her over shoulder where Stiles stands with the bat at the ready. She then looks to the corner to the left of her where Y/n steadily glares at her, her eyes flashing in warning. Jennifer rolls her eyes as she realizes that she's not just on a leash, she's been boxed in.

The elevator dings and they walk out. Y/n glances at the ceiling when the lights flicker. The heavy storm is messing with the power, but she has a feeling that that's not all that storm is for. Derek stops by an open door and looks down to see the black blood and mistletoe that Cora had previously expelled. Scott notices a trail of the blood leading out of the room and towards a set of double doors at the end of the hallway where they heard muffled grunts coming from the other side.

A moment later Peter is thrown through the doors and he slides to a stop on his back in front of the group. He groans and looks up at them. "We got a problem." He lifts his head to look where he came from. "Big problem." The joined Alpha twins roar at them from down the hall. Scott and Derek shift. Derek and the twins roar as the Hale charges at them. Derek ducks under a swing and rams into their middle. They get him off and he tries to hit them but they are quick to punch and elbow him in the face. Scott huffs and runs forward, jumping up and using the wall to propel himself to swipe at them only for them to duck. While Scott is busy with the Alpha, Y/n and Stiles notice Cora passed out on the ground behind them. Only thinking of helping the girl Y/n crouches next to Peter and helps him up.

"Help me out, yeah?" She coaxes and she, Peter, and Stiles crouch past the twins as they hold Scott up against a door.

"Ethan, Aiden, stop!" Scott calls. "You don't know what you're doing." Stiles gives Scott a glance as they help Cora.

"All we want is her." They answer. The elevator dings and the shifted wolves look to see the doors closing with Jennifer behind them.

Peter holds Cora over his shoulder as the group try to get away from the twins. "Don't stop, don't stop!" Derek urges as they get to more doors. But Stiles does stop, looking at the bat in his hands with an idea and he moves to the corner out of view of the door they just came through.

"Stiles, what are you doing?" Y/n yells after him.

Just then the twins walk through and roar. Stiles comes up behind them and swings down his bat heavily. But the poor wood shatters into splinters against the wolves' head. Stiles looks down at the handle left in his hand as the twins stare at him. He skirts around the room against the wall and back to his group. Y/n ushers the men behind her and her eyes glow. She holds her hand up towards the light fixture and swings it down, clenching her fist as the light sparks and hits the twins. She then thrusts both hands forward with a grunt of effort, and everything in the room flew at the twins, further debilitating them and buying them more time as they run.

The power goes out and the back up generator kicked in as they rush down halls and into a safe-for-now room. Peter lays Cora on a table as Derek closes the door. "Where's the big guy?" Stiles asks.

"He's close." Derek peeks out the door's windows.

"What about Ms. Blake?" He looks at Scott who only shakes his head. Y/n cursed under her breath when he did. "What do you mean? What does that mean? Like, she's gone? Scott, are you kidding me?"

"Shh, quiet." Derek urges.

"Me be quiet? Me, huh? Are you telling me what to do now? When your psychotic, mass murdering girlfriend- the second one you've dated, by the way- has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"

"Stiles." Y/n comes up to him and puts a hand on his chest. "They're still out there."

"And- and they want her, right? Which means that now we don't have her either," he sounded almost desperate as he looked at her before facing Derek again. "so my dad and Cora are both dead!"

"Not yet." She tries again.

Scott looks over at Peter and Cora, who he was standing next to. "Is she really dying?" He asked Peter.

"She's definitely not getting any better." Cora is pale and sweaty and doesn't look good at all.

"There has to be something we can do. We have to help her."

They all look over when the other set of doors open and Jennifer stands there. "You can't. Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you... But only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."

Derek doesn't seem to like this idea as he throws a table tray out of his way and lunges for her, only for Scott to stop him. "Derek, wait!"

"She was trying to get out." He accuses.

"I was trying to keep from getting killed. You can't blame me for that."

"Yes, we can." Y/n pipes up.

"If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her." Stiles points to Cora.

Jennifer shakes her head. "Not until I'm safe."

"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion. Let's torture her." Peter offered.

"For once, you have an idea I can get behind." Y/n smirks.

"Works for me." Derek agrees as he pushes Scott's hand off of him, but they all pause when the P.A. system crackles.

"Um, can I have your attention?" Melissa's hesitant voice speaks out. "Mr. Deucalion- excuse me, just Deucalion- requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the E.R. Reception." Jennifer puts her head down at that. "Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."

"He's not gonna hurt her." Jennifer denies.

"Shut up." Y/n and Derek command.

"He won't! Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."

"What does she mean?" Derek asks.

Jennifer looks between the two, but rolls her eyes when Scott doesn't answer. "You're not the only one he wants in his pack. Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack. He wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks."

"A True Alpha." Peter realizes.

"What's that?" Stiles wonders.

"One that doesn't have to steal their power from another." Y/n answers. "One that can rise by the strength of their character and the force of their own will."

"Our little Scott." Peter looks at the teen.

"It doesn't matter." Scott denies. "We still need to get her out of here."

"Scott, your mom-" Stiles steps forward.

