Hey! Since everyone else seemed to be doing The Reckoning or Ten Years Later. . . I wanted to do something different. So this story is about right after The Reckoning, how they deal with going back to normal after the Edison Group has been defeated. Just a small idea that turned into a story. Please enjoy!

Also, many thanks to Fledgling for Betaing, and for all the help with this chapter. Without it, I'd probably still be staring at that blinking vertical bar on a blank screen.

Disclaimer: I don't own Darkest Powers. Believe me, I really wish I did, especially since I'm about broke right now. But all rights go to Kelley Armstrong, that lucky woman.

As if things couldn't get any worse.

The two men led me away from Dr. Davidoff's office, down the long white halls, presumably to my "cell." They were big, and refused to look at me, so I tried to ignore their iron grips on my shoulders.

Just why was I being held captive yet again? Simon, Derek, Tori, and I had been ambushed, and this time, caught. The Edison Group was getting a little annoyed with us. So they sent about thirty men with guns that shot both tranquilizers and bullets, who surrounded the "safe house", and happily told everyone to come out or they would kill us all. Not much of a choice, was there?

Everyone but me had been shot with tranquilizers. It seemed that they didn't want me accidentally raising the dead. After the six hour trip they took me to Dr. Davidoff's office. Apparently Rae had asked them to try and convince me to cooperate. Sadly, after being shot at on his orders, I no longer enjoyed being in his presence. It didn't go well. Basically, if we didn't do what he said, we would die. And that was that.

The men took me down a short, badly lighted hall, to a thick, grey steel door at the end. Very Great Escape like. I was tired, and it wasn't helping my sarcasm. Neither was the fact that while I was fairly sure Tori and Simon would be fine for now, there was no one to intervene for Derek. If they thought he was to dangerous too be kept alive. . . I swallowed and tried to quell the rising fear.

They unlocked the door and pushed me in.

The room itself was a far cry from the polished, hotel like place I'd been locked in before. There were still beds, four of them, a light hanging from the ceiling, and a door that presumably led to a bathroom. But the beds were basically cots, covered with only a thin blanket, and the walls and floor were bare concrete.

Tori and Simon were still dead to the world, spread out unconscious on the beds. I would have checked for a pulse if I hadn't heard them snoring.

But I only took a moment to look at the room, at Tori and Simon, because Derek was awake. And he was crouching in the corner of the room, his clothes piled next to him, struggling to breathe as he Changed.

It was going much faster than before. Fur had already sprouted on his back, growing ever longer as I watched, his face had changed, narrowing, and his hands. . . His hands.

I rushed over to him.

"Derek? Derek!"

He lifted his head slightly, but then convulsed, his head flying down as his back shot up. He vomited, and it hit the wall in front of him, the smell making me gag slightly.

As the spasms stopped for a moment I reached forward and turned his head to face me. His green eyes were glazed over with pain and fear, and he looked right through me.

"Derek!"

He focused, shaking his head slightly. There was confusion in his eyes, and relief as he finally saw me.

"Chloe?"

I smiled slightly, not even knowing why, just that I needed him to calm down enough to listen.

"Can you do something please? Just unclench your hands for a second. Please."

He looked down. Every other time he had tried to Change we had been outside. He had dug his fingers into the earth, as if that offered some kind of relief. But the floor was solid concrete, so he had clenched his hands into fists instead. Which would have been fine if his fingers weren't sprouting claws at the moment. . .

He opened his hands and I grimaced. In the center of his palms, his claws had dug in, leaving small, bloody holes in his hands. I leaped up to get a blanket to stop the bleeding. Derek grabbed my hand, and I saw the terror in his eyes as he looked up at me. For once, he wasn't telling me to go.

I knelt down again beside him and gripped his hand in mine, rubbing his shoulders lightly with the other.

His head dropped, and the changes continued, his fur growing, his muscles and bones moving as he whimpered in pain.

And then, with a final crackling of bones, it ended. And Derek shuddered under my fingers, a wolf. A huge, beautiful, black wolf with glowing green eyes. It was surreal.

