Playlist:

Where Are We Going? ~ Malukah

Far From Home ~ Five Finger Death Punch

I stood at the nurses' station watching a teenage boy with a "Get Well" balloon tied to his wrist trying to get comfortable in the waiting room chairs. Stiles had fallen asleep again and was muttering in his sleep. It had been a week since Lydia Martin had been bitten and Stiles had been at the hospital all weekend. Melissa, myself, and Sheriff Stilinski had all told him to go home numerous times, but he was still there. He had a raging crush on Lydia, but I'm pretty sure this was approaching stalker levels. But he was proving to be quite entertaining. Mr. Martin came out of Lydia's room and saw Stiles laid out across three chairs. He looked over and saw Melissa and motioned her over before pointing at Stiles.

"He's been here all night?"

"He's been here all weekend."

I couldn't help but snicker. A nurse changed the trash bag next to Stiles' head and he muttered something that caused the nurse to give him a weird look. I finally went over to Stiles and thumped his forehead. He jumped and almost fell out of the chairs, the balloon smacking him in the face.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Did you just thump me?"

"Yes, I did. Now go home."

"But I gotta stay for moral support."

"You can give your moral support at home. I'm not going to keep telling you."

"If I don't?"

"I'm going to drag you out of this hospital by your ear and load you into your Jeep myself."

Stiles just looked at me.

"Don't think I won't do it."

Another nurse approached us. "Trish, Mr. Sanders is being uncooperative again. The other nurses said you can usually get him to take his meds."

"Alright." I pointed at Stiles. "Go home."

After getting Mr. Sanders, who was a stubborn old man with Alzheimer's who thought I was his wife when they first married, to cooperate, I made notes on his chart. His two kids were making arraignments for him to go to Beacons Crossing. The caretaker could no longer handle him and Mr. Sanders thought that he was an intruder. Which led to him breaking a hip and his stay in the ER. I rubbed the bridge of my nose before putting the chart back. I heard a loud bang as if something had fallen. I approached the nurses' station again to check my patients' charts and saw Stiles leaning over a fallen vending machine.

"Stiles!"

Then I heard a long and loud scream that sounded like it was coming from Lydia's room.

"Lydia?" I asked.

Melissa, myself, Mr. Martin, and Stiles all rushed to the room.

"Lydia!"

"What the hell was that?" Melissa asked as she opened the door.

Stiles pushed his way through. "Lydia!"

"Stiles!"

He ran towards the bathroom. The water was running but no Lydia. Her hospital gown was in the corner. Melissa shut off the water and we all looked at each other confused. Stiles suddenly grabbed my arm and brought my attention to the open window.

