Chapter 16

"a day will come, when you think you're safe and happy, and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth"

-Tyrion Lannister

Roads by Portishead

Richard was worried.

Thoughts and scenarios reeled in his mind and it was driving him crazy. There was a humming in the air, a buzz of electricity that crackled and threatened to consume him whole as he looked between Derek and his phone. His feet were working a mile a minute as he paced from wall to wall, the only comfort provided was his daughters' scent that lingered heavily in the air. He could feel Derek's eyes, following his every move with his cold grey eyes.

Once again, he looked down at his phone, praying it would light up with a text, a call, anything that told him that his daughters were okay. "Why hasn't she called? She said she would call."

A once aggravating sound that invaded his ears and gave him a headache had turned into a whimsical ring that soothed him into a calm state; his ringtone. It blared loudly, but he found himself thanking the gods. His thumb slid quickly against the screen as Caroline's name popped up. A breath of relief escaped his lips before he put his phone to his ear.

As soon as one syllable on her end gets in, he's spewing questions like no other.

"How are the girls? Are they okay? Have the Argents tried anything? Caroline, I swear to god-"

"Richard, calm down. The girls are fine, everything is okay. Kate Argent is here, though, and she's getting suspicious."

Derek's head snapped up, his eyes piercing through Richard's head as he listened closely to every word that was said on the other line.

"S-suspicious? What do you mean suspicious?" Richard ground out. His jaw worked and his hand clutched tighter and tighter onto the phone. He could feel his teeth sharpening against his bottom lip and he could taste the blood as it danced on his tongue.

"Adelaide has the pendant, Richard. The one with the Hale crest embedded in it. She dropped it, and Kate caught it...Richard, if she knows…-"

Only once had Richard felt fear as suffocating as the one he'd felt in that moment; the day of the fire.

Scenarios flashed in his mind, one after another filled blood and loss at the hands of Kate Argent and her family. His own mind was slowly suffocating him, ripping him to shreds as the fear crept further and further up his heart and clutched at his heart with all of its might. He couldn't lose his daughters, he couldn't even be faced with the thought of losing his daughters without losing complete control.

His family, his daughters…they were his anchor, and if he lost them he lost himself.

The phone in his hand was suddenly ripped away from him, his heart matching the pace of his breathing as his eyes bled a deep red and his claws scratched against the denim of his jeans.

"Richard! Richard, you need to calm down…-" He heard Derek's voice clearly, but it only sent him further on edge, "-it doesn't help if you're losing control, you'll be completely useless if you do that. And you know what happens after? Richard?" He could feel Derek's hand gripping at his chin, pushing it too look at him and he fought the urge to rip his hand off. "Huh? You lose control, and we can't defeat the Alpha. If you lose control, you won't be able to save the people you care about, and deny it all you want but I know that's why you're here."

Richard looked into Derek's eyes. Worry, anger, and fear swirled in the grey depths of his eyes and he found himself clutching onto his anchor. He inhaled sharply, letting the sweet scent that came with his daughters invade his senses and sweep over him with a calming relief. They were okay, they were fine. His daughters were okay. He repeated those words in his mind, a silent prayer laced within the mantra. He closed his eyes, letting the growl in his chest fade away with his sharpened features as warmth flooded his veins and heat traveled up his neck.

His jaw went slack and he could feel the heat swirling in his body as the change receded quickly, leaving only an ache in his chest.

"I can't lose them, Derek. They-they're my babies, my daughters…I can't lose them." He opened his eyes and saw the eyes of a young man staring back at him. They were still swirling with emotion, and Richard swore he saw the eyes of a younger version of himself. He let a breath escape him, a sigh that expressed all of his worries. He clasped his hands on Derek's shoulders, his fingers were digging into his henley and he was sure his grip almost hurt, but he needed to let Derek know.

"I can't lose you, either."

"Well, that was fun. We should totally do it again."

Adelaide was sitting in the back seat, her hands clasped together on her lap as she spoke sarcastically. The truth was, she hated it. Allison's parents were not only extremely intense, but they asked way to many questions. They were like dogs fishing for a bone, and Adelaide didn't know where the fuck it was. The whole ordeal had managed to worm into her head and put her in an even worse mood. Not only that, but her aunt was a different situation entirely.

Maybe it was they way she smiled about everything like it was the funniest joke she'd ever heard, or maybe it was just because she kept looking at Adelaide like she was the bone.

Of course, there was the beginning where Adelaide loved Kate. She was cool, funny, she was in Wrestling. But something switched the moment she'd dropped her pendant. For the hour that remained after that, all she could feel from the brazen blonde was akin to enmity.

