I hate to see my babies fight

Question of the Chapter: Would you be understanding of why they kept her parentage from her if you were in Riley's position?

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I woke up to Malia shaking my arm, saying my name. Groaning a little, I sat up and checked the time on my phone; it was only seven in the morning.
"What's up?"

"Isaac is here. He says he's not leaving until he can talk to you," Malia replied with a roll of her eyes.

Getting up and grabbing my clothes, I headed towards the bathroom. "It's fine. Tell him I'll be there in five minutes."

She nodded and I went and got changed, before heading to the front door. Isaac was standing there awkwardly, hands in his pockets as he stared down at his shoes.

"I'll call you later," I told Malia, giving her a quick hug before walking out the front door with Isaac.

He lead me over to his motorbike holding out the spare helmet. I hesitated, before taking it from him.
"How did you find me?" I asked as I secured the helmet.

He pursed his lips as he looked at me, "Charlotte told me you were here."

"I knew I should have told her to keep it to herself," I mumbled as I climbed onto the back of the bike.

Isaac didn't say anything, but I could tell he was nervous. He hadn't known about the whole Peter thing, but the way he threatened Stiles wasn't forgotten on me.

My arms were wrapped tightly around Isaac as we rode through the streets of Beacon Hills. I didn't know where we were going, and I honestly didn't care. I had so much going on in my head at the moment, an Alpha could attack us and I probably wouldn't even notice.

When Isaac stopped, I looked around to realise that we were at the Beacon Hills lookout. Back when we were dating, Isaac and I would come up here when we wanted to be somewhere quiet.

"You told me once that you thought you did your best thinking here," he told me softly after putting the brakes down on his motorbike. We both climbed off of the seat, making our way towards the edge of the lookout.

I felt myself smile slightly at the thought, knowing he took me here on purpose. We talked about a lot of things here, mainly just trying to help each other. I obviously found out later that Isaac didn't exactly share everything with me, but I didn't hold that against him anymore.

There were bigger things.

As we took a seat on the wooden bench and stared out across Beacon Hills, I found myself pulling the list out of my pocket and staring at my name. I had accepted it at this point, but it still didn't feel real.

"So, you really didn't know?" Isaac asked quietly.

Of course I didn't know! I wanted to yell. Do you think I would have reacted that way if I had known this?

Instead, I took the more measured approach. "I had no idea. I mean, I knew about Malia, but I never thought that I. . ."

Isaac put an arm around my shoulder, his warmth soothing me. For a moment, I was taken back to our freshman year sitting up here together. Talking, not talking, kissing, not kissing.
It was strange to think that my first boyfriend was now just one of my best friends. I was glad though, I couldn't imagine not having him in my life.

"Why didn't he tell you?" The curly-haired boy asked.

I shrugged, resting my head on his shoulder. "I think he tried to tell me a few times but then just. . . didn't. The same goes for Scott and Lydia. They all lied to my face. Why is it so hard for everyone to just tell the truth?"

I felt Isaac wince at my words. "Maybe they were waiting for the right time. They didn't technically lie."

Sitting up, I met his eyes, "The right time would have been when they found out. And I don't care, they still didn't tell me."

He sighed, taking my hand in his. "Put yourself in their position for a second. What would you have done?"

I thought for a moment. I wanted them to tell Malia, I had practically been pushing Scott to do so. "You're right," I nodded.

Isaac seemed relieved thinking that he had gotten through to me.

"But I wouldn't have taken that choice of knowing away from them. And I wouldn't have made a fake list."

"Riley, they just wanted to protect you."

I stood up, running a hand down my face, "I'm so sick of people saying that. I'm not some damsel in distress, I don't need you all standing over me like I'm a child. I can take care of myself."

"I know-"

"Do you?" I asked, cutting him off. "What was that with Stiles, out the front of Scott's house then? Threatening to hurt him like that?"

Isaac chuckled, "I wasn't being serious, Ri. You know I wasn't going to hurt him."

There was a sliver of doubt in my mind, which I wasn't going to keep hidden.
"It didn't seem that way, Isaac."

"Riley, you're my friend and I care about you, and he grabbed you. I wasn't just going to stand by and let him do that. I would've done the same thing for any of my pack."

I pursed my lips as I searched his face, but found nothing. He was about as readable as white ink on fresh paper.
"Why are we out here, Isaac?"

His eyes drifted to look out across Beacon Hills, "I almost lost everyone important to me because of a secret. I lost my mother, my brother, my father. . . you. But having the pack, it means something."

My gut felt hollow at his words, forgetting what some of us had been through before entering the world of the supernatural.
"What's your point?"

He bit back a smile at my straightforward attitude; it was something he used to say he liked about me.
"My point, is that I know you're hurting right now, and that's okay. But, don't lose them all over this. It's not worth it."

"How would you know?"

"Because I let secrets ruin my life, and I don't want you to let that happen to yourself."

Looking down at my hands, I twisted the bracelet sitting on my wrist nervously. "I just feel like everything's changed now. Like. . . like I've changed."

