YOUTH || Liam Dunbar [1]

THIRTY ONE

"What do you mean Scott's been kidnapped," she breathed, staring at Stiles in horror.

"I mean it exactly the way I said it," Stiles breathed. Malia nodded from beside him as they threw a few things into a duffle bag. "And you're not coming with us."

"Why not?" Katherine frowned, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned against the doorframe.

"Because you're accident prone, and I don't want you getting hurt again," Stiles told her bluntly. Even she couldn't argue with that.

Katherine grumbled quietly under her breath but she knew he was right. She already had enough injuries in the final stages of healing. "Alright," she grumbled. "At least let me go with you to say goodbye to everyone."

"That seems fair," Malia hummed.

"Not helping," Stiles muttered. Then he straightened out and ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. "You can't. When we leave, we're not coming back. Just text them or something. I don't know. But if you go out, change your clothes."

Katherine looked down awkwardly at her pajamas — an old crop-top Lydia had found for her, booty shorts and a pair of Wonder Woman socks she had pulled up to mid shin — and frowned. The scars from the hospital incident were red, angry looking, and somewhat visible. But she didn't care. She was comfortable in her pajamas. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing right now?"

Stiles squinted at her, then gestured to her legs. "I just mean cover those up," he grumbled. "I don't need you attracting all the idiots we go to school with without me around to scare them away."

"I'm not going anywhere today, so don't worry about it."

"Why not?"

"I'm already too worried to even think straight."

Stiles let out a small sigh and pulled her in for a hug. "We'll bring him home, you know that, right?" Katherine let out a small sigh and buried her face into his shoulder.

"I know," she mumbled. "But I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"I'll make sure they're okay," Malia promised her.

Katherine smiled weakly as she wandered over to her and hugged her as well. Malia was still a little bit awkward, but Katherine didn't mind.

Then she let them continue whatever they'd been doing. She wandered down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab a snack, and froze.

She already knew her Dad was at work and that when Stiles left it would be eerily quiet in the house. She expected that.

But what she didn't expect was to see Liam standing in the middle of her kitchen.

He was already dressed and seemed to be wide awake. He was staring at her with wide eyes, clearly just as startled as she was.

Katherine ran a hand through her hair smiled awkwardly at him. "Err, hi?"

Liam opened his mouth then closed it again just as Stiles wandered into the kitchen with Malia right behind him. "Oh come on, go home, Liam," he groaned. "You're not coming with us."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a full moon and I don't feel like driving all the way to Mexico, just to have you rip my throat out," Stiles argued without missing a beat.

Katherine snickered quietly and dug around in the cupboards, settling for a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"You can just lock me up, right?" Liam suggested. "Chain me down to the back seat, or something?"