After Erica brings Jackson to the train depot, Noel is there waiting with the other betas, sitting by Derek. Jackson is confused at first until he sees him, asking "Noel, what the hell is happening, tell them to let go of me."
Before Noel can speak, Derek says "They don't answer to Noel. They answer to me."
Jackson looks confused, and Noel looks guilty, sitting with Derek and fidgeting with a bottle of water. "What happened to you on the night of the full moon?" Derek asks Jackson, not looking up at him. Jackson says aggressively "What? Nothing. Nothing happened."
After finally making eye contact, Derek says "You're lying." He pulls on a leather glove, Jackson saying "Wait, wait, I can prove it. Noel knows, he was there that night, weren't you, Noel?"
"Nice try. He was with me on the full moon, where he was supposed to be. You, on the other hand, don't have an alibi," Derek says, Noel looking between his cousin and his alpha. Jackson looks a little scared before saying "No, I videotaped myself. On the full moon, while Lahey was curled up in the corner having an existential crisis about turning into a monster, I was preparing for the so-called gift your big bad alpha ass promised me. What did I get?! Nothing. You want proof? Let me get the video. Noel, tell them. You saw it, you came in my room, tell him!"
The last comment is said very angrily, with Jackson's teeth clenched and his eyes wild. Noel shrinks back a bit in fear, stuttering for a reply. Derek puts a hand on his shoulder, silencing him instantly, before saying "No... No, I have a better idea."
Derek holds up the jagged fragment of mirror, Jackson begging Derek not to do it. He keeps begging angrily "Noel, tell them, for the love of God tell them! Tell them where I was, tell them you saw the video camera, tell them!"
Noel just shrinks further and further away from Jackson as he yells, covering his ears. As Derek stops in front of his face, he says "You know, Jackson... You've always been kind of a snake. And everyone knows a snake can't be poisoned by its own venom."
Derek lets the drop of kanima venom fall into Jackson's mouth, and as Jackson starts gagging and choking, Noel looks more and more uncomfortable. He looks over as Jackson goes silent, paralyzed completely as well.
Derek approaches Jackson again and stoops down in front of him. Admitting defeat, he says "You're still a snake, Jackson. Just not the one we're looking for."
With that Derek walks away, grazing Noel's shoulder as he walks past him. Isaac gets down in front of Jackson, saying "You're still gonna have to do one more thing for us. Well, actually, for me."
Blackout.
—
Noel sits beside Isaac in class. He is with Stiles and Scott as they walk out of class after the intro. It seems the rift between them has been tied back together, at least somewhat. He doesn't say anything as he walks off with them past Jackson and Danny.
—
While Erica and Isaac talk about killing "the bitch", Isaac asks "Why isn't Noel doing this again?"
"Because he's our closest ticket to Jackson if we ever need him again, plus he's Derek's errand boy. Can't have anybody going around shooting our messenger, can we?"
The bell then rings, causing Jackson to cover his ears in pain as he eavesdrops.
—
Noel takes the seat of the girl behind Stiles in the scene after the bell rings, and fakes a look of equal shock like Scott and Stiles when Jackson asks what a kanima is.
Jackson begins talking with the three boys, Noel looking a bit guilty the whole time as Jackson describes how Derek paralyzed him.
"Wait. Why would Derek test you? Why would he think it's you?" Scott asks Jackson, the boy gritting his teeth and shooting a glare at Noel. "How should I know? Why don't you ask his lapdog, he was there, he didn't try to get Derek to leave me alone when he knows damn well that he could have."
"You think just because I'm dating him I control him? News flash, he's my alpha, I'm not his. I can't make him do anything," Noel says in his own defense, Jackson setting his jaw in anger. To reroute the conversation, Stiles asks "Do they think it's Lydia?"
Successfully distracted, Jackson says "I don't know. All I heard was her name and something about chemistry."
Coach Finstock then cuts in on their conversation, getting on Jackson's case for talking, the other three boys putting on faces of innocence. After the coach walks away, Scott pulls Noel and Stiles in so he can whisper "How do we know it's not her?"
"Because we looked into the eyes of that thing, and I can't speak for him, but all I saw was pure evil," Stiles says, Noel shrugging in agreement. Stiles continues "When I look into Lydia's eyes, I only see fifty percent evil."
"Really? I say about sixty," Noel contributes, Stiles rolling his eyes goodnaturedly before saying lightheartedly "Okay, but no more than forty on a good day." Noel smiles and nods in agreement, Scott cutting in with "Guys. That's not a very good argument."
