Just as a reminder to all of those who are reading: When the text is written in bold and italicized lettering "like this," that is the part of the conversation had in sign language.

This chapter is really just used for a lot of information, so I really hope it turned out well. Thanks so much to wisegirl2772 for once again reviewing the last chapter. It's so awesome to see someone else enjoying the insight into my OC's story. This one means a lot to me, so it's fantastic that it's getting some love.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

(o.o)

Chapter 1.19

When I woke up the morning after the full moon, I did so on my own terms. I sat up in my bed confused and checked the clock. It was nearly noon. Mom would have woken me up to give me a stern talking to about being gone for so long. Instead, I was able to get up slowly, dress, and grab breakfast before heading back up to my room. My mother wasn't even home. I guess she wasn't in that much of a hurry to yell at me.

I hunkered down in the middle of my bed, grabbing Carter's laptop, preparing myself to dive further into his world. I wasn't afraid to read them anymore. I was nervous, to find out what kind of things that he knew, but I knew the big secret. Nothing could be worse than what I had gone through last night with everyone.

Before I could even click on one of the documents, the lights in my room flickered. Someone was outside my bedroom door. I got up and padded to the door before opening it. It was my mother, looking exceedingly calm. I furrowed my brow. "Hi." I signed, waving.

"Can I talk to you downstairs?" She'd asked.

I glanced back at the laptop sitting on my bed, wanting to go through it. Instead, I nodded. I did just drop off the face of the earth for three days. The least I could do was go with whatever she had planned for the time being.

Mom led the way downstairs and to the kitchen table, taking a seat at it, beckoning me to do the same. She took a deep breath and raised her hands, poised to sign. "I've been thinking about getting you back into an all-deaf school."

I was taken aback. "What?" This was meant to be her retaliation.

"I've called one in San Francisco and just got back from a meeting with the principal."

"SAN FRANCISCO!" I was gesturing wildly. I couldn't believe her. I'm finally comfortable somewhere and she wants to derail the whole thing.

"Beacon Hills is just way too much for you to handle." Mom continued. "Obviously. What with you running off and skipping school for the past two days."

I shook my head, angrily. "I have straight A's. And I was skipping because I had other things that I had to do."

At a veterinary clinic?"

"Yes!"

Mom gave me a look like she didn't believe me and rolled her eyes.

I scoffed. "Yes, Mother," I said aloud. I was too upset with her to not tell her to her face what was going on. "We had to sacrifice my friends to save their parents from an evil druid."

Mom's head jerked back in surprise at my voice. That or what I'd actually said. "Maybe we should look into counseling, too."

"A psychologist? Are you kidding?!" I shouted at her, getting out of my chair. I was going to say something else, but then I thought for a moment. "Does Dad know about this?" I asked, "About you making me switch schools? About therapy?"

Mom didn't say anything.

Of course not. "Oh, my gosh. He doesn't." I shook my head, disgusted with her. "You think that you can just take me out of school, away from my friends, and send me to some doctor to talk every day about how I'm sad?"

"You're not sad, Chandler, you're depressed."

"I'm not depressed!" I shouted, shaking my head. "I'm suffocating, all thanks to you." I groaned. "Shit, I have no idea how Carter dealt with you as he did. You're so in your head about everything."

"Chandler June, don't you dare." Mom scolded.

I scoffed. "Tell me, Mother. Did you send Carter to a psychiatrist?"

She only stared at me.

"Did you?" I questioned. "I mean, knowing the truth about werewolves would certainly make any sane person lose it." I could tell that my mother knew what I was talking about. I'd gotten insanely good at reading emotions with my deafness. It was written all over her face. Mom was shocked that I knew the secret. "Knowing that Carter was an Omen. Knowing that he saw death. Putting the pieces together that the fever that I got, why I lost my hearing, was because of the Hale Fire?"

Mom still didn't have anything to say. She was ashamed of all of that.

"I'm one, too, Mom," I admitted. "I'm an Omen."

