A/N: At least one more part coming for this one. 

***

You closed the distance between you and the teens in two long strides. "What's his name?"

"What?" Stiles stuttered again.

For the love of— "His. Name."

A hand settled on your back. "Calm down, sweetheart," Chris said, his voice soft and full of worry.

Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath. This wasn't you. Well, it was, but not the you they were used to. You rolled with the punches and just went with the flow. You did not freak out, but you certainly were right now. It wasn't even so much that your life from Mystic Falls had followed you here. No, it was that they hadn't contacted you first. And that you had no idea just how much of it had followed you.

Taking another breath, you opened your eyes and licked your lips. "What's the new kid's name? Anyone know?"

"Stefan something, I think," Allison piped up.

Well, that was better than some of the alternatives. "Have any of you noticed anyone else new around?"

Several of them shook their heads, but Lydia simply frowned.

"What is it, Lydia?"

"There's a new substitute. Well, not us but the freshman."

"History?"

She tilted her head. "How did you know?"

You sighed. "Long story. I don't think it's anything to worry about. Just let me know if anyone else shows up." Your gaze shifted to Allison. "You still have that tea I gave you?"

She nodded. "I think I'm about out. Dad doesn't drink it though, so we should have another box."

You turned to Chris and arched a brow. He shrugged. "I'm a coffee guy. You know that."

"I've got something else that will work for you. For all of you actually." One of the things you hated most in life was the taste of vervain so you'd been experimenting with other ways to take it. You'd finally come up with a capsule version you could just swallow like a pill.

You grabbed your bag from the chair where you'd left it and grabbed the two bottles you and Deaton had made earlier. He'd helped you figure out the effective dosage and was practiced at making his own capsules of stuff for the animals. You dumped them on the counter and split them up, making sure to include piles for Peter, Melissa and the sheriff. Deaton already had a supply.

You yanked the box of sandwich bags from the drawer and placed them on the counter. "Everyone take a pile. Stiles, take one for your dad. Scott, take one for your mom. Derek, take Peter's. Allison, you keep drinking the tea until I can get more pills made."

When no one approached the counter, you looked up to find them all staring at you in various stages of disbelief. "What?"

Chris stepped forward, his hands in front of him as if he was preparing to calm a skittish animal. "What is going on, Y/N?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Just take the pills. It's a precaution, that's all."

Derek arched a brow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Bullshit. I've never seen you like this. You need to start talking."

You leaned your head back as you fisted your hands on your waist. Okay, maybe you could have handled this better. In Mystic Falls though you'd learned to panic first and ask questions later otherwise you'd end up dead. Finally, you heaved out a sigh a looked at all of them. "It's not a pack thing. It's a personal thing. If that changes, I'll let you know. Just, please take the pills. One a day. It's all natural. There's nothing in them that will hurt you. Deaton helped me make them."

Chris tilted his head and narrowed his gaze. You held up your hands to stave off whatever he was about to say. "We'll talk tonight. The three of us," you said, looking at Derek. The two men nodded, looking slightly more at ease.

You bagged up the pills and passed them out. The tense atmosphere started to loosen up after a bit until the kids were arguing over what movie to watch. The three of you grabbed a beer and headed outside. Derek lit the firepit and settled in one of the loungers. Chris settled in another and rather than getting your own, you motioned that you were sitting with him. He placed his feet on the ground and you sat in front of him before leaning back against his chest. He placed his legs on either side of you and wrapped his arms around you to hold you against him. By this point, it was a practiced moved as you'd spent more than one night out here together in front of the fire.

"Friends my ass," Derek said with a snort.

Chris chuckled and you rolled your eyes. There was no point in arguing. You were half in love with Argent already, you just resisted putting a label on it. The three of you just sat there awhile enjoying the peace. Finally, you spoke. "The pills are vervain."

Chris stiffened beneath you and you could feel Derek's gaze. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" he asked.

"No," you were quiet.

"It means something to me," Chris said. "Vampires."

Derek choked on his beer. "Excuse me? Like Dracula?"

"You are a werewolf and you have trouble believing in vampires?" you asked.

He shrugged. "I have to say that's a new one for me. So, these pills do what?"

"I'd like the answer to that myself," Chris says. "Vervain is used by humans to prevent compulsion by vampires. But as far as I know they can't compel other supernatural creatures so why have everyone take it?"

You sighed. "Vampires can't. But Originals can."

"What the—" Chris yelled as he sat bolt upright, taking you with him. Realizing how loud he was, he dropped his volume. "What the hell are you in the middle of Y/N? And why haven't you said anything before?"

You moved to an empty seat, hands twisted together in your lap. Tears burned your eyes and you willed them away. You weren't going to cry, damn it. Not about this. You knew better. This was why you said no every time he asked for something more serious. He didn't know the truth about you and you were afraid he wouldn't want you around anymore once he did.

"I'm pretty sure Mystic Falls lost a bet to some ancient deity or something. They have more than their share of supernatural drama. Irony of ironies I moved here to get away from it."

Derek snorted a laugh but you didn't look at either of them. "Okay, what's an Original?" he asked after a pause.

You swallowed the lump in your throat. "The first vampires weren't natural creations. Their mother cursed them, though she didn't see it that way at the time. There are four remaining. Three brothers and one sister."

"They're nearly impossible to kill," Chris added. "Rumor has it one of the brothers fell not long ago but we don't know any of the details."

