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[I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY]

1.08 || empathy, remember

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"No, I- I'm not doubting you. But Harris isn't the most- No, hang on." Aurelia says, tilting her head a little as she thinks and Peter raises a brow at her. "He doesn't have what one would call good mental defences. So, I just doubt I wouldn't know. I think I'm trying to say." Aurelia says.

"Yes, because everybody who plays a role in arson and murder actively thinks about it whilst going about their day-to-day job as a high school teacher six years after the fact." Peter retorts and she narrows her eyes briefly.

"I don't like you. If you make another comment like that, I'm making you walk." Aurelia says.

"What if I point out the obvious?" Peter asks.

"What? You want to walk to the high school? What a strange choice to make." Aurelia says, looking over at him.

"I'm sorry." He says dryly and she hums.

"Didn't feel very genuine but I suppose I'll let it slide." She says as she looks back out the window. "Well, if you're going to kill any of the teachers at the school, I suppose Harris is the best case scenario." Aurelia says idly.

"Aurelia, it was one detention eight years ago." Peter says.

"No, no, it was the sixth detention for the same thing. And none of those six times was justified." Aurelia argues adamantly.

"I can't do this again." Peter says, shaking his head briefly.

"No, I am right. I have always been right. He had no proof I was stealing equipment from the lab." Aurelia says.

"You were." Peter says.

"But he couldn't have known that. Not really." Aurelia says.

"How he came to that conclusion doesn't matter because you did do the thing he was giving you detention for." Peter says.

"But he didn't have any proof." Aurelia says.

"Oh, my God. Just stop the car. I'll walk." Peter says and she looks over at him dryly before hitting his shoulder. "Ow." He complains.

"Oh, shut up, you big baby. I barely touched you and you're a werewolf." Aurelia says.

"For the last time, that doesn't make me immune to pain when you hit me." He retorts and she rolls her eyes.

"Okay, so, Harris. If you already killed the two guys in the woods, which I would have appreciated a little warning about, who else aside from Kate is actually left." Aurelia asks.

"Nobody. Well, my nurse. But nobody other than that." Peter says and Aurelia glances over at him with a frown briefly.

"You didn't think to tell me that?" She asks.

"You knew about Meyers, I assumed you knew everyone involved." Peter says.

"I knew about Meyers because he was the insurance investigator and Laura left me in charge of everything when she fucked off to New York. And because I threw a stapler at his head but that part isn't important." Aurelia says.

"When did you-"

"Doesn't matter. Just, I might not be allowed into the insurance agency he used to work for. A very nice, very large man may have carried me out of the building when the stapler was nearly followed by a hole puncher." Aurelia says with a shrug and Peter frowns a little. "Whatever, doesn't matter. Nobody pressed charges or called the police. Because it didn't hit him. Which was intentional because I didn't have a lawyer at the time." Aurelia says and Peter shakes his head briefly. "So, Harris, Jennifer, which I am thrilled about, and Kate." Aurelia says.

"What exactly did my nurse do to you?" He asks.

"Breathed, let's move on." Aurelia says.

"Must you pick fights and make enemies at every establishment you enter?" He asks.

"Yes. It makes life interesting." Aurelia says and he sighs. "God, I'm never driving you anywhere again. Don't get this from anyone else when I give them a ride." Aurelia grumbles.

"I don't want you to. I feel unsafe." He responds.

"I am not a bad driver." Aurelia says indignantly as she looks over at him.

"Just look at the road please." Peter says and she narrows her eyes at him briefly before looking forwards again.

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Aurelia hums softly along to the radio as she scrolls through her phone idly while she waits for Peter. "Aurelia?" The witch jumps, turning around to see Derek walking over to the car.

"Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me? Fuck! What are you doing here?" She asks incredulously as she rests a hand on her chest.

"The Alpha's here." Derek says.

"Oh, the Alpha's here. Wonderful. Why'd you try to kill me? You scared the shit out of me." Aurelia complains and Derek rolls his eyes.

"Jesus Christ, come on." He says and she grumbles under her breath before climbing out of the car, leaving her keys on her seat as she pushes the door shut behind her.

Aurelia sighs before running behind Derek up to the school, mostly just relieved he'd forgotten to actually ask her why she was there. But also annoyed that she was now having to run after him because she was just supposed to be driving Peter to and from the school. Befriending the Hales was a terrible idea. She always ended up running after one of them. And they always seemed to forget that she was very much not a werewolf.

"Look at me! Look at what you've done!"

"Get down!" Derek shouts as he bursts through the classroom door, knocking Harris down as Peter throws another stool at the man's head. Huh, look at that for timing.

Aurelia nods for Peter to leave when he glances at her before he rushes out of the classroom as Derek moves to get up. "You didn't stop him?" Derek asks incredulously.

