Stiles went back to classes the next day and things were finally starting to fall back into a pattern again. In some ways, it almost felt like he and Derek had never broken up but then he'd see something small, like the Breakup Songs CD that Allison had bought him or the new books in Derek's living room, that made Stiles remember how much pain he'd been in the past few weeks and he'd start to get angry again.

He tried to stay away from Derek during these times so they wouldn't get in an argument because he understood why Derek had taken his memories away, he really did, and he wanted so badly to just move past it. But they were his memories and it wasn't up to Derek to decide what he should and shouldn't remember.

On Friday, only a couple of days after they had gotten back together, Stiles finally lost it and started yelling at Derek for what he'd done. And Derek had just sunk back into the couch and took it, which annoyed Stiles even more at the time but after he'd stormed out back to his own apartment and took some time to cool off it made him feel terrible.

Stiles leant back in his chair and flung his arm over his eyes, wallowing in self-pity, until he was forced to get up to answer the knock on his apartment door. Derek stood there holding a box of chocolates and a card. He handed them both to Stiles wordlessly and Stiles tore open the envelope of the card to find a home-printed 'I'm sorry I took your memories without your permission' card with a cartoon drawing of a sad wolf on the cover. Stiles huffed a small laugh and Derek seemed to relax.

"I really am sorry, Stiles," he said slowly and Stiles nodded, backing up to let him into his apartment.

"I know. And I'm sorry that I yelled at you. You only did what you thought was right," Stiles said as he put the card down and started pulling at the tape on the box of chocolates.

"Let me," Derek said as Stiles struggled to peel the tape and Stiles passed him the box. Derek quickly elongated the nail on his index finger until it became a claw and he easily sliced through the tape on all four sides of the box.

"Yeah, I'm never going to get used to this," Stiles laughed and took the box back before taking a random chocolate and shoving it in his mouth. He nodded after a second. "They're good," he said through the chocolate in his mouth and Derek rolled his eyes. They settled together on the sofa for a little while after that before heading over to Isaac's to have movie night with their friends. They slid back into their old routine easily and Stiles woke up to a blowjob the next morning in Derek's bed.

He felt as light as air as he showered and when he went into the kitchen he saw Derek smiling to himself as he cooked them breakfast.

"What's a mate?" Stiles asked suddenly as he sat down at the table and stared at the muscles in Derek's back. "I mean I get the general idea. And Peter told me that I'm yours; but the way he was talking about it… it sounded important and I just feel like I'm missing something…" Stiles rambled a little bit until Derek turned around and placed the bacon he'd been frying onto a plate. He still didn't make eye contact, like he was worried how Stiles would react.

"Werewolves can recognise their soulmates," Derek said and Stiles let that sink in for a moment.

"Soulmate… as in fairy tales, love at first sight…?" Stiles mumbled and Derek huffed a small laugh. He plated the rest of the food and walked the plates over to the table, setting one in front of Stiles and sitting down in the opposite seat. He continued looking down at his food.

"Sometimes. But most of the time it takes longer: somewhere between a week and a month. In rare cases it takes up to three months. But eventually you just get hit with this feeling… it's impossible to describe but you just know that they're the one." Derek finally looked up from his plate and met Stiles' eyes. "I know this is a lot to take in, but you're it for me, Stiles," he said and then he picked up his fork and started to eat, not expecting an answer, which was good because Stiles had no idea what to say to that.

The tension in the air evaporated slowly as Stiles pulled his plate closer to himself and started eating too.

After breakfast, he kissed Derek goodbye and went up to his own apartment to change his clothes from yesterday for some fresh ones before heading over to Scott's apartment on campus. Thankfully, Scott's roommate had already left to meet up with friends so they had the entire room to themselves and could play video games uninterrupted for as long as they wanted.

