For the most part, the house was quiet and empty. Stiles was usually either alone or with Scott because his father was always working. It wasn't even that Beacon Hill was that bad - or well it wasn't until the werewolves became a problem - but no one really knew about that. But really, Stiles figured his father didn't like being in the house without his mother around but that all changed when Jenna came back around.
As much as Stiles tried to act as if he had become content with the living situation, he was happy to have his aunt around again. She was carefree and fun and she was the only real part of his mother that he had left. That, of course, didn't mean that Jenna was anything like this mother. From the stories he had, she was the remebl of the family. She was the rule breaker and when it all boiled down, she was the trouble maker. It didn't make Stiles love her any less, if anything, it made her more interesting.
Stiles had a routine in the morning that usually consisted of him rushing around to get things done so he could meet Scott at school to talk werewolf things. he almost missed the times when things weren't so complicated and he could take his time. But, that morning he was distracted by the pictures laid out on the kitchen table that Jenna must have been looking at the night before. Stiles didn't know how to feel about looking at the old photographs of his mother. He didn't know if he should laugh, smile or cry. With a sigh, the teenager finally moved to put the photos away but he stopped when something caught his attention.
"So she knows Derek."
"Wow nothing gets by you," Stiles replied sarcastically, "of course she does. Either that or she's a creepy stalker and photoshopped it." He waved his arms around a bit before calming down long enough to look at the picture in his hands.
Scott and Stiles were sitting in Stiles' jeep while everyone else was more than half way through first period. He knew that he could have waited to tell Scott until they saw each other in their Science but he couldn't hold it in. He needed to tell his friend now.
"Then...she has to know right? Your aunt has to know about Derek. I mean she couldn't have dated him and not known."
"Whoa," Stiles said with a shake of his head, "who said anything about date? They could have been...bedroom buddies."
"What bedroom buddies do you know take pictures together?" Scott asked with a tilt of his head.
"Okay well who says she knows anything? Derek could have kept his a secret from her?"
"How long could he keep it a secret?"
"How long can you keep it a secret from Allison?"
Stiles wasn't surprised that his jeep got quiet. He knew it was a touchy subject but he couldn't help but throw the question back in his friend's face. But it was the truth. How long could Scott keep it a secret from Allison? And more importantly, how long could Derek have kept the secret from Jenna? As much as he wanted to believe that his aunt was naive and innocent, there was no way she could have been with someone like Derek and not known.
"Okay," Scott replied with a slight sigh, "then what do we do? Talk to her? Talk to Derek?"
Stiles let out a sigh of frustration as he allowed his head to rest against the steering wheel. He didn't want to have this conversation with anyone but they needed to figure out exactly what their aunt knew.
"We'll talk to Derek first."
Scott was almost surprised that Stiles would want them to go to Derek first versus Jenna but he didn't question it. As long as they got ansewrs it didn't really seem to matter but Derek Hale was a complicated man. There were things that Scott deemed important to know that Derek was still keeping from him. But, maybe if they finally brought something up from his past then he would actually spill what he knew.
School almost seemed to go by painfully slow probably more so for Stiles than anyone else. Unlike Scott, Stiles didn't have a girlfriend to keep his mind off of the painful conversation they were going to have with Derek Hale after school and by painful, Stiles knew that someone would probably get punched in the face and that someone would probably be him. He didn't understand why Derek channelled all of his acts of violence towards him. Why not Scott? Scott was a werewolf he could take it.
Stiles practically jumped out of his seat when he heard the final bell. Running out of his classroom, he almost skid to a stop when he finally reached Scott. "You know I've been thinking. Maybe we can just skip this little conversation with Derek. I don't really need to know right?"
"You're afraid he's going to hit you aren't you?"
"Yeah a little bit," Stiles replied as he scratched the back of his head.
"Either way we look at it, Stiles, Derek's hiding something from me. From us. He only lets any of us know what he wants to know but he can't exactly get out of this and we need to figure out how much he's told his aunt about him. For all we know she could be in danger too." Scott didn't know why he couldn't have left that part out but it was true. It seemed that the more people that knew about werewolves, the more likely they were to be in danger or get hurt.
"Right," Stiles said with a nod with of his head as he continued to walk out of the school with his friend. "And speaking of the devil." He motioned towards Derek waiting by his jeep. "Seriously does this guy have spidey senses or something?"
Scott grinned at his friend but it quickly faded as they approached the older wolf. He glanced towards Stiles expecting him to start talking but when he instead started awkwardly looking around, Scott knew he was going to have to be the first person to speak.
"We need to talk about to you."
"Funny, I was about to say I need to talk to you." Derek leaned against Stiles' car as he watched the two boys in front of him. "Talk."
"Well for starters, Stiles found this picture." Scott's voice trailed off as he looked towards his friend. Stiles sighed as he swung his back pack around. He dug through his things before finally finding the picture and handing it to Scott.
"Seems as if you might have some explaining to do." Scott handed the picture over to Derek but he didn't take. He watched as the older wolf glanced down at the picture but he couldn't read his expression.
"So?"
"So?" Stiles asked trying not to raise his voice. "So, you dated my aunt."
"I didn't know she was your aunt Stiles," Derek replied simply as he shrugged.
"Does she know? Does she know about you? Your family?" Stiles almost felt like hitting Derek for being a jack ass but he knew that would hurt him a lot more than it would actually.
"What does it matter?" Derek didn't understand why they were having this conversation.
"What does it matter?" Scott had to stop Stiles from taking a threatening step towards Derek. "I don't know, Derek, maybe the fact that everyone who knows about werewolves can possibly get themselves killed! Stop, for one moment, with the cryptic bullshit and just answer the question."
It was as if on cue, another car pulled up next to Stiles' jeep causing Derek to finally move away from it. Getting out of the car, Jenna approached the three men. She almost completely ignored Derek as she looked towards the two boys.
"Scott," she said with a slight smile but it disappeared when she looked at Stiles, "You need to get home."
"We were uh, just having a friendly conversation. Right?" Stiles motioned towards Derek as if he actually expected the man to step in.
"Stiles."
"I'm going, I'm going." Stiles held up his hands up before walking around Derek to get to his jeep.
Jenna looked back towards Scott who quickly walked away to his bike leaving both Derek and Stiles' aunt alone.
"Jenna."
"I want you to stay away from my nephew." Jenna replied. She glanced towards Stiles in his jeep who quickly pulled out of his parking space to leave.
"That's not exactly easy. Where Scott goes, Stiles goes."
"I don't care," she continued as she stepped towards Derek. "I want you to stay away from my nephew, Derek, and I'm not asking you. I'm telling you." Her blueish green eyes stared into his. "Understood?"
Derek clenched his teeth together as he looked away from Jenna for a moment before looking back at her, "He asked about us."
"I don't want him to know. In fact, I wish I didn't remember." Jenna finally took a step away from Derek as she let out a sigh in a weak attempt to calm herself down.
"You'll never let it go will you?" Derek couldn't remember the last time he wasn't guarded with someone. Where he actually felt something other than the dier need to move on with his plans. Where it wasn't all just about trying to get Scott on his side, keeping him alive, or figuring out who the Alpha was.
Jenna paused for a moment as she let his question sink in. She bit her lip for a split second as she leaned in towards the barely younger man, "Her name was Faith. Wasn't it?"
Derek tried to swallow the sudden lump in his throat as he watched Jenna finally walk away. He looked away when he heard her start her car and instead looked right at Scott who was still stand over by his bike. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Derek turned to leave the school's property.