"I'm aware of that," Stiles says with a sigh. "But I swear, it's not her. It can't be, alright? Lydia's fine."
On cue, Lydia has an episode in which she sees Peter and all of her classmates are staring at her, the boys none the wiser until Stiles shows Scott and Noel the inverted "SOMEONEHELPME" she wrote on the chalkboard.
—
Noel walks into chemistry with Isaac and Erica, not Scott and Stiles. Stiles asks Scott when and where Derek could test Lydia to see if she's the kanima, which is when the Hale pack teens walk into class.
Noel is standing between Erica and Isaac, both of them touching him not-so-subtly. He doesn't seem to mind, or even notice.
"I think here and now," Scott responds to Stiles, both of them looking between the Hales and Lydia. Scott and Stiles sit on either side of Lydia, Noel settling behind her once again between Erica and Isaac. He doesn't look nearly as devious as they do- In fact, he seems oblivious to the plan altogether, getting out his textbook and a pencil like nothing is out of the ordinary.
Noel is paired with Isaac during the first round of experiments, and as they work, Noel asks him "What did Derek tell you and Erica and Boyd last night that I wasn't allowed to hear?"
"Absolutely nothing you need to worry about," Isaac says, peering over his right shoulder to where Lydia sits with Allison. Noel brings his attention back by putting a hand on the boy's left shoulder, saying "Come on. I'm pack too. And I'm Derek's boyfriend, that should give me first priority when it comes to secret pack missions."
"When you need to know, you'll know. That's all I can say," Isaac combats, once again looking at Lydia. Defeated, Noel returns to his lab work.
—
He makes his next appearance in the office with Scott, Stiles, and Allison. Scott begins the scene by saying "Derek's outside waiting for Lydia."
"Waiting to kill her?" Allison asks, looking at Noel. Scott answers "If he thinks she's the kanima, then yes. Especially after what happened at the pool."
"It's not her," Stiles and Noel say in unison, Allison suddenly rounding on Noel. "Why don't you go out there and tell Derek that, then? Go tell him it wasn't her, he'll believe you." There's an emphasis on how she says "you", as if she's implying he wouldn't believe anybody else besides him.
"Why does everyone think I have some magic manipulative power over him?" Noel asks, moving like he wants to continue that sentence, but Allison cuts him off short. "Because he has one over you," she says accusingly, taking a step closer to him.
"He's my alpha," Noel says back slowly but firmly, leaning a bit into her space as well. "Don't you remember that night when we were all trapped here and Peter had Scott wanting to kill us all just because he roared a certain way? Alphas have that instinctual control over their betas, not the other way around. Derek does what he wants, and I don't have any say. He didn't even tell me about this whole plan, he only told Erica, Isaac, and Boyd, so I'm just as in the dark here as you are," Noel shouts defensively, effectively getting Allison to back off.
When she stands down, he continues "Besides. I'm with Stiles, I know it wasn't Lydia."
"Noel, she didn't pass the test, man, nothing happened," Scott says, sounding a bit defeated. "It can't be her," Stiles says, sounding equally defeated.
Allison, now holding onto Noel's arm, says "It doesn't matter, because Derek thinks it's her. And not even his boyfriend can convince him otherwise, so either we can find a way for Noel to convince him that he's wrong, or we've got to figure out a way to protect her."
"Yeah, well I really don't think he's gonna do anything here," Scott reassures them all. "Not at school."
"But what about after school?" Noel asks, looking at the floor in front of him, his hand now resting over Allison's where it's gripping his arm tightly. He doesn't sound at all confident in their plan to save Lydia. Scott sighs in response to the question before Allison suggests "What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?"
"By three o'clock?" Stiles asks with skepticism in his voice, Allison saying "Maybe there's something in the bestiary."
"Oh, you mean the 900 page book written in archaic Latin that none of us can read? Good luck with that," Stiles says almost angrily, causing Allison to knit her eyebrows together in thought. Noel nudges her with his elbow, encouraging her to speak, and she says "Well, actually, I think I know someone who might be able to translate it."
"I can talk to Derek. Maybe I can convince him to give us a chance to prove it's not her," Noel says, Scott nodding and saying "I'll help you." Noel smiles appreciatively at him, and Scott looks between Allison and Stiles. "If anything happens, you guys let me and Noel handle it. Okay?"
"What does that mean?" Allison asks, letting go of Noel's arm to fully face Scott and look at Noel over her shoulder briefly.
"You guys can't heal like we do," Scott points out. "I just don't want you getting hurt."
Allison, amused, rummages around in her backpack briefly before pulling out her crossbow. Greatly impressed, Noel jumps back with a wide grin on his face, while the other two boys look shocked.
