I do not own any part of Kelley Armstrong's fantastical world. I simply felt the urge to write the third installment the way I would like it to end. Please feel free to critique me, but this is simply my own version of The Reckoning which will be released in late April/early May. Please be kind enough to let me know what you think by hitting the review button at the bottom. I have been away from fan fiction for almost 3 years, and really hope to kick start my fan fiction days with something enjoyable for everyone. Love to you all.

The Forgiving

Chapter 1

I wasn't exactly sure what time it was when I finally woke up, but there was a bit of dim light slinking through the curtains into the small bedroom Id been assigned to. It felt good to sleep on a bed again, actually it just felt good to sleep again in general. The last few days had morphed into something clearly unreal for me, and I couldn't really be sure how many hours I had managed to sleep soundly. If it wasn't for Derek helping me keep the nightmares away I probably would have keeled over and died for exhaustion.

Removing the heavy blanket from my body, I stole a quick glance at the alarm clock that was perched on the bedside table. It said 5:00. Five what? Five in the morning, Five at night? Why couldn't the cheap alarm clocks put the little am or pm next to the number? It would have made things easier on me considering it could have been dusk or dawn. I tugged my fingers through my hair a little too hard out of frustration and caught them in a knot. The soft yelp of pain I gave wasn't ear-splitting, but I definitely startled myself in the semi dark room.

When we arrived at the safe house one of the women that Andrew introduced us to handed me over some old night clothes. Tori had been lucky enough to nab the silky nightgown. As for me, well, I got stuck wearing some tween Hannah Montana cotton pajamas. The blond wigged pop stars face was right smack in the center of my chest, and even as I looked down I cringed in absolute horror. It was one thing sleeping in something like this if you were like ten, but wearing Hannah Montana's face on my fifteen year old developing chest just made it seem weird and completely wrong. I tried to forget this as I adjusted the strap on the tank and let my feet dangle over the side of the bed.

My toes had barely touched the hard wood floor when my door clicked open and the light from outside was blocked almost immediately. Under any other circumstance I would have probably jumped out of my skin, but recently I had begun to grow accustom to Derek's surprise appearances.

"I heard you yell from my room. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. I thought that maybe you saw something."

Saw something as in my Aunt Lauren. He didn't have to say it, I could read it in his features when I finally turned to look at him.

"No, just a hair injury. " He looked confused, but I just waved it off, "Never mind, what time is it?" Though this seemed like a pointless question when I finally realized he was still in his own sleep attire. It seemed like the pickings for the boys were almost as bad as the girls. Derek was wearing baggy sweat pants and a much too tight t-shirt. I lowered my gaze to my fingers to avoid staring.

"Early morning. I haven't heard anyone else downstairs yet." He crossed the room and took a seat in the arm chair opposite the bed.

"Then why are you up?" I asked, my eyebrows quirking upward just a bit. I wheeled around to stare at him. " Are you ... changing? Do you want me to go for a walk with you?"

There was a slight hesitation in his answer, and for a moment I thought I could catch an uncomfortable glitter in his eye.

"No, I'm fine. Feverish, but fine." His voice was scratchy. "Makes it hard to sleep and all." He shrugged, and then ran his fingers through his hair.

It was wet, or sweaty. I was standing too far away from him to actually tell, but as soon as I thought it I immediately felt guilty. It wasnt like Derek could control the pungent odor that lingered on him. He was a werewolf for crying out loud. He did his best to control it, and here I was pulling a Tori and thinking the worst all while he came in to check on me.

"You promise you'll tell me if you need me to go with you, right?" I folded my arms over my chest, suddenly aware that I wasnt wearing much. I decided to keep my arms firmly over Hannah Montana's stupid face.

"You don't have to come you know. Its my fault for dragging you off the bus and getting us in trouble in the first place. " His voice sounded defeated; dejected.

I hated seeing him like that.

"Always the martyr." I mumbled, knowing that he'd be able to hear it no matter how low I whispered. Despite it being her choice to go with him into the forest, Derek always felt the need to continually blame himself if someone was close to being hurt. I had lived; I was a big girl and could make my own choices. I didn't argue with him, I just shook my head.

"Chloe, I want to talk about what happened tonight. With The Edison Group finding us...about Andrew"

The seriousness in his tone made me nervous, but I stepped forward and slipped back up onto my bed. "Sure, shoot." I brought my knees up so I could rest my chin upon them. Suddenly I felt like I was eleven again and I was at some sleepover party with my very best girl friend. Only this was Derek, and he was most definitely not a girl; nor eleven. He didnt even look sixteen half the time.

"It doesn't make sense."

There it was out. Derek Souza always assuming the worst once we actually found something that could possibly be the very best. Wed been running for almost two weeks! If sleeping in a warm bed in a safe house didn't seem safe, well, I wasn't about to pack my bags and start running for the forest. Not yet anyway.

