#that awkward moment when your boss and his wife get into a domestic during a meeting

[fistfuloflightning]

Incoming domestic

[five-wow]

on to 10.16! the valentine’s episode!

fjdkfdjkfd a very worried-looking woman accepts a valentine’s bouquet and i was like, did she kill her husband and he’s lying on the floor somewhere and that’s why she looks so awkward about it? and then there’s a BLOODIED HAMMER and A BODY and i was probably right, omg, i love it.

oh! looks like she maybe called hpd herself? that’s an interesting twist.

oh my gosh, noelani is getting surfing lessons, and that alone is cute enough but then suddenly there’s a whoop and it’s tani on the beach giving vocal emotional support and I LOVE THAT. after a very, very long draught, this season is so good for us when it comes to female friendships.

lou is mad that adam put his niece’s life at risk, and that’s fair, but maybe... also be mad at adam for doing crimes? like, that’s bad? maybe?

fjdkfd we ended the last episode with danny and steve in the kitchen and that’s also their first appearance in this one. this is beautiful.

steve: “i do have a date, indeed.” danny: “with who?” steve: “a lady.” LISTEN, i am taking this as the “a lady” part being not just an evasive maneuver, but intended to be an actual answer, because it could also not have been a lady. bi steve. it’s canon now.

steve LOST COUNT of how many dates he’s been on with brooke (the lady he’s ironing his shirt for on valentine’s day) and he’s kind of smiling while he says it and that’s cute!! i like that for him!! but also. when the fuck did he go on all of these dates with brooke when he was also dating the vet in between, out of the running entirely for at least a month or two, and he’s been continually living with danny since he got back to hawaii and danny apparently knows nothing about these dates. what kind of stealth techniques has steve been employing? has he had brooke sneak in through his bedroom window at night so danny wouldn’t find out? how many times did he have to cancel a date because danny refused to sleep on the couch and there was no space left for brooke in steve’s bed? (i kid, but seriously, what is this timeline?)

danny: “i’m glad somebody has a life.” steve, pointing at danny: “oohhh, tani and quinn are going to the movies tonight...” fdjkfd, first bi steve, and now tani and quinn have a movie date. good stuff. i’m enjoying this.

fjdkfjdkf, steve, whAT. “tell you what, buddy, if i finish up early with brooke, i’ll give you a call, we can hang out.” i mean! that’s really sweet! but also very wtf, because he’s essentially going “hey, maybe this thing i have to do (date my girlfriend, ugh) won’t take very long and we’ll have time to hang! :D” and i just. god. i’m laughing, but i am so glad brooke is not a real woman because i feel very sorry for her.

danny a) recognizes signs of domestic abuse and b) has done his research and c) is appropriately gentle with this woman, even though they have her in custody and she’s already admitted to killing her husband and she potentially started an international conflict by doing so, and just. yes. good. this is a danny i love.

side note: adam is just randomly present at hq with the rest of the team when steve and danny are on the phone with them. and, oh my god. did he not just kidnap a suspect to make a secret deal with a yakuza boss? is that not the sign steve had been looking for, the reason why steve’s spidey sense had been tingling around adam? they still trust him currently and he’s just back on the job without so much as a warning? i mean, to be fair, steve is the type of guy to be all for crazy shit if it gets results, so maybe he’s glad adam did what he did, idk, but i am genuinely so confused at this point about what the writers are telling us about where adam stands, both with the team and in his own life, and with the yakuza, for that matter. is he now an active gang member while also trying to earnestly protect the law in five-0?

i love how this episode is escalating, omg. first we’re told the wife killed her husband, then he’s a thai diplomat, then the wife’s boyfriend killed the husband, then he didn’t, then thailand wants the wife while five-0 knows she didn’t do it and so they STEAL HER. taking a page out of adam’s book, i guess, though at least this time the entire team knows what’s going on.

except for tani and noelani, who are being held hostage by two amateur criminals in a convenience store, which is also a subplot i really like! honestly, not a bad moment in this episode so far.

