Lydia sprints through the door leading into the Hale's house, lived in by Cora and Derek. Their parents died when Cora was young and their older sister Laura died of aplastic anemia when she was only fourteen. The death hit Derek really hard, but he eventually pulled it together for Cora's sake. Since then he has been everyone's big brother.

Lydia jumps off the floor and into Derek's arms as he tries to cook eggs in the kitchen for breakfast. "Hey little Martin, where you been lately?" He asks as he tries to put down his pan. Lydia releases her grip.

"Oh you know, earning field metal nominations left and right," she says sarcastically. Derek smirks.

"You'll get there." Trailing behind Lydia is the rest of the group. Allison and Scott plop down on the small couch in the living room and start watching Scooby Doo. Stiles follows Lydia into the kitchen and searches the freezer for food, eventually finding Eggo waffles. He pops them in the toaster and then hoists himself up on top of the counter. The boy sits and observes quietly. "So what brings you all over here?" Derek asks. Lydia stands in between Stiles legs as he sits on the counter top, her back to his chest. He plays with her hair as if in a trance, blocking everyone else out.

"Well, Cora tells us you own a set of handcuffs, we need them," Lydia says smirking. Derek rolls his eyes.

"I can't believe I deal with you six," he claims, rubbing his temple with his thumb and forefinger. Stiles winks.

"Head outta the gutter Derek, I've been dared to spend forty eight hours handcuffed to this freak of nature," Stiles informs Derek. The Hale brother sighs and walks out of he kitchen. Stiles snatches the waffles from the toaster places them on a plate and then puts in four more. Cora takes the plate and brings it to Scott and Allison on the couch.

"Awesome, breakfast and Scooby Doo," Allison claims, "mind if I make this breakfast taste ten times better Derek?" Allison shouts to Derek from the couch, holding a pre-rolled joint in her fingertips.. Scott laughs and nuzzles his nose into Allison scraggly bun. 

"I'll pretend I don't see it," Derek responds from the other room. 

Meanwhile, Isaac trucks his way towards the bathroom, shades over his bloodshot eyes, a leather jacket that is to big slung over his shoulders. He reaches the bathroom and obtains a new tooth brush from a packet underneath the sink.

"I can taste my bad breath," he claims, burping slighting, a scowl presenting itself on his lips, "And... buffalo sauce, yuck." Derek comes back into the room with the cuffs.

"Don't drink to much then, especially around my sister, what did I tell you Lahey?" Derek asks for confirmation. Isaac looks to Derek with a mouth full of tooth paste.

"Keep it in check," Isaac says with a fake smile, his headache all to strong to force a real smile. Derek nods to the boy and then hands Stiles the cuffs. The Stilinski boy fastens the restrain-meant on his right wrist and helps Lydia clasp it on her left wrist. Lydia smirks.

"Game on."
__________________________

Lydia didn't get much sleep last night so as she steps out of her bedroom again with puffy eyes and messy hair Allison shoots a questioning glare. "Did you have special company last night or something?" She asks. Cora stands up from the table where she was drinking her coffee. Lydia shakes her head and sits down next to where Cora was sitting a few moments ago.

"No, I was just," Lydia pauses, thinking of what she was doing last night. Thinking of everything they did with Stiles, Scott, and Isaac.

"You were just?" Cora tempts before taking a sip of her refilled cup of coffee. She returns to the table along with Allison who is sipping a cup of tea.

"I was just thinking a lot, it kept me awake," Lydia puts simply. The girls do not tempt her for more information after that.

"Someone is moving in across the hall from us apparently," Cora states casually. Allison places her cup down softly on the oak table.

"Any other information about them?" The young Argent asks. Cora shakes her head, letting out a huge yawn before answering.

"Nope." Lydia lets out a deep breath.

"As much as I would love to continue this oh so fabulous conversation, I have to get to work," Lydia states. She retreats back to her room and jumps into her small shower. The warm water clears her thought, ridding her mind of the three boys from their past. Her stress and memories are washed down the drain with the sweet smelling bubbles. Once out of the shower Lydia dresses herself in black tights and a tight black skirt. A long sleeved black scoop neck shirt gets stretched over her head. Over that she hugs on a black sweater that buttons in the front and comes down to her mid thigh, over her shoulders. She applies minimal energy to her look, including natural makeup and leaving her full curls that lay over her shoulders and reach halfway down her back in their typical fiery spirals. Dismally, she slips her feet into black heeled booties. Grabbing her purse and fully charged phone she makes her way back into the living space of the apartment. In there, Lydia finds Allison and Cora singing to some Beyoncé song that Lydia doesn't care for. The girls are using spoons as microphones. It's only five thirty and they already are acting like they are hammered, Lydia thinks to herself. The girls try to get Lydia to join in, but she protests. "I've got work in twenty minutes!"

"Oh come on!" Cora insists, pulling Lydia's arm as the redhead tries to make coffee.

"Yea just call in sick!" Allison suggest. Lydia closes her thermos for her coffee and pulls away from the girls. She grabs her black coat from the coat rack. Waving her friends goodbye, she rushes out of the building. She sprints down the stairs and out of the lobby doors into the cold winter New York City air. Cars beep around her and the snow along the road side is brown at the tips from the muck on the pavement. She always walks to work in fear of traffic. The sidewalks are unreasonably crowded today. Probably because it's only two weeks before Christmas and people are shopping. Her phone begins to buzz in her purse. She curses under her breath and digs through her bag. Looking down for only a moment to locate her phone, she ends up slamming into a tall man. The coffee she was holding drops to the ground and stains the white snow brown. A quiet screech escapes her mouth before she bends down to pick up her now empty cup.

