Blackwood pressed the button, and a screen lit up with the words "Algorithm Transcription Countdown: 60 Seconds." The counter began cycling.

Lydia was crying. "You can't do this to my baby!" she shrieked.

Stiles was growling. His arms and hands began to turn red and then purple as he struggled to force his change into the Alpha despite the tight and unyielding restraints. Blackwood looked bored by Stiles' efforts and programmed a few more numbers into the keypad. Stiles suddenly started screaming as an electric shock ran through his body. Each of the chairs had metal plates that conducted the shocks, and each werewolf's limbs were held tightly against those plates by the restraints. All Blackwood had to do was program in the chair's number and that chair would receive the shock. Stiles convulsed a few more times, and the group smelled the sweet odor of burnt flesh.

45 Seconds.

Jackson shouted at Blackwood in desperation.

"Blackwood! Dad? Use me instead of the baby. I'm your own flesh and blood, and you could be in your twenties, the perfect age to enjoy your powers. You really want to be stuck for years in the helpless body of a baby? Plus, my adoptive parents are already rich. You wouldn't be losing anything!"

"Hmmm, intriguing. Give me a moment to consider." Mused Blackwood.

"Jackson!" shouted a terrified Derek.

"I have to do this! It's the only way to save Giles!"

30 Seconds.

"Very well. I accept your offer boy, and it is quite gracious of you to do so. I do regret that I didn't get to know you better…"

"You have to promise to let the rest of them go free, with Giles." Said Jackson firmly.

"You are in no position to bargain, son. But I can be magnanimous. If your friends will swear to stay away from me, I will return the favor. What say you all? Time is running out!"

15 Seconds.

"I swear. Stiles does too." Said Lydia miserably. Stiles was still unconscious, although his burns seemed to be rapidly fading.

"I swear." Said Scott.

Danny and Matthew swore after a brief glance at each other. What else was there to do?

"Derek? Say you swear! NOW!" shouted Jackson.

Derek's face was stone. For a second, it seemed he would refuse, but then he looked at the baby in the chair, and a spark came back into his eyes.

The soul transfer machine began to make a whirring noise as it prepared to complete its function.

"I swear." Derek said lifelessly.

Blackwood hit a button, and the countdown stopped at 1 second. A few keystrokes later and he was free, and began disconnecting Giles from the machine. He rolled the chair away, and used his cane to detach the collar from the child's neck. Blackwood wheeled Jackson's chair into the vacated spot and began attaching the wires to him. When he was done, he ruffled Jackson's hair almost fondly.

"It is so noble of you to sacrifice yourself for your friends. I must say, you have made your father proud."

Jackson said nothing, although he seethed at his biological father's touch and longed to rip him with words if not teeth and claws. But he couldn't risk the old man taking it out on the baby.

Blackwood reactivated the countdown and moved to secure himself back in his chair when Scott suddenly screamed "Allison!" Everyone turned their heads to see the beautiful brunette walk into the room. She held one of her old crossbows, it's lethal shining tip pointed directly at Blackwood's heart.

"I never swore anything." She said. Then she fired the crossbow. In a move one rarely sees outside of Kung Fu movies or Xena the Warrior Princess, Blackwood snatched the bolt out of the air.

"My years studying under the highest ranked Ying-Ko or Battle Masters of Death have served me well my little archer."

He suddenly crossed the space between them and held the arrow tip to her throat.

"I'm sorry, my dear. But with my training, no human in the world could get the best of me."

"Who says I'm human?" Allison said sweetly, her eyes suddenly lighting up with golden flames. In a blindingly fast move she had wrenched Blackwood's hand around and behind his back, yanking upward with a sharp cracking sound. Blackwood shrieked, and Allison dropped him to the floor before running over to Jackson and viciously yanking out the wires connecting him to the machine. With swipes of her razor sharp claws, she sliced through the thick bandages connecting her friends to their chairs.

Lydia suddenly said in a bored voice "Just so everyone knows, I saw this ending coming down 5th Avenue in a cab. Stiles will have a lot of explaining to do when he wakes up." Stiles chose exactly that moment to return to consciousness, and catching sight of Allison in full Beta phase, he gave everyone a sheepish grin. Scott and Lydia glared at him before they all turned their attention on Blackwood.

Blackwood rolled over still holding his injured arm to find eight enraged werewolves standing over him. Lydia paused only long enough to gently turn Giles' high chair to face the wall so that he wouldn't be scarred for life by what he saw.

All eight shifted fully and as one pulled the flesh from Blackwood's bones, his shrieks barely audible above the furious roars of the maddened beasts.

When they were done, they looked down at the picked clean skeleton, before Jackson slammed his foot down on the bare skull, crushing it to fragments and causing the encased brain to splatter in all directions.

"Thanks for the free meal, Dad." he said contemptuously.

Lydia burped loudly, and covered her mouth delicately in embarrassment. Then the eight blood and gore covered friends ran over to Giles' high chair and Lydia joyfully snatched him up while he squealed with delight. Stiles hugged both of them, and after the happy parents exchanged a glance, they grabbed Jackson in for a big group hug.

"Jackson, you were going to sacrifice yourself for him. I will never forget that." Lydia said, her eyes flooding with tears.

