Chapter Text
How could Scott come up with something like this?
Melissa was pacing back and forth in the living room. Scott left for school an hour ago with his backpack and a beautifully well-written restraining order against Jackson Whittemore.
She finally had a day off, which was a rare gift, but couldn’t think about anything else than this new mess her son got himself into.
“He and his damned luck.” she murmured to herself “They could have made a soo much bigger issue out of this. Not pressing charges was a miracle. And a lawyer father? I don’t think we could have been able to hire a lawyer.”
She knew that as a single mother of a teenage son, she has to face difficulties.
Underage drinking, maybe drugs or God forbid, even accidental pregnancies, especially after Scott started dating Allison. She had whole plans for handling these situations but kidnapping a person as a “joke”? No idea how to react to that.
She couldn’t relate to having a distant father, her dad was a lovely person, but she did have a couple of breakups, hell even a whole divorce but committing a crime, especially something like this? Was it a broken heart, what caused this?
“God I wish I could understand Scott more.” she sighed and went to the kitchen to prepare to cook. “Just a little bit... I don’t want anything else, just understanding my son.”
After Melissa said these words she started feeling a little bit light-headed. In confusion, she put down the pan she has just grabbed and reached for a cup to drink.
Before she could fill it with water, she passed out.
—------
The sheriff knew he was in big trouble.
He was sitting on his worn-out couch lost in thoughts. At any other time, he would be enjoying his free time. Watching some movies, reading a book, but no. Right now, he had a glass full of whiskey in his right hand even though it was only around 10 am.
He couldn’t get it in his head. His own son stole a prison transport van for some reason and kidnapped his classmate, whose parents are, by the way, loaded and have great connections with higher-ups, as a prank with his best friend. And for what?
Maybe they got away with a warning and a restraining order but he certainly will not. After closing this case the station may fire him for Stiles’s irresponsible decisions. The worse is he cannot even be mad at this. As a sheriff, he knows the department had already made him a favor by looking past Stiles's weird appearance at every single damned crime scene. They just can’t look past over this too.
God, how can he solve this?
Maybe if Claudia were still alive…
No. He refuses to go down this rabbit hole again. He will figure this out alone, maybe with the help of Marissa. She is in the same shoe as him at the moment.
The sheriff doesn’t blame her for Scott's decisions and he knows she doesn’t fault him either. These decisions were made by their children… but how heavily were they influenced by them?
He just wishes Stiles could tell him what the hell is happening. Stiles is his only family and it’s frustrating to see him lie every time.
He just wants to understand his son. Nothing more.
Noah is snapped out of his thought by a migraine. Putting down the glass on the ground, he closed his eyes and massaged his forehead.
Did he already drink this much alcohol? No, the whiskey glass is almost full, he couldn’t have drunk more than a few sips yet.
The sheriff picked up the glass again and as he was starting to get up, suddenly the world got dark.
the glass broke into pieces on the hard floor.
—--
“No! Look I’m not stupid, all right? There’s something wrong with Lydia. Yeah, I’m serious! UGH!”
It took three attempts for Natalie to finally reach his ex-husband only for him to dismiss all of her concerns by calling her “emotional", asking her, if she was on her period, and saying she was overreacting. That’s when she decided to hang up on him and throw the phone on the bed.
Best decision ever.
She knew she was not the best observer, and could easily brush off things as unimportant, but even she could see that something doesn’t sit right with her daughter.
Ever since that animal attacked her she was acting weird. Zoning out, having nightmares, and obviously, that incident without clothes which lasted for days. Lydia acted as if nothing was wrong and she had to admit she thought the same… or maybe she just wanted to think the same. It would be so much easier to believe her daughter's words and accept that she’s fine but she can’t. She will investigate what’s wrong with her daughter. With or without her ex-husband’s help. But where could she start?
The school therapist won’t say anything, which is fair but annoying. Her schoolmates would probably lie, especially after what that two boys pulled off the other day. She would rather not talk to them about Lydia's mental health. Speaking with Jackson would be better although Lydia doesn’t like her very much at the moment, but of course, she wouldn’t say why.
Natalie sat down on the bed, picked up her phone, and started nervously fidgeting with it.
Does she know anything about her daughter's life? She should right? She is her mother, she should know everything. But then why comes nothing in her mind? Did she fail this hard at being a mother? Her daughter doesn’t trust her enough to tell her if she’s struggling.
How could she better understand her situation? Trying to talk to her will end nowhere.
