It was a beautiful day, with blue skies as far as the eye could see. Stiles spent the morning getting Sophie ready for their picnic. After a change and a bottle, he dressed her in a sweet gingham strawberry dress with a red bow clipped in her hair.
"My god, you really are beautiful, sweet girl," Stiles said as he carried her downstairs. Derek met them at the door with her carrier. She was easily strapped in and carried out to the car.
Stiles packed up the cooler into the trunk and waited for the rest of the kids to come out. Erica and Boyd piled into the back seat, leaving Isaac to ride in the front with Derek. Stiles and Scott took the Jeep.
When they got to the park by the lake, they found a plush area of grass to lay out the blanket. Stiles applied a liberal amount of sunscreen on Sophie, to keep her skin safe. She didn't like it very much, as she grumbled to herself.
Erica held her while Boyd carried over the cooler. Stiles dug around in it, pulling everyone out a sandwich and some chips to share. He passed around some sodas as well.
At some point, Erica took a piece of cantaloupe to let Sophie suck on it. It was really cute, with melon juice running down her chin. Stiles snapped a picture.
Once everything was eaten and their trash disposed of, Scott took Sophie over to the playground. They all followed behind to watch her first trip down a slide. Scott held her carefully, before sliding down with a whoop.
Sophie looked like she'd had the breath taken from her before she squealed. "I knew she'd love it!" Scott cheered.
Stiles took her then, over to the swings. He sat down and propped her up, "You ready?" He said.
He swung back and forth gently, as Sophie giggled and clapped her hands. Derek took a picture of them. Stiles grinned at Derek, who smiled back.
Erica stood in front of where Stiles was swinging, making grabby hands and gonna get you noises. Sophie squealed every time they came close to her.
Eventually, Erica couldn't stand it any more and grabbed her up, spinning around as she held her close. "Let's go play in the dirt," Erica said and Stiles thought to stop her.
At the look on Scott's face though, Stiles just shook his head, "Don't get her too dirty!"
It had rained the night before, so it wasn't hard to find a puddle of mud. They got down with Sophie, who Erica sat her down to stand in the shallow pool of water. Sophie's little nose scrunched up, lifting her feet out of the water.
They came up muddy and Scott leaned forward, he wiped a little mud across her forehead. "Simba!" He said dramatically.
Stiles couldn't help laughing at the disgruntled look on Sophie's face. She looked absolutely scandalized.
Derek pulled his phone out of his pocket and Stiles thought that he was going to take a picture, but instead he answered it. He stepped away from them to speak to whoever was on the other end.
It made Stiles curious, though he would wait to ask Derek about it later. He watched Derek's face though, as it became pained. They made eye contact when Derek glanced over at them. Whatever Derek was hearing, Stiles didn't like it one bit.
Sophie's squeals brought Stiles back to the moment at hand, and he looked to find her slicked in mud, with Erica helping her make mud pies. Stiles sighed, she would need a bath when they got home, wipes weren't gonna do the job.
Isaac took her then, snuffling her little cheek as she smiled and held his nose. They were all so good with her, Stiles felt that they were fortunate.
"Alright, I think it's time to head back to get her cleaned up, she'll be hungry soon," Stiles said much to the dismay of everyone.
Derek wandered back over, giving Stiles a look as they headed back to the cars. With Isaac's help, Sophie was tucked safely into her carrier and they all drove back to the Hale house as they came.
Stiles retrieved Sophie out of the car, determined to get her bathed before she started grouching for a bottle. Bath time was filled with bubbles and laughter, and an unfortunate little duckie that Sophie kept dunking to see the water splash.
Once she was dressed and lotioned up, Stiles gave her a bottle before winding her down for a nap. He closed his bedroom door as quietly as he could, carrying the baby monitor with him.
When he went downstairs he found Derek in the kitchen at the table. This seemed to be where all of their serious conversations would be held. Stiles grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before sitting next to him.
"What was that about?" Stiles asked, not wishing to extend the tense atmosphere.
"It was the alpha of a pack in northern Oregon. A few months back one of their betas, who was pregnant, ran off without a trace. They think that Sophie may be her baby." Derek explained, pain in his eyes.
Stiles nodded, he had known this day was coming. He just didn't think it would come so soon. "What if she isn't?" Stiles asked.
Derek shook his head, "I've invited the alpha here, he claims to be the father. I'll be able to tell by his scent if it's true."
"Why did she leave though? Did he tell you that? There must have been a reason," Stiles tried to make sense of it.
Derek reached out and took his hand, silencing him, "If this man is her father, we have no right to keep her from him."
Stiles sighed, "Something about it just doesn't feel right. She was found with her mother, who was dead. Who would have killed her but left the baby?" He didn't know why they hadn't asked these questions before, but it just seemed so important now. "There is still an investigation under way, the police should be involved. We shouldn't just give her to him, what if he had something to do with it?"
Derek contemplated that. "If you're that worried about it, I understand why. We should call your dad," He said, squeezing Stiles hand.
Stiles nodded, "When will he be here?"
"In a few days, he'll be here Friday morning," Derek said.
"I'll take the morning off," Stiles said and Derek didn't try to fight it. He knew that Stiles would be there, come hell or high water.
"Okay, just try not to worry. Call the sheriff," Derek said and Stiles agreed, pulling out his phone.
"'Stiles?" John answered, the call a little crackly.
"Hey, dad, are you busy?" Stiles asked, standing from the table and swaying from foot to foot.
"No, what's going on?" John said and the static disappeared. He must have been in a bad spot.
"We received word from a pack in Oregon, they think Sophie might be theirs," Stiles said and John hummed.
