Love's Spiral

Stiles backed away from Scott with his hands in the air. “Is he dead?”

“Not dead.” Spencer informed. “Just passed out. He’ll be fine.”

In a few more moments, Derek had finished burning the healed skin off. “Keep a close eye on him. I’m gonna check on Isaac.”

Spencer nodded.

Derek got up from the chair and started to tend to Isaac once more.

Spencer studied the tattoo on Scott’s arm. She scrunched her nose up at it. “I hate it.” Spencer said.

“That’s what I said.” Stiles said softly.

“The meaning behind it…” Spencer turned to her left to look at Stiles, “I really get it, I do.”

Stiles licked his lips and nodded at her. He realized that she had felt the same way.

“But that tattoo just looks awful.”

Stiles scoffed a quiet laugh.

Spencer went to say something else, an apology, or something like one, but Scott woke with a start.

Scott took in a large gust of air, slowly realizing where he was. He looked down at his arm, seeing his tattoo back in its original spot. Scott glanced up at Stiles and Spencer in awe.

Derek came over to the group.

“It worked.” Scott gasped.

Spencer raised a brow, found Scott’s shirt and threw it at him.

“Thanks.” Scott said to Derek, who nodded.

“You’re welcome.” Spencer answered aloud. “Now get out of here. We’ve got work to do.”

“That’s it?” Stiles asked.

Spencer looked to Stiles. She knew she wanted to tell him more, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Yup.” Spencer showed a fake smile and joined Isaac at his side. She was slightly worried that he hadn’t woken up yet.

Scott and Stiles lingered for a moment, but headed towards the front door.

Derek joined Spencer at the table.

Spencer looked up at him. “What are you gonna do?”

“Do you wanna know?” Derek asked in response.

Spencer shrugged, looking to Isaac again. “Is it gonna hurt him?”

“It shouldn’t.” Derek said. He took in Spencer’s features as she stared at the boy, recalling a time, not all that long ago, when she looked at him like that. “I did the hard part while you were with Scott and Stiles.”

“Thank you.” Spencer smiled towards Derek.

Derek opened his mouth to respond, but Scott interrupted him.

“You painted the door.” Scott said from the other room.

Both Derek and Spencer looked to Scott like a deer caught in headlights.

“Why’d you paint the door?”

Derek shook his head. “Go home, Scott.”

Scott ran his hand up the door. “And why only one side?”

Spencer took a few heated steps into the foyer. “Scott, you need to leave.” she said urgently.

Scott drew out his claws and began scratching at the door, chipping the paint off.

“Scott, stop.”

The boy didn’t though. Scott didn’t even acknowledge his friend.

Derek came into the room. “Scott!” He shouted, trying to get the young wolf’s attention. However, at this point, there was no stopping him. Derek crossed his arms and looked down in shame.

Spencer sighed. “Do you know how long it took me to paint that door and keep Isaac from messing with it?”

Scott began putting the pieces together. “The birds at the school… And the deer last night…”

Spencer furrowed her brow. “What birds and what deer?”

Scott ignored her question. “It was just like the night that I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the alpha.”

Derek just stared at Scott.

“How many are there?”

Derek sighed. “A pack of ‘em.”

Stiles looked to Spencer in disbelief.

Spencer responded with a shrug and the look of a child who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Stiles looked back to Scott.

“An alpha pack.” Derek finished.

“All of them? Alphas?” Stiles looked to Derek. “How does that even work?”

“There’s one alpha that’s technically the leader.” Spencer said quietly. “We only managed to figure out his name.”

“He’s called Deucalion.” Derek added.

Spencer looked to Scott. “That alpha from today has got to be a part of the pack. But so far, he’s the only one that we remember laying eyes on. They’re doing a good job at hiding themselves.”

“You don’t know anything?” Scott asked.

“We know they have Boyd and Erica.” Derek said. “Peter, Isaac, Spencer and I have been looking for them for the last four months.”

“Let’s say you find them.” the young wolf offered. “How do you deal with an alpha pack?”

Derek looked down to Spencer, seemingly asking for permission to invite Scott to help.

Spencer nodded.

“With all the help I can get.”

Spencer looked towards Isaac when she heard creaking come from the living room. “Derek…” She sighed.

Isaac had been sitting up on the table. “Where is she?”

Spencer hurried back towards Isaac. She hugged him tightly around his neck.

He put his hand on the small of her back.

“Are you okay?”

Isaac shook his head, pulling away. “Where’s the girl?” He asked her.

Spencer furrowed her brow. “What girl?”

“There was a girl who helped me. She helped me get away.”

“You never mentioned a girl.”

