The Wolf Amoung Us

Summary: After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late? Season 5: Peter Hale/OC

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.

Chapter 63:

Sydney knew the layout of the sheriff's station well enough that she had wandered right through the hallway and towards the sheriff's office. She had so many things she wanted to get off her chest, so many things she had to say to not just the sheriff but a lot of other people too, but for the time being, she was going to start at square one: Sheriff Stilinski.

Pausing outside of his office door, she took a deep inhale and caught a whiff of Stiles' scent, huh well, that was almost a nice thought. Seeing Stiles again would be a good thing, she adored him to pieces and she was really glad that he had survived the entire Dread Doctors ordeal.

The sheriff shot her a smile and waved her in while he picked up a file from the surface of his desk. She casually strode in and stepped around Stiles before coming to a stop in front of the chair next to him.

"No more glass shard in your chest." She teased and Stiles rolled his eyes at her. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too, especially considering you saved their lives: Mason, Malia and half the population of Beacon Hills. That's got to feel pretty good." The Sheriff stated in Stiles' direction, his eyes scanning over the file folder in his hand. Sydney hesitantly lowered herself down into the vacant seat next to Stiles and reached across, over the armrest, setting her hand on his forearm and giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"You saved a lot of lives." Sydney murmured and her mind drifted back to the night that he had fought tooth and nail in order to save his own father's life. Yes, Stiles was certainly a hero in her eyes, no matter what anyone else thought and no matter what anyone else said.

"It did, for a while." Stiles replied and blew out a soft sigh.

"But it's something you want to feel again?" His dad prodded him, knowing full well what the answer was going to be.

It wasn't hard for anyone within the sheriff's office to see how much Stiles craved the positive feelings and Sydney didn't blame him one bit. Saving lives versus taking them was something that she knew a bit about and when it all came down to it, depending on the person in question, she knew that saving lives almost always trumped taking one.

There were a few exceptions though, and Theo Raeken was one of these exceptions. Sydney had heard what had happened to him, that he had been swallowed up by the concrete floor of the tunnels and hadn't been seen since, but part of her wondered what exactly had happened to him and was he gone forever? Would he come back to haunt them at a later date? Would he show up again in Beacon Hills and cause havoc everywhere that he went? Would she have to end his life like she had threatened to do so many times before?

"Yeah, yeah, I think so." Stiles bowed his head.

"Welcome to your future career in law enforcement." The sheriff countered with a small, knowing smile. Sydney couldn't help but smile along with them too and when she pulled her hand away from Stiles' arm, he turned towards her and held her gaze. She forced her alpha red irises out and let him study them for a few seconds before she turned to look at the sheriff, noticing that he too was looking right at her.

"What?" Sydney gaped and let her eyes fall shut, feeling the alpha red retreating. When she opened her eyes back up, she knew that the irises were their usual brown colour, yet the Stilinskis were still staring at her. "Do I have something on my face? Why are you two looking at me?"

Stiles lifted his hands up into the air in an act of surrender while the sheriff maintained his stance behind his desk, his eyes never leaving her form, even when she shied away from both of their gazes and found herself looking at the floor.

"You helped save lives too you know." The sheriff pointed out and Sydney let a scoff sound out in the room. She waited for him to continue speaking, to tell her that he was kidding or that in her own roundabout way she had helped them all because of something simple, but when no one spoke for a minute or so, she slowly raised her head upwards and locked her eyes with the sheriff's. "You're a good person."

"I don't know how accurate that is." Sydney shook her head in disagreement.

"Oh I think it's very accurate." The sheriff nodded his head and Sydney stopped her movements, taking his words into consideration.

Did she consider herself a good person? Well not entirely, there were things that she wasn't proud of, things that she knew she could've done better, but did that make her a bad person? She tried her hardest to do whatever she could to help out Stiles and his dad and whether or not she ended up actually helping or not, did that really matter? Wasn't it the fact that she tried that counted?

"You believed me." Stiles piped up. "When it came to Theo, you believed me and you didn't judge me when that…when Donovan happened."

"I'd never judge you." Sydney shrugged. "I've done way worse things than…what you did was self-defense, no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. You did what you had to do-"

"Syd, so did you." Stiles broke in, effectively cutting her off. "When my dad was missing, you dropped everything and helped me find him, then when he wasn't getting better, you made sure that I had someone I could trust on my side."

