WARNING: Spoilers for the movie for people, who didn't watch Armageddon. Though I have a hard time imagining that there is someone, who didn't watch it even once, even if they just decided to declare they didn't like it.
WARNING: Swear words. And excessive use of the phrase 'I love you'.
WARNING: Sob story. Prepare tissues. Like, I had to take a break every few words to sob uncontrollably while I was writing certain scene.
WARNING: Not beta-read. And I just know, there are tons of mistakes I didn't catch, so please, let me know if you see any.
I was just watching Armageddon and crying, because of the scene where Harry was about to blow the asteroid up and was saying goodbye to his daughter. Then my sister asked me if I'm imagining my OTP in this scene instead of the original characters. I was like WTF?! 'cause I was just enjoying that movie and she totally threw me off. But then I couldn't get this idea out of my head and this was born.
I was writing this since yesterday's afternoon and I just about finished it. It's Armageddon's AU, obviously. I focused more on characters interaction, than the boring parts with science talk and the likes. Teen Wolf characters have different ages in this. There is some dialogue from the movie. Also it's AU of this AU, too, so... you'll see what I mean ;)
This is mostly an excuse to kill off some characters, too ;]
John Stilinski was a very successful man. His inherited oil mine company was at the peak of its glory and he had so much money, he could never lift a finger for the rest of his life. But John wasn't that kind of man. Instead of wallowing in luxuries, he preferred to work hard along his employees and practically lived on the refinery. His wife, Claudia, was okay with that kind of life. Up until she got pregnant with their boy. Refinery wasn't a place for a pregnant woman and a baby, so Claudia moved to a small apartment. John stayed with them as much as he could, but the work often called him away around the world. Despite the separation they were happy with each other. Stiles, their son, was always excited, when John got home from his travels and demanded stories. Though, when Stiles was six, Claudia died in a car accident. John had to take care of him on his own, but couldn't abandon his company. So the boy came to live with him on refinery.
Thirteen years later John was strolling across the platform taking a report form Isaac, his friend and manager of ten years, on the works of his new refinery.
"We have some issues with the shipments of the spare parts," Isaac was saying. "But other than that, the refinery is ready. The first drill is working on full capacity, as is the second–"
"What?!" John barked, rounding on Issac.
"The first drill–" Isaac started to repeat.
"The second drill is working?!" John demanded.
"Uh, yeah," Isaac confirmed in confusion. "Derek said–"
"Derek!" John growled, immediately changing direction and stalking toward the crew quarters.
Derek was son of Talia Hale, the sister of one of his most frequent private customers. She was friends with Claudia and died in the same accident. With Talia's husband out of the picture her children were took in by their uncle, Peter. Derek had two sisters, Laura and Cora. Laura was the oldest, twenty eight, married and successful lawyer. Derek was middle child with his twenty five years and worked as a miner for John for three years now. Cora was the youngest. She was Stiles' age and had unhealthy crush on Isaac, who was eleven years older than her.
"What was he thinking?!" John raged. "The safety measures are not working in second drill!"
"Actually–" Isaac tried, but was ignored.
"Derek!" John yelled in fury.
He charged into Derek's quarter.
Derek shot up out of the bed, panicked. He stared with wide eyes at John, clad only in his boxers.
"Why the second drill is working?!" John demanded.
"Uh," Derek stuttered. "I thought you'd want to–"
"I forbidden to use it for a reason!" John glared.
"But, John," Derek tried to explain, but John was already otherwise engaged.
A pair of pants grabbed his attention. And a shirt. Both garments Derek definitely did not own. However his son was wearing them the last time John saw him.
"Shut it!" John ordered and got closer to the bed.
Derek's eyes widened even more as John grabbed the quilt and pulled at it a little, revealing a pale, mole dotted face with amber eyes and incredibly messed brown hair.
"Stiles?" John whispered in shock.
"Hi, dad," Stiles grinned sheepishly.
John clenched his jaw tightly.
"Get dressed," he hissed to his son. He pointed at Derek, "You, stay here." He stalked out.
Stiles and Derek exchanged horrified looks. Then Derek seemed to wake up from his stupor, grabbed his pants and stumbled out of his quarter, while putting them on. Finally managing that, he took off into the labyrinth of pipes, trying to find a spot to hide.
John walked out of his office, loaded shotgun in hand and looked around for his prey. He spotted Derek disappearing around the corner and hurried to catch up. He fired at the man, when he had a clean view and Derek ducked to the right to avoid getting hit.
"Dad!" Stiles screamed, running out wrapped in a blanket. He didn't have the time to grab his clothes before his father started shooting. "Stop!"
"Stiles, I told you to get dressed," John said calmly, taking the aim again and pulling the trigger.
"Stop shooting at my boyfriend first!" Stiles demanded.
"Boyfriend?!" John cried.
With renewed determination he chased after Derek around the refinery, shooting from time to time. Finally he managed to corner him. And Derek turned to him, hand raised placatingly.
"Okay, okay," Derek said nervously. "Why don't we talk about it, okay, John? Sir?"
"Go on," John allowed.
"The thing is," Derek swallowed. "I love your son."
"Wrong answer!" John stated, aiming his shotgun.
Before he could pull the trigger, Stiles ran into the line of fire, putting himself between Derek and the gun.
"What the hell are you doing!" Stiles yelled at his father, even as Derek manhandled the boy behind himself, out of the danger.
"Heads up!" Finstock yelled from the platform above them. "Someone's coming!"
Sure enough a helicopter was heading to the refinery.
