Love's Spiral

Spencer woke up to the sound of a ringtone coming from her phone. She sat up groggily and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Derek was gone. She shook her head and sighed, a little unhappy that he had left. She reached behind her, grabbing her phone from her nightstand.

“Hello?” she said, weakly.

“Spence. Wake up!” Stiles ordered her through the phone.

“What time is it?”

“A little after midnight. Open your window.”

“My window is open.” She said, confused. Then she heard a knock on her glass window. She turned over to look at the window. Spencer sw Stiles there waving his hand at her. “It was open when I fell asleep.” Derek must have closed it when he decided to disappear on her. Spencer groaned, and rolled out of her bed. She threw the window open. “What, Stiles?” she asked, grumpily.

“Sleep over at my place.” he said.

“I was already sleeping.” She pointed out, annoyed. “You woke me up to get me to sleep over your house?”

“Well, I’ll admit, now that you put it that way, it sound a little stupid. But I’ve already dropped Scott off at home and I’m bored.”

“No!” Spencer said, sarcastically.

Stiles grumbled. “Come on. We gotta celebrate the good news.”

“Seriously, Stiles? What news could be this good that you decided to wake me up from my peaceful slumber to switch beds? What if I were entertaining tonight?”

Stiles froze up. “You, uh, you weren’t, right?” Stiles didn’t like the thought of Derek and Spencer sleeping in the same bed. Especially when there was no way in hell that guy could keep it in his pants. “I mean,” Stiles leaned in to look inside her room, “there’s no one there.” Spencer put her hand on Stiles’ forehead and pushed his head out of her room.

“There’s no one here now. There was, but he left. That’s not the point, Stiles. I was sleeping.” Spencer complained.

“Please!” Stiles begged, folding one hand in the other, acting like he was begging. He pouted his lower lip just a little bit and when he did, Spencer sighed. Stiles smiled, knowing that he was getting her to agree to stay with him somehow.

“Let’s just stay here. No one’s home.” Spencer, grabbed his hand and helped him through the window. She left the window opened, even though she wouldn’t want Derek coming back.

“So, no one’s here?”

“That’s what I said.” Spencer said, confused. “Are you okay? You seem really off.”

“I’m fine.” Stiles assured.

“Okay, well, I’m tired. So you think we could just pop in a movie?”

“Sure.” Stiles agreed, turning around in the room awkwardly.
Spencer laughed at him. She reached into a drawer, pulled out a pair of sweatpants, and threw them at her friend.

“Thanks.” He said, unfolding the pants. “Hey, these are mine!” Stiles accused.

Spencer smiled and nodded, gathering her own pajamas, and moving to the bathroom. “Guys pants are more comfortable.” Spencer slid herself into her bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Stiles was left in the middle of her room with a stunned look on his face. Spencer stole his pants and has been wearing them. When did she wear them? Why did she wear them? Did she think of him when she wore them? Getting out of his thoughts, he quickly changed not wanting to keep Spencer waiting in her bathroom.

Spencer came back out and popped Iron Man into her DVD player.

Stiles shifted awkwardly around her room a little more before Spencer dragged him to her bed.

Spencer took the inside closest to the wall. “Why are you being so awkward?”

“Awkward?” Stiles asked, confused. He knew that he was though, and proceeded to stumble over his next few words. “I’m not being awkward. I’m super cool. Ice cold. Whatever the kids are saying these days.”

“Okay, you’re rambling. What’s going on?” Spencer asked, sitting up cross-legged against the wall.

“I just feel weird. I mean, I don’t want Derek to, like, murder me in my sleep or anything.”

Spencer groaned. “For the last time, I’m not with Derek. We’re just hanging out. No labels. No stress. He would have no reason to murder you.”

“Seriously? And you’re okay with that? You’re not the kind of person to just ‘hang out’ with a guy.” Stiles was surprised. Spencer wasn’t the type of person to kiss someone with no reason behind it. Before him, Stiles was positive that she hadn’t ever kissed anyone.

“Yeah, well, change is good. We’ve all been doing a lot of changing lately.”

