Chapter 18: Malicious Mistletoe
Chapter Song: I'll Keep You Safe by Vluestar and Shiloh Dynasty
"I'll keep you safe in this house of mine. And I won't ever leave you. I'll save you from all of the dying lies and I'll never replace you."
~
Isabella woke up slowly as the sun shone into the back window of the bus where she and Scott were cuddled up across the seat. Her body was positioned on top of his body, her head sprawled across his chest while his arm laid lazily around her body, holding her in place on top of him. Groggily she looked up at his still sleeping face and smiled widely at the sight of his mouth hung open slightly, a small array of snores flowing out of it.
The sight was beautiful to her, especially since she knew it was not the last time she would be seeing it. She knew in her heart she had made the right decision, she needed to stay with him.
They needed each other more than anything and it would have been stupid for her to sacrifice the love she had with him. Pain was necessary for happiness. Sure they had their problems, but she loved the boy completely and hopelessly...no matter what her brain had tried to tell her the day before.
She continued to smile at the boy with the uneven chin for a few more seconds before she picked one of her arms off his chest and brought it up to his face. She ran her hand up from his hairline down his cheek and then around the frame of his jaw lightly and in admiration. Scott's body twitched slightly at the feeling of her touch, but he stayed asleep as the snores persisted to fall from his mouth.
When Isabella's hand reached the end of his jaw, she pulled it off of his face and curled it up into a ball on his chest as she smiled to herself, completely smitten while staring up at him, her blue eyes sparkling, " I love you so much, Scott McCall. I promise I'll never doubt us again. I swear it."
She then pulled herself up on his body and put her lips onto his cheek softly, lingering there for a few intimate seconds before she pushed herself back down onto his chest and laid her head down. She attempted to close her eyes again, but was abruptly interrupted when the doors to the bus crashed open.
Her eyes immediately widened in shock, but she stayed in place on Scott's chest. That was until someone began to stomp onto the bus, someone who would not be too keen about the situation on the bus.
Coach Finstock immediately caught sight of the sleeping teenagers grouped together in the backseats as he clambered on with all the other students following behind him, including Isaac and Boyd who were just as confused about the situation as Coach was.
He loudly clapped his hands down onto the seats at the front of the bus and yelled out loudly, " I don't want to know. I really don't want to know. But, in case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled, so we're heading home. Pack it in. Pack it in!"
The teenagers all awoke suddenly in shock at Coach's presence, except Isabella who had already been awake. Scott woke with a start from underneath her and almost bucked her off his hips in surprise but managed to grip her hips tightly in his hands, not allowing her to fall off of him.
Isabella chuckled as his grip tightened around her and she sent him a flirty wink, " Well, that was not the most pleasant way to wake up, am I right? I quite like the way it made you hold me though, it is quite enjoyable."
Scott had been ecstatic the night before when her attitude towards him had seemingly switched and now he was even more excited, if that was even possible. He had thought that she would change her mind and go back to acting strange around him but she didn't. She was being normal with him and he couldn't be happier. He still did not understand why she had been acting off with him in the first place...besides the fact that she was grieving her father's death. He was just happy he had his girl back.
Scott smiled at her with a loving gaze before he gave her a full and lingering kiss on her soft lips, the first they had shared in days. When they pulled away from each other a blush overcame both of their cheeks as they smiled in content at one another. After a few moments, Scott slowly removed his hands from her waist and slid out from under her small frame, placing her on the the cushioned seat next to him.
As soon as Scott had situated himself into a seated position next to her, Isabella immediately grabbed his bicep in her grip and laid her head down on it in bliss. She hadn't realized how much she had missed the truly intimate moments with Scott until then, it was an amazing feeling to be able to touch him freely again.
However, before Isabella could get too comfortable, a body landed in the seat in front of her and Scott harshly, causing her eyes to snap open in shock at the sound of the impact. She and Scott both looked up at the person in the seat in disbelief, Ethan was willingly sitting near them and he looked as if he was fighting an internal battle with himself.
Ethan sighed deeply as he stared off into space for a few moments before he turned to Isabella and locked eyes with her and only her, he didn't care to address Scott. His words were not for him. They were for her, to ease her mind.
As much as he and Aiden tried to say they hated her...they did not. She deserved to know what he knew...especially after her friends had stopped him from killing himself only mere hours ago.
"I don't know what happened last night or if you experienced anything similar, but I'm pretty sure your friends saved my life. So I'm going to give you something, something I hope eases your mind a bit."
Isabella became intrigued not only because she had no idea that her friends had saved Ethan's life, but because she wanted any information that he could possibly give them...she didn't even know anyone else had tried what she had the night before.
Ethan watched as she became engaged with his words and tried to crack a small smile in her direction, " We're pretty sure Derek's alive, but he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen, either he joins our pack..."
" Or he kills one of his own, he kills one of us." Isabella said in a small whisper as she stared intently into Ethan's eyes. She was shocked that he would tell her the one thing she had been wanting to hear for the past two days, minus the killing part. Scott was trying to nudge her side so she would include him in the conversation but she was too locked into Ethan's words.
"Or Kali goes after him and we kill him. That's the way it works." Ethan said as a smug look reappeared on his face and he swiftly pushed himself out of the seat, returning to Danny at the front of the bus.
Isabella watched him walk away for a few seconds before she whispered under her breath in shock, " Not the best way to drop a bomb of that magnitude on me. Those alphas have a totally barbaric code of ethics."