John sighed, walked to Stiles and pulled him away from Derek. He started heading to the landing pad, dragging a protesting Stiles with him. He turned back to look at Derek.
"Hale, you're fired!" he declared and went to greet his guests.
It turned out the army wanted him, because of a national security, whatever that meant. John shrugged, loaded his angry son into the helicopter, gave instruction to Isaac to pay the workers and give them a few days off and got into the chopper himself.
"Derek Hale, Stiles, really?" he rounded on his son, demanding incredulously once he grilled the officer for the answers.
Stiles ignored him, staring out of the window angrily, still only in a blanket.
John sighed.
"Stiles, you're nineteen," he said. "He's older than you by six years."
"I'm not a child!" Stiles seethed. "I'm an adult and perfectly capable of making my own choices!"
"He's a mine worker!" John exclaimed.
"So what?!" Stiles glared at him. "You practically raised me on the refinery, among the mine workers. Are you really surprised I fell in love with one of them?! And you fired him!"
"Now," John reasoned. "He put everyone in danger, giving orders to turn on the second drill, which didn't have working safety measures."
"It has," Stiles informed. "The crew finished installing them this morning. Derek checked it himself, then decided to save some time and ordered to test it out. He wouldn't put someone in danger. Especially not me."
Oh. Fuck, fuck, fuck. John screwed up royally.
They took them to NASA. They took them to NASA headquarters.
They were greeted by the director of NASA, a beautiful woman with curly, long dark hair, pretty eyes and a smile putting the sun to shame. Next to her stood an older man, clearly military, not at all pleased at their presence. Melissa McCall and General Gerard Argent.
"Please," the woman said after the introduction. "Forgive us for getting you here that way, but–"
"Everybody apologized to us all the way," John interrupted her. "I just want to know what's going on."
"Maybe we should talk alone," Melissa proposed meaningfully.
John glanced at his still fuming son. Along the way the military provided standard civilian uniforms for them, so Stiles wouldn't walk around naked. There was something about nobody bothering them, if they will wear them until they get their security passes, too.
"I have no secrets before my son," John answered, crossing his arms. "Whatever you tell me I just tell him later."
The General scowled. Melissa raised her eyebrow.
"Very well," she allowed. "If you follow me, please."
This. This was fucking unbelievable. A huge asteroid heading straight at Earth. The kind that wiped out the dinosaurs. Fucking hell! And they wanted him to drill a hole in it! Were they serious?!
Stiles had a death grip on his hand. He was terrified. Hell, John was terrified.
Melissa presented them with photos of the asteroid, records of the fallout just a few meteors crashing on Earth and predictions of the smartest people on Earth. The planet was going to be extinct again in eighteen days.
Next, Melissa took them to the hangar, where John saw a drill he made a project of almost four years ago. They couldn't get it to work. Seriously, these people were supposed to be the best the world could offer and they couldn't read the simple blueprint. And they were supposed to save the world? God, help them all.
Then Melissa introduced a group of astronauts, John was supposed to train in drilling. He saw Stiles sigh in relief at that, clearly happy his dad wouldn't have to take off into space. John really hated his decision in that moment. But really, there was no other choice, if it was going to work.
"I spend drilling all my life, and I still don't know everything," he said to Melissa. "I can't predict what they will face on the asteroid. If any problems arise, there would be a need to take some other course of action. I can't teach them everything in that short of time." He closed his eyes for a moment, "It's just the drill? Not playing around in space?"
"Yes," Melissa answered, confused.
Stiles tensed up behind him. He knew what was coming.
"Then I'll go," John decided. "With my own team."
"Okay," Melissa agreed.
Tracking down the people John wanted was a hassle. They scattered across the country without really letting anyone know where they went. The easiest were Isaac, whom was sitting in his apartment and Greenberg, whom was visiting his mother. Finstock was chatting up young girls in a bar somewhere. Boyd and Erica hid themselves in the middle of nowhere.
"Who do you want to lead the second team?" Stiles asked.
"Only Derek is almost as good as I am," John replied.
Stiles closed his eyes in despair, very glad he was sitting with his back to his dad.
"No," he choked out, managing to get his voice steady and even carry on some anger. "You can't take him away from me, too."
"It's his decision, Stiles," John sighed. "I'll handle getting him here myself," he got up from the table and left the room.
Stiles just barely held himself together to be sure his father wasn't coming back before he broke into heavy sobs.
Turned out, Derek was staying with his older sister. Shit.
John knocked on the apartment door and waited. After a few seconds Laura opened the door. She saw him and promptly slammed the door shut.
"Laura!" he called, knocking again. "I really need to speak with Derek!"
Laura opened the door again and glared at him.
"So you could shoot at him some more?" she snarled at him. "If it weren't for how my brother loves Stiles and doesn't want to hurt him, I would be dragging your ass to the court!"
John winced.
"I'm sorry," he offered. "For that and firing him. I need to talk to him, though. It's really important."
"What is it?" Derek asked sleepily, coming up behind Laura.
"You need to come with me," John stated. "I have a job and I need you on it."
Derek narrowed his eyes.
"There is no such a job on Earth, that would ever make me work with or for you ever again."
"Exactly," John replied mysteriously and walked away.
"What?" Derek called after him. "John? What did you mean by that?"
There was silence. The jokes and laughter stopped once John started to explain the situation to his workers. When he finished, everyone sat in a shocked silence.
"You are not under any obligation to agree to this," John said finally. "You can walk away and nobody will think any less of you."
Nobody refused. John didn't expect them to.