"What doesnt make sense, Derek?" I cocked my head to the side and blinked through the watery film that was still covering my eyes. I was still tired.

He grunted, and I knew I was walking a fine line of keeping him calm or pissing him off. I really wanted to avoid the latter.

"Running into Andrew like we did. Having him just show up so conveniently when we were running like that. It doesn't add up to me." His jaw twitched, green eyes focused hard on the muscles flexing in his forearm.

"This isnt a math problem, Derek. You cant just assume there is going to be perfect concrete answers every time something feels suspicious." I lowered my legs and inched myself to the edge of the bed so that I was sitting right in front of him. "You said yourself that Andrews place looked ransacked the same way your Dads place had. And why would Andrew want to endanger you or Simon when he obviously still cares about you? Your pictures are still on his wall for crying out loud."

He didnt answer me, just continued to watch the muscles vibrate beneath his skin. I hated when he went broody and quiet like this. It was like trying to convey a message to a brick wall, only there was a slight chance that a brick wall would actually talk back before Derek did.

I heaved a sigh, "I'm not saying that I totally one hundred percent trust this whole situation, cause I don't. I don't know how we can trust anyone completely. " How could we trust anyone after everything that had happened. I had trusted my Aunt Lauren only to find out she was a traitor, a redeemed traitor, but a traitor nonetheless. There was also the sting of Rae and Tori and just about every other single person screwing things up for us.

I" trust you." He said softly, finally lifting his eyes away from his forearm to catch my own disbelieving stare.

Had this been Simon confessing his trust in me I would have taken it with a broad smile and a cheery thanks. Having Derek sit in front of me and vouch his trust made my stomach throb hard enough that I thought I might get sick.

"And I trust you. " I finally got out after a heartbeat, "and its why we all have to trust each other and stick together." There, awkwardness averted. "If you really think that something sketchy is going on here Ill back you up on it. But I think we need to go over it with Simon and Tori fir-"

"No." There was a urgent demand in his voice that scared me just a bit. " We can tell Simon, but I dont want Tori to hear this."

I furrowed my brow again, "Why? Tori has just as much a right to know what danger we could potentially be in." I hated that we all couldnt just get along for the sake of this whole ordeal.

"I dont trust her either."

Here we go again. Another moment in the Derek hates Tori verbal bashing extravaganza. Pretty soon I was going to start carrying around a fold up wrestling ring and match bell. Then I could ding in an official fight and Simon and I could watch the fireworks between the two.

I rolled my eyes, "Seriously, Derek, this is getting old. The I hate Tori vendetta that you have going on needs to stop." I couldn't forget the look in his face when we had heard they had taken her in the forest. Had Tori not escaped on her own I was fairly certain that Derek would have left her.

"Don't you think its a little too lucky that Tori was left to defend herself with one bodyguard? After they found out what she was capable of doing back at the warehouse? You think her Mother would even allow them to be so lax with the guards left to detain her?" His green eyes shone beneath the wet strands of black hair. He was raising good points, but I didnt want to believe them.

I wasnt particularly fond of Tori, but I didnt hate her either. She was like an annoying beauty mark smack dab in the middle of your face; annoying but surprisingly unique. That Tori would flat out speak her mind was something that I was beginning to find myself liking. At least I always knew where she stood.

"Maybe they figured she wouldnt try anything if she knew the potential threat of being hurt. I mean they were carrying guns, and it was dark and scary. Maybe they didnt take into account that Tori wouldnt stand up for herself. " I shrugged, pulling at any possible strings to make sense of his accusations.

"Or maybe they promised her immunity if she gave us up." He said flatly.

"After the way her Mom treated her, I doubt it. Tori is a lot of things, but I dont think shes that stupid." I knew she didnt have the greatest personality, but I also knew there were skeletons in her closet that I had chosen to keep secret from both Simon and Derek. They didnt need to know what happened that night in the factory when Tori called her Dad. She had been a mess, and I was going to respect that.

"You are too nice sometimes, Chloe. It makes you delusional." He stood up from the chair, and hovered in front of me.

"Are you saying Im stupid?" I suddenly got very hot in the face, and my defenses flared up. I didnt like fighting with Derek, even though that seemed to be our favorite pastime. "I'm not stupid, Derek. Im just not so easily swayed to jump to conclusions about people who have helped me out. Tori helped me out when she didnt have to, this Andrew friend of yours, he helped me out without even knowing who I was. So if I want to go ahead and believe that maybe our luck is changing then Im going to believe it." I didn't realize how loud my voice had gotten until Dereks face was turning towards my bedroom door.

It opened, and before I could even see who was standing there Derek grunted; "Hi Simon."

