It was now nighttime and in the back of her mind, Violeta briefly noted the lacrosse game currently on right now.

Why was she so hyper aware of a lacrosse game? Firstly, Stiles had told her about it. But it wasn't like she was hyper aware of him or whatever... no, it was just that she had also witnessed the increased practice Coach was putting on the team. This of course, lead to Coach begging her every time she walked into Economics class to please join the team. It was the semi-finals and Beacon Hills were apparently going up against some tough guy who was known as The Abomination.

Whatever.

After a very long day with abuela, her grandmother finally asked for some time alone. Violeta nodded but didn't really know where to go. When she had left the hospital room, she had bumped into Carlos talking to Melissa McCall. Carlos nodded at her and he left the nurse to come and speak to her.

"I heard there was an incident in the shop." Carlos said. Violeta's defences immediately went up and she immediately thought of Stiles and oh, how the pang of betrayal stabbed— "Maria told me last night."

Violeta blinked and let out a small breath, realising that, once again, Stilinski hadn't actually betrayed her. This was the second time she'd thought the worst of him and this was the second time he'd proved her wrong. Not that it would've mattered since it was Carlos and, to be fair, Stiles would've been within reason to alert the mechanic.

Maybe she was still looking for a sign that this was all actually a mistake.

And he just kept proving her wrong. Every time.

Then again, third time's a charm.

"Yeah, I apologise. Everything is fine now. I... I think it was scouting out." She said, feeling very awkward telling Carlos about the soberdenatural. She briefly wondered if she had said too much and should've left it at 'everything is fine now.'

"That's fine." Carlos said. "Rico cut school and he's there now. He's actually working on the Jeep." Violeta frowned, surprised at this.

"I'll head there now." She said. "Stiles is under the impression that I'm the only one working on it." Carlos nodded and it was then that she realised that she hadn't visited Luis. "Is Luis awake? I've been intending to visit him but I was not sure if he was up for it."

"He just fell asleep." Carlos said, a sad and tired smile coming on his face. "He is very grateful for what you did. You saved his life."

"I am sure I did not."

"Yes you did. You acted quickly. If you didn't..." Carlos trailed off. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I have never properly thanked you."

"Get me a new headset for the Jeep and you can consider whatever imagined debt you have paid for." Carlos smiled once more and she nodded, said goodbye and let the elder man walk back into his son's room.

As Violeta made her way to the lobby, she passed Melissa McCall. She pleasantly smiled at the nurse who hadn't said anything about her spending the entire school day here. Instead, she gave a bright smile and asked, "Are you going to the game tonight?"

Whilst she was hyper aware of said game, Violeta hadn't honestly ever considered the prospect of attending it. She shrugged. "Maybe."

"Okay well I hope to see you there!" Melissa said. Violeta nodded at the woman and left at that.

-

Twenty minutes later, she walked into Carlos' shop to see it quite busy. D-Bo was sitting with some others around a table, playing cards. Rico had his shirt off, left only in a singlet as he worked under the Jeep. Violeta did her rounds of saying hello to everyone before she made her way to Rico to ask about the car. Before she could, D-Bo got her attention.

"That Stiles kid aight, he chill." He said as he threw some cards down on the table. She frowned at him. "Saw him today. Nigga bumped into me but he aight. Talked about my mans Cap'n America. And Rico realised that blue Jeep be his and been working on it since we fuckin got here."

It took her a moment to process everything D-Bo just casually threw at her. After a few seconds of process, all she find herself able to ask was a simple, "Why?"

"Lola." D-Bo answered, glancing at the hard-working Rico.

Violeta nodded and moved back to where the Jeep was. She leaned against it and kicked Rico's legs and the man himself came out from under the Jeep. He sat up from the sliding board and wiped his forehead. "I'm pre' much done but Carlos called. Says to install new headset."

"You guys got any in stock?"

"Check out back." Rico said. She nodded and moved away. Rico slid back under. She went to the supplies and rummaged through until she found one of the newer models Carlos had recently gotten in stock. She came back and found Rico standing up, washing his hands at the sink near the guys. With that, she grabbed a toolbox and climbed into the passenger seat to get to work.

