"I've cried, and you'd think I'd be better for it, but the sadness just sleeps, and it stays in my spine the rest of my life."

♰ ♰ ♰

"Stiles?" Scott calls out among the cheers of victory. The lacrosse team excitedly jumps and shouts as they enter the school. "Stiles! Has anyone seen Stiles? Stiles! Has anyone seen Stiles?" Scott repeatedly shouts, trying to get everyone's attention.

He pauses in the sea of lacrosse players and bumps into someone. He turns to see Allison. They share a smile in the loud atmosphere.

"Uh, you were - pretty awesome out there." Allison giggles.

"Thanks. You too." Scott breathes out, before shaking his head. "I mean - that's not what I meant."

"No, no, I - did some pretty awesome cheering. You can thank me." Allison jokes and Scott gives a small smile.

"You did?"

"Totally. I went from, "go, team, go, to "defense, defense," without a - a breath. I brought my A-game." Allison laughs before another member of the team comes up, shouting at them about making it to state.

Scott stares him down, scaring the guy and making him leave. He looks up to see Allison leaving with her father.

"Oh, isn't that just heartbreaking?" Jackson teases. "Gosh, I bet it causes a lot of sleepless nights. You know what, though, McCall? I actually sympathize, which is why I'm gonna make this mutually beneficial. You give me what I want - and, uh, I'll help you get her back." Jackson smirks. Scott looks at him confused.

"What?"

"Well, three days makes it just in time for the winter formal. Uh, think about you taking her instead of me. And also think about all the things you have to do to get her out of some tight little dress by the end of the night. See how this could work out for everybody? Three days, McCall. Have fun." Jackson leaves after patting Scott on the cheek patronizingly.

After having a shower in the locker room, Scott returns to his locker that contains his clothes.

"By the way, McCall - Apology accepted," Danny calls from the other side of the lockers. Scott looks at him confused.

"I didn't apologize."

"Every time you got the ball tonight, you passed it to me." Danny points out and Scott gives a slight shrug.

"Every time I passed the ball to you, you scored," Scott noted. Danny gives a smile, pulling his backpack over his back.

"Apology accepted." Danny finishes before leaving Scott in the locker room on his own. As Danny leaves the lights shut off.

"Danny?" Scott asks, moving toward the light switch. He flicks it back, but the lights remain off. He turns to see a lacrosse ball rolling out from the showers. "What the hell -" Scott mumbles before slowly moving around the corner to where the ball came from. He gasps as he sees Derek. "Thank God! Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea what's been going on?" He exclaims, behind him Peter moves out from the shadows, holding a lacrosse net.

"I really don't get Lacrosse," Peter speaks up, Scott jumps back in shock.

"It was you-" Scott whispers to himself.

"When I was in high school, we played basketball. There's a real sport." Peter ignores. Scott looks back at Derek uncertainly. "Still, I read somewhere that Lacrosse comes from native American tribes and that they played it to resolve conflict. I have that right? Hm. I have l little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott. But I need your help to do it." Peter declares, placing the lacrosse net down. Scott glares at Peter, jaw clenched.

"I'm not helping you kill people."

"Well, I don't want to kill all of them." Peter rolls his eyes. "Just the responsible ones. And that doesn't have to include-" Peter trails off, trying to remember the name.

"Allison." Derek finishes. Scott looks at the two in realization.

"You're on his side? Are you forgetting the part where he killed your sister?" Scott explodes.

"It was a mistake." Derek retorts.

"What?!" Scott exclaims, watching Derek in bewilderment.

"It happens."

"Scott - I think you're getting the wrong impression of us. We really just want to help you reach your full potential." Peter continues.

"By killing my friends." Scott breathes out.

Peter tilts his head, before holding out a hand to the side like he was calling someone over. Scott looks worried as a shadow comes into the light to reveal Isabel. His mouth drops in shock as he looks over her face. It held no expression, and she said nothing as her body moved towards Peter's. He places his arm around the teen.

"Isabel?!" Scott blurts, in complete disbelief.

"Sometimes the people closest to you - can be the ones holding you back the most," Peter explains, before tucking a piece of hair behind Isabel's ear. Scott shakes his head, trying to get Isabel to look him in the eyes.

