Winnie leaned against the marble island in the kitchen of her home, closing her eyes as Gerard Argent put a hand on her shoulder.

Gerard leaned in, angling towards Winnie's ear. He kept his voice low and haunting, it causing Winnie's skin to prickle. "I hope you're not lying to me."

Winnie clenched her jaw, Gerard squeezing her shoulder before letting go. She was shaking, more visibly than she would've liked.

"Since we've come to a mutual agreement," announced Gerard to both Winnie and Mr. Jones, "i'll delete this footage and act as if I never saw it."

The man seemed sweet, but Winnie knew he was a viper.

"I'll leave you two for the evening," Gerard said as he collected his laptop. Giving a sickly half smile, he headed out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

Both Aaron and Winnie stood in silence, left with a darkness lingering overhead.

"He's not a man you can lie to," Winnie quietly said to her father with a soft quake in her voice.

"We just did."

"It won't hold," Winnie told him. A single tear fell down her cheek, causing her to immediately reach up and wipe it away. "He's smart. He'll know I'm not-"

"Hey, come on, Win." Aaron went up behind his daughter, turning her towards him. "Breathe. We'll be okay. You'll be okay."

Winnie leaned against her father, feeling cold. "I can't do what he's asking."

"You'll have to, sweetheart." Aaron kept Winnie in a loose hug. "Let's get you cleaned up. Sit on the counter, I'll get the first aid kit."

Winnie pulled herself onto the island as Aaron left the room, still shaken by Gerard's visit. She let go of a soft breath, waiting for her father to return.

Aaron surfaced again, the sleeves of his white button up rolled to his elbows. He set the red box on the counter next to Winnie, beginning to search for alcohol wipes. "Do you feel alright?"

"I'm fine. I worked through most of my headache already." Wincing, Winnie let her father run the alcohol along the cut on her forehead.

"What about last night? I heard your car leave after you went to the pool." Aaron put two bandaids on Winnie after covering the injury in healing cream.

"I didn't want to stay here," Winnie told him as he started to clean up her bicep where Jackson had shredded her skin.

"Where did you go?"

"Since when do you pry?" Winnie retorted in question.

Aaron ran the alcohol wipes along her arm, meeting her eyes. "Since Gerard Argent put you under a microscope."

Winnie closed her eyes as her arm burned, trying not to pull away. "I just went to Lydia's," she lied.

"Take your arm out of your sleeve so I can wrap it up." Aaron passed over Winnie's answer, unsure if it was true or not. Even he knew he'd not earned her trust back yet.

Wearing a black tank underneath, Winnie went ahead and removed her sweater. She bundled it in her lap, hanging on to it as Aaron put gauze over the cuts and used an ace bandage to secure it.

"Take some ibuprofen before bed, alright?" Aaron threw away soiled alcohol wipes and paper wrappers, closing up the first aid kit as Winnie got down off the island.

"Okay," she agreed impartially while grabbing her sketchbook from the counter. "I'm gonna go to bed," she softly said. "It's been a long day."

"Sleep tight, munchkin." Aaron lightly kissed Winnie's temple, surprised she'd let him.

Winnie gave a small goodnight as she began to leave the kitchen. Climbing the stairs, she'd grown even more tired once she'd reached her bedroom. She dressed for bed aimlessly, sending Libby and Jake both goodnight texts.

The girls plagued with the shining sat on her neatly made bed, sketchbook and pen with her as she was ready to go to sleep. Teeth brushed, eyes drooping, but she couldn't let herself sleep.

Her hands were being called, so the sketchbook was opened and the pen uncapped.

And she didn't sleep until she'd drained a new pen.

¥ ¥ ¥

The next night, Stiles got cleared into the station with take-out boxes in hand.

Stiles made his way back to his dad's office, joining the sheriff for dinner. "Yo Pops," he greeted as he went in and took a seat across from him.

"Just in time," Stilinski remarked. "I'm starving."

Stiles handed over two boxes, all picked up from their diner next to Stella's further downtown. Not giving his dad a heads up on what he'd actually gotten him, he held a salad bowl on his lap.

Sheriff Stilinski had a little hesitation on removing the burger, taking a bite out of it. His face scrunched up as he chewed, looking to Stiles. "Oh, what the hell is this?"

"Veggie burger," Stiles said as he set a drink on the desk.

"Stiles, I asked for a hamburger."

"Well," said Stiles in response, "veggie is healthier." He rattled his salad. "We're being healthy."

Stilinski sighed in annoyance, flipping over the lid of what should've been curly fries. Instead, he was met with vegetables. "Oh hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?"

"I'm trying to extend your life, okay? Could you just eat it please? And tell me what you found."

"No," Sheriff immediately said, "I'm not sharing confidential police work with a teenager."

Stiles glanced behind the sheriff as he sipped on his soda. "Is that it on the board behind you?"

Sheriff Stilinski stilled, having to slightly look back. "Don't look at that."

Stiles, however, made more of an effort to see it.

"Avert your eyes."

"Okay," mumbled Stiles as he continued to look.

"Hey!" snapped Stilinski. "Avert."

Stiles moved his head around, "I see arrows pointing at pictures."

