Hello people, sorry for the long wait for an update; my head space hasn't been exactly right. Honestly it still isn't but I've managed to start working on the next two chapters so hopefully, I'll be cranking them out soon.

During the founding of the Beacon Hills, parents of the Community had been concerned about the safety and well-being of their kids when they start exhibiting their supernatural status at the age of 13. While some of the kids seemed to have easily gained control over their powers, others did not and there was worry about the safety of their kids and their human companions.

These concerns led to the founding of Preserve in Beacon and Beacon Academy within the wooded areas of Beacon Hills, making it an ideal location for a family of shapeshifters and other creatures.

Just like the other small suburbs within Beacon Hills, the Preserve kids attended Beacon Hills' public-school system. At least until the age of 13 when their supernatural status started to manifest. By that age, the families had the choice of either letting their kids continue their education within the public-school system or transfer to the Academy.

Over the years, it became a popular procedure within the Community for kids to be taught control first at the Academy, before transferring back into Beacon Hills's school system. It was also common for a student to decide to stay at the Academy because that meant they didn't have to hold back on their abilities.

Those who did decide to transfer out of the school had to learn the safety procedures, such as the tunnel systems and secret vaults within the public schools, that the Community had put in place. Despite minor supernatural occurrences, the Preserve residents managed to keep up the impression of being normal as their human neighbors.

But after the fire, a shift rippled through the Preserve slowly that no one could explain. Kids who had already learned or were in the process of learning their supernatural abilities lapsed to where they either lacked control, or their abilities went dormant.

This event lasted for almost a year and a half, causing problems not only for the families of the Preserve but also for families moving to Beacon Hills, a result in the awakening of the Nemeton, with kids like Mason and Kira, who had separate supernatural personalities that they had to yet to control.

Unsurprisingly, rumors about the Preserve residents began to surface. It had taken some time for the rumors to die down, but after what happened at the scrimmage and to the Talbot siblings two weeks ago, the rumors started back up.

The plan of showing neighbors that the Preserve residents are just as human as the rest of them seemed to have been working. And while they haven't been openly ostracized yet, but there were times when Stiles and the others would notice a few people paying them too much attention or steer clear from them altogether.

Almost as if, they were anticipating something to happen.

But just like their neighbors, the Preserve residents have been on guard too, just for a different reason. The news about Gerard's return hadn't been taken lightly. Especially, not after it was learned that what happened to Lori and Brett had been planned for some time. The revelation made the opening of Beacon Academy even more important.

The school was due to open in a matter of two weeks, but there is still so much that still needed to be done. Stiles still needs to get records of all the students that will be attending the private school, in the upcoming fall from BHHS, but with everything that has been unfolding in the past couple of months, she just hasn't had the time yet.

Stiles looks over the blueprint of the Academy, making sure it had enough safety features as the other schools. Though she doubts that Gerard would attack the school again, she wasn't going to take a chance of having another tragedy occurring.

Her eyes fall to an unmarked space on the blueprint, that looks to be the size of a garden. At the beginning of the restoration, before Derek's involvement, the contractor asked what it had been used for, Stiles honestly had no idea. When the contractor finally broke down the wall, he discovered that it was empty and the only thing that occupied the space was a 20-foot hole.

At first, Stiles thought that he had been mistaken, but the moment she observed the space herself. She knew what had once been inside.

Stiles is standing in a white room, wearing a black dress, confused.

She sees that she is in a large white room with support posts spaced evenly down its length. The only other features were the florescent light fixtures set into the ceiling above and seemingly random areas of grey and white tiling on the floor below. A humming sound coming from behind her catches her attention.

Her eyes widen when she sees a large tree stump, protruding in the middle of the room. But it's not the presence of the Nemeton that shocks her. It's her mother. Standing on the stump with Nemetonic vines embedded into her skin. Claudia isn't surprised to see Stiles in the room with her. She is seemingly proud of her daughter. Stiles tries to run towards her mother, but the only thing she hears just before her vision goes black is, "I love you, Mischief."

