AN: As usual, sorry if it's OOC. And Derek's kinda out of it in this chapter... But who would blame him? He got almost got friggin' killed by a werewolf! Review, please!

Disclaimer: Do I LOOK like Kelley Armstrong to you? Wait... You don't know what I look like because this isn't being videoed as I type it! *Looks around room suspiciously* Right?

Anyway, I don't own Darkest Powers.

Um... When They're In The Bathroom

(Dang, I need to start thinking of better titles.)

Chloe and I ran. It didn't matter that that horrible excuse for a werewolf wasn't chasing us, I knew that he would come after us as soon as he could. We had fought one helluva battle, then Chloe- sweet, innocent Chloe- stabbed that dickhead in the back of the thigh.

Oh. My. God! Chloe- werewolf blood- not good! Dammit!

"We need to get you to a bathroom," I said as Chloe and I rounded a building.

"Me? I'm-"

"We need to get you to a bathroom." Quit protesting and listen to me for once! The necromancer closed her mouth and stopped arguing.

"He's going to follow our trail," Chloe said. "We have to trick him."

No shit. "I know. I'm thinking." And I was, but my head was still reeling. I had to get the blood off of her. That was the only thing that kept me from running back to Liam and saying, "Take me! Just don't hurt her!"

Not that that bastard would listen. He'd still rape her. I growled at the thought.

Chloe slowed down. I wanted to yell at her to move, or better yet, throw her over my shoulder and run, but she said, "Climb on the curb and walk along the edge."

"What?" Oh, god, had she hit her head too hard? What if she was permanently brain damaged? I'll never forgive myself.

"Just do it."

I complied, not sure what else to do. We jogged along the curb until Chloe led me over to a door to a small apartment building. She jiggled the door knob. Locked.

"Can you break it?" she asked me. I wiped off my bloody hands off on my pants, grabbed the knob, and twisted.

Crack

She led me inside, and, even though I was injured, boy-brain got some pretty bad ideas of what we could do in this house... That we have all to ourselves...

I followed Chloe out of the house, shaking off some really naughty thoughts that were not helping the situation.

"Now we'll follow the path we came on. Along the top of the curb," Chloe said. "Backtrack."

We walked along the curb again, and I saw a puddle of water- at least ten feet wide. Chloe stopped. "We're going to cut through."

I nodded. "So he'll reach this, keep following our trail and think we're somewhere in that apartment, not realizing we doubled back on our tracks. Smart."

Thank god! I thought she had hit the wall too hard back there! Then Boy-Brain thought, If only we were still in that house, on the couch, me on top, no clothing, fu-

No, no, no! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!

I cleared my head of all thoughts except the ones that involved Chloe's safety. I got us downwind, so that son of a bitch couldn't smell us. Then, I hustled Chloe into a coffee shop and into the mens' bathroom, locking the door. I ignored Boy-Brain and hoisted Chloe up onto the counter, then scrubbed my hands, scared to get any more blood on her.

"Uh, Derek...?"

I ignored her, wet a paper towel, and started to wipe her face with it.

"Derek? I'm not hurt."

Will you shut up and let me work?

"You're covered in blood," was all I said.

"But it's not mine. Honest. It's from-"

"The werewolf. I know," I said, cutting her off. I started cleaning her hand. "That's why I have to get it off."

"Derek?" Chloe said, leaning down. My heart sped up. "Are you okay?"

I kept scrubbing. "There are two ways to become a werewolf. Either you're born one or get bitten by one. If you get the saliva in your bloodstream, it's like a virus."

"Blood, too?"

"Dad says no, it's just saliva. But he could be wrong, and you've got cuts and scrapes and blood all over." Plus, I would never forgive myself if you turned into a monster, like me. I didn't say that, though I sure as hell wanted to. Why? Because I knew she would argue and convince me otherwise. Because I wanted- no, needed her to care about me the same way I did for her. But, of course she didn't love a monster like me. She never would. She was Simon's girl. Not mine.

I continued scrubbing, but I noticed her staring at me, shifting, trying to get a better look at me.

"Stop fidgeting, Chloe."

She stopped- for about three seconds. I sighed through my nose and continued to clean the blood off of her.

See how she's fidgeting like that? Ahhh, if only it was because she was grinding against me...

Damn Boy-Brain.

I finally scrubbed off every fleck of blood that was visible and Chloe said, "Okay, now on to you."

"Take off your jacket and sweatshirt," I said, once again ignoring Boy-Brain, who was getting excited. I thanked whoever was listening that I was wearing a long shirt.

"Derek, I'm clean. Trust me, I've never been this clean."

"You've got blood on your cuffs."

Chloe started to take off her jacket, the zipper got stuck.

"It's caught-"

I gave the zipper a tug, and the chain to her necklace snapped. "Dammit!" I said, and caught the pendant before it hit the floor.

"-on my necklace."

"Shit. I'm sorry," I said, pissed at myself.

"The girl in the alley grabbed it. The clasp was probably weak. No biggie," Chloe replied, though I knew she was just lying to make me feel better.

I stared down at the pendant in my hand. It looked different. "Wasn't this red before?"

"I-I think it's some kind of talisman. My mom gave it to me, to ward off bogeymen- ghosts, I guess."

"Huh," I said. Great, so I broke her deceased mom's last gift to her. I'm such a monster. I handed it back, not trusting myself with it. "Better keep it on you, then."

She put the pendant in her pocket. Then she took off her sweatshirt and pushed up her sleeves.

Awwwww! Boy-Brain said. I actually wanted to take her shirt off! I wanted to see her boobs!

Shut up, I told it.

"Wash your forearms," I told Chloe. She rolled her eyes and did as I told.

"Okay, now can we take care of the guy who was actually in the fight? There's a lot of blood. It seems to be mostly from your nose."

