This is crossposted to AO3 (same title), but the chapters are divided differently... over there I give shorter update more frequently, here there are longer updates, less frequently.

Anyway, here you go. Enjoy :)

Chapter Two

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked when he got into her car that evening.

"I'm fine. Totally great, in fact. My entire life just got turned upside down, but I'm awesome."

Instead of pulling back out of the driveway, Lydia turned off the car.

"What are you doing?"

"What's she like?"

"My mom?" Lydia nodded. "She's... she smells exactly the way I remember. I only talked to her for a few minutes. I didn't even know what to say. I still don't know. God, how is this even possible?"

"Genie," Lydia reminded him. "In fact, I would argue that your mom is the root of all the other changes."

"What?"

"That was your wish, wasn't it? That she was alive?"

Stiles shrugged. "I mean, yeah. I didn't wish it. But it's what I wanted. It's kind of hard not to."

"You didn't need to say it out loud. The genie knew your thoughts. The last thing I remember before waking up this morning was her saying-"

"'I can give you your mother'."

"Yeah."

"But how? How does my wish to have her back turn into the Hales being alive too?"

"The butterfly effect," Lydia said. "Everything has consequences. If you go back in time and step on a butterfly thirty years ago, the consequences could lead to the destruction of a rainforest that should be here today."

"Ugh. I am going to have the world's biggest headache."

"In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably tell you what mindboggling weirdness I learned while I was home." She slipped her hand between the seats and pulled out a Polaroid.

"Is this what I think it is?" Stiles asked.

"Yep," she said, turning her attention toward turning on the car.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed in outrage. "This is so not okay. What the hell?"

Having frequented the ruins of the Hale house in the months following Scott becoming a werewolf, Stiles thought he had an idea of what it would look like in its prime. But nothing could have prepared him for sight as they pulled up the long, well kept driveway.

"Wow," he said, his mouth falling open in awe. Lydia, on the other hand, did not seem surprised at all.

"It's almost exactly how it was in my hallucinations," she said, answering his unasked question.

The house was white and huge. He realized now that when Derek said things about how much room there was for his big family, he wasn't just romanticizing the past. A decent portion of the house was literally lost in the fire. But here it was in all its glory, whole, and white, and beautiful.

Lydia followed the driveway around behind the house, and parked it with the half dozen cars that were already there.

They got out of the car, both shaking with nerves (though Stiles was certain Lydia was maintaining herself better, she always did). Before they even made up the front step, someone opened the door.

"You're late," she said in an accusatory tone. Stiles immediately recognized her as Laura Hale. It was hard to forget her face, and even know he couldn't wash the image of her dead body from his mind.

"Sorry," Lydia said, sounding legitimately apologetic, while Stiles sorted through a dozen excuses, before reminding himself that he shouldn't lie with so many wolves around.

"It's okay," Laura shrugged. "Mom and dad have been freaking out over the food, so I don't even think they've realized what time it is. Come on in."

When she turned her back on them, Lydia shot Stiles a questioning look.

'Laura,' he mouthed silently back.

They were only a few steps into the foyer when a child's voice screeched out a battle cry. A few moments later, the child in question came running down the hall. And then there was Derek, scooping her off the ground. He carried her the rest of the way down the hall.

"'Bout time you guys got here," he said. "Kase, you remember Lydia, right?"

"Lydia!" the girl shouted gleefully.

"And this is Stiles," Derek introduced. "Stiles, this is my little sister, Kasey."

Kasey stared at him with narrowed eyes. "He's so tiny," she said. "You could crush him with your bare hands." She made squishing motions with her fists. Stiles felt like he should have been at least a little offended, but it was probably the cutest thing he'd ever seen, and thus found it hard to do anything but laugh along with the others.

Derek shifted Kasey onto his hip, and reached out with his free hand to take Stiles'. This took Stiles by surprise, but went along with it. They had agreed during the car ride over that they should try to keep a low profile, at least until they figured out what was going on.

"You okay?" Derek asked. "I know you're been worried about tonight."

Stiles nodded. "I'm fine. No big deal, right?"

Derek offered him a smile, and Stiles was pretty sure that it would have been the strangest thing he had ever seen, if it hadn't been for how the rest of the day had gone.

Stiles wasn't exactly accustomed to large family gatherings. Even when his mom was alive, it was only ever the three of them. Most of his grandparents were dead and he didn't have any aunts or uncles. Recently, pack gatherings had become an almost weekly thing, but there was something much different about a bunch of teens sitting around a few boxes of pizza compared to an actual, honest to god, home cooked family dinner.