"You kidding me? No." Aurelia says and Derek looks at her impatiently. "What, I'm supposed to apologise for having self-preservation now?" She asks before squinting slightly when light suddenly floods the classroom.

"This is the police. You're surrounded. No one leaves the building."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Aurelia says incredulously.

"Shit, come on." Derek says.

"Oh, I'm going to kill you." Aurelia snaps as Derek drags her out of the classroom.

"You can do that spell to keep up right?" He asks.

"Well, I'm going to have to, aren't I? I swear if you get me arrested, I will kill you." Aurelia says.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."

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"Derek, I'm going to kill you!" Aurelia snaps.

"Just keep running!" He responds and she narrows her eyes at him.

"You know who's in the car right up our asses? My Godfather. My Aunt's boyfriend. My Aunt is going to kill us both if he realises I'm me!" Aurelia snaps.

"Freya's dating Sheriff Stilinski?" Derek asks and Aurelia looks over at him incredulously.

"Derek!" Aurelia exclaims.

"Okay, just run." He says and Aurelia growls softly in frustration.

"Shit, wait!" Aurelia says, stumbling to a stop as Derek skids across the floor when another car appears in front of them. "Oh, great. Shitty hunters. Just what we need." She mutters as she grabs Derek's arm to pull him up to his feet, dragging him into the Iron Works with her. "This is awful. I hate you so much." Aurelia complains as Derek stops and she turns to see him growl at the dogs before they run off.

"You wanna hate me later?" Derek asks.

"Suppose so." She responds and he rolls his eyes at her. "Why can I hear Scott and Stiles?" Aurelia asks.

"They're helping me because you wouldn't pick up the phone." Derek says.

"I've had things to do." Aurelia responds with a shrug. "Wait!" She grabs his arm, dragging him back as a flashbang lands right where he'd been walking.

"What?" He asks as she drags him around the forklift as another arrow flies at them. "Which one is it?"

"Which- The same one that nearly ran us over!" Aurelia says impatiently as he moves up. "Get down, you idiot! My God, how have you survived this long?" Aurelia asks incredulously as she drags him back down.

Both of them look over to the side when a car pulls up before the door swings open and Stiles shouts, "Get in."

"Go. I need to head back to my car anyway. He can't hit me." Aurelia says.

"Your completely unwarranted overconfidence is going to get you killed." Derek says.

"It's completely warranted. I haven't been shot yet." Aurelia says and Derek rolls his eyes before running over to the car.

Aurelia frowns incredulously when she hears gunfire as the car pulls away. "That doesn't seem a little much?" She shouts. She narrows her eyes briefly when she doesn't get a response or hear anymore gunfire, turning to glance around the forklift before immediately ducking back behind it as a crossbow bolt lands where her head had been. "Okay, you know, you don't have to be such a dick!" She shouts.

"Stop protecting dangerous werewolves!" He shouts back.

"Just stop being a cunt!" Aurelia snaps before sighing and resting her head against the forklift. "Look, even if this forklift weren't here, you'd never be able to actually hit me! And I think you know that! So, this is entirely futile! Regardless, I'm leaving now because I have places to be and things to do that aren't sitting here all night. You can go!" She shouts before teleporting to the long-term care facility.

She huffs as she appears outside it, brushing off her skirt. "Fucking hunters." She grumbles before walking inside. "I'd ask if you got back okay but I'm pretty sure every cop in town was trying to arrest me and Derek. So, you should have been fine." She says as she walks into Peter's room, pushing the door shut behind her before catching the keys when he tosses them at her.

"You okay?" He asks.

"Fine. I just don't know why I had to run from the cops. I'm not a fugitive. I mean, only because they don't know Derek's living with me but I'm not." Aurelia says and Peter hums. "What's wrong with you?" She asks, gesturing at him briefly.

"Nothing." He responds almost immediately as he shakes his head and she narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because that was too quick and you know it." She responds and he shrugs. "You can't pull off nonchalant. So, why are you bothering to try?" Aurelia says.

"I can pull off anything." He retorts and she hums.

"That's doing the opposite of what you want it to do." She says.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Peter says and she hums again as she stares at him.

"Okay, fine. I'll let you believe you've won this one. Because I'm too tired to argue. And I think I pulled a muscle." Aurelia says, dropping her keys in her bag and Peter watches her as she zips her bag up, raising a brow briefly when he sees her jaw tick slightly before she turns to face him again. "No, okay, what's wrong with you? I can't leave it." She says and he rolls his eyes briefly.

"Did you ever think that maybe you have a problem?" He asks.

"Yes, of course I have a problem. This is a well known fact about me. But I can't not know. I never don't know." Aurelia complains.

"You're insane." Peter responds.

