Chapter 4

Derek screaming his name startled Isaac awake the next morning. He pulled his face off of his science textbook and rushed up the stairs, appearing just as Derek was about to scream his name again.

"I'm here" Isaac hurried to assure.

"About time," Derek snapped, "Lets go"

"Where are we going?" Isaac asked.

"Petro Mall"

Isaac paused. Petro was over two hours away. What could they possibly need to go there for? Still, he wasn't about to piss Derek off more than he already had. "Ok"

Grabbing his backpack, figuring he could get some schoolwork in on the drive, Isaac headed or Derek's car only to have said man redirect him to the truck.

Derek hesitated for a second after he pushed Isaac in the truck. Had he just imagined it or had the kid actually jumped when he'd grabbed the back of Isaac's shirt? Shaking his head Derek let it slide, he had other things to focus on today.

Getting furniture for Stiles' room would take the two of them simply for moving purposes. Also it would be helpful to get another teens opinion on what would be the best choice.

Isaac had been slightly excited when he'd looked up from his history textbook to see then parked outside of a furniture store. So that's why they went to Petro.

Was Derek finally going to get him some kind of a bed? That would be so nice, even a cot would be a huge improvement on the hard stone floor of the basement that he slept on every night.

They weren't here for him however. He learned that quick enough. Derek had dragged him here to help carry the furniture for Stiles' room.

He could admit, as they drove home, that he was disappointed. After all this time he'd spent helping Derek, rebuilding the Hale House, following orders, skipping his own classes in order to attend the ones that had the others in them (Lydia, Alison, Scott and Stiles) in order to get needed information or to run tests.

None of the teachers ever said anything about the fact that Isaac didn't actually belong in the class, mostly because at least half the teachers didn't know every kid that was supposed to be on their roster to begin with. His own teachers just marked him as absent and he missed out on the lessons and assignments.

All of this combined left Isaac with a lot of missing and make up work to do and a lot of failing grades. Apparently that was not something that earned him any furniture.

Stiles though, Stiles had excellent grades and his room was going to have all kinds of furniture in it. Including a brand new mattress to replace that old one with the springs sticking out. Maybe he could slip that down to his own room? That would be nice.

Derek sighed in relief as the work was finally done. The house was complete, Stiles' room was decorated and tomorrow was Monday. Life was good. Maybe he'd go out to see a movie or something, or grocery shopping, he'd need food and snacks for Stiles.

On Monday morning Isaac woke up rather happy with himself. He's managed to complete all of his missing assignments over the weekend – amazing what one can accomplish when they don't want to get beat and actually had free time.

He ignored his grumbling stomach as he moved off of his mattress – his own mattress! (Choosing to look past the fact that it was over twenty years old, had springs sticking out of it and had next to no padding because it was still better than the concrete floor), padded across his freshly mopped floor and dug into his duffle to pick between one of the three shirts in his possession. And once dressed grabbed his overly stuffed backpack and headed off to school on foot.

The week progressed slowly but eventually it was Thursday and Stiles was finally staying the night.

Since Monday, instead of having the pack do school work first Derek warned them all that if they didn't have at least a C in every class come report card day then they would be running laps every day until they puked. Then they were all sent to do their typical ten laps around the house.

After practice Derek sent Boyd and Erica home, Isaac on a ten-mile sprint (he'd lost to Erica) and then took Stiles on a tour of the completed house ending for Stiles to check out his new bedroom.

"This is so cool!" Stiles exclaimed looking around.

Derek smiled, glad that Stiles liked his room. Hopefully he'd stay over more then just Thursday night if he knew there was a comfortable place to stay.

"It's open every night" Derek tried to entice.

Stiles shrugged, "Thursday's are my only nights to worry about."

"You never know that" Derek argued.

"Yes, I do" Stiles snapped. He was tired of this conversation. He needed to get Derek off of him or he'd loose it. "So, where's Isaac's room?"

"Would you ju…" Derek was in the middle of trying to convince Stiles that he should stay when the question took him by surprise. "What?"

"Isaac's room," Stiles repeated, "Where is it? I mean you showed me every other room in this place."

"Derek froze, "Isaac's room is…"

Seeing an unexpected opening Stiles decided to push his luck, "And come to think of it, where are all Isaac's things? Around the house I mean? And why does he always wear the same things over and over? Does he not have any other clothes? And why didn't he eat the snack last Friday, he wasn't at lunch so he didn't eat then and he didn't join us for dinner. Does he eat? He hasn't been at lunch all week so does he just eat a massive breakfast in the morning? He wasn't at dinner tonight. And why isn't he in class anymore? I haven't seen him all week. Wh…"

"Stiles!" Derek cut off the rambling.

"Yeah?" Stiles asked calmly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Isaac" Stiles stressed the name, "You know, the…"

"The beta that you first turned," Peter cut him off, stepping up the stairs, "The only one that didn't abandon you against the Kenema and the argents, the one that helped you locate Erica and Boyd, the one that you're supposed to be taking care of. The one that you sent on a ten-mile sprint through the woods after a long and tiring practice. Does that ring any bells?"

Derek growled deep in his throat. "I don't recall inviting you over"

Peter shrugged, "No one ever invites me over, that's why I just invite myself"

"Right," Stiles said nervously, "Well, listen, it's late and I've got school in the morning so I'm just gonna go to bed." He turned to leave but remembered his manners at the last second, "Thanks again, you know, for letting me crash here tonight."

"Anytime" Derek brushed off the thanks, his thoughts now turned to a much more serious problem.