Reckless Encounters [Sterek&Scisaac]

Chapter Fifteen: What If?

A/N: In case you hadn't guessed already, welcome to the 'what if' chapter.

Sorry about such a long break between updates, hopefully the fact that this chapter is more than 3 ties the length of any other chapters makes up for that! Seriously I got way too carried away (20k words of carried away... !).

I hope you like it, please leave your comments, I love love LOVE reading them :)

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Chapter Fifteen: What If?

It felt like a long time since Derek had been back home, in all reality it had only been a few months. Not that it stopped his sisters from planning a party for his homecoming, even if it was just because it was the best excuse they could find.

He smiled as he thought about how much he'd missed them, looking out the window as he made his way onto the road that led into town.

NOW ENTERING BEACON HILLS

*

It had been a horrible day.

Erica walked slowly down the road that she always walked down after school, scuffing her feet and trying not to sob as the tears welled in the corners of her eyes.

She'd woken up feeling like it would be a better day than yesterday, but every time she tried to convince herself of that something always happened to make her feel worse.

Today it was Marcus Bryant, one of the basketball kids who seemed to think that because he could dunk a basket he was invincible. Not that anyone really was.

He sat behind her in history class and thought it would be hilarious to wait for her to slide into her seat before slipping a juice pouch under her. By the time she realised, the juice had soaked into her jeans and was making splashing sounds on the floor all the while Marcus was telling the rest of the class that 'Erica just pissed herself again'.

The teacher didn't help, how could she? The damage was already done and she didn't know that they'd set her up.

She ushered her out of her chair while the rest of the kids laughed, spare a few looks of pity from about the place.

It didn't sound like much, but it was just one more moment of ceaseless harassment that she was sick of, more than that, she was sick of being helpless and a target for guys like Marcus.

She let the tears fall with a messy sob and shook her head, looking up and across the road and had a thought as she read the words on the sign.

BEACON HILLS PRESERVE: NO ENTRY AFTER DARK

*

"I'm telling you Scott, it's our year," Stiles said as they walked to his jeep after having practiced their lacrosse skills on the empty field. "We're seniors, we're on the team―"

"We're second string Stiles," Scott said.

"We're on the team," Stiles repeated. "We are two eligible bachelors―"

"Oh yeah, the girls are lining up for our numbers," Scott said and Stiles just stopped to give him a look and shake his head.

"I'm trying to paint a picture here, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, sorry," Scott said, looking over at Allison as she laughed with Lydia by Jackson's car.

"You know, pining over Allison isn't going to get you on a date," Stiles said and Scott rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah and Lydia's about this close to coming over here and asking you for a ride instead of getting in Jackson's car," he said quickly.

Stiles stared at him a moment before grunting and continuing the walk to the jeep.

"So it's not our year," he said. "Eventually it will be."

"So you're going to forget about Lydia?"

Stiles scoffed.

"You don't just forget about Lydia Martin," he said. "What, you think I wouldn't go out with someone who wasn't Lydia if they were interested? That's not it, there's just... minimal interest."

"She's so beautiful," Scott sighed.

"Alright, okay, no drool on the seat covers," Stiles said as he unlocked the doors. "We just need to start paying attention and you know, taking advantage of the opportunities in front of us. You probably wouldn't even notice if someone was interested in you."

"Oh like you would," Scott huffed back as they pulled out of the parking lot. "Hey can you drop me off at work?"

"Sure, don't forget we have a pop quiz in Mr Harris' class tomorrow," he said. "Pretty sure you need to study."

Scott punched him in the arm and they both laughed.

Stiles dropped him off at the animal clinic and then headed into town to see his dad at the station. He figured he could study there and that way he could wait for his dad to show and con him into buying him dinner.

He walked in and leaned on the front desk with a smile.

"Hey Sheila, is my dad in?"

"He just radioed in, should be back in a few," she said. "You can go on through."

He headed on through and set up in his dad's office, knowing he'll get more study done here than at home.

*

Isaac sat in the backhoe, taking a short break as the night grew colder.

He watched his breath spread out in front of him as he sighed. He used the light of his phone to look at his chemistry text book. He had a quiz tomorrow but his father hadn't let him take the night off work.

He blew warm air into his hand to try and keep warm and sighed again, knowing that he was never going to understand titrations in one night.

He took a quick look over his shoulder as he heard footsteps in the woods behind him. He couldn't see anything but that wasn't unusual. He wasn't easily scared but working in a graveyard would probably put most on edge.

There were another few footsteps and this time a thud followed.

He shut the book and shifted in his seat to squint through the darkness as his heart pumped a little faster.

"Hello?" he called out, hoping that if it was some kids playing jokes they would scram but there was no more noise. "This place is manned at night you know!"

Still nothing.

He sighed, the sick feeling in his stomach coming back as he turned on the flashlight he had on his belt and pointed it at the trees.

Just stay in the truck, he told himself.

He didn't.

He got out, pulling his coat tighter around himself as he walked around the gravestones and shone the light at the tree line.

"Hello?" he called again.

As the light ran over the trees it caught on something between them and it made Isaac jump. He let the torch hover and he noticed that it was blonde hair.

He walked in and slowly realised that he was looking at a blonde girl lying on the floor. She didn't seem to be moving and when he looked around he couldn't see anyone else so he walked over to her and pushed her hair out of her face.

She seemed to be breathing and he tried to wake her.

"Hey, hey, you okay?" he said. "Come on, wake up, hey!"

He pushed her arm back and a small bottle rolled out and onto the ground.

Isaac picked it up but it was empty and the label read Eslicarbazepine Acetate.

"Oh shit," he said, hands either side of her face. "Come on, wake up, wake up."

She wasn't moving, she was just limp in his hands and he cussed again. He grabbed his phone but he knew he had no reception. His dad wasn't coming to pick him up for another two hours and he was well out of his depth.

He wasn't too far from the road so he got up and ran, hoping someone would come past soon. It was usually quiet, he looked up and down and heard nothing, starting to panic a little because he still had no cell service.

It was a few minutes before lights started to appear from down the road. He waved his arms and walked out onto the bitumen hoping they'd stop, but they didn't seem to be slowing down.

For a moment he knew what deer felt like right before they got hit, a sort of mesmerised and transfixed by the white light of the cars, like staring off into the distance and losing all notion of time.

Lucky for Isaac, the driver swerved at the last minute and went careening into the ditch on the side of the road, causing their engine to screech and drop out.

Great, Isaac thought. First I found a dead girl and now I've killed someone.

He ran to the driver's side door and looked on through the window to see the guy beating back the airbag before he was throwing the door open and climbing out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I thought you saw me!" he said.

"Dude, what the hell?" Stiles said as he climbed out of the jeep.

He was on his way back from the station after eating with his father and may or may not have been trying to change the radio station when he looked up to see someone standing in the road.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, can't say the same about my jeep though," he said as he walked around to look at the front. "Yeah, that's not good."

"I'm sorry I just ― I need someone's help, there's this girl I... I don't know what to do I think she might have OD'd," Isaac said.

"What? Where? Wait, what?" Stiles said.

"Please just, help?" Isaac said, grabbing his arm to pull him with him through the trees.

Stiles followed, trying to keep up with Isaac as he took frantic steps.

"How did you even find her, what are you doing out here?" Stiles asked and Isaac turned his head to give him a quick look.

"I uh, I work out here," he said. "There."

He pointed to her and skidded in beside her with Stiles doing the same.

"Holy shit," Stiles said, taking her wrist and feeling for a pulse as Isaac pushed her hair out of her face. "Holy shit that's Erica Reyes."

Stiles felt his heart pounding as Isaac held up the empty bottle he had found by her side.

"These were next to her," Isaac said, holding out the empty bottle.

"She's epileptic," Stiles said. "How long has she been here?"

"I don't know, I heard a noise and when I came over here I found her," he said.

"Why didn't you call 911?"

Isaac turned to give him a look and Stiles shrugged.

"Be my guest," he said and Stiles pulled out his phone and exclaiming a silent 'oh' when he couldn't get a signal.

"So what was the plan then?" Stiles asked.

"The plan was to flag someone down so we could get her to a hospital, but that's kind of shot to hell now," he said. "What do we do?"

"Well we can't leave her here," he said.

"No shit Stiles."

Stiles looked at him with a furrow in his brow and Isaac looked a little sheepish.

"I uh, I go to your school too," he said quietly. "I'm in your chemistry class."

This time it was Stiles' turn to feel sheepish.

"Come on, let's get her up," Stiles said, reaching for her arm. "I think there's a house not far from here we can take her, maybe they'll have a phone we can use."

Isaac nodded and helped him hoist her up, causing the two of them to almost go tumbling back as Stiles guessed the way.

Erica didn't seem too responsive, every now and then she made a low groaning sound but that could have been from the clumsy carrying.

"How far away is this place?" Isaac asked.

"I'm not sure," Stiles said. "And you know, I recognise you, from school."

"It doesn't matter," Isaac said with a blush in his cheeks. "Lots of people don't."

"Isaac, right? Isaac Lahey?" he said and Isaac nodded.

They trudged on, Isaac was sure they passed a sign that read 'trespassers beware but they didn't really have much of a choice at this point. They could see lights up ahead and headed towards them, stopping only when they heard a voice from behind them.

"You know you're on private property right?"

They both jumped and Erica slipped out of their arms as they turned, both looking down at her as she hit the ground with a thump and then up at the girl before them.

She raised an eyebrow and looked from Erica back to their stunned faces.

They began to try and explain themselves at the same time to which the girl just put her hands up to stop them.

"Alright! Okay!" she said. "You, go."

She pointed to Stiles.

"She's passed out, and we have no cell service, and my car is dead on the side of the road and I knew there was a house out here and we were hoping―"

"We need help," Isaac finished, sighing a little from being out of breath and Stiles just nodded in agreement.

"Okay," she said without another word, nudging Stiles out of the way to hoist Erica up and both Stiles and Isaac were impressed at the ease at which she lifted her.

Isaac took the other side and they helped her up to the house.

"Door's open," she said and Stiles scrambled to hold it open for the three of them as they pulled her inside and towards the closest couch. "Put her here."

"You have a phone we can use then? Do you even get service out here?" Isaac said.

"It's fine," she said, pushing Erica's unruly hair out of her face and pulling down her bottom lip to listen to her breathing. "She's not dying, just passed out."

"She's epileptic," Stiles said, handing her the bottle.

"Yeah, and she's not dying," the girl said, taking the bottle. "She take all of these?"

"We don't know, which is why we were going to call a hospital or something," Stiles said.

"My sister's a nurse, she'll be home soon," she said.

"No offence but wouldn't a hospital be―" Isaac started.

"Trust me, but the time they could get an ambulance to her my sister will have been home in enough time to tell you exactly what I did, she's not dying," she said.

"But―"

"Do you see many roads around this place?" she said and they both shook their heads. "It's an emergency services nightmare. God forbid we ever actually need any. I'm Cora."

She held out her hand, first for Stiles and then for Isaac who both introduced themselves cautiously. Cora said she was going to get a blanket and some water before she left the room, leaving Isaac and Stiles to whisper between them.

"I still think we should call someone," Isaac said.

"I don't know, she seemed pretty sure," Stiles said. "But yeah, you're probably―"

"You know I wouldn't intentionally keep her from doctors, right?" Cora said from the living room entrance and they both spun quickly to look at her.

"We, we weren't―"

"You were, but it's okay," she said. "Here, cover her with this."

She handed the blanket to Stiles who threw it over her and looked down with a sigh.

"You think she did this to herself?" Cora asked.

"I heard some people talking about her today," Isaac said. "They um, they played a cruel joke on her."

"Teenagers are cruel," she said.

"I know, they locked me in the girl's locker room last week," Isaac said. "I missed my economics quiz and coach yelled at me when I finally made it back in."

"I once broke Bobby Wordeski's arm," Cora said with a shrug and they both looked over at her. "He was being a jerk and I twisted it the wrong way. Either way, there's a reason I'm home-schooled."

"Because you're freakishly strong?" Stiles said before he could stop himself and Cora gave him an amused little smile.

"Because I can't just walk away," she said. "Are you guys' hungry? Did you want some water or?"

"Yeah, I guess," Isaac said and Stiles also nodded right before the front door swung open.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

They spun around to see a woman not much older than Cora and strikingly similar standing with her arms folded and looking from one teenager to the next.

"This is Laura, my sister," Cora said as they both gave awkward waves in her direction.

*

Scott stroked the dog on the table as Deaton finished off its injections. It gave a little whine and whimper but Scott held her still and ran his fingers through her fur to keep her as calm as possible.

"You're good at that," Deaton said and Scott gave him a smile.

"I just hate when they struggle and make that sound," he said. "At least this way, maybe they don't feel so scared."

"You have a lot of compassion," he said. "Which is exactly what one needs in this line of work."

He finished up and stepped away from the table, packing up his instruments and disposing of the unsterile equipment.

Scott gave the dog another scratch behind the ear before putting her in the cage on the floor.

"I think her owner is here if you'd like to tell him we're just about done," Deaton said. "Then I think that's all we have left for tonight."

