A/N: Beloved readers, here's your tidbit for the week. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: We aren't Kelley Armstrong, we don't own anything to do with DP.

Derek was waiting for me the next morning. Kit's car, the sedate, nondescript gray sedan, was idling by the curb when the doorman opened the door for me with a murmured good morning.

I was suddenly conscious of a lot of things; I looked – again – like I hadn't slept all night and my lower lip was raw from the number of times I had worried it. Defeated, I hunched my shoulders against the weight of my bag and realized with a sinking sense of doom that I simply didn't have the resources to lie to Derek this morning.

The rush of traffic was familiar to me, comforting me as I took those few steps from my front door to the street, my knees loose with panic and a vague sense of relief. Derek was going to be furious with me, but at least the truth would be out.

He checked the side mirror before opening the door; he had learned his lesson when he'd nearly creamed a cyclist one of the first times he had come by to pick me up. Watching him walk around the car to open my door for me, his eyes scanning relentlessly, I felt that surge again, that warm, heavy wave of oh-my-God-I-love-him. Unfortunately, it was followed by oh-my-God-I'll-never-hear-the-end-of-this, but I was resolute. The time of reckoning had come.

I just hoped I could get the message out without tripping all over my words.

"'Morning," he said gruffly once he'd assured himself that there were no rabid squirrels, zombie bats, head-hunting scientists or killer soap dishes in the vicinity. He didn't lean down for a kiss, though, and my anxiety strung tighter between my shoulder blades.

"Hey," I said softly, angling so that I could duck under his arm and slide into my seat. The door had barely closed before he was ducking into his own seat, methodically pulling on his seatbelt, flicking off the hazard lights, flicking on the turn signal and checking his blindspots before easing out into traffic. He's such a soccer dad, I thought, and unbidden, tears welled up. I realized now that I had been wrong not to tell him everything from the beginning. That was the strength of our relationship; we worked together. Derek's amazing, analytical mind and physical strength were perfect complements to my more empathetic, artistic nature. My fingers tightened on the strap of my schoolbag that I held on my lap as if I was trying to hide behind it.

I needed to tell him everything. Now.

"I-"

"I-" we both blurted at the same time.

"You first," I said, though the words were nearly bursting from me. Derek didn't often have a lot to say, so if he wanted to say something, far be it from me to interrupt him.

From the side, his face was set in unhappy lines and his hands were tight on the steering wheel. "About Stonehaven this weekend-"

"I can't wait," I said, mustering some excitement at the same time that he said:

"I think it's best if I go alone."

Oh. Shit. Clenching, my stomach suggested puking but I sent back a half-angry, half-panicked don't you dare! and tried to play it cool, which under the circumstances was quite difficult.

"Oh." Really, Chloe? Is that really the best you can do? "I see." Aaaaaand the award for the most brilliant reply goes to…

The traffic light ahead turned red, and the car eased to a stop. Most guys would be fidgeting uncomfortably by now, words parading non-stop out of their mouths to justify their reasons. But Derek has never been – and will never be – most guys. He just sat there, waiting for me to respond. I knew that four quadrillion different scenarios had already been run through his mind and that this was the one that he had settled on, for better or for worse, for reasons he may or may not feel the need to share.

"Why?" My voice came out plaintive; not only was I disappointed in his decision to go without me, but I was also a little nervous about being without him if something serious went down. Not to mention, I wouldn't see Jaime the way I had planned. What was I supposed to do now?

Derek took his eyes away from the stoplight for a second. "I know you wanted to come, but there's some stuff I need to do. Alone."

"Oh."

The only way I knew he felt a little bad was because he actually made an attempt to explain things. "It's wolf stuff. I'm going to be Changed for most of the weekend, working with the Pack."

Honestly, I didn't see why that meant he didn't want me to come, but when it comes to Derek's wolf stuff, I support his choices one hundred percent. He's the one who has to go through agony, sprout fur and fangs and a tail a couple of times a week and control his animal urges the rest of the time. Anything that I can do to make that easier for him, I'll do. But it didn't stop me from being disappointed.