He stood shakily, and looked at me. I couldn't exactly determine what the look on his. . . face. . . was, as the fact that he was a wolf made it difficult. It occurred to me that I was in shock. Hmm.

He glanced away and I recognized the expression. He was nervous, maybe a bit uncomfortable with me being here, seeing him like this. I realized I was staring.

I couldn't help it. I ran my fingers through his fur, feeling the soft, thick, hair on his back. He looked a bit startled, but the nervous expression was gone.

Then he yawned. It was a long yawn, ending in a slight whine that was just so dog-like he started in surprise. I laughed and he gave me "The Look."

Suddenly, I yawned, too and I swear he smirked. I was exhausted. I hadn't slept at all during the trip here, and aside from that first peaceful night at the safe house, I hadn't been sleeping well. So I was tired. Very, very tired. And cold. The concrete floors and walls were keeping all the heat out, and I didn't see a vent or heater. It was almost as cold as it would have been outside, and I was shivering even as my eyelids drooped.

Derek yawned again, then he walked round me, settling down, and curled around me, so that his back was to the wall, shielding me from the cold concrete. He put his head on his paws. It seemed like he wasn't looking at me directly, as though he was a bit unsure, but I didn't pay any attention. He was warm and soft, and I was tired. I leaned back against him, almost unconsciously letting my arm settle around his shoulders. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. . .

~W~S~

I woke up, but I didn't open my eyes. For a little while, all I did was lie there, kind of pretending that I was still in the cell, that the overstuffed pillow behind me was Derek. I couldn't go back to sleep, so why not? The dream had actually been a memory, one of the dreams I most frequently had when I went to sleep thinking about Derek. Which was very often. It seemed like I was almost always thinking about him, Simon, Tori, Rae, anything from my other life. Now that I was back home everything was so different it made me nervous.

I relaxed for a bit longer, then I sat up, pushing away the sheets and blankets. I rubbed my eyes and looked over at my alarm clock. 5:49. Enough time to check my email. I turned on the power, and logged into my email account, User ID: moviegirl09, password: necromancer.

You have three new messages.

The first was a coupon ad. Delete.

The second was from Tori, or "Witch666." Subject: Freakin, -bleep-, School.

The following rant was filled with numerous swear words and inventive curses. I almost regretted giving her my address.

"-but Dad won't let me get the new purse, cause he says I spend too much money on clothes let alone accessories, so I need to get a job. Yeah, right. I take pride in being a b**ch, so I won't be taking anyone's order for a triple cheeseburger and two fries, thanks very much you pig. By the way, how's Derek doing with his job hunt? Simon flat out refused to give me his d*** address, like I would want the f***ing thing anyway, but I'm curious about what job Frankenstein got. No way I can picture him behind a counter either. He's more like one of those enforcer people in the Mafia or something. We're good for the weekend right? Sounds like amazing fun, spending two whole days at the guys' house. I'm being sarcastic. They can both drop dead, though their dad isn't to bad."

With this wonderful comment, Tori ended her message. I grinned. She didn't mean half of it, and I knew she was really excited about the weekend, mainly because Liz would be coming with me. Speaking of Liz, I looked around, wondering where she was. Probably watching the sunrise, or flitting through the park near our house.

The last message was from Simon, "TheRealHarryPotter."

"Hi again, Chloe! I can't wait 4 the weekend. Derek's excited 2 but he's not showing it. Dad and I can tell though. 4 the last time he's fine and I will tell you when he Changes again. That job idea of Dad's worked! The principal said it would be fine for him to tutor the other kids because of his "special circumstances." 8 people already signed up for tutoring. He's pretty miserable at school now cause of the girls. Since his acne and stuff improved they pay him a lot more attention, and he's terrified 2 walk down the school halls. :-) So funny. I can't even describe it. (See below.) Most of the kids he's going to tutor are girls. He has his first student later today so I'll tell you what happened when he gets back. Can't wait for the weekend! Tell Tori I hope she catches the flu on Friday."

Below the message was a link. I clicked, and a picture filled the screen. It was one of Simon's sketches, a bit rough, not fully done, but still amazing. Derek ran down the halls of a school at breakneck speed, clutching his books, paper flying, a look of sheer panic on his face as he was chased by three laughing girls with hearts for eyes. I laughed and saved the picture before deleting the message. I would reply to them both later after school, but now I had to get ready.

