Any Dream Will Do | Hale - TVD/TO/TW [2]

31 | Not Your Business

Lexi sits atop the Hale house, the roof digging into her thighs as she stares up at the stars. Conveniently, the trees create a perfect circle of clarity above the roof to allow stargazing, which Lexi does every night. She clutches onto a small notebook with a pen between her lips; every once in a while, she scribbles down a few notes before she turns her attention back to the open night sky and the waving stars above her.

She frowns when she hears Derek climbing up. Glancing up at him, Lexi sends him a confused smile as he settles beside her. "What are you doing up here at this time?" She asks.

"I heard you up here," he replies. "And it's pretty late so I wanted to check on you."

"How sweet." She leans over to bump her shoulder against his. "You still care."

Derek furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Lexi turns back to the stars, a foreign look in her eyes. "You've been avoiding me since Henrik's birthday."

"I haven't been—I mean, I don't mean to—"

Lexi shakes her head. "It's alright. I understand." Blonde strands of hair cover her face. "Most people, after seeing me like that, go running off screaming, so I cannot be surprised—"

Derek scoffs. "Why would I run off? You handled those Alphas like a badass."

Lexi's lips turn down as she begins to play with her fingertips. "You don't view me as—" Inhaling sharply, Lexi shakes her head. "Never mind."

"As what?"

She refuses to mean his gaze. "It does not matter. I guess Peter was right. I owe him some money now."

"No, wait," Derek places his hand over her closed notebook. "See you as what?"

Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she sighs. "A monster."

With a loud laugh, Derek shakes his head. "I have a lot of issues with that day. Thinking of you as a monster is not one of them. I would never see you like that because you're not. You're Lexi."

"Who happens to be one of the oldest monsters in history," she replies without thinking. "And who has now shown you a small sliver of her dark side."

"You've seen pretty much every aspect of who I am," Derek says. "At least, now I have a window into you. Monster or not, you'll always be Lexi to me."

Her lips tug upwards. "Thank you," she whispers. "It means a lot."

Derek smiles, moving closer to her; he fights the urge to tense when Lexi rests her head against his shoulder. "You know, we have a long day tomorrow," he says softly. "We should get to bed."

"We should," she hums. "But Cepheus has yet to be found. Just two more minutes and..." Her hand shoots up at a group of stars clumped together. "You see it?" She whispers. "There it is. Cepheus."

"You really like stars, huh?" He asks as Lexi begins to write in her notebook.

"No matter the time in my life, I can always remember the stars," she replies. "They are everything I wish to be: free from worry, responsibility, even immortality. They are just free."

Derek glances down at her as she shifts her weight to turn towards him. They find their faces inches apart. As Lexi's breath fans over Derek's cheeks, his eyes dip down. He leans forward.

With wide eyes, Lexi flinches back. "What do you think you're doing?" She asks.

He mistakes the shock for horror. "Um, nothing," he replies quickly, pulling far away. "I was just... I thought—"