"Babe are you asleep?" Stiles asks softly looking down at Derek's head which is currently resting on Stiles' lap. He smiles to himself happy that Derek is finally getting some much needed rest. He notices Ace is sleeping in as well, as she lays spread out in the middle of the lounge room floor.
He focuses back on the tv flicking channels hoping there's a good movie on somewhere but with no luck. He decides on some cooking show not even paying attention to it. He sits there on his phone taking a few photos of Derek fast asleep knowing if he saw he'd make Stiles delete them but he couldn't resist.
He grins happily looking back at the photos when his phone suddenly starts to ring. He quickly turns it on silent as he slowly gets up off the couch, moving Derek's head gently onto a pillow.
"Hello, this is Stiles." He says into the phone once he reaches the kitchen realising he never read the name before answering it.
"Stiles. It's Jackson." Jackson responds and it takes a couple seconds for Stiles to process the fact that Jackson fucking Whittmore is calling him.
"Jackson? You never call me... why are you calling me?" Stiles questions dumbly because honestly he's lost for words.
"Ethan made me do it. Anyway some lady was walking around asking where you guys live, she came up to us and asked too." Jackson answers and Stiles heartbeat suddenly sky rockets.
"You didn't tell her-"
"No. It's not my place to tell but Ethan's pretty sure he heard others telling her. Just a heads up, I've never seen this chick before and it seemed sketchy." Jackson explains and Stiles has to grab the edge of the bench to keep himself standing as his legs turn to jelly.
"Thanks Jackson." Stiles quickly replies hanging up the phone as he sprints into the lounge room tripping over the rug on the floor only just managing to keep his balance.
"Stiles, what the-" Derek mumbles sitting up at the sudden noise as Stiles cuts him off.
"We need to get you the hell out of here right now, we need to go!" Stiles states and Derek sits up straighter at the panicked tone in his boyfriends voice.
"What's going on?" Derek asks grabbing Stiles' hand to stop him from shaking.
"Kate is coming! She was asking people where the Sheriff lived! She knows you're here." Stiles quickly explains pulling Derek up off the couch as the two of them quickly scramble to put their boots on.
"Where's your Jeep?" Derek questions panic starting to rise in his voice as the two of them run outside.
"The Jeep? It's headlights are broken! And in case you haven't noticed it's 9 o'clock at night and it's dark outside." Stiles responds harshly immediately regretting talking to Derek like that.
"Everyone else took their vehicles into town! It's a full moon you can kinda see the ground and you know the farm back to front. Get in the Jeep." Derek orders climbing into the passenger seat and Stiles reluctantly nods following him.
"We can't risk taking the road, if she's already on her way she'll see us from miles away since barely any cars go on that road." Stiles says as he turns the key in the ignition brining the old car to life.
"We go through your forest, scrub, bush, whatever the hell you wanna call it and then cut through the neighbours paddocks until we hit Kelley Road." Derek instructs and Stiles nods knowing Derek has planned this route in case of an emergency.
The two of them stay silent for the next few minutes. Stiles concentrating on the road in front which he can barely see while Derek sits next to him fiddling with his seat belt nervously as he stares at the revision mirror.
"Derek? You're starting to worry me, are you alright?" Stiles asks after a couple minutes of noticing Derek's fingers trembling and his breathing too sort and quick for Stiles' liking.
"Just focus on the road, I'm fine." Derek responds in a wavering voice clearly not fine but what can Stiles do? Kate is coming after him and there's nothing Stiles can say that will make things better. He can't even comfort Derek right now because he's too fucking focused on the road trying to avoid hitting fences and trees as he heads in the direction of the forest.
"Derek it's- Shit!" Stiles shouts as a tree appears right in front of them. He slams on the breaks hard but it was too late as the front of the Jeep smashes into the tree. Glass going everywhere, metal being bent and the last thing he remembers is Derek calling his name weakly before everything turns black.
-
*meanwhile*
"In hindsight not all of us should have came in here at once in case it was a trap." Isaac comments looking around trying to think of a way out of this situation.
"Shut up, Lahey." Boyd responds dryly while trying to pull against the rope around his wrists with no luck.
"Chris, what are you doing?" The Sheriff whispers glancing over at the two men making sure they aren't listening.
