"Scott we have to meet up like right now!" Stiles was speaking quickly into his cell phone as he rushed to his Jeep with Malia right behind him. "You hear me? Right now! We'll meet you at the loft." Stiles ended his message just as he closed his door.

Malia had a processing look on her face, "Did he seriously say what I think I heard him say?" she asked as she looked at Stiles.

Stiles looked at Malia as he started the engine, "You mean that she could be the key to unlocking an evil that puts everything else we've been through to shame? Then yeah, you heard right."

Malia slouched down in her seat a bit as she said, "Oh boy."

Stiles had a brief 'ya think?' look on his face before he backed his car up and pulled onto the road, rushing to Derek's loft.

Kira's mom gave Scott and Kira an old book of legends that held one that might answer some questions. Unfortunately the last couple pages of the legend are missing so the ending is unknown.

As Scott and Kira were leaving her house, Scott received the message from Stiles, "Seems like they found something. We have to head back to the loft."

Kira handed Scott the book and said, "You go, I'm going to go check in with Lydia and help my mom try to find the last pages, here."

Scott gave Kira a soft kiss then said, "Okay. I'll call you later."

Kira smiled and replied, "Alright."

Scott then secured the book on his bike and drove off for the loft. The message he got from Stiles sounded important enough for Scott to...bend a couple speed limits along the way.

Kira took a deep breathe and headed back inside, she had a bad feeling about this. The parts of the legend that were there weren't very comforting. Not knowing the rest wasn't helping either. She just hoped that they'd find the answers they needed before...well before it was too late.

After Mae, Liam, and Derek were done eating they went onto doing some research of their own. Mae was sitting on the circular staircase with Derek's laptop and did some various Internet searches to see if she could come up with anything. Liam was not too far away sitting on the table as he looked through one of the books Derek had given him to look through. And Derek, well he was supposed to be doing his own reading but he ended up spending more time looking at Mae than the book in hand.

Mae practically slammed the laptop cover shut in frustration, "This is useless!" she exclaimed.

Liam set the book down and went over to her, "Hey, we'll find something. Don't worry." he put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

Mae smiled a little bit then sighed, "The last time I didn't worry about what was going on I ended up dead. I mean, Paige…I mean..I don't know what I mean anymore!" Mae shook her head and reopened the laptop without saying another word.

Liam had a defeated look on his face as he went back over to look through his book some more. Even though there was zero help in it whatsoever. He just figured it'd be better to go back to that then keep failing at trying to make Mae feel better.

Suddenly the sounds of three sets of steps reached their ears. Mae and Liam got defensive, Derek just pointed out, "It's Scott and the others."

Mae focused her senses and came to the same conclusion so she relaxed a little. Emphasis on a little. She was stressing way out about everything that was going on and everything that seemed to be siwrling around inside her. It was complicated, confusing, and downright irritating.

Stiles opened the door and hurried inside with Scott and Malia. "You will never believe what Deaton told us." He said to the three that were already there and those words made Mae feel terrified.

They all gathered around the table as Stiles and Malia told them what Deaton said, "Deaton said that Mae shouldn't be a teenager. For what he thought happened to have actually happened she would have been a child."

Liam chimed in, in Mae's direction, "I knew your age didn't make any sense!" he felt proud for a moment for being right about that.

Stiles had a sarcastic 'bravo' look on his face then continued, "He doesn't think Mae is a…typical Nemeton reincarnate." Stiles turned his gaze to Mae's direction, like he hoped looking at her would give him some sort of answer or something.

Mae looked confused, "What does that even mean?" If she didn't get a straight answer some time soon then she would probably go out of her mind.

Malia replied, "It's means that your the key to unlocking some bad juju."

Mae looked even more confused and got a little defensive at that comment, "Excuse me?"

Scott spoke this time, "Deaton told Stiles and Malia about a legend that's pretty much the same one Kira's mom found in this book." He opened up the book and slid it towards Mae, "It talks about a sacrificial lamb who was sacrificed at a sleeping altar to awaken its power. When more sacrifices were given to the altar the first sacrificial lamb was brought back to the earth as a wolf. The wolf became the key to unlocking the altar's darkest power. Only the lamb who became a wolf can be sacrificed again to unlock it."

