It was supposed to be a victory day

[fadingspark]

It was a closed courtroom that had the final hearing on the Stilinski-Grayson divorce. The evidence against the Grayson family as a whole was damning from the photographs of the attempted kidnapping, the assault charges, the history of abuse... it wasn't hard for the judge to grant the divorce.

It was the terms that shocked Stiles the most: Permanent No Contact order of Protection for him and Dina against the Graysons and any family member or agent on their behalf. Any contact moving forward for Stiles or Dina would be done through the Law Office of Samuel Winchester. Suzanna's parental rights over Claudia Marie were terminated, no visitation by anyone in the family or agents acting on their behalf, and Stiles was given sole custody of his daughter with an order to change her birth certificate to remove the Grayson part of her name and Suzanna from her records.

And then the big one: in order to protect the Stilinski family, alimony and child support would be established as a single lump-sum payment based on the financials of the Grayson family and taking into consideration the medical needs Stiles would continue to face both physical and emotionally at present and in the future, and to support Dina for all her present and future medical and educational needs.

Two Million Dollars. Half kept in trust for Dina until her 18th birthday or graduation from high school, whichever came first. The other half in account for Stiles to use as he deemed necessary to provide for his family. Plus all of Sam's legal fees were paid by the Grayson's.

And that was that. Stiles stood, partially in shock as the team of lawyers left with Suzanna and her father, and then he just turned and hugged Sam tightly. The taller man smiled at Malia, nodding at a job well done, and hugged his client back. "You did it, Stiles. You got your daughter the safety you wanted for her. Now it's time for you both to build a better life."



A plumbing issue had kept Stiles from moving into Allison's father's place right away, so he was still at the Hale house. Things had gotten a bit easier with the anger finally out in the air. But after a long day at court, Stiles was ready to join his daughter for naptime before dinner.

John hadn't wanted to worry Stiles, but the Grayson brothers had made bail and weren't in custody any longer. He warned Talia, but with the protective orders in place, putting a detail on the house wasn't possible without a real threat in the air.

No one realized that out in the desert, deals had been made between the family patriarch and another patriarch - Gerard Argent. Knowing that the Hales were protecting the granddaughter of his good friend, it was easy to help equip the two sons with a chip on their shoulder with the right weapons, and a team of hand picked hunters, to help them give one last message that no one could walk away from the Grayson family and expect to win.

Comments

[fadingspark]

Derek looked at Peter. "I'll go check out the scene and record everything like you've been showing me. Don't worry."

Sighing, Peter just gave up and relaxed back into the floor. "You kids are growing up way too fast..." he muttered, tucking the clothes under his head as a pillow instead and he was just going to let himself pass out.

Taking Fiona's hand, he led her back upstairs so she could go talk to Nadia while he went to investigate the scene and see what he could find. That was about the time that the Sheriff's car pulled up behind the rest of the cars and John and Isaac got out. John took in the scene with wide eyes as Isaac lifted his hand to his nose, overwhelmed by the stench of blood,gunpowder, and death in the air.


Stiles kept on clinging, gulping for breath between bouts of crying. "I don't want to turn into them. I can't turn into them. I'm not like them," he kept saying over and over again.

[impetere]

Nadia's standing there to meet them, covered in blood. She's just finished clawing her way through Ray's corpse, and the gun is ... well, it's better if they don't know where the gun is. Plausible deniability. Ray's head is barely discernible as Ray's head mostly because it looked like it had been bashed in repeatedly. She glances over to the sheriff and huffs a breath, blowing a stray strand out of her face.

"They were here for your son. You might want to go with 'animal attacks.'" She's not even going to bother to pretend she didn't do most of the damage. There's no point. "But off the record? Stiles shot that one." She tips her head to the heavily mutilated corpse. "Talia's with him now, but I thought you should be prepared. He was going to kill Talia, Stiles stopped him."

Which is ... really the basic rundown of it all.

"They were working with hunters, though. Someone close to them knows."

Talia continues to shush him softly, rocking him gently as she does. "No, you're not. You're not like them." There's a great deal of difference between someone who's killed and someone who's a killer. "You were protecting your family. That doesn't make you a monster."

[fadingspark]

John covered his mouth, shaking his head. "No, I think that's going to be best." The cop in him was debating hard with the protective father. It was the reason why when the call came in, he only brought Isaac with him instead of an army. "But they had hunters with them, they aren't going to believe it, are they?"


He sniffled, taking her words and trying to make himself believe them as he curled into her more. He was hitting the exhausted crying stage where his eyes had nothing left to cry out, but he was still trying. "I don't know who I am anymore, Talia. I didn't do things like this before. Why me/ Why did they come after me?"

[impetere]

"Probably not." Nadia nods in agreement. "But I think if we figure out where the hunters came from we can eliminate that particular problem. You might want to get Allison's father out here to have a look." Meanwhile, Nik will sort out a few things for them in Vegas and hopefully this problem will be gone for good.

"I don't know," she says softly, just keeping him curled close. "Sometimes these things just happen. But given time, I'm sure you'll figure it out again. You were pretty good at that once - that's not the kind of thing that goes away for good."

