Your Author Pixie: This was going to be a one shot but I'm going to make this into a 3 shot short little fic. I blame tumblr and I thank it as well.
The title is taken from a line in the song Black Bird.
He finds her in the woods the morning after the full moon, huddling and scared uttering this little soft puppy like whines. Stiles was trying to convince himself to stop caring and getting really inappropriate thoughts about a certain sour wolf when he heard her whines.
She's small, no more than maybe 5 and she's wearing this really cute ballerina outfit with striped stockings to boot. Stiles tries to pretend that he doesn't let out a little coo of awes when she turns her little face up from where it was snuggled into her arms showing her cute face. The flash of golden amber tells him this is a werewolf but if this isn't the cutest werewolf he's ever seen, she's beating Scott with her adorable puppy eyes and it's hard to beat a natural born human puppy. Stiles doesn't even think much more than that before he's picking her up into his arms and heading back to the Hale house because like hell is he going to leave a kid outside all alone in the woods.
"What's your name cub?" and if he's been told already that he should stop with the dog or lupine jokes Stiles ignores it cause he's got talent and it's not his fault if people can't appreciate it.
The girl sniffles a bit burying her head into his chest more and if he holds her closer and a little tighter it's only natural to do right? "Accalia, b-b-but my mommy calls me Lia." she replies.
When they get back to the house Scott is waiting right where Stiles left him, inhaling food as if there was a pack of wolves surrounding him, which yeah so there really is a pack of wolves around but they are civilized people. At least they keep shouting they are whenever Stiles mutters that they're a pack of beast. Scott goes still the moment he actually takes a pause between inhaling his hand along with his bite of food and sniffs the air. He turns kind of like a possessed doll and the fact that Stiles doesn't scream 'back beast back!' is a testament to the manliness that he contains.
"What's that?"Scott questions sniffing again at the air as if a sign will suddenly pop announcing what's different about the scents he's used to. Stiles tries to refrain from mentioning he could just use his damn eyes because he's used to his friend by now. Sometimes things get into his head a bit slower than normal. "Is that kid? Is that-wait where did you get a pup from?" he shouts when the light bulb has finally been screwed on tight.
When Lia shakes and tries to actually burry into Stiles more, as if pushing her head more will somehow open up an invisible latch where she can hide away from the world, Stiles swats at his friend's perfect placed head.
"Don't yell. I found her in the woods, alone. She's a little dirty and probably hungry so move over." He grumbles back amazed at the stupidity that is his friend.
They've baby sat before, plenty of times and around so many perfectly impressionable minds, so he knows that there really is no reason for Scott to act like the dweeb he is acting. Or maybe the dweeb wolf should be his new name with the way he keeps skirting around them sniffing away.
Stiles tries to place Lia down into a chair but she suddenly grows claws that are prickling at his skin in warning that she's not ready to get down. Getting her a plate of eggs and pancakes doesn't make her move either which is bad because what child will not move for sugar good buttermilk pancakes? What child? In the end Stiles is reduced to balancing Lia in his lap and feeding her smaller cut up bits of her food. It's when he accidentally rubs her side and she lets out a giggle shriek, the kind that kids seem to be PhD level master at from birth, that Scott finally stops looking to torn and cracks a smile. He somehow can now understand that yes, his best friend is holding a little bundle of cuteness and warmth known as a child in his hands and yes she did just make an adorable sound. Once he finally get's that he goes to town trying to get that laugh out of her again and in less than five minutes she's in Scott's lap giggling away as if nothing's wrong at all, as if she wasn't found out in the forest alone.
Between the two of them, they get her to tell them her age and a bit about her pack. She's only 4 and a 8 months thank you very much and her pack's gone.