During one of their pizza breaks, Scott turned to Stiles with a very serious face and asked him how everything was going with Derek since they got back together. He smiled and told him that everything was great, which was true: their argument yesterday had cleared up the last of the resentment that Stiles had felt at Derek for taking his memories. Derek had vowed to be completely honest with Stiles from now on and he seemed to honestly regret his decision so, as long as everything stayed the way that it was right now, Stiles saw no reason to not move past this.

However, he couldn't help but feel a bit of a hypocrite: he was keeping the werewolf secret from Scott just like Derek had been keeping it from him. Scott was now the only one in their friend group that didn't know that werewolves were real and every second that passed where Stiles didn't tell Scott the truth felt like a lie. But, still, he knew that it wasn't his decision to make and so he stayed quiet about it.

The dark winter afternoon approached pretty quickly and, after having spent several hours playing video games and helping Scott put together a mix CD for Allison, Stiles decided to head home. He reached into the pizza box one last time before grabbing his thick winter coat but was disappointed to find it empty, not really that surprised though with the way that he and Scott ate.

Stiles said goodbye to his best friend and drove back to his apartment while he considered what to eat for dinner. He knew he should probably make something but just the thought of cooking made him feel tired. Stiles yawned as he left the elevator in his apartment building and slowly made his way to apartment 3D.

He opened the door and was surprised to see Derek in his kitchen, the scent of a home-cooked meal filling his nose and suddenly he was wide-awake.

"Hey, I let myself in," Derek said. "I hope you don't mind but I thought you might be hungry." Stiles grinned.

"You made me food, how could I mind that?" He muttered as he closed his apartment door behind him, shrugged off his thick winter coat, and made his way towards his boyfriend to place a kiss on his cheek. "So, what're we having?" He asked, as he couldn't quite distinguish what was cooking in the oven from scent alone… whatever it was, it smelt amazing.

"Lasagne."

"I love you." Derek smiled in reply and kissed Stiles on his nose and then his lips. Stiles moved out of the way to let Derek finish up in the kitchen and when he turned around he noticed that the dining table that Stiles generally used as a desk was now cleared of all his books and two place mats were set opposite each other. "We're eating at the table?" He questioned, surprised.

"I just thought it'd be nice… we don't have to if you don't want to," Derek replied and Stiles shook his head.

"No, it's fine. I mean, it's nice. I want to," he muttered. Something about the cooked meal, and the dinner at the table instead of on their laps as they watch TV… it felt more intimate. Stiles liked intimate. He was definitely okay with intimate.

Stiles decided to finish setting the table as Derek pulled the lasagne out of the oven and checked that it was ready. He got them both glasses of water and put them at the table and when he turned around Derek had already plated out the food and was picking the plates up to take to the table.

Stiles sat at the table and his stomach growled as he looked at the large chunk of food sitting in front of him.

"It's smells great," he said, smiling up at Derek before taking his fork and digging in. The herbs melded together perfectly on Stiles' tongue and he moaned around his first bite of the pasta. "That's amazing," he said around his second mouthful and looked up to see Derek grinning at him.

Stiles slowed his chewing a little as he realised how romantic Derek was trying to be and Stiles probably was bringing down the mood by shovelling food into his mouth.

"I'm glad you like it," Derek said and Stiles took a sip of his water.

"I love it! I can't believe we've been dating all this time and I've never forced you to make me lasagne before," Stiles joked and Derek chuckled a little bit before turning to look at his plate, seeming a little shy as he replied.

"This is the first time I've made it, actually," he said and Stiles narrowed his eyes at him. How was it possible for anyone to look like that, be stupidly rich, amazingly smart, and naturally good at cooking?

Stiles hated Derek and his perfection.

"I'm just happy that it tastes right. I've never had it before so I couldn't tell."

"You've never had lasagne?" Stiles asked, entirely surprised, and Derek shrugged.

"Laura doesn't like pasta so it was just wasn't something that we ever had growing up. But I remember you saying how much you loved it so I thought I'd give it a try."

