Derek Hale has never really believed in soulmates.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe they exist. His vision has been in gray-scale for so long he can barely conjure the image of his sister in color, let alone the family he lost. He knows that this means he hasn’t found the person who’s his theoretical soulmate, but it’s kind of for the best.
Given his past romantic choices in life, odds are no one wants him to find his actual soulmate. She might be the one to kill him.
Who needs the drama? He may not have been part of the soulmate conversations as of late, but he knows that it’s created a complicated emotional knot that he doesn’t want to have any part in unwrangling. Though the bubble bursts when Stiles plops down in the seat next to him on the plane.
“So where is Cora these days?”
“She and Malia have been scoping things out on the east coast with Isaac. Last we talked, she was in Philadelphia, but she was heading down to this Virginia town called Mystic Falls to pick up Malia. I told her to wait there until we know more—no point in her coming all the way to New Orleans if we need her somewhere else.”
“Makes sense.” Stiles fiddles with his phone for a minute, before looking over to glimpse Hayley. “So what do you make of these NOLA folks?”
Derek shrugs. “They seem fine. I don’t think we should invite them to pack cookouts soon, but we can work with them to protect a seven-year-old girl.”
“Fair enough.” A beat. “You sure the name Peter means nothing to you?”
Derek raises his eyebrows. “If I did, don’t you think I would have said something?”
“Did it mean anything to Cora and Malia?”
Derek shakes his head again. “Nothing.”
“Huh. Weird.” Stiles drums his finger against his thigh. “Well. Wake me up when we get to New Orleans?”
Derek’s eyebrows raise, surprised that he might actually get quiet time with Stiles sitting next to him. He almost doesn’t want to question it, but he can’t help himself. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Stiles shrugs. “I’m exhausted, dude. And I’m also literally only sitting here so that Hayley doesn’t seduce you and then try to kill us before the flight is over.”
Derek rolls his eyes. From a few rows ahead, he can see Hayley smirk, before looking over at him with a raised eyebrow. Derek shakes his head. “Go to sleep, Stiles.”
“You can’t say there isn’t a precedent.” Derek turns a stern glare on the younger man, and Stiles nods. “Yep. Going to sleep.”
This is going to be a long trip.
* * * * *
New Orleans is a town he’s always wanted to visit, but knew it would never be safe for him to do so. Now he has an escort of one of the scariest people in town, and he doesn’t really know what to expect. But Hayley drives him and Stiles straight through to the heart of the French Quarter to a bar called Rosseau’s, and they walk in to a summit already happening.
A tall, dark-skinned man looks up from the center table, showing that he’s the one running the show. He relaxes when he sees Hayley, however, and nods to her. “Who’s your friends?”
“Hale, huh?” Marcel raises an eyebrow. “Thought there weren’t many of you left.”
“There’s not. But your friend dropped right into the middle of Beacon Hills, so she’s bound to find one.”
“Do we have any news?” Hayley asks, trying to get things back on track. Marcel shakes his head.
“We’ve searched every inch of the Quarter. No sign of Hope. It doesn’t seem like anyone stashed her in the bayou either.”
Hayley’s shoulders slump. “She has to be somewhere.”
“We’ll find her, Hayley. Cami’s been on the phone with all our allies, trying to figure out who whoever hid her could have reached out to. But what we know is whoever hit us doesn’t have her.”
“But whoever hit us has Klaus.” All three of them turn as a fair-haired young woman storms through the room, a determined look on her face as she heads directly for Hayley. “Davina and Vincent got the witches on a locator spell, and they had him heading towards Atlanta before they found someone to cloak him and made him disappear, but we know where he went.”
The woman stops and wraps her arms around Hayley, and Hayley returns the hug tightly in return. “Thank you for looking,” Hayley murmurs as she squeezes her friend tightly. As the hug breaks, she turns to the fresh faces. “Cami, Derek and Stiles. Derek and Stiles, Cami O’Connell.”
“Nice to meet you,” Stiles nods, extending a hand, and Cami shakes it. “And magical fail safes aside, we have an amber alert out for a child matching Hope’s description, so hopefully someone will see her and report it.”
“Good. That’s good to hear.” Cami gives Hayley’s shoulder a squeeze. “But we should get some rest for now. Why don’t I pour everyone some drinks?”
