Time just got away from me I don't even know. At least it's the same year as it was the last time I updated though, amiright?

Chapter Nineteen - An Understanding

Nora slept through the next day and night, allowing herself to be roused every few hours so that one of her parents could force some water down her throat and ice her face. By Saturday morning, everyone had given up trying to reach her except for Mei, Halle, and Ben. She shot a quick message to the three of them.

Really sorry guys. Got hit with something. Got super sick on Thursday night. I've basically been asleep since.

Immediately her phone was alive with well wishes, messages from the three of them asking how she was feeling. Ben, asking if he could come by later with a care package.

She said yes. Realizing she would have to explain why half her face was a pattern of sickly yellow and purple bruises, the cuts on her hand.

She fainted in the bathroom, dropped the glass she was holding, smacked her face on the tub.

Perfect.

Nora read through her missed messages from Scott and Stiles, piecing together what had happened since she'd lost them at the Jungle. They had stolen a police van, kept Jackson locked inside it for a day, gotten a restraining order placed against them by Jackson's parents, and were both in very, very deep shit.

Well, that made three of them.

She knew that Sofia had seen the letters from Jane, scattered across Nora's desk and the floor around it. So that cat was long out of the bag.

Nora closed her eyes, hoping she could just fall back asleep, leave her problems for later, a different morning. But she knew before even trying that sleep wouldn't come. It was time to get up.

Sunlight streamed into her room, a crisp and clear March morning. A bird song chimed through her open window. It was Spring. One step closer to summer, when Nora got to get away and pretend for a little while that Beacon Hills and everyone in it didn't exist.

But that was still so far away, and Nora was truly starting to wonder if she would make it.

She would. She had to.

If Nora knew anything for certain, it was that she wasn't going to let this bullshit kill her.

She swung her legs out of bed and headed for her shower, feeling a renewed strength despite the ache in her body, her empty stomach. She caught herself in her mirror. Nora had changed as of late, she could see it now, understood why her parents had been hovering around her like hummingbirds. She had clearly lost weight, shed herself down the lean muscle that was usually hidden beneath her skin. There were circles under her eyes that not even a day of sleep had fixed. No wonder it was so believable that she was getting sick all of the time. She looked terrible, and the mess of her face certainly didn't help.

She looked a bit like her mother did, on her worst days.

So no wonder her dad was losing his goddamn shit. Nora knew that sometimes he looked at her and saw Jane's ghost. She just didn't realize that lately he had been looking at her and seeing a ghost of his daughter too.

Nora read back over the letters between her and her mother, wondering if there was anything in them that could upset her father, aside from their mere existence. She decided that no, the content of the notes themselves was quite benign. A long estranged mother and daughter circling each other and the truth of what they had lost. It was sad, but she knew that to her father, it would seem like something of a betrayal. Nora swung her bedroom door open, sat down in her chair by her window, and waited.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed before her father, looking as wrung out as Nora did, stepped into her doorway. She stared at him, feeling an odd sense of calm. It didn't look like he was going to yell at her again, and if he did- so what? Nora didn't have a plan for how she was going to handle this. She knew she had been letting her family down as of late, been distant and defensive and more than a little rude. But Nora had come to the conclusion that she should be granted some allowance of fuck ups, she was a teenager for fucks sake. If there was any point in her life where she should be allowed to be a bit of a disaster, wasn't this it?

Her father slid into her desk chair, turning it to face her. It was only a few feet away, but something about that distance seemed uncrossable, at least by Nora. She had been laying down on the wire for everyone lately, and if her father already thought she was selfish, then why should she have to apologize first? She shouldn't. And wouldn't.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." He began. His voice was a gravelly mess. "Or said any of what I did."

Quite frankly, her father's tirade was mostly a blur in Nora's mind, but she had gotten the gist. And she knew her rage would simmer for some time, but Nora knew it wouldn't do much good to be angry with him. So she batted away every urge to be short with her father, to be exactly what he had been scolding her for.

Nora knew she wasn't going to make him understand, not without a whole lot of lying, or a whole lot of explanation. Neither thought was appealing. So she knew what she would have to bite her tongue and still and calm and smart and reassuring. Good, old, Nora.

