Shifted

17 - Digging for Answers (Part 2)

Previously:

"Tell me who she is." Stiles said seemingly unafraid of the angry werewolf staring him down. "Tell me who she is so I can tell my dad and convince him it was just a terrible animal attack. And maybe he can give you the other half of her body so you can give her a proper funeral. That's all I want to do for now. Everything else, the Alpha, the killer, the game they can all wait until the girl can rest in peace. She deserves that."

Slowly, Derek calmed down and released him.

"Her name's Laura. Laura Hale." Derek said letting his grief show for a brief second as he acknowledged the death of his older sister.

"She's my sister."

Now:

"What?" Stiles asked as far as he knew Derek was the only surviving Hale. He thought they all died in that fire six years ago.

"But I thought – the fire."

"Neither of us were in the house when it happened." Derek said looking at the charred building where his entire family spent their last moments screaming in agony. He remembered everything about that night. He remembered the fight, the cold, the smell of burning flesh... the crushing guilt of knowing he was the reason his family was killed.

"By the time we got back, it was too late."

Stiles didn't know what to say or how to react. He felt sorry for Derek, six years ago he lost his entire family, and now the only family he had left was murdered by an unknown psycho. He didn't even want to imagine the kind of pain the older werewolf was feeling right now and it just strengthened his resolve to make sure the girl – Laura, got the justice she deserved. Maybe after she can be at peace, Derek could lay his ghosts to rest, start over, and go back to being the basketball star that he was before the fire happened.

He didn't know what to do for Derek who seemed to be trapped in his own thoughts reliving his family's last moments. If it was Scott or his dad, he'd give them a hug to comfort them and remind them that they weren't alone. But he knew if he even tried to do the same thing with Derek, he'd end up with a few broken bones and a vivid reminder that Derek Hale doesn't do hugs. What he did know was that it wasn't good for him to be so close to the place where his family was murdered. He didn't think it was healthy and not for the first time wondered why he stayed here instead of renting out an apartment.

"Come on." He said clapping Derek's shoulder before getting on the driver's seat, "We have a lot of planning to do. We'll go over to my place since dad's working and the house will most likely be empty."

A beat or two passed before the broody Hale relented and got on Stiles' jeep.

OoOoO

It was approximately one and a half minutes after the two werewolves drove away that their silent tail finally moved from his spot in the bushes. Still reeling from what he saw and heard, the boy sagged against a tree and proceeded to stare ahead of him for a few more minutes.

When he followed Stiles after he decided to skip school, Scott didn't know what he was expecting to find, but his best friend meeting with town recluse Derek Hale never even made the list. As far as he knew, the only time Stiles has interacted with Derek was the day after they found the body in the woods when the two of them were looking for his inhaler. Apparently, he was wrong because by the time he caught up with Stiles, the two were in the middle of a conversation and Derek didn't seem bothered at all by Stiles' presence.

Truth be told, he still wasn't sure exactly what he found out. Obviously, Stiles and Derek were a lot closer than what he thought and they had some sort of secret between them. He tried to think of what it could be but he couldn't think of a single thing that the two had in common. So he got as close to them as he dared and hoped that he could hear something that would answer all his questions.