The sound of a door opening and closing breaks Stiles out of the memory, but she doesn't move to know that Derek is the one entering the Hale House.

After the Talbot sibling's death, Lily had gone back to her pack to grieve, but she had promised she would be back, but Stiles would not blame her if she didn't. But with Lily being Stiles' closest neighbor, Derek used her absence as an excuse to move Stiles in.

This wasn't easy on Derek's part because Stiles felt that it was too far, despite the fact it being one of the closest city residential houses near the Preserve.

Turns out the waiting room that Stiles had been waiting for her a second interview was originally the library. Everything that she had thought about the layout of the Hale House had been remodeled back to its original layout. The only room that seemed to stay the same was the examination room, that had been storage space.

"Any luck?" She questions as Derek comes from around the corner into the living room.

Derek shakes his head, "Just a rejection of wanting to do a peace meeting."

"We both knew how that was going to turn out," Stiles tells him.

Derek notices the blueprints spread out on the coffee table in front of Stiles as she stares at them. He knows that Stiles is stressing out about the opening of Beacon Academy and Gerard's return is not helping. Which is why he has an idea that will help keep her mind off things.

"We should go out," Derek tells her, taking a seat beside her.

"What?" Stiles questions, finally looking from the blueprints to give him a confused expression.

Derek smiles at her reaction, "We should go out."

"You mean like a date?" Stiles questions, expression mixed with confusion.

"I was thinking more of it as two people, who just happen to be living together, hanging out," Derek says casually. "But if you want to call it a date, I have no qualms against it."

Stiles rolls her eyes at him when she sees the teasing smile on his face, "Not to be a wet blanket and coming off as telling you what to do, but considering what you're gone through and what's going on now, the last thing you should be doing is trying to snag a date with someone."

Derek gives her a pleased smile, "You called it a date but it's not just with anyone." Stiles gives him a nonsense expression. "It's with you."

The shocked expression on Stiles's face nearly causes Derek to laugh because there is no way he has been misreading their interactions with each other over the past two weeks. They had all but fall into a routine with each other and Derek swears that Stiles has been looking at him when she thinks he isn't paying attention.

He'd know because he does the same thing.

There's something between them that goes beyond the surrogacy and he couldn't deny it any longer.

"Your last relationship ended barely a month ago and lasting for 10 years," Stiles finally says, scratching her face slightly. "That's a lot of history for you to throw away in a short amount of time without going through the proper motions, don't you think?"

The concern in her surprises Derek, "You're worried about me?"

"Well yeah," She states as if it were the most obvious thing.

"I'm worried about you too," Derek admits, wrapping her unoccupied hand in his. "That's why I think us going on a date will be good for both of us. I think we can use a distraction, what do you say?"

Erica makes her way through BHHS. While she did have some fond memories of attending her last year and a half at BHHS, it didn't erase the fact that it had also been hell. Partly because she was one of the few students from Beacon Academy to have her abilities go dormant, which left her vulnerable to epilepsy that ran in her family.

She still thinks about the one, of the multiple seizures she had, in particular. She was in class it occurred and but it was so bad she accidentally urinated in her pants. Not surprisingly, the students around her were less than supportive. One was about to put a spoon in her mouth (which, contrary to popular belief, should not be used to prevent a seizing person from swallowing their tongue) until they saw the tag on her key ring that warned not to do this because it could cause her to break her teeth.

Had Derek and Boyd convinced her into opting out of homeschooling, during her overnight hospital stay, she probably never would've returned to the school.

It didn't take her long to discover that Derek and Boyd weren't the ones who had her back.

The lacrosse team had been on their way to a track meet when they were forced to stop at a gas station due to one of the players vomiting on the bus.

