By the time I finally got home with Monica, neither Derek nor Isaac was anywhere to be found. After spending two hours doing homework with Monica, I finally convinced her to go home sometime around seven, which left me wandering around the apartment with nothing to do. I’d been denying myself the temptation to call Derek since I was angry at him for the way he’d acted earlier on the phone, which meant I’d be stuck out of the loop until he and Isaac got home. Ring, ring. Ring, ring, he apartment phone blared, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. We never used the home phone, opting instead to communicate with our cell phones, but Derek had insisted we have one in case of an emergency.
“Hello?”
“Is this Christina Laymen?”
“Um, yeah,” I mumbled uncertainly, not recognizing the voice on the other end. It was deep and masculine, but muffled slightly.
“We’re coming for you.” The line went dead after that, and I stood frozen to the spot as fear coursed through my veins. The living room lights were on but the corners of the other rooms were hidden in shadows, and I spun around, suddenly paranoid. Who’s coming for me? Who was that? Who would want to hurt me? Is somebody in the apartment? Without hesitating, I quickly dialed Derek’s number, waiting as it rang and rang before his voicemail picked up.
“Hey, you’ve reached Derek Hale. Leave a message. Beep.”
“Derek-“I considered leaving a message telling him to get his ass over here now, but then I thought again and decided to just hang up. Whatever he was busy with, I didn’t need to go adding to his list of problems. Besides, it was probably just a prank. Stranger things have certainly happened in this town, I thought shakily as I walked around the apartment, turning on every light in every room. Just in case. Then I crawled under the covers of the bed I shared with Derek and began to watch Bridesmaids on my laptop to distract myself from the dark thoughts running around my head. Sometime during the movie, my eyelids began to droop closed and I let them, rolling over and curling up against the soft, warmth of my pillow as I allowed fatigue to overcome me.
Several hours later, I was awoken by a pair of warm, hard-muscled arms wrapping around my body and pulling me against an even harder and well-built chest. I mumbled something incoherent as I turned over, peering up at Derek’s serious face in the pitch blackness.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said quietly, his deep voice surrounding me and calming my frazzled nerves. No matter how much I lied to myself, I couldn’t deny that the phone call earlier had scared the shit out of me; it felt nice to be wrapped up in Derek’s embrace, to know that I’m safe.
“S’alright.”
“What is this?” Derek’s fingers ran over the bandages on my upper arm lightly.
“Nothing. I just, um, tripped at school and scraped my arm on the edge of a desk,” I lied elusively, frowning when Derek’s arms pulled away from me. Seconds later, the bedside lamp flickered on and light flooded our corner of the room. My eyes took in Derek’s messy hair, shadowed eyes, and worried expression with an internal sigh of regret. He spends too much damn time worrying about me.
“Chris.”
“What? I did,” I yelped defensively, and luckily Derek just shook his head and ran a hand over his face roughly.
“Whatever,” he said resignedly, making a move to turn the light off when I stopped him. The concern in his eyes had melted into determination, and I didn’t like to think of Derek being upset with me. I was supposed to be mad at him!
“Come on, Derek. Don’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you have to protect me all the time! I’ve been doing everything you said. Haven’t I at least earned some gratitude?”
“For what, staying safe? Chris, I’m not gonna thank you for being sensible. You should do it on your own,” Derek grunted, crossing his arms over his chest and staring me down. Disbelief and outrage sliced through me, and I opened my mouth to retort back that I was my own person and if I didn’t want to be treated like an infant than I most certainly would not, but then I stopped myself. I was too tired to get into it with Derek when he obviously didn’t care, so I just pushed my indignation down and nodded slowly. That did earn me a soft “Thank you” from Derek, but the sincerity of it was questionable. It sounded more like he’d expected me to back down. Urgh.
As Derek turned the lamp off and relaxed back against the pillows, the desire to turn over and lay my head on his chest burned intensely within me, but I repressed it in favor of curling up in a ball with my back to Derek and trying vainly to fall back asleep. But after nearly an hour of lying beside Derek with a thick coat of tension between us, I was still very much awake and stressed out.
“Derek?”
“Yeah?”
“So you couldn’t sleep either, huh?” I asked gently, rolling over onto my side and regarding him with a vulnerable expression on my face. I hated fighting with Derek, and I could tell he did too when he shook his head in agreement and slid his hand down to cup the side of my face. The warmth radiating from his touch soothed me and I sighed in contentment.
