"Guys, I'm serious! We have to get back out there and look for them," Scott huffed, a slight growl in his voice as he threw his arms in the air in exasperation. "Allison and Stiles are still missing. And we've moved from the original safe house we'd been using. They're not going to know where to find us!"
"Scott, we have to be reasonable," Chris countered as he moved to put a cautious hand on Scott's shoulder in an effort to soothe the young man. His face was worn and tired, the hunter looked almost twice his age and felt even worse.
Scott shrugged away from the offer of comfort. "I am being reasonable. They're two of the most likely to survive!"
"How do you figure?" Parrish asked, he held up his hands as the sound of a growl from both Derek and Scott. "I don't mean to make anyone upset. I know that Allison is a trained Hunter. But it's only been against supernatural creatures. And only a few years. And Stiles isn't really the 'outdoors' kind of kid."
Derek suppressed a growl as he took a small step closer, hands curled like he wanted to bring his claws to bear on the man before him. "Stiles is a lot smarter than you give him credit for. And he's a lot stronger than any of you realize. Just because you have supernatural abilities... you forget that some humans can be almost as strong. And they often look for ways around a problem, rather than crashing through a problem headfirst."
"Besides," Scott added, taking a step before Derek. "Stiles has been preparing for a zombie apocalypse sine the first time he saw a zombie movie. Mostly as a joke, but after the CDC released that paper about that being a good idea he took that to heart. He started prepping more and more. He was pretty ready. Either with his gear or without. And he'd saved our asses more times than I'm really comfortable admitting. He's only human and he's still impressing us with his ability to come through."
"I'm sorry," Parrish replied, hands up in surrender. "I was just trying to get an idea of how they would handle it. I didn't mean to offend. I was just ... it's not a situation most people would ever think of. But they're not most people. None of you are like most people. I'm sorry that I forget that sometimes." He gave a self deprecating laugh. "I'm still new to all this supernatural stuff."
Derek seemed to deflate a bit as he stepped back, letting the others discuss what they wanted. His eyes were downcast as he moved towards a window. He keenly felt the absence of Stiles, but his wolf had yet to mourn the loss of their Mate. Just his closeness. He didn't know how to phrase it when he thought about Stiles being missing but he; Derek, somehow knew that Stiles was still alive in some form or fashion. His wolf could tell that he was alive. But he had no idea how to use that knowledge to find the younger man.
A hand on his shoulder startled Derek out of his inward contemplation, his head came up to see who was trying to get his attention. He was both surprised and not by the fact that it was the Sheriff looking at him with a knowing look. He didn't say anything as he looked into the eyes of the father that stood before him.
Derek shook his head as he looked out the window again before turning back to the Sheriff and leaning into the man. He let the other offer him a quick, comforting hug. "We'll find him," the Sheriff promised. "One way or another. We'll know what happened to Stiles. And we'll bring him home."
"He's not dead," Derek replied as he stepped back but not away from the hand on his shoulder. He was still drawing strength and comfort from it. And the Sheriff's scent was part of Stiles' own scent, which made Derek's frayed nerves feel just a little bit soothed.
"I want to believe that too," the Sheriff started to reply, the regret and pain in the older man's eyes almost kept Derek from saying more.
"I know that he's not dead," Derek replied, voice hard as he looked into the other's blue eyes. Certainty clear in his eyes as he spoke. "I know he's not because I can feel him. We're connected. I don't know how much he told you about Mates when it comes to Werewolves, but it's a very serious thing. It means that we're connected for life. If one of us dies ... the other isn't going to be far behind. The wolf will pine to death. A human can sometimes break the bond postmortem. It's not common or easy, but it has happened in the past. No wolf could survive that kind of thing. The point is that I can still feel Stiles connected to me. I can't tell where or what kind of shape he's in. I wish it was more than 'dead or not dead' but that's all the connection can give me. I wish it could give me more, but we've only been Bonded a short time and Stiles' Spark hasn't been trained much. In time we could have a better connection that was more useful, but right now... this is what we have." He sighed, feeling a little relieved at having someone else know. At the same time he worried that the informatioin might not make the older man feel any better.
"Thank you for sharing that with me," the Sherkiff replied quietly. Emotion flickered over his face quickly as he tried to reign himself in. "I know you were probably worried that this might bother me or make me unhappy. But it makes me feel a little better. Not a lot. I mean, my son is still out in the middle of a zombie apocolypse, but he's alive. And we have to take what hope we can get, when we can. Right?"
Derek nodded, words lost to him for the moment at the other's open relief and honesty. He didn't want to break the moment they were having.
TBC...