She then finally acknowledged Scott next to her and smiled at him enthusiastically as she bounced in her seat, her eyes sparkling for the first time in awhile, " Did you hear him Scott? They think my dad's alive. He could actually be okay, his death wouldn't be my fault!"
Scott face dropped as he grabbed her face gently in his, " Izzy, it was never your fault. Never."
Isabella shrugged her shoulders silently and continued to bounce in her seat with excitement and Scott looked at her with a crazed look of confusion as he leaned over to her and whispered, " Did you miss the part where he said that he may have to kill one member of his pack or that they're gonna kill him? I don't get the excitement."
Isabella stopped bouncing and rolled her eyes as she ruffled Scott's hair playfully, " And did you miss the part where they think he is alive? Who cares if they go after him? We all saw that I can literally destroy Kali if I wanted to, she does not scare me anymore. I'll kill her if she even tries to touch him. Besides what do we have to worry about? He'll never kill one of us, he wouldn't dare."
Scott looked down at her and shook his head softly as he sighed, " I really hope you're right about that."
Isabella scoffed and covered her heart in mock hurt, " I'm offended, McCall. You should know by now that I am always right. And when I'm not right, I'm still always right."
Scott chuckled and sent a playful smile her way as he pulled her into his body tightly, " That sounded too much like Stiles, I think I need to limit the time you guys spend together. I can't handle two of him."
Stiles then suddenly joined the conversation and plopped down in the seat Ethan had previously been sat in with Lydia and Allison following suit in the seat across the aisle, " You've been doing it for the past year, Scotty. I don't think you have much of a choice anymore. She is my young Padawan."
Isabella looked up at Stiles in disgust as she abruptly pushed away from Scott to lean over the seat and land a stiff a punch onto his arm, " As if Stiles. If anything I am the Jedi master, you're my Padawan."
Stiles stuck his tongue out as Isabella and glared. Isabella immediately reacted and began to lunge forward for the spastic kid to shove him into the seat in front of him to assert her dominance, but she was stopped abruptly as Lydia caught her wrist in mid-air.
Lydia looked at Isabella sternly and shook her head before dropping her wrist lazily back into her side of the seat. Isabella silently pouted to herself in her seat and sent both Lydia and Stiles numerous glares, but Lydia had ignored her completely.
Lydia was already onto her next mission, her original mission. After she had stopped Isabella from assaulting Stiles like she did so often, she made a beeline for Coach who was currently gathering a headcount of all students. When she reached him she immediately grabbed his whistle and began to pull it over his head.
" Hey Coach, can I see this for a second?" Lydia asked hastily, not actually wanting for a response from Coach. Fortunately she had caught him so much off guard that he had no time to complain before she already had it firmly placed in her hand.
"Hey Ethan, I just wanted to..." Coach silently looked at Lydia as he was interrupted with a look of confusion, but he did not take the time to ask her why she had needed his whistle.
He gave shook his head and pointed at her assertively, "I'm gonna need that back. " He then turned away from the strawberry blonde girl and continued his quest to speak with Ethan for some unknown reason, "Ethan, I need to speak with you!"
As Coach turned away from the group to head towards where Ethan and Danny were seated together, Isabella rose out of her seat and waited for Lydia to make her way back to the group. She rose her eyebrow at Lydia in curiosity as she methodically examined the whistle, turning it over and over again her hand.
"What's up with the whistle?" Isabella asked as Lydia sat back down in her seat next to Allison. She didn't bother to answer Isabella as she cupped her hands around the small black plastic whistle and blew air through it.
A muffled whistle blew out through her hand before she slowly let her grip fall open revealing a purple dust coating her hand.
Isabella immediately recognized the dust and her eyes widened considerably, " Wolfsbane?! How in the hell did Coach even get a hold of that?"
Lydia shook her head and leaned over Allison's body to shake the powder off her hand through the open window, " I don't think he knew, there's no way. I think someone placed it there purposely to hurt you guys."
"So, every time the coach blew the whistle on the bus, Izzy, Scott, Isaac, Boyd--" Stiles asked with concern written all over his face as he lazily slouched back in his seat.
" And Ethan-" Isabella said as realization hit her. They had all experienced the same thing, she hadn't been the only one going out of her mind.
Now she understood what Ethan had meant when he mentioned them saving his life. Lydia, Allison, and Stiles must have had such a busy night running after them all night. She felt really bad for all the emotional distress she had put them under and she wished she would have been in the right mindset to help them. She wished she could have been there to help Scott like he had for her...she wondered how it had been for him and what had been going through his head. She would have to ask him sometimes, Isaac and Boyd too.
Scott let out a sigh of disbelief as he nodded at Stiles reluctantly, he knew what his best friend was thinking and he was right, " We all inhaled it."
Allison leaned over Lydia's body to come closer to the group as she spoke with caution and worry in her voice," You guys didn't just inhale it, you were poisoned by it. Who ever did that wants you guys dead and they want you to do it to yourselves."
" So that's how the Darach got into their heads. That's how they did it." Stiles said.
Isabella's eyes widened for the second time in the last few minutes as she hit her hand down on the seat in front of her, " Wait, hold on. The Darach? You guys think that this was an attack by the Darach?"
Stiles shrugged his shoulders, " Lydia said she saw it after she tackled Scott and I to the ground so wouldn't be burnt to a crisp. I believe her after all the shit that has happened to us. I don't know what else would be smart enough to do that to you guys. "
Isabella was not going to argue that. She wasn't even there and she believed Lydia. She knew she wouldn't lie about something like that. None of them had ever seen the Darach, but if Lydia believed it had been there then she believed it too. They would get nowhere if they didn't trust each other. If their trust for each started to fail then so would every thing else. Trust is what held them together.
