Chapter Ten: Feeling Human

"You'll like them, I swear," Stiles said as he and Kyle made their way up to the room in the elevator. "I mean don't listen to anything they say about me because it's almost definitely going to be lies but you'll like them."

Kyle grinned and shook his head a little.

"So is everything okay? I mean, Derek doesn't show up but two of your friends do?" he asked. "You sure you're alright?"

"It's cute how much you worry," Stiles grinned.

"Oh I'm not worried, I just don't want to have to be sitting with you all night if you're going to have a breakdown," he said.

"I'm fine Kyle," he said.

"You and Derek didn't break up or anything did you?"

"No, there was no break up, you're just going to have to stay disappointed in that regard," he said and Kyle laughed.

"I'm heartbroken, truly," he said.

"Shut up," Stiles said as they walked down the hall and into the room.

Erica was sitting on the bed while Isaac paced back and forth by the window and Stiles raised an eyebrow as they both looked up at him.

"Did I just walk in on something weird?" he asked.

"No," they said together.

"Okay then… this is Kyle, be nice and stop acting like that," he said.

"We're not acting like anything Stiles," Erica said with a roll of her eyes. "It's good to finally meet you, face to the name and all."

"You too," Kyle said. "I brought some stuff to drink if you guys want to get into it early?"

Isaac looked nervously over at Erica who shot him a subtle look.

"The best suggestion I've heard all day," she said.

Cora had been quiet since they had returned from the old Hale house, not that Derek had seen her be overly chatty since she came back into his life but that evening the silence was more than noticeable.

He wanted to ask if she was okay, if it had been too much, but somehow he knew the answer and it felt like a question he didn't need to raise.

She had gone up to the extra room when they had got back, he hadn't heard from her in a few hours before she came back downstairs. She grabbed a glass of water and he watched as she came into the living area to sit opposite him on the armchair.

He closed his book and eyed her thoughtfully but she just stared off at the far wall.

"It was different than I thought it would be," she said. "I mean not that I had any real expectations but somehow it was different."

"You'd thought about coming back?" he asked.

"For a long time," she nodded. "Just for closure or, to prove that it really happened or to just ruin all my memories like I thought it might."

"Ruin them?"

"Yeah, like they say if the last memory you have of someone is a really bad one it can taint the rest of them," she said. "I thought maybe if I had a bad memory of that place the rest of them wouldn't seem so great and it wouldn't hurt as much. Turns out that's just not true."

"I know," he said.

They shared a moment in silence before she stood up with a sigh.

"Well, I'm done with that line of discussion," she said. "I'm going for a run so I'll see you in a bit."

He just nodded as she headed out and he felt that strange pang in his stomach to see her go but he knew she would have to be by herself sometimes.

It wasn't long until he heard someone else arriving and there was a knock on the door, he recognised the heavy feet that preceded it.

"Come in," he said, snapping the book shut as Jackson walked in. "You're back."

"Well that's pretty clear," he said with his trademark smirk. "I heard I'm not the only one?"

Derek stood up and dropped the book on the table as he walked past Jackson and to the kitchen.

"Which one?" he asked.

"Isaac," he said. "Figured I'd call him first because the jetlag isn't settled enough for me to deal with Erica and there was no way I was calling McCall. Turns out they're not even here."

"No, and I'm sure you've guessed why," Derek said.

"Didn't have to, Isaac laid it out pretty clearly," he said, walking over to lean on the bench.

"So what are your thoughts then?" Derek asked, grabbing two glasses from the cabinet.

Jackson scoffed, "That the two of them are idiots?"

Derek didn't say anything, he just reached into the back of the cabinet to pull out a bottle of scotch and poured two generous serves. As he handed one to Jackson he watched as he put it to his lips and downed in one long mouthful.

"You being of that opinion doesn't have anything to do with me having this, does it?" Derek said with an amused look on his face.

Jackson shook his head and held out the glass again.

