Warnings: Strong language.
A/N - While the events may be the same, they may not follow the same timeline as in the show. Please remember this is all made up, some things may be different.
***
Charlie
My name is Charlotte Stilinski, but my friends and family call me Charlie. I live in a small town called Beacon Hills with my father and twin brother, Stiles. I used to live a normal, boring life. But that all changed when my brother's best friend Scott McCall got himself bitten by a werewolf. I know right? I used to think there was no such thing, too. I still remember the bedtime stories my mom would tell me and Stiles when we were kids. Before she died. Before our whole world was turned upside down. But that's a story for another time.
You see, Scott being turned into a werewolf wasn't our biggest problem. Scott being bitten only opened our eyes to just how blind we were to the supernatural world. Suddenly, our bedtime story monsters became our real life nightmares. We faced creatures none of us could even imagine existed. Homework and Lacrosse were no longer our biggest concerns.
And just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder, my best friend, Lydia Martin, turned out to be a real life banshee. Like an actual, real life, scream until your ears bleed, banshee! I know, crazy! My brother has been in love with Lydia for as long as I can remember. I mean, I can't blame him. She's beautiful, smart, brave, and a crazy loyal friend, even if she was kinda shallow at first. But, she soon dropped the act of ditzy, popular girl and started acting like the real Lydia after her boyfriend, Jackson, turned into a Kanima. I'll explain later.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. My story is a little different. Sure, there are monsters and nightmares and a shit load of stress. But my biggest issue turned out to be my own heart. The werewolf that turned Scott, an alpha named Peter Hale, had a nephew. Derek Hale. When I first met Derek, he scared the shit out of me. He wasn't what you'd call an approachable person. But, despite his cold, stone like exterior, I quickly discovered that Derek did have a heart. A beautiful, fiercely loyal heart. What I didn't know was that I'd be the one to capture it and eventually... break it.
And just when I thought I'd lost Derek forever, something changed again. Derek was forced to make a choice. And his choice was the last thing I ever expected..
This is my story. And it's time to tell it.
***
"Charlie! Come on! We're gonna be late!"
Letting out a loud groan, Charlie rolled over to look at the time on the clock on her nightstand. Peeling one eye open, her vision finally cleared enough to read the time. 8.13am.
"Shit!" Charlie hissed.
She threw the covers off her legs and launched herself out of bed, tripping over yesterday's clothing in the process. She stumbled over to the closet, pulling out a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a black tank top and a maroon oversized sweater. It was the quickest she'd gotten dressed in her life. Five minutes later, she hopped around the room, pulling on her shoes. The hammering on the door continued. Finally, she yanked the door open while she shoved her hair into a somewhat presentable ponytail.
"Finally!" Stiles exclaimed. "Come on."
Charlie followed Stiles down the hall, gratefully accepting the coffee already prepared in her favourite travel mug. They reached the kitchen, where their father was pulling on his sheriff's jacket. A plate of toast sat in front of him, so Charlie swiped a slice and placed it between her teeth before hugging her father tightly.
"Bye, Dad." Charlie said around a mouthful of toast.
"Bye, you two. No funny business." Noah smirked as his two children raced out the door.
"What funny business?" Stiles said defensively.
"Just get to school." Noah rolled his eyes.
Charlie followed Stiles out the door and towards his jeep. She climbed into the passenger seat, waiting patiently for the beat-up old car to start. Finally, they were on their way to school. Charlie questioned the jeep's ability to get them to school on time, but they pulled up with minutes to spare. They could already see their friends waiting for them, so they hopped out and made their way over.
"Wow, you actually made it." Scott snickered as they approached the group.
"Blame sleeping beauty over here." Stiles jerked a thumb in Charlie's direction.
"It's not my fault, I got distracted reading last night." Charlie shrugged.
"Reading what?" Allison questioned.
Charlie let out a sigh. She looked around to make sure no one was listening before she leant closer to the group.
"I was trying to do some research on this weird creature thing. But google hasn't proven to be too helpful."
"We still need to figure out who it is. If we can figure that out, maybe we'll be able to find out what it is we're dealing with." Scott nodded his head.
