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[I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY]

1.01 || moderately concerning behaviour

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"What are you two doing here?"

Scott and Stiles spin around with matching startled expressions to see Aurelia walking up the drive. "Where are you coming from?" Stiles asks.

"None of your business. What are you doing here?" Aurelia retorts, folding her arms across her chest as she stands at the bottom of the porch steps.

"We're here for you." Stiles says brightly with a smile and Aurelia hums, an unimpressed look on her face.

"Don't think she's buying it, man." Scott says.

"Fine, whatever. There's a body in the woods. In half. We're going to look for it. The other half. The half the police don't have. Come with us?" Stiles says.

"Absolutely not."

"Wh- Lia!" Stiles exclaims in protest.

"I'm not wandering out into the middle of the woods this late at night. Especially not to look for half a dead body when the murderer could still be wandering around too! And neither should the two of you. Your Dad is going to kill you." Aurelia says, directing the last statement at Stiles.

"He doesn't have to know." Stiles counters.

"You're a moron." Aurelia says and Stiles huffs.

"Look, you may think it's stupid, but are you really going to let us go out there alone? Because you know we'll go with or without you. It's just a matter of how safe you want to be." Stiles says and she tilts her head.

"Stiles, if the body has been cut in half, what am I going to do against the killer? I'm five foot two. Just because it hurts when I hit you doesn't mean it hurts anyone else. You're just a wimp." Aurelia says.

"Hey." He complains.

"Go home. And leave me alone so I can go to bed." Aurelia says.

"We're going out there." Stiles says adamantly.

"Please don't make me go out there with him alone." Scott says and Aurelia sighs. "I don't stand a chance of stopping him from doing something stupid like running at the killer. You do." He says and Stiles scrunches his face up in a combination of frustration, annoyance and offense.

Aurelia sighs impatiently, casting her gaze upwards at the sky before looking back at the two boys. "You get twenty minutes in the Preserve and then we're leaving." She says and Stiles grins before heading down the steps towards the Jeep.

"You're the best!" He says, kissing her cheek as he side hugs her and she rolls her eyes before shoving him away from her.

"Get off me, you lunatic." She says and he laughs before climbing into the Jeep. "Stupid dumbass is gonna get himself killed one of these days." She grumbles to Scott when he walks to the Jeep with her.

"Pretty sure that's what you're for. To prevent that from happening." Scott responds and she sighs impatiently as the boy climbs into the backseat.

"Mother of God." She mutters under her breath before rounding the car to the passenger side.

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"We're seriously doing this?"

Aurelia shrugs gently at Scott when he looks over at her and he lets out a resigned sigh as the two of them trail after Stiles. Stiles, however, just cheerfully pipes up with, "You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town" directed at Scott and Aurelia rolls her eyes.

"I don't think he meant hunting for halves of dead bodies at the risk of our own lives in the middle of the woods at night, you absolute dumbass." Aurelia retorts.

"God, you're mean tonight. What crawled up your ass?" Stiles asks and she looks at him impatiently until he looks back at her, pausing slightly. "Sorry."

She hums as she narrows her eyes before they follow him anyways as he picks the pace back up. "Anyway," Scott starts pointedly. "I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow?"

"Why? You won't be doing anything." Aurelia says immediately and he looks at her in disbelief. "Look at who you're talking too. What did you expect from me?" Aurelia asks and he nods a little.

"Yeah, cause sitting on the bench is such a gruelling effort." Stiles remarks dryly.

"Stiles, don't be mean." Aurelia says.

"You were mean!" Stiles argues.

"I'm older. I'm allowed to be mean. Keeps your egos in check. Especially yours." Aurelia retorts.

"Guys." Scott says and they both glance at him before shutting up. "Like I was trying to say, I was trying to get a good night's sleep because I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm making first line." Scott says and Aurelia tilts her head at the boy.

"Hey, that's the spirit! Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one." Stiles says.

"Stiles, what did I just say?" Aurelia asks.

"I'm keeping his ego in check." Stiles counters.

"A, that's my job. B, Scott isn't the one whose ego needs to be kept in check." Aurelia says.

"Ouch. Valid but ouch." Stiles says and she rolls her eyes.

"Just out of curiosity," Scott starts and Aurelia looks over at him. "Which half of the body are we looking for?"

Aurelia pauses before looking over at Stiles who at least has the sense to look justifiably sheepish. "Huh, didn't even think about that!" Stiles respond and Aurelia narrows her eyes at him.

"And, uh, what if Lia's right and whoever killed the body is still out here?" Scott asks.

"Also something I didn't think about." Stiles responds and Scott looks over at Aurelia with an eye roll as Aurelia shrugs as they start to hike up the small bank.

"It's comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail." Scott remarks.

"I know!" Stiles responds and Aurelia sighs again.

"I hope we do bump into the killer so I can shove you into him." Aurelia says and Stiles rolls his eyes.

"Whatever. You wouldn't do that. Annoyed or not." Stiles responds.

"I'm thinking about it." Aurelia retorts.

"Hey, maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?" Scott suggests and Aurelia stops by him with a slight frown as his breaths come out a little shallower and wheezier, guiding him to stop against a tree.

"You have your inhaler?" She asks and he nods as he fishes it out of his hoodie pocket. Aurelia glances at Stiles before sighing impatiently when she sees he had continued without realising they had stopped. "Stiles!" Aurelia snaps and he turns to look at them.

"What are you doing? Come on!" Stiles says and Aurelia huffs as she glances back at Scott and the boy nods before pushing away from the tree.

"Stiles, you little shit, wait up. He's asthmatic, I'm wearing stilettos." Aurelia says.

"Not my fault you wear impractical shoes!" Stiles retorts as they catch up to him before he drags them down behind a fallen tree at the sight of flashlights. Or well, he tries to. "Lia, get down here!" He hisses.

"Absolutely fucking not. This skirt was expensive." Aurelia responds.

"Lia, they'll see you!" He argues.

