bakerstreet | the picture prompt meme.

If he thought that bit of dried blood she cleaned off of her from her split lip healing was bad she definitely won't tell him about the dislocated shoulder she had earlier in the night.

"What it looks like to you is not what it feels like to me and being a girl means I can actually handle more pain than the rest of my pack," she snapped.

"You're missing the point, Erica. I'm not telling you you can't take it. I'm saying you shouldn't have to. I'm a great respecter of the female form and what it's capable of. I know your pain tolerance is ten times higher than mine. Probably more, actually, because I really hate pain. Scott didn't have to go through getting his ass beat to get his wolf in line or to learn how to use his strength. He did it himself. Mostly." He also had help from a certain plaid shirt wearing best friend.

"Is that what you think I'm training for? Finding my anchor? There's an Alpha pack, Stiles. They're faster and stronger than us and this is way above something that a lacrosse practice can give me."

"I'm aware of the pack, I just don't see how getting beat up is going to help you do anything except be okay with being beat up. You want to surprise the pack? Go take some martial arts. They'll expect werewolf attacks and are probably leagues above whatever Derek's teaching you, which is the same old slash and break that all wolf packs know. You want to surprise them? Throw in some human things. You started out human, Erica. You don't just throw that away. Use it."

"I started out weak and broken, Stiles."

She didn't want to talk about this anymore. "If this is your idea of hanging out, I'm changing my mind."

"Yeah, but you're not anymore. You don't have to prove it by letting yourself be a punching bag."

He picked at the napkin in his hand, glaring down at it. She frustrated him, she didn't listen and she took everything the wrong way. So why did he still want to be around her so much?

She set her Coke down and stood up.

"Thanks for the food, Stiles." She didn't want to defend herself anymore. His argument was edging in on her frustrations and even if he was trying to be nice and trying to show concern he wasn't even grasping what training she was doing. Yeah, she got thrown around a bit, but if he thought the Alpha pack was going to start in with things that could easily be defended he was delusional. Derek was her Alpha. After the last time she tried to go up against him and his choices, she wasn't going to doubt him anymore.

She owed him and she was going to stick by him. She wasn't going to let Stiles make her feel like she was making a mistake by staying loyal to him.

He looked up at her, but he didn't have anything to say. Not yet. He just nodded and went back to picking at the napkin with her blood on it. "Yeah, okay."

Way to screw that up, Stilinski.

She took a moment to put her hair in her ponytail again, but then she was going to just walk out of there. She didn't need his opinions or his ranting behavior directed at her.

"Later," she quipped before turning and heading out. She really wanted that cake now.

He was going to just sit there and brood for a while before he paid for the meal and headed out to his jeep. That hadn't gone how he'd wanted it at all. If anything, he'd just screwed up whatever potential there had been entirely and all he could do was kick himself and daydream about running Derek over in his jeep.

Cake was her plan. She didn't care what Stiles was going to do. She had a long walk back home and if she could stop for sugar on the way she was going to do just that. There was a grocery store on the way that was open 24 hours and that was her destination.

He started up his jeep and drove. He didn't even have any set place to go; he didn't want to go home yet since he'd just sulk in bed. And he didn't want to go anywhere where he might run into Derek, because he might just run over Derek.

So he drove around. Just trying to clear his head and figure out how they'd gone from the casual flirting it had started out as to... whatever the hell it had ended up as. With a groan of frustration, he banged his head on the steering wheel at a red light, turning it to look out the window and spotting Erica.

Walking. With something in her hand. Maybe this was fate? Whatever it was, Stiles wasn't going to pass it up. He waited until the light went green, then he pulled a completely illegal u-turn in the middle of the intersection and pulled up alongside her. He leaned over and rolled down the window. "Can I give you a lift home?"

Erica had found her cake and was eating it too. The sound of tires being turned sharply on asphalt caught her attention, but she kept walking. Even as the Jeep pulled up beside her, she kept walking.

Pulling the fork out of her mouth, she glanced to him, "Why? Because I might get hurt walking out here alone?"

He tightened his lips, letting out a sigh. "No. Are you always this hostile, or is this just a me thing?"

"Yes... and yes," she replied cheerfully. Then she stabbed her cake and took another bite of it.

"Come on, just get in. I'm sure you can Xena your way through anything on the way home, but I want to give you a ride." He flicked the lock open, brown eyes hopeful as he looked at her from the driver's seat.

She watched him, but kept walking and eating her cake.

"I like to walk. It's good for me," she stated.

He had to hit the gas, slowly, keeping up with her as she started walking again. "Look, can you maybe not bust my balls for once and just get in the jeep so I can talk to you?"

"I thought we already had our talk and that went really well for you," she even punctuated that by pointing at him with the prongs of her fork.

He gives her a look, then pulls in ahead and parks, jumping out of the jeep and coming around to block her path. "I think it's been established that I'm the reigning champion of the Foot in Mouth event, but it's... It's not like I'm doing it out of spite or anything bad, Erica."

Her eyebrows lifted when he pulled the Jeep over and parked. She stopped walking and took a bite of her cake. She chewed and swallowed before she responded.

"I didn't think you were doing it out of spite, Stiles. I think you just don't know when to shut up."

"It's a possibility. But... I don't know. Would you rather I just didn't care?" Because it was too late for that. Even before the whole naked touchy thing, that that hadn't helped.

She took another bite of her cake, purposely not responding until she had finished chewing and swallowing again.

"That's not it, Stiles. There's a difference between caring and showing concern and being a dick about it. Derek is my Alpha. I ran once before and I got strung up by an Argent. Maybe you don't agree with his methods, but do you think that if I wasn't comfortable with it that I would let it continue?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking over at her and shrugging. "I don't know. I don't think you have a lot of options, but I also think Derek needs to learn to deal with humans. He sucks at it. Even former humans."

"That's your issue with Derek. I don't have a problem with it."

Her fork took another piece of her cake, but she didn't eat it yet. "It's nice that you care. It is, but I don't want to hear how what I'm doing is the wrong way. That's your opinion."

She'll eat that cake now.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject