No Such Thing as Fate, Part Three: You Should Make Amends With You
Title: No Such Thing as Fate
Part Three: You Should Make Amends With You
Author: burntotears
Pairing: Allison Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Codependency, Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey/Stiles Stilinski or Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 7,211
Spoilers: Season 2
Disclaimer: © MTV
Chapter Index No Such Thing Master Post
"So we're really gonna do this?" Scott asked as they sat around the tiny table in the motel room.
"Do what?" Stiles asked quizzically.
Lydia huffed. "Trust a bunch of slobbery canines, that's what! You really think they aren't going to turn on us the moment we turn our backs?"
Allison shrugged and looked at Stiles expectantly. He grunted. “No, I don’t. Laura’s not like that-”
Lydia scoffed at him. “Oh, Laura’s not like that? Stiles, she’s a werewolf. She’s an Alpha and you just met her like four days ago. Are you that head over heels that you can’t see-”
“I don’t like her like that, okay? That’s not what this is. I just know and I’m usually right about these things.” Stiles tended to have feelings about things and people and he could tell that Laura wouldn’t ever turn on them - unfortunately he was not currently seated with people who grew up outside the job so they never would listen to him. Allison did, but when it came to trusting something they usually hunted, she tended to draw the line.
Allison looked at him with momentary sadness before steeling herself. “Stiles, we know you are usually right about this stuff, but you aren’t always, and I just... I can’t see this ending well. Getting involved with them just isn’t a smart idea.”
“Look, I know why you’re nervous, alright? I know why all of you are, but I need you to trust me. I wouldn’t lead you down this path if I didn’t think it was safe... if I didn’t think that it was the right decision. We do need their help and they know what it means if we don’t catch this thing, so yeah... just stop fighting me and help me.” Stiles was getting to the point where if he didn’t convince them soon, he’d end up doing this on his own and he didn’t want that. Regardless of their history and ‘hunter solidarity’, he was ultimately slave to their biases and he needed to get them past the obvious and thinking about what was actually important. He wanted this to end.
“Alright, dude. I got your back. I’m not gonna start sniffing butts or howling at the moon... but I’ll work with them if you think it’s gonna help us find and kill this motherfucker.” Scott grinned wide and crooked, clapping Stiles on the shoulder.
“Scott, you’re an idiot,” Allison said, though she sounded kind of fond for once. “Alright Stiles, you know that I’m gonna back you because I love you and you haven’t fucked me over yet, so I doubt you’d start now. But if one of them tries to kill us, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, I think we all warned you, lover boy. Steer clear of the werewolf dick, Stiles, it’s only gonna break your heart... and probably your neck,” Lydia chimed in with all the false sweetness she was capable of. It was scary how sincere she could sound while telling him to stay away from dick - he knew she was full of it, but it still made him blush.
“How would you know, Lydia? Walked a little on the wild side yourself?” Scott raised his eyebrows at her suggestively.
“Ugh, McCall, you’re disgusting,” Allison leaned over and punched him hard in the shoulder. Scott made a weird whining sound and rubbed his shoulder tenderly.
“Fuck, Stiles, what’re you feeding her? She’s like a goddamn boxer.”
“Try not to forget it the next time you attempt to touch my ass,” Allison sneered.
Scott held his hands in the air. “Yeah-yeah, I surrender dude, shit. So what’ve you guys found out so far?” He asked and looked over at Stiles. All three of them looked at Stiles expectantly, which he didn’t really understand considering Allison was a part of ‘you guys’ too. For some reason he was always expected to have all the answers, even when they didn't want to listen to them.
"Well, we know that the animal hair was planted, but who do you think did it? I don't think it's this thing - it never tried to cover its tracks before, so why would it now?" When Stiles had been told about his parents’ deaths, he had been brought to the scene to identify them. His parents were both lying dead inside of his mother’s store and the entire place was ransacked. Of course that made the police think it was a robbery gone south, though Stiles always thought that his father’s deputies knew that something more sinister had taken place because of the way they were murdered - a robber would have just shot them if things had taken a turn for the worse - but they never would admit that and the case remained unsolved. Stiles fingered the Cernunnos charm on his necklace as he thought of them again.
“I think that we might need to take a closer look at these policemen. Who would have an easier job planting hair on the bodies than them?” Allison asked, looking over at Stiles thoughtfully and watching him touch his necklace. It was a habit she knew well enough to realize what he was thinking about.
“Well... you guys, apparently, if you’ve been getting in on those crime scenes so easily,” Scott mused. Lydia glared at him, not even bothering to make fun of him as his words weren’t worth her effort.
“Yeah, Scott, we’ve been planting fake evidence for us to find. That makes perfect sense,” Allison groaned at him.
Scott rolled his eyes. “Hey, you asked. Did you notice anything off about any of them when you were at the station?”
Stiles looked from Scott to Allison. “Their sheriff is a little off-balance, but I dunno if that really makes hi-”
“Fuck that, Stiles, he’s a total nutcase. All he ever does is yell, and he’s super twitchy...”
“I can get twitchy too. Doesn’t mean I’m working with a murderer and planting fake evidence everywhere I go.” Stiles realized that both of his statements were a little stupid considering that he did both of those things... a lot. Lydia looked at him like he was growing a second head and Scott laughed. “You know what I mean,” he added, annoyed.
“Well, think of it like this: the police already know that it’s not a mountain lion - the medical examiner and the police don’t believe that a mountain lion is behind this. So why are they still pushing that theory?” Allison asked.
“They aren’t just gonna tell everyone the truth,” Lydia said.
Stiles nodded. “But I don’t think that all of them actually know the truth. Danny seemed genuinely convinced it was an animal attacking these people. I don’t think that they’ve all been told what the medical examiner said.”
“But the sheriff would know,” Scott added. “He’s the one in charge and the one the coroner would tell, right?”
“Yeah, which only further proves that he is hiding something,” Allison agreed.
“Allison, you think everyone is hiding something,” Stiles groaned.
“That’s because everyone is.”
With Lydia and Scott there, Stiles found it difficult to stay in the room once talk finally turned to ‘catching up’. He wasn’t really interested in talking, mostly because he never had anything to catch people up on. His life was the same goddamn thing day in and day out - find something bad, take care of it, keep your head down, don’t get attached, move on. It was part of the hunter code they lived by, but it was a lonely life and he sometimes found himself wishing he could give it all up and stop chasing ghosts. Of course he never would and neither would Allison - not until they found what they were looking for.
Stiles scuffed his feet on the ground and walked around outside the motel, wandering aimlessly just to give himself something to do. He thought about the werewolves and about Isaac. He knew it would never turn into anything more than sex - if he even let it get that far - because once the job was over, he would leave and he’d never see the man again. Granted he still kept hoping that this was finally the one - the job that ended it once and for all. If it did and they survived, he honestly wasn’t certain what they’d do after. Allison had always made it sound like she’d keep hunting no matter what, but he could tell she was tired and wanted an out just as much as he did.
His thoughts shifted to Laura. He wanted to believe in her so badly; he wanted to believe that Laura really was like his mom, or that he was feeling this way toward her because his mom was trying to tell him that he needed to trust her. It sounded ridiculous, but it didn’t make him believe it any less. Laura wasn’t going to betray them, but that didn’t mean none of the others would. Something Stiles conveniently didn’t mention to the other hunters. They were paranoid enough as it was, no need to add to the dissent.
Stiles pulled his phone out and sent her a message without really thinking about it.
Stiles said: I’m sorry we didn’t get anything accomplished today. It’s hard for them to let go of their training.
He almost jumped out of his skin when his phone started to ring instead of beeping back at him. He definitely hadn’t expected her to call him. “Uh, hello?”
“Hi Stiles. I’m not big on texting unless it’s something simple. Anyway... don’t blame yourself, I totally understand where they are coming from. I mean, if you can’t tell, some of us aren’t really letting go of our biases either. It’s a hard concept for them when all we’ve ever seen is the barrel end of a hunter’s gun.” Laura’s voice was warm and soothing and Stiles wanted to wrap himself up into it like a blanket.
“I’m sorry, Laura. I’m sorry about your family... I would never - that’s not how we operate. There is a code and Allison and I do follow it.” Stiles didn’t know why he wanted to reassure her of his honor so badly. He couldn’t stand the thought of her thinking ill of him though.
“Stiles, I know that. These connections... they aren’t one way. I feel the same way about you that you do about me. I know it’s weird, but I think it is gonna help us in the long run. Knowing that you wouldn’t betray me... well that helps a lot.” She sounded so fond and so certain.
“Has this happened to you before? Isaac said that he felt connected to you... does it happen a lot?” Stiles asked in honest interest.