"It's fine," I heard myself saying, almost before I realized I was speaking. "I understand, and it's ok. I'll go hang out at Aunt Lauren's for the weekend instead."

He looked concerned. "Your dad's out of town again?"

"Dubai," I said by way of explanation.

"Chl-"

"No-" I broke in before he could figure out how to balance all of this, "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself for one weekend. You're right, you need to focus on the wolf stuff and on Pack stuff. I'll come with you another time."

By that time we had pulled up in the parking lot at A.R. Gurney. Derek put the car in Park and turned to look at me. No, "look" is too bland a term. He examined me, stripped away the layers of emotions and read what was really going on.

"What aren't you telling me? No," he growled, putting up a hand, palm out when I started to shake my head, "don't lie to me again. Something's going on. I've tried to let it go. Simon was up my ass all last week, reminding me not to push, that girls need their secrets and all that crap." He leaned forward, his eyes unsure. That killed me more than anger or frustration or yelling would have. That I could make Derek Souza, one of the most confident, capable, self-assured people that I knew unsure…that cut deep. "What's going on, Chloe?"

I meant to tell him. Really, I did. But just as I opened my mouth, Simon banged on the window behind me, and I whipped around to see what was going on. "Some idiot just tried to corner Tori behind the office to cop a feel," he called through the glass. "You're gonna want to come see this."

Derek was already unbuckling his seatbelt, a low growl rumbling from his throat, but I put a hand out to stop him.

"No, it's alright. I'll go."

"But…" He looked from me to where Simon was waiting, clearly wanting to go remove a few limbs from the creep who had touched one of his "Pack".

"You're not a student here, Derek," I said hurriedly, wrestling free of my own seatbelt and grabbing my bag. "Let's not give ourselves any more problems or draw any more attention than we need, ok?"

His shoulders tightened, his body straining to do its thing, to wreak havoc in wolf form on those who threatened his family, but his mind finally won out and he sat back with a frustrated hiss. "I'll wait here. Call me if you need me."

I didn't even wait to give him a kiss or sling my bag over my shoulder; I raced off towards Simon, who was hopping impatiently in place.

As he hustled me along, he threw an impressed glance back at the car. "How'd you do that?" he asked, plainly fascinated by Derek's reaction.

"I told him the truth," I replied, huffing a little. Not having to run for my life every day was taking a toll on my cardio-vascular endurance. Note to self: who needs a trainer when you have scientists with tranq guns and cabals with rifles chasing you?

Rounding the corner of the building, the pavement softening into grass, I spotted Tori. "Oh, shit."

I knew the guy. Trent Birmingham was wealthy, artistic and good-looking, if you were into artsy guys. His disheveled locks always made me think of Patrick Dempsey when he revealed that it could take an hour to style his famed, "casually" mussed hair. Braided leather bracelets, beaten up band tees, ever-popular Converse and jeans that no straight man should wear completed his "look". He had never been hostile or anything towards anyone as far as I knew, but he had also probably never had a girl look him up and down with a sneer, toss her hair, snort and tell him to go fuck himself when he made a pass at her either.

Tons of guys had been after Tori since our first day, but most had given up when she had – sometimes nicely, sometimes not – turned them down. Trent didn't seem capable of letting it go, though, but she had taken it with a grain of salt until now.

"Is Tori ok?" I asked as we approached.

Simon grimaced. "Oh, she's fine. It's Trent I'm worried about, and his ability to father children after this little run-in."

Wincing, I cast a quick look around. It was still pretty early, so only a couple of people had noticed the altercation, and I was counting on peoples' tendencies to explain magical stuff away to keep this from becoming a major issue.

"Tori!" I called to her back as I reached her. "Tori, let him go."

"Fuck off," was my answer. Tori had Trent backed into a corner – literally. He had his back pressed up against the junction of two brick walls and Tori – looking like a dark avenging angel – blocking his way out. It was only when I was at her shoulder that I realized she had him immobilized with a spell and droplets of sweat were mixing with tears as they ran down his face.

I almost felt bad for the guy. Almost.

"For god's sake," Simon hissed, yanking at her right elbow, "you're drawing way too much attention right now!"

