Yelena was fuming to find out that Derek and Peter were now on the same side.
She slammed her bedroom door shut when she saw him standing in front of her window.
"Get out." She growled
"We should talk."
Yelena folded her arms and pointed to the window, "No, get out. I want you to get out."
Derek raised his eyebrow at her, completely ignoring her demand as if she hadn't spoken at all, "You still have my jacket."
Yelena looked over at her desk chair where his jacket was thrown on top of, she reached over and grabbed it.
"Seriously?" She hissed as she walked over and threw it at him.
He flinched as the zipper of the jacket hit his face, "This is it then?" He asked
Yelena folded her arms across her chest and shrugged, "You wanted your jacket, now you have it."
Derek smirked, "You're actually pissed."
"Yes well done. Your uncle killed your sister and you're all besties with him again." She said with a scowl.
"It's not that simple."
Yelena let out a humorless laugh, "So explain it."
"It's none of your business."
"None of my business?" Yelena scoffed "You involved yourself in all of this stuff to help us protect Scott from the alpha, who you're now on good terms with, so this is totally my business."
Derek narrowed his eyes at her, walking slowly over to her, "Is this about the kiss?"
Yelena took a step back from him, "What kiss?"
"At the hospital, when we kissed."
"We didn't kiss."
"Yeah, we did."
"That wasn't a kiss." She said through gritted teeth.
"Felt like it." He said with a smirk only angering Yelena.
"That wasn't a kiss, this is a kiss." She said angrily, moving forward as she kissed him gripping his t-shirt tightly as he closed the distance between them, holding her by the waist. Her first thought was that his lips were softer than she would have imagined, but Her second thought was that she needed to stop this. Yelena pushed him away as she caught her breath, the logical part of her brain stopping the lustful part, "Just leave." She told him as she turned her back to him, hoping that when she turned back around he'd be gone.
Derek took a step towards her but knowing how pissed she was at him he changed his mind. He wanted to tell her what was going on but he didn't want to put her in danger. When she turned around she saw that he'd gone out of the window. Yelena could still feel his hot lips on hers, and his tight grip on her waist
()()()()()()()()
Seven miles she had run the next day to take her mind from the Derek of it all, she'd never had such a deep crush on someone before, even the feelings she felt for her first boyfriend weren't like this. The moment she stepped foot onto her driveway she was met by a hyperactive Stiles trying to update her on what had happened with Jackson and Argent. Yelena wiped the sweat from her forehead as she opened the front door, blocking out her brother.
"Stiles, I really don't care." She said catching her breath.
"Well, you should care!"
"I've just run seven miles, all I care about is getting a drink from the fridge."
Once she got into the kitchen she and Stiles spotted their dad at the kitchen table pouring over files from work. Stiles craned his neck trying to get a better look but Yelena pulled him back and shook her head at him to mind his own business but it was useless as Stiles never listened when it came to nosiness.
"Whatcha doing?" Stiles grinned
"Work." The sheriff replied Flatly, not even looking up at him.
"Anything I can help with?" Stiles asked eagerly
"You know, if you poured me an ounce of whiskey, that would be awfully nice." He said without looking up.
Stiles rushed over to grab the bottle and a glass, which his sister wrestled out of his hands not wanting him to get their dad drunk, whiskey wasn't his friend in the morning.
With a sigh, she walked over and placed the bottle and glass in front of him, "Any leads?" She asked casually whilst Stiles attempted to grab one of the files, only to get a slap on his hand by their dad
"You know I can't discuss that with you." He sighed watching Yelena as she unscrewed the bottle and poured some into his glass "Not too much." He told her.
Stiles's eyes lit up with a plan as his sister placed the bottle back onto the table and turned back to grab the bottle of water she'd left on the kitchen counter. It was as she was sipping her water she heard the sound of more whiskey being poured by Stiles into the glass. She slammed her drink down and yanked Stiles back to stop him from filling the glass further but it was pointless as it was nearly full now anyway.
"Okay. There you go, Dad." Stiles said handing it to him.
Their dad didn't seem to even notice how much was in the glass as he took it from Stiles "Thanks."
"Bottoms up." Stiles grinned to himself earning a glare from his sister.