Stiles was so angry with John, that he didn't speak to him all day. He just clung to Derek any chance he got and spend the night with him instead in his room. Whatever John thought had happened as he saw barely awake Derek in the morning, it wasn't it. Stiles spend the whole night alternatively having panic attacks and crying his heart out. It got to the point Derek was considering calling a medic, but Stiles started calming down and soon fell asleep.
The next week and a half was hell. They were tested, trained hard in a vacuum and under water, had to rebuild two Armadillo vehicles to suit their needs and didn't get any break at all.
It was evening, everybody slowly dispersed to get some sleep. John was walking near the shuttle, that was due for transport to Florida in the morning, when he heard voices. He crept closer, recognizing Stiles and Derek and paused.
They were sitting in a engine nozzle. Derek was leaning against the side of it, Stiles snuggled in his arms. They were talking quietly.
John leaned in to listen, but Boyd called him from the other side of the hangar and he decided to leave them be. Stiles wouldn't appreciate the interruption anyway.
Little did he know, that Derek decided to propose to his son.
"Really?" Stiles smiled up at Derek.
"Yes," Derek leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Well?"
"Yes. Yes! A hundred times yes!" Stiles cried happily and showered Derek with kisses. Then he became anxious again. "Promise me you'll come back to me."
Derek looked at him all serious and confident.
"I promise I will do everything in my power to come back to you," Derek answered.
"Please," Stiles whispered, kissing him desperately, eyes watering. "Please."
Derek kissed him back, pulling him in tighter.
"What do you mean a day off?" the General questioned in outrage.
Boyd told John what his employees wanted and he immediately set out to find Melissa and Gerard to make a demand. Chris Argent was with them, first pilot and commander of the Freedom shuttle and apparently son of the General.
"They need a break," John explained. "Let out some steam. See their families and loved ones. Have a chance to say goodbye. Remind themselves what they are fighting for." He looked at Chris, "Don't you want to see your family?"
They got a day off. Well, they got ten hours, but it still counted.
Boyd and Erica secluded themselves not far away. Finstock and Greenberg hit the bars. Derek took Isaac to see his sisters. John spend time with Stiles.
It was already evening, the day ended so, so fast. They wandered to the monument in the memory of the crew of Apollo 1.
"You're leaving tomorrow," Stiles said quietly, not being able to hide sorrow in his voice. "You're leaving tomorrow," he repeated.
"Stiles," John sighed sadly. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Stiles asked hoarsely.
"I wasn't a good father," John said. "I should make sure you had a happy life, not drag you along the refineries. Never staying in one place too long."
"But I love that life," Stiles smiled through his tears. "I love seeing new places. I love being with you and the rest of the crew. I love you."
"I love you too, son," John replied, wrapping Stiles in a tight hug.
"Promise me, you come back," Stiles requested in a shaky voice.
"Sure," John answered.
Stiles squeezed him tighter.
"Promise me!" he demanded.
"I promise," John surrendered. "I promise."
They stood, hugging for some time.
"Dad?" Stiles sniffed into John's shoulder.
"Hm?" the older man hummed questioningly.
"If it's not too much trouble," Stiles started, "can you bring my fiance back, too?"
"Jesus," John sighed.
It was time. In the morning they all got into the transporter, that was taking them to Florida. Stiles bounced anxiously between them all. John and Derek the most.
It suddenly occurred to John, that practically all the people Stiles cared about were here, leaving him all alone in the world condemned to doom if they didn't succeed. The guilt set in and fuck, how he regretted bringing Derek along. But it was too late now. There was no going back from this.
After they arrived, they were immediately bustled to the locker room, where they changed into suits. Orange for the mining crew, blue for pilots.
They were called out sometime later. They slowly walked out, each of them saying their goodbyes to Stiles, waiting for them outside. The last one was Derek, who wrapped himself around Stiles and started singing silly song swaying with the tune. Boyd, Finstock and Greenberg joined him after a few seconds in the singing. John rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Stiles was smiling and laughing and fuck! John resolved right then and there, that they were all coming back. No matter what. Stiles and Derek shared one last kiss and they were off on their way to the shuttles.
The military made a show from the crew boarding the shuttle. They pulled a red carpet, the soldiers were saluting them and John was sure the president was saying some heartfelt words about unity of the human race in the time of crisis during his speech. Yeah, the world knew about the asteroid now. Melissa got a message yesterday night, while she and John were talking over coffee, that the secret was out. John just wished it got out earlier, so his team could say their goodbyes properly.
Laura was talking on the phone with a client, who insisted on changing his testament to disown his cheating wife. Laura rolled her eyes. The world was ending and people were concerned with such a stupid things.
"Is that uncle Derek?" she heard her son say. He was watching TV when the president's speech came on on every channel.
Cora rolled her eyes at Laura and went to see what this was about. Since Derek's visit yesterday, her son compared every look alike man to her brother. It was funny and cute, and a little disturbing.
"Oh my God," Cora gasped. "Laura! It's Derek. And John. And Isaac!"
Laura dropped her phone and rushed to the TV.
Sure enough her brother and his coworkers, clad in orange suits, were heading to the elevator, which took them to the shuttles entrance.
The subtitles on the bottom of the screen stated, that Freedom's crew was John Stilinski, Isaac Lahey, Bobby Finstock, Dan Greenberg with pilots Chris Argent and Kira Yukimura, Independence's crew was Derek Hale, Vernon Boyd, Erica Reyes with pilots Theo Raeken and Malia Tate.
"Oh God, oh God," Cora was chanting under her breath in shock.