"Okay, okay, stop," Stilinski finally said. "Fine. I found something. Mechanic and the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common."

"All three?" asked Stiles.

Stilinski nodded, "Yeah. You know what I always say. One's an incident. Two's a coincidence."

"Three's a pattern," Stiles finished for his father.

"The mechanic, the husband, the wife. All the same age. All 24."

"Wait a minute," said Stiles, "what about Mr. Lahey? Isaac's dad isn't anywhere near 24."

"Which made me think," agreed the Sheriff, "that either A, Lahey's murder wasn't connected, or B, the ages were a coincidence, until I found out this, which would be C." He dug out a file, handing it over to Stiles. "Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother named Camden?"

"Died in combat?" quoted Stiles from the file.

"But," Sheriff put in, "if he were alive today, take one guess to how old he'd be."

Stiles felt his mouth run dry, "24."

They, no less, were on the right path.

¥ ¥ ¥

Winnie drove to the vet clinic, having finished a drawing of Allison among the bodies of two kanima victims. She checked a text on her phone, Stiles telling her that all the victims so far were connected by class - Mr. Harris' chemistry in 2006.

"Super," she sarcastically remarked ass he pulled into the lot of the closed vet clinic run by Deaton. She pocketed her keys, bringing her sketchbook with her as she approached the front.

Scott met her, pulling open the door. "What's going on?"

"We've got a problem," Winnie told him as she stepped into the clinic.

Scott locked the door behind her, not wanting any customers wandering in after house. "Does it have to do with Allison?"

"And her father." Winnie opened up her sketchbook, revealing a pencil drawing of Chris and Allison at the hospital with two cloth covered bodies. "He's interrogating her, Scott. Allison's a strong girl, but Chris is good."

Scott ran a hand along his jaw, "You don't think she'll tell him, do you?"

"Since being here, I've grown to assume the worst." Winnie shut the book, "Scott, I'm getting a bad vibe from the drawing. I think it means she might crack."

Scott, clearly, was getting the same feeling. "I guess we'll cross that bridge if we have to." He cleared his throat, seeing Deaton surface behind Winnie. "Doc, this is Winnie. Winnie, this is my boss, Dr. Deaton."

"Nice to meet you," Deaton said to the brunette. "I take it you shine?"

Scott received an odd look from Winnie, "he's also an emissary. You can trust him."

Winnie looked back to Deaton, less weary than before. "It runs in the family."

Deaton motioned for Winnie, "Come back here while Scott waits for our guest."

Winnie knew he meant Derek, Scott having warned her ahead of time. She joined the vet, leaving Scott in the lobby. She put down her sketchbook on a counter in the back, having to look around. She touched the paneled wall, looking over to Deaton as he watched her curiously. "Mountain Ash?"

"Infused into the structure of the building," he replied. "You must be fairly advanced, if you can sense it."

"This town seems to bring it out more," Winnie told him.

"What's he doing here?"

Winnie glanced over her shoulder when Scott spoke, Derek's voice coming in reply. Hopeful Derek had brought Boyd, it was crushed when Isaac's voice joined the mix.

"I don't trust him," Scott said towards Isaac.

"Yeah," retorted Isaac, "well, he doesn't trust you either."

"And you know what?" Derek annoyedly asked the both of them. "And Derek doesn't really care. Now where's the vet? Is he going to help us or not?"

Deaton went to the doorway, crossing his arms as he leaned against the frame. "That depends. Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him?"

At the same time, Derek said 'kill him', Scott had said 'save him'.

Scott turned to Derek, "Save him." He returned his eyes to his boss, "Save him."

Winnie leaned back against a counter, Deaton bringing in the three wolves to the back of the clinic. She stayed quiet, only meeting Isaac's gaze for a moment.

Dr. Deaton brought out a wooden box of odd bottles, setting them down on a sterile lab table.

Isaac, Scott and Derek went to the opposite side of Deaton, utterly curious.

With the x-ray viewers buzzing behind her, she moved up to the table and stood at the end with her arms loosely crossed.

Isaac reached out to touch a bottle, only to have Derek harshly apprehend him.

"Watch what you touch," warned Derek darkly as he forced Isaac's hand away.

Isaac instead leaned down with his forearms, watching Deaton as the man rattled through the items marked with strange symbols. "So, what are you? Some kind of witch?"

"No," replied Deaton with a straight face, "I'm a veterinarian."

Winnie bit her tongue, silencing a laugh.

"Unfortunately," said Deaton, "I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defense against paralytic toxin."

Although it went unnoticed, Isaac glanced to Winnie.

Derek kept his eyes on Deaton, "We're open to suggestions."

"What about an effective offense?" asked Isaac.

"We already tried," Derek told his beta. "I nearly took its head off. And Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up."

Deaton furrowed his eyebrows, "Has it shown any sign of weakness?"

"Well, one," said Winnie as she thought of having to hold up Derek in the school pool. "It can't swim. Doesn't even like the water."

"Does that go for Jackson as well?" Deaton asked her.

"No," answered Scott, knowing Winnie likely didn't know the answer. "he's the captain of the swim team."

"Essentially," said Deaton, "you're trying to catch two people.

Essentially, they were all screwed.