" What I don't get is why Izzy was so affected? Why didn't the Empath protect itself? " Allison asked curiously. She had read the small leather book with Isabella several times over the course of the summer they spent in France, and she knew that the being inside of her best friend had the power to protect her...so why didn't it? The only thing that could have stopped it was...Mistletoe.
Before the the rest of the group could even contemplate Allison's question, she shot up out of her seat and ran across the aisle to Stiles seat, leaning over the back cushion and snatching Isabella's back off her seat where it sat perfectly zipped next to her.
She snatched the bag away and immediately returned to her seat as began digging through it. All of her friends watched her silently with questioning gazes. They had no idea what she was doing, but it was obvious that she had some kind of epiphany and they were not going to question the young hunter.
As she searched and pulled random items out of the bag, inspecting them, she looked over at Isabella who was curiously poking her head around Scott's body like a small child and asked her, " Did you ever wash your track jacket after we got you changed out of it?"
"No, I didn't have the time. It was literally minutes after you got in the shower that I woke up and left the room in a suicidal wolfsbane daze. Its still in there, bloody and rotting away. Why do you ask?"
Allison looked back down at the bag and fished around in it until she pulled out Isabella's jacket caked in her dried blood, " Because if I'm correct I think the Darach knows more about us then we think."
She then began turning the jacket inside out, carefully inspecting the inside material for an oily residue or distinct smell, " To transport hurt hunters out of a battle with werewolves, and to keep them from being mauled to death before they could get out of the altercation, my family would quickly coat their wounded bodies in wolfsbane oil or leaves to protect them. It works the same way that the powder does to poison your kind."
Isabella furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head in confusion, " So you think she gave me an extra dose of wolfsbane in my jacket?"
Allison shook her head, "No, mistletoe. I read your Empath book in France. You're technically a druid. Mistletoe is the only thing that can hinder that side of you. It can make you stronger, but it can also poison you when used in the right way." She passed the jacket to Lydia and urged her to examine it, "Does that feel sticky to you or smell like mistletoe? You're the genius and the only one of us that has taken an extra credit class on horticulture."
Lydia sighed deeply and took the jacket from Allison running her finger lightly over the jacket, "It does feel weird, but mistletoe technically doesn't have a smell. The only way we'd be able to tell is if there was..." Lydia's eyebrows furrowed together tightly as she brought the jacket material closer to her face, drawing a interest from Isabella as she leaned in closer from over the back of the seat.
She carefully brought her finger up to the fabric and pulled at something, it took a bit of tugging but soon Lydia pulled a small green leaf out of the inside of the jacket, " If there was a leaf from the mistletoe."
Isabella's eyes widened and she flew back into her seat, "So I was poisoned with two different things?"
Allison nodded her head, " Yeah, one to drive you crazy and one to stop the Empath. The Darach didn't want you helping anyone last night, including yourself. Guys, this means that not only does the Darach know about all of you, it means it's targeting you guys. It's like its sending us a warning to back off."
"But were not going to right? We can't just let more people like Heather die, right?" Stiles said somberly from his seat, almost in a whisper. He was obviously still deeply hurt by the fact that one of hi childhood best friends had been sacrificed and rightfully so.
Isabella pulled away from the side of the seat and leaned over the cushion to rub Stiles arm soothingly, quite a different act from what she had been wanting to do to him earlier. She sent him a soft smile and gave his shoulder soft squeeze, "Don't worry, Stiles. She's not going to die in vain, I promise."
Stiles didn't smile back but instead jumped out of his seat and snatched the whistle out of Lydia's hand. He then aggressively slide the bus window open above her head and threw the whistle out onto the hot black tar of the road.
Coach immediately came running for Stiles as he threw the whistle out the window, "Hey, Hey, Hey! Stilinski!"
Unfortunately for Coach the bus had already started moving by the time he had realized what Stiles had done. He looked at the group of teens in annoyance and as he angerly huffed and pointed at them with a shaking hand.
They all sat silently waiting for him to yell. They had expected him to blow up on them but instead sighed heavily and shook his head, " It's not even worth it with you guys anymore. Hale, you owe me a new whistle."
Isabella watched Coach walk away from them with a look of disbelief on her face as she rose from her seat to shout at his retreating back, gesturing widely with her hands, "Awe...come on Coach! It wasn't even me!"
Coach slid into his seat quietly and looked back to Isabella from around the seat as he shrugged nonchalantly, "You're guilty by association and I know you have a good amount of money. I expect an expensive replacement for all the mental anguish you and your friends give me."
He then turned away without another word and Isabella fell back into her seat next to Scott in annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest and whispered grumpily, " I hate being friends with you guys sometimes, especially Stiles."
Scott rolled his eyes and pulled her body into his as she continued to pout, wrapping his arm around her chest, " You know you love us and you can't even deny it. Your whole supernatural identity is centered around you loving us."
Isabella huffed in annoyance but melted into Scott's embrace and closed her eyes, " You're right, but I still hate you all. You're lucky the love outweighs the hate, you guys mean everything to me and I would never want to lose all that I have now."
The majority of the drive back to Beacon Hills was silent as the teens continued to reel from the events of the night. Isabella cuddled into Scott and savored the feeling of his arms wrapped around her as the bus drove smoothly down the mountain.