"It's okay." She said, letting her voice come alive for the first time in over a day into a soft fluttering thing. "Dad, it's okay. I just-"

Nora cut herself off on purpose and looked away from him. Let him ask the questions, coax her out, fill the gaps, instead of hitting him with the flood.

"I've heard-" He began, then probably realized she shouldn't admit to gossiping. "I know that Scott is going through something right now. I know that's where your mind has been."

Well, Nora certainly couldn't deny that. So she nodded, slow and timid, like a frightened child.

She wished she could tell him that truth. That she was worried something would happen to her that he wouldn't understand, that no one would explain, and he'd be left with what? All of her bizarre behaviour and rumours of Scott McCall's mess of a life.

"I just can't believe you yelled at me like that." Nora said, finding the ending to the sentence she had started before. And it was true. Her father had never been upset with her like that. His rage was reserved for disasters at work and Jane. He never laid it out in front of her. "Dad, it really hurt."

He bowed his head, clearly deeply ashamed of it, of his lost control. Nora fought every urge to make him feel better, to do what she knew best how to do, and let his feelings be bigger and more important than hers.

But no. She was not going to do that in her own damn bedroom, with her own damn father.

"It really, really, hurt."

He nodded. He knew. Nora knew he knew. Peter Morrissey was not blind or stupid or cruel, but that did not mean he didn't make mistakes.

"I know sweetheart. And I will never do anything like that again, and if I do, you have my permission to throw your shoes at my head, or total my car, or tell me you hate me. I knew better than to talk to you like that and I did it anyway. I am sorry."

Nora felt something in her chest cave in a little bit, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up into her father's arms like she was a little girl again, and like she thought everything he said was true, like if he said nothing was going to hurt her, it wouldn't.

"I'm sorry to." She said, feeling the words take something out of her. Probably her pride. But she was sorry. Even if she hadn't wanted to say it. "But did you really think I was never going to make mistakes? Do stupid things? Do things you won't like?" Her father opened his mouth but Nora didn't want to stop. "I'm not mom, and if I ever was-"

But she cut herself off, stopped herself from saying that natural thing that came next, the thing that would make him feel a little bit better. Her father had tried to make her ashamed of her mother, tried to make her forget her, pretend that she wasn't worth a passing thought. She was an addict. Nora knew that. And she would never be able to understand what that relationship had done to her father. But that did not mean that Nora didn't deserve to know or mother, or be treated like she was a stint in rehab waiting to happen.

"If I fuck up, get into real trouble one day, are you just going to yell at me? Walk away from me? Write me off like mom?"

The words slipped out before Nora could think them through. But she needed to ask, needed to hear him say something. Jane could not stay the bridge between them they wouldn't cross, not forever.

"No, Nora." Her father said, his voice was a small brittle thing. "No, of course not."

"Then why have you been acting like it?" Nora asked, sharper than she'd meant to.

Her father put his face in his hands, and Nora knew how red and blotchy he got when he was trying not to cry. She looked away from him, as if she could give him privacy.

"I know." He said. "I don't worry right."

Something about the simplicity of that statement made Nora want to burst into tears. Because that was something she understood more than anything. She knew how much easier it was to get knotted up in anger instead of fear. How it was so much easier to arm yourself with rage instead of admitting you were afraid.

She felt something loosen in her chest, nothing to do with her dad.

"I know everything seems like it's the end of the world when you're young. And it is. It is your world." Her father looked up, and caught Nora's gaze. She couldn't look away from him, the desperate pools of his blue eyes. "Especially when your friends need help. It's just-" He stopped, his voice cracking. "Sof and I need to see you taking care of yourself, and we need to see you at home more often and that's what we should have said-"

His words were coming quickly, and she watched her father take a deep steadying breath.

"I am not mad at you. I do not think you're letting me down. And it's not an excuse, but i just get scared for you sometimes."

Nora felt tears welling in her own eyes. Because there was the truth of it. Her family didn't care about hunters or werewolves or magic or anything other than her. All they wanted was for her to be safe.

"It's ok-" She began, scrambling to find a way to reassure him that felt like it could hold true.

