Allison was sitting on the porch swing waiting for Derek to come home. Scott was with her and they were waiting on Lydia, she had wanted to go home to change outfits for reason unknown to anyone but herself. Allison and Scott were content in each others company. They were still young and unused to being in such a serious relationship, but what they had was good, Allison would hold on to it for as long as it would last.

These last few months had been relatively peaceful. Scott and Derek worked out most of their problems, especially after Derek became Alpha, though there was still a bit of mistrust between them. Scott only liked to come over on the full moon because he was too scared and inexperienced to deal with it on his own. Derek wasn't an easy person to be around, he was gruff and heavy handed and Scott wasn't used to that. Allison could understand both sides and so tried not to intervene too often. But Derek gave them a place were they could be alone and enjoy each others company, and for that, both Allison and Scott were grateful. Allison's family was always there waiting for Scott to step out of line, looking for any excuse to get Allison away from him. Neither of them was sure what Derek did during the day but he was usually gone till sometime after six, so they knew they could spend some time alone till then. They never stay past six, Scott liked avoiding Derek all together.

Lydia finally showed up wearing a plain pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Apparently she went for comfort over style, Allison wasn't sure what Lydia expected to happen but it couldn't be good.

"So, no ones showed up," Scott and Allison both shook their heads. Lydia sat down on the steps and waited.

Not much later Derek's black Camaro rolled up his driveway. Derek climbed out and opened his trunk.

"Scott, get over here," Derek ordered and they both started unloading bags out of his car. Derek tossed the keys to Allison who unlocked the front door and all the together the pack helped Derek put away his groceries. Allison noticed how bare the fridge was but didn't think much of, bachelor pad's you know.

"So is there a reason you're all here, I mean the full moon passed last week so, why are you here?" Derek turned to look at his small tentative pack of teens.

"Well, we want to know what you're doing with Jackson," Lydia wanted to get straight to the point. She didn't want Jackson to be part of their group even if Derek was only part of it one day out of the month. She didn't want him to push Jackson into their 'outside of the full moon' group she didn't want to be friends with, she didn't want to forgive him.

All Derek did was scoff, before he could answer Jackson's Porsche pulled up behind the Camaro. But no one got out of the car for a few minutes, Derek waited on the steps up to his house wondering what Jackson was doing. What shocked Scott and Lydia was Stiles climbing out the passenger seat.

Stiles was somewhat annoyed that the others were here. He thought they would just blow off the meeting like everything else.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"What are we doing here? What are you doing hanging out with Jackson?" Scott had wondered where Stiles had gone all day, especially after hearing about the situation in the parking lot, and to think that Stiles might have spent the day with Jackson annoyed him, he didn't understand why Stiles gave a shit about that fucking jock, Jackson certainly never gave a shit about Stiles.

"Why do you even care? These last couple days you've been wrapped around your own pointless bullshit you didn't even notice that there was something I wanted to talk about that I was…that I needed help. Well, Jackson noticed." Stiles couldn't believe the shit Scott was giving him. After pretty much ignoring him outside of school and not even caring to ask if maybe Stiles wanted to hang, if maybe he wanted to talk, and finally the only thing that made him notice was the fact that instead of being with him he was with Jackson, well fuck that mess.

Scott and Stiles just stood there staring each other down, Scott didn't want to admit he had been being a bad friend and Stiles wasn't willing to let it go the way he had everything else, every time Scott broke a promise, every time he asked Stiles to do him a favor without a thanks, every fucking disappointment. What broke them out of their stupor was Derek and Jackson's laughter. While they argued, Derek walked down the steps to Jackson and lend against the Porsche. Neither Scott nor Lydia knew what had been said, what the pack heard was Jackson laughing so hard he had to hold on to his car. Derek was laughing quietly right in front of Jackson. No one had ever heard Derek laugh, at least not like that. When they finished laughing Derek threw his arm around Jackson's shoulder and together they walked toward the Hale house.

Stiles was fucking pissed and now he was furiously jealous. He knew that Derek had basically taken Jackson underneath his wing but he never thought that they had become this close in only three days. Derek had never laughed or smiled or done anything slightly companionable with Scott, who looked as stunned as Stiles felt.

Lydia looked like she was ready to claw some ones face, before Derek and Jackson could reach the stairs she blocked their path.

"What the fuck is this! I thought we decided as a pack to not fucking bring Jackson in!"

"We never said that, we said we wouldn't interfere, which we didn't," Derek look pissed to be confronted by the members of his own pack.

