Paige had her eyebrows furrowed as she walked into the police station. Something felt a little off. She wanted to try and contact Lydia or even Allison since both disappeared from the party. Paige had also felt a little drained and her arm was stinging a bit. A lot was happening tonight and unfortunately, it was happening to people she cared about. So she was worried and she could feel them.
The deputy looked up at Stilinski and then at the kids behind him, "It's 2:00 in the morning."
"Believe me, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't extremely important."
With that the deputy let them all pass. Sheriff Stilinski knew the people here well and they knew him. He was a trustworthy man.He continued to speak with the Deputy while the three teens moved into Sheriff Stilinski's office, or his old office. Paige still felt bad that he was basically fired.
"We look at the hospital stuff first, okay?"
Paige furrowed her brows together and looked at Stiles, "Why?"
"Because all the murders were committed by Jackson, except for one, remember?"
Scott nodded his head in realization, "The pregnant girl, Jessica."
"Yeah." Stiles realized that Paige was not entirely there for this situation since she had been dealing with family issues at the time, "Since Matt had to kill her himself, somebody from the hospital could've seen him."
Once Stilinski was with the trio, they all went to work. But Paige wasn't entirely there. She was doing her best to stay focused on herself but she could tell that something was going on. She could feel something had happened and it wasn't a good thing. And unfortunately, Paige didn't know who it was. Last time she focused on someone, it was Derek, and then she incepted him and Kate Argent.
"I don't know, kids. I mean, look at this." Stilinski leaned back in his seat to allow the kids to peer over his shoulder, "There was a six-car pileup that night, the hospital was jammed."
"All right, just keep going." Stiles leaned his palms onto the table to be able to stare at the screen, "Look, he had to have passed one of the cameras on that floor to get to Jessica, okay? He's gotta be on the footage somewhere."
"Wait!" Paige pushed herself into Stilinski, practically hanging over him as she pointed, "Stop, stop, stop! Did you see that? Scroll back."
Stiles grew just as excited as well as he pointed, "That's him! That's Matt!"
"All I see is the back of someone's head."
"Matt's head, yeah." Stiles grumbled a little bit as his eyes squinted at the screen, "I sit behind him in history. He's got a very distinct cranium, it's weird."
"Okay, do you know how absolutely crazy you sound?"
"I can recognize a head when I see one."
Paige gave him the most incredulous look, "No, Stiles, you can't. You can barely recognize which textbook is being used for class."
"All right, fine, then look at his jacket, huh? How many people do you know who wear black leather jackets?"
"I've got a leather jacket. Lydia has a leather jacket. Allison has a leather jacket-"
"Okay, okay, I get the point, jeez-" Stiles huffed out as though Paige had highly disrespected him.
"Okay, can we scroll forward?" Scott interjected, just wishing to get down to the bottom of this with proof, "There's gotta be a shot of him coming at one of the cameras."
"Right there!" Stiles yells out, "Stop, stop! See, there he is again."
"Unfortunately, that's the back of his head again."
"Okay, but look." Stiles points at the person parallel to Matt in the video, "He's talking to someone."
"He's talking to my mom..."
Maggie had her head in her hands as she sat across from Deaton in her dining room. Paige was with the Stilinski's again today since Maggie needed a moment to herself. She inhaled deeply and sat up, threading her fingers through the ringlets of her hair.
"Margaret."
"Don't."
"We need to talk about putting someone else as Paige's godparents."
Maggie furrowed her brows together as she felt the tears beginning to form in her eyes. She had enough of death for once in her life. She didn't want to deal with it anymore. She felt too young to have gone through this all. And in the moment, Maggie felt like a complete jerk, since others had to have had it worse than herself. Like Derek, who had practically lost his entire family in the fire.
Deaton went straight to the point, "You can no longer have Talia as-"
"I know that." She finally looked over at him, a tired look in her eyes as though the youth in her had officially begun to disappear, "Who else would take care of her if she lost me? She can't lose me too, Alan."
