Aspen rose with the sun, the orange and pink morning sky painting a beautiful canvas along the mountain tops. She had opened the shop early that morning and was always moving around to serve the next customer. The afternoon rolled around, and she took her available time to head back home and spend time with her grandfather. She hoped to fall upon the subject about the marbles and her new powers. 

Sitting on one of her legs, Aspen let her other leg dangle from her chair as she stared intensely at the chessboard set in front of her. Grandpa Sam sat across from her with a smug smile on his lips, amused by Aspen's frustration in her possible losing. She's never been good at the game but always picked up a few moves from her grandfather. Just as she made a move that was sure to get her closer to winning, Grandpa Sam didn't give it a second thought before he captured one of her knights.

Aspen's mouth gaped open and slammed her hands on the table. "You can't do that," she argued, pointing toward the black knight he had captured.

"I can because I just did." he shrugged, taking a break to sip his tea, sporting his blue robe that snuggled around his body.

"How? I had you in a blockade."

"Yes, and I discovered your attack. You were open."

Aspen nibbled on her thumbnail, pausing just before realizing her mistake. Throwing her head back, Aspen let out a frustrated noise while Grandpa Sam laughed.

"I hate this game," she mumbled, looking back at her grandfather.

"I quite enjoy it," he shrugged.

"Yea, because you always win."

"Precisely." Grandpa Sam winked, earning a smirk and an eyes roll from Aspen. "So, you said Isaac and yourself are friends again?" Grandpa Sam asked, continued the chess game.

Aspen smiled to herself. "Yea, we're good now. You know they have a game coming up soon. You should come."

"Oh, I don't think my back could handle that," he chuckled.

"Come on, when was the last time you went to a lacrosse game? I know you're getting bored from just watching them on tv. I think you would enjoy yourself."

Grandpa Sam pondered the thought as he slowly captured yet another one of Aspen's knights, bringing her to scowl. "Yea," he said, convincing himself, "Yea, I think I'll go. It might be fun."

Aspen kept her eyes on the board, drowning in her unnoticed failure. "I hate you," Aspen snapped, narrowing her eyes at her grandfather.

He put his hands over his chest in mock hurt, "Oh, you're breaking my heart, Julia."

"I was being facetious."

"Oooh, look at that vocabulary."

That's when Aspen paused her laughter, pondering her grandfather's previous words. "Pa, what did you call me?" she inquired, her eyes soft with worry.

Her tone went unnoticed by her grandfather as his face contorted from sipping his cold tea. "What do you mean, Juney?" he asked, standing up from his seat and shuffling toward the microwave to warm up his tea.

"You called me Julia. Just a second ago."

Grandpa Sam, with his back turned, paused, a frown marring his features. Aspen couldn't see it but rather feel it. She knew that she had gained some sort of reaction out of him because of her words. After a few seconds, Grandpa Sam turned around with an embarrassed smile.

"Did I?" he chuckled, "Oh, I'm sorry, Juney. Must've slipped. You just carry a lot of your mother's features. Including that small beauty mark just on the bridge of your nose. Right there..." Grandpa Sam tapped the spot where he spoke of on his own nose before Aspen did the same, feeling a small beauty mark.

Aspen was just about to bring up the subject about her new abilities, but she now saw she had something else she needed to worry about.

<•>

In the dead of night, Scott and Aspen blindly followed Stiles into an empty ranger park. The moon acting as their only light source, Aspen was close to slipping in a puddle when Scott grabbed her arm to keep her balanced. It was way past their usual bedtime, and having school the next day wasn't going to benefit any of them.

"What are we doing here?" Aspen asked, catching a glimpse of the Ranger Station sign above a small cabin door. Despite acting just as clueless as Scott, Stiles had already told her on the way to picking up Scott that he had a plan to get his mind off Allison.

"You'll see," Stiles called out from in front of them, leading them into a field next to the woods.

"We really shouldn't be here. My mom is in a constant state of freak out since the other night." Scott warned, looking at his surrounding, waiting for a park ranger to bust them.

"Well, your mom isn't the sheriff. No comparison there, trust me." Stiles said, "so I thought since you got dumped-"

"I wasn't dumped!"

