Chapter 3:

Stiles shifted in the seat Talia had pointed him to. Opposite him, Talia was relaxed into her own chair, hands folded softly atop the desk.

"Why don't we start with your shirt?" Talia offered. "Why does it smell like Derek?"

"Because it was his." Stiles told her. "I took from his room after staying the night once." Here Stiles shrugged. "Just never gave it back. It's comfy."

Talia was watching him carefully. She knew he wasn't lying, but she also knew that what he was saying wasn't possible. The shirt did smell like Derek though, so she decided to put what he said to the back of her mind for now. "Okay." She said.

"What?" Stiles asked. "'Okay' what?" he bobbed his head slightly in disbelief. "You believe me? But this'd be huge on him now!" He exclaimed in shock.

"But you didn't lie. And it really does smell like my son." She smiled. Stiles let out what could've passed as a whine in response. "Do you know what we are?"

"Werewolf. The born kind." Stiles answered.

Talia tilted her head. "And how do you know?"

Stiles took a deep breath, chest puffing up slightly as he did so. "My best friend, Scott. He got bitten by a rogue Alpha. I figured out what he was and helped him control it until we found his anchor."

"I see." She nodded. "Does he need a pack to help him? I'd be willing to assist if necessary." Talia offered him.

Stiles smiled gratefully. "Nah, it's cool. We've got it handled. His 'pack' is mostly inexperienced teenagers, and there were a lot of ups and even more downs, but we've been getting through it and he's not alone."

Talia nodded her understanding before reaching below her desk and pulling out a black bin bag. "This got dropped off outside the house earlier. It just appeared out of nowhere on the porch with a note." After her explanation, she handed the bag and note to a very curious Stiles.

Putting the black bag on his lap, he looked at the note first. Written in the same cursive as the one in his rucksack were the words;

For Stiles' comfort. –Nortia

Stiles' head jerked up at the note, looking at Talia with wide eyes. Talia looked back silently before gesturing to the black bag on his lap. With twitching hands, Stiles tore into the black bag. Inside was a white pillow. Stiles' pillow. "No way…" Stiles trailed off. Noticing a lump in the pillow's case, he stuck his hand in the side and pulled out his phone, a pair of headphones and his music player. "Am I going to just randomly find various bags with my stuff in it scattered around Beacon Hills now?" Stiles asked with mild hysteria laced through his, otherwise, sarcastic question.

Talia gave a gentle, slightly amused, smile in reply. "No. I don't think so." She assured him. "If anything else does randomly pop up, I'm sure it will be dropped off here."

"How can you know that?" Stiles asked, eyes squinting in disbelief.

Talia pulled open the draw and lifted a white page from within it before shutting it once more. "This." Talia told him. She cleared her throat before beginning to read. "Dear Alpha Talia Hale, Please take care of Stiles from now on. I have failed to adequately maintain his fate, and as such, have afforded him a chance to change one thing within his time of existence. He chose to change the events of tonight. You'll understand soon. –Goddess Nortia." Talia placed the letter down in front of her before placing her elbows on either side and folding her hands under her chin whilst smiling at Stiles once more. "I think it's safe to say, my home will be the destination of any other belongings which are yet to appear."

Stiles pushed himself back in his seat, watching Talia with an agape mouth for a couple of minutes, expression one of incomprehension. With a sudden intake of breath, Stiles leant forward and ran both hands down his face before pushing them back up and through his hair. "I give up…" Stiles groaned in exhaustion. "I'm so not ready to handle this right now." Rising to his feet, Stiles looked to Talia. "Can I get some sleep before anything else happens?" He pleaded. "Please?"

Talia also rose. "Of course." She said before waving her hands to the door behind him as she circled the desk. "I'll take you to Derek's room so you can rest. We can talk again in the morning."

Stiles made a noncommittal noise of acknowledgment as he followed the woman out of the study, up the stairs and to a room he assumed was Derek's, where he proceeded to collapse onto the bed face first. There was a rustle behind him before Talia lifted one of his arms to tuck his pillow under, which he buried his face in, and wrapping the bottom half of the duvet up and over his back, covering his shoulders down to the top of his right leg's ankle and left leg's calf. After running a motherly hand through his hair and placing a kiss on his forehead, she left him to sleep.