"You're not." She said, simply.

"I am," I stressed my words. "I don't know what I can do, and I don't know how, but I'm dealing with it. Because my friends at Beacon Hills, the school I'm staying at, they're helping me. They aren't afraid of me. And I'm not afraid of them." I didn't wait for her to say anything else. I went back upstairs. I grabbed Carter's laptop, Stiles' sweater, and my backpack and rushed back downstairs. I left the house with a slam of the door feeling liberated. I'd finally told her about everything and it felt amazing.

I noticed my car was in the driveway and assumed that it was Derek bringing it back for me. He was the first one I was visiting for the day. He and Cora. I was nervous about seeing her again but excited. Cora was my best friend when we were kids, and when she died I was a wreck.

I drove to the industrial district, to Derek's loft. When the elevator stopped on their floor, I took a deep breath before opening the door.

Cora was at the door already.

I smiled. "You heard me coming."

Cora nodded and I could see her eyes start to glass over.

I quickly pulled her into a hug, wrapping my arms tightly around her. "I'm so glad that you're okay," I said, feeling my voice waiver. I was beginning to cry myself. "You're alive, and it's so surreal to me." I looked up at Derek behind Cora.

"She says she missed you." He signed for Cora.

"I missed you, too." I cried. "Everyday." I gave Cora one more tight squeeze before I pulled away. "I'm glad both of you are okay, honestly." I went towards Derek and wrapped my arms around him, too. "When Ethan showed up and told us about Kali trying to kill you, I got so worried."

Derek pushed me away lightly. "We left. Trying to escape her. But then Lydia screamed, we'd heard it. I knew we had to come back."

"That must have been when Stiles and I got into the car accident," I admitted.

"Car accident?" Derek questioned. Derek led us over to the living area to sit and talk. He and I took the couch and Cora sat in a nearby chair. "You were in a car accident?"

"Stiles lost control of the Jeep in the storm." I pushed my bangs away from my face. I'd bandaged my wound up earlier in the morning. "Gonna have a pretty amazing battle scar once this heals."

"Are you okay?" Cora asked.

"Oh, yeah." I nodded. "I've been through worse."

Derek nodded, scooting closer to me on the couch. "Look, CJ, there's something I wanted to tell you the other day. But Isaac showed up, and I know you hadn't really said anything about Carter being...gone."

I furrowed my brow. "Okay?" I looked over to Cora and back to Derek. "What's going on?"

"As an Omen, Carter saw death. He saw how people died every day. He didn't know how to trigger it, what caused it, nothing. But he also knew that if he did anything to stop it, it would ruin the balance."

"That's what Deaton told me the other day," I remembered. "Part of what he does as an emissary." I thought for a moment, before realizing. "That means he knew he was going to die. I mean, he did. It was the password for his dream journals. The day he died. August 20, 2012."

Derek took a deep breath, glancing at his sister before turning back to me. "That day was significant. He talked to me about it."

"He told you?" I questioned, angrily standing from my spot on the couch. "You knew when he was going to die, and you didn't do anything? He was your best friend."

Derek closed his eyes and looked down at his hands in his lap. He swallowed and looked back up at me. "I didn't do anything because he wasn't supposed to die that day."

I paused, my face going blank. I shook my head. "No."

"He talked to me about it because he didn't know what he should do." Derek stood, trying to reach out to me. "He didn't know if he should upset the balance or let it play out like it was supposed to."

"No!"

Derek stopped me from running from him with a firm grip on the tops of my arms. "CJ, you were supposed to be the one driving the car that night."

I shook my head, tears pooling my eyes. I put my hand over my mouth to cover my sob. "Oh, God."

Derek helped me to slowly sit back down on the couch.

I looked up at him and noticed that he, too, was tearing up. It made sense. Carter was his best friend. And Derek was the only one who knew Carter's secret. Really knew it. It hurt Derek to know where Carter's decision led to what to do about that fateful day. He'd lost his best friend because he wouldn't let his sister die. "Oh, Derek…"

"Carter made me promise to tell you if you ever found out." He shook his head. "He didn't want you finding out on your own. He didn't want you to be alone when you read the entry on his computer."

