A/N: All right, who saw the new episode of Teen Wolf last night! IT WAS AWESOME.! Derek wasn't a total jerk this time, which is good. But did anyone else completely freak out when he broke Isaac's arm *shudders*. Scary Derek! And Erica kissed him! How dare she put her hands on my OC's man.! Scott really ticked me off too. How could he just hang up on poor Stiles like that? And Stiles, does anyone else love him ten times more than Scott? Stiles is the most selfless person on that show. I mean, he floated in an eight foot pool holding Derek up for TWO HOURS with a homicidal creature stalking him. Talk about selfless… and brave. And does anyone else think that the lizard thing might be Jackson? I know they're hitting towards Lydia, but after Jackson picked up his truck in Ice Pick I kind of started thinking it was him. Getting away from my ranting, thanks so much for all the reviews and sorry it took so long. I'm glad you guys have enjoyed it and I hope you like chapter two.! :) And, real quick, anything in italics and bold is a flashback.

Disclaimer:: I do NOT own Teen Wolf. If I did, I wouldn't have to write this story because this is how it would happen.!

Chapter Two:

And we spent what little bit of money we had

On wintergreen Skoal and main street gas

Ross groaned and blindly reached out, searching for her phone. Sure, when she couldn't find her phone, the upbeat, loud, and down right obnoxious ring tone was wonderful. But right now? When she was trying to sleep? Ha, worst decision ever!

Go get your girl, go make the drag

If you're lucky you can take her cross the rail road tracks

She finally found it, sitting on the nightstand beside her bed and opened a single eye to look at the caller ID. DAVIS stood out in big, bold letters. She groaned.

Where the man in the moon works his magic

On the second runner up of the 4H pageant

Seems like yesterday, even though

That was fourteen hundred and -

Ross pushed the reject button and took half a second to look at the clock on the phone. 2:32 a.m. She dropped the back on the stand and became suddenly aware of just how warm her blankets were. They'd never seemed that warm before and she snuggled back underneath them, ready to go back to sleep. … Until they moved. A warm pressure pressed against her back and something draped its arm over her waist.

In one, fluid movement, Ross snagged the bowie knife under her pillow, straddled the body beside her and held the knife to the person's throat.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" A cell phone illuminated the room and Ross found herself sitting on top of a sleepy, confused Derek Hale. He stared up at her, his eyebrow raised and Ross stared back, trying to control her heart rate.

After a second, Derek's eyes dropped to the knife at his throat, then jumped back to Ross's eyes, then to the knife, and then to Ross again. Ross pulled the knife away and rolled off Derek to lie beside him.

"Sorry." She said, breathlessly. "Sorry."

"If you wanted me to leave, you could have just said so."

Ross whacked him on the chest. "I don't want you to leave. You just scared me. I forgot you were here."

"And do you sleep with a knife under your pillow often?"

Ross sighed and dropped the knife to the floor beside her bed before rolling back onto the side and pulling the covers over her shoulders. "Go back to sleep."

"Am I gonna wake up tomorrow?"

"Good night Derek."

After a couple of seconds, Derek's phone was shut off and she felt him settling in beside her. He rolled over, tossing an arm over her side again and nuzzling his nose against her hair. Most people would have been a bit freaked out, seeing the big, bad Derek Hale cuddling with someone, but for Ross it wasn't uncommon. When Ross had shared a bed with Laura, she'd done the same thing. It was some kind of wolf thing, though the only did it to someone who wasn't their mate when they were to out of it to realize they were doing it.

Ross let herself relax against Derek's chest, feeling a soft rumble go through it as he snored. Not the annoying, wet snores but deep, solid snores that went all the way down to the bottom of his lungs and then back out. It was a kind of comforting sound. Derek was solid and warm and safe. It felt nice, to feel safe.

xXx

It was a little after eight the next time Ross woke up. She was still curled underneath a warm comforter and laying against the chest of Derek Hale, who was no longer snoring. She could feel his light breath on the back of her neck and feel his green eyes staring at the back of her head.

