"How do you feel about bondage?"

It was the Monday after Thanksgiving break, and halfway through his last class of the day, Derek had gotten the text to come over and fuck Lydia at his earliest convenience. Seriously, that's how she had phrased it, and it had made Derek let out a laugh that made his professor pause and give him a dirty look. Harris wasn't exactly the easiest guy to get along with.

After class ended, Derek practically flew to the apartment that Lydia, Allison and Kira shared. Yeah, so maybe he was a little easy, but this was Lydia, and their fuck sessions were pretty damn hot. They hadn't fucked since their little blowjob and pussy eating thing on Thanksgiving, and he was already hard for her. He'd been needing a fix lately. It was bad, Derek knew, because he craved her like some people crave drugs, and when she decided she didn't want to do this anymore, it would be pretty hard on him, but that's just the way it was. The only choice Derek really had was to make Lydia feel the same way about him that he did about her.

The question, though, that seemed to be completely out of left field, and it had taken Derek entirely by surprise. He looked at her for a long moment before clearing his throat, "That depends. What kind are we talking about here?"

"Nothing too hardcore or kinky, don't worry about that." Lydia sighed, rummaging through the top drawer of her nightstand before producing a pair of handcuffs.

"Those look real," he said before he could help himself. "Where'd you get them?"

She shrugged, "Stiles."

Derek's eyes widened in surprise, "I was never aware the two of you were a thing."

"We weren't," she said without offering an explanation. She looked at him, "Anyway, like I was about to say, I want you to handcuff me to the headboard and take me apart slowly. I want you to really draw it out, make me want you. Delay the orgasm to make it so much better when I get to come – when you tell me I can come."

Derek licked his lips, surprised at the last sentence. Finally, he said, "I never pegged you for the submissive type."

She shook her head, "Not usually. Every once in a while, though. In fact, I haven't done this in a really long time. I need to know that I can trust the person whole heartedly. I never could with Aiden – I just couldn't trust him enough. But you're pack, Derek, and I've trusted you with my life more than once. I know you're not going to hurt me – if you wanted to, you've had enough chances. Tell me I can trust you with this."

Words seemed to have escaped him, so Derek just nodded.

"I need to hear you say it, Der," Lydia said softly.

Derek swallowed, "You can trust me, Lydia. I'm not gonna hurt you."

With that, Lydia handed over the handcuffs and the key. Derek set them down on the nightstand, saying, "First, stand up. I just want to look at you."

Feeling rather nervous, Lydia did as he asked. Derek licked his lips before he subtly ran his nose down her cheek, nuzzling her. She smelled so fucking good. He ran his stubble over the skin on her neck, making her groan. He kissed her lightly on the neck before wrapping his hands around her and leaving open mouthed kisses on her skin.

"Fuck, Lydia, you smell so good," he groaned. Giving her neck one last kiss, he stepped back to look at her. Flushed and sexually aroused was a good look on her.

He took her clothes off slowly, drawing it out. The scent of her arousal hung in the air and Derek loved it, loved the fact that he could do this to her. Finally, when she was naked, he said to her, "Get on the bed, Lyds."

Lydia nodded and did as he asked. "Aren't you going to take off your clothes?"

"In time," he answered. "Don't worry about that right now." He looked at her for a moment, and she could tell that he was nervous. She waited for him to speak, because she knew he was going to, "Are you one hundred percent sure you want this, Lydia? Because I swear to God that if you want to stop, I absolutely will."

Lydia laughed, "Don't worry about it, Derek. If I feel uncomfortable, I'll tell you, okay? But yes, I want this. I want you to cuff me to the bed and fuck me like you mean it."

Derek shrugged, leaning over and cuffing her into place before stepping back to just look at her.

"God, you're so fucking beautiful," he mumbled, and it brought color to her cheeks. Sure, Lydia knew that she was good looking, but not a lot of people actually told her she was beautiful. Hot and sexy, sure, but she couldn't recall the last time someone had used the word beautiful. "How badly do you want me, Lyds?"