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you." Aurelia retorts and he sighs, shaking his head briefly. "Please. I don't even care about making you feel better now. I just want to know." Aurelia says.

"Oh, wonderful. That'll make me change my mind." He retorts.

"Motherfucker, that was an inside thought." Aurelia grumbles.

"It really wasn't."

"It was supposed to be!"

"Aurelia, I'm fine. Just go home." Peter says and she scrunches her nose up briefly in frustration.

"Tell me what's wrong." Aurelia says.

"You know you'll have to leave before the nurse does rounds, right?" He asks.

"Jokes on you, they don't know the room exists currently. So, they wouldn't even notice." Aurelia says and he sighs, rolling his eyes. "Why won't you just tell me what's wrong?"

"Well, I just didn't want to at first. Now I'm getting enjoyment out of saying no." Peter responds.

"You bitch." He hums briefly in response as she looks at him incredulously. "Part of me is surprised, so that part of me is stupid because I shouldn't be. But I can out-stubborn you. We've proven that before. So, why are you bothering? You've never managed to out-stubborn me?"

"Because you mentioned earlier that you woke up at half five this morning and you've been awake for too long for you to continue functioning properly now." Peter responds and Aurelia frowns, twisting her wrist to check the time.

"Oh, my God, that's awful." She complains when she sees the time and he hums, nodding a little. "Okay, you know what? You haven't won. I'm not surrendering. I am going home to sleep because otherwise I'm sleeping in that chair," She says and he hums in amusement. "But I'm coming back tomorrow night and you will tell me then."

"I will, will I?" He asks.

"Yes, you will. I'm not giving you a choice. I'm going to wake up at a less insane time and then I am going to sit here for as long as I have to for you to tell me." Aurelia says.

"Good luck with that." Peter responds and she narrows her eyes at him.

"I will slap you."

"Oh, I'm well aware."

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Aurelia idly spins her keys around her finger as she stands by her car, typing out a message to Sebastian since he'd taken the day off work to keep an eye on Derek. They obviously couldn't leave him unattended. Every time they did, he committed a crime.

"Hey, Aurelia!" The witch spins around to follow the voice before frowning a little when she sees Delaney rushing over to her. That was the last person she expected it to be. Well, maybe not the last but not who she expected.

"Yeah?" She asks with a slight frown.

"Have you seen Stiles anywhere?" Delaney asks and Aurelia shrugs.

"This is as far as I've made it." She responds.

"Right, okay." Delaney responds with a nod and Aurelia hums.

"Why? What's up?" Aurelia questions and Delaney shrugs a little.

"Just needed to talk to him. About last night and then the text message he sent me and never followed up on." Delaney explains and Aurelia nods slightly. "Why do I get the feeling you don't really like me?"

"I don't really know you. It's got nothing to do with anything except you seeming to know me pretty well." Aurelia retorts and Delaney nods a little.

"Yeah, my Dad mentioned something of the sort. Look, I didn't mean to blab. It was just, he was there, Kate was there. They were arguing. It just kinda spilled out without me meaning it too. Complete accident. I'm really sorry." Delaney says and Aurelia hums briefly.

"It's fine. As long as it doesn't happen again." Aurelia says with a shrug and Delaney pauses slightly before nodding.

"Yeah, of course." She responds. "That's really all?" Delaney asks.

"It's not you personally. I just don't have very good experiences where Argents are involved." Aurelia explains. "And I'm not a huge fan of how much Scott and Stiles have been telling you, specifically where my family and the Hales are involved. It's supposed to all be a little more secret than it is. And I thought I made it clear that they weren't supposed to tell anyone else. But apparently not." Aurelia responds with a shrug and Delaney nods.

"Right, okay. Fair enough, I guess. Look, I've gotta go find Stiles before class." Delaney says and Aurelia hums with a nod.

"Yeah, sure." Aurelia responds lightly and Delaney hesitates for a moment by the car before turning and walking up the school. Aurelia sighs a little before shaking her head slightly. She really hadn't meant to come across as such a bitch but there wasn't really much she could do about it now. At least, if nothing else came from that conversation, she knew Delaney definitely wouldn't be telling Kate or Chris anything Aurelia didn't want them to know. On account of the fact that she was definitely scared shitless now if she hadn't been before.

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Aurelia walks out of Coach's office after dumping her bag beside his desk before looking up when someone nearly barrels into her. "What did you say to Delaney?" Stiles asks immediately and Aurelia raises a brow. "She's terrified of you. And she wasn't before today. What did you do?" Stiles asks incredulously and Aurelia shrugs.

"I just pointed out that maybe she should stay out of my business and if she's dragged into it, she definitely shouldn't tell anyone in her family again." Aurelia explains with a slight shrug and Stiles scoffs incredulously.

"Are you kidding me? Lia, she hasn't done anything wrong." Stiles argues.