“No, it doesn’t happen a lot. Like I said, I usually can’t calm anyone down besides those in my pack. It’s an Alpha-Beta connection. You’ve sort of taken on a Beta role without actually becoming a werewolf or being in my pack and that is definitely... odd. Derek and Peter are worried because it’s not - well it’s not normal.” Laura paused for a moment and Stiles thought she might be finished, but she continued eventually. “You mustn’t think that it’s a bad thing though. Unorthodox or not, it might be the vital piece we need for our two packs to coincide without ripping each other apart. I understand Derek and Peter’s fears, but I’m not going to disregard something that might help us get rid of whatever this thing is.”
Stiles nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “I don’t know why I feel it, but it’s there and I can’t stop feeling it. You-you remind me of my mom.” Holy shit, why did he just say that?
He heard Laura sigh. “I’m sorry about your parents, Stiles. I know that it may seem like the others are just interested in getting the attention off Beacon Hills, but we do genuinely care about this town and its people and we don’t want to see them come to harm. Our main goal is to keep these people safe, protect the territory, and live as normal a life as we can while we do it. And if this is what killed your parents, Stiles, I will be honored to help bring you peace.”
“Um... thank you. I don’t know if that’s what it’ll bring me, but at least it’s some type of justice.” Stiles paused for a moment and then added, “I believe you. I know that you’re trying to do what’s best for your family and your town and I don’t think you’d betray us, Laura, but... I don’t know about the others.”
“Well honestly? I don’t know about the others with you either. I know it might seem a little irrational, but Derek and Peter do have a reason to distrust hunters. Derek more than any of us and if he is an asshole toward you, it’s because of that. He’s actually a very caring person, but he’s been warped from that experience and Peter tends to over-do it and spurn his hatred even further. But Derek believes you, Stiles, even if he doesn’t know how to show it. If I trust you, Derek knows that there’s nothing to fear... but he can’t feel the same way about your companions and he probably never will.”
Stiles definitely didn’t have ‘Derek Hale trusts me’ on his list of things he could believe, even with Laura telling him it. “I-I am sorry for whatever he went through, but I have a hard time believing that he is okay with me when he is constantly on edge around me.”
Laura actually laughed. “Oh sweetie... you two are kinda clueless, huh?”
“What? What do you mean?” Stiles wasn’t sure he’d like her answer.
“You’ve never experienced sexual tension before?” Laura laughed again.
“Holy fuck, we do not have sexual tension! Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Because it’s true, hon.” He could tell she was trying to stifle laughter.
“I’m not attracted to your brother! He is a total dick to me! I-I’m attracted to Isaac!” Fuck, he didn’t want to talk about this - she was just as bad as Allison.
He could hear the smile in her voice. “I know that, sweetie. And he is attracted to you too... but so is Derek. And you’re attracted to Derek, you are just blinded to it because you two can’t do anything but argue.”
“Ohmygod Laura, do you want me to be attracted to your brother or something? This is the creepiest conversation I’ve ever had! Fuck, it doesn’t matter because nothing will happen between me and anyone anyway.” Stiles didn’t know why he was so defensive, but he was pretty sure that his brain was attempting to explode at the thought of being connected to Derek in that way.
“Right. Well, don’t worry about me being against it - I give you my blessing for Isaac and Derek.”
“Holy shit... I don’t want your blessing!”
-----
Another body was found the next morning, with all of the usual evidence left behind. What wasn't very usual was that the body was found in an alleyway and this time the pack knew who it was.
"This isn't good," Laura said when Stiles and the other hunters met up with the pack, hovering on the outskirts of the crime scene.
"Who is it?" Allison asked curiously.
"It's Mr. Lahey - Isaac's dad," Derek said grimly, his face set in a hard line.
Stiles' head swiveled around to look at Isaac, who didn't seem to be acknowledging anything around him; he was obviously stunned. Stiles' frown gouged a deeper rift into his face. "Is he okay?" Stiles tilted his head toward Isaac.
"What do you think? His father's dead. Of course he's not-" the blonde wolf, who he now knew to be Erica, responded harshly.
“Stop it, Erica. He’s asking because he cares - he’s not being a dick,” Derek said and Stiles stared at him for a minute, wondering why he was sticking up for him when he was usually the first one to point out the flaws of what Stiles said. Erica pouted and returned to staring at Isaac while gripping tightly to the black werewolf’s hand, whom he was told was named Boyd.
“What’re we gonna do?” Boyd asked, looking toward Laura, his eyes drifting vaguely toward Stiles.
Laura tore her eyes from Isaac's back and he visibly slouched more. "We're going to find this thing and we're going to kill it," she responded vehemently.
Later when they had all piled into the back room of the diner (Peter excusing himself earlier on to do some work back at the house), silence fell over the lot of them. Not even the hunters seemed to have anything to say. Stiles sat in the booth next to Isaac, but he didn’t receive much of a response from him after his first couple of attempts and eventually fell silent along with the rest of them.
After about thirty minutes, Stiles couldn’t take it anymore. “Wanna get out of here?” he asked Isaac, who looked up, surprised, but nodded enthusiastically. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Allison was on her feet in seconds and even Laura looked a little unnerved at the prospect, but Stiles waved them off. “We’ll be fine. How much trouble could we possibly get into?” A lot, was the true answer, but he ignored that small dissenting voice and led Isaac out of the diner. When they were walking toward the Jeep, Stiles tossed him the keys. “Wherever you wanna go, dude.” Stiles was surprisingly unworried by the prospect of letting Isaac go wherever he wanted as he took his place in the passenger seat. He knew that Isaac wouldn’t want to just leave town, but allowing him the choice to drive around and at least get that feeling of freedom would do him wonders. Lord knew that Stiles had done his fair share of it when his parents died. Maybe not the best comparison since after he started driving, he never stopped...
Isaac drove them around for the better part of 20 minutes, and Stiles began shifting in his seat when he thought that maybe he did want to get out of town, but then they began to slow and Isaac took a winding side road and eventually pulled them up to a sight Stiles hadn’t seen the likes of in quite a while.
“Holy shit, dude,” he gaped, getting slowly out of the Jeep while trying to keep his eyes swiveling at the sight in front of him. A cliff that overlooked both the small town and the expanding forest all around was their rest stop and the scene was making Stiles short of breath for the sight of it. “This is amazing!”
Isaac walked up next to Stiles, surveying the scene along with him. “Mmyeah. My brother used to bring me out here whenever my dad was having one of his episodes. Sometimes we’d pitch a tent and just stay all night, reading ghost stories and playing board games. It was fun.”
Stiles, of course, wasn’t entirely sure what Isaac meant by ‘episodes’, but he tried to squash the questions for now. It wasn’t his place to pry into Isaac’s homelife. “That sounds awesome, man.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it was,” Isaac replied and they both fell silent, staring over the cliff at the land below. Eventually Stiles pulled himself up onto the hood of the Jeep and just stared. After a few minutes, Isaac joined him. “I haven’t been home in years. The first time I saw him again, he was lying on the ground in that alleyway...” he trailed off, and Stiles couldn’t tell by his voice if he was choked up about that or just stating a fact.
Stiles reached over tentatively and touched Isaac’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Isaac. I might not know exactly what you’re feeling, but I know... well, I just know.” He had no idea what Isaac’s relationship with his father was, but if he hadn’t seen him for years, probably not the best. That didn’t change the fact that losing a parent wasn’t easy.
Isaac looked over at him, his blue eyes bright and questioning, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. Thanks. I mean... I’m sorry it happened to you, just- it’s nice to have someone who understands, but doesn’t know every damn detail.” He pushed out a short laugh. “The minute I’m alone with Laura it will start- all the questions and then worry and... I don’t wanna deal with that for a while. She means well, obviously, and she’s a great person, but I-”
“I get it.” Stiles nodded, his hand sliding down Isaac’s arm a bit before he placed it back in his own space. He did, for the most part. He would’ve given anything to have someone like Laura around the past few years though. Sure he had Allison, but she didn’t exactly exude motherly tendencies. He was burning with questions, of course, but Isaac had kind of made it clear he wasn’t in the mood to discuss, so he kept them to himself. Stiles put his hands behind his head and leaned against the windshield, looking up at the sky above them as silence fell between them and there was nothing but the sounds of the forest filling his ears.
He wasn’t certain, but he might have dozed off. The next thing he realized, he was jolting a bit at the sudden movement next to him. Isaac was looking every which way, his face a mask of concentration and slight worry. Stiles only realized after a few moments that Isaac had a hold of Stiles’ arm as he looked around them. Finally his head swiveled back to Stiles and he whispered, “We need to go.” Isaac hopped off the Jeep’s hood and let go of Stiles’ arm at the last possible second, a warmth tingling against his skin even as the hairs on the back of his neck went on end.
