A/N: this chapter is bit all over the place. i apologize.

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Ryder keeps her distance as Malia forced the handle off of a safe and pulled out a folder labeled: Malia Tate- Adoption Records

"Call me crazy...but i think that might be what you're looked for." She joked, earning a playful scoff from the girl.

The two heard the sound of approaching footsteps,

"I've got to buy a better safe." He then glanced to the redhead that stood off to the side, "I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd see you two together."

The girls' heads snap towards the voice, internally groaning at the sight of Peter.

"Makes me wonder." Ryder hummed.

Ryder had the idea that even if the two girls had found out earlier, Peter most definitely wouldn't have been the one to tell them. If anything, Ryder was almost certain that he didn't want them to find out at all.

"I can't let you leave here with that." He glanced at the folder in Malia's hands.

"Maybe you won't have a choice."

"Is that right?"

"I think we could take you." The Tate girl shrugged, glancing at her sister.

She wasn't necessarily wrong.

While Malia was more ruthless with her abilities, Ryder had more experience and strength than she did. Peter might as well have been a human with werewolf knowledge if he thought he'd win in a fight against his two daughters that just found out he kept them a secret.

"Don't be too hopeful, Malia. He's a man full of mysteries and secrets. God knows he's probably killed some innocent person to gain his strength back." It's not like she expected Peter Hale of all people to be honest for once. But there was a small inkling of hope that he would at least try to care about someone other than himself.

"I'll take it." He hummed at Ryder before looking at the girl that was older by a month, "You've heard rumors I'm not as strong as I used to be."

"Something like that." Malia eyed him, watching closely as he stepped forward, Ryder doing the same until she was stood by Malia's side.

Ryder watched with an unimpressed frown as Peter swung his hand back, punching the wall as if he wanted to prove a point.

Malia glanced at Ryder, the Miller teen silently letting her know that what she did next was completely her decision. What she didn't expect, was for Malia to put her hand out, signaling for Peter to take the papers.

"I said you can't leave with it. I didn't say you couldn't read it."

•••

"You wanna talk about it? See a family counselor?"

Malia had just finished glancing over her file, "There's nothing in there."

"Cost me a lot of money to get that file." Peter hummed.

Malia scoffed, "You got ripped off."

"You know what happens when you only hear one side of a story? You've only heard one side of the story."

Ryder held back a groan as she realized what she had gotten herself dragged into. She wanted to be a good person and get Malia all the information she needed, but that didn't mean she wanted to be around for story time with Peter Hale.

•••

Austin was freaking out a bit.

'A bit' if you were comparing him to Josie.

The girl was currently pacing like her life depended on it. Austin wanted to comment on how if she continued then she'd put a hole in the floor, but his mind was too focused on making sure Liam and Kira got back safely.

The two supernaturals had left once Stiles made the comment about how the cameras to the roof weren't working anymore.

"Can you two relax?" Stiles asked.

"Can you shut up?" Josie snapped back.

Stiles hummed thoughtfully, "You're upset with me."

"My sisters are upset with you." She told him, "I'm just being a good person and siding with who i think is right."

"I was doing what I thought was right." Stiles tried defending himself.

"And yet, you managed to piss off two of the most unhinged people you know. One being a girl who hasn't been her human self in more than eight years and the other being Ryder. The girl who not only has anger issues, but also managed to hold a grudge against you for six years and counting, simply because you were a bad friend."

Austin couldn't stop the chuckle that fell from his lips at Josie's words. Leave it to her to disrespect someone two years older than her just to defend her sisters.

"I wasn't trying to be a bad person. I was trying to stop them from possibly doing something stupid, I didn't want to risk Malia trying to contact Peter."

"And look where making decisions for someone else got you."

•••

After their little argument in the hospital room, Chris Argent stopped by the let them know that it would possibly be best is they went and guarded Scott in the morgue as there were people coming to actually take his body.

Austin sat on the floor with his hands over his face while Stiles paced back and forth,

"Come on, come on. Answer the phone. Answer the phone, Argent. Come on, Argent, answer the phone. Why are you not answering the phone?"

"He's probably busy."

"Thank you for that." The Stilinski glared at Josie.

"You're welcome—"

She was cut off by Chris Argent's body flying into the room, his body landing on the ground with a grunt.

"I was right. Kids, get out of here."

Kate, Allison's aunt and Chris' sister, walked through in room, "Get out of the way, Stiles. I'm taking the body."

"Why? Visual confirmation?" Stiles shuddered as Austin stood up, forcing Josie to stand behind him.

"Don't worry, handsome. I'm not The Benefactor."

"Then what do you want with the body?" Argent asked, stepping in front of them.

"I wish I could tell you."

Argent pushed the teens back, twisting Kate's arm and shoving a gun in her face,

"I always forget you carry two."