"She's told them things about me before now, Stiles. I know she has because both she and her father said so. It didn't seem like the message I asked him to pass along to her had sunk in so I just reinforced it a little. I didn't do anything. I just made my feelings on the matter very clear. Besides, she doesn't have any business knowing anything about me, my family and any of the Hales. Especially if I haven't said the information can be passed around. Like how I told both you and Scott that I was a witch with the specificity that it was done in confidence. And that you wouldn't go around telling every person you met. It's a secret, Stiles. And it was supposed to stay that way. Especially when there are Argents running around town. They're not exactly known for their brains or their 'think first, shoot later' approach to the supernatural. They're pretty gung ho about it. I'd like that not to be targeted at me or anyone else I care about. A task that you are making it very difficult to achieve." Aurelia says impatiently and Stiles almost immediately clams up. "Now, I'm sorry if I upset her, but I think in this situation, it was perfectly justified considering the situation and the potential ramifications of her knowing that knowledge."

"Okay, yes. I get your point. I'm sorry. I won't tell her anything else unless you ask me too. Except for all the Derek and the Alpha stuff because it does kind of affect her too and I think even you can agree that it's better she get that information from us rather than from her family." Stiles says and Aurelia hums briefly.

"Fine. But that better be all she gets. And that's all I have to say on the matter." Aurelia responds. "Now, what are you two doing about the necklace?"

"Well, Scott's not feeling very optimistic, so I was contemplating asking Delaney to grab it for us but she's not exactly feeling very receptive anymore." Stiles responds and Aurelia nods.

"Okay, well, I didn't know she was the plan." Aurelia retorts.

"Well, we're working on it. I was trying to convince him to just talk to her but he wasn't very open to the idea." Stiles says and Aurelia hums.

"Didn't she break up with him?" Aurelia asks and Stiles nods. "Yeah, I don't think I'd be very open to the idea either." Aurelia says and Stiles just shrugs a little in response. "I'm starting to understand why you've never had a girlfriend before."

"Well, that's mean." Stiles complains with a frown and she hums.

"It is, isn't it? Doesn't make it any less true." Aurelia responds, gently patting his shoulder before walking past him.

"I don't like it when we're mean to me! It's not as fun as when we're mean to Scott!" Stiles calls after her.

"Okay!" Aurelia responds.

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"We have a very large problem! Huge problem! Ginormous-"

"Stiles, I get the point. What is the problem?" Aurelia interjects before he manages to distract himself by attempting to find synonyms for the word large. Last time she let him keep going, he'd forgotten his initial point he was trying to make.

"Right, Jackson knows." He says and she frowns, shaking her head a little. "About Scott?"

No, this time he really was kidding. They had not told Jackson Whittemore of all people that Scott was a werewolf.

"I'm gonna need more because you can't mean what I think you mean." Aurelia says.

"He knows Scott's a werewolf!" Stiles whispers harshly and Aurelia sighs.

"Didn't we just have a conversation about not telling people these things? Like literally this morning?" Aurelia asks.

"We didn't tell him! He figured it out!" Stiles argues.

"Well, that's worse! If Jackson can figure it out, how much longer do you think it'll take the Argents to figure it out. As if it isn't bad enough that they know about me and Freya and Bash and Derek and Peter. Stiles, I have enough to worry about and a long enough list of people to actively protect. Don't add more people to the list!" Aurelia says incredulously.

"Why is this my fault?" Stiles exclaims.

"I'm sorry, who's idea was it to wander out into the woods in the middle of the night to look for a dead body?" Aurelia asks and he pauses.

"Alright, you got me there. But arguably, it's not my fault exclusively that Jackson figured it out. Scott should also be better at subtlety." Stiles argues.

"Scott's never been good at subtlety!" Aurelia argues incredulously.

"No, I know, but I need this to be someone's fault aside from me!" Stiles responds and Aurelia sighs, burying her face in her hand.

"I can't. I can't do this. I'm- I have a headache now. I'm done. I quit. I have papers to grade. I'm gonna go do that." Aurelia says, shaking her head briefly.

"Wh- Are you kidding? This is not the time to grade papers." Stiles argues, following her as she turns to walk away.

"You don't decide that. I do." Aurelia says.

"Lia! This is important." Stiles argues.

"Look, unless Jackson Whittemore develops nerves of steel and walks straight up to the Argents themselves to tell them the truth, nobody is going to believe him. And if they hear rumours he's telling people about a werewolf in town, they'll probably just think it's him. So, worst case scenario, they kill Jackson. Which is a worst case scenario I think I can live with. So, I'm gonna go grade some papers for Coach's fourth period." Aurelia says.

