Hey there, I just want to say thank you to you wonderful humans for all of the support. You're fantastic. Also, Teen Wolf has returned and I don't know about you, but I'm kind of going crazy.

Anyway, here is a brand new chapter.

Chapter 66

Derek sat on the black suede couch, reading a book. The loft was slowly filling with morning light. He didn't get any sleep and his eyes felt dry. He got up tiredly and went through his morning routine before heading to the construction site. The Hale house was being rebuilt. With all of the quiet lately, he could finally have it put back to its former beauty.

Summer was here which meant hot and muggy days. He missed those days. They were long and relaxing or so he remembered from when he was a teenager. He could feel those days returning and it filled him with a subtle happiness regardless of Scott.

The house was almost finished. Derek had yet to decide if he wanted to move into it. Cora was dead set on taking the loft. What he'd really been thinking about these past few weeks was taking a vacation away from Beacon Hills. The town was calm. There hadn't been issues for a long while. Even Peter had disappeared. Derek didn't question it. Deep down, he hoped he was dead, permanently. Maybe it was time to leave.

Derek laced up his boots and made his way to the site. The road was still rocky, but a stone path was going to be put in after the house was finished. Shovels rattle in the back. A few guys were already there and so was the Sheriff. Tommy, a junior at the high school pointed at him as he was getting out of the car.

"Derek," the sheriff said.

The tone held no hint of a greeting. It was the familiar sound of a heavy heart.

"A sixteen year old kid was found in the woods. He was tore in two, like an animal attack."

Derek's lips pressed together and he shook his head. The memory of finding Laura crossed over his eyes and he tensed, resisting a shudder of horror.

"It wasn't Cora or I. I swear," he said through his teeth.

"I know."

The sheriff sighed and rubbed his forehead. Derek's head tilted. The sheriff had an idea of who it was already.

"Who do you think did it?" he asked.

"Scott told me that the alpha pack wanted him. I can't help wondering that with his first year of college coming to an end, they're going to rip this town apart now that he is coming back home. I haven't seen them anywhere around town but I know they're out there."

Derek didn't disagree. Looking at the half built house, his brows furrowed. Scott should handle this. Derek didn't have much of a pack outside Cora and that alone only made it family, not a pack. If Scott needed their help, Derek was more than glad to supply it. Staying away, for now, was the best plan. No more blood and loss.

"Talk to Scott. They're coming back soon, right?"

The sheriff nodded.

"Stiles is helping Scott and Isaac pack."

He turned, half nodding in deep thought then stopped and turned.

"Derek."

Derek glanced up and out of his distant stare.

"Be careful."

The sheriff eyed the house, giving a small smile and then got in his car and left. Derek watched the trail of dust settle. The workers were mumbling about the murder. Derek's ears twitched. This shit was not coming back.

Isaac tied the last bungee down over the top of the jeep.

"That's the last of it," he said. Sweat trickled down his chest. He tilted his head back, closing his eyes from brightness of the midafternoon sun.

Freshman year was officially over and summer was here. With a recommendation from Melissa and two other professors, he'd gotten an internship at the hospital. It wasn't anything big. He'd be pushing carts, doing inventory, cleaning piss up off of the floors. Only two other freshman got internships and it happened to be a big. Isaac was just glad that he had something to occupy his time.

"Allison and Lydia are already home," Scott said.

"Let's go," Stiles said, leaning out the driver's side window. "I'm starving."

Isaac nodded. Most of campus was already empty aside from professors. Both young men got in the jeep and they were gone.

"So, uh," Stiles said as they crossed into town, "there's something you guys need to know. I wanted to wait to tell you."

Stiles glanced at his rearview mirror. Isaac stared in a daze out the window.

"My dad found a body on the edge of town. Campers reported it."

"Don't say a dead body," Scott sighed.

"Oh no. It's this new lake," Stiles smarted off. "Yes, a dead body…as much as it sucks."

"Melanie was right," Isaac spoke up. "This town will never quit."

Nobody said anything for the rest of the ride. They didn't need to. It was the alpha pack. Stiles's best poker face was void of all emotion. He bit the corner of his mouth. That meant he was all kinds of worried and scared.

The sheriff and Melissa were on the porch. Neither of them was out of uniform. Parking behind Melissa's car, the boys got out and greeted both of them with hugs.

"It's good to see you boys," she said. "I ordered pizza."

Sheriff Stilinski jostled his son, but the lightheartedness of it did nothing to lift his spirit.

"It's good to be home," Scott said.

Even aloud the words didn't sound real. A light honk caused him to jump. He turned to see Allison and Lydia pull up and park out front of the house.

"Looks like all of the kids are here," Melissa chuckled.

"I have to head out. Deaton is coming into the station tonight." Sheriff Stilinski said.