"Just shut up and turn off the flashlight before they see or hear you." Aurelia whispers back and he huffs impatiently.

They stay there watching the cops ahead move about for a short while before eventually Stiles jumps up, running forwards. "Wait!" Scott calls.

"Come on!" Stiles responds and Aurelia watches him incredulously.

"Stiles, get your ass back here!" Aurelia snaps before helping Scott up and the boy takes a puff from his inhaler before they both rush to catch up with him.

"Stiles!" Scott calls and Aurelia grabs his arm to steady him slightly when he nearly trips over an exposed root. "Stiles!"

Aurelia knows Stiles hears Scott's last attempt to get his attention but all it does is give one of the K9 officers the opportunity to startle him backwards and Scott grabs Aurelia, ducking behind a tree with her. "Why are we hiding?" Aurelia whispers, focusing on Stiles' thoughts at the same time.

"I'm not facing Stiles' dad right now; do you want to?" Scott asks and Aurelia pauses.

That was a fair point. And she knew the Preserve well enough to get them out of here, even in the dark.

"Yeah, fine." Aurelia whispers, glancing past the tree when she hears Stiles' moderately frustrated thoughts when he sees his dad.

The two of them glance in their direction occasionally as the two of them speak before Aurelia drags Scott behind the cover of the tree when she hears Noah's thoughts and sees him begin to raise his flashlight. "Scott, you out there? Aurelia?" Noah calls and Aurelia waits for a moment before she hears Noah's decision that Stiles was telling the truth this time. "Well, young man, I'm going to walk you back to your car. And then you and I are gonna have a conversation about something called 'invasion of privacy'." They hear Noah say.

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Scott looks at Aurelia when the two of them leave with a slightly worried look as he realises, they'd lost their ride home. "I know where we are. I know how to get back. We're not that far from my place It's a bit of a trek but manageable. Even with your shitty lungs." Aurelia says and he huffs out a slight laugh that still had a little bit of a wheeze to it. "Just don't panic and stay close to me, okay?" Aurelia says and Scott nods.

"Yeah, okay." He responds and Aurelia nods a little.

"Okay, come on." She says softly, steering him back the way they'd come with a hand on his arm.

Aurelia glances around as they walk through the Preserve, both making sure they weren't going to bump into any of the police (she did not need to become a suspect for murder, thank you, she had better things to do than sit in a cell) but also because she just knew that whoever (or whatever) had killed that person was still out there.

She looks over at Scott when she sees him jump slightly, "Just birds. You good?" She says and he nods.

"Just creepy." He responds and she hums softly.

"Yeah, I guess. I kinda like it. When there's no dead bodies or crazed murderers." Aurelia says.

"Why do you know the way so well anyway?" He asks.

"You know I was close with the Hales?" She asks and he nods. "I used to walk from mine to theirs a lot. Since we were on the edge of the Preserve. It's a bit of a walk but the Hale house is stupidly hard to get to by car. It's just easier to walk. Especially since my car isn't exactly made for off-roading." Aurelia says and he nods again.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Scott says.

"I didn't walk it in the dark often. But I did it enough to know my way. Plus, it helps that I knew for sure where we were to begin with." Aurelia explains before pausing and looking around.

"You sure you know where we are?" Scott asks.

"Yeah, hundred percent. Can you hear that?" She asks as he shakes his inhaler.

"Hear what?" He asks and she shakes her head a little before glancing ahead of them. "Lia, you're freaking me out a little." Scott says and she looks back over at him.

"Sorry. It's probably just an animal. Just be careful. And watch your step." Aurelia says and he nods.

And then the noise she'd heard gets louder and closer. "That noise?" Scott asks and Aurelia nods before a herd of deer stampede into the small clearing they were in.

And, of course, Aurelia's magic decides the best solution is to just teleport her and she reappears on the floor with a grunt slightly behind Scott just after the last deer runs past. She just hoped he'd been too distracted by the deer to notice.

"You okay?" She asks, moving to help him up and he nods, glancing at her as he opens his mouth before suddenly looking around. "What's wrong?"

"I dropped my inhaler." He says, pulling out his phone on to use as a light since Stiles had taken the flashlight with him.

"Look, I'll give you the money for another one, okay. But we should go." Aurelia says as he looks around, brushing leaves out of his way.

"Lia, my mom's gonna kill me." Scott says.

"I'll give you the money for a new one!" Aurelia insists before he jumps suddenly, stumbling back slightly and she turns to look at him incredulously from where she'd had her back to him. "What the hell are you doing?" She exclaims quietly, looking down the hill at him.

"Did you not see the half of the body?" Scott retorts and she frowns before turning around and pausing when she sees the body.

Laura's body.

She glances down briefly before pausing when she realises, she hadn't been cut in half. "Shit." Aurelia mutters, turning back around. Now there was a rogue Alpha Werewolf running around town. And Laura was dead. Shit, she was going to have to call Derek and tell him. "Shit." She mutters again before turning around when she hears a low growl, hesitating slightly when she sees the werewolf near Scott. "Oh, fuck me." She mumbles before rushing down the hill as best she could without falling.

She just reaches the bottom as Scott screams and the werewolf bites him, grabbing his arm and dragging him up to his feet and away.

And then the werewolf just stops, and she frowns, tilting her head a fraction as it just stares at the two of them. No, stares at her. "Scott, you okay?" She asks.

"I- I don't know. I think it bit me." Scott says.

"But you're okay to walk?" She asks.

"I think so." He responds.

"Okay. I need you to go left. Now. Slowly." She says.

"Slowly? Are you kidding me? What even is that thing?" Scott exclaims and the werewolf growls lowly.

"Scott! Go to the left slowly." Aurelia says sharply.

"Mine or yours?" He asks and she frowns.

"What?"

"Whose left?"

"Whose- Jesus Christ." Aurelia mutters in exasperation. "Scott, we're facing the same direction. My left is your left. Now go left." Aurelia says.

