Stiles' phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Scott calling.

"Scott?" Stiles asked anxious.

"Hey... you okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay. We're all okay," Stiles said relieved, looking around at the others. "How 'bout you, you okay?"

Scott looked at Derek, who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as if to say 'Well, don't care about me', and said "Sort of."

"You think you can come... get us?"

"Yeah of course."

"Great, okay. Uhm... bring a ladder." The others laughed. Stiles hung up and looked at them. "Scott will be here in some minutes," he said smiling and then hugged his dad again. When their embrace broke apart, he looked at his dad with an earnest look and said: "You know, Dad, I'm really happy you're still alive."

"I know Stiles. I know," Papa Stilinski said with a wide smile on his face.

"So... what now?" Isaac asked from the other side of the cellar.

"What do you mean?" Allison asked in return.

"I mean... that's it? Do you think Derek and Scott defeated the Alpha Pack?"

"Well... something definitely happened," Chris said.

"I bet Scott can enlighten us."

Waiting in the almost complete darkness, Stiles' mind raced. He wanted to know what happened to Scott, to Lydia, to Cora and Derek but all he could do was wait. He looked around the cellar and smiled a little. His dad was safe. And so were Allison, Isaac, Scott, Allison's dad and Scott's mom. But he had no idea what would come afterwards. He remembered Dr Deatons' words: 'It will be a kind of darkness around your heart and permanent like a scar.' At the moment he doesn't feel it but maybe that's just because he's so relieved that he found everyone to be alive.

About ten minutes later Scott arrived.

"Everyone's alright?" he shouted through one of the holes in the ground.

"Yeah buddy!" Stiles shouted back. "But be so kind and get us out of here, now! Will you?"

They heard Scott laughing and saw the ladder sweeping down through a nearby opening in the ceiling. One after another emerged from the collapsed cellar, Stiles as the final one. When he was far enough up to look above the ground he almost lost his grip on the ladder. Derek stood beside Scott, talking to Isaac. Quickly Stiles climbed the last rungs and darted at Scott.

"What is he doing here?" Stiles asked, casting a grim-faced glance at Derek.

"Dude," Scott said as he slapped Stiles' chest with the back of his hand. "He helped defeating Jennifer. He's on our side."

"Alright, alright," Stiles gave in. "So, what happened actually?" At these words, the others turned towards Scott and Stiles.

"Kali, the twins and Jennifer are dead," Scott said. "But it was Jennifer who killed them."

"Scott," Derek said, holding his mobile in his hand. "Cora just texted me that the twins are not dead. Just when I left with Jennifer they transformed back, so Cora and Lydia brought them to Dr Deaton."

"Well... let's hope Aiden can convince Ethan to change sides," said Isaac.

"I think Ethan already has," Derek interjected. "The only one who would still have control over him is Deucalion, but Scott and I threatened him."

"What did you do?" Melissa asked anxious, glancing rapidly from Scott to Derek and back.

"It's all right, mom," Scott tried to sooth his mother. "Derek said that his mother once said that Deucalion was a man of vision once and that we hope he can be that man again. Then, I said that if he won't, his renewed eyesight won't..." But Scott couldn't end because Isaac, Allison and Stiles all started to talk insistently to Scott.

"Are you serious, Scotty?" Stiles asked.

"You must be totally out of your mind," Isaac said aghast.

"How did that happen?" Allison finally asked.

"It was Jennifer," Derek defended Scott. "She did it so Deucalion could see her real face. In the end, it was him who killed Jennifer."

Everybody looked at each other, stunned.

"So, what did you say to him, Scott?" Allison inquired.

"I said that his renewed eyesight won't help him because he will never see us coming."

Allison then flung her arms around Scott and embraced him in a tight hug.

"You know, I know you're strong, but I was also scared that I'd never see you again."

"Here I am," Scott said with a smile and kissed Allison.

Derek took an audible breath and Allison and Scott broke apart. He stepped past the others and pulled up the ladder, shouldered it and said: "I think all of us want to get out of here, right?"

"Right," some of them said and everybody started moving, the teenagers at the front.

