Stiles' heart thudded in his chest as he tried to breathe through the panic and pain. It was a hard task, with feeling like someone was sitting on his chest and the pure terror roiling through his stomach as he crawled along the floor.

The grimy cement obviously wasn't deemed necessary to a broom treatment when it was a dark, creepy corridor that led to a werewolf torture chamber. He could feel trekked earth, and probably glass, trying to break the skin on his palms and cut through his trousers.

He wasn't sure how he was going to explain his ruined suit to his father. Then again, he had to make it out alive in order to accomplish coming up with a credible lie.

The teen came across Jackson. With hands that could only be described as nearly convulsive because they were shaking so badly, he checked for his rival's pulse. Squashing the bit of disappointment that came hand-in-hand with the relief that he was alive, he slowly managed to get to his feet.

The last few hours were a blur. With Lydia and the Alpha – Peter, he had to remind himself that the head honcho had a name now – and having to track Scott's GPS under the threat of death, only to be dragged along as a distraction for the Argents who already had Jackson in their grasps, interrogating him about what he knew about Scott, Derek and the Alpha. It all just seemed impossible to think that four hours ago, he'd been dancing with Lydia. Now he didn't even know if she was still alive.

Now he was trudging through the halls of Kate's Torture Chamber o' Love, stepping over the, hopefully unconscious, bodies of hunters that Peter had left in his wake, trying to find two psychopathic werewolves. He should be running far, far away in the opposite direction but here he was. He could hear faint voices, a shiver tracing his spine as he recognized the deliberate tone of Peter's voice. It had shaken through his body only a few hours ago on the lacrosse field.

But Scott was in trouble. Kate and Allison were attempting to play medieval target practice with his ass as the target, and Allison's father was on his way to join them after deeming Stiles and Jackson uselessly human. He figured that if Peter really wanted Scott for his pack, he'd go to rescue him and he knew, or hoped at least, that Derek wouldn't let Allison get hurt in the cross-hairs. He couldn't bring himself to care much about the rest of the Argents, though.

Now he wasn't too sure about Derek's drive and motivation seeing as the Beta had his Alpha Uncle on his side to help avenge their family, and Stiles wished in that moment that he'd had the forethought to grab one of the hunters' guns. He was the Sheriff's son, so he'd known how to take apart and clean one by the time he was 8, and shoot it by the time he was 12. Of course, when he'd been aiming for a soda can and missed by about forty feet and shot out the tire on his father's cruiser, he'd been denied all use of firearms in the future. He was about to turn around to get one, when his name echoed through the halls in a sing-song rhythm. Peter knew he was there.

"You are such a peculiar being." Peter scrutinized him as he would a three year old trying to talk like an adult, once Stiles stepped into view.

The human could see Derek leaning heavily against the bars he'd probably been chained or tied to or something, nursing his side. Stiles tried not to gag when he noticed the chunk of skin above his hip trying to heal itself into existence.

Peter smiled at Stiles, swaggering to his side and clapping an arm around the others shoulders. When he spoke, he addressed Derek, "I kind of like him. You stare down a werewolf, an alpha wolf at that, to plead for the life of a girl you probably won't remember in a few years. You help me find my nephew here and then keep the Argents occupied while I take care of things here. And here you are again. I wonder what your plan is now."

"I was actually kind of hoping Derek had torn you apart by now." Stiles said before he could filter himself, screwing his eyes shut tightly in a grimace when he felt Peter tense next to him.

"Oh, yes," Peter laughed. "I definitely like him." He spoke to Derek again as if Stiles wasn't even in the room. The teen was grateful however that the Alpha was laughing at him. He rather it be that than to be the one torn apart. "It's a shame you turned down the bite."

Derek's head twitched at that, eyes jerking from his Uncle, to Stiles, then back to his Uncle.

"Oh yes. I offered him the gift, but he didn't want it." Peter sauntered towards Derek, pivoting to look at Stiles. "I could just bite him regardless, but I've made it a rule from now on to only turn the wanting. Scott has proven to be a thorn in my side. He's too… defiant. Maybe I'll go wake up that Jackson kid… then again, he's a bit too needy. I need Betas on my side, not Omegas."

Stiles tried not to snort. He could only imagine how Jackson would react to being likened to a pack's bitch boy.

Peter walked up to Stiles again, smacking his cheek lightly in passing, "I'll have to work on you. I'm sure I can find the proper motivation to get you on my side." He chuckled at the spike of fear in the air, "Come, Derek. Let's go find Scott."

Stiles looked behind him to see the older Hale was gone, but no doubt still listening. Regardless, he let out a shuddering breath, pitching forward to dry heave for a moment as the relief rushed through him too quickly and made him lightheaded.

Derek was barely healed, but tried to stand on his own two feet without looking weak. He gathered the things from his pockets that Kate had removed, purposefully thudding down Scott's phone. It was the one thing Kate luckily hadn't touched yet, between molesting him and torturing him. Looking Stiles square in the eye, he stated, "There. Now without my phone too, you can't call me seven times a day and hang up."

Stiles was going to ask Derek what the hell he was talking about because he had never done that before, but the pointed glare as the wolf pinned him with closed his mouth before his throat could form sound into words. He was obviously trying to tell him something. Now he just had to figure out what the hell that was.

I started this after 1x11, so it's more of my take on what I'd hoped for in the finale (but knew would never happen). This will be AU, and used as a basis for my version of canon in upcoming stories where both Peter and Kate are alive because I personally loved their crazy asses and wanted them to have more interaction with Stiles that would tie him even more to Derek. Call me crazy (I'm not though, my mother had me tested…)! And I know that Peter's a bit OOC, but I'm going to play him as more of an aloof, almost Jack Sparrow sort of villain, which can be even more frightening because you never know what they're doing or thinking. This will be either a three or four shot, and I'll be working on part two over the weekend, in between my twin nephews' second birthday party. :)

Have a good one, all!