Hoping for Heroes

Chapter 36

The boys hesitantly situate Harley in the backseat of Stiles' car. She groans as they shift her arms, Scott whispering soft apologies. Isaac gets in on the other side and they lay her down, resting her head on his lap. She looks up at him, smiling weakly, while his face grows increasingly more troubled. He runs a hand over her head and through her hair.

"Hurry up!" Scott scolds Stiles.

"I'm trying!" Stiles yells back, fumbling to get the key in the ignition.

"Try faster!"

"Please stop yelling," Harley whimpers, covering her ears. Isaac shifts her to be more comfortable, concern increasing tenfold. Harley is one of the strongest people he's ever met. To see her fully vulnerable like this reminds him that she isn't actually invincible. His attention is brought back when Harley sits up quickly.

"What are you doing?" he asks her, hand on her back. Rather than responding, she raises her shaking hands to her head. She holds them just away from touching, and Isaac watches in awe as a faint white glow emits from them. After doing so for a few moments, she sits back and rests her head back on his lap. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She smiles up at him, a real one this time. "Yeah, I think it's healed. Just kinda tired now." Her eyes flutter close before he can respond. He looks up in a panic, just to find Scott already looking at her with the same expression.

"Is that bad?" Isaac asks Scott. Scott shakes his head.

"She's okay," Scott says.

"How do you know that?"

"I just do." 

"How?"

"Just drive faster, Stiles."

By the time Harley wakes up, she's in the back of the veterinarian office. Scott and Isaac stand by the doorway, discussing something as Deaton is cleaning up on the counter. He turns and sees her awake.

"Welcome back," he smiles as he helps her sit up. The other two's heads turn quickly, and both rush over to see her. 

"How are you?" Isaac asks.

"What happened?" Scott asked at the same time. They give each other a look before both speaking again at the same time. "We decided I would t-"

"I never agre-"

"Stop," Harley groans. "You guys are the ones driving me insane. I'm feeling fine otherwise, Deaton."

"As I expected," he says. "Scott said everything seemed all right."

"How would Scott know, exactly?" Isaac asks. "He seemed pretty sure about it on the way here, but I was the one sitting with her."

"I could just feel it," Scott scoffs. The two continue to argue as Harley looks at Deaton in fear. He, however, must've mistaken it for something else, as he took it as his cue to speak up.

"Of course Scott can tell if Harley's okay," he says to the boys. "They do have that connection."

"What connection?" Scott asks. Isaac can feel jealousy flare up in his throat as he looks between the two.

"Yeah," Isaac says, looking at Harley who is avoiding his eyes. "What connection?"

"The soulmate one?" Deaton reminds them. "Did Harley not tell you?"

"I'm sorry, soulmate?" Scott laughs, but his smile dies once no one else laughs with him. "What? Harley and I?"

"I was gonna tell you," Harley says as he pushes herself up. Although her words are technically directed at Scott, her eyes are on Isaac, who is the one avoiding her gaze this time. "It just came up, and I didn't know how-"

"The soulmate connection between the two of you is rare," Deaton says, obviously not able to read the room. "It's powerful." Isaac pushes himself out of his spot and rushes out the front. Harley looks between the other two before rushing out after him.

"Isaac!" Harley calls after him as they get outside. "Isaac, please, let me explain."

"You don't have anything to explain," he sighs.

"I should've told you. I know, I'm-"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why should you have told me?"

"Well, I just thought-"

"I mean, it's not like we're dating." Harley recoils as Isaac continues, still not yet looking at her. 

"Oh." Harley curses the crack in her voice that finally forces Isaac to look at her. "Right." She clears the lump in her throat.

"What?" he asks. 

"I guess I just wasn't expecting a cold shoulder."

"Yeah, well, Scott can warm it for you. Apparently Erica and I were just a stepping stone to that point, anyway." Harley's jaw drops, and she can see the immediate regret in Isaac's eyes. "I shouldn't ha-"

"You still can't handle it, can you? We are not little kids anymore. People get heartbroken and people get hurt. Get over yourself. It's not like that for Scott and I, but it's not like you'd give a shit anyway, right?"

"Harley-" he steps toward her, but she steps back. This time, she doesn't feel guilty for the flash of hurt in his eyes.

"Stop shoving your problems onto me. I'm not some evil witch that ruins your relationships, Lahey. You seem to do that well enough on your own." She storms back inside before he can respond. She sees Scott staring at her with guilty eyes as she opens the door, and she knows he was listening.

"Do you need something?" she asks, and she's guessing the surprise on his face is from the lack of emotion in her voice.

"That was intense," he says, testing the waters.

"I've fought worse. What's the next step?"

"Maybe you should hang back. You just healed, and with Isa-"

"I know how to compartmentalize, Scott. Besides, I don't care if Isaac and I are fighting. That's all we ever really do." He stares at her for a moment, sighing when she doesn't reveal any more.

"You're resting. End of discussion."

"You don't have that kind of control over me, believe it or not."

"I now have plenty more reason to care about your safety, actually." He smiles softly. "I'm technically your brother now, so." His smile falters when she doesn't react. "I kind of figured that'd get at least a fond eye-roll, or something."

"Fresh outta those." She heads to the back and grabs her things. "I'm gonna head home, then, since I'm benched."

"Look," he says as he follows her, Deaton suddenly nowhere to be seen. "I get this is weird, like really weird, like comp-"

"Is there a point to this?"

"You don't have to cut me off completely."

"I'm not." She looks him in the eye one last time. "But I think I've let too many emotions run my mind recently. I have to think logically. In this situation, the more people I get close to, the more I'm gonna hurt. I have let myself be far too vulnerable. Call me if you guys need help fighting this alpha pack. Bye, Scott." She walks out before he can say a word, and he can't help but worry that her goodbye may have been permanent.

**A/N I went into this chapter fully anticipating to write some badass Harley and Isaac team-up I don't actually know what went wrong so fast