Chapter 27: The Ex

The midday rush of students heading for the different cafeterias or designated hang out spots for lunch hit Joe when she emerged from Professor Walker's office. She let a flock of loud girls past her and took the opportunity to catch her breath. That woman was intense! Joe liked to think her bullshit-skills were on a higher level, but that meeting tested the very limit of her abilities.

Joe followed the stream down the hall towards the large set of doors that led outside. Her original plan had been to use last night preparing for the meeting, not wandering around high as a kite in the middle of a werewolf dispute. Or getting dragged out into the middle of the woods by a pissed off Alpha who claimed to be her true mate. Glad of the anonymity in the large crowd, she shook out her curls to relieve some of the heat that crept up her neck.

They hadn't...done anything. Despite Derek's confusion, they were both fully dressed with no sign of ever being in a state of undress. Sex in the woods sounded hot until you went home with your underwear full of pine needles. No, he'd just carried her out there like the wolf-equivalent of King Kong and then probably passed out himself of exhaustion. It was a wonder they both had all their fingers and toes intact. Maybe werewolves had a higher basal body temperature? She had attributed the intense heat from Derek as a sign of their — she grimaced even at the thought — 'connection', but maybe all werewolves were like that.

Not that a connection would do her any good at the moment. Joe emerged out from the building and saw no sign of Derek's black sportscar. Damn it! She told him to wait! Now she had to find a phone and call Aunt Mel to pick her up and that could take hours.

"Joe!"

She turned at the sound of her name and found Derek with sunglasses on lounging on one of the nearby park benches. Joe still had his jacket, leaving him in a tight ribbed sweater and she saw the neighbor bench full of girls casting long glances his way. More importantly, he also had two lidded paper cups with the logo from the campus coffee shop.

"Thank you," she said earnestly as he handed her one. Her pride did not stand a chance against her caffeine addiction. Joe took the seat next to him, with a Victorian appropriate distance of fifteen inches between them. The smell of espresso and heavenly steamed oatmilk enticed her when she removed the lid — an oatmilk cappucino.

"Campus security asked me to put the car in the visitor's lot," Derek said and took a sip of his own hot beverage. Joe would guess a plain black coffee for Derek Hale. "Emphatically. Several times."

"Mhm," Joe murmured, only half listening, as she enjoyed the caffeine entering her system in the most delicious way possible. The air still had a bite of lingering winter, but the sun made it bearable to sit outside. She leaned forwards on her knees, letting her eyes linger on the concrete and her muddy boots.

"So, how'd the meeting go?"

"What?" Joe peered back at him. The sunglasses made it impossible to see his eyes, but nothing else indicated the question was anything more than regular small-talk. Only, she and Derek never small-talked. "Uh...surprisingly well, actually."

In the middle of Joe's bullshit, she had uncovered a hidden gem. Starting the paper over would be suicide at this point, so she had proposed a compromise where she focused on the pattern recognition in rural law enforcement, using Beacon Hills as an example. It took the focus away of who done it and how they did it, but rather how effectively the police could see the connections.

"...so it still means a shit ton of work, but at least I haven't completely wasted almost three hundred hours on this," Joe concluded after relaying a short summary of the meeting to Derek.

His brows lifted above his sunglasses. "Three hundred hours?"

"Yeah, I know, but the the TA-stuff's taken a lot of my time too, not to mention running around after Scott," Joe said and missed the twitch in Derek's mouth. She should have been working full time on this paper from the beginning, not playing detective with Jimmy Carter.

Professor Walker claimed Professor Kane still wanted to keep her as a TA for the duration of the semester. Her exact words, said with a roll of her eyes, had been: "Bridget simply refuses to let go of you and while I normally would not allow a multi-mentorship situation, I suppose it would be difficult for her to find another suitable candidate so close to the mid-terms."

Joe hoped that meant she had not burned all the bridges with Professor Kane after her rushed interrogation last week. The academic world was smaller than you'd think. And unless Jimmy made a comeback into her life, Professor Kane might be the only neutral source of werewolf knowledge she had.

"Why three?" she asked, deciding to go straight to the most reliable, although biased, source available. "Scott said you needed three."

