Come What May

xxHaileyxx

“Dad wants to have you over for dinner tonight, you in?” Stiles asked as they walked through the hall at school towards the parking lot.

“Absolutely,” she said with a smile. “I’m always up for dinner.”

“Well you can come over now if you want, maybe I can get you to watch a Star Wars movie finally,” he said, nudging her with his elbow.

“Sounds tempting but you know I have to stay after and finish catching up,” she said and he groaned.

“I’m never going to get you or Scott to watch any Star Wars am I?” he asked and Hailey laughed.

“Probably not. But keep trying. I’ll come right over when I’m done here okay?”

“Sure. See ya Hails,” he said with a wave before going through the double doors. Hailey waved back before pulling her cell phone out and calling Derek.

“Hi,” he answered.

“Hey. I’m going over to the Stilinski’s for dinner when I’m done here okay?”

“Stiles already let me know earlier. Everything was normal from here today.”

“Yeah? Good,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m sure there are better things you’d rather spend time doing but, thank you for making sure I’m safe.”

“You know there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. But you should go so you get caught up. I’ll be here.”

“Okay. See you in a bit,” she said, hanging up. She turned to head towards the library to meet Mrs. Crenshaw and bumped right into Jessica, one of the girls in her class. “Oh my God, Jessica, I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right Hailey,” Jessica said, regaining her balance. “Where are you headed in such a hurry?”

“Library. I have quite a bit to catch up on.”

“Oh yeah, how are you doing after that whole fiasco?”

“Fine,” Hailey said, shrugging her shoulders. “I should get going.”

“Right. Well I hope you don’t get locked in some basement again anytime soon,” Jessica said and Hailey backed up a step.

“How do you know that?” she asked, her voice quavering. “Nobody knows that.”

“I know everything, Hailey,” Jessica said with a smile. Hailey felt her phone buzzing in her pocket but was too frozen to answer it. Jessica’s face started to contort and her posture started to straighten.

“No,” Hailey whispered, shaking her head. She heard the doors burst open and could see Derek, a mixture of fear and anger on his face as Gerard started to take shape in front of her from Jessica’s body.

“Not this time Hale,” Gerard growled, whipping around with a sword that Hailey didn’t even see appear and slicing clear through Derek’s body when he was close enough. Hailey screamed.

She was still screaming when she felt hands on her shoulders, her body shaking. Her legs flailed beneath her, her eyes squeezed shut. She was still screaming when she felt her body pulled tight towards another one and she started pounding her fists on the body. She heard shouts around her and then felt lips on hers, trying to silence the scream.

Her eyes shot open to see Derek’s face pulling back from hers with a look of concern. She took deep breaths as she assessed her surroundings. She was in her bed, the sheets tangled around her and Derek. Jason, Alyssa, and Aaron had come into her room, a look of terror on Alyssa’s face. Hailey put her hand to her chest and swallowed.

“Hailey, what happened?” Derek asked after she was able to calm down a bit.

“I had a nightmare,” she said, shaking her head trying to rid the vision from her mind. “But it felt so real.”

“You scared us half to death,” Alyssa said and Hailey looked up at her.

“I’m sorry. It was just so awful.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Jason said, stepping forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. “What was the nightmare about?”

“I was back at school, catching up on stuff I missed. Derek was outside, keeping an eye on things. Stiles invited me to dinner at his place. I bumped into one of the girls from my class and it was actually Gerard, in her body,” she said, looking up at them.

“In her body?” Aaron asked, his eyes widening. “How does that work?”

“Mom,” Hailey said, making eye contact with Alyssa who nodded.

“Come on, back to bed,” Alyssa said, putting her hands on Aaron’s shoulders and ushering him out of the room as he groaned.

“We never did talk about Gerard,” Jason said, looking at Derek.

“I figured she needed to rest,” Derek said, shrugging his shoulders. “Obviously I was wrong.”

“No, she did need it. But it sounds like it’s worse than we thought it could be,” Jason said.

“I’d rather talk about it later, when everyone is here. I really don’t want to repeat myself,” Hailey said and Jason nodded.

“I’d give you a sleeping pill but something tells me you couldn’t sleep if you tried,” he said.

“Yeah, probably not,” she said with a laugh. “Thanks though.”

“Well, at least try to just… relax,” he said, leaning down and kissing her forehead before going back to bed. Hailey waited until he closed the door behind him to collapse back onto her pillows and turn to Derek.

