The summer term was slowly coming to an end, and as such the Cobalt family were trying to make the best of it. The doors and windows had been thrown open in an attempt to keep the house cool with the light breeze whistling through. The sounds of the neighbours sorting out barbeques, mixing in with the local kids giggling as they had cold water fights, carried on the wind. Every so often the music of the ice-cream vans cut through them all, reminding the family that the holidays were looming ever closer.

The Cobalt family were sitting outside, enjoying the last of the sun. The youngest of the children, Van, was colouring as she babbled about something that Roy Bryde had done which had 'made the whole class laugh so hard we almost snotted milk out our noses!' Beside her sat the eldest child, Eddie. He was working on some project or another that no one quite understood. There was a scowl on his face as he rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead. He'd been peering at the intricate wires inside the radio for a good few hours, slumped over the table and only moving when his mother told him to get out of the sun. The middle Cobalt child, Renée, was curled on one of the chairs under the shade of the tree, trying her best to keep the breeze from flipping the pages of her book. Their mother, Penelope, was in the kitchen, humming softly to the radio as she tidied up.

None of them heard the front door clicking as Robert Cobalt returned from work. They only realised that their father had arrived when Van spotted him in the kitchen, kissing their mother on the cheek.

'Daddy!' she called, making Renée look up sharply. She watched as Van's pencils clattered over the table, and the little girl darted to greet their father, hugging him around the knees.

Eddie gave a hiss of pain, his attention distracted enough to cause him to lose concentration and solder himself.

'Hey, squirt,' their father said softly, patting Van lightly on the head. A weak smile played on his face as he picked her up, carrying her out into the garden as he loosened his tie with his other hand. Renée couldn't help but note the fact that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

'What's up, Dad?' she asked, frowning over at him.

Robert exhaled slowly, keeping his attention firmly on the bundle of excitement in his arms. There was something nervous, almost reserved, about his actions. It made Renée's worries bubble up to the surface, along with her curiosity.

'We're moving back to America,' he said simply, his attention decisively diverted from his eldest children.

'We're what?' asked Eddie harshly, glancing towards their mother.

Penelope nodded, her eyes darting towards Robert for a moment, as if communicating something that the children couldn't quite grasp, before she busied herself with the kettle once more.

'America?' Van asked brightly, diffusing the tension which seemed to be rising between them.

Robert chuckled, a slight look of relief crossing his features.

'Yeah. Moving back to where we used to live, actually.'

'You brought it back?' asked Eddie, the scepticism behind his voice was almost tangible. It made Renée sit up a little straighter, readying herself for the answer that was to come. Surely they hadn't.

'We never sold it.' Robert's response was so sharp that Renée knew the conversation was over.

Eddie opened his mouth, a look of pure irritation clouding his features. But, before he could say anything, Van cut across him.

'Can we go to Disneyland?'

Eddie blew air harshly out of his nose, and Renée had to resist the urge to smirk at the reaction. She understood his annoyance at going back, at how hard it would be for him. She knew that there were bad memories back in Beacon Hills, ones that he'd now have to face. And yet she couldn't help but be a little excited, Van's own happiness at the prospect rubbing off on her slightly.

Robert turned his attention back towards Van, perching himself on the seat she'd vacated and bouncing her lightly on his knee. He started telling her the stories of when he'd been growing up in Beacon Hills. He told her the memories that Renée was certain she and Eddie could recite by heart. He explained about the trouble he and his friends had caused, about Richard Stilinski during police training, and the ones about when he'd met their mother on that blustery day as she'd hurried into the café he worked in, her best friend Oscar mumbling by her side.

Yet while Van 'oohhed' and 'aahhed' in all the right places, constantly asking their mother about the truth in the tales, Eddie kept shooting Renée covert little looks. He raised an incredulous eyebrow, rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back towards the radio before repeating the process not five minutes later.

Renée couldn't help but agree, to a certain extent, with the annoyance that her brother was displaying. On the one hand she hated the idea of having to move. She hated knowing that the barrage of questions she'd gained upon moving to England would be hurled at her once more from the other direction, or at least for a little while. She didn't want to pack up her life once more – especially as now there was more that she wanted to keep with her – and shift it to somewhere she'd feel like a stranger despite how familiar some of it would still feel.

On the other hand she loved the fact that she'd be back with the boys – in person rather than at awkward times over Skype, normally too early for her because Stiles had noted that 'there are two of us, so it's only fair with majority rules.' She could go on adventures with them again, despite knowing that they'd be nothing like the daring fights with dragons in Scott's back garden when they were three. She was also excited to have Lucy by her side once more, acting as her voice of reason before following the trio to make sure that they didn't get into too much trouble.

She let out a slight sigh before turning her attention back towards her book. She couldn't get her thoughts in order, at least not fully. So she tried to distract herself, hoping that the issue might resolve itself.

