Sort Of Handy
A/N – Yes…after four months of procrastination and forgetfulness, the last chapter is finally here. I apologize for my extreme lateness, but all the same hope you enjoy it immensely! Reviews are always welcome, positive and negative alike.

Disclaimer - I own nothing, blah blah blah.

SCOTT'S P.O.V.

We were playing the final 3 minutes of our lacrosse game, and I could think of nothing else at that moment. Not hatred for Jackson, not all the chemistry homework I had to catch up on, not even Allison, even though she was in the stands watching with her Dad. Just lacrosse.
90 seconds.
We were up 8-7, and this team was full of jerks. It would be so satisfying to win. Stiles was playing first line, and he was the happiest I'd ever seen him in our sixteen years of friendship. He ran up the side line, ball in the net of his stick. Looking up at me, he passed and I caught it. I dodged an opponent and ran around him.

One minute.
I glanced up and saw Jackson, open, up ahead. Although I couldn't stand the guy, I passed to him anyway and ran further up. We were still relatively far from the opposing team's net; maybe I'd get the ball back and could pass to Stiles. It'd be his first goal of the season if he scored, having missed a few games because of his injuries. And even if he didn't score, it would waste valuable seconds for the opposition and we were already winning, so it wouldn't matter too much.
20 seconds.
Jackson took a long shot on net but it rebounded off the goal post. A defensive player on the other team picked up the ball and turned around. I ran as fast as I could and rammed into the guy with my shoulder. He stumbled backwards and dropped the ball. It rolled towards Stiles and he picked it up. Running towards to the net, he chucked it.
5 seconds.
It went in! Stiles dropped his stick in surprise, then turned to me as a huge, somewhat disbelieving grin spread on his face. The whistle blew, ending the game. Our team cheered and ran to congratulate him. I was so happy for Stiles. I ran with the rest of the team to cheer him on, when I saw Allison clapping and smiling in the stands. I smiled back and waved, but noticed that her Dad was not joining in the festivities. He was talking urgently into his phone beside the bleachers. And he looked…smug.
Wondering what could have a werewolf hunter feeling smug, I extended my hearing to focus on Argent so I could understand what he was saying.
"Do you mind waiting there for a bit? I need to figure out what to do with Allison."
Although it was more distant, I was almost positive that his sister Kate was on the other end. "No, I don't mind staying with our little wolf."
I dropped my jaw. Kate had Derek! How? Where? Was he still alive? If he was, how long was he going to stay that way? I kinda needed him alive to help me with the whole being-a-werewolf thing!
"Good. Where are you?"
"We're just outside his atrocity of a house." I didn't even bother to listen in on the rest of the conversation. I ran to Stiles, who was in the middle of a parade back to the change rooms.
"Stiles. Stiles!" I said seriously.
"Hey, what's going on?" He said with a smile and gave me a high-five, his voice high with excitement. "Did you see that goal, man? Ahhh, freaking awesome! My first game on first line, too!"
I was really happy for him and all, but he needed to help me with this right now. "Yeah, yeah, congrats, I'm proud of you. Now listen to me, Stiles. Kate - remember Kate, the sadistic werewolf hunter?" I pulled him aside and hushed my voice to ensure that we wouldn't be overheard. No one noticed in the current mayhem. "She has Derek. They're outside of his house right now, and Allison's dad is on his way with reinforcements so they can do God-knows-what to him!"
Stiles widened his eyes. "Wha-…wait, how do you know?"
"I overheard their phone conversation just now. Come on, we gotta go!" I pulled his arm and he followed. We sprinted to the jeep and jumped in. I had absolutely no clue exactly how we were gonna save Derek, and we only had so much time to think of a plan.

STILES' P.O.V.

