The Essence of Being Human:

I grimaced slightly when the sliding down to the loft grinded noisily and silently prayed that I didn't wake up Derek as I closed the door behind me. The moonlight shone into the main room of the loft from the glass wall of windows and I quietly slipped off my shoes at the front door as I bit my lower lip.

I had spent all night either yelling at Scott for his stupid plan or getting yelled at for letting him go through with his stupid plan. The shouting was all getting to much for me so I snuck out of the house while mom was laying into Scott and my first instinct was to come to Derek's loft.

I carefully placed my handbag on the counter as I walked pass and then continued towards the makeshift bedroom as I pulled off my cardigan. I dropped it haphazardly on the ground at the end of the bed as I undid the zipped on my jeans and took a deep breath to calm my frayed nerves but the scent of blood made me frown in confusion.

I took another breath as I recognised the familiar personalised scent of Derek and my frown deepened in concerned because whatever injuries he had were either incredibly recent or not healing. I quietly made my way to his side of the large bed where he was sleeping peacefully and I would've smiled at how serene he looked if I wasn't so concerned about his welfare.

My eyes zeroed in on the bloodstain on the side of his white t-shirt and I knelt down next to the side of the bed as I glanced up at his face to make sure he was still sleeping. I carefully lifted the material so that I could get a better look at what appeared to be a gunshot on the side of his abdomen. A startled gasp escaped my lips when he suddenly circled his hands around my wrists and I snapped my gaze up to his face but he still appeared to be sleeping.

I hummed in amusement as I pursed my lips together to stop from asking a lot of questions and he opened his light green eyes as he raised his eyebrows at me in question.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked me in a light-hearted voice, not sounding bothered in the least that I broke into his loft in the middle of the night.

"Protecting my investment." I told him jokingly with a quirked eyebrow as a faint smirk spread across my lips and he hummed in acknowledgement as he nodded once with a small smirk of his own. I let my playful expression drop into one of concern as I tilted my head to the side and his eyes softened slightly as I bit my lower lip nervously. "Why aren't you healing?"

"Some wounds take longer."

"And some leave scars. But not for people like us. So, what's going on?"

"Maybe I'm just tired." He evaded answering the question as he released his hold on my wrists and rolled over onto his side so that he was facing away from me. I rolled my eyes at his avoidance as I dropped my forearms onto the mattress and I frowned slightly when I remembered the claw marks Brett caused on Derek's forearm, the ones that required more than normal time to heal. I didn't worry about it then because we had bigger things to deal with but if something was going on with Derek, then I wanted to know everything so that I could help him.

"Derek. Show me your eyes." I demanded softly as I pushed myself up higher on my knees and placed a hand on his side to empathise my request.

"You just saw them."

"Show me your real eyes." I corrected myself with a roll of my eyes as I gently tugged on his t-shirt and he released a heavy sigh as he rolled back over to face me, his light green eyes looking back at me. "Now, why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

"Sophie…" he trailed off with another sigh as he looked up at the ceiling and I climbed up onto the side of the bed with one leg bent underneath me.

"I trusted you with my biggest secret. With something that could literally make or break my future. I trusted you. Please, trust me with whatever you're going through." I pleaded with him softly as I intertwined my fingers together on my lap and I locked eyes with him imploringly as he sat upright in the bed. I could feel his chest brush against my arm as he covered my hands with one of his own and used the other to tuck as strand of my brunette hair behind my ear.

"I trust you." He assured me firmly as he gently turned my chin to look at him and I could see the sincerity in the depths of the eyes. "You know that I don't trust easily. But I trust you, Sophie, and that's bigger to me than 'I love you'."

Something inside of me seemed to snap when I comprehended the significance of his declaration and I sprung forward to grab his face in between my hands as I brought his lips down to mine passionately. He made a surprised sound in the back of his throat as he rebalanced himself from the sudden weight but almost instantly kissed me back as he tangled his fingers in my hair. The kiss full of longing and desire but there was a tenderness that exuded the love that we both knew existed beneath the surface.

