"Why isn't she healing?"
"I know we don't know what she is but-"
Daire struggled to open her eyes. Her lids were heavy with what felt like sleep or perhaps sedatives, she wasn't sure.
"You know about her scars, don't you?" A voice asked.
The other voices murmured, talking over one another. Each one stating some variation of acknowledgment.
"She's not healing because she doesn't want to," the voice closest to Daire said.
Isaac, the voice belonged to Isaac.
"You mean to say that it's psychological? She's preventing herself from healing because she doesn't want to?" Another voice asked, this one was feminine but Daire couldn't tell who.
"Scars are important to her, they serve as a touchstone. She doesn't want to forget what happened." Daire felt a weight on her hand as Isaac talked, slowly sleep began to pull her back under. The last thing she heard before it claimed her again were three words, full of confidence.
"She'll be fine."
☽
The next time Daire regained consciousness, she was able to open her eyes. She glanced at her surroundings, concluding that she was in fact in a hospital room. Next, she slowly sat up, rolled her shoulders, and arched her back, testing her injury. Gasping at the sharp pain as she moved, the phenom immediately woke one of the boys sleeping in her hospital room.
"You're awake."
Daire turned to the boy who now sat up in a chair pulled next to her bed. His curly hair was a mess from sleep and his clothes were rumpled but clean. He had changed since their fight against her grandfather and the kanima.
"How long was I out?" Daire asked.
Isaac rubbed some sleep out of his eyes, "about a day, after you passed out we rushed you to the hospital. You needed stitches since you weren't healing on your own." Isaac paused and glanced at Daire's shoulder, where her newly stitched-up wound started. "Mrs. McCall said that there wasn't any permanent damage though, so you'll be fine."
Daire nodded and then gestured to the other boys who were passed out together in varying uncomfortable positions in her little hospital room. "How long have they been here?"
Isaac followed her gaze and chuckled a little under his breath, "since you were admitted, they refused to leave your side."
Daire's lips tugged into a smile as she watched Stiles and Scott snore. They were propped up on one another, laying haphazardly on a tiny and uncomfortable couch. They may be idiots but they were the closest thing she had to a family now, and damn did she love those fools.
"And you?" Daire asked, turning her gaze back to Isaac, "have you stayed as long as them?"
Isaac's ears tinged pink, "I have."
"Thank you."
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Isaac asked.
Daire raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean?"
Isaac's gaze was set on her shoulder, "you pushed me out of the way. You got hurt instead of me, you should've just let her stab me."
Daire grasped Isaac's hand and his eyes immediately met hers.
"I do not regret what I did and I would do it again in a heartbeat."
Daire held Isaac's gaze and gave his hand a comforting squeeze. Isaac dropped his head and stared down at his lap.
"Why?"
"I thought it was pretty obvious?" Daire replied, her lips stretching into a small teasing smile. "I mean pretty much everyone else knows at this point."
Isaac's head immediately whipped upward, a look of pure confusion on his face.
"Don't tell me you're this oblivious!" Daire said giggling at his surprise.
"I-i.." Isaac stammered, his ears beginning to redden, alluding that he was at least aware of what Daire was suggesting.
"I did it because I like you," Daire said, "Is that so hard to believe?"
Isaac stumbled on his words, "it's just- me? Why me?"
Daire cocked her head in confusion, "why not you? Are you telling me that you still had no idea after everything? Derek didn't say anything?"
Isaac's eyes widened, "why would Derek-"
"Because he's made fun of me about it!" Daire interjected, her face red from embarrassment. After a moment she let out a sigh, "I like you because you're you, okay? The question is do you feel the same?"
Daire had expected him to mumble or maybe stumble over his words, she did not, however, expect him to weave his fingers into her dark curls and press his lips against hers. The kiss wasn't deep but Daire was too surprised to do anything. When Isaac pulled back he wasn't blushing like she had expected but rather seemed confident, with a small smile on his face. Whereas Daire was looking at him wide-eyed, her face red as a tomato.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Daire let out a startled screech.
"Thank God, I don't know how much more of that I could watch."
Daire whipped her head around to see both Stiles and Scott grinning at her. Scowling, she pointed at her two friends, "not a single word."
