For the millionth time in the past ten minutes, Joan squirmed on top of Malia. You'd think that after awhile she'd be comfortable on the were-coyote's lap; nope, not one single fiber in her being felt comfortable. The silence incasing the small Jeep wasn't helping her either. 

          Everyone was off into their own little worlds, most likely wondering why Kate had taken Derek, or if he was even still alive. At least that was what Joan was thinking about. The worst thoughts entered her mind as she thought about Derek possibly being dead. Images of his dead body swarmed her brain, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut and shake her head softly.

          Malia silently squeezed Joan's waist reassuringly, smelling her anxiety and dread, before bluntly asking, "Okay, I'll ask. Who's Kate Argent?"

          "Uh, I'd like to know too," Kira quickly added.

          "Well," Stiles starts bitterly. "we were at her funeral. So, I'd like to know how she got out of a casket that was buried six feet underground."

          "She was never in it," Joan explained, looking up at Stiles in the front seat. 

          Lydia nods in agreement with Joan, "She was Allison's aunt. And a total sociopath." 

          "You don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to," Kira proclaims, sensing the groups resistance towards the topic of 'Kate Argent'.

          "Yes, he does," Malia insists immediately.

          Scott apprehensively nods his head, looking back at the four girls in the back seat, "Yeah, she's right. You guys should know. You need to know."

          "Kate was the one who set the fire that killed most of Derek's family," Joan explains, looking between Malia and Kira.

          "Some of them survived, like Cora and Peter," Scott provides. 

          "A very angry Peter," Lydia mumbles, causing Joan, Stiles, and Scott to nod in agreement. 

          "Yeah, he's the one who bit and turned me."

          Lydia then adds, "And the one who finally caught up to Kate and killed her."

          "And we saw her buried," Stiles says, having yet to understand how Kate could still be alive.

          "No. All we saw was a closed casket, remember? She wasn't in it," Joan provides, remembering the closed, wooden box that should have held Kate Argent.

          Scott nods, finishing Joan's explanation, "The Calaveras heard that Kate had been killed by an alpha's claws. They wanted to make sure she was really dead. Her body was healing. More and more, as she got closer to a full moon. She was coming back. So they switched out the bodies. If a hunter is bit, they have to take their own life before they change. The Calaveras, they treat the code like law. They make it their responsibility to enforce it."

          "Good for her," Malia says. "I wouldn't do it either."

          "Would you kill half a dozen people to get out? People who had families and people they loved?" Joan asks, slightly bitter. All this talk about Kate brought back terrible memories of not only the once 'dead' Argent, but also of Allison and how upset she was when her aunt died. Joan could only imagine how Allison would feel about this situation if she were still alive.

          "So Kate's a werewolf now?" Kira asks.

          "I don't know. You know, there's a saying, 'sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are'," Scott explains to Kira.

          "What kind of shape is sociopathic bitch?" Lydia asks.

          "I would say an even bigger bitch, but sadly that's not a real animal species," Joan remarks, earning several chuckles from the group before the jeep shutters and comes to a stop.

          Everyone quickly jumps out of the Jeep, Braedon skidding her motorcycle to a halt and walking towards the group of teens in agitation.

          "What happened?" she asks, annoyance lacing her words.

          "I don't know. It felt like we hit something," Stiles voices, looking at his jeep in concern.

          "Scott," Braedon explains, directing her attention towards the true alpha, "we need to get there before nightfall. It's too dangerous otherwise."

          "Go," Stiles and Joan say in sync, causing the two to look at each other oddly before returning their gaze to a hesitant Scott.

          "Not without you guys," Scott argues.

          Stiles shakes his head, clasping a hand on Scott's shoulder and shaking him lightly, "Dude, someone needs to find Derek. We'll figure something out. We always do. Just go." Joan nods in agreement. Scott slowly nods and hugs both Stiles and Joan tightly before turning around towards Braedon. Before he gets too far, Kira frantically stops him to say one last goodbye. 

          Stiles and Joan silently walk back towards the jeep leaving the two awkward lovebirds alone. "They are defiantly going to get together at some point," Joan says to Stiles.

          Stiles nods, smiling softly as he looks over at Scott and Kira hugging over his shoulder, "One hundred percent."

»

          Night slowly begins to fall as Stiles continues to 'fix' his jeep. Joan stands beside him, every once in awhile stopping Stiles from breaking his jeep even more. Lydia watches to two with an amused expression, laughing every now and then when Joan and Stiles begin to bicker like an old married couple.

          "I swear to God, Stilinski, if you touch that we will never be able to meet Scott at the church, or go back to Beacon Hills!" Joan explains, pushing Stiles' hand away from a part of the engine once again, but this time more aggressively.

          Stiles grumbles, moving to work on some other piece of the engine instead of the previous piece, "How would you know? It's not like you have a jeep."

          "That's very true, but at least I know not to tape my–"

          "Malia! Wait!" Kira's voice screams, cutting Joan off. Joan and Stiles whip their heads around hurriedly, worry etched onto their faces as they watch Malia run into the desert, Kira close on her tail.

          "Malia!" Joan yells, about to break off into a sprint, but Lydia quickly grabs the brunette's wrist, stopping her from follow her rogue friend.

          "You need to stay here and make sure Stiles doesn't do anything stupid to our only form of transportation," Lydia demands, directing her worried friend back to the front of the jeep. "Kira will bring her back. Everything will be fine."

          Joan looks back at where Malia and Kira once were before apprehensively going back to stand next to a frantic Stiles. The two worked silently on the jeep's engine, screwing and unscrewing things until they ask Lydia to go and try to turn on the Jeep.

          "It's not working!" Lydia tells them after turning the key several times.

          Stiles nods, frustration easily seen on his face, "Just stay in the car and wait for us to tell you to try again, okay?"

          Joan watches as Stiles begins to tighten a screw before going to another piece of machinery. "Everything's gonna work out. The worst thing that we may have to do is walk."

         "I will never abandon this Jeep. You understand me? Never. Never. Never," Stiles says, becoming more focused on fixing his beloved car.

          Joan quickly grabs Stile's wrist, stopping him from unscrewing a piece of the engine once again, "If you remove that, you'll be removing the battery. And without a battery, the car won't move at all. Have you checked the car's radiator? Maybe whatever we hit caused some of the water to come out?"

          Stiles looks at Joan with surprise before checking the car's radiator, "How could I have not known to check that?!"

         "I'm sort of a genius with a eidetic memory and an IQ of 172, don't feel bad about yourself," Joan says mindless as Lydia gives her a water bottle from the car.

          "And now my cheerful attitude is gone," Stiles says sarcastically, taking the water bottle from Joan's hands.

          Joan furrows her eyebrows, "Why? We just saved the day? You know like Batman and Robin, but mechanic versions."

          Stiles chuckles before asking Lydia to try and turn on the car. Once the sweet sound of the engine coming on hits their ears all three of the teens cheer in unison. Stiles, un-expectantly, receives a hug from Joan, causing him to stumble back slightly before he wrapped his arms around her waist slowly.

          "We should work together more often, we make a pretty good team," Joan remarks, pulling away from Stiles with a grin. Stiles nods in agreement, holding back a sarcastic remark that would most likely ruin their small moment.

          "We're back!" a female voice sounds, causing the two to look behind them and see Kira and Malia.

          "Malia! Kira! Thank God you're both safe!" Joan say, stepping away from Stiles as the two girls and Lydia step into the back seat. Stiles takes a seat in the driver's seat while Joan takes shot gun, finally comfortable in this forsaken car.

          "You... you please don't do that ever again!" Stiles stutters, pointing an accusing finger at Malia through the review mirror after several minutes of silent driving.

          "Do what?" Malia asks innocently, confused by Stiles' worry. She could smell it on both him and Joan.

          "We thought you just took off," Joan explains, a motherly tone lacing in her voice as she turns around in her seat to look at Malia. "We thought you were running."

          "I was running."

          "No, she means, like," Stiles tries to say calmly, "we thought you were leaving."

          Malia looks at the two in front of her before shaking her head, "I wouldn't leave without you."

          "Really?" the two ask in unison.

          "I would never leave without you two," Malia says, causing Joan to smile softly. "Them I would leave." This causes Joan's smile to falter slightly, but she chuckles nonetheless.

           "Yeah. Uh, it's progress," Stiles says, Joan nodding along in agreement.

»

          Joan lets out a relieved sigh as Stiles parks the car in front of Braedon and Scott. Everyone stumbles out of the Jeep and cautiously walk up towards the two. Joan furrows her eyebrows, her relief slowly fading and being replaced with confusion as she tries to look at the figure between Braedon and Scott more closely. Even with the headlights of Stiles' Jeep on, it was still hard to tell if it was Derek and if he was okay.

          "Is that him? Is that Derek?" Malia asks, looking at Stiles and Joan for confirmation.

          "Uh, sort of?" Stiles says, his answer sounding more like a question as he continues to stare ahead with wide eyes.

          "More like, no. What the hell did Kate do to him?" Joan voices as a seemingly younger looking Derek Hale looks up at the people around him before passing out. 

          "I don't know," Scott says, not exactly giving Joan the answer she was looking for. "But, we need to get him to Deaton, fast." With a simple nod, everyone scrambles back into the Jeep, Stiles and Scott supporting young-Derek. Derek's head is neatly rested upon Joan's lap once she is seated on Malia's, the rest of his body placed on top of Lydia and Kira. 

           Even after sitting on Malia's lap for over 7 or so hours, having young-Derek's head on her lap didn't help the young genius feel any more comfortable. It may have actually made her feel worse. The only thought in Joan's mind was how terrible the ride back to Beacon Hills was going to be now with an unconscious, young Hale sprawled out on top of her and Stiles' terrible choice in music constantly playing through the speakers.

»

Joan has actually been updated! Hip-hip hooray!

I hope this meets everyone's liking. Now we only have eleven more episodes of season four to write till we hit the end of season four and then onto season five-a! Yeah, I'm so ready to re-experience season five-a's pain and agony (note my sarcasm)! Anyway, hopefully I get more bits of inspiration to write not only Joan but my other fanfics. Let's cross our fingers! 

Thank you guys so much for being so patient with me, even though I suck at updating. You guys are amazing and I am so thankful to know that you guys enjoy my writing and understand why I haven't been updating as much as any of us would like! Thank you guys again and happy reading!!! 

– Logan