Keep Walking
because it's what you have to do
When Derek looked at his phone and saw Stiles's name glowing there he actually assumed the worst. This was it. Jackson had killed someone, Jackson had invaded Stiles house and now Stiles was injured, Jackson had bitten Stiles and now Stiles was dying – honestly? He was expecting the absolute worst.
So when he heard Stiles's voice demanding Jackson's head on a plate, he actually turned around and stared at Peter who raised his eyebrows. And as the story progressed he started feeling like he wanted that teen's head on a plate too.
When he finally hangs up, Derek has to take a moment to, you know, breathe. He can't kill his Beta. He can't. He won't, no matter how much he wants to.
"You have to fix this" Peter says, and Derek glares at him.
"Thank you for pointing that out. I had no idea" he replies in a dry tone, and Peter actually frowns.
"I don't think you do have an idea, Derek. The Sheriff knowing about this can be the best or the worst thing to have happened to us. We handle this right, we'll have his support, always. Crazy hunters come after us, we'll have the Sheriff by our side. But if Jackson hurts a single hair on Stiles's head…" Peter doesn't have to finish, because they all know that the man would never let something happening to his son go unpunished.
"Jackson thinks he has all the power in those two's relationship. He thinks that because he's a wolf, he can do whatever he pleases, and Stiles has to take it – and honestly, that is our fault for intimidating the kid into coming here and accepting Jackson in the first place, but you need to set him straight. You need to fix this, and convince Stiles he can fix this. Because Jackson won't – what that boy's got in looks, he certainly lacks in brains."
Derek wants to point out that he knows all of this. He knows that the sheriff knowing will be good for the pack if Stiles eventually accepts his place as a part of the pack because of his mate, and he knows if anyone can make them work is Stiles, because Jackson is too much of a mess to see what he's doing wrong or right to fix it or keep it.
He knows. What he doesn't know is how to handle this. Who is he to fix anyone? Who is he to try and make those two teens work out, when his own mate killed his family, burned his house down and tortured him with the full intention of killing him? Talk about hypocrisy, if he goes and tries to advise Stiles or Jackson in this mess.
"Look, I know you hate listening to me, but you are the Alpha, Derek. You are the one they have to look up to, and being an Alpha means messing in more than fights and killing – you know that. You have to remember that, I'm sure. Your dad running around trying to make your sisters achieve a compromise? The way he would interfere in everyone's marriages once or twice? The way everyone could come to him to complain and look for help, not only in the matters of danger, but in our lives" Peter stops talking and takes a step closer to Derek, "You and I both know that I was the worst Alpha to ever walk this town. You can do better."
And with that he leaves, and Derek takes a deep breath.
Well, he can try, right?
He doesn't bother getting his car, because running will attract less attention than his Camaro and he's all for being subtle tonight. Derek heads straight to Jackson's house, and he finds the window to the boy's room open. He gets in silently, and sees Jackson is clicking away angrily at something on his computer.
"You know, I never thought you were brilliant, but this is way too stupid even for you" he says, and Jackson startles. His eyes glow for a moment, and then he looks as if he doesn't know what to do – submit, glare, or maybe tell Derek to get out, it's all over his face, defiant and coward. Jackson is such a mess he can't even decide what to feel.
Man.
"What are you doing here?" the teen ends up asking with a small amount of viciousness in his voice, but at the same time he bares his neck a little. He defies and submits in a single breath.
"You seriously have to ask? Stiles called me the second you left his house. He called me and he told me he wanted your head on a plate" Derek answers in an almost mocking tone, taking a few steps closer to where Jackson is now standing by his desk, "He told me he wanted you dead. Your ashes in a jar. Congratulations, you made your mate so mad at you he wants you dead. He wasn't even lying, Jackson. I could tell."
He knows it's cruel, but there's no other language with this boy. He doesn't understand kindness and forgiveness. He doesn't understand compassion or mercy. He does, however, understand fear, and cruelty and pettiness. So this is it.
Jackson's breathing stops for a second, and then he raises his chin, as if he doesn't care about what he heard.
