Scott was surprised that Stiles made it to the locker room before he finally lost his cool. After seven hours of watching his best friend suddenly snap back into the somewhat geeky guy who paid attention in class, Stiles was ready to explode. "What is wrong with you? What did Derek do to you?"

Scott sighed heavily, noticing both Boyd and Isaac at either end of the row, keeping everyone away from their new healer. "It wasn't Derek. We fought, I got thrashed and joined the pack, but this is something else." He gestured to his body guards.

"You don't look thrashed."

Scott slammed one of his gloves onto the bench next to him. "Let's just say I'm a bigger freak than we thought and leave it at that until we are out of Argent territory."

Stiles waved his arms in obvious frustration. "You so owe me an explanation!"

Scott just nodded. He gave his usual half speed effort during practice and tried to ignore Jackson and his larger than life ego. He did find it amusing that both Boyd and Isaac seemed to target the obnoxious co-captain during drills, though he did attempt to reel them in when it was apparent they might cause Jackson to shift in the middle of the field.

By the time Scott and his entourage exited the school to find Derek's car waiting, he was ready to hurl something across the parking lot. "Get in."

Taking a deep breath, Scott forced back his anger and retracted his growing claws. "No." He kept his eyes averted, careful not to challenge the Alpha. "I need time to talk to Stiles without an audience. You can follow us back to the house and I'll go lock myself in my room like a good little prisoner."

"Scott," Derek snarled with irritation.

"I get it alright? Call off the dogs and let me ride home with my friend in peace."

Derek studied the trembling in the shaman's arms and knew Scott was holding back immense anger. "You have two hours. I'll be outside if you need me."

Shoulders slumping in relief, Scott pulled Stiles to his Jeep before Derek could change his mind. He barely had the door shut before Stiles was firing off questions. "Just drive, I'll explain on the way." Stiles groaned but fired up the engine of the tired Jeep. He was satisfied when Scott started spilling all of the details of the last eighteen hours as soon as they peeled out of the parking lot. "So I got to the station and got jumped as soon as I was through the door."

Stiles felt his grip on the steering wheel tighten as Scott described the battle with Derek. "But you've fought him before. Why did you heal? Was it because you joined the pack?"

"No." He huffed in annoyance at being interrupted. "I was getting to that." He looked in the side mirror and noticed a familiar Camaro tailgating the Jeep. "When I woke up we were fighting, again, because apparently I was blocking the pack bond and Derek couldn't feel me like he could the rest of the pack."

Stiles was practically vibrating with questions. "How were you blocking the bond? What do you mean feel you?"

"Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Shutting up." Stiles shot him a sheepish look and turned back to the road. He bit on his tongue to stop himself from asking anymore questions as Scott told him about the spirit battle and his new job as a shaman. "Magical healing powers? This is awesome!"

Scott managed a brief bout of laughter before he slumped back in his seat. "Except the part that everyone will be trying to kill me or kidnap me. Derek is planning on living on the floor in my room and I can't go anywhere without a bodyguard."

Stiles flinched. "Not so awesome." He parked the car and followed Scott into the house. "So what are you going to do?" He turned to see the Camaro pull in behind his car but Derek made no attempt to get out of the vehicle.

"Deal with it. If I can stay out of trouble for a week or two, they might back off." Stiles snorted in disbelief as he veered into the kitchen for a six pack of soda. "Anyway, Hythor said I need someone watching over me when I'm in the Spirit Realm so Derek staying here will take care of that problem." Scott grabbed a bag of chips and started for his room. "If I get this focus thing down, he told me that he would teach me how to help Jackson transition into a wolf."

"No more Kanima, I'm good with that." Stiles dropped down on Derek's sleeping bag out of spite and made sure to cover every inch with his own scent.

"He's going to murder you." An amused smile was on Scott's face as he stretched out on his bed.

"Nah. Derek loves me. We bonded in the pool." Stiles smirked. "He won't kill me."

"Yes I will." Derek watched happily as Stiles squeaked and hopped off the sleeping bag. "You reek of crappy cologne."

"You're over an hour early."

Noticing that Scott's tone was resigned and not angry, Derek remained in his relaxed lean in the window. "I heard you had a break through today."

"Isaac?" The Alpha nodded. "Great. So no privacy whatsoever."

There was an evil glint in Derek's eyes when he leaned forward in challenge. "I still let you go to the bathroom by yourself."

Scott snarled in retaliation. "I will find a way to shoot you."

Stiles watched the tense debate like a tennis match, wanting to relieve the stress. "So about that sudden burst of Econ knowledge?"

