Peter sighed, carrying the body of the dead girl and a small hand shovel. It was such a shame she had to react so badly to the bite. He really thought this one would be fun. Messing with his nephew was something he dabbled in from time to time, though he knew how much it bothered Talia. His older sister could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Perhaps that's why he did it in the first place.
He stepped over the fallen branches of a tree and walked soundlessly on the forest floor, finding soft ground to bury the body. He had parked his car farther back and the headlights were giving off a dim ray from where he stood there. He stopped and tapped the ground, his boot pressing into the slightly mushy dirt. Peter shrugged, laying the girl down softly down on the leaf covered surface before producing the shovel he'd been carrying. He tapped around a bit more, and found the ideal spot for a grave. He jabbed the point of the shovel into the ground roughly and began to dig.
It had been nearly an hour before he heard something impossible. A heart beat. Glancing around, he saw no evidence of anyone nearby. His gaze fell on the dead body of Paige. Her heart wasn't beating. Her heart was as motionless as a stack of books. Her heart wasn't the one beating. He narrowed his eyes, looking at his surroundings. The lights from the car made it hard for him to see any thing past the first line of trees. Swearing, he followed the sound of the heart beat, determined to kill anyone who dared to disrupt him.
The heart beat brought him into the forest, away from the lights and into the darkness. His eyes adjusted to the new image and searched for anything moving. A little ways away he saw it, the small dark figure of something in the distance. He crept up to it, hoping the person wouldn't be able to hear him. The heart beat was no longer faint, it was very strong, very close. A few trees away even. Peter crept closer, curiosity and a bit of want for a game flowing through him. When he thought he was close enough to see the person, he walked out from behind the trees, showing himself in the open.
"What do you-" he cut short as the heart beat sped up, then the creature galloped away.
Peter scowled, just when he thought he found something, it turned out being a fucking deer. Way to go, Peter, your wolf instincts are starting to fail you and you're getting old. He scoffed heavily and returned to the spot he had been digging, all the while cursing under his breath.
"Fucking unbelievable..." He swore, picking up the shovel. Then he froze, noticing something was wrong. The body. The dead body was gone. "You have got to be kidding me!" He threw the shovel into the dirt and linked his fingers behind his head. His lips pursed in frustration, pacing a bit before he kicked the shovel hard, knocking it a few feet away. "God, damn it!" He released his hands, still walking aimlessly, then abused the shovel again, then again.
Derek knew they were fighting again. Their voices were loud and scary. Peter had obviously done something wrong. As soon as he had gotten back, Peter and Talia had had a conversation outside briefly before it came inside. Then it got loud. Derek couldn't help but listen.
"How could you be so irresponsible?!" Talia shouted, her voice loud throughout the house. "I trusted you to properly take care of-"
"Yes, I know, Talia!" Peter yelled back. "But I heard someone-"
"Which turned out to be some thing." She whispered under her breath.
A glare was sent her way from Peter, Derek was sure of it. If there was one thing his uncle could do, it was glare. "I was taking precautions." Peter's voice vibrated in his mind. Since when did Peter take precautions?
"Well, your little precaution taking cost us more than it helped." Tails said fiercely. "If you hadn't left, then Paige's body would never have disappeared and none of this would be happened!" Derek sat against his door, taking in the words he had just heard. Paige had gone missing. "Who knows what happened or who has her?!" Derek's gut jerked a little in fear. What if she had survived? What if she was alive somewhere? Or maybe someone picked her up and took her... what if that person wasn't nice? What if they hurt her? Did she survive the bite?
His thoughts were cut short by Peter's booming voice. "I searched the woods! She's nowhere to be found!"
"Not good enough!"
"What do you want me to do?!" Peter screamed. "There wasn't a new scent! And it wasn't like she had gotten up and left! She was dead! I watched her die. Even if she had moved, I'm not saying that she did, but if she did, there was no trail on her scent. Nothing!"
