Soulmates | Derek Hale - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

TWO MONTHS LATER
"This doesn't seem so bad."
Lydia and Cora shared a look of dismay, "It's not the town, it's the plan."
With Derek's never ending bad luck, he had been taken in the middle of the night and the Hale house hadn't noticed until it had descended into chaos. With Maeve in hospital and Derek gone, the order of the house had vanished and it took Florence loudly shouting dada for them to realise what had happened.
Not wanting to stress his sister, Stiles took over operation find Derek.
"What's wrong with the plan?" Stiles frowned, jumping back as a moped sped past him.
"Stiles. This could be the stupidest plan we've ever come up with. You're aware of that, right?" Lydia questioned.
Stiles shrugged, cringing as a chicken ran past him, "I'm aware it's not our best."
"We are going to die," Lydia sighed.
"Thats the positivity we need," Cora snickered.
Stiles led them through town despite having no idea where he was going, "Are you saying that as a Banshee or you're just being pessimistic?"
"I'm saying it as a person who doesn't wanna die," Lydia stated.
"Okay. Would you just mind restricting any talk of death to actual Banshee predictions?" Stiles grumbled, Cora hummed in agreement.
"This plan is stupid and we're going to die," Lydia answered smartly.
"Oh, thank you," Stiles grinned sarcastically back at her, stopping by the doors of the building.
"Whatever happens, we don't tell Maeve," Stiles told them carefully, "Okay?"
Maeve was blissfully unaware that Derek was missing, Cora and Dean had been making excuses for Derek's absence and Stiles hacked Derek's phone to message he was fine. The real distraction was the twins hitting the terrible twos early, causing havoc for their poor family.
Cora patted his shoulder, "Maeve will find out eventually."
"Isn't she on bed rest?" Lydia reminded.
Cora eyed her pointedly, "You don't know Maeve."
"Hey! We'll have Derek back before she even realises he's gone," Stiles grinned, turning to the bodyguard at the door.
"Where's Derek?"
Maeve had quickly grown sick at the sight of the hospital, her only venture out of her room was to the twins first birthday party a few weeks ago. Whilst she had healed considerably but bed rest and physical therapy was still her main treatment ( much to her annoyance )
After ten years of being a werewolf, Maeve was not used to sitting around waiting to heal - if she even healed at all.
Peter sat himself down on the armchair beside Maeve's bed, lying, "He's busy."
"Busy?" Maeve frowned, "He hasn't visited in three days. Last week you had to drag him home."
"Your kids are quite the handful, you know?" Peter reminded, "But he's off helping Scott, baby alphas having a crisis."
Maeve seemed satisfied with his lie, nodding her head. "You're bringing me home then, I take it?"
"I've been deemed your temporary carer," Peter said, standing up to retrieve her wheelchair, "Your chariot awaits."
Maeve eyed the chair with distain, "I'm not getting in that. I can walk."
"Sulk all you want, that's the only way you're leaving."
—
Whilst Peter left to collect Luna from school, Maeve finally had some time to be with the twins who seemed to keep growing every second.
Freddie had launched himself at Maeve and promptly fell asleep whilst Florence played with her toy kitchen, adamant on showing Maeve every piece of the tiny kitchen.
Maeve glanced down at her phone, her texts and calls to Allison going unanswered. Chris had warned Maeve that Allison wasn't handling what had happened well, but Maeve thought she would've been able to at least talk to Allison.
Maeve tore her attention away from her phone as the front door opened, expecting to see Luna and Peter, instead she found Seth.
"I heard you were home," Seth announced, hesitantly walking into the room, "How are you?"
Maeve eyed him curiously, nodding at the chair opposite, "Getting there. Talia told me you helped with the kids whilst I was gone."
"I gained Luna's approval apparently," Seth shrugged, "Derek didn't like it, or Dean, really."
Derek had admitted defeat in trying to keep his dad away, but that didn't mean he liked it and Dean refused to even talk to him.
"Well," Maeve sighed, "He didn't mind that much if you were around the kids."
Seth smiled slightly, Maeve blinked in confusion as he suddenly frowned, "There's something I need to tell you both, I was waiting for you to get out of hospital."
"What is it?" Maeve worried, smiling down at Florence as she toddled over, handing Maeve a toy horse.
"Florence," Seth replied, his granddaughter looking up at the sound of her name, "She's not a werewolf."
Maeve sat up quickly, her arm protectively reaching out for Florence, "Excuse me?"
It wasn't impossible, Maeve knew there was a chance of her children not being werewolves, but it didn't change the shock of it actually happening.
