𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 | 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝔂'𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻

𝘐 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘋𝘰 𝘐𝘵

SEVERAL MORNINGS LATER FROM THE discovery of the wolf-slash-human's corpse on the Hale property, Scott leans against the Jeep as he watches Derek get dragged out of his burnt house in handcuffs by one of the Sheriff's deputies. It doesn't take him long before his attention is drawn to Charlotte and Stiles, who are quickly making their way over to the car that Derek is now locked in. Waving (as discreetly as one can) to his best friends to try and get their attention, the girl locks eyes with him and shakes her head. Scott grits his teeth together and slumps back against the car in defeat. Sometimes, they really don't think before they go ahead and do things. Now is clearly one of those times.

Marching forward, Stiles opens the door to the cruiser, and he and Charlotte take a seat in the front. She watches him lean forward up to the security screen that separates the front and back of the car and start rambling to the man locked up. "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you," he states confidently.

Charlotte eyes Derek as his own move up to look at them both with his head tilted down, a scowl on his face.

Stiles shifts in his seat nervously, "All right. Maybe I am. Doesn't matter though, we just want to know something." He glances to Charlotte then back to the Hale. "The girl you killed? She was a werewolf. But she was a different kind, yeah? She could turn herself into an actual wolf. And we know for a fact that Scott can't do that. Is that why you killed her?"

The pair watch as Derek finally lifts his head up fully to look both teenagers in the eye. "Why are you both so worried about me, when it's your friend who's the problem?" He motions his head to where Charlotte can see Scott hiding in the woods and Stiles jerks backwards away from the barrier, grabbing onto her closest hand. "When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're going to do, huh? Just keep cheering him on?" Charlotte plays with the hair tie on her wrist whilst Stiles gulps nervously. They both realise that Derek isn't entirely wrong. In fact, he's completely right. "I can't stop him from playing, but both of you can." He leans forward. "And trust me, you want to."

The teens look at each other and before Stiles can say anything, the door is thrown open and a hand darts in and grabs him. Sheriff Stilinski eyes Charlotte then to his son. "There. Stand," he demands.

He moves to open her door, but she's quick to protest. "Sheriff, please just give me a minute." He raises his eyebrows at her and continues to walk around. As her door opens, she quickly improvises, "He, uh, he stole something of mine. It's Mom's, and if you do it through the station, she'll find out." Noah sighs. "And I really don't want her to find out."

He looks at her and nods curtly. "One minute. That's all you get." She smiles and her eyes flick to Stiles who is standing on the other side, staring straight at her in bewilderment.

The pair leftover in the car can hear his protesting as his father drags him further away. "Ow, ow, ow, ow..."

Derek faces forward once again, his scowl still the most prominent feature on his face. "Why did you lie?"

She sighs and starts to talk quickly. She only has a minute. "I know you didn't do it." His eyebrows raise up as an indication for her to continue. "It just doesn't add up. You're either really, really stupid..." she pauses for a second, "and you're just carelessly covering up a murder you committed, hence right now." She gestures around them, reminding him that he's headed for jail. Derek's eyes narrow further at her, and he opens his mouth to say something until she adds, "Or my theory is this: I think you knew her. Obviously she was a werewolf too, so maybe you were in some wolf-cult-pack thing." His eyes briefly widen in shock. "Or you were friends."

She takes a deep breath, and assumes his silence is okay for her to continue rambling.

"I think you found half her body and brought it back to bury it peacefully. I think that you planted wolfsbane in the ground next to it to keep her wolf side visible, making it look like if someone did dig it up, that you killed an animal instead of a girl." Charlotte looks out the window to the deputies working at the sectioned off grave site. "But what you weren't expecting was three idiotic teenagers to come digging up your property, and two of those smarter teenagers knowing what the plant was, connecting it to the fact that you are a werewolf." Derek stares at the girl as she finishes, "So no. I don't think you did it. And just to clarify, Scott was the idiot that called the Sheriff's station, not me. I'm gonna get you out of this."

