My dad was leaving the house when I came walking up the driveway. He turned around after locking the front door and jumped in surprise when he saw me walking up to him. I giggled and gave him a hug. "Sorry," I apologized.
"Where did you go?" he asked me, concerned. I understood why he'd feel concerned about me, but part of me just wished he'd understand that I was an adult.
"I didn't go far, just for a walk in the woods. I wanted to get some air and think over some things," I answered. It was only a half lie. I did go for a walk in the woods. After the incident at the Hale House, I needed some time to think about things—namely Derek and how my hormones acted out against my will.
His concern only grew, a frown appearing on his face. "Are you doing okay, Sarah? You don't need...therapy or anything, do you?" my dad asked me sincerely. I knew that he was referring to what had happened at the video but if he only knew the half of it...he'd send me to therapy in a heartbeat.
"No," I denied with a laugh. "No, I'm okay, Dad, I promise. I just wanted some air after studying, that's all," I assured him.
His face softened a little after hearing me talk about homework rather than the attack and he gave me another hug. "Well, you let me know if you change your mind. Or if you just want to talk to me, okay?" he asked me.
I nodded and pulled out of his embrace as he kissed my forehead. "Watch out for your brother tonight. I'll be home soon," he told me, walking over to his squad car.
"Where are you going? Do you have a shift at the station?" I asked him.
He shook his head as he pulled open the driver door of the squad car. "No, parent-teacher conferences," he told me with a chuckle.
"Oh boy. Good luck, Dad," I teased.
He laughed and said, "Well, your brother doesn't have to join me, so, at least I can expect some decent grades."
A loud laugh left my lips as he sat down in the driver seat and shut the door. The car roared to life and I waved goodbye to him as he backed out of the driveway. I pulled my house key out of the pocket of my jeans and unlocked the door that he had locked, and I stepped inside of the house.
I tuned my ears to listen for my brother and I heard him muttering to himself in his bedroom. I dashed up the stairs quickly to find him. He didn't see me at first, as I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms over my chest.
He turned around in his desk chair, continuing to mumble, but he jumped nearly out of the chair and to the floor when he noticed me standing there. "Oh my God," he cried, throwing his hand over his chest dramatically. "Stop doing that!" he exclaimed.
I laughed with pride as I pranced into his bedroom and sat on his bed. "But it's fun!" I mock-whined.
He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, so fun," he grumbled, making me giggle again. "So, did you find out why Derek was at the school?" Stiles asked.
I leaned back on his bed with my hands braced behind me and I nodded. "He wanted to know if Jackson saw anything the other night at the video store," I answered.
My brother leaned forward in his desk chair. "Well, did he see anything?" he asked me.
I shook my head. "Nah, it was pretty dark and he didn't get a good look at the Alpha," I answered.
"Lydia did," my brother added.
I jumped to my feet in a haste. "She what?!" I shrieked.
My brother grabbed a phone that wasn't his and came to stand next to me. "Well, I mean, kinda, I guess. She thinks she saw a mountain lion. She wasn't in school today and I went to check on her and—"
"Aww, how sweet!" I mused, teasing my brother on his crush on Lydia.
He glared at me and I giggled some more. "Look at what I found," he continued.
He put a phone out in front of me and pressed play on the screen. I looked down to watch the video and my eyes widened when I saw the Alpha jump from the window at the video store. "Oh, shit," I muttered.
"I've been calling Scott, but he hasn't been answering. He skipped school and I'm pretty sure he's with Allison," Stiles said.
"Scott skipped?" I asked.
Stiles nodded his head, running his hand across his buzzed head. "Yeah. I've been trying to get ahold of him to see what I should do with this video," my brother said.
"Delete it."
"What?" he asked me incredulously.
I crossed my arms. "Delete the video, Stiles. I'm serious. We don't need anyone seeing this," I said.
He sat at his desk and dropped the phone. "I'm serious," I reiterated. "I'll be in the shower. I took an unexpected run through the woods when Hale and I got shot at," I said, turning to leave the room.
"You were what now?!" my brother shouted.
