He cleared up the kitchen then turned off the lights before slipping upstairs. Without turning on the light or a glance towards the shadows in the corner of the room, Stiles grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants from on his dresser and then walked towards the bathroom. He spoke without looking back. "I'll be about ten minutes, Derek."

Nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, he walked back into the room, skin flushed from the warm shower. He flipped on the light and sat down at the computer desk, spinning it to face the wall Derek was leaning on. He was obviously angry, if his glare and the grinding of his teeth were any indications. "I told you not to talk to him." He bit out.

"Yes and you didn't follow that up with the 'surefire anti-werewolf' spray recipe. He asked to speak to me reasonably and agreed to leave if I asked him to, as opposed to sneaking into my room and demanding my attention and obedience under ridiculous circumstances."

"He had NO right to say anything to you." Derek said, as he started pacing.

"You're right." Stiles said shortly.

"It's not any of his busi- Wait, what?" Derek said, totally derailed by Stiles' agreement.

"Peter had no right to tell me about what's going on. You on the other hand, damned well should have." He said voice raising slightly.

"It isn't any of your business either, Stiles."

"Right. It's not any of my business when my friend is going to be raped by whichever werewolf manages to beat up all the other wolves, and then he's going to be stuck with this rapist asshole for life, while he gets his entire life stolen from him, and quite possibly forced to put out over and over to in some warped little supply and demand model. Nope I can't see why I'd need to know anything about that."

Derek looked completely confused. "What the Hell did Peter tell you? Scott is safe, the rest of the pack are all betas. The Alpha pack won't go after them."

Stiles wanted to actually scream in frustration. "I know the rest of the pack will be safe, moron."

"But... you said your friend, who did Peter tell you they were after?"

The absolutely saddest part of that, was that Derek was truly confused. Stiles didn't know whether to hug him or smack him upside the head. "I meant YOU, dumbass. I realize I might not be good enough to pass your stringent friend qualifications, but you are MY friend, and we" He jerked his hand back and forth between the two of them. "are going to work on your ability to open your mouth and ASK for help when you need it. Right after we work out if I'm going to be your mate. Because let me tell you, there is a whole other level of 'shit you need to use your words for' when it comes to us being mated, as opposed to friends. So it would really save us time, if we figure that part out first."

Derek looked lost and very confused. After a few moments, he very obviously steeled himself and walked toward Stiles' bed, taking off his jacket and shirt on the way.

A clearly stunned Stiles let him get as far as his hands on his fly when he jerked out of his shock and spoke up. "What the HELL are you doing, Derek?"

He froze, but the determined look never left his face. "Getting this over with." He said, his voice barely steady.

"First off, if I want you undressed, I'll do it myself... with my teeth." Stiles said, smirking briefly before looking serious again. "And second. I won't be doing that until AFTER we talk and we both agree that this is what we want. Do not EVER treat me like I'm one of those Alpha Pack bastards. If you don't want to do this we don't do it. If you want to fight instead, I will be right by your side, doing my damnedest to keep my friend safe. I won't be your rapist, Derek. That is the one thing you can't ask me to do."

Derek slumped down on the bed. His voice was rough when he spoke. "I don't know what to do. I'm the Alpha, and I don't know what to do. I got most of my family killed and now I'm going to be the person too weak to hold on to their legacy."

"No you're not." Stiles said, climbing to his feet and stepping over to the bed. "Kate is the one who got your family killed, Derek, not you. You were a boy in love. She was an Alpha female human, wasn't she?"

Derek nodded, without looking at him.

"What she did, to you and your family, that's on her, Derek not you. If there is justice after death, that bitch is sitting in the lowest circle of Hell with the betrayers. All you did was fall in love. She's the one who twisted love with hate. And we are not going to let those Alpha bastards get their claws on you or your birthright, ever."

Derek looked up then, and Stiles held out his hand. after a moment Derek took it. Stiles took a moment, to think of how to ask, and then spoke. "Do you think you could be happy with me as a mate, Derek? Can you like me enough to make this work?"

"I've never had a problem liking you, Stiles. Even when you were driving me completely insane, Hell even when you were suggesting, Allison shoot me in the head, I couldn't help, but admire the fact that you came up with the one plan that might have achieved your goal."

"You should know something about that. Earlier that day, Scott caught one of those from less than ten feet away, I knew there was no way, short of you actually being paralyzed, that you'd actually let yourself get hit. I was afraid she'd actually hit one of your Betas and then you'd kill her for it."

"I wouldn't have been happy about it, but I wouldn't have killed her. If I was going to kill her for something like that it would be what she did to Isaac when we were fighting the kanima and Gerard."

"That must have been bad, I don't think even Scott has forgiven her for that, yet." He said, actually impressed that his friend could hold a grudge against Allison that long.

"You know he's becoming an Alpha on his own, right?" Derek asked, looking away. "He's becoming a leader, I could let Isaac, Jackson and even Peter go become his pack. They'd be safer that way, maybe. I'd lose the land still, but he could try to claim everything that isn't actually Hale property. It would minimize the risk to the pack, if we could convince him. I know he has issues with Jackson, but I think Lydia can help wrangle him. Peter will try to twist things in order to get ahead, but you'll be there to help him keep Peter in line, right?"

"Derek, is the idea of being tied to me so bad that you'd give up your pack and choose to let them have you?" Stiles asked, watching Derek.

Derek jerked and looked at Stiles, and then at their still touching hands. "You're seventeen years old, I should not be forcing you to jump in to protect me. It's not fair to you. How could you want to tie yourself to someone like me for life? Why would you want to?"

Stiles slowly drew in a breath before speaking. "Instead of pushing me away, or throwing yourself down in front of the Alpha Pack as a sacrificial goat, why don't we find out? How long do you think we have before your, what do you call it... fertility cycle kicks in and sets them fighting for you? Do we have any time, or are you about to 'blossom'?"

Derek looked positively offended, which was the most he'd looked like himself this whole time. "Don't say it like that!" He calmed down and then continued. "I, uh, should have a week, but it could start a few days early or late, probably early because of stress."

"Okay, so, instead of you 'taking one for the team' literally, why don't we just find out if we can work." He rubbed his thumb over Derek's hand, without letting him go.

"How do we do that?" Derek asked, cautiously.

"The same way normal people do it. Derek, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night? We could maybe see a movie too, if you want."

Derek looked completely confused for a minute, and then his face cleared and he smiled. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

Stiles smiled back, and then leaned in, slowly so that if he wanted to move, someone with Derek's skills could be two blocks down the road before Stiles reached his goal. He was still holding one of Derek's hands. His other hand came up behind Derek's neck, pulling him into position and holding him there, while Stiles leaned in and slowly brought their lips together. As kisses go, it was practically chaste; soft and sweet and completely without tongue or heavy breathing, but it was more than enough for both of them... for now.

Stiles broke the kiss, but let their foreheads rest against each other, and avoided Derek's eyes as he spoke. "The situation itself sucks, but I'd still choose you, Derek. So long as you wanted me too." He slowly pulled away and handed Derek back his shirt and jacket before climbing off the bed.

Derek got dressed, never meeting Stiles' eyes. He got as far as the window before Stiles' spoke again. "I'll pick you up at six tomorrow. Are you guys at the station, or the house?"

Derek smirked then, something Stiles hadn't thought he would miss until he got a warm feeling seeing it. "Neither, Peter was a bit... offended by our living situation and talked me into renting an apartment." He leaned over Stiles' desk and wrote the address on a piece of scrap paper quickly. He looked at Stiles, finally, before slipping out the window, with a soft smile and a whispered 'Goodnight."