After Scott gave the gist of the legend, Stiles said, "Sound familiar?" he was looking at Derek this time when he spoke.

Mae looked at the book in front of her as Scott explains what the story is and shook her head as she slid it away, "That's crazy. For one thing, Paige died from rejecting a werewolf bite. She did not get sacrificed at some altar."

Stiles never took his eyes off Derek and Derek returned the look to Stiles before looking down. Mae caught onto these silent looks and was having none of it. She leaned forward on the table, "Who's not telling me what?"

Scott, Malia, and Liam didn't know how Paige really died. So far, neither did Mae. Derek didn't want to tell Mae because he was afraid that it would change things between them. And Stiles kept quiet because he was giving Derek the chance to tell her himself, but he would spill the beans if it came down to it.

The silence in the room made Mae start to lose her temper, "Someone tell me something!" Her eyes turned yellow as she spoke to emphasize how upset she was getting about this whole thing.

Stiles took that as his cue and started to speak but Derek cut him off by saying, "It's not your story to tell." Stiles respected that and gestured to him in a 'carry on' sort of way.

Mae looked at Derek with questioning eyes as he started to speak, "Paige was bitten by an alpha and while that was what was killing her, that's not how she died." Mae's questioning eyes turned into a full blown questioning expression as she waited for him to tell her more...tell her everything.

Scott looked at Stiles with a 'did you know about that?' look on his face and Stiles' face silently replied with 'yeah'.

Mae's posture straightened a little as she asked, "How did she die then?" It didn't seem like Derek was going to offer up this information willingly so she pushed it and would push it again even harder if she didn't get more information.

Derek couldn't look at her as he spoke and leaned forward on the table, looking out the windows in front of him. "I took Paige down to an old root cellar to be with her in her last moments. She was in so much pain, I couldn't stand seeing her like that. So, I took her pain away…I took everything away."

Mae didn't know what she was expecting to hear but she honestly wasn't expecting to hear that. Not really. She had shock on her face and pain filled eyes, "You…you killed her?" her voice seemed to be quaking as she spoke.

Derek nodded, "The root cellar turned out to be the Nemeton. So yes Stiles, that does sound familiar." Derek looked at Mae out of the corner of his eye but she couldn't stand to look at him at that moment. Without a word Mae went over to door leading out to the balcony. She couldn't be in that room any longer.

Derek wanted to go out there with Mae but he didn't, he couldn't. Derek would wait and give her time to process and talk to her later. Especially if she was something similar to what this legend was describing then he would have to keep her safe at any cost. "So you're saying that Deaton thinks Mae is this sacrificial lamb turned wolf? The key to unlocking this power?" Derek asked.

Stiles nodded, "Yeah. It makes sense." It was the only thing that seemed to make sense period at this moment.

Liam still didn't get something, "Not really though. I mean, Mae has memories of her life. All sixteen years of it. Wouldn't she only remember her time back on earth from the point she was, you know, brought back?"

Malia pointed at Liam and said, "Kid has a point there."

Stiles looked at Scott, "Anything in the legend to explain it?" his tone of voice practically screamed 'great, we solve one piece of the puzzle only to be presented with yet another by Liam here'.

Scott shook his head, "Not with what we have. The last couple pages are missing. Kira's helping her mom look for the rest of it."

Derek practically threw the book across the table. "Well that doesn't help anything." He moved away from the table, feeling very frustrated.

Liam looked out to the balcony at Mae then asked, "Does this mean we're back to where we started? Not having a clue?"

Scott looked at Liam, "No, it just means this puzzle is way bigger than we thought it was."

After a little while Liam headed out onto the balcony to check in on Mae. He had a jacket in hand, "Here. It's getting chilly." The stars were already starting to come out, she had been out there a lot longer than anyone thought she would be.

