Someone to love with my life in their hands (For Derek)

[littlewolf_girl]

Derek had told her they were going after Deucalion. He was taking his pack, but the Alpha would have his, too, Hayley was certain. No one got to that position by going solo, no matter what he'd promised Scott. Her hand itched, going to her cell phone more than a few times, ready to call Elijah, but...what the hell could he do from Louisiana fast enough? By the time he got here, it would be over.  Besides, she'd promised Derek she'd let him handle it himself first before calling in her backup.

That didn't mean she had to like it.

She didn't much like not being there, either, for all that she was useless in a fight right now. Even without the baby, she couldn't shift at will like they could. She was fast and she was strong, but if she couldn't bring her claws out what good would that be? 

So, she...paced. And felt useless. And paced. The moon rose and set. The sun came up. Derek's cell phone rang, but he didn't answer it. No one called her...she guessed no one knew to except maybe Cora, and she didn't know the girl's number to get in touch with her, either, when the teenager didn't call her. Maybe she didn't know how to find her. Maybe she didn't figure Hayley rated knowing anything. Maybe she was dead.

Fuck, but she hated being let sitting at home like some princess in a tower. She wasn't a princess. She wasn't used to being protected. It was a sweet feeling on one level, but she was so not made for waiting.

It was all she was able to do, though, and by the time the sun was high in the sky again, she had given up any pretense of being okay with it. Grabbing her purse, she fished out her keys. She was going to the loft. If no one was there, she was going to the hospital. If there was one thing she was good at, it was getting information out of people.

Cursing fluidly to herself, she moved to the door, yanking it open.

Comments

[iamthe_alpha]

Derek should have known it was a trap. Looking back now, he could see the mistakes he had made, the foolish arrogance that had led his pack into the mouth of Hell and had nearly cost him his life.

Even now he couldn't be sure he wasn't dying. His entire body was on fire, burning from the inside out as he dragged himself along. Every move he made felt like his middle was going to tear apart and he could feel the strain it put on the open wounds that covered him from shoulder to waist. The bones that he had broken from the fall were struggling to heal but he couldn't stop.

He needed to get to Hayley.

It was pure instinct and need that drove him along, gave him enough strength to make it to her door where he collapsed finally with a ragged gasp that made his lungs feel like they were collapsing. Pressing a bloody hand to the step, he tried to push himself upwards, ready to make a sound but then the door was swinging open.

Looking up, relief flooded his features. "Hayley..." Then the world spun, tilted and went dark as he collapsed.

[littlewolf_girl]

For a moment, Hayley just stared at him in shock, the way he'd just appeared there on her doorstep, right when she'd been about to break. Then the scent of blood hit her nose and he collapsed.

"Derek!"

Her purse hit the ground and she moved faster than humanly possible, not caring if her neighbors saw. Hi, bloody guy on her doorstep. Her speed was the least of her worries.

She caught him before his head hit the porch, cradling it gently before kicking her purse back inside. The position was too awkward for her to fully lift him, but she managed to get her arms under him and him up some, though she winced at any tug, not wanting to pull his wounds worse.

"Oh, god..." She got him inside and was able to get a better grip, lifting him further off the ground. Half-carrying, half-dragging him, she made it to the sofa, settling him there, first. Kneeling down beside him, she checked his pulse, his breathing, and then did a quick assessment.

He was alive, but the blackness of his blood was not something she liked the look of, at all. Moving swiftly, she hit the upstairs bathroom, fishing out a couple of towels, and then the kitchen to put water in the microwave to heat to at least clean his wounds. A first aid kit would obviously be helpful, but it wasn't like she had more than some gauze pads for helping to stop bleeding.

Water, towels, scissors and that bit of gauze in hand, she made her way back to him and set to work cutting off the remnants of his shirt efficiently. She wanted to cry, to scream and freak out, but that wasn't going to help.

[iamthe_alpha]

He managed to open his eyes when she caught him and started dragging him inside. It hurt but the pain caused his throat to clog, the complaint locking in his throat as he tried to stand, tried to walk, but it was nearly impossible to do so.

Collapsing finally, he let his eyes flutter closed, the darkness dragging him under again to where he could find a few blissful moments of peace where the pain wasn't so bad. He let himself drift then, hoping his healing ability would kick in faster but it was almost like it couldn't keep up. Like there was too much healing to be done, which he could believe. No one could heal a fight and a fall like that easily.

Then he was aware of his shirt being tugged at and he frowned a bit as he struggled to open his eyes. It took a bit of effort to focus on her as he swallowed past the dryness in his throat. "Hayley..."

[littlewolf_girl]

"Shh..." She practically hissed it past tears clogging her throat. "Don't talk, just rest. I'll get this cleaned up."

She couldn't see for a moment, and had to pause, brushing at her eyes angrily, smearing some blood over her skin and not even caring. "This is going to hurt, but I have to get them clean. They aren't healing right..."

She'd seen him heal from a hole in his chest. This wasn't that bad, truly--it didn't go all the way through--but it wasn't healing and the black blood was fucked up and she was terrified, her hands shaking a little.

[iamthe_alpha]

"Shhh." He made a rough shushing noise as he reached up, trying to catch her hand with his own but his fingers merely brushed over hers as he didn't have the strength or coordination at the moment.

He could tell from the look in her eyes that it was bad. She hadn't even been this scared when he'd had a pole rammed through his chest.

