Love's Spiral

Spencer woke up the next morning extremely late. She examined her surroundings slowly, realizing that she was back in her bed in the subway station. Unfortunately for her, all three of the other betas were already at school, leaving her in the station alone with Derek. Spencer sat up in bed, stretching her arms above her head. From the other room, she could hear Derek moving around in his train car. Spencer pushed herself out of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Red.” Derek said from his room, knowing very well that Spencer can hear him. “Are we gonna talk about what happened yet?”

Spencer furrowed her brow, reaching for her jeans. “Was it really that forgetful for you?” she asked, bending down to put her pants on.

“No.” Derek stressed. “Seemed like it was for you, though.”

The redhead sighed. “I would really love to talk to you about this today, but I really can’t.” She said, thinking about how much that she didn’t want to talk about what had happened between them. Spencer reached for a light colored v-neck t-shirt and shrugged it on. “I’ve got two more hours to come up with a plan on how to catch Jackson before he, Stiles, and Scott are out of school.”

Derek stood in her doorway. “You can spare two minutes.” He said, grumpily.

“Derek, I don’t think the conversation that you want to have deserves to be only two minutes.” She dug around in her clothes for her jacket.

“Well, you could say something about it. Did it feel okay?”

“I don’t really have anything to compare it to.”

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Spencer turned to face him, studying the concerned look on his face. “No.” She said softly. “It was just fine.” She turned back to her pile of clothes and found her jacket, pulling it from the bottom. Spencer threw her jacket to the bed and walked to her mirror.

“Fine?”

Spencer looked at him through her mirror. “What?” She asked with a smirk. “Did I hurt your ego?”

“No,” Derek entered the room, standing halfway between the doorway and Spencer. “But I thought I would get more than ‘fine’.”

Spencer scoffed and started to put her hair into a side braid. “Well, like I said, I don’t have much experience, therefore nothing to compare it to. It’s just a new thing for me.” She shrugged, tying a rubber band at the end. “I haven’t had much time to think about what happened.” She admitted. “With Jackson, watching over Scott and Stiles, and taking care of the other Betas, there hasn’t been a moment to spare for me. Which is why I’m probably gonna take Isaac to the rave early and dance some.”

Derek came up behind Spencer and leaned down to nibble lightly on the side of her neck. “I can get you out of your head. All you have to do is ask.”

Spencer leaned her head more to the side so he had a better access to her neck. “I told you that I can’t. Deaton is expecting me. Tonight is gonna be really important if we plan on catching Jackson.”

“It’ll be quick.” Derek insisted.

Spencer smiled, melting backwards into Derek. “How do I know that quick will be worth it?” she asked.

Derek turned Spencer around in his arms and held her tightly. “I can make it worth it.” He dipped down again, biting her shoulder.

She shivered, nodding her head. “We’ll see about that.”

!@#$#@!

By the time Spencer finally arrived to the animal clinic in her old truck, school was just barely out. She, however, managed to make it there before Scott and Stiles, so she had a few minutes to converse with the man on her own. Spencer parked behind the building to enter through the back door. She noticed that Doctor Deaton was staring at her through the open door with an eyebrow raised. Spencer jumped out of her truck and walked towards the door.

Deaton opened his mouth to say something, but Spencer stopped him with her own words.

“I know, I know. I’m late. I overslept.”

“Until two in the afternoon?” Deaton asked her, glancing down at his watch and following her back into the building.

Spencer laughed. “Geez, what are you? A non-homicidal version of my father?” She joked at her own expense. “I slept late and then I got caught up in something. Don’t worry about it.” Spencer requested.

“I’m not. But I am worrying about you.” the doctor admitted.

“Trust me, Doc. I’m fine.” She sighed, taking her jacket off and throwing it onto a nearby chair. “Did you get more mountain ash?” she asked, receiving a nod from Deaton. “Is it enough to make a circle around a warehouse building?”

“It should be.”

“How in the world do you have so much?” Spencer asked curiously, going to the cabinet where she kept her book and pulling it from inside. She started to flip to the page where she knew the Kanima information was.

“I called in a few favors.”

