After dinner, I thanked dad for doing the dishes, promised to try and not wreck anything in the basement (not that there was anything valuable), and brought Derek and Scott down stairs.

"I've never been down here, I thought I thought it was just storage and junk…" Scott trailed off as he looked around the basement. Or the Torture Dungeon as I had named it.

I mean, that's not what it was ever used for, but there were chains and manacles hanging off the walls making it look like we had definitely killed and tortured at least a few people.

"Yeah, this is why you've never been down here," I replied, somewhat nervous about his reaction.

"These are bolted in really well, and taken care of. I'm impressed," Derek told me, examining some of the chains closest to him.

"You don't think I'm some weird serial killer in my free time?" I asked him, a little surprised. I was expecting a reaction similar to Scott's–who still seemed like he was trying to grasp what he was seeing.

"Stiles, you don't think my family had a Full Moon room?"

"Well, I just figured that you didn't need one because you had the reserve… but I guess you still couldn't have out of control wolves running around in the open," I admitted.

"Is it sound proofed?" Derek asked, looking around like he was checking the room for any weaknesses.

"Yeah, we had to make sure neighbours wouldn't hear us. We check it every few years, keep everything cleaned up and in good shape, replace anything when it gets damaged. I haven't had to use this that many times since about a year after my mom died, but there were always…" I trailed off when I realized something.

"When was the Fire?" I asked Derek. "Like the date, I know the year."

"End of November, why?"

"Holy shit, holy shit, that makes so much sense!"

"Wait, you guys used to chain yourselves up on full moons? In a basement? Does that even work?" Scott asked, finally putting everything together. I barely even registered that he was talking because I was having a revelation.

"Stiles, what is happening?" Derek asked, starting to sound a little stressed. That snapped me out of it.

I took a deep breath before letting everything out in a rush, "I used to have troubles on full moons around the beginning of June and the end of November. I understood why I had a harder time in June–"

"Your mom," Scott whispered. It had almost become taboo, kinda like his dad, talking about her. Which really helped at first, but kinda sucked now. Whatever, that was a problem for a later date.

"–but I never understood why November. It didn't make sense! But now, it's like I was mourning with you! I mean you guys were family, that was for sure, but mom died a year after the Fire… and I was just overwhelmed with the grief from that…" I finished apologetically, realizing I sounded like an ass.

"Stiles I get it, there's no reason for you to feel bad. You didn't just lose your mother, you lost your Alpha, your pack, everything. I still had Laura, at least," Derek reminded me. He hugged me tight, and I realized he was also letting me know that he had felt the same thing around the time my mother died. He probably just couldn't say it.

"Thanks," I whispered against his chest. "Okay, so," I changed the subject, clapping my hands together and turning to Scott. "Scotty. We are going to have to chain you up, as a precaution. I know you may feel fine now, which is already impressive, but eventually you are going to be hit with the full moon like someone decked you. We'll stay here with you all night, watch movies, talk, whatever you need."

He nodded, swallowing audibly. He walked over to the chains in the middle of the big wall and faced me. I smiled at him in what I hoped was a reassuring expression. It must have worked a little because he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded again. This time I could see he was less panicked about the constraints.

"Okay, Derek, in that room over there is a TV. It's pretty old but it still works and we can watch movies and stuff if we want. I have snacks. We should be good to go!" I said, mostly thinking aloud but it was also meant to help keep Scott as calm as possible. A lot of people thought my constant babble was annoying but it was usually meant as a distraction, for other people in bad situations or to deflect attention from things I didn't want to talk about.

Derek carried the TV into the room and set it down on the table in front of Scott. I thanked him and grabbed my Full Moon approved DVDs–there were movies and shows in here, none of them stressful to any degree.

"So Scott, what do you want to do? Talk, watch TV, nap," Derek asked. I laughed quietly at the nap suggestion.

"We can watch some movies first. I'm not really feeling all that wolfy yet and I'm going to need you guys to talk me through that," Scott told us. Sometimes Scott was much more logical than I thought possible. I was starting to realize that I underestimated Scott quite a bit.

