Chapter 13: Changes

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Teen Wolf. Just Hope and her story.

Hope wasn't sure how long she sat in the Jeep crying when she heard her cell phone start to ring. She sighed, wiping tears away before answering the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Stiles."

Hope could tell that something was wrong the second her twin spoke and she instantly became worried, "Is everything okay?"

Stiles sighed over the phone, "Look, something happened at the parent teacher conferences...wait, are you crying"

"Stiles, get to the point!"

"Okay, Dad got hit by a car, but he's fine. His leg is just bruised and sore." Stiles paused to let that sink in before continuing, "There's another thing. Argent shot a mountain lion at the school, so now everyone thinks it's safe but...just...just come home soon, okay? It's not safe."

Hope shook her head, eyes filling with tears again, "Yeah, sure. I'll be home, just um, just give me a few minutes."

"Okay,-" Hope quickly hung up on her brother and threw the Jeep into drive. As she drove, she only had one thought in mind. It was arguably the stupidest idea ever, but Hope felt like she was running out of options. Stiles and Scott thought that she was perpetually a little girl that needed protection, so she was going to the only person who might actually help.

She pulled up to the Hale house and burst through the door without any formalities. Hope stood in the center of the front hall and looked around before calling out, "Derek!"

She heard a thump next to the stairs and whipped her head around to see Derek walking up to her, "You know, it's not polite to just walk in someone's house."

"Look Derek, I need your help."

Derek raised an eyebrow and crossed an arm in amusement, "Oh really?"

Hope walked towards him, "You and I both know that the Alpha is still out there and when it comes around again, I want to be able to do something. I'm tired of feeling like everyone has to protect me. If I'm ever alone with the Alpha again, I want to stand a chance."

Derek looked down at her, "An Alpha is the strongest werewolf. Its senses are the strongest and its abilities are the best. You don't stand a chance no matter what.", Derek turned and began to walk away, "Go home Hope."

Hope stood in her spot in shock before shouting out to Derek, "You know what, Derek? This is your problem! You think that you're better than everyone else and you don't tell anyone anything! This is why Scott and Stiles don't trust you! And now here I am, the one person that actually does trust you, asking for help and you do the same exact thing!", Hope knew that Derek could kill her if he wanted to for saying all of this, but after the past few days she had, she needed this, "You want us to help you catch the Alpha? Great. But we can't do that if you don't start acting like you actually want our help. So just...", she started to fumble for words, "just...just grow up Derek!"

Hope sighed heavily as she finished her rant. She continued to take deep breaths as Derek walked back over to her. She took a step back as Derek got right up in front of her. He sighed, "You want my help?"

She nodded up at him. Derek shook his head, "Fine. Be ready."

Hope reached out and touched his arm, "Thank you." She turned to leave before looking back at him, "Wait, when do we start?"

She looked around and waited for Derek to answer her. She sighed once she realized he was nowhere to be found, "Great."

The next day, Hope opted to stay home from school. Sheriff Stilinski had told his kids that they didn't have to go to school considering all that happened the night before. Along with his sister, Stiles decided to stay home. About midday, Hope walked down the stairs to see Stiles watching TV on the couch. Hope raised an eyebrow and sat down next to her brother, "Well, I see you're being productive today."

Stiles jumped in surprise and looked over at her, "Hey, it's called a day off for a reason! I'll do with it as I please."

Hope laughed and playfully pushed him, "Don't you have anything else better to do?"

"Well, considering I'm not talking to Scott, no."

She whipped her head around to look at her brother in shock, "Wait, what?!"

Stiles sighed, "He let Dad get hurt yesterday. And, not only that, but he refused to do anything about Lydia or Jackson or the video store clerk all because he was with Allison!"

Hope sighed, "Stiles-"

"No! He needs to straighten out his priorities or something. People are dying."

She sat forward on the couch, "Stiles, this is all new to Scott. He's probably a little overwhelmed. I mean, how would you feel if you were in his shoes? I would bet money that if this was happening to you, you would still be running around trying out all your wolfey abilities like a little kid."

