Scott was running. He pushed bushes and trees out of his way as he sped toward the direction of where the coyote ran. After him and Stiles had seen a coyote while they were investigating the scene of the car wreck from 8 years ago, they had both bolted to see where it ran off to. Scott had a feeling that it was Malia who was the coyote after he'd flashed his alpha eyes to her and her eyes had flowed back at him, a beautiful cobalt blue. Him and Stiles had separated in the midst of their chasing and eventually ran into each other, screaming on impact, after running for god knows how long.
"Oh hey! I think I found something." Stiles said, out of breath from the jump scare and he started to lead him to his discovery.
They walked uphill toward a rocky cliff, a large entrance into it appearing as they hiked up. As they walked inside, Stiles shined his flashlight around the small save.
"It's a coyote den."
"Werecoyote." Scott interjected, looking around in disbelief. Stiles grabbed a small puffer jacket that was lying on the ground.
"You see this? This is Malia's. Remember? It's the same one she was wearing in the photo." Stiles said, looking around for anything else he might find.
Scott picked up the doll that was resting atop a rock and shook his head.
"We shouldn't be in here."
"What do you mean?"
"She's not gonna come back now. We just invaded her home. Our scent is gonna be everywhere."
"If she's not going to come back here, where's she gonna go?"
"I don't know.."
"Can you track her now? You think you got her scent?"
"Maybe. But I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf. And I'm still worried that if I do it, I won't be able to turn back."
Stiles sighed, remembering their predicament, "The door is still open."
"If I can't get to Derek, we're gonna have to find someone else to help."
Stiles rubbed his hands on his face, thinking of a solution.
"This is basically a crime scene, right?"
"I think it might be a little out of my boss's league."
"And more in my dad's."
Stiles had called his dead to tell him if their discovery and the sheriff brought himself and a few officers to scope out the den. Stiles and Scott watched as Noah exited the den, carrying the puffer jacket Stiles had picked up earlier, and walking toward them.
"You're sure it was her?" He asked and Scott nodded quickly.
"I looked her right in the eyes, and they glowed like mine."
"It makes sense, dad." Stiles interrupted.
"But it wasn't a girl. It was a four-legged coyote, right?" Noah asked to clarify.
"Yeah, well, see that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet." Stiles said frustratedly.
"Okay, but it was a full moon and she did change, while her mom was driving and then anything could've happened." Scott said, trying to explain it to the sheriff.
"Horrible things could've happened. Ripping, shredding, tearing things." Stiles added, ominously.
"Which is probably what caused the accident." Scott said.
"Think about it, Dad, alright? They're driving, Malia starts to change, she goes out of control and the mom crashes and everybody dies.."
"Except for Malia." Scott interjected and Noah nodded, indicating he was still listening to their theory.
"She blames herself, alright, goes off into the woods and eventually becomes trapped inside the body of a coyote." Stiles finishes.
"That makes sense.." Noah said, processing, and the boys sigh in relief that he believes them, "in a Chinese folktale." Sheriff finishes sarcastically and the boys drop their heads. Well, they thought Noah was following along.
"Boys, this is.. this is insane. I need this kept quiet. The two of you, not a word. I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this."
As the sheriff was talking, Scott looked over to see a shadow. A shadow of himself, standing over a child Malia, slashing her chest apart. A voice breaks him out of his hallucination, calling his name.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Scott asked, shaking his thoughts out of what he just imagined. As Noah was about to speak, Mr. Tate arrived with agent McCall.
"Oh hell.." sheriff said as Mr. Tate began to walk up to them, spotting the puffer jacket that belonged to his daughter all those years ago. He took it out of Noah's hands, cradling it while staring intently.
"It's hers." He said, spaced out, thinking about his missing daughter.
"Dad.." Scott went to talk to his father but he was cut off.
"We'll talk in a minute. I'd actually like to talk to your mother and see how she feels about you running around looking for bodies in the woods late at night."
Scott and Stiles watched as Agent McCall walked away with the sheriff, going to investigate the coyote den. Scott sighed, knowing how much shit Noah would get into for something like this, but Malia needed help. She was trapped in the form of a coyote and couldn't escape it. He wasn't going to just let her die at the hands of her own father who didn't know his daughter was a coyote. She didn't deserve that.