Stiles flung himself from the hood and into the passenger side of the jeep just as Isaac closed his door, starting up the car and backing out. Stiles dug into the glovebox and removed his spare gun, loading and cocking it in the span of a few seconds.
“Fuck!” Isaac said suddenly, and Stiles thought he was protesting the presence of the gun, but it didn’t take long for him to find out the truth. A huge, dark figure was lumbering toward the clearing from the woods to their right, cracking branches and making an unfathomable amount of noise when its feet hit the ground. Stiles counted four, but he was going on instinct at that moment as he still couldn’t see anything but darkness moving through darkness.
“Go go go!” Stiles yelled, cranking the handle to roll the window down enough to get the barrel through the crack. Isaac slammed his foot on the gas and the Jeep lurched backward, sending Stiles right into the dashboard and losing the line-up he had on the target. “Fucking...” but he didn’t finish, he needed to get the gun pointed and firing now. He pushed his leg up against the dash so that he was shoving his body back into the seat and started to line up his shot once again.
Stiles got two shots off before Isaac was swinging the vehicle around to face frontways and peeling out of the clearing. He couldn’t be certain, but he thought he might’ve hit it. The thing chasing them cleared the edge of the woods just as Isaac pulled back on the road and swerved a bit before straightening the vehicle out and gunning it out of there. Stiles thought he’d glimpsed a tail in that span.
He flattened himself back in his seat, yanking his seatbelt on, gun still in hand.
“Dude, you mind?” Isaac looked warily over at Stiles, apparently making a good assumption as to what ammunition Stiles had loaded in the gun.
Stiles looked wildly confused for a moment before he looked at the gun and nodded. “Oh, sorry.” He clicked on the safety and left the gun in his hand, though he rolled the window back up. “What the fuck-”
“I think you hit it,” Isaac said, in no sort of reply to Stiles’ question. He glanced over at Stiles quickly, his eyebrows raised in what might have been surprise. “You’re a good shot.” He sounded impressed, strangely enough. Isaac finally yanked his seatbelt on one-handed.
“Thanks? My dad, he was a sheriff. He taught me how to shoot.” Apparently that wasn’t what Isaac expected to hear because he looked over at Stiles once again, confusion written all over his face. Stiles shrugged. “I wasn’t always a hunter, y’know.”
Isaac shook his head. “Yeah, sorry, I just... sorry. And no, I don’t know what that was. It-”
“-wasn’t a werewolf?” Stiles finished, though it was less of a question than he thought. “I kinda figured as much.” After what felt like the fifth time of Isaac looking sideways at Stiles, he raised his hands. “Dude, what?”
“You’re just- you’re not what I expected, I guess.”
“Is that a good thing?” Stiles questioned.
“Yeah, totally. It’s good, I promise.” Isaac smiled and then kept his eyes on the road until they had returned to town.
Stiles’ head was pounding as the others speculated and argued over the information he and Isaac brought back with them. The sodden mood from Isaac losing his father had been replaced by panic and Isaac was probably glad for the change. Stiles would rather go back to the silence at this point, though.
When his phone rang he jumped at the chance to answer it, not caring if it was death calling for him at this point. “Hello?”
“Agent Reynolds?”
“Oh yeah, this is he,” he replied and waved his arm around to get the others to quiet down.
“This is Deputy Mahealani from Beacon Hills PD. We got the results back from the lab on the animal hairs.”
Stiles’ eyebrows raised and everyone had quieted and was looking at him now. It took him a moment to recognize that the werewolves could hear both sides of the conversation. “Let me guess, mountain lion?”
“No, sir. The lab said that the hair contained traces of Borax and had been well maintained and cleaned thoroughly.”
“Wha- what does that-”
“It was hair from a taxidermy. The animal wasn’t alive at all. At least, not in the better part of recent years.”
Stiles’ eyes narrowed further. “What kind of animal?”
“A wolf.”
Stiles could barely hang up the phone in time before the werewolves were exploding with talk, while the hunters looked at him in confusion. “It was a wolf. Taxidermy. Someone just shaved it off of a stuffed wolf.”
Stiles looked over at the others. “Do you know of anyone in town with a stuffed wolf?”
Laura nodded. “Only one person in town. Matt Daehler. He owns the hotel you’re staying in.”
Stiles groaned. “Not Manager Matt...”
“I don’t think you should ask him,” Stiles insisted as they got dressed in the hotel room.
“Oh, because he just loves you so much?”
“I wasn’t glaring him down like a homicidal maniac!”
“Oh please,” Allison scoffed, looking away from Stiles.
“He genuinely feared for his life! While still hoping that you’d fall on your knees and suck his cock.”
“Really, Stiles?” Lydia said, though she was still reading the book in her hands.
“Well obviously he hoped for the cock-sucking first,” Stiles added.
Allison huffed and dragged him off the bed by his elbow. “C’mon, we’re going. Stop being so ridiculous.”
“I hate this suit!” Stiles whined and tugged at his collar as they left their room and headed for the front desk. Matt was there, but that was probably because they’d just gotten back a few minutes ago and he had been staring down Allison’s ass.
“Hello Matt,” Allison greeted him as an old friend even though she hated his guts. “You’re Matt Daehler, correct? The owner of this fine establishment?” If there was contempt in her voice when she said the last, she hid it well enough.
Matt eyed them warily, but of course he looked angrier when he was looking in Stiles’ direction. Go figure. “Yes, that’s who I am. Am I suddenly a suspect in the murders because I said it wasn’t an animal?” he asked with too much sass for Stiles’ liking.
“What?” she trilled a fake laugh that made Stiles snort. “No, of course not. But we do have a question that relates to it, actually. The police tested the hair found at the scenes. Do you know what they found?” Allison was using her ‘get what I want’ voice, which was a mixture of sweet, sexy, and deadly.
“Not being a member of the police department, I can’t say I do.” He sneered at Stiles. “You’re going to tell me, though, right?”
Stiles squared his shoulders, sneering back a little and taking that question for himself out of spite. “They found wolf hair, Matt. Hair that had been treated for taxidermy. Word is the only stuffed wolf in town is owned by...” he trailed off, pointing his pen at Matt.
“Guilty,” Matt replied snottily, raising his hands in the air palms out, then holding both his wrists out toward them. “Better take me in, I’ve obviously been on a murder spree.”
“How many people have access to the wolf, Matt?” Allison asked, her voice a little on edge. She really disliked this guy and was having a hard time keeping her cool now. Stiles wanted to see how long it took for her to erupt.
“Just me and whoever I invite back to my place,” he replied cooly.
Allison didn’t like the answer, of course. “Do you invite a lot of people to your place?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you asking me how many people I’ve slept with, Agent?”
Stiles put his hand on Allison’s shoulder just as she hit the edge and was about to go ballistic on him. “Okay, thanks for your cooperation, Manager Matt. If we have any other questions, I’m sure you’ll be just as helpful. You wouldn’t mind us coming by your place sometime to check out that wolf, would you?”
“Yeah, I would, actually,” he replied hatefully. “But if it’s going to get you off my back, whatever.”
Stiles nodded curtly and continued to push Allison away from the front desk. She was absolutely fuming by the time they were back in their room. “I am going to tear that jerk a new asshole! I hate his stupid, little face!”
Stiles was already halfway out of his suit at this point. He started to unbutton his shirt before he realized that Lydia was still in the room and was currently eying him with interest. He flushed from the neck all the way down his chest, untucking the shirt and plopping down on the bed. “What did he say?” she asked them.
“Nothing besides that he’s a sleezy, disgusting-”
“He said we could see the wolf, though he’s not happy about cooperating,” Stiles broke in.
“Do you want me to kick the dude’s ass?” Scott asked, looking over at Allison.
“You really think that I need you to do that for me, Scott? I’m more than capable-”
Scott raised his hands in the air in self-defense. “Retracting question. Sorry I asked.”
“I’m gonna go call Laura,” Stiles said, jumping up and fleeing from the room, leaving Lydia to play peacemaker this go-around.
“Hey, Laura?” Stiles asked when she answered the phone.
“Stiles, hi. How are you?” Even when things were not going well, she still sounded happy to hear from him. He felt himself calming already.
“Good, I guess. We uh, we talked to Matt.”
“Oh? How did that go?” Laura asked, bemused.
“Well, he’s still an asshole, but he said we could see the wolf. Guess we’ll go by there tomorrow and check it out. If it is his wolf they are pulling hairs from, he’s going to deny knowing anything about it. And of course being involved in any way.” Stiles hadn’t thought about this, actually, but he knew even after saying it that it was the truth of the matter.
“Probably. He’s never been the most - amicable of people around here. Be that as it may, I’m not sure that he has the brains to be involved, if I’m honest.”