Erica, Boyd, and Derek were sitting under the shade, trying to get out of the sun when they hear a panicked 15-year old Lydia Martin talking with a 14-year-old Scott McCall, "She went after him," Lydia claims, "She finally tracked down the person who posted the video and just went after him."

The duo takes off in a direction that's opposite of the rest stop.

Erica had known about the video for a while now and has tried hard not to think about who had posted it. Without a word, the trio follows the duo to a small group of students stand by, as a 14-year-old Stiles Stilinski, holds a boy by the collar while she punches him repeatedly. The Coach is seemingly there attempting to break it up, but Stiles doesn't stop until Scott and Lydia working together in pulling her off.

It seemed that the beat down was effective because the video mysteriously disappeared. Erica tried thanking Stiles that following school day but the girl played dumb as if she had no idea what she was talking. Erica didn't mind it, but as far as she was concerned Stiles was okay in her book.

She arrives at the guidance counselor's door, giving it a quick knock before a voice tells her to come in. She expected to find her old guidance counselor, but is slightly taken back by when she is confronted with someone who wasn't her former counselor, "May I help?"

Erica plasters a friendly smile, "Tamora Monroe?" Erica questions. The woman gives her a nod, "I came to pick up a couple of student files for Ms. Stilinski," Erica says in a business manner. "Something has come up in the last minute and she sent me in her place."

Tamora's eyes light with recognition, "Oh right," The woman says she moves from her desk to her filing cabinet, "She told me that they're finally reopening the private school in the Preserve." She shuffles through a drawer of folders, "Seems we're going to be losing quite a few students, some were even supposed to graduate from here this year."

As Tamora continues pulling out folders, Erica notices a book labeled The Supernatural Afterlife by Brian Felix on a nearby chair. It doesn't strike Erica as odd at first, but when Tamora moves her head in just the right angle she sees that are scratches, resembling close to claw marks on her neck.

She starts to think about the mantra Stiles used a lot in the time that she has known her.

One's an incident, Two's a Coincidence…

"Three's a pattern," She whispers to herself, catching Tamora's attention.

"I'm sorry?" Tamora questions her as she hands over a medium-sized pile of files.

"Just thinking out a loud," Erica replies, trying to keep her cool. "I couldn't help but notice the scratches."

"These?" Tamora gestures with a feigned chuckle. "When I first got them, I couldn't laugh about it, but now I can."

"May I ask what happened?"

"Oh, um, from a branch in the woods. Scratched me deeper than I thought it would." Tamora tells her. "I have to admit I'm a bit of thrill-seeker when I first moved here and wanted to see what was up with people not wanting to go into the woods around here."

"I've been hearing that warning ever since I was a kid," Erica comments in an agreeing manner. "Mountain lions, coyotes, you know wildlife."

"Yes," Tamora says in a rather intense tone. "Well, it seems that the wildlife back then wasn't a joke."

"I'm glad it didn't get more serious than that," Erica tells her honestly. "Thank you so much for your help."

"Happy to help."

However, when both women are no longer facing each other, Erica's face turns into complete confliction while Tamora's expression turns into something close to disdain.

Erica is already out the school, her phone in hand as she dials a number, "Tamora Monroe... is the new hunter."

Not even an hour later, Tamora has another visitor in her office, "Lydia Martin," Tamora says with feigned fascination, "One of BHHS's legendary student, what are you here to talk to about?"

Sitting in a chair, across her desk, Lydia sits wearing a blank expression. She is honestly happy that Tamora isn't trying to play games with her, "Coexistence."

Tamora gives her a doubtful expression, "Coexistence?"

"For people like you." Lydia declares without blanking, "And people like me."

Tamora has crosses her fingers together as she places her hands on her desk, "That's a bit of a challenge." She drops her voice low, "Especially, considering people like you aren't quite the same as people like me."

Lydia gives a slight chuckle, "That's usually where coexistence breaks down." She drops her voice as well, "When we highlight our differences."

Tamora's expression turns serious, "What is it you want, Lydia?"

