Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.

Chapter 5: Dreams and Decisions

Rose stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She studied her figure in a long red gown. Excitement was brewing inside her at the thought of what was to come that night. Her hair was pulled up into an elegant updo and she had spent hours on her makeup, trying to make sure she looked perfect. She turned around to leave but saw she was no longer in her room. Bright lights shown on her face in a ballroom and she squinted. Soft music played over hidden speakers.

"Trent?" she called out for her date. "Derek?"

She remembered Derek wasn't going to prom or did he change his mind? She had to find him. He couldn't be alone right now.

The lights made it hard for her to see anyone else. It felt like she was the only person there. Suddenly, all the lights and music stopped and she was in pitch black. She stood silent for a moment, looking around and seeing nothing but darkness.

A spotlight turned on in the middle of the dance floor. A woman stood there. The sight of her sent a cold chill down Rose's back. She wanted to turn and run, but her body wouldn't move. She couldn't open her mouth to scream either. It was like she was frozen in place.

The woman took a step forward and now she was a few feet away from Rose, as if by magic. Rose's eyes widened as recognition dawned on her. Laura Hale.

I thought you were dead, she thought to herself, still unable to speak.

Laura looked at her with a curious expression, as if she wasn't sure if she believed it was truly Rose. In an instant, she was on the floor, her body separated into two pieces. Dark red blood pooled on the floor next to the severed corpse. Horrified, Rose screamed, the shocking sight willing her vocal cords to start working again. The sound of her scream echoed all around her.

Rose woke up with a start. This was the third dream she had had about Laura and prom night, each one increasing in intensity. She rolled over in bed to look at her alarm clock. The time read 4:32 am. Rose sighed. The alarm was set to go off at 4:45 so she could start getting ready for work. She settled back into bed and thought about the dream.

It had been the first dream where Laura's body had been in two pieces. Rose knew that was how she was discovered. She also knew Derek had been briefly arrested for her murder from what she had read online. She had wanted to ask Derek more about it, but had decided against it since she had been angry with him at the time. Now that they were talking again, she could find out more details. She decided to visit Derek after work that day.

Parrish left the restaurant with a bag of food in hand. He took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the police cruiser. He got in and was about to start the engine when he noticed a figure sitting in the backseat passenger side. His hand quickly found his gun, but then he realized he was in no immediate danger.

"Do you normally meet people this way?" he asked Derek, relaxing and letting his gun go.

"I never got a chance to thank you," Derek said.

"For what?"

"For helping me get to the Nemeton. You did drive all that way from Mexico, right?"

"Yeah," Parrish answered. "Also carried you through the forest to the tree."

"Well... thanks," Derek said awkwardly.

"Something tells me you're not here just for that," Parrish said. He grabbed the bag of food. "You mind if I start eating? I'm starving. It's Thai food if you're interested."

Derek shook his head no. "You're right, there's something else."

"Rose?" Parrish asked, unwrapping the plastic cutlery the restaurant had packed with his food.

"Don't you think it's a good idea that we find out what happened?"

"Well I don't know," Parrish said, between bites of his beef pad thai. "Might bring up a lot of unpleasant memories that neither of you want to remember."

This wasn't good. Derek needed Parrish on his side to convince Rose. There was no way of figuring out the wolfsbane blood without her.

"You know how my family died, right?" Derek asked, taking another approach.

Parrish nodded. "You said there was a fire."

"Yes," Derek continued. "Eleven people died. There were only four of us left in the family – my sisters, my uncle, and me. I didn't know my little sister Cora survived but she did. Peter was burned really badly and hospitalized. Laura and I were left to fend for ourselves. She was barely eighteen and took responsibility for me. That was the only way we could stay together and have me spared from CPS.

We got an apartment to make it look like we were rebuilding our lives, but the only safe place for us was the vault. So we mostly stayed there and Rose was the only one who knew the truth. She helped keep us hidden. It wasn't until the Argents left Beacon Hills before we could leave the vault.

