LOVERS ROCK

chapter nine ; wolf's bane[ season one - episode nine ]

"You're going to kill us!" Scott McCall screamed from the backseat as he watched the blonde girl driving press her foot down harder on the gas pedal, she didn't have time to think about driving safely, just a few inches behind them, tailgating them was Kate, the woman dating her father, an eager hunter who thought she was car chasing Derek Hale, not her boyfriend's daughter. Honey never thought she would be speeding off from the woman, she was growing to like her despite a less than fortunate career choice, after tonight, she wasn't so sure how she would feel. It would depend on whether Kate caught them, and how she would deal with that.

"Then don't wimp out next time!" Honey snapped at the backseat driver, just half an hour ago it was the wolf who was supposed to be speeding this car around, giving Derek the chance to get away from Chris Argent while they distracted Kate, only he had backed out, too scared that he'd damage the werewolf's car. If the hunters didn't kill him, Derek would for doing that, Stiles was a dead man too. She was the best person for the job. She was the only person Derek wouldn't kill for damaging his car, the only one who could sweet talk Stilinski if he caught them, the girl with a relationship with the hunter in the car behind. Maybe she was driving like a maniac, but it was the best option the three of them had right now. "Faster?" She questioned the boy beside her.

Stiles peered over the back seat, Kate hot on their tail. "Much faster."

With another slam on the gas pedal, the three teenagers were thrown around, the car zooming ahead of Kate's fiat that struggled to keep up, she tried, she was determined to end this battle, to end the life of the Alpha she was convinced was driving in front of her. The question that her boyfriend asked her big brother remained in her head as she drove, wondering whether it was possible that Honey was the second beta, that when she dated that werewolf in Lousiana he'd told her about she had gotten more involved than either of them believed. Perhaps he brought more than trouble to the table, perhaps he brought the offer of a bite, making her just like him. The theory seemed unbelievable, but so real too. She had the chance of becoming one, and she had ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time much too often. Perhaps the answer always had been right in front of them, sitting opposite them at the dinner table.

After speeding a few more miles, Stiles peered over the back seat again, this time, he saw what was much worse than Kate being right behind them. She wasn't there at all. She was gone. The wolf and the blonde girl both turned their heads, the car swerving as Stiles quickly grabbed the wheel, steadying the car as Honey tried to figure out where Kate had disappeared to, why she'd stopped chasing Derek's car.

Stiles pulled out his police radio from his pocket, turning up the volume as they tuned in mid-way through the Sheriff's announcement, telling everyone that the suspect was on foot, that he was heading into the ironworks. The three teenagers glared at one another with wide eyes, they had to believe that that was the reason Kate wasn't behind them, somehow, she found out that it wasn't Derek she had been chasing.

Honey warned the two boys to hold on tighter than ever, barely giving them chance to before a sharp and dangerous u-turn was carried out, putting them in the direction of the ironworks, the three of them had to change their plan, instead of driving away from the trouble, they'd have to drive straight into it, saving Derek from the middle of a three-way war. Them. Hunters. And the law enforcement of Beacon Hills.

Soon enough, the blonde was speeding the Camaro straight into the gunfire shooting toward a wolf struggling to shield himself, if not from the bullets of the cops, then the arrows of a hunter shooting from up above. Stiles swung the car door open for the wolf as he joined the other wolf in the back of the car, before Derek had managed to shut it behind him Honey was speeding off again, cringing as the bullets dented the man's poor car. Only when Stiles was in the backseat of the Camaro did he realize how reckless she had been driving, it felt much worse back here, he'd abused his fortune as he gripped on for dear life.

"What part of laying low don't you understand?" Honey lectured the wolf, taking her focus from the road ahead as Scott and Stiles begged her to keep her eyes on it. They never thought they'd fear someone they nicknamed Winnie over a werewolf who regularly threatened to rip out their throats with his teeth. And yet, here they were.

"I had him." Derek shouted in frustration, hitting the dashboard, and ignoring her lecture. Stiles eagerly leaned between the two front seats, putting aside the risk of Honey killing him, he was too intrigued about who Derek had found exactly. The Alpha? He questioned. "Yes! He was right in front of me, and the freaking police showed up."