"Oh, come on, it was fun. I liked it, Allison's parent are-"

"Weird? Intense? Unnecessarily interrogative? Yeah, I know. Actually, the only kind of cool person in there was Kate, and even she got weird after a while. I mean she's still cool, but she's weird. Maybe it's an Argent thing. Except for Allison, she seems to be the only normal person in that family. Oooh, you know who was the worst? The mom. I'm pretty sure she's a serial killer. Her eyes are like literal freaking blades. Talk about creepy." Adelaide rambled on, her eyes moving towards the window as they drove passed the preserves. There was a red light in between the trees, beckoning her into the darkness, but it went as soon as it came. Her eyes drifted back to into the car.

She could hear Lydia rolling her eyes from the front seat, twirling a stray curl around her finger as she wondered what the hell she did to get a sister like Adelaide freaking Martin.

"Adelaide, she's not a serial killer, and if she was, I'm 99.9 percent sure she wouldn't come after you."

"There's still a 0.1 percent chance she will, Lydia."

"Girls, that's enough."

Their mother's voice cuts them off like a knife slicing through air. There was a coldness in her voice that had been there for a while, and the girls immediately quieted down. She'd been in a worse mood than they'd ever seen her, and that was saying something. Her plastic smile was long gone.

Adelaide knew her mother held at least a small bit of resentment towards the young blonde, it made sense. Kate Argent was the epitome of everything her mother hated. She was all smirking lips, leather, and violence. Or at least, that was what she made herself seem like. And at first, Adelaide was into it, she thought she was actually pretty cool. Well, she still thought Kate was pretty cool, but there was something about her that didn't sit right as soon as she caught sight of the pendant.

She licked her lips, thoughts reeling in her mind as she leaned back against the seat in her mother's car. She didn't know what to think of her family, really. They were the complete opposite of her own. They were happy, normal…organized.

Most of Adelaide's family was dead, the others were alive but they were far from normal, far from happy, and a chaotic mess. Maybe that's why they put her on edge, because they had what she didn't. Maybe it was because she wanted the normalcy they held. Their happiness.

She wanted her family back.

After another hour filled with rage and crippling fear, Richard couldn't take it anymore. His hands were shaking and his eyes were losing focus, he had to do something. Whether it be storm into the Argent's house and rip his family away from the grasp, or take a walk, shift, or something that didn't mean a bloody war, he didn't know. All he knew was that his feet needed to be moving, he needed to feel wind sifting through his hair, his fingers needed to be kept busy somehow, he needed to…-he needed to go for a drive.

"I'm going out."

Derek looked away from the piece of art mounted on the wall, mist rising above the ground, the moon full and standing against the night sky in the background. The delicate strokes were clear, but there was something haunting about the picture. There stood a shadowed figure that somehow managed to look alone, angry and pleading all at once, that was when the stroked grew angry and harsh. He never thought he would ever relate to a painting until he saw it mounted in the hallway's wall.

His grey eyes followed Richard's every move. His breathing patterns were uneven still, but he remained in complete control. His canines never became pointed and ready to tear through flesh, his keen eyes didn't flash their dangerous red, his claws weren't threatening to rip into someone's throat. On the outside, he looked fine.

But he wasn't.

Derek could smell the acrid scent that came with fear, he could see the tremble in his fingers as he paced between the rooms that carried his daughter's scent. He could hear his rapid heartbeat like it was right next to him. He wanted to tell Richard he shouldn't go, that he shouldn't be out in the condition he was in, but he didn't. Not because he was afraid, but because he knew that if he stayed any longer…it would get worse. So all he could do was watch as he walked down the stairs and towards the door.

Richard walked right out of the door. The cold, night air nipped at his face and any exposed skin, but it didn't effect him as he rushed right to his car. Instead of running through the forest while there were hunters in town, ones that weren't currently in the Argent household, he would do something that would hopefully help calm him down. He would go see his brother.

Peter Hale.

After getting home, Adelaide had decided to head right on to Alex's. She'd been neglecting him lately, keeping him at arms length to keep him from the trouble that was The Martin/Hale family. It was more than that, really. She'd been keeping him at arms length since the day she'd gotten back from New York. Why would she? She couldn't understand the nagging in the back of her mind, or the ache that pounded right against her sternum whenever she thought about it. She couldn't understand any of it, so why should she have Alex try?

She halted in her steps as she walked down the pathway towards Alex's house, her thoughts were taking on a route of their own, and she didn't want to go down that road. There was an ache in her chest just at the mention of New York, what would happen when she really faced it?

Adelaide wasn't good with loss. Her heart sped up and her hands started to tremble at just the thought of it. Loss was absolute, there was no going back when someone was dead. It was the pain of burning skin and breaking bones multiplied by a thousand. It destroyed people, killed some, and she didn't want to burden Alex with hers. Not after all he'd done for her.