This thing with Kate and Rose getting shot – it was my fault. Kate wanted my sister and me dead, and she knew we would come out of hiding to help Rose if she was in danger. She also knew it was easier to target us one by one, so she chose a time when Laura wasn't around. I'm the reason why Rose's blood is the way it is. So you can understand why I need to know how everything happened."

Parrish wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Because if it turned out to be a good thing she got shot, you wouldn't feel so guilty?"

"Basically," Derek confirmed. He remembered feeling responsible that he couldn't protect Rose that fateful night. It had bothered him in the back of his mind ever since they had reunited. "I'm already the reason why my family is dead. Kate tricked me to get information on them. I don't want to be the reason why I messed up Rose's life."

"But you're not the one who lit that fire, Derek," Parrish reasoned. "They're the reason why your family is dead, not you. As for Rose, you really think you messed up her life? She seems pretty okay to me. Even with the blood thing. And hasn't it already been proven that her getting shot had some benefits? She was able to save you for one thing."

"I know," Derek said quietly, willing himself to not get emotional at the affirmation from someone else that he wasn't the cause of the fire. The fire had always been a source of painful guilt that he doubted would ever go away. "But I know there's more to the story. There has to be. Laura was trying to protect us, but I think we're ready to know now. Maybe not back then, but now."

He let Parrish marinate on his words. The young deputy put away his lunch and drank water from a plastic bottle. "Fine, I'll help you. But if she still says no, I'm dropping it."

Rose pulled out her phone from her purse. She had just finished work and was walking to her car. She called Derek and waited for him to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi Derek," Rose greeted, climbing into the driver's seat. "Is it okay if I come over to talk? I'm leaving the hospital right now."

He agreed and twenty minutes later, Rose was riding up the elevator to the penthouse floor.

"Hey," she said when Derek answered the door. She walked past him and put her purse on the coffee table in the living room, taking a seat on the couch. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you."

Derek sat next to her, wondering if she was going to agree to start looking at the wolfsbane blood again. He had been surprised to see her calling him. Did Parrish already talk to her?

Rose breathed in deeply. "It's about Laura and how she died."

It wasn't what Derek expected but he let her continue.

"I read online that you were arrested for the murder," Rose said. "What's that all about?"

Derek scoffed. "You can thank Scott and Stiles for that."

"What did they have to do with it?"

"Scott and Stiles found her body in the woods. They thought I had killed her," Derek explained. "I had buried her under wolfsbane and a rope of spiral to let whoever killed her know I wanted revenge. I knew it was likely that the Alpha had become the Alpha because he had killed Laura. Then I found out it was Peter. Anyway, the two of them dug up her grave by my house and reported me to the police. It wasn't until they confirmed an animal had killed her that I was released."

"I can't believe Scott and Stiles did all that," Rose said, taking it all in. "I've been having dreams about Laura. All of them happen on the day of prom."

"What kind of dreams?" Derek asked.

"The first one started out as me getting ready and my mother helping me. Then she turned into Laura. In the second dream, I'm dancing with Trent Sword and he twirls me around and disappears. Laura appears and starts walking towards me. In the third dream, I'm getting ready and end up in the ballroom. Laura appears under a spotlight and then she's on the floor, her body severed and I scream."

"What do you think it means?"

"I don't know," Rose said. "Laura wasn't even in Beacon Hills during prom."

They heard a knock on the door. Derek answered and let Parrish inside.

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked her friend.

"I called him," Derek said.

"Derek and I have been talking," Parrish began. He took a seat in the arm chair while Derek sat back down next to Rose. "The blood thing, what happened to you with Kate – maybe it's not such a bad idea to see what happened back then. At least you would know what you're really dealing with."

"You really think so?" Rose asked Parrish. Derek's heart started beating faster in anticipation. Maybe this would actually work.