The bell rang, signalling the start of classes. Charlie, Stiles, Allison, and Scott turned and headed inside the building. Once they'd collected their relevant books, they went their separate ways to their first lessons. Charlie walked into her math classroom and found her usual seat beside her best friend, Lydia.
"Hey, Lyds." Charlie smiled as she dropped into her chair.
"Hey, so did you find anything?" Lydia whispered, leaning over slightly.
Charlie shook her head. "No, nothing."
Lydia let out a sigh before turning her attention back to the front of the class.
"We'll find something, I'm sure." Charlie added.
"That's not the only problem we have." Lydia said, turning to face her again.
"Now what?" Charlie groaned.
Lydia's serious expression soon disappeared, quickly replaced with a mischievous grin. Charlie backed away slightly, her brows furrowed in a mixture of fear and confusion.
"What are you wearing to my party?" Lydia grinned.
"Are you kidding me? How is that a problem?" Charlie laughed.
"Because you need to pick the right outfit. You need to look hot if we're gonna find you a boyfriend." Lydia said seriously.
Charlie laughed again. "Who says I want a boyfriend?"
"Oh, come on, you have guys practically falling to their knees in front of you. Surely one of them has caught your eye?" Lydia raised a brow.
"Lydia, I love you, but you have to stop trying to force some kind of love life on me." Charlie chuckled. "I don't need a boyfriend."
"I just want you to be happy." Lydia smiled softly.
"I'm happy enough without one. Promise."
"Alright, everyone, let's turn our attention to the lesson, please." The teacher called out, looking specifically at Lydia and Charlie.
Charlie cleared her throat and turned her attention to Mrs Adams, the math teacher. Lydia didn't bring up the topic of unwanted boyfriends for the rest of the lesson. But that didn't mean Charlie was focused on the problems on the page in front of her. Instead, she was focused on the problem of the unknown creature running around town causing mayhem. The obsession with finding this creature was starting to take over Charlie's life.
Thankfully, she didn't have long to think about it as the bell rang, signalling the end of class and the start of her next one. Her next lesson was Home Ec, one she shared with Stiles, Scott, and Allison, as well as Lydia. But as she walked into the classroom, she was shoved to the side by someone bigger and taller than her.
"Hey! Watch where you're going asshat!" Charlie exclaimed.
The boy turned to face her, and Charlie sucked in a sharp breath.
"Jackson? Are you okay?" Charlie whispered, placing a hand on Jackson's arm.
Jackson recoiled from her touch, staring intently at her for a few seconds. A shiver ran down Charlie's spine, and she pulled her hand away quickly, taking a step back.
"Fine." Jackson said.
Something about his tone told Charlie that Jackson wasn't fine, but she didn't have time to question it. She watched Jackson as he walked to the back of the classroom and sat in a seat in the back corner. Someone tugged at her sweater, snapping her out of her dazed staring. She looked down to see Stiles watching her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, but I don't think Jackson is." Charlie said quietly as she sat at the desk in front of him.
Stiles looked over his shoulder at Jackson. Charlie could almost see the gears turning in her brothers head, forming some sort of plan or theory. He turned back to Charlie and nodded his head.
"I was thinking, maybe we should talk to Deaton?" Stiles whispered.
"And say what? Hey Doc, do you know what creature leaves slime residue and can paralyze people with a single scratch?" Charlie said sarcastically.
"Deaton knows more than you think." Scott suddenly appeared. "He's helped me a lot since I turned."
"Do you think you could talk to him at work this afternoon?" Stiles asked Scott.
"Yeah, sure." Scott nodded. "You guys can come down too."
"STILINKSI!"
Charlie spun around at the same time that Stiles looked up sharply to see Coach standing over them.
"What?" Stiles and Charlie said simultaneously.
Coach groaned and rolled his eyes.
"God, I can't believe there's two of you." Coach grumbled as he walked back to the front of the class.
Charlie shared a look with Stiles before they all fell silent, and the lesson began.
***
"Are you sure Deaton won't mind us coming, too?" Charlie asked as they walked into the animal clinic.