I loved Scott, he was my best friend, my brother, and now he was pack. He was always funny and kind to everyone and naïve and sometimes a little too trusting. I was the one that was sarcastic and witty, logical and critical. We balanced each other nicely, because where we were different it was complimentary, and where we were similar it was comfortable.

But maybe he wasn't quite as naïve as I thought, or as dense as everyone thought he was–including me. I was starting to believe it was that he wanted everything to be positive, and so he acted in a way that might make that more possible. He made tense situations less tense, and joked around to make everyone laugh, even at his expense. I knew he was smart, I just didn't realize the extent of his intelligence.

I had underestimated him. I felt ashamed of myself.

"Scott, I'm so sorry," I told him. He looked confused, so I elaborated. "I'm sorry that I've underestimated you so much, and I'm sorry it took me this long to realize just how smart you are."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked, still extremely confused. I knew it wasn't anything he had noticed, but I still wanted to let him know how much I realized he was capable of.

"I've always thought you were just… I don't know, not slow, but not as smart as you actually are. You're very smart, I know that, but I just didn't realize that you were as logical as you were. I just underestimate you, that's all. You make decisions in a more informed way than I thought you did," I blabbered. I took a deep breath, stopping the words that were falling out of my mouth.

Scott didn't look offended, but I had never expected him to. He knew how people perceived him, used it to his advantage sometimes.

"Stiles I know, it's fine. I've never been offended about people thinking I'm stupid, I know it's just because I'm not traditionally smart. I've accepted it. But I know you don't think I'm stupid," Scott assured me, giving me his puppy smile.

"Really Stiles? Disney movies?" I heard Derek ask me incredulously. I turned to him, grinning.

"What, are you telling me that Disney movies get your pulse racing? Is there something we need to talk about, sweetheart?" I joked, shoving him a little. He laughed.

"Can we watch Tangled?" Scott asked excitedly, seeing the stack of movies on the table.

I nodded, putting the DVD into the player and sitting, pulling Derek down to sit beside me on the old couch. We had moved it beside Scott so that he wouldn't feel as alone, and so I could throw snacks into his mouth.

After four movies (Wall-E, Cars, and, though it wasn't a Disney movie, The Breakfast Club), I got up to go to the bathroom and replenish our snack and drink supply, and also to make sure my dad didn't need anything.

I found my dad sprawled out on the couch, snoring. I thought about waking him, but I knew he'd had a long day. Looking at the clock, I realized it was 3 am. I picked him up and draped him over my shoulder and heard him grumbling.

"Stiles, I'm fine, I was just resting my eyes," he protested. But he was still half-asleep and couldn't put up too much of a fight, nor do I think he really wanted to. He was too tired to drag himself upstairs, and he knew how uncomfortable it was to sleep on the couch all night.

After I put my dad in his bed, he mumbled a very sleepy 'thank you son' and fell back to sleep. I smiled and left the room. Once I was done and had everything I needed I went back downstairs.

When I opened the door I heard Scott growling quietly, but it sounded more like he was snoring–each growl came on an exhale. He was controlling himself. I was about to rush downstairs, until I heard Derek talking to Scott, trying to keep him calm, human. I decided to stay at the top of the stairs and wait. It might agitate Scott more if I showed up. And, honestly, I was curious to see how Derek and Scott handled this.

"Scott, it's okay, you're doing really well," I heard Derek. "Let's talk about Allison, okay?" He paused, and must have either gotten a nonverbal answer from Scott, or realized he wasn't going to get one. "Did you ever reschedule the date that you were supposed to have today?"

"Ye-yeah, we did. We were talking about it–ugh–at lunch today," Scott told him. I could hear the strain that Scott was exerting to control himself: he was breathing heavily, grunting, growling. My wolf was fighting to protect my mate and help my Beta, but I was making myself stay. I knew Derek was fine and had everything under control. He knew I was here and he would call me down if he needed me.

"Okay good! That's really good, so what are you thinking about doing?"

Scott was panting now, I could feel his control slipping even more, which was to be expected. I hadn't honestly expected him to be able to hold it off for this long, so I was impressed. The Allison thing must have been working.

"We're–fuck this is really hard–we're going to an arcade," Scott cut off with a howl. I figured that was my cue to go down and help. He had pretty much lost control and I couldn't make anything worse.

