When it all falls apart

Chapter Six

Stiles frowns deeply and feels the urge to close the door, but he doesn't, because he has manners.

Some, anyway.

"I really don't want to be rude, Mrs. McCall, but what the hell could we possibly have to talk about?"

Melissa sighs, and Stiles can see the ten years since he actually used to have this woman as a part of his life make a difference in her.

She has some white hair now. A few more wrinkles around her eyes, a tired look about her that she didn't use to have before.

He sighs deeply and takes a step back.

"Come in."

She does, looking around his house, and he's very aware of having been at home for the past sixty hours without leaving.

"Can I… Look, what's going on?" he starts politely and changes tactics, because he's a bit lost here.

Derek asking for his help with his kid he gets, because he's Laura's teacher. Parents freak out a lot when their kids are staring school, it's happened to him before. But then there was his dad and Vanessa, and now Melissa, and just… come on.

"Derek told us your friends are coming back to Beacon Hills too" she starts, and Stiles nods at her, "I take it that means you'll be staying here, then."

"I'm sorry, but what does that have to do with you? I'm back, Lydia and Jackson are coming back, and that's all there is to it. I told Derek about it because it was polite, and we don't want any trouble, but seriously, it wasn't an invitation for any of you to think you have anything to do with it because you don't."

"Actually, we do" she answers, anger creeping into her voice, and Stiles snorts.

"Really, how so?" he asks back, crossing his arms over his chest.

The woman takes a deep breath, looking like she's praying for patience.

"My son lost… I'm not going to say everything, because he still has me, and he's alive and breathing, and he loves his job, but he lost a lot, Stiles. Too much. When he lost you-"

"He didn't lose me, Melissa. He kicked me out of his life."

"He was sixteen, Stiles. He was a kid."

"Oh, yes, because I was a responsible adult by then."

"I'm not saying it excuses what he did, I'm just trying to make you see that losing you, and then losing Allison – a part of Scott was never whole again, and all I'm asking is for you to try and relate a bit, because I'm sure he still wants to try and have you in his life. I'm just trying to make you understand where he's coming from, what he lost."

Stiles laughs bitterly by then, and is still smiling at her when he starts talking again.

"You really want to talk to me about losing people; really? I lost my mom, all alone, when I was eight. I was losing my dad too, because of all the lies, by the way, when I was a teen. I lost all of my friends, because your son told me I was unnecessary and useless. I lost my best friend too, okay? I lost my… I lost Danny last year and… I know about losing. But Scott didn't lose me, he threw me out. He made me see I was nothing to him. I get it that he's your son, and that you want what's best for him, but if there's one thing I learned from my friends, you know, the ones who actually stuck it out with me through all of the bad things that happened after Scott ditched me because of Isaac and Allison, is that sometimes you have to look out for yourself. So don't come here asking me to understand what losing means. I knew what losing someone meant before Scott did."

Melissa stares at him for a long moment then, looking tired and worn out and a bit desperate.

"I'm just asking you to give him a chance if he looks for you. Let him… show you his side of the story before you shut him out completely."

"As far as I'm concerned, Melissa, Scott is just a guy I used to hang out with and who left me behind when he found a girlfriend. There's no story to it."

The woman shakes her head and seems to give up.

"Okay" she says quietly, going to the door. Stiles goes too and opens it for her, waiting for her to leave.

She gets out and turns around, smiling softly for the first time that night.

"You grew up well, Stiles. Your dad must be proud of you" she tells him softly, and Stiles feels extremely awkward suddenly, because of the shift in the mood.

"Ahm, thanks."

"Take care, kid."

And then she disappears down the hall.

Stiles closes and locks the door behind him and decides to go to sleep ASAP.

He has no more energy to deal with this weekend.

X

"Derek, I need to talk to you."

Derek stops putting dishes in the dishwasher and turns around, staring at Scott, who looks nervous and anxious – that is never a good combination for Scott.

"What's up?"

He seems to be gathering courage before he speaks, and Derek lets him – it's not as if he has any pressing issues to solve, with it being Sunday night, and Laura already fast asleep.

"Can I pick Laura up this week? From school?"

Derek gets what this conversation is about now, and he really, really doesn't want to have it right now. Maybe not ever.