Her cerulean eyes peered up at Alex's house. The moon shone high above it, reflecting in the windows covered by velvet curtains. Her tongue darted out to moisten her dry lips as she walked up the steps and knocked on the door. She could have just went in, but considering the time it wouldn't have been an entirely good idea.

She could hear the steps as they got closer and closer to the door, she waited patiently. The door opened and her frown relaxed, a glint suddenly appeared in her eyes and her lips pulled quickly into a smile. It was Alex's mother.

"Adelaide! I've missed you, hon, where the hell have you been?" Her warmth engulfed Adelaide, honey blonde hair squeezing into her face as the tall woman embraced her. Adelaide could feel something in her heart, it was warm and it was cozy. She wanted to nuzzle into it and feel the glow it provided as Linda Devereux hugged Adelaide Martin like she was one of her own. She inhaled her sweet scent, felt the soft cloth of her sweater against her cheeks as she burrowed her face into her shoulders and hugged her back.

Adelaide let her go, dismissing Linda's reluctance and looking up at the beautiful woman with a brittle smile of her own. "Oh, you know, spent a little while here, a little while there. It was wild." Linda's laugh was like chiming bells on christmas morning, her smile was toothy and cheerful yet full of wisdom. Her eyes were the color of molten chocolate, a sincerity in them that she'd only ever seen in Alex.

"Don't talk such foolishness, you're only 16. The only here and there you'll be going to is School and the Library, got it?" Her voice came out as a soft command. "How have you been? I haven't seen you in 5 months." Her french lilt came out with the word, smooth and graceful as she spoke. The familiar accent in her voice made Adelaide's heart warm the tiniest bits. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed her, either.

"I've been great, you know, just…hanging out, I guess." Linda shot her a pointed look, her dimples appearing once again as she pulled her lips in and gave Adelaide a small nod to go on. "And I'm trying out for the Wrestling Team this year, again. Well, I mean, technically I don't even have to try out. I'm already in, but you know…Coach wants everyone to try out for some reason."

"That's brilliant, I can't wait to go to one of your matches." Adelaide felt something swell in her chest, a feeling she'd always familiarized with Linda. "I bet you're going murder them." Linda's enthusiasm was amusing to Adelaide, her smile was widening and her eyes glowing brighter. "Well, not really. But, you're going to great out there, love, I just know it."

"Ma? Who's here?" Alex's deep voice called from up the staircase, his footsteps bounding down the stairs as he followed their voices. He stepped down completely, his eyes widening and a smile that matched Linda's perfectly settling on his face. He was in only his boxers, but it was nothing Adelaide hadn't seen before. "Addy, what's up? You spending the night?"

"If that's okay with you, Linda?" Oceanic eyes peered beneath batting lashes, lips pulled down into a pout as the woman shook her head and smiled with her eyes and lips. She nodded, her honey blonde hair spilling over one shoulder as she turned to look at Alex with reprimanding eyes.

"Alexander Devereux, we do not walk around in this house half naked. Go put some clothes on right now."

"It's just Adelaide, we used to take showers together, Ma." He insisted, his feet sunk into the carpet in his living room, his toes curling around it as he shot his mom a charming smile. She only shook her head as he took Adelaide's small hand, his thumb running over the quickly fading scratches on her knuckles as he ran them up the stairs.

"Please stay quiet, I've just put Jake to sleep. Make sure to brush your teeth!" Linda called out, but Alex ignored her and Adelaide chuckled. Their feet thumped against the stairs and down the hall towards his bedroom. She relished in the feel of his warm, big hand encasing her small, cold one. Her eyes roaming over his face as he opened the door to his room eagerly. He seemed excited, happy almost.

"What's up with you?" Adelaide's lips twisted up into a small grin, her fingers tightening around his as they planted themselves face down on his bed. She kicked off her sandals, wiggling her toes on the Alex's soft blanket. Her eyes wandered over the room, his scent engulfing her senses.

"Just glad your here." He looked at her from the corner of his eye, focusing on the hesitating tilt of her lip, the fingers that squeezed at his and the uncertainty hidden in her eyes. "And wondering why. I mean, you haven't spent the night in like…3 weeks. What's up?"

Her eyes drifted downwards, her shoulders slumping as she pulled her lips in and tried to put her recent thoughts into words.