Stiles opened his mouth to fight back but let out a resigned sigh, knowing his sister was right. Hope laughed at him, "Exactly." She stood up and brushed off her pants, "Well, if our little twin therapy session is over, I'm gonna go for a run."

"Yeah, you look like you could use it fatty.", Stiles said jokingly. Hope looked at him with mock offense, "Well I never! At least I'm not the one sitting on the couch wasting my life away!"

"This is a full time career! I have a gold medal in sitting on couches!"

Hope laughed and pushed him off the couch and called back to him before running out of the house, "I hope you have a gold medal in laying on floors!"

Hope had been running for about an hour or so before she decided to stop and take a breather. She found a stump near the trail in the woods and sat on it. She knew that running through the woods probably wasn't the smartest idea under the given circumstances, but she just needed to get away. From Jackson, from Stiles, from Scott, from all of the werewolf business. Hope just didn't understand how her life had managed to do a complete 360 in a matter of about a week. All she wanted when she moved back home was a simple life. She just wanted to breeze through the rest of high school and then go to college. She didn't ask for all of this werewolf business or teen drama.

She mostly didn't want to go back to school today because she didn't want to have to look at Jackson, or Lydia for that matter. Hope didn't know where her and Jackson stood. Sure, he was drunk, but that still didn't change that it happened. While all Hope wanted to do was move on, the old saying, "A drunk person speaks a sober mind" hung heavy in her head. Of course she liked Jackson, but he was with Lydia and that didn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Hope groaned and put her head in her hands. She was just overwhelmed by all of this.

Hope's head snapped up as she heard a noise coming from the woods around her. She stood up cautiously and looked around for the source of the sound. She felt herself start to panic and she took a deep breath in, taking a step back. She cringed in fear when she felt another twig break under her feet. She looked around again before turning around and taking off running. She ran with all she could until her body forced her to stop. She looked around realizing just how far off of the trail she had gone. She tried to listen carefully for any sign of being followed. She heard what sounded like leaves crushing and she backed up against a nearby tree in fear. She held her breath as the crushing noise continued. After a minute or two, the noise seemed to stop and Hope let out the breath she had been holding in a sigh. She screamed out and closed her eyes as she felt a hand go around her throat, pinning her against the tree.

"That was embarrassing."

Hope's eyes flew open in shock at the sound of Derek's voice, "Are you serious right now?!"

Derek let go of her and crossed his arms, "Congratulations. You did everything horror movies taught you on how to get killed."

"This is what you call training? Chasing me through the woods?!"

Derek shifted his weight so he was leaning back more, "Do you have a better idea?"

Hope frustratedly sighed, "No."

He took a few steps toward her, "You're relying too much on your primal instincts. You're just using your adrenaline and not thinking your actions through. Werewolves are more than just animals, they use strategy to trap you at your weakest. And when it comes to fight or flight? You can't rely on running away. There's no way in hell that you'll ever be able to outrun a werewolf. Especially an Alpha."

Hope crossed her arms, "Then what do you suggest I do?"

"First of all, figure out what you can use to at least attempt to fight back. If you can hold them off, it may just save your life."

"And if that doesn't work?"

Derek rolled his eyes at her annoyance, "Always know your way out."

Hope threw her hands in the air in frustration, "That's the same thing as flight!"

"Which way is the trail out of here?"

Hope, embarrassed, shifted her weight back and forth and looked around before pointing out to the right. Derek cockily smirked at her before pointing into the complete opposite direction, causing Hope to curse quietly to herself.

"And another thing? Never let your fear get in the way of your awareness of your senses. Wolves already have you beat with their super senses, so you can't afford to make mistakes with yours. Got it?"

Hope sighed and put her hands on her hips, "I think so."

"Good." Derek then walked away leaving Hope in shock at what just happened. After a moment, Hope shook her head and started to walk towards the trail, "It's a wonder I haven't taken up drinking yet."