"I can protect myself," Allison says, and Noel smiles even wider, proud of his best friend. Scott gives her a look that shows that he feels differently about it, and Allison asks him why he's giving her that look. Scott doesn't respond, and the smile slowly starts to fade from Noel's face as Allison asks "Did something else happen?"
"I just don't want you getting hurt," Scott says after a few beats of silence. "Seriously, if anything goes wrong, you call me. Okay? I don't care if your dad finds out, call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I'll hear you, and I'll find you, as fast as I can." Allison nods, Scott continuing then "We have until three."
Scott turns to leave the office, but before he can, an arrow whizzes toward his head. He catches it just in the knick of time, revealing Stiles holding the crossbow with Noel standing beside him with his mouth hanging open in shock. Stiles hands the crossbow back to Allison with a meek apology before we cut to Lydia and Morrell.
—
Noel isn't on the field when Scott fights Boyd. Derek shows up in the middle of the fight and tells Scott matter of factly "She failed the test."
"Which doesn't prove anything," Scott counters, Derek holding up a hand to stop him from talking. He suddenly looks off into the distance behind Scott, saying "Come on out, Noel, no use hiding from me."
Hesitantly, Noel walks in from somewhere offscreen where he had been hiding (part of the plan). Derek looks Noel up and down and says "I thought I knew where your loyalties laid. Guess this'll teach me not to leave you out of the loop since you're apparently so prone to betraying me and your pack."
"I'm not betraying anyone, I'm standing up for what's right," Noel says and gives Derek a look of anger, the alpha immediately letting his eyes flash red. This shuts Noel up immediately, his own eyes turning gold in response. Scott continues what he had been saying earlier, telling Derek "Lydia's different."
"I know," Derek responds. "At night, she turns into a homicidal walking snake."
"I'm not going to let you kill her," Scott says angrily. Derek raises his eyebrows and shares a look with Boyd before asking "Who said I was gonna do it?"
Realization suddenly dawns on Noel and Scott in almost unison, both of them looking to the school as we see Erica and Isaac in the hallway.
—
After the break, Noel and Scott both move to make a break for the school. Boyd slams himself against Scott and throws him to the floor to keep him from doing so, while Derek just grabs Noel's shoulder with a clawed hand.
"I don't know why you think you have to protect everyone now, Scott," Derek says to Scott as he lays struggling on the floor. "But even so, Lydia has killed people. And she's gonna do it again, and next time, it's gonna be one of us."
"What if you're wrong?" Noel asks, trying to pull free from Derek's grip.
"She was bitten by an alpha. It's her," Derek says to Noel beside him. Scott chimes in from the ground "You saw that thing up close. You know it's not like us."
"But it is," Derek emphasizes. "We're all shapeshifters. You don't know what you're dealing with. It happens rarely, and it happens for a reason."
"What reason?" Noel asks, finally breaking free of Derek's grip and taking a step away from him. Derek looks at him and says "Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are." Derek looks down and helps Scott stand, saying to him "Even Stiles calls her cold blooded."
Scott considers this before suggesting "What if she's immune? What if she's got something inside her that makes her immune to the bite, which is why she didn't get paralyzed."
"No one's immune," Derek counters. "I've never seen it or heard of it. It's... It's never happened."
"What about Jackson?" Noel supplies, Derek blinking at him in surprise before turning back to Scott as the scene cuts to Danny and Matt in the library. They have their scene of Matt discovering all his pictures of Scott have lens flares covering his eyes. We suddenly cut back to the field, where Scott and Noel are close to hysterics.
"That's why you tested him!" Noel says, starting to pace slightly as Scott continues his thought.
"Because you gave him what he wanted, didn't you!"
"Scott-" Derek tries to address him, but Scott continues. "Peter said the bite either kills you or turns you. You were probably hoping that he would die."
Noel looks up in shock at Derek, mouth fumbling for words. When Derek doesn't deny Scott's accusation, he continues "But nothing happened, right? And you have no idea why, do you?"
Derek looks enraged, but he replies calmly "No."
"I have a theory," Scott says, softer this time. "Lydia's immune and somehow she passed it on to Jackson. You know I'm right!"
"No!" Derek denies, but says nothing more.
"You cannot do this!" Scott says pleadingly, Noel shrinking back as one hand flies up to grab a hold of his hair. Suddenly Derek yells as well, "Look, I can't let her live! You should have known that."
"We were hoping we could convince you," Noel says, hand falling from his hair to rest at his side. Derek turns to look at him as Scott says "We were hoping, but we weren't counting on it."