okay, one very minor note though: please, for the love of all that is holy, do not let this woman they’re saving become a love interest for danny. they have a lovely talk in the back of a truck during the grand escape and that’s wonderful and good and i like it, but i can’t help but be really scared that the show is aiming to somehow make that romantic at some point because oh, dear lord, danny has dated enough abused women under questionable circumstances. doooon’t add a third one to the list, i beg of you.

the amateur criminals are trying to get cash that they need for MEDICAL CARE. god, i hate a world in which your options are a) commit crime or b) die. it’s a good plot, though!

kamekona is providing a safehouse for danny and the woman and he’s being very kamekona about it - warm and welcoming, but warning danny off of texting too much with kamekona’s phone because it’s ten cents per message - and it’s glorious.

oh dear lord. the couple robbing the store can’t afford the surgery the husband needs, so tani presents mandatory medical attention for prisoners as a solution, and that’s a good way to talk the wife down and probably also the best the couple can hope for in their current predicament, but it’s also very fucked up. you shouldn’t have to wave a gun around to get help for your brain tumor.

danny and the woman are found and get arrested, and the VERY NEXT SHOT is danny turning to steve in the car and asking how he got him out so fast. that WAS very fast, danny, you’re right. zero seconds has to be a new record, dang.

steve: “i may have promised yang that if she didn’t release you immediately i was gonna make a whooole lot of noise.” i do understand what this means, but i also enjoy the thought of steve literally making noise. any noise. if you don’t release danny, steve will appear at your door and start quacking like a duck very loudly. you’ve been warned, state department!

ahhh! they solve the case, find the actual killer of the abusive diplomat husband, make sure the wife gets to stay where she is and reunite her with the concerned doctor boyfriend who didn’t kill anybody!! this makes me very happy, all the more so because they won’t have her date danny if she’s already dating someone else, which puts my fears to rest. this season continues to be better about things than this show has been in the past and i appreciate the heck out of it.

adam gets an ominous warning to watch his back from a criminal he’s delivering information about hpd to. are we supposed to be on adam’s side? i’m still very confused.

fjdkfd, danny walks into the house to find the entire team getting ready for a night of hanging out and wonders if he invited everyone and forgot about it, and steve walks in, already chewing on something, and says “it’s possible, because you’re old now”. what a brilliant burn, steve. very impressive.

i won’t recount everything that happens because i know i’d end up writing a stupidly long paragraph but i do adore everything that happens and want that noted. the whole team just chilling and arguing about whether love actually is a romcom or a christmas movie? yes, please! a hundred of those.

danny takes steve aside to tell him he doesn’t have to worry about danny and steve gives an unconvincing reason for why he totally didn’t arrange this because he was worried about danny, which essentially makes it canon that he did plan all of this for that exact reason, which is SO EXTRA. they live together, they’ve spent the entire day together, and then steve cancels a valentine’s dinner with his girlfriend (who he told earlier that he didn’t want to involve danny in their relationship, because he’s too nosy) and invites like six other people just so he can hang out with danny again.

annnd they end up snuggled together on the couch. on valentine’s day. you know, like homies do.

THIS. WAS A VERY GOOD EPISODE. thoroughly enjoyed practically every second of it, 10/10, would like more like this.

[onlymonica]

So, it’s official.

Folks, you can mark it on your calendars.  Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 was Valentines Day -- AND -- the day Trump OFFICIALLY put it to rest that he is ‘totally opposed to domestic violence’.   Someone put a bug in his ear about this one, after the shit storm the White House has received over his aide Rob Porter’s now publicly-known history of wife beating.  Or should I say ‘wives beating’ (yep, married twice, smacked ‘em both...  There’s a pattern here:  why do so many women need to be hit?)

But, I digress.  The real focus was on our great Commander in Chief.  Would he, or wouldn’t he come out against wife & girlfriend beating?  It’s a toughie, politically speaking.  Staking out a position either way will cost you votes.  So he artfully dodged the issue during his campaign.  Sure, there was that slightly awkward moment during the campaign when a reporter pitched him the question:  ‘Mr. Trump - are you for or against domestic violence?’   He seemed caught off guard for a second, but recovered quickly.  ‘Am I for or against domestic violins?  Well, it depends.  If the violin player is good, and it’s not too late at night, I say let them play.  After all, that’s what made America great.  But if they’re a shitty player, then I think it’s a local issue, not something the federal government should be involved in.  And the same goes for any musical instrument.  Unless it’s an oboe, and then that’s a problem.  In fact, if elected, I will make sure that no child is ever again forced or coerced into learning the oboe.  It will vanish from civilization under a Trump administration.’