"We want a peace summit." This seems to catch the woman's attention, "We asked Gerard and he refused."

Tamora gives her an unsympathetic expression, "Then you got your answer." She then indicates to the door that leads outside her office.

But Lydia doesn't remove herself from the chair. Instead, she leans closer to the desk, "What if you're the only one that can stop this?"

"What if I don't want to?"

Lydia gives her a calculated face, "You didn't become a guidance counselor to hunt people. You're supposed to help them."

Tamora isn't moved by Lydia's pitch, "I can't help with this." Without even thinking, Lydia reaches across the desk, taking a hold of Tamora, but just as quickly as she reached out for her, she lets her go, "Is that how you do your predictions?" She questions the banshee with some fascination, "You have to touch someone?"

"No."

"Then how do you do it?" Tamora questions with some genuine curiosity, "How do you know who's gonna die next?"

Lydia hears the underlying threat in her questions, "There doesn't have to be a next." She stands from her chair, "On either side."

"It's a trap," Derek says in a low tone as he waits in the living room.

For some reason, it would seem that his and Stiles' Inner Circle decided to share the information that they learned earlier in the day, almost an hour before the meeting with the hunter that had been behind the deaths of the Talbot siblings, on a conference call no less.

"She said that she would meet to talk," Scott reminds him.

"Meeting alone in the middle of the tunnels with a werewolf hunter?" Boyd questions with some sarcasm of his own, "It's a trap."

"Then what do you suggest that we do?" Lydia questions in a strained tone.

"Not go," Erica answers as if that is the obvious answer.

"Gerard is recruiting new hunters, and he's murdering our friends," Scott argues. "He's not gonna stop unless I convince him that we're not his enemy."

"You don't know him like I do." Derek reminds him harshly, "What happens if you can't?" He keeps his eyes on the staircase for Stiles, "You're gonna get yourself killed." Derek's hearing picks up shuffling coming from upstairs, "And I'm sure Stiles would kick your ass for going on a suicide mission."

"I have to try this," Scott argues at them, "All I want to do is to get Monroe to trust us and I'm going alone."

Before anyone else can argue with him, Scott disconnects the call and with him being the one to initiate the conference call, everyone gets disconnected at the same time.

Derek rubs a hand down his face in frustration, wondering why every member of the Preserve so stubborn and is close to redialing Scott's number when he hears Stiles coming down the stairs.

A part of him wants to tell her about Scott's stupid plan in meeting Monroe in the tunnels alone, but another part of him knows that Stiles would drop everything to go help him. And that wasn't something he is willing to let happen if he could help it.

She didn't have to know yet, but he just prayed that nothing will happen to Scott.

"Everything okay?" She questions him as Derek meets her at the stairs.

Thanks to the pregnancy, Stiles opted in wearing the oversized clothing that her wardrobe offered. But Stiles seemingly had some more hidden clothes that weren't her usual attire.

The dress she wears has a blue background with a navy and pink floral pattern with a waist tie that fits on top of her baby comfortable fashion. Over of the course the months, Derek began to realize that he would find Stiles looking beautiful no matter what she wore.

Derek doesn't realize he hasn't even answer Stiles' question until she gets a look of embarrassment on her face, "I look terrible, don't I?" She questions, gesturing at her body.

"No," Derek answers quickly. "Um, sorry I'm a little–thrown. I wasn't expecting you to look so…" Derek trails.

Stiles gives him a raising eyebrow, "Like an oversized bowling ball?"

"I was gonna say "so incredibly beautiful" Derek laughs a bit fluttered himself, "But, yeah, I guess that'd be the same thing."

Stiles gives him an embarrassed smile, "You don't look so bad yourself."

"Thank you very much." He offers her his arm, tilting his head towards the door, "Shall we?"

In the tunnel, Scott arrives to find Monroe flanked by two armed hunters and with a third hunter with a shock stick taser in the tunnel behind him, "I thought we were here to talk peace."

