AN: Hello my lovely readers! This one kind of just rolled itself on out. So I went with it. Also not sure if I'm going to be able to post next week due to exams so I wanted to get at least this one out and hopefully the next one will be out by next weekend! Happy reading, thanks for all of the faves, follows, and reviews my lovelies:)

I never had no one that I could count on
I've been let down so many times
I was tired of hurtin' so tired of searchin'
Til you walked into my life
It was a feelin' I'd never known
And for the first time I didn't feel alone

You're more than a lover
There could never be another
To make me feel the way you do
Oh we just get closer
I fall in love all over
Every time I look at you
I don't know where I'd be
Without you here with me
Life with you makes perfect sense
You're my best friend
You're my best friend

My Best Friend by Tim McGraw

"I'm getting really tired of you holding out on me Derek. We're supposed to be working together on this." I told him as I angrily slammed the dishes from dinner into the dishwasher.

"For Christ's sake stop throwing a fit. You don't even know what the symbol means." He said in a bored tone. I turned and glared at him slamming the dishwasher shut.

"No but I could've told you weeks ago that the Harris she was looking for was probably the douche bag Chem teacher. It makes sense. She was looking into the fire. You know who are really good at starting those? Chemists." I snapped. I could feel Derek's irritation for me rolling through the bond.

"Look you said it yourself we have no leads on the Alpha. And yeah maybe I didn't tell you about Harris earlier, but I'm telling you now. Are you going to help me or what?" I sighed.

"No more withholding information?" I asked. I held up a finger before he responded. I closed the distance between us and grabbed his hand. I brought it up and held it to the mating mark.

"Proceed." I told him with a glare. He rolled his eyes.

"I promise I won't withhold anymore information from you. All I know was the deer, which you knew about, and the symbol and she was looking for some guy named Harris." Through the bond, I could tell he was telling the truth. There was no hint of deception in his emotions or in his thoughts. I smiled at him.

"Alright what do you need me to do?" He leaned forward and kissed me. His plan flowing into my mind as we were connected.

Meet me at my apartment in 30. Bring Scott.


Once the sun had sent Derek and I began to put his plan into motion. He went and picked up the Camaro. He pulled into my driveway just behind Scott and Stiles. As the two boys headed over towards us Derek handed me the keys and I smirked in excitement.

"Be careful with my car." He told me pointing a finger in my face. I rolled my eyes.

"You be careful. Try not to get yourself almost killed tonight." I told him with a smirk. Stiles and Scott approached at that moment.

"Whatever your plan is try to lay low." Scott told him. Derek rolled his eyes and pulled me into a kiss. Stiles and Scott both made groans of disgust causing me to chuckle. As Derek turned to walk away I smacked his ass.

"Go get 'em tiger." He shook his head and took off at a sprint. I turned towards the boys and smirked.

"Get in losers, we're playing decoy."


The plan was originally that we'd be leading the cops on a chase, but annoyingly the only one that caught our "scent", hehe wolf joke, was the Argents. Whichever one it was currently following us in an SUV. Scott was sitting in the passenger seat while Stiles was in the back. Both boys were turned staring at the vehicle behind us as I drove. I was doing about 80 allowing them to stay on our tail, hopefully keeping them distracted. I thought about popping off a few rounds, but figured that would either have them shooting back, something I didn't want with the two boys in the car. Or they would realize that it was me and not Derek and take off which we didn't want either.

"Faster?" Scott questioned from his seat.

"Much faster." Stiles responded panicked slightly. I rolled my eyes and shifted speeding up to about 95. A few minutes later Stiles voice piped up from the backseat.

"I don't think you're really grasping the concept of a car chase here, Cora." The boy quipped. I rolled my eyes.

"If I go faster I'll lose them." I responded.

"If you go faster you'll kill us." Scott barked out glancing at the speedometer.

"God you guys crack under pressure don't you?" I ground out.

"If you don't go faster they'll kill us!" Stiles exclaimed. However as soon as the words were out of his mouth the SUV turned off down a side road. I furrowed my brow and began searching out Derek through the bond.

