Chapter 33: The Lunatic II

As Alex predicted, Maddy did turn up the following day to pick her up from the hospital. Joe kept a respectful distance when they left the ER and did this awkward half-hug-half-handshake thing when saying good bye. Alex had woken up when Joe returned from her little bathroom talk with Derek, and they trawled the hospital corridors for some coffee before ending up in a pair of uncomfortable wooden chairs where they talked for the rest of the night. It had been...nice. No heavy topics, just the energetic discussions they used to have about normal stuff ranging from their studies to music to politics.

Aunt Mel listened to Joe explain this as she drove them both home, nodding with understanding and the obvious conviction that Joe was full of shit.

"Uh-huh, yeah, so it was pretty much like before you started dating?"

Joe sighed in relief that Aunt Mel got it. "Yeah, exactly, like before we got so involved, you know?"

"Yeah, that's not a good thing!" Aunt Mel said and held up her finger to keep Joe from replying too fast. "That's a red flag, right there. You can be civil, you can be angry, but you can never go back to where you used to be, okay? Too much history. And besides, didnt't you say she has a new girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Joe said sullenly and slumped in the seat. "Maddy. The DJ who dresses like an extra in Dawson's Creek." She did not even know why she was jealous, if that's what this was. She did not want Alex back. It was just easier to think about Alex than thinking about Derek.

She hadn't told Aunt Melissa about the rave Alex had invited her to next weekend, where one of Maddy's DJ-friends were playing. VIP-ticket available, if she wanted it, for her and Kelly who also happened to be at Berkeley next Friday to organize the reunion dinner that approached quickly. Joe had not asked if Maddy both knew and was okay with it. It did not matter, Joe had no plans of attending, especially not after Aunt Melissa's outburst.

"Now, can we please talk about the fact that Scott's failing two classes?" Aunt Melissa asked and Joe saw the strain in her neck that indicated higher than usual stress level. "I'm not gonna try and parent you. If you wanna go clubbing and take hallucinogens-"

"I didn't take anything!"

"-that's your perogative as an adult, but Scott is my responsibility. If he fails any of his midterms, they're gonna hold him back!"

"What? What about summer school?" Joe asked. "I thought that was the default option. That's what I did when I was in juvie."

"No, no summer school," Aunt Melissa said with an exasperated sigh. "The new principal is old fashioned. Can you talk to Scott please? I hate to hold it over your head, but it was our deal when you moved in that you were gonna help Scott with his homework. Please? I'm just gonna shower and get back to work. We still got seven of the guys admitted. The doc says you had lower levels of the substance in your system, thank God, but some of the guys are still down."

Joe promised she would try and talk to Scott. He was in school, she hoped, as she hadn't seen him since last night when he neglected her in favor of getting into Stiles' Jeep. She wondered a bit about that. Derek acted like Scott knew who the kanima was. Derek also had blood on his hands, but claimed he failed to take the kanima out. Could he have injured it sufficiently for Scott to capture it?

Not it. Him. Her. A person, Joe reminded herself.

As Aunt Melissa headed straight indoors for a shower, Joe trudged to her car that sat right where she left it in the driveway. The doors were locked, but when she opened them to look inside, she found the shotgun placed under her seat. How Derek kept breaking into her car without leaving a trace she had no idea. At least he gave her the gun back. If that happened before or after she basically rejected him in the bathroom last night was anyone's guess.

When she logged on to the Beacon Post website she had expected the top story to be the attack at the Jungle. Instead a handsome young face that looked vaguely familiar was plastered all over the screen. Jackson Whittemore, age 16, missing since last night. Police requests anyone with information to come forward.

Joe pushed herself back in the chair and stared back at the picture of Jackson Whittemore, age 16. Wasn't he the one who used to date the girl Derek had been prepared to kill yesterday; Lydia Martin? Who also went missing for a short while after being bitten by Peter...No, this guy was the captain of the lacrosse team, right? He had no reason to want the bite from Derek.