Derek could hear pacing, he imagined what his mother was doing. She probably had her fingers to her chin, an arm crossed around her. He could hear her pacing, while Peter stood silently, patiently waiting for her to speak.
"I-" Talia spoke then stopped and continued to move back and forth. "You're sure?" She finally inquired, the footsteps coming to a halt. Peter must have nodded because Derek didn't hear a verbal response. The pacing started up again with her words. "Was there any other scents? Maybe a human or another werewolf?" Talia sounded desperate for a reason after a second of pausing she asked hesitantly, "Was Derek there?"
"No." Peter told her. Derek could have sworn he heard a sigh of relieve come from his mother. "No, I would've smelt Derek or a human or another wolf nearby clearly."
"But were there any more scents?" Talia pushed. "There must have been something..."
"Of course there were other scents mingling in the area. I was in the middle of the woods, Talia." For once Peter's voice actually sounded gentle. "There are animals all over."
Talia released a long breath. "Okay." She simply said. Derek wondered if she was really okay though. He knew that he wasn't. Paige was out there somewhere and needed him. "We'll tell the pack in the morn-"
"Little late for that." Laura told them, sticking her head out of her own room. Derek sighed, pressing his head against the wooden door. "You guys are very loud when you argue."
Derek couldn't see his mother's reaction, but he knew it. For she had the expression on a lot. Pursed lips in a tight thin line, showing them nothing. Not letting them in and at the same time not pushing them away. She probably had that expression on now, as she nodded Laura, who slipped back into her room. The door closing was almost silent behind her.
"We'll speak of this later." Talia told Peter, dismissing her brother and heading to her own room. Derek listened a while longer until Peter finally moved from his spot and also went for bed.
Derek didn't sleep well at all. Memories of Paige and her reaction to the bite taunted his dreams. He had one where they recovered her in the forest, one where they found her alive. It was a good dream until Peter decided that the girl would never be enough for him and ripped her throat out. He woke up in sweat drenching his clothing. Another dream he had was where they found her, but she had been caught by hunters and killed murderously in front of him. Again, he woke up with sweat coating his skin. Another one he had was the memories of him crushing her spine and killing her. He woke up again as he did with the other ones. He couldn't trust himself to close his eyes after the fifth one he had, where she appeared to him in his bedroom in a zombified form asking him why he had done this to her. It was horrible. She was haunting his every thought, clouding his judgment and making him go crazy.
After rocking on his bed, trying to calm down, he opened the bedroom window, and let the cool air pile in. Taking one more calming breath, Derek crept out the window and landed solid on the ground, his whole body alive and energized.
Following Peter's faded scent, he found the spot where he was going to bury Paige. Derek sniffed, trying to get a piece of anything that would tell him about where she had gone. He found the spot where she had been placed on the ground, then tracked it a few feet sideways before it was lost. Another scent accompanied it but he didn't recognize it. The scent was very faint and wasn't even a lead.
He was still too young to have a great powerful sense of smell. If only Talia or Ennis was here, smelling around for her. Maybe that would help. Maybe if more werewolves with stronger abilities helped, the more likely it would be to find her. If only Talia would send out the whole pack to scour the woods, then they would find her. She was probably just cold and alone somewhere. Or maybe she was injured a bit, recovering from the bite. Or maybe she had followed someone or something.
"Where are you, Paige?" He whispered, looking around the grounds.
An emptiness filled his heart, swelling a little and painting him. She had been his and he had been hers. It had been so perfect. How did it ever end up like this...? So tragic... so scary...
"Not here."
Derek spun around, seeing his mother standing a few feet behind him. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He contemplated running, knowing already he couldn't outrun an elder. Especially his own mom- the Pack Alpha. But then she opened her arms, and he rushed into them, instantly, breathing in her scent and the familiarity of home.