"If they're holding me back from becoming a psychotic nut job like you, I'm okay with that." Scott counters. Peter releases his arm from Isabel, moving forward toward Scott.

"Maybe - you could try and see things - from my perspective." Peter extends his claws, before stabbing them into Scott's neck.

Scott throws his head back in pain as he clutches his neck. Peter removes his claws from Scott's neck, allowing the boy to drop to the ground in pain. Peter returns to Isabel, before escorting her out of the locker room as Derek watches. Scott writhes on the floor in pain as memories of Peter's invade his mind.

Stiles runs into the locker room, seeing Scott sitting on one of the benches.

"Dude, we have a huge problem." He breathes out, trying to catch his breath.

"Trust me - I know." Scott returns, meeting Stiles' eyes. The two share a worried look.

♰ ♰ ♰

Isabel tries to continue her day as normal, realizing she didn't remember anything after she and Stiles found out Peter was the Alpha. Lydia, Allison, and her were planning on going shopping.

When Isabel and Lydia are told by Allison that she needs to do something beforehand, they didn't expect to be in the middle of the woods.

"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 breathes out, trying to maneuver through the rocky terrain in her heels. Isabel holds her hand to make sure she doesn't fall.

"Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you're okay with something," Allison calls from in front of the cousins. The two look up, "Jackson asked me to the winter formal." Allison tells the older redhead.

Isabel's eyes flicker to Lydia's, who is looking at Allison shocked. Lydia had caught her up on what she had missed while she wasn't at school the previous day, and told her that she and Jackson had broken up.

"Did he?" Lydia asks her hand tightening in Isabel's. She looks between the two girls, worried.

"Uh-huh. Just as friends. But I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it first." Allison answers.

"Sure. As long as it's just friends." Lydia pushes.

"Well, yeah, I mean - It's not like I would take him to the coach's office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything." Allison snipes, with a small laugh.

Isabel looks between the two girls shocked. Lydia had kissed Scott?

"Uh, about that-" Lydia trails off, as Isabel gives her a look of disbelief.

"Lydia!" Isabel whispers, and Lydia shrugs, trying to keep up with the older brunette girl.

Allison had caught Isabel up on what was going on in the Argent house and shows Isabel the arrowhead that she found last night in the garage. Isabel looks at the arrowhead in interest as Lydia looks at it scared. Allison begins to set up her bow.

"What does that do?" Lydia questions and the two girls turn to her before looking back at the item in Allison's hand, that she was screwing into the arrow.

"We're about to find out," Allison reveals, holding her bow, pulling back the string, and letting the arrow fly.

Allison and Isabel watch as the arrow sparks brightly when it hits the tree. It makes a loud bang as it explodes, creating a flashbang.

"What the hell was that?" Lydia mumbles.

"I don't know." Allison stares at the arrow with interest.

"Well - that was fun! Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?" Lydia jokes, but the three girls stay silent as the sounds of sticks cracking echo around them. Allison slowly hands the bow over to Isabel, who takes it from her.

"Hold this, Izzy," Allison speaks lowly. Lydia looks between the two scared.

"What? Why?" Lydia quickly whispers back. Allison removes her glove and turns to the older cousin.

"Because I thought I heard something." She answers.

"So - what if you heard something?" Lydia watches the girl worried.

"So - I want to find out what that something is. Don't worry. It's probably nothing." Allison reassures. Lydia looks at her cousin, terrified.

"Well, what if that nothing is something and that something is something dangerous?" Lydia quietly panics.

"Isabel will shoot it," Allison explains, before cautiously heading toward the sound.

Lydia whimpers as Isabel examines the bow, intrigued. Allison continues through the woods, before quickly turning, shooting her taser at the figure behind her.

"Scott?!" Allison shouts, seeing who it is.

Scott drops to the floor as the shock continuously travels through his body. Allison rushes over confused as he convulses.

"Trigger finger!" Scott groans and Allison quickly removes her finger from the trigger.

"Oh! Oh, God, oh, God. I'm so, so, so, so sorry." She apologizes, kneeling next to him on the ground.