Laura herself was feeling a little faint. She crashed onto the couch limply, staring. Her brother was heading into space. Her brother was heading into space to try save the world. Oh fucking hell! She understood his and Isaac's evasiveness now.
Stiles stood on the platform, a safe distance away from the rackets and waiting for the final countdown.
Oh, God, so many things could go wrong. One of the shuttles could explode or crash or something. The people he loves could die any second now and–
He didn't even know he was panicking until one of the soldiers guided him to a chair and coached him to breathe. Stiles tired, he really did, but he was able to take a deep, relieved breath only once the rockets were in the air without any problems.
After the show with the launching was over, and the press was told to get away from him Stiles was transported back to Houston, where Melissa was already waiting for him. She eyed him with concern.
"Maybe you shouldn't be here," she suggested. She heard of his panic attack in Florida and didn't want him to worry so much again.
Stiles shook his emphatically, watching the monitors avidly.
"I will just worry more," he replied, smiling slightly at her. "Besides, I don't really have a place to go."
Melissa nodded and left him to supervise her team. She frowned at the boy as he watched through the glass in the observation room. She gestured at one of the soldiers, the same who helped Stiles at the landing pad, Parrish – his badge said, and whispered to him something. He glanced up fleetingly, nodded and left. She turned her attention back to the room. The shuttles were preparing to dock at the space station for refueling.
"Alright," the lone occupant of the old space station grabbed their attention. "I'm glad seeing someone for the first time in a year and a half, but for the love of God. Don't! Touch! Anything! This station is barely holding itself together and I don't want you to blow us up into space. Understood?"
The crew of Freedom and Independence murmured their asset.
"Good," the astronaut grinned. "Let's get this show on the road!"
He scanned them up and down.
"Go get the lines connected," the astronaut ordered and poked Derek in the arm. "And you, Mr. Muscles come with me."
"I'm Derek," Derek grumbled, walking after him to the hatch.
The astronaut handed Derek a coat, gloves and fluffy hat.
"Here, put it on," he said, putting the warm clothes himself. "It's cold there."
He pulled the lid open and the cold steam exploded from the tunnel. He waited for a second for the mist to disperse somewhat and climbed down the ladder. Derek followed him.
"When we start pumping the fuel, the needle will show the pressure in the pumps," he explained, showing Derek the ancient gauge. "Up until two hundred, everything is fine. Two hundred, we'll live. Over that, you call Alan and pull the lever here down," the astronaut demonstrated and started to climb back up.
"Wait what?" Derek called after him. "Who's Alan?"
The astronaut turned to grin down at him.
"I'm Alan. Alan Deaton."
Somebody knocked to the apartment.
Cora looked around. Laura and her husband were wrapped around each other, watching the relation on the progress in saving the world. Their children were excitedly playing with toys, arguing quietly who got to be an astronaut and who some aliens attacking the planet.
"I'll get it," she offered and got up.
She opened the door and immediately felt dread creeping up her spine. A soldier was on the other side.
"Hi," he said. "I'm sergeant Jordan Parrish. I'm looking for Mrs. Walker?"
"Laura!" Cora called. "I'm her sister. What is this about?"
Parrish looked behind her to Laura, who just entered the corridor.
"I have orders to bring you two with me to Houston," he said.
Laura and Cora paled.
"Oh, God," Laura swayed. "Is Derek–"
"No, no," the soldiers quickly reassured. "Everything is fine as far as I know. It's just–" he hesitated. "Stilinski's son is having a hard time dealing with all of this. And since you're his fiance's family, whom is on that mission as well, we thought you could help."
"Fiance?" Cora echoed. "Derek proposed?!"
"Oh, um," Parrish rubbed his neck sheepishly. "You didn't know. I'm sorry."
Laura looked between her husband and kids and Cora.
"You go," she decided.
"Are you sure?" Cora asked.
"Yeah," Laura waved her off nonchalantly. "You can keep Stiles company and you will have news on Derek and John," she smirked, "and Isaac firsthand."
Cora narrowed her eyes at Parrish.
"Will I be able to call my sister at any time I want?" she asked.
"We'll see what we can do about that," the soldier replied carefully. "But it's most likely you won't be able to contact her until we know for sure, if the mission succeeded or failed."
"Oh," Cora took a deep breath. "Okay. Come in, I'll be ready in a few minutes."
Cora gathered her belongings, bid a farewell to Laura's family, hugged her sister tightly in goodbye and left with Parrish.
Derek stared in boredom at the gauge. They had almost completed their task in refueling the shuttles and everything was within norm. Until it wasn't. The needle jumped from safe one hundred and fifty to far over two hundred. Derek blinked in disbelief at the reading. And then he panicked. He slammed on the intercom button, yelling for help and all he got was static. Okay, okay, he tried to calm down. What Alan said? He had to pull the lever. He wrestled with it for a moment and then he felt it finally give under his weight. He sighed in relief and wiped at his forehead with his forearm, the lever still in his hand. He froze, staring at it stupidly. He glanced at the valve, the stump of the lever still in the same position as when he started pulling. Oh fuck! He jumped before the camera, yelling and waving his hands in a panic.
It was by pure chance, that Alan glanced at the monitor as the alarm of the station sounded. He saw Derek yelling something desperately and immediately dashed to the hatch.
"Pull the lever!" he screamed through the noise.
"That lever?!" Derek screamed back showing him the broken metal stick.
Oh, shit! They were so screwed!
"Get out of there!" he called to Derek and ran back to the others. "Detach the lines and get back on the shuttles! We have a leak!"
