A few months had passed since the awful mess that was the Hale pack's ordeal with the Alpha Pack. Once the dust had settled and Jennifer, Julia, whatever the fuck her name was, kicked rocks, the wolves of Beacon Hills had found peace. Or, a semblance of it. Stiles would probably never stop jumping at shadows, but at least she had stopped waking from nightmares screaming for her father or for Scott to put that damn road flare.
Stiles had done her best to take the calm that had settled over their lives at face value and work on being human again. She was noticeably absent at pack gatherings, and was answering texts from them less and less. It took the wolves awhile to realize that their human friend was ignoring them, but once they did, the offence did not go unmentioned.
It was a Monday morning, and Stiles was rummaging around in her locker, attempting to find her Chemistry notebook. Harris had cruelly scheduled a test the Monday after a three day weekend, and she needed to do some last minute cramming. She was humming the new Fall Out Boy single when a hand slammed loudly into the locker to her right. An undignified squeak escaped her as she jumped back and dropped the folder currently in her hand.
"Holy hell, what the fuck?" she exclaimed loudly, flailing as always. Peeking around the door of her locker, Stiles screwed her lips up in preparation to yell at the offender. The words died in her throat once she got a look at who it was. Before her stood a very upset, very red-eyed Derek Hale.
"Jeez, Sourwolf." Stiles laughed nervously, bending down to pick up her folder from the floor. "Don't scare me like that." She stuffed the folder in her bag and then went back to digging in her locker for her Chemistry notebook. A moment later, though, she jerked back and gaped at the apparently incensed wolf.
"Wait, hold up, pause. What are you even doing here? You definitely don't go here; you're way too old!" Stiles spluttered and Derek looked mildly offended. "How did you even get in? I swear, the security guards should all be fired. They can't guard shit. Then again, all of you wolves are like furry ninjas and-"
"Stiles!" Derek interrupted her, using that tone he reserved just for speaking to her.
And for once, Stiles heeded his command and shut up. Instead, she took a moment to look him over and take in his appearance. His hair was disheveled and there were bags under his eyes that Stiles could use as luggage.
"Whoa, you look like shit. What's the matter, mighty Alpha?"
The looked of hatred Derek leveled her with would have made lesser men piss themselves. However, Stiles was more than used to it and simply waved a dismissive hand, urging him to answer her.
"What do you mean 'what's the matter'?" We've been worried sick about you! No one in the pack has seen you outside of school in weeks and you never come over to the loft. Scott can never get a hold of you, Erica keeps bitching about needing her Batman and Isaac won't stop whining! Where have you been?" Derek demanded angrily, his nose flaring in a way that Stiles found adorable. Even when he was threatening to rip her throat out with his teeth.
For a moment, Stiles blinked owlishly up at him. Was he being real? Her confusion at his invasion of school property quickly morphed into a burning irritation.
"I've been trying to live a normal fucking life! Doing homework, spending time with my dad, and playing video games. You know, what normal teenage girls are supposed to do. Forgive me for not foaming at the mouth to be getting my ass handed to me or put myself and family in mortal danger. I apologize for you and the pack not being the center of my universe for a few weeks. I just figured that once the shit storm of power hungry werewolves and psychotic Darach girlfriends had cleared, you guys wouldn't need me around anymore."
Stiles' words came from a hurt and bitter place; she had been pushing them down for months, and focusing on keeping the people she loved alive instead. But, Derek's uninvited intrusion into her finally normal life had pissed off in a major way, and she wasn't having any of his shit.
"What do you want, Derek?" she asked wearily and God, she sounded so tired. "What, do you need some research done for whatever clusterfuck has wandered into town this week? If so, ask Lydia to do it. She's smarter and I have not the time. Bitches have Chemistry tests to take."
To say that Derek looked take aback by her anger would have been an understatement. Each word had been like a tiny dagger piercing his chest, and Stiles almost felt bad for putting such a wounded look on his face. Between saving her best friend/brother from committing gasoline assisted suicide and saving her father from being ritually sacrificed, Stiles had become positively sick of being so unappreciated. It was pretty cathartic to be able to shove those feelings of anger and hurt down Derek's throat and make him eat them.
"I don't want anything from you, Stiles." the alpha wolf finally croaked out. If Stiles didn't know any better, she would swear he was close to tears. But, she knew better and understood that she didn't mean nearly so much to him.
"Well then, I guess we have nothing left to talk about." Stiles replied blandly, flashing a forced smile. "Hurry along now. Wouldn't want security to actually do their job and arrest you for lurking in a high school, harassing a sixteen year old girl, now would we?"
There had been a time when Stiles didn't like or trust Derek, and was pretty sure he was a serial killer, that she would have screamed, "I need an adult!" at the top of her lungs if confronted by Derek on school grounds. As it were, she had been through too much shit, including keeping him afloat in a freezing pool while he was paralyzed and they were stalked by Jackson's kanima ass.
Leaning down to pick up her bag, she noticed a notebook crammed in the very back, labelled "The Fifth Circle of Hell i.e. Chemistry with Harris". Stiles let out a mirthless laugh before standing up and slamming her locker closed. She didn't spare Derek another glance as she turned on her heel and took off at a leisurely pace towards Chemistry. If she hadn't been listening, Stiles wouldn't have heard him say, "I just want you to come home."
Steps faltering, Stiles felt her heart crash against her ribs as she let those words sink in. She looked over her shoulder to fix him with an unfathomable look. Derek could see in her eyes, his favorite color in the world, that she was affected by his words. But, far from being so easily swayed, she gave him a tiny smile and instead murmured, "I'll see you around, Sourwolf." and then continued on her way.
It wasn't what he had been hoping for, but Derek would take that and keep the memory of the sound of her heart beating wildly to hold him over until she was ready to come back home to the pack. To him.