"I just…realized something." She began, "I've been…ignoring you, I guess. Just, not paying attention to you, or talking to you as much, and I realized that I'm a complete fucking asshole for doing that, you know? Because you're literally my only friend, you're my family, my brother, and I've been treating you like complete shit." She took a deep, shuddering breath. It felt like something was weighing off her shoulders and she wondered that if it would feel the same to talk about everything else that had been bothering her. She sat up, turning towards Alex and setting a hand on his chest, feeling the soft skin and the heartbeat the pulsated just beneath it. "I'm sorry, Alex." Her eyes, swimming with apologies and warmth, looked into his own.

He could feel something deep in his chest, a quake shaking his entire being as her words moved every inch of his soul. There was something bubbling in his throat. Her eyes were so sad, so…broken. They were deep, like the ocean and brightened by the light in his bedroom, but they shined with a deep abyss of emotion he didn't know she could ever let out. He breathed in through his nose, deep and disbelieving as he dispelled the moisture in that had gathered in his eyes.. "Adelaide…it's okay. You don't have to feel guilty, I get it…Lydia-she told me. She told me that your dad was back."

Adelaide felt like the oxygen had been stripped from her.

Something caught in her throat, a choked breath, a sob, who knew, but it hurt. Pain writhed in her chest as it struggled for one more beat. She didn't understand why she was so surprised, or why she was so hellbent on keeping the fact from Alex, but she was and his knowing made her heart ache. Maybe it was because she thought he would understand then that all she was, was a broken girl with daddy issues.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-" She licked her lips, her throat aching for water and her fingers pulling at the soft blanket. She inhaled a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't know, Alex…I guess I just didn't want you to get involved in my stupid, family drama. I mean, who wants a best friend with daddy issues, right?" She looked away from his pitying eyes. "-and that look. God, Alex, I fucking hate that look."

"What look? Adelaide, that's the point. You're my best friend. I burden you with my shit, so you can burden me with yours. It's a two way street, and okay, I get it. You weren't ready, I understand completely, but…don't tell me you didn't tell me what was going on because you didn't want me to give you this look. I love you, Adelaide Martin, you're my best friend, my family. Your issues become my issues when you lie to me about them. Because then I feel like shit."

Adelaide was at a complete stand still. She understood what he wanted, she understood that he felt like she didn't trust him, but what she didn't understand was how she would tell him that she didn't know how to tell him anything. She didn't know how to tell him that New York wasn't really all that great, or how to tell him that she found a bit of happiness, but her happiness 5 seconds before it was torn from her grasp. She didn't know how to tell him that she was a Hale, or that she was in the fire, or that she was the only one that truly survived and how much she hated it.

She didn't know how to tell him because she didn't know how to accept it. She didn't know anything.

"You're right." She told him. It would be better that way, wouldn't it? It would be better if he felt she was okay, if he felt that he had nothing else to worry about. He didn't, she told herself. "I do…need to start telling you these things, and I will. I just, wasn't ready. Like you said." She pulled her lip in through her teeth and bit, hard. "But…I need you to understand, that…I can't just-I can't just-I-" She didn't get to finish her sentence because suddenly her head was buried in his chest as his arms wound tightly around her shoulders. Her breathing was harsh against his skin, her fingers trembling against his waist and her eyes shut tightly.

"I'm here for you, I'll always be here for you." His fingers, soft and soothing as they wound into her hair and pressed reassuringly against her scalp. He didn't know her pain like he wished he could, he didn't understand her thinking, her motive for everything she did or didn't do like he wished he could, he didn't know what he could do to help, but it was okay. It was okay because he was there, and in that moment that was all that really mattered.

She took another deep breath, letting the oxygen fill her lungs and his scent calm her nerves. Then, she let go. She let go of him, her trembling fingers leaving his warm skin as his own fingers left her unruly hair, the soft tresses brushing against them softly. "How did this become about me?" She laughed a bittersweet laugh, shaking her head and pursing her lips. "This was an apology to you, dummy. Accept it." Her lips tilted upwards into a soft smile, she let it linger and hoped he would give up.

His eyebrows were furrowed in thought, acceptance writhed within those blue hughes and Adelaide felt a tremendous relief in her system, flowing in her veins and sagging her shoulders. A lazy smile took over, her lips stretching leisurely as he spoke the words. "Fine, I accept your apology."

"You love me." She whispered gleefully. Her teeth were white and her dimples were deep as she smiled at him and he could feel a warmth start at the tip of his toes and flood his veins until it reached his heart. Adelaide rarely smiled like that and when she did, it was special.

"And you love me."

Richard was sitting in his car, staring at the hospital before him with sullen eyes.

His hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel as the hospital loomed over him with darkness surrounding it. There were people everywhere, cars passed right in front of him, voices calling from left to right, but somehow he could only hear his own heartbeat. He could only feel the flesh that burned through his own as he tried to take away his brother's pain, could only hear his daughter's screams, could only smell death.

