Come What May

xxDerekxx

Derek drove straight to Lydia’s from Hailey’s house and parked a few houses down. He saw her car sitting in the driveway so he focused his hearing on the house. Nothing happened for a while but he wasn’t going to give up so easily. Around nightfall, Lydia’s Mom got home from work and not long after, Lydia walked outside with her dog on a leash. He sunk down in his seat when they started walking in his direction but they only went to the end of her neighbor’s driveway, still a house away from Derek. He rose up slightly to peek over the dashboard and saw Lydia looking right at him.

“You think I wouldn’t recognize your car Hale?” she asked under her breath. “I thought you knew by now that I’m incredibly smart. And I know you and your little pack took my notebook. Make of it what you will. But you’re going to regret it.”

Derek growled and it took everything in him to not jump out of the car and attack her. He heard her walk away and sat all the way up, watching as she walked up the path to her house. As soon as she shut the door behind her, Derek peeled away and went back to Hailey’s house to look through the notebook again.

xxHaileyxx

After almost two hours of sitting on the bed in the dark and damp basement, Hailey’s eyes had started to adjust and her stomach growled. She wiped at the tears still running down her face and looked to the tray sitting on the floor a foot away. The only thing appealing about the bread and water was that it was something to eat. Slowly she straightened her legs out and pushed herself forward on the bed, placing her feet on the floor. She stood and took a step forward, feeling the weight of the chains.

“Cool,” she said, bending down and feeling out how tight they were around her ankles. She could barely slide her pinky finger in the gap.

Leaving the tray on the floor, Hailey decided to see how far away from the bed she could walk. After about seven steps she could feel a tug at her ankles. Any further and they would cut into her skin. She took as many steps as she could in all directions but all she was met with was empty space. Sighing she picked up the tray and sat back down on the bed.

Footsteps upstairs caught her attention and she held her breath as she listened. There were two sets. One was heavier, probably Gerard’s. The other was lighter, maybe a woman. She couldn’t hear any voices though, which was disappointing. The footsteps faded away as they moved to another part of the building. As she picked at the bread, she tried to figure things out.

“Gerard said I was unconscious for almost twenty-four hours,” she mused, picking up the glass of water and taking a sip. “So, there must have been something else than just knocking me out. Chloroform again? Or maybe drugs, injected into my system?”

“Very good,” Gerard’s voice came from the opposite side of the room and Hailey jumped.

“Holy shit,” she said, putting her hand to her chest.

“Uh, uh, language,” Gerard chastised and Hailey rolled her eyes.

“Who’s upstairs with you?” she asked.

“That’s none of your concern,” he called down. “I thought it would be courteous of me to let you know that for your convenience, there is a pot, under the bed. Feel free to place it wherever you like.”

“Lovely,” Hailey muttered, shuddering at the thought of peeing in a bucket for who knows how long.

“Now, go to sleep. Sweet dreams,” he said, closing the door and Hailey scoffed.

“Not likely,” she said, placing the tray on the floor, curling up on the bed, trying not to tangle the chains near her feet.

xxDerekxx

Derek pulled up to the Miner’s house and was surprised to see that Stiles was still there. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Stiles’ number.

“Yo,” Stiles answered.

“Come let me in,” Derek said, looking up at the house. There was movement in the living room window and he looked to see Stiles pulling back the curtain. Stiles nodded and signaled to Derek before hanging up. Derek climbed out of the car as Stiles walked down the path to the sidewalk.

“What are you still doing here?” Derek asked as Stiles closed the line behind him.

“Alyssa was having a freak out,” Stiles explained as they stood on the path to the house. “Jason calmed her down while I distracted Aaron.”

“Is she alright?” Derek asked, looking to the house.

“Yeah, she’s fine now. Obviously she won’t be 100% until Hailey’s back,” he said and Derek nodded.

“None of us will. Was there any progress on the notebook?”

“Some,” Stiles said with a nod as he opened the door.

“Derek,” Alyssa sighed as he walked into the living room. “We were worried about you.”

“They thought you were going to do something dumb at Lydia’s,” Aaron said from the top of the stairs.

“Go to bed,” Jason said sternly, laughing when he heard Aaron walk quickly to his room and close the door.

“Did you find out anything at Lydia’s?” Stiles asked.

“The only thing she said was that we’re going to regret taking the notebook and to make of it what we will,” he said.

