Chapter Text
Driving down the coast, Harper idly wondered why she’d decided to move to Beacon Hills instead of somewhere on the coast. Sure, Beacon Hills was small and her only remaining family was there. But it would never have the openness and tranquility that the ocean offered. It was only a few mile drive to the beach, but it wasn’t the same as living there, experiencing it every day.
Harper, without thinking much of her actions, veered onto one of the many signs pointing out the open beaches ahead. It was near dusk, sun setting slowly and brightly behind the land and Harper found herself sitting on the beach.
The sun setting here was not like the sunsets at home, there’s something about it. Maybe the way the light reflects off the water, or how everything feels so new, that makes Harper realize how far she’s really come. It’s beautiful, sure, but it doesn’t feel like home. Not yet.
Back home, Harper knew every inch of the horizon, every shift of the sky. Now it’s like watching something belonging to someone else. She thought that anywhere she went would feel like home, but right now…right now it feels like a stranger's view, and Harper’s just trying to figure out where she fits in.
She was excited, but oh so nervous to be in this new environment.
She’d visited Noah and Stiles a few months ago to learn the lay of the land and had a rather unfortunate incident, one she couldn’t tell if it was unfortunate or not.
It couldn't even be classified as an incident perse, just...a situation of sorts.
She'd gone to her Uncle Noah's house to get familiar with his neighborhood and meet some of the deputies she'd be working with. After dinner, she'd gone outside to get some fresh air and a little break from the lovely environment in the house. Being back with Stiles and Noah would always be nice, but it was still a bit much. She’d been by herself way too long to find comfort in a suddenly full house. It was only the three of them, but it was still more than overwhelming for her.
She had been sitting on the back deck for over an hour when out of nowhere a gray coyote jumped up on the deck, growling at her.
"What the fuck? Uh, please don't bite me." She said as she stood up and slowly started backing away, almost laughing to herself. Why was she talking to a coyote like a person
"Uh...stiles? STILES!" she yelled, hoping to get anyone's attention.
"Shoo...go away" Harper said, flinging her hands towards the animal.
The coyote did not back off however and advanced closer.
"Jesus Christ! Stiles, Noah, someone!" If possible, the coyote's eyes turned an even more electric blue than before and the look on its face was nothing short of murderous.
"What? Jesus why are you screaming?” Stiles asked, coming outside.
“There's a coyote!” She yelled, running to hide behind her much taller cousin.
"Aw, Malia, what the fuck?" Stiles groaned, walking over to the coyote and flicking it on the nose.
Harper watched in amazement as the coyote shook its head and then proceeded to snip at Stiles fingers.
"You have a coyote as a pet? THAT'S A WILD FUCKING ANIMAL!" Harper yelled, eyes still opened wide.
Harper is surprised by Stiles’ outright laughter at the situation..
“She's not...I mean she IS a wild animal… but that's just Malia.” Stiles said passively.
“Yes, because that explains everything.” Harper huffed.
“Okay wait, give me a minute. And you!” Stiles said as he reared towards Malia. “What the fuck is this? I told you she was coming to town and now I'm going to have to tell her everything sooner than I wanted. If she decides not to stay, that's on you." He said, flicking the animal on the nose again.
This time however, Malia expected it and bit down on Stiles' hand.
"Gah, don't bite!"
“Then don't flick me on the nose.” Harper heard a new voice say
She looked to where the coyote had been previously and now stood a girl about her age, naked as the day she was born.
Stiles just rolled his eyes and handed her the flannel he was wearing. Almost as if it was a common occurrence.
"Okay..wait..what the fuck?" Harper asked, head shaking violently as she looked between the two people before her.
"Yeah…" Stiles started rubbing the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. This definitely wasn’t how he wanted Harper to find out about the supernatural aspects of Beacon Hills.
"You never said your cousin was a girl." Malia said, as if that explained everything.
"Jesus Malia. You've been a human for a long time now, yet your tact...needs some work"
"You're a shapeshifter?” Harper asked, brain not comprehending much else.
“Shape shifter? Really Harper?” Stiles asked, exasperated with the whole conversation.
