He had known Isaac was prowling outside the house minutes after Derek left, but unlike Boyd, Scott didn't extend an invitation to the other beta. He had no problem with Isaac, but he was aware that the violent home life left the other sophomore bitter and abrasive. Isaac was not one to come chill out at the kitchen table with him until Derek returned, so he didn't bother to try and convince him.

Derek returned half an hour later, just as Scott was finishing his Economics homework, but aside from dropping his bag in the hall and jacket on the chair, the Alpha made no other noise. Scott looked at him questioningly. "You can go watch TV or something. It won't bother me." Derek shot him a disbelieving glare and took a seat at the table. The only sound in the room was the turning of pages as Scott read the chapter for Chemistry homework and Derek flipped through his math homework. After twenty minutes the teen closed his chemistry book, thankful to be finished with his homework for the evening. As he stuffed his book in his bag, his Algebra II notebook smacked him in the head. "Hey!"

Derek dropped a pen on the table and stretched. "Do it again. You missed six problems."

"Are you kidding?" Scott groaned at the stern face of his Alpha and flipped open his notebook. "How long are you planning on checking my homework?"

Derek walked over to the fridge, grabbing a can of soda. "Until you stop flunking out."

Scott snarled in irritation, seriously doubting his intelligence for suggesting Derek move in to the house. "This sucks." He dropped his head on his paper and basked in his depression for a moment before he was hit in the head with a dish towel. "Alright!" He rubbed at the sore spot just below his ear and looked back at the problems he missed. "There's nothing wrong with this."

Derek felt his blood pressure spike. "Check your work." He waited for Scott to plug numbers in the calculator and get a different answer. "You're dropping your negative." The teen swore and started erasing his work. "So much for the Matrix."

Scott shot him a dirty look and started reworking his problems. When he was finished he made an exaggerated effort to check his work, to Derek's amusement, and then roughly shoved his notebook in the bag. "I'm going to go work on my focus." He grit his teeth as he stood from the table. "You can't be in the room." Derek shot him a warning glance. "I can't concentrate when you're glaring at me."

Derek smirked, but nodded his assent. "Where's the laundry room." He gestured to the duffle bag in the hall.

"In the basement." Scott relaxed when he realized that Derek wasn't going to fight him, but then again, the Alpha needed him to be trained as quickly as possible. He filed the thought away under "panic button" to be remembered the next time he was ready to kill someone for a minute of privacy.

As soon as Scott was safely in his room, Derek exited the house and walked the perimeter, checking for any hunter traps or out of place shadows watching the house. When he was satisfied that the property was secure for the moment, he turned to the entry points, testing the integrity of the locks on all first floor doors and windows. In deference to the Shaman's training efforts, he remained near silent as he moved around the old structure. Making note of the locks he would fix, Derek returned to the house and grabbed his bag, stalking down to the basement to take advantage of the chance for clean clothes, not washed in the river.

.

.

Scott curled into the familiar position in the old reading chair and took a few relaxing breaths. Closing his eyes, he tried to sink into his mind and find the room again. He flinched when he opened the door and found stacks and stacks of half open boxes, thoughts leaking out and fluttering around the room in the breeze. As he started gathering the thoughts, each on their own sheet of paper, he was amazed at how vivid his mind conjured the construct. Shifting through the thoughts in his hands, he determined they were all remnants from his homework and started sorting them by subject. When he looked up, he noticed a series of lockers around the room, looking suspiciously like the men's locker room at the school. Scott stood, picking one of the banks of lockers and determined it would house all of his school thoughts. He threw the stack of papers from each subject into a separate locker for each subject before locking the thoughts inside.

That task completed, he moved over to the four boxes that were leaking the most thoughts and rubbed his neck warily. Knowing she was his biggest distraction, Scott started with Allison's box, dragging it over to another bank of lockers marked friends and family, ignoring the pack, hunter and kanima boxes for the moment. He noticed as he started putting thoughts in the locker, that he hadn't talked to Allison throughout the chaos of the day and made a note to call her when he was done.

Shutting the locker on those thoughts, he moved to the pack box and dragged it to another row, giving each member their own locker. He repeated the process in the next row with the hunters, fighting the fear that came with the thoughts of Gerard. Jackson was in the last row with lockers for the mystery of his master, the cure and the link between the victims. After he was done, he crashed onto a bench in exhaustion. The remaining boxes seemed to be leaking fewer thoughts and Scott decided to wrap it up for the night. Leaving the locker room, he found himself sitting in his room. Scott stretched his muscles as he checked the clock, amazed that he had been meditating for almost three hours. Groaning, he walked over to the door, shouting down to Derek that he was done training, before turning around and crashing on his bed and slipping into sleep almost instantly.

.

.

Melissa McCall wasn't sure what to expect when she got home two hours early from her shift at two am but the handsome man folding laundry in her living room wasn't it. "Hi, I'm Scott's mom, Melissa."

Derek appeared to be surprised by her sudden presence, despite the fact her heard her pull up to the house. "Derek Aleph, nice to meet you."

"You didn't have to wait up, I could have met you in the morning."