So that’s all we had on the issue for a long time -- a sort of half-baked, non-sensical answer from a candidate vying to be elected to the most powerful office on earth.  But, what the hell -- let’s elect him and see what happens.

Well, thus far, no action as of yet on domestic violins, oboes, or any other instruments.  White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed that fleetingly a few months ago when stating ‘the President has no current positions on the playing of musical instruments in the privacy of one’s home.  This stands in contrast to the Obama administration’s secret plans to take away the public’s musical instruments, except for oboes since they knew they erode the human spirit.’  

But the issue finally caught up with him.  With one of his closest aides convincingly accused of wife beating (although Roy Moore is leading a ‘doubters’ movement’), Trump was once again hit with that troubling question.  ‘Mr. President: Are you for or against domestic violence?  And, sir, for clarification, I am not talking about the stringed instrument the ‘violin’;  I am talking about ‘domestic violenCCCCCCCCCe’   (the reporter made a long, hissing sound for dramatic effect).

Trump: ‘So, you’re not interested in my views on musical instruments?  Because they’re pretty tough, but not everyone can handle them.  I was just asking Mike Pence yesterday why do we allow shit hole instruments like the oboe to exist?  I mean, really?  Pencie just grinned that shit-eating grin he always does and said ‘beats me.’  Anyway, just to put your little snowflake liberal fake news media conscious to rest, I’m totally opposed to domestic violence of any kind and 

-- wait a minute -- (turns to staff).  Who wrote ‘of any kind’?   I told you guys, it’s situational, OK????!!!!  If she deserves it, you gotta deliver, or she’ll never know who’s boss!   Because when you’re in business, you can just tell a person ‘you’re fired!’, and that’s pretty much the end of it.  But getting divorced is messy, so you have to enforce things differently.  Trust me, I know a thing or two about divorces.

[sceawere]

My Fic Masterlist

Alfie Solomons:

ar maidin | alfie solomons/reader | fluffy as all get out, give that boy a nap, also mild sexual suggestion just ya know [wc:1466]

truce | alfie solomons/shelby!reader | set after ‘ar maidin’ | talk of feelings, angstyness, everyone gets cuteness in the end, also mild sexual suggestion bc ya know [wc:1825]

an oíche | alfie solomons/shelby!reader | set after ‘ar maidin’ and ‘truce’ | it’s important to share traditions and make your big gangster husbands sleep in a field sometimes k [wc:1332]

mo mhadra | alfie solomons/reader | they get a puppy in a typical alfie way (mild mention of animal abuse just a heads up) [wc:1065]

an post | alfie solomons/reader | anon request, worker!reader, bigsister!reader, domestic!alfie | you start working for alfie to support your siblings, end up falling in love [wc:5667]

uncail | alfie solomons/reader | set after ‘an post’, domestic goodness, mild sexual suggestion [wc:1359]

an leanbh | alfie solomons/reader | dad!alfie basking in the glow of newborness, you’ll weep and then ovulate [wc:465]

feicim tú | alfie solomons | request: childhood friend/love returns from absence, witnesses his violence [wc:3875]

live in | alfie solomons/reader | thelandattheendofourtoesgoeson requested maid!reader | alfie doing business stuff, cuteness, everyone who works for him is best friends, mention of dogs, presence of dogs, oh woah surprise they’re endgame, there is a cute nana who bosses alfie around, domestic!alfie is the best kind, just get married and grow old together already [wc: 1527]

fáilte abhaile | dad!alfie | who left this man alone with children? pls protect this giant gruff gangster and his sassy offspring [wc: 799]

an deireadh seachtaine | alfie solomons | anon wanted more sleepy alfie, doggies, domesticity, polly putting him in his place [wc: 1123]