Okay, Stiles didn't hate Derek anymore. He couldn't believe that his boyfriend had remembered him saying that and then gone out of his way to make a meal for Stiles that he didn't even know if he would like himself. Stiles felt his heart flutter and was a little embarrassed as he realised that Derek had probably heard it too.

This really was romantic, Stiles thought. He felt bad that he hadn't contributed in any way to the night so he bit his lip as he tried to think of a way to make it even better. He thought back to all the rom-coms he'd watched over the years…

Candles. Romantic meals like this always had candles.

Stiles didn't own any candles.

… Alcohol?

"You know, Alli bought me a few bottles of wine last week. I think I still have one unopened in the fridge. I know you're not really a fan of getting drunk or anything but we don't have to go crazy, we could just open it and have a few glasses…" Stiles slowly faded into silence as he realised his rambling was making the moment less romantic not more.

"I can't get drunk. It's a werewolf thing," Derek said simply. "But we can open the wine if you want."

"You can't get…? Wow. Do you wish you could?" He asked seriously and Derek smiled into his glass of water.

"When I was in high school, yes. But when I went to college and was forced to watch everyone falling over air and generally making a fool out of themselves… not so much." Derek laughed and Stiles realised he was going red. He'd been drunk around Derek before… "Not you though," Derek said, after he took a sip of his drink and placed it back on the table, as though reading his mind. "You're a cute drunk."

"I'm not cute," Stiles said, affronted. "I'm sexy." He waggled his eyebrows at Derek and the older man grinned at him.

"That too."

So no to the wine then… Stiles was out of ideas. He really needed to work on his romancing…

They finished eating and Stiles reached to clear the table but Derek insisted on taking the plates instead. Stiles stood up from the table and turned to follow Derek into the kitchen. He watched his boyfriend turn on the water and clean up all the dirty pots and plates – except from the oven dish which still had half a lasagne in so Stiles wrapped the top in cling film and put it into the fridge.

Stiles was busy admiring the flex of Derek's muscle as he scrubbed a frying pan when Derek suddenly dropped it into the sink, turned around, and pulled Stiles towards him. Stiles made a squeak of surprise as Derek's lips met with his own in a fierce kiss but soon he melted into Derek's hold.

"Do you know how difficult you make things?" Derek muttered against Stiles' skin before breaking the kiss. "Standing there, looking so perfect, and smelling like that. Like lust," Derek elaborated and turning back to the dishes, leaving Stiles completely stunned and flushed. He saw Derek smirking down at the frying pan covered in suds and Stiles' huffed, throwing a tea towel at his head.

Derek's hand blurred as his reflexes kicked in and he caught the towel before it hit him, however he ended up soaking himself with soapy water in the process. Stiles barked a laugh and Derek frowned at him, which just made Stiles laugh harder. Eventually Derek's grumpy face cracked and his lips twitched with a smile.

Derek put the frying pan on the draining board and pulled the plug to let the water out of the sink before drying his hands.

"I want something sweet," Stiles thought out loud and moved to the fridge in hopes of finding something, despite knowing that he was low on food and really needed to go to a supermarket soon. Derek's phone buzzed in his pocket and the older man answered as Stiles perused his pathetically empty shelves.

"Hey, mum," he said nonchalantly into the phone and Stiles froze. He slowly straightened his back and turned to look at Derek who was now frowning at him as he hummed in reply to whatever his mother was telling him. "Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll talk to you soon. Love you," he ended and then hung up, shoving the phone into his pocket and taking a step closer to Stiles. Derek rested his hand on Stiles' shoulder in a comforting gesture as he spoke to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Stiles shook his head and closed the fridge but averted his eyes to the floor so he didn't have to look into Derek's face. "I don't have any food."

"Stiles, talk to me."

"Okay, it's just… the last time you got an unplanned call from your family it was because Peter was trying to get you out of the way so he could attack me," Stiles ended in a rush and Derek quickly pulled him into a hug, one arm firmly wrapped around his waist as the other ran up his back and settling against his shoulder blades. Stiles melted into the hug instantly and let himself be comforted.

