Authors Note: HEYO! XD Please tell me what you think; I would love to know XD I own nothing and no one, apart from the following: Zane,Gabriel (Gabe).
JUST SO YOU KNOW: like everyone else, I have no idea what Stiles' real name is, so I'm going along with what everyone else puts :) and I've made his middle name up XD
You guys are all so amazing and I love you all! In a non-creepy non-psycho kind of way XD
Please, please review XD
Chapter 24
Stiles
December 31st, New Years Eve.
Soon it would be the start of a new year.
Goodbye 2013, hello 2014!
Who knew, maybe I could have better luck this year. It was certainly going to start off better, considering the ten people I had with me. I already knew that they were the reasons why I was a little excited for tonight.
I had never really seen fireworks before, the last time being when I was five or six. But tonight? Tonight we were going up onto the roof, to watch the fireworks that are let off somewhere in the town.
But for now?
For now, I was too excited to sit still for long. But I have no idea how that led me to baking! And I'm not kidding. I was actually baking...while listening to the music I had downloaded – it ended up not taking days as I thought, just hours. Don't get me wrong, I love to bake. It's one of the very few things that I took pleasure in doing. It was something I hadn't done for years...
So, with that in mind, I decided that – now I was baking – I could make things for tonight.
Tonight, when we were all out on the roof, watching the fireworks. Bringing in the New Year.
I mean, I was making enough as it was, already. Seriously! I had trays upon trays of cookies, a handful of cakes, dozens of cupcakes, hundreds of flapjacks... I didn't realize just how much I had made until I looked around in this moment.
I couldn't actually think of a time when I had actually made so much!
And I was still going. I had moved on to making pie now. Apple pie, cherry pie, blackberry pie, blueberry pie, chocolate pecan pie, triple-chocolate pumpkin pie, key-lime pie, mud pie, buttermilk pie, banana cream pie, honey pie, lemon coconut buttermilk pie, chocolate pie, banoffee pie, boysenberry pie, bumbleberry pie, derby pie, raspberry pie, rhubarb pie and strawberry pie. Man, Dean Winchester would be happy...
And treacle tart.
I even made cheesecake and I made vanilla ice-cream to go with the root-beer floats I would set up later!
Was that too much? Yes.
Did I care? No.
I mean, hey, werewolves ate a shit tone of food. And since there was nine werewolves, plus me – I was starting to eat a little more – I needed to make a lot. Especially if Allison wanted to eat something.
But then I froze as a certain song came on. I looked over at my laptop, making sure that I wasn't imagining it, grinning madly as I saw it say: Play It Again, Luke Bryan.
How could I not sing this song?
"She was sittin' all alone over on the tailgate
Tan legs swingin' by a Georgia plate
I was lookin' for her boyfriend
Thinkin', no way she ain't got one
Soon as I sat down I was fallin' in love
Tryin' to pour a little sugar in her Dixie cup
Talkin' over the speakers in the back of that truck
She jumped up and cut me off
She was like, oh my God, this is my song
I've been listenin' to the radio all night long
Sittin' 'round waitin' for it to come on and here it is
She was like, come here boy, I wanna dance
'Fore I said a word, she was takin' my hand
Spinnin' me around 'til it faded out
And she gave me a kiss
And she said, play it again, play it again, play it again
And I said, play it again, play it again, play it again"
As I sang, I danced around the kitchen, still mixing and baking, keeping an eye on everything I was doing.
"I'd gave that DJ my last dime
If he would have played it just one more time
But a little while later
We were sittin' in the drive in my truck
Before I walked her to the door
I was scannin' like a fool AM, FM, XM too
But I stopped real quick when I heard that groove
Man, you should have seen her light up"
I think everyone would be surprised if I liked country. I mean, to them, I didn't look like someone who would enjoy it.
"She was like, oh my God, this is my song
We've been listenin' to the radio all night long
I can't believe that it came back on, but here it is
She was like, come here boy, I wanna dance
'Fore I said a word, she was takin' my hand
Spinnin' in the headlights she gave me a goodnight kiss
And I said, play it again, play it again, play it again
And she said, play it again, play it again, play it again"
But I did. It was strange, but I did like it. I guess if the song was good and the person could sing, then I liked it.