"Ah, crap."

~~~

"Naked?" Stilinski asked as Melissa, Mr. Martin, and I gave him our statements. "As in nude?"

"No, she was wearing flower petals."

Mr. Martin didn't appreciate my sarcasm.

"I'm pretty sure they mean the same thing," Melissa retorted. "But, yes, as far as we know she left here clothing-optional."

"Alright, you checked the whole hospital, right?"

"Every last corner."

"Nothing suspicious?"

Melissa and I both shook our heads.

"She just took off," I said.

Stilinski turned to his deputy. "Alright. Let's get an APB out on a 16-year-old redhead. Any other descriptors?"

Stiles joined in. "5 foot 3, green eyes, fair-skinned and her hair is actually strawberry blond."

I sighed and gave Stiles a look. That didn't make him sound like a stalker at all.

"Is that right?" By the look Stilinski was giving his son, the patience was wearing thin with his only child.

"Yeah."

Stilinski grabbed him by the back of the neck.

"Ah!"

"Come here."

I was trying not to laugh.

"What the hell are you still doing here?"

"Um... providing moral support?"

"Uh-huh. How 'bout you provide your ass back home, where you should be."

"Okay. I can do that too. Mmm."

"Yeah."

Stilinski pushed Stiles away before turning back to us. "We're gonna find her, so don't worry."

I wasn't worried. I had slipped Stiles Lydia's hospital gown earlier. We had a secret weapon in tracking down Lydia that went by the name of Scott.

ANNA

"Will you put your feet down?" Scott asked for the hundredth time.

"I'm comfortable," I replied. I was sitting in the back of Stiles' Jeep. I'd gotten a ride from the neighbor to the hospital, telling her there'd been an emergency with a friend of mine. I met Scott there and we'd gotten into the Jeep to wait on Stiles. "Here comes Stiles." I sat up as Stiles got into the Jeep and handed Scott a bloody hospital gown.

"This is the one she was just wearing?"

Stiles nodded. "Trish took it before anyone else could and gave it to me."

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt her," Scott said. "Not again."

"Take a whiff, Wolf Boy," I said.

"Yeah, just shove the thing into your face, and let's find her." Stiles started the car. "Wow!"

I looked up to see Allison in the headlights. She came around to Scott's side.

"What are you doing here? Someone's gonna see us."

"I don't care, she is one of my best friends, and we need to find her before they do."

Oh, by the way, Allison and Scott aren't supposed to be seen with one another. Or date. Or be friends. You know, the whole he's a werewolf and she's from a family of werewolf Hunters thing. And I'm sure by they she meant said Hunters.

"I can find her before the cops can."

"Not talking about cops there, loverboy."

Yeah, Stiles and I were the only two that knew they were still seeing each other in secret. It was very eerily like Romeo and Juliet. If I saw any poisons being drunk or daggers going towards hearts, I was going to hurt them both.

Allison nodded towards me. "How about before my father does?"

"He knows?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah."

"What? Does he have someone in the department feeding him information?" I asked.

"Actually yeah. I just saw him and three other guys leave my house in two SUVs."

"Search party," Scott said.

"It's more like a hunting party."

"Get in." Scott let Allison in the back with me and Stiles took off.

"Alright, but if she's turning would they actually kill her?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know. They won't tell me anything. All they say is 'We'll talk after Kate's funeral, when the others get here.'"

"What others?" Stiles and I asked at the same time.

"I don't... They won't tell me that either."

"Jeeze. Your family keeps more secrets than Trish does," I commented. I was learning more about my older sister little by little and it was like pulling teeth to get her to even talk about the family secrets. I still didn't think she was telling me everything but she finally had come clean about the Roberts family, our connection to the Hale family, and her own super amazing abilities. I was kinda jealous, to be honest.

"Okay, your family's got some serious communication issues to work on."

"Ya think?"

"Hey, Scott, are we going the right way?"

Scott had his head stuck out the window like a dog, trying to catch Lydia's scent. It was actually quite comical. "Take the next right!"

Stiles took the next right hard.

~~~

We found ourselves in the middle of the woods, Scott leading the way.

"Wait a minute," Stiles said, taking several steps past Scott. "I know where we are."

We approached an abandoned house that looked like it had been burned.

"Why is there a house in the middle of the woods? We're not about to go inside, are we? Cause that's usually how people in scary movies die."

Stiles gave me a look before turning to Scott. "She came here? You sure?"

"Um, I take it you've been in the abandoned burned-out house in the middle of the woods?"

"Anna, shut up."

"Yeah," Scott said. "This is where the scent leads. And don't tell Anna to shut up."

"Thank you, Scott."

"It's the old Hale house. You've never been here before have you?"

"Nope."

"Has Lydia ever been here?" Stiles asked.

"Not with me," Allison said. "And we know not with Anna."

Scott shook his head and we started walking towards the house.

"Why is Lydia being here important?" I asked.

"Because Derek lives here," Scott said.

"Derek lives here? He can't afford to fix up the place?"

"Maybe she came here on instinct," Allison suggested. "Like she was looking for Derek."

Oh, that's right. Derek was the Alpha now. After killing my Peter and stealing the Alpha spark from him in revenge for Peter accidentally killing Laura and taking her Alpha spark. Yeah. I know. It's confusing for me, too. But I really didn't want to talk to Derek right now. Or about him.

