THE DRIVE ON THE WAY TO AND FROM the hospital was silent. Neither the aunt nor the niece said a word to each other, only to the doctors and nurses that took care of the blonde. The cover story was that the police station was shot up, which wasn't a total lie.

They gave her some pain medicine that she could take if her arm was ever bothering her a lot, and they also wrapped it in a bandage.

April walked into the house with her arm bandaged, and Ashley followed behind her. Once the door was closed, the strawberry blonde crossed her arms. "Now that I know that you're okay, you wanna tell me what the hell just happened? And no lies, April. I want the truth and nothing but the truth."

"I don't know where to start," the blonde girl muttered, wincing at her aunt's tone.

"Oh, I don't know," Ashley said with a sarcastic shrug. "Why don't you start by telling me what the hell that thing that tried to kill all of us was?"

April breathed out, "It's a really long story. Um, that was a Kanima."

"A what now?" the strawberry blonde questioned with raised eyebrows and a confused expression. The younger girl could tell that she was still extremely angry though.

"A Kanima, and Matt, the guy that shot Scott, controls him and gets him to kill the people he doesn't like," the Sharpe girl explained, looking down at her feet so that she didn't have to look her aunt in the eye. "Oh, and Scott and Derek are werewolves. That's why he's fine."

The Sommers woman scoffed, rolling her eyes in disbelief. She clearly knew it was true but was not letting herself believe it. "That's not possible. Werewolves aren't real."

"Really? You're gonna say that after everything you saw tonight?" April questioned her aunt. She was surprised how not willing the woman was to believe her considering a lizard monster got all up close and personal with her.

She did not have a response for that and went quiet for a moment. They just stared at each other with unreadable expressions until her eyes softened and she decided to speak up again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Knowing would only put you in danger," the blonde told her. It was a horrible excuse, and she knew that. But it was true. She couldn't risk having another parent figure leave or die because of her. "I couldn't lose anyone else. I needed to protect you."

"That's not your job," Ashley sighed, taking a step closer to her niece.

April ran another hand through her hair before arguing, "Yes, it is. We're family. We protect each other."

"I'm the guardian," the Sommers woman stated clearly with a somewhat sad smile. She reached out and placed one of her palms on her niece's cheek. "I'm supposed to do the protecting. How can I do my job if you're running around fighting giant lizards and getting shot?"

"I know. I'm sorry," the Sharpe girl apologized, leaning into her aunt's hand.

Ashley nodded slowly, "It's okay. It's just that my sister left me in charge of her, trusting that I wouldn't let her down. Please don't make me let her down, April."

"I won't," she responded. "I promise."

"And please be honest with me, no matter how horrible it is. I want to know everything going on, even if it's unpleasant," the woman told her niece. She wanted to be able to protect her from anything that could cause her anymore harm.

April agreed, "I will."

"Good," Ashley smiled before pulling the girl into a tight hug, careful not to squeeze her injured arm. They stayed like that for a moment, happy that both of them were alive after what happened at the sheriff's station. She pulled back and looked April in the eye. "Now, go to bed. It's really late, and you still have school tomorrow."

"Do I really have to go, after everything that just happened?" the blonde whined, staring at her aunt in disbelief. 

The strawberry blonde woman nodded with a smirk. "Yep. It's your punishment for not telling me. If you're really nice to me, I might let you sleep in late and drive you later."

"I love you so much," April told her quickly, being as nice as she could while she made her way up the stairs. She bowed dramatically down at the woman when she reached the top. "You're my favorite aunt ever."

Ashley rolled her eyes at the girl's antics. "I bet you say that to all your aunts."

"Yeah, but I only mean it with you."

《❀》

"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I JUMPED IN FRONT OF a bullet for you then you still got shot," Scott sighed to the girl sitting on the operation table next to a sick dog that someone brought in. She was gently petting it and staring down at it in pity as it whimpered painfully. After school, she had come to accompany him while he worked.

