Disclaimer: See initial chapter.
A/N: dedicated to reviewers...hopefully it's an enjoyable read; thanks for your support.
Ruby cups her hands around her mouth and calls,"Fluffy!"
Thomas stands beside his sister, on the porch, a frown on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. The pose reminds Stiles of Derek, and he has to smile, in spite of the look of sad longing in the little boy's eyes.
Thomas signs, 'Muffin,' and stomps his foot, his frown deepening when his sister turns to look at him, hands on her hips. There's some kind of silent exchange between the two of them, no doubt perfected while they were on their own.
Stiles can't quite follow what it is that they're saying to each other, but from what he can see through the living room window, it appears to be heated. Thomas' cheeks are pink and Ruby's hands are flailing wildly in response to whatever it is that Thomas has communicated.
Derek thinks that they might have some kind of telepathic link, and Deaton agrees that it might be a possibility. It certainly was true of the twins in the Alpha pack from awhile back.
Stiles holds up a finger to his lips when Derek, cup of coffee in his hand, steps up behind him and rests a hand on his hip. He signals for Derek to look out of the window. Derek takes a sip of his coffee, hands it over to Stiles who sips at it, surprised that Derek's added just the right amount of sugar and cream, though he prefers his own coffee black.
"Thanks," Stiles murmurs as he passes the coffee back.
Derek grunts. It's too early in the morning, after the long night that he had running in the woods, chasing down a lead with the rest of the pack, for Derek to be fully awake yet.
"Fluffy!" Ruby calls again, her voice gruff and husky. "Muffin!"
"Those two get out again?" Derek asks, yawning.
Stiles nods, leans back against Derek's chest. He was up, much earlier, with the twins, who were extremely perky in the morning. He'd already fed and clothed them, and they'd spent the first part of their morning, after taking care of their pets, conducting a science experiment that Stiles had found on YouTube.
"They'll come back when they're hungry," Derek says.
Stiles nods. He'd told the twins as much, but they were worried about the dynamic duo, who seemed to be inseparable.
Fluffy no longer looked particularly fluffy, with the sleek coat that he'd begun to develop. Muffin, Stiles had to conceded, was a bit of a hellion. The only creature she seemed to tolerate at all was Fluffy, though she was partial to Thomas, and even let the little boy pet her.
Stiles guessed that the 'argument' between Thomas and Ruby had been about the little girl giving voice to her brother's silent call for the cat. There was no love lost between Ruby and Muffin, their dislike of each other was distinctly mutual.
"Think we should call them in?" Derek asks, passing the coffee back to Stiles.
"Give it another minute, and then we'll call them in and get ready for a trip to the lake," Stiles says, already packing the picnic basket in his mind. Cold cuts, fruit drinks for the twins, wine for him and Derek, crackers and cheese, and the chocolate souffle that he and the twins had made while they'd waited for Papa to wake.
Derek kisses the top of his head, and then snags the coffee back, downs the rest of it in one long swallow. "I'll go take a shower."
Stiles wrinkles his nose and waves a hand in front of his face, teasing his lover. Derek growls at him and nips at his ear, squeezes Stiles' hip. "Shower with me?"
Stiles can feel the heat creeping up his neck, but he shakes his head, refuses to let the images that Derek's question have conjured up in his mind to fully surface. He gestures toward the twins, and the errant cat and dog who are loping toward the porch - Fluffy with his tail tucked between his legs, a picture of repentance; Muffin with her tail and head held high, ever arrogant.
Muffin butts her head against Thomas' legs, and the little boy, face aglow with a smile, reaches down to pet her. Fluffy looks up at Ruby, his eyes begging for forgiveness. The little girl favors him with a smile and scratches behind his ears. His tail wags, slowly at first, and then hard enough to nearly cause him to fall on his butt when the little girl starts giggling.
"Tonight, after we've put the twins to bed," Derek whispers behind Stiles' ear, making him shiver with the promise, and then he's gone.
Stiles ushers his four little strays in and sets about packing up their picnic lunch and getting the kids ready for their afternoon outing. He tries to keep his mind off of Derek in the shower. Tries not to let his imagination run wild when he thinks about what will happen later that night, once the twins have been put to bed.