My breathing was patchy and quick, and when Simon stepped into the room so he could close the door I could see his eyes flicker between the two of us. There was worry etched in his features. Worry? Maybe uneasy concern? Whatever was there I tried to swallow my anger when he smiled and asked me what was wrong.

"I-I-I-I ha-a-ad a kn-n-no"

"Slow down, take a breath." Derek muttered, and then dropped back into the chair. It would have been better if he just left. I hated when he tried to calm my speech impediment.

Of course I took a breath like he suggested, and for a split second I thought I saw a smirk tug at the corner of his mouth. Jerk.

"I had a knot in my hair. Derek heard me yell when I tugged it out and came to see if the big bad hair monster had taken me alive." I joked, hoping that it would kill the tension. I dont know why it was tense in the room, but I could feel it. It was suffocating me.

"How nice of you, bro." Simon looked over at Derek and gave, what looked like, a forced smile. "You keep pulling out all these heroic acts and Im going to have to start setting myself on fire and cliff diving into lakes to impress her."

I blushed a bit and I thanked myself over and over that it was dark enough in the room that the blush would be missed. Though when I looked over at Derek he was staring at me and I felt like he could see it. That made me blush even more, and I tried to focus on something else as Simon pointed out my pajamas.

"Those are some hot jammies you have going on, Chloe. Maybe if you try really hard you could summon her dead career out of the grave. What is she? Seventeen and her career is already going..." He mimicked an airplane crashing into the ground with his hand.

"Yeah, and for a real kick Ill summon back her Dads. Cant forget those instant mullet classics." Pop culture. It was always easiest to joke about, and thankfully enough Simon seemed to know loads.

He moved forward and took me by the hand. "Come on, lets get breakfast before anyone else wakes up. We can have our own private feast." He was already pulling me out the door before I had a chance to protest. "Come on bro." He called back over his shoulder.

Truthfully I was hungry, but after locking hands with Simon in the van I was skittish about this whole 'I like you and you like me thing' we had going on. I knew Simon was more open with these things because that was Simon. He probably had loads of girls lined up for him when he was at school. Me, well, I was still giggling in my head that he had even wanted to hold my hand in the first place. Not exactly a temptress of desire.

There was a grunt somewhere behind me, and I looked at Derek rising up from his spot in the chair. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his sweats, and I couldnt help but feel slightly uncomfortable with this display in front of him.

"Actually Simon..." I gave a tug so he would release my hand, "I think Im going to try and squeeze in another hour or so. Its been - well its been a long few days." I tried to smile so that he would understand I had been up for the gesture, but it was lost somewhere amongst my bajillion other thoughts.

"Oh, sure, right." He shrugged, a snorting sort of noise coming from him, "I didnt even think that youd be tired. Stupid me I guess, but-" he perked up almost instantly, "that leaves like loads of food left over for you my man." He had turned his attention towards Derek. Derek merely grunted out something that sounded a bit like; Yeah.

I nodded, and then turned around to go back into my room. Derek stood in the door-frame, all six feet of him completely blocking me from getting by. "Sorry". I mumbled, stepping aside so he could move by and let me in. "Ill talk to you later." I whispered. I knew he heard it because he nodded his head again in silence.

If we were going to be investigating Tori and Andrew then I wanted it to be clear that I was going to be calling shots this time around. I was not going to be his lapdog bowing down to every little command. Derek may have had the upper hand on a lot of things, but he didnt have the upper hand on this. Still, it didnt mean I couldnt start a little investigating of my own before things really got underway.

I closed the blinds even more to block out the light, and then took a seat in the middle of the bedroom floor. It was still quiet enough for me to concentrate, and though I didnt have the sweat shirt anymore there was a pretty good feeling inside of me that made me believe I could do this without screwing anything up. I closed my eyes and concentrated on her slippers and her blonde hair.

Liz? Liz can you hear me?

Nothing.

Liz, its me Chloe. I really need you. Please. Liz

There was something there, well, someone there. I could feel them. The weight was heavy on the back of my neck, and it felt like they were hovering somewhere next to my ear. I wanted to open my eyes to see Lizs smiling face, but I was terrified of opening them up and being greeted by two eye sockets and a decaying face.

Is that you, Liz? Can you let me know if thats you?

I really didnt want to open my eyes. Id scream and then the boys would come running, and then Derek would yell at me for being reckless again. I was going to have to look no matter how terrified I was. My heart was hammering so hard against my chest that I was waiting for Derek to open up my door and demand me to quiet it down. I swallowed, prepared myself for whatever horrifying sight was about to pop out at me, and then opened them up. There were two large eyes staring right back into my face, noses practically touching.

"Boo."

I fell backwards, hands covering my face while my legs kicked out. I didnt scream. Somehow my voice box managed to go into paralysis mode instantaneously. Of course after a tick of a second I moved my hands and stared up into Lizs grinning face.