"The next Friday night we were sittin' out under the stars
You should have seen her smile when I broke out my guitar
She was like, oh my God, this is my song
I've been listenin' to the radio all night long
Sittin' 'round waitin' for it to come on and here it is
She was like, come here boy, I wanna dance
'Fore I said a word, she was takin' my hand
Spinnin' in the headlights she gave me a goodnight kiss
And she said, play it again, play it again, play it again
And I said, play it again, play it again, play it again
Yeah, play it again, play it again, play it again
Somebody, play it again, play it again, play it again"
I was grinning from start to finish. Even after that song finished. And I couldn't help but smile as the next song came on and I kept making the pies.
I mean, Def Leppard singing Pour Some Sugar On Me... I couldn't ask for a better song to come on next!
So I had to sing that too.
"Step inside, walk this way
You and me babe, Hey, hey!
Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on
Livin' like a lover with a radar phone
Lookin' like a tramp, like a video vamp
Demolition woman, can I be your man?
Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light
Television lover, baby, go all night
Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet
Little miss ah innocent sugar me, yeah"
This was the kind of song that everyone thought I listened to. Sexual, rock and roll.
"Hey!
C'mon, take a bottle, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up
Pour some sugar on me
Ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me
C'mon, fire me up
Pour your sugar on me
Oh, I can't get enough
I'm hot, sticky sweet
From my head to my feet, yeah"
Some people didn't realize that there was more to me than all of that.
"Listen! Red light, yellow light, green-a-light go!
Crazy little woman in a one man show
Mirror queen, mannequin, rhythm of love
Sweet dream, saccharine, loosen up
You gotta squeeze a little, squeeze a little
Tease a little more
Easy operator come a knockin' on my door
Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet
Little miss innocent sugar me, yeah, yeah
Give a little more"
But that didn't stop me from swinging my hips as I moved around the kitchen, singing as loud as I could, grinning like a mad man.
"Take a bottle, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up
Pour some sugar on me
Ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me
C'mon fire me up
Pour your sugar on me
Oh, I can't get enough
I'm hot, sticky sweet
From my head to my feet yeah"
I loved the guitar solo in this song! It was awesome and no one could tell me differently! Hell, I learnt the guitar solo the day I heard this song!
"You got the peaches, I got the cream
Sweet to taste, saccharine
'cause I'm hot, say what, sticky sweet
From my head, my head, to my feet
Do you take sugar? One lump or two?
Take a bottle, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up
Pour some sugar on me
Ooh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me
C'mon fire me up
Pour your sugar on me
Oh, I can't get enough
Pour some sugar on me
Oh, in the name of love
Pour some sugar on me
Get it, come get it
Pour your sugar on me
Ooh
Pour some sugar on me
Yeah! Sugar me!"
It was a great song.
And only after it finished did I hear the two heartbeats behind me.
Slowly, I turned around, finding Derek and peter both standing by the door.
"Why is it always you two?" I groaned, chucking the wash cloth over my shoulder, before turning back to the filling for my next pie.
"You bake? How do you know how to bake? What is happening?" Peter asked, quietly.
"Mom and her friend Talia taught me when I was a kid."
The pair of them went quiet at that, the same sad look overtaking their faces just like every other time I mentioned or drew Talia.
But as soon as it was there, it was gone. As if it never happened.
"That doesn't explain why you've turned into Nigella Lawson." Peter quipped.
Rolling my eyes, I glanced over my shoulder. And if I bitch-faced the older Hale, well, that's my problem.
"I got excited about tonight." I muttered, turning back to the pies and things. "So, I ended up baking. Then I thought: 'hey, we have food for when we're on the roof'."
The only reply was a soft, high yelp.
I didn't question it, I didn't turn around... I just smirked knowing Derek was on my side.
