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Step by Step, We'll Get There	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: S through Z > Teen Wolf Views: 4674 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf nor profit of it. Jeff Davis owns it.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Author's note: Consider this the final set up for the story; starting from this point the story will slowly grow darker. Also yes, the whole exam period is probably not how it goes in real life in the US, but bear with me, please ^^;
Warnings: some minor time skips, but nothing really bad that needs a warning
I hope you'll like it!
Chapter 6
"Have you completely lost your mind?" Stiles hissed as they all made their way deeper into the park.
Erica raised an eyebrow. "What? You're not happy to have all your friends here?" she asked innocently, but her eyes gleamed and a dangerous smile played around his lips.
"Cut the bullshit, Erica," he said in a low voice, eyeing Derek and Theo warily. Kira was talking with Derek while Lydia had sunk her claws into Theo for some reason. They were discussing something seriously judging by the looks on their faces, but at least it kept Theo from reacting badly to Derek's presence.
"What the hell were you thinking? This is just asking for trouble," he continued agitatedly, running a hand through his hair.
Yeah, he hadn't minded a 'buffer' in the form of his friends, but having Derek join? That was just too risky, given how much Theo obviously didn't enjoy the Beta's presence. He hadn't said anything to Derek when the man had joined them, but one had to be completely blind to not notice the way Theo had stiffened. He already hadn't been in the greatest of moods to have Stiles' friends join them – just how was he going to react to Derek's presence?
"Relax, it's just a gathering of friends," she said, rolling her eyes. "It'll only be a big deal if you make one out of it."
"I am so sorry I don't want any blood being shed today," Stiles muttered snarky.
"Now you're exaggerating. Everything will be fine," she retorted flippantly, smacking his shoulder before skipping to the front to cosy up to Boyd again.
He was left glowering at her back, questioning silently why he'd ever thought accepting her offer to help had been a good idea. She seemed to thrive on stirring trouble and while in general Stiles was prone to stirring the occasional trouble as well, he could only hope that trouble wouldn't find them today.
Scott popping up next to him had him tearing his gaze away from Erica. "What's up?"
Scott grinned, wrapping his arm around Stiles' neck. "Just claiming you as my teammate already if we end up playing a game of frisbee," he stated before pausing and adding thoughtfully, "Well you and Kira of course."
"Of course," Stiles snorted, because Scott couldn't not play with his girlfriend in his team. It didn't matter to Stiles, though; in fact he was rather happy about it. For all that Kira came across as demure and sweet, she was absolutely vicious and unforgiven when it came to sports and he'd rather have her on his team than against him.
"Look, I know you're not entirely happy with what Erica did," Scott said, growing serious and lowering his voice so that others wouldn't overhear them. "But what's the worst that can happen? We're in a public place; nobody's going to start a fight here."
"I hope you're right," Stiles mumbled darkly. He definitely didn't want to explain to his dad why a fight had broken out in a park of all places.
"Come on, you guys! Any slower and it'll be nightfall by the time we get to our spot!" Erica called out and set the example by quickening her pace, tugging Boyd along with her.
There was some huffing and eye rolling but in the end everyone hurried up; all eager to enjoy their last free moments before exams would demand their full attention.
Their get together went rather … well actually. It surprised Stiles, because he'd expected at least one skirmish to happen, but everyone remained quite civil – and with everyone he meant Derek and Theo. The both of them stayed away from one another the whole time they were at the park, even during their little picnic, but they also didn't antagonise each other, so Stiles counted that as a major win.
Even if it was rather awkward to be sitting right between them with both of them ignoring each other.
But whatever, he'd prefer them ignoring each other over them beating the crap out of each other. The deputies of his dad would have a field day if they got called to a scene like that.
When the sun was slowly descending in the sky, late afternoon inching into early evening, Erica dragged Theo, Scott and Isaac with her to buy ice cream from a local vendor who'd set up shop near the fountain. Lydia had settled herself on the blanket underneath a large tree, still keeping to the shade despite the hour and talking with Kira about their dresses for the graduation party. Boyd was lying a bit further on the grass, seemingly asleep.
Stiles had plopped down underneath the shade of another tree, slurping his soda through a straw. He'd given his ice cream order to Scott and hoped his friend wouldn't forget about it. Ah well, even if he had, Stiles was pretty sure Theo had been listening when he'd given his order, so he'd get his ice cream either way he supposed.
A large shadow was cast over him and he looked up, squinting a bit. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of Derek offering a faint smile before he dropped down next to him, their thighs brushing against each other. It was the first time they sat so close today and Stiles was quite aware of the warm limb against his.
