It Hurts Because It's Real

"Zylkene." Deaton announced as he walked back into the room, holding up the three small bottles of the drug. "It's a tranquilizer for Horses. For a Were-Coyote I expect it to work within seconds." He placed the bottles on the table and looked up at the teenagers. "I only have three, so whoever's shooting needs to be a damn good shot."

Stiles and Scott had told Bella earlier about the Coyote they had been looking into, and how they believed that the animal was actually a human girl who couldn't transform back to her mundane-self. Bella wasn't sure if she agreed, but she trusted them; so she would go along with whatever plan they came up with.

"Allison's a perfect shot." Scott replied.

"No, she... she used to be." Isaac corrected him.

"She can do it." Bella intercepted, voicing her confidence in her friend.

Isaac looked at the girl for a moment before replying. "If we manage to find the thing."

"Okay, what is the point of him?" Stiles asked and pointed to the pessimistic Werewolf at the other end of the table. "Seriously, I mean, what is his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf." The boy complained as Bella closed her eyes. "What's up with the scarf, anyway? It's 65 degrees out."

"Look, maybe I'm asking the question no one here wants to ask." Isaac said and looked directly at Bella. "How do we turn a Coyote back into a girl, when she hasn't been a girl for eight years?"

After a brief moment of uncertain silence, Scott spoke up. "I can do it."

-

Stiles' Jeep pulled up to a clearing in the woods, followed suit by Scott's motorcycle and Isaac's car. Bella and Stiles climbed out of the Jeep and Allison and Isaac stepped out of the car as Scott took his helmet off.

"Anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?" Bella asked out quietly. The plan was to briefly take down the father of Malia, the girl that was believed to be trapped as a Coyote, so that he wouldn't kill his own daughter. Bella couldn't believe that this was their lives now.

"Bella, we're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter." Scott tried to convince his sister that they were doing the right thing.

"Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a Coyote, who's actually his daughter, who we don't know how to change from a Coyote back to his daughter." Isaac drawled out; he obviously was just as unsure of the plan as Bella was.

"And again with the not helping." Stiles said matter-of-factly and held out his arms, to which Isaac just over-exaggerated a smile in response.

The conversation was interrupted by gunshots that sent shivers down Bella's spine. Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, Scott had jumped back onto his motorcycle and sped off, ignoring the calls of protest by Stiles and his sister. Isaac, shortly followed by Allison, ran after him leaving Stiles and Bella alone.

"Oh my God, what are we gonna do?" Bella's voice was filled with panic as the whole situation started to overwhelm her. "Stiles, this is too much."

"Hey, listen to me, it's gonna be fine, alright?" He tried to calm the girl down as he pulled out his phone and called his father. "Everything's gonna be fine, don't worry." Stiles turned around to pay attention to the phone call and Bella put her hands on her head to try and block everything out. She looked at Stiles when he turned back around. "It took the doll, again? What the hell is so important about this doll?" He asked his Dad and Bella watched the boy as the gears worked in his brain and realization flooded over his face. "It's the doll." Stiles said and Bella shook her head at him in confusion. "It's the doll?" His face scrunched up, making it obvious that he didn't understand the idea either.

"Stiles, what's going on?"

"It's this doll — this doll, we found at the car wreck — the Coyote keeps going back for it." The boy explained frantically.

"What kind of doll is it?" Bella asked.

Stiles squinted at her and leaned his head forward, as if he didn't hear her correctly. "What.. what kind of doll is it? Are you kidding me, Bella, seriously?" He stuttered out and she just stared back at him with stone-cold eyes, silently telling him that she wasn't kidding. "Okay. I don't know, it's a doll! It's got, you know: little arms, a big baby head, dead soulless eyes... actually, I took a picture." Stiles remembered and got up the picture on his phone.

"That's Malia?" Bella asked and pointed to the older girl in the picture.

"Yeah."

"Stiles, she's not holding the doll."

"That's Malia's younger sister." He explained who the other girl was that was holding the figurine. "So it was her doll." Stiles eyes darted from side to side as he tried to put the pieces together for a second time. He looked back up at the girl next to him. "I know what she's doing."

"What?"

"I know where she's going." Stiles said and moved away slightly as he put his phone to his ear. "Scott, it's me. You gotta call me back as soon as you can." He started walking away quickly and Bella had to jog slightly at first to keep up with him. "It wasn't Malia's doll, it was her sister's. Malia left at the car, for her sister — it's like bringing flowers to a grave." As Stiles explained everything to Scott over the phone, Bella was following aimlessly behind. She was so concentrated on Stiles and where he was going that she wasn't looking where her feet were falling. When she felt her foot land on something metal and heard a click, she looked down and felt her blood turn to ice. "So that's all she's trying to do, right? Bring the doll back to the grave, to the car wreck. That's where she's headed — the car wreck."