"I'll come with." Scott said.

Stiles nodded in agreement.

"You just got home Scott. Relax. We'll get into it tomorrow. I'm just trying to get some info. If it is this alpha pack, we need to be prepared."

"There's no being prepared," Stiles said.

"What?" Allison said as she stopped beside Scott. Her arm slid around his waist and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Nothing that's important right now," Scott told her. He kissed her forehead.

"Where's Isaac?" Lydia asked.

All of them craned their necks, looking around. Isaac wasn't anywhere in sight.

Slipping off as they were talking about a brand new problem, which was actually an old problem seemed perfect. Summer started only six hours ago and it already sucked.

Isaac surveyed the grass. He'd found a decent caretaker to watch over the cemetery while he was away at school. All looked well. Owning a cemetery was strange. There was no pride in it. Just dead people and the strong memory his father left behind. Taking care of those laid to rest was nice. Quiet.

He walked down the neat, dirt path toward the back of the cemetery and stopped at Melanie's grave. The grass had grown through the dirt by now. His heart sped up and he felt a pinching ache that quickly turned into gripping one combined with being stabbed with a dull knife, which he knew all to well. He touched his shoulder briefly. There wasn't a scar, but the memory was very much alive. Thinking about it now made him chuckle. She had been so freaked out.

"Hey, beautiful."

Isaac sat there for a few hours. The sun christened the trees by the time he left. The leave split the sun into golden orange ray that splotched the ground. Lavenders, blues and other colors of summer blended together in the sky. The streetlamps stretched his shadow as he walked home. A movie was on when he walked in. Lydia was asleep in the loveseat and Scott and Allison looked like they were about to pass out too. Stiles smirked to himself, like it was a secret, as he looked at his phone.

Isaac gave a nod and passed by into the kitchen. Melissa sat at the table.

"Where were you off to?" she asked.

"Just visiting a friend," he replied.

He grabbed a can of Coke out of the refrigerator and sat in the chair across from her.

"A friend?" her eyebrows rose disbelievingly.

He nodded.

"Yeah."

"Are you holding up alright?" she asked.

Isaac stared at the aluminum can, shining under the dull lighting. The light made the red shimmer.

"I'm fine," he replied blandly.

Melissa snorted. Fine. It was the term most often used to cover everything that was not great.

"In other words, not good."

"No. I'm here, but that's about it," Isaac said. "I don't know how else to describe it."

Melissa nodded, mulling over the words and then spoke up words that were filled with perfect mother wisdom. And as usual, it was at the perfect time.

"Don't live just to go through the motions, Isaac. Live because you have a reason to, because some part of you really wants to. And, I know that some part of you wants to even it's very small. It doesn't even have to be for you, but it's a reason that's more than motions."

"Hey," Stiles poked his head in. "I'm going to head out."

Melissa gave him the mischievous with knowing eyes.

"Okay. Drive safe." She watched him closely as he walked out of the house.

"He's going to see Cora," Melissa said. "Those two are so…unique."

Isaac smirked and shook his head. Stiles didn't hide like Scott and Allison had done. He and Cora were in plain sight for everyone to criticize. Isaac secretly envied them. Their relationship was seemingly condemned with Scott hating Derek so much, but they didn't let that drive them apart. No, they found that reason alone to be enough for them to keep being together because that was the hard moment. For Stiles, he was waiting for Scott to get over it because Cora wasn't Derek. For Cora, she secretly got a thrill out of Scott getting so angry about her being with his best friend.

The fact that their relationship worked despite its obstacles was phenomenal, especially now. Yeah, Isaac was envious, but he refused to say it out loud. He just smiled. He didn't like either of them very much. Stiles was annoying and Cora was a bitch. They made Isaac miss her more.

"Are you looking forward to your internship?" Melissa asked, tugging him from his thoughts.

"Sure," he replied.

He went up to bed after finishing his Coke. He felt unsettled here, a place he knew too well. It wasn't home and didn't like it either.

He dropped down onto the bed, not bothering to undress. He wasn't going to sleep tonight. He could feel it in his restless muscles as they twitched fatigued. There had been so many nights like this that he was surprised he wasn't used to them yet. Usually it wasn't an anxiety rush of thoughts that kept him from sleeping. It was just one thing, a person really.

He couldn't just flush her from his mind and he didn't want to.

"This is because of you," he muttered.

In the end, he couldn't imagine that Melanie would've been happy if he'd let himself go. In fact, she would've been very pissed off. He pictured her in a murderous rage. So he told himself often that it was because of her that he still drew breath thought it was forced. He had to remind himself often to breathe in and breathe out.

Tonight he was consumed by hearing sheriff Stilinski's news. The freaking nemeton is like a hellmouth, Isaac thought with a chuckle. Somebody seriously needed to get rid of it.

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