When it all falls apart
Chapter Four
"Okaaaaaay, let's talk" Stiles says, gathering his courage.
"You know our plan was always to come back here. We talked about it, and we had a sort of definite date, but with what happened things changed, and, well, we decided to put those plans to work a bit sooner. We're coming back" Jackson says, and Stiles can only stare at them, waiting.
Are they serious?
"Are you…"
"Yes, Stiles, we are sure. And we are serious about this" Lydia interrupts, taking one of his hands in both of hers, "It's not because we think you can't handle being here on your own, but it's not the same without you. We miss you. We miss… we miss Danny" she completes, smiling sadly and he takes in a shuddering breath at that, "And we can't make him come back, but we can have you back, so we'll do it. We're coming back, and you better be happy about it."
Stiles shakes his head at them, a small smile playing on his lips.
"I am happy about it. I can't count the times I actually thought about calling you and asking you to come home, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, because, well, it wasn't the plan, not yet. And with everything here…" he trails off, because maybe they have been unfair with the people they once called friends.
Or, at least, he did.
In a whole year they haven't bothered him, or tried to look for him, so there's no reason for him to fear that their lives are going to spiral out of control again just because they are living in the same town. Okay, Beacon Hills is small, but it's not a village. They can co-exist.
Everything will be okay – especially if Lydia and Jackson are coming back.
"When are you planning on coming?"
"We have to settle a few things back in Portland first, and then arrange things here. You know dad has been nagging me to come work with him for years, and now that I actually feel I have the practice, I'm confident enough to actually do it" Jackson explains, taking a sip of his wine.
Stiles turns to Lydia and she smiles at him.
"You know as well as I do that I can do my research pretty much anywhere. My field is theoretical, I can set up a lab at our new place here. Of course, I'll have to fly out often to present findings and articles, but I do that now, so" she shrugs delicately, and Stiles wants to cry he's so happy.
He's finally going to have his family back – his own family, the one they put together because they wanted to.
He smiles at both of them, and they smile back, probably understanding the huge thank you, that he knows he can't say because they'd just brush it off.
Maybe Beacon Hills will feel like home again when they're here.
X
Saturday is spent planning, because if there's one thing Lydia actually enjoys is knowing how things are going to go.
She and Jackson are going to spend some time back in Beacon Hills as soon as the full moon goes by, to try and find a nice house for the both of them – as the full moon is during the next week, they decide to take that week in Portland to set everything to rights there before coming back.
It occurs to Stiles then, when they talk about the full moon plans, that they actually should tell Derek Hale and the others about their moving back.
"We didn't tell them when you moved back here" Jackson tells him, frowning a bit, and Stiles stares at him, shrugging a bit.
"Yeah, but I'm human. So is Lydia. I don't know how Derek would take it to have you back here without even telling him."
"We don't need his permission" Jackson argues, getting a bit angry, and Stiles smiles at him calmly.
"We won't be asking for permission, we'll be telling him it's a done deal. But, you know, common courtesy. Plus, I need to ask him to come to the school this week anyway, to talk to him about Laura."
"Is something wrong with the kid? Because, honestly, I can't seem to grasp the concept of a child being raised by Derek Hale and being okay. It just doesn't seem feasible" Lydia comments.
"Nothing's wrong with her" Stiles starts, trailing off a bit, "Well, nothing, you know, outward? I don't know. She hates Emily with every fiber of her little being. If Emily tells her to do something, she just won't do it, not even try it, she doesn't even refuses, just doesn't answer at all. And she responds really badly to any kind of disagreement around her – at the first sign of anyone raising their voice, she gets away from them, and just… you know, gets defensive. It's strange. But what I need to talk to her father is that, well, the first full moon of the school year is coming, and she is his daughter, so… I need to know what to prepare for."
"Good thinking" Lydia says, while Jackson is still frowning – Stiles knows him well enough to get that he's bugged by the idea of telling Derek Hale anything.
For Stiles, Derek Hale was someone he could have grown accustomed to having in his life – they saved each other enough that they could have, maybe, become friends, or at least acquaintances, if Scott hadn't, you know, burned all the bridges back then.
Derek, for one thing, had never left him hanging, had never hung up on him when he needed help, and maybe it was just self-preservation, maybe it was just that Derek wouldn't want to leave him behind to assure that he himself wouldn't be left behind, but it was mostly okay.
He didn't really have a grudge against Derek all in all – Derek hadn't bitten Scott, Derek hadn't tried to kill him, it was… okay.
For Lydia, Derek was just way too much of a loser for her to bother, but for Jackson, well, he was all kinds of a sore spot.