•••••••••••••••••••
The next day at school, Scott, Stiles, Gwen and Allison all huddled in a heard to discuss the trails on the reserve that Malia might be hiding in.
"Here's where we found the den." Stiles pointing at the location on his iPad.
"Well, that could narrow it down. Coyotes mostly travel in fixed trails." Gwen said.
"I think you may be right about Malia not coming back to the den, though. Coyotes are smart and one thing about them is that they hate wolves and if they don't wanna be heard they actually walk on their tip toes." Allison stated, and Stiles brows furrowed.
"Coyotes tiptoe?" He asked and Allison rolled her eyes.
"Yes, they tiptoe." She reiterated with an exasperated tone.
"Well.." he said, trailing off as the bell rang for class to start.
"I gotta go, but send me the pinned location." Allison said, rushing off to her class. The other three went to sit at their respective seats for class but Kira had walked up to Scott, stopping him in his tracks.
"Hey, I'm Kira.. you knew that. I knew you knew that. I don't know why I just told you that again," she said, rambling, causing Scott to smile, "anyways, I have something for you."
"For me?" Scott asked, slightly surprised.
"Yeah. About the bardo. My explanation was sort of all over the place, so I did some research and printed it out for you."
Scott chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"You didn't have to do that." He said, chuckling.
"It only took a couple hours." She said nonchalantly and his eyes grew to saucers.
"Wow, then you really didn't have to do that."
"I swear I printed it out.." she said, shuffling through her bag to look for the research she'd done.
"Kira," her dad interrupted, "you forgot all the research you did for that boy you like." Her father said directly and Kira nearly died on the spot. Her face grew flushed as her father handed her the stack of papers. She gulped and turned around to look at Scott, nervous about his reaction.
Scott stood with his mouth agape, not knowing how to react, but he smiled sweetly as she handed him the stack, embarrassed. She turned around and sat in her seat, throwing her head in her hands, trying to forget the embarrassment as Scott walked to his seat. He sat down and started shuffling through the pages she'd printed off, thoroughly reading all the information.
"All right, everyone, let's get started," Mr. Yukimura said to the class, "we were just talking about the internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that is like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read aloud for us?" He looked around the room and laid his eyes on Stiles.
"Mr. Stilinski, how about you?"
Stiles, panicked, started stuttering about how he'd rather someone else read. Gwen raised her hand, remembering how Stiles had been a little dyslexic the past few weeks.
"I'd like to read it, Mr. Yukimura."
"As much as I'm appalled at the fact you're actually volunteering in class for once, Ms. Parker, I asked Mr. Stilinski." Gwen rolled her eyes, putting down her hand. Stiles looked at her, silently thanking her for trying to save him, before getting up and heading to the front of the class.
He stepped up to the podium, scanning the pages of the book to see what he'd be reading. He gripped the edges of the podium as his vision started to blur.
"Come on, okay, come on." He urged himself to get it together. Just as he thought his vision was clearing up, the letters on the page started to move, dragging down off the book as if the letters were melting away. Stiles started to feel dizzy and he thought he was in a dream all over again.
"Stiles? You okay?" Scott said, slowly getting up from his seat as he noticed Stiles began to sweat profusely, breathing heavily.
Stiles fell into the podium slightly and Scott ran to catch him.
"I'm just gonna take him to the nurse." Scott said, dragging Stiles out of the room as Gwen and everyone else watched. Gwen sat back and huffed. All her friend were going nuts because of Jennifer kidnapping their parents. At least she's gone now.
The bell rang while Stiles and Scott were still gone and Gwen began to collect all of her things before turning around to Scott and Stiles's bags.
She noticed Kira had been looking at Scott and Stiles's belongings and decided this would be the perfect time to be a good wingman.
"Hey, would you wanna help me carry all their crap back to them? I don't think I can do it myself." She said and a smile appeared on Kira's face.
"Yeah, sure, I'd love to help." She said, picking up Scott's bag as Gwen carried Stiles's and her own.
They began walking towards the nurse's office, thinking that's where they'd be or maybe in a bathroom near there. As they both started to walk down an empty hallway toward the locker rooms, Gwen stopped in her tracks, causing Kira to bump into her slightly.