"Hey, they're just doing their jobs..." Stiles tried to defend people like his father, the wolf shot a sharp stare his way, that was enough for him to close his mouth and sit back with Scott, leaving the lecturing in the capable hands of the blonde.

"Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the state." The wolf spat out, narrowing his eyes at the wolf in the back who told him to move past it, he made a dumb mistake, it wasn't exactly something new, he did it all the time.

Honey butted in with the arguing as she raised a hand between the three males who'd instantly shut up, though the evil stares didn't stop as she questioned how he'd found the Alpha. While it was something he was willing to tell her, the girl with experience in werewolves and keeping her fair share amount of secrets, he couldn't say the same for the blabbermouths behind her who'd got him into trouble twice now. The look he threw at them made it clear that he wouldn't share, angering the Stilinski boy who sat forward again.

"Can you just trust us for, like, half a second?" He snapped. Derek narrowed his eyes at the boy again, another warning for him to sit back and shut up, it wouldn't be the last. "Or just her. I'll be back here." He slowly removed himself.

Derek sighed in frustration, turning back to the blonde, prepared to explain. When he last talked to Laura, she was close to figuring something out, she had found two things. The first was a guy named Harris. At the mention of that name Stiles shot forward a third time, questioning whether it was their chemistry teacher, a question the wolf ignored. Scott spoke up, asking why him, that he hadn't quite found out yet. Honey asked what the second thing that Laura found was, it was a symbol, he explained as he pulled a drawing of it out of his pocket.

He held it up for the blonde who took a glance, her face dropped immediately, as did that of the two boys in the back when they had caught glimpse of it, the same thought crossing their minds as they avoided telling him what that symbol meant to them. "What? You know what this is?" He asked the blonde girl again as she avoided eye contact with him.

Derek turned back to the boys, finally willing for them to be involved in the conversation if either of them were capable of telling him what the symbol meant. For a moment, Scott contemplated if it was a good idea to blurt it out, he didn't know what Derek would do to get that necklace, the wolf might just kill to get it, and he couldn't risk that. He and the blonde in the driver's seat gave a weary look through the rearview mirror as Derek snapped at them both again. Scott gave in as he confessed that he had seen it on a necklace. Allison's necklace.

Following behind the two boys Honey Carter walked into the school, listening as they both tried to come up with a plan to get their hands on Allison's necklace, it had never been so clear that it was two friends she found herself hanging around with, and that neither of them had ever had a girlfriend before. They knew nothing about girls or how their relationships worked. Since picking her up this morning Stiles had suggested at least five times that she just ask to borrow it, a dear, beloved family pendant that she hadn't seen Allison without since Kate had given it to her. That wasn't how girly friendships worked, or any for that matter. She wouldn't part with something of hers that meant so much to her, and she was sure Allison felt the same toward the pendant.

No matter how much she shut down the idea, it kept arising, if not for her, then for Scott. He was adamant that asking to borrow it would be the way they retrieved the all-important necklace, it was easy, he told them. All they had to do was ask to borrow the necklace to see if anything was in or on it that might lead them to an Alpha werewolf they needed to kill in order from her to get back with Scott.

"You know how much of an imbecile you sound, right?" Honey asked the boy, Scott nodding, he really was an imbecile, right now, an unhelpful one. "Maybe just try talking to her rather than an elaborate plan? She's a girl, Scotty, not some big scary monster." Honey advised, tapping him on the shoulder before she excused herself from the conversation to get to class.

"Ignore her," Stiles told the wolf. "What does she know about girls?"

"A lot." Scott deadpanned. "She is one."

"Pfft. Irrelevant. Look, you just need to ease back into it. Get back on her good side and remind her of the good times. And then you ask for the necklace." Stiles advised him, leaving the boy to choose between his advice and Honey's, which seemed more plausible, which would get him a good result. Stupidly, he chose to listen to Stiles.

And that, that had gone very wrong for him. It wasn't until it was too late, when he was standing in the hallway watching a tearful Allison walk away from him that he realized that he should've listened to Honey. He should always listen to Honey. Allison wasn't a monster, but after he made her cry he sure felt like one. He didn't know how he was going to tell the blonde what he'd done, she would kill him, she liked Allison, the two were supposed to be getting along like family, a job already made harder after the breakup, now this?