The scene ends with a long shot on Derek's face before we see Isaac and Erica entering the library in search of Lydia.
—
When Scott and Noel are running down the hallway to meet the rest of the group with Lydia, Finstock yells for Scott to go see him. Noel hesitates, but Scott pats his shoulder and nods. Noel nods back, starting to run again and leaving Scott behind.
—
Noel is in the jeep with the group when they pull out of the parking lot. He sits on the other side of Lydia, so she is sandwiched between both Whittemore boys.
—
When they all arrive at Scott's place and start walking in, Allison asks Noel "So where is Scott? And how did you get to us so fast?"
"Finstock held him back to talk about something, he should be here any minute. I doubt it'll take very long," Noel responds.
Once inside, awkwardness ensues as they all stand in the doorway and Stiles starts locking them all inside.
After the rest of the Hale pack arrives at Scott's that night and Stiles looks out into the street at them, he turns to Noel and says "Go out there and talk to them, they're your pack! And he's your boyfriend!"
"Can everyone stop pulling the 'he's your boyfriend' card with me?" Noel asks and crosses his arms as he starts to pace. "They're my pack, and he's my boyfriend, but they're on their mission and I'm on ours. Me going out there to talk to them is no better than you going out there to talk to them."
Stiles groans in frustration and peeks out again as if they would have left in the three seconds he wasn't staring out the window at them. After a few tense moments of silence, Allison taps something on her phone and Stiles asks what she's doing.
"I think I have to call my dad," she says, Noel's eyes going wide. "If he find you here, you and Scott-" Stiles starts to say, but she cuts him off.
"I know. But what are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, they're here to kill Lydia." Noel looks out the window at his pack outside and looks like he's debating something.
—
After the scene with Jackson and Lydia cuts back to downstairs, Noel makes a noise of displeasure when Allison cocks her crossbow. Not sensing his friend's discomfort and fear, Stiles says "I have an idea."
Noel looks hopeful, until Stiles says "Shoot one of them."
Noel immediately says "No!" while Allison asks "Are you serious?"
"We told Scott we can protect ourselves, and Noel's already on our side where we need him, so lets do it. At least give it a shot, right?" Noel shakes his head and says "Allison, no, don't, please."
His plea falls on deaf ears, as Allison turns back to the window and says "Alright."
Noel's face pales and he steps back away from the door, tears in his eyes. Stiles says "Look, they don't think we're gonna fight back. So if one of them gets hit I guarantee they'll take off. So just shoot one of them."
Noel starts begging Allison not to. "Alli, they're our friends, they're my pack, please, you can't do this! There has to be something else we can do, some other way to get them to leave. We can think this through, logically, right? No one has to get hurt, please, please don't do this."
"Which one?" Allison asks Stiles as she looks out the window, ignoring Noel's begging and pleading.
"Derek. Yeah, shoot him, preferably in the head," Stiles says, Noel letting out a strangled cry and shaking his head. "If Scott was able to catch an arrow, Derek definitely can," Allison supplies, Noel sighing in slight relief.
"Okay, just shoot one of the other three then," Stiles says, and before Noel can protest, Allison says "You mean two."
"I mean three," Stiles repeats, looking out the window and seeing that Isaac is gone.
"Where the hell is Isaac?" he asks, and suddenly Isaac appears behind the group. He shoves Noel behind him before grabbing the crossbow from Allison and knocking Stiles to the ground effortlessly. He turns back to Noel and warns "Get outside before Derek kills you."
Noel doesn't move as Isaac goes to Stiles and attacks him.
—
Later, after Allison locks herself in a room and finds the kanima there at the window, she yells "Stiles! Noel! It's here."
—
At the end of the episode, Noel stands on the porch with Stiles, Allison, and Scott, facing the Hale pack as Isaac and Erica lay on the lawn paralyzed.
"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott," Derek says. "You're not an omega. You're already an alpha. Of your own pack."
Allison and Stiles both look at Noel, who looks shocked, but stands his ground. Derek also looks at Noel before looking back at Scott, saying "But you know you can't beat me."
"I can hold you off until the cops get here," Scott responds as sirens start to sound in the distance.
Suddenly on the roof is the kanima, and the whole group watches it flee before Derek cuts the silence. "Get them out of here," he says to Boyd, tilting his head down at Isaac and Erica. Lydia then walks out of the house, alone, yelling "Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"
The camera zooms in on Noel as the boy says in a voice that's cracking with emotion as realization dawns on him. "The kanima... It's Jackson..."
—
This is his last appearance of the episode.