+++
I felt nervous walking into my own home, but I needed to do this eventually. I wouldn't be able to avoid this forever, I knew that deep down. I haven't been home in almost three days, and it was time to make amends with my uncle. The things that were said, we both probably regret.
I opened the door taking a deep breath in the process.
"Elaine?" I heard my uncle immediately call out, "Is that you?"
I exhaled, "Yeah."
He then appeared in the doorway of the hall and stood there, "You're back."
I nodded, trying to keep my breathing steady.
He came rushing toward me and, without any hesitation, collected me in his arms.
"I am so glad you're home," he whispered in my ear.
"I'm so sorry," I squeezed onto him tighter.
"No, I'm sorry," he apologized and pulled me back so he could look at me. "You were right to go. It's what your mother would've wanted. I was just scared- I can't loose you too."
"I shouldn't have said what I did- about you barely knowing her." I shook my head, "I didn't just loose a mother...you lost a sister, and I'm sorry."
He kissed my forehead, "Forgive and forget?"
"Forgive and forget."
"Alright, now that you're back, what do you want for dinner?" He asked clapping his hands together, "I'll cook you anything you want. You want some mac n' cheese? I'll make mac n' cheese for you. Whatever you want."
"I can't pass on your famous mac n' cheese." I smiled brightly, before feeling my phone buzz in my pocket.
I furrowed my eyebrows at Sheriff's name flashing on my phone.
My uncle smirked and before I could even ask he said, "Go. We'll rain check it."
I smiled at him before I left my house and to see what was happening now.
+++
I rushed into the Sheriff's office after shortly getting off the phone with Mr. Stilinski.
"I got here as soon as I could after I got your call," I said partially out of breath and readjusting my book bag on my shoulders.
Sheriff stood still, his arms crossed against his chest. I waited for him to say something until I looked over at the bench, where Stiles and Scott were sitting. This wasn't going to be good. All I could think of was: what did I miss?
"Oh god..." I mumbled looking at the ground and then asked Sheriff, "What's going on?"
"All right," Sheriff sighed, "All three of you, I want you to be honest with me. Absolutely and completely honest."
We all nodded in agreement, promising to tell the truth. Sheriff was obviously not messing around.
"Have you been time traveling?"
All of our faces dropped in shock at what he asked. None of us knew what to expect, but it really wasn't anything close to what he actually asked.
"Hang on, what?" Stiles shook his head, trying to clarify what he had just been asked by his dad.
Sheriff continued, "Because if time traveling is real, you know what? I'm done. I'm out. You're gonna be driving me to Eichen House."
"We found him like that," Scott stated, referring to Derek.
"Where? Swimming in the fountain of youth?" Sheriff questioned.
"Um actually," I spoke up trying to carefully construct my response, "We found him buried in a tomb of wolfsbane in an Aztec temple in Mexico underneath a church in the middle of a town that was destroyed by an earthquake." The words quickly exited my mouth, making my sentence sound like one long phrase.
Sheriff blinked a few times trying to take what I had just said all in, but he looked about as confused as before- if not more confused. Meanwhile, Scott and Stiles both sighed disappointedly, and looked down.
I furrowed my brows at them and then let my jaw drop as I quietly whisper, "Oh..."
"Wait, what? Mexico?" He exclaimed and then looked over at Stiles, "You told me you were camping!"
"Yeah we were," Stiles shrugged, "...In Mexico."
"Derek's been aged backwards." Scott told Sheriff redirecting the conversation, "He can't remember anything."
"If you would just let us talk to him-"
"Yeah, well, so far he's not talking to anybody," Sheriff interrupted me, letting his body lean against his desk.
"He'll talk to me," Scott sighed.
Sheriff looked at Scott for awhile, his lips pressed tightly together before he nodded his head. He made his way out to the hall, and asked one of the deputy's to bring Derek into his office.
Stiles whipped his over toward me, "Way to keep a secret, Lains."
"Hey!" I put my hands up defensively, "He told us to be absolutely honest. I wasn't going to lie to your dad."
Derek then walked through the door of the office, confusion written all over his face.