"So you're sure that Deucalion will not start to build up a new pack of Alphas?" Stiles asked Scott.

"Quite sure. I think we opened his eyes. Literally," Scott laughed, causing his friends to join in.

The next evening, as Scott just slammed his rooms' door shut in front of his dad, he got a call from Derek.

"Hey Derek, what's up?"

Without beating around the bush, Derek said: "I want you to come to my loft, Scott, and tell Stiles, Isaac and Allison to come, too."

"Oh... okay. But what's the matter?"

"Just come around, okay?" Derek said deadpan.

"Yeah."

Some minutes later Stiles picked up his phone and said with a sleepy voice: "Yo?"

"Stiles? You asleep?" Scott asked, restraining a laugh.

"Whaddaya want, Scott?"

"You need to get up, mate. Derek wants to talk to us."

"Why?" Suddenly, Stiles sounds a lot more awake.

"I don't know. Just get up and pick me up, will you?"

"Alright Scotty, but give me some minutes."

"Take your time," Scott said, now not able to suppress a laugh anymore.

Then, he called Allison and Isaac and headed downstairs, finding his mom and "dad" sitting at the kitchen table.

"I'm out with Stiles, Mom."
"Where're you're going?" Melissa asked, resting her head on her folded hands.

"Uhm... bowling alley", Scott lied, glancing at his dad.

"Alright, darling. Have fun", Melissa said smiling, watching Scotts' back as he leaves the room.

Scott sat down on the front doors' steps, waiting for Stiles to arrive. A few minutes later, the Jeep came to a halt in front of the house. Scott got up and climbed into the passenger seat.

"Hey Scott."

"Hey, everything's alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired. My sleep rhythm is totally fucked up", Stiles explained as he took off. "I go to bed around midnight but I only start to fall asleep at maybe two or three a.m., it sucks."

"Have you tried sleeping pills?"

"No, but I'll definitely use them if I can't get it right within the next few weeks."

"You should positively do that. Senior year's not going to be an easy one, you'll need the sleep."

"I know, Scotty, I know."

Some minutes later Stiles and Scott arrived in front of the building where Derek's loft was located. As they got out of the Jeep they noticed Allison's car but didn't say a thing about it, too curious about why Derek asked them to come.

Standing in the elevator, Stiles asked: "Sooo... what about you and Allison?"

"I think we're back together, but we haven't really talked about it yet."

"And what about Isaac?"

"What's the matter with him?"

Stiles rolled his eyes.

"Nothing gets past your werewolf senses, does it?"

"Stiles, just tell me!"

"Isaac's totally crazy about Allison, haven't you noticed at all?" Stiles asked stunned.

"Obviously not," Scott said, looking at his feet. "Oh damn it."

"It'll all come out right, don't worry," Stiles said, padding Scott's back. In that moment, the elevator doors opened and the boys stepped out, heading towards Derek's loft. The door was open, so the boys went inside.

Around the table sat Derek, Cora, Allison and Isaac, and Stiles immediately noticed that something was wrong. There were duffle bags at the end of Derek's bed and everything looked uninhabited – not that it had ever looked inhabited much.

"Sit down," Derek demanded, pointing at the vacant chairs. So they did.

"I know you're all happy at the moment that we've defeated the Alpha pack," Derek said after a moment of silence.

"Actually half the pack's still alive," Stiles noted, which earned him disapproving looks from all of the others. "Just saying," he said abashed.

"Anyway," Derek continued, "there's still a lot more outside that we don't know of and we cannot be sure that we will not have to deal with it in the future. So Cora and I made up a plan: we're leaving for a while."

Everything Derek said afterwards Stiles didn't hear. Derek would leave. He would actually leave. As much as he sometimes hated the older man, as much he liked him. Really liked him. It had hit Stiles before that there was a tension between him and Derek, but never as much as it did now.

"Why are you leaving?" Stiles spoke his mind. Everyone turned to look at him, confused.

"As I just said: Cora lived in an area where a couple of other packs lived, some of them with quite a long history. She thinks that they could help us figuring out what may awaits us."

Stiles' mind raced. He didn't really catch the meaning of Derek's words.

"And how... how long will you be gone?"