The day after the incident at the sheriff's station, roughly a week ago, she had learned that Matt Daehler was found dead next to the river — drowned. They had no idea who did it or what it meant for Jackson, but she wasn't too ready to find out just yet since she was still healing.

She rolled her eyes before commenting sarcastically, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Next time, I'll just dodge the bullet instead of getting hit."

"Thank you," he replied with a smile.

"Scott, can you look at me for a second?" she questioned, and the McCall boy turned away from his work to look at her in question. "All jokes aside, you saved my life, and I am so grateful for that."

He shrugged it off like it was nothing. "I figured that I heal faster, so it wasn't as big of a deal if I got shot. Plus, I'd have to hear you whine about it, and that would be a whole lot worse than dying."

"Haha," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Have you talked to Allison yet?"

"No, um, not since the sheriff's station when she tried to kill all of us and Derek. You?" he asked, looking down at his feet at the mention of the Argent girl's name.

She shook her head in response, about to say something else, but they were interrupted by the bell on the door chiming, signaling that someone had just walked in. Deaton, who was on the other side of the table, looked away from his syringe to glanced at Scott. "Would you mind seeing who that is?"

All of their heads whipped to the room that held all of the animals when various barks echoed through it. With furrowed eyebrows, they all made their way through the doorway curiously to see who or what was causing them such distress.

Isaac Lahey.

"It's okay, Isaac," Deaton told the boy, approaching him while the two teenagers hung back in the doorway. He opened the gate for him. "We're open."

Silently, the Lahey boy and the Sharpe girl watched as Scott held down the sick dog while the vet injected something into it with the syringe. The anima whimpered, and April frowned in reply.

"Why does it smell like that?" Isaac asked with a scrunched up nose. The blonde girl stared at him in confusion, not smelling anything, as Scott and Deaton looked at each other with smiles. "What?"

Amused, the older man informed him, "Scott said almost the same thing to me a few months ago. One day, he could somehow tell the difference between which animals were getting better and which were not."

"He's not getting better, is he?" the blonde boy asked, staring down at the whining dog. "Like cancer."

"That's so sad," April muttered when Deaton merely shook his head at the boy's question.

The vet nodded at the second part of Isaac's words, ignoring the Sharpe girl. "Osteosarcoma. It has a very distinct scent, doesn't it? Come here." The Lahey looked like he had just been called on in class as he nervously made his way over to the man. "I know you're well aware of what your new abilities can do for you. Improved strength, speed, and healing. You ever wonder what it could do for others?"

"Give me your hand," Deaton ordered, reaching out his own as April watched him curiously. Isaac slowly placed his palm on the man's, and he directed both their arms toward the dog. "Go on."

The blonde boy placed his hands on the animal, digging his fingers into the fur. Then, all of a sudden, the veins in his hand came to life, turned black, and began running up his arm, cracking as they went. After a moment, Isaac removed his hand and stared at it, pulling up his sleeve so that we could watch the black go up his arm and disappear. 

"What did I do?" he asked, worried that he did something bad. He backed up and stared at the pup like he was scared it was going to blow up or something.

Scott shot him a warm smile before answering, "You took some of his pain away."

"Only a little bit," Deaton added, "But sometimes, a little can make quite a difference."

"I didn't know you could do that, Scott," April told her best friend, glancing at him before her eyes returned to the Lahey boy and the dog on the table.

"It's okay," the McCall boy said when he realized the tears coming from Isaac's eyes. "First time he showed me, I cried too."

Removing his arm from his mouth, the blonde boy chuckled and his face lifted to smile at April who was grinning back at him. It was absolutely crazy and amazing how they could do that.

After the whole thing with the dog, Deaton took the animal into the back to give the teenagers a bit of privacy while they spoke. Isaac leaned on the operating table while April mimicked his position on the counter across from him as he began telling them about Boyd and Erica. "They're leaving tonight, during the game."

"So, why are you telling me?" Scott quizzed, closing the medicine cabinet and making his way around the silver table.

The Lahey boy sighed, correcting, "I'm not telling you. I'm asking you. I'm asking for your advice."

