"Dead? What do you mean dead? Derek isn't dead! He can't be! He-" "He is mom. I saw it" Scott said, while silent tears streaked his face. Stiles sat down with a thud, and looked at his shaking hands in disbelief. "No.. No he- he just.. he can't be! You must've seen it wrong!" He nodded to himself "Yes, that's all that happened. You've just seen it wrong" he kept madly nodding to himself, thinking if he'd deny the obvious it wouldn't be true. Because what would life be without Derek? "Mom?" he heared a cautious voice behind him, and when he turned around he saw Isaac looking at him with a little fear in his eyes. Then he realised he couldn't deny it. He'd go crazy without Derek, but when he saw the faces of his pups, blood and tear-streaked from the fight that was now appearently over, he knew what Scott'd said was true. Derek was gone. At that realisation he screamed. Not a scream of madness, but a scream of the most horrible loss imaginable, and he felt two arms wrap around him. When he looked up he saw it was Scott holding him. "Dead.. No NO!!" he screamed, and he fought Scotts gripp but he just held him tighter until Stiles stopped screaming and stopped fighting. He just stopped, his body went limp and he broke down in sobs. "Mom- Stiles- I'm here. I'll always be here" Scott said softly, and it wasn't for no reason Scott called him by his real name. Stiles knew Scott realised that he didn't need a pup, a child, right now, he needed his friend. After a while his sobs slowed down and got more silent, until they noticed he'd fallen asleep, exhausted from all the emotion.

When Stiles woke up, he saw he was in his own bed at the hale house, not the lake house. He also noticed the pups all cuddled up to him, although nobody came really close except for Scott and Isaac, Scott because he hovered above Stiles in an almost protective position, and Isaac because he always managed to get close to him. He automatically looked next to him to see Dereks face, but then it hit him again. He'd never see Dereks face next to him on a pillow again. He'd never hear his laugh, or be able to call him sourwolf. They'd never get married. And Stiles still hadn't answered to Dereks proposal. Derek had died thinking Stiles didn't want to marry him, but he still came to his rescue. Stiles realised he would never be able to thank him anymore, or to tell Derek that he loves him. He noticed Isaac had woken up, and looked at him with an insecure look on his face. Stiles then realised silent tears were streaming down his face. He then also realised something important: he had to be strong. His pups needed him now, they'd lost their alpha, and they didn't know what to do. If he'd fall away as well, they wouldn't have anyone left. So he wiped the tears away and looked at Isaac with a quivering smile. Isaac immediatly looked a little relieved, because Stiles had always been strong, and if he wasn't, Isaac didn't really know what to do. Stiles opened his arms, and Isaac didn't hesitate to snuggle into his pack mom's chest. "I miss him mom" he said "I know you do bub, I miss him too" Isaac then fell asleep again, feeling completely safe in his moms arms. A few hours later, Stiles noticed something wet against his back, where Scott laid. He turned around, intending to scowl at him until he saw what the liquid was. Scott had bleeded all over the bed, and was visibly losing more blood by the second. Why wasn't he healing? Stiles immediatly reached for the phone on the nightstand and dialed Deatons number. He was surprised that Deaton picked up almost immediatly. "What is it Stiles?" he asked in a hasty voice "Deaton, I need to come over right now" he heared a sigh and some muffled talking on the other side. "I'm sorry, you can't come over right now, there's more urgent business calling to my attention" Stiles couldn't believe his ears. More urgent business? Deaton knew he wouldn't call for nothing at 3 am. "Listen to me very carefully Deaton. I've just lost my mate and possible husband-to-be, and I'm not ready to lose one of my pups, and more importantly, my best friend the same night. Capische? Scott got hurt and he's not healing. If you don't do something about it now, there's a good chance he won't wake up again, and I wouldn't survive that. So I'm coming right now. Goodbye" and with that he hung up the phone. "Jackson! Boyd! Isaac! Wake up right now!" he yelled while shaking all his pups awake roughly. "Mom?" they all mumbled "why does it smell like blood?" Jackson mumbled confusedly. "Because Scott isn't healing, now help me carry him to the car" Stiles replied shortly, and by that time the girls had woken up as well,and they all got up. Then they carefully picked up Scott, but he still unconsciously let out a whimper. At that sound Stiles winced, and Allison took his hand. When he looked at her face he saw the same worry that was etched in his face. He put an arm around in her and heared a soft sob escape her. "We had a fight yesterday. If he'd die right now, we'd never have made it up" she sounded desperate, and Stiles had to hold back tears because her words were so similar to what he felt towards Derek. Only for her it wasn't too late, and he wasn't going to let it get that far. "You're going to have the chance to make it up. I promise." he said, and he meaned it. When they walked through the hallway, from two doors Laura and the twins emerged. Stiles had forgotten all about them in the past events, but they were pack now, so when they looked at him he explained "Scott isn't healing, so we're taking him to Deaton. You'd better come along, because we don't know if Deucalion knows where we live or if he's planning anything" he ordered. They nodded, and the twins helped to support Scotts back while the rest of the boys carried him. When they got to the cars, Stiles told the pups to lay Scott in the back seats of his truck, and Allison and Isaac could come along in his car and he told the rest to split in the porsche and the camaro. "And no fighting. I know Laura and the twins aren't pack yet, but they will be. Treat them that way. Now let's