“From who?”

“A friend.”

“What friend?” Spencer interrogated.

Deaton moved around the table to stand across from her. “What exactly did you get ‘caught up in’?” He asked, countering her interrogation. Deaton smiled at her.

Spencer stared at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before relenting. “Okay. Have your secrets.” Spencer allowed. “Lord know I’ve got mine.” She paused, hearing Stiles’ Jeep pull up outside the clinic. “They’re here.” She said, just before the bell on the door sounded.

Scott entered the room first with Stiles following shortly after. Both of them nod to Spencer earning a smile back. “What’s the plan?” Scott asked.

“Tonight at the rave, we’re going to trap him in the warehouse. Once we do that, we’ll be able to corner him and catch him.” The redhead said.

“Yeah, when you say it like that it sounds easy.” Stiles pointed out. “How do we do that? With little to no casualties. And honestly, I’m stressing the ‘no’.”

The doctor smiles at Stiles and reached into a drawer to his left. Deaton pulled out a vial and a needle plunger. He held it out and placed it on the table in front of Scott.

Scott looked at it closely, reading the label. “Ketamine?”

“It’s the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage.” Deaton informed. “If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time.”

Scott picked up the plunger, recalling out it worked.

Deaton moved to the cabinet pulling out the jar of mountain ash. He came back to the examination table and pointed to Stiles. “This part is for you, Stiles.” Deaton put the jar on the table. “Only you.”

Stiles glanced around at his friends, his eyes landing on the veterinarian last. “Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure.” He picked up the jar of mountain ash from the table and studied it closely. “Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure-filled task for me?”

“Trust me, Stiles.” Spencer started. “You have the easy job.”

“Well, what is this stuff anyway?”

“It’s mountain ash.” she told him. “Or at least its ash from the mountain ash tree. Which kind of makes it mountain ash ash.” Spencer said, thinking too much about it.

Scott raised an eyebrow in her direction.

“It’s believed by many culture to protect against the supernatural.” Deaton added. “The office is lined with ashwood, making it difficult for someone like Scott or Spencer to cause me any trouble.”

“Okay, so then what?” Stiles asked, putting together the pieces of his task. “I just spread this around the whole building and then either Jackson or whoever’s controlling him can’t cross it?”

“They’ll be trapped.” Deaton confirmed.

“Told you it was easy.” Spencer pressed.

“I mean, it can’t be too hard.” Scott encouraged.

Spencer nodded at Scott. “It’s not.” She looked to Stiles. “You can do it.”

“That’s not all there is.” Doctor Deaton added. “Think of it like gunpowder. It’s just powder until a spark ignites it.” Deaton looked to Stiles. “You need to be that spark, Stiles.”

Stiles hesitated. “If you mean light myself on fire, I don’t think I’m up for that.”

Scott glanced at him, shaking his head, knowing very well that wasn’t what Deaton meant.

“More like you have to imagine it working for it to actually work.” Spencer explained. She received a blank stare from Stiles. Spencer sighed. “It’s like that Santa Clause movie. Remember that? It was like our favorite Christmas movie.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, they had this saying. ‘Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing’.”

“But that’s a movie.”

Spencer groaned.

“It’s still the same concept.” Deaton agreed. “It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish.”

Stiles nodded. “Force of will.” He mumbled.

“If…” Deaton noticed Stiles’ eyes strained. The older man repositioned himself so that Stiles looking him directly in the eyes. “If this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it.”

Stiles nodded again and took a deep breath in. “Okay.”

“It’s either this, or you inject Murderous Jackson with the animal tranquilizer.” Spencer pointed out.

“The ash.” Stiles said quickly. “I’ll take the ash.”

“That’s what I thought.” The redhead raised an eyebrow and looked to her other friend. “I’m going to text Derek and tell him exactly what’s going on. And, while, I’m not exactly on the rave train, I’ve got to get out of my head for an hour. Isaac and I are going a little early to actually dance. Scott, you should still keep an eye on Jackson. Follow him until he shows up. And, please, don’t get yourself killed before we fix this.”