"Not at all but I got more if you want to keep pouring," he said.

Derek chuckled lightly and poured him another glass.

He took it a little slower this time.

"So uh… where is the offending article?" he said with a grin.

"First off, you call her that again and I stop pouring," Jackson shrugged with a nod and took another sip. "Second, Cora is out running."

"Cora," he repeated.

"Don't even think about it," Derek said as he downed his own glass.

"I wasn't," Jackson said.

"Okay, so you want to tell me why you're here then?" he asked.

"To see what all the fuss was about," he said. "And the booze. Do you have any idea how much a rave sucks when everyone else is drunk or high and you can't even get a buzz?"

"Would you believe me if I said I did?" he said.

"Then you got to give me your contacts man," he said.

"Not going to happen."

"Whatever happened to pack loyalty, huh?" Jackson said.

"Trust me when I tell you that I'm doing you a favour in being the middle man. You don't have nearly as much control as you'd like to think," he said. "And when I say 'trust me', I mean don't ask."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said.

Derek poured him another glass and let him complain about his trip, because that seemed to be the only thing that Jackson was capable of. It wasn't that he didn't believe him when he said he was there to suss everything out, but he thought it might have something to do with his inability to spend any amount of time by himself.

They were opposites in that way. Derek preferred to be alone in his own company whereas Jackson couldn't bear the thought.

It wasn't too much longer before the door was opening again and Cora came through, cheeks slightly pink and sweat on her brow.

She looked over at Jackson, giving him a once over and then raising her eyes at Derek.

"Another one?" she said.

"This is Jackson, he's back from―"

"The rich kid who went to Europe?" she said.

"You know I find it sweet that you talk about me," Jackson smirked and Derek huffed out a loud sigh.

"Just to be fair," he said. "I never called you rich."

Jackson snorted. "Well, I am."

This time it was Derek's turn to smirk.

"It's sweet that you think so," he said.

Jackson gave him a confused look and Derek seemed quite pleased with himself as Cora walked over to extend her hand.

"Well, rich kid, I'm Cora," she said.

"I tend to go by Jackson, but if there was ever a nickname I could get on board with it'd probably be that one," he said.

"Alright, that's enough," Derek said as he opened the fridge to toss Cora a bottle of water.

"Well, nice meeting you I guess," she said as she headed up the stairs.

"If you've got any comments, get them out of the way now," Derek said.

"She seems like your sister," he said.

"Is that it?"

Jackson shrugged. "You got anything to eat?"

Derek just raised his eyebrows at him before opening up the fridge so he could help himself, just like he never left.

"This was a bad idea," Isaac hissed to Erica as they walked about ten steps behind Stiles and Kyle. "Why the hell did I let you talk me into this?"

"Hey," Erica hissed back. "It wasn't that hard to talk you into it, and stop worrying. Everything is fine, can you even feel anything?"

"No," he said. "God I hate you."

She chuckled to herself and he gave her an incredulous look.

"What is so funny right now?"

"I was just thinking," she said. "I was going to say you could just put your fingers in your throat and bring that shit back up but I highly doubt you have a gag reflex."

He narrowed his eyes at her as they walked and she just laughed.

"Whoa," she said after a moment and stopped in her tracks.

"What? What is it?" he said quickly.

"Whoa," she said again.

"Erica what?" he said.

She put her hands to her ears and blinked a few times and Isaac thought that his heart might give out as he watched her.

"It's like, it's like everything's gone fuzzy," she said. "I mean I can hear you but everything else is fuzzy. I can't even hear Stiles going on about his stupid finals anymore. Whoa."

"Shit, it's working?" he said.

"Would you shut up?" she said. "I think the shots from the hotel are hitting me too."

"Well that's just―" Isaac started before the warm feeling started to spread in his stomach. "Oh god…"

He had to blink a few times to readjust his vision as everything around him lost its sharp edge, somehow even Erica seemed to blur. Everything sounded muffled, the music covered up the ambient sounds and Stiles' voice faded into the sea of others that surrounded them.