"You- You're insane. I always knew you were a little crazy and moderately and slightly, concerningly, amoral but since finding out about this, I'm starting to think you're flat-out entirely insane and completely amoral." Stiles says and she shrugs.

"I think I'm somewhere in between, to be completely honest with you. Like a middle ground." Aurelia says idly.

"I started off by describing the middle ground! A little crazy and only moderately amoral is the middle ground!" Stiles argues incredulously.

"Yeah and I'm whatever the middle ground between the middle ground and totally crazy is." Aurelia responds.

"You're insufferable." Stiles says.

"Oh, because you're so easy to deal with. Try being me for a day, see how crazy and amoral you are by the end of it." Aurelia retorts and Stiles sighs.

"You're seriously not going to offer any advice on the situation?" Stiles asks.

"I don't have any advice. A douchebag jock never found out my friends were werewolves because even as obvious as they were, Scott made them look like the Superman of werewolves." Aurelia says. "Did that make sense? Did I get my point across? Because it made sense in my head but I'm not so sure it makes sense aloud." Aurelia says with a slight frown.

"I understood you. Secret identities." Stiles says.

"That doesn't answer my question." Aurelia says and Stiles scoffs incredulously.

"You know, you bully teenagers a lot for someone who is supposed to be an adult." Stiles says.

"Again, try being me for a day and see how long you last without insulting teenagers."

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"Stiles, this is the single most asinine string of text messages you have ever sent me! What the everloving fuck- Hi, Noah. What the everloving fuck does this mean?" Stiles and Noah both look over at the witch as she stops at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, okay. I'll see you at your game tonight. I'll leave you to whatever this is." Noah says, patting Stiles' shoulder before walking past the brunette.

"SOS! 911! Siren emoji. Siren emoji. Siren emoji. 911! SOS! As individual texts. Text messages don't need to be fucking palindromes, Stiles. What the hell is wrong with you?" Aurelia looks up from her phone incredulously and Stiles glances past her in the direction his dad had gone before pointedly opening the door and Aurelia narrows her eyes when she sees Derek standing behind the door with his hands in his pockets. "You're grounded. What are you doing here?"

"I told you I wasn't listening to that." Derek says.

"You had a babysitter." Aurelia argues.

"Sebastian can't make toast. I was babysitting him." Derek retorts and Aurelia sighs before inclining her head.

"Yeah, that's fair. But the Sheriff's house? Are you trying to get yourself arrested?" Aurelia asks.

"Well, I needed to know where we were at on the necklace." Derek shrugs.

"I was on my way home." Aurelia says.

"Yeah, you seemed a little distracted and annoyed this morning. I didn't think you'd be in the mood to be involved in this and took a chance you wouldn't know anything." Derek responds with a shrug.

"Uh, he is technically right." Stiles says.

"I'm going to slap you." Aurelia says.

"Who?"

"Both of you."

"Yeah." Stiles says with a slight nod. "Okay, like I was saying, Scott doesn't have the necklace yet. He's still working on it. But, I figured there's something else we could try."

"What?" Derek asks.

"The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there." Stiles says and Aurelia frowns a little.

"So?" Derek prompts.

"So, it wasn't Scott." Stiles supplies and Aurelia hesitates slightly.

No, because it was Peter. Oh, this wasn't going to end well.

"Well, can you find out who sent it?" Derek questions.

"No, not me. But I think I know somebody who can." Stiles responds.

Yeah, this definitely wasn't going to end well.

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Aurelia idly picks at her nails as Danny walks into Stiles' room, feigning interest in the book in her lap as she frowns a little. There really wasn't anything she could do to circumvent this. She couldn't exactly warn Peter because she, first of all, had no way to do so short of randomly bailing and telling him in person, which wouldn't be the easiest in broad daylight and second of all, even if she could tell him, she had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. But her best guess was that this was going to end with Stiles somehow getting himself injured trying to intervene and Derek attempting to kill Peter as revenge for Laura. Neither of which were ideal situations.

"Right, Lia?" Aurelia hums, looking up from the book at the pointed tone of Stiles' voice, frowning a little.

"What?" She asks.

"Your cousin. Right?" Stiles asks, gesturing at Derek and Aurelia glances at her best friend before back over at the two boys.

"Yeah. We were supposed to be going out with Noah before the game for dinner but he got pulled away so now we're stuck here with Stiles." Aurelia says.

"Last part didn't feel entirely necessary." Stiles says with a slight frown.

"I beg to differ." Aurelia responds dismissively and Stiles hums as Danny clears his throat to mask an amused laugh.

"Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny asks quietly.

"Uh, yeah. Yes. Well, he gets these horrible nosebleeds." Stiles explains and Aurelia frowns a little as she looks back at her book. "Hey, Miguel, I thought I told you you could borrow one of my shirts." Stiles says and Aurelia tilts her head a little as she glances up over the top of the book whilst mouthing 'Miguel' at Stiles in confusion and the boy shrugs in response.