He needed it. He needed the reminder. Be wasn't alone. He still had them. The pack. His family. But at the same time he felt so alone. So isolated. Paige was gone. Gone in such a mysterious way there wouldn't be any closure. It was painful.
"She's... she's gone..." Derek whispered, his voice breaking. Why did she have to disappear? Why couldn't he have just grieved her and not had another bundle of questions? "What if..."
"Shhh..." Talia cooed. He broke down more, tears collecting in his eyes.
"Wh-what i-if... sh-she's still alive?" Derek whispered, trying to suppress his crying. His face pressed against his mother's shirt and her arms wrapped tightly around him, in protection. In love. Mother's love.
"No...no no no..." She shushed him, letting her her chin fall to the top of his head. He wasn't sure what she meant by that. 'No' as in don't think about it or 'no' as in she wasn't alive. Either way, it didn't seem to help with the situation.
He let a cry out, though he had been resisting to do so for a while. "What if she's hurt and it's my fau-"
"It's okay, Derek." She whispered as he cried. And he let it happen. He let the comfort of his mother come in and he let all his sadness come out. "It's going to okay." She murmured, playing with his hair gently.
And he believed that. For a while. Until his mind came out of the clouds and he added up the facts. The facts that Paige was still out there somewhere. He was sure of it. He knew she had to be alive. She must have escaped the woods and headed for another area. It was a reasonable decision she could've made.
It had been a week since Peter left with Paige and came home with bad news.
Derek was starting to fall apart.
His Paige was smart and he knew that she would know what to do. There was no way of him telling exactly what was going on in her mind. For all he knew, maybe she ran in fear of his uncle. Or maybe she was hungry and found nobody around so got up and left. Or maybe... there were endless possibilities.
Derek had been through them all. He would stay awake at night making up scenarios of how or why she disappeared. They were all just fantasies, he knew, but sometimes in his mind they would be real and he could pretend she had gotten away safely. He would imagine her crawling away in the dark, probably injured and still recovering from the bite. Or he would picture her running from the place Peter had left her. Fast like a wolf. Maybe as a wolf. Maybe she had transformed and run on instinct. Though it was unlikely, it was one of the many daydreams Derek often had.
He would also dream about her return. It was only a week. She had only been in the wilderness a week, how bad could it really be? If, perhaps, one day Paige decided to come home and show up on his doorstep, he imagined how he would react. Or what he would feel. What she would look like. What she would say. All of it.
It was his way of coping. But not coping. Obsession was not coping or grieving.
Obsession was madness. It drove people crazy and ruined people's lives, and not for the better. He didn't know he was becoming obsessed, it just happened. He would spend each day a little longer in his room. Each day more and more focused on the daydreams. A day turned into two days and two days blended into a week. It was tearing him apart. She was tearing him apart.
It was love, he told himself. It must be. He couldn't live without her. He had decided that when he convinced Ennis to bite her. Thus, he was in love with her. And it was true. Derek Hale did love Paige Krasikeva. He loved her so much that he had the strength to end her suffering. But in doing so, he lost his yellow eyes. He missed his yellow eyes sometimes. He missed being able to look in the mirror and see an innocent young man. And he knew, that for as long as they were blue, he wouldn't lose the reason for why they were that color. She was that reason. He would have her back. He wouldn't lose her. Not again.
Near the end of the second week Derek didn't think that he couldn't concentrate in school. His mind was full on about the fantasies. He was dreaming all the time. Dreaming of his Paige. His grades started going downhill. His straight A's dropped down to B's and C's. If the teachers noticed, they didn't say anything. He avoided Talia and the other pack members, not eating breakfast in the kitchen and sometimes skipping it altogether. He would go to his bedroom as soon as he got home and eat dinner in his room. A lot of the time he would crawl in through the window when coming home, careful to not encounter family.