All of them scrambled to obey. The fire started and the station went into complete chaos. Alan and Derek were cut off from the way into the shuttle, while Freedom was almost ready to flight.
"No!" John protested as Chris and Dan dragged him aboard. "We can't leave Derek here!"
On Earth Stiles stared with wide eyes at the dots representing the position of crew members on the station, barely breathing. His only consolation was that Derek's dot was still moving.
Deaton pulled open the hatch in the ceiling.
"That's the only way," he decided. "Hold your breath, it's minus two hundred there. It will freeze your lungs."
Derek grimaced, but took a deep breath and followed Alan up. They crawled through the freezing tube. Derek was getting lightheaded from the lack of oxygen when Alan dropped down. Derek landed next to him on the warm floor, gulping the air greedily. Deaton was already dragging him him on his feet and sprinting madly for the hatch leading to Independence. They barely made it in time. Boyd and Erica slammed the hatch shut after them just a split second before the wave of fire could reach the shuttle. They quickly strapped in and the shuttles departed the exploding station.
Everyone waited with baited breath.
"Houston, this is Independence," Theo's voice came through the communicator. "All of the crew is aboard. We even have additional passenger."
The control room erupted in applause.
Stiles breathed out shakily, slid down to his knees and sobbed in relief.
Cora found him like that sometime later. She leaned on his back and hugged him from behind.
"Shhh, it's okay," she said quietly. "Everything's fine."
"He almost died," Stiles hiccuped. "Derek almost died, Cora!"
Cora's heart stopped.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Stiles told her haltingly what transpired on the space station. Although Cora was shaken, she could pull herself together more quickly. She didn't witness this and she knew her brother and everyone else was safe, now on the boring part of the journey. Stiles on the other hand went through that second after agonizing second.
"Hey," Stiles looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Don't think you're the only one to have the privilege of being here in a time like this, Stilinski," Cora snorted.
Stiles chuckled.
"Come on," Cora pulled at him. "They have sixty hours of nothing before them now. I haven't been in NASA before, I want a tour."
When it was time for the shuttles to use the thrusters and use the moon's gravity to catch up with the asteroid and land on it, Stiles was feeling better. Having someone else to focus on and to take care of helped him a lot.
John sighed in relief when the quaking stopped and the shuttle glided smoothly through the space.
"Oh my God, look at that," Isaac gasped.
Through the front window they could see the monstrous asteroid.
"Turning the radar on now," Argent informed, pushing one of the buttons. There was a confirmation from Independence.
John grabbed at his armrest tightly as something hit the shuttle.
"Debris," Chris explained and started maneuvering between the rocks.
A minute later something hit the window. John barely got a glimpse of the body as it disappeared behind the vehicle.
"What was that?!" he demanded. "Was it the Independence?"
Argent looked to the side briefly.
"Houston, Independence has been damaged," the pilot reported calmly.
Cora grabbed Stiles' hand tightly.
"Independence crashed," came the dispassionate voice over the comm. A minute later it said, "Houston, Independence has been destroyed."
There was silence in the control room.
Cora let out a loud sob and threw herself at Stiles. He embraced her automatically, too shocked to do anything for a moment beside staring into space. Then he buried his face in her hair and they cried together.
The phone shrilled again and Laura was seriously contemplating to let it go to voice mail. She had enough dealing with her clients. He world was supposed to end in about a day or so. What could they want?! She checked the caller ID. It was Cora. She answered hurriedly. She didn't have any contact with her sister in three days.
"Hello?" she said. A sniffle greeted her and she froze. "Cora?"
"Laura," Cora sobbed. "De-Derek. Derek's dead."
Laura's legs turned into jelly and she sat down where she stood.
"What?" she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. "What happened?"
"H-his shuttle was hit by the debris," Cora explained shakily, "and it crashed."
Just at that moment in the news came up an information about one of the shuttles being destroyed.
"Laura?" her husband showed up in the room, drawn in by the news.
He saw her on the floor and immediately gathered her into his arms.
"Derek's dead," Laura told him. "My brother is dead."
"I'm sorry," came Stiles voice through the phone.
Oh my God, Stiles, she thought with sorrow.
"I'm so sorry. It's my fault," he babbled. "If he wouldn't meet me he wouldn't come to work for my father. He wouldn't fell in love with me and he wouldn't go on this stupid mission!"
And what?! Laura stared at the phone in shock.
"Shut up!" Cora cried through her sobs. "Shut up! It wasn't your fault!"
"It wasn't your fault," Laura confirmed. "Even if you didn't meet, all of this things would happen anyway. He loves his job and he would go on this mission, because he wouldn't want anything to happen to any of us."
"See? See?" Cora demanded.
Someone said something in a background.
"I'm sorry, Laura," Cora said sadly. "I have to go. They're preparing to start the drilling now."
"Okay," Laura answered. "See you soon."
Finstock stabbed the measure instrument into the ground and groaned at the results.
"Just as I thought!" he complained. "Argent missed out landing spot by twenty six miles and now we're sitting on a thick layer of ferrite!"
"How thick?" John asked calmly.
"About fifty five feet," Finstock exclaimed.
John winced. It wouldn't be easy, but they still could pull this off.
"Alright!" he ordered. "Find a place and start drilling! We don't have the time."
Two hours later they stared at the broken drill with dread. They should have brought more spares.
"Isaac, come with me to get a new one," John ordered. "The rest of you, take this off and prepare to install another one."