battle plans | alfie solomons | anon wanted alfie angst | killed in the line of duty, crime boss wife holding up her end, let me speak to you some truth, bear thy soul, bear thy soul [wc: 1313]

snippet: dad!alfie |  a combination of an @ATELIEFLORESDAPRIMAVERA headcanon and the fact that my dad always used to call me ‘his poor little wounded soldier’ when i was ill as a child | alfie is alfie, alcohol is medicinal, right? cuteness but also seriously pls supervise this man [wc:152]

bosses | alfie solomons | the bakerstreetdragon requested boss wife | what else do you expect from a woman who would marry alfie? i mean [wc: 433]

the other one | alfie solomons | anon requested tommy’s twin, who is a nurse, and alfie | she doesn’t take no shit but she does enjoy herself, if tommy is sassy then so is she, alfie needs looking after, tommy is unimpressed as usual, oh well would you look at that we’re stuck in this flat together better get comfy hey buddy [wc: 2202]

the peace process | alfie solomons/twin!reader | set in the same verse as ‘the other one’, tommy’s twin is a little shit, knows exactly how to work a room, polly taught this girl good, wait woops looks like we have to fake a relaTIONSHIP, hold ma hand, oh buddy oh pal is alfie blushing? [wc: 1927]

diamonds | alfie solomons/shelby!reader | anon wanted irl jeweller alfie | awkward big brother tommy doing his best prom night shtick, alfie is a flustered cutie pie [wc: 1342]

tell me all about it | alfie + polly are best friends and also founding members of the ‘tommy shelby ain’t shit’ club [wc: 311]

reassurance |  anon wanted alfie being looked after and also being a cute little shit [wc: 567]

domestic!alfie snippets | thinemineours wanted more domestic alfie - ranges of verses that reference ‘mo mhadra’ and ‘fáilte abhaile’ [wc: 1000]

birthday | ateliefloresdaprimavera requested alfie and the kids being cute to reader on her birthday and also there’s a how did you meet story time - ties the  ‘FÁILTE ABHAILE’ verse to ‘THE OTHER ONE’ and ‘THE PEACE PROCESS’ [wc: 1119]

razor blades | alfie and arthur fall victim to mischievous kids and clumsy wives [wc: 502]

the keepsake | samascara requested a good old bag-of-flour baby test [wc: 1828]

the proposal | anon requested stumbling alfie trying to propose and i did it in what i think would be typical alfie fashion: go big or go dig a grave. or both [wc: 1716]

soulmates snippet | alfie/shelby!reader | cute couple chat abt murdering each other woops [wc: 227]

the races | alfie/reader | alfie’s girlfriend is smarter than he is or at least has better inside knowledge [wc: 535]

kids and pups | alfie/reader | anon requested alfie/reader babysitting johns kids and also the dog is here, alfie dishes out some male role model wisdom, katty continues to be a delight [wc: 926]

dad!alfie snippets | alfie really isn’t sure about this whole offspring thing, reggie has truly been a little shit since utero [wc: 692]

protector | alfie/reader | thunderstorms can get scary and alfie can get soft [wc: 905]

warm milk | alfie + daisy | alfie being a dad makes me want to weep, daisy has a nightmare, alfie makes it better [wc: 1083]

crush | alfie/reader | age difference gives alfie the temporary heebie-jeebies, reader tells him to take a running jump [wc: 3455]

another time pt. 1 | alfie/reader | girllostinthewoods requested time travel fic - first in a series tbc [wc: 1276]

rsvps | alfie/reader | weddings are stressful, brothers are dicks, and turns out warehouses are flammable[wc: 1493]

halves | alfie/reader | oh buddy alfie pal is really not sure about this offspring thing [wc: 1567]

Finn Shelby:

an leabharlann | finn shelby/librarian | fluffyluffy teenage crush shit woah buddy my small son [wc:2736]

an leabharlann - part 2 | finn shelby/librarian | fluff with brothers taking the piss [wc:2578]

an leabharlann - part 3 | finny shelby/librarian | *weeping* i just want them to be happy and in love [wc:1442]

