A/N: Hey guys, here's an update. It's way overdue, but I finally got it all out, and I have a definite direction I want to take the story. Thanks a million if you're still reading. You guys are the best, and if it weren't for you I would have stopped agonizing and given up on this months ago.

Stiles is driving through the forest preserve. The trees on either side of the well-worn track created by Stiles's Jeep over the past year and a half are once again perking up at the change in season. Stiles can recognize every one, having driven past them countless times: returning from fruitless recon missions with Isaac in the dead of night; tracking deliberate paths laid down by Boyd during his few training sessions with Allison; making his way to the estate on sunny afternoons, Scott's head sticking out of the passenger side window to better smell who had arrived at the pack meetings before them.

The reminiscing does nothing but make Stiles even angrier at Derek. Basically his whole life has been this pack for over a year. He loves his packmates and his territory, and who's Derek to tell him whether or not he's allowed to fight for what he loves?

It's only minutes before the Jeep emerges into the clearing where the Hale house is situated. Stiles parks his Jeep beside the Camaro, hopping out and slamming the door behind him. He makes his way up the newly reinforced porch steps, pushing open the front door and calling into the house, "Derek, get your furry ass down here!" He almost immediately feels Derek's presence to his left, in the living room, and turns in his direction. "You can come out of the shadows, too," he says, unimpressed. He feels proud that his senses seem to be continuing to grow steadily.

Derek materializes slowly, arms crossed over his chest and a bitter look on his face. Probably because I just ruined his favorite pass-time of hide-n-scare-the-shit-out-of-Stiles. Too bad. "Why aren't you in school?" Derek asks.

"Because none of my friends at school will even look at me, much less speak to me." Stiles retorts. "Would you minds telling me why that is?"

Derek sighs and turns away from him. He says, "Stiles, I'm not some kind of teen wolf expert. I don't know why they do what they do."

"Bullshit!" Stiles cries. "You literally have a direct line to their minds, Derek...I just want to know why you won't let them talk to me."

"Me?!"

"Yes, you! They're avoiding me like the plague, and I saw the fear in Erica's eyes when I cornered her today-"

"Exactly, Stiles," Derek explodes, "fear when you cornered her!" He crowds into Stiles now, poking an unforgiving finger into his chest. "This isn't my doing, Stiles. They're afraid of you.

Stiles's jaw drops. Of all the responses he'd expected, this was never one of them. Derek seems to sense that Stiles is genuinely shocked, so he takes a step back, visibly visibly deflates, leaving a tired expression on his usually hard face. "I'm getting nothing but confusion from the betas right now: fear, affection, loyalty, uncertainty...arousal. They don't know whether to run from you or toward you, and it scares them."

"Why?" Stiles asks, "I mean, yeah, I killed an alpha but that doesn't change who I am!"

Derek explains, "If you were a werewolf, you would be an alpha by now. And a powerful one at that-"

"But?" Stiles interrupts.

"But you're a human, dumb ass. You're like a non-alpha alpha...if that makes any sense at all."

"It doesn't," Stiles says. "I'm more confused than ever."

Derek doesn't look surprised. Rather, he growls out, "Exactly!" and he begins to pace. "Now try to imagine how the betas feel. Here's how I understand it. As far as Scott, Erica, Isaac, Jackson, and Boyd are concerned, you are pack, just as surely as they are. They know that when another wolf kills an alpha, that wolf becomes one. So now Stiles equals alpha." Stiles nods, following the explanation. "Conversely," Derek continues, "they all know that you're human. They know that when a human kills an alpha, that human is a hunter. That covers loyalty and fear, respectively. Add in their personal affection for you and you've got...'

"A total clusterfuck," Stiles supplies. "Sure, we'll go with that," Derek says. "Do you understand now?"

Stiles nods as Derek turns away from him. He's still wrapping his mind around the new information. He's feeling a little bit of pride and a whole lot of guilt for inspiring such strong positive and negative emotions in his packmates. Then a thought strikes him. "What about arousal?" he asks, remembering the last item on the list of emotions Derek had rattled off.

"What?" Derek asks, pretending not to know where the question is coming from.

"You were feeling arousal," he says. At Derek's mortified face, he amends, "Well, I don't know about you, but you were feeling second-hand arousal from the betas, you said."

"Oh, that," Derek says, scuffing the ground with a dusty black boot. "It's pretty strong in all of them, has been for a few weeks. It pretty much rolls off of Jackson in waves..." Stiles grins at that, happy that their attraction to him is because of him and not just a side-effect of their internal confusion.

Derek asks, "What did you do to Jackson, by the way?" His genuinely confused face becomes one of irritation-or is that embarrassment?-when Stiles replies "Wouldn't you like to know," with a not so subtle wink. Stiles doesn't even realize he's done it until Derek's whole body seems to stiffen in his discomfort, his cheeks flushing slightly.

What was that, Stilinski? he thinks. He's obviously dealing with the betas' hormone-driven arousal, and here I am throwing winks around like it's nothing.

Stiles clears his throat, looking down. "Sorry," he says, "I think I'll go. Maybe one of the other humans will talk to me. If you think of a way that I can fix things with the others, would you let me know?"

Derek nods mutely and waves Stiles off, a pensive look on his face. Stiles can see in his eyebrows that he'll be thinking this issue through long and hard. He hopes Derek can help the betas decide, one way or another, but in the meantime he plans to find out where he stands with his fellow pack humans. Amazed at how the encounter had managed to entirely deflate him in a matter of minutes, he turns and leaves Derek's house.