“Well I don't fucking know. She was a dog and now she's a girl! Am I high?”
“I don't know, are you?” Stiles asks his cousin.
“Fuck off Stiles.”
“Um… I'm not a dog. I'm a were-coyote.” Malia suddenly interjects, tone as if Harper should have known that already.
“A...what?”
“Okay… Harper, listen…” Stiles started.
And Harper did. For many hours she sat and listened to Stiles tell her all about his life in Beacon Hills. From Scott's transformation all the way through Stiles himself being possessed by an evil spirit. She knew all about Derek and his pack, the sacrifices, the bloodshed, and the pain they'd all endured.
When Harper left the next day in quite a daze, she was contemplating if she'd return to this not so quiet town.
Stiles had assured her that since they were a well established pack and led their adult lives quietly, there'd not been trouble in Beacon hills in years. He’d assured her that the only real strife had come in when Scott had suddenly lost his True Alpha status, but saved his own life in the process. Derek, their Alpha, was still broody and sour, but had come a long way and was a great leader for their band of misfits, and Stiles lovingly called them.
But Harper still had reservations.
At least until she traveled back home and realized there was nothing left for her where she was. Her parents had left, not that it was any surprise to her, and left her there all alone. She had friends before college, but none of them returned to the small town after graduation. She was effectively alone and quite miserable. At nearly 30 years of age, Harper was well and truly alone.
Even as she sat on the beach, mind coming back to the present and the sound of the rushing waves in front of her, she still questioned her decision. She hadn't told Noah or Stiles she was coming so she hoped one of them was still willing to accommodate her until she had enough money for her own place.
She sat on the beach until the sun had disappeared completely behind the horizon, before getting up and completing her journey to Beacon Hills.
She pulled up to her uncle’s house, noticing the living room light was still on. She thought about calling her uncle to make sure that he was still awake, but she caught movement from the kitchen window.
“Well, someone is awake in there.” she said as she made her way out of the vehicle.
She walked up to the front of the house, knocking lightly on the door.
It was quiet for a moment before she heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked just on the other side of the door.
“Uncle Noah, it’s Harper.” She said, not wanting to meet the wrong end of his pistol.
She heard the door unlock quickly and her uncle’s face appeared.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that kid. No one in this town really takes well to surprises.” Noah told her, pulling her in the house.
“I mean…after the last decade they have had I would not blame any of them for hating surprises.”
Noah just nodded his head, inviting her to sit down.
“So what brings you by?” Noah asked.
“Well, I was still hoping you guys needed a deputy. I know you offered it a while ago so it might be filled, but I needed to wrap my head around a lot of things before I made the decision to uproot my life.”
“That’s understandable. Stiles and I weren’t sure you’d be back to be honest. We knew we would have to talk to you about everything eventually, but Malia kind of took the time away we were hoping we had.”
Noah knew that his sister and her husband had left their hometown long ago, effectively cutting off contact with Harper. He also knew that Harper still lived with the hope everyday of mending something she wasn’t sure how she broke. But it never came, and Noah regretted it everyday that he didn’t invite Harper sooner. But also knew she was a Stillinski, and somehow more adept at finding trouble than his own son, and that part had him hesitating.
“I wasn’t sure at first either.” Harper said, cutting off Noah’s inner monologue. “But when I got home to an empty place…I just realized that I didn’t need to stay there. Staying there and being alone is almost more scary than whatever the hell Stiles seems to find himself in.” She laughed.
“You’d actually be really proud of him.” Noah started. “He might be one of the only humans in the pack, but he’s just about the strongest. It’s no lie when they say the pen is mightier than the sword.”
“I’m not surprised by that at all,” Harper said. “Stiles has always been a genius. He just needed to channel that ADHD into something productive. Kid could take over the world if he wanted to.”
“Jesus Christ, let’s hope he doesn’t think of that.” Noah laughed.
It was quiet for a few minutes before Noah started talking again.
“So you’re planning on staying then?”
“Yep. I figure, if the deputy position isn’t open anymore I could find something else in the interim. I have some other qualifications outside of law enforcement I can fall back on. I would need to impose on you for a little while though, if you still wouldn’t mind.”