The change in Derek's body language was miniscule, but there. He'd been completely relaxed when she talked about her paper, even though it was essentially inspired by murders his own uncle committed. Now he was alert, almost defensive. Non-verbal communication was a part of the Psych 101-course taught by Professor Walker herself and Joe tried to remember some of the cues. She mimicked Derek's position, leaning back against the bench and keeping her arms uncrossed and open to try and show less aggression.

He glanced at the students milling past and the neighbor bench full of girls, who still shot glances at them, but mostly dirty ones directed to Joe. Satisfied no one was listening in, Derek unconsciously adopted her previous posture and leaned forwards to rest his elbows on his knees. Not defensive, more uncertain.

"The power of an Alpha comes from his pack." She only saw the side of his face as he talked, but he seemed to glance at her for a reaction. "There's no exact number of betas. It's just...balance." Derek sighed and stared ahead as the scenery of the college campus hurrying past reflected in his sunglasses. "If the Alpha doesn't fulfill his duties, the combined power of the betas should be enough to beat him."

"You think those three teenagers you turned can take you on?" Joe said with a slight laugh. Scott had wiped the floor with Isaac and Erica, she doubted the dynamics would shift that much with the addition of Boyd.

"Maybe," Derek said slowly, still staring straight ahead. "In time. If I train them." He picked at his surprisingly clean nails, considering they spent the night in the woods. "And if Scott joins."

At the mention of Scott, Joe let the smile slip from her lips. She took another sip of her cappucino, not knowing what to say. Derek kept quiet too, so she ventured a guess: "That's what the fight was about last night?"

He nodded slowly. "His only alternative is to become an Omega. Weak. Alone." Joe saw her own wide eyes stare back in the reflection of his sunglasses as he turned to look at her. "Vulnerable."

"Barking up the wrong tree here, buddy," Joe said and downed the rest of her cappucino. "No offense." Even if she had any sway in Scott's werewolf allegiance, Derek was not doing a particularly fine job of convincing her he was the right choice. A 16-year-old was not old enough to consent to anything, especially not lifelong lycanthropy. Derek, of all people, should know better. "Scott's fine by the way, not that you asked."

"I barely scratched him." Derek threw his empty cup in a perfect arch that landed it firmly in the nearest trash can. Joe frowned as she had a vivid memory of Scott curling up in pain over the groves in his abdomen. "I need to get back. We can talk in the car."

"Talk about what?" Joe asked suspiciously, but got up when he did, not willing to miss her ride back to Beacon Hills. Instead of answering, Derek pulled up the sleeve of his sweater and pinched his skin. The sting in Joe's own arm made her hiss. "Ow! Ass."

The visitor parking lot was across a wide area of greenery criss-crossed with various paths after students took shortcuts over it. Joe walked next to Derek in silence, pursing her lips to think of anything to say. Anything at all to spur a conversation and distract from the scent that the breeze blew her way. No cappucino to stuff her nose into and she knew he would notice and say something sarcastic again if she covered her nose.

How could a smell be gritty red and smooth amber at the same time? How could a smell taste like smoked honey and sweet coffee beans? How could a smell feel like a brisk day in the fall and freshly laundered sheets? She had heard of synesthesia, when senses mixed up and you could see music and taste drawings, but she had never experienced it with anything other than Derek's scent. It was just downright overwhelming if she allowed herself to take him in like that, like her human senses were just barely involved in the whole process and it went straight to her heart.

Whoa, okay, hold on, that was taking it too far, even if only in her mind. For all she knew, he could smell or sense her thoughts somehow, so...calm down, Joe. Be cool. Be angry. Derek's an ass. He's ruined three teenagers' lives and put them in harm's way of psycho werewolf hunters. And he slashed your cousin's stomach open last night, healing factor or not. And he kidnapped you!

Derek twisted his head slightly in her direction, brows pulling together in confusion. "You okay?"

Joe rolled her eyes. Stupid werewolves with their stupid enhanced senses. She was about to give a sharp reply on how she was perfectly fine, thank you very much, when she spotted the couple coming down the same sidewalk they were on.

It took a few seconds for it to register.

"Shit," Joe swore and turned her head to the side, halfway hiding behind Derek's shoulder. Derek's car was still a hundred yards down and the only other way to it was around the administration building. "We gotta go back."

