"SO YOU RAN A BACKGROUND CHECK, and all you found was a speeding ticket?" Malia questioned Stiles as they, along with Violet, walked up the steps to the school.

First day of senior year and Stiles was already suspicious of someone. But what else is new?

"Speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad eight years ago." Stiles reminded. Violet rolled her eyes. It was too early for this.

Malia narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "Which means what?"

Coming to a stop, Stiles turns to look at the two girls and letting out a sigh. "Who speeds? People trying to get away from something."

"And people who are trying to get somewhere. And people who drunk drive. And, you know, people who are doing literally anything. People speed for a lot of reasons, Stiles." Violet counters, earning a glare from her best friend.

Malia shrugged in agreement with the shorter girl, looking at Stiles. "Well, how many tickets do you have?"

"None." Stiles blinked like the answer was obvious.

Malia was the one to roll her eyes this time. "How many would you have if your dad didn't get you out of them?"

The pale teenager pursed his lips. "Seventeen."

The werecoyote and human both gives Stiles the same look, the one that tells him that he just proved their point. "I don't know, Stiles." Malia sighed. "I mean, I see why you're worried. He's really hot. He's got like great hair–"

"Perfect body." Violet added in, looking away to a random spot, her eyebrows raised in thought as she shamelessly pictured what Theo would look like shirtless.

Malia nodded. "You should definitely feel threatened."

"Thank you." Stiles sarcastically replied. "Because I do. Now more than ever."

"You want me to torture him?" The brunette asked. Violet gave them both a disapproving look as Stiles glanced around to make sure no one could hear them.

"No, I don't want you to torture him." Stiles mumbled, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm pretty sure I can take him." Malia insisted. She was still learning.

Talking with his hands as he usually did, Stiles continued to talk despite the annoyed expression on his best friends face. "I have a plan. All right? There are steps to doing this right."

"What steps?" The werecoyote questioned. It was quite cute, how Malia made an effort to listen to what Stiles had to say even if it sounded crazy. Violet would be doing the same if she hadn't been best friends with him since they were three and she didn't know him so well.

"We get the story. Verify the facts. You find the piece that doesn't fit and... and catch him in the act. That's how you do it." Stiles explained, Violet's shoulders dropping as she realized just how determined he seemed to be.

Stiles glanced at something behind the two girls, his jaw clenching. They both spun around, both of them spotting Theo as he waved goodbye to what seemed to be his mother, the silver SUV driving away.

Theo turned his eyes immediately locking with Violet's. The boy gave them a charming smile, sending them a wave.

Violet felt herself involuntarily grin, beginning to speak without looking back. "Hey, I'll see you guys later okay?" She asked, not waiting for a reply as she walked away towards Theo, ignoring Stiles' calls of her name.

"Hey," Violet breathed out with a grin, a bit breathless from jogging over to him.

Theo replied the same, his eyes shamelessly taking over Violet's small figure, an action that brought a blush to her cheeks.

"How's your first day been so far?" She asked. Theo opened his mouth to speak, but the human beat him to it again, "I mean, I know it hasn't really started yet so that was kind of a dumb question but–"

"Violet," Theo interrupted, a grin taking over his face as well. The petite blonde stopped her rambling, her cheeks becoming warm again once she realized what she was doing. "My days been good." He replied. "Better now that you're here."

Theo's lips pulled into a smirk when Violet bashfully bit her lip, looking down at her feet as she tried to fight the wide grin that threatened to display itself across her face.

The warning bell interrupted their conversation, both of them looking towards the school, watching as teenagers began to rush inside.

Tilting his head, Theo looked at Violet with raised eyebrows. "You wouldn't mind if I walked you to class would you?"

Violet let out giggle, one she knew would never have come out as girly sounding as it did if it wasn't Theo she was talking to. The blonde nodded, walking by Theo's side into the school.

━

It turned out that, coincidentally, Theo and Violet had the same first period, AP Biology.

Violet was never a fan of Biology or any science really, but AP classes looked good on her college applications, so pretty much all of her classes were AP.

Theo joked with her all the way to class and she even began to think, and she wasn't for sure, that he may have been flirting with her.