“There was something interesting we noticed,” Jason said, grabbing the notebook from the table and flipping through it.

“She kept mentioning someone, but not by name,” Alyssa said as Jason found a page he was looking for and handed the notebook to Derek.

“Made a lot of progress today, he will be pleased,” Derek read, furrowing his eyebrows.

“The first thing that came to mind was Jackson. Assuming she was speaking about him posthumously,” Stiles said, clapping his hands together.

“But wouldn’t she use the past tense?” Derek asked.

“Unless she’s crazier than we thought and believes he’s still alive.”

“Is she still going to therapy?” Alyssa asked.

“No,” Stiles said. “But we should talk to Scott about that, see if he can remember anything he heard that might be important.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Derek said. “Try to get something out of Lydia at school. Or ask Allison if you think that will be easier.”

“I will,” Stiles said with a nod.

“It’s late Stiles, you should go home, get some sleep,” Jason said, standing up.

“Thank you for helping with Aaron,” Alyssa said, giving him a hug.

“Anytime. Goodnight,” he said, walking outside and closing the door behind him.

“You too,” Jason said, putting a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “I know you didn’t sleep last night. I woke up around 3am to use the bathroom and heard you pacing and muttering under your breath.”

“I didn’t even hear you get up,” Derek said.

“You were too focused.”

“Please get some sleep,” Alyssa said, looking up at him and he nodded his head. “Promise?”

“I promise,” he said, giving her an encouraging smile before heading upstairs. He closed the door to Hailey’s room behind him and shrugged out of his jacket, walking over to Hailey’s bed. Her scent was so strong it caused a physical ache in his chest. Sighing he went to the guest bedroom to sleep. He knew he needed the rest but it was just that much less time being used to try to find Hailey.

xxStilesxx

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Stiles asked Allison as they walked into the school.

“Well clearly she’s not going to talk to you because you’ve been nothing but rude to her. And she probably won’t talk to Scott because he’s basically a step away from Derek. Danny wouldn’t be comfortable doing it so I’m the only logical choice,” she said, closing her locker.

“Alright, good point.”

“When are you going to talk to her?” Scott asked.

“I was thinking either study hall or lunch,” she said, looking to him for affirmation.

“Lunch would be better so she can’t make a scene in front of everyone.”

“Plus it’s more casual,” Stiles added and Allison nodded.

“Lunch it is,” she said.

xxHaileyxx

Hailey bolted upright on the bed when she heard a crash come from upstairs. It sounded like something heavy had been knocked over and some glass shattered. She looked around the basement, letting her eyes readjust to the dark, wishing there was at least one window so she could estimate the time.

Footsteps from upstairs told her Gerard was awake. Or it was possibly the mystery person from the night before. Hailey groaned when she realized that the pressurized feeling in her stomach was actually her bladder and she really did not want to use the bucket that Gerard had so thoughtfully provided for her. She reached under the bed and pulled the bucket out, dreading the thought. The furthest spot she could place it was past the foot of the bed so that when she was sleeping it would be as far away as possible.

Just as she was about to undo her pants the basement door opened and some light came in. She held her breath as someone came down the stairs and she blinked as she looked towards the light while her eyes readjusted. Finally a figure appeared but it wasn’t Gerard… at least not in his normal form.

“Gerard?” she whispered once a tall, middle aged man with broad shoulders stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“Very good,” he said with a grin.

“What are you?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“There’s a time and place for these things. And now is not either of those,” he said, lifting his arm and tossing something onto the bed. Hailey looked to the bed and saw it was a grocery store bag with a few things in it.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the bag.

“Breakfast. And I decided to be nice and give you a flashlight,” he said and Hailey rejoiced internally to have a light source. It would be better if there were a clock of some kind. “Now, sit tight.”

“He’s going to find me,” Hailey said after Gerard had turned his back to her and had a foot on the bottom step.

“I count on it,” he said with a laugh before climbing the stairs and shutting the light off, thrusting Hailey into darkness again. Her eyes widened at the realization before she abandoned the bucket and stumbled back over to the bed.

The bag was near the pillow and she ripped it open, feeling around for the flashlight. She turned it on and shined in on the breakfast Gerard had given her, a small bottle of water and two hard-boiled eggs. Ignoring the food she took the flashlight and shone it around the basement. It reached all the way to the other side and it was completely empty aside from the bed and the bucket and her. She realized there were windows but they were covered in so much filth that no light could get in at all.