"Hey," he said stupidly, letting the straw slip from between his lips.
"Hey," Derek said amused before he uttered a soft sigh and glanced away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I'm sorry about Erica, okay? I didn't want to come because I thought it'd make things awkward with Raeken, but you know how she is." He grimaced, looking put out. She'd probably badgered him until he'd finally given in; Erica was not someone to take no for an answer.
Stiles shrugged. "Hey, no worries. I figured this was all her idea," he said, bumping his shoulder against the older man's. "Besides, it's not so bad. There hasn't been any maiming or mangling so I'm quite happy."
Derek snorted. "How uncivil do you think we are?" he muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Says the one who growled when Isaac wanted to take the last sandwich," Stiles retorted unimpressed.
"He'd already eaten three more than I had," Derek mumbled petulantly, as if that was enough justification to growl at an unofficial pack mate.
"The greedy bastard," Stiles said mock outraged and snickered when Derek bared his teeth at him. Mirth dying out, he pursed his lips and then admitted softly, "I'm glad you came, though."
"Yeah, me too," Derek said after a short pause before he shifted and stood up. "They're here with the ice cream."
Turning his head, Stiles saw the four of them approaching their little group. Unsurprisingly Erica was only carrying hers and Boyd's order which she handed over to him with a pick on his lips when he sat up. Scott carried the ice cream for himself, Kira and Lydia, while Isaac pressed a cone with three vanilla scoops in Derek's hand.
"And my ice cream?" Stiles raised an eyebrow when Scott was left empty handed save for his own order.
Smiling sheepishly, Scott jerked his thumb at Theo who stood a bit behind, holding two ice creams. "Couldn't carry another one, so he ended up carrying it."
"Huh." Standing up, he took a few seconds to brush some stray grass blades off his shorts before he went over to Theo.
The Alpha held out a cone which had scoops of strawberry, chocolate and pistachio balancing precariously on it. "I don't think it has started melting yet, but I wouldn't wait too long with eating it either," he said good-naturedly. His own cone had one scoop of vanilla and one with chocolate.
"Thanks," Stiles smiled, starting on the deliciously icy cold treat immediately. The sun wasn't that hot yet, but that didn't mean the ice wouldn't start melting soon. Noticing Theo wandering off, he stood there for a moment longer, hesitating before going after the other boy.
He thought he could feel eyes lingering on his back, but he paid no attention to them and instead followed Theo to the shade of an old willow, several feet away from the group.
Theo seemed a bit surprised when he came to stand next to him. "You didn't have to follow me," he remarked cautiously; his eyes flickering back and forth between Stiles and the others. "You can sit with your friends, I don't mind."
"True, but you're not really comfortable around them, right?" Stiles commented, keeping his voice purposefully light.
It still made Theo stiffen and his face turned blank. "I don't have anything against them," he said in a neutral voice. "I just – don't really know them yet. Besides, they're your friends – I can hardly hope to date you if I can't get along with your friends, no?"
"I know you don't have anything against them, but I guess they did kind of crash what was supposed to be a date, right?" Stiles said and a stab of guilt shot through him. It was irrational, especially because he didn't want to date Theo in the first place and certainly didn't mind the buffer his friends provided, but looking at Theo doing his best to have a good time with people he didn't know just because he wanted to date Stiles … Yeah, that did make a small part in him feel guilty.
Damn it, he hadn't expected to actually feel guilty about his friends crashing this supposed date.
"It's fine," Theo said hastily, waving his hand. "It would have been rather weird to have a first date right before the exams anyway. I don't know what I was thinking."
"Nothing weird about that," Stiles muttered, looking away with a slight frown. Some of the pistachio ice cream started dripping onto his hand and he quickly licked it off before it could make his whole hand sticky.
"I was thinking that maybe – maybe we could go on a date after the exams are over?" Theo suggested hesitatingly. "We'll have a week until graduation then and it's not like we'll still have classes to attend."
"Sounds good," the Omega mumbled, attacking the chocolate ice cream. His tongue and mouth were slowly growing numb because of the cold treat and he ran his tongue over his lips.
"And if you want … We could study together?"
When Stiles turned to look at him, the Alpha hastily raised both hands, almost dropping his ice cream onto the grass. "Just studying, I promise. Nothing else," he smiled wryly.
In spite of himself, Stiles snorted amused, somehow managing to get ice onto his nose, and replied, "Yeah sure, we can study together – that is if you don't mind Lydia occasionally crashing our little study party."
