Chapter 01

Stiles woke up in the middle of the night. It was not the first time and probably would not be the last. Every night was the same thing, he would have nightmares about the time he spent in the Argents' basement being tortured by Gerard. Then he would wake up crying, silently, because he was afraid to make any sound and upset the goons. A long time after he would realize he wasn't in the basement anymore. He was in his room. He was safe.

He got up and went to the window. He didn't want to try to sleep again. He opened the window and breathed in the freezing air. It was a full moon. He couldn't think that probably they were in the preserve; running between the trees; howling at the moon; forgetting about the entire existence of Stiles Stilinski.

They had never shown up. Even Boyd and Erica, who had seen him there, had smelled the blood coming out from his veins, had listened to his screams, they did not care. When they had finally escaped, they didn't turn back for him or even ask someone to save him. They never came back for him.

And for days, he stayed down there. Every day he told himself that they were coming to rescue him. At least Scott would come. He would miss him and would look for him, and then he would save Stiles from Gerard's grip.

But he never appeared.

None of them did.

But that was okay. Stiles wasn't part of the pack. He knew that from the beginning. He was just a human. A boring and talkative human that nobody wants to be around. And that was okay.

His dad had found him. Noah wanted to kill Gerard with his bare hands when he saw his son unconscious in the corner, covered with his blood. Stiles wasn't sure, but he thought he saw his father crying while he put three shots in the head of each goon. He had carefully taken Stiles in his arms and said that everything would be okay.

He carried Stiles to the hospital and stayed beside his bed the whole time until Stiles woke up. It wasn't the best way to discover the supernatural world. But Stiles had to explain to him why he was held in captivity. It was not easy for Noah to believe it, and even harder to convince him not to go after Gerard or the pack. It wasn't their fault. Stiles had gotten himself in that situation. As Gerard liked to say, he had chosen to run with the wolves when he couldn't even walk.

And that was the first time he got it, that he shouldn't have involved himself in that mess. He wasn't supernatural, or even as the other humans, like Alison. Stiles was just a pitiful human trying to be part of something so much bigger than him, and the results only proved that he shouldn't be there.

"Stiles..." He didn't hear his dad coming. He probably had just arrived from his shift. "Are you there, kiddo?"

"Yeah! Yeah. I'm here, just thinking." Stiles tried to smile.

"Mind sharing?" Noah sat on the bed. Since what had happened, they promised each other they would share everything. No more lies. No more secrets. It was a new thing for Stiles, but he liked it. He really liked how he didn't have to lie to the most important person in his life to keep him safe. Not when he knew that the only one he could trust in this world was his dad.

"Sure." He looked towards the preserve one last time and turned back to his dad. "I was thinking of moving on from Beacon Hills." He breathed deeply. "I know that our entire lives are here, your work, mom..." He paused. "But I don't… I don't know if I can deal with being here where everything happened. But I totally understand if you don't wanna go." Stiles did not raise his head.

"Where and when?"

Stiles almost broke his neck by how fast he turned to his dad. "Dad... You don't..."

"Stiles," Noah interrupted him. "Son, I'm not gonna leave you, I promised your mom that I would protect you, and I failed with her and with you, more times than I like to admit. I'm not gonna make that mistake again. If you want to leave this town, you just have to say where and when."

Stiles felt the tears coming and his throat closing. He was so damn lucky. They had their problems, most of them from when his mother died, but they were a family and that was the only thing that mattered now. He had his dad, someone who loved him so much that he was ready to abandon everything for him.

Noah put his arms around him and embraced him.

"I love you, Stiles. Nothing in this world is more important to me than you, son. I know that I never showed it how I should, but never forget or doubt it!"

"I love you, Daddy-o."