As if matters weren't bad enough, making Allison cry wasn't the only news he had to break to his blonde friend. He'd also had an altercation with Jackson, the jock had approached him while he stood at his locker, insisting that he knew what he was. He never said the word, he didn't need to when he had implied it so strongly. Not only did the boy know, but he wanted it too, if he didn't get what he wanted he would make sure that Allison would find out about him too.

Scott made sure to break all of his news in a controlled environment, the classroom, that way he could ensure that Honey couldn't raise her voice and shout at him, she might be able to strangle him from her seat, but at least that was silent, it wouldn't kick up a big fuss and real what he was to their entire class. When he did tell her, he could hear her heat beat heavier, the stress reaching all new levels, he and Stiles would be the reason she had a heart attack at the ripe age of sixteen. The two of them along with Derek caused her more stress than the average girl should live with, but one thing did come from this mess. She had the chance to say her favorite phase, rubbing it in their faces. I told you so.

This time when the three tried to form a plan, the boys agreed that it would be her who figured it out, they would follow her every instruction until that necklace was in their possession. With the close supervision of Jackson on Scott, they had to be careful, there was no room for mistakes. It had to go exactly how she said.

Honey could admit, she had no idea what she was doing when forming her plan, with Scott's big screw up this morning, talking was out of the picture for them. They would have to steal Allison's necklace. The boys questioned how they would do that, how they could get it off of her, what if it was something she only removed while in the shower? Maybe they were right, but she knew of a way around that. She had swim practice with both Allison and Jackson this afternoon, perhaps it would be the perfect opportunity for Scott to search through her things.

The blonde's nerves were at an all time high as she walked toward the pool at Allison's side, the brunette was eager to make sure that things were okay between them despite the breakup with Scott, she needed to know that she still had a friend in the blonde, she was a lot easier to talk to than Lydia. Especially after the past few days, she didn't know what had gotten into the redhead but she was acting strange, as though she was hiding something from her. As the two discussed their friendship status, the blonde watched Scott take a seat in front of the bags they'd left in the stands, prepared to search it when she had sufficiently distracted both Allison and Jackson.

"Hey, Jackson," The blonde called the boy in the pool over, getting started on that distraction for Scott. "How about we all have a race?" She suggested as she looked between him and the girl, a shared nod between them. Of course they agreed, the two of them were competitive beings, the brunette may be better at hiding it than the jock, but Honey knew she had that side to her, and it was a side that she needed the girl to bring out now more than ever.

Once the three had jumped into the water, Scott commenced the searching, but ultimately, he'd found himself empty-handed, he wasn't sure where Allison had placed her pendant but it wasn't in the bag where they had assumed it would be. The wolf was about to leave, ensuring that they didn't see him sitting here, but he had heard a snippet of their conversation, too intrigued to get up and leave just yet.

"So you're both coming to the game tonight, right?" He asked as the three hovered at the edge of the pool. Honey looked at Allison for her answer, she knew that she was attending, she had to show her support to Scott, which was the exact reason she doubted Allison would be there too.

"I was thinking no." She shook her head, it was clear the topic made her uncomfortable, but that didn't stop Jackson from continuing the conversation.

"You have to." Jackson insisted. "We win tonight, we're in the semifinals. Tell her, Carter."

The blonde felt her heart drop at those words, unsure whether she was supposed to encourage a girl to watch the lacrosse game of her ex-boyfriend, or tell her to curl up with some better friends named Ben and Jerry. She chose to think optimistically, perhaps being at the game would allow Scott a second chance at talking to her, fixing the mistake he had made this morning. Because of that, she was inclined to support Jackson's suggestion, telling the brunette that it couldn't be so bad to show some team spirit tonight. Even then, Allison remained unsure.

"It's not because of Scott, is it?" Jackson questioned, though it was painfully obvious that Scott's presence at the game was the reason Allison didn't want to go, it almost felt as though the game was Scott's territory, that she would be trespassing by sitting in the stands cheering for the team he was playing for. Allison nodded, it was just a little weird, she explained. "But he's fine with it." Jackson reassured her, raising the brow of the blonde girl beside him, she was sure that the wolf hadn't said that, or spoke to Jackson about tonight's game at all for that matter. At least he had failed to tell her if so. "He actually asked me if you were coming. He said he hoped you didn't feel weird about it."

