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A month had gone by and it was nearing the end of the school year. Things had mellowed out and remained normal. Melissa and Santiago were going strong, Danny was joining them a few days a week as he was able to. John had been working hard on his physical therapy and had been accepted in to a new prosthetic limp trial thanks to Lydia. Everyone was thriving.
Due to the senior showcase the students had Friday off to prepare and be at school at 5pm to present. Since the house was now built they decided to take a trip to IKEA that morning as a pack. With the amount of stuff they were going to purchase they ended up renting trucks. Derek, Stiles, Danny, Lydia and Jackson took one Car. Chris, Laura, John, Santiago and Melissa took another. Then Allison and Isaac took the last one with Cora taking Jordan in her car..
They made the long drive over and Lydia gave everyone a check list of what they needed but gave them all free reign to pick what they liked, with her professional opinion of course. They loaded up on Beds, dressers, and decorations, hours later they stacked up more carts than anyone else in the store and started a caravan. The store ended up just blocking off a lane for them, they lied and said they were starting a non profit group home when they were questioned. After checking out and playing tetris to fit all the items into two of the trucks Derek drove them to a shopping mall as a surprise.
“This is where you all will shine. First stop Home Depot and this Nursery for Isaac to pick out things for the nursery that the contractors didn’t put in. Danny I want you to take Chris and Santiago to the Electronics store and put in an order for what we will need for cyber security. They will tell you what we need and you build it. Stiles and Lydia the Container Store and Restaurant supply store is your domain. Everyone else go to which ever they want.” Derek handed out three pack credit cards to them and everyone broke out into the stores like kids in a candy store.
Stiles got his dream industrial kitchen with all professional stainless steel appliances. Bowls, blenders, cookware all sized for their large family. Lydia build an organization system for every room. Isaac got his dream greenhouse not just full of medicinal plants, but flowers also and large vegetables beds, fruit trees and some cactus just because he thought they looked lonely. Danny set up the pack for everything technological, from multiple computers, to laptops and tablets for travel. Security systems and back up hard drives. He made sure their computers would be able to be secured and untrackable, and have the ability to do things they may need like forging IDs, getting records and anything else. Plus new cellphones that were secure encrypted and able to sync to all their cloud including the archives from the hunters.
Hours later they loaded up the last car, at this point every person was holding some kind of item in their lap, and that was without all the tech stuff that was set up to be delivered that following week. The house was going to be a nice graduation gift for everyone but they wanted it ready to go. Stiles made one last request for taco bell and they did their usual drive thru caravan for one giant order before making their way back to the Hale house.
The supers were in charge of taking all the heavy items and dealing with things up on the 3rd floor, meanwhile the humans stuck to the kitchen and main floor. Furniture was assembled quickly thanks to the brains and brawn working together. All in all their home was coming together, Lydia went thru the home with a checklist and noted anything people forgot. The rest of the pack collapsed into the living room couch pit due to exhaustion, it had been a long day. They only had a few hours until they had to be at the school so Jackson retrieved Lydia from her planning and threw her into the couch for a power nap.
2 hours later the kids all got ready for their big senior night. All the senior students would have 3-5 minutes to showcase their project then they would go to their booths and companies would come around and ask questions, some where local and others were big corporations. They made their way over to the school and set up their displays before heading backstage. The auditorium filled with people ready to watch the presentations and mark down any students they wanted to see their booths.
Allison and Stiles did a joint project on private security, they worked with Santiago and Chris to create what looked like a cool SEAL team training montage. It showcases Allison and Stiles flying thru obstacle courses, building and taking apart weapons, disarming assailants basically all their hunter training set to action movie music.
Jackson did his project on physical therapy and training to prevent injuries on youth athletes. He had pictures of him with a youth lacrosse team, him working at the local hospital, plus a taping method to prevent joint fatigue.
Cora did a nice presentation on art communication. Both in its applications for children who are non verbal but also for new language immersion students. There were clips of Cora working with psychologists to understand what kids were drawing and what they were trying to say.
Lydia had worked on a biochem research to stimulate healing of internal organs. She had her research, with both theoretical and practical experiments. She also had pictures of Johns healing leg covered in wires and showed his healing compared to averages. She also listed ways to develop it further and incorporate the biochem research to medical technology.
Isaac worked with Melissa to create an education system for children about medicine and healing, a way to make it less scary for those in hospitals. There were photos of him in scrubs with children hanging off of him, videos him showing kids who were going to get surgery on dolls what was going to happen and just to break some hearts he ended it with a photo of him surrounded by the children of the cancer ward giving a big smile and thumbs up, got to get the brownie points when you can.
Then Danny had his big project which was on Artificial Intelligence and creating a program that could both detect and predict identity theft. He showed off how he could use the program and set if flags for common theft items plus photo recognition incase your photo is used somewhere, he even included the 2 week seminar he attended at the FBI in Quantico where his program was reviewed by their research and development team, who wanted to use a version of this to analyze crimes and locate similarities. He also showcases its uses for smaller entities to provide more accurate background checks.