“Get away from what?” Derek asked, the rest of the boys following Spencer into the next room, gathering around Isaac. “What happened to you?”

“I-I don’t really remember. The girl said they took my memories.”

“Oh, that’s helpful. Of course they did. It’s because they’re cowards and that’s what they do.”

“Spencer.” Derek scolded.

Spencer looked up at him, and sucked in her lips. She huffed an angry breath, then nodded at Isaac to continue.

“After they took my memories, I saw them.” Isaac told the group. “There were two, but they combined into one. Then after Spencer left me in the hospital, there was a woman.”

“That has to be them.” Spencer said. “We know there’s five of them.”

Scott furrowed his brow at Spencer. “If you don’t know anything about them, how do you know there’s five?”

“It’s just a hunch.” Spencer lied, looking to Derek. She didn’t want to tell Scott and Stiles about her dreams. Spencer barely knew what was going on. No sense in telling them what she didn’t know.

“It makes sense.” Derek said, trying to help Spencer keep her secret. “The two Isaac saw. The girl. The one who tried to kidnap Isaac. And Deucalion.”

“What are you going to do about the girl who helped me?” Isaac asked Derek.

“What you got yourself a little werewolf crush on her?” Stiles asked the beta.

Spencer shot her head to Stiles. “No he doesn’t.” Without thinking, Spencer reached to grab Isaac’s hand in hers.

Stiles looked the the clasped hands. “Seriously? When did that happen?”

Spencer shook her head and looked back to Isaac. “We’ll find her. We’ll figure out who she is and we’ll make sure she’s okay.”

Isaac nodded his head, his eyes starting to drift closed again.

Spencer quickly moved to help hold him up. “Let’s get you home, though. You need more rest.” She held one hand to the side of his face. Ignoring the other men in the room, Spencer kissed Isaac softly. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Pence.” Scott said. “We need to talk.”

Spencer looked towards Scott. “Can it wait?”

“It’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Go.” Isaac encouraged.

Spencer was confused by Isaac’s word. “But - ”

“We’re done ignoring the people who can help us.” Isaac told her. “They’re your best friends. I can suffer by myself for a few minutes.”

Spencer’s eyes began to water, but she shook that away. “Get to my truck. I’ll be there soon.” Spencer turned to Derek. “Could you help him?”

Derek nodded, going towards Isaac, putting one of the beta’s arms around his own shoulders.

Spencer looked back at Scott and Stiles; not at all prepared for their conversation. “I know what I did was wrong.” Spencer admitted. “And I know I should have told you.”

“How long have you known?” Scott asked her.

“Since the day the two of you practiced lacrosse.”

“That’s the last time we all hung out.” Stiles pointed out.

Spencer nodded. “I had a really hard time not telling you.”

“What happened? How did you find out?”

Spencer sighed. “We got to the house and that was painted on the door.” She said, pointing to the triskele. “Derek had to finally tell me. I called you guys to pick me up because of the fight with Derek. I was mad because he never told me.”

“So at least you know how it feels.” Stiles snarked.

“Stiles…” Scott tried to stop him from blaming Spencer.

“No. It’s okay.” Spencer assured. “He’s right. I lied to your faces and I feel awful. I feel like i deserve whatever backlash I get.”

“What about Erica and Boyd?”

“I didn’t know about them until after that. I followed their trail from the Argent’s house and then figured it out from there.” Spencer paused, glancing between the boys in front of her. “I should have told you. I wanted to tell you. But Stiles said something about the ‘Better Scott McCall Program’, and I didn’t want to be the one to distract you from that.”

“This is so much bigger than that though.”

“Maybe it is. But you being a person and having a life is far more important than you fighting a battle that you don’t want to fight.”

Scott shied away from her just a little bit for Spencer to realize that she was right. The boy was hesitating to help them.

“I know I am never the person to say I need help, but I need help. We need help. We are so far in over our heads we can barely breathe. Me, especially. We can’t figure out why they have Erica and Boyd. Derek’s been gone for months trying to find them while I try and hold up the fort here. I hardly ever sleep at night because I’m so afraid they’ll come after us.” Spencer looked down at her hands. “And they did. They hurt Isaac. They hurt me. And Erica and Boyd…. I honestly don’t think we’re looking for anything but bodies anymore.”

“Pence, you can’t really think that.”

Spencer shrugged. “How can I not? Four months, and we don’t have anything but that damn triskele on the door.”

“But - ”

“Look, I don’t need you to try and convince me of anything. If you think we can find them, then help us find them.”

Scott looked over at Stiles, wondering what his friend thought.

