Hello again readers: It's almost Yom Kippur, and I was just thinking to myself how I'd hate to go into the day of atonement with a whole bunch of readers who are miffed at me for not updating. So, walla! Here is chapter twelve in its entire chapter twelve-ness. (The author would like to take a moment to apologize for any spelling and grammatical errors that are encountered in this text.)

When I first set out to write this story, I thought it would be less than five chapters telling the usual body swap scenario story that we all know… It definitely isn't. Right now Another State of Mind is a lot like a water color picture painted on printer paper. Once it dries the paper starts curling up and when you press down one side of it, the other will bounce up… That's sort of what we're dealing with here. Thanks speech: Yuu13: Thanks for the review, and hopefully more questions will be answered as we go on. Guest: Actually, the chapters are pretty long for me compared to my other stories. I'm glad that's your only criticism though. Comicsfan: Thanks for the review! xMissxSpunkyx: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like craziness. Anina613: Thanks for the review! Sorry the update has taken awhile. Rosejoanna: Thanks, and here's more.

Chapter Twelve: Marked

I'd had enough. The small amount of patience I'd been running on had depleted. Here I was surrounded by people, trapped in this stupid weak body that was so utterly useless and human. Not to mention that I was also paralyzed for the moment thanks to that crazy idiot who'd stabbed me. The time for patience had long since passed.

My attacker was being handcuffed and taken out. He stared at Scott in horror all the way to the door. Scott, I was glad that he was here. Having another wolf around allowed me to settle some. He stood against the far wall, watching for a break in the swarm of medical staff around my bed.

The doctor wrapped up Stiles' broken fingers. The nurses fixed my IV feed, and hovered over the machinery making sure it hadn't been tampered with.

I closed my eyes and began to search Stiles. I probed around his skull, down his spine and into his torso. Hunting for the familiar touch of the wolf, I found nothing. There wasn't even any trace of power. If it weren't for the black blood, Stiles would be just a run of the mill human. Could he be immune? I had heard that some humans were tolerant of the venom. It shouldn't have changed his blood though in that case.

Most humans either changed when they were bit or died. I thought back over conversations and lessons I'd had. Could it be a complication? Like with a Kinama or another side effect beast? I couldn't know. I started sorting through things I'd been told over the years and observed, as my toes and fingers began to tingle as the paralysis wore off.

"Stiles?" A woman said in a soothing tone. I didn't bother to acknowledge her. "It's ok, if you want to rest; I'm just going to explain some things to you. That man who hurt you injected you with a mild paralysis agent. It should wear off in about twenty minutes. The man has been taken into custody by your father. He's going to get locked up. You're not going to be left alone again. There will be a police guard around at all times. So you'll be safe."

My eyes rolled behind closed lids. People were so ignorant it was disturbing. It always amazes me that no one but the Argents has caught on to us. And why do they keep it to themselves? So that they have all the kills, I guess. If it ever got out to the government that werewolves existed what would they do? My father used to mull over questions like that all the time with his brother. I've never liked dealing with hypothetical questions. They're just another way to procrastinate and draw attention away from the current situation. Like now.

I needed to be asking myself a different set of questions now. How was I going to get back into my own body? How had the bite affected Stiles'? If I was going to be stuck this way, how was that going to effect the situation with the Alpha? With the Argents?

Infuriatingly, there were no answers.

So I just lay on the bed waiting until I could move again. It took a while. Drowsiness set in before mobility. The second I found myself starting to nod off I pushed Stiles' eyes open. The room hadn't changed much in the past ten minutes. Most of the staff had left though only two nurses remained.

Scott was still by the wall, but as soon as I looked at him, he walked over to the cot. "Can you move yet?" He asked.

I blinked. Most of my body was tingling, coming back awake.

He relaxed, threaded his fingers through the bed rail, and lowered his voice. "Derek?"

Another blink.

He frowned as his eyes scanned my face. "That's you, right?"

I looked up and the dropped my gaze rapidly, the closest thing to a nod that I could manage. I wanted to snarl at him and ask where the hell Stiles thought he was hiding.

"This whole thing is so freaky." He grumbled under his breath.

Normality crept up my legs. I could now move Stile's toes. Joy.

"You can come in." Scott whispered, glancing at the door.

I knew he was talking to Stiles. I swirled my eyes towards the door and I watched my body walk in. It was still alive, and in one piece by the looks of things which was a miracle. My breathing became shallower and I mentally curled Stiles' lip.

He seemed nervous from the way he widened my eyes. Three cautious measured steps brought him up next to Scott. He too knotted his fingers in the railing. "Hi ya,"

I wanted to yell at him to get out of my skin. Tell him not to move me around. Not to knot my fingers or ever use my tongue to speak. The paralysis made this impossible, but I let out an angry moan anyway.

My mouth stretched into a half smile, "So, um, sucks to be me, huh?"