•••

"You murdered people. Not killed. murdered."

"That seems to be his thing."

"There were extenuating circumstances." Peter said.

"Like what? The fire?"

"A fire that nearly burned me alive. Six years in a coma. Do you know what that's like for one of us? It's not a pleasant sleep. Imagine it. Being trapped in your body, but still being fully cognizant. Unable to do anything other than listen to your own thoughts slowly driving you absolutely and totally insane, minute-by-minute, day-by-day. Yes, I've done horrible, terrible things. And so have a lot of people. And horrible, terrible things are going to keep happening. Especially when there's a dead pool with your name on it."

"Boo Hoo." Ryder said from her spot on the floor. She had been rather quiet while she allowed Malia to get whatever information she needed out of Peter. She was simply here because she didn't trust the man not to put ridiculous thoughts into the girls head if she were here on her own.

She was easily starting to regret coming, though. She had heard the story of the fire plenty of times. In fact, she was there when it happened. Not actually there but she was very much living when it happened. Her mother was traumatized because of it. The last thing she wanted was to listen to Peter beg for sympathy.

She could admit that she felt a little bad that he went through what he did, but that didn't mean it excused everything he did.

"But not yours." Malia responded to Peter's previous statement.

"True. But I am not The Benefactor. I'm just a guy who's out millions of dollars. A few thousand of which I used trying to help you two."

Malia and Ryder frowned, "Us?

"How does the bad guy prove that he's not so bad? By doing an act of kindness."

"What could you ever do for me?"

"Help you find your mother." He then glanced at Ryder, "I may have given you those super cool abilities you mastered in less than two months, but I can admit that I feel a little bad that it went down the way it did. And while you may not consider me to be your father, that doesn't mean you aren't still my kid."

Ryder's jaw clenched. He wasn't wrong. No matter how many times she said that Peter wasn't her father, it wouldn't change that fact that he still saw her as his daughter.

"What about my mother?" Malia took a step forward.

"I'm pretty interested myself as the memory was stolen from me by my sister, Talia."

"Okay. What did you find?"

"A woman, might be her. I don't have a name yet, just a particularly interesting alias. She's called The Desert Wolf. Do you know what that means?"

"Coyote."

•••

"Back off!"

"You sure you can pull the trigger fast enough?"

"I don't want to." Chris said.

Kate raised her brows, "You're not going to kill me."

"I'm not going to let you take his body."

"Okay, well, obviously, you guys have a lot to talk about, so, maybe I saw some coffee, a vending machine outside."

Stiles was ignored as the siblings continued to glare at each other, "Listen to me, Kate. We have a plan."

"If killing Scott was part of it, you're worse than me."

"He's telling the truth." Austin spoke up, his voice soft and easily convincing, "We're trying to get to The Benefactor."

"If you didn't notice, you're on that list too. And you're worth more than most."

"That's why I'm here."

"Then back off and let us do what we planned. Take the Berserkers, and go. Kate, please. We have a plan."

They watched the woman sigh softly, her eyes trailing over each of them before she eventually gave in, turning around and exiting the room without another word.

•••

It's been a mere few hours since Kira brought Scott back to life and Malia and Ryder left Peter's loft.

The girls went their separate ways, Malia going to Stiles' and Ryder going to her own house.

She let out a sigh of relief as she entered her home and saw Austin and Josie sitting comfortably on the couch.

The sound of her footsteps made the two perk up, Austin's blue eyes instantly meeting her brown ones before he jumped up and pulled her into a hug.

"I love you so much but I beg you to please never leave me alone with Stiles again."

"I love you too." She chuckled.

"He's right." Josie commented, "He was insufferable."

Ryder hummed, "If it makes you feel any better, I got stuck with Peter."

"Eh..." They winced.

"He gave us a story time."

"Yeah, you win." They pulled away.

"Hey, Ry? Mom and Dad have something to talk to you about." Josie hinted.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, you have a gift. Lucky you." While Josie pretended to be annoyed that she wasn't getting anything, she had already snooped and found out what was about to happen.

As Ryder went up the stairs and down the hall to her parent's room, she was shocked to see Aaron standing in front of her with a bear and an envelope.

She eyed him suspiciously, "What's this?"

Ramona's watery chuckle was heard from her bed, "Open it."

"Why are you crying?"

"Just open it."

Ryder inhaled softy, opening the envelope with a huff. She scanned over the ridiculously long note before she eventually got to the end,

I love you like my own and i've never felt more proud to call you my daughter. So how about we make it official...

Ryder Anders?

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A/N: I LOVE WILL POULTER, DYLAN O'BRIEN AND FLORENCE PUGH. dont shoot the messenger. i just had to get that off my chest 😔✌️