"Growing up with a sister like Kate and father like Gerard I learnt to always be prepared for anything." Chris replies softly as he begins to cut the rope ever so slightly with the small knife he had up his sleeve.
"She's going to kill Derek..." Scott says softly looking at the ground, he can feel tears in his eyes but he doesn't care.
"Stiles is with Derek as well! Oh my God, is she gonna kill him too?" Lydia questions looking around at the others noticing nearly everyone has tears in their eyes, all of them knowing there's no hope.
"No. We will stop her before she can kill him or hurt either of them." The Sheriff states in a firm voice when one of Kate's men begins to laugh.
"Derek Hale is a dead man." The blonde haired man says and now it was Parrish who begins laughing.
"If you knew anything about Derek then you would know he doesn't give up easily, Derek will be fine." Parrish responds with a grin watching the man carefully.
"You guys must believe in miracles." The other man says leaning against the wall eyeing them all.
"No. We believe in Derek Hale." Chris responds hiding the knife up his sleeve as the men turn to face him. After a few minutes the men go back to leaning against the walls on their phones as Chris begins to cut the rope again. The others watch him carefully with a glimmer of hope in their eyes.
-
Everything's black. There's voices in the background somewhere talking but he can't understand what they're saying. Everything feels like it's spinning, which is a really odd feeling when he can't see anything. Is he dead? Is this what death feels like? Is Stiles dead? Wait... Stiles! The Christmas parade. Him and Stiles staying home. The Jeep. Driving away from the house because Kate was coming. The tree appearing out of nowhere. The pain. The darkness. It all comes flooding back to him in a flash.
"Shouldn't we try to wake him up?" A male voice asks to his left somewhere.
"Not yet. It's not midnight, I want him to die on Christmas Day." A female voice replies which he instantly recognises as Kate's. This can't be real. It has to be a dream, Derek thinks to himself as he tries to move his arms but finds he can't. What the hell is going on?
"Looks like your boy is coming into consciousness." A different man says as Derek slowly forces his eyes open but quickly closes them again at the sudden brightness shining at him.
"Don't try pretend you're unconscious. We know you're awake." Kate says, her voice suddenly a lot closer than last time. "Open your eyes!" She yells as she slams a knife down into Derek's thigh causing his eyes to snap open as he screams in pain.
He squeezes his eyes shut trying to keep his tears in the back of his eyes. He slowly opens them again looking down at the source of pain. Everything was blurry but he could make out the shape of a knife sticking out the top of his thigh with blood slowly seeping through his denim jeans. He quickly looks around taking in his surroundings the best he could. There's three vehicles parked around the area two facing in his direction with their lights shining at him. The other car facing the other way with the boot open showing off some ugly looking weapons making Derek hope like hell he's seeing things.
He blinks a few times as his surroundings begin to clear when he spots a familiar boy standing against a tree trunk with his arms tied around the trunk. Stiles. Stiles is here. Shit. He's dragged Stiles into this mess... Now he's tied up. No this isn't real. He's just living another nightmare. He's still sleeping on the couch in front of the tv with Stiles curled up next to him. This isn't really happening, it can't be.
"Hey handsome, miss me?" Kate's voice suddenly echos through his left ear and he quickly turns around to find her leaning against the tree he was currently tied to with a shit eating grin.
"Y-You're real." Derek says, his voice coming out rougher than he anticipated.
"Aww sweetie of course I am. Does this feel real?" She asks as she runs her fingers lightly across the side of his face. He tenses at the touch of her fingers, squeezing his eyes shut as he turns away the best he could.
"You know how long I have waited for this day to come?" Kate asks into his ear but he doesn't answer. "Six years Derek. Six years searching the country side for you and it has cost me everything!" She yells taking a step back and Derek glances to the right to see Stiles, who was beginning to stir slightly obviously starting to wake up. He's got a cut on his forehead with a trail of blood down the side of his face that Derek didn't notice before but must have been from the car crash.
"Finding you has cost me everything! All our workers left in fear because you were out there somewhere, possibly with a copy of the footage your mother took. Even the people on the inside in the law enforcement left us because they were worried they might be found out and put behind bars. A few of our workers stayed because they trust Gerard and I to keep them safe and because the money is good."