Everyone in the pack got lots of applause but Isaac took the cake with his work with children. They felt very bad for Greenburg who had to present immediately after Isaac, and have a very messy presentation on his wanting to become a sports commentator.
They finished all the speeches then rushed over to their boards, the room was divided up so projects similar to each other. John, Jordan, Laura, Chris and Melissa made their way around the room visiting each student and giving praises Individually. Turns out Lydia had been offered multiple full rides and research grants, Jackson also got full ride offers, Isaac and Cora were approached by multiple hospitals about incorporating their methods and Allison and Stiles had every single branch of both the military and state departments trying to get them to enlist. Overall a very successful night, even after Melissa made them all go listen to Greenburg because he had no visitors at his booth.
The night wrapped up and they all decided to head to a local 24 hour burger joint to celebrate the kids pretty much wrapping up school. There was only about another 6 weeks left and the senior night was the last thing they had to check off besides their final exams which no one was worried about. The pack continued to grow together and build each other up.
Allison was training hard to become the future matriarch of the Argent Line. Stiles grew personally and realized he would not be the best emissary for the pack, politics and being cordial are not his strength, they moved to have Lydia become emissary and have Stiles grow to be the Lefthand and enforcer especially since they all knew he was the secret weapon. Danny even worked on his Druid skills with a few calls to friendly packs and their emissary’s for guidance.
Tonight they decided a sleepover with everyone at the Stilinski’s was ideal. As they laid around watching The Princess Bride for the thousandth time Derek looked around and came to a realization. His pack was leaving high school and they needed to move on. He could never be the one to hold them back. He didn’t realize he was feeling bitter sweet sadness until Stiles looked up at him. They were lying on the floor, Stiles inbetween Derek’s legs, Stiles stretched up and kissed his jaw.
“What’s wrong love? You okay?” He asked him.
Derek looked down at his Luna and took his hand.
“Just thinking.” He replied with a sad smile.
Stiles just made a face as if to say I will annoy you until you tell me what’s wrong.
“Just… have you all thought of what you want to do after graduation? Most of you have Full rides or early acceptance and that’s great.” He finally spit out looking around the room.
John and Chris looked to him and nodded, they had also been thinking about this.
The pack looked at each other and realized Derek was right, they hadn’t talked about what happens next. Stiles squeezed their locked hands and smiled before curling into his neck.
“Well I am definitely ready to become a Full Time Trophy Husband.” He teased kissing Derek’s jaw “but seriously you’re not getting rid of me.” Derek relaxed a little and his chest rumbled lightly.
Danny was the next to speak most surprisingly “I am staying here too. Chris has asked me to handle the tech and background checks on his clients for Argent Arms, and Santiago asked me to set up cyber security packages for Mecati Security clients. Pretty sure they will let me work from home.” He advised with a smile and a wink to Santiago and Chris.
“I was going to surprise you all at graduation. But Harvard University Medical Research has offered me a full ride to attend remotely. I will do school online then head into my family’s research lab. I will have to fly in everyone semester for presentations and finals but I can stay.” Lydia advised sitting up from her cocoon of blankets.
“I also have a full ride to Stanford’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation program. Any classes I have to take in person are an hours commute away, but I would like a carpool buddy and I may have sent in an application, letter of recommendation and portfolio for Cora and she got in.” Jackson called out moving to pause his movie and look to the others hiding behind Lydia as he rushed out that last part of the sentence.
“Jackson! What do you mean you applied for me?” Cora gasped and jumped over to wrestle Jackson
Jackson was rolling around with her yelling out “it’s not my fault.” “We like the same music” “Finstock wrote you’re letter of recommendation”
After wrestling around for a while Jackson managed to get pinned by Cora who was straddling him and pinning his hands above his head when he finally spoke out quietly, “ I don’t want to be alone there.” And Cora lost the fight in her and saw the forgotten Jackson that gets hidden away.
Derek stepped in and spoke to Cora “you know it wouldn’t be the worst thing if you went to school. Dad went to art school, he never did graduate but he went.”
Cora rolled off Jackson and laid on his arm.
“You know this means I’m your favorite.”
Jackson pulled his arm out from under her “it means you’re the one I won’t kill sitting in a car for 2 hours a day with.” He teased back.
“I’m your favorite.” Cora leant over and have him a big wet exaggerated kiss on the cheek. “Looks like I’m going to college.” She laughed out and went back over to sit on Jordan like she didn’t just tackle a pack mate.
Allison just laid back smiling “I definitely am keeping Argent Arms alive. so I was just planning on taking a few business courses locally to help that out.”
The only one pending was Isaac, as everyone looked around at him he nervously looked at the ground. “I haven’t really thought about after school.” His heart gave away his lie.
“Isaac come on you know we-“ Derek cut Cora off.
“No Cora, if Isaac wants to keep something for himself then he can.”