"Bad, so fucking bad," she said. Slowly, Derek started taking off his clothes, watching her face. He stripped off his Henley, and the rest of his clothes followed suit, and pretty soon he was in nothing but a pair of black boxers. He licked his lips slowly, deliberately, and his eyes roamed up and down her body, looking his fill.

"I need more than that," he said, taking a finger and running it lightly down her chest and stomach. "Talk, Lydia. Tell me how I make you feel."

"Fucking Christ, Derek, you make me feel so fucking good. So different from what anybody's ever made me feel before. Everything about you is different – so different, but so fucking good." Lydia rambled on a little bit longer, but Derek wasn't really paying attention. Part of him wanted to believe that she was talking about in all aspects, aside from the sexual, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up. He couldn't get his hopes up.

He sat down between her spread legs and said, "Jesus Christ, Lydia, you have no idea how good you look like this. Just tied up and waiting for me to take you." And holy crap, where was all this coming from? Derek'd never really been like this in bed before, so was it just Lydia that was making it come out?

Derek ran a finger up her leg, watching as she trembled from the contact. Finally, fucking finally, he leaned over and took a nipple in his mouth. As he sucked on the hardened bud, Lydia groaned loudly. It felt so fucking good, and he bit it gently, taking his teeth and just nipping at it. Once he was satisfied with that, he switched and nipped at the other one.

"How's this feel, Lydia?" he asked lowly, his voice coming out in somewhat a growl. "Tell me how I make you feel."

Lydia groaned again before saying, "It feels so good, Derek. You make me feel like no one ever has. Please, I don't care about anything else, I want you to fuck me. Please, please fuck me."

She sounded so needy, and the voice she used went straight to his cock. Shaking his head, he said, "Not yet. I want to taste you first."

Lydia took a deep breath as Derek situated himself and licked up her slit. Lydia groaned loudly and Derek smirked against her skin. He ate her out slowly, taking his time to really explore what made her feel good. Of course, by this stage in their relationship, he pretty much knew how to get her off, but he was finding this time that there were some other things she liked that he didn't know about. He never really would have guessed, but this handcuffing her and talking to her thing got her so very fucking wet. He spread her lower lips with his fingers and continued to eat her out until she gasped, "Please, Derek, need you on my clit."

He obliged, taking the pink bud into his mouth and sucking on it. Lydia gasped at the feeling and said, "More, Derek. Need more, c'mon."

He inserted one finger inside of her as he took her clit in-between his teeth and bit on it gently. He fucked in and out of her with his finger, and then graduated to two, which graduated to three. As he sucked on her clit and fucked her with three of his fingers, she groaned, "Shit, Der, gonna come."

"No, you're not. Not yet," he said, withdrawing his fingers and taking his mouth off of her. She let out a low growl.

"If you decide you don't want this anymore, Lydia, just tell me," Derek said gently. "I'm willing to do whatever is comfortable for you."

"I'm good," Lydia said. Derek nodded.

"You taste so fucking good, Lydia. God damn, you're fucking addicting," he said, licking her juices off his fingers. He took some more time, kissing every inch of her skin, before inserting two fingers back inside of her. He fucked them into her ruthlessly and said, "C'mon, Lyds, I want you to come for me."

"Shit," she groaned as she complied, tightening around his fingers.

"Goddamn, I can't wait to feel that on my cock," he groaned, withdrawing his fingers from inside of her. "It's gonna feel so good, you're going to feel so fucking amazing around me." He was giving Lydia a couple of minutes to catch her breath, so he said, "Where're your condoms?"

She nodded towards the nightstand, "First drawer." Derek got one out and threw it on the pillow next to her and then took his boxers off. He knelt by her head and said, "I want you to suck my cock."

Lydia groaned as she could feel herself starting to get wet again. "Come closer," she said, tuning her head. She had never actually given a blowjob in this position before, so it would be a new experience, and she felt a little limited being tied up the way she was, but did the best she could. As she licked a stripe up the underside, Derek groaned and grabbed her head. "This okay? I mean, can I fuck your mouth?" he asked.

