Okay. Okay. I KNOW I should have been working on my other story. A lot of people are awaiting the last chapters and especially after so many nice reviews on the last one. But I'm totally stuck! It's been more than a week, with Christmas and everything else, I just haven't had time to work through my writers block. I know you're thinking: whatever. You've got time to write this one shot you can finish the other story. But I'm STUCK. And this was just easy fluff. I hope this hold everyone over until I get my arse back in gear. Mucho love -hee.

After traveling non-stop for three days, we'd made it to out destination. Unfortunately, the constant traveling had taken a toll on all of us, but Derek worst of all. He'd been showing the signs of an imminent change, but every time Kit had asked him about it, he blew it off like he could do it any time. As soon as we'd settled down in the hotel, he told his dad he had to change right away. So even though it was four in the morning, Derek and I drove out of the city to a wildlife preserve. It was mid-summer and the weather was beautiful. Derek Changed and that seemed to suck the last of his energy. He fell asleep cuddled up next to me. I was going to stay away and wake him up after a little bit so we could get home, but I hadn't slept well in the car. I fell asleep on top of him almost right away.

"Wow, lady. Is that your dog?"

I woke up with a start and shot off Derek. I'd been using his stomach as a pillow. He was curled around me as tight as he could. The sun was up farther than I expected. It must have been around seven in the morning. We were surrounded by four kids in Boy Scout uniforms. They looked about eight or nine years old, but I couldn't really tell. I was surprised Derek had slept through their approach. It just went to show how very tired he must have been.

"Man he's huge." This from a little blond boy with huge blue eyes.

The brown haired boy next to him snorted. "That's nothing. My neighbor has a great dane, and he's twice as big as that dog."

Somehow I doubted that. I know great danes get pretty big, but it's pretty tough to beat out a two hundred plus pound werewolf.

I leaned over Derek and whispered in his ear "Stay down. They don't need to know how big you really are. And keep your mouth closed, they don't need to see your teeth." He gave me a snort I took to be agreement and lowered his head back to his forelegs. He looked up at them from the corner of his eye. It raised his eyebrows one at a time and gave him a real puppy dog expression.

The little blond boy looked Derek over "What kind of dog is he?"

I thought fast "He's a mutt, part husky and part…" Big black dog, big black dog. Think, Chloe, think. All those years watching the Westminster Kennel Club with my friend should give me to something. "and part Newfoundland. We think. We got him from a pound, so we're not sure..."

"He looks like a wolf." This from a red headed boy.

"Hahaha w-w-who would get this close to a wolf?" Damn stutter. Derek looked over at me, and gave a quick tiny growl. I suppose he was annoyed that I wasn't very convincing. The kids were giving me funny looks. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Yeah. He does sometime. It's the husky."

They didn't look totally convinced. "Do you want to pet him?" That got a snort from Derek and an eye roll. Okay. Yeah, that was probably overcompensation.

They boys came in a little closer and tentatively reached out their hands.

I glanced at Derek to see his reaction. He was tolerating it well. He didn't lean into the pets, but he didn't seem on edge either. Just resigned.

A somber boy who was standing back a little bit further and had his arm stretch full extension to pet asked, "What's his name?"

"Der-" I cut myself off. Who would have a dog named Derek? That would be a strange name for a dog.

He looked up at me "Dare?"

'Yeah, short for…uh…Daredevil You should have seen him when he was a puppy. Always getting trapped in spaces." I wanted to get their attention away from Derek. "What are you boys doing out this far in the woods anyway?"

"We're geo-cashing. See. There's the cash." A box the size of a small cooler and painted bright blue was sitting on the edge of the clearing near an oak. I didn't notice last night, but it had been completely dark when we crashed. One of the boys was carring what must have been a hand held GPS. Two of the boys got up and moved over to it. They opened the box. One took out a notebook and wrote something in it. After he put the notebook back, he took out a small yellow flag.

The boy with the great dane for a neighbor said "See, this proves we were here. Whatever team finds the most by the end of the day gets a prize."

Great. That meant others would be coming soon. We needed to get out of here before an adult came by. You might be able to tell a kid Derek was a dog, but an adult would never believe it.

The somber boy looked at Derek again "Where's his collar? You know you have to have a dog on a leash around here. It's the law."

What were these kids? Junior police? "Uh…" I quick whipped off my belt and fastened it around his neck. It was pink leather, with little rhinestones. "I just put it here for safe keeping."

This time I definitely got an eye roll from Derek.

"Boys?" I heard someone yelling

All the boys had looked in the direction of the shout.

The somber boy turned back to me. "That's our scout leader. We gotta go. Bye."

"Thanks for letting us pet your dog. He's really nice."

As soon as they were out of site in the woods I jumped up.

"Let's get out of here quick before anyone else finds this cash." Derek was already on his feet leading his way in the opposite direction. I stumbled to keep up with him. As soon as he realized I was having trouble he slowed down and waited for me.

We kept going deeper into the forest until Derek was satisfied that we were in an area that was safe.

I took off his "collar." He hid in some bushes and started his change while I took his clothes out of the back pack I'd brought with. I threw them over the bush, and he emerged a couple of minutes later, flushed, but fully dressed.

"Daredevil?"

"What? it's better than fluffy."

He smirked.

"Whatever. I saved our butts back there. We couldn't have a bunch of kids thinking they needed to rescue me from a big bad wolf."

"Well it's probably a good idea not to let a kid ever pet a wolf. No matter how tame he seems."

"I knew you'd never hurt them, and you're not a real wolf. You're you." I thought back to what I'd asked him when he first completed the Change "Why did they look like food?"

He laughed. "I'm sure the dirt and little kid sweat gives it a certain piquant taste."

We walked back to the car together hand in hand. I smiled to myself and mentally added 'dog tags' to my growing list of birthday ideas for Derek. Daredevil on the front and my name and number on the back.

This was based on a request from Reality Bores Me off of one of my other stories. Thanks for the idea!