Stiles was sitting alone in his room, wondering how everything went wrong. He'd wanted to help Malia, to spend his life with her and love her forever, but when things had gotten bad she'd morphed into a coyote and run off. If she'd wanted Scott to force her to shift back to a human, she'd have stuck around, right?

Anyway, Scott couldn't find her.

There was nothing that said 'we're through' quite like running off with another species.

Scott was busy with his new pack—Liam, and some other stragglers from the Buddhist pack. Scott seemed to trust everyone but Stiles these days, or maybe he was just too busy trying to be a high school senior, athlete and an alpha to a bunch of betas to have time for his old friends. Either way, Stiles wasn't really happy with him. Not only was Scott not really around for Stiles anymore, he didn't seem to need Stiles' advice anymore.

More importantly, Scott hadn't looked too hard for Malia, in Stiles' opinion. But then Malia had told both Stiles and Scott she wanted to go back to the woods dozens of times.

So she was back in the wild, and Scott had his pack, and Lydia was…losing it. Stiles tried to be there for her, he really did. But he could only hear her describe the myriad of ways she foresaw his and the rest of the pack's deaths before he took a couple of steps back.

He didn't want to end up back in Eichen House. Chances were slim that another orderly would try to kill him, and otherwise he could not afford the bills. He and his dad were just getting a handle on their finances, and he didn't want to do anything to make them backslide again.

Stiles found himself idly wondering where Derek was. He'd sent Derek a couple of texts, and Derek had replied, but then Derek had said he was going to be out of touch for a while. He hadn't replied to any of Stiles' texts since.

Stiles thought this was unlike Derek, and he'd been somewhat worried that he was dead in a ditch somewhere for a while. He knew Derek could take care of himself, so it was more of a low-grade, backburner worry, but he had a minute right now, so he scrolled through his texts, finding the last exchange between them.

Derek-I'm not going to be in touch for a while.

Stiles-What's happening?

Derek-I don't think it's anything major. Probably nothing as bad as the stuff that happens every day in BHs.

Stiles-So come home and save us already!

Derek-Is everything okay?

Stiles-Yeah, just tense so far. We're not really sure what's going on, and it usually ends up being so much worse than you imagine it will be.

Derek-I would stay in touch but I think someone's tracking my phone or yours gotta ditch it.

Stiles-You sound like you're in trouble. Isn't Braeden still around?

Derek-She's the one telling me to ditch the phone. I'm okay. Take care of yourself.

Stiles-You too, buddy.

Derek-Buddy? Since when?

Stiles-Seriously! After all this time?

Derek-WOW, JK, LATIR

Stiles-Later. Get in touch when you can.

Derek-Will do.

For the first time, Stiles noticed how weird it was that Derek had spelled a word, 'later' wrong, used all capital letters, and used text abbreviations. Usually he didn't do any of those things in texts. He was one of those people who wrote texts very carefully and apparently even spell-checked. Stiles had made note of that fact and always texted pretty much in full sentences when he was texting Derek. Stiles noticed right away, now that he was really looking at it, that the phrase had ten letters.

"Like a telephone number," he muttered. He looked at the keypad of his phone and figured out the number that would correspond to each letter. WOW was 909, which was a California area code, JKL were all 5, making the next part 555. ATIR was 2847. Had Derek really sent him a new telephone number in a code that simple and it had taken him a month to figure it out? "Sorry, buddy, I suck," he said.

He went to put the number into his phone, and then thought for a moment. If whoever was after Derek really was tapping Stiles' phone, it would be very bad (not to mention embarrassing) to be the reason Derek was found out by bad people. He put the phone down and grabbed his keys, then went and bought a burner phone from the nearest convenience store for about twenty bucks including minutes.

He put in what he hoped was Derek's number and then texted him.

Stiles-Hey, is this Sourwolf's number?

Derek-Please tell me you're not texting from your phone.

Stiles-It's a burner. Of course.

Derek-Thanks. So you figured out my message.

Stiles-Yeah. Not for a while, though, sorry. You okay?

Derek-Actually, no. Not really. You okay?

Stiles-No. Better than this time last year. I'm not possessed or anything. But there's crazy stuff happening here and Scott won't let me help. He's trusting literally everyone but me. It drives me crazy. He just gets it in his head he has to do everything himself—wait, I guess you know more about that than anyone.

Derek-Pretty much, yeah. I wish you were here. I could sure use your help.

Stiles-Anything I can do from here?

Derek-I can't think of anything, but if I do, I'll tell you.

Stiles-Did you find the Desert Wolf?

Derek-Sort of. Is Malia with you right now?

Stiles-Malia is a coyote fulltime now. I don't think she wants to come back. Human and supernatural problems just got to be too much, I guess, and I wasn't enough to convince her to stay. I miss her.

Derek-I'm sorry. I'm sure you did your best to help her.

Stiles-You still with Braeden?

Derek-We had to split up to hide. We sort of…found the Desert Wolf, and she started hunting us. She said we blew her cover and she's PISSED.

Stiles-You're being hunted? Let me come get you.

Derek-And bring me where? I can't go home.

Stiles-Do you have food? Money? I'll bring you whatever you need.

Derek-Someone could be watching you.

Stiles-You really think so?

Derek-Probably not. But if they were, could you evade someone following you? I could get you cash. Probably the easiest way would be to buy bus tickets for long trips and get off randomly in the middle of the trip, then buy another ticket for a different destination. No one following you would be able to trace where you were going that way. When we meet up we can buy a used car and go wherever. But where would we go?

