Saturday's early morning lacrosse practice was filled with tension for all concerned. Most of the team was nervous and excited about tonight, understandable since it was the first game of the season. Coach Finstock was even more of a slave driver at practice since his star player was going to be playing with a dislocated shoulder. And said star player played more brutally than usual as if to prove to himself and everybody else that a dislocated shoulder was not going to hinder him in any way.

However, the biggest tension among the team was between two of the newest first liners and it had nothing to do with the game. All throughout practice Scott and Stiles were virtual mirrors to Romeo and Juliet. They kept shooting each other longing looks whenever the other one wasn't looking and yet doing everything they could to avoid the other boy. If anyone was paying any attention to them, it wouldn't have been long before rumours started circling the school about their torrid love affair.

Luckily for them, no one was watching so they were free to moon over each other in peace.

OoOoO

When Stiles wasn't busy lamenting his deteriorating friendship, he was busy worrying about tonight's game. He didn't know what time the M.E. would be able to examine Laura's body and this meant that Derek might not be released in time for the game, so he had to find other ways to keep himself from going all wolf on the lacrosse players.

The practice game has started with Danny as Captain of the Red Team and Jackson as Captain of the White Team. He was in the Red Team while Scott was in the White Team with Jackson. He was playing on autopilot and when Danny passed him the ball, he caught it by instinct. He was surprised to find that even with his mind elsewhere, he could still play lacrosse decently. He wasn't as smooth as he was during eliminations but he didn't suck either.

However, barely paying attention to the game meant that his reflexes weren't as good so when Ramirez, one of the biggest boys in the team, tackled him, he wasn't able to avoid it. The hit sent him crashing to the ground and then the other boy's momentum caused him to topple over and fall on top of Stiles. Worse still, Ramirez landed on Stiles' foot and his shout of pain was heard throughout the field along with the sickening sound of bone breaking.

The pain that shot through his foot was real and thanks to his previous training sessions with Derek, Stiles could tell that it was at broken. And like all those other times when Derek broke his bones he could feel himself healing immediately. The feeling of his bones snapping back into place and his tendons slowly stitching themselves back up was something Stiles was probably never going to get used to. From experience, he knew it would probably take a couple of hours for his leg to fully heal and unlike before, that knowledge wasn't making him feel better.

Normal people didn't heal from a broken bone in just a matter of hours. Desperately he begged his body to stop healing. Don't heal. Don't heal. He kept thinking. He didn't want his secret to be found out this way.

The pain has faded by now but Stiles continued to play the part of injured lacrosse player as Coach Finstock started checking him over. The rest of the team has gathered around Stiles and Rodriguez at this point, Scott was knelt by his head and Stiles could see how scared his best friend was.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked him

"Yeah." He smiled, "Yeah I'm fine."

By the time the medic got to the field Stiles has already felt his wolf listen to his silent demands to stop healing. He turned to look at his foot and almost vomited at how unnaturally twisted it was. His wolf has only partially fixed the break and now it looked like he just had a sprained ankle.

The medic gently took off his shoe and inspected his foot, applying pressure to certain points and carefully twisting the injured appendage.

"So Doc, what's the verdict?" Asked Coach

"Well, he's lucky. It looks like a sprain to me but he's gonna need an X-Ray to be sure. In the meantime, keep it iced to reduce the swelling." He then got an ice pack from his kit and pressed it on Stiles' foot.

Stiles flinched at the sudden coldness but instantly recovered. "Do I really need an X-Ray? It's just a sprain, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Normally I would agree with you but your teammates said they heard bone breaking and so it's best to be sure there isn't an underlying fracture that I can't see."

He desperately tried to think of a way around the X-Ray. Not only could he not afford it, but if the doctor confirmed a fracture and he healed within a few hours, too many questions would be asked and he didn't have the appropriate answers for any of them.

"I really don't think I need an X-Ray." He said, "If it was a fracture it would hurt a lot right? This doesn't feel that bad. Honestly, it's just a sprain."

The medic frowned and just as Stiles was beginning to worry that he would push it, Coach came to his rescue.

"Hear that? My players are made of tough stuff!" The older man beamed at Stiles and patted his uninjured leg, "And my new star player here is definitely not gonna miss tonight's game!"

"Woah he is not playing tonight." Said the Medic

"What the hell are you talking about? He just said he was fine."

"Whether or not he has a sprain or fracture, he's not gonna be able to play tonight." The medic explained, "Even a simple sprain is gonna take weeks to fully heal. With how fresh this thing is, he's not gonna be able to stand let alone run or jump in the field tonight. If he forces it, he could cause more damage."

Coach Finstock looked absolutely destroyed. It was like someone just stole every valuable thing in his house and left him with the crappy coffee maker that might as well turn coffee into dust. After what happened to Jackson, he was counting on Stilinski to pull his weight and win tonight's match for them and then this happens!

