Love's Spiral

“Hey!” Stiles shouted, fighting against the hold someone had on him. “Hey! What are you doing? Let me go!” A leather gloved hand closed over Stiles’ mouth and all his shouts came out muffled. He knew his screaming would have made a difference. Every single person on the lacrosse field started to scream once the lights went out.

Stiles was thrown into the back of a dark-colored SUV. When he tried to get out through the opposite door, a man opened it and pushed him back inside. “Oh, God.” Stiles gasped, receiving a glare from the new man.

Both men climbed into the back seat, squeezing Stiles in the middle.

Stiles looked to both men. “What do you want?” Stiles asked through the darkness.

“Where’s the wolf?” A grumpy voice asked from the front passenger seat.

The men in the back looked to each other and furrowed their brows. “What wolf?” one asked.

In the front seat, the man turned around with a deep scowl on his face. It was Gerard. “I told you to get both of his friends. This kid, and the redhead that was on the bench.”

“What, Spencer? No.” Stiles quickly defended. “She doesn’t know anything.”

Gerard grinned evilly at Stiles. “Nice try, Mr. Stilinski, but we both know Scott isn’t your only werewolf best friend.” Gerard turned to one of the men. “We need the girl.”

The field lights turned back on before the hunters had a chance to grab their door handles.

Stiles saw Spencer crowded around the center of the field and sighed in relief.

Gerard groaned. “I guess we’ll have to save her for another time, huh?” He looked to the man in the driver’s seat. “Let’s go.” Gerard said, gruffly.

!@#$#@!

Panic. It was the one emotion that Spencer couldn’t seem to get rid of if her life had depended on it. Once she realized that Stiles’ disappearance might not have been a coincidence, she ran to her truck. The closest place she could think to go was the Stilinski house. Spencer’s hands would stop shaking, even with her death grip on her steering wheel.

Spencer used her key to enter the house and ran all the way upstairs to her old room. She went to her closet and pushed on one of the loose floorboards to reveal a stash of various useful ingredients. Deaton had insisted she’d keep them somewhere, even after she stopped being a witch. Spencer searched for the white powder she used to find Derek, knowing she had it. After finding it, she poured a bit into her hand. Spencer took a deep breath. “Lead me to what is lost.” She blew the powder from her hand. All the dust did was fall to the floor. Spencer’s eyes widened. “No, no! Please, no!” she tried to sweep the powder back into her hand and tried the spell again, but it still didn’t work.

Spencer’s vision blurred as her eyes stung with tears. Spencer cried out loudly. “Where are you, Stiles?!” she shouted. After a moment, Spencer got up from the floor, hiding the jars again. Her feet moved and she found herself in Stiles’ room. Spencer lowered herself onto the bed and tucked herself into the covers.

“Stiles…” She sighed. Spencer hugged the comforter into her chest, taking in the smell. Before she knew it, she was drifting to sleep.

!@#$#@!

“Is that everyone?” Scott asked, turning to face the lockers.

Isaac pushed off the lockers, looking around the locker room. He sighed. “I think so.” Isaac turned back to Scott when he heard metal clanging to the ground.

Scott pulled a couple articles of clothing from Stiles’ clothing.

“You’re gonna find him by scent?”

Scott nodded. “Yeah, we both are.” He handed Stiles’ shoe to Isaac.

“But how come you get his shirt and I get his shoe? And where’s Spencer?” Isaac asked. “Shouldn’t she be helping us?”

“I don’t know where she is, but she’s probably already working on it.” Scott looked to Isaac, seeing someone enter the room behind him. He furrowed his brow.

Derek stood there with his hands behind his back. “We need to talk.”

Peter came from behind nearby lockers. “All of us.” He smiled.

Scott was in shock. “Holy sh - ”

“Now, Scott. What kind of language is that?”

“What the hell is this?”

Derek tilted his head to the side. “You know, Spencer and I thought the same thing when we saw you talking to Gerard at the Sheriff’s Station.”

Scott shook his head. “Okay, hold on. He - he threatened to kill my mom. And I had to get close to him. What was I supposed to do?”

“I’m gonna go with Scott on this one.” Peter chimed in. “Have you seen his mom?” He asked Isaac. “She’s gorgeous.”

Scott and Derek both told Peter to shut up.

Isaac leaned over towards Scott. “Who is he?”

“Derek’s uncle. Peter. Little while back, he tried to kill us all, and then we set him on fire and derek slashed his throat.” Scott informed.

Peter held up his hand in a small wave. “Hi.”

Isaac nodded, still suspicious of the man. “Spencer told me a lot about you. She said you practically corrupted her father.”

“Speaking of Spencer - ”

Scott interrupted Peter, looking to Derek. “How is he alive?”

“Look the short version is he knows how to stop Jackson.” Derek explained. “And maybe even how to save him.”

