Chapter 38: Amar
"No." Cora Hale stood with her arms folded at the base of the nemeton.
"Cora."
"Don't Cora me, Derek. This is my pack. And we're not going to take in a stray whatever she is."
Derek looked over to Daria as she leaned against the base of a tree. "The nemeton isn't just for wolves. It's a refuge for all supernatural creatures."
"If you were in the same situation as me, you'd understand," the she-wolf countered. "You'd do the same thing for your pack."
"Daria is part of my pack," he said without hesitation. "And you and I are family. That has to count for something."
Cora frowned and said nothing for several seconds. She glanced over at Daria, who had all but blended into the surrounding greenery. "One week," she finally spoke. "That should be enough time for you to lure the hunters away from this part of the rainforest. Then Daria can go off and do whatever witchy stuff she does."
"She's not a witch," Derek rolled his eyes.
"I don't care," Cora shrugged. "One week."
Daria finally rose and stood beside the pair. "Thank you."
They climbed up the base of the tree using a makeshift rope, but the higher they climbed, the more the nemeton surprised them. Platforms, winding staircases, even small shacks were built into the branches.
"Incredible," breathed Daria, but Cora just rolled her eyes.
They reached a large platform and were able to let go of the rope. A boy with curly brown hair and hazel eyes nodded to Cora, remaining silent as he held onto a makeshift knife.
"The pack said they'll respect my decisions, but don't expect a welcoming committee," she warned, and Daria nodded solemnly.
Farther up the tree they ascended, until the trunk began to thin and they reached one of the higher platforms.
"This is where you'll sleep." Cora kicked a large dusty mat. "Don't roll around too much."
"Thank you, Cora," Derek rested a hand on his sister's shoulder, trying to convey the gratitude he felt.
"Yeah, whatever." Then she left the pair alone.
The empath glanced back at the makeshift steps. "She won't say it, but she's worried about you."
Derek took Daria's hand gently. "She's a Hale. We don't say things unless they need to be said."
She snorted, "Unless you're like Peter and insist on saying all of the things that don't need to be said."
He quirked his brow in thought. "He was probably adopted."
Daria grinned, grasping his hand tightly. Then she looked through the dense tree-line, and her lips parted. "Can you imagine living here? Seeing this every day?"
"It's beautiful," he agreed, but the echo of his words caused him to recall the events of the morning that led to them coming here in the first place.
"Don't think about it." She shook her head with closed eyes.
"We need to. If I can remember the sounds, the trajectory of the bullet - something, maybe I can find them."
Daria pursed her lips for a moment. "What if… you try to enter my thoughts and see it from my perspective?"
Derek frowned. It was a good idea, but entering someone's mind wasn't something Derek had ever been particularly comfortable with.
"I'll be fine." She brought the top of his hand to her lips and kissed it tenderly. "I can heal."
He exhaled in defeat, and Daria knelt on the floor.
Derek brought his fingers to the base of her skull, hesitating for a moment.
"I trust you," she whispered.
Taking a breath for good measure, he slipped his claws into her neck.
Daria's memories focused on the mountain, and Derek was able to watch a replay of their tender embrace down to the moment when the ping of the sniper round tore into her back.
He winced, trying to avoid the emotion of the situation and pay attention to their surroundings, but it proved difficult seeing the morning's incarnation of himself clutching Daria in terror. Feeling his own agony through Daria's empathic lens in addition to her pain magnified it ten-fold.
In the far distance he was just able to catch movement in the brush with his werewolf senses. Someone was running. Between that and the bullet, Derek had enough to continue his pursuit.
He was about to remove his claws from Daria's neck when another memory began.
A younger Daria sat in the stands of the Beacon Hills gymnasium, watching a basketball game.
"You didn't have to take me to the game, Dad."
A more youthful Sheriff Stilinski sat beside his daughter. "Nonsense. If my daughter wants to see a basketball game, she will see a basketball game."
Young Daria laughed.
"So which one of these yahoos did you want to see anyway?"
"Dad!"
"What, can't I have these conversations with my daughter?"
Derek followed young Daria's eyes as they fell on a younger version of himself.
"It's no one in particular."
"Oh really?" The sheriff grinned. "Just a newfound fascination for basketball?"
"Yeah... " she blushed. "I guess there's just something about it."
The sheriff shook his head. "After the game let's go pick up your brother from the McCall's and grab a bite to eat. We can talk about basketball and anything else you want."
"Sounds great."
The memory faded into another. Here, Derek still looked young, but Scott and Stiles were there, and he quickly realized this was when Kate Argent had de-aged him. Those memories were fuzzy for the evolved wolf, and seeing Daria came as a complete surprise as she sat beside him.
"So we dated?" he'd asked.
Daria blushed in horror. "You heard that?"
