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CHAPTER FOURTEEN; 14

        Sage ran her hands through her blonde hair as she paced around the room. Stiles had just forced her to send a message to Danny since, apparently, the teenage boy hated Stiles, and now she was just anxiously waiting for him to get here. She was more afraid of how Danny would react when he found out they weren't exactly going to be doing their lab assignment and that she wasn't really nervous about being home alone with Stiles.

        Which, by the way, is what she used as an excuse to get him to come over. Derek was just brooding in the corner of Stiles' room, impatiently grumbling like always. That was all that he could do, especially since Sage would give him a glare any time he made a move to expand the amount of space he was occupying. 

        Sage quickly tied her hair up into a ponytail, getting tired of pushing it out of her face every five seconds. In that time, the white shirt that she had chosen to wear today was finally brought to the attention of the brooding wolf, and he frowned at her. 

        With raised eyebrows, Derek asked, "What happened to your shirt?" 

        "Huh?" she wondered, confused as she put her hands back down at her sides, completely having forgotten about the small moment of similarity between herself and the infamous strawberry-blonde. 

        "Your shirt. There are stains on it," Derek explained, pointing at her white shirt.

        She looked down to see that the man was correct; Lydia had created a work of art with her makeup, from concealer to lip gloss, her whole shirt was coated in MAC products that probably costed more than the blonde's entire wardrobe. That was when Sage sighed and tried to rub out the smudges, only making an even bigger mess than before.

        "Were you crying?" 

        The blonde looked up from her cleaning and snorted. Derek's question made Stiles turn around in his swivel chair, nearly tipping the whole thing over in the process all from curiosity of what Derek had uttered from his mouth. Anything involving Sage interested him, though, if he were being completely honest. 

        Sage crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes on Derek as she felt the need to joke about the subject. "The cheerleaders cut me from the team." 

        "Do we even have a cheerleading team?" Stiles wondered, making both of them turn in his direction. He ducked his head, scratching his neck and not meeting their eyes.

        Sage smiled lightly at the boy's awkwardness, then remembered she had yet to answer Derek. "To answer your question, no. I wasn't crying. Lydia was; and before you ask why, I don't think it's my place to say— the whole girl code thing."

        Sage also didn't want Stiles to know that the girl of his dreams was finally single and ready to be snatched up, leaving Sage with an even bigger opinion on why love sucked ass. She knew that she shouldn't be so concerned about the relationship, or rather non-relationship, between Stiles and Lydia, but she couldn't help it. There would always be something there that was a threat to anything the blonde and the boy could ever be. 

        Trying to change the subject, Sage scratched her arm. "Stiles, do you have a hoodie? Or a different shirt? I'm not going to have a chance to change before the game." 

        Stiles eyes widened and he nodded excessively, jumping out of his seat, tripping on the bottom of the chair. Sage saw Derek smirk, but she refused to acknowledge him. She already knew that Derek had assumptions and accusations floating around in his head. Most of them involved the hyperactive sixteen year old in front of her. He had a piece of clothing in his hands, a grey hoodie that was obviously going to be too large on her. She took it none-the-less, slipping it on over her damaged shirt. 

        "Thanks." Sage smiled, looking up as she rolled the sleeves up until they stopped at her wrists. Stiles stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes dazing off as a look of uncertainty flashed across his face. Just as soon as it was there, it disappeared and Stiles was clearing his throat. 

        "No problem," Stiles muttered going back to his place in his chair.

        Sage shrugged in the hoodie, falling down on Stiles' bed as she waited for Danny to walk through the doo. She knew that it wasn't going to take long at all, especially since Danny didn't live that far away from the Stilinski's. From the time of the phone call, he could be at the house in less than ten minutes. 

        She had been right, too, because ten minutes after she called the teenage boy, there was the opening of a door and that had been him entering the Stilinski household, coming here intending to work on school-related things. She felt bad lying to him, only because she was barely aware of what Stiles' plan was involving Danny herself. 

        The brunette boy walked into Stiles' room after Sage called for him to come up, his backpack hung over his shoulder as he glanced between the two. Derek was yet to be discovered, hidden behind the door and out of sight like he wanted to be. Much like Sheriff Stilinski and Derek's eyes, Danny's held a look of accusation as he slowly smirked.

