As always, thank you for sticking with my story. I'm so glad that so many people are enjoying it. Shout out to Casey for always being the amazing beta reader that she is.
Please leave comments! They are greatly appreciated and help fuel my writing. I also want to know what you guys think/what your reactions are! :)
"On the way to school yesterday Isaac pointed to his belly and told me that his stuffing hurt," Derek chuckled as he and Stiles flipped through their menus. "I told him that humans don't have stuffing and then he asked me what a human was." He shook his head, sharing a smile with Stiles before he added, "I don't even know where he comes up with this stuff."
"Doc McStuffins," Stiles explained knowingly, pinpointing the bacon cheeseburger he'd been craving all day at the top of his current menu page. "It's a show on Disney about a little girl that takes care of her stuffed animals. I let him watch it while he does his morning treatment."
The waitress came over and took their drink and food orders before collecting their menus.
"Anyway," Derek continued once the waitress had left. "I brought it up because I think the new antibiotics are bothering his stomach."
"I know. I brought it up to Dr. Marmon at Ize's appointment yesterday and she said it was just a side effect. I mentioned the mood swings, too."
"Also a side effect, I presume?"
"Of the steroids, yeah. We already knew that from last time, though."
Derek nodded and looked out of the window beside their table, sudden somber reflection in the glass catching Stiles' attention.
"Hey," he whispered reassuringly, reaching across the table and placing his hand atop Derek's.
"I'm just really worried about him," Derek sighed; Stiles could tell that his husband wasn't focusing on the cars and people passing by outside. "Poor kid's always going through so much."
"I'm sorry we didn't really get a chance to talk about his appointment yesterday. Marmon said his lungs sounded good, though, so she lowered his steroid dose." Stiles' voice was hopeful as he smiled reassuringly and squeezed Derek's hand. "At this rate he could be off of them in another week or two."
"That's good news," Derek said softly, but Stiles knew he still needed more proof that things were getting better. "What was his oxygen level?"
"98. She said he seemed upbeat and wasn't wheezing, so she was very happy."
"Good," Derek nodded as he moved his eyes from the window to his lap.
"Hey," Stiles prompted again, hand finally taking Derek's in his, fingers weaving between that of his husband's. "What's going on? You're shutting down on me, babe."
"I'm just tired," he shrugged.
"We can go home," Stiles offered. "Get our food to go."
Derek shook his head, eyes still avoiding Stiles'. "Not like that. I'm not exhausted. Not physically, at least. Just…"
"Emotionally?" Stiles asked.
Derek nodded.
"Things are getting better, babe. I promise. Isaac's finally doing well; his x-rays are mostly clear and he's starting to be his happy little self again. And I know last weekend was a lot to handle, but a lot of good came out of it. Your idea about framing the picture of Isaac and his mother and placing it on his nightstand was a great idea."
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'm still second guessing myself on that one."
"He sang to her, Derek. Wednesday morning. I walked in on him singing "You Are My Sunshine". They must have practiced in school on Tuesday. The picture was in his hands and he was happy."
Derek looked up.
"I know we don't always get it right, but we try, Der. Isaac knows that," Stiles assured him. "He knows that we aren't trying to replace her. He knows that we understand."
"He was smiling?"
"Like she was right there in the room with him."
"How'd you get him to put the picture down?" Derek asked, knowing that Monday and Tuesday night had been a series of small meltdowns that had made him doubt that the idea was even a healthy one.
"It was different this time," Stiles said before going into the details of that morning with Derek.
"Rise and shine, baby boy," he'd cooed as he crossed the room, ready to pull Isaac from his bed and get him dressed for the day.
"Wait," he'd said, putting up a small hand as if to say stop before grabbing the frame with both hands and giving the glass a kiss. "Morning mama kisses," he explained happily before he left the frame behind in the bed and climbed into Stiles' arms.
A half an hour later, the toddler wouldn't budge from the downstairs hallway.
"It's okay, Isaac. We put a picture of Mama in your school bag, remember?" Stiles asked, the toddler nodding slightly. "Where else is she?" he asked softly as he knelt down in front of his son.
"My heawt," he whispered, hand falling against his chest.
"That's right. She's always in there."
"I miss Mama," Isaac started to whimper, eyes filling no matter how hard he tried to stop them from doing so.
"She misses you too, Ize. I promise that she does."
The toddler had just nodded and sniffled, hand staying right on his heart as he tried to maintain his composure. Stiles had to take a deep breath before he could put his own hand over Isaac's, his own eyes watering.
"Can Papa's mommy be in my heawt, too? Like Gamma?" Isaac asked. Stiles could only nod, even as he relayed the story to his husband.
Derek grabbed both of Stiles' hands from across the table once he was finished and gave him a small smile, eyes lighting up. "Thank you," he mouthed before taking a deep breath and letting himself relax.
x
"So," Stiles started as he spun the ice in his drink around with his straw, food having just been delivered to their table. He wasn't sure where to go with the statement, knew they'd spent most of the date so far talking about Isaac; he couldn't figure out if that was what other married people with children did when they had date night, if what he and Derek were doing was normal. It was just that Isaac was so central to their lives at the moment that it was almost as if he'd forgotten what it was like to just be Derek and Stiles.
