Author's Note: I do not own Teen Wolf or its characters. This is set in an alternate universe where Laura and Derek never returned to Beacon Hills, but Peter became a crazy alpha anyway. This is a companion piece to Wedding Stiles.
The Stuff of Dreams
Wedding Stiles had a perfectly ordinary storefront for its office. Walking by, you wouldn't expect it to be anything special, just another office amongst many on the street. Stiles was fine with that. He got most of his business by word of mouth, and that worked just fine. His wedding planning business wasn't so popular that he had to turn away clients on a regular basis, but it was popular enough that he could pick and choose which jobs he took. Being a full time wedding planner wasn't a bad job for a twenty-four year old folklore and mythology major, and Stiles liked the fact that he could tell people that he made magic for a living.
Which in a sense was exactly what he did. Stiles took a couple's hopes, dreams, plans, and budgets and made a day that they would remember for ever. He'd done everything from manage feuding families to helping couples elope to creating replicas of science fiction icons for reception decorations. There was something incredibly satisfying making an event be that special day for two people. Hands down the favorite wedding he'd done so far was for a writer and a homicide detective. That one had been a blast and surprisingly hassle free. At least, that had been his favorite until now.
Currently, Stiles was planning his best friend's wedding, and it is going to be the best wedding ever. He wouldn't be tying the knot anytime soon, hopelessly single as he was, but he could live vicariously through Scott. The wedding for the former high school sweethearts was six months away, but Stiles was excited none the less. So far, everything was going as planned, and there had only been a few hiccups along the way. Scott had been bitten by a werewolf shortly before the two had met, and Allison's family were well known werewolf hunters. Still, Allison's dad had come around to the idea of Scott as his son-in-law after nearly eight years of the two dating (on again off again at times, but still), and Stiles was bound and determined to make it perfect for the couple.
Other than that, business was good. He had a Star Trek themed wedding in next month and a vintage one in nine months, but other than that his schedule was clear. Which was why he didn't panic when a couple with a little girl wandered in to his office.
"Hey, welcome to Wedding Stiles. How can I help you?"
The woman turned to smile at him, and Stiles felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle at the look on her face. She was a bombshell for sure (dark blond hair, blue eyes, and full red lips), but something about her set him on edge.
"You must be Stiles. I've heard so much about you. I knew this was the right place to come." Her smiled widened. "Allison's talked about you so much it feels like I already know you. I'm her Aunt Kate."
That did not actually make Stiles feel better. Allison's aunt was one of the people who had been against Scott and Allison's relationship from the start. In fact, the latest that Stiles had heard, she was still grumbling about it.
"Pleased to meet you."
What Stiles wanted to know was why the hell she was here. He was distracted for a moment by the dark haired little girl peering into a display of various centerpiece ideas. The one she seemed fascinated by was a tiggy branch stuck in a vase and covered in butterfly hairclips. Stiles grinned and plucked one of the hairclips out of the display and handed it to her. She shyly took it and offered him a breathtaking smile.
"What can I do for you?"
Kate preened a little. "We need you to plan our wedding, of course. The engagement was rather sudden, but Derek and I wanted to be married sooner rather than later. So we're getting married August 18th."
Stiles bit back a frown. That was a week before Scott and Allison's wedding. That was a little close for comfort, and quite frankly, it was going to make everything crazy for anyone involved with both weddings.
"I'm sure that you know Allison's wedding is the next week. I don't normally work two weddings that close together," Stiles told her, watching as the little girl solemnly handed Derek the butterfly clip. The man's stoic face transformed with a smile as he carefully pinned back a stray curl with the clip. He'd gone from looking like a broody, surly business man to a besotted father in the space of just a few seconds. "And while six months is long enough to plan a wedding, you are going to be rather rushed and that may make for a more stressful experience. I would recommend pushing the date at least another month out if not more."
Kate just shrugged. "That doesn't matter. Six months is all we want to wait. Derek has the money to make things happen, so don't worry about the budget. Actually, Derek will be your main contact person on all of this since his job gives him far more free time than mine does. Of course, I'll want to approve all of the final plans, but Derek can handle most of it. I'll make sure he knows what I want."
Derek was back to looking like he belonged at a board meeting instead of talking about his wedding. Stiles' couldn't exactly blame him. This had bridezilla written all over it. But Kate was Allison's family. And it wasn't like he could call Ally up right now and check in with her about this. He had dealt with difficult clients before, but none that were somehow a part of his personal life. He bit back a sigh.
"Let me get you a copy of my usual contract for you to fill out and see if you still want me to be your planner," he offered. "I know my style doesn't work for everyone."
