Author's Note: Dang, I was going to leave uploading this chapter until tomorrow but you're all reviewing and being mad at Papa Stilinski, so have some more words! Enjoy chappies! xx

Stiles buried his face in his pillow, his eyes were red and swollen and he was pretty sure he'd cried all the liquid out of his body. His dad had driven him back from the station three hours ago, demanding Stiles' phone and laptop again. He'd already taken the keys to the Jeep while they'd been at the station and a tiny part of Stiles' brain reminded him that it was still parked up in the lot opposite Derek's apartment, probably having it's wheels stolen while he lay in bed crying. He heard his dad's heavy tread on the stairs and quickly clicked off the desk lamp on his bedside table, plunging his room in to darkness. He'd refused to say one word to his dad while they'd been at the station and suspected that he was about to get another lecture. He heard the door open followed shortly by the sound of the overhead light being flicked on.

"You can stop pretending to be asleep for a start."

"I was asleep." Stiles muttered in to his pillow.

"Take the unlock code off this." He looked up see his dad holding his phone out. Stiles snatched it from him unceremoniously, unlocking the phone and turning off the PIN. He handed it back, scowling when his dad raised his eyebrows at the wallpaper.

"So now you're going to go through my phone? There's no incriminating evidence in there, if that's what you're hoping."

"I'd say this is pretty incriminating." His dad replied, turning the phone around and gesturing at the picture. Stiles said nothing; he'd taken the picture a few weeks before, right after the pack had found out about their relationship; mainly because he wanted to see what Derek looked like when they were kissing and had intended to delete it afterwards. He'd liked the resulting shot so much though that he'd kept it, despite Derek's grumbling that he should delete in case someone saw it. Erica had laughed at him when she'd seen it, pointing out that the only person she knew that was lame enough to set her wallpaper as a picture of themself kissing their boyfriend was Lydia. Now seeing his phone in his dad's hand, he could suddenly see all of Derek's concerns; yes, it was just a photo of the two of them kissing, but it was also quite clearly a photo taken while they were lying in bed together, neither of them wearing shirts and a hickey just visible above where Derek's hand was resting on his neck.

"It's not illegal to kiss someone!" He shouted as his dad walked out of his bedroom again, taking his phone with him. The thought of his dad reading his messages was pretty embarrassing, particularly some of the more sappy one's he and Derek had exchanged late one night the week before when neither of them could sleep. The one saving grace, Stiles thought, was that he made sure to never use the word werewolf in any of his texts. It was going to be bad enough explaining Derek to his dad without going in to the whole "surprise, werewolves!" talk. He stood up, crossing the room and turning the light off, wishing that his dad had at least caught them in the middle of the week so he could hurry off to school the next day and avoid further awkward talks. But no, he had to get caught on a Friday, meaning his dad had the whole weekend to interrogate him. He got back into bed, sighing into his pillow and fell into a fitful sleep.

. o o o .

"Up."

Stiles pulled the comforter over his head instinctively and groaned loudly as his dad yanked the blinds open, flooding the room with sunshine.

"It's not a school day." He muttered.

"I'm aware of that. Get up. There's a conversation we need to have."

Stiles felt his insides go cold as he remembered exactly what conversation his dad was talking about. He waited until he heard his dad leave the room before poking his head out from under the comforter. Getting out of bed, he rummaged around in the drawer for a t-shirt, smiling to himself when he found one of Derek's henleys balled up in the bottom drawer. He couldn't remember if Derek had left it there, or if he'd 'temporarily acquired ' it from Derek's apartment one day. Either way, it made him feel better, like he might be able to face his dad after all.

He found his dad in the lounge, looking out of the window at the backyard; in terms of being talked to, the lounge was good, Not as forgiving as talks in the den, but better than serious talks in the study. He sat down on the uncomfortable couch, folding his legs up underneath him.

"So?" He asked, looking at his dad. "How long are you grounding me for this time?"

"You think I'm just going to ground you and then things go back to normal?" His dad asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just holding out for you not arresting my boyfriend." Stiles muttered.

"I haven't decided what I'm doing about Derek yet." His dad crossed the room and sat down next to him. "I saw the text messages he sent you. Why did he want you to tell me about your...relationship?"

"Because he thought it would be better if I told you, instead of you finding out some other way."

"Like pulling you for speeding, you mean?"

"Well yeah, that wasn't exactly the top of my list for the ways you might find out."

"So how were you going to tell me? Or better yet, when were you going to tell me? This has been going on since the summer, hasn't it?"

"Ironically enough, I was going to tell you this weekend." Stiles replied. "We kind of had a fight about it the other day. Derek's been going on at me to tell you for like a month straight."

"But you didn't."

"Not yet, no. It's not exactly easy. You're hardly his biggest fan."

"For good reason."

"If you say so. Remember how he was exonerated both times? When was the last time his name came up at the station in an arrest-y kind of way?"

"When he was seen with you at a convenience store." His dad countered. "Were you really seeing Boyd that day or where you spending time with Derek?"

"What do you think?"

"Don't be flippant. Stiles, you're a smart kid, surely you can understand why I'm so concerned about this?"

"I get it, objectively. I just don't get it in a me and Derek capacity. You don't know what he's like really. If you did, you might not be so concerned about all this."

