A/N: Thanks everyone who has commented, you all are great! And thanks to those who are reading!

The Sheriff had reached his limit, he was exhausted and knew he was on the verge of some serious injury and there was nothing he could do to stop it, but he had work to do. The last few weeks, who was he kidding, months, had seen a massive rise in deaths, all spirituals. Some one out there was targeting the spirituals of his town and the Sheriff could do nothing to stop it, he was out gunned, out manned, and always one step behind. It was too big a situation for him to handle by himself so he called it in, contacted SARS, Spiritual Assault and Rescue Squad. They specialized in cases were spirituals were either the victims or the victimizer. They were also called in when magic was used in terrible and mysterious ways. They were brutal and merciless but had a one hundred percent success rate. If anyone could stop the serial killers, it would be them.

The sheriff sighed as he walked into his house at three in the morning, he'd just finished his paper work for the attack at the school, it was the most horrific thing he'd seen in his life, dead bodies everywhere, blood so thick and slick his officers were slipping and sliding across the school, and children's dead bodies strewn across the campus... and all the sheriff could think of was that it could have been his son…He shook his head and remembered a time when the worst crime he had to deal with was a robbery here and there, maybe some spousal abuse, or an accidental shooting, a murder every decade, but now it was as if he had a new body in the morgue everyday and he just couldn't keep up.

He checked on his son, who was in bed sleeping soundly, the sheets were twisted around his body and he was snoring loudly. The Sheriff smiled, he was proud of him, the Sheriff had seen his son defend his fellow classmates, saw him use non-deadly force, and afterwards Stiles had healed as many injured people he could. At times like that, Stiles reminded him so much of his mother it hurt…He saw it all through Chris Argents state of the line security system and the hundred of cameras that were installed across campus, the guy was obviously crazy but for once the sheriff was grateful to have a reliable first hand source. Tomorrow he would have to get someone to take a statement from Stiles while he went to the hospital to visit Jackson and got a statement from him. Jackson…the hero of the day, at least the way all the witness told it.

He sighed and unbuckled his gun holster and hung it on the nightstand next to his bed, he didn't want to sleep too far from it. Once he was in bed he thought about it, he was so tired, but he climbed out and down the stairs to his front door, he called on his taint and laid his hand on the door and pushed his intent onto it, 'protect my family', and with it he strengthened the wood of the door and the house itself. When he finished he collapsed into his bed and slept for four short hours before he had to go back to the station.

'You okay?' asked Derek not being able to hide the unbearable concern that he'd felt all night. When Jackson didn't come home everyone in the household panicked. Luckily, Stiles called Derek to let him know what had happened, which did nothing to dissipate the families concern. If anything it increased their anxiety ten fold, no one knew what was happening except that someone out there was attacking spirituals. The Whittemore's were busy rounding up all the heads of the spiritual families throughout town to have a community meeting; they wanted to discuss the situation and what they could do to best protect their children, their families, and their businesses.

'You okay?' asked Derek again. He felt as Jackson stirred, he tossed and turned but refused to wake up. Derek called louder, 'Come on…I'm worried Jax.' That got his attention, the boy came to, swam forward from the darkness and blinked, confused.

'Derek,' Jackson had no idea where he was.

'Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling, you okay?'

'Yeah…I'm just fucking sleepy…so tired," Jackson stretched.

Derek chuckled, 'Alright,' he said, 'I'll be here for when you're ready to wake up.' Jackson smiled and curled himself around the tiny piece of Derek's soul and slept peacefully knowing that Derek was watching over him.

In his room, in his old house, Derek opened his eyes and sighed, he was relieved but anxious to have Jackson back. He rose out of his bed and brewed coffee as he showered. He wanted to spend the day next to Jackson's bed so he wouldn't be alone or in danger, a bit overly concerned, but he wanted to do it regardless, he wanted to be the first person Jackson saw when he opened his eyes.

He ate breakfast slowly and thought about what he could bring Jackson as a present. He couldn't take flowers, no, that was stupid, he needed to bring something Jackson would love, a card…too impersonal, some food…maybe. This was harder than Derek thought it would be.

He drank his coffee and reached into his mind, to that tiny little piece of Jackson that now lived inside him. He was still sound asleep, Derek let him rest, he needed it. He couldn't think of anything to bring him…Maybe it would be enough to just be there for him. That thought was sudden and completely foreign, it itched. He couldn't help smiling, Jackson wasn't as asleep as Derek thought if he was putting ideas in his head.

