When Derek showed up to fetch Stiles around four in the morning, Scott was fast asleep. Which probably was for the better, it was a school day after all. And that way Stiles didn't have to come up with an explanation for the man suddenly standing in Scott's bedroom door.
Stiles scribbled a quick note on the empty pizza box, saying that he was sorry for leaving in the middle of the night like this.
"Man, I feel like I'm sneaking out after a one-night-stand," Stiles muttered when he followed Derek to the bathroom.
"Did you sleep with him?" Derek asked.
"Doubt he swings that way." Stiles glanced back at where Scott was softly snoring in his bed. Stiles had known that he wouldn't be able to spend the whole night but he hadn't objected when Scott had pulled out the inflatable mattress. It had been comfy for discussing their conspiracy theories.
"Besides, he's not my type. I like them more mature." Scott was a teenager and it showed. "I'm more into the sassy bastards."
"Like Peter?" Derek asked and stepped into the shower.
"I like him." Stiles shrugged. The next second they were in the lake. "I might even love him."
Here in the depth of the lake, he could admit it. Here only Derek was able to hear his confession and he wouldn't judge.
"Will he recover?" Derek asked in his neutral tone but Stiles sensed more behind his words.
"I don't know." Stiles let himself sag into Derek. This was the worst. Seeing Peter like this, not knowing if he would ever wake up again, Stiles didn't like it. In a way, it would have been easier if Peter had died in the fire.
"The Hale pack still owes me a member of their pack," Derek said.
"You mean …?" Stiles had been ready to let himself drift but he snapped awake at that suggestion. "Would that even work? I mean would he heal?"
Thinking back, Stiles had recovered from death before. It had taken time but he'd gotten better once he'd been with Derek in the lake. That combined with the healing abilities of a werewolf …
"Yes," Derek confirmed, he sounded sure. Stiles didn't even know if he was capable of lying. He never sugarcoated anything either. "But he would have to stay with us."
Forever, Stiles got that.
"Do you want that?" Derek asked.
"Do you?" Stiles asked. And the more important question, did Peter want to stay with them? He was in a coma, there was no way to ask him.
"I wouldn't mind having him here," Derek answered.
Stiles narrowed his eyes on him, trying to figure him out.
"You like him," Stiles realized. This was not just because Stiles liked Peter. Stiles liked John and he doubted that Derek would make such an offer if it were the sheriff lying in a coma. "That's why you're so invested in this."
Stiles had not seen Derek interested in earthly matters like this ever before. Derek didn't care about what was going on in town, he didn't care about people. For some reason, he did care about Peter, though.
Derek didn't say anything to that.
"I have to think about this," Stiles finally said when it became clear that Derek would not explain his reasoning. "He's not actively dying, no need to make rash decisions."
He should probably talk to Talia first anyway. She was Peter's alpha and his sister if anybody she was the person who could make a decision like this for Peter.
When Stiles broke through the surface it had to be late in the afternoon. At least judging by the sun which was about to disappear behind the trees.
His clothes were dripping wet again but without a car, he didn't have another choice but to take Derek's expressway back to the lake.
At least the car had died an honorable death. But he should get a replacement soon, relying on John and Derek to get around was not a long term solution. And while he was at it, he should get a new phone as well. Stiles still had the five hundred bucks Peter had given him for the information on the hunter, that should at least cover the phone. The phone situation was the more pressing problem anyway.
Fighting with his wet clothes, Stiles stalked out of the lake and only noticed the box at his door when he almost stumbled over it.
He carried it inside but took the time to change into dry clothes before he opened the package.
It was a care package. Canned goods, coffee, snacks. There was an envelope on top which would probably explain all this but what caught Stiles' eye was a box which looked suspiciously like a new phone.
"No way." Stiles held the box in his hands. It had been opened before. The reason for that became clear when Stiles took the phone out of the box. The screen lit up with two messages waiting for him. From Talia and John, both contacts were already on his list.
Talia's message was just a short update on Peter, not that there was anything to update. Still in a coma, still not healing.
John's message was more optimistic. They had caught one of the hunters. Not Kate, though, but it was a start.
Before he answered any of the messages, Stiles put the phone aside and reached for the letter. It was from Talia, thee pages, handwritten. But there was something else in the envelope.
Dumbfounded Stiles stared at the key in his hand.
He set the key aside for now, he was not ready to deal with that, and started reading. Like expected, Talia thanked him for saving her family. The care package was from all the people who had donated food and other essentials to the Hale family but since they had lots of family in town, and were filthy rich, not that Talia mentioned that part, they didn't need most of it. So Talia had decided to donate it to other people in need. Looked like Stiles counted as a person in need. He barked out a laugh at that.