The roof...the roof was flat, the edge before the concrete ledge surrounded by a metal fence of sorts. A small bump could be seen on top, probably a door that you walked through to get onto the roof. It must be nice to go up onto that roof, to lie down and look up at the stars. The view must have been great too, standing by the fence and look out on everything.
We were up on the roof just after nine that evening. Everyone had helped take the food up – I had baked a lot, so it took us a fair few trips. But everyone seemed happy with all the shit I had made, and they all seemed to like it.
At least, that's what they said anyway.
Well, they said more than that...and there were a few appreciative moans, but you know what I mean.
The first time I saw the house, I remember thinking how nice it must be to come up onto the roof and be able to just look around; stare up at the stars. Man, I couldn't have been more right!
The view was amazing. High enough to see through the trees, but low enough that you couldn't be seen from the road. I'll admit that I spent the first few minutes of being up there – after we brought the food up – just moving around the roof, leaning against the metal fence and taking in the view from all angles.
It was kind of beautiful. Especially since it was suck a clear night, making it so we could see the stars and moon.
Looking up at the stars reminded me of when I was a little kid, back before any of this shit started – before my mom died, before my dad turned into an abusive alcoholic, before Zane. Back when I was carefree and way happier.
When I was, about, four, my mom used to take me out onto our roof – the safe, flat bit, of course – to look at the stars, while dad was at work. She would point out the constellations, always asking me what my favourite was. My answer never changed, it was always Canis Majoris. When she would ask me my favourite star, I would say Sirius, the Dog Star. I had always been fond of dogs, so it made sense that the Dog Star was my favourite. It also helped that dogs seemed to be fond of my too. Which was strange because, hello, half werewolf half fox.
"Hey, Stiles! Can we cut this pie?!" Jackson shouted over.
I don't know why he insisted on shouting when he knew I could hear him perfectly well. Rolling my eyes, I told him that it was fine, albeit I kept my voice at its usual level.
It was nice out here, and I didn't want to ruin it by yelling.
In what seemed like no time at all, midnight came and fireworks had been set off, lighting up the sky in so many colours.
It would have been better if I didn't flinch every time one was set off.
I thought I was doing well at hiding it from all of them, you know. But it seemed like I was wrong, since every time I flinched they would all apologise. Isaac didn't apologise as much though, only ever doing it every once in a while. He was too engrossed in the fireworks; eyes glazed over and mind somewhere far away.
But then, a few minutes after my last flinch, Isaac turned to me.
"Sorry." he whispered, looking guilty.
That was the last thing I remembered.
FLASHBACK: Wednesday, January 2nd 2008 – Stiles' POV
I stood there and watched as a twelve – almost thirteen – year old Isaac cowered in the corner, while Mr Lahey stood there with a gun. The rifle was hanging loosely at his side, thankfully, but I couldn't help but panic at the thought of him turning the weaponry on the kid.
"You," he slurred, drunkenly. "You made my wife leave."
The man swayed, trying to stumble closer. The first step he took reminded me of a newborn animal trying to walk, making him have to find a grip on a nearby table to keep himself standing.
"It would be so...easy to hide your body." Mr Lahey continued, glaring at the whimpering boy, waving the gun around dangerously. "So easy to just get rid of you."
The older man chuckled darkly, stumbling a little closer to the poor kid. He crouched down slowly, keeping one hand gripped to the table top to keep his balance. Leaning forward, staring at his son, he glared as the younger version of Isaac tried to push himself into the wall even further, muttering apologises the whole time.
"It's all your fault!" he spat, throwing his gun in the air.
Isaac screamed as the gun went off, while I flinched, taking a step back.
Before I could even blink, Mr Lahey had stretched over, gripping the back of Isaac's neck in a painful grip, dirty nails digging into the flesh.
"Look what you made me do!" Mr Lahey roared, throwing his gun onto the table before dragging Isaac over to the other side of the room.
Before I knew it, Isaac was locked in the freezer, Mr Lahey ignoring his begging and pleas and cries, just walking up the stairs with a blank expression.
Once the guy was gone, I slowly made my way over to the freezer. Maybe, just this once, I could change the memory. I could change it and help him.
