Come What May

xxHaileyxx

“I’m home,” Jason exclaimed as he walked into the house, the sound of the door closing echoed into the living room.

“In here, Dad,” Hailey said, looking over her shoulder and smiling at her father as he walked in.

“What did you guys do today?” he asked from the doorway.

“Just watched movies,” she said, shrugging her shoulders and turning back to the one she, Derek, and Aaron were currently watching.

“You know, you really make this too easy,” he said and Hailey noticed a change in his tone.

“What?” she asked quietly.

“You’re like sitting ducks, all three of you,” he sneered and she turned in time to see him pull a gun from his waistband. The skin on his forehead started to melt away as his body shifted. Before Hailey could scream this time she covered her mouth.

Her eyes popped open and she realized the muffled noise she heard was coming from her mouth which she had covered in reality as well. Slowly she pulled her hands away from her face, noticing the moisture and realizing she had started to cry. Derek stayed silent next to her, his arm a heavy but comforting weight across her waist. Gently she shifted his arm so she could get out of bed and he stirred.

“Wha-?” he mumbled, attempting to sit up but she held him down.

“Sh,” she whispered, putting her hand on his cheek and his body relaxed a bit. “I’m just going to the bathroom. Go back to sleep.”

Derek hummed before his breathing evened out again. Hailey stroked his cheek with her thumb and bent down to kiss the top of his head and she couldn’t stop thinking about how thankful she was to have him in her life.

Keeping true to her word she crept out of her room and headed to the bathroom, pausing in the hallway to look up at her parent’s bedroom door. She could feel her heart rate quicken at the thought of her dream being a reality. For all she knew, it was a possibility, but there was the chance that whatever Gerard was the mountain ash would affect him too. She held onto that bit of hope so tight.

She flicked the light on in the bathroom and shielded her eyes until they adjusted to the brightness. Looking in the mirror she realized the effect these nightmares were having on her. The bags under her eyes had never been fuller or darker and, maybe it was the light, but her skin seemed more pale than usual. With a sigh she ran a hand through her hair and turned the faucet on, hoping that some cold water might calm her down.

When she was done she returned to her room, silently closing the door behind her. She looked to Derek and saw that he had rolled onto his back and the arm that had been across her waist was now draped across his stomach, the other arm across the empty space that she had previously occupied.

Raising the blanket she climbed into the bed, adjusting her body so she wasn’t crushing his arm, even though he wouldn’t feel it, and rested her head on his chest, linking her fingers with those of the hand splayed against his stomach. His head rolled towards hers so his cheek was pressed against the top of her head and she looked up to see he had opened his eyes.

“You okay?” he whispered, his voice slightly muffled by her hair. She bit her lip and nodded, squeezing his hand lightly to reassure him.

“Nothing to worry about,” she whispered. He shifted slightly, bringing the arm underneath her up in order to pull her closer and she couldn’t help the few tears that escaped as she instinctively wrapped her arms around him, clutching to him as he rubbed circles on her back.

“It’s okay,” he whispered as she continued to cry against his chest, her body shaking as she held back from sobbing. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

“He… he was Dad,” she choked out and he froze briefly before continuing to rub her back. “He had a gun this time. I covered my mouth before I could scream in the dream and apparently I did it in reality too. I’m surprised my heartbeat didn’t wake you.”

“I didn’t even notice, it must have been a fast dream,” he said and she nodded.

“At least I didn’t see anyone die this time. First you Thursday night, then Stiles and Allison last night… it would have been you, me, and Aaron if I hadn’t woken up,” she whispered and he pressed his lips to her forehead, holding her even tighter without crushing her.

“Well good news is it’s technically Sunday morning which means Deaton comes back today,” he said and she nodded.

“What time did Scott say he should be back again?”

“Not until 10 tonight,” he said with a frown and she groaned.

“I just want to sleep,” she whimpered, pulling back slightly and rolling onto her back, Derek’s arms still around her.