"Okay," Scott said, heading out into the main foyer to see the guy sitting in one of the chairs and looking like he was falling asleep.

Scott cleared his throat a little and the guy startled awake, getting up with a quick jolt.

"Sorry," he said, walking up to lean on the counter.

"All good," Scott said. "Vernon, right?"

He made a face.

"Boyd," he said. "I prefer Boyd."

"Okay, cool, well everything's all good, up to date and everything," he said. "Just need you to sign a few things and then I'll go grab her."

Boyd gave him a smile as Scott headed back out the back and towards the cage, which was now empty of the dog that had just been there.

"Oh sh―" Scott said, looking around the room before dropping to his knees. "Brandy!"

As he crawled a few more steps hissing the dog's name Deaton came back in and looked down at him with a strange look.

"You uh, you didn't leave the back door open did you?" he said from the floor and Deaton just tilted his head to the side with wide eyes. "She may have... got out."

"Uh..." they heard from the front as Boyd stepped into view. "Did you... lose my dog?"

Scott scrambled to his feet.

"She probably just got out the back, can't have gone too far," he said. "I'll find her."

"I'll come with you," Boyd said and headed out the front way as Scott got to his feet.

"I swear I thought I shut the cage," he said and Deaton gave him a smile.

"As long as you find her," he said. "Take your things, I can finish the rest of it up."

"Thanks, sorry, again!" Scott said as he grabbed his jacket and bag and made his way to the door.

*

Isaac and Stiles stood in the doorway to the living room while Cora and her sister argued by the couch.

"They practically turned up on the doorstep," Cora said. "Should I have made them walk back to the road and wait for someone else to drive by?"

"You should have called someone," she said. "Someone who can help her."

"She's not dying," Cora repeated.

"I know that," Laura said. "But it's not your call, she's a kid, she probably has parents. You can't just keep her here."

"She needs to rest!"

"She needs to go to a doctor," she said. "She's..."

She trailed off and looked over at the boys before grabbing Cora's arm and pulling her into a hushed whisper.

"What do you think?" Stiles asked Isaac quietly.

"I think my dad's going to kill me if he goes to pick me up and has to wait," he said, biting down on his lip.

"Dude relax, just tell him what happened I'm sure he'll be fine," Stiles said but Isaac looked like he was on the verge of being sick.

"You don't know my dad," he said.

Cora turned back to them with a curious look at Isaac and Laura shook her head.

"You know what mom would say," she said and Cora huffed out with a roll of her eyes.

"Same thing as you probably," she muttered.

Erica murmured from the couch as she stirred and both Isaac and Stiles took a few steps into the room as Cora dropped down onto her knees beside her.

"Erica?" Stiles said as she blinked herself awake and looked up at the group of them drowsily.

She looked up in confusion as they all looked down at her.

"How'd I get here?" she said in barely a breath and Stiles and Isaac seemed to exhale in unison.

"Thank god," Stiles said.

"My name's Cora, you're at my house," she said slowly. "These two found you in the woods and brought you here. Do you remember how you got there?"

Erica's lip trembled and she turned her head to look away.

"I'm thirsty," she said slowly and Cora grabbed the glass she had brought in before and handed it to her.

"Uh, do you mind if I use your bathroom?" Stiles said to Laura who just sighed, realising that her little sister had got her way again, like always.

"Upstairs and to the right," she said and Stiles headed off in that direction.

"You're a nurse right?" Isaac asked her quietly.

"Yeah," she said.

"You think she's going to be alright?"

Laura looked over at the way she was staring across the room and avoiding Cora's eyes before turning back to Isaac.

"Not sure I'm that kind of nurse," she said.

"Here I was thinking the party was Saturday," Derek said as he stood in the doorway with a smile.

Laura sent one back his way and walked over to embrace him.

"Derek," she said. "Glad you're back."

"What's going on?" he said, looking from Isaac who stood awkwardly in the living room to Erica who still sat stoically on the couch.

"Long story," Laura said.

"Well let me put my stuff away and maybe you can start to explain it," he said, taking another look at Isaac. "Who's he?"

Isaac seemed to flush red all over.

"I was just leaving, you know I have, work..." he said as he shuffled his feet.

"Sit down, I'll get you something to eat and then you can go," Laura said.

He nodded and took a seat, looking over at Erica with worry written all over his face.

Cora got to her feet and all but ran to Derek, burying her face in his chest.

"I missed you," she said and Derek kissed the top of her head. "And you have to take my side on this one."

"There's always a catch with you," he said.

"And you know you're going to take her side because everyone always does," Laura said quietly so that the other two couldn't hear.

"You know that I can help her," Cora said.

"I know a hospital can help her," Laura said.

"Oh like our hospitals give a crap about mental health," she said, arms still wrapped around Derek. "They'll just shove some more drugs down her throat and send her on her way."

"You can't just kidnap people even if you think you can help them."

"You can smell it, she's lonely and... dark," Cora said. "She needs people, not doctors."

"Okay, can I just put my bags back upstairs before we get into this?" he said. "Sounds like a weird night."

They let him go and he could still hear them bickering as he headed towards the stairs. It was only once he's got out of the entry that the other smell in the house hit him.

It wasn't like anything he'd smelled before, he could feel it making his body react before he could even figure out where it was coming from. It was like it engulfed all his senses and surrounded him until all he could feel was his heart beating and the wolf within him clawing at his insides.

His skin tingled. His body was almost throbbing with a kind of desire he had only felt once or twice before and he grit his teeth as he saw him walk out of the bathroom and stop with a start.

"Holy―" Stiles said, jumping at the sight of someone else in the hallway. "Uh, hi?"

Even the sound of his voice seemed to make the feeling worse, he had to swallow the growl that threatened to slip from his lips as he took a few more steps forward.

"Who are you?" he said in a far more sinister snarl than he had intended and he heard his heart beat quicken.

"Um, I was just... using the bathroom," he said. "I'm―"

Derek struggled to control his breathing, walking quickly past him to his old bedroom and all but slamming the door shut behind him, throwing open the window to try and let the scent out and focus on anything else but it was too late. It was already engraved in his mind and he just couldn't be in the same house with it.

He climbed out of the window and jumped from the roof to the dirt floor beneath the window, walking as fast as he could in any other direction.

As Stiles walked down the stairs he looked over at Laura who was handing Isaac a soda.

"We're not like, interrupting a family thing are we?" he said. "I mean like we can go."

"What are you talking about?" Laura asked.

"I think it was your brother, he looked pretty pissed to see me," he said. "Which is, you know, weird because I don't think we've ever actually met."

Laura looked a little confused but Cora piped up as she walked back into the room with a cup of hot chocolate.

"He's probably confused, wondering if things have changed so much since he's been gone," she said as she walked back over to Erica.

"Plus he's got a tour of his new workplace tomorrow," Laura said. "It's probably nerves."

Cora held out the mug to Erica with a soft expression on her face.

"Drink," she said quietly. "It'll make you feel better."

Erica took it, staring down into the slowly spinning liquid before looking back up at Cora.

"I don't want to feel better," she said softly. "I want to be better."

As a tear rolled down her cheek Cora put her hand over Erica's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Drink it anyway," she said. "Please?"

Erica didn't say anything else but she did take a sip.

Stiles took the chance to call his father, telling him that he'd swerved to miss a deer and needed him to come pick him up because the jeep was stranded. He might have told Isaac to tell his dad what happened, but the sheriff liked to ask lots of questions that he just didn't feel like answering.

He knew it would take him at least twenty minutes to get out there and after all it was a school night, despite everything he would still have to face the chemistry test in the morning.

He still wasn't sure about leaving Erica when his gut told him that she probably needed more help than they could give, but something told him that this wasn't all that it seemed either.

"Are you sure she's okay here?" Isaac said. "I mean, we could still call for an ambulance."

"I don't need an ambulance," Erica said and they all turned to look at her. "I don't need a doctor, I don't― I don't."

"I just... I mean I hope you're okay," he said.

"You should come to the party on Saturday," Cora said. "All of you."

She looked back to Erica who looked as though she'd just asked her something completely crazy.

"Bring friends if you want," she said. "It's going to be pretty big."

Laura gave her a look.

"You said you'd tone it down," she said.

"I did!" Cora said. "I only invited most of Derek's Facebook friends. Mom doesn't have to know."

"You think she'll get back here and won't know how many people were here?" Laura said. "And Derek doesn't talk to that many people on his friends list."

"I know, which is why I invited most of yours too. Plus the bigger the party the more intimate it feels," she said. "You know, no one really notices if you don't talk to them."

"I um, I'm not really a party person," Isaac said, nervous energy radiating off him.

"Still, come if you guys want," Cora said, turning back to Erica with a smile.

"You guys want me to walk you back out there?" Laura asked. "It's getting pretty late."

"We can probably find our way," Stiles said. "Thanks though, you know, for all this. I guess it's kind of a weird night all round."

"No kidding," Laura said. "Are you sure? I know the woods around here pretty well."

"We're good," he said. "Is she... uh..."

"We'll get her home, tonight," Laura said. "You have my word."

Stiles nodded and tilted his head towards the door and Isaac followed him. They heard the door shut behind them and exchanged a look.

"You think she means it?" Stiles asked.

"We could call the cops if you're worried," Isaac said as he took quick steps.

"I think it'll be okay," Stiles said. "What are you scared of the dark or something? Slow down!"

"I work in a cemetery, the dark isn't exactly creepy anymore," he said.

"You ever see anything... weird?" Stiles asked as he quickened his pace to keep up with him.

"Sometimes," he said. "I try not to think about it too much."

They were closer than Stiles thought they were and soon enough they started passing small grave sites.

"Well that's not terrifying at all," he said as they passed a headstone in terrible shape.

"There are a few like that, people who did bad things and weren't allowed to be buried on consecrated ground," Isaac said. "Oh shit!"

He ducked behind a tree and looked out to see his father looking in and around the machinery.

"Oh shit!" he said again.

"You want me to come out there with you? I can tell really good bullshit stories," Stiles asked.

Isaac shook his head.

"Won't matter."

"Dude, what's the worst that could happen?" he asked and Isaac just sighed.

"Can you get back to the road okay?" Isaac asked.

"You okay?" Stiles asked.

"Fine," he said quickly. "Thanks for helping and... sorry about your car."

"All good man," he said. "See you round."

Stiles let Isaac walk out towards his dad and heard something being yelled as he did, but he had to get back to the road to wait for his dad. By the time he got there he was already waiting.

"Where the hell have you been?" he said as Stiles crossed the road to meet him.

"I just― I got tired of waiting," Stiles said.

The sheriff gave him a light whack over the head and opened the passenger door to his car.

"Get in."

"What about the jeep?"

The sheriff pushed him in as if he was a criminal.

"I'll call for a tow in the morning, send it to the mechanic," he said as he shut the door and made his way to the driver's side.

"How am I going to get to school?"

"Even if I called for a tow now you still wouldn't be taking it to school," he said. "Now start talking, what the hell are you doing walking through the woods at this time? You don't know what's out there."

"Relax dad, I might have the whole red riding hood thing going on but there aren't any wolves in California."

*

Derek kept walking through the woods and back in the direction of the town, he was finally starting to reel himself back in.

He hadn't felt the pull of a trigger in years, and he'd never been so close to one even when he'd been around them in the past. He made a habit of keeping as far away from them as possible.

His phone started ringing in his pocket and he leant against a tree as he fished it out, staring over at the lights from the edge of town.

"Where the hell did you go?" Laura said before he even had a chance to say hello.

"Sorry I just... I had to get to fresh air," he said.

"We live in the middle of the woods, how much more fresh air do you need?"

"Who was that in our house?" he asked. "Why were they even there?"

"Long story, I told you," she said.

"One of them, he was a trigger," he said and he heard Laura's quiet 'oh' through the phone. "It just kind of blind sighted me and I had to get out."

"Crap," she said. "I guess that's a fair enough reason to bail. They're gone now so you can get your butt back here and take this girl home."

"You really think that's the best idea?" Cora chimed in.

"We are not holding a teenager hostage in this house," Laura said. "That's not going to help."

"Maybe not but you know what will," she said.

Derek tilted his head as he tried to figure out what she meant by that.

"Cora..." Laura said cautiously.

"You heard her, she wants to be better and we all know that we can do that for her," she said.

"Cora!" Laura hissed, dragging her into the kitchen. "You have no idea what you're talking about. It's dangerous, it doesn't always work. Derek, back me up here?"

"That is not fair," Cora said. "This isn't Paige."

Derek sighed and looked down at his feet, as usual when his sisters argued he was the third party, the judge, the tiebreaker.

"Cora!" Laura said again.

"Well she's not! She's sick and she wants to be better and you know that what we have can make her better!"

"You can't just decide what people need or want, you don't even know this girl," Laura said. "What would mom say?"

"Does she look like she deserves to be miserable for the rest of her life?"

"High school is going to be the worst for her," Laura said. "Teenagers are vicious and nasty, adults won't be."

"And teenagers have a higher survival rate," Cora said. "Derek? Please help me out here?"

"Don't let her talk you into this," Laura said. "You know better than anyone what can happen."

