Chapter Text
Allison’s family was fucking insane. She was sixteen and her mother had just told her that she is the heir to the throne of a family of werewolf hunters. All Allison had asked was why they had to move AGAIN and her mom had stoically said ‘it’s time you knew’ which was already an extremely ominous sentence, and then, to get the ridiculous explanation she did, Allison, in addition to being slightly concerned about her parents’ mentally health, was also pissed. She didn’t need some bullshit lie, she just wanted the truth, so she did the only thing she could think of; she called her aunt Kate. What she really didn’t expect was for her aunt to show up at her house excitedly saying ‘ they finally told you,’ and welcoming her to the family business. When Kate told her she had a present for her and then took Allison to an empty warehouse on the edge of her town in upstate New York, she was genuinely shocked to see a woman chained to the floor, her eyes flashing red and huge claws growing out of her hands as electricity ran through her body. Kate was smiling at the sight gleefully but Allison was absolutely repulsed.
“Now don’t tell your dad about this one, sweetie, because technically I wasn’t supposed to go after her, but how could I resist. I mean, I had intended for Derek to survive that fire. His bitchy older sister, not so much. Then the other day I was taking the train here from the city and I saw none other than little Laura Hale, all grown up now.” Kate was circling the woman chained to the floor and Allison felt caught between trying to understand what her aunt was saying and fighting the urge to vomit.
“Mom says we only hurt those who hurt others, though,” she says, trying to understand.
“Well your mom’s family is a little bit different from ours. Your grandpa taught me that it’s only a matter of time before one of these mongrels hurts someone so its better to take care of them all whenever you come across one. But because your aunt is so awesome, I once managed to get rid of eight at once.” Kate smiles, and yep, Allison was definitely going to vomit. “Anyway, I decided to give you a moment alone with the beast so you can ask her any questions about wolves that your little heart desires and then I’ll teach you the fun part, learning all of the spots that hurt the most,” As Kate spoke, she kicked the woman hard in the stomach and a purely animalistic whine of pain broke out. Allison fought her initial reaction of pushing her aunt away from the woman. She knew any signs of weakness right now would not help her and Allison knew she had to somehow help this woman. If Kate had even the slightest idea of what Allison was thinking there was no way she’d leave her alone with the she-wolf, so she put on a brave face, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and looked Kate directly in the eyes, trying to project a confidence she wasn’t feeling.
“Fine, give me a few minutes alone with her and then we can get started.” Kate darted over and hugged her.
“Your parents always said you wouldn’t be able to handle this but I knew they were wrong! You and I are going to be an awesome team sweetie!” With that, her aunt tossed one more disparaging look at the woman on the ground and then flounced out of the building. As soon as she was gone, Allison rushed over to the woman, stopping herself at the last minute from touching her. She racked her brain for a minute before remembering what Kate had called her.
“Laura,” she whispered. The woman barely moved. “Laura, I want to get you out but I don’t know how.” Laura was still unresponsive and Allison felt tears trickle down her face. “Laura please wake up. You have to tell me what to do,” she cried. Finally, Laura looked at her, eyes still glowing red. She seemed to be measuring Allison’s worth with her eyes, and with a nod she started to speak in a quietly pained voice.
“It’s too late, too much wolfsbane in my system. I need you to call my brother. He’s Derek Hale, he’s in Beacon Hills, California. You have to call him for me, okay. You have to talk to him right away so he doesn’t try to come here. Tell him,” Laura paused, letting out another whine of pain. “Tell him Lulu says mom was right, whether gold, blue or red, his eyes are different, but still beautiful, just like him.” Allison was still crying silently, very aware that she was hearing this woman’s last words. “When Kate comes back I’m going to do something, okay, don’t be scared. I just. This has to be on my terms, at least a little.” With that, Allison nodded as Laura slumped back to the ground. Allison wiped her eyes and looked at her phone, noticing only about three minutes had passed. She pulled her strong mask back onto her face and tried desperately to look unaffected, despite how much she wanted to scream and cry inside. Then she raised her voice.
“Filthy animal! Just wait until my aunt gets back!” Laura met her eyes one more time and nodded just a little to show she understood what Allison was doing, and Allison had to bite her lip to avoid the sob building in her throat. Just then Kate sauntered back in.
“You okay, sweetie?” Allison started to nod but before she could step away from Laura, the she-wolf was gathering the last vestiges of her strength and launching herself at Allison. Quicker than Allison would’ve thought possible, Kate pulled out a gun and shot the woman in the head. Allison caught one glimpse of her lifeless body and allowed herself to wail, tears streaming down her face. Kate was instantly by her side.