The phone and the car, because yes, there was a car waiting for him at the road, were a little thank you from the pack.
I know it's far from enough, Talia wrote, but the least I can do is to replace what you've lost when you saved my family.
Stiles got misty eyes just reading the stupid letter.
Talia ended by saying that her door was always open for him and if Stiles needed anything, he should just tell her.
Overwhelmed with all this, Stiles grabbed the key and walked outside to check out his new car.
It was a jeep, parked in the usual spot. It wasn't his old car but the fact alone that it was a jeep tightened Stiles' throat.
The car was new. It smelled new. Of course, he had to take her for a ride. Stiles started the engine and then he was on the road. He didn't have a destination in mind, he wanted to visit Peter and drop by the station at some point but for now, he just drove.
Half an hour later, he found himself on the other side of town, on his way to the Hale house. Stiles parked the car before he rounded the last corner and walked the last bit.
The house was a blackened ruin. It was missing half its roof and the empty windows were looking down on Stiles, daring him to come closer. The front door was just a jagged mouth, the frame broken and splintered from the collision with Stiles' car.
Everything was closed off with tape and Stiles was not stupid enough to go into the house, it didn't look safe at all. Not that that had stopped him the other night when flames had been licking out of the windows. The fire was long put out but the smell of ash and smoke still lingered in the air.
"Didn't expect anybody to be out here." Suddenly somebody spoke up behind him. Stiles swirled around to which the elderly woman raised her hands to indicate that she meant no harm. Pamela Hale, Stiles recognized her. She was a werewolf so even if she wasn't the youngest anymore, she most likely was still way faster and stronger than him.
"I'm sorry." Stiles took a step back. "I shouldn't be out here, I know." This was the wrong side of town for him, he knew that. "I'm leaving."
"Please stay." Pamela held him back. "You can come out here whenever you like. Not that there's much to see at the moment." She put a hand on her hip and studied the ruin that used to be her home.
"Thanks to you it's not a grave," she added after a long second.
"I should leave." Stiles was not in the mood for this. Interacting with the pack had been difficult before the fire, now Stiles didn't know how to act at all.
"I came here to see if anything from the garden is salvageable," Pamela said. "Would you like to join me? I might need a second pair of hands."
At least she was not hero-worshiping him.
"You think there's something left?" Stiles asked and now he wanted to know the answer to that.
"Only one way to find out." Pamela winked at him and then she was leading the way around the shell of a house to the back. There was a shed that was a bit singed around the edges and covered with ash but otherwise it was still standing.
The garden itself was far enough from the house to not have been damaged by the fire itself but the water and people stomping around had done quite some damage.
"Doesn't look like there's much left." Stiles had a look around.
"Figured that much." Pamela let out a sigh and carefully made her way through the muddy mess that used to be beds of various vegetables. Stiles hadn't paid much attention to them when he'd been walking around here with Peter but he remembered way more green. That had been when Peter had stolen his bag. It felt like it had been ages ago.
"The ash is a good fertilizer." Pamela had a critical look around. "You'll see, next year we'll harvest more than we can eat."
"You want to come back here?" Stiles had a look around, at the ruined garden and the house.
"Of course," Pamela answered without hesitation. As if leaving this place had never crossed her mind. It made sense. The house was beyond saving but the Hales had rebuild it before. They had lived here for generations, this was their home.
"Talia is still busy with the insurance stuff and with Peter of course." She shook her head at that reminder. "But she and a few others are already making plans for a new house. They don't scare us away that easily." She smiled at him.
"Any news on Peter?" Stiles asked. Talia's message was already a few hours old.
"No." The smile died on her lips and for a moment she just looked into the distance. "He's fighting but he's not getting better."
"You have a little more distance than Talia," Stiles said carefully. "What would you say, what are his chances to wake up anytime soon?"
"Honestly?" She made her way out of the muddy part back to where Stiles was standing on a solid patch of grass. "Not good. He is healing but way too slowly. If his healing doesn't increase it will take his body years to recover. If he recovers at all. His body can still give out at any point."
That was not what Stiles had wanted to hear but he'd kind of expected this answer.
Deep in thoughts, he said goodbye to Pamela. He promised to not be a stranger, a promise he wasn't sure he intended to keep, and returned to his new car.
Putting off Talia for later, Stiles drove back into town. He needed to talk to John. He wanted to know what was going on with the hunter they had in custody but more importantly, he needed to talk to someone about Derek's offer.