Then he felt the warmth in his belly spreading to his extremities and the buzz began to hit.

"You feel it too?" Erica asked.

"You sound… this is…" he began.

"What the hell are you guys doing back there?" Stiles called as he and Kyle turned to look at them.

"Nothing," they said at the same time and Stiles gave them another suspicious look.

"Can you two stop doing that?" he said. "Seriously, something's up, I can tell."

Erica looked up at Isaac as if she was waiting for him to crack and spill everything out right there, but instead he just grinned and tapped her on the shoulder as they jogged to catch up.

"I think we should all just shut up and get going," he said. "Because it sounds like we're missing the party."

Scott hated the feeling of being alone in their house.

Knowing that Isaac left because he lied and that things were as tense as ever between them made his stomach turn.

It wasn't like they hadn't had any contact, they'd been texting on and off without much resolve. All Scott really knew was that they were going to a party, and that he and Erica would be back the following day.

Sometimes he thought that it had been easier when he was with Allison. Their problems had revolved around one of them being a werewolf and the other a descendant of a long line of werewolf hunters, somehow his problems with Isaac seemed so much deeper than that.

They were actual problems, especially now that they weren't kids anymore. They were supposed to be growing up and maturing and acting less like teenagers. It didn't feel like that was happening at all.

He sunk down on the couch and took out his phone to text Isaac, even though he knew he probably wouldn't hear back.

Scott: I don't want us to fight like this anymore, I miss you, and I love you. See you when you get back xo

He shoved the phone back in his pocket and flicked on the TV set. It all seemed too hard sometimes.

Isaac took his phone out of his pocket, even the feel of the denim on his fingers felt different now. His eyes took a moment to adjust as he looked down at the screen.

"What's wrong?" Stiles said as they both bobbed and swayed to the music.

The crowd had filled out a lot more down at the Loop. Someone had set up a DJ Booth and brought kegs and drink stations – it was like all college kids were good at was setting up impromptu parties under the stars.

"Nothing!" Isaac called back over the music, "Just a message from Scott!"

He leant in a little closer than he meant to, his balance not quite what it usually was and his body starting to feel the effects of the liquor.

"I thought we were making this a 'boyfriend free zone'!" Stiles called back, sweat just starting to shine on his brow.

Isaac laughed and held out his phone, "maybe you should take away the temptation then."

Stiles put his hands up and danced back a step.

"What are you kidding? I'll be worse with that thing than you," he said. "Just put it back in your pocket and dance."

Isaac grinned and did exactly that.

He could feel the bass pulsing through him and closed his eyes as he let it all sink in. He felt Erica's hands on his waist as she slipped in behind him and when he opened his eyes Kyle had slung an arm over Stiles' shoulders and Erica was leaning into his side.

He hadn't been drunk like this in a long time, somehow even Derek's liquor didn't compare to the feeling. It was like it all went into slow motion and the music was in place of his heartbeat, warm and evocative and it made him feel alive.

He didn't have to choose what to focus on, there was no choice, it was just everything that was in the foreground and for once he didn't want to feel the control over the situation that he usually did, he just wanted to be there.

He wrapped an arm around Erica's waist and lifted her up to spin her around. It wasn't as easy as he remembered and Kyle caught him as he stumbled to the side.

Erica squealed with delight and latched on to Stiles as the two of them started to dance, her hands on his shoulders as she grinned up at him.

Kyle grabbed two shots from someone passing them around and handed one to Isaac. The two of them tapped the plastic cups together and downed the shot in one.

It might have been tequila but it could have been something else, Isaac couldn't quite tell and that was the best part.

He reached out and put a hand on Kyle's shoulder, pulling him in and grinning as the beat moved them and the lights around them flashed.

