#tessaxliam

Groaning loudly as he watched her spin on her heel and continue on with her supposed death wish, Liam hurriedly followed after her as she made her way to the house he had escaped from just a couple of nights earlier, before he had been thrust into a world he didn’t understand and his whole life had been turned upside down.

They had told him not to tell anyone. They had told him he had to keep it a secret, to protect himself and also to protect them… But Tessa wasn’t just anyone. She was his sister, she was his (as lame as it sounded) best friend… They had always been close. Tessa had been his protector from the second he was born. It had been Tessa who had beaten up the school bully for picking on Liam when he was seven, it was Tessa who had stood up to the idiots at Devonford Prep, and it was Tessa who had promised their mother that she would keep an eye on Liam if she allowed him to transfer to Beacon Hills High.

Sure, they fought sometimes and they would wind each other up – what siblings didn’t? – but they had always had each other’s backs. They had always stood up for one another and supported each other no matter what. They had been all the other had during their parents’ divorce.

They really were best friends, and they had never kept anything from each other before.

At least… That’s what Liam had thought. But the way Tessa had accepted his news, the way she had scrambled off her bed at the mention of Scott McCall’s name and the way she was currently stomping determinedly up the steps of his porch made Liam think that Tessa had indeed been keeping something from him.

She already knew about this world.

“McCall!” she hollered, banging on the front door with her fists. “Open the damn door! I know you’re in there, Stiles’ heap of junk is in the driveway!”

Liam wanted to grab hold of his sister and drag her away from the house but before he could, the front door opened slowly and Scott cautiously peeked his head outside.

“…Before you attack me, I only did it to save him-”

Letting out a sound that was somewhere between a growl and roar, Tessa pushed at the front door with a strength she didn’t know she had and Scott fell backwards, catching himself before he fell on the ground. He scrambled on the floor, pulling himself to his feet and dusting his jeans off as he stared at Tessa with wide eyes.

“What the fuck where you thinking?” she hissed.

“We can ex-”

“Back off, Stilinski!” she snapped, whirling round and pointing a finger at him. Stiles raised his eyebrows, lifting his hands up in surrender and glancing towards his best friend.

“This one’s all you, Scotty,” he muttered, and Scott gulped slightly when Tessa turned her attention back to him.

“Tessa he was going to fall- he was going to die, I- I didn’t have a choice-!”

“You didn’t give him a choice!” Tessa yelled. “You didn’t let him decide! You- you just did it, Scott! You didn’t tell him about the danger he was going to be in, you didn’t tell him about the mortality rate for the rest of the teenage werewolves in town – do you remember Erica, huh? Boyd? Isaac?”

“Wha- Isaac isn’t-”

“Isaac is missing, Scott, or haven’t you noticed that?” Tessa rolled her eyes, throwing her hands in the air. “I haven’t spoken to him in months. One of my best friends is dead, and the other conveniently disappeared out of the country with a werewolf hunter and now I can’t get in touch with him? You don’t find that in the slightest bit strange? You don’t think that was something you should have considered before you bit my kid brother? You’ve practically signed his death certificate-”

“Isaac was a werewolf?” Liam asked, sounding completely baffled.

“Not now, Liam.”

“Tessa-”

“I said not now, Liam!” she told him, her tone pleading as she turned to look at him. “You don’t understand what he’s gotten you involved in, you have no idea what this world is going to do to you. God, this has- this stupid werewolf business has taken too much from me already and I’m not going to let it take you as well, alright? So just… shh. Go sit down and be quiet while I talk to Scott-”

“You’re not really talking to Scott, I’d definitely say it’s more like you’re yelling at Scott,” Stiles paused. “There’s- there’s a lot of yelling.”

“Do you want me to yell at you instead?”

“No- nope. I’m- I’m all good on the yelling front, thank you,” Stiles shook his head, taking a step backwards and gesturing towards the living room. “I’m just- I’ll be in there. Uh… Good luck, buddy,” he shot Scott a thumbs up, before he rushed into the living room.

“Tessa…” Scott started carefully. “He was going to fall off the hospital roof, alright? I- I had to do something, I couldn’t just let him fall, he would have died and I couldn’t hold on to him so- so I had to. It was the only way to save him, Tessa.”

“…He’s telling the truth, T,” Liam told her quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’d be dead right now if it was wasn’t for Scott. Then you’d be yelling at him for not saving me.”

“You’re gonna be dead anyway,” Tessa whispered, shrugging his hand off and looking towards Scott with watery eyes. “Erica died. I grew up with her, Scott. I’d known her since I was six years old, and she’s dead. And- and Isaac- my best friend… I don’t even know where he is. I don’t know if he’s okay, if he’s safe. When he left… I wanted out of this world, and you knew that. Look how many people you’ve lost already – Erica, Boyd, Allison, Matt, all those innocent people Miss. Blake killed – and you want to drag my brother into this? No,” she shook her head. “No. I’m not going to let you. You’re going to stay away from him, do you understand? You- you and you’re weird, twitchy little friend.”

“He’s going to need help-”

“Then I can help him.”

“…He’s not going to be able to control himself-”

“I’m his sister and I can help him, Scott,” she interrupted.

“Tessa…” Liam paused uncertainly. “This isn’t going to go away, you know? It’s not one of those things that you can just ignore and hope it will get better. This is my life now. I- I’m going to need a lot of help… Yours and Scott’s.”

Tessa paused, trying to stop her bottom lip from wobbling as she turned to face her baby brother.

Only, he wasn’t a baby anymore. He was 16 years old, he was almost taller than she was… and he was a werewolf. Beacon Hills best kept secret (ha, yeah, right) had been something she had never wanted Liam to find out about. She had wanted to keep him far away from the world that had already robbed her of her two best friends and changed her view of the town she had grown up in. She had wanted to keep him safe, tucked away in the reality most people lived in, where werewolves were nothing but things of fiction, characters in bad horror movies and scary stories. She had even tried to talk him out of trying out for lacrosse team once he had transferred to Beacon Hills high, wanting to keep him as far away from Scott McCall as she possibly could. She had wanted to protect him, but she should have known she wouldn’t have been able to keep this from him forever.

Liam had a knack for finding trouble anywhere he went and he always had done, ever since he was a kid. She didn’t know why she thought this would be any different.

He was right.

This was his life now, whether she liked it or not. He was a werewolf. He was going to turn every full moon and he was going to lose any sense of the person she knew and loved, the same way Isaac had done when he had been bitten, and Tessa would be damned if she was going to lose her brother the same way she had lost her friends. She knew that Liam would never forgive himself if he turned and he hurt her, their mother, or any of his friends and deep down, she knew that the only person who could help him with that was standing right in front of her.

Taking a deep, steady breath, Tessa nodded her head slowly and Liam raised his eyebrows hopefully.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied, her voice quiet. “But you,” she pointed towards Scott. “I’m trusting you to help him. I’m trusting you to keep him safe when I can’t and if anything happens to him I will kill you, alright?”

“O-okay,” Scott stuttered. “Sure. Yep,” he agreed with a nod.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Tessa turned away from them with pursed lips as she made her way towards the living room, rolling her eyes when she saw Stiles rushing away from the door.

“Where… Where are you going?” Liam asked in confusion, and Tessa huffed as she glanced back at them over her shoulder.

“Scott’s going to help you right?” she raised an eyebrow. “He can start now. Come on,” she waved a hand towards them, gesturing for them to follow her as Liam whined quietly – he had plans with his friends, but there was no way was saying no to Tessa when she was in this kind of mood.

“Woah,” Scott murmured, turning his head to look at Liam. “Must be nice having a sister willing to protect you like that.”