Stiles would have loved to stay with Derek on the couch for a little while longer. Derek made a good pillow and they got the feeling that Derek was enjoying this more than what they had done before so Stiles felt bad for cutting it short but they had a date with Laura for dinner. And Stiles was not going to show up there with their underwear sticking to their dick with dried come. Laura would most likely be able to smell it on them.

"I need a shower." Stiles rubbed their face against Derek's firm pec one last time before they pushed themself up. "You can freshen up after me if you want."

Derek made a face at that thought.

"Or you can face your sister reeking of me." Stiles joked but when Derek's eyes lit up at that, they shook their head. "Freakish werewolves, you like reeking of me, don't you? Is that some kind of possessive thing?" They looked down on him, trying to figure out what was going on in that wolf brain. "Do you want me to shower? I mean, I would wash off your scent or whatever. Wait … did you make out with me to mark me?"

"Go shower." Derek jerked his head to get them going.

"Yeah, yeah." Moving stiffly, Stiles climbed off the couch. The wound wasn't bothering them that much but walking around with come drying in their pants was no fun. They were half-way to the bathroom when behind them Derek spoke up: "Maybe don't shower too thoroughly."

"I knew it!"

Making out on the couch had come as a surprise, they had not expected Derek to initiate something sexual and Stiles made a mental note to have a real talk about this with him soon. They needed to know the lines Derek didn't want them to cross. Especially since it looked like this was not only about Derek being ace but about him being a werewolf as well.

Stiles toweled off and brushed her teeth and only when she was already in the middle of putting on a full make-up she realized something.

"Shit." She had to brace herself on the sink. With her head hanging she tried to assess the situation. Laura had seen a she day before. But when she'd come over for their gaming session, Stiles had just wanted to be comfortable and hadn't shown anything especially female. Laura hadn't even noticed. But now …

"Everything alright?" Derek asked through the closed door.

"I'm fine," Stiles said and lifted her head to look at herself in the mirror.

"Your heart is racing."

"I might have a little problem," Stiles admitted. It wasn't a problem problem but it was a problem.

"I'm coming in."

Stiles didn't know what Derek expected to find, most likely something regarding her wound, that what they had done on the couch had reopened it and that she was bleeding now, so for a long second Derek just stood in the door, trying to figure out what the problem was.

"I think it's the stress." Stiles gestured to her half-done face. "The thing with us, that you're about to make it official to your sister, me working on the case." The last bit was the part she feared most about dinner with Laura. That conversation was going to be fun.

"What is the problem?" Derek asked still not getting it.

"I swung hard." Stiles let out a sigh and looked at herself in the mirror. Why couldn't she have swung in the other direction? She could have put on some aftershave and a nice shirt and Laura wouldn't even notice. But she couldn't do that now. She couldn't even go for something in the middle, she felt all wrong just thinking about going neutral. She had been at this extreme not long ago, she had met Derek that day, she shouldn't have a she day this strong this soon again. Usually, she was more leaning toward he territory but of course today she got this. She glared at herself in the mirror.

"What is the problem?" Derek repeated more gently now. He stepped up behind her and slung his arms around her middle. Stiles had only a towel around her hips and she was pretty sure that her back was still damp but she leaned into Derek's strong chest.

"Am I going to introduce my girlfriend to my sister?" Derek ran his nose along her neck but in the mirror, Stiles caught his smile. It still stunned her that Derek could pick up on this so easily. Okay, with all the make-up it was not that hard to guess but still.

"You might have to." Stiles let out a sigh. "Remember when we met?" She waited for his nod. "It's that bad."

"I don't see anything bad about it." He drew her closer and Stiles felt his shirt dampen between them. "You are you. She knows that. I want you to feel comfortable, I want you to feel right in your skin, Laura just has to deal with it."

"You're serious," Stiles realized. She didn't have a she day that often and even more rarely this strong so it wasn't an issue most of the time. But she had a partner or two before who'd rather ignored that part of her. Some even had a hard time accepting the neutral state she was in most of the time. There was a reason those relationships hadn't lasted.

Derek was different. He just rolled with it.

"You should finish your make-up, Laura is waiting." He placed a little kiss on the nape of her neck before he left the bathroom. Stiles just shook her head after him but then she hurried to finish her make-up.

Stiles didn't go femme fatale like the day she'd met Derek, this was dinner with Derek's sister and not a night out in a club, but when she left her apartment at Derek's side, she was clearly a woman. Her long hair framed her face and emphasized her neck, the blouse and skirt played around her curves and she was wearing just an inch of heel that brought out her curves even more. It wasn't visible but she had tucked and not just with that self-made gaff, this was the nice one. She doubted that Derek would see it tonight but she liked to know that he could.