Erica could feel it too, the freedom of not thinking, of losing focus and control for the first time since she could remember. It felt more like a high than anything she'd felt before and it made it that much easier for them both to let everything go.

"So, I really don't know what's gotten into you," Danny said as he blinked a few times in the early morning sunlight. "In all the years I have known you, you have never been a morning person."

"Oh shut up and start running," Jackson said as they started off on the path leading away from Danny's place.

"And you're lucky I know that your 'shut up' actually means 'thank you'," he said as he took a few longer steps to catch him. "Not that I know why you asked me anyway, you'll be able to run miles on me."

"Don't make me regret it," Jackson said.

"See I have this theory that it has something to do with your whole inability to be alone thing," Danny said and even he heard Jackson growl. "But because we don't talk about that I'm just going to pretend it's because you miss my company."

"Now you're really dreaming," Jackson said.

Danny grinned to himself but didn't say anything further, he just kept up the pace with Jackson as best he could and they ran in silence.

It wasn't too long before they made it to the main street, and Jackson complained about Danny being slow so they stopped at one of the cafés for a coffee.

"I don't want to be that guy and say 'I told you so' but I definitely did," Danny said as they sat in one of the back booths. "Why didn't you just as Scott to go with you instead? The two of you might actually match each other for pace."

"I'm not going to go running with McCall," he said.

"Why would you go running with me? We just spent months in each other's company and it's only been a couple of days since we got back."

Jackson sighed and took a sip of his coffee.

"You can always just give me your phone so you're not tempted to call her," Danny said.

"It's not that," he said. "I don't know what it is, it's all just different now."

"Do you think it'll go back to the way it was in a few weeks when some of the others are back?" he asked. "I mean Stiles and Lydia will be done with finals in a couple of weeks so they'll probably be back. That's what you're talking about right? Your werewolf pack dynamics?"

"I don't know," he said genuinely.

He couldn't quite figure out what was making him feel the way he was. He was missing something or maybe it was just the change sitting strangely with him. Whatever it was he was struggling to understand it and it made him all the more frustrated.

Maybe it was the way everyone felt when they left high school, like there were too many directions to go and none of them look like the right path.

There was always so much pressure to choose the right one because you only get one life, somehow that pressure made it that much harder to make up your mind.

"Look while we're here," Danny said slowly and Jackson looked up from the cup in his hands. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What about?" Jackson shrugged and Danny just looked up at him thoughtfully.

"Greece," he said.

Jackson shrugged again, "What about Greece?"

Danny just looked at him a moment before breaking eye contact and shaking his head.

"Yeah, you know what it's alright we can talk about it later, you seem pretty… I don't know, moody."

Jackson sighed.

"Sorry," he grumbled.

"Everyone has those days man," Danny said.

Jackson just hoped that his would come to an end soon.

Isaac woke up in the hotel bed the next morning and felt his head throbbing and a queasiness in his gut that really wasn't sitting well.

He managed to sit up, squinting at the shard of light coming through the curtain and looked down at Stiles sleeping beside him, mouth hanging open as he snored lightly. Erica's bed was empty though it definitely looked like she'd slept in it.

He put his hands to his head and grunted loudly as the sharp pain came through behind his eyes. As he stood up he wobbled on his feet and took slow shuffling steps to the bathroom.

As he opened the door he saw Erica sitting on the floor and leaning up against the wall by the toilet and she gave him a weak smile as he walked in.

"I don't think I completely thought this through," she said as she pushed her hair back and sighed.

"Do you want some water?" Isaac asked, his voice catching in his throat.

She held up one of the hotel glasses and then put it back on the floor by her side.

"I'm good but you need to get one, you look like shit," she said.

"I guarantee I feel worse."

"Not possible."

He managed a feeble laugh as he grabbed the other glass off the sink and filled it, sliding himself slowly down the wall opposite her and grunting as he hit the floor.

"It's official," she said. "Being human sucks."

