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TWENTY EIGHT.

When the idea to shove Jackson into the back of a police transport van was brought up, Sage would like to announce that she had no part in it what-so-ever. It was yet another one of Stiles Stilinski's horribly thought out and terribly law abiding plans. It's ironic how the Sheriff's son has broken more laws than half of the town's population. Sage was the one to snicker when Stiles had difficulty getting Jackson into a proper pair of clothing rather than just a jacket to cover his parts. She was also the one to protest at the plan to put a sixteen year old boy into shackles and a transport van, even if he might have an alter ego that murders people.

So while Scott abandoned them to go to school, Sage and Stiles were forced to babysit the boy. Yes, it was actually just as boring as it sounded, if not more. Jackson had woken up a couple of minutes after the sun rose, all three teenagers having been awake all night to make sure he didn't escape or kill anyone. Sage was running on fumes at this point, trying her hardest to keep her eyes open as she sat on the ground alone. Stiles was talking to Jackson in the van, telling her that she needed to be outside in case anyone came. She didn't really understand who else would come aside from Scott and Allison, seeing as though they are the only two people that know since Stiles has been frequently texting Jackson's parents to let them know he was okay.

Sage's head started to roll onto her shoulder, starting to feel the effects of sleep deprivation. But right before she could fully fall asleep, there was a loud bang, making her shoot up and adjust her clothes. Stiles was leaving the back of the van, and she squinted, wondering why he looked so pissed off. He didn't even make eye contact as he took the seat beside her, huffing and making more odd sounds that resembled an angry bull. She turned him with raised eyebrows. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Okay, then."

It was only a couple of minutes before Stiles started to shift uncomfortably. Sage's lip twitched into a smile, knowing that he was holding out on telling her something and could barely keep it in. He really did suck at keeping things from her. Letting out a gasp in defeat, he turned and faced the blonde. "He wants to talk to you. He says he doesn't believe anything I'm saying."

"Why me?" Sage asked, moving to put on the jacket that was discarded to her right. Stiles shrugged, and she scoffed out. "Thanks for the help. I'll be right back."

"Why are you trying so hard to protect him?" Stiles wondered. She looked over at him, stopping her actions of putting her left hand in the arm hole. "I mean, why are you trying so hard to prove that he's not some bad guy. Sage, he's killed people. Quite horrifically, I might add."

Sage shifted uncomfortably. "I've seen bad guys before, Stiles, and I know that if you don't help them now, they just turn worse. I'm protecting him because no one else is. I don't see why you're being so defensive about this situation. He's my friend, nothing more. If Lydia was the one turning into a Kanima, wouldn't you be trying your hardest to protect her?"

"Yeah, but that's dif—"

She smiled sadly, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "It's not different. I'll be fine. Seriously, if you can't get through to him, someone has to. He's got to know what's he's doing." She got up off the ground, dusting off her pants before making her way over towards the police van. She couldn't help but feel bad about the conversation with Stiles. It seems like there was always something trying to get them to yell at each other, even before they started dating they had been like that. Stiles didn't fully trust her with Jackson, but it was vice versa with Lydia and him. The only way for their relationship to last is if they trusted each other.

Opening the back of the van, she saw that Jackson's head lifted up as she stepped in, sitting down on the bench across from him. He stared at her, and she returned the favor. She wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to start this conversation seeing as though there was no proper way to tell someone they were brutally killing people. He narrowed his eyes on her, jerking a bit on the chains wrapped around his wrists. "You can go ahead and say it. Stiles already told me how I'm supposedly killing people and I have a tail."

"You are killing people and you do have a tail."

Jackson's eyebrow quirked, "So you're seriously agreeing with him?"

"Jackson," Sage started, leaning forward, "You tried to kill Danny last night. Danny. Your best friend. I don't know what the hell is going on with you, but when your body refused Derek's bite, you turned into the Kanima. There are people out for your blood, and we can only protect you for so long."

Jackson bit the inside of his cheeks, shifting around, "You're okay though, right? And Lydia? Is she okay?"

"I'm fine, and so is Lydia. It's just getting harder to keep this secret from her. Especially after you just magically disappeared last night. She's asking questions, and it's not going to be long before she finds out about what's really going on in Beacon Hills, what's really going on with you."

Jackson didn't reply after that, and she went to speak again when there was shuffling coming from outside. Her eyebrows furred in confusion, wondering if Scott was back. Muttering to Jackson that she would be back, she got out of the van to see that Stiles was leaning into the passenger's side of the car while Allison lurked over his shoulder. She jogged as quick as possible, moving to squeeze next to her friend while watching Stiles turn on the radio that the van had been stored with.

"All available units proceed to Beacon Hills preserve as instructed. Proceed with caution until Sheriff Stilinski has arrived. Repeat, proceed with caution."

"What?" Sage spluttered out. "How do they know where we are?"

Allison turned to her, giving a frown, "Jackson's parents called the police. They found out it wasn't him texting."

