Soulmates | Derek Hale - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

It wasn't long until Maeve was back in her old school hallways, and like usual, it was never for any good reason.
With Dean on the verge of a suspension, again, and the whole town freaking out about the body, the whole police department had their hands full.
Maeve and her partner, Collins, stood beside the sheriff in front of the school principle, "We want everyone under the age of eighteen to be in their home by 9:30pm. We'd like to institute the curfew effective immediately."
"Look we don't..." The headteacher began, Maeves gaze flickered down the hallway, letting out a sigh as she noticed Scott and Stiles trying to hide behind a wall, listening into their conversation.
"Curfew because of the body," Scott explained, turning back to Stiles as he listened in.
"Unbelievable," Stiles scoffed, stepping back from the wall, "My dads out looking for a rabid animal while the jerkoff who actually killed the girl is just hanging out doing whatever he wants."
"You can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek," Scott pointed out nervously.
Stiles stared over at his father and the two detectives with a sigh, "I can do something."
"Like what?" Scott questioned, almost teasingly.
"Find the other half of the body," Stiles answered, almost jumping out of his skin as he noticed Maeve stood only a few feet away from them "Maeve!"
Maeve stared at the two best friends suspiciously, hearing their whole conversation, before turning away to head back over to the sheriff.
The detective was fully aware of what had happened to Scott, but typical Derek, assured her that he had the whole thing under control. Which he did not...
Stiles quickly grabbed his backpack, running after her, "Maeve! Maevey!"
"Detective!" Stiles finally called, letting out a breath of relief as Maeve finally stopped walking.
"What, Stiles?" Maeve questioned, crossing her arms.
"Anything new about the body?" Stiles asked hopefully.
"None of your business, buddy," Maeve patted his shoulder, shaking her head with a grin.
"Maeve, Maeve, Maeve," Stiles wined, following her down the hallway.
Maeve glared at him over her shoulder, the teen correcting himself, "Sorry, Detective."
"Thank you, Stiles," Maeve rolled her eyes in amusement, "Get to class, you can do the detectives work when you actually become one."
"Hold on-"
Maeve simply nodded over at Dean lounging on the chairs outside of the principles office, "I have a teenager to throttle."
"Stilinski," Dean greeted his classmate, a taunting smile on his face.
"Hale," Stiles grumbled with a scowl, making his way over to his next class, greeted by Elizabeth at the door happily handing out pop quizzes.
"No!"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Can't say I'm too happy to see you either, Mr Stilinski."
Stiles glared at the test in her hand, "But we had a test yesterday!"
"And I'm telling you you're having another one today," Elizabeth smiled in victory, slamming the paper into his hands, sending Stiles off into the classroom.
"Any chance of giving him detention for the rest of sophomore year?"
Elizabeth turned around to find Noah stood behind her, "Amusing as it sounds, care to tell me why?"
After the bombshell on the night of the Hale fire, Elizabeth didn't know how to go forward. Maeve moved away soon after and Elizabeth decided against telling Noah the truth, but she came back, and instead of causing chaos whilst Maeve tried to deal with a new job and being a single mother, and somehow Noah and Elizabeth accidentally became friends in the midst.
"How about wondering through the woods with a murderer on the loose?" Noah replied with a tired sigh.
Elizabeth whistled, shaking her head "You're on your own on that one, Sheriff."
The vice principal stepped out of his office, heading over to greet Maeve but was met with her shouts, "Suspended? He's been back a day!"
The vice principal sighed, "And started a fight before first period even began."
"Well, what was the fight about?" Maeve frowned, snatching Deans phone out of his hands as he annoyingly tapped away at it, glaring at him warningly.
"There was a incident with miss Reyes and another pupil," Maeve's glare dropped at the explaination, sharing a knowing look with her brother in law.
"Oh you've got to be joking! Maybe you should deal with your bullying problem before you punish the ones doing something about it," Maeve's outburst was starting to gain attention, "This is comp-"
"How about you wait in my office so we can discuss this further?" The vice principal silenced her, Maeve scowled, but nodded.
—
An hour later and Maeve has successfully won her argument but Dean was still suspended.
Dean looked like a kicked puppy as he followed Maeve down the hallway, slightly listening as she ranted about his behaviour.