Derek can tell that Hayley isn’t particularly interested in sitting still, but there’s not much they can do from here—at least not until they have a lead to work on. He watches as the rest of the group disperses and Stiles steps out to take a call from Allison, before moving to stand next to Hayley.
“If you want to go search yourself, I’ll go with you.”
Hayley looks gratefully at the offer, but she shakes her head. “I appreciate it, but they’re right. I trust my people, and if they say they overturned every stone, they overturned every stone.”
Derek nods. If that’s what she wants, he won’t contradict her. He’ll just wait and see what happens as things change. He excuses himself to go text his sister.
Stepping outside into the foggy, humid air, he can’t help but take a breath, intrigued by the idea of being somewhere new. He lets his eyes wander the little details of the architecture, the stone streets, the atmosphere of vibrance and excitement. He wishes he had the time to explore every little detail and dig into the history that lives in these streets, but that will have to be a trip for a later time.
Now, they needed to help Hayley find her mate and her daughter.
He sends off a quick text to his sister, thinking about maybe seeing if he’ll have time to take a walk when Stiles’ hand comes down on his shoulder.
“Hold on, Ally, I’ve got Derek. Say that again?”
“We think the Peter that we’re looking for might be Derek’s uncle, Peter Hale.”
Derek blinks at that information. “I don’t have an uncle. My mother was an only child.”
“According to town records, you did.”
“I think I would have remembered if I had an uncle, Allison.”
“So who’s Malia’s father?”
That simple question he should be able to answer grinds his brain to a halt. The name is on the tip of his tongue. The answer is there. He simply needs to reach out and grasp it. But in the end, it doesn’t come.
“I don’t know.”
“Who was the alpha who killed Laura?”
That question, while softer than the first, still is a stab of pain that he isn’t expecting. Because again, he should know the answer, but it just won’t come. “I don’t know.” Derek rubs at his eyes. “You think he might be the same person?”
“That’s the theory.” Allison sighs. “It’s a big hole that would make sense to fill with one person. The alpha who bit Scott and Lydia, the person who killed Kate, Malia’s father, it all matches up.”
Derek leans back against the wall and rubs his eyes. Nothing about the past few days has made sense. “How could I have just forgotten a member of my family like that?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out. Freya thinks there might be magic involved, so she’s on it, but we’ll keep you posted with what we find.”
“Yeah, we’ll do the same. Thanks, Allison.” Stiles hangs up and Derek can feel his eyes on him, trying to gauge his reaction. “You okay, big guy?”
“I’m not sure.” Derek grits his teeth. “I don’t like my memory being messed with.”
“Hey, none of us do. Whatever this is, we’ll figure it out.” Stiles squeezes his shoulder, before tipping his head back towards the bar. “C’mon. I’m starving, and we should fill Hayley in.”
Derek nods, and turns to follow Stiles back into the bar, but he still can’t help feeling like a bus has hit him.
* * * * *
Hayley takes them back to the Abattoir after dinner, after the rest of the party called it a break for the night. She leads the way into the still trashed courtyard, before sighing, looking at the mess. “If you guys just want to grab a room and crash, go for it.”
“Are you sure? We can help you clean up,” Derek replies, observing her.
Hayley shrugs. “You’re welcome to. Just be aware it might get worse before it gets better.”
Stiles smirks. “Hey, rage rooms are a viable business for a reason.” He’s about to continue with his smartass comments before the two wolves pick up the sound of footsteps on the floor above. Both of them turn, braced for a fight and, as the person in question appears, Derek feels like a truck hit him for the second time that evening.
It would make sense that the universe would want to ensure zero questions about who his soulmate may be. The second her hand grips the railing, she comes alive in a shower of color. Blond hair, light eyes, pale skin, dressed in jewel tones and dark jeans. She has a determined look on her face. He has no idea who she is, but her appearance is a punch to the gut he isn’t expecting.
“Where the hell have you—” The question fades the second she meets Derek’s eyes, likely for the same reason. Surprise replaces annoyance and her voice turns soft. “—Oh.”
“Sorry,” Stiles interrupts. “Who are you?”
“Caroline, what are you doing here?” Hayley asks, superseding Stiles’ question.
