Derek buckled his own seat belt and took his keys out of the center console, pushing them into the ignition and turning them to start the engine. He looked over at the little blonde girl who looked so horrifyingly out of place in Derek's vehicle, and gave her a little smile.
"You're welcome, Kate," he said.
He pulled back onto the dirt road and eventually out of the woods entirely, turning onto the main stretch of back road that ran from the end of Beacon Hills to town. It only took him fifteen minutes or so to reach the McDonalds and he stopped in front of the order box in the driver thru, telling the girl on the other end that he needed a minute, and then he looked over at Kate. "All right, what do...you like?" he asked, having to consciously stop himself from replacing "you" with "kids" and sounding like some kind of creep to the girl in the McDonald's waiting for his order to come through her headset. "You want, like, a Happy Meal or something?"