About thirty minutes later, the headset had been installed and Rico had filled up the Jeep with some fuel. Violeta looked down at her clothes. She wanted to change and she briefly wondered if Stiles would mind if she borrowed his Jeep to drive to her place to get changed before she gave it back to him.

It was then that her arm burned up.

Hissing, she brought up her right arm sleeve to see the sword tattoo pulsing red hot. She frowned, not knowing what that meant. Her first instinct was to go to her grandma's and she immediately climbed in the driver's seat, ready to gun it to hospital.

"You going to the game?"

"No the hospital."

"Did the Abomination get to Stilinski?"

Violeta stopped dead in her movements, "What?"

"The other team lacrosse got this big ass homie called the Abomination. Last team had to fucking forfeit cause they ran out of players that could get on the field. Homie tackled them all and hurt 'em all so bad none could fucking play."

By now, the pain in her arm was at the back of her mind.

All she could think was simply: Stiles.

Whatever the sword meant could wait - she had to get to the game and make sure Stiles was okay. Humans rank at the of the supernatural pole... with her kind at the bottom. Whatever was going on with her could wait because there was a human in danger.

"I gotta go." She turned the keys in the ignition and swiftly backed up and sped her way to school. When she arrived in the parking lot, she saw the door the gym open and frowned, not sure why that would be open. She heard cheering and a few chants of "BEACON HILLS! BEACON HILLS!" She assumed Scott may have had something to do with that and felt reassured that this 'Abomination' was being taken care of. But she still needed to make sure because, well, because it was Stiles.

And somehow, she found herself going into the gym.

It was when she found Stiles and Derek in the pool, barely managing to remain afloat that she understood her intuitions.

"Vio? Violeta?!" Stiles yelled out when he saw the familiar figure. "Get out! It's here! GET OUT!"

"Then why are you in a pool?" Violeta said, using every inch of her will to keep her voice perfectly calm. If she was calm then Stiles could be grounded. If she freaked out... well, then how Stiles would react?

"It's scared of water!" Stiles yelled.

She heard a shriek and turned to see the kanima approaching. If it was scared of water, then this was a direct fear of the master's. However, she filed that for later as she positioned herself between the creature and Stiles and Derek. She stood there and ignored Stiles screams as it lunged forward.

Stiles and Derek watched two jets of water shot out of the pool, over Violeta's shoulders and hit the kanima. It screamed and jumped out of the way. Violeta snorted as she propelled the water to bounce around the edge of the pool, chasing after the kanima.

"And to think we were all scared of this fucking thing." She muttered, tutting. She turned to see Stiles struggling to hold Derek up. The awe was clear in his face and she smiled at him. The water continued to attack the kanima as she walked down the long side of the pool.

"Swim to the side." She ordered Stiles.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Derek asked but Stiles did as she said. The werewolf was more than displeased but could clearly do nothing as clearly the kanima venom had gotten to him. With an eye roll, she flicked her hand and several more jets of water shot out to ground around the kanima, forming a blockade.

She leaned down and helped Derek out first since he was paralysed. Both the boys were suprised at her sheer strength, lifting Derek out with one hand. Her other hand had the palm up at the direction of the screaming kanima. Stiles assumed it was to keep up the water blocking the screaming creature from attacking them. But he didn't say anything.

After setting down Derek, out came Stiles. When he came out, sitting on the edge and gasping for air, she leaned down and put an arm on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm, uh, I'm all good." He said, still staring at her. She smiled softly and Stiles's own lips turned up slightly.

"Think we should do something about that?" Derek's voice broke the pair apart. It was then that Violeta heard the shrieking that had been muffled by the water. She willed the water to break form and the kanima immediately burst out and dashed out of the gym, jumping out the roof windows.

"Scott's been trying to get to the Argent's bestiary to figure out what that is." Stiles filled her in.

"It's a kanima." She said. Stiles stared at her, a look of hurt and annoyance coming on his shocked face. "I had my suspicions but I can never be certain until I see it with my eyes."