She loved that she was finally able to be comfortable with him again and she loved that he had finally won her back. The night before may have been traumatic to say the least, but during that bus ride home she was in bliss. It was just her and her best friends enjoying each other's presence, happy that they were all still alive...at least in that moment.
Isabella had no idea the pain she would feel and the sheer chaos that would break out as soon as they reentered the supernatural nightmare that was Beacon Hills, but she soon would. Doom loomed over her heart and she couldn't even see it.
*****
The bus pulled into the Beacon Hills parking lot late into the dark night, a soft steady rain pattering down on the windshield. As the bus came to a stop in front of the school, Isabella tiredly sighed and pulled her bag full of bloody clothes off of the seat.
She was exhausted and had tried to sleep on the bus but she just couldn't, her mind would not let her. The last time she had slept on that bus while it was moving she almost died, that was not something she wanted to risk every again. She lazily stood up from her seat and waited for Scott to scoot out into the aisle.
As soon as he was out he turned to her with a soft smile and held his hand out to her, urging her to take it. Isabella immediately grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her out of the seat, keeping her hand in his when she too was out in the aisle. Before they could start walking, Scott motioned for her to give him her bag and she did so without hesitation.
Scott threw the bag over his shoulder and then brushed a stray piece of blonde hair out of her face as they waited for the bus to empty, "I'll wash your clothes when we get home. My mom taught me how to get blood out of them after I began coming home in them so often, she kind of got sick of doing them herself. You're coming home with Isaac and I right?"
Isabella's eyes widened at his choice of words and went silent for a few seconds before she wearily choked out her words, assuming that he must of misspoken, "Uh-home? You mean your house?"
Scott had not know how to interpret her shock until he heard her words and he immediately became saddened and moved his free hand to her face softly, pulling it towards his, " No, I meant home. You and Isaac live with us, my house is as much yours as it is mine. Mom began picking out paint swatches for the guest room last week. She wants to decorate a room for the daughter she didn't have. Trust me, my home is your home."
Tears slowly rose to Isabella's eyes at Scott's words. She could not believe how lucky she had been to have him for as long as she did, she did not deserve the amount of love he gave her but she would gladly take it. While the tears she began shedding were mostly of pure love, they were also tears of guilt.
She really had considered throwing away their relationship permanently, and why? Just because they fought from time to time? It could have been the wolfsbane that made her question her relationship with Scott, but she could not confirm that so she still felt like a horrible person.
She was definitely feeling guilty but she knew she couldn't tell Scott, it would hurt him too much. She could never tell him.
Scott looked at her with curiosity as he watched her stare at him with tears in her eyes. He brought his hand up to her face and wiped a tear that fell inconspicuously from her soft blue eyes and began to roll down her cheek, " You okay? I didn't mean to upset you."
Isabella leaned against one of the seats to her left as she watched Stiles, Lydia, and Allison who were beginning to walk down the aisle and off the bus. She shook her head rapidly and then looked back at Scott with a warm smile, "You didn't upset me, I'm okay. You just really touched my heart, I guess."
Isabella chuckled and wiped her eyes with a small sniffle, "Sorry for crying. I've been a bit of an emotional mess lately, as you know. "
Scott chuckled and gave her shoulder a slight push to motion to her to start walking down the aisle, " Don't apologize. You have every right to be. You need to have the right time to grieve Derek, you didn't get that yet."
Isabella sighed as she lazily walked to the front of the bus and bounded down the stairs, " Yeah, I know. I don't think I will be getting that time anytime soon though."
When her grey Nike shoes hit the pavement of the sidewalk, she turned and waited for Scott to reach her. Once exiting the bus, Scott immediately threw his arm around her shoulder and began to lead her to the Camaro where Boyd and Isaac were waiting.
Boyd smiled as he watched her approach, he was glad to know that she had made it out of the horror show that had happened the night before. He would have been more hurt if she had succeeded in killing herself than he would have about his own life. He didn't know for sure what she had gone through the night before, but he could only assume she experienced something similar.
When Scott and Isabella reached them he walked over to her and gave her shoulder a small yet comforting squeeze with his hand, " I'll see you tomorrow, Izzy. You're picking me up for school, right?"
Isabella nodded her head at Boyd with a smile, " Yeah of course. You don't need a ride home tonight?"
Boyd shook his head and gave her a thankful smile, he was glad that she was always there to lend him a hand no matter how bad she herself was suffering. He could see it on her face that she was still not 100% okay. However, no one expected her to be okay, she deserved to be a little broken.
"I'm okay for tonight. My dad actually had the night off tonight, meaning he actually has time to give a shit about me. Thank you for the offer though, really I appreciate all the things you do for me." Boyd said sincerely to the small blonde, that he now considered his family just as much as he had Erica. He was glad that he had her at least to get him through the day, she meant more to him than she would ever know.
"Of course, Boyd. I'm always available, day or night." Isabella said with a smile as Scott took his arm off of her shoulder and dug around in her bag for the Camaro's keys.
Boyd gave her one more smile before adjusting his bag on his very large shoulders and turning on his heel walking into the parking lot in search of his dad's silver car. Isabella watched him walk for a few seconds and then sighed heavily as she walked towards her twin brother who was leaning against the back of her car.
She stayed silent next to him for a few seconds while Scott jumped into the drivers seat and started the car. He wanted to give the two siblings some space, he had a feeling they had some things to talk about. He had no idea what about but he could sense it, he could feel it in his gut.
Isabella was going to be the first one to speak but Isaac beat her to it as he said softly barely above a whisper, "I'm sorry."