"We tried to keep dinner small tonight," Mrs. Hale said as they all sat down at the large table. Stiles almost laughed out loud. There were nine people, including himself and Lydia. How big was the Hale pack?

"We didn't want to dump all of the family crazy on you at once," Laura added.

"Clearly we failed at keeping it small, and there is still time for crazy," Mr. Hale said with a wink.

"That's okay," Lydia said. "I'm not very close with my family. I think it's nice that you all are."

They spent the rest of the meal talking mostly about Stiles and Lydia, asking question that neither of them was quite sure they were answering correctly.

"Let me do you kids a favor," Mr. Hale said when it became clear that they were getting uncomfortable. He directed his attention to Cora. "So tell us about this boy you're courting."

Cora turned bright red. "I'm not courting him."

"Fine. Romancing. Seducing. Dating. Whatever you want to call it."

"Dad. We're not dating!" she said. "I'm not even sure if he's interested."

"Well then he's stupid. You're a beautiful young woman," Mr. Hale said. Cora groaned.

"Oooh," Laura said with a cackle. "I can't believe you haven't told me about him. Is he cute?"

Cora tried to bury her face in the tablecloth.

"How about you tell everyone about the girl you're interested in," Peter said with a mischievous grin.

Laura gaped at him. "I trusted you!"

"Well that was your first mistake," Lydia said, earning a round of laughter from the table.

"Come on, Laura, tell us," Mrs. Hale said.

Laura groaned, turning slightly pink, but was not nearly as embarrassed as her sister had been. "She's one of my students," she said. Stiles briefly wondered what grade she taught. "I teach at Beacon Heights University," she said, seeming to have read his mind. "She's a freshman in my honors biochem class."

Stiles quickly did the math in his head and, momentarily forgetting that he was in a room of mostly werewolves, muttered something under his breath that sounded like "Pedowolves."

Mrs. Hale laughed. "I understand how it may look from your position. I'm sure Derek has explained to you that wolves age differently than normal humans." He hadn't, at least not to Stiles' recollection, but Cora and Peter had certainly hinted at it. "Its not unusual for us to choose a mate much younger than you might think is acceptable."

"Talia is seventeen years my senior," Mr. Hale said. Stiles was more than a little bothered by this, as he was seventeen, which made their age difference roughly the same as the difference between him and a newborn.

"Yeah, this girl is, at most, 10 years younger than me. It doesn't seem to bother her though. We've gone out for coffee a few times, and she frequently comes to office hours, despite the fact that she has one of the highest grades in the class. I'm pretty sure she wants this," Laura said, indicating to her body.

"Never let it be said that Hales don't have a type," Peter said. "Human and highly intelligent." He grinned and winked at Lydia, which Stiles found profoundly disturbing.

In the spirit of making everyone present as uncomfortable as possible, Mrs. Hale gathered them around a photo album in the living room after dinner.

"Can we not pull out the baby photos?" Derek asked, a pleading tone in his voice.

"I'm sure you were an adorable baby," Stiles said with a grin.

"I'm 100% sure that I don't care," Derek replied, pulling Stiles into his lap.

"We'll save the baby pictures for another day," Mrs. Hale said. She flipped several pages into the album. "But bad haircuts from middle school years are fair game." She showed Stiles a picture of Derek with a buzzcut. Some people just needed hair, and Derek was definitely one of those people. He laughed out loud, earning a glare from Derek.

"You gave me that haircut," he said.

"Yes, because Peter stuck a wad of gum in your hair and there was no salvaging it." It was Peter's turn to be glared at.

Mrs. Hale showed them several more embarrassing pictures before Laura interjected. "Oh, here's a good one." She held up one of her, Peter, and Derek.

"Oh, this one is from Peru," Peter said, taking the picture to examine it.

"It actually is a good picture, isn't it," Derek said.

"What's in Peru?" Stiles asked.

"My great grandparents came here from Peru," Talia said. "There is a lot of werewolf history there, so we make sure to bring all of our cubs there when they are coming of age."

"And Sam is in this one," Laura said, holding up another group picture.

"Our cousin," Derek supplied for Stiles. "He only joined us for a couple days. Since he's human, it wasn't as important for him to be there."

"Which is not to say our humans aren't important," Mrs. Hale said. "Just different."