"Come on, everything was great up until this part," he said. "It actually felt pretty good not to think about everything I could hear and smell, and see. It kind of felt like a night off."

"Yeah well, I didn't like it," she said as she looked down at her hands.

"Did something happen?" he asked.

She shrugged, looking up at him as she rested her head back against the tiled wall.

"Yes and no," she said. "I uh, I had a bit of a moment, like, I felt a flutter."

"A what?" he asked.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"It's what I used to call it when I could feel a seizure coming," she said and Isaac's eyes grew wide. "It's like a, uh, like my whole body starts to vibrate and then you know, seize. Like all over rapid movement and then uneven unsteady convulsions."

"Shit, are you okay?" Isaac said.

"It didn't happen," she said. "I'm not stupid, I asked the guy before I bought the damn pills if it would bring my seizures back and he said it doesn't really affect the healing thing. That's the reason it only lasts twenty-four hours on average. Metabolism is going so fast it burns through the drug and you still heal at a faster rate."

"He told you that? How could they even know that for sure?" he said.

"He said they tested it," she said and Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I didn't really want to ask too many questions after that."

"But he was wrong," he said.

"He wasn't," she said. "Like I told you, I had a flutter but it never turned into a seizure, a panic attack, sure, but not a seizure. Kyle like took me aside and calmed me down, I had to get him to promise he wouldn't tell Stiles because he would know something weird was up."

Isaac nodded taking a long sip from his glass.

"My curiosity is completely satisfied, I made a good choice letting Derek turn me," she said. "I guess I didn't really think so until last night because I'd forgotten that feeling, that fear of having something take control of me and being completely helpless against it. I don't want to feel human anymore, I like being in control."

Isaac tapped her foot with his own and she gave him a smile.

"And you? What conclusion did you come to?" she asked with a sigh.

"It was… definitely different than I remembered," he said.

She nodded before her face went pale and she was leaning over the toilet bowl and the contents of her stomach were splashing into the bowl.

"Oh god," she groaned. "How many more hours until I'm back to being myself?"

"I don't know but you're going to have to make room over there," Isaac said as he put the back of his hand to his mouth.

"No, there is a perfectly good sink right there this is mine," she said and he just tilted his head back and tried to think of anything other than the sick feeling climbing up his throat at that moment.

Cora walked out of her makeshift room slowly, her feet treading so lightly on the floor they hardly made a sound.

The loft wasn't too much different from her last place of residence, it was quite cold with little in the way of evidence that someone had made it into a home. Her room smelled of a number of different people, some she had now met and others still strangers.

It would take a while before she felt truly comfortable, if she ever did.

She walked to the room across the small hallway and slowly pried the doorhandle open before taking a step inside.

The bed looked as though a meagre attempt had been made to reset the sheets, the pillows still had shape to them as if they had only the night before been slept in. She walked slowly around it and looked around the rest of the room.

There was a chest of drawers with a mirror above them, a few pictures tacked to it and a fair amount of make-up and odd bits and pieces. She walked over to the open closet, a leather jacket was hanging up on the inside of the door and there were quite a few things hanging up inside.

When she heard Derek's footsteps in the hall she knew she wasn't going to be able to get out without his notice.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his arms folded over his chest as he leant against the door.

"What?" she said and he just raised an eyebrow. "I'm just trying to get a feel for these people, I feel like they have an advantage over me."

"How's that?" he asked.

"Well I'm sure they know more about me than I know about them," she said and Derek just smiled.

"Stiles maybe," he said. "Erica, not so much. And I don't think she'd be happy to know you've been going through her things."

"I haven't gone through anything," she said. "I was just… looking. Trying to get an idea about her seeing as she's living here. If you have addresses for the others I could do the sane for them."

"You know I'm not sure if you're joking or not," he said and she gave him a small smile.

"Okay, respect personal boundaries, won't happen again," she said, walking towards him and squeezing past him out the door.