"I already know who we are going to pick to be his godfather." Said Stiles. "Hey Lydia, this is for you." Stiles grabbed Jacksons face and kissed him full on the lips, while Jackson flailed his arms around wildly. Lydia cheered, along with Danny and Matthew. Scott and Allison screamed and turned away, their faces red.

Derek laughed when Stiles finally let Jackson go... "I did give you a pass Jackson, don't worry, I'm just a little jealous. But what a little trollop you are, trying to bed all the Alphas in the neighborhood!"

"Der! That was all him! I didn't ask for it! Although, I do see what you mean about him now…" Jackson joked.

"Guys, let's get back to Stiles' house for the victory celebration. This place gives me the creeps." Said Allison. She hummed as she set a metal briefcase that was sitting in the hall right on top of the soul transfer machine. Opening it up, she programmed a tiny control panel and it began to beep merrily. None of the gang had to ask what the device was. They were back in the van and on the road by the time the mansion blew up.

Epilogue

Giles was sleeping for the first time in his crib when Lydia came down and joined the festivities that were already underway.

"So, did we get to the part where my husband bit your wife, Scott?" asked Lydia, eyes flashing.

"That night at the restaurant. The two of you leaving, Stiles eating breath mints when he came back, and Allison hiding for the night. I should have known." Said Scott.

"I'm an Argent, honey. You know we can't stay out of blood wars. You were right about me being out of practice, but it occurred to me I could get all my old skill back and more with a bite from our friendly neighborhood Sheriff."

"Scott, she threatened to start screaming that I stole her underwear or some nonsense in the middle of the restaurant if I didn't agree. What choice did I have?"

Lydia snickered.

"Well, I wish you would have told me, but I'm glad things worked out the way they did. And I stand by what I said years ago…you make a hot werewolf, babes." Scott leaned over and they began smooching, so the other guests found other things to stare at for the next forty-five minutes.

"Get a room!" said Danny.

Allison caught the pregnancy bug, and within nine months they were graced with a baby daughter, whom they named Melissa Christine after Scott's mother and Allison's father.

Derek and Jackson adopted the little Madison baby when his current foster parents returned him to Child Services. The mother's drug history had caused her to contract a number of debilitating viruses from contaminated needles, and she had passed these on to the infant without knowing, as a routine blood work test revealed. Mr. Madison gave up all of his parental rights when he found out. Ms. Kennedy had contacted Stiles and asked if he knew anyone that would be interested as they had no other suitable homes at that time. When Stiles mentioned it to Jackson, he begged Derek to be allowed to take the baby.

"I'm fine with that, Jacks…but you don't want your own child? I thought we talked about a surrogate." Said Derek, stroking Jackson's cheek in their bed that night.

"Adoption saved my life, getting me away from that evil bastard. I don't want his genes to live past me. Besides, it's only fair that I do for a kid what was done for me."

"You know he's pretty sick." Derek whispered.

"And you know that with one bite, you could knock the bugs right out of his system. No child should have to live like that." answered Jackson.

Derek exhaled deeply.

"Christmas is going to be interesting with all of these little wolfy kids running around, that's all I have to say." Derek reached over to put out the light.

When the adoption was finalized, they rechristened him Jack Erik. Of course the other adults called him "Jerek", and after a while the name stuck.

Danny and Matthew hired a surrogate to have Danny's child, who turned out to be a boy they named Miguel after Stiles' long ago ruse that led to a Derek Hale strip tease. Matthew happily acted as a free daycare provider for all of the children whenever their parents were busy with work. He taught them how to paint and draw, and they were always excited to spend the day with him.

One day, while Stiles was busy changing Giles and Lydia was still ten minutes away from completing her 2 hour morning bathroom routine, the bell rang. It was a UPS deliveryman with a sealed official looking envelope from a law firm with nearly twelve names attached. Opening it, they found letters detailing the corporations, stock holdings, real estate and liquid assets that Lester Blackwood had left to little Giles Stilinski.

The two parents were stunned, and they looked over at what was surely the richest baby in the entire world, who had decided to soil himself once again before the new diaper had even been sealed shut.

"Well, I guess we don't have to worry about his college fund." said an awed Lydia.

"Should we send him to Yale, or just buy it for him when he turns eighteen?" wondered Stiles aloud.

Ten Years Later, Aftermath 3: Seaon 20 (Thirty-Something Wolf)

It had been a long time, but the Pack was gathered once again. Of the seven members of the original Lacrosse team that lived elsewhere in the country, all had gotten married and had a child. There was a big party on the Hale estate with the eleven children gathered together on the front lawn playing games while the adults ate food and rehashed old times.

The children were playing a game that Stiles taught them, called 'Who's the Alpha?', which involved a lot of yelling, screaming and shoving as the children struggled to become the leader of their Pack.

Giles and Jerek were shoving each other pretty good, their eyes yellow and little ears pointed. Along with Melissa, they were the oldest and the first among the group to change, although all of them were doing it now.

"I'm the Alpha!" shrieked Giles.

"No, I'm the Alpha!" screeched Jerek.

They were both suddenly hurled to either side by an extraordinarily strong Melissa McCall.

"I'm the Alpha QUEEN!" she shouted, making up the new title with childlike enthusiasm. And to punctuate her certain victory, she crossed her arms and glared at the assemblage with eyes that flickered suddenly from brown to yellow to bright crimson.

"Oh, boy…" Said a stunned Scott and Allison McCall.

The End