The problem with people like Derek Hale is that they are so annoyingly stoic all the time. They are so damn unreadable and emotionally closed off. It's not that he's rude or unfriendly at all, in fact he's rather polite with her. Too polite. Too friendly. Emphasis on friend.
Her attempts at flirting may not be outright blunt, but they're not completely subtle either. And yet they are never reciprocated or shut down. It's like he doesn't even notice. Not just that he doesn't pay mind to her flirtatious smiles or sweet compliments, but that he doesn't notice her altogether. It's like she's nothing more than a whisper in the wind that he convinces himself isn't really there.
Despite her feelings being presumably unreciprocated, she still went into a panic when the pack informed her that Derek had gone missing. They denied her request to join them on their quest to Mexico even though she threw quite a fit about it. Even though she was angry with their decision on the matter, she stayed home and sulked. After all, it's not like she could perform a one-woman rescue.
They had been gone awhile- a few weeks give or take. The panic was beginning to intensify when she got a rather odd phone call from Stiles. Naturally the first thing out of her mouth was an inquiry about everyones' wellbeing. Stiles replied that everyone was fine. Next she asked if they had found Derek, to which there was an awkward, "...er...yeah...". That was all she got despite her insistent questioning for more information.
This morning she had received another odd and vague phone call from Stiles requesting that she come to the police station because they needed her assistance with something. Of course he failed to elaborate on the nature of her task or what it pertained to.
Now she finds herself walking into the police station confused, intrigued, and a bit worried.
"Please tell me someone is finally going to tell me what is going on," she states as sees Scott and Stiles with their backs to her. They turn around on hearing her voice and stare at her with an odd expression she can't quite decode. In front of them is a teenage boy who peaks around the boys to get a better look at her. She's never seen him before.
"What the hell is that?" she nods to the mystery boy, jerking her chin up in his direction. Scott takes her by the arm as Stiles places his palm in-between her shoulder blades to usher her to the sheriff's office and out of the boy's earshot. His gaze never leaves her as she is pulled into a different room.
"Explanation. Now," she demands once Stiles closes the door behind him.
"That's um... That boy..." Scott struggles to explain.
"It's Derek," Stiles interjects, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That boy is Derek."
"I'm still waiting for an explanation because that is not possible," she stares at them in disbelief. The last time she saw Derek he was man with a permanent scowl etched into his face. Not a teenager with a cocky smirk twisting his lips.
"We think Kate did something to him. He has no memory of anything that happened past the age that he is now. He doesn't know what happened to his family and he doesn't know who we are," Scott sighs, wringing his hands.
"We need you to stay here with him while we try to figure things out," Stiles adds, looking at her hopefully.
"You want me to babysit him while you two do whatever it is that you do?"
"More like hangout with," Stiles corrects, gesturing with his hand towards her.
"And keep an eye on," Scott smiles sweetly, his brown eyes looking larger than usual.
"Don't give me those puppy dog eyes McCall," she warns, suppressing a grin.
"Will you?" Stiles asks. He's anxious to leave the station and get to work. All he needs is for her to say yes.
"Alright," she caves, "I'll stay with him."
"Thank you!" Scott beams as he and Stiles rush out of the room not a second after the words leave her mouth.
She takes a seat behind Sheriff's desk, careful not to mess anything up. There's a lot of paperwork she doesn't understand scattered about and it would be extremely inconvenient if she screwed it up.
The sound of someone clearing their throat causes her to look up from the organized chaos. She meets eyes with Derek who holds her gaze confidently. It's odd for him to not turn away from the casual eye contact. Normally Derek would only look into her eyes when she was speaking directly to him and standing right in front of him.
"You can, uh, take a seat. If you want," she announces awkwardly, gesturing to the chairs against the wall. She's unsure of how to treat him. This version of Derek is younger than her and seems to behave much differently than the Derek she is accustomed to.
"Yes, officer," he says cooly, the smirk not leaving his lips.
"I'm not an officer," the tone of his voice makes her cheeks heat up.
"I know," he states, settling into the chair, his focus still trained on her.
"Okay..." she mumbles, breaking the eye contact to look down at the desk. For a brief moment she considers shuffling the papers around just to distract herself from the floundering situation at hand. Instead she settles for retrieving her phone from her pocket, shooting Stiles a text asking when they'll be back. When she silently wished to spend some alone time with Derek this is not what she had in mind.
"Texting your boyfriend?" Derek asks, noticing her fingers doing a little dance overtop the screen.
"What?" she sputters, "No, I don't have a boyfriend."
"Really? That's surprising. You're exceptionally beautiful," he grins at her, exuding an aura of confidence.
"Are you hitting on me?"she gapes in astonishment.
"Hitting on you. Innocently complimenting you. Take it as you please," he shrugs, a friendly yet inviting demeanor shaping his form.
"I'm too old for you," she blurts out. The irony of the situation would be laughable if she wasn't in such an extreme state of disbelief. It makes her wonder if the other Derek has been harboring a secret infatuation with her. Or if this version of Derek is just a major flirt.
"Then take it as a compliment," he suggests, a flirtatious glint in his eye making it hard for her to take him seriously.
She sighs, letting her head fall into her hands as she mumbles something incoherent.
"What was that?" Derek asks, his eyebrows scrunching together.
She lifts her head up with a huff, looking at the boy sitting in front of her.
"This is just my luck."