"All right, you crazy kids," Laura said. "It's getting late and I have class first thing in the morning, so I think I'm gonna head home. It was nice seeing you two again," she said, giving Stiles and Lydia a hug. "Behave yourself," she said to Derek. "And there is nothing I can say to you to change your ways, so I won't even try," she said to Peter. She walked away to say goodnight to her parents, who had left to put little Kasey in bed and never returned.

"We'll, I'm certainly not going to hang around and be the fifth wheel to you lovebirds," Cora said. She left the the four of them sitting on the back porch.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Derek asked. Stiles was sitting next to him, with his head resting on his shoulder. He had been uncharacteristically quiet for several minutes.

"I'm fine," he said. "Just a headache." It wasn't a lie.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Lydia asked, reaching for her purse.

"No, I'll drive him. You two can hang out a while longer."

Lydia nodded and put her bag back down.

"You sure?" Stiles asked.

"I'll be fine," Lydia assured him. "You should get some rest."

Derek took Stiles hand and guided him around the house and into the passenger seat of his Camaro.

"I'm sorry if my parents were obnoxious and overbearing," Derek said once they were a ways from the house.

"It's not that," Stiles said. "Your parents are great." He actually really liked the Hales. He found himself wishing, for a moment, that this really was his life, before he remembered that wishing was exactly how he got himself into this mess in the first place.

"How are things with your parents? Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Why would anything be wrong with them?

"Then what's bugging you?"

"It's nothing."

Derek gave him a look that clearly said he didn't believe him. "You know I can tell when you're lying."

"I know. I just. I can't talk about it, alright?"

"Yeah, okay," Derek nodded. "But you know you can always talk to me if you need to, right?"

"I know."

"No one is home," Derek said a few minutes later when they pulled up to Stiles' house.

"Mom's in Beacon Heights, Dad is on the night shift."

"You'll be okay on your own? I can stay, if you want."

Stiles wanted to say yes, to drag Derek into his bed and kiss him, a lot. He wanted to fall asleep holding tightly too him. But saying yes would have felt so wrong. This wasn't his world, he didn't belong here. And it was bad enough he was pretending to be a Stiles he wasn't, he couldn't use that lie to get Derek into his bed.

"I'm a big boy, I think I'll be okay."

"Alright." Derek leaned over and kissed him. Stiles tried to cover up his shock, but he never was very good at hiding his emotions. Derek looked at him with a combination of confusion and worry, but didn't say anything more than "call me if you need anything?"

"Of course. Good night," Stiles said, then climbed out of the car in the least graceful manner possible.

Once inside the house, he shut the door, locked it, then threw himself against it, sliding down to the ground, where he buried his face in his hands until several minutes after he heard Derek drive away.

When he finally found the will to move, he dashed up the stairs and into his room. What he wanted to do was get some rest like everyone suggested, but what he did instead was pop an adderall and open his laptop.

He had to find a way to get out of this warped universe before he started to like it too much and lost the will to leave.

At 6:06 the next morning, Stiles called Lydia to give her an update on what he had learned.

"Stiles?" she answered, sounding groggy like he'd maybe woken her up. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"6:07. I assumed you would be awake and getting ready for school."

Lydia groaned.

"I now realize that I was wrong. Sorry."

"What do you want, Stiles?"

"Did you know there are over two hundred types of genie? According to the internet anyway, which admittedly isn't the most reliable of resources, but it's not like I can just go up to Deaton and say Hey, I don't actually know if we've met, but I need some information from you. Anyway, there are ridiculously many legends, but a lot of them are fairly similar. Have you heard of a Djinn?"

"Stiles. How much adderall have you had?"

Stiles was silent for a moment. "Some. More than a little. Okay, maybe a lot. But I've learned so much-"

"Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Yes!" he said, insulted at the insinuation that he pulled an all-nighter. Again. "A little bit anyway. Okay, no, not really."

"Stiles."

"There is no time for sleep, Lydia. We have to find a way out of this place. In order to do that, we have to figure out what we're dealing with."

"Hmm. I'm surprised at you. I thought you would like it here."

"I do like it here, and that's the problem. What surprises me is that you seem to like it, too. You're the one that is apparently in a committed relationship with psychotic murder wolf."

"He's not so bad in this universe. Not psychotic, just a little unstable. He's actually kind of sweet though."

"Alright, I'm going to hang up now. I'll talk to you at school after I'm finished bleaching my brain."

He hung up with her and turned his attention back to the dozen or so tabs of research on his computer.

"Stiles?" his dad called out forty five minutes later when he got home.

"Yeah dad?"

"Just wondering if you were still here."

"Yep. I'll be leaving soon. How was your shift?"