He ducked into the back for a moment to grab the contract and take a moment to breath. Stiles had a bad feeling about this, and he knew he really should say no. Hell, Derek didn't even seem that excited about the wedding. Of course, some grooms just didn't get into the whole wedding whirlwind, but if Stiles didn't know better, he would guess that the man had been forced to be there. And he was the one who was supposed to plan the wedding with Stiles' help. Actually, Stiles felt some sympathy for the guy. Given the way that Kate seemed to steamroll over everyone, he couldn't imagine it was pleasant to be engaged to her. The man was engaged to her though, so she must have some redeeming qualities.
Stiles returned and handed over the contract for Kate to read and fill out. He watched as Derek leaned down and listened to the little girl whispering intently in his ear. They were adorable together. Whatever she was telling him, Derek was taking it seriously. Stiles almost started when they came over to them. The girl peered up at him from behind Derek's leg.
"Talia likes your bowtie. She thinks that bowties are cool."
Stiles grinned. "Well, thank you, Miss Talia. I think so too. How old are you?"
Talia held up four fingers with shy smile. Derek placed a gentle hand on the top of her head.
Stiles met Derek's eyes. "Shy?"
"Especially around people she doesn't know now that it's just the two of us," he shrugged. "She gets that from me, not her moms."
Stiles blinked. Derek sighed.
"I was just Uncle Derek until last year. My sister and her wife were in a car accident."
"Hard on you both."
"Yeah."
The conversation stalled there and pretty much died. Just as well really as Kate rejoined them with the paperwork filled out.
"This looks good. As I've said, I'll want final approval on everything, but you and Derek can get to work on the planning immediately. I've got to run, but I'm sure that you two can work out the details."
And with that Kate swept out of the shop. Derek just sighed.
"Talia and I actually do have an appointment today, but we should get started on this as soon as possible."
Stiles shrugged. "Not a problem. What's your schedule like for the rest of the week? I've got a couple of appointments on Friday myself, but other than that I'm pretty flexible. We can even do the weekend if that would be better."
"Midmorning on Saturday?" Derek asked. "Do you mind if Talia is there?"
"Not at all." Stiles smiled at Talia. "Miss Talia is quite welcome to join us."
It wasn't until after they had left that Stiles' looked at the paperwork and realized that he was dealing with Derek Hale. Not only were they from the same small town in California, but Derek Hale was one of the few members of the Hale family that had survived the fire that burned the family home to the ground. It was still one of the worst tragedies to happen in Beacon Hills in living memory. Stiles' father had just been a deputy at the time, but he had also been one of the first people on the scene that night. Stiles frowned as he put Kate and Derek's info in his laptop. He had a bad feeling about this.
Stiles sighed. He could still back out now. But he didn't think he was going to. He was curious for one thing. He wanted to know what Kate was up to. If this was another attempt to sabotage Allison and Scott, Stiles wanted to be able to head it off at the pass. And he had to admit that he was more than a little fascinated by Derek and his daughter. He didn't know what had possessed the man to propose to Kate, but it was rather clear that she was quite happy to foist all of the work of planning the wedding Derek. Plus Stiles had a soft spot for single fathers, given that he'd been raised by one.
Even so, this wedding was probably a mistake to take on, but if he was committed to that mistake, he might as well do it right. So, he got to work on creating the online calendar for the Hale/Argent Wedding as well as a Pinterest board and half a dozen other things he would need. Stiles knew that he should also call Allison and see if she knew what exactly was going on with her aunt (and if she even knew about the wedding that Kate was planning), but he really didn't want to be the one who broke that news to Allison. So instead, Stiles kept himself busy with other things.
By the time that Saturday rolled around, Stiles was ready to get down to business about this wedding. He had to admit that he was a bit curious to see what they had in mind for this wedding. He wasn't sure what Kate's vision for this thing was, but Stiles was pretty sure that it was going to be over the top. When Derek and Talia showed up, he'd made a fresh pot of coffee and procured doughnuts from the great place just down the street. Normally, Stiles would have served bagels or something healthy, but he figured that Talia might like doughnuts. It was probably bad enough that she had to be dragged along this meeting; Stiles might as well make it as pleasant as possible for the little girl.
Derek and Talia arrived right on time. After getting Talia settled with some doughnuts and a coloring book, Stiles and Derek quickly got down to business. It quickly became clear that while there were a few good things about Kate's plans, most of them were going to make life rather difficult. The wedding was going to be in Beacon Hills, as was Scott and Allison's, so at least there wouldn't be the worries about people having to travel cross country within a week to make both weddings. However, it was clear that Kate wanted a giant spectacle of a wedding, and while it wasn't completely impossible in the time that they had to put it together, it also wasn't the sort of thing that Stiles would take on without a year's lead time.
