It was a dark and humid night, and five werewolves had gathered for a secret purpose.

"Welcome, everyone, to the first meeting of Werewolves Anonymous." Melissa McCall clasped her hands together tightly and smiled expectantly at the people gathered in her living room.

Dead silence greeted her.

"Scott. Why don't you start?" she went on as though five vicious werewolves weren't glaring at each other not three feet away from where she stood.

"Um," Scott hedged, trying his best to look more uncomfortable than everyone else in the room combined—which was quite a feat with Derek there. "No, I think I'm okay."

"Oh come on," Stiles said indignantly, smacking his friend's arm. "You are ruining this support group. I spent hours on that sign!" He gestured to the lopsided mess of cardboard and glitter mocking him from the front of the room.

"It took you, like, twenty minutes," Scott said.

"Well, I spent hours planning it."

"Yeah, the effort really shows," Derek muttered, and that was a mistake. He'd been out of school too long, he didn't remember the cardinal rule that all the betas knew like instinct: If you don't want the teacher to call on you, you don't say anything, ever.

Never one to let an opportunity slip through her fingers, Melissa pounced. "Derek!" she said. "Thanks for volunteering."

Derek fixed her with a patented Glare of Doom™ and performed his best impression of a brick wall.

"Oookay then," Melissa said. "Fine. I'll go first." She rubbed her hands together nervously. "Uh, hi, everyone. My name is Melissa—"

"Hi Melissa!" Scott and Stiles chimed out.

Her left eye started to twitch. "—and my son Scott is a werewolf." She shifted her weight and chewed at her lower lip, taking a deep breath before she continued. "And, um, I'm okay with that." She put her hands to her heart. "I accept you, Scott, no matter what. I know I wasn't very supportive when I first found out, but I'm only human, and I made a mistake. I love you, and I want the very best for you. And that's why I'm doing this," she spread her hands to encompass the rest of the room, "To show you that, whatever happens, I will be there for you."

Boyd nodded approvingly at her words. Isaac started to clap his hands, but quickly stopped when he realized no one else was joining in. Erica just grinned. "Very nice, Mrs. McCall. I want my mom to go next!" she said, and jabbed Derek in the shoulder with her finger. Derek was still being a brick wall, though, and made no move to stand.

Melissa sighed. "Are there any questions?"

Stiles raised his hand, and Melissa looked up hopefully. "Yeah, aren't there supposed to be snacks?" he asked.

"Stiles," she said evenly. "I will rip your precious sign in half and shove it down your throat."

A tiny snort escaped the Brick Wall sitting next to Erica. Stiles gaped. "Oh my God, do you two meet up in the shadows behind the hospital and compare notes or something?"

"I'd like to go next," Boyd said, and stood before Melissa could make good on her threat. She shot Stiles a warning glare and sat down next to Isaac, who immediately flushed bright red and looked away from her.

Boyd walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat. "Uh, I'm Boyd—"

"Hi Boyd!" Scott and Stiles cheered.

"And I am a werewolf."

A minute passed in perfect silence.

Boyd stared down at his feet. "That's about it." He sat down.

Stiles stood and applauded vigorously. "That was beautiful, Boyd, really. You know what? Let me get you a soda. I'm going to the kitchen to get a soda for this brave man—" A balled up piece of paper soared out of nowhere and, with perfect accuracy, struck him on the side of the head as he edged his way around the chairs. "Real mature, Scott," Stiles said, not even bothering to turn around.

"Uh, Stiles, that wasn't me."

Stiles waved his hand dismissively as he ducked into the kitchen. "Whatever. Real mature, Derek."

"Yeah, really mature, Derek," Melissa said quickly, shoving the rest of the paper into her pocket. Isaac, mouth starting to go a little slack, stared up at her adoringly.

Scott's eyes widened and he leaned forward to poke a finger into the back of Isaac's neck. "Dude!" He spread his hands and gestured accusingly.

Isaac jumped and turned around. "What?" he hissed.

Scott flailed. "Seriously?"

Isaac mirrored his facial expression. "No!"

"I can tell you're lying!"

"Erica! It's your turn," Melissa said, and then turned around to smile at her son. "Scott, sweetie, I accept you." She patted his arm gently. "Just the way you are."

Scott gaped at her. "No, but he—"

"Hi, my name's Erica," said the she-wolf, trotting around the chairs with her thumbs hooked into the front pockets of her jeans.

"Hi Erica!" Stiles shouted from the kitchen.

She grinned, flashing yellow eyes at her audience. "And I am a werewolf."

"Okay, stop showing off," Scott said, irritated.

"And before I got the bite, my life kind of sucked," she went on, making sure to pay special attention to him. "But now it kind of rocks." She shifted her weight to jut out one hip, while her tongue made a slow swipe across her lower lip. "I mean, I got kidnapped and tortured like twice, but…" She winked at Scott. "I think things are really looking up."

Melissa looked like she wasn't quite sure what to be appalled about. "That's… that's wonderful, Erica. Would you like to talk about it? This is—" She glanced around the room at the people trapped there with her—at her son, who was having a furious argument with Isaac conveyed entirely in eyebrow semaphore; at Boyd, who looked oddly betrayed by Erica's flirtations; at the Brick Wall edging glacially away from them; at Stiles, who had just come back into the room laden with soda cans and a half-empty bag of chips that Melissa knew for a fact had been unopened before this meeting began—and she sighed. "This is a safe place," she said in as convincing a tone as she could muster.

A sudden knock on the door shattered any hope she had had of selling that lie.

"I'll get it," the Brick Wall said abruptly, morphing into Derek as it stood.

Stiles leaned forward into Melissa's space. "Oh, by the way, I ordered pizza," he said conversationally, scratching idly at his neck. "I hope you have cash."

Derek, sensing an opportunity to escape, reached for the doorknob.

"If you try to make a break for it," Melissa called out to him before he had the chance to run, "I will make you eat Stiles's sign."

"Come on, I worked really hard on that!" Stiles protested, as Derek weighed his options.

"You got glitter all over my bathroom!"

"It was like that when I got here!"

Derek reached a decision and threw open the door.

"Hi," Jackson said, shoving past him and marching sullenly inside. He came to a stop at the front of the room and surveyed the group distastefully, then frowned. "I was told there'd be snacks."

To no one's surprise, Derek bolted.