First, the guy had kind of infected him, while he himself was poisoned with wolfsbane. Jackson, to this day, had nightmares about the visions he had back then, and they weren't pretty. Then, he bites the kid and the Kanima happens – and while that part wasn't Derek's fault, truth is that Derek's plan for it was to kill Jackson – not to cure him, help him, talk to him. No. Kill him.
And then, when he finally was cured and was a proper wolf, Derek never really tried to make Jackson his pack. He assumed first, and then he asked him once, and never again.
For a kid who grew up with abandonment issues out the wazoo, that was pretty much being left behind.
Derek didn't care about Jackson, or so Jackson had gathered, so, now, having to tell him anything was an offense that Jackson couldn't just let go.
He will, though, because he knows it's the right thing to do if they want to live peacefully, and they are mature enough not to let a grudge stop them from doing the right thing, but Stiles gets it.
He distracts Jackson by goading him into playing poker with him, while Lydia rolls her eyes and beats both of them in the game.
They'll be fine.
X
Monday at school is a bit hectic – on Thursday he asked for Kate's parents to stay behind a few minutes, and asked them to talk to Kate about her criticizing of her classmates, because the kids were starting to either fear her or reject her, and that kind of thing never ends well – the result is a Kate that decides to literally adopt Laura.
She shadows the little girl all class long, and compliments everything she does, and stops the other kids from bothering her – all in all it's cute, and Stiles hopes it'll last, but Laura doesn't really seem to know what to do with the sudden attention, so she hides behind Stiles a couple of times.
The absolute apex of the day is when Stiles is busy helping Kyle with an activity he seems to be having trouble with and Emily tries to help Laura – the little girl glares at her, and Kate, being the bodyguard she seems to think she is, kicks Emily in the shin, and has to be put in timeout.
Which leads to Laura rebelling for the first time in the classroom, screaming that it's not fair that Kate is in time out and Emily isn't, seeing as she hadn't asked for Emily's help.
The argument is as shocking as the fact that she is actually talking loudly in front of all her classmates, something she seemed to be too shy to do before, but loyalty to a friend, apparently, runs deep in the little girl, and they have to sit and talk about why it is wrong to solve problems with violence.
It disrupts the whole lesson plan, and they spend half the afternoon on it.
It is worth it, though, because, from what Stiles can see, Laura has a great potential in her, she just needs to come out of her shell a bit more.
Now, if only he can manage to achieve that without having his assistant being beaten by three and four year olds, that'll be great.
When the parents start arriving to pick their kids up, again Stiles has to ask for Kate's parents to stay, and the couple looks at each other with a sort of lost look – Kate is clearly an only child, or, at the very least, the eldest. When Stiles asks that Derek stays too, the man looks surprised and defensive all at once.
He offers them seats and Laura, surprisingly, agrees to go play with Kate on the carpet while the grown-ups talk.
Derek looks lost when the little girl squirms to get out of his lap and runs away with Kate, as if she's going to another universe and not to a carpet fifteen steps away.
"I asked you to stay behind because we had a small issue today in class, and I always like to keep the parents updated on this kind of thing. It's better than let it be an issue later on, of which you know nothing about. As you know" he starts, looking at Kate's parents, "I asked you to talk to Kate last week, and it worked really well. Laura is very shy, and she has some trouble interacting with the other kids, and Kate today decided to apparently become her best friend. During a small issue, Kate decided that, to protect Laura correctly, she had to kick our assistant in the shin. She was then put into timeout, which caused Laura to rebel, and we spent the rest of the afternoon talking about how violence is never the answer" he pauses and looks at the parents. The couple looks as if they should have known this would have happened, while Derek… well, he looks as if he wants to laugh. Or panic. Stiles is not sure, "Now, this is not uncommon, as kids usually just follow their impulses, I just asked you to stay so I could ask you to reinforce this idea at home too, as well as it'll be in here – just try to always make sure they know that hitting someone is not okay, and that doing so will bring about consequences. This could turn into a habit, and we can't let that happen."
Parents nod, apologies are uttered, and the meeting is officially over when the couple gets up and calls for Kate.
"Mr. Hale, if you wouldn't mind staying behind a little longer? There's one more matter I'd like to talk to you about" he adds, when Derek looks ready to bolt.
The werewolf looks surprised but nods, and Stiles waits for the couple to leave before retaking his seat. Derek looks at Laura, but she is still playing with the doll she was before, and talking to it very animatedly, so he turns to Stiles and he takes a deep breath.
"I have a few things to discuss, actually, but I think that first we should address Laura's progress today – she really stood up for Kate, screamed and everything, and while this is not proper classroom behavior, I'm glad she did it. She's very shy, and taking a stance like she did today is a step to the right direction. I actually would like to know how she's been responding to school at home, what does she say about it?"