"Now who's being insensitive?" Cora said.

"I think," Derek said, breaking up their bickering. "I think that you hate seeing people suffer, people in pain. I think that's it's amazing that you want to help someone you've never even met before today. I also know that there's a group of hunters back in Beacon Hills and the last thing any of us need right now is to give them a reason to target us."

"That is such a mom answer," Cora said. "Please Derek, you know this could help her."

"I know Cora, but we can't put everyone else in danger because of our own feelings."

"That's rich coming from someone who used to date a hunter," she said.

"Once," Derek said through gritted teeth. "When I was a stupid teenager. And she left before anything could go wrong."

"We know you want to help," Laura said softly. "But this isn't the way to do it."

Cora sighed in the background and Derek heard her footsteps walking away.

"Just get back here soon so you can get this girl home," Laura said.

"You know she's doing it because she's lonely," Derek said quietly.

"She can't keep her cool," Laura said. "If she could keep a secret maybe she could have had a normal school life."

Derek could hear people shouting in the trees around him and sighed again.

"I'll be back soon," he said before hanging up the phone.

"Brandy!" he heard through the trees. "She can't be too far."

He shoved the phone back into his pocket and walked towards the voices, even that conversation couldn't distract him from the smell that still lingered in his mind. Maybe this could.

*

"Brandy!" Boyd called as he and Scott scoured the edge of the woods looking for the dog.

"Seriously dude, I'm so sorry," Scott said as he could his head and scolded himself.

He should have checked that the cage was closed.

"She has a habit of escaping," Boyd said. "Don't beat yourself up too much."

"I should have checked," Scott said again.

"I thought it was going to grow out of the whole runaway phase," he said. "Just seems to have gotten worse. I remember one time Alicia left the gate open, Brandy was gone for two days before we figured out that the old lady down the road had picked her up and taken her in."

He chuckled a little and Scott looked over at him for a moment. Boyd looked back with a shrug.

"My sister," he said. "She's dead."

"I'm sorry," Scott said.

"Yeah," Boyd said. "Me too."

"Are you lost?" Derek said and the two of them spun around so fast he was surprised one of them didn't fall over.

"His dog," Scott said, heart beating wildly. "She got out."

Derek sighed and looked from one to the other.

"Wait here," he said.

As he turned and jogged off into the trees Scott and Boyd exchanged a look.

"You know him?" Boyd asked.

"I thought you must have," Scott said.

"I don't really know anybody," Boyd said, sitting down on one of the fallen logs. "If I did I wouldn't be sitting alone at lunch every day."

Scott wanted to say something in return but he couldn't think of anything that made him feel less guilty.

It was less than five minutes later that Derek came walking back towards them, dog under his arm and crooning as he scratched it behind the ear.

"Brandy," Boyd said as he got up with a smile.

"How did you find her?" Scott asked as Derek handed her over.

"Luck," Derek said.

"Thank you," Boyd said.

"Don't mention it," he said, turning to head back home.

"Wait, who are you?" Scott called.

"Name's Derek," he said before he was gone.

*

Laura stood in the doorway as she watched, arms folded as Derek walked back up towards the house.

"Kill anything?" she asked.

"No," he said.

"Please don't tell me you went and found the boy," she said.

He stopped before he passed her and gave her a look.

"I found a dog," he said, taking another few steps inside.

"You ― wait, what?"

"Never mind."

"Well, get your shit together," she said. "You need to take the girl home."

"You don't have a car?" he said.

"Faulty alternator," she said. "Don't get it back until tomorrow, and you're not taking Cora with you."

"Welcome home," he muttered to himself.

Erica didn't argue when Derek walked over and offered to drive her home. He held out his hand and she took it with a gentle nod.

Cora handed over her phone number and told her to call if she needed anything though she looked more confused at the gesture than anything else.

She sat in the back seat and gave Derek the address, staring out the window for most of the drive. She didn't say a word until they were only a few streets from her house.

"There were only about three pills left in the bottle," she said quietly.

Derek looked at her in the mirror but she was just tracing her fingers over the door handle.

"Sometimes I take too many, when I have a bad day," she said. "All they ever do is put me to sleep. It just gets tiring is all."

"You need something to take your mind off it," Derek said softly.

"I haven't found anything that works in seventeen years," she said. "I'm open to suggestions."

He smiled a little.

"You should come to the party Saturday night," he said. "I know Cora would appreciate it."

"I don't need pity invitations," she said, wiping her eyes.

"Cora doesn't have many friends," Derek said. "Maybe you'd be doing her more of a favour than you think."

They pulled up outside her house and she just sighed.

"Do you want me to walk with you?"

She gave him a look

"I thought I just said I don't need pity invitations," she said. "Especially from someone like you, makes it worse."

"Someone like me?" he asked.

Her cheeks flushed and she just got out of the car.

"Thanks," she said. "For the ride."

He nodded and watched her walk to the front door and struggle a moment with the key, finally getting it open as a woman appeared in the doorway.

She seemed more annoyed at the late hour than she seemed worried about where Erica had been.

Derek's brow furrowed, maybe Cora had a better point than he'd thought she did.

*

The sheriff had to drop Stiles off in the morning, much to his displeasure. The only thing worse than your dad dropping you off at school was when your dad dropped you off in a police car.

Scott pulled up on his bike and grinned as he saw Stiles climbing out, jogging over to him with a grin.

"What happened this time?" he asked.

"Dude, do I have a story to tell you," he said. "I had the weirdest night ever."

"At least you didn't lose somebody's dog," Scott said.

"Don't try and steal this moment from me, my story beats your story's ass," Stiles said. "Like, into the ground."

He started to go over the events of the night before, arms flailing as he explained himself. Scott was trying to decide if he believed him or not but surely he couldn't make something up with this much detail.

"So we were carrying her through the woods and towards that house when this girl shows up out of nowhere like―"

"Stiles?"

He spun around quickly to see Cora standing behind him.

"Kind of, exactly like that," he said. "Cora, what are you doing here?"

She stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at him, hands in her pockets and a smile on her lips.

"I came to see if Erica was here," she said. "Have you seen her?"

"Uh, no, not yet anyway," he said. "Why, what happened after I left?"

Scott looked between the two of them, the doubt in his mind about Stiles' story slowly clearing up.

"Nothing really, Derek got back and took her home, I just wanted to see if she was feeling okay this morning."

"Wait did you say Derek?" Scott asked and Cora raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, my brother," she said.

"Kind of tallish, dark hair, uh leather jacket wearing kind of guy?"

"Sounds about right," she said, turning back to Stiles. "If you see Erica can you tell her she can call me if she needs anything?"

Stiles nodded, giving Scott a weird look before turning back to her.

"Yeah, of course, you want me to help you find her now?"

She shrugged.

"All good, I could sniff her out if I wanted to but I figured I'd ask," they both gave her a strange look. "It's... just an expression."

"Yeah, obviously," Stiles said. "I'll try and catch up with her at lunch, see if she's okay."

"Thanks," she said.

"Oh, this is Scott," he said and Cora gave him a smile.

"Hey," she said. "So... I'll see you Saturday? Both of you if you want, the more the merrier."

"Saturday?" Scott asked.

"We're having a party, it's kind of an annual thing but no one really knows what it's for any more. This year's excuse is that Derek's home but it's really just an excuse to have a bit of fun while our parents are away," she said. "You guys should come, bring your friends."

"Yeah we'll try and make it," Stiles said.

"Cool, guess I'll see you then," she said. "Nice to meet you."

Scott waved as she turned to walk away.

"She's kind of weird but she's nice, right?" Stiles said.

"Dude, I totally met her brother in the woods last night," Scott said as they turned to walk back inside. "He kind of saved my ass from having to wander around all night looking for the dog I let escape."

"He wasn't weird or anything? I met him at their place and he looked like he wanted to tear my throat out or something," Stiles said. "I mean in a totally hot non-creepy serial killer kind of way."

"How is serial killer ever not creepy?"

"When it looks like Derek Hale!" Stiles said.

"I didn't know you swung that way Stiles," Scott said with a grin.

"You know me, I'm not exactly hard to please," he said, continuing with his story as they headed inside.

Jackson leant against the side of his car and stared over at them, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"How is it that Stilinski and McCall know the Hale girl," he said as Danny walked up beside him. "She hasn't even been to a normal school since like grade six."

Danny shrugged.

"Maybe they're family friends," he said.

"Maybe," Jackson said quietly. "Whatever it is, there is no way that they get an invite while we're on the out."

"You could, I don't know... ask nicely?" Danny said with a chuckle.

"You're a real funny guy Danny, you know that?"

"Well how else do you expect to get in?"

"I'll figure something out," he said.

*

Derek sat on the couch reading his book, foot tapping impatiently.

Laura came downstairs and shoved his legs to the side so she could sit beside him, leaning on her elbow and giving him a smile.

"What?" he said gruffly.

"When did you get so grumpy?" she said.

"I'm not grumpy," he said.

"Yes you are," she said. "This about the whole trigger thing? You've had them before."

"Never here," he sighed. "Never so close."

"So stay away from him," she said. "Avoid the problem until it's not a problem anymore."

"Have you ever..." he started. "I mean have you ever thought about giving in?"

"Of course I have," she said. "Never did though. I'm not exactly a fan of sleeping with someone who simultaneously makes me hot and homicidal. If it was another wolf it might be different but human's... that could be messy."

"It could be," he said.

"Derek, don't even think about it," she said.

"Laura, you have no idea what it felt like when he was standing right―"

"Derek, I love you, but I don't need to know the intimate details of what it felt like when you had a trigger standing in front of you," she said. "There's a reason mom soundproofed our bedrooms. There are no secrets in this house."

He pulled the cushion out from under his arm and whacked her with it.

"I'm not trying to talk to you about that," he said.

"Oh please, I can smell it on you," she said. "You want to be selfish and see if it feels any better with a trigger. You know once you open that box you can't close it up again. If it does you will never be satisfied with anything else. You sure you want to risk that?"

"Laura," Derek groaned. "I can control myself."

"Sure you can," she grinned. "I'm going to work, probably won't see you until tomorrow, you're coming to the party right?"

"I don't even know why we still have those parties, all they do is draw attention to us anyway," he said.

"Not what you said last year," she said, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Do me a favour, keep your paws to yourself?"

"I heard you the first time."

*

The bell rang for the start of lunch and Stiles groaned, his chemistry test nothing to celebrate. He looked over at Scott who looked even more confused than usual.

He packed up his things and wondered how he was going to explain that when the results came back.

"That was probably the most brutal test Harris has ever given us," Scott said.

"No kidding," Stiles said, looking over to the back corner to see Isaac shoving a textbook into his bag. "Hold up."

He walked over to him, tapping him on the arm and making him flinch as he spun around.

"Whoa, take it easy," Stiles said. "Just wanted to see how you pulled up, last night was pretty crazy. You okay?"

Isaac looked tired, sleep deprived and he had a split in his bottom lip that Stiles was sure hadn't been there last night.

"Yeah, um, just trying to get through this test," he said with a weak smile. "I can't really afford to fail another one."

"Same, my dad would kill me," he said and Isaac avoided his eyes. "You sure you're okay?"

"Fine Stiles," he said. "Thanks."

"Well come on, I need you to tell Scott that I wasn't totally making up the whole thing," he said, giving him a nudge.

"What?"

"Lunch dude," he said. "Come on."

Isaac followed Stiles and Scott to the cafeteria, he didn't usually have anyone to sit with and he wasn't even totally sure why Stiles was so adamant about him joining them, but he didn't complain.

Stiles was doing most of the talking, going on and on about how Harris has it in for him when Scott noticed Boyd sitting at one of the tables and eating alone. He felt a pang and started walking in his direction.

"Hey Boyd," he said, sliding into one of the seats.

Boyd raised an eyebrow at him and gave Isaac and Stiles similar looks as they did the same.

"What are you..."

"Eating lunch?" Scott said. "If that's cool."

The hint of a smile slipped onto his lips and he nodded.

"Yeah, that's cool," he said.

They'd only been sat down for a few minutes when Erica walked into the cafeteria. There were a few snickers from the people who had played the nasty joke on her the day before and whispers from some people that weren't really whispers at all.

"I don't even know how she shows her face."

"I would be so embarrassed!"

She tried to walk past them and ignore them but she could feel their eyes on her.

Stiles watched her as she walked in and remembered what he said to Cora before the first bell.

"Erica!" he called and she just stopped, looking behind her to see if he could possibly be talking to someone else.

He waved her over and she slowly walked towards them, sitting down as if Stiles might bite if she got too close.

"Cora wanted to know how you were doing," he said casually, knowing that the last thing she probably wanted from him was to be treated like she was wrapped in cotton wool. "She caught me out the front this morning."

"I'm fine," she said, looking around at the other faces at the table.

"You know Scott, Isaac and Boyd?" Stiles asked.

The whole situation just seemed to get weirder to all of them, especially when Jackson came to sit down at the table with Lydia standing by his side.

"Stilinski, McCall," he said slowly, looking at the others with a curious gaze before turning back to the two of them.

"Uh... Whittemore?" Stiles said.