"Why the fuck would you help me?"

She purses her lips. "Because you're currently the only person that can help Scott."

The door opens once again, and this time she is dragged out of the car by the arm. She doesn't miss the nod Derek sends her. "All right. Minute's up." Noah Stilinski pulls her over to Stiles and he stands in front of them. The boy lets out a loud and dramatic sigh. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

She winces. Stiles scoffs. "We're just trying to help!"

"Uh huh. Okay, well how about you help me understand exactly how you both came upon-" he gestures towards the crime scene tape behind them. "-this."

Stiles sighs again. "We were looking for Scott's inhaler."

Charlotte nods at Stilinski as he impatiently looks from his son to her. "Which he dropped when?"

"The other night..."

"The other night when you two were out here, looking for the first half of the body?"

Charlotte hums in agreement. "Yep." Stiles hastily nods.

"The night that you both told me you were alone together, and that Scott was at home?"

"Yep," she repeats. She freezes. "No..."

Alarm spreads across the teenagers' faces and they both mutter, "Shit."

The Sheriff rolls his eyes. "All right, so you both lied to me," he says.

Stiles' lips purse into a thin line, and he squints his eyes at his father. "That depends on how you define lying," he retorts.

"Well, I define it as 'not telling the truth.' How do you define it?"

"Reclining your body in a horizontal position?" He makes the motion of a straight line in the air with his hand to emphasise his point.

Stilinski turns to Charlotte. "And you." The boy also looks at her expectantly. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

She kisses her teeth. "No...?"

Noah sighs tiredly. "Get the hell out of here," he tells them.

"No problem."

"Absolutely."

As they walk back towards where Scott and the Jeep are stationed, Stiles turns to his best friend and asks what he had been wondering for the last few minutes. "Okay. Cut the whole," he makes quotation marks in the air, "'missing item' bullshit, which my dad definitely didn't believe, by the way."

Charlotte inhales through her nose. "I told Derek that I know he didn't do it," she states calmly.

Stiles stops to gawk at her. "You what?"

"I said, I told Derek that I know-"

"I got that!"

She throws her hands up into the air in protest. A nearby bird squawks. "It doesn't make sense!" she exclaims defensively. "I told you at the hospital but you wouldn't listen to me!"

He shakes his head. "So why come with us to dig up the body?"

Charlotte raises her eyebrows at her best friend as if it's blatantly obvious. It is to her. "Because you would've forced me to come anyways."

Stiles scrunches up his nose. "You aren't wrong," he admits. They continue to slowly walk again. "Okay, and what else did you tell him?"

"I told him I'd get him out."

He stops once again. "You what?" She opens her mouth. "And don't say 'I told him I'd get him out.'"

"You know what your dad says. If they're guilty, they'll always slip up, right? If Derek did kill her, it can't just be as simple as finding half the body on his property. Something else has to appear; scientific evidence."

Stiles huffs a sigh and quickly adds in before they reach Scott, "Fine. I'm entertaining it. But Charlie?" She looks at him as he whispers, "Just don't bring this up to Scott until you're one-hundred percent certain."

»»———-　　———-««

As the blue car speeds out of the Beacon Hills Preserve, two of the three teens inside the vehicle are tasked with researching. The goal is to hopefully discover something that would explain to them why the wolfsbane had been used within the grave. Even though Charlotte has a theory, that she explained to Derek earlier, she did still want to be open to that there might be another reason the body was kept in the wolf form. She also still wants to be open to the possibility (very, very, small possibility) that Derek might in fact, be guilty. There could potentially be another cult-related purpose for using the wolfsbane, something that wasn't so innocent as hiding the supernatural from the world.

"I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial purposes," Scott speaks up.

Charlotte nods, "Me either." Apparently, the internet isn't all-knowing like it implies it is.

