Author's note: SO SORRY GUYS! College is VERY VERY distracting ;-) I will really try not to take so long again, but I have SO MUCH FREAKING WORK. Not to mention I am with people ALL THE TIME - I can never find a minute to write. It's crazy. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter...

Chapter 26

"Your uncle was just joking about the 'if you don't mark me someone else might' thing, right?" Amy asked Derek the next morning. She'd replayed that moment many times in her head; it just didn't sit right and the notion was, understandably, extremely worrisome.

"Yeah," he dismissed. To be entirely honest, he could say that his uncle's comment hadn't sat right with him, either. Before the fire, it wouldn't have even been a blip on his radar – but Peter's mind had been altered completely. Truthfully, Derek was afraid of what he might be capable of. He'd already killed his own niece – forcing himself on someone over a decade his junior didn't seem too debauched comparatively. He'd also noticed that the older man had a disturbing obsession with skin since the fire – probably because his own skin had been so mangled before he'd healed himself. He didn't even want to try to imagine what horrors this new obsession could drive him to commit.

"I don't want to be marked," she stated, looking him up and down.

"I wasn't planning on it," he said, smirking at her jumpy demeanor.

"I'm not looking to be a teen mom, thank you very much," she rambled on.

"Duly noted."

"So we're just – um – good where we are…?"

"Sure."

"And – uh – where are we?"

"… In my house."

"You know that's not what I mean."

"I don't know, Amy. Enough people just assume we're together, we might as well be…" he snapped.

"Do you actually mean that?" she questioned earnestly.

Derek shot her a panicked expression, like a trapped animal; he hadn't been serious. "…Uh…"

"Would it bother you if I saw other guys? If I went on dates?"

He couldn't lie to himself. He couldn't lie to her. "Yes," he said through clenched teeth. The mere thought of it bothered him to no end; he was sure he would attack at the sight of any male – other than perhaps Scott or Stiles – cavorting with her.

"And it would bother me if you saw other girls," she reasoned. "We don't have to define what we are, as long as you acknowledge that it's something."

He chewed the inside of his cheek contemplatively, mulling over the proposition. Even "acknowledging" something between them was bordering on too close for comfort. However, he eventually caved. "Fine." He'd always been a possessive person.

Amy grinned gleefully and launched herself at Derek. She knew he hated hugs (and she knew she really shouldn't be pushing her luck at this point), but she just couldn't resist. Flinging her arms around his neck, she pressed a firm kiss to his pursed lips. To her great surprise, he eventually responded by positioning his hands at her waist and moving his mouth with hers.

After they pulled apart, he grumbled, "But I'm not referring to you as my girlfriend. I don't do the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing."

"Fine with me," she replied, going in for another kiss. "As long as I have you all to myself…" Their lips connected, but she pulled away far sooner than Derek would have liked. "Although," she added as an afterthought, "it's not like I have much competition… Wanted criminals aren't exactly the most eligible bachelors…"

"You'd be surprised," he purred, his breath tickling her face; he was mere centimeters away.

"Is that a threat?"

"Maybe," he said before capturing her lips with his own. The kiss was deep and passionate – meaningful. But Amy had to break away abruptly once again.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she chanted in horror.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I'm supposed to be at school! God, how did I not realize this earlier?" She checked her phone frantically, only to see that it was out of battery: That explains it, she thought.

"That's what you were thinking about?" he asked, mildly offended that her mind had been elsewhere.

"I was thinking about French class," she replied with a bashful grin.

When the realization set in, he matched her with a small smirk of his own.

"This is going to be a shit-show," she said, "My parents have probably been going mental. I almost don't want to even bother…"

"Then don't," he replied, "Stay." He pulled her closer to him once again, so that her body was flush with his.

"Such a good influence…" she murmured sarcastically. True enough, she really didn't want to leave, especially now that she and Derek were on such miraculously good terms.

But her sense of duty prevailed. "I've really go to go," she insisted gravely, rushing out the door in a flurry. Once inside her car, she plugged in her iPhone and prayed that she would be able to regain at least a little bit of charge.

When she arrived at the hulking building, she scrunched her eyes shut and pushed through the doors without much meditation; the more she thought about this decision, the less appealing it seemed. However, she couldn't very well disappear off of the face of the earth, either – her options were limited.

Before she actually amassed the amount of bravery required to step inside, she texted Stiles; I just got to the school, she typed on the touch-screen keypad. Without further delay, she pushed the door open.

It wasn't so much that she was worried about her teachers; no – she was worried about her parents finding out that she was there. If they had indeed called the police (again), the school would surely have been alerted. They might notify her parents that she was there, and that would most certainly end badly. Not to mention, her "stolen" car was parked in the student parking lot…

Any way you sliced it, this was bound to produce a bad situation.

