I've been staring at this blank page for over an hour. Suddenly Ive lost contact with where I was going to take this story. So anyways Im just gonna wing it and please bear with me Im really dragging this one out today.

Marley watched the trees blur past her vision as they drove, leaning with the movement of the car she bent over and put her head against the dash board.

"If you keep driving like this your going to make me sick!" She groaned covering the back of her head with both hands and breathing deep. She often enough got motion sickness when she wasn't the one driving.

Derek smirked to himself and whipped the Camaro around the corner onto their street. Marley sat up then, an obvious sickly shade of white, she frowned at how fast they had made It from the restaurant to the street they both lived on.

Biting her lip she turned to look at Derek, he was staring ahead at the road but there was this small smile plastered to his lips. Turning her attention back to the road before her thoughts got away from her, she suddenly tugged on Derek's pants leg.

"Do me a favor…can uhm can we roll by the house real quick?" Derek's head jerked to the side in surprise, pushing his foot squarely against the brake pedal the car came to a stop just before his driveway.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Mar?" He half turned in his seat, trying to read the expression on her face.

"Can't be a bad one, I need to see just what I'm going to have to clean up…" She was nervously chewing on her bottom lip again so he reached forward and let his hand rest on the side of her neck, his thumb making lazy circles there.

"Aright…Ill make you a deal? You get five minutes in there no more no less then we go back to my place and get you settled in."

"Set…what are you talking about I thought we agreed to take me to a hotel tonight?"

Derek pulled his hand back resting it on the gear shift before he leaned his head back against the head rest. His left hand came up, rubbing over his eyes tiredly.

"I just think and I'm sure Kat would to that it's a better idea for you to stay at my place so someone can keep an eye out for you. You won't get that at a hotel and your in public property there he can walk onto whenever he wants. Here he can't." Derek slowly spoke, while they had sat for almost three hours at the restaurant talking about everything that had happened in the past and the incident with Mark, Derek was still leery of pushing her space to far.

Marley chewed her lip again deep in thought. She knew he was right but her fears didn't want her to admit that. She had made it over three years running from Mark and if it hadn't been for the Beacon Hills police department it would have remained that way. Hell she even had went as far as to change her and the kids last names to her mothers maiden name.

As she came to her conclusion her hand tightened on the door of the Camaro. Derek watching her closely noted her reaction and took a deep breath ready for a battle. She was in fight or flight mode and he wanted to be ready to try and convince her to make a safe decision, even if it made her uncomfortable.

"You can stay as long as you need, there's no rush and the only thing I'm remotely concerned about is you rebuilding your house for the kids. I'll do whatever I can to help but listen…." He rubbed his eyes again " I want you to know you don't have to deal with this alone anymore. I haven't been there the whole time but I can be here now. I'm not good at this shit anymore than you are but I'll do my best. You just have to tell me when to step back if I make you uncomfortable. Don't keep running Mar you don't deserve that kind of life." Derek finished quietly.

Marley's body had visibly relaxed and she nodded silently. Her voice was shaky at best when , after several minutes, she spoke.

"Okay we will try this your way. But the minute it goes south I'm out, no if ands or buts got it?" She turned slightly, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

Derek nodded and smiled a little pushing the gear shift into drive he slowly crept forward until Marley's house came into view. A couple of feet from the driveway he came to a complete stop and put the car in park. They sat there silently for a minute as she stared at her home.

The two front window's beside the door had been busted out completely. She absently rubbed her left shoulder remembering the pain of it shooting through the glass panes. Her front door was tilted at a slight angle. There was glass littering the stone walkway and all over the stone slab of her front stoop.

Derek watched her slowly get out of the car, holding onto the body as she crept around the front. He got out then meeting her as she made her first steps onto the grass. Derek's mind replayed the sounds of the sirens and he had to shake his head roughly to clear it. If that small thing was bothering him he could only imagine what was going through hers.

Marley was pale to say the least and Derek could see from his position beside her that she was shaking. Scowling darkly she took a deep breath and started towards her door, angrily throwing it open to stare at the damage before her eyes. Glass was littered everywhere in here to, picture frames hung at awkward angles and blood smeared in small streaks here and there.

Her couch was knocked sideways where she had been thrown against the arm of it. She wrapped her arms around herself as the panic and memories swam to the surface. Her chest felt like a lead weight was sitting on it and her vision started to swim. The vomit came up in her throat as she whipped around, slamming into the door jam and falling to her knees amid the shattered glass Marley's stomach turned up her late breakfast.

Cursing himself for letting her do this Derek knelt behind her, trying to give her some privacy but gently holding back her hair as she retched. When she was down to dry heaving Derek could feel the sobs shaking her body. She hadn't been ready for this, she wasn't ready to see the damage Mark had done, mostly with her body.

The last time he attacked her this bad her mind had blocked it out and she had never went back to the house after. The smell of blood tickling his nose Derek frowned and wrapped his arm around her stomach. Lifting her bit by bit to lean against his chest he reached down and turned up her hands.

Glass stuck out every couple of centimeters and the tiny cuts were starting to bleed. While she rested with her eyes closed against him he made quick work of pulling out what he could, wincing whenever she jumped when a piece was lodged to deeply.

"I should have listened Derek I'm sorry" her voice was shaking and she kept sniffing back her tears.

Derek remained silent as he worked quickly on her other hand. Finishing he scooped her up and carried her to the car, setting her gently with her legs over the side of the car he knelt before her using his shirt to wipe away the blood. Marley stared numbly at her hands looking up occasionally at his face.

It was an unreadable mask but every now and then his jawline would twitch. He stopped what he was doing and let his hands hang between his knees, his head bent as he thought about what to say to her.