"Derek mentioned his sister was probably trying to protect you both from the truth and maybe she was scared. But years have passed and maybe now is the right time to get everything out in the open," Parrish said.

"But what if things go horribly wrong? Maybe that's what happened before and she took our memories to prevent it from happening again," Rose said.

"We were kids," Derek said. "It would be different this time."

"Different how?"

"You guys are older now," Parrish said, continuing Derek's logic. "You wouldn't make the same mistakes again because you've gained more life experiences. You would make better judgments and safer decisions. We could all figure it out together."

"But Deaton and Marin warned against this," Rose said, still not fully convinced.

"Of course they did. They're being overly cautious," Parrish said. "They have to say that to try to keep you safe. It's like when I tell kids to go home when it's late at night. I don't know for certain that something bad will happen if they're out late and usually nothing bad does happen, but at least I did my part as an officer and let them know the worst-case scenario could possibly happen. But that's what it is when you think about it – the worst-case scenario."

Derek had to hand it to Parrish. He was making a convincing argument. He knew it was a good idea to get Parrish involved. The man was smart and more importantly, Rose trusted him.

A thick silence fell upon the three of them. Rose was deep in thought and the two men exchanged glances, wondering what she would decide.

"Maybe it would explain these dreams I keep having," Rose said after a moment.

"What dreams?" Parrish asked. Rose filled him in on the conversation she and Derek were having before he arrived.

"Sounds like your subconscious is getting restless," Parrish said.

Derek knew this was the moment. It was all up to Rose to accept that this was the right decision to make. He knew Rose was just as curious as he was. She just needed a push in the right direction.

Rose looked from Parrish to Derek. "If things start to go south, we stop immediately," Rose said. "And none of us gets Scott involved, okay? This just stays between the three of us."

Derek rejoiced internally but kept his cool. "Just the three of us," he echoed. "And I think I know where to start." He stood up and headed for the stairs.

Rose and Parrish looked at his retreating figure in surprise. "Well this is escalating quickly," Rose said to him.

They heard him opening drawers upstairs and waited for him to return. When Derek came back, he was holding a USB flash drive in his hand. He held it up to show his friends.

"I found this a few days ago in a P.O. box in the next town over. It's Laura's," Derek explained. "After she died, I had to go through all her things and I found a key. I didn't know what it was for, but I kept it. After finding out what Laura did to us, I remembered the key and thought maybe it had something to do with all this. Except I had lost the key and finally found it shortly after Braeden left when I had actual time to sit down and look for it."

"Braeden left?" Rose asked. She had noticed the mercenary's absence at the beach but figured it just wasn't her thing.

"She left to go back to work. And she's not coming back."

"And you're okay with that? I thought she was someone special," Rose said.

"It's fine," Derek said, brushing it off. Braeden's company had been nice, especially during a time when he had felt vulnerable in a completely new way, but it was bound to happen. Derek thought about her from time to time, but he knew they weren't meant to last. He had already moved on and he knew she had too.

"So the key lead you to the P.O. box?" Parrish asked, getting back on track.

"It took me awhile to find it, but yeah," Derek said. "And when I opened it, there was just this flash drive and nothing else. But there's a problem – it's password protected so I can't see what's on it. Maybe it has files about the wolfsbane blood. Why else would she want to set up a password?"

"It's worth a shot," Rose said. "And you've tried to put in the right password?"

"Yes, but it only gives ten tries before it erases everything," Derek said.

"Damn," Parrish said. "She really didn't want anyone else see what's on this. How many tries do you have left?"

"Two."

"Two?" Rose and Parrish exclaimed.

"I thought I could figure it out, okay?" Derek said defensively. "I've been trying all week."

"We can't risk the flash drive getting wiped clean," Rose said. "We have to get help." She pulled her phone out and started looking for something. Social media had always been a good source of information in times like this. "There was a guy on the swim team who was really good at computers. People used to pay him to hack into stuff. I bet he can find a way around the password for the right price."

