Chapter 04: A Good Sign?

3 months earlier

The pack had gone on what was meant to be a routine observation/patrol and checkout when things went in the wrong direction and everyone got split up. Derek, Jessica and Jordan had opted to stay at the house and cook for everyone. Stiles had been partnered with Malia as she and Scott had a tendency to make out rather than patrol, when Stiles had seen what he thought was Claudia and followed it.

"Stiles!" Malia screeched, she'd lost sight of him they all had and now they were trying to find him.

"Malia?" Scott called the second that he heard Malia yelling for Stiles. Lydia, Scott, Liam, Kira, Mason, Cora, Isaac and Corey heard Malia's yelling so they'd all run to Malia.

"I turned away for a second and then he was gone," Malia spoke quickly she couldn't even pick up on Stiles' scent.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Scott raised his voice as Lydia pulled out her phone to call Jessica, but was prompted by Scott to pocket it again.

"Exactly that, he's gone. I don't know how," Malia said, this time Cora called for Stiles hoping that he'd answer her.

"Stiles! Stiles where the hell are you?" Cora yelled, Isaac instinctively covered his ears as he was standing closest to her at the time. "Sorry," Cora looked sheepishly at Isaac and took his hand.

"Split up and look for him," Scott said before grabbing hold of Malia's hand. "Kira and Malia with me, Lydia go with Liam, Mason and Corey," Scott paused before he continued to speak. "Cora do you think you and Isaac will be right?"

"Obviously," Cora stated, it wasn't the first time they'd been tasked with going together, they may have been dating but they had rules. "I'm not calling Jess and Derek unless we can't find him,"

Scott looked at Cora and nodded, he knew that aside from Stiles, her and Derek were the closest to the Stilinski's having lived with them for a few years after their family died. Isaac was Derek's beta first, but there was something about Jessica that had made him stay close to them. When Allison had died, Jessica had gone with Chris and Isaac to France for a few weeks before returning with the beta and leaving him with Cora.

The three groups split up to look for Stiles, as they searched they realised that Stiles' Jeep was missing. Lydia stood where it had been and called Scott to tell him that it was gone. The group met up where Stiles' Jeep had been and tried to work out where it could have gone. They started off in the preserve but ended up somewhere they never thought they'd have to go back to, the old Beacon Hills First National Bank.

"Stiles?" Malia called out again, hoping that this time he'd answer. "Stiles! Where are you!?" Malia yelled again, as Scott tried to locate his friends heartbeat.

"Stiles?" Cora called, this time they got an answer which annoyed Malia as she'd thought he'd at least answer her.

"Cora...?" Stiles voice was barely audible but also frightened, Scott and Cora looked at one another before Scott headed in the direction they'd heard his voice coming from.

"We're coming Stiles, just hold on," Scott called back, they didn't have to go far before Stiles was collapsing on the ground in front of them. "What happened?"

"Stiles?" Cora crouched down in front of Scott and put her hand on his shoulder and felt his body still. "Scott we have to get him home,"

"Liam help me get him into the Jeep," Scott's voice broke everyone from their thoughts as he crouched down to move Stiles.

Stiles unconsciously pushed Scott's hands away from him and clung to Cora who shrugged before she nodded to Scott that it was okay to pick him up. Between all of them they some how managed to get Stiles into Roscoe and back to Jessica's. When they pulled up out the front Scott was racing up to the front door only to have Jessica already walking out of it and towards him.

"What happened?" Jessica questioned as Derek walked down the path behind them and saw Stiles cradled in Isaac's arms. "Well?"

"We lost Stiles...and then we found him and he collapsed, he's been unconscious since," Scott said, Derek didn't have to be a werewolf to tell that Scott thought that it was all his fault.

"It's not your fault, Scott. He's always been impulsive," Derek looked down at Stiles' form in Isaac's arms and moved to take him from him.

"But we weren't with him," Scott said as Stiles was transferred between Derek and Isaac and the older man was carrying the teen inside and placing him on the lounge.

"He's not hurt, at least not physically," Jessica looked Stiles over and sat on the lounge putting her little brothers head in her lap. "Hey kiddo," Jessica ran a hand over his head and closed her eyes to see if anything was wrong. "Wake up for me,"

"Jess?" Derek balanced carefully on the arm of the lounge putting his hand on her shoulder to stop from falling while Cora sat on the floor beside Stiles' head.

