From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

"What do you mean don't worry about it?"
"I mean don't worry about it," Allison repeated over the phone. Maddie had finally answered the constantly buzzing device and was greeted with a panicked Allison explaining things Maddie already knew. Now, the slayer found herself stalking the car from before as it sat at a red light. In seconds, she heard her friend's voice once again. "I'll take care of the deputy. You go help the others."
"The others? As in...?" Maddie trailed off curiously.
"Stiles and Derek; they're heading to the Sheriff's Department."
Why did I even ask? Maddie thought, grimacing. "Fine. Just be careful."
"You too," Allison replied quickly and even a bit agitatedly before the line went dead.
The traffic light switched from red to green and the red SUV sped off, leaving Madeline behind in the dust. It was infuriating; she was taking orders from everyone anymore. Her fists clenched and unclenched rhythmically for a moment until the car was completely out of sight. She checked her phone for the time, not that it mattered all that much. She could get there in time - that was no question. Hell, she could probably beat Stiles' jeep there if she really wanted to. Honestly though, she was in less of a hurry with Derek being there and not only because he could handle the situation.  Mostly, she found Derek difficult to work with and tad bit too concerned with self-preservation.
It didn't help that the first thing she heard about him was a lie that Scott told, so maybe she was being a little biased.
Either way, she was only a mile or two from the station and the least she could do was fast walk the rest of the way there, which was exactly what she did. Regardless of her enhanced abilities, tailing a car on foot was incredibly tiring and walking seemed like the smarter of her remaining options – with a bit of jogging to keep from falling too far behind. Along the way, she had attempted to get in contact with Stiles, who hadn't answered his phone. This should've led to some unease but instead only mildly irritated her.
She spotted the blue jeep in front of the Sheriff's department, unfortunately empty. She huffed agitatedly and directed her attention to the inside of the building when something shining on the ground caught her attention. Kneeling down, she got closer look at what it was streaked across the pavement and brushed her index finger across the cement before examining it. Her eyes widened. Blood. Fresh blood, trailing into the station. Her heart began pumping quicker as she stood and tore into the building.
It was only a few steps before she stopped, finding Derek speaking politely to the pretty female deputy behind the counter. They both turned to her as she made her entrance dramatically clear. She gaped, at a loss of words. "I...uh..."
Without hesitation, she sprinted to the back vaguely hearing a 'hey!' from the woman. Her boots skidded across the floor and she narrowing missed a few walls thanks to the slickness of the blood that stained the tiles. After turning another corner she found a deputy – the same one from that had left the Argents – carrying Stiles away and clasping a hand over the boy's mouth. Both the fake officer and Stiles caught sight of Maddie at the other end of the hall, giving Stiles a fraction of a second to pull the fire alarm as they passed it.
Not another moment passed before Maddie went charging towards them, leaping over Stiles to tackle the hunter around the neck and into another room. Her shoulder hit the floor hard but she got up as quickly as she could anyway, taking a defensive stance. Both Stiles and the hunter were still on the ground, although Stiles was fumbling to stand again, grabbing hold of the threshold to steady himself. The fake deputy rolled onto his stomach and shook his head, clearly dazed. As his eyes focused he looked ahead to something behind Maddie, his expression becoming horrified as he laid there. Maddie's eyebrows knitted together in confusion and she hesitantly looked behind her at the open cell.
Before she had time to react, she was flung into the wall, her head hitting it roughly. The disoriented hunter had attempted to stand but, from the little that the slayer could make out, had been grabbed and forced onto the desk before being thrown into the wall across from Maddie. The hunter tried to take out what looked like something sharp,  but whatever had attacked them grabbed his wrist and roared threateningly.
Maddie, who had found herself on the ground, kipped up just in time to see the hunter's head smashed into the wall and his body crumple into a heap on the ground. The thing that had been in his hand rolled to the ground. This time, Maddie had gotten a better look at it – a syringe. She was about to attack the creature when she saw Derek enter the room and step on the syringe. He looked at the other werewolf and then at her and Stiles. The beta began to move forward to attack when a deafen roar sounded from Derek. Maddie covered her ears to no avail but watched as the beta wolf cowered to the ground.