“Wonderful,” she sighed, turning the flashlight off to save battery and grabbing one of the eggs.

xxAllisonxx

“Hey Lydia,” Allison said, walking up to Lydia at her locker as she grabbed her books for the class after lunch.

“Hi,” Lydia said, offering a small smile.

“How are you?”

“I’m okay. I’m worried about Hailey,” she said, closing her locker.

“Me too,” Allison said softly as they walked to the cafeteria.

“Do you think she’s alright?” Lydia asked, looking at Allison with tearful eyes. Allison bit her lip and looked down.

“I hope so… you hear all of these horror stories about people being kidnapped. And it doesn’t help being friends with Stiles who knows more than he should,” she said, causing Lydia to laugh a bit.

“What stupid shit is he saying now?”

“Well, it’s not really stupid. It’s just… terrifying. He said based on past cases similar to this, the person who was kidnapped was being stalked for an indefinite amount of time. And when they were rescued or… found… the police always found some sort of log that kept track of everything. Whom the person was friends with, where they worked and when, everything down to what they ate for dinner and what time they went to bed,” Allison said, turning to Lydia whose eyes had widened.

“Oh my God. That is terrifying… so does he think Hailey had a stalker?” she asked and Allison tilted her head.

“He’s implying it.”

“Actually, his father kind of asked me a similar question yesterday,” Lydia said, recalling the conversation. “He asked if I knew if Hailey had ever felt like someone was after her or would have reason to kidnap her. Something along those lines.”

“Yeah, he asked me that too. But I couldn’t think of anyone,” Allison said and Lydia shook her head in agreement.

“Me neither. Especially because she’s such a likeable person.”

“I know. I just hope they find her soon.”

“Yeah,” Lydia said, giving Allison a small smile before walking over to the lunch line and abandoning the conversation.

“Okay sure, I was done talking to you,” Allison muttered under her breath, turning to find Scott, Stiles, and Danny. When she spotted them she adjusted her bag on her shoulder and walked over to them.

“That was fast,” Danny said, moving over so she could slide in next to him.

“Tell me about it. Just when I thought I was going to get something out of her she just agreed with me and walked away,” she said, resting her chin in her hand, her elbow on the table.

“Agreed with you about what?” Scott asked.

“I said I hope they find Hailey soon and she just said yeah and walked away.”

“Did she say anything valuable before that?” Stiles asked.

“She pulled her ditzy voice when I told her you had a theory that she had a stalker and stuff your Dad has found in other cases. Which I don’t even know if your Dad has dealt with this before I just thought it would be a good lead in,” she said and Stiles nodded.

“No, that was a good idea. What did she say that was ditzy?” he asked.

“She goes so, does he think she has a stalker?” Allison asked in her best impression of a ditz that caused Scott to laugh. She turned to him and narrowed her eyes.

“Sorry, I’ve just never heard you speak like that before,” he said with a smile.

“And we should keep it that way,” Danny said. “Too weird.”

“Anyway, it wasn’t much,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“It’s alright, I might be able to help. Believe it or not I actually took a few notes when I listened in on her therapy sessions. Derek and I are meeting Peter after school to look them over. Isaac’s picking Aaron up at school,” Scott said and Allison nodded.

“I’m just hoping we find her sooner rather than later,” Stiles muttered, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite as the others nodded in agreement.

xxDerekxx

“How are you doing, Derek?” Peter asked as they sat in the Camaro outside of Scott’s house, waiting for him to get home from school.

“Fine,” Derek said, wondering why his uncle decided to try to talk about this.

“You and I both know you’re lying,” Peter said, rolling his head towards Derek and Derek huffed. “I know how you’re feeling physically… but I want to know how you’re feeling emotionally.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Derek said through his teeth.

“If you’ll just talk to me I might know something that could help you.”

“The only help I need is in finding Hailey. Stop acting like you care about me.”

“Once again, you and I both know I’m not acting. You know I care about Hailey and want to find her, not only for her safety, but for your sanity,” Peter explained, his voice growing soft.

“My sanity?” Derek asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I know that not having Hailey near you is tearing you apart inside. And not knowing how to find her yet makes it even worse. When a werewolf has chosen his or her mate, they always need to be close to them. If not, something bubbles up inside of the werewolf that changes their attitude, senses, everything. And if it persists… it’s almost as if the werewolf goes… rabid,” Peter explained and Derek’s eyes widened and he sighed.