"He did?" The girls asked in unsion. Jackson nodded again, calling Scott a good guy, raising the blonde's girl suspicions as every word left his mouth. He told her not to hate him too much for it, and to especially not overthink it all. He reassured her once again that Scott would be fine with her coming to the game, glad even, leaving the brunette to think. With all that thinking to do, the brunette decided that it was time to get out of the water, to spend a few minutes drying, using it as a chance to consider what he had said.

"Maybe I should dry off too." Honey suggested, about to follow Allison's lead before Jackson had stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"You know I'm just trying to help her, right? I want to prove to you that I meant what I said. I'm a good guy." Jackson reassured her as the girl nodded, somehow blinded by those words, she had believed him, as always she chose to believe the best in people. Instead of seeing it as a way for him to get into Scott's head by manipulating Allison, she chose to believe that he was just doing a good deed. He and Allison were friends after all, and he knew they were too.

Without another word on the subject, the two jumped out of the pool, Jackson wrapped a towel around the blonde as Scott watched from the stands, wondering what he was trying to do, first it was Allison, and now Honey, he was closing in on every person that he cared about, ensuring he was sufficiently riled up. It was then that it occurred to him, Jackson thought Honey was just as oblivious to the supernatural as Allison. He wanted to gain her trust so that when he told her she would believe him, of course, on the premise that Scott failed to give him what he wanted.

·❥·

Stiles led the blonde girl into his bedroom as he explained his new elaborate plan, one that he'd given much more thought to than telling Scott to re-open Allison's fresh wound of their breakup. It had come to him while sitting in chemistry, he was doing what he was always doing, blocking out whatever came out of Harris' mouth, as he did he looked at the boy sitting in front of him. It was like a lightbulb moment. Danny Mahealani. From then, he made it his life mission to get the boy to help him track the text message that had told to Allison go to the school the other night, the only problem was Danny kinda hated him, it would take some convincing for him to help. It just so happened that he was equipped with a loveable blonde who got along with everyone but Lydia Martin, including Danny.

Honey wasn't sure how she felt about manipulating Danny into helping them, she hadn't known him that long, but Stiles managed to convince her, reminding her of how great their life would be when the Alpha was gone, when they could be moderately normal teenagers. She couldn't deny that it was an appealing thought. She wouldn't even turn down the chance of being a little more normal. It had been a long time since she could consider herself that. Besides, what other choice did they have, Scott wasn't exactly the best at retrieving Allison's necklace, every idea they gave him he had managed to screw up somehow.

"What do I say to him?" Honey asked as she stared down at her phone, staring at the string of her text messages with Danny, all of which consisted of gossip. The latest- Jackson dumped Lydia. It was the talk of the school, he had dumped her over text, and of course, Lydia wasn't happy. She was the dumper, not the dumpee.

"Just tell him you need help studying." Stiles shrugged.

"At your house?" Honey raised a brow, it didn't seem believable to her, let alone to anyone else.

"You spend more time here than at your own house anyway."

"Well, you try being around my dad and Kate all the time. It's gross. People shouldn't be allowed to kiss in front of their children. It's inhumane." Honey complained, shuddering at the thought, it haunted her. When it was her mother, it was still gross, but she could handle it, now that it was a werewolf hunter like Kate, something about it seemed wrong. Despite how grossed out she was, Honey focused on the text she was sending to Danny, asking if he could help her study here since her father and Kate were having dinner together at her house.

Even Danny knew how much she hated being at home while the two of them had another one of their date nights, she regularly text him about how vile it was while she was sitting locked up in her room cuddling up with Bee.

As Sheriff Stilinski called their names the two teenagers spun on their chairs, only then had they seen Derek hiding behind the bedroom door, he had been waiting quietly, listening to her list of complaints about her father and his girlfriend rather than making himself known. Stiles hadn't been able to contain himself as he shouted the wolf's name in surprise, making a bad situation worse. Derek shushed him, warning him to get rid of his father as they rushed towards the door, greeting the man there as they shut the door behind them, harboring a fugitive, again.

"What'd you say?" Noah asked as he furrowed a brow at them.

"What? I said yo, Dad." Stiles tried to play it off as he chuckled nervously, the blonde beside him nodded and smiled, agreeing that he had said that, because it was such a Stiles thing to say. He regularly greeted people with a yo.