"Quit staring at me." She murmured. "It's loving creepy."

A soft, almost inaudible chuckle rumbled through Derek's chest and he rolled onto his back. Ross ran a hand through her hair and was slightly surprised to find she didn't really have bed-head. Of course, she hadn't been able to do as much rolling around with Derek on her other side. She sat up and glanced at her guest.

"Hungry?"

Derek shook his head, standing up. "I've got to go." He replied, reaching for his shirt.

"And do what?"

Derek simply gave her a look. It was the same look his older brother Jock would give Laura when he wanted them to bug off so he could be alone. Ross held her hands up defensively.

"Alright, alright. I'm not snooping." She rolled her eyes as he pulled on his sneakers. "Soo I'll see you later, saaaaaaay…" She paused to think, "Oh, two?"

Derek raised an eyebrow, silently asking why.

"Because I'm gonna be loving bored in this town all by myself and Scott isn't going to be around to entertain me, so you have to." Ross smiled when he glared at her. "Oh don't be such a sour wolf. I'm giving you a whole-" She paused to count out the hours on her fingers, "Six hours to yourself. You'll be fine."

Derek rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He sighed and turned to walk out her door.

"See you at two then." Ross grinned.

Derek paused in the doorway and half turned to face her. After a moment he nodded and began to saunter down the hallway. Ross took in a deep breath and flopped back on her bed. She was going out, on a kind of, sort of, almost date, with Derek Hale. Derek Hale, who she'd been crushing on since she'd first seen him in middle school. Derek Hale with the charming smile and the cool, bad boy, exterior. Derek Hale … Laura's little brother.

Grief hit Ross like a punch to the gut. Laura, her best friend who'd taken care of her since her first day of tenth grade, when Ross had barely been thirteen. Her eyes began filling up with tears that she'd desperately tried to keep down and she sniffled lightly.

"Damn." She hissed, angrily wiping the tears away.

She hated crying. Crying was for the weak and Ross wasn't weak, not anymore anyways.

Throwing the covers the rest of the way off, Ross snagged two towels off the back of her door and made her way into the bathroom. She put the water on to the warmest she could handle before stripping and stepping into the steady stream of water.

Then she cried. She cried like she hadn't in a long time. The shower was the place where she did that the most. Like Laura had always said; "It's a place to cry without being heard. It's a place to daydream without being disturbed. It's a place where you can think back on all your best memories and laugh without being looked at funny. It's a place you're not judged. It's a place where you can sing as loud as you want without being told to be quiet. It's where you can contemplate your life and think about your future. It's where you think about how to impress your crush. AND THEN you shampoo, condition, wash, and shave". Or at least that's what she'd tell her dad after he yelled at her for taking a forty-five minute shower.

And Ross did almost all of the above. First she cried for Laura, for the fact that she hadn't been there to save her friend. Then she thought back about all the things she and Laura had done at the old Hale house to get in trouble. The time they'd hotwired her father's car and the time they mattress slid down the stairs and Laura had completely wiped out. She laughed a lot upon remembering that. Then she stared singing "The Rodeo Song", which she and Laura would walk down the street singing.

"It's an allamande left. And allamande right. C'mon you lovin' dummy. Get your right step right. Get offstage you goddamn goof. Y'know you piss me off. You loving jerk. You get on my nerves."

Then she thought about college and how much it'd changed her. Derek had been right about what he'd said the previous night, a long time ago she wouldn't have stood up for herself when he snapped at her. And then Ross's mind went to Derek. Sure he'd changed a lot since she'd last seen him. Not only was he older, taller, and more buff, but there was something different in his eyes. He seemed like he was carrying the weight of the world on his poor, brooding shoulders.

AND THEN she shampooed, conditioned, washed up with her lilac body wash, and shaved her legs. By the time Ross finally stepped out of the shower, the water was cold. She dried herself off and pulled on a pair of light blue jeans, a purple tank top, and her (Derek's) old leather jacket.

