So, there's a twist in the story now that even I didn't anticipate. Ah well. It happens.
As the day went on, Stiles had a sickening feeling that something was very wrong. By mid-day, he mass texted everyone, his dad and Melissa included, asking if they were alright. Danny was the first at school to actually find him, however. "Dude, are you okay?" he asked, brow furrowing a little.
Stiles looked a little paler than normal, and that worried Danny more than slightly. "Yeah. I just... don't you feel it? S'just... something feels very wrong," Stiles mumbled, though Danny somehow heard him.
Danny frowned but nodded as he said, "Yeah, I've thought that too. I thought it was just me being paranoid."
The two of them stood there a moment longer before heading toward the cafeteria, glancing around them as if expecting something to jump out at them. They joined the rest of the pack that was at the school at their usual table, ignoring the odd looks they always got. A lot of the students still could not believe that their group chose to sit together, what with Stiles and some of the popular students all at one table. So far, so good, Stiles guessed.
He was almost done with his lunch when it happened, making Stiles choke on the drink he had just taken and a fry tumbled out of Scott's mouth before the later said, "No way," while the entire group watched someone walking toward their table.
None of the others could figure out what was going on as Stiles coughed, trying to clear his throat as the woman that had come in stopped at their table. She gave a toothy grin that had some members of the table tense. Lydia cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out who this person was when Stiles finally said, "You're dead! I-I mean... what? How? But, I... I... you were dead. I saw you. We saw you. Sorry for digging you up, that was... But you're dead. I saw you."
Laura Hale laughed softly with an amused smirk, crossing her arms over her chest as she said, "You must be Stiles."
Stiles groaned at how familiar that sounded as Allison said, "Not to be rude, but who are you?"
"Laura," she replied, straightening her leather jacket after uncrossing her arms. "Hale."
The werewolves of the pack tensed significantly as Laura plopped down in an empty seat. "Stiles, call Derek," urged Lydia with a faint frown.
"And say what?" asked Stiles with a mini-flail as Scott mumbled something about "were-zombies". "'Hey, dude, thought you should know your sister's back from the dead, and stealing my fries'? Not cool, by the way."
Stiles huffed and crossed his arms while Laura just smirked in a way that told everyone, if they had any doubts, that she really was Derek's sister; not that her eyes were not similar enough to his to tell that, too. "How is my dear, baby brother?" she questioned, smirking faintly as if she already knew.
"I'm calling Derek," Scott mumbled, pulling out his phone while Stiles studied Laura carefully. Issac whined faintly and Stiles reached over to gently squeeze his wrist as Scott spoke to Derek. "No, man, I know it's not funny. I'm being serious."
Scott held the phone out toward Laura, who smirked once again as she said, "Hi, baby brother. Interesting choices you've made here. Peter was right."
Stiles tensed at the mention of Peter, and he knew the others heard his heart falter for a moment, while Derek's response to Laura was to hang up the phone. Laura rolled her eyes. "Well, it's been real, kiddos," Laura said as she stood up and stretched, earning herself looks from others in the cafeteria that made her smirk. "I've things to see and people to do."
With an over-dramatic wink, Laura left the cafeteria, the pack continuing to sit in confusion. Lunch was almost over when the entire pack received a mass text from Derek saying that there would be a meeting that evening at his place immediately after school. Stiles let out a shaky breath as he put his phone into his jeans pocket. He had no idea what to think of the resurrecting Hales, but a part of him was worried. It took great amounts of power. So, who was doing it, and why? There had to be some reason none of them saw yet. That worried Stiles most of all.
It worried him more than the sound of a younger Laura Hale's voice echoing in his ears. "You must be Stiles. Derek doesn't shut up about you," she said, to which Stiles heard an argumentative whine in response. The teen sighed and rubbed his forehead with a faint frown. Why did those phantom sounds hit him at the worst times? He needed to focus on chemistry.
Derek was there to get him after school, and the car ride was silent, tense in a way that made Stiles fidget in his seat more than usual until Derek reached over to gently squeeze his knee. "I wish I knew what was going on," Stiles mumbled, knowing that Derek could hear him.
"Yeah," the elder man sighed, gently squeezing Stiles' knee once again.
Once they got to the house, they separated, giving each other some distance for a few reasons. The first being that Stiles' dad was there and would greatly appreciate it if the PDA was minimal. The second was that it was a pack meeting, meaning time to distinguish between boyfriend and alpha. Stiles was not sure how Melissa and his dad got off work for the meeting, but he did not ask. "Okay, so," Stiles said, after a few moments of no one speaking, "Laura showed up at the school today. She stole some of my fries, too."
"Laura... Hale?" the sheriff asked for clarification, looking toward Derek, who tensed but remained silent.
Scott nodded as he said, "Yeah. It was. Nothing seemed off beyond her being there when she's dead... or should be. I mean, I saw the body."
