When Stiles saw Derek just standing there like a lost puppy, waiting to get kicked, they just wanted to drag him home and wrap him in a blanket.
Laura caught on that there was something very wrong almost immediately and when Derek failed to say something, she turned to Stiles.
"What happened?" She snapped with a hint of red in her eyes. Stiles recoiled out of reflex, being at the receiving end of that look made them the rabbit in front of the snake. Or alpha werewolf for that matter. But they recovered quickly and were about to step up to protect Derek if necessary when Derek found his words.
"I have to tell you something," Derek said in that toneless voice again. It had haunted Stiles last night and they could have lived without ever hearing it again. It was all defeat and resignation as if Derek had given up already and was just waiting for his execution.
"Derek?" Laura turned to her brother. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Every inch big sister she slung her arm around his shoulder and guided him over to sit on the couch. Getting a deja vu, Stiles followed them. Laura threw them a glance as if she wanted to ask what they had done to her baby brother.
Stiles had the same conversation with Derek just yesterday and they would not let him go through this all over again. So before Derek could gather the courage to tell Laura about Kate, they stepped up.
"Before Derek is going to tell you what he needs to tell you, I want you to know that it's not Derek's fault," Stiles said. They straightened up and looked her straight in the eye. They knew with every fiber of their being that they were challenging an alpha werewolf here, Laura could rip them apart if she wanted to, but they didn't care. They would not let her harm Derek.
"Don't you dare and blame any of this on Derek," they threatened. "He's beating himself up over this for months now, you are not going to do the same."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Laura looked between them and Derek. "Derek, what's going on?"
"It's okay," Derek told Stiles and reluctantly Stiles took a seat on Derek's other side. Without even looking Derek found their hand. Stiles gave it an encouraging squeeze.
"I met a woman," Derek started.
The version he told Laura was more coherent and to the point than the raw fragments that had broken out of him yesterday. Derek kept his eyes on the floor, unable to look at his sister, and he spoke in an emotionless, almost detached voice. He had tears in his eyes and he was holding on to Stiles so hard that he almost squished their hand.
Laura listened to what Derek had to say in stunned silence and over Derek's bowed head Stiles was watching her in hope to read something in her expression.
When Derek was done, he fell silent and then he was just waiting for whatever she would say next. Alongside him, Stiles held their breath but for a long moment, Laura didn't say anything.
But then something in her broke.
"Oh, Derek." She slung her arms around him and hugged him close. "Why didn't you say something?"
Derek couldn't answer. He just shook his head and then they were both crying. He let go of Stiles' hand to blindly reach for his sister and Stiles took that as their cue to give them some privacy. They didn't want to leave Derek alone with Laura just yet, things could still take a bad turn but they retreated to the kitchen for now. To keep themself busy they heated water and then they were searching the cupboards for some tea. This was clearly a tea situation.
By the time they had the tea ready, the crying had died down in the living room. Stiles couldn't make out the words but they heard Laura quietly talking to Derek. It did not sound as if she was kicking him out, though.
Stiles stirred a healthy amount of honey into the two steaming mugs before they carried them over.
"You guys good?" They asked while they handed them the mugs. More out of reflex than anything else they accepted the tea.
"We're good, thanks." Derek's voice was raspy but the tea should help with that.
"You're not giving him shit for this?" Stiles fixed Laura with a stern look.
"You got yourself a fierce one." She nudged Derek in the shoulder and he even huffed out a laugh.
"This is a lot to take in," Laura admitted. "And I can't even …" She let out a breath that almost sounded like a growl. "But you're right. It's not Derek's fault." She turned to her brother. "You hear me? It's not your fault. You didn't know what she was planning. She used you."
"Okay, I'll leave you to it, then." Stiles nodded to themself. They turned to leave but Laura held them back.
"You're going to tell your dad?" She asked. "About Kate?"
"That's the plan." They wanted to do that first thing once they got home. The sooner the police were searching for her the better.
"Will he believe you?" Derek spoke up. "She came after us because we're werewolves, without that information she doesn't have a motive."
"It's enough to have a closer look at her," Stiles assured them. "Have you seen the news?" They were rocking on the balls of their feet now, this was their topic. "People get murdered every day. Over the stupidest shit. Who knows what makes one decide that this or that person has to die? People have been murder over chicken wings." They remembered a case like that, they had seen a true crime video about it. "We don't have to bring the werewolf thing into this."
With that Stiles left. Derek and Laura had a lot to talk about and they needed some privacy for that.