The boy raised head to look at Derek, his glassy blue eyes looking at the two people standing in the room. Isaac  was still gathering his bearings and Maddie didn't expect him to recognize her in the slightest.
"How'd you do that?" she heard Stiles ask.
Derek, with an air of cockiness, turned to Stiles with a slight grin. "I'm the Alpha."
In a matter of seconds, the two wolves had made their escape, leaving Maddie and Stiles alone in the room with the unconscious hunter and the blaring alarm. Maddie's shirt was slightly torn and she had the feeling that she was bleeding but had more pressing matters to attend to, including Sheriff Stilinski running in and giving the two teens a stunned look. Maddie looked like a deer caught in the headlights while Stiles looked around at the mess that had gone down before pointing at the unconscious man on the floor. "Uh...he did it."
After making up an excuse about being at the wrong place at the wrong time, Maddie had been given a warning and Stiles had been promptly yelled at by his father. He was then told to get Maddie home immediately with no side trips and to also head home right after that. Stiles nodded and said a few indiscernible words before nodding to the slayer, cuing for them to leave.
They walked to the car in utter silence, getting in and getting on the road without a word passing between them. In wasn't the typical awkward silence of one of them being angry or an argument that ended with a stalemate. The silence was strangely comfortable as the only sound that could be heard was the hum of the engine and trees whooshing by.
Stiles was parked around the corner from the Argents' home when they finally ended up speaking to each other.
"Do you think we did the right thing?" she asked, absently.
"Yeah, of course." He paused. "I mean, I'm pretty sure."
She looked out the window at a random unknown house. "There's going to be more."
"More what?"
"Wolves. People that Derek's going to turn." Stiles sighed and looked at his steering wheel. "Even if Isaac didn't...kill anyone, we don't know what kind of people are going to be next... if they're going to be too dangerous to handle."
Stiles didn't answer for a while and when he did, it caught Maddie off guard entirely. "So...eight years of this, huh?"
"What?" she asked, turning to him with wide, confused eyes.
He gestured all around him. "All of this. Supernatural stuff. Monsters."
It wasn't really eight years; she wasn't allowed to go on missions until only about two years ago. Still, Stiles didn't need to know that. It still felt like eight years regardless. "Yeah. Eight years."
"Is it always like this?"
"If I said no, would you believe me?"
"Not sure you'd say it if it was a lie. Not sure you'd say anything if it was a lie." He shrugged slightly. "Especially a lie to make me feel better. No offense."
"None taken. You're probably right."
"Hey, uh..." he began, pointing to her forehead. "You got a..." He tapped his own hairline.
She raised her hand and gently touched the corresponding spot on her own forehead before bring it back down. Blood stained her fingertip and she sighed. "I thought so."
"All part of the job?"
"It's not really a..." She stopped herself and looked over at him. "Yeah...part of the job."
He looked at her bloody fingertip and back at her for a moment longer before he blinked a few times and shook his head slightly to jolt himself back to life. "I, uh, have a first aid somewhere. Probably. I think." He turned his attention to the back of the jeep. "I mean, I should — if you wanted a bandage or hydrogen peroxide to clean that up."
"Maybe you should have something more heavy-duty if you insist on helping Scott all the time? Gauze? Needle and thread for stitches?"
"With the way that you punch, probably."
"I only punch when you go against my very clear and very simple warnings." She narrowed her eyes, but he laughed at her and shook his head, causing her to frown slightly. "What?"
He looked back at her for a moment, a playful glint in his eyes. "Nothing. Forget it. So — did you need that first aid kit or not?"
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "No." There was a long pause before she spoke again. "...Thanks, I guess. For the offer."
"It's only fair after you tackled that guy."
"And saved your ass. Again," she muttered, the corners of her mouth turning upwards in half a smile.
"My ass would've been fine, thank you. Probably." He eyed her for a moment and pointed triumphantly. "Aha!"
Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What?"
