Present ...
"Stiles? What are you still doing out here?" The Sheriff asked heading over to meet Stiles; he'd assumed that his son had left the school grounds with Scott and the others. "Come on buddy let's get you home." he said wrapping an arm around his son's shoulder and steering him toward his car. "I've had your jeep towed to the garage, we'll get it sorted don't worry." he assured him.
"Thanks Dad." Stiles smiled up at him. "Have you found the janitor yet?" he asked.
The Sheriff nodded his head sadly. "I'm afraid so." he sighed and Stiles knew at once that he hadn't survived. "I still don't understand what you guys were doing here, did you break into the school on purpose?"
Stiles shook his head. "No we were just passing by when we noticed the doors were open." he lied.
The Sheriff nodded but Stiles could tell he didn't believe him. "You know what I think?" he said gently. "I think you broke into the school to impress Jackson and Lydia, they're the big shots around school right?"
Stiles just nodded fighting the urge to protest.
"And Allison, Scott likes her right?" The Sheriff continued.
Stiles again just nodded.
"So maybe he thought playing the dashing hero would impress her, I mean he did text her to get her to come to the school after all. And then he went off and left you guys ... making out that he was saving you all ..."
Stiles bit at his bottom lip, he hated doing it but found himself nodding.
"And it's not like this is the first time one of your pranks has got out of control I mean accusing Derek of being behind all these recent murders is a prime example." The Sheriff added.
"Dad -" Stiles started to say.
"I'm going to turn a blind eye to this Stiles." The Sheriff said cutting across him. "But only because you've all been through an ordeal tonight. I imagine you just want to forget about it, but you're on your last warning alright? No more stunts, got it?"
Stiles nodded quickly.
The Sheriff's shoulders sagged and he sighed. "Right okay." he said glad the "parenting" part of the conversation was over. "Get in the car I'll take you home, I just need to have a word with my Deputy first." he said passing the keys to Stiles.
Stiles took the keys and headed off without another word. On the one had he was angry that he'd got into trouble over this when it was completely not his fault but on the other he was relieved that his father hadn't discovered the truth; he had to just be satisfied with him thinking this was all just some practical joke and them being there when the "mountain lion" had attacked the janitor was all just an awful coincidence.
The Sheriff stopped off on the way home and treated Stiles to not one but two enormous bags of Reece's pieces. "For the shock." he chuckled as he threw them onto his son's lap as he climbed back into the car.
Stiles smiled gratefully and knew it was also a peace offering of sorts - his father always felt guilty when he had to scold him and Stiles knew this was because he still felt guilty about not being a proper father to him for so long after his mother had died. Stiles didn't blame him for this at all but nearly four years later his father was still trying to make it up to him.
As they drove Stiles gazed over the window listening to the Deputy's updates coming through on his father's radio and staring out at the woods wondering where Derek was and when he'd see him again.
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Past ...
Derek had to force himself not to circle back and go and see Stiles again. It killed him to walk away, he hated the thought of Stiles upset and angry with him but he knew he needed to give the younger teen time to calm down before he tried talking to him again. He wanted to tell him the truth about Kate but if he did he feared he'd have to tell him the whole truth and he was ashamed of his actions - ashamed of how he was using her. What would Stiles think of him if he knew the truth?
Derek took a slow walk back through the woods wondering how on Earth he was going to get through an entire night being with Kate. When he reached home his thoughts were quickly distracted when he found his mother and Laura standing on the porch talking in serious hushed voices."Is everything okay?" he asked as he approached.
"Have you seen your brother or uncle?" Talia asked.
Derek's eyes darted over his mother's and then Laura's - they both seemed to be rattled. "No why?" he asked wondering what was going on.
"They left in the middle of the night and haven't been home since." Laura told him. "They're up to something I know they are." she said crossing her arms. "Have either of them said anything to you?"
Derek just shook his head.
"Well that's something at least." Talia said, as much as the information might have helped she did not want her youngest son getting involved in whatever Peter and Lucas were up to. "I need you to look after Cora tonight, Laura and I are going to go and investigate."
Before Derek could even reply both Laura and Talia marched down the porch steps and headed off into the woods.
Derek checked his phone and he sighed heavily as he read over Kate's message again: "Can't wait to stay over tonight x." All he felt was dread and he knew he couldn't go through with it. Glad to have a legitimate excuse Derek quickly sent her a reply, telling her he had to look after his little sister so they'd have to rearrange it - he tried to make it sound like he was really disappointed but when he'd sent the message he practically skipped up the porch steps and into his house, it was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
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Present ...
The next time Stiles saw Derek they were not alone.