"Course not." Scott said, holding the door open for Charlie, Stiles, and Allison.
They walked inside, and Charlie looked around at the empty waiting room. She could hear the dogs barking from one of the back rooms and looked over at Scott with a raised brow.
"They'll calm down in a minute." Scott shrugged.
Charlie rolled her eyes and followed Scott into the examination room, where Deaton was already waiting for them. A border collie lay on the table in front of him, whining softly as Deaton pushed a needle into its back leg. Charlie winced and turned away, fighting back the bile rising in her throat.
"She alright?" She heard Deaton ask.
"Yeah, she's just not good with needles." Stiles answered.
A few seconds later, Deaton assured Charlie that the needle was gone and that she could turn around again. Charlie looked over her shoulder, checking to see if Deaton was lying, and after she was satisfied that the needle was, in fact, gone, she turned fully to face the others.
"So, how can I help you kids?" Deaton asked, stroking the dog's head.
"Well, we wondered if we could ask you some questions?" Scott asked nervously.
"What kind of questions?" Deaton furrowed his brows.
"About the creature that's terrorizing Beacon Hills?" Charlie said.
Scott and Stiles both turned to look at her in disbelief. Charlie looked between them, brow raised.
"What? There's no point beating around the bush." Charlie shrugged.
To Charlie's surprise, Deaton started to laugh. He instructed Scott to take the border collie into the kennels to rest before he walked over to a drawer. Charlie watched eagerly as Deaton pulled out an old looking book. Just as Scott returned, Deaton opened the book and pointed to a picture of what Charlie assumed was some kind of lizard.
"The fuck is that?" Charlie grimaced.
"That, is a Kanima, Charlie." Deaton smiled. "Based on what Scott told me about it, I'd say this is what you're dealing with."
"Any idea who it is?" Stiles asked.
"No, I'm afraid I can't help you there." Deaton sighed.
"How do we find out?" Allison asked, stepping forward.
"There will be signs. Glowing eyes, change in personality, that kind of thing." Deaton said.
Charlie stared hard at the picture in front of her while the others continued to chat amongst themselves. She was about to speak when a rougher, deeper voice spoke behind her.
"How do we kill it?"
Charlie tensed before turning to see Derek Hale standing behind them. Since the gate separating the waiting room and the examination room was closed, Derek couldn't enter the room. Charlie was actually grateful that Deaton had decorated the whole place with Mountain Ash, a barrier designed to keep supernatural creatures contained. That was until Deaton spoke.
"Charlie, could you?"
Charlie swore under her breath and hesitated before walking over to the gate. She avoided eye contact with Derek as she pulled the gate open and stepped aside to allow him entrance. He mumbled a thanks before rushing past her to join the others.
"Well?" Derek prompted. "How do you kill this thing?"
"We don't know who it is, it might be someone we can save." Scott argued.
Charlie joined the group again, standing beside Stiles on the opposite side of the table to Derek. While she had accepted the fact he was a werewolf, he also still scared the hell out of her.
"Seriously? You want to save it?" Derek glared at Scott.
"If we can, then yes." Scott nodded determinedly.
"We have to find out who it is first." Allison said, folding her arms across her chest.
They all fell silent and looked around at each other, trying to think of who the Kanima could be. Then, Deaton's words repeated in Charlie's mind, echoing around her head. This then triggered another memory from earlier that day. She let out a gasp, looking up at Scott. All eyes turned to her.
"Jackson."
"What about him?" Stiles asked.
"He was acting weird today in class. He barged right into me and then looked at me like he had no idea who I was." Charlie explained. "It's him."
"You think Jackson is the Kanima?" Derek raised a brow at her, almost challenging her.
"You got any better ideas?" Charlie bit back.
"It would explain why he didn't turn when you bit him." Scott said, looking at Derek.
"He was too busy turning into something else." Stiles finished.
"We have to save him." Charlie said, looking at Deaton. "We can't kill Jackson."
"I mean..." Stiles said slowly, shrugging his shoulders.
"Stiles!" Charlie scolded. "Lydia would never forgive us if we killed her boyfriend."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Stiles." Derek said, shaking his head, as if he was disappointed in himself.
