Stiles woke up at the bottom of the lake, curled into Derek's presence.
"Why am I here?" Stiles asked but didn't feel like moving just yet. The floating was nice.
"You had a nightmare," Derek told him. "I brought you here."
Now Stiles remembered being in the cabin with Peter. The werewolf had fucked him into oblivion but it looked like it hadn't been just lights out after that. Down here, everything was muted and if Stiles wanted to, he could just let go of everything and don't care for a little while. Or a long while, it didn't matter.
"I need to go up," Stiles said but didn't move to do just that. The nightmare was still lingering in the back of his mind. He felt it at the base of his skull, just waiting to dig in its claws again. And not the good digging in of claws Peter had done earlier. Once Stiles would be topside, it would be back full force. Maybe he should sleep down here for a while now. Nightmares didn't reach the bottom of the lake.
However, Stiles needed to go to school. The others would pick him up any time soon, he wasn't sure what time it was but he had the feeling that he should hurry, and he would have to apologize to Peter. Stiles didn't know what exactly had happened but for Derek to come for him, it had to be bad.
"Peter was there." Derek pulled him out of his thoughts.
"When you got me?"
"Yes. You were fighting him," Derek said in a neutral tone, just stating facts, but it was enough to stir up the guilty feeling in Stiles' stomach.
"Was he shifted?"
"Yes."
"Fuck."
Shifted meant that Stiles had fought him for real. He hadn't just tossed and turned and mumbled in his sleep.
"You took me away from a wolfed out werewolf?" That put some interesting images in his head.
"He couldn't help you," Derek said as if that was explanation enough. "He didn't like it. But he didn't fight me."
"You know, I kind of wish I was awake for that."
When Stiles returned to his cabin, stark naked and dripping wet, he did have to hurry to get ready for school before the others picked him up but he took the moment to shoot Peter a message. At least he was still talking to him and agreed to talk later. Stiles wasn't even sure how to explain what had happened last night but maybe they could pretend that it had never happened and move on.
Then Peter said that he was worried.
For a long second Stiles stared at his phone, trying to make sense out of what he was seeing. But the words didn't change the longer he looked at them. Peter had been worried. He'd just admitted that he'd been worried. Stiles was pretty sure that this was the closest to I love you Peter was capable of. He was not a man who talked about his feelings.
Stiles had no clue how to respond to that so he opted for an emoji with hearty eyes and left it at that.
It was their second day back and things were surprisingly normal. Yesterday all three of them had gotten glances and whispers behind their back. Today it was already old news. Stiles was still the new kid who didn't have many friends so he got glossed over easily, people were more focused on Boyd and Erica. They kept to themselves and one look at them made clear how shaken they still were. Their friends tried to talk to them but mostly they were left alone.
The only one worried about Stiles was Scott. He'd asked questions yesterday but had quickly shut up when Stiles had told him that he didn't want to talk about it. Scott had given him a considering nod and then he'd told him about his work at the local vet clinic. They had a stray puppy who was the cutest thing ever but an escape artist.
"You'll never guess where we found him yesterday." Scott had told Stiles in detail how the little dog had almost been thrown out with the trash. "He must have smelled something interesting in there. Dug his way all to the bottom. Had to wash him three times to get the stench out of his fur. He did not like that at all."
The story did have the desired effect and had lifted Stiles' mood so when they were sitting together for lunch today, he asked about the little rugrat.
"You can come over to the clinic if you like," Scott offered. "Deaton doesn't mind if I bring a friend from time to time."
Stiles doubted that Scott had ever brought a friend with him but who would say no to seeing a puppy? So Stiles agreed to come over to the clinic later that afternoon. He would have to return to the lake in between, he did not want Derek to show up at the clinic, but that shouldn't be a problem.
The problem, however, was Peter. Stiles had promised to talk to him later which had just turned into later later and he didn't know how to tell him that. He didn't want to give the impression that he was avoiding him.
It didn't help that he was supposed to have dinner with John today as well which he didn't want to cancel. John was worried about him and wanted to make sure in person that he was okay, Stiles got that.
In the end, Stiles invited Peter to join them for dinner. Of course, he checked in with John first who seemed surprised by that request but agreed easily. He and Peter had gotten along well so far and since Stiles was about to get introduced to the pack soon, Peter was talking about next weekend when Laura would be home from college, it seemed only fair that Peter got properly introduced to John.
After school, Stiles only went under for half an hour before he came up again to meet Scot at the clinic.
He wasn't sure what he'd expected but a whole bunch of dogs barking their heads off when he entered the back room, was not what he'd in mind.
"No idea what's up with them." Scott tried to calm down the dogs but they kept barking and snarling at Stiles. Only when he left the room, they slowly calmed down. Looked like Buttons was not the only dog who didn't like Stiles. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Peter went into that room, though. The dogs would go nuts. At least until Peter roared them into submission. Buttons was still afraid of him and avoided him at all costs.