He dressed quickly and headed to the hospital, Jackson would be up soon and the boy wanted to see his boyfriend.

Allison laughed, threw her head back and closed her eyes. Matt was eating jell-o, or trying to, most of it was smeared across the bed, staining the sheets purple. Matt refused to let Allison feed him, it was too fucking embarrassing really, but Allison had insisted so much and looked so sincere it made Matt dizzy, but he was still stuck in his cast unable to move at all and he had desperately tried to move his head to his hand, which he was sure looked ridiculous. Allison took the spoon from Matt's hand and filled it with jell-o and placed it in front of Matt. He reached out tentatively, blushing furiously, and ate. It was good, and Allison was smiling wide which made him feel completely weird.

Matt had trouble remembering what had happened the day of his accident, shit, he had trouble remembering the week. The only thing he remembered was his house on fire and going on a walk. But it didn't matter now, he felt oddly liberated. As if some dark weight in his life had been lifted, dissipated, and having Allison at his bed side was proof of that, she was the shinning sun that chased away the dark shadows he once felt suffocating him. He opened his mouth and waggled his eyebrow at Allison, trying to coax more jell-o from her, she laughed and rolled her eyes. But he got another spoon full of jell-o, and then another, and soon it was gone. Allison smiled wide at him, and Matt smiled back, he couldn't stop blushing.

Allison was trying hard to pretend to be happy but the truth was she was scared. First the attack at the hospital, then the school, that couldn't be a coincidence…

While being human Allison could understand why some other people might feel that spirituals had all the advantages in life, after all they had access to powerful magics. Allison never believed that advantage was real though, it was an illusion. Yes, spirituals could do magic, but society only let them have very specific jobs, and while a spiritual could grow rich and powerful in those positions, they could never choose to be anything else. In that light, magic became a parlor trick, something that at the end of the day wasn't really impressive, at least not the way people used it, and anyways, only a very small amount of spirituals ever became really good at magic since it took a lot of practice.

Allison feared that some human out there had formed a group into a small anti-spiritual army to take back…she shrugged to herself, she didn't know, but the idea terrified her. History showed what happened when one group hated another for no other reason than because they were different.

But Matt was awake and safe now and Allison felt as if she'd been vindicated, she could breathe again. Matt smiled at her and blushed; she rolled her eyes but smiled back.

"You know…you don't have to stay if you don't want to…I mean…there isn't much to do…I'm kind of stuck here." Matt didn't want Allison to be there just because she felt obligated. He didn't want her to feel guilty, even if she was.

"I'm here because I want to be, so stop trying to get me to leave…unless you want me to leave—"

"No! You can stay."

"Alright then," said Allison smiling and turned on the television.

Sheriff Stilinski yawned and took a deep drink of his coffee. The last few days had been hell on his sleep and his body ached and eyes itched terribly. He walked into the hospital and was luckily greeted by Mrs. McCall at the front desk.

"Melissa, how are you doing, I hope you've heard about what happened at the school."

"It's the only thing Scott talks about…he killed someone apparently…he was so happy about it…I have to admit that terrified me, but I guess if it was between a random stranger or my son…well…anyways what can I do for you sheriff."

"I was hoping to speak to the Whittemore boy; he was apparently in the middle of the whole mess."

"Well he's in one of the private rooms, but I don't think he's awake yet."

"Is it alright if I go see him anyways?" asked the sheriff giving Melissa his most charming smile.

"Sure…Derek Hale is there, I'm no quite sure why. I think maybe his parents asked the man to guard him or something…"

"Thanks, for the warning Melissa," the sheriff sighed as he walked into an elevator and pushed the button for the second floor. The lift was full of patients, nurses, and visitors and the man had to squeeze and shuffle himself into a space made for someone half his size. He yawned wide as someone chatted away about some online game to no one in particular, most people looked annoyed. The sheriff shook his head as he walked out of the elevator. He instantly became lost and walked aimlessly around the halls until he finally found the right room.

Inside, it looked like any other hospital room, grey walls, grey sheets, and grey chairs with a shitty television drilled into one of the walls. But this one had a west facing window, and as the sun rose that morning it washed the room with its yellow rays. The Sheriff could see the forest from the wide open window and its green quite beauty. Jackson was sleeping in the bed, small smile on his face. Derek sat next him and was currently brushing the hair out of the boys face with his own fond smile. The sheriff thought he understood the situation between Derek and Jackson more than Melissa seemed to, then again her son had to get his cluelessness from somewhere.