"You could try talking to them, if you wanted to find out more about them," he said.

"I think you can appreciate why I came in here, to avoid that avenue entirely," she said. "I don't like feeling like an outsider, and right now you and I both know that's exactly what I am."

"You can't expect them to be anything less than cautious, I don't," he said. "I expect them to make an effort, but at least I can understand their concerns."

"Speaking of, when will I get to be reunited with Uncle Peter?" she asked and Derek just scoffed.

"Ideally not for a while," he said, shutting Erica's door behind them as they headed out.

"Still don't know where he is?" she asked.

"I'm working on it."

Stiles slept for a lot longer than he intended, his body feeling a little worse for wear.

He groaned as he sat himself up and ran a hand through his hair. He seemed to be alone in the room.

"Erica?" he called hoarsely. "Isaac?"

He rubbed his eyes and grumbled to himself, muttering something along the lines of 'never drinking again'.

He grabbed his phone from the bedside table to see a few messages so he opened them up to read through.

Erica: Gone to get some coffee, text when you're awake and we'll let you know where we end up x

Derek: Hope your weekend has been okay, I miss you

Erica: We might be a little lost, call me?

Scott: Was I totally out of line? Has he said anything about me? Sorry, I just don't know what to do here. Call me later

Erica: Never mind we found a Starbucks, I think it's right around the corner from the hotel

He shook his head at the lot of them and tossed the phone to the bed beside him before getting up for a glass of water.

He felt like it was a blessing that he slept so late, he might not have felt as good had he not. He managed to dress himself and pull on his shoes before making his way to the Starbucks a short walk from the hotel. Erica and Isaac were sat on a couple of couches around the side.

"Did you guys have to pick the loudest place on Earth to come and get coffee?" he groaned as he sunk into the empty space beside Erica.

"Get yourself a coffee and stop whining," Erica said as she lounged back. "You'll survive."

"What do you want? It's on me," Isaac said, getting up and out of the couch as Stiles told him his order.

"And get some muffins or something, I'm starving," he called out to him. "Why do the two of you look so grumpy?"

"I don't know Stiles, why are you grumpy?" Erica said.

"Because I drank too much last night and I have finals coming up after next week?" he said.

"Well maybe we're just remembering that we have to go back and actually face our problems this afternoon," she said. "How the hell do you face Derek after you've done something you shouldn't have?"

"I don't think he had a problem with you coming down here," Stiles said.

"The credit card thing," she said.

"Oh, yeah right, that," he said. "I'll text him, tell him it was my idea."

"What? That's idiotic," she said. "Better me than you."

"Not really, I'll just tell him I was upset that he wasn't coming and the only way I knew to get you here was to use it and that you were frustrated and listened to my stupid idea," he said. "Besides that's just what we do, I do something stupid and he forgives me, he does something without considering my feelings and I forgive him. We'll be even."

"Thanks," she said as she leaned over to rest her head on his arm.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "Both of you seem… I don't know, like something is going on that I don't see."

"We're fine Stiles, just… wolf stuff I guess," she said and she felt him sigh.

"Yeah, okay, don't ask," he said quietly. "I get it."

Isaac came back to the table with a take-away coffee cup and put it down roughly on the table.

He sat back down and pulled his legs up onto the couch, sighing loudly and closing his eyes.

Stiles' brow furrowed a little as he tried to figure out what he was missing.

"You forgot the muffins douchebag," Erica said without so much as looking over at him.

Isaac turned his head slowly to give her a filthy look as he stood up and stalked back over to the counter.

"You didn't need to make him do that," Stiles said.

"I didn't, he just assumed I meant 'get up and buy some'," she said.

"I had a weird dream the other night," Stiles said as he looked out over at Isaac. "Derek was here and we were kissing, and then I opened my eyes and it was actually Isaac."

Erica shrugged. "I've had that dream before."

"It just felt so real," he said.

