39AN: Well it was suggested to me that I write an AU. So here goes.
Derek Hale sighed in resignation as he passed the, "Welcome to Beacon Hills," sign. This was it. This small little nothing of a town was going to be his home for the foreseeable future. They had called it a transfer but Derek knew it was more of a time out. They didn't want him working the streets of New York anymore after all that had happened. They didn't trust him not to hunt down the murderer who had taken away his family. They were probably right.
Still, did it have to be a place like Beacon Hills that he got sent to? Why not another big city? He would happily have gone to Seattle or San Francisco or any place big enough to at least have a skyscraper. This place that wasn't even big enough to have more than one Sheriff's Office was going to be the death of him. Except it wouldn't, because nothing as exciting as death would ever happen in a place like this.
Derek resisted the urge to punch his steering wheel or something. He wondered how long he would have to play nice in this crap town before he could file for transfer back to New York. The cop in him was on high alert as he drove. Not because he suspected danger but because that was what he was trained to do. He paid attention to every shady looking building and dark alley he drove past. He kept an eye out for suspicious characters and hapless bystanders. He logged every single detail of this place in his mind. He may not like the place, but he was sure as hell going to do the best job he could of protecting it from whatever it needed help with.
The buildings started to disappear as he turned onto the long road leading through the forest at the edge of town. He felt a little bit more at ease in the trees, he had always liked woods. His mind briefly flashed back to childhood memories of going camping with his family but he quickly dragged himself away from those thoughts. He finally reached the address of his new house and let out an exasperated groan. It was much worse than the pictures had made it seem. This old house looked about ready to fall apart on him and, not for the first time, he wondered why he had chosen to buy a house away from town instead of living in the town. The answer of course was that he didn't want to live in town. He really didn't like the town.
Shutting off his car, Derek eased himself out of the seat. His muscles protested the move and his spine cracked and popped as he forced it into a standing position. Three solid days of driving with only brief stops for food and quick naps was not something his body agreed with. He trudged up to the steps of his new house and with caution he started up to the porch. Every creaking step made him feel like the entire place was going to just give up and collapse on top of him. He made it to the door, pulled out his new set of keys, and slowly opened it. A musty smell filled his nose as he peered in. It was dark and everything was covered in dust. When the ad had called the place a fixer-upper they had not been lying. Broken pieces of wood littered the entry way and the staircase was missing half its banister.
As he walked gingerly through the house he counted three broken windows, twelve holes in the wall, seven mysterious stains and three dozen damaged floorboards. He flipped a light switch in the kitchen and was relieved to see that at least the electricity worked. He soon discovered that water worked too. He was glad to know that the utilities had been turned on when they were supposed to. At least the place was livable. A few coats of paint, some new flooring, and perhaps a complete scrub down were needed but he could make this work.
For a few minutes he just stood staring around him and trying to imagine what this place would look like all fixed up. He had to admit it would look pretty fantastic. It may be falling apart, but the house had clearly been beautiful before it fell into disrepair and Derek was certain it could be beautiful again.
For now though, he had to work on getting moved in. He didn't have much but it still took six trips to his car and back before he had all his boxes in. Most of his belongings had gone up in the same flames that his family had. Again Derek forced his mind away from those thoughts. This was a fresh start; a break from everything that had happened. He could think about the killer some other day when he eventually made it back to New York.
Derek walked through the house again, this time depositing his stuff in the proper rooms. The house had come with most of the furniture still in it (The last owner had left it all behind in a rush to leave town) which was good because Derek really hadn't felt like going couch shopping and he didn't have any furniture of his own. The couch in question was as covered in dust as everything else but it would do. The bed upstairs was equally dusty and he sneezed as a cloud of it floated into the air when he dropped a box on the bed. He brushed the rest the dust onto the floor as best he could and then flopped onto the bed. His hands laced together behind his head and he stared up at the ceiling deciding what to tackle first.
A low rumble made up his mind for him. Food. Food was his first priority. He couldn't remember the last time he had stopped for food on his cross country drive. Derek pulled himself into a sitting position on the bed and reached for the box sitting next to him. He pulled his laptop out of it and glanced around the room until he found an outlet near the desk in the corner of the room. While he waited for the computer to boot up, Derek rifled through the box some more and brought out his bed sheets and a small pile of books. The books went on the nightstand in a haphazard pile and, after another attempt to brush off all the dust; Derek stretched the sheets across his new bed. He didn't feel like a thorough cleaning right now.
Derek returned to the desk and sat down in the old wooden chair. He took a deep breath and hoped that his internet had been set up the day before like it was supposed to be. You never knew with these small town cable companies. He was certain that they would be less reliable than a city company. Still, the Wi-Fi symbol blinked merrily at him from the corner of his screen and he breathed a sigh of relief as he opened a new window.
"Beacon Hills Grocery Store", he typed into the search bar. Big surprise, there was only one in the town. Derek wrote down the address and headed out the door. His body complained to being shoved back into the car it had only recently escaped but Derek just grimaced at the sore muscles and threw the car into reverse.
