Distance [Derek Hale]

Chapter Forty-Two

"Where's Margo?" Derek asked as he looked around at the empty loft. From the lack of smells and movement, he knew she hadn't been in there for months. It was strange to enter the loft and not smell the food that she made or to be greeted by the familiar scent of sunflowers. The letter Isaac had written was also sat on the kitchen counter with Isaac's messy handwriting portraying the word 'Margo'. On top of that was a post-it note with an email address written on it with more messy teenage boy handwriting. 
Both Stiles and Scott looked to each other not knowing whether they should say anything about the matter. He'd only just returned back to his adult state after being a teenager for a full day (not something that he particularly enjoyed) and he'd been itching to get back to her and see that she was okay. 
Not receiving an answer from either of the boys, he turned to look at them growing increasingly frustrated, "Scott? Stiles? Where's your sister?" He repeated, focusing on Stiles and the said boy sighed, his hands fidgeting together as he thought about it. 
"She's at home. In bed...probably. Or staring at plants." He droned and Derek frowned as he checked the time. Sure, it was dark but it was only eight o'clock. "She's not doing well, hasn't been for a while...she doesn't actually get out of bed. In fact...I don't think I've seen her leave the house since...well..." 
Derek's brows furrowed as he looked over to Scott as if asking him to assure him that it was a lie. It was not. 

