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Stiles finds Derek sitting on the porch with a cigarette to his lips and his phone to his ear. He creeps silently, slipping to Derek’s left and settling down next to him. Derek snuffs his cigarette on the step to his right, unlocks his phone and ends the call.
“Didn’t know you smoked.”
“Usually don’t. Stress reliever.”
Stiles squints, eyebrows coming together. “Scott?”
Derek hums. “Jackson, Peter. Everyone. Everything.” He scoffs out a laugh and plays with the cigarette butt in his fingers.
Stiles glances at his phone, pulling it out of his pocket and turning it on. “It’s three in the morning. Who were you calling at three in the morning?”
Derek stares down at his own phone, unlocks it and goes into the call log. Voicemail is at the top. Under it, Laura’s name glares right at Stiles.
Right. Laura.
The girl whose death started everything.
Derek presses call on his voicemail and hands it over to Stiles.
“Two saved messages. Playing saved messages,” the machine says. Stiles glances at Derek, knowing full well he’s concentrating on listening to the call with him.
“Derek? Hey,” it’s a woman’s voice. Soft, lilting, high-pitched. “It’s Laura, uhm... I don’t have cell service here, so you’re not going to get through to me, I’m on a pay phone. There’s not a lot to say. Peter’s... comatose. Still. His nurse keeps pushing me out of his room.” She chuckles. “She keeps telling me to be patient, that he’ll come too soon.” She’s silent for a few seconds. Stiles can hear a car drive past, and wind buffeting the receiver. “I can’t find any other wolves. I don’t know who mutilated that deer. I have to go, though. I’ll call you later. Answer your phone next time, loser.”
“Press seven,” Derek says. Stiles presses seven.
“Message saved. Next saved message.”
“Answer your phone, goddammit! I’ve called you three times! Peter’s awake. He’s awake. I don’t know what happened, but he’s not in his hospital bed and I found a note- I... I have no idea what is going on. I’m... I guess I’m gonna go. It’s time anyway. I just wanted to tell you what’s happening. I...” She sighs. Stiles can see her in his mind’s eye, shifting her weight around, nervous, scared. “I have to go. I love you. Answer your phone, though. You don’t pay that bill for nothing.”
“Seven,” Derek says, staring down at his hands hanging between his knees. Stiles presses seven.
“Message saved. No new messages.”
“Star.” Stiles presses star.
“Goodbye.”
Stiles looks at Derek, unsure what to say, what to even think. Two saved messages from Laura, months old. Just months ago she was alive and healthy and... And an Alpha. Derek’s Alpha.
“I’m sorry,” Stiles says, handing Derek’s phone to him. Derek shrugs and takes it back. His thumbs swipe across his screen a few times, Stiles watches as Derek presses call on Laura’s phone number. It rings, loudly, on speaker.
Thirty seconds pass, ten rings.
“Hey, this is Laura Hale. Leave a message with your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” Derek hangs up.
“She still has phone service?” Stiles says after a long few minutes. Derek shoves his phone in his pocket.
“I’m still paying for it. I asked them to put the phone on a plan that I could reach here in Beacon Hills.”
Stiles nods. Derek flicks the butt of his cigarette out into the yard and pushes himself up off the step, turning to go back inside.
“Do you leave her messages?” Stiles asks, turning to look at Derek’s back. "When you call her?" Derek’s fingers clench around the doorknob.
“Every night.”