        Sage rolled her eyes. Seriously? Did everyone in Beacon Hills think they were having sex?

        The blonde finally slapped her thighs with a huff, standing up to stand next to Stiles. "Alright, Danny. You know how much I love and respect you, and would be the first to kill anyone that broke your heart?" 

        Danny let out a sigh. "What do you want?" 

        "We need you to trace a text," Stiles deadpanned, getting straight to the point while Sage clenched her jaw.

        They really should have eased into it more. Although, Sage was pretty sure Stiles wasn't familiar with the term 'ease unless it was with confessing feelings. That's something he definitely eased into, unlike this current situation where she watched as Danny's expression went from amusement to utter bafflement. 

        His eyebrows shot up rather high. "You need me to do what?" 

        "We need to you trace a text for us," Sage repeated, trying hard not to wince considering she knew what this was sounding like and all of the risks the three of them would be taking by just simply asking Danny to do this.

        "I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do, Sage," Danny deadpanned, his stare hard as he looked at her disapprovingly. 

        Sage subtly hit Stiles on the shoulder, trying to get him to take over the situation which ony made Stiles glare up at her but give Danny a huge, false smile. "And you will. We all will. After you trace the text." 

        "And how do you think I know how?" Danny interrogated, grabbing a hold of his backpack strap.

        Sage sucked in air, narrowing her eyes at Stiles. She didn't know Danny could do any of it, Stiles just said, "believe in me," and she willingly did. There was still hesitation, but she didn't have any better ideas. Besides, Danny didn't exactly look like someone that could trace a text.        

        Stiles cringed. "I—uh...I looked up your arrest report." 

        "I was thirteen! They dropped the charges." Stiles held up his hands when Danny grew defensive about the topic of the charges that were pressed against him when he was younger. "So no, we're doing lab work." 

        Sage gave a jab in Stiles' side, making sure he knew just how pissed she was that the whole plan didn't work. Danny grabbed the chair that was sitting near Stiles' dresser, pulling it up to his desk. The three sat in silence for a few seconds before Danny's curiosity got the best of him when he looked back and saw Derek sitting behind them, reading. 

        "Uh, who's he again?" Danny asked with uncertainty.

        Sage looked over at him in surprise. Almost everyone was aware of who Derek was because he's either tried to kill them, they've heard that he's apparently tried to kill someone, or they remember him as her guardian. It was an actual surprise that Danny didn't know who Derek was. 

        "Uh," Stiles started, glancing over at Sage for help. They couldn't just out that he was Derek Hale. Danny would call the police in a split second, and that would just end badly for everyone. "My cousin, Miguel." 

        Sage snorted, choking on air as she tried to regain her control of oxygen while Derek looked up from the book he was reading. Danny kept his eyes on Derek, apprehensive about one particular thing about him. "Is that blood on his shirt?"         

        "Uh, nose bleeds. Horrible ones. It's like Niagara Falls," Sage quickly lied, giving Danny a fake grin as she walked over to sit on Stiles' bed so that she didn't look completely suspicious just standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

        Derek was still reading his book, completely ignoring all of them. That seemed to annoy the spastic boy that slept in this room, knowing very well that Danny was uncomfortable about the fact that there was blood on Derek's shirt and nose bleeds definitely weren't the cause of it. 

        "Hey, Miguel," Stiles hissed. "I thought I said you could use one of my shirts." 

        Derek looked up from the book he was so engrossed in, throwing in on the bed near Sage's waist. He, then, restlessly got up, his shirt coming off and being carelessly thrown to the floor while he started to dig through Stiles' clothes in an attempt to find anything that would suffice for his body. 

        Meanwhile, Stiles continued to push Danny into helping him with the text. "So, you know you have the skills to, um, to trace that text—" 

        "Stiles?" Derek interrupted, his lips turning down into a glower as he realized there was a deep-rooted problem within the dresser of Stiles Stilinski's clothes. 

        Stiles turned around, annoyance evident on his face. "What?" 