"I agreed to come," Tamora corrects him. "I never agreed on peace."

Scott examines his surrounding once more, "If you brought them, I guess Gerard is here too, isn't he?"

"Right here, Scott," Gerard says, announcing his presence as he comes from around a corner.

"Whatever he's told you," Scott says, keeping his focus on Tamora, "There's another side of the story."

"Isn't there always?" She questions, her voice cold. "What were you hoping for here, Scott?"

"I was hoping to talk to someone reasonable." He sighs slightly, "Trust me, he's not the kind of person that you want to follow. He's gonna lead you off a cliff."

"Following me?" Gerard questions with some amusement, "No one here is following me, Scott. I'm merely an adviser."

Scott realizes then that they have been reaching out to the wrong person, "This is because of you?" He questions to Tamora.

Tamora takes a step to him, "That's right." She gives him a serious expression, "You're negotiating with me, Scott."

"Tell me how to settle this," He stays focused on her. "What do you want?"

"I want to see a werewolf beg for peace."

"Fine." Scott then gets on his knees in the tunnels, "I'll beg. I'll, I'll do whatever you want." He tells her with a strong tone, "Just tell me that we don't have to kill each other." He bows his head down, "That we can find a way to make peace."

"That wasn't quite what I was hoping for." Scott lifts his head to witness her staring down at him, "People are dying." She clears her throat, "They've been dying. You only care now because it's your people."

"You have to want something other than seeing us all dead." Scott tries, "What if we leave Beacon Hills? All of us."

"If you leave, we'll follow you," Tamora says, plainly. "We'll hunt you down until every single one of you is gone."

"Some of us have been protecting you."

"Don't listen to him," Gerard speaks, horning in on their conversation, "He wants you to be afraid."

"But you shouldn't be afraid of us," Scott counters with urgency. "We protect people. People like you."

This finally results in a crooked smile from Monroe, "People like me?" She looks rather amused at the statement, "You don't know anything about people like me."

"So, help me understand." Scott tells her, getting up from the ground, "Tell me what made you hate us so much."

The smile falls instantly, "I don't think you want to press that button, Scott."

It's her reaction that causes Scott to remember what Erica had shared with him, "Something happened to you, didn't it?" He questions, "Something bad."

"Bad doesn't even come close."

Five years ago

Tamora and several of her coworkers are exiting the high school after a faculty meeting about the new course rubric runs late.

"I didn't think that was ever going to end," Tamora laughs with a coworker. "Seriously, we deserved a medal or something."

Her coworker laughs in agreement, "Almost makes having the summer off worth it, right?"

Tamora is about to laugh herself when a beastly roar fills the air.

While her coworkers don't seem to be completely alarmed by the sounds coming from the shadows, Tamora is, "More than likely, it's just an animal." Her coworker assures her, "It's why we tell the students to go out into the woods by themselves."

Even with the assurance, Tamora isn't at ease, "What kind of-"

Her question gets cut off when something big and fast starts attacking the group and everyone runs for a school bus, but even then the creature is faster than them and Tamora witness a shadow having claw and teeth attack her and colleges.

"To this day, I'm surprised that I'm still alive."

"If one of us had been there..."

"You were there, Scott." Monroe interrupts him, "You and Stiles." She gives him a hard expression, "Don't you remember?" She questions, "Did you even think to check if anyone was still alive?"

"We didn't know."

"You didn't care," She snaps at him. "How many people have to die so you could keep your secret?" Her voice is filled with emotional anger, "So you and your friends could carry on as if nothing ever happened." She points to herself, "I was there. Lying under those bodies." She thinks about her deceased colleges, "Hiding and waiting for someone to finally find me." Her eyes shine with unshed tears as her face now turns to complete hate, "You shouldn't have come alone, Scott."

She reaches for her gun.

"He didn't," Erica announces, just as the hunter with the taser stick is thrown between them. Erica, Boyd, Lydia, and a werecoyote Malia, are with her and they stand a few feet behind Scott.