Isabella's head quickly pulled away from the cars she had been watching roll past them in the parking lot and brought her attention immediately to her brother. She furrowed her eyebrows at him and moved closer, grabbing his arm gently in her grasp, " For what? Isaac, what's up?"
Isaac didn't look at her, he just stared out into the parking lot aimlessly, " For what I said on the bus. You know what I'm talking about, please don't make me repeat it. I was wrong and didn't know what I was talking about. I just was too clouded by rage to realize that I was being too judgmental, he really does love you, you know?"
He was right, she did know what he was talking about now. He was referencing the comment he made about Scott and about her relationship with him. Isabella gulped down a lump in her throat and looked through the rear mirror to see Scott fiddling with the heat dials on her dashboard, making it perfect for when his girlfriend entered the car.
She smiled slyly, a bright pink blush coating her nose and cheeks as she shook her head playfully at Isaac, " Yeah, I know. I don't really blame you for what you said though, how could I? You were just looking out for me. I'm not too keen on the way you went about it, but I'm glad you were able to tell me how you felt."
"The thing is though, I don't actually feel that way anymore, you know? I saw something between the two of you that I have never been able to understand before, but I saw it this weekend." Isaac said as he continued to stare off into the distance, " Something that I want more than anything."
" What was it?" Isabella asked curiously as she played a bracelet on her arm nervously, she had no idea what Isaac was going to say and it worried her.
Isaac was silent for a few moments, the anticipation of his words festering in the air. After a few seconds he sighed heavily and turned his head to Isabella for the first time that night, his blue eyes shining in the moonlight, " True love. The kind of love that makes you feel physically sick when you're not with each other. The love that doesn't fade no matter what pulls it apart."
" You really think so?" Isabella asked quietly as she picked at her bracelet still. She had been a bit taken aback by his words and the anxiety had only risen within her.
" I know so. Izzy, I'm telling you. The way he looks at you is something I have never seen before, not even in a cheesy romance movie. Even if you two were to break up for a long period of time, you'd somehow find your way back to each other, I am more than certain about it."
Isaac shook his head and chuckled as he looked down to his feet, " I don't think I'll ever experience something like that. Maybe, that's why I didn't believe that you two had it."
Isabella looked sadly at Isaac and gave his shoulder a comforting rub, " I know that I can't give you that kind of love, but I do love you. You're one of the most important people in my life, I would drop everything to be there for you. All you would have to do is call out to me. Someday that special person will come, Isaac. They'll come in a place where you will least expect it, trust me."
Isaac looked up at his sister with a genuine smile, he appreciated the care she expressed towards him. It was the kind of love that he had never really experienced from their abusive dad and his mom had died before he was old enough to understand love so the type that he received from her was welcomed but hard to adapt to.
Without any warning, Isaac quickly wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. Isabella was taken back a little bit, but quickly melted into his hug. They had not had many moments to really be there for each other recently, so the embrace was nice and comforting for not only Isaac but Isabella too.
It was something that they both needed desperately, it was therapeutic in a way. Neither of them were too good at talking about their feelings without completely breaking down, so this was a good alternative for them. It was a way for them to heal after Derek's "death" without having to speak it allowed, speaking the words made it harder.
Isabella was not as heartbroken about Derek now that she knew he could be alive somewhere, but it still hurt because there was a possibility that Ethan could have been wrong. On the other hand, if he was alive it hurt her to know that he had not tried to contact her. It was like the time he had been "killed" by Peter and didn't think to let her know he had survived all over again. She could not take that pain again.
If he was alive this time, he would never hear the end of it from her, she was going to be pissed. Especially after the experience she had just been through the night before, she was about to rain hell fire down on him.
The sound of a window mechanically rolling down snapped the twins out of their hug as they turned their heads towards the sound to see Scott poking head out of the window with a small smile on his face, " I hate to break up the moment, but I still need to bring my mom dinner. She's sent me about ten texts in the last five minutes, I'm afraid she's going to kill me if I don't bring her food soon."
Isabella chuckled and turned her attention back to Isaac as she tilted her head at him with a mischievous smile on her face. She then gave his shoulder a firm but playful shove, forcing him his body back a few feet as she began to sprint for the passenger side of the car, " I got shot gun!"
"Hey! That's not fair. You didn't give me any warning." Isaac said as he crossed his arms over his chest while watching his twin sister swing on the now open passenger door of the Camaro with a wicked grin on her face.
Normally, he would have went over there and fought her for the seat, but he couldn't. Not this time. The smile on her face and the occasional giggle that flew out of her lips as she grasped the door in victory was something he didn't want to see leave her face. These days that level of joy was rare to see on Isabella Hale's face, everyone knew it...except maybe her.
No one has been brave enough to bring it up but they had all collectively felt as if they were losing her, to what they didn't know. The happy but aggressive ball of light that was Isabella Hale was slowly dimming out and they could all see it. The moments where she looked and acted like herself were moments that they all cherished internally, that was why Isaac had decided to leave her and let her enjoy the way she had finessed him.
After a few moments of thought, Isaac dropped his hands to his sides with a sigh and began walking towards the back of the car, " Can we at least get Mexican food? I have been craving it since we went to meet Deucalion. I wasn't kidding when I said I love it."
Isabella furrowed her eyebrows at Isaac as they both situated themselves in the Camaro, she was finally done gloating about her victorious claim of the passenger seat, " You guys were going to get Mexican food? Rude that you guys didn't think to invite me."