“I got a text from someone named Peter. I have no idea who he is, but he’s saved in my phone, so I guess I know him? Somehow? It says that Klaus is in trouble.” She turns to make her way to the stairs, just continuing to rant as she goes. “So I drove out here to figure out what was going on, and I see this—” She gestures to the surrounding mess. “—With no one home so I’m understandably freaking out a little.”
Caroline comes to a stop in front of Hayley, and she tries to keep her focus there, but her eyes keep straying over to Derek, not really sure what to make of him. Hayley doesn’t notice, but unfortunately Stiles does. He straightens, eyes glancing between the two of them, trying to solve the puzzle he doesn’t have all the pieces for.
So he opts to ask the more relevant question instead. “So you know have the mysterious Peter in your backstory too?”
Caroline glances between the two men. “You know Peter?”
“We’re supposed to, but we don’t. Apparently he’s Derek’s uncle.” Stiles points across the way to Derek before placing a hand against his chest. “I’m Stiles, by the way. Since we’re not doing introductions.”
Caroline nods, before turning to meet Derek’s eyes again. “Derek.” She swallows before offering a small smile. “Caroline.”
Stiles’ eyes narrow even further. “I’m sorry, is something happening here?”
Derek knows he needs to cut this off at the pass. He can’t deal with Stiles knowing about this before he even figures out how he feels about it beyond terrified. “No.” He snaps, flashing Stiles a look, but apparently defensiveness was the wrong option. It immediately puts Stiles on high alert.
“Yes, there is. And it’s not just the weird Peter thing, it started before that.” It doesn’t take long before the dots connect and his eyes widen. “Holy shit, is she your soulmate?”
Caroline’s cheeks turn red. Derek can feel the heat burning on his own. Hayley’s eyes went wide as she glances between the two of them. “Seriously?”
“Nope. Nope.” Stiles storms over, pushing himself between Derek and Caroline and grabbing Derek’s arm. “You’re not going anywhere near him until I’ve run a thorough background check through several major agencies.”
The two women stare dumbfounded as Stiles drags Derek away, unable to find the will to stop Stiles for the moment. All he can do is try to wrap his head around all of this and make it make sense.
X ~ derek/caroline ~ teen wolf/tvdverse ~ 2,156
Derek Hale has never really believed in soulmates.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe they exist. His vision has been in gray-scale for so long he can barely conjure the image of his sister in color, let alone the family he lost. He knows that this means he hasn’t found the person who’s his theoretical soulmate, but it’s kind of for the best.
Given his past romantic choices in life, odds are no one wants him to find his actual soulmate. She might be the one to kill him.
Who needs the drama? He may not have been part of the soulmate conversations as of late, but he knows that it’s created a complicated emotional knot that he doesn’t want to have any part in unwrangling. Though the bubble bursts when Stiles plops down in the seat next to him on the plane.
“So where is Cora these days?”
“She and Malia have been scoping things out on the east coast with Isaac. Last we talked, she was in Philadelphia, but she was heading down to this Virginia town called Mystic Falls to pick up Malia. I told her to wait there until we know more—no point in her coming all the way to New Orleans if we need her somewhere else.”
“Makes sense.” Stiles fiddles with his phone for a minute, before looking over to glimpse Hayley. “So what do you make of these NOLA folks?”
Derek shrugs. “They seem fine. I don’t think we should invite them to pack cookouts soon, but we can work with them to protect a seven-year-old girl.”
“Fair enough.” A beat. “You sure the name Peter means nothing to you?”
Derek raises his eyebrows. “If I did, don’t you think I would have said something?”
“Did it mean anything to Cora and Malia?”
Derek shakes his head again. “Nothing.”
“Huh. Weird.” Stiles drums his finger against his thigh. “Well. Wake me up when we get to New Orleans?”
Derek’s eyebrows raise, surprised that he might actually get quiet time with Stiles sitting next to him. He almost doesn’t want to question it, but he can’t help himself. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Stiles shrugs. “I’m exhausted, dude. And I’m also literally only sitting here so that Hayley doesn’t seduce you and then try to kill us before the flight is over.”
Derek rolls his eyes. From a few rows ahead, he can see Hayley smirk, before looking over at him with a raised eyebrow. Derek shakes his head. “Go to sleep, Stiles.”
“You can’t say there isn’t a precedent.” Derek turns a stern glare on the younger man, and Stiles nods. “Yep. Going to sleep.”