"Hythor is teaching me how to compartmentalize thoughts so they are all locked away when I'm trying to clear my mind. I figured I would try to access one of the boxes, see what it did." Scott shrugged uncomfortably. "Everything I know about Econ just came flooding back like some weird matrix upload."

"Nice." Stiles rubbed his hands anxiously. "Think you can learn Kung Fu?"

"Stiles!"

They both looked at the Alpha as he moved into the room, leaning his hulking figure over Stiles. "What? It would be awesome."

"I don't think so." Scott sighed. "Any way, I'm supposed to work on sorting more thoughts tonight until I can completely clear my mind."

Stiles flinched at the thought of the herculean task. He wasn't sure it was possible for him to shut down his mind without very strong drugs. "Is that even possible?"

"According to Hythor, yes." He looked over at Derek. "I'm planning on working on it tonight after homework. Now get out, I still have another hour and a half of freedom."

Rolling his eyes, Derek walked to the window and started to climb out. "What time is your mom getting home?"

"Four am. She's working a double." Scott watched idly as the larger wolf dropped out the window with a soft thud. When he heard the door on the Camaro close and the engine fire up he dropped his head on the bed and groaned. "Which one of you is out there now?"

"Boyd."

He snickered at the annoyed voice that drifted up from the ground below the window. "Come on up." Scott turned to Stiles as the large teen squeezed through the window. "Gears of War?"

"Gears of War." Stiles jumped off the floor and grabbed remotes, tossing one to Boyd and Scott, respectively. Keeping the third, he dropped the game into the disc tray and fired up the video game. "If you're going to be stuck here, you might as well make yourself useful. You can play Cole."

Boyd let out a genuine smile and signed on to the game. "Let's do this."

Handing him a soda, Scott smiled at the pack mate sprawled across his floor. This kind of baby sitting he could handle.

.

.

Derek growled in irritation an hour later when he walked through the door carrying a heavy bag of food. He could hear the three stooges upstairs playing video games and wanted to smack them upside the head. At least Scott hadn't thrown a fit when Boyd showed up to keep an eye on him, and if this was what it took to keep the peace, so be it. He dropped his keys on the counter and wandered upstairs to Scott's room.

The two wolves in the room let out appreciative growls when they saw the large bag of food and he smirked. Without a word, he reached into the bag and started throwing burgers to the occupants. Boyd, used to the ritual dug into his food without a thought, but Scott threw a questioning glance when he noticed the special order burger with extra ketchup and no pickles. Derek just shrugged and took his usual chair in the corner, digging into to his own burger. He wasn't about to explain why he knew how Scott ordered his food and he certainly wasn't going to admit he paid attention to Stiles' preferences. He heard a snort of amusement from the Shaman as Scott grabbed the bag and pulled out curly fries for the three of them before handing the bag back to Derek. Idle chatter continued throughout the meal as Boyd got to know the other two boys, but both he and Stiles made their excuses and left after dinner to head home.

Scott was silent as he cleaned up the mess from dinner, his mind on all of the things that would have to be done sooner than later. He was going to have to figure out some way to keep his mom from discovering Derek living on his floor. While the nightshift made his evening guards easier, she was bound to wander into his room some night to check on him while Derek was there. It would be more difficult to explain a twenty four year old passed out in his bedroom if she didn't have some forewarning that he was there. "What are you planning on doing when my mom gets home?"

"Wait in the car."

Scott shot him an incredulous look. "The one in the driveway?"

Derek looked to be in physical pain as he studied the boy who was supposed to be his advisor. "The one I'm going to park around the corner."

"Oh." Scott went back to cleaning up the room. "She's been looking for a border for the spare room. Wouldn't it just be easier if you lived here?"

"Does she know who I am?" Derek looked moderately intrigued but knowing Scott, the plan would backfire.

Scott frowned sadly. "Doubtful. She works eighty hours a week and barely sleeps. I can't remember the last time she watched TV." He really hated how much his mother worked, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Even his raise at the clinic wasn't going to help much around the house. This solution might help both problems.

Sighing, Derek nodded. If both he and Scott were located in the same area then it would be easier to pull the pack together to babysit the trouble magnet.

"The room's across the hall. I'll go text Mom to see what she says." Scott left the bedroom in search of his phone. While this would solve a few problems, he wasn't sure how he felt about Derek living under the same roof. He would have no grounds to kick him out when he needed a break and where Derek went, Isaac, Erica and Boyd went. His house was going to turn into pack grand central station, which given the Hale v. Argent history could put his mother in danger.

"Second thoughts?"