"Hey they're gone!" I scowled.

"Thank you captain obvious." Derek's emotions were slightly worrisome. He wasn't exactly panicked per say, but he was definitely anxious. And running, I could practically feel his heart beating erratically in my own chest and hear the sirens that he was hearing. I pulled back from the bond.

"Stiles turn on the police radio." I ordered.

"All units. Suspect is on foot heading into the Iron Works."

"Fuck!" I ground out shifting and slamming on the gas once again.


When we reached the Iron Works I allowed the bond to pull me towards Derek. Scott was yelling at me to slow down as I drifted around the buildings trying to get to Derek as fast as I could. Stiles was cheering me on from the backseat.

I finally got to the part where Derek was and whipped around next to him watching as a flash build went off. Scott jumped into the backseat throwing the door open for Derek.

"Get in!" I yelled out. As Derek ran towards the car a spray of bullets went off. Once he was in I took off again.

"Damnit! I almost had him!" Derek growled out as we left the Iron Works in the dust. I shifted and slammed down on the accelerator hoping to put as much distance between us and the police and Argents as I could.

"What part of laying low don't you understand?" Scott pipped up from the backseat.

"Who, the Alpha?" Stiles asked focusing on Derek, rather than Scott's unnecessary comments.

"Yes! He was right in front of me, and the friggin' police showed up."

"Whoa, hey, they're just doing their jobs –"

"Hunting down an innocent person." I said shooting a glare at Scott through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state." Derek snapped.

"Can we seriously get past that? I made a dumbass mistake. I get it." Scott said in irritation. I glanced around checking the mirrors making sure we didn't have a tail as the conversation continued.

"All right. How did you find him?" Stiles questioned curiously. Derek just looked to me and didn't say anything.

"Can you try to trust us for at least half a second?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, both of us." Derek shot a glare at Stiles. "Or just him. I'll be back here."

"Look the last time I talked to my sister, she was close to figuring something out. She found two things. The first was a guy named Harris." Derek revealed to the two.

"Our chemistry teacher?" Stiles asked in awe as his head popped up from the back seat.

"Why him?" Scott questioned.

"I don't know yet."

"What's the second?"

"Some kind of symbol." Derek held up the paper with the drawing of the wolf symbol on it. I saw Scott's eyes widen slightly, from the mirror, before his face looked downtrodden. "What? You know what this is?"

"I've seen it on a necklace. Allison's necklace." Scott revealed. I let out a sarcastic laugh and slammed on the gas in irritation.

"I fucking told you." I said to Derek, relating to the fact that I had told him the symbol likely had something to do with the Argents when he first showed it to me.


I woke up the next morning and rolled over to see Derek gone. I could hear him moving around in the kitchen though. I rolled out of bed and grabbed my cigarettes lighting one up and heading out to the kitchen. Derek was at the stove cooking breakfast. I went over too him. He turned and gave me a kiss as I approached. I stole a piece of sausage off of the plate while he turned back to the eggs finishing them up. I headed over to the coffee pot and started brewing them. Taking a drag of my cigarette I turned and grabbed the unused eggs off of the counter and went to put them back in the fridge. However, my clumsy ass stubbed my toe on the chair and as I cursed and reached down to grab my now throbbing toe I dropped the eggs causing them to smash on the ground. Derek snickered at me from his place next to the stove. I scowled.

"Rude." I barked out heading to the sink to grab a washcloth and the garbage can.

"You remember that time we tried to cook breakfast for Laura?" He asked with a soft smile on his face. I smiled as well, fondly remembering a simpler time in our lives.

About 13 years ago.

I quickly and quietly snuck out of Laura's room as her and little Cora slept. We had done a sleepover in honor of Laura's 12th birthday today. Exiting the room, I snuck over to Derek's across the hall and rushed in. I jumped up on his bed and began shaking him awake. He groaned out in irritation and pushed me away.

"Go away." The ten-year-old boy grumbled out.

"C'mon Derek! You said we would cook Laura breakfast today!" I told him excitedly. He groaned again, but opened his eyes.

