Hey guys! I hate saying sorry for "late updates" (LBH, you guys know how terrible I am) BUT THIS IS MUCH LATER THAN I WOULD HAVE LIKED. Sadly I had some apprehension about working on and getting this out, that you can read about in the third reply here if you want, or you can just scroll on like I'm sure ya usually do, as I tend to ramble, and LBH again, most of you don't care about me gabbing with reviewers! So, love you guys, enjoy the fic!

Cassie: Don't be sorry sweetie! I still got the motivation I needed, and besides, you shouldn't have to be the one reviewing every time! I love it when you do, because you're wonderful of course, but it's not your sole responsibility. Other people read and seemingly enjoy the story. If they can't bother dropping a NICE ONE in the reviews every once in a while, well... other than Author=Sad, worst case senario is a Chapter takes a few months, because I may be a bottomless pit of self loathing and procrastination like most authors, BUT I do sometimes overcome the fact that the only thing driving my creativity is the constant need to please and be praised by others, and write for my own... something or other. Wow, that got weird. Long story short, don't feel sorry. Of course authors need support and motivation, and of course you should give it as often as healthy for you! But if it slips your mind, or you brush it off once in a while, it isn't your fault if the author feels lacking in support. There are other reader and encouraging an author is just as much their part to play as it is yours. "The world is not on your shoulders alone" and neither is supporting this story. 333 PS- Sorry for the wait, I swear the "weird insinuation" is not important and will probably never be explained (I just wanted to illastrate Chris is Not Straight and may or may not have a type...?), and they 100% are definitely becoming besties. Should I be saying that? Is it spoilery? Who cares, no one is reading this but you reviewers. Your treat for giving a flip!

WillDawg: HELLO MY GOOD MAN. Hahahaha Enjoy the ease while it lasts because there are storms on the horizon. But on to the next and- hoo haha You're really making it hard for me not to be spoilery af here bud. Shoot, okay... How do I answer this tactily... Okay! Let's just say with the opening of the wound that is the Hale Massacre, Chris has his mind on much bigger things than old foxholes. And lastly, Peter coming back is going to cause a lot more mixed feelings than it did on the show. I won't be automatically type casting him as the villain. I hope to make his causes and grief obvious once the other characters find out it's him. You all might cry. Prepare yourselves. Was that good? That's good.

Squiggle: This comment was immature, rude, and really quite arrogant. For starters, All I said was that it was thanks to one person I put out an early update, as she was the only one to give me any motivation at all, through reviewing, and she actually encouraged me so much that a new chapter came out probably AT LEAST a month before it would have. Authors need motivation. I've made it very well known feedback is my main motivation to write. Partially because I do not get paid to do this. And yet here we are with a word count higher than many books, including all of Shakespeare's works. You as readers enjoy this story, and you get it entirely for free. It is not wrong for me to ask for a few pleased readers to drop a few reviews on each chapter. It is not wrong for me to point out and congratulate when one person does all of the work to motivate my writing out of an audience of 80 or so people. It is wrong that you would feel so entitled that you'd expect me to shut up and provide you with free entertainment with no motivation or pay out for myself. It is wrong that I had to be apprehensive to write a story I love for people I enjoy pleasing. It is wrong that every time I got the urge to work on this, and thought back on reviews for the needed motivation to do so, I ended up instead thinking "but why work on it if your readers think you don't deserve motivation to?" and "but if I finish it, I'll have to respond to that insensitive, ignorant comment". And why? Because you were butthurt that I gave someone props for being my sole motivation. Well you can thank yourself for the unnecessary wait. Please refrain from using the "reviews" for purposes other than reviewing in the future, particularly if those purposes are negative and counter productive.

~.~.~

"Where were you?! I was starting to think you wouldn't come!" Derek rolled his eyes as he walked up to the school. He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt as Scott huffed and glared in his panic. Derek gave him a look.

"Scott... Calm down. I said I'd be here, I'm here." Scott flailed a bit, following Derek inside.

"That's all you can say!?" Derek sighed.

"Dean and Sam were at my house when I got back from the store. They delayed me a bit." Scott's eyes went wide a second.

"Are you okay?! What did they want? Do they know?! We didn't say anything about you, Derek, swear." Derek shook his head, feeling slightly guilty for assuming one of them had told the hunters about him.

"Yes. They were making sure I wasn't the one who bit you. Yes, they know. And I know you didn't. I asked." Scott started breathing heavy, heart speeding up in turn.

"How'd they even find out? This is bad isn't it?" Derek turned and took Scott by the shoulders.

"It's fine. Stop panicking, I can take care of myself." Scott backed down from the point of panic where he probably would have turned, but still seemed a nervous wreck.

"They already don't like you though. What if-" Derek stayed firm.

"They won't." Scott bit his lip.

"But-" Derek shook he head.

"I'm keeping my head down. They have no reason to. It'll be fine." Scott nodded, though still fidgeting as they walked the mostly empty High School hall.

"What if Coach still-?" Derek shrugged.

"Then, like I said, I'll just have to kill you." He rolled his eyes as Scott jumped. "I'm kidding Scott. It'll be fine, we'll get you out of it." Scott just huffed.

"That's not funny!" Derek gave a scoff.