Yelena decided to sit down and join them, if stiles was going to be sneaking evidence the least she could do was help. After a while, their dad had pretty much drunk half the bottle as Stiles had 'helpfully' topped up his glass, much to his sister's disapproval. They shared a concerned look when their father began to slur. This may have been a bad idea, but he was slowly beginning to tell them stuff.
"You know, Derek Hale would be a whole hale of a lot - Hale of a lot?" He stopped by that point unsure of what exactly his sentence was supposed to be.
"Hell of a lot?" Yelena offered with her forehead creased in concern.
He clicked his finger "Hell. Yes. He would be a hell of a lot easier to catch if we could get an actual picture of him."
Yelena avoided eye contact with her father and brother, she didn't need a picture of Derek, his face was already embedded into her mind so was the feeling of his hands and lips. It was strange whenever Derek was mentioned she felt a wave of guilt, even though he wasn't their enemy.
"How do you not have a picture of him?" Stiles asked with a frown, pulling Yelena's attention back to them.
"It's the weirdest thing. It's like every time we tried to get a mug shot, it's like two - Laser beams were pointing at the camera."
Stiles picked up the mugshot and inspected it, the only thing you could really make out was his outline, everything else was just a blurred flash. A werewolf thing, Yelena assumed.
"Oh, my God." Their father quickly groaned as he took his glasses off and ran his hands over his face "God, that ounce hit me like a brick. And I have said way too much, and if you repeat any of that -"
Stiles cut him off "Dad - it's us. We're not gonna say anything. Come on."
Yelena nodded in agreement "Yeah and I don't know if you noticed but most of my friends moved away from This town so I don't have a lot of people to share this with."
"See, the thing is they're all connected. I mean, the bus driver that got killed, he was an insurance investigator assigned to the Hale house fire." Their father told them.
Stiles read out the information "Terminated under suspicion of fraud."
Yelena frowned as she tried to connect all the dots. It was frustrating for her so she could only imagine how difficult it was for her dad given that he only had half of the details.
"Exactly."
"Who else?"
"The video store clerk who got his throat slashed - He's a convicted felon, history of arson."
"Oh my god," Yelena muttered Under her breath for only Stiles to hear. If her theory was right then this was beginning to make sense.
"What about the other two guys, the guys who got killed in the woods?" Yelena asked
"Priors all over their records including -"
"Arson" Yelena and Stiles said at once.
Stiles turned to his sister as she nodded at him knowing his theory was the same as hers "So maybe they all had something to do with the fire. Another shot?" He asked his dad holding out the bottle
The sheriff leaned back into his chair and shook his head "No, no, no, no more."
However, it seemed that Stiles was the
right amount of persuasive as he managed to convince him "Dad, come on. You work really hard, all right? You deserve it."
Their dad rubbed his face tiredly before sliding his glass over to Stiles "Oh, my God, I'm gonna have such a hangover."
Stiles chuckled along as he began pouring another glass "You mean you're gonna have such a good night's sleep."
Yelena glared at him "You're gonna have an eternity in the lowest circle of hell." She hissed quietly.
"I know." He winced, as he poured out another glass.
The more he drank the more stressed he seemed until he reached the point where Yelena had to quickly grab his glass when he almost dropped it.
"There's just so many questions." Their dad sighed.
"Like what?"
"Like if Derek - wanted to kill everyone involved with the fire. Then why start with his sister? I mean, she had nothing to do with it. Why make it look like some kind of animal did it?" Neither of them answered, they couldn't answer without the truth, and who would believe them "When that cougar ended up in the parking lot - I checked with animal control. You know the instances of wild animal reports were up 70% over the past few months? It's like they're just going crazy, running out of the woods. I don't know."
"Or something's scaring them out," Stiles mumbled, starting to see why Yelena didn't want him to get their dad this drunk. It showed them both just how worn down he really was.
"Or you know maybe Scott was mistaken and none of this was Derek's fault," Yelena suggested earning a kick from her brother, as a reminder that no matter how guilty she felt about her father's lack of answers and Derek being framed, they were all in this lie together.
"You know, I miss talking to you guys." Their dad murmured, "It's like we never have time -"
Stiles pulled his phone out of his shirt and stood up "Dad, you know, I have to make a phone call - I'm sorry. I'll be right back."