Michael Gray:

ask me again in the morning | michael gray/reader | you get drunk with polly and then we delve into the marshmallow fluff just a whole jar of the stuff [wc:1836]

twin snippets - kind of a sequel to iníon? | anyway sibling squabbling and michael being cute

athair | michael gray/reader | theaqueenakaspeedy requested: you’re Father Hughes daughter and you date Michael (after months he founds out who’s your dad), when Charlie is kidnapped he ask where your dad is he tells u what the priest does to kids what he did to him, them when he’s arrested you heard the officer saying that Michael kill your dad. | we’ve got angst, we’ve got angst, we’ve got annnggsstttt | also warning for vague mentions of child abuse [wc: 2666]

toast | michael gray/reader | drunk!michael fluff [wc: 773]

flower crowns | michael gray/reader | michael somehow bagged a delightful flower child and oh buddy are they cutesy [wc: 529]

finders keepers | michael gray/reader | anon requested tommy’s errand girl and michael sharing similar pasts finding each other [wc: 2158]

John Shelby:

these moments | request: happy marriage, polly’s surrogate daughter | badass wife, dad!john, ppl genuinely in love, their daughter katie is a polly in training and there’s a vv cute leanbh beag bc why not also i used john’s canon aversion to gendered slurs bc yes my son get it boy [wc:2435]

come home safe | anon wanted reader calming john down after a murder [wc: 966]

sister-in-law | anon requested john and ada’s best friend, pre-war bbs who don’t know what’s gonna hit them, cute dreaming of the future, only half joking about spending the rest of our damn lives together [wc: 1631]

schooldays | john shelby | prequel to ‘these moments’, explains a reference in ‘tm’, tiny john being cute but also a little shit [wc: 797]

three rings | set between schooldays and these moments | [wc: 977]

what could have been | tied to schooldays, these moments, and three rings, buy a damn gunsafe people | [wc: 1826]

sister | john + reader + daughter | anon requested john’s daughter not talking to reader bc she’s afraid their new baby will be a girl, cutesy parental stuff [wc: 938]

Polly Gray:

iníon | polly gray+daughter!reader | anon request: reader is michael’s twin, separated from family/adopted separately, goes to search for polly | search for adoptive mother, mild criminal activity involving records, arthur is a teddy bear, tommy is himself, michael is tommy jr, long long twins pissing each other off in their quest for emotional fulfilment, is it day drinking or midnight snacks?, polly is getting a babe for a son-in-law i can see it happening [wc: 4579]

untitled snippet | anon wanted more polly/alfie [wc: 168]

settle | polly gray+daughter!reader | drabble cos i’m sick and polly is lovely [wc: 298]

considerations | polly gray+shelby!reader | [wc: 869]

Tommy Shelby:

táimid naimhde sa chathair | tommy shelby/reader | anon request: childhood love, broken apart, reader moves to london, works in sabini’s club, engaged to his son, tommy decides to walk back in and cause shit as usual [wc:2656]

táimid naimhde sa chathair | tommy shelby/reader part 2 | reader bins a guy who does not deserve her, hailee steinfield’s ‘love myself’ plays heavily in the background, cool girls who don’t let a stupid boy get in the way of their friendship, she just wants tommy to be happy bc she’s a goddamn grown up [wc:1624]

táimid naimhde sa chathair | tommy shelby/reader part 3 | alfie turns up and comments on relationships and now i want to read his agony aunt column, getting drunk with cute russians is my favourite thing to do too!, soul baring, soul baring, SOUL BARING, i loved you once, i’ll love you forever, boy get your head together cos if you wanna be my lover oh no wait that song doesn’t work but the sentiment if thereord count [wc: 1458]

welcome home soldier | tommy shelby/reader | request: reader meets tommy through letter during the war, wartime letter romance, my sad soldiers sons let me hold you, tommy being a little shit, military antics, polly manages to be present yet again bc i will work her into ANY prompt possible, pls just let everyone be happy [wc: 3366]

snippet: dad!tommy | anon wanted more of the guys as dads so i’m going to write snippets | tommy’s kids get creative, their mother is not impressed [wc: 213]

sun + sums: dad!tommy snippets | the babies have a name now! also they’re delightful. etta does sums and also eats sand. violet is on this shit work work work work work work. tommy’s ya know. [wc: 756]

sense | tommy/reader, lil bit of alfie | childhood sweethearts, war feelings, alfie obliviously flirting, tommy’s wife is a spitfire [wc: 1246]