You'd gone this far, you might as well go all the way. "Finn. I killed him."

Silence stretched between the three of you. Suddenly, Chris stood. "Fuck this. Derek, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Tears burned your eyes again as they went inside and closed the door behind them. Damn it. You knew you'd gotten too close to Argent. Your life hadn't been normal since your sister-in-law disappeared with a vampire you later discovered was Damon Salvatore right in front of your brother's eyes. Well, half-brother but still. He'd trained you to hunt vampires, and you'd found out about the rest of the stuff on your own. Needless to say, you hadn't exactly had the most normal life. Especially when you started making friends with the creatures you were trained to hunt.

The truth was, you were lonely. Not for friends, you had plenty of those. And you had Ric, but it was a rare thing for a man to show any romantic interest in you. If they did, it quickly dissipated when they realized you could kick their ass or when there were too many times you couldn't tell them what you'd been up to in the middle of the night. The last man to ask you out before Chris was Klaus and you were ninety percent sure that was simply to piss everyone off. You couldn't really see him dating a hunter.

Realizing the two men had been gone for quite some time, you got up and wiped your hands across both cheeks. You knew better, damn it. The monsters didn't want you because you were a hunter and the hunters didn't want you because you were friends with the monsters. You sighed and headed into the house, which was surprisingly quiet. The kids were gone and the mess mostly cleaned up. "Hello?" you called.

There was no answer. Great, so they'd all just left you here. That was just great and not at all painful. They were probably off hunting your friends on top of it. Why were you such an idiot sometimes? You'd thought they at least trusted you enough to listen to everything you had to say before deciding your friends were the enemy. You snatched your bag up from where you left it and slipped it onto your shoulders. You needed to get out of here before anyone got back then call your brother to warn him.

When you were about ten feet from the door, it opened and Chris stepped in. He slowed as he saw you standing in front of him and tilted his head. "Going somewhere?"

"Why do you care?"

He sucked in a breath. "Well, I just convinced Derek to move the sleepover to the loft so you and I could talk. It seems a shame to waste the empty house."

You stared at him. "Then where were you?"

"Helping with transport. It wasn't my intention but Stiles' jeep wouldn't start. Imagine that." He chuckled a bit and gave you an uncertain smile, those piercing eyes studying every move you made. "I left a note."

You crossed your arms over your chest. "I didn't see a note."

He reached behind him and pulled the sticky note off the door to hand it to you. Your eyes scanned over his distinct scrawl. Playing taxi. Be back soon. DON'T LEAVE!!!

"Oh," you muttered. You kept your gaze on the note even as hot tears ran down your cheeks.

"I know I should have just said something, but to be honest, I was still processing. I think you were too. I figured it would be better to just have this discussion when we were alone."

You nodded but didn't look at up him.

"Y/N?"

You swallowed. "What?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he closed the space between you and his hands cradled your cheeks. He tilted your head up and ran his eyes over your face. Taking in your tears, his expression became pained. "Don't do that, baby. Don't cry." He swiped at the moisture with his thumbs but you only cried more at his display of concern.

You pushed his hands away and covered your face. You hated anyone to see you cry. It made you feel weak. "This is why I tried to resist you. I knew I was already too far in, and that it would break me if I lost you. And once I told you about everything, I would lose you. I kept telling myself you were different. That you'd understand but I knew."

His hands settled on your shoulders and you jerked away from him. "No, Chris." You wiped at your eyes, certain it didn't do much good. "I knew it and I let my stupid ass fall in love with you anyway. Just let us go. I'll make sure we're all out of town by morning. Whatever they're here for, I'm certain it has nothing to do with you."

"Damn it, Y/N. That's what I'm worried about. Do you think that I care about any of this beyond what it means for your safety? Or Allison's? Did you even—wait a minute. Did you just say you loved me?"

Despite how emotional you were at the moment, his sudden change in tone and expression pulled a laugh from you. "God. Of course, I do."

"Of course, you do." He shook his head. "I can't even get you to agree to a real date and somehow I was just supposed to know that you loved me?"

You shrugged. "Well, yeah."

Now he was laughing and he cupped your face in his hands again. This time he pulled you forward and kissed your lips. He pulled away almost immediately and you found yourself leaning toward his mouth in an attempt to continue. "In case it's not painfully obvious, I love you, too."

His hands still cradled your face as he leaned down to look in your eyes. "I have a question and I need a straight answer. Everything else we can talk about in the morning. Are you, Allison, or the pack in danger from these people that have come to town?"

"No," you answered with no hesitation.

"You're certain?"

"Stefan is one of my best friends and the substitute would be my brother, Ric. I am certain Stefan's brother is with them, but he's my friend as well. We're fine." What you didn't say is that you were worried about why they were here with no notice. But you couldn't offer any enlightenment about that until you figured it out for yourself.

"That's all I needed to know." He kissed you again and in seconds you were lost in the sensation. Your arms were wrapped around his neck and his hands found your waist. He started walking you down the hall. "Did you really kill an Original?" he pulled back to ask.

"Less talking, more kissing, Argent."

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod and his lips found their way back to yours. After the second time you managed to trip over your own feet, he chuckled against your lips. He shifted his hands to your thighs. "Jump."

You did as instructed and wrapped your legs around his waist. He carried you down the hall and into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.