A/N- I'M CAUGHT UP YAY! U know what that means ^^

Chapter 9

CPOV

When I woke up after having an extremely peaceful dream I was shocked to find a large black animal in my tent, I pushed up slowly and quietly and took a better look at it. It was a wolf, a big black wolf in my tent, he must have been a werewolf, but I didn't know any black ones. So who was this? I put my hand on the wolves' shoulder, he flinched under it. but didn't move at all. I poked him a bit, he grunted and something clicked in my head. It couldn't be...

No, that was impossible. I rubbed the wolves' back, trying to wake him up, the wolf moaned than pushed itself up, he wasn't facing me though, he yawned and looked around. His head turned back and he caught my eye...

It was him...

It was Derek, those green eyes could never pass me by without me knowing who they belonged to. I whispered his name, trying to reassure myself that this pure black wolf was Derek.

He whined, and nodded his head, I smiled and threw my arms around his neck, and he leaned into me, whimpering.

"I love you too." I said.

He pulled back from me, green eyes blazing into mine, there was so much passion in them they're stare sent my stomach doing flips. He whined again and put his head against my chest. Hugging me, I wrapped my arms around him again, putting my face in his neck.

"I'm sorry." I said into his ruff. He pulled back again and looked at me with a confused look.

"I wasn't there for you when you changed." I said, sadness creeping into my voice.

He chuckled, looking down and shaking his big head.

"What?" I asked.

He looked up, I could tell what he was saying from his eyes, almost as if he was talking- a way of communicating between werewolves in different forms- "its fine, I wasn't there for you either."

I felt my eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, how did he know!

He gave me a small smile, his eyes looking at me forgivingly. HOW DID HE KNOW!

"Derek, I want to know how you know!" I said, looking at him, feeling a bit of anger creep up.

He looked at me surprise in his eyes. I thought about that, I would have told him some time anyway, and I didn't want him to get the wrong idea. I hugged him saying I was sorry for snapping at him like that. He sighed, saying it was okay. He looked back up at me, his eyes had a huge mixture of emotions in them, than they lit up knowing how to tell me how he knew. He lifted his head, his nose twitching. He smelt me? I reached down to my necklace, sure enough the little paw print talisman had fallen off. I looked back up at him, his eyes (once again saying everything he wanted to tell me) said he wanted to know how it happened.

"Change first, I want to hear you talk." I said, trying not to sound desperate, but falling miserably.

He looked down, I knew what he meant.

"Derek, can't you change back?" I asked, worry consuming my voice.

He looked up at me, and shrugged the best a wolf could. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I blinked them away, and stood up, well at least as much as I could in the tent.

"Come on, I'm going to help you." I said.

He stood up fast and jumped out of the tent. I followed him out. He was sitting at the edge of the woods already waiting for me. I ran over to him. He turned and walked into the woods, we found a clearing a little bit in where he stopped in the middle, and laid down, I came up next to him.

"I think all you have to do is think about changing." I said, rubbing the back of my neck, "I can't remember exactly since I haven't changed since two nights ago, it usually just comes to me when I want it to... So try that."

It was quiet for a moment, than he hacked, shooting up from a lying position to standing. I quickly put my hand on his back and rubbed, he swung his head down, the sight of the change back to human was worse than changing into a wolf. He had no idea what it was going to be like. Derek started shake, the fur between my fingers was starting to slide back under his skin, his muzzle shrinking back. I closed my eyes not wanting to see all the pain that he had to go through, this was worse than the normal change. I put my head on his neck that was getting smaller, the fur receding faster. I could feel his skin now, extremely warm, even in the cold weather.

Derek convulsed, gagging, but nothing could come up, and his stomach was still trying to empty itself. His neck was human now, I twisted my head so it was resting against his shoulder, I crawled up closer to him and put my hand on his back again, the fur was just a stubble now. Derek just sat there for a moment, raucous, short rasps, the exact ones that I hated to hear from him. I opened my eyes than, pulling back from his shoulder to look at him, he was fully human now. His dark hair hanging around his face, body still shaking, still panting and not looking up from the ground.

"It's over now, isn't it." I asked.

He nodded, still trying to catch his breath. My heart was thundering at seeing him again. He looked up at me, his face was so amazing to see after so long, after all that worrying about him. I swore I was going to faint when he smiled and came up on his knees, he took my face in his hands that were still a little ruff and pressed his lips against mine, still warm from the change.

Wow, was all I could think for a moment. Than I wrapped my arms around his neck and tried to lengthen the kiss. But he pulled back, trying to look at me again. I left my arms around him and our eyes met. I got caught in them like I used to when we were on the run. I pulled my gaze away after a minute and put my head on his chest.

"I love you." He whispered into my ear. His breath sent chills down my spine. His voice raising goose bumps all over my arms.

"I love you too, so much." I responded.

"I'm sorry I left Chloe, I just-I just really didn't want to see you fall in love with a vampire, or my brother, and I knew you were-" I cut him off.

"No, I wasn't Derek, I was falling for you." I said.

He was quiet than he pressed his lips to the top of my head, kissing me ever so softly.

He whispered to me again, "I still want to know how you got bit."

I laughed, "I figured that." I pulled my head out of his chest, "first, I need to grab your clothes, You're only in boxers, and you're going to freeze if I tell you the entire story." I said.

He growled, but said yes. Apparently he really wanted to know what happened, I don't blame him.

I got up and told him I would be right back. Than I ran out to the tents, grabbing the plastic bag that had his clothes in it, than ran back, he took the bag when I got back and got dressed. He came out a minute later, dressed in jeans his sweater and the jacket that I gave him. I bounced up and hugged him, he hugged me back.