"I wanna take Isaac to a baseball game. Maybe the Angels or Dodgers," Derek said as he started digging into his food.
"Or the Mets?" Stiles asked, face lighting up as he squeezed ketchup onto his plate. He'd always had an unwavering love for the blue and orange of the team's jerseys, even if they were based in New York.
"You and your Mets," Derek laughed as he gripped his burger and shook his head.
"What?!" Stiles smirked, and Derek rolled his eyes.
"Maybe we can catch a Dodgers-Mets game," Derek proposed once he'd swallowed his first bite, and Stiles was already coming up with ways to acquire the tickets.
"Hey, remember how we talked about signing Isaac up for soccer?" Stiles asked. Derek nodded as he took another bite of his burger. "I'm just a little worried that he might not do well with all of the running, especially if his spring allergies are anything like they were in the fall. And you know I'm not one for limiting him, but my dad mentioned police activity league tee-ball and I thought it might be something worth considering."
"Aren't the games for that on Saturday mornings?"
"Yeah, that's the only problem," Stiles said, knowing that Derek usually worked half days on the Saturdays he wasn't traveling.
"If Isaac wants to play, it's more than fine with me. Plus, there's at least one weekday game, right?" Derek asked, trying to remember from when he was little.
Stiles nodded. "Two practices and two games a week, starts mid-March and goes until June."
"You did your research," Derek laughed, raising an eyebrow. His voice deepened. "I like that."
"I always do my research," Stiles flirted back.
"Is that right, Mr. S?" Derek smirked.
"Actually, you should check my browser history-"
"How's everything going over here?" the waitress interrupted, seeming slightly flustered as she breezed by their table.
"Fine, thank you. Can we have the check?" Derek asked, looking at his watch.
x
"The ad said to put your phone away," Stiles whispered once the theater darkened.
"I just want to make sure everything's okay at home," Derek said.
"Lydia texted me a half hour ago and I quote, for the second time, 'Isaac's in bed and monitor is on. Everything's fine. Text you in an hour to keep Derek off your back.'"
"She hates me," Derek mumbled.
"She doesn't hate you, she's just being Lydia," Stiles said as he slid his phone back into his pocket.
"She thinks I'm overprotective."
"Because you are," Stiles said. "But I understand why, so it's okay."
"She thinks it's a bad thing."
"That's because Lydia hasn't seen Isaac in the middle of an attack. She's never seen him use his inhaler or take a treatment. To her, his asthma's almost non-existent. That isn't the Isaac she knows," Stiles explained. "Don't worry so much about what Lydia thinks."
"Of course I worry about what she thinks, Stiles. She's home with our son!" Derek's voice raised just enough to prompt a few 'shhs' from moviegoers around them.
"Tonight is supposed to be about us relaxing and all we've managed to do is talk about Isaac," Stiles sighed.
"I can't get him off of my mind," Derek admitted.
"Me neither."
"Maybe we should just go home. What if-"
"He won't," Stiles interrupted, knowing that the toddler was maxed out on medications. "We need tonight, Derek. For us. To keep us sane. We need a break and I know we've been really bad at letting ourselves relax so far, but we need to try a little harder here."
"I keep thinking that if I push Isaac out of my mind something bad will happen," Derek explained.
"Same for me. But I know he's in great hands with Lydia and that she'll call us if something isn't right."
"Doesn't make it any easier," Derek sighed.
"Let's just pretend we're on our first date," Stiles smiled and took Derek's hand in his. "And that I just made a super bold move by holding your hand."
"Like you did the first night we went out, when it wasn't even supposed to be a date?" Derek laughed softly.
"Exactly," Stiles smirked. "And we can pretend that Scott and Allison, the two most oblivious people in the world, are sitting next to us in the dark again while we-"
"We don't have to share the details of our first date with everyone around us," Derek whispered, laughing into Stiles' ear. "I like to think of it as our little secret."
"So does that mean I can't do this?" Stiles whispered, hand running from Derek's knee up to his groin. Derek jumped a bit in his seat, the sensation too strong to ignore.
"If we were the only two here I'd jump you like we did that time on vacation, when we went to that eleven o'clock movie, but there's like a million people in here-"
"We can make bets on how long we can make it through the movie before running out to the Camaro," Stiles teased, nose nuzzling behind Derek's ear.
"Ten bucks says an hour," Derek murmured as he let Stiles trail kisses along his jawline.
"Just ten bucks? Geez, it's not like we're married or anything," Stiles laughed, and they were met with a few more 'shhs'.
"Fifty bucks, one hour. And I'll do that thing you like," Derek offered, putty in his husband's hands.
"You'll do the thing I like anyway," Stiles toyed.
"What's your wager?"
"A hundred, whole movie."
"So you don't want sex…"
"Oh, I want sex," Stiles said slyly. "I just want to see how long you can handle me before you drag me out to the car by my belt loops."
"Who said I'd be doing the dragging?"
"Guess we'll have to see," Stiles winked just as the movie started.