***

"You told him I had amnesia?" Sarah asked incredulously, gazing up at Melissa in disbelief.

Melissa winced, exchanging a look with her son, who stood next to the couch where Sarah was seated, "Yeah, pretty much." she confirmed, sighing as she rubbed a hand across her forehead. "I didn't really have a whole lot of options when trying to explain to the Sheriff why it would be a good idea to let a teenager that I didn't know, stay with my son and me at our house."

"But... but... amnesia?" Sarah sputtered. "I mean, will he even believe that? I told you both my name at the hospital. Not to mention I kept asking for my sister and my dad before either of you even got there." she said quietly, gaze lowering at the mention of her family.

"Most of the time, amnesia is not like it is in the movies," Melissa explained, pulling up a chair to sit in front of Sarah. "A lot of patients can remember their names and even certain places or people in their lives, while not being able to recall other events altogether." She sighed, leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees. "I basically 'explained' to the Sheriff that while, yes, you did remember your name and a few of your family members; that was it. The rest of your memories were gone. You had no idea where your family was or how you got to Beacon Hills." She hesitated, before continuing, "I told him that because you basically remembered nothing about your life, that it would've been cruel to put you in Eichen House or the foster care system, and that it would be better for you to stay with us, since I'm familiar with your 'condition' because of my job."

Sarah visibly shuddered at the mention of Eichen House. "Thank God. That place is—" she quickly cut herself off, realizing that they hadn't figured out what Eichen House was like yet. "I mean—I-I would just—I wouldn't know anyone there or anything." Sarah stuttered, trying to cover her tracks as Melissa and Scott both gave her looks of confusion.

"Right." Melissa said slowly, gazing at Sarah a moment more before continuing on, "That's exactly what I tried to tell the Sheriff, and he did finally agree, but..." She hesitated, voice trailing off.

"But what?" Sarah asked, uneasiness in her voice. "What is it?" She sat straighter up in her seat, wringing her hands nervously as she waited for Melissa's response.

The older woman sighed, eyes flickering over to her son as they both exchanged looks of worry. "He said... he said that he would agree to let you stay with us until your family was found or until your memory returned if you agreed to... well, if you agreed to—"

"If you agreed to enroll in Beacon Hills High School." Scott cut in gently, peering down at Sarah in concern as he awaited her reaction.

Sarah froze, eyes flickering between the two of them in shock. Some vague part of her mind kept waiting for one of them to crack a smile, telling her that it was just a joke.

Neither of them did.

"You're kidding, right?" Sarah questioned them both in disbelief.

Melissa let out a puff of air, giving her a look of sympathy. "I'm afraid not, honey."

Scott perched himself on the arm of the couch, brows furrowed in worry as he gazed down at her. "I know that it'll be a little strange at first..." he began, before Sarah cut him off.

"A little strange?" Sarah exclaimed, eyeing him incredulously. "Seriously? So, what, am I gonna just—go to school—do homework—like nothing even happened? I don't know if this occurred to you, but I'm already in a high school!" she told them, raising her voice as she threw her hands up in frustration. "I already have homework! I already take tests! I already—" she broke off, her voice dying in her throat as her eyes widened in horrifying realization. "Oh my God, my tests. I'm going to miss all of them—I'm going to be so far behind! Oh my God, I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail freaking high school—" she rambled, chest beginning to rise and fall rapidly in panic.

"Hey, hey, Sarah—hey listen to me, it's okay," Scott said soothingly, quickly walking around to sit next to Sarah, who was rapidly becoming more panicked by the second.

"It's not okay—it's not—" she gasped out, clutching at her chest.

"Hey!" Scott gripped her shoulder firmly, gently turning Sarah to look his way. "It is. It is okay. Because I'm gonna find a way to get you back, alright? Remember?" He gazed at her intently as Sarah desperately tried to control her breathing.

Sarah nodded, chest heaving frantically as her gaze locked with Scott's.

"I promised, didn't I?" He gave an encouraging smile, trying to hide the worry behind his eyes.