I ran down the stairs, my arms clutching the snacks and drinks. I set them down on the table beside the TV and turned around to face Scott and Derek. Derek was fine, calm as usual. Scott was completely wolfed out and trying to claw at Derek and I, or trying to escape, or just losing his mind a little bit.

I smelled the air. Fear. Anxiety. Scott was scared of this, he was scared of what he was capable of.

"Scotty, it's alright, you're okay," I told him. "You don't need to be scared of this, you won't hurt anyone."

I heard his heartrate slow, barely, but it was something. He was still panicking, though.

"Scott, you can't be scared of the wolf, you have to let it in. You'll feel better if you stop fighting it and let it become a part of you," I told him. "Let the wolf and the human parts of you get used to each other."

I had no idea if I was getting through to him, but I think just me talking was maybe bringing him back a little more. Maybe it reminded him of his human side. I could work with that. Get more human.

"So, did you notice Isaac today?" I didn't wait for an answer but I noticed that I had his attention. "I still think there's something going on with him that we don't know about, maybe with his dad?" I thought aloud, mostly trying to distract Scott.

He whined sadly–Scott didn't like the thought of anyone being hurt or upset. His empathy was reminding him of being human, though.

"But, I think he and Danny were hitting it off, so maybe that'll be–" My thought was cut off by a very angry and possessive growl. Interesting. Okay, steer clear of the idea that Isaac and Danny might be a thing.

Maybe bring that up to him another time.

The reasons behind these reactions weren't important right now, they also most likely weren't conscious reactions. Which was common when the animal side comes out. Embarrassment and judgement wasn't as big of an issue when you were a wolf, everything was much simpler.

"Okay, maybe we should spend more time with Isaac, get to know him better," I suggested. Scott purred happily at that. I was okay with that, Isaac was nice, and if I could help him with whatever was happening…

"Who is Isaac?" Derek asked. I was about to answer when he held up a hand to stop me. "Scott, who is Isaac?" I shut my mouth and backed up so Derek was in front of me slightly. He had dealt with wolves a little more than I had, he honestly probably had a better idea what he was doing.

"Isaac…" Scott growled slightly, but he sounded happy.

"Yeah Scott, Isaac, tell me about him. I don't know him," Derek prodded.

"Isaac… pretty… so sad… want to… protect…" Scott grumbled happily, thinking about Isaac. This was probably what I would look like if I was wolfed out and talking about Derek. Oh. Yeah I definitely needed to talk to Scott about this at another time.

"So, you want us to spend more time with Isaac? Try and help him? Maybe we can make him less sad. Would you like that Scotty? Do you want to see Isaac happier?" I asked him, hoping to make him happier. If I couldn't get him to stop wolfing out, I could make him a happier wolf.

He smiled, eyes glowing slightly brighter for a moment. I heard a rumble in his chest, a rumble similar to the one's that Derek made when he woke up, all wolfy and blissed out.

"Scotty, we can do that. But do you think you can come back a little? So we can talk more?" I asked calmly, hoping to coax him back to reality. At least enough for him to be aware of what was happening with him.

Slowly I saw him coming back. Not completely, but after an hour of us talking to him softly and praising him he was in the Beta shift. Progress.

"Stiles? What the hell was that?" Scott asked me, a little panicked but seemingly in control.

"That, Scotty, was your first Full Moon moment," I told him, smiling because he had gotten through it with minimal damage to everyone and everything.

"NO Stiles, I mean, what the fuck was that stuff about Isaac?" He asked more forcefully.

"Oh, uh… well, maybe now isn't the best time to talk about–"

"Your wolf recognizes Isaac as his mate," Derek said bluntly beside me.

"That," I agreed, pointing at Derek. I was really hoping this wasn't going to make him panic again.

Scott, surprisingly, didn't panic or wolf out again. In fact, he froze completely. Derek and I did as well, not wanting to agitate him or make anything worse. If we could stay calm, maybe Scott could as well.

He didn't seem panicked though, just confused. I mean, I couldn't blame him, I was confused, too. I thought he was in love with Allison, but I don't know. Maybe he had a crush on Allison, but that was all it was. An attraction. I mean, I had liked people before Derek had come back.