“How long was I screaming?” she asked looking up at him where he sat straight up, back resting against the headboard.

“A minute. Maybe two.”

“Must have been pretty loud to wake them all up,” she said and he nodded.

“I was trying to wake you before you started screaming because I could hear your pulse racing,” he said looking down at her. “Nothing worked.”

“Until you kissed me.”

“Well it was either that or slap you and I really didn’t think you’d like to come back to reality with a broken jaw,” he said and she laughed. “It’s not funny Hailey. What if that happens again and a kiss doesn’t work?”

“Then just slap me,” she said, sitting up and shrugging her shoulders and he rolled his eyes.

“Jesus Hailey,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair and she grabbed his arm.

“Well I don’t know what else to do,” she whispered and he lifted his arm, draping it across her shoulders and she slouched into his side. “Throw a glass of water in my face or something.”

“Maybe Deaton will have something a little better than an over-the-counter sleeping pill,” he suggested and she raised an eyebrow.

“Won’t hurt to ask,” she said with a sigh. “What time is it anyway?”

“A little after three,” he said and she groaned.

“I still got more sleep than I did per night on that shitty cot.”

“I don’t want to push it but did anything else happen in that nightmare? Or was that basically it?” he asked and she cleared her throat before sitting up and putting her hands in her lap.

“There was… one other thing,” she said, a lump forming in her throat. Just the thought of something like that happening to Derek was enough to make her cry. Seeing it in her dream was even worse.

“Hey,” he said softly and she looked up at him. “What was it?”

“Gerard… he had a sword. When you came running into the school to save me he turned to you and,” she said, her lips shaking as her voice quavered, a tear sliding down her cheek. “He cut your body in half. In one swipe.”

“Hailey,” he sighed, pulling her into him, her cheek pressed against his chest.

“It looked so real,” she whispered, choking back tears.

“I will not let that happen,” he said gruffly and she pulled back to look up at him, his jaw clenched tight.

“You’ve seen it happen before,” she observed and he nodded. “To someone you knew?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “But I know it’s Gerard’s specialty.”

“I just want this to be over,” she said and he nodded in agreement.

“I know. Tomorrow you can tell us what exactly is up with Gerard and we’ll go from there.”

“What do we do right now? There’s no way I’ll fall back asleep, not after that,” she said, shaking her head.

“We could watch a movie,” Derek suggested.

“You should go back to sleep. You need it,” she said and he shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he insisted and Hailey shrugged.

“Okay. Can you grab some movies and I’ll start up my computer?” she asked and he nodded, climbing out of the bed.

“Be right back,” he said, glancing over at her quickly before closing the door behind him. Hailey sighed and fell back on the pillows, looking up towards the ceiling. She laid there for a moment until the silence became uncomfortable and stood up to grab her laptop from her desk hoping that a movie would take her mind off of everything, even for such a short amount of time.

****

“I’ll get it,” Derek said in response to the doorbell as he got up from the couch. They moved their movie watching to the living room after the rest of her family had woken up and gone about life as normal. Derek walked back into the living room followed by Sheriff Stilinski and Hailey paused the movie and stood up to hug him.

“Welcome home,” the Sheriff said, smiling at her when she pulled away.

“Thanks,” she said, stepping back. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No thank you,” he said, moving over towards one of the chairs and angling it so it faced the couch as Hailey and Derek sat on it. “I just have a few questions for you, if that’s all right?”

“Sure,” Hailey said with a shrug and he clapped his hands together before pulling a small tape recorder out of his pocket and switching it on.

“Okay first off, can you confirm who it was who was holding you captive?”

“Gerard Argent,” she said and he nodded, clearing his throat.

“Can you describe for me the conditions you were held in?” he asked and she hesitated, an image of the basement and the shackles around her ankles coming forward.

“He locked me in the basement. It was dark; my only source of light was a very dim flashlight that he provided me. There was a cot against the wall for me to sleep on and a bucket fairly near to use as a bathroom. My ankles were chained to the base of the cot with shackles, limiting my movement. And he brought food down three times a day in a plastic bag, just enough to tide me over.”

“Do you know what kind of basement? Industrial, business, home?”

“Definitely a house. Derek knows where. I didn’t pay attention on our way home,” she said, turning to Derek and the Sheriff nodded at him to answer.

“The address is 1649 Easton Drive,” he said and the Sheriff looked up, his eyebrows furrowed together.

