new york wolves } { of coming home and clever ruses

[arbalete]

Allison: [Scott and Allison volunteered to go pick Stiles up at the airport and the second he's close enough, Allison is greeting him with a hug and an apology] I'm sorry. [not that Gerard was her fault, but it's close enough]

Stiles: [blinks and then yeah probably had to tell her why and nods] I'm sorry for poisoning your grandfather? [spoilers- he's not. At all]

Allison: I wouldn't be. He's kind of a tool. [she sighs as she pulls back] My dad had to read me in on some stuff. I'm still ... getting used to it, but I've managed to wrap my head around the idea.

Stiles: Yeah I've been there. So um, I just kinda want to go home if you guys don't mind? [it hurt a lot being this far away from Cora but he didn't really have a choice. He dug his grave]

Allison: [there's a beat and a small cringe] Yeah, we just have to make ... one more stop. Which is the actual thing I'm apologizing for.

Stiles: [confused]

Allison: We have to pick up Lydia.

Stiles: I'll walk.

Scott: Sorry man, we kinda promised.

Allison: It probably won't be as bad as you think. And I'm sure she will hate this just as much as you do. But she's been through a lot lately and it's either us or taking a bus or something and I'm not going to let my best friend do that especially after what's happened.

Stiles: [..... he'll bite] What happened?

Allison: [pauses for a moment, before making a face] She ... had a psychotic break.

Stiles: Oh. [there's a part of him that can be sad for her because he did care for Lydia at one point]

Allison: [nods] It started with her hearing voices and then there were these fugue states. They think it's some kind of rare form of schizophrenia but they've never really seen anything like it. Anyway, she's gone a few months without an episode so the doctors think it would be a good idea for her to come home and see how she does, and I said we would pick her up.

Stiles: [hikes his bag on his shoulder] Well let's not keep her waiting. I can attest she never likes that.

Allison: [there's a small smile in return as she nods and leads her way to the car]

Stiles: [and he will catch up with Scott as they walk, not talking about wolf things or Hale things]

Allison: [and she will interject here and there, and into the car they go to drive off to the hospital where Allison will disappear inside to get Lydia]

Stiles: [and they will talk lacrosse and he will try not to act uncomfortable at all]

Lydia: [and eventually they emerge, Allison carrying, Lydia's bag, and they're chatting and they're chatting and Allison drops the "Stiles" bomb and her face falls slightly. They're still out of Scott's earshot as Allison starts to walk ahead of her but Stiles can probably hear her - she doesn't know that though] Getting picked up from the looney bin after losing your mind by your ex-boyfriend who you dumped because he was losing his mind. Yeah. That's so karma coming back to bite me.

Stiles: Dude can you sit in the back with me so I don't have to sit next to her?

Scott: Um... sure?

Lydia: [spots the boys doing the car shuffle and huffs slightly, before straightening her shoulders and striding towards the passenger's seat and sliding inside. There's a small smile in Scott's direction] Hey, Scott. [there's a beat as she glances to the guy next to him and she nods with a small smile, not quite able to look him in the eye] Stiles.

Stiles: Lydia. [he knows how he looks- scruffy, tired, and down. He's not ashamed of it. At least visibly]

Lydia: [yeah, but even scruffy, tired and down he looks a lot better than she was expecting, given the givens] You look good.

Stiles: Medical trials are working better than expected. Sorry to hear about your head.

Lydia: [she gives a small shrug] Most famous mathematicians are crazy. Some say I'm just filling my niche.

Stiles: Good to see you’re embracing the positive side of it.

Lydia: Its either that or crippling depression.

Stiles: Pretty much.

Lydia: [nods as they drive in silence for a moment, before ...] So how is New York?

Stiles: Cold. [in so many ways]

Lydia: [nods again and she's ... going to give up on small talk and turn her attention back out the window again]

Scott: So um I was going to ask you guys if you wanted to maybe come over to my place on Christmas Eve? Mom's pulling her usual double at the hospital and I think you said your dad's working too...

Stiles: So we aren't doing our normal sky watch for Santa?

Scott: Aren't we getting too old for that?

Lydia: I should be free. My mom and I usually do all of our celebrating the day of.

Scott: Allison?

Allison: [smirks in the rearview mirror] I thought I was a given.

Scott: [grins back] Stiles?

Stiles: Yeah whatever man.

Scott: [sighs]

Allison: [frowns slightly, before she keeps driving] How about we stop for dinner? I think there's a burger place not too far up the highway?

Stiles: I really just want to go home, guys. Just drop me off and you can go without me.

Allison: [looks slightly disappointed, but she nods] Okay. [and with that, they will keep heading right to the sheriff's house]

Scott: [elbows him]

Stiles: Ow! Seriously? Fine I can do a burger.

Allison: [smiles a bit, pleased, before pulling off when they reach the burger joint. They'll all pile inside, grabbing a booth while Allison drags Scott off to look at the desserts, leaving him and Lydia alone.]

Lydia: [sits across the table from him and she'll wait until she's sure that they're not coming back for a while, before looking down at her menu as she speaks] I owe you an apology. [it's apropos of nothing, but she needs to say it otherwise things are just going to keep being weird and Scott and Allison seem content to keep shoving them together] About ... how I ended things before.

