'Allo there, lovelies. I once again apologise for updating taking longer than I thought it was. But yeah, you know studies, right? They really take it out of you sometimes.

Okay, so I'm going to reiterate this again, just in case it wasn't clear the first few times.

*takes a deep breath and says loudly and clearly* This is an AU version of what could have happened. Features a much darker version of the Sheriff. I do actually like his character and don't believe he would ever do anything like this. So please, bear that in mind when you read this chapter.

Leave a review to tell me what you think, and DFTBA!

Melissa breathed deeply for a moment, just trying to comprehend what was happening. Scott's mumbled, thick voiced words had struck a chord in her heart, in the part of her that was a nurse as well as a mother. A child was hurt, and more than that, one of her children was hurt. She didn't want to believe that the man she knew could have done this to his own son, but the evidence was all there. For all his bright, cheerful chattering to anyone who would listen, Stiles didn't have many friends, and certainly not many adults in his life. Mostly, it was just her and the Sheriff. And as she knew she hadn't done it, that only really left one option.

"Okay, honey," she told Scott, holding him minutely tighter. "We'll keep him here while we figure it out then, alright? I promise you, I won't let him go back to a place where someone might hurt him. Don't worry about it. You and me, we'll take care of him."

Scott nodded, sighing and, adolescent male pride gone in the face of what was happening, let his mother continue hugging him for a few beats longer. The continuing night found Scott pacing the living room, Melissa sitting, tired and worried, on the couch. Upstairs, Stiles continued to sleep, the marks they had seen the looming elephant in the room.

"How does something like this happen?" Scott demanded out of the blue, not breaking his stride.

Melissa shook her head. She didn't know any more than he did. Sure, Stiles could be a bit much to deal with sometimes, and she wished he would use the front door more often, but the idea of raising a hand against him... It made her sick to her stomach to even imagine striking either of the boys currently in her home.

"I don't know, honey. I just really don't know."

Scott abruptly stopped his pacing, whirling to face her.

"He still keeps one of my inhalers in his bag all the time," he murmured, tone quiet and disbelieving. The hardest part about this whole situation was, to Scott at least, the fact that it had happened at all. Stiles was the sweetest person he knew. To think that someone, much less his own parent, could hurt a person like that...

So many things in Scott's life made no sense right now. He had to talk to someone. Well, he had to talk to Stiles, get him to say out loud what had happened and who it had been (though Scott already knew), but more than that, he needed someone he could talk to about this. Not Allison, for some reason he was reluctant to burden her with this. She liked Stiles. They were friends. He needed someone objective, someone whose emotions wouldn't get in the way of telling him the right thing to do... He needed to talk to Derek.

"I'm gonna go up and sit with him," Scott told his mother, the lie catching in his throat. "I don't want him to be alone if he wakes up."

"Alright. Go on. I would say try and get some sleep, but..." Melissa sighed and got up. She kissed her son's forehead and headed towards her own room, likely to spend the rest of the night wondering where to go from here.

Listening with his enhanced hearing through the walls to her breathing, as soon as Melissa's breaths evened out, Scott got up from where he sat on the edge of the bed where Stiles slept. He pulled his jacket on and looked down at his friend.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry I didn't see." With that said, he swung out the window and started to run for the old house where Derek could surely be found.

Just as he had suspected, Derek was at the house when he arrived, and came downstairs with a suspicious expression on his face.

"You've made it very clear you want nothing to do with me, Scott. Why are you here?"

"I needed your advice," Scott replied, folding his arms and resigning himself to asking for help for Derek's help. "Something's... Something's happened, and I don't know what to do."

"Well, what's going on?" The suspicious look hadn't left, but Derek had come closer, interested.

"I... Someone hurt a friend of mine."

"Stiles."

Scott started. "What? No, I never said that, why would you assume that? I didn't say who it was."

"Calm down. There's a bit of blood on your sleeve. It's his, I can smell it."

Glancing down at the sleeve of his hoodie, Scott saw that Derek was telling the truth. Flecks of russet colour stained the fabric, and he felt sick.

"Besides, who else could it be? You don't seem to have many friends. Relax. Whatever happened, I'm not going to tell anybody. Think about it. Even if that was something I would do, who do I have to tell?"

He made a fair point.

"So, someone's hurt Stiles. Do you need help finding out who?"

"No, that's not it, I already figured that part out. I mean, I think I did, he hasn't admitted anything, but he said some weird stuff earlier and there aren't many options, but..."

"Slow down," Derek ordered, and Scott stopped talking. "It's his dad, isn't it?" Wordlessly, Scott nodded.

"Damn it. He's a police officer, so there isn't much we can do about it without drawing attention to ourselves."

"So you'll help me?"

Derek sighed and nodded.

"Of course I will. I'm not as bad as you think I am. He's your friend, and he's stuck around despite all of this. That means he's a good person. And Stiles may be the most annoying person I have ever met in my life, but nobody deserves this. So yes, I'll help you make sure it doesn't happen again. But first... First I'm going to need to talk to him."

Scott swallowed hard. That conversation was not one he was looking forward to. Bad things tended to happen in general when you put Stiles and Derek in the same room, and with what had happened and what Derek had deduced, Stiles might get upset if he thought Scott had just gone and told him everything. But he was willing to make Stiles a little mad if it meant that he would be safe. In the end, that was really all that mattered.

"Great. My mom has work tomorrow, and I'll convince her to go. She should be gone pretty soon, so just... Show up whenever. And Derek?"

The man stopped at the bottom of the staircase and turned around. "What?"

"When you talk to him, try to be a little less... you, alright? He had a really rough day today and he doesn't need anything more to deal with."

"I would tell you to relax but that's clearly not going to happen. Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to be nice to people."

Scott sighed and was about to leave when something Derek called after him stopped him in his tracks.

"Stop beating yourself up over it, Scott. It wasn't your fault, and from what I know of Stiles, he doesn't blame you. So you shouldn't either."

Without answering, Scott left the house.