Ghost | Derek Hale

ABSENTMINDEDNESS

"The whole trip!"

Scott sighed and helped Derek pull all of their bags out of the car.

"I know."

"The whole trip, she didn't say one word to me," the man complained, "But she couldn't stop talking to Issac."

"Are you jealous?" Lydia teased, coming up behind them.

He rolled his eyes and glared.

"To be fair, you did lie about her family," Scott reminded.

They hefted the bags up and lugged them into the Hale house. They dropped them at the bottom of the large staircase, leaving them to be brought up later.

"I was trying to protect her," he argued.

"I think we should all know by now that Maia doesn't need our protection."

He merely sighed in frustration. Scott chuckled and patted his back in a friendly matter, leading them both to the living room.

The pack was already there, having prepared for their return. Stiles even went so far as to put up a few welcome home decorations, which was really only a cake and a singular balloon.

Argent and Maia carried Issac in carefully, setting him down on the couch. They both sat on either side of him, making sure he was comfortable.

Stiles and Malia greeted him politely before getting down to the questions.

"How did this all happen?" Stiles asked.

"Generally or this specific position I'm in?" Issac asked jokingly. The Stilinski boy merely glared lightly.

Maia grinned momentarily before Issac chose to actually answer.

"I was heading home one night and I found Maia wandering around," he informed, "She was covered in blood and she had an arrow in her hand."

Lydia pulled her bag to her side and held up the object that in it, "This arrow?"

He nodded as he saw the familiar object.

"She was completely out of it. She didn't know where she was or what was going on. I was going to take her to the hospital."

"Why didn't you?" Theo asked, crossing his arms.

Issac did a double take as he spotted the unfamiliar person standing by the doorway. But he continued on.

"She kept mumbling a name."

"What name?"

He sighed and met his former alpha's eyes, "Derek Hale."

Everyone's eyes shifted over to him. He awkwardly cleared his throat and stood straighter. His gaze met Maia's but she quickly looked away.

"And then I saw the Argent crest on the arrow so I figured that taking her to a hospital wasn't the best idea. So I took her to my place instead."

He briefly met Maia's engaged eyes and felt her hand squeeze his own in encouragement.

"I tried to get an explanation but everything she said was jumbled. It didn't make sense."

"Like what?" Malia asked.

He struggled to remember, "It was something about a man. I think his name was Conner?"

The pack inhale sharply and warily looked at each other.

"Colin?" Scott prompted. Issac nodded at the correction.

"And she was saying these riddles," he added, "She kept repeating them over and over until she just stopped. I don't know why but it was like a switch turned off."