"I don't care." Derek mutters leaning his head back against the tree he was tied to. He closes his eyes trying to ignore the burning sensation coming from the stab wound on his thigh.
"Aww sweetie does that knife hurt?" Kate questions walking back over to him causing Derek to quickly open his eyes as she twists the blade in his thigh. He clenches his jaw trying to bite back a scream as pain explodes through his leg.
"Stop! You're hurting him!" Stiles' voice suddenly shouts catching both their attention as Stiles stares wide eyed at the knife sticking out Derek's thigh. How long was he passed out for? How much has Kate hurt Derek? And why is his right arm hurting like hell?
"Look who decided to wake up and join the party!" Kate states taking a few steps towards Stiles who was trying to figure out how he's tied to a tree.
"Get the hell away from him." Derek says sternly watching as Kate stops and turns back to him as a smile appears on her face.
"You two are together aren't you? That would explain the photo in that bar." Kate says more to herself than anyone before she glances over at her men who were leaning against a black van watching them.
Derek doesn't say anything to her comment, scared that if he says the wrong thing she will hurt or kill Stiles.
He glances across at Stiles who was already looking at him and he mouths 'sorry' which causes Stiles to immediately shake his head giving Derek a soft smile. How could Stiles not hate him right now for bringing him into this? Because there is only one way this situation is gonna end and that will be both him and Stiles dead.
"He's cute Derek, I see why you like him but man I never would have guessed you'd turn out gay!" Kate continues looking back and forward between the two of them with an amused expression.
"Kate. It's midnight." One of the men shout and Derek glances over at him before looking back at Kate who was grinning and Derek sighs.
"Midnight? What's so special about midnight?" Stiles questions in confusion and Kate laughs.
"Wow, you don't know Derek's birthday?" Kate questions and Stiles goes still, obviously trying to think but Derek knows he never told Stiles his birthday.
"Your birthday is on Christmas?!" Stiles exclaims and Derek sighs giving Stiles a guilty smile. "You're going to kill him on his birthday, that's why you have waited it out and tied us to these fucking trees!" Stiles shouts in sudden realisation.
"Sweetie, I don't want to kill him just yet, I want to catch up first. Remember all the fun we had together Derek?" Kate asks walking over to Derek until they were face to face.
"Like the time you burned my family alive and murdered my sister." Derek responds angrily clenching his jaw.
"No. I was thinking more about the hot, crazy sex we use to have... but the whole killing your family thing, yeah that was fun too." Kate teases inches away from Derek's face as he suddenly tilts his head back before head butting her. She stumbles back from the impact grabbing her now bloodied nose as her men load their guns aiming directly at Derek waiting for the call to shoot.
"I love how much you hate me." Kate says walking back towards him as she pulls out her phone from her pocket. "Now I have a very interesting video that I recorded just for you." She says turning her attention to her phone and Derek glances over at Stiles who looks about as worried as Derek's feeling about what the video is.
"Here we go. Now listen and watch." Kate orders turning the phone around so Derek could see.
'Hi Derek, since you aren't here to experience this first hand I decided to show you myself.' Kate says with a grin in the video and Derek's heart sinks recognising the background behind Kate instantly.
'Say goodbye to your family.' She says as she flips the camera and Derek gasps as his family come into view. Cora was lying on the floor of their basement living room, her hands tied with a zippy tie. Even through the half blurry video he could see the tears falling down her face and hear her screaming at Kate to let them go. While his parents were tied to the couch with his little brother sitting between them not knowing what's going on.
"Derek! Look at me." Stiles shouts trying to get his attention away from the video. He can barely see the screen but can hear it very clearly as Kate orders her father to start pouring petrol everywhere. "Look me, Derek please. Focus on my voice alright. Don't listen to it. Block it out." Stiles says and Derek turns to face him, tears welling up in his eyes as Kate grabs his chin turning his head back to the video.
"Watch it! Or else Hank will shoot your boyfriend." She threatens as the man walks over to Stiles pressing the barrel of his pistol to Stiles' forehead. He freezes in fear but not taking his eyes off Derek who stops trying to fight Kate and watches the screen.
He watches the video as Kate walks out his house towards a black ute which he could just see Chris sitting in it, banging against the window trying to get them to stop. But it doesn't work. Kate turns the camera back at the house as Gerard throws the now empty jerrycan under the veranda taking a few steps away as he lights a match.