I grabbed my clothes and walked down the hall to the bathroom, passing Aunt Lauren's room on the way. Once Simon and Tori had woken up after we had been captured, we had managed to get out. After that, it was almost too simple. Tori had gone first with Simon, using knock-back spells on all the guards until we found a computer. I still can't believe how quickly she hacked it. We sent a message to Andrew, then spent the time waiting for him looking for information. We'd found the location of Aunt Lauren and Mr. Bae, and since it happened to be just down the hall, we'd broken them out. When we got there, they were having a furious discussion about werewolves. It was kind of funny when you thought about it, since Derek was still in wolf form. We'd all insisted that he go first. To her eternal emberassment, since Mr. Bae would never let her forget it, Aunt Lauren had jumped on a chair and called for help. We stood behind the door, silently laughing during what could have been an incredibly dangerous situation. Mr. Bae quieted her down really quickly though, because he knew it was Derek, even though he was a wolf. After Andrew and his friends had arrived, Aunt Lauren had come with me to see Dad, and she had been living with us since. It was wonderful, but a bit annoying because she didn't want me to have anything to do with Derek. And now that I'd kissed him, it was a little too late for that.

As I showered I thought about Rae. She'd escaped with us, but she'd been so depressed after learning about how evil the Edison Group was that I didn't know what she would do. The information on the computers had shown that Rae's mother, Jacinda, had been murdered years ago. She hadn't been working for the Edison Group, and she had loved Rae, but it was too late. I had insisted on giving her my phone number and email address, but she hadn't yet contacted me. The day after we had defeated the Edison Group Andrew had driven her to an airport, bought her a plane ticket, and she had flown back to her parents. In a way, I guessed she was happy to be going home, but all the oppronunities that the Edison Group had offered her, the chance to be special, were now gone.

By the time I got out of the bathroom Aunt Lauren was awake. Bread, bacon, and eggs sat out on the counter, ready to be cooked. Aunt Lauren was drinking coffee as she read the morning paper in her bathrobe. Maybe reading wasn't the right word. She was sort of squinting at it between sips of coffee, looking like she was trying to open her eyes, and shooting glares at my dad's bedroom door every few seconds. We could hear him snoring, and Aunt Lauren had an early shift at the hospital. She was not a morning person.

"Good morning, Aunt Lauren."

She muttered something that sounded like a hi.

I popped some bread into the toaster and got out my cereal.

As I sat down Liz walked through the wall. She was her usual chipper self, grinning, obviously happy about something. Liz had decided to stay with me instead of moving on. She said she wasn't ready to go yet. When I'd asked her when she would be ready, she'd just shrugged and said that she would know. Some of Andrew's friends would help her whenever she wanted.

"Hi Chloe! Did you know that your aunt always trips over that third step in the morning? It's weird; she never misses it coming home. Maybe you should help her, tell her about it every morning or something. Those eggs I told you about in the park hatched! The babies are kind of ugly, but it's just so cool to be able to see them up close I didn't really care. Did you know that-"

"Liz!" I interrupted her. "Slow down. I can really think straight at 6:30 in the morning. Are you excited about the weekend?"

She nodded excitedly. "It'll be so cool seeing Tori and the guys again! I mean, I know I could see them anytime I wanted, but then they couldn't see me, which is kind of weird, especially with the guys, not really with Tori, but Derek does some seriously complicated math, and I don't really like sports all that much, so Simon is almost as boring as Derek. I mean, Derek's fine to talk to or something, if you can get him to talk, and I don't mean that he isn't a nice guy or anything, which he is obviously, but I just forgot that you two-" She stopped herself, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

I laughed. "It's fine Liz, I know Derek isn't that friendly with most people."

She grinned with relief. "Anyway, you know that kid at school who keeps giving you those funny looks? I followed him and guess were he lives? His parents have this tattoo shop and they go to completely terrible rock concerts, and. . ."