[fadingspark]

John nodded and pulled out his cell phone, texting Chris to come to the Hale house immediately. Derek, meanwhile, was already starting his own investigation, looking through the leaves until he found a shotgun shell and picked it up, looking at the markings on the side of it curiously.


"I've said so many bad things to you guys. I'm a horrible person. I don't want to be this person anymore."

[impetere]

Nadia nods, speaking to Fiona for a moment, and after getting some confirmation that Peter is asleep, she turns back to the sheriff. "If you don't need anything else from me, I think I'm going to clean up."

"You don't have to be." She pulls back just slightly, so that he's looking at her more. "It's over, Stiles. You don't have to use it to protect yourself anymore. You can be whoever you want to be."

[fadingspark]

John looked at Isaac, who was walking over to join Derek, then shook his head. "No, not right now. I'll come find you when Argent gets here." Having a hunter as a consultant - like Peter was - tended to be helpful. He then muttered to himself, "Retirement is looking better every day."


He looked back up at her, a scared, broken mess. "But they're never going to stop coming. I thought this would stop them, but they won't, will they?"

[impetere]

Nadia laughs softly at that, before nodding and heading back to Peter's. After a quick shower to wash away the blood and a change of clothes she'll make her way back, heading down to the basement and curling up against his back.

"Maybe not. We can't say for sure." If there were hunters helping, they're not going to buy the line about animal attacks, and they'll have to make preparations for that, but that isn't the important thing. "But you won't have to do it alone anymore."

[fadingspark]

Peter doesn't wake up, but his sixth sense of knowing his mate is there makes him relax in her hold, a small whine in his breathing to acknowledge her as his body just shifts to fit against her better. She'd be able to feel the pain that was fading as his body healed, but her being there made a big difference.


He nodded, and his face turned apologetic. "I'm so sorry for all the things I've said about the pack. You know I didn't really mean it, right? I just... I'm used to pushing people away to keep them away from me so they stay safe. It was the only thing I could think of."

[impetere]

Nadia smiles softly at that, tipping her head to rest her cheek against his shoulder, closing her eyes and just relaxing against him. She's not sleeping, not quite, but she does relax considerably from where she was before.

"I know." One hand comes up and brushes against his forehead gently, and she gives him a small smile. "Family does that sometimes. And family forgives for it too."

[fadingspark]

Stiles took a deep breath. He thought for a moment, then nodded. "Talia, I need help. I need help finding me again. I don't want to be this way anymore. I want to get back to who I used to be. I liked me a lot better then."

[impetere]

Talia nods for a moment. "Well, there's Laura. She does do this sort of thing professionally. But I'm sure that all of us will help you however we can."

[fadingspark]

Stiles sniffed, rubbing his hand over his face a moment. He nodded. "You think she has time to schedule me in?" Four kids and a full time job as well as learning to be the next alpha had to be hard on the eldest Hale sibling.

[impetere]

Talia nods in agreement, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his temple. "I think she'll make it work."

[fadingspark]

Stiles leaned into the affection - for the first time in a long time. That feeling of being safe with Talia was coming back. Something in his head had clicked over in protecting her that made it easy for him not to flinch back.

"You know, you have a bad habit of taking in kids with emotional problems, right?" He chuckled a bit.

[impetere]

She laughs softly at that, before nodding. "Well, my daughter usually has good instincts about these things. I try and trust her - most of the time."

Maybe not others. Maybe ones she should listen to more when it comes to herself. But when it comes to taking care of other people, she's usually right on the mark.

[fadingspark]

The mention of Cora made him sigh, but he didn't withdraw. "I need to fix things between her and me. I just don't know how I can."

[impetere]

Talia is quiet for a moment, one hand rubbing his shoulders gently, before tipping her head back to him in consideration.

"Before, she was telling you a lot about Tyler. Next time, make her talk about Cora." Cora has a habit of using other people as a buffer. It's about time she stopped that.

[fadingspark]

Stiles nodded. He had been doing the same thing, using Dina as his. "Is she okay? I saw Lydia carrying her in... that's why I locked them in and went outside to help. They hurt her because of me."

Which was just slightly below someone hurting Dina in his mind as being worst fear ever.

[impetere]

Talia's face sobers for a moment, a bit of worry creeping in, as there always is when there's wolfsbane involved. "There was wolfsbane in the bullets. Fiona was working on her, though, and it was quickly after it happened, so I'm sure she'll be fine."

[fadingspark]

"Wolfsbane?" Now he was confused. "But, I never told anyone that you were wolves. I mean, I haven't even told Dina yet still." Which he was going to have to do really soon. "How would they have known to contact hunters in the first place?"

[impetere]

"I don't know. That's what we're going to have to find out." And it probably won't be an easy process, but none of these things ever are. "But for right now, it's over. We just need to focus on recovering."

[fadingspark]

Stiles nodded, his heartbeat coming back to a normal level finally. The fear was gone, and a slow resolve was taking it's place. "We should go back. I don't know what to do, but I guess I need to call my dad. And my lawyer."

[impetere]

"Nadia and Derek have already taken care of the first part. He's probably here by now." She nods as she helps them both to their feet. "But yes, you should probably call Sam."

[fadingspark]

He nodded, going to stand up and then held a hand down to her. "Talia... thank you. Just.. for everything. Especially for not giving up on me." He knows how horrible he's been to be around the last few weeks.