Stiles hurries down the crowded hallway. He maneuvers his thin frame around people, occasionally knocking shoulders with another. He barely offers an apology before starting again. The guidance office isn’t far now. He’s almost there when a familiar voice calls out his name. Scott approaches his impatient friend and smiles.
“Going to see Charlie, too?” the werewolf asks.
“Yup.” Stiles wasn’t going to admit it to Scott but he had been worried for Charlie ever since the fourth week of summer. He had been picking up a few items from the quick mart when he saw her disheveled appearance and approached her. She hadn’t said anything, and Stiles could tell she didn’t want to be asked, but he could also tell something was wrong with her. She hadn’t look like the healthy, twenty-two year old woman she had been just a few weeks. The woman he saw that day in the quick mart had been sickly and pale and he got the feeling it was more than a cold. As much as he wanted, Stiles hadn’t seen Charlie again after that.
“Do you think she might know anything about werewolves and tattoos?” Scott asks and rubs his arm where the two bands had healed the previous night.
Stiles shrugs. “Maybe. She did grow up with werewolves.”
“Or I could ask Derek.”
Stiles’ scoffs at the idea. Despite Charlie’s persistent efforts to make the two get along, Stiles still isn’t the alpha’s biggest fan. Especially after Derek blew off Stiles’ concerned questioning about Charlie’s health.
“You wanna ask Derek for help? Why?” Stiles asks.
“He’s got the triskele tattooed on his back so there has to be a way to do it without it healing, right?” Scott asks. Stiles is baffled at his persistence to get a tattoo and even more so at the fact that Scott would consider enlisting Derek’s help.
The pass by a couple of flyers and Stiles’ sees a kink in Scott’s plans. He points to the missing person flyers of Erica and Boyd.
“Okay, yeah, but doesn’t he have his hands a little full?”
Scott sighs as he eyes the two posters. Neither of the boys had been close to Erica or Boyd but they hadn’t wanted them to go missing. It didn’t help that Scott felt partially responsible for the teens. If he had only realized what Derek was up to, he might have been able to stop this from ever happening.
“It’s worth a shot,” Scott says and tears his gaze away from the flyers.
Stiles scoffs again. “Ugh! Fine. Can we go see Charlie now? I wanna tell her about the deer last night.”
“You think she might have some insight?” Scott asks as they begin to walk again.
“Only one way to find out.”
…
Charlie stares at her phone, willing it to ring with news from either Derek or Isaac. She’d only arrived at the school thirty minutes prior and had managed to clean every square inch of her small office in the first fifteen. The clock on the walk ticked loudly keeping her aware of her much time has passed since she left Derek’s loft again.
The door knob to her office twists and her blue eyes shoot up expectantly. When Scott and Stiles steps through, her lips spread into a wide smile. The worry for Isaac is still there but she had missed the two boys standing in front of her. When the door was securely closed behind them, she gave them each a hug.