"This girl is a seer," Seth explained, "I'm certain."
"How?" Maeve whispered, staring down at Florence in disbelief as she poked her sleeping brothers cheek.
"My mother was one," Seth added, "A powerful one. Seers are rare, and if you find one, they're often very powerful."
"Derek never mentioned her," Maeve pointed out, "Does he know about her?"
Seth shook his head, "She died before he was born."
Maeve sighed, reaching out to pull Florence into a hug. Florence curled up against her mother, eyeing Seth suspiciously.
His claim wasn't a complete shock, Florence showed behaviours that her brother didn't - Maeve just never put the pieces together.
"I don't know how to teach her about this," Maeve stressed, growing more panicked by the second, "I know nothing about this! Oh god- is she in pain? Is she okay?"
Seth interrupted her, "Maeve, she's fine, I promise. But for help... I could."
"Derek-" Maeve started, she and Seth shared a knowing look.
"Doesn't trust me...but, there is someone else," Seth muttered, "Did Derek ever tell you about my old pack before I met his mother?"
Maeve shook her head, "No."
"There's a witch, our emissary," Seth explained, "she's well trained in seers. She's not the friendliest of people, but she'll help."
Maeve nodded thoughtfully, "What happens if Florence isn't guided."
"It can be very harmful for her mind, especially so young," Seth said grimly.
Maeve took a deep breath, "I'll talk to Derek."
"I'll see if the pack are willing to help," Seth agreed, "I haven't spoke to them in many years."
Maeve turned to look at the door as it clicked open, calling over hopefully, "Derek?"
"Nope, just us," Peter hummed, Luna skipped in behind him, dragging Sam with her, "Picked up Derek's stray pup along the way."
"Did no one pick you up?" Maeve frowned at Sam, him and Luna running over to hug her.
Sammy shrugged, "Said it's an emergency."
An emergency it was. When Talia arrived at the animal clinic to find her adult son unconscious and a teenager and explanation was needed, only the teens that found him didn't really have one.
"Uh-well, we don't know," Stiles stammered, sharing a nervous look with Cora and Lydia, "We found him like that."
Talia nodded slowly, "In an Aztec temple?"
"At least we found him?" Cora added, grinning awkwardly at her mother.
"Does Maeve know?" Talia sighed, "Don't answer that - we would all know about it if Maeve knew."
Turning to Alan, she asked hopefully, "Please tell me you know how to fix this."
"I've certainly never seen anything like this," Alan admitted, "It would be best for now to keep him sedated until we figure it out."
Of course, Derek didn't stay sedated for long.
—
Seths revelation started to become much more clear that night, Maeve knew something was wrong when Florence kept crying, she just couldn't figure out what.
Florence huffed in frustration as she balled up her fists, letting out another wail. It was in moments like these Maeve didn't miss her supernatural hearing.
"In the wild, if one of the pups made a noise like that we would kill it."
Maeve turned to the doorway with Florence in her arms, Malia and Isaac couldn't sleep with Florence's cry's unlike Luna who could sleep through a war.
"That's comforting," Maeve grumbled, looking at Malia pointedly, "We're not in the wild anymore so no killing babies."
Malia shrugged, "It would keep her quiet."
Isaac laughed at the affronted look on Maeve's face as she set Florence down in her crib. Florence took the hint and quieted down, sniffling into her blanket.
"God you sound like Peter," Maeve muttered in amusement.
"Why would I sound like Peter?" Malia questioned.
Maeve froze, realising her error as she looked to Isaac, who looked around the room awkwardly.
"Well..." Maeve squeaked, "You remember how I explained to you about why you were adopted."
"Because my real mom was a werecoyote," Malia remembered, "An evil one, apparently."
"Well, Peter is your birth father," Maeve admitted.
Maeve knew she could've tiptoed around the situation, but Malia didn't deserve any more secrecy and would appreciate Maeve being blunt about it.
Malia didn't know how to take it, she'd only seen this man once or twice and the things she'd heard about him were mostly complaints.
"Does he know who my mom was?" Malia asked.
The one question nobody seemed to be able to answer was who Malias mother was, and Maeve had a feeling it was probably best not knowing.
"No, he lost his memories," Maeve replied, glancing down to see Florence was fast asleep, "You guys should get some rest whilst she's asleep."
The teens nodded, making their way out of Maeve's room. Isaac went to go into his, but stopped seeing Malia staring blankly out of the window.
"You took that well," Isaac pointed out.
Malia stopped outside her room, shrugging, "Well, I knew I would have a dad out there somewhere - could've been anyone, at least we know him."