Maeve was scrolling through her phone waiting for an update on her case, but easily scolded Dean, "You're lucky your brother didn't answer the phone, they suspended you!"
"They were picking on Erica, alright?" Dean justified.
Maeve sighed sympathetically but was still fuming at the teen, "How about you choose to be the knight in shining armor when you're not on the verge of a suspension!"
"You think she thinks of me like that?" Dean looked to her optimistically.
"Oh for gods sake," Maeve complained, whacking him across the back of his head, "Erica would probably faint if you kissed her, Dean."
Maeve pushed open the hallway doors, pausing in spot as she looked down at the parking lot, instantly spotting Allison sat with Lydia Martin and some of the lacrosse team.
Maeve blinked in shock, staring at her cousin for the first time in six years, "Ally?"
Dean awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he spotted Allison, "Oh yeah, forgot to mention that."
—
Maeve loved her job, she really did, but it was times like these she wished she'd just become a lawyer.
Staring at the Hale house was enough to make the werewolf sick to her stomach, but watching Derek be lead out by one of the deputies in handcuffs really hit the nail on the head.
"Get as much information as you can out of him," Noah told the detective was they watched Derek be lead out of the house.
Maeve nodded, "Got it."
"Maeve," Noah began worriedly, "If you want someone else to take the case-"
"No, I'm fine," Maeve forced a smile, Noah didn't believe her, but let her go, "I'm fine! I promise."
Maeve harshly took Derek from the deputy, leading him across the front yard, "Maeve?"
Derek was relieved to see Maeve, but also knowing how mad at him she was, he was also slightly concerned for his well being.
"Shut it," Maeve replied grumpily.
"Are the handcuffs needed?" Derek complained, turning around to see Maeve, but was met with her glare.
"Yes," Maeve answered simply.
Detective Collins looked over to the backseat as Maeve not so gently shoved Derek into the car, "Who do we have here?"
"An idiot," Maeve muttered, walking around to climb into the passenger seat.
"Think he did it?" Collins questioned, Derek's heightened hearing allowing him to hear, waiting for Maeves answer.
"No," Maeve glared at Derek through mirror.
Collins nodded, glancing over his shoulder to Derek, "You'll have to ignore my partner, she's got an attitude problem."
"Oh, believe me I know," Derek muttered grumpily.
Maeve scoffed, whirling around to argue with Derek but Collins was looking between them in confusion "You two know each other?"
Maeve slumped back in her seat like Luna did when she was throwing a tantrum, "Collins, meet my ex husband, Derek."
"Husband?!" The detective exclaimed, eyes wide with shock.
One of the deputies called over from the crime scene, "Hale! Collins!"
Maeve sighed, pushing open the door, scowling over at Derek, "Behave."
"I'm not a child," Derek rolled his eyes, Maeve's glare telling him she thought otherwise.
—
Maeve watched in amusement as Noah grabbed onto Stiles' jacket, yanking him out of the car, "Hey! Ow!"
"Ow, ow, ow," Stiles grumbled as his father dragged him away.
"There, stand," Noah helped Stiles to his feet, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm just trying to help," Stiles replied.
"Uh-huh. Okay, well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this?" Noah motioned to the crime scene, Maeve and her partner took this as their time to head back to the car.
"We were looking for Scott's inhaler-" Stiles began to explain, only digging himself into a deeper hole.
Maeve took Stiles' previous place in the car, raising a brow at Derek "What did you say to him?"
"What he needed to hear," Derek shrugged, "If Scott's not going to listen maybe Stiles will."
Maeve sighed worriedly, "Do I need to step in before Scott runs off and hurts someone?"
"I've got it," Derek argued confidently, not faltering under Maeve's questioning state, "Maeve, I've got this under control."
"Get the hell out of here," Maeve stepped back out of the car as Stiles tried to run away from his fathers scolds.
"Absolutely," Stiles hurried over to his car, Maeve noticed Scott climbing into the car, rolling her eyes knowingly.
"Not so fast," Maeve called after the teen, Stiles turned around with a groan of annoyance.
"What did I tell you? Leave this alone, Stiles!" Maeve exclaimed, "You have no idea what actually hap-"
"You know something?" Stiles pieced together, almost hurting his neck as he looked up so quickly, "What aren't you telling us, Maeve?"
"Who's the detective here, Stiles?" Maeve argued.
Stiles looked like a kicked puppy as he avoided Maeve's stare, "You."
Maeve hummed in agreement, "Stop obsessing over Derek, it's starting to get creepy."
"You're doing it too!" Stiles argued, turning to rush away before Maeve got angry.
Maeve bit her lip in frustration, calling after him, "It's my job to!"
—
It was normally Dean's job to pick Luna up from school, since his was only across the street, but now with him suspended, Maeve was back to the afternoon school run.
Maeve rushed into the brightly coloured classroom, her shift ending a little later than expected, Luna grinned, rushing over to tackle her mother with hugs.
"Hey, sweetie," Maeve smiled, moving Luna's messy hair out of her eyes, frowning at her chatty daughters unusual silence "What's up?"
Like her father, when Luna felt negative emotions, she'd go quiet, often grumpy.
The young wolf gripped the sides of her backpack, staring down at the carpet, "Did daddy hurt someone?"
"No, of course not, baby," Maeve took a deep breath, looking up to be met with prying eyes from other parents picking up their children, "It's just a big mix up."
"Mrs Hale," Luna's teacher hesitantly approached them, "I understand these, um, unusual circumstances, but please refrain your child from assaulting another pupil."
Maeve looked up in confusion, Luna wrapped her arms around Maeve's leg as her mother stood up, "She's six, what 'assaulting' did she possibly do?"
Luna was definitely not the perfect student, for some teachers, she was a nightmare to teach, but Luna's bad behaviour never extended to physical fights.
"Your daughter," a mother from across the room spat, staring at the two Hales in disgust as she cradled her son, "Hit my son around the head with a heavy textbook."
"I'm sure Lu is very sorry," Maeve wasn't in the mood for discipline after her morning with Dean, gently guiding Luna away from the angry herd of parents, "We'll talk about this at home."
Once out of the room, Maeve scoffed, "With your father who apparently raised you to be feral."
It times like these it was easy to just blame Derek, it's not like Luna saw her and Jamie battle it out in the kitchen yesterday morning.
"What, Stiles?" Luna looked up in excitement at the mention of the human, Maeve didn't sound too pleased to receive his call.
"Maeve! You haven't made any strange arrests, have you? Maybe any strange dog like incidents?"
Maeve scowled at his question, "I'm off shift. What did you do?"
"Me? Nothing! Anyways, got to go Maeve!"
Maeve and Luna looked to each other in confusion, "Uncle Stiles is strange."
—
Derek was on Luna duty as soon as he was let out if jail, Maeve was too busy trying to clean up the mess he had left of the case on Laura to even worry about Derek looking after Luna for the first time since they'd split.
The school incident hadn't been mentioned, but Luna had a feeling it would be her father being the one shouted at.
Luna tied up the buttons on her navy duffle coat, landing on her sparkly boots as she pushed open the car door, running over to Derek with a smile, wrapping her arms around him "Can we buy some sweets?"
Derek raised a brow at his daughter, "Are you trying to get me in trouble with your mom?"
Luna grinned, shaking her head, "You're already in trouble with mommy."
Derek rolled his eyes turning to put some gas in the car, spotting the suv pulling into the lot, instantly glancing down at Luna "How about you run into the store as quickly as you can, and you can have whatever you want, only if you stay inside."
Luna's eyes sparkled with excitement, running into the store allowing Derek to sigh in relief, turning with a glare as Chris stepped out of the van "Nice ride."
Seeing Chris Argent step out of the car made Derek very glad he'd sent Luna inside, knowing he'd get an absolute meltdown from Maeve if their daughter was anywhere close to her family.
"Black cars, though. Very hard to keep clean. I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance. If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it, right?" Chris scrubbed against some of the dirt on the car, reaching down into a bucket on the side to clean the windshield.
"Personally, I'm very protective of the things I love. But that's something I learned from my family," Chris taunted, watching Derek for a reaction, "And you don't have much of that these days, do you?"
Derek clenched his fists, keeping his control as he focused on Luna's heartbeat, glaring daggers at the hunter.
"There we go. You can actually look through your windshield now. See how that makes everything so much clearer?" Chris continued as he put the window cleaner back in the bucket, motioning to the window.