“Well it’s about 4:30 now so… 17 and a half hours and hopefully you’ll be able to sleep,” he said, attempting to reassure her and she snorted.

“Hopefully,” she said, turning onto her side so her back was pressed against his chest. She placed her arm over his and brought his hand towards her face, kissing his palm. “Go back to sleep.”

“You too,” he said and she sighed.

“I’ll try,” she muttered and he laughed quietly.

“Just… close your eyes and feel my chest as I breathe; try to do the same. It might help.”

“Okay,” she said, closing her eyes and doing as he said. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back and waited until his next inhale to copy him. After a minute she found herself getting drowsy and soon fell back to sleep for the first time all weekend.

****

“Hailey… Hailey,” a voice said softly near her ear. Hailey stirred and rolled over, her eyes fluttering open to see Derek leaning over her. “You slept.”

“What time is it?” she asked with a yawn, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“Almost 9:30,” he said with a smile and she couldn’t help but smile as well.

“That’s like, a record now,” she beamed and Derek laughed.

“Come on, your Mom made pancakes,” he said, grabbing her hands and helping her out of the bed.

“Thank you, for helping me get back to sleep,” she said as they descended the stairs.

“Of course,” he said as they walked into the kitchen.

“Well hello sleepy head,” Alyssa said with a smile as Hailey walked towards her. “Did you sleep all through the night?”

“No. But this one wasn’t as bad as the other two,” Hailey said, grabbing coffee mugs for her and Derek from the cabinet and handing them to him to pour some in.

“How so?” Alyssa asked, pouring more pancake batter onto the griddle, sliding the already full plate and two empty ones towards Derek while Hailey grabbed silverware.

“Well, no one died this time,” she said with a shrug, joining Derek against the counter, taking her full coffee mug from him.

“Baby steps,” Alyssa said and Hailey nodded.

“Good morning,” Jason said, walking into the kitchen with an empty plate and coffee mug from the living room. He walked over to Hailey and bent forward to kiss the top of her head but she flinched towards Derek. Jason frowned and set his plate on the counter. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Dad,” she sighed, placing her silverware down and looking up at him. “Of course not.”

“Then what’s bothering you?” he asked as Aaron walked into the room and put his plate in the dishwasher.

“Um,” she said, gesturing towards Aaron. Derek quickly jumped up, grabbing his coffee mug and walked over to Aaron.

“Anything good on out there?” he asked Aaron, putting his hand on Aaron’s back and leading him to the living room as Aaron animatedly went into a description of the show he was in the middle of. Derek glanced over his shoulder at Hailey and nodded his head.

“So?” Jason asked and Hailey cleared her throat.

“I had another nightmare last night,” she said quietly and he nodded, encouraging her to continue. “Good news is I woke up before anyone died.”

“And the bad news?” he asked and Hailey bit her lip and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before continuing.

“The bad news is… Gerard was you this time,” she whispered and his eyes widened in shock.

“Oh Hailey,” Alyssa sighed, walking around the counter to wrap her arms around her daughter.

“Hailey that won’t happen,” Jason said, reaching out to place his hand on top of hers, pulling away at the last second so as not to upset her. Hailey noticed and extended her hand to him, grabbing onto his.

“We don’t know that for sure, Dad,” she whispered. “He could literally be anyone.”

“There’s got to be some way to realize it,” he said and Hailey shook her head.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, shooting straight up catching Alyssa off guard. “Sorry Mom. Hey Derek!”

“Yeah?” he called from the living room.

“Come here,” she said. Derek came back into the kitchen and stood next to Jason, his arms folded across his chest. “So you know how you couldn’t sense anything off of Gerard?”

“Yeah, nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

“Do you think it will be the same when he’s someone else? Or do you think he’d take on their scent and whatnot?” she asked and he raised an eyebrow.

“I actually don’t know… I couldn’t smell anything at the coffee shop but he could have been in his own form then.”

