The Way Back

Nora Morrissey has an ex-boyfriend. She also has an ex-best friend, which is so much worse. Worse still, is that they are the same person, Stiles Stilinski. And when Stiles finally comes knocking on her door, it isn't to beg for forgiveness like it would be in a movie, no, it's because he says Scott's on drugs. Turns out, Stiles was lying. It's not drugs, it's werewolves.

"Sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them." - Richard Siken

Author Note and Warnings: Yay, I don't hold back too much with the profanity in this one. Also it's kinda sad and this is kind of a new style for me and I may have made some tense errors, bear with me. Also a mention of drugs and kids are drinking.

Chapter One - There Was Before

Stiles Stilinski never thought he'd be at Nora Morrissey's door again. But there he was, pacing back and forth on the front porch of a house that used to be a second home to him. It hurt so badly he wanted to throw up. He knew where to step so the boards under his feet wouldn't creak and Stiles was glad that he did. He'd hate to let anyone in the house know he was standing in front of their door like some kind of idiot, too afraid to ring the bell.

I'm doing this for Scott. It's for Scott. Scott's is gonna need more help than I can give him. Right? Right. Scott.

His best friend had put claw marks in the back of his desk chair and Stiles didn't know what the fuck to do about it so here he was, telling himself Scott was the reason he had come to see Nora.

When he should have come here months ago.

But Stiles would be the first to admit it, when it came to Nora; he'd always been a coward. She was always making the first moves. Now it was his turn. Stiles looked at the doorbell. Then he looked down the street where he had parked the jeep far away from Nora's house where once, he had almost murdered their mailbox. Well, he'd almost done that a couple times.

Nope. This is for Scott.

He knew it wasn't, because Scott didn't ask him to do this or think there was anything wrong with him. Stiles knew that if Scott was what he thought he was, and he knew he was ridiculous to think it, he was going to need Nora. And it was selfish, he knew that, and he hated himself a little for it. But he looked back to the doorbell, choked down the squirming ball of anxiety and guilt in his throat, and rang it.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then he heard light footsteps careening for the door and he wondered if he wanted Nora to answer it. Though, those footsteps didn't sound like Nora's.

Yeah, he knew her footsteps.

The door swung open and Stiles found himself staring at Marisa Morrissey. And she was giving him the dirtiest look her small face could muster. She and her sister Isabelle had their twelfth birthdays just after Christmas. Not that Stiles had been invited.

"Mom, the bastard is here." She called.

Stiles felt that like a punch to the gut. Nora's younger sisters were the closest things he had to his own, and he guessed they hated him now too. He heard Nora's stepmother Sofia shout something in Italian. He didn't understand it, but it sounded unpleasant and she was scowling as she stepped into the doorframe, ushering Marisa away. He was always struck by how similar Marisa and Isabelle looked to their mother. All three of them had the same brown eyes that were so dark they looked black, dark hair and pointed features. He couldn't speak to whether or not Nora shared the same uncanny resemblance with her mother. Stiles had never met her. He assumed she must, since Nora didn't look much like her dad. He wondered if that hurt her, he'd never asked.

Sofia leaned against the doorframe. She crossed her arms as she looked him over, still scowling. He remembered once when he had the flu; Sofia had come to his house and slept on the couch so that his father could go to work. His dad hadn't even asked, she'd just shown up with about five different kinds of soup and forced Noah into his car.

"What do you want?" She said.

Her voice was quick and clear like always, but there was a bite that Stiles wasn't used to, and like everything else, it hurt.

"I need to talk to Nora." He said, sounding unsurprisingly pitiful. "It's about Scott."

Her face softened at hearing Scott's name and Stiles understood. Scott hadn't hurt Nora. He never would. But still, Sofia narrowed her eyes.

"It's about Scott?" She said, chewing on every word.

He nodded and, after a moment, Sofia nodded back.

"Wait." She said.

