AN: Bloody hell, it's been forever since I updated! Many apologies! And to make up for it, there is a reward in here... Sort of...
On Stiles' say so, Scott had called the police. He had been a bit lost himself, shocked and surprised. He didn't know Chloe, of course, but he had met her and thought she was nice. And this was no way to die.
"Throat slashed," said the forensics woman to the sheriff. She had no idea Scott was listening, but the sheriff did. "Single, long cut as far as I can tell."
"Any idea what with?" the sheriff asked, in his sad and quiet crime scene voice.
"Not yet," said the forensics woman, "Doesn't look deep though, just an inch or something. Enough."
"Yeah," said the sheriff, "enough." He glanced towards Scott, "Keep me posted," he told the forensics woman, and then made his way over to Scott. "How much did you hear?" he asked with a frown.
"All of it," said Scott, honestly.
The sheriff sighed. "How did you find the body?"
"I smelt the blood and followed it," said Scott. "I didn't need to touch her to check, I knew she wasn't alive. I knew her heart wasn't beating."
"Well, according to her cell phone, the last number she called was nine one one," said the Sheriff, with a consoling look in Scott's direction, "and the call lasted a few minutes. But I've been to dispatch and there's..."
"Yeah, that was probably when Derek kidnapped Stiles…" said Scott.
"Oh crap," said the sheriff, "this is her? The girl Stiles went to see?"
"Yeah," Scott admitted, sadly.
"Crap," said the Sheriff again. "You better tell me everything you know. Right now. And I mean everything, got it?"
Scott nodded. "But it's off the record, right?" he said, "There's, like, werewolves and face changing creatures and stuff."
The sheriff sighed again, but nodded.
Scott cringed before he told the story.
"She was normal!" Stiles repeated.
"I keep telling you, we don't know that!" Derek insisted. "She smelt weird…"
"And that can't have been because she was physically grabbed by zombie Allison yesterday? It has to be because she is a monster?"
"Most likely," said Derek.
Stiles let out his most exasperated sigh in Derek's general direction and stropped around Derek's sofa to drop back down on to it. Chloe was dead. Sweet, innocent, funny, cute Chloe. He'd known her less than twenty four hours, and, however she'd been killed, it was almost definitely partly his fault. If he hadn't let Derek drag him off, they could have stayed in the coffee shop longer, or he could have walked her home, or given her a lift. She wouldn't have been an open target like that.
But it was mostly Derek's fault.
"You bastard," Stiles mumbled, "you know it's your fault, right?"
Derek didn't reply. Stiles didn't look at him. He hoped the bastard had listened, accepted that he was a bastard for not believing Stiles when he insisted Chloe wasn't evil. Anyone could see that Chloe wasn't evil! Anyone could see she was a decent person. What was wrong with Derek?
"Are you just a shit judge of women?" Stiles asked.
Still Derek didn't reply. Now that was beginning to feed Stiles' anger.
"I gotta go figure out who did this to her," he said, and got up.
A hand on his shoulder pushed him back down. "You are not going anywhere."
"Derek!" Stiles protested.
"You're not getting yourself killed!" Derek growled, "I will not … You're not going out there!"
"It's not your decision!" said Stiles.
"I will tie you down," growled Derek.
Stiles shivered, not entirely with fear. "What is the matter with you?" he demanded of Derek and himself.
"I am not letting you get yourself killed!" Derek growled.
"Fuck you!" Stiles shouted.
Derek didn't reply again. Stiles wished he could growl like a werewolf. His pathetic, seventeen year old human voice box would just sound stupid if he tried it.
"I'm sorry she's dead," said Derek.
Stiles huffed.
"If she really wasn't involved, then of course I'm sorry."
"If?" Stiles repeated, "If? I think it's firmly established that she wasn't some zombie monster, Derek!"
"Nothing is established," said Derek. "Look, as soon as Scott gets back, I'll leave you alone, but…"
"Leave me alone?" Stiles repeated, "How the fuck does your brain work?"