It sounded like he propped Stiles on his shoulder, there was the rustling of pages, "Who are they and when are they coming?"
Stiles put the phone on speaker and handed the phone to Derek, who had more information than Stiles did. "Paul Elliott, they will arrive on Friday morning," Derek said.
"I'll look into him, see if I can dig anything up. They're not having any luck finding out what happened to the baby's mother. All they know is that it looked like an animal got to her," John said.
"I never asked this, but who found Sophie? How did they know what she was?" Stiles wondered.
"From what I've gathered, she was found by the local emissary, Nathaniel Fox. Deaton was able to speak with him," John explained, "The woman's name was Eliza Montgomery, she was new to the area but had been put into contact with Nathaniel by the emissary of her former pack."
Derek leaned closer, "Did Nathaniel say anything about why she left her old pack?"
"Eliza was pretty hush, hush about her origins," John sighed, Derek and Stiles met eyes. "Is there any chance that she was just killed by a wild animal that somehow got inside?"
Derek rubbed between his eyebrows, feeling a headache coming on, "It's unlikely."
John groaned, "That's what I thought. Would it be too much to ask you to help check it out?" Stiles looked at Derek curiously. "You might be able to find something that the police missed."
"I don't mind going and looking into it, and speaking with Nathaniel," Derek said.
"I'll send Stiles the emissary's contact information for you," John said.
"Alright, Dad, will you be here Friday morning?" Stiles asked.
"Of course, we aren't just going to give her to anybody. There are tests to be run first," John said, a promise that Stiles knew he would keep. After a quick goodbye, the line went dead.
Stiles sank into one of the seats, "What are we gonna do?"
Derek looked just as lost as Stiles felt, "Take it one day at a time."
After a moment, Stiles took Derek's hand. "Let's sleep while the baby sleeps," He said and pulled Derek up. They sank into Derek's bed as if they had been awake days on end. Stiles set the baby monitor on the nightstand, knowing that Derek would wake at the first sounds of Sophie waking up.
They slept for what felt like hours before Stiles was nudged awake. He looked up at Derek, "Is she up?"
Derek shook his head, "Jackson and Lydia are home."
Stiles nodded, stretching with a groan before getting out of bed. They made their way downstairs to greet them. Lydia sported a sunburn across the bridge of her nose, but otherwise looked happy after a week of relaxation.
As Stiles hugged her, he watched Derek pull Jackson in by the scruff, subtly getting the scent of the pack back onto him. Jackson's face was a little disgruntled but none the worse for wear. "How was everything?" Stiles asked, guiding Lydia into the living room, leaving Derek and Jackson to carry their things upstairs.
"It was beautiful, it would be great to take everyone sometime," She said cordially as they sat on the couch, "How is Sophie?"
"She's good, she's sleeping," Stiles said, "We think that we've found her pack."
Lydia read him like a book, "Are you sure?"
Stiles sighed, "We'll know on Friday when they get here."
"Derek will know, right?" She asked.
"He should, we suspect that he had something to do with her mothers death though," Stiles said, going into more detail about what they did and didn't know. They ended up speaking about it for hours. There were just some conversations that he needed Lydia to have. She was a good sounding board.
Eventually, Jackson wandered back down, having been properly scented down. He sat in the armchair, just listening to them talk.
The evening flew by until Sophie woke up for her evening feed. Lydia shushed Stiles when he went to take care of her, "I haven't seen her in a week. Let me." She disappeared up the stairs, leaving Stiles with Jackson.
"How was your trip?" Stiles asked, just to watch the shocked look on Jackson's face.
"It was nice," Jackson said shortly.
"Are you going to be staying here for a while?" Stiles asked, meaning the Hale house.
"We had planned to for a while," Jackson said, "I heard about everything with Sophie."
Right, Stiles thought, supernatural hearing. "Yea, she might be going home soon," Stiles said.
"We can't just give her to them," Jackson said, surprising Stiles.
"We wouldn't just give her away without being sure," Stiles said and Jackson nodded.
"You've grown attached to her," Jackson said pointedly. Stiles tried to shake it off, tried to deny it but Jackson just shook his head, "Sometimes you have to accept that you're the better option."
"We don't even know if he killed her," Stiles tried to insist.
"Just the fact that you're considering it should be a red flag," Jackson said motioning with his hands, "She was found under suspicious circumstances after leaving her pack. Why did she leave?"
Stiles had been asking himself that question repetitively for as long as they had Sophie. What was so bad that Eliza felt the need to run away? He hadn't expected this talk from Jackson of all people.
It showed that he cared, though he may have been loath to admit it at times. "We'll do everything we can to protect her," Stiles said and Jackson finally dropped it.
"We have to," Jackson said, hearing Lydia call him from upstairs, "You're doing well with her." He walked from the room, leaving Stiles with his thoughts. Why did Eliza leave? What was she running from? Who caught up to her?
Stiles ran his fingers through his hair frustrated. He had so many questions and no answers. He went to find Derek.
Derek was back in the kitchen, on the phone ordering pizza. Stiles was thankful for that, he was in no mood to cook. When he got off the phone, Stiles walked up to him, leaning in close as Derek closed his arms around him.
They stood like that for long minutes, trying to take comfort in one another.
"What are we gonna do?" Stiles repeated.
Derek sighed into his hair, "I don't know."
Stiles felt tears burn the back of his eyes and he closed them, trying to keep them from running down his cheeks. "Promise me that we'll keep her," Stiles gave in, after weeks of ignoring it. Derek just held him steadfastly, and Stiles cried, knowing that there was a good chance that they were going to lose her.