"Just keep looking," Stiles tells them urgently from behind the wheel. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something? Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf?" Charlotte shuts her phone at his words.

Scott rolls his eyes and sighs. "Yeah, I'll add it onto my To Do list, right underneath 'Figuring out how I'm playing this game tonight.'"

Charlotte lets out a quiet laugh as she watches Stiles continue talking as if he hadn't heard Scott within his own mental theorising. "Maybe it's different for girl werewolves..."

Scott suddenly snaps. "Okay! Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Stiles frowns and glances to the blonde in the rear-view mirror.

"Stop saying werewolves! Both of you stop enjoying this so much!"

Charlotte's eyes fill with concern as she leans forward slightly. "Hey, Scott, are you okay?"

"No!" he yells. His face scrunches up almost as if he is in pain, and she's quick to notice the beads of sweat suddenly appearing on the back of his neck. "No, I'm not okay. I am so far from being okay!"

"You know, you're going to have to accept this, Scott. Sooner or later." Charlotte sends a quick glare to Stiles who, of course, fails to notice.

Scott groans and starts to hyperventilate. "I can't."

"Well, you're gonna have to!"

"No! I can't breathe!" His hand hits the roof, and he yells out again, but this time it's almost like an animalistic growl.

Charlotte's eyes widen in alarm. "Stiles, pull over," she demands through her teeth to the driver.

The mentioned boy's eyebrows shoot up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...!" He swerves the car and Scott groans out again.

"Pull over!"

"Why, what's happening?" Stiles answers Scott with a question.

"Stiles! Pull. Over!" Charlotte commands more firmly this time.

Scott notices the backpack sitting in-between the two front seats and grabs it. Seeing the wolfsbane and rope from the other night, both teenagers turn to the Stilinski in exasperation and say together loudly, "You kept it?"

"What was I supposed to do with it?" he counters back.

"I don't know, leave it there?" Charlotte shrieks.

"Stop the car!"

She looks back to Scott, and finally takes notice of how his eyes are shining a bright, vibrant gold. Her expression mirrors Stiles' one of fear. His eyes widen further, and he slams his foot on the brakes. As soon as the car screeches to a stop, Charlotte grabs the backpack, throws the door open, and runs to the edge of the road to chuck the bag as far as she can into the woods. Once she can no longer see it, she sighs and turns back to the boys, hoping that Scott is calming down a little. "Okay, guys, it's gone, we can-"

But as she looks up, she sees Stiles sitting alone and the passenger door wide open with Scott nowhere in sight. She groans loudly.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

He's nowhere to be seen. It's like in the ten seconds she was occupied, Scott literally vanished into thin air. Stiles has no clue, either. Hoping that driving around the area would help speed up their search, the Jeep starts back up and Stiles directs it onto the road. He also instructs the girl beside him to call the Sheriff's station, then to put the call onto speaker phone once receiving an answer.

"Stiles, you know you can't call the dispatch line when I'm on duty!"

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls...?"  Stiles momentarily glances at his friend as they wait for the dispatch lady to answer.

"Odd how?"

"More like an odd person?" Charlotte pipes in.

The woman on the other end sighs. "Of course you're there with him, Charlotte."

She grins proudly and looks back to Stiles who is thinking of what else to say. "A dog like individual roaming the streets?" he suggests.

"All right you two. I'm hanging up now."

"No! Wai-wai-wai-wai-wai-wait!"

"Don't you fucking dare!"

The calls cuts and Charlotte angrily throws the phone into the backseat. Stiles momentarily glances at her in disbelief.  "Did you just swear at a cop?"

"Eh, she was gone anyways."

»»———-　　———-««

Driving around had been hopeless. After going to Scott's house and finding he wasn't there, Stiles and Charlotte had agreed to leave it alone for the night. He would turn up eventually. He most likely just needed time to cool down. If anything, he'd be at the lacrosse game tonight, especially since he'd been told he shouldn't play. It's like if someone tells you not to press the red button. Suddenly, all you want to do is press the damn red button.