Derek pulled back from the embrace as he hissed in pain with a grimace and I frowned in confusion as I followed his gaze down to gunshot would on his side where my hand had unconsciously travelled. I immediately pulled my hands away from him with a guilty grimace and he slowly rolled his t-shirt up to reveal the slightly bleeding gash.

"Okay, you can tell me what's going while I play doctor with you." I told him breathlessly with a pointed look as I climbed off the bed and he raised an eyebrow in amusement at the way I worded the demand. "Shut up. You know what I meant."

There were a few things that made a successful relationship: loyalty, respect, friendship, freedom, honesty, communication and trust. The moment I met Derek he had my loyalty, just for being a Hale because I knew that it was what Talia would've wanted. He had earned my respect by repeatedly putting his life on the line to save Scott or myself when we were in danger. We were working on our communication skills now that we were a couple. And while we trusted each other physically, we had both been through so much betrayal and abandonment that it made it hard to trust someone with our hearts

I made the leap when I confided in him the truth of what happened to Simon that afternoon in the school. I stood on the ledge of vulnerability, closed my eyes and dove head first off the cliff with hope that he would catch me at the bottom.

I silently held out my hand for him, tilting my head to the side with a small smile and we both knew that the gesture was more than just an offer to help him up. It was question, an important one that would make or break out relationship: Did he trust me enough to tell me what was going on?

A second after I had extended my hand, he slipped his hand into mine and my smiled widened happily as he stood up from the bed with a glint of adoration in his light green eyes. Our fingers intertwined like they were made to fit together as I led him out into the main room that acted as the longue room where there was more light. I dropped his hand as I headed towards the kitchenette and grabbed the extensive first aid kit that was kept under the sink for exactly these purposes. When I carried it back into the longue room, I noticed that Derek had stripped off his t-shirt so that there was better access to his wound sight.

"Start explaining." I ordered sagely with a quirked eyebrow as I set the first aid kit down on the counter and he sighed heavily in reluctance as he surveyed the determination in my eyes to see if I would back down.

"What Kate did to me, it's still happening." He admitted softly after a moment of contemplation as I grabbed some gauze and rubbing alcohol from inside the kit. "Obviously, my first clue was that my eyes changed back to their original colour."

"What else?"

"When I was helping Stilinski find The Mute, there was a puddle of blood that I missed when we went in. I couldn't smell it."

I shook my head to myself with my jaw clenched angrily as gently cleaned his bullet wound and I couldn't believe he knew that something was wrong for so long but didn't say anything to anyone. I ghosted my thumb over the wound as I avoided looking into his eyes because I knew that if I did, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from scolding him.

"You look like you want to say something." He murmured with a hint of amusement in his voice as I tossed the used gauze on the counter without looking at him and I made a humming noise of denial as I shook my head slightly. "It's going to drive you crazy if you don't say it."

"Nope. I'm not going to be one of those girlfriends that constantly nags her boyfriend. If you want to be stupid, be stupid." I told him flippantly with a shrug of my shoulders as I unwrapped a bandage and he chuckled lowly as I carefully stuck of the plaster over the wound with expert skill. "It's just a graze. But make sure it doesn't get infected. That's probably something you've never had to worry about before, is it?"

"Sophie…" he drew out my name with a sigh as he grasped my wrists gently in his hands and I huffed in annoyance as I looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow. "I'm sorry. I should've told you what was going on sooner."

"I don't care that you didn't tell me, Derek. I care that you didn't tell anyone. What if something happened? You are on a hit list, remember?" I asked him rhetorically in a concerned voice as I planted my palms on his bare chest and he let go of my wrists as he slipped his arms around my waist comfortably.

I could see the mixture of love, remorse and hope swirling in his eyes as he peered down at me and I sighed in defeat as I draped my arms around his neck because I could stay angry at him when he looked at me like that. "So, it's everything then? No glowing eyes, no healing."

"No hearing, speed, everything."

"Strength?" I asked curiously with a hint of mirth in my voice as I danced backwards out of his reach and he watched me in amusement as I strolled around to the other side of him. I glided my fingers over the top of the counter as he pulled his shirt back on and I tried not to pout as his muscle disappeared under the material.

