Chapter 10

Alice returned sooner than Stiles expected bringing with her a large photo album that was starting to peel along the spine. She carefully passed the album across the hastily cleared table to Stiles before walking around to sit next to him. Everyone around the table remained silent giving the younger boy a chance to collect his thoughts as he tried to come to terms with what he had just found out. It was hard to tell from his blank expression what was going on in his head.

The family all seemed to silently agree that it was best to wait for Stiles to speak first and to go from there. They watched as the boy gently stroked up and down the spine of the album as though it was the most precious thing he had ever seen.

They didn't have to wait long for the younger boy to pick up his constant rambling again as he asked multiple quick fire questions about the late Mrs Stilinski to anyone who could answer. Mrs Hale answered all the questions she was able to with Mr Hale joining in where he could. The Hale children all sat in silence eagerly listening to their parent's stories and making comments and laughing where appropriate.

After several hours of tales from the senior Hales childhood; Stiles was starting to see why he got his mischievous nature from. Apparently back when they were in school Alice and his mom had been the cause of many accidents and pranks. It was only after the telling of an incident where half the lacrosse team got food poisoning due to his mom getting distracted that he fully realised how similar they were.

He found it comforting that although he no longer had his mom with him he still had a part of her inside him. For the first time since her death he felt connected to her in a way he thought he never would again and although he would never admit it he was struggling to hold back his tears.

Looking up from the album which he had been staring at for the last few minutes he realised Alice had finished her latest story and was watching him with a serene smile. Clearing his throat awkwardly Stiles shuffled in his chair and avoided eye contact with everyone as he tried to keep his tears from falling, not wanting to embarrass himself again.

After taking a minute to compose himself, Stiles turned to face Alice with a wide but shy smile.

"Thank you for this you have no idea what it means to me. It's just… I… well…" Stiles struggled to find words to show his gratitude to the woman who had given him a part of his mother he had thought he could never have. He felt Derek shift closer to him from his seat next to Stiles.

From the corner of his eye Stiles could see the older boy was fighting back the urge to reach out and comfort him. The image made him smile as he wasn't used to Derek looking so unsure, so nervous, about such a small action. In the short amount of time Stiles had known Derek the short haired boy had never seen him act like this. The Derek he had met two days ago was never anything short of confident and self-assured and to be honest Stiles couldn't blame him, if he looked like Derek he would be confident all the time too.

When it became too painful to watch Derek twitch in his seat Stiles calmly reached out and grabbed Derek's hand. Derek's reaction before he began to calm down made the whole thing even better. As Stiles tangled their fingers together Derek seemed to jump a good few inches off his chair, his mouth hanging open and eyes wide, before settling down and trying to act as though nothing had happened. The rest of the Hales ignored Derek's outburst in favour of talking between themselves. It was only Laura's wink and mischievous smile in Derek's direction that showed the family had even noticed the interaction between the two boys. Of course they had noticed, they notice everything.

Stiles sighed and tried to pay attention to the conversation around him but the pale blush now spreading up the back of Derek's neck was very distracting. He wondered how dark he could make the blush go. Never being one to pass up an experiment Stiles started to slide the hand he had resting on the dark haired boy's knee further up his leg. He moved in measured amounts not wanting to rush his experiment and have to end it before his fun could begin.

When he reached the midpoint of Derek's thigh he risked a glance at the older boy to see if there was any change. The pale pink blush had now risen to a warm rose and was rapidly increasing. Holding back a smirk Stiles joined in Laura and James's conversation about the upcoming lacrosse game in town, giving his opinion on who he thought would win. Throughout the conversation Stiles kept moving his hand higher and higher wondering how far Derek would let this go before he snapped.

Stiles was about to slide his hand along the inside seam of Derek's jeans when Alice cleared her throat. The sudden sound caused Stiles to rip his hand away from the jeans as he feared he had been caught. Alice raised an eyebrow at him but otherwise said nothing. Letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, he risked a final glance at Derek, noting that the tips of his ears were now a brilliant hot pink, before returning his gaze the rest of the Hales.

"Yes?" he asked somewhat nervously.

"We were just saying we should all head up to bed now, some of us seem to have worn themselves out." James answered him with a smile as he pointed at Anna who was curled up on the floor, half hidden by the table, with her head resting between Stiles and Derek's feet. He hadn't even noticed she was down there.

"Good idea." He managed to say before letting out a loud yawn. At the thought of going to bed with Derek again Stiles felt suddenly extremely tiered.

"Alright then. Derek it's okay for Stiles to spend the night with you again isn't it? There isn't any space in my room and I doubt he would want to stay with Anna." Laura asked innocently though everyone could see it was all an act.

"Fine." Was all Derek said before quickly standing, picking Anna up off the floor and leaving the room. Stiles looked at the remaining Hales all of whom were giving him matching knowing looks.

"So I'm just gonna…" He trailed off as he gestured in the direction of the doorway and waited for someone to say anything. After a minutes silence he got tired of waiting and slowly stared backing out of the room. "Okay then, night." He said before spinning around and leaving as quickly as he could without looking like a complete spaz.

It was only after he left the room that he realised that he would be spending another night in a small bed with Derek. After what had just happened at dinner he wasn't sure it was a good idea for them to be alone together. Sure his experiment had been fun at the time but now he had a feeling Derek would rip his throat out as soon as he entered the room. Possibly with his teeth.

The End

With his teeth! Ahahahahahaa sorry I couldn't resist.
So please tell me what you think of this chapter, I'm not sure what I think of it, and the next chapter should be up soon.
Please follow me on Tumblr, I'm HTDBE, thanks