"Word on the street," he said. "Is that the two of you have an invite to the Hale party this weekend. Now what I'm trying to understand is how two... how do I put this... losers like yourselves get yourselves an invite to one of the parties of the year?"

"Why do you think we got invited?" Scott asked.

"Because I saw you with one of the sisters this morning," he said. "So don't bother lying."

"We barely―" Scott started but Stiles kicked him in the foot.

"Cora's cool," Stiles said. "She invited all of us actually."

Jackson looked around the table and raised an eyebrow.

"All of you?" he asked. "Really?"

Lydia let out a little cough and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Let's just get this over with," he said. "You're going to get us in, okay?"

"You didn't get invited?" Stiles asked and this time it was Scott's turn to kick him under the table.

"Alright, let's cut the crap Stilinski, can you get us in or not?" he asked and Lydia looked over expectantly.

Stiles thought for a moment, everyone's eyes suddenly on him.

"It's going to be pretty hard to squeeze in any extra invites―"

"Name your price Stilinski," he said. "What's it going to take?"

Stiles was going to antagonise Jackson a little more, but he felt like that was a quick road to a punch in the face.

"I want to play," he said.

"What?"

"The game, on Sunday," he said. "You get us a spot first string and we'll get you in."

"Lacrosse? You're talking about lacrosse?" he said.

"Yeah," he said. "If we play, all of us, you know, except Erica, then we'll get you into the party."

"You know coach is the one who picks the team, right?" Jackson said.

"You're the captain," Stiles said. "If all four of us get picked at practice this afternoon then I'll give Cora a call and get you and Lydia, and Danny and Allison in. Erica, anything you want while we're making demands?"

She shook her head quickly.

"No," she said.

"I can't make the coach pick people," he said and Lydia scoffed.

"He'll get you a spot," she said sweetly with a smile. "See you Saturday."

Jackson groaned but got up, pointing a finger at Stiles.

"You better come through Stilinski."

"A deal's a deal," he said and the two of them walked away.

"What the hell was that?" Scott hissed.

"That was me getting us a game on Sunday," he said. "Cora said we could bring people."

"She said friends," Isaac said.

"What party?" Boyd said.

"The guy who found your dog last night," Scott said. "His family is having a party."

"So now we're going to a party and playing in the game," Stiles said. "This is like, the biggest weekend of my life."

"Who said we're going?" Scott said.

"I want to go," Isaac said quietly.

"Yes! See? Isaac wants to go," Stiles said, throwing his arm over his shoulder and making him crack a smile. "Boyd?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said and Stiles pouted at him. "Uh, I guess I'm in though?"

"That's the spirit," he said. "Erica?"

"I... I don't really go to parties," she said.

"Me either, I'm usually never invited," Stiles said. "But we're specifically invited to this one. Come on, I'll get my jeep back tomorrow morning, I'll pick you up."

She thought for a moment before a small smile crept onto her lips.

"Okay," she said.

"Scott, you're the odd one out here," he said and Scott just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, alright I'm in."

Stiles laughed, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him with a big grin across his features.

*

"Let me get this straight," the coach said as he leaned against his desk. "You want me to add Scott 'Mc Drops the Ball' and Stiles 'Still Can't Catch the Ball' into the team for the game?"

Jackson stood in front of him with a shrug.

"And Lahey and Boyd too," he said.

"Let me get this straight," he said again and Jackson huffed out in annoyance.

"Look, coach, we need to mix this team up," he said. "Get some fresh legs on the field."

"Stilinski?" he said. "Really?"

"I've been training them up," he said through gritted teeth. "Just... trust me coach."

"Trust you," he scoffed and walked out. "We'll see what happens!"

Before practice Jackson gave Scott and Stiles a rousing pep talk about not being shit for one god damn training session, pointing at Isaac and Boyd on his way through too.

Maybe it was because Stiles knew that coach had the final say on the team, maybe he was just having a good day, but Stiles actually had a better session that he usually did.

It must have worked, one way or another because coach begrudgingly called their names for Sunday's team.

Unfortunately that meant Jackson got his way, but Stiles was far too excited to let that get to him.

"Hey, dad?" he said as they sat at dinner that night. "You think the jeep will be all good by tomorrow night?"

His dad looked at him over the half empty take out containers and pointed at him with a plastic fork.

"You're lucky I'm even letting you have the damn thing back," he said.

"Dad, how am I supposed to predict a deer?" he said.

"Don't blame the deer," he said and Stiles just grunted, banging his head on the table.

"Okay, alright, I should have had better vision," he said. "But I told some friends I'd pick them up and take them to this party."

"What party?" the sheriff said with narrowed eyes.

"Just a party," he said. "Geez dad, you don't like it when I stay in you don't like it when I go out, it's like Jenga up there."

"Alright, alright," he said. "Leave your old man alone, he worries."

"Well, I don't know if you're off Sunday afternoon," he said. "I uh, I'm getting a game so I thought you might want to come down."

"You're playing?" he said.

"Well, yeah."

"You mean it? You're going to be playing? On the field?"

"Yes dad, on the field," he said

He smiled, that kind of proud smile that Stiles always loved to see.

"I'll just take on the night shift tomorrow," he said. "Someone needs the cover and it even gives me time for a nap before the game."

"And we both know how much you need your naps," Stiles said through a mouthful of Chinese food.

"Okay wise-ass, just make sure you're back from your party early enough to get a decent rest before the game."

"Cross my heart," he said.

*

Cora might not have had many friends, but it was for that exact reason that she knew how to throw a party. It was the only time she could get any real human interaction.

Emphasis on the 'human'.

Laura complained about the whole party thing more than anyone, yet she always seemed to be the best dressed on the actual occasion.

She looked beautiful, she looked just like their mother.

She laughed with some of her friends who were already there and Cora just leant against the door frame with her arms folded and Derek came over to stand with her.

"I know she doesn't like to hear it," he said. "But add twenty years on her and she's mom, all over."

Cora chuckled.

"I was just thinking that," she said. "You didn't change your mind did you? About Erica?"

She said the last part very quietly, hoping that even Laura wouldn't hear. Derek sighed and took another sip of his drink.

"You mean well," he said. "I just don't think we can risk it right now."

"Derek..." she said.

"Like I said, you mean well," he said. "But you're rash, you make decisions too fast. Let this one sit for a while. Get to know the girl."

"You know it would be nice of you to have my back for once," she said. "It's always team Derek and Laura. Just once Derek."

She turned and walked back towards the kitchen. He hated that she felt that way, but he couldn't say that it wasn't true most of the time.

*

Allison looked at herself in the mirror, straightening out her dress and pulling back her hair. Parties had never really been her favourite thing but Lydia had insisted.

No one says no to Lydia Martin.

"So where exactly is this party?" her dad asked, standing in the doorway.

"It's just someone from school dad," she said. "They don't live far. And I know the deal, home by eleven and no rebellious teenage behaviour."

"And you're getting there, how?"

"Jackson's picking me up after Lydia," she said. "Relax dad, I've got this."

"I don't doubt that," he said. "Is that the necklace that Kate sent you?"

Her hands reached up to the pendant around her neck and she nodded.

"Would have been nice if she could have delivered it herself," she said.

"I know you think it's harsh, but I have my reasons for not wanting her to come here," he said.

She couldn't stay after he realised what she'd been planning. He was all about the code, we hunt those who hunt us, but he couldn't condone the murder of children, even werewolf children. Especially in such a heinous way.

She would have found a way to do it even if he'd stopped her the first time. She just couldn't be trusted to stay after that.

"I know," she said, followed shortly by two short honks of a car's horn. "That's Jackson. Eleven, on the dot. Promise."

She leant up to kiss his cheek and then she was gone, down the stairs and out the door.

She squeezed into the car beside Danny in the back seat.

"Your dad's really cool with you going to a party in the middle of the woods?" he asked and she smiled.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

*

Stiles pulled up in the jeep outside of Scott's house and waved to his mother as she kissed him goodbye at the door.

"She give you a curfew too?" Stiles said as he climbed in.

"Of course she did," he said. "You should have seen how excited she was when I said I was actually going to be on the field tomorrow."

"Oh I bet she looked just like my dad did," he said. "A mix if shock and pride, and probably anxiety because knowing my luck I'll get knocked out by a stray ball or something."

"It won't be a stray ball, Jackson will be aiming for your head," Scott grinned and Stiles just cringed.

"Yeah I went a little crazy huh?"

"If we lose he'll probably kill you," he said.

"Well at least I will have had a pretty damn good weekend up until then," he said. "We have to pick up Erica and Boyd on the way."

"You're not just doing this because you feel sorry for her, are you?" Scott asked.

"Have you ever spoken to her?" Stiles said. "Like, even once?"

"... no, I guess not."

"She's cool man, she likes comic books and movies and she's actually pretty funny," he said. "People just don't give her a chance because all they see is, you know, the fact that she's epileptic. Myself included. That why we sat with Boyd yesterday?"

"No!" Scott said defensively. "Maybe, to start with, but I mean no one should have to sit by themselves at lunch."

"True," he said. "Isaac's making his way there himself. I think he was supposed to be working and he just told his dad he would find his own way back home. His dad gives me the creeps, you should have heard how he was yelling at Isaac the other night. I felt pretty bad for leaving."

"You think that's why his lip was busted yesterday?" Scott asked.

"I hope not."

They drove past Boyd's place and picked him up, he still seemed cautious of their friendly gestures but didn't fight against them.

Erica seemed to be warming up more and more, she even smiled from the door as she walked to the car.

"You look nice," Stiles said as she climbed in beside Boyd.

They drove out to the closest parking point they could find and Stiles pulled over beside another car.

"I guess we walk from here," Stiles said.

*

There were a lot of people already filling into the house, some human, some less so. All of them were anticipating an event-filled evening.

Cora looked around the room, waiting to see a familiar face, or even anyone who seemed to be doing the same as her, searching for someone who was searching for someone else.

She looked towards the front door and smiled.

"I knew you'd make it," she grinned.

Peter walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms.

"You know me, when would I pass up the chance to party?" he said.

"I need to talk to you," she said in barely a breath.

"You know me very well," he whispered back, ushering her through the people and out the door. "If there's one thing I like more than a party, it's a secret."

"It's not just a secret, I need a favour."

They kept walking through the trees, far enough away that no one would hear their conversation and Cora gave him a serious look.

"Just remember that this isn't Derek asking," she said. "And I'm not asking for the same reason."

"You were too young to know why he asked," Peter said.

"I haven't even―"

"You have that look," he said.

"What look?"

"The same look he had when he finally said it was what he wanted to do," Peter said. "And look where that ended up."

"Not the same thing," she said.

"Alright, fine," Peter said, taking her arm as they walked further into the woods. "You have five minutes to convince me.

*

It was a convenient location for a big party. Far enough out the way that no one gave a damn about noise but close enough for anyone lucky enough to get an invite to get to without too much of an issue.

Stiles' head bobbed to the music as they walked through the door and Erica bit her lip as she looked around, shuffling her feet anxiously.

"What exactly are you supposed to do at these things?" Boyd asked and Stiles turned to him.

"What do you mean?" he said. "You're supposed to... I don't know, dance? Have fun?"

"You don't sound so sure," Scott said.

"Like I know what goes on," Stiles said. "Come on."

They weaved through the people until they came across a table with drinks and a few various bowls of chips and Stiles gestured to it like it was the answer to Boyd's question.

He poured out four plastic cups and handed them around. Erica and Scott seemed to give one another unsure looks but Boyd actually cracked a smile and let Stiles tap their cups together before they each took a drink.

Scott shrugged at Erica and took a sip, looking over at the door to see Isaac walking in looking nervous and giving him a smile when he finally turned their way.

"You made it," he said, trying not to look at his bruised lip too obviously.

"Grab a drink man," Stiles said, pouring another cup for him.

"There's a lot of people here," he said.

"Not surprising," Stiles said. "Jackson wouldn't have made a big deal about it if it wasn't going to be a good party."

They talked a little about the game, even convinced Erica that she should got to watch. Stiles wasn't sure she'd show up but she said she would. Probably just to stop him from asking.

It wasn't long before they saw Cora walk into the room with an older man by her side, talking quietly between them. She shot them a smile and both of them started walking over.

"I guess the house wasn't too hard to find the second time," she said, giving them all a warm smile. "This is my uncle by the way."

"Uncle?" Scott said, surprised because he didn't look quite as old as he'd expect an uncle to look.

"Youthful vigour is my trademark," he said with a cocky smile. "Peter."

They all gave him a small wave or gesture and Cora kept her gaze on Erica. Peter leant in close and barely whispered in her ear.

"I suppose I'll go and ask a favour," he said. "I'll let you know how I go."

She nodded before he was walking away and slipping into the crowd.

"Is everyone in your family young and beautiful looking?" Stiles said and Cora laughed as she poured a drink.

"Now that you mention it, yes."

"Uh, we invited a couple of other people if that's okay," Stiles said.

"That's cool," she said, turning back to Erica. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she said with a smile.

"You look amazing," she said.

"Wow," Scott said as he saw Allison walk into the room with Lydia.

Isaac watched the way his eyes lit up when he saw her and wondered what it would feel like to have someone look at him that way.