"I can still win a fight." Derek stated calmly with a small upturn of his lips and I smirked at him as I propped my elbow up on the counter in between us with my hand up in the air.

"I won't use my werewolf strength." I promised him with my head tilted to the side as I wiggled my fingers tauntingly and his eyebrows raised in amusement as he leaned forward to match my position. I could tell that he was only humouring me as he leisurely clasped our hands together and I smiled at him innocently as I quirked an eyebrow in question, "You ready?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"One, two..."

The pressure he was applying against my hand barely registered to me as I reached out to poke his bullet wound with my free hand almost the second we started the arm wrestling match. Derek grunted in pain as he loosened his hold on my hand and I took advantage of his distraction as I slammed his arm down on the counter.

"You cheated. That's cheating..." he breathed out with a grimace as he gritted his teeth and I glanced down at his side to make sure that the wound hadn't started bleeding when I bumped it.

"I won." I countered unapologetically with a straight expression as I folded my arms on top of the counter and he lifted his head to give me an unamused look as he placed one hand on the table while the other rested on his hip. "When you're a human facing off against the supernatural, you need to bend the rules a little bit. I'm gonna teach you how to bend."

"Sophie…" he started to say with a resigned sigh as he rolled head and I scoffed out a disbelieving laugh as I shook my head in rejection to whatever he was going to say.

"It wasn't a question." I interrupted firmly as I planted my hands on the table in front of me and levelled him with an earnest stare that communicated my determination. "Reality check: you're human now. And that means, you need to be able to protect yourself using human methods."

A confused frown overtook his features as I pointed at him sternly and I walked over to the other side of the counter where my purse was placed earlier. I bit my lower lip thoughtfully as I searched through the purse and pulled out the Sig Sauer P226 9mm I carried in there before walking over to stand in front of Derek.

"This is a Sig Sauer P2269mm." I informed him casually as I placed the gun down on the counter between us and he raised both his eyebrows in amusement as he glanced down at the weapon in surprise.

"I don't like guns." Derek remarked idly as turned his attention back to me with a faint smirk on his lips and I rolled my eyes subtly as I picked the gun up from the counter with a small smile.

"That's because you've never learned to use one."

"Or because I've been shot. Repeatedly."

"You'll like this one." I told him pacifyingly as a slight grin as I popped out the clip and turned it over in my hand before I held it up for him to see. "The legal clip size in California is ten. You always want to remember how many shots you fire. Running out of bullets can get you killed. It also makes you look stupid."

I expertly slid the clip back into the gun with a smirk on my lips before I grabbed his wrist and he gave me a indulging look as I forcibly placed the gun in his hand, "But using a gun isn't just about learning how to point and shoot."

"Why's that?" he asked in a bored tone as he looked down at the gun with little to no interest and I stifled a smile as I pushed myself away from the counter with a raised eyebrow.

Stubborn was definitely one word that could describe Derek Hale. It was one of the personality traits that we shared and so I knew that he would never admit to needing to learn self-defence when he had spent most of his life with the upper hand.

"Because an average person can move twenty-one feet in one-point-five seconds. If they have a knife, they can gut you before you can pull and fire. So with a gun, you need distance." I explained carefully, knowing he was paying attention even if he didn't think he was relevant and I saw the small proud upturn of his lips that always showed itself when I stated random facts.

A playful smirk made its way to my lips as I wander around to stand a few feet in front of him and he slowly turned his body around to follow my movement as I straightened my shoulders readily, "Go for it. Pull the gun on me."

Derek breathed out a small chuckle as he ducked his head, the scepticism obvious on his features and I was almost bouncing on my toes in anticipation because I loved proving people wrong. It was slightly confusing to me why he continued to doubt my abilities when he had seen me in action more than once. It just gave me the motivation I needed to overrule his underestimation and annihilate any doubt he had about my capability to defend myself against an attack.

I raised an eyebrow in expectation as he sighed heavily in resignation and raised his arm to point the barrel of the gun directly at the centre of my chest. Almost immediately, I took a small step forward as I reached out to curl my fingers around his wrist and I used my free hand to twist the gun out of his grip with practiced ease.