At school the next day, Hope felt as though everyone was watching her like they knew what happened that night on the lacrosse field. She knew this was just her being paranoid, but it didn't help that Jackson didn't show up to chemistry. She knew he was in school, but he just didn't show up to class. That unnerved her more than anything. What made it even worse, was she had to sit through lunch with Allison and Lydia like nothing happened. At this point, all Hope wanted to do was go home and nap.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her brother slammed her locker door shut, "What?!"

Stiles and Scott looked at her skeptically in shock. Scott tilted his head in confusion at her, "Are you okay Hope? You've been acting weird all day."

Hope laughed awkwardly and leaned back against her locker, "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Scott shrugged before Stiles stepped in, "So, anyway, we may or may not be doing something that could get us in trouble. So, if you don't feel like getting in trouble, I'd suggest finding another ride home."

She laughed at her brother's bluntness, "Do I even want to ask what you two are doing?"

"No." they both answered at the same time. Hope shook her head, "Well, I'll see you two later then."

Hope walked a few feet before she felt a hand on her arm, "Are you sure you're okay?" She turned around to look at Stiles, "I'm fine, I swear."

Stiles let go of her arm, "You know you can talk to me Hope."

She faked a reassuring smile, "I know, Stiles." He nodded at her, still not convinced and went back to his business with Scott.

Hope let out a shaky sigh as she watched her brother walk away. She knew that she should probably just tell her brother what was wrong. He was her twin for crying out loud! They've always been there for each other, but when it came to this, Hope couldn't bring herself to tell him. She was afraid that her brother was going to judge her, and that's about the last thing she needed right now. Hope turned to walk away, only to collide into a solid chest and fall backwards to the floor.

"Sorry about that."

She felt like her whole world had coming crashing down around her when she heard Jackson's voice. She slowly looked up nervously, "Don't worry about it."

Jackson smiled slightly at Hope before reaching out his hand to help her up, "We need to stop meeting like this."

Hope laughed awkwardly, "Yeah, well, you know..." She glanced down at their hands to see Jackson still holding on. They shared a look of panic and quickly pulled their hands away. Jackson shoved his hands into his front pockets and looked up at her, "Look, about the other night..."

"What are we all talking about?"

Hope felt like the world really was against her as Lydia walked up to join the conversation. Her stomach sank down to the floor as Lydia hooked her arm with Jackson and kissed him on the cheek. Noticing Jackson struggling for words, Hope jumped in, "I was just letting him know what he missed in chem." Lydia quickly turned to Jackson, "Why weren't you in chemistry?"

He quickly flipped his cockiness switch back on, "You know I don't like sitting through that class."

Lydia laughed at Jackson's statement and kissed him. Hope decided that she didn't want to watch that anymore, "Um, I actually have to get home. So, if you'll excuse me..."

As Hope walked away, Jackson sent her an apologetic look. He watched her walk away, wishing Lydia hadn't come up and said anything. Lydia caught the look he was sending towards Hope, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

Hope decided to take the long way home to walk off some of her frustration. She wasn't so much as angry with Jackson, as she was with herself. She hated that he had the effect on her and that he could put her through this with something as simple as one look. Hope wrapped her arms tighter around her body as the wind picked up. She continued to walk like this for a few more minutes until she heard a car come to a slow stop next to her. She looked over to see that it was Derek.

"Get in."

She really was not in the mood to argue, so she did as he said and got in the passenger side. Derek sensed her mood and gave her a brief concerned look before throwing the car in drive and driving off. They sat there in silence, which seemed to unnerve Derek slightly considering on any normal day, Hope would have a million questions. He shot her sideways glances the whole ride until they arrived at their destination and she asked, "Why are we at Beacons Crossing Home?"

Derek leaned back in his seat and sighed, "I need to try and get information from my uncle."

Hope's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, "Isn't he unresponsive?"

"I'm getting desperate."

The two of them walked into Peter's room after checking up and down the hallway for any nurses. Hope decided to hang back towards the wall while Derek brought a chair in front his uncle and sat down. She tried to prepare herself for the worst as Derek turned Peter around to reveal his damaged face. Hope watched as Derek's demeanor changed as he talked to his uncle.

