┏━━━━⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆━━━━┓

A SWITCH UP

"CAN I MAKE A PHONE CALL?"

The charge nurse hadn't even heard the blonde approach the desk, visibly startling a little by her sudden presence. Nonetheless, she nodded with a polite smile, handing the phone to the girl she'd seen camped out in the hospital for the last few days.

Emerson gave her a tight-lipped smile in return, only punching in a number she'd recently memorized once the nurse walked away from her post with a chart in hand. With bated breath she waited for him to answer, but—

"This is Derek Hale. Leave a message."

Emerson held back a growl of annoyance, but the urge instantly died when she realized that this might be a better way to go about doing this. To her, it was better to confess to a voicemail than to the man who would've only tried to stop her.

"I'm going to do something stupid, and you're going to let me."

ೃ࿔*:⋆

Emerson found herself in a familiar situation, standing in the middle of her house, waiting for Deucalion to show up.

This time her surroundings were a little different; someone had cleaned the house. The furniture that had been broken was still broken nonetheless, and that stain on the floor couldn't be washed away, but the debris was gone. Hell, the door had been screwed back onto its hinges.

It should've eased her, but it unsettled her because who in their right mind would clean up a crime scene? A crime scene that a killer werewolf had under his pack's watchful gaze. He'd be aware of anyone going in or out, hence why she chose it as the place to meet.

Emerson smelt the man before she heard him, or more so the eerie tapping of his cane against the concrete outside. His steps were deliberate, they always were, until he stepped through the door she'd left open.

"Deucalion," she greeted, watching as he came to a stop just a few feet in front of her.

He retracted his cane with a few sharp snaps, his lips pursed. "I would've thought that after our last conversation, you'd begin to call me Dad," he responded instead, using an American accent to pronounce that last word.

She couldn't help but scowl. "That's wishful thinking."

"Perhaps," he hummed, his head tilted to the side ever so slightly, "though I must say, I'm surprised to see you here. How is Hannah, by the way?"

Her lip curled back. "I'm here to make you an offer."

"Oh?" he inquired, intrigue present in his tone. "Let's hear it, then."

"I want you to lay off the Hale pack, and I want you to let Hannah live," she proposed, her chin raised as she spoke. "In exchange, I'll join your pack. I'll do whatever you say if those terms are met."

He gave her a flat sort of look. "This deal of yours doesn't seem very fair," he said. "You get so much, and yet I only get a singular new addition instead of two. Doesn't really help me, does it?"

"I'm not gaining anything from joining you! In fact, I'll lose everyone," she snarled, her fists balled at her side. "You said it yourself; I'm your flesh and blood, born with unbridled power. I'm stronger than Derek and the others combined."

Deucalion was silent for a beat, almost like he was mulling it over. "You make an astounding point." The corner of his mouth quirked upward, amused. "So, you'd join my ranks, if it meant your little friends were safe?"

"They aren't my friends," she grounded out, only to earn a pointed look from the man. "They aren't. They aren't worth your time."

"If you say so," he said, and a part of Emerson thought that maybe this was too easy until his face seemed to soften? "My daughter as a member of my pack... you've no idea how long I've waited for this moment."

"So you agree to my terms?" she questioned, her arms wrapping around her torso.

"I do." His hand was outstretched in her direction. "Let's go get you settled then, hm?"

The final invite— and she accepted it with her hand reaching out toward his.

ೃ࿔*:⋆

"I know where they are!"

Derek was on edge as of late, and maybe that could be attributed to the Darach roaming around or the alpha pack ruining everyone's lives. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because of Emerson fucking Avery.

He still hadn't seen nor heard from her, not that he was actively trying ever since Deucalion oh so delicately insinuated that she was his damn kid. That alone could ruin anyone's day, but especially Derek's. The man would never admit to it, but he got comfortable around her, and the fact that she was so quickly ripped away from the idealistic view he held of her gave him whiplash.

"Same building as the Argents. We know."

"Cora and I followed the twins," Boyd supplied on behalf of him and the girl standing next to him.

The two betas, Derek, and Peter were all surrounding the desk with a blueprint when Scott walked in. He approached, continuing on with a, "I ran into Deucalion in the elevator... Emerson was with him."

Derek felt like he'd been slapped at the news, because even though her alliance to her father shouldn't have been surprising, it still was.

Had this all been a ploy— had she lured Deucalion here on purpose to destroy him? Were the stories she told him of her youth just a lie? Derek honestly didn't know what to believe these days.

Peter was the one to chime in next with a surprised hum. "That was a quick turn around," he said, though his lips were pulled into a half frown. "Last time I saw her, I wasn't even sure she could stand on her own, much less run for a chance to join Deucalion." 

Derek's head snapped towards his uncle. "What the hell does that mean?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

"You said to keep an eye on her," Peter shrugged, like it was certainly no big deal, "and I did."

Derek thought that steam was emitting from his body, pulsating agitation creeping into his being. "And you didn't think to, I don't know, let me know?"

"You've been occupied," Peter said with a levelled glare at his nephew's attitude. "I had a handle on it, but I draw the line at babysitting."

"They want you to know," Scott interjected, not particularly wanting them to fight over what information Peter had supposedly been withholding this entire time. "They want us to know where they are, who they have."

"Or, more likely, they don't care," Peter refuted with an eye roll.

Scott's eyes finally zeroed in on the blueprints. "You're going after them?"

"Tomorrow," Derek revealed, much to the boy's visible dismay, "and you're going to help us."

"There's more, though," Scott mentioned sheepishly. "She said something to me, in the elevator. Emerson, she—she said she left you a voicemail."

Derek's eyebrows furrowed. "Voicemail?" Scott merely shrugged, offering zero insight which made the man's annoyance flare once more. He fished out his phone from his pocket, racking through the list of outgoing and incoming phone calls he received— though, from a number that wasn't saved, he saw that there had been a voicemail left on his phone, unopened.

It was left yesterday, and was only less than a minute long. Skeptically, he hit the play button before putting it on speaker, dropping the device in the centre of the table like it would burn his fingertips.

"I'm going to do something stupid, and you're going to let me. We're way in over our heads here— shit, I'm way in over my head, so this is me righting my wrongs."

There was a scuffling noise in the background, covered up by a cough.

"I'm going to accept Deucalion's offer in exchange for your pack's safety, and you're going to let me because you know it's the best option we have."

Sounds of utter bewilderment echoed around the loft, but Derek was only listening to Emerson's voice that was coming from his phone. His stomach clenched with every word she stressed out, an urgency in her tone that was rare to hear from the usually composed blonde.

"He's a wild card, Derek, and who knows if this'll work. But I need to try, because I can't," a shaky breath followed, "I have to think about Hannah too. There'll be less casualties, you guys will be fine. Just— keep Lahey safe, you owe me that much."

Derek's stomach sank— this was sounding like a resolute farewell.

"If this all goes to shit, if this is all for nothing, you can tell me you told me so if we make it out alive."

Then, the fucking dial tone, because Emerson was a stupid, self-sacrificing little shit.

And suddenly, Derek found that he wanted to kill the alpha pack for an entirely new reason now.

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

[ wyn's note ]

WOMP WOMP!! emmy thinks she's doing what's best for everyone! will it bite her in the ass? maybe.

also can't blame derek for thinking the worst of her when he found out who her dad is... man has serious trust issues (shocker, ik) but after that voice mail?????? DEREK GO SAVE UR GIRL

all my love xo!