"But I want to sleep." I rolled my eyes.

"You can sleep when you're dead! It's your sisters birthday. C'mooooon." I whined as I started shaking the boy. He grumbled again, but sat up before he got a mischievous look on his face. I narrowed my eyes, right before he shoved me out of his bed and rushed off out the door laughing as he went. I quickly chased after him and finally caught up to him in the kitchen. I shoved past him and rushed to the fridge where Talia had put the supplies for us to make breakfast. I grabbed the eggs and cheese and stuff while Derek grabbed the bacon.

"Should we wait for my mom?" He asked uncertainly. I looked at the clock. It was eight, Talia had said we could start cooking at 8:30.

"We could just get everything ready and wait for her to actually cook it." I suggested. Derek nodded in agreement. We washed our hands quickly then got to work prepping the food. There were six dozen eggs and four packs of bacon. Werewolves tend to eat a lot, and while the whole pack wasn't wolf, we still had wanted to be sure there was enough. Derek and I were both cracking eggs. He was using the bowl and I was using the counter. As I cracked one it slipped out of my hand and landed on Derek's foot. He scowled in disgust. I snickered.

"Oops. Sorry." As my laughter continued Derek glared and reached for another egg. Before I could blink he had smashed it on top of my head. My mouth dropped and Derek burst out in laughter.

While Derek was distracted by his amusement I took the opportunity to grab an egg and smash it against the side of his face. I smiled innocently and then took off at a run when I saw him grab another egg.

He easily caught up to me just before I made it out of the kitchen. He grabbed my arm trying to pull me close and I let him putting a little weight behind it. He wasn't expecting me to let him and we went crashing to the floor the egg smashing on both of us.

We quickly began to wrestle on the floor laughing hysterically. I reached down and wiped the egg off my shirt trying to wipe it on Derek's face. A throat clearing in the door of the kitchen made us both freeze and we both looked up seeing Talia and Derek's father Michael standing in the doorway watching us in amusement.

"I don't think that's how you're supposed to cook eggs." Michael said with a chuckle. Derek and I broke apart and looked sheepishly at his parents from out place on the floor. Talia shook her head.

"Go get cleaned up you two. You can help finish after." Derek and I stood and headed upstairs. He went to his bathroom to shower while I headed to Laura's. Both of us couldn't keep the grins off our faces.

"Your mom never let us try and cook by ourselves after that again." I said with a laugh as I finished cleaning up the last of the eggs. Derek snickered and set the food on the table.


I went down to the bar around lunch to check and see how everything was going. They were surprisingly busier than normal so I headed into the kitchen to see what was going on. Jessica was on the grill with Miles, and Anna was out running around waiting on tables. I quirked an eyebrow.

"Where's Tiffany?" I asked Jessica as she was dropping some fries into the fryer.

"She called in. Again." The girl grumbled. I sighed. Our staffing usually consisted of Anna and two other waitresses during the day and one cook, so that the girls could help out in the kitchen if needed. I quickly grabbed an apron and sent Jessica out to the main room so that she could help Anna.

"Hey boss, how's it going?" Miles asked as we worked.

"Well shitty now. I'm going to have to have a talk with Tiffany. This is the fourth call in, in three weeks. Do you know how long before her shift she called?" I asked Miles as I pulled the food out of the fryer and served it onto the plates Miles had set out. He shook his head.

"No, sorry. You'd have to ask Anna." He responded. I nodded.

"What else do you need, hun?" I asked. He pointed me towards the tickets on the wall. There were six. What the shit.

"Do you want me to hire you some help?" I questioned. Miles shook his head.

"No I can usually manage just fine when the girls aren't short staffed and can help." He responded. I nodded my head and took the plates that he served up the rest of the food on. I took them to the counter and hollered out the door.

"Order up! Table five!" Anna came rushing over. She smiled when she saw me.

"Thank you so much! I was going to call you and have you call someone in, but we got hit right after Tiffany called in." I nodded in understanding.

"How soon did she call in? Wasn't she scheduled for 11:30." Anna nodded.