Letting his head fall back, his eyes rolled closed again as he let out another rough sigh. "It just needs time."

[littlewolf_girl]

He'd been a nice, cute guy she'd just met when he had a hole in his chest. Now he was...well, whatever he was. The guy who hadn't walked away from her when he found out about Klaus, who wanted to stay, to have her in his life. That meant a lot when she'd had little but rejection since her parents kicked her out.

She was still trying not to cry as she tossed the pieces of his shirt away. "It's bleeding black, Derek. It doesn't just need time..." His blood was red. She'd had enough of it on her already to know.

[iamthe_alpha]

"Needs time." He said it again, weakly, as he half started to drift again. A hospital couldn't help him as it would only raise more questions and he briefly wondered about Scott's boss but he wasn't sure he could handle moving again. That and someone could find him there when he was still weak enough not to be able to defend himself.

[littlewolf_girl]

Taking him to a hospital never occurred to her, though if she'd known about the vet, she would have called him. As it was, she did what she could to at least clean him up, pressing hot towels to the worst of the wounds gently, remembering something about drawing out poison and wishing she could remember what it was, fully.

She couldn't push her own fear on him, so she bit it back, focusing on trying to take care of him as best she could and not dissolve into tears.

[iamthe_alpha]

Derek drifted in and out as she continued to tend to him. Now that he was still and not struggling to get to her, his body was finally able to start healing itself without further aggravation slowing it down. The bleeding slowed and stopped though the open wounds were still stained with black blood.

After awhile, he opened his eyes to look for her again. "They think I'm dead..." Or at least that was what he was hoping the Alpha pack thought.

[littlewolf_girl]

"Who?" She had been staring at the rise and fall of his chest, willing it to continue, pleased when she heard his pulse start to strengthen and steady, as well. Only then did she sink fully down to the floor, letting her trembling hit her.

"Your pack? The Alphas?"

[iamthe_alpha]

A troubled look darkened his features then. "Probably all of them."

He tried shifting but stilled almost instantly as a sharp pain tore across his chest causing him to fall back again with a pained look. He took a moment to fight past it before looking at her. "They were there and....if Allison hadn't started shooting..."

"I went over the edge with one of them and landed on an escalator below. I think he might be dead."

[littlewolf_girl]

"Good." She said it fiercely, a snarl in her voice. "That's one less of them." She wanted them all dead, wanted them all to burn, with a viciousness that surprised her.

His wince had her sitting up again, alert and watching him. "We have to tell your people, though...they'll be upset, grieving..."

[iamthe_alpha]

"Not yet." He said it quickly, shaking his head a bit. "I need to heal before the Alphas find out or they'll come after me, the other ones."

And in this state, he couldn't protect himself or her. They would basically be sitting ducks with no real way to defend themselves because he was pretty sure he couldn't put up a fight if he tried. He would try though and he would die doing so.

"Tomorrow, as soon as I'm better....we can tell Peter."

[littlewolf_girl]

Ever pragmatic, Hayley could see the wisdom in that, and she nodded a little bit. "Okay."

She had...no idea who Peter was, but she was guessing not one of the teenagers (or she hoped not, at least).

Worrying a little at her lower lip, she watched him for a minute. "I have something that might speed up the healing process. But you have to lie low for the next twenty-four hours, still..."

[iamthe_alpha]

Derek gave her a confused little look at comment of having something to speed up the healing process but then having to lay low. "What is it?"

[littlewolf_girl]

Hayley shrugged a little. "Hybrid blood. It'll heal you pretty much instantly, but you can't get yourself killed in the next twenty-four hours or....well. I don't know what would happen with you, since you're not exactly like us."

[iamthe_alpha]

Derek looked at her with a small, wary frown as drinking blood didn't sound all that appealing. "Is it the blood of the guy who knocked you up?"

[littlewolf_girl]

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm not sure if he sent it with me in case I got hurt or in case the baby went all Twilight and got hungry."

[iamthe_alpha]

"That's a disturbing thought." He muttered softly but shook his head again. "But no, I'll be fine. I just need more time to heal."

He looked at her seriously, guilty. "I'm sorry I scared you."

[littlewolf_girl]

"You're telling me." It was inside her, after all, and she was not looking forward to going all skeletal. So far, it seemed to be a fairly normal pregnancy.

She didn't want to push, but the worry was still there in her eyes, in the tremble of her hand against him.

"I'm still scared," she confessed. "I've never seen wounds do this..."

[iamthe_alpha]

"It's the wound caused by an Alpha." He curled his fingers around hers, giving them a gentle squeeze as he tried to reassure her. "It takes longer to heal."

[littlewolf_girl]

"But you're an Alpha, too," she said, clinging to his hand.

[iamthe_alpha]

"Which is why I'll be fine." He told her with a nod of his head. "If i was a beta, it would be a lot worse."

[littlewolf_girl]

Her gaze dropped to the wounds and she looked back at him doubtfully, clearly not convinced.

"Is there anything I can do?"

[iamthe_alpha]

Derek thought about the others again, knowing he should reach out to them but he had to stick to what he had said earlier about healing first before letting them know he was okay. Plus they had to know there was a chance, right? They wouldn't have found his body after all.

"You did enough." He murmured, feeling a twinge of guilt then. What if the Alphas had discovered there was no body? Were they tracking him now?

It was enough to make him suddenly worry. "Maybe I shouldn't be here..."