"I think everyone was scared to tell you," Isaac admitted, "But Maeve wanted you to know."
"I might of spent years as a coyote but I'm still a person," Malia sighed, leaning against the door, "I do understand stuff. But why didn't they tell me about Peter?"
Isaac hesitated before answering, "He's a difficult topic."
"Why?"
"He's done some bad things, but he's changed a lot - he's like a new person nowadays," Isaac explained, "Maeve and Derek wouldn't have him around if they didn't trust him."
"I think I'm relieved he's my dad," Malia admitted, "That makes the Hales my family - and they're the only people that have felt like it in a long time."
Isaac smiled knowingly, "They have that quality about them."
"Maeve took me to see my dad before she got hurt," Malia informed him, "She wanted me to know I had the option to go back to him if I wanted. He... he looked at me like some creature. I could never tell him what happened to me, our relationship would never be the same."
"Is that why you didn't go back to him?" Isaac asked.
"You guys are the only ones that didn't look at me weird," Malia nodded, "Well maybe Luna does."
"She looks at everyone like that."
"The other deputy's the idiot."
"I can't argue with that," Parish chuckled, smiling brightly.
"Parrish, get over here," Jordan joined his co-worker over at his desk, glancing down at the computer screen.
"I ran this kid's prints eight times. This is all that comes up," Haigh pointed out.
Jordan stared at Derek's information with wide eyes, glancing over at Derek, who raised his brows in confusion. It was only the other week Joran saw Derek right in this station, and he definitely did not look like this.
Jordan frowned, "Detective Hale's husband? Derek Hale?"
Noah strolled over from the coffee machine, his attention falling on his deputies, "Did you say Hale?"
Noah glanced at his son in laws records on the computer, slowly turning to the teen on the bench. Noah didn't know how many times it took Derek being arrested before he truly found himself in jail.
He squinted at the boy he vaguely knew, blinking in surprise as Derek stared back at him in confusion. Noah held his breath as he walked over to Derek, crouching down in front of him, eyes widening in disbelief as he realised this actually was his son in law.
Stiles and Scott ran through the hallway, stumbling through the door they sighed in relief at the sight of Derek.
At the sight of the boys, Noah let out a sigh, "I'll handle this."
"I want you to be honest with me," Noah began slowly, "Absolutely and completely honest. Have you been time traveling?"
Stiles blinked in surprise, "Hang on, what?"
"Because if time traveling is real, you know what? I'm done. I'm out. You're going to be driving me to Eichen House," Noah stressed, "My daughters a werewolf, sorry, was a werewolf, my grandchildren are werewolves - I think. I will not have my recently possessed son be a freaking time-traveller!"
"We found him like that," Scott added innocently.
Noah jumped up from his desk chair as he exclaimed, "Where? Swimming in the fountain of youth?"
"No," Stiles answered, "We found him buried in a tomb of wolfsbane in an Aztec temple in Mexico underneath a church in the middle of a town that was destroyed by an earthquake."
Noah shook his head in disbelief, "You told me you were camping!"
"Yeah, we were..." Stiles stuttered, "In Mexico."
"Derek's been aged backwards," Scott added quickly, "He can't remember anything. We just need to talk to him."
Noah sighed, "Yeah, well, so far he's not talking to anybody."
"He'll talk to me," Scott stated confidently, the trio walked back into the hall where Derek sat with his usual scowl.
Elizabeth walked into the room with a bag of food, at the sight of her Stiles blurted out, "Why are you here?"
"Hello, Stiles how are you?" Elizabeth replied sarcastically, almost dropping the food as she spotted Derek, "What the f-"
"Lunch, you bought lunch!" Noah intervened, tugging Elizabeth inside his office.
"Why is the father of our grandchildren a teenager again?" Elizabeth exclaimed as the door slammed shut, "I cant take the supernatural anymore. I can't!"
"Are- are they on a date?" Stiles squeaked, staring at the closed door in horror.
"Its lunch?" Scott suggested, "Don't parents do that?"
"Not divorced ones," Stiles muttered, shaking his head.
"Why would I go anywhere with you?" Derek glared.
"There was an accident," Scott placated, "You lost some memory, but we can help you get it back."
"How much memory?" Derek asked with his usual scowl, rubbing at his wedding band without realising he was actually wearing one.
"A lot," Scott discreetly crouched down, glowing his eyes, "But you can trust us."
"You're an Alpha," Derek realised, growing more suspicious, "Okay, who are you? And who is he?"
Stiles pointed at himself with a chuckle, "Oh, we're the guys keeping you out of jail. Let us help you."