Isaiah Jesus:

do dheartháireacha | isaiah/shelby!reader | anon request: isaiah is crushing on shelby sister, her brothers get his act together | cute drunken-ness, are we friends or are we gonna make out? just asking for a friend?, john being john, mentions of pol being a bamf, isaiah is a cutie pls protect him [wc: 1737]

get real | isaiah/reader | anon wanted isaiah fluff and sneaking around/getting caught | cute domesticity, deal with your feelings ppl, i just want to snuggle?, polly doing her thing [wc: 1433]

surprises | isaiah/reader | the course of trying to turn up to your boyfriends house in fancy underwear never did run smooth [wc: 567]

miracle | isaiah/reader | imagine the bbs though [wc: 798]

Arthur Shelby:

read to me | arthur shelby/reader | anon request: librarian!reader, helps arthur with his ptsd, mentions of philosophy bc i have to use that qualification for something, my sad sonhusband pls be happy and find peace, mistreatment of books, cute bathtimes, mild sexual suggestion? [wc: 822]

the garrison | arthur shelby/nurse!reader | yjrevolution requested arthur and his nurse, boss lady who is also v sad, we found love in a hopeless place, here let us bond over trauma, cutesyness, polly approves, i just want my poor love to be happy [wc: 2926]

dad!arthur snippets | samascara requested dad!arthur snippets and since my true otp is arthur+happiness i obliged [wc: 629]

Ada Shelby:

no-name | samascara wanted ada and her girl friend *sitting in a tree, k i s s-*, anyway cute artist girlfriend antics and lovely domesticity [wc: 2001]

also: |my writing tag| |my headcanons tag| |my aes/moodboard tag| |my nav page|

[1989dreamer]

Chapter 7 of Looking for a Place to Call Home

                                                                                                                        ~ * ~

Derek wakes up when the door to Scott’s office opens and the vet pokes his head in.

“Oh good, you’re up. Listen, Stiles is back, and Deaton and the Sheriff are here.”

Derek rubs at his eye and yawns widely. He doesn’t particularly care that Deaton or Isaac’s father are here, but Stiles means food that isn’t kibble, so he climbs to his feet and follows Scott back to the operating room.

Derek doesn’t make eye contact with anyone as he sidles up to Stiles and tries to sneak one of the cheesy burgers he can smell inside the ugly red and white bag stamped with a stupid name for a restaurant.

“No,” Scott says, grabbing his wrist. Derek growls. “You can’t have solid food until we can determine the extent of the worm infestation and I still have to look at the perforation in your bowels.”

Derek struggles free, aware that Scott let him go rather than successfully pulling away. “I told you, I don’t have any more worms in me. They’re all out.”

A strange man with a smooth head and a carefully tended goatee steps up to Derek, staring at him with barely concealed rage.

Derek frowns at him.

They are nearly the same height with Derek being a bare inch taller. The man, though, has a good eighty or ninety pounds on him. Derek takes a step back, fighting the instinct to bare his throat. From the corner of his eye, he sees Stiles’ hand fall to his belt where the taser sits unassuming. Missing is the pistol and the stun gun. Stiles must have left them at home. Small mercy. Derek grimaces. He can’t eat. He can’t run. He might as well go back to Scott’s office.

The man follows him, stopping when Derek does. His scent is unreadable despite the deep anger Derek sees in his face, and it makes him uneasy, like the unsettling feeling he had from the voice on the phone. This must be Deaton then.

Isaac’s father should be the red-faced man standing silently by Lydia and Allison’s chairs.

Deaton steps on the back of Derek’s heel, and the red-faced man snaps, “Back up.” His voice is rich, if a bit rough. Oddly, to Derek’s ears, he sounds like an older Stiles instead of an older Isaac. Hadn’t Scott said he was the sheriff though?

“Seriously, Alan,” the red-faced man continues, “back off. “You’re making the boy uncomfortable.”