"Right, sorry." He says before slowly walking off to the left but the werewolf's focus doesn't shift away from her. "Lia?" Scott asks.

"Just keep going. If you go straight, you'll hit the road." She says.

"I'm not just leaving you here alone!" He argues.

"Don't make me repeat myself. You know I hate repeating myself." Aurelia says.

"But-"

"Scott, now. I'm fine." Aurelia says.

"Are you sure?" He asks.

"Scott, if you don't go right now, I'm going to push you into the middle of the road, how's that?" Aurelia asks.

"Pretty clear. Okay." Scott responds before walking away from them.

"Okay. I'm gonna go now too. If you try to follow me, I'm gonna put you through a tree." Aurelia says, holding a hand out briefly and the wolf makes as close a noise to a laugh as it was capable. "Yeah, because that was so funny. Asshole." She grumbles, stepping backwards in the direction Scott had gone.

The wolf watches her until she's out of the line of sight and then she could swear she saw it just move away in the opposite direction. Okay, this didn't make any sense. But she had more important things to worry about than the weird behaviours of semi-feral alpha werewolves and dead ex-not-really-friends.

She reaches the road just in time to see Scott standing in the road and she grabs Scott's hoodie, yanking him towards her just as an SUV swerves slightly around where he'd been standing. "That was close." Scott says.

"Yeah, it was. Why the hell were you standing in the road?" Aurelia asks.

"You said to!" Scott argues.

"I didn't mean literally 'hit the road'! I just meant head up this way and away from whatever the hell that was!" Aurelia retorts and he shrugs a little. "Are you okay?" She asks and he turns to show her the bite on his side. "Fantastic." She asks.

Scott immediately looks up with a worried frown on his face and Aurelia startles slightly at the suddenness of the action. "Could I have rabies? Did it look like it had rabies?" Scott asks rapidly.

"I don't know. Never seen an animal with rabies before." Aurelia responds with a light shrug.

"Lia!" Scott exclaims.

"What? I was just asking." She responds with a shrug.

Was it cruel to put that thought in his head when she knew it couldn't be true? Yes. But that had definitely been an Alpha Werewolf. Which meant Scott was either going to turn or die. And said Alpha Werewolf hadn't made any further move to attack or follow once she showed up. So, Scott unnecessarily worrying about rabies wasn't even on her list of concerns.

And then they both glance back towards the woods at the sound of a loud howl. "Come on. We should get out of here. Before it decides to come back and have us for dinner." Aurelia says.

"I really need you to stop." Scott says and she shrugs a little.

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Aurelia unlocks her front door once they're on the porch, pushing the door open for him to walk past her. "I have first aid stuff in my bathroom." She says as she shuts and locks the front door behind them.

"The one upstairs?" Scott asks.

"No, my bathroom. Come on." Aurelia says, gently pushing him towards her room.

She opens the cabinet under the sink, dragging out the basket filled with first aid supplies and placing it on the counter beside the sink instead. "Why is it in a basket?" Scott asks and she glances at him.

"Because the first aid kit wouldn't fit in the cupboard. It's fine." Aurelia says, placing a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, some cotton swabs, bandages and tape on the counter before putting the basket away. "Here, clean and bandage that. I'll go grab you a drink and then you can crash in the guest room. I'm not driving you home now. I'll just take you home in the morning and then I'll drive you to school." Aurelia says.

"Okay. Thanks, Lia." He says and she nods a little before walking out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

She heads out into the kitchen and Freya glances up, smiling at her briefly. "Hey, where've you been?" Freya asks.

"I was watering Peter's plants. Then Stiles and Scott were on the porch when I got back." Aurelia says.

"Yeah, I know. Bash and I both saw them and ignored them." Freya says.

"Lovely. Thanks." Aurelia responds as she opens the fridge, grabbing a drink for Scott. "Anyway, they dragged me out to the woods to look for half a dead body." Aurelia says.

"Wonderful. Stiles' idea I assume." Freya says.

"Obviously. But then the little shit ran off, got himself caught by Noah and left us out there." Aurelia says.

"Of course he did. Wouldn't expect anything else from him." She responds and Aurelia hums. "Find the body at least?"

"Yeah, actually. It was Laura." Aurelia says.

"Laura who?"

"Hale."

Freya immediately turns to look at her niece and Aurelia nods a little. "Hunters?" She asks quietly, dropping her voice and Aurelia shakes her head.

"No. Wolf. Bit her or tore her in half. Which means there's now a rogue, potentially feral, packless alpha werewolf running around town." Aurelia says.

"Are you okay?" Freya asks.

"Scott got bit." Aurelia says.

"You saw it? Are you okay?" Freya asks.

"Full shift wolves, out of their mind. Me being a witch wouldn't stop them from attacking, right?" Aurelia asks.

"No. You know it wouldn't." Freya responds.

"I thought that, but it just stopped and stared at me. Not us, me. And then it let Scott leave and when I followed him, it went the opposite way." Aurelia says and Freya frowns.

"Are you sure?" She asks and Aurelia looks at her impatiently. "Stupid question, I'm sorry. Okay. Well, that's definitely weird. To say the least." Freya says.

"It was like it knew me? Recognised me? And there was something familiar about it but I don't know what or why. I mean, it was like a full shift but not quite right. More pop culture than Talia." Aurelia says and Freya hums softly.

"I have no idea. You couldn't hear its thoughts?" Freya asks.

"Can't read the thoughts of werewolves in full shift. Could never read Talia's in full shift." Aurelia says.

"Really? That's weird. Interesting but weird." Freya says.

"Also, extremely not helpful." Aurelia says.

"Yeah, that too." She responds and Aurelia nods. "I don't know. Just be careful. I'll have a look for some information for you, if you'd like. But best thing to do tonight is check on Scott, show him to the guest room and get some sleep." Freya says.

"Yeah. I guess. I am fucked. We had to walk back." Aurelia says.

"Yeah, okay. So, go to bed." Freya says, gently squeezing her arm as she walks past.

