Who: Isaac Lahey and Derek Hale What: Isaac’s arrival Where: Town & Country Florist; then the park When: Saturday late afternoon Warnings: nope Status: complete gdoc
Isaac breathed in and out, trying to control the intense feelings and urges that were threatening to overwhelm him. This was the first full moon since Derek had bitten him and here he was, locked up in the Beacon Hills police station. He could feel his humanity slipping away from him like water in his palms. Surely Derek was on his way to help him. He wouldn't just leave him in here. He couldn't. If Isaac could just hold on until then.
More time passed on as the teen tried to focus on something else. Anything else. But the harder he tried, the more impossible it became. Isaac as he knew himself was getting farther and farther away from him. Like when he was locked in the deep freezer and he would lose himself for hours at a time. But, in some ways, this was worse.
He couldn't see them but he knew his eyes were flashing gold. He could feel his teeth making room for fangs and his face contorting to his wolf features. He gripped harder onto the door handle, trying his best to pull it open. If he could just get a good grip and tug.
Isaac stumbled back as suddenly there was no longer a door handle in his hand. A matter of fact, there was no longer a door. Nor was there a locked room.
Well, not the same one anyway.
Isaac blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden dim light, an overwhelming smell of plants and flowers assaulting his superhuman sense of smell. He rushed backwards, instinctively seeking a wall for a bit of safety but when he hit something, it was not a wall and suddenly he was falling.
CRASH.
Isaac's fall was saved but the thing that saved him broke with a crunch. He was caught in a bunch of flowers and vines and as he struggled to break away, he only got more stuck. Stuff from above began to fall on him and Isaac only continued to scramble until finally, he was up on his feet and rushing for the first door he spotted.
Wrenching it open, the teenager's eyes widened in fear. He had found himself on a street lined with shops and other buildings. The problem was, this was not Beacon Hills. Not even close. As far as he knew, being a werewolf did not give him the ability to teleport and yet, for all he could tell and his knowledge of comic book lore, that was exactly what seemed to have happened.
He growled, still wolfed out hurried down the road, looking around for something that looked familiar. Or someone. It wasn't until there was a person who was heading directly for him, calling out to him in greeting, that Isaac booked it. He ran hard and fast, not stopping to see if the person followed. Ahead he could see trees—it wasn't Beacon Hills' forest—but there were many trees. Not as many as his wolf would prefer, but he would take what he could get.
He doubled his speed and ran through what looked like a grassy park peppered with trees and other foliage. Isaac ran to the largest group of trees and only then did he stop to huddle at the base of the largest tree.
This was not happening. He had passed out or something and this was a dream. He would wake up soon and Derek would be there and everything would be okay.
Everything would be okay, he told himself, repeating the words as he held his hands over his head and rocked himself in comfort.
Derek had a lot of regrets about the decisions he made in Beacon Hills. He knew that he was a shit Alpha, hated what he’d done to Erica, Boyd, and Isaac, and in general was really disappointed in himself for failing so hard to uphold the Hale family reputation. If he were honest, he would admit that his poor decision making started way back when he was fifteen and allowed his uncle to persuade him to have his girlfriend bitten. Being forced to take her life set him down a dark path. Losing the majority of his family soon after meant he really had no hope of bouncing back.
That all seemed so long ago now though. After three and a half years in Madison Valley, he felt a lot more comfortable in his own skin than he could ever remember feeling. He’d gotten to make his peace with his mother and Laura, which helped a lot.
And Elena helped a lot too. Her situation with Clay mirrored his own with Paige in a lot of ways, though it had a less fatal outcome. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if Paige would have resented him and struggled as much to come to terms with being a werewolf had she survived the bite.
He was thinking about how he should really talk to Erin about his vague intention to propose to Elena at some point in the not so distant future when his ears picked up a commotion nearby. There were plenty of people in town who could step in and help if there was danger, but if something was happening near his location, he wouldn’t hesitate to jump in if necessary.
The familiar scent hit his nose hard and he blinked. Isaac was back? When did that happen? When Derek realized that the commotion was coming from the same direction, he moved quickly to intercept the boy, despite knowing that he may not be his favorite person.
It didn’t work though and Isaac ran right past as if he didn’t even see Derek. He had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, he needed to make sure Isaac was okay, even if the boy didn’t want to see him.
