┏━━━━⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆━━━━┓

HOPE

"HOW DO WE KNOW THIS WILL WORK?"

The question of uncertainty lingered in the air, palpable amidst the sterility of the hospital elevator. It echoed off the walls, between the three occupants within.

"It'll work because you're an alpha now."

If you had asked Scott McCall if he ever thought he'd be doing a favour for Peter Hale willingly after everything he'd done, he would've laughed right in your face. Granted, he had shown up to the McCall residence with a certain Lahey boy in tow, and he couldn't look past the other teen's equally as pleading tone.

Hence why he found himself at the hospital with the pair, being guided toward a room he hadn't been to before— yet one he knew everything about.

After the events that had taken place just over two weeks ago, Scott found himself alone in his newfound status. Derek had given up his power to save his sister, the alpha pack had been dealt with, the twins were omegas for crying out loud, and Emerson...

He was the only one for the job, they said. The only one who could save a certain deputy, so really, it wasn't a favour for Peter; it was a favour for Emerson.

Isaac had told him how much Hannah Prescott meant to Emerson, and who was Scott to not believe the validity of that statement when Isaac had practically been a brother to the girl. It admittedly used to trouble Scott, unsure of why the Lahey boy always seemed to enamoured by someone who, oddly enough, wasn't him.

Now, now he understood. He could see it clearly, their deeply rooted bond, one that still persisted despite her larger than life absence as of late. He saw it in the way Isaac looked like he hadn't been sleeping much, in the way he would talk of her like she was just on a vacation somewhere else.

He didn't skip town, not like Derek had when he had the chance, and her absence followed him, no— everyone, everywhere. Her absence followed them through the halls, as they stepped into the Prescott woman's room, and as they told the nurse within that they were here on behalf of one Emerson Avery.

"She hasn't been by in a while," the nurse offhandedly mentioned, though her eyes slid over to where Peter was standing, "but you— you I've seen."

"She's been sick," Peter responded snippily, eager to not dwell on what the nurse was insinuating. "Now, would you excuse us?"

The nurse jotted one last thing down in the woman's chart before exiting the room, not even bothering to hide the distaste on her face at the Hale man's utter disregard just then. Peter was only undeterred, going to close the door with a soft click.

"So, I just," Scott started, wincing as he tried to word it correctly, "bite the deputy? And you're sure it's gonna work?"

"It'll work," Peter assured him with a nod, standing by the door. "I'm certain."

"But what about that girl from the story you told us? Paige?" the teenager quipped in response. "You said the bite didn't take. What happens if that happens?"

He was asking the obvious: what if Hannah's body rejected the bite and she died? She was going to die regardless, but to endure that amount of suffering when she could've gone easy?

"You and Ennis are two very different alphas," Peter pointed out, a little bit of frustration seeping into his tone. "Hannah will survive this."

"This is how we save her," Isaac piped up, quietly as he stood next to the Prescott woman. He was looking at her as he spoke. "Emerson would've wanted us to look out for her. This is how do we that."

Scott breathed out, sparing Isaac one last look before he took a step toward the coma-induced woman.

"Okay... it's worth a shot."

ೃ࿔*:⋆

"It's not much yet, but I was thinking we could head into town to get you some things? Some posters, maybe a throw blanket, or—"

"That's generous and all, Deputy Prescott, but I don't wanna be a bother."

A light pinch to the lanky boy's earlobe. "Hannah."

A sheepish smile. "Okay: I don't wanna be a bother, Hannah."

"If you aren't bothering me, 'means I'm doing something wrong," the woman said, her hands going to her hips. "This isn't my first rodeo, Isaac. Let me get my keys."

The bite took, like Peter said it would, and he still couldn't stop reminding the others even weeks after, always a smug look on his face before the words I told you so followed. It took a week to adjust, two weeks to mourn the biggest loss of her life, and only a couple of days to find out that Isaac Lahey had been living without a legal guardian.

In her eyes, that simply wouldn't do. With the help of Melissa McCall, Hannah was able to persuade Isaac into moving into her home, so he could have a space of his own. The boy was admittedly on the fence, all but pressing into Scott's personal bubble as they discussed it in the McCall's living room, but eventually gave her a nod of agreement.

