Derek smiles a little and ducks his head as he takes a deep breath, letting it out in a soft huff. It's hard to be one of those people, because it makes it all too easy to make stupid, rash decisions that have a negative outward ripple when you're tunnel visioned to keep one person or a very small group of people safe. Too often, he's made that sort of mistake and too often, it's resulted in the deaths of the people around him. He doesn't want to make that mistake anymore. He hopes that Alcide never has or does. "Yeah, I guess we don't suck," he replies playfully rather than reflect verbally on the downfalls of being That Guy.

"Don't plan on it," he assures her again. If there ever comes a time that he does get his wolf back, it's definitely not something he envisions himself being able to do with confidence and without confidence, he's a lot more likely to screw it up and do some serious damage to himself or the other person. Or, worse, both.

He laughs a little, though, when she teases and he looks back up at her. "Well good, because you don't have any reason to worry." And she probably has no idea how important it is for him to hear that sometimes, because after everything he's been through, really, he knows that the people around him generally are not safe. That's just how things go for Derek. "You should probably get back to it," he says, changing the subject as his eyes drift toward the clock on the wall. "I gotta finish this up anyway. Tomorrow night, though," he says to confirm their plans.