She doesn’t see any solution.
“Oh, Lydia I truly want to help. Or even just understand. I’m sorry for ignoring your problems… What’s happening to you?” at the end she was almost crying
The only thing that stopped her was her head pain.
The next moment she lost consciousness and the phone lands at once again on the bed.
—-
“Darling, did you find Jack also a little weird?” David asked her wife
“What do you mean? He was just fine,” she replied without looking up from her newspaper
It was true. Jackson was fine. Thinking about it, he was the embodiment of “fine”. Not happy but not angry, not sad but also not playful. He was just fine.
“But isn’t it weird, how he reacted after being kidnapped by those two brats?” he pushed the subject “They basically chained him in a police van and kept him there for a day. This counts as a traumatic event. I had toxic friends who went too far with pranks and let’s say I wasn’t happy about it.”
Alice paused for a little bit. It is a little strange, isn’t it? He should have been angry or scared. Even if he didn’t show it before the two criminals, at least at home he should have acted a little bit differently. But nothing. He said nothing and went upstairs with a blank expression.
“You could be right. He was also acting unusual in the past few weeks. I mean you know he was never that emotional with us but still. He looks as if he completely went on auto-pilot.”
“I haven’t heard anything about Lydia. Did they break up? Or his friends. I don’t remember hearing anything from them either.”
At this point, neither of them had anything in their hand. Not a phone, not a newspaper.
Did they miss all of this? Because now thinking about it, Jackson isn’t himself. They were so caught up with work they didn’t have enough time to care about their son. But work is important. They have their fortune from their jobs. Missing a few talks isn’t that important right? Jackson is not a little child anymore. He can take care of himself.
“Do you think it’s the Sheriff’s son’s and that other kid’s fault?” asked eventually Alice
“Who else’s fault would be?” agreed David “They get him in this situation, they probably bully him at school. The kid… Scott was his name, yes, I heard he was awful at lacrosse but then magically he became the best.”
“Probably drugs.” said Mrs. Whittemore ”It’s not surprising really. It also would explain why was Jack angry at him.”
“Of course. Jackson hates cheating. And the other one. I saw him getting head over heels for Lydia. He probably tried to steal her from him.”
“It’s disgusting. They are an example of why is it important to have two parents. One can’t raise a child.” she grimaced
“I wish we could understand how exactly these children ruining our son's life. It would be easier to hold them accountable.”
Alice wanted to agree with her husband and continue bashing the delinquents but her vision started to darker. Before David could ask if she feels sick too, both of them fainted.
—---
Chris had a name to uphold. He knew that. His family were hunters for generations and he didn’t want to break the circle. But Allison…
He wouldn’t have minded if she chose a bit calmer and safer lifestyle.
Especially after what happened to his sister, he wanted to have his daughter as far away from bullets, claws, and arrows as possible. He remembered how Kate used to be before Geralt brain-washed her.
He didn’t want the same fate for her only child.
His wife might not agree with her though. Victoria was always passionate and protective. The problem is, that she isn’t protective in a “be safe” way. No. She is a “kill everyone around you so no one will hurt you” kind of protective. This also meant, she sometimes “accidentally” ignored the code for “the greater good”.
Chris is an Argent but Victoria is the leader. He won’t ever be anything else than a soldier.
He hoped when the time comes, Allison will be a better leader than her mother or her aunt.
But also, sadly, this depends on how well Geralt influences her. Hopefully, he won’t but… Kate started out as Allison. Is she strong enough for refusing to follow her grandfather? She has good friends, even a werewolf ex-boyfriend.
He stopped polishing his guns. There wasn’t any natural light in the garage but he could still see himself almost using this weapon.
He now regrets pointing this gun at Scott.
At the moment it felt justified but looking back… How could he be angry at Kate for wanting to shoot a sixteen-year-old when he wanted to do the same? Maybe not wanted, maybe he just wanted to scare him. Either way, he has a feeling it didn’t work and only pushed Allison into not trusting him.
He wants to understand Allison, he really does. Why does she make friends with the werewolves? How does she look at the word? They clearly have a different approach because where she sees opportunities, he only sees potential danger. Where she sees friends, he only sees future betrayals.
He wants to understand his daughter. Maybe then he could stop her from becoming like Kate.
He didn’t have more time to think about her daughter. His mind went dark before he could even understand what was happening.
The gun loudly fell to the ground, but no one was there to hear it.