        "This—" he held up a striped polo, stretching it out to emphasize the issue. "—no fit."

        Sage pursed her lips, biting down hard on her tongue to keep from cracking up laughing. Just imagining Derek in that shirt would have had her bursting out if Danny hadn't been in the room. The fact that Miguel believed that the polo was even an option continued to prove to her that there was obviously no taste in both Stiles' mind as well as the werewolf's.

        "Then try something else on!" Stiles opted, glaring at Derek from across the room.

        Derek narrowed his eyes to slits before he dug through the shirts again, trying to find something that would work. It wasn't working out for him, though, and his biggest issue was that the teenage boy across the room from him was the size of a stick.

        Turning towards Danny, Stiles went to apologize when he saw that the boy's attention wasn't on him, but the shirtless wolf; and that was when his eyes widened in realization, and he grinned. "Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh! What do you think, Danny?" 

        "Huh?" Danny asked, trying to divert his eyes anywhere but Derek's chest.

        Sage sat up when she noticed what Stiles was doing, finding herself choking up even more. She wasn't even able to help Stiles out considering she was on the verge of having a heart attack due to the amount of pressure she was keeping in as she tried not the splutter with laughter.

        Derek had on yet another striped shirt, which made no sense because the only thing Stiles wore was plaid; the shirt seemed to be Stiles' best motive for getting Danny to cooperate right now. "The shirt?" 

        Danny cleared his throat to try and clear his hormones. "It's—it's not really his color." 

        "You swing for a different team but you still play ball, don't you, Danny boy?" Stiles grinned, meeting Sage's eyes and giving her a subtle smirk.

        She returned it with a smile, looking back over at Derek who was still having trouble finding a shirt that would both fit him and not make him look like he was Shaggy from Scooby Doo or Freddie Krueger. A furred look was upon his face, the man in deep concentration as he seemed honestly attentive on trying to find something that woul appropriately work for his figure. 

        "You're a horrible person," Danny muttered out, his eyes still shying away from the muscular man that was shirtless and in the same room as him. 

        Stiles shrugged as if the idea barely bothered him. "I know, it keeps me awake at night. Anyway, about that text—" 

        "Stiles! None of these fit!" Derek snapped, clearly annoyed as he grew restless just trying on and taking off shirts that were never going to fit him properly.

        Sage sighed when she realized she was the only option in helping him before rolling off the bed, wincing when she felt her ribs connect with the hardback book that Derek had been previously reading before going to find a shirt. 

        "I've got it. I've got it. Have you ever just considered leaving it off?" Sage asked while she rummaged through some of Stiles' shirts, honestly wondering if the thought ever crossed the man's mind.

        She wouldn't have minded, growing used to the man's shirtless torso considering the amount of times it has been flashed her way ever since she was younger, but she didn't know how well Danny and Stiles would react. This only resulted in a grunt from Derek and she snickered, holding up a red shirt to his chest before seeing that there was no way it would even fit Stiles appropriately. 

        "I'm going to need an ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text," Danny decided, swallowing the lump forming in his throat as he tried to keep his voice from raising an octave due to the muscles peaking out through the shirt Derek had on. 

        Sage saw Stiles do a silent victory cheer from the corner of her eye, and a hint of a smile showed up on her face while she continued to dig through the drawers until she came across a dark grey shirt that looked large enough to fit Derek's huge build. She balled it up in her hands, shoving it into Derek's chest when she finally stared up at him. 

        "Don't say it," Sage whispered, frowning at him before glancing over to make sure that the two boys on the other side of the room were more occupied on finding out who the text was sent from rather than her conversation with Derek. 

        She knew that he was just waiting for the chance to yell at her. When they got here, she vowed that she wouldn't get involved with anyone in fear that the supernatural world would interfere and get someone extremely hurt, or even killed.

        But all of that was ignored now.

        She was trying to train a new werewolf, she had feelings for the werewolf's best friend, she was somewhat friends with her former enemy, one of her friends just so happened to be the daughter of werewolf hunters, and another one of her fr--okay, they weren't exactly friends, more like inevitable acquaintances, had found out about werewolves. And on top of all that, she still didn't know what the hell was wrong with her abilities. 