The store looked inviting enough. That pissed Derek off. He wanted to hate everything about this town. Friendliness was not supposed to be present here. He scowled as he grabbed a cart at the entrance and he frowned when someone greeted him warmly as he passed by.
Twenty minutes later Derek had amassed a wonderful collection of soup cans, frozen meals, and boxes of macaroni. He was just reaching to grab some hamburger helper too when he heard a voice behind him.
"Well if that isn't the shopping cart of a bachelor I don't know what is."
Derek turned swiftly to look at the person who had interrupted his quiet hatred of Beacon Hills. A smiling face met his glare and didn't dim even when Derek made a conscious effort to glare harder. The man in front of him looked to be a few years younger than him, early twenties most likely, and he had bright brown eyes, short brown hair, and a few moles decorating the side of his face and neck. Derek continued to glare as he looked the man over but in the back of his mind he admitted that this man was attractive as hell.
The guy stuck his hand out and exclaimed, "Name's Stiles. I don't know you, which means you must be new. You must be the new detective. I heard you were arriving today. Your name is Derek right?"
Derek nodded briefly and reached his hand out to slowly shake the hand of the rather enthusiastic Stiles. 'Who the hell names their kid Stiles?' he thought.
"I'm glad to finally meet you. You're going to absolutely love Beacon Hills. It's fantastic here. I can show you all the best spots to hang out. I'll tell you where the best food is, the best places to meet people, the best coffee shop in town…" Stiles rambled on.
And that was it. The man was no longer attractive. He was just annoying. Derek pondered the best way to escape from the incessant talking of the younger man. In the end he elected to simply walk away. He pushed the cart to the check-out line and left the store in a hurry.
Derek arrived home and after putting his food away he heated up some soup and after eating his fill he went to bed. His day had been long and tiring so he didn't care that it was only 7 o'clock at night.
Stiles stared after Derek as he went but made no move to follow. 'Well alright then.' He thought to himself. 'Not the most talkative guy. Oh well. Damn he's hot though.' Stiles grinned and then turned around to continue his shopping.
The next morning Stiles got up just a little bit earlier than usual. He practically bounced with excitement before he remembered that bouncing was not very manly. Sometimes he wondered if he had ever actually grown out of his ADD like his doctor claimed. He downed a cup of coffee and got in his beaten up old Jeep to head to work.
When he arrived he greeted Lydia at the front desk and walked back to his office. He tidied his desk up a little bit, wanting it to look impressive and professional. A throat cleared at the door and he glanced up to see his dad standing there looking at him, clearly amused.
"Are you ready for today?" His dad inquired.
"Definitely! I can handle this."
"Remember what we talked about?"
Stiles' face fell a little. "Yeah, dad. I know better than anyone what happens when people get involved with things they shouldn't. I won't tell any secrets."
His dad clapped him on the shoulder briefly, "I know son. This will turn out fine." His dad left then and Stiles stared at his desk for another few minutes.
Derek walked into the Beacon Hills Sheriff Department and was greeted warmly by a woman with fiery red hair. She stood up to shake his hand and asked, "Detective Derek Hale I presume? We're happy to have you here. I'm Officer Martin."
Derek forced a smile as he shook hands with her. She seemed nice enough. He felt claustrophobic in this precinct though. It was less than a third the size of the one he had worked at in New York. Nothing he could do to fix it though so he made himself stand a little taller and smile with a little more charm.
From the corner of his eye Derek saw a man walk out of one of the offices further back in the building. Derek could see the sheriff's badge prominently displayed and the commanding aura the man gave off tempted Derek to snap off a salute but he resisted the urge. The sheriff reached him and shook his hand. Derek was doing a lot of hand shaking lately.
"Detective Hale, good to finally meet you. I'm Sheriff Stilinski. I'm sure you'll fit right in here. Let me start by showing you to your office and introducing you to your partner." Sheriff Stilinski guided him down the hall and right up to the door that he had just recently come out of. "Detective Derek Hale, your new partner Detective Stiles Stilinski."
The first thing Derek felt was annoyance. What was the annoying kid from yesterday doing in his new office? Then he noticed the detective badge and the hesitant smile and the way the sheriff was looking at him expectantly and, shit, this guy was his new partner. Detective Stilinski the sheriff had called him. Sheriff Stilinski… Detective Stilinski… Derek looked between the two men and, yep, he could totally see the resemblance now.
This all happened very quickly in Derek's mind and he willed his face not to show what was going on in his mind. "Detective Stilinski." Derek stated with a brief nod. "It's good to meet you."
"I'll let Stiles here show you the ropes." The sheriff said as he left the room. Apparently the sheriff was the kind of parent who would name his kid Stiles. Who'd have known?
Then Derek made his way to the empty desk in the room and sat down heavily in the chair. Stiles grinned at him in a way that Derek would almost have described as maniacal. Great. Just great. He was stuck in a stupid small town and his stupid new partner was the son of the sheriff. Looking at the young man Derek doubted he even knew how to shoot a gun. He probably only got this job because of his father. Typical. Derek's day was off to a great start.
AN: Hope you like the start of my first AU. Let me know.