Derek snorted, "Seriously, you're asking me how my brain works?"
Stiles ignored him, "One minute you won't let me out of your sight, the next you want rid of me?"
"Shut up, Stiles!" Derek snapped.
And for once Stiles did. He didn't know what to say. Derek was insane.
They stayed that way for a while; Stiles trying to process everything, Derek thinking about whatever it was he was thinking about. It took a while for Derek to say "Stop it, you're freaking me out."
"Stop what? I wasn't doing anything," said Stiles.
"I know, that's what's freaking me out," Derek replied
"Oh, so you're making jokes now?" said Stiles. "Isn't it hilarious? Stiles isn't talking because someone's been murdered."
Derek took a few moments to make his words work again, "Stiles, I'm sorry about your girlfriend..."
Stiles spluttered. "She wasn't... I mean..." she wasn't and never would have been Stiles' girlfriend because for some reason Stiles kept fantasizing about a particularly emotionally constipated male werewolf, "I only met her yesterday..."
"So, I'm sorry about your friend," Derek interrupted, "I... I don't... Look, I'll stay away from you, but I need to make sure ..."
"I don't want you to stay away!" Stiles snapped before his brain could point out how stupid a thing that was to say.
"It's not your choice," said Derek.
Stiles swore he would have grown claws at that moment if he were capable of it. "If you hate me so much, why the hell have you done all this crap? Why kidnap me? Why didn't you kill me when I had the nogitsune inside? Why ...?"
He trailed off. Derek was shutting down, his whole face going solid and impenetrable. It was a self-defence mechanism that Stiles recognized. He'd used it for years before he'd discovered self-deprecating humor was better. But then he was more socially adept than Derek. Which was saying something about Derek's social skills.
"Shit," he said.
"Shut up Stiles," said Derek.
"Nope," Stiles replied, staring at Derek in amazement, "I'm never gonna shut up around you. Ever."
"Shut up Stiles!" Derek repeated.
"No way," said Stiles, "because you don't want me to."
"Shut up Stiles," Derek said again, beginning to let some of his panic slip through. Stiles wondered if it was normal for someone to find the discomfort of their crush quite as entertaining as he was currently finding Derek's.
"You don't want me to shut up because you've known me for nearly three years, and during that time I have never once shut up in your presence and that's why you..."
"If you finish that sentence, Stiles, I will gag you."
Stiles grinned, "With your hand or your mouth?"
Derek's growl was really quite impressive.
"Oh my god! This is amazing!" Stiles cried, "All this time I've been all worried about annoying you, and you ripping my throat out, and secretly you've been digging it all along."
"I never said that," said Derek.
"Nah, but you think it!" said Stiles, "that moment earlier. You were so ready to kiss me! I knew it!"
"Shut up Stiles."
"Make me!"
"I would if I could!" growled Derek, but Stiles couldn't help but notice that he'd never once denied it.
"Kiss me," he said. "That'll shut me up. Probably. For the duration of the kiss, anyway."
Derek stepped back.
Stiles' heart plummeted. Had he just managed to completely misread all of that? Did Derek just not know how to turn him down politely? Couldn't think of a way to deny Stiles' accusations without being unkind?
"Scott will be here soon, and he'll take you home and look after you…" Derek trailed off, voice gruff.
Stiles could feel his own face lighting up red, "I was only joking," he said.
Derek nodded. "Yeah, I know."
The werewolf turned away from Stiles, shoulders stiff and tense as they always had been.
Stiles had no idea why he said it, but he did. "No, I wasn't joking."
Derek stilled, but didn't turn back around.
Stiles swallowed, "I know I joke around a lot, but... but... you're, like... this totally stupid, slightly violent asshole and I... I..."
"Stiles," Derek interrupted. "You have to stop."
"I wanted to kiss you, too," said Stiles, amazed at his own bravery. "Earlier, before Peter came in. I wanted you to…"
"Please, Stiles. Stop!"
