After a five hour flight, Melanie sleeping on Theo's shoulder almost the whole time, the two made it to Beacon Hills. Melanie had called Melissa before their flight, telling her she and Theo wanted to come back and visit and Melissa instantly opened her doors to two, offering Melanie her old room and offering Theo Scott's.

Melissa was bummed she had work their first night back, but insisted that tomorrow night, they could do a dinner to catch up.

Melanie was walking out of her room after she had unpacked, heading to the kitchen for some water, but stopped when she heard a voice coming from where she was heading.

"Does your, uh, mom know that you're here?" Melanie heard as she walked down the stairs. She got hit with deja vu at the sound of Chris Argents voice. She hadn't seen or heard him in around eleven years.

"Does she know that you're here?" Scott shot back at the man. Melanie's feet quickened in pace, wanting to see Scott since she hadn't seen him since him and Melissa came up to Maryland to celebrate Christmas with Melanie and Liam.

"No. And I kind of want to keep it that way." Chris said once Melanie got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, me too." Scott agreed just as Melanie turned to corner into the kitchen, seeing the two men and Lydia standing around the coffee table. Melanie sighed, shaking her head as she went to stand at the edge of the table in between the two men. "So I'm the only one that wants to spend time with Melissa this trip?"

Scott smiled at Melanie, throwing an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. Melanie returned the hug, giving smiles to Lydia and Chris.

Chris pointed at the table where a handful of dirt laid on top of a tablecloth. "Lydia, we've got the earth where she died, the weapon that took her life. According to you, that's steps one and two. What is next?"

Melanie stared at the pile of dirt as she remembered the night Allison died. She thought back to just earlier in the morning when she had to fill Theo in on the plan as well as who Allison was.

Lydia pursed her lips at Chris, pulling a stack of scribbled up papers out of her bag. "I was, uh, hoping you could help me figure that out. I mean, to be honest, I'm a little out of practice with all of this."

Lydia spread the papers out across the table, letting everyone have a drawing to look at. Melanie looked up from the paper she was holding, her brows furrowed at Lydia. "You still scream like a banshee, right?"

"Not quite like I used to. It's just like a muscle. You stop using it, and it atrophies." Lydia said, hesitating at some words. Melanie figured it may have been a sore subject and stopped pressing about it.

"Why did you stop using your power?" Chris asked, obviously not catching onto the same hints Melanie picked up.

"Stiles. Obviously it has something to do with Stiles." A voice answered from behind Melanie. She turned around and watched as Jackson squeezed passed her, heading straight for the fridge.

Melanie looked to Scott to silently ask him what he was doing here, but when she looked at him, he looked just as confused. "Why is Jackson here?" Scott asked, looking to Lydia since he knew Chris wouldn't bring him and Melanie never spoke to him and only met him once.

When Lydia wouldn't make eye contact, Scott turned to Jackson. "What are you doing?" Scott asked and Jackson rolled his eyes

"Well, firstly, Jackson prefers not to be talked about like he's not in the room." The boy said as he took a slice of pizza from the fridge and walked around the table to stand across from Lydia, next to Argent.

Melanie cringed at the fact that he's speaking in third person as he continued. "Second, well, Lydia called, begging me to help, as usual. And I said, OK, so long as she promised never to tell Ethan, because I promised Ethan that I would never come back to this nightmare hellscape of a town."

Melanie awkwardly raised her hand and cleared her throat. "Since it was just revealed that Lydia got Jackson here impromptu, I... brought someone too." Melanie said, looking up at Scott with worried eyes.

Scott sighed, tilting his head in annoyance, part of him already knowing who she brought while the other part of him was denying it. "Who?" Scott asked.

As if he was waiting for a grand entrance, Theo walked into the kitchen. Melanie watched as Scott and Lydia's jaws clenched. She's now partially regretting getting him to come considering no one in the pack really liked or trusted him except her and now Corey, but she knew he'd help.

Scott looked down at Melanie, giving her a "really?" look. Melanie let out an awkward laugh and gave Scott a small smile. "Don't be mad. I love you." She awkwardly chuckled to Scott as Theo stood next to her and Chris.

"Oh, I love these games." Jackson hummed in excitement, going to grab the papers, but Chris grabbed his hand, stopping him with a glare. Jackson slowly turned his head to Chris, both of them giving each other death stares.

"This isn't a game." Chris warned and Jackson tilted his head. "I have claws that drip paralytic venom, and a tail that'll snap your neck. So take your hand off of me, old man." Jackson threatened, ripping his hand out from under Argent's as Melanie felt Theo straighten up beside her.

"It's a tree." Theo said as if it was the easiest thing in the world. The papers weren't even together to match the image he blurted. The five turned to him, all of them silently asking how he knew that. Theo looked at all the eyes on him and rolled his own. He leaned across the table to grab all the papers before putting them into the shape he saw like pieces of a puzzle.