“What about at the house?” she asked and he shook his head.

“I was too worried about getting you out of there to notice anything else,” he said truthfully and she bit her lip.

“Well, it’s something to think about,” she said, her nose tingling with a foul smell. “Mom the pancakes!”

“Oh!” Alyssa exclaimed, rushing around the counter and flipping them off the griddle, one side golden brown, the other black. “Oops.”

“You should finish eating,” Derek said, nodding to Hailey’s plate. Rolling her eyes she picked up her fork and stabbed at the pancakes shoving some into her mouth.

“Charming isn’t she?” Jason joked and Derek laughed.

“Oh yeah,” Derek nodded and Hailey scoffed. Derek was about to sit back down next to Hailey when his head perked up and he looked to the stairs.

“What is it?” Hailey asked, her heart starting to race.

“No it’s fine, my phone’s ringing,” he said, heading down the hallway and up the stairs. Hailey pushed away from the counter and followed him to her bedroom.

“Who is it?” she asked when he looked at his phone before answering.

“Peter,” he said and Hailey stayed silent while he listened to Peter talk. “When will you be here? Okay.”

“He’s coming over?” she asked as Derek walked back over to her, pocketing the phone on his way.

“Yeah, said he wants to talk to us,” he said, heading downstairs to the front door. Hailey grabbed her jacket before following him outside, zipping it up. She couldn’t help but glance around at her neighbors’ houses, head turning at every noise. “Relax,” Derek said, putting his hand on her arm.

“Sorry,” she said, crossing her arms tight against her chest.

“He’s coming,” Derek said, turning to the left. Hailey looked as well but couldn’t see anyone until about thirty seconds later when Peter came jogging into view. She waited until he was near the driveway to part the line for him.

“You look like shit,” he said and Hailey groaned as she stood.

“Yes, I know this thanks,” she said and he raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“Not you. Him,” he said, pointing at Derek who just rolled his eyes.

“Come on,” Derek said, heading towards the house.

“How are you?” Peter asked Hailey as he held the door open for her and she shrugged.

“As expected I guess. Literally counting down the minutes until Deaton’s supposed to be back,” she said, turning when she heard footsteps.

“Oh, hello Peter. Would you like anything to eat or some coffee?” Alyssa asked and he shook his head.

“No, but thank you. I just need to speak with Hailey and Derek.”

“Anything we should know?” Jason asked from the couch and Peter shook his head.

“Nothing important,” he said and Hailey started going up the stairs, Derek and Peter following. She and Derek sat at the foot of her bed as Peter closed the door behind him before leaning against Hailey’s desk.

“What did you find out?” Derek asked and Peter sighed.

“Not much, really. I went to see the Sheriff and he said they couldn’t find a damned thing at the house as expected except for Lydia’s fingerprints on the door handle.”

“Good, now there’s actual proof,” Hailey said and Peter nodded.

“He also said Lydia’s mother still hasn’t called them reporting her missing. But she’s definitely still around. We’ve been watching the house. Either she knows where Lydia is or Lydia threatened her if she said anything,” he said and Hailey sighed.

“I wish there was something we could do, someway to find out,” Derek said.

“It’s not like Stiles’ Dad can go knock on her door and say he has reason to believe her daughter is missing. There’s literally nothing we can do,” Hailey said and he nodded.

“And even if he goes to question Lydia, her mother won’t tell them anything about her missing, she could use a valid sounding excuse as to where she is,” Peter added.

“I know. I just never thought Lydia could be this clever.”

“You’re joking, right?” Peter asked.

“Lydia’s GPA is a school record,” Hailey said and Derek sighed.

“I know this but that’s academic. This is a different level,” he said. “Was there anything else?”

“He’s had a few people looking for any recent missing persons reports or mysterious deaths from some of the other towns but there hasn’t been anything suspicious. At least not right off the bat, all of the deaths seemed to naturally occur.”

“I just don’t get it,” Hailey groaned and Peter crouched down so they’d be at eye level.