Isaac shared a glance with Scott. “Well, that’s very helpful, except Jackson’s dead.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” Scott agreed. “Jackson’s dead. It just happened on the field.”

Derek looked back to Peter, who looked down to the floor.

“Okay, why is noone taking this as good news?” Isaac asked.

“Because if Jackson is dead, it didn’t just happen.” Peter explained. “Gerard wanted it to happen.”

“But why?” Derek asked, looking to Peter.

Peter took a couple steps forward. “Well, that’s exactly what we need to figure out. And something tells me this window of opportunity is closing.” He paused. “Quickly.”

!@#$#@!

“Stiles!” Spencer shouted through the darkness. She wasn’t sure where she was, but the smell of the forest overwhelmed her. “Stiles, are you here?!” It was too dark. Spencer couldn’t see anything. She tried to adjust her sight, but nothing changed. Spencer furrowed her brow, forcing her claws out. Only when she checked if they were there, they weren’t. “What the hell?”

A deep growl came from in front of her.

Spencer glanced up to see glowing red eyes. “Derek, what the hell is going on?”

There was no answer.

“Derek?”

Again, no answer. Instead, another pair of red eyes lit up next to the first. More growling sounded behind her and Spencer turned around to another pair of red eyes.

Spencer turned in a circle. Five pairs of red eyes all around her. “How are you all alphas?” Spencer asked aloud.

All the wolves started to howl loudly at the same time.

Spencer covered her hands over her ears and fell to the ground to her knees. “Derek!” She shouted. “Help!”

The howling didn’t stop.

“Stop! Please!” Spencer begged. She put her forehead to the ground. “Scott!”

!@#$#@!

Spencer’s eyes shot open as she took a deep breath waking from her nightmare. Her phone ringing from her pocket, thankfully, took her away from the loud howls. Spencer slowly lifted the phone up to her face to answer it. “Hello?”

“Where are you? We need help looking for Stiles.” It was Isaac.

“I tried.” Spencer said, defeated. “I can’t do it.” she tried rubbing her forehead to rid herself of the headache she had from her sleep.

“What do you mean ‘you tried’? As soon as we noticed he was missing, you bolted. I don’t exactly consider that helpful.”

“I can’t do anything else. My magic is gone. It doesn’t work the same.”

“You don’t need the magic, Spencer.” Isaac argued. “You’re the best tracker of all of us.” He paused. “What are you even doing?”

“Give me the phone.” Spencer heard Scott’s muffled voice say. There was more shuffling and Scott’s voice came clear. “Did you know that Peter’s alive?”

“Let me know if you find Stiles.” Spencer said, taking the phone from her ear.

“No, Spencer, wait - ”

Only Spencer ended the call and tossed her phone to the floor. She had nearly fallen back to sleep when she’d heard the front door open. Spencer lifted her head from the pillow. “Stiles?” She called sitting up slightly in the bed.

Footsteps came up the stairs and down the hall. Sheriff Stilinski turned into the room. The man’s shoulders fell when he noticed Spencer in Stiles’ bed with bloodshot eyes. “Spencer, what are you doing?”

Spencer laid her head on the pillow again. “I was trying to find Stiles. It didn’t work. And now I can’t find him.”

“Ah, Spencer.” He sighed. The sheriff walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. He placed a hand on her back. “Can you think of anywhere he would go? Or anyone who could take him?” Pops asked.

Spencer thought of Gerard. It made sense. In some ways. But if Scott was working with Gerard, why would Gerard take Stiles?

“His jeep was still at the school,” Sheriff continued, “so wherever he is - ”

“There’s no one.” Spencer lied quickly. “Sure, Stiles’ mouth gets him into trouble sometimes, but never kidnapping trouble.” She paused. “That’s what you think happened, right? He was kidnapped?”

The sheriff nodded, leaning his elbows on his knees. “That’s how it looks.”

Spencer shook her head and sat up in the bed. “Why would someone do this?” She buried her head into her hands.

Sheriff opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by his phone ringing. He stood, taking his phone from his pocket and answering the call. Sheriff talked to the person on the other end about looking for Stiles before he hung up. “C’mon, Stiles. Where the hell are you?”

Spencer’s nose twitched as she found a new scent in the room. She lifted her head.

Stiles stood in the doorway. “Right here.”

Sheriff turned to the door. He studied his son finding bruises and cuts on his cheek and lip.

“It’s okay.” Stiles said.

The man walked forward, grabbing his son’s face in his hand to get a better look at the damage.

“Dad, it’s okay.”

Spencer got out of the bed and stood next to Sheriff. “Who the hell did this?”

“It’s okay.” Stiles insisted. “It was just a couple kids from the other team.” He glanced to Spencer.

Spencer caught his heartbeat jumping, finding him in his lie.