"My mom said there's one more ambulance coming in 20 minutes. And I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance we can get out of here."

"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out." Peter points out.

"I'll distract them."

"You mean fight them." Derek corrects.

"Whatever I have to do."

"I'll help you."

"Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek." Jennifer says.

"Clingy much?" Y/n quips and Jennifer sends her a quick glare that the witch matches.

"I'll do it." Peter offered. "But I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage."

"An advantage like what?" Stiles questioned. "You mean like a weapon?"

"Something better than a baseball bat." He shrugs.

The group (bar Jennifer) all start to search the room for anything useful. "Hey, wait. What about these?" Stiles holds up defibrillator paddles.

"Do you know how to use those?" Derek asks.

"Well, no."

"Put 'em down."

Stiles does as told as Scott finds a large syringe needle with a clear liquid. "Epinephrine?" He reads off.

"That's only gonna make him stronger."

"How strong?" Peter quiries.

"It's adrenaline." Y/n points out. "It'll make you pretty strong." She takes the syringe from Scott and motions Peter to come closer.

"Just be gentle." He winced at the size of the needle.

"Don't worry, in a moment you won't even feel it." She smirks.

His eyes widen slightly at the glint in her eye. "Gentle, gen-!" He hisses when she quickly jams the needle into his chest and presses down on the plunger. It only takes moments for the hormone to take affect and, true to her word, he soon didn't feel it. With the needle still in his chest he walks through the doors. He breathes heavily and looks at the tool with wide eyes before he pulls it out and Scott joins him in the hall to face the seperated twins. The Alphas snarl at the pair. "All right, boys." Peter's eyes flare. "Let's rumble." The wolves all growl and roar, the twins fusing as they all charge at each other.

While those four fight Y/n peeks around the corner, making sure the coast is clear before she ushers everyone forward. Her eyes shine and she trails behind as she carefully carries Cora with her magic. They rush down the halls and Stiles and Derek open the doors to the basement garage. "It's still here!" Stiles spots the vehicle and he waves Y/n forward before going ahead of her and opening the doors to the ambulance. Y/n gently sets Cora down on the gurney and climbs in with Stiles.

"Derek, over here." Jennifer calls. He gives the teens a glance before going around to where she was with caution and slight curiosity. He sees Jennifer just standing and looking at the ground. He follows her gaze to see the body of an EMT on the ground in a pool of blood. Jennifer takes a few careful steps closer and sees bloody foot prints leading around the other side of the vehicle.

"Julia~" A voice calls and Kali steps into view with bloody feet and twirling the ambulance keys on her finger. "It is you." Jennifer stared at the Alpha as she stepped to be behind Derek. Y/n gave Stiles a look when they heard Kali, and with a flick of her finger she quietly closed the doors.

"You can't beat her on your own." Jennifer said to Derek. Kali smiled at them with her fangs, eyes glowing.

"That's why we're gonna run." Jennifer ran first and Kali roared as Derek followed. The Alpha gave chase.

Y/n put a hand on the chassis of the ambluance, eyes closed as she concentrated for a moment. She muttered words Stiles couldn't recognize before a wave of violet rushed over the surface and faded. She opened her eyes again and the purple glow faded. "What did you do?" He asked.

"Minor cloaking spell. It'll mask scent and sound to those with heightened senses. It won't last long, but long enough. It's basically camoflauge."

He nodded and took a quick breath. "Cool. Okay." Most of the lights suddenly went out, meaning either the backup generator finally quit or someone turned it off. "Okay, okay, okay. We're okay. We're all right. Right?"

She nodded. "For the moment at least."

"You okay?" She gave him a quick smile and a small nod, not saying anything because she knew he would keep rambling like he always did when he was nervous. "How you doing?" He idly questioned Cora, not expecting a response, but still looking at her. "Wh-why does it look like you're not breathing?"

Y/n looked over in alert to find that Cora indeed wasn't breathing. "Shit." She lightly cursed and leaned over Cora. She didn't hear or feel any breath and she cursed again.

"Because she's not breathing, is she?" Y/n shook her head. "Oh, no. Oh, God. Oh, no, no, no. Why isn't she breathing?"

"Stiles, I need you to calm down for me, okay? She's gonna be fine." Y/n took a steadying breath. "Okay, you got this." She muttered to herself. Her eyes started to glow again as she slowly rubbed her hands together, creating the energy and friction she need until she pulled her hands apart. Small sparks of electricity jumped between her fingers. "Just a small shock..." She gathered the energy onto two fingers and touched Cora's chest. Cora lightly jerked with a gasp and Y/n pulled her fingers away. "Just to get things working again." She sighed when Cora coughed and started to breathe normally again.

"You're amazing." Stiles breathed with a little smile. She scoffed with a smile of her own and sat back with him as they waited.

Y/n watched Cora, making sure she stayed alive. "Just hold on a little longer, Cora." She spoke to the wolf.

"Trust us, if anyone's gonna get us out of this, it's Scott." Stiles was also watching over Cora.

"Can't believe you just said that." Y/n joked with a glance at him.