Stiles is a good guy, he helped him with his freak out the day before, and he is Laura's teacher, whom she adores. He really doesn't want to jeopardy whatever cordial relationship they have now because Scott can't just let things go.

It's just like it was with Allison, he never let it go until she made him.

Except Derek doesn't believe that Scott will get over Stiles definitely cutting him off.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work by the time Laura gets out?" he asks instead of giving any indication that he knows where this is going.

"I'm a partner at the clinic, I can take half an hour off to pick her up and bring her home."

"Scott" he begins, washing his hands and drying them in a dishtowel before running a hand over his hair while leaning against the kitchen counter, "this is a bad idea. A really bad idea."

"It's not like I'll forget to pick her up, Derek, geez."

"You know as well as I do that this has absolutely nothing to do with picking Laura up, and everything to do with trying to sneak into Stiles's life again. You can't do subtle, Scott."

"I just need a way in. I just have to talk to him again, tell him that… you know!" he finishes a bit desperately, and looking way younger than he is right now.

There have been very few moments in his life that Derek had to actually step in as an Alpha, like his mother used to. He remembers her counseling his sisters, giving advice to pack members, taking a personal interest in their personal lives, and they all seemed grateful, but that's not quite the way it works when your pack is made up mostly of angry teenagers, and you yourself have no idea of what you're doing. Mostly they knew he was their Alpha, and they deferred to him as such in pack business, but he kept his nose out of their personal lives, and that's it.

Now, though, it's a moment he knows he has to step in. He can't just sit back and watch Scott crash and burn.

"Let's… sit down, okay?" he starts, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Scott looks hesitant but goes along and sits across from him, looking at Derek expectantly, "What do you think will happen if you do pick Laura up this week?"

"I could ask Stiles to talk to me."

"At his work? When he has eight other kids around, with their parents waiting for them and asking questions? Because it's not like we just go there and pick them up, the kids aren't fried chicken. We go, sometimes he asks us to stay behind, the kids talk. You won't have the opportunity to ask to talk to him if he doesn't want to talk to you, and right now he doesn't."

"I can't just not do anything! I have to do something!"

He looks so miserable and sounds so desperate that Derek actually wants him to go and fix things with Stiles, but he has no idea how that could even begin to work.

"Why do you want this so badly, anyway? It's been years, Scott. You have been in and out of college, you have a job you love, and your whole life ahead of you, and you're still hung up on the one friend you lost. Why?"

"Because it didn't have to be this way!" the younger man shouts, getting up and pacing the kitchen, "It didn't have to be like this, Derek. Why do you think I made Stiles stay away from us, and not Isaac or even Allison?" Derek only shrugs in response to that, "Because he was the one I couldn't stand losing! Stiles is my brother, Derek. He's… he's my pack. I loved Allison, god, I did, but I knew, after what happened to her mom, that things would never be really right between us again. And I care about Isaac a lot, but he's not my friend the way Stiles used to be. He always had my back. He was always there. And now I can't be there for him! I thought we would fix things after things calmed down enough, I thought I would have the chance to patch things up, but I never did, and I have to. I can't lose him forever too. I love you guys, you know I do, but I want to fix this. Stiles is hurting, I know he is, because of Danny, and I want to help him. I want to be in his life, I want to take away a bit of the pain I put him through. I just… need to try."

Derek rubs his eyes, knowing right now that he's going to regret this.

"Look, give it a few days, okay? I'll… talk to him."

Scott looks unimpressed.

"You'll talk him?" at his nod, Scott actually snorts, "Man, he hated you."

"No, he didn't."

"Yes, he did. He accused you of murder twice."

"Yes, and then he saved my life so many times that I think we're even. And, besides, every time we talked since he came back he's been nothing but polite to me. Right now, I have a much better chance at talking to him than you do."

Scott still looks like he doesn't think this is going to work – to be completely honest, Derek doesn't either, but it's better than Scott trying to use Laura to get closer to Stiles.

"Look, if I try to talk to him, and it doesn't work, I'll let you pick Laura up for a month if you want to. Just let me try first."

Scott sighs loudly, and nods, finally, getting up to leave.