"It's not like that this time," Derek promised in a soft, slow voice. "My mum only wanted to let me know that Peter just got transported back to DC. I'm not going to let anything like that happen ever again." Stiles nodded his head slightly where it was rested against Derek's shoulder and after a couple of seconds he pulled away.

His chest felt heavy and he rubbed at his stinging eyes, but there were no tears. He took a deep breath as he tried to forget about the sudden emotional episode he'd just had and find a way to put the date back on track. Stiles cringed as he realised he'd just freaked out over something as small as a phone call; but hell, he was allowed a freak out every now and then, right? This was the first time he'd really thought about the attack since he got his memories back and so he hadn't yet started healing… Derek could forgive him for this minor incident… right?

Stiles shook those thoughts away. Of course Derek didn't think any worse of him for this: Derek loved him... Stiles was his mate!

"Sorry, I just…" Stiles started to say but wasn't entirely sure how to finish that sentence. Derek nodded anyway.

"I know."

"Okay." Stiles laughed a little nervously and tried to recover the date. He took another deep breath and looked in his cupboards for something sweet to eat. He came across a bag of chocolate chips that he'd forgotten about. He checked the date on them and they were still good to eat so he smiled and looked for more ingredients. "Hey, do you have any bicarbonate of soda?" Stiles asked with his head still in the cupboard.

"Yeah, I should have some downstairs. Why?" Derek asked and Stiles shrugged as he turned around holding a bag of plain flour.

"What about brown sugar? I mean, we could substitute it for caster sugar but I think they'll lose some of their flavour and won't be as soft if we do…"

"What won't be as soft?" Derek asked and Stiles grinned.

"The cookies we're about to make," Stiles said as though it was obvious and, hello, what other reason would he be holding a bag of chocolate chips for? "I'm also missing vanilla extract," Stiles said after a second and Derek just smiled as though he was humouring Stiles.

"Sure, I've got those," he said and Stiles grinned even wider.

"Great, go get them," he ordered and turned back to the cupboards to find his scales. "And don't forget the bicarbonate of soda!" He shouted after his boyfriend as he heard the door to his apartment open; he imagined Derek rolling his eyes at him and it made his heart feel a little bit lighter.

Stiles knew the recipe off by heart since he used to bake it with his mother when he was a child. He continued to bake the cookies long after she'd passed away but he hadn't done so in a while because ingredients were too expensive for a student budget. Stiles set the oven to the right temperature and had all the ingredients measured out by the time Derek was back.

"You don't have a recipe," Derek mentioned as he walked closer with the three ingredients and Stiles tipped the flour off the scales and into a bowl ready to be added to the mixture when it was time.

"Nope," Stiles said and grabbed the light brown sugar from Derek, kissing him on the cheek as a thank you. "I memorised it a long time ago."

"Huh," Derek said. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" He jokingly questioned.

"Hush, you," Stiles muttered, grabbing a small handful of flour from the open bag and flicking it at Derek.

Derek was quiet and Stiles turned to face him, noticing the flour had got into his hair and spattered across his face. As Derek blinked some flour fluttered down from his eyelashes. Stiles sucked his lips in at Derek's surprised expression, trying not to laugh. Derek blinked a couple more times and then narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, it is on," Derek muttered and grabbed the bag of flour from the counter.

"No!" Stiles squeaked as he attempted to run away but Derek wrapped his arm around Stiles' waist and up-ended the bag over his head, covering Stiles in the white powder. Stiles squealed a little as he laughed and reached for the counter to grab something to retaliate with. He knocked the sugar over as Derek, who was also laughing, dragged him away. Stiles was forced to grab an egg from the side as it was the only thing he could reach.

He spun around and cracked it, in one fluid motion, on top of Derek's head. Derek laughed louder and pulled Stiles in close to him, kissing him roughly. It was an odd clash of teeth and tongue, but it was perfect and Stiles couldn't remember a time when he'd felt happier.

