Shifted

18 - Digging for Answers (Part 3)

Scott stayed sitting in the woods after Allison called. His girlfriend helped him see things in a different way and realize that maybe he was taking Stiles for granted and putting everything else above him. So he decided that the next time he saw Stiles, he'd make more of an effort to let Stiles know how much he appreciated and valued him.

With that decided, he now only had one more thing to worry about: Stiles riding around in his jeep with a possible killer.

He didn't know what to do. Stiles looked like he knew what he was doing, he didn't even look scared when Derek Hale got into his jeep. But instead of reassuring him, Stiles' calm demeanour only worried him more! Scott has seen that calm, unworried look on Stiles dozens of times before and it always ended with either or both of them with cuts and bruises and getting grounded for life. The last time he saw Stiles that calm was the night they went looking for the dead body and it ended with Stiles getting attacked by a wild animal and him losing his inhaler.

Knowing all that, he couldn't help but worry that Stiles was getting in way over his head once again. Only this time he could end up with more than just a few scrapes.

He could just let it go and trust that Stiles really knew what he was doing. But what if Stiles was in trouble now? What if he totally misread the situation earlier and Stiles was actually being threatened by Derek Hale? How could he forgive himself if anything happened to Stiles because he decided to waste precious hours he could have used helping his friend?

Choosing to err on the side of caution, Scott dialled Stiles' number and waited for him to answer.

"Come on Stiles pick up."

He waited and waited, feeling his anxiety grow with each ring.

Hey you just missed me. But if you knew how to dial my number, I'm assuming you also know what to do after the beep.

When Scott first heard Stiles' outgoing message, he was partway amused and annoyed. Now, the stupid message just acted like gasoline to the worry burning inside him. His best friend left the woods with a possible killer in the passenger seat and now he wasn't answering his phone.

He tried calling him a few more times but Stiles still never answered, all he heard was his outgoing message playing on a loop.

"Why isn't he answering?"

Thinking of the worst scenarios, Scott went and dialled another number. This time, he got an immediate answer.

"911 what's your emergency?"

OoOoO

The two werewolves fell silent as they listened in on Sheriff Stilinski's phone call across the hall.

"Sheriff we got a tip about the killer."

At that, both Stiles and Derek tensed. No matter what the tip was about, there was no doubt that it would be bad for both of them especially for Derek.

"What is it?"

"A kid called saying to check on Derek Hale. He says he heard Hale talking to someone about the body and the killer."

Stiles and Derek exchanged a look. It seemed like someone heard their confrontation at the woods and neither of them noticed anyone.

"We already cleared Hale, didn't we?"

"We did Sheriff but the kid sounded pretty scared. It could be worth checking out."

Stiles scoffed. He knew that this tip the deputy got could hardly be called a lead and he knew that under normal circumstances, the deputy would have ignored this tip and chosen instead to find solid leads. However, he also knew by the excitement in the deputy's voice that he would follow this lead no matter how vague if only so he could get off the desk and do something to alleviate his boredom.