The door shut in his face, but Stiles didn't move. Never in his life had he not listened to Sofia, and he wasn't planning on starting now. A very long minute passed, then another one, and then another. All Stiles could hear was his heart hammering in his chest so when the door opened again and he was looking at Nora. It took all the strength he had not to throw up all over her shoes. They were white converse, classic Nora.

"Hey." Was all he could muster.

Nora stepped outside and shut the door behind her.

She looked pretty much the same. Well, he had seen her earlier that day. He still saw Nora every day at school, but not like this. She had not been anywhere within three feet of him in about three months.

Nora folded her arms over her chest the same way Sofia did. It was things like that that made it clear Sofia was more Nora's mother than anyone else had ever been. She cocked her head in the small way that was so familiar to him he wanted to scream or cry or do something else equal parts dramatic and pathetic. But Nora was quiet, that's kind of what she was. Quiet and very good at staring long enough to make people very uncomfortable. She had a good stare for that. When Stiles had first met Nora he had thought it was odd to look at someone and see two different eyes. Both of them weirdly pale, one green and the other blue. But now, ten years later, they were Nora's eyes, staring at him with this mix of pain and anger that he could tell she was trying so hard to hide. Stiles felt like his ribs were breaking.

"What's the matter with Scott?" She asked.

Her voice was hard. Stiles ran his hands through his stupid buzz cut. Had he and Nora still been speaking in November, she probably would have told him not to do it. Though he doubted he would have listened.

"I think he's on drugs." Stiles said. His voice was steady and clear because he'd rehearsed this part. "And I don't know what the hell to do."

That part was true, he really didn't.

Nora ran her hands through her sandy coloured hair, dark at the roots like always. Her eyes fell to the empty pot he knew sat on the porch behind him. Stiles didn't know where else to look but down at her face. He was pretty sure he could count the freckles and moles splattered across her nose and cheeks with his eyes closed. He knew how that sounded, but he also knew Nora that well.

"You think?" She said, finally looking back up at him. "For how long?"

Actually, Stiles thought Scott was turning into a werewolf, but he couldn't exactly tell her that. Not when she definitely wasn't going to humour him. Nora would have before, but that was before.

"November, when he started training for the new season."

He didn't need to say he was talking about lacrosse; they were only ever talking about lacrosse.

"You think its steroids?" Nora said, surprised.

Stiles nodded, wondering if Nora had gone to their most recent practice. Though he'd looked for her in the crowd and Stiles had been sure she wasn't there. He watched her brow furrow and he knew she was weighing how much she loved Scott, with how much she hated him.

"So what do you think we should do?" She said, her voice was sharp, especially on the "we" part. "I don't think it's good to get Melissa involved unless-"

"we know." Stiles finished, regretting it when he saw rage flash in her eyes. "Yeah." He said.

Now Nora was studying him, he knew that. Searching his face for a sign that this was some bullshit excuse to get her to talk to him again. It was a bullshit excuse, but not for that.

"So what do you want me to do?" She asked.

Her voice was flat, and her expression cool. It was moments like this when Stiles forgot she was five feet tall because he felt towered over. He looked away from her, his eyes flicking to the setting sun. Did he really believe Scott was turning into a werewolf?

"There's a party tonight, and I think Scott's going so he can meet his drug dealer." Stiles told her. "But I don't know, I just- I don't know."

Nora was quiet for a long moment and Stiles knew it was because she was thinking about whose party it was they'd be attending. Because everyone knew about Lydia' party, even if they weren't invited. Nora probably had been, she was kind of popular like that, but he knew there was no way in hell she'd go.

Stiles tried not to notice how her eyes were glassing over, or think about the last party they went to.

Nora sighed. It was her defeated sigh, the one she let out when he or Scott had convinced her to do something stupid.

"Just let me get changed."

When Nora had imagined the day Stiles finally knocked on her front door and asked to see her, Scott was in no way involved. She had been expecting a long apology she'd cut off with a kiss, their song blasting from inside the jeep. But really she wasn't expecting any of it, because she wasn't an idiot and Nora wasn't sure she wanted it anyway. Though they did have a song, the same song about a million other couples had. It was Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and Nora would rather not hear it.