And Derek didn't seem to be any happier about the plans either. He also never suggested any ideas of his own or offered any suggestions on what he might want for the wedding.
"You do know that grooms are allowed input in their own weddings these days?" Stiles finally said.
Derek just shrugged. "I don't really care. I would like to keep the costs down as much as possible because despite what Kate says, I do like to be fiscally responsible."
"I can work with that."
And that was another note to add to the mental file he was keeping on Derek Hale. Stiles was beginning to think that this was going to end up one of those times when he had to meddle. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened. During his time as a wedding planner, Stiles had facilitated two elopements, three runaway brides, four runaway grooms, scuttled one arranged marriage, and helped two couples call off weddings. There had even been one instance where he'd been involved with getting a groom arrested for domestic violence. That sort of thing unfortunately came hand in hand with weddings at times.
As far as he could tell, Derek had no interest in his own wedding, but it was also very clear that he wasn't about to cross Kate either. Derek was almost two different people actually. When he was interacting with Talia, Stiles could see the devoted father who appeared to be someone that Stiles would want to be friends with. However, when he was interacting with Stiles, Derek was terse and gruff. And he was definitely keeping his distance. The man flinched away from just about any attempt to touch him as well, which worried Stiles more than a little.
Stiles didn't understand the relationship dynamic between the bride and groom at all. Of course, he didn't really know either of them very well yet. Though admittedly he was already biased against Kate since she didn't approve of his best friend. Derek was another story. What Stiles knew about Derek was the same thing just about anyone from Beacon Hills knew: Derek and his sister Laura had been the only real survivors when their house had burned down with most of the extended Hale family inside it. Peter Hale, their uncle, had been pulled out the inferno, but had immediately lapsed in to a coma.
That had turned out to be a problem for Scott and Stiles. Six years after the fire, Peter had come out his coma as a psychotic werewolf bent on revenge. Scott had gotten bitten, and the two teenagers had been introduced to the weird world of the supernatural. Which meant it was very possible that Derek Hale was a werewolf as well, and that made him proposing to Kate Argent all the stranger. It was yet another piece of this puzzle that made Stiles uncomfortable about the wedding.
But when Derek and Talia left, Stiles did have enough to get started with. He was going to be doing a lot of calling around in the next few weeks, but he did have some venue ideas. That was the first priority. Once he got that booked, he could start on pulling together the rest of the details. The biggest problem would be finding a venue that could handle the five hundred guests that Kate wanted to invite. Derek hadn't seemed very pleased with the size of guest list, but he hadn't complained either. He had told Stiles that he did not have any family who would be attending. That was yet another red flag.
With the first steps for the account set up, Stiles called it a day. He'd really start getting to work on this wedding Monday morning. For now, he was going to head home and marathon Doctor Who before his weekly skype call to his dad. What he ended up doing was the cleaning the kitchen before the call, but that wasn't too bad either. He settled in front of the computer with a basket of laundry to fold and opened up skype.
"Hey Daddy-o, how's the wonderful world of crime in Beacon Hills?"
His dad laughed. "We had to give Mrs. Greer a speeding ticket again. I think it's gotten to the point where she's pretty much paid for repaving the entire downtown."
The two quickly settled into to the local gossip. While nothing major had happened since they'd last talked, there were always little things that had changed. Plus, Stiles was following the ongoing saga of Deputy Parrish and his disastrous dating record. Stiles was almost finished folding all of his laundry by the time the conversation wound down.
He let out a sigh. "So, have you heard anything from Allison about her aunt lately?"
On the computer screen, his dad frowned. "No. Why do you ask?"
"She came in this week to hire me to plan her wedding. It's going to be a week before Allison and Scott's. And I agreed to do it."
His dad just arched an eyebrow. "And you did this why?"
"I was charmed by her fiancé's kid and felt sorry for her fiancé?" Stiles tried to look innocent. "Speaking of which, her fiancé happens to be Derek Hale. I don't suppose you've heard anything about the Hales since they left Beacon Hills? Derek mentioned that his sister died in a car accident in the past year, but other than that I have no clue."
John shrugged. "All I know is that a couple months ago they finally started doing something about the old house. I know the county had been threatening to take the land, and then the house was being bulldozed, but that's about it. It sort of looks like there are some plans to rebuild, but nothing except the demolition has happened so far."