"Stiles..." Bella choked out.

"Yeah?" The boy turned around and his heart fell into his stomach. She'd stepped onto a bear trap and was trying her absolute hardest not to move an inch. "Oh God, Bella, don't move."

"Really? Because I was totally thinking about doing that."

"Now isn't the time for your back talk, alright?" Stiles told her as he knelt down at her feet.

"Look for a warning label." Bella said, her voice barely audible.

"A warning label?" Stiles asked and looked up at the shaking girl.

"It will have instructions on how to disarm it."

"Bella, why the hell would they put instructions on a trap?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because animals can't read."

Stiles sighed heavily and glared at her, but she had her eyes closed and was clearly trying to calm herself down. He started looking over the trap for any kind of label, but when he found one he didn't find any relief. "Bella." Stiles almost whispered. "We have a problem." He said and saw her visibly shake. "I can't read either."

"What the hell are you talking about, Stiles?"

"It's a... side effect. From the sacrifice." He told her hesitantly. Stiles had kept this from her because he didn't want her to worry — she had enough to think about. "You know how in dreams, you can't read anything—"

"Do you think this is a dream?" Her voice was scarily calm.

"That's.. that's the thing, Bella, I don't know."

"Listen to me, Stiles. This is real." Bella said and looked down at the sweating and shaking boy who mirrored her. "I'm here. You're here. And I'm super pissed at you for not telling me about this, but I'm literally stepping on a bear trap so I'll yell at you later." She exclaimed and Stiles almost laughed. "This isn't a dream, Stiles. I need you to help me."

"I know, Bella, I know. But I can't. I can't read the instructions." He stuttered.

"You don't need them." Bella told him and she truly believed that. "When is the last time you used instructions?" She asked and hoped that Stiles was starting to believe her. "You can figure it out, Stiles. You're the one who always figures it out."

Stiles looked up at her with love in his eyes and saw the same thing mixed with fear in hers. He looked back down at the trap and searched desperately for a way out of this. After a few moments, he hoped he had figured it out. "Ready?" He asked and looked up at Bella to see her nod shakily. "Okay, here we go." He breathed heavily. Stiles twisted the wheel on the trap and Bella screamed slightly as she jumped up and fell back, the boy leaping up to catch her as the trap slammed shut.

Both of them exhaling in sheer relief, they looked at each other for a moment.

"I knew you could do it." Bella breathed out. Stiles nodded and stroked the girl's hair. "That was way more stress than we need in our relationship right now." She joked because she didn't know what else to do.

"Tell me about it." Stiles replied and leaned forward to plant a kiss on the girl's forehead.

-

"Well, at least you were right." Bella said, referring to the theory about Malia. "Can you imagine how awkward that would of been if it was just a normal Coyote?"

Stiles chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I know." he replied and then turned around to look at the girl lying tiredly on his bed. "Wait, did you — did you not think I was right?"

"No, no, of course I did." Bella reassured him and Stiles gave her a look. "Okay, I was a tiny bit doubtful."

"Oh great, thanks, babe." Stiles said and turned back around.

Bella grinned at him and pulled herself up to stand. She walked over to Stiles and wrapped her arms around his torso from behind and rested her head on his shoulder — which she was barely able to do, due to him being so tall. Stiles smiled to himself and turned his head to kiss the girl's temple.

"We need to talk." Bella said reluctantly. She hated arguing with Stiles, but she needed to make sure that he would always be honest with her from now on.

Stiles sighed and turned around in the girl's arms so that he was facing her. "Yeah, I know."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you have enough to worry about, Bella."

"Yeah, and one of those things is you, Stiles." She replied and pulled her arms out of the embrace. "How can I help you if you won't let me?"

"That's the thing, you can't help me!" Stiles raised his voice and a wave of hurt washed over Bella's face. He sighed and tried again. "I'm literally losing my mind, Bella. I don't even know if this is real right now."

Bella stepped forward and put her hands on either side of his face. "Look at me, Stiles. I love you." She whispered before leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. "I promise you that this is real." She said and Stiles nodded. "We're going to get through this, okay? We always do somehow. But you have to talk to me, Stiles. Even if it means calling me at four in the morning — just please talk to me."

Stiles smiled lightly down at her. "Yeah.. yeah, I will, Bella. I promise, I will." He said softly and reached up to caress her face gently. "I love you so much."