"You mean Charlie?" Sydney quipped, cocking her head to the side. "You trust Charlie?"

"I do." Stiles nodded. "She's part of your pack and I trust you."

Sydney turned her head slightly and studied the teenager sitting beside her. Stiles Stilinski was claiming he trusted her, and Charlie, and all she could do in response was look at him as though he had grown an extra head. Having Stiles trust her meant the world to her and hearing him say the words merely made her heart swell with pride. If Stiles trusted her, then that meant she was doing something right, didn't it?

"Stiles here told me that you were prepared to uh, to bite me if things didn't start looking up back in the hospital." The sheriff stated and Sydney jerked her head back around to face him. "I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I could've been a werewolf but I do know that I like that option a lot more than being dead."

"Yeah, I figured that much." She forced a smile at him. "Being dead would kind of suck."

"It would suck, okay, a lot." Stiles remarked. "Which is why what you almost had to do would've been so worth it. Losing both of my parents…it's not, it's not an option."

Sydney gave him a firm nod of agreement and thought of her own parents. Both of them had been stolen from her, killed while she had been home, ripped right out from under her without having a fighting chance. What she wouldn't give to have them back, or to have another chance at that night, to try and stop the slaughter that had broken her family in ways that she never would've even thought about as a child.

The thought of having to relive that night was horrifying yet if she had a chance to do things differently, she would've given everything to try and stop the hunters. She never wanted another person to have to experience the pain that she was still experiencing, and if there was something she could do, then she would do it. She had already helped Steve out with his child by offering Charlie a place in her pack and she had already helped Stiles by reassuring him that she wasn't going to just let him suffer, no, if the sheriff had come any closer to death, then she would've sunk her teeth into him and prayed that he turned.

"I'm not going anywhere, not any time soon." The sheriff spoke, pulling Sydney out of her own head. "And that's a statement directed at both of you."

"Good." Sydney scoffed. "I'm going to need you to be around for quite a few more years."

"We should make you an honourary Stilinski." The sheriff grinned and Stiles straightened up in his chair. "Sydney Stilinski has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Vance." She shook her head but her smile grew the tiniest little bit. "Sydney Vance sounds so much more badass."

"Okay, okay, you're probably right." The sheriff waved her off and leaned forward, pressing his palms against the edge of his desk. "Moving on, it's getting pretty late Stiles, shouldn't you be getting to school?"

"God, you save half the town and still have to go to school, that's super lame." Sydney teased and nudged Stiles with his elbow. "I let Charlie stay home."

"Did you really?" Stiles' eyes widened at her but Sydney immediately snorted at him, shaking her head no.

"Of course not, her dad would kill me. She's probably already there, although, to be fair, she no longer has a tail, not until something else happens in Beacon Hills, so she's looking at today as a step forward." Sydney explained. "I think she likes the normalcy to be honest."

"But things will never be normal." Stiles countered.

"No but it's nice to pretend, even if it's just for a little while." Sydney chuckled and fell silent, watching contently as Stiles reluctantly rose up to his feet.

He waved his hand at Sydney and then turned towards the door leading out into the station, heading in that direction but pausing in the doorframe. He gripped the edge with his hand and shot a look at both Sydney and his father, then he drummed his fingers against the wooden trim and took off, disappearing from their line of sight.

Sydney sucked in a breath and straightened up in her chair before tipping her head backwards and looking up at the sheriff. He smiled at her and Sydney relaxed the tiniest little bit, but it didn't make what she wanted to say to him any easier. She had questions for him, questions that only he could answer for her, and she knew that it was going to be hard on them both.

"You doing okay?" The sheriff asked and she shook her head no. "Want to talk?"

"Can I ask you…I want to know about your wife." Sydney said, her voice soft and low. "Do you still think about her?"

"All the time." The sheriff whispered. "Every day."

"Does it still hurt?" Sydney pressed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Does the pain ever go away?"

"I don't think it'll ever go away." He replied. "Is this about Peter?"

She tipped her head to the side and took in a big breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out. She thought about how she wanted to answer his question; she could be blunt and say yes, or she could avoid the real issue at hand and try to steer the conversation back in the direction that she would've preferred. Was it worth dancing around the point thought?

"I think so." Sydney nodded her head. "I think I'm really angry at him for leaving me."

"And I think you have every right to be angry."

"I guess I was hoping that it'd get easier to live without him."

