nativity ☆ teen wolf

one

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Roscoe the Jeep pulled up to St. Mark's Baptist, a church once riddled with hints of fire damage and a hidden garden within cracked walls.

Stiles crinkled his nose a little, "Is this the same place?"

"Yeah, it's the same." Scott, although raised loosely Catholic, had been to a Baptist church service once or twice.

Stiles tugged his coat around him a little tighter in the early December air as the two headed for the front door.

The church stood in tall glory, the small but fondly looking building done in modern beauty.

Scott tried not to think about how Chris had wanted Allison's funeral there, not knowing at first that it had been destroyed years before. He followed Stiles through the cream shaded doors with bronze fixtures, searching around for Lydia.

The two ambled towards the chatter through the lobby into the sanctuary, curved rows of pews leading to a wide stage.

A set was slowly coming together toward the back, enough room on stage or rehearsal.

Volunteers worked on snow and the barn, donkey ears a crib for baby Jesus.

"There you guys are," Kira said with relief as she held a big fluffy cat in the very front pew.

Lydia was sitting on the edge of the stage, reading out of a binder marked 'Mary'. She looked up at the boys' arrival, smiling. "Finally."

Stiles didn't take much notice to the things around him, instead looking up to the domed ceiling. He'd been in that room before, however it didn't have more than 2 crumbling walls and completely missing roof at the time.

Lydia shut her script, hopping down from the stage. She tucked a wave of hair behind her ear and walked towards Kira and the boys. "I'll introduce you to-"

"First, why is there a cat, and why is it not freaking out that a fox is holding it?" Stiles asked as he pointed to the mostly white cat with patches of dark stripes.

Kira explained as she held the calm cat, "She doesn't have a problem with dogs, thus canine associates."

Scott reached out a hand, hesitantly moving it towards the cat. He nearly jumped as the cat nudged its head closer and began purring.

"Her name's Leia. She's mine but she's also the church cat."

The four turned, finding a striking dark skinned girl approaching them. She offered a smile, brown eyes going to the unfamiliar faces of Scott and Stiles.

"Guys, this is Hope," said Lydia. "Her father's the pastor."

"It's nice to meet you," Hope told them fondly. She wore a black midthigh length dress, a wool, plum colored cardigan and gray riding boots that climbed up to the top of her shins. Her hair came slightly above her shoulders, curly and messy, but in a neat kind of way. "You must be Scott and Stiles."

Scott held out a hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you, too. Welcome to Beacon Hills."

Hope shook his hand, giving off a warmth and an all over sense of kindness. "Thank you, it's very nice here. And thank you for being willing to help with the play. Right now we've got a fairly small network, so finding a youth cast was a little hard."

Stiles' eyes flickered around, "Are there more people or is this it?"

"Oh, no there's about 15 others. They're learning songs with my father in the choir room," explained Hope in her light, angelic voice.

"What do you need us to be?" asked Scott, no longer teeming with the desire to back out.

"Well," Hope picked up a clipboard from the pew next to Kira, scanning it over, "I was hoping Stiles, if you could be Joseph and if Scott, you'd be Angel Gabriel."

"I'm a literal star," said Kira bemusedly. "Lydia's Mary." The kitsune petted Leia lovingly, never having been around a car that wanted anything to do with her.

"Are you in it?" questioned Stiles to Hope as he kept his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Yes," answered Hope with a smile, "I'm the narrator for the play." She rifled through a plastic box sitting on a pew, retrieving scripts for the boys. "It's just a half hour show, we're performing for on Christmas Eve for a special holiday service."

Stiles thumbed through the script, Nativity only something he'd seen as lawn ornaments during Christmastime. "Do we have to be Baptist to be in this?" he asked after a moment of thought.

"Of course not," Hope assured. "Anyone's welcome. We don't try to shove religion down people's throats."

"That's...very sensible," Stiles notably replied.

Hope lightly laughed, "I like to think so." She glanced over her shoulder, the choir room door opening up into the sanctuary. "Everyone, our Joseph and Gabriel are here!"

Kids ranging from seven to sixteen joined them in the pews, all giving excited hellos.

A young girl in a teal dress tugged on the hem of Hope's cardigan, big blue eyes on the senior. "Hope, are we going to sing for you?"

"In a little bit, Sage," replied Hope sweetly. "Right now we're going to do a read through of the script together."

Sage gave a happy 'okay' before skipping off to the friends she'd made already.

"They love you, don't they?" asked Scott with a smile.

"Hope runs Sunday school," said Lydia.

"I do what I can," explained Hope. "We don't have a ton of staff yet so I run kids service. I'm always happy to help, though." Glancing over her shoulder, she soon motioned for Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Kira to follow her up onto the stage.

"Make sure you have your scripts!" called Hope as she stepped up onto the stage.

Kira set down Leia, the cat trotting up in pursuit of Hope. She smiled lightly, picking up her binder and carrying it on stage. She joined the circle of others, taking a seat on the stage floor between Lydia and a freshman she slightly recognized from school.

Stiles took a seat next to Scott, opening up the script and resting it on his folded lap. Absently running a hand over his hair, he looked up to find Leia sitting politely in front of him. He lifted an eyebrow, "Hi there."

"Princess likes you," noted Hope as she settled down next to Stiles.

"I thought her name was -" Stiles froze, his eyes widening. Slowly, he turned his head towards Hope, "Princess Leia? That's her name?"

Hope grinned as she opened her script, "I take it you like Star Wars?"

"I think you two will get along just fine," said Scott with half a laugh from Stiles' other side, leaning in slightly to see Hope.

Hope smiled, petting Leia once before shifting gears and addressing the group. "So, as you know, our show is in about three weeks. I know that seems short, but I believe you all can do it. With that, how about we start out read? We'll skip the songs for now, but make sure to be following so you don't miss any lines. Sound good?"

A consecutive reply met her, all along the lines of agreement.

Stiles glanced over to Hope, the turn of her head showing him a wing imprinted on the brown skin of her neck.

Despite Hope beginning the play with words of the Narrator, Stiles was overly curious of why she had it.

Why a wing? Why only one?

Why...why didn't it look like a tattoo, but more like a birthmark?

Most importantly, he wanted to know why she was in Beacon Hills in the first place.