Stiles laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Yeah, I can see what you mean. Well, he isn’t stupid, but I don’t think he is involved with some supernatural force. Though he did say that he didn’t think it was animals...” Stiles mused, talking more to himself than Laura right then.
“What do you mean?”
“I asked him a while back what he thought of the ‘animal attacks’ and he said he didn’t think it was an animal. He said ‘they don’t attack with that much precision.’ But how does he know about the preciseness? It hasn’t been released to the public.” Stiles had mulled this over before, but he hadn’t had much time to really think about it too much with all that was going on.
“He could have just meant the constant attacks? Repetitiveness, timing, any number of things...” Laura suggested, though she didn’t sound convinced.
“Yeah, or Matt has connections in the police department that we don’t know about,” Stiles said.
Laura sounded tired. “Maybe.”
“How are y’all doing?” he asked, totally switching gears at the sound of her voice.
“Okay, I guess. With what happened to you and Isaac and then finding out about the wolf hairs, we didn’t have much time to dwell. But I think it’s setting in again. Isaac is...”
“Does he seem okay? Should he keep helping on this? Maybe he needs a break.”
“He’s going to be fine. He’s a lot like me - we don’t like to think about things too much. He would rather be involved than to think about it, y’know? By the way, I wanted to thank you for taking him out today. It was good for him.”
Stiles shrugged a little. “Of course. I mean, I know it’s what I wanted when I found out about my parents, so I just... I figured that without really knowing me like he did y’all, it’d be better.”
Laura ‘hmm’ed into the phone. “Yes. He’s been avoiding me because he doesn’t want to talk to me about it.” It sounded like a question instead of a statement. Stiles didn’t know if he should betray that information to Laura or not.
“He might’ve mentioned something about you?” Stiles offered lamely.
“Okay. I guess I should have expected it. I know he’ll come to me when he’s ready, it’s just - hard. I want to be there for him, y’know?” She sounded more like a mother than he’d ever heard before. How did someone who was barely older than the rest of them take to a mothering role like that?
“He knows. I promise you that he knows you’re there and he loves you, like a lot. I’ve seen it.”
“You know that you’ve only known us less than a week, right?”
“It’s not difficult to see, Laura.” He might not know any of them well (not even Isaac, though he’d thought about what sex would be like with the dude), but he knew love when he saw it. He could see it in Scott’s eyes, when he talked about Allison. He could see it in Allison’s, when she denied all her feelings for Scott, he had always known that it wasn’t in Lydia’s eyes when she looked at him...
“Oh Stiles. I have a bad feeling. This is going to get worse for all of us before it gets better.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
Stiles only went back into the hotel room to change. Scott was buying stuff online and Allison and Lydia were talking about - something - so he left again, allowing himself to wander even though he knew it wasn’t the smartest idea to go on his own. He at least brought his concealed weapons along.
He’d only been walking a few feet when his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text message from a number he didn’t recognize.
Unknown said: Thanks for helping out Isaac today. I know I come off as an asshole, but- well we appreciate it.
It wasn’t signed, but he knew that Derek had sent it. Stiles punched the number into his address book under Derek Hale and subtitled it Mostly an Asshat, before he opened a new message to reply. He couldn’t really figure out how to respond without being sarcastic, so he went with simple.
Stiles said: You’re welcome, Derek.
Derek said: For a hunter, you’re not a complete waste of space.
Stiles said: Your complementing skills need a little work.
Derek said: I wasn’t giving you a compliment.
Stiles said: Apparently.
Stiles said: For an asshat, you’re not an utter tool.
Derek said: That doesn’t even make sense.
Stiles said: It does if you aren’t a tool.
Derek said: This conversation is over.
Stiles said: And it was going so well!
Stiles was actually smirking down at his phone as he walked. So much for holding back on the sarcasm.
Derek said: I’m taking my compliment back.
Stiles said: You said it wasn’t a compliment!
Derek said: It isn’t now.
Stiles said: You’re so sweet, Hale! I’m swooning.
Derek said: Don’t you have something useful you could be doing?
Stiles said: Don’t YOU?
Derek said: I regret ever texting you.
There was a lapse in there near back-and-forth messaging, and Stiles thought that maybe it was over. Then he received another message.
Derek said: How did you know it was me?
Stiles said: Your manly aura was just bursting through your digital communication.
Derek said: How can people even stand to talk to you?
Stiles said: My incredible charm and unmatched wit, I suppose.
Derek said: Has anyone ever told you that you’re delusional?
Stiles said: Everyday, Derek. Every stinkin’ day.
Stiles looked up and almost ran face-first into the looming werewolf, Peter Hale. “Holy fuck, dude!” he screamed in fright, jumping visibly as he put on the brakes and refrained from face-planting into Peter’s body.
“Stiles. Enjoyable conversation?” Peter asked cordially.
“Dude! Why would you not say something? Why were you just-just looming? Why are you here?” Stiles’ hand twitched and he slowly slid his phone back in his pocket, fingering the outline of the holster through his jean pocket. You didn’t need a scientist to know that Peter didn’t like them and Stiles wasn’t fond of the werewolf either. He found his presence unnerving.
“Am I not allowed to stroll around the neighborhood too?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, sure dude, whatever. Do you want something?”
“I saw you and thought I’d say hello. Wouldn’t want you to think I was rude, now would I?”
“Certainly wouldn’t want that,” Stiles scoffed under his breath.
“You know... I like you, Stiles.”
Stiles gaped. “Uh - what?”
“You’re smart, resilient, you think about your actions and the actions of those around you before making a move- I like you.”
“Oka-”
“I just don’t want you to get the wrong impression here. I don’t want you to think that just because you’re intelligent, that you can outwit me. I’m always going to be one step ahead of you.”
Stiles raised his eyebrows. “Are we in competition for something that I’m not aware of?” He felt his phone buzz under his fingers, but he didn’t take it out to check it.
Peter shook his head a little, a small smile on his face. “Oh, I think you know quite well that we’re competing. Laura may be fooled by your sarcastic wit and slightly-better-than-average brain capacity, but I’m not. And when push comes to shove, she’s going to listen to me before she listens to you. I’m older than the lot of you, I have more experience, and I’m family. You can’t deny the connection we have.”
Stiles was gripping his phone tightly, a sneer on his face. “Yeah, well, you can’t deny our connection either, Peter. Laura and I are connected for a reason.” Boy did he want to believe that.
“Some things don’t have a reason, a fate, or any kind of grand design. Some things are just there to make you weaker. You should remember that, Stiles.” He stepped to the side and started walking. “Might want to answer that; someone desperately wants to speak with you.” Peter walked a few more feet behind Stiles and then was gone in a flash of werewolf speed. Of course.
Stiles didn’t even read the message Derek had sent, he just typed out and sent his own quickly.
Stiles said: Dude, your uncle is a dick.
Five seconds later his phone was ringing. Stiles answered it confusion.
“What are you talking about, Stiles?” Derek barked at him.
“Hello to you too, Derek.”
“Stiles.”
“Nothing, chill. He just stopped me in the middle of the street to tell me that I am not as smart as he is and that he is going to win in our epic battle over Laura’s allegiance that I wasn’t aware was happening until now.” Stiles rolled his eyes as he continued walking again, scuffling his feet as he walked.
“Could you pick your feet up? I can barely hear you while you’re dragging your feet like that,” Derek complained.
Stiles groaned. “Stupid werewolves,” he muttered.
“My uncle just showed up outside your motel?”
“Well, it’s not right in front of the hotel, but I’m not far. I was just walking around and I looked up and there he was like a creepy stalker.”
“Stiles, listen. Whatever you do, stay away from Peter, okay?”
“Um, you do realize that is your uncle you’re talking about, right? He’s sort of in your pack, carries around the same surname-”
“Stiles. This isn’t a joke, alright? Peter is dangerous.” Derek sighed. “No, not just because he’s a werewolf, but that doesn’t help. He never took the death of our family well and ever since then he’s been... off. If he approaches you like that again, tell me or Laura, okay?”
“If he’s such a hazard, why are you keeping him around?” Stiles asked in confusion. What exactly was Derek trying to warn him of without actually saying anything at all?
“Because if we dispelled him, the repercussions would be worse than having him near where we can keep an eye on him. Just... don’t go near him unless we’re all there too. Promise me.” Derek sounded genuinely worried and it was strange.
“Yeah. Yeah, alright, I promise, Derek. Uh... thanks, I guess.”
“Be careful out there. You almost got attacked once already today.” Derek hung up without saying anything else.
Stiles just stared at his phone. It took him a second to register that Derek had been referring to the incident he and Isaac had had and not a few moments ago with Peter. Either way, he definitely felt less safe than he had before, which wasn’t a large measure of safety to begin with.