The rest of the group gathered around the room and kept quiet watching to see if anything was going happen to Stiles. They knew that next to Jessica, Derek was the most worried about Stiles and they hadn't told the Sheriff yet.

Present day – 2013

Stiles sat curled up next to Derek for a moment long before he lay back down on his stomach and covered his head with his pillow. Derek sighed, as Jessica walked back into the room and helped him up again. Jessica handed him both the crutches and waited until she was certain he wasn't going to topple over before she crouched down beside Stiles.

"Stiles," Jessica spoke quietly as she lifted the pillow off of his head. "I know you don't want me to go, you never do," Jessica told him as she pushed some of the hair from his face.

"Then don't go," Stiles mumbled, he would have done the same thing even if he was his nineteen year old self. He was starting to cry and didn't want her seeing.

"Sti, we've been through this," Jessica sighed as Stiles turned his head away from her. "Hey, look at me kiddo. You can always call me and I won't get mad,"

"Promise?" Stiles reply was muffled under the pillow as he started turning his head back towards Jessica.

"Promise, so how about you come back down stairs. I hear Scotty's putting Star Wars on," Jessica answered, her voice was loud enough that Scott was scrambling around Stiles DVD collection to find the movie. Cora rolled her eyes and grabbed the correct one and stuck it in.

"Scott and Star Wars?" Stiles raised his eyebrow and looked at her, Scott had never seen the movies as far as he knew.

"Yes, listen...hear that?" Jessica smiled at him, as he slowly sat up and looked at her through bleary eyes as he wiped furiously at them. "Give me a hug and we'll go down okay?" Stiles nodded and wrapped his arms tightly around Jessica and put his head on her shoulder.

Jessica stood up pulling Stiles with her before she gave him a little push down to get him moving as Derek was still outside the door. The second that Jessica was out of Stiles bedroom, Derek was taking hold of her arm as one of the crutches she'd handed him had cluttered to the floor and he couldn't get to it. Jessica jumped before she realised what had happened Stiles was bending down and picking up the crutch handing it to him.

"When do we leave again?" Derek questioned, as Jordan appeared at the bottom of the stairs and announced that they may want to save the kitchen.

"Scott's trying to make popcorn again," Jordan said as they all heard swearing coming from the kitchen and Cora saying that wasn't how you make it.

"Scott sit down, I'll do the popcorn," Jessica called as the three of them made their way down the stairs and Stiles heading towards one of the recliners. "We have to leave in about an hour,"

"Still need to go back home and get one of my other prosthetics," Derek said from where he'd stopped and was leaning against the door as Jordan pulled Jessica into his arms.

"You're probably going to need more than just one of the prosthetics you know that right?" Jessica said from where she was in Jordan's arms before kissing Jordan and waving one of her hands in the direction of the kitchen.

"I know," Derek muttered before heading to the bathroom as Jessica and Jordan moved slightly from where they were standing.

"I'll drop by every day while you're gone," Jordan told her in between kissing her and keeping her in his arms. "Be careful," Jordan mumbled into the last kiss as Isaac made his way past them into the kitchen to grab the bowl of popcorn.

"You know it," Jessica smiled resting her head against his shoulder before she spoke again. "Keep them safe, and tell the old man."

Jordan nodded, though he thought that Jessica and Derek should be the ones to tell the Sheriff about Derek being shot. Jessica knew the look on his face said that he wasn't about to tell her father about what had happened. Isaac walked back into the lounge room and set the popcorn on the coffee table before sitting beside Cora again on the sofa while Scott sprawled out on the recliner. Cora curled in Isaac's side and watched to see what Stiles would do. Stiles glanced at the screen and then at Cora before moving and sitting beside her. Jessica smiled when she saw Stiles sit beside Cora and grab hold of the cushion from the recliner that he'd been sitting on and pull it close to him.

"Pops'll be back at 7, order pizza," Jessica said she didn't care that Stiles would argue with her if he wasn't in the mindset that he was in.

"Pizza? With what money?" Scott questioned, his money generally went towards helping his mother pay off the house.

"On the table," Derek said as he set a fifty on the kitchen table and realised that they hadn't told them everything. "Anything else that you need to tell Jess?"

"We'll text you," Cora said not looking up from the movie as the opening for Star Wars rolled up the screen.

"Okay, we'll be back Friday," Derek nodded before he started to move towards the door, waiting for Jessica to finish her make out session with Jordan.