"We have a right to decide who gets to join our pack," Scott had to put his two cents in. He didn't want Jackson there either and for Derek to go behind their backs and recruit him when he wasn't even a wolf, or so he thought, seemed unfair.

"This isn't up for negotiation! I am the Alpha! I deiced what's best for this pack whether you like or not!" Derek shouted anger flashing red and dangerous in his eyes silencing the other two wolves.

Stiles looked at Jackson and he seemed really, really embarrassed. His hands were in the front pockets of his jeans and his shoulders were scrunched high near his head. His eyes were down cast but when he looked up and locked eyes with Stiles neither could help but smile.

Lydia let out a savage animal yell, her teeth grew, her claws extended and she lunged right over Derek's head and went snarling straight into Jackson. She tore a long gash down his face before punching him in the stomach sending him flying. She launched herself towards the prone form of Jackson on the drive way, she extended her claws going in for the kill. But all she sunk her claws into was the dirt of the driveway and before she knew what was happening she was launched half way across the yard until she hit the ground hard knocking her senseless.

Derek tried to move but it all happened too fast and was so unexpected no one knew what to do, but the fight was over before it began. Jackson just stood there panting the gash on his face healed in just a few seconds, his eyes were glowing the bright blue, like Derek's, from before, but brighter, neon. Stiles stood stunned, he had never seen Lydia so angry or move so fast, and yet Jackson was faster and he hadn't even transformed, he hadn't wolfed out, he was just Jackson. For his part Scott didn't know what to think, but Jackson's glowing eyes ended the discussion.

No one moved for several seconds till a groan from Lydia brought them back down from the excitement and the tension. Derek picked her up and the pack followed him into the house. He unceremoniously dumped her on one of the sofas before walking into the kitchen with Scott and Allison following close behind.

Stiles waited for the others to enter the kitchen before stopping Jackson, "Dude that was amazing! I've never seen anyone move so fast!"

"Thanks…it's nothing really…I…I didn't want to hurt her…" Jackson wasn't sure what to feel. When Stiles and him had finished talking and just relaxed and rested in his favorite spot, he felt so at peace and finally felt like maybe everything would be okay. They just hung out and did their homework, Jackson helping Stiles, much to Stiles' shock, and then split Jackson's sandwich, made by Derek, and just talked about stuff that didn't really matter. It was a great day. But after everything that had happened, seeing how much the other two wolves hated him, well it just didn't seem worth it. He could still have his nights with Derek.

"I think I'm gonna go," before Stiles could react Jackson just walked out the front door into his car and was gone. Stiles stood still for a moment before entering the kitchen. Everyone in the room turned to him. He just stood there feeling awkward himself, damn, Jackson was his ride.

"Derek…you think you can take me home…"

"Yeah…where's Jackson?"

"He left. I don't think he was digging the vibes…" Derek looked furious. But he just sighed and grabbed his keys.

"You can leave when Lydia wakes up," was Derek's order to Scott. The wolf and the human walked out the house and into Derek's car.

Scott felt like a dick, first his fight with Stiles and then yelling at Derek left him feeling angry and confused. He could feel Allison looking at him and knew she wanted to say something but wouldn't. He couldn't remember a time were Stiles needed help and for Stiles to tell him that Jackson had noticed, well that sucked. Stiles was supposed to be his best friend, he was supposed to come to him for help, not to Jackson fucking Whittemore. He could hear Lydia in the other room getting up. She walked into the kitchen and asked where everyone went. They left soon after.

Stiles was trying hard not to feel to awkward sitting in Derek's car but he couldn't stop thinking that he and Jackson were closer than he wanted them to be. Some sick part of him was happy being the only person Jackson had to talk with and to know that Derek was there too, well it seemed like a non contest, Derek was…better looking.

"So you and Jackson," were the words that completely shocked Stiles out of his own thoughts.

"What…what about me and Jackson,"

"You two are close now huh,"

"Yea I guess…" He wasn't sure where Derek was headed with this but if he knew about how he felt…

"Are you two together?"

"What! No!" It wasn't a lie, Stiles wasn't with Jackson, no matter how badly he wanted to be. God, did he seriously just think that.

"Okay, so you don't mind if I ask him out on a date then?"

"WHAT!...ugh…I guess…I mean it isn't really my business, you can do what you want, I don't know what Jackson's going to feel considering his earliest memories of you were you basically physically harming him and making him feel like shit but I guess someone could totally let that go in three days…" Stiles stopped talking but he could see that his words had actually had an effect. Derek looked sad, it was obvious he regretted the way he had treated Jackson.