“I wouldn’t mind at all, kid. And yes, the deputy position is still open. I’ll bring you in tomorrow to talk to our HR rep in charge of hiring with the county. I can all but guarantee you’ll get it though. You passed screening so well last time they were having a hard time finding a candidate that could match your record. No one else was ever good enough.”
“That sounds good. If you don’t mind, I’m going to grab some of the stuff from my car and get some sleep. It was a long drive.”
“No problem. You can use Stiles’ old room.”
~~
Stiles was surprised when he went to his dad’s for Sunday Brunch and found Harper’s car out front.
“Yo, daddy-o. I take it she made it back?” Stiles asked, walking into the house, Lydia right next to him.
“Sure did. Strolled in just after midnight last night. She’ll be staying with me for a bit until she gets on her feet here. Food isn’t quite done yet, I figured I could give her a little bit more time to sleep before waking her up to the chaos that is our Sunday mornings. I also want you to show her around a bit more. Mostly the route from here to the station, she’ll start work probably Tuesday.”
Stiles hadn’t realized that Lydia was unusually quiet next to him.
“What’s wrong?” Stiles asked, seeing the pinched look on her face.
“Your dad’s house has two bedrooms. Whoever is here isn’t sleeping on the couch, so where is she sleeping?” Lydia asked.
“My old room. Dad said she could use it until she found her own place. Could be a couple of days or even a few months, whatever she is comfortable with.”
“If you make yourself a presence often enough, I’ll be sure to leave as soon as possible.” Stiles heard Harper say as she was descending the staircase.
Stiles and Lydia both looked up towards the voice.
“Don’t be like that, you love me and you’ll love it here.” Stiles told her, sticking his tongue out at her in a childlike manner, not fitting for a 26 year old man.
“Last time I was here you literally melted my brain. You shifted my whole world in an instant.” Harper reminded him.
“Nah ah, that was Malia.” Stiles argued.
Lydia watched on as the two people spoke. They spoke to each other with such familiarity that she wasn’t sure what to think. She noticed that the woman descending the stairs was a bit shorter than her with dark almond colored hair hanging loosely around her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were a bright amber and her face, covered in freckles, radiated confidence and beauty.
For the first time in a very long time, Lydia felt intimidated. The woman before her looked as if she could easily be younger than herself, but was probably older. She had laugh lines around her eyes and a nearly deep set in her eyes, hiding so many truths and secrets. She appeared open and carefree, but the hunch of her shoulders showed she was still uncomfortable in this environment, and with new people.
“You’re Lydia.” Harper said, as soon as she got down the stairs and stood in front of the couple. Lydia realized that no more than a minute had passed since she first heard the other woman speak.
“Stiles was right about you. Your beauty really is too hard to explain. You’re almost…ethereal.” the other woman told Lydia, trying her best to give her a warm smile.
Lydia tried not to let the woman’s compliment get to her. At least not until she knew who the other woman was.
Lydia did however find herself stepping closer to Stiles, hand wrapping territorially around his arm.
“And based on the way you are looking at me, and holding on to Stiles like you’re worried I will steal him, I’m assuming he didn’t tell you I was coming.” Harper laughed.
“Yes I did.” Stiles refuted right away.
It was quiet for about ten seconds before Stiles whipped his head around to Lydia.
“Oh shit, no I didn’t. Babe, I’m so sorry! She was here visiting and then Malia got all territorial so I had to spill the beans and then I totally forgot. Then we weren’t even sure she was going to come back and it was a pretty sore subject.”
Harper couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out of her.
“You’re such a dumbass.”
She took two steps towards Lydia and held out her hand.
“Harper Stilinski. Noah’s niece and Stiles’ cousin.”
Lydia huffed once before slapping Stiles hard on the chest.
“You have so much explaining to do later.”
Lydia then smiled at Harper, a real smile, and shook her hand.
“Lydia Martin. Noah’s favorite banshee and Stiles’ soon to be ex girlfriend.”
"Aw come on Lyds, don't be like that. I'm sorry!"