I froze and scrunched my face in shame when I realized what I had said. I spun slowly on my heels to face him, a bashful smile on my face. Sometimes, I actually wonder who the oldest sibling is. "It's nothing, Stiles...honest. We had a little run in with some hunters who ended up shooting at us," I informed him like it was no big deal. "Derek saved my life when he pulled me out of the house."
My brother raised an eyebrow. "He did?" he asked.
"Yeah. We're kinda okay now, I guess. I offered my help in finding and stopping the Alpha," I said.
My brother's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously. "No. No way. It's too dangerous," he argued.
I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. "Oh really?" I mused sarcastically. "Too dangerous for me, the werewolf? Or too dangerous for you, the human?" I scowled.
"It's different with me," he said.
"How so?!" I shrieked.
"I know more about it. And he's not currently trying to kill me or make me a part of his pack," my brother said.
"I can take care of myself, Stiles. And Derek brought me up to speed on this. I'm helping and you can't stop me," I warned him, stalking out of his room.
I went into my own room and grabbed a new outfit to wear after my shower and a towel. Then, I walked down the hallway to the bathroom that I share with my brother. I shut and locked the door behind me and started the water.
I looked at my face in the mirror and I looked exhausted—not just the kind of exhaustion that comes from getting shot at or taking an impromptu run in the forest. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before because I kept seeing those angry red eyes every time I closed my eyes. I had dark circles under my eyes because of my lack of sleep.
But it wasn't just one night, either. I've had trouble sleeping for months, since the incident at school a few months back—the whole reason I came home and have resorted to a year of online classes. Thankfully, being a prosecutor doesn't actually involve a lot of hands on, so, I was able to take online lectures and homework to continue my studies away from campus.
I let out a sigh and started to strip out of my clothes. Then I tied and pinned my short hair back because I wasn't washing it. Steam was already rising from the shower, which meant the water was hot—just the way I like it.
Once I was in the the shower, I closed the curtain. As the hot water rolled down my clammy skin, I closed my eyes in content and let out a soft sigh.
I felt my tense muscles start to relax under the hot water and huffed with relief. I hadn't realized how tense I was until my shower.
It didn't take long for the shower to wash all my thoughts and all the sweat away from my body. Already, I started to feel light—like I didn't have the weight of the world on my shoulders. I mean, I've only been home no longer than a week and I've already been thrust into the world of the supernatural.
And I came home to avoid the world of the supernatural.
I reached out of the shower and grabbed my towel from the rack and wrapped it around my body before I pulled open the shower curtain.
I stepped onto the shower mat and began the process of drying my body and slipping into the clothes that I grabbed for my room. Which had been a spaghetti-strap crop top and a pair of shorts.
I left the bathroom and walked back down the hall to my bedroom, but I froze outside of the door when I heard a heartbeat that didn't belong to my brother. I could hear his heartbeat down the hall in his own room.
An intruder was in my bedroom.
I silently stood outside of my bedroom, pondering my options. I could go in there and take on the intruder, but if they weren't supernatural, I risk exposing myself to a human. Or maybe it was a hunter who knew I was back—well, maybe it was Kate, now that I think about it. That crazy bitch had no morals.
I opted for taking the person on, to hell with the risks. So, I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. I cautiously stepped inside my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I looked around quickly, but I didn't see anyone.
I would've relaxed and considered that I was losing my mind, but then I felt the presence behind me. I smelled the woods, but maybe it was because my window was open. And then a rather large hand lightly landed on my shoulder.
I reacted quickly. I grabbed the intruder's hand and spinning my body around. I threw them to the ground with a loud thud and straddled him, raising my fist, until my eyes focused on who it was. And my entire body went rigid again.
"Sarah?! Are you okay?!" my brother yelled as I heard him come running toward my room.
"I just slipped, that's all! I'm fine!" I yelled out to my brother, staring down at the smirking intruder with wide eyes, dropping my fist slowly. "Don't come in here!"
"Are you sure?! That sounded like it was bad," my brother called, now standing outside of my door.
"I'm sure, Stiles. I'm fine. Go back to your homework," I told my brother.
I listened as my brother's footsteps receded down the hall again and I started glaring at him.
"I oughta kick your ass, Hale," I snapped.
