"Where are we going?" asked Derek intrigued. Stiles was dragging him into the woods which was not like him, not without a deadly threat to track down or a body to recover.
"I thought we could escape the Six Feet Under reenactment for a few hours" Stiles shrugged.
"A lot of people have died…" regretted Derek
"Yeah… and the CDC is still going through my dad's investigation. They can't figured was the 'disease' was or what stopped it. I told them they would be better off sending Mulder and Scully. It wasn't appreciated… Here we are!" said Stiles.
"Where is here?" asked Derek looking suspiciously at the clearing.
The werewolf knew the preserve better than anyone, well maybe not Malia, but he would have for sure remembered if he had seen the place before. There were strange, granted kind of lovely but still strange, trees standing in the center. Probably a dozen young trees, they looked healthy and would probably be perfectly normal if they weren't planted very close to each other, touching actually, and if their trunks and branches weren't kind of mingling and twisting together starting about 8 feet above the ground. Like if nature would have wanting to create some kind of inviting sunshade made to shelter a small group of people.
"This" said Stiles putting down the picnic basket he was carrying a the feet of the trees "is the Nemethon. So I brought hot dogs, I know it's a bit redundant with you being here but still they are delicious."
"This is what?" asked Derek stunned
"Duh… curly fries!" answered Stiles with his 'are you dumb expression'
"No I mean this!" said Derek waving at the trees.
"Deaton did some mumbo jumbo to connect it to the telluric currents and it pumped down the mystical energy to renew or something" answered Stiles waving his hands in direction of the trees. "There is a tree for each person who was sacrificed to it, kind of a tribute. It also has the advantage of being far less creepy" he added.
Derek approached the new Nemethon carefully, he inhaled heavily trying to catch the vibe of the place. It was… pretty good : the smell of newly formed leaves and fresh grass and something like… hope. Hope for better days, hope for the town to become a beacon of good, hope for new beginnings.
Stiles was suddenly behind him, plaming the trees.
"This is Heather" he said with a smile, "Dr. Hilyard" he added palming another tree.
Stiles made a face when he touched a third tree.
"What is it?" asked Derek worried
"Harris" mumbled Stiles. "This one is Paige" he said taking Derek's hand to put it in one of the trees in the middle. "You take a moment, I'll set up lunch".
Derek closed his eyes, memories of the brunette folding his mind, maybe it was wishful thinking but he could swear he heard a cello then the laughter of his first girlfriend. It made him smile, and for the first time he was able to think about her without seeing her dying in a root cellar. He turned around and joined Stiles who was sitting on a blanket surrounded by food containers and cans of soda. He went to sit behind him embracing the young man with his arms and his legs and burying his face in the crack of his neck.
"Thank you" he murmured
"This is a time to put people to rest before moving forward" agreed Stiles "besides, I think she's got a good spot, just next to Allison, they will keep each other company, I'm sure"
"Alisson?" frowned Derek "but she didn't…"
"Died for the tree?" finished Stiles "No she did not, but her essence is there for the sacrifice we made to save our parents. By the way she saved the town last week because I couldn't have done it without her."
"Does that mean?" frowned Derek
"Yep" answered Stiles "Scott and I will have our own wood work when he kick the bucket"
"If you die I die" growled Derek
"Yeah, about that..." started Stiles
50 years later
"Stiles! Lunch is ready!" called Scott.
"I'm coming GrandPa Scott" said a brunette little girl running toward the old Alpha.
"Where is your brother?" asked Scott
"He is helping aunt Lydia out of the car" the girl answered.
"Good" said Scott "we should for then before starting though" he added.
The girl sighed, but soon she forgot the delicious looking picnic to study the nature of the preserve around her.
"GrandPa Scott? Why are those trees different form the others?" she asked after a while pointing at the two trees in the middle of the Nemethon, tangled together form the ground up and not from a few feet above like the others.
"Those are the trees of your uncles Stiles and Derek" answered Scott
"My brother and I are named them!" she said proudly
"That's right" said Scott
"But they died just before we were born" she noted "I thought the Nemethon had trees for people who died years and years ago."
"Yes, but..." hesitated Scott
"But what?" asked Stiles who was as curious as his best friend had been.
"Well, when it became clear that your uncle Stiles wasn't gonna make it, and that there was nothing we could do, Derek brought him here so they could rest together forever and watch over us like they always did."
"But why did uncle Derek had to die as well? And why are their trees different?" pressed the little girl.
"They were bondmates" said Scott with a smile
"What's a bondmate?" asked a little boy coming running soon followed by Lydia.
"Well bondmates are pretty rare" began Scott "from the moment they meet they are linked together and if they chose to bound then they do everything together, they can feel each other emotions and feelings and they always know where the other are"
"Like my friend Tamara and her mum?" asked Derek
"What?" frowned Scott
"Tamara's mother got her a cell phone" said Stiles "she calls several times a day to ask where Tamara is and how she is feeling."
"A mother and daughter can't be bondmates" said Scott
"Why not?" asked Derek
"Well…" said Scott blushing and looking at Lydia for help
"Bondmates love each other a lot" said Lydia laughing "but not like your mums love you, more like your uncle Liam loves your aunt Hayden"
"Gross!" exclaimed Stiles
"Language!" said Lydia
"They are old and always kissing!" said Derek
"It kind of was the theme of Derek and Stiles 40th anniversary…" murmured Lydia smirking at Scott
"Gross!" said the Alpha remembering a scene he still couldn't get out of his mind.
"Aunt Lydia, do you think I will find my bondmate someday?" asked Stiles
"Honey, whoever you find, I just wish they will make you as happy as Stiles and Derek made each other." answered Lydia wisely.
A.N. / So this is the end of that story.
I want to thank everyone that read, commented and more. I also want to congratulate you for enduring all the grammar and vocabulary mistakes… I usually take much more time between the moment I first write something and the moment I feel it's edited enough to publish… I feel that I have some editing in my future…
Anyway, thanks for reading, I'll be off Sterek for a while and concentrate on a big Stargate story I have in the pipes… But not to worry, I'm not quite done with those two!