"Thanks" he says, when he's at the door, "I mean, I know you don't need this crap, and that he's Laura's teacher. Thanks."

"No problem" he tells him with a nod.

So now he has to figure out a way to make Stiles agree to talk to Scott.

He feels as if it's 2012 all over again.

X

Stiles doesn't see Derek picking up Laura on Monday because Kyle's parents ask to talk to him about their son, who's apparently showing a whole new side they knew nothing about – so Stiles a good fifteen minutes after class calming said parents down and assuring them that it's normal for a kid Kyle's age to start disagreeing with them.

Kyle, of course, is now friends with Laura and Kate, and Stiles has the feeling the girls have a lot to do with that, but he doesn't want to think about it too much, because he'll end up having way too much fun with the prospect of Derek's kid being a future trouble maker.

He goes home to take a shower and then gets to his dad's place, knowing he had the night shift to cover for one of his deputies, and so will be home.

It's weird that, when he gets there, the house is exactly the same – it's like there's nothing missing and, well, Vanessa lived there for years. How come her leaving doesn't make a difference in the whole house?

He's staring around when the Sheriff comes from the kitchen, stops by his side and sighs.

"I know. It's like… she was never here. I guess we really didn't connect like we should have."

He passes by Stiles and goes to the living room, setting up camp in one of the couches, and Stiles follows him there, sitting by his side and turning on the TV.

"You don't love her, do you?" he says and winces almost at the same time, because of all the insensitive things to say he chooses that one.

John laughs though, loud and open, and stares at Stiles for a moment before turning his eyes to the TV again.

"I liked her. Her company, and her humor and it was nice. But I always knew it had more to do with not being alone than her. I must confess, Stiles, when you left, I was lost. My whole life had turned into you and work, and suddenly I didn't have you anymore, and the town started to calm down. I didn't have to work so much, you were doing fine at school, I thought you'd never come back here."

"It was always my plan to come back here, dad. Our plan."

"Well, yes, I listened to you kids talk about it once in a while, but how should I know it wasn't in some far away future, like when you were retired? So, yes, I was alone, and Vanessa was here for me."

"And now you're not alone anymore, so she took off?" he asks incredulously, and John shrugs, taking a sip of his juice.

"For all that is worth, I think she was just with me not to be alone either. It wasn't… It wasn't like what I had with your mother. It wasn't… you and Danny" he finishes quietly, and Stiles manages half a smile and looks at the TV again, not saying anything.

The thing is that sometimes, over the years, when Danny was fast asleep, or late from work because he was so excited about something new, or the rare fights they had, Stiles wondered more than once if he had made different choices, if he had stayed, or given Scott a chance, if he had looked for him again after their fight, whether he and Danny would have ever gotten together. They were good together, of course they were, but they sort of grew up together.

Sometimes he wondered if they were actually it for each other, or if they were just so determined to make it work that nothing else mattered.

Weird how now that Danny wasn't here anymore he had stopped thinking about it – he actually refused to even think about a relationship again.

Maybe it would always be too soon.

"I've actually been meaning to talk to you about something" his dad starts again a few minutes later, and Stiles hums to let him know he's listening, "How are things going with Hale's kid being in your class?"

"Oh, they've been fine. She's adorable, really. Had her first sleepover this weekend, Derek showed up at my place freaking out that night, took me, like, twenty minutes to calm him down" he tells his dad with a small smile playing on his lips.

The Sheriff smiles but keeps staring at him for a moment before speaking again.

"You know, all these years you kids have been away, they actually stopped getting into trouble. Hale and Scott and the others who hung out with them. Scott, mainly. After the Argent girl moved out, I think I spent a good year without seeing him, you know, out."

Stiles looks at his dad strangely for a moment.

"What's your point, dad?"

The Sheriff shrugs.

"I ran into Melissa last week, at the hospital, when we were taking one of our guys in for an injury. She told me Scott misses you a lot" Stiles keeps quiet and stares determinedly ahead, "They've been fine. Calm. I know…" he sighs deeply before going on, "I know you stopped being friends with him because of something he had with that Hale kid, and I know I had a great part in that, because of how things were back then. I don't think I handled it all that well, but I was scared, because people were dying, and my kid was in the middle of it, Stiles. That is scary for a father