Isaac grabbed my hand so I would concentrate on him instead of the bracelet. "I'm telling you now, this doesn't change anything. Not who you are. Not what you are. So, don't let it."

We sat in silence for a while, staring out at Beacon Hills. It was amazing how normal it looked from here; how normal we all used to think it was. I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Scott hadn't been bitten. Would we have found out about the supernatural eventually?

Without a word, Isaac went over and got onto his bike, getting ready to leave. I joined him, grabbing the spare helmet.
"Where are you going?" I asked.

He looked at me over his shoulder, "I'm going to the station to talk to Parrish, because that's where we said we'd be. Are you coming with me, or am I dropping you home?"

I bit my lip in thought. I had said that I was going to be with them to talk to him, and I didn't want to miss anything by not being there.
"Alright. Let's go see Parrish."

The hint of a smile reached Isaac's lips as he put his helmet on and started up the bike, heading to the station.

♧♤♢♡

When we arrived at the station, Lydia and Stiles were waiting out the front. They both appeared surprised to see me with Isaac, probably expecting that I wouldn't want to see them. They weren't wrong, but there were bigger things than my pride.

Lydia and Isaac headed inside the station and I tried to follow, but Stiles stepped in front of me.

"What, Stiles? We need to talk to Parrish."

The boy's eyes were darting quickly between me and the station. "Are you still mad at me?"

"Mad doesn't even begin to describe it," I scoffed as I shook my head. "Stiles, it hasn't even been one day. You need to just give me some space to work through this. Please."

He looked like he wanted to argue for a moment, before he nodded, granting me my request. I just needed a bit of time to accept all of it, and to forgive them for lying to me.

I stepped around him and began to walk into the station, when I heard him whisper, "I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do, was to hurt you."

Stopping at the door for a moment, I lowered my head, "I know."

This conversation wasn't over, but for now, we needed to talk to Parrish. We both went inside and went in search of Parrish with Isaac and Lydia. Thankfully, we found him pretty quickly.

"Your dad should be back within the hour, Stiles," the deputy informed the boy as he lead the four of us through the station. "You want to wait in his office?"

"Actually, we want to talk to you," Stiles replied slowly, his eyes flitting to me every now and then.

"Privately," Lydia tacked on.

Parrish looked confused, but took us into a separate room anyway. Lydia grabbed out the Deadpool, before quickly explaining to Parrish what was going on. She then handed him the piece of paper, folded in a way that he couldn't see his name yet.

"This is a hit list?" The man asked.

Stiles crossed his arms, "We call it a Deadpool. Do you recognise any of these names?"

"Yeah. The Sheriff had me run a bunch of these through the system last night. But we couldn't find anything."

"Lydia, the other thing," I said, nudging her.

She stepped forward, turning the page in the Deputy's hands. As soon as he saw his name, he stood up straight and his eyes went wide.
"Okay. That's kind of terrifying. What's the number?"

"The number, is how much you're worth," I explained.

"I'm worth five dollars?" He exclaimed.

"Five million," Isaac corrected, holding up a hand to show his fingers.
"More than me, somehow," I heard him mumble, causing me to laugh under my breath.

"I only make forty thousand a year," the man said in thought. "Maybe I should kill myself."

I chuckled lightly at his response. That was one way of looking at this.

"I don't get it. Why. . . why am I on this?"

"Honestly, that might be a question for another day," Stiles informed him cryptically; again, his gaze shadowed over me. He wanted me to meet his eyes, but I wouldn't.
"Right now, there's still another third of the list we gotta crack."

"We need the third cipher key. But we need help getting it," Lydia said, treading carefully. After what had happened with Meredith last time she was here, she wasn't exactly in good standing with the Sheriff and Deputy.

"From who?" The deputy asked.

"Meredith."

"The girl from Eichen? The last time you saw her, you almost gave her a nervous breakdown."
The man walked over and opened the door for us to leave.

"Almost."

Parrish clenched his jaw, looking to the floor before meeting our eyes again. "Fine. But I'm not taking all four of you. I'll be lucky to get one of you inside."

Before the others could say anything, I rose my hand quickly, "I'll stay behind."

Stiles went to grab my hand that was still by my side, but I took a step back, finally looking up at him. "I don't want to be back there." Not with you. "You guys go. He can't take all of us and we're on a time limit here."

"I'll stay back, too," Isaac offered.

Lydia and Stiles were weary at first, probably not wanting to go alone. After a moment, Stiles sighed and nodded, reluctantly agreeing to go with Parrish.

"Great. Come find me when you're done," I mumbled, walking out of the station with Isaac in tow. "Can you give me a ride home, please?"

"Of course," he nodded, his curls bobbing slightly with the movement.

Walking along the street, I knew Stiles was watching us go, but I didn't look back.

♧♤♢♡
✧*:･ﾟStiles･ﾟ:*✧

"So, she knows," Lydia stated as we walked through Eichen.

"Yep."

"And she's pissed?"

