PUPPY LOVE¹

{5}

scott knocked on the bathroom door. "hayden? it's scott. i know that you're scared, but we just... we want to help. we're worried, especially tay."

no reply.

he turned to the others before looking at tay and liam specifically. "i can hear her heart beating. she's really freaked out. what happened?"

"she was hysterical when we got away from them, but she was ok when we got here. i went to text you for two seconds, tay got some food, and she locked herself in."

"why?" stiles furrowed his eyebrows.

"i don't know."

tay gave them a look. "maybe because metal doctors tried, y'know, to kill her in her car?"

"that-that's reasonable."

"yeah..."

scott sighed. "she's definitely a chimera?"

liam nodded. "she said she heard a voice saying, 'your condition improves'." he glanced at tay, wishing he could tell scott and stiles about what happened with her and how she could be a chimera too, but she made him promise not to.

"ok, that's unsettling," stiles commented. he went to the door, knocking. "hayden. this is stiles. y-your sister works for my dad down at the station. look, just open the door, ok? you can trust us."

"come on, hayden," tay spoke up. "please, i need to know if you're ok."

still nothing.

she sighed, turning to scott.

he stepped forward again. "we just need to tell you the truth, hayden. and that kind of thing usually is better face-to-face. listen, either you're gonna unlock the door or i'm gonna have to break it open. it's ok i-if you don't want to talk, or if you're not ready to believe us. but i just... we gotta know that you're ok in there."

there was a moment of silence. scott was about to break the door open but instead, hayden opened it, her eyes glowing yellow and claws and canines out.

"i believe you."

𖦹𖦹𖦹

"hey," tay greeted.

they were in the locker room at the school, hiding hayden.

"how are you feeling?"

hayden continued to stare in the mirror. "what if i lash out or something? what if i kill my sister out of no where?"

"we're gonna teach you how to control it," tay assured. "stiles, derek, and i taught scott. scott taught malia, liam. we'll teach you too."

she sighed. "i'm not like them. i wasn't bitten by a wolf. i was... somebody's science experiment."

tay frowned. "i tried to keep you out of this. the whole supernatural world."

hayden cracked a smile. "it's the thought that counts."

tay nodded. "i'm not letting you die. i'm not letting them kill you. i'm gonna keep you safe."

hayden chuckled sadly. "don't make promises you can't keep." she stared into the mirror again. "this is so bizarre."

"everything's bizarre." tay leaned against the wall next to her. "you're going to be ok. i'm gonna do everything i can to make sure you are, and so is liam."

hayden furrowed her eyebrows. "what am i?"

"you're not a what, you're a who and your name is hayden," tay told her. "so what if your 'species' or whatever isn't human?"