"No, but your reaction is." That earned Derek a glare, but too soon were they at Coach's office, and Derek was knocking. He smiled giving a nod once the shorter older man opened the door. He nodded to Scott.

"McCall..." He looked to Derek. "And you are...?" Scott spoke up before Derek could.

"Oh, uh, this is my... Cousin, Derek..." Finstock nodded, and stage whispered to Scott.

"Right... And... why are you two here?" Derek took over as Scott got nervous and stammered.

"Scott said there was an issue with his inability to play Saturday, and I figured there was some miscommunication and that I should come in to explain..." Finstock motioned them into his office and they followed.

"Feel free..." Derek sat down and waited for Scott to awkwardly do the same before he started.

"Mr. Finstock- Can I call you Robert?" The coach gave a dismissive wave of his hand as he sat on the other side of his desk.

"Bob's fine." Derek continued, giving a smile.

"Bob... See, the reason Scott's unable to play is because we, we recently lost my sister, Laura... She and Scott were very close, and her funeral is set for Saturday afternoon." Finstock shrugged.

"Game's not 'til nine, should have plenty of time..." Derek shook his head.

"It's also being held out of town to accommodate some of our older relatives down south, so we likely wouldn't get back until late evening, and even if he did get back in time, you must understand why he wouldn't be in the proper state of mind to play..." Coach nodded and gave a sigh.

"I understand completely. But like I told McCall, I need my boys on firstline there when I need 'em... If he's going to be unavailable for our first game, with less than a week notice... It doesn't look reliable..." Derek tried to be patient, but he was slightly appalled. Did he understand? Of course. But to hold having to go to a funeral against a teenager? It was a bit too much. He was sure his displeasure showed.

"But-" Derek stopped. Upset equals irrational in negotiation. He needed to take a breath. Think about the most he was going to get Scott here. "Bob, I get what you're saying, I do... And you know Scott, he loves lacrosse and he's dedicated. But how much good is he going to be mourning on the field?" Coach nodded knowingly, much to Scott's surprise as he sat there nodding like he was at a Parent Teacher conference, but Derek continues. "If we'd known sooner we would have let you know, but there's just nothing we could do. As you know Scott does want to play, but we don't know how late the service is going to run... And honestly, yes, Scotty is just so strong but, honestly, we can't be sure he'll be in any condition to be on the field. He could be out of it, and get hurt, or even get someone else hurt. I'm just concerned-" Coach held up his hand, looking almost pained.

"Der, I'll with ya buddy, it kills me being the bad guy here, but I need him at the game. I can give him a lot of leeway with this- he can miss pre-practice, I'm not gonna throw him out on the field on the verge of tears- but this is our first game, and McCall is a new to firstline... I need him at our first game. We need to be able to rely on him being there, just in case we need him even if he's benched... If we can't... I hate to do it, but he's gonna be second string this season." Derek thought on that. The familiar worry in Scott's eyes looking back at him said it all. It's not enough. What if something happened and Scott had to play? What if he lost control? No. He had to trust Scott here. He had to believe in him. He had to. Otherwise Scott wouldn't trust himself. Derek put a hand on the arm of Scott's chair.

"Scott..." Scott jumped suddenly being included again. "Is that okay? Are you gonna be able to manage that?" Scott seemed worried, though reassured by Derek's apparent approval. Coach Finstock cut in once more.

"McCall, as long as Jackson's in I'll let you sit out. The only way I'd have to put you in is to replace him..." Coach seemed more heartful with this than he usually did with his Independence Day speech. "Come on, McCall, you've got this, I know you do." Scott took a deep breath, accepting Coach's ignorant support. He looked back to Derek, who still had his hand on the chair.

"Y-Yeah, I'll try..."He looked back, gaze firm, though uncertain. "I'll do my best coach."

Scott sighed as they left the building, having had to watch in pain as coach made small talk with Derek for nearly two hours. It started with sports, and then got into recent weather, then climate change? Who was he kidding, he stopped listening when coach started talking about his varying sports hobbies... When he looked over to Derek, ready to half jokingly ask for a ride as his mom had dropped him off before heading to work, he found him ghostly pale, face set in worry, looking down at his phone. "What's wrong? Stiles dump you for Lydia?" Scott joked nervously. Derek swallowed as if he had a lump in his throat. Scott could hear Derek's heart racing at an inhuman pace.

"Something's wrong." Scott peeked over Derek's shoulder, and the texts from Stiles that were displayed.

OKAY YEAH HE MENTIONED YOU NO GOOD THIS IS BAD

OH FUCK SHIT IS GOING DOWN IDK WHAT TO SAY NOT GOOD

A time stamp read that the next message came ten minutes later.

Help

The short and curt follow up, along with that Stiles hadn't sent an all clear in the 35 minutes since, made Scott's heart race too. "Derek, he-" He didn't want to lie, but he couldn't let Derek just run off and do something stupid. "He's probably just being over dramatic... Probably just stuck in an awkward conversation or something..." Derek heart beat took on a different rhythm as Derek shoved his phone in his pocket. When he spoke it was hardly more than a growl.

"What if he's not..." It wasn't a question... Derek already had a pretty good idea of the answer.