Jordan headed to his apartment, while Jessica and Derek headed back to their house. They lived fifteen minutes apart, Derek was planning on rebuilding the Hale house. Derek waited in the car while Jessica went in and grabbed a couple of books, her laptop and two of Derek's prosthetics. That is until Derek started getting antsy and needed to use the bathroom.

"Der, go back to the car," Jessica said without looking up from where she was digging in her wardrobe for one of her jackets.

"Need to piss again before we leave," Derek answered, pausing and leaning against the wall outside the bathroom. "Think you could put one of the prosthesis on while I'm in there?"

"If and only if the bones healed somewhat," Jessica answered once she produced the jacket she was looking for. "We still need to get a few of your clothes,"

"Fine," Derek muttered before finishing making his way to the bathroom, he figured having at least one working leg would be better than not.

While Jessica and Derek were in Redding, Cora sent them what she and Isaac had found at the old Beacon Hills First National Bank. Jessica read the messages and realised that the mandrake root was making the spell stronger. They also had word from Chris, Peter and Theo that they were close to locating the witch.

"I think I know how to break the spell," Jessica said as they sat in the waiting room of the specialist, Derek's head resting against her shoulder.

"You think? Or you know?" Derek questioned, he could feel his good leg and it wasn't a good pain, and his other was just a dull ache under the prosthesis.

"I think, I can't be certain until we get back to the hotel," Jessica answered, running a hand through her hair as she looked at the words that Cora had sent. "Forget-me-nots, cyclamen's and both the root and flower of the mandrake,"

"Do they mean anything?" Derek raised his eyebrow as his name was called and he struggled to get up on his feet. "A little help?" Jessica rolled her eyes standing up before helping Derek to his feet and grabbing the crutches.

"What happened here?" The specialist Doctor Starre questioned, Derek spoke quickly once they were in room and he was laying on the bed with his prosthesis discarded on the table.

"Long story short...went for a run as wolf got shot by hunters," Derek answered, he didn't think he needed to explain that his body was taking just a little bit longer than it should have to heal. "Also shattered the prosthetic,"

Doctor Starre talked with them before asking if Derek was able to tell if his stump as still broken, when he couldn't he was sent down to X-ray for both legs. When Derek returned, the specialist said that while his stump had healed his other leg didn't seem to be healing. Jessica bit her lip before she spoke looking at Derek and then the specialist.

"This literally only happened this morning," Jessica said, looking to Derek as he grimaced while one of the nursing assistants helped him back onto the bed.

"Now, I'm not going to plaster your leg. But Derek you need to stay off both of them until it heals," Doctor Starre said causing Derek to growl, that wasn't something that he wanted to do nor had he had to do in almost ten years. "Derek, you've been coming here for the past eight years,"

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Derek muttered, Jessica rolled her eyes and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "How long do you think it will take?"

"Next week at the earliest. You'll be needing to use the wheelchair again," Doctor Starre told them, Derek grumbled but nodded before he spoke.

"Great...more fuel for a group of teenagers to use," Derek was louder this time which made Jessica laugh, she knew that all of them occasionally teased Derek when he limped after the prosthetic got annoying.

"Teenagers?" Doctor Starre raised his eyebrow at the two of them, they hadn't mentioned anything about teenagers three years earlier.

"Yeah, two humans, four werewolf, a werecoyote, a banshee and two chimeras...Peter's responsible for some," Jessica answered, Doctor Starre nodded in understanding he knew Peter's reputation.

"I'm assuming that two of those teenagers are your siblings?" Derek nodded, Stiles and Cora were indeed included in Jessica's breakdown of what they had. Doctor Starre looked at the X-Rays one last time before he set about measuring Derek for the new prosthetic. "The good news is it hasn't changed in the last three years. You just need a new lining in the two that you've brought with you today,"

Derek muttered something that neither Doctor Starre nor Jessica caught as he closed his eyes briefly, this was the one thing he hated about being disabled. Jessica took his hand as one of the nurses brought in the wheelchair that he'd be using for the next two weeks.

Come Friday morning and Derek was grumpier than usual, the wheelchair being more of a hassle than anything else especially when he couldn't work out how to get in the car as it had been so long since he'd last used one. They had both had random messages from the teens asking questions about when they would be back and if they knew anything about the flowers Cora and Isaac had found. What stuck out the most was Stiles calling and telling them that he missed Derek and then Jessica in that order. That had to be a good sign, didn't it?