“Am I?” Deaton raises an eyebrow. The naked hate on his face makes Derek narrow his eyes at him. He doesn’t know this man. He can’t have done anything to displease him so.

“Alan,” the sheriff says warningly. Deaton gives Derek a disdainful look before deliberately taking one giant step backward.

“Dad,” Stiles says, and Derek nods to himself. The red-faced man is the old sheriff. Not Isaac’s father who makes him sad. “Have you ever encountered any werewolves during your career?”

The old sheriff eyes Derek with an air of compassion, which startles Derek. “I did,” the man confirms. “I knew the Hales were Lycanthropes. I was tasked with keeping their secret when I became their emissary.” He reaches a hand out and Derek feels compelled to approach him. Surprisingly, he finds himself wrapped tight in a hug. He tenses, freezing.

This man, Stiles’ father, said he knows Derek’s family. Surely that means he’s a friend?

“What’s an emissary?” Stiles asks. “Dad?”

“An emissary acts as an adviser, usually to werewolf packs. Only the alpha and their second know who the emissary is.”

“John,” Lydia interrupts, “we should get Derek to a hospital now. He needs medical attention.”

Betrayed at the use of his real name, Derek looks to Allison. She doesn’t look up from the paper she is studying.

John squeezes Derek harder for a brief moment before pulling back entirely.

“He’s healing just fine,” John declares. He grabs the bag of food from Stiles and digs out a foil-wrapped sandwich. “Eat this,” he advises Derek. “It’ll do you a world of good.”

Derek practically inhales it before anyone can take it away. John smiles and hands him the second burger. Derek eats it slower—marginally—and eyes the bag until John lets him have it. Stiles makes a face when Derek crams as many of the seasoned spiral fries into his mouth as he can.

“He’ll need to be fed at least a thousand Calories every couple of hours or so until he can heal from a minor wound in seconds. A couple of days should be more than enough.”

Derek smirks at Lydia and eats another fistful of fries.

Scott sighs. “So, really, really a real werewolf?”

“Yes,” John says. “A child. Fifteen?”

“Sixteen in November,” Derek corrects. His birthday is coming up in about two weeks if the calendar stuck on the wall is anything to go by.

“So,” Scott says again, blanching oddly and wavering on his feet. “You’re fifteen and you’re definitely the wolf Stiles was calling Miguel.”

“I am,” Derek confirms.

“So, I performed veterinary duties on a kid.” Scott breaks out in a panicked sweat and stumbles to the bathroom where Derek can hear him being sick in the sink.

Stiles slinks to a chair and sits, folding his hands in his lap. “So, Dad. Any chance you wanna explain how you know this missing child?” He snatches the paper from Allison and shakes it at his dad. Derek stares at his own thirteen-year old face. Next to it, almost in sharp relief is a picture that looks remarkably like what he does now (except his face is thinner, more angular because of the starvation). So that’s how they knew his name. Allison didn’t tell them after all.

John sighs. “I already told you, I was the Hale emissary. That means if Talia Hale needed advice on anything, she’d come to me. I was more of a mediator than a magical dispenser though.”

“Whoa, hold up,” Stiles interrupts. “There’s magic?”

Derek grimaces and shoves the empty bag at John. He hates magic almost as much as he hates vets. Magic is strange people using the sparks inside themselves to hurt him in the hopes of winning her favor.

It’s a satisfying sound that the door to the office makes when he slams it.

                                                                                                                        ~ * ~

Stiles takes the bag from his father’s slack fingers. “So,” he says into the awkward silence. Faintly, he can hear Scott rinsing out his mouth. “Magic?”

“It’s actually a spark,” John says. “A certain something that enables the person with the spark to do things that appear to be magic.” His face shutters suddenly, the way it does when he is reminded of his late wife, Stiles’ mom. Indeed, he says, “Your mom was the Hale pack’s first emissary. When she died, Talia asked me if  I would continue her legacy.”

“And you did. Why? What did the Hales ever do for you or Mom?”

“When your mom was first diagnosed, Talia asked us if we wanted the bite. An alpha can turn humans into werewolves with their bites. They are the only ones able to do so.”