“I’m sorry, Chris. I didn’t mean to be such an ass about all this. I’m just sick of watching you get hurt over and over again because of me. Everyone around me gets hurt,” Derek confessed in a quiet voice, his thumb stroking up and down my cheekbone.
“I know. But if I get hurt, it’s because that’s a part of life, not because I’m with you.”
“Most of the time it is because we’re together-“
“But sometimes it’s not! Do you remember how we first met?”
“I found you on the side of the road with Scott.”
“Exactly. Scott was bitten that night, and regardless of whether or not we’d met, I was going to be involved in this world. My best friend was going to be a werewolf, Derek; danger would’ve followed me anyway.”
“But-“
“But then I met you. And suddenly, I felt safe in my new reality because I had you to protect me and keep me safe. You’re the reason I feel safe, Derek. I always feel safe when I’m with you.”
“But how can you say that when you’re constantly getting hurt because of me? Getting kidnapped by Kate, almost drowning, getting punched by Josh, the explosion, losing Boyd, being slammed into the trophy case-“
“Stop. Just stop, okay? Derek, no matter what you do or say, I’m in love with you. And if that means I’ll be in situations that are dangerous, then fine. I’m not willing to give up what we have just to stay safe; are you?”
“I’m considering it, yeah,” Derek mumbled, evading my eyes at his confession while I sat back, his words sending my heart into overtime.
“Derek…you can’t be serious,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes. The feeling of everything coming to a screeching halt washed over me, choking me.
“Believe me, it’s not what I want. But how am I supposed to live with the fact that us being together gets you hurt?”
“Because ‘us being together’ is the best thing we have in our lives! Derek, we both have to make sacrifices for each other and if mine is getting a little roughed up occasionally then I’ll take it! I’ll take that any day over not being with you,” I cried, sobs convulsing in my stomach as I fought the urge to burst into tears. Derek’s green eyes were pained and somber, but I refused to let him try to give up on us.
“Chris, please-“
“I’m not letting you do this,” I said resolutely, crawling over to Derek’s side of the bed and flinging my leg over his waist, straddling him. Derek was dressed for comfort in a pair of loose black basketball shorts and a black t-shirt while I was in a thin blue tank top and red checkered pajama pants.
“What’re you doing?” Derek whispered, his voice turning husky and thick with desire. I grinned internally, leaning down so that the tips of my breasts touched his chest and placing my lips a breath away from his.
“Reminding you of why you can’t walk away,” I murmured breathily before I pressed my mouth against Derek’s passionately. His lips were hot and spicy and felt like silk against mine, making me hunger for more. Despite his talk, Derek responded right away, squeezing a hand around my waist while the other pulled out my hair tie and tangled in my knotty hair. Our gasps and moans mixed together as the kiss deepened; Derek slid his tongue past my lips, engaging in a fierce battle for dominance before he finally won and I let him explore my mouth. My hands were clenched tightly on Derek’s shoulders, which were bare as I stripped off his t-shirt and ran my fingertips over every inch of his exposed skin. Finally, when I thought I’d made my point, I broke off the kiss and sat up, my legs still wrapped around Derek’s waist. We were both breathing hard, our cheeks flushed and lust sparkling in our eyes.
“It’s worth it, Derek. You know it is.”
“I love you, Chris. That will never change,” Derek responded, and while it wasn’t quite the answer I’d been hoping for, I decided to accept it. Derek pulled me tighter against his chest, covering me with the covers and running his hands up and down my back softly. With the immediate issues between us resolved, my mind and body were once again lulled back into a peaceful sleep.
*** *** ***
“Wait, wait Derek, slow down. What’s wrong with Isaac?” I asked sharply the next morning, stirring my coffee and taking a sip as I surveyed my boyfriend over the rim. Derek was relaying the events of last night to me over breakfast, and as it turned out, I’d missed a lot.
“He got hurt by the Alphas when he went in to find Erica and Cece.”
“You let him go in by himself?”
“I was a bit distracted. The twins showed up,” Derek replied with a heavy sigh, squeezing my hand from across the table and taking another bite of his protein bar. Although I’d offered to make him eggs or cereal, Derek had opted instead for a fantastic meal of orange juice and a chocolate-y bar that looked suspiciously like a dessert.
“So what happened?”
