Monster. (Sterek)

Part 13: Realisations And Remedies .

~~~~~

"So he's not coming back?" Derek asked as he watched Stiles pace the length of the room – something he tended to do when he was nervous – hands working his hair into a tangled mess. He was muttering quietly to himself but Derek didn't dare to listen in.

"Not for a long time. Scott doesn't want to help Stiles." Lydia sighed, dropping down onto Derek's couch. Her eyes followed Stiles' movements.

"Why? I mean I can guess why... I assumed that he would say no because he hates me. And maybe he doesn't think I can be saved. In fact, I'm sure that's it. So don't tell me. You don't need to tell me. But I need to know what he said so that... so that I--" his voice slowly trailed off, down a path of fear and hatred. His words tumbled into one another, desperate to get out all at once yet none of them wanted to be first. Derek knew he had to do something, and soon. One look at Lydia confirmed this.

He pushed off of the wall he had been leaning on and walked over to Stiles. Extending his hand, he kept his voice low as he spoke Stiles' name. Stiles grasped it and let Derek pull him over to the couch where he lay down, feet in Lydia's lap, head in Derek's. "Stiles, we'll figure this out."

"I have Deaton looking into why it needs to be a true alpha. As I said before, the rest of The Pack are looking into other ways, which is why I don't think we should go after Evalyn right now. Even Isaac and Danny are helping. Isaac said that it's helping him keep his mind off everything." Lydia informed them. The room fell into silence for a long while.

Derek ran his fingers through Stiles' hair, slowly tugging out every knot as he thought. What if they did what Scott did to him with Gerard: forced Scott to bite Stiles? He let himself entertain the idea for a few moments. It would be nice; watching Scott struggle and fight against his instincts and Derek's own hand. Beautiful revenge. So sweet that Derek could almost taste it. Maybe they would use wolfsbane to subdue him, maybe they would have to ask Jackson for some of his kanima venom – if he could still make that. Maybe they'd have to rough him up a bit – he'd let Stiles have a go, obviously. It would all be for Stiles...

He shook his head. He sounded insane. Stiles wouldn't want that. Scott may have broken his trust, loyalty, a life long friendship, but he hadn't broken Stiles. He knew that, deep down, Stiles still loved Scott. Missed him, most days, too. Derek refused to hurt Stiles like that.

And besides, Scott had had his reasons at the time. Derek knew that. If Scott had told him what his plan was, then he wouldn't have agreed to it. Not back then. And, by now, they would struggle to find him. It was late, and Scott had left early morning yesterday, his scent would be fading fast. By the time they got to the outer edges of town, it would have faded too much to be able to follow.

Stiles' phone rang, shattering the silence like a bullet to glass. Pulling himself up, he grabbed it from the table and answered it. He didn't bother to leave; Derek could just listen in either way. "Hey, Dad."

"Hey, kiddo. How're you holding up? Lydia explained everything to us earlier." Noah asked, voice muffled and crackling on the other end.

"I've been better, have any news?"

"Actually, yeah. There's some suspicious activity just outside Beacon Hills. Don't get your hopes up though, son, it might just be a beta." It was too late for that. Stiles was already up and halfway to the door before Noah could even finish. Derek quickly explained what had been said to Lydia and then they were jogging after him.

~~~~~

As it turned out, Noah had been half right. It was an omega wolf. She had been looking for Scott and as soon as they had told her that he had left, she bolted. Everyone had gone home disappointed.

~~~~~

It was a week later before they got any more news. During that week, not a lot happened. Derek and Stiles spent most of their time at Stiles' house researching. And if they weren't there then they were at Derek's with The Pack looking through books and chatting.

It was all rather surreal; The Pack, now all officially Derek's Pack, were all just... getting along. Before Scott had left, they argued, constantly. It didn't matter what it was about – what movie to watch, what food was better, who killed who in a video game – there was always something. But now? Now it was calmer. Almost too calm. It made Derek feel like they should be preparing for a storm to toss them out to sea.

But the storm had already been and gone, had it not? Yet there could always be another one. Then again, maybe this was just everyone coming together to help each other heal. They needed time, after all. Or maybe Scott had been the catalyst for everything that was bad. Maybe, if Derek traced all the fights back, big and small, he would be able to find Scott at the root of it all. He was thinking too deep into this. It didn't matter, either way, he was grateful that they were all coming together to help Stiles.

He looked over at Stiles to see that he was smiling. Bright and large and genuine. Their eyes met and that smile became the small one that was made specifically for Derek, the one that made him feel like a teenager with everything to live for and nothing to lose.

The door slid open with a loud clack and Lydia strode through. Her face was sombre but Derek could tell that she was buzzing inside. The Pack clambered around her after she sat down. "So, Deaton managed to dig up a couple of old notebooks about Ophidian vamps. One of which was written by the person who figured out how to change one back."

Stiles pressed himself into Derek's side, startling him as he'd been too distracted by what Lydia had said to notice Stiles sidle up next to him. He wrapped his arm around Stiles' shoulders nonetheless.

"One of the pages was nearly illegible but, after we managed to decipher it we realised that it was exactly what we had been looking for. It explained that the reason it had to be a true alpha was because they are powerful and pure in their intentions. In theory, this would mean that we can use any powerful alpha whose only intention is to help the vampire." All eyes turned to Derek.

"Der, if you aren't comfortable doing this then I understand." Stiles hummed, keeping his voice low despite knowing most of The Pack could hear him anyway.

"I'll do whatever is necessary." His grip around Stiles tightened, and his tone made his words sound more like a threat than a promise.

"You should think about it--"

"I already have, Stiles. I couldn't stop thinking about it." Despite his best efforts.

"Okay, if you're sure. Thank you." There was no falsity, no faked truths or half-heartedness about the way he said those two simple words: thank you. Stiles' eyes glistened darker than usual, the too-dark sparkle of his other side, he blinked and it was gone.

Lydia cleared her throat, "I guess the next step would be to find Evalyn."

Stiles grinned in a way that was unfamiliar, raw, detached and too-full, "I guess so." And so, so beautiful.