Jackson and Danny weren't that far behind them.

"I might just do a lap," Stiles said and Scott rolled his eyes with a laugh.

"Better to face him tonight then on the field," he said.

"Tonight doesn't mean now!" he said. "Boyd, come walk with me."

Boyd seemed to find it amusing and followed him as he squeezed through the room of people.

"Should I ask?" Cora said.

"I don't think I could ever really explain Stiles," he said.

"I'm glad you guys could come, it's nice to have some people around my age for once," she said. "Not that Derek's friends aren't fun, too fun some days."

"Not sure I know what that means," Isaac said.

"You know I almost thought you were kidding when you said you all were coming," Jackson said as he walked over to the table. "Turns out Stilinski isn't totally full of crap."

"Are you trying to get us kicked out?" Danny said as he squeezed in. "Thanks for the invite."

"Thank her," Isaac said and pointed towards Cora.

"You're house is badass," he said. "You can't be too superstitious if you live in the middle of the woods."

"I don't scare easy," she said with a smile.

"Hey Allison," Scott said as she walked over with Lydia and gave him an understated smile.

"Hey," she said. "Scott right?"

"Scott McCall," Lydia said, giving him a once over as if she was trying to figure something out.

"Uh... hi," he said.

Cora pulled Erica away to talk and Lydia dragged Jackson and Allison away to dance. Danny was happy standing by the table with a drink as he talked to Scott and Isaac about the game. He had always seemed too nice to be hanging around with Jackson.

Stiles slipped back in at some point, Boyd had seen someone he knew from junior ROTC and gone to talk with them.

It was strange, the lot of them spending time together, like a random scope of events had somehow brought out their compatibility. Maybe it would last, maybe by Monday things would be back to the way they always were.

Derek tried not to single out the sound of Stiles laughing in the living room as he stood in the kitchen trying not to let the scent overwhelm him but it wasn't working.

What harm could it do really? He thought to himself.

He knew what Laura's answer would be and he knew she was right, it was dangerous, people did lose control, but it could also feel like nothing he had ever felt before. Control he had, but curiosity was starting to win out.

He walked out of the room and looked over at him through all the rest of the people, feeling the warmth run through him as the sound of his excited voice seemed to echo and the smell of his adrenaline sending shivers through him.

Nothing had ever felt quite like standing so close to him, and he knew that it proved how right Laura was and why he shouldn't get any closer.

Isaac excused himself from their little group to find the bathroom, heading up the stairs and out of sight. Scott thought now was as good a time as any to talk to Allison and Stiles wished him luck as he walked through the crowd to try and find her, leaving Stiles and Danny alone.

"So you come to a lot of these things?" Stiles asked and Danny chuckled.

"Sometimes, gotta keep up the image right?"

"I totally get it," Stiles said. "You have no idea how hard I work to keep up the fidgety weirdo act."

Danny laughed louder this time.

"I don't know why we haven't talked much before, you're funny Stiles," he said.

"Jackson isn't really a fan," he said.

"Jackson isn't really a fan of anyone," he said. "He tolerates me because I know too many of his secrets for him to get rid of me."

"What kind of secrets?" he asked with a grin.

"Do I look like I want to die in the near future?" he said.

"Guess not," he said.

"So... don't take this in a weird way―"

"Oh god, what?" Stiles said.

"Nothing bad! I was just going to say that I don't know whether you swing that way, but there is an impossibly sexy guy over there who hasn't stopped looking at you since he walked in," he said.

"What? Where?" Stiles said.

"Don't make it obvious," Danny groaned. "By the door, in the leather jacket and blue shirt."

Stiles looked up, catching Derek's eye as he watched him, feeling his cheeks flush as he turned back to Danny.

"That's Derek Hale," he hissed. "He is not looking at me like that."

"Trust me Stiles, I've given that look and he is definitely checking you out."

"Are you sure he's not checking you out? I'm... skinny and weird and... awkward!" he said as he flailed his arms a little.

"Believe me, I was hoping he was checking me out too but he has not stopped looking at you," he said.

"People don't look at me like that."

"He is," Danny said. "And he's walking over."

Stiles' cheeks burned hot as Derek walked through the people, never taking his eyes off him as he did. Danny seemed to be enjoying his uncomfortable squirming and just grinned until Derek was standing beside them both.

"Stiles," he said, his voice a low rumbling sound that made Stiles swallow and his palms sweat.

"Uh, yeah, how do you―"

"Cora told me," he said, turning to Danny a moment. "Do you mind if I borrow him from you?"

"He's all yours," Danny grinned, unable to hide the once over he gave him before flicking his eyebrows at Stiles whose eyes were wide as if asking for help.

Derek tipped his head to the stairs and Stiles found himself following him before he could stop himself.

"Sorry," Derek said, eyes tracing his features in a way that made Stiles blush. "About last night, if I was... I wasn't myself."

"No, no!" Stiles said quickly, clearing his throat as Derek's lips turned up in an amused smile. "I mean I was kind of loitering in the dark so probably my fault, sneaking up on you and all. Not that I was... just, sorry."

"Don't apologise," he said, leaning against the balustrade at the bottom of the stairs. "It was my first day back in town, I forgot how strange it can get here."

"Right, it's never exactly been normal," Stiles said. "Small town syndrome or something."

Derek smiled, eyes catching on the way Stiles' tongue wet his bottom lip.

"Did you want to come up?" Derek asked.

Stiles knew very little about hooking up at parties, on the list of things he knew about it was not ranked highly but he knew that this was possibly the most polite invitation to someone's bedroom that he was ever going to get.

"Yes," he said quickly. "I mean, yeah, that would... I'd like that."

Derek's smile got wider and with another flick of his head he was showing him to the bedroom at the end of the hall, opening the door to let him through and closing it behind him.

The sound from the music and the people seemed get drowned out and Stiles grinned.

"Should I ask why your bedroom is soundproofed?" he said. "Or is that, you know, a little too personal?"

"You noticed that," Derek said as he watched him walk slowly around the room.

"Hard not to," Stiles said.

"I just like my privacy," Derek said.

"Do I want to know?" he asked and Derek raised an eyebrow.

"Do you?" he asked and tried to ignore the pheromones that were radiating off Stiles as he thought about it.

"I guess I wouldn't be here if I didn't," he said.

Derek took a few slow steps towards him, the beating of his heart only speeding up as he did. Derek's own heart was thudding loudly, the feeling from inside of his stomach like something was trying to get out, everything ached with a desire so familiar and yet so foreign.

He shouldn't be doing it, he should have walked away the moment he stepped back into the house but it was too late. Stiles was looking up at him from under his long eyelashes with his pink lips parted in anticipation, the arousal rolling off him in waves and Derek wasn't thinking enough to stop.

Stiles had his back against the wall, watching Derek as he stripped out of his leather jacket and tossed it over the back of the desk chair rather skilfully.

"Are you sure?" Derek said quietly.

Derek was still taking steps forwards and Stiles let his hands reach out until his fingertips were pressed against his taut stomach and this time it was Derek's turn to exhale nervously. Stiles dragged his fingers up his torso, hands flat against his shirt until they were skirting across the bare skin on the sides of his neck.

Derek crowded him against the wall and put his hands either side of him, claws scraping gently against the paint.

"You're..." Stiles said softly. "Unnaturally warm."

"And your heart's beating unnaturally fast," Derek said, his voice low in his throat.

"How can you tell?"

"Your pulse," Derek said, leaning in and brushing his stubbled cheek against Stiles jaw before his lips were pressing a kiss to his neck, the quick beating of his pulse like a hum against them.

Stiles' mouth dropped open, tilting his head to the side and letting his hands fall to Derek's side and pulling his body in closer.

Every sense was being overwhelmed, the taste of his skin against his mouth, the sound of his breathy moan as it barely escaped his lips, the smell that permeated the air, the feeling of his body flush against him and Derek could feel it all.

It would be so easy to lose it, to kiss him hard on the mouth, to throw him down against his bed and take him in any way he wanted, he was already so pliant and he could feel his hard body undulating with longing for him, but for a moment the room was spinning and Derek could taste blood in his mouth and it would be just as easy to turn this into something far worse.

He rolled his hips into him slowly and tried to focus on the way Stiles dug his fingers into his side and not the way his claws were digging into the wall as he fought the wolf for control of the moment.

It was a mistake, the lines were too blurred but he couldn't take it back.

Stiles let one of his hands roam up to Derek's neck again, fingers on his square jaw and gently urging it to turn towards his eager mouth.

"Stiles..." he said, lips barely an inch from his.

"What?" Stiles said. "I don't bite."

Derek's eyes searched his for a moment.

"I do," he said.

"I don't care," he said, shaking his head.

"You will."

"I will if you stop right now, I mean it should be illegal," Stiles said and Derek couldn't help but smirk.

"What I want to do with you might be," he said.

"I'm literally weeks away from eighteen," he said. "And with you being so close I'm pretty sure you can tell that I want this, like really want this."

"This would be easier if you didn't," Derek said as Stiles shifted his hips.

"Well, I do... so you know, might as well..." he said and Derek let out a groan as he let himself kiss him on the mouth.

His body was a live wire, everything was sparking out of control and he feared he was going in every direction at once as Stiles opened up to him. He reached down to hoist him up, pinning his back against the wall as his hands held Stiles' thighs either side of his waist.

It wasn't like Stiles had never been kissed before, sure he had, but never like this. Derek kissed like he had something to prove, like he was savouring every second of it and somehow saving the memory for later.

He drew Stiles' bottom lip between his teeth and gently pulled away, only for his lips to be trailing down his jaw and sucking a deep bruise into the pale skin of his neck. Stiles couldn't stop himself from moaning and tightening his fingers in Derek's hair which elicited a growl from Derek before he was pulling him away from the wall and over to the bed.

In one fluid move Stiles was on his back with Derek between his legs, lips against his stomach as his hands pushed Stiles' shirt further up his chest.

Stiles reached down and pulled it erratically over his head as Derek pulled back, kneeling on the mattress as he stripped out of his shirt.

"Wow..." Stiles said and Derek just shook his head with a grin. "Your eyes..."

As Derek kissed him again he closed his eyes, hoping they were only slightly brighter than they should be as he rolled his hips down and let out another growl at the sound of Stiles' appreciative sighs.

The last thing he needed was to show him what he really was.

*

Isaac walked back from the bathroom and weaved through the people and the noise just taking everything in. It was a weird experience, it was weird to think that any one person could know this many people.

As he walked through the hallway he almost walked straight into a door as it opened out and nearly into him.

Two people stepped out and laughed, the guy clapped Isaac on the shoulder and the girl just put her fingers to her lips.

"Too eager dude," he said and Isaac just gave him a look.

"For what?" Isaac asked.

"Leave him alone," the girl laughed.

"You ever even played seven minutes in heaven?" the guy asked and Isaac just shook his head tried to take a step around him.

"Uh, no, I should―"

"Well don't be shy, come on, join the game," he said and Isaac shook his head again but he was being pulled over towards the small closet and just looking at the small space inside made him feel sick.

"No really, I'm fine," Isaac said but they weren't listening.

"Come on, get in," the guy said as he and one of his other friends tried to shove him through the door.

"No, let me go!" Isaac said frantically but they just laughed as they pushed him on.

"It's alright, we'll find someone good for you," one of them said.

"Let go!" Isaac said again.

"What are you doing?" Scott rushed over, looking up at them and then over at Isaac who looked practically terrified. "Let go of him!"

"Not your boyfriend is he?" one of them said.

"Perfect timing," they shoved Isaac in and before Scott could protest they were slinging him in with him and closing the door behind them, leaning against it so they couldn't get out.

Isaac got to his feet and began banging on the door, Scott just watched him a moment as his voiced cracked while he begged them to open the door.

"Please," he said, scratching at the frame. "Please let me out."

"Whoa, dude, it's okay," Scott said and Isaac leant against the door before he slumped to the floor and his breathing came in and out in sharp wheezy breaths. "Shit, Isaac?"

"I can't, I can't," he said. "I can't do it I need to get out, I can't..."

"You're claustrophobic?" Scott said and Isaac managed to nod. "Okay, uh, okay, just breathe."

"I can't," he said.

"It's ― it's not that small," Scott said. "Uh, put your hands out."

"What?" he whimpered.

"Just trust me, put your hands out, I got you," he said and Isaac reluctantly put his shaking hands in front of his face, eyes still squeezed tightly shut.

Scott reached out and took them in his own, trying to stop the shaking as he reassured him.

"Just...just keep your eyes closed and just try and breathe okay?" he said, pulling his hands towards him and stretching out his arms. "See? There's more room than you think."

Slowly Isaac seemed to get his breathing back to a steady rhythm, Scott all the while extending his arms to their full length, putting his hands on his shoulders as he sat as far back as he could.

"See?" he said again. "You're okay."

He watched as a tear slipped down over Isaac's cheek and past the split in his lip that still hadn't quite healed. As he adjusted to the dark light Isaac exhaled heavily, slowly, and finally opened his bright blue eyes to look up at him.

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something just as the door was pulled open and the light from the hallway poured.

