Midnight¹

29. Compromise

Chris puts on some gloves and offers to help Jackson with his car. Jackson demurs, but Chris is insistent. He leads Jackson around the back of the car to the engine compartment and has him lean in. This gives him a chance to pull down Jackson's collar and look at the claw wounds. When he mentions them, Jackson gets anxious and jumpy. Just then Stiles, Veronica and Scott pull up in the Jeep. They offer Jackson a ride to the shop up the street. "Hey, c'mon Jackson, you're way too pretty to be out here all by yourself," Stiles says.

When Jackson leaves the car, Chris pulls a device off the engine and pockets it. The car starts up fine, then. When Chris is gone, Jackson asks them if they're following him. Scott yells at him for almost giving away everything. "He thinks you're the second beta! He thinks you're me!" Scott punches Stiles's Jeep in anger, much to Stiles's dismay. He then explains to Jackson that now he has to keep an eye on him so Chris doesn't kill him. Jackson turns the tables and claims that it's all Scott's fault. Stiles stops the fight from escalating. Scott tells Jackson that he won't be able to protect him because he can't protect anyone, and he gives Stiles a meaningful look.

Scott insists that Jackson doesn't want this gift, but Jackson fails to see how running really fast and being able to hear everything is bad thing. Scott tells him that half the time he's running really fast it's away from people trying to kill him. He says it ruined his life. Jackson thinks that it ruined Scott's life because he didn't know what to do with the powers that he got. Jackson gets in his car and drives away.

Later, Scott had asked Veronica and Stiles to follow Melissa and Peter and make sure they don't go on their date, Melissa tells Peter that she thinks they missed the turn for the restaurant. He pulls the car over so she can pull up a map and then tells her she has flawless skin. He touches her cheek, making her drop her phone, and his eyes start to glow red. While she's picking up her phone, they're hit from behind by another car. It's Stiles and Veronica. Peter gets out of the car and whispers, "Nicely done, Scott." Scott is hiding a few cars down.

Stiles gets yelled at by Scott's mom and Veronica acts like she had whiplash, while Peter has a long distance conversation with Scott. He tells him that they're going to kill Jackson, and Scott takes off to find him.

Scott tears apart his room looking for his phone. Stiles sighs in frustration and asks why he can't get another new phone. Scott tells him he can't afford one and says that he can't do this alone and needs to find Derek. Stiles points out that he exists, therefore Scott isn't alone, and that Derek is likely dead because he walked into gunfire.

"You also thought he was dead when he was spurting blood out of his mouth and you were wrong so." Veronica said to Stiles as she brushed off het skirt.

Scott tells them that the Argents are going to use Derek to get Peter, and Stiles thinks that that sounds like a great plan that they should just allow to happen. "Not if Peter is going after Allison to find Derek!" Since Scott can't protect Allison on his own, he needs to find Derek first.

Veronica suggests that Scott lost his phone while fighting with Derek, Stiles adds, when Derek was going to kill Jackson. Scott insists that Derek wasn't going to kill anyone. "And I'm not going to let him die." Stiles makes a face. "Could you at least think about letting him die? For me?" Veronica punched Stiles's arm. Scott stops when he hears his mom's car pull up outside. She calls Peter and leaves him a cute and embarrassing voicemail. Scott listens to her leave the message, and based on his expression, Stiles asks if she's okay. Scott shakes his head. He tells him that she's crying.

Scott drops onto his bed, and Stiles tells him that he can't protect everyone, but Scott insists that he has to.

Scott then asks Jackson to take Allison to the dance. Jackson tells him to go screw himself. Scott points out that he got shot saving Jackson's life, but when Jackson asks for proof, Scott can't give him any because the wound healed. Scott begs, but Jackson suggests having Allison's dad watch over her if the danger is so great. Scott obviously can't, though, without giving himself away. Jackson says it isn't his problem, but Scott doesn't believe that Jackson could have spent so much time getting to know her without coming to like her. "You can't tell me that you don't care if she gets hurt." But, in fact, that's basically what Jackson says. After he leaves, Stiles tells Scott that "I told you so" isn't nearly strong enough for this situation.

Scott tries a different tactic. He wolfs out and scares the crap out of Jackson. Next we see, Jackson is sweating and plastering on a fake smile and asking Allison when he should pick her up for the dance tomorrow. She asks him if he's okay, and he insists that not only is he great, he's just excited for the dance! As friends! Scott, Stiles and Veronica watch him from around the corner. Stiles assures Scott that he's still going, so he can keep an eye on things. Scott tells him that he still plans to go, too.