Derek must have caught on where she was looking. The couple, walking hand in hand, leisurely came closer, but had apparently not spotted Joe yet as they looked engaged in a deep conversation. "Someone you know?"

"Yes, I know them. Or one of them, at least," Joe hissed from behind his shoulder. "And I look like absolute shit right now, so can we just..." She gestured frantically to the opposite direction, still time to make a smooth-ish getaway.

"Alex?" Derek guessed and she cursed her stupid heartbeat that must have given her away again. "Okay, relax. Just follow my lead."

"Follow your what? Hey!"

Joe's knees threatened to buckle under when Derek put his arm over her shoulder. He effectively steered her down the sidewalk again while Joe thought her rib would crack again from her muscles tensing up. She got what he was doing, but it did not change the fact that she would have preferred him wolfing out again and running off into the woods with her in tow.

Alex and her new friend, a girl, seemed so caught up in each other that Joe almost thought they would pass each other without incident. At the last possible second, Alex happened to glance up and her face split in a wide shocked smile.

"Joe! Hi!" she said while both cohorts stopped a few feet away from each other. Alex looked great, obviously, and she'd grown her hair out to a shaggy bob and bleached it to an unnatural light blonde. Most of it covered by a dark gray beanie that slouched in the back. She wore more make up than Joe remembered, her eyes lined heavily with black. "Wow, look at you and, uh, your hair!"

"Alex!" Joe said back in a voice sounding like it belonged to Stiles when he was trying to act innocent. She tugged awkwardly at her messy curls while nodding like a maniac. "Yeah, my hair's- yeah."

"Yeah, yeah." Alex did the same head nod. "Uh, it's good to see you," Alex said and clapped her free hand on her thigh. She gestured to her companion. "Uh, this is Madeline, by the way."

"Hi," said Madeline, who still held Alex' hand. She looked like a Madeline. She had pin straight brown hair that reached her pointed collar bone and dressed like a generic sorority girl with brown boots, black tights and an oversized knitted sweater-dress. Her smile came tight. "Nice to meet you. Alex told me all about you."

Joe's attempt at a friendly smile froze on the way to her lips. Why the hell would Alex tell her new girlfriend about her? She did not find her voice before Derek gave her shoulder a discreet squeeze. She jolted awake and indicated Derek, who still had his arm around her. "Oh, uhm, this is Derek."

"Hey, how ya doing?" Derek said and Joe glanced to the side, horrified to see Derek smiling widely like he was just another regular friendly guy.

"Hi, yeah!" Alex used her and Madeline's entwined hands to point at Derek. "Kelly told me she ran into you guys when she was here last month. Guess you'll be joining our annual reunion dinner?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Derek said and easily avoided Joe's attempt to pinch him in the side.

"So, uh, what are you doing here, Alex? I mean, uh, not like, only if you're staying long, not that I care, but just, since you graduated I thought, uh, didn't you move to LA?" Joe rambled and felt the flushed heat creep up her spine to meet her already burning neck from Derek's proximity. She became aware of Derek's thumb rubbing her shoulder gently from where he held her, almost as an attempt to calm her. It did not exactly work, as it only sent butterflies in wild chaos in her stomach.

"Oh, yeah, no, totally. Just in town to see Maddy present her paper," Alex explained and shared a loving smile with her girlfriend.

Joe jumped at the familiar topic and tried to smile at 'Maddy' too. "So you're doing your PhD here?"

"Uhm, no," said Madeline, who honestly looked a little freaked out. She gave Alex a nervous glance. "I'm a Sophomore."

"Right," said Joe and wondered if her ears were actually flaming red or just felt like that. "Sorry, I-"

"Joe's a little ahead of her peers," Alex explained to Madeline, the Sophomore, which made her, what, 20 years old or something? Madeline did not look fully comfortable yet, but Alex seemed to squeeze her hand before facing Joe again. "You still living off-campus? Beacon Town, right?"

"Beacon Hills."

"Right, sorry, my bad. Geography's never been my strongest suit. I swear, if it wasn't for Uber, I'd never make it to half my appointments outside a three block radius of my apartment," Alex yapped on while Joe smiled stiffly.

"Babe, we're gonna be late to see Kacey and Lu," Madeline half-whispered in a pleading voice to Alex while tugging on her hand.