Stiles noticed an unusual activity in the control room and curiously looked down. The soldiers were replacing men by the computers and a large case was brought in front of the General. He stepped down to learn what was going on and he threw himself in rage at the General as he heard they wanted to activate the bomb right this instant.
"That's my father in there, you bastard!" he yelled as Parrish and Mellisa held him back. "You can't do that! You have to warn them! You have to get them out of there before you do that!"
"What's going on?" Cora asked from behind them.
Melissa and Parrish dragged them back to the observation room. Stiles explained to Cora about the missile, while Melissa made a call.
"Liam," she said quietly.
Cora and Stiles turned to look at her.
"Liam, you need to cut off the communication, now," she ordered.
They waited in tense silence until the soldiers started to tap on their keyboards in confusion.
"Thank you," Stiles whispered.
Melissa shook her head.
"It'll just buy them some more minutes," she stated. "It won't be enough for them to not send a signal once again."
And sure enough a minute later Liam was excused from his post by a soldier and the communication was restored.
"At least you tried," Cora said.
When Chris reported a broken drill he opened the secret compartment and pulled out a gun and envelope with codes for the bomb. Kira looked at him with wide eyes, not understanding.
"It was always plan B," he explained and went to the cargo hold.
John and Isaac were loading a drill on the trolley, when Isaac spotted something.
"Uh, John?" he said nervously. "Why the bomb is ticking?"
John looked at the missile and sure enough, the timer was counting down three minutes. Just then Chris Argent showed up.
"Get your people back," he ordered, unstrapping the bomb and preparing it for unloading. "We're getting out of here."
"Bobby, Dan, get back here!" John immediately called the rest of his team and rounded on Chris. "What the hell are you doing?! We didn't finish the drill! It won't work!"
"You won't make it!" Argent yelled. "And this was the backup plan!"
"Uh, sorry to interrupt," Isaac chimed in. "But it is still counting!"
"We need to disarm it," John decided and took a wrench.
"I don't think so," Chris stated, aiming at John with his gun.
"Dude!" Isaac breathed, horrified. "Why do you need a gun in space?!"
"You're killing all of us!" John yelled.
"I have orders!" Chris yelled back. "I need to follow them!"
"You're listening to someone, who's not even here?!" John argued. "You heard what they said! For it to work, the bomb needs to be eight hundred feet under the ground! Otherwise everything is going to be wasted!"
"And how far did you got, huh?" Argent demanded. "You drilled for two hours! How deep did you get?"
"Fifty seven feet," John mumbled, but glared at Argent in fury. "But we will get it done! We will drill that hole and we will blow up that asteroid! I won't rest until it's done! I swear on my life. I swear on my son's life I will get it done! Just give me the chance!"
"Guys!" Isaac said in a panicked voice. "There's one minute left!"
Argent stared at John for a few seconds. Then he put his gun down and set to disarm the bomb.
Everyone in the control room waited in a tense silence.
"Sir," the soldier reported. "The countdown was interrupted."
"Communication?" the General barked.
"All working sir," the soldier, who replaced Liam answered.
Just then monitors crackled to life and on the screen appeared smirking John Stilinski.
Stiles exhaled a huge sigh of relief.
"Houston," John said. "I don't know what you're doing there, but we have a job to do. So fuck off!"
Gerard sputtered indignantly. Stiles smirked smugly at him.
Meanwhile Derek, Boyd and Alan stopped at the edge of a large canyon. They dug themselves out of the debris of their shuttle and using Armadillo's machine gun, they waded their way outside. They followed a signal, hoping there was the Freedom.
"Well, that's it," Deaton decided, peering down.
"It seems so," Boyd agreed.
"No!" Derek tossed a rock in frustration. "There has to be a–" he paused, noticing the rock drifting into space instead of dropping to the ground far below them.
"Remember what Kira said during training?" he turned to Boyd.
"She said a lot of things," Boyd replied, staring at the rock. "But it might just work."
"What?" Deaton asked as they made their way back into Armadillo.
"We use the low gravity to jump across the canyon," Derek explained. "And when we will be on the other side we turn on the engines and land. What do you think?"
Deaton rounded on him.
"What I think?" he exclaimed.
"You're the astronaut," Boyd shrugged.
"So are you," Alan pointed out.
"We're not astronauts," Derek corrected. "We're miners."
"Okay then," Deaton sat back in his chair. "I'll say we have fifty-fifty chances."
"That's not very comforting," Derek grumbled.
"It's best I've got," Alan shrugged.
"Okay," Derek moved Armadillo away from the edge and prepared for the jump. "Ready?"
"Yes," Boyd and Deaton replied.
"Okay, here we go," Derek pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
"There's a little more than two hours left," Chris Argent reminded, looking on as the crew worked. "How far you are?"
Everyone was too busy to notice Finstock sneaking up to the nuclear bomb.
"We have five hundred and five feet," John replied.
"Are you sure you will make it?" Argent worried.
"I'm sure," John answered firmly.
In that moment Finstock let out a loud 'Yea-ha!' They looked at their team member, to see him straddling the bomb and moving up and down as if he was riding on the bull.
"Finstock," Chris hissed through tightly clenched teeth. "Get off from the nuclear missile."
"Jeez," Bobby sighed, jumping down. "I just wanted to feel the power between my legs."
The rest shook their heads and went back to work. Finstock became interested in something far more fun than the nuclear bomb.
Shortly after the bullets cut through the space, accompanied by Bobby's shriek of delight. Everyone ducked.