“Shh, it’s okay sweetie, I wouldn’t have let that monster hurt you,” she cooed at Allison, mistaking her tears of grief for ones of fear. Allison wasn’t going to correct her. Despite how much it made her sin crawl, she let her aunt throw an arm around her shoulder as she led her back to the car. “Don’t worry, I’ll clean up the mess in there. I know it’s been a long day for you.” Kate drove them back to Allison’s house and gave her a one armed hug over the center divider before Allison climbed out of the car, nodding in understanding as Allison told her she needed a day to process everything. She hurried into the house and slipped into her room, locking the door behind her.
Allison was dying to collapse onto her bed, absolutely exhausted from the emotions she had been feeling all day, but she forced that down and went to her computer instead. She typed ‘Derek and Laura Hale Beacon Hills California’ into the google search bar and clicked on the first link.
“EIGHT DIE IN HALE MANSION FIRE, ONE ADULT IN HOSPITAL, TWO TEENS SURVIVE” the headline screamed at her. Allison gasped sharply and scanned the rest of the article. Talia and Daniel Hale, their three youngest children, Adam, Matthew and Cora, Talia’s sister in law, Sarah, and her two children, Elise and Jillian, were all trapped inside the house at the time of the fire that was quickly blamed on an electrical problem. Talia’s brother, Sarah’s husband, Peter Hale was severely burned and then slipped into a catatonic state. Talia and Daniel’s two oldest children survived; Derek was at basketball practice at the time of the fire and Laura was at the grocery store. As Allison continued to read the article she learned that Talia and Daniel owned the nature preserve just outside of town and mostly kept to themselves. Talia was a corporate lawyer who worked in San Francisco and Daniel was a freelance journalist who worked from home where he stayed with his two youngest children, Matt and Cora, four year old twins. Peter Hale was a partner at Talia’s law firm and his wife owned an all-natural fashion boutique in Berkley.
As Allison read about the Hale family and their young children and then remembered that her aunt Kate had bragged to her about killing them she could no longer repress her gag reflex and launched out of her chair and into the bathroom, puking into the toilet. She leaned her head against the cool porcelain of the bathtub and curled her legs under her.
“Allison, are you okay, sweetheart,” her dad asked from where he had stopped in the doorway. Looking at him, Allison couldn’t help but wonder if he was just as responsible for the death of the Hale family as her aunt and if he was responsible for even more deaths than that. Allison stood up and flushed the toilet, washing her hands and swishing some mouthwash around before splashing cold water on her face. Her father was still looking at her with concern but when he reached out to touch her shoulder, Allison’s blood ran cold. She pushed past him and walked back to her room, but he followed her through the door. “What’s wrong, Allie?”
“You’re what’s wrong!” Allison felt absolute fury settle into her bones and for the first time in her life when she looked at her father all she felt was burning hatred. “You and this damned family are what’s wrong! You think this is okay? Hunting people? Because whether they’re werewolves or not they’re still people, and you don’t have the right to decide just because they might hurt someone one day that they should die. Guess what, everyone on the fucking planet might hurt someone one day, that doesn’t make genocide okay. I am so disgusted by you! How many people have you killed? How many families just like the Hales have you destroyed? How many children did you murder or steal parents from?” Allison was screaming, tears continuing to pour down her face. When Chris stepped toward her she recoiled and his face looked absolutely crushed. He opened his mouth to defend himself but Allison interrupted him before he could speak. “There is no justification for what you’ve done and I don’t think I can ever forgive you for this. Please leave,” she said softly. Chris opened his mouth once more before audibly snapping it shut and walking out the door, closing it on his way out.
Once her father left, Allison went back to her computer and searched Derek Hale’s name again, eventually finding a website for a bookstore he owned in Beacon Hills. The site proclaimed that in honor of its one year anniversary, there was going to be a party at the store with food, drinks, and everything on sale for 20% off. Allison found the phone number for the shop and pulled out her phone to make the call.
“Hale Books, this is Scott, how can I help you,” a bored voice answered.
“Hello, my name is Allison, is Derek in?”
“No, he booked it out of here about an hour ago looking pretty freaked out. Can I take a message?”
“No, I’m afraid this is a personal matter concerning his sister, Laura. It’s extremely important that I speak to him immediately. Can you give me his personal number?” Allison was crossing her fingers that the boy on the other end of the line would give in.