The two of them just shared a smile and Stiles got up to open her hospital room door. On the other side was Chris Argent.
"I'm glad to see that you're okay," he said as he entered, "I was worried about you."
Daire watched the man who she believed was her uncle as his gaze landed on her wound.
"Is she okay?"
Chris cleared his throat and brought his gaze up to meet Daire's, the room silent around them.
"I don't know. I'm going to take her to France for the summer, try to figure things out."
Daire couldn't help but feel somewhat bitter, "family trip huh?"
Chris's eyes widened as he backtracked, "that's not what I meant, I just thought-" he broke off and sighed. He glanced around the room, at the boys and then at Daire. "After what you learned I thought you'd want nothing to do with us."
Daire shook her head, "not you, Chris you've always been the closest thing to a parent I ever had." Daire paused and fiddled with her hands, "but if you don't mind could you tell me more? About me? My family?"
A somewhat sad-looking smile tugged at Chris's lips at Daire's revelation, "I don't know much."
"Nothing? Your sister apparently kidnaps a child to raise as a weapon for your family and you know nothing??" Stiles interjected.
Chris shook his head, "I had a family of my own when Kate-" Chris cleared his throat, "'adopted' Daire, I don't know who your parents are or what they were. Just that my sister was tasked with hunting them and, for whatever reason, decided to bring you back."
"So that's it then? I learned that not only was I kidnapped as a child, an infant, but both of my parents were murdered by the woman who I thought was my mother." Daire let out something along the lines of a strangled sigh. "What the hell do I do now?"
"We figure it out on our own," Scott said standing up from his spot on the couch, "just like we always do."
"Yeah," Stiles added, "it'll be our summer project."
Tears welled up in Daire's eyes as she looked at Scott and Stiles and felt Isaac place a comforting hand over her own. She might have been robbed of one family and rejected by another, but she's definitely found one all her own.
☽
"You know you could've stopped by during visiting hours," Daire said in the dark of her hospital room.
Allison stepped away from the doorframe and reluctantly stood at the end of the hospital bed.
"I didn't want to risk running into everyone else."
"Are you running away or are you trying to figure out what happens next?"
Allison let out a choked laugh, "you're mad at me, aren't you?"
"I don't know." It was a guarded answer, but it wasn't wrong. After everything that had happened between them, Daire was a muddle of conflicting emotions.
Allison ran her hands through her hair, pushing it away from her face, "Scott isn't mad at me, he even says he still loves me and you don't know how you feel. Even after all I did?"
Daire watched as Allison seemed to fall apart in front of her but she didn't offer Allison comfort, she couldn't.
Instead, she asked a question, "You came to ask what happened that night, didn't you?"
Allison nodded.
Daire sighed before she began.
"It happened the night of the rave after we captured Jackson and learned the Kanima was merely a puppet. Scott left to deal with your dad and the other hunters while I was with Stiles and Isaac. The plan was working and then all of a sudden I had this sickening feeling in my stomach and I just knew that something bad was happening to Scott. So I had Stiles break the barrier and I went off running."
Daire's gaze had been on her lap but she looked up at Allison as she continued, "I found him collapsed on the floor of an abandoned room of some kind, your mother standing above him. She had some sort of wolfsbane humidifier, trying to suffocate Scott. I told Derek to carry him out and that's when your mom held a knife at my throat."
Daire paused, waiting to see if Allison would interject or deny that her mother would do such a thing. But the Argent girl stayed quiet.
"That's when things begin to get fuzzy. The two of us fight, me trying to just disarm Victoria and attempt to reason with her, and her attacking me with a knife. The next thing I know, Isaac is carrying me out of there and my mouth tastes like blood."
Allison takes a shaky breath, her hands clasped tightly onto the edge of Daire's hospital bed, but Daire continues.
"I don't remember biting her but I know I was the one who did. However," Daire caught Allison's eye, "your mother took her life of her own volition. I do not know if my bite would have turned her, or what she would turn into. But I do know that Victoria did not want to take that chance. She wanted to remain human, at the cost of losing everything."
At this point, even in the dark Daire could see the tracks of tears down Allison's cheeks.