Soon his back was pressed up against the fridge and Derek was pressing against him, all muscular and hard. Derek lifted him up and Stiles wrapped his legs around his boyfriend's hips. He ran his hand up into Derek's hair and pulled a face when he realised it was all slimy from the egg.

He pulled back from the kiss just enough to say "that's disgusting" and Derek nipped his bottom lip.

"And whose fault is that?" Derek pointed out and kissed him again.

[] [] []

The next morning, Stiles woke up very early to a ringing phone. Derek grumbled something from where he was lying next to Stiles and threw a pillow at him, as though it was Stiles' fault that some idiot was ringing him this early. And it really did have to be early if Derek was still asleep.

Stiles groan of annoyance was muffled by the bedding but eventually the ringing stopped and Stiles relaxed. But when his phone began to ring again he knew that it had to be important so he, begrudgingly and without opening his eyes, grabbed his phone off the bedside table and answered it with an annoyed "what?"

"Stiles," Scott said through the phone, his voice a whisper but quite obviously breathy. It was the way he sounded when he needed his inhaler and Stiles was suddenly wide awake.

"Scott, what's wrong?" He asked urgently as he sat up suddenly and pried his eyes open despite how they stung from lack of sleep. He felt, more than saw, Derek sit up too.

"It's the CD, I lost it!" Scott replied.

"What?" Stiles must have misheard him.

"The mix CD that I made for Allison. It's gone!" Stiles closed his eyes and his shoulders, which had previously been tense and alert, slumped. Derek groaned and dropped back onto the bed, pulling the blanket with him. "I need your laptop so I can make a new one."

"You need my… Scott, what time is it?"

"Erm… almost 4am," he said all too perkily and that explained the pounding in Stiles' head.

"Go back to sleep, Scott," Stiles muttered around a yawn.

"Sleep? No, Stiles, I wanted to give her that CD as a present after she wins the archery competition today. You know that! And the CD drive in my laptop is broken; it won't burn anything so I need to borrow yours. Please, Stiles. You know how much this means to me!" Stiles could picture Scott's puppy dog eyes through the phone and he felt himself giving in so he whimpered at the back of his throat: half crying, half sleep deprived laughter.

"I hate you," he muttered into the phone and then yawned making it impossible to hear Scott's whispered reply of gratitude. "I'll be right over." Derek grumbled that he was an idiot but Stiles just slipped on his shoes, grabbed his laptop and the cables, and headed out. It was only a short drive to the campus and the streets were completely clear and a little eerie in the complete blackness of the early morning sky.

Scott met him at the car park and took the laptop from him, giving him a hug in return and a big thank you.

"You owe me so much for this," Stiles mumbled. "I'm talking pizza and Chinese." Scott agreed and hugged him one last time before rushing inside and away from the cold winter air. Stiles pulled away from the curb and was back outside Hale Apartments soon enough.

He switched off the engines and allowed himself a few seconds more of hot air from his car heater before opening the door and heading out into the cold morning. He knew it was only a couple of seconds walk from his car to the building but he really wished that he had remembered to grab his winter coat before heading out.

"Excuse me," said a feminine voice and Stiles jumped out of his skin as he saw movement only a few feet from where he was standing. The street light above them was out and so he hadn't seen anyone standing there until they had spoken.

The woman walked up very close to where Stiles was standing and after a second he was able to distinguish her features. He realised very quickly that the woman was beautiful. She was wearing all black and what looked to be light layers, but unlike Stiles she didn't seem to be effected by the cold wind and looked completely comfortable.

She took another step forward and Stiles started to feel on edge. He subtly took a small step back to give himself a little more personal space but she leaned closer. He was getting a bad vibe from her and could swear that her dark hair and clothes merged with the shadows so that only her pale skin was tangible. She appeared to loom over Stiles, despite being about the same height as him, and he felt ready to run for his life. But then she smiled widely, kindly, and asked for directions.