While things appeared to settle down in the Cobalt house that evening, they managed to sit outside for dinner and talk about the latest TV show that they could watch, it was only the quiet before the storm. Renée could feel the tension mounting, feel Eddie's desire to question the decision and make sure that his voice was heard.

'Night, Ren,' Van said softly, causing Renée to pull her attention away from her book.

Van was ready for bed, her eyelids drooping slightly from a tiredness she refused to admit. Her light brown eyes were slightly duller than normal, not quite focusing on her sister as she stifled a yawn, trying to hide it behind a fist. The whole thing brought a small smirk to Renée's face.

'G'night, Van. Sleep well,' she said, leaning to kiss her lightly on the forehead.

'Yeah, night, Vanessa,' said Eddie, smirking as she plodded towards him.

'Hey!' she said indignantly, pouting at him as she tried to hide another yawn.

Eddie lent over the table to ruffle her hair affectionately. 'Sweet dreams.'

'I'm gonna dream about America!' she said brightly, and Renée didn't miss Eddie's expression darkening.

'Come on, you,' their mother said, smiling as she hovered her hand over Van's head and led her away.

The kitchen remained quiet until the sounds of Penelope and Van upstairs could be heard. But Eddie rounded on their father faster than any of them had been expecting.

'Why're we moving back to America?'

Renée knew she shouldn't have been surprised by the outburst, Eddie's memories of Beacon Hills were far from cheery. There were goodbyes lingering there that he'd rather have pushed aside and forgotten about. Ignored them until he felt ready to finally face them. But the idea of moving there out of the blue had pushed back any progress he'd made on hiding those feelings away. In fact, Renée was surprised he'd lasted until Van was in bed to finally snap.

Robert sighed, wetting his lips as he gaze steadily at Eddie. 'More work's cropped up there,' he said simply, and there was a weariness behind his voice that sparked Renée's curiosity. She couldn't help but wonder about the work; what could possibly be happening in Beacon Hills to draw him back for enough time that they needed to move? 'Your mom and I have decided that it's easier for all of us to be –'

'Why're we really moving back?'

Robert's pale blue eyes flashed with an annoyance that his children rarely saw. His jaw clenched and unclenched a few times before he sighed, leaning forward on the table. He flicked his attention between the two of them, as if making sure that they were paying attention. Renée was certain that she couldn't have looked away even if she'd wanted to, she was more interested in the answers.

'It's exactly as I said, Edward, Renée,' he said calmly, his attention lingering on Eddie for a few moments longer. 'Car reckons Beacon Hills is the place to be again.'

Eddie snorted in irritation, leaning back in his seat. 'So you're uprooting us because of Oscar? Again?'

'Exactly,' said Penelope, pulling all attention towards her.

She was standing in the doorway, her arms folded and her attention moving between Eddie and Robert. Renée felt as though her arrival couldn't have been timed better, and wondered if her mum had been lingering in the doorway, waiting for the argument to reach it's crucial point.

'Eddie, darling,' Penelope said softly, moving to sit at the head of the table. There was a softness about her expression which appeared to soothe Eddie. 'It's for the best. I promise.'

Eddie sighed deeply, the fight appearing to drain out of him. He pushed his chair out from the table, the squeak of the legs on the tiles made Renée cringe.

'I'm going to bed,' he said simply, before striding out of the kitchen without so much as a backwards glance.

Renée scrunched her mouth to one side and looked towards her parents, their attention on her as if urging her to say something. She was sure that the decision to move had already been made. That somehow they were being told at the last possible minute because of this reaction. She wondered how they thought she was going to take it. If they were waiting for her to explode at them like Eddie.

'So, America?' she asked, fiddling idly with the pages of her book.

'It'll be better there,' her mother said, a small smile flickering at the corners of her mouth. 'Training will be easier to hide.'

Renée sighed. Did everything really come down to that? To the control that she should be able to have over her powers? The need to make sure that she had full control of them?

'Yeah, I'm sure a decent basement to practice in is the main reason for this move,' she mumbled, before adding slightly louder. 'I'm gonna go to bed. Let all of this sink in.'

Her father nodded. 'Not that we can wait too long, everything's sorted for the end of the month.'

Renée felt as though the earth had shifted when she was finally on her feet. They really had waited until the last minute to share. She felt the nerves that had been bubbling up before, the things which she thought she'd have a few months to settle, crash over her.

'Oh, right,' she said in a small voice. She nodded before moving out of the room, almost missing the hand her father had stuck out to hold hers gently.

'This is all going to work out. It'll be better there now,' he said, but his voice lacked the conviction that it needed to settle her.

Renée nodded before leaving the room, her head spinning with thoughts that she couldn't quite pin down. Nothing was ever that simple with her family, and she doubted this move would break that rule of thumb. But what could really go wrong in Beacon Hills?