I stopped listening for a bit. Through the whole thing Aunt Lauren hadn't even looked up. By now she was used to my conversations with people she couldn't see, and was too tired to care anyway. When we got home to my dad he had been shocked and overjoyed and had immedeatly called off the manhunt for me. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, but Dad had only given a comment saying that I hadn't been kidnapped in the first place, and that I was fine. We had to tell him everything. He was really surprised, but after Liz lifted a few things, he was cool. Now he worked on the computer from our new home, a small house on the outskirts of the city that was really pretty and had a small wood out back, which would be useful for Derek whenever he and Simon visited. Dad and I spent a lot more time together now, watching movies, playing cards and board games with Aunt Lauren, or just talking. In the past two weeks I'd learned more about him then I had known all my life.

". . .and that girl from my school, Tiffany, has all these rings, maybe a hundred I think, and she wears one every day of the week except Sunday, cause her parents have this rule or something, and all the ones she doesn't wear she keeps on this big string, which is kinda weird, but-" A car horn cut her off. I glanced at my watch. Oh, darn! I rushed towards the door, then skidded to a stop. "Are you coming with me today, Liz?"She gagged. "You have an Algebra test today, in case you forgot. No thank you. I'm going to the beach, check out all the guys skipping class. Bye!"

"Okay." I ran through the door as the cab horn blasted again. Even after all that had happened, some things never changed. I opened the door and slid in.

"Good morning, Milos." He nodded to me from the front seat, but didn't say anything. He was just recovering from laryngitis so he couldn't talk. We took off.

I had wanted to continue at A. R. Gurney, and even though Aunt Lauren had warned me that everyone would be asking me questions about what had happened, there was no way I was starting over at another school. No way. It had actually been better than I'd expected. The other kids had asked questions of course, but all of the teachers told them to leave me alone. The only people I had actually had to explain things to were Kari, Beth, and Miranda. The story we had planned to give out was that I'd simply decided I wanted some time away from home, and that some guys I had met thought that would be fun. All of the drama about Lyle House had been forgotten after the news that I had possibly been kidnapped, so I didn't have to explain the whole, running-throught-the-halls-screaming, part. Andrew's friends had been able to get some very real looking documents from Lyle House for the teachers, telling them that I had no problems and that any difficulties I'd experienced were the results of hormones and stress. All very realistic, and they hadn't questioned it.

As the city wizzed by, getting closer and closer to school, my thoughts automatically turned to Derek. We had discovered from the Edison Group's files that they considered Derek a failure, not only because they couldn't control him, but because he didn't seem to be different from any other werewolves. After that first completed Change at the Edison Group headquarters, he had turned back to human that night at the safe house. Simon had been too tired, and I couldn't stay with him, so Mr. Bae had been with Derek when he Changed back. It was great to finally meet Derek and Simon's dad, and I could tell just by looking at the way that Derek acted, that he was really cared about his dad. I also noticed that Mr. Bae had a private talk with Andrew, and that also seemed to help with the way he treated Derek.

The next night Derek had Changed again. It was just as terrible and painful as the last time, but he had stayed a full wolf for nearly eight hours, getting used to the different experiences of being a wolf and getting used to his new shape. He spent almost half the time running. He seemed much happier as a wolf, and it was almost funny to watch him racing throught the trees. That night I was feeling a bit reckless, maybe even desperate. Aunt Lauren had told me the day before that we were leaving soon. I'd kissed him right before he Changed. And he kissed me. It was more wonderful then I could have imagined. My first kiss. I didn't think of him as my boyfriend really, but I knew that he was much more than a friend. Much, much more. Two weeks ago we had said goodbye. We planned to get together soon, spending the weekend with Derek, Simon, and Mr. Bae. Tori lived six hours away now, having moved with her dad, who hadn't known anything about the Edison Group, as it turned out. A lot of her emails had to do with her sister. Derek and Simon lived four hours away, so we were all too far away for anything more than weekend visits. And we were all really excited about it.

We pulled up at the school and I got out. It was time for me to go back to normal, and even though in the past month I'd often desperately wished for normal, now all I could think about was the weekend, the time to be my other normal. My other, secret part. I walked throught the doors into the school and sighed. Normal.

Two weeks for update!