Right?

Before she knew it, Aunt Melissa called out that she was going back to work. Joe gave some generic response, but was still lost in the news story. She had not seen this Jackson-guy since the night of Kate's death. Well, he'd probably been at the last lacrosse game, but that was it. Derek had claimed three would be enough, so if he did bite this Jackson, it was before Isaac...

An e-mail alert brought her out of her trance. Matt Daehler claimed her phone was ready for pick-up. Finally! She agreed to just meet him at the high school when they were let out, that way she could corner Scott as well and try and talk him straight.

As she waited by the steps of the school, she wondered if this was how Derek felt all the time, surrounded by teenagers. She watched the high schoolers walk, run, skateboard and jump down the steps in their eagerness to get home. Joe shuddered. She'd rather kill herself than go back to high school.

"Hey!" said Matt Daehler when he spotted her. When he wasn't in his lacrosse gear, he wore a leather jacket just like every other kid in town, but still had the large camera strapped around his neck. "Phone's all done. Less work with the processor than I expected, so let's call it an even fifty bucks."

"Nice, thank you, this was an out of budget-thing," Joe said and handed over the cash in return for the phone. She turned it over. It looked better than when she bought it at Craigslist. Joe nodded at the camera around his neck. "You the school-photographer?"

Matt laughed. "Yeah, no, not really, I just like taking pictures. Sometimes I'll go on assignment for the newspaper. Got some really good ones of you from Kate's funeral."

"Really?" Something prickled in the back of her neck. "Uh, you knew her?"

"Who? Kate?" Matt seemed to be exaggerating his confusion. "No. No, not at all."

"Sorry, you just said Kate instead of Kate Argent, like you knew her," Joe said and cringed at how paranoid she sounded. Why would this high schooler know Kate Argent? Well, apart from the fact that Kate had an obvious thing for high school boys, but it seemed far-fetched she should return from the dead just for a little statutory rape. "Sorry, I didn't-"

"No, it's okay, I guess I've been hanging so much with Allison that I..." he trailed off and looked over his shoulder, where Joe's focus had shifted.

"Sorry, I gotta- Scott!" she called at her cousin who came bounding down the steps. He froze at the sight of her, obviously in a hurry. Joe said goodbye to Matt and chased after Scott. "Hey!"

"Hey," he said breathlessly. His eyes went from her, to Matt's retreating back and her phone. "Oh, you got your phone fixed?"

"Yeah, why are you acting weird?"

"Hm?" Scott asked as he was looking everywhere but her. She found herself doing a parrot dance to establish eye contact. "I'm not acting weird."

"Yes, you are," Joe insisted and dragged Scott out of the way so they weren't surrounded by high schoolers on all sides. He held onto his backpack like a lifeline, practically trembling to get away. "What happened last night?"

"What happened to you last night?" Scott countered and Joe found herself raising her eyebrows.

"I tried to shoot Derek."

"And?"

"Didn't work." Not that she had expected it to, she'd just wanted to slow him down. She crossed her arms and tried to appear stern to her younger, but much taller cousin. Something had bothered her about Scott and now she narrowed her eyes. "Where's Stiles?"

"Uh, dunno." Scott shrugged and Joe scoffed. Those two were attached at the hip. "Home, I guess?"

Joe waited for an elaboration, but it never came. He was not looking her in the eyes. "You guess? Scott, what's going on? Do you know who the kanima is? You do, don't you?"

Scott was not a good liar and to his credit, he didn't even try. "Yes. But I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Joe curled her lip. Something clicked and she couldn't help but laugh. "Because of Derek? You think I'll run along to him with the intel?"

Scott just shrugged as he held onto both of his backpack straps and gave her a sad look. "I can smell him all over you. And I don't care," he held his hands up to stop her, "what you guys do, I really really don't wanna know, but I can't...I can't let him kill anyone."