Was it strange he wasn't grieving? Was it strange he didn't feel the mourning? He wasn't mourning her. He truly believed she was still alive. He did see her die, he was the one who ended her life. But when he did, and when Peter took her body away, there was no significant bond breaking. There was no powerful force killing him inside. Yes, it had been painful, but even as he watched Peter take her, a part of him wasn't convinced that she was really dead. She wasn't really dead, he could feel it. She was alive somewhere.
By the third week, Derek didn't even bother getting up to go to school. He had been daydreaming during classes, and his grades were failing anyway. He wasn't sure if his mother even noticed his absence at the breakfast table for the past week, or his avoidance of the whole pack. Surely, she must have seen that her own son wasn't present. He shook the thought out of his mind as he got up, moving to his own bathroom.
As he looked in the mirror the realisation of how he changed hit him. His body was thinner, lost without any muscle or fat. His arms and legs were so stick-like it almost didn't seem possible. As he studied his face, he noticed his cheeks had hollowed slightly and his skin paled. His eyes had dark circles underneath, showing the lack in sleep. He sighed, turning away from the mirror and stripping. Maybe a hot shower would help.
It helped. For a while. Until he stepped out and put clothes on. The warmth from the water still vibrating through his body, still heating him. He looked one final time in the mirror, deciding something. Deciding that he needed to be strong if he was ever going to find Paige. He needed to look. Really look, if he had any chance of finding her. Just as he was going to exit his room, he caught sound of an ongoing conversation. And by the sounds of it, he wasn't meant to hear.
"You need to talk to him, Talia." Peter advised. "He's a young boy and he's letting his feelings for the human get in the way of what's important here."
"I'm giving him time-"
"You've given him enough time." Peter hissed. "When was the last time you saw him eat here for breakfast? Have you see his grades?" With no reply, he continued. "He failing all his classes. Did you even notice him leave for school this morning? He's-"
"He's working it out himself!"
"No, he's not!" Peter countered. "That boy, in there-" he pointed to Derek's room. "-is wallowing over his dead girlfriend and not working anything out." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Derek needs his Alpha, not his mother."
The air shifted in the room. "You will not tell me how I should treat my son." Talia hissed, her voice commanding. "I will respect his time of mourning. When I feel it is ready, I will sort this out, if need be." Peter didn't say anything, either in fear of speaking out of turn or for another reason, Derek wasn't sure. "You have done enough to help." She ended, snarling roughly at her brother.
Derek heard Peter huff disappointingly, then storm off into the other room. His mother remained still, not moving. He counted to ten, hoping she would leave so he could finally escape to the woods.
"You may come out now, dear." Talia spoke softly, different from the tone she had been using with Peter.
Derek knew then that she had smelt his scent long before he realized. Stepping out of the doorway in his room, he entered into the kitchen. His mother was standing by the stove, smiling dimly. He knew they were finally going to sit down for a talk, one they had been avoiding for a while.
"Tell me about Paige."
Derek hesitated, then moved to one of the kitchen chairs. "Uh..." He sat down, not sure where to start. "I met her-"
"No." Talia rejected, then corrected herself. "What was she like, sweetie?"
Derek paused, understanding what was being asked. "She's brilliant." He smiled, looking down at his hands on the table. "She loves music, played everyday. Practically lives for her cello."
And he remembered her. He remembered her face. Her pretty dark curls. Her nimble hands plucking and pulling at her instrument.
"She is the kind of girl who loves surprises. I used..." He broke off, suddenly noticing his use in past tense. "I used to... to bring her flowers some days. She would always tell me how she loved them and how... how she loved me." A small smile formed on the boy's lips, something he hadn't done since he'd been with Paige.
"Derek," Talia pushed off the surface of the stove she had been leaning against and moved to sit across from her son. "Do you..." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "Do you ever feel that sometimes... you think that..." She waved her hands around. "Oh, I don't know, you can't let go...?" When no reply was given, she elaborated. "Do you think... that... because Paige isn't here, you feel like you'd betray her if you moved on?"
He knew this time his mother would want a true answer. "I..." He trailed off, choosing his words wisely. "I don't believe Paige is gone."