"Sometimes they do, that's what makes dreams scary sometimes," she said. "When they seem real, makes you wonder what you really want."

"And just what are you trying to say?" Stiles said, looking over at her with an eyebrow raised.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Relax, I'm not trying to say anything about you or your dream in particular," she said. "Just that dreams make you confused when there's no need to be. Just because you dream it doesn't mean it's anything real. I once had a dream that I had a month to get married or the world was going to end and I kept seeing some guy from my math class thrown into the mix, I didn't even like him but when I woke up I started thinking that maybe I did. Then about three days later he called me something that I'm not going to repeat and that was the end of that."

"That's…" Stiles started, not really knowing what else to say about it.

"That's what you get when you watch the second Princess Diaries movie before you go to bed," she said. "That's what that is."

Stiles just laughed at her and she smiled as Isaac trudged back and sunk into the couch again.

"She's bringing them over," he grumbled.

"Okay, how about we all just drink our coffee without the attitude?" Stiles said.

"Agreed," Erica and Isaac said together.

They took the rest of the morning slowly, Erica and Isaac packing their bags and Stiles deciding to check out early from the hotel because the last thing he felt like doing was spending a night alone in an empty room.

By midday Isaac's hangover was gone and his hearing was starting to get sharper. The adjustment felt strange but he hoped it would start to feel normal by the time they made it back to Beacon Hills. Erica didn't start to get her senses back until a few hours later.

They waited outside the hotel as they called an Uber to pick them up, they were already waist deep in Derek's credit card bill, what was a few more dollars to add to it?

"You'll be back soon right?" Erica asked as she hugged Stiles goodbye.

"I have finals in a week so it's less than a month until the break," he said. "Trust me, I'll be back the minute I walk out of my last exam."

"You better be," she said.

"Can you just… try and make an effort with Cora?" he said. "Derek wouldn't have postponed his visit if it wasn't important. Maybe just don't be so mouthy to her?"

She sighed and leant up to kiss him on the cheek.

"I'll play nice," she said. "Not going to trust her though."

"Didn't think you would," he said as he looked up at Isaac and the two exchanged a smile. "You should probably play nice too."

"Yeah, yeah, she's his sister and all the rest of it," he said.

"I meant with Scott, but Cora too," he said and Isaac sighed, giving him one more nod before getting into the car.

As he watched them drive away the positive buzz that he'd been feeling began to dull and he made his way to the jeep so he could drive back to campus. He had a crazy amount of studying to in the lead up to his exams.

It was starting to get dark by the time Isaac made it back to his front door.

He stood there for a moment just looking up at it as though it would swallow him whole if he took another step toward it. He didn't know if he was ready for an argument.

He knew Scott was waiting for him, he could hear him just inside and surely he knew that he was standing outside by now.

He sighed loudly before finally walking up to the door and heading in.

As he turned the corner into the kitchen he came face to face with Scott leaning up against the kitchen bench.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," Isaac said back, dropping his backpack by the wall.

"How was Berkeley?" he asked.

"Scott―"

"I'm sorry, okay?" he said without letting him say anything first. "I should have told you, I don't even know why I didn't I guess I was just worried about what you would say, what any of you would say if―"

Isaac cut him off by closing the distance between them and pressing his lips down onto Scott's open mouth.

Scott's hands lifted to Isaac's side and it felt like part of the tension between them had lifted.

"I'm sorry I ran," Isaac said when he finally pulled his lips back. "It was a dumb thing to do and I should know better than to let Erica talk me into things."

"I should have told you about him," Scott sighed. "I guess it was dumb of me not to."

"So we both screwed up then," Isaac said as he smiled down at him for just a moment before pulling him into his arms. "Can we just… save the discussion for tomorrow?"

Scott nodded against him.

"I love you," he said.

Isaac just held him tighter.

By the time Erica got back to the loft she trudged in without meeting Derek's eye. He sat in the kitchen with Cora and got up to meet her in the middle of the room.