“But that’s so close,” he said and Derek nodded.

“So close that we completely overlooked it.”

“Hailey, was it just Gerard there or did you see or hear anyone else?”

“Lydia Martin was involved,” she practically spat out and his eyes widened. “I heard her crystal clear the other day arguing with Gerard.”

“What’s wrong?” Derek asked, picking up on something from the Sheriff that Hailey couldn’t detect.

“Stiles called me earlier saying that Lydia wasn’t in school today. There hasn’t been any word from her mother so for all we know she’s at home. But it’s something to keep an eye on.”

“I’ll let Peter and Isaac know,” Derek nodded.

“Was there anything else?” Hailey asked.

“Just one more. Did Gerard hurt you in any way while you were there?” he asked and Hailey immediately shook her head.

“No, he never even came close enough to me,” she answered and he nodded, reaching forward and shutting off the recorder.

“There, that wasn’t too bad, right?” he asked as he stood and Hailey laughed.

“Not at all.”

“I need to get going and bring this back to the department. We’ll check the house out and see what we can find but I think it’s safe to say that Gerard won’t be there at all,” he said and Hailey sighed.

“I know. Need me to tell Stiles anything when he gets here?” she asked as he opened the door to leave.

“Just have him call me if he’s gonna stay for dinner or something. He’s not very good with that,” he said causing Hailey to laugh.

“Will do. See you later, Sheriff,” she said, waving before closing the door behind him. “Are you alright?” she asked Derek when she turned to see him sitting on the stairs, his head in his hands.

“I’m fine it’s just knowing that Gerard is still out there somewhere. And finding out Lydia wasn’t at school, there’s something going on with that,” he said, shaking his head.

“Or she just didn’t want to have to face Scott, Allison, Stiles, and Danny because she knew that things would not be good if she did,” Hailey suggested, sitting down on the stairs next to him.

“It’s possible,” he sighed and she looped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Let’s not worry about that, please. We still have an hour to finish this movie before they get here and I’d like just a little bit more normal before I give you all the details,” she said and he nodded, reaching for her hand and standing up, heading back over to the couch.

****

“Okay so biggest news of the day is that…”

“Lydia wasn’t at school,” Hailey finished as Stiles dropped his backpack on the floor behind the couch and stared at her, raising an eyebrow. “Your Dad told us.”

“Ah, right,” he said, catching his breath and sitting down on the couch as Allison, Scott, and Danny followed.

“Did you sleep well last night?” Allison asked with a smile and Hailey shook her head.

“I actually had a horrible nightmare that woke up the whole house.”

“Except for yourself,” Derek added.

“What do you mean?” Scott asked.

“I was so deep in the dream that Derek tried everything to wake me and nothing worked until he kissed me,” she answered.

“What was the dream?” Danny asked, sitting back in the chair.

“Long story short I dreamt I was back at school and had to stay late to catch up on everything I missed and as I was on my way to the library I bumped into Jessica and we were talking and she said something weird and then she was Gerard and he killed Derek,” she explained and they all stared at her.

“Jessica Brighton?” Stiles asked and Hailey nodded. “So what does that mean? Is she part of it?”

“I don’t think so,” Hailey said, biting her lip. “I think it’s time I tell you guys exactly what’s going on with Gerard.”

“That would be nice,” Derek said and Hailey sighed.

“I don’t exactly know what he is but I know what he does. He’s some sort of shape shifter. He’s able to take on the form of someone else and when he turns back into himself the skin melts and his body reconfigures itself. I’m assuming that he has to kill these people in order for that to happen.”

“That would explain the old lady voice we heard when we called the number in Lydia’s notebook,” Allison said breathlessly.

“No one in town has been reported missing or dead though,” Stiles said.

“He must be using people from out of town then. Out of your father’s jurisdiction,” Derek said and Stiles sighed.

“This is crazy.”

“Are you really all that surprised though?” Danny asked and everyone shook his or her head.

“Scott, do you know if Deaton has anything that will help Hailey sleep that’s stronger than a regular sleeping pill?” Derek asked and Scott shrugged.

“Probably but he’s out of town for the weekend,” Scott answered. “Whatever it is it’s probably locked away with all of the other supernatural stuff.”

“Great so, more nightmares,” Hailey groaned, leaning back on the couch and choking back tears.

“What should we do in the meantime?” Danny asked. “Should we go after Gerard?”

