The clearing was beautiful. Stiles was surprised that Derek had hidden a place like this. Stiles couldn't help himself. He found himself stepping forward into the environment and scanning it with his eyes, taking in every detail humanly possible. The clearing sloped down, and at the bottom of the slope was a crystal clear pond. It didn't have any weeds in it, the water was completely clear and there were no animals inhabiting the pond. Stiles approached the edge of the deep pond. He looked to the bottom and saw the ground was perfectly crafted. This was no naturally occurring pond. Somebody had built it. Stiles turned to face Derek, curiosity illuminating his eyes.

"You built this clearing, didn't you?" Stiles was confused, but he wanted to hear what Derek had to say. But he didn't say anything. He just nodded calmly, his eyes fixed on Stiles. Stiles couldn't stop staring into Derek's beautiful eyes, but eventually he pulled his gaze away and looked back around the clearing. It was wonderful. Even the air felt different here. Soft, not harsh, yet refreshing and cool, but not cold. The wind blew through the trees, making a calming noise that made Stiles feel like he wasn't alone. Stiles' past had had a detrimental effect on his life, but he preferred not to think about it. But here, all of that was forgotten. This was a place Stiles could come to think, he knew that already. He would come back here, for certain. He decided against telling Derek this, so he just smiled, and turned to Derek.

"It's beautiful." Stiles said simply.

"See?" Derek smirked, his canines just over the edge of his lip, "You and this clearing already have something in common."

Stiles flashed a smile that made Derek's heart flutter, before he started to take off his shoes. He undid his laces and put his shoes to the side, before taking of his socks and stuffing them inside his shoes. He began to roll his jeans up to his knees and folded the denim so they wouldn't fall down.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked curiously.

Stiles didn't even answer him; he just ran over to the pond and dived in. As he was in the air above the pond, he shouted out loud. "Wahoo!"

Derek laughed quietly at Stiles' childish behaviour. However, the light mood was shortly lived as Derek realized something was wrong. Stiles still had not surfaced. Without even thinking, Derek ran over to the pond and dived in. The water was freezing and it hit him like a brick. Fighting through it, Derek extended his arms and he felt Stiles. He wrapped his arms around Stiles and kicked upwards towards the surface, dragging Stiles with him. He could feel Stiles struggling in his arms. Both boys surfaced, gasping for air, droplets of water cascading around them.

"What the hell are you doing?" Derek shouted at Stiles, clipping his around the ear with his hand.

"Ow." Stiles scowled, flinching away from Derek's touch. "Dude, chill. I was just playing around. I was fine, I have a great lung capacity." Stiles smiled a toothy grin, evidently proud of himself.

Derek was somewhat embarrassed at what had just happened, so his expression slipped back into a scowl. Suddenly, he felt the cold water splash into his face. He looked up at Stiles, who was wearing the same cheesy grin. "Cheer up." He said simply, before splashing Derek again. Derek couldn't help but smile, and he splashed Stiles back. Stiles dived underwater, and Derek pursued him. Derek was a lot more able than Stiles, and he easily caught up with him, pulling him into his grasp underwater and wrestling with him. When he thought Stiles had had enough punishment, he released him from his grip and let him surface. Derek swam back up to the surface of the water and took a deep breath, before pulling himself out. He clambered onto the autumn ground and a cold breeze blew past, making his skin appear in goose bumps. He scanned the clearing... something didn't feel right.

"Stiles, get dressed. We're leaving." Derek said darkly.

"What, why!" Stiles whined immediately, just as Derek had predicted he would.

"Just do it." Derek growled, pulling on his clothes.

Stiles' upper lip pouted out but he obliged. He knew something was wrong, and he didn't particularly feel like hanging around to find out what. They got dressed faster than they would have done normally because they were cold, and Stiles could tell Derek was in a rush because he wouldn't let Stiles walk. Instead, he insisted on holding him in his arms and running at top speed with him. The wind blew into Stiles' eyes and made them water, compromising his vision so he couldn't enjoy the beautiful fall forest anymore, which made him slightly sad. Despite the fact Derek was running his fastest, Stiles was completely at ease in his arms. Derek had ample strength to hold him up.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Derek's house. Derek set Stiles down over the doorstep, slammed the door and locked it behind them. Stiles raised an eyebrow, but Derek ignored him, leading him into the kitchen. Stiles sat down at the dilapidated table and Derek refused to look at him as he busied himself with making lunch. The house was silent. Stiles barely dared to breathe. Suddenly, the anticipation was over as there was a distant noise of footsteps on the leaves outside. If Stiles could hear it, he knew Derek could. His thoughts were confirmed when he looked at Derek and saw how his eyes had widened. The look of pure terror there scared Stiles.

"Hey, what the hell is-" Stiles sentence was cut short as there was a gunshot blasting through the house, destroying the wooden walls. The pellets fired into the kitchen, and one of them hit Stiles in the hip, throwing him to the floor. He was bleeding badly and he was disorientated. Through all the commotion, Derek didn't seem to notice what had happened. He was staring straight ahead at the women who had shot a hole through his kitchen wall.

"Kate." He spat sourly, staring at her.