"Why didnt you answer me?" I hissed, trying hard to keep my voice as low as possible. I didnt know who was listening, well that was a lie. I knew Derek would be listening if he could, but I didnt know who else would be listening if given the chance.

"I was wondering what it would be like to be a real life poltergeist for a second. Figured Id see how you reacted. It completely worked, you know. You should have seen your face." The girl giggled, and then proceeded to jump up onto the bed.

I followed her, crawling back under the thick blanket. "Where have you been? I missed you. I have so much to tell you." Despite the fact that Liz was dead I desperately needed someone to vent to. Someone who wasnt going to come back at me with bitchy remarks, or sympathize with me too much. Someone who wasnt going to tell me I was stupid for over analyzing things. I just needed to talk.

"Went to visit my nana." There was a look of sadness in her face, "It was good though. Really good. Im glad I could see her again...glad to see that she is happy." She stared down at her feet, and then after a moment she shot her eyes up and smiled. " Having fun adventures then?" She bounced a bit, "I know! I could see some of them when I came looking for you."

"You did come looking?" I was startled. I figured that if Liz came back she would have at least tried to get in touch with me.

"Course I did. Just couldnt break through the wall and talk to you for some reason. It comes and goes sometimes. One second Ill be able to talk to you no problem, easy peazy. The next-" she made to snap her fingers but of course no sound came out. " its like getting stuck in one of those glass boxes you always see Mimes acting out. But I can see you- follow you and all. I helped ya out once too!" She said this excitedly, and I couldnt help but grin at her enthusiasm.

"What did you do?" Thinking that maybe it had been Liz who helped her get out of the alley with those girls. Maybe she had caused some sort of distraction that allowed me to hit the pavement running.

"When you got holed up with Derek for those few days. Remember?" She asked, finally bouncing down to sit beside me. "There were those other boys, those awful ones that kept threatening you..."

How could I forget? Liam and Ramon had pretty much threatened to maul me, and then they had devised a trade off. My safety for Derek. The scary thing was that there had been a brief second that I knew Derek had contemplated going. That he would have sacrificed himself, again, for my safety. It had pained me so much then, the thought of him doing something so reckless, and even now reflecting on that moment I wanted to go downstairs and yell at him for how stupid he would have been.

"Yeah, I dont really think Ill be forgetting that for awhile." No, probably not ever.

"Well when that one guy was chasing you I kept throwing trash bins at him to keep him away from you. You both got away and all, but I banged him up enough that he called it a lost cause!"

I could tell how proud she was. "I owe you for that Liz, and so does Derek. We were pretty banged up after that."

"I tried to find you again after that, but I couldnt break through for some reason." Her eyes got bright and wide, well bright enough for a ghost. "He sure does like protecting you though."

My face must have been twisted up in such confusion because Liz sighed and shook her head.

"Derek." She flicked at her knee," I knew he was worried about your safety when you were running from that guy, I mean it was obvious, but you should have seen his face when you hit that wall! He was terrified." She nodded.

Derek? Terrified? As much as I wanted to hear what else Liz had seen I couldnt afford to waste time; nor could I afford sorting out the twisting feeling that nagged at me again.

"He was worried is all. Now Liz, I need to seriously ask you another favor. A big one." I began wringing my hands together.

"Course Chloe." She nodded, her features growing serious after she saw the severity in mine.

"We almost got caught again last night. Someone knew where we would be and they almost had us. I mean, they had Tori, Liz. They had her and we werent sure if wed be able to get her without getting caught ourselves. And then poof she throws some magic down and gets away. The guy who helped up out is or was apparently friends with Simon and Derek's Dad, but Derek doesn't trust anything in this house any further then he can throw it."

"That's an awfully long toss. He has a lot of muscle."

I closed my eyes, "Liz, serious time." I just needed her to focus a bit longer." I need you to stick around this house for a little while. Keep an eye on Tori and this Andrew guy and let me know if anything strange goes on. Let me know who they talk to, and let me know if you hear anything about a man named Kit or the Edison Group." I could see the tentativeness in her face. She had been best friends with Tori after all. "Please, Liz. Please. I want to get back at the people who have been doing this to us... to you! I want to stop them if they are brainwashing Tori, but I need your help."

"I - I suppose I could stick around for a little while and watch. I dont know what you expect me to find but I -"

I waved my hand at her as footsteps sounded outside my door, and I quickly threw myself against the pillows pretending to sleep again.

"Chloe... its just around 6 and the boys are already downstairs eating breakfast. Get ready and come down. We have a long afternoon. There are some people I want you to meet today." Andrews voice came through the door.

I opened up my eyes and looked at the spot Liz had been sitting. She was gone.

Dare I continue? Let me know what you think please.