Derek felt like he was seeing a ghost. If Deaton hadn't explained things to him then he would have thought he was. Okay maybe not exactly a ghost but something. The idea of reincarnation or whatever this was, was a concept that he had never considered. Honestly, he never even thought it was possible. The girl, who Stiles said was named Mae, looked at him like she was finding him familiar. Derek was starting to wonder if that was a good idea or not; for Paige, for Mae to remember him. Derek blamed himself to this very day for Paige's death. Who knows how Mae will react to him if she remembers Paige's life, Paige's death…remembers him.

Mae didn't like the silence between them. It was making her even more uncomfortable than she already was. Not to mention the fact that she had asked him if she knew him, as opposed to asking if he knew her. What was that about? Mae felt like she'd seen him before but also knew she didn't, if that made any sense. Which it didn't. This was all too confusing for her. "Who are you?" Mae finally asked to break the silence between them.

Hearing her ask him what his name was, was amusing to him in a strange way. The tables were turned this time around. This time he knew who she was but she didn't know who he was. "Derek." He replied and gauged her reaction to his name. He was torn with what he wanted her reaction to be. A part of him wanted her to remember him instantly and the other part never wanted her to remember.

"Okay, Derek. What do you want? You figure out if I know you…I mean if you know me yet?" There she went again asking him for confirmation of if she knew him. His reply of, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." made Mae rise to the challenge. "Try me."

This reply brought a grin to Derek's face. "Not yet." He turned around and started to walk away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Mae called out to him.

To which he replied without looking back, "If you want to know so badly then follow me."

Mae knew this was a bad idea; to go off with a strange werewolf, but it also felt like something that she had to do. So, she did it.

—–

Mae had followed Derek out of the woods and out to his car. He opened the passenger door for her and waited for her to get inside before she had even made the decision to do so. Mae looked at Derek, "You're a bit too sure of yourself aren't you? What makes you think I'm going to get in the car with you?"

Derek replied, "Because you know you want to."

His 'so sure of himself' reply wanted to make Mae grin, but she didn't…okay maybe she did a little bit. Mae got in the passenger seat and looked out the window to find Ty darting out of the house with a 'what the hell do you think you're doing?!' look on his face. Mae knew she was going to be in big trouble when she got back but she still felt like this was something she had to do.

Derek got into the car and took off before Ty tried to run over and stop them. Mae just hoped that Ty wouldn't get into trouble with their alpha for her actions.

"So, where are we going?" Mae asked Derek as he put on his sunglasses and drove off.

He replied with, "You'll see"

Mae's eyes rolled at this reply, "I know I'll see where we are going eventually but I would like to know now. Is that a crime?"

Derek chuckled, "Have you always been this impatient?"

Mae thought about it for a moment, "Nope. I think it's something that you bring out of me."

Derek looked at Mae with a grin and kept driving.

Mae pulled her hair out of her ponytail as she commented, "Hey, how come you haven't asked about my name? I'm.."

She was cut off by Derek saying, "I know who you are."

Mae's brows raised at this, "Okay that's not creepy in the slightest." Mae replied sarcastically.

"And yet you still got in the car." He replied as he looked at her momentarily.

Mae didn't have a remark for that because he had a point, "How do you know my name then?"

Derek waited a minute before replying, "Stiles told me."

Mae laughed, "You know that spazz? What did he say about me? Anything interesting?"

Derek scoffed a chuckled, "You care why?"

Mae shrugged, "A girl's gotta have her options."

Derek's brow furrowed at that remark as they pulled into the school parking lot.

"Now I'm confused." Mae commented as she looked out the window, "Why are we here?"

Derek turned off the car and asked his own questions, "Do you feel like you've been in Beacon Hills before? This place seem oddly familiar to you?"

Mae looked at Derek and nodded slightly, meanwhile trying to figure out what he was getting at.

"You want answers?" He asked in which Mae nodded again, "Then follow me."

Mae didn't understand why she trusted him but she got out of the car and followed him inside the school.

—-

Derek brought Mae into the music room.

After Mae entered she said, "Spill it wolf boy. What's going on?"

Derek pulled a chair out for her and set it in the middle of the room. "Take a seat."

Mae crossed her arms, "I'd rather stand."