"Both of you in the car. Hustle, hustle, we need to go," Stiles rushed, making exaggerated hand gestures while scrambling over to the driver's seat. Allison got into the passenger's seat, half of her body on it while she told Sage to sit down next to her. Sage cringed, knowing how much of a struggle it was going to be to fit both girls in one seat. She had a better chance in the back with Jackson. She got in though, her ass on one side of the seat and the interior of the van.

"Where are we going?" Allison asked, turning towards Stiles who was typing away on Jackson's phone.

"Somewhere very far from this," Stiles replied. Sage heard a dialing tone, and figured he was either calling Jackson's parents or the police. When the phone was dropped out the window, Stiles pressed on the gas, wasting no time getting out of the preserve.

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"If Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima, he's definitely not going to remember stealing Danny's tablet."

Scott had showed up after being called a few thousand times by Sage. While they were explaining the movement issue that they had to deal with, Scott was telling them about how Danny had been doing a favor for Jackson to retrieve a video, and when he got to Danny's car the tablet had somehow disappeared. It was just another day in Beacon Hills. Sage walked alongside Allison, still feeling the tension between herself and Stiles from earlier. They hadn't spoken since she left him to talk to Jackson, privately at least. They did have an occasionally bicker or two towards each other when debating on where to take their lizard friend now that their cover was blown, but over all, there was no time. There was never any time, and it absolutely sucked.

"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles brought up, looking at the other three in question. Sage put her hands into her jacket pocket, chewing at her lips. There was really no way to tell why or how Jackson managed to steal Danny's tablet, if he was even the one that did it.

"What if someone else took it?" Allison suggested, making all heads turn her way.

Sage tilted her head at the assumption, hoping it wasn't true. "Then somebody else knows what he is."

"Which could mean someone is protecting him," Scott added. Connections were finally being made after so long. They had spent the past few days chasing after dead ends and dead bodies, and it just brought a small ounce of relief even if there were a thousand more questions surfacing after only one answer.

Allison nodded, "Like the bestiary says, "The Kanima seeks a friend" right?"

"Okay, hold on, so somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know? Okay, who would do that?" Stiles asked, speaking out loud the question that was on everybody's mind. They had no way of knowing anything that was going on anymore. Not with Jackson, not with Derek, not with the Argent's.

"Somebody who wanted to protect him?" Sage inquired. That was the only real explanation that fell in line with the bestiary's words.

Scott kept his eyes on the ground as he spoke, "There's something else. You said that the only thing they had online about the Kanima is that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?"

"It can't be, it tried to kill all of us, remember?" Stiles corrected. "I don't know about you three but I haven't murdered anybody lately."

"I don't think that it was actually trying to kill us," Scott announced, looking over at Allison. "Do you remember when we were over at Isaac's? The first time it just went right by us; and it didn't kill you in the mechanic's garage," Scott added, raising his eyebrows at Stiles.

Sage scrunched up her nose at the thought while Stiles scowled, "Yeah, but it tried to kill Derek, Sage, and me in the pool."

"Did it?"

"It would've, it was waiting for us to come out," Sage added, feeling the need to defend her boyfriend. She wasn't saying Jackson was the one that tried to kill them, she was just saying the Kanima was. That night in the pool had been one of the many times she was fearful of her life ending. However, the worst part is the idea of drowning alongside Stiles and Derek.

Scott sighed, then his attitude changed and he glanced in between the two. "What if it was trying to keep you in?"

"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles asked, shuddering uncomfortably at the thought of that thing wanting him to stay in a pool on the verge of drowning with a damn blonde and an Alpha werewolf.

"Because there's something going on and we don't know what it is. We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson, or why someone is protecting hi—"

"Know thy enemy." Everyone turned to look over at Allison in confusion. When she noticed, she shook her head. "It's just something my grandfather said."

Stiles decided to go with option 'c'. "Alright, I got it, kill Jackson, problem solved."

Everyone turned to glare at Stiles, mostly Scott and Sage. Scott was the one to answer Stiles, beating Sage to the punch. "He risked his life for us against Peter, do you remember that?"

"Yes but what did we just find out? He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us. It's seriously so funny."

Sage folded her arms over her chest, "It doesn't mean he's not worth saving, Stiles. He doesn't know what he's doing."

"So what?" Stiles retorted, getting irritated that both his girlfriend and best friend were siding against him. He was getting fed up with all of this talk about Jackson, having spent the whole morning trying to convince the asshole that he was a homicidal lizard, only for lizard boy to want to talk to his girlfriend. It was just brought a sick feeling to think about Sage and Jackson in a room alone together, seeing as how much they have gone through, and how alike they were. His first girlfriend and he was having trust issues.

"I didn't either," Scott announced, before turning to Allison. "Do you remember when I almost killed you and Jackson? I had someone to stop me, he has nobody."

Stiles shook his head, "That's his own fault."

"It doesn't matter. If he can save him, we should try."