“I had no idea,” he said and Peter nodded.

“It’s not very common but it’s not unheard of. The sooner we find Hailey the better,” Peter said as Scott pulled up next to them.

“Hey,” Scott said as Derek and Peter climbed out of the car.

“Did anything happen at school?” Derek asked as they walked onto the porch.

“Allison talked to Lydia for a little bit,” Scott answered, opening the door. “She didn’t get much out of her but she could tell Lydia knew something.”

“Anything in particular?” Peter asked and Scott shrugged his shoulders.

“Not really. Allison said to her that she hoped they would be able to find Hailey soon and Lydia just said yeah and walked away. When before she was practically in tears, according to Allison,” Scott said.

“She knows something. She has to,” Derek said. “What can you tell us about her therapy sessions?”

“My notes are upstairs,” he said, leading them up to his room.

“You took notes?” Peter asked, clearly impressed. Scott nodded and went over to his bedside table. He opened the drawer to grab the notebook but just stared down.

“What?” Derek asked. Scott moved things around in the drawer and started pulling things out.

“It’s gone,” Scott said, bewildered.

“Are you sure that’s where you put it?” Peter asked.

“I checked last night just to make sure. It was definitely here I even looked through it,” Scott said, growing frantic. “Someone must have taken it.”

“Absolutely wonderful,” Peter said, his eyes sliding over to Derek. Derek stood in the middle of Scott’s room, lips drawn tight together, his hands balled up into fists. “Derek…”

“What’s wrong?” Scott asked, looking over at Derek to see his shoulders squared and his chest heaving.

“Being away from Hailey, not knowing where she is, it’s affecting him. In all the wrong ways,” Peter explained.

“What do we do?” Scott asked. Derek closed his eyes and tried to ignore them, focusing on thoughts of Hailey to try to calm himself down.

“I don’t know…” Peter said quietly, the last thing Derek heard as he recalled Hailey’s voice in his memory from when Lydia had tortured him and Scott.

“Come on. Come on Derek, breathe with me,” her voice echoed in his head and he started to slow his breathing. “I know it hurts. But you have to fight through it.”

Derek opened his eyes to see Scott and Peter staring down at him. He realized he was sitting on the floor, his back against Scott’s bedroom wall. Confused, he pushed himself up and cleared his throat.

“Are you alright?” Scott asked and Derek nodded.

“I’m fine.”

“What did you do just then?” Peter asked. “To calm yourself down.”

“I concentrated on thoughts of Hailey, and completely blocked the two of you out.”

“Was there a specific moment?” Peter asked, holding his hand up and Derek nodded again.

“A few months ago at the lacrosse game when Lydia tortured Scott, Stiles, and me. I wasn’t healing fast enough because of the electricity and Hailey held me to her and breathed with me, helping me slow my body down,” he explained and Peter nodded his head.

“Wait,” Scott said, his eyebrows furrowing together as he thought of something. Derek and Peter stared at him as he worked it out in his mind.

“Didn’t Hailey use a fire extinguisher to knock Lydia out that night?” Scott asked and Derek’s eyes flashed red.

“The fire extinguisher at the coffee shop,” Peter said in understanding.

“That can’t be coincidence can it?” Scott asked.

“It’s good enough for me,” Derek growled, turning to leave the room.

“Derek wait!” Scott said, rushing forward and grabbing his shoulder. “You can’t just burst into Lydia’s house. We don’t have proof. Stiles said his Dad told him there weren’t any fingerprints on it.”

“What more of a reason do you need Scott?” Derek shouted.

“We all want to find Hailey as much as you do! We all love her, too! But we have to go about this the right way, especially with Lydia involved. We know what she’s capable of! It won’t do Hailey any good if Lydia hurts you, or even kills you,” Scott said angrily and Derek sighed.

“He’s right,” Peter said.

“So what do we do?”

“I think we should go to Deaton,” Scott said, shrugging his shoulders. “For all we know he has some herb or something we can give Lydia that could make her tell the truth.”

“Fine,” Derek said. “But if we don’t get anything out of her in the next twenty-four hours, we’re doing things my way.”

“Okay,” Scott said with a nod, following Derek and Peter outside and to the car so they could go see Deaton and hopefully get one step closer to finding Hailey.