“It is a false promise given to incite loyalty if the bite takes and absolve guilt if it doesn’t,” Deaton spits. His eyes burn with a hatred Stiles has only seen the intensity of once before, back in Atlanta when he was on a domestic disturbance call. A husband was trying to kill his wife and the only way to stop him was to shoot him in the leg. Stiles still has nightmares about that fury-filled visage.

He reaches for his taser only for his hand to come up empty. Did Derek take it when he took the food? No, Dad was the one who took the bag originally. So…who?

Deaton raises his hand, pointing the missing weapon at Stiles, his finger on the trigger. “Looking for this?” He pivots and suddenly the taser is pointed at John’s chest. Stiles flinches. His dad has a pacemaker. The surge of electricity would definitely fuck with it and could possibly kill him.

Stiles clenches his fists. He wishes he’d brought his Beretta in, but he hadn’t wanted Miguel—Derek—getting a hold of it if he wrestled with him again. The kid is scrappy and Stiles wouldn’t bet on a fair fight. He just wishes he hadn’t also locked his stun gun in the safe in his Jeep too.

“They all make it sound so glamorous,” Deaton says. “Just a little bite and you’ll be better, stronger, more. What none of them say is that if you are a spark, you can’t be a shape-shifter. There isn’t enough room inside of you for that. They never tell you that.”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from personal experience there, Alan,” Stiles says. Hostage training 102: act like you’re on their side to get them to drop their guard. First point on the list, Stiles already failed: don’t let them take your weapon.

“I am,” Deaton says. “My sister worked as an emissary for a traveling pack that came to visit the Hales. In doing so, they angered one of the neighboring packs and they attacked my sister as retaliation.” The taser wavers while Deaton blinks away tears. “They left her alive so that I could find her. I begged her alpha to save her.”

“It didn’t work,” Stiles guesses.

“No, it didn’t. It would never have. But he didn’t tell me that before he bit her. My sister died in minutes. I vowed revenge on the monsters that killed her, so I called in a favor.”

“Alan?” Scott says, and they all turn to where he is standing by the back entrance. His shirt is rucked up, soaked with water and twisted around his hands. He stares fearfully at his old boss, the man from whom he took over the clinic. Behind him, a gun, something small caliber, trained on the back of Scott’s head, is a woman Stiles never thought he’d see again: Kate Argent.

Last he saw her, she was being hauled away by his dad for slapping Lydia after she kissed Allison at their senior prom.

Time has been kind to Kate, which is unfair. Her hair is still honey-brown (probably with chemical assistance) and her face is still smooth (also probably because of extra heavy duty help). Conversely, Allison has crow’s-feet when she smiles and she’d found her first gray hair last year.

Personality-wise, niece and aunt could not be more dissimilar. Allison doesn’t have a mean bone in her body (that Stiles has seen) while Kate would actively rile people up because she found it funny to poke at their limits.

“Where’s the creature?” Kate asks, pulling a second gun—this one a .45 Desert Eagle—off her hip.

“He’s in the office,” Deaton says.

“You hear that, girls?” Kate smiles again, cold, sadistic. Behind her, nosing around the open door are two large wolves. They are both attached to short chains wound around Kate’s waist. “The boy’s in the office, no doubt hiding from us. Now, that just won’t do, will it? After all, it’s been years since you were all together. Why don’t you go say hello while I take care of these nice people?” Kate loosens the wolves’ leads and the larger of the two bounds toward the office door, snarling and growling.

Girls, Kate called them, and Stiles can’t see any equipment dangling down below, so he’s inclined to agree.

The wolf at the door butts her head against the wood and pulls back, eyes glowing distinctly red. The change of color reminds Stiles that Derek’s eyes were electric blue sometimes. He notices too, that the wolf that stayed by Kate’s heels has glowing yellow eyes.

“What do the colors of their eyes mean?” Stiles asks out loud.

“Red means an alpha,” his dad answers.

“Yellow is a beta,” Kate adds knowingly.

“And what about blue?”

“It means I killed someone,” Derek says. Stiles turns to stare at him, at his blazing blue eyes.

                                                                                                                        ~ * ~

MP, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14