Stiles had feared that this would be a stiff and formal dinner but Derek just let them into the apartment and then he led the way to where Laura was destroying the kitchen.

"Are you early or am I late?" She asked with her back to them.

"You're late," Derek informed her. "But no need to hurry, we're not starving that much and my shift starts at ten, we have plenty of time."

"Five minutes," Laura promised. She had three pots on the stove and something in the oven and so far she had been too busy with stirring something into one of the pots to even look at her guest.

Stiles had seen her kitchen in a similar state before but she could still not wrap her head around the chaos in front of her. Just how? There were things in the sink she didn't even know what they were used for. Used dishes were piled on the counter and even on the floor. How and where Laura worked in here, Stiles had no clue.

"We'll leave you to it," Derek said and with a hand on the small of Stiles back, he guided her out of the kitchen. The table was already set so there was nothing left for them to do. They bypassed the table and set down on the couch.

For a moment neither of them spoke, they were both straining their ears for the noises coming from the kitchen.

"What are we having?" Stiles asked. She hadn't gotten a good view of the actual food but whatever it was, it smelled good.

"Don't ask me."

"Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veggies," Laura yelled from the kitchen.

"I'll never get used to you two hearing everything," Stiles muttered. "How are you even living in an apartment block? Don't you hear everything your neighbors do? And I mean everything."

"Believe me, we do." Derek made a long-suffering face.

"Headphones are your friend," Laura added from the kitchen.

"Why did you move here in the first place?" Stiles wondered. "If I had a hearing this sensitive I would live in an isolated cabin in the woods or something like that."

"We had that," Derek said quietly. "In Beacon Hills."

"Shit. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." Stiles cursed at herself. She had spent hours over the case, she had seen pictures of the house in the middle of the preserve. Before and after pictures. It had been the perfect place for a pack of werewolves. But also the most obvious to look for them.

"Like you said." Derek gave her a small smile. "Anonymity is a bliss."

"Enough of that, dinner's ready," Laura announced when she came in with the steaming meatloaf. She almost dropped it when she saw Stiles. "Who are you?"

She had a look around, most likely in search for Stiles.

Stiles cringed but followed Derek's lead when he got up.

"I said that I wanted to officially introduce my partner to the pack," Derek said in a formal way that was half-mocking and half-serious. Stiles had the suspicion that in a bigger pack this was actually a thing. Introducing your partner to the alpha and the rest of the pack. But here it was just Derek and Laura and it had more of a sibling vibe to it than anything else. Stiles was pretty sure that normally the alpha wasn't holding a meatloaf with oven mittens for this occasion.

"This is my girlfriend," Derek continued and slung his arm around her middle. "Stiles, this is Laura. Laura, this is Stiles."

"Hi?" Stiles gave her a shy wave.

"Stiles?" She gaped at her.

"Yeah, it's me." Stiles tried to sound confident but this was never easy. For some reason, people had the most problems with her feminine side. And this was not just a random person, this was Derek's sister and his alpha. Stiles didn't know enough about werewolves to know how much power she had over Derek. If she said no, could she force Derek to break up with her?

"You look different," Laura said after a long moment.

"I didn't mean to go into extreme like this." Stiles tried to play it down.

"No, it's okay. It's just …" Laura let out a nervous laugh. "Unexpected?"

"I did tell you that she's genderfluid," Derek reminded her. He sniffed the air. "Do I smell something burning?"

"My gravy!" Laura almost threw the meatloaf on the table and sprinted back to the kitchen.

"That went well." Stiles let out a sigh. This was going to be a long evening.

"You are a beautiful woman." Derek slung his arm around her middle again and placed a quick kiss on her temple. "Laura is just not good with surprises. You'll see, everything is going to be fine."

Stiles had her doubt about that but there was nothing she could do about it.

"Derek, can you get the potatoes and the carrots?" Laura asked when she came in with three bowls of steaming goodness. "Stiles, have a seat."

She set the bowls on the table and gestured for Stiles to come closer.

"He could have warned me," Laura muttered but had a kind smile for Stiles when she took the offered seat.

"I hope it's okay." Stiles felt the need to say. "I'm not that often like this."

"No, no, it's okay." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's just …" She ran her hands along the seams of her jeans. "Now I feel underdressed."

Stiles blinked at her, that was not what she'd expected to hear.

Laura had her hair in a simple ponytail, there was only the barest hint of make-up on her face, and the top and the jeans she was wearing were nice but nothing special. And she was wearing slippers.

They looked at each other for a long second before they burst out laughing.