“You know, they were pissed about losing and I was…” He trailed. “I was mouthing off, you know. The next thing I know - ”

“Who was it?” Sheriff asked.

“Dad, I don’t even know. I didn’t even see them, really.”

“I want descriptions.”

Stiles sighed. “Look, Dad, come on. It’s not even that bad.”

“I’m calling that school.” Pops promised. “I’m calling them and I’ll personally go down there and I’m gonna pistol-whip these little bastards.”

“Dad!” Stiles exclaimed, making his dad’s face soften. “I just… I said it was okay.” His voice waivered.

The sheriff stared at Stiles for a moment before pulling him roughly into an extremely tight hold. “God.” He sighed, thankful to have his son.

Stiles held his father back just as tight, meeting Spencer’s eyes.

Spencer saw water form in his eyes and reached out to grab one of his hands. She took away some of the ache from his hits. Spencer nodded at him as her own eyes quickly filled with tears. She cleared her throat. “Hey, Pops.” she said quietly. “I don’t wanna break up the moment but you should probably call off the search.”

The sheriff pulled away from his son, nodding. “I’ll tell everyone you’re alright.” He walked to the door to Stiles’ room and looked back. “Just don’t go anywhere. Either of you.”

The teenagers nodded in response and the man left down the hall.

Spencer let out a breath. “God, Stiles. I was so worried.” Spencer admitted. “You were just gone and I couldn’t find your scent.”

Stiles went to his dresser and pulled out a clean shirt. He quickly changed in front of her.

“You were just gone.” Spencer paused, watching him move nervously around the room. “Who was it?” she asked. “Who really took you?”

Stiles took a deep breath and sat on his bed. “Gerard. It was Gerard.”

Spencer clenched her fists, feeling her claws come out and pierce through the skin of her palm. She scowled. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch. I swear to God, I will rip him to pieces.”

“Spence, I get it. But do you think we could just put that aside for one night. Or at least sit, for a minute?”

“Stiles, that asshole could have killed you and you want me to relax and put my feet up?”

“Yeah, because that same asshole scared the shit out of me. He would have done the same to you.”

“He did scare me! He took you!”

“And he almost took you. I couldn’t let that happen.” Stiles told her.

“If you had, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”

“So, you getting killed is a much better alternative?” Stiles argued, leaving Spencer with nothing to say. “Look, I know what happened to Derek in the basement. I know what Kate did to him and what she did to you.” Stiles shook his head, looking up at Spencer. “I couldn’t let that happen again.”

Spencer took the spot next to Stiles. Both stared at the wall in front of them. She sighed. “So you just let him take you?”

“No, I fought. Until he said he wanted you, too.” Stiles said. “So I stalled. Long enough for someone to turn the lights back on. When we got to the house, I did what I do best.” He shrugged. “I didn’t shut up. He didn’t want to kill me, he just wanted to scare me. To scare Scott.”

Spencer shook her head. “Stiles, you shouldn’t have - ”

“I had to.” Stiles interrupted. “I figured that you or Scott would be able to find me. But then he let me go. Or let me escape, whatever.”

Spencer thought for a moment. “Do you know what would have happened if you hadn’t gotten out?” She asked. “What would have happened to your dad? Your remember what happened when your mom died. What if he lost you, too?”

Stiles hesitated. “I know you’d take care of him. Or I’d hope you would.”

“I would. But you can’t think like that.” Spencer asserted. “You can’t just think that you won’t make it out. You’ve got to find a way that gets you out. Gets you home.”

“I can’t do what you can.” Stiles sighed. “I can’t do anything that would get me out like you could.”

“I know.” Spencer said, quickly. “Okay, I know how frustrating it is to not be able to do something.” She wrung her hands in her lap. “You’re my best friend. I know your scent like I know my own and I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t find you.” She paused. “And then I tried using magic, but, Stiles, my spells don’t work anymore.”

Stiles furrowed his brow and looked to Spencer. “Is that why there’s some sort of white dust on the floor in your room?”

Spencer laughed, calming herself. “Its a powder used for a locating spell. I used it to find Derek when he was missing.”

“Look, I’m safe.” Stiles said. “I’m fine. Can we just…?” He trailed off, glancing at his pillow behind her. “I’m tired, Spence.”

The redhead pushed her hair out of her face. Spencer nodded and pushed herself to the other side of the bed.

Stiles laid onto his back.

At first, Spencer couldn’t bring herself to relax next to him. But then Stiles opened his arms to her and Spencer crawled right in. Her eyes stung with tears. Spencer put her head on his chest and his arms wrapped around her shoulders tightly. “I was so scared.”

“I know.” Stiles sympathized.

“You’re my best friend and if something had happened to you - ”

Stiles shushed her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

!@#$#@!