"Next time we talk I'll set him straight" he says, glaring all the while, and Derek snorts angrily, staring down at the boy.
"If there is a next time. Because now that his dad knows, I think his plan to call Argent and set him on you has backup."
"You wouldn't let him" Jackson states, but his voice is drowning in doubt, and Derek smirks.
"Honestly? I would. I want Stiles in my pack, because he brought Scott to my pack. And Scott is actually a good wolf, for all his failings. Stiles will be in my pack whether you're there or not, and packs are about assets as much as they are about safety" he stops and stares at Jackson silently for a moment, "Stiles? He's an asset" he explains, as if talking to a two year old child, "You? So far you've been a headache and a liability. You think you can intimidate and scare people now because you did it before? You can't. This is not how we work. You keep your head down, you keep your violence for the full moon, in the wild, and not with your mate. You don't walk over other people's choices, Jackson. You are not better than anyone else in that pack. And that includes Stiles."
"I was just trying—"
"I know what you were trying – you were trying to make things easier for you. Because that's how you live. Well, let me tell you something: not anymore. You are in a pack. You are not alone. You do not make these choices for anyone else, not even your mate. And most of all, you do not defy your Alpha" Derek's voice goes extremely quiet in the last sentence, and his eyes shine red and bright.
He's dangerous, he's angry, and his anger is cold and deadly – it's not the hot kind of anger that'll go away once he's screamed, or maybe hit his Beta once or twice for discipline: this is worse. This is Derek, Jackson's Alpha, letting him know he's hanging by a thread in this pack.
Any mistake and he's gone.
"I didn't—" Jackson tries, but Derek stops him again.
"Do not tell me you didn't defy me because you didn't ask for my permission, you are at least smart enough to know that I wouldn't have given you permission to tell Stiles's father. More than that, it should be Stiles's choice. Even I, your Alpha, wouldn't have gone over his wishes like this."
Jackson is bursting with anger, but he doesn't defy Derek again – at least the boy has some sense of self-preservation.
"What are you going to do?" Jackson asks, looking for punishment, for a way to end this conversation. And Derek smirks again.
"You can't see Stiles. Not until he seeks you out."
The boy's eyes widen, and he's about to protest when Derek's eyes shine red again, and he growls lowly – that wasn't a request.
"You disobey me this time, and I will call Argent myself" Derek says and leaves.
He knows he hasn't dealt with this the best way possible, but he doesn't much care about Jackson right now. He's such an idiot.
After he leaves Jackson's house, Derek, honest to god, finds a dark corner and sighs.
What now?
He has to talk to Stiles. At the very least make the boy try and see that he can fix Jackson – if he wants to. Otherwise, this will end in tragedy, and honestly? Derek doesn't need any more of that in his life.
He calmly walks to Stiles's house, trying to think of a way to make Stiles see sense. To make him understand he can make Jackson see him as a person, and not an object he now has to play with. But how?
When he gets to the house, he lurks a bit around the bushes in the front yard, hidden in shadows, and eavesdrops – mostly because he can, but also because maybe he can gather some information before going in.
Stiles is telling his dad everything.
So, okay, maybe Jackson did it in all the wrong ways, for all the wrong reasons, but he did make a good thing. And with every single word they say, Derek realizes that, yes, Stiles can be vicious and mean, just like Scott warned him, but he isn't that way by default. He's not like Jackson, who seems to take some kind of twisted pleasure by demeaning the people around him – no, if at all possible, Stiles likes to help.
Well, maybe if Derek can paint Jackson as a helpless case, Stiles will at the very least try.
He waits to make his appearance, showing up just in time to make Stiles go all flailing, which is always amusing, and then saying his part. He's relieved the Sheriff doesn't shoot him on sight, but he's also glad to leave the man's presence, because maybe his lenience is only at work because of shock.
When he gets back to the house, and talks to Stiles again, he talks about Kate – and that makes his heart ache in terrible pain.
Why couldn't he have a mate like Stiles? Even Jackson, honestly. Someone willing to at the very least not to kill you outright. He's in pain when he gets out of the boy's room, certain that Stiles will do the right thing, and that's as good as it's going to get.