"That's why you were so urgent when I found it." I realized. "Whether or not I read it."

"It was one of the last things that he asked of me." Derek scratched the back of his neck, nervously. "I told him that I would look out for you. That I would tell you how it was supposed to happen. And…" Derek swallowed, struggling to get his words out. "He begged me not to interfere. He'd made his decision. I had to respect it. It's part of why I left. I hadn't heard from Laura in a while and I couldn't just sit there and wait for him to die."

I nodded, knowing he was sincere. I pushed off of the couch and hugged Derek around his neck. "You did everything he asked. He'd be so appreciative and thankful for you. That he had a friend like you to do the hardest thing in the world." I rubbed his back, trying to comfort him and myself with everything that we were feeling. "You are too good for this world, Derek Hale."

Derek placed a hand on my arm to pull me away. "I'm supposed to be the one comforting you." He laughed.

"This is comforting," I promised him. "I am in shock, mostly. But knowing that this is what he wanted, and you helped me get here, that's all the comfort that I need." I sat down on the couch, no longer hanging on Derek. "I'm stronger knowing the truth. About everything. You, Stiles, Scott, Lydia, Cora," I smiled, looking at her, "Carter. Knowing about me. It's everything. I'm not afraid when I have friends like them and you two looking out for me. Just like I can for you."

Derek nodded, grabbing my hands and giving them a squeeze. "It wasn't a hard decision for him. Just so you know. You were his best friend."

I smiled, taking in a deep breath. I wasn't sure I could take much more of talking about it. I still planned on going over to Stiles' house at some point to tell him the big secret. That was going to be hard enough without crying at every mention of Carter's name. "Things are going to be better now. We get to be with each other again, like before."

Cora took in a large breath. "Well, without me."

"What?"

"I've talked to Derek about it. I'm going back to South America. To the pack I had down there."

I furrowed my brow. "We just got you back."

"It's hard for me to go." She nodded, starting to tear up again. "But I can't be here. Coming back from the dead won't exactly be easy. Plus, there are too many hard memories. And I'm not sure how I feel about Scott being Alpha." Cora snarked with a smile.

"What?" I asked, confused. I looked at Derek.

Derek's eyes flashed to blue.

"They're blue. What happened?"

Derek shrugged. "I gave the power I had as an alpha to Cora. To save her."

I smiled at him. "What did I say? You're too good."

(o.o)

Derek had told me so much. And now it was my turn to spill what I had to say. I couldn't back out of telling Stiles. I wanted him to know and I had no reason not to tell him. Especially since I told him so many times that I would. I also knew that knowing the truth was always better than not. What Derek told me about Carter cemented that for me. It hurts, knowing that he sacrificed himself for me, but it's also enlightening. Like there was a weight off my shoulders. Carter's death wasn't for nothing. It was for me.

I drove to the Stilinski House and knocked on the door, awaiting an answer.

The Sheriff opened the door and he gave me a large smile, "Hey there, CJ."

I smiled back at him. "Hi, Sheriff. Is Stiles here?"

The sheriff nodded and pointed me towards the stairs. "Second door on the left." He stopped me before I could continue. "You staying for dinner? I can order Chinese."

"I owe you guys dinner, huh?" I joked, nodding. "That sounds amazing. Thank you." I smiled at him and made my way up the stairs. I saw Stiles perched at his desk, rapidly typing something. I knocked on the door frame. "Whatcha working on?"

Stiles turned his chair quickly, facing me. He smiled. "CJ, hi!" He looked back at his computer for a second. "Just an English paper."

I furrowed my brow. "I kinda feel like any English we had to do no longer needs doing, huh? What with our teacher being an evil bitch."

Stiles nodded slowly. "True." He turned back to his computer and deleted the document.