"I know that but in case of an emergency-" Deaton was unable to finish his sentence because Maggie already had her answer.
"I want it to be you." She states firmly while wiping at her eyes, keeping them downcast to not look at him, "You need to be the godfather if anything were to happen to me."
"Maggie, you have more family."
"A family of humans who have no idea what goes bump in the night. They wouldn't know what to do with Paige or how to raise her. Or how to even handle what will eventually happen. I don't even think I'll be able to handle it. I can't leave Paige alone in this world without knowing she'd have someone who understands what she is."
For a moment Deaton felt like bringing up the other Mercier family, but recalled how Erik was very clear how he wanted Paige to be kept away from them. "Okay, I agree. But, only if, you allow Paige to have the right to choose her guardian as long as she is over the age of fourteen."
"What? No. Who-"
"Paige will grow. She will make friends. If anything were to happen to you and she was not comfortable living with me. She should have the choice to live with someone else as long as they're willing to put her on. Such as the Stilinski family or the McCalls, they have gotten much closer to Paige these past few years."
Maggie wondered what would have happened if Paige had been with the Hale's during the fire. If Maggie hadn't gone through with the separation of the two. Paige might have died with the rest of them. But maybe Paige was all they needed to survive that. She would never know. Never know if her decision to cut ties like that was right or not. But she couldn't stand to know that Paige had been traumatized by what she saw.
Paige was almost afraid to go to the Hale house that day. Despite that natural connection she had with Derek, Paige was afraid to see him. Thought he might crush her to death and watch her bleed out. Or let her get attacked by a big scary monster. Paige had even asked if she was safe. Maggie couldn't let Paige be scared growing up. Maggie had to be the one scared for the both of them. She wanted Paige to grow up always smiling without a care in the world. Without knowing how genuinely frightening the world can be.
"We've got show prints alongside the tire tracks at the trailer site."
"And if they match, that puts Matt at the scene of three murders." Paige raised her fingers up, looking like an adorable child, yet serious at the same time, "The trailer, the hospital, and the rave."
"Actually, four." Stilinski's comment made the group look at him, "A credit card receipt for an oil change was signed by Matt at the garage where the mechanic was killed."
Stiles' eyes widened in shock, "When?"
"A couple hours before you got there."
"All right, dad, if one's an incident, two's a coincidence, and three's a pattern, what's four?"
"Four's enough for a warrant." Stilinski declares, "Scott, call your mom back, see how quick she can get here. If I can get an official ID, I can get a search warrant. Stiles, go to the front desk. Tell them to let Scott's mom in when she gets here."
"On it."
Paige stood up and stretched her arms up in the air, "Do you think they'll give you your job back if you figure this all out?"
"One could only hope, Paige."
For a moment, Paige felt like telling him everything. She knows exactly what it feels like to have something kept from you for so long when it was right in front of you. She didn't want to have Noah deal with all of that later when Stiles eventually tells him or he accidentally finds out. All of their guardians deserved to know now that she thought about it. Maggie had always known. Noah and Melissa were the ones left out in the dark. Paige, Stiles, and Scott were basically risking their lives with the stunts they've pulled these past few months. The very least their parents deserved the truth.
"Uh... Dad..."
Paige's face drained when she noticed Matt with a gun pointed directly at Stiles, "Matt-"
"One word and I shoot."
"She's on her way here." Scott says as he begins to re-enter the room but pauses, "Sheriff?"
The gun was pointed to Scott now, forcing him into the room to join the others. Sheriff Stilinski peered at the kids and then back at the gun wielder, "Matt? It's Matt, right? Matt, whatever's going on, I guarantee you there's a solution that doesn't involve a gun."
"You know, it's funny you say that, because I don't think you're aware of just how right you are."
Paige was frightened. This couldn't have been the same boy that helped her around the school when her arm was broken to pieces. Or the same boy that always had a camera on him, wanting others to smile as he snapped a photo. This boy was dark and twisted.
"I know you don't wanna hurt people."