"Derek," said the Sheriff and nodded his head towards the younger man.

"Sheriff Stilinski…"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to come and bother you but I needed to talk to Jackson."

"He won't be up for a while, maybe an hour or two," Derek closed his eyes as he said this, "yeah an hour seems about right. Feel free to wait…you kind of seem to need…a breather," finished Derek with a small smile pulling at his lips.

The Sheriff thought about it for a second before dropping into one of the grey seats in the corner and finishing off his coffee in a long gulp. He tossed the empty cup in a garbage can next to his seat and sighed. He sat in the room, rested, for half an hour before Derek broke the silence. He cleared his throat in a clear indication that he wanted to talk.

"Mr. Stilinski I've been meaning to talk to you for a while…Stiles always talks about you and…I've had questions…"

"Okay," said the Sheriff with absolutely no idea what Derek wanted.

Derek sighed before jumping straight into it, "I wanted to know, and feel free to turn me down but I could really use some…advice. I want to know how you and your wife bonded, how different was it, are there things I needed to know," Derek sighed again, louder, more desperate, "I have no idea what I'm doing and I almost ruined it once…I can't let that happen again and you're the only person I know who has been through it before…" Derek waited and hoped Stiles' father wouldn't be too insulted or taken aback. But the man just looked at him with a look on his face that Derek couldn't decipher. Then he turned that same look on Jackson and Derek knew that that man knew, and couldn't help blushing.

The sheriff shook his head and sighed, "Your kind of in a shit situation…there's so much about angelics that I still don't understand, but…well you should know right now that you can't cheat on him, he'll always know, and who ever you cheat on him with…he'll kill them…without mercy or regret…"

"Yeah…I kind of already found that out the hard way…but he didn't kill anyone…that I know of…"

The Sheriff gave him a chastising look before going on, "Well, angelics share oil to seal the mating bond, they also do it to strength it so get used to being oiled up…umm…grooming is important and if you haven't done it already you should really read up on it…also about the oil, because we're demonics and don't produce any we have to find something else to use. I used to use olive oil, it was kind of weird but it fulfilled its role," the sheriff chuckled, "I found out later that it isn't the exchange of oil that's important, well it is, but the emotions behind it are more so." The sheriff stopped talking as a far off look settled on his face. He shook his head, clearing away memories of the past, memories of things that had already faded away.

"You can probably read about all this online…" The Sheriff wasn't sure if he could keep going, Derek was forcing him to remember things he fought hard to forget. Her voice, the smell of her oil, and the feel of her skin, all things he missed more than anything else in his life and Derek was reminding him of it all, reminding him that he didn't really remember, no, all he had were shadows, things he so desperately clung to only to have them slip from his hands more and more everyday until they were gone. He sighed.

"I…I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked…I didn't think…It's just," Derek turned to the sleeping boy and he felt it, he felt Jackson and was stunned that a boy like him, a boy who so desperately tried to keep the world out with a tough exterior, could feel so much love, had so much affection he wanted to give and get in return and Derek was so overwhelmed, "I love him, and I need to do everything right…"

The sheriff opened his mouth but was silenced when the door to Jackson's room slammed open. Derek was on his feet before the older man had even flinched, he had his sword out and extended towards the door. Stiles stopped dead in his tracks, before putting his hands up. Derek and Sheriff Stilinski sighed loudly as Stiles walked into the room.

"Sorry…hey dad," Stiles waved at his father who grumbled under his breath, "I came to visit." Stiles smiled and, not finding any chairs threw himself onto Jackson's bed across his feet. He pulled out his cell phone and the two older men suddenly felt out of place. Derek sighed before sliding back down onto his chair.

"Derek if you really want, maybe one day you and Jackson can join me and my son for dinner,"

"That sounds nice, thank you."

At that moment Jackson groaned, "Get off my legs you bastard," he kicked his legs out and tossed Stiles onto the floor. He coughed and slowly opened his eyes before scrunching them shut again. Derek moved the curtains over the windows and blocked out the harsh light before taking Jackson's hand and squeezing it.

"Jackson you okay,"

"No, I'm hungry and thirsty and wished I'd told you to bring me a burger," Derek filled a glass with water and placed in Jackson's hands.

