Chapter Text
This better be important she thought grumpily as she opened her eyes. It was supposed to be her morning off, and only chance this week to sleep in, but the two teenage boys whisper arguing outside her door put a kibosh on those plans. She listened to their bickering a moment before quietly getting up.
“Derek said not to wake her! Do you wanna deal with a cranky alpha first thing in the morning?” Scott asked.
She heard Isaac respond back “I think he’d understand. After all he’s not answering his phone. What are we supposed to do with them”
Them? She quickened her stride to the door. This can’t be good. She opened the door, cutting Scott off mid-sentence as the two bickering teens turned guilty and hopeful faces towards her.
She let them stutter for a moment before interrupting, “Slow down now, you’re not making any sense. Scott explain what the problem is. Three sentences or less.”
Scott opened his mouth to protest, so she added a little of what she liked to call the “Derek Grump Glare” to her face. Scott swallowed quickly before blurting out, “Three FBI guys are here for Derek and they won’t leave and Derek isn’t answering his cell and we don’t know what to do.”
She blinked for a moment, her brain trying to process what Scott had just told her. Her first thought was to reprimand him for his blatant run on sentence, to which he rolled his eyes, when the sentence actually registered.
“THE FBI ARE HERE?” she whispered yelled at the boys. When they simply nodded at her, eyes rounded with fear, she knew she had to do some damage control. These kids had faced down hunters, kanimas, alphas, and everything else without batting an eye, but the thought of their Alpha in danger was a true threat. Without him they were nothing. A threat from the FBI was particularly troubling, because though they had an extraordinary ability to fight and win by magical means, they could do very little to circumvent or fight against the law. She took a deep breath, and signing the death sentence on her peaceful morning, issued directions for the boys.
“Isaac I need you to go wake the others. Tell them to get ready for school but stay upstairs until I come up. Ask Stiles to text his dad a warning that the FBI is poking around. Scott text Peter, he went with Derek today. Tell them to get here ASAP, and then head downstairs and keep the agents occupied. I’ll be down as soon as I’m dressed.”
Her boys gave her a terse nod, hugged her briefly, and bounded off to do as they were told. If only they did that when we weren’t in crisis mode she thought wistfully, before turning back into her room. She dressed quickly, paying little attention to what she threw on her body. Her mind was focused on the FBI and what they could want with Derek. She needed to get rid of them.
Her mind was a flurry of thoughts urging her to protect Derek, protect their pack, and keep their secrets well hidden. What could they want anyway? Derek hadn’t done anything. Or at least he hadn’t done anything that would show up in a legal system or investigation. Hollyn and the Sheriff had made sure of that.
Hadn’t they?
She pulled her hair into a bun and moved to go downstairs.
As she descended the stairs she heard Scott chatting from the kitchen. He was hiding his nerves well, but for all of his new found responsibilities as Derek’s second in command, he was still just a boy. She could only hear one person answering Scott, but the boys had told her there were three altogether. She worried about their silence. That was never good. As she entered the kitchen her eyes immediately sought out Scott, assuring herself that he was okay. He met her eyes, smiling briefly before moving to stand by her side. Werewolves she laughed to herself, always so protective, even when it isn’t their job.
As Scott settled beside her she moved her vision to the other three men in the room. As her eyes locked on the two men she had not heard speak she let out a gasp.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she managed to choke out.
“We could be asking you the same” the shorter of the two answered.
“Oh hell no. Get out. Get out of my house right now.” she was frantic to get these men out of her house and out of Beacon Hills. This was worse than she had imagined upstairs. She must have been louder than she had thought because suddenly Isaac was standing on the side opposite Scott, and both were tensed, ready for action. She had to diffuse this situation before things spiraled out of control.
“It’s okay guys. Everything is fine. These three aren’t FBI agents. Well those two definitely aren’t. Pretty positive Trench coat over there isn’t either…”
“Then who are they?” Derek’s voice came from the doorway. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She turned towards Derek, taking him in, seeing Peter lurking in the background, before she moved to him.
“They’re my brothers” she quietly told him “plus one.”
Derek took a moment to size her brothers up before directing his gaze to the two teens still standing on guard. When he spoke it was with the authority of the Alpha, his obey-me-or-I-smash-you voice, as Stiles liked to say, “Go get the others, Peter has your food, you can eat it on the way to school. You’re going to be late. Leave.” When they didn’t move immediately his glare deepened. They fled.
Insatiable curiosity and an urge to protect would see them through many things, but an angry alpha was not one of them. Isaac paused to hug her first, breathing in her scent, before following his brother. However, that seemed to break the spell of silence her brothers were under, as Dean broke in harshly,
“What the hell is going on here? I want answers, Hollyn Megan. NOW.”
“Excuse me? You came to my house, under false pretenses I might add, and you’re the one who wants answers? Bite me Dean.”