"No." Her father's voice was suddenly stern. "You're growing up. You have a life I don't know about, because you're a teenager and that's how it works, and I decided to get all twisted up about it instead of reminding you that you're my daughter, and that no matter what you do, I will be there. Okay?"

"Okay." Nora said. Her voice was hardly a whisper, and she found herself looking past him to the letters scattered across her desk.

Her father sighed.

"Please Nora." He said. "Don't think I'm going to be upset with you about that. I-"

There was a gentle knock at the door interrupting him. Marisa and Isabelle were standing there, Marisa holding a bowl and Isabella a mug.

"Are you feeling better?" Marisa asked, her birdlike face the picture of concern.

Nora felt herself smiling at her sisters.

"Yeah guys, I think so."

Nora was curled up in her bed next to Ben when her phone began to come alive again. He paused their rewatch of the Avatar: The Last Airbender television show as Nora rolled over to look at her phone. It was not a number she recognized, but the message gave it away.

You need to tell me who the kanima is. I can't mess around with this any more.

How Derek Hale had gotten her phone number was a mystery to Nora, one she didn't feel like solving. She tossed her phone back onto her nightstand and rolled back over, settling back into Ben's outstretched arm. He planted a kiss on top of her head.

"How's your face feeling?"

"Ouch." Nora said. "Is an understatement."

Ben picked up the ice pack Nora had tossed away from herself in a fit of irritation and placed it gently back onto her face, covering her bruised eyes.

"I can't see." Nora said, staring into the black that came from having an ice pack sitting directly on top of your face.

"You've seen this show." She heard Ben close her laptop and felt him properly lie down next to her. He tossed his free arm over her body. "Animation doesn't really get good until season three anyway. I'm sparing you."

Nora laughed and it hurt her nose.

"I can't see you like this." She said, mostly because she wondered what he would say in response.

Stiles she knew, would probably be self deprecating.

"Well, I'm not really going anywhere, am I?"

"No." Nora felt her eyes burn from more than the pain. "I guess not."

Unfortunately, Monday came. Nora, for the first time in what felt like months, put some proper effort into getting ready for the day. Much of swelling was gone from her face, but the bruises were likely going to be at their worst for the next couple of days. She wore a light blue shirt as a compliment to the purple and yellow pattern on her face. Her right eye was bloodshot.

It could be worse. She could have broken her nose.

She stared at herself. Her black jeans, a pair lifted from her aunt, were high in the waist, but fit looser than before. Nora's pendant stood out on her pale neck. But, that morning she had allowed Sofia to serve her a large plate of eggs and sausages, with some fruit and yogurt and granola in a bowl. It was more than Nora would have ever wanted to eat in the morning, even on her best days, too much breakfast could unsettle her stomach, but she had done it. She threw back the cup of water on her nightstand and checked her backpack for her water bottle, and then looked back to the mirror.

One good breakfast did not fix that Nora looked like hell, but it was a start.

She made it through the morning without incident, and despite having warned Mei and Halle about her face, they were still shocked.

"You look like Rocky at the end of every movie." Mei said.

Halle did nothing but grimace.

Halfway through her second period Nora got an email from Stiles. She clicked away from her research for the class assignment and opened her email.

Lydia translated more kanima text.

Nora read through the translated excerpt from the bestiary, a hard knot forming in her stomach as she did. She had managed to force the reality of what was happening around her from her mind over the weekend, but now it was all coming back.

Her phone buzzed, Nora picked it up.

I sent you translated kanima stuff.

And then.

Are you okay? Your face hurts less than it looks, right?

Stiles had clearly done what he thought was the smart thing and had avoided her that morning. But it wasn't that big of a school.

I'm fine. And no. It hurts as much as you'd think.

She wanted to ask if he had a recent lapse of logic and had decided to give Derek her phone number, but she doubted it. Nora also realized that she had basically told Derek that Jackson was the kanima at the club, but it seemed he had been too busy threatening her to notice.

Threatening her. And then taking away her pain in a strange, dizzying flash.

Also, do you think you could ask Lydia what the deal with Jackson's parents is? She won't tell me.