Glancing at the red head, Theo muttered, "I don't mind. I don't think she would let my opinion deter her, though."
Well, at least he'd figured out how Lydia worked; that was something. "Yeah no, she wouldn't let that stop her," Stiles confirmed, throwing the girl a quick smile when she briefly glanced at him. She raised an eyebrow before turning back to Kira and Scott.
Their ice cream was finished by the time the sun had set low in the sky, painting everything in deep orange, red and yellow. It wouldn't be long anymore before dusk would settle in completely and the park would close for the night.
Erica waited until everyone was gathered together again before retrieving a frisbee from the bag she'd packed, holding it up with a triumphant smirk plastered across her deep pink lips. "Anyone up for a last game of frisbee?"
Exam period started out with a relatively easy subject, history, and as long as Stiles didn't let himself get distracted by a million of other subjects he'd browsed through on Wikipedia during the weekend, he figured he'd easily ace that particular exam. It was literally just remembering dates, some important people's names, and events; nothing complicated about that. Sure, some events might need to be compared with each other in an essay form, but at least it didn't deal with formulas like chemistry.
Chemistry ended up being his fourth exam and surprisingly his study session with Theo – sessions which had started after their first exam – turned out to be quite helpful in this case.
"Can't we just ask Danny to hack into the school system and retrieve the chemistry exams?" Stiles suggested whiningly, dropping his head onto the dining table with a loud groan.
"Or you could quit your whining and actually study," Lydia reminded him coolly and the sharp edge of her pencil was hovering dangerously close to his vulnerable hand.
"Didn't you pass all the tests before?" Theo asked confused, twirling a pen between his slender fingers. He was sat across from Stiles and occasionally his foot would bump against the Omega's leg whenever he moved.
"Yes, but Harris hates me," Stiles bemoaned, refusing to lift his head up even when Lydia poked him warningly in his arm with her pen.
"He might hate your guts, but he won't be able to do anything if you get perfect grades, which I know you are capable of, so sit up or so help me god, Stiles," she hissed, narrowing her eyes. The sunlight falling through the window set her curly hair alight, making it appear as if she was surrounded by flames. Somehow that picture combined with her hissing tone came across as ominous, like she would attack him any moment now.
Knowing how on edge she became during exam periods – which was so weird, because she was the smartest in the whole school, bar Stiles, and there was absolutely no question that she would graduate with flying colours – and having realised a long time ago that she made no idle threats, he hastened to comply before she could decide on how she'd punish him.
Given her current mood, the punishment definitely wouldn't be of the fun variety.
"Lydia, light of my life, you always know just how to motivate me," he told her with pursed lips, scrubbing his cheek and hoping the ink of his pen hadn't got the chance to stain his skin. Not that it would be the first time that he'd have ink on his face, but whatever.
"I know," she smiled sweetly before jabbing her pencil at his book. "Now study."
"Where's McCall by the way?" Theo asked absentmindedly, most of his attention on the equation he was trying to solve. "I thought he'd be here too, considering you're joined at the hip."
Shrugging, Stiles answered, "He's studying with Kira at her place." Tilting his head to the right and staring at the ceiling he added contemplatively, "That and apparently Lydia scares the shit out of him during study sessions. Don't know why."
The girl in question just huffed, turning the page in her book whilst solving her third equation in the last ten minutes.
Theo muttered something that sounded a lot like "I can wager a guess," which had Lydia throwing him a sharp look. She received a grin in return which had her rolling her eyes and returning to her book.
Silence reigned for a while before the various formula started swimming in front of Stiles' eyes and he threw down his pencil petulantly, leaning back in his chair until it lifted off the floor and he ended up balancing on two legs of it.
"Seriously, can't we ask Danny?" he began anew, ignoring Lydia gritting her teeth. "He owes you from that one party still, doesn't he? I doubt he'll say no to you."
"Stiles, for god's sake, will you - "
"Is there a part you're struggling with?" Theo interrupted her calmly, remaining completely unbothered when she scowled at him.
Eyeing him curiously, Stiles admitted after a short pause, "I could use a bit of help with this part." He tapped on chapter six; the pages of it dogeared and several parts highlighted. It was, in his opinion, the hardest part in the entire syllabus and knowing his luck, a large part of the exam tomorrow would be focused on it.