The talk with Paige and his sister had been mentally and emotionally exhausting. He didn't want Paige to hate or reject him, and she had been silent and unresponsive for what felt forever when they had finished explaining everything to her and answering all of her questions. He'd always been able to read her before, like an open book, but her expression was so blank, he didn't know what to make of it. And when she did respond, it felt like his heart was torn in two.

Letting out a slow breath, Paige turned her expressive eyes to Derek. "Derek," She addressed, his heart lurched in his chest at the deceptively steady and calm tone. "Relationships are meant to be based on trust, and I've realised that you trust neither me, nor yourself. On top of which, my own trust in you has been broken." Derek felt as if he'd entered a dark tunnel. He felt as he his head began to shake slowly, left then right, left then right, slowly, painfully.

A heavy sigh left his lips as he opened his bedroom door, jolting to a stop in surprise after noticing Stiles curled around a pillow that wasn't Derek's in his bed. Derek hesitated momentarily before deciding it was his bed, and it was big enough to share anyway, and gently closing his bedroom door and moving over to the bed, where he flopped besides Stiles, curling up next to his sleeping guest, and floating away into oblivion, feeling strangely safe.

The next morning passed by the sleeping boys unnoticed, the exhaustion keeping them in the deep darkness of unconsciousness. However, come lunchtime, the Alpha of the Hale pack sent her eldest to wake the boys up for some food.

Laura opened the door to Derek's room quietly, taking in the image of her brother curled up with the mysterious boy from last night, Stiles. "Derek." Laura called gently from the doorway. Taking several steps in, drawing up next the bed, she rested her knee on the side before lowering down sideways till she was sat on the edge. Had it been a usual day, calling Derek's name would have cause him to stir, and sitting on the edge of the bed would had have been enough of a jostle to wake him. Laying her hand on his arm, she shook. "Derek!" Laura called, slightly louder than before.

Derek groaned. "What?" He rasped.

"You both need to get up now. Lunch is almost ready, and mum wants everyone there." She told him. "I'll leave waking Stiles to you." Were her parting words as she stood and left the room, leaving the door open so that the noise of the house will encourage the boys to get up.

The laughter of Derek's younger sister, Cora, drifting in is what ultimately roused Derek from the bed. With half-lidded eyes, Derek sat up and blearily looked towards his bedmate. "Hey..." Derek cleared his throat. "Hey." He said again, prodding Stiles half-heartedly. "Wake up." Another prod. "Stiles!"

"Noo…" Stiles moaned, batting at the hand the prodding finger belonged to. "'M too tired…"He whined.

"I don't care. Get up. Lunch will be ready soon." Derek ordered as he got of the bed and went towards his ensuite bathroom. Standing in the doorway, he heard some shuffling as Stiles peaked out from the covers he'd pulled over his head.

"Food?" He questioned sleepily.

Derek rolled his eyes and nodded. "Food." He agreed before closing the door.

Stiles rolled onto his back and let out a heavy, world-weary sigh, before scrubbing a hand across his eyes and then down his face. He groaned. "Do we have to talk again?" He whined to thin air, knowing Talia would hear him.

"Yes!" She called up from the kitchen, where she was finishing off making the food, rolling her eyes in exasperation. Laura laughed from where she was leant on her arms at the table, next to Paige's seat. Paige looked to Laura in confusion.

"Stiles doesn't want to talk anymore." Laura explained brightly. Paige's expression of confusion didn't dim much, but she did shrug it off.

Having finished in the bathroom, Derek came out to see Stiles sat motionlessly on the bed, staring out the window to the front of the house. "You okay?" He asked worriedly.

Stiles startled and turned to Derek with wide eyes. "Fine." He said. Derek raised a brow at the lie. Stiles scowled. "Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional. I'm just F.I.N.E." Stiles said sarcastically.