Stiles scoffed. “Everyone except me.”

“Are you kidding?” Spencer asked, putting a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “I think you’ve changed most of all, Scarecrow.”

Stiles laughed at a reference to The Wizard of Oz.

“I’ve never really seen this side of you. The serious, emotional side of Stiles Stilinski doesn’t really come out that often. Then you fixing up the room for me at your place, it was cute.”

“Oh, well, at least I’m cute.” Stiles said, sarcastically.

“You are!” Spencer insisted. “You really care for Scott. And me. One look in your eyes and I know that you’d do anything for me.” Spencer yawned, trying to cover it up with her arm.

Stiles sighed and smiled. He opened his arms to her to curl into.

Spencer gladly accepted, laying her head down on his chest. She smiled. “Your heart’s beating really fast.” She said, sleepily.

“You still have that effect on me, Spence.”

Spencer tilted her head up to smile at Stiles. She pushed herself up with her feet and placed a kiss on the corner of Stiles’ mouth. She pulled away to see a shocked look on his face. “Uh, I’m sorry.” she said, sheepishly, laying her head back down on his chest. “Good night, Stiles.”

Stiles couldn’t get a single word out. So he just nodded his head. His stomach was going crazy with butterflies. Sure, he liked that she kissed him, but she wasn’t exactly in the right frame of mind. He doesn’t want to be in the middle of whatever confusing relationship that she had with Derek. He wanted her all to himself. It was selfish, but when he really thought about it, Derek didn’t deserve her. He has always been there for her, through every stage of her life. The first day of kindergarten, Stiles stood right beside her walking up the steps, holding her hand. Every birthday he was blowing out candles with her. Even when she first hit puberty and got cranky for a little bit every month, he didn’t mind. She was his.

!@#$#@!

Derek stood just outside the window, lurking and looking in on the two cuddled up on the bed. The place where he should be. He wanted to go in there and rip the boy’s throat open, but after Spencer said that Derek didn’t have a reason to, he stood back. She was right. They weren’t connected in anyway. They weren’t serious. Just like he had asked to be, friends. Who apparently kiss each other a lot. Still looking in, his blood boiled when he saw the redhead lean up and kiss the teen’s mouth. He glared through the window, feeling the wolf side take over him. She was his.

!@#$#@!

The next day, Stiles and Spencer managed to scrounge some boxes out of the garage and start packing her things. She was determined to be out of her mother’s house. Not that she necessarily hated her family, but she wanted her parents back. Spencer hated that she was the reason behind most of her father’s hospital visits. She just wished that they could happy. And they couldn’t be happy when Spencer was around. The fast that she could out, the faster her dad could come home.

They managed to get all of her clothes and little things packed up. She didn’t really like having clutter around, so everything that she found she wouldn’t need, she just ended up tossing or donating. All of this left her with five boxes filled with clothes, DVDs, games, and her bathroom stuff. They finished packing the boxes at about two and decided to treat themselves with a burger run. When they came back, Spencer’s mother was home.

“Amy.” Spencer said, excitedly. She walked towards her mother and gave her a big hug.

Amy was no doubt confused as her daughter did this, but she didn’t fight it.

When Spencer pulled away, she told her mother that she was done packing. “All we have to do is get everything over to Stiles’. Which means I might have to borrow the truck. For the big things, I mean. I’m not sure that my bed is going to fit in Stiles’ Jeep. Or Derek’s Camaro.”

Amy sighed, nodding her head. She reached into her purse and pulled out keys to the truck. She handed the keys over to Spencer letting them drop into her hand.

Spencer took a better look at the keys, noticing a new key chain. It was a lanyard with her name sewn into it. Her eyes widened.

“All the rust bucket does is sit in the garage. I can’t have my daughter always relying on the Sheriff or his son drive her places.”

“So, the truck is mine?” Spencer asked, just to make sure.
Amy nodded.