"Right," Alex said and pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "We gotta go, sorry. Super nice meeting you, Derek. Joe, uh..." Madeline had started to tug Alex along. "Guess we'll be seeing each other at the reunion?"

Derek gave them a solid nod. "Sure will!"

"Yeah, totally," Joe said and tried another attempt at a friendly smile. "Nice meeting you, Mad-" The pair was already twenty feet away. "-eline."

When she was sure they were out of ear-shot, Joe let out a soft wheeze and put both palms to her cheeks to alleviate some of the heat.

Derek, still with his arm around her, nudged her forward to keep walking. She felt his chest rumble when he talked. "Wow."

"Shut up."

"That was-"

"Shut up!"

"-brutal."

Joe groaned and shrugged out of Derek's embrace, still clutching her face. Her brain tried to delete all memories and replay the exchange at the same time. She risked a glance at Derek's face. "Was it that bad?"

Derek gave it to her straight. "It was not pretty." They kept walking in silence while Joe's intense blush didn't evaporate her into thin air. "Did you know she was dating a Sophomore here?"

"Take a wild guess," Joe groaned. They reached Derek's car and Joe slumped over the roof, letting her face lay on the cool metal to absorb some of the burning sensation. Derek seemed to take some enjoyment out of the situation and leaned back against the side of his car with crossed arms.

"Rough breakup?"

"It was not pretty," Joe repeated his words. Half her jaw stuck to the car, her words came out slurred. Derek leaned over to pick a forgotten leaf out of her hair and Joe regarded it with misery as he flicked it away. She pushed her face off the surface of the car and leaned on her arms instead. "Like, technically, it's her fault I moved to Beacon Hills in the first place."

"I'm guessing she dumped you then."

About to chew him out, she looked up to see a teasing smile. Still miles away from the downright toothpaste-commercial he seemed to put on for Kelly and Alex though. He straightened up and unlocked the car. "Come on, get in, we're losing daylight."

Feeling like a loosely connected bag of bones, Joe managed to force herself into the passenger seat of Derek's car. He seemed content to drive in silence at a considerably lower speed than this morning. Joe never thought she would experience a comfortable silence with Derek Hale, but maybe seeing her being utterly humiliated put him back on solid ground regarding the whole mate-thing.

Joe grimaced at her own brain. She had to stop thinking about that like it was a real thing. Professor Kane claimed it was a myth, Derek claimed it was real. She needed a third opinion, preferrably unbiased. Scott, bless his heart, was probably more clueless about his new reality than Joe. She did not know any other werewolves except those teeny-boppers Derek just turned and...Jimmy. God, what she wouldn't give to ask him a few questions right now.

The Camaro, Derek's undisputed territory, seemed to make her relaxed and agitated at the same time. This morning she'd been too stressed about the meeting to give it much thought, but now it was back with vengeance. The car, his jacket and Derek himself was a triple threat of hormonal subconsciousness giving Joe's body all the wrong ideas.

She glanced at the guy in question. Sunglasses on, one arm leaning on the windowsill, one hand on the steering wheel. He'd listed all the symptoms that he meant proved their connection. Smell, pain, attraction. The first one she assumed was less applicable considering he had super-smell anyway. He obviously felt her pain too, as Kate proved when she broke Joe's rib. The only thing Joe could not wrap her head around was the attraction part.

Joe knew she wasn't unattractive by conventional standards, but she was nowhere near Kate's caliber. Where both Derek and Kate were solid tens in their respective category, Joe was maybe a tentative seven on a good day. The only inkling she'd ever gotten of any sort of attraction from his side was last night's wolfed out kidnapping. So either the human Derek had the self-restraint of a celibate monk, or he simply wasn't particularly attracted to her. It made sense, right? For only the wolf to want her? If they did indeed have some mythic super strong connection it was through the wolf, and it left the human side unaffected.

Derek suddenly grabbed his rearview mirror to adjust it and Joe jumped in her seat, afraid she'd been caught staring. He did not pay her any attention though and a small twist in his upper lip indicated annoyance. Joe turned around to look out the back and saw a police cruiser trailed them with lights flashing. It beeped its sirens briefly, leaving no doubt.