Scott turned to her and rolled his eyes as she and Isaac closed their respective doors simultaneously, " This was the night of the bank fight. You weren't even supposed to go there, so why would we invite you to Mexican on that same night we were trying to keep you away from us?"
Isabella groaned under in breath in mock annoyance and threw her hands up in the air, " Uh, to be polite?"
Isaac leaned over his seat and put his hand on his sister's shoulder as Scott simply shook his head and began pulling out of the parking lot. Isabella turned to Isaac and gave him a questioning look.
" Hey, Izzy?" Isaac questioned.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up, you're annoying. It's like having Stiles in the car with us and he's not even here."
Isabella glared at Isaac for a few moments but stayed silent as she turned away from him and pouted in her seat, whispering to herself, " I don't sound that much like Stiles. He's worse than me, asshole. I'm just not going to talk to him anymore, see how he likes it."
" You're sounding like him again." Scott said with a joking tone as he drove down the road.
Isabella turned her glare to him and punched him firmly in the arm, " Shut up or you're going to turn into my new punching bag. Stiles can have a break for a few weeks."
"You're crazy." Scott said with a light chuckle as he rubbed his arm, trying to rid it of the pain quicker. He healed quickly but that didn't mean that she didn't hurt him, she could really pack a punch. She didn't know how Stiles dealt with it, but he did.
" Yeah maybe, but you love me still. You both do." Isabella said as she spoke to not only Scott but also her twin brother.
Scott nodded his head and gave looked at her with loving eyes for a split second as he drove, " You're right about that. There's nothing in this world that could stop us from loving you either, you're stuck with both Isaac and I for life."
" How dreadful." Isabella said with a small laugh as she looked between her brother and her boyfriend.
She was admiring them both and how much care she had for both of them. They were her boys, minus Stiles and Boyd because they were also included in that category. She needed them and they needed her just as much. She never wanted to lose them but that was hard for her to guarantee, especially in a town like Beacon Hills. She wished she had the optimism of Scott, but she just didn't. For all she knew she could lose them tomorrow, so she couldn't confirm what Scott had said. It was better to hide her thoughts with humor, so that's exactly what she did.
However, inside her heart was breaking and her mind was full of anxious thoughts, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The past few hours had been perfect, too perfect. Something had to be lurking in the shadows ready to ruin her life like it always did.
It always did no matter how hard she tried to stop it, no matter how hard she tried to stay happy and look on the bright side. There was no bright side and any moment of happiness was bound to break. Isabella was already anticipating her current happiness would falter soon. Sooner than she wanted and in ways she was not fully ready for.
****
Scott and Isabella walked through the automatic doors of Beacon Hills Hospital hand in hand with Melissa McCall's dinner placed firmly in Isabella's free hand. They had ordered some Mexican food to go for the whole family and had decided to bring Melissa her food first so that she wouldn't kill any of them for making her wait so long.
The hospital was an absolute mess, the usually empty lobby was overwhelmed not only with patients sitting in the chairs, but ones laid out on gurneys groaning in agony. Isabella looked around the place in utter confusion and shock, she had no idea what had happened while they had been gone but the state of the hospital was not a comforting sight.
Isabella looked up to Scott to find that he was already looking at her with the same expression on his face, neither one of them knew what was going on and it honestly scared the pair of teenagers. Before either one of them could verbally question the scene though they were interrupted by a voice calling out to them directly.
"Oh, thank god you two are here. I am starving." Melissa McCall said as she approached her son and his girlfriend with a look of utter relief written all over her face. Her hair was very disheveled, and it was obvious to Isabella that she was feeling the full brunt of the chaos happening at the hospital.
Isabella gave Melissa a sympathetic smile as she stood in front of them and gently handed her the food to which Melissa placed down on the front desk before leaning up against it and letting out a heavy breath, wiping sweat of her forehead with the back of her hand.
Isabella was about to question Melissa about the current state of the hospital, but she was cut off as Melissa forced a large smile onto her face and pushed herself off of the counter, " I'm sorry guys. Thank you both so much for bringing me dinner."
She brought Scott into a quick but loving hug before letting go of her son to bring Isabella into embrace as well. The hug from Melissa to Isabella was a bit different though, it lingered a bit longer.
Scott had texted her about the events of the weekend while on the bus back particularly relating to his girlfriend and conveniently leaving out any issues of his own, unbeknownst to Isabella herself. Melissa did not know what Scott had gone through in the slightest, only Isabella, which is what caused her to hold onto the young girl for just a little longer than her own son.
Isabella was the closest thing she had to a daughter and she would be damned if she had to live in a world where Isabella Hale was not in it. She would have died inside if Isabella had not returned down that mountain with her son, not only did Scott need her but she did too.
When Melissa pulled away she didn't say anything, she just smiled and rubbed Isabella's shoulder gently. Deep down she knew that Isabella had not given Scott permission to spill the events of the previous night so she kept it to herself no matter how much it was paining her to do so.
Isabella enjoyed the hug and didn't realize in the slightest that the hug may have been anything else than what it was. She did not realize that it was a hug of relief, a relief that she was still alive. Instead she just saw it as Melissa being the kind woman and mom that she was, but now it was Isabella's turn to be concerned.
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and looked beyond where Melissa was standing to see that there were even more patients crowding the halls than she had initially saw, " Is everything okay here?"
Melissa sighed heavily and looked around the lobby, stress building inside of her with every turn of her head, " Except for half the accident victims in a ten-car-pile-up being redirected here from downtown, and the ER attending not answering any of his pages...yeah it's okay. Where's Isaac?"