"Woah, you okay-" she couldn't finish her sentence as she saw what made Gwen pause in her steps. A coyote, a big coyote, standing in the middle of the hallway, growling at them.
"Oh my god." Kira said, dropping Scott's bag onto the ground in shock.
"Listen to me very carefully," Gwen said and just as she spoke, the coyote snarled and sped towards them, "RUN." Gwen said, grabbing Kira by the arm and dragging her into the boys locker room, slamming the door closed. She dropped her bag and Stiles's onto the ground before turning to look around the room.
"Go behind there!" She yelled to Kira as they both ran behind a set of lockers at the back of the room. They both crouched down and tried to stay as quiet as possible, not wanting the coyote to hear where exactly they were. She reached in her pocket to pull out her phone and nearly cursed every god and mythical being in the universe when it wasn't there.
"Shit." She swore to herself, peaking around the corner at her backpack that she'd dropped right next to the door, her phone peaking out perfectly from the side pocket.
"You've gotta be kidding me." She muttered to herself before the smashing of the glass window on the door startled her from her self scolding. The coyote had broken through and was now searching for them. She could hear Kira's heart racing, and leaned over to touch her hand.
"Hey, it's okay. I'll get us out of this." She reassured, trying to help the girl feel better, but Kira only gave her a wide-eyed stare.
"How?! There is a freaking coyote tracking us down to kill us!" She whisper-yelled, showing her urgency without alerting the animal.
"Don't worry. I got this." Gwen said simply, looking around the locker room again for an exit or a weapon they could use.
She could hear the coyote ripping up something fabric on the other side of the locker wall they hid behind. With the coyote occupied on whatever object and not them, Gwen decided now was their chance.
"Brace yourself." Gwen said as she put her hands against the row of lockers and pushed hard, causing the wall of lockers to tumble over on its side. The girls looked over the metal wall and around the locker room to where the coyote was, but it was gone. Gwen looked around the room and her eyes landed on Stiles's backpack, which had been ripped up by the coyote, revealing the face of a doll.
Malia's doll.
•••••••••••••••••••••••
Sheriff Stilinski was walking along the high school hallways with his son, discussing the whereabouts of the coyote.
"A couple of students said they saw it run across the lacrosse fields and back into the woods. Thank god nobody got hurt." He said with a relieved sigh.
"What happens if she does hurt someone?" Stiles asked and Noah hesitated to answer at first, knowing his son wouldn't like what he had to say.
"Most likely, she'll have to be put down." Stiles eyes widened and Noah waited for his inevitable scold.
"Put her down? Dad, try not to forget there's a girl in there, one that you'll be killing. Come on, you aren't back to not believing, are you?"
"I believe there are a lot of things I don't understand yet. But that doesn't mean that everything and anything imaginable is suddenly possible. Now are you 100% sure that this is a girl and not an animal?" He said, not sure how to believe that there was a were-coyote running around Beacon Hills who couldn't control their shift.
"Yes. Because Scott is sure." Stiles said immediately without hesitation. He could feel it in his bones that it was Malia and she needed help. They both turned their heads to see Scott at the end of the hall, watching them.
"Scott, have you been listening?" Stiles asked, quietly. And Scott nodded his head. Sheriff sighed, throwing his hands in the air.
"Alright, let's get this figured out. Come on." The sheriff said, putting his hand on his son's shoulder and walking them toward the McCall boy.
They entered the locker room to find Mr. Yukimura scolding his daughter and Gwen for almost being coyote lunch.
"I already told you. I'm fine, dad." Kira insisted, tired of the third degree her father was giving her.
"Why were you not headed to lunch like everyone else?" He asked, figuring she would've been safe if she'd just followed her schedule. Finally after watching the awkward scolding, Gwen decided to speak up.
"That was my fault, Mr. Yukimura. My friends, Stiles and Scott, they had to leave class and they left their stuff behind. I asked Kira if she'd help me take it to them when we got cornered by the coyote. You shouldn't be mad at her, it was all my doing." She reasoned, hating that he was being so hard on his daughter for something Gwen had asked her to do. The vampire noticed Scott and Stiles come into the locker room as they talked to Mr. Yukimura, the blonde letting out a slight breath of relief at seeing them, "if you'll excuse me." Gwen asked, maneuvering past the father-daughter duo to get to her friends.