"Welll you could've at least shared your theories and not leave the rest of us in the dark!" Stiles snapped. Violeta recoiled. He felt a smidge of regret in seeing her reaction but the fact that she knew and they had spent so long... and he'd been attacked by it twice...

"It's their code." Derek chose this moment to chime in. "They never confer with anyone until they are completely certain. Even then, they only tell those in cases of utter trust and necessity." Violeta rolled her eyes at the 'they' but still went about her duty as she inspected his wound. Even if Derek was dick and she thought he deserved to be like this, she wasn't allowed to leave a creature like him injured like this.

As he said, it was their code.

"You can either wait another twenty minutes or I can burn it out." She said.

"Burn it out." Derek said the same time Stiles asked, "Burn it out? Like make flames appear?" Violeta ignored him, produced a lighter from her pocket and setting to work. Derek winced a few times but said nothing. There was a pause and Stiles sat there, regaining his wits as Violeta focused on the back of Derek's neck.

"How's Isaac?"

Stiles felt himself frown when he heard her question. Why did she care? Then he remembered Lahey's first full moon and how worried she was about him. He had never known Violeta to show any care for Lahey — let alone know who he was! Yet she had hugged him and told him he was okay... the same way she had done to him the first time he'd seen the kanima.

Suddenly, Stiles didn't feel so special.

"He's doing okay..." Derek was hesitant to answer her question. "He's learning how to cope and fight back."

"I'm sure."

"You knew his dad was beating him?" Derek said. "And you did nothing?" The insult was clear. Stiles eyes and he winced as Violeta must've done something to cause it. Stiles watched a flash of remorse pass Derek's features but he did notice that his words had saddened Violeta.

"If you must know, Isaac made me promise to not. In some sort of fucked up way, he was looking out for that bastardo. And you also forget that even if I did something, Isaac has no living relatives. He would be lost to the system which has all the more kinds of fucked up."

Stiles then thought back to all the instances Bernie Mac helped lock up a violent drunk and the kids who could come to school a lot less beaten down because of it. He also knew how lucky he was to have his dad since both his grandparents were dead and he didn't really have any cousins - except for a thirty five year old distant relative living in Ireland.

So, Stiles could understand why Violeta did what she did because he was essentially in the same boat as Isaac. It was sad and horrible... but it made sense to him.

Still, not wanting to speak of it any longer, Violeta changed the subject to the poison. "Burning is only working now because you've got such a little amount of the venom left in your system and because of the time passed and that you've been in the water for so long." She explained. "Your skin has become so damp that a lot of it has been washed out."

"Shouldn't we do something about the water then?" Stiles asked, wondering if the swim team tomorrow would all walk out after training and fall limp in paralysis. That would be a fun one to explain.

"No, I did not... feel it, so I think it must have been such small amount that washed out and time and Derek's healing did the rest of it." Violeta said, "And to be honest, I wouldn't surprised if the chlorine helped also." Stiles exhaled and it was at this that she regarded the tenseness in his jaw. "Look I can understand how you are annoyed at me but if we consider that it was only confirmed last night and since then I've been... I haven't seen you." Her mix of words made Stiles remember that she'd been with her grandma their entire day.

Suddenly, he didn't feel so angry anymore. Instead, he felt guilt.

"Sorry for snapping."

"Your car's in the parking lot." She dismissed, not even looking at him as she threw him the keys. He caught them quite badly and wondered if he'd really upset her. It seemed that, no matter the situation and how open they were starting to be, Stiles was finding a billion other things that Violeta was carrying on her shoulders that just made him have to reconsider everything.

"Okay, that's as much as I can manage. You should be right to go." She said and then shrugged out of her jacket to which she threw at Stiles. "You'll get hypothermia." She informed. The teenager's mouth opened slightly as the thoughtfulness caught him off-guard once more. Violeta helped Derek up and looped an arm around his waist. Stiles quickly put on her jacket and went to help. The alpha grunted and tried to walk without help. He surprisingly could manage.

There was a groan. Everyone turned to see Erica waking up after being knocked unconscious. Violeta rolled her eyes and sighed. Stiles caught that.