Derek rubbed his mouth to hide his smile as he turned to his wardrobe and drawers, pulling out two sets of clothes. One set he threw at Stiles, the other he kept for himself. "Go wash up a bit." He said, waving to the open bathroom door.

"Thanks." Stiles replied, grabbing the offered clothes and heading into the bathroom. He began humming to himself, a song no one in the house would recognise, one he barely remembered as it was. "But I don't wanna wake up in the morning, but I've gotta face the day!" he sang quietly to himself. He continued humming, the sound gurgled, as he rinsed his mouth with mouthwash. He spat before singing again. "If you wanna come back, it's alright, it's alright! It's alright, if you wanna back to me!" He aborted his singing with a sigh as he got dressed.

Tapping out a tune on his thigh and bobbing his head to a sound only he could hear, he opened the door and jumped at the sight of Derek leaning at the side of the doorway. "God!" He gasped out, glaring at the smug smile on Derek's young face. "Yeah, yeah. Scare the human." He grumbled.

Ignoring his muttering, Derek just pointed over his shoulder with a bright smile. "Lunch is ready. We were waiting on you."

Silence was cast over the two teenage boys as they descended the stairs. It wasn't awkward, tense or filled with any kind of negative emotion, as Stiles was used to with Derek. It was very rare when it was a comfortable silence, which is what he found himself sharing with this young version of Derek. Watching him with his peripherals, Stiles catalogued the relaxed features and almost cheerful, but definitely confident, stride Derek held himself with. Completely different to the Derek he had come to know. Even when Derek was de-aged by Kate, he wasn't this relaxed. Stiles ached at the knowledge of what would happen and how Derek would grow to have difficulty feeling emotions outside of guilt and self-hatred.

Derek turned concerned eyes Stiles' way. "What's wrong?" He asked. "You smell… bad." He furrowed his brow.

Stiles scoffed. "Well, thanks!" He cheered sarcastically.

"You know that's not what I meant." Derek stated flatly.

"It's nothing for you to worry about Derek. I'll fix it." Stiles replied earnestly, walking ahead of the boy.

Derek watched him go into the kitchen in mild confusion, before following suit.

In the kitchen, there were six people. Talia, a man who Stiles assumes is her human husband, Peter, Laura, a child version of Cora and Paige. He takes comfort and marginally relaxes when he feels Derek step up behind him and give a gentle push on his back to urge him into the room. There are only two places left at the round table, Derek takes the one roughly opposite Paige leaving the space next to him, situated next to the man and opposite Peter, open for Stiles.

"Stiles." Talia greets regally. "I'll introduce you. The man next to you is my husband, Alexander. He's also human." She nodded to him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He greeted warmly, holding a hand towards Stiles for a handshake.

"You too, sir." Stiles replies, equally as warm. As he take the man's hand, he get pulled forwards and Alexander's other hand comes up to ruffle his hair playfully, shocking a mild chuckled passed Stiles' lips.

Alexander gives a large smile that reminds Stiles of the rare, true smiles older Derek occasionally gives, and tells him "Just Alex is fine." In a cheerful voice.

"Alex it is then." Stiles agrees, amusement coating his words.

"This is my eldest, Laura." Talia continues.

Laura winks at him playfully. Stiles grins back with equal cheek.

"You've met Peter, Paige and Derek, but the little one next to Derek is Cora." Talia finishes off.

Stiles leans forwards to look around Derek, who leans back slightly, to have a closer look at the child Cora used to be. "Hey, there." He greets with a smile.

Cora stares at him for a moment. "Are you staying long?" She replies.

Stiles is taken aback briefly, before remembering that Cora is similar to Malia in the respect of being abruptly blunt about their thoughts, bypassing politeness, manners and common curtesy.

"Cora." Talia chastised gently.

Stiles chuckled. "Not too long, I suppose." Stiles told the girl.

Cora titled her head. "You smell nice. You should stay longer." With that, she turned away and began shoveling food into her mouth rapidly.

At this, Stiles let out a burst of laughter, prompting other at the table to smile, giggle or chuckle their own amusement. Once they had calmed down, they ate in comfortable silence.