"Oh," Stiles muttered and he blinked at her. Suddenly she wasn't actually that scary, after all. Now Stiles saw the slight differences in the shade of black she was wearing and the brightness in her eyes.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, not all strangers were a threat. He couldn't let what happened with Peter keep him terrified for the rest of his life. Yeah, this woman's personal space issue was something that made Stiles uncomfortable but she had a kind face and big, definitely not red, eyes.

"Yeah, just go down this street until you get to a bridge and take a left and you're there," Stiles said, indicating with his hand the direction that she should go in to get to the train station.

"Thank you," the woman said, looking like it was the happiest news she ever been given. She placed her hand on Stiles' shoulder in gratitude and Stiles' smile faltered a little as her fingers brushed against his neck. But then the woman was turning around and leaving. Stiles quickly rushed inside; partly because he was freezing and wearing only his pyjamas, and partly because the woman had started to creep him out again so he wanted to be as far away from her and the unnerving darkness as possible.

He tried to shake the feeling as he went into the elevator and made his way back up to his apartment: the girl was probably just drunk. She had been wearing very high heels and all-black clothes that someone could quite happily wear for a night out. And drunk people seem to forget about the concept of personal space… that would also explain why she hadn't been cold despite her bare arms and the winter wind.

Stiles managed to get his heart rate down by the time he got back into his bedroom. He slipped off his shoes and stared longingly at his warm bed and Derek's strong, firm, arms. He scrambled under the sheets and tried to wrap his arms around his boyfriend but Derek was suddenly sitting up in the bed, his eyes wide and glowing blue. Stiles could see that his nose was scrunched up and he looked at first shocked and then angry.

"Derek?" Stiles asked softly, a little worried.

"Stiles, this is important. Whom else, besides Scott, did you talk to tonight?" Derek asked gravely and Stiles shook his head.

"Just this woman on the street. She asked for directions," Stiles said and explained quickly about the odd encounter.

"She was outside the building?" Derek asked and Stiles nodded his head. Derek threw the covers off of himself and rushed out of the room.

"Derek? What's going on?" Stiles shouted, probably a little too loudly in an apartment building at 4am, and followed him but Derek was going much faster.

"Just stay here," he called out as he left the apartment. Stiles froze in the doorway and stared after him for a second before shaking his head. He pushed his shoes on and this time grabbed his coat before following his boyfriend. He realised that Derek had probably taken the stairs but he pushed the button for the elevator instead.

He wandered out into the dark morning and looked around in hopes of finding his boyfriend, but there was no one in sight so he called out his name instead.

"I thought I told you to stay inside," Derek said gruffly as he appeared beside him.

"And I thought you were going to be open with me," Stiles muttered in reply. "What the hell is going on? What are you doing out here?"

"I'm trying to track her but she covered up her scent too well. I can only smell her on you; and she did that on purpose. She knew I'd smell her on you. She knew I'd get the message," Derek was on the verge of rambling and that couldn't be good; Derek never rambled.

"What message? Who is she?"

"Jennifer… she's my ex-girlfriend," Derek admitted slowly and pulled Stiles back inside. "She's psychotic, Stiles, and very dangerous. She thinks that I belong with her and I hoped she'd given up on that but apparently not. Her touching your neck, it was a threat. She's letting me know that if I don't break up with you then she'll find a much more permanent way of making sure you're out of the picture."

"That's insane."

"That's Jennifer," Derek snarked humourlessly. He walked Stiles back up to his apartment. "Stay in here, I'll be back soon." Derek gave Stiles a push inside and closed the door after himself. Stiles stared at it for a moment and then started pacing.

"Psychotic uncles, psychotic ex-girlfriends… is there anything else you'd like to tell me about?" He muttered and tried to prepare himself for the shit-fest that he was sure was coming his way.

[] [] []

My beta sent me three chapters back today, meaning that I can go back to weekly updates for a short time :) hopefully by the time I've posted chapter 23 (which will likely be 27th October if I stick to Thursday updates) she'll have sent me back another chapter or two as well.

Anyway, thoughts on this chapter?