“I won’t. I’ll be fine.” Scott insisted.

“I’m sure that’s what you said before you went to Derek’s house to stop Derek from killing Jackson.”

“You’ve done your share of risky stuff, too, Pence.”

Spencer pursed her lips. “Yeah, but I had all your sorry ass watching over me while I did it. I’m just trying to repay the favor.”

Stiles put both of his hands out towards his friends. “Alright, guys, do we really need to do this?”

Spencer shakes her head and moved to grab her jacket off of the chair she threw it on. “I’ll see you guys later.”

!@#$#@!

Once the darkness grew over Beacon Hills, Spencer picked up Isaac from the subway station and the two made their way to the warehouse where the rave was being held. Upon entering the warehouse, The smell of sweat hit Spencer like a ton of bricks. The party seemed to be well-underway with many people already dancing. Spencer smiled at the sight, however, disgusted by the scent. She grabbed Isaac by the hand tightly and led him towards the dancefloor.

“Spencer, I don’t really dance.” Isaac said, slightly resisting her pull.

“Well, today you do, wolfboy.” Spencer joked. She stopped in the middle of the dancefloor and turned to dance with Isaac.

Isaac was being especially shy about dancing with Spencer. He would make sure that he kept a certain distance from her, practically avoiding touching the redhead at all.

Spencer couldn’t help but smile at Isaac’s obvious nervousness. She danced with him for quite a while. Spencer looked to the entrance, seeing Allison enter to doorway with Matt. The girl smiled and waved to the brunette, getting a wave in return. Spencer turned her attention back to Isaac, facing him and smiling at him. She shakes her head and laughs.

Isaac furrowed his brow and leaned down a little bit to talk into her ear. “What?” he asked, confused of what Spencer found funny.

“If you’re going to dance with me, you have to actually dance with me, Isaac.”

Isaac smiled nervously and took a step away from her. “I - I told you, Spencer, I don’t dance. I can’t dance. Not like you.”

“What do you mean?” Spencer asked. “I can’t dance either, I’m just not letting it stop me from having fun.”

“You look like you’ve done this a million times.”

“I have.” She admitted. “I practically have a membership to ‘The Jungle’.”

Isaac furrowed his brow. “Isn’t that the gay club that I picked you and Derek up from that one night.”

Spencer scoffed, ignoring his question. “Look, just…” Spencer grabbed Isaac’s hands and placed them on her waist, dangerously low on her body.

Isaac gaped at her forcefulness. He was kind of scared that Spencer could tell how nervous he was by his sweaty palms.

“Don’t think about it too much.” Spencer ordered. “Listen to the music and then dance to it.” She said, as she demonstrated by moving her hips suggestively.

“Spencer, I can’t.” Isaac said, pulling away from her.

Spencer groaned. “You wanted to be different, right? You wanted to have things go your way like Derek?” she asked, getting a nod from Isaac. “Then be the badass. Have things your way and dance with me like I’m the girl you want to take home tonight.” Spencer winked to him, turned her back, and danced against him.

Isaac took a deep breath and did as she said. He loosened up his shoulders and put his hands on her body, making her move against his movements.

Spencer smirked and continued to dance, following his movements. She had to admit that she was enjoying herself. Spencer was out of her head and having fun with her friend. For just a little while, she wasn’t thinking of herself as a werewolf or that her life was completely different than they were from a few months ago. Erica had arrived shortly after Isaac gained his confidence. The two waved at each other with small smiles.

Spencer looked around again noticing that Scott had also arrived. Something was wrong though because she could hear Scott shouting at Allison and her shouting back. “Scott’s here.” Spencer said to Isaac. “We’ve got work to do.”

Isaac nodded, following Spencer off of the dance floor.

“Stay out of the way!” Scott shouted back to Allison. Scott stormed away from Allison with an angry look on his face.

“Scott, wait!” Spencer quickly got in his path, stopping him. “Do you want to tell me what all that was about?”

“Is Derek here?” Scott asked, ignoring her question.

“Yeah, of course.” Spencer nodded. “He’s outside, making sure Jackson doesn’t leave until Stiles has the ash line set up.” The redhead studied him for a moment. “Why? What’s wrong? Is this about the fight with Allison?”