“I think we should wait until Deaton gets back. He’ll be able to tell us exactly what Gerard is, I’m sure,” Scott said and Allison nodded her head in agreement.

“Right, better to be safe than sorry,” she said.

“We should also see what your Dad finds at the house I was held at,” Hailey said, looking at Stiles.

“And we’ll just keep an eye out for Lydia and try to figure out what’s going on with that,” Stiles added.

“I can’t keep watching you die every night,” Hailey said, turning to Derek with tears in her eyes. He put his arms around her and she clutched onto his shirt.

“Maybe he won’t,” Stiles said with a shrug, but his voice comforting because he could see Hailey was in pain.

“If not Derek then probably one of you,” she said, looking around the room. “I just want all of this to be over. I want to be able to sleep again and not worry about what’s going to happen when I open my eyes.”

“We want that for you too, Hailey,” Allison said, a look of empathy on her face.

“Oh God Allison I can’t even imagine how this makes you feel. I didn’t even think of it,” Hailey groaned, standing up and joining Allison on the couch, linking their arms and resting her head on Allison’s shoulder. “It must be such a shock.”

“It is, yeah, but the last time Gerard was here was the most I ever talked to him in my life and I’m so glad you didn’t have to see what he did to me. I wasn’t myself but I thought I was doing the right thing. What he did to you makes me hate him even more,” she said through gritted teeth.

“What about your Dad? Will he be upset at all?”

“I’m not sure. Gerard was never a typical dad to him in the first place so…”

“We’ll fix this,” Scott said, taking Allison’s hand in his.

“In the meantime I suggest some Sleepytime tea and an over-the-counter sleeping pill just to at least see what that does for you,” Stiles said and Hailey sighed.

“Can’t hurt to try I guess,” she said with a shrug.

“I have notes for you to copy for the week,” Danny said pulling some notebooks out of his backpack and setting them on the coffee table. “All the teachers said they’re glad you’re all right and if you have questions just to ask them on Monday and they’ll help you out with the missing homework if you need it whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you so much Danny. I’ll probably spend my time doing this when I can’t sleep,” she said, reaching to the coffee table and grabbing one of the notebooks, flipping through it. “You can help,” she said, looking up at Derek, a grin on her face.

“Don’t look at me,” he said, shaking his head. “I played basketball in high school and spent my time outside of school learning the ins and outs of being a werewolf from my mother.”

“There has to be one class you were good at,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Thinking about you in high school is all kinds of weird,” Stiles said, making a circular motion with his hand towards Derek. “I’m picturing a smaller slightly scrawnier you with lots of facial hair.”

“Here’s a tip, don’t,” Derek said and Hailey laughed.

“You should go,” she said, smiling at Stiles as Derek snarled. Stiles and the others left and Hailey turned back to Derek. “You’re rude.”

“Oh come on, he knows I wasn’t serious,” he said as he got up to join her back on the other couch. “Do you want to finish the movie or start copying notes?”

“How about we go pick Aaron up at school instead? He had rehearsals for the spring concert today and Dad was gonna leave work early to get him,” she suggested and Derek shrugged.

“Fine by me.”

“I’ll call Dad,” she said, reaching for her phone as Derek stood to get his car keys.

****

“What are you guys doing here?” Aaron asked as he walked out of the school, his backpack slung over one shoulder as he waved goodbye to some of his friends.

“Well Derek and I thought we should come get you and go get some ice cream,” Hailey said excitedly, a too wide smile on her face. Aaron raised an eyebrow and stared at her before looking at Derek who shrugged, then back at Hailey.

“Hailey, it’s January,” he said and she frowned.

“I thought kids liked ice cream,” she said, turning to Derek before looking back at Aaron.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like ice cream!” Aaron exclaimed. “All I said is it’s January. Isn’t it a little cold for ice cream?”

“Aaron, we grew up in New York where it snowed and was like 15 degrees half the winter. It’s like 45 degrees and it feels like the tropics compared to that,” she said and Aaron laughed.

“That’s true I guess. Okay, I’m in!”

“Sweet, let’s go,” Hailey said, taking Aaron’s backpack and putting it in Derek’s trunk as he climbed into the car.

****

“So then Mike kicked the ball and hit Jerry right in the stomach. It was great,” Aaron said, recalling the kickball game they had during gym class.

“He should be glad it wasn’t any lower,” Derek said, catching Aaron’s eye in the rearview mirror and Aaron laughed as Hailey rolled her eyes.