It takes Stiles a second to realize that Derek is giving her a strange expression, once their waiter has taken their orders, "What?" Stiles questions, feeling rather self-conscious. "I know my pronunciation sucked, okay?" She gives him a pointed finger, "Had it been Polish, I would've wiped the floor with you."

Derek laughs at Stiles' retaliation, "Actually, you pronounced it fine. I was more concerned about what you ordered, rather than how you ordered it."

"I thought I was ordering a salad?"

"You did," Derek assures her. "But I've known you for a while now, meaning I know that you can eat everything off the menu in one sitting and still have room for dessert. But you ordered just a salad. Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine," Stiles replies. She makes a sniffing sound, "It's just that now and then certain things I eat make me feel nauseous. And the last thing I want to do is ruin this evening by throwing up everywhere."

"We can leave," Derek offers with no hesitation.

"I'm fine honestly," Stiles counters, giving him an assuring smile. "You don't have to worry." She takes a sip of her water before setting it back down, "Though I'm surprised that you drove us to Hill Valley just because you wanted me to have authentic Mexican food at…" She looks around for the name of the restaurant, "El Huerto Secreto."

"The Secret Garden," Derek translates. "My family and I would come here after our free runs," Derek shares with her. "Just like how you and the others do at your place." He looks around the restaurant with a reminiscent expression on his face, "We even came here for birthdays and special events. It was like a tradition for us. There were a lot of them."

Stiles notices how Derek speaks in the past tense, almost as if he didn't get to enjoy the traditions that he once shared with his family with Kate.

A silence falls on the table as their waiter arrives with their appetizers. For a moment, neither of them had to anything to say, but Stiles can't handle the silence and breaks it, "Maybe when she's older you can bring her here." Derek raises his eyebrow in question. "The baby," Stiles clarifies. "Honestly, I can see Erica and Boyd liking this place too so bring them along. Make it a tradition with your new family."

Derek is briefly stunned by Stiles' suggestion as she casually starts picking at the food between them. just A swelling sensation fills his chest and touches his heart. Something that he hasn't felt in a long time, "Would you care to dance?"

Stiles stops picking at the food when she hears his question, "Dance? Here?"

"Yeah, they have a dance floor over there." With his head, he motions over a separate room where a few couples are slow dancing. "My parents did it all the time."

"No." Stiles shakes her head rather adamantly, "I hate dancing."

"No, you don't," He says, calling her out on the lie. He stands up, holding out his hand to her, "I've seen you dancing in the kitchen when you think that you're alone."

Stiles snorts a laugh, "That's called spying." But that doesn't deter Stiles from taking his hand, "I apologize for stepping for your toes in advance."

Derek gives a warm smile as he leads them to the room with the dance floor, "Don't worry, I'm a fast healer."

Back in the tunnels, a bloody lump appears to have joined the meeting in the shadows.

All hunters except for Gerard have their guns trained on the shapeshifters and Lydia now, "Hey hey," Scott says, trying to keep the tensions from raising. "We did not come here to fight."

"Well, then you came here to die," Gerard declares. At the threat, Malia growl that seems to shake Tamora and her hunters slightly, but not Gerard. "You might wanna control your Beta, Scott." Gerard warns, "She could get you all killed."

Monroe goes through all the supernatural chaos that Scott, Lydia, and Stiles had taken care of after the fires of Beacon Academy. Her claims ranged from Wendigos, Kitsunes, and Werecoyotes. But during her speech about Scott and his friends with their lack of trying to save people, Lydia feels a change in the air, "Something's here."

As she speaks her sentence, she sees the faceless corpse in the tunnel with them and looks back to hunters, who are seeming to shake their weapons slightly, "It's here right now and it's amplifying their fear."

It seems her statement triggers the hunters armed with guns, who spin around seeing the corpse and start firing wildly.

"Get down!" Scott shouts.