But Scott had never shown any interest in guys. But maybe he was just going with societal norms, or maybe he wasn't strictly gay. Maybe he just hadn't ever told me if he liked guys. Or there hadn't been any guys he was particularly interested in. I mean, it had taken me a while to realize all the guys I had had crushes on.

Scott, though I had gotten over that one. Danny. Jackson–he was an asshole but I wasn't blind. There were other crushes, but none that were more than just acknowledging the fact that people were attractive, nothing of more substance.

Maybe he was only gay for one person. Or maybe he didn't know what he was. I mean, there's an entire spectrum and Scott isn't really one to give a shit about labels. He just did what he did, liked who he liked, no worries about anyone else. It was one of the reasons we were such good friends.

"Oh," Scott breathed out finally. The thing is, he didn't seem upset about it, he just seemed… like now he understands something. Huh, maybe he had been thinking about this more than I realized. Maybe I had been too self-absorbed recently.

"You're not… upset?" I hedged.

"No, not at all, everything makes more sense now," Scott replied. He sounded breathless, relieved.

"What makes sense?" Derek asked. I think we both realized that he was calm now, less anxious. If he kept talking, we would just have a little bit of time before the moon was gone and we could get him off the wall. It was almost five am now and I could feel the pull of the moon dissipating.

"Why I always feel so protective around him, and want to cheer him up all the time. I always want everyone to be happy but with Isaac… It's almost like I feel a physical ache to see him sad or hurt. I just thought it was because he just seemed to be so much worse off than everyone else," Scott whispered. I wasn't sure if he was talking to us or himself.

"Okay, that makes sense," I told him quietly. It really did make sense, I wasn't just saying that to appease him. But he grinned at me and I could tell having these feelings make sense for him was a huge relief for him. That was understandable, I'm sure this was really confusing for Scott,. I mean, it was confusing when I had been trying to figure the whole gay thing out. That was pretty cut and dry, this was a little more complicated.

"Does it?" Scott asked me, sounding more than a little hysterical. He was looking between Derek and I, we both looked quite calm. Mates weren't surprises to us, we had grown up hearing about them, dreaming about them. It was the one thing that everyone looked forward to when they were growing up. It was always said that it was rare, but maybe it wasn't quite so rare.

Or maybe it was just because Beacon Hills was a literal beacon and made it less rare in this town. Things were always slightly more magical here, the unbelievable was always more believable, even in our world.

"Is this normal? Does this happen a lot? Stiles, what the hell man, where did this come from? Not that I haven't always liked Isaac, but I just… I don't understand, it's never been like this," he told me. He started off sounding manic but finished in a whisper.

"Scott, this is normal." Derek assured Scott. "Actually, this is something that Stiles and I have been dreaming about since we were little kids. We grew up on stories of people finding their mates, of hoping one day we would all be lucky enough to do the same."

"Yeah Scotty, this was one of our fairy tales–our Cinderella story was about two mates who had found each other," I supported. "Born werewolves have never really been overly concerned with sexuality, not amongst themselves, and certainly not with mates. I mean, come on, we're werewolves. Who we do or don't sleep with is the least of our concerns."

Scott laughed weakly, but it was definitely a laugh.

We sat quietly for a while, I don't know how long, the drinks and snacks forgotten on the table behind Derek and I. When I saw Scott starting to fall asleep, Derek and I unchained him and brought some cushions and blankets to where he was sitting on the floor. We curled up around him and he fell asleep easily, quickly followed by Derek. Scott was exhausted and fell asleep with his mouth hanging open and drool all over the pillow. Derek, pressed up to his left side with an arm thrown over Scott's chest, was purring happily.

I was in that floaty space between awake and asleep, perfectly pleased to just be here with my pack. I could have lay here forever.

But then I heard the door to the basement opening and tensed for a moment waiting for a threat to attack us, getting ready to protect my mate and my Beta. It only took a moment of doubt and panic for the scent to hit Derek and wake up snarling.

"Hey baby, it's okay, it's just my Dad," I told Derek quietly. "Der, I need you to calm down please, you're panicking Scotty."