"Alright well, then when your best friend gets told by his girlfriend that you're taking a break," Stiles spun around and held up a bottle of Jack, "you get your best friend drunk." Aspen stood next to Stiles and made jazz hands toward the bottle with a sheepish grin.

"Aspen, if you knew what we were doing here, why did you come?" Scott asked.

"Emotional support," Aspen said as if it was already obvious, "now let's go," Aspen backhanded his stomach before following Stiles up a rocky hill.

The three eventually found a place to settle and passed the drink around, each drinking an equal amount to make them intoxicated. Stiles laid on the ground, his arm resting under his head for support while Aspen laid her head on his stomach.

"She's just one....girl dude. One girl." Stiles told Scott, setting down the bottle of Jack after taking another swig of the burning drink. Aspen took a small break, the drink itching her throat after a while.

"Yes, one pretty girl," Aspen pointed out, poking the bottom of Stiles' chin, making him jerk away from the unexpected contact.

"That is correct, but there are so many. So so so many girls in the sea."

"You mean fish?" Scott asked, sitting upon a rock, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Yes, fish!" Stiles exclaimed with a laugh, Aspen clapping at his realization. "especially the fish with strawberry blonde hair...green eyes...5'3..."

"Lydia is a fish?" Aspen jolted upright, quickly becoming dizzy and falling back before Scott reached out, holding her upright by her back.

"Why are you talking about fish?" Stiles asked her, tilting his head to see Aspen scooting back to sit between Scott's legs, placing her arms on his knees and giving them a pat.

"I 'ave a question," Aspen words came out as slurs as she kept her eyes on Scott's knees with curiosity. "Are knees not simply leg knuckles?"

Stiles squeezed the bridge of his nose, pondering the thought before shaking his head. "No. No, no, I think they're more like um...leg elbows," he answered after a yawn.

"Impossible. Because elbows are just arm knuckles."

"But wouldn't that mean knuckles are finger elbows?"

The two turned their head toward each other while Scott only rolled his eyes toward them. Aspen was the first to break into uncontrollable giggles, and Stiles soon followed along.

Aspen looked up, seeing Scott's heavy expression. She pouted and gently slapped his cheek. "Hey, you're not happy," she stated with a hiccup.

"Here, have a drink." Stiles offered, lifting the bottle towards him.

"I don't want anymore," Scott whispered.

"You're not drunk?"

"I'm not anything."

Aspen nodded as she processed Scott's words as if it was a sacred message. "That's deep. Power to you, bro." Aspen said, patting his knee before shuffling forward and facing both Stiles and Scott. "You know, maybe it's like you not needing your inhaler anymore. You can't get drunk as a wolf."

Suddenly, someone snatched the bottle of Jack from the ground, bringing the three of them to look up and see a middle-aged man gripping the bottle with a smug grin. Another man shadowed him, trying to appear intimidating.

Aspen was quick to scurry back to sit next to Stiles and help him sit up.

"Give it back," Scott demanded, slowing rising to his feet.

"What's that little man?" the bigger man asked with a snicker.

"Scott, maybe we should go," Aspen suggested, grabbing Stiles by his arm to lift him to his feet.

The big man was not intimidated in the slightest and took a long swig from the drink. Aspen turned to Scott, her eyes pleading that they just head back to the car. Though she couldn't see his face, Aspen noticed Scott's nails begin to retract from his fingertip, making her gape and shake her head. If he wolfed out now, the men would just claim another animal attack. Even worse, the Alpha would see this as improvement and another step into Scott joining its pack.

The night ended with Scott throwing the bottle of Jack against a far off tree, scaring the two men into a scurry. Stiles and Aspen had to keep up with Scott's pace as he rushed back to the car, a stomp with each step.

"So was that about the breakup or the fact that there's a full moon tomorrow?" Aspen asked, but the werewolf gave no response. Scott opened the passenger door to Stiles jeep and waited for them to mount inside.

"Are you sober?" Scott asked Aspen, seeing as the girl almost tripped over her own foot.

"I'm moderately functional," she mumbled with a nod of confidence.

"I'll take that as a no."