Part Three: You Should Make Amends With You
Author: burntotears
Pairing: Allison Argent/Stiles Stilinski - Codependency, Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey/Stiles Stilinski or Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 7,211
Spoilers: Season 2
Disclaimer: © MTV
Chapter Index No Such Thing Master Post
"So we're really gonna do this?" Scott asked as they sat around the tiny table in the motel room.
"Do what?" Stiles asked quizzically.
Lydia huffed. "Trust a bunch of slobbery canines, that's what! You really think they aren't going to turn on us the moment we turn our backs?"
Allison shrugged and looked at Stiles expectantly. He grunted. “No, I don’t. Laura’s not like that-”
Lydia scoffed at him. “Oh, Laura’s not like that? Stiles, she’s a werewolf. She’s an Alpha and you just met her like four days ago. Are you that head over heels that you can’t see-”
“I don’t like her like that, okay? That’s not what this is. I just know and I’m usually right about these things.” Stiles tended to have feelings about things and people and he could tell that Laura wouldn’t ever turn on them - unfortunately he was not currently seated with people who grew up outside the job so they never would listen to him. Allison did, but when it came to trusting something they usually hunted, she tended to draw the line.
Allison looked at him with momentary sadness before steeling herself. “Stiles, we know you are usually right about this stuff, but you aren’t always, and I just... I can’t see this ending well. Getting involved with them just isn’t a smart idea.”
“Look, I know why you’re nervous, alright? I know why all of you are, but I need you to trust me. I wouldn’t lead you down this path if I didn’t think it was safe... if I didn’t think that it was the right decision. We do need their help and they know what it means if we don’t catch this thing, so yeah... just stop fighting me and help me.” Stiles was getting to the point where if he didn’t convince them soon, he’d end up doing this on his own and he didn’t want that. Regardless of their history and ‘hunter solidarity’, he was ultimately slave to their biases and he needed to get them past the obvious and thinking about what was actually important. He wanted this to end.
“Alright, dude. I got your back. I’m not gonna start sniffing butts or howling at the moon... but I’ll work with them if you think it’s gonna help us find and kill this motherfucker.” Scott grinned wide and crooked, clapping Stiles on the shoulder.
“Scott, you’re an idiot,” Allison said, though she sounded kind of fond for once. “Alright Stiles, you know that I’m gonna back you because I love you and you haven’t fucked me over yet, so I doubt you’d start now. But if one of them tries to kill us, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, I think we all warned you, lover boy. Steer clear of the werewolf dick, Stiles, it’s only gonna break your heart... and probably your neck,” Lydia chimed in with all the false sweetness she was capable of. It was scary how sincere she could sound while telling him to stay away from dick - he knew she was full of it, but it still made him blush.
“How would you know, Lydia? Walked a little on the wild side yourself?” Scott raised his eyebrows at her suggestively.
“Ugh, McCall, you’re disgusting,” Allison leaned over and punched him hard in the shoulder. Scott made a weird whining sound and rubbed his shoulder tenderly.
“Fuck, Stiles, what’re you feeding her? She’s like a goddamn boxer.”
“Try not to forget it the next time you attempt to touch my ass,” Allison sneered.
Scott held his hands in the air. “Yeah-yeah, I surrender dude, shit. So what’ve you guys found out so far?” He asked and looked over at Stiles. All three of them looked at Stiles expectantly, which he didn’t really understand considering Allison was a part of ‘you guys’ too. For some reason he was always expected to have all the answers, even when they didn't want to listen to them.
"Well, we know that the animal hair was planted, but who do you think did it? I don't think it's this thing - it never tried to cover its tracks before, so why would it now?" When Stiles had been told about his parents’ deaths, he had been brought to the scene to identify them. His parents were both lying dead inside of his mother’s store and the entire place was ransacked. Of course that made the police think it was a robbery gone south, though Stiles always thought that his father’s deputies knew that something more sinister had taken place because of the way they were murdered - a robber would have just shot them if things had taken a turn for the worse - but they never would admit that and the case remained unsolved. Stiles fingered the Cernunnos charm on his necklace as he thought of them again.
“I think that we might need to take a closer look at these policemen. Who would have an easier job planting hair on the bodies than them?” Allison asked, looking over at Stiles thoughtfully and watching him touch his necklace. It was a habit she knew well enough to realize what he was thinking about.
“Well... you guys, apparently, if you’ve been getting in on those crime scenes so easily,” Scott mused. Lydia glared at him, not even bothering to make fun of him as his words weren’t worth her effort.
“Yeah, Scott, we’ve been planting fake evidence for us to find. That makes perfect sense,” Allison groaned at him.
Scott rolled his eyes. “Hey, you asked. Did you notice anything off about any of them when you were at the station?”
Stiles looked from Scott to Allison. “Their sheriff is a little off-balance, but I dunno if that really makes hi-”
“Fuck that, Stiles, he’s a total nutcase. All he ever does is yell, and he’s super twitchy...”
“I can get twitchy too. Doesn’t mean I’m working with a murderer and planting fake evidence everywhere I go.” Stiles realized that both of his statements were a little stupid considering that he did both of those things... a lot. Lydia looked at him like he was growing a second head and Scott laughed. “You know what I mean,” he added, annoyed.
“Well, think of it like this: the police already know that it’s not a mountain lion - the medical examiner and the police don’t believe that a mountain lion is behind this. So why are they still pushing that theory?” Allison asked.
“They aren’t just gonna tell everyone the truth,” Lydia said.
Stiles nodded. “But I don’t think that all of them actually know the truth. Danny seemed genuinely convinced it was an animal attacking these people. I don’t think that they’ve all been told what the medical examiner said.”
“But the sheriff would know,” Scott added. “He’s the one in charge and the one the coroner would tell, right?”
“Yeah, which only further proves that he is hiding something,” Allison agreed.
“Allison, you think everyone is hiding something,” Stiles groaned.
“That’s because everyone is.”
With Lydia and Scott there, Stiles found it difficult to stay in the room once talk finally turned to ‘catching up’. He wasn’t really interested in talking, mostly because he never had anything to catch people up on. His life was the same goddamn thing day in and day out - find something bad, take care of it, keep your head down, don’t get attached, move on. It was part of the hunter code they lived by, but it was a lonely life and he sometimes found himself wishing he could give it all up and stop chasing ghosts. Of course he never would and neither would Allison - not until they found what they were looking for.
Stiles scuffed his feet on the ground and walked around outside the motel, wandering aimlessly just to give himself something to do. He thought about the werewolves and about Isaac. He knew it would never turn into anything more than sex - if he even let it get that far - because once the job was over, he would leave and he’d never see the man again. Granted he still kept hoping that this was finally the one - the job that ended it once and for all. If it did and they survived, he honestly wasn’t certain what they’d do after. Allison had always made it sound like she’d keep hunting no matter what, but he could tell she was tired and wanted an out just as much as he did.
His thoughts shifted to Laura. He wanted to believe in her so badly; he wanted to believe that Laura really was like his mom, or that he was feeling this way toward her because his mom was trying to tell him that he needed to trust her. It sounded ridiculous, but it didn’t make him believe it any less. Laura wasn’t going to betray them, but that didn’t mean none of the others would. Something Stiles conveniently didn’t mention to the other hunters. They were paranoid enough as it was, no need to add to the dissent.
Stiles pulled his phone out and sent her a message without really thinking about it.
Stiles said: I’m sorry we didn’t get anything accomplished today. It’s hard for them to let go of their training.
He almost jumped out of his skin when his phone started to ring instead of beeping back at him. He definitely hadn’t expected her to call him. “Uh, hello?”
“Hi Stiles. I’m not big on texting unless it’s something simple. Anyway... don’t blame yourself, I totally understand where they are coming from. I mean, if you can’t tell, some of us aren’t really letting go of our biases either. It’s a hard concept for them when all we’ve ever seen is the barrel end of a hunter’s gun.” Laura’s voice was warm and soothing and Stiles wanted to wrap himself up into it like a blanket.
“I’m sorry, Laura. I’m sorry about your family... I would never - that’s not how we operate. There is a code and Allison and I do follow it.” Stiles didn’t know why he wanted to reassure her of his honor so badly. He couldn’t stand the thought of her thinking ill of him though.
“Stiles, I know that. These connections... they aren’t one way. I feel the same way about you that you do about me. I know it’s weird, but I think it is gonna help us in the long run. Knowing that you wouldn’t betray me... well that helps a lot.” She sounded so fond and so certain.
“Has this happened to you before? Isaac said that he felt connected to you... does it happen a lot?” Stiles asked in honest interest.