"It's not just a tree. It's the Sacred Grove." Lydia breathed out. Melanie looked down at the drawing, tilting her head. She could've sworn she'd seen the tree stump before.

"The ancients Druids call it a Nemeton." Chris said and suddenly, it all came back to her. She remembered searching for the Nemeton with Belle, Liam, and Mason to look for the bodies of the chimeras.

Jackson, who was obnoxiously chewing, shrugged. "Well, it looks like a tree."

...

Scott and Lydia met up with Malia to find the Nemeton. Melanie was going to go with them until Scott said she wasn't needed. Melanie was partially glad he said that. She felt a little bit out of place going since she wasn't close to Allison.

Melanie and Theo took this form of free time to go to the lacrosse game after Theo said he never went to one of Beacon Hills' games. While Theo went to find seats for them, Melanie roamed the halls of the high school, purposefully dodging the hallway Belle died in to try and find Coach Finstock.

"This tournament is everything I've dreamed of my entire career as a lacrosse coach. And that trophy is going right here, boys. And I know none of you will ruin it for me by losing this game tonight!" Coach Finstock's voice echoed throughout the hallways of Beacon Hills high school.

Melanie smiled at the voice, turning the corner to find all of the lacrosse kids walking towards the direction of the locker rooms, Coach right at the end of the hallway before the turn.

"You wouldn't have to be threatening them if I was on the team. Huh, Coach?" Melanie called out and Finstock instantly whipped his head in the direction of Melanie's voice.

"Yukimura!" Coach Finstock yelled, opening his arms out for Melanie to give him a hug. When she did, Coach sighed, rubbing her back. "You're right. I wouldn't have to worry about not winning that trophy."

When they pulled away, Finstock squinted, he wrapped an arm around Melanie's shoulders, the two of them walking towards the locker rooms. "How old are you, Yukimura?" Melanie gulped, looking away from Finstock. "Uh... Twenty-nine."

Coach cringed at that answer, not liking how old it made him sound. "You look young enough, you want to play tonight? Just like old times?"

Melanie let out a laugh, thinking the man was joking, but when he didn't laugh with her, she realized he was serious and her laughs stopped.

Before she could comment, a very familiar voice jumped in, walking towards Finstock. "Hey, Coach, can I have a word?"

Melanie's eyes doubled in size at Derek standing in front of her. Derek was looking at Finstock then turned to Melanie to silently apologize for interrupting their conversation. He turned back to look at Finstock before double taking, realizing he just looked at Melanie.

"Mel..." Derek said, a smile growing on his face at the sight of the girl. Out of all the times Melanie had come back to Beacon Hills to visit, Melanie had never caught up with Derek. Just as Melanie was about to speak, Coach scoffed. "Do you have to talk to me or what?"

Derek turned back to Coach, nodding. "I do actually." Derek said, putting his hand on Finstock's shoulder, making him let go of Melanie. Derek turned his head to Melanie, mouthing. "We'll talk later." which Melanie nodded at, giving him a small thumbs up.

"Don't do that." A voice whispered after Derek from Melanie's side as the two men walked away. Melanie turned her head and smiled at Noah Stilinski standing with a boy around fifteen years old.

Noah smiled at Melanie. "Hey, kid." He greeted with a big smile as he walked up to Melanie to pull her into a hug. "Hey, Sheriff." Melanie hummed.

When they pulled away, Melanie looked at the boy, giving him a small smile. Noah, looked back and forth between the two before pressing a hand on the boys shoulders, turning to face Melanie. "Melanie Yukimura, Eli Hale. Eli, Melanie's an old friend of your fathers."

Both Melanie and Eli's jaws dropped. "You're Derek's kid?" She asked and Eli nodded. Noah hummed before tightening his grip on Eli's shoulder. "I was just about to have a word with him about stealing a certain blue jeep many times."

Melanie cringed and as much as she used to love watching Stiles get yelled at by Noah, she didn't know Eli so she quickly said her goodbye before running off to the stands, finding Theo quickly.

She sat down and shivered at the cold hitting her neck. She wrapped her jacket around her a little tighter and even though she'd normally protest, she was grateful that the stands were packed so she could stay warm.

Theo looked down and chuckled at Melanie. He looked back off to the field and leaned towards her. "So... How does lacrosse work?" He asked.

Melanie rolled her eyes at his question. "Forgot you were too busy hanging out with the Dread Doctors to go to a game." She grumbled, scooting a little closer to him so she'd be able to point out players and tell him how lacrosse works.

-mel and theo are so special to me🤭
LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME
new best friends.

THE MELANIE AND FINSTOCK DUO BEING BACK??? YES.

anywho... liam comes back next chapter😧😧😧😧😧