The look of sympathy and pity that was show on his mother's face almost broke his already damaged heart. "Dear, it's okay to let go." She whispered, taking his hands in hers. "It's okay to move on without her. Whether she is gone or dead or just missing..."
Derek shook his head, refusing the idea of ever letting her go. In his heart, he didn't feel it was possible. He was connected with her. He could feel she wasn't really gone.
"She's not gone." He whispered back, his voice cracking badly. He pulled his hands away, and stood.
"Derek-"
"I love her." He spoke, fire surfacing in his tone. "And I will not abandon her, she means too much to me."
"Think about th-"
"I have, mom." He admitted. "I have thought about everything since she has been gone. I've decided that I won't give up. She is out there somewhere. She needs me to stay strong." He started towards the door.
"Derek, please-"
"I will find her." He whispered, gripping the door handle. "But right now I need to go to school and pick up my grades." Talia smiled faintly, he gave a reassuring one back. "I won't stop looking, mom." He pulled the door open. "I'll be back before dinner." He informed her before leaving with the door pulled shut firmly behind him.
Talia didn't know how to communicate with him. He had always been a quiet boy, but even more so these days. In a way to figure him out, she had sought out council from a trained person. With the session, she learned the stages of grief Derek was going through.
In the past week she now identified his actions based on the stages.
He had fought the shock and numbness of the situation after Paige went died. She realized then, he went to denial as soon as Peter lost her body. Being as quiet as Derek was, emotional outbursts weren't common, and she sensed he was full of anger and fear. He then went on searching. For answers. For her. Denial stage had spread out a long time and collided with the obsession of wanting to find her. Disorganization was also recognized as she remembered how his grades dropped, hitting rock bottom. She also panicked for her son, he didn't. Or maybe he never showed it.
Perhaps he wasn't there yet in his journey of grief.
Talia left it at that.
His first class, the student and teachers were actually legitimately surprised he even showed up. Taking a seat, silently, he was ready before the bell. As class begun, it was a typical day.
Something clicked in his head then. He didn't have to be him at school. He could be anyone. At home, he had to be the werewolf Derek, quiet. Here, he could be different. He could be someone else. Of course the character he would play would have to have some part of him.
So he paid attention to the teacher and participated in activities, devising a plan. At the end of class, he went to the teacher and asked for any make-up work, from days he'd been gone and days he'd not been paying attention.
Having to jog from first period to the next, he came in right as the bell rung.
"Mister Hale." His teacher's voice showed recognition of his presence. "Nice of you to finally join the class."
The teacher, Mr. Lin, pointed to an empty seat beside a girl. Who, according to Derek, was quite cute. He was sure, in that moment, that he had met that girl before. He'd seen her around school. Why was it now that he found her... attractive? He momentarily forgot all about Paige and focused on his new character. This new character of him smirked, looking the girl up and down.
"You can take a seat next to Miss Argent."
He sauntered toward the girl, laying into the seat casually, not looking at her, though he knew she was watching him. Class went on like that, he smiled up at the board as she watched him curiously. Finally, he turned to her.
"Can I help you?" He whispered, careful not to disrupt class. "You've been staring for quite a while."
The girl smirked, leaning close. "I'm Kate-"
"Argent." He finished, glancing at her. She pouted a little, but held her smile. "I heard." He spoke softly, raising an eyebrow in a cocky manner.
"And you are?"
He looked back to the front of class. "Derek."
The girl eyed him. "Derek H-"
"Hale." He cut her off again.
Kate leaned back, also looking up at the teacher. "So, Derek Hale, are you gonna keep-"
"Finishing your sentences?" He inquired, a smile on his lips. "Yes, Kate, I think I will." She laughed gently, then whispered something under her breath. Derek turned around, watching her shrug and smirk at him. He scowled. "What was that?"
"I said 'ass'." She told him confidently. "You're an ass."