"I don't want him to kill anyone either!" Joe hissed and tried to ignore the rising blush. She hadn't had a chance to shower after their scuffle and her prolonged visit to his car. Maybe that's why she didn't react to him last night, because she was already too saturated with his scent? She did not want to think about how changing her clothes obviously wasn't enough. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but can I at least help in any way? Does this have to do with that missing kid?"

Scott's eyes widened. "What missing kid?"

"The one's that all over the news, Jackson what's-his-face. Hey! Scott!" Joe turned around with her hands out as Scott rushed over to his bike before she could react. With werewolf-speed, he jumped on and span away from the school. "Scott!"

He was already gone. She didn't even get to the part where he needed to study so he wouldn't be held back! Joe sighed and looked in the direction of where he'd gone, no longer visible. She thought they were done with the days he was keeping things from her. Joe shook her head and turned towards her car, but was instead face to face with Victoria Argent.

The high school was emptying out and only the last stragglers were still exiting the building. Victoria wore a form-fitting sleek dress and high heels, seemingly unbothered by the cold. Cold-blooded, Joe found herself thinking.

"Anything wrong?" Victoria asked with a thin raised eyebrow. Allison really got her looks from her dad, there was not much similarity between her and her mother. The red hair looked too vibrant to be real, even if it did somewhat match the pale skin. "School's over, in case you hadn't noticed. Because of the concerning events lately, the school board has been forced to ensure a stricter security around the campus. Do you mind me asking what you're doing here? If I recall correctly, you're not exactly in high school, are you?"

Victoria smiled, but it was nowhere near reaching her eyes.

"Uh, no, just picking something up," Joe stuttered. She had barely seen this woman before, not since the funeral.

The woman's voice was like sweet poison. "From Scott?"

"From Scott," Joe confirmed automatically, although it wasn't even true.

"Hmm," Victoria said and Joe tried to indicate that she was in fact leaving now. Before she could, Victoria's hand shot out and grabbed Joe's arm. "Hang on, you got a little," Victoria ripped off a loose thread from Joe's sweater at the same time as she dragged her long fingernail across the thin skin on Joe's under arm, "something right here."

"Ow!" Joe exclaimed and tried to yank her arm back, but found it fully locked in the steel grip of Victoria Argent. The woman gave her a downright evil smile and they both watched a single drop of blood appear from the slash on Joe's arm. Several seconds passed without Joe knowing what the hell was going on.

Victoria released her arm with another: "Hmm."

"What the hell, lady?" Joe asked and clutched her arm back to her chest. It didn't hurt that much, but it was just so weird! And who knew where that woman's fingernails had been, she might need a tetanus shot!

"Sorry," Victoria said, not remotely meaning it. "You have a nice day now. Say hi to your aunt!"

Looking over her shoulder at the immobile Victoria Argent, Joe went back to her car. She found a tissue to dab at the strip of blood. It could not have been an accident, unless Victoria had superstrength or something. It was almost like she had been waiting for something afterwards...

Joe had almost arrived home when she realized she'd just been werewolf tested. She was torn between being offended and flattered. When she looked in the mirror before hitting the shower, she realized she had the definite look of rolling around in the woods and that might have spurred Victoria's suspicion.

As expected, it took half a bottle of conditioner to get all the tangles out. It still felt like stringy sea weed after rinsing, so Joe applied another product that was supposed to sit in for a while and pinned her hair up on the top of her head. The scratch on her arm was already scabbed over, so she figured she could do without a bandaid. With Aunt Mel at work and Scott being MIA, she at least had the house for herself, and could wander down into the kitchen in just her robe.

Scott acting weird, Stiles not at school and a missing kid...She hoped those shitheads knew what they were doing. At least Scott didn't want to kill anyone, but she just hoped it didn't end with him getting hurt instead. Or killed. Apart from a severed torso or a literal fire bomb, she did not know what it took to kill a werewolf. Kate shot Derek point blank that night, but he healed just fine. Then that time at the clinic, which seemed like a different life now, he had almost died from being shot in the arm with...what? A silver bullet? Something weird at least.