Charlotte steps out of the shower after reluctantly turning off the hot water tap and wraps herself in a fluffy cotton towel. Her feet softly pad on the carpet in her bedroom as she makes her way over to the closet to get changed for the game. She doesn't want to go. It's lacrosse. She barely understands the thing aside from that you need to get the ball in the net. Just like countless other sports. But if there's a chance Scott might be there, she has to go.

As she gets changed, she hears her phone ping. Charlotte shrugs her caramel-coloured coat on and opens the device. Multiple messages from Allison start to flood in and a smile instantly adorns her face. Sliding down onto the rug found on her floor, she clicks on the call icon next to the contact name. The phone rings twice before her friend picks up with a cheerful voice. "Charlie, hey! I was just about to call you!"

She smiles and fiddles with the hair tie on her wrist. "Yeah, hey, Alli. I saw your messages but couldn't be bothered to read them so..."

"I was just wondering if you were coming to the game tonight?"

Nodding her head even though Allison can't see her, she replies, "Yep, kind of have to when your best friends are on the team." She pauses before asking, "You're going, right?"

"Yeah, Lydia's dragging me along."

Charlotte rolls her eyes. "She's being talking 'Jackson this', 'Jackson that' all week. But you're sure that there isn't any other reason?" She slightly smiles when the girl on the phone nervously giggles.

"I'm bringing my dad with me too, so we'll see you there?"

She bids the brunette a goodbye before hanging up the phone and staring at the ceiling as she flops onto her bed. "Shit," she mutters. If Scott's going to be there tonight, which she is ninety-nine percent sure he would be, so would Allison's father. Even though Scott is adamant that the hunter didn't recognise him from the other night, Charlotte's nerves only increase as she wonders how likely it would be for him to out his werewolf side within a few hours. Not just to the Argents, but to everyone. She sighs and tugs at a section of damp blonde hair. "Stupid, stupid, fuckin' lacrosse."

»»———-　　———-««

Charlotte and Stiles make mindless conversation with each other as they walk down the hallway to the locker room. Upon opening the door, they're met with the team grabbing their gear and readying themselves for the game. As she follows Stiles to his locker, a chorus of whistles echo. Just as she's about to stick her finger up and yell something, Stiles beats her to it. "Shut the fuck up, you shitheads!" The room falls silent and she grins at him appreciatively. Once she lays eyes on Scott sitting on a bench, she nudges her friend.

They both smile when the boy makes eye contact with them. "You both gonna try to convince me not to play?"

Stiles sighs and he shrugs. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"We hope."

"If I don't play, I lose first line. And-"

Charlotte's eyes narrow. "Scott McCall, I swear to fucking God if you say Allison..."

"-Allison."

She stares at him for a second, then replies loudly, "Allison isn't going anywhere. And it's one game that you don't really need to play."

"I wanna play!" Scott argues back.

The girl snorts. "What are we, five years old?"

"I want to be on the team. I want to go out the Allison, I want a semi-fucking normal life! Do you guys get that?"

"We get it, Scott!" Stiles replies heatedly.

Charlotte sighs as Scott looks down at the floor and the pair sit next to him on the bench. "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay, Scooter?"

"Or get too angry," Stiles adds softly.

Scott nods at them both. "I got it," he replies quietly.

"Or stressed..."

"Yeah, I got it."

"Don't think about Allison being in the stands..."

"Or that her father's trying to kill you..."

"Or that Derek's trying to kill you."

"Or the girl he killed..." Stiles hesitantly looks up to see Charlotte with her brows raised.

"Or that you might kill someone..."

Scott looks offended at their statements but much to the Martin's amusement, Stiles fails to notice and continues. "If a hunter doesn't kill you first-" He lets out a yelp when Charlotte elbows him in the ribs (payback) and sees the look on Scott's face. "All right, sorry, I'm stopping."