Derek hadn't considered all the damage he had done in the last three months. Stalking the boy and attacking him just for the thrill, to smell Jackson's intoxicating fear. The way he verbally abused him in an attempt to make him feel small and weak. It had never occurred to Derek that it had actually worked, that maybe he had actually caused permanent damage. It would explain all of Jackson insecurities. No matter how well their run went, Derek could tell that Jackson was still afraid of him. He could catch the flash of fear from the corner of his eye, when he moved too fast the boy would flinch, when he raised his voice he could hear his increased heart rate. Jackson was amazing as a wolf, confident and brave, but Derek had made sure to destroy the human half. To torture him until that confident self assured Jackson slid away and all that was left behind was the Jackson unable to deal with any of it. Sure the old Jackson was an asshole, but that was just a front, and Derek thought that if he had removed the fear maybe Jackson would have been a better person who people actually looked up to, liked. But no he had just made the fear worse, planted the seed deep into the boys soul and watched it take root because some sick part of Derek had enjoyed torturing him. He would make this better, he had to, Jackson trusted him now…maybe. Today was the first day he had heard him laugh.

"You know he was sick right? For the past three months, Jackson told me that he was in pain, like really bad pain, like he considered killing himself on a weekly basis bad pain. And I know your all BFF's now but today was the first day in like three months that anyone has heard Jackson laugh like that, because he was in too much pain before and while I don't think he blames you it was your fault you know. You bite him and then just fucking let him go off…did you hope it'd kill him?" Stiles didn't think Derek had even considered any of this and he took the tiniest bit of pleasure to be the one to lay it all in front of him. He wouldn't lose Jackson to Derek, not when he had gone out of his way to bully Jackson for being a bully himself. It was fucking stupid and pathetic and he wanted Derek to know, no matter how angry it made him.

"You're right…what the fuck was I thinking…" Derek wasn't angry, he was miserable. He knew you couldn't just throw a switch and hope that from one day to another a person would trust you, stop being afraid of you. But Jackson trusted him, didn't he?

"He trusts me Stiles, I can work with that…"
"Does he…I mean did you ever consider that the only reason Jackson ran with you was because he didn't care what you were going to do to him. I mean, he probably thought you were going to kill him out there you know, no witnesses, no evidence, so far away no one would hear him scream and you had him conditioned to listen to everything you told him to do because he knew that you could make him hurt he-"

"STOP! Okay I get it, I won't ask him out, I don't have the right, I know what I did and I'm sorry…"

"…you should probably apologize to Jackson…this is me here…umm…sorry about…you know…"

"…It's okay…" Derek sounded completely defeated. 'Good', thought Stiles. Derek didn't deserve him not after all the shit he had put Jackson through. But he was no better. Jackson had told him this stuff in confidence, had opened up to him today, told him all his worries and fears. Had told him about the way Derek liked to hurt him when he was too mean to Scott or Stiles himself or anyone really, Derek would always find an excuse to knock him into lockers, to bend his bones until he thought they'd break, to knock him to floor and hold him there with a well placed boot. Jackson told him about all the things Derek could see about him, all the things he hated about himself and how well Derek knew to use those feelings against him. How Derek made Jackson do whatever he wanted because Jackson had been conditioned to listen to the people who hurt him, who held power over him, his father beat that lesson into him since he had become a Whittemore.

But, Jackson also told him how running through the woods with Derek had created two different Derek's in his mind and how he didn't know which one to trust. But Jackson wouldn't leave the wolf behind and he would run with Derek again because the wolf in him begged for it, even if meant having to deal with the Derek who hurt him. Stiles knew he had no right to use this information against Derek, but he felt as if he had to protect Jackson from him because no one knew what Derek they were going to find, the kind understanding one or the cruel angry one.

Stiles closed his front door and realized that he didn't deserve Jackson either. He was a fucking coward. Jackson needed someone strong to help him return to himself, his proper self, not this sad man. He needed to figure things out, and fast because if he didn't, he would lose Jackson to Derek. But here standing in his dark empty house he would admit one thing to himself, he was attracted to Jackson Whittemore, and if he was attracted to another boy…well…that probably meant he was…gay…That idea made him tremble with some unknown fear. He could lose his father just being who he was…but he still wasn't…No, he was sure. God, he missed his mother. Jackson had no one to miss…All he could do was fish for the affection of two rich strangers who Stiles doubted actually knew how to show any affection to a child. Stiles wanted to be the one to give him affection, Stiles wanted to be the one to love him.