“Hollyn-“ Sam tried to cut in, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Peter, who was being suspiciously quiet, rose to answer it. Judging by Derek’s face, Hollyn was not going to like who it was. Her fears were confirmed when the sheriff walked in. She had the urge to laugh hysterically. A werewolf, the Winchesters, and a Sheriff all sit down at a table she thought sardonically.
Sheriff Stilinski smiled at them, before eyeing the Winchesters. “Stiles called. Said something about the FBI making trouble?”
“Thanks Sheriff, but it turns out it was just a misunderstanding. These men are related to me, and that guy is presumably their friend. Trust me, there is no way any of them are feds.”
The Sheriff stared at each of them before seeming to reach some sort of conclusion. He sat back in his chair at the kitchen table before saying, “related, eh? You kids okay to sort this out?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. The boys here were just leaving. Can you go get the kids moving? They’re going to be late again”
The Sheriff laughed at that, muttering about teenagers as he went to round them all up, and force the nosy pack out the door.
As soon as he left, Sam started to speak again, “We can’t just leave Hollyn, we’re here on business. There’s a job.” The way Dean was eyeing the Hales left no doubt in her mind who he thought the “job” was. Fine she thought bring it on brother. See if you even touch a hair on their heads with me around.
“There is no business here. The job is taken care of. Leave” with that she promptly ignored her brothers, turning instead to Derek “I’m going to go say good-bye to the kids. You can see our ‘guests’ out.” As she moved to exit the kitchen however, Dean reached out and grabbed her. He opened his mouth to speak, but never got the chance to, as Derek had reacted instantly, pulling him off Hollyn and shoving him into a wall while Peter moved to block the others.
“You do. Not. Touch. Her.” Derek practically growled.
Great Hollyn though, way to be subtle love. They’re definitely not going to expect anything now. Totally going to walk away. She sighed yet again, before addressing the room,
“Derek, let the idiot go. All of you sit down.” Turning towards the doorway, she addressed the teens she knew were eavesdropping, “Loiterers in the hallway go to school before I make sure you never see the light of day again. Now.”
She heard sheepish apologies from the hallway as she watched the men in the kitchen slowly do as she told them. Honestly, it wasn’t even 8 am and she already was ready for the day to be done. She turned to her brothers yet again, only to find Dean staring at her intensely. He had not spoken since he had grabbed her arm. She saw his gaze flick down to the hand she had resting on the table before returning to her face, and she understood. Damn.
“You’re engaged?” Dean blurted out, his face displaying all his disgust at the very thought.
“Yes” she answered tersely “Derek and I are getting married in a month. I can imagine your displeasure, so save your lecture.”
“ So what you’re just playing house here with this tool? Completely ignoring the…family business unless it threatens your little dream?”
Hollyn clenched her jaw. God, but her brothers infuriated her. She looked at Derek and Peter, “Would you guys give us a minute?” When neither of them moved she added “Please? I need to have a word with my brothers here.” Derek alpha stared her down for a moment, before sighing, kissing her briefly, letting out a soft “I love you, Holls, yell if you need me” and then grabbed Peter by the back of the shirt and hauled him into the living room.
Hollyn met her brother’s gaze evenly. “Yes. I live here. I work at the high school. I’m engaged. I’ve adopted two teenagers with the man I love. I defend my home when need be. Don’t act so high and mighty brother. You abandoned me when I was 16. It was never my family business.”
Oh did that make Dean angry. He stood up, towering over his sister, his gaze and voice hard “Your mother died for you. Died so that you could-“
“Live. She died so that I could live. Do you think spending my life chasing down monsters is living? I’d probably be dead by now. What would that make of her sacrifice, huh? You think the only way to make the world better is to hunt down demons? Don’t be such a fool. And don’t you dare use my mother against me. You hated her. You don’t care one bit about her sacrifice.”
Dean stared at his sister, breathing hard. “You disgust me, you know that? What would Dad say? C’mon Sammy, Cas, we’re leaving.” With that Dean Winchester stormed out of the room, they heard the front door slam before Sam approached her, he hugged her very quickly, muttered an awkward “congrats, sis” and then he too fled out the door. The silent man in the trench coat, Cas her brother had called him, was the last man in the room. He approached her, cocked his head to the side and stared at her quizzically, before preceding the two Winchesters out of the house.
Hollyn slumped against the counter her energy gone. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around her. She leaned into Derek’s arms, turning around and snuggling into his chest. She already wanted to forget about this day.
“They’re not leaving that easily, Der. They’ll be back”
“I know” he soothed “but we’ll worry about that later. How about some breakfast” he asked as he kissed her temple.
His tenderness was her undoing. Her brother’s surprise visit had ripped open wounds that she had thought long healed. She burst into tears, crying into Derek’s shirt. They remained like that for several minutes before Peter’s voice rang out “You want me to kill them for you? I know a nice spot for burials.”Hollyn laughed while Derek grumbled under his breath.