“Boys,” she sighed, turning to look out the window. She listened as Aaron continued to talk about his day and her eyes widened when she realized what direction they were going.

“I’m not that great at Math, maybe Hailey can help you. Right Hailey?” Derek asked as Hailey continued staring out the window, her eyes glazing over. She gripped the middle console so hard her knuckles were turning white. “Hailey? Hailey!”

“What?” she asked, snapping her head towards Derek as he went from looking at her, to the road, and back at her again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, scanning her face.

“I need you to turn and take a different route,” she said, her heart pounding in her chest.

“What?” he asked, and she pointed out the windshield. Derek looked to where she was pointing and quickly switched lanes and took a right.

“What’s going on?” Aaron asked, leaning forward between the two front seats.

“Coffee shop,” Derek mumbled, reaching towards the middle console and grabbing Hailey’s hand.

“Oh,” Aaron whispered, leaning back against the seat. “We don’t have to get ice cream.”

“No, no, we’re going,” Hailey said, nodding her head and turning to look at Aaron, forcing a smile on her face. “It’s okay.”

“We can get it to go,” Derek suggested and Hailey nodded.

“Is that okay with you?” she asked, turning to Aaron.

“Yeah,” he said, smiling at her. She turned her body back around and looked at Derek.

“Are you okay?” he whispered and she closed her eyes and nodded. Derek kept looking at her every few seconds and hesitated after pulling into the parking lot of the store. Aaron had started to open his door but stopped when no one else was moving. Hailey sat frozen in her seat, her eyes roaming the windows watching everyone in there.

“Are we going?” Aaron asked and Derek held a finger up.

“Hailey,” he said softly and she bit her lip.

“He could be anyone in there,” she whispered. “He could be anywhere and we’d never know it.”

“Okay, we’re going home,” Derek said, putting the key back in the ignition.

“No, get the ice cream,” she said, turning her eyes towards Aaron. “Please.”

“Hailey and I can sit in the car and you can just get a couple pints to make it quick. Our favorite flavors,” Aaron suggested and Hailey nodded.

“I’ll be as fast I can. Chocolate chip and chocolate peanut butter?” Derek asked and they both nodded. He climbed out of the car, making eye contact with Hailey through the windshield before entering the store, and Hailey’s hand immediately flew to the lock button.

“It’s okay Hailey, I’m here,” Aaron said, reaching forward and putting a hand on her shoulder.

She reached up to pat his hand but kept looking out the window, closely watching every person that entered and exited the store, her heart racing with anxiety. Her foot started to bounce up and down, faster when a car parked in the spot right next to them. She tried to look straight ahead as the driver climbed out but could see him looking at her out of the corner of her eye. Derek walked out of the store, causing her heart rate to slow down and she didn’t unlock the car until he was reaching for the handle.

“We need to go,” she said, taking the bag of ice cream from him. He started the ignition and drove out of there as fast as possible. The further they got from the store, the easier it was for Hailey to breathe.

****

“What was that?” Derek whispered as he and Hailey stood in the middle of the kitchen, getting bowls and spoons for the ice cream.

“I think I need to stay home until Deaton gets back. I can’t do… that,” she said, waving outside. “Not when we don’t know what he is or who he is.”

“We will go see Deaton the second he gets back,” he said and she nodded, her eyes burning as tears formed.

“I’m sick of being afraid,” she sighed, putting the bowls on the counter and crossing her arms. Derek put the spoons down and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on the top of her head.

“I told you I would keep you safe. I’ve failed three times in almost four months. That’s not a good record. I promise it will never happen again,” he said and she snaked her arms around his neck.

“You didn’t fail,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “They were all out of your power.”

“Jackson outsmarted me. But Gerard got you because of my stupidity. I knew I should have followed you to work that night,” he said, shaking his head and Hailey pulled back to look up at him.

“Stop blaming yourself. No good will come out of it,” she said and he merely nodded. “Come on, Aaron’s waiting.”

She and Derek grabbed the bowls, spoons, and some napkins and went out to the living room where Aaron was rifling through the DVD cabinet. He looked up when he heard them coming and held up three choices, ultimately being the one to make the decision. They settled on the couch together in a row, scooping a bit of each other’s ice cream into their bowls. Although it felt like a normal night, Hailey still caught herself glancing out the window at every sound she heard, Derek’s arm draped across her shoulders in comfort, while Aaron continued watching the movie like any 9-year-old would.