He pursed his lips and a look of confusion went over his face. "Not the word... I would use."
Kate scoffed and shook her head. "Of course not." He kept his curiously confused face, she sighed and went to explain: "You don't realise you're being an ass; you think you're being smart."
"Nah." Derek disapproved and went back to watching the front of class, not looking at her.
"What?" She asked, not understanding.
"Nah, I'd like to think I was being cute."
Kate laughed, letting her head back. "Cute?"
He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Of course." He packed up his books, glancing at the time.
"You're not cute, Derek Hale." She shook her head.
"It's okay to be in denial." He whispered in her ear as the bell rang and he left the class room.
By the end of the day, Derek figured he had three of his seven classes with Kate and never before had he realized her until today. They sat together in all of them but one. It was different for him, having someone there in class who cared to be friendly and helpful. Though, it did remind him a lot about Paige and he tried to turn his thinking away from her for the times when he was with his new friend.
When Derek school was finished, he went back to looking into Paige's disappearance. He revisited the spot Peter had brought her to, trying to find any evidence of her. He ended up leaning up against a tree, giving up and exhaustion taking him over. He knew he should get up and leave, but he couldn't find it inside himself to do so. At one point, he let his eyes flutter shut and they remained so.
When he woke, he was shocked to find the reason behind his disturbance. Cora.
"Mom sent me out here." His sister informed him, quite annoyed and bored with the idea of having to fetch her younger brother. "I think she figured you must have gotten lost in a daydream again."
Derek screwed his face up, confused about how they knew. He was going to reply when Cora rolled her eyes.
"We've all seen it, Derek." She scoffed. "Honestly, it would just be better if you let her go and move on from the stupid human." Derek scowled at her, straightening up, then stood as she continued to speak. "I don't know why you keep-"
"Paige and I-"
"Yeah, I get." Cora shrugged, disinterested. "You were in love with her."
He pursed his lips, not saying anything, yet wanting to.
Her voice hardened, but her expression softened, "She's gone." Cora, herself, straightened up, then turned to leave. "Come on, we need to go home." She motioned forward, not looking over her shoulder to make sure he was following.
Derek didn't sleep well that night. Perhaps it was the nap he had in the forest or because of the new girl at school, Kate. His dreams mixed with images of Kate and Paige- taunting him, guilting him. As he tossed and turned on the bedsheets, he couldn't help but think of this new Kate that he started a new friendship with. Maybe it would be a good thing that he have more friends. Or at least one. Maybe he needs that little bit of a new relationship (whether it be friendship or something else) to help him heal after Paige. Maybe it was time to move on.
Derek met Kate in classes for the next week.
They became closer over the five days of connection and tended to find every second in class and the hallways together. His new character amused Kate and he continued to play the game.
By the end of the week, they had plans over the weekend to hang out with a group of Kate's friends. It shocked Derek, he'd never imagined to have sure a large friend group like the one he was hanging around.
When Saturday came around, Derek got up with a smile on his lips. Then something weird happened, he wondered what clothes he would wear for the outing. Would he go casual or maybe sweats and a tee? Would he need to look presentable? Would they tease him?
After at least a half hour of sorting through his closet, he finally came out with a short sleeve grey tee shirt and jeans. As he stood in front of the mirror, he felt like he was missing something. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a black coat. Pulling it up from the bundle of tossed clothing, he held the leather jacket out and examined the material. He could get away with wearing such dark clothing, he decided. He pulled the jacket on, which was a little unfamiliar because he'd only worn it when it was purchased. As he looked in the mirror again, he found he liked the new style.
"Okay..." He exhaled. "Here goes nothing."
He picked his wallet and phone off the bed and stuffed them in his pocket. With one last glance at his bedroom, he disappeared out the window.
"There you are!" Kate shouted, running over to him and surprising him with a hug. "We've been waiting." She pulled back and took his hand, dragging him back to the group. "Sarah has yet to show up."