“They’re here. The Argents coming here. For Jackson. And they know everything.”

Spencer groaned. “Well, look. Derek’s smart. He’ll figure it out. He can distract them. Don’t stress about it.”

“I know, but - ”

“Scott, stop.” Spencer stepped forward, putting her hands on his shoulders, holding him still. “We need to stick to the plan. It’ll work.”

Scott took a deep breath and nodded his head. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am.” Spencer agreed. “Now, where’s Stiles? Is he here?”

“He’s outside. Setting the circle.”

Spencer nodded, “Okay, Isaac, you need to help Scott.”

“Yeah, right.” The tall boy said sarcastically, scoffing and turning his head.

“Hey!” Spencer said, to gain his full attention. “I know we don’t really trust each other right now, but we’re working together on this one. Scott needs your help, both of you.” She gestured over to Erica on the other side of the dance floor. “You need to catch Jackson.”

Isaac looked at Spencer, at how serious she was, and then to Scott. He nodded. “Alright.”

“Good.” Spencer said. “I’m gonna go help Stiles.”

“You can’t, remember?” Scott reminded. “Deaton said you can’t touch it. Stiles has to do it.”

“I’m not going to touch it.” Spencer insisted. “I have more experience with magic than he does. I could be of some assistance.” She smiled, finding herself being pulled back into her old supernatural self. “You guys play nice.” Spencer made her way out of the warehouse. Upon getting away from the loud music, she began to hear the sound of gunfire. Spencer cursed under her breath and jogged around the entire building before finally finding Stiles. She let out a sigh of relief.

“...with a handful of magic fairy dust, and I don’t have enough. Okay?” Stiles pulled the phone away from his ear and tapped on the screen to end the call.

“Stiles!” She called, finishing her jog to him.

Stiles quickly turned to see her. “Spence?” he asked, squinting to see her head towards him in the dark. “Oh, thank God. What do I do?”

Spencer furrowed her brow. “What do you mean what do you do? You know what you’re supposed to do. We talked it through three times back at the animal clinic.”

“I mean, this is all that I have left.” Stiles held out his hand to show Spencer the dust in his palm. “I’ve still got like 100 feet - ”

“That’s not nearly 100 feet.”

“It’s not enough!” Stiles chipped.

“Remember what Deaton told you?” Spencer asked. “Remember what you told me?”

“What I told you?”

Spencer sighed. “A few months ago, when I was just learning about my magic. That lacrosse game. You told me that I had to believe what I was saying. The power of the word. Percy Jackson.”

“But I was wrong. It was the power of the name.”

“Not the point, Stiles. You can do this. Just imagine that its enough and it’ll work.”

“Um, okay.” Stiles said. He turned towards the empty space of ash. “He said you gotta believe. You need to believe.” Stiles said aloud to himself.

Spencer positioned herself on the side of the line closest to the building so she could be inside of the circle.

Stiles closed his eyes and took a few steps forward, slowly letting the dust fall from his hand. He took a final step, nervous to open his eyes.

Spencer smiled at the fully connected line. “Stiles, you did it.”

Stiles opened one eye at a time, his smile turning into a large grin. “Oh, my God! I did it!” Stiles turned to Spencer and ran forward to hug her. He picked her up in his arm and spun her around, earning a loud laugh from her. Stiles stopped spinning in a circle and planted her feet on the ground. “Oh, my God! I’m so happy right now! I could kiss you.”

Spencer looked at him, suddenly very nervous at the extreme closeness of the two of them.

Stiles started to lean his head down. Before he connected their lips, there was a vibration coming from Spencer’s pants pocket.

Spencer stammered, trying to find words. She took a step back, pulling her phone from her pocket. “Uh, sorry.”

“No, no.” Stiles said quickly. “I, uh, hah. That’s probably important.”

The redhead hit the home button on her phone, it lit up to show a text message from Isaac. “It’s Isaac.” she said aloud. “It’s, uh - They’ve got Jackson.”

“Let’s go.”