First Encounters [Multi-Fandom]

Lydia & Damon

After everything that the McCall pack has been through with nearly every mythical creature stopping by their town to cause some sort of ruckus, the pack and the pack's parents thought it was a good idea for their kids to take a break, and do something they wanted to do without worrying about fighting for their lives. So after their senior graduation and a heartfelt memorial ceremony for Allison, Boyd and Erica, the McCall pack decide to take a year break before going off to college and take a road trip across the states.

While the parents had been happy to let their young ones go off and do something for themselves, there was the fact that they didn't really have the money to fund the trip. Derek and Braeden, who had surprisingly been soulmates, put up the most cash when Scott asked them if they wanted to tag along because he considered them pack as much as he considered Stiles pack. Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Kira scrounged up as much as they could, but it wasn't as much as they needed to keep their trip going. And it wasn't until Peter tried a last ditch effort to be a father to Malia did they get the rest of the money to help out.

With Malia and pretty much everyone else still pissed at Peter, she wanted nothing to do with him. But when he started throwing cash at her, she figured out a use for the money that would possibly piss off her biological dad and fund the trip for her pack. So when Malia went to her soulmate, Stiles, with the check Peter had given her, the Sheriff laughed and laughed when Malia told him she didn't want it and instead wanted to add it to their trip fund. But with Peter still having access to the money since it was in his account, the Sheriff escorted Malia to the nearest bank and had the money transferred into an account that only Malia would have access to.

Malia and Stiles had then called an emergency pack meeting at Derek's loft, and when everyone was gathered, they all cheered when she showed them the bank statement and asked when their trip was going to start.

Since Scott was alpha and current protector of Beacon Hill's, it was a bit hard to leave their territory unprotected. Even though Deaton promised to get together with the Sheriff and Melissa to work out a plan, leaving only humans in charge wasn't very ideal. But a couple days before they had planned to leave, Chris Argent came back to town with Isaac in tow. Everyone had welcomed them back with open arms, but it was a bit strange to see Isaac not answer to Scott as his alpha. Instead, Isaac surprisingly followed Chris around and only listened to him.

None of them were stupid, they all knew who Isaac considered his alpha now even though Chris wasn't a werewolf, but no one questioned it. After Allison's death, her father and soulmate left for Paris and stayed there until recently, so it was only practical that Isaac latched on to Chris in their time of grief. And even though Isaac technically wasn't pack anymore, Scott still invited him along for the trip, but Isaac politely declined and offered to do patrol of the town with Chris while they were away.

With at least one wolf keeping watch over their territory, Scott felt a bit more at ease the morning they packed up Derek's dark silver Toyota FJ Cruiser- Derek taking Braeden with him and offering Lydia to ride with them if Scott and Stiles got too mushy with their soulmates, Kira and Malia, in Stiles' jeep. Lydia had laughed it off, but when she saw how sweet Stiles and Scott were with Malia and Kira, the pang of hurt and envy hit her hard since she had yet to find her own soulmate. The words on the back of her right calf practically burned as she thought about him or her, the small cramped script reading well aren't you a pretty little thing.

When she got herself under control, Lydia smiled brightly at Derek and thanked him for the offer, but she'd stick it out for the time being. He told her it was fine and if she needed an escape, he and Braeden wouldn't mind the company.

Their first stop had been Los Angeles, everyone wanting to see the Hollywood sign in person. They took the usual tourist pictures from far away with the sign visible in the background and then sent those to Stiles' dad and Scott's mom. They spent the day asking locals for the best food around and then visited whichever food joint had the most recommendations. But when night fell, it was surprisingly Derek who coerced everyone into revisiting the Hollywood sign, but revisiting the sign itself and not the hill from where they took the pictures. When Scott and Kira seemed to be the voice of reason for everyone, Braeden had scoffed and reminded them about their supernatural abilities, and that they'd sense beforehand if anyone was approaching so they'd have time to flee.