Stiles sighed again. Another piece of the puzzle that didn't really fit. He wrapped up his conversation with his dad and headed to bed.
Thing was Stiles actually rather liked Derek Hale the more he got to know him. The man did have a well hidden sense of humor, and it was hard not for Stiles to like someone who was so clearly devoted to their child. So far, Talia had come along to everyone of their meetings so far, and Stiles had to admit that she was definitely making a lot of his someday thoughts about a family be a lot more immediate. Currently, Talia was occupied with a stack of picture books though while Derek and Stiles looked at venues.
"Unfortunately, we've got limited options since you want an indoor venue and we're booking late in the game. There are three places that are available that work with your needs though," Stiles told Derek. "I'll be honest, there's not that much difference between them except décor. Price wise, they're all in the same range, and one doesn't offer more services than the others."
Derek made a face. "Great. Well, show me what the options are. Maybe one of them will just jump out at me."
A sharp noise interrupted them, and Derek was out of his seat and across the room in a flash. Stiles caught sight of blood on Talia's hand.
"Do you need a band aid?" he asked, rummaging in his desk. "I think I've got some Batman ones. Papercuts are the worst…"
His voice trailed off as Stiles realized her hand had all ready completely healed. The look on Derek's face was severe, and Stiles had the feeling that there was about to be a very upset werewolf shortly.
"Oh, well, I supposed I should have guessed since you're Hales. I mean, I met your uncle. Not that you're anything like your uncle. Which is fine by me. We didn't exactly get on, but I mean I do know about werewolves and all that jazz, and since my best friend is a werewolf, it's not like you have anything to worry about. Not from me, so-"
"Papa," Talia interrupted him. "is Mr. Stiles breathing? I didn't know you could talk that much that fast."
The corners of Derek's mouth twitched upwards. "I think that he's just nervous, sweetheart."
Talia scoffed. "Don't be nervous. Papa likes you. If he didn't, he'd rip your throat out with his teeth."
Derek's ears were pink, and Stiles couldn't help grinning.
"Well, I'll keep that in mind, Miss Talia."
Some of the tension left Derek, and Stiles let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He settled back in front of the laptop while Derek spoke softly to Talia before returning to his own seat.
"You mentioned you knew my uncle?" Derek asked as they scrolled through another series of photos.
Stiles sighed. "Yeah. It's kind of a long story, and it's not really suitable for little ears. I'm happy to tell you sometimes, but I have to warn you that it's not pretty."
Derek just sighed. "Between his injuries from the fire and the fact that I'm not sure he was ever that stable, I'm not surprised."
After looking over all of the pictures, Derek finally settled on the Grand Beacon Hotel as their venue. Stiles saw him and Talia off before getting to work actually booking the location. With the venue booked, it was time for Stiles to really get to work. Knowing the venue made everything easier. He spent the next few hours putting together pinterest boards of flowers, décor, and stationary together. Given what Kate had wanted, most of it was fairly standard formal wedding fare. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about this wedding, and Stiles had the dawning realization that this wedding was going to be very boring to work on when he removed the drama of the bride and groom.
He was more than a little surprised to get a text message from Derek later in the week. It read:
Have a free evening. Would you be up for coming over and telling me about Peter?
Stiles shrugged and texted back an affirmative. They hash out a time, and Derek sends him an address which oddly enough isn't that far from Stiles' apartment. The town house was an older building, and Stiles found himself nervous when he knocked on the door. Then he was just speechless, Derek opened the door barefoot wearing a pair of well worn jean and a dark henley. He looked like he'd stepped out of one of Stiles' fantasies.
"Come in," Derek waved him inside.
It was not what Stiles would have expected. The apartment was actually rather bare if you discounted all of the clutter that comes from having a child underfoot. The walls were completely bare except for once small section of the living room wall which had a cluster of picture frames. Most of them were of Talia at various ages, including one of a stunned looking Derek holding her as a newborn. But there was also a picture of two laughing women, both dressed in white. One bore a striking resemblance to Talia. The other had honey blond curls and bright green eyes.
"Laura and Keri," Derek's voice almost made him jump. "That was at their wedding."
"Are you going to want to incorporate some sort of memorial for them in the wedding?" Stiles asked. "It's pretty common to do something like that at your wedding. We could include your entire family if you'd like. I know it must suck not to have them here for this."
Derek looked more surly than ever. "No. Laura would've killed me if I included her in this."
Stiles just shrugged and let the subject drop. Derek seemed to remember his manners.
"Go on and have a seat. Would you like tea or coffee?"