In 6 years he hadn't seen his brother. Hadn't even seen his daughters, his family. A squeeze in his chest made his throat bubble with regret, but he could only sit there and watch as people entered the hospital fearlessly.

He realized he didn't know them, not anymore. They'd grown up. He didn't know his daughters because he wanted to protect them, because he wanted to keep them from the danger he knew followed him. His grip on the steering wheel tightened as his heartbeat sped up. In New York, Adelaide ignored him. He understood why, he did, but he really wished he didn't.

He wished he didn't have to leave, and he wished he didn't have to miss out on his daughters growing up. But he did, and now there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't go back, he couldn't do anything but accept it and try harder. Try to be with them, to understand them, to know them.

His vice-like grip on the steering wheel loosened, his hand reaching for the handle of his car so he could get out, and that was exactly what he did. He walked out of the car and into the hospital with his heart beating harshly against his rib cage and jaw clenching and teeth grinding. He walked up to the nurse at the informations desk.

Her red hair was pulled into a tight bun, beady eyes searching the files on her desk as her nimble fingers worked at filling out papers. He cleared his throat, swallowing back the tremor in his voice immediately as he asked to see his brother.

Peter Hale.

Her eyes widened for just a second, surprise and confusion mixing in those brown depths before a stoic expression settled and she let the way.

"My name is Jessica, I'm his nurse." She looked at him from the corner of her eyes, her shoes clicking against the limoneum floors. He didn't dare look back as his brother's familiar scent wafted up his nose. It was tinged with the illness that clung to every bit of the hospital, the death and ammonia stung his nose. "I've been taking care of him for the last few months." He looked over at the nurse, her eyes looking straight ahead and her posture straight and tense.

"Good." Was all he said. His fingers were twitching, his jaw was ticking and there was dread knotting deep in the pit of his stomach as they got closer and closer to the room. His mouth had gone dry as soon as they stopped in front of a closed door. This was it.

The door was opened by the nurse, her hand was wrapped around the handle and her fingers were tight around it, but she let go and he was suddenly faced with his own guilt.

His brother sat there with his head mounted on his shoulders, his eyes vacant and lifeless, his body still. Too still.

"I'll leave you two alone, now." The nurse said in a hushed whisper, making him twitch in response. He turned back to her and nodded firmly, accepting her answer and telling her to go. Her eyebrows furrowed and he could hear the click of her tongue, but she turned and he waited until the sound of her footsteps had long faded before he walked forward and stepped right in front of his brother.

**He wanted him to smirk his simpering smirk, to speak with his patronizing lilt, to smile with his eyes, to move, to live. He wanted to hear something other than the steady heartbeat that mocked him. A steady pulse that echoed in his ears.

His jaw ticked once.

He didn't understand why his brother was still alive, why Richard himself chose to keep him alive. He wasn't healing, he wasn't talking, he wasn't moving, he wasn't doing anything, but his heart was still beating and his blood was still flowing.

All that lay before him was the living corpse that was his brother, but he knew. There was something stirring within him, dread pooling in his gut as he stood closer to Peter. His steps were echoing almost as loud as his heartbeat as he stepped closer. The scent that came with pack wasn't there anymore, all there was left was the scent of a dying wolf and something underlying.

Maybe it was the scarred skin on his face, the marred flesh that still gave Richard nightmares, or maybe it was the heat the no longer emanated from his skin, but there was a chill in the air that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand to attention.

He ignored the strain that lingered in the air, he ignored the wolf that lay just beneath the surface of his mind warning him, and for once, he ignored his senses.

"I'm sorry."

The words were simple, the phrase held 3 syllables, yet the emotion dripped from them like blood.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't take you out on time, I'm sorry that you had to go through so much pain, and I'm sorry that I haven't come to visit you sooner. You're my little brother...-I'm supposed to protect you, and I failed you. Fuck, I failed you."

An ache that started in his chest spread in his veins like a wild fire. It burned through him and balled in his throat. It gripped and grew until he could feel moisture stinging in his eyes.

"I tried so hard..." His voice was hoarse as the emotion leaked out of his pores. "I tried to get to you on time, but Adelaide...she needed me." His eyes lingered on the scar that painted Peter's face. The risen skin that bubbled and boiled in his eyes, a pink tinge that only served to remind him of the blood spilled the night of the fire. "She was dying...I couldn't leave her. So, I left you, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm not sorry for choosing my daughter. I can't be."

And suddenly the world was tilting on its axis and a relief was lifting from his shoulders. He didn't have to feel guilty, he didn't have to feel a pressure in his chest when he thought of choosing his daughter over his brother because Adelaide Martin was a part of him. She had his blood running through her veins, and while he loved his brother, Adelaide and Lydia Martin were his life. They were his children, his daughters, they were his as he was theirs.