A long list of profanities bounced around in Stiles' skull.

"So this is what it's like to have an out of body experience, weird." he muttered.

My face was buzzing. I tried to make the rest of Stiles' body as rigid as possible while I waited for it to wake up.

"Anyway," Stiles kept up a steady stream of nervous chatter, "I think it's kind of good that we're having this first meeting while you can't move. Primarily because if you could move I'm pretty sure you'd try to kill me or something, and I really wouldn't want to have to hurt my body…"

I watched a drop of sweat trickle down my brow. Even though I couldn't smell his fear, I could easily image the musty scent filling the air. How dare he get afraid in my body? How dare he sweat my sweat? Stiles' mouth salivated, a natural response to fear scent. I resisted the urge to swallow, but I heard Scott gulp.

The tingling subsided and I went back to being as normal as Stiles could ever be. I staid still, weighing options. The nurses were both watching my body. Scott swatted the arm in warning and Stiles shut up. Both of them were quiet.

A cough started building in my chest. My throat felt like a feather was being drug up and down it. I tried to suppress it, to shove it down deeper, but it burst out.

Stiles leaped back, hands held up defensively. "G-d!"

The lack of moisture in my throat wouldn't let the coughing stop. It got so strong I was afraid I was going to vomit again. One of the nurses handed me a cup of water. After a couple of swallows, I got the coughing under control.

There was no chance of a surprise attack now. I sat up, and folded Stiles' legs in front of me, ignoring the staffs' protests. "Nice of you to finally show up,"

Scott shot a look at the nurse who'd given me the water. "They just now let me back here…"

"Wasn't talking to you," I wheezed, glaring at my body. Stiles glanced at me quickly, before looking at the nurses.

"Could you leave?" I asked, glaring at them from the corner of my eye.

The younger one went to the door almost instantly, but the black headed one held back. "It's ok, Mom," Scott said, "I'm here."

If that was supposed to make her go, it failed. "Leave!" I barked.

With a frown, she did, but paused in front of the door and added, "I'm going to be in the hallway."

Once the door clicked shut, I reached out towards my body. "Give me your arm, Stiles."

He retreated further, "What? Why?"

"Because I damn well said so," I hissed.

"Derek," Scott began.

"Arm. Now." When Stiles staid where he was, I added, "If I have to get up to do it, you'll be very, very sorry." The snarl that tore through my throat was the most realistic I'd ever managed in this body. I threaded my hand around one of the IV cords, and grasped it as close as I could to where it vanished into Stiles' skin. I was prepared to rip them out one by one so that I wouldn't be dragging the machinery across the room with me when I cornered Stiles.

"Ok, fine," He sighed in defeat, trying to put on an act of bravado. "Here," Stiles walked slowly towards me and laid his arm across the bed rail.

"Derek, this is-" Scott began.

I glared at him.

"Scott it's OK, let's just let him get it out of his system or whatever. I mean, how bad can it hurt?"

Ha, he was about to find out. I brought his own wimpy elbow sharply down on the crock of the arm. There was a snap. Stiles whimpered. I gave the wrist a twist for good measure. He bit his lip and folded on to the floor, clutching at the wound. "Make sure that sets right," I warned him, "or I'll just have to do it all over again."

"Oh. G-d." He hissed out between clenched teeth, "ow. Feel better?" He looked up at me.

I sighed, "it will do for now." Since that was taken care of, I turned to Scott. "Get me out of this place."

"What? How?"

What was with these kids? They seem to get dumber by the second. "Things haven't been going that well here," I raised my hand with the mangled fingers.

"The armed guards should be able to detour all future crazies," Stiles said, somehow making my voice adapt his whining tone.

"I can't stand these people anymore." I grunted, running the less damaged hand across my current face. "I'm tried to playing human."

Stiles make a click in the back of his throat, "What do you mean, playing human?" he asked, agitated, "You haven't been doing a very good job. You've already vomited up black blood, and you have my Dad super suspicious. Why don't you just heal, it probably wouldn't tell them anything they don't know all ready."

I studied the blood moving in and out of the dialysis machine. "I can't."

"Can't?"

"Something went wrong with the bite," I explained, "This body isn't a wolf."

Scott's eyes widened and bewilderment washed over Stiles, "What do you mean? There's freaking black blood!"

"Except for that, it's all human. I don't think the Alpha even meant to change it." I cast around for a good way to phrase my theory. "The Alpha only marked it."

"Marked it?" Scott asked.

I wonder if he can tell when I make this stuff up. "Marked it."

"Like a dog marking territory?"

Stiles wrinkled my nose, "seriously?"

"Yes," I told Scott, "Like a dog marking territory. Sometimes an Alpha will designate a human that they want to come back to, either to turn or to kill. The easiest way is to inject a small amount of venom, so that the subject can easily be singled out by scent. The Alpha's going to be coming back for this body."