Laura reached down with her hand and Isaac pulled his hands away from Scott.

"Come on," she said and he took her hand as Scott got to his feet. "You're okay?"

He nodded and she gave him a little smile before her face turned dark as she looked over at the guys who were definitely no longer laughing.

"Get out," she said calmly.

"Come on, we were just kidding around," one of them said.

"I don't think I gave you an option," she said. "What I said was 'get out'."

"It was just a joke."

"Then your sense of humour sucks," she said. "If you're not out of my house in the next ten seconds I'll drag you out by your balls. Go on, try me."

She said it all without even flinching but it seemed to do the trick. They gathered themselves and disappeared from sight.

"Thanks," Isaac mumbled before he was quickly heading for the stairs.

"Keep an eye on him," Laura said and Scott just gave her a look. "I haven't heard anyone that terrified in a while."

"You heard him?" he asked.

"I wasn't far away," she said. "People don't get that scared by just the thought of something, they get that way from experience."

Scott shuddered at the thought that something could have happened to make him that afraid.

"Go, make sure he's okay."

"Thank you," Scott said as he headed off after him.

*

Cora and Erica walked out to the quiet through the kitchen door, the sound of the music throbbing in the air around them.

"It's easier to be out here sometimes," Cora said as the door closed behind them. "I mean how weird is that? We look forward to a party only to get there and leave it."

"I just skip the going part altogether," Erica said with a weak smile.

"You don't have to hold yourself back you know," Cora said as they walked further into the trees.

"It's easier," she shrugged.

"There's a way to make everything easier," she said, watching her reaction. "You wouldn't have to avoid things."

"And you know the way, right?" she said.

"I just... the other night you said," Cora said. "You said you wanted to be better."

"I know," she said. "It's not like it gets any easier, or at least... I mean I thought it didn't."

"What do you mean?" Cora asked.

Erica shrugged, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"I don't know," she said. "I mean I guess I thought it was going to just keep getting worse and worse but... I mean I got to school yesterday and Stiles waved me over to sit with him like... like everyone else wasn't whispering about me, and they just talked to me like I wasn't about to start convulsing on the table.

"And you were so nice to me, even just coming here tonight," she said. "I usually wouldn't, I'd just stay in and hear everyone talk about it on Monday like I'd missed out on something. Even being here kind of makes me feel like I don't really have any reason not to do the rest of the things I want to."

"There's a way you can feel like that all the time," Cora said.

"I think that's just up to me though, you know?" she said with a smile. "I was the one making myself feel worse, so I have to be the one to make myself better."

Cora smiled, but it wasn't what she'd been hoping to hear.

She had to get to Peter before he followed through. He told her he knew someone who could help, someone within their walls. He just had to get him to agree.

"Come on, we should get back," Cora said.

"You go, I just want to walk a little longer," she said.

"Just... don't wander too far alright?" Cora said before she was turning quickly back to the house.

*

Derek pulled himself away from Stiles, trying not to enjoy the sound of his frustrated whimper as he untangled their legs and rolled onto his back.

He had his hands balled up in fists as he took steady breaths to calm himself while Stiles rolled onto his side and looked over at him.

"If you didn't want to..." he said quietly before Derek turned to him, eyes somehow greyer than they had been.

"Wanting to... is not the problem," he said.

"So, what is it?"

"You're still a virgin," he said and Stiles almost laughed. "What?"

"Seriously if that's your biggest issue then don't even worry, I mean I might be a virgin but it doesn't exactly mean I'm not... you know, prepared for anything," he said and Derek couldn't hide the smile that spread over his lips.

"That is not the issue," he said, letting a laugh slip out that made Stiles smile before he sighed. "You deserve better for your first time."

"When are people going to stop putting so much credence into the whole 'deflowering' thing?" he said and Derek screwed his face up at the word 'deflowering'. "Seriously I mean let's face it how many people think back to it and think 'wow that was the best sex of my life'? Probably none, they'd probably rather just forget but we keep making it seem like this big..."

"Milestone?"

"It's the Easter Bunny, that's what it is," Stiles said and Derek laughed even louder.

"It's what?"

"Something our parents make up so we won't know the truth, something society tells us is important so we won't turn into players and whores," he said. "And for some reason everyone keeps the secret even though one day it's going to become clear that it's a lie and it's not real and what? We turn into whores anyway?

"We are so scared as a fucking society of sex and indecency that we would rather perpetuate this... myth than admit that it's just fun and it feels good, we have to find some imaginary meaning in everything when sometimes, sex is just sex. Two people don't have to care about each other to do it and I would rather know that's what it is than be fooled by someone who's just pretending."

Derek just stared at him, studying his flushing face as he sucked his top lip between his teeth.

"I uh, I went a little overboard, huh?" he said.

"I didn't realise you were that eager," Derek teased.

"My mouth just ran away from me," he said. "Just pretend I said something stupid like 'I'm just horny and you're hot' and forget everything else that just came out."

"No, it's okay," he said. "I liked it, actually. Never really thought about it like that."

"Don't let me make you start," Stiles said sheepishly.

"I mean it," Derek said, leaning in to press his lips against Stiles' mouth. "You're not what I expected."

"What did you expect?" Stiles breathed, rolling in a little closer so he could run his hand along Derek's bare side.

"I don't know," he said and Stiles opened his eyes, taking in a slow breath.

"How do you do that?" he said and Derek's brow furrowed. "Your eyes?"

Derek tried to pull away but Stiles pulled him back in, catching his mouth in another kiss.

"You don't have to tell me I just... they're amazing," he said and Derek pulled him in so his body was pressed against him, kissing him until it took his breath away.

"We are still not doing this," he said when he stopped long enough to take a breath.

"I know the American sex-ed system is pretty damn flawed but the internet tells me that there are other things we could do," he said with a sudden jol in confidence and Derek grinned.

"Oh really?"

"Want me to show you?"

*

"Isaac!" Scott called as he watched Isaac make quick steps to the door before disappearing outside. "Isaac wait!"

He followed him down the steps but Isaac didn't stop until Scott caught up to him and grabbed his arm to turn him around.

"Sorry!" Isaac said. "Sorry I just, I needed some space."

"It's okay just, let me walk with you?" Scott asked and Isaac sighed.

They walked in silence for a while, not really going in any direction in particular.

"So..." Scott said after a few minutes. "You want to talk about why you freaked out so bad?"

"Really, really not," Isaac said.

"Are you sure? Did something happen?" Scott asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said.

"Is it to do with your dad?"

Isaac stopped and Scott bumped into the side of him.

"Why would you say that?"

Scott opened his mouth but no real words came out as his eyes darted to Isaac's lip.

"I remember you having bruises and stuff before, not just the lip," he said softly.

"You didn't even know me before yesterday," Isaac snapped.

"I knew who you were," he said.

"You didn't care! So don't act like you do now," he said. "It's fine, I'm fine."

"I don't want you to be hurt," he said. "If he is doing anything―"

"Scott, just, don't worry about me," Isaac said.

"Well... too late," he said and they shared a look for a moment.

Isaac opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as a scream filled the air and echoed in the empty woods around them.

*

Lydia dragged Allison all over the party, from one corner to the other, looking for something that Allison hadn't quite figured out yet.

She said it was for a drink and then it was someone for Allison to talk to and then it was to find Jackson.

This time though she seemed to be following her to absolutely nowhere as they left through the side door and out into the still night air.

"Lydia, where are we going?" Allison asked but it was as if she hadn't heard her. "Lydia?"

By the time she stopped walking they were at the edge of the clearing and Lydia was looking down at a small plant growing by the base of a tree.

"Lydia?"

She turned to look at Allison who seemed to be a little freaked out.

"This doesn't look like the bathroom."

"What?" Lydia said, looking around and furrowing her brow. "I..."

"Can we go back inside now?" she said, "It's a little creepy just standing out here."

Lydia looked back down at the small purple flower, crouching to look at it more closely.

"Seriously Lydia, I know Jackson doesn't buy you a lot of flowers but let's just go," she said.

"It's wolfsbane," she said, reaching out to touch the coloured petals.

The moment her fingers grazed the soft flower the light seemed to be sucked out of the air and a snarling apparition came hurtling towards her.

She screamed and leapt back, falling onto her side as everything around her seemed to go back to the still night it had started with.

Her mouth had fallen open and she sucked in deep breaths as Allison crouched by her side.

"Lydia!"

"Did you see that?" she breathed.

"What the hell was that?" Allison hissed as she helped her to her feet.

"You saw it?"

"I saw you fall Lydia," she said before they both heard footsteps in the woods around them. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Lydia said.

*

"Peter!" Cora hissed as she walked through the living room, trying to avoid bumping into Laura or Derek. "Peter!"

"You don't have to yell," he said, somehow sneaking up behind her.

"You seriously have to teach me how to do that," she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the corner.

"Old family secret," he said.

"You know that guy you said you were going to talk to about... you know," she said.

"Yes Cora, I know," he mocked.

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm.

"Don't be a jerk, I need you to tell him that the whole thing is off," she said and he just gave her a wary look.

"I thought you said you were sure."

"Well I... thought I was," she said. "Look, maybe I just jumped the gun, a little tiny bit."

"Cora," he hissed.

"Look it's fine, just tell him it was a mistake," he said.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I mean he just left," he said. "You want to stop him you'll have to go out there and catch him."

"What?"

"You asked me to do this for you," he said. "The time frame wasn't exactly huge."

"Crap," she said. "Well you're going to help me."

"Why should I help now?"

"Because if Laura finds out―"

"I'm not scared of Laura."

"If my mother finds out―"

"Her, I'm scared of," he said as they turned to head towards the door.

Boyd watched from one side of the room as Cora conversed with her uncle in hushed tones before the two were making a hasty exit.

He didn't make a habit of following people, but he'd seen Cora go out with Erica and then when she came back she was alone and now rushing back off in that direction.

He had to at least check it out.

*

Stiles knew he had a curfew, knew his dad would absolutely kill him if he was home even a minute late.

He also knew that his dad was taking the late shift so he could take time off for the game so technically he wouldn't know. Not like he had electronic tracking on him that he knew of.

Even with that in mind he couldn't bring himself to tell Derek he had to leave, in fact it wasn't even close to being on his mind as Derek's hips rolled into his and his hot breath fanned out over his neck as he left gentle love bites on his skin.

"Tell me to stop," Derek rasped in his ear and Stiles replied with a buck of his hips.

"Why?"

"Because we need to stop," he said, making no move to do so.

"Okay, promise I'll ask you to stop... in like a minute," he groaned and Derek laughed.

"And I thought I had no control," he said.

"You have more control than anyone I've ever met, I swear..." he said.

"If you knew me, you'd know better," Derek said, biting his own lip as Stiles dug his nails in deeper.

"So help me know better... fuck," he groaned as he felt his release come faster than he'd intended.

Derek smiled down at the way his bottom lip trembled and his eyelashes fluttered before he was rolling onto his back again and Stiles was panting quickly.

"Sorry," he said and Derek shook his head.

"Not sure what for," he said.

Stiles turned to look at him and his eyes were back to the piercing blue colour they had flashed not long earlier, he almost said something again but he was afraid Derek would turn away.

He'd never seen anything like them, it was almost like they couldn't be real.

"I uh," he said. "I guess you were just looking for... you know."

Derek smiled, leaning in and placing a chaste kiss to his lips.

"Do you always think so much?" he asked.

"I'm usually worse, like... a lot worse," he said.

Derek chuckled a little and then grumbled as he reached for his phone that had been buzzing almost incessantly for the last ten minutes.

He grabbed it off the floor from where it had fallen out of his pocket and let out a small 'huh' sound as he read the messages.

"Everything okay?" Stiles asked.

Cora: Need your help. NOW.

Cora: Derek seriously answer your phone

Cora: SOS

Cora: YOU ARE THE WORST BROTHER EVER

Cora: Derek I'm serious, meet me outside now, I screwed up

Cora: Please

"Yeah, I uh... I have to go," he said.

He looked up at Stiles who lay on his side and nodded.

"I don't mean to ―"

"No it's okay," Stiles said. "I should probably find my friends anyway, who knows what kind of trouble they're getting themselves into."

Derek leaned down and kissed him again, balling up his fist because he knew he had to find Cora but it was hard as hell to leave.

"Don't think you have to rush," he said, kissing him again before he was out the door.

Stiles sighed, getting up and stretching out. He looked around the room, smiling at the old high school basketball trophies and baseball posters on the wall.

As his eyes scanned the room he caught sight of the wall he's been pressed up against not too much earlier, more specifically the marks on the wall.

He walked over to it, running his fingers over the scrapes in the paint and plaster, spreading them out as he tried to figure out how they got there. They were the perfect distance apart, they looked almost exactly like claw marks.

Stiles felt his heart start pounding a little faster, claw marks and bright blue eyes, the way Derek had said something about how fast his pulse was before he'd even put a hand on him.

His body ran hot.

Stiles shook his head, he had to be overthinking things. He grabbed his phone and called Scott, readjusting himself so that he was slightly less uncomfortable.

"Stiles?"

"Hey, where are you?" he said.

"Uh... In the woods," Scott said and Stiles chuckled.