She ran a hand through her wet, stringy hair, contemplating whether or not to blow dry it. Eventually she decided on yes and, after every last string of hair was dry, she straightened her side bangs, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, grabbed her purse and her car keys and headed out to the mall. Usually she wouldn't be caught dead there but she'd promised her roommate, Natalie, she'd bring her back a souvenir.

Why exactly Natalie would want a souvenir from a place she'd never heard of before was beyond Ross, but she figured a t-shirt would do it.

xXx

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Allison groaned, following Lydia through the clothing store. "If my parents find out I am so dead."

"Oh they won't find out." Lydia said, pulling out a lacy, coral pink top and holding it up. She shook her head, deciding against it. "Besides, we need some girl time. You're constantly with Scott."

"Not that much." Allison defended.

"Oh please." Lydia said, flipping through the clothing rack. "You two are basically attached at the hip. And we'll be back by third period. I promise." She picked up a royal blue tank top with a silver jacket. "Now, what do you think of this?"

Allison took a long look at Lydia as she held the tank and jacket up before she smiled. "I think it looks great."

Lydia grinned, obviously proud of herself and hung the clothing over her arm. Allison smiled a little bit and began searching through the rack. She paused on a lavender tank top and stared at it closely before pulling it out.

"What do you think of this?"

"Oh, that color's great on you!" Lydia exclaimed cheerfully. "Now you're getting it."

She glanced over at a brunette with a ponytail, who'd just pulled out a peach t-shirt that said "I Heart California."

"Oh, that poor girl, no taste in style. Come on Allison, let's go do some charity work."

Allison followed Lydia's eyes. "Oh Lydia I don't-"

But the strawberry blonde had already taken off.

xXx

Ross growled in frustration, shoving the peach t-shirt back onto the rack. Peach would not go with Natalie's tan skin and black hair, but it was the only t-shirt in this stupid store that would accommodate her roommates huge… chest area. Rolling her eyes Ross took one last glance at the shirts before deciding that this store was for girls that had absolutely no boobs what-so-ever and turned to leave. That's when she came face to face with a strawberry blonde who, in her opinion, wore a little too much make-up.

"I am so glad you put that top back." The girl said, making Ross raise an eyebrow. "It wouldn't have gone with your eyes at all."

"Guess it's a good thing it wasn't for me then." Ross replied, trying to push past the girl.

"Oh? Well, I could help you find something for you if you wanted." The girl smiled.

Ross didn't like it. She had a feeling about this girl, a feeling she was stuck-up, rich, and generally the type that Laura used to beat up for making fun of her.

"No thanks."

"Oh I insist."

"Lydia." A dark haired girl appeared behind the strawberry blonde, "Leave her alone."

Ross smiled thankfully at her. But Lydia didn't seem to be giving up easily.

"Oh, but she needs our help. That leather jacket is absolutely hideous. It's so old and-"

"And a gift from someone I happen to care very much about." Ross snapped. "Don't you have school or something?"

Lydia glared at Ross, crossing her arms and looking annoyed. "I was just trying to help."

"Well why don't you go find someone who wants your help."

Lydia stomped her foot. Yep, definitely one of those girls. "Come on Allison." Lydia said, turning on her heel and storming away.

"Allison?" Ross asked. "Not the Allison that's dating my Scotty?"

Allison looked up at her. "Are you Ross, Scott's big sister?"

"Yeah. Yeah I am. Nice to meet you." Ross gave the girl a once over. "Well, you're pretty. I guess I approve."

Allison smiled. "Thanks."

"Allison!" Lydia cried. "We have to get back for third period!"

"Coming!" Allison turned back to Ross. "Sorry about her. She's kind of used to getting her own way."

"Yeah, I can tell. I'll see you around."

"Yeah. Nice meeting you."

