Work Text:
Lex gets her and Hannah the fuck out of Hatchetfield.
Trembling and on the verge of a breakdown for the two days it takes to drive to California.
She still stinks of blood and ash, even though she scrubbed at her skin until it was raw. Hannah has been surprisingly calm in the backseat, wrapped in her sensory sock and a pile of stim toys in the seat beside her. They’re listening to some sort of podcast or audiobook or some shit and the words are muddled into nothingness, going through one ear and out the other,
But Hannah likes it and while Lex feels like she’s seconds away from a meltdown, Hannah doesn’t, and that’s all that matters.
The spend their first few weeks living in the car. Lex was smart enough to rip off the memory foam mattress top from Hannah’s bed before she packed their shit to skip town, and Hannah has been sleeping fine.
Lex can’t sleep, though. Not whe the stench of burning flesh is embedded in her brain and Ethan’s cold, dead gaze haunting her every time she closes her eyes.
She gets a job as a waitress at some place where a meal costs more than what she spends on a month’s worth of groceries. She has to dig into their savings to buy herself a nice button up and dress pants but it’s worth it for the egregious tips she gets from the bougie fucks that come in every night.
And as shit as she was at Toy Zone she amps up the charm and becomes the perfect waitress because she has so much more riding on this than she did before.
They’re still living in their car and they’ve gotten busted by a few unhappy business owners not happy with them camping out in the back of their establishments but they find a spot in the far corner of the Walmart parking lot and haven’t had any trouble yet.
Lex scrapes up enough cash to get them food and clothes and saves the rest to get them somewhere stable to stay but the longer she’s in LA the quicker she realizes that people like her can’t survive.
So, she gives up her dream of being an actress, and makes her way to a little town called Beacon Hills and gets a job as a receptionist at the hospital that pays seventeen dollars an hour, 8:30PM to 8:30AM. The hours are odd but it means she leaves just when Hannah is getting ready for bed and gets back just in time to get Hannah to school and then gets to spend the whole time Hannah’s at school sleeping and get up just in time to get dinner ready for the both of them.
It’s… a lot. It’s hard. But it’s worth it to be able to afford a shity two bedroom for $750 a month instead of their car.
The school is surprisingly accommodating for Hannah and the things she needs to learn and Lex finds herself spending a lot of time talking with Hannah’s teacher just so she can know what’s going on when Lex isn’t there with her.
And though her job is stressful as fuck at first, she starts to get the hang of it, and actually pretty damn good at it. She makes friends with the others at the receptionist desk and even the doctors and nurses that aren’t pretentious fucks who refuse to interact with anyone without a medical degree.
There’s this nurse, Melissa, who stops by and talks with Lex. She tells her about the son her age and once she’s wormed her way past Lex’s defenses, Lex tells her about Hannah. Melissa brings her tupperware of food at the end of her shift sometimes. Delicious meals that Lex could only dream of making that she can take home.
She would share them with Hannah, but the girl has her safe foods and Lex is lucky enough that she anything at all. Right now she’s lucky enough that her safe food has a protein and a vegetable (pasta with peas and hotdog — but specifically the pasta shaped like unicorns you get in the Craft mac and cheese. But not the cheese. So now Lex just has an absurd amount of mac and cheese packets.)
It takes a few months but she finally falls into a rhythm that works for her and for Hannah. She makes enough so that they aren’t just surviving but actually living. She’s out of that hellhole that is Hatchetfield. Oh! And she actually scored some voice acting gigs that she can do at home. They’re nothing fantastic (mostly ASMR and hentai, not that she would ever let anyone know that) but they’re extra cash that she desperately needs and, well, they’re fun.
And Lex… she tries not to think about it.
She tries not to think about the rabid mind controlled mob ripping each other apart. Tries not to think of the blood caking beneath her fingernails. Tries not to think about everyone she failed and lost and will never see again.
There are a lot of things she doesn’t think about.
But one thing she definitely doesn’t think about is dating.
As much as she loathes to admit it, she’s not ready. She’s not ready to date. Not after Ethan… not after…
So that’s why when Stiles Stilinski enters her life, she’s thrown for a loop.
Stiles is everything she’s not. He’s a preppy nerd. A hyperactive optimist who talks too much and says too little.
He’s the kind of guy that she could never imagine understanding someone like her.
They meet in the library.
Lex takes Hannah to the library every Friday because she sure as hell can’t afford to buy her books.
Lex bumps into him, literally bumps into him, a pile of books falling on her feet and her nose ramming into the corner of a hardback.
Lex lets out a litany of curses while he rambles high speed apologies.
And then he turns to Hannah.
Now look. Lex knows that she’s protective. But people are assholes and she tries to shield Hannah from them as much as possible.
But he isn’t an asshole.
He just notices the book in Hannah’s hand and tells her that it’s one of his favorites.
Lex thinks it’s bullshit at first but when he starts to actually spout out plot points before stopping himself, not wanting to “spoil the awesomeness,” she realizes he’s actually being genuine.
He talks to Hannah like there’s nothing wrong with her, because there is nothing wrong with her, and he doesn’t care when she doesn’t always respond and he’s patient when her words are slow and when she starts to pull away he gets the message and stands up, out of her space.
“Stiles,” he says to Lex, holding out a hand as he balances his books in the other.
She shakes his hand warily. “Lex.”
“Lex,” he repeats, like he’s trying out the name on his tongue. He smiles. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Lex. Do you two come here often?”
“Do you check out six books about pixies often?”
“I’ll have you know that this is my first read,” he says with a cheeky grin.
“Ever?” she says flatly. “Congratulations on your literacy.”
He just grins wider. “I like you.”
And she’ll never admit it, but she likes him too.
She and Stiles end up running into each other more at the library. Lex warms up to him slowly but Hannah hangs onto his every word.
Something aches in Lex’s heart. The last person Hannah had looked at like that was Ethan.
And somehow library days turn to diner dinners to movies at their apartment and Lex…
Lex is starting to feel something for him.
She tells him one day, hushed as if the words are forbidden.
She had been in love. And then he died. And it was her fault.
Stiles doesn’t try to convince her that it’s not her fault. Doesn’t pity her or say any pretty meaningless words.
He just says he knows what it’s like to have the blood on your hands of someone you love.
And they leave it at that.
It’s an unspoken thing.
They don’t kiss. They don’t confess their undying passionate feelings.
They just… are together. And it’s nice. And it’s enough.
Maybe one day when they’re not weighed down by the ghosts and guilt, there will be something more.
But for now, having each other is enough.
Of course, things can’t always be perfect.
Because they have their ghosts and guilt, and the past doesn’t stop haunting them.