Stiles grinned as the people around sung.
"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Stiles. Happy Birthday to you." He looked around the table, there wasn't much of anyone there but he didn't let that get him down. Scott was there, his Dad was there and some other people that he talked to sometimes. He took in a deep breath and blew out his candles, his twelve candles. His Dad started cutting up the cake and Stiles was happy to see that it was chocolate with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles. He got the first piece, a really big piece that he hardly had room for after all the pizza he had just ate.
He dug excitedly into his piece and looked at Scott with a grin. He hadn't seen him in four months outside school, he had gotten grounded for four month for his little stunt. His Dad had wanted to make it clear that it was not okay to leave school in the middle of the day without saying anything, his message was well received. He wouldn't leave during school again without knowing exactly how much trouble he was going to be getting himself into. As soon as he was finished with his piece he got up off his plastic chair, they were all on plastic chairs and sitting at a folding table since the party was outside in his backyard. He tagged Scott who hadn't quite yet finished his piece and said.
"You''re it!" and ran away from him laughing with glee.
~.~
Stiles looked down from his window into their backyard. It was dark now and the table and chairs were still standing but the plates, napkins and cups had all been put away hours before. It had been a great day, a great birthday until now. He missed his mom terribly. This was the first birthday he had without her and he felt like crying. She wasn't supposed to be gone not like this and it hurt that she was. He had been feeling better lately which was largely due to Scott, but at this moment it felt like he had lost her all over again. He wanted to go into the forest and find his wolf, the urge was there and intense but he fought it. He didn't want to get grounded again, it had been really hard these last few months. His Dad had at least allowed him to talk to Scott on the phone but it wasn't the same.
So he stayed inside and just looked at his backyard. He sighed, then decide he wanted to go outside... just to his own backyard, he was pretty sure his own backyard was allowed. He went through the house and past his Dad who was watching TV and into their backyard. It was slightly chilly, but Stiles didn't feel like going back inside to get a sweater, instead he made his way to their small swing set. His parents had bought it for him years ago, he sat down one of the two swings and swing a little before giving up.
He was pretty sure he came out to distract himself from the pain he was feeling but it wasn't working. He could see her everywhere, sitting on the swing next to him trying to race him to see who could get higher. Over on the back porch in her chair looking up at him from a book while he played. It was her chair, no one had sat in it since she had died, it just seemed wrong.
He got up off the swing as a sudden thought occurred to him. He made his way over to her chair, it was a woven wooden chair with a stuffed waterproof cushion for the seat. He didn't sit on it, he smelled it trying to see if it still smelled like his mother but it didn't he sighed disappointed, although he supposed he should have know since it was outside. He sunk to the ground besides his mothers chair and put his little fingers through the holes in the woven chair. His mom had found it at a yard sale, but that didn't really have to do with anything, just some useless fact that his mind decided to remind him of.
He was a bit colder now but he didn't want to move. He knew his mom wasn't in the chair, but if he closed his eyes he could pretend if only for a few moments that his mom was sitting in the chair right next to him. However, when he opened his eyes a few moments later and saw it was still empty he felt even worse. The tears he had been holding back started their way down his cheeks. He heard a soft whine and frowned. He looked around his backyard and found him there, there in his backyard. Him, his wolfie. Stiles waved him over and he seemed somehow to understand, because he softly padded over him and sat down besides him. Stiles used the hand that wasn't entwined into his mom's chair to softly pet his wolf.
"I miss her." he told the wolf still crying. "I miss her so much. Why did she have to go away?" Stiles cried. The wolf didn't say anything because of course wolves couldn't talk, sometimes he forgot that. Sometimes it seemed like his wolf should be able to talk, because he seemed to know exactly when Stiles needed him. So he just petted his wolf softly taking comfort in his presence and slowly becoming more and more calm. When he felt that he was calm enough he released his mom's chair and turned around so that he could see the wolf.
"Thanks Wolfie." he told the wolf "Thanks for always there for me even though I don't understand why." However, most of the time he didn't care that he didn't understand. The wolf looked at him for a moment before dashing away leaving Stiles with a small smile on his face.
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