Not that she was actively trying to figure out how to kill a werewolf, but her run-in with Jimmy the other day left her frazzled. He had looked monstrous, even though she hated the melodramatic word choice. And not monstrous like Peter Hale did after shapeshifting into that wolf-creature, but monstrous as in sick, wrong, deformed. Between states...

And blue eyes. Joe groaned as she waited for her coffee to be done. It always came back to the blue eyes. Derek had them, Jimmy too. What did Professor Kane say? That it was something soul-altering about taking the life of an innocent. Super vague definition by the way, Joe thought and glared at the coffee maker. Even if Jimmy had killed Kate, that woman did not come under the category of innocent in any universe. So Jimmy had killed someone else. And so had Derek.

"Uggh," Joe let out an animalistic sound and leaned over the counter with her head in her arms. Did innocent include animals? Like a bunny rabbit or something? Because when she thought of a truely innocent human, her mind only conjured up a little girl with pigtails and that was a little Grimm Brothers to be honest. And on top of it all, her initial reaction to this was that she wanted to talk to Jimmy about it. Stupid brain.

The doorbell rang.

Joe stood in the kitchen with her finished cup of coffee and tried to rationalize it. It was probably the neighbor looking for their cat again. Or mormons. Probably not a giant snake monster. It wouldn't bother with a doorbell. She clutched the robe tighter around her, it was oversized anyway and reached way below her knees. Because she was a slightly paranoid creature, she put the security chain in place before cracking open the door.

She sighed.

"I don't know why I'm surprised," Joe said through the opening to the stoic Derek Hale on the doorstep. "I blame the doorbell, that really threw me off. Usually you just appear inside the house. What's wrong? Not wearing your break-in pants?"

Derek did not look particularly amused by her quips. He gave her a quick and sarcastic smile. "Hi."

"Hi," Joe said back with raised eyebrows, her fist now clutching the robe harder in case she suddenly was showing three inches of cleavage. When Derek did not say or do anything else, she cocked her head to the side. "Can I help you?"

With the chain in place, the door opened maybe an inch and a half. It was apparently enough to let Derek get a glimpse of her as she practically felt his gaze travel up her exposed legs until it reached the top of her head, where the leave-in conditioner still weighed down her hair. She was covered up, she knew she was covered up, and still she felt naked.

"I'll take your incessant silence as a 'no'," Joe said to cover up her jittery nerves and went to close the door. It did not move at all as Derek put his hand against it gently. Gently as in she could probably have more luck moving a brick house.

Derek let out a long breath before he looked up at her with flat expression. "You never answered me if I should back off or not." It was not a question and he did not wait for an answer. "Are you hurt?"

"No, the paralysis wore off-"

"I don't mean that. I mean your arm..." he trailed off, as if he was unsure of where he was going with this. His brows furrowed as well. "It was faint, but I felt it."

"Oh right," Joe said and she stuck her bottom arm out the door to show Derek the slight cut left by a sharp fingernail. Smiling, she announced: "Just a scratch."

It backfired when Derek grabbed her arm and let his thumb trail the thin red line, sending sparks and butterflies and fireworks and everything straight to every pleasure center in her system. Her breath hitched and she yanked her arm back, aware of the fast heartbeat and equally aware that he was aware of it too.

"Uh, are you gonna come running every time I stub my toe?" she tried to joke, even though there was nothing funny at all with the darkened expression that seemed to come over Derek's face. Not dark as in angry, dark as in...dark.

"It feels different when you're scared," Derek said, but he had fortunately returned both his hands inside his jacket. A new one, Joe noted, as she had two of his up in her bedroom. He took another deep breath and put those bright eyes right at her into her soul. "What happened?"

Joe leaned her head on the doorframe and pursed her lips. It was no use in lying to him. "I got tested by Victoria Argent." She grinned, still trying to lighten the mood. "I passed!"