"Why?" said Stiles. "Don't you... don't you feel..."
"It doesn't matter what I feel," Derek replied, "You know what happens to the people I care about."
Stiles actually rolled his eyes, "What you think you're cursed?"
Derek still didn't turn. "Maybe."
Stiles realized he'd crept toward Derek during this conversation. "Derek, you know you sound completely stupid right now?"
Derek finally spun, shoving Stiles against a wall. Stiles forgot to be scared, he was too busy realizing that this was Derek's own desperate attempt to hide his own feelings.
"Do you know how many people I've killed?" Derek growled at Stiles. "You think the duct tape was a big deal? I was already a murderer then! And after that my list of victims grew longer and longer and..."
"Stop being a martyr, you asshole!" Stiles interrupted. "Peter told me what happened with Paige, and I'm sorry it happened, and yeah, you were stupid, but not evil."
Derek shook his head, hands still pressing Stiles at the wall.
Stiles kept arguing, "And I know what Kate did, but that was her, just her! You cannot be blamed for her being a psycho!"
"Stiles," Derek growled.
Stiles just kept going, "And, so, you picked another crazy? I thought Jennifer Blake was normal, too! I totally believed her whole innocent, hard-working teacher thing. We all did until the second she tried to kill Lydia! Derek, you know me! Apart from a small amount of time when I was possessed by an ancient Japanese demon, I've never acted like a homicidal maniac. You know that, Derek!"
"Where are they now, Stiles?" Derek interrupted, voice harsh, "Where are Paige and Kate and Jennifer? You know so much about them, where are they? Where are my parents, Stiles? My sister, my cousins, my uncles and aunts? Do you want to go the same way? Do you really want to join them?"
Stiles rolled his eyes, "What, so you have, admittedly a humungous streak of bad luck, and so you never date again? Is that how your brain works? You've gone through some misery and now you never get to be happy? You're not the only one who's lost people they love, Derek."
Derek's face was barely an inch from his own, brow creased in worry and confusion, eyes glinting with liquid. "Stiles..." he said, aborted attempts at arguments, "Stiles... I can't..."
"Shut up, Derek," said Stiles.
"Stiles..." Derek protested.
"Nope, you don't get to talk until you stop being an idiot," Stiles told him.
Derek almost smiled. At least, compared to his usual expression it was a smile. "If that was a rule, you'd never get to talk," he said.
Stiles smiled back at him at him, "Ah, but we've already established that you like it when I talk. And talk and talk. And talk. So ... if you're going to stop me, it has to be with something you like even more..."
"Stiles!" Derek scolded.
Stiles brought his hands up between Derek's arms that still held on to his shoulders. He lifted them to Derek's face. His heart was racing. This was crazy. Derek might actually kill him for trying this. But that was probably only a small chance, and the most likely outcome was most definitely worth taking the risk. That was basic math.
He took Derek's face in his hands, and pulled it the extra half inch closer. He stretched his own neck out and touched Derek's lips with his own.
Derek's lips were beautiful; an island of softness in a sea of scratchy stubble. When Stiles' lips found them, he instantly knew he would never have his fill of the feeling. It was unfair just quite how perfect Derek was. Beautiful and strong and fiercely protective and with lips that made Stiles want to melt onto them.
But Derek didn't let it last. He pulled away after too few seconds, pushing Stiles back with gentle hands.
"We can't do this now, Stiles… we… can't…"
"Yes we can," Stiles insisted.
"I mean… we shouldn't," said Derek, "You're a child…"
"Fuck that," said Stiles.
"You're legally a child, and your dad has a gun," said Derek.
Stiles laughed, "Pfft, he doesn't have wolfsbane. Probably."
Derek smiled, "I'm sure he could…"
Derek froze. His nostrils flared. He shivered and his lips formed a snarl.
"What is it?" Stiles asked.
Derek grabbed him, and pulled him flush against his body. Stiles only had a moment to believe his luck had finally changed before he heard a soft, not entirely human laugh.