"It's barely 9am, what could you possibly have to apologize for already?" Scott asked, walking through the front door.
"He's a dumbass." Harper said in a way of explanation. Scott was a comfort to her in the storm of newness. In all the summers she spent here as a kid, she’d gotten to know Scott and his mother Melissa really well. She’d only ever hung out at his place or at her uncle's house, choosing not to integrate herself into their friend group since she was only there for the summer and it would hurt less if she had less to leave when the time came.
"Sounds about right. Harper, good to see you again." Scott said, advancing on the woman and throwing his arms around her for a tight hug.
"Yeah you too." Harper said, nearly topping over with Scott's unexpected weight. "Malia." She said, looking over at the other woman.
Malia just nodded her head, still unsure of her feelings towards Harper.
"So," the sheriff started, "is your mom going to be able to make it today?"
“She got called in for a short shift really early this morning. If she makes it, it won’t be until 11. She said she’d call you and let you know.”
“Alright then. Since everyone is here, let’s get started.”
Harper wasn’t sure what Noah meant when he said let's get started, so she was surprised that everyone had a task in the kitchen.
If food wasn’t done before everyone arrived, they all had their action stations of sorts.
“Very Mary Poppins of you all.” Harper mumbled.
“That’s what I said my first week too!” Lydia laughed. “It keeps everyone efficient though and stuff gets done quicker.”
Stiles was standing in front of a griddle, already laying some bacon down on it. Noah was in front of the stove, two burners going, flipping pancakes. Lydia was getting out all of the dishes needed and setting the table. She noticed that she set two extra places. She knew one was for Melissa, but wasn’t sure about the other. Scott was squeezing fresh orange juice. By hand. And Malia, well she was being exactly how Stiles had described her to be. She was in charge of the toast, but was too busy staring curiously at Harper.
“So what can I do?” Harper asked, peeling her eyes away from Malia’s intense stare.
“Well…I think we’re good honestly. You could get out all the condiments you might think we’ll need and put them on the table if you’d like. That would definitely be a help.”
Harper nodded her head and went to the task at hand. She met up with Lydia in the dining room as she was setting the silverware out.
“Who is the extra seat for?” Harper asked quietly.
“Well, one is for Melissa. Even if she doesn’t show up, we still set a place every week. The other is for whoever randomly decides to show up. Very rarely is that spot empty. It’ll either be Isaac, Derek or Danny. Hell, one week all three of them showed up. I thought the Sheriff was going to have a stroke.”
It was quiet for a bit as everyone worked, bringing in piles of food as it was being completed.
Harper heard the back door open and Noah complaining about those ‘damn grown adults with homes of their own’ waltzing in his house. It made Harper laugh, knowing it was just a show.
Noah had always wanted a big family. When Stiles was little, Aunt Claudia had gotten sick and they weren’t able to have any more children after that. He never remarried after her death. Stiles had complained more than a few times about wanting a sibling. That’s part of why he attached himself to Scott so much when they were growing up, he was looking for a brother. And from the looks of things, and conversations in times past, he’d definitely found that and more with his pack.
“Danny, what did you bring?” Lydia asked.
“Champagne.” the new voice said.
“Who the hell brings champagne to a brunch?” Scott asked.
Harper walked quickly into the kitchen.
“Um, a genius who knows the best way to have brunch is getting morning tipsy on mimosas!”
Suddenly this new environment wasn’t so bad.
“That’s the spirit, new girl!” the man she, from the process of elimination, knew as Danny.
“I’d hardly be considered a new girl.” Harper laughed.
She noticed immediately that Danny was tall. He had nice tanned skin and when he smiled, he had dimples for days. He had an aura of peace to him that was not found on any other person who was currently standing in the house.
“Okay, so who are you?” Danny asked.
“Harper. I’m Stiles’ cousin and hopefully the new Deputy for Beacon Hills.”
“Oh, nice!” Danny said, eyeing her appreciatively. “The force could definitely use more eye candy, that's for sure.”