go" They all nodded, and gently laid Scott in Stiles's car, with hia head in Allisons lap. Isaac stepped in the front seat and Stiles drove away. When he looked in the mirror, he saw that Allison was stroking Scotts hair. He'd never seen her like this. He'd suspected it for quite a while now, but he thought that she and Scott were mates. When-if- Scott got better they'd have to talk about that. Although that talk should be given by the alpha. But he wouldn't be able to do that. He wouldn't even see them graduate. He'd never see the pups grow up, or welcome the new pack members. Stiles vision got blurry from the tears filling his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. He wiped them away and saw he was almost at the clinic. Then his phone buzzed, and when he looked he saw ge had a text from Deaton. It read 'come in through the back' "Nice on time Deaton" Stiles muttered, and he drove around the building. When he drove past the clinic's parkung lot he saw a familiar van drive away, and suddenly he understood why Deaton reacted the way he did. Deucalion had been here, and from what he saw they only just left. When he stopped at the back entrance he hurried out, and Isaac and the boys carried the still unconscious Scott inside. He looked at Allison and saw her clothes were soaked in blood. "Allison, if you want a change of clothes, I always keep them in my car for you guys in case you get in a fight or something" She nodded and walked over to the back of the car. She opened the trunk and got some clothes in her size, then they followed the rest inside. Once they got inside Stiles saw that Scott was already laying on the table and Deaton had cut his soaked shirt off. Stiles saw the enormous and obviously infected claw marks, and he gasped. "Deaton, is there anything you can do?" the vet sighed. "I can give him stitches and a transfusion, maybe some antibiotics, but that's about it. This isn't about the fysical part, although that's the most obvious one. It's about the mental part. Something happened, something that had a big emotional, most likely negative, impact, and now his unconscious mind doesn't let him heal. With the medication I gave him he'll wake up in a few minutes, then I think you need to talk to him about what happened the past few days" Deaton explained, and Stiles nodded before taking a seat next to Scott. When the pup started to open his eyes, Stiles mentioned to the others to get out of the room. Scott looked at him a little confused about that. "What's going on?" he asked groggily. "Well Scott, Deaton told me nothing is physically wrong, well exept for the obvious, but that wasn't the reason you aren't healing. It's something emotional. What happened yesterday Scott? Because when I was obducted you healed fine" Stiles asked him, after which Scott looked at him, and in his eyes lay so much pain, so much guilt that Stiles just wanted to pull him close and tell him it was okay. But he couldn't. Scott had to tell what was wrong first. "Mom I- I can't tell" Scott stuttered, tears pooling in his eyes. "Of course you can, why would you think you couldn't?" Stiles asked, wondering what could be so bad that Scott couldn't even tell him. "I can't tell you because.. Because you would hate me" the pup said softly, andStiles shook his head. "I'd never hate you pup" he promised, and Scott looked at him like he was doubting whether or not to trust him. "Okay but... You're really not going to hate me?" he asked, and Stiles hated to see Scott this vulnerable. "I promise. Now tell, you know I hate not knowing things" Stiles said with a wink. Scott let out a nervous laugh and took a deep breath. "Mom I... I think I killed Derek. We were fighting Ennis and I wanted to charge.. I pushed him! But it was an accident! I didn't mean to!" He yelled, before breaking into sobs. Stiles put his arms around him without thinking. Then Scotts words hit him. Killed Derek? His pup and best friend had killed his mate? It couldn't be true.. Then he rembered something, and he felt relief flow through him. It wasn't true! Of course it wasn't. "Scott, look at me. You didn't kill Derek" He said sternly, and Scott looked at him in confusion "But.. I did! I saw it! It was all my fault!" he yelled, panicking a little. "Scott, shift" Stiles ordered, which made Scott even more confused. "Why.." he started. "Just do it" Stiles interrupted while grabbing a mirror from Deatons desk. When he turned back to Scott he saw the pup had shifted. Stiles held the mirror in front of him. "You see? yellow eyes!" He exclaimed. "What has that got to do with any off this?" Scott yelled, still not understanding what Stiles was getting at, but Stiles just smiled. "Scott, what happens when you kill an alpha?" He asked, basically stating the obvious. "Ehm.." Scot hesitated, clearly wondering where Stiles was going with this. "You.. You become an alpha?" he asked in an 'are you crazy why do you ask me this' voice. "And what color do the eyes of an alpha have?" Once Stiles had said that, realisation and relief showed in Scotts eyes. "Red! An alphas eyes are red! I didn't kill Derek! I didn't kill him!" and he embraced Stiles in a bone-crushing hug, and Stiles noticed his wounds had stopped bleeding, and he smiled. He was still sad about the loss of Derek, devastated even, but as long as his pups needed him he'd never be able to get depressed or break down. They literally were all that kept him going. He then ordered Scott to try and sleep a little while he went to talk to Deaton and the others. When he got out of the room he didn't see his pack like he'd expected, only Laura, the twins and Deaton were waiting. "Where are the others?" Stiles asked worriedly. "I sent them away to.. To find the body Stiles. I'm sorry." Stiles nodded and looked down. "I understand" he said softly. "How's Scott?" Deaton asked in a more proffesional tone. "He's healing. It was nothing" Stiles replied. "Good Now about-" Deaton was interrupted by the ringing of Stiles's phone. He picked up immediatly after looking at the caller ID. "Allison, what is it?" "Mom.. The body is gone"