"Yeah. 's fine," she answered before putting her mouth back on him. He fucked into her mouth a couple of times and said, "I'm not going to come yet. I want to be inside you before that happens. But suck my cock, baby. You're so fucking good at it."

She never realized that his talking would be such a turn on for her, but she was just going to roll with it. She relaxed her mouth as he slipped into her throat. She tried to hum around him the best she could, and before she even really knew what was happening, he withdrew himself from her mouth.

He was breathing heavily as he put the condom on; Lydia riled him up way more than anybody ever had, so he was shaking a little. He thrust into her in one thrust, and when he bottomed out, Lydia groaned, "So good, Der. You feel fucking fantastic inside of me. Now, move."

He did as she asked, setting a somewhat slower pace than normal.

"Faster," she said, but he just shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said. "We're doing this the way I want to do it, and that's slow and deep." He fucked her slowly, kissing her neck and chest and any other skin he could reach. Lydia was trying to move her hips so he'd fuck into her harder and faster, and he grabbed her hair and pulled. As she groaned, he repeated, "We're doing this the way I want to, Lyds. Who's in charge here?"

"You are," she mumbled out.

"So let me do this," he said. "I'm gonna make you come so hard, baby, but good things happen to those who wait."

"Don't wanna wait," she grumbled, but he pretended not to hear her.

He decided to give in and move a little faster. This went on for a little while, but Lydia was getting frustrated. She was on the edge of tears, "C'mon, Derek," she begged. "I need this. I'm so fucking close. Please, please fuck me harder. I need just a little more."

He obliged, fucking into her hard and fast, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "It's okay, Lydia. C'mon, let go. I wanna feel you come around me."

This was enough to send her over the edge. She cried out in relief as she came around him. He followed not long after, exploding into the condom, and almost fell down on top of her afterwards. He caught himself, rolling over and just lying beside her for a long minute.

Once his heartbeat had slowed down a little, he pulled off the condom and tied it off, throwing in the trash can that Lydia kept beside her nightstand. He leaned over her and got the key to the handcuffs, taking them off her. She rubbed her wrists before saying, "Thanks, Derek."

"What even brought that on?" he asked. He rolled over so he was lying on his side facing her.

She shrugged, "Had a bad day. People are stupid. Especially those people who think they know everything."

He snickered, "Like you?"

That may have annoyed her a month ago, but this time, Lydia did her best to give him a fake glare and then burst out laughing. "There's a difference. I actually know things. These people, though, they just think that they do."

"So is this about control?" he asked, trying to understand what was going on in her head.

Lydia shook her head, "Not really. I'm not into BDSM, not really. Just sometimes I like being tied up like that. I just felt like doing this. Like I said, I can't do this with just anyone. I haven't been able to do it in a really long time. I need to know that I can trust them, and believe it or not, there aren't a whole lot of guys I can trust like that."

"But me?" he asked, feeling a little proud that she knew she could trust him like that.

"You're different. We're pack. And I know that I don't always exactly like you, and you don't always exactly like me, but there've been times where you've saved my life. If you wanted me dead, I would've been a long time ago. You're pack, and I know that I can trust you. There's no question about it."

"It actually feels really good to hear you say that," Derek said softly. Lydia looked over at him and smiled. It wasn't one of those fake smiles that she used to give Aiden, either, Derek noted; this smile was genuine and he was going to savor that in his memory for as long as he could.

-x-

Lydia was in her Probability and Statistics class that Friday, the last class of the day, when she got the call. Whenever Lydia was in class, she always turned her phone on vibrate, just in case of an emergency, but never answered it. So she let it go to voicemail. Then she got the text. This is John. I need to talk to you. It's about your mother. Call me as soon as you can.

Knowing that the sheriff would only contact her about her mother if it was urgent, Lydia told the professor that she had a family emergency and she needed to go. He gave her the homework and the obligatory I hope everything's alright/Let me know if you need anything speech that the teachers seemed to say whenever they couldn't think of anything else, and she left. She went out into her car and called John, fingers shaking so badly she wasn't even sure if she could dial.

"What's wrong with her?" Lydia asked when he answered the phone. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was worried.