To feel guilt for keeping them alive was to feel good for leaving them to suffer.

"I love you, Peter, but...I love them more. I just wish it didn't..-" A crack in his voice split the words and made him clench his jaw. The bubble in his throat doubled in size. "-I wish no one had to die. I wish you were still here, and I wish...-I wish our family was still here."

But there's no more time to wish, is there?

His tongue darted out to moisten is drying lips as Peter's dead eyes only stared back at him. There was no reaction, there was mo expression, only a heartbeat of a living corpse. He gulped the ball that had formed in his throat down.

He willed the stinging in his eyes to go away, the gathering moisture was swallowed into the deep ocean that were his eyes.

Peter Hale was gone, so why was he still here.

After a minute of debate, he willed himself to leave.

His feet were heavy as he dragged them away from his brother, one step towards the door, two steps, three steps, and four steps until the handle was cold against his hand. The plastic wrapped around the metal to ensure the safety of children only felt like the end. The end of what, he didn't know, but he did know that if he left then and there, it'd be the last time.

"I love you."

The words came as the softest whisper and they lingered in the stale air. It was aimed not only at Peter, but his family. His sisters, his nieces, his brothers, his aunts, his nephews, his old pack. It was for those that once were, and loved just like he did.

He pulled at the handle, his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway as he left the building.

He didn't realize it, but Peter Hale was watching after him. His eyes following his every move as he turned his back, his finger twitching against the blanketed chair.

It was when his lip pulled up against the scarred skin, that simpering smirk appeared.

Peter Hale was there, and he was better than ever.

Adelaide and Alex were walking down the hallways early in the morning with matching sunglasses and identical scowls. After apologizing and proclaiming their everlasting sibling love to each other, they decided it would be fun to play a few games of Never Have I Ever. Their late night fun had taken a tole on them both, their sleeping hours down to 5 and that wasn't enough for the day they would have. Mix that with alcohol?

It was a school night, what the hell were they thinking?

With her hair up in a high ponytail, bags resting just beneath her eyes and her signature red lipstick she carried with her everywhere, Adelaide knew she didn't look great. Her stomach felt like it was caving in, and not from hunger. It was a deep seeded dread with a mix of nausea, remnants of her hangover. There was something pounding against her temples, reaching and squeezing at her brain until it popped, and just the smallest bit of light could make it happen.

"I hate alcohol." Adelaide grumbled beneath her breath, barely acknowledging Alex's grunt of agreement as they trudged towards her locker. Her small fingers fiddled with the lock, her eyes losing focus for just a second as she moved her sunglasses atop her head and light stabbed her pupils. She fought the urge to cry then and there. "So much."

"Stop talking." Alex urged, a whine in his voice as he leaned his cheek against the cool locker. Adelaide wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, yet hide in a dark little corner with her knees pulled to her chest where light and noise would never ever hit her when a sharp pain pulsed against her temple.

"Hey, Adelaide!"

A voice pierced through the air and through her head like a knife. It settled in the vessels in her head and nearly popped them. It was loud, it was boisterous, and it was Stiles.

"Fucking christ, Stiles! Do you have to be so loud?"

"I'm not?" The statement came out more as a question, his voice lilting and his eyes scanning her pale face as she sorted through her locker with delicate hands. Her jaw ticked and when the bell rang she winced. If it weren't for the very obvious sickness, he would have thought her as a werewolf.

"Dude, are you seriously hung over?"

"Stiles, can you please shut the fuck up?"

"Uh, Ads...-"

She felt the tug of her leather jacket, and turned around to face Alex. He was just as pale, his eyes were almost bloodshot and a pang of worry shot through her. He looked much worse than she felt.

"I'm gonna just...go to class."

She could hear the grimace in his voice, and she reached to pull his sunglasses down. Her fingers brushed against his messy hair, the soft tendrils tickling her fingertips. Her lips lifted at the corners as she looked up at him, and she ignored the pulse of pain that shot through her temples, reverberated through her head, and settled in her unprotected eyes.

"Good luck with Harris. He's definitely gonna tell you to take these off."

"I hate you."

"Bye now."

He walked off with a leisure pace set in stone. His head was low and his shoulders were hunched. Pity settled deeply in her stomach with another role of nausea.

"Okay...well, I kinda sorta found your phone."

Stiles' voice sounded right by her ear, a piercing screech that was really just a low mumble. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention as his breath fanned across her ear lobe. Goosebumps rose from the surface of her skin and she suppressed the shiver that fought to rake down her entire body.

He was far too close to be okay.