"So tell me what he's like."

"What?" Stiles looked at his dad, trying to work out what his angle was. "What do you mean?"

"You say I don't know what he's like. Tell me what he's really like."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know what it is you see in him." His dad said, resting one arm along the back of the couch and looking at him.

"He's...he's just. I don't know how to explain it properly. He's nice, mostly just to me, but he is. And he cares about our friends, even if he doesn't always show it in the right way. And he thinks he's all like broken or something because of what happened to his family." He paused, frowning at the fireplace they never used. "And I..."

"And you what?" His dad prompted.

"Dad, I love him. And not just, 'oh, he's really good looking and my first boyfriend' love him, I mean I really, properly, can't imagine anyone else ever love him."

"Like how you loved Lydia?"

"No. Completely not like that at all. Because I actually know Derek and what he's like. I never actually loved Lydia like that, that was more just an epic crush or something."

"Stiles, you're only sixteen. You think you love him now, because this is all new for you, but how will you feel when you graduate high school? When you go to college?"

"What does school or college have to do with anything? Or me being sixteen? I'm seventeen in like two months. And, mom was only 18 when you met her and you were 25. That's seven years difference, more than me and Derek."

"Your mom was already in college when we met. And need I point out that your grandfather never arrested me for anything prior to me asking her out."

"Oh please. Deda would have totally arrested you if he'd been able to." Stiles pouted, crossing his arms. "Remember that Christmas he got wasted and yelled at you for being Polish? That was crazy."

"Stiles. We're not talking about me and your mom, or your grandfather for that matter. We're talking about you and Derek Hale."

"Why do you keep saying his full name? Why can't you just say Derek?"

"Fine. We're talking about you and Derek."

"Would it help if I said I'm really sorry that I lied about a bunch of stuff about him? And that I was really grateful that you didn't push stuff when I wouldn't tell you his name for like three months?" Stiles asked, looking down at his hands. "I didn't want to, it's just this was kind of the reaction I was expecting and I wanted things with Derek to last as long as possible before you made us split up. Sorry."

"Stiles..."

"Can I just ask one thing? Can I still be friends with him and hang out with him after this? 'Cause I'm not sure he'd cope if we split up, and to be honest, I don't think I would either."

"What do you mean, after this?"

"You're going to make me break up with him, right? Or tell him to break up with me. One or the other."

"No." His dad said after a long pause, running his hands over his face.

"What? What do you mean no?"

"I'm not going to ask you to break up with him. And I'm not going to ask him to end things either."

"What?" Stiles asked, feeling even more confused than when his dad had first started talking.

"Like I said, I read your text messages. And don't pull that face. I pay your cell phone bill, I have the right to see what you're saying to people. It seems as though you two really care for each other."

"I don't get it." Stiles muttered dumbly. "You hate Derek."

"I don't hate him, but you have to bear in mind I only knowing him from arresting him and from when I had to pull him out of school after the fire."

"So you're not telling me I have to break up with him? What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm not completely adverse to the idea of you dating Derek."

"Seriously? You're seriously giving me permission to carry on seeing him?"

"Yes, I suppose I am."

"How come?"

"Because I know you. If I tell you no, you'll just continue to see him in secret and I'd rather know where you are and what you're up to, even if I don't completely approve of the person you're dating."

"OK..."

"There are conditions though."

Stiles bit his lip, trying not to look too enthusiastic. Of course there were conditions. There were always conditions.

"You are not to stay at his apartment overnight, under any circumstances. And he's not to stay here overnight either. Just because I'm not asking you to stop seeing him doesn't mean I'm condoning you sleeping with him."

"Trust me, we're not having sex." Stiles interrupted.

"So you keep telling me. But the fact that you're so insistent about it makes me think that it's not outside the realm of possibility. I'm worried you might rush in to something you're not ready for. You're such a smart kid, Stiles, but how many bad situations have you ended up in because you just don't think about the consequences of your actions?"

"Please don't make me talk about sex again. It's too embarrassing." Stiles complained, pulling his hood up over his head.

"If you think you're mature enough to be having sex, you're mature enough to talk about it." His dad replied, yanking his hood back down. "Is Derek pressuring you in any way?"

"What? No! Kind of the other way around." Stiles exclaimed, flushing when he realised what he had said. "Derek...he, uh, kind of doesn't want us to, you know, yet."

"Well I suppose I should be grateful that one of you is being sensible. Although I'm not at all surprised that it isn't you." His dad sighed. "One last thing. I want to speak to Derek about this as well. Make him aware of the conditions to your relationship from now on."

"Are you asking me to invite Derek over for dinner or something?"

"Would you rather I asked him down to the station?" His dad enquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Dinner's fine." Stiles replied quickly, wondering how on earth he was going to get Derek to agree to a dinner with his dad. "Thanks...thanks for being so cool about this dad. I'm pretty sure I didn't deserve it after not being entirely honest all this time."

"Well then you better make sure, starting from now, you are honest with me. No more secrets."

"Promise." He shifted around on the couch uncomfortably, wondering how long it would take to get around to telling his dad the other things he'd been keeping secret for the last year. He was a little surprised that Scott's mom hadn't told his dad anything, given that she'd known about the existence of werewolves for several months now.