“Some girl saved Isaac and brought him to the hospital, but the Alphas were already there. I just managed to save him…with Scott’s help,” Derek admitted reluctantly, and I nearly choked on my coffee. Scott was there too? Gosh, I’ve gotta start showing up to these things. But I knew Derek would kill me for even suggesting it so I kept the thought to myself.
“Oh God, so is Isaac gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine, but unfortunately he can’t remember a thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“He found Erica and Cece. He just doesn’t remember.” Derek finished off his juice with a loud slurp, getting up and putting the glass in the sink before returning to the table and fixing me with a reprimanding stare.
“I’ll tell you the rest later. Right now, you need to get to class.”
“Are you kidding? I have to stay!”
“No.”
“Let me at least talk to Isaac-“
“Chris,” Derek interrupted warningly, grabbing my hand and pushing me towards the door. “I’ve got it covered. Peter’s gonna do something that will help retrieve Isaac’s memories.”
“You’re bringing in Peter for help?”
“Unfortunately,” Derek said with a roll of his eyes, and I laughed at his reaction. As much as I didn’t want to be at school, I knew Derek would flip his shit if I stayed, and I didn’t want to do anything that might ruin the harmony we’d found last night. So instead I grabbed my bag and leaned into Derek’s embrace, blushing with pleasure when his arms wrapped around me and held me against his chest tightly.
“Don’t forget to call me after-“
“Actually, I was meaning to talk to you about that,” I cut him off, smirking up at my boyfriend as he scowled.
“Go on.”
“As much as I love you for worrying about me, it’s a little ridiculous to have me call you between every class. So I have a proposal: I’ll call you when I arrive at school, at lunch, and when I leave school if you’re not picking me up. Deal?”
“Fine but also call me if anything – and I mean anything – suspicious happens. Okay?”
That made me think of the phone call from last night, but I still nodded and smiled with appropriate exasperation.
“Okay, Dad. So I’ll see you after school?”
“Actually I think I’ll pick you up and then we can go out. It is Friday night, after all,” Derek suggested with a warm smile, and I was pleasantly shocked at his romantic spontaneity. I agreed, kissing Derek tenderly before I left for school.
*** *** ***
I was on my way to my third period World History class that I unfortunately had with Aiden when I felt a tap on my shoulder and then I was being yanked into a dark classroom. I screamed loudly, the sound being muffled by a hand over my mouth as terror coursed through my body.
“Did I ever tell you how sexy you look carrying textbooks?”
“Derek?” I gasped in astonishment, smacking his chest playfully as I tried to calm my pounding heart. Ever since I’d gotten to school, I’d had the feeling that I was being watched, but every time I turned to look behind me there was nobody even staring in my direction. It was unnerving and weird, and as a result I’d been jumpy all day.
“Yeah, who else would it be? I was talking with Scott and thought I’d stop by and see my girlfriend before I go.”
“Well, I’m glad you did,” I murmured with a smile as I leaned forward and covered Derek’s mouth with my own. His familiar scent enveloped me, washing away all my paranoia and fear, and instead replacing it with pure, unadulterated joy and sheer love for the man in front of me. We kissed hungrily for a few minutes, my legs wrapping themselves around Derek’s waist as he hoisted me up into the air and gripped my butt with his strong hands. I giggled, tilting my head to the side and letting out a moan in ecstasy when Derek’s lips trailed down my neck, nibbling and sucking at the soft skin there and sending shivers down my spine. Only when the bell rang for third period did I jump, startled, and pull away from my boyfriend.
“I’ve gotta get to class,” I panted, my cheeks flaming and my heart pounding as every nerve in my body screamed in refusal. I wanted Derek to spread me out on the teacher’s desk and have his way with me, but reality had already set in. Derek frowned playfully, kissing me on the lips once more before he allowed me to slide down his body and stand on my own feet.
“I’ll see you later,” I told him quietly as I kissed him hard on the mouth before I turned and exited the classroom with a smirk.
As the day dragged on, I kept imagining plausible scenarios for my impending date with Derek. Making out in the dark backdrop of the movie theater; holding hands across the table at a fancy restaurant; eating ice cream and laughing at each other’s jokes; kissing on the grass at the-
“Chris, we need you. Right now,” Scott interrupted my fantasy as I gathered my books from my locker in preparation to go home. I sighed, turning to regard my best friend with an apologetic expression.
