Author: Sparkle Itamashii

Title: A Question of Worth

Notes: The last few lines of dialogue are transcribed from the fourth episode of season 2. This is meant to take place during the two unseen hours of treading water at the pool, thus it leads directly into the actual episode happenings.


A Question of Worth

Chapter One

The pool was quiet save for their shallow breathing and the soft splash of water from Stiles' hand as he tread water. His other hand was wrapped tightly under Derek's arms, around his chest to keep his head above water. For a time the scaled creature that had been stalking them had paced the edge of the pool, touching the water and then recoiling, hissing and glaring. Eventually it had seemed to decide that they would either come out or drown, and was content to wait for either.

"If I could just-"

"No, Stiles."

"But it's right-"

"Can you hold it and call someone and keep me alive?" Derek growled for the fifth or sixth time in the hour they'd been keeping afloat.

"Well, no, but-"

"Do you think you can you even reach the phone before that thing does?" he asked with even less patience.

Stiles scowled at the phone where it lay on the deck and continued to tread water. Derek closed his eyes, trying to remain calm despite the panic he felt at the paralysis. He knew that it was temporary, but it should have begun to wear off by now- his body healed fast, including purging toxins but they'd already been in the water for over an hour and there was very little improvement in his mobility. He could sense the fatigue Stiles felt, knew that if the human's strength ran out they might well both be done for. It only made him angrier that he had to rely on the boy for life.

"What if we-"

"Stiles," Derek bit out, eyes flashing red. "One more word, and I swear that thing is going to be the least of your worries."

"You know, it's really not that smart to be threatening the guy keeping your ass afloat," Stiles said conversationally. "I could just let go and take my chances."

Derek growled. "You won't make it out of here alive."

"It left me alive once," Stiles pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Derek tamped down on his anger. "Against my better judgment, so have I."

"Seems like a pretty fine idea at the moment, now doesn't it?" They lapsed into silence, Stiles staring longingly at the phone Derek glaring around as best he could to catch a glimpse of the creature that had disappeared. "You won't," he said after a while.

"What?" Derek snapped, patience for Stiles' chatter fraying.

"Kill me," Stiles said, as if his segue was perfectly natural. "You won't do it."

"Just because I can't at the moment-"

"Not just can't," Stiles interrupted. He ignored Derek's attempt to look sideways at him. "I mean you won't. Not now, maybe not ever."

"I disagree."

"Disagree all you want, wolf man," Stiles said. Somewhere in the back of his mind that small voice of reason was telling him Derek wouldn't be paralyzed forever and that continuing this conversation was a bad idea, but the rest of him was angry at not having said something sooner. "It won't make you right."

"What makes you so sure I won't rip your throat out the second I can move again?"

"Because you haven't," Stiles said simply. "Because you owe me. Because you need us. Because you don't deserve to be alpha." Stiles' eyes widened and his heart started beating faster when he realized what he had blurted. Sure, he had thought it before, had spent a lot of time hating Derek for taking away any chance Scott had of becoming normal again, but he knew how dangerous a statement it was.

Derek's fingers twitched, a good sign which he ignored in order to continue visualizing his hands around Stiles' throat. A vision he decided should be carried out as soon as he could get out of the pool and away from the creature laying in ambush for them. "I killed the Alpha," he snarled.

Anger flared up inside Stiles and he figured as long as he was going to die anyway, he may as well make it worth it. "You may have struck the deathblow, but you didn't kill the Alpha. We did."

Something inside of Derek faltered at the declaration; it was the same concept which had haunted him since he had swiped his claws across the throat of the former alpha werewolf. He had taken the killing blow, but it was the human who had laid the opportunity. It was Jackson and it was... Stiles. And the idea burned him as surely as it had burned the alpha.

"Doesn't matter," he clipped out, but the words were as tight as his throat.

"You know it does," Stiles answered. "You couldn't have done it alone. The kill belonged to Scott. You're not an alpha... you're a scavenger."

