A/N: just so no one gets confused. . .
Stiles=dad
Derek=papa
unless he is talking to one of them and then it's just dad. Because he's a teenager and I feel like he wouldn't call Derek papa to his face or to anyone else's.
Ben
I tried to ignore it. That tight feeling in my chest as soon as I drove away and the realization set in that I wouldn't see Scott again, or at least not any time soon. Maybe my thinking was dramatic, but I needed him. Without him, I felt like nothing. I wasn't sure when these feelings started, only that they were stronger now than ever and not knowing if Scott was okay was making me physically sick. I had to pull over more than a few times because I was shaking to hard to drive straight. I even tried to throw up once, but werewolves don't get sick, so nothing came out. One thing I didn't do was cry, but yelling and screaming was the substitute for that.
I eventually did make it back to the cabin the next morning. My dads were pacing anxiously around the living room, grandpa sitting on the couch with his notebook that he wasn't using at all as they rambled on and on. As soon as I opened the front door, they froze. Papa embraced me first, his arms tight around me as I stood there silently. Dad sighed heavily in relief and ran his hands over his face, running to join papa in the hug. "We were so worried," papa whispered, kissing the top of my head. I bit down on my bottom lip and squeezed my arms closer to my sides as they surrounded me.
"Ben, what happened to Scott?" Dad asked gently, like he already knew what the answer would do to me. He couldn't have prevented the tears gushing down my cheeks no matter how he asked the question. I had been holding it for hours, but it was just now all crushing me.
Papa shushed me soothingly, running his fingers through my hair as dad rubbed my back. "It's okay," papa assured me, letting me cry on his shoulder. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him as tight as I could, because I didn't want to hurt dad with my strength. It was harder to control when I was emotional like this. "We can get him back. I promise, Ben."
"It hurts so bad," I whimpered, letting dad hold my hand as he smiled sadly and leaned in to kiss my forehead. "I didn't think it would feel like this. I didn't think it would feel like a part of me was missing."
Papa and dad shared a worried glance, which they probably thought I didn't see. "Dad and I need to talk about something," Papa said quickly, pulling away. "Sit down with grandpa for a minute and take some deep breaths. You're going to have a panic attack if you don't."
I nodded rapidly and shuffled over to the couch, falling into the spot next to grandpa. He put his hand on my back and rubbed softly, which actually helped calm me down a lot. Dad and papa disappeared outside and spoke too softly for even me to hear. I tried taking deep breaths, but it didn't seem to be helping. "Bubby, are you okay?" Scarlett asked as she shyly stepped into the living room. She walked closer, curling up under my arm to hug me. "Is Scott gone?"
"Yeah, for a while, at least," I answered, running my fingers through her hair.
She frowned and squeezed me tighter, pressing her cheek against my chest. "I'm really sorry," she whispered, patting my chest reassuringly. "We'll get him back," she continued with a small sigh.
"Yeah, everyone keeps saying that," I mumbled, and Scarlett only held me tighter. I kissed the top of her head, grateful for her comfort and sighed softly. "Where is everyone else?"
"Home," Grandpa answered. "They all figured it was safe since Marcus got--" he cut himself off quickly, clearing this throat. "They just needed to get back."
"It's okay, grandpa. Marcus got what he wanted," I finished for him, feeling my chest tighten again. It was awkwardly silent for too long and I still couldn't hear anything from dad, or papa. I stared at the ceiling until something caught my attention. Someone was making noise down in the basement. "Is Scott's mom still here?"
Grandpa looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, his dad is down there too. Colin had to get back to his wife. He was worried about her, but his parents are here. She's still crazy." He smiled fondly as his attention wandered to Scarlett doodling on his empty notepad.
"I'll be right back," I mumbled, carefully sitting Scarlett on the cushion beside grandpa. She gave me a frown, so I ran my fingers through her hair reassuringly before hurrying towards the basement. I tried to be quiet walking downstairs, but it wasn't hard since neither of them were werewolves. I stopped at the bottom, staying in the shadows as I watched them. Scott's dad sat across the room, his head between his knees. Mary, Scott's mom, was still chained to a chair. I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing down here, only that I felt like this was a step in the direction towards getting Scott back.
"He's gone, isn't he?" Mary asked quietly, lifting her head to look at me. I stepped into the basement, anger making my chest tighten. She smiled slightly, but she looked tired. "Marcus will take care of him like he did me. Don't worry about him."
"No," I gritted out, clenching my fists as I stepped closer to her. "He's going to brainwash him like he did to you. Scott lost his mom because of that man and now I'm going to lose the first person I've ever even cared about, maybe even loved, but it doesn't matter now. You don't even care that his life is over because Marcus is in your head." I was screaming, so I knew I didn't have much time before dad and papa would be down here to drag me away. Scott's dad was standing in the corner now, watching, but not intervening.
"It's better this way!" she argued, pulling against her chains. "I'm a better witch that I ever was before. I can do great things, and now Scott will be able to do even greater things. He's better off without you, without all of us. He can save the world!"
"You're crazy," I snapped, lurching forward to grip the arms of her chair as she glared at me. "Your son is in danger and you're too far gone to help him. Scott is in danger, Mary! Marcus isn't just going to brainwash him. He's going to hurt him, maybe even kill him. Snap out of it and help us save your son!" I roared, my eyes burning as she trembled in fear.
"Ben!" Papa screamed, racing down the stairs. He wrapped his arms around my waist, dragging me away from her. "Let's go!" he yelled, pulling me up the stairs.