'Light it up!' Kate's voice shouts through the video as Gerard throws the match onto the steps walking away quickly as the whole veranda suddenly goes up in flames.
"HEY! TURN IT OFF!" Stiles yells yanking on his chains causing pain to erupt throughout his left arm which he's starting to think is broken. But he doesn't stop as he thrashes against the chain until the man slams the butt of his gun to the side of his face.
"No!" Derek shouts watching as Stiles groans in pain with his head hung low.
"Just listen sweetie. Just listen." Kate orders pulling his face back towards the phone as the flames engulfed all sides of the building. The fire burning with such intensity he could see livid blue flames between the amber red. Tears fall down Derek's cheeks as he watches in horror while the ceiling crashes to the ground with a bang exploding flames through roof. Suddenly the camera gets turned in the direction of the driveway where he could just make out the fine trail of dirt in the air from a vehicle approaching. He knew it was him and Laura coming home and within a split second the video was shut off.
It had taken years for Derek to stop picturing the burning house every time he closed his eyes. Yet, it had taken Kate only a few minutes to completely shatter his progress.
-
"Argent. Please tell me you're getting close." The Sheriff whispers leaning towards the other man while eyeing Kate's men who seemed to be more interested in their own conversation.
"Yeah. Just give me a second." Chris mutters as he shifts the blade up and down a few more times until suddenly the rope around his right wrist becomes loose. "Got it."
"What now?" Boyd whispers looking across to Chris who was watching Kate's men carefully to make sure they haven't noticed.
"I need a distraction. Allison!" Chris whispers catching his daughters attention as she looks over at him and he motions towards the men and back to her. After a few seconds she eventually clicks to what he wants and she nods before bringing her attention to Kate's men.
"Excuse me." Allison calls looking over towards Kates men with an innocent smile. "I really need to use the ladies room."
"Not our problem sweetheart." The blonde haired man responds but the other man looked half interested.
"I won't do anything, I swear. You could even come in with me to make sure." Allison adds with a soft smile as Scott bites the inside of his cheek to stop himself from butting in, not liking where this was going.
"Alright, but this is the only time." The other man says putting his pistol into the gun holster on his belt as he walks over to Allison beginning to untie her restraints.
Chris glances over at the other man still standing by the wall who's attention was focused on the two. Slowly he reaches down to his ankles with his untied hand and begins undoing the rope nots. He glances up at Allison watching as the man grabs her arm leading her past the table towards the toilets and he grins to himself as she grabs one of the guns off the table hiding it behind her.
Chris glances back towards the other guard who was now fixing the rope on Allison's chair for when she comes back. Chris quickly unties his other hand just as the familiar sound of a gun firing goes off and within an instant the other man reaches for his gun as Chris stands up pulling out his spare gun from behind his belt.
"Take another step and I pull the trigger." Chris threatens resting the gun against the back of the mans head.
"Allison?" Scott calls worriedly, trying to look over his shoulder towards the toilets but with no luck.
"I'm okay." Allison shouts back as she walks through the door, gun aimed at the blonde haired man who was limping badly. "I shot him in the leg." Allison explains pushing the man to the ground.
She begins untying everyone, handing Parrish his gun back as she goes back to the table to retrieve her crossbow as the Sheriff grabs his hand gun.
"We need to go!" The Sheriff states checking the clip in his gun before looking over at the others who all nod in agreement.
"What about them?" Lydia asks nodding towards Kate's men.
"They basically kidnaped us, can't we put them in jail?" Boyd asks and the Sheriff nods.
"I don't know how long they'll last in there since they have people on the inside but that's as good of a place as any at the moment. Let's go." The Sheriff responds grabbing the collar of the injured man as Chris grabs the other before they all head out.
A/N-
Hey guys,
I was planning on posting this chapter a lot sooner but my dog passed away this week and I haven't been in the right headspace to write. I've had her for nearly 14 years and it just happened out of the blue. I thought it might have been a snake bite, because we have had a lot eastern brown snakes around the farm yard lately but I don't know.
Anyway I'm back now, I hope you guys are still enjoying this fic and I promise the next chapter will be up within the next few days.
Hope you guys have a great day!
Until next time, stay safe everyone and also happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! xx