"No," Derek argued bluntly.
Stiles gritted his teeth as he stood, "Okay, dude, you almost tore apart two cops back there. You need to listen to us. And that starts with no fangs, no claws, no glaring, no wolf man. You got that?"
Stiles couldn't say he was surprised that Derek was more insufferable as a teenager. He would be having a serious conversation with Maeve about how they even managed to like each other.
"I'm fine as long as it's not on a full moon," Derek glanced down at his feet.
Scott frowned, "You still have trouble with the full moon?"
"I said I'm fine," Derek defended, "Do you guys know where Maeve is?"
Stiles knew the universe hated him, stumbling over his words, "Maeve is, uh, Maeve's busy."
"Busy doing what? Can I talk to her?" Derek asked impatiently.
"Maeve is," Stiles stared, raising your children... "On holiday... far away - with your family!"
"On holiday?" Derek frowned, "With my family? Why aren't I there?"
"Ah, well..." Stiles stuttered, motioning for Derek to follow, "We can discuss this on the way."
Derek stood up, cautiously following them out of the station, "On the way where?"
—
"Why are you asking so many questions?" Stiles complained, slamming the front door shut, "I didn't know you could talk so freaking much! You normally grumble out a few words and sit in silence!"
Derek paused, scowling at Stiles, "You know me? Why aren't you answering any of my questions?"
"Yes, I know you," Stiles grumbled, pointing at the couch, "Sit."
Stiles stumbled as Derek barged past him, sitting down on the couch with a huff. Derek looked around the living room, blinking in surprise at a photo on the mantle.
"Maeve-" Derek whispered, hurrying over to pick up the frame,"Why do you have a photo of Maeve?"
He hadn't seen the photo before, she was young, years before he had met him. Derek gently ran his finger over the frame, staring at the photo of Luna that passed Christmas - convinced it was his girlfriend.
"Thats not Maeve," Stiles stammered, reaching out to grab the photo but Derek snatched it back.
Derek stared down at the photo, "Are you sure?"
"Thats my niece, Luna," Stiles explained, stepping in front of the table where a large photo of Maeve and the kids sat, "Let's stop looking at the photos!"
Derek looked at Stiles strangely as he placed the photo back whilst Stiles knocked over a row of family photos that featured Derek, where his gaze landed on his hand.
"Why do I have a wedding ring on?" Derek said in alarm, "I'm not married!"
Stiles took a deep breath, closing his eyes, "Oh here we go."
Not statisfied with Stiles' response Derek pushed the human out of the way, picking up one of the fallen photos.
"This looks like me," Derek growled, tossing the photo of him, Luna and Maeve at Luna's previous birthday aside, "What the hell is going on?"
"Why didn't Scott just knock you out," Stiles groaned, stepping back from the angry werewolf.
Stiles' prayers had been answered when Cora ran into the house, looking at her in disbelief, "Where the hell have you been?"
"Babysitting," Cora grinned sheepishly, stepping aside for Luna to walk in with Dean.
Stiles gasped at the sight of his niece, looking frantically between her and Derek, "No- you did not bring her here!"
"What was I supposed to do leave her in the street?" Cora rolled her eyes, glancing at Derek who stood in a shocked silence.
"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed.
Luna slowly approached Derek, her eyes wide, "Dad?"
"Holy -" Stiles groaned, "Lu, please would you go in another room."
"What did you do to dad?" Luna glared at her uncle, "He doesn't look like dad anymore."
"What? No - no, thats not Derek," Stiles said awkwardly, "Thats uh, Miguel. My cousin- from Mexico!"
"Thats my dad," Luna argued.
Derek looked at the group, blinking slowly as he slowly recognised his siblings, "I don't have a daughter."
"You have two, actually," Luna corrected.
Stiles huffed, taking Luna's hand as he hurried them into the other room, leaving Derek alone and confused.
"Right. Does he recognise us?" Dean said as they reached the hallway.
Cora poked her head around the door to look at Derek, he stared back at her with wide eyes, "Cora?"
"Cora!" Stiles dragged her back and shut the door, whisper shouting, "What are you doing?"
Luna rolled her eyes, "Why are we whispering? He's a werewolf, he can hear us."
"He recognises us," Cora shrugged, "Question answered. Can't we just take him home till we know how to fix him?"
"And have Maeve skin you all alive?" Stiles pointed out, "What if we can't fix him, do you think Maeve will react well to the father of her children being stuck the same age as her brother?"
"Moms stressed," Luna agreed, "We shouldn't upset her."
Dean groaned, throwing out his arms, "We didn't hurt him into a teenager, we recused him, Maeve should be thanking us!"