"Y-Yeah," Sarah let out, breath beginning to go back to normal. "Yeah, you d-did."

"And I don't break my promises, okay?" he said, continuing to rub her shoulder soothingly as his mother gazed at them both in concern.

"O-Okay." Sarah breathed out, closing her eyes as she tried to calm herself down. She put her hands over her face, sucking in a lungful of air, slowly breathing it out through her nose.

Silence filled the living room as Scott and Melissa both watched her in concern.

Sarah slowly brought her hands down, letting out another breath as she gazed down at her lap in embarrassment.

God, had she really just done that?

Self-conscious thoughts instantly filled her mind. What the hell was that? A panic attack? No. No way. Sarah didn't get panic attacks. She'd never had one in her life.

Well, apparently that had changed.

Sarah frowned, frustration already filling her head. She didn't have time for this. She couldn't be falling apart at the smallest little thing.

She glared down at her trembling hands, clenching them into fists in anger. Pull yourself together.

She cleared her throat, glancing up at them nervously.

"Sorry." she muttered, eyes flickering between the two of them in embarrassment.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Melissa told her firmly, reaching out to grip Sarah's hands.

The older woman let out a deep breath, exchanging a look with her son, before looking over to Sarah again.

"Honey," Melissa began, gazing at Sarah as compassion filled her voice, "I understand. Believe me, I do. I know how crazy this must feel for you." She gave her a sad smile. "I can only imagine how it would feel for me. But, honey..." she trailed off, giving Sarah's hands a squeeze, "I hate to say it, but you're probably going to be stuck here for a while." She watched as Sarah's face fell, eyes lowering in defeat. She gave Sarah a look of pity before continuing on, "And don't you think... that if you're going to be stuck here for a while... that you might as well enjoy yourself? Just a little bit?" She lowered her head, trying to catch Sarah's gaze. "Hiding up in your room all day isn't going to help you get home any faster, and yes, I'll admit, neither will going to high school, but at least it might give you some peace of mind. Or at the very least, a distraction."

"I... I..." Sarah trailed off, gazing at Melissa, ready to argue, but no words would come to mind.

The hard truth was: Melissa was right.

Sarah wouldn't be doing herself any favors by staying here by herself, cut off from the world. If anything, it would probably just stress her out even more.

Words flickered across Sarah's mind, her father's voice seeming to echo through her head.

"Relax. I mean it."

A dull numbness swelled in her chest.

There was silence for a moment before Sarah straightened up, body seeming to fill with determination.

"Okay." she told them, resolve in her voice.

Scott and Melissa both let out sighs of relief, neither seeming to catch the double meaning in her words.

Sarah stared blankly ahead as Melissa started to explain the procedures they would have to go through—her mind miles—even dimensions—away.

Okay, Dad. She thought to herself, willing the words across time and space. Okay.

***

Sarah gazed out the car window, watching the scenery of Beacon Hills pass her by.

Trees blended into blinding greenery, flying past her vision in a blur, mixing in with houses and pavement.

Scott's eyes would flicker over to her every so often, before moving back towards the road, hands locked on the wheel as he continued to drive them to the store to help Sarah pick out her supplies for school.

They had been driving for about five minutes, but the aching silence was already beginning to eat at him.

He cleared his throat, stating awkwardly, "So, I was thinking... since we're out here, and we know for sure that you're gonna be staying for a while, I thought it might be cool to go ahead and introduce you to Stiles, you know?"

Sarah's head snapped in Scott's direction, eyes widening in horror at his words.

Scott continued on, eyes on the road, oblivious to Sarah's growing anxiety, "I mean, of course, we'll need to introduce you to everyone else eventually too, but I think it'll be easier to go ahead and let you meet Stiles first." Scott rolled his eyes in amusement while thinking of his hyperactive friend. "He'd never let me hear the end of it if he wasn't the first one to know about you and—"

"No!" Sarah blurted out in a yell.

Scott flinched in shock at the sound, hands jerking a bit, causing the car to swerve, before finally managing to get control of it again.

