Hello again! I decided to post another chapter mostly because you guys were so sweet to me on your reviews! Since I can't answer you privately (either you're a 'guest' or I really can't send you a PM), here it goes:

(cecily) hey there sweetie! nooo, don't apologize, I love your reviews, you're adorable! I'm doing my best on giving you guys details about Derek's personality based on what I've seen on the show, I hope I'm doing ok! (:

(hotaru himura) hey lovely! The other characters will eventually show up later, it's really hard to include them in a non-supernatural world eheh but I promise you, you'll see them interacting with mary and derek later! :D thanks for your lovely review, hon!

Okkkkk, this is one of my favorites, I hope you'll like it! I'll try to update as soon as possible but from now on it'll be harder since I'm starting college on Monday… oh well, please enjoy!

10TH OF NOVEMBER

"Dear Diary,

I know I said I would not talk about boys but it's different this time. He's a good guy. At first it was awkward, then it was strange and now… I guess we're friends – we even make fun of each other sometimes. But here's the thing. He's really cute and stuff but he's hiding something. I just know it, I can't explain it.

Anyways, here's what's happening tonight: we're going to the movies – on a date. Derek agreed to help me cross things out of my list and I plan on finishing it by the end of December. We'll see how it goes.

Now I must find something nice to wear. I have two hours to get ready."

Mary ended up wearing blue jeans, snickers and a green hoodie. The movie was really great but her favorite part of that night was when Derek drove her home while both listened to the Arctic Monkeys on the radio. She was beginning to love that band all because of him.

When he parked the car in front of Mary's house, the dark haired man leaned against his seat and sighed. "Ok, how many things left on the list?" He questioned with a soft glow on his eyes. Mary shrugged. "Too many. Next Saturday you're taking me some place where I can get a tattoo." She answered joyfully. The man next to her laughed. "Ok, sure, but what if I already had plans?" "Cancel them. I'm more important."

17TH OF NOVEMBER

They were both sitting in the waiting room of the Tattoo saloon and Mary couldn't stop shaking. Not from the cold – it wasn't even cold, ok – but because she was super nervous. Getting a tattoo seemed like the most amazing idea a month ago but now, minutes from it to happen… well, sounded like a pretty dumb – and painful – idea.

Beside her, Derek coughed. When her eyes turned to him he couldn't help but smirk. Mary, who's a girly girl, always wearing flowery dresses and expensive shoes, looked… ordinary. No, not ordinary. She put on a punk rock look; she was wearing black pants, black shoes and a white shirt with no sleeves. Her hair was tied on a ponytail but it looked kinda messy.

"What?" She asked nervously. Derek shook his head but couldn't get that annoying smirk to leave his lips. "Sorry, nothing. I'll shut up." "No, what is it?" She insisted. Thank god she wasn't wearing any make up at all, no dark shadows or eyeliner to make her look like a panda (though she'd make a cute panda).

Derek sighed and tried not to laugh. "You look like the lead singer of a punk rock band." "Oh my God, I most certainly do not!" Her comeback didn't sound much confident. She got up and rushed to the bathroom. When she came back, Derek noticed that her hair was down, her curls falling gracefully over her shoulders. "Better?" She asked nervously. The werewolf did not reply, he just glanced up at her with one eyebrow raised.

"I look ridiculous, don't I? I wanted to look like Miley Cyrus, I mean, I wanted to look wild and fearless." She said, her voice lowering from word to word. She sighed hopelessly and dragged herself to the chair beside Derek.

The green eyed wolf just gazed at her happily. "Miley Cyrus doesn't look wild or fearless; she looks mental and half naked. Also, you didn't have to change your appearance just to get a tattoo. These guys don't care if you're a girl, a kid or an old lady as long as you pay for their work." He said; then, the brunette began lightly banging her head against the wall with her eyes closed and lips together in a thin line. "I'm so stupid, oh god, this was such a bad idea." She said. By that time Derek had already slipped his hand to the wall as cushioning and prevented her from doing herself any more damage. Mary already had an aneurysm; she didn't need a bump the size of a Ping-Pong ball on the back of her head as well. Plus, she looked adorable, freaking out about something as harmless – compared to a tsunami or global warming – as a tattoo.

"You're not stupid." He said. Mary stopped banging her head against his hand and practically jumped from her chair, again. She began walking in circles and biting her nails in front of the werewolf.

Derek sighed. "Mary, it's just a tattoo-" but she cut him off with a serious look on her face and a finger pointed at his face. "You know what? Let's get out of here, maybe go to Starbucks or the park, maybe I don't need a tattoo to feel that my life is not such a nightmare, right?"