"Good luck with that," Cora snorted, "She's just come out of the hospital, maybe luck is on our side and she's dosed up on medication."
Stiles almost jumped out of his skin as Laura appeared behind him, "How did you get inside?"
"Through the door?" Laura replied, rolling her eyes as she opened the door, turning to Derek, "Up you get."
"Laura?!" Derek exclaimed, starting to panic, "What's happened? Why - why do you look so old?"
"I'm going to ignore you said that and remind you once you're you again that you have far more wrinkles than I do," Laura mused, patting his shoulder sympathetically, "You, little brother, had an accident."
Derek looked around at the group, "If you're all old, why am I still young? How old am I?"
"You're 27," Laura informed him, "You've lost about ten years of memory, but it's alright we can get it back."
—
"Maeve don't freak out."
Maeve lunged to grab Freddie before he lept off the top of the sofa, "Why would I freak out?"
At Stiles' silence Maeve turned around, her whole body freezing as her gaze landed on Derek. Maeve thought she was going insane. Surely that was not Derek.
Poor Derek looked equally as baffled at the small child wriggling in his mother's arms trying to reach him. If Luna was a shock, his twins were the cherry on top.
"Da! Da! Da!"
Florence's little face scrunched up angrily from her place in the plan, it was only when Stiles picked her up that she grinned.
"No Rory, that's Miguel," Stiles hummed at the toddler, "Can you say it? Miguellll?"
"Da!"
Maeve slowly stood from the sofa, clutching Freddie tightly, "What the hell is this! I know my pain meds are strong but surely I'm not hallucinating?"
Florence giggled as Stiles spun her about, awkwardly stopping beside Derek, "No- this is Miguel. He only speaks Spanish."
Derek flinched away as Florence tried to grab at his hair, Cora muffled her laughter as she moved to stand between them.
"Oh give that up already," Laura rolled her eyes, "Maeve, It's alright - we think he's fixable? He's still Derek."
"You think?" Maeve exclaimed, "How did he even end up like that?"
Stiles whistled as she wandered away from his seething sister, holding Florence like a shield, "We found him in a temple."
Maeve looked at him in disbelief, "A temple?"
"In Mexico," Cora added, "Quite the adventure actually. We nearly sold Stiles to the hunters."
Stiles scoffed, "Like they could afford me."
Maeve only grew angrier, slamming her hands down on the counter, "Will someone tell me what is wrong with him!"
Maeve winced at the tug on her stitches, reaching up to her aching ribs. Isaac grabbed onto her arm to steady her, something Derek noticed - having no idea who Isaac was, Derek immediately grew protective.
"Let her go," Derek growled, the room falling silent at his words.
Derek's anger only grew, no one was telling him what was really going on - seeing Maeve, or who he thinks is Maeve, in pain was the last straw.
"It's alright, Derek," Maeve said with a pained breath, "I'm fine."
Derek didn't back down, his eyes glowing, when Isaac didn't step back - Derek growled loudly.
Collective sighs of relief sounded in the room as Derek slowly morphed back to himself, blinking slowly.
"What the hell just happened?" Derek questioned, breathing heavily.
It was probably the pain, but Maeve simply burst into laughter.
It was the middle of the night when Maeve woke, Derek sat on the edge of their bed, his head in his hands.
"Derek?" Maeve questioned softly, running her hand over his back, "Are you alright?"
"I just don't understand," Derek sighed, "Who would want to turn me back into a teenager? Who even has the power to do that?"
Maeve frowned, sitting up to rest her head on his shoulder, "I don't know... I'm just glad to have you back."
"It was like all my memory's of the last five years had vanished," Derek explained, "We'd only just started dating in my last memories, I saw all these photos of you - I thought you were Luna. I've never been so confused."
Maeve rolled her eyes, "Not one Stiles' brightest ideas. Of all the places he could've took you."
"Luna has his tact," Derek said amusedly, "Didn't even say hello before she declared I was her dad."
Derek lay back down, wrapping his arms around Maeve, "Are you alright? I wanted to be here when you came back from the hospital."
"The pains not too bad," Maeve assured him, "Just annoying really. But everything's going to be okay, I will be, you will be."
"Even if you're not a werewolf?" Derek frowned, "Do you want to try and find out more about this? You've been a werewolf for 10 years, you can't just let that go."
Maeve sighed, "I don't know, Derek. Maybe it's better off this way."
Maeve knew there was a chance she could be stuck like this, or that there was no cure - she just wanted to know that she would be okay, either way. Werewolf or human.