"Oh no, it's my fault. Totally my fault." Scott breathes out.

"Are you okay?" She asks, concerned. Scott gives a small nod.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He wheezes as his body jolts from the shock. Allison jumps back.

"I didn't know it was you. If I'd known it was you I'd-"

"Still would have pulled the trigger?" Scott jokes.

"No! Of course not. Seriously, I - I'm so sorry. Are you sure you're okay?" She asks again, gently removing the taser from his chest as he groans in pain.

"Yeah. I think so." He laughs lightly, slowly sitting up.

"What were you doing here anyway? Were you - following us?" Allison looks at him confused.

"Us?" Scott questions, worried.

"Me, Lydia, and Isabel." Allison explains and Scott tries to hide his concern at the mention of Isabel.

"No. Not at all. Your dad told me that you run this trail sometimes, and I was hoping to catch you alone." Scott lies.

"By following me?"

"Well - yeah." Scott gives up.

"What for?"

"I found this at school." Scott begins, pulling out the necklace he had taken from Allison's room. She looks at him in amazement.

"Thank God! I was beginning to think it was stolen." She cries out, clutching her necklace.

"No. No, just lost. Definitely not - stolen by anyone." Scott mumbles as Allison pulls it back over her head.

"Well, thank you for finding it. And for bringing it." She smiles.

"You don't - think I'm a total stalker now, do you?" Scott asks, with a sheepish smile.

"Hmm - no. I just think you're weird. Like you always are." She quietly giggles, before suddenly pulling Scott in for a hug.

They hold each other close for a second, before Allison quickly pulls away, grabbing her taser and returning to Isabel and Lydia without another sound. Scott pulls out his phone and quickly calls Stiles.

"Yo, what's up?" Stiles speaks through the phone. Scott sighs.

"Isabel is back." Scott confirms and the other line is silent.

"Is she-?"

"Yes, I think she's herself again. Could you call her round and watch her or something? We need to try and figure out what happened with her and Peter." Scott sighs, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. Stiles splutters on the other end.

"You- you want me to watch Izzy? What if she says no?! What if she-" Stiles rambles.

"You guys are both crushing on each other, just watch her." Scott interjects and shakes his head before hanging up.

♰ ♰ ♰

Isabel and Stiles make their way into his house together, laughing. Stiles heads straight for the fridge, taking a swig from the carton of milk. Isabel giggles at the sight.

"Classy, Stilinski." She shakes her head, before turning her head to see Mr. Stilinski sitting at the table, surrounded by paperwork. "Hey, Mr. Stilinski." She greets, causing the older man to look up with a smile, and gives a small wave. Stiles' head snaps to his father.

"Whatcha doing?" He sings, putting the milk back in the fridge and moving closer to the table.

"Work." Mr. Stilinski sighs, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Anything I can help with?"

"You know, if you poured me an ounce of whiskey, that would be awfully nice." His dad responds, not looking up from his work.

Stiles quickly rushes back to the kitchen, as Isabel takes a seat at the table with his dad. He comes back with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a whiskey glass, taking a seat next to Isabel at the table.

"Any leads?" He asks, reaching for the paperwork. His dad pokes his hand with his pen, and Stiles makes a small sound of pain as Isabel laughs to herself.

"You know I can't discuss that with you." Noah says as Stiles unscrews the bottle of Jack, pouring much more than a shot into the glass. Isabel watches worried. "Not too much."

"Okay. There you go, dad." Stiles offers, and his father takes it, eyes remaining on the work.

"Thanks." He responds, downing what he believed was just a shot. He takes a breath after, leaning forward as he looks across the paperwork. "You know, Derek Hale would be a whole hale of a lot-" Isabel and Stiles look up at his dad, "Hale of a lot?" Stiles' father stumbles over the words. Isabel gives a concerned look.

"Hell of a lot?" She corrects, and he looks at her grateful, pointing his finger at her.

"Hell. Yes. He would be a hell of a lot easier to catch if we could get an actual picture of him." He sighs. Stiles looks at him confused.

"How do you not have a picture of him?"