"What. The. HELL. were you thinking?" She asked Stiles as she walked up to them and gave him a firm smack on the back of the head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?"
"This!" She urged, grabbing Stiles's torn up book bag from the floor and opening it to reveal Malia's doll.
"You took the doll from the car?" Scott asked with disdain, not realizing his friend had done that.
"Well, yeah. I thought you could use it. You know, for, like, her scent." He stuttered out, seeing his two friends looking down at him disgruntled.
"Well, your little toy almost got me and Scott's girlfriend eaten." Scott rolled his eyes at Gwen's comment.
"She's not my-"
"Where did you get that?" A voice interrupted, the three turning to see Mr. Tate, Malia's father, looking at them with wild eyes, "where did you find this?" He asked, ripping the doll from Stiles's hands. The room went quiet at the small commotion, Mr. Tate coming into the locker room like a bull in a china shop.
"It belonged to my daughter.." he whispered grimly, not taking his eyes off the baby doll in his hands. The Sheriff quickly assessed the situation and motioned for Mr. Tate to follow him out of the locker room.
"Mr. Tate, I don't know how you heard about this. If you've got your own police scanner or what, but you can't be here." Noah said sternly, beginning to move Mr. Tate away from the scene. When the sheriff pushed on the man's jacket, he could feel something solid inside. The feeling of something he recognized all too well. Noah gave him a concerned look before pushing Mr. Tate's jacket open to see he was wielding a pistol.
"I have a permit." The man said immediately, but Noah gave him no sympathy.
"California schools are gun free zones. Permit, or no permit. You need to leave, now. I won't ask again." He said with more urgency, not wanting a crazed man with a gun even 100 feet near his child. Noah motioned for some officers to escort Malia's father from the property.
The man wanted to put up a fight, but ultimately didn't. Instead turning back to the Sheriff with sad eyes before speaking again.
"You find that animal. You find that-that thing!" He demanded before promptly taking his own leave.
Gwen, Scott, and Stiles all gave each other uneasy looks, knowing they didn't have much time to save Malia before her father took the situation into his own hands.
••••••••••••••••••••••
After school, Scott, Stiles, Gwen, and Isaac were all at the animal clinic picking up tranquilizers for hunting down Malia. Mr. Tate had a plan to kill the coyote whenever he got the chance so they needed to save Malia and do it quickly.
"Xylazine," Deaton said, placing the bottles of tranquilizers on the table, "it's a tranquilizer for horses. For a werecoyote, expect it to work within seconds. I only have three. So whoever is shooting needs to be a damn good shot."
"Allison's a perfect shot." Scott said immediately and Isaac tsked, causing them all the look at him.
"She used to be." He said.
"She can do it." Gwen urged.
"If we manage to find this thing." He said plainly and Gwen groaned as Stiles looked at him, pointedly.
"Okay, what's the point of him? Seriously, I mean what's his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf?" Isaac rolled his eyes and Gwen joined in.
"Yeah, what's up with the scarf anyways? It's 65 degrees out." Gwen chimed in with Stiles. Isaac only rolled his eyes, ignoring their snarky comebacks.
"Look, maybe I'm asking the question that no one here wants to ask. How do we turn a coyote back into a girl who hasn't been a girl in over 8 years?" They all looked at each other, knowing Isaac made a good point.
"I can do it." Scott said, slightly unsure.
"You can?" Gwen asked incredulously, which made Scott give her a pointed glare, "I mean, yeah! He can! Wooh!" She added, pounding her fist in the air in celebration. When no one gave her any notice, she awkwardly put her hand back at her side.
"You remember that night at school Peter was chasing us? In the gym, he was able to make me turn using just his voice. Deucalion did the same thing in the distillery." Scott said, remembering the feeling of being somewhat controlled by the alpha.
"This is a were-coyote, Scott. Who knows if it'll even work, if you can find someone to teach you." Deaton chimed in, trying not to be the pessimist. That was Isaac's job.
"That's why you called Derek first." Stiles said at his realization when Scott didn't say anything.
"Yeah, I could try it on my own. But, right now, I'm too scared to even change into just a werewolf." He reasoned, sorry in his tone.
