(no subject)
a warm gun
chapter eight
The past doesn't always stay there, and the dead don't always stay dead. Stiles is about to learn this the hard way. (sequel to Another Night's Dawn).
derek/stiles. ♢ teen wolf. ♢ pg-13. ♢ pre-slash, sequel to.
if i owned them, my fanfics would actually be episodes.
a warm gun.
chapter eight.
previously
“Look,” Stiles started nervously, raising his hands in front of him as if they’d have a chance in hell at stopping the werewolf. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t exactly lie his way out of this situation. Not only had Derek more than likely heard his side of the conversation, but Scott’s as well. Not to mention werewolves were excellent human - or… non-human? - lie detectors.
He was officially screwed.
“Your mother’s alive?” Derek intoned, no hint of what he was thinking anywhere in his posture, face, voice. It irked Stiles.
“Technically, yes. She’s breathing, alive, still with us.” Stiles said, jitters getting the best of him. “But, I mean… she faked her death, okay? I don’t know the whole story, I’m freaking out, and I’d really, really appreciate it if you could not kill her or interrogate her or whatever before I find out the whole truth, alright?”
Derek blinked. Blinked! That was his entire reaction. Stiles wanted to throw something at his head. “Is she a werewolf?”
“No.” Stiles answered immediately.
Derek studied him for a moment before nodding, “Fine. Deal with your petty human, soap opera family drama on your own time, but right now I need your help.”
“You want me to shelve my ‘family drama’ in which my mother is seemingly back from the grave except she wasn’t in the grave, to help with yours because your Uncle is psychotic and leaving you dead bodies as a birthday present?”
“Yes.” Derek growled through his clenched teeth.
“Okay then.” Stiles replied simply, elbowing his way around Derek to sit at his desk. It was a tense minute while his laptop took its time booting up, then another minute that felt like an eternity as he waited for the system to load everything without lagging when he opened the browser. Once it had, he was poised to start searching but came up blank. “What am I supposed to be looking for, exactly?”
“Killings that are being chalked up to ritualistic or animal attacks. Within a two hundred mile radius.” Derek said, bracing one hand around the back of the computer chair and his other palm down on the computer desk. He stared intently at the computer screen as Stiles began to use his skills. They weren’t as refined as Danny’s, but being a cop’s son taught him a few things.
“Two hundred miles, got it.” Stiles mumbled, watching as result after result of gruesome deaths popped up on his screen as links. Little more than blurbs left for these lives and he felt a heavy weight settle in his stomach as they whittled through the options. They threw out more than they kept, leaving about half a dozen possibilities. “Now what?” Stiles questioned an hour into their search.
“Search for runaways, same distance.”
Stiles took a breath, fingers stilling over the keys. “Derek, runaways, the kind that Peter would go after, are more than likely kids who won’t have anyone looking for them. I mean, Brenna said something earlier that stuck. She can’t ever see her family ‘cause that’ll put all of them in danger. Peter’s too smart to have a pack with familial ties like Scott, like… you. He views it as weakness.”
The muscle in Derek’s jaw jumped as he absorbed the theory, hands fisting as he pulled away and turned his back on Stiles. Tension locked up his body as he paced shortly.
“There’s also a pattern here. The killings that you kept, they’re all heading south, towards Beacon Hills. Add in the Omega dumped in your house, I think it’s safe to say that Peter’s declaring that he’s coming home. Especially to reclaim his territory.”
Derek turned, staring at Stiles with an unreadable expression. It was almost scrutinizing with a hint of… something that Stiles couldn’t quite place. It made him flush under the gaze, looking away and fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously. He couldn’t tell if it was a good stare or an I’m-going-to-rip-your-throat-out stare.
“Why are your mother’s pictures still up if you’re mad at her?” Derek questioned and when Stiles looked up in confusion at the sudden change in topic, he saw the werewolf standing at his bookcase that was filled with frames of his mother from ten years ago.
“I…” Stiles didn’t really have an answer. He hadn’t thought on it. Sure, he was angry, but he hadn’t had time to just stop and think on what the appropriate response was supposed to be. Was he supposed to throw a tantrum upon seeing them and chuck them at the walls? Was he supposed to hug them to his chest and mourn all over again? He didn’t have the first idea what he was supposed to be doing. A year ago, it wouldn’t have been every day that a supernatural entity entered his life to shake it up. Then Scott was bitten and now his mother’s alive and he’s a witch.
“I don’t know.” Stiles answered finally, raw honestly coating the three simple words. “I love her. I’m mad, so mad, but she’s my Mom. If your Mom did something like that, would you throw them out? Break them? Or leave them?”
Derek stared thoughtfully at one of the pictures, the one of Stiles and his mother at Glass Beach, before picking up the frame. He looked down at it, holding it gently. “Sometimes people do things that others won’t like in order to protect them, to save them.”
Stiles was almost unable to make out the words because Derek spoke so quietly, but his mind was able to fill in the blanks on the mumbled words. His brow furrowed. Something tickled at the back of his brain. Something that Brenna had said. Or hadn’t said. “Like lying to Scott about killing Peter being his cure for humanity?”
Derek looked up in surprise, the emotion fleeting. “You’re too damn smart for your own good sometimes.” There was a threatening edge to the words, but Stiles smiled smugly.
It took him a moment to get passed the unintentional compliment, before the smile turned into a scowl. “Please. That line was complete bull. I really only just realized it but I’ve suspected since the beginning. Brenna was talking to me about how she’ll kill the Alpha that turned her one day. When I asked if she’d go back to her family, she said no. But if she killed the wolf that turned her, she’d be human right? They’d be safe. Unless that’s a crock of lies.”
Derek sighed - although because this was Derek, it came out more as a throaty growl - as he replaced the picture frame delicately in its original spot. “I told Scott that because…”
“Because he’s an idiot. A loose cannon. There was no telling what he would do unless he had an ultimate goal to focus on and his focus was becoming human so that he could be with Allison, so you gave him that. Trust me dude, I know. People think I’m the one with ADD, but I mostly use Adderall to keep me from sleeping.” The reason went unspoken, both thinking back to their conversation in the graveyard about bodies burnt to a crisp.
Derek stared for a moment, unsure on what to do, what to say, feeling thrown for a loop in the conversation. He’d come here to find out about Peter’s pack, try and pinpoint how many he might have. But once again, he was learning more and more about Stiles and the enigma that he was. He was finding himself in a difficult position with each passing moment as the weight of all the lies piled into the room.
Derek headed for the window, pausing as he stared out at the still afternoon. “You do what you have to do, lie when you have to, even kill when necessary, and hope that all will be forgiven in the end. It’s all to protect your pack.” He sent one last look at Stiles over his shoulder, before he was out the window, leaving the baffled teenager to ponder the interaction.
next
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. Long time no update, huh? I'm really sorry about that. I put a lot of things on the back burner because I was studying to take my GED. I completed the 10 hour test on Saturday so I now have plenty of time while waiting for the results to work on my stories! Good news is, I've planned out most of the rest of the story, and I know how to end it. So hopefully I can write the rest of it relatively quickly. I imagine there's going to be between 25 and 30 chapters to this one. I really want it done before season 2 premieres. (Which, yay! Less than seven weeks!)
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