Isaac smiled at Derek and continued “it’s just a silly idea, but I wanted too.. my mom had an idea before and she Umm well it would be nice to…” Isaac stuttered and looked around nervously before rushing all his words out at once “Iwanttoopenaflowershop.” He looked around nervously and took a breath now that his idea was out there. “I have been looking into business classes and think of I focus for a few years I can get the down payment and take classes at the community college and in like 5 years I could do it…”
Allison looked to her brave little boyfriend, she knew for him to give his opinion and ideas was still something he struggled with it. She hugged him and gave him all the love and support.
“That’s a great idea Isaac. You have all of our support you know that right.” Derek called out to him, wiggling his toes to nudge him.
“Oooo me and you can work on the digital art for the logo, business cards and everything else.” Cora added exited to have a project.
“Plus I can set you up with amazing social media analytics and search engine optimization.” Danny added in.
“And of course store design and branding will be something I will help with.” Lydia added already pulling up Pinterest on her phone.
“Plus you have your first employees right here because this trophy husband will get bored cooped up at home.” Stiles threw in at the end.
Isaac looked around and tears filled his eyes, “you guys really want to help? You think I could do this.” He looked around the room at everyone just appreciating them.
Everyone couldn’t put into words how much they loved the precious child that was Isaac Lahey so they just tackled him and smothered him with love.
A while later the movie had finished and everyone was laying about, when Lydia’s phone went off. She turned off the alarm and John knew what was coming, she had gotten him into a new prosthetic limb program and the night routine involved overnight electro therapy. They hooked him up and John went to sleep. The others quickly followed suit, but Melissa and Santiago headed home since Mel worked an early shift at the hospital.
The weeks past with ease, everyone was thriving. Laura was back to full strength and Danny was getting stronger in his abilities. Lydia split her time between monitoring Johns progress and preparing the house. Stiles and Derek worked with Isaac to make the greenhouse as perfect as could be meanwhile Jackson was maintaining the giant pool. Melissa and Santiago stayed more often than they were away, with him taking the occasional overnight trips.
Things had finally slowed down with only total of 3 week left of the school year. Santiago was no longer leaving twice a week for hunter issues since the families with dead hunters had all been dealt with.
The couples were strong, without the threat of Victoria or anything else it made for an ease of movement. Jackson and Lydia got their cute date nights back, with aquarium visits and shopping adventures. Allison was taking out Isaac when she could, his father had a few court sessions so he was getting stressed. It was the last day of court today and Isaac knew he had to be there.
Of course the pack had to support him so they all took the day off school to attend his trial. The only thing pending was his paternal rights. He had already been convicted of Animal cruelty, illegal poaching, trespassing and possession of stolen firearms. The final item was the case of child abuse, Isaac agreed to testify in hopes of his fathers rights to be removed and he could be completely free.
Just before they went in the courthouse Allison gave him her lucky silver arrowhead. She placed it into his palm as they stood around the lobby of the court house, “no matter what happens, we love you. You are brave, and strong and have the best heart. You will always have us as your family.” She hugged him and the rest of them surrounded him. When Mr.Whittmore came to call him away the rest of the pack hovered as close to the doors so they could be the first in the door.
Minutes later, even thou it felt like hours, and the supers could still hear Isaac’s heart the whole time, they opened the doors to the court room. The right hand side had Mr.Whittmore and Isaac along with his CPS case worker. The left hand side, had a row of the free state attorneys and no one else.
The pack quickly filled in as close to Isaac as they could, the bailiff was a bit surprised to see how much support was there. As the right hand side quickly filled in.
Minutes later the police officers moved to the side door and prepped to let in Mr.Lahey. The pack felt the stress of Isaac spike and they stared it the door waiting for this man to come in. As soon as the door opened and they laid eyes on the man, an irritated sub-audible growl came from the supers. Mr. Lahey made a point to stare down Isaac while Isaac stuck to the floor, fiddling with the arrowhead Allison gave him.
A few minutes later they called for everyone to Rise as the judge was about to enter. As they were called to attention the small female judge appeared. She was again taken a bit back by the gallery that appeared to support this child, John and Jordan may have pulled a few strings and gotten any available Police officer and firefighter and EMS available to come in for moral support.
They motioned for everyone to be seated and the case began. They began with opening statements, Mr.whittemore did his job well, he spoke clearly and firmly. Painted a picture of the family dynamic and then ended with his request to have the defendant Mr.Lahey stripped of all parental rights.
The free state attorney did his best, but Mr. Lahey did not give him much. They said that not only was he innocent but that he should maintain custody.
As they moved on Mr. Whittemore went over the timeline with Isaac’s testimony. About how life was normal then his mother’s passing when he was 7, then his older brother enlisting because his father was a drunk and not working to feed them. That after his brother deployed and the abuse started, first just isolation and emotional abuse when he did something wrong. then the physical abuse for minor things, and the rapid escalation. Some injuries they had images of, like when Isaac was stabbed with a fork when he missed it while doing the dishes. The he talked about when his brother passed away, and that in his will he was left half of the insurance money but his father took it all and drank it away. Without his brother it got worse, then it was no longer for tiny mistakes. The abuse was around the clock, burning, whipping and worse of all the icebox. Isaac did start to cry during his testimony but he kept going. He needed to get it all out there. When they showed the images of the blood stained and scratched freezer some of the jury were even in tears.