"So you just decided to go for a stroll in the woods?" Derek asked crossing his arms and glaring at Stiles and Scott who he'd stumbled across as he'd been tracking the Alpha through the woods. "At night, with the Alpha out here? Are you mad?!" he cried.
"Not mad." Scott said with a shake of his head. "Just in need of a drink." he said grabbing Stiles by the wrist and raising his arm so that he held up the bottle of Jack Daniels he was carrying.
Derek's eyes snapped from the bottle to Stiles's. "You're planning on getting drunk?" he asked sharply, his eyes narrowed.
Stiles swallowed hard. "No err ... actually Scott here is going to get drunk, I'm driving." he said jangling the keys to his jeep at him.
"Absolutely not." Derek said snatching up the bottle, he tossed it aside then grabbed Scott and Stiles by the shoulders and steered them back through the woods toward the jeep.
"Get off." Scott said shaking his shoulders but Derek dug his claws deep into the Beta's shoulder to show him he wasn't taking no for an answer. "Firstly." he hissed angrily. "Werewolves aren't affected by alcohol and secondly there is an Alpha out here who wants you to kill your best friend remember? How could you be so reckless? How could you agree to this?"
"It was Stiles's idea!" Scott protested.
Derek glared at Stiles. "You should know better. How could you take such a risk?"
Stiles suddenly felt very small and very young and naive. His heart sank into his stomach, Derek was really pissed. What if he'd blown it? What if Derek was now regretting everything that had happened between them at the school a couple of nights ago. "I didn't think, I just wanted to cheer Scott up. Ever since Allison dumped him he's -" he started to explain.
"I don't want to hear it Stiles." Derek growled. He glanced at Scott and could tell the young werewolf had been struggling to sleep and he could smell the despair rolling off him. At first he'd not taken the young Beta's relationship with Allison Argent seriously at all, he thought it was just another high school romance, but after Stiles had proved to him that Allison was Scott's anchor he realised how much she meant to him. Their break up however did not excuse for the risk they were taking.
Neither Scott nor Stiles said another word. When they reached the jeep Derek shoved them toward it rather roughly. "Go home both of you. Unless you want to do the right thing and help me." he said looking solely at Scott.
Scott just sneered. "We don't have a chance Derek." he said with a shake of his head. "I don't know how you survived what happened at the school but next time that thing will kill you for sure." he said before wrenching open the passenger side door of the jeep and climbing in.
Stiles turned to look at Derek, the two of them stared at each other for a second and Stiles saw not anger in Derek's eyes but hurt. Stiles opened his mouth to say something but Derek just turned away and started to walk back into the woods. "Derek!" Stiles shouted running after him, he grabbed him by the elbow. "I'm sorry okay, it was a stupid idea." he said breathlessly.
Derek shrugged off Stiles's hand from his arm and marched on leaving his mate standing there looking on helplessly. His wolf tore at his insides, excited to see Stiles for the first time in days, but frustrated that he was walking away from him.
Derek forced himself to ignore it and marched on.
Stiles trudged back to the jeep and climbed in; he glanced at Scott. "I think I could do with a drink now." he muttered before starting the jeep and heading back toward town.
"Why does he always show up and interfere?" Scott said glaring in the direction Derek had disappeared in. "Why can't he just leave me alone?"
Stiles stayed silent as they drove on, he couldn't exactly tell Scott it wasn't he who Derek couldn't leave alone.
Stiles dropped Scott off at home and then made his way back to his own house; the place was empty - his father had left him a note to say he'd been called into work and judging by the hurried scrawl Stiles suspected there had been another murder. Stiles trudged up to his room and collapsed down on his bed letting out a heavy sigh, his heart swelled uncomfortably and beat hard against his chest.
He really really really hoped his hadn't blown it before it had even begun.
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Past ...
Derek lay awake in bed staring up at the ceiling; he couldn't sleep, he was worried - worried about Stiles who hadn't responded to any of his texts and worried about his mother and sister who hadn't returned despite it being after midnight. He and Cora were alone in the house and to be honest Derek found the place eerily quiet without the usual sounds of the rest of his pack filling it. Cora was asleep, Derek could tell by her heartbeat, and willed himself to do the same trying to convince himself that he'd wake up to find his family all safe at home and that he'd go to school where Stiles would greet him with a smile.
Derek was finally just dozing off when he heard something hard, possibly a stone, hit his window with a sharp tap; his eyes snapped open, he clambered off his bed, rushed to the window and peered out. There was someone standing out there beside the house but he couldn't make out who. Thinking it was Stiles for one wild moment he quickly slid open the window and peered out.
His heart sank when he found it wasn't Stiles.
It was Kate.