"You smiled."
"So?"
"You, like, never smile. Ever." He pointed to her. "But just now, you did — because of something I said. Which, by the way, is proof you don't hate me. I made you smile and you know it."
She frowned. Deeply. "You're so weird."
"And you're so serious. Like, all the time. Lighten up a little. It won't kill you."
Why did people keep saying that? She opened the door of the jeep. "I'm leaving."
"I'm not gonna let this go, you know." He grinned at her – that usual goofy grin he gave Scott. "You're never gonna live this down."
"Goodnight, Stiles." She swung her legs over and landed on the sidewalk, her lips pursed to ensure she wasn't affected by his ridiculous demeanor.
"You still don't hate me!" he said loudly in almost a sing-song way.
She slammed the door shut in his face and began walking away. "Goodnight, Stiles."
"Night!" was the last thing she heard before the engine revved. Her feet stopped and she turned back to look at the jeep that was driving off into the night. She finally relaxed her jaw and stayed there until the car was out of sight, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly upward against her will. She violently shook her head, so hard that it made her a little dizzy. Yet and still, she headed back to the Argent's home to try again to contact headquarters and fail miserably at getting some much needed rest.
She was pretty.
No, wait. No. Well, yeah, she is but...
It was the first thing he noticed about her the day they met. Despite her glares, thick makeup, and scathing demeanor, he thought she was pretty.
Okay, understatement.
Then the night in the school happened and not only was she pretty - seriously need to rethink the word pretty - but she was intriguing. Well, not intriguing. Suspicious. So intriguing in a way - a bad way, at that. That wasn't the point. The point was, whether in a good or bad way, he found himself looking at her. A lot. More than he thought he should and enough for her to start noticing.
"What?"
He blinked a few times and began gesturing with his hands between 'uhs' and 'ums'. "There's just...something in your hair."
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she ran her fingers lightly through the dark strands. "...thanks."
He gave a thumbs up and an awkward nod. That was bad. No, that was awful. Damn it.
Why was he just staring at her? It wasn't the same type of staring as he did with Lydia. Not that unrequited longing he had in his eyes every single time the strawberry blonde walked in the room. No, that wasn't it. He did a quick side glance at Maddie again. Nope. Definitely not that.
Then what was it?
Admiration? No. Maybe. Wait, no.
Admiration denoted some level of like. And he definitely didn't like her. They weren't even really friends. They were more like...coworkers. People forced together by circumstance. You didn't have to like each other to work together. He didn't have to enjoy being around her to fight monsters.
Not that he hated it. Not really.
He did hate the punching but aside from that, she got things done. Sure, she barrels through guns a-blazing, but she had a knack for it. It worked for her in an odd way. Also, she floored the two people he stood the least with little effort - he certainly didn't hate that. Also, he enjoyed having someone on their side that had some grasp of the situation. A walking, talking supernatural encyclopedia with all the power of a werewolf but without the pesky bloodlust.
Besides, she seemed to enjoy helping people. It seemed to be the only thing she actually liked to do - or, at least, didn't mind doing. And, hell, she was good at it.
She smiled over at Erica during gym class. Not the thin, forced smiles she gave to everyone else, but a wide smile. They were talking about something he couldn't decipher from this distance. Whatever it was, she ended up laughing about it. It was a short, stifled laugh, granted, but a laugh nonetheless.
He wanted to know what they were talking about. He didn't want to want to know - which was confusing and irritating. Still, he wanted to know what on Earth made Maddie - first runner up in the Derek Hale Most Serious Person Ever contest - laugh.
He thought back to the previous night, when she smiled at him. She never smiled at him. She never smiled at anyone - except for Erica, apparently. And the only way he got her to smile was the idea that she saved his life - again. Like he had to be nice to her because he owed her one (or several). Like she got the better of him.
She smiled again. Something told him it wasn't the same when she spoke to Erica and he wasn't sure why. It was nice to see though. It was wide and toothy and made her nose scrunch up. It made her seem so much younger than how she usually carried herself.