After his testimony John and Jordan were called to testify as they were first on the scene. They walked the court thru the events of that day and the state that they found Isaac. Then after that was the doctors that treated him at the hospital. They have a breakdown on all his broken bones and scars, gave estimated timelines that corroborated Isaac’s retelling of his childhood.
The judge saw the stress on Isaac and the jury and decided they needed a 15 minute break before the defendant and cross examination began. As soon as the cops moved Mr.Lahey and the jury out of the room Isaac broke down. He started having a panic attack and Derek wrapped him up in a bone crushing hug, Cora and Laura surrounded him and they all did the chest rumble to help soothe him as much as possible. John and Jordan had to stay away since they were witnesses but Isaac knew their support was with him.
Once his breathing got back under control the wolves stepped away to let everyone else give him a hug. Melissa was last up and she gave him her famous mama McCall bear hug. She brushed his hair out of the way and wiped his tears. “You have got this. We are all here for you.” The judge walked in as she straitened his tie and let him return with Mr. Whittemore.
“Mr.Whittemore are you and your client ready to proceed?” Isaac took a deep breath and looked to Jackson’s father then the attorney.
“Yes your honor.”
The judge brought back in the jury and the defendant. Then the state attorney began his cross examination. He did try his best but Isaac focused on the pack and kept calm, not looking at his father or falling for the trick questions. When the attorney was finished with Isaac and had clearly not gotten what he needed he called Mr Lahey to the stand. This was ultimately his downfall. Mr.Lahey showed no remorse, claiming he never abused Isaac but did spank him as a child when he misbehaved. He claimed the freezer was something Isaac did voluntarily because he wanted to get over his claustrophobia.
This was the golden ticket for Mr. Whittemore, he then chose to cross examine Mr Lahey. And in rapid fire questioning got him good.
“You claim that you never abused Isaac?”
“Yes. I did not do that.”
“Never physically abused him?”
“No.”
“Never emotionally abused him?”
“No.”
“But you did ‘parent’ him with reprimands?”
“Yes. Got to raise them right.”
“These reprimands you speak of, some of them were physical?”
“Yes. But not abuse.”
“And everything you did was for his benefit?”
“Yes.”
“And you know you son well correct?”
“Of course he is my only one.”
“So you know his likes and dislikes correct?”
“Yes.”
“And to confirm the freezer was for character building?”
“Yes.”
“And the freezer shown here, this is the one you used.”
“Yes.”
“You placed Isaac inside multiple times.”
“Yes.”
“This was to toughen him up?”
“Yes.”
“Because of his claustrophobia?”
“Yes.”
“So you have known about his claustrophobia?”
“Yes I told you know my damn kid I’m the parent!”
“No further questions your honor”
Mr Whittemore smiled at that last little out burst and turned to the jury. “Let the record show that Mr. Lahey has confirmed he had prior knowledge of The victims severe claustrophobia. Which he then used repeatedly against him by locking him in the small pitchblack freezer. Now as shown in this photo here. We had an associate of mine lay down in the same exact freezer, mind you my associate was a few inches shorter than the victim. But even she could not lay down comfortably. And when the beacon hills police found Isaac due to the audible screaming and pounding the freezer was locked from the outside, with a lock and key. And The victim had nearly torn off the majority of his fingernails. This was pure hatred. To take your biggest fear and force you into it for no reason. My client has maintained a 3.8 GPA despite these actions, he has not had a single warning or altercation from the school or law enforcement. The victim has lived a life of pain at the hands of the defendant which is why we ask that not only does he be charged with the maximum sentence but that he be stripped of all parental rights, so that Isaac may be free of this and be able to go to a loving family. Which he has already found and are willing to petition for an expedited adoption. Please let him have the life he deserves.”
And with that mr. Whittemore sat down and ended his speech.
The judge called an end to the trial and advised the jury to vote. Everyone exited the courtroom the the lobby and again Isaac was hugged by everyone. Mr.Whittemore stepped away to take calls and the rest of the pack walked outside to the little patio area with a coffee shop. Santiago and Chris treated everyone to a drink, including the first responders who came to support Isaac.
Shortly after Mr. whittemore came by and advised that it could take anywhere from 30 mins to all day to get a reply. As he was saying this a legal aide advised them that they had reached a decision. It had only been 20 minutes. Isaacs nerves got to him again but he was ready, they made their way back into the courtroom and waited for the judge.
As the jury filed in and the judge prepared herself the pack all heals hands in anticipation. The judge asked for the verdict and received the memo from the jurors.
“In the cases of The State of California vs. Jedediah Lahey for the the Charge of Child Neglect you have been found Guilty. For the charge of Child Endangerment you have been found Guilty. And lastly For the charge of Assault in the 4th degree you have been found guilty,“
I Isaac couldn’t help but turn back to look at Derek Stiles and Allison with a big smile.