This is going to be a long trip.
New Orleans is a town he’s always wanted to visit, but knew it would never be safe for him to do so. Now he has an escort of one of the scariest people in town, and he doesn’t really know what to expect. But Hayley drives him and Stiles straight through to the heart of the French Quarter to a bar called Rosseau’s, and they walk in to a summit already happening.
A tall, dark-skinned man looks up from the center table, showing that he’s the one running the show. He relaxes when he sees Hayley, however, and nods to her. “Who’s your friends?”
“Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski, meet Marcel Gerard.”
“Hale, huh?” Marcel raises an eyebrow. “Thought there weren’t many of you left.”
“There’s not. But your friend dropped right into the middle of Beacon Hills, so she’s bound to find one.”
“Do we have any news?” Hayley asks, trying to get things back on track. Marcel shakes his head.
“We’ve searched every inch of the Quarter. No sign of Hope. It doesn’t seem like anyone stashed her in the bayou either.”
Hayley’s shoulders slump. “She has to be somewhere.”
“We’ll find her, Hayley. Cami’s been on the phone with all our allies, trying to figure out who whoever hid her could have reached out to. But what we know is whoever hit us doesn’t have her.”
“But whoever hit us has Klaus.” All three of them turn as a fair-haired young woman storms through the room, a determined look on her face as she heads directly for Hayley. “Davina and Vincent got the witches on a locator spell, and they had him heading towards Atlanta before they found someone to cloak him and made him disappear, but we know where he went.”
The woman stops and wraps her arms around Hayley, and Hayley returns the hug tightly in return. “Thank you for looking,” Hayley murmurs as she squeezes her friend tightly. As the hug breaks, she turns to the fresh faces. “Cami, Derek and Stiles. Derek and Stiles, Cami O’Connell.”
“Nice to meet you,” Stiles nods, extending a hand, and Cami shakes it. “And magical fail safes aside, we have an amber alert out for a child matching Hope’s description, so hopefully someone will see her and report it.”
“Good. That’s good to hear.” Cami gives Hayley’s shoulder a squeeze. “But we should get some rest for now. Why don’t I pour everyone some drinks?”
Derek can tell that Hayley isn’t particularly interested in sitting still, but there’s not much they can do from here—at least not until they have a lead to work on. He watches as the rest of the group disperses and Stiles steps out to take a call from Allison, before moving to stand next to Hayley.
“If you want to go search yourself, I’ll go with you.”
Hayley looks gratefully at the offer, but she shakes her head. “I appreciate it, but they’re right. I trust my people, and if they say they overturned every stone, they overturned every stone.”
Derek nods. If that’s what she wants, he won’t contradict her. He’ll just wait and see what happens as things change. He excuses himself to go text his sister.
Stepping outside into the foggy, humid air, he can’t help but take a breath, intrigued by the idea of being somewhere new. He lets his eyes wander the little details of the architecture, the stone streets, the atmosphere of vibrance and excitement. He wishes he had the time to explore every little detail and dig into the history that lives in these streets, but that will have to be a trip for a later time.
Now, they needed to help Hayley find her mate and her daughter.
He sends off a quick text to his sister, thinking about maybe seeing if he’ll have time to take a walk when Stiles’ hand comes down on his shoulder.
“Hold on, Ally, I’ve got Derek. Say that again?”
“We think the Peter that we’re looking for might be Derek’s uncle, Peter Hale.”
Derek blinks at that information. “I don’t have an uncle. My mother was an only child.”
“According to town records, you did.”
“I think I would have remembered if I had an uncle, Allison.”
“So who’s Malia’s father?”
That simple question he should be able to answer grinds his brain to a halt. The name is on the tip of his tongue. The answer is there. He simply needs to reach out and grasp it. But in the end, it doesn’t come.
“I don’t know.”
“Who was the alpha who killed Laura?”
That question, while softer than the first, still is a stab of pain that he isn’t expecting. Because again, he should know the answer, but it just won’t come. “I don’t know.” Derek rubs at his eyes. “You think he might be the same person?”
“That’s the theory.” Allison sighs. “It’s a big hole that would make sense to fill with one person. The alpha who bit Scott and Lydia, the person who killed Kate, Malia’s father, it all matches up.”
Derek leans back against the wall and rubs his eyes. Nothing about the past few days has made sense. “How could I have just forgotten a member of my family like that?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out. Freya thinks there might be magic involved, so she’s on it, but we’ll keep you posted with what we find.”
“Yeah, we’ll do the same. Thanks, Allison.” Stiles hangs up and Derek can feel his eyes on him, trying to gauge his reaction. “You okay, big guy?”
“I’m not sure.” Derek grits his teeth. “I don’t like my memory being messed with.”
“Hey, none of us do. Whatever this is, we’ll figure it out.” Stiles squeezes his shoulder, before tipping his head back towards the bar. “C’mon. I’m starving, and we should fill Hayley in.”
Derek nods, and turns to follow Stiles back into the bar, but he still can’t help feeling like a bus has hit him.
Hayley takes them back to the Abattoir after dinner, after the rest of the party called it a break for the night. She leads the way into the still trashed courtyard, before sighing, looking at the mess. “If you guys just want to grab a room and crash, go for it.”
“Are you sure? We can help you clean up,” Derek replies, observing her.
Hayley shrugs. “You’re welcome to. Just be aware it might get worse before it gets better.”
Stiles smirks. “Hey, rage rooms are a viable business for a reason.” He’s about to continue with his smartass comments before the two wolves pick up the sound of footsteps on the floor above. Both of them turn, braced for a fight and, as the person in question appears, Derek feels like a truck hit him for the second time that evening.
It would make sense that the universe would want to ensure zero questions about who his soulmate may be. The second her hand grips the railing, she comes alive in a shower of color. Blond hair, light eyes, pale skin, dressed in jewel tones and dark jeans. She has a determined look on her face. He has no idea who she is, but her appearance is a punch to the gut he isn’t expecting.
“Where the hell have you—” The question fades the second she meets Derek’s eyes, likely for the same reason. Surprise replaces annoyance and her voice turns soft. “—Oh.”
“Sorry,” Stiles interrupts. “Who are you?”
“Caroline, what are you doing here?” Hayley asks, superseding Stiles’ question.
“I got a text from someone named Peter. I have no idea who he is, but he’s saved in my phone, so I guess I know him? Somehow? It says that Klaus is in trouble.” She turns to make her way to the stairs, just continuing to rant as she goes. “So I drove out here to figure out what was going on, and I see this—” She gestures to the surrounding mess. “—With no one home so I’m understandably freaking out a little.”
Caroline comes to a stop in front of Hayley, and she tries to keep her focus there, but her eyes keep straying over to Derek, not really sure what to make of him. Hayley doesn’t notice, but unfortunately Stiles does. He straightens, eyes glancing between the two of them, trying to solve the puzzle he doesn’t have all the pieces for.
So he opts to ask the more relevant question instead. “So you know have the mysterious Peter in your backstory too?”
Caroline glances between the two men. “You know Peter?”
“We’re supposed to, but we don’t. Apparently he’s Derek’s uncle.” Stiles points across the way to Derek before placing a hand against his chest. “I’m Stiles, by the way. Since we’re not doing introductions.”
Caroline nods, before turning to meet Derek’s eyes again. “Derek.” She swallows before offering a small smile. “Caroline.”
Stiles’ eyes narrow even further. “I’m sorry, is something happening here?”
Derek knows he needs to cut this off at the pass. He can’t deal with Stiles knowing about this before he even figures out how he feels about it beyond terrified. “No.” He snaps, flashing Stiles a look, but apparently defensiveness was the wrong option. It immediately puts Stiles on high alert.
“Yes, there is. And it’s not just the weird Peter thing, it started before that.” It doesn’t take long before the dots connect and his eyes widen. “Holy shit, is she your soulmate?”
Caroline’s cheeks turn red. Derek can feel the heat burning on his own. Hayley’s eyes went wide as she glances between the two of them. “Seriously?”
“Nope. Nope.” Stiles storms over, pushing himself between Derek and Caroline and grabbing Derek’s arm. “You’re not going anywhere near him until I’ve run a thorough background check through several major agencies.”
The two women stare dumbfounded as Stiles drags Derek away, unable to find the will to stop Stiles for the moment. All he can do is try to wrap his head around all of this and make it make sense.
It’s been a weird few days.