"You mean, looking for an Alpha."

"Wolves need a pack, right?" 

"Not all of them."

Exhibit A was currently talking to Allison.

"But would she have been drawn to an Alpha? Is it an instinct to be part of a pack?"

"Yeah, we're stronger in packs."

"Like strength in numbers."

"No, like, literally stronger, faster, better in every way."

"Is that the same for an Alpha?"

Scott nodded. "That'll make Derek stronger, too."

"Great, a stronger Alpha with anger issues," I said. "Beautiful."

"Dude, you just sounded like Trish," Stiles commented.

"Dude, why do you think I sound like Trish, dingbat?"

Stiles went back to looking around for some reason.

"What the hell are you doing?"

He crouched down. "Whoa! Hey, look at this."

Allison and I joined him and saw he'd found a long piece of wire.

"You see this? I think it's a tripwire."

"Then quit messing —"

Stiles pulled on the wire.

"With it. Seriously, Stiles? You're going to trip the tripwire?"

"Stiles?" Scott said from behind us.

"Yeah, buddy?" We turned and saw Scott hanging upside down, one leg caught in a trap. "Oh."

I gave Stiles a dirty look at the same time trying not to laugh at Scott.

"Next time you see a tripwire." He held his hands out. "Don't trip it."

Allison was trying not to laugh, too.

"Yeah, noted."

We stepped forward to help him down.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." We stopped. "Someone's coming. Hide." We looked around. "Go!

 We took off, taking cover behind a couple of trees and bushes several yards away. We watched as Mr. Argent and three other Hunters walked up to Scott. We were amazingly able to hear what was being said. Mr. Argent crouched down in front of Scott.

"Scott?"

"Mr. Argent."

"How are you doing?"

"Good. You know, just hangin' out."

I bit my lip. The pun would have been funny if it wasn't Hunters he was being punny with.

"Is this one of yours? It's good. Nice design. Very constricting."

"What are you doing out here, Scott?"

"Looking for my friend."

"That's right. Lydia's in your group now, isn't she? Part of the clique? Is that the word you use? Or is there another way to put it? Part of your pack?"

"Actually, clique sounds about right to me."

"I hope so. 'Cause I know she's a friend of Allison's, and one special circumstance, such as yourself. One I can handle. Not two." Mr. Argent paused as Stiles, Allison, and I looked at one another. They were planning on killing Lydia. So much for the Code. "Scott, do you know what a hemicorporectomy is?"

I sure as hell didn't.

"I have a feeling I don't want to," Scott replied.

"A medical term for amputating someone at the waist. Cutting them in half. Your friend, Trish, would know this, although I doubt she's seen it at the hospital. But she had seen it." Why was he name-dropping my sister? "Takes a tremendous amount of strength to cut through tissue and bone like that." He reached up and motioned like he was cutting Scott in half. Trish had told me that was how Laura died, although it hadn't been a Hunter that had done that. "Let's hope a demonstration never becomes necessary."

Argent stood and walked away, the Hunters following him. We waited until they were long gone before we came out of hiding and ran towards Scott.

"You okay?" Allison asked as Stiles and I tracked down where the trap was tied off.

"It's just another life-threatening conversation with your dad."

"Guys, a little help here." I found where it was tied, but couldn't figure out the mechanism that held it in place. Suddenly the line slacked and we turned to see Scott had freed himself.

"Thanks. But I think I got it."

"Show off," I said.

"Yeah."

Allison gave a small laugh.

Scott headed towards the house. "Comin'?"

TRISH

"Any luck finding Lydia?" I asked when Anna tried to sneak into the house. I'd been pretending to be asleep on the couch as she tried to sneak past.

"How did you...?"

I sat up.

"I gave Stiles the hospital gown. And I figured you were with them. And Mrs. Johnston told me she gave you a ride to the hospital."

"Oh."

"Unlike Stiles and Scott, you don't have to sneak around. I only ask that you let me know what you're doing."

