Red Like Your Eyes
CH 7
Notes: There will be intimate *coughs* scenes coming up so the rating may change.
Over the next few days the trio fell into a routine. Derek would read the newspaper as they had breakfast and then he and Gracie would train for a few hours before returning for lunch. Stiles on the other hand read novel after novel, the silence of the forest lulling him into taking hour long adventures with Anna Karenina and Nick Carraway through the passages of literature.
This morning was different however, as Derek read the paper quietly, not looking up except to sip on his coffee as Stiles and Gracie ate toast, eggs, and bacon to start off their day. The domestic nature of it was weird to him, it made him anxious.
"We'll do the dishes" Stiles offered quietly when they finished. "Or I'll do them if you want to start training."
Derek shook his head.
"No. I got pack business to attend to today. You guys just hang out here" He finished, rising from the table and placing his coffee cup in the sink. Stiles noticed that the paper was open to the weather report, which showed a full moon in three days. Full moons and werewolves, his life was officially a twisted science fiction episode.
"We're not going to play today?" Gracie asked her eyes wide and her lips in a pout.
Derek smiled. "No not today."
Something inside Stiles' ached at the way the two had bonded so naturally. It was so nostalgic, he remembered when his father had promised him they would do something fun after work, tousling his hair before he'd head out, pulling his Sherriff's hat on as he went to his cruiser. Stiles felt his eyes prickling and he blinked several times.
"Ok. Sty will play with me." Gracie confirmed, her blonde curls bouncing, her smile revealing tiny fangs.
"Alrighty then." Stiles smirked bringing himself out of his funk.
"I'll be back late, there's lasagna in the fridge, just pop it into the oven when you're hungry." Derek nodded.
Stiles nodded back with a small smile.
XXXXXX
"I'm drawing a picture Sty!' Gracie grinned holding up a valiantly drawn series of stick figures.
Stiles thought back to the first time he had met Gracie, a newly orphaned child that had lost both her parents while he had lost his father a few months prior. Her parents had both died in a car crash and he shuddered at the fact that her fate had almost been the same. When she arrived at the orphanage she didn't speak, only nodded, a psychiatrist saying that the shock had rendered her unwilling to talk and she would speak when she wanted to. As soon as she had seen him, she had laced her fingers into his hand and they quickly became inseparable. She rarely talked to anyone apart from Stiles, sharing that terrible bond that only those who were truly alone could enter into. Maybe that's why she got along so well with Derek. He was also part of that club.
A year had passed before Stiles noticed the marks on Gracie's limbs and torso. He noticed that the deep red welts appeared in different areas of her body but were localized enough so that they wouldn't show when she would wear a t-shirt or a skirt. He was also having troubles, the medication he took for his ADHD leaving him listless and groggy instead of helping him concentrate. The dosage had also brought on intense migraines. He had no way of getting through school and had eventually failed several classes.
One day, when Gracie was taken to the hospital in the middle of the night and brought back with a cast around her arm was when he decided to run. He was 17, a few months to become an adult. He retrieved the thousand dollars he had managed to hide from the trust fund executives and pawned his father's gold watch to get that crappy jeep so that they could leave. And they did. They were on the run before they knew it and for the first time in a long time Gracie had smiled and in return his smile reappeared, remembering what it was like to be free.
Stiles went back to reading The Great Gatsby which was actually keeping his attention while Gracie colored with an ancient set of pencils in the living room when Derek reappeared, wearing his signature leather jacket and black jeans. He was holding a wrapped package in colorful paper with a bow. He looked awkward.
Gracie's eyes widened when she saw it. "Ooh a present?'
Derek nodded "I wanted to get you something. You've been doing so well with your training."
He handed it to her and she tore it apart, Stiles watching intently from the couch. Gracie squealed in delight when she found a ragdoll, its face stitched with a happy smile.
"My sister had one growing up and she loved it." He spoke catching Stiles gaze.
Gracie clapped her hands happily, bouncing around with it.
"Her name is Sophia!" She yelled in happiness and Stiles smiled, looking over to see Derek laughing.
"Thank you! Thank you!" she cried. "Sty look what I got!"