As soon as she shut the door on Stiles there were tears welling in her eyes and she blinked them back. Ignoring the mingled confused and concerned looks coming from Sofia and the twins, she raced upstairs change into something "impromptu intervention" appropriate. All she was really doing was putting on a skirt instead of jeans and throwing on a jacket.

Nora caught herself in the mirror, like she did every day. She knew she looked the same as she had before everything went wrong with Stiles. The same narrow eyes, soft features and "her father's jaw." Nora knew that part was bullshit; she'd seen her mother and she spent summers with her aunt. They all looked the same. The women in her family were all the same rounded heart shaped face and lucky to be born blonde and stay that way. She supposed her mother looked a lot more hollowed out, but that was probably all the heroine. Nora liked how she looked, enough that she didn't think about too much. She'd stopped thinking that had been the thing she'd done wrong, or she'd tried to.

Nora certainly wasn't thinking about what it was like to look Stiles in the eyes again. She didn't know what the feeling was, but it hurt different than it did the night she left him. She didn't feel like breaking down into sobs. She felt like breaking something though, some plates perhaps. When she opened her bedroom door she was unsurprised to find Sofia staring at her.

"Was it something about Scott?" She asked.

Nora didn't blame her for being skeptical, hell; she had figured Stiles was making shit up. But there was a very specific look of concern Stiles got on his face when something was wrong with Scott, and she knew it well.

"Yes." She said, and tried to worm her way past her step-mother.

"Do you need me to drive you somewhere?" She asked, blocking Nora's path, dark eyes boring into her.

Yeah, to Lydia fucking Martin's house.

"Nope." She said, popping the p as she squirmed under the arm Sofia had braced in her doorway. She let her go this time.

"If you need anything." She said, not needing to finish.

"I'll call." Nora assured as she hurried downstairs, jumping down the last few steps.

She stopped as she came to her front door, trying to calm the feeling of uneasiness and rage that was settling in her stomach.

"He's lucky you opened the door." She heard Isabelle's voice from inside the kitchen. "If it were me he'd have to say goodbye to his-"

Nora opened and shut the door before she heard her sister finish. If it was cold out, she couldn't tell. Her whole body was hot with anxiety or anger or maybe she'd come down with a sudden flu and should bail. But Stiles was standing right in front of her, and as much as she wished she didn't feel anything when she looked at him, she felt worry for how worried he was for Scott.

"Where's the jeep?" She asked, fighting to keep her voice level.

Looking very sheepish, Stiles gestured up the street. Nora was sure she'd rather set herself on fire than get in that stupid car.

Scott. Something's wrong with Scott.

She started walking before Stiles did and she heard him follow after her. Nora forced herself not to turn around. Stiles be damned, Scott was still her friend, and if he needed help then she'd give it to him or get it for him. Her eyes flicked to Stiles as he came around either side of the jeep. At least they still had Scott in common.

The party was in full swing by the time Stiles pulled up to the curb down the street from Lydia's house. Nora got out quickly. Her door slammed shut and she was standing on the sidewalk before Stiles had even taken the keys out of the ignition. He wished this was an appropriate time to get stupid drunk. Though, that might actually make looking at her worse. Stiles watched Nora search her wrist for a hair tie and find that she didn't have one. He still had some in the glove compartment, but he doubted she'd be happy to know that.

"So what?" She said. "Follow him?"

"Uh, yeah, we wait for him to ditch Allison and then…" He trailed off, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Even when he and Nora were just friends, it would have been normal for him to swing an arm around her shoulders. Now, he didn't know what to do with himself.

"Allison?" She asked. "The new girl?"

Stiles nodded.

"He brought his date to a drug deal?" Nora said, folding his arms over her chest.

"Yep." Stiles said, popping the p and starting towards the house, hoping that ended the line of questioning.