“It has been determined by this court of law and a panel of your peers that the state of California will permanently terminate your parental rights.”
When Isaac heard that his world changed. He could no longer hear the judge as the blood rushed to his head and he was delighted. Tears of happiness rolled down his face. As he tried to focus back into the world he was in he realized the judge had been calling him and Mr. Whittmore had been trying to get his attention.
“I’m sorry, I’m ok please continue.” As Isaac looked up behind his happy tears he saw the room was only him and the pack now. His father was removed and he missed his sentencing but he couldn’t care less. He was free.
“Mr.Lahey, I have a petition from your attorney asking for an expedited adoption. This is to prevent you from needing to go into a group home as there is a limit to how long you can be a temporary ward. Now I do see here that you have submitted paperwork for a Derek Hale to be your guardian. Unfortunately California law stipulates that those filing these types of expedited adoption that are not blood relatives but be at least 10 years older than the adoptee. I will not be able to process this. When your time at your current residence reaches capacity, you will revert to a ward of the state. Until your 18th birthday or a suitable adoptee is found.”
Isaacs heart broke, he was so ready to join the others. But a year he could handle. He knew his family would be there waiting when he turned 18. In about 16 months.
“Thank you. I understand the rule-“ Isaac began not quite able to meet her eyes.
“I want to petition for Expedited Adoption!”
“I want to petition for Expedited Adoption!”
“I want to petition for Expedited Adoption!”
“I want to petition for Expedited Adoption!”
Everyone looked around and suddenly Melissa, John, Chris and Santiago were on their feet calling out to the judge. They all turned to look at each other in shock as this was not a thing they had planned, but something that came from their hearts at the thought of Isaac being separated even temporarily.
The entire room was snapping their eyes all around the room, looking at the four people looking at each tiger and Isaac who was now wheeling looking at the ones in their feet. Isaac. Reached out and touched the hands of those he could reach. The judge took a second and called over Mr.Whittmore then turned to the room.
“Court adjourned.” The judge waited for Mr.Whittmore to approach and they began speaking in hushed tones.
They couldn’t contain it anymore, Isaac leapt over the barricade and pulled Melissa and John into a bone crushing, then hugged Santiago and Chris as well. As the pack celebrated and Isaac was hugged and twirled and clapped around, everyone was crying. Even the remaining first responders were shown wiping away a few tears as they walked out of the court.
As soon as they made their way outside the room everyone got into another massive group hug. Isaac couldn’t let go of Anyone. Their moment of bravery to interrupt court to petition for him was unimaginable. He loved Derek completely but part of him thought it was him being a logical alpha in choosing to apply for guardianship. The others actions were completely led from the heart. Derek had to keep his eyes closed during the group chug, he could feel his Alpha pride overtake him at how close the pack had become.
Mr.whittemore came out and asked to pull Melissa to the side and talk with the Judge, It had turned out the Melissa played a huge roll in saving the judge’s daughters life. She wanted to repay the favor and help file the documents needed by CPS then and there to help speed things along. They decided the best bed for this to proceed was for Melissa to be the applicant. She fit the criteria of a perfect candidate.
Not wanting to separate anytime soon the others waited just outside the chambers again to let Melissa wrap up with the judge. From what Derek was telling the pack if everything goes according to plan. Isaacs adoption would be finalized it 3 months. Which would be 3 weeks before he would have to revert back to a ward of the state if the first placement elapsed.
When Melissa came back out she was smiling, and not even for the selfish reason of fast tracking Isaac as a son but because she had been told by the judge that her daughter was now 13 years old and wanting to become a nurse because of the impact Melissa had in her as a child.
Mr. Whittmore took everyone out for lunch in celebration at a fancy restaurant. he did get a photo op for his firm to showcase is taking a pro-bono child abuse case but free lunch is free lunch so they all took it and then went back to the Stilinski’s house.
The stress from the morning and excitement and lunch was enough to knock Isaac out on the car ride home. When they got back in Jackson half carried half walked him to the middle of the puppy pile blankets and he curled right up, even the foxes celebrated his return and they curled right up into him and joined the others for a power nap.
The others had school the next day so they didn’t sleep to long as to not stay up all night. They went about their night as normal and prepared for another boring week. The next 3 weeks of school were lack luster, Lydia and Jackson kept returning home every once in a while. CPS had stopped checking in as after after the Victoria fiasco. The ease of life was something they enjoyed. Cutting back training days to 3 days a week since they were mostly just maintains their skills not needing to teach everyone from scratch anymore. John was able to walk on his prosthetic for 30 mins at a time and wore it from the time he woke to the time he went to bed. Things were looking up as the time passed.
————-
Cut to Graduation Day
It was the day that they had been waiting for, the last day of school for everyone. Isaac,Allison, Stiles, Jackson, Lydia and Cora were all done and ready to end their time at Beacon Hills. Melissa unfortunately had to work the swing shift that day so she was up until 5 am that morning and only going to be able to get like 4 hours of sleep before she needed to be up and ready to see then walk. The pack, besides Mel and Santiago, all had a sleepover and we’re getting ready at Casa Stilinski. Lydia again had used her power of persuasion to let her dress everyone up underneath those red robes.