"She called in at 11:30."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No that's three call in within less than an hour of when her shift starts. I warned her about the last two. If you don't take care of it I'm going to." Anna told me before walking away and delivering food. I sighed and went back to helping Miles in the kitchen.

Once the lunch rush was cleared I helped everyone begin to clean up. Before I left I went into my office and grabbed the "Help Wanted" sign. Anna quirked an eyebrow at me.

"She's going to see that when she comes in for her next shift." I nodded.

"I know. If I'm not already here when she shows up, call me. I'll take care of it."


"Ow, Cora watch where you put your fucking feet!" Derek whisper yelled at me as he lifted me up to Stiles' window. I smirked.

"Oh, oops sorry babe." I felt a pang of irritation shoot through the bond and chuckled as I pulled myself up into the teenager's room. Once I was inside Derek jumped and grabbed onto the window ledge pulling himself in. He paused listening for anyone in the house then pushed me back to behind the door of Stiles' room. We stood there for a moment before Stiles came rolling in. He didn't even glance our way as he threw his bag on the ground and booted up his computer.

"Hey, Stiles!" His dad called out. Stiles responded as he turned and finally caught sight of us.

"Yo, D—Derek. I, um –" Derek held a finger up in a shushing motion and began pointing frantically towards the door while I just smiled and waved at Stiles. Stiles jumped out of his seat and rushed to the door.

"What'd you say?" Noah asked as Stiles closed his door behind him.

"What? I said "Yo - d - dad."" Stiles lied.

"Listen, I've got something I've got to take care of, but I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean, your first game."

"My first game. Guh, it's great. Awesome. Uh - Good." I let out a snicker at the awkwardness of the conversation causing Derek to slam a hand over my mouth to keep me quiet. I glared at him. He just rolled his eyes.

"I'm very happy for you. And I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks. Me too. I'm happy and proud - of myself." I snickered again into Derek's hand. Then in an attempt to get him to remove his hand I licked it. He glared at me.

"So, they're really gonna let you play, right?"

"Yeah, dad. I'm first line. Believe that?"

"I'm very proud." Derek's other hand came up to rest against my mark. What are you five? His voice floated through my hand. I licked his hand again. Maybe. I responded.

"Oh, me too. Again, I'm - Huggie - Huggie, huggie –"

"See you there."

"Take it easy." Stiles came back into the room. "I'm sor - oh!" He said as Derek let go of me and slammed him up against the wall.

"If you say one word –" Derek started to threaten before Stiles cut him off.

"Oh, what, you mean, like, "Hey, dad, Derek Hale's in my room - Bring your gun"? Yeah, that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules, buddy." I snickered and Derek shot me a glare. I threw my hands up.

"What? He's got a point." Derek just looked back to Stiles and nodded before backing away. He straightened out the collar on Stiles' shirt who in turn did the same to Derek. I rolled my eyes at Derek as Stiles began to walk away and the wolf just had to lunge at him slightly.

"Oh, my God!" Stiles cried out and fell into his chair. I walked over to Stiles' bed and threw myself down on it. I pulled out my phone and began playing a pool game.

"Scott didn't get the necklace?" Derek asked. Stiles shook his head.

"No. He's still working on it. But there's something else we can try. The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there." I perked up at that paying attention now.

"So?" Derek asked confused.

"I didn't get Scott his new phone until the Sunday after the school fiasco." I put in. Derek looked between Stiles.

"Ergo it wasn't Scott."

"Well, can you find out who sent it?"

"No, not me. But I think I know somebody who can." Stiles responded as he pulled out his phone and sent a text.


"You want me to do what?" Danny questioned Stiles in astonishment.

"Trace a text." Stiles repeated to the boy.

"I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do." Danny argued with the boy.

"And we will, once you trace the text." Stiles countered.

"And what makes you think I know how?" Danny asked in irritation.

"I - I looked up your arrest report, so –" I rolled my eyes.

"Figures." I mumbled out and noticed Derek smiling slightly down at the book in his lap.

