A/N: Thank you to everyone for the awesome reviews! Hopefully you'll like this chapter too. Reviews and critiques are more than welcome, as usual.

Lydia tells him everything. She tells him about being drawn out of her hospital room and into the forest. She tells him about her recurring nightmares, about the actions she doesn't remember committing, about the younger manifestation of Peter. She wonders how crazy she must seem, but as usual, Derek doesn't allude to anything he might be thinking or feeling on the matter.

"I'm starting to think your face would shatter if you ever cracked a smile," Lydia interjects halfway through her retelling. It's ill-timed but she's suffocating under the seriousness of the situation and she desperately needs something to lighten the mood.

"I'm starting to think you're supremely annoying," Derek responds. If a lightened mood is what Lydia is after, she's in the wrong place with the wrong person.

"Do you even have friends?" It's Lydia's default method of hiding that she is actually somewhat bothered by his comment. Never let them see your weakness. Instead, attack theirs. Derek is a loner when it comes down to it. He's got Isaac, and Erica, and Boyd, but even then, he keeps to himself. Lydia isn't sure if it's by choice or not. Does anyone really know?

"No." His statement is so short and matter-of-fact that it takes her by surprise. Lydia isn't sure what she was expecting, but it's not that. "Can we get back on track now, or are you too preoccupied with my life to focus?"

"I'm not preoccupied with anything that even closely relates to you," Lydia counters, copping an attitude. "But yes, we can continue." Lydia ignores the way her stomach drops as she thinks about discussing the topic at hand again, but it has to be done. She takes a deep breath and plunges ahead.

"My birthday was supposed to go on without a hitch," she begins, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "I didn't plan on having a party this year. I couldn't handle the staring. I mean, I'm used to stares but it isn't the same kind of stare anymore."

She adopts that faraway look that Derek has seen many times that night as she discusses Peter's threat, the big threat that pushed his plan into forward motion. This is a side to Lydia that not many people probably see. Despite the façade she puts on for others, Lydia is a caring person. It's evident enough in the fact that she did what Peter told her to in order to spare so many lives. In spite of himself, Derek finds that he respects this, and maybe even respects her.

"And that's why I did what I did," Lydia finishes, looking down. There's something akin to shame in her expression, and Derek can't help that he feels a little sorry for her, for being so annoyed with her. He's been understanding enough, but that doesn't hide the fact that he was angry, that he was bitter. Not completely. Now he knows what she's been through, and he finds that he isn't quite as angry. He feels sorry for her. He wants to find a way to make her feel better. And that is quite alarming.

"You said there was a younger version of Peter?" Derek's back to business, desperate to focus on something other than these weird thoughts.

"Yes." Her answer is somewhat hesitant. She wonders if he's going to tell her that she's being ridiculous, that there couldn't possibly be a younger version of Peter. It was all in her head. And maybe it was. She's suddenly regretting that she ever told Derek about it. Unfortunately there isn't a rewind button in life.

"And he got you to kiss him?"

Derek is being completely businesslike, and yet Lydia can't help but to fidget uncomfortably. Because it sounds horrible, the idea of her kissing Peter Hale, illusion or not. But Peter had been there when no one else had been. He'd paid attention to her, and as much as she wished she could say otherwise, she'd appreciated that about him. He'd made her feel… wanted.

"Yes," she responds quietly, avoiding his gaze. She wonders if he knows there's more to it. Probably. Derek Hale doesn't seem to miss much.

He's silent for a while, but then he clears his throat. "Well. I think I know how he managed to get so deep into your mind."

Lydia looks up, her eyes wide with curiosity. If Derek knows how Peter's managed to get so much control over her mind, maybe that means they're one step closer to shutting him out completely. "How?"

"He made you feel attached to him. He manipulated your emotions. By doing so, he created a bond between the two of you."

His words send a chill down her spine. Attached? As in she'd grown to feel something for him? At least, that's the way she takes it. But now all she feels is revulsion. She's disgusted at the very idea of being anywhere near Peter Hale, let alone romantically linked to him. Lydia clutches her stomach, fearful for a moment that she might be sick. When the feeling passes, she's surprised to see Derek standing closer to her, everything about his stance looking tense. She eyes him uncertainly as he shakes his head and returns to his seat.