"Bad man comes with 'bane and mommy tells me to run. I don't want to run. I don't want to leave. But Alpha tells me to run and hide and mommy pushes me away…"
Scott has tears in his eyes while Stiles is trying and failing to remain calm. He already knows it's Wolf's Bane and that tells him to story too. A hunter came to her pack to kill. She's very likely the only one left alive. He looks over her body finally noticing the little cuts in her outfit, the dried blood, and the dirt. She's probably run over long distances before just collapsing where he found her. She's crying and Stiles is holding her close, as if he could take away her pain , as if he could steal it away. Scott's at his side stroking her hair and when they look up at each other there are tears coming down their faces cause they know what it feels like to lose parent, they know what it feels like to know someone isn't coming back home to tuck you in at night. They shatter together, two boys and girl who know what it means to lose something close. Stiles ignores the part of him that swears he'll be her new home.
By the time the rest of the pack emerges from wherever they've hidden off to Lia's already comfortable with Scott and Stiles, she runs to them when she smells new scents cowering behind their legs. Scott just gives his puppy grin leaving Stiles to be the actually mature near adult in the room and tell everyone about her.
"Accalia? Her name is Accalia, as in the She Wolf? As in Foster Mother of Romulus and Remus?" Lydia questions and Stiles knew the name should have been familiar to him he had crossed the name and story when he was researching. Lia nods her head to Lydia who just gives the room a general smug smile, as if they weren't already aware she's a genius. "I'll call you she wolf, is that okay?" she questions stooping down to the girl's level to talk. With a nod in agreement Lydia's already pulling Allison out the door claiming they're going shopping for little girl clothes.
The rest of the pack meet her and if she stays close to Scott and Stiles barely speaking as they each hold a hand they think nothing of it, it's only reasonable. Stile's found her, Scott tickled her. It's when Derek comes up to see her and do his wolf thing that she suddenly changes. Lia's growling and trashing away as if she could take him on, a little give or take 30lbs kid granted Stiles would give her attack points for being a werewolf but she was still a kid. Derek's eyes are bleeding red before their eyes. Scott's growling stuck between bowing his head down and giving his neck but Stiles is already moving picking Lia up and stepping away from Derek never breaking eye contact. Reasonably, he knows that it's a dangerous move, you don't stare down an Alpha much less one who could or could not be angry that an omega had to nerve to growl and raise imaginary fur at them. However, Stiles isn't listening to the logical part of his brain, he's just letting his body move while he tries to follow. Lia is his to protect and if he has to go against a sour or wont- stay- dead wolf, then he's ready.
Lia's lucky it's summer break when she comes to them and even luckier that Stiles has already told his father about the pack or else things would be different. Stiles can afford to give her his completely undivided attention every day. He can wake her up from where she's yet again abandoned the room and bed he set up for her in favor of snuggling into his side every single morning. He can grab her and throw her into the air before scooping her back into his arms for 'she wolf nose kisses'. She's going to be spoiled with the way she already knows Scott is down the hall getting her bath ready for her along with a hug and a light kiss on the head. They're becoming, really they're already there, inseparable. In three weeks time she's calling them Papa and Daddy. Stiles congratulates himself on remaining calm, on keeping the smile on his face and not giving into the slight pain that comes through him because how can he say no? How can he correct her and say no? He's all she has now as a parent, hers were stolen away in death.
He would like to think that after their first encounter things would have changed but it's a lesson in echoes; every time Derek gets too close to Stiles Lia is sure to growl, snarl and twist. Stiles has it down to a dance routine and in his head he's a ballet instructor telling his girls to go again with 'a 1, 2. 3'. She wont calm down until Derek's gone with Scotts there by their side stroking her hair while she clings to Stiles who tries to make it okay on his face how he wishes he knew why it can't work. He loves his best friend, best friend who is actually a bother that was misplaced in the delivery via stork, but he wishes inside that it was Derek who was holding Lia's other hand. He wishes that it were Derek who was taking little small careful steps listening on as she talks about the world and how she loves this or how she loves that and you Papa and you Daddy. He imagines how it would be Lia, Derek and himself. Two werewolves and a human, two adults and a cub. But he tries really hard not to dwell, it's just a crush that's been burning in his heart for two years. What's a little more silence?
Your Author Pixie: What cha think so far?