        "I was just going to say be careful. I don't want to see a repeat of A—" Derek went to speak but was quickly cut off by the immediate scowl that darkened the blonde's face. 

        "Don't." 

        Derek sighed. "I just wish you would have picked someone better." 

        "Got it!" Danny shouted to everyone. Sage and Derek exchanged a look, knowing that they would eventually have to return to the conversation. Walking over to Stiles' laptop, they watched as Danny clicked a new link, leaning back in his chair for all of them to inspect. "There. The text was sent from a computer. This one." 

        Sage's eyes widened when she saw an all too familiar name."Registered to that name?" 

        "No, no, no. That can't be right," Stiles disagreed, shaking his head as the name practically glared at them in the face; if this was correct, and if she was actually the one behind all of this, which Sage and Stiles were absolutely sure she wasn't, then Melissa McCall was keeping important secrets from them. 

        From all of them. 

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        "Did you get the picture?" 

        "Yeah, I did, and it looks just like the drawing." 

        Derek grabbed a hold of the cell, keeping a tight grip of Stiles' wrist. Sage winced, knowing that the hold was probably a whole lot tighter than she imagined. "Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's got to be something, an inscription, an opening, something!" 

        "No, no. The thing's flat. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing. And where are you? You're supposed to be here! You're first line!" Scott exclaimed from the other end of the phone. "Man, you're not going to play if you're not here to start." 

        "I know! Look, if you just... if you see my dad, tell him— tell him I'll be there, I'll just be a little bit late, okay? Alright, thanks." Stiles hung up his phone, staring at it for a few moments as if he were wishing it would magically give him the ability to be in two places at once. 

         Sage closed her eyes, feeling an overwhelming sense of defeat for Stiles. She knew that he was looking forward to his more than anything. After he told her that he made first line today, it was all he talked about. To know that he wasn't going to get to play crushed her, and no doubt crushed him. 

        "You're not going to make it," Derek spoke impassively. Sage's eyes snapped open and she hit the back of his head, scowling at the man's insensitivity while he returned the favor. The werewolf didn't know when to shut his mouth about particular subjects and that annoyed the hell out of her.

        Stiles immediately answered Derek. "I know." 

        "And, you didn't tell him about his mom either." 

        Another slap to the back of his head. 

       "Not till we find out the truth," Stiles stated, shaking his head as he refused to believe that Scott's mother had anything to do with the text message that initially got Allison and all of the others to the school the night they were attacked by Peter. 

        "By the way, one more thing," Derek announced, turning to look between the two. 

        Stiles blinked, neck craning to glance over. "Yeah?" 

        Without any warning, Stiles' head was slammed hard against his steering wheel. Sage jerked out of her seat, leaning forward to check on Stiles as he held his forehead all while there was a familiar stinging pain in the center of her own head. The only thing it was going to leave was an agonizing headache, something that was going to leave her questioning how much Ibuprofen she could take before dying. 

        "God, what the hell was that for?" Stiles cried out, hissing in pain when Sage touched the injury. 

        "You know what that was for!" Derek harshly replied, pointing an accusing finger at Stiles. Grabbing hold of Sage's arm, his hold much more gentle than it had been with Stiles, he urged her to climb over the seat. "Both of you, go. Go!" 

        Sage scrambled out of the car, hitting her head on the top of it on her way out, a string of cuss words finding their way out of her mouth. She grabbed a hold of Stiles' wrist, dragging him into the hospital. As soon as they walked through the doors, the entire atmosphere of the place changed.

        She hesitantly walked behind Stiles, looking around when she saw that there was no remote activity. Everything was quiet, which didn't settle right in Sage's stomach, especially since they were in a hospital. She, at least, expected to hear people screaming and crying in pain, but nothing. 

        "I'm calling Derek," Sage told Stiles, digging around her back pocket for her phone. Her fingers found a cold object and she swiftly pulled it out, dialing Derek's number as quickly as possible. "Derek? We can't find her— or anyone, for that matter. " 

       He didn't seem very pleased either. "Look, ask for Jennifer." 