“I can’t, Scott. Derek’s picking me up any minute-“
“He’s not, trust me. This is really important,” Stiles retorted, grabbing my arm as Scott wrapped his around my waist and leading me down the front steps, across the parking lot, and into Stiles’ Jeep before I could refuse any further. Once I was seated in the front seat between the two of them, I raised my hands up in exasperation and demanded that one of them start talking.
“Heather’s missing. You know, the girl I was friends with when I was little? Well, we went to her party last night-“
“Thanks for the invite, jerk.”
“You would’ve hated it. Anyway, she disappeared last night and now my dad’s saying she’s officially a Missing Person.”
“God, that sucks, Stiles, I’m sorry. Do you have any idea where she may be?” I asked worriedly as Stiles started the car. We peeled out of the parking lot, going nearly seventy miles per hour.
“No but we think the Alphas might be involved. If so, we need Isaac’s memories about what happened last night,” Scott informed me as Stiles sped through a stop sign in the direction of the Animal clinic.
“Oh right. Derek told me Peter was going to help-“
“He did, but it didn’t completely work. They’re at the clinic right now.”
“We think Deaton might be able to help,” Stiles added, pulling into the parking lot at the Animal Clinic and leading me to the front door. A bell rang as we entered, and I immediately looked around for Derek.
“In the back, Scott!” Deaton’s voice came from the back room, and the three of us rushed in to find Isaac standing beside a tub half-filled with ice and water. The minute Derek’s eyes fell on my confused and slightly bewildered face, he took my hand and pulled me into his arms, kissing my forehead tenderly.
“I’m sorry about this. I know we were supposed to spend time together tonight-“
“It’s okay. I just want Isaac to be okay,” I replied softly, pressing my lips against Derek’s warm ones briefly before pulling away and standing next to Isaac. He took my hand in his, clasping it firmly as his frightened brown eyes met mine.
“How is this going to help exactly?” I asked Dr. Deaton, biting my bottom lip uncertainly.
“Lowering Isaac’s body temperature will lower his heart rate and ease him into a trance state, like hypnosis. He will be half-transformed, which will allow us access to his subconscious mind.”
I nodded, understanding dawning on me as Scott and Derek finished dumping ice into the bin.
“How slow does his heart rate need to be?” Scott asked, staring at Deaton intently while Isaac crouched down and examined the bath of ice.
“Very slow.”
“Yeah well, how slow is very slow?” Derek growled, breaking away from me to clench the edge of the bin tightly. He couldn’t be happy about doing this to Isaac, and I rested one hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
“Nearly dead,” Deaton replied solemnly, and both Scott and Derek’s heads jerked up. I let out a little gasp, my eyes widening as Isaac dipped his hand into the water and instantly yanked it back, hissing quietly.
“It’s safe though, right?” he asked worriedly, and Deaton raised his eyebrows in response.
“Do you want me to answer honestly?”
“No. No, not really.” Isaac took a deep breath, rising to his feet.
“Look, if it feels too risky, you don’t have to do this,” Derek said in his deep, concerned voice, fixing Isaac with a look of assurance. But after a moment’s hesitation, Isaac stripped off his shirt and climbed into the tub slowly. Once he was in, Derek and Scott each put a hand on his shoulder and simultaneously pushed him under. Within seconds, Isaac’s body began to thrash around and he thrust his head back above the surface, letting out a roar as his fangs slid out and his eyes glowed yellow.
“Put him back under!” Deaton commanded, watching in calculated observation as Scott and Derek shoved Isaac back underneath the ice cold water. I flinched, hating the sounds of pain Isaac was making as he came back up once again.
“Hold him!” Dr. Deaton yelled, and Derek’s head snapped up.
“We’re trying,” he growled, recruiting Stiles’ assistance as they once more forced Isaac’s head below the surface. He kicked and fought, struggling to come back up, until his body suddenly stopped moving. I jumped forward, leaning over Derek’s back as Isaac floated to the surface. His lips were purple and he appeared to be unconscious. Oh god, I hope he’s okay.
“Now remember, only I talk to him,” Deaton reminded us, looking in particular at Derek. I was about to link my hand with Derek’s when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I drew it out, checking the screen quickly; my blood ran cold as I read the text message.
How about we take an ice bath together sometime?
I quickly shoved my phone back into my pocket, my heart hammering. Not only was the suggestion completely ludicrous, but it also confirmed that whoever had called me yesterday was indeed stalking me. In fact, they could see me right now. What if it’s Stiles playing a joke on me? He would do something like this. I’ll ask him when this all blows over. I tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Deaton say Erica’s name.