"Umm Coach?" Stiles said interrupting Coach's impending panic attack, "Maybe I should sit out tonight's game. Just to be on the safe side. It's better if I just miss the game altogether than go out there and lose it for us. Or worse, do more damage to my foot and be out of commission the rest of the season."

"The rest of the season?!" Coach exclaimed, "Could that really happen?"

The medic nodded and Coach turned back to Stiles, "No way! Stilinski you are not playing tonight!"

Stiles smiled internally but managed to keep any of his joy from showing on his face.

OoOoO

The rest of the practice went much more smoothly. Coach has benched Rodriguez for the next three games since he held the other boy responsible for injuring his new talent. He then called Scott to drive Stiles home with strict instructions to come straight back for practice because –

"First Jackson gets injured, then Stilinski, I swear to God if any more of you slackers get hurt before the game I'm making you do suicide runs for the rest of the year."

He also made Stiles promise to come to the game tonight even if he wasn't playing so that he could get a feel for a real game.

The first few minutes of the drive was as awkward as Scott had imagined. All the tension from the night before was still there like a vacuum sucking all the air out of Stiles' beloved jeep.

"So uhh how's your leg?"

"It's fine, it doesn't even hurt really. Just tender." Stiles said

"That's good."

Silence reigned once more and Scott wondered if this is how it would be between him and Stiles from now on. Forced interactions and crushing awkwardness. He didn't know what to do. Do they talk about what happened? Do they just decide to ignore it and move on? Should someone apologize? Him? Stiles? Both of them?

After their talk last night, Scott tried really hard to understand Stiles' connection with Derek. He tried trusting Stiles when he said that Derek was innocent and that there was an innocent explanation for what they found in his backyard. But try as he might he couldn't do it. Because every time he closed his eyes he saw green eyes. Green eyes that glared accusingly at him for even considering that the person who murdered her was innocent. Green eyes that had every ounce of life snuffed out of them. And a different set of green eyes that promised torture and murder for his part in putting him in jail.

He was so confused and he didn't know what to do.

"Wait Scott, I need to speak to my dad for a little bit. Can we go to the station instead?" Stiles' request brought him back to the present and Scott nodded.

Scott looked at his friend. He knew it was likely that Stiles' sudden visit to the station was related to Derek Hale's arrest. And given how insistent he was of the older man's innocence, Scott figured that Stiles was going in there to try and convince his dad of it. He considered asking him about it, or at least asking him how he planned on convincing the Sheriff. But he was afraid it would just lead to another argument so he let it go.

They arrived at the station and Stiles was already grabbing his bag.

"Should I wait for you?" Scott asked

"Nah," Stiles said, "I'm probably gonna be a while. You can use Roscoe until the game tonight, I'll just ask my dad to drop me off at home."

Scott nodded and then Stiles was gone, limping his way into the station.

OoOoO

Stiles sat outside his dad's office waiting for him to finish his phone call. With his super hearing, he could hear that his dad was talking to the M.E. who said he would be by the station late that afternoon because his flight was delayed. While his dad spoke with the M.E some more, Stiles whispered and hoped the other werewolf in the station was listening.

"Derek, Derek can you hear me?"

Barely a second passed before he heard a reply.

"I hear you. And I also heard the M.E."

"I have the research I showed you yesterday." Stiles said, "I'm about to give it to my dad. It might help your case. This means you can be released this evening."

"Not in time for the game. Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah, actua – " He paused when one of his dad's deputies walked by. "I got injured at practice earlier. Coach is benching me for tonight."

"How did you get injured? You're a werewolf."

Stiles rolled his eyes. Even when he couldn't see him he could practically feel Derek's judgy eyebrows judging him. As if the Great Werewolf Derek Hale never got injured before. The sound of his dad's office door opening kept Stiles from replying to the sourwolf in the cell.

He jumped to his feet and ran inside his dad's office.

"Okay dad I know you told me not to get involved but I've been compiling this since the body was found last week and you need to see it." He took the thick folder out of his bag and placed it on his dad's desk.

Noah carefully looked at the folder as he sat behind his desk. Normally he would have dismissed his son already, but despite Stiles' stilesness, he could already tell he had the makings of a good detective. And he would never admit this to his son lest it make him more unbearable, but Stiles' help was really valuable whenever he decided a case was exciting enough for him. Truth be told, Noah was already saving money for Stiles to get into Quantico after high school. He just knew his son would be an excellent FBI Agent.

"I know it sounds unbelievable dad, but I truly believe this may have been just an animal attack." Stiles explained, "Scott said when he saw the body that there were scratch marks all over it and the morning after we went looking for it, he swore he heard a wolf howling. So I did some digging and found that sometimes, big animals could be so enthusiastic about a kill that they literally rip their prey in half."