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It was quiet in Stiles jeep as they drove back from Lydia's house. It was just a precaution for them to visit her to make sure she wasn't going crazy trying to think of explanations. Plus Sage needed to get out of the damn forest, having already spent a night in it. But right now, she almost wished she hadn't gone to see Lydia because that would save her the awkward car ride she was enduring right now. Stiles was annoyed with, not only Scott for taking Jackson's side but with her, although he should have expected for her to take Scott's side considering Stiles opted for killing the teenage boy. Jackson has made many, many mistakes in the past, but that doesn't mean he deserves to die.

She shifted around in the passenger's seat, trying to adjust herself to where she could lay her head down on the window without the seat belt strangling her. It was a difficult task, and having her hair in a high bun only made the position even more uncomfortable. When she let out a small moan in annoyance, there was another sound that broke through the air and it didn't fall from her lips. She turned to Stiles, her eyebrows raised in question as the boy sighed. They were about ten minutes away from where the transport van was, and Sage was growing worried when her boyfriend suddenly parked the car. Any attempt to try and calm herself down was quick shot down as she felt her heart begin to race in panic. He stopped the car. He was going to talk.

But his lips never moved.

Instead of asking her a ton of questions that were bound to create an uproar, he just moved his shoulder arm across the gear shift, unbuckling her seat belt. She frowned deeply, wondering what he was doing. The only thing she was assuming is him opening up the door to her right and shoving her out. She knew Stiles wouldn't do that but it was the only possible explanation. She stared at the brunette in confusion, wondering where exactly he was going with this situation. Of course, he could always use the seat belt and strangle her with it.

In the midst of her thoughts, she was startled when lips crashed onto her's. It shouldn't have been such a surprise, but it was seeing as though, (a) she's normally the one that initiates the kissing, and (b) she was fairly certain Stiles would rather kiss a rabid dog than her with how quiet their car ride was. She didn't pull away from him though, instead she grabbed a tight hold on the shirt he was wearing, moving her lips together with his'. The blonde was becoming so familiar kissing him that it was like second nature to her, clasping her hands around the base of his neck while he tangled his hands into her hair.

Somewhere along the way, he ended up pulling them over the seat and into the back. That broke the kiss for a few seconds, only for him to tug her back on his mouth, allowing her to open his lips as they practically playing tonsil hockey. She was pleasantly intoxicated by his touch as he brought his hands from her hair to her waist, eventually pulling the fabric away from her skin to touch her bare hips. She never expected for Stiles of all people to work this expertly. They'd never gone past the occasionally making out, and to have him grabbing at her completely turned her on.

"Take it off," Sage breathless told her boyfriend, craning her neck to the left as she allowed him better access to her neck. Apparently when a boy is horny, he automatically knows what to do. She liked this side of Stiles, she really did. Rather than her being the dominant one, he was taking on the role in the backseat of the car. She would say he was wearing the pants in the relationship, but she figured it wouldn't be long before they were both without them at the rate they were heading.

Stiles stared at her, pulling away from her collarbone, "Are you sure?"

She nodded, biting down on her lips as she let Stiles take her shirt off. His eyes went wide when he saw her bare chest, and she couldn't help but snort. She couldn't even tell if he was blushing anymore with how hot the car was getting, even the windows were beginning to steam up. His lips were attacking every part of her top half, eventually getting back towards her lips where he got back to his original position with his hands twisting around in her hair. Just as her hands went to grab the bottom of his shirt, there was a loud crash, making Sage and Stiles break free and scramble out of the back seat. By the time Sage had gotten out of the back seat, Stiles was already holding a hoodie for her to wear.

"What the hell happened?" Sage questioned, rolling on the hoodie as quickly as she could, beginning to feel the climate difference from the jeep to the cold, night air. Stiles had moved towards the side of the jeep, and she followed after, the two staring in confusion as they saw a small dent on the car. It looked like someone had ran straight into it then bounced off. "Oh, my god."

Stiles glanced up at her, then out into the forest. "Please tell me we're not thinking the same thing and you're going to convince me it was just a deer with no brain cells that hit the jeep."

"I can't do that," Sage croaked out, running her hands along the dent. It wasn't completely noticeable, she was sure that if Stiles needed it fixed, Scott could just use his supernatural strength to contort it back to normal. The real destruction was the thing that ran into it. Both Stiles and Sage knew it wasn't Bambi either.

Jackson had gotten free.

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When the couple got to the sight near the cliff where Allison's car was still parked and the transport van's door was ripped open, there was really no other option but to rush over to the brunette's car. Sage had already fixed her sex hair despite not having sex, throwing it back up into the bun that Stiles had managed to pull out during their heated moment. It seemed like they weren't the only one's being hit with horny-ness because when Stiles and Sage gazed through the backseat of Allison's car, they were surprised to see them both, well, naked. Sage snickered and tapped on the window until they both started to open their eyes, completely drowsy.