What Could Have Been [Thiam Rewrites]

Chapter 6: Pack Bonding

Note: technically this is another snapshot between 6x15 and 6x16, but the zoo rewrite is coming next!

Theo

When Theo came to, sunlight was streaming through an open window and for the first time in a long time, he felt rested. He'd slept for what had to have been hours without a single nightmare. He nestled into the comfortable pillow beneath him, the sensation of safety wrapped around him. It wasn't something Theo often experienced, and it was intoxicating. He wanted more of it.

Slowly, he realized that the pressure on his back was Liam's arm, tucking him into his side, and that the very comfortable pillow was actually Liam's chest.

A thousand different emotions flooded Theo, but the only one that stuck was panic. Carefully, he lifted Liam's arm and slid out of his grasp. Liam reached for something, his hand wrapping around a blanket and squeezing tightly.

Theo had been drawn to Liam for a while now, but he hadn't stopped to consider what getting close to him, protecting him, might actually mean.

Theo stumbled to the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. He chugged it, refilling it three times, before leaning against the cabinets with a deep sigh. He found the coffee grinds and started a pot brewing. The clock read 9:26 am, and after the events of last night, he wasn't surprised that the house was quiet.

Closing his eyes, Theo tuned into the noises within the house—five steady heart beats answered. They were all still here. Theo moved to the large windows, tugging back the curtain just enough to squint out at the bright forest around them. Derek's house had a porch off the kitchen with a grill and a table. As homey as it was, Theo wasn't interested in the fine details. He expanded his hearing, reaching out beyond the perimeter of the house.

As far as Scott's father and the hunters knew, they'd all left town. Theo wasn't so willing to trust Monroe. He wouldn't put it past her or Gerard to tail them or try and track them somehow. Thankfully, only the chirping of birds and scurrying of squirrels reached his ears.

They were alone. Safe, for the time being.

The scent of coffee was rich in the air, and he poured himself a mug of it, forcing himself to slow down and not chug every drop.

Floorboards creaked as the others woke up, stretched and moved about. Theo supposed he should go back to the room, but the thought of facing Liam after his nightmare, after crying like a child in front of him, was too much. No one had ever seen him like that, and it didn't matter to him that Liam hadn't judged him. Theo would much rather forget the whole thing had ever happened in the first place.

"Good morning," came Malia's cheerful voice, quickly followed by Scott's own greeting. Theo groaned. As if he needed another reason to dislike Malia—she was a morning person. And a chipper one at that.

"Morning," Scott said. "Where's Liam?"

Theo shrugged. "Probably still sleeping." Malia pointedly glared at him from across the room.

They fluttered around the kitchen and the living room, flinging open the curtains and switching on the TV, not bothering to turn down the volume or change the channel from the cartoons currently playing. Scott rifled through the pantry and the cabinets that Theo wasn't blocking, but not coming up with much more than flour, sugar, and a box of spaghetti noodles.

Lydia was last down the stairs, looking as disgruntled as Theo felt. Her hair was wrapped in a bun atop her head, and she wore leggings and an oversized hoodie that carried Stiles' scent. She paused in the entrance to the kitchen, absorbing the chaos that was the living room and the kitchen, and rolled her eyes.