Derek closed his eyes, but had no response for that. Silence settled between them as Stiles considered how much considerably shorter he had just made his lifespan by speaking his mind to Derek while Derek battled with the stone of doubt that had settled into his stomach. They both knew that Stiles was right about the kill; Derek would not have brought down the Alpha without the aid of Scott and his friends. But the death of the Alpha was not brought about by one fight and he had been a part of cornering him. He had been tracking the Alpha, following the trails, keeping the teenagers safe as best as he could- he had been nearly killed by the Alpha in the school parking lot. Would surely have been killed if the Alpha had not gotten distracted trying to kill the teens. Even this idea lead him back to the words Stiles had uttered: 'You don't deserve to be alpha.'

"You think someone else could do better?" Derek asked softly after a time. "Maybe Scott?" He paused, looked sideways at Stiles. "Maybe you?"

"No," Stiles said quickly.

"Maybe I should give you the bite and let you find out?" Derek needled, picking up on how uncomfortable the suggestion made the human.

"No," Stiled repeated firmly. "And you people really need to stop asking me that."

"You people?" Derek said the instant before the boy's meaning dawned on him. "The Alpha offered you the bite?" he asked incredulously, then his eyes widened as another realization struck. "You refused it."

"Yes," Stiles clipped, irritated. "I don't want to be like you."

"Don't want to be stronger?" Derek asked, spitting out water as Stiles' tread faltered. "Don't want to heal faster, run faster, be able to protect yourself better?"

"Don't want to be afraid," Stiles interrupted before he could continue.

Derek bit his tongue, forgetting for a moment that Stiles couldn't hear his heart beat faster if he lied. He closed his eyes again, working on breathing around the water that was getting closer to his nose as Stiles tired.

The scrape of scale on tile drew Stiles' attention toward the deck. He turned slightly in the water so that he could face the beast, and Derek again felt the fatigue in the boy's muscles, the loosening of his grip upon the werewolf. He began to open his eyes again, to take stock of the situation.

"Ok," Stiles declared, breaking the silence. "Ok, I don't think I can't do this much more."

Whether 'this' meant argue with Derek or continue treading water, Derek wasn't sure, but he saw where the teen's eyes were locked - upon the smart phone at the edge of the pool - and panic set in.

"No! No, nonono!" He exclaimed. He couldn't fight yet and there was no way Stiles could combat the creature if it got to the phone first. Even if he fetched the phone, he would have to let go of Derek to call anyone. "Don't even think about it!"

"Would you just trust me this once?" Stiles asked, exasperated. Perhaps he could redeem himself enough to live if he could get hold of someone that could save them. "I'm the one keeping you alive, ok? Have you noticed that?" A reminder that, once again, Stiles was saving Derek, not the other way around.

"Yeah," Derek snapped. "And when the paralysis wears off, who's going to be able to fight that thing, you or me?"

Stiles snorted, biting back the comments he wanted to make about how well the werewolf had fared against his other opponents - the Alpha, Kate, even Scott. "Ok, so that's why I've been holding you up the past two hours?"

"Yeah. You don't trust me," Derek snarled. "And I don't trust you. But you need me to survive... which is why you're not letting me go."

For a moment they glared at one another. Derek kept tight rein on his fear that Stiles would decide he didn't need Derek to survive... that Stiles would decide he could leave Derek to drown and find a way past the creature as he had already escaped it once... that Stiles would be right.

Stiles, on the other hand, was tired. Angry. Annoyed that despite everything, Derek persisted in insisting he was the strongest when Stiles knew better. He knew that without the support of the people around him, as in the case with the Alpha, Derek was just as helpless as any of them would be alone. It was in numbers, amongst friends, in a "pack" as Derek so enjoyed putting it, that they were strongest.

And, Stiles decided, it was about time he proved this to the werewolf.

Without breaking eye contact, Stiles released his hold.