"Sorry, they're usually not like that." Scott joined him and once he'd closed the door even the most persistent dog eased of with the barking.
"I'm just not a dog person, I guess." Stiles tried to laugh it off.
"Wait until you see Max. You'll love him. And he'll love you." Scott's face lit up. He grabbed Stiles by the sleeve and dragged him along the corridor.
"I'm not so sure about this." Stiles didn't want to be responsible for traumatizing a puppy but he did let Scott drag him into another room.
"This is Max." Scott proudly gestured at a cage in the corner. It was bigger than the ones in the other room and laid out with soft bedding. The puppy had been sleeping but he perked up when they entered the room. Wagging his tail he eagerly pressed his face between the bars and Scott didn't have to be asked twice. With cooing noises, he crouched down and scratched Max behind the ear.
"I brought a friend." Scott waved for Stiles to come closer. So far the puppy only had eyes for Scott which was probably for the better but now curiosity won and Stiles dared to step closer.
Max shied back and Stiles was about to retreat, this was a bad idea, poor puppy, but Scott had nothing of that.
"Sit down here." Scott pointed at a spot near the cage but not too close. "Let him get to know you."
"It's okay." Stiles tried to deflect him but Scott gave him a look with those puppy dog eyes and a second later Stiles found himself sitting on the cold floor. The puppy was peeking out from behind the pillow he'd retreated to. He wanted to get back to Scott for more cuddles but he didn't trust Stiles, that much was obvious.
However, it didn't take long for him to return to Scott.
It took a while but Scott seemed to have all the patience in the world and in the end, the puppy was sniffing Stiles' hand and a few minutes after that, Stiles was allowed to give him a belly rub.
"See?" Scott smiled brightly. "He likes you."
"Looks like." Stiles still couldn't believe it. "He's a stray?"
"Yep." Scott stretched out his legs and leaned his back against the cage. "Deaton thinks that somebody wanted to get rid of some puppies the easy way. He's lucky that he got found in time, most don't make it." He craned his neck to look over to Stiles who now had the puppy in his lap.
"What does your uncle think about a dog?"
"We can't adopt him." Stiles shook his head but he was not tempted anyway. John had a crazy schedule and even if Stiles had all the time in the world, when he wasn't pretending to go to school, he doubted that Max would become friends with Peter or Derek. The poor thing would be scarred for life. Stiles did tend to lose track of time when he was under. He would never forgive himself if he forgot about the dog for days. Besides, he hadn't been lying when he'd said that he wasn't a dog person. Max was cute and all and he wouldn't mind coming by more often to play with the puppy but he was absolutely not tempted to bring him home.
"Figured." Scott nodded. "Mom's saying the same."
"You'll find a good home for him," Stiles assured him. Max's eyes were dropping and he was close to falling asleep in Stiles' lap.
"Yeah." Scott watched them for a moment longer but then he got up. "I need to go back to work."
Right, Scott wasn't here just for fun, he worked here.
"And I should go home." He let Scott pick up the sleeping dog to put him back in his cage. Max blinked a few times but went right back to sleep in his bed. "Thanks for introducing me to Max."
"Anytime." Scott made sure to close the cage properly. "Most of the time it's pretty boring here, you can come by whenever you like." He paused, lost in thoughts for a moment. "It helps."
Stiles wasn't sure what exactly he was referring to but he knew that Scott's parents were divorced and that it hadn't been pretty, that much he'd gotten out of his friend. Not that Scott had outright said any of that.
"I might do that." Stiles doubted that it would help with the nightmares but it couldn't hurt either. But then he noticed something in Scott's expression. Stiles was not the only one who'd gone through something traumatic recently. Scott had been there as well.
"It was not your fault what happened to me and the others, you know that, right?" Stiles made a wild guess but it looked like he was right.
"I should have …"
"You did the right thing," Stiles cut him off. "You called 911 and you took pictures of the van."
"I should have stopped them," Scott yelled. "I just stood there like an idiot and let them take you."
"Scott!" With both hands, Stiles forced him to look at him. "It's not your fault. It's not. I'm not blaming you and the others don't blame you either. You helped my uncle find us."
"You escaped on your own," Scott reminded him but he was listening now.
"Without your help, they wouldn't have found the van and the place where they took us," Stiles said. "That's a big step in the investigation. My uncle will get them because of that."
It took some more talking but eventually, Scott nodded, not really convinced but getting there.
"I should go back to work." Scott glanced at the clock.
"Yeah, I should get going as well." With only his short stop at the lake earlier he should go back before dinner with John and Peter. He wanted to spend as much time with Peter as possible.
"Don't forget your homework again."
Stiles rolled his eyes at him but he had a point there. He didn't care about his grades but if he didn't want to face the wrath of Harris, he better got his chemistry homework done.
