Chapter Text
“McCall! Where the hell is Balinski?”
“I don’t know, Coach. I haven’t seen him.”
“Well, when you do see him, tell him that senior year started last week, and if he doesn’t get his ass to practice, I’ll make Greenberg co-captain instead.” A pause. “And don’t think I didn’t hear that groan, Jackson. Now everyone out on the field!”
Isaac grabbed Scott’s elbow and held him back. “You haven’t heard from him either.”
“No, I’ve heard from him, I just haven’t seen him.”
“Nobody has,” Jackson interjected, hanging back with Danny. “Not since…”
“I have,” Danny said. “Well, I saw him getting into his Jeep. I didn’t speak to him or anything.”
“How did he look?” Scott asked.
“I don’t know. He had his hood up, I didn’t see his face. I only recognised him by the Jeep.”
“Field! Now!” Coach’s voice echoed back into the locker room.
~o~
“Scott, is there a problem?” Deaton asked.
“Hmm?”
“It’s just, you’ve been wiping that same spot for 45 minutes.”
“Oh,” Scott said, staring down at the cloth like he’d never seen one before in his life. “Sorry.”
“Maybe you should leave early tonight,” Deaton said. “I can take care of things here.”
“Yeah, sure.” Scott tossed the cloth vaguely in the direction of the sink and grabbed his jacket. With an arm in one sleeve, he paused. “Should I go to see him?”
“Just have patience. He’ll be ready soon.”
~o~
“Hey, Sheriff.”
“Scott. Stiles can’t come to the phone right now.”
“Oh. Right. Do you know when he’s coming back to school?”
“His counsellor says he’s ready. Soon, I guess.”
“Great. Um – He is okay, isn’t he?”
“I’d tell you if I knew, Scott.”
~o~
“You can’t force it, Scott,” Allison said. “If anyone knows how messed up these things make you, it’s me.”
“And Derek,” Scott said. “He hasn’t heard anything either.”
“Why would Stiles go to Derek?” Allison asked, her hand carding through Scott’s hair.
“He was there.”
“Yeah, but he didn’t witness it,” Allison pressed a light kiss to Scott’s temple. “I know you’re worried, we all are. But we just have to wait. He’ll come back to us when he’s ready.”
~o~
JACKSON: get boyd n meet @ dereks. i got lydia n danny
SCOTT: whats happening? & w/house or woods
JACKSON: woods. isaac there now. theres a situation
SCOTT: allison?
JACKSON: chris needed 2. theyll come together
~o~
“What’s he doing here?” Scott snapped, eyes flaring gold as he snarled at Peter Hale.
“Relax, pup,” Peter said, leaning against the scaffolding of Derek’s half-rebuilt house, ice-pack pressed against his eye. “Just suffering from a concussion, not plotting your demise or anything. Now keep your voice down.”
“Can werewolves get a concussion?” he heard Danny whisper to Lydia.
“Is everyone here?” Derek asked.
“Everyone except Stiles,” Boyd noted.
“Yeah, well…” Derek began, before giving up and letting the uncomfortable silence fall on the group.
“Okay,” Lydia said eventually. “You said there was a situation?”
“Oh, yeah,” Derek said, blinking himself back to concentration. “There was an attack, earlier tonight.”
“Wolf?” Scott asked. “Kanima? Please, don’t let it be another kanima.”
“Human,” Peter piped up. “And the guy he attacked? Also human.”
“The victim was a hunter,” Derek said. “He’s alive, but beaten up pretty bad. Peter was there, but the guy knocked him out before he could ask any questions.”
“He wasn’t… you know,” Isaac asked.
“Didn’t recognise him from that night,” Peter said. “I don’t think he was one of them.”
“Mr Argent?” Scott asked.
Chris shook his head. “Haven’t heard of any other hunter families moving into the area. My guess is this guy works solo. And isn’t very good at it.”
“Why does this concern us?”
“The attacker used magic,” Peter said. “Well, not to attack. For that he swung a huge metal stick in our faces, but the hunter couldn’t touch him.”
“Like a forcefield,” Scott said. “Deaton has one around the clinic.”
“This is where Stilinski would be useful,” Jackson groaned.
“But Stiles isn’t here, is he?” Derek snapped. “Look, Scott, I know I said I didn’t want to depend on Deaton any more than I have to, but until Stiles-“
“I’ll ask him,” Scott cut in. “And I’ll call mom. She’s at the hospital; she might be able to find out something about this hunter.”
“Danny, I need you and Lydia on the computer,” Derek continued. “I want records of anyone who might have come to the area recently. Show them all to Peter and see if we can get a match on either of these guys while we wait for Mrs McCall. Then I want to know everything you can find out about them. Addresses, phone records, convictions. Anything and everything, okay?”
“Sure,” Danny said.
“Everyone else, we’re training. If these guys are in any way related to what happened, we take them down. Got it?”
~o~
SCOTT: hey man missed u 2nite
SCOTT: i get ur not ready 2 come back 2 pack yet, but u ok?
SCOTT: stiles?
SCOTT: hope 2 c u back at school
SCOTT: plz call me back