Peter pushed his way into the burnt down Hale House.

Scott sighed as he looked down to check his phone. He had a text from the sheriff. “Oh, they found Stiles.”

Derek followed Peter towards the stairs. “Look, I told you. Spencer and I combed this house for days. We looked everywhere.”

Peter crouched next to the stairs. “You didn’t look here.” He moved a plank out of the way and gazed into the new hole.

Derek and the two betas watched him with curiosity.

Peter pulled out what looked like a briefcase and blew the dust off the top.

“What is that, a book?” Derek asked.

“No.” Peter said, incredulously. “It’s a laptop. What century are you living in?”

Derek’s jaw tightened. The alpha looked away from Peter. He was extremely annoyed with Peter skirting around things.

Peter opened the case and checked to be sure it was still there. “A few days after I got out of the coma, I transferred everything that we had.” He closed the case and got to his feet. “Fortunately, the Argents aren’t the only ones that keep records.”

Scott’s cell phone rang and he stepped to the side to answer it. “Hey, Mom, I can’t talk right now.”

“Yeah, well, I’m so freaked out that I can barely talk either.” Melissa answered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something… Definitely something. I don’t know what but I think you’re gonna wanna see this for yourself.”

“What is it?”

“Just come to the hospital. Jackson is… I don’t know what he is. I’m calling Spencer one more time.” Melissa hung up the call

“Mom, wait!” He shouted. Scott pulled his phone away from his face, seeing the call was ended. He glanced back to Derek, Peter and Isaac in the main room. “Isaac, you’re coming with me.”

Isaac looked to Derek, asking if that was okay without a word.

Derek nodded in return.

!@#$#@!

Spencer’s phone made one final chime before it stopped ringing.

Stiles chuckled softly. “How long do you think it’ll be before it rings again?” Both he and Spencer stared at the phone, still in its spot on the floor.

“I don’t really care.” Spencer said, tightening her hold on Stiles. “Right now my best friend is much more important.” She heard a knock at the door. Spencer laughed. “How many times is Pops gonna check on us?”

Stiles shook his head. “Dad, I said I’m okay.” There was another few knocks and Stiles sighed. “I’ve got to get it.”

Spencer nodded. “I know.” She unwrapped herself from him and sat on the edge of the bed. Spencer reached for her phone. She had a few texts from Isaac and a couple of missed calls from Melissa.

Stiles went to the door and reached for it. “C’mon, Dad, how many times do I - ” As he pulled the door open, Stiles saw Lydia behind it instead of his father.

“Hi.” Her small voice said.

Spencer glanced to the door at the sound of the voice.

“Hi.” Stiles responded.

“I - ” Lydia stopped, shaking her head. “Your father let me in.”

“He did?” Stiles asked. “Oh, yeah. Of course he did.”

Lydia noticed his bruises. “What happened to your - ”

“Oh, yeah. No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. Do you want to come in?” Stiles pointed back into his room with his thumb.

Lydia glanced around Stiles to see Spencer sitting on the bed. “Hi.” she said with a small smile.

Spencer nodded, getting to her feet. “Hi, Lydia.”

Lydia looked to Stiles. “You’re not busy, are you?”

“What?” Stiles asked. “No, we were just - ”

“I was just leaving.” Spencer interrupted.

Stiles looked back at Spencer. “What? Spence, no.”

“If you guys were doing something, I don’t want to kick you out.” Lydia insisted.

“No, it’s okay.” Spencer insisted. “We were just hanging out.” She held up her phone. “But I’ve got, like, a hundred texts from Isaac, so I should probably get going.”

“Spence…” Stiles went to argue.

“Stiles, can I talk to you for just a second?” Spencer glanced to Lydia. “And then he’s all yours, I promise.”

Stiles nodded. “Yeah, sure.” The two walked just outside the room and stand next to the door. “You don’t have to leave.”

“Yeah, I do.” Spencer said. “We both know that you and I don’t work as anything but friends. At least, not without ruining the friendship altogether.”

Stiles shook his head. “We didn’t even try.”

“We did. We tried. And I screwed it up. My feelings for Derek got in the way. As did yours for Lydia.”

“Yeah, but that’s how it’s always been.”

“Except this thing I have with Derek now, I like it. I may not know exactly what it is with him, but I think I love him.” Spencer admitted.

Stiles could bring himself to respond.

“And, you know, with Jackson gone, you might have your chance with Lydia.”

“Spencer, c’mon.”

“She’s grieving now. So I wouldn’t jump on her just yet, but as soon as she seems ready, you should go for it. You should be her hero for a change.”

“I’m just human. I can’t be the hero.”

“You don’t need glowing eyes and super strength to be there for a person.” Spencer told him. “That’s what Lydia needs. Be there for her.” Finally Spencer left Stiles without another word.