But as soon as I opened the lid, Isaac's cold lifeless body was just lying there. Blue and decaying, eyes blood shoot. Even so, his head snapped up to look at me.
"Why didn't you save me?" he whispered, blood rolling down his face from his eyes instead of tears. "Why didn't you stop him? Don't you wanna help me, Stiles?"
END OF FLASHBACK: Back to Wednesday, January 1st 2014
I don't know what I was saying, all I know is that I was yelling and trying to distance myself from the image as much as I could. I only stopped moving when my back hit cold metal, my head in my hands.
"Stiles?" a small, soft voice came...the same voice that was talking to me before.
My head snapped up, coming face to face with Isaac.
I didn't think about what I did next, I just dragged the young werewolf forward, hugging him tightly. It took a few seconds for him to get over the shock and actually hug me back...
It was the first hug I had initiated and gone into willingly ever since my mom died.
It was nice.
"Are you ok?"I asked, starting to calm down, my eyes shut tight.
"Me?! Are you ok?" Isaac countered. "You're the one that freaked out."
"Speaking of, can you take the black out of your eyes?" Erica asked quietly. "It's a little creepy..."
I froze at that.
Why had my eyes turned black this time? I wasn't taking away anyone else's pain and panic. And it didn't work with mine.
In an instant, I was up and running through the door on the roof, jumping down the stairs, and flying into the bathroom on the floor of the house that my room was on. I realised I was shaking as I came to a stop in front of the mirror, noticing that my eyes, were in fact, black.
Why are they doing this?!
I tried to get them to go back to normal, but nothing I tried seemed to work, and the fact that I was panicking about it only seemed to make it worse!
I didn't know what to do to make it better.
I never had anyone around to tell me how to control it properly.
I never had anyone around to tell me why it would happen when I wasn't taking away pain and panic.
"STILES!" a panicked voice called.
Immediately, right after hearing that voice, my eyes turned back to normal.
Derek's voice, my mind helpfully supplied.
Well...that was new...
Calming myself down enough that I was breathing properly, I left the bathroom, coming face to face with Derek and Isaac, the rest of the Pack slowly coming up behind them. I didn't need my super senses to know that they were worried. It was written all over their faces that they were concerned.
"I'm fine." I told them, walking up to Isaac.
I stared at the blonde intently, waiting to see if the blood would start to drip from his eyes, or if he would turn blue...
But he didn't.
He stayed the same. And that was enough for me.
For now.
So, with a satisfied nod, I left them standing there, heading towards the stairs.
As I made my way down to the living room, I noticed that I was still rather shaky. To prevent myself from falling, I gripping the banister tight – well, as tight as I could, without it breaking or threatening to break.
But I made it into the room without injury, turning on the light as just before I walked in. The first thing I was greeted with was the picture I had drawn for Derek, hanging above the fireplace, the second being the Christmas tree standing in the corner of the room – furthest away from the fireplace.
I sat down on one end of the couch, staring at the tree, watching the lights change colour and blink every so often. But, even though I was drawn in by the colours, it didn't stop me from hearing the soft footfalls and heartbeats of the Pack, as they stood in the doorway of the living room, most likely checking that I was actually alright before they went off to bed.
I, on the other hand, picked up the book I had been reading a few days ago, off of the coffee table and began to read.
There was no way in hell I was going to sleep tonight!
Derek
Waking up at eleven that January 1st morning, I couldn't help but remember what happened only hours before.
Everyone pretty much woke up at the same time – well, everyone but Stiles – but Stiles didn't seem to be awake. Or in his room. I knew he was still in the house, since I could hear ten heartbeats...but Stiles' wasn't coming from his room or from the kitchen.
As I made my way downstairs, I was joined by the rest of my Pack, as usual. First Peter, before gathering Danny and Isaac, Scott and Allison, Jackson and Lydia, and finally Boyd and Erica.
The first thing we all saw once reaching the ground floor of our house?
Stiles curled up into a small ball, taking up a small portion of the couch.