"Listen, I've got something I've got to take care of, but I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean, your first game." Noah reassured him, beaming with unconcealed pride.

"My first game. Gosh, great. Awesome. Uh, good." The boy rambled, unable to stop until Honey's elbow nudged him in his side as a sign to shut up. Stiles and the blonde girl shared a look, they'd narrowed their eyes at one another, scrunching their faces at one another, mimicking each other as they usually did, forgetting that the Sheriff was there for a moment.

But he had watched it all and received the completely wrong message from it too. The corners of his mouth were pulled into a smile, convinced that he was witnessing a relationship between his son and the girl fathered by an old friend of his. It wasn't just two friends mocking each other to him, he was convinced that the two were in love, maybe even in a relationship that they weren't prepared to tell him about yet. "I'm happy for you." The man told them as they furrowed a brow, slightly confused, but otherwise convinced he was talking about Stiles making the first line. The man could only mean that, what else could he mean? "And I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks. Me, too. I'm happy and proud of myself." Stiles' word vomit continued as Honey chose to give up on stopping it, nothing could save him from his own awkwardness. Not only was Stiles on the way to making a complete fool of himself, but his father had taken it as confirmation that he was in fact dating the blonde beside him and that he was happy and proud of it. If only they'd known, if only they had been able to shut down that idea before the man began imaganing all of the fun he and Jude would have because of their children dating, bonding them for life, as if the two of them hadn't been friends since their teenage years.

Noah pulled the two teenagers in for a tight hug, Honey wasn't quite sure why she deserved one, she hadn't made the first line, he had no reason to be happy for her or proud, but she accepted it anyway, assuming that he didn't want her to feel left out.

Before it could get any more awkward than it already had, Noah left the two "lovebirds" alone, a smile across his face that he couldn't wipe off, they found it sweet that he was so proud, but they weren't quite sure what was going on with the strange smile and the looks he was giving them, it was though he was waiting for them to confess something great. As soon as the two walked into Stiles's bedroom Derek grabbed the boy by his jacket, shoving him against his own door, a finger pointing in his face, prepared to threaten him once again.

"If you say one word-"

"What, you mean, like, 'Hey, Dad, Derek Hale's in my room. Bring your gun?'" Stiles interrupted, widening Honey's eyes, surprised that he was daring to fight back against the wolf. "Yeah, that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules, buddy." He said smugly, tapping a hand against the man's chest, perhaps a little too far as he straightened Derek's jacket.

"Did Scott get the necklace?"

"No," Honey answered the wolf's question, she didn't go into detail, nobody else had to know all of Scott's failed attempts of retrieving that necklace from Allison. "He's still working on it but we, I mean, Stiles, thought of something else we could try." She corrected herself as the boy gave her a stern look for even attempting to take credit for his idea.

"When we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there."

"So?" Derek furrowed a brow, unsure what that had to do with anything.

"So it wasn't Scott. You broke his phone, remember?" Honey reminded him, Derek nodded with a small grin, he was still quite proud of that night. He put his pride aside as he asked whether the two of them could find out who did it, while they couldn't, someone else could. The person they had been talking about instead of noticing that he was hiding behind the door. Danny.

Derek wasn't sure they should be dragging some random kid into this ordeal, someone that they couldn't trust, as though he trusted anyone. But both of them were sure they could trust Danny, for Stiles, it was because he had found something to threaten him with, for the blonde, she put it down to their blossoming gossip-filled friendship.

Before the boy arrived Honey took the opportunity to give the werewolf that lecture he deserved for sneaking into Stiles's house, which also belonged to the Sheriff, and in case he forgot, he was a fugitive. She placed him in the corner of Stiles' room with a book, forbidding him to talk, it had never gone well when he talked to people, hence why they had Jackson Whittemore on their tail now. The best thing for him to do was sit in silence and take in the work of the masters that were her and Stiles, two people with way too much faith in their abilities.

"You want me to do what?" Danny Maehelani asked, looking between Honey and Stiles.

"Trace a text," Stiles repeated for what felt like the fifth time, he had explained it when he let the boy into his home, and while walking upstairs, and perhaps a few more times since, until Honey had told him too he must have been convinced that it was a joke.