She glances back at Derek when he slams his book shut, yanking her feet towards her and out of the way when he drops it onto the bed before moving over to Stiles' dresser as he yanks his shirt over his head. "So, anyway," Stiles says as if nothing had happened and Aurelia looks around the room incredulously trying to figure out what the hell was happening. "I mean, we both know you have the skills to trace that text, so we should probably-"

"Uh, Stiles?"

"Yes?" Stiles asks, turning to look at Derek and Aurelia frowns a little.

"This no fit!" Derek complains, tugging at the shirt in his hands aggressively and Aurelia just shakes her head slightly as she looks between them both.

"Then try something else on!" Stiles responds impatiently. "Sorry." He says, turning back to Danny before Aurelia looks back at him when she notices him pause slightly, frowning until she notices him looking back and forth between Danny and Derek, shaking her head slightly. "Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh? What do you think, Danny?"

"Oh, my God." Aurelia mutters under her breath as Danny looks at Stiles briefly while Derek pulls a shirt over his head.

"The shirt?" Stiles prompts lightly, nodding at Derek.

"It's- It's not really his colour." Danny responds and Derek yanks the shirt back over his head as the two teens turn to look at the computer screen.

"You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny-boy?" She hears Stiles ask quietly and she shakes her head a little. She wasn't even entirely sure what that meant. She knew what he meant but she wasn't sure what that meant.

"You're a horrible person."

"I know. It keeps me awake at night. Anyway, about that text," Stiles responds and Aurelia sighs.

"Stiles! None of these fit!" Derek snaps impatiently.

"I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text." Danny says almost immediately and Stiles turns to grin at Aurelia triumphantly.

"I'm gonna go get you a shirt, stay here." Aurelia says to Derek before walking out of the room. She tosses the shirt she'd stolen from Noah's room at Derek as she walks back in and Derek hands her phone over.

"It went off." He says and she looks down as she unlocks it.

"Okay, I've gotta go pick Scott up. He needs a ride. You two try to stay out of trouble." Aurelia says without looking up from her phone, typing back a response as she grabs her things.

"What? He hasn't texted me." Stiles says with a frown as he grabs his phone.

"Yeah, because he's asking me for a ride. Stay out of trouble. Or more trouble." Aurelia says idly, glancing up briefly before walking out of the room.

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Aurelia pushes her car door open, leaving it as she walks up to the house, knocking on the door before folding her arms over her chest. Chris frowns slightly when he opens the door and sees her standing there but she just looks past him at Scott. "Scott, grab your bike, let's go or we'll be late." Aurelia says and the boy nods immediately, walking out of the house when Chris moves out of the way and grabbing his bike from where he'd left it off to the side.

"In a rush?" Chris asks.

"Yes. Scott, car." Aurelia says and the boy hesitates slightly before walking down to her car. "I don't know what you're trying to achieve, but it's not happening."

"We were just having a chat about friends. Derek Hale, actually." He says and she hums.

"Scott doesn't know Derek. The only times Scott has talked to Derek is when he's either been with me or been looking for me." Aurelia says.

"That's not what I've heard." Chris responds.

"Okay, we'll do it this way then. The next time you talk to Scott or Stiles or Derek or anyone in my family without prompting or their clear intentional involvement in the conversation I am going to become a problem for you. A big one. A magical one, a legal one. A problem in any and every way you can think of. So, next time you think about talking to anyone you know that I know, think hard. And think about whether or not you want to deal with me as a result of it. Because you will. And you won't like it. You think I've been bad thus far? I can get a lot worse. A lot. This doesn't even scratch the surface of just how big of a pain I can to you, your family and anyone you know and/or care about." Aurelia says. "And that doesn't just apply to you. That applies to your wife. Your kids. Your niece. Any hunters you and your family are in charge of. And especially your sister. I mean it. If you don't want more problems than you have the money to solve, back off. Because I can keep up legal proceedings for a lot longer than you can. Don't test me any further. Are we clear?" Aurelia asks.

"Crystal." Chris responds and she stares at him for a moment before turning and walking back down to the car, sliding int the driver's seat and slamming the door shut as Scott looks over at her.

"Thank you." Scott says and she glances over at him.

"Did he ask you about anything aside from Derek?" She asks and Scott shakes his head.

"I don't think he knows." He responds and she nods before pulling away from the curb. "I'm starting to get your point about them."

"Well, I wish you didn't have to find out this way but I guess it's better than not finding out at all." Aurelia says.

"What did you say to him? Because he looked, not scared but pretty close." Scott says and she shrugs.

"Just reinforcing something else I already told him." Aurelia responds and Scott nods a little.