Mae reached out and took the jacket from him, "Thanks." she said with a mild smile as she started to slide her arms into the sleeves.

Liam shrugged, "Thank Derek, it's his." there was a bit of disdain in his voice as he said that. It was also like he was kicking himself for not having his own jacket with him to offer to her.

Mae's putting the jacket on process slowed a bit after hearing that but she finished putting it on anyway. Mae was mad as heck at Derek but that didn't mean she was going to let herself get cold because of it. She may have her pride or whatever, but she's not crazy. At least she didn't think she was...

"So…" Liam started since he was actually debating whether or not she would actually want to talk to him or anyone right then. Finally he decided that he would ask her so he asked, "You alright?"

Mae sighed, "Can we start with an easier question?" Such a normal question to ask someone was one of that last things that she wanted to answer. For starters, she didn't know how the hell she was feeling or which part of her inside was actually feeling it. Was it Mae? Was it Paige? Was it a blend of the two? Was she even Mae at all or was she all Paige with some twisted around life story? All of this was running through her mind so yeah, she was in no place to answer the simple question of 'you alright?'.

Liam didn't know what to really say to her now. There was a lot that he wanted to ask, there was a lot that he wanted to know about her too, but also he didn't want to upset her. Upsetting Mae was the last thing he wanted to do. Finally Liam asked what was on his mind and hoped she wouldn't hate him for asking. "Do you remember? What Derek said, do you remember it happening?"

Mae didn't really want to talk about it but she shook her head anyway, "No. It's like the memory stops right before the alpha bites me...bit her, whatever. Maybe my subconscious doesn't want me to remember because it'll hurt so much."

Liam didn't know how to help her so he asked lamely, "Want a hug?" He held out his arms just in case.

Mae laughed lightly, "Sure, why not." Mae got closer to Liam and hugged him as he hugged her. When Liam hugged Mae, he could feel her relaxing a bit as she hugged him back. It made him smile and even though he couldn't see it, she was smiling a little bit as well.

Derek was looking at them from across the loft. His hands were clenched at his sides. He knew he had no claim, or right, or anything and yet he couldn't help what he was feeling.

Stiles went over to Derek after noticing what he was looking at, "Don't turn into a sourwolf now." He said teasingly with a grin.

Derek glared at Stiles which made him back up a bit. As Stiles backed away he held up his hands and said, "Okay, okay, point taken."

Derek hated seeing Liam hugging Mae like that and was feeling territorial over her. It took every fiber of his being not to go out there and forcibly pull the two of them apart. Knowing that he had no right and feeling this way was tearing at him and he doubted it would ever stop.

By the time Liam and Mae came back inside after having a long conversation about anything and everything except for what was going on, it was getting pretty late. Scott had gotten off the phone with Lydia and Kira and gave everyone present the update. "Lydia says there's no metaphorical reference of a lamb turning into a wolf in the bestiary so that's a dead end. Kira and her mom haven't found the pages yet but are still looking. They're going to contact other people about it in the morning."

Mae took a breath, "So in other words there's nothing more we can do tonight?" she wasn't sure if she was more relieved about that or frustrated.

"Seems so." Scott replied even though it was clear that he wished that there was something they could do.

"Well at least we know one thing for certain." Mae said a bit snarkily before going over to Derek as she started to take off the jacket.

"Keep it." Derek said to Mae as he reached out to stop her from taking it off. Mae didn't want to and yet also did so she said, "Fine, but only because I'm cold." Derek was glad she kept it at least, even though now Liam's scent was all over it.

Scott went over to Mae, "You should come crash at my house. It's got a supernatural defense system in case Damon shows up."

Mae rubbed her arms a little before replying, "Okay." With everything else going on her mind she didn't need to worry about Damon too. She trusted Scott when he told her about the defense system so for at least that one night, she wouldn't have to worry about her safety. "I don't have any clothes with me though…" Mae stated to which Scott replied, "Don't worry about it. You can wear something of mine to sleep in tonight and we'll figure out the clothes in the morning." Mae nodded, accepting that answer.

