Chosen Family

It was probably a good thing Derek begrudgingly took Nix home with him the night before because standing in my trashed house, I figured something supernatural did this. Stiles and I opened the door like any other day, but froze the moment we looked in. Furniture was upturned, papers were scattered about, our kitchen looked like a hurricane formed in it, and I didn't even want to think about upstairs. People going through my clothes, yeah no thanks.
"Shit." I cursed, stepping into the mess.
"What the hell happened?" Stiles asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, but I hope it's something normal like a robbery or something." I commented offhandedly. Stiles looked at me like I was crazy. "Hey better a robbery than a werewolf or witch or Allison's grandfather. I'd take robbery over supernatural any day."
"Touche sis, touche." Stiles walked further into the house just to make sure it wasn't something worse.
"I'll call the station." I sighed and took out my phone. I tapped my foot impatiently until the operator picked up. "Hey this is Zak... No, actually I've called to report a robbery? Not quite sure if anything was taken, but the house is trashed... mhmm... yep... Will do. Let dad know we're okay... Thanks, bye." I turned to Stiles to see if he'd found anything.
"Nothing appears to be taken, but I don't really know."
"Okay, well we should wait outside." I hefted my backpack more comfortably on my shoulder and walked out. We ended up on the hood of the truck as we waited for dad to show up.
"You okay?" Scott asked as he jogged up to us.
I looked to Stiles and asked, "Texted everyone?"
"Yep." He smiled. "Smell anything out of sorts?"
"Not from here. I'll need to go in." Scott replied.
"Doors open." I told him as I focused on Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet. Scott nodded and headed into the house to investigate before the cops showed up. Isaac, Erica, and Boyd showed up a few seconds later, only to disappear into the house also.
"We didn't smell anything..." Scott began.
"Supernatural?" I finished.
"Yeah, but the scent was odd smelling though." He scrunched up his face confused.
"It kinda smelt like drugs." Erica added. She received weird glances, to which she rolled her eyes. "Come on guys, have you not inhaled while being around the druggies at school? It's a pretty overpowering smell."
"Awesome a druggy was in our house." Stiles frowned, but rethought. "Then again it could have been worse."
"Yeah, could have been Gerard." Isaac added.
"Let's not jinx it." I said, Gerard freaked me out.
"Agreed. We gotta get going, the cops are almost here. Bye." Scott waved and the four of them jogged away; disappearing just in time.
"Are you guys okay." Dad asked as he hurriedly came up to the jeep.
"Just fine." I reassured, "Though possibly scarred if they went through my drawers."
"I know! If they stole my Batman comic book collection there will be blood!" Stiles flailed causing dad to shake his head.
"As long as you two are okay. Why don't you see if you can hang out at Scott's for a little while while we process the house?"
"Texting now." Stiles tapped away on his keyboard.
"Let me know when you go, okay?"
"Sure thing." I smiled.
"Hey where's Aunt Kally?" Stiles looked up from his phone.
Dad frowned, "I don't know. Probably in town."
"Okay. Be safe!" Stiles called as dad walked into the house with the other cops. "Scott says we can go over. Ready?"
"Yep. I'll go tell dad."
"Okay."
I threw my bag in the jeep and walked up the stairs and called into the house. "Dad, we're heading to Scott's."
"Okay. I'll call you later." He nodded.
"Okay, stay safe." I waved and headed back to the jeep. Few minutes later we arrived at Derek's. "I see the gangs all here."
"Take it." Derek growled as he passed me Nix.
It cooed happily to see me, but then chirped sadly when Derek stalked away. "Awe Derek, I don't understand why you don't like it, Nix loves yooou." He merely glared at me.
"What's the news on the house?" He asked with his arms folded.
"Nothing really." Stiles shrugged. "It appears to be just a break in. They hadn't done much investigating when we left."
"We didn't smell anything out of the ordinary." Scott explained.
"Only the smell of people who had been doing drugs. Though the robbers spent quite a bit more time in Zak's room than any of the other's." I groaned as Erica finished up her statement.
"Zak, are you doing drugs?" Stiles looked at me sternly.
