To Better The Shattered; Scott McCall [2] ✔

2.00 In Which She Joins The Family Business

DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Own Teen Wolf

It's said that there are seven stages of grief: shock, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression and acceptance.

Ellie seemed to go through four of these in the span of an hour, sat in the hospital waiting room. She didn't try to contact anyone; instead, she curled herself into Allison's side and tried to pretend that she hadn't lost another aunt.

After a while, the fact that Derek Hale had bitten Victoria while knowing what she had to do made her stomach clench in anger. Everything about the situation was so wrong, but her only thought was that the alpha werewolf needed to be punished – needed to be killed – for what he'd done.

Later, Gerard appeared in front of her. He seemed about as affected by Victoria's death as he would be any other werewolf's, but Ellie couldn't bring herself to really care. At least he wasn't the one wo actually killed her. That made him the lesser (slightly) of two evils. The old man's clothes were neatly pressed, like he'd only just put them on, and Ellie figured that that meant the night had faded into the day.

"Ellie, it's time to get you home," he said gently – or in as gentle a voice as he could manage.

She gave him a confused frown; the Argent household wasn't her home. Her home was back in New York, with her parents and away from all of this death. "No, I have to- I have to stay here. Allison needs me."

Allison did need her. She'd woken up about an hour earlier and fled the room in loud sobs.

He gave a smile (how he could smile after what happened, she had no idea). "Your cousin is actually coming with us. You both need to have a shower, get some rest, a good meal..."

"That's not important," she interrupted, scowling with sudden ferocity. "If I'm going home, I'm not bothering with that; we have to get straight on to planning."

Maybe turning her back on the friends she'd made in Beacon Hills was a silly idea, and if she'd been asked to join a hunting party a month earlier she would've refused, but the growing distance between herself and her friends coupled with the fact that her aunt's death brought back every raw emotion from her parents' passing, meant all she could feel was anger. Well, she supposed fury was better than the emptiness, so familiar to her since its first appearance the year before, which crept into her chest whenever she really stopped to think about what happened.

"Planning?" Something in Gerard's eyes sparked. "And what would we be planning, exactly?"

"How to take Derek down," Ellie answered, voice lowering to a dangerous edge. When the alpha was gone, then she could grieve.

He shook his head, though the tilt of his lips told her he was pleased with her enthusiasm. "I don't think your cousin is up for revenge right now. Maybe later."

"Later?" She demanded, "Later? No! We don't need Allison to do this; I'm fine with doing this with you, Chris and those minions you always have running around the house."

"You and Allison work better together," Gerard said. "So, in the spirit of doing a good deed, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some kind of... incentive for her. But only because you insisted of course."

"Okay, whatever," she shrugged. "Now are you taking me home, or what?"

;

It took around six hours to convince Allison to join them. Ellie wasn't allowed to go into her cousin's bedroom to talk to her for most of it, so, instead, she spent the time in the basement with her bow. Her aim was as impeccable as always, perfectly in the centre every time. It became boring after a while, so she migrated onto guns.