"Long and exhausting. But I've got the next two days off, so plenty of time to sleep it off. Will you be home for dinner tonight?"

"Oh, um." Stiles thought about it for a moment. "I'm not sure yet. Probably not though. Lydia and I have a research thing to work on. But if you need me to be home early, I can-"

"No, it's alright. Maybe we can do breakfast tomorrow?"

"Sure thing."

"I'm gonna hit they hay. Have a good day at school, kid."

Finding time to talk to Lydia about their situation is virtually impossible during the school day. Too many people in the way, and not enough time in between classes.

"Let's just wait until after school get's out," she said at lunch.

"Am I interrupting something?" Danny asked, joining them at the picnic table.

"Yes," the said in unison.

"Too bad. I need the notes I missed from yesterday."

"Yeah, where were you, dude?" Stiles asked as Lydia pulled out her binder and pulled out the notes from classes they shared.

"I told you I was going to be out for testing. The doctors don't think I'm going to need surgery again. Not yet anyway."

"Well that's good," Stiles said, though he had no idea what surgery he was referring to.

"Yeah, but it looks like I won't be able to play lacrosse for a few more months."

"You're too good for them anyway," he said, still bitter about how Scott had treated him.

"Aint that the truth."

Lydia opened one of her textbooks and started on her math homework, and Danny started copying her notes. Stiles, overcome with sudden tiredness, laid his head on the table.

"You okay over there?" Lydia asked.

"Adderall is wearing off," he said.

"You know that research shows that prolonged amphetamine use can lead to erectile dysfunction, right?" Danny said.

"Thank you for thinking about my penis, Danny. That's sweet of you."

"I'm thinking about your overall health and I figured fear of the health of your penis was the only way to show you that you have a problem that needs to be addressed."

"I do have a problem. It's called ADHD, and it's being addressed with prescription drugs."

"Whatever dude. Don't complain to me when you're twenty-five and you can't get it up."

A few minutes later, Stiles noticed Cora walking across the courtyard. He nudged Lydia with his foot and pointed her in Cora's direction. Lydia hummed as Cora sat down with Boyd, smiling in a way she never did in their world.

"Makes kind of sense," Stiles said. Lydia nodded.

"Alright everyone," Mr. Yukimura said when the bell rang signaling the beginning of class. "We're going to split into pairs today. No, Mr. Mahealani, you cannot have a group of three. Pairs."

"It's fine," Stiles said. "You two pair up. I have something else in mind."

When Mr. Yukimura finished explaining their assignment and told them to pair off, Stiles moved to the back of the class and sat down in front of Isaac.

"Wanna be partners?" he asked.

Isaac looked up at him like maybe he had grown an extra head. "Aren't you usually with Lydia Martin?"

"Usually. Not today. If you're cool with that, I mean."

"I... sure, I guess."

"Great." Stiles offered him a wide smile, which did nothing to reassure him that this wasn't some huge joke.

"So what was that with Isaac earlier?" Lydia asked on the way home that afternoon.

"Just being friendly."

"Bullshit."

"Alright, fine. He's got bruising on his wrists and a black eye that's mostly healed, but definately still visible. His dad is still hitting him, and I can't just... I can't."

"Stiles. You know this isn't our world. We can't go around putting our noses in places we don't belong."

"When have I ever listened to people who tell me I shouldn't do something? That's right, never."

"What are you even going to do?"

"I don't know yet, but I have to do something."

He looked for a moment like he had more to say, but the words never make it too his mouth. Instead his head falls against the passenger window.

"Stiles?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you really just fall asleep?"

"What? No."

"You did. I'm driving you home. We'll talk about genies once you've had a good eight hours rest."

"But I learned all sorts of important things. I have to tell you."

"You can't tell me if you keep falling asleep on me."

A few minutes later they pulled into his driveway. Lydia walked him into the house and up the stairs to his room to make sure he actually went to sleep.

Of course, he still tried to sit down at his computer.

"No you don't," she said, dragging him. "Bed now, research later."

"All I was gonna do is email my notes to you."

"You can give me the gist of it later. Bed now."

"Ughh fine. You know, there was a time when you getting me into bed was all I thought about. I'm not sure when that changed," he said as he started to doze off again.

"Where do you keep the adderall?"

"Top right. I wonder if this Stiles had a huge crush on you. Or did he always know he preferred boys?"

Lydia reached into the desk drawer and retrieved the bottle. "I'll give this back later," she said.

"Mmkay."

"Sleep well, Stiles."

He was too far gone to reply.