Derek replied, "Suit yourself." He started walking around the room a bit and Mae watched him. "How long have you played the cello?" He asked.

Mae laughed at his question, "Why is that important and how do you know that? Wait nevermind, Stiles. I swear if he put you up to this to interrogate me or something I'm going to claw his eyes out."

Derek was amused, "Just answer the question."

Mae sighed, "Since I picked one up. I was a kid."

Derek nodded as he took in this information, "Anyone else in your family play?"

Mae wanted to ask why again but the sooner she answered his questions the sooner she'd get hers answered. "No. In fact I'm pretty sure my mom is tone deaf but whatever…" Mae trailed off as she heard the thump, thump, thump of the basketball dribbling again. "Not this time." Mae said with determination as she ran out of the music room. Derek, confused, took off after her.

Mae ended up where she did before in the hall and again there was no one. "What the hell!" Mae kicked the wall.

Derek tried to calm her down, "Whoa, hey what's going on?"

Mae's voice rose, "Are you telling me you didn't hear that?"

Derek shook his head.

Knowing that Derek hadn't heard what she had just infuriated her more. "I heard the same thing earlier! That stupid ball dribbling."

Derek's postured straightened at the mention of basketball dribbling, "When?" He asked.

"You mean before right now? Earlier when I was practicing. It was driving me nuts! I came out here to give them a piece of my mind and there was no one. Went back to practicing and heard it again so I just left. Weird stuff like that has been happening to me lately." Mae leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor.

Derek took a seat next to her.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm not living my own life. Which doesn't make any sense because you only get one life." Mae admitted then looked at Derek, "And then there's you. A creepy, stalkerish, wolf boy who seems to know way more about me than I know about you and yet I still trust you and feel like I know you. This is all just messed up."

He couldn't bear seeing Mae like this. It was time to tell her what was going on. Derek took a breath. "Mae…we need to talk."

—

Mae sat on the hood of Derek's car after he brought her outside to explain as much as he knew, and was willing to tell her. Derek had left out the details of Paige's death. That wasn't something he was willing to share with her right then and honestly never wanted to. Hopefully she wouldn't ever remember.

At the end of it all Mae spoke. "So…I'm a reincarnation..or whatever, of a girl that used to live here. Paige? You said her name was Paige right?"

Derek nodded.

"Because she died at some supernatural hot spot of power, that's the only reason why I was born?" Mae continued.

Derek replied, "I don't think I'd go that far but…"

"But I wouldn't be who I am now if she hadn't died." Mae interjected which made Derek nod again. "So…that's why I've been feeling so much dejavu lately. I've technically, kinda, sort of, have been here before." Mae's eyes widened for a moment as she took it all in. "Well this isn't crazy." Mae was being quite sarcastic but asked, "The basketball dribbling, that's what made you and Paige meet? You distracted her. Because of that, the supernatural hubbub was trying to tell me something. Hence me hearing the sound."

Derek leaned against his car and nodded again.

"I still feel crazy." Mae said with a sigh.

Derek couldn't help but chuckle before he said, "The feeling is mutual, Mae."

Mae slid off the hood and leaned against the car next Derek. "It's going to take me awhile to process all of this."

Derek wasn't surprised to hear that, "I'm surprised you believed me."

Mae nudged Derek a little, "What can I say?"

Derek finished her thought, "I just bring that out in you?" Mae nodded with a smile which made both her and Derek laugh.

Their laughter was interrupted by an unhappy snarl. Derek instinctively got defensive as his claws and fangs appeared. "Oh crap." Mae stated when Ty appeared with his own claws and fangs showing.

Ty looked like he wanted to rip Derek's throat out and honestly Derek looked the same. Mae quickly got between the two of them. "Take it easy you two. I'll kick you both to next Tuesday if you don't."

Ty reluctantly went back to 'normal' but Derek took a moment longer to do so. The glare coming from Mae finally made him do the same. Mae crossed her arms and looked at Ty, "What are you doing here?" she asked

Ty had an 'I can't believe you're asking me that' look on his face. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here! One second you're going for a run and the next you're getting in a car with some guy. I track you here to find out he's a werewolf! You know Damon's rules about intermingling packs. If he finds out then you're gone Mae, is that what you want! Who is this guy anyway?"