"Victoria made her choice believing that it would make you stronger. And it did, but it also made you cold and unempathetic. I just hope that you don't let this newfound strength kill your kindness and compassion because those are what make us strong, Allison."
☽
"You sure you don't want to join us?" Daire asked Isaac as they pulled up to Stiles' jeep on the lacrosse field.
Isaac shook his head. "No, I'm meeting Derek and Peter in a little bit," he opened the door for Daire and helped her out of her car. "But you have fun."
Isaac pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and Daire leaned her head back to smile up at him. "Will do. Text me later?" she asked.
Isaac nodded before walking away, leaving Daire with Scott and Stiles who were unloading lacrosse gear out of Stiles' jeep.
"So you really think she's gonna come back to you?" Stiles asked, lifting a duffle bag out from his trunk.
Scott smiled and took the bag from Stiles.
"Yeah, I know she is. What about you and Lydia?"
Stiles shook his head, "Ugh. Well, the 10-year plan for making Lydia fall in love with me may have to stretch to 15, but the plan is definitely still in motion."
"Why don't you just ask her out?" Scott asked as Stiles shut the trunk of his car.
He stopped and turned to stare at Scott sardonically before laughing sarcastically, "Yeah, okay."
"You never know if you don't try," Daire interjected, "she might just surprise you."
Stiles made a dismissive sound in the back of his throat and pointed his lacrosse stick at Scott, gesturing towards the goal, "why don't you just get in the goal and help me make team captain like you promised, big guy?" He then turned back to Daire, "and you, grab a stick and help me pelt him with balls."
With a laugh Daire obliged, grabbing a stray lacrosse stick from the pile and dumping out the lacrosse balls from their mesh bag onto the ground.
"You know what I just realized? I'm right back where I started," Scott said.
"What do you mean?" Stiles asked curiously.
He shrugged, "I don't know. I mean, no lacrosse, no popularity, no girlfriend, nothing."
"Dude, you have us."
Scott looked confused. "I had you before."
"Um, may I remind you that at the start of the year the two of you didn't even know me?" Daire pointed out, propping her chin up on the lacrosse stick she was holding.
"Semantics," Stiles waved her off, "the point is, you still have us. So... life fulfilled!"
Scott chuckled wryly, "Very."
"Now, remember: no wolf powers or Daire's gonna kick your ass."
"I don't remember agreeing to this," Daire replied as Stiles scooped a ball into his stick's pocket.
"Got it!" Scott called out from the goal.
"No, I mean it," Stiles said sternly, "No superfast reflexes, no super eyesight, no hearing. None of that crap, okay? Or else I'm gonna sick Daire on you."
Scott laughed and Daire rolled her eyes as Stiles pulled his stick back. Scott grinned as Stiles snapped his stick forward, the ball rocketing through the air.
"I said no wolf powers!" Stiles cried out when Scott caught the ball, his eyes glowing. Stiles turned to Daire, "Get him."
With a grin of her own Daire launched her own stick forward, her ball going twice the speed as Stiles'.
"Ow, what the hell, Daire!" Scott moaned in agony as the ball made contact with his shoulder.
Stiles laughed evilly as Scott rubbed his shoulder and complained. Daire smiled and geared up for another pass. Her world might have turned upside down once more, but with these two by her side, Daire knew everything will be okay.
☽
WE HAVE REACHED THE END OF SEASON TWO!!!
I feel like I preface all my author's notes with sorry it took me so long to update. If any of you saw my announcement from earlier this week, I've had multiple things happen IRL which made writing this last chapter take so long. However, I'm so happy to publish it for all of you to read! This last installment was jampacked and I can't wait to read your reactions in the comments 😊 I'm still trying to figure out season 3, so that may take a while for me to post - but I was thinking of posting little one-shot bits of their summer. Things like the start of Daire's search to find what may be left of her family, and figure out what she is. The beginning of Isaac and Daire's relationship, and perhaps other moments of Daire beating Scott and Stiles at lacrosse 😜. Let me know if any of you are interested in something like that!
Also as you wait for the next installment on my end check out arcstark who has been translating Daire's adventures into Spanish!
As always don't be a silent reader, I love reading your comments, reactions, and theories!
YOSH
❤ Ash