Author's Note: Thank you to everyone that reviewed. I know I ask for reviews but I never thought you guys actually would so thank you. Here's the next chapter. Stiles is still unconscious so it is still in Derek's POV. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 21

Derek POV

Scott and I were sitting in the waiting room when the Sheriff barged in. "Where's Stiles?"

I stood up unable to look him in the eye. When he found out about werewolves he made me promise to watch out for Stiles, something that I failed to do tonight. "The doctors and Mrs. McCall took him. They haven't told us anything yet."

The sheriff rubs his hand down his face, worry clear on his face. "What happened? Tell me everything."

"There was a rival pack. They were coming in with the intent on killing everyone in our pack. We planned on fighting them in a warehouse in the industrial area. Stiles got mixed up in the fight and before I could get there to protect him, the Alpha sliced him across the back. He was unconscious almost instantly and he lost a lot of blood, but his heart was strong. That's all I know."

"Why did you even let him in the fight?" The sheriff's emotions had changed from worry to anger quickly. "You knew this pack was deadly, but you let him fight?!"

Scott jumped in there. "No, Mr. Stilinski. Derek did everything he could to keep Stiles out of the fight, but you know Stiles, he didn't listen."

"Dammit Stiles," the sheriff muttered. "Why didn't you lock him up or something? You knew how he could be. You knew that getting him to stay away would be hard."

"I tried. I gave him a job of protecting the southern border. I tried to make it sound like an important task. He told me that he was going to do it. I thought he was safe."

"I can't believe you thought that was going to work. Have you met him? Trying to get him to do something he doesn't want to do is nearly impossible."

"I'm so sorry. I know this is all my fault. It's my fault he's here. I failed to protect him." I collapsed back in one of the chairs. The guilt was beginning to tear me up inside. It was all my fault. Everything I touch gets destroyed. I finally meet someone as great as Stiles and I fail to protect him. If only I had done more. Maybe if I hadn't been so dense I would've realized what Stiles meant to me and done more to protect him. I should've done more.

"Mr. Stilinski, Derek did all he could. It wasn't just him. I gave him the idea to give Stiles a minimal job in the hopes of keeping him away. I knew that there was a slim chance to work, but it was the only thing I could think to do besides tying him to his bed and locking him in," a small laugh escaped Scott's lips. "Knowing Stiles, he'd find some way to get out of that."

"You're probably right. Why the hell does Stiles have to be so stubborn. Sorry, I lost it for a second there Derek. I know you wouldn't do anything intentionally to get Stiles hurt."

"I understand. I failed to protect him. I deserve to be yelled at." I look up at the sheriff's face, his emotions unreadable. He looks like he wants to comfort me, but quickly shakes his head and moves to sit down. I join him on the chairs, resuming the position I was in before he came in.

It seemed like forever before Mrs. McCall walked out. The Sheriff is up immediately and asking her "How is he?"

"He's fine. The claw marks didn't hit anything important. Seeing as how they were vertical it missed the spine meaning there was no nerve damage. He did lose a lot of blood and needed a lot of stitches. He should wake up within the next couple of hours. We had to sedate him to give him the stitches. You can go see him now."

The Sheriff and I followed her, but Scott stopped me quickly. "I'm going to go and check on the rest of the pack and Mr. Argent. Let me know when he wakes up. I nod and he runs out. I turn back and though I can't see the sheriff, I followed his scent.

Walking in Stiles' room and seeing him lying there unconscious and vulnerable had my wolf whining. I didn't like seeing him like this. He was too sill, too quiet. I sat down in the only other seat, across the bed from the Sheriff, both of us having our full attention on the still firm of Stiles.

What was I going to do when he woke up? Was I going to tell him everything right away? Should I wait until he's better? Should I even tell him how I'm feeling? Ugh, I'm not good at this whole expressing emotions thing. This is more Stiles' area of expertise. I guess he can balance me out in that way. I wish he would just wake up. I wish I could just talk to him, hear that he's find, see that he's the same person and that nothing has changed. See that he won't look at me as the man who let him down.

First I need to figure out what I want from this. Scott already told me that Stiles has feelings for me, but how deep are those feelings. I'm pretty sure that I'm either on the verge of falling for Stiles or I'm already over that ledge. No matter which it is, I know that I want something with him, something more than I have now. If all he wants is friendship, then I will have to deal with that. But if he wants something more, then nothing would make me happier.

Looking over his still body, I can still see his intricate features, though they are slightly marred by the paleness caused by the blood he lost. I look at his lips, noticing how full they are, wondering what it would be like to place my lips upon his. Wondering what it would be like to run my hands up and down his pale skin. Wondering what it would be like to mark him as mine.

Part of me knows that this is starting to move rather fast. I mean it was only a couple hours ago that I even realized that I had these feelings, but part of me feels like I have been waiting forever to act on them. Part of me knows that I need to take this slow, but taking it slow doesn't mean I can't kiss him, can't hold his hand in mine.

There is no doubt about it now. I need to talk to Stiles about my feelings. Let him decide what he wants to do, but I know that I want something more. I just hope that he wants the same.

It was about an hour later that Stiles' eyes began to flicker open. As much as I wanted to jump up and grab on to Stiles, I let the Sheriff fawn over his son.

"Dad?"

"Hey, Stiles."

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was watching the fight and saw that one of the wolves was headed towards Derek's back and he wasn't aware of what was coming for him." He turns and meets my eyes, surprise crosses his face. I guess he didn't notice that I was here. "I stormed into the warehouse and took out a couple wolves. Everything else is kind of blurry. I do remember there being a blinding pain and passing out."

I stand to look at him. "The Alpha attacked you and clawed your back. Scott and I rushed you here. They stitched your back up and nothing bad happened but you did lose a lot of blood."

He lets out a small chuckle. "I guess you were right. I should've stayed out of the fight."

The Sheriff looked down at his son with a stern look on his face. "You're damn right. From what I hear this pack was dangerous. You should've never been there."

"I couldn't just stay behind and wait to find out what happened. I had to be there to protect my pack."

"I don't care. Do you know what it was like to get a call from Scott telling me that you were hurt badly and were at the hospital? Do you know how worried I was?"

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"You better be sorry."

At that moment the Sheriff's phone went off. He looked down at hit and answered. "Sheriff…mhm…really?...ok, I will be there soon. So apparently there were some complaints of animal sounds coming from the industrial area. They said it sounded like a pack of wolves. Now it looks like one of the warehouses have caught on fire. I'm guessing this has something to do with what happened."

I look up at him and nod. "The fire was probably set by Chris Argent and his hunters. It's a good way to get rid of the bodies of the wolves. They're good at what they do. You won't be able to tie it to them."

"And if it looks like I can, I'm guessing you want me to try and bury it."

"That would be great." I say with a pleading look.

"Fine, look over my son while I'm gone."

"Will do." With that he turned and left the room. I look back at Stiles and feel the relief of seeing the color returning to his cheeks. See his fingers twitching while he waits for one of us to start speaking. These small things make me feel better, make me know that he will be ok. I turn to him and move to sit on the bed. This was the moment. I had to tell him everything. I just hope that everything works out.

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Author's Note: I'm sorry that I'm giving you another cliffhanger but I need their conversation to be its own chapter. There's going to be a lot in it and I don't want to rush it. I promise I will post it soon. I've just been hit with a whole lot of inspiration so I will definitely be working on it tomorrow. Thank you for reading and thank you again for all your reviews. Please review to let me know what you think.