Scott was underneath us, on his back with his eyes wide and a little scared about the snarly, grumpy wolf hovering over him. Derek looked at my dad, then me, then Scott. I'm not sure which of us did it but the fangs disappeared with the snarls and he whined apologetically.

"It's alright guys, everything is okay," I reassured them. I put my hand on Derek's cheek and poked Scott's nose, making them both smile. After I got up and gave them some snacks and drinks, I took my dad upstairs to give the boys some time to wake up.

"Hey son, how was the Full Moon?" Dad asked, handing me a coffee and drinking his own.

"Thanks dad, this coffee is fantastic. It was good, way better than I thought it would be. Scott freaked out a little around 3 or 4, when I was coming back from putting you to bed but it was nothing we couldn't handle."

"Okay, that's good. What are we making for breakfast?" He asked, pulling everything breakfast related out of the fridge–eggs, bread, bacon, pancake mix, fruit.

"I'll ask Derek and Scott what they want." I ran back downstairs to them sitting groggily and still half-asleep. Both of them took so long to wake up, it was adorable.

"Okay boys, what do we want for breakfast? Pancakes? French toast? Everything?" Neither of them had any verbal response, but I smelt their eagerness for the everything option. "Okay then, upstairs for some coffee," I told them. They both got up way faster than they should have considering they weren't fully awake.

Coffee would do that to you, I guess.

I laughed when Derek picked me up and ran me up the stairs. Scott was already sitting upstairs, munching happily on some strawberries and chattering to my dad about lacrosse. Derek put me down and started drinking his coffee, letting me help dad make breakfast.

While we cooked, Derek answered all of Scott's questions about mates and anchors and the rest of the Hale pack. To my surprise Derek actually opened up, especially about his family.

"There were 11 people in the fire, only my Uncle survived," Derek was telling him. We had started eating now, a mountain of food on all of our plates, except for my dads. He had a few pancakes and some bacon. I let him cheat the day after the Full Moon, it was only fair.

"What about you and Laura? Where were you?" Scott asked quietly, momentarily forgetting to eat after hearing how many people died.

"We were at school. I had a basketball practice and Laura was at a study session with her friends, so she said she would give me a ride home. The police came to the school to find us before practice was done and they brought us to the station and told us that our family had died in a house fire, only my uncle getting out.

"I remember sitting in the station beside Laura, and her hand was the only thing I could feel. I had gone completely numb, none of it seemed real and I couldn't understand how my whole family could be dead," Derek whispered, but even dad could hear everything clearly. We were all barely breathing.

"Would it be alright if–could you tell me about them?" Scott asked hesitantly. "Unless you don't want to talk about them, that's totally cool," he rushed on, stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth to stop himself from talking any more.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Derek told us a few stories about his family, especially ones with him and his siblings pulling stupid pranks or goofing around with each other. Scott and Dad and I chimed in with some stories from when Scott and I were growing up, as well.

After breakfast we all hung out in the living room, talking and watching tv. Dad always booked off the day after a Moon, so it was a good day. I had my family with me and for a few hours everything was alright.

The rest of the weekend passed uneventfully, Scott not having much trouble controlling his wolf. He had decided to see how things went on his date with Allison before making a decision about Isaac. Derek and I agreed, thinking it might be best to figure everything out in a more definite way before doing anything. If it turned out that Isaac was Scott's mate, he didn't want to hurt Allison because of it. And he couldn't exactly jump into the relationship with Isaac, they had to become better friends.

Even with all the new stuff that had happened over the weekend, we felt much better that Scott had finally gone through his first Full Moon and had better control over the shift. He was still learning, but it was progress and we would help him through it. And now he wasn't as scared of the shift, which really helped.

Dad drove Scott home Sunday morning on his way to work, and Derek and I had the house to ourselves. That sounded like it would be a good and sexy time–but after the events of the past week… We were due for a talk about everything. Everything that couldn't be talked about in front of Scott and my father.

Sounds like fun.

I totally don't want to do this.

So I did what I do best in situations such as these: deflect. "I'm glad you could talk about your family with us, that you're comfortable enough," I told him, smiling widely. I wasn't lying, I truly was very pleased that he trusted our tiny little pack of misfits.

Derek walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. The soft smile on his face was so breathtaking I could have cried. Until–

"Stiles, you know we need to talk about it," he said.

