Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.

Epilogue

"Tell Rogelio I said hi," Rose said into the phone.

"I will," her mother responded. "I love you very much, mija. And don't worry about your father. Everything will be fine."

"I know," Rose said. She said goodbye and hung up.

She relaxed on her couch and drank the wolfsbane-infused tea. It was a rare moment of peace and she wanted to take full advantage of it before life would throw itself out of balance again. Kate was still out there doing God knows what. They had to plan their next move and put an end to her quest for revenge against Scott.

Her phone chimed. It was Parrish asking if she was alright. She texted him back, saying she was getting better. She spent the day sleeping, taking the iron pills, and drinking the tea every so often. The buzzer sounded and Rose answered the door, wondering if Parrish was surprising her.

"Hey Derek," she greeted with a smile when she saw it was him instead. "How are you?" She was more than happy to see her best friend standing in her doorway, as healthy as ever. It was a sight she told herself to never take for granted.

"We need to talk," he said seriously, not waiting for an invitation to come in. "It's about this medicine you used on me."

Rose had told him what she and Morrell had done, leaving out the most important part - that the key ingredient was her wolfsbane blood.

"What about it?" she plopped back down on the couch and chugged the rest of her tea, hoping it wouldn't make him suspicious. Now that he had his sense of smell back, she didn't want him to detect the wolfsbane in the tea, despite it being only a small amount and mixed with green tea and honey.

If Derek thought her need to quench her thirst was strange, he didn't say so. He sat in the armchair he had forced her to sit in the night her name appeared on the dead pool. "I've been thinking a lot about how you resurrected me. I know it had to be more than just herbs and drugs. Braeden told me you got sick."

Rose didn't say anything. This is what she feared would happen. She hadn't come up with a good enough explanation, focusing more on her own health and well-being. She was hoping she had more time to figure things out.

"Even though I was in a coma, I still heard everything," Derek continued. "You told Morrell that she could have more. More what?"

"I gave her ingredients," Rose said truthfully.

Derek smirked. He knew Rose was no fool - she knew better than to lie to him now that he was a functional werewolf again. He knew Rose could manipulate her words to be the technical truth, even if there was another meaning behind them. He knew all her tricks.

"What kind of ingredients? Why were you sick?" Derek asked. He tried a different approach. "Rose, you and I have been friends for years. You can trust me, you can tell me anything. Haven't I proved to you that I can be trusted? I don't know why you're hiding."

Rose sighed and crossed her arms. She wanted to tell him everything, but Morrell had made her promise. If she told Derek the truth about her blood, he would want to find out more about it, and it would encourage her to experiment on her blood. But she had given Morrell her word and knew that looking into the matter would have consequences. She knew there was a reason why Laura went through the trouble of making them forget.

"Don't I have the right to know what you did to my body?" Derek asked when she stayed silent.

"Just leave it alone. It's over now. You're alive and your abilities are back. That's all that matters. If you continue this, you'll be going down a dangerous road. Alone," she said, emphasizing the last word. She stood up and walked to the door, opening it wide.

Derek didn't understand why she was being stubborn. Yes, he was glad he was alive with his abilities, but Rose didn't just restore him - she made him stronger. He had been reborn at the peak of his power. Even as an alpha, he wasn't as strong as he was now. He had spent hours in the woods testing out his new body. He had never felt so fast and his senses were heightened to a whole new level.

Meredith had said Rose made the alpha strong, just like in the past - a past that was taken from him. Derek didn't like secrets.

He walked towards her and Rose felt relieved that he was leaving. She knew he would ask about it again and she would have to find a better way to diffuse him, but she was still recovering from the ordeal they just had. She would be returning to work the next morning and needed to rest. She would come up with a solution to Derek's interest after consulting with Deaton and Morrell.

Instead of walking out the door, Derek closed it. To her surprise, he wrapped his long arms around her slim frame and hugged her. Confused but appreciating the gesture, Rose hugged him back. She was happy he was alive and well, that she hadn't failed him and his mother.

"I'm sorry," Derek said quietly.

Rose's lips curved up into a smile. It was a rare event for Derek to apologize and she glowed in the moment. Maybe he would really leave it alone after all. Maybe Derek would realize that accepting his miraculous recovery for what it was would be the right thing to do. They had bigger fish to fry and better questions to ask like what kind of supernatural Parrish was.

It happened so fast and without warning. In one swift move, Derek sank his claws in the flesh of Rose's neck, completely blindsiding her. His eyes glowed bright blue at the contact, two azure orbs looking through her mind. Rose gasped in pain as he searched through her memories of the last few days, revealing all the secrets she refused to tell.

Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, thank you thank you thank you for making it to the end (and just in time for Season 5 tomorrow!). Did anyone guess what each chapter had in common? I challenged myself and started each chapter with the same word that it ends with. It took some creativity but I was able to do it for every single chapter.

I am currently working on the sequel to this story which goes more in depth on Rose's blood and what happened to Derek and Rose on prom night. I'll also reveal what exactly Meredith meant when she said "she'll make the Alpha strong." I have big plans for Scott and we'll get to see him grow as an alpha.

So excited for Season 5!