It took Nora a long moment to understand what Stiles was talking about. Then she remembered that Jackson had been adopted, and that maybe whatever was preventing him from becoming an actual werewolf, had to do with that.

Pretty sure Lydia and I are on bad terms right now.

Stiles' typing bubble appeared and then disappeared several times.

njiklm

Nora stared down at her phone, wondering if perhaps she was concussed, or if Stiles had just sent her "njiklm".

What?

A few long moments passed before Stiles messaged her back.

Erica cornered me. Figured out Jackson is kanima. We all have detention at 3 in the library.

Nora frowned, wondering how all of that could happen in the span of less than a minute. But this was Beacon Hills, and he was Stiles. Nora sighed.

I'll be there.

When the final bell rang Nora wanted nothing more than to get on the bus home, curl up in her bed, and ice her stupid face. But Stiles had filled in more on Jackson, and it was clear that the time to figure out what to do about him was running out.

Nora headed for the side stairwell down to the first floor, bracing herself against the chemical smell from the labs. It was only to her mild surprise when she turned the corner onto the landing and Derek was standing there.

"For fucks sake." She muttered.

Derek didn't startle, no shock there. Worse, he looked smug. Whatever odd genuine thing Nora had seen in him on Thursday was gone.

Great.

"You told me who the kanima was." he said. "And I didn't catch it."

Fuck.

Not that it made a difference. Erica had been one step ahead of him.

"No, I guess you didn't." Nora said, not sure what more he could want from her now.

"What else do you know?"

Nora folded her arms over her chest and held his narrow gaze. Fuck this.

"Quite a bit, actually, but I'm not just going to tell you, so if you may," she gestured towards the rest of the stairway that he was blocking, "I have somewhere to be."

Derek scowled and did not move. Nora knew that she could make him, but it didn't seem like the proper play.

"Maybe I know something." Derek said.

Nora had to stop herself from scoffing, if Derek knew anything worth knowing, why was he cornering her in a stairwell? She quirked her brow but said nothing. Derek sighed.

"Gerard isn't afraid of it." He told her.

Nora kept her face still, her breathing even. She could not tell him that there was no way Gerard was the kanima's master without admitting that not only did the kanima have a master, but that the master had some sort of agenda that did not seem to overlap with anything Gerard Argent would want.

"I doubt he's capable of feeling fear, from what I've heard about him."

Was there no way Gerard was the master? The timeline didn't fit, Jackson was transforming before Gerard came to town, and if he was, wouldn't he have had it properly try to kill Derek? And what would Gerard Argent have against Isaac's dad, a mechanic, and one of his own hunters?

No. Not Gerard.

"What?" Derek asked, his voice harsh. "You know something."

"I already said that." Nora snapped, turning her attention back to him. "I know things about the kanima that you would love to know. But you are a fucking nuisance and you have nothing you can tell me in return so," Nora leaned forward, pressing an unseen force against Derek, "move before I make you."

He was livid, Nora could tell, but what was she supposed to do about that? He stepped to the side and let her continue down the stairs.

"I thought we had an understanding." He said.

Nora whipped around, staring up at his impassive scowl. Her face throbbed, everytime she accidentally moved or touched her nose it sent shooting pain back up into her head. She did not want to deal with Derek right now, or really, ever.

"If you really wanted my help you would be honest with me, you would do something to earn it, and my trust. But you don't and you won't, so fuck off. I'm telling you anything."

Derek stalked down the stairs, and Nora tried to reach for some past version of herself that would have been frightened by him. She couldn't find it.

"And what are you going to do with what you know? Save Jackson?"

His voice dripped with condescension, and Nora couldn't tell him that that was exactly what they were going to do. They were going to figure out who was controlling him, break the bond, and help him turn into a werewolf like he was supposed to. She didn't know how, but it wasn't like Derek did either.

"He's in the library." Nora said. "So if you want to go rip out his throat, by all means. But you'll have to deal with the Argents, and Scott, and Jackson, and me. But go ahead."

Derek was looking at her with a mix of fury and bewilderment.

"Why are you protecting him?"

Nora was suddenly overcome by the urge to slap him. But she couldn't tell him anything without giving away what she knew about the kanima, how it worked, and how Jackson wasn't culpable. He was just a tool.

