It's Not Like You Care About Me (Derek Hale & Lydia Martin)

"The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else." ― Carson McCullers


Chapter 1

Fire. Smoke. Death.

Lydia Martin flinched at the thought of those three words.

She was going to die. The thought seemed almost a comfort at this point. Dying meant she would no longer feel pain. All she had to do was close her eyes and let her body drift away.

"Hey, stay with me" an unfamiliar voice broke through the silence of her thoughts. "You're going to be ok." She felt someone shaking her shoulders as her head bobbed up and down harshly, her arms and hands hanging loosely on the side of her body, almost like those of a rag doll. There was a loud shattering noise and her skin was pelted with a shower of sharp shards that seem to embed themselves anywhere they made contact. Her throat felt too dry and was too hurt at this point for her to scream, so all that erupted from her mouth were soft and subdued complaints

The air was filled with a bunch of curse words from the stranger, he hadn't thought to shield her when he'd broken through the glass of the car and now he was reprimanding himself for it. His sole mission was to get this girl out of the green BW that was engulfed in flames and to a safe place. The task was almost completed, except she wasn't out of the clear yet. As a being not entirely of the normal world, the stranger had supernatural senses, and these signaled to him that her heart was beating too quickly- it was comparable to a hummingbird's- and then suddenly that noise which he'd been relying on like a compass to signal that she was alive stopped. Her heart had stopped.

"No!" his cry of protest sounded loudly in his head. He felt taken aback by the whirlwind of emotions that hit him like a kick to the stomach. A spark of fire burned really strong during that second and he brusquely pulled her "lifeless" body out of the car. He felt a few hairs on the back of his neck got singed by the flames, but other than that he hadn't gotten hurt. His mind however, was a complete wreck. Fire wasn't a friend of Derek Hale's, his family had succumbed to it, therefore it was a symbol of death and pain. He felt as powerless and defeated as he had when his sister Laura, had delivered the news of their parents ill fate.

"Don't give up now, Derek," he heard his sister's voice in his head. "It's not like you to quit. Hales never quit"

Derek promptly removed his jacket and glanced back once at the car that had exploded by this time. He rolled his jacket into a ball, used it as a pillow to prop her head up and he began to administer CPR. (It was at this moment that he was grateful that he'd worked as a lifeguard during his sophmore year in high school.) He tried to pound lightly on her chest and then attempted to breathe life into her.

Lydia by this time had lost all feeling. Her body was so cold and numb and she wasn't aware of her surroundings. A black cloak of emptiness cloaked around her and she wasn't aware of what was and wasn't real. Then her icy hands felt heat on them. She was burning, it had to be that. "I'm burning," she panicked and then her mouth opened so she could grasp a mouthful of air.

"Oh," her lips met his for a brief moment and she felt some of the pain dissolve for a nanosecond.

She isn't a quitter-Derek thought to himself as he pulled his hands away from hers and checked on her breathing.

"You're alive," he felt a compulsion to hug her head to his chest, just to get some more heat to her freezing body. He became wrapped up in the moment and did just that. If he had to justify it to himself later, he'd have to say that he was celebrating the triumph of having saved the life of a complete stranger.

"I..what," she was dazed and confused by the pain that began to flood her body. her hands clutched at his shirt in an eager desperation. he decided to ignore that and focused on pulling shards of glass from her arms and he helped her lay back softly. As this happened, sirens began sounding and the pitch black part of the forest was illuminated by red and blue flashing lights."Thank you," she managed to choke the words from a very cottony mouth. "No one I know would have cared enough to risk their life for me."

"It's not about caring," Derek shrugged off her words. "I wasn't trying to be a hero."

"Heroes," she coughed and as she did so, some blood sputtered out from her mouth. "Heroes are never heroes on purpose."

"I have to go," Derek's lips trembled, in admiration of the girl, who despite everything she had endured, wasn't panicking or had shed a single tear. She'd stayed focused. When he'd approached teh scene, she was busy trying to untangle her seatbelt from her leg.

"Please don't go," she pleaded. "You can't leave me here like this. I don't..."

"Don't think you'll make it?" Derek reverted to his cold facade. "You're going to make it. Help is on the way."

"I don't even know your name." the thought lingered in the air as he gave her a once over. He touched her side and watched her wince painfully. She might have a few broken ribs and her pretty body was going to be marked with bruises everywhere.

"Why does it matter?" Derek looked away from her and then started running away into the dark cloak of night.


Author's Note: I used to write a fanfiction with this title (pairing Tyler & Caroline from Vampire Diaries) but I've decided to change the story around and try to write this fic in a somewhat Teen Wolf AU World. I hope that you all like it and if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment. Thanks so much for stopping by to read this. I really appreciate it.