"From me?" the McCall asked incredulously, confused as to why he was asking him of all people when he had a whole line of other people he could talk to about it. "Why?"

"Because I trust you," Isaac shrugged as an answer. 

Scott was still baffled. "Why?"

"Oh, my God," April groaned, rolling her eyes at her best friend's modesty. "Will you just accept the answer and move on please?" The two boys looked at her in surprise, not used to her being so hostile.

"Because you always seem to want to do the right thing," the blonde boy told the other werewolf after a moment.

The McCall breathed out. "I usually have no idea what I'm doing. Actually, I always have no idea what I'm doing." To be fair, it was true. They usually just figured it out as they went, hoping that none of them died. 

Isaac nodded slowly, staring down at the ground for a second before tilting his head back up to look at Scott and April. "Hmm, do you want to let me know what you're doing now?"

"I'm not going anywhere, if that's what you mean," the black-haired boy replied before glancing at the blonde girl next to him. "I have too many people here who need me."

"Well, I guess that makes me lucky, 'cause, uh...'Cause I don't have anyone, so..." the Lahey boy trailed off, and April felt a wave of sadness run through her at his words. Then he stood up, getting ready to walk out the door.

The blonde girl interrupted him before he could leave. "Are you gonna go with them?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I will," Isaac told her with a slight frown, refusing to look her in the eye, and the Sharpe girl could tell that he wasn't exactly happy about the decision. "Good luck with the game, though."

"Well, thanks, but I'm not going either. Can't even think about paying some meaningless game right now." Scott stared at one of the pictures on the wall, sticking his hands in his back pockets.

After looking at them with an unreadable expression, he asked, "You weren't at practice last week, were you?"

"No, I skipped it," the McCall answered, "Why?"

"And you didn't hear?" the Lahey boy questioned with furrowed eyebrows, and April wondered what he could be talking about. She hadn't heard anything.

Scott stared back at him, confused. "Hear what?"

"Jackson was there," Isaac informed them, and the Sharpe girl's eyes shot open. What the hell? He was there after killing everyone at the station and trying to kill the rest of them?

"What do you mean, 'there'?" the McCall quizzed, clearly alarmed. "Like, he was—"

The blonde boy cut him off, glancing at the bandage that was still around April's arm. "As if nothing happened."

"That means...The game tonight?" Scott muttered, contemplating it for himself and processing what the other boy had just told them and how they were going to fix it so that no one died.

"Yeah," Isaac nodded, confirming their thoughts. "He's playing." Then, he left.

Both Scott and her watched him walk out the door, and she glanced at her best friend before following after him. When Isaac heard the door wing open again behind him, he turned around. He furrowed his eyebrows as she approached him. "So, you're just going to leave?"

"What?" he replied, clearly confused. She wasn't being very clear.

"After everything," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. She questioned once again as if he didn't hear her and that was why he didn't understand, "You're just gonna leave?"

He took a step closer to her, a smirk beginning to form on his face. "What do you mean, after everything?"

"You know," she muttered, and she could feel her cheeks turning red as she looked down at her feet and he got even closer.

He shook his head, clearly amused. "No, I don't believe I do."

"I just mean after everything with the Kanima and the fighting, you know?" she responded. She was lying, and he knew it. "After all that, you can't just walk away without saying goodbye."

"Oh, really?" he quizzed, and his face was inches away from hers at that point. She could feel his warm breath fan across her lips, and she could barely breathe 

She gulped before nodding slightly. "Yes."

Then, he kissed her. His hands held her waist as hers made their way to his cheeks, slowly inching into his hair. Their lips moved in sync while they clung to each other like one of them was about to spontaneously combust any second. When he finally pulled away, both of them were out of breath.

"Goodbye, April," Isaac breathed out. He took a step away from her, and she frowned when his warmth left her. Then, she blinked, and he was gone.

She walked back into the clinic as if nothing had happened, but she could still feel the blonde boy's lips on hers. She paused when she noticed Scott smiling at her. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

so, that happened.