She stopped tapping and showed Derek and Parrish a profile picture of a young man with dark hair and dark eyes. He was standing in front of storefront smiling at the camera. Derek read the name Max Rileson on top of the photo.

Parrish got up to walk behind the couch and look over Rose's shoulder. He started scanning the details of the hacker's profile. "Looks like he's still in Beacon Hills. And he owns a sex shop?" There was a picture posted of a store called Wetter is Better.

"What a delightful name," Rose said sarcastically.

"It's not too far from here," Derek said, pulling up the address of the store on his own phone. "It's closing in a few hours."

"I have to head back to the station soon," Parrish said.

"And I have to go to Scott's game," Rose said, standing up. "But let's all go there together tomorrow after work. Will you be available?" She turned to Parrish.

"Yeah, I can be," Parrish answered.

Derek was disappointed. He wanted to see what was on the flash drive as soon as possible.

"Okay, it's settled then," Rose said, tapping on her phone then putting it to her ear. "Hi, I'm looking for Max Rileson. Can I talk to him please?"

After a moment, Rileson came to the phone. "Hi Max, it's Rose Delgado. I was wondering if you still offer your services."

She proceeded to tell him she had something to show him and asked if she could stop by the following day.

After she got off the phone with him, she looked at Derek and Parrish. "It's better if he has a heads up," she explained. "He's not the type that likes surprises."

"You've used him before?" Parrish asked.

Rose nodded. "I may have asked him to track down Derek and Laura awhile back."

"You tried to get in touch with us? When?" Derek thought about the possibility of hearing from Rose. Would he have wanted to talk to her? Would Laura?

"A few years ago. That's how I knew you guys were in New York. But obviously I never did use the info I got from Max."

"Why not?" Derek asked.

"I don't know," Rose admitted. "I guess I was worried you two wouldn't have wanted to talk to me. The fear of rejection made me change my mind. It was just enough for me to know you guys were doing okay...at the time. And then I let it go."

"Until you came back to Beacon Hills," Derek pointed out.

"I have to get back," Parrish said, walking towards the door. "Meet you guys at Rileson's around this time tomorrow."

"Why don't you come with me to the game?" Rose asked Derek after she bid Parrish farewell. "It'll give you something to do besides get tempted to try two more incorrect passwords."

Derek scoffed. "You think I don't have that much self-control?"

"Well it'll help keep your mind off it," Rose said. "You got anything better to do?"

An hour later, Derek and Rose were climbing into Rose's car.

"What if the files have nothing to do with us or the wolfsbane blood? What if it's just some financial files or something?" Derek asked. He had wondered if the flash drive wasn't what he hoped it would be.

"Then we'll try something else," Rose said, driving towards the high school. "What about our memories? How do we recover them?"

"We helped one of my betas remember something using ice water," Derek said. He explained the time when he, Scott, Stiles, and Deaton helped Isaac remember where Erica and Boyd had been held captive by the Alpha pack.

"Scott and Stiles are out of the picture and there's no way Deaton will help us," Rose said, looking discouraged. "Is there another way?"

"We can do it ourselves," Derek said.

"How? Doesn't seem like it'll be easy."

"We'll get Parrish to help us. It'll work," Derek answered with determination.

"Whatever you say, Derek," Rose said. She fidgeted with a ring on her finger while they were stopped at a red light.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked, watching her struggle.

"My ring is stuck," Rose answered. "My fingers swelled up or something."

She struggled a bit more before the ring gave way and she was able to slide it off her middle finger and onto her ring finger. "That's better."

After a moment, she thanked him for agreeing to watch the game with her.

"What for?" Derek asked.

"McCall might be there," she answered, looking at him. Derek understood. Rose didn't want to be alone with Agent McCall in case he was at the game. He thought back to a time when he would've given anything for his father to watch one of his games.

A/N: Thank you for reading and hope you guys are enjoying! Reviews are welcome and appreciated.