"You said this was about studying."

"Yeah." Honey nodded. "I'll watch how you trace the text and study it." She smiled, patting him on the back though he wasn't pleased.

"And what makes you think I know how?"

Stiles chuckled nervously, admitting that he had done some digging in his dad's files before and found the arrest reports for Danny hacking into private documents for a big company a few years ago. That was how they knew. Danny tried to defend himself, explaining to the blonde girl that it was when he was just thirteen, that they dropped the charges. Frankly, she didn't care, in fact, it made him all the more likable. He had a wild side, he caused trouble, everyone knew she liked trouble, she was drawn to it.

Danny tried to insist on the two of them doing homework as he placed a book in the girl's hands, a scowl grew across her face as she looked down at it, looking back up at Stiles for some help, if there was anything she was doing today, it wasn't going to be studying. The boy shrugged, there was nothing he could do, Danny wouldn't listen to him, he barely liked him. Honey was about to give in, about to indulge in studying for at least an hour before trying to convince him again, but she caught a glimpse of the boy, his eyes lingering on the werewolf sitting behind her. She grew a smug smile as she turned to Derek.

"Danny." She nudged the boy. "You doing okay there, bud?"

He nodded, asking who the man was in a low voice, Derek's head raised, able to hear it clearly, if not for his impeccable hearing, the three stares radiating towards him would have been enough to alert him that he was the topic of conversation. Stiles quickly answered the question before it could come out of the blonde's mouth. Miguel, he told him. His cousin Miguel. Derek and Honey raised a brow at him, they were sure that just Derek would have sufficed, but simple answers to get out of a conversation wasn't his style. He had to complicate things.

"Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny questioned, the two teenagers looked at him with wide eyes, only then had the wolf noticed it for himself as he looked down at his grey shirt.

"He gets bad nosebleeds," Stiles told him. "Hey, Miguel, I thought I told you you could borrow a shirt." He said with narrowed eyes. Derek slammed the book in his hands shut, moping over to the boy's dresser to find a shirt, unsure how well that would work for him. He was muscular and a lot taller than the skinny boy offering him a change of t-shirt ."So anyway, we both know you have the skills to trace that text, so we should probably-"

"Stiles." Derek interrupted him as the three teenagers turned to look at him.

"Yes?"

"This... No fit." The wolf spat out as he held up one of Stiles' t-shirts, tugging on the fabric as the blonde girl placed her hand over her mouth, disguising the laughter that desperately wanted to escape her. Stiles nudged the girl, suggesting that she help his cousin find an appropriate t-shirt somewhere in that drawer, even if it squeezed the circulation out of his freakishly large body.

With a groan the blonde stood up to assist Derek, sniggering at him as she searched through all of Stiles's t-shirts, she knew which ones were a more appropriate size, she had stolen almost all of them at some point in the few weeks she lived here. Finally, she found something hidden in the deepest depths of Stiles' dresser along with his dreams of ever being able to fill a muscular style t-shirt, as the wolf pulled it over his head Stiles caught Danny staring, almost drooling over the sight.

"Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh? What do you think, Danny?" Stiles asked, teasing Danny as he grew more flustered trying to avoid eye contact with the wolf who modeled a disgustingly patterned t-shirt colored in orange and blue. Probably brought simply because it was the color of the Mets, that was all the convincing Stiles needed.

"It's not really his color," Danny admitted in a low mumble.

The blonde looked the wolf up and down with a hum. "He's got a point. Change." She insisted as she began digging for a more appropriately colored shirt for the wolf who just wanted the show to be over with, all of this in fact, he wanted the answer of who sent the text to Allison so that he could find them, kill them and live a peaceful life. Stiles turned back to tease Danny while they'd worked on a new shirt, but much to his disappointment, it only lasted a few seconds. "Stiles." A softer voice called him this time, still enough for him to roll his eyes as he turned towards them. "I've tried but none of these shirts are gonna fit. And this..." She held up a t-shirt with a woman on a pole, I support single moms written around her. "Burn it."

Both of the teenage boys stared at them, Stiles agreed to throw out the shirt, though he knew it wouldn't, it didn't matter, he was too focused on a flustered Danny who'd suddenly changed his tune as he listed all of the things he would need to trace the text message. When Danny began a vigorous search, Honey was enlisted to watch him, studying it just like she said she would while Stiles was left to do a vigorous search of his own for something to cover up Derek's abs, the three of them couldn't afford Danny being distracted.