"It is."

"You got hit in the chest a few times. How are your ribs?"

"Maybe bruised. Nothing critical."

"Shirt off."

I sighed.

"If you want me to leave, so you can look after yourself..."

"Nah," I said and pulled my sweatshirt off, folding it on the counter. I watched Chloe as she looked me over. She gently touched my ribcage, and I winced as she made contact with a few of the right ones. She pulled back apologetically.

"Okay, your nose. Is it broken? Does it hurt?"

"Even if it was broken, there's nothing you can do."

"Let me check your eyes."

I grumbled wordlessly, and leaned forward a bit.

"You have a shiner."

I grunted and watched as she wet a fresh paper towel.

"You have dirt on your cheek. Let me-"

"No," I said, catching her hand before she could touch my face.

What the hell! Boy-Brain cried angrily. She was about to touch you, and you refused? What are you on?

I ignored him and wiped the dirt off my face. I tried not to wince as I cleaned it. The damn gravel had really messed it up.

"You're going to need to get that checked out," Chloe said, concern in her voice.

"Yeah." I stared at myself in the mirror. Why couldn't I be the least bit attractive? I caught Chloe watching me and I backed up. She handed me another paper towel and I cleaned my neck and collar off.

"Still got that deodorant?" I asked. At least I could smell good. Chloe took it from her jacket and put it on the counter. I continued to wash myself off.

"In the playground," Chloe started, "when you were negotiating, you weren't serious, right? About going with them? It was a trick."

I didn't say anything. Because I didn't want her to know that I would've gone through with it if it meant she was safe. The truth was, I'd die for Chloe without hesitation. She was no longer a ditzy blond necromancer to me. She was a friend... And so much more. Not that she knew...

"Derek?"

I was scared to meet her gaze. I was afraid of looking at her; she might see it in my eyes and she'd run off screaming. I reached over and got a fresh towel.

"Did you hear anything they said?"

"About what?" I kept my gaze on the towel and folded it carefully before throwing it away. "Hunting humans for sport? Eating them? Yeah I caught that part."

"That doesn't have anything to do with you."

I lifted my gaze to hers. "No?"

"Not unless being a werewolf transforms you into a wolf and a redneck moron."

I shrugged. Some werewolves are like that. They lose all of their humanity and go insane.

"Do you want to hunt humans, Derek?"

"No."

"Do you think about it?"

"No."

"How about eating them? Do you think about that?"

I shot her a disgusted look. I think of eating you all the time. Just not in the innocent way.

Ugh! Dammit, Boy-Brain!

"Of course not."

"Do you even dream about killing people?"

I shook my head. "Just deer, rabbits." I looked at her cute, confused frown and continued. "For the last few years I've been dreaming of being a wolf. Running in the forest. Hunting deer and rabbits."

"Right. Like a wolf, not a man-eating monster."

I wet the paper towel. Why was she trying to prove that I was good? Girls are so confusing.

"So why would you ever let those guys take you to-" She stopped. "The Pack. Is that what you wanted? Tell them you'll go, and after they release me, tell the Pack the truth and use that as a... an introduction? Meet them? Be with your own kind?"

"No. That doesn't matter to me. Dad says it does with other werewolves. It mattered to the other boys- they hated anyone who wasn't one of us. Me? I don't care. The only reason I would want to meet a werewolf would be the same reason you'd want to meet a necromancer. To talk, get tips, training, whatever. Preferably from one who doesn't think hunting humans is good sport."

"Like this Pack. They kill man-eaters and they don't that thrilled about man hunters. Is that what you thought? You could go with them and they'd help you? When I asked if you were listening to those two goons, that's the part I meant- about the Pack. What they'd do to you. Killing werewolves with chain saws and stuff."

I snorted.

"You don't believe it, then. No one would do that. Cut someone up with a chain saw and pass around photos? Those guys were just trying to scare you."

"No, I'm sure there are photos. And I'm sure those guys believe the Pack carved up someone. But the photos must be fakes. You can do that kind of stuff with special effects and makeup, can't you?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Sure, but why?"

"For the same reason you said. To scare people. Liam and Ramon think the Pack really did it, so they steer clear of its territory. Doesn't seem like a bad idea to me."

"But would you ever think of it yourself?"

I shot her another disgusted look. "Of course not."

"But you considered entrusting your life to the people who would? Werewolves who play judge and jury for their own kind? Torture and kill other werewolves? Knowing that, you'd go to them, pretend you killed humans, and hope they'd go easy on you because you're a kid? Or were those odds okay with you? If they decided you didn't deserve to live, maybe they'd be right?"

I looked down. She had no idea how accurate that was. I wasn't suicidal, I just thought, after what I did to that boy, that everyone would be better off without me around to hurt them.

"Derek!"

I trashed the paper towel. "No, I don't have a death wish, okay?"

"You'd better not."

I felt myself soften, and hope filled me. Maybe she did care.

"I don't, Chloe," I said softly. "I mean it. I don't."

She looked up and met my eyes. I felt that spark, and my heart sped up. My throat went dry, and I tried not to look at her perfect lips...

Chloe broke the moment by looking away and mumbling, "Good."

I backed up, realizing I had almost been in between her legs, which, of course, caused a problem between my legs. "We gotta go."

She nodded and slid off the counter.

Well, that moment was good while it lasted.

Awwwww! Don't you think Derek's so cute? Okay, if you're wondering about Boy-Brain, it's hard to explain. Think of it this way: You're panicking and you don't know what to do and you're kinda in shock. Your mind is weak at the moment. So, it makes it easier for things to invade your mind. That, and Derek's sub-conscious trying to distract him from his current situation so he could think clearer. But, I'm NOT a boy, so I don't know how a boy's mind really works...