“We’ll take care of this Hailey,” he said softly and she nodded.

“I know,” she whispered and Peter straightened back up and cleared his throat.

“I should get back out there. I told Isaac I’d switch off with him at Lydia’s,” Peter said as Hailey and Derek stood up.

“You’ll call if there’s anything to report?” Hailey asked as they walked outside and he nodded.

“Same with you and Deaton,” he said.

“Of course,” she said, closing the line behind him. “Be careful.”

“Come on, you should finish eating. And then probably work on copying those notes Danny brought you,” Derek said, placing his hand on her back as they walked back into the house.

“Yay, hand cramps,” she groaned.

****

xxDerekxx

“Why is it necessary that I have to take Physics? Shouldn’t it be a choice?” Hailey grumbled as she copied her notes. Derek looked up from the book he was reading on the bed and laughed.

“It can’t be that bad,” he said and she turned in her chair to glare at him. He immediately stopped laughing and held his hands up. “Shutting up.”

As he was about to return to the book his phone rang in his pocket. Hailey stopped to look at him as he pulled it out. He saw Scott’s name flashing and stood up to leave the room.

“It’s Scott. I’ll go downstairs so I don’t disturb you,” he said, walking to the door.

“But I want to know what he says,” she said, moving to stand up.

“I promise I will tell you everything. Focus on schoolwork like a normal teenager for once,” he said and she sighed.

“Fine.”

“Hey,” he said, answering the phone as he closed the door behind him and headed downstairs.

“Hey, I talked to Deaton,” Scott said and Derek’s interest perked up. He crossed through the kitchen and opened the door walking out onto the patio.

“And?”

“He’s just leaving now but his flight got delayed a little bit so he’ll be back later than expected,” he said and Derek sighed.

“How much later?”

“Probably not until midnight.”

“Could be worse,” Derek said, leaning up against the railing.

“Right. He also said he might have an idea on what exactly Gerard is. But he wants everyone together.”

“Define everyone.”

“Us, the Miner’s, the department. I already told Stiles who called his Dad. He thinks we should all meet at the department to be less conspicuous,” Scott said and Derek nodded, his mind racing as to how dangerous this could be.

“What about the hunters?”

“Deaton only thinks Allison and Chris will be necessary. But if we need them Chris can fill them in on everything.”

“Okay. I’ll call Isaac and Peter. Did you call Danny?”

“Stiles did, yeah.”

“Let me know when Deaton gets in,” he said and hung up after Scott gave his affirmation. Derek sighed as he dialed Peter’s number.

“Yes?” Peter asked.

“Are you with Isaac?”

“No he’s sleeping back at the house. Is anything wrong?”

“I just heard from Scott. Deaton won’t be getting in until almost midnight. He wants to meet with everyone at the department.”

“So it’s worse than we thought?” Peter asked and Derek considered it for a moment.

“I’m not jumping to conclusions,” he decided. “Will you let Isaac know?”

“Yes. What should we do about Lydia’s house during this pow-wow?”

“Just leave it I guess. This will probably only take an hour, not much longer,” Derek said with a shrug.

“Alright we’ll be there,” he said before hanging up. Derek stuffed the phone back in his pocket and reentered the house.

“Derek, I didn’t know you were outside,” Alyssa said, coming out of the laundry room with a full basket of folded clothes.

“Scott called. I didn’t want to disturb Hailey while she copied her notes,” he answered and Alyssa set the basket on the table.

“Was it anything important?”

“He said he talked to Deaton who won’t be getting back until around midnight tonight. He wants everybody to meet at the Sheriff’s department.”

“Does that include us?” she asked, pointing to the living room where Jason and Aaron sat watching a movie.

“Yes. I know it’s late for Aaron but we can’t leave him here and I think this time he should have the same information as the rest of us,” he said and she nodded.

“I think you’re right on that,” she sighed, picking the basket back up.