"You're kinda scary when you're angry." Scott says and she glances over at him with a slightly amused smile.

"Good, that's what I was going for." Aurelia responds and he nods a little. "You get the necklace?"

"Yeah, it's just flat. Doesn't open, nothing on it but what Derek had a drawing of." Scott says, pulling it out of his pocket to show to her and Aurelia glances at it briefly as he flips it over in his hand.

"Weird." She says.

"Yeah."

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Aurelia idly drums her thumb against the steering wheel in time to the radio as she drives to the care facility. Stiles and Derek had never actually called her or texted after she left but she'd figured that if they'd found anything, they would have. But she'd already told Coach she wouldn't be able to make it to the game in anticipation of them finding something and her having to stay with Derek while Stiles headed to play in the game. So, when she didn't hear anything she figured she may as well just go see Peter earlier than she had planned. Wouldn't exactly do any harm.

She parks her car in one of the spaces closest to the entrance before climbing out and heading inside as she pulls out her phone to double check she didn't have any messages from Stiles before frowning a little and starting to type out a message to Stiles, figuring he'd see it at some point and he could at least let her know what Danny found. She pauses mid word as she walks, moving her phone to the side when she sees Jennifer on the floor before looking up to see Stiles, Derek and Peter standing in the hallway.

"Huh." She says lightly, looking between the three of them before glancing at Stiles. "You're supposed to be at the game."

"That doesn't seem important right now." Stiles responds incredulously and she shrugs. "He's the alpha!" Stiles says gesturing at Peter and she hums.

"Stiles, she already knew." Derek says and Stiles looks at him with a confused frown. "Look at her. She's surprised we're here, not that he's awake. She already knew."

Stiles looks back at Aurelia incredulously and the witch shrugs a little. "Maybe?"

"Are you kidding me? How long?" Stiles asks.

"I kinda figured the entire time but I didn't know for sure til that night at the school. Since the alpha was there with you, I figured I'd come here and see if I was right. And would you believe it, I was." Aurelia says lightly.

"Are you insane? He's killed people!" Stiles exclaims.

"Yeah? What's your point?" Aurelia asks and Stiles frowns at her incredulously. "What? It was only a little murder." Aurelia says and Peter clears his throat briefly, making her look over at him.

"He killed Laura." Derek says and Aurelia looks over at him instead as he turns to look at her. "He killed Laura and you're helping him."

"Hang on, helping? As in with the murder?" Stiles asks.

"That's what you were doing at the school. You're helping him." Derek says with a frown.

"He didn't do it on purpose, Derek. If you won't take his word, take mine." Aurelia says.

"Are you kidding me?" Derek asks incredulously.

"If I can-"

"Shut up!" Aurelia and Derek say impatiently and Peter holds a hand up briefly.

"Derek, listen to me,"

"No. I'm not going to stand her and listen to you justify him killing Laura." Derek says.

"Do you really think I'd be helping him if it had been intentional?" Aurelia asks.

"Yes."

"Okay, I set that one up." Aurelia admits. "But Laura was an accident and everyone else had something to do with the fire. I cannot have been the only person who has seen that goddamn neon flashing sign of a pattern. Because if I am the only person aside from him who knows that, that makes me just as if not more crazy as he currently is and that does not bode well for me." Aurelia says.

"I think you're the only one." Stiles says quietly.

"That doesn't justify what he did." Derek says.

"I didn't say it did-"

"He turned Scott. He attacked both of you that night." Derek says.

"No, I didn't." Peter says immediately.

"I'm pretty sure you did." Stiles argues.

"No, as soon as I turned up he stopped. He only attacked Scott because he didn't know him, he needed betas and he smelled like me. But the second he saw me he stopped. He means he didn't attack both of us." Aurelia says.

"You're seriously taking his side?" Derek asks and she stares at him for a moment.

"I have to." She says.

"No, you don't." Derek argues.

"Yes, I do. I'm not expecting you to just understand straight off the bat, Derek, okay? I'm not." Aurelia says.

"But you do?" Derek counters and she stares at him for a moment.

"Empath, remember?" She says and Derek pauses a little.

"What?" Peter asks and she holds a hand up at him briefly.

"What? What's going on?" Stiles asks.

"You said that wasn't working." Derek says.

"I said my telepathy didn't work." Aurelia corrects.

"What are you guys talking about?" Stiles asks. "Would somebody answer me?" He asks impatiently after a moment.

"I'm an empath. I can feel what other people feel." Aurelia says, turning to look at him.

"Yeah? I know what an empath is." Stiles says.

"Stiles, how often do I come here?" She asks and he frowns a little, shaking his head before pausing slightly.

"You mean, the entire time you-" She nods, cutting him off.

"Which is why I immediately understood why Peter was killing people, why he killed Laura and why I decided to help." Aurelia says.