"Why am I in here?" He asked sitting down.
"Listen, we just need you to come with us-"
"Why would I go anywhere with you?" He asked, interrupting Scott.
"There was an accident," Scott began to explain, "You lost some memory, but we can help you get it back."
"How much memory?" Derek inquired, Stiles and I exchanged a worried glance.
Scott kneeled down so he was now at eye level with Derek, "A lot. But you can trust us."
"You're an Alpha... Who are you?" Derek said lightly, his mouth gaped open. He then looked directly at me, "And who are you? And who is he?" He pointed at Stiles who was snooping through his dad's desk.
"Oh! We're the people keeping you out of jail."
I gave Stiles an "are you kidding me" look and then turned back to Derek, "You can trust us."
"Let us help you," Scott added.
"No." Derek stated stubbornly.
Scott and Stiles both looked up at me. I let out a heavy sigh, once I realized what they wanted me to do.
I knelt down so I was eye level with the stubborn teenager. I gave him a soft smile before closing my eyes and looking back at him.
"You're going to trust us okay, Derek." I said simply, "Do you trust us?"
Derek, whose eyes were locked to mine, nodded with a straightforward response, "Yes."
"Good, so you're going to come with us."
I blinked and my eyes phased back to normal. Again a wave of exhaustion hit me, something that I'll never get used to. I let out a deep breath standing back up.
"Alright so it's all set." Stiles clapped and then rubbed his hands together, "So first, let's start with this no fangs, no claws, no wolf man. You got that?"
"I'm fine as long as it's not on a full moon."
My eyebrows rose in shock, "Wait, what? You still can't control yourself on a full moon?"
"I said I'm fine." Derek snapped.
"Alright, so are you coming with us?" Stiles asked trying to get a move on.
"You want me to trust you? Where's my family?"
All three of us let out a long sigh, not sure how to address this.
"There was a fire. And...they're not here anymore." I spoke carefully.
"They're fine," Scott quickly said, sounding almost too unconvincing.
Stiles and I shared an even more worried look, not sure why Scott would lie.
"Just had to move out of Beacon Hills. And we're going to take you to them as soon as we figure out how to get your memories back." Scott nodded.
Derek let out a long exhale, before finally agreeing wholeheartedly, "Okay."
+++
"I shouldn't have done that," Scott shook his head and let out a low sigh. "I lied my ass off."
I pursed my lips together, already knowing that he would feel guilty about this.
"Hey, your ass is fine," Stiles reassured and my face scrunched up.
"I'm sure that sounded different in your head, but please never say that about my boyfriend again," I told him.
Stiles let out a short huff, ignoring what I had just said and continued, "You saved him a ton of unnecessary pain. We'll figure this out in a day or two, he goes back to being old Derek, everyone's happy. Well- except Derek, who's never happy."
Scott who still didn't look impressed or content with what he had done said, "It's just another person that we're lying to. It's just- I feel like it's always been better when we tell the truth. With Lydia, my mom, your dad."
"Wait, who else are you lying too?" I asked quickly, before Stiles could respond.
Stiles and Scott both shot each other a quickly look of panic before Stiles brushed it off as casual as he could, "It doesn't matter. Just like cheaters never prosper, liars never...win?"
I nodded very slowly, not finding his words convincing.
Stiles continued, "Besides, that's Derek Hale in there. He may be a kid right now, but he's still Derek Hale."
Scott nodded, "Alright, take him to my house and don't let him out of your sight."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to talk to the guy we should have gone to before," Scott answered vaguely.
"I hate that guy," Stiles mumbled shaking his head.
"Peter?" I questioned.
"Yeah."
"Okay, then I'm coming with you," I stated.
"No you're not."
"You think you can handle Peter on your own?" I scoffed.
"Absolutely not, but I'm afraid you and Peter will end up ripping each other's throats out by the end of the night."
I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled, "you aren't wrong."
"Plus, I need you to go with Stiles to help with Derek because, well, you know...it's Stiles." Scott explained awkwardly.
"Yeah!" Stiles nodded with agreement, "Wait, what?"