That made Harper stop cold. She hated when men looked down on women in law enforcement. Thinking of them as nothing more than a display to be gawked at. She didn’t really want to have to alienate herself too much in her uncle's home, and with her cousin’s friends, but she damn sure wasn’t letting this man get away with talking to her like that.
“That’s actually pretty fucking rude. I’ll have you know that I worked my way up my ranks at my last job based on merit, not how I looked. Pretty sure, based on all the martial arts classes I take, I could probably kick your ass too. So there’s that.”
The man standing before her was easily a whole foot taller than her five foot two inch build, but that wouldn’t stop her from putting him on her ass if she needed to…or felt like it.
She watched as the man’s face fell, shame taking over as the most prominent feature.
“Oh, god, no! Sorry that was extremely sexist of me and I did not mean it like that. I just meant that Stiles is the most good looking person on the force right now and well…he’s Stiles. I’m sure you’re great at your job and if the look on your face is anything to go by, you could definitely kick my ass.” Danny backtracked immediately.
“You finally admit that I’m good looking?” Stiles asked, voice full of awe.
“Stiles, really?” Lydia asked.
“What?! I tried getting him to admit it all through highschool and nearly everyday since. This is the first time he’s said it out loud. This is a total win in my book! Thanks for looking like a sexist dickwad Danny, I got to hear your true feelings.”
“Now wait a minute. I said you’re the most good looking on the force right now. We both know Parrish will be back soon and you’re dethroned so fast.”
Everyone in the group mumbled something along the lines of ‘yeah’ and ‘definitely’. Stiles included.
Harper still wasn’t sure about Danny, or who this Parrish is, but everyone in the house seemed to think they were both good people so she’d have to learn to let her guard down around them.
It still wouldn’t stop her from kicking her ass if she felt the need.
~~~~
Brunch ended up being a loud affair, and Harper drank more than she probably should have. Her nerves were still frazzled and she was starting to get slightly claustrophobic with everyone in the dining room, but it was going better than she imagined.
She had learned that Danny worked in the IT department at the Sheriff’s station, Lydia was the director of the accounting department at the hospital, no small feat for someone who just turned 26 years old, and Scott was still a PE Teacher and assistant lacrosse coach. She wasn’t sure what Malia did, and she was almost too scared to ask.
“So.” She started, interrupting whatever Danny was saying to Lydia. “What’s your secret?”
Harper had tried really hard to keep everyone’s supernatural powers in her brain, but she was too many mimosa’s deep to remember much of anything she’d been told last time.
“My…secret?” Danny asked, looking around the table.
“Ya know, secret identity. Everyone here has one apparently. I’m still learning it all.”
“I…don’t have one.” Danny said, still mildly confused.
“Nah ah, don’t believe it. Everyone here has a secret, so what’s yours?”
“I’m gay.” Danny said, not knowing what answer she was looking for.
“That’s not a secret. Like, at all.” Stiles laughed.
“Being gay is a secret power now? Hell yeah. Lydia, leave that Stilinski for this one.” She said, pointing to herself. “I’m ready to have powers.”
Lydia smiled, almost fondly, at Harper before turning back to Stiles.
“Don’t worry, love. I won’t leave you.” She said, patting him lightly on the arm.
“Wait, I get it now.” Danny laughed. “I’m not a supernatural being if that’s what you were looking for. I, like Stiles, am human. I help the pack out as an IT specialist of sorts. Good at hacking and all that. Stiles does the research and I do the hacking, security cameras and phones mostly. Don’t worry, we always take it to the Sheriff first, and I only do it on official pack business.”
“Oh, that makes sense. So you’re not gay then?” Harper asked.
“Nope, definitely still gay.” Danny laughed. “It’s just not a secret, or a power.”
“Sorry if that was inappropriate to ask, just trying to keep as much information in my brain as I can before the mimosas take root and never leave. I’m already barely holding on for dear life, please excuse anything I say from here on out.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not offended. I’m not sure how you even came into the fold, but since I’ve learned you’re related to Stiles, you’ll know that’s your family flaw.”
“What? Being rude?” Harper asked, eyeing Danny.
Danny snorted lightly. “No, not knowing when to shut the fuck up.”