For Good | Hale- TO/TW [8]

28 | Control

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Stella stands outside the study door with her arms crossed. She knows that behind the wall, her first love is sitting on the couch, alone and confused. But Stella can't make her feet step forward.

She picks her head up when she hears footsteps. Her mother and father approach with Teddy behind them. Stella pushes herself off the wall, meeting them halfway. "Are you ok?" She asks Lexi, looking at her stomach.

"Nothing a little fire couldn't fix," Lexi replies. "We burned the wolfsbane out. Now, we just need to wait." Her eyes move from her daughter to the door. "Have you gone in yet?"


Stella shakes her head. "I don't even know where to start. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Derek scratches the back of his head. "Well, are we all going in there?"

"Would it scare her?" Teddy asks as he crosses his arms. To Stella, he looks exactly like her father with the crossed arms and the straight face.

"Most definitely," Stella replies. "but she's scared enough. I'll leave you guys to explain."

Before Stella can take two steps, Derek steps in front of her. "You're not going anywhere," he says with a cold voice.

Stella shrinks away and looks down. "Why?" She asks. "She's my ex. I don't wanna deal with that."

Derek lets out a humorless laugh. "You ran head-first into danger today, you realize that, right?"

"Oh, shut up, Derek," Lexi exclaims, patting his shoulder. He turns to her with a disbelieving look. "Where do you think she learned it from?" Lexi narrows her eyes and lets a small smirk grace her lips.

Derek huffs and looks away.

"But, she's still coming in with us," Lexi says. Stella opens her mouth to speak, but Lexi continues. "It is precisely because she is your ex that you need to come. It'll help her trust us."

Only Stella seems inclined to argue. "But—"

"No buts," Lexi says, opening the door. Carter jumps from her seat with wide eyes. "Hello, Carter." Lexi smiles as Derek and Teddy walk into the room.

"Mom," Stella hisses, refusing to look at her ex-girlfriend. "I don't want them to know."

Lexi sees both of the boys straighten their backs at her statement. She shakes her head. "We do what we must," she whispers. "I'll moderate. If it comes up, I'll send them away, ok?"

Stella hangs her head after nodding. She trudges into the room with Lexi behind her. The door closes behind them with a soft thud.

Lexi sits on the chair across from Carter as Derek stands behind her. Stella is tempted to comment that they look like old paintings of famous couples: his hand rests on the chair with a straight face while she crosses her legs elegantly with a small smile. Stella herself sits at a barstool as Teddy stands next to her with crossed arms.

Carter shrinks back into the couch. "Hi, Mrs. Hale," she says nervously.

"No need to be nervous, darling," Lexi says with a laugh. "We won't bite."

Carter looks down at her lap and fiddling hands. She scoffs under her breath. "I'm not so sure about that."

Derek sighs and purses his lips. "Carter, what you saw today...Not many people know about it."

Carter blinks, her eyes wide and full of confusion. There was a time when Stella would have loved that look—swooned over that look. All that's left now is grief. "You mean, not many people know that Stella can make a car burst into flames with her mind?" Carter asks. "Or the fact that your wife somehow survived a projectile to the chest in three hours? What about the fact that people can disappear into thin air? Or—"