The two of them walked into class, Violet still laughing at a cheesy joke and the werewolf had told her. Looking away from each other, they realized that there were unfortunately no other seats besides the one next to Lydia and one closer to the back of the class.

Violet shrugged apologetically, the two of them sharing a smile as they parted ways. As she sat down next to her strawberry blonde best friend, Violet took no notice of the curious stares of her best friends and instead, of the surprising fact that Scott was also in this class.

"Scott? Since when do you take AP classes?" She questioned. Lydia made a noise to stop her, her green eyes narrowed at Violet.

"Nuh-uh, missy. What was that?" Lydia asked, pointing to the door.

Violet's eyebrows furrowed, finally taking notice of the knowing smirks on Lydia's, Scott's and Kira's faces. "What was what?"

Lydia rolled eyes at her friends obliviousness. "Flirting with the new boy that's what. Since when did you become so social?"

Violet felt her cheeks become warm for what seemed like the thousandth time that morning, glancing back at Theo who already happened to be looking at her. She quickly turned around, letting out a breath. "I wasn't flirting with Theo." She quietly replied, ignoring her friends knowing looks.

"Wait," Lydia said, "Theo Raeken? As in Theo who used to have the biggest crush on you in the fourth grade only to disappear and then reappear last night as a werewolf Theo?"

The blondes jaw dropped slightly, blinking at Lydia's words. "He had a crush on me in fourth grade?"

Lydia sighed with a shake of her head. "Of course that's all you got from that." She mumbled just as the teacher walked in.

"Welcome to AP Biology. Let's see who's awake." Mrs. Finch spoke, "Can somebody tell me what plasmids are?"

Lydia was, unsurprisingly, the first one to answer, the words coming out smoothly,. "Circular, self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins." It made Violet proud, how far Lydia had come since freshman year. The strawberry blonde used to always act like an airhead to impress Jackson but now she had no problem showing off her intelligence.

Mrs. Finch nodded. "Nicely stated, Lydia. Now, can you tell me what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via parietal cell production of a glycoprotein?"

Lydia opened her mouth to speak but her mind blanked, only a hesitant noise coming out. "B-12." Violet quickly answered for her, earning an impressed look from Mrs. Finch.

"Very good, Violet. Mr. McCall," The teacher moved on to her next victim, which unfortunately happened to be the boy who had never been in any AP classes any other year. "did you know the answer?"

Startled, Scott glanced down at his highlighted and tabbed textbook. "Um, no."

"It's a common test question." She informed him. "What's your number one college pick?"

"Um–"

"Stop saying, Um." Mrs. Finch interrupted. For such a petite woman, she was quite intimidating.

"Sorry. UC Davis." Scott replied, surprising the three girls closest to him.

The teacher nodded with a small smile. "Good choice. It's the best school on the West Coast for biological and physical sciences. You're in the right class if that's what you're hoping for."

She looked towards the rest of the class, her eyebrows raised. "Who else thinks they're in the right class?" Violet raised her hand, curiously turning around only to see that Theo was the only other person with their hand raised, the rest of the class following soon after.

"Good. Then you should all be prepared for the test tomorrow." Some students groaned, others, like Violet and Lydia, were used to these types of things from their teachers from having been in classes like this before.

"Don't be so disappointed. This test is specifically to help you determine whether you should actually be in AP Biology. You have two weeks to drop." Mrs. Finch explained, moving to lean her hand on Scott's side of the table. "Tomorrow's test will just weed out the ones who shouldn't be here. And that could be any of you."

━

Violet sighed at Scott's crestfallen expression, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Scotty, you'll do fine. And even if I didn't know you were gonna be in AP classes this year, I do know that you've studied your ass off all summer." She smiled.

Scott smiled thankfully, opening his mouth only to be cut off by their spastic best friend running over. "Hey! You two. You're coming with me. Come on."

"We've got a free period." Scott frowned, looking up at Stiles.

"So do I. And so does Theo Raeken. Let's go." Scott and Violet shared an exasperated look before they both stood up, following Stiles into the school.

A few minutes later, Stiles had managed to corner Theo into the boys locker room, Violet sending the beta an apologetic look when Stiles began to grill him, asking about how he became a werewolf and other personal things.