Stiles-We can figure it out together. I've put you through so much shit, Derek. I owe you a save.

Derek-You don't owe me anything, Stiles. We're even. But if you want to help…

Stiles-I do. I just have to make sure Scott will take care of my dad.

Derek-He going to really let you take off during your senior year?

Stiles-I'm not going to college anyway.

Derek-But you're the smartest person I know.

Stiles-Smart isn't everything. So what do I need to do?

Derek gave Stiles directions on where to find the safe in his apartment, gave him the combination, and told him to take the bus north east. He got some clothes for Derek, just in case, and what looked like a few hundred thousand dollars from the safe. He found a duffle bag with an inner-lining and cut a hole in it, lining the bottom with cash and then sealing up the hole with crazy-glue. He filled the duffle with his and Derek's clothes, bought another burner phone, put Derek's and his dad and Scott's number in it, and put it in the duffle for emergencies. He put the burner phone that only had Derek's number in it in his pocket.

He recorded a video message for his dad on his phone that said, "Hey, dad. I know this is the worst thing I've ever done to you…but Derek needs my help. He's in some kind of trouble, and I'm the only one who can help. I'll get in touch if I can. I promise you I'm not being kidnapped or possessed or anything, and I'll come back as soon as I handle this. I'm really sorry, dad. I know this is a shitty thing to do. Take care of yourself and eat right." He played it back a couple of times, and then recorded another telling Scott to take care of his father. He turned his phone off and left it on the desk in his room with his wallet and all his ID.

Stiles bought a ticket for LA and only went two stops before getting off the bus and buying another ticket for Sacramento. In Bakersfield he got off the bus and bought a ticket for Salt Lake City and got off in Vegas. He was burning through Derek's money pretty fast without getting very far, but on the other hand, bus tickets were cheap and there was plenty more money in the bag.

In Vegas he texted Derek his position and was told to head to Flagstaff, so he bought a ticket to Phoenix and then another at a little town near the Arizona border for Albuquerque. Eventually he made his way to the highway outside of Durango, and realized Derek had been hiding in San Juan National Forest.

Are you a wolf right now? Stiles texted.

Not right at this minute. Hard to text with paws. But I've been a wolf for a few weeks. Derek replied.

When he arrived at the national forest, Derek directed him to a ranger's cabin and he walked where he'd been directed to. He was starting to get cold and hungry when he saw a black wolf loping towards him.

"Derek?" he asked.

Derek transitioned into human, shaking off his wolf form and moving in to hug Stiles—who was not prepared for such an unprecedented thing. He and Derek had never hugged before, and Derek was completely naked. But it was so good to see Derek that he shrugged off the strangeness and hugged him back. "I can't believe you did this," Derek said, pulling back and letting go.

"Is it really that unbelievable that someone would do something nice for you?" Stiles asked.

Derek looked at him oddly. "Yeah, kind of. People usually kick me and kidnap me and try to put me under spells or rob me or try to kill me."

Stiles shook his head. Derek wasn't wrong. He must have done some questionable things in his passed life to deserve all the terrible things this life had put him through. Stiles pointed to the duffle bag. "I put some clothes in there for you. I had no idea you would have zero clothes or I would have packed more. I think I put some flip-flops in there, though."

"I have some clothes squirreled away. Just not nearby." He moved to get some clothes and put them on.

"You need to pick them up?" Stiles asked.

"It's probably not worth it. They're in Colorado Springs. We can just buy some things at the next Walmart we see. I would kill for a shower and a hamburger right now."

"What have you been eating? Mice?"

Derek made a face. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, I would love to buy some shitty junker of a car, because I am really sick of the bus. But I haven't been eating mice, so…you win that one, I guess," Stiles said.

Derek ran a hand through his hair. "So, what do we do now? I mean, I've thought about it, and it doesn't make any sense for you to come with me. I'll take the money and start again somewhere else."

"That's a shitty idea," Stiles said. "Beacon Hills is your home. You can't just change your name and live somewhere else. What about the pack?"

"Scott and I have gotten along a lot better these last few years. But he certainly doesn't need me."

"But you're a millionaire! You're just going to live in some little town and work as a Walmart greeter or something? That's stupid!"

Derek glared, probably at the implication that being a Walmart greeter was the only job he would be qualified for. "Well, what do you suggest?"

"We should find out who is after this Desert Wolf woman, and stop them. Find out what they have on her, and handle them. That way she won't want to kill you and Braeden for finding her anymore," Stiles said.

Derek sighed. "If it was that easy, don't you think she would have done it on her own? You think a high school kid and a werewolf are so much more effective than whatever she is?"

"Well, is she supernatural like you? I mean, is Malia a coyote because that's like a cross between a human and a werewolf, or is it something different?"

"No, I think she's human. If werewolves and humans have children, some are coyotes and some are full humans. Some are actually full wolves. It might depend on genes. You know, the way some people can't handle the bite. Well, some genes can't take on the wolf-powers the same way."

"So what did Braeden know about her?"

"Are we really doing this? Because a nice house in a sleepy little town sounds pretty good right now."

"Let's head out to the highway. There's a motel with a diner about a mile down that way. We'll get you a burger and a shower and a nice sleep in a bed, and we'll see if you're more optimistic in the morning," Stiles said.

Derek looked at him doubtfully, but started walking. "Thanks for bringing me shoes."

"Anything for you, buddy," he said, clapping Derek on the shoulder.