Sarah winced at the car's rapid movement, giving Scott an apologetic look. "Sorry."

Scott let out an exasperated puff of air, trying to get his bearings, gazing over at Sarah in confusion, before quickly moving his head back towards the road. "No?" he questioned.

Sarah swallowed nervously, trying to think up of a good reason to tell Scott why she didn't want to meet his friend.

"I-I mean—I just—" she stuttered, eyes flickering between Scott and the winding road ahead as she tried to voice her response, "I just don't think I'm really up for that right now." she said, deciding to use her own current situation as an excuse. She frowned, eyes downcast, fiddling with her shirt as she tried to give off the image of being on the edge of a breakdown again.

Classy, Sarah. She thought to herself in resentment, before instantly slapping the thought away.

I'm stuck in another universe, alone, living with TV characters. I think I'm afforded a little leeway.

Scott looked over at her in worry. "Oh, okay. I guess I can understand that. You've been through a lot." He turned back towards the road, peering at her from the corner of his eye. "Are you sure?" He spun the wheel, making another turn down a road, before glancing at her again. "It might be good to meet somebody else from here, you know?"

Sarah continued to gaze down at her lap, shaking her head in dismissal of his offer. "I just don't really have the energy to interact with people right now. It's like you said... I've just been through a lot, you know? And I—" she feigned her voice breaking, lowering her head, posture slumping.

"Hey, don't worry about it, alright?" Scott's eyes flickered over to her, concern in his voice. "We can do it some other time."

Sarah nodded, wringing her hands, guilt already springing up in her stomach at using Scott's good nature against him, but she still couldn't help feeling an overwhelming sense of relief.

The truth was: Sarah didn't want to meet Stiles because she knew what he would think.

Stiles was smart. Smarter than a lot of people gave him credit for, and his mind had obviously helped him and his friends out on more than one occasion, but there was more to it than just that.

There was one thing Stiles Stilinski was, more than anything.

And that was suspicious.

Sarah had no doubt that Stiles would take one look at her and her story, and blow it to smithereens, instantly filling Scott's head with all of his paranoia and suspicions, rambling on about how she was lying, she was out to get them, something was off about her, anything.

Sarah really did not want to deal with that right now.

She really didn't want to have to end up dealing with it at all, but she knew that, eventually, she would have to.

It was different, watching him interact that way with someone else on TV. Hell, she had all but cheered him on when he had his suspicions about Theo, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't be as fun to watch when she was on the receiving end of it.

It wasn't like she was lying. She reasoned to herself as she gazed out the window, watching familiar buildings of Beacon Hills pass her by. She was just... ommiting certain parts of the story.

Like Stiles will care about that.

Sarah scoffed inwardly to herself.

The second that he spotted she was hiding something, he would be all over her, asking her questions a mile a minute, doing everything he could to discredit her story, she was sure of it.

It's not like any of them would believe her anyway! Sarah scrunched her fists up, glaring down at them in frustration, promptly ignoring the worried look Scott sent her way. I mean, what else was she supposed to do? Tell them the truth?

They would throw her in Eichen House so fast, it would make her head spin.

Sarah felt a chill run up her spine, shuddering inwardly.

Yeah, like that was gonna happen.

And yes, okay, there was also the obvious reason.

She was goddamn nervous.

She was nervous to meet the character that she had watched and idolized for over six years.

She was nervous over what he might think of her.

She was nervous over the first impression she might give.

But most of all, she was goddamn nervous that he would ruin everything she had managed to build with the McCall family.

Sarah knew that she would have to face Stiles eventually, probably sooner than she expected or even wanted, but for now, Sarah was content in her plan to dodge him like the plague.

So, here she was, sitting in a car in Beacon Hills, being driven to the store by the fictional Scott McCall, to get supplies to be enrolled in a fictional high school.

And not only was she stuck in another universe; she was also apparently stuck in the past, in 2011.

Sarah groaned, reaching up to rub at her growing headache, cursing whatever odd sense of humor God apparently had.

It was the cosmic joke of the century.

***