Derek was about to answer when Mae beat him to it, "That's Derek Hale. My boyfriend in a past life." The expression on Ty's face was not amused and Derek's was 'I can't believe she just said that'.

Mae looked at Ty, "Ty, just because we are a part of the same pack, that doesn't mean you can dictate what I do and where I can go. No one is going to dictate that, not even Damon. I see how my parents look at me and I know how Damon feels about me so if you are making me choose now whether or not to come back to the pack period, then you really don't want to hear my answer."

Ty looked past Mae to Derek and said angrily, "This is your fault."

Derek took a step closer but was stopped by Mae. "I can take care of myself mister." Mae said to him firmly. Derek looked at Mae and didn't doubt that fact one bit, so he backed off. "Ty," Mae said, "you should go."

Ty looked like he had just been punched in the gut. "Are you serious right now?"

Mae nodded and Ty glared at Derek before returning his eyes to Mae. "If you aren't back in one hour I won't be able to protect you from Damon." Ty said this in a hushed tone but Derek was able to hear it clearly.

Mae replied, "No one's asking you to."

Ty couldn't believe Mae's behavior and with an unhappy grumble he took off running back to the house.

Mae closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Crap." She said to herself then turned to face Derek.

"Boyfriend?" Derek asked, actually feeling a bit jealous of the guy though he'd never admit it.

Mae shook her head, "Packmate who's the closest thing I have to a brother."

Derek nodded in understanding, "What's that Damon guy going to do when you get back?"

Mae scoffed, "My alpha? He'll do what he does any other time of his betas get out of line…Teach them a lesson."

Derek did not like the sound of that. Not one bit. "You could leave the pack." Derek offered.

Mae laughed at the thought, "Yeah, I know I could but my parents are a part of Damon's pack. And his betas aren't supposed to associate with other betas unless there is a treaty or something between them. So if I left I'd probably never see them again. I couldn't do that, I couldn't leave them like that. I may be one to break the rules but they aren't. Heck, I'm breaking one of Damon's rules just by talking to you. If he finds out about me being Paige's whatever, then things are really going to get bad." Mae went back over to Derek's car and leaned against it. "I feel like I'm getting punched with information."

Derek could understand that. "It's a lot to take in." he commented. Hell, he was still trying to take it all in and make sense of it all.

Mae let out a sigh, "And not just on my end either. Is it…hard for you to be talking to me? Is it weird? It has to be weird, what am I saying."

Derek mulled over his thoughts before replying, "It was harder not knowing. Seeing you and not understanding how or why was harder. Actually talking to you with her face and the similarities between you two? Weird isn't the right word for it."

Mae asked softly, "Painful then?"

Derek didn't answer that question and evaded it with a subject change. "Now about your alpha…"

Mae rolled her eyes and slouched down to the ground. Talking about her alpha was the last thing she wanted to do.

—–

Mae talked to Derek for awhile about what life with her pack was like, how severe her alpha could be when betas broke certain rules, and about the dreams she'd been having. Derek confirmed that some of the dreams were of actual events in Paige's life, that he knew of anyway. It was starting to make sense why the announced move to Beacon Hills would trigger that within her. Nothing else would have since there wasn't anything about Paige's life tied to Mae back east.

Derek still tried to convince Mae to leave her pack and while she wanted to, she wasn't going to just join anyone's pack. She would have to get to know the alpha first and then make her choice. Even then she might not do it unless her parents went along with her. Which she highly doubted would happen. Even with knowing all this, Derek had an idea, a plan. Mae just didn't know it yet.

It was finally time for Mae to get back home and face whatever wrath was going to meet her. Derek reluctantly drove her back and pulled up in front of the house. Mae took a moment before getting ready to go inside.

"I feel like I should say something profound or witty right now but I got nothing." Mae said to him after placing her hand on the door handle.

Derek looked at Mae and chuckled, "Don't worry about it."

Mae smiled at Derek and leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek. An act that caught Derek by surprise but didn't show it. "See ya around wolf boy." Mae smiled then got out of the car and headed inside.

Derek watched as she got out and went in. He hoped he'd made the right decision in reaching out to Mae like he had…and hoped that he didn't just get himself, and her, in something way over their heads.

(End Chapter 4)