Noah paused in his perusal of the report, "Did you say wolf? But wolves haven't been in California for years."

"Sixty years actually." He said, "But I also learned that wolves are migratory creatures. We could be looking at a wolf that just happened to be passing by. Like a murderous, four legged drifter."

As his dad continued to read the files, Stiles kept his fingers crossed. His dad had to believe that this was just an animal attack. He just had to.

A few minutes passed before Noah closed the folder and looked at his son.

"Do you really believe this was just an animal attack?"

Stiles put on his most trustworthy and convincing face before answering, "Yeah dad. Trust me I wanted this to be some big murder or – . I mean it's not like I wanted the girl to be – " He paused and switched gears at his dad's raised eyebrow. "The point is, all evidence points to animal attack. Possibly even a wolf according to Scott."

He was subjected to his dad's detective look. The one that seemed to look deep into his soul and ferret out anything he might be hiding. His dad's been using that look on him ever since the day he was born (allegedly) and that was the only reason Stiles was able to stand there and not flinch, kind of.

Noah sighed and took off his glasses, "Personally Stiles, I also think this was just an animal attack. We've had so many of those over the years that I've half a mind to close off the preserve regardless of what the Mayor thinks. But until the M.E. can officially pronounce the cause of death as an animal attack I have to treat this as a homicide."

"And when the M.E. does that what happens next?"

"Well, first off we release Derek Hale. Then, we release the body to the closest kin so they can bury her."

Stiles almost did a jig right there. He knew what was likely to happen but to hear his dad say it made it feel more official. Plus, Derek could hear it as well and he just knew no matter how grumpy the other werewolf was, he would be happy about this.

"But none of that will be my focus tonight." Noah said interrupting Stiles' internal celebration. "Because tonight, my priority is seeing my son dominate the lacrosse field."

His father's proud, excited smile caused a massive ball of guilt to lodge itself in his throat and start to choke him. He was about to take that smile away from his dad and replace it with disappointment.

"Yeah dad, about that." Stiles said slowly, "Something happened and turns out I won't be playing tonight."

A beat and then.

"Oh god what did you do?"

Stiles' jaw dropped, "Wh – Why do you automatically assume it was something I did?"

"One, you look as guilty as you did when I walked into your room and you immediately shut your computer in the middle of your 'research'"

Stiles blushed recalling that incident. It was the main motivator behind his decision to finally fix the lock on his door.

"Two," Noah continued counting his fingers, "You're too calm and if it wasn't your fault, you would be ranting right about now. And lastly, you're my son, I've got first-hand experience at how infuriating you can be. So what did you do?"

He took a minute deciding whether to be insulted at the insinuation that it was automatically his fault or impressed at how well his dad knew him. Then he told his dad what happened and prepared himself to keep his dad from dragging him to the emergency room.

OoOoO

The Argent house was silent as a grave when Scott got there. He probably should have told Allison he was coming over before he came here but when he came home to his mother saying she took an extra shift so she could tonight off and watch him play, the pressure for tonight just hit him all at once and he felt like he was losing control of everything. He needed to talk to Allison because somehow talking to her grounded him. Made him feel less like a drowning man and more like an Olympic swimmer.

He sat on the Argents' front porch and shot Allison a text telling her where he was. Her reply was quick saying she and her parents went to the store but they were a few blocks from their house. While Scott waited for them, he tried to prepare himself to meet Allison's parents. Allison's told him a little bit about her parents, she said they were intense but that they were better once they were more comfortable around you. Scott also remembered that Allison's father sold firearms for a living.

His collar suddenly felt tight imagining Allison's father asking him about his intentions while holding two machine guns in his hands with a chain of bullets wrapped around his body, a bandana on his forehead and a cigarette between his lips.

Desperate to banish those thoughts he started walking around their front yard. The first thing he noticed was that Mrs. Argent obviously loved some purple flower as it practically filled every inch of the garden plots. The flowers looked familiar to him but he couldn't remember what it was or where he's seen it before. Curious, he studied the flower's color, the shape of the petals, he looked closer and then – He remembered! It was the same flower that Derek Hale planted on that girl's grave!

He frowned. Was it just a coincidence or was there something more?

Still reeling from this weird connection, Scott didn't even notice he was slowly walking away from the flowers and closer to the road until he heard a car's horn and tires screeching.

Scott didn't even scream when the car hit him but as he fell to the ground, he swore he could hear Coach's voice saying suicide run over and over again.

AN: So Jackson's shoulders busted, Stiles' foot is "sprained", and Scott has just been hit by his girlfriend's father's car. Spoiler alert, Scott will be fine. It was just a small hit, think Marty McFly in Back to the Future when he got hit by his grandfather's car.

I planned on making next chapter the big game but this one became longer than I thought so next up will be Dinner with the Argents and then we see the Big Game.