"You were kind of yelling it."
Derek watched in awe as the conversation played out.
"You're a lot more direct than the Derek I know."
He watched his more confident, naive self lean toward her hopefully. "Do you like that?"
Derek almost laughed out loud at how cocky and overconfident he had sounded.
"I hope you remember this conversation when you get your memories back."
Another memory simmered into view, and Derek couldn't pull away.
Daria sat in the middle of her room in the Stilinski house, surrounded by moving boxes as she sobbed into her hands. Stiles walked by the open door and paused.
"Hey, Daria, everything okay?"
She hid her face in her arm, trying to hide her tears. "I'm fine."
"Hey…" He ran over to his sister and crouched beside her. "C'mon what's wrong. You've been looking forward to this all week."
She said nothing for several seconds.
"It's about him isn't it." His face fell. "This is about Derek."
Daria looked up at her brother, and Derek could feel her emptiness within the memory.
"Listen to me. You're better than him, Daria." Stiles lifted her to her feet. "You can't tell me he wasn't a complete ass, abandoning you the moment things got a little rough."
"I want to feel that way, Stiles." Red lines streaked down her cheeks. "But it feels like part of me is missing."
"Come here." Stiles pulled her into a hug. "Everyone goes through this. Hell, someday, you'll be the one breaking hearts and leaving guys behind."
She laughed through her tears. "Oh, Stiles."
"Eh? Is that a smile I see?" he grinned.
"I don't want to be that kind of person." She smiled in spite of the stinging on her cheeks.
"But it probably will. And when it happens, remember these words: Stiles is always right!"
Her laughter grew. "You're always right."
He smirked widely. "Always. Now let me help you with these boxes."
Derek pulled his claws from her neck, surprised by what he had seen. Then he felt the same sadness he'd felt in the last memory. Daria's chemosignals were laced with sorrow.
"Stiles is always right," she sniffed. "I'm doing the same thing you did to me, and all because I'm afraid."
"It's not the same," he murmured, taking her in his arms from behind.
"It feels the same," she cried.
Derek didn't know what to say, so he held her, wiping away the tears as they continued to roll down her cheeks.
–
Wildlife chirped far below the forest canopy as Derek and Daria lay that night on the large woven mat. He struggled to keep his emotions in check, but his feelings weren't the only problem.
"You're projecting." Derek said as he held Daria, sensing the despair as it eked out of her like someone squeezing a sponge.
Daria sniffed, and within seconds the permeable sadness dissipated. "Sorry."
He was trying to be brave enough for the both of them, but he was sure she could feel his pain. "It can't be easy to feel what everyone else feels."
"I can tune people out for the most part if I want to." She tilted her face toward him, " But strong emotions… they're more difficult."
Derek buried his nose in her hair and tightened his hold.
"I don't want to leave you again, Derek–" He smelled the salt as a tear rolled across her cheek. "–but I don't know what else to do. What if something happens and we get separated again?"
He didn't know how to answer. After everything they'd been through together - after every struggle that they'd lived through in the years since they met, he had hoped that better times were ahead. Every moment with Daria since he'd found her in the mountains filled Derek with a warmth he couldn't put into words.
His eyes widened as he processed the thought. How many times had he tried to protect her? To keep her safe? To make sure she was being cared for? Every time he saw her, a spark seemed to catch fire inside of him. It inflamed him like a cataclysmic crash of lightning. He could put it into words.
"Sometimes when we're trying to protect the people we love, we have to let them go."
Daria rolled to face him and gazed at him with discerning eyes.
"People we love," she whispered, a marveling o-shape forming on her lips. It was the first time he'd even acknowledged the depth of his feelings to himself, but Daria was an empath, and he knew she could feel the change. "You… love me."
He nodded, pressing his forehead to her own.
"You…" A breathy exhale of disbelief left her lips. "I- I love you, Derek Hale."
Her growing smile was contagious, and he found himself grinning in spite of his sadness. "I love you, Daria Stilinski."
Their lips met when the echoed voice of Cora several feet below them pierced his heightened sense of hearing. "Oh God, she's related to Stiles?"
Daria let out a hushed giggle and kissed Derek's cheek. "Guilty."
He felt himself relax as he stretched across the length of the mat, and Daria leaned on his shoulder.
"It'll be okay, won't it? We'll see each other again soon?"
Derek nodded, no longer plagued by the doubt and fear they'd felt only moments before. "Soon," he murmured gently. Then he found her lips again, feeling nothing but love for Daria.
–
Amar - love
–
I debated whether or not to put this part in or to save the I love you's for later, but it felt appropriate to have this exchange before jumping into more of the foundation of Season 6, even if it is a little fluffy. :p Thank you for taking the time to read. I'll update again as soon as I can! -V