Scott looks to Charlotte and she innocently holds her hands up with a smile. "Good luck?"

»»———-　　———-««

It's cold outside. She doesn't understand how the teams are playing in short sleeves. Sitting down on the Beacon Hills team bench next to Stiles, Charlotte catches Coach in the middle of talking to Jackson. "You feel any pain?" the man questions his star player.

Jackson shakes his head. She scoffs and whispers to Stiles, "I'll make him feel pain." He high fives her, and Jackson, who obviously heard, glares daggers at the side of her head.

"No," he responds to the adult.

"What if I gave it a big ol' punch?" Coach makes a punching motion towards him, not making actual physical contact but it's enough for Jackson to flinch out of reflex. Charlotte grins. "Would you- would you feel any pain then?"

Jackson nods his head. "Maybe..." The girl bites the inside of her cheek and tries her best not to laugh.

"Listen, Jackson, just go out there. Just give it your best. If you feel any pain, just-"

"Just keep playing?" Charlotte finishes for him.

Coach looks over at her with a deadpanned face. He breaks into a large smile. "That's my girl!" Charlotte beams proudly and Stiles gives her another high five.

Half an hour later, she has her head in her hands. Stiles is just as annoyed. To put it simply, Beacon Hills is losing. Really, really badly. It should honestly be a violation to even have the team on the field in the first place. Hearing loud familiar voices in the bleachers, Charlotte smiles upon finding her sister with Allison and what she assumes to be the latter's father, cheering Jackson on who has just scored a goal. Her smile disappears when Lydia holds up a sign and grabs Allison's wrist to help her keep it in the air. She nudges Stiles who follows her line of sight and mutters, "'We love u Jackson', with a U... Really?"

Their eyes subconsciously drift out to the field. Sure enough, Scott is already staring at the two girls. His friends wince and whisper, "Brutal..."

Charlotte glances at Stiles with concern when they watch Scott grit his teeth and run back onto the field with a look that screams of having been betrayed. "Oh, this is not gonna be good..."

The score is currently at three to five. Another twenty minutes pass of Scott being purposely ignored by his team members, no doubt Jackson's idea. So far, the entire game had been him running around calling for the ball with no response. Charlotte and Stiles both grab onto each other's hands when Scott leaps up into the air to catch the ball. They lean forward with anticipation when their friend starts to dodge and spin around players as he sprints down the field. He runs fast. Too fast for a human, but at the same time not suspicious enough to be supernatural.

Her eyes widen as the ball flies into the goal. The two on the bench leap up onto their feet and cheer loudly. "Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" Stiles turns to his side to high-five someone, but when he gets no answer, he turns back to the front slightly deflated. A throat clears and he sees Charlotte holding her hand up for him to complete said high five. His eyes light back up and he grins.

"McCall! Pass. To. McCall!" Coach yells loudly. As Scott catches another ball and runs towards the goal, the man sits down next to Charlotte who is biting her nails nervously. Completely dumbfound, he questions, "Did the opposing team... just deliberately pass us the ball?"

She nods eagerly. "I think so, Coach."

Finstock returns his attention to the game just in time to see Scott swiftly escape around players. Charlotte and Stiles share a look, both thinking the same thing: he's walking on a very fine line in terms of controlling his supernatural side.

"Interesting..."

The crowd bursts into another round of cheers when Scott throws the ball so forcefully that it breaks a hole into the opposing player's stick's net, continuing on to soar through into the goal. With the score now five to five, Stiles and Charlotte hug each other with excitement and jump up and down.

"Goal! Yes! Yes! There. You. Go!" The teenagers on the bench turn around once they see Coach get smacked on the shoulder by the opposition's coach as he starts to protest that Scott's last goal shouldn't count. "What? The ball's in the net," Coach argues back passionately.

Stiles and Charlotte both stand up to echo him. "Ball's in the net, dude!"

"That's the goal of the game – is to get the goal in the net!"

