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[ He doesn't stumble this time, just looks at Derek with an expression that might be a little sad. ]

It would make things so much easier. [ His ability to help, his feelings for Derek, but he doesn't know if he can, if he wants to risk it. He also doesn't want Derek to want him just because he's like him. ]

But all that crap with Jackson, everything --. I just want to be me. [ And if that's not good enough for anyone then he'll deal. ]

[Derek snorts]

What happened with Jackson won't happen with you.

You'd never have to doubt you're pack.

What with all the crazy life changing moments in our lives I kind of think we don't want to add another.

[ He'd have to learn, wouldn't he? To control it, to be less than anger and more Stiles again. They don't have the time. Not now. ] Besides, what good would I be as an untrained beta when we get attacked every other day.

[Derek doesn't think so. He's seen what Stiles can be like, as a wolf, it's heartening.

But he doesn't say anything, just nods]

Come on.

[ Trailing after him, gaze sliding over the line of the trees and back to Derek. He's trying to be light on his feet, as quiet as he possibly could be. ]

Do you think they'll start moving towards the woods soon?

I don't know. Not a lot of people out here.

[But he's grabbing a fallen tree and dragging it.]

[ Slightly impressed by that he-man level of strength ... okay, seriously impressed but he's not telling. ] I don't think there's a correlation of people they're hunting, it's more who.

[ But he doesn't want to be right, doesn't want to have to face something like that again. ]

Isaac has to kill his dad.

I know.

[ Rubbing the back of his neck and screwing his face up as his fingers come away smeared with dirt. ] Do you think he's going to cope with this?

[He blocks off the path to the cabin with the tree]

I think he's going to have to.

[Not the most understanding.]

[ He watches him, gaze tipped up to the trees for a moment. He wonders if this is what life might have been like if they'd trusted each other from the beginning, protecting Beacon Hills and working as a unit. ]

It's fight or flight, right? Isaac's kind of stuck in flight because his dad died before he even got used to the bite. He doesn't know he can win, he's still a scared kid.

His dad used to lock him in a freezer. Am I the only one who remembers that?

[Isaac does but Isaac remembers more of his dad than that.]

[ Glancing over.

Then very quietly. ] And you still let Peter back into your life.

No-

Peter came back from the dead and then he followed me.

[Derek still beat the crap out of him wait why is he only thinking this]

I beat the crap out of him when he showed up at my house, and oh, when I was a teenager, he used to get me out of school and sneak me beers, not lock me in a freezer.

He murdered your sister.

[ He didn't want to talk about it, but he's trying to make Derek see. ] And sure, you beat him up because that's what you do, you punch your feelings. But he was there, right? He was there and he helped you make up a plan and you let him.

[ Kicking dirt up with his boot. ] No matter how hard your family hurts you, they're still your family.

And I killed him for it!

[Oh, this is a dangerous place, Stiles]

And when he came back you didn't do it again.

[ Jesus Christ he has had enough of werewolves and their inability to be logical. Twisting to glare at him. ] I'm just saying you can't expect Isaac to automatically be able to kill his dad no matter what he's done. Isaac's seventeen, he's new to this, he's not you.

I killed my sister, Stiles!

[Oh, and how he's roaring, he's so mad. Maybe that's what this has been about the whole time.]

You had to, but Isaac isn't you, he's not strong enough to do it without us. Don't you get that?

He's going to have to. Don't you get that?

Yes!

I do, I get it, I get that our lives are just one horrifying incident after another, what I don't get is that you're incapable of taking in anyone else's feelings.

[ Stomping. ] Everything sucks, we don't have to make it suck even more by being an asshole all the time.

Right, coming from the kid who had me arrested over my own sister's death. You're really good at keeping my feelings in mind.

Fuck you.

[ Pushing the end of his baseball bat into Derek's chest. ] Fuck you, I have changed and you have to accept that. I have not spent months being terrified out of my mind for you to flip everything on its head and blame me for doing something when I didn't have all the facts, asshole.

Edited 2013-01-10 19:13 (UTC)

[A growl, the nasty kind]

Do that again, see what happens.

[Don't call his bluff, Stiles, his eyes are bright red]

[ No but see, Stiles has to call his bluff, he has to because this has been building and building and building and Stiles just shoves him a little with the end of it. ]

You don't get to tell me what to do.