Stiles should have actually been glad that Scott had never asked him how he had recognized Derek in the forest, when they first met. He didn't feel like talking about it. He didn't want to remember those times when he was driving Derek and Laura mad. It wasn't because the tall, black-haired werewolf terrified him or perhaps because of Laura's death, he simply couldn't have talked about it because of Tessie, the youngest Hale he was playing with in the afternoons when his mother died and his dad was busy.

He still could see the face of a small girl, her big eyes were such similar to Derek's eyes (as he had realized lately). He wasn't completely sure whether the young Hale knew it was him because he never talked about it. He didn't show any marks. In fact, he didn't talk about his family at all, unless it wasn't about Peter or Laura, but they were the only exceptions.

Stiles didn't even know what he should have said, because he knew saying: „Hey, I was hiding with your sister in forest and you were looking for us crazy from fear," wasn't exactly the right thing to do. He painfully smiled over that memory. Tess would have been the same age he was, they would have probably gone to same class and been best friends and he and Scott would have never been so close. She could have had all of this if it wasn't for Kate. Kate and the fire she started and killed completely innocent people and most importantly children. Stiles didn't have a clue if Tess was a werewolf or wasn't because Derek once said there had been ordinary people in his family, but he didn't actually cared. It wouldn't have changed his memories.

He could still remember the night his dad had gotten a phone call about a fire in one of those houses in forest. He saw the night in front of him. He had been sitting home, trying to calm himself down and saying to himself that there were many houses like that and it surely hadn't been the one Tessa lived in. But then his dad came home, his clothes smelled like smoke from burning wood and something else. Something, which frightened him. His dad sat next to him and told him his friend he used to play with was gone. He didn't know what had exactly crossed his mind, he only remembered running upstairs and locking himself in it. He hadn't talked to anyone for the rest of the day.

What have you done to me, Tess?, he was asking her in his head. He had been thinking about her more often than he actually wanted lately. He knew it's because of Derek's presence and that's why he often wished the grumpy werewolf would have disappeared from his life for good. But Scott decided to join his pack, which led to one thing - they met more often than before. The brunet wasn't sure what irritated him more about Derek, whether it was his ability to recall his memories of Tess or his behavior – annoying, irritating behavior. Stupid grumpy werewolf, he though and grinned. He thought about what would have happened, if he had said it to the young Hale's face. He would probably smash my face against a tree or rip my throat which he threatened to many times, many scenarios of what would have happened were in his had, but he decided to forget them.

He looked around, he was sitting in forest, not far away from Derek's land he was avoiding. He was sure nothing would have happened if he had crossed it, he was still somehow a part of the pack if he could have taken it that way. But he was scared anyway – scared of his memories. As a kid, he used to spend there most of the time, he even knew both of Tessie's parents. When he thought about that, he would had never recognized they were werewolves. They were both nice and kind to him, as if they were thrilled they daughter had a friend.

There is something to it, he thought as he realized Tessie had never talked to anyone else in school. Only with him. He didn't actually remember seeing Derek or Laura with friends, they had always held together. And now, when he knew the cause and effects of what had happened when Derek had had a thing going on with Kate, he wasn't even surprised.

That was another thing which bothered him. He knew about those two but was sure Derek never told anyone. That time even Laura didn't know, the only one who had known was Tess, who had accidentally seen them together in Derek's room. He didn't dare telling anyone else or mention it in front of him – he was sure it would have caused his death.

„You're spreading negative emotions around," he heard from the side and he almost got an heart attack, how he frightened.

„Damn, Derek," he cursed and turned to the direction where the tall man stood. „You can now feel my emotions? Another alpha thing?" he asked almost cheekily.
„I can't," the werewolf mumbled and went towards Stiles. „But there are tear tracks on your face."
„Damn," the brunet mumbled and quickly wiped his cheeks.

„Is anything wrong?" Derek asked which was driving the young man in front of him crazy.

„No," he answered.

„I can recognize a lie, though, you know that," Hale continued. „How's it with your father? I heard he ended as a sheriff and -"

„Hell, Derek, mind your own business!" Stiles shouted and saw a flash of surprise in the other man.

„I just wanted to say if you need something, you can say. That's what the pack is for-"
„I'm not a member of your stupid pack!" the brunet continued shouting as if he was losing his temper. He felt his feelings he had been hiding since the time Scott had been bitten by Peter coming out. And also something he had been holding back much longer.

„Stil-"
„I don't want to belong to it, do you get it? I used to be an ordinary teenager and I want to be him again! I want to be that boy who isn't the cause of dad's troubles! I want to be the boy who didn't know everyone around were werewolves!" He felt his voice failing and waited for Derek to do something but he didn't. He was standing in front of him, had a pain in his eyes and then said something which took away Stiles' breath.

„Not everyone. Tessie was a human."

The brunet stood completely still for five minutes, not knowing what to say. He could finally see in Dereks's eyes all the pain, hatred and anger, which he had never showed and kept hidden behind his mask of an unapproachable and (like Stiles liked to say) sour werewolf.

„She..." he had no idea why he was whispering. Maybe he had really destroyed his vocal cords before.

„She was born as a human, she was one of the few in our family, but not the only one. She died in vain, she was just a little girl, wanting to go outside everyday to play with you and me and Laura were looking for you in forest. And when we finally found you, we sent you home and entertained her with some werewolf's tricks as Tess called it."

Stiles could swear Derek never said such thing to anyone. Not to him, not before. He would have been glad for it at another time but now he felt his eyes filling with tears.

„The whole time you didn't even show you know me..."
„It's hard to forget somebody my sister kept talking about," Derek whispered and took a step towards Stiles. „ She made me promise once..." he stopped for a moment.

„Promise?" the brunet asked.

„To keep an eye on you no matter what. As if she knew what would happened... as if she suspected something."

„But she couldn't," the young man protested.

„She wouldn't have been the first or the last one," Derek answered and a strange shadow flashed across his face.
„I intend to keep my promise, that's why I'm here. I knew about you longer, you've been sitting here for a long time, you must be frozen..."

„I.. I just..." this time Stiles' voice really failed him. Everything that happened seemed to fully affect him. And the young Hale did something that surprised even himself. He took another step towards Stiles and hugged him tightly.