"I don't know what this means," Derek admitted, something they all knew was difficult for him. "A lot of research needs to be done, so we can't just rely on Stiles, like always. Until we know for sure, everyone needs to be cautious. Don't go anywhere alone, and always have your phone with you, on, volume up or on vibrate, and charged."
Derek shot a pointed look at Scott, who smiled sheepishly in response. "Do you think Peter did it?" questioned Allison. "It seemed liked she talked to him, at least."
"I don't know. He's not really been around, so..." Derek shrugged in a defeated manner, and Stiles held back the want to get up and hug him.
The meeting was mostly conspiracy theories of what was going on, but soon enough, everyone started to leave. Stiles had already talked to his dad about staying with Derek. He did not want to leave the man alone in that house. The sheriff had not allowed it, but came up with a compromise. "Dad said you could come stay with us," Stiles told his boyfriend once they were alone. "My door's got to stay open, but you wouldn't be up here alone."
Derek looked, for a moment, like he was going to argue, but then, he nodded and said, "Yeah, okay. Let me grab some clothes and books we can start with."
"M'kay," Stiles replied, nodding a little while smiling softly at Derek. It was not exactly the scenario he would have chosen for having Derek in his bed, but it was a start.
Soon enough, the two were in the car, heading toward the Stilinski house as Derek and Stiles had their hands linked between them, the elder driving with one hand. Stiles absently bounced his knee, humming along with the radio that played softly, until he finally said, "I think I keep remembering bits and pieces from before."
"Oh?" Derek's face did not change, though Stiles had not expected it to.
"Mmhmm... like... you falling asleep next to me, or Laura saying that you talked about me a lot." Stiles' brow furrowed a little, glancing over at Derek, who reached a hand over to link his fingers with Stiles'. "We were close, weren't we?"
Derek sighed softly as he turned the car onto the road that would take them to Stiles' house. "Yeah, kinda," he answered after a few moments. "Your mom's best friend was my mom. I'm not supposed to answer these questions. We're supposed to let you remember on your own. It's... less damaging that way."
Stiles lifted his brow at Derek's choice of words. Less damaging. That meant that whatever had happened was really bad. Of course, the whole selective amnesia thing could lead one to that conclusion as well. Stiles worried at his lower lip absently, looking out the window as the houses and trees flew past them. "I want to remember," Stiles insisted. "I don't like not knowing years of my life, especially if you were in it."
"You'll remember when you do," Derek insisted, gently squeezing Stiles' hand as he parked the car outside of the Stilinski house.
Stiles sighed softly but did not argue, and the two of them made their way inside, where the sheriff was making dinner for the three of them. "Hello, boys," he said with a smile. "Food's almost done."
"Thanks, Dad. We'll be right down," replied Stiles, smiling back before leading Derek upstairs so they could put his bag and the books down. "We can start researching after we eat. I'll never focus if we don't."
The two of them laughed softly, knowing it was the truth, and Derek gently squeezed Stiles' arm before the two of them went downstairs to help the sheriff set the table. It was really relaxed, while Stiles had been sure it would be a little more tense. It was the first time the three of them were alone together since he and Derek had gotten together. He knew that his dad knew, he had made sure of it after all, and he was worried that his dad was going to try the whole intimidating, protective father thing; but, the man never did.
It was nice, in an odd way. Soon enough, though, Derek and Stiles were up in the teen's room, sprawled out on his bed as they poured over the books that Derek had brought. Stiles had some rock music playing in the background, and the teen hummed along faintly, absentmindedly tapping his fingers on the edge of the book that he was looking through. It was fascinating, and had a lot of facts that might come in handy in the future; but, so far, there was nothing on the resurrection of anything, supernatural or not.
"It's probably something really dark," Stiles mumbled to himself, reaching up to absently ruffle his hair. They had been reading for quite a few hours, and a glance at the clock told Stiles that it was nearing one in the morning, and he had school later. "Shit. I need to get some sleep."
Derek did not comment, but he nodded before standing up to start cleaning off the bed. Stiles started to help, but Derek just told him to go change instead. Once they were both in more comfortable clothes, they climbed into Stiles' bed, Derek's arm instantly wrapping around his boyfriend's waist to pull Stiles close to him. Stiles hummed softly with a faint smile, snuggling as close as possible. Stiles wanted to talk, to run some ideas by Derek, but he could not quite get his mouth to cooperate, as a wave of tiredness he had not realized was there hit him. It only took a few moments before Stiles was actually asleep, safe and warm as he snuggled close to Derek. The elder male ended up falling asleep soon after, and when the sheriff walked by to head to his own room, the man could not keep from smiling faintly seeing them all curled up together. It reminded him of years past, where they would do the same when his wife babysat Derek.
He should have known that, memories or not, Stiles would end up back in Derek's life. There was an attraction there, something that just pushed them together. It was odd to think of Stiles with anyone but Derek, the sheriff realized as he climbed into his own bed. There was a day when he would have been more upset by that thought. However, he was just glad that his son was happy.