"It's a relapse. The depression, it's back again, and…fuck, Lydia, it's worse than ever. She's at the hospital right now, they gave her a shot of Thorazine and she's down for the count."

"John, it's been six years since Dad died," Lydia said. "What set it off this time?"

John cleared his throat uneasily and said, "I, uh…we were talking about a future together. I asked her if she'd ever want to get married again." Lydia made a sound that John took for disapproval, so she continued, "It probably wasn't the brightest question to ask, but hey, Peter and Mel just got engaged after seven years of dating, and…I just needed to know, Lyds."

"Don't worry about it," Lydia said. "Are they talking about moving her?"

"The psych ward at the main hospital is only for short term care, but they'll keep her up to ten days. Right now, she really needs you. I'm sorry, sweetie, but you're gonna have to come home for a little while."

Lydia nodded, even though she knew John couldn't see her, "Yeah, okay. Uh…I can be on my way in about an hour."

"Hey, Lyds?" John said, sounding almost like an afterthought. "Don't come alone, okay? Bring someone with you. I don't care if it's Stiles, or Allison, or even Scott or one of the Hales, but just bring someone. I don't want you to be alone right now."

"I'm fine," Lydia said. "I'm not going to have a breakdown."

"I know how much your mom means to you," he said, sounding tired. "But just…do this one thing for me, okay?"

That was how, fifteen minutes later, she found herself pacing in front of the Hales' doorstep. She could've gone to Stiles first; hell, she could have gone to any other person first, but her first instinct was to go see Derek.

Why, though? She and Derek weren't friends. They were fucking – and that was it. Why would she ask him to accompany her to Beacon Hills? Besides, he was taking a full load this semester and needed to be at class, and was only a couple of years away from his degree, and –

Her thoughts halted when Derek opened the front door, shirtless and sweat glistening on his body. She must've interrupted his workout, which was weird, since it was almost four in the afternoon, but Lydia didn't dwell on that too much. Derek looked at her for a long minute before saying, "What's wrong?"

"Is Cora, Laura or Malia here?" she asked. She had come to see Derek, but he didn't need to know that. She was really close to Cora, Laura and Malia, so people would expect her to come here to see them.

"Nope. Stiles, work, and class," he said. "Do you wanna tell me what's going on?"

Lydia licked her lips absentmindedly before saying, "My mom had a relapse. I've gotta get to Beacon Hills, but the sheriff doesn't want me to come alone. I'm going to have to be there for about a week and I don't know who to ask –"

"Lyds," Derek said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "Are you trying to find my sisters or cousin to go home with you?"

"Actually," Lydia said, licking her lips one more time, "I was hoping you would."

-x-

Derek was confused. He wasn't sure why Lydia would ask this of him. Of course he was going to do it; Lydia was pack, and he was willing to do anything she asked of him, within reason, of course. All he knew when he answered the door was that his mate was freaking out and he needed to do something – anything – to make it stop. She smelt of fear and anxiety, and he knew right away something wasn't right.

When Lydia asked him if he'd go to Beacon Hills with her, he was in his email in a flash. He sent emails to all his professors and was thankful that he didn't even have to start practicing for baseball until the middle of February. Sure, he did weight training and everything during the winter, but didn't have to stay at Berkeley for that – there was a pretty sophisticated gym in the Hale house that Peter had pestered Talia about until she gave in. Derek packed a bag of clothes and grabbed his laptop, and took Lydia over to her apartment to get her things.

Lydia had wanted to drive her car home, and have Derek drive his, but he vetoed the idea right away. "If my mom found out that I made you drive your car all the way home by yourself at a time like this, she'd skin me alive," Derek had said. "Then, she'd wait for me to heal and do it again just so she knew the message sunk in."