"She loves it. Laura is not a talker, she keeps to herself, usually, but she does enjoy it. She likes learning" he responds, and appears to be thinking deeply about something before talking, "She really dislikes your assistant, though" he looks suspicious, as if Stiles is hiding something from him about Emily.
"Yes, we gathered that" he smiles as he says it, "It's something I don't really know where it comes from, because, honestly, Emily really tries with Laura, she just seems set on rejecting her. I assure you, Mr. Hale, Emily is completely qualified for her job."
Derek is frowning when he stops talking, and Stiles waits – maybe the man will demand they get a new assistant or something.
"Why do you keep doing that?"
Stiles raises and eyebrow at him.
"Doing what?"
"Calling me Mr. Hale."
"You are my student's parent. It is the polite thing to do."
"If we didn't know each other before, sure, but come on, Stiles. You once almost saw my arm off. I think it's weird."
Stiles startles a bit at that, and looks at Laura, but she doesn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation, and Derek did lower his voice.
If Laura is a werewolf, though, it won't make a difference.
"Well, okay" he says after a few seconds, "The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is the full moon this week, Derek."
The man is already shaking his head.
"Laura isn't… it. Her mother is from a family like mine, but she isn't one either. I guess it carried through to our daughter."
"Oh" he answers, taken aback. He hadn't actually thought about what had happened to Laura's mother, to tell the truth, and Derek did use the present tense, so the woman is alive.
Just not… around.
"She didn't want kids" the man says suddenly, even quieter than before, "When she found out she was pregnant, she decided to keep it, for me. But she doesn't want to be a mother, so she keeps her distance. I think she's actually living in Argentina right now, we don't really keep in touch."
"I'm…" Stiles starts, but doesn't really know where to go with it. Is he sorry? Is there something to be sorry about? He doesn't know.
"It's okay" Derek says before he can go on, "Was that all?"
"No, actually. I have to tell you something. I mean, assuming you are… the Alpha of your pack, and Beacon Hills is your territory or something."
"I'm not an actual wolf, Stiles. I don't piss on trees or anything."
Stiles glares at him for a second before shaking his head.
"Well, it's just that Jackson and Lydia are moving back here. It was always our plan, but with my moving here, they just… decided to come sooner. And as Jackson is, well, you know, we thought it'd be the right thing to do to let you know."
Derek's eyes widen a bit but he nods soon enough, and clears his throat.
"As long as he doesn't get into trouble, it's okay."
"He won't."
They stare at each other for a moment longer, and the man gets up, calling Laura.
"Thank you" Stiles says at the door, Laura on Derek's hip.
"No problem" Derek stands still for a moment longer, clearly struggling with something, "You can call me if you need anything, you know, because of Jackson" Derek offers, and he himself looks as if he doesn't know why he said that.
"Bye, Mr. Styls" Laura says brightly, waving at him.
"Bye, sweetheart, see you tomorrow" he tells her, waving back.
He can hear her babbling excitedly at Derek for a while before closing up his classroom and leaving.
That was officially weird, right?
X
By Thursday, Stiles has established that, even though he hates it when people say things like this, Kate is actually a bad influence on Laura – except that the whole thing is having a somewhat positive outcome.
The girls follow the pattern Kate set on Monday, and now refuse to sit apart during class, or even being separated during playtime or any of the workshops. The positive points of it are that Laura seems to be speaking up more, even sticking up for Kate when the girl needs it, and seems to be getting less and less shy with every passing day.
The negative outcome of it is that, seeing as Laura still hates Emily, now Kate does too, and she isn't shy about it at all.
The whole thing is actually funny, although he tries not to laugh about it where the kids can see it because he shouldn't be encouraging it – but the whole thing is so cute he can't help it.
Laura is all sorts of adorable.
Laura is also a lot like him when he was that age.
Up until the day he met Scott, Stiles was a bit of an outsider, and he had to be alone a lot. Having a best friend helped ground him when he was a pre-teen, and helped him be confident enough during his teen years – at least until he was sixteen, that is – that he could be himself, but before that, he was actually extremely afraid that people wouldn't like him at all, so he would try his very best to keep to himself.
His mom thought it best to keep him home for as long as she could, so when he started kindergarten at 5, a lot of the kids were already fast friends, and he was a bit left out.
He could see it that Laura liked the attention – she liked to play and run, but before Kate, she wasn't sure she was allowed, and she didn't seem to trust adults all that much.
Or maybe it was just people in general.