He tracked Isaac’s scent to a copse of trees in the park and stood a few feet away, looking down at the way he was cowered at the base of the tree, his hair full of flowers. This was not the same Isaac who had been in town before. In fact, he looked awfully young. Like how he’d looked when Derek first bit him.
“Isaac,” he said, keeping his voice low so as not to startle him. “You’re okay.”
If Isaac hadn't been so spooked, he might have registered the other's scent. Then again, he might not have, considering it was just different enough when he wasn't focusing intently upon it. As it were, he was focusing now, the moment his name was called.
Head snapping up, he growled lowly, cowering against the tree until his eyes focused. Eyes widened, flashing gold instinctively but his nose was telling him something was different. Something was wrong.
"Derek?" He asked, wincing at how skeptical his voice sounded. Then again, he had found himself in a whole other town that was not even close to Beacon Hills so he supposed the place, and the people in it, deserved some level of skepticism.
As he straightened, the blue and white flower crown that had fallen on his curls became obvious, though Isaac himself still had no idea they were there. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered in that moment other than assuring himself that all of this was real and that Derek was actually there in front of him.
The flowers were the least of Derek’s concerns at the moment. He reached out and rested a hand gently on Isaac’s shoulder. “I know you’re confused,” he said. “I’ll try to explain everything, but you need to relax first.”
He could hear how fast Isaac’s heart was beating and wanted the kid to calm down some before he tried to begin explaining the insanity that was Madison Valley.
“What happened right before you got here?” Knowing what point in time Isaac was from would help him figure out his next steps. Most likely that would involve taking Isaac to his house, assuming he was willing to let Derek serve as his guardian, but he also might need to feed him or get him to the clinic first.
Isaac stared at the other, still unsure whether or not he was real. Really real.
He stiffened at first the moment Derek touched his shoulder but relaxed into it in mere moments. Derek's scent was true. There was something… different about it but it was still Derek.
The question caught him of guard as suddenly memories of the police station and feeling his control slipping away.
“They took me, Derek! They think I killed my dad. You're coming for me though. I know you wouldn't leave me in there.”
His blue eyes were guarded and skeptical, in contrast to his words.
Well shit, Derek thought. This was a very young and inexperienced version of Isaac. On one hand, he didn’t have any resentment towards Derek for being a shitty Alpha, which meant that he was basically getting a second chance not to fuck things up. On the other hand, he was no longer an Alpha and Isaac was going to need a lot of support learning how to control himself during the full moon.
“Of course not,” he said. “We’re going to get you out.”
He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “So, look. This is obviously not Beacon Hills. And it’s hard to explain exactly what’s going on, but I need you to trust me, okay?” At some point, later, once Isaac was settled and all that, Derek would be honest with him about what was going to happen in his future.
“We still have a week before the full moon here,” he added. “Someone should be along shortly to give you a welcome packet and then I’ll take you to my place. You’re going to need a guardian, so you can live with me.” He didn’t think that Isaac would protest that though he suspected Elena and Erin were going to add further confusion.
Isaac felt immediately better when Derek promised that they would get him out. But then the other werewolf was rubbing the back of his neck. A moment later he was explaining that this was obviously not Beacon Hills.
“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,” the beta muttered under his breath. And yet, when Derek asked him to trust him, instinctively Isaac knew that he could. Everything would be okay.
Derek was here and he was going to take care of him.
Nodding, Isaac rose so he was standing and smile sheepishly.
“Yeeaah… I think they tried to earlier but I kinda freaked.”
As if on cue, two people came toward him and Derek. They welcomed him, handed him a packet over-filled with papers and objects. Isaac paid them no mind, head starting to hurt with the whole overwhelming nature of the situation. The two trusted Derek to fill Isaac in and left. Isaac frowned as he watched them go and turned back to Derek.
“Now what?”
“My car’s a couple blocks away,” Derek said, nodding in the direction that they’d come from. “We can grab some burgers or something. Maybe stop at WalMart and get you some clothes.”
That would give him a chance to text Elena and Erin so they could prepare. “There are some other folks from Beacon Hills here,” he said. “I’ll show you how to connect to the network so you can talk to them. And some of the other people in town might recognize you. You were here before, but from a later point in time.”
He paused. “I know that sounds crazy, but time is weird around here. It’s actually 2019.” There really was no way to ease someone into the insanity that was Madison Valley.
“I live with my girlfriend, Elena, and a young woman named Erin. They’re both werewolves, but not exactly the same kind of werewolves we are.” That probably wouldn’t mean much to Isaac since he was brand new to the wolf thing, but it seemed important to mention.