Bathrooms were full of Girls curling their hair, turns out Chris was amazing at curling hair with a straightener, how Laura learned that is a mystery to all. Lydia planned coordinating outfits for everyone so their photos would look amazing. Deciding on an elegant monochromatic White, Gray and Black theme everyone was dressed up too the nines.
Lydia wore an elegant white lace sleeveless Jumpsuit with white Heels, Jackson wore tailored black slim fit slacks with a crisp white Button down. Allison had on a black long sleeve tucked into a houndstooth skirt and black over the knee boots. Isaac wore dark gray Slim fit slacks with a white button down that had the sleeves rolled up to showcase his forearms. Stiles went classic black on black, Slacks and a button down. Danny was in white button down with a fitted black vest and matching pants. Cora was in a classy silk dark gray midi dress with practically no back. John begrudgingly was dressed into plain black slacks and a white button down. Jordan matched Cora and he wore a pair of fitted dark gray slacks and a black long sleeve button down. Chris refused to be wrangled into slacks and wore tailored black jeans, a compromise from Lydia , and a light gray button down untucked. Laura wore a simple gray maxi dress with a semi low back.
Back with Santiago and Melissa it was a quiet morning, Santiago picked her up from the hospital early that morning and was working on his laptop silently since she was catching up on as much sleep until her 10:30 alarm to her up and start getting ready for the 1 pm graduation ceremony. Santiago was just checking in on his clients, weeding thru emails on new clients what wanted to hire his contractors. He sipped on his coffee and heard the doorbell ring. He was upset since they had a little sign that said night shift worker, please knock right next to it. Not bothering to get dressed since he assumed it was a delivery he left his laptop on the couch and went over. He opened the door ready to sign for the package and was met by a surprised and confused Rafael McCall.
Of course he knew who he was, as Melissa and him grew in their relationship she had opened up to him about their relationship. High school sweethearts who got married and pregnant way to fast. His narcissistic personality coupled with excessive drinking whenever things didn’t go his way. Of course Santiago ran his record and checking him out, no movement at all in his career for the past 6 years, on just scraping by at the FBI entrance exams and re qualifications every year. He was going no where and slowly.
Santiago stood 2 inches taller than him and was about 30 pounds heavier of pure muscle, as he stood there chest to chest he could see Rafael check him out. It did help that he was shirtless so he may have flexed and puffed his chest slightly. He will 100 percent blame that behavior on Derek.
“Who the Hell are you!” Rafael yelled out.
Santiago was about to reply and tell him to keep his voice down when he saw Scott run from the most likely rental car on the curb, as he ran up to the door he saw Santiago and called out confused, “Santiago?”
This enraged Rafael since it was clear this shirtless man in his ex wife’s house was known enough not only to answer her door shirtless but also known to Scott.
“Who the Hell is Santiago?” Rafael yelled out again this time at Scott.
At this point the neighbor across the way who happened to be checking her mailbox looked over at the noise. Santiago opened the door a little more and moved to wave a hand at her telling her everything was okay. She waved back at Santiago and then looked to Scott and waved again. This seemed to also tick off Rafael as the neighbors knew him too apparently.
Santiago squared up at Rafael and began to speak, “well I was going to ask you too keep your voice down as to not wake Melissa. since she worked the swing shift this morning. But sounds like she is already up thanks to you. “ Santiago pivoted and turned to Scott “Hey Scott, good to see you again. Why don’t you two come inside and we can wait for Melissa to come out.” He moves over and motioned them to the couch, before that can sit Santiago stops Rafael. “Melissa is not a fan guns in the house, please either place your weapon in this lockbox or you can store it in your car.”
“I’ll have you know I am an FBI special agent licensed to carry in-“
“I know who you are AGENT McCall.“ he makes a point to call him agent and not special agent as that is his current title. “The request still stands. Either put your gun away or we move the reunion to outside our home.” Again making a point to refer to the house as theirs rather then hers.
Rafael walks over to the lock box by the door and placed his side arm away then he pivots and smirks. Santiago stops him again.
“And the weapon on your left ankle as well.” He returns the smirk and crosses his arms.
“How did you even… there was no way you could tell.” He stammers back as he begrudgingly puts away the second gun.
“Your gait gave it away.” He replied back as if that was enough. “Scott you want a water or soda? Agent McCall?” Santiago asked walking back to the kitchen.
Rafael says no and Scott agrees happily. He hands back a soda and opens the other for himself. He heard Melissa just finish getting dressed and turned on the kettle.
“So Scott did you come back to walk with your class?”
“Yeah I didn’t think they would let me but I got an email last week and they said even thou I finished online they would let me walk.” He replied in a happy tone.
As the kettle clicked off he poured it into a mug and picked out a spearmint tea, she liked those on early morning. Just as she came out of their room in her pajamas she called out down the hall “Can’t they read! It says Night Shift right in the freaking-“ she saw Scott and Rafael and stopped mid sentence.
