“Derek!” I spun around to see Scott and Isaac loping towards me. “What’s going on?”

My eyes were still frantically searching the crowd as I responded. “Stiles is gone, he disappeared when the lights went out.”

“Well Jackson’s dead out there.” Scott said as he looked back to where his mother was still working on trying to save him. “So where could Stiles have gone?”

“Could someone else have taken him? Maybe he’s still here somewhere.” Isaac said.

“No he’s not here; his scent is only lingering from the game. Trust me he’s gone.” I said.

Scott looked over at Isaac who looked a little awkward. The deputies were attempting to calm the Sherriff but he was having none of it.

“I want an APB out on him now!” He yelled.

“Sounds like his dad is getting worried.” Isaac said and I looked at him with a piercing glare that shut him up pretty quick.

“Well we can't just disappear too! They’re going to want to question us about him and Jackson. Gerard was here earlier but maybe what Jackson did to himself has him running.” Scott said, I could see him scanning the faces around us and trying to pick up on Stiles’ scent but it wasn’t going to work.

“No, that’s not his style.” I said.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked down to see that I had three missed calls from Peter. I pursed my lips. There were bigger fish left to fry but I couldn’t just ignore the fact that Stiles was missing. That little fact was gnawing away at me, grinding the back of my mind to the point that I was beginning to get a headache.

“You two need to stay here. Find out what you can from the Sheriff and your mother.” I looked at Scott and he nodded. “I have to figure out what happened to Gerard. If Stiles is missing you can almost guarantee that he has something to do with it.”

“You’re going to try and find him?” Scott asked, a look of genuine concern on his face.

I nodded and Isaac took his arm to drag him back towards the group surrounding Jackson. I needed to find out what Peter wanted and then try and get back to track Stiles. I couldn’t just sit back while he was missing. The lack of his scent around me was even worse than the unbridled longing for him when I could smell him.

Why did it have to be that reckless, blundering human to trigger me?

Scott –

Derek was acting really weird, and I mean even weirder than usual. Maybe it’s all the stuff with Erica and Boyd being missing but I didn’t think he was all that close with his pack. I mean, Isaac was here with me rather than working with Derek and his secret alpha business. Something tells me that he knows more than he’s letting on.

“Isaac…?” I said slowly.

“Yeah?” He replied as we walked back to the locker rooms.

Jackson had been carted off in a body bag to the morgue; my mum went with him just to make sure that everything was taken care of without too much supernatural fuss.

“What’s going on with Derek? He was pretty secretive and why was he so flipped out about Stiles?” Isaac looked away and shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, isn’t he always like that?”

“Yeah I guess, but not about the Stiles thing. Why was it bugging him so much?” I just couldn’t figure it out.

The two of them had a… strained relationship to say the least.

“Maybe he just sees him as a part of his pack.”

“Yeah but why would he? Stiles is human.”

“Well maybe it’s because he’s already lost two pack members and he needs all the help he can get.” His heart rate elevated and I could smell the pheromones on him.

“Isaac if you know something you can tell me. You can trust me.” He stopped walking and looked up at me with a funny look on his face.

I don’t really know what he was thinking. His eyes looked like they were holding something back but the way he bit down on his lip was like he was desperately holding it in.

“Isaac?”

He looked away from me and I could see that he was calming himself down, lowering his heart rate. “I do trust you Scott, and I only know the things that Derek has told me, or that I figure out from hanging around at his place.” I sighed slightly but I know he noticed. “Look I just know he’s going to do everything he can to find Stiles.”

“Yeah well I don’t think that’s his number one concern.” I muttered.

I waited until everyone else had cleared out of the locker room, probably all still thinking about what happened tonight, before I tore the door off Stiles’ locker to pull out some of his clothing.

Isaac complained about having a shoe to get his scent from but we were cut off when Derek walked in.

With Peter.

Hold on a second, Peter? He’s dead, I saw Derek rip out his throat after he killed Kate.

“Who’s he?” Isaac whispered to me.

“A little while back he tried to kill us all so we set him on fire and Derek slashed his throat.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Hi.” Peter waved a little and I felt Isaac stiffen up beside me.

“Good to know.” He said, his heart beat speeding up a little.

They started telling us that he had a way to save Jackson, to help him, but he was dead. It was too late.

“What’s the point of trying to figure this out? He’s dead and Stiles is missing. I have to find him.” I said.

“Let me sort that out. Go back to the house and he’ll explain everything to you.” Derek motioned to Peter with his head.

I looked over at Isaac who gave me a reassuring nod. I looked back at Derek who was waiting for an answer.

I held out the shirt that Stiles had been wearing before the game but he just walked right past me.

“Hey! Just take it, it’ll help!” I called out to him.

“Don’t need it.” He yelled as he called back and disappeared around the corner.

I looked at Isaac for support but he just nodded again. What the hell is going on around here?

“If the two of you are done having a little moment over there we have some important things to discuss.” Peter smiled at us and I grit my teeth. “Oh, and, what do they call it? Oh yes, shotgun.”

Stiles –

Everything aches. I think I have some internal bruising, I know there are definitely some blue marks forming on my ribs and stomach. I limped down the street under the flickering streetlights after just having been beaten thoroughly by Gerard. I think it’s safe to say that I am definitely over the whole werewolf thing.

All of them.

Right now I just want to go home and see my dad. It’s been hours now since I was taken from the field and I’m all he has left. He’s got to be freaking out right now.

I ran my tongue over an open cut on my bottom lip and tasted the metallic flavour of my blood filled my mouth. I could feel the heavy throbbing of my grazed and bruised cheek as my head pounded.

My entire body felt heavy and there were still three blocks to my house. It felt like I had been walking for hours but they had tossed me out of the car with enough space to take me twenty minutes on a normal day.

This was all because of them. I know it’s not Scott’s fault, it’s not even Derek’s fault. This all started with Peter freaking Hale. Yeah, I know all of that, but I can't stand the thought of them right now. Or maybe I just can't stand the fact that it’s true, I am Robin to their Batman.

I’m the weak human who can’t protect himself and even if they don’t want to admit it, I can.

I wonder if they still have Erica and Boyd tied up and electrified. I can't even call someone to tell them I know where they are, I don’t have my phone. Even if I did I wouldn’t know, they practically knocked me out and took me down into a basement without windows. Then when we left I was too groggy and sore to get a good look.

So yet again, I’m helpless, useless.

I grunted, the walk feeling like an eternity. Every step was more painful than the last and once I had sight of my house I thought I was close. In my condition, I really wasn’t.

I wish I had my jeep. I know she would get me home safe and sound, well, relatively sound. I looked up at my house and saw the light on in my room. The squad car was in the drive and so was my jeep.

I walked up the front steps to see that the door was unlocked. It creaked only slightly as I pushed it open. The stairs were possibly the most daunting things I have ever seen facing me but I knew that my dad would be upstairs and I had to see him.

As I got closer to my room I could hear him talking, he was on the phone to someone, the station or Scott’s mum probably.

“Listen, if he shows up at the hospital… okay, thanks.” His voice was croaky and he sounded like he was exhausted. “Come on Stiles, where the hell are you?”

I stepped into the doorway just as he asked the question. “Right here.” I said weakly.

He looked up at me, his eyes glassy and just took it in for a second.

I haven’t seen my face yet but I know that it must look pretty bad. He walked up to me to get a good look. I could see the fury in his eyes at the sight of me. He demanded to know who did it and I lied and told him that it was a few guys from the other team. He yelled a lot but when he finally stopped I could see what he was really feeling, he was scared.

He grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug and even though the pain made my eyes water I didn’t want him to let me go. I just wanted to tell him that I was okay, and that I was going to stay that way.

There was no way I was going to tell him what really happened. I can't just drop something like that on him, not now.

It took him a while and he gave me a good look over before he decided that I was fine and I told him that I just needed to be by myself for a bit. I think he realises that there is something more going on.

He sent a text to Scott to tell him that he could stop looking. I know he was probably out looking for me with his hyper senses but a part of me felt like he could stand to think I was missing for a while.

I don’t know, everything is just one big mess.

I pretty much just lay in bed for a while after that. I don’t know for how long, maybe an hour. It was then that I heard a rattling sound coming from my window. I looked up and saw Derek standing there looking in.

I had locked the doors to stop him from just barging in here like he always did. As much as I love it when he does, tonight I just didn’t feel like seeing him. I just wanted to pretend that I was a normal human again and not some semi-member of a werewolf pack that I didn’t really belong to anyway.

I got up slowly, trying not to grimace as I did so. I unlocked the window and walked across the room. Derek strode towards me and I turned slowly to see him standing just a foot from me. His nostrils flared as he turned my cheek to inspect it.

“Who did this?” He demanded.

I pulled out of his grip and refused to look him in the eye. “It doesn’t matter, it’s fine.”

“I said who did this?” he said again.

“I heard you the first time and just a few kids from the other team, I was mouthing off.” I said, giving him the same excuse I gave my dad.

“Do you hear that Stiles?”

“Hear what?”

“Your heart beat picking up. No, you don’t, but you know you’re lying.” Trust him to find the day when I was least in the mood for him to play the werewolf/human card.

“So what?” I looked up at him challengingly.

“So tell me who did it, and I’ll tear them to pieces.” He said through gritted teeth, his eyes getting that faint red glow as his anger boiled over.

I don’t think I was making it any better.

“I said it doesn’t matter Derek.”

“Was it Gerard? Did he orchestrate this?”

“So what if he did? You were going after him anyway so maybe you should get your little werewolf ass out of my room and track him down? Huh?” I was pushing it and I could see it in his eyes.

He didn’t like it when I tested him. This is usually the part where he grabs me and holds me up against walls until I do what he wants or threatens him with something that actually matters. There isn’t much I have on him; he’s faster, stronger, taller. Not to mention an ass-kicking alpha werewolf.

His glare was burning holes in me but he didn’t grab me, if I wasn’t so beaten up it would have been a different story.

“You’re just going to have to find someone else to trigger you tonight because I’m out of action… literally.” I spat that last bit at him.

I know it wasn’t his fault but right now I am just so annoyed with his whole damned species that he seems like the one to take it out on.

And maybe I am a little pissed that he didn’t come to the game. Not that it’s important now but I can't compartmentalize very well.

“You think that’s why I’m here? You think I came all this way for a bit of sex? You were missing, Stiles. No one knew where you were and I have been out trying to track you down for the last two hours so when Scott sent me the message I thought I had better come over here and make sure it wasn’t some crap that the hunters were pulling.” His eyes were glowing very red now.

His breathing was laboured and he looked like he was inches away from a shift.

“Derek, Derek hey!” I put my hand out and grazed his cheek.

He closed his eyes and for a moment it looked like relief flooded his features and he gently nuzzled into my palm. He contained his anger and we both pulled away from one another as soon as he had it under control.

“I’m staying here tonight.” He said firmly.

Any other night, why couldn’t he say that any other night? “No, you’re not.” I said with a sigh.

“Stiles, I’m staying here.” He said, his brow still furrowed slightly.

“I don’t want you to stay here because you thought I could have been dead, just like I don’t want you to come to the next game because you feel bad for missing this one and you think you could have stopped this.” I gestured to my scrapes and bruises and his mouth gave a little tick.

“That’s not why I’m staying.” He said, moving in closer.

“I told you, you’re not.” I said.

He stepped towards me and I turned my eyes away. He put his hands gently on my waist and slipped one under my shirt. It wasn’t a seductive gesture, it was a soothing one. His fingers searched for the lumps that were fresh bruises and brushed them gently. I could see his eyes scanning my face as he took a deep breath in.

This was still some trigger thing for him. He was still feeling that guilt for being selfish before.

“I’m not staying because you were missing or because I… missed your game.” He said softly.

He pressed his palm to a tender piece of skin and I felt some of the pain begin to go away.

“Derek stop!” I pushed him off me and he let out a frustrated grunt. “I don’t want any of your healing, morphine like werewolf crap right now!”

“So if you don’t want me here then say it. Go on, say it out loud and I won't come back tonight.” He said.

I know he wasn’t expecting me to say it but I was angry, and hurt. I was just tired of it all and looking at him just reminded me of how pathetic and weak I am, of how I can't help anyone like this.

“I don’t want you here. I want you to go.” I said firmly.

He turned away with an angry glare. “Fine.” He said sharply.

He turned to the window and climbed out, shutting it behind him.

It’s not like the sourwolf has too many feeling I can crush. I’m just a trigger, he’s made that very clear. Maybe this will help him stay away until it passes, after all that’s what he wants right?