John looked up from his position to see Finstock on the Armadillo and using it's machine gun. Seriously. Why did they need weapons in space?! Did NASA feared some alien invasion?! He jumped up and tackled maniacally laughing Bobby to the ground.
"Space dementia," Argent stated.
Well, shit. They tapped Finstock to the chair in the shuttle and went back to work.
They were nearing six hundred feet, when they hit the gas field.
"Slow down and pull out," John yelled to Dan, when the ground started shaking. "Stop! Pull out!" he was yelling.
It didn't seem like Greenberg heard him and a few seconds later from the hole burst out a wave of fire. The Armadillo flipped up, before exploding. The shock wave threw them away. When the short storm was over, they gathered to check the situation. Nobody was hurt, besides dead Greenberg. They didn't have Armadillo and any tools to continue drilling. They failed.
Argent told Kira to pass the news onto Earth so they could prepare themselves.
John dropped to his knees, digging his hands into the dirt. He failed. He failed his son and every other person on Earth. And they were all going to die.
Just then the radio crackled. John looked around and jumped to his feet, cheering as he spied second Armadillo on the hill.
Stiles and Cora unwrapped themselves from the hug and came down to the control room as their heard a sudden commotion. Melissa turned to them with wide smile.
"Your brother and boyfriend showed up," she informed.
They blinked in disbelief and then jumped joyously at Melissa. They gave her a quick hug and then looked at each other. Stiles grinned and hugged Cora, laughing out loud.
"Oh my God, he's alive!" he yelled, crying from happiness and relief. "Cora, he's alive!"
"Yeah," Cora laughed. "He's alive."
Well, that was anticlimactic. They finished drilling without any problems, with thirty eight minutes to spare.
"Shit," Argent swore as he checked the detonator.
Apparently John was too quick in thinking they won't have problems anymore.
"What is it?" Derek asked.
"The remote detonation won't work," Chris said gravely. "Someone has to stay and detonate manually."
"Shit," Isaac agreed.
"I'll do it," John offered.
"No, I'll do it," Boyd said.
"I will do it," Deaton chimed in.
"Guys? I know you don't have a reason to trust me," Finstock added. "But I will do it."
"I would do it," Argent said quietly, "but the shuttle needs two pilots."
Derek sighed, rubbing his face.
"Let's draw," he proposed.
"No!" John protested. "I will do it!"
"You're right," Isaac nodded. "Let's draw."
Everyone agreed.
Chris found some cable and cut it into pieces.
"The looser stays," he declared, presenting them the pieces in his fisted hand.
They drew, one by one. Derek had the shortest cable.
"Well, shit," he whispered, stomach dropping to his feet. "Let's get going, then." He paused, "We have time to make a short phone call?"
"Sure," Argent replied, staring at him in pity. "I'll just go get him on the comm."
"I'd like it to be private," he requested.
"I'll see what we can do," Chris agreed.
Melissa ushered them into the security office. On the table were multiple monitors, the microphone was standing in the middle and two chairs were pulled to sit comfortably before it.
"What's going on?" Stiles asked.
Everyone was suddenly quiet and stared at him and Cora with pity. A wave of dread washed over him again.
On the monitors the image flickered and Derek's head appeared.
"Stiles," he said, grinning.
"Derek!" Stiles threw himself to the table. "Derek!"
Derek chuckled.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Hey, brother," Cora slid into chair beside Stiles in a more sedate pace.
"Cora!" Derek looked surprised, but then he smiled back. "It's good to see you."
"Derek," Stiles interrupted. "What's going on?"
Derek looked to the side for a moment, biting his lip. Then he looked at the camera.
"I'm sorry, Stiles," he said. "I must break my promise."
"What?" Stiles whispered. The ground suddenly disappearing from under him.
"I won't make it back," Derek explained.
"Derek," Stiles strangled out.
"What do you mean you won't make it back?!" Cora demanded. She wanted to sound angry, she did, but it came out as a plea.
"It's the only way you both can be safe," he said, "and Laura. And her kids."
"Derek," Stiles repeated. God, he sounded like a broken record, but what else he could say beside begging Derek to come back?
"Please, don't cry," Derek requested, sounding a little strangled himself. "Smile for me, come on."
Stiles mustered a wobbly smile, Cora not far behind him.
"God," Derek stroked the screen. "You're so beautiful. You both are. I love you so much."
"I love you," Cora choked up.
"I love you, too," Stiles whispered.
"I'm sorry I will miss everything, that will happen in your life," Derek sighed wistfully. "Please, live and be happy. For me? I love you so much."
"Derek," Stiles said brokenly.
Derek turned back for a second.
"I have to go," he said. "Remember, I love you."
"Derek!" Stiles cried, reaching his hand as Derek got up and the screen turned black.
He left his hand there, resting on the screen and hung his head, shaking with sobs.
Cora turned and leaned on him, burying her face in his shoulder stifling her own sobs.
Derek was piecing his suit back together, while Argent instructed him how to detonate the bomb.
"I got it," he said. He looked around, "Well, this is it. It was a honor to work with you. Thank you."
They said their short goodbyes.
"I'll walk him out," John volunteered.
He grabbed the detonator and stepped into the lift. Derek followed him after securing his helmet.
They were quiet as the lift descended onto the ground. Derek walked out and took the detonator from John.
"Tell my family and Stiles again, that I love them," he requested.
"Tell them that yourself," John replied.
Before Derek could react, John yanked the tube with oxygen from his oxygen tank and grabbed the detonator from his hand. Then he ripped the patch from his shoulder and thrust it at Derek, simultaneously pushing him into the elevator.