Derek sighed, "I need your help. If you can hear me, I need you to give me a sign. Blink. Raise a finger. Anything. Just...just something to point me in the right direction, okay?" Hope had never seen this side of Derek before. Her heart felt heavy as she watched the stone cold man she met in the woods become vulnerable.

"Someone killed Laura. Your niece. Laura?"

Hope stepped forward and put her hand on Derek's shoulder to give him support. He sighed deeply before continuing, "Whoever he is, he's an Alpha now. But he's one without a pack. Which means he's not as strong."

She gently squeezed his shoulder as he fell silent in thought. He straightened up with determination, "I can take him, but I have to find him first. Look, if you know something, just give me a sign. Is it one of us? Someone else make it out of the fire? Just give me anything. Blink. Raise a finger. Anything." Derek stood up in frustration, "Say something!"

Hope reached out to pull Derek back and called out for him to stop before a nurse came in and scolded Derek, "Let him go! You think after six years of this, yelling at him is going to get a response?!"

He turned toward the nurse defiant, "You got a better method?"

"Patience. He'll respond if you give him time."

Derek exhaled frustratedly before grabbing Hope's arm and pulling her out of the room with him, "I don't have any more time."

He walked faster ahead of Hope, starting to leave her behind. She ran over to his car to catch up with him as he started to get in the driver's side. She ran up behind him to see him pull a piece of paper off his windshield and open it.

"Derek, you okay?"

He didn't respond right away, but eventually pushed the piece of paper into Hope's hands, "Get in the car. We're going to train."

Hope looked at the piece of paper in confusion to see a dead deer with a spiral carved into it's side. She didn't know what it meant, but whatever it was, it seemed to bother Derek.

They had been training at Derek's house for a couple of hours. He had been trying to teach her how to fight off a werewolf without having the same abilities as one. It had started off going good, but once he started to sneak up on her and expect her to fight him off, she had progressively gotten more frustrated, which meant she got more sloppy with her fighting.

Hope fell back on the floor as Derek beat her again and groaned defeated.

Derek crossed his arms and stood over her, "You weren't even trying that time."

He stretched out a hand to help her up, which she slapped away out of frustration. She stood up on her own, "Okay, this isn't working."

"You need to focus."

Hope put her hands on her head and walked away from Derek, "I am focusing!"

Derek raised his voice slightly at her, "No, you're not! Your mind is completely somewhere else. And that's going to get you killed!"

"You know what?" Hope stormed over to Derek and pushed his chest with all of her strength, making him stumble a little, "I don't need your shit!"

Derek tried to grab Hope's shoulders to make her look at him, but she fought back and started to punch his chest in frustration. After a short struggle, Derek grabbed hold of both her wrists and held them in front of her, "Stop it, Hope! What is your problem?"

She ripped her hands out of his grasp, "My problem?! Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that my own brother doesn't trust me with any of this werewolf business! Or maybe it's the fact that I can't even tell him anything anymore because I'm afraid he's going to judge me! Or maybe it's that Jackson drunk kissed me and basically confessed his feelings for me even though he's dating one of my best friends! Or you know what, maybe it's the fact that I have absolutely no freaking idea what I'm doing anymore! So, I don't know Derek! What is my problem?"

At some point during her angry rant, tears started to flow down her cheeks. When she realized she was crying, she angrily wiped them away and turned around, crossing her arms, so she didn't have to look at Derek. After a minute or two of silently crying, she felt strong arms turn her around and pull her into a hug. Hope wrapped her arms around Derek's torso and sobbed openly. Hope felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders by just being able to tell someone all of this. Even though it was Derek and it was completely out of a crazy rant, she still felt better.

Hope pulled away from Derek and wiped her eyes and laughed slightly, "Sorry about that. I probably look like the biggest idiot in the world right now."

Derek shrugged, "Not the biggest idiot."

She punched him lightly on the arm, "Gee, thanks."

Derek smirked at her before heading out of the house, "Come on. I need to go handle some business."

Hope had been sitting in Derek's car outside of the animal clinic for close to an hour. He had told her that he had some "business" to take care of and that she should stay in the car. She didn't really question what he specifically needed to do because she figured she would just find out eventually. Right now, all she could think about was that nap that she never got to take after school.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over to see Scott entering the animal clinic. Hope sat up in her seat in panic, "Oh, this is not good."