Ross smiled after her. Seemed like she was a nice girl. Too bad she was an Argent.

xXx

Ross could feel it the second she stepped out of her car. Something was definitely off. She slid the monkshood tipped blade out of its sheath on her side and clutched it tight as she made her way through the woods. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary but her gut was telling her there was something wrong. And that was rule number one: always trust your gut.

She was almost to the porch when Derek came tearing out of the house looking sweaty, shirtless, and kind of, sort of, really attractive. His green eyes meet Ross's and dove at her, knocking her to the ground as gunfire erupted.

"Son of bitch!" Ross cried from her spot under Derek.

After a second the gunfire stopped and a female voice began yelling orders. Derek jumped up and grabbed Ross's wrist, pulling her up with him, just as the front door of his house burst open. The woman that stood there explained why Ross's gut had been going off.

"Kate Argent." Ross snarled.

Kate looked surprise. "I know you?"

"You should. I was the one who saved you ass."

Kate raised an eyebrow and even Derek looked confused. Ross smirked at her.

"You remember, right? After the fire, when Laura found out it was you and some of your little hunter buddies that lit her house on fire?"

"Laura, stop! You'll kill her!"

"I don't care!"

"I do!" Ross latched herself onto Laura's arm as she made to swing at Kate again. "There's more of her than there are of you. Laura they'll kill you!"

"I don't care!" Laura cried again, trying to shake Ross off of her.

"What about me?" Ross asked, clutching on harder. "What about Derek? If they go after you, you know they'll go after him too!"

Laura finally stopped struggling. She through a vicious glare down at Kate before breaking out of Ross's grip. "Fine." She said, throwing Ross a look. "For Derek." Then she looked back at Kate. "You stay the HELL away from my baby brother or I will rip your throat out… With my teeth."

"You're Laura's little friend." Kate finally said.

"Yeah. And I vaguely remember her telling you to stay away from Derek."

Kate laughed. "What's she gonna do? Huh? She's kind of dead."

"And I'm kind of not. So, as Laura's best friend, I have to fulfill her threats." Ross smirked in almost an evil manner. "So, let me make this as clear as possible." She took a step towards Kate, her hand still clutching the hidden blade in her jacket sleeve. "Stay away from Derek or I'm slit your throat."

Kate stared back at her, chuckling lightly. "You think you scare me?"

"I think I should. You really think I spent my time with Laura playing pathetic little games, Kate? No. She taught how to fight for myself. She taught how to take care of hunters. Does your brother know you broke his precious code? Does he Kate?" Ross laughed, humorlessly. "I bet that'd go over well."

Kate glared hard at her. "You wouldn't dare."

Ross gave her another smirk. "Try me."

"Boys." Kate said through gritted teeth. "We're leaving."

Ross's eyes trailed the three hunters as they made their away down the path and she smirked smugly as Kate tossed one last glare over her shoulder before disappearing from sight.

"What the hell was that?" Derek demanded, turning her around to face him.

"Me saving your ass for the second time since I got here. You're welcome, by the way."

"Are you crazy or just suicidal?"

Ross looked up at the sky, thoughtfully. "A little bit of both, I think. Now go change into something a little less-" Ross paused to look Derek up and down, happily taking in every muscular part of his body. "Sweaty and revealing."

Derek raised an eyebrow and Ross rolled her eyes.

"Come on Derek." She sighed, "Its quarter after two and you said we could go out. Let's go."

Derek glared at her but began walking back towards the house. Ross smiled to herself and followed him.

"I liked it better when I could boss you around." He murmured, making his way up the stairs. "And if I'm going on this stupid adventure, I'm driving… My car!"

Ross's smile widened.

xXx

"Turn up here."

Derek rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time. "Why don't you just tell me where we're going?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Ross, we've been driving for almost two hours."

"I wanna surprise you. I know you love surprises."

"No I don't."

Ross giggled and leaned her head back against the seat. Silence settled over them again and, honestly, it was kind of annoying. She leaned forwards again and began flipping through radio stations.

"What are you doing?"

