Ficlet: The Crooked Man
Author: jonjokeat
Title: The Crooked Man
Rating: pg-13
Pairing/s: Sterek
Character/s: Stiles, Derek
Summary: Derek has suspicions about what's been going on in Beacon Hills and calls in his fellow Guardian to help him investigate.
Warnings: some strong language
Content notes: Derek and Stiles have been left the legacy of following their mothers as the Guardians of Beacon Hills. Based some time after Guardians (#123), it may help to read that first.
Submission Type: Ficlet
Word Count: 1k (ish)
Prompt: #124 Crooked
Author's Notes:
Neither Teen Wolf nor the characters belong to me, sadly.
Derek looked down at his phone, he knew he had to do this, but it was still hard. Stiles was at college and worse, he was in the middle of his end of year exams. Derek hated that he needed to do it but first and foremost Stiles was a Guardian of Beacon Hills, and Beacon Hills needed him.
“Stiles?”
“Derek. Ah man, it’s good to hear your voice”, Stiles smiled into the phone.
When Derek only grunted, he knew something was up.
“What? What's happened… Derek?”
“How quickly can you be here?”
“Shit… um… my last exam is in the morning. I can be with you by mid-afternoon. Is that good enough? I could miss…”
“No Stiles, that’s good. Do your exam then come straight back. I’ll help you pick up your stuff in a day or two.”
“Yeah… Yes, ok. What the fuck’s going on?”
“I don’t know... I’m not sure. It’s the nemeton. Look, I can explain better when you're here. Only don’t ring Scott or Deaton.”
“Why would I ring Deaton?”
“Just… don’t tell anyone you're coming back… just… Come the back way into town. Do you know the old Hale cabin, the far side of the preserve?”
“Yeah, yeah I think so.”
“Good I’ll meet you there tomorrow afternoon. And Stiles…”
“Yeah?”
“It’s good to hear your voice too”.
As Stiles’ jeep rolled up to the cabin, Derek walked out. Stiles practically jumped out and ran towards him and was caught up in a tight hug. He swung his legs up around Derek’s waist and was a bit dismayed by the peck he received on his forehead.
“Not good enough!” He declared and claimed Derek’s mouth.
“Let’s go in,” Derek suggested,”There are some things I need to show you.”
Stiles walked into the cabin, and had a good look around, having never been inside before. It was clean and cosy and looked like Derek had been staying there. “Are you living out here now?” he asked.
“No, not all the time, I’m still at the loft, as far as anyone else knows.”
“So why all the sneaking around? Spit it out, I’ve been trying to guess since I spoke to you yesterday.”
"That's the problem I don't really know what it is, but something's afoot."
"Really, Sherlock Holmes?"
"Shut up, Stiles. I've been reading a lot. "
Derek moved some papers around on the big table in the middle of the room and stopped when most of a map was exposed.
"Do you recognise this?" he asked. Stiles leant over and studied it. He pointed at a feature, "That's the big right-hander on the way out of town, so the nemeton must be about... there," and he pointed again.
"What are the little green dots around it?" Stiles wondered.
"Cameras, infra red."
"Wow, have they caught anything interesting?"
"Well yes, it's sort of why you're here." He handed a small stack of stills over to Stiles.
"You've got to be kidding me!” Stiles said as he looked at the first picture. “A mountain lion?”
"Yeah, to be honest I may need to get the pack out here and do a bit of howling. I hadn't realised they were getting this close to town."
"What, howling will scare them off?"
Derek shrugged, "It's worth a try. Look at the next one."
"Deaton... " Stiles looks up at Derek with his eyebrows raised.
"And the next."
"Deaton and Morrell, shit... what are they doing to the nemeton?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't like it."
"You know I've never trusted him right, but he was your mother's emissary. How do we know he's not helping in some way."
"Because of these." Derek said and handed Stiles some more papers. "Peter bought me over some boxes after he heard about the Guardian thing."
"Peter?!"
"Yeah, I know you don't trust him either, but it seems your mother and mine trusted him enough to give him copies of their journals."
Stiles took the pages from Derek and sat in an armchair to read them. Derek left him be and went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. He was pretty sure Stiles must be starving.
After reading through the journal extracts Derek had given him, twice, Stiles wandered into the kitchen.
“So your mother sacked Deaton before the fire? Do we know why?”
“There are hints in other parts of the journals, but nothing's spelt out. She calls him the ‘crooked man’.”
“Do you think Peter’d know?”
“Maybe, but…”
“You’re not sure he’d tell us.”
“Pretty much. Yeah.”
With the food ready, they sat down to eat.
“Ok…” Stiles pulled a face, “So what we know is… Deaton got thrown out of Beacon Hills before the fire and then he came back some years later, posing as a veterinarian. And Morrell turns up a bit later and gets a job at the school. Scott gets bitten and Deaton kind of takes him under his wing and he turns True Alpha.”
Derek nodded. So Stiles went on, “We know it was at least partly Deaton’s idea to feed Gerard mountain ash and force you to bite him. Do you think he’s behind any of the other shit that’s been going on?”
“I’m not sure but I think its worth looking into.”
Stiles goes quiet for a moment then suddenly looks up at Derek.
“Hey, why didn’t you want me to talk to Scott? Does he know about this?”
“That’s another part of the problem Stiles. I went to talk to him but… it was like when we first met, when he was first turned. As soon as I mentioned Deaton, he wouldn’t listen to anything I said.”
Stiles shifted uncomfortably, he knew Scott could be stubborn but it was a long time since he’d actually shut Derek out.
“Have you spoken to him recently?” Derek asked.
“A couple of days ago, yeah, he seemed fine, said everything was quiet.”
“He didn’t tell you he’s been expanding his pack?”
“What? No!” “Who?”
“An omega couple, who were passing through a month or so ago and Brett from Satomi’s pack. He was even talking about giving Mason the bite.”
“Shit Derek, he didn't tell me any of this. Why the secrecy? What the fuck’s going on?”
They lay in bed later, Stiles tucked up into Derek's side.
“I can hear you thinking Stiles.”
“Yeah well, there's a lot to think about.”
“I know but lets think about it in the morning.” Derek suggested as he pulled Stiles on top of himself.
“Oh!” Stiles groaned as he realised just how much Derek had been missing him. He wiggled his hips sliding into place, so they were nicely lined up. Derek moaned and pulled Stiles down into a very thorough kiss.