"I - I was 13. They dropped the charges." Danny said looking towards me as if I was going to yell at him.

"I'm not the assistant coach anymore Dan my man. Besides even if I was I wouldn't hold that against you. I have a record too dude." Stiles snorted in amusement and I glared at him.

"No, we're doing lab work." Danny told Stiles turning back to the boy.

"Oh, my –"

"Who's he again?" The goalie asked looking towards Derek.

"Um, my cousin - Miguel."

"Is that blood on his shirt?"

"Yeah. Yes. Well, he gets these horrible nosebleeds. Hey, Miguel. I thought I told you, you could borrow one of my shirts." Derek slammed his book shut and sent me a look for help. I smiled and went back to my book. I laughed as he went over to Stiles, dresser and pulled off his shirt. I smiled in appreciation. Derek must have felt the emotion as it ran through me because he turned and winked at me.

"So anyway, I mean, we both know you have the skills to trace that text, so we should probably –" Stiles continued until he was cut off.

"Uh, Stiles?" Derek called out.

"Yes?"

"This - no fit." Derek responded holding up a shirt and tugging at the fabric.

"Then try something else on." He snapped. I watched as Derek went back to the drawer and pulled out an ugly ass looking orange and blue striped shirt. I snickered at the look on his face.

"Sorry. Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh? What do you think, Danny? The shirt." Stiles questioned and I turned to see the boy avoiding looking at Derek.

"It's - it's not really his color." Danny responded softly. Derek turned back to the drawer and began looking for another shirt.

"You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny boy?" I heard Stiles mutter to the other boy.

"You're a horrible person."

"I know. It keeps me awake at night. Anyway, about that text." I snorted. It definitely didn't keep him up at night.

"Stiles! None of these fit." Derek said his irritation shooting threw me.

"I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text." Danny rushed out causing me to snicker. Deciding to be nice I ran outside to the truck which I had parked down the street and grabbed one of Derek's long sleeves from the back. Once I was back inside I handed the shirt to Derek and we headed over to Danny and Stiles.

"There. The text was sent from a computer. This one." Danny said. Stiles, Derek, and I all stared at the computer in astonishment.

"Registered to that account name?" Derek questioned. Danny nodded.

"Nope, no. No fucking way." I ground out.

"No, no, no, no. That can't be right." Stiles muttered.


"Did you get the picture?" Scott's voice drifted from Stiles' phone as the three of us sat in his jeep in front of the hospital.

"Yeah, I did, and it looks just like the drawing." Stiles responded.

"Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something." Derek asked as he grabbed Stiles' arm and drew the phone closer to his face. Stiles made a pained face and I smacked Derek on the shoulder.

"No, no, the thing's flat. And, no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing. And where are you? You're supposed to be here. You're first line." Scott answered then asked his best friend.

"Where the hell is Bilinski?" Finstocks voice could be heard in the background.

"Man, you're not gonna play if you're not here to start." Scott told Stiles. I reached forward and placed a comforting hand on Stiles' shoulder as he let out a sad sigh.

"I know. Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him - tell him I'll be there, I'll just be a little bit late, okay? All right, thanks." Stiles instructed Scott before hanging up the phone.

"You're not gonna make it." Derek told him honestly.

"I know." I patted the boys shoulder.

"And you didn't tell him about his mom, either."

"That's because she didn't fucking send it." I snapped.

"Not till we find out the truth." Stiles responded. Derek nodded in understanding sending me an apologetic look.

"By the way, one more thing." Derek responded before reaching up and slamming Stiles' head against the steering wheel. My mouth dropped open.

"What the fuck, D!" I yelled.

"Yeah. Oh, God! What the hell was –"

"You know what that was for. Go. Go!" Derek yelled back at Stiles before flinging his hand and pointing towards the hospital. I got out of the car with Stiles and we headed into the hospital. We went looking for Mellissa, but couldn't find her. I started leading. Stiles towards the long-term care section. Stiles called Derek.

