Author's Note: Only saying this once, Teen wolf characters don't belong to me; The Oserics', Several of the Hales and other characters do belong to me so please don't use them. This story takes place just after finals and sort of immediately after the last story ends.

Chapter One: Overwhelmed by Family

Garrick Oseric came from a small community of betas and turned wolves. There were very few alphas and omegas, there was rarely ever any Caste dynamics to deal with and so Christmas as an event was always presents at home with his mother and father and sister. They didn't really do anything else besides that. It wasn't a big deal.

Apparently this season, this Christmas holiday was a big deal to the Hale family and the small Stilinski clan. He sat between his mates, Stiles and Derek on the couch and looked at the freaking diagram pinned to the wall on the other side of the room and took in a deep breath, wondering how he was going to get through the next couple of weeks without falling apart at some point. There was a diagram on the wall about the coming weeks, assignments and decorating committees with convoluted team building exercises and events. He counted at least three family dinners to which there were separate menus and seating charts and he just kept staring quietly. Stiles was rubbing a hand across his shoulders and Derek was smiling passively at his mother with a hand wrapped around Ricky's hand. He felt warm and loved and just freaking overwhelmed.

He looked hastily over at his parents and sister and noticed they were wearing the same mask of uncertain fear. It was interesting to all of them, that people were this involved in the holidays, that there had to be something to do at every moment otherwise maybe they weren't wringing all the could out of the time together but then Ricky had never lost anyone in his lifetime, both sets of grandparents were alive and well, living out their lives close to his parents, he'd never lost a parent to hunters. He hoped he would never know what it was like to be an alpha who lost her mate, let alone two. Talia had to feel a little desperate to not only keep the rest of her family safe but also to have all the time in the world with them.

So Ricky would just have to make sure his family took time when they needed to and he took time to just be with Derek and Stiles then he didn't see the harm in being incredibly overwhelmed by this family. It was going to happen because there were multiple alphas and he had never spent much time with them up till now. Apparently he was going to learn a lot about pack Caste systems and dynamics before this vacation was over.

"Okay well that is everything, we are going to have lunch in about an hour and we'll figure the rest of it out. So break!" Talia called and everyone started stretching and leaving the room. Garrick stood and walked over to his little family, dwarfed by the size of the Hale family, even the Stilinski had bonded to the McCall's and Allison. He smiled, "So that was a thing," he said with false cheer.

"Hey Garrick, you married into a weird group of wolves," Ravyn said obnoxiously loud. Garrick resisted the urge to shush her, his mother nudged her none to gently though since this wasn't their home and there was no way to keep a conversation private in the home of werewolves. Then he slid his finger to the ring on his left hand and spun it around his finger.

"They are family now Rave, try and remember to be polite and respectful, this is a house and family of alphas. I am mated into this family and I would really like to be welcomed back next holiday."

His sister just chortled in response to his little speech. His mother rolled her eyes and smiled to Ricky, "Look your mates are waiting for you and we are going to spend some time this afternoon doing some Christmas shopping before the craze of the Hale Game Plan starts. Just don't worry about us, we are going to be fine and we won't do anything to hurt your chances for peace with this family."

"Thanks Mom," Ricky said and hugged his parents then bopped Ravyn on the forehead with the heel of his hand before he kissed her in the same place. He watched as they left the room and felt when Stiles' hands slipped around to his chest and pulled him close. He knew Derek was standing off to the side as well.

"So, you doing okay Ricky?" Stiles asked as he pressed a kiss to the back of the beta's neck. Ricky smiled and tilted his head to receive more from Stiles but the little omega just pulled away and they walked out of the room and back to the room they shared. Ricky flopped down inelegantly on the side of the bed and sighed.

Derek chuckled as he closed the door, giving the three of them some privacy, "I promise its not always like this, my mother is just overcompensating having so many new pack members is making her a little overexcited."

"I'll be fine, just a little overwhelmed."

Stiles walked over and pushed Ricky back a little so he could sit down on Ricky's lap and the beta pressed his hands into Stiles' thighs where they were settled on the outside of his legs. Derek was still leaning against the door so Ricky just focused as Stiles pressed a gentle hand into the side of Ricky's neck and pressed a kiss into the beta's mouth, nose then his closed eyes.

"Make me a promise Ricky, that you will walk into the library any time you need some privacy and you read and spend some alone time with Derek and me if you are ever on the verge of being overwhelmed."