"Maybe. He chose his path though, my wife, well that's a different story. In my heart, I'd like to believe that if she had a choice, she'd still be here with us today, I can't say that Peter would."

"I made a shitty choice too, I could've had anyone else and I picked him." Sydney pointed out. "I think my parents would've wanted more for me than Peter Hale."

"You can't help who you fall in love with though." The sheriff pointed out and Sydney let out a frustrated growl. She knew that, she was very well aware of that, but it didn't make things seem any better. She had picked Peter when there were so many other options out there for her. For whatever reason, she had wanted to be with him, she had loved him, she still loved him. "It's cliché, I know, but it's true. Maybe one day he'll find his way back to you, maybe one day you'll be able to let him go and move on-"

"We're bonded." Sydney cut him off and the sheriff motioned at her with his hand for her to continue. "Even if I did find someone else to be with, him and I are forever bonded and I don't know how to break that bond, hell, I don't even know if breaking that bond is possible."

The sheriff let a silence fall over them and he wandered around the end of his desk, taking a few steps towards her and lowering himself down into the chair that Stiles had most recently been using. He leaned over the arm rest and slipped an arm around her shoulders, feeling her relaxing against him as she let out a soft, frustrated sigh.

"You have Bruin to worry about." He stated. "Focus on her and I promise you, things won't seem all that bad."

"But I feel like it's just me and her sometimes."

"It's not, I can say, with a lot of confidence, that it will never be just you and her. You have me and Stiles, hell, you have an entire pack looking out for you. You're not alone, you're never going to be alone."

Sydney pressed her lips together and uncrossed her arms, resting her palms against the tops of her thighs instead. Running her fingers over the rough denim of her jeans, she took the sheriff's words to heart and let them really sink in.

Missing Peter, well that was something that she'd have to struggle with every day, but he did have a point, she wasn't alone, she had so many people backing her up. She had Charlie and Steve, she had the twins, and like the sheriff had said, she had him and Stiles. That sounded like quite the support system, quite a family for her and even if she didn't have Peter, she knew that she'd be okay.

One day she'd have Peter back, she'd make sure of that, but for now, she'd settle for the amazing group of friends that she already had.

"Thank you." She bowed her head and settled in against him, relaxing even more in his hold. "Thank you, for everything."

There were no more words shared between them, nothing more needed to be said, the two of them simply sat in silence, thanking the higher powers for what they already had and not what they thought they wanted.

XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX

"There is nothing more relaxing than a game of chess." Sydney teased as she sat across from Charlie, the chess board set up in between them on a blanket spread out over the grass in the backyard.

Bruin was curled up in her own blanket and tucked into her carrier residing next to Sydney, sleeping soundly as though she hadn't a care in the world. Hell Sydney considered her lucky, she was just a baby, a little werewolf who would be looked after for years to come by her mother and the pack that adored her to pieces. Bruin didn't have a care in the world, she had no idea what awaited her when she grew up, she had no real inkling as to the dangers constantly lurking so close to her and if Sydney had any semblance of control, she planned on keeping it that way.

Babies needed their mothers, and fathers, to protect them from the world, at least until they were old enough to face it on their own, and Sydney knew that's exactly what she was going to do. With or without Peter present, it didn't matter, all that she would focus on was Bruin.

"Chess isn't relaxing. It's a game littered with anxiety. I have to guess what your next move it going to be and counter it before you even make it, that's insane." Charlie remarked and swept her eyes over the board. "If you think chess is relaxing, then you've got problems."

"Charlie darling, it's just a board game." Sydney let out a laugh. "It's not as bad as you make it sound."

"So maybe I'm not exactly good at board games, one time my dad and I played Monopoly and we didn't speak for a week afterwards." Charlie stated and Sydney narrowed her eyes in on her beta, shooting her a questioning look. "Okay, Monopoly is a little more intense than chess."

"Monopoly is the game that ends marriages and ruins friendships, chess is neither of those. But hey, if you don't want to play, we don't have to-"

"Do you want to play?" Charlie retorted and leaned forward, pressing her palms against the blanket on either side of the chess board. She jarred the rook residing on the left and sent it tumbling to the soft material, Sydney rolling her eyes and reaching across to set it back up. Charlie slapped her hand out of the way and set the piece back herself, leveling her alpha with a curious gaze. "I still don't get why we're out here playing a board game and not training or something."

Sydney ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. She peered up at the bright, warm afternoon sun and then looked back down at her beta.

