Parrish presses a button on the weapon, the end stabbing the air as it springs into place. His eyes widen as he look into my dad's eyes. "Sorry, but I can't let you walk out with this. It's way above the legal voltage limit."
Dad slyly glances at Derek and I beside him. "I only use it for hunting."
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure you could use it to jump start a seven forty seven." Parrish doesn't back down.
I look from the two of them. We don't have time to argue over the choice of weapons we have. The Nogistune is still out there and I want to save my best friend.
Dad narrows his eyes. "This property belongs to me."
"And the charges were dropped." I remind Parrish. I look from my dad to Derek on my other side. "Although, I'm not exactly sure who's responsible for that."
"I am." Sheriff Stilinski steps up to the four of us, leaning against the counter beside my dad. His eyes dart to the weapon on the counter, separating us from Parrish. "I'll take care of this, Parrish."
Parrish shakes his head, glancing down at the weapon. "Sheriff, I'm not kidding. This thing's a few watts from being a lightsaber."
Mr. Stilinski grabs the weapon from the deputy's hand. "I said I'll take care of it." He waves the three of us forward to head towards his office on the other side of the room.
I half smile at Parrish before following behind Derek. I left the hospital this morning to bail these two from jail with the help of Mr. Stilinski. I don't really know what everyone else had planned for today. We kind of all broke off to do our own things. I file into the office and just the door right behind me. Mr. Stilinski walks around his desk. I step up to the other side of the desk, squeezing between Derek and my father.
"The specialist I saw in LA told me the thing that every doctor says when he's trying to avoid a lawsuit. 'We can't say for sure.' And then I spoke with Melissa." Mr. Stilinski begins to tell the three of us. He grabs some scans of brains out from under some papers. "These are brain scans. My wife's and Stiles'." He hands them over to my dad.
I look down at the scans.
"I knew they were similar, but those are the same. Exactly the same."
Dad slides the scans over each other. Everything lines into the same place, looking as if it was one brain scan.
Derek leans forward a little to get a better look. His arm brushes against my back and I resist the urge to lean closer to him. "I'm guessing this isn't possible?"
"Not even remotely."
"So, the trickster is still playing tricks." Dad drops the brain scans on the desk.
I sigh. "But why this trick?"
Mr. Stilinski shifts on his feet. "When I was in the army, an officer told me, 'If you want to defeat your enemy, you don't take away their courage, you take away their hope.'"
"You don't look like a man who gives up hope easily." Dad responds.
I bite my bottom lip, understanding where this is going. "But Stiles might."
Mr. Stilinski nods at me. "If this thing inside him- if it's using his mother's disease as some sort of psychological trick, then this isn't just a fight for his body. It's also a fight for his mind, right?"
"You know, he's left people severely injured." Dad inputs.
"And others severely dead." Derek adds.
"He's still Stiles underneath all of that." I remind the two of them.
"That's why I need the three of you. I need people who are experienced in this kind of thing. I need you to help me stop him."
"And by stop him, you mean trap him?" My dad asks to clarify.
Mr. Stilinski nods. He picks up the weapon from his desk, holding it out for him to take. Dad grabs the weapon and the two of them share a look. There is no way that my dad is completely okay with not killing the Nogistune. That's how he raised. He kills the enemy. He doesn't trap them.
Ten minutes later, I'm forced to sit in the passenger's side of Derek's car, while following Mr. Stilinski and my dad to the Argent residence. I was given the option of riding with my dad, but I'd rather ride with Derek than him. Although, riding with Derek to my dad's place is probably not much better.
"I'm sorry that I slept with her." Derek randomly says, breaking the awkward silence that had settled upon us.
I keep my gaze locked on the trees zooming by. "No need to apologize. We weren't together."
Derek's hand tighten around the wheel a little. "I know, but I shouldn't have done it." His voice drops, like he is afraid anyone else but me will hear this. "I guess I just missed you and she was there."
"Derek, I don't care." I whisper. "We aren't together anymore. I shouldn't care what you did while I was gone. I left and we were broken up. Did I love you? Yes. Did it take me months for me to get over you? Yes." I sigh, looking over towards him. "We have to reason to apologize for what we did while we were broken up. You had Jennifer and now, I have Isaac. The end."
Derek stops at a red light behind the two cars ahead of us. "I don't want it to be the end."
My heart nearly breaks in two. "You don't get a choice."
He partially spins around in his seat. "Remember when you first moved here? You went into the Hale House after Scott and Stiles dug up my sister's wolf body out of the ground. I pushed you up against a wall and you were pleading for me not to kill you. Do you remember what you said?"
I give Derek an odd look for bringing this memory back up. "No."
"You said 'Please don't kill me. I'm not ready to die. I haven't even kissed a guy yet.'" Derek reminds me with a hint of a smile on his lips.
I silently curse myself for ever saying that out loud.
Derek stays planted in place as the light turns green. "Fast forward about a week, and you are demanding that I pull the car over on the side of the road after we spent the day together for your birthday." Derek's eyes fully lock on mine. "You kissed me. Your first kiss."
I bite the inside of my cheek. "How do you remember all of this?"
"I remember every moment I've ever spent with you." Derek replies. "I don't want to just be your first kiss. I want to be your first kiss. I want to be the person you wake up to every morning. The person that can always bring a smile to your lips."
My eyes start to water a little. "Derek-"
"It literally kills me to see you with Isaac." He keeps going, refusing to allow me to speak. "I screwed up. I shouldn't have slept with Jennifer. I know that now. I was just feeling so much pain from you being gone that I lost control. I love you, Clara. I've never stopped. But, I need to know if you still feel the same because if you don't, I'll leave you alone. If you still love me, I won't stop fighting for you."
I stare Derek in the eyes as I say these few words. "I don't love you anymore."
Derek gazes right back, eyes never wavering. A few seconds pass before he looks back towards the road and presses the gas pedal down. I stare back out of my window, wiping away a tear that had managed to escape when he wasn't looking.
XXXXXXXXXX
Ayeee. Sorry for not updating so much. I've been crazy busy with work. I am going to do my best to start updating again.
This isn't long, but it's still pretty good. I just wanted to give you guys something for now. This weekend is slammed, so no updating for sure. And, I didn't update this past weekend because Sunday was my birthday and I was celebrating at Disney.
Anyways, how about that chapter? You asked for more Clarek and I definitely gave you that. Really proud of this chapter, to be honest. I really loved how Derek was acting.
Question: How do you feel about this chapter?
So, yeah!