“I’ll bring that up,” he said, walking over to her, extending his arms to take the basket from her.

“Thank you. You can just put it on mine and Jason’s bed,” she said and he nodded. Derek climbed the stairs two at a time and walked down the hallway into Jason and Alyssa’s bedroom, setting the basket on the foot of the bed. He turned when he heard footsteps approaching to see Jason walking down the hallway.

“Hi,” Jason said, leaning against the doorframe and Derek nodded. “You know, I never properly thanked you for everything. Rescuing Hailey the other day, killing Jackson, rescuing all of us when they kidnapped us, saving Aaron’s life before we even knew you… I don’t think there’s any way I could thank you.”

“You don’t have to,” Derek said, shaking his head and Jason shifted.

“I’m indebted to you,” Jason said, his voice cracking and Derek looked up at him. “I know you’re not even thinking of it yet… at least I hope not… but with this whole mate thing you’re practically my son-in-law already, right?”

“I guess so,” Derek said shrugging, cocking an eyebrow at where this conversation was heading.

“You can have a… proper wedding though, correct?”

“If Hailey wants to I can’t deny her that.”

“Would you want that?” Jason asked and Derek nodded. “Right well… I won’t give it to you now, or anytime soon. I’d like to have some sort of handle on this situation.”

“What is it?” Derek asked and Jason walked over to the dresser against the far wall.

“This,” Jason said, opening the top drawer and rifling around. He turned to Derek, a small box in his hand. “Belonged to my mother.”

He held his hand out for Derek to take the box. Lifting the lid Derek was met with the sight of a beautiful diamond ring that suited Hailey’s personality perfectly. He looked up at Jason who stood with his hands in his pockets.

“When that day comes… which will be when she’s done with college,” Jason said pointedly and Derek nodded. “That will belong to you to give her.”

“Thank you,” Derek said, closing the box and handing it back to Jason. “But… why didn’t you propose to Alyssa with it?”

“When Alyssa and I got engaged my grandparents were still alive. They had the ring and I didn’t know it until they passed away and we were cleaning out their belongings. I think they never gave it to me because when I told them I was ready to propose I had already spent half my savings on Alyssa’s ring. It’s more suited to Hailey anyway.”

“That’s what I was thinking, it captures her perfectly,” Derek said and Jason nodded, placing the box back in his drawer.

“So I guess you can say this is how I’ve thanked you. It took me awhile to trust you as you recall,” he said and Derek laughed. “But you’ve proven yourself to be much more than I assumed. And I’m sorry for that.”

“You don’t have to apologize. You had every right to be apprehensive. It’s how I expected and even wanted you to be.”

“Well, Derek Hale,” Jason said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for keeping my family safe.”

“I always will,” Derek said, clasping Jason’s hand in his and giving it a strong shake.

“Well,” Jason said, clearing his throat and releasing Derek’s hand. “I told Aaron I’d only be gone a few minutes. He gets antsy when you pause movies.”

“Oh I’ve noticed,” Derek said with a laugh, following Jason out of the room and down the hallway. He opened the door to Hailey’s room and she looked up from her notebook and sighed.

“Finally,” she said standing up. “So what’s up? Is everything all right?”

“So far, yeah,” he said, sitting down on her bed as she sat next to him.

“What did Scott want?”

“Deaton’s going to be back a little later than planned,” he said and Hailey groaned. “Only a few hours, his flight got delayed.”

“So what time?”

“Midnight. He wants everybody to meet at the Sheriff’s department. Your family, Peter, Isaac, Danny, everybody.”

“It must be bad if he wants to get the department involved,” she sighed, slouching forward, her elbows on her knees.

“Or he just wants everybody to be informed,” Derek said, even though he had been thinking the same thing.

“Does everybody know?” she asked and Derek nodded.

“Come on. There’s plenty of time to finish with those notes,” he said and Hailey scowled at him as he grabbed the book he had been reading before and settled back on the pillows.