He finally calls Scott and tells him to be around Stiles tomorrow, and for the following days, just in case Jackson tries something.
And if he does, well, Derek wasn't kidding. He'll call Argent, and let them handle Jackson for all that is worth.
When he gets home, it's all dark. Peter is god knows where, and Derek is alone.
All alone in the house his own mate burned to the ground.
It's pretty much all he has to remember her by: the ghosts of his dead family and the charred remains of their home.
X
Let it be said that, in all honesty, Stiles never contemplated actually allowing Jackson to be killed by hunters or Derek. He doesn't want a person's blood on his hands, but that's as far as it goes: he doesn't want to be a killer by proxy. He doesn't wish to become a murderer by lenience. And that's what it comes down to: for all he doesn't want Jackson dead, that's a big, huge, enormous way away from wanting to be his mate.
That night, he can barely sleep. He spends part of it reveling in the fact that his dad now knows, and that's good, and in those moments he can actually forgive Jackson.
And then he thinks about how this will endanger his father – and what's more, it'll make his father lie like nothing else at work, because even if he finds out exactly what's been happening these past few months in their town, he'll never be able to use that truth. His dad is the Sheriff. It's not fair to him to be able to know the truth and being unable to use it to his favor.
It's more than that too. It's not just the practical part of it that makes Stiles itch to punch Jackson hard: it's… them.
Jackson walking all over his choices, his moments, the decisions that should be his, and his alone, to make. Jackson thinking he can control Stiles, that he owns him, threatening him half the time, and pretending they are in love the other half.
Truth is Stiles isn't even over Lydia yet. He is not, and he wasn't even with her.
What about Jackson? That jerk was dating her for over a year. They were together for months, and now he's all, oh, so this is my mate?
What the hell?
The point is that Stiles doesn't want Jackson dead, but he also doesn't want him. He hasn't fallen for Jackson, and hell will probably freeze over before Jackson truly falls for him.
So what now?
What can they do to salvage this mockery of a relationship that is supposed to last, you know, forever? He spends most of his night awake and can't come up with an answer.
The next day, he wakes up when Scott calls him telling him to open the door.
They talk a bit – nothing about Jackson and Stiles's situation, or the fact that Scott hasn't told him who his own mate is. When Stiles dares to ask, Scott looks down, truly hurt, and says that it's complicated.
After that, Stiles is actually afraid to ask again, or to insist, because if it's more complicated than Allison, than Scott's mate is Peter. Or Chris Argent.
Or Lucifer.
Anyway, it's probably bad, so he lets it go.
The day goes by, and then the next and the next. Scott tells him Derek told Scott to be with Stiles all the time, in case Jackson tries to disobey him, but there's no sign of the blond anywhere.
Either he's good at obeying, or he's so afraid of Derek he dares not come after Stiles.
Or he just doesn't care enough to try.
After five days mulling over things, Stiles decides enough is enough.
He ditches Scott, and tells him he needs to do this alone. He lets his dad know he's going over to Jackson's by text, and his dad calls him back, telling him to be careful, and to call Derek should anything happen.
He's definitely living in an alternative universe, isn't he?
When he gets to the mansion Jackson calls a house, his mom answers the door. She looks… well, less than perfect. She has bags under her eyes, and looks pale, and that, for someone like her, it's what wearing dirty sweatpants and an old t-shirt is like for normal people.
"Hey, Mrs. Whittemore, could I talk to Jackson?" he asks with a small, strained smile, and the woman looks so relieved Stiles feels guilty.
How bad can things get?
"He's in his room, dear. You can go right up" she tells him, opening the door wide, and Stiles passes by her, going to the stairs.
When he gets to Jackson's room, he takes a deep breath, and opens the door.
They are going to talk this time.
Whatever the outcome, after this, things won't ever be the same again.
Sorry about the short chapter! It just felt right to stop here!
Next up, their little heart to heart, Scott's mate situation, and Lydia.
Tell me what you think!
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