"Seriously? This I've got to see."

*

Erica sucked in a quick breath as she heard the scream pierce through the quiet night.

She couldn't quite tell where it had come from but she knew that it wasn't a normal sound.

"Hello?" she called with a nervous squeak in her voice.

No one answered her so she started walking again, looking around and trying to keep her breathing steady as she did. The woods could be creepy, it was probably just someone from the party joking around.

She had to slow herself down to take control of her breathing, the last thing she wanted was to get a dizzy spell or have a seizure in the middle of the woods with no one nearby.

She heard footsteps coming which didn't help and she almost screamed herself as Isaac and Scott came jogging up beside her.

"Erica!" Isaac said.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked and she nodded.

"I'm fine," she said. "You heard it too?"

"The scream?" Scott said.

"Yeah, we heard it," Isaac said.

"Probably just someone playing a joke," she said with a light chuckle that was fooling no one.

"I don't know, it sounded pretty real," Isaac said.

Scott's phone started ringing.

"Stiles?" he said. "Uh... in the woods... not sure you do... Stiles don't―"

He grumbled as Stiles hung up the phone on him.

"Great, that's the last thing we need, someone else out here," he said.

"Did you hear that?" Erica said.

"It's normal," Isaac said with a shrug. "Trust me I'm out here most nights."

"A scream isn't normal, Isaac," Scott said.

"Then let's wait for Stiles and he can drive us out of here," he said.

"I think we've all had enough partying for one night," Scott agreed.

"Wait, what about Boyd?" Erica asked.

"I'll go get him," Isaac said.

"What, alone? Out here?" Scott said.

"Like I said I'm out here most nights, I literally work in a cemetery. The woods don't scare me."

"But a closet does?" Scott asked and the second it slipped out of his mouth he regretted it.

Isaac's face fell and his brows furrowed as he shoved his hands in his pockets to head back to the house.

"Wait, Isaac..." Scott said with a sigh.

"What was that about?" Erica asked.

"Don't worry. Just me being a total jerk," Scott mumbled. "Let's go."

*

Peter stepped outside and tried to catch the scent.

"This way," he said as he and Cora raced to the edge of the woods. "This is the last time I do you a favour."

"Me?" she hissed. "You could have said no."

He stopped and just looked at her with wide eyes and she just shook her head.

"Yeah, okay," she said. "Would you just go and stop him? Derek'll be here soon he just texted me. We'll split up. It'll be faster."

"You don't even know who you're looking for."

"I'll be able to smell a wolf," she said.

"Why don't you just find the girl and keep her safe until I find him."

"Fine!" she said as Peter rushed off between the trees and out of sight.

It was only a few moments before she heard a scream come from back towards the house.

"Oh god, no, no," she muttered as she ran towards it expecting to see Erica but instead seeing two other teenagers.

She ran over to them as the brunette helped the redhead to her feet.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Allison and Lydia turned to look at her before looking back to one another.

"She fell, that's all," Allison said with a flicker of nerves. "She's had a little too much to drink."

Cora narrowed her eyes at the lie, looking down at the purple flower by their feet and back up to Lydia's wide eyes.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked slowly.

"Getting some air," Allison said.

"And what are you doing with that?" Cora said. "I haven't seen that growing before."

"Nothing, she just leant over to touch it and... fell," Allison said.

"She 'fell'?"

"I fell," Lydia said but Cora could smell the fear on her skin.

"You might want to be careful, some species are poisonous," she said, turning her head as Derek appeared from the side door. "Maybe just, stay inside yeah?"

She didn't wait for their reply before running over to Derek and grabbing him by the arm, dragging him towards the trees.

"What the hell was that about?" Allison said.

"I have no idea."

Derek just gave Cora a strange stare as she dragged him away.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Did you know we have wolfsbane growing at the edge of the forest?" she asked.

"Cora."

"I asked Peter for help with that thing we were talking about but I was wrong and now we need to stop it," she said quickly.

"Cora!"

"I know, okay? Spare me the lecture for now can you please just... help me stop it!"

He didn't really have anything to argue against, he just ran with her.

*

Stiles called Scott again once he was out in the open air but the reception had dropped out again. It seemed like every second step he was in a dead zone.

"Hey Stiles!" Isaac called as he walked towards him with Boyd not far behind him.

"Hey," he said. "You're not with Scott?"

"No, he's with Erica," he said.

"Either of you seen Cora?" Boyd asked.

"Not for a while, why?" Stiles asked.

"Because she left with Erica and then came back without her," he said. "Then she was rushing out here with her uncle."

"We heard a scream," Isaac said, looking between the two of them. "It could have been her I guess."

"Come on, let's just find Scott and Erica," Stiles said.

*

"Are all parties like this?" Erica asked and she walked with Scott back towards the road.

"I wouldn't know," he said.

"What did you mean about the closet thing?" she asked and he shook his head.

"I just said the wrong thing," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"He looked pretty upset," she said.

"Yeah, he did."

"So you should apologise," she said.

"I will," Scott said.

"Was it like... and 'in the closet' thing?" she asked and he just turned to give her a questioning look. "You know, like, in the closet or coming out of the―"

"No!" he said. "No nothing like that just..."

He stopped when he heard something moving nearby. Erica clearly heard it too because she turned to look around.

"Stiles?" Scott said to no reply.

"Let's keep going..." Erica said quietly.

She stepped towards him and at the sound of a quiet snarling from behind them she grabbed his arm and sucked in a breath.

"Isaac?" Scott asked again, trying not to let his nerves show as the growling got lower. "Keep walking."

"What is that?" Erica whispered.

"I don't..." Scott started before he could see a pair of glowing red eyes in the darkness. "Erica?"

"Yes?" she said in barely a whisper.

"Run."

She didn't wait to get a better look at the figure she just turned and bolted.

Scott froze for a moment, out of fear, out of curiosity, he wasn't sure.

"Scott! Come on!" Erica yelled and he spun around, slipping to his knees before getting up and running after her.

"Go!" he called.

Cora's ears picked up the sound of her scared voice and put her nose to the air.

"You heard that?" she said and Derek nodded.

"This way," he said as he broke into a run.

Erica struggled to see in the dark as she dodged the trees and the roots on the ground. All she could hear was her ragged breathing and heavy footsteps.

She turned to see if Scott was still behind her and her foot got caught in something that made her fall, hurtling to the ground with a loud grunt.

"Erica!" Scott skidded to a halt beside her and helped her up. "Go, go that way!"

She got to her feet and ran off in the direction he'd pointed her in as Scott turned around and started looking through the darkness.

He turned to run in a different direction, trying to draw whoever or whatever it was away from Erica.

"I'm here!" he yelled. "This way!"

Derek's ears picked up and he turned to Cora.

"I thought you said she was alone out here?"

"She was!" she said.

"Come on," he said.

"Scott!" Erica yelled, hearing his words but knowing that she could also hear footsteps coming up fast behind her.

Stiles looked from Isaac to Boyd, "you heard that right?"

"Don't tell me we're going in there?" Boyd said.

"Something's wrong," Isaac said before the three of them were running in the direction of Erica's panicked scream.

"Hey!" Scott yelled, hearing Erica cry out again. "Over here!"

He kept running, he wasn't even sure what direction he was going in anymore. He felt himself getting short of breath and started fumbling in his pockets for his inhaler. As he pulled it out it slipped through his fingers and into the leaves that littered the floor, causing him to slip as he tried to catch it, rolling down a small slope and crashing into the base of a tree.

He groped around on the ground for the inhaler as he sucked in the air he could get, his fingers finally wrapping around it before he was pulling it to his mouth and breathing in as much as he could.

He braced himself on his hands and knees, sucking in air and squinting around in the darkness until he saw the figure again, hunched over and snarling as the red eyes glowed bright.

It looked like an animal, surely it was an animal but something about it was almost human.

In a flash it was lunging towards him and his put his arms up as a brace but the sting still came, the sharp pain in his side as he felt its teeth sink into him.

He waited for the rest of the pain to come but that seemed to be it as he moved his shaking arms and realised that whatever it was... it was gone.

He hissed in pain as he looked down at his side, pulling his shirt aside to see the blood from the bite.

"What the..." he said before he heard more footsteps approaching.

"Scott!" Stiles came running in and knelt by his side. "Dude what the hell? What the hell happened?"

"Erica?" Scott said. "Where's Erica?"

"I didn't see her," Isaac said as Boyd just looked on in shock.

"I tried... I tried to get it away from her," he winced in pain as Stiles and Boyd helped him to his feet. "Did you see it?"

"Dude," Boyd said as he looked down at the bite mark on Scott's side. "What did that?"

"I don't know," he said. "I just... I hope..."

"Scott?"

They all looked up as Erica walked towards them with glassy eyes.

"Erica! Are you okay? I tried―"

He stopped himself when she lifted her arm to show him the bloody bite mark and her bottom lip trembled.

"Come on, let's get to the jeep and get out of here," Stiles said.

Derek and Cora watched from a distance as the two boys helped Scott to his feet and make their way back to the car.

Cora let out a sob.

"It's too late, it's done," she said.

"I thought you said it was only supposed to be the one person?" Derek said.

"What did I do?" she said and Derek pulled her into his arms.

"It's not your fault," he said.

"Of course it's my fault!"

"Trust me," he said. "This is not your fault."

He held her for a moment in silence before she finally said something.

"We need to tell Laura, don't we?"

Derek sighed.

"Yeah, we do."

*

No one said a whole lot as they drove out of the woods and back into the main stretch of the town, not until they made it to the main street.

"Surely you guys should go to the hospital," Isaac said. "I mean, you got attacked by a wild animal."

"My mom would kill me if she knew I'd been out in the woods this late," Scott said. "And it's not that bad."

"Not that bad, not that bad?" Stiles said. "You guys got attacked."

"I don't even know what it was, it looked like a―" Scott said.

"Like a what?" Stiles said.

"Like a wolf," Erica finished, still just staring out the window.

Stiles' mind started ticking over at that, it couldn't have been a wolf.

"All the more reason to see a doctor..." Boyd said.

"It's not like animal attacks are rare in Beacon Hills," Erica said.

"That's it, no hospitals, no doctors, you're all coming back to my place and if this gets worse in the morning we'll... figure something out."

"My mom will freak if I'm not home," Scott said.

"Well you can't stay there alone," Stiles said.

"I'll go with him," Isaac said.

"Good, and the two of you can stay at mine, my dad's on night shift so we have time to clean you up."

They didn't argue, in fact they didn't say too much more at all as Stiles dropped Scott and Isaac off.

"Here," Isaac said, handing Scott his jacket.

"What's that for?"

"You're covered in blood, you can't let your mom see," he said.

Scott pulled it on and handed his keys to Isaac before shoving his hands in his pockets, hiding the blood that he hadn't quite rubbed off.

As they walked inside they tried to be quiet and Scott hoped his mother was asleep but no such luck.

"Hey, how was the party― oh, hello there," she said.

"Fine mom, this is Isaac," he said. "I said he could stay the night."

"You okay?" she asked.

"Fine, just tired," he said. "See you in the morning okay?"

"Okay..." she said, giving him a suspicious look.

"It was nice to meet you," Isaac said, smiling a moment before following Scott up the stairs.

They walked into Scott's room and locked the door. Scott sat down on the bed and Isaac headed straight for the bathroom, grabbing a bandage out of the cabinet and soaking a hand towel in water before coming back into the room.

"Come on, we should get that cleaned up," he said as Scott stripped out of the jacket.

"It's fine," Scott said, gasping as he stretched the get the shirt over his head. "Don't worry."

"No, you helped me back at the party when you didn't have to, so let me help now," he said.

"Thanks," Scott said. "You still don't want to tell me why―"

"I'm claustrophobic, okay? That's it," he said. "Now shut up and let me help here?"

Scott sighed but did as he asked, wondering how the night ended up like this.

*

It took a long while for the party to wind down, it took about the same amount of time for Derek to calm Cora down.

They hung back, waiting until they couldn't hear anyone else in the house and made their way in, the nervous energy filling the room.

"Okay, spill," Laura said, walking in with her arms folded. "What the hell have the two of you done?"

It didn't take a lot for Cora to break, she spilled everything. Every detail she could think of she blurted out but Laura didn't say anything until she was done.

"I swear, I thought I was doing the right thing, I just... no one would listen to me!" she said. "And now Peter has disappeared and I might have killed two people and I can't fix this! What are we going to do?"

Laura sighed.

"You're going to stop freaking out for one," she said. "You think no one was listening? You were the one who wasn't listening."

"Don't be so hard on her," Derek said quietly and Laura looked at him with her eyebrows high.

"Don't even get me started on you," she said. "You think I can't smell him on you?"

"You think it's easy to stay away from him?" Derek said.

"That is literally all you had to do," she said.

"Well that might be easier if he wasn't invited into our house," he said.

"Don't turn this around," she said. "He's a teenager Derek."

"You think I don't know that?"

"What if they don't make it?" Cora asked, cutting in over their arguing. "Not everyone survives."

"We know Cora," Laura said, trying not to look at Derek.

"They're going to make it," he said.