"I'll go get you something from the cafeteria," Derek wrapped his hand around Stiles' neck who was slowly climbing to his feet and checking his phone for cracks, "while I'm gone the Sheriff wants to have a word with you about what happened yesterday at the school." Derek pushed Stiles out the door and closed it quietly behind him.

"So," started the Sheriff, "what happened."

Stiles had five bags of chips, four Snickers, two bags of twinkies, and a can of all in a plastic bag which he was swinging around. He and Derek were slowly making their way back to Jackson's room, Derek wanted to give the Sheriff and Jackson time to talk, Stiles wanted to know what they were saying, he would just have to read his fathers notes later.

"So you and Jackson are a couple or something now," said Stiles completely shocking Derek.

"You knew that already," said Derek. Stiles did, Jackson had told Stiles everything.

"Well yeah Jackson told me you and him were…dancing around each other, but he never said you guys were 'official'. Well I guess I'm asking if everything is good with you two now, he wouldn't tell me anything in school yesterday and so…they cancelled it by the way, school, indefinitely. Which is, awesome, I was trying to see if I can get Jackson to go out of town. There's a lake me and my dad and mom used to go to a lot and, well I was feeling nostalgic. You can come too…and maybe invite Scott…" Stiles finally stopped talking. Derek didn't speak, they just kept walking and Stiles swung his plastic bag until it final snapped and shot out of his hand spilling everything onto the floor. Derek gave Stiles a look and a low growl before climbing over the stuff and into Jackson's room.

"Hey Derek, Jackson, JACKSON, I got you chips, chips!"

Jackson was released later than evening, Derek drove him home. Stiles and his dad had staid most of the day, the Sheriff slept as Jackson and Stiles played a game on their cell phones, Derek sat around and watched, happy to be near Jackson. But all Jackson could think about was the Sheriff and how ragged he looked; he desperately needed a partner someone to ease some of the weight off his shoulders, take on some of the responsibility of protecting the town, the man needed help. But the other officers were all human, spirituals weren't usually allowed into law enforcement, people felt that they would give other spirituals more leniency since the spiritual community was so close knit. But that was ridiculous, and Mr. Stilinski had proven that, but the mayor refused to hire other spirituals which meant that the sheriff had to handle most cases himself since he was the only person on the force who could do any magic. Jackson would speak to his parents about it, maybe there was something they could do.

Jackson was surprised to find his them home, they were cooking dinner and talking about some shit Jackson didn't care enough to bother listening to. But they welcomed him home warmly and Jackson returned the affection, much to their surprise, he hugged them and kissed them, Jackson was happy to be home. Yesterday, there had been a point he wasn't sure he was going to make it back.

Derek staid for dinner, and all four of them sat down to an easy, quite meal. They didn't speak about the attack at the school. Instead, Jackson's parents talked about the curfew they were going to petition the mayor to set, about the armed guards they wanted at the school and the hospital. Jackson told his parents that if they wanted any of that to happen they were going to have to force them to hire more police men since they were seriously understaffed, Jackson let it slip that there weren't even any spirituals on the force, which seemed to set his parents off, they had fought hard against discrimination to get the jobs they had and to hear that such obvious discrimination was happening in their backyard was outrages.

Derek asked them if they didn't think it was a good idea to send Jackson away, for a few days, as the dust settled, he said it was just about time some reporter let it slip that Jackson had defended the school against the unknown attackers and that was sure to bring unwanted attention on the boy, from the towns people and from whoever was targeting spirituals. They were going to make Jackson an obvious target. His parents hadn't thought of that but couldn't think of where they could possible send him. Derek knew about a lake, Stiles' lake, and had found cabins in the area for rent, he'd already rented them out for the week, of course he didn't tell the Whittemore's that. Jackson's parents thought about it, they weren't sure it was a good idea to leave Jackson alone; the 'with Derek' part went unsaid. But Derek spent the rest of the dinner trying to convince them, to no avail. It wasn't until Jackson turned the television on that everything seemed to fall into place. There was a full news report on the attack of the school, with footage taken from cell phones, all of them showing Jackson fighting off the attackers, keeping them from going past him, giving the people around him time to flee through the back of the school. The police hadn't let Jackson's name or his involvement in the situation slip, it was only a matter of time for people to start talking and figure it out.