Noticing no staff positioned at the register, Luna placed the gummy bears into her coat pocket, letting out a small laugh as she made her way to the doors, stopping in fear at the sight in front of her.
Maeve had always taught Luna to run the other way, but Luna was her mothers daughter, and curiosity always got the better of them.
"You forgot to check the oil." Derek pointed out.
"Check the man's oil." Chris turned to the other hunters, one of them nodded walking over to the car.
The hunter smirked as she slammed his elbow through the window, Luna dropped the open bag of sweets to the ground, watching with wide eyes "Looks good to me."
Pushing open the heavy door, Luna walked out of the store, showing no fear as she looked up at all of the hunters, ignoring her dads warning glare.
The hunters turned to her, staring at the small child in confusion, looking around for a parent.
Luna walked around the gas pumps, rushing to grab onto Derek's hand, leaning against his hip, her glare matching his.
Even as a young child werewolves had to know how to protect themselves so they were safe no matter the situation, but at Derek's side Luna knew she was out of harms way.
Chris stared at Luna in disbelief, he would blink and think he was twenty years back with Maeve staring up at him, but the girl hiding behind her father he had never seen before.
"Drive safely." Chris stated as he walked away, climbing into the black van.
"Who was that?" Luna questioned, squealing as Derek lifted her up, hugging her tightly "Dad!"
Derek set her on the hood of the car, walking over to clean up the broken glass, "Thats a question for your mom."
Luna groaned at the look on Derek's face, knowing she was in trouble. Derek left most of the discipline to Maeve since whenever Luna was in trouble all she had to do was look at her father and Derek would come to her defence. But when Derek did tell her off, Luna always knew she was in real trouble.
"What did I tell you, Luna?" Derek began, Luna let out a grumble at the annoyed glare on Derek's face.
"Stay in the store," Luna mumbled, avoiding Derek's gaze.
"And what did you do?" Derek questioned.
Luna tried to smile innocently at Derek, but for once he didn't fall for it, the six year old looked back down with a sigh, "Walked out."
"And what do you do when you see hunters?" Derek asked, staring up at Luna before continuing to clean up the glass.
"Go the other way," Luna mumbled sheepishly, "Sorry, Dad."
Derek gave in and smiled, Luna grinned in victory, "It's okay, as long as you're fine and we don't tell your mom."
Luna pouted, lying back on the car, Derek noticed the sweets in her pocket, "Lu, want to explain yourself?"
Luna grinned innocently, "There was no one in the store."
"So you stole them?" Derek hummed, looking up from the broken car window, shaking his head at Luna "Thats a crime, Lulu."
"Its not a crime if you don't get caught," Luna recited, munching on a gummy bear.
Derek blinked in surprise, "Who'd you learn that from?"
"Uncle Stiles," Luna answered, her father taking the bag before she ate one too many.
Derek rolled his eyes at the mention of the human, "Anything else Stiles taught you?"
"Mommy keeps us out of prison," Luna remembered, staring at Derek with a puzzled expression, "Whats a prison?"
"A place you're never going to be," Derek answered simply, lifting her off of the hood of his car, walking her around so she could get into her car seat on the glass-less side of the car.
"You've been, why can't i?" Luna complained, kicking her feet up against the back of the passenger seat, Derek shook his head, pushing them back off his seat.
"No. End of conversation," Derek argued, clicking her seatbelt into place.
Luna let out a breath of defeat, "Fine."
Derek followed Luna through the apartment he once called home, it was quiet for once, but now Luna was home that wouldn't last long. Maeve walked out of the kitchen, wrapping her cardigan around herself with a sigh, noticing Derek knelt in front of the couch, helping Luna take off her shoes.
"Hey," Maeve spoke up first, smiling down at Luna, "Can you go make sure uncle Dean isn't having fun?"
Luna looked up to her mum in excitement, nodding her head before dashing over to the staircase, the sound of her feet hitting the steps echoing in the silence between Derek and Maeve.
Maeve glanced down at the pile of reports on the dining table in the corner of the room,"You're out of the clear, I managed to convince the sheriff it was just an animal attack."
Derek blinked in surprise, "Thank you."
A object hitting against the light caught Derek's attention, gazing down at Maeve's hand, "What's that?"