It was a silent agreement that nobody was to wake him up, but also that we weren't going to leave him alone. We all knew about his nightmares, we all knew what it was like to suffer with them. Sure, Stiles' seemed to be worse, but that didn't change that we all knew what it was like to have to deal with them.
While Peter and I decided that, this time, we would take the spare seats on the couch by Stiles, everyone else quietly found a place to sit. No one said anything; no one made any sudden movements that would cause a loud noise... Everyone stayed quiet and calm, letting the newest member of our quirky group rest for once, with all of us around.
We hadn't been sitting there for two minutes when Stiles stirred a little.
Instead of waking up as we all thought he would, Stiles seemed to move closer to Peter – who was sitting right by his head – pushing his head against my uncle's leg. The boy visibly relaxed as he continued to nuzzle and push his head into Peter's leg, the gesture being one that the pair of us was all too familiar with.
There was only one person we knew that ever did that...
My stomach churned as I watched Stiles continue to push against Peter's leg every now and then. My wolf growled inside my mind as I watched as Peter let his hand drop to pat the kids head every so often.
And I only had a faint idea as to why... But only because of what my dad used to say and from what Peter had told me – told all of us – since becoming the Uncle I once knew and loved. Peter had explained the concept of Mates to all of us, filling in the gaps of our knowledge, since my parents were never around to teach me, and Laura didn't know how to explain it to her closed off brother.
But it couldn't be... Could it?
"Derek's getting jealous." Erica giggled, singing the words instead of saying them.
She backed down as soon as the red flashed into my eyes.
"Nephew, there's no need for that. It's perfectly normal." Peter said, quietly, already knowing where my thoughts were.
Slowly, Peter looked up from the kid next to him, first meeting my gaze before looking at the eight teenagers.
"Years ago, long before the fire, a good friend of my sister's, Derek's mother, would come to visit, bringing her son along." Peter explained, being careful to avoid using Stiles and his mother's names. "The boy would most often than not fall asleep during the visits, being as young as he was. He always did what you see Stiles doing at this moment, when someone was sitting close to him."
The rest of my Pack nodded slowly, all paying attention as Peter went on to say more of the boy that only the two of us knew was Stiles, telling them how he was my first friend outside of our old Pack, before I met school friends.
But, during this all, I just kept my gaze locked on the sleeping nineteen year old, but seeing that three year old kid who would always fall asleep sitting next to me...
Stiles
Nothing interesting happened when I woke up on the 1st or on the 2nd on January. They were both pretty boring days in the house.
But, on January 3rd, I had come back downstairs after hanging out in my room for a bit, sometime after dinner, shaking slightly.
I walked down the stairs to find the whole pack gathered in the living room. I shrugged it off, since it was normal to find them all like that, going into the kitchen to grab a beer. Though I was shaking the whole time.
I didn't make too much of a fuss about that. Just grabbed a beer, opened it, took a swig, and walked back into the living room. Only to find everyone looking at me as I walked in.
I sat in my usual spot – leaning against the couch that was closest to Derek's armchair, looking around at all of them and taking another gulp of beer.
"What?" I asked, voice going the tiniest bit higher.
"You're shaking." Peter replied, looking up from his book and cocking an eyebrow.
"I'll be fine. Just a little cold...don't know why though... I'll stop soon."
But I didn't.
I kept shaking.
And shaking.
And shaking.
And everyone was just watching me, waiting for me to do something about it.
So, in the end, I stood up with a sigh, walked over to Derek, and squeezed myself into the little gap between him and the right side of his armchair. The shaking stopped almost immediately, but that didn't stop me from pushing into him more, revelling in his warmth.
Of course, it earned me a strange look from Derek, including eyebrows.
"You're warm." I tell him. "They won't stop staring until I do something, and I'm too lazy to go all the way upstairs again."
To further prove my point, I wriggled further into the space, until Derek complied and shifted until we could both fit.
"Did I mention you're warm?" I asked, slowly closing my eyes.
I didn't even notice that I was falling asleep.
Please, please review XD
Thanks everyone XD