"I missed you so much Hun." He said.

The endearment in his voice actually felt nice, unlike when Andrew said that same word.

"I missed you too", I pulled back to look at him," You are never leaving without me again."

"Oh, without you huh, so I can still leave?" He said

"Yes, as long as you take me with you." I said hugging him again. He laughed, making his chest shake, it felt nice.

"Chloe, where are you?" I heard Simon yell from the campsite.

"Come on Derek, we need to tell them our missions complete." I said, taking his hand and pulling him towards the camp, smiling at how dumb that sounded.

"What 'mission'?" He asked.

"Finding you", I said, turning and smiling at him.

"I thought I said not to look for me." He said, smiling down at me.

"I'm bad a listening." I responded turning and pulling him again. He walked with me over to the camp easily. Simon was looking around trying to find me.

I yelled "Hey Simon, over here!"

He looked over at me and smiled. "Hey Chloe, where did you go?" He said.

I pulled Derek through the barrier of trees around the camp. Simon just stared for moment, making Derek shift a bit, uncomfortable under his gaze. Than Simon smiled, and came over to us.

"Hey bro." He said.

Derek just nodded.

"Well if your okay", Simon started to shout, "Okay everyone Derek's' fine lets pack up and head back to the house.!" He said, cupping his hands over his mouth to make it louder.

Derek laughed, "Knew you wouldn't care bout' me." He said jokingly.

"Nope, never why would I care about you bro." He said, than came over and hugged him.

He smiled and looked at Derek, "Don't do that again, I'll make sure you don't leave this time dude."

"So are you going to take my shoes away permanently now?" Derek said, half-smiling.

Simon laughed, "I just might have to!" Simon said still laughing.

I just stared at them, "You guys are so weird."

"Now you sound like Tori." Simon said laughing.

"Hahaha, very funny." I said crossing my arms and giving him a dirty look.

"Wow, it's like your twins!" He said laughing.

"I know right!" I said laughing now too.

Derek shook his head, and looked at me, his gaze intense, I smiled at him.

"Well, I guess I should go grab Andrew, Clay and Elena now." Simon said.

"Yup, where are Clay and Elena any way?"

"I have no idea." Simon said, "Why don't you howl to them or something…. Wait, Ummm does Derek know…."

"Yeah", both Derek and I answered. Simon looked from me to his brother, like he was trying to see something happening between us, probably better if he doesn't know…. Okay I already tried keeping a secret from everybody, wasn't beneficial. I looked at Derek, he nodded with out even looking at me.

"Yes." I said.

"Huh" Simon said, a confused look on his face, but I could tell in his eyes he knew why I said that but was hoping it wasn't true.

"Yes, there is something going on in between us." Derek said, his voice unemotional.

Simon's face paled. "Ummm, oh, that's- that's cool." He said, forcing a smile out, but it wasn't genuine.

"Sorry Simon, I know that you liked me but… I kind of love Derek" I said.

"That's fine; my bro deserves someone so pure anyway." He said smiling a real smile this time, I returned it.

Derek put his hand on the small of my back, it sent shivers down my spine; his hands were so soft. I leaned into his chest, he was almost purring, his chest was rumbling but it was quiet, like a purr. I tried not to laugh at that.

"Kay, I get it" Simon said laughing, than he walked back over to the camp

We both laughed.

I twisted so I could hug Derek, pressing my face against him, taking in his scent. There wasn't the upset smell that was usually on Derek, this time it was more of a passionate smell. I bounced up and kissed him on the lips.

"I love you." I said yet again... How many times have we said that to each other now? Oh well I liked saying it, it was true.

"Love ya two." He said.

We walked over to the camp, Andrew was packing up the tents, and Simon was packing up mine.

"Okay good, Chloe your back", Andrew said when I walked up to him "we need you to try to find another trace of Derek before we go."

I looked back at Derek; he had a smile on his face, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, I found a trace, a pretty fresh trail too." I said, motioning for Derek to go hide. He did, by diving into the bushes.

"Okay, good then show us what way to go." Andrew said, straightening.

"Follow me," I said.

"Hurry up Simon," He shouted, "wait for him first." Andrew said to me.

"Just follow me really quick, please." I said.

"Okay, fine." He said sighing. I started to walk toward where Derek had hid. I bent acting like I was sniffing the ground, than said 'follow me'. I pointed at the bushes and said, look in there. Andrew gave me a weird look, than he pushed at the bushes, Derek was there, sitting back in the bushes smiling like a little smart-Alec.

"DEREK!" Andrew yelled, "how long have you been sitting there?" He said, he sounded mad.

"Hey! He found us last night, he slept in my tent, and he had changed and tracked my scent over here, so there's really no reason to yell at him like that." I said, stepping in between both of them and putting my hands up, Because Andrew looked like he was about to pounce.

Derek stood up and hugged me from the side, putting his face in my hair.

"I see, he slept in your tent huh." He said.

I jumped back, Derek's arms falling from my sides, I'm sure we both had the same look of shock on our face.

"NO, WE DIDN'T DO WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!" I yelled, "Derek was just lying by me, and plus he was a wolf at the time so, and we are not some horny people, Andrew, why would you even think that!" I said.

"No way", Derek said, eyes wide with surprise.

"Okay, fine I trust you two and Derek I hope you know a way back since we came all the way out here for you."

I looked up at Derek, worried he didn't; he glanced down at me and said, still looking at me, "I know one."

"Okay, than lets go." Andrew said, Derek grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him.