"You don't know that," she said.

"Yes, I do," he said. "Trust me if they weren't going to make it they wouldn't have been able to get up and just walk away. They would have been in a lot more pain."

"Even if they do they're not going to be able to control it," Laura said.

"They won't even know what's happening to them," Derek said.

"Which is why it's up to us to teach them now," Laura said and both Cora and Derek looked up in surprise. "Well do you really trust this alpha to do it? Whoever he was he was happy to bite and run, maybe he'll be back for them and maybe not. Either way I wouldn't trust him to teach them how to control what they are."

"What are you saying?" Derek asked.

"I'm saying that it's up to us to make sure they know what's happening to them," Laura said.

"Mom is going to freak out," Cora said.

"Mom isn't going to find out until we can prove to her that we've got this under control," she said.

"Mom finds out everything," Cora said.

"Well then you better get it under control quickly," she said. "You take the girl and Derek can take the guy."

"What? And what are you going to be doing?" he said.

"I'm going to be making sure that the two of you don't screw this up any more than you've already managed to do!"

"I'm sorry," Cora said quietly and Laura rolled her eyes, pulling her in for a hug.

"Don't be sorry, just... be proactive, okay?" she said. "Just go to bed before I yell some more."

"You know I'm almost eighteen, I'm not a kid anymore," Cora said.

"So why do you need so much taking care of?" Laura asked.

Cora shook her head and headed up the stairs and Laura turned her attention to Derek.

"You've said your piece," he said. "Don't make it worse. It was a once off."

"Oh really?" she said. "You mean you think you can control yourself? Because I've heard that before."

"I hooked up with someone I didn't just create a couple of teenage wolves," he hissed.

"No but you better make sure this stays under wraps," Laura said under her breath. "You know that with those hunters back in town we have to keep a low profile. This is not exactly that. Neither is you tearing apart a teenager."

"It's done, okay? I just needed to know," he said.

"And now that you do you won't be able to stop."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," she said. "I just want the two of you to be safe and you both just drive me crazy."

"What are younger siblings for?" he said with a weak smile.

"Get some sleep," she said. "You're going to need it."

*

It was game day, the game day.

The only one Scott was likely to get.

He sat up in bed, looking down at his bare chest and the bloodied bandage that covered the bite marks he'd been gifted he night before.

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and narrowly missing Isaac who slept on the floor.

"Holy―" he said, trying to avoid him as he stood up.

Isaac turned to look at him, sitting up and rubbing his eyes though he was clearly already awake.

"Dude, did you really sleep on the floor?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, well... I mean it wasn't so bad," he said. "How are you?"

Scott looked down at the bandage and sighed.

"I'm about to go check."

He walked around Isaac and into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and looking at it in the mirror, pulling a face as he slowly peeled it way from his skin.

It wasn't at all what he expected.

He burst back through the door and Isaac looked a little confused before his eyes grew wide and he was getting up to get a closer look.

"I didn't dream it all did I?" Scott said and Isaac shook his head.

"If you did then we were having the same dream," he said. "It's gone!"

Neither of them could believe it, how could it have just disappeared?

When Stiles showed up to pick them up for the game he was without Boyd and Erica but he said almost exactly the same, Erica's bite was gone too.

"I mean, gone, like, if she didn't have blood on her clothes you never would have thought anything had happened," he said. "She said she was coming to the game but who knows."

"You don't think it's weird that it was gone?" Isaac asked.

"Oh it's bizarre but maybe... I don't know, I'm just too weirded out to even think of a reason right now. Right now we need to focus on this game, okay?"

"He's right," Scott said. "It's not like we're going to figure it out on the way there so let's just... play."

They made it to the school, Boyd questioned Scott about his bite and told them he had a weird feeling but in all honesty Scott was just happy that it was gone. Truth be told one of the things he worried about was not getting to play in the game.

He heard Jackson talking about him when they were changing in the locker rooms. He was saying things like how they were going to lose this game because they were stuck with the second stringers.

"You really think a party was worth letting them take the field?" Jackson said.

"The party maybe not, but the number I got from one of the guys who attended the party, now that might be worth it," Danny said.

"Yeah well it'll be my ass on the line if these idiots can't perform," Jackson grumbled.

Scott grunted as he pulled his boots on.

"Can Jackson be any more obnoxious?" he said.

"What?" Isaac asked and Stiles just stared over at him.

"Jackson, he can't shut up for five minutes?"

"Uh, Jackson's not even here," Stiles said and Scott looked around to see it was just the four of them left in the rooms. "Jackson's out on the field with Danny."

"I swear I just heard..." he said, trailing off and clapping his hands over his ears as the coach walked in and blew the whistle.

"Everyone out, on the field, now!" he yelled. "Stilinski, don't make me regret giving you a game."

"What? I'm ready coach, I am ready," he said with a grin but the coach just grumbled before walking out and yelling a brief 'get your ass moving'.

"You okay?" Boyd asked Scott.

"Did he have to be so loud?" he said.

They made their way out and Stiles saw his dad sitting with Melissa McCall and waved over at them. He saw Erica walking over to the bleachers and she smiled at them, mouthing the words 'good luck'.

Only she didn't just mouth them, she said them, and Scott heard them as if she was standing right in front of them.

He ran over to her despite the coach blowing the whistle at him to join the team.

"What are you doing?" She said as he approached her.

"I heard you, how did I hear you?" he said.

"Don't think about it now," she said.

"It's happening to you too, isn't it?"

She pursed her lips and looked around.

"I feel different," she said. "Like, like I can do anything."

"And the bite mark..."

"It's gone."

"What happened to us?" he asked.

"McCall!" the coach yelled.

"Go, win the game," she said. "We'll talk after?"

He nodded before running back over to the huddle.

The coach never was overly good with pep talks, but somehow they always seemed to do the trick. Jackson was far worse.

"You screw this up for me Stilinski and you're going to wish you were dead," he said with a less-than-affectionate slap to the helmet.

"Jerk," he mumbled as they took their place on the bench for the start of the game.

As the first whistle blew Cora walked into the stands, seeking Erica out and taking a seat beside her.

"Hey," she said and Erica just smiled.

"I didn't know you were coming," she said.

"You left pretty early last night," Cora said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Erica nodded.

"Yeah I... we just thought it was time to go," she said.

"Well... how do you feel today?" she asked and Erica turned to look at her.

"You... you know what happened?" she asked.

Cora didn't say anything, she looked down at her lap then out at the field.

"No," Erica said. "You know what's happening."

"I tried to stop it," she said. "It was my fault to start with but still, I tried to stop it."

Erica stared out at the field, heart racing and biting her bottom lip.

"That thing..." she said. "It wasn't an animal, was it?"

Scott's ears perked up from the bench and he turned back, locking eyes with Cora as she shook her head.

"No, not really."

"McCall!" the coach yelled again, making him jump. "Get up, get out there and don't screw up!"

"Go!" Stiles said as Scott got to his feet and Melissa cheered from the stands.

Erica watched as he got onto the ground, the first ball that came to him landing in his control easily and the manoeuvres he made across the field looked as natural as anything. When the ball hit the net no one looked more surprised than Scott.

It had never been that easy before.

"The hearing, reflexes, that's just the start," Cora said. "I'm sorry I didn't give you the choice. I just thought I was doing the right thing."

"I felt better this morning than I ever have," Erica said. "I don't know what caused that only, I do know, and I can't explain it. Don't apologise for that."

"You don't know what you're in for," Cora said.

"I'm just happy to be in," she said with a smile.

Cora smiled back, just as Stiles took to the field, the sheriff beaming with pride.

The coach just seemed to stand there with his mouth gaping open as Stiles managed to pass the ball off to Scott without fumbling and Scott outperformed anyone on either side and scored another goal.

Jackson of course tried to take credit for it, trying to figure out how the hell Scott had become an overnight sensation.

Allison seemed to be keeping a close eye on Lydia even though she was completely downplaying what happened the night before.

By the time the game had drawn to a close Beacon Hills were up by a record margin and much to Jackson's dismay the team was hailing Scott their hero.

He never did get to catch Erica for that chat, not when his mother refused to take no for an answer when she suggested they go out for dinner to celebrate. He knew he'd have to find her at school the next day.

He felt on top of the world, his senses were stronger than they'd ever been and the adrenaline wouldn't stop pumping as he thought about the game and what Cora had said to Erica.

Things were changing and he knew he had to deal with them, but he would figure it all out in the morning.

*

Stiles spent the next day trying to convince Stiles of his theory, crazy as it sounded.

Somehow after the weekend they'd had it didn't seem quite as insane as it might have done the week before.

"Seriously Scott, just, think about it overnight would you?" he said as they walked out of school that afternoon. "It's not that crazy."

"You're talking about werewolves Stiles," Scott hissed. "It's that crazy."

"Yeah, but it makes sense," he said.

Scott sighed.

"Don't make me think about it."

"Too bad, think about it. Think about how awesome it is."

"Don't you have to meet your dad at the station?" he said.

"You know trying to get rid of me won't change the fact that I might actually be right!" he said as he climbed into the jeep.

"Shut up Stiles!" he yelled as he walked off towards his bike.

Stiles grinned as he drove away and he couldn't help but think about Derek.

It couldn't be a coincidence that they were at his house when it happened, that his eyes lit up like glow sticks and that his skin was hot to the touch, that his walls had claw marks and that he could hear things that he really shouldn't be able to.

Nothing that made sense in the real world made sense in this situation.

He made it down to the station and walked in and gave Tara a smile and she just shook her head at him.

"Causing trouble again?" she asked and Stiles put a hand over his heart.

"I'm a saint and you know it," he said and she just laughed. "You seen my dad?"

"He's finishing up with some paperwork," she said. "Just go through."

"You're still my favourite," he said with a grin and she rolled her eyes with a smile.

He took his phone out to text Stiles as he walked in, the office almost as familiar as his own home.

"Stiles?" he looked up at the sound of that voice and his mouth dropped before he collected himself and sucked his lips between his teeth.

"Derek?" he said, eyeing him up and down as he walked over to him in his deputy's uniform. "I uh... I didn't know you worked here."

"What are you doing here?" he said, looking more nervous than Stiles had seen anyone look in a while.

"I'm, my dad's the sheriff," he said with a bemused smile.

"Stilinski," he said, putting the pieces together and running his hand through his hair with a groan. "Stiles Stilinski."

"Yeah, the real name is even weirder," he said.

"Stiles!" the sheriff called as he walked out of his office. "I see you've met Derek."

"I didn't know he worked here," Stiles said.

"Started today," he said, eyeing the look on Stiles' face and the pained expression on Derek's. "Do you two know each other?"

"We've met," Derek said quickly.

"The party I went to the other night," Stiles said. "It was uh, Derek's sister's party."

"Right, sometimes I forget how small this town really is," he said. "Give me five minutes and I'm out of here, yeah?"

He walked past him with pat on the back, leaving him standing with Derek.

"I guess this is more awkward for you than it is for me," he said with a grin.

"You're his son?"

"Oh come on, it's not like you were asking who my dad was on Saturday night," he said and Derek gave him a look which made him blush. "Wow, okay that came out worse than it was supposed to."

Derek laughed and shook his head.

"Stop," he said.

"Right, mouth running away from me again," he said.

"I was supposed to be staying away from you," he said with a look in his eye that said just the opposite.

"Yeah, well..." Stiles said with a shrug. "Don't think that you working here makes me want you to."

"Stiles," Derek said quietly.

"Relax, no one can hear me," he said, pausing a moment. "I mean how many other people have super-human abilities like that?"

Derek narrowed his eyes.

"Stiles, you coming?" his dad called.

"Yeah be right there!" he said, turning back to Derek. "Well, you know where to find me, and if you don't... well I'm sure you can track me down."

He gave him a smile before heading out with his dad and Derek couldn't help but smile, Laura was right, there was no way he could stop now.

***

Derek lay in the hotel bed, fingers running through Stiles' hair before pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Stiles looked up at him with a goofy tired smile, lifting his hand to tangle his fingers with Derek's.

"I'm sorry," Derek said softly and Stiles just frowned.

"What for?"

"The way we started," he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was... I wasn't thinking about you back then," he said. "I was just thinking about myself and I know I probably hurt you. I never wanted to be that person."

"Hey... you've been through things... things that make you different to the person you thought you wanted to be," he said. "I still love you, I wouldn't change anything."

"I hurt you Stiles," he said. "And I didn't care."

"You do now," he said, shuffling up to kiss him but Derek pulled his lips away.

"I regret it," he said. "I regret hurting you. I regret that I knew I was doing it and that I didn't stop early enough."

"No, you don't get to make me think you regret being with me," Stiles said firmly and Derek huffed loudly.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," he said. "I just... don't want that nature to get the better of me."

"It hasn't," Stiles said. "And I wouldn't change it. Any of it."

"I love you," Derek murmured.

"And I love you too you big dope," Stiles said. "Now stop being so damn depressing and come here."

Derek rolled his eyes but did as he was told, and without complaint.

~ ~ ~

A/N: There you have it!

Hope you liked it and back to the main story for the next chapter.

Thanks so much for reading I seriously love you all!