"I was skating in a neighbor's empty pool, trying to do a handplant. Nobody was home. I'm not that good of a skateboarder, but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time." Theo explained, glancing between each of the best friends as he spoke. "I didn't even realize that was night until the yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool and I realized something."

Theo paused to swallow thickly. "I never heard the board come back down. It came at me fast. I barely had a chance to turn around before it bit me. Right here." Theo's voice became shaky and Violet could've sworn she saw a few tears form in his eyes as he relived the memory, pointing at a spot in his side, close to his rib cage.

Scott raised his eyebrows, his gaze gentle and sympathetic unlike Stiles who continued to glare suspiciously at Theo. "Well, it wasn't an accident. He wanted to turn you." Scott confirmed.

"Right. So why aren't you part of his pack then?" Stiles asked, his eyes narrowed at the beta. "Why didn't he come back for you?"

"Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead." Theo replied.

Stiles cocked an eyebrow, his chin raising a bit. "How did you know that?"

"I met another one of his pack a couple weeks later. He told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own Betas. They were twins." Scott, Stiles and Violet all shared a glance before looking down, Ethan and Aiden coming to their minds. "Scott, listen to my pulse. I'm telling you the truth." Theo insisted.

"Right. Or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you're lying your ass off." Stiles countered, glaring.

Scott sent him a disapproving look as Violet let out a scolding, "Stiles."

"Why would I lie?" Theo looked slightly hurt by the accusation, looking between the three of them.

Stiles glanced down at his hands and then back up at Theo. "Because maybe you're not who you say you are."

Theo looked desperately between Violet and Scott, knowing that the two of them were much more trusting of him than Stiles. "Okay. In the fourth grade you had an inhaler, I had one too." He told Scott. "I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER. You were waiting for the Principal. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, an IV of prednisone." The story was too detailed to be fake, and by the look on the Alphas face, it wasn't.

"You made it sound easy. Like everything would be okay." Scott and Violet both wore gentle expressions, but Stiles wasn't buying it, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own. I swear I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too." Theo concluded, his green eyes glancing at Violet for a split second.

The bell cut their conversation short, all of them glancing up to the speaker on the ceiling. Theo sighed. "I better not be late for class. You're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on." Theo smiled, earning similar gestures from Scott and Violet.

The beta grabbed his backpack, suddenly looking over at Violet. "I'll see you later?"

The short blonde girl nodded, a smile creeping onto her face as she watched Theo exit the locker room–an action that was not missed by Stiles, the pale boy narrowing his eyes at his small best friend.

Turning towards Stiles, the other two teenagers raised their eyebrows, giving him a look that clearly stated, Told you so.

"No. Don't give me that look." Stiles immediately shook his head.

"Stiles, we have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes." Violet softly told him, knowing that, although he was being quite annoying about it, Stiles did genuinely believe with all of his heart that Theo was bad.

"Not this time. All right. I'm right." The spastic teenager insisted, throwing his backpack over his shoulders. "There's something off about him. I can feel it."

"Lydia's the psychic. Not you." Scott mused, leaving the locker room with Violet hot on his heels.

"Lydia's not psychic, she's a Banshee. Okay? There's a difference!"

━

All Violet wanted to do was get some of her homework done during the day so she would have less to do at home. Was that so much to ask?

Apparently it was, because just as she pulled out her AP English homework, Stiles came bounding into the library, slamming down two pieces of paper down in front of them.

"So you found something?" Scott asked, looking curiously at the sheets.

"Another signature." Stiles replied, "This is Theo's dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago." He pointed to the neatly written Jonathan Raeken. How he got access to it, Violet didn't want to know. "And this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago."

Kira tilted her head to the side, "How did you get his transfer form?"

Scott's shoulders dropped as he gave Stiles a look. "Did you break into the Administration Office?" He asked like a parent would question there small child.

"No, I did not break into the Administration Office." Stiles responded, earning looks from his friends. "Okay, I might have broken into the Administration Office–can we just focus on the signatures, please? They're different."

Malia analyzed the signatures, nodding slightly to support her boyfriend the best she could. "They're sort of different."