"Actually, I wanna hurt a lot of people. You four weren't on my list, but I could be persuaded. And one way is to try dialing somebody on your cell phone, like McCall is doing. That-that could definitely get someone hurt." He pointed to the desk, "Everyone. Now!"
Paige flinched and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She dropped it down on the desk and then moved to raise her hands back up again.
"Come on." Sheriff Stilinski ushers the boys to follow in her lead as he drops his own phone.
Paige was shoved forward as Matt demanded Stiles handcuff his father up, "Tighter."
"Do what he says, Stiles."
"All right, all of you. Out."
Paige stuck as close as she could to Scott and Stiles, afraid of a bullet piercing her skin. She didn't want to be injured. She wasn't sure if it was her fear she was feeling or everyone else's but it sure was overwhelming.
"What, are you gonna kill everyone in here?"
"No, that's what Jackson's for. I just think about killing them, and he does it."
Maggie walked into the care facility with her coat hanging from her arms. She just dropped Paige off for the day with Melissa McCall since her boy had been asking if Paige was free.
"Hi, I'm here to visit Hale."
"Down the hall, third door to the left."
"Thank you."
Slowly, Maggie walked down the hall. Despite the walk being an incredibly small distance, it somehow felt like Maggie had been walking forever. She didn't want to come visit him at all. When Maggie learned from Deaton that Peter, Derek, and Laura survived the fire, she wasn't sure what to do. Derek and Laura hadn't been home at the time, but Peter had been trapped in the house during the fire.
And despite how Maggie made it very clear that she didn't want that psychopath in her life or her niece's life anymore, she still cared about him deep down. And she felt awful that she was finally bringing herself to come and see him after all this time.
Turning into the room, Maggie's brows knitted together at the sight of him. He was still covered in bandages since the burns had been severe. She stepped into the room, nervous at how he would respond. Or if he would respond at all. She had been told that he was practically unresponsive.
"God, what am I doing here?" Maggie breathed out as her shoulders dropped, "This is ridiculous."
For a second, Maggie could have sworn he had twitched at the sound of her voice. But she could have been mistaken. Which she probably was. But that small twitch made her close her mouth and stare at all of his wounds.
"Oh... I am so sorry this happened to you and your family Peter." Maggie whispers as she draws closer to him. She reached for his arm, placing a gentle hand on him, "I truly am sorry about this."
And that was the last time Maggie saw him. She chose to make no more visits other than the one because he wasn't part of her life anymore. Nor was she part of his. Maggie had let go of him years ago and the toxic relationship that had been created. But deep down, Maggie wishes it had been the same as before. Where she'd fall asleep and he'd brush her hair from her face to kiss her goodnight.
So that was what Maggie did during the last visit. She approached him slowly, placed a hand on his unscarred cheek and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, Peter."
Hi! So, someone in the comments in the previous chapter brought up a Q&A but about myself and not the fanfic. If you guys have questions specifically about me, then feel free to ask. They could be ridiculous or serious questions. I do not mind at all. And to answer one question now, my pronouns are she/her.
Also, I know you guys are all putting down in the comments on who you want to see Paige date. I only wish that it stays civil in the comments section and there are no arguments about it. Whether she dates Scott, Isaac, Theo, or a male OC in the near future, please refrain from being harsh with one another when it happens. I have a couple things in mind for Paige, I have yet to solidify what I will be writing but I do have an idea. I am simply saying this since I would very much like to not have hate comments or direct messages to me because Paige didn't date the one you wanted her to date. As much as I love getting ideas from you guys, this is still my fanfiction and my OC, and I hope that you guys can respect the choices I make for her in the story. If I could even be honest, it scares me a bit with how you guys want to see Paige because I am afraid that my ideas and writing won't be good enough and you guys will hate it.
And, again, thank you all for reading this. I think I might have thanked you guys a thousand times. (A little overestimated, but you get the point.) I know my updates have not been as frequent as I want them to be, but I am doing my best to get these chapters out for you guys.