"We need a real alpha." Stiles said, rubbing his hand on his face while Scott gave him an offended look.
"You know what I mean. An alpha who can do alpha things. You know, an alpha who can get it going. You know, get it..." Stiles trailed off stuttering trying to come up with a response.
"Up?" Gwen finished and Stiles awkwardly nodded.
"Great. I'm an alpha with performance issues." Scott sighed.
"Is there anyone else besides Derek who can help?" Deaton asked.
"I wouldn't trust Peter." Isaac added.
"Maybe the twins?" Stiles asked and Gwen shook her head.
"They're not alphas anymore. After what Jennifer did to them, almost killing them? It broke that part of them." She said.
"Okay, but what if they know how to do it?" Stiles reasoned, not seeing how not being an alpha was an issue.
"Nobody has seen them for weeks, let alone talked to them." Scott said and Gwen scrunched her face in distaste.
"Well, actually, that's not totally true," Gwen said, "I'll try to get them here but we may have a better chance with Lydia."
"Why Lydia?" Scott asked and Gwen sighed.
"Let's just say Aiden never got over his little crush on her. I'll see if I can ask her to text him." She said, slightly annoyed she had to bring the twins, and even worse Lydia, in this. She didn't want Aiden anywhere near her but they had to do this. For Malia.
She pulled out her phone and looked for Lydia's contact name, the red hearts sticking out to her and she quickly tapped on the number, the phone ringing.
"Hello?"
"Red, I need a really big, really huge, major favor from you."
"Oh god, what is it?"
•••••••••••••••••••••
Gwen pulled the door to the loft open, letting Stiles, Scott and Lydia walk in before her. Lydia looked around confused, not seeing the twins.
"They said they'd meet us here.." she said, looking around the loft for them.
As Scott stood in the doorway, Ethan and Aiden came from both sides of the door from where they were hiding, punching Scott in the face from both sides before grabbing both of his arms and throwing him down the small flight of stairs, deeper into the loft. Gwen grabbed Lydia and Stiles's arms, pulling them away from the fighting.
Ethan and Aiden both came down the stairs as Scott started to slowly get up. Once fully standing, the twins both took turns in punching and kicking him over and over until he was down.
Eventually, after getting the crap beat out of him, Scott spoke up against the twins method.
"I thought you guys were gonna teach me how to roar." He groaned in pain.
"We are. You do it by giving in." Aiden said before abruptly lifting him up by his shirt off the ground.
"Giving in and letting go. That's how Deucalion taught us control." Ethan said before picking Scott up by the shirt.
"Hey, you know, thats funny, because I've actually tried something like this one time using a heart monitor and the lacrosse balls. But you're right, beating the living crap out of him is probably a lot better." Stiles interjected.
"That's actually the plan?" Scott asked, out of breath, "you kick my ass?"
"You're afraid to turn. We're gonna make you." Aiden said and Ethan nodded.
"You turn, then kick our asses." Ethan finished.
"Then you roar." Aiden said before roaring as loud. Scott watched, slightly weary he couldn't do it.
"You don't think you can let go with us?" Ethan asked as Aiden came up from behind him.
"You think you're gonna hurt us?" Aiden taunted as he pushed Scott into Ethan, and they started shoving him back and forth.
"Come on, McCall, give it your all. We can always heal." Ethan teased and Scott huffed before charging at the twins again. Ethan only grabbed Scott by his flying fist and punched him in the face, causing him to fall back.
"You wanna roar? You've gotta give it full throttle. You've got to be the monster. Become the beast. Become everything you're afraid of. That's what gives you power. Gives you strength."
Scott charged to punch them again, missing completely and Aiden elbow dropped him to the floor.
"Giving into it doesn't make you the bad guy." Aiden said.
"So long as you can control it." Ethan stressed.
"Sometimes control is a little overrated." Aiden bit back before kicking Scott in the gut, causing his pack mates to wince.
"Come on, Scott, fight back." Stiles whispered.
"What if I can't control it? What if I can't turn back?" Scott asked, holding his stomach in pain.
"Then it takes over. You become Malia. You get further and further away from being human. You turn into an animal. Or worse, you turn into Peter." Ethan said and Scott's brows raised in realization. Thinking about Peter, how evil he is. He couldn't be like that. He wouldn't.