Around half an hour later the boy finally began seeing results, telling them that he found out the source of the text message as Stiles and a freshly dressed Derek gathered around the computer, the presence of the werewolf lingering over his shoulder distracting the tech-master until Honey cleared her throat, telling him to focus, this was important to them, more than he could possibly understand. Danny pointed out a name on the screen, insisting that was who it came from, each of the three faces contorted, looking at one another to ensure they were reading the same thing, it couldn't be. That was impossible. Honey asked him again, twice, actually, adamant that it had gone wrong somehow, that maybe he had traced the wrong text.

Danny was certain. The name on the screen was their answer. Melissa McCall.

Following the lead that Danny had uncovered, the three sat outside of Beacon Hills Hospital for long-term care, the place that could hold everything they needed to end the reign of the Alpha, this place stood between them and a moderately normal high school career filled with popular friends, lacrosse, school dances. Normal people things. For Derek, it meant getting rid of three pesky teenagers who brought him into their teenage drama.

Scott had managed to retrieve Allison's necklace after sneaking into her house to get it, and the three of them sat outside of the place where the text had come from, they could smell the fresh scent of freedom already. The only downside? Finding these answers to their big question might just cost Stiles his chance on first line, the game was already fast approaching and they were yet to even step foot into the hospital. He had already had his father call him, Jude too who was told it was important to see Stiles play in his first game by the Sheriff, and Scott, their best friend who might just live with the Alpha if not someone working with it. They still didn't believe it, let alone would her own son believe it.

Derek sat impatiently in the passenger seat, waiting for Stiles to end all of his phone calls so they could finally step into the hospital, or at least him and Honey. Because of his fugitive status, he'd be forced to sit here and hope that the two of them were capable of doing it alone, or at least the blonde girl who he'd had to put a lot of faith in lately. Her history was the only thing keeping him hopeful, she knew to be careful, she knew more than anyone the risks that things like this could come with, things that Stiles and Scott had been told, but it still hadn't sunk in for them.

"By the way one more thing." Derek stopped the two of them just as they were ready to get their job done. Stiles' mouth had barely opened to ask what was wrong before Derek grabbed him by the back of his head, slamming it against his steering wheel, leaving the boy delirious for all of a second as Honey sat flabbergasted in the backseat.

"Oh, God! What the hell was that-"

"You know what that was for," Derek insisted, and that he did. Both of them knew that he kinda deserved it for the whole Miguel facade he had created, maybe even she deserved it too, but she had made sure to keep as far as possible from his as she climbed out of the Jeep behind Stiles, it was funny to watch his head get hit off of the wheel, but not hers.

"He really is a sour wolf." The blonde muttered under her breath as the two walked into the long-term care facility giggling, if only the Sheriff were here to see them, he would be picturing when the two of them got married and he walked the girl down the aisle alongside her own father, the image he'd hoped would come true since the moment he had seen his son and the girl together.

The two searched for Melissa, searching every room for the woman. Usually when they came she would find them the second their foot stepped over the threshold of the double doors, tonight in their hour of need, she was nowhere to be seen. They tried asking around for her, but the nurses and doctors were a little too occupied to deal with two regular faces who were normally here for reasons they wanted no involvement in. Only when the two found themselves at the office desk again did they decide it was time to call Derek, asking for his advice on what to do.

Derek instructed them to ask for Jennifer, she was a nurse who had been looking after his uncle, though the two of them hadn't found the woman they were looking for, they had found out the Hale's room number from a chart lying around on the desk, perhaps it broke a law or two but it was for a necessary cause. Besides, nobody was around, all too busy with the other patients as they quickly made their way to Peter Hale's room.

Honey reached the room first, stopping in the doorway as she was met with an empty, perfectly made-up room that definitely didn't occupy a man who was supposed to be paralyzed with his face burnt from the fire. It didn't look like anyone had been in here months, let alone within the past few hours. She turned to Stiles as he too reached the door, just as confused as she was, the boy raised the phone back to his ear, breaking the news to Derek. Melissa was gone. And so was his beloved, supposedly sick uncle.