The last time she had sparred with her pack, well, it hadn't ended well for anyone involved and she wasn't entirely ready to try again. She was angry, emotional, and not fully in control of herself when it came to training but chess, yes chess sounded like the perfect place to start in order for Sydney to attempt to reign in her rage.

"My dad taught me how to play chess when I was little." Sydney stated, ignoring Charlie's question. "When he died, I played with my grandpa and then when I came to Beacon Hills, Peter and I played a few times. Chess relaxes me, it makes me think of the good times that I shared with my family, it reminds me that my past isn't all bad."

"You know what relaxes me?" Charlie tilted her head sideways and let a grin spread over her face. Sydney raised her hand up and waved at her, motioning for her to go on. "Massages."

"Hey, if you can talk the twins into- oh, oh I see where you were really going with this." Sydney found herself grinning as her mind drifted to the other male that was rather close to Charlie, another male that was practically pack. "You want to know if Isaac has magic hands, am I right?"

"What?" Charlie gaped at her and shook her head desperately. "No, I meant…god you're…my dad would kill me."

"And so would I." Sydney threw in with a dignified smile. "Come on okay, just humour me and play a game of chess. I swear when it's all over and I've beat you so bad you'll be crying-"

"No, you're not going to beat me." Charlie cut in. "I think you're sorely underestimating me and we haven't even started playing yet."

"Yeah well you haven't played with the likes of Mason Vance, or my grandpa." Sydney pointed out with a challenging look on her face. "And Peter was pretty smart too, when it came to everything other than relationships of course."

Charlie studied her alpha for a few seconds and found herself wondering how much pain Sydney was truly in because of her relationship with Peter. He had turned against her, he had chosen power over her and she still couldn't figure out why anyone in their right mind would push Sydney to the side like he had.

She was a great person, a wonderful friend and an incredibly competent alpha, so why had Peter given her up in a lame attempt to gain some sort of upper hand?

Had he really wanted to be powerful, even if it meant it cost him the woman who loved him with everything she had? Had he really thought it was worth it, even to this very day?

"No offense but I think Peter's a bit of an idiot." Charlie announced and let her attention fall on the baby sleeping soundly within arm's reach.

"At this point in time, I'm inclined to agree." Sydney sighed. "Maybe one day he'll come back to me."

"Or maybe you should consider going after him." Charlie posed and raised her arms into the air, stretching out her back before relaxing her body. She carefully flopped onto her side and lay on the blanket, her eyes level with the chess pieces. "I know how much it really bothers you that he's not here, so tell me Syd, how many more days can you pretend to be happy when you're really just miserable inside?"

"I'm not miserable." Sydney argued but it wasn't hard to see that there was very little conviction behind her words.

"Okay, well you're certainly not all that happy."

"I am though, I mean, I think I am. I have Bruin, and you, and the twins-"

"I get that, and I understand what you're trying to say, but none of us can make you happy the same way that Peter can." Charlie replied softly and turned her head sideways so that she could look up at Sydney. Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and considered what her beta was really trying to say to her.

Sure she didn't have Peter with her at that very moment but was she really miserable? Was she really as unhappy as Charlie made it seem?

Bruin certainly helped but a lot of times Sydney simply found herself wondering how much nicer it'd be for Bruin and her if Peter was with them. He was the man she loved, the father of her child, and currently he was missing in action. Maybe Charlie had a point, maybe if she wanted Peter back so badly, then she'd have to do something about it, instead of just waiting around with the hope that he'd reappear in her life on his own accord.

"I'm not saying that you have to get up and go look for him right this second, I'm just saying that sitting around and waiting for him hasn't really been all that productive. What if he needs help? What if he's stuck somewhere and he can't get to you?" Charlie baited and Sydney moved her palms out, resting them against her thighs. "From what you've told me about him, I doubt that's the case but maybe getting out there and investigating might help you feel better."

"You have a point." Sydney bowed her head and let her eyes fall shut. She focused on the beating of her very own heartbeat and picked up on Bruin's heart as well. She deserved a chance to know her father and waiting around certainly wasn't doing anyone any good, plus it seemed like things in Beacon Hills had settled down for the time being. Maybe it was the perfect opportunity for Sydney to set out and look for the man that had caused her so much pain.

"Damn right I do." Charlie snorted in amusement.

"I need to stop waiting for Peter to come to me, if I want him back, I'm going to have to find him, and fight for him." Sydney said firmly and opened her eyes, looking directly at Charlie.

