c h a p t e r t w e n t y o n e
babe

"Allison, when you said you needed to stop for an errand before we went shopping, a five-mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting." Lydia panted as she and Harper attempted to catch up with the Argent, who was storming ahead.

Harper nodded. "Yeah, someone needs to warn me before we go into the woods because I always get my shoes muddy." She looked down at her Adidas shoes, once again wanting to cry for them.

The strawberry blonde raised an eyebrow. "How many times have you been in these woods?"

"Oh, um, not many." Harper quickly lied, becoming flustered by the sudden question. "Allison, why don't you tell us what we're doing here?"

"Before that, I want to ask Lydia something." Allison spoke, carrying the massive black bag underneath her shoulder. "Jackson asked me to the winter formal."

Harper and Lydia's eyes both widened. "Did he?" Lydia squeaked.

The Empath could feel the jealousy rolling off of her. Her and Stiles read last night that a new Empath could feel the emotions of others and accidentally act on them- she really hoped that she would have hers under control until she finds more about what she could do.

"Yeah. Just as friends. But I wanted to make sure that you were okay with it first."

Lydia nodded. "Sure, as long as it's just friends." Lies. Lies. Lies.

"Well, yeah, I mean, it's not like I would take him into a random classroom during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything. Would I, Harper?" Allison sneered, chuckling sarcastically.

Harper's face immediately turned red and she felt like crying with guilt. Lydia's mouth fell open and she let out an inhuman noise as Harper quickly grabbed Allison's shoulder.

"Allison... I didn't kiss him back, I swear. I would never-"

Allison rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter."

...

"What does that do?" Lydia asked as Allison crouched down, screwing some sort of arrow head down.

Harper didn't know anything about archery at all, but she did know that that wasn't a normal arrow. She had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that the Argents knew that there was a second Beta around, and they knew it went to Beacon Hills High School.

"We're about to find out." Allison replied, lifting it up from the ground.

She put it in the bow and pulled the arrow back, concentrating on the tree in front of her. She released it and it went flying flawlessly through the air, only stopping when it hit the centre of the tree. Sparks flew from it and there was a small explosion, smoke filling the air.

Harper's eyebrows were raised in shock. "Um, what the hell, Allison?"

"I don't know." Allison replied, slowly putting the bow down.

Lydia spoke up, "Well, that was fun." She slapped her gloved hands together sarcastically. "Any more lethal weapons you want to try out?"

"Or can we go shopping now?" Harper begged.

She had saved enough money to buy a dress for the winter formal- even though Stiles hadn't asked her yet. All she wanted was to have a normal, un-supernatural day. Somehow, Allison always seemed to ruin that without even realising it.

A twig suddenly snapped in the distance, causing all three girls to grow silent. It happened again, the noise echoing throughout the woods.

Harper looked around, praying that the cause of the twigs snapping wasn't the Alpha- or should she just call him Peter now? Another snap happened and Harper whirled around, now knowing that whatever it was, was in front of them.

"Hold this." Allison didn't look away from the direction the noise was in, handing the bow to Lydia who looked at it in complete fear and disgust.

Lydia accepted it anyway. "What? Why?" She whispered.

"Because I thought I heard something." Allison whispered back, taking her gloves off.

Harper chuckled nervously. "Well, I mean, it's perfectly normal for other people to be in the woods. This is a public place, you know. Maybe we should just ignore it and go home- let them just enjoy their day in the woods."

Allison rolled her eyes. "I want to find out what that something is." She paused. "Don't worry, it's probably nothing."

Lydia's eyes were wide as Allison began to walk towards the noise. "Well, what if that nothing is something and that something is something dangerous?"

The tall brunette paused in her step. "Shoot it." She deadpanned, walking on again.

The strawberry blonde whimpered from beside Harper. Harper sighed, running a hand through her hair, praying that Allison would come back in one piece.

...

They had spent about two minutes waiting for Allison, when Harper suddenly felt an agonising pain in her stomach. It felt like she was being electrocuted, her entire body collapsing as she fell to the ground. Lydia shrieked, throwing the bow to the ground away from them and dropping to her knees, trying to help her best friend.

"Ow- ow!" Harper cried out, her entire face scrunched up in pain as her arms started to move without her permission. "Check on All-Allison!"

All Harper could think of was Allison being hurt. She knew that she had just been electrocuted, and it wasn't Lydia, so it must have been their other best friend. If Allison was hurt then she would never forgive herself for letting her go out there while knowing what existed in Beacon Hills.

Lydia glared at her as if she was crazy. "What the heck, Harper!" She yelled as the brunette calmed down with one last jolt of her leg. "What the hell just happened?"