"Mary Bennett?" Derek watched as her body turned cold and slowly turned to the door at the end of the small corridor.

There was a tall man standing there; his hair was short and black – and really bright, which meant he was wearing some sort of gel to keep it steady? -, his eyes were big and dark, there was a small piercing on his bottom lip and his arms were covered with tattoos. For a guy, he looked ordinary; no, nice, actually. He was the kind of guy girls chase after.

That thought sent shivers up Derek's spine; almost involuntarily, he got up and put his arm over Mary's shoulders protectively. She almost didn't notice it. "Yes, she's ready." He spoke for her. The tattoo guy nodded with his head. "Alright Mary, I'm Devon, come in." Mary didn't even move. She was obviously scared and didn't want to be alone with that guy – and Derek didn't want her to be alone with him, who looked pretty much like a super model.

"Can I go with her?" The words slipped out of his mouth more sharply than he intended to, but the tattoo guy didn't seem to be surprised or intimidated. In fact he smiled widely to the werewolf while playing with the piercing on his bottom lip with his tongue. "Sure." He said. When he turned his back and walked into the room, Mary seemed stress-free.

"Oh my god, I think he likes you! He was totally checking you out!" She said with a smirk, but the werewolf chose to ignore her as he rolled his eyes.

The studio was just the perfect size; the walls were all painted black, except the ceiling, which was painted white. There were pictures everywhere, most of them advertising Devon's work but, near his desk, the pictures showed lots of men – including Devon – dancing, or making silly faces or even kissing. Ok, he was definitely gay, Mary was right – and when their eyes met, she had a i-told-you-he's-totally-into-you kind of smile on her face.

"So, do you have anything in mind, Mary?" Devon asked from behind his desk. He seemed to be filling up some papers. "I wanted a quote tied to an anchor. I mean the quote would go all around my ankle and end up tied to the anchor." Devon handed her the same papers he was filling and she signed them. After returning them to Devon he practically tossed them on his desk and got up with a cheerful smile on his lips. "All right, come with me and we're gonna design it together."

After designing it on the computer and printing it, Devon told Mary to get rid of her black pants and to lie on the purple chair placed right in the middle of the studio.

When Mary took off her pants Derek didn't know whether to: a) demand her to put them back on, b) grab her and get out of that place, c) stare at her legs.

Option c), obviously. Not that he wanted to, but some instincts are very hard to contain.

It wasn't the first time he was looking at her half-naked; that time, at her house, when she broke down in tears, she wasn't wearing any pants either, just her underwear and a t-shirt. Still, it felt like he was the only one allowed to look at her body and even though Devon was gay… it didn't feel right.

Her legs were muscled from all the swimming and her feet were small; Derek noticed her toenails were painted red. Then, he noticed something else. When the brunette lifted herself to the chair, he noticed the color of her underwear. Also red. Thank God she wasn't wearing a thong, which would have been awkward. It was the kind of underwear that girls use when they are planning on having sex with someone; the kind of underwear that's fancy, sexy and has lace.

Yes, astonishingly sexy.

Derek waited patiently by the door, leaned against the wall.

"Hope you don't mind about the music, but I love Katy Perry." "It's fine, really… oh god, that's a big needle." "Feel free to kick me in the face if it hurts too much." Devon laughed; Mary laughed too. Derek didn't think he was funny.

When the needle touched her skin for the first time Mary mouthed "Holy fuck" to Derek; he faked a smile of encouragement and then she lowered her eyes to her ankle. She was in pain but did a great job hiding it. She even tried to chat with Devon, who would answer her happily.

"So, how long until I can put on my pants?" "Not much, I promise. Are you some sort of athlete?" "I used to be a swimmer." "That explains your legs." "I guess so…" "And you look like a little fish, your eyes are huge." "Thanks…?" "Yes, it was a compliment, you're welcome sweetie." He added with a smile.

Every time Mary had to roll on the chair so the tattoo would go all around her ankle, Derek could not help but look at her legs – and alright, her ass too. It was a great ass. However, there was this one time that she had to lie on her stomach and then, with her head placed on a red pillow, her eyes searched for his. She didn't look scared anymore but she would still bite her lip every once and a while. "You ok?" He mouthed at her, just to make sure. The corners of her mouth lifted in a soft smile; she nodded.

She rolled again on the chair.

"Almost done." "Thank God…" "I don't mean to be cocky or anything but this is looking great. I'm 99,9% sure you're going to love it."

Ten more minutes listening to Katy Perry and the sound of that needle filling the air and they were back to Derek's car. And then Mary invited him to watch a movie at her house. "I practically ruined your Saturday night, this is the least I can do. Plus, mom and dad are out of town for three days. I have alcohol and chips."