"Now why is it that whenever something awesome happens to me, I don't get to celebrate because I'm off saving some werewolf's ass!" I said exasperatedly. I swerved out of the parking lot and into the forest path.
"I know, but just calm down for a minute. We need to formulate a plan. How are we going to save Derek? If we're lucky, we'll beat Argent and his back-up."
"Yeah, well, I'm the least lucky person in the world, so…. Oh, and what if Kate kills us before we can get to Derek? Or she captures us too? Wouldn't that just be peachy? Or what if-"
"Stiles! Shut up and focus!" Scott said
I mumbled angrily for a bit and then got over it.
"I'll turn into a wolf so I have a better chance against Kate and you….well, you just focus on getting Derek out of there and into the car. We don't know what kind of state he's in right now."
I gave him an affronted look. "Are you implying that I'm not capable of fighting a girl?"
"Okay, you can handle the crazy werewolf hunter, who has a gun, all by yourself, in the dark. How does that sound?"
"Well, when you put it that way…" I grumbled.
We drove through the dark trees with incredible speed. The thought of the ensuing adventure had me more nervous than excited, but the adrenaline pumped all the same. The clearing just came into view and I slowed to a stop so that Kate wouldn't hear the engine. We were still a safe, good 200 metres away from them.
We got out of the jeep without closing the doors, and slowly tip-toed up behind Derek's house.
Stealth approach.
We crouched down and carefully peered around the railing. There was Derek, laying on the ground and looking weak. It was too dark to see whether or not he was seriously injured, but he wasn't dead. That was good. We only knew because Kate was standing beside him, talking to him. She wouldn't talk to a dead person. Or maybe she would….the crazy bitch.
I pulled my head back and closed my eyes. "This is bad, this is bad, something's gonna go wrong and I'm too young to die." I whispered.
"Well if we don't do something, Derek's gonna die and then it's just me and the Alpha, so we have to help him!"
I took a deep breath. "Ok, I've got something, but it isn't great."
"Well it's all we've got right now, so let's have it."

DEREK'S P.O.V.

"Ugh, why isn't he here yet?" Kate whined. "I said I didn't mind waiting with you, but I didn't know you were gonna be so boring." She paced back and forth in front of me.
In my defence, I had tried to run for it several times, and once even tried to attack Kate from behind, but with each attempt she had noticed what was going on and had given me a dose of electricity, leaving me to writhe on the ground.