"If that's a kanima, then it doesn't know it's a kanima." Derek said, going to help Erica up. "It doesn't know who it is."

"Yes." Violeta said. "And we don't know who its master is."

"Master?" Stiles asked.

"The kanima doesn't just kill at random. It kills whoever its master wishes." She explained, looking at him. "Why else do you think that it doesn't eat its prey?"

"Great so we don't know who the kanima is or even who it's freaking master is!"

"I do know one thing," Derek said, turning around and walking out the door, "when I find it, I'm gonna kill it." He said, Erica in tow. Violeta stared after the alpha, frowning.

"I think that was a little bit dramatic." She commented. She then turned to the boy beside her wearing her jacket. "I think it's safe to say you'll tell Scott about everything you saw here tonight."

"... Do you want me to tell Scott everything I saw here tonight?"

Violeta was surprised at the choice being offered. She was quick to mask it, not wanting to show any signs of not being in control, of not anticipating anything and everything. "How about you tell him what you feel you should tell him." She said. "In the mean time I'm gonna go home and shower. I'll, uh, see you around."

"Hey, uh, Vio." Stiles said, purposely using her nickname to see if she was still mad. There was no anger nor annoyance - just genuine fatigue.

"Yeah Stiles?"

"Do you want a lift?"

Surprisingly, she said yes. Even more surprising was that she said to drive to his place and she'd walk home. He didn't want to think that maybe she didn't want him to know where she lived, that she maybe she didn't trust him enough with that information. He didn't want to think about it.

Whey they arrived at the somewhat familiar driveway, she got out before he could say anything to her. He was about to try a goodbye when Violeta surprised him one again by walking in front of him towards the walkway to his front door.

"I need to see the sheriff." She said in a quiet voice. Stiles' eyes lit up as he realised this was to do with 'Bernie Mac and Commissioner Gordon.' As he unlocked his the door, he realised how bizarre a thing that was to think that his dubbed Bernie Mac and Commissioner Gordon were just some girl in his class and his father.

The same father who answered the door in his old Mets jersey and boxer briefs.

"Stiles? Is that you— oh, Violeta?"

"Hey, Noah." She said with a tired yet pleasant smile. Her eyes scanned his appearance and her smile turned into a grin which she ducked her head to hide. "I'm sorry for intruding."

"No, no. Come in!" Noah Stilinski scrambled to get the security door open and Violeta walked in before Stiles. The Sherrif rambled something about pants as he disappeared down the hallway. Besides him, Violeta sighed and went to lean against the wall, her head down and she regarded her shoes. Stiles stood there, in the entryway to his house, thinking up about all the events that led to Violeta Rodriguez being in his house.

"So, uh--" He started.

"Sorry about that!" His father's reapparance stopped any lame attempt Stiles was about to try at small talk - and was extremely thankful at that.

"No problem." Violeta said. "This is just concerning Luis. I saw his father in the hospital."

"Oh." Noah said, his eyes flickering to Stiles. He then moved back to look at Violeta who looked like she might collapse where she stood. "Tell him it's all been taken care of and there is nothing to worry about."

"Should I worry about anything?"

Noah's eyes bulged out of their sockets, stuttering as he looked at Stiles. She rolled her eyes, "Your son should be Sherlock Holmes since he figured it out." She explained. "Well, he overheard me on the phone to you."

"Stiles..." His father began.

"What?!" The boy in question spluttered.

"It's not his fault. I should've been more careful."

"Yes but if it gets out that you're--- that you..."

"Are you saying I'm going to blab?" Stiles asked, clearly offended.

"I mean," his father began, "you are a blabber."

Stiles' mouth dropped open but Violeta finally chimed in, standing up from her leaning position. "I trust that Stiles won't say anything and like I've said before, don't worry about me. I knew what the consequences were when I reached out to you."

"Yes well..." Noah said, giving his for-once-silent son another look, "In this case, I don't know if Sebastian has any affiliates but I think it was just another teenager had access to a gun and didn't understand what that meant."