“I’m not really supposed to. In fact, he’s probably gonna get pissed at me for this, but I know Laura is all he has left so I guess its more important.” Allison had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying and tried to pay attention as Scott rattled off the phone number. She hung up with him and dialed it immediately.
“Laur! Is that you?! What the hell is going on,” Derek sounded wrecked over the phone.
“Hello, is this Derek Hale? My name is Allison.”
“Oh, sorry, I saw the New York area code and thought you were my sister.” Allison was crying again.
“I-no. But Laura is the reason I’m calling.” Allison heard his sharp inhale over the line. She cried harder. “She said you can’t come here. She said to stay in California so Kate doesn’t- Laura, she, she died. I'm sorry! I saw her die and I tried to help her I swear I tried but she said there was too much wolfsbane and then Kate and I’m only sixteen, I didn’t know what to do! I'm so so sorry!” Allison was sobbing into the phone as she tried to explain herself to Derek and she heard him crying brokenly as well. Allison fought to get control over herself. “She said, she told me to say, ‘Lulu says mom was right, whether gold, blue or red, his eyes are different, but still beautiful, just like him.’ She told me to tell you that.” Allison stayed quiet, just listening to Derek cry. Eventually he seemed to calm down enough to speak.
“Who are you? I know all of Laura’s friends and she doesn’t know anyone named Allison. How did you know my sister? Why were you there when she died? How do you know about- about Kate?” Derek barely managed to choke out Kate’s name.
“It’s hard to explain. I-“ Just then Allison had an idea. “If I come there to Beacon Hills, will you wait for me to explain so I can do it in person? Please, I don’t think I can do this over the phone.”
“How soon can you be here?”
“Give me two days. I’ll leave tonight and drive straight there. I’ll call you when I get to Beacon Hills.”
“Okay. Thank you for calling me, Allison. I don’t know how you knew my sister but she must have trusted you a lot. She wouldn’t have told you to call me otherwise. I'm glad she had someone she trusted there, at the end.” Allison’s tears had started to slow, but with Derek’s heartfelt words they started up again.
“I’ll see you in a few days, okay? Bye Derek.” Allison hung up before he could respond and immediately went into action. She packed a week’s worth of clothes into a duffle bag along with her laptop and the folder in her closet with all of her important documents. She didn’t know when she would be back, maybe never, so she was going to take all of the important things with her now. At the last minute, she grabbed two of the pictures on her dresser. One was of her with her parents and as angry as she was, she knew she would be sad if she didn’t take at least one reminder of them with her. The other picture was of her with her best friend. She hadn’t seen him in about a year and she missed him like crazy. In fact, she was driving to Beacon Hills, so this might be a chance for her to see him. He might even want to come with her, and she was going to meet Derek Hale, alone, so having a big strong man with her would probably be a good idea. Alright, so he was 5’10 and 143 pounds, not exactly big and strong, but still, he was better than going alone. Allison carefully tossed the duffle bag out of her window and grabbed her keys and phone. She pulled on her coat and with one last glance at her room, she turned the light off and closed the door behind her. Allison found her parents sitting in the kitchen and noticed how they both went silent as she entered the room.
“I need some time. This is a lot for me to take in and all I know is that if I stay here I’ll only resent you more. I’m going to drive to Pittsburgh. I don’t know how long I’m going to be there but at least a week. I need you to let me go, okay?” Her mother looked like she wanted to protest but Allison had seen the understanding in her dad’s eyes when she had said Pittsburgh so he just placed his hand on top of her mom’s and nodded.
“Okay, we understand. Just please don’t stay gone too long. And tell Stiles that we said hello.” Allison thought about hugging them goodbye but the thought of either of them touching her, knowing they had used the same hands that comforted her all her life to kill people, turned her stomach so she just mumbled goodbye and walked out of the house. She grabbed her duffle off the lawn and tossed it into her car. As she slid into the drivers seat, she pulled up Stiles’ address from her list of favorites on her GPS and synced her phone up to her car. Her first stop was a gas station to fill up her tank and once she was there she called Stiles.
“Well hello there, my hetero heroine! It’s been a whole 23 hours since I last heard from you, I was starting to get worried!” Allison could hear the smile in Stiles’ voice and she felt better for the first time since she had first talked to her mom the day before.
“Two things. One: stop quoting Nick and Norah. You are not Dev and I am not Norah. We both know I’m not into band boys and your singing voice is shit. Two: how do you feel about a visit sometime soon?”
