My Mate || Derek Hale

Riddled - Part Two

Scott, Lydia and Aiden left to get a few more hours sleep before heading to school while Jess, Derek, and the sheriff stayed at the hospital with Melissa.

"Jess, Derek, you really don't have to stay." The sheriff said to the couple.

"I'm not leaving you here alone, Sheriff." Jess stated as Derek took her hand, trying to stop her shaking. 

"I need to go, I've got a lead." Derek told the pair. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" He whispered to his wife before placing a kiss on her cheek and standing up, nodding to the sheriff as he started to leave. 

"Der, wait." Jess called out. "Sheriff, you should go home, try and get some sleep or at least shower and change clothes, get some things for Stiles. I'll stay here and call you if anything happens, I promise."

"Are you sure, Jess?" The sheriff asked her.

"Of course. Go." Jess answered, giving the man a slight smile. He hesitated slightly but Derek came back over and patted his shoulder comfortingly, pushing him slightly to the door. 

                                                                                         ~~~~~~~

"Hey, Beautiful." Derek said as soon as Jess picked up the phone. "Any news?"

"No. He's done all the tests and is currently sleeping." Jess responded as she rubbed her forehead. "How's the lead going?"

"I'm on my way to the place Barrow took Kira."

"Why?"

"She's showing me exactly what happened that night." He stated as he parked the cruiser. "I've gotta go I've just arrived but be careful, okay?"

"Yeah you too, Hale."

"I love you, Jess." The wolf reminded her, feeling her pull away from him. 

Jess was silent for a moment before speaking in one breath, "Love you too." as she hung up. Derek stayed in his car for a minute, breathing heavily as he felt the bond weakening while the witch put her phone in her jacket and buried her head in her hands before standing in the doorway of Stiles' room, joining Melissa and the sheriff. "What's going on?"

"It was the other day... I asked him some questions... Just symptoms and um..." Melissa started before being interrupted by the announcement speaker.

"Blue team to ICU, please. Blue team, ICU."

"Yeah. It's okay. I think I uh..." Stiles' father stuttered, pulling his notepad out of his pocket and opening it to a page with a list on. "I think I know what you're talking about. I've been writing these down for the last 2 weeks." He handed the notebook over to Jess and Melissa who proceeded to read through the list. "I think we need to do some more tests..."

Impulsive, hallucinations, insomnia, night terrors, dissociative and confusion were written on the list, causing Jess to shift uncomfortably and look at the man; they were symptoms of frontotemporal dementia. Melissa looked at the man in sympathy, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze before walking off. Jess guided him back over to the seats and sat down next to him.

"We can't give up hope, Sheriff. Besides, even if he does have it, you know what Scott would do."

"Isn't there anything you can do? Stiles told me you can heal people." The man asked.

"I don't know and I don't know if he'd want me to risk it." Jess answered, feeling guilty about the whole situation, to which the sheriff nodded.

                                                                                                 ~~~~~~

Stiles was sat on the MRI machine with Scott standing in front of him and Jess holding his hand while Melissa and the sheriff spoke to the doctor.

"I'm not sure how to pronounce this or if it's not actually a misspelling-"

"Just called him Stiles." The sheriff interrupted impatiently to which the doctor nodded before walking over to the boy.

"Okay. Stiles, just to warn you, you're going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI. It's due to pulses of electricity going through metal coils inside the machine. Uh, if you want, we can get you earplugs or headphones..." The doctor said.

"No, no, I don't need anything." The boy responded.

"We're just on the other side of the window, okay?" Noah reminded his son. 

"Okay." Stiles answered, patting his father on the arm before he and Melissa left.

"Love you, kid." Jess stated as she pulled the boy into a hug.

"I love you too, Jessie." He responded causing her to smile at the nickname he hadn't called her for years before leaving, wiping away her tears as she gave the best friends a minute. She didn't hear what they said but could see the emotions in both of their eyes before they hugged and Scott walked out and wrapped his arms around Jess.

"Come on, let's go sit outside." The witch said to Scott as she pulled away slightly. Scott kept an arm wrapped around her shoulder as they walked out only to find Derek sat on one of the chairs, immediately turning his head to look at the pair. "Hey." Jess greeted her husband as he stood up to kiss her before giving the alpha's shoulder a comforting squeeze and guiding them over to the chairs.

Scott sat across from the married couple as Derek put an arm around Jess' shoulder, his inner wolf feeling slightly uncomfortable that his wife smelt like another guy.

"You know the stuff you were teaching me earlier about chemo signals? It reminded me of the time you were teaching me to use anger to control the shift." Scott said to the former alpha, chuckling.

Derek smiled slightly and responded while moving to rest his arms on his knees and rub his palms together, "I think you ended up teaching me more about that..."

"Are you teaching me again?"

"Think of it as sharing a few trade secrets. You know I took Cora back to South America, right?" The alpha nodded so he continued. "It's where she spent most of her time after the fire. But that's not the only reason I left... I needed to talk to my mother." 

"Your dead mother?" Scott questioned as Jess rubbed her husband's shoulder comfortingly. 

"She told me something that changed my perspective on a lot of things. She said that my family didn't just live in Beacon Hills, they protected it. This town needs someone to protect it. Someone like you." 

"And someone like you to teach me a few trade secrets." Scott replied before looking at Jess. "You too, Jess, you know so much about this stuff. Please can you both teach me?" The couple smiled as Derek covered Jess' hand with his own before noticing the alpha's changed facial expression.

"What is it?" Jess queried. 

The wolf stood up before answering. "He was trying to protect us. Stiles was protecting us."

"From himself." Derek added in realisation, standing up to join his alpha as he held a hand out to his wife before they rushed out onto the roof.

"What are we looking for?" Jess asked.

"I'm not sure... But I think Stiles wasn't just up here struggling with himself. I think he was struggling not to do something." Scott responded causing them to start looking around. He jumped onto a crate and moved his hand around on top of a fenced-off area before finding a bag and pulling it down.

A load of equipment fell out of the bag causing Jess to crouch down and look through it, finding cut wires, wire clippers and other various tools. The wolves then heard something and looked up to find a partially cut wire that was starting to spark so Derek pulled the witch back behind him.

They started walking back inside when the wolves stopped suddenly causing Jess to turn around to face them. "Uh guys?" She questioned just before the fenced-off area started to explode. Derek immediately pulled Jess into his arms and covered her while Scott watched the area.

"We have a problem..." Scott stated as he watched the partially cut wire tear in two and the live part start flying around before it fell off the edge and down to the parking lot.

"Scott, Kira's down there." Derek informed the alpha.