Scott slowly started to stand up, breathing hard before wiping the blood off of his lip and charging at Aiden. Aiden merely picked him up and slammed him on the metal table in the middle of the loft. Aiden jumped into the table, towering over Scott and starting to punch him repeatedly in the face. They all watched as Aiden kept going and Ethan ran to stop him before he could practically kill Scott.
"What?! I thought we were helping him." Aiden yelled and Ethan held his fist back.
"You help too much." Ethan said softly and Aiden's face fell at his brother's words. Ethan helped him off the table and they all turned to look at Scott, laying on the table, breathless.
"Scott?" Stiles said his name and Scott groaned, starting to sit up.
"I'm fine," he choked out, sitting on the table and staring at the floor, "what am I supposed to do? What if I can't do this? What if we can't help her?" He asked, mostly to himself.
"We try anyways." Gwen spoke up and they all looked at her. Her eyes widened a little at the sudden spot light, "I mean.. Just because it doesn't seem possible right now doesn't mean it won't be when the time is right. We just have to try and see what happens. And if we fail, we'll try again." Gwen said and they all looked at her, slightly confused at her small moment of wisdom. Lydia was proud of the progress she'd made emotionally while staying in Beacon Hills and she was so glad Gwen was genuinely happy to be there with them.
"You're right, Gwen." Scott said and she smirked, crossing her arms.
"I know. So, what's the plan?"
•••••••••••••••••••••
The pack all showed up to the reserve in their respective vehicles, ready for a day of searching for Malia. They all stepped out of their cars and huddled into a circle formation, ready to go over the plan. None of them spoke at first, all of them giving each other uneasy stares as the severity settled down on them.
"Anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?" Lydia asked as they all stood around, looking at each other wearily.
"We're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter." Scott corrected, trying to give his pack some reassurance.'
"Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote, who is actually his daughter. Who we also don't know how to change from a coyote back to his daughter." Isaac interrupted, causing them all to look at him annoyed.
"And again with the not helping." Stiles said, leaning against his car with his hands in his pockets. Scott turned around to look at Allison, who looked back expectantly.
"Did you bring it?" He asked and she nodded, reluctantly pulling out the rifle from the trunk of her car. Just as she pulled it out, a gunshots were heard miles away and they all turned towards the direction it came.
Scott ran to hop on his bike and drove off toward the direction of the sound, Isaac and Allison running after him as Stiles called out for them to wait.
"Damnit!" Stiles exclaimed as he pulled out his phone to call his dad and ask about the gunshots.
"You think it was Tate?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know. I've gotta call my dad." He said, tapping his foot on the ground as his father answered.
"Hey, Dad. Do you know what the hell those shots were?" He asked and Gwen listened in on the phone call, trying to hear what the sheriff was saying. Lydia leaned over into Gwen's ear.
"What's he saying?" She breathed and Gwen turned to look at her.
"Not sure, Nancy Drew. I'd be able to hear if you weren't breathing in my ear." She joked and Lydia flicked her cheek.
"Hey!" Gwen said, smacking her hand away and Lydia smacked her back, then they both started smacking each other over and over again, childishly.
"It took the doll again? What the hell is so important about this doll?" Stiles asked turning around to see Gwen and Lydia fake cat fighting over something. He snapped his fingers in their direction, urging them to chill out.
They both stopped, putting their hands at their sides and pouting.
"I don't know but listen to me," Sheriff said over the phone, "there are traps all over the woods. Near the trails probably near the car crash. And Tate is out there with a rifle. I want you to stay out of those woods. You got that?" Stilinski asked but Stiles didn't answer. He got it, now. He knew why Malia took the doll. He looked at Lydia and Gwen who stared back at him, confused.
"It's the doll," he said, as he hung up the phone with his dad, "it's the doll?" He repeated, confused.
"What's the doll?" Lydia asked.
"The doll. Malia keeps taking the doll. That's why she went to the school, she broke into Tate's house. She did it for the doll."
"Okay yeah but why?" Gwen asked as Lydia ran her hands through her hair, frustrated.
"That's what I don't get. Why would it go all the way to the school and then all the way back to Tate's for a doll? One that was in the car wreck in the first place. We didn't find it in the coyote den."