"You need to be careful around the Argents," Derek said matter-of-factly. "They're-"

"Wolves in sheep's clothing?" Joe guessed and her stomach somersaulted at the slight twitch in Derek's lip.

"Yeah, something like that."

Joe ducked her head down to not reveal her large stupid grin or the blush that was threatening to take over her face. Her rational brain tried to scream at her that she was acting like a ditzy school girl. She had literally just been racking her brain with worry about Derek's blue eyes before he got here and it was like seeing him just threw all of her concerns away. It was not natural.

Exactly. Not natural.

Who knew how much this guy could tell from his enhanced senses, she thought, as his expression seemed to fall a little along with her depressing thoughts. Another sigh, one of his specialties, and he asked: "Do you need a new phone?"

"Got my old one back today actually," she asked, torn between berating him trying to bribe her and grateful he was thoughtful enough to remember it. Sometimes she hated her own mind. "But, uh, thanks?" She cleared her throat and again closed her robe tighter, still afraid it would suddenly unravel on its own. "I'm sorry for trying to shoot you yesterday. I was just...really pissed off."

"Yeah, I could tell," he said evenly. "I shouldn't have goaded you. We," he drew in a breath between words, "respond to each other's strong emotions."

"I have no idea what that means. Is that unique? I mean, people respond to each other's strong emotions all the time. That's part of being a human, at least I thought it was. Do you respond extra because of what you are? Are you responding to the fact that I'm nervous standing here half-naked with leave-in conditioner in my hair talking to you?"

The close-lipped smile was as fast as it was handsome. "Yes."

Elaborative, she thought, and made sure the robe had not fallen open yet again. Just the small opening in the doorway was chilling her bare legs and she could feel the conditioner starting to drip in the back of her neck. It was not an ideal situation to have a lengthy conversation. Before her mind could interfere too much, she asked: "Derek, do you want to go-"

She was cut off when the phone rang behind her. For a second she stared at him as her mind unfortunately caught up with what she had tried to ask and instead went for: "I gotta, uh, take that."

Derek gave her a slow nod, but made no indication of leaving the doorstep. She let the door stay open on its chain and went to pick up. Aunt Mel's voice came through like a lightening bolt. She wanted Joe to bring her a change of clothes to the Sheriff's station. Right now!

"Uh, yeah, sure," Joe said and tried to put her back against the door, like that would help against Derek's supernatural hearing. "Why, what's going on?"

Aunt Mel swallowed heavily and it sounded like she was driving. "Scott just got arrested!"

The kid wrapped up in a deputy's winter jacket had his head cocked sideways, obviously listening to what was going on in the interrogation room around the corner. Apart from the jacket, he wore a pair of gray sweatpants and socks, no shoes. Joe tried to avoid staring, tried to keep to the far side of the front desk at the station with Aunt Mel's scrubs in a bag and her own hair still dripping wet. From what Aunt Melissa had managed to stutter out when Joe delivered her clothes, Scott did not only know something about the missing kid, he and Stiles were responsible.

They had kidnapped Jackson Whittemore, age 16, stolen a prisoner transport van and kept Jackson chained up for almost twenty-four hours. Joe finally remembered where she recognized the kid's surname — his dad was the lead defense attorney in Beacon County.

As much as Joe tried to avoid staring, she found her gaze dragged to the boy nevertheless. Clean features, a light sprinkle of freckles that added rather than subtracted from his looks, and dark blond hair. Handsome, by all standards. He was also the co-captain of the lacrosse team, along with Scott himself, and probably a popular guy. There was only one explanation she could fathom as to why Scott and Stiles had done what they did. And as much as she stared, she could not see a sliver of similarity between the giant snake monster and sixteen years old Jackson Whittemore in tennis socks.

Joe looked away when Jackson turned his head towards her. As a close relative to Scott, it would not do anyone any good if she were to interact with the kid. Besides, his eyes disconcerted her. Cold and hard, like a battle worn veteran and not a high school kid. Emotional issues, she remembered Professor Kane say.