She held out his credit card with a guilty look on her face.

"Stiles is going to tell you it was his idea, but I've since decided that lying isn't really the best option here," she said. "I will send every single pay check your way until I manage to pay it off."

He looked down at the card for a moment and then back up at her.

"Keep it," he said. "I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't expect you to use it. Maybe not exactly the way you have but don't worry about your pay checks."

"Derek, I can't―"

"You can," he said. "Just let me know next time if you're going to charge a whole weekend to it."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly and she heard Cora make a sound from a few metres away and looked up at her. "To you, not her."

Derek turned to look over at Cora who was just raising an eyebrow at the pair of them.

"She wants my trust? Tell her to earn it," she said. "This weekend… all of it, won't happen again."

She gave him a brisk nod before heading to the stairs and her room without another word.

"She just gets friendlier and friendlier," Cora said sarcastically and Derek smiled.

"With Erica, that's a good thing."

Stiles sat on his dorm bed, not quite the luxury of the last place he slept but it felt more like home. He could hear the water rushing loudly through the pipes in the walls as Kyle showered in their shared bathroom.

He looked down at his phone and sighed, picking it up and dialling before holding it to his ear.

"Stiles," he closed his eyes as the sound of his name in Derek's voice, as distorted as it may have been through the phone.

"Hey Derek," he said.

"How was your weekend then?"

"It was better than I thought it was going to be for a while there," he said. "It was good to see them again, and just have some fun, you know?"

"You know me," he said. "I probably don't."

"I know I might say that," Stiles chuckled. "But you know I don't actually mean it. How was yours?"

"Fine," he said and he heard Stiles snort on the other end of the phone. "Jackson's back."

"I heard, I hope Isaac didn't fill his head with subjective information," he said.

"I'm sure he did, but Jackson doesn't really listen to what other people think."

"I guess not," he said. "I wish you were here though… I really miss you Derek."

"I know," he said. "I'll be there next weekend."

"That's a whole week away and you know I'll be studying like crazy for most of it with finals starting the Monday after," he said.

"Then you know you've only got about three weeks until you're back here," Derek said.

"I know but please don't make me wait that long, okay?" he said.

"I don't think either of us would last Stiles," he said softly.

"I'm sorry if I was a jerk," Stiles mumbled.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Cora sooner."

"Well, you can make up for it and tell me all about her," he said. "I mean unlike the other two I can't wait to meet her."

"You will soon," Derek said.

"Just promise me you'll wait until after your next visit to introduce us because between you and me there are things I want to do with you when you get here that would be really awkward with your sister around."

Derek chuckled. "I promise."

"First things first I guess, you have to convince Erica to be less… Erica," he said. "Oh, I told her to use your credit card by the way, might have to check the balance on that thing."

He thought about saying something back to him but instead he stayed quiet.

"I uh, I have to go," Stiles said. "Big paper due Tuesday and I'm still three pages down on the count."

"I'm sure it'll be great," he said.

"I love you Derek," he said. "I really do wish you were here. I mean if I'm wishing for things I guess I'd wish that Berkeley was in Beacon Hills but, you know."

"If it was I'm sure you'd be in a lot more trouble a lot more often," Derek said.

"Hey, you've managed to avoid it so far."

"I love you too," Derek said. "Good luck with your paper."

"Text me or something," Stiles said, and with one more 'I love you' he hung up the phone.

He dropped his head back against the wall with another sigh as Kyle walked out with his towel wrapped around his waist.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I just miss when he was around all the time," he said. "I miss letting him in through my bedroom window because he was just… close enough to come over any time."

"You know some people will go a whole lifetime and not love someone so much," he said.

"Maybe they're the lucky ones," Stiles said. "Love hurts."

"Don't be so melodramatic," Kyle said. "Just be happy that he loves you back."

"I don't think anything else has ever made me happier than that fact."