Scott covers Lydia while Boyd covers as gunfire fills the air.

Monroe tries to gain control, "Stop shooting!" But the hunters seem to ignore her.

While everyone has ducked for cover a werecoyote Malia senses something behind her and sees the bloody lump behind them. She runs at on all fours before jumping at, teeth and claws already out, only for her to seemingly jump at something that isn't there.

Scott and the others manage to hide behind a secure wall as the hunters continue their rapid firing, "What do we do now?" Boyd questions the Preserve members.

A creak comes from above them and they look up to see grate opening with a flare being dropped to the tunnel floor, "What is that?" Erica questions.

"Hellhound," Lydia answers in a tone of pride as a man jumps down after the flare, his eyes glow orange and he growls.

One of the hunters opens fire but the man tosses him into the tunnel wall. He makes a beeline for the lump and shoves the still-lit flare into it. Both forms are consumed in flames.

The fireball passes and the tunnel darkens and Scott rushes to help the man to his feet. The hunters are gone, and the lump lies on the tunnel floor severely scorched.

"They didn't come here to negotiate," Erica tells Scott. "You did everything you could."

"No," Scott replies, thinking the one thing he has been dreading throughout the entire crisis. "Not everything."

Stiles and Derek embrace each other as they slow dance on the dance floor. The music gives off a romantic atmosphere with soft melodies filling the room as they move in perfect harmony on the dance floor in comfortable silence, "What are you thinking about?" Derek questions her, a curious look on his face.

"I feel like you've asked me that question already," Stiles chuckles lightly. "Why don't you think of a topic to discuss?"

"Because I want to talk about what you want to talk about," Derek answers easily. Which is the truth because he had grown fond of Stiles' rambling. Especially when she is passionate about a topic. Whether it be about Beacon Academy or after their prenatal appointments with Melissa.

"Well, I can't help, but notice that we're the only two people on the dance floor," She answers honestly. "Kind of makes me feel like people are watching us."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Derek comments as he glances around the room with Stiles. "We're the youngest people in here and give off the illusion of being young, in love, and starting a family."

"But we're not in love," Stiles whispers to him. She feels a twitch come from Derek's arm that is placed around her waist, "I mean, I think you're reading too much into it, Derek."

"Maybe, maybe not," Derek answers with a gentle tone. "Either way, I think we're convincing enough. Don't you?"

Stiles examines the room and sees that people are sneaking glances at them as she and Derek continue to move along in rhythm. Her mind goes back to the conversation she had with Scott about her feelings for the Alpha, "I guess," She finally answers, looking to him.

She hadn't expected Derek to be staring at her as she thought about her answer. But he is with an unreadable expression on his face and it felt like time was starting to stand still for them.

For once in her life, Stiles is speechless. She opens her mouth to make words come out. She didn't care what words; any words will do because the intimacy of the dance and her beating heart is driving Stiles mad.

However, no words can come out when Derek presses his lips against hers and for a moment Stiles is shocked. Because it feels so natural, just as natural that the vibration of a hum flows through her when she returns the kiss.

To Stiles, it feels like the two of them are supposed to be one. Not just Stiles. Not just Derek. But Stiles and Derek. Together. She wants to ask Derek if he felt the same way, but honestly she's too scared to.

Back at Gerard's HQ, Monroe is shaken and angry about the turnout of the meeting, "What the hell was that thing?"

Gerard has an idea of what creature was in the tunnels, but he isn't going, to be honest with his protégé, "That was what happens when a town is overrun with supernaturals."

Monroe seems to take his answer to heart, "I don't know why you chose me." She tells him, "I failed. Scott got away."

"He's just one more wolf to hunt." Gerard tells her, "You didn't fail. You gave the people of Beacon Hills what they've always needed." She looks at him with some slight admiration, "A voice. And as a victim yourself, you make the perfect messenger."

"And what exactly is our message?"

"That this world belongs to us."