Back home they texted their dad, asking if it was a good time to call. Aside from their weekly Skype sessions they mostly used WhatsApp and only called in an emergency. So it didn't come as a surprise when a second later Stiles' phone rang and their dad was asking if they were okay.
After the last emergency call over which Derek had to tell John that Stiles was in the hospital the man had become wary, Stiles couldn't blame him.
"I'm fine," Stiles hurried to say. "Have even been working since Monday, at least half-days."
John had a few words to say about that, basically the same ones Derek had used, but Stiles assured him that half-days were fine and that they were confident that they could go back to full days next week.
"So what did you do?" John asked and even over the phone Stiles could tell that he was squinting at them in an attempt to peek into their head.
"Nothing," Stiles said too quickly. It was a leftover reflex from times when they did have kept secrets from their dad.
"Stiles."
"It's about Derek." Stiles ignored the accusing tone. "He told me something. You might want to have a closer look at one Kate Argent."
They gave their dad the short version of what Derek had told them.
"At the moment I just have the name," Stiles admitted. "Derek might be able to tell me more but he's not in the condition for that right now."
There was a long moment of silence on the other end.
"How's he doing?" John finally asked.
"He was beating himself up over it." Stiles let out a sigh. "Blamed himself. Is still blaming himself." They knew that things like this needed time but it was hard to see Derek like this.
"He thought that I would leave him. That Laura would kick him out." Stiles didn't mention that Derek had thought about suicide. It would paint a wrong picture of him.
"Give him time," John said. "And space, don't smother him."
"I won't." Stiles would give him whatever he needed but they got the feeling that Derek needed company and physical contact. Werewolves were tactile creatures and they needed their pack, Stiles had learned.
They promised to keep each other updated and then they ended the call.
Swirling the phone between their fingers Stiles just sat on the couch, not sure what to do next. They wondered how Derek was doing. They hoped that they had been right with Laura stuffing him with comfort food.
In the end, Stiles got their laptop out and typed "Kate Argent" into the search bar. They wanted to at least put a face to her name. There were a few women by that name but they didn't have to search for long until they found a Kate Argent who had been a substitute teacher at the Beacon Hills High School.
"Found ya." Stiles clicked on the picture to enlarge it.
Blond, a bit older than Derek. A down-to-earth woman Stiles could picture with a shotgun in her hands. She did fit the image they had of a hunter. Looking at her picture Stiles wondered what had drawn Derek towards her.
Was Derek seeing something similar in them? Did they and this woman have something in common? Comparing oneself to an ex was never a good idea, Stiles knew that but they couldn't help but wonder.
Since they had found the right Kate Argent Stiles started to dig deeper. They knew that their dad was doing the same just with better resources but they needed to know for themself.
It was nowhere actually stated but reading between the lines, Stiles thought that Derek had been right with his impression that she was a hunter. And not just a hunter, she came from a family of hunters. Argent was a big name in France, going back centuries. It meant silver which was fitting even if Derek had told them that silver wasn't effective against werewolves.
The whole Argent family had started as a myth. Sometime in medieval France one of Kate's ancestors had killed a beast that had been tormenting a village. Stiles didn't find a direct connection between that and the Argents living today but it would be one hell of a coincidence. Stiles would bet money that the beast had been a feral werewolf, the very thing Derek had been afraid of turning into. That Argent guy had killed it, founding a dynasty of werewolf hunters. Stiles found a Gerard Argent in France who seemed to be the current patriarch of the family. Then there was Kate and her brother Chris with his family. There was even the next generation with Chris' daughter Allison.
"What a happy little family." Stiles let the sarcasm drip from their words even if it was wasted to their empty apartment.
Nothing they learned about the Argent family helped them with finding Kate but they mostly wanted to get a feeling for her anyway. Finding her was their dad's job. Maybe Derek could give them some pointers once he'd had time to sleep over it. Speaking of sleep, Stiles checked the time.
It was almost midnight and they didn't even have dinner yet.
Cursing under their breath, Stiles shut the laptop and then they went in search of a late dinner. They hadn't heard from Derek since they had left the Hale siblings earlier and they didn't want to interrupt something but they did send him a good night message. Then they were waiting for Derek to answer. Or to at least read their message. When after two minutes neither had happened, they went to the bathroom to get ready for the night. Derek better had answered after that. Stiles was more than ready to drive over and come to his rescue if they had to.
Derek did answer eventually with a simple good night and a see you tomorrow but it was enough to put Stiles at ease.
Stiles crawled into the too-empty bed, it was scary how quickly they had gotten used to having Derek over, but they fell asleep quickly.