"What are you doing?" I murmured in her ear, keeping my voice low.

"Binding spell, a silencing spell and a little something special that I came up with for little shit-head rapist-y type guys like this." Her eyes were burning with fury when she finally looked at me. "Guys who think it's ok to grab girls like that deserve worse than this."

Trent must have heard that last part because a fresh wave of sweat beaded and slid down his face. His nose was starting to run, too, and I knew that if Tori hadn't had the silencing spell on him, he'd be whimpering in agony.

"You have to let him go." I put as much authority into my voice as possible. "Yes, he's a jerk. Yes, he deserves this. But we can't draw attention right now. None of us want to have to run again, and I know you don't want to, either."

"Tori," Simon said softly, "please."

We waited there with bated breath, counting the seconds until finally she took a deep breath, murmured a few more words in Latin and stepped back. Trent's eyes rolled up and he collapsed on the ground, unconscious, the binding spell released.

"Check him out and try to explain this, please," I whispered to Simon as I grabbed Tori's arm and dragged her away with me. "Come on, we'll make it look like we're going to get help."

As I hauled her along with me, I made sure to detour just a bit so that I could pass the parking lot and wave Derek off. He acknowledged my signal and pulled away after scowling for a few moments at Tori.

"I'm so tired of this." The soft, tired words didn't sound like they came from Tori, but they did.

"The running?" I knew she had hated our fugitive time; we all had. No friends, no social life, constantly looking over our shoulders every time we went into a 7-Eleven. Being with Derek, exploring the newness of our relationship was the only thing that had made that time bearable for me. A soft glow warmed me as I remembered.

"No." Her voice broke me out of my reverie. She waved back towards where Simon was doing his people-charming thing and convincing them that Trent had simply fainted in the middle of an argument with Tori or something. "That."

I didn't say anything, sensing that she'd talk as long as I was listening.

Brushing a strand of dark hair behind her ear, she sighed. "I was always a guy's girl when I was younger. My sister was like you, all blond and cheerleader-y, but I was always hanging out with the computer nerds. That was fun, being judged on my abilities and not my looks. But now…"

I could see what she was talking about. Tori had been pretty when I'd first met her, but now maturity was turning her into something more than just merely "pretty". She'd attracted a lot of attention at school, and she dated almost as much as Simon did, but like her brother, she never really got serious with anyone.

"The guys that ask me out think I'll do whatever they want if they push enough."

"So why don't you ask out someone that you really like, then?" That seemed obvious to me, but from her irritated look, it wasn't that simple in her mind.

"You don't get it, Princess Chloe," she snapped. "You and Derek don't have secrets; he knows about your freaky powers and you know that he turns into Scooby Doo every week. Have you ever thought about what you'd do if you weren't with him? How you could date someone, fall in love with someone, who had no idea who you really were?"

That had never crossed my mind, to be honest. I had known Derek since I had known about my powers, so that had never been an issue. Tori and Simon's off-hand dating attitudes suddenly started making sense.

"If I went out with someone, he couldn't know about me being a witch. I'd have to give him a fake last name because killer scientists and crazed cabal dudes are still after us and we'd all have to walk on eggshells the entire time around him, just in case you raise some zombie roadkill, or Derek loses his temper and starts Changing before we can hustle him out to the woods. What kind of life could I have with someone, huh? Secrets? Lies? Like my mo- Diane had with her husband? That's not a life, Chloe."

Tori's voice had started out strident and angry but her last words were almost whispered and I caught a vague sheen in her eyes before she turned her head away, busying her hands with opening the door that would lead us to the office.

I would have tried to give her a hug, but I wasn't sure how Tori would take the gesture and I didn't want her think it was given out of pity.

"You don't know how lucky you are, not having to lie to Derek," she said simply before summoning up a panicked look and dashing into the office. "Mrs. Cready, Trent Birmingham fainted or he's having a seizure or something out on the field. Come quick!"

Mrs. Cready, followed by the principal and the school nurse dashed out, following Tori back to Trent, but I just sat down in one of the plastic chairs and put my head in my hands.

I had just realized that I still hadn't told Derek about Mark.