"So you're saying I have feelings for him?" Lydia shakes her head emphatically, standing. She hardly notices that Derek is on his feet again. "No. No, it isn't that. He's… he's psychotic! He's a killer! I don't feel anything towards him but hatred and disgust and a strong urge to rip him to shreds and be done with it!"

Her voice is frenzied. Her expression is panicked, almost crazed. She hates that she doesn't have full control over her mind, her body, or even her emotions anymore. What happened to Lydia Martin, the most popular girl in school? The one who controlled every little detail of her life, including the way others saw her? What happened to her? Lydia wants that version of herself back.

She's so caught up in her thoughts that Lydia doesn't notice Derek taking a few steps forward until his hands are on her shoulders. Reluctantly, she meets his gaze, and is surprised to see an unfamiliar softness in them.

"Relax," he murmurs, and she nods once. "That's not exactly what I was saying. Peter's cunning. He knows where to hit. He knows weaknesses. Yours is your loneliness." He pauses, expecting some kind of argument, but Lydia says nothing. "He made you trust him, in a way. He made you feel like he cared. When you kissed him, or this younger manifestation of him, you basically sealed the deal and inadvertently gave him permission into your mind, more so than he'd been permitted before."

Despite his grip on them, Lydia's shoulders slump a little bit. Usually she's so strong. All it took was that one moment of weakness, and Peter Hale completely took over. She vows, then and there, not to be weak anymore. She can't afford to be weak. The world is no place for weakness. It preys upon it. Lydia straightens up again. "So now what?" she asks, looking up at him.

"Well." Derek releases her shoulders, crossing his arms. "Now that you're aware of the situation, you'll know what to look out for. Now that Peter's essentially back from the dead, I don't think he'll be in your head much. He's a living being now, rather than an entity. But just in case he does somehow try again, you'll know not to let him get the better of you. Right?" He waits for her to nod before continuing. "Either way, I won't be straying too far away until he's taken care of."

Some of the life floods back into Lydia's face as she looks at him, eyebrows raised skeptically. "Excuse me?"

"You're stuck with me for a while," Derek repeats grimly. He can sense a fight, and he's not really in the mood to deal with it. Then again, when is he ever?

"What do you mean, I'm stuck with you? I have a home to go to. A family who will want to know why there's some creepy guy following me around everywhere. Not to mention school, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to be there. What am I supposed to tell people? 'Oh, hey guys, don't mind him, he's just my guard dog until his psychotic werewolf of an uncle is buried six feet underground again.' I'm sure that would go over so well."

Derek glares at her, his jaw set and his lips in a tight line. "Trust me, Lydia. This is going to be as irritating for me as it is for you. But you're going to be one of his targets. Your immunity is valuable to him."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I don't know," Derek admits. "That's what I need to start figuring out. But in the meantime, you're not leaving my sight. Got it?"

Lydia doesn't like being ordered around, but she knows from his expression and his tone that this topic isn't up for debate. She crosses her arms, looking a bit like a petulant child, and looks away. "Fine," she mutters. If this is the way it's going to be from now on, she's at least going to find ways to take advantage of it. She imagines, briefly, an expensive shopping spree with him holding onto all of her bags. Yes, that sounds like something she could deal with…

"Lydia!" Derek barks, and his eyebrows are furrowed in anger and frustration as she snaps out of her reverie.

"God, what?" she snaps, trying not to look completely startled.

"I told you to get home. Now."

There's something different in his stance, in the way he speaks, in the way he's looking at her. Panic starts to creep its way up her spine again. "What is it?" she demands, doing everything she can to keep her voice steady. But she can tell that he isn't listening to her. He's focused on something else, something probably miles away.

"Go home, Lydia. Run and don't stop until you get there." And then, before she can even argue or tell him that she's angry with him for choosing now to abandon her, after everything they've just discussed, he's running out of the dilapidated building that used to be his home. She follows to the front door, but he's gone in the blink of an eye.

"You've got to be kidding me," she mutters under her breath. But he seemed pretty urgent about her getting home, and she knows better than to stand around and wait for something to happen. So she runs. She runs into the darkness of the forest, unsure of whether it's the right direction or not. All she knows is that she can't stop running. She can never stop running.