"We'll meet up with you guys tomorrow. Call if anything happens." Stiles told them before he and Malia left the loft.

Liam then asked Scott, "What do you need to me do?" he was hoping that Scott would also invite him to crash at his house but he didn't want to be so...obvious about it. That and he didn't want to just up and invite himself.

Scott turned his attention to Liam, "Nothing for tonight. Go home and get some rest. Maybe work on that book report?"

Liam rolled his eyes a bit at that and that reminded Mae that she didn't even have her backpack with all her school stuff in it. Another thing to add to the list of things she needed to get from the house…somehow.

"Don't meant to rush but can we get out of here? I just want to get some sleep." Mae said to Scott before her eyes quickly darted to Derek. Still not being ready to be near Derek was a part of that too.

"Yeah, do you mind staying here while I bring Liam home though? Bike's not big enough for three." Mae was about to reply when Derek said, "I can take Liam home. You just keep Mae safe."

Scott looked at Liam for an objection which Liam didn't have. At least not really, he wanted Mae safe just as much as Derek did. Granted he would have rather gotten a ride from someone else but still.

Since Liam wasn't voicing any objection Dere said, "Okay, let's go."

Mae and Scott left the loft to head back to his house while Derek went to get his keys. Before Derek and Liam left the loft, Derek said to Liam, "Don't even think about doing anything to hurt Mae."

Liam could feel his temper coming to the surface as he said, "I could say the same to you but there's no point. You've already hurt her." The two had a bit of a stare down for a moment before they both left the loft for Derek to bring Liam home.

Even with Scott's supernatural security system in place Mae still couldn't get to sleep. It was almost 3AM when she looked at the clock and groaned inwardly. She couldn't stare up at that ceiling for another moment so she crept out of the bed in the guest room and downstairs.

When she got downstairs, Mae found Scott's mom, Melissa, in the kitchen. Looked like she was doing bills or something at the table. "Sorry," Mae said, "Didn't mean to disturb you."

Melissa set down the paper she was looking at and faced Mae, "Don't worry about it honey. You want something to eat? Drink?"

Mae shook her head in reply, "Not really, just had to do something since staring at the ceiling wasn't working for me anymore."

Melissa looked at her in an understanding way, "Well I'm just about done with this, so you want to play cards? A good game of solitaire usually does the trick for me."

Mae smiled at the suggestion and asked, "How about rummy?"

Melissa smiled, "Of course. The cards are in that drawer over there." She pointed to the drawer and Mae grabbed the deck while Melissa gathered up the papers she was looking over.

Mae took a seat at the table and began shuffling the cards. "I wanted to thank you for letting me stay the night and for setting up the security system."

Melissa smiled at Mae, "It's nothing, so don't worry about it. Okay?" She was starting to feel as protective over Mae as she did over all of Scott's friends.

Mae nodded a little as she started dealing out the cards for their game of rummy. As they played their game they talked a bit about what's going on and silly stuff too like the latest celebrity breakup and stuff like that. After a few games of rummy and a few more conversations, Mae was feeling tired.

She went into the living room and grabbed Derek's coat from the back of the couch where she placed it earlier. Mae said goodnight to Melissa and headed upstairs. Mae put the jacket on and climbed into bed as she took in Derek's scent from the coat. Not just Derek's scent but Liam's as well. She found them both very comforting to her, a pleasant blend of the past and the present. After pulling it closer around her she finally fell asleep. This time when she dreamed, her dreams were more like nightmares because she dreamed of exactly how Paige had died. They were definitely nightmares indeed.

The dream of Paige's death repeated itself over and over again like one horrible broken record. Mae tried to wake herself up from the dream but it didn't work. Each time she dreamt of Paige's death it was like she was seeing it, experiencing it differently. Sometimes she was watching as herself, another was from Derek's point of view, another was from Paige's and one was from the view of someone that she didn't even know was there when it happened. It was an endless rotations of points of view and it was driving Mae insane.

The insanity of her dreams must have been evident in her sleeping body because Scott had gone into her room to check on her because he heard her moving about so much. Scott sat on the bed and gently placed his hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.

This jolted Mae awake and she reacted with her wolf side coming out and grabbing Scott by the throat. A second later when she realized who it was, she gasped and pulled her hand back as she turned back to normal. "Oh my god, Scott I'm so sorry." Mae said to him truthfully.

Scott was hardly phased by it, "It's fine. Wouldn't be the first time someone tried to kill me." That was a lame attempt to try to make Mae laugh, but it didn't work. "You alright?" He asked, "You were moving around a lot."

Mae sat up a bit more and ran her hand through her hair, "Kept dreaming of my, Paige's death on repeat. It wasn't pleasant."

Scott looked at Mae softly, "I'm sorry." his voice was truthful when he said those words.

She shrugged, "Not your fault. It's not like you were the one that killed me, her." Mae rubbed her forehead because she kept mixing up who she was talking about. It was getting on her nerves.

Scott took his opening to share his opinion, "He did that to spare her from any more suffering. I'm pretty sure that every good thing he has done since then has been to make up for that. You're angry with him, I so get that but don't hate him for too long."

Mae listened to what Scott had to say but didn't say anything in reply. She just pulled Derek's jacket tighter around her.

Scott could see that Mae really didn't want to talk about it, about anything right then so he just said, "I'm here if you need someone to talk to, about anything. You're my beta now which is an automatic spot on the people I care about list. Even if you weren't my beta you'd still be on the list. And remember, I'm not Damon, you don't have to be afraid of me." Scott smiled for a moment then got up to leave the room.

Before he left Mae said, "Scott…thank you."

Scott smiled again and replied, "No problem. Come downstairs when you're ready. My mom's making pancakes. Oh and my mom washed your clothes from yesterday so you'd have something to wear while we figure out how to get your stuff." After that Scott headed downstairs.

Mae smiled again then took in Derek and Liam's scents from the jacket which was now intermingled with her own. It was melancholy in a way but just what she needed. After a few minutes of just lying there, thinking, she got up and got dressed; trying to prepare herself for the day ahead.

When Mae entered the kitchen Scott and his mom were debating about something. She thought it was something pertaining to everything had been going on and wasn't quite ready to deal with that.

All those thoughts were shoved out of her head when Scott say Mae and said, "Here, we'll let her decide. Mae, which are better? Chocolate Chip or Blueberry pancakes?"

Mae looked caught off guard by that question. "What?" Mae asked with a chuckle.

"Chocolate chip or blueberry?" Scott repeated and awaited her answer.

Mae thought about it then said, "Well…I'm more of a strawberries pancakes kind of girl. So, not going to be much help with you there."

Melissa said, "Ah ha! Blueberries win."

Scott looked at his mom like she was nuts, "No way! She said strawberries!"

Melissa replied, "Yes but they are both berries which mean the deliciousness of the berry beats out the chocolate chips."

Scott shook his head, "Nope. Doesn't count." Scott then ate a big bite of his chocolate chip pancakes with a 'mmm' expression which made Mae laugh.

"You two are so weird." Mae said with with a shake of her head as she put some plain pancakes on her plate. It was oddly nice having breakfast with Scott and his mom. It actually felt like a home.

That afternoon Scott and Mae went back to her house. "You sure about this?" Scott asked as Mae took off her helmet.

"Yeah," She replied, "Damon always leaves for a run around this time. I'm just going to run in grab a couple things and get out." Honestly she hated this idea but couldn't think of any other way to get what she needed.

Scott clearly didn't like the idea of this, "I should come in with you." he said then started to get off the bike.

Mae shook her head, "No, I got this." Mae quickly got off the bike went up the front stairs, then headed inside. There was no one in the house so Mae took advantage of this and got her backpack and threw as much clothes as she could into a duffel bag. She was about to dart back out when she realized that her cello wasn't where it usually was in her room. Mae felt her heart sank as she thought about what Damon could have done with her beloved instrument. There was nothing she could do about it now and there was only a little time left before someone would be coming back.