"We're not killing Jackson!" Scott declared. He turned to Deacon. "Can you help us?"
"If you're saving him, yes." Deaton nodded.
Charlie shot Derek a smug look, causing him to roll his eyes, before turning her attention to Deaton. Deaton began pulling out various things Charlie had never seen before, when a loud crash caught them off guard. Stiles wrapped an arm around Charlie's shoulders, pulling her backwards until the six of them were gathered at the back of the room.
"It's okay, he can't cross the barrier." Deaton assured them.
But Deaton was proven wrong when something that looked like Jackson crept into the room.
"Charlie?" Derek said, keeping his eyes firmly on Jackson.
"What?"
"Did you shut the gate behind me?"
"Yes!" Charlie exclaimed. But as she glanced over at the open gate, her voice faltered. "Maybe."
Jackson stalked further into the room, hissing at the six of them. Charlie backed up as much as she was able to, keeping Jackson in her sights at all times. Jackson began to pace in front of them, trapping them.
"Uh, Scott, Derek, do something." Stiles said, his voice shaking.
"We need to get out of here." Allison said as Scott held a protective arm over her.
"How? He's too fast." Stiles argued.
A loud growl made Charlie jump. She looked up to see that Derek had already transformed and was prepared to fight Jackson.
"Scott, if you're going to save him, now's your last chance." Derek growled, his jaw clenching.
Charlie looked desperately around the room for anything that could help them.
"Or, you distract him and we all run?" Stiles said, clapping a hand on Derek's shoulder.
"I second that plan." Charlie nodded.
Derek glared at them both, making them step away from him. Stiles retracted his hand, shaking his head.
"Or not."
Suddenly, Jackson lunged forward, towards Charlie. Charlie barely had time to release a gasp before a larger figure stepped in front of her, blocking Jackson's path. She looked up in time to see Derek in front of her, his arms out wide. Derek released a loud growl, making Jackson back up slightly. But this wasn't enough to scare him away completely, because seconds later, Jackson lunged forward again. This time, Derek attacked. All Charlie could do was stare as the two of them clawed, punched and kicked at each other.
"GO!" Derek yelled, shoving Jackson back with a powerful kick to his chest.
Charlie couldn't take her eyes off Derek as she was dragged out of the clinic. As much as she wanted to get away from Jackson, something in her mind was screaming at her to help Derek. To get him out as well. She couldn't leave him behind.
"Wait. We can't just leave him!" Charlie exclaimed.
Stiles froze, as did Scott and Allison. The four of them exchanged nervous looks before Scott transformed into a werewolf and Allison pulled out two daggers.
"Okay, now what?" Stiles asked, watching Derek and Jackson fight each other.
Jackson seemed to have the upper hand as he swiped at the back of Derek's neck and pinned him to the floor with a hand wrapped a hand around his throat.
"HEY!" Charlie yelled, catching Jackson's attention.
Jackson's head whipped around to face them. Charlie tried to ignore the fear racing through her as Jackson's glowing eyes stared at her. She took a hesitant step forward, brushing Stiles off when he tried to stop her.
"Jackson? It's me, it's Charlie." Charlie said softly, slowly walking over to him.
Jackson continued to stare at her as she got closer, holding her trembling hand out in front of her.
"Jackson, you don't have to do this. You don't have to hurt anyone." Charlie continued.
She saw Jackson release his grip on Derek's neck slightly and took another step towards them.
"Just let him go, Jackson. We just want to help you."
For a second, Charlie thought she'd gotten through to him. She even thought that Jackson was going to let Derek go and leave them all unharmed. But as she took a final step towards him, Jackson suddenly let out a screech and before Charlie could move, Jackson swiped his claws across the back of her neck. Scott stepped forward, but Jackson was quicker. She just had time to see Scott, Stiles and Allison falling to the floor as she landed on top of Derek. While she was grateful for the soft landing, she wished she had fallen on someone else. Right now, she was positive landing on the concrete would have been less embarrassing than falling directly across Derek Hale.
"Good job, Charlie, really saved him." Derek grumbled beneath her.