Loud voices drifted from the hallway to the interrogation room and Joe straightened up. Looks like the proceedings were done and Aunt Melissa was hounding Scott towards the exit with righteous frustration. They reached Joe and Scott's head hung down in shame while Aunt Melissa ordered him out in the car. Scott did as told without looking at either Joe or Jackson.

"Restraing order," Aunt Melissa huffed as they exited the station. She shook her head against the night sky and Joe saw how her hands shook as well. "Restraining order! I just...I can't. I mean, I knew teenagers were difficult, but this is a new level. He's failing his classes, he's breaking curfew, he's lying to me all the time!" Joe kept quiet as Aunt Mel rubbed her eyes, tears of frustration probably breaking through. "And now a restraining order...did you know anything about this?"

Joe blanked at the sudden accusation. "Uh, no."

"Are you sure? I mean, I work a lot. I know that's not an excuse, but I'm out of the house most of the time, so I miss some stuff that's going on with him. But you're home, right? And you'd tell me if there was something going on with him? Beyond the missed curfews and homework?"

"I — uh — yes," Joe stuttered, lying, and hating herself incessantly for it. "It's just teenage stuff. He'll grow out of it. I mean, I did..."

"I'm sorry, Joe, but I can't wait for him to get sent to juvie before straightening his act," Aunt Melissa said with a sigh. Joe tried to ignore the pins in her stomach, how the jab hurt worse than probably intended. "From now on, I want you to call me every time he comes in late. I want him to go to school, go to work, come home and do his homework and that's it. No TV, no Stiles, no Allison."

Joe kept quiet. She owed Aunt Melissa a lot. Her aunt had always been a solid point in Joe's otherwise chaotic life. Even before she gave her a place to stay so she would not have to drop out of school, Aunt Mel had always had Joe's back against her dad. And now she was lying through her teeth to protect Scott, her werewolf cousin, whose actions were close to giving Aunt Mel an ulcer.

"School, work, homework," Joe repeated and took a deep breath. No room for hunting a kanima in there. No Stiles and no Allison. She remembered Derek's warning, on how Scott relied too much on Allison regarding his tranformations to a werewolf. Derek had offered to drive her to the station before, but she reclined his offer, if only because she first had to sprint upstairs to rinse her hair in record speed. He'd left without any further comment.

Still out on the steps of the station, Aunt Melissa hugged herself against the cold and said out of the blue: "I think this is about Scott's dad."

"Uncle Raf?"

Aunt Mel rolled her eyes at the nickname Joe always had had for her ex-husband. He'd been Uncle Raf even before he and Aunt Mel got together. "Yes. Maybe that Harris-guy was right, maybe Scott's just missing a solid role model in his life. Before, he had Rob, and now..." She stopped even though Joe had done her best not to react. "I dunno. Maybe all those fundamentalists are right too, maybe a kid needs both parents to not go off the rails."

"Aunt Mel, you're an amazing mom," Joe said in an attempt at comfort, not her strongest suit. "Trust me, this isn't your fault."

Aunt Melissa gave her a wane and defeated smile. "Then whose is it?"

As her aunt went down the sidewalk towards her car, Joe leaned against the bannister with a sigh. Whose fault was it? Peter Hale, for biting Scott. Or Kate Argent, for murdering Peter's whole family. Or whoever spurred on the feud between the Argents and Hales that obviously had existed longer than both Peter and Kate.

Right now, Joe just felt it was her fault, for being both a lousy niece and cousin.

I know there's things happening in this chapter, but it still sort of feels like a filler-chapter. Sorry about that, more action coming up soon. Trying to show some character growth for Derek as in 'Hey, respecting boundaries!' for once.

Thank you for reading anyhow and I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think! It's been a chaotic week and it's just Monday, so fanfiction is my escape right now and your reviews/PMs make everything better :) Much love!