Mae hurried down the stairs with her backpack and duffel bag. Before leaving the house she set her key on the table near the door then left.

"Everything alright?" Scott asked as Mae got on the back of his bike and positioned the duffel bag properly.

"Yeah." She replied as she took the helmet from Scott.

"Liar." He replied as he put his helmet visor down.

"No argument there." Mae muttered as her reply before putting her arms around Scott as he drove off.

Scott pulled his bike up in front of his house and helped Mae with her bags as she got off. Stiles' Jeep was there and when Scott got off his bike, Stiles came out of the house. "Hey Scott, hi Mae. Has Kira found anything yet?"

Scott pulled off his helmet then shook his head, "Not yet." he was really hoping that one or both of them would have found something by now.

Mae practically growled at that fact and walked past Scott and Stiles to bring her stuff up to the guest room. "What's her problem?" Stiles asked Scott to which Scott replied, "You really need to ask that?"

Stiles thought for a second, "Nope, not at all. Oh by the way, your dad's here."

Scott's expression turned into 'wth?', "Don't you think that's something you should have mentioned before Mae went into the house?"

Stiles got Scott's point and the two of them hurried into the house to find Scott's father talking to Mae.

"You're staying here?" Agent McCall asked Mae.

Mae nodded, "Until something else comes along, yeah. Why? You got a problem with that?"

Agent McCall replied, "No, I'm just trying to understand why a teenage girl is moving into the room down the hall from my teenage son's room."

Mae pulled her duffel bag over her shoulder as she said, "Because I've recently been kicked out of my house so instead of getting sent into the system or whatever, Scott and his mom were nice enough to let me stay here until things get figured out. That a good enough answer for you?" Without waiting for an answer Mae walked past Agent McCall and went upstairs.

Scott went over to his dad when Mae headed upstairs to put her things away.

"Should I be concerned?" Agent McCall asked Scott.

"Nope, just a friend helping out a friend." Scott answered. It really wasn't a lie either, he just didn't divulge the entire truth.

Agent McCall had an 'uh huh' look on his face then started talking about his reason for coming over, "Am I still picking you up for dinner tonight?"

Scott nodded, "Yep."

His father was pleased with that answer, "Alright. I'll be back later Scott."

Agent McCall looked at Stiles and nodded his head in a 'goodbye' sort of way before leaving the house.

"Good thing Mae didn't say..you know..anything." Stiles said to Scott and Scott replied, "She probably could tell he was a human."

Just then Mae came downstairs with her school backpack, "Yeah I could. And since your dad didn't know that I was going to be staying here I took the safe route and assumed he didn't know about anything else. Which was a little surprising I must say to realize that your mom knows your secret but not your dad. Family drama never ceases to amazed me." Mae adjusted her backpack on her shoulder, "I'm going to the library so I can have some sense of a normal teenage life. That includes getting school work done." She was heading out the door when both Scott and Stiles blocked her way.

"That's not a good idea." Scott told Mae.

She crossed her arms defiantly, "Why?" she asked, clearly not pleased.

Stiles scoffed, "You mean aside from the fact that you're some mystical key to unlocking an ultimate evil? Oh nothing."

Scott tried a different approach, "Damon could also be looking for you, especially if he realizes that you were at the house."

Mae did not want to admit that they had points but she had to, "I know but I'm not going to stay locked up in this house all day. I know everything involving me is going to hell and back but still I don't care. For one day I would just like to feel like a normal teenager who doesn't have a noose around her neck that's just waiting to be pulled. So please, just let me go to the library." She tried not to sound like she was begging, but in a way...she was and boy did she hate it.

Scott and Stiles looked at each other and Mae found it bizarre how the two of them seemed to have a silent conversation amongst themselves. They seemed to have a shared idea given the looks on their faces. Mae didn't think she was going to like where this was going.

Mae was right about her earlier thought. She didn't like where their idea was going. Mae was permitted to go to the library but there was a catch…she had to have a 'baby sitter'. Mae was in the library looking across the table at Derek who was reading something. The last person she wanted to spend time with at the moment was Derek but if she didn't agree then Scott probably would have locked her in the house for her own safety.