"They're completely different. Come on. Look." He told them, pointing down to the papers once again. "The garlands don't match, the undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look, look at this. Perfect example of the Criminal Tremor." Malia sent him a look, one filled with judgement, almost making the petite blonde next to her snort.

Violet could admit that that the signatures were different. But what was that supposed to mean? "So now, Theo is Theo, but his parents aren't his parents?" Violet questioned, voicing her thoughts.

"Someone's not someone. And when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble." The Stilinski boy replied, though even he looked confused at his own words.

"But no one's done anything wrong." Scott pointed out.

Violet could understand why Stiles was so distrusting of Theo. They had all been through so much in the last two years. Peter, the kanima and Gerard, the alpha pack, the darach, the nogitsune, and the Deadpool, Stiles has every right to be protective of his friends, especially Scott and Violet who he had grown up with. But their entire summer had been so peaceful and free of supernatural drama. Why was Stiles trying to start something now? With the one boy that seemed to show an interest in Violet since...him.

"Yet. If Theo's parents are both psychotic killers then obviously, we should not trust him, right?"

Malia's dark eyebrows furrowed, "My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf." She countered.

"Okay," Stiles let out an aggravated sigh, using his right hand to massage his temples. "It's fine. You know what? I'll just figure it out myself. Right? I don't need you, you, or you or you." Stiles announced, pointing to each of his friends individually. "I don't need anyone!"

━

By the time Violet got the call from Scott telling her what Stiles had been up to, she had thankfully finished all of her homework. It didn't actually take her three hours, but she was a procrastinator, and didn't start until a short time before.

As soon as the situation was explained, Violet begrudgingly got into her car, mumbling curses as she drove all the way to the Beacon Hills Preserve.

Not only had Stiles been invading Theo's privacy for the last few hours, but he had also involved Liam, who Violet often referred to as her baby because of the protective big sister instinct she felt towards him. (Though she knew that when it came down to it, Liam could do a perfectly fine job at protecting himself and Violet if needed be.)

Scott and Violet both pulled up to the Preserve around the same time, the werewolf on his motorcycle and Violet in her car. They parked near where Stiles Jeep was parked, the two of them getting out to lean against their vehicles as they waited to Stiles and Liam to arrive.

When they did, both boys stopped at the sight of them, refusing to meet their eyes, knowing they would be filled with disappointment.

"Find anything?" Scott questioned.

Stiles paused before shaking his head quickly. "Nope."

"I fell in a hole." Liam offered, his face falling when Scott ignored him and all Violet did was give him a motherly glare, both of them passing him to approach the Jeep.

"It was the bridge where his sister died, wasn't it?" Violet asked, amusement clear from her face.

"Yes, it was. Very embarrassing. So we are gonna leave now." Stiles replied, turning the ignition only for the engine to sputter, a sound familiar to everyone present as the Jeep did it quite often.

Stiles closed his eyes, letting out a breath while his hand came up to rest against the worry lines across his forehead. "Son of a–Liam, just do me a favor, get in the car and turn the ignition when I say." The pale boy muttered hurriedly, getting out of the car and rushing to the front.

The hood of the Jeep creaked as Stiles lifted it open, most of the parts inside covered with layers and layers of ductape from all the years Stiles had had it.

"Stiles?" Scott tried.

Stiles messed with a something in the hood, mumbling almost incoherently, "Be with you in a sec. Try it!"

From inside the car, Liam turned the ignition, receiving the same sound as before. Stiles rested his forearms on the edge of the vehicle, clenching his jaw.

"Stiles." Violet said this time, finally getting a reaction.

"Yes, okay. We followed him out here. What do you want me to say?" Stiles spoke, his tone frustrated and tired. "That I'm a stalker, huh? That I'm crazy, totally paranoid? None of this is new information."

Scott looked at him expectantly, "You're not even gonna try to at least give him the benefit of the doubt?" The teen wolf asked.

Stiles snapped his head to look at them, his finger coming up as he talked, "I give people the benefit of the doubt. I've given a lot of benefit to a lot of people." Stiles reminded them, pausing before going back to fidgeting with the random parts in his car.

"Like Derek?" Violet asked, Stiles sighing in response. "Kira? Liam?"