"No! When would I have time?" I scowled. Stiles shrugged, satisfied with my answer and our friends not causing a fuss about lying. "So anything new with the Gerard case?" I asked.
Derek shook his head. "No, he's either left town or is doing an excellent job covering his tracts."
"My father and some hunters are trying to see if they find any tracks or signs, but so far nothing." Allison frowned. Scott pulled her in close to him, trying to comfort her.
"We'll find him. Let's train." Derek turned and headed to the backyard portion of his property. Everyone shrugged and followed.
It was quiet for weeks after the incident. The police were unable to find who had broken into our house and all things supernatural were quiet. We were still on alert for Gerard, but there were no traces of him. If it wasn't for the pill case, I would have second guessed the event. However, slowly but surely, we were released on winter break and Christmas Eve arrived. Since most everyone would be spending Christmas Day with their family, the pack decided to celebrate together on Christmas Eve.
As creepy as the abandoned station was, we all gathered together to celebrate. Lydia brought speakers so we could listen to music, Scott and Allison brought drinks (both alcoholic and non), Erica, Boyd, Isaac, Stiles and I brought food, while Derek provided seats, plates, and cups. The station was loud with laughter and music. For once, we actually felt like normal friends, celebrating a normal holiday. Halfway through the celebration it was declared present time and everyone started passing out their goodies to everyone. I refrained from giving Stiles his, since he was going to get it tomorrow, to which he complained with a smile.
I scowled when I opened Lydia and Allison's joint present to me. Inside the plain white box was a black skirt, a t-shirt, Games of Thrones sweatshirt, and a fitted plaid shirt. "I thought you wanted me to get rid of my plaid shirts?" I shot at the two girls.
Lydia brushed her long hair over her shoulders and replied, "Only because they are clearly guy shirts, most likely Stiles's. This shirt you can't mistake for a male one."
"What's wrong with my clothes!?" I cried in frustration.
She looked at me like I was dense, "You are a girl, show it. You don't know how many times I have forgotten you are actually a girl. Still surprises me at times when I walk into the changing room and there you are."
"Stop being over dramatic, no one's complained before." I muttered.
"That's because you hung out with guys. Now you have Allison, Erica, and me to guide you in the fashion world." She smiled like what she was doing for me was a gift; I thought of it as a slight curse. However, you can't stay mad at Lydia for long so I sighed and gave up. She's good.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes before smiling at my two friends. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Allison smiled.
"I better see you wearing them." Lydia smiled and I almost cringed.
"Right, anyways." I opened the rest of my presents that were mostly gift cards to the local music store and photography place. I hugged everyone for their presents and went to retrieve their gifts from me. I handed out my presents to everyone and creeped away once I gave it to them; a little embarrassed. I gave each of them a framed picture that I taken over the course of our year together. To Allison I gave her a picture of her and Scott smiling together, To Scott it was him, Allison and Stiles all laughing, To Lydia it was her and Jackson leaning on each other illuminated by fire light, To Jackson it was everyone congratulating him on something and Lydia kissing his cheek, Isaac got a group picture of everyone smiling and having a good time, Erica got a picture of her and Boyd, and Boyd got one of him, Erica, and Isaac. Derek's present was a little different. Instead of just one picture, I made him a little photo album of the pack.
Everyone was speechless as they looked at their presents. Isaac looked up at me confused, "How did you manage to take these pictures without lens flare?"
I could feel my face burn red as I looked down uncomfortable, "Um well, some of those were altered on the computer because I got a little bit, but with the filmed camera it's harder to get because I had to manually focus the camera. It wasn't that hard once I figured it out." The pack kept staring at me and I grew even more uncomfortable. "I um, I'll be right back." I ran out of the room and out to the jeep. I leaned on the hood and breathed. Yep, still hate people's eyes solely focused on me. After a moment I straightened up only to be grabbed from behind. The person's hands went over my mouth and around my neck.
"Stop struggling, there is no point." The cruel voice of Gerard whispered in my ear. I started quivering under his touch. "Tell that Alpha of yours he won't find me until it's too late. And pass this on to Allison, she's either with me or against me. Make sure to pick the right side." Then he spun me around and gave me a nice side swipe to the jaw. Before I knew what happened, I blacked out.