"It likes the doll, okay? Who cares?" Lydia said, pacing back and forth.
"Yeah, it likes the doll a lot." Stiles said, thinking hard.
"What kind of doll is it?" Lydia suddenly stopped and asked.
"I don't know, like a baby doll, ya know? It's got little arms, a big baby head, dead soulless eyes.. actually I took a pic." He said searching through his camera roll and pulling up the picture, showing the phone to Gwen and Lydia.
"That's Malia?" Gwen asked, pointing to the older girl in the photo of the two sisters.
"Yeah, and that's her sister. She died in the wreck."
"Stiles, Malia isn't holding the doll. Her sister is." Gwen pointed out and Stiles looked carefully, all the pieces starting to come together one by one as he scanned the photo.
"It's not Malia's doll.. it's her sister's. I know what she's doing." Stiles said and the girls looked at him, puzzled.
"What?" They asked in confused unison.
"I know where she's going." He said quickly walking toward the direction of the car wreck as he pulled out his phone to call Scott, as the girls followed behind him.
"Scott! You need to call me back as soon as you get this. It wasn't Malia's doll. It was her sister's. Malia left it at the car for her sister. It's like bringing flowers to a grave, okay? And we stole the flowers. So that's all she's trying to do, right, just bring the doll back to the grave, to the car wreck. That's where she's headed, the car wreck."
"Gwen?" She heard from behind her and she turned around from looking at Stiles on the phone and saw Lydia, standing on top of a bear trap, shaking like a leaf.
"Holy shit." Gwen said slowly starting to walk toward Lydia, "Stiles." Gwen called out to get Stiles attention away from the phone.
"Yeah," he answered, turning around after hanging up the phone and looking up to see Lydia's leg on the trap, "Oh shit," he said.
"What do I do?" Lydia asked, slightly lifting her leg causing the trap to move.
"Lydia, stop! Wait! Don't move, okay?"
Gwen insisted as she inspected the trap, Lydia nodding her head.
"Look for a warning label." Lydia said and Stiles quirked his brow.
"A warning label?"
"Instructions on how to disarm it." She clarified, whispering as she was scared out of her mind.
"Lydia, why the hell would they put instructions on the bottom of a trap?" Stiles asked.
"Because animals can't read, jackass!" Gwen yelled as she pushed away the leaves around Lydia's foot, trying to find the label. Tears ran down Lydia's face as she tried standing perfectly still.
"Okay, Stiles, I need your help. When I say, you're gonna take this and turn it as hard as you can." Stiles rushed to put his hands where Gwen had directed him. He only barely touched it, not wanting it to go off while Lydia was standing on it.
"Okay, Lydia, look at me," Gwen said looking up at her but Lydia only shook her head, eyes closed tightly as tears poured out, "Lydia, please look at me. I need your help too." She urged softly and Lydia felt her eyes open upon their own accord, tears threatened to pour out and Gwen hated to think about how beautiful she looked when she cried.
"I know you're scared, but I just need you to trust me, okay? Can you do that?" She asked and Lydia nodded. Lydia knew that if Gwen said to trust her, she could.
"Okay, when I say 'now', you jump as fast as you can towards me. We only have a few seconds, so don't hesitate." Lydia nodded, breath starting to pick up as she panicked and Gwen shushed her.
"Hey, it's okay. I've got you, I promise. Stiles, you ready?" Stiles took a deep breath, nodding, "okay. 1.. 2.. 3.. now!" She yelled and Stiles turned the knob to the side as Lydia jumped into Gwen's arms, the brunette wrapping her arms around Lydia's body, pulling her away from the trap as the jaws snapped up where Lydia's leg would have been.
Gwen held Lydia in her arms for a second, the strawberry blonde pressing her head against Gwen's face, sighing in relief. They looked at each other for a moment, taking in each other's presence.
"You okay?" Gwen asked, her eyes not leaving Lydia's wide ones for a moment as the latter caught her breath.
"Yeah.. I'm okay.." she insisted hastily, keeping her eyes on Gwen's just as intensely.
"So.. that was a lot of adrenaline, huh?" Stiles interrupted awkwardly and Gwen slowly let go of Lydia. As they turned to walk towards the wreck, now watching their step very carefully, they heard Scott's roar, mighty and loud. The girls smirked and Stiles clapped his hands together.