Spencer squealed, making Stiles cover his ears. Spencer threw her arms around her mother’s neck. “Thank you, thank you.” She said pulling away. “Stiles, I have a car!” Spencer then proceeded to jump into his arms. Stiles was surprised at first, but then he took it in and held her tight. There was no way he was going to be just friends with her.

!@#$#@!
The two decided that they would hold off the moving for another day and just go have some fun. Spencer had the urge to just drive her truck around. She was very excited about it and wanted to relish in the fact that it was, in fact, hers. They drove through the down, making sure to drive on every road. The drive was silent. The two of them never talking All aside from the fact that Spencer would just look over at her friend and squeal.

Stiles could help but stare at her smile. How her eyes were lit up. Everything about her was beautiful. After all this time, he couldn’t believe that he would ever miss any of what he saw in her a few years ago. They drove through the drive-thru at Taco Bell when they got hungry. Spencer insisting that she paid, since she recently got her new job.

Stiles tried to think of a time when he’d seen her happier. It was hard for him.

Once it was dark, the two went home only to arrive just in time for Stiles’ dad to receive a phone call. Of course, the two ran up the stairs and picked up the phone. Stiles had the phone to his ear while Spencer was looking at him, jumping in anticipation. When Stiles hung up the phone, he looked gravely at his friend.

“We’ve got to go see Scott.”

“Can I drive?” Spencer asked excitedly.

Stiles smiled and nodded.

Spencer drove directly to Scott’s house and the two got out of the car. They had planned to climb up to his room like Stiles had started the first night all of this confusion began. Spencer went first, scoping out a plan of attack for climbing the side of the house. She jumped and latched onto the house, swearing that there was a little bit of her Derek side coming out. There was no way in the world that she could have held onto the house with her scrawny arms.

Spencer looked down at her friend. “Just try not to look at my ass.” She winked.

Stiles swallowed, nervously. She climbed up the rest of the way and snuck into Scott’s window as quietly as she could.

Stiles shortly following after her, not managing to keep the noise down.

“Stiles!” she whispered, harshly. Spencer heard a soft movement outside of Scott’s room. Spencer hushed her friend. She turned her head to see Mrs. McCall raising a baseball bat over her head. “Wait!”

Stiles looked up seeing the same and said, “Oh, no, no!” he ducked in front of Spencer and the three of them erupted in a screaming fest.

Mrs. McCall slowly backed away and put the bat down. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

Stiles looked up at her in disbelief. “What am I doing?!” he scoffed. “God, do either of you even play baseball?”

“Sorry, Momma McCall.” Spencer said, bashfully, coming out from behind Stiles, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Scott came in a second later just before Mrs. McCall was going to lecture them.

She sighed, turning to her son. “Can you please tell your friends to use the front door?”

“But we lock the front door. They wouldn’t be able to get in.” Scott responded.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Oh, c’mon, Momma.” Spencer said. “You know you love me.”

Mrs. McCall only glared slightly in her direction.

Spencer shied away.

“And, by the way, do either of you care that there’s a police enforced curfew?”

Spencer shook her head no, while the boys voiced it.

“No? Alright then. Well, you know what? That’s about enough parenting for me for one night.” She handed the bat to Spencer and leaned to kiss her on the top of her head. “Good night.” She said.

“Night!” Spencer and Stiles called after her.

Spencer looked to Stiles. “So, what was that phone call with your dad about?” She asked.

Stiles sighed.

“What phone call?” Scott asked.

“My dad left for the hospital fifteen minutes ago. It’s the bus driver. They said he succumbed to his wounds.” Stiles explained.

“Succumbed?” Scott questioned, obviously unsure of what that meant.

“Means he’s dead, you moron.” Spencer joked. “How the hell did that happen? I mean, there’s no way, he could have just died. Wasn’t he on some sort of machine, life support, crap?”

Scott and Stiles looked at her knowingly.

“Oh, no. No, no, no. Derek did not do this.”

“Oh, come on, Spence, this has his name all over it.” Stiles said.

“Not really. You’re going off of your ‘Derek’s a murderer’ hunch. I promise you that he isn’t. He can’t lie to me, remember?”