Scott was still nearby, an easy seven minute walk or a minute sprint if he put those werewolf abilities to good use, and he finally had his own bedroom after almost a year of bouncing from place to place. The loft was left desolated when the two Hale siblings left town, right after the events of the lunar eclipse, so he would've been a fool not to accept.

Besides, after having Emerson for so long, the Prescott woman didn't think she was meant to live alone anymore. She couldn't bare it— the way she still knocked at the door before entering the home and never got a response, the way she'd still set the table for two, the empty spot in the driveway where her car had once been.

In some way, Isaac was the same. He couldn't bare it— the lack of responses from the chemistry wizard in his phone, the hole in his stomach where a bond had been viscerally cut out of him, the way her lifeless eyes were the only part of his dreams that he remembered nowadays.

They needed each other, because they'd both lost someone who was just as irreplaceable as she'd been when she was alive.

It was why Isaac moved into the spare bedroom, the one that had once been made up of a pile of boxes and a little desk near the window. Emerson's room would remain untouched, though Isaac and Hannah had eventually mustered up the courage to go inside to clean up the damage that was left from the alpha pack.

Hannah sobbed like a baby, and if Isaac scrubbed at his eyes when he noticed a small picture of himself and Emerson at her last soccer championship, then that was simply his own business. He pocketed the picture, waiting until he had some actual furniture before he could put it somewhere.

That had been just a few days ago, and while most of the furniture had been assembled just then, Hannah seemed insistent that he should be decorating it the way he liked. She was already doing so much for the boy, he truly didn't want to impose.

He'd never know it, but Emerson had acted the same way when she was placed under Hannah's care. The blonde brightened up after the trip to the Prescott cabin, and Hannah made a mental note that she would need to bring Isaac for a visit.

They were oddly similar, those two; both just kids who'd been dealt a more shittier hand in life than the rest. Two halves of the same whole, one which would be forever waiting to be reunited with the other. Siblings who just weren't meant to have enough time to truly embrace just what they were to each other.

The same could've been said for Emerson and Derek.

There just wasn't the time.

Isaac heard the woman hollering his name from downstairs, the noise in his ear and breaking him from his stupor. He started downstairs, jogging toward the car that had already been started in the driveway.

Hopping in, he tucked his legs inside before shutting the door. Then, the blonde woman put the gearshift into drive before leaving the paved driveway.

"You heard from him yet?" Hannah asked, but only once they were out of their street.

Isaac didn't need to ask to know just who she was talking about. "No," he responded, picking at a loose thread on his jeans. "He won't return my calls, or Scott's for that matter."

"He misses her," the woman supplied with a knowing tone of voice. "He's mourning her. Don't take it to heart."

The Lahey boy nodded, pausing for a beat. "I miss her too," he sighed out, tongue poking his cheek as they drove out of the neighbourhood. "I think I'll be missing her for the rest of my life."

Hannah swallowed around nothing, fingers tightening on the wheel as she tried to keep her sadness at bay. She could mourn, they all could, but she also had someone to take care of now. In her mind, this was Hannah Prescott doing right by the girl who always did right by others.

"She's keeping an eye on us," Hannah said. "Emmy loved us too much for her to do anything else... even when she's whenever she is now."

Isaac scoffed out a chuckle, a bittersweet grin pulling at his lips. "Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed. "I just hope she knew how much we loved her too, y'know?"

Beneath that snarky, battered exterior she often wore, Emerson Avery was pure love. She was compassion, she was selflessness, she was justice. She was everything that a good person was, and for that, she was loved.

"Trust me, honey. She knew."

Emerson Avery was loved.

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

[ wyn's final note ]

and there it is: COME DOWN SOON.

if you've listened to the title track of this fic by lizzy mcalpine, you'd have known that emmy wasn't guaranteed a happy ending because nothing good has ever worked out well for her. exhibit #101 of that is her outcome :(

i do have one last bonus chapter in my mind (potentially two), so stay tuned for that! my peter hale fic is also up and will be continued soon now that this one is over, so check it out if that fancies you lolol

thanks for coming on this journey with me— if you've ever commented or voted or given this a read, you have my heart :)

all my love, always!