"Make sure Melissa get this," he said, activating the airlock.
"John!" Derek called as the air filled the small cabin. "What are you doing!"
"Someone has to blow this thing up," John informed as he pushed the button for the lift to go up.
"We were drawing!" Derek screamed, banging on the thick glass uselessly. "It's my job!"
"Your job is to get back and take care of my son," John replied, staring hard at him as the elevator started to disappear into the shuttle. "And your family."
"Please, don't do this!" Derek begged.
"I always considered you my second son," the older man mused.
"Please, John!" Derek sobbed. "I love you! I love you."
"I love you too," John said just as the lift slid into the shuttle. He shook his head and made his way to the bomb.
The elevator appeared on the deck and everyone stared in disbelief at hunched Derek, gasping for breath through his sobs.
"What happened?" Deaton asked in confusion.
Derek looked at them desperately.
"That son of a bitch!" Isaac cursed in realization.
"Argent, do you hear me?" John's voice came over the comm.
"Loud and clear," Chris replied.
"Get them off this rock," John ordered. "As fast as you can. The weather is getting worse."
"On it!" Chris confirmed. "You heard the man, move!"
Isaac and Deaton helped still shell shocked Derek into the cabin and strapped him to the chair.
Stiles was still sitting in the security office with Cora wrapped around him, when the screens came alive again.
"Stiles," John sighed, seeing his crying son.
Stiles' head shot up.
"Dad!" he exclaimed.
Cora just turned her head to see the monitor.
"It'll be alright, kids," John smiled. "You'll be alright."
"What?" Stiles asked, lost.
"I'm going to keep my promise," John answered. "You have nothing to worry about."
Stiles smiled tentatively.
"That's great," he said. "So, why are you calling?"
"I just wanted to say I love you," John grinned.
"I love you too, dad," Stiles replied, automatically grinning as well.
"I'm glad to hear that," John said. "Take care of yourself, kids. I love you. Goodbye."
"What?!" Stiles yelped, but the screen was already black. "Dad! Dad! No!" his sobs renewed. "No nonono, dad!"
Cora hugged him in confusion. What that conversation meant? Was John dead as well? Was Derek going to survive? It didn't matter either way in a long shot, she decided after a moment. Whatever the outcome was, Stiles would loose the person he loves.
"Why are you still here?!" John demanded three minutes later.
"We can't ignite the engines," Chris yelled, quickly going through the possible problems again. Kira was already in the engine room, trying to find what's wrong.
"You know, we don't have much time to the point zero, right?" John checked.
"I'm aware of that!"
Deaton cursed, freed himself from the straps and disappeared to find Kira. He reached her soon. She was checking methodically each conduit.
"We don't have time for this!" he yelled, pulling her away from the panel and picking a wrench.
"What are you doing?" she protested. "It's a delicate equip–"
She was cut off as Alan started hitting the panel with a wrench.
"I want to get off of this rock!" he yelled punctuating each word with a hit. "So turn the hell on!"
The engines turned on.
"See?" Deaton grinned at Kira. "That's the way you do it!"
They raced back to the cabin and soon the shuttle took off.
"We're clear," Chris said.
"About damn time," John gasped.
They heard him mutter 'We won, Stiles' before the explosion.
The whole world cheered as the information about destruction of the asteroid and staving off the danger to the Earth was released. Every human being expressed somehow their happiness. Every one, but the two curled around each other in the security room.
"You do know how to land this thing, right?" Isaac asked nervously. "It would be embarrassing to crash now."
"Don't worry," Chris joked. "I managed to land this thing on simulator once."
"What?!" Isaac squawked.
The others laughed, relieved and happy. Their planet was safe and they were home.
Derek just wished everyone could make it back.
"Okay, people," Chris declared, once the shuttle was standing still. "The ride is over."
They scrambled to the exit and slid down on the air mattress to the ground.
A convoy of cars and other vehicles were heading their way. A crowd of people exited them and rushed to them and the shuttle.
Derek saw Stiles pushing through them and quickened his steps. His fiance collided with him harshly, but Derek couldn't care less, inhaling his scent and hugging him with everything he had. A few second later Cora and Laura joined their hug. Though Cora just patted him after few seconds and threw herself at Isaac, kissing him aggressively. The look of total surprise on Isaac's face was priceless, but his sister had a fantastic idea. He looked at Stiles and captured his lips in a kiss. It was harsh and wet with tears and perfect and Derek didn't want to ever pull away.
"Derek, kids!" Laura hissed.
Derek laughed, breaking the kiss and looking down at Laura's children.
"Hey, guys!" he greeted.
"Hello, uncle Derek!" they answered happily.
Derek took a few seconds to look around.
Cora was still intimidating Isaac. Boyd was greeting his own family as was Chris Argent. Finstock was laying on the tarmac, a blond woman sitting on top of him and strangling him with kisses. Alan was greeted by his sister, he told them about. Kira was hugging a young man, while Mrs. McCall watched fondly. That reminded him.
"C'mon," he pulled Stiles with him, not for a moment letting him go. He cleared his throat. "Mrs. McCall," Derek said, pulling the plaque from his pocket and handing it to her. "John wanted you to have this."
Melissa took the plaque with trembling hands.
"He did, huh?" she commented with a watery smile. "Thank you."
Derek nodded and she went to the car with Kira and her man.
Derek looked down at the awed stare Stiles was giving him.
"What?" he asked.
"I love you," Stiles answered.
"I love you, too."
Stiles smiled, wide and beautiful and Derek had to kiss him again.
They will be just fine.