“But he can move around the truth.” Stiles tried.

Spencer groaned. “Fine, you wanna know if he did it, Scott and I will go find out. And you can stay here to keep the bed warm. Let’s go, Scott.” She said, moving towards the window.

The boys stared at her, not really sure if they should follow her.

“Let’s go!” Spencer stressed, before flipping off of the side of the house. Then she started running. She ran as fast as she could, not even bothering with her truck. She was frustrated and felt the need to run. To go and not stop. She heard leaves rustling beside her and saw Scott running just behind her.

Scott beat Spencer to Derek’s house, bursting in and screaming his name.

Spencer did just the same.

“Derek! I know you’re here!” Scott screamed. “I know what you did!”

Spencer scoffed. “What you think that he did!” She corrected.

“I didn’t do anything.” The two heard throughout the house. Spencer gave Scott an ‘I told you so’ look.

“You killed him!” Scott yelled back, moving to go up the stairs.
Spencer stayed back. She knew this house was hanging on by a threat and there was no way that she was going up those stairs.

“He died.”

“Like your sister died?”

“You just had to bring that up, right?” Spencer asked Scott, rhetorically.

“My sister was missing. I came here looking for her.”

“You found her.”

“I found her in pieces! Being used as bait to catch me.”

This shocked Spencer. “Catch you? Who’s trying to catch you, Derek?” She asked. “Would you come out? I’m tired of this horror movie crap.”

Scott waved her off. “I think you killed them both. I’m gonna tell everyone, starting with the sheriff.” Scott made it to the top of the stairs and took a left down the hallway.

Spencer saw Derek come out from the other side. “Derek?” she questioned. “What are you doing?”

Derek sauntered after Scott, reaching for him. Derek grabbed his jacket and threw him down the stairs.

“Derek! What the hell?!” she moved to help Scott get up, but when he lifted his head, she found him in his wolf form. Spencer backed away when he roared up the stairs at Derek.

Derek jumped down all of the steps, never landing until he reached the first floor.

Scott was up on his feet and grabbed Derek, throwing him into a wall, sending the other man through to the other side.

“Scott? Seriously? He’s older and stronger and your plan is to fight back?”

Scott didn’t answer her, but walked in through the hole in the wall that he just made.

Spencer sighed. She made her way to the stairs to sit down on the third step and just wait it out as the boys fought. She sighed, putting her elbows on her knees to hold her head up. Once she heard a slash though, she got a little scared and went to check out the damage.

Scott was leaned over a couch and Derek was facing away from her, cracking his neck.

Spencer knelt down next to Scott to check him out. “Are you two satisfied?” she said, sarcastically.

“I didn’t kill him.” Derek stated, referring to the bus driver. “Neither of us did. It’s not your fault and it’s not mine.”

“This?” Scott questioned. “This is all your fault! You ruined my life!”

“No, I didn’t.”

And just like that, it was all very clear for Spencer.

“You’re the one who bit me.” Scott assured.

“No, Scott, he’s not.” Spencer said, quietly, joining their circle.

Scott looked to Spencer and back to Derek, confused. “What?”

“I’m not the one that bit you.” Derek insisted.

Scott looked down to the slash marks on his cheek, touching them. He recoiled like he was remembering something. Scott almost fell, but Spencer put his arms around him and caught him, sitting him on the couch. “There’s another.” Scott realized.

“It’s called an Alpha.” Derek informed. “It’s the most dangerous of our kind. You and I, we’re betas. This thing is more powerful, more animal than either of us.”

“That’s why Laura was here.” Spencer noticed. “She was looking for him.”

Derek nodded. “Now, I’m trying to find him. But I don’t think I can do it without you. Both of you.” He said, directing his attention to Spencer.

“Well, I understand me, but why Scott? You and him have the same shtick going on. Why do you need him?”

“Because he’s the one that bit him. You’re a part of his pack.” Derek told Scott. “It’s you, Scott. You’re the one he wants.”

Scott couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Spencer didn’t want to believe it, but she knew it was true.

All of their lives were potentially in a lot of danger.