"One, back up, you're invading my bubble. Two, give me my phone. Three, if you went through my phone, I swear to all that is fucking holy I will pluck off every little hair on your head."

"Oh...my god. Has anyone ever told you-"

She turned, her hair slapping against his face and her stormy eyes settling on his. He reeled back as she held her hand out and pursed her lips.

"Give it to me."

He rolled his eyes as he pulled it out of his pocket, grumbling something beneath his breath that she couldn't hear. She felt the cool surface of her phone against her warm palm before she saw it sitting there. His fingertips brushed against hers as he moved his hands away and she saw him open his mouth and close it, almost as if hesitating to mention something.

"Uh...someone named Krystal called..."

She coughed. Each cough racking through her entire body as she choked on her own spit. A shock lingered there, pinching at her skin and poisoning her as Stiles stood there with a perplexed expression.

Adelaide didn't know what the fuck to do. Her heart was hammering against her chest and for a second she wanted to hit something, hit someone, just to see if she was really awake and this was really happening.

"W-what?"

"Krystal called?" Stiles eyes flitted over her paling face. Her lips were parted in surprise and he was sure if he had Scott's super senses, he'd hear her heartbeat hammering against her chest. Eyes wide with near-horror and disbelief, she stuttered for a response. In his entire life, he never though he'd see Adelaide Martin a state of panic, and if it weren't for the way her eyes were pointing from object to object, or the harsh breaths and rapidly rising chest, he would have found it amusing.

"What-what did she say?"

"She said it was about Dylan. I don't really know what she..." But she couldn't hear him anymore, all she could hear was the echo of his voice pounding in her ears.

Dylan

Adelaide could feel the pressure in her chest, like a boot was crushing her beneath its weight. It was like her heart was struggling for the next beat, yet the beating against her sternum was rapid. It was in her entire body, pulsing and throbbing. Her head was splitting, and her throat was bubbling with the need to breath.

"Woah, Adelaide, hey...are you okay?"

His face was suddenly in front of hers, their eyes connecting. Recognition was steady and flowing with hues of gold and brown in his eyes, and he started speaking. She didn't know what he was saying, and she didn't care enough to find out. All she could hear was the hum of his voice, all she could see were the newly revealed flecks of gold and green in his eyes. She could see him, and only him.

She separated the moles scattered across his face, and her eyes wandered to where they disappeared beneath his shirt.

"You're okay..." she heard the whisper clearer in her mind, and the pressure was slowly relieving. The pounding in her ears was receding and she could hear again. She could breathe in the cheap perfumes and aging text books.

Stiles' face was right above hers, eyes filled with concern she didn't know he could point towards her. She noticed they'd been backed into a corner beneath the staircase and a broken sigh escaped her.

"You're okay." His lips moved as he spoke and she focused on them for less than a second, trying to make out the words and listening with keen ears as they were spoken softly, yet clearly.

They were close again. Really close. She could feel the heat emanating through t-shirt, and she noticed a warmth on her shoulders, a weight that anchored her to the ground, more importantly to the earth. His hands were weighed down on her shoulders and she shrugged them off.

He got the message, though, and backed away from her. Red spots blotched his skin, a steady blush.

"I...uh-are you alright?"

No, she wasn't. He'd told her that Krystal called about Dylan. Dylan, who was her friend, Dylan, who took care of her. Dylan, who was her first real relationship.

Dylan, who was dead.

No, she wasn't alright, and no, she wouldn't tell him that. Because he was Stiles Stilinski, and she was Adelaide Martin. They hated each other, or at least they had a very strong dislike for one another, and the only thing she could say was, "I'm fine, thank you." He was just another person, besides, what business of his was it, anyway.

And the last thing she did, was gave him a small smile. It lifted at the corners of her chapped lips, but that was it. It didn't reach her eyes, and it didn't show her dimples.

All it did, was made him realize something.

Maybe Adelaide Martin was just as human as everyone else, and maybe, just maybe, they were more alike than anyone could have thought.

Last night was a night Richard couldn't get out of his head. It was like a broken record, a seed embedded deep in his mind and the plants were growing. The thing was, the plants were poisonous, just like his thoughts. They were dangerous and dark, an anger throbbing harder and faster against his ribcage.

Caroline may have been blaming everything on him, using him as a scapegoat for her own personal issues, but he didn't like it. He didn't like the stab of her words, didn't like the glaze in her eyes whenever she mentioned his leaving 6 years before. The words that left her mouth were like a never ending fire, spitting and burning him. They were flames that grew higher and higher with each sentence she muttered.

And none of it was true. They were all lies fabricated to protect herself. A life in denial was one she lived thoroughly and expertly.