Staring at the figure through the window, his brows furrowed and he searched for any sign of deceit. It was as if he was hoping what was in front of him was a mirage. From a human standpoint, it wouldn't look that abnormal. She had her headphones on and was pacing back and forth with a few pieces of paper in one hand and a red pen in the other. He knew that walk; she was reciting her own literary work in an effort to correct it and make it better. 
But he saw through that. He couldn't remember seeing her so ill before. Even after Paige died it had never been that bad; it was almost like she had died and was left with nothing but a ghost to remind them all of her. 
Perhaps this was why Aiden's words had been so important. 
"Doesn't hurt you as much as it hurts me?" Aiden wheezed out, as he looked up to his brother. Black bile was falling down his face and he looked in so much pain. He was in so much pain and Ethan nodded trying to be brave for his brother but it was so hard to do when you were in this position. 
"Yeah..." he admitted before he broke out in a sob. Tears painted his cheeks and they were the type of tears that were going to leave permanent stains. 
"It's okay... Lydia never believed I was one of the good guys, anyway..." Aiden coughed out, and Derek looked at him not knowing what to do. Was he supposed to take his pain? Was he supposed to say anything? There had to be something. 
"She'll believe me," Derek assured, and Aiden forced his head through the agony to look up at him. 
"T-tell Margo that...that it's not her fault and thank her... make sure you thank..." he was already fading out of consciousness and his heart fell from his chest at the words. He hadn't even thought about how Margo would react to this news and now that he did have to think about it he could only imagine the grief that was to come. 
"I will," he promised, but Aiden was already dead. He didn't have another tomorrow, he didn't have another moment. He didn't have anything. Now he was nothing more than the memories they'd collected of him. 
Climbing up to the window, he pushed it open and climbed through. She had her back to him and the music through the headphones was preventing her from hearing his intrusion (not a good idea considering there were so many supernatural dangers around).  He wanted to call out to her but he couldn't help but take a moment to look around. 
Because everything felt wrong. 
The plants she'd cared so much for weren't doing well (not dead, but not exactly healthy either) and even though for the average person the room could be considered spotless, for Margo it was a mess. He knew that some of the stacks of paper should have been in different places and the pens left on the side would have been put back in the pot immediately. 
It was also empty. 
No photos, no life, no books, nothing except the bed and the empty desk. 
"Margo?" He asked, his voice breaking as he did and she didn't turn straight away. Instead she froze over as if she heard him but couldn't quite be sure that it was him. 
Flinching, she dragged her tired eyes away from the paper that was in her hand and turned to look at him like she was afraid that he wouldn't actually be there. She waited a moment expecting the mirage to disappear but when it did not, she reached up and pulled the headphones away from her head and allowed them to drop onto the desk. 
"Derek?" 
His shoulders deflated in relief and he stepped over the invisible threshold in the midst of the room and threw his arms around her. He buried his nose in her hair breathing in the scent of her and after another moment of her own hesitation, she allowed herself to relax and return the hug. 
She felt so much smaller in his arms than she usually did. 
Her brows furrowed against him as she thought about it, "Derek?" She asked again, her voice slightly lost and he nodded not wanting to let go just yet. 
"Yeah, it's me. I'm here," he muttered and the happiness began to flood in as she tightened her hold on him. 
"You're really here?" She asked and he nodded again, pressing his lips together. 
"I'm really here." 
It was strange. They were used to meeting after months at a time and yet this particular meeting was the one which brought the most stress and yet the most relief. Like they were scared that they'd have to wait another day or another second just to get to each other. They knew that they'd be doing everything in their power to stay this time. No matter what happened they couldn't leave each other again. Words were forgiven and all that existed was the love that they shared for each other.
He pulled away just enough and lifted up one of his hands to hold onto her head to have a look at any signs of permanent damage from what he'd done. 
"You're hurt," she muttered, and he glanced down to see a few spots of blood from the miniscule fight he'd had with the berserker. 
"I'm healed," he assured and she nodded to show that she understood. 
Everything was so quiet. 
"Where've you been?" 
"Mexico," he sighed out, and she pulled back her head so that she could look up at him confused, "I didn't want to go there. Kate came with berserkers and she basically kidnapped me." 
"You seem to get kidnapped a lot," she muttered, allowing her head to rest against Derek's chest again and he hummed in agreement. 
"I suppose I do. You don't look like you've been eating enough," he added on. 
"I'm fine," she assured and he didn't call her out on her obvious lie, "have you been eating enough? Did Kate feed you well?" 
"I'm fine," he promised, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "you kow, Isaac left something for you back at the loft. So did Ethan, I would have given it to you but you know," he muttered and she tensed up at the reminder of the boys pulling back so that she could see him better. 
"What?" 
"Yeah, Isaac left a note and Ethan put down his email address so that you can contact them," he said, and her eyes seemed to fill up with a slight bit of happiness at the sound of it. "You know I missed you a lot." 
"I missed you to." 
As he looked over at her again he spotted a few white scars on her neck from when his claws had been dug into the flesh and guilt immediately swarmed him. Watching him carefully, Margo thought about where his gaze was before she realised what he was thinking about. "Derek," she muttered again, her hands finding his arms and she tried her best to look at him but with every effort, he avoided her eyes, "you can't blame yourself...it's not your fault," she repeated and he pressed his lips together remaining silent. He didn't have any words to say. "You can't... it's not your fault." 
"It is though. It is my fault. I did this." He countered, brushing his hair back with his hand and she shook her head, tears forming in her eyes at the idea of him blaming himself. 
"It's not your fault. I don't blame you." 
"You should! You should blame me! I did this. You're injured because of me." 
Changing her tactics, she planted her hands on his neck endearingly, her thumbs finding the sides of his face, "then I forgive you." 
Shaking his head, he fell forward slightly until his forehead pressed against her own so lightly that you wouldn't even think he was doing it. He didn't want to put any more pressure on it though. "I can't lose you. I thought that...that I could because it's just like everyone else but I can't. I need you and I love you with all that I am...and everything that we're going to be. I need you."
It was silent for a few seconds before the corners of her lips quirked up and it soon turned into a smile, "what?" She asked. 
"What?" He repeated not understanding what she was asking.
"You used the line," she whispered through her laughter, "we're the cringe couple now. Dramatic and cringe," she added on through her laughter and despite the tears that had been clawing at his eyes, he broke out in his own smile. Pulling away slightly, he wrapped his arms tighter around her and brought her closer and she rested her head on his shoulders. 
Once he'd secured his arms, she brought up her hands to hold the arm in front of her and she closed her eyes and shifted her weight to get more comfortable. "I love you," he muttered. 
"I love you too," she assured. 
"I know you do," he reiterated, pressing his lips to her forehead for a quick and gentle kiss. Closing his eyes, the pair blended into a soft moment where it was just them in peace. 
Sometimes you forget how nice the little moments are where time stands still and you're just sat there. Leaning into each other's touch and listening to each others beating heart. 
"Can we go to bed now?" He raised his brow, cracking open his eyes as he looked down, "it's really cold."
"Yeah, we can go to bed." 

Walking through the dark and quiet house, Noah pushed open the door to his son's bedroom only to roll his eyes as he saw him sat up at his laptop. "Go to bed, Stiles," he ordered but it was obvious that he wasn't going to do as told. Stepping back, he went over to his daughter's room and pushed open the door to that expecting to see her either with a plant, staring out the window, or working on her book. 
Instead what he saw made him freeze over and he had to remind himself that his little girl was in fact now an adult.
"Stiles." He whispered, "there's a werewolf in my daughter's bed," he hissed and Stiles came bundling out of his own bedroom with his phone in hand to have a look. 
In the bed, the pair were holding each other as if they were hugging each other in their sleep. Margo was using him as a pillow and she had her arms thrown around him like a koala clinging onto a tree, Derek on the other hand was flat out with there being no chance of waking him up until he was no longer exhausted and he too had his arms wrapped around the love of his life with his nose buried into the top of her hair. 
"Ho-ho," Stiles muttered as he lifted up his phone to take a picture, "I knew Derek Hale was a cuddler. I knew it!" He exclaimed excitedly and after taking a photo, Noah quickly shut the door and pushed his son back into his own room