"It's the weirdest thing. It's like every time we tried to get a mugshot, it's like two - laser beams are pointing at the camera." He shows Stiles and Isabel a photo of their attempt at a mugshot.

"Nice." Stiles mumbles, staring at the photo.

"Oh, my God." Stiles' father groans, removing his glasses. "Oh! God, that ounce hit me like a brick. And I have said way too much, and if any of you repeat any of that-" He slurs.

"Dad - it's me. I'm not gonna say anything, and come on, you know Izzy wouldn't either." Stiles reassures as Isabel begins to look over the paperwork.

"See, the thing is they're all connected. I mean, the bus driver that got killed, he was an insurance investigator assigned to the Hale house fire." He explains to them both, and Isabel picks up a piece of paper, seeing what he was referring to.

"Terminated under suspicion of fraud." She reads off to Stiles, he looks at her with furrowed brows.

"Exactly." His dad responds to Isabel.

"Who else?" Stiles pushes.

"The video store clerk who got his throat slashed-" He looks up at Isabel with a sympathetic look, "The night you had your concussion." He further explains, and Isabel gives him a sad smile. "He's a convicted felon, history of arson."

"What about the other two guys, the guys who got killed in the woods?" Stiles asks, and his father shakes his head.

"Priors all over their records including-"

"Arson." Stiles cuts off. "So maybe they all had something to do with the fire." Stiles ponders, he turns to his dad but he doesn't respond. "Another shot?"

"No, no, no, no more." His dad mumbles.

"Dad, come on. You work really hard, all right? You deserve it." Stiles manipulates.

"Oh, my God, I'm gonna have such a hangover." He murmurs.

"You mean you're gonna have such a good night's sleep." Stiles laughs, pouring another 'shot'.

"And we are gonna have an eternity in the lowest circle of hell." Isabel whispers to Stiles who gives her a sheepish smile.

"Hey, at least we'll be together." He whispers back before handing his dad the shot.

After his next shot, Stiles' father loses his grip on the glass, and as it falls, Isabel quickly catches it. Stiles looks at her, watching her reflexes.

"There's just so many questions." His father sighs, as Isabel gently places the glass back on the table.

"Like what?" Isabel questions softly.

"Like if Derek wanted to kill everyone involved with the fire. Then why start with his sister? I mean, she had nothing to do with it. Why make it look like some kind of animal did it? When that cougar ended up in the parking lot - I checked with animal control. You know the instances of wild animal reports were up 70% over the past few months? It's like they're just going crazy, running out of the woods. I don't know." Noah rubs his forehead with his hands.

"Or something's scaring them out." Stiles hums, eyes connecting with Isabel's. The two stare into each other's eyes as Noah looks between the two.

"You know, I miss talking to you. It's like we never have time-" Noah rambles, but Stiles sits up.

"Dad, you know, I have to make a phone call - I'm sorry. I'll be right back." Isabel watches sadly as Noah looks over at his son. Stiles pulls out his phone.

"I do. I miss it. And I miss your mom." Noah sighs, causing Stiles to freeze.

"What'd you say?" Stiles questions, turning around to see his father attempting to pour another shot.

Before he can move to stop him, Isabel has already gently taken his father's hand. Noah turns to the young redhead with a grateful smile. Stiles watches the two.

"Thanks, sweetheart." Noah whispers out.

Stiles gives a sad look as Isabel stands, before helping Noah stand too. She slowly helps him make his way to the couch, before giving Stiles a nod to make his call. Stiles takes a deep breath before quickly leaving to make the call.

Isabel gently lowers Noah onto the couch, and he immediately closes his eyes. Isabel reaches over to pull the blanket down over Noah, who is already drifting off, with a sad look on his face.

Stiles quietly walks back in, watching as Isabel's face morphs into one of determination. He freezes on the spot as he catches the blood-red glow of her eyes, and the red tendrils leaking from her fingers.

She moves her hand up to Noah's head, gently moving her fingers as the chaos dances around his face. Stiles' face drops as his father's sad look turns into a smile, and realises that Isabel wasn't hurting his father, she was helping him. She was filling his dreams with good memories, rather than sad ones.