"We don't know yet. Hopefully not more than a month or two. We can't leave you alone any longer. We're like one pack. We need each other."

One or two months. That's more than Stiles could bear. But he tried his best to not let the other ones notice that because none of them knew why he was feeling this way. He himself didn't quite knew until today.

"And where are you going actually?" Stiles asked, swallowing.

"We'll be in and around Chicago, that's were Cora lived before she returned."

Chicago. That was really far away. Nothing were you could get in a two hour drive.

"Don't you think that Deaton could help us in the same way as those packs?" Scott asked while glancing at Stiles.

"If I did, would I be leaving?" Derek said.

"Yeah you're right," Scott agreed.

"That's what I wanted you to know. I'm bad at goodbyes but I couldn't leave without letting you know..."

"... or I wouldn't let you," Cora said, winking at Derek.

"Or you wouldn't," Derek replied, smiling at her.

"I hope you guys can understand our reasons."

"Yeah, of course," Scott instantly said. He looked around at the others, all of them nodding.

"I hope you'll be alright during the time we're gone, but as soon as something happens you can't deal with on your own, call me or Cora, okay?"

"So when are you leaving exactly?" Stiles kept on asking before any of the others could say a thing.

"Tomorrow morning. We can't lose any more time," Derek said with a stern look, grinding his jaw.

"Oh..." was the only thing Stiles could response to that. He couldn't believe that Derek told them this late. At a moment's notice they would be on their own with so many things they didn't know about.

But he could do nothing against Derek's decision. If Stiles knew one thing, then that Derek's plans were always certain.

"Okay... we'll be going back," Allison said, looking at Isaac.

"Yeah, we too," Scott said, nudging Stiles' upper arm and standing up. It took Stiles some moments to react.

"Yeah, bye Derek, by Cora," Stiles said toneless, his glance focused on something none of the others could see. As he left Derek's apartment and got into his car, backing out of the parking lot, he felt his heart sinking terribly. He almost missed the turn to Scott's house which made him step onto the break heavily, causing both of them to almost hit their heads on the armature.

"STILES!" Scott cried, looking terrified at his best friend. "What's wrong?!"

"Uhm... I... I just... my thoughts were drifting..."

"Better not let them wander again or we'll land in the ditch."

"Sorry dude," Stiles apologised, turning left and driving silently until he was in front of Scott's home.

"Stiles, are you sure you don't want any sleeping pills? My mom's got some."

"No, thanks," Stiles declined and took off as soon as Scott had closed the front door behind him.

He couldn't sleep. Again. What had he expected? It had been like this for a few weeks and it wouldn't change from one day to another.

Stiles rolled onto his side, looking at his alarm clock. 1.32 a.m. He could have screamed. He should have accepted the sleeping pills Scott had offered him, Stiles thought. But now it was too late, because first of all he didn't want to wake up Scott and second of all he would hopefully be asleep in about an hour.

Stiles changed his position again. His back ached. When lying in bed that long, even the comfiest mattress becomes uncomfortable somehow.

Suddenly he sat up straight as if lightning had struck him. He knew what he wanted, what he needed to do.

Almost jumping out of his bed, he then put on his clothes, grabbed the keys for his Jeep and leapt down the stairs, taking two steps at a time, out of the front door and into his car. Hastily he turned the key in the lock, backed out of the driveway and headed for his destination.

He didn't really notice anything around him on his way to Derek's loft, not even the three desperate calls from his dad who just hear him slamming the front door shut.

But Stiles didn't care. He now knew exactly what he had to do:

He had to tell Derek a proper goodbye.

A good ten minutes later he arrived at Derek's place. He didn't even care about locking his car because the irrational fear that Derek and Cora may have left early took over. He stormed up the steps into the highest level because he found that the elevator was way too slow.

When he finally pushed open the staircases' door, he didn't stop, even though he could have done with a few deep breaths, and started hammering onto Derek's door.

"Derek! Derek, open up!" Stiles shouted desperately through the door. He again began to knock heavily onto the door when it was suddenly pushed aside and a surprised Derek came into view.

"Stiles, what are..." but Derek couldn't finish his sentence because Stiles had knocked the air out of the older man's lungs as he had flung his arms around him.

