Heartbeat // A Derek Hale Love Story (Teen Wolf)

That Matters

"They're looking for him now?" he asked softly and I nodded, the familiar emotion rising in my throat.

"He'll probably go to jail for the rest of his life if I don't prove it wasn't him," I breathed. "And I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Do you know who truly killed the janitor?"

"No," I admitted. "But I'm going to find out."

"Lillian, what aren't you telling me?"

His words cracked something in me. Something fundamental and old and unyielding. My chest screamed as I kept my mouth shut. I couldn't tell him. It was for his own good. Even if it was killing me.

*

I sobbed all the way back to the loft. Everything was a complete mess, and lying to my dad was only the start of it. My life was potentially completely ruined. So was Derek's. The worst part about it was he didn't even do anything. This entire time he'd been trying to stop the Alpha from killing people, and now all of it was pinned on him.

Tears blurred my vision as I trudged up the stairs and flung the door open. Derek was next to me a split second later, a solid wall to collapse against.

"Shhhhhhh, shhhhhhh," Derek soothed, stroking my hair as I cried into his chest. "Talk to me, what happened?"

"I just talked to my dad," I choked. "And I realized how screwed we are." By the end of the sentence, my voice was so garbled with tears I was shocked Derek understood me.

"Did you tell him the truth?" he asked quietly.

"Some of it," I replied, turning to look into his eyes. "I promised him you didn't do it, and even though I'm your alibi, you decided to run." A fresh round of tears came pouring out. "This was such a terrible idea, Derek," I whimpered.

"I don't think we could've done anything differently," he said.

"Doesn't mean this sucks any less," I sniffed, leaning into him. "What are we even supposed to do now? Go looking for the Alpha? You can't go outside! Everyone thinks you're in Brooklyn and a murderer, so if they see you, you're done for! How am I supposed to figure this out on my own?"

"Stiles and Scott are going to help, they both want to find the Alpha, too. And I can be a lot more stealthy than I think you give me credit for."

"I don't want you leaving the property until this is all sorted out," I snapped. "Don't even try it, or you'll have me to deal with."

"Y'know, that normally would be pretty cute, but now I know you might actually be able to make me do what you want. I best be careful," Derek joked, and despite how I was feeling, he made me smile.

Derek smiled, really smiled, and leaned toward me but suddenly stopped, his spine stiffening. His head tilted, just barely. He heard something I couldn't hear. "Someone's coming. A car."

My heart dropped as Derek bolted to the other side of the loft, ready to climb up onto the roof. I quickly ran to the door and glanced out. "Jesus," I sighed, taking in the sight of Stiles' Jeep. "It's Stiles and Scott," I called to Derek. "Let me deal with this."

The wrath on Derek's face told me that was highly unlikely.

I galloped down the stairs, skipping steps until I was outside and in front of Stiles' car. "What the hell do you want?" I snarled as the teenagers got out of his vehicle.

"Don't shoot," Stiles joked, his mood far too cheery for the given situation. Scott looked around nervously for Derek.

"You must want to die, coming here," I scoffed. "I can't say I'll stop Derek when he tries to kill you for what you did."

"Can you just hang on two seconds and let me talk?" Stiles snapped back, raising his hands in mock-surrender. Scott stayed on the other side of the Jeep, out of reach of me strangling him.

"You've done a lot of talking recently that's pretty much ruined my life, especially you," I hissed, pointing at Scott. "What do you want?"

"I have some good news," Stiles said immediately before Scott could defend himself. "I know this comes on the heels of betraying you, and I'm really sorry about that."

"We're really sorry about that," Scott added.

Stiles nodded. "But do you remember how Derek was arrested last time for murder?"

"Yeah, he was released because it was ruled an animal attack," I said, my brows furrowing.

Stiles gave me a knowing look, and a split second later, it clicked. A split second after that, my heart threatened to burst.

"You mean--"

"The murder was ruled an animal attack, Derek isn't wanted anymore. My dad just told me, we came straight here."

"Are you fucking serious." I couldn't comprehend what that meant. "You've got to be joking."

"Do you want me to be joking?" Stiles laughed, and I nearly slapped him straight in the face. All the pain and anguish of the past day. All of it was gone. Without thinking, I launched into Stiles' arms and hugged him so tightly heard his bones groan.

"I think I'm going to kill you for real for all the trouble you caused," I said, my voice deadly soft and full of tears and the world spun around me. I knew Derek had heard. There was no way he wasn't listening to the conversation.

Stiles tried to laugh, stuck in the embrace. "I'm sorry," he murmured in my ear. He meant it. There was no question.

"I know," I breathed. "Just don't do it again. Or I really will kill you," I let out a sniffling chuckle, finally releasing him. He huffed in relief, taking a step back. I smiled over at Scott despite what he did.

"It wasn't even me who said it," Stiles pointed out. "Why am I always responsible for cleaning up Scott's messes?"

I tilted my head; he had a point. I glanced back to Scott as he opened his mouth.

"Can we just chalk it up to teenage idiocy?" he asked and I almost laughed, looking back to Stiles. When his eyes left mine and moved upwards, I followed his gaze to see Derek standing in the doorway of the loft.

A ghost of a smile swept across his face. "Well, that went better than I was expecting."

A/N: Alright, guess who's finally done her first year of uni? Me! Now, onto me regular writing!! <3

I was super duper conflicted about this chapter because it doesn't follow the show, but I always found it really strange that Derek was accused of murdering the janitor when he was killed by an animal and earlier when his sister was killed in the same way, he wasn't wanted anymore. It just seemed too easy that Scott was accidentally able to have the cops go after Derek like they were 100% sure he was the one to do it.

Anyway, I'm beginning to realize I don't really know how I'm going to end this book. I've never been very good at endings, just ask my Archangel readers. The ending of that book was literal trash and I think I should try to be better this time. I just don't really know what to do. How do you end a book that you've been working on for four years?

Ah well, such is life. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Cheers,

- TAAF_