Deep down, he knew Mary was just trying to be nice, no second intentions behind her words. She was genuinely trying to redeem herself for stealing his time. Mary was being… well, Mary. Even though Derek didn't want to admit it, there was something about that crazy little human that he desperately wanted to have, maybe. It was dangerous, not only because he was a werewolf and Scott and his pack brought nothing but trouble – and he didn't want to involve her in that, at all -, but mostly because Mary was sick and he was getting attached to her.

Derek wanted to protect that human; he wanted to make sure she would go to college one day, maybe get married and have kids. He wanted to make sure she was going to live a long, happy life.

Now, why did he feel that way? No, the real question was: where were all those feelings coming from?

Why did he feel butterflies inside his stomach every time she laughed? Or why did he feel like holding her in his arms every time she was sad? Why did he even agree to help her with her list?

"Because she is sick and she needed someone to help her." He thought, but that wasn't the real reason anymore. It was her, entire. It was her eyes, her smile, her strength, her heart, her laugh… it was her. He wanted to be around her. He wanted to be around the girl he shut out, the same one he practically spit out the words 'we're just friends, you're going to die, please don't have feeling for me, cool?'

"Derek? Did you hear me?" She whispered. When their eyes met, the black haired man thought he'd never seen anyone as beautiful as Mary. There was something about the way the moon light was illuminating her skin, making her eyes even brighter and her smile even sweeter.

"Yeah, sure, let's go."

"Have you ever watched Grey's Anatomy?" She asked as she opened the front door. Derek shrugged. "I don't think so." "Great, let's watch it. The main Doctor is called Derek too."

At first it seemed like a bad idea. No, wait, not a bad idea – a boring idea. Derek didn't watch TV, at least not much. Most of the time he was busy with Scott's werewolf drama.

After watching the very first episode of the first season – yes, because that goddamn TV show had 10 seasons, which is insane! – and after eating two bags of chips and drinking fours glasses of whiskey, Mary thought it'd be funny to watch another episode. "Which character do you like most so far?" Mary asked as she basically fell on the couch beside Derek. Her smile was hollow but her eyes had a beautiful glow.

She wasn't eating but her relationship with the bottle of vodka seemed to be close to marriage. Clearly she wasn't used to drinking alcohol.

"The rude one that never smiles." "OH, Cristina Yang! I absolutely adoooooore her! She's a shark." And after pronouncing those words – which took her a great amount of time to pronounce – Mary put her head on Derek's lap and kept watching the episode as if nothing had happened.

"You know, Cristina, Meredith and Alex are the only survivors. George threw himself under a bus to save some random girl, I guess, and Izzie had hallucinations of her ex-boyfriend and then she finds out she has a tumor, but then she survives and gets married to Alex- wait, no, I think she got married to him before the tumor… anyway, I've never really liked her so…" Derek did not respond.

Ten more minutes and Mary was completely asleep on his lap.

Derek tried to move her so he could get out of that couch but the minute he grabbed her arm she immediately shook him off and made an adorable sound, the same babies do when they refuse to wake up. He tried again but nop, the brunette was not going to let him go.

"I guess I'm staying…" He murmured in the dark; as if she had heard him, Mary rolled her body and lied on her back, one of her hands placed on her stomach.

Grey's Anatomy was still on, providing enough light for the werewolf to see the brunette. Her lips were parted and he could see her teeth just a little; you would expect her to snore, since she was breathing with her mouth, but no. She was peacefully asleep.

The urge to touch her face was too strong to ignore; Derek rubbed a lock of her dark hair between his thumb and forefinger. His knuckles slid down, grazing her cheek. Her lips curved in a soft smile as she leaned in closer. Mary rolled her body again, now with her forehead pressed against his stomach and using one of his legs as a pillow. Derek felt shivers running up and down his spine.

After so many dangerous and psychotic girls – girlfriends – stealing his time and completely destroying his faith and trust in humanity, there she was, an angel on earth, right there, sleeping on his lap. Mary Bennett was extraordinary. She was a fighter and a dreamer, a fragile piece of glass who wouldn't dare to shatter. She was the ocean, she was the wind, she was a thousand lullabies; she was light.

But she was also a human. And she was dying.

Looking down at her small existence, her delicate hands, her beautiful curly brown hair, her full lips, her pale skin… Derek realized he was too attached to her. To live in a world in which she wasn't there anymore would be a burden too hard to take.

His heart skipped a beat as he realized he was falling in love with a human.

So, did you like it? I really hope so, I had so much fun writing it!

One more chapter and they're off to New York! Many surprises on the way! :)

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LOTS OF LOVE!