"Derek, I know what you're doing." She turned away from him and made her way down the last few steps. "I'm not going to play this verbal fucking tennis match with you. I'm trying to save someone's life."

Nora slipped out of the stairwell before Derek could say anything more, and she knew he wouldn't dare follow her into the gaze of Argent's cameras..

Nora blustered into the library not long after three. It was obvious she was not happy, though Stiles was pretty sure she was not happy in general, as opposed to not happy to be there. She slipped into the seat next to him. Scott looked at her in surprise.

"Harris is sitting right there."

Nora pulled out some homework, laid it out in front of her and tucked a pencil behind her ear.

"So? He doesn't despise me like he does you two."

Stiles shrugged and looked back over to the other table. Jackson was sitting like he usually did, poised to kill someone, and Allison looked half ready to leap up from her seat and fling herself out of a window. Matt was eating popcorn.

"What if it's Matt?" He asked, having half forgotten about him until now. "This whole thing comes back to the video, right?"

Scott looked at him, confused. Nora pointed her pencil at Matt.

"That's Matt?"

Stiles nodded. Nora turned back to Matt, looking unconvinced.

"Danny said that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing." Scott reminded him.

Stiles knew that. But he also doubted that Jackson's master was actually in that footage.

"Exactly!" Stiles whisper-yelled. "He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."

"But Matt doesn't know anyone else knows about the kanima, or that it has a master." Nora said, absentmindedly scribbling on her notebook. "So why the need to cover up something no one else knows is happening?"

The three of them looked back over to Matt, and Stiles wanted to say that even the way he ate popcorn looked a little off, but he didn't think that made sense to anyone but him.

"So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your jeep?" Scott pressed.

Nora pointed her pencil at Scott as if to emphasize his point.

"Yes." Stiles said.

He couldn't articulate it any better than that the more he looked at Matt, the more convinced he became that something was wrong with the kid.

"Because," Stiles searched for a reason that would maybe make some sense, "he's evil."

"You just don't like him." Scott said.

Nora made a small noise of agreement, not looking up from the dog she was doodling.

"The guy bugs me, I don't know what it is." Stiles admitted, leaning back in his chair as Scott turned around to stare at Matt. "just look at his face."

Matt offered some popcorn to Jackson, who was very decidedly ignoring the offer.

"Any other theories?" Scott asked him.

Stiles could not help but notice that Nora had trained her gaze back on Matt, more intently than before.

"What?" He asked, wondering if maybe Nora had some sort of supernatural spidey sense now that she was whatever she was.

She turned back to him.

"You really have a bad feeling about him?"

Stiles felt something in his chest clench. He nodded. Nora looked back over to Matt.

"Okay." She said. "That's not nothing."

Stiles let out a sigh. "Thank you." He gestured at Scott. "See, that's what support looks like."

"Has your dad gotten anything closer to connecting the victims? Cause that's what's going to point out the kanima's master." Nora said, leaning closer into the little triangle that she, Scott, and Stiles created at the table.

"No." He said, forcing himself to ignore the guilt that welled up in his chest when he thought of his father, and the position he had put him in. "Not yet, but he will."

"If it weren't for Isaac's father, you could maybe go by age or graduation year." Nora said looking back down at her books.

Stiles furrowed his brow, straining for some piece of a memory he couldn't find, like a word at the tip of his tongue.

Jackson stood up, swinging his backpack over his shoulder, looking ill.

"No one leaves their seats." Mr. Harris said before following Jackson from the room.

Stiles, Scott and Nora immediately left their seats.

Nora had grown used to the ache in her chest whenever she was with Stiles, and it struck her hard that lately she hadn't really been feeling it. But that did not mean the way that Erica Reyes looked at him didn't make her want to yank across the table by those blonde curls. Not because she was jealous, but because she still felt Stiles was far too emotionally incompetent to deserve any girl's attention. Maybe that was bitter, but part of her still thought Stiles deserved her bitterness.

She shoved the thought from her head and listened to Erica, who was finally being something like helpful and pleasant. Derek could try taking notes.

Erica opened her computer, searching for the insurance report from the car accident that killed Jackson's parents. Stiles scowled at the table.