"I don't know what you're talking about Derek," I answered, moving over to the counter to start filling the sink and washing the dishes. I was very good at avoiding topics I didn't like and this certainly topped that list.

"Jackson," was his only response before sitting at the table and simply looking at me. Well, at the back of my head. But still, I could feel him staring me down.

I could have ignored that though, had been planning on it, actually. Until I looked down into the sink and noticed the wolf on my wrist laying with his head on his paws and his big, adorable puppy eyes staring at me, begging.

It was worse than Scott's puppy eyes, and I couldn't resist because I knew Derek really felt sad about this but didn't want to force me into this because he was so perfect. And I knew he wouldn't say anything, but he would probably take my silence as not trusting him enough to talk to him about this. Goddammit.

"That's so not fair," I sighed in defeat, running my finger over the wolf.

"Huh?" Derek asked, confused at my sudden surrender. I just turned around and showed him the wolf, who had raised his head and cocked it in confusion, but still had those huge eyes that were irresistible. The grin that slowly spread over Derek's face as he realized that I was going to talk to him about this was just as soft as the smile from before.

This man was too perfect, what the fuck had I done to deserve him?

"Okay, let's talk," I said, sitting across the table from him. I wanted to reach out and touch him so badly but I couldn't, not with what we were going to talk about here, so I kept them in front of me, gripping the edge of the table a little too hard.

"You believe the things Jackson says," Derek started. He didn't look angry or upset, he looked completely calm. He just seemed concerned.

"A lot of it, yes."

"What parts?" He placed his hands flat on the table and slid them so they were halfway across. Not reaching for me, but still letting me know he was there. It helped.

"Mostly the parts about me being useless, not good enough, especially not good enough for you. I have this fear that the only reason you're with me is because of the mates situation. If we were just humans… you wouldn't even notice me and that means that you're pretty much forced into this and I don't know if I can handle that," I admitted. I was whispering quietly enough that he had to lean forward a little to hear me. I was ashamed to admit to these fears.

I glanced up to look at Derek and saw a smirk that I hadn't been expecting. I had expected him to get angry, or frustrated. But he just looked… indulgent? I don't know, I couldn't quite place the look.

"Oh baby, you really don't see yourself clearly at all if you think I wouldn't be in love with you in every universe, in every lifetime," Derek finally said after the longest thirty seconds of my life. He reached for my hands, kissing one of them. This was one of the few times I had ever become speechless–that was just so… sweet.

"You are absolutely gorgeous, one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. And besides that, you are perfect. You're caring, you're strong, you're everything I strive to be. You are not useless and you are certainly good enough. Stiles, the point of mates isn't that we complete each other, because we are still enough as our own person, but we balance each other. We push the other person to be who they're trying to be, and we help to work through every situation that comes up. But mostly, we just love each other unconditionally, fuck what anyone else believes."

The next thing I knew I was over the table and on top of Derek, my mouth on his and my tears making the kiss salty and a little wet.

"I love you, I love you so much," I sobbed, unable to control my crying at this point and just clutching at him like I wanted to crawl inside his skin and stay there, safe and loved forever.

"I love you too baby, always," he told me quietly, letting me cry all over him. I barely even noticed it when he somehow got us off the floor and carried me to the couch to lay us down.

"I-I'm sorry, I ha-haven't cried like thi-is in a really long t-t-time, and I can't st-stop it," I stuttered and sobbed, trying to control myself and really not getting any better.

"I know love, just let me take care of you, let me help," he told me, rubbing my back and running his fingers through my hair.

After that I couldn't stop, couldn't get any words out, and eventually ended up falling asleep curled up against his body like I was five. But I couldn't complain because it was wonderful and everything I had needed.

Pretty much the quintessence of Derek.

So I had actually planned on posting Chapter 6 and 7 together but I got writer's block when I was trying to write this one so I just posted Chapter 6 alone. But I finally got this done and I'm pretty happy with it!
I am really hoping to post things more often this summer, but I just got a new job that is a lot of work and I'm pretty tired whenever I finish a shift so who knows how quickly I'll be able to update. But I'm going to try!
Let me know what you think!