Amy entertained the idea of going to class late, but she soon came to the conclusion that she would instead wait for the next one to start. She sat on the foot of the staircase and surveyed the deserted halls. It was eerie, she thought, to see a place that was usually so full of life completely empty.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps echo through the corridors. As they grew closer and closer – towards the senior lockers – she began to feel concerned and anxiously toyed with the hem of her gray knit sweater.

It was Stiles.

"DUDE," he exclaimed upon seeing her.

"Peter's back!" they said simultaneously. "How do you – " the pair continued in unison, "– you first."

"He came to Derek's while I was there," she eventually whispered once the confusion had died down.

Stiles nodded solemnly. "He went to see Scott, too…"

"So…"

"So," he mimicked.

"Thoughts?"

"This is bad. Really bad. Not to mention, YOU HAVE BEEN M.I.A. – AGAIN – FOR DAYS."

"Yeah, sorry about that… My phone died."

"You were with him the entire weekend?"

"Yup."

"My dad's getting tired of dealing with your parents' panicked phone calls at like five AM."

"Sorry, they need to chill. But it's not my fault they're spazzes…"

"It's your fault for running away," he reasoned.

"Not my fault that they're psychos, though," she countered. "Maybe if they acted like normal human beings I would stay. But such is not the case…"

"Anyway: Peter went to his house… And saw you?"

"Yeah. It was weird. He was really creepy about the whole thing and he kept talking about 'marking' – don't ask – and then he just peaced."

"What's marking?" he questioned, furrowing his brow.

"I said don't ask!" she protested in exasperation.

"Yeah, so obviously now I have to."

She sighed deeply. "It's a long story. Basically it's like marking your territory, or at least that's how he explained it. Pretty much you have sex with someone and then they become unappealing to others."

"I see," Stiles said carefully, making an expression of disgust. "That's really sketchy."

"Yeah."

"So, does Derek have a plan?"

"As a matter of fact, yes… Since Peter wants to find the other alpha, Derek thinks that we should just let them find each other and fight it out amongst themselves… One is going to have to die – but the one who wins will be really weakened afterwards, and that's when he wants to attack."

"Wow, I have to admit, that's actually a pretty good idea."

"I know, right? He says we'll have to wait 'til the full moon, though."

"Whoa… That's like a month from now. What are we supposed to do until then?"

"I don't know, just hang tight I guess? What else can we do?"

"True. Still, don't you think we should try to find out who the other alpha is?"

"I mean, I guess… Just, like, I don't want to cause any more trouble than necessary."

"Yeah, I know… But what if it's someone important or someone we know?"

"Whoever it was tried to kill Derek. In my book, that makes them an enemy and they deserve what's coming."

"But they didn't," he rationalized, "Derek's fine. Don't you think that if they really wanted to kill him they would have?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. They hurt him, and I don't ever want to see anything like that happen again."

"You really like him?" Stiles murmured – it was more of a statement than a question.

Amy nodded bashfully, averting her gaze. "He's not the monster everyone thinks he is – not even close."

"He must like you a pretty good amount, too," he continued thoughtfully. "Otherwise he wouldn't have allowed you to get so close. I'm kind of surprised – I never took Derek for the type to grow attached."

She shrugged. "I mean, it's pretty much ingrained in his mind that he shouldn't be alone; he's just fighting nature, and it's a losing battle. Plus, he fell for Kate before…"

"That is true," he conceded, "I just didn't really think people recovered from that sort of thing…"

"Yeah, but it was a really long time ago. She betrayed him, but he knew she was an Argent going into the whole thing. He knows I would never do that – I have no motivation to. He knows he can trust me."

"So, are you guys, like, a couple?" he asked incredulously.

"No, I mean, well… not really. He doesn't want to label it."

"How avante-garde," he said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey, it's not as if this is a normal situation in any other way, either. I honestly don't mind it – I thought I would, but I don't. As long as he's not seeing other people, I'm fine."

"What are you going to do about your parents," he asked finally.

"I seriously don't know," she said sadly. "I can't go back there. I just can't. I'm gonna stay with Derek for as long as possible, I think. I just need my stuff…"

"You know they're not just going to let you move out."

"Yeah, I know. But there's really nothing they can do about it. I'm eighteen. I can do what I want. I may need their money, but not if I'm living with Derek… Just as a side note, I get the feeling he's loaded – I mean, think about it: an entire family's worth of money left to two people – he has to be. And it doesn't look like he's spent any of it, either…"

"Get your gold-digger on," Stiles joked.

"Shut up," she laughed, "You know that's not what I mean. If it comes to it, I'll even go to court. They honestly have no legal authority over me."

"But you'd just cut ties with them completely?"

"It's not like I really have another choice…"

Just then, the bell rang and people began filing into the halls; Amy and Stiles would have to continue this conversation another day. She had yet to figure out how to get her belongings from her room, and now the teenagers were engaged in a nerve-racking waiting game. The full moon couldn't come soon enough… But a month was a long time.

Author's note: I hope you all liked it! Again, I am so sorry that this took so long. Please don't hate me. Pretty pretty please review?