"Oh, that's what I'm talking about."
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After reuniting Malia with her father, the pack all went their respective ways, Gwen sticking with Lydia in order to drive her back home.
"Thanks for giving me a ride." Lydia said as they walked up the steps to her front door. Gwen leaned against the railing of her porch as Lydia leaned on the wall opposite of her, next to the front door. She shrugged half-heartedly at Lydia's apology, giving a simple smile.
"It's not a problem. I'll take any chance I can get to be alone with you, Martin." She flirted with a wink, and Lydia rolled her eyes, looking down at her shoes to hide her blush as she always did. She'd probably never wear them again now that they've been tainted with the memory of almost having her leg severed by a bear trap.
"And thank you, again, for saving my leg from being chopped off." She added, making Gwen laugh and shake her head.
"You don't have to thank me for that one either. I'll always save you when you're being a damsel in distress." Lydia mouth dropped and Gwen chuckled at her reaction.
"I am NOT a damsel in distress. I don't need you saving me all the time. I'm a strong, independent woman." Lydia defended.
"I never said you weren't a strong, sexy, independent woman. I said you were a damsel, and there's nothing wrong with needing to be saved every once in a while. It doesn't make you weak in any way."
Lydia was quiet, taking in her words before smiling. She thought back to Jackson's words to her sophomore year about how he wouldn't be around to save her all the time. He made her feel so weak, so stupid, so useless. It was such a stark difference from how Gwen talked to her, looked at her, the way she even said her name with such sweetness on her lips.
"I never said I was sexy." She chimed in, and Gwen smirked.
"No, but I did." They both laughed and stared at each other smiling, not knowing what to say next, just enjoying each other's company. That is until Gwen's phone started to ring.
"Ugh. I guess I'll let you go while I take this. Get some sleep, okay?"
"Yeah, I will. You too. And drive safe, please." Gwen raised her one brow and put her finger to her lip, her face showing she was contemplating.
"Hm, I'll think about it. Goodnight, Red." Gwen said and Lydia rolled her eyes, waving at Gwen as the vampire walked to her car.
"Bye, Gwen." She said and turned around, walking inside her home.
Gwen sat in her car and answered her phone, not checking to see who was calling.
"G speaking." She said jokingly and a scoff was heard on the other line.
"G? What are you a thug now?" Aiden asked over the phone and Gwen groaned, rolling her eyes.
"I was trying something new. Something I'll never do again, thanks to you. Now, what do you want?" She asked, unamused and not in the mood to hear his annoying voice.
"You still living in that loft apartment?" He asked and Gwen already knew what he was about to ask.
"Who wants to know?"
"C'mon, Gwen. We were pack mates for a long time. You can make room for us to come back, can't you?"
"Actually, all the rooms are full. Yours and Ethan's old room is my amphibian room and Kali's is now my topography room." Gwen said in a serious tone and Aiden huffed. She could practically feel the eye roll through the phone.
"Well, either way, Ethan and I have decided it's best we come back to school. Ya know, get our proper education and social life in order. Maybe even find ourselves in a relationship this time around."
Gwen balled her hand into a fist, thinking about Aiden coming back and squeezing his fat, veiny head into her life with Lydia. Or, her life in Beacon Hills. Either one.
"Good luck with that. You won't be welcome back with open arms, I'll tell you that much."
"We'll see about that. Lydia was happy to call me for us to meet up to help with Scott the other day. I don't see why she wouldn't be thrilled to hear we're coming back for good."
"Maybe she wouldn't be thrilled because you're a psychopathic dickhead with anger issues who pummeled her best friend and killed another one?"
"You helped kill Boyd and she's practically eating out of your hand." He said, talking about Lydia as if she was some dog that could be trained.
"Shut the fuck up, Aiden. You come back to Beacon Hills, fine with me. But you stay the fuck out of my business and you especially stay away from Lydia. Got that?"
"Ya kno-" Gwen hung up the phone, throwing it at the passenger seat.
"Prick." She said to herself as she turned on the car, out it in drive, and sped down road and out of the quiet neighborhood.
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Authors note: Ethan and Aiden are back! How do you guys feel about their return?