She ought to know that he hated fire.

The whiskey burned down his throat soothingly, his jaw unhinging and clenching right after. He could feel the alcohol warming in his system for a second or two before it was burned away and he was cold again. So, he took another sip.

"You're angry."

Caroline's voice is like kerosene, bidding him further into his anger. Heat was crawling up his neck and he knew she wouldn't last a second if she spoke a word about their daughter's safety.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. We were supposed to go, present ourselves as people that aren't the enemy, I didn't think they'd get-"

"-suspicious?"

Even he could hear the darkness lurking in his voice, the predatory growl that was crawling just beneath the surface. His daughters meant more to him than anything, they were his pack, his...they were his.

He tossed back the rest of his whiskey, slamming it back down on the table as he stood quickly with fisted hands and tense muscles. "You didn't think about what this could do. You didn't think that this could put out daughters, our family, in danger. Caroline, you DIDN'T THINK!"

Heat crawled up his neck and encased his body as words tore from his throat and deep growls merged with everything he said. His eyes were burning, a red tinge starting in the pupil as he trembled with rage and fear.

"They're hunters, they're killers, they kill werewolves! I'm a werewolf, Caroline. And you know what? Lydia and Adelaide carry the werewolf gene. They're Hales, they're of the supernatural realm. What made you think that any of this would do us good? YOU PUT OUR DAUGHTERS IN HARMS WAY!"

"I WANTED TO PROTECT THEM!" Her scream was shrill, but it echoed like thunder. Her entire life was dedicated to her children, and to have him say that she didn't care, that she wasn't doing anything for them, was wrong. It made a fire rage in her blood and sear through her veins. She was a bomb at that point, and she was ready to explode. "I wanted to protect them. I wanted to take away from their suspicion-"

"They were never suspicious in the first place! They never thought of our family as anything less than normal, and you've gone and fucked it all up." A low snarl escaped his throat and she reciprocated with a glare that could set anyone on fire.

"You should have never come back." Her voice had changed, then. What was once a yell filled with rage, was quieter. It held whispers of dark promise. "You left once, you left us in a time of need, you left us and came back. You ruined everything, again. Everything was fine, perfectly fine, before you came back. Everything was normal."

He reared back as if he'd been slapped. His lips lifted over his teeth and his fists clenched. His jaw was ticking as his fangs struggled through the flesh that held them back.

"How the hell would you know, Caroline? You were never here. You were never with them, never helping them. never being there for them. You were always working."

Her breathing became ragged as his words shook her to her very core. A clenching in her gut and a pool of liquid anger boiled within her. "I work to provide, to be here, unlike you. I didn't RUN AWAY LIKE A COWARD!"

"I TOLD YOU I WAS LEAVING! I TOLD YOU WHAT HAPPENED!" He took three deep breaths, the burn in his throat climbing up and up. "I told you why. I told you that the Argent's were after the rest of us, I did this to protect them, Caroline. My daughters, my family, you. You're not the only one that had to sacrifice their happiness. For fucks sake, if I had a choice, I would have stayed. If my daughters weren't going to die, I would have stayed. I left the people I love, the people I could barely live without, and almost died, to protect them." He moved to leave, but leaving her with those words didn't seem like enough. Rage was still holding him in its tight hold. He looked down at her trembling form, her hair framed around her face perfectly, eyes wide and enraged; wild.

"You think I just left and did nothing? Just sat on my ass and let my family suffer without feeling the pain myself? Even from New York, I did something. I lured every hunter in Beacon Hills the fuck away from my family, I killed people, Caroline. I became an Alpha, I had people watch for them, I did everything in my power to be there for them without endangering them."

It was like a bucket of cold, ice water had been dumped on her. Her wild eyes had dimmed and her lips were trembling. The harsh beating against her rib cage filled her ears, her shallow breaths mingling with his harsh words. They were like knives prickling into her spleen, digging further and further with every word. Every sentence was a weapon wielded specifically for her.

"What the hell did you do?"

SHIT. JUST. GOT. REAL.
w/ richard and all, and addy ofc, shit will be unraveling pretty soon. okay, so i want to make something clear. This story is not centered around romance, it will never be centered around romance. Ofc, it'll be a big part with staddy and all that, there will be chapters in the future that are prob just pure staddy, but there is more to this story than just that. Ja feel? So, sorry if i'm really not…paying very much attention to that part, there's just so much I want to set in stone before i REALLY get into their relationship, and tbh it starts now. There will be more staddy from now on, hopefully, and i'm so very sorry it took so long, but like i said…i rlly wanted to establish my OCs into the teen wolf world first.
That being said, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :D I'll be seeing you guys soon!

xoxo Brii(: