a risk worth taking.

"Are you saying that you might be too busy to answer my calls? Well, I'd never!" Kat's tone was light and teasing. She punctuated her words with a feigned look of offense. She knew that there were times when he wouldn't be able to answer her calls, though she was at least glad that she knew he wouldn't be screening them or avoiding her anymore. That was definitely quite the relief.

---

Stiles showered and changed out of his dirty practice clothes. Once he had, he sprawled out on the couch downstairs and turned on the TV. As he flipped through the channels absentmindedly, there never seemed to be anything good on, he checked his phone. Seeing a text from Rebeckah, he read it over. Moments later, he heard a knock at the door. Perfect timing he supposed. Getting to his feet, he headed over to answer it. "Hey, come on in." He stepped out of the way so that she could walk inside.

"Are you saying that you might be too busy to answer my calls? Well, I'd never!" Kat's tone was light and teasing. She punctuated her words with a feigned look of offense. She knew that there were times when he wouldn't be able to answer her calls, though she was at least glad that she knew he wouldn't be screening them or avoiding her anymore. That was definitely quite the relief.

---

Stiles showered and changed out of his dirty practice clothes. Once he had, he sprawled out on the couch downstairs and turned on the TV. As he flipped through the channels absentmindedly, there never seemed to be anything good on, he checked his phone. Seeing a text from Rebeckah, he read it over. Moments later, he heard a knock at the door. Perfect timing he supposed. Getting to his feet, he headed over to answer it. "Hey, come on in." He stepped out of the way so that she could walk inside.

@ pietro maximoff.
Rebeckah looked up when he opened the door and nodded before walking inside, "Alright so I brought like burgers and fries and some onion rings. I also brought a slice of pie for you dad for letting us work here. I don't even know if he likes pie. It's apple." She rambled before taking a breath and trying to calm her nerves. She didn't know why she was so nervous, it was just Stiles. She had known him for forever, "I brought my laptop and some notecards." She stated and wanted to smack herself for being so awkward.

---

Derek laughed at her words, "Believe it or not I actually do things." He teased back and laughed again before he smiled at her, thankful they were basically back to the way that they were before she had left. It felt good for him to be like this with someone. He had missed being all happy and actually smiling for once. He hadn't been able to do it a lot since Laura.

Kat feigned shocked. "Really? I never would have guessed." She said, her tone light and teasing. A quiet laugh followed soon after. Things almost felt normal, like they used to before the fire had happened. It was nice, though Kat knew better than to think that it would actually end up lasting. She wasn't going to let Derek shut her out though, not this time. She was going to be there for him whether he liked it or not.

---

Stiles nodded at her words, rubbing the back of his neck almost awkwardly. "Alright, I'll stick the pie in the microwave for now. My dad probably won't be home for a couple of hours." He told her. This all felt so strange to him. Having Rebeckah at his house, them being civil towards each other. It just seemed so...foreign. He didn't know what other way to describe it. "We can work and eat down here, or we could go upstairs to my room. Whatever works for you." He punctuated his words with a shrug of his shoulders.

@ pietro maximoff.
Rebeckah shrugged back, "I'm fine with either but you're going to need a computer for your research so wherever your computer is, is where we should probably be." She stated. She ran a hand through her hair and took another breath. She was finally starting to calm down her nerves so she wasn't on edge around Stiles anymore.

---

Derek laughed at her words before shaking is head, "Your sarcasm is not appreciated." He teased and rolled his eyes at her. He knew that she was just teasing and he was playing right along with her. It felt weird to be like this again...happy. He guessed that if it wasn't for Kat coming along this wouldn't have happened because he hadn't felt the same since Laura.

@ pietro maximoff.
(:

"Too bad." Kat said, sticking her tongue out at him. A quiet laugh soon followed. His demeanor and definitely completely changed from what it was when he first walked out of the house earlier. She was glad. It felt like how things used to be. Before Paige. Before Kate. Before the fire. Before everything. When it was just the two of them. Derek and Kat. Part of her wished she'd tried harder to get in contact with him. He'd never returned any of her phone calls though, so she'd just assumed that she was unwanted. "I missed you, you know, even though you can kind of be an asshole sometimes." She teased, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

---

Stiles nodded. "My room it is then." He said. He grabbed the takeout containers and headed towards the stairs, pausing and waiting for her to follow before he headed up to his room. "It's kind of a mess, I wasn't really expecting anyone until, well, we made plans to work on this thing." He told her, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't know why he was acting so...awkward right now. This was Rebekah. Yes, she was a girl, but why the hell would he care about his room being messy and apologize to her for it? He shouldn't care any less about what she thought about it.

@ killian jones.
Rebeckah nodded and followed him up to his room. When he mentioned it being messy she raised her eyebrows at him, "I don't mind. Just as long as I have a place to sit. She said with a small laugh and then walked into his room with him. She looked around, noting that it was, indeed, messy. But she didn't really care. She felt like it fit him for some reason. She set her backpack down on the floor and sat down next to it, pulling out her laptop and notebook, "Alright so just to recap. I'm researching Juliet's family and her and you're researching Romeo's family and him." She stated and started up her laptop before looking down at her notebook, making sure she had everything she needed.

---

Derek shook his head at her, "You're such a child sometimes." He stated bluntly before he stuck his tongue out at her as well and laughed. When she mentioned that she missed him, he nodded at her, "I missed you too, Kat, even though you're annoying sometimes." He replied with a grin. He liked that they were able to just basically pick up where they left off, even though it had been so long since they had last seen each other and so much had changed since then.

Kat let out a quiet laugh. "Look who's talking." She teased, a slight grin tugging at the corners of her lips. It was nice how quickly they'd managed to pick up where they'd left off. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed all of this, the teasing, the playful banter, everything that came with their friendship. If one thing was certain, she wasn't going to let him push her away like he had ever again. "Laura emailed me." She said suddenly. "I was away for a few weeks with some friends, so I didn't check my email until I got back. She told me she was coming here."

---

"Alright, good." Stiles said, punctuating his words with a nod. He pushed some papers off of his bed and made some room on his desk as well. His room really wasn't that bad, it was just a little messy really, though he'd still found himself apologizing for whatever reason. "Yeah, if we're sticking with what you came up with earlier in class, yep. Why don't we get started on that, and then kind of share what we've come up with afterwards? Kind of proof read each others work?"

@ killian jones.
Rebeckah nodded and laid down on her stomach as she pulled up Google on her laptop and started doing research, "Proof reading sound good." She stated as she wrote down some note in her notebook about Juliet's family. She found herself looking over at Stiles every so often. It was still weird to her that they were being completely civil with each other. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but he wasn't really that bad. She hated even thinking it, but it was true. She wouldn't admit it to anyone though. As far as she was concerned or if anyone else was concerned, she hated Stiles, and he hated her as well.

---

Derek raised an eyebrow at her words when she mentioned that Laura had emailed her, "I didn't even know she was here until I had heard stuff in the news and such that there were things going on here and I knew she would come here. I came looking for her." He stated and took a breath, looking at his hands, "I was too late." He finished and sighed. He hated that he couldn't do anything to save his sister. He was so angry that he had lost yet another family member. There weren't too many Hales left, and he felt like he kept losing them no matter what he did to try and stop them.

Kat frowned. "Hey, look at me." She said quietly. She knew what he was thinking. She knew that he was blaming himself for what had happened and dwelling on all of these what-if scenarios. What-if he'd gotten there earlier? What-if he'd managed to save his sister? "None of this is your fault, okay? You couldn't have known what was happening. If you're to blame, I must be to blame too because I should have seen that email sooner than I did. I should have gotten back to her sooner, but I didn't. You can't dwell on the what-ifs, Derek. Please don't blame yourself for any of this."

---

Stiles nodded. "Alright, I'll get to it then." He said. He started writing down some notes in his notebook. Once he had a few things jotted down, he opened up his laptop and started to type out a paragraph using what he'd come up with. If he set his mind to something, he could actually get it done. He just usually got distracted easily or chose not to do something. He was smarter than some people assumed he was. Much smarter actually. Once he had typed something up, he looked over to Rebekah. "Let me know when you want to switch."

@ killian jones.
Rebeckah finished up her thing once she had found the last note she could find on the Capulet family and she threw it all together in a paragraph that she found pretty decent before looking over at Stiles. She nodded and handed him her laptop. She took his in response and started to read through his paragraph. She found it to be really informative and she liked how it was written out, "I don't think you get enough credit on how smart you actually are." She stated aloud, not really thinking about what she was saying.

---

Derek looked at Kat and sighed, "She's my sister, Kat. I just feel like I should have been able to protect her. I should have been able to stop this happening to her. I'm losing all m family members that survived after the fire slowly and I hate it." he stated and frowned. He normally wasn't one to get emotional in a conversation, but with Kat everything was always different and he could always just say what came to mind with her.

Kat frowned. "I know that she's your sister, but you couldn't have known that something like this would happen, Derek." She told him. She knew that he was blaming himself for all of this, and she really wished that he wouldn't. "She wouldn't want you to beat yourself up over this. None of them would." She could tell that he blamed himself for a lot more than just what had happened to Laura. She was pretty sure that he didn't really open up like this to anyone anymore. He probably kept this all to himself, and she knew what that could do to a person.

---

Stiles started reading over her work when she spoke. He looked over to her, surprise written across his face. "I'm pretty sure that's the first time you've ever given me a compliment." He said, clearly stunned by what she had said to him. He knew that they were attempting to be civil with each other, but it still came as a shock to him. "But uh thank you, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I really just don't apply myself enough. I get distracted pretty easily, so I don't normally end up handing things in on time."

@ killian jones.
Rebeckah was honestly taken back by the statement herself and could clearly see the look of surprise on his face at her words. He spoke about why people got that image of him, "You could really go places if you would just work for it. Like I can clearly see it in this writing, but you're clearly really smart, and you could definitely go places, Stiles." She stated and then bit her lip and blushed slightly. She wasn't sure why she was saying these things but she felt like he should know this.

---

The frown that was on Derek's face deepened as she spoke but shook his head, "I know I shouldn't be like this but I can't help always thinking if there was something I could have done or if there was something I could have said to save her. To save any of them. I just always feel like I should have saved them all." He said and frowned again. He wanted to be lighter about this whole situation but it was practically impossible given the fact that he was basically always negative all the time.

Kat frowned. "Beating yourself up like this isn't going to do any good though, Derek." She said quietly. She knew that Laura wouldn't want him to be like this. Talia certainly wouldn't either. Mama Hale had been like a second mother to Kat, Derek's family had been like a second family to her, that's why she'd been so furious with her parents when she found out that they'd kept the news of the fire from her like they had. She'd felt like she'd betrayed Derek and Laura and everyone else by not being there for the service and everything else. Derek and Laura had needed her then, and because of her parents, she hadn't been there. She still kind of resented both of them because of that. "That's a really big job for one person..."

---

Stiles nodded. "That's kind of easier said than done..." He said almost sheepishly, punctuating his words with a quiet laugh. "But thank you...I'll keep that in mind." He didn't know if he'd ever fully be able to apply himself like he probably should have. He knew that it would do him nothing but good if he were to do so, but it truly was easier said than done as he had already told her. "You write really well. I'm surprised you're not in one of the advanced classes or something."

@ killian jones.
Rebeckah smiled at his words, "Thank you. I want to be a writer one day. I'll be in advanced classes next semester. My parents wanted me to start out this semester regular before I start getting into the heavy stuff. So I'm taking advanced English next semester along with a bunch of writing classes. Most of my classes are going to revolve around English actually." She felt kind of weird talking about her hopes and dreams with Stiles of all people. It was weird giving and accepting compliments to one another.

---

Derek nodded at her words, "I know. It's just tough when you're the only one left, ya know." He stated before she mentioned how it was a lot for one person to do all that, "Yeah but if anyone should be able to do it, it's me. It was always me. Even when we were younger." He stated and then sighed and shook his head, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Laura's death clearly wasn't accidental. I'm going to find whoever did it." He said and then looked over at Kat.

Kat frowned. She understood what he meant and knew that he was right. She knew that Talia had always seen so much potential in Derek, and with good reason too. She still didn't think that he should be beating himself up over what had happened though. It wasn't his fault. The fire. Laura. None of it was. "I would be surprised if you didn't." She said. She knew that he wouldn't let Laura's death go so easily. She knew that he meant what he said, and that he was going to find the person responsible. "The fire wasn't your fault though. It was Kate's. She was the fucking monster responsible for that." He had never told her that it was Kate, but it didn't take much for her to put two and two together. "You couldn't have known that she was using you, Derek..."

---

Stiles nodded, sending a small smile her way. "Yeah? That's good. You're a great writer, I can tell." He knew that he'd only read a short paragraph of her writing, however he could still easily tell just how skilled she was. Everything down to the last comma was perfectly placed, and she clearly had a way with words. "Do you know what you might want to write? Like novels or short stories, what?" It was strange asking her all of these questions about her dreams and aspirations, but he was genuinely curious.

@ killian jones.
Rebeckah shrugged, "I haven't decided yet. I want to be a journalist. But I also want to write books." She stated as she tugged a piece of hair behind her ear and then looked back up at him, "Do you know what you want to do? Ya know. After high school?" She asked. She had always had her life planned out so she would understand if Stiles didn't have a plan or not yet.

---

Derek shook his head, "I should have known. They were hunters. I knew that. Everyone knew that. I don't know why I thought she was different." He said, disappointed in himself. He blamed the fire on himself and always would because it was his fault. He didn't know why he thought that his relationship with Kate would actually work.

Kat frowned. "Because you always tried seeing the good in people." She said quietly. "There's nothing wrong with that, Derek." She knew that he was going to think that it was wrong though and that he should have realized that Kate was the manipulative bitch that she was, but he wasn't the only one she'd manipulated. Kat had never liked her, though she chocked it up to a bit of jealously on her part, not that Derek knew she was jealous, but everyone else had liked her. "No one else saw it coming either..."

---

Stiles nodded. "I'm sure you'll be great with whatever you choose to go for." He told her. She had talent, so he'd be very surprised if she wasn't successful. It was strange, being civil with each other like this, but it was also kind of nice too. Not to be sending snarky comment after snarky comment back and fourth between them. He shook his head in response to her later words. "Not in the slightest." He admitted. He had no idea what he wanted to do after high school. He figured that he still had time to figure things out though.

@ killian jones.
"You've got time to choose. Whatever you choose I know you're going to be good at it." She said, "I could see you being a comedian." She added. She wouldn't admit it aloud but some of the things that he said were pretty funny and when his jokes and comments weren't directed at her she would almost laugh during class. But given the fact that they weren't supposed to like each other, she would hold back her laughs.

---

Derek sighed and nodded, "I know. Now I don't ever see good in anyone. She ruined that." He stated. The only person he ever saw good in anymore would be Kat because she was incredibly good. Derek liked to think of her as his conscious in a way when they were kids. She always helped him do the right things and be a good person. Even though when he was a kid he was a dick she would always point out when he had fucked up and make him correct his mistake.