"So, yeah." Derek mumbled with an embarrassed nod of his head as his arm dropped back down to his side and I pressed my lips into a tight line to stop the giggle that threatened to break free.

"Wanna try again?"

"Mmm-hmm." He hummed in affirmation with a subtle nod as he accepted the gun I held out to him and I stepped back into position as he rolled his shoulders back, his expression hardening with determination now that he had something to prove.

I tilted my head to the side idly as he raised his arm to aim the barrel of the gun at my chest and I shot my arm out to catch the motion of his wrist as I grappled the weapon out of his hand with the other. Derek's head wilted in displeasure as he sighed heavily with his jaw clenched and I cradled the gun in my hand expertly as I tried to suppress the grin of accomplishment that threatened to spread across my lips. I didn't want to take pleasure in his failure but it really did wonders for my confidence when I was able to prove myself and anyone that doubted me, that was capable of anything that I put my mind to.

"One more time." Derek demanded firmly as he lifted his head with a hard glint in light green eyes and I had to tilt my head back slightly to meet his gaze when he took a step closer to me.

"I could do this all day." I remarked tauntingly with a smirk on my lips as I handed the gun over to him and he hummed in acknowledgement as he placed his hand over mine without actually taking the weapon.

The moment our hands touched something in the air around us changed and the atmosphere became thick with an unnamed tension. Our eyes were locked in an intense battle of will, neither of us wanting to break the contact and I was determined to decipher the different emotions swirling in the light green orbs.

There was a word for what we were experiencing in that moment: vorfreude, the intense anticipation that comes from imagining future pleasures. With the slight touch of his fingers, I was already envisioning the wicked things I knew he could do with them. My skin tingled with the memory of what they had done in the past and my breaths became shallow as tried desperately to vanquish the memories.

The moment stretched out for what seemed like forever but in reality was mere a second and I was taken by surprise when Derek suddenly lurched forward to press his lips against mine forcibly. My hold on the gun loosen in surprise as he gripped my chin securely in one hand and used his free one to positon the barrel of the gun under my ribcage. Our lips moved together feverishly for a moment as pure lust spread through my veins and he pulled back slightly so that his lips lingered teasingly against the side of my mouth.

"You cheated." I whispered breathlessly in a husky voice with my eyes still closed in pleasure and they fluttered open when I felt him pull back slightly to look at me through heated eyes.

"Learning to bend." He countered complacently with a faint smirk on his lips and I couldn't help the small grin that pulled at my lips as I gently twisted my fingers into the fabric of his shirt. I hesitated a moment before I inhaled in anticipation and I tugged him back down to meet my lips with an urgency that surprised even myself.

Electricity charged through my whole body as I wrapped my arms around him and his hands roamed over my body like he was trying to map out every curve, to memorise every inch. My entire body melted against him, fitting against his chest like I was always supposed to be there. His hands slid down to the back of my thighs, his fingers leaving burning trail marks in their wake and I jumped slightly as he lifted me up so that my legs were encircling his waist without breaking the kiss. A strong arm circled around my back as he carried me over to the counter and my fingers dug into his back desperately as he sat me down on top of the table.

There was a greediness to the kiss as I desperately tugged the back of his shirt upwards and he pulled back from the kiss momentarily to give me enough room to pull it off over his head. I gasped slightly in pleasure as he ghosted his lips over my pulse point before they reattached themselves to my lips hungrily. His muscles rippled underneath my touch as one of my hands glided over his back, eagerly memorising the movements and the other rested on the back of his neck as my finger tangled in his hair.

One of his hands crept underneath my camisole, lighting up my skin where he touched like fireworks and I tightened my grip on his back in response as my nails dug into his skin. I moaned in the back of my throat as his other hand tangled itself in my hair and I arched my chest into him as chills of unharnessed need ran down my spine.

I reluctantly detached our lips with a small moan as I kept my eyes closed for a moment, allowing the euphoric sensation to wash over me and then I looked up into Derek's hooded eyes, "Bed. Bed, now."

"Yeah." He agreed breathlessly with a small nod of his head as he hooked his hands under my knees and lifted me effortless off of the table as I rested my forehead against his temple with a giggle.