        Sage sighed before grabbing a hold of Stiles' hand, tugging him in the direction of Peter's room. As soon as she entered, she knew something was off when she saw the empty wheelchair abandoned near the entrance and a too-tidy bed.

        Sage swallowed hard. "He's not here either." 

        "What?" 

        "He's not here. He's gone, Derek," she explained, her weight shifting from one foot to the other.

        Sage ran her hands through her hair, the ponytail holder that was in it falling to the floor rather unnoticeably as bigger issues crossed her mind. Peter was gone. Jennifer was gone. Melissa was gone. Every single freaking person was gone.

        Why was everyone gone?

         She looked around the room once again, her thoughts trailing all the way back to the night she went to visit Peter. She wondered why the alpha had Laura's list of names. She wondered how the alpha even knew who Laura was. None of it made sense. 

        And then, all of it did. 

        "Sage, get out of there right now! Now! Go! It's Peter, he's the alpha! You two get out!"  Derek's voice shouted from the speaker, confirming what Sage already thought. She slowly put her phone back in her pocket, her chest heaving as she backed out of the room, Stiles attached to her by their hands. 

        The two of them looked over to see Peter leaning on the wall, a sadistic smirk on his face. "You must be Sage's boyfriend, Stiles."

        And they didn't even bother correcting him.

        Sage bit down on her lips before looking up at Stiles, and then she made a decision. Dropping his hand, she gave his chest a shove so that he would turn away towards the exit. There wasn't anything else she could to for him besides get him as far away from the hospital as she could, praying that none of this would happen and he could just go play his first game.

        "Stiles, you need to run," she pleaded, her hands tightening around the lining of his jacket as she sent him a desperate look.

        Stiles didn't answer her. He just intertwined their fingers again, wrenching her back with him. They didn't get very far with how persistent Sage was on staying and the redhead nurse that was blocking them from their only escape.

        Much like Peter, she smiled at them. "What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over." 

        "You— and him— Sage's— oh, and he's the— oh, my god, we're going to die," Stiles realized, his eyes bulging out of his head.

        Sage knew that there was no chance now of the two getting out, or Stiles for that matter. She'd rather die herself than have him die. And that wasn't just her talking as a teenage girl with feelings. 

        "Well, you're going to die. Sage, however..." Peter trailed off, giving a thoughtful glance towards Sage who curled her lip in disgust. There was a loud popping sound, and they turned around to see Derek standing there, Jennifer occupying a place on the tile floor. "That's not nice. She's my nurse." 

        "She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way and hold her down," Derek rushed all in one sentence, nodding his head towards Stiles and Sage. He was fully aware that Sage would want to be a part of this and he wasn't risking her life. If Peter was the alpha, there was no telling what he would try and do with Sage. 

        "What? No!" Sage protested, but was pulled to the ground by Stiles. He kept a firm grip on her waist, keeping her from standing up and doing something she'd eventually regret. Or something that would get her killed and leave him devastated. 

        "You think I killed Laura on purpose? My own family?" Peter taunted, walking towards Derek. Sage struggled in Stiles' arms, her anger getting the best of her as she listened to Peter speak about Laura. He had no right to try and convince them what he did was an accident. 

           Derek made his move, but Peter was too fast, swinging him through the air and onto the ground. Sage cried out, reaching to Derek but Stiles jerked her back into his chest, making sure to keep her out of the heat. Peter picked Derek up from the ground, and rammed him into the wall closest to the pair.  

        "Stop! Would you please just— Derek!" Sage wailed when she saw him fall to the ground, looking like he was already dead. Stiles had enough, and gripped her body, coercing her over to the receptionist's desk where they were away from the two werewolves. 

        "My mind, my personality, were literally burned out of me. It's being driven by pure instinct," Peter tried to elucidate. Sage went to shout once again but Stiles' hand wrapped around her lips, silencing any sort of sound she was intending on making. 

        "You want forgiveness?" Derek asked. Just as Peter went to turn around, a hard blow was set to hit his face. Sage watched horrified as Peter grew angrier by the second, his jabs at Derek getting rougher and harder. He headbutted the beta, throwing him back a few feet. 