Stiles blew out a long breath of air. “It’s not really up to me, dude. You’re the one who wanted to take a step back.” Stiles’ eyes met Spencer’s for just a moment before he looked back to Scott.

“We’re gonna help you find them.” Scott said to Spencer.

Spencer gave Scott a small smile. “I’m gonna go take care of Isaac. Get him some rest. I’ll see you guys later.” She turned to the front door.

“Promise?”

Spencer looked back. She hesitated, but then Spencer nodded. “Sure, Scotty.” She wasn’t sure, though, is she really believed that or not. Spencer hurried out to her truck with her hands buried in her sweatshirt pockets. She climbed inside the truck and looked over at Isaac who was half asleep. She leaned over her seat to touch his face. “Hey, Wolfboy. How you doing?”

Isaac leaned his face into her hands. “I’m tired.”

“I know.” She stroked his cheek with her thumb. “Let’s get you home, huh?”

Isaac nodded slowly and leaned his head back on the headrest. “What did Scott want?”

Spencer started the vehicle and pulled away from Derek’s house. “What do you think?” Spencer asked. “He wanted to yell at me. I was a real bitch keeping that secret from them.”

“You had a good reason at first.” Isaac turned his head to look at her. “But when you wanted to tell them the other day, I should have encouraged you.”

Spencer shook her head. “You’re only saying that because it all caused a fight and you got wolf-napped.”

“Spencer, I’m serious.”

“So am I.” She laughed. “Why are you pushing me to talk to them anyway? You didn’t seem too happy that I went to talk to Stiles the other day.”

“They make you happy. You haven’t really been yourself since you’ve stopped talking to them.” Isaac said. “I just want to make sure you’re happy.”

Spencer smiled a small smile at him and pulled her truck to the side of the road, deciding what she said next needed to have his full attention.

Isaac was confused as the truck stopped and looked to her with a furrowed brow.

“Isaac, you make me happy.” She pushed herself to the middle of the bench. “I am happy.”

“But you’re tired.” Isaac told her. “You need to start sleeping.”

Spencer shook her head. “You shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.”

“I couldn’t find any headphones.” Isaac joked. “You didn’t tell them anything I didn’t know anyway.”

“I’m happy.” Spencer promised. She pushed herself forward to kiss Isaac softly. “I just need to find out what’s going on around here.” Spencer moved back to her seat and started driving again.

“We will.” He grabbed Spencer’s right hand, leaving her to drive with her left.

“I know.” Spencer assured. “And I was thinking that we should try and find out what you saw when you were with them.”

“I told you I don’t remember anything.”

“I’ve also been thinking about that. Because the alphas essentially played around with your memories. That’s what they do. So they may not have taken your memories completely, just made the dormant.”

“So how do we make them not dormant?”

“We’re gonna need Derek for that part. When the alphas took me, they saw my memories. So if Derek can find yours…” She trailed off.

“We can find Erica and Boyd.” Isaac finished.

“I’ll need to do some research on how it works, but I’m sure if it gets us a step closer to the others, Derek will do it.” Spencer stopped the car outside their building. She got out and rant to the other side to help Isaac get out of the elevator.

“I’m okay, Spencer.” Isaac insisted.

Spencer hardly believed him since his voice sounded so weak. “I know.” She wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “But I’m still gonna help you.” Spencer lead Isaac inside and to the elevator. Once inside the loft, Spencer tried to help Isaac down the first few stairs, but they stumbled. A hand came out and grabbed Isaac so the both of them didn’t crash to the floor. Spencer looked up to see Derek. She smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“He’s passed out.” Derek said.

“Of course.”

“Let me get him upstairs.”

“No, Derek, it’s okay. I got him.” Spencer insisted, but Derek had already started to throw Isaac over his shoulder. “Thanks.” Spencer led Derek up the spiral stairs and into Isaac’s room. She moved his comforter to the side and allowed Derek to put the beta in bed. Spencer covered Isaac with the comforter and kissed his forehead. The two left the beta’s room.

Derek headed for the stairs.

“Derek,” Spencer said, stopping him. “Can I talk to you about something?”

Derek nodded, and walked back towards her.

Spencer looked at him, nervously, and then realized they stood next to the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” she asked, going for some frozen burgers out of the freezer. “I’m gonna make something.”

Derek watched her, his eyes lighting up. “What’s wrong?” he questioned with a raised brow.

Spencer grabbed a pan for the stove and turned the appliance on. “Nothing. Why?”

Derek smiled playfully, “Well, when you’re nervous, you either feel the need to clean or cook.” He looked pointedly to the pan on the stove.