Ricky smiled into the continued caresses from his omega. He nodded, "I promise to take what time I need to be okay. I know Talia is a wonderful alpha and mother, she's going to do everything in her power to make everyone comfortable but I can't deny that this big family thing is a little more than anything I have ever dealt with."

Stiles smiled and kissed Ricky on the mouth again, "I'm used to it because I was raised close to the Hale family as well as several other large packs but I understand your reticence."

"Such big words huh, little man. Gets me all hot when you talk like that."

Stiles snorted, "Your fault, you talked me through my finals and you didn't use small words despite all the times I begged you to."

Ricky nodded, remembering the time Stiles and he spent studying and all the whining that Stiles did when the beta refused to back down. Stiles ended up with all higher grades, better than Stiles had imagined after the first semester they had, between his first Heat and being kidnapped, it had been a challenge but it was something that Ricky thoroughly enjoyed doing. Instead of answering, Ricky pressed forward and kissed Stiles on the mouth for a second before he tucked his hands around the omega's lower back and kept him close. He tucked his head into Stiles' neck and inhaled the sweet scent of the omega and grinned before he pressed a closed mouth kiss to the side of Stiles' throat.

"Don't distract me," Stiles muttered and Ricky chuckled into the omega's throat.

"Wasn't trying to distract you. What am I distracting you from?" Ricky whispered into Stiles' skin.

"I am trying to make sure you are going to take care of you in the next couple of weeks, then you can take care of me and Derek and everyone else comes after that."

Ricky nodded into Stiles' skin, "Sounds good to me."

"So our first job from the plan is to go do our own shopping later today, did you want to split up and go with family members?" Stiles asked before he dislodged himself from Ricky's lap much to the beta's dismay. He hopped around the room excitedly, changing into his day clothes from the pajamas he'd been wearing for much of the morning. Derek just stood by the door; a somber expression on his face and Ricky threw aside all the other stuff he might be worried about, jumping up from the bed and crossing the room to press his hand into the side of Derek's neck and the alpha smiled a little at him. "I'm okay."

"You haven't been back since the hunters and your dad?" Ricky asked gently.

Derek nodded but didn't say anything, "Is the house the same?"

"No," Derek whispered with a subtle shake of his head, "My mother changed a lot of the house and it's bigger now as well. It's the perfect place for us to find our footing in our first years together then we can always go somewhere else."

Ricky snorted, "This is a beautiful home Derek and I would be proud to call this my home as well."

Derek smiled, "I love you Gari."

Ricky grinned and pressed a quick kiss to Derek's mouth before the got ready to leave the house. They decided that Stiles was going to pair up with Cora and Derek drove to the mall with Derek, Otto and Ravyn who decided to go with Ricky instead of their parents who were fooling around on their phones in the back seat. Derek drove behind the jeep in front of them where Cora was with their little omega. Ricky could see the wild movement of Cora's hands while they talked.

"You think Cora and Stiles will have a good time together today?" Ricky asked.

Otto snorted from the back seat, "Cora makes Stiles look like a mute, they will get along just fine as long as they can take turns talking."

Ricky kept looking sideways at Derek who was still uncomfortably quiet but Ricky couldn't sense anything beyond the sadness left over from being in his old house. He didn't know what else there was to say so Ricky just went back to watching the countryside go by. He wasn't going to talk about private things like Derek's feelings in front of others, even family. Derek deserved privacy if he was going to struggle with the past and being brought back home, even if he wanted to be here it was still understandably hard for Ricky's alpha to work through all that stuff.

When they pulled into the parking lot and parked the Camaro well away from the busier areas of the lot, Otto and Ravyn let out annoyed groans. "Come on man! No one's going to touch your car, everyone knows who it belongs to!" Otto said annoyed.

Derek just shrugged and helped everyone out of the car before he walked around the front of the car and pressed Ricky into the side of the car with his warm body. The beta stood shocked by the blatant need to scent him but didn't deny Derek the right. The alpha pressed his nose into the side of Ricky's neck and inhaled sharply. "You're mine," he said and Ricky laughed.

"Yes I am, but you better hurry if you're going to scent Stiles before he walks into the mall," no sooner did Ricky stop speaking and gesture towards the omega who was walking towards the entrance and Derek acted. The alpha grinned, kissed Ricky once more and nodded to Otto before he took off towards their other mate. Ricky chuckled and he walked towards the entrance with Ravyn next to him. It was going to be an interesting day.