"Me either." They shared a small chuckle. "You know, I used to be the one with the plan. Well, or at least a plan B." He sighed. "Now I don't know. Now I'm thinking maybe she was right. You know, maybe- maybe we are pretty much useless. Maybe all we really do is show up and find the bodies." There's a beat of silence. "I don't want to find my father's body." His tone was quiet and almost desperate.

Y/n frowned a bit before she laced her fingers with his and brought his hand up to her lips, pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles. "We'll find him. Alive." She softly spoke against his skin. "I promise." He didn't say anything but instead leaned his head on her shoulder and she leaned hers on him as well.

"You know," he quietly spoke up, "she's a lot easier to talk in front of when she's completely unconscious." She huffed a laugh and a small nod. A sudden bang caught their attention making them both sit up and look out of the windows in the door. Y/n could hear a single pair of footsteps and she put an arm over Stiles' chest, pressing both of them into the wall to stay out of view. They caught a glimpse of the fused twins as they walked by, presumebly looking for any of them.

Less than a minute passed when she heard footsteps again, these ones loud enough for Stiles to hear. They listened and jumped when Scott slammed a hand on the window. "Guys! Guys, open the door!" He urged as he held most of Peter's weight, the epinephrine having worn off.

"Okay. Sorry." Stiles quickly did as asked.

"Help me get him in." The boys helped the older male into the ambulance and Y/n led him to the other side of her where there was open space for him to rest.

"Where's Derek and Jennifer?" She asked.

"I have to go back for them and my mom."

"Okay, two problems." Stiles pointed out. "Kali's got the keys to this thing, and we just saw the twins like 30 seconds ago." There's a banging in the direction the twins had went as if to prove his point.

"Stay here." They did as told as Scott went off alone.

Peter sighed and leaned his head on the wall as he tried to recover from the adrenaline crash. He looked over at Y/n. "You think you could do one of your tricks and help me out a bit?"

"Nah, I'm good."

He looked at her with a raised brow. "Was it something I said?"

"I'm still a little ticked from when you impaled me with your claws."

"But then you set me on fire. We should be square on that."

"Uh-huh. You'd think so. But then you messed with my mind for months, tricking me into bringing you back, so there's that." He sighed and kept quiet, having a feeling that she wasn't going to budge. Then he had a thought. She's a lot like M/n.

Soon Stiles got a message from Scott. He had a plan, one that involved Chris, Allison, and Isaac who had also shown up at the hospital. Allison was going to pretend to be Jennifer, drawing Kali and the twins to the front of the building where her dad would be waiting while Isaac was in the car, waiting for the coast to be clear to get to the garage. Melissa was going to the roof to turn the power back on to free Derek and Jennifer from the elevator.

Tires squealed as Isaac pulled up next to the ambulance. Stiles opened the doors and he and Peter started to move Cora. "All right, come on, come on, come on!" Isaac urged as he stepped out.

"I got her." Peter held Cora in his arms and carried her to the car. "Get the door." Isaac rushed around and opened the door for Peter to set Cora down.

Stiles went to close the ambulance doors when something caught his eye. A clip board with treatment papers, but that's not what grabbed his attention. "Stiles, come on." Y/n called when she noticed he stopped. With shaking fingers he read again and again the bold black letters. Y/n stood next to him and followed his gaze, finally understanding why he paused.

Signature:_____________________________
Parent or Guardian

"Guys, let's go." Isaac called, but they weren't listening.

The guardians Jennifer wants are parents. She already has one, and there's another who's by herself. "Melissa." Y/n realized. The couple only needed to glance at each other before they broke out into a run.

"Guys!" Isaac's yell fell on deaf ears as they ran.

They turned a corner and saw Scott just as he turned into the stair well. "Scott! Scott, wait!" Stiles skid to a stop in front of the elevator making Y/n pause as well. Derek was knocked out cold and the service hatch was wide open, Jennifer was nowhere in sight.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit." Y/n grabbed Stiles' hand and they ran again to catch up to Scott. She could hear voices the closer they got, or rather one voice. And the last words he spoke made her worry.

"I could've warned you. Let me help you, Scott. Let's help each other. You help me catch her, and I'll help you get your mother and Stiles' father back."

"Scott, don't." Y/n called as soon as she and Stiles made it through the roofs door. Scott was making his way towards Deucalion, but paused when he heard his friends. "Don't do this. Scott, don't go with him."

"I don't know what else to do." Scott admitted.

Stiles shook his head. "No, there's g- Scott, there's got to be something else, okay? We always- we always have a plan B."

Scott turned to look at them with teary eyes. "Not this time."

"Scott."

"I'm gonna find your dad. I promise." He turned away again, towards Deucalion and away from them.

"Scott." Y/n lamely called, but she knew he wasn't going to change his mind. Scott made his way next to Deucalion and waited for him.

Y/n saw Deucalion tilt his head a bit. "You know," he called out, "there's a place in the pack for someone with your talents, Y/n."

"Fuck off." She practically growled.

He tutted. "Such sass. I knew someone just like you, once. Well, the offer still stands." He turned and walked away then, leaving Stiles and Y/n alone on the roof and taking Scott with him.

~~~
Published: 6/2/21
Edited: 4/12/22