#s4 memory

Chapter 35: The Brighter Side

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Characters: Stiles + Lydia, The Jeep, Noah Stilinski, Allison Argent, Kira Yukimura, Alan Deaton, teenage Derek Hale

Summary: Smiling, she refocuses on her task, emptying the cubby of old candy wrappers and inkless pens, checking the charge in the flashlight. She organizes the maps, owner’s manual, insurance card, and registration. Before returning them, she digs into the back corner where she finds a handful of lose coins.

Not just any coins. Eight pesos to be precise.

She clutches them in her palm, listens to metal scraping against metal, and she remembers.

She remembers when she learned why the Jeep is so special to Stiles...

It was the night they got back from that miserable two-day trek to Mexico. Two days of too much desert and too much sun, then too much darkness and too much cold. Two days worrying and being in danger and fighting for their lives, all while pretending to be calm and confident and fine. Two days in constant, whiplash-inducing flux, from soft banter and familiar protectiveness to uncharacteristic indifference and abrupt harshness. Two days of uncomfortable proximity, followed by one heart-piercing moment of almost being left behind. Two days of straining to recognize the Stiles she knew...and loved.

And then it was over. They made it back. All of them alive and as they were before...for the most part. All of them, plus one more. Derek Hale.

Lydia remembers being at the Beacon Hills Animal Clinic, the words I'm so not okay with this and not going anywhere ricocheting between her head and her heart.

After Scott dragged an adamantly protesting Stiles out of the building, Deaton retired to his office to research Derek’s condition. Lydia remained in one of the exam rooms, recently age-regressed teen wolf clinging to her hand.

While normally, she wouldn’t be jumping at the chance to babysit any member of the Hale family, she remembers volunteering to stay. In the moment, it seemed like the most logical thing to do. Yes, it was late and a school night. But Scott was working so hard to improve his grades, and Stiles already had more than his fair share of absences for the semester...especially last month.

Despite missing a few classes, Lydia’s GPA was in no danger of being affected. So there she was, at two in the morning, watching over Derek. Someone who wasn’t exactly her enemy but wasn’t really a friend either. Someone who, not so long ago, had plotted to kill her, and who had been more than willing to lay all the blame on her for the horrible things his uncle compelled her to do.

She supposed it helped that his current appearance made it easy to separate the trembling, helpless boy on the exam table from the grumpy, former alpha she was so used to avoiding. But if she were totally honest, the main reason Lydia offered to stay was that she needed a distraction.

Chapter 29: Good for Each Other

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Characters: Stiles + Lydia, Noah Stilinski, Prada too

Summary: “Eh...it’s nothin’,” Noah dismisses as he massages his right shoulder. “I had to move one of the filing cabinets in my office today, and it started acting up again.”

Without warning, a rapid sequence of images flashes through Lydia’s mind. Her head rushes with dizziness, and she stumbles back, hands groping for the couch.

“Lydia!” she hears Stiles fret.

He grasps her waist, guiding her to sit as a memory overtakes her.

She remembers the night when Noah’s shoulder was injured...

Lydia and Stiles were at the station. They were getting Sheriff Stilinski up to date on the situation with the Benefactor. New evidence suggested that Lydia’s grandmother, Lorraine might somehow be involved, that she may have faked her death, might even be the Benefactor. There wasn’t much to go on – just a coded message with no cipher key, which apparently Lydia was supposed to figure out, and an urn containing mountain ash cinders...instead of her grandmother’s ashes.

All of that was a big enough pill to swallow.

But it wasn’t until Lydia stood with Stiles in his dad’s office, saying the words aloud, that she truly processed how complicated things had become and how powerless she felt. She remembers wishing that she could just grab Stiles’s hand, hop in the Jeep, leave Beacon Hills and all its tribulations in the dust.

If only it could be that simple.

Simple like the way she and Stiles had been finishing each other’s sentences all night or how right it felt when he reached for her hand at the exact moment her voice began to falter. Simple like how perfectly their digits always fit together and the peace of mind it gave her.

A fleeting moment of serenity was all she was allowed though.

Suddenly, gunshots rang out in startling succession – POP! POP!

Chapter 10: As it Always Was

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Characters: Stiles + Lydia

Summary: There is something powerfully familiar about the interaction, something that makes her want to delve deeper. So, Lydia nestles her head on his shoulder, places her hand on his chest, and focuses her mind…until the distant image becomes clearer…and she remembers.

She remembers the day she found Stiles – in handcuffs.

On an exceptionally hot afternoon, Lydia entered the Beacon County Sheriff’s Station. As she pulled open the front door, a forceful gust of chilled air greeted her, uplifting the waves of her strawberry-blonde hair and pushing it behind her shoulders. Her eyes searched the waiting area, and a few acquainted deputies acknowledged her as she walked down the hallway that led to the sheriff’s office and adjoining squad room. It was there that she found the person she was looking for.

Stiles.

Well…part of him – specifically, his backside.

He was crawling on the floor. His right arm was extended, reaching for something, and his left arm was immobile, handcuffed to one of the six unoccupied desks in the space. She remembers that his burgundy tee shirt was riding upwards, exposing his lower back and one side of his abs, and his khakis were wandering downwards, revealing the waistband of his underwear and hugging the curves of his ass. Not exactly an unpleasant view.

Lydia smiled. She remembers admiring Stiles for a long moment; head tilted to one side, mind quickly beginning to drift into a daydream. The same one she had been having for months…

She wakes from a peaceful night’s sleep, with Stiles beside her. His comforting arms are wrapped around her body, his face relaxed and happy. His gorgeous eyes are fixed on hers, sparkling in the morning sunlight. His soft lips whisper an I love you before they connect with hers and…

Chapter 3: You and Me

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Characters: Stiles + Lydia

Summary: Suddenly, two bright beams from the headlights of an oncoming car flash before her eyes…and she remembers the day of the outbreak.

Lydia had been at the lake house while her friends were taking the PSATs. She remembers that she spent the entire day trying to figure out something, anything that would teach her how to focus her abilities...before it was too late. She hoped that if she could just understand what Meredith had been trying to tell her, then maybe she would be able to save someone – instead of finding another dead body.

But all Lydia ended up with were more questions and an awful feeling of dread. She remembers the fear that consumed her when she knew someone was going to die. Someone at the high school. Someone she cared about.

That evening, Lydia drove through darkness, her royal blue compact car seeming to lag over every mile she traveled, headlights from opposing traffic blazing in her eyes around every bend in the road.

When she arrived at the school, the grounds were swarming with law enforcement officers, medical personnel, and officials from the CDC – complete with a hazmat team. Beyond them, a police blockade contained a horde of worried parents and school staff members. Lydia parked in the first available space in the lot and darted through the crowd. After several unbearable minutes spent working to persuade her way into the building, she found Sheriff Stilinski, who helped her get inside.

Once she reached the entrance and tore open the heavy steel doors, she found that the lobby was flooded with even more people. Eyes anxiously scanning the area, she first spotted her mother. But the relief Lydia felt as they embraced was short-lived because she also learned that Scott and Kira were unaccounted for, and worst of all – Stiles was nowhere in sight.