"What are you staring at?" Derek asked Mae and she replied, "The person who was haunting my nightmares last night."

Derek turned the page of his book, "What did your nightmares consist of?"

Mae just looked at Derek with a 'what do you think?' look on her face.

Derek looked at Mae and saw her expression, "You remembered?" he sounded upset about that fact.

Mae replied, "Yep." Then she went back to her school work but wasn't getting very far with it. Derek was more of a distraction than anything else. So much for her laser like focus. "I'll be back." Mae said as she got up and Derek started to do the same.

"Where are you going?" He asked because wherever she was going, he was going too. To an extent anyway.

Mae was getting frustrated, "I'm getting a book and I don't need a bodyguard to do that."

Derek didn't want to let her go off on her own but he sat back down, making sure to keep his eyes on her as long as possible.

Mae couldn't find the book she was looking for and was starting to get even more frustrated. So much in fact that she wanted to punch something. She leaned back against one of the shelves and tried to calm herself down. A part of her wished that she never moved here to Beacon Hills and yet the other part of her felt that even with everything else that was attached to it, it was the best thing that could have happened to her.

When Mae finally calmed herself down she found the book she needed and went back to her table. "Feeling better?" Derek asked when he sensed Mae approaching.

"Excuse me?" She asked in a 'what the hell are you talking about?' sort of way.

Derek looked at her, "I could smell your frustration a mile away." Was his truthful and straightforward reply.

"Oh." Was all she could manage to say about that as she took her seat. Mae took Derek's jacket off that she was wearing and caught Derek's smirk as she did it. "What's that look for?" Mae asked.

Derek smiled some more, "You're still wearing the jacket." he gestured to it as he spoke.

Mae looked at Derek and said, "Don't read anything into that. It's comfy, and I admit I like the scent, but that's all. I'm still mad at you. I can give it back to you right now if that's what you want."

Derek shook his head as he continued to read, "Like I said before, keep it. Besides it looks better on you."

Mae tried very hard not to smile as she went back to working on her assignments for school the next day.

Mae and Derek were at the library for most of the day while she got her school work done. When it was all set the two of them walked out of the library but stopped suddenly when they both caught Ty's scent.

Ty moved from around the van where he was waiting for Mae. "I had a feeling you'd be here." he said to her with a smile

Derek wanted to lunge right at Ty but Mae held him back. "What are you doing here?" Derek demanded.

"I'm here to talk to Mae, that's it." He replied with hands raised.

"You're not getting anywhere near her!" Derek growled back.

Mae didn't take her hands off Derek for a second because she knew if she did then he'd lunge for Ty and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

"Guys we're in front of a public library. Calm down before we make a scene." Mae could feel Derek trying to calm himself under her touch. She was glad about that then looked at Ty and said, "I'm not going back to Damon no matter what you do."

Ty nodded and said, "I know, but I'm not here for that. I'm here to give you this." He opened up the back door to the van and revealed Mae's cello. "I thought you might want this."

Mae took a couple steps closer to Ty as he pulled out the cello and held it out to her. "I promise that's all I'm here to do."

Mae didn't sense he was lying so she reached out and took her cello from him. "Thank you Ty." She turned around to head back to Derek as Ty said, "For what's it's worth Mae…I'm sorry."

Mae turned her head to look at Ty, "I'm not."

Ty took a breath because that was not the answer he was hoping to hear, "Hope to see you around Mae." He then closed up the van, got in, and drove off.

Mae held onto her cello as she looked at Derek, "Can you take me home now?"

Derek nodded and wrapped his arm around Mae, kissing the top of her head softly, "Yeah." he answered sodtly.

The two headed to his car and once the cello was loaded up Derek brought Mae back to Scott's house. It was quiet during the whole drive because Mae was thinking about Ty and Derek was thinking about how much he didn't like the fact that Mae had accepted the cello from him.

(End Chapter 8)