“No, it doesn’t happen a lot. Like I said, I usually can’t calm anyone down besides those in my pack. It’s an Alpha-Beta connection. You’ve sort of taken on a Beta role without actually becoming a werewolf or being in my pack and that is definitely... odd. Derek and Peter are worried because it’s not - well it’s not normal.” Laura paused for a moment and Stiles thought she might be finished, but she continued eventually. “You mustn’t think that it’s a bad thing though. Unorthodox or not, it might be the vital piece we need for our two packs to coincide without ripping each other apart. I understand Derek and Peter’s fears, but I’m not going to disregard something that might help us get rid of whatever this thing is.”
Stiles nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “I don’t know why I feel it, but it’s there and I can’t stop feeling it. You-you remind me of my mom.” Holy shit, why did he just say that?
He heard Laura sigh. “I’m sorry about your parents, Stiles. I know that it may seem like the others are just interested in getting the attention off Beacon Hills, but we do genuinely care about this town and its people and we don’t want to see them come to harm. Our main goal is to keep these people safe, protect the territory, and live as normal a life as we can while we do it. And if this is what killed your parents, Stiles, I will be honored to help bring you peace.”
“Um... thank you. I don’t know if that’s what it’ll bring me, but at least it’s some type of justice.” Stiles paused for a moment and then added, “I believe you. I know that you’re trying to do what’s best for your family and your town and I don’t think you’d betray us, Laura, but... I don’t know about the others.”
“Well honestly? I don’t know about the others with you either. I know it might seem a little irrational, but Derek and Peter do have a reason to distrust hunters. Derek more than any of us and if he is an asshole toward you, it’s because of that. He’s actually a very caring person, but he’s been warped from that experience and Peter tends to over-do it and spurn his hatred even further. But Derek believes you, Stiles, even if he doesn’t know how to show it. If I trust you, Derek knows that there’s nothing to fear... but he can’t feel the same way about your companions and he probably never will.”
Stiles definitely didn’t have ‘Derek Hale trusts me’ on his list of things he could believe, even with Laura telling him it. “I-I am sorry for whatever he went through, but I have a hard time believing that he is okay with me when he is constantly on edge around me.”
Laura actually laughed. “Oh sweetie... you two are kinda clueless, huh?”
“What? What do you mean?” Stiles wasn’t sure he’d like her answer.
“You’ve never experienced sexual tension before?” Laura laughed again.
“Holy fuck, we do not have sexual tension! Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Because it’s true, hon.” He could tell she was trying to stifle laughter.
“I’m not attracted to your brother! He is a total dick to me! I-I’m attracted to Isaac!” Fuck, he didn’t want to talk about this - she was just as bad as Allison.
He could hear the smile in her voice. “I know that, sweetie. And he is attracted to you too... but so is Derek. And you’re attracted to Derek, you are just blinded to it because you two can’t do anything but argue.”
“Ohmygod Laura, do you want me to be attracted to your brother or something? This is the creepiest conversation I’ve ever had! Fuck, it doesn’t matter because nothing will happen between me and anyone anyway.” Stiles didn’t know why he was so defensive, but he was pretty sure that his brain was attempting to explode at the thought of being connected to Derek in that way.
“Right. Well, don’t worry about me being against it - I give you my blessing for Isaac and Derek.”
“Holy shit... I don’t want your blessing!”
-----
Another body was found the next morning, with all of the usual evidence left behind. What wasn't very usual was that the body was found in an alleyway and this time the pack knew who it was.
"This isn't good," Laura said when Stiles and the other hunters met up with the pack, hovering on the outskirts of the crime scene.
"Who is it?" Allison asked curiously.
"It's Mr. Lahey - Isaac's dad," Derek said grimly, his face set in a hard line.
Stiles' head swiveled around to look at Isaac, who didn't seem to be acknowledging anything around him; he was obviously stunned. Stiles' frown gouged a deeper rift into his face. "Is he okay?" Stiles tilted his head toward Isaac.
"What do you think? His father's dead. Of course he's not-" the blonde wolf, who he now knew to be Erica, responded harshly.
“Stop it, Erica. He’s asking because he cares - he’s not being a dick,” Derek said and Stiles stared at him for a minute, wondering why he was sticking up for him when he was usually the first one to point out the flaws of what Stiles said. Erica pouted and returned to staring at Isaac while gripping tightly to the black werewolf’s hand, whom he was told was named Boyd.
“What’re we gonna do?” Boyd asked, looking toward Laura, his eyes drifting vaguely toward Stiles.
Laura tore her eyes from Isaac's back and he visibly slouched more. "We're going to find this thing and we're going to kill it," she responded vehemently.
Later when they had all piled into the back room of the diner (Peter excusing himself earlier on to do some work back at the house), silence fell over the lot of them. Not even the hunters seemed to have anything to say. Stiles sat in the booth next to Isaac, but he didn’t receive much of a response from him after his first couple of attempts and eventually fell silent along with the rest of them.
After about thirty minutes, Stiles couldn’t take it anymore. “Wanna get out of here?” he asked Isaac, who looked up, surprised, but nodded enthusiastically. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Allison was on her feet in seconds and even Laura looked a little unnerved at the prospect, but Stiles waved them off. “We’ll be fine. How much trouble could we possibly get into?” A lot, was the true answer, but he ignored that small dissenting voice and led Isaac out of the diner. When they were walking toward the Jeep, Stiles tossed him the keys. “Wherever you wanna go, dude.” Stiles was surprisingly unworried by the prospect of letting Isaac go wherever he wanted as he took his place in the passenger seat. He knew that Isaac wouldn’t want to just leave town, but allowing him the choice to drive around and at least get that feeling of freedom would do him wonders. Lord knew that Stiles had done his fair share of it when his parents died. Maybe not the best comparison since after he started driving, he never stopped...
Isaac drove them around for the better part of 20 minutes, and Stiles began shifting in his seat when he thought that maybe he did want to get out of town, but then they began to slow and Isaac took a winding side road and eventually pulled them up to a sight Stiles hadn’t seen the likes of in quite a while.
“Holy shit, dude,” he gaped, getting slowly out of the Jeep while trying to keep his eyes swiveling at the sight in front of him. A cliff that overlooked both the small town and the expanding forest all around was their rest stop and the scene was making Stiles short of breath for the sight of it. “This is amazing!”
Isaac walked up next to Stiles, surveying the scene along with him. “Mmyeah. My brother used to bring me out here whenever my dad was having one of his episodes. Sometimes we’d pitch a tent and just stay all night, reading ghost stories and playing board games. It was fun.”
Stiles, of course, wasn’t entirely sure what Isaac meant by ‘episodes’, but he tried to squash the questions for now. It wasn’t his place to pry into Isaac’s homelife. “That sounds awesome, man.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it was,” Isaac replied and they both fell silent, staring over the cliff at the land below. Eventually Stiles pulled himself up onto the hood of the Jeep and just stared. After a few minutes, Isaac joined him. “I haven’t been home in years. The first time I saw him again, he was lying on the ground in that alleyway...” he trailed off, and Stiles couldn’t tell by his voice if he was choked up about that or just stating a fact.
Stiles reached over tentatively and touched Isaac’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Isaac. I might not know exactly what you’re feeling, but I know... well, I just know.” He had no idea what Isaac’s relationship with his father was, but if he hadn’t seen him for years, probably not the best. That didn’t change the fact that losing a parent wasn’t easy.
Isaac looked over at him, his blue eyes bright and questioning, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. Thanks. I mean... I’m sorry it happened to you, just- it’s nice to have someone who understands, but doesn’t know every damn detail.” He pushed out a short laugh. “The minute I’m alone with Laura it will start- all the questions and then worry and... I don’t wanna deal with that for a while. She means well, obviously, and she’s a great person, but I-”
“I get it.” Stiles nodded, his hand sliding down Isaac’s arm a bit before he placed it back in his own space. He did, for the most part. He would’ve given anything to have someone like Laura around the past few years though. Sure he had Allison, but she didn’t exactly exude motherly tendencies. He was burning with questions, of course, but Isaac had kind of made it clear he wasn’t in the mood to discuss, so he kept them to himself. Stiles put his hands behind his head and leaned against the windshield, looking up at the sky above them as silence fell between them and there was nothing but the sounds of the forest filling his ears.
He wasn’t certain, but he might have dozed off. The next thing he realized, he was jolting a bit at the sudden movement next to him. Isaac was looking every which way, his face a mask of concentration and slight worry. Stiles only realized after a few moments that Isaac had a hold of Stiles’ arm as he looked around them. Finally his head swiveled back to Stiles and he whispered, “We need to go.” Isaac hopped off the Jeep’s hood and let go of Stiles’ arm at the last possible second, a warmth tingling against his skin even as the hairs on the back of his neck went on end.