Isaac nodded when Derek said his car was close. His body perked considerably at the mention of food. Stomach grumbling, he realized before his got here it had been hours since he had eaten or had water.
“Yes. Food.” Then he looked at Derek a little sheepishly. “Please,” he added.
Isaac's eyes widened at the mention of other people from Beacon Hills and was fully ready to ask who but then Derek was letting out a whole lot more information.
Most of which made absolutely no sense.
“I was here before and it's two thousand nineteen?”
He blinked at the last bit of what Derek said. He fell quiet and after awhile he just shook his head.
“I only recently found out werewolves exist… I'm not going think too hard on this… whatever is happening right now.”
He sighed and brought a hand up to grip his curls, pulling away the flower crown from his head with a near hysterical bubble of laughter. Taking a deep breath, he regarded Derek again.
“I trust you. That's all that matters to me right now.” He glanced back toward town. “Though I can't promise not to freak out again… this is… this is really weird.”
Derek actually smiled a little. “It’s beyond weird,” he said. “Freaking out is understandable.” As long as he didn’t go out and terrorize the town while he was freaking out, Derek wasn’t going to try and prevent it.
“We’ll grab some burgers, then head to the store and the house. We can just pick up a few things to get you through the next couple of days for now,” he said. “You can shop for more clothes and stuff later. It’s May, so we won’t need to worry about enrolling you in school until the fall.”
Hopefully that would give Isaac time to settle in and learn control. “Scott, Stiles, Lydia, and Allison are all here, though they’re out of school.” He should probably also warn Allison that her former boyfriend was around though with zero memories of their relationship. “So are Sheriff Stilinski and Chris Argent.”
Seeing Derek smile as he agreed to the weirdness of the situation and assure him that freaking out was to be expected, Isaac felt a whole lot better about the situation. That did not mean that he was completely okay with everything that was happening but he didn't feel nearly as cornered.
Nodding at Derek's plan, Isaac decided that, for the time being, listening and following Derek was his best choice. Furthermore, he wanted to listen to Derek. He was his Alpha for a reason.
"Sounds good," Isaac said, nodding as he slid his hands into his pockets. It would be good to get clothes and even better to eat. He was starving.
He let Derek lead them into town at his pace and discretion, focusing instead on the other's words. He frowned when the older male mentioned Allison Argent's father.
"Argent... Uh, Derek. Isn't he a hunter that wants to kill us?"
Knowing that Isaac was feeling overwhelmed, Derek didn’t walk too fast to get to his vehicle. He figured there was no rush to get anywhere and it would allow Isaac a chance to acclimate a little bit.
“Ah, right, Argent is a hunter that wanted to kill us,” he said. It seemed like that was all so long ago and Derek actually considered the man a friend now. “He doesn’t anymore. In fact, you two ended up being pretty close.”
He paused again, realizing that while he’d explained that the town was in the future, he hadn’t really made it clear that he was from a few years in Isaac’s future.
“Time here is… weird. The whole starting a pack thing was a couple years back for me,” Derek explained. He would wait to mention how hard he failed at that and the fate that Isaac’s packmates met. No need to freak the kid out more than he already was.
They arrived at Derek’s SUV and he unlocked the doors.
Isaac blinked when the other corrected him, agreeing that Allison Argent's father was a hunter but claiming that the man didn't want to kill them. Not anymore. And he and the man were close? A lot of questions rushed to mind as he wondered how that had happened.
His head hurt trying to even think about how that was possible. Signing the whole thing of as some weird time traveling thing was a lot easier. Especially when Derek explained that for him, starting a pack had been years where for Isaac, joining one had been a few days. He also voiced the beta's thoughts on the whole thing being strange.
“You're telling me.”
They reached the car about that time and Isaac slipped into the passenger side completely happy to do something normal in a place that was so not normal.
“I’m going to send the girls a quick text and let them know I’m bringing you home,” Derek said before starting the car. “Then we can get going.”
After they ran their errands, he could show Isaac how to use the network. He knew that the boy was going to have a lot of questions over the coming days and weeks and he would need to do his best to answer them.
Isaac nodded at Derek's plan and made a mental note to ask his Alpha how he met his girlfriend. He'd also think of more questions to ask him about the place as he thought of them but at the moment all he wanted to focus on was the promise of food.
The rest would undoubtedly come later but for the moment food and having the older man around was enough.