Lydia laughed nervously, but Derek knew that she was concerned. After Richard Martin died when Lydia was sixteen, Natalie was all that she had left, and she tried to take better care of her mother. Like Stiles was on his dad's case about eating better, Lydia was on Natalie's about taking her anti-depressants and making sure she got enough positive things in her life. Lydia was a lot like Stiles in one respect – when faced with something new that she didn't understand, she researched the hell out of it. When Natalie was diagnosed with depression and had to spend a year and a half in Eichen House, Lydia spent a lot of sleepless nights researching what she could do for her mother. Hell, both Lydia and Stiles had spent sleepless nights fueled with Red Bull and Wikipedia.

The fear and anxiety was coming off Lydia in waves, and Derek could practically taste the tang of it, so, glancing over at her for about a second, he grabbed one of her hands with one of his. He rubbed his thumb over hers and said, "It's gonna be okay, Lydia. We're not going to make you deal with this by yourself, you know. We're going to be there for you."

"It's not exactly that," Lydia said. "I haven't seen Mom like this in years, really, and all it took was John talking to her about her future. I know she quit seeing that therapist I wanted her to see and she did really great for a while, but I'm always going to worry about her. I mean, Dad's death hit me pretty hard, yes, but it hit her even harder. I mean, I can't even begin to imagine what it would feel like if my husband, the love of my life, was just gone one day. It's a hurt that I don't even understand how people get over. But I know that John wants to settle down with Mom, and I'm ecstatic about that, really – after everything they both have been through, they deserve some happiness. But, Derek, I don't know what to do or what to think. I have to be strong for her, but sometimes, I…sometimes I can't even be strong for myself."

"When you can't be strong, that's what you've got pack for, Lydia," Derek answered honestly. "We're there for each other. And I'm always going to be here when you need me. I'm not going anywhere."

"I have to be strong, though, Derek. I can't always depend on other people."

"I know that," Derek said. "But I also know that you're not meant to keep everything inside. If you need help, you need to ask – that's what pack does. I know it's somewhat a foreign concept to you, since you weren't brought into the whole pack dynamic until you were fifteen, but Lydia, I grew up with it. The alpha's job is to take care of her pack, and the pack leans on each other. We're like a family, and we've always been like that. You leaned on us when Natalie was in Eichen House, remember?"

"I was sixteen and a minor," Lydia answered. "I couldn't take care of myself and I literally had nowhere else to turn."

"You know that Chris, John, or even Melissa would have taken you in in a heartbeat," Derek said. "Think about it, Lydia. We've all grown really close, and as much as I want to hate Chris Argent because of his hunting my kind, I can't. We take care of each other. And if you tried to deal with this alone, it would really hurt my mom."

"Talia?" Lydia asked, and Derek gave her a duh expression. "Why?"

"She thinks of all you guys as her children, in a way. Kind of like an extended family, really. She loves you all, and since taking care of you like she did for that year and a half, you're more her child than most. You're a smart girl, Lydia, and I know you know all of this without me having to tell you. Why don't you think you deserve help?"

"I'm just worried about my mom, Derek," Lydia answered. "I'm not making a hell of a lot of sense right now, I know."

When they got to Beacon Hills and to the hospital, Lydia talked to Melissa at the front desk for a minute, trying to get an update on her mom.

"She's still sleeping it off," Melissa said. "She had a minor psychotic episode and…well it was more like a crying episode. She was brought here because she couldn't handle herself and she had a knife, Lydia. We were pretty sure she was going to hurt either herself or someone else, and you know that's when we have to act."

Lydia nodded, "So what now? I mean, therapy, anger management classes, what?"

"They're gonna want to keep her here for at least a couple of days, but it's not going to be like the last time she was admitted. I honestly don't think it's bad enough that they're going to send her to Eichen House. She just needs to learn coping abilities. I mean, it's been six years since the last time, and I think she just needs to brush up. There's a really great partial program here at the hospital, kinda like being hospitalized without being hospitalized. It's a program that runs from eight AM to four PM, they serve lunch there, and they have group therapy and teach you about triggers and how to avoid them. I really think that you should suggest it to her."

"I have no say in this and you know that, Mel," Lydia said. "They're gonna keep her here as long as they want to, and they're going to tell her what she needs to do, because they can get a court order if they want."

"I know, but it'll run so much more smoothly if she cooperates. You should talk to her about that, for her sake."