"Maybe if we save his life we can get him to give us money." Nora offered, not wanting to contemplate that not only had Jackson been privileged with looks, athleticism and wealthy living parents, but also wealthy dead ones.

"Somehow I doubt it." Stiles said.

The loudspeaker crackled, and Victoria Argent's voice cut through the library's relative silence.

"Scott McCall, please report to the principal's office."

She, Scott, and Stiles stiffened, and Nora fought to keep her heart rate down and her fear with it. She touched Scott's arm.

"She's not going to try and kill you here." Nora said to him.

"Let's hope so." Scott said, and got to his feet.

Nora turned to watch him go and allowed her eyes to settle on the other table. As much as Allison infuriated her she couldn't help but want to do something to ease the miserable look on her face. She caught her eye and offered her a small smile. To her surprise, Allison returned the glance. She settled her gaze on Matt, who now that Stiles had put the idea in her head, did rub her the wrong way. What Nora didn't know if it was Stiles' suggestion that had done it, or something else.

The library door swung open, and Nora whipped around, hoping it was Scott returning, but it was Jackson. And he looked no less ill than he'd had when he left. Harris came in behind him, his brow furrowed.

Erica began to read from her father's reports, the date of Jackson's parents death on the 14th of June. Nora frowned, looking up at Stiles as he voiced what she had thought.

"Jackson's birthday is June 15th."

"So he never knew them." Nora said. "Which we already knew."

Erica shot her a scathing look and continued to scroll. Mr. Harris stood up, looking quite pleased with himself as he told the group of detainees that they would not be going home until they had finished reshelving the book carts.

"Miss Morrissey," Nora looked up at him, feeling herself smile as he averted his eyes from her face, "don't help them."

With that, Mr. Harris turned and left.

Nora followed Scott, Stiles and Allison through the shelves, watching them sort through the books while she examined her fingernails.

"So was it an accident or not?" Allison asked.

"The word all over the report is inconclusive." Stiles told her, drumming his fingers along the top of the book cart.

"So his parents could have been murdered?" Scott said, fighting to keep his voice low.

"Or a suicide." Nora looked at Stiles. "Who was driving the car?"

The three of them fell silent for a long moment.

"If something like that happened, if they were murdered or- well it falls in line with the kanima myth. Seeks out and kills murderers."

"But for Jackson or for the person controlling him?" Allison glanced between the three of them. They shrugged.

"I think I might go to the library or something later." Nora said, the idea forming in her head as she said it. "Look at old yearbooks and newspapers and crap. There has to be something connecting the people who've been killed."

Stiles looked at her, his brown eyes lit up with curiosity.

"Would you want some help?"

Nora didn't want to say yes, invite him along like it was old times. But she didn't really have much of a choice. It seemed like they were friends again, for real.

"We still have to talk to him." Scott said before Nora could answer. "We still need to try and make him understand what is happening to him."

"He won't listen if he doesn't want to know." "He's not going to listen." Nora and Allison said at the same time as Scott darted around the shelves.

She, Allison and Stiles shared an exasperated look.

And then the ceiling exploded.

Or at least that's what it seemed like.

The three of them dropped to the floor as broken ceiling rained down over their heads, and books tumbled from the shelves. The shattered fluorescent light crackled and sparked.

"Holy fuck!" Nora shouted, feeling far more irritated than afraid. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Jackson tore through the library, toppling tables and shelves. She heard Scott roar Erica's name as Stiles threw his arms around her and Allison. The shelf next to them wavered and fell, Nora turned and threw up her hands and Allison braced herself on the floor. The shelf teetered in the opposite direction as Nora shoved it away. Stiles let out a shuddering breath.

"We still have to talk about this." He said, his hands still on both her and Allison's arms as they scrambled to their feet.

Nora ignored him and Allison's wide eyes.

Jackson, half transformed, his face a strange collage of skin and scales, tossed Scott away from him like a rag doll. The three of them reeled away from the fight as Scott ran to put himself between them and Jackson.

"Alright well I know none of us killed Jackson's parents so what the fuck is-" Nora began, her voice a hiss. Stiles shushed her.