“Is he talking to Erica?”
“I think so. I can’t…I c-can’t see her, I can’t see either of them,” Isaac replied instantaneously, his voice stuttering from the chill.
“Can you hear anything else?” Deaton asked in a firm voice, and I looked at Derek to gauge his reaction to this whole thing; his face was hard and stony but his green eyes were tense with concern for Isaac.
“They’re worried. Worried what they’ll do during the full moon. Worried that they’re gonna hurt each other,” Isaac said quietly, and Derek closed his eyes, his head dropping.
“If they’re locked in together on the full moon, they’ll tear each other apart,” he announced regretfully, looking up at Scott and then at Deaton.
“Isaac, we need to find them right now. Can you see them?” he demanded, his voice getting louder.
“No.”
“Do you know what kind of room it is? Is there any kind of marker, a number on a door, a sign?”
All of a sudden, Isaac sat straight up with a loud gasp, water splashing out of the bin around him.
“They’re here. They’re here, they’re here,” he mumbled, sinking back down into the ice and shivering. Deaton tried to get him to tell us where Erica and Cece were, but Isaac just kept repeating “They’re here, they see me, they’re here”. Finally Derek grew frustrated and looked down at Isaac’s thrashing body and panicked face.
“This isn’t working – Isaac, where are you?” he asked loudly, but Isaac just freaked out and kept whipping around, muttering incoherently. Derek repeated his question, but Deaton tried to stop him.
“You’re going to confuse him-“
“Isaac, where are you?”
“Derek, his heart rate, he could go into shock-“
“Derek, let him go-“
“Isaac, where are you? Tell me where you are! What did you see?” Derek yelled, shaking Isaac’s shoulders as water splashed out of the bin at an alarming rate. Stiles and I exchanged wide-eyed glances before I grabbed Derek’s shoulders and tried to pry him away from Isaac.
“It’s a vault, it’s a bank vault!” Isaac cried suddenly, sitting up and coming completely out of his trance as Derek and Scott backed away. I linked my hand with Derek’s, squeezing his in solidarity as we all stared at Isaac and waited for him to elaborate.
“I saw the name. It’s Beacon Hills First National Bank. It’s an abandoned bank, and they’re keeping them locked up in the vault,” Isaac said as Scott helped him out and Deaton handed him a towel. Isaac was shivering badly, but apart from that seemed to be okay for a guy who was “nearly dead” a minute ago. Derek and Scott looked gravely at Isaac, who seemed as confused as I was. Did they hear something that I didn’t? But it was Stiles who finally answered my question.
“You don’t remember what you said right before you came out of it, do you?”
“No.”
“Ah, you said that when they captured you, they dragged you into a room, and that there was a body in it.”
“What body?”
“Erica. You said it was Erica.”
**************************************************************************************
Hey pals! So I got back from Hershey Park with my friends and it was SO TOTALLY FRICKIN AWESOME! Ahhh :) But anyways, I came home and wrote this super-long chapter just for you guys because when I logged onto Wattpad for the first time since Tuesday night, I found a ton of votes, comments and reads on each of my stories! So thank you guys sooo much :) I hope you enjoy this chapter and dont find it too tedious that there's another scene from Season 3, this time episode 2. As much as it pains me to do so, I decided to follow the storyline of the TV show just a bit - by that I mean having both Erica and Boyd dead, albeit in different ways than the show lol. But anyways, I really hope you liked this chapter and its a long one! Also theres some issues with Derek and Chris, tell me if you think Chris is right to be mad at Derek early on in the chapter :) The pic on the right is just a cute one of Isaac from this scene but with a funny caption :) So please please please vote/comment! Thanks so much :) xoxoxo
PS I have another dedication contest for you guys! Whoever can answer this question gets this chapter dedicated to them and i'll follow them if I'm not already doing so.
In this book (so only in SLG not Perfect Fit), how many characters have died? They can be main characters, minor characters, whatever. Just gimme a number and if you're right, you'll be the winner! The first person who gets this wins, but if more than one person get it right then i'll probably follow the second person and dedicate next chapter to them for their hard work :)
PSS Yes, you can count Erica
PPSS To make sure you don't just cheat and copy someone else's number, you have to list the people! So be prepared in case I ask you to list them :)