I hardly believed that she found this whole situation "boring"; she actually seemed to be enjoying herself.
"If it's so boring to you…" I gasped angrily, the pain growing with each shock. "then just kill me already."
"Oh sweetie," she said, looking down at me and shaking her head. Her voice rung in the forest, emphasizing the falsely sweet tone she used. "I don't want to kill you. You're too gorgeous, it'd be such a waste! And I'm not a murderer. Well, not anymore, anyways." She giggled.
It sent me over the edge.
Using the last bits of energy, intensified by my anger, that I possessed I jumped from the ground and onto my feet. Kate took a step back in surprise but wasted no time in raising her gun and pointing it at my forehead. Barely dodging her shot, I ran around to her side and round-house kicked her in the back which sent her harshly to the ground. I reached for the gun to no avail; it had landed right beside Kate's arm after she had fallen. She grabbed it, turned onto her back, and using both hands, fired the gun at my stomach. Before I could register what she was about to do, I was blasted backwards and then fell over in agony. Tears stung my eyes as I twisted on the grass, but I refused to let them fall. Kate had already taken everything from me; I wasn't about to let her take my dignity as well.
She didn't ease up on the gun. Then black spots clouded my vision and I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. At least it would make the pain would go away.
And it did. Very quickly. My body was numb, and the electricity had left. I wondered if I was dead.
Surely it wasn't this loud and cold in the afterlife?
I heard thumps and yells…it took everything I had left in me to stay awake. I kept my eyes shut and just tried to make out the sounds.
"It's just you and me now, Kate." Was that Scott's voice? There was a tearing noise and a thud. I figured Kate had been knocked to the ground, but I wasn't sure. I guess I was just hoping that she had.
There was a muffled, "Oh, crap, this is definitely not Derek." in the distance, and another thud.
Footsteps sounded closer to me. A voice very nearby said, "Oh, good.", and I immediately flinched, expecting pain.
What I felt, however, was only someone was tugging at my elbow. "Come on…move!" Someone grunted. It was a familiar voice, but I couldn't place a name to it. Whoever he was, hunter or not, I didn't care anymore. He was (slowly but surely) pulling me away from Kate.
"Help me out here, Derek, we…gotta…get…moving!"
I assumed he was not one of Argent's guys, but I didn't want to open my eyes, for fear of snapping out of this numbness and back to the torture.
I heard another grunt, and then my body stopped sliding on the ground. "You know what? Sometimes having too much muscle is a bad thing. Like when your friend has to drag your limp body across a big yard, for example."
Stiles. Definitely Stiles.
What the hell was going on?
Disregarding the dizziness, and letting my curiosity get the best of me, I opened my eyes and saw the blurred outline of Stiles in the darkness. Groggily, I yanked his arm off me and achingly stood up.
"Oh-thank-God." He held up a finger to me while he caught his breath. "It's not that I'm… too weak to pull you…or anything, it's just that this is much easier…for everyone." He took a deep, steadying breath and was finally able to speak properly. "You being able to walk, I mean. Oh and hey, I'm glad to see that you're still alive."
"Shut up." I mumbled, disregarding everything he had just said. "Where's Kate?" I guess I swayed where I stood (although I couldn't really see the ground due to my blurred vision and the darkness of the evening), because I felt Stiles' hands pushing into my shoulder, holding me upright. "Woah there, big guy. You okay?"
I wanted to yell in his face: "No, who would be okay after twenty minutes of electricity bolts shooting up and down his body, in the company of Kate Argent, callous werewolf hunter, demeaning and cruel, and then having to lie there, helplessly, while awaiting her brother and his back-up to torture you some more?", but I didn't want to waste my energy.
Stiles took my arm over his shoulder, grabbed my waist and helped me walk back to his jeep. I gritted my teeth partly in pain and the other part in frustration. In any other circumstance, I would have refused such help, but I was finding it difficult to stand straight on my own, let alone walk.
"Where's Kate?" I repeated. "Let me at her."
Stiles peered behind me. "Hm…I believe she is now unconscious. Yep, and Scott just moved her gun away from her and…ooh, kicked her in the gut. And I'm sorry, but as much as I would also like to "have at her", there's no time. We gotta get ourselves the heck outta here before Kate's little army shows up."
I mentally thanked Scott for doing the dirty work, although if I were in any right state to do it, I most certainly would have.
We reached the jeep and Stiles, struggling, used one arm to open the back door while I stumbled in. I vaguely wondered how Argent and his team were going to react when they arrived and found Kate knocked out, and no Derek. Frankly I was glad I wasn't going to be there to find out.
I didn't realize I was shaking until Stiles threw his jacket over me and said, "Yeah, I bet you're freezing. It feels like 1 degree out here." I tossed his jacket on the floor and grumbled, "'M fine."
There was a quiet, "Okay, tough guy…" and my door slammed.
Stiles went around and hopped in the front and I heard Scott slam the passenger's door, breathing heavily.
"Is he okay?" Scott said.
"Meh…" Stiles replied. "I'm sure he's had worse injuries."
Once again cursing myself for even mentioning that to Stiles, I tuned both of them out and just laid down, eyes closed.
The engine revved and we were driving away, far away from Kate. I allowed myself to relax; there would be no more shocks of electricity running through my body. Sure, I was still aching all over, but now I could just breathe and let my mind go blank, erasing the memories.
I caught parts of the conversation from the front seat, however, such as, "So…where are we gonna go with him?", and "He probably needs a doctor or something…" and "Derek? …Oh shit, what if he's dead? My dad will never forgive me if he finds out there was a dead body in my car!".
I rolled my eyes and mumbled from where I lay, "I'm not dead, you idiots. And I don't need a doctor. Just take me to one of your houses." I felt them share a glance, and after a moment Scott said, "Shotty not."
"Damnit! Why am I so slow on the uptake…." Stiles groaned.
I wisely chose to tune out the rest of their childish conversation, until we pulled into Stiles' driveway.
"If my dad ever finds out about this…."

