The Way It Was// Stalia

Chapter Seven

Malia, Stiles and Mackenzie were back home after staying a week at Scott's.

They had been at their friend's house a lot longer than planned, but Malia's pain had come back and with hospital not being an option for her, she'd just stayed lying on Scott's couch for the entire seven days.

"Mackenzie and I are going to see Scott and Kira!" Malia yelled up the stairs to Stiles.

"But we've just gotten back from theirs a few days ago," Stiles questioned Malia.

"Yeah but Scott wants to see how I am," Malia replied to him.

Stiles came bounding down the stairs and took Malia aside from Mackenzie. "Why does he suddenly care so much?"

"Oh my god, Stiles. You don't have to be so jealous- he's my friend, and he cares about my health, okay?"

"And I'm your boyfriend," Stiles deadpanned.

"Yes you are; which is why you have nothing to worry about," Malia kissed Stiles briefly and made her way back to the front door.

She took Mackenzie's hand then buckled her into the car.

Stiles got into his car at the same time as he had to get to work.

**
"Scotty!" Mackenzie cheered as she ran into his arms.

"Aw, I thought I'd finally gotten rid of you," Scott teased, tickling Mackenzie's stomach.

The little girl squirmed then jumped out of his arms, and sprinted back to her mother.

"Hi," Malia laughed as she hugged Scott, "is she here?"

Scott nodded and pushed open the door to the living room. The familiar face was sat on the sofa, staring at the TV screen with a blank expression.

"Lydia?" Malia asked, shaking the girl from her daydream.

She smiled and turned to Malia. "Did you tell Stiles you guys were coming to see me?"

"No, to be honest I don't really know how he'd react."

Stiles had been all for Malia making up with Lydia, but with recent events that had unfolded he'd turned against his former friend.
Due to the way Malia had reacted, Stiles had started to blame Lydia for Malia's accident and she felt guilty about that; and if things today turned out well, she could never let Lydia know that she may have accidentally convinced Stiles to hate her.

Malia hesitantly let Mackenzie crawl up onto the couch beside Lydia. As soon as Malia sat down, Mackenzie scrambled onto her lap, so it didn't really matter anyway.

"So why did you decide you wanted to see me?" Lydia asked, turning to face Malia.

"I-I don't know... I just guess I wanted to talk to you, alone. That's another reason I didn't invite Stiles."

Lydia grabbed Malia's hands. "I am so, so sorry Malia. Please, I need you to know that."

"I think I do know that, Lydia. I've realised that now," Malia said softly.

Lydia's face evened out into a smile, her features brightening up.

"I just got really stressed with my college work and the boy I was seeing at the time pressured me into breaking contact with all of you."

"Why?" Malia was happy to hear the rest of her story, despite thinking it was a stupid excuse.
Why should a boy control her friendships, was what she really wanted to ask.

"I may have told him about the supernatural stuff..." Lydia muttered quietly, so that Mackenzie couldn't hear.

"Wow, that's... brave," Malia blinked, "let's just say I sort of forgive you. I get that your life became hard but you should not have left us."

"And I will apologise for that for the rest of my life," Lydia said.

Malia smiled a little. "I suppose we could try and be friends again, then."

The two girls reached forward and hugged each other, with Mackenzie stuck in the middle.

All of a sudden Scott came crashing into the room but when he spotted Mackenzie, he came to a halt.

"Go up to your room, sweetie," Malia whispered to Mackenzie, figuring out that Scott had something to say and Mackenzie was not allowed to hear it.

Scott's spare room had become Mackenzie's room, or so he said; claiming that nobody else would be allowed to sleep in there except her.

"It's a full moon tonight," Scott told Malia.

Her face fell. "Shit, I completely forgot about all of that."

Lydia looked confused, as she stared back and forth between Malia and Scott. "What's the big deal with a full moon? I thought you could all control yourself now."

Malia sighed deeply and looked up at Scott. He nodded, encouraging her to tell Lydia the complicated story.

"I didn't want Mackenzie to be a part of this crazy world and long story short, Deaton managed to do this thing that means if I turn into full coyote form during the full moon, then Mackenzie won't have any were-coyote powers."

"And you're okay with this?" Lydia was shocked.

"Well, it was a lot harder when Kenzie was younger but I've gotten used to it now, and so has she," Malia paused for a second, "not that she knows what I'm doing."

"Anyway, Malia I'm not letting you out alone tonight. I'll take you to the woods and stay there with you," Scott told his friend.

Malia laughed. "Oh god no, Stiles is already paranoid that you and I are having a 'thing', I'll be fine."

"But aren't you still hurt from the accident?" Scott persisted.

"Thanks for the concern, but I. Am. Fine," Malia said with a serious tone.
**
Scott was adamant that he was going to be there for Malia. She'd told him not to stay all night- or she may hurt him by accident- but they'd agreed that he would stay until she turned.

The two friends took a car out to the woods. Just before the moon came out, they trekked into the middle of the woods to somewhere that nobody would find Malia.

She sat in a pile of leaves, breathing heavily and waiting for the pain of transforming to kick in. Scott sat and watched her, wishing he could do something to console her.

Malia looked up and saw the clouds uncover to reveal the bright white sphere that had appeared in the sky.

She glanced over at Scott then yelled out in pain as her back clicked out of place. Malia jumped forward onto her hands and knees and waited out her transformation.

Once it was all over, she turned back to look at Scott. Her eyes flashed blue- Scott felt comfort in this- and then she ran off into the darkness of the woods.