"Hey, don't take that tone with me. I just saved your life!" Charlie argued.
"Yeah, but now we're all paralyzed and Jackson's roaming free around town." Derek said.
"Alright, so I didn't think it all through, I'm sorry I didn't let him kill you." Charlie exclaimed sarcastically.
"Guys! Shut up a minute!" Scott ordered.
"He started it." Charlie mumbled.
"I can hear you." Derek whispered.
"Bite me."
Charlie couldn't see his face, but she was pretty sure she felt him suck in a sharp breath. Feeling proud of herself for rendering Derek Hale speechless, Charlie smiled.
"Anyone know how long this paralysis lasts?" Allison asked from somewhere across the room.
"Not long." Stiles said. "But it's still long enough to give Jackson a chance to kill someone else."
Charlie swallowed hard and closed her eyes. By saving Derek's life, she had potentially put someone else's at risk. They heard hurried footsteps running towards them and Charlie's eyes shot open in terror.
"Everyone okay?" Deaton's voice made her breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Apart from being paralyzed, yeah, we're okay." Scott said. "Where did you go?"
"I hid when you all went to help Derek. I thought I could find something to help, but I didn't." Deaton sighed.
"Good job you did, otherwise you'd be on the floor like us." Scott said reassuringly.
"Hey, Doc?" Charlie called out. "A little help over here?"
She heard Deaton's footsteps approach, and suddenly, she was being rolled off of Derek. Deaton laid her gently on her back beside Derek before hurrying over to check on the others.
It was another twenty-five minutes before Charlie felt any movement in her body. By the time she was able to move her legs again, Derek and Scott were already on their feet. Scott helped Allison stand before pulling her into a tight hug. To Charlie's surprise, Derek offered her a hand as she pulled herself into a sitting position. She accepted but quickly pulled her hand away once she was firmly on her feet.
"Thanks." Charlie mumbled. "And thanks for the soft landing, I guess."
"I didn't really have a choice." Derek shook his head, his eyes burning into hers. "But thanks for saving my life, I guess."
Charlie nodded and offered a small smile, which, to her surprise, Derek returned. As she turned to face the others, she saw that Stiles was now standing again and hurried over to him. Stiles wrapped her in a tight hug and asked if she was okay. Charlie assured him she was fine before turning to face the others.
"I don't think Jackson's doing this himself." Scott said suddenly, an arm still wrapped around Allison.
"What do you mean?" Stiles asked.
"What if someone's controlling him? It says in the book that Kanimas seek out masters." Scott said.
"Lydia?" Derek suggested.
Charlie shook her head. "No, she's just as scared of that thing as we are."
"Maybe she's a good actress?" Derek raised a brow.
"It's not Lydia, I'm positive about that." Charlie said.
"I'm more concerned about the fact he seemed to target Charlie when he first attacked." Stiles said, shoving his hands in his jacket pocket.
"I don't think he wanted to hurt me." Charlie said.
"He paralyzed you." Derek said firmly.
"Exactly. He only paralyzed me. He didn't try to attack me or kill me." Charlie argued. "The only one he tried to kill was you."
"Because Derek's the only one who attacked him." Scott finished, realisation across his face. "And he blocked him from getting to Charlie."
Charlie nodded her head. "Exactly, it's like he wanted to keep us here but not hurt us."
"Speak for yourself." Derek grumbled, rolling his shoulder.
"At least you're self-healing." Stiles rolled his eyes.
"If he was trying to keep us here, then what was he keeping us away from?" Scott asked, looking around at them all.
"Maybe from the person controlling him?" Allison suggested.
"This is ridiculous." Derek exclaimed, slamming his hands on the metal table. "We should be out there looking for him!"
Charlie jumped at the bang, but she ignored Derek and checked the time on her watch. It was nearing midnight.
"Stiles, we should go." Charlie said, looking up at her brother. "Dad's gonna kill us for being this late."
She could feel Derek's glare burning into the side of her face, but she ignored it. She'd dealt with Derek Hale enough for one night. Right now, she just wanted to crawl into bed and forget the whole evening. Of course, Charlie knew she wouldn't be forgetting any of this anytime soon.