She saw Scott and rushed to him, they embraced and she cried a bit. Santiago took this time to text the pack, he knew with his annoyance and the emotions from Melissa they were bound to check in.
“ but your school the counselor said you couldn’t walk?”
Scott hugged his mom back “I got the email last week. Wanted to surprise you.”
“That’s great, you look better too how’s your head? No more headaches?” Melissa asked as she broke away.
“I’m doing good. Better I don’t know why but I’m doing much better away from here.”
Santiago let them have a few minutes before he walked over with the cup for Melissa. She had basically decided to ignore Rafael and that seemed to tick him off more. He got a glimpse of Santiago’s laptop and scoffed.
“Good luck getting that company to come out and to a demo or pitch. I’ve tried for 3 years to get them to do a session for my team at the FBI. Those guys just hate Feds I’m sure.”
Santiago and Melissa just turned to look at each other with a knowing smile.
“Oh have you tried to get Mecati Security to to a seminar and they didn’t accept your proposal?”
“Yeah I’ve sent 6 in 3 years and they all get rejected in minutes they don’t even review them. Damn anarchists they have it out for the Feds”
“You know If your submissions are kicked back within 5 minutes it means you failed the basis screening and they deemed it unfit for review. The CEO actually reviews all of the ones that clear thru the screening himself.”
“Please I’m with the FBI I know a little more about security than you. What do you do? Looks like manual labor of some kind.” He asked back with a sneer.
Santiago looked to Melissa she gave him the “he dug his own grave” look and gave him the green light.
“Santiago Guerrero, CEO and founder of Mecati Security nice to meet you.” He replied with a smirk of his own. Taking his laptop from the table and closing it, “and just a heads up if your submissions are getting denied in the first 5 minutes it means there were at least 5 Spelling mistakes and you did not follow the template we provided. Maybe get an intern to review it next time. Oh and also we don’t discriminate Feds, If you ever make it up to the BAU or NIBRS teams we work with them quarterly. “
“Woah did you help Allison and Stiles with their project? I saw the clip of it online and it was cool!” Scott asked him genuinely impressed.
“I’m glad you liked it. How did your video go over? Was the vet helpful?” Santiago asked, he looked over and saw Melissa finished her first cup and lifted an eyebrow asking if she wanted more.
She handed her cup over to him and smiled “thanks Santi.”
“Yeah, Scott tell me how are the kittens?” Melissa asked trying back to face Scott.
“Kitten what kittens?” Rafael asked
Santiago replied from the kitchen where he was refilling the mug, “the kittens he bottle fed for his senior project. Did the little runt Guppie find a home?” He asked walking back over with a second cup of tea for Melissa and a second soda for Scott.
“Yeah, funny enough the family thought it was a silly name but it stuck so Guppie is staying Guppie.” Scott answered back “you know Dr.Deatons Sister is actualy psychologist and she actually is the one that adopted Guppie. She was talking to me. Turns out I’m great with animals not so much people. I think im coming to terms with the fact that im not a people person, I just don’t get it or them. But im okay with that. It’s gotten better since I stopped trying to be super intense and always be all about me.”
Melissa heard the reflection and realization and from Scott and realized he is growing up, and being away from beacon hills was good for him. Just then her alarm rang, it was her time to start getting ready alarm.
“Oh shoot I had asked Stiles to remind me to pickup my dress.” She complained reaching for her phone to shut off the ringing.
“Mel, your dress is in my closet, picked it up from the dry cleaners yesterday for you.” He advised her giving her a quick squeeze of the house. She looked to him then to Rafael and back and him. “Go. I can be civil. Get ready and take your time, I already ironed my suit so I can be ready in minutes.”
Melissa only hesitated for a second before kissing him on the cheek then giving Scott a squeeze and rushing to the bathroom.
“You picked up her dry cleaning and Iron your clothes…pshh I sure do see who’s in charge here. talk about king of the castle.” Rafael scoffed.
“You know what yeah I do pick up her dry cleaning, I iron, hell I even pack her lunch every day. Because she deserves it. She works 12 hour shifts or longer and doesn’t need to. She paid off this house already, she does it to help save lives. I can more than provide for us and pay for Scott’s tuitions but she asks to split everything. And I’m lucky that I get to be here, so I show her I appreciate her anyway I can. You don’t find a person like her twice in your life.” Santiago replied firmly “so I respect her and she does the same to me. That is what a relationship should be. Any man stupid enough to chase a woman like her away is never going to accomplish anything.”
Rafael stood up and tried to intimidate Santiago “Don’t get all high and mighty on me. I can have the full force of the FBI on your ass with a snap of my fingers. I could arrest you right now!”
Santiago stoop up and again with his massive size looked to Rafael.
“You are a guest in this home.” Santiago spoke out in a calm deep voice, “I suggest you keep your voice down and keep your opinions to yourself about our relationship. I will not disrespect you in front of your son, so I suggest you sit down and change the topic.”