        "I want understanding. Do you have any idea what it was like for me during those years? Slowly healing cell by cell, even more slowly coming back to consciousness. Yes, becoming an alpha pushed me over a plateau in the healing process, I can't help that." Derek went for a few punches but Sage could see that his injuries were taking a toll on him. And then a searing pain erupted in her wrist, and Stiles' hand couldn't block out her screams. "Ah, I forgot about that little trick." 

        "Don't touch her," Derek spat out, blood falling on the floor as he tried to properly speak.

         Peter raised his hands in surrender, grinning before grabbing a hold of Derek's jacket, slinging him through the glass window. Immediately, Sage felt small prickles of pain all across her body, and she was bleeding all over again. Exactly like the time when she kissed Scott, there was a burning in the back of her neck.

         All of it lead back to Jackson. 

        Stiles struggled to pull her away from them, getting far enough that they were no longer in view of the brawl. Sage felt completely useless just sitting there bleeding and crying. She wasn't a werewolf. She couldn't help. She couldn't do anything. All she could do was listen to Peter abusing Derek and face to repercussions with him. Out of everything, there was only one upside to all of this. If Peter killed Derek, he killed her. 

        And they would die together. 

        "Shh, you're okay. You'll be okay," Stiles muttered into her ear, rocking her back and forth as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

        She could already feel Derek healing because her wrist was just a dull ache now and the cuts from the shards were completely gone, the only trace of them ever being there was the blood that barely had time to dry. The only thing on Sage's mind was that she ruined Stiles' hoodie, how sickening that might be. 

        Sage sat in Stiles' arms for who knows how long before Stiles started to stand up, grabbing a hold of her hips to keep her steady as she followed his directions. He went to walk towards the open exit when she understood what he was trying to do, and that made her stop in her place. 

        "No, no. I'm not leaving him here," Sage declined, shaking her head as she looked back. "I—no. Go, okay? I'll be fine. I promise. Please just go, Stiles." 

        Stiles looked at her in disbelief. "I'm not going to leave you here with a psychotic, murderous Hale that has a creepy obsession with you."  

        "You don't have a choice, Stiles. He's my best friend. I'm not leaving him. Not for anyone," Sage cleared her throat, stepping out of Stiles' grip. "Go, Stilinski. I'll call you and let you know I haven't been mauled to death." 

        Stiles stared at her for a few seconds before crushing his lips onto hers. It didn't last long, only for a few seconds but it was enough for the two of them. She didn't even have a chance to kiss back because he had pulled away so quickly, rushing out the hospital doors with a quick glance back. Sage smiled lightly but it dropped as soon as she looked to see that Peter and Derek were standing behind her, Derek fully capable of standing now. 

        "Well, wasn't that adorable," Peter sneered.

        "Go back to hell." 

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        not edited. i don't see why i even write this anymore because really. 

        So this lovely authors note is going to be about me explaining a few things that have recently been brought to my attention about this story. So, someone said that Sage has been kissing every guy on the show, and while that is partially true, it doesn't mean she's a whore. When she kissed Jackson the first time, that was almost a month after she kissed Scott. The second kiss with Jackson was forced, and Sage didn't have any part on that. As far as the Scott kiss goes, she had no control over that considering she was manipulated by the whole scratch thing Jackson has going on. So, just to clear that up, Sage isn't just flopping from boy to boy. There actually is a time lapse that isn't acknowledged in this story. 

        Also, another thing, I'm extremely happy with the way this chapter turned out involving Sage and Derek. It's so fun to write about them because they have literally become the best of friends, siblings even, and it's just exciting to know what happens next for the two. I'm iffy about the ending but I'm happy about how Sage vowed to stay and help Derek rather than run off with Stiles. Derek will always come before anyone else in her life, and hopefully you all noticed that; maybe later on in the season, that'll change. 

        I AM WRITING ALL THE WAY TO SEASON FOUR. HOPEFULLY. IF I DON'T KILL SAGE OFF. Season two will be continued on this story, and when three comes around, it will be started on a sequel that I already know the name of. So, as I'm sure you've already realized, I'm giving small hints about what's to come for Sage in the upcoming seasons.