God knows she wouldn't have learned how to trust from her dad, and not having a mom couldn't be easy for either of them. As far as he knew, the Beacon Hills pack hadn't changed, so unless Melissa or Erica had taken on the female role in her life, she had Derek to follow, and nothing more – except he hadn't seen Erica once in a whole year, and Melissa had been too busy to properly care for Scott, her own son, Stiles couldn't really see her leaving her job to take care of Derek's kid.
So, on Thursday night, when he's grocery shopping for tomorrow's dinner at his dad's (which Jackson and Lydia will be attending), he has resigned himself to the fact that Laura and Kate will be trouble all year long, but he'd rather have trouble than sullen, unmotivated kids.
He's by the vegetable stand, looking for some tomatoes when he hears a loud greeting and turns around to see Laura waving madly at him, and running in his direction.
"Mr. Styls!" she screams, jumping at him, and he laughs, picking her up.
"Hey, Laura. What are you doing here alone? Where's your dad?"
"He's home. I saw you and then I ran and she didn't see me" she tells him with a mischievous smile that spells trouble for Derek when she's older.
"Laura! I told you not to run, sweetie, if I lose you here, your dad will eat me!"
Stiles turns around and Melissa stops in her tracks for a second, walking again when he smiles hesitantly at her.
"Stiles" she greets awkwardly, and he tries to set Laura on the floor, but the little girl squeezes his neck a bit more and he laughs quietly.
"Mrs. McCall. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine now that I see Laura hasn't actually run off. I think Derek would kill me!"
"That's a possibility" he answers, still feeling awkward.
This woman, for a while, had been a huge part of his life, and now he doesn't know what to say.
"So, you're shopping with Mrs. McCall, huh?" he asks Laura instead, focusing on her, because she he can deal with.
"Yes. With her and uncle Scott" the little girls tells him, nodding, and keeps on talking, but he sees Scott watching them now, at the end of the aisle, and he takes in a deep breath.
So, apparently, it's awkward night at the Supermarket.
Noticing he's been seen, Scott walks towards them, almost shuffling his feet and looking like the teen he once was best friends with.
"Hey" the werewolf greets, half waving.
"Hi. So, I think this is yours" he comments, nodding to Laura, and the girl giggles and sets her little hands more firmly around his neck.
"Yeah. We just came to get some stuff for dinner, and she wanted to get out of the house."
"Too many people, Mr. Styls. And they don't know quiet time like you do. I even tried the Itsy Bitsy Spider song, but they just keep on talking!" she tells him frowning, and Stiles laughs at her.
"That's because adults aren't as cool as we are" he tells her, his voice solemn, and she nods at him seriously.
"The Spider song?" Melissa asks, and Stiles tries to shrug.
"We sing it when we want quiet. By the end of the song everyone whispers, so we know we have to be quiet."
"That explains a lot" Scott says, and Stiles smiles, imagining the number of times Laura has started singing, without explaining why, just expecting them to be quiet like her classmates.
"Yeah. Well, I should get going" he hugs Laura again, kissing her forehead, and passing her to Melissa. The kid kisses him on the cheek with a smile before going, "It was nice seeing you, Laura" he waves and goes to the register, knowing he doesn't have all he'll need for tomorrow, but not wanting to be in the same place as Scott anymore.
It's honestly a bit pathetic how much it still hurts being near him.
X
"You're quiet" Melissa comments once they are in the car, Laura safe and happy in the backseat, drinking from a juice box – grape, because, apparently, that's what Mr. Styls – and Kate – love.
"It's just… If I started counting now, we've spent more time not being friends than actually being friends, so how can this still bother me this much? I want to… I don't know. This feels so wrong."
"Time doesn't always work like it's supposed to. You never stopped seeing Stiles as your friend, sweetie. He's always been your best friend, even when he wasn't anymore, and I think that's why seeing him here hurts this much. When he was away, then he was away. Now he's here, and you have to face the fact that you're not close as you once were."
Scott doesn't answer that, mostly because his mom is right, but also because he doesn't want to sound like a two year old – but he wants his best friend back.
He was sixteen, for Christ's sake. Who doesn't make stupid decisions when they are sixteen and in the middle of a mess much bigger than they can handle? Who hasn't tried to protect someone only to just hurt them?
Of course most people aren't actually in a life and death situation, but he was trying to do his very best.
He misses him.
Even with Boyd being cool, and Isaac being a great guy, they aren't Stiles. They aren't his brother they don't get him like Stiles used to – they never did.
He misses him.
He looks at Laura through the rearview mirror and starts thinking.
Maybe – maybe – he could have his friend back.
It's certainly worth a shot.