Anna sat on the couch next to me. "Scott tracked her to Derek's house, but then lost the scent."

"Derek's house? Why was she at Derek's?"

Anna shrugged. "Allison thought it might have been because Lydia was looking for an Alpha."

"Lydia's not a werewolf."

"How do you know?"

"She still has a bite wound on her side. If she were a werewolf, it would have healed last week."

I hadn't talked to Derek at all since he became Alpha. The non-communication was mutual. I was pretty sure the Argents were looking for Derek, now that he was an Alpha. And usually a new Alpha's first order of business was building their pack. And Scott had already made it clear he was not joining Derek's pack. The teen was still balking at the fact that he was a werewolf and was upset that Derek had gone back on his word to help Scott kill the Alpha in order to be cured. And Anna was upset that Derek had killed Peter. She'd grown attached to Derek's uncle while he was pretending to be catatonic to throw suspicion off himself that he was on a killing spree of revenge over the fire the decimated the Hale family and leaving only three survivors. Derek was the only one left now. Hell, I was upset that he killed his own family. That's not what family does. Even werewolf families don't kill each other.

"You need to get to bed. You have school tomorrow."

~~~

"I don't remember anything," Lydia said. "I was getting in the shower one minute and the next thing I remember is I'm naked in the woods. I saw the flashing lights and went towards them. I don't know how I got so far away from here."

I rubbed her back. Stilinski and Stiles had found Lydia a couple hours ago in the woods around where something had gotten into the back of an ambulance and tore apart a DOA heart attack victim. I had no clue what would have done that but a couple of internal organs were missing.

"It's okay, Lydia. The doctor is going to look you over and make sure you're okay and then they'll release you to go home." I stepped out as Dr. Hilyard came into the room. It was the end of my shift and I was so ready to go home. These double shifts were going to kill me. But Anna would be pleased to know her friend was safe and sound.

~~~

I walked into the house and flipped on the light. "Holy Mother of God!"

Derek was standing in my living room and had succeeded in nearly sending me back to the hospital as a patient. I held my hand to my chest and waited for my heart to start beating normally. It was the first time I'd even seen him since Peter's death and his rise to Alpha.

"Gerard's back." No "sorry I almost gave you a massive heart attack"? Jackass. But I understood why he wanted to tell me in person.

"Ah, shit." If Gerard Argent was here, it meant the Hunters had decided that Derek was a greater threat.

"He's declared war."

"What do you mean, declared war?"

"Scott and I watched him kill an Omega tonight. With no proof this Omega harmed a live human."

"Wait, what?" I must be exhausted. I could have sworn he said "harmed a live human'. "Can you harm a dead one? Do the Hunters even care about that?"

"He was scavenging on the dead. But that's not my point."

"Derek, I just got done with a double shift. I'm exhausted and I just want to —"

"Gerard's not going by the Code anymore."

That got my attention. "What?"

"He told that to Argent and the Hunters that were with them. He's here to avenge Kate. And we're all on his radar."

"Okay, we as in you, Scott, and whatever Betas you end up turning or are we including myself in this?"

"If he knows about you, yes."

"Why would he want to kill me?"

"I know how strong that protective instinct of yours is." And let me point out even Derek doesn't know I'm an Eamonn. I think Alan may be the only one alive who actually knows. "He'll kill you if you stand in his way. And that will draw me out."

"Why?"

Derek just looked at me.

"Wait... Did you just make me your Emissary? You know that means you'll actually have to listen to me, right?"

"You're the only one I trust."

"Which means you've already gifted the Bite." I rubbed my forehead. "Please tell me you didn't pull a Peter."

"Of course not! The ones I offer the Bite to will be fully aware of their choice entails."

"Hunters, wolfsbane, other wolf packs."

"They'll know everything. I'm not going to bite random kids in the woods and then let them flail around trying to figure it out on their own."

"Oh, that's good to know. Now to you mind getting the hell out so I can get some sleep?"

Derek walked out my front door and I locked it. I was going to have to hide the spare key somewhere else.