"What am I supposed to do about Derek? I don't exactly have an easy way to contact him." Aurelia says and Freya turns back to look at her.

"Well, how do you normally talk to him?" Freya asks.

"Email. But he never checks it. I normally have to text Laura and ask her to remind him." Aurelia says.

"Well, when they find out who the body is, they should call him as her next of kin. Push comes to shove; we'll have to go to New York to tell him." Freya says and Aurelia nods a little.

"Yeah." She mutters.

"It'll be fine. We'll figure it out. Tomorrow." Freya says.

"Okay, yeah, you're right." Aurelia says and Freya offers her a small smile before continuing out the room and Aurelia sighs before heading back to Scott.

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Aurelia pushes her car door shut at the same time as Scott before grabbing they both grab their bags from the backseat while Jackson pulls into the space beside them, hitting Scott with his car door as he climbs out. "Dude! Watch the paint job!" He says as Scott turns around with an offended expression.

"Hey, I see you hit another student accidentally or intentionally, it's a week's detention." Aurelia says and the other boy looks over at her.

"Whatever." He says before walking off when another student calls him over.

"Intolerable little shit." She grumbles under her breath.

"Thanks." Scott says and she hums softly.

"I've never liked him. Or his father. Come on. We'll go find Stiles." Aurelia says and Scott nods a little as he follows her.

"Hey!" Stiles says brightly with a grin as they walk towards him.

"You left us in the woods, you ass." Aurelia says.

"You're alive, aren't you?" He argues and she hums, narrowing her eyes at him briefly.

"No thanks to you. I have to go. I have work to do." Aurelia says.

"Yeah, thank you again, Lia." Scott says.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." She responds before walking away.

"I'm sorry!" Stiles calls after her.

"Stiles, you've never genuinely said sorry in your life!" Aurelia retorts.

Aurelia heads down the hall to the main office, dropping her bag behind the desk. "Ah, Aurelia, you're here." The brunette looks up at her name with a slightly startled look.

"Yes?" She responds.

"We've got two new students joining today and Janice's at the dentist. I need you to show them around while I finish a meeting in my office. I'll take over after. I should be done so you can get to first period with Finstock." Tom says and Aurelia nods a little.

"Okay, sure. I can do that. I think I know my way around the school." Aurelia responds and he chuckles briefly.

"Great, thank you. Paperwork is here." He says, gesturing to the two piles on the desk.

"Yeah. Cool." Aurelia says, glancing at the two piles with a nod before he walks back to his office. She flips through the two piles briefly with a contemplative hum before letting them drop flat again. And then she pauses when she sees the names at the top of the two sheets.

Shit. As if rogue alpha werewolves weren't bad enough, now they had to deal with Argents too?

"Hey, I'm Allison, this is Delaney." She looks back up, plastering a small smile on her face.

"Yes, hi. I'm Aurelia. This is your paperwork and then I'm going to give you a brief tour once the halls have cleared a little. Once the Vice-Principal has finished his meeting, he'll be showing you to your first class." Aurelia says, placing the papers down in front of them both. "I'll just show you where your lockers are, where the bathrooms are and where the library is."

"Cool, okay, thanks." Delaney says, flipping through the information.

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Once the halls had emptied a little, Aurelia leads the two girls out of the office, starting with showing them to their lockers. Whilst simultaneously keeping as much distance as was reasonable. They didn't seem like they were here for hunting as far as their thoughts went but, better safe than sorry.

"So, Allison, this is your locker. And then Delaney, this is yours." Aurelia says, briefly tapping Allison's before then tapping the one three lockers down. "Uh, there's a set of ladies' bathrooms there." She says, gesturing across the hall briefly as the two of them open their lockers to put some of their things away.

"So, what do you do? Like, are you the receptionist?" Delaney asks.

"Uh, no. I'm like a super under-qualified teaching assistant. For specifically Coach Finstock. Aside from being the Coach, he also teaches Econ. Technically, unofficially, I'm a glorified babysitter. But I didn't tell you that." Aurelia says and both girls smile a little as they carry on down the hall. "I just help him out with lesson plans mostly. I'm technically also the Assistant Coach but, I just kind of stand there and look pretty, so, I'm not really sure I can actually be called Assistant Coach. I've never been very big on sport. And I only really understand Ice Hockey because my grandfather was a fan, and my brother played it in high school. Uh, I ran track. Which I was bullied into doing by the Coach because he saw me run after a friend down the hall once and instead of detention, he demanded I join the track team so they could 'finally win some goddamn meets'." Aurelia says and Allison laughs softly.

"He sounds interesting." Delaney says with an amused smile.

"Interesting is definitely one word for him. I tend to use eccentric. It's as polite as I can manage some days." Aurelia responds. "Uh, another bathroom. Then down there is locker rooms. And library is this way." Aurelia says, directing them down the hall. "So, you two are Sophomores?" She asks.

"Yeah. Technically we are a year older but between all the moving around, we fell a little behind." Delaney says.

"No, I get that. I ended up repeating a year in high school. Think it was actually my sophomore year." Aurelia says.

"We don't normally tend to tell people." Allison says.

"Teenagers, they get a little-" Delaney trails off slightly and Aurelia can hear her running through words to try to find a polite and authority-appropriate one, making a small, amused smile tug at her lips.

"Asshole-y? Dick-ish?" Aurelia offers.

"Yeah, all of the above." Delaney responds.

"Well, it's a good school. Know a couple of the Sophomores, I used to babysit them. I don't think you'll have any trouble finding new friends. People are fairly likely to just flock to you like moths to a flame. We don't get many new people around here. Not often, anyway." Aurelia says.

"That's good." Allison says.

"Ish." Delaney adds and Allison lightly whacks her arm. "I don't want to be flocked to. What am I, Jesus?"

Aurelia laughs softly as Allison rolls her eyes a little. "I'm sure you'll be fine. If you really want someone to leave you alone, just tell 'em to fuck off. Odds are they'll be so surprised and taken aback that they'll just do it." Aurelia says lightly.