"Oh, the theory in that one isn't as complicated as it looks," Theo reassured him, changing chairs so that he ended up sitting next to Stiles. Dragging the book closer to him, he started, "See, they use this formula when they want to …"
Chapter six did turn out to be a large part of the exam as Stiles had expected. Thanks to Theo's help, though, he was certain he hadn't failed that part – or any of the other parts – and it was with a smirk that he handed over his finished exam the next day to Harris, who gave him a foul look before walking to the next student.
God, he couldn't wait to be finally rid of that guy. Stiles was pretty certain the feeling was mutual in Harris' case.
The next exams passed by uneventfully – something Stiles couldn't say about Scott, who had called him in the middle of Friday night to panic about their Spanish exam – and very soon he only had one exam left on Friday, which was English and would be a piece of cake compared to Chemistry.
It being Wednesday, he went down to the Sheriff's station to drop dinner off for his dad, who had the night shift and would most likely resort to eating greasy hamburgers if Stiles wasn't there to ply him with healthy food.
"How are your exams going? Only one left, right?" Dad asked, cutting off a piece of his grilled chicken. He was in between cases now, so he had time to chat with his son for a bit.
"They're going." Stiles shrugged, gnawing absently on his thumb. "Only got English left and that one should be a breeze."
"How are you holding up?" Dad gave him a sympathetic look, knowing how restless Stiles must be by now.
Stiles had always been rather active, constantly having to do something even if it was just jiggling a leg, but exams made it ten times worse because he couldn't just disappear into the woods for hours to release some of that pent up energy. Well, technically he could, but he tended to lose track of time when he shifted and he couldn't risk that during times he had to buckle down and study hard.
Especially when a time like this one would determine whether he'd finally graduate or not.
"Erm, fine, I guess, going to be happy once everything's done," he replied with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "First thing I'm going to do after my exam's finished this Friday is going for a run."
That had dad grimacing for some reason and Stiles raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I have anything else to do afterwards."
"It's not that, son, it's just …" The Sheriff hesitated, mulling something over before he uttered a sigh and dragged a hand over his face, dropping his fork into the plastic bowl. "If you go for a run, I'd prefer it if you take someone with you."
"Why?" Stiles demanded suspiciously, leaning forwards. The look of reluctance on dad's face only made his suspicion grow. "Dad, did something happen?"
"All right, I'll tell you, but you have to swear you keep out of this one, you hear me? I'm serious, Stiles, I don't want you to stick your nose in it," Dad said sharply, looking at him warningly. "If I find out you're sniffling around, you're grounded for a year."
"I'm going to college in September," Stiles pointed out blankly, but he shoved his chair forwards; excitement brewing in the pit of his belly. His dad's warning could only mean one thing: he was working on a very interesting case and it had nothing to do with either theft or a burglary.
"I don't care. You stick your nose where it doesn't belong and you can kiss your laptop, your phone, and any outings with your friends goodbye," Dad said firmly, staring at his son until the younger man nodded in understanding.
"I get it, dad, I promise I'll stay out of it," Stiles promised. Well, he'd stay out of it, but surely a bit of online research, depending on what the case was about, wouldn't be that bad …
Dad eyed him warily, as if he could somehow hear what Stiles was thinking, before he sighed and started eating again. "We're still in the early stages of the investigation, but during the last two weeks two bodies have been found in the Preserve."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Stiles asked, "Locals or tourists? Not a natural death either?"
"The autopsy will have to give full conclusion whether they died a natural death or not, but we can only expect that report somewhere next week. The pathologist is backed up a bit due to a couple of murders in another city," Dad answered, rubbing his forehead. "The two were from a nearby town, probably went on a day trip to the Preserve here."
"But you don't think it's a natural death," Stiles said knowingly, fiddling with a loose thread of his T-shirt. He wondered when the two bodies had been found. It had to have been during one of his dad's shifts because he couldn't recall the older man leaving the house on a time he wasn't supposed to.
Dad grimaced slightly. "I don't think so, no," he said reluctantly. "That's why I want you to be careful when you're out in the woods. We're not sure what happened to these two: whether they got into a fight with each other or whether they encountered someone else. Until we know for sure, I want you to take someone with you when you go into the woods. I know I can't keep you inside until the investigation is over, but promise me you'll ask Scott with you or Derek or hell even Theo. Just – don't go in there alone, Stiles."
"I promise, dad," Stiles said quietly. He'd love to investigate the place where the bodies had been found, but he also knew when to push his dad and this wasn't one of those times. If dad found out he'd gone behind his back, he'd get far more than just a scolding.
Given that they only had a couple of months together anymore before Stiles would move into a dorm he'd rather not piss off his dad by disobeying him. Especially not when his dad feared that there was a murderer out there.
