Chapter 13

He feels like a new man when he walks out of the bathroom. He feels clean again, now he just needs sleep, and he is golden.

Tessa is sitting on the bed in the bedroom next to the bathroom, laptop in her lap. She looks up and blushes when she takes Stiles in. He could get used to this kind of reaction.

''The bathroom is free, so you can go and shower if you want, not that you smell, but you know, you look like you have tumbled through the woods, that story could almost be true. What you told those women, not that I want that, well, no, shit. I'm going to shut up now.'' Well, he may look hot, but he's still as awkward as ever.

Tessa is smiling at him. Her eyes are twinkling with mirth. And she huffs out a laugh.

''Yeah, I'm going to shower. You can sleep here, and I will take the couch.''

She stands up and tries to slip out of the room, but Stiles is in front of her instantly.

''You aren't going to sleep on the couch in your own house.'' He says with a frown.

''Well, I'm not going to let my Alpha sleep on the couch either, so what do you propose?'' Tessa says with a sigh while crossing her arms over her chest.

Stiles blushes and ducks his head. He also doesn't want to sleep alone, not after eight months of being alone. He felt so good when he woke up next to Tessa, even if it was just for two nights.

''We could share my bed, but! No wolf form!'' She says sternly, but when Stiles looks at her, she is smiling shyly.

She leaves the room to go shower. Stiles climbs into bed and sees that her laptop is still open. He looks back at the door and is debating if he should go for it.

He finally reaches out before the screen goes black. Well. He isn't going to look anything up tonight.

He keeps tossing and turning until Tessa is back in the room. She raises an eyebrow before climbing into bed next to him. They lie next to each other awkwardly until Tessa huffs and scoots closer. She pulls his arm away until she can lie her head on his chest.

''Is this okay?'' She softly asks after a couple of minutes. Stiles finally felt at ease and was almost asleep.

''Yeah, I'm fine, are you fine?'' He asks, and the awkwardness returns!

She chuckles and says she's fine too. They are silent for a couple of moments, and Stiles is dying to asks something but doesn't know if Tessa will be okay with it.

''What is it, Stiles? You are thinking really loud.''

''How can I possibly think loud?'' He says indignantly.

''Your heartbeat is beating really loud, and you smell nervous.''

''Can you already tell scents apart?'' He asks with surprise.

''I think so, at least a few, but what is wrong? Because I'm getting antsy from you.''

''I'm not sure how I can ask this without you hating me for being blunt or crude.''

''Just ask, Stiles. If I don't want to answer, I will let you know.''

He takes a deep breath before starting to ramble. He is good at it, and he rambles when nervous. Sue him.

''Well, Adam called you his girlfriend, but I didn't understand how you were boy and girlfriend, to be honest. He was dying and didn't say that he loved you, and you are griefing, I can feel and smell that, but it's like he is already gone for months instead of days. I only found a shaver that I think belonged to him in the bathroom, but further, there was nothing even remotely that looked like it was from a guy, so are you living alone here? Were you in a relationship with the guy? Because I'm getting a little mixed signals here, and I want to be respectful, but I don't know at the moment when I step out of line or not, and I'm so sorry, this was horrible to ask and say.''

Tessa is sitting up now next to him, peering down at him with a confused puppy look. She looks adorably cute like this.

''Wow, I understand why you were nervous to ask that.'' She mumbles and pulls away from Stiles a little, but she keeps touching him softly when she leans on his chest with her hand. She softly traces circles, and Stiles doesn't think that she even knows she is doing it.

''Adam was my best friend until he got sick. He didn't only have cancer. He had something I think was even worse. You tell me that it seemed that my grief was months old. You probably right. He got frontotemporal dementia. He forgot who I was, who he was, where he lived, everything. I was losing him for months. The day you bit him was one of his most sane days in a long time. I picked him up from the nursing home, and we went for a walk when we were snatched.'' She takes a deep breath and looks back at Stiles, who had frozen when he heard the words frontotemporal dementia. It was the same disease that took his mother.

''So no, he wasn't my boyfriend. I do live alone here, so when you're ready to go to your home, I'm just going to sell this house and come with you. I don't have anything left, Stiles. To be completely honest. I don't know what I would've done when Adam would die from cancer or didn't remember me at all.'' She mumbles softly like a confession.