"Please don't encourage her. She's already half-feral." Allison says.

"I am not half-feral." Delaney argues and Allison looks at her pointedly. "Quarter-feral at most."

Oh, she'd get along with Stiles like a house on fire.

Allison just hums softly before Aurelia glances over her shoulder when she hears footsteps before smiling at Tom. "Ah, I hoped I'd catch you before you made it outside. Good." He says as he walks over to them.

"Cool, I'm gonna make sure Coach is on lesson plan. And that he checked his email and actually read it. See you later." Aurelia says.

"Yes, thank you, Aurelia." Tom says.

"No problem. Also, couldn't tell you no. You're my boss and I like getting paid." Aurelia says, patting his arm before heading back down the hall.

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Aurelia flips her keys over in her hand as she pulls them out of her bag so she could unlock her car before pausing when Stiles nearly collides with her, raising a brow at him. "Sorry." He says. "Scott lost his inhaler last night, we're going to the Preserve to find it after practice." Stiles says.

"Have fun and be careful?" Aurelia responds.

"You're not gonna come with us? We were hoping you might know where you guys were to make it easier." Stiles says.

"I've got plans, Sti. Monday, half four? Get my fun sympathy pass from going to practice." She says.

"Yeah, shit. I'm sorry. I forgot." He says.

"No, it's okay. Just, we stopped pretty close to you and your dad and then I turned us around and we went straight. Then Scott fell down a hill." Aurelia says and Stiles nods a little.

"Yeah, okay, thank you." Stiles says. "Hey, you meet the new girls?"

"Gave them a quick tour this morning. They seemed nice." Aurelia responds with a nod, and he hums, nodding. "You like them?"

"They seem okay. Haven't really met them. Lydia flocked to them immediately." Stiles says and Aurelia hums softly.

"Okay, well, I need to go, and you need to get to practice." Aurelia says and he nods.

"Scott keeps insisting it was a wolf. Was it?" He asks and she shrugs.

"It was dark. Couldn't really tell what it was. I was a little more focused on the fact that it bit him and getting out of there alive." Aurelia says and he nods.

"Yeah, guess that's fair." Stiles responds and she hums softly.

"See you later, okay? I need to go, and you should get to practice before Coach's head explodes." Aurelia repeats and he nods.

"Shit, yeah, good point." Stiles says before kissing her cheek. "Love you." He says before running off and she shakes her head with an amused smile and an eye roll.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"I don't know what happened, man. It was just weird. It attacked me. It bit me and then Aurelia got down to me and it just stopped. It just stopped and stared." Scott says.

"Are you sure? It wasn't just like spooked because of a new person?" Stiles asks.

"No. It stopped because of her. It stood and stared at her. And then she made me go ahead and when she followed me, I think it ran away." Scott says.

"Okay, I guess that's a little weird. I don't know, though. I don't know why it, whatever it was, would have done that. I didn't want to mention it to her last night. She seemed a little spacey the whole way back to her house and this morning." Scott says.

"Yeah, well, I guess seeing a dead body and then nearly being mauled by a wild animal will do that to a person." Stiles responds and Scott shrugs a little before pausing and looking around at the floor.

"No, I- I could have sworn this was it. The deer came running, I dropped my inhaler, we saw the body." Scott says.

"Maybe the killer moved the body?" Stiles suggests with a shrug.

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks. And I don't wanna have to take Lia up on her offer to replace it." Scott says and Stiles laughs slightly before whacking Scott's shoulder when he turns and sees the man standing behind them.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, walking towards them both. "Huh? This is private property." Derek says when neither of them respond.

"Uh, sorry, man. We didn't know." Stiles says.

"Yeah, we were just looking for something, but," He trails off slightly when Scott continues to glare at him. "Uh, forget it."

And then Derek throws the inhaler at him before turning to walk away. He pauses slightly as he walks before turning back around and looking at Stiles this time. "You know Aurelia?" He asks.

"Oh, uh, yeah?" Stiles responds with a slight frown.

"Do you know where she is?" He asks.

"Uh, she should still be at the long-term care facility." Stiles responds and Derek falters slightly before nodding and walking away.

"Well, that was weird. But I gotta get to work." Scott says.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure that was Derek Hale!" Stiles says and Scott just looks at him blankly. "You remember, right? He's only like a few years older than us. Pretty sure he's friends with Lia." He says.

"Remember what?" Scott asks.

"His family. They all burned to death in a fire, like, six years ago. Aurelia visits one of them a couple times a week in the long-term care facility, remember?" Stiles says.

"Oh, I wonder what he's doing back." Scott says, glancing back in the direction Derek had gone, and Stiles scoffs a little.

"Come on."

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Aurelia sits sitting forward on the chair beside Peter's bed, her eyes narrowed slightly as she focuses with her chin resting on her fists propped up on her knees. Something was off. Something had changed. But the nurse hadn't said anything when she walked in. And she couldn't figure out what it was. It mostly seemed like something in his thoughts had shifted but they still weren't clear enough for her to figure out what.

"Hey."

She pauses slightly before turning and looking over her shoulder just to see Derek in the doorway and her eyes widen slightly before she shoots up with a grin to hug him. Derek catches her, lifting her off her feet slightly when she clings to him while he presses his cheek against the side of her head before burying his face in her neck. "Stop being a possessive werewolf bastard." She grumbles and he huffs out a soft laugh without moving. "Alright, get off me." She says lightly after a minute, letting go before gently shoving him back slightly.

"Are you okay?" Derek asks and she nods.

"I'm glad your back. Why are you back?" Aurelia asks.

"Laura." He responds and she nods a little.

"I know. I was there last night. I was trying to figure out how I was going to contact you because you're a technophobe." Aurelia says and he rolls his eyes briefly.

"It was a werewolf." He says and she nods.

"I know. I saw it." She says and he frowns a little. "Looks like a full shift. I guess. Kinda. Maybe. Not like Talia's full shift. But not crazy far off. I guess. Bigger. Attempted to maul Scott, stopped when it saw me. I think it laughed at me."