"Not surprising." Derek mumbled under his breath, which earned a shove from Kate. "Hey!" He teased back. Then, he looked at the group. He recognized some of the faces from around school: Caddie, Lewis, Louise, and Jemma. There were a few people he hadn't seen around before.
"Oh!" Kate noticed him looking at everyone. "Derek, this is Lyle," she motioned to a dark haired boy, "Donny," a blonde guy, "and Dena. Everyone, this is Derek."
They all nodded and waved a bit, not really saying anything, Derek kept character and played it cool. "Okay, well-" she cut short, seeing a figure walk towards them. "Sarah's here!" Then Kate was gone, bounced off to the blonde girl.
"Hey," Lewis spoke, pointing to the entrance, "we should head in. The movie'll start soon."
"Yeah," Jemma agreed. "Come on."
As the movie started, Derek was squished between Kate and Lyle, the guy had decided to spend the movie flirting with Dena instead of paying attention. He tried to ignore their quiet whispers, but his wolf hearing couldn't help but listen.
Kate had managed to snuggle up to him, pressing her face into his shoulder and taking his arm, in hers. Her warmth vibrated through him and he felt every breath she took, and he was very much aware of it throughout the film.
By the end of the movie, when they had exited the theater, the group had split. Most the group had headed off to home and left Caddie, Louise, Derek, and Kate.
"We should go for ice cream." Caddie suggested, pointing to a nearby parlor.
"Sounds great." Derek said in response, needing to say nothing more. Kate gladly agreed with a smile upon her face.
"Same here." Louise nodded. "I don't have to be home by five."
And they started the walk over to the shop.
"So, did you have a good time?" Kate whispered in Derek's ear, giving him the shivers. They had fallen behind Caddie and Louise, who were talking quite excitedly about the movie.
He nodded, "I seem to when I'm with you." He looked at the girl, who slipped her hand into his and leaned against him.
She giggle and smile slightly in reaction, the girl had been doing this since they'd met. He smirked at her own response. "Anything else you seem to feel when you're with me?" She inquired.
"Uhh..." He pretended to think, his arm wrapped around her. "Nah."
She scoffed. "That so?" She whispered.
"You never know." Derek suggested. "I could be lying."
Kate pouted, throwing her puppy eyes on him, then after no effect, she asked: "Anything?"
He pursed his lips teasingly. "Nope." He told her, popping the last part.
She broke down, laughing. "Come on, Derek!"
"What? Just being honest!" He defended.
"Yeah right." She pushed him playfully, then pulled him close, sobering up from her laughter. "But seriously though."
Then, without thinking, he smirked and tugged her face closer to his.
And no matter how cool he played it in that moment, he couldn't help his mind from reeling with doubt. Was he actually going to kiss her? Him, Derek Hale, kissing Kate? What about Paige? What about the love of his life? What about-
He let it go. The feelings for Paige.
He needed this moment.
His lips pressed against hers, sweet and delicate. Not rushed or hurried. It was soft and nice. Derek's eyes closed and they stopped walking. He wasn't sure what Kate was doing- whether she was watching him, eyes wide or closed. He seemed not to care what she was doing, just the fact about what her lips were doing to his.
Her arms came up around his neck, and her hands pressed into his hairline. His own fingers found her hips, holding them in place. Perhaps he felt she would slip away. Like Paige did.
No. He wouldn't think about her now. This was him moving on. Him moving past Paige. If not that, then this was just a distraction.
This was about him and Kate.
The kiss broke, and Kate's forehead was touching his. She was breathing erratically, her heart beat sped up. Her eyes were open, looking into his, as he did the same. Their noses were barely bumping and she was smiling a simple and pleasant smile that sent a weird feeling into the pit of his stomach. Was it wrong? He wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of anything in that moment. What did that feeling mean?
Kate pulled away, taking his hand in hers and lulling him forward. An even more delighted beam on her lips.