Not that Stiles hadn't snuffled around murder sites before, but there was something about this case that obviously had his dad on edge – something that didn't happen often even during other murder cases. A case that had the sheriff this tense was one to be cautious with.
Until Stiles could find more information about it, he guessed he would resign himself to having someone join his running sessions. If only because he didn't want to be the reason his dad's stress levels went through the roof.
When he left the precinct an hour later he nearly walked straight into Laura Hale.
"Oh hey, Stiles. Came to visit your dad?" she smiled, stuffing her car keys in the pocket of her jeans. She was dressed rather casually in ripped jeans and a black T-shirt with the logo of some obscure band on it. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she had some eyeliner on.
"Yeah, dropping off dinner to make sure he doesn't stuff himself full with burgers instead," Stiles replied and eyed the manila folder in her hand curiously. "What are you doing here?"
She winked at him. "Just paying the police a visit on behalf of my mother," which honestly didn't really answer the question.
Before he could question the contents of the folder, she continued, "You're finished with exams after Friday, right?"
"Er, yeah, I'll finally be free then. Cora will be finished then too?" he asked, recalling that he'd seen the youngest Hale sibling zipping through the hallways a couple of times these past few weeks. She'd nodded at him in greeting, but both being busy with their exams, they hadn't exactly stopped to chat with each other.
"Yeah, she's got her last exam tomorrow," Laura replied, waving at one of the deputies when he passed them. "Actually I'm glad I'm seeing you now – we're having a barbecue this weekend, you and your dad are invited."
"I'd love to come; any specific reason for the barbecue?"
She shrugged. "No real reason; guess you could say it's to celebrate the end of the school year or more accurately celebrate not hearing Cora's whining anymore," she grinned before nodding at the entrance of the station. "Sorry, Stiles, got to go now. I'll see you this weekend?"
"Yep, I'll be there," Stiles grinned. "My dad too if he can make it."
"That's great! Good luck with your last exam!"
Watching her hurry into the station he couldn't help but wonder whether the content of that folder had anything to do with the case his dad was currently working on. The Hale house was right smack in the middle of the Preserve after all …
"Say, I've been wondering about something for a while now."
Theo's voice had Stiles resurfacing from Macbeth and he blinked, shaking his head to dispel the daze he'd fallen under. With one evening left until their final exam, this was his last study session. He was alone with Theo this time, Scott still studying – or panicking, either one was possible – with Kira and Lydia having opted to stay home.
With only the two of them they had moved to Stiles' room to study there. Stiles had claimed his desk while Theo had settled down cross legged on the floor against the bed, his stuff spread out in front of him.
"Yeah, about what?"
Theo glanced up and an uncharacteristically uncertain look crossed his face. "It's rather personal," he cautioned, tapping his pen against his knee. "I don't want to offend you or so."
"Like I've never asked an offensive question," Stiles snorted, spreading his hands in the air. "Shoot. What do you want to ask?"
"Er, well, I've been wondering – how, you know, how do you handle your heat during exams?" Theo asked haltingly; his cheeks gaining a slight flush and he immediately looked down embarrassed. "I know it's none of my business, but we've been hanging out for nearly a month and well, Omega get their heat every month, no? So, er, how do you deal with that?"
Taken aback, Stiles gaped at him and that only made Theo redden more. "Sorry, forget what I asked, that was way out of line, I know," he muttered, wincing.
"No, no, er, it's fine, you just took me by surprise," Stiles said, using his foot to swivel back and forth in his chair. "We get heats every month, yeah, but I've been taking medicine to supress that."
At Theo's surprised look, he rolled his shoulders and huffed. "They're a pain in the arse to deal with every month, all right? I don't fancy being out of commission for at least two to three days every month, so I just take medicine to stop my heat. Sometimes during the summer I skip the medicine so that my body doesn't become too unbalanced, but the rest of the year it's back to the pills."
"Huh, well, that explains it," Theo muttered, looking enlightened.
"Glad I could help you out, buddy," Stiles grinned and turned back to his book, hearing the rustling of pages behind him as Theo went back to his own notes as well.
Just one more evening and then he could finally start on his own little investigation. He'd promised dad he wouldn't sniff around, but he didn't have to know about his little computer research.
What dad didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.
AN2: So yes, consider this the end of the set up for the story. From here on, it's going to grow darker so please pay attention to the warnings.
Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
I hope to see you all back in the next chapter!
Cuddles
Melissa
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