“OH MY GOD ALLISON IF YOU ARE LYING TO ME RIGHT NOW I WILL CHOKE YOU OUT I SWEAR TO GOD. Seriously you’re coming to see me?! Are you and your parents coming down? When are you going to be here? I have to tell Sharon so she won’t bitch at me for not being around the house when you’re here. When are you coming?” Stiles was screeching at her, his voice brimming with excitement.
“Uhm, it’s just going to be me. I had a big fight with my parents and told them I needed to get away for a while so I was going to go to Pittsburgh and my dad said it was okay. I’ll be there as fast as I can drive, so probably about three hours. My dad texted me after I left and said he got me a hotel room at the Fairmont so I wouldn’t be a bother to Sharon. He paid it up for a week so you can stay there with me if you want?” Allison knew there was no point in even asking. Stiles hated his foster mom so any opportunity to get away from her he seized.
“Damn, the Fairmont? He must have really fucked up bad to be buying your love like that. Of course I want to stay with you! Do you want to pick me up or do you want me to just meet you at the hotel?” Stiles’ tone was playful but Allison could hear the underlying worry. She had always been close to her dad, so for him to mess up bad enough that Allison wanted to get away from him and that he gave her permission to not only drive to Pittsburgh but paid for her to stay in a room that cost about $300 a night, Stiles knew that something seriously bad had gone down between them.
“If you could meet me there that would be perfect. And, Stiles, this is going to sound really insane but you should probably bring anything important with you. And as many clothes as you can. I promise I’ll explain when I see you.” To his credit, Stiles didn’t even question Allison. He just said he’d bring it all with him and see her at the Fairmont in three hours. They said goodbye and Allison pulled out of the gas station and onto the freeway, focusing on the drive instead of the fact that she had just run away from home, lied to her parents, and didn’t know if or when she would ever see them again.
Three hours later, Allison was grabbing her duffle bag out of the back seat while a valet driver patiently waited and then drove her car to the parking lot. She walked into the hotel and saw Stiles looking extremely out of place in is baggy jeans, graphic tee, and plaid over shirt while men and women in expensive suits and dresses looked at him disdainfully. Allison was indignant on his behalf but Stiles didn’t even seem to notice the glares directed at him. His face was split in a blinding smile as he rushed over to hug her. His long arms erased the memory of Kate’s and she sank into the comfort he offered her, the tension in her shoulders finally falling away. He didn’t say a word, just held her until she straightened up and then followed her to the check in desk. Allison handed over her ID and told the woman behind the counter that her father had booked the room for her. The woman’s cold demeanor changed when she saw that Allison was booked for a week in a pricey suite and noticed the no limit note attached to the credit card on file. She smiled brightly and had a bellman come over to take Allison and Stiles’ bags and show them up to the suite.
When they entered the room, Stiles whistled in appreciation and dropped his bag on the couch in the room, kicking his shoes off next to it. Allison put her bag next to his and shrugged out of her jacket and shoes as well. She didn’t say anything, just walked into the bedroom and collapsed onto the fresh sheets. Stiles followed her and wrapped his arms around her while she cuddled into his chest. She didn’t even notice she was crying again until she saw the moisture soaking his shirt. The toll the last two days had taken on her finally caught up with her and she dropped into a deep, dreamless sleep. The next thing she knew, it was 11 am and Stiles was snoring in her ear from where he was spooned up behind her. She elbowed him and he woke with a grunt.
“I forgot how loud you snore,” she teased him.
“Ugh, whatever. Isn’t it a good thing I’m gay so we can do this? Think how awkward this would be if I was straight and just pretending to be gay so I could get close to you like that total creep Matt Dahler.”
“Stiles, Matt was pretending to be straight so he could get close to you, not the other way around.”
“Jesus, don’t remind me. So weird.” Allison just laughed at his scandalized tone. He laughed with her for a moment before stopping abruptly and scooting back, tugging her shoulder so she would turn to look at him. “Seriously, Allie, what’s going on?” His tone was serious and while she knew he had been willing to comfort her without questions the night before, it was time to tell him what she was up to.
“I found some things out about my parents and I don’t think I can be around them anymore. Maybe never again. I told them I was coming here for a week but really I’m going to California. I know I sound absolutely insane but I just had to get away and I know someone in California. Well, I don’t know him, know him, but I kind of knew his sister and I needed to talk to him about her in person so I was going there anyway. Then I sort of decided if I was going there I might as well just stay, you know?”