Stiles flung himself from the hood and into the passenger side of the jeep just as Isaac closed his door, starting up the car and backing out. Stiles dug into the glovebox and removed his spare gun, loading and cocking it in the span of a few seconds.
“Fuck!” Isaac said suddenly, and Stiles thought he was protesting the presence of the gun, but it didn’t take long for him to find out the truth. A huge, dark figure was lumbering toward the clearing from the woods to their right, cracking branches and making an unfathomable amount of noise when its feet hit the ground. Stiles counted four, but he was going on instinct at that moment as he still couldn’t see anything but darkness moving through darkness.
“Go go go!” Stiles yelled, cranking the handle to roll the window down enough to get the barrel through the crack. Isaac slammed his foot on the gas and the Jeep lurched backward, sending Stiles right into the dashboard and losing the line-up he had on the target. “Fucking...” but he didn’t finish, he needed to get the gun pointed and firing now. He pushed his leg up against the dash so that he was shoving his body back into the seat and started to line up his shot once again.
Stiles got two shots off before Isaac was swinging the vehicle around to face frontways and peeling out of the clearing. He couldn’t be certain, but he thought he might’ve hit it. The thing chasing them cleared the edge of the woods just as Isaac pulled back on the road and swerved a bit before straightening the vehicle out and gunning it out of there. Stiles thought he’d glimpsed a tail in that span.
He flattened himself back in his seat, yanking his seatbelt on, gun still in hand.
“Dude, you mind?” Isaac looked warily over at Stiles, apparently making a good assumption as to what ammunition Stiles had loaded in the gun.
Stiles looked wildly confused for a moment before he looked at the gun and nodded. “Oh, sorry.” He clicked on the safety and left the gun in his hand, though he rolled the window back up. “What the fuck-”
“I think you hit it,” Isaac said, in no sort of reply to Stiles’ question. He glanced over at Stiles quickly, his eyebrows raised in what might have been surprise. “You’re a good shot.” He sounded impressed, strangely enough. Isaac finally yanked his seatbelt on one-handed.
“Thanks? My dad, he was a sheriff. He taught me how to shoot.” Apparently that wasn’t what Isaac expected to hear because he looked over at Stiles once again, confusion written all over his face. Stiles shrugged. “I wasn’t always a hunter, y’know.”
Isaac shook his head. “Yeah, sorry, I just... sorry. And no, I don’t know what that was. It-”
“-wasn’t a werewolf?” Stiles finished, though it was less of a question than he thought. “I kinda figured as much.” After what felt like the fifth time of Isaac looking sideways at Stiles, he raised his hands. “Dude, what?”
“You’re just- you’re not what I expected, I guess.”
“Is that a good thing?” Stiles questioned.
“Yeah, totally. It’s good, I promise.” Isaac smiled and then kept his eyes on the road until they had returned to town.
Stiles’ head was pounding as the others speculated and argued over the information he and Isaac brought back with them. The sodden mood from Isaac losing his father had been replaced by panic and Isaac was probably glad for the change. Stiles would rather go back to the silence at this point, though.
When his phone rang he jumped at the chance to answer it, not caring if it was death calling for him at this point. “Hello?”
“Agent Reynolds?”
“Oh yeah, this is he,” he replied and waved his arm around to get the others to quiet down.
“This is Deputy Mahealani from Beacon Hills PD. We got the results back from the lab on the animal hairs.”
Stiles’ eyebrows raised and everyone had quieted and was looking at him now. It took him a moment to recognize that the werewolves could hear both sides of the conversation. “Let me guess, mountain lion?”
“No, sir. The lab said that the hair contained traces of Borax and had been well maintained and cleaned thoroughly.”
“Wha- what does that-”
“It was hair from a taxidermy. The animal wasn’t alive at all. At least, not in the better part of recent years.”
Stiles’ eyes narrowed further. “What kind of animal?”
“A wolf.”
Stiles could barely hang up the phone in time before the werewolves were exploding with talk, while the hunters looked at him in confusion. “It was a wolf. Taxidermy. Someone just shaved it off of a stuffed wolf.”
Stiles looked over at the others. “Do you know of anyone in town with a stuffed wolf?”
Laura nodded. “Only one person in town. Matt Daehler. He owns the hotel you’re staying in.”
Stiles groaned. “Not Manager Matt...”
“I don’t think you should ask him,” Stiles insisted as they got dressed in the hotel room.
“Oh, because he just loves you so much?”
“I wasn’t glaring him down like a homicidal maniac!”
“Oh please,” Allison scoffed, looking away from Stiles.
“He genuinely feared for his life! While still hoping that you’d fall on your knees and suck his cock.”
“Really, Stiles?” Lydia said, though she was still reading the book in her hands.
“Well obviously he hoped for the cock-sucking first,” Stiles added.
Allison huffed and dragged him off the bed by his elbow. “C’mon, we’re going. Stop being so ridiculous.”
“I hate this suit!” Stiles whined and tugged at his collar as they left their room and headed for the front desk. Matt was there, but that was probably because they’d just gotten back a few minutes ago and he had been staring down Allison’s ass.
“Hello Matt,” Allison greeted him as an old friend even though she hated his guts. “You’re Matt Daehler, correct? The owner of this fine establishment?” If there was contempt in her voice when she said the last, she hid it well enough.
Matt eyed them warily, but of course he looked angrier when he was looking in Stiles’ direction. Go figure. “Yes, that’s who I am. Am I suddenly a suspect in the murders because I said it wasn’t an animal?” he asked with too much sass for Stiles’ liking.
“What?” she trilled a fake laugh that made Stiles snort. “No, of course not. But we do have a question that relates to it, actually. The police tested the hair found at the scenes. Do you know what they found?” Allison was using her ‘get what I want’ voice, which was a mixture of sweet, sexy, and deadly.
“Not being a member of the police department, I can’t say I do.” He sneered at Stiles. “You’re going to tell me, though, right?”
Stiles squared his shoulders, sneering back a little and taking that question for himself out of spite. “They found wolf hair, Matt. Hair that had been treated for taxidermy. Word is the only stuffed wolf in town is owned by...” he trailed off, pointing his pen at Matt.
“Guilty,” Matt replied snottily, raising his hands in the air palms out, then holding both his wrists out toward them. “Better take me in, I’ve obviously been on a murder spree.”
“How many people have access to the wolf, Matt?” Allison asked, her voice a little on edge. She really disliked this guy and was having a hard time keeping her cool now. Stiles wanted to see how long it took for her to erupt.
“Just me and whoever I invite back to my place,” he replied cooly.
Allison didn’t like the answer, of course. “Do you invite a lot of people to your place?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you asking me how many people I’ve slept with, Agent?”
Stiles put his hand on Allison’s shoulder just as she hit the edge and was about to go ballistic on him. “Okay, thanks for your cooperation, Manager Matt. If we have any other questions, I’m sure you’ll be just as helpful. You wouldn’t mind us coming by your place sometime to check out that wolf, would you?”
“Yeah, I would, actually,” he replied hatefully. “But if it’s going to get you off my back, whatever.”
Stiles nodded curtly and continued to push Allison away from the front desk. She was absolutely fuming by the time they were back in their room. “I am going to tear that jerk a new asshole! I hate his stupid, little face!”
Stiles was already halfway out of his suit at this point. He started to unbutton his shirt before he realized that Lydia was still in the room and was currently eying him with interest. He flushed from the neck all the way down his chest, untucking the shirt and plopping down on the bed. “What did he say?” she asked them.
“Nothing besides that he’s a sleezy, disgusting-”
“He said we could see the wolf, though he’s not happy about cooperating,” Stiles broke in.
“Do you want me to kick the dude’s ass?” Scott asked, looking over at Allison.
“You really think that I need you to do that for me, Scott? I’m more than capable-”
Scott raised his hands in the air in self-defense. “Retracting question. Sorry I asked.”
“I’m gonna go call Laura,” Stiles said, jumping up and fleeing from the room, leaving Lydia to play peacemaker this go-around.
“Hey, Laura?” Stiles asked when she answered the phone.
“Stiles, hi. How are you?” Even when things were not going well, she still sounded happy to hear from him. He felt himself calming already.
“Good, I guess. We uh, we talked to Matt.”
“Oh? How did that go?” Laura asked, bemused.
“Well, he’s still an asshole, but he said we could see the wolf. Guess we’ll go by there tomorrow and check it out. If it is his wolf they are pulling hairs from, he’s going to deny knowing anything about it. And of course being involved in any way.” Stiles hadn’t thought about this, actually, but he knew even after saying it that it was the truth of the matter.
“Probably. He’s never been the most - amicable of people around here. Be that as it may, I’m not sure that he has the brains to be involved, if I’m honest.”