"Wait!" Mary called. Papa hesitated, tightening his arm around my upper chest before glaring at her. "I-I want to help Scott. I know what Marcus did to me. He made me think he was a good man, but he kidnapped my family years ago and held us prisoner. You made me see that, Ben. My baby is in danger and I realize I need to save him."
"Don't listen to her," Papa whispered as my nails broke his skin and my fangs grazed past my lips. "She's loyal to Marcus, not us."
I took deep breaths and retracted my fangs, closing my eyes as my heart thumped wildly in my chest. "She wasn't lying. I could hear her heartbeat."
"Some people can deceive us like that. We can't trust her, Ben. We can get Scott back ourselves. Let's go back upstairs, okay?" he responded softly, tugging on me so I would move. I let my nails return to normal as I breathed in and let it out. "Come on, son. Breathe and walk away. Dad and I need to talk to you."
Mary cried out for us to stop, and she sounded so sincere I almost wanted to believe her. "I want to save my son! Please, don't let Marcus kill him. Save my baby!"
"Ben, let's go," Papa whispered, pushing me in front of him to make me walk upstairs. He shut the door behind us and held onto me as my heart rate slowly began to fall back to normal. When we got back to the living room, I felt as calm as I was going to get. All the anger and sadness was still there, but I was breathing regularly.
Dad was sitting on the couch, but grandpa and Scarlett were gone, probably in the other room. It was just the three of us. "Hey, is everything all right?" Dad wondered, standing up to hug me. It was comforting, so I didn't let go right away. Eventually I sat in the recliner and they sat on the couch, resting their arms on their knees as they kept glancing at each other. "We want to talk to you about Scott. We know he is probably the last thing you want to talk about, but you need to know what is going on."
I sighed heavily and pushed back the urge to cry. "Okay, I'm ready to talk about it. I need to know why it hurts so bad."
"It's kind of like your dad and I," Papa explained, putting his hand on dad's knee as he smiled fondly. "Sometimes werewolves find a human they feel a connection to. At first it's hard to notice, but after so long, the connection is so strong you hate to be away from them for too long. It's not that you would die without them, it's just that you feel like you would. You have a need to protect them from all danger, and when you don't, you feel as if you have failed them. You get jealous when any other supernatural creature seems threatening towards them."
I looked up from my hands, eyes wide as they waited for me to respond. "Mates are just a myth," I argued, shaking my head.
"Not mates," Papa replied. "I mean, it sort of is, but that's not what we call it. It's not always a romantic thing, just a need to protect him."
I bit my lip, wrapping my arms around myself. "So my feelings for him aren't real?"
"We didn't say that," dad answered quickly. "Your dad loves me. We've been married a long time. The overwhelming feelings become less intense as the years go on." He leaned forward to grab my had, squeezing it reassuringly. "The way you feel about Scott is as real as you want it to be, but this is the reason it hurts so bad."
"I just want him back," I whispered, leaning back to stare at the ceiling. "I don't care what the hell this is called, or if it's actually real, or not. I want Scott to come back and I want him to be okay." I stood up quickly and Papa stood to follow me, but dad pulled him back down. "I need some air. I won't go far."
"Be careful," dad said, nodding for me to go ahead. I tried to smile, but gave up and ran off outside. The air was warm, but the wind was cool. I walked around the house a few times until I became bored and my feelings were overwhelming me, so I stripped off my shirt and ran off into the surrounding woods, letting myself change as my lungs burned. It was the best I'd felt since I had to leave Scott. It gave me temporary relief.
I ran for a long time, until I stumbled into a small cleared area with a lake. I stopped to catch my breath, taking in my surroundings until a tap on my back made me jump and turn around to see what it was. A small boy with black hair that almost hit his shoulders stared up at me, his eyes wide. "How did I not hear you?" I wondered, taking a step away from him.
The boy made a gesture that looked like he was zipping his lips and did something else with his hands that I didn't understand.
"You can't talk?" I asked as he nodded. "But you can hear me?" He nodded again. I sighed softly, looking around to see where he could have come from. "Do you have a home? Parents I can take you to?" This time he shook his head no, looking down sadly.
He turned around and started to run off into the forest, so I followed after him. I didn't think I should leave a small child alone in the woods. He may have had a strange ability to be quiet, even as he ran, but he was still only a kid. So, I followed the boy for about twenty minutes until he stopped in front of a house. He stopped and looked back at me as I caught up. The house looked old and abandoned, like it was falling apart. The boy slipped his hand in mine and squeezed. I tried to listen to his heartbeat to see how he was feeling, but I couldn't even hear that.
"This was your house?" I asked as he nodded. I started to walk closer, to take a look inside, but he yanked me back abruptly. When I looked at him, he seemed terrified. "I can't go in there?" The boy shook his head rapidly, pulling on my arm in attempt to get me to run the other way. "Is there something dangerous in there?"
The boy's eyes widened and his face paled as he placed his finger against his neck and made a slicing motion, then pointed at the house.
"What if you stayed here while I went inside?" I asked, but he shook his head and pulled me in the opposite direction again. He seemed adamant about it, so I didn't push him. I didn't want him to feel like he was in danger, so I let him drag me away. I couldn't shake the eerie feeling that house gave me. The little boy let go of my hand and started running again, so I took off after him. Last time, I had him in my sight the entire time, but somehow I lost sight of him I ran in so many different directions, but I couldn't yell out his name because I didn't know it. I looked for hours, until the sun began to set and I had to find my way home.
That night, my thoughts switched between Scott, the little boy, and how that house made my skin crawl. Tomorrow, I'd find that boy again. I couldn't help but think it all had something to do with saving Scott. Even if it didn't, that boy needed my help and I needed a distraction.