Nora scoffed, but Stiles wasn't sure if she was scoffing at what he'd said or something else. He heard her footsteps behind him, hurrying to match her strides to his own. She didn't fall in next to him though, instead Nora bounded ahead through the open door and into the din of the party. Stiles hurried after her, watching Nora greet and smile at people as she went through. She asked if anyone had seen "the new girl" as they went through the crowd. Stiles and Nora both knew no one would have any idea if they'd seen Scott or not. One of the many great things about being Nora's friend was that Nora was friends with pretty much everyone. He and Scott's group of friends, or at least acquaintances, had been a lot bigger when they'd had Nora. Now they sat alone at lunch, talking about anything except the empty seat at their table.

Nora turned around and stopped so suddenly Stiles almost ran into her.

"I don't think he's here yet." She said, stepping back from him. "What time was he supposed to get here?"

What time was Scott freaking out about having to pick up Allison up at? Seven?

"He was picking up Allison at seven." Stiles told her. "So he should show up soon."

Nora nodded and for a quiet moment they were just looking at one another. Her gaze was heavy, it always had been, but it was very different when Stiles knew she could not be thinking happy things. Jessica, Nora's closest friend, came up behind her and put her hands over her eyes, paying no mind to Stiles.

"Guess who?" Jessica asked.

"The Archbishop of Los Angeles." Nora said flatly and whipped around to poke her friend in the stomach.

She used to do that to him.

"I'll find you when Scott gets here." Stiles said as Nora asked Jessica for a hair tie.

Nora nodded and didn't give him a second glance as her friend tugged her away. Stiles looked around, hands still in his pockets. No one stopped to talk to him and he sighed, he'd gotten used to forcing himself into people's conversations. But it never felt good.

"What the fuck are you doing here with him?" Jess asked, pouring her beer into a cup and mixing it with juice.

Nora sipped her's from the bottle, having never minded the taste.

"Scott's having some trouble." She said, almost having to yell over the din of the party.

Jess nodded, her dark ponytail bobbed as she did. She gestured around the kitchen.

"So, do you wanna trash the place?" She asked.

Nora doubted Jess was joking; they had teepeed enough houses to know Jess was never joking about vandalism.

"No." She said. "It's not Lydia's house's fault that Stiles is infatuated with her."

She refused to say in love, because how could he be? He didn't know her. Jess shrugged and finished her drink, quickly pouring herself another. Nora followed suite, grabbing another bottle and, in very dramatic fashion, popped it open on the countertop. There was a series of impressed noises from everyone in the kitchen and Nora couldn't help but smile a little. She had her small talents; never needing a bottle opener was one of them.

Nora spent the next half an hour in the kitchen, stopping after two drinks while everyone else kept going. She leaned against the counter, opening people's drinks and listening to Jess and their friend Mei express their differences of opinion on how the Angels would fare this upcoming season. Nora, her dad being a proud Bostonian, and having spent every Christmas in Boston since she was little, was a secret Red Sox fan. And as Nora grinned at the memory of watching them play in Anaheim, she failed to notice Stiles wrestling through the crowd until he was careening into the kitchen island. Everyone stared at him for a moment while his eyes were on her, wide with worry.

"Where's Scott?" Nora asked, the kitchen resuming its previous din. Though for her, the loudest thing in the room was her own heart hammering.

Stiles threw up his hands and started walking. She rushed to follow him, shoving between Jess and Mei as Jess shouted something about "Walden being a shit pitcher" to which Mei responded "That's bullshit!"

"He left!" Stiles shouted as they raced out the front door. "He was just freaking tripping over himself and he left!"

So he was drunk, or something worse. Nora barreled into the passenger seat of the jeep without a second thought and Stiles was veering into the street before her door was even shut. He wouldn't stop swearing under his breath and Nora understood that this was bad, but it couldn't be that bad, unless-

"Did he drive?" She asked, not even caring how panicked she sounded because this was Scott.

Would this even be happening if I had been around?

She drove the thought from her head as Stiles tightened his hands on the wheel, answering without even saying anything. She pulled her phone from her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked, glancing at her.

"Look at the road." Nora said. Her shaking fingers were uncooperative as she tried to type out her password.

"Nora, what are you doing?" Stiles asked again, sounding more panicked about that than whatever was happening with Scott.

"We have to call the cops if there's an impaired driver on the road, Stiles." She snapped. "Shouldn't you know that, you're dad's the fucking-"

"Don't do that!" He said, half reaching for her phone with one hand. "We don't know that-"

"You said he was stumbling." Nora cut him off.

"I think he was just freaking out." Stiles said, fighting to keep his voice level.

She studied him. If anyone was freaking out it was Stiles, but something was wrong. All Stiles did was vomit words, and he'd been buttoned up about whatever he thought was wrong with Scott. Nora had thought at first it was just her, and all the things that hung between her and him. Now she wasn't as sure. There was something else, on his face, in his eyes, in his voice. There was a fear there that Nora didn't understand, and Stiles was trying his damndest to hide it. She slipped her phone back into her jacket pocket and kept looking at him knowing how much he hated it when she stared. Nora watched him make the turn before turning onto Scott's road and he was doing it all way too fast but she wasn't worried, at least not about Stiles' driving.

"I better not have to throat punch a drug dealer tonight, Stiles." She said and she almost meant to be joking but it didn't come out that way. Her voice was just low.

Stiles let out a noise that was far too short to be a laugh.

"I don't think you'll have to do that."

Stiles watched as Nora kicked aside the doormat and bent to pick up the spare key to Scott's home. He had almost hoped she'd forgotten where it was. She hadn't, and so Stiles knew that she remembered how to get into his house too and was reminded that it had been months since she'd been there. He watched her unlock the door and before she could step inside Stiles stepped past her. He wasn't brave, but he also wasn't letting his ex-best friend walk first into the house with the out of control werewolf in it. It was chivalry, like pulling out a chair.

Stiles stopped and listened as water ran upstairs, Scott's shower. To his surprise, Nora didn't take the opportunity to step past him. Something he'd thought she was bound to try. Though he remembered Halloween in the seventh grade, when they'd explored the haunted house at the end of the street one street down from him. Nora had let him go first. She'd told him after that she did it because she knew he'd feel better, because she knew how scared he was, not just for himself, but for her.

So Stiles was scared shitless, and Nora could tell.

He raced through Scott's house up to his bedroom and pounded on the door, Nora was right on his heels. Stiles could feel her watching him and it was hard to ignore, mostly because he knew that by now, Nora was sure that he'd kept something from her. He hated doing that, and she hated it when he did it.

"Go away." Scott said from inside. His voice was low and rough, unlike him. He was already shifting.

Shit.

Scott it's me." Stiles said, at this point he couldn't care less what his voice sounded like. Nora knew he was losing it. What was the point in trying to hide it?

He heard Scott's footsteps coming for the door and he didn't think too much about it but he stepped between the door and Nora. She was still just watching him. Stiles turned the knob and pushed it open; Scott met him at the door, not letting him open it all the way. His stomach was in knots as he listened to Scott's heavy breathing. He pushed at the door again.

"No-" Scott began.

"Scott, its Nora." She finally spoke, soft and even but Scott spoke over her.

"listen, you've gotta find Allison." Scott said, almost yelling.

"She's fine, alright?" Stiles told him, trying to keep Nora from worming her way to the door. She was deceptively strong, he'd forgotten. "I saw her get a ride from the party. She's totally fine."

Nora's ponytail was in his face as she stuck her head under his arm to try and see Scott.

"Scott can you-"

"I think I know who it is." Scott cut her off, which under other circumstances would have been a massive mistake.

Stiles was glad he couldn't see Nora's face because he didn't even want to know how confused she looked. Namely, because her confused face was astoundingly similar to her enraged face.

"Scott, let us in." Nora said, her voice sharp and strong and not one Stiles would argue with but Scott was still keeping them out.

"It's Derek." He shouted. "Derek Hale's the werewolf!"

Stiles could feel Nora looking at him again and he could also feel every bit of air leave his lungs.

"What the fuck?" Nora whispered but Stiles could barely hear her.

"Scott, Derek's the one who drove Allison from the party."

The door slammed in their faces.

"Scott!" Stiles shouted, fighting with the knob.

"Stiles, what the hell-"

"When I said drugs I meant werewolf, sorry, but I didn't think you'd believe me." He said quickly.

"I don't-" Nora began but the door finally gave in and swung open in time for them to see Scott crawl out of his window.

Stiles found he didn't care if she believes or not. They had bigger problems.

He and Nora clambered onto Scott's bed as Scott threw himself off of the roof. Stiles felt Nora freeze the same way he did at the sight of Scott crouched on the ground. He knew in his head that Scott wasn't hurt but it didn't matter to the churning in his stomach. A roar ripped through the night, a noise so inhuman that to Stiles there was no going back. His best friend was a werewolf. He hadn't really believed it until now. Stiles could feel that Nora's weight was gone from the bed and he whipped around. Her hands were on her head, tangled in her hair. He guessed she'd pulled it loss from the elastic. She was still just looking at him. Stiles found himself, as he so often did with Nora, with no idea what to say.

"What do we do?" Nora asked, sounding the same way she did when she got a stomach ache.

It's the "we" that got Stiles to his feet, because she sounded far less pained saying it this time.

"Allison." Stiles said. "We have to-"

"Do you know where she lives?" Nora asked, already leaving the room.

"Near you, I'm pretty sure." Stiles said, following her down the stairs and out the back door, not bothering to lock it.

Stiles couldn't get his keys to work in his shaking hands, so they were both just standing there for a moment. Silence under the bright moon.

"This is fucked." Nora said.

Nora was pretty sure that Stiles could fake this. If anyone could pull off a "my friend is a werewolf" prank, Stiles Stilinski could. But he couldn't fake the look on his face. Stiles was too afraid, too raw. The way his hands and voice were shaking was real, so it followed that werewolves were real too. Nora didn't know what to think about that. Instead she thought about Allison Argent, the new girl who may very well have moved into a town just to die.

They pulled up to her house and scrambled out of the car. Nora couldn't remember the last time she'd been this afraid. She was sure it would have to have been something to do with her mother but Nora couldn't think because Stiles had rung the doorbell about one hundred times.

"Stop that." She hissed.

Stiles banged his hand on the door.

Nora yanked him away by the back of his dumb jacket as the door swung open. A red headed woman was staring at them, and she did not look happy.

"Hi, Ms, Argent." Stiles said, clearly having never been less sure where to put his hands. "You have no idea who I am; I'm a friend of 'your daughter's." He said it like a question and Nora had to fight every instinct she had telling her to bury her head in her hands. "Uh, look, this is gonna sound kinda crazy but, um-"

It was too painful. She stepped around him, right up to the stoop.

"Sorry about him." She said, giving Stiles a second to trail off. "Is Allison home? We noticed she left the party early and wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Ms. Argent turned and called her daughter, disappearing as Allison came down the stairs. Stiles' relief was palpable, but evidently he hadn't thought of what he would actually say to Allison when he saw her. Allison looked between them, vague recognition on her face.

"Hey, I'm Nora, I'm friends with Scott." She said and glanced around for Allison's mother. "I saw you get into a car that wasn't his and I was worried you might have accepted a ride home from one of the local assholes." Nora told her, careful to keep her voice low. "But you're home safe, so we're gonna go." She said brightly, taking a step back and hoping Stiles was paying enough attention to do the same.

Allison was looking at her like she didn't really believe her but Nora doubted say anything.

"Oh, well thanks." Allison said.

"No worries." Nora said, giving her a wave. "Just looking out for my fellow woman." She added before turning and heading down the steps. Stiles followed suite.

Nora turned to Stiles once they heard the door swing shut. He was looking at her like he was glad she was there. The thought made rage crawl up her spine and curl up in her chest.

"Now what?" She asked him.

Stiles sighed. "I'm gonna drive around the woods all night looking for that dumbass."

Nora didn't say anything else as they walked back to the jeep and climbed inside. She wondered if he expected her to stay with him. She wondered if he wanted her to. Either way, Nora wasn't planning on it. Mostly because that's something she would have done before, but that was before.

"Call me when you find him." Nora said, knowing she should be a lot more worried.

Scott could hurt someone. He could hurt himself. But the thought of making Stiles think that they were okay hurt so much that Nora wasn't sure she could take it. She got to put herself first, especially after putting them first for so long. Didn't she?

"Okay." Stiles said, having the audacity to sound something like disappointed or angry or both.

Still, he took her home.

The moment Nora shut her bedroom door behind her she was crying. She wasn't happy about it, but it was what it was. She threw herself down onto her bed and tried very hard not to think about Scott, lost in the woods somewhere and scared out of his mind. He hadn't ever hurt her, not really, but she'd still left him when she left Stiles and Nora knew that had been petty and mean and all around stupid. But she'd done it, and she'd just done it again. But Nora doubted she could have stomached a whole night with Stiles. A whole night feeling how good it would be to be his friend again, while feeling how much that would hurt.

There was a knock on her door. It was soft, so it was her father.

"Yeah." Nora said, her voice muffled by the pillow she'd buried her face in.

She sat up as her dad came into her room, holding a glass of water. Sox, their very originally named Irish Wolfhound came bounding in after him and jumped up onto Nora's bed. She sat her head on Nora's lap. Her father sat down at the end of the bed and handed Nora the water. She drank some, and they watched each other. The staring thing, Nora knew she did it, was one thing she did actually get from him. And his eyes were blue, actual blue, not like her watery coloured one.

"How's Scott?" He asked.

Nora could always rely of Sofia to tell her dad what he needed to know. Which she was grateful for, because Nora almost never wanted to explain anything.

"He's bad." She said.

"Is it drugs?"

"No."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as Nora finished her water and gave Sox a scratch.

"Was seeing him at least okay?" Her dad asked, and Nora knew he wasn't talking about Scott.

"I don't know." Nora said.

And she didn't. There was a big part of her that wanted to say no, it wasn't okay. She'd rather drown than spend a minute with Stiles. But that wasn't true, not completely.

Her father nodded and scratched his beard.

"I understand." He said.

Nora knew that a lot of kids her age would have laughed at the idea of their parents understanding them. But if there was one thing she knew her dad understood, it was heartbreak. She knew he understood how wanting things and expecting things were different, and how being disappointed on both fronts hurt. He also understood how she liked to keep things to herself for a little bit. She watched him stand up and kiss the top of her head as he left the room, Sox stayed where she was.

A few minutes of staring at her ceiling later, Marisa and Isabelle stormed into her room, demanding Harry Potter. As much as Nora loved her family, and her home, there was one major problem. There were three girls who adored Harry Potter, and only one copy of the series. Nora's solution to the problem was that the twins should be forced to share a copy and she got to keep hers. Sofia's solution had been to make re-reading Harry Potter a bonding activity. So every night the three girls had to take turns reading chapters aloud to one another. Nora didn't mind, but Isabelle thought she read too slowly. Isabelle thought everyone read too slowly.

Nora listened to Marisa read out loud and tried not to think about anything but the story. Unfortunately, it was the Prisoner of Azkaban and Ron and Hermione weren't speaking so Harry wasn't speaking to Hermione either. Nora tried not to think about how if Harry was having a crisis, Ron and Hermione would have put their differences aside to help him. But she wasn't Hermione Granger. She was Nora Morrissey and if Stiles wanted her, wanted her help; he could grow up and ask.

As always, all feedback is appreciated. I'm also kind of currently working on my own original work, so if updates aren't as consistent as they might be (idk what y'all expect from me if you're familiar haha oops) I am apologizing in advance. Also I'm writing this story like week to week or whatever, so that's a problem to, but IDK it just came to me so now we're all on this ride together.

And as always, this story is also up on Archive of Our Own under A-Renegade_Heart