After a shower, I felt much more relaxed and less sore. I went into Stiles' bedroom to tell him I was leaving and discovered him sleeping awkwardly on his desk chair, mouth open and snoring.
Charming.
I picked up a pillow from his bed and chucked it at his face. He shot awake and fell backwards off his chair. I grinned for what felt like the first time in a year.
"I'm leaving now. Just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't wake up and flip out because I was missing." Stiles slapped his cheek to try and wake himself up and grumbled, "I didn't appreciate the rude awakening just now…and wait, where are you headed? Are you planning to go back to your house?"
"Do I look like an idiot? I'm going to a place where they won't be able to find me…where no one will be able to find me. Buy myself some time to figure out how I'm gonna kick their asses."
"Ah. Well you'll be requiring my help, I assume. Considering I did such a good job saving your ass today."
"Oh please," I rolled my eyes. "you got lucky. If Chris and his men had already shown up, you would have been dead."
"So would you!"
I raised my eyebrows. "Point taken. My point, however, is that I do not need anyone's help. Are you forgetting all the times I've escaped hunters before this? Or when I busted up those guys for you in the school parking lot? And did you see the state of Kate's two guys earlier today? What I'm trying to say, is that I'd get a lot more done without having to make sure you don't do something incredibly stupid to get us both killed."
Stiles dropped his jaw in mock indignation, then closed it and raised his eyebrows. "Well, you know what? I'm not even offering my help anymore. As strange as this sounds, I don't actually enjoy taking on crazy ass werewolf hunters. …Okay, I know I never actually took any on, but I was pretty close to having to. Scott dealt with Kate and everything, and he did a pretty good job, but at any moment in these past two days I could have been the one! And I would have been awesome, naturally. They're just pansy hunter guys…I could have taken them…" he broke off, trying to convince himself more than me.
I stared at him. "Are you finished?"
Stiles replied, "No, I am not! You never even gave me a thank-you!"
"I don't thank people."
"I'm not included in 'people'. I am my own life form."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Well you always go out of your way to comment on how I'm estranged from my classmates and have no friends so I figured that I should've pointed out to you that you should have decided beforehand whether or not you think I, Stiles, fit in with the general public -"
"Oh my God, if I thank you will you shut up?"
"Depends on how meaningful it is." He shrugged with a victorious grin and I clenched my fists.
"Thank you." I growled. He opened his mouth to say something; unable to stand the sound of his voice much longer, I continued. "I suppose I was…semi-lucky that you and Scott showed up tonight. If you hadn't, well…I probably could have taken them on my own." I shrugged one shoulder and Stiles rolled his eyes. "But…I'm grateful you guys came."
He seemed to be contemplating the level of meaningfulness in my words. "Alright, I'll take it. And hey, I guess I was semi-lucky the night you showed up and saved my ass, too."
"So we're equal now."
"Yeah, I guess. And hey, don't get yourself killed, wherever you are."
"Look who's talking! I'm surprised you're still alive, as reckless and clumsy as you are…You have Scott's back while I'm gone and he'll have yours, remember? And stay inside after nine o'clock. And don't even go into the forest. I'll be back in a few weeks. Got it?"
Stiles snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, Dad."
"I'm serious, Stilinski. If I come back to find one of you dead, I'll kill you."
And with that final statement to leave Stiles seemingly genuinely afraid, I jumped from his window and began to run.
You know what? Maybe I didn't dislike the kid as much as I thought. I actually felt like I would almost miss his sarcasm while I was gone.
"Good luck, Miguel!" Stiles called out the window.
…Almost.