Stiles felt a burning in his stomach he had never felt before. He had finally given in. He had finally accepted what his heart had tried to tell him for months and months and months. He felt his eyes tear up, but he didn't care. He was here, hugging Derek, and Derek made no effort to push Stiles away.

When he broke the embrace after about a minute, Derek looked at him really confused. Stiles tried to explain why he was here, but at the moment, all he could do was stutter.

"You wanna sit down?" Derek asked concerned. Stiles nodded and sat down onto the sofa. Derek turned to the kitchen instead and filled water into a glass, offering in to Stiles then.

"Thanks," Stiles said, taking a great sip. As he put down the glass, he noticed Cora coming down the spiral staircase.

"What's going on?" she asked sleepily, shooting glances at Derek and Stiles.

"Get back to bed," Derek commanded, so Cora turned and headed upstairs again. Now, he sat down next to Stiles.

"What's wrong, Stiles?" he asked, looking Stiles straight into the eyes with no frown on his face and no anger or annoyance in his voice.

"I... I cannot bear you leaving, Derek," Stiles confessed with a shaking voice.

Silence. After some minutes, Stiles said: "Don't you wanna reply anything? And by the way, you're stare's getting creepy."

The corners of Derek's mouth twitched and the next moment he said: "You know, Stiles, I've always liked your humour." And as the older man said those words he grabbed Stiles' t-shirt and pulled him towards himself, placing his lips onto Stiles'. Derek closed his eyes, but Stiles' were wide open in shock. Never, not even in his wildest dreams he would have imagined that Derek could feel the same way as him.

When Derek pulled back, he gave Stiles an amused look.

"What the hell was that?" Stiles asked perplex.

"I kissed you," Derek said seriously. And again, Stiles was lost for words.

"So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Derek asked.

"I... wanted to say goodbye."

"That's all? That's why you come here in the middle of the night and almost break down my door?" Derek could not believe that the boy never showed this affection before and furthermore that he had never sensed it before. But as Stiles looked up at him through his lashes, Derek could hear the fast heartbeat and smell the arousal the kiss set off and he realized that Stiles told the truth. Now he got curious. "Since when do you feel that way?"

"I don't really know. It really hit me yesterday when you told all of us that you would be leaving, but I noticed that there was something between us before. I think it started at the pool."

"You mean when we fought the Kanima?"

"Yeah," Stiles said quietly and Derek heard that the boy's heartbeat sped up a little bit.

"That's a pretty long time."

"I know," Stiles began and suddenly everything poured out of him. "You just were so mean all of the time and I fought back every feeling that I had towards you because I know how it feels to lose someone and not just my mother because as you might know Jennifer killed Heather and she was one of my childhood friends and then when I saw her in the morgue I just thought that if I allow those feelings and something like that would ever happen to you I could not go on and so I never let anything in but now all of that freaking stuff is over and as I lay in bed tonight and couldn't sleep I thought that when you'd leave for Chicago in the morning and I didn't have any chance to say goodbye to you I'd regret it."

"You really think I was mean?"

"Yes?" Stiles said bewildered.

"I tried to protect you, Stiles. That's all I ever tried to do. So don't ever again think that I was mean," Derek said as he pulled Stiles close to hug him, thinking that it was about time that he confessed this to Stiles.

"Do you really have to leave?" Stiles asked with tears in his eyes.

"Yes," Derek said in a decisive tone. "But I'll be back in no time."

"Two months are more than I can bear, Derek."

"You have to," the older man said as he stepped closer. "And I know that you can do it. But I want you to go home now, Stiles. There are people out there who need you. Your dad. Scott, Allison, Isaac, Lydia. You can't do everything dependent on me, I won't let you do that."

"Okay," Stiles agreed rather reluctantly. "But you won't forget what I said, will you?"

"I won't." Derek bridged the space left between them and kissed Stiles, his hands clutching the fabric of Stiles' shirt. "But please go home now. I'm not good at goodbyes."

"I know," said Stiles and again knocked the air out of Derek's lungs as he hugged him tight, whispering in his ear: "I know, sourwolf."