As Lydia woke slowly to bright white lights, she vaguely thought to herself that this was the most she'd ever been in the hospital in her entire life. An annoying, insistent beeping pinged in her ear, and only as she regained more consciousness did she recognize it as a heart monitor. She was alive.

Somehow, she had managed to deny Gerard the satisfaction of killing her with the second dose of his mystery potion, and although she felt like her brain was made out of concrete, she was alive. The thought thrilled her until she remembered that night. Derek knew about Peter's plan, thought she had betrayed him, and he was probably dead. Gerard and Peter had been plotting together the entire time, plotting to push her toward Derek, to break his heart and his soul. But the plan had backfired. She had fallen in love with him. She hadn't only been a pawn, manipulating him. No, she truly loved Derek Hale, and her heart broke as she remembered the utter betrayal on his face, and the hurt. What hurt the most was knowing that she'd met him because of Peter's plan, whether she'd agreed to carry through with it or not. She hadn't been honest with him, once she knew she could trust him, and told him Peter's plan so they could fight against him together.

Although she hadn't intentionally betrayed him, she felt as if she had and that broke her heart even more. A tear rolled down her cheek and she squeezed her eyes closed and her lips began to tremble with the sobs rising in her throat.

"Do you have a lot of pain, dear?" asked a worried voice, and she opened her eyes to see the older nurse she'd had the first time she'd been admitted. Shaking her head but not trusting her voice, she tried to smile and failed.

Gently patting her hand, the nurse checked the monitors and then smiled brightly at her. "We're beginning to become friends," she joked, adjusting a few settings on the machines and checking her iv. Lydia smiled sadly and looked down at her body. As feeling began to come into her limbs, she felt the bandages taped to her shoulders and one covering her hip where the arrows had hit her. Wiggling her toes, she felt the strain on her hip and winced slightly, biting her lip as the nurse frowned worriedly at her.

"You've been unconscious for about two days," the nurse informed her, checking her chart. "It's a good thing that handsome young man brought you in. You may not have made it. Did you know you had roofies in your system?!"

Lydia knew it wasn't a roofie, but if that's what the hospital staff wanted to call it, then so be it. She was more attuned to the 'handsome young man' the nurse mentioned. Could Derek have saved her life even though he hated her now?

"Young man... what young man?" she asked, her voice filling with hope.

"Oh, he's been waiting for you to wake up, been keeping your parents company," the nurse replied simply, hanging the chart back on the hook on the end of her bed. "The doctor will be in in a few minutes to check in and give you an update on your status. You might be able to go home now that you're awake!" She patted Lydia's foot and walked for the exit. "I'll tell your boyfriend he can see you now."

Her heart leapt at the word 'boyfriend' although she still doubted it was Derek. The nurse didn't know Derek was (or at least had been) her boyfriend, so it could be Stiles for all she knew. Shifting expectantly in the bed, she watched the door fervently, ignoring the aches in her body as her heart fluttered around in her chest with anticipation.

When the door opened, she could barely swallow as she saw him: Derek. He looked tired, but otherwise alive and well. Her relief that Gerard or Peter hadn't killed him overwhelmed her, along with the memories of his eyes when he'd found out she betrayed his trust. Tears welled into her eyes instantly at the sight of him, blurring her vision so she wiped at her eyes furiously, afraid if she couldn't see him then he wasn't really there.

He came to a stop at the end of the bed, refusing to look up at her, his shoulders rising and falling with each careful breath he took. She wanted to leap out of the bed and throw herself around him, to kiss him and just hold him until she fell asleep in his arms. She wanted to yell how much she loved him, how much she ached for him to look at her with those infinite blue eyes.

Finally, he raised his head and looked at her, and all of the passion she'd seen every time he looked at her was gone. Her heart broke into a million pieces, and she swallowed a sob. The hurt, the betrayal, in his eyes as he examined her tore her wide open, making her feel naked and exposed. She felt like a little girl in that gaze, not like the strong, beautiful woman she'd been for the past few months.

"Derek..."

He shook his head and looked down at the foot of the bed, his hands gripping it until his knuckles turned white and the bed creaked, straining against his inhuman strength. "Don't," he cut her off. He sighed audibly and glanced toward the room's window before looking back at her.

"I only stayed to make sure you were alive," he admitted, his voice hard and not hinting at any emotion he may still feel for her. "I'm leaving Beacon Hills. There's nothing here for me anymore."

Her mouth fell open to say she was here for him, but she knew it was pointless. The cold unfeeling in his eyes was enough to tell her he hated her. Her fingers gripped the blankets on her bed as more tears poured out of her eyes. She tried to say his name, tried to think of the words that would make him forgive her and stay with her, but she couldn't. She was only able to manage one thought.

"I thought... werewolves mated for life."

He snorted and smiled a dark, angry smile. "They do, but apparently, humans don't. Goodbye, Lydia."

With that, he turned his back on her and left the room. Throwing her head back against the pillows on her bed, she began sobbing until her throat felt raw and her head hurt. She wanted to kick and scream and chase after him, begging him to stay and pledging her undying love for him, but she couldn't do any of those things. She could feel she didn't have the strength to get out of the bed, and her words would do no good against his hardened heart. He'd stayed to insure she was alive, but for what? She didn't want to live without him, and knowing he hated her was worse than death.

The door opened, and she wiped ferociously at her face, swallowing her sobs and hoping for the mere glimmer of a second that Derek had returned to take back everything he said. To her chagrin, it was the doctor instead.

"Is everything alright, Miss Martin?" he asked. She nodded and cleared her throat.

"I'm fine. Just a little pain, that's all," she lied.

"Ah, yes, well you sustained several injuries and had a rufilin-like substance in your system, so pain is only understandable. I'll prescribe you with a strong ibuprofen. Wouldn't want to give you anything stronger," he amended, checking her chart and smiling pleasantly at her.

"Why is that?" she asked in confusion. "Will it react badly with the drugs that were in my system?"

"Well, there is that chance, but that isn't the only reason, of course," he said, looking at her expectantly as if she was supposed to already know what he meant. "Of course the nurse didn't tell you..."

Her brow furrowed in befuddlement as she shook her head, the heart monitor beating quicker with her agitation. She imagined hundreds of life-threatening diseases plaguing her in her head, and she sucked in fast, frightened breaths as the doctor shook his head and chuckled.

"I can't prescribe you anything stronger than ibuprofen, Miss Martin, because you're pregnant."

If you enjoyed Wolfsbane, stay tuned for the sequel, Wolfsblood, coming soon!