"But Scott,"

"He'd just become an Alpha, he didn't have a pack, that was just instinct and that is all. Get a pack, get stronger. Scott was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's it. A bad coincidence. If he hadn't turned Scott, he could have turned literally anyone else. Could have been one of the cops, could have been the first random pedestrian he came across." Aurelia says.

"No, I don't care. He killed Laura." Derek says and Aurelia turns back to look at him.

"Derek,"

"No."

"Laura never should have left in the first place." Peter says.

"You shut it. You're not helping the situation." Aurelia says impatiently.

"We were scared! We didn't know what else to do and she had school anyway!" Derek snaps.

"You don't run and leave pack behind." Peter says firmly.

"You were-"

"I'm not talking about me." Peter cuts in and Derek looks over at him with a frown.

"I was fine." Aurelia says after a moment.

"Bullshit." Peter retorts and she tilts her head briefly with a slight frown.

"I still had Freya. I never would have left." She adds.

"Which is why they should have stayed." Peter responds and she sighs. "She was as much pack as any of us. And you knew she wouldn't leave. You both should have stayed." He says.

"Laura asked her to come with us. Aurelia was the one that said go." Derek says and Aurelia turns to look at him with a frown.

"I said what?" Aurelia asks and Derek looks over at her.

"That's what Laura told me. She came and asked you to come with us but you said no and that we should go anyway." Derek says.

"Well, that doesn't even remotely sound like something I would say." Aurelia says.

"You didn't-" Aurelia shakes her head a little and Derek stops before finishing his question.

"Laura and I argued about leaving for about three hours straight but at no point did I say that either of you should leave town. I was very anti-everyone leaving town. But she took you and left anyway and then about a week later she called and said any updates about Peter or anything the doctors needed to know or ask would go through me. And then I only spoke to Laura if you weren't answering my emails." Aurelia says.

"Why would she have lied to me about that?" Derek asks.

"Probably because she knew you wouldn't leave otherwise. And she thought that was safer." Aurelia responds.

"I have no idea what's happening anymore. I'm not entirely sure I did to begin with." Stiles says and Aurelia sighs.

"Okay, look, instead of standing over an unconscious nurse in a hallway where anyone could find us, can we go and talk about this somewhere else? Is everyone okay with that? Stiles, I'm not asking you, don't answer." Aurelia says, looking between the two Hales.

"Fine. I'm waiting outside." Derek snaps and Aurelia sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose before turning around and walking out.

"Okay, wonderful. He's in a strop." Aurelia mutters before looking at Stiles. "I don't know if you'll make the game now but you should probably at least be home to tell your Dad why you weren't there." Aurelia says.

"Are you sure?" Stiles asks and she nods.

"Go. I'll see you tomorrow." She says and Stiles nods a little before stepping over Jennifer as Peter walks over to Aurelia.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Peter asks, turning her to face him as he raises a hand to cup her face, tilting her head up slightly and she frowns a little. "Don't look at me like that, you know what I'm talking about."

"Oh, that. Because I knew you'd get all huffy about it. Like you are right now. It was my decision. I knew it would probably happen and that didn't change what I did. And it wouldn't now." Aurelia says.

"Aurelia,"

"Don't Aurelia me. You'd have done the same and you know it." Aurelia says.

"Well, I couldn't have exactly done the same." He counters.

"No, but you would have sat there every day taking my pain, like at a detriment to your own health, which is arguably worse than what I did. So can we just go so we can talk to Derek, please?" Aurelia asks.

"You should have told me. Before now." He says.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't see the need in making you feel bad for something you had zero control over and that you'd have had zero control over if you hadn't been in a coma." Aurelia says and he sighs slightly with a slightly amused smile.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He says.

"I am definitely right. You've never out-stubborned me. We've been over this. And you still haven't won from last night. I haven't forgotten about that." She says.

"You're incorrigible." He says.

"I told you to stop saying that. Nobody uses the word incorrigible. It's a stupid word. I don't even know what it means. You make it sound like an insult but I'm never sure." She says and he rolls his eyes briefly before she pauses, frowning a little. "Stiles, I said go away!" Aurelia calls over her shoulder.

"Sorry!"

"You also knew he was there. You could have told him to leave too." She says.

"Whatever. Come on." Peter says, dropping his hand.

"What are we doing about her?" Aurelia asks, glancing down at Jennifer as he turns her around.

"Leave her. We'll come back and deal with her later. Who's she going to tell that'll believe her?" He says, steering her down the hall.

"Oh, we're actually killing her? Yay. Kinda thought you were joking." Aurelia says.

"One establishment. All I'm asking is that you enter one establishment without making an enemy and Freya's bakery doesn't count because nobody else works there." Peter says.

"You're such a bore."

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