"You sure you're okay?" Derek asks and she rolls her eyes before whacking his arm.

"I know it sounds stupid but I'm serious." She says and he nods.

"Guess I just need to see it for myself." Derek says and she nods.

"Would probably help." She responds.

"What are you doing here?" Derek asks.

"I come here every Monday. And Thursday. And Saturday. Just for a couple hours. His thoughts are kinda fuzzy. Like white noise. Can't make 'em out. It's peaceful. Which is never a word I thought I'd use to describe being around Peter, but it is." Aurelia says with a light shrug.

"Guess that's why the room reeks so much of you." Derek says and she shrugs. "What were you doing when I got here if you can't make out his thoughts? You seemed pretty focused. I half thought you'd figured out how to have conversations with him."

Saying, 'I think there's a chance he killed Laura and he'd the Alpha' probably wouldn't go down very well. So, she just settles for, "Zoned out. If I just focus on the fuzzy thoughts hard enough, I can push everyone else back and turn them down." Aurelia says and Derek nods a little.

"Makes sense. I think. I still have no idea how your telepathy or empathy work, so I don't know if that makes sense or not." Derek says and she smiles a little as she rolls her eyes.

"How'd you know I was here?" She asks.

"I saw who I assume were Scott and Stiles in the Preserve. At least I hope that's who it was because they knew where you were and I'm not aware of any other teenagers you spend enough time with for them to smell like you." Derek says and she rolls her eyes.

"They were looking for Scott's inhaler. He dropped it last night before he got bit." Aurelia says.

"Well, he has it back now. I found it. Also found this." He says, pulling something out of his pocket.

"Oh, I thought I'd lost it. Thanks." She says, taking the necklace off him and he nods. "Where are you staying?" She asks.

"Uh, the house." Derek says and she frowns incredulously.

"Absolutely fucking not." She responds, shaking her head a little.

"I don't need anything else." He says.

"You need running water and a roof that works. You can't have either of those things at the House." Aurelia says.

"Aurelia, it's fine." Derek says.

"No. You're staying in the guest room and that's final." She says.

"Aura,"

"It's the guest room at mine or the guest room at Peter's apartment. And if you don't pick one, I'll pick and drag you there by your ears." Aurelia threatens and Derek sighs.

"Fine, I guess I'm staying at yours." Derek says and she nods. "You're mean."

"Get over it. It's called caring." Aurelia retorts and he rolls his eyes.

"You want to go, or do you want to stay here a little longer?" Derek asks.

"We can go. I do need to swing by Peter's and water the plants." She says and he frowns a little. "What?"

"Nothing. Let's go. I left the Camaro by the house so we can go to Peter's and go there after." Derek says.

"You walked? Why? You punishing yourself?" She asks.

"No. Move, you." Derek says and she smiles slightly as he pushes her out the door.

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Aurelia sits drops to sit on the bottom row of the bleachers, putting her bag down beside her as she crosses one leg over the other as she pulls her phone out, answering a text from Nancy. "Scott! Scott, wait up!" Stiles calls and Aurelia glances up briefly to see him frantically flail past her before stopping beside Scott.

"Stiles, I'm playing the first elimination, man. Can it wait?" Scott asks.

"Just hold on, okay? I overheard my dad on the phone. The fibre analysis came back from the lab in LA. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods!" Stiles says.

"Stiles, I gotta go!" Scott pushes as he picks up his lacrosse stick and helmet before jogging onto the field.

"Wait, no! Scott! You're not gonna believe what the animal was!" Stiles calls after him.

"What animal was it?" Aurelia asks when she sees Stiles deflate slightly and he turns around to look at her. "What was it?" She repeats.

"It was a wolf."

"I don't know what's weirder. That it was a wolf or the fact that Scott was right." Aurelia says and Stiles smiles a little at her. "Go on. Let Coach do his group chat and then you can come and tell me about it." She offers.

"You're awesome." Stiles says and she nods.

"I know." Aurelia responds and he grins before heading onto the field when Coach starts gathering all the players around the centre. She should, admittedly, probably be over there but she was sat down now, and she didn't care enough to get up again. So, she just goes back to texting Nancy while she waits for Stiles to head back over to her.

She doesn't look up again until Stiles drops to sit in the space beside her and she looks over at him. "So, did your dad decide to, for some reason, tell you or were you listening to his phone calls again?" Aurelia asks.

"I think you know the answer to that question." Stiles responds and she nods with a hum.

"You're gonna get yourself grounded one of these days." She says and he shrugs.

"Stopped being an actual threat years ago." Stiles responds and she rolls her eyes. "Hey, did that guy find you yesterday?" He asks and she raises a brow. "We saw this guy in the woods, pretty sure it was Derek Hale. He asked where you were, and I sent him to the care facility, but I realised after I wasn't sure if you'd still be there." Stiles explains.

"Oh, yeah, he found me. Thank you." Aurelia responds and he nods. "How did you know it was Derek?"

"I was pretty sure I recognised him from that picture on your dresser. The one of you, him, and then those other three you were with. I can never remember their names." Stiles says.

She knew exactly which picture he was talking about. It was a picture of her, Derek, Peter, Talia and Joseph at her high school graduation. Bash and Richard had been in England, her grandparents had been out of town and her mom had already died at that point. So, Freya had come, the Hales had come and Noah and Claudia had brought Stiles with them.

"Yeah, didn't think of that." She says and he nods a little.

"You okay?" He asks and she nods a little with a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Hey, how's Seb?" Stiles asks as they watch the players start doing their drills.

"Good. Had to reinstate the no cooking in the kitchen unsupervised rule the other day. He set the toaster on fire making Pop Tarts. I still don't know how, so don't ask. But it meant I had to go and buy a new stupid toaster last night." Aurelia says and Stiles laughs slightly at her. "Don't laugh. He's twenty-six and he can't use a toaster." Aurelia complains.