Isabella shrugged her shoulders, " I don't really know. We dropped him off by the woods. He said he wanted to go for a run or something like that."
Melissa gave Isabella a look that said we'll have to discuss the possibilities of this situation later. They both knew that was something Isaac did not do, he hardly ever did physical activity for his own leisure, not that he really needed to.
Scott didn't really understand that the women sensed something off about Isaac's story, he thought it all sounded fair. He was very oblivious to things like that, especially with other men.
Because of Scott's lack of concern about the whereabouts of Isaac and growing concern for the care of the patients in the hospital, he quickly changed as he leaned worriedly against the front desk.
"What does not answering pages mean?"
"It means that nobody can find him, so now we have wait for the on-call to get here." Melissa said anxiously as she began to tightly rub her hands together.
Isabella was about to reach out to Melissa to give her a comforting touch on the shoulder, but her hand was stopped mid-air as another hand reached the destination first. Isabella looked around in confusion and her eyes landed on what she assumed to be a patient who had walked up to the three of them.
The female patient immediately pulled her hand of Melissa's shoulder once she had gotten her attention and brought it to what seemed to be a very injured arm from the crash.
"Miss?" The women cried out with a shaking voice as she looked desperately into Melissa McCall's eyes.
The woman was very on edge which Isabella could immediately see from the way she was breathing and speaking. She felt so bad for her, no one deserved to suffer because of someone else's mistakes while driving.
"Yes?" Melissa asked in a soft and soothing voice as she addressed the woman that was obviously in need of attention and help. Help that would probably not be coming for a while if the on-call doctor did not get there soon.
"Excuse me, can I please have something for the pain?" The girl whimpered out as she begged Melissa for help.
Melissa looked at the woman sadly and calmly grabbed her by the shoulders, " Okay. I'm sorry. I know, but actually giving you something could complicate things, so we really need to wait for the doctors, okay?"
She then walked the woman back to one of the waiting room chairs and comfortingly placed her down in it. The woman easily complied but she was obviously in urgent need of help as tears rolled down her cheeks and onto the wood of the chair she was sat upon.
The two teenagers watch the woman with identical sympathetic looks, how could they not feel for her when they didn't have to experience the fear that she did? Sure, they got hurt but more often than not it healed, this woman didn't have that ability.
Melissa had gone to check on other patients in the waiting room, leaving Scott and Isabella alone next to the desk as they continued to look sadly at the woman. Isabella didn't know what they could do for her, but Scott being the hero he was knew exactly what to do.
Scott gave his girlfriend's hand a small squeeze before he began to pull her over to the two empty seats next to the crying woman. Isabella didn't know what they were going to do, but she knew not to question him in this instance, he knew what he was doing.
She silently followed his lead as he took a seat directly next to the woman and sat next to him, their hands still interlocked tightly.
Scott gave Isabella a small smile and a soft kiss on the cheek before turning to the women with a nervous yet gentle smile, he was glad that she hadn't questioned his motives and had just trusted him.
"Uh, you know, I think that I read online that sometimes human contact can help with the pain..." Scott said nervously as he watched the woman continue to cry and shake with each breath she took.
Isabella now knew what his plan had been, and it warmed her heart to know how much her boyfriend cared for others that he didn't even know. He was going to try and take some of her pain away. Sometimes Scott's hero complex was a bit exhausting for even her to handle but in this moment, she adored it and him.
Scott paused for a few seconds and looked around the room, anxiously hoping that no one was looking at him. He took one last look at Isabella for reassurance and when she nodded her head in agreeance with him, he took that as the go ahead.
He silently reached out with his free hand for the woman's hand that was placed on her knee and softly grasped it in his own. Black veins immediately began showing through Scott's skin as he held her hand. After a few moments, the women had stopped crying as the pain left her body and a huge breath of relief and shock was let out of her aching body.
She froze for a moment after the pain had subsided before she looked up at Scott in awe, a tug of a small smile playing on her lips. The tear-stained mascara under her eyes had stopped dripping and now began to dry onto her face, the tears not existent.
Isabella was proud of her boyfriend and was just about to praise him with her very own kiss on the cheek when she was interrupted for about the fourth time that night, this time by a very familiar voice.
"Someone! Someone help me!" The voice rang out throughout the hospital as they entered through the automatic sliding doors at the entrance.
Isabella immediately rose to her feet out of panic to see Ethan holding Danny up as his body threatened to topple to the floor. Her eyes immediately went wide as she ran to the pair and took Danny's face in her hands, concern taking over her entire body.
"Danny?!" She yelled as she tried to get him to look her in the eyes but no matter what she tried she couldn't keep him still. He was struggling with every breath of air he was taking in, he couldn't seem to breath correctly.
"Oh my god, please someone help us!" Isabella cried out in a dark voice as she grabbed Danny's other arm and slug it over her shoulder, helping Ethan to drag him further into the hospital.
She had always assumed Danny was on the list of people she was able to connect to, but she had not been sure until she heard the now increasingly normal shift in her voice. She'd be damned if they didn't get him the help he needed.
Scott had been too focused on helping the lady that he had not noticed the presence of Ethan or Danny or the disappearance of his girlfriend until she had screamed out and practically caught the attention of the whole hospital.
He immediately let go of the woman's hand and ran to his girlfriend to see her assisting Ethan in dragging a very ill looking Danny. Scott tried to take Danny off of her arm and put him on her own, but she swatted his hand away aggressively, sending a glare his way.