"That's not how it looks from down here," he smirked.
I growled at him and shoved myself back on my feet. I didn't offer him a hand up, so, he had to push himself up. "What the hell were you thinking just showing up in my room?" I asked him, crossing my arms across my chest.
"I just wanted to check on you," he answered with a sigh. "Obviously, you and Kate know each other, and I just wanted to make sure she didn't follow you home or something." He looked like he was being honest, genuinely worried about me.
It threw me completely off.
"I...I'm fine, Derek," I sputtered. Trying to regain my composure, I quickly cleared my throat and walked around him toward my window. I needed to get busy and distract myself from his eyes...and the fact that he was worried about me. "Look, Kate would be pretty stupid to attack me at home while my brother is here," I added.
"How do you know her?" he asked me.
I removed my hands from my window, abandoning the idea of closing it. And I turned around again to look at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "You sure had a thing for falling for my friends," I said pointedly at the brooding werewolf standing in front of me.
Oh, I did love that dumbfounded dumb look on his face. "You were friends with Kate, too?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "I guess. It didn't really last long," I explained nonchalantly. "Kinda stunts a budding friendship when you're a new werewolf and find out your friend is a hunter." I waved my finger at him dramatically and added, "Oh, and then her father found out I was a werewolf, and the friendship definitely was dead, so..."
My voice drowned out and I looked up at him sadly. Something else had happened around the same time that Kate and her psychopath father found out the truth about me. But it was brutal and I may currently resent him for a lot, but I didn't want to reopen old wounds.
I do have a heart, you know.
"What?" he questioned me. He took a step closer to me until I shook my head, warning him back.
"And then, I heard about the fire," I whispered. I watched his eyes soften, too, with sadness. "I just had this gut feeling that the Argents had something to do with it and I steered clear of them after that," I finished.
"Yeah, so did I," he said.
We were both quiet for a second, but I sucked in a deep breath and looked back at him. "So, what are you really doing here?" I asked him.
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "I just told you," he said.
I shook my head and took four long steps to close the gap between us. I jabbed a finger at his chest, "No. You didn't just sneak into my room to make sure I was okay, when you could've done that in a more creepy stalker kind of way. Like staring into my window. So, there's something else. What is it?"
"'Creepy stalker kind of way'?" Derek asked with a smirk, trying to change the subject quickly.
I glared at him and poked his chest again with my index finger. "Don't try to change the subject, buddy. Why are you really here?" I asked him.
He sighed and looked at my face. "Don't hate me?" he requested. I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. "Okay, don't hate me more than usual," he clarified.
"No promises," I said, half-honestly. I kind of felt like I was starting to not hate him as much as I did for all these years, which kind of scared me and pissed me off because I wanted to hate him for the rest of my life.
He turned away from me and I could sense his vulnerability. I could even see it on his face...And it was frightening.
"Well, after what happened at my house, I couldn't stop thinking about you," he responded.
I dropped my arms slowly as I felt my heart start to race in my chest. Derek turned back around quickly, and I knew he could hear my heartbeat, too. "You...what?" I asked with a lump in my throat.
His confession felt wrong and right at the same time.
"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the night I was shot, when I saw you again after all these years," he continued. I gulped again and felt a stutter in my heart. "Your heart is racing," he murmured.
I coughed slightly and turned away from him. "It's...This is wrong," I mumbled inaudibly.
But, of course, he heard me. "What's wrong?" he asked me with concern and worry.
I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself. I could feel the tears prick my eyes and I took a shaky breath in. I couldn't stop thinking about her and how this would make her feel.
I looked up slightly and saw my still open window. I needed air. I needed space. "I...I can't...I need..." I couldn't get the words out and I ran toward the window with great speed before I jumped out.
Once on my feet, I took off for the woods again.
⊰⊱
oof, there's gonna be some angst coming up. but also, some of the truth comes out.
maybe? sorta? part of the truth??? 🤔
lol well either way, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. i think i'm getting better with weekly updates... *knocks on wood*
Please vote and/or comment and share with your fellow Derek Hale/Teen Wolf fans.
I hope you've enjoyed the chapter and until next time, I bid you adieu.
signed,
hellocreation