"That's what's funny." Stiles responds and she sighs, shaking her head a little.

They sit there idly chatting as they mostly watch Scott until they both sit up and lean forwards slightly as they stare at Scott incredulously when he does a front flip over three players before scoring. "What the hell?" Aurelia asks.

"I have no idea." Stiles responds. "You know, I joked about him being a werewolf, that's sounding less and less stupid as more time passes." Stiles says, looking over at her.

"Well, he should be having an asthmatic fit right about now, so, there's something going on." Aurelia says and Stiles nods.

"McCall! Get over here!" Coach calls and they both watch as Scott jogs over to him, taking off his helmet. "What in God's name was that? This is a lacrosse field. What, are you trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No, Coach." Scott shakes his head a little as he speaks.

"What the hell was that?" Coach pushes.

"I don't know. I- I was just trying to make the shot." Scott responds, looking slightly nervous.

"Yeah, well, you made the shot. And guess what? You're starting, buddy." He slaps a hand on Scott's arm before squeezing both his shoulders as he says, "You made first line! Come on!"

Aurelia and Stiles glance at each other with slightly confused frowns as everyone on the field celebrates. "Weird." Aurelia says.

"Definitely weird." Stiles nods.

She could just tell him the truth, but that would mean explaining how she knows the truth and she'd kept being a witch a secret for this long. She wasn't totally sure she was ready to take the risk of revealing it to him yet. Not that she thought Stiles would react badly, she just figured it was better not to take the risk at all.

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Aurelia narrows her eyes briefly at her brother as she idly pushes her food around her plate. "You're already in shit for setting the toaster on fire. Don't give me another reason to be mad at you." She says, pointing her fork at him.

"For the love of God, Aurelia, just tell him." Sebastian says.

"If she doesn't want to tell him, it's fine. She doesn't have to." Freya says.

"It's Stiles. The guy is a walking nerd encyclopaedia. He is not going to care that you're a witch. I would put money on him thinking it's cool and then immediately asking a ton of questions, one of which being if you can teach him magic." Sebastian says.

"Don't care. Not risking it. Not until I have to." Aurelia says, stabbing a potato.

"Where do you stand on this? You're being quiet. Not that it's unusual for you to be quiet but still." Sebastian says, looking at Derek.

"I think she'd going to have to tell him eventually so she may as well just do it on her terms. When she wants to." Derek responds.

"Thank you. I think. It sounded like you were only half on my team, but I'll take it. That's two and a half against one and a half. Now drop it." Aurelia says to her brother, and he rolls his eyes.

"Look, other issues. Tonight is the full moon." Derek says.

"What? You need tying up? Thought you got a handle on that." Sebastian says and Aurelia kicks him under the table. "Bitch!" He exclaims, reaching down to rub his shin.

"Children." Freya says dryly and they both roll their eyes simultaneously. "What about the full moon?" She asks, looking at Derek.

"I was thinking I should probably keep an eye on Scott. Maybe get him out to the preserve. His first shift, he probably shouldn't be in town." Derek says and Aurelia nods a little.

"Fair. Counter issues." She says and he hums. "The Argents might be in town." Aurelia says.

"Excuse me?" Freya asks.

"I forgot to mention it. Uh, there's two new students at the school. Allison and Delaney Argent. I gave them a quick tour, there were no hunter-y intentions I could see in their thoughts but uh, I'm not liking our odds of it being a coincidence. I was thinking it through this afternoon, and I think, age-wise and other factors taken into consideration, I think it's probably Gerard's son." Aurelia says.

"Chris, right?" Freya asks and Aurelia nods.

"I think so. Not totally sure. It's not Kate. I'd know. I keep pretty close tabs on her. I'd hear if she were in town. I know that. And it's not Gerard for sure. For the exact same reason. So, logically, that's the only other option and I think he's around forty, so, it works mathematically as well." Aurelia says. "And I'm pretty sure Kate only has one daughter, and her name isn't Allison or Delaney. So, unless there are more of the fuckers, I'm not aware of, I would put my money on it being Chris. If that is his name." Aurelia says.

"Okay. So, I'd probably say you should go with Derek then. Wouldn't hurt to have witch backup in case there are hunters out there." Freya says and Aurelia and Derek both nod. "What started this? Do you know why Laura even came back to begin with?"

"She got something about a spiral carved in a deer. So, she came back to check it out." Derek responds.

"Someone wants revenge?" Aurelia asks and he shrugs.

"That was what she thought. I think it was found near Hale property, so she thought it was about the fire." Derek says.

"Oh, wonderful. That's great." Sebastian says as Aurelia stabs at her food.

"What's up with you?" Freya asks and Aurelia hums, looking up from her plate. "You look all morose."

"What the hell does morose mean?" Sebastian asks.

"How have you made it this far?" Aurelia asks and he rolls his eyes. "But nothing, I'm fine. Just thinking." Aurelia says.

"About what?" Freya asks and Aurelia shrugs.

"This and that. A couple things." She responds.

"I hate when you're evasive about things like this because we can't pull that on you and it's not fair." Sebastian complains.

"Oh, and you think I like it being able to know when you're being evasive?" She retorts.

"Okay, guys, don't start on this again." Freya says and Aurelia stabs a potato probably more aggressively than necessary.

"So, I figured I'll go and see how he's handling it and then I can come and pick you up then?" Derek suggests and Aurelia glances over at him.

"Yeah, sure. Okay." She responds with a nod.

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Aurelia gets up, grabbing her jacket and slipping her boots on when she hears Derek pull up outside the house. She pulls the front door shut behind her before heading down the drive to get into Derek's passenger seat where the werewolf immediately hands her a jacket. "What's this?" Aurelia asks.

"It's one of the Argent girls' jackets. The one Scott went to that party with." Derek responds as he pulls away from the house and Aurelia frowns.

"You have this why and how?" Aurelia asks.

"I drove them home after Scott ran off to get the jacket. And we're going to bring Scott to us using her scent." Derek responds.