"Tea would be great."
Stiles settled into an extremely comfortable but incredibly ugly chair. Derek returned a few minutes later with two mugs. He handed one to Stiles and settled on the couch.
"What happened with my uncle?"
Stiles sighed. "Please remember that we were sixteen at the time and that teenagers are idiots. So, I heard that they were searching for a dead body out in the woods, and I dragged my best friend Scott out to see if we could find it ourselves. My dad found us instead, well, just me actually and sent me home but-"
"What does your dad have to do with this?"
Stiles blinked. "He's the sheriff. Sheriff Stilinski? Well, he probably would have been a deputy when you lived in Beacon Hills, so I don't know if you would have known him."
It was Derek's turn to blink. "Yeah, I remember him."
"Anyway, I got sent home, but Scott was still out there and he stumbled across the body and Peter, though we didn't know who he was at the time, and got bitten. Of course, he didn't realize what had happened or that he was a werewolf at first, and when I told him, he didn't believe me until he started shifting and really noticing his new senses." Stiles took a breath. "Anyway, the Argents had just moved to town, and Scott fell in love with Allison who didn't know anything about werewolves at that point. There were a bunch of deaths from "animal attacks" and I happened to notice that everyone who had been killed was linked somehow to the Hale fire. I got Dad to reopen the case. I didn't catch on to the fact that it was Peter until it was too late, but we ended up killing him. Unfortunately, while Dad could prove that the fire was arson, he never could identify the ring leader who was responsible. That's basically what happened since I'm pretty sure you're not interested in all of the teenage angst that also went into the whole mess."
Derek was staring at him. "How are you still alive?"
That just made Stiles laugh. Derek wouldn't be the first person to express the same sentiment. "Sheer luck and practice after the first round. Peter might have been our first foray into the supernatural, but it wasn't the last. On the upside, Beacon Hills has been stable for the last few years."
Shaking his head, Derek sighed. "We never really expected Peter to recover."
Stiles shrugged. "He had to kill an alpha in order to recover completely. Actually, to be honest, knowing what I do now I kind of think he was trying to get the attention of you or Laura, which ever one of you had become the new Hale alpha."
"Laura," Derek sounds a little choked up, and Stiles almost regrets mentioning it. "It would have been Laura. It was when?"
"Eight years ago."
"Laura would have gone to investigate. But Keri had dragged her to Europe to has something out with her extended family, and I tagged along."
Stiles shrugged again. "It's probably for the best."
A slightly awkward silence descended on them. Stiles fidgeted as he cast around for some sort of topic of conversation.
"So are you looking forward to being back in Beacon Hills?"
Derek shrugged. "I don't know. Before the engagement, I'd been planning on rebuilding the house and moving there with Talia, but now I'm not sure."
Stiles just arched an eyebrow at him. "Why not?"
Derek just sighed. "I'm technically the owner of the company Laura and Keri started, and they've been having some trouble lately. Kate was hired just after they died, and she was the one that noticed the financial issues."
He frowned at that. Stiles didn't exactly like the timing. Two werewolves die (he was assuming Keri was a werewolf), and then a hunter shows up working at their company which is suddenly having problems. It seemed a little suspicious. At least to Stiles. He let out a sigh.
"Well, at least now it won't be a surprise to you if you go back and find a werewolf pack in Beacon Hills. Scott's pretty mellow about things, so if you do decide to move back, I doubt you'll have any trouble sharing the territory. Besides, our pack isn't that large. Scott, two betas, one of which lives here in New York, and assorted humans. There are two other betas moving to Beacon Hills, but I don't know if they'll join Scott's pack or not. So that won't be a problem unless your pack is like thirty werewolves."
Derek shook his head. "It's just Talia and I. Laura wasn't interested in expanding her pack. We'd always been a family pack before, so it wasn't a big deal."
"Well, you'll get a warm welcome in Beacon Hills if you decide to go back."
They chatted a little while longer before Stiles headed home. It was probably the most relaxed Stiles had ever seen Derek quite frankly, and Stiles did find him rather fascinating. He hadn't really known all that many born werewolves since discovering the supernatural world, and getting a chance to talk to someone who had grown up in it was exciting. And there was the whole Kate situation which made Stiles both curious and concerned.
Stiles can't prove that Kate Argent was the one who had set fire to the Hale house. But he was pretty certain that it was what had happened. And he really didn't like how she had showed up around the last living Hales. Poking his nose into what was going on there might not be the best idea though, especially since technically Kate Argent was one of his clients. Stiles was pretty sure he was going to do it any way.