She waited anxiously for about ten more minutes before Derek came out carrying something. He threw the thing in the back before jumping into the driver's side and peeling out of the parking lot. Hope took notice of how tense Derek was, "Derek, what happened?" When she didn't receive an answer, she turned around to see what he had thrown in the backseat. She jumped back forward as she came face to face with a knocked out Deaton.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"I tried to prove that he's the Alpha and that's when Scott came in. Long story short, we're meeting Scott at the school."

Hope raised her eyebrows in panic, "Wait, we're meeting Scott? Is Stiles going to be there?"

Derek sighed tensely, "Probably." Hope fell back against her seat and put her hands over her face, "Great. Just great."

They pulled into the parking lot after Scott and Stiles. At the sight of them, Hope let out a sigh, knowing she was most likely walking into a fight.

Derek climbed out of the car first. Hope could hear Scott question where his boss was and she rolled her eyes, not surprised, as Stiles made a sarcastic comment. She knew she had to face her fate and she climbed out of the car. Scott and Stiles' jaws instantly fell open in shock and confusion. Scott was speechless as Stiles fumbled for words.

Stiles finally pulled himself together, "What are you doing with him?!"

Hope felt like she was about to throw up from anxiety as she was about to tell him the truth as Derek stepped in, "I saw her walking and since it's not exactly safe out here, I picked her up."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "How very boy scout of you."

Hope sighed in relief as Scott and Stiles turned to walk towards the school. Derek called out to them, "Wait, hey! What are you doing?"

Scott turned around and shrugged, "You said I was linked with the Alpha. I'm gonna see if you're right."

The boys turned and continued to walk into the school. Derek sighed in frustration and walked over to lean up against the car next to Hope. She smirked jokingly at him, "So, how does it feel being the one that doesn't know what's going on?"

Derek scoffed unamused at her poor attempt to poke fun at him. They both fell silent for a minute or two before Hope sighed, "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"For covering for me. You didn't have to do that."

Derek kept his eyes trained forward and didn't respond. A moment later, they heard a shrill howl that sounded more like a dying cat over the intercom. Hope burst out laughing as Derek hung his head, "You've got to be kidding me."

A few seconds later, Hope jumped in surprise at the sound of a loud, raging howl. She put her hand over her heart, "Woah."

Derek pushed himself off of the car and started to look around for any signs of movement. When he saw the boys coming back from the school he marched over to them, "I'm going to kill both of you! What the hell was that? What are you trying to do? Attract the whole state to the school?!"

Scott shrugged innocently, "Sorry! I didn't know it'd be that loud."

Stiles looked like a proud parent as he said, "Yeah it was loud. And it was awesome!"

Derek looked at him with murderous eyes, "Shut up."

Her brother nonchalantly put his hands in his pockets, "Don't be such a sour wolf." Hope giggled at her brother's stupid joke.

Scott quickly turned to the car, "Wait, what did you do with my boss?"

Hope and Derek looked at each other confused before whipping their heads around to see that the back seat was empty. Derek turned back, "I didn't do anything."

All of a sudden, Hope let out a terrified scream as Derek was lifted into the air by the Alpha. Blood poured out of Derek's mouth as the Alpha sunk his claws into his abdomen. Stiles quickly grabbed Hope and pulled her along to run back to the school. The three teens ran for their life in record time back to the school and slammed the school doors behind them. They all slowly peered out the window before sharing terrified glances with one another.

I know. I'm the worst at updating. But I really like the way this chapter worked out. I'm really starting to develop the story and all the shifts. PLEASE REVIEW. Your feedback helps me so much and I do take it into account! Leave more than just, "update soon. love it" Tell me what you think! Is a character too OOC, do you want to see more of a character or more interaction between characters? Literally tell me anything! Good or bad! Reviews motivate me! Also, this third season is CRAZY. I'm so hype for the episode with the flashbacks of Derek's life. Well, you guys know what to do now! Love you guys!