"I was right about Peter." The spastic boy remarked. "Try it again." The engine sputtered once again before stopping. Stiles looked on the verge of exploding, the vein in his forehead visible as his patience thinned. "You know, I bet you still think that there's something about him that can be saved."

In response, Scott nodded softly. "Maybe."

Stiles exhaled angrily, "Try it again!"

Scott furrowed his eyebrows, though he wasn't at all glaring at Stiles, only giving his best friend a solemn look. "Why can't you trust anyone?"

"Because you trust everyone!" Stiles furiously shouted, his hand impulsively coming down to punch roughly onto the metal parts of his Jeep. Violet immediately flinched, both her and Scott staring at their best friend in concern as he looked away in attempt to hide his pain.

"Are you okay?" Violet gently asked, afraid he would do something irrational. He may be a pain in the ass but he was one of the closest things she had to a family, what with her parents always been gone in business trips.

Stiles mouth gaped open for a second before closing, refusing to meet either of his friends eyes. "I'm fine."

"You could've broken it." Scott argued, his eyes flicking between Stiles and his now red hand.

"It's not broken." Stiles insisted.

"Let me see it."

"I'm fine."

"Let me see it." Scott said in a more demanding, but still soft, tone. Instead of continuing to argue, Stiles allowed Scott to take his hand, staring in awe as the werewolf absorbed his pain, black veins running up the length of his arm.

Violet had experienced it many times beforehand. Because for some reason many of the villains they've faced seemed to opt for going after the seemingly more defenseless human best friend of Scott McCall. But Stiles had never been on the receiving end of the situation, only ever having seen Scott take people's pain.

Violet knew, however, Scott would never hesitate to do it again, no matter how big or small the injury was.

Just as long as his friends and family weren't in pain.

━

It was almost 9:30 by the time Violet arrived back home. Though it was almost routine at this point. Go to school, deal with something supernatural, then go home, and repeat.

Her house was empty, like usual. When your parents are both worked for the most successful Cruise in the world, you didn't see them very often. Violet's father was the captain of the cruise ship and worked to manage many other things. So while her parents were traveling the world and having the time of their lives, Violet was home in Beacon Hills, risking her life for her friends what seemed like every day.

Her parents knew that they were leaving their teenage daughter alone at home, and even agreed to have Violet emancipated at the age of 16. Sure it made it much easier for Violet to deal with the things that go on in Beacon Hills, she didn't have to keep secrets from anyone, or worry about her parents being in danger, but that didn't mean she didn't long to have someone at home.

A patently figure to care for her like the Sheriff did for Stiles. Someone to give her amazing advice like Melissa did to Scott. Or even someone to teach her how to fight and be strong like Argent did Allison. But thankfully, the aforementioned adults had no problem in treating Violet like their own, becoming more of a family than her own parents were.

Violet was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even realized that, in her trance-like state, she had showered and gotten into bed, exhausted from the days events.

She knew it wouldn't be easy to fall asleep, despite how tired she was. Her thoughts were not going to let her rest and she knew that. So before she could begin her attempts to fall unconscious, Violet picked up her phone, typing a text to the number she had received earlier in the day.

'Hey. Idk if you're awake but I just wanted to apologize for Stiles today. He can be really irrationally paranoid sometimes. And rude. But it's all with good intentions.'

Pressing send, Violet was prepared to call it a night. But when she saw the small Read under the text bubble, she perked up, waiting for his response.

'You don't have to apologize. I get it, he's protective over his friends. I admire that. No harm done.'

Violet smiled in response, her fingers typing before she could stop them.

'I'm glad you understand. But sorry again for his rudeness. I'll see you at school tomorrow?'

It took a second to happen, but another text bubble quickly appeared, the words making Violet blush, a wide smiling adorning her face.

'Sure thing. See you tomorrow gorgeous ;)'

Stiles may have a bad feeling about Theo, but Violet had a really good one.

━

We know, it's been far too long, but here's the first chapter! Other than the like one sentence in the prologue, Theo and Violet have finally had a proper conversation. Many proper conversations.

We hope you ship them already as much as we do. Comment any ship names you can think of!

Remember, the more the you vote and comment, the faster the updates will come!

– Alexis and Kirsten