"I figured you would sleep better if you had a chance to meet me first." He moved to grab the pile of t-shirts on the chair so she could sit.

Smiling at his consideration, she dropped her purse next to the chair and sat heavily on the welcoming cushions. "So you're a coach?"

"Strength and conditioning." He smiled disarmingly and started to move his clothes back into the duffle bag. "I hope you don't mind, I borrowed your laundry room."

Melissa felt herself swoon a little. "It's fine." Taking a deep breath and forcing her face into the stern parent mask. "So tell me a little about yourself."

Derek shrugged sheepishly. "Not much to tell. I lost my sister in a car accident a few months ago. She was the last of my family." His posture was relaxed and his smile charming. "I moved in with my girlfriend but she decided she liked her boss more."

"Ouch." Melissa couldn't help feeling her heart break a little for him, and yet there was a strength about him that told her he would survive the losses just fine. "Do you know Scott well?"

"I see him fairly regularly in the weight room when I'm helping my guys train." He gestured to the staircase. "He's a good kid, if a bit too trusting."

Her eyebrow raised in shock. "Yes, he is." Melissa leaned forward, studying him intently. "I unfortunately have to work too much and he's left alone too often. It would be nice to have someone in the house with him during the night." Her face held a warning of pain. "That being said, he's my baby and if I think for one minute you being here is hurting him in anyway, my first call will be to the sheriff and your ass will be on the street."

Derek had to fight the smile threatening to break free, finding her fierce protectiveness of Scott reassuring. "Like I said, he's a good kid and I want to see him live up to his potential. I heard from his coach that he was struggling with classes. With your permission, I would like to help him with that."

Melissa allowed the stunned happiness show on her face as she sat back. "Alright then, rent is four hundred a month and you chip in for food. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Scott asked if I would give him a ride to school in the mornings, do you mind?" Derek mentally checked off his list of everything that might upset the matriarch.

"No, relieved actually. I hate him riding his bike to school." She smiled and stood from the easy chair. "Welcome to the household, Derek."

"Thank you." He stood as well, grabbing his bag.

"Did Scott show you your room?" She gestured for him to follow her up the stairs, opening the door to the spare room. "It's not much, but you have your own bathroom. As long as you're not tearing down any walls, you can do what ever you want to the room."

He walked into the room, dropping his bag on the bed and almost groaned at the sight of the mattress. "It'll be fine."

Melissa knocked her knuckles against the door frame, fighting a case of nerves. "I'm going to crash now. I'll see you in the morning, Derek."

"Good night, Melissa." He shot her another breath taking smile and enjoyed the flutter of her heart beat as she retreated to her room. Dumping his bag and shoes on the floor, Derek crawled onto the bed and sighed in comfort. After months of sleeping on floors it was good to be in a real house again. He stretched out his senses, hearing Scott sleeping peacefully across the hall and Melissa's murmuring about being a blushing teenager. Not sensing anything around the perimeter of the house, he allowed his eyes to fall closed and slept soundly.

.

.

Scott smashed a hand into his alarm clock at seven twenty in the morning, cursing when he heard the plastic crack. He groaned at the thought of buying yet another alarm clock as he stretched. The smell of bacon and eggs tickled his senses as he crawled out of bed and yanked on a pair of sweats. "Mom?" He peeked his head in the kitchen and frowned in confusion. Derek was standing at the stove cooking enough food to feed an army. "What are you doing?"

Derek shot him an exaggerated glare. "Cooking."

Scott snarled, not awake enough to deal with Derek's sarcasm yet. "I meant why?"

"I've been eating fast food for months." He didn't offer any more information so Scott moved to the fridge, grabbing the milk carton and pouring a glass. He held his tongue when Derek plated food and dropped it in front of him at the counter. Pointing out the fact Derek was doing anything domestic was asking for a hit to the back of his head.

Melissa followed her son into the room a few minutes later in search of her usual quick bowl of cereal before running out the door to run errands before another shift at the hospital. Before she could reach for a bowl, Derek handed her a plate and a mug of coffee. She shot a questioning glance to her son as she sat down at the table but he offered only a shrug. She took a sip of the coffee after dumping half the sugar bowl in it and groaned in satisfaction. "Okay, we can keep him."

Derek sat down with a wry grin and tucked in to his own food. There was silence as the table's occupants gobbled down the rare home cooked meal. Thanking Derek for the food, Melissa gave Scott a kiss before dumping her dishes in the sink and jogging out the door.

"Wow." Scott watched his mom pull out of the driveway. "Did I miss something?"

"As usual." Derek dumped his dishes in the sink as well and turned to his Shaman. "I don't do dishes."

"Of course you don't." Scott rolled his eyes.

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes." Derek left him to his appointed cleaning duties and stalked back up the stairs.

Tossing all of the dishes in the washer, Scott sprinted up the stairs for a quick shower. He had no doubt that Derek would drag him out the the car in his underwear if he wasn't ready in time. Walking into his room, he was met with the overwhelming smell of his Alpha in the air and he cursed the fact Derek scented his clothes again. "Derek!" Though the older man didn't respond, Scott could just imagine his amused smirk as he slammed his bedroom door.