“Fucking hell, Allison, what’d they do, kill someone?” Stiles’ tone was light but at Allison’s stricken expression it filled with quiet horror. “You’re not serious?!” Allison nodded somberly.
“Not just them, my aunt too. She- she killed a woman right in front of me. I can’t go back there, Stiles. I’m going to California, and I was- I wanted to ask if-“
“Oh I know you did not think you were going to run away to California and leave me here with fucking Sharon. I am so coming with you!” Allison smiled, glad that he took the pressure of asking him to leave behind his life to go with her by insisting on it himself.
“I wanna leave today. I was originally going to drive but it’ll take too long and I don’t want my dad to be able to trace the car. I was going to go to the bank and pull all of my money out of savings. It’s not a lot. Maybe about $3,000 just saved from winning that archery tournament. Most of my money is in a college account I can’t access.” Allison felt a little lighter after finally speaking her plan out loud and she relaxed a little more.
“I have a couple hundred saved up from working. I can’t spend it on anything because Sharon would notice and then I’d have to tell her I was working and then she’d insist on me giving her some of my money and yeah, that’s not gonna happen… Relax for a little longer and then we’ll go, okay?” Allison nodded, sinking into the bed a little more while Stiles got up and went to take a shower. When he finished she got up and got ready. When she was done, they headed out of the hotel and walked to the bank a few blocks over. They each went to separate counters, withdrew their money, and walked back to the hotel. Allison ordered room service while Stiles looked up flights to SFO.
“It looks like we can get one way tickets for a little under $300. We’re going to have to hire a car service to get to Beacon Hills and then find somewhere to stay. Most places won’t rent a hotel room to anyone under 21 without a major credit card but if we find somewhere cheap willing to take cash they’ll probably let me rent a room. I mean I’ll be 18 in a month anyway so if they don’t look at my ID too closely I think we’ll be okay.” As Stiles was talking, Allison was surprised to see her phone ringing and that it was Derek Hale calling. She put her finger to her lips to silence Stiles and then answered, putting the phone on speaker.
“Hi, um, Allison? I was just wondering if you were still coming out here?”
“I was planning on it, yeah. If it’s still okay for me to come out and talk to you?”
“Yeah of course. I just wanted to make sure.”
“Oh, okay. Well yeah I’m still planning on coming, and a friend of mine is coming with me. We were just looking for places to stay while we’re there. We’re flying into SFO on a red eye tonight.”
“Why don’t you just stay with me? Laura insisted on rebuilding the house but its just me and my uncle Peter living here now that she’s- anyway, we have a lot of extra rooms if you’d like to stay here.” Allison looked over at Stiles who was nodding eagerly.
“Sure, okay. Our flight lands at 9am and then we’ll take a car to your house I guess?”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“Okay, see you.” Allison put her phone down as soon as she heard Derek disconnect. She looked over at Stiles. “At least now we don’t need to worry about a place to stay. Stiles smirked and then packed the few things he had taken out of his bag while Allison did the same. She decided to leave her car in the hotel and put the do not disturb sign on the door. With any luck, her parents wouldn’t realize she wasn’t in Pittsburgh until the end of the week. Allison and Stiles took a cab to the airport, bought their tickets, and made their way to the terminal. They sat around for an hour and then boarded the plane and settled into their seats. Allison fell asleep almost immediately and when she woke up it was 8am and they would be landing soon. She looked over at Stiles to see his wallet sitting open and a worn out photo grasped in his hand.
“You know, I always wanted to go to California. I think that’s where she was from.” Allison leaned her head against his shoulder and looked down at the picture she had seen a hundred times before of a beautiful woman leaning against a blue jeep in front of a forest of tall trees. “I once looked up the type of trees she’s standing in front of. They’re called redwoods. There’s an entire forest of them in Northern California. Can we go there, Allie?” Allison heard the grief in her friend’s tone and wrapped her arms around him.
“Of course we can. We can go anywhere you want, Stiles.” An hour later, the photo was safely tucked away and the plane was descending. Once it landed, the pair disembarked and made their way to the section of the airport offering cab and rental car services. They hired a car to drive them to the address Derek had texted Allison and as they drove down a driveway with trees bordering each side of the road, Allison noticed a young man with three day old stubble and jet black hair come out onto the porch. She and Stiles climbed out of the car when it came to a stop, grabbed their duffles out of the trunk, and watched it speed off down the driveway as soon as the trunk was slammed closed. Then she and Stiles were left standing in front of the intimidating form that was Derek Hale.