His parents had Jackson's truck packed and ready to go an hour later, Jackson called Stiles who showed up not much after that, packed and rearing to go. Derek called Scott and told him where to meet them, he made sure to express how no one must know where they were going, which meant Scott had to be careful that he wasn't followed, which meant that for once in his life Scott needed to pay close attention to what was happening around him. Derek wasn't sure that was possible.

It was late evening and the sun was slowly slipping below the horizon while Jackson drove south. The roads were fairly empty and the cabin wasn't too far from where they were, only four hours.

"Derek…should I be scared…I mean this was kind of sudden, and lots of shit I don't understand is happening and I don't know if I should be scared or not…cause I kind of am…"

"Don't be, this is precautionary. With that stupid news report people are going to find out that the person in those videos is you…and we don't want to be there when they do…but things like this always blow over, we just have to stay out of sight for a while, so think of it as a week long vacation." Derek wrapped his tail around Jackson's torso in a hug, it was an attempt at comfort, a half assed one. But if Derek was honest with himself, he knew he should tell Jackson that there was in fact reason to be scared. Someone out there wasn't just targeting spirituals, they were targeting Jackson, first with the poison in his food, then at his school, and god, for all Derek knew there could have been a million different time Jackson had almost died without even realizing it. He curled his tail just a bit tighter around Jackson.

Scott ducked around the bushes and into the backyard. It was dark and most people were all ready in their rooms preparing for sleep. Scott wasn't sure how secretive he was meant to be, so he decided to just take it to its extreme. He stuck to the bushes, he ducked down and grabbed some rocks and started flinging them at a window. When the lights went off he ducked into the shadows and waited to see who came out to look. 'Bingo', Danny's head popped out the window and looked around, Scott stood and waved his arms, Danny scowled.

Ever since Scott broke up with Allison, all they seemed to do was fight. Danny knew it was mostly his fault, he knew that he still resented Scott for using him as an insult against Allison and Danny was making Scott pay for it. But, the truth was Danny felt guilty, he and Scott had been going behind Allison's back for a while and now Scott was trying to make them something more than they were, and Danny wasn't sure if he wanted that.

Danny walked down the stairs and into the back yard. Scott was waiting for him near the back door, sheepish look on his face.

"So…for some reason Derek wants me to meet him at some lake…we're going to be there for a week and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me…I know its been weird between us…I know there's something wrong…" Scott stopped talking and cast his eyes down to the ground before looking back up at Danny through his bangs, his pup eye look. 'Damn', he was fucking cute.

Danny sighed, school was cancelled, and problems or not he liked Scott, maybe getting away and reevaluating everything would help fix them. "Give me like an hour."

An hour and a half later the two boys were heading down the highway.

Wednesday morning Stiles slowly drove into the parking space in front of the cabins. He killed the engine and turned to the back seat. Derek and Jackson were wrapped around each other, Jackson on top, his wings spread out and taking up all the space, Derek beneath arms wrapped around Jackson, his tail holding him close. Stiles sighed, he was jealous, he wanted what they had, he wanted someone to hold close, someone to love. He knew that person wasn't Scott, even if he once thought it had been. But if someone like Jackson could find someone…

He slammed the door close and hoped it would wake the two love birds. Stiles walked into the main office to check them in, he got two keys, for two cabins. He wasn't going to sleep with Scott, he was still pissed at him for dumping him for Allison and then Danny, which meant he was about to play cock blocker. He walked back to the car and was treated to the image of Jackson and Derek dry humping against the hood. He cleared his throat then coughed and finally said, "Will you two quit it and help me unload the truck!"

Jackson laughed, the bastard had been doing it on purpose. Stiles turned, mumbling under his breath, to open the cabins while Derek and Jackson unloaded the truck. To both boys surprise Derek said he was sleeping in one cabin with Scott while Jackson and Stiles slept in the other. Jackson scowled but didn't fight him on the point, everyone knew that arrangement wasn't going to last. Once all the bags were in cabin Derek went off to buy food while Jackson and Stiles slept.

Derek came back to find them sprawled on the same bed, and pushing down a quick flash of jealous, was able to appreciate how innocent they looked. He packed each cabin with enough food to last a month, but Derek knew it probably wasn't going to last the week. When he was done he threw himself in the other bed and closed his eyes, the week was going to be great, Derek knew it. What scared him was going back to Beacon Hills, he knew that whatever was happening was going to hit the fan the instant they got back…and he was scared…