And it was to someone who she hardly knew, someone who had no idea what she was. It was baffling. How could she show more of herself to a total stranger than the people who she doesn't have to hide anything from?
More importantly, why did he care? It was just Maddie. Just impatient, angry, violent Maddie – with her stupid sighs and eye rolls and folded arms. And her messy brown hair always fell into her face and she didn't even care. And her weirdly dark brown eyes that might as well be a soulless black considering the only time she looked at him was when she was glaring.
Most importantly, why was he freaking staring at her again?
His eyes darted away and he decided not to let his eyes wander over to her again for the rest of class – and they didn't. She hadn't paid any mind to him anyway, which was fair after Erica's panic attack on the rock wall. There it was again: worry. The bossy brunette had immediately rushed over to her and glared threateningly at those who laughed. Maddie looked extensively concerned as she led Erica away from the crowd to talk to her. Then again, she was a pathological worrier. Always frowning, always upset, and always massively worried. That wasn't the bad part per se, the bad part was that her worry was contagious. If someone like a vampire slayer is stressed out about something, odds are it was worth the extra attention.  Allison looked particularly worried for her from what Stiles could tell. Not that he wasn't; he hoped they'd both be okay.
Either way there was nothing he could do about it, so he simply went back to the locker room with Scott. It was too late though; now he was equally worried. Or thinking. Thinking about what she would think of him being concerned because she was concerned – and trying not to think of how confusing that concept was. This was only making him annoyed; she was taking up far too much of his head space. That's not even considering the very confusing – and strangely indecent - dream from the other day, when these thoughts started. At least, that's what he told himself. That was a subject that was he had to constantly remind himself to stay far, far away from. A good way to do so was to talk to Scott, which he found himself doing even now. An even better way was to focus on Lydia, who still managed to claim most of his thoughts – thank god.
"What do you mean tonight's not a good idea?" he asked indignantly.
"I don't know. That thing that we saw last night, Isaac missing, Allison's grandfather. All this stuff happening with Derek, it just - doesn't feel right."
Stiles found this alarming; he also wasn't above begging. "No, you're not backing out. Do you wanna know why? Because you and Allison are obviously having quite a good time together." His voice got faster and more panicked as he went on. "And you know who else wants to have a good time? Stiles! Stiles wants to have a good time - Many, many times. Several times in a row. In several different positions." With Lydia. Obviously Lydia. Because – does there even need to be a reason? It's Lydia Martin, girl of my dreams, girl I like. Not angry, violent slayers who don't even get sarcasm half the time. Nope. He snapped out of it as he noticed Scott's attention was no longer on the conversation...and his hand was twitching. "Are you even listening to me? What - what is that?"
Scott was off in a flash to the gym once again with Stiles falling behind but heading there as well. Just as he ran through the door, he found Scott catching Erica who had fallen from the rock wall. She was shaking violently as he set her down.
Both Maddie and Allison had rushed over through the crowd, Allison being the calmer of the two. "Put her on her side. Put her on her side." She looked up at her boyfriend, concern etched on her face. "How did you know?"
Scott held onto the blonde's hand tightly as she continued to convulse on the ground.
Maddie was a different story entirely. She stood there, a few feet away and with something very new on her face. Fear. Her eyes were wide and positively frightened as she stood there stiffly, watching the scene unfold. She didn't move an inch as people surrounded the area. It was like she was somewhere else entirely, like she had left herself.
Sure, Stiles felt useless but it seemed like something he'd come to terms with already. He wasn't so sure Maddie had ever felt that way. He silently wondered if she did – if any slayer ever did. How could someone like that ever know what it's like to be useless?
He inched over to her side. "She'll be okay."
Her head shot up and his eyes were met with wide, childlike ones as she gasped in surprise. Seeing Stiles though, her mouth immediately clamped shut and the wall behind her eyes went up once again. She gruffly nodded before turning back and stood there in silence next to him as he allowed himself to think, if only for a second, what it would be like – what she would be like – if this tough, guarded soldier allowed herself to be Maddie once in a while.
He bet she'd be pretty alright to get to know.