Derek took something out of his jacket and held it out to him. "I saw this in a book store and thought you would like it" he spoke quietly, and stiles couldn't help imagining that he seemed shy.
Stiles took the brown wrapped package, obviously a book of some sort, and opened it politely compared to Gracie who had torn open her shiny packaging like a crazy person, leaving it in tatters all over the living room. He pulled out a leather bound book filled with blank pages, an etching of a wolf on its cover. He ran his hand over it marveling at the workmanship.
"It's a journal." Derek noted, "You seem like you could write or want to write stuff" he spoke awkwardly and Stiles hoped his blush didn't show.
"Thanks, it's beautiful" he spoke appreciatively.
"Your welcome." Derek shook out of the tender moment and his business like expression returned.
"I'll be back" he nodded heading towards the front door. Gracie launched herself off the carpet and wrapped her arms around Derek's chest.
"Bye!' She squealed hugging him happily.
"Bye" he returned her hug, wrapping his arms around her., before handing her gently to Stiles.
"Be careful" Stiles managed quietly and Derek's gaze lingered on him for longer than necessary before turning to leave. Stiles heard the sound of a car engine roaring to life before it rumbled out into the distance. He looked over, to see Gracie returning to her coloring, and he tried reading again. It took him a whole twenty minutes to give up and want to get out.
"Gracie."
"mmm." Gracie murmured not looking up.
"Want to go get the car from my house?" He asked with a grin.
Gracie's eyes glowed a soft green
"Yeah." She grinned mischievously.
"Let's go."
"adventure here we come!" She squealed jumping onto the rafters and swinging from them like a monkey.
'Gracie! Stop!"
She jumped down onto her feet with a soft thud, giggling.
"Not funny."
"Yes it is."
"Ok let's go if you don't mind" Stiles chided quietly.
Stiles changed into the darkest clothes he could find in the shopping bags and made sure Gracie did the same. He closed the door behind him making sure it was still unlocked and slipped into the woods, Gracie's hand held tightly in his.
They walked in the shadows as the sun started its descent. He turned instinctively, knowing which way to go, the path committed to memory. He finally reached the outskirts of his street. And there he saw it. He almost didn't recognize the structure, its chipped wood and eerie appearance making it look completely different from what he remembered.
It looked so sad and desolate. The gardenias his mother had planted had long been uprooted, replaced by gangly looking weeds. He remembered the front steps where he had played with toy cars, the driveway where he would greet his father when he got back from work. The window in his room had been boarded up, never to shed light in again. It was hard and it hurt. 'You can never go back home' a voice whispered. 'It's gone. It's all gone' Stiles thought miserably. The waves of sadness began coursing over him and his pulse quickening, causing his stomach to burn with that familiar sensation.
"Sty let's go!" Gracie pulled at him looking at the house eagerly. .
"No. It's Ok." Stiles replied, his voice hollow. He hadn't expected this. He didn't know what he expected, but it wasn't that. It was a lot to handle. He felt a panic attack slowly curling in his gut.
"But I want the car" Gracie pouted.
"Soon I promise ok?" Stiles mumbled squeezing her hand.
'Fine." Gracie mouthed.
Stiles was numb as they walked back. The sound of a police siren in the distance had them both dropping to the forest floor as Gracie giving out a quiet growl that rumbled through her tiny chest.
They moved back to the Hale house as the sun dipped into the horizon, Gracie staring at him in a worried state.
"Are you ok Sty?"
"Uh yeah" he lied.
"No you aren't. Your heart is beating fast" she whispered, hugging his leg so he had to stop. Stiles bit a lip trying to stop the tears from escaping. "I'm ok really."
"Please don't be sad" Grace spoke looking up into his eyes
"I'm ok. Thank you" stiles chuckled, blinking back the tears that threatened to escape. He forced himself to breathe.
They reached the house and Stiles placed the lasagna in the oven and they ate quietly Sophia occupying the empty chair next to Gracie.. They watched something on the TV and stiles slipped away when Gracie fell asleep on the couch.
TO BE CONTINUED…..
Notes: thank you all for reading! I hope you guys are enjoying it, a bit of fluff and story but I promise it's all coming together J