Stiles laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Yeah, I can see what you mean. Well, he isn’t stupid, but I don’t think he is involved with some supernatural force. Though he did say that he didn’t think it was animals...” Stiles mused, talking more to himself than Laura right then.
“What do you mean?”
“I asked him a while back what he thought of the ‘animal attacks’ and he said he didn’t think it was an animal. He said ‘they don’t attack with that much precision.’ But how does he know about the preciseness? It hasn’t been released to the public.” Stiles had mulled this over before, but he hadn’t had much time to really think about it too much with all that was going on.
“He could have just meant the constant attacks? Repetitiveness, timing, any number of things...” Laura suggested, though she didn’t sound convinced.
“Yeah, or Matt has connections in the police department that we don’t know about,” Stiles said.
Laura sounded tired. “Maybe.”
“How are y’all doing?” he asked, totally switching gears at the sound of her voice.
“Okay, I guess. With what happened to you and Isaac and then finding out about the wolf hairs, we didn’t have much time to dwell. But I think it’s setting in again. Isaac is...”
“Does he seem okay? Should he keep helping on this? Maybe he needs a break.”
“He’s going to be fine. He’s a lot like me - we don’t like to think about things too much. He would rather be involved than to think about it, y’know? By the way, I wanted to thank you for taking him out today. It was good for him.”
Stiles shrugged a little. “Of course. I mean, I know it’s what I wanted when I found out about my parents, so I just... I figured that without really knowing me like he did y’all, it’d be better.”
Laura ‘hmm’ed into the phone. “Yes. He’s been avoiding me because he doesn’t want to talk to me about it.” It sounded like a question instead of a statement. Stiles didn’t know if he should betray that information to Laura or not.
“He might’ve mentioned something about you?” Stiles offered lamely.
“Okay. I guess I should have expected it. I know he’ll come to me when he’s ready, it’s just - hard. I want to be there for him, y’know?” She sounded more like a mother than he’d ever heard before. How did someone who was barely older than the rest of them take to a mothering role like that?
“He knows. I promise you that he knows you’re there and he loves you, like a lot. I’ve seen it.”
“You know that you’ve only known us less than a week, right?”
“It’s not difficult to see, Laura.” He might not know any of them well (not even Isaac, though he’d thought about what sex would be like with the dude), but he knew love when he saw it. He could see it in Scott’s eyes, when he talked about Allison. He could see it in Allison’s, when she denied all her feelings for Scott, he had always known that it wasn’t in Lydia’s eyes when she looked at him...
“Oh Stiles. I have a bad feeling. This is going to get worse for all of us before it gets better.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
Stiles only went back into the hotel room to change. Scott was buying stuff online and Allison and Lydia were talking about - something - so he left again, allowing himself to wander even though he knew it wasn’t the smartest idea to go on his own. He at least brought his concealed weapons along.
He’d only been walking a few feet when his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text message from a number he didn’t recognize.
Unknown said: Thanks for helping out Isaac today. I know I come off as an asshole, but- well we appreciate it.
It wasn’t signed, but he knew that Derek had sent it. Stiles punched the number into his address book under Derek Hale and subtitled it Mostly an Asshat, before he opened a new message to reply. He couldn’t really figure out how to respond without being sarcastic, so he went with simple.
Stiles said: You’re welcome, Derek.
Derek said: For a hunter, you’re not a complete waste of space.
Stiles said: Your complementing skills need a little work.
Derek said: I wasn’t giving you a compliment.
Stiles said: Apparently.
Stiles said: For an asshat, you’re not an utter tool.
Derek said: That doesn’t even make sense.
Stiles said: It does if you aren’t a tool.
Derek said: This conversation is over.
Stiles said: And it was going so well!
Stiles was actually smirking down at his phone as he walked. So much for holding back on the sarcasm.
Derek said: I’m taking my compliment back.
Stiles said: You said it wasn’t a compliment!
Derek said: It isn’t now.
Stiles said: You’re so sweet, Hale! I’m swooning.
Derek said: Don’t you have something useful you could be doing?
Stiles said: Don’t YOU?
Derek said: I regret ever texting you.
There was a lapse in there near back-and-forth messaging, and Stiles thought that maybe it was over. Then he received another message.
Derek said: How did you know it was me?
Stiles said: Your manly aura was just bursting through your digital communication.
Derek said: How can people even stand to talk to you?
Stiles said: My incredible charm and unmatched wit, I suppose.
Derek said: Has anyone ever told you that you’re delusional?
Stiles said: Everyday, Derek. Every stinkin’ day.
Stiles looked up and almost ran face-first into the looming werewolf, Peter Hale. “Holy fuck, dude!” he screamed in fright, jumping visibly as he put on the brakes and refrained from face-planting into Peter’s body.
“Stiles. Enjoyable conversation?” Peter asked cordially.
“Dude! Why would you not say something? Why were you just-just looming? Why are you here?” Stiles’ hand twitched and he slowly slid his phone back in his pocket, fingering the outline of the holster through his jean pocket. You didn’t need a scientist to know that Peter didn’t like them and Stiles wasn’t fond of the werewolf either. He found his presence unnerving.
“Am I not allowed to stroll around the neighborhood too?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, sure dude, whatever. Do you want something?”
“I saw you and thought I’d say hello. Wouldn’t want you to think I was rude, now would I?”
“Certainly wouldn’t want that,” Stiles scoffed under his breath.
“You know... I like you, Stiles.”
Stiles gaped. “Uh - what?”
“You’re smart, resilient, you think about your actions and the actions of those around you before making a move- I like you.”
“Oka-”
“I just don’t want you to get the wrong impression here. I don’t want you to think that just because you’re intelligent, that you can outwit me. I’m always going to be one step ahead of you.”
Stiles raised his eyebrows. “Are we in competition for something that I’m not aware of?” He felt his phone buzz under his fingers, but he didn’t take it out to check it.
Peter shook his head a little, a small smile on his face. “Oh, I think you know quite well that we’re competing. Laura may be fooled by your sarcastic wit and slightly-better-than-average brain capacity, but I’m not. And when push comes to shove, she’s going to listen to me before she listens to you. I’m older than the lot of you, I have more experience, and I’m family. You can’t deny the connection we have.”
Stiles was gripping his phone tightly, a sneer on his face. “Yeah, well, you can’t deny our connection either, Peter. Laura and I are connected for a reason.” Boy did he want to believe that.
“Some things don’t have a reason, a fate, or any kind of grand design. Some things are just there to make you weaker. You should remember that, Stiles.” He stepped to the side and started walking. “Might want to answer that; someone desperately wants to speak with you.” Peter walked a few more feet behind Stiles and then was gone in a flash of werewolf speed. Of course.
Stiles didn’t even read the message Derek had sent, he just typed out and sent his own quickly.
Stiles said: Dude, your uncle is a dick.
Five seconds later his phone was ringing. Stiles answered it confusion.
“What are you talking about, Stiles?” Derek barked at him.
“Hello to you too, Derek.”
“Stiles.”
“Nothing, chill. He just stopped me in the middle of the street to tell me that I am not as smart as he is and that he is going to win in our epic battle over Laura’s allegiance that I wasn’t aware was happening until now.” Stiles rolled his eyes as he continued walking again, scuffling his feet as he walked.
“Could you pick your feet up? I can barely hear you while you’re dragging your feet like that,” Derek complained.
Stiles groaned. “Stupid werewolves,” he muttered.
“My uncle just showed up outside your motel?”
“Well, it’s not right in front of the hotel, but I’m not far. I was just walking around and I looked up and there he was like a creepy stalker.”
“Stiles, listen. Whatever you do, stay away from Peter, okay?”
“Um, you do realize that is your uncle you’re talking about, right? He’s sort of in your pack, carries around the same surname-”
“Stiles. This isn’t a joke, alright? Peter is dangerous.” Derek sighed. “No, not just because he’s a werewolf, but that doesn’t help. He never took the death of our family well and ever since then he’s been... off. If he approaches you like that again, tell me or Laura, okay?”
“If he’s such a hazard, why are you keeping him around?” Stiles asked in confusion. What exactly was Derek trying to warn him of without actually saying anything at all?
“Because if we dispelled him, the repercussions would be worse than having him near where we can keep an eye on him. Just... don’t go near him unless we’re all there too. Promise me.” Derek sounded genuinely worried and it was strange.
“Yeah. Yeah, alright, I promise, Derek. Uh... thanks, I guess.”
“Be careful out there. You almost got attacked once already today.” Derek hung up without saying anything else.
Stiles just stared at his phone. It took him a second to register that Derek had been referring to the incident he and Isaac had had and not a few moments ago with Peter. Either way, he definitely felt less safe than he had before, which wasn’t a large measure of safety to begin with.