"Being loud and obnoxious." Ross said, winking at her driver.

"You hung out with my sister too much."

Ross smiled. "Yeah. Yeah I guess I did, huh?" She glanced over at Derek, turning the radio down to a dull humming once she'd found a station she liked. "Are you okay?"

Derek glanced at her and then back at the road. "Fine."

"You know." Ross brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I might not be able to hear your heart beat, but I still know you're lying."

Derek spared her another look. "I'm fine." He repeated.

Ross nodded, looking out her window, but Derek still caught the soft "liar" she murmured in the process.

xXx

"No." He said, reaching to turn the engine back on. "No."

Ross reached over and snagged the keys out of the ignition. "Yes." She said, opening her door.

"Ross!" Derek lunged towards her, but she'd already stepped out of the car.

She smiled and waved at him before turning on her heels and walking towards the building. He followed quickly.

"Give me my keys." He ordered.

"No."

"Ross."

"Derek."

"Keys."

Ross turned around to face him. "Listen." She said, firmly. "I've been bored as hell all day long. We are going into that club and we are going to have a good time or I am going to kill you. Okay?"

As if to emphasis that she wasn't leaving, Ross dropped the keys down her bra. Derek's mouth fell open.

"Oh that's just not fair!"

Ross laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the club. The music was in full swing and plenty of people were dancing. With a large smile, Ross pulled Derek all the way onto the dance floor. He did not look amused.

"Come on." She said. "When's the last time you actually had fun?" The music slowed to a tune that was familiar to Ross. She wrapped her arms around Derek's neck. "Just for a little bit. Then I'll get you the largest steak in the history of steaks."

Derek rolled his eyes but placed his arms around her waist none the less. "Better be the largest steak ever."

Ross smiled at him.

I finally asked you to dance on the last slow song

Beneath that moon that was really a disco ball

I can still feel my head on your shoulder

And hoping that song would never be over

Laura looked hesitantly at Ross. The younger girl smiled.

"Go." Ross urged her. "I'll be fine. It's just one song."

Still looking hesitant, Laura let Steven lead her onto the dance floor. Ross sighed and watched the other couples dance to the slow country song. It was only seconds later that someone softly tapped her leg.

"Hey." Ross smiled up at Derek and he returned it, holding out his hand.

"Come on." He said, nodding towards the dance floor.

"Derek, I-"

Derek grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

"Derek, I can't dance."

Derek only smiled softly at her. "That's why I lead." He replied, "Just put your arms around my neck. You can't dance wrong."

Ross did so and felt his arms snake around her waist. He winked at her and Ross smiled, blushing and looked away. After a few seconds she rested her head on his shoulder. She prayed to God this song would never end.

I haven't seen you in ages

Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are

For me you'll always be eighteen

And beautiful

And dancing away with my heart

Nah nah nah nah

Nah nah nah nah

Nah nah nah nah

Away with my heart

Nah nah nah nah

Nah nah nah nah

Nah nah nah nah

Ross smiled at Derek, pulling her arms away from his neck and resting them on his chest instead. He smiled back. The first genuine smile Ross had seen from him since she got back.

"I'm glad you came back." He told her. "It's nice to not be alone anymore. And I- I kind of, sort of missed you."

"I kind of, sort of missed you too." Ross said, standing on her tip-toes and placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

He surprised her by returning it, just as gently.

A/N: I know, Derek was totally OOC in the last bit of it. Please don't kill me.! I'm really sorry if anyone else seemed OOC. Lydia and Kate are tricky to write and I didn't really like their characters anyways. Okay, that's a lie. Kate was a character that I loved to hate. Lydia, I don't particularly care for, but a part of me still wants her to go out with Stiles, just because he likes her so much. Anyways, read, review, tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed and I'm sorry about the OOC moments:)

Ross's Ringtone: Beers Ago by Toby Keith

The Song Ross and Derek Danced to: Dancing Away With My Heart by Lady Antebellum