Yelena watched the sadness cloud her dad's face as he carried on as if he hadn't been interrupted "I do. I miss it." He paused for a moment "And I miss your mom."
Yelena's heart dropped as she reached out to squeeze her dad's hand. They never spoke about her mother. It wasn't because of anything bad, but it was just painful.
"What'd you say?" Stiles asked putting his phone away, just as taken aback as his sister was.
Their dad reached for the bottle but Yelena stopped him and handed the bottle to Stiles.
"Thanks." He mumbled with a grateful smile.
Yelena helped her father up and guided him up the stairs, gesturing at Stiles to clean up. The sheriff looked at his daughter with a proud smile as she walked him to his bedroom.
"What? she asked with a frown as she saw him looking at her.
"Even though you were always a daddy's girl, you've always been more like her. In every way." Yelena gave him a small smile "I am proud of you, you know that don't you?"
Yelena looked to the floor as she pushed open his bedroom door "I don't think she would be."
"Hey, don't ever think that." He told her whilst she sat him down on the bed
"Dad, look at what I'm doing with my life right now, I'm-"
"You're young." Her father said cutting her off "This is your time to find what you want, make the occasional, but legal, mistakes."
Yelena gave him a small laugh "You know we love you, Dad, even if we don't always show it."
"I love you both too." He replied as his eyes began to flutter shut.
Yelena made sure he was comfortable and on his side before heading back down the stairs, finding Stiles on the phone, and grateful that for once he'd listened and tidied up. She decided to use this as her moment to escape and drive down to where she needed to go, where she wanted to go, even if it did creep her out. The whole time she drove she kept thinking that this would be a bad idea and could end very badly if his psycho, teen wolf-turning uncle was home. Pulling up, she fiddled with her car keys as she slowly opened the door to the burnt house, she wondered if Derek actually lived there, it seemed too painful for her liking.
"Hello?" She called out.
When nobody answered she took a deep breath and dared herself to go further into the house as she made her way up the stairs, careful that it was safe for her to do so. Yelena opened her mouth to call out again when she heard the familiar and stuck-up voice, Jackson.
"No, please - Please don't, okay? I'll shut up - I'll never say another word again." Yelena frowned and followed his voice down to the stairs, both wolves yet to notice her stood halfway "I'll leave Scott alone. Please, you can't do this! Please! I - I don't deserve it."
"I think you do." Derek replied coldly "Look around you! Wouldn't there be someone here trying to save you? There's no one here. There is a reason. No one cares that you drive an expensive car. No one cares that you have perfect hair, and no one cares that you're the captain of the lacrosse team."
Yelena was both surprised and unsurprised by Derek's statement. Surprised by his use of words, but unsurprised by the fury behind them. Derek was a survivor, he'd lost everything and felt he had no one. Jackson was a spoilt kid who had everything handed to him but still wasn't satisfied.
It was as Jackson stumbled back that they both noticed Yelena standing midway on the stairs, slowly raising her hands in the air as a sign of peace before becoming confused about why they seemed to be looking through her until she heard his voice behind her.
"Excuse me. Co-captain." Scott called out.
Yelena found the whole thing very dramatic but after seeing how all three of them looked at her she huffed and moved out of the way for Scott to jump down.
"Move!" Derek growled out to Scott
"No."
"Fine. I'll kill you too."
Yelena threw herself in between them both "Stop! No one is killing anyone-Shit!" She exclaimed as they all ducked to the ground. Bullets flew past them, and Yelena's ears were ringing so loud that she barely acknowledged someone grabbing her and pulling her away.
"Cover your eyes!" Derek shouted to Scott, shielding Yelena with his body, "You need to go." He told her.
"What?! No, I'm not leaving Scott, I'm not leaving-"
"Go!" Scott managed to splutter out despite his injuries.
"No!"
Derek grabbed Yelena's face "Look at me, I'll take care of Scott, you just go."
Yelena scoffed "Take care of him like you were about to?!"
"Am I lying? You said you're a human lie detector, am I lying?"
Yelena stared into his eyes and shook her head as she glanced over to Scott who nodded at her to go. When she got to the back door she took one last look at Scott and saw the reassuring expression she was trying to send her, accepting it she ran back to her car.