"I am so sorry! I wasn't looking, I'll pay for your shirt I'm just late to work," Lydia mumbles as she stands up from where her mug was dropped. Before she sees the man's face he speaks.

"Don't worry about it, Lydia." Lydia freezes, still staring at the snow covered ground. Slowly she tilts her head up and finds Stiles' pale, mole speckled face. She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Stiles?" She asks, not believing who she is seeing. He smirks just like he used to, his lips pale with cold..

"Hey," he says casually, as if he just saw her yesterday and not a few years ago. Lydia stands with her mouth hanging open slightly.

"Hey sorry, I'll pay for your shirt to get dry cleaned, but I'm late for work right now and I need a new coffee," Lydia says as she hands Stiles a handful of money from her pocketbook:

"Keep it," Stiles refuses the money, "and take my coffee," he says, thrusting his mug at her.

"Um, I don't like cr-"

"Cream or sugar in your coffee, I know," he says smirking, "it's just plain black." Lydia takes it gratefully and just stares at him for a few seconds, not quite sure why she can't seem to pull her eyes away from the sight of him. He looked good, and had clearly grown up over the past few years. He was a man now, and a handsome one at that. His limbs and torso had filled out a bit, and she could see even from here that his hands had been worn by work. Stiles always had a look of slight exhaustion and stress on his face, even when he was young, but now it made him look, mature somehow. Like her could understand you because he had been through the same things you had. It made her want to investigate this grown Stiles more. But reality refuses such an occasion. 

"Thanks, I'll um, see you around," Lydia says before walking away, her heart heavy. She now pulls her phone from her purse, shaking off the deep encounter, and sees that she has a missed call from Derek. She furrows her eyebrows. Derek? Why wouldn't he just call Cora. She calls the Hale boy back as she practically sprints to work, her phone in one hand and Stiles' coffee in the other. She just realized now that Stiles took her mug.

"Hey Lydia," Derek greets. As Lydia avoids bumping into anymore people on the sidewalk she responds.

"Hey, what do you need?"

"Nice to talk to you too, I just wanted to tell you something," Derek says. Derek usually talks to Cora over the phone since he still lives in California and the girls moved to New York City.

"What is it?" Lydia asks, hoping it's nothing bad.

"I called you because this isn't really something I wanted to tell Cora," Derek pauses, "I heard from some of your old friends Kira and Malia." Lydia thinks quickly as Derek speaks, those are two names I haven't heard in awhile. I wonder if they ever got together. Kira and Malia are two girls that the group of six used to be friends with in high school. They just were never as close to them as they were to each other. Malia and Kira are also gay and the group had always rooted for them to be together. Lydia tunes back into what Derek is saying. "That Isaac, Scott, and Stiles are moving to New York." Lydia scoffs.

"No shit, the reason I missed your call is because I spilled my coffee all over Stiles." Derek laughs on the other line for a second before responding.

"Well, anyways I just thought I should tell you so you as one of Cora's friends you could warn her to watch out for that cheating bastard," Derek explains.

"I got it Derek. I'll have to talk to you later, I'm already late for work," Lydia states.

"Now you know how I always felt when I was driving your asses to school everyday, i," Derek says amused.

"I'll call you after I tell Cora, bye." Lydia shoved her phone in her bag, and practically leaped into the building of her work, trying to push honey glazed irises out of her mind.

__________________________

"Cora!" Allison yells from the bathroom. Cora places down her bowl of fruit, swallowing her last cannabis fueled bite. Her empty pipe still lay on the counter next to where she sat.

"What?" She shouts back to her friend, taking a deep breath afterwards.

"I'm in a predicament, can you run to CVS and get me some tampons?" Allison asks. Cora bursts out laughing then popped some small berries into her mouth.

"You got it Ali," Cora promises, chewing fast. Allison bellows back her thanks from behind the bathroom door. Cora walks to the door in her sweatpants and tank top, her hair flopping in her messy bun that resides on the top of her head. A black lace bralette peeks over the top of her dainty shirt. She throws a thick flannel that used to belong to her brother over her shoulders, then over that one of her deceased father's denim jackets. Piercings filled with silver earrings line her ears. Her pale freckled face is bare of makeup besides her eyes which have dark black smudges around them from last nights party. Cora plucks a pink lollypop from the small mason jar on their kitchen counter. The leather and silver bracelets move around her wrist as she takes the candy. Black, circular, wire sunglasses rest on the top of her head even though there is no sun on the winter day. The lyrical tattoo on her hip stretches as she leans over the counter to snatch some money from Allison's purse and put it in her own wallet that she stuffs into the jacket. Tucking her feet into a pair of black lace up military boots and grabbing her phone she steps out of their apartment door.

As the door closes behind her she pops the lollypop in between her lips and shoves her phone in her sweat pants pocket. After only one step forward she nearly bumps into a tall young man. Cora looks up at the guy and pulls the candy from her lips. The guy sighs and cringes after widening his eyes in surprise. Cora immediately recognized him as her cheating ex-boyfriend Isaac. "Oh shit, Cora hi, how are-" before Isaac can even finish, Cora punches him straight in the nose, afterwards hearing a satisfying crack of bone. He stumbles back and holds his nose as blood streams out of it. Cora tilts her head a bit to the side.

"I'm fantastic, I pray you're miserable, have a horrible life, I hope I never see you again," Cora spouts before strutting away confidently, sticking the lollypop back in her mouth. Just as she nears the door, Isaac speaks up, still bent over clutching his nose behind her.

"Sorry to say, I'm moving in across the hall." At first Cora freezes, then she struts back over to him and punches him again, this time in the eye.