Spencer pursed her lips, “Right. You’re right.” She put a few burgers on the pan. “I’m not really nervous, but worried. Isaac is - ”

“Isaac is fine.” Derek interrupted.

“He is. But we need to find out what happened. And I think that means we need to do what they did.” Spencer guessed. “We need to look through his memories like they did.”

“They took his memories.” Derek reminded his beta.

“Maybe, but we don’t really know how that whole thing works. Maybe they just pushed the memories so far down that he doesn’t remember them. Which means you have to go in and find them.”

“I’m not comfortable with that.”

“Why not?” Spencer asked. “It’ll help us find where they’ve got Boyd and Erica.”

“But doing it is actually dangerous. Do you even know how they do it?”

Spencer shook her head slightly, looking to her cooking. “I was planning on coming home to do some research.”

“I have to put my claws through the back of his neck. Really close to his spine.”

Spencer looked to Derek. “That could kill him.”

“Or paralyze him.” Derek said, going to the lighter side of the situation. “I’ve never done it before. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Spencer sighed heavily. “So we need someone who does.” She said regretfully.

Derek nodded, agreeing. “We need someone who does.”

“So are you gonna talk with him or should I?”

“Considering the last time you two saw each other you nearly skewered him with a piece of scrap metal, I think I should ask him.”

“You make a good point.” Spencer smiled. She flipped the burgers in the pan and leaned against the pan facing Derek. However, instead of looking his way, she stared off passed Derek and Isaac’s door.

Derek noticed Spencer’s gaze and stepped to the side in front of it. “Is there something else?”

Spencer shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

Derek nodded. “Well, can I ask you something?”

Spencer looked at Derek with a furrowed brow. “Of course you can.”

“Are you okay?”
“I guess the real answer is no.” Spencer laughed it off, confused to why she was asking. “But what else am I gonna do?” She turned back to the stove. “I’ve got two best friends who have me very low on the trusting meter because I didn’t tell them the truth and I’ve been avoiding them all summer. Boyd and Erica are missing and the only leads we have required us to bring an angry, ex-alpha back into our lives to help my boyfriend remember being kidnapped by a pack of alphas.”

“This shouldn’t all be on your shoulders.” Derek said to her.

“Except that it is.” Spencer said, slamming the spatula down on the counter. “Because you disappear and all that I get from you is a weekly text of ‘Nothing yet’ and a birthday call.” Spencer let out a large breath. “Thank you by the way.” She said, still angry.

“You’re welcome.”

Spencer released her anger. “I know that you were gone for good reasons. I know you were looking for Erica and Boyd. “But I’m tired of being the one to look after everything.”

“And that’s why I’m back.”

“Like to stay?” Spencer questioned. “Or are you gonna leave once we figure out what Isaac can’t remember?”

“I’m staying.”

Spencer felt like she could cry with all the weight that lifted from her shoulders. Without thinking, she took hurried steps and wrapped her arms around Derek’s torso.

Derek didn’t even hesitate and wrapped his own arms around Spencer’s shoulders.

“Thank you.” She said into his chest. “God, I have no idea how you do everything you do without going crazy.”

Derek only laughed in response and kissed the top of Spencer’s head.

Behind the two of them, a door opened with a squeak. They turned to see Isaac, standing in the doorway.

“Isaac,” Spencer scolded. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“Sorry. I smelled the burgers. They’re starting to burn.” Isaac told her, questioningly looking between the two of his packmates. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, of course not.” The redhead insisted, hurrying back to the stove to tend to the burgers. “I was just telling Derek how relieved I was that he’s sticking around this time.”

Isaac nodded to Derek. “Good.”

Derek nodded back once.

The curly-haired boy looked to Spencer. “Is there one for me?” He asked, going over to her.

Spencer stared at Isaac. “Well, I was making them for me and Derek. I thought you would be asleep for a few more hours.” She admitted. Spencer turned back to the burgers, taking them off the stove. “You can have mine though. Since I did promise you one after we got you out of the hospital.”

“He can have mine.” Derek said quickly. “I’ll order take-out.”

“You sure?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah. I’ve had Chinese to eat all summer. One more night won’t hurt.”

“Okay. I’ll make a dinner for us later this week. Pasta, and some sauce. If I get some help, meatballs and garlic bread.” Spencer looked between the boys.

“Sounds like a great idea.” Isaac said, leaning over to kiss Spencer’s cheek.

Derek turned to leave the two in the room to themselves.

“Hey, Derek?” Spencer called after him, making the alpha turn back. “Save me an eggroll.”

Derek nodded. “Get some rest.”

“I just might do that.”