"Please." Harper ran a hand through her hair, feeling sweat with it. "I think something's wrong with Allison."

Lydia's green eyes shined with anxiety and tears. "Something's wrong with you! You just had a freaking seizure!"

Harper shook her head, her mouth dry and her body numb. "No, no, no. Not a seizure-"

"Yes, a seizure." Lydia interrupted her urgently, pulling out her phone. "Oh God, do I call your grandma? The hospital?"

The petite brunette shook her head, sitting up. "I'm fine now. Let's go find Allison and get out of here." She stood up with the help of Lydia.

Just as they moved to turn around, they bumped into a figure, causing all three girls to scream loudly. Harper held her heart, relief flooding through her when she saw Allison in perfect condition- not a hair out of place.

She raised her eyebrows at the two girls. "What's up with you guys?"

Lydia gasped, "Harper just had a seizure!"

Harper shook her head. "Lydia," she groaned. "It wasn't a seizure."

Allison looked back from where she had come from before turning back around to the girls. Harper didn't notice the suspicious look on her face.

"Did it feel like you were being electrocuted?" She asked, moving to pick up her bow and place it into the bag that she had brought it in.

Harper fiddled with her hands nervously. "I guess."

Allison zipped up the bag, looking up at her. "That's what a seizure can feel like." She raised the bag over her shoulder. "I can drop you off at the hospital."

Harper noticed the distant tone in Allison's voice and became nervous. "Oh, um, sure, thanks." She stuttered, digging her nails into the palm of her hand to stop herself from freaking out. "But I don't think-"

"Hey." Allison grabbed Harper's hand. "It's okay to get yourself checked out at the hospital, just to be on the safe side. After all, you're only human."

She said the last word with such emphasis that it sent chills down Harper's spine.

...

When Allison dropped Harper off at the hospital, Harper said that she would get a ride home from her grandma, so it was okay. Allison and Lydia drove away, much to Harper's relief. The brunette wondered down the hospital to where Melissa always sat at the front desk.

"Hey, Melissa." Harper chirped.

Melissa looked up from the computer, smiling. "Hey, Harper. Are you here for your grandma?" She asked kindly.

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "My grandma's here?" She looked around, spotting her grandma talking to a doctor down the hall. "What's wrong with her?"

Melissa's eyes were wide. "Oh, maybe you should go and talk to her yourself. I get off of break in five minutes."

Harper gulped, nodding as she began to walk towards her grandma. Rose looked up as the doctor handed her some papers, her face falling when she saw her concerned granddaughter walking over. Harper folded her arms across her chest as the doctor left.

"What are you doing here?" Harper asked, feeling her own worry clog up her throat and her stomach.

Rose smiled uneasily. "I got the test results back from my doctor's appointment. They said that there's nothing to worry about, so I'm all good to go."

Harper just have a short nod, not believing her one hundred percent. "Do you think you could give me a ride home?" She asked. "I'm exhausted."

Rose nodded. "Of course, sweetie. Why are you here, anyway?"

It was Harper's turn to become flustered. "Lydia was here for some medication..." She lied. "I saw you and I decided to go home with you instead."

"Okay, sweetpea. Let's get a move on, then."

...

Frantic knocks at the door cut Harper off from her researching on Empaths, causing her to roll her eyes and groan. Her grandma had headed to bed at only eight after a 'long day' so Harper was the only one available to get the door. When she opened it she was surprised to see Stiles there.

"You normally call before you- have you been crying?" Her teasing tone immediately turned into a concerned one as she stepped outside the house, not wanting to wake up her grandma. "Stiles, what's wrong?"

Stiles sniffled as he moved into his girlfriend's arms, holding her close to him. A few tears left his eyes but he didn't feel too embarrassed, since she had been the one to each him that it was okay for boys to cry, too. 

"My dad." Stiles cleared his throat as he pulled away from Harper, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. "I got him drunk so he would spill some information about the whole Derek Hale case, but he started talking about my mum... he said he missed her."

Harper knew that the Stilinski's never talked about the deceased Claudia Stilinski. They missed her far too much, even if she had died years ago. No amount of time would heal the pain that they felt whenever she was mentioned.

"Oh, Sti." Harper breathed, pulling him into another hug.

Stiles didn't want to talk anymore, he just wanted to hold Harper- the one thing that kept him sane in this new, supernatural world, even if she was a part of it. She adjusted herself so that her arms were resting around his neck, her hands holding him against her. He wrapped his arms around her petite frame, holding her as close as he physically could, resting his face in her neck while one hand ran through her thick hair.

They stayed like this for a couple of minutes until Harper's phone began to buzz in her back pocket. The couple attempted to ignore it, but when it began to ring for the second time, they couldn't anymore.

