How to build better friends

How to apologize

They were hoping that after Lydia came to that she would describe what was going to happen like she's done before. This time, she said she couldn't remember and that walking to the loft felt like a dream. Still, everyone knew what her scream meant. Someone was going to die.

Derek had softened his grip in the wake of the surprise visit from the banshee. Stiles had escaped the alpha's grasp and Erica had followed suit carrying a body and Boyd carrying the other. Erica had given him a soft smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. Derek watched all three of them leave down the lift in silence while Scott comforted Lydia. In that split second of Stiles, Erica, and Boyd being in the room, it felt like an echo of their once large pack. Derek gave one stern look in Scott's direction, muffling his anger with worry for who was going to die next in his life. Praying it wasn't Stiles.

Lydia was shaking still when Derek left the room, he couldn't look at her knowing what her scream meant. The last sight he had was Jackson working up the courage to comfort her. He made it upstairs when he heard Stiles drive away in his jeep. Next thing he knew, he woke up to the sound of tapping on the edge of his door frame, it was Scott.

"We need to talk."

"Yeah." He kept silent for a moment, slowly sitting up and pulling his legs over the bed, "yeah, I suppose we do." A long wipe of his face and a few cold breaths later, he got himself ready to talk.

"I know I made you promise to not let Stiles stay in the pack," Scott started, "but now I think-"

"That he's going to die and you feel bad about leaving him behind? Or somehow responsible for your relationship as it is now." Derek finished for him grudgingly. "I took the heat for you. If he's angry at you, it's up to you to fix it, Scott."

"It was unfair of me to ask you to do that." He looked at Derek with a remorseful expression, "I'm sorry I made you choose."

"I did it so you could continue to be friends with him and you didn't even talk to him after what happened in Mexico. He hates me. You heard what he said Scott. I don't know how I feel right now."

"It's all my fault. Blame me, Derek. I screwed it all up. I was embarrassed and worried and I just couldn't look at him the same, okay? The nogitsune killed Allison, I know that. But Kira left and I just-" he looked ready to cry.

"I should blame you, but you were trying to make the right decision. I know that too. But..."

"It was unfair to Stiles for us to do that. I wish I could take it back, for your sake. I didn't know."