"Moderately concerning behaviour but since it's in Scott's best interest, I'm willing to let it slide." Aurelia says.

"That's so generous of you. Thank you." Derek responds and she rolls her eyes.

"You're too sarcastic. You've spent too much time around me." Aurelia complains.

"I'm sure you'll survive." Derek responds.

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He parks the car outside the entrance sign for the preserve before the two of them climb out, Aurelia slinging the jacket over her arm as she follows him. "So, what is the actual plan?" Aurelia asks.

"We get Scott out here using the scent on that jacket." Derek says.

"Right and what about after that?" Aurelia asks.

"We wing it." Derek responds.

"Wing it. Fantastic. This is why you're not allowed to make plans." Aurelia says and Derek just rolls his eyes at her without saying anything else.

"Can you just hang the jacket there?" He asks.

"You're taller than me. Why am I doing it?" She grumbles under her breath as she hooks the jacket on the branch she could reach best. "God, we're gonna die." She complains.

"Great, pessimism. That's what we need. Would it kill you to be a little optimistic?" Derek asks.

"I don't know, Derek. Would it kill you to be a little optimistic from time to time?" Aurelia retorts and he rolls his eyes. "Yeah, thought so. You want optimism, bring Bash next time." She says and he sighs.

"Yeah, thinking I will." Derek responds.

The two of them stand around for a little while before they both turn around when they hear Scott approaching. "Where is she?" Scott asks with a glare and a slight growl directed at Derek.

"She's safe from you." Derek responds before tackling him, sending them both rolling down the slight hill.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Aurelia complains under her breath, slowly starting to make her way towards them.

"What did you do with her?" Scott asks as Derek pins the teenager against a tree.

"Shh, quiet." Derek says suddenly and Aurelia stops, looking at him before following where he was looking with a frown until she hears the thoughts of the people he'd no doubt heard. Hunters.

"Ah, shit." Aurelia grumbles.

"Too late. They're already here. Run." Derek says. "Aura, come on." Derek says, grabbing her arm to drag her with him.

"Shit, hold up. Tall heels, uneven ground." Aurelia says.

"We stop, we die. Deal with it." Derek retorts and she huffs before glancing over her shoulder when she realises Scott wasn't following them.

"Wait, where's Scott?" She asks.

"Not our problem right now." Derek says.

"Derek, we can't just let him die. He's been a werewolf for all of five minutes. And he's just a kid." Aurelia argues and Derek groans.

"Fine." He says before turning around and the two of them hover out of sight of the hunters. "I take left, you take right."

"Our right or their right?" She asks.

"Why the hell would we take their right?" Derek argues and she shrugs.

"Change it up a bit?" She suggests.

"Not the time." He counters.

"Sorry, I'm not often faced with impending doom, I'm a little unclear of the protocols." Aurelia retorts.

"Not the time!" He whispers a little harsher before rushing to attack one of the hunters.

"He also didn't notice we were all facing the same way. Hate following his lead." Aurelia grumbles before flinging the other hunter away from the other two until he slams into the tree to his side.

The hunter in the middle turns towards Aurelia as Derek uses the distraction to free Scott and when he fires a crossbow bolt at her, she deflects it, sending it back at him. "Asshole move!" She snaps.

"Are you serious? Run!" Derek snaps as the hunter focuses on pulling the arrow out of his arm.

"Shit, yeah." She mutters before running to catch up with the other two.

They all stop once they're far enough away from the other hunters and Aurelia drops to lean heavily against a tree to catch her breath while Scott drops to the floor. "Who were they?" He pants out.

"Hunters. The kind that have been hunting us for centuries." Derek responds.

"Us? You mean you! You did this to me! And what does Lia have to do with this?" Scott exclaims.

"Is it really so bad, Scott? That you can see better? Hear more clearly? Move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that most people would kill for. The Bite is a gift." Derek says.

"I don't want it." Scott responds and Aurelia sighs softly.

"You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it. So, you and me, Scott," Derek leans forward, resting a hand on his shoulder. "We're brothers now." He says before moving away and over to Aurelia. "You okay?"

"Fine. Annoyed." Aurelia responds and he rolls her eyes.

"Great, let's go." He says before dragging her away.

"But what about-"

"You think he's gonna accept the ride home if I'm present?" Derek asks and she sighs.

"No, probably not." She responds.

"Then he'll find his own way home." Derek says and she nods a little.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Aurelia waits until she sees Allison walking away from Scott before walking over to him herself. "Hey." She says and he looks over at her before smiling at her briefly before pausing with a frown and turning back to look in the direction Allison had come from.

"Isn't that-"

"Yes, that would in fact be the hunter from last night. Grade-A taste in girls, Scotty." Aurelia responds. That confirmed her theory at least. "Homicidal tendencies aside, pretty hot though."

Scott turns to look at her, his face scrunched up with disgust and she shrugs. "You're awful." He says and she hums.

"Don't need you to validate me or my opinions." Aurelia responds with a shrug.

"Hey, so, the full moon," Scott starts.

"Don't tell Stiles." Aurelia says immediately and he pauses. "Yes, you saw what you think you saw. I'm a witch. But don't tell Stiles. I'll get around to it but I want to do it myself." Aurelia says and Scott nods a little.

"Yeah, okay, I get that." He responds and she nods.

"And I'm sorry Derek was a dick. He's a real grump sometimes. He means well, he just never really seems genuine." Aurelia says and he smiles a little with a nod.

"And all I told Stiles was that you were there. Which, he only found a little weird. Since he knows you and Derek are friends." Scott says and she nods.

"Good, okay. Let's just keep it that way until I figure out how to tell him." Aurelia says.

"He's not gonna freak. He'll probably just be excited." Scott says.

"Still want to take my time with it." Aurelia responds and he nods.

"Understandable." He responds and she nods.

"Thank you." She says softly before patting his shoulder. "'Kay. Practice." She says and he nods before heading back up towards the school.

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