"We got it!" Stiles yells out.

"We got it!" Coach shouts.

"Fuck yes!" Charlotte exclaims. Bobby Finstock blows his whistle to show that the referee, himself, and the opposing team have agreed the goal was indeed fair. Cheers burst out across the field once again. The whistle blows and Charlotte freezes in her seat after she sees Scott stop abruptly on the field, ball in his net, and walk away to create distance between himself and other players.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Stiles mutters.

"No, Scott! No, no, no!"

With seventeen seconds left on the clock, players swarm around the boy with the final attempts to gain the ball back into their possession. All of a sudden, Scott tosses the ball violently and it lands into the goal. A whistle signals the end of the game and Stiles and Charlotte jump up once again, hands in the air yelling for their best friend. "Oh, my God!"

"He did it!" she whispers, smiles etched onto both of their faces.

»»———-　　———-««

Now sitting back down on the bench, Charlotte's muscles relax as she realises that the risk of Scott turning into his werewolf form has now passed. However, she frowns when she hears the Sheriff behind her on the phone. Nudging Stiles, she points over to where his dad is. Stiles swallows and hesitantly approaches his father, who holds a serious and concerned demeanour. "Dad?" he asks timidly. "What's wrong?"

»»———-　　———-««

Charlotte is walking towards the locker room, a minute behind Stiles, when she bumps into Allison who is walking out. Taking in the rather large grin on her friend's face, she raises her eyebrows in question. "I kissed him," Allison states giddily.

Her eyes widen in surprise. "You did?"

"I kissed him..." she repeats, then walks off as if she's floating on Cloud Nine.

Charlotte laughs to herself and pushes the door to the locker room open. "I kissed her," she hears again as she walks around the corner to find Scott seated and Stiles standing next to him.

"I saw," Stiles replies, gagging in disgust. Charlotte grimaces and places a hand on his shoulder as she comes to stand next to him. He turns to her with a traumatised expression, and she gives him a sympathetic smile.

"She kissed me," Scott repeats in a daze.

"Saw that too."

"That's pretty good, huh, Scotty?"

"I-I-I don't know how but I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this?" Scott looks up to his friends with hope shining within his eyes. "Guys, maybe it's not that bad?"

Charlotte huffs a sigh born out of frustration, and beside her, Stiles nervously laughs. "Yeah..." he trails off.

"We'll talk later," she tells the boy. She pats him on the shoulder and turns to leave when Scott calls out,

"What?"

Stiles clears his throat and briefly glances to the girl before he reveals, "The, uh... The medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found."

Scott's eyebrows raise expectantly. "... And?"

"Well... I'll keep it simple. Medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Derek's human, not animal. Derek? Not killer. Derek?"

"Let out of jail," Charlotte says. She tries her absolute hardest to hide her smile. 

Scott's jaw drops. "Are you shitting me?" he questions in disbelief.

"Nope and you won't believe this... My dad ID'd the girl. Murdered girl. Both halves." he pauses and looks at Charlotte before back to Scott. "Her name was Laura Hale."

"Hale?"

"Yeah... Derek's sister." As they walk out the locker room in silence, each processing the newly found information, the group of three split up further down the hallway: Charlotte with Stiles to find her sister and the Sheriff, and Scott going in the other direction for his mom. Stiles narrows his eyes. "You're uncharacteristically quiet," he points out.

"I told you," she retorts smugly.

Stiles frowns in confusion. "Told me what?" His face falls. "Oh shit."

"Why the fuck would Derek kill his sister?" Stiles, now completely silent, stares blankly at his best friend. "Exactly. The DNA of the actual body, put together with my theory is enough to almost one-hundred percent say that Derek did not kill Laura." Charlotte shakes her head at herself. "No, I am one-hundred percent sure."

He takes a second for it to sink in. "All right," he agrees. "So if we're now assuming that Derek didn't kill her, who did?"

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸-𝘪𝘵-𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 😝