She followed the line of his eyes to Jackson, his head tilted back as his arm and hand, moving like a puppet on a string, took up a piece of chalk and began to write on the board.

Nora felt her stomach roll at Jackson's unnatural movements, bile pressing against the back of her throat.

Jackson let the chalk fall from his hand to the floor. Nora peered through the flickering lights to read what he had written.

Stay out of my way or I'll kill all of you.

So, Jackson's master knew they were looking for them.

Fantastic.

Jackson, or this weird shell of him, leapt onto one of the few still standing shelves and through the window. The four of them stepped out of the aisle of scattered books, staring at Jackson's message. Nora heard Stiles moving behind her, and then his voice, frantic and frightened.

"I think she's having a seizure." He said, holding a thrashing Erica in his arms.

Nora shot to his side. "Put her down, move the books." She looked down at Erica as Stiles did as he was told, and to her horror, saw consciousness in her eyes.

Wasn't she supposed to be unconscious?

"He's alive." Nora heard Allison's voice from around the corner.

Nora had forgotten about Matt.

"We need to get her to a hospital." Stiles said, pushing Erica's hair back away from her face.

"Derek." Erica said through gritted teeth, her voice small and shaking. Nra watched as she seized Stiles' hand. "Only to Derek."

Nora slipped her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her messages, searching for Derek's message. Scott turned to speak to Allison, and something about the hospital.

"Derek." Erica insisted again. "Derek."

Nora wasn't going to try and understand whatever deep rooted connection she now felt to Derek, but if that was where she wanted to be to see this through, then Nora wouldn't argue. She pressed on the number, standing up as Scott rounded the shelf to talk to Allison.

To her surprise, someone picked up.

"Erica needs you. Kanima venom. Seizure. Where's your dumb secret lair?"

She could hear Scott and Allison, the tremors in their voices, the goodbye.

Something in her heart sank as Scott came back around and lifted Erica into his arms. She handed her phone to Stiles as Derek began to explain where to bring Erica.

"Drop it off at my house later." She said.

"What-"

"Thank you." Scott said, catching her eyes in a silent understanding before turning to leave.

Nora turned around, not watching them leave as she bent down next to Allison and Matt's paralysed, unconscious body. She took Allison's phone from her trembling hands and dialed 911.

The two of them sat there staring at each other, the dispatcher's voice feeling far away as he waited with them on the line. Allison's eyes were glittering with tears. Nora held out her hand to her, giving Allison a reassuring squeeze as she twinnd her fingers with hers.

"It will be fine." She said, forcing Allison to hold her steady gaze.

But Allison looked away, down at her other hand, pressed to Matt's neck monitoring his pulse. There was nothing on her face that suggested to Nora that Allison believed any of this would turn out fine.

Stiles was waiting on her porch steps when she got home, Allison having dropped her off once Matt was loaded into an ambulance. She took her phone from his hand and collapsed next to him on the steps.

"Scott's gonna help Derek." Stiles said, his voice was hollow. "On his terms, he said, but-" he kicked at the ground. "I just hate him."

Nora let out a sigh.

"What?" Stiles asked.

She could feel his eyes on her, but she didn't turn to look.

"Nothing." She said. "I mean it. Just like, how the fuck did this happen?"

"We have terrible luck?" Stiles offered, rubbing at a collection of reddish brown stains on his jeans.

"Is Erica okay?" Nora asked, her stomach turning.

"She will be." He said. "Allison?"

Nora felt herself let out a low laugh, but said nothing.

"Right." Stiles put his face in his hands. "Well at least she hasn't tried to kill us yet."

"You." Nora corrected. "She hasn't tried to kill you yet."

Stiles grimaced. And Nora wondered if he would correct her, remind her that Kate was the one who had pointed the gun at her chest. Not that Allison's doe eyes watching had been a particular comfort in that moment.

"Fuck." Stiles said, his voice muffled by his palms.

Nora tilted her head back, and stared up at the yellow bulb of her porchlight. The light stung her sensitive eyes.

"Yeah." She agreed. "Fuck.

Sorry this took so long. I got busy with reading avatar the last airbender fanfiction. As always, i love your comments :) thansk for reading !