"Please don't be mad at me." She implored trying to lean her weak body forward. His head jerked up and he was frowning, "What in the hell makes you think I'm pissed at you Mar?"

Marley moved back a couple of inches simply staring open mouthed at him. She tried to formulate a coherent sentence but all that would come out was a tired "I thought.."

Derek waved a hand in her direction then pointed to the damaged front door.

"That and how it happened makes me pissed. The fact that the cops who were suppose to keep you safe and failed makes me pissed. What your kids went through as a result of their fuck up makes me pissed…" He led off for a moment before pointing a finger at her "Your decision to come back here barely twenty four hours after the fact doesn't make me angry. I understand the want to see it, hell I did the same thing when my family burnt up, just don't do this again till your ready."

Marley narrowed her eyes at him. Family burning up? When the hell did that happen? Before she could formulate the question her phone started ringing. Brought out of her train of thought she fumbled around in her pants pocket for the nuisance. Jamming her finger against the green bouncing image on the touch screen she put it to her ear.

"Hello?" She snapped into the receiver.

The voice on the other end cleared gruffly.

" ?"

"Yes?"

"This is Sheriff Stalinsky, I was calling you to update you on the problem."

Marley breathed a sigh of relief and laid herself sideways against the car seat.

"I'm sorry yeah whats going on hun?" Marley wearily rubbed her brows.

The Sheriff sighed on the other end.

"Where are you right now ?"

Marley's eyes slowly opened as she sat up a bit straighter. Derek careful not to let on that he could hear their conversation kept his face trained at the concreted below his feet, but his chest tightened instinctively.

"I'm sitting out front of the house actually, I came by to try and clean it up." Marley switched the phone to the other side of her head still frowning.

"Are you alone ma'am?" The Sheriff's voice had an edge to it.

Before Marley could say anything Derek bit out loudly "Hell no she's not alone!"

Marley jerked back by instinct stammering into the phone.

"Is that Derek Hale , ?" The Sheriff's voice hitched up a notch.

"Yeah, uhm well yeah I stayed at his place last night. I talked him into bringing me here a few minutes ago….Sheriff no offense but what's with the third degree?"

Derek had stood up then, pacing back and forth in front of the side of the car.

" my top priority is to maintain your safety despite my department's blunder." He took a deep breath then continued.

"You need to be aware that your ex-husband bonded out this morning after his hearing. Apparently Trudy Summers bonded him out?" The Sheriff formulated the last of his statement as a question.

Marley felt bile rising in her throat again and she leaned forward with her hand on her head breathing deeply to keep from embarrassing herself again.

"Yes…yes that's his mother." She stammered out, the tears beginning to fall again.

"Well ma'am as part of his bond order he's not to have contact with you by any means but we obviously know how he feels about that. His trial on the TPO violation is set for three days from now and we would like you to be there. A victim's advocate will be present and has been trying to contact you, apparently during all the commotion we didn't get a working number for you. I had to contact your work to get this one, which by the way they are greatly concerned about you."

Marley's head swam as all the memories came rushing back. Her vision blackened and she started to fall forwards coming within inches of smacking her head on the cement. Derek hearing the slowing of her heart beat shot out and grabbed her but her phone hit the concrete. He could hear the Sheriff yelling out her name and juggling her limp body in one arm he reached down and grabbed up the phone.

"Stalinsky? She passed out."

The Sheriff stopped mid yell and bit out a curse.

"Is she okay? Do I need to call you an ambulance?"

"No I think she'll be okay, it's just overload." Derek mumbled into the phone as he wrestled Marley safely back into the car and shut the door.

Jumping in the driver's seat he started the engine and put it in reverse.

"Hale listen, this guy is obviously out for blood. Do not allow her to go anywhere by herself and by all measures keep her from going back to that house. He's probably going to look for her there and around town so make sure she keeps a very low profile. Laci Masterson is a personal family friend I'll call her and let her know what's going on so won't lose her job."

"Yeah gotcha low profile, anything else?"

The Sheriff was quiet for a minute and sounded tired when he answered.

"Yeah be easy with her, if you know a quarter of what I think you do then you know she's in real danger. Guys like this don't stop till the other person is dead and I don't want another homicide on my hands that could have been helped."

"You have my word, when she wakes up I'll relay the message." Derek deftly maneuvered the car into his driveway and shut off the engine. Sighing he ran a hand through his hair.

"Is there seriously nothing else you guys can do for her?"

"No son there isn't. Until we get the order from Ohio he's a free man but I promise you once its here we will slam his ass so fast he won't know what hit him."

Derek could hear another voice on the other side urgently speaking to the Sheriff. Looking over at Marley's still form his jaw flexed.

"I've got to run Hale, Laci just called and said she was at the Diner when some guy came in asking about . I'll be in touch." The phone went dead and Derek stared at it.

This guy seriously wasn't going to give up. While he understood the animalistic need to hunt something he couldn't wrap his mind around how a human, with no animal side, could ruthlessly hunt another like this. That's what Mark was doing to her, methodically hunting her down.

Marley started to stir, moaning in her unconscious state. Derek quickly got out of the car and opened her door, scooping her up and kicking it closed he hastily made into his front door. Gently placing her on the leather couch he pulled his Mother's afghan blanket from the back of it and covered Marley's bare skin.

Her tears started to fall before she opened her eyes. Derek sat on the floor near her head and draped his arm around her neck. He buried his face next to her ear and made soothing sounds. He felt her shift beneath him and her arms came around his chest, her face flying straight to the hollow of his shoulder.

"I'm scared Derek holly fucking shit I'm scared."