The wolf couldn't understand it, not even as they repeated it, he didn't know where Peter could have gone, he had been visiting him since he had returned back to Beacon Hills, the man barely uttered a word, let alone did he pick himself up out of his wheelchair and wander around in the late of the night. And that was when the pieces were put together.

"Stiles, get out of there right now. It's him! He's the Alpha! Get out!" Derek screamed down the cellphone, his voice loud enough for the blonde girl to hear as she swallowed the large lump in her throat, watching as Stiles's face dropped, slowly lowering the phone from his ear again, he reached for the blonde's hand, about to pull her the hell out of the hospital as they both slowly backed up from the hospital room.

As the blonde stumbled back, she hit someone, an involuntary scream escaping her mouth, she jumped out of her skin, knocking back into Stiles as the two looked at a man staring back with a devious smirk across a face burnt on the right side. It was him. Peter Hale. The Alpha.

"Let me guess." The man pointed at the two teenagers, able to name them both as they backed further away from him, hoping to make a quick escape.

The two turned to find a redhead nurse behind them, she looked just as malevolent as him, she was Jennifer, the nurse who must have been helping Peter carry out his tormenting. "What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over."

Stiles struggled for words as his eyes darted between the Alpha and the nurse, trying to figure it all out while a petrified Honey stared at the Alpha unable to speak, unable to move. They might have managed to escape his claws before, but she doubted that it would happen tonight when he was closer than ever. "Oh, my God. We're going to die." He blurted out. "We're gonna die."

Just as Jennifer was about to step closer to them, to help the Alpha finish off the two of them, an elbow hit her in the face, knocking her out cold as she hit the floor with a thud. An angry Derek in her place as he warned the two teenagers to get out of the way, Stiles wasn't going to argue with him as he pulled the blonde girl aside seconds before Derek and Peter broke into a fight, maybe a fight to the finish.

"Do you think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Peter asked as his nephew, the Alpha stepped closer towards the beta with a tilted head as Derek's eyes began glowing a bright blue, unwilling to talk their problems out.

He lunged toward the Alpha, only to be gripped by his shirt, thrown at the wall right beside two cowering teenagers. Honey stared at the indentation in the walls on each side of the corridor as her heart beat heavily in her chest, unable to fathom how she was living this over again, how for a second time in her life she found herself between fighting werewolves. When it was clear that she wasn't alert enough to move herself out of the way, Stiles dragged her away, finding a spot to hide beneath the receptionist's desk, much too close to Jennifer's still body than the two of them were comfortable with. But they didn't have a choice. It was hide, or die.

"My mind, my personality were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct."

"You want forgiveness?" Derek snarled as he threw another punch.

"I want to understand." He corrected his nephew with a kick to the chest that sent him soaring across the hospital, right in the line of view of two fearful teenagers who tried to remain calm, a job much easier for the astounded Honey who barely knew what breathing was, let alone how to scream. "Do you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that."

Derek tried to fight, his temper growing with every mention of his sister, Peter knew what he was doing, he wanted a rise out of him, and he was getting it, but he was much stronger than his beta of a nephew, killing Laura gave him the kind of power that betas dreamed of having. Peter talked about how he had tried to warn his nephew what was happening, following the beta that tried to escape as he crawled across the floor, trying to build the strength to fight again, strength that he would never have enough of, not as long as he remained a beta.

As the voices grew further from them, Honey finally found herself able to move again as she and the boy shared a fearful look, he finally released her, the freedom encouraging her to search for the two Hales as she peeked around the corner of the desk, unable to see either of them. Honey stood up, picking up a shard of glass from the window that Peter had smashed, prepared to try and aid Derek in the fight.

Before she had a chance to move, Stiles grabbed her wrist, his eyes piercing into hers. "We have to go." He insisted as the blonde looked back down at the shard of glass. "You're not gonna get yourself killed. Let's go." He insisted.

"Derek could die." She tried to reason with him. "We can't just leave him."

"Honey, I mean it. We need to go. I am not going back to your dad and telling him that you tried to fight some big bad werewolf and got yourself killed. Derek can handle himself." He told her as his voice changed, from the usual sarcastic and bubbly boy he usually was to a more serious and raspy tone that made her know he meant what he said as she dropped the glass. "We have to tell Scott about this."