I laughed. "Sorry for just dropping by. I should have texted."

"Nah, you're good. What's up?" He asked.

I sighed and made my way further into the room. I sat on the edge of his bed, across from him in his chair. "I talked to my mom today. About everything that's happened." I shrugged. "She thinks I'm crazy, so that's cool. Even with knowing all of the things that she knows, she still won't listen."

Stiles nodded. "My dad has come in periodically throughout the day. He's been asking me questions all day."

"My mom's known for years, Stiles. She was friends with werewolves long before I even knew they were real."

"Good point." He nodded once. "So, what happened?"

"She said that I have to switch schools. She's already got one in mind and went down there today. It's an hour or so away." I said, absolutely annoyed with the possibility.

"You can't leave," Stiles said quickly.

I tried to hide the smile with how that made me feel. "I know. I'm not going anywhere." I admitted. "I realized that I have so many friends here. You all understand me. I can tell you anything. I can't lose that." I looked down at my hands. It was time. "That's actually why I came. Because...I have something I have to tell you."

Stiles rolled his desk chair towards the bed to sit directly in front of me. Our knees bumping from where he sat.

I glanced down at them, feeling a quiet comfort. He was being supportive of whatever I had to say and I noticed then that what Lydia told me about how he was around me was true. I let out my stressed breath, feeling instantly calm enough to tell him. "I talk about my brother very little. I mean, you've asked me about the time that I lived here before and why I had a Beacon Hills Basketball shirt. I told you about my brother and how he was the one on the basketball team."

Stiles nodded, following my ranting so easily.

"Then when I asked you for your help with my brother's computer, it wasn't because he was in an area that he didn't get cell service." I paused, my brain running a mile a minute. "I mean, technically he has no service because he's not alive anymore." I spilled out. I looked up at him, and noticed he was in shock.

Stiles shook his head, "CJ, I'm - "

"Sorry. I know. Um, just - can I explain a bit more?" I asked him. "I've been wanting to tell you this forever and I kind of just have to get it out before I explode."

Stiles nodded.

"It was a month ago. Or it will be in a day or so." I explained. "A car crash. With me in the car. I survived and he didn't. And I just recently found out that he knew. That I was supposed to die, but he sacrificed himself for me."

"Holy shit, C."

I shook my head, clearing my throat to stop the lump from forming. "It's okay, really. I talked to Derek about it, and while it's rough to hear, I'm glad that I know." I took another deep breath, "When he died, it ruined me. Literally. Carter was my best friend. I shared everything with him, talked to him about everything, did everything with him. Then I lost it. All of it. Him, my friends. We moved all the way across the country to bury him here and be close to him.

"I was already having a rough time with his death and everyone was being exceedingly careful with me. Doting on me, asking me if I was alright with every breath they took. But when I came here, you didn't know about Carter." I told Stiles. "You treated me like I wanted to be treated. You were the only one who treated me like I wasn't broken and that helped me feel less ruined. You were nice to me and accommodating, once you found out that I was deaf. So, I decided not to tell you about Carter."

"I'm glad you're telling me now." Stiles said, seemingly not having any other words.

"I realized yesterday, that you trust me. You trusted me to hold you under that water to find your dad. You trusted me to bring you back. You trusted me when I had all the faith that you could find the Nemeton without Scott." I reached for his hands, holding them in my own. "You're my friend, Stiles and you trusted me with your life. So, I figured I could trust you with this."

"And you can. I promise not to treat you any differently." Stiles smiled. "Now, get the hell off of my bed. Just who do you think you are?" He joked.

I laughed at him, leaning back slightly and losing my grip on his hands. "Someone who's staying for dinner. Your dad is ordering Chinese."

"Hell yeah." He looked around his room. "Just one more question."

I furrowed my brow at him.

"Do you like Call of Duty?" Stiles questioned earning a grin from me. "Because I have a pretty sweet set-up downstairs."

"Well, let's go so I can kick your ass." I teased.

"Oh, you're on!"