CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
COOKIES?

ALL ELAINE GOT WAS A text from Scott, claiming that Stiles did it, but now Jackson wasn't safe. The girl cursed under her breath, biting roughly on her lip and glancing at Allison as she entered her room. Elaine offered her a small smile.

"Hey, Ali. You alright?" Elaine questioned. The girl gave her a sad smile.

"Yeah, I'm alright. But uh, tell Scott we'll talk later. I'm just going to head home." Allison told the girl. Elaine stood up from her bed, nodding her head in response before she placed a hand on Allison's shoulder.

"He wanted to talk to you, Allison. He really did." Elaine softly told the girl. Allison offered her a small smile before walking past the girl and out of the house. Just as she did so, a call from Deaton popped up. She frowned slightly before answering. "Hey boss, what's up?"

"Scott's here. And he's been shot." Deaton simply stated. Elaine stood up straighter.

"I'm on my way." She quickly hung up before running down the steps and out of the door, making a sprint towards the animal clinic. Elaine entered the animal clinic running to the back just as she watched Deaton remove a bullet from Scott's body. She quickly entered, noticing the smoke that seemed to come from it. She started to panic, wondering why Deaton wasn't questioning the fact that there was smoke coming from the bullet hole.

"I-is he okay?" She quickly stuttered out.

"He's fine." Deaton assured her, and the girl nodded before sitting down, catching her breath. Scott gasped, and immediately Elaine stood up again.

"I wouldn't get up just yet." Deaton warned the boy.

"Where am I?" Scott groaned.

"The animal clinic." Elaine answered, coming into view and placing a hand on her brother's shoulder, offering him a gentle smile.

"You're fine. And I've given you something that should speed up the healing process." Deaton told the boy, and the two siblings turned their attention towards him.

"But, you're a vet. . ." Scott trailed of, confused.

"That's very true―︎and ninety-percent of the time, I'm mostly treating cats and dogs."

"Mostly?" Elaine frowned. Deaton nodded.

"Mostly." Elaine and Scott exchanged looks with one another before turning their attention back towards Deaton. He knew about the supernatural, which meant that he knew what Scott was. And that seemed to always be a dangerous thing. Scott seemed to pass out and seeing as it was getting late, Deaton tried to convince Elaine Scott would be fine, but the girl refused to move. She was worried for her brother, and she wanted to know what happened. And in fact, Elaine hadn't even realized that it had turned to be the next morning and that she had fallen asleep until voices woke her up.

"Welcome to the land of the conscious. You doing okay?" Deaton asked as Scott hopped off of the table. "Maybe you should sit down, huh?" That's when the ringing of a doorbel could be heard, making Deaton call out, "Hello?" Scott went to stop Deaton, but the man gave him a reassuring smile and started walking away.

Scott looked around before noticing Elaine sitting on the floor. A gentle smile fell on his features, knowing the female had been worried about him. "El?" The girl immediately sat up, as if he had screamed her name. She looked up, and upon noticing him awake, she quickly scrambled up and practically ran over him and pulled him into a hug.

"You're okay." She breathed.

"Yeah." He smiled.

"You'll tell me about it, right? Whose ass do I need to light on fire with my newfound magic." Elaine spoke sternly.

"You can do that?" Scott questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, uh, kind of. I lit the grass on fire at the park during that full moon where you turned all murderous. So. . ." Elaine shrugged her shoulders. That's when Scott heard Peter Hale's voice, immediately grabbing Elaine's hand and pulling her out of sight, the duo crouching down and hiding in the corner of the room. Elaine glanced towards her brother, watching as he mouthed Peter's name, making her nod in understanding.

After a moment, Scott suddenly said, "Allison."

"What about her?" Elaine quickly asked.

"Peter. I think he's going to go after her." Scott answered, and immediately Elaine's heart started to slam in her chest.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"Cookies?" Elaine held a tray of chocolate chip cookies she had just baked, entering Scott's mess of a room where Stiles was sitting in the chair, watching as Scott looked around for his phone. Stiles smiled up at the girl, gladly taking one before eating it.

"Oh my god, Laney, this taste like heaven!" The hyperactive boy complimented, immediately bringing a blush to the girls cheeks which made her brother smirk at her before going back to what he was doing.

Elaine sat on the floor beside Stiles, holding the tray up so that he could reach the dessert as she watched her brother. "Scotty, it's not here."

"Okay, so you lost your phone. Why don't you just get a new one?" Stiles suggested.

"I can't afford a new one, and I can't do this alone. We have to find Derek."

"Wow, I'm offended." Elaine muttered.

"Right!" Stiles scoffed before turning back towards Scott. "Well, A) you're not alone, you have me and Laney; and B) didn't you say Derek walked into gunfire? He sounds pretty dead."

"Stiles!" Elaine chastised. "Be optimistic for once in your life, yeah?"

"I'm always optimistic." Stiles defended.

"Argent's plan was to use him to get to the Alpha. They're not gonna kill him." Scott assured Stiles, ignoring the banter between the two.

"All right, so then, just let them do what they're planning, you know? They use Derek to find Peter, problem solved." Stiles shrugged, and Elaine nodded in agreement.

"Not if Peter's going after Allison to find Derek! I can't protect her on my own, which means we either find Derek first―︎just help me!" Scott snapped.

"You know, you probably lost it when you two were fighting. You remember that? When he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behavior, here?" After they had left the animal clinic, Scott had been quick to fill in Elaine and Stiles on what took place at the Hale house, with the Argents shooting up the place and Scott and Derek fighting in order for Scott to keep Jackson from being killed.

"He wasn't going to kill anyone." Scott huffed. "And I'm not letting him die."

"Could you at least think about letting him die? For me?" Stiles whined, earning a slap on the shoulder from Elaine. That's when Scott's head turned to the side. "What?"

"My mom just got home from work." Scott informed.

"Ooh, I bet she'll like my cookies." Elaine smiled. Her smile then faltered upon noticing the look on Scott's face. "What's wrong? What's she doing?"

"Crying." Scott answered. Scott moved over to sit on the bed whilst Elaine deeply frowned.

"Scott, you can't protect everyone." Stiles gently told the boy. He then glanced down towards Elaine who had the same look on her face as Scott did. "Neither of you can."

"I have to." Scott gently answered and Elaine couldn't help but bite down on her cheek in agreement. Elaine stood up when she heard the door open, quickly bringing her cookies with her and running down the steps, careful not to trip.

"Mama?" Elaine called.

"In here, baby." Melissa answered, trying to sound happy, but Elaine could hear the slight hurt in her voice. Elaine walked around the corner before offering her mom a small smile, holding the plate of sweets out towards her.

"I made cookies." Elaine carefully smiled. Melissa looked at her daughter and smiled, she had that look of a little girl covering her face, and it warmed the mothers heart as she took one of the cookies.

"Thank you, El." Melissa smiled before taking a bite of one. "Oh my god. Honey, this is really good." Elaine immediately beamed.

"Thanks, mom!" She then moved in to hug the woman, making Melissa furrow her eyebrows in surprise, but nonetheless she hugged her back ."I love you, mama. No matter what, I always will."

Melissa smiled before giving her daughter a kiss on the side of the head. "I love you too, sweetheart."