Sighing, Harper pulled her phone out. She felt even more annoyed when she saw that the person calling her was Scott.

"Hello?" She rolled her eyes.

"Harper, is Stiles with you?" His frantic voice made her feel concerned.

"Yeah, he's right here, why?" She asked, shooting Stiles a strange look.

"Look, my mum is on a date with freaking Peter Hale. You guys need to distract them- we can't-"

"Wait, hold up. Peter Hale as in 'I bite random teenagers' Peter Hale?" Stiles questioned, his mood immediately lifting from the sad state that it was in.

Scott groaned on the other end. "How many Peter Hale's do you know!? Look, I need you and Harper to distract them both. Stop the date. He threatened to turn my mum!"

Stiles and Harper both looked at each other, knowing exactly what they had to do. Neither of them had mums anymore, and Melissa was like a second-mum to the both of them. No way in hell were they going to let Peter Hale hurt Scott's mum.

"Where are they?"

...

"There they are." Harper hissed, pointing at a Ford parked on the side of the road. "What do we do? Do we get out and walk up to them? Do we call Melissa right now? When-"

"Harp." Stiles placed a hand on his girlfriend's bouncing knee, immediately calming her down and making her blush. "I never agree to anything without a plan, you should know that, babe."

Harper chocked on her own spit, her eyes wide. "Babe?" She repeated, her cheeks heating up even more as she looked at him.

Stiles smiled nervously. "Couples give each other nicknames, right? I can call you babe... if you want?!" He suddenly became more frantic, running a hand through his buzz cut. "I can call you sweetheart, or baby? Does baby sound too forced? Or just Harp. Or if you don't even like Harp I can call you Harper. Just because I call you a nickname doesn't mean I don't like your real name. I love your real name- it's my favourite name. Harper. I will just-"

"Sti!" Harper interrupted him loudly, laughing. "Call me babe. Call me sweetheart, or Harp, or just Harper. I don't care. It's cute."

Stiles' face was red as he nodded, swallowing thickly. "Okay, Just Harper." He teased.

Harper rolled her eyes, smiling nevertheless. Her boyfriend was the most adorable thing to ever exist in the universe, and she couldn't be more grateful for him. Especially when he was looking at her like that. She now knew what her grandma and Allison were talking about when they said Stiles' went all love-eyes when he saw her.

She couldn't get enough of him.

"What's your plan, anyway?" Harper asked, adverting her eyes back to the car that Melissa and Peter were in. "And is it going to work?"

Stiles nodded, a look of concentration on his face as his fingers moved to grip the steering wheel of his jeep.

"You have your seat belt on, right?" He glanced over at her lap. "Good."

"Stiles, what-"

Before Harper could finish, Stiles had drove straight into the back of Peter's car. Not hard enough to hurt anyone, but hard enough to scare Harper and probably the two adults in the other car. Harper looked at Stiles with wide eyes.

"Are you crazy?!" She hissed as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Melissa climbed out of the car, slamming the door and rolling her eyes when they landed on the two teenagers inside the jeep.

"Aww," Melissa laughed dryly before yelling, "are you kidding me?! Stiles!"

Harper got out of her seat, coming around to stand with Stiles who pretended to act shocked to see Melissa stood there. Melissa ran a hand through her nicely done hair. Her makeup was done up all nice and she was wearing a nice outfit. Harper almost felt bad for ruining her date, before she remembered who it was with.

"Ms McCall?" Stiles nervously chuckled.

"Yes!"

"What a coincidence, huh?" Harper also chuckled nervously.

Melissa just let out a sarcastic laugh.

"I mean, I do not know what happened. You guys just came out of nowhere." Stiles waved his arms about, gesturing towards his luckily undented jeep.

"Came out of nowhere?" Melissa shot back. "We were parked on the side of the road, Stiles."

"How crazy is that?" Stiles scoffed, holding Harper's hand as Peter walked over  to them. "We should probably call the cops, do like an accident report thing."

Peter spoke up. "I don't think that's necessary." He spoke way too calm for Stiles and Harper's liking.

"Are you sure?" Harper blurted. "I think I got a little whiplash..."

The teenage girl rubbed the back of her neck and Stiles faked concern, moving his hand to rub her neck for her. He shot Peter a hopeful look.

"Whiplash?" Melissa retorted. "Your boyfriend hit us!"

Harper shook her head. "But my neck!" She whined, like a ten year old trying to get off of school for the day. "It hurts." She faked a sniffle.

Melissa sighed, pushing Harper's hair out of the way to take a closer look.

Harper and Stiles shared looks, both satisfied with what they had just done. They may not have been able to save their own mums, but they sure as hell would be there to save Scott's now.

I love Harper and Stiles so much

✨