Scott jumped. "Stiles is right, you need a bell."

"You need to pay more attention to your surroundings." The Alpha growled in warning. It really was a miracle that Scott was still alive.

"Will she be safe?"

"As safe as she is now." Derek didn't sugarcoat his answer. "Gerard already knows who you are."

"Well that's reassuring."

Counting backwards in his head, Derek reminded himself that Scott was a freaked out kid and relatively new at this. "At least this way she will have us, if not the whole pack here if anyone comes for her."

"You'll protect her? I mean like really protect her?"

"We need a crash course on pack politics." Feeling the boy's fear, Derek moved over to his newest pack member, crowding him against the counter and forcing as much reassurance and sincerity as he could through their bond. "She is the mother of our Shaman, Scott. She is pack whether she knows or not."

Scott relaxed and dodged out from under the Alpha's intimidating stance. Grabbing his bag, he located his phone and checked his messages. When he found nothing else to distract him, he started a conversation with his mother that would no doubt change the course of his future. He was practically gift wrapping permission for Derek to invade his life more than he already did and for a minute, the sophomore wasn't really sure it was a bad thing. 'Have a friend who needs a place to stay. Willing to pay rent, how much you asking?' Hitting send, Scott stared at the phone, waiting for his mother's inevitable question.

Melissa McCall stared at the text with trepidation. Scott was not the best judge of people in the world. Her son was too soft hearted to see the bad in people. 'Friend? How old is this guy. Is a guy right?'

Scott snickered at the phone. 'Twenty-four. No family, living in car.' That part wasn't entirely true, but he figured a subway car was as close to living in your car as you could get.

'Drugs?' She tapped her pen on the desk as she waited for the answer. She couldn't deny they could use the help paying the mortgage but she wasn't excited about her son having a friend that much older.

'No. Asst football coach. GF kicked him out.' Scott heard a growl from behind him and knew Derek wasn't pleased with the conversation.

His mother, however, relaxed. If he worked at the school then he was vetted by the state and should be safe, besides, she could hear Scott's teacher in her head telling her that Scott needed a male role model. Maybe the presence of one of the coaches in the house would get him back on track. 'If you are sure, 200 a month plus food and I want to meet him first.'

Scott laughed. "She feels bad for you. She should be charging you twice that." He turned back to the phone. 'When?'

Melissa fidgeted, trying to decide how much she really trusted Scott's naivety. 'He can stay the night. I'll meet him in the morning before school.'

"Shouldn't trust your judgement either. You would give the devil a place to stay." Derek sat at the table and kicked his feet up on a chair.

"Yeah, wouldn't mention that you're wanted for murder." Scott ducked behind the fridge door to avoid the red glare. "At least this way you don't have to live on the floor and the pack is going to be stomping around here anyway. Now I won't have to explain you to her."

"Football coach?"

"She knows the Lacrosse coaches." He shrugged and sat at the table. "And if you work at the school she will assume you are safe and not question rides to and from school. I'm just assuming you are going to forbid me from riding my bike." Scott rolled his eyes when Derek snarled in warning. "Figured as much." He studied Derek carefully. "You can pay two hundred a month right?"

The alpha scoffed and snatched the phone. 'He said he'll give you $400 a month.'

"What, it's not like you have a day job, do you?" Scott took his phone back and saw his mother's return text. He could almost see her doing a happy dance when she saw the number on the little screen but she replied with a serene 'that will be fine.'

"I'm the sole beneficiary of the Hale line. Money isn't the problem, arrest warrants are." Derek shot him an angry scowl.

"What was I supposed to do? I thought you were dead and I didn't know who Peter was?"

A heavy pout settled on his face and Derek could feel the fierce strum of guilt coming off of the teen. He had to remind himself often that Scott was still a kid, that they all were. He knew Scott and Stiles were terrified when this all began and he couldn't really blame them for spouting out the first thing they could come up with on the spot. It just made things really inconvenient for him. "It's fine." He lifted the backpack from the floor and set it on the table. "Do your homework. I have some calls to make." He heard Scott mumble something about bossy alphas as he walked out of the house to his car. He dialed Isaac's number as he pulled open the door. "Get to Scott's house. I have to go out for a while." There was a grunt of agreement before the line disconnected and Derek crawled behind the wheel of his car. He would never admit it to Scott but this arrangement was probably the best he could hope for in the current situation. A bed and a roof over his head would be appreciated, especially considering that it was the same roof that Scott already slept under, meaning it would actually get used. It was an added bonus that he had running water for the first time since he returned to Beacon Hills.