"Yep."

"You should have told her sooner," Lydia said as we stopped behind Parrish, waiting for an orderly to unlock Meredith's door.

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration, "I'm aware of that. Thank you. You know, you could have said something."

Lydia was about to give the whole 'it needed to be you' speech, before she stopped, bowing her head. "I know. And I'm sorry that I put that on you."

"I should have told her that night," I said beneath my breath. "You guys should have let me bring her to Scott's."

"I know."

"Then why didn't you?"

The short girl glared at me, "I didn't want her to hear something like that from me."

Pressing a hand to the back of my neck, I looked away. I almost wished I hadn't when my eyes fell on Brunski. "Oh, no, not this guy."

"What the hell are we running here? A bed and breakfast?" He asked as he snatched the key away from the younger orderly. "You do not just open the door for anyone with a badge."

The younger man sighed, before walking away.

"We need to talk to Meredith Walker," Parrish informed him. "It involves a murder investigation."

"Well, you can talk to her all you want, but these two, especially that one. . ." he pointed at me, not hiding his disdain. We hadn't exactly gotten on when I was last here. "They're outta here."

"They're crucial witnesses in an ongoing investigation. I wouldn't have brought them here if it wasn't absolutely. . . crucial."

I felt my hope for us seeing her shrink as I cringed at his words. Brunski was a hard ass, he wasn't going to buy that.

"Okay, deputy," the head orderly almost growled. "How about you come back with a court order, then I'll listen." The man then turned, stepping forward until he was right in front of me. "As for you, mister Stilinski, how about you come back with payment in full. Your little girlfriend who just walked out with you, as well."

My eyes flitted away from him as my weight shifted my foot to foot uncomfortably. My father was still behind, and as of right now, we had no way of paying them back.

Brunski, however, didn't let up. "That's right. Daddy may be the Sheriff, but he's late on the bills. I guess those government jobs aren't as reliable as they used to be, huh?"

"But they do help when you need a favour," Parrish intercepted. "Like, how a month ago, Canaan P.D. helped you get home after blowing .1 on a breathalyser."

A small gasp escaped through a laugh as I pursed my lips, staring at the orderly, "No. . ."
I couldn't help the smile that reached my face, knowing we had him.

"All right," Brunski laughed bitterly. "I'm not against a little quid pro quo. Not at all. Not at all."

He patted me on the shoulder, holding the keys against my chest. I took them from his grasp, not even bothering to hide my wide smile.

As Brunski walked away, I found myself patting Parrish on the back, handing him the keys. "You. You, I like you. I'm gonna keep you."

Parrish then went and unlocked the door, and we were finally in to see Meredith.

♧♤♢♡
✧･ﾟ:*Riley*:･ﾟ✧

"Hey, I didn't hear you get home. How are you?" Charlotte asked as she walked into my room.

I had come home and went straight to my room, throwing on an episode of Supernatural so I could pretend like everything going wrong in my life was just a part of their tv show or something. It wasn't working. "I have another sister," I informed her as I continued to watch the show.

"Is that right?" She asked slowly. "Do you know them?"

Pausing the episode, I looked up at her, "It's my friend Malia, actually."

She nodded slowly, "The werecoyote. She seems tough, but I think I could take her."

"What are you talking about?"

"The fight we're going to have to claim the title of only sister. I don't care if she has claws, I'll win," She smiled as she sat beside me on my bed.

I let my head rest on her shoulder as I laughed a little, "You'll always be my sister, Char."

"Good to see we're on the same page," she chuckled as she put an arm around me, running her fingers through my hair. "So, what's really bothering you?"

"Stiles, Scott and Lydia knew everything and none of them told me," I replied bluntly.

I felt a sigh escape Charlotte as she continued to run her hand through my hair. "Look, Ri, I'm just going to be honest with you, okay?"

I pulled away from her so I could sit up and meet her eye. "Why do I feel like I'm not going to enjoy your honest take on this?"

"Because, you know I'm usually right," she said with a small smile. "I think that, maybe, you might be being too harsh."

"How could I possibly be being too harsh?" I scoffed.

Charlotte reached out and took one of my hands in her own, "You forgave me and dad pretty quickly. Why not your friends?"

This gave me pause.
"Because. . . Because I- I-"

"I think. . . that you are telling yourself to stay mad at them so that you have someone to be angry at. Because mum wasn't here to tell you herself, and you can't be mad at her because she's gone."

"They lied to me," I said stubbornly.

"So did I. So did dad. And so did mum," she repeated more firmly. "And you know why we all did it and that it was, in my experience, one of the hardest things I've had to do. Don't let this one thing ruin so many relationships. It's not worth it."

I felt the tears running down my cheeks before I even knew I was crying. Charlotte leaned forward, wrapping her arms around me tightly. "It's okay to be mad, but you know they wanted to tell you. She should have told you herself," she said softly.

"I just miss her so much," sobbing, I hugged her back, holding onto her so I wouldn't lose her also.

"I know," she whispered. "I miss her, too."