"Were you speeding?" Joe asked as Derek pulled over. He shook his head and reached across her into the glove compartment to retrieve the registration. She watched him fumble with a wallet to get out his license as well. "You were exonorated, right?"

He turned his head in his seat to give her that standard Derek-look, a mix of displeasure and disappointment. "Yes. I was exonorated."

It was a Beacon County-car, Joe noted, and a man in a Beacon County -uniform exited and walked the short distance up to the sportscar. Derek rolled down the window and Joe noted his tight movements, ready to react in an instant in case of threats. The Argents had already proved able to infiltrate the police department and Joe reached slowly for the passenger door in case she had to bolt.

Instead of a deputy, fake or otherwise, Sheriff Stilinski himself leaned down to stare into the sportscar. He gave both Derek and her a nod. "Mr. Hale. Joe."

"Sheriff Stilinski?" Joe asked in puzzlement while Derek deflated a bit and gave the Sheriff a relucant nod.

"Joe." Sheriff Stilinski looked at Derek with a skeptical frown before addressing her: "Mind stepping out for a bit?"

Mind reeling with possible scenarios of what could have happened, she unbuckled with shaky fingers. Aunt Mel got in an accident. Scott got in an accident. Aunt Mel and Scott got in an accident. The Sheriff came over to her side to open the door for her, and shut it firmly while marching her a few feet away from the car.

The Sheriff sighed, as if the following pained him to say. "I got a frantic phone call from my son last night." Joe's eyes widened. Something happened to Scott. "He claimed you'd been kidnapped by Mr. Hale here, last seen heading into the Preserve." Now her jaw dropped open while the Sheriff scratched the back of his neck with a frown. "And I'm sorry, but it's my job to ask this. Are you currently being held against your will?"

Scott and Stiles, two idiots of unknown proportions, had reported her missing. Scott had seen an out-of-control Alpha-Derek run away with her into the woods, and he'd called Stiles who in turn called his dad. Idiots. Complete idiots.

"Joe?" the Sheriff prompted, now a little more urgency in his tone.

"I'm not," Joe cleared her throat, "being held against my will, sir."

"Sheriff'll do," said Sheriff Stilinski with a wry smile. He gave her a once-over, probably noting the messy hair and the oversized men's jacket she wore over just a skimpy camisole. Joe tried to keep her face neutral, but could not help the blush rising back up from its short reprieve after the run-in with Alex. "Then I assume the tales of your so-called kidnapping has been mildly exaggerated?"

"Mildly," Joe confirmed and tried to relax her body language a bit. "I'm- we're fine, Sheriff. Uh...we're-"

"None of my business, Joe," the Sheriff said hastily and picked up his radio from his belt. "This is Stilinski. Cancel that APB on Derek Hale's Camaro."

"Copy that, sir."

"All right," Sheriff Stilinski said with a large smile. He put his hand on Joe's shoulder to lead her back to the car and leaned into the door when she got in. "Everything seems to be in order. Sorry to bother you. Drive safe."

Joe tried to stare straight ahead when Sheriff Stilinski returned to his car. Putting her seatbelt back on gave her an excuse to at least not look at Derek, so she took her time until the police car zoomed past, heading for Beacon Hills. She could feel Derek's eyes boring into her. He'd probably heard every word she and the Sheriff said and was undoubtedly plotting revenge against the notorious duo already.

"Your cousin," Derek started the car with an angry shift of gears, "is an idiot."

Joe slumped into her seat and shrugged. "I know, I'm sorry."

We have reached friend(ly) territory! Whoop whoop! Or at least not downright arguing... For those worried about Joe's relationship with Derek, or especially her treating him better, don't worry, we'll get there. Joe's behavior stems from being insecure and annoyed with big mysterious Alpha Derek Hale :) It will get better, I promise!

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! Cases are picking up in my country now and things are getting closed down again, so I will keep posting chapters hoping to distract you from the shitshow that is 2020 and instead let you dream your way back to the more innocent days of 2011-2012 when Teen Wolf first aired.

As always, thank you for reading and please leave a review!

Edit: Guys, the site is having trouble again. I posted chapter 28, but it gives the same error message as before. I'll try and check in on their twitter to see when it's fixed and re-post. Leaving it up for now as you should be able to read it through the app. Nothing more I can do, sorry!