Maeve guiltily avoided Derek's gaze, hiding her hand and ring in her pocket, "I was going to tell you-"
Maeve was still shocked herself from when days earlier, in front of a whole party of people, her boyfriend of five months was on one knee and a ring in hand. Maeve didn't tell many people, especially after her mother nearly passed out at the mere thought of Maeve being with someone other than Derek.
"You didn't," Derek pointed out bluntly, a glare settling on his face.
Maeve took a deep breath, "I didn't know how!"
"Does he know what you are?" Derek questioned, noticing Maeve's eyes angrily flicker to gold, "What we are?"
Maeve couldn't bring herself to answer, shaking her head 'no', Derek scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief, "Does he know anything?"
The Maeve Jacob Bass knew was not the same Maeve everyone else knew, he didn't know about wolves, or hunters, and most importantly, he didn't know about Derek.
"I can't tell him about what we are," Maeve admitted, "He'd think we're monsters, I know Jake, he couldn't handle it-"
"But he doesn't know you, does he?" Derek stepped back, shaking his head, "You're living a lie, Maeve!"
"Don't you dare walk in and criticise me when you're the one that left!" Maeve shouted, falling prey to her rage, "You walked out that door and you didn't come back for months!"
"You just disappeared," Maeve continued, her voice cracking through her shouts, "You didn't answer my calls, my texts, my god damn emails for months! Can't you see how that made me feel? I was going out of my mind for months trying to find you, thinking you were dead!"
"Maybe I would've been better off!" Derek exclaimed, Maeve fell silent, staring at him with wide eyes, "Do you not think I don't know any of that? Don't you think I feel guilty every day because of it?"
"Derek-" Maeve whispered.
"I had no choice, I had to go-" Derek tried to reason with her.
Maeve didn't want to hear it, cutting him off, "You had a choice!"
Silence fell between the arguing parents, Maeve blinked back her tears, turning to walk away from Derek, "We're not getting anywhere this this. Luna deserves better than what she's getting right now. So you either stick with all your promises. Or just leave for good."
Maeve's heart was burning as she rushed up the stairs into her bedroom, leaning against the door as she shut it behind her, her vision blinded by tears.
It hurt. It hurt like hell.
They were young and stupid, everyone knew it. At least, that's what Maeve tried to convince herself.
Downstairs, Derek longingly stared at a photo on-top of the fireplace, it was of Maeve just moments after she'd given birth, cradling newborn Luna in her arms. Derek wasn't in the photo, but he would never forget the time it was taken.
Six months after the fire and Derek was barley hanging on by a thread, his grief was beyond imaginable. Hurting herself, Maeve was trying to keep him together, but ultimately the both of them knew it was the arrival of their daughter that would keep them from falling apart.
Derek realised that when he first saw Luna, even as a baby she looked just like Maeve, but the light in her eyes when she first looked up at him, an innocent, fragile stare that made Derek want nothing more than to make sure that his daughter never faced a life like her parents did.
—
Derek Hale made his way through the woods on his family's property, a dark glow falling through the trees as the sun started to set.
Gathered around a small gravestone was his brothers, Kieran and Dean, best friends Jamie and Archie, all like himself, dressed in black. Derek's gaze fell on Maeve stood with Luna, the six year old almost attached to her mothers hip.
As Derek got closer, the words Laura Hale imprinted on the stone became clear. Derek inhaled sharply, blinking back the memories of finding his sisters lifeless body.
Walking to stand beside Maeve, Derek couldn't help but notice the tears rolling down her cheeks, he went to step forward, to comfort her, but Jamie held his shoulder back, shaking his head.
Derek sighed, but nodded, painfully reminding himself he wasn't the one to comfort Maeve anymore.
Luna noticed her fathers arrival, reaching her arms up for him to pick her up, Derek did as so, holding her tightly at his side.
Like Derek, Luna struggled with showcasing her emotions, but with a situation like this, many children don't understand. Luna understood where her aunt Laura had gone, and why she wasn't coming back.
"I love you," Derek whispered, kissing the top of Luna's head.
Luna smiled softly, lying her head on Derek's shoulder "Love you too."
Dean was silent, his gaze frozen on his sisters grave, by his side, Kieran was trying to keep himself together for his younger siblings.
The family had lost yet another, but in time will tell, they will grow stronger than ever before.