Stiles: Yeah, you do. [no longer the sarcastic playful boy she knew. He doesn't even look up, focused on the options]

Lydia: [she's not even going to bother with excuses, she's just going to say it] I'm sorry.

Stiles: [nod] feel better?

Lydia: Not really. [a beat] For the record, I came to this conclusion before I had a mental breakdown, but I wanted to do it to your face. I figured I owed you that much.

Stiles: [ he sighed, then looked up at her] Well I appreciate your honesty. But I'm not sure I'm ready to forgive you. And I'm sorry you're going through what your dealing with. Sucks when your mind turns against you and you have no control over it, huh?

Lydia: I wasn't expecting you to. [just for the record. she then presses her lips together with a nod] Oh, you have no idea. At least when you were going crazy, dead bodies weren't involved.

Stiles: ...Dead bodies?

Lydia: [sighs] How much did Allison tell you about my symptoms?

Stiles: Hearing voices and some fugue states. Diagnosed as Schitzo.

Lydia: [nods] Well, those fugue states? Usually ended in the vicinity of a dead body.

Stiles: [blinks a moment because he wasn't hearing that right, was he?] Like a dead body person dead body?

Lydia: [eyes narrow slightly] As opposed to what, exactly?

Stiles: I don't know, Lydia. Animals.... large game.... Bigfoot?

Lydia: Oh. [there's a beat] No, they were all human.

Stiles: And so you don't remember how you found them at all?

Lydia: [she shakes her head] One minute I'm getting ready for a date or doing homework, the next thing I know I'm in the quad tripping over a dead coed with no idea how I got there.

Stiles: [sucked on his lips a moment, thinking and cataloguing all the symptoms. Yeah, someone has that look like he's about to spend the night on the internet researching]

Lydia: [Yeah, she knows that look and then her eyes turned a little sad] Stiles, I just spent the last four months being poked and prodded. Please don't turn me into your winter break science project.

Stiles: [technically, it's too late, but he nods] Alright. [and he's going to focus back on the menu. He'll figure out how to research this later without using her]

Lydia: [Yeah, she has a feeling but there's a grateful look all the same as she mimics the action herself] So how's your dad?

Stiles: Dreading the end of his vacation away from me. [smirks a bit]

Lydia: [smirks a bit in return] I'm sure he's not dreading it as much as you think.

Stiles: Yeah, well the last time I was back here he was trying to get me a room at the place we picked you up at.

Lydia: Aww, we could have been roommates. Too bad. [she is very much kidding]

Stiles: Yeah, you wouldn't have liked seeing that I looked like eight months ago. [and his eyes back on his menu]

Lydia: [she nods once planning on letting it go but first:] I really am glad you're doing better. You didn't deserve all of that.

Stiles: Sometimes you can't help the hand you're dealt. You just have to hope that the things you do while you're still here matter.

Lydia: [nods once] Which is why I intend to get back to school as soon as possible.

Stiles: Well, good luck on that.

Lydia: I'll probably have to take a semester off while I find somewhere to transfer to, but come the fall, I will be a student again.

Stiles: Yeah, I've been thinking about taking the spring semester off myself. Not sure if I'm going to or not, but it's an option.

Lydia: [nods] Sometimes you need it.

Stiles: My lacrosse scholarship won't be affected. We just wrapped our season.

Lydia: You still play. That's good.

Stiles: Yeah, it keeps me out of trouble, and actually I need the exercise as part of the therapy.

Lydia: You always loved it. I'm glad you didn't have to lose that.

Stiles: [nods] Yeah, me too. It was looking bad for a while before I got accepted to the trial.

Lydia: Well, you look a lot better. [a beat] You look better than you did before you were diagnosed, actually.

Stiles: Thanks. I feel better. But it's only been about nine months I've been on it, so we're just hoping that it will keep working long term and I don't end up having a horrible crash.

Lydia: [nods] Good. [there's a beat as she diverts her attention back to the menu] Could use a shave though. [she couldn't help herself. Sorry, Stiles.]

Stiles: [snorts] What, you're not into the New York bohemian?

Lydia: You look like someone skinned a rat and glued it to your face. [yeah, this seems familiar]

Stiles: [just nods, but there is a tiny smirk on his face. The familiarity was something he needed, which is why he came home] Well, they are the main source of meat for the homeless, I was just repurposing the fur.

Lydia: [makes a face because gross, Stiles] I think you were better off just letting them throw it away.

Stiles: Well, I'll file the complaint form away.

Lydia: You do that. [she then glances up to where Scott and Allison are standing] They are aware that they've been gone long enough that their "clever ruse" to get us to talk to each other is less of a ruse and a little more obvious, aren't they?

Stiles: I never claimed Scott was a genius. Plus I think they were making sexual remarks over the cheesecake.

Lydia: ... And now cheesecake is ruined. [makes a face]

Stiles: Yeah, sorry. [only not. mostly not]

Lydia: [continues to make a face as the happy couple finally returns, Allison sliding into the seat next to Lydia]

Allison: You guys know what you want to order?

Stiles: Anything but the cheesecake.

Scott: [was sipping his water and now he's choking on it]

Lydia: [purses her lips together to hide the smirk] I think I'm just going to have a burger. [and Allison looks her fair share of sheepish herself, and they'll just fade into lunch chatter so we can skip?]