"Yeah, I said I can't find her." Stiles responded into the phone rolling his eyes at me. I chuckled looking for someone who might be able to point me in Mellissa's direction. No one was around, so I decided to stop and check on Peter while we were here. I led Stiles down the hall and toward the room. When I walked in the door I stopped dead in my tracks and I looked worriedly around the room. I went to reach for my gun but realized I had left it in the car because we were at a hospital.

"Yeah, well, he's not here either." I heard Stiles say from behind me. I turned the boy and started trying to get him to leave the room.

"What?" I heard Derek's voice say in confusing.

"He's not here. He's gone, Derek." I called out in a panic rushing Stiles from the room. I felt a rush of Derek's panic

"Stiles, get out of there right now - it's him! He's the Alpha! Get out!" Derek yelled into the phone as I finally got Stiles out into the hallway.

"You must be Stiles." A voice I hadn't heard in six years mused from next to us. I turned and saw Peter leaning up against the wall arms crossed, face still half covered in burns and an evil smirk on his face. "It's nice to see you again Cora." He told me. I pushed Stiles behind me and glared.

"Peter. Wish I could say the same." I ground out.

"What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over." I turned to see creepy ass nurse on the other end of the hallway.

"You - and him. You're - you're the one who - Oh, my - and he's - Oh, my God, I'm gonna die." Stiles rambled. All of a sudden Derek appeared and elbowed her him the face knocking her out.

"That's not nice. She's my nurse." Peter responded, tone almost reprimanding. I glared and grabbed onto Stiles' arm so I was prepared to move him if I needed to.

"She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way." Derek quipped. I pushed Stiles down to the floor.

"Oh, damn." Stiles mumbled.

"You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?" Derek growled and launched himself at Peter. Peter caught his nephew and slammed him against the walls. I pushed Stiles trying to get him out of the line of fire. Peter leaned down and grabbed Derek by the throat and began dragging him closer to Stiles and I. I stood getting ready to intervene.

"My mind, my personality were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct."

Peter dropped Derek and reached into his nurse's pockets pulling out a set of keys.

"You want forgiveness?" I asked as I went after Peter, dodging out of the way of the punch he tried to throw at me. As I retaliated he grabbed my arm and twisted. I cried out as I felt the bones snap, making an audible crunch.

"Cora!" Derek called out worriedly. Peter smacked me away from him and I hit the wall across the hall hard. I cradled my arm to myself as I tried to stand.

"I want understanding." Peter replied as Derek attacked next. Peter dodged his attempts, before grabbing Derek by the jacket and head butting them. He then drew up a leg and kicked Derek sending him flying back down the hall.

"Do you have any idea - What it was like for me during those years?" I watched and tried to stand as Derek spit out blood from his place on the floor.

"Slowly healing, cell by cell. Even more slowly coming back to consciousness." Derek began to stand as I rushed to him to help. As soon as his skin connected with mine I heard his voice in my head. The adrenaline kicking up the strength of the bond.

Cora, go! Get Stiles out of here.

I'm not leaving you.

Go! Stiles is in more danger. Get him and go!

"Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can't help that." Derek pushed away from me and went after Peter again. Who once again blocked Derek's attacks. This time however, he pulled the same shit he did with me and snapped Derek's arm as well. I ran to Stiles and started getting him to stand.

"C'mon. I gotta get you out of here." I told the boy as I pulled him up with my good arm, holding the bad one tightly to my stomach.

"I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you." Peter grabbed Derek and threw him through a window. I went to go after him, but Stiles grabbed my good arm and began pulling me from the hospital at a run. The bond urging me to go back, but my instincts telling me to get Stiles out of there.

As we got to the car I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Dean.

i need you to get to Beacon Hills ASAP


Review Replies-

Twister60: Thank's for the review! Hope you liked the flashback!

CarleighAlpha: Hi, I love your reviews so much! The idea that you brought up is one I have been thinking about for a while, however, I'm still undecided on if I'm going to be doing it. I'm leaning more towards probably including it at somepoint, but theres some things that I'm going to be doing with the story that I'm thinking will make more sense with that if I wait...;) anyway hope you like the new update and I hope the flashback gives you a little more insight into COREK!