As she looked at Scott, he saw the bright glimmer in her eyes, and he knew to back off or he would most likely pay for it. Isabella's empath side was making an appearance and he knew better at this point than to mess with it especially with the way she had taken down not only Isaac but Kali. The empath actually scared him and rightfully so, she was not one to be messed with.
Melissa had also been alerted by Isabella Hale's desperate cry for help and was now helping the teens guide Danny to an available seat around the corner, "Okay, gentle. Gentle! Gentle!"
As soon as Ethan and Isabella placed Danny down in the chair he began writhing in pain, contorting every which way as he tried to catch his breath desperately. Isabella had no idea what to do because she had no idea what was wrong with him, his body didn't show any visible signs of damage.
Unlike Isabella who was staying surprisingly calm as she tried to soothe Danny by holding his hand tightly in hers, Scott was angry. All of his anger directed towards the "dangerous" Alpha who had brought him in.
"What did you do to him?" Scott said aggressively as he pulled Ethan off to the side and roughly placed his hand on the Alpha's shoulder.
Isabella inwardly rolled her eyes and ignored the two boys as she continued to try and comfort a clearly distraught and suffering Danny as Melissa checked his heartbeat and lungs with her stethoscope.
Ethan pushed himself angrily into Scott's face, teeth clenched down as he seethed out, "Nothing! He said he was having chest pains and trouble breathing, but it kept getting worse..."
Isabella had been listening to Ethan's heartbeat the whole time as a way to drown out the cries of pain from Danny, it never once skipped a beat.
So, before Ethan could continue speaking and pleading his case, Isabella interrupted him. She looked up at him with understanding and away from Danny's agonized movements. He wasn't the monster he and Deucalion tried to portray him as. He had a heart, a heart that beat for Danny.
" I believe you. Lay off him, Scott. This wasn't him. No matter how evil we think the twins are, he is telling the truth. Listen to his heart, he has no reason to lie to us." Isabella said calmly to the two boys before turning back to Danny and rubbing her hand up and down his arm as Melissa continued to check him out.
Scott did not want to agree with Isabella, but he knew he had no other choice; he hated the twins, but he had to admit she was right. Ethan could not have done this to Danny. He sighed in reluctance and walked over to her side, placing his hand down on her shoulder comfortingly.
He was no longer concerned with the actions of Ethan; he was more concerned with the wellbeing of his girlfriend. He knew that she cared deeply for Danny, she always had from the very first day she met him. He just hoped that she wouldn't connect to him, the night was already too chaotic for them to handle her on the verge of death too.
Scott knelt down beside her with his hand still on her shoulder and whispered to her in a deeply concerned yet calm tone, " You doing okay? You think you'll connect to him?"
Isabella didn't look back at Scott she just kept her eyes on Danny as she gulped down a lump in her throat nervously, " I'm okay. I think I can control it."
Melissa began examining Danny's throat and panic began to steadily rise in her, something was horribly wrong and if they didn't fix it soon, he would stop breathing, "This isn't good. His larynx has shifted to one side. I think it's tension pneumothorax."
" What does that mean necessarily? Can you fix that? How long do we have until he can't be saved?" Isabella asked in a panic as her hand fell back onto Danny's which was gripping the seat tightly.
Melissa never got to answer because just as Isabella finished speaking, Danny shot forward in his seat making all of them hurriedly try to move out of the way. His body shot forward towards the ground, and he instantly began violently throwing up right in the direction of Scott and Isabella.
Scott yanked Isabella with all his might up by the arm to try and save her from getting the vomit all over her, but he wasn't quick enough as her grey Nikes were now covered in a pale beige puke.
Isabella looked down at her shoes in disgust as she whined in protest, "Oh come on! How many of my clothes are going to be ruined by bodily fluids? It's only been two days!"
Scott froze as he looked down at the vomit on Isabella's shoes, something was off about it. No, something was in it. Something a bit familiar to their lives over the past few days, particularly to Isabella.
Scott looked down at them with wide eyes as Isabella began slowly pulling them off of her feet with a disgusted look on her face, trying to keep herself from puking all over the tile floor of the hospital.
Scott silently nudged Isabella a few times, trying to get her attention calmly but she didn't pay any mind to him as she was more concerned with getting as far away from her shoes as she could. When she ignored Scott, his nudges became harder and more persistent, Isabella noticed these.
She stopped what she was doing as a particularly hard nudge rammed into her arm and turned to Scott aggressively as she shouted, "What do you want?!"
" There's something in his puke. Please tell me it's not what I think it is." Scott said with worry as he pointed towards the shoe that was dangling precariously from her fingers in the air, Danny's vomit dripping off of it and onto the floor.
Isabella looked at him in confusion for a few seconds before she hastily brought her eyes to the shoe. Her eyes immediately went wide as she forgot her initial disgust with the vomit. The thing she saw within the vomit was much more important and concerning.
She reached for her shoe and pulled something out of the disgusting mix, a single green leaf. She wordlessly dropped her shoe to the floor and brought the green leaf up to her face as her hands shook.
Isabella swallowed a nervous lump in her throat before shakily letting out one whispered word, " Mistletoe..."
Both she and Scott knew for sure in this moment that this was not the work of Ethan, even though Isabella had already known that. This was another message, a warning of sorts. It was another message from the Darach. It wasn't just going for them anymore; it was willing to hurt those that they loved too if they continued to interfere with its work.
No one was safe and the mistletoe felt like a direct message, one that was aimed for Isabella. She was the one it had wanted to reach, she was the one it wanted to stay out of it, the Darach was willing to push her away by any means necessary.