Scott looked back and forth not sure what was going on and it’s waited to see what his father would do.
“Don’t you tell -“ Rafael took a finger and poked Santiago in the chest and before he could even say half a sentence Santiago took his hand and twisted it around and bent him over pinning his arm behind him.
“Bad Idea. You have lost the privilege to stay here until graduation, please see yourself out.” Santiago finished by releasing Rafael and walking to the door. Rafael stumbled and staggered thru the door, he slammed the door shut behind him. Leaving behind his guns and Scott.
Santiago looked at Scott who was just red in the face embarrassed for his father. He looked at Santiago and just muttered, “oh shit.” Scott leapt to his feet and rushed to the bedroom door and knocked.
“Mom mom mom you dressed?” He quickly tapped on the door until she opened it still wearing her bathrobe and hair in a towel.
As soon as the door opened he wrapped her in a hug and squeezed tight. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m so so sorry.” He was begging her holding onto her as tight as he could.
“Scott, baby it’s okay you’re sorry? What’s going on. Santi?” She called out while patting his head and looking confused.
Santiago walked over and saw them embraced and just shrugged, this was a enjoy the moment parenting thing.
Finally Scott released her and talked a mile a minute. “ I get it now. What Dr.Morrell was trying to tell me. I just saw it with dad and I’m sorry. I just wanted to let you know that I understand now why you did what you did. That it was exactly what I needed, I’m sorry I thought I needed to be someone else to impress him and try to be him. That’s not who I want to be. I love you mom, and I’m going to try. I need to make an effort to be a better man, I’ve got some growing up to do. I don’t want to be him.”
“Oh Scott. I love you, all of you. I’m proud of you for realizing this. We will do everything we can to let you grow.”
“Love you, I’ll talk to dad. See if I can’t get him to behave at least for graduation. I’ll see you when I’m walking across the stage. Love you.” Scott gave her one last kiss on the cheek and headed for the door. Santiago handed him the spare lockbox and said “Combination is your mothers birthday.” Before clapping him on the shoulder and opening the door for him.
Santiago went back to Melissa and filled her in on what happened while she was in the shower and getting ready, for some reasons some of their best conversations happened when one or both of them was in the shower. They both got dressed up to the theme are approved by Lydia. Melissa wore a black sun dress, it was fitted and had a then flared out below her waist. Santiago dressed to match and had on black slacks and a black short sleeve button down that showcases his muscular arms and tattoos.
A series of text messages and hours of priming later they headed off to the stadium where graduation was being held. Santiago took his new truck, he decided to buy a car here, and they parked next to the other cars. John used the injured sheriff perk to reserve a section right up front where him and his family could sit. As the other parents filed in around them the excitement built. The empty chairs where the students would soon enter we’re ready.
After a few announcements and reminders he ceremony was about to start. For Scott’s sake Rafael sat next to Melissa much to Santiago’s irritation.
The graduation music began and in walked in the students, they filed in two by two and filled in their chairs. Administration spoke and gave the standard speeches then it came time for the Class President and Valedictorian to give the student speech, none other than Lydia Martin. She strode confidently up on that stage and immediately took control of the room.
“Beacon Hills Seniors, this is our time and our graduation. This is a celebration to everything we have done; not only these past four years, but a culmination of a lifetime of choices. This is a moment to be shared, because this graduation is not just one person. We are here to recognize our grandest achievement so far. Here, today, right now we reflect on everything that came together to make this happen; and to say thanks. Let’s hear it for ourselves seniors. Let’s hear it for the students that worked for that 4.0 GPA, let’s hear it for the students who just managed to scrape by. Let’s hear it for the students who graduated while holding down a job. For those who graduated while being parents. For those of us who did this on our own. For those of us who had all the support in the world. To the families who sacrificed themselves so their children could thrive. For those families that don’t speak the language but still made the effort to help as best they could. For those of us who had a chosen family’s support. For those of us who just want to get out and not come back. For those first loves that made us learn. For the coaches that helped raise not only students but people. And finally let’s hear it For these high school friendships, may they last forever. Let’s hear it for the Senior Class of Beacon Hills.” Of course Lydia got a standing ovation from the student and the parents that did not end unti she was back in her seat.
Then it was time for the students to walk across the stage. Those of them who were heading to college or accepted a job already got an announcement alongside their name. As names were called in alphabetical order the crowd cheered for every student.
The parents were ready with cameras for when the kids names were called And cheered and screamed and hollered.
“Allison Argent, Argent Arms Corporation ”
“Cora Hale, Stanford University- Art and Design”
“Isaac Lahey, City College of San Francisco - Business and Agriculture ”
“Deiniol Mahealani- Mecati Security Corporation ”
“Lydia Martin, Full Ride Harvard University- Premed and BioChemistry”
“Scott McCall, Yuba College - Veterinarian Technician”
“Miecz- Miek- Stiles Stilinski”
“Jackson Whittemore, Full Ride Stanford University Pre Med”
The last students were in called and then they all got to move their tassels from one side to the other, then throw their hats up in the air.