She knew by the sensation of her irises that they were glowing red and when Charlie countered by forcing her golden yellow eyes out, she felt her body relax. This was her beta, this was her family, but Peter was the love of her life. She was going to have to put on her big girl pants and make the first step. If she could gain some insight as to where he was, or what he had been up to while she had been holding up in Colorado, then maybe she could find him and bring him back to her.

Charlie lazily reached a hand out and squeezed the top of one of her knights in between her index finger and thumb. She moved it forward and set it on the appropriate square, nowhere close to any of Sydney's pieces, let alone the king.

"Checkmate." Charlie grinned and casually reached across the board, tipping Sydney's king over with her middle finger. "My knight has mind control powers."

"Funny." Sydney scoffed and picked her king up, placing it back on the board.

At the sound of the back door to the house opening, both females turned their attention towards their home and watched as a familiar face to Sydney stepped outside. Her eyes lit up at the sight of none other than Derek Hale and before Charlie had a chance to say a single word, Sydney had jumped up to her feet and was running towards him.

"This guy." Charlie huffed and casually made her way to her feet too but she paused and nabbed the baby out of the carrier, cradling Bruin in her arms as she slowly followed after Sydney.

Her alpha had her face buried in Derek's shoulder, her arms around his waist while he held on to her right back. Charlie cleared her throat as she approached and noticed Sydney's body jerking from the sound before she reluctantly peeled herself away from Derek.

"I'm so glad you're here." Sydney murmured and took Bruin out of Charlie's hold. She gently readjusted the baby in her arms and took a step closer to Derek, his eyes immediately falling to the tiny little tot. "This is Bruin."

Derek's eyes widened in wonder and he studied the little girl in Sydney's hold. The baby's eyes were shut and she was sleeping peacefully, but that didn't stop Sydney from offering her over to Derek.

"You want me to hold her?" Derek quipped. "I'm not so sure-"

Before he had a chance to finish his objection, Sydney moved Bruin closer to him and Derek took her into his arms. He was stiff and awkward with her but after a few seconds of realizing he wasn't going to break the baby, he visibly relaxed. Sydney stepped around to his side and leaned against his shoulder while Charlie waved a hand at them both and headed back to the blanket, leaving them alone to share a moment.

"She's…amazing." Derek whispered and Sydney rested her head against his arm. "She's so small."

"I know." Sydney blew out a soft sigh. "I'm glad you're here, really."

"I think I'm glad I'm here too." Derek replied and kept his eyes locked on the baby in his grasp. Sydney reached out and ghosted her fingers over Bruin's head but the baby didn't even flinch. "Syd, she's perfect."

"She's a Hale, of course she's perfect." Sydney smiled and let everything sink in. Derek was here, he was really here, and now she had the start of a plan to try and get Peter back.

This was only the beginning.

XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX

His body was tired, his mind was drained, but there was still only one thing that he could think of, one thing that mattered to him more than anything. It had taken him too long to realize it and he just hoped that it wasn't too late.

He just had to get there, he had to get to her in time, before she had a chance to move on with someone else. There was too much in his way though, too much for him to handle and with the fleeting thought of never seeing her again, he felt his muscles relaxing. It was hopeless, the entire thing was hopeless.

The nightmares hadn't stopped, the haunting images of her being ripped right from his hands plagued his dreams leaving him unwilling to try and rest. But he had long ago lost his battle with staying awake, at least if he fell victim to slumber then he'd get a chance to see her face again, to see the face of the one woman who hadn't given up on him, even when he had brushed her aside.

Something felt different lately, a little off kilter from the first few weeks without her by his side, but he had no idea what had changed and no idea how to fix it. This was his doing, this was his fault, but he didn't know where to start, or how to make things right. He would crave power, he would always desire to be more than anyone else, and he knew, deep down, that was his downfall.

He had stated that maybe she was enough but she had known immediately that she wasn't. There was more that he wanted, more that he so desperately craved and part of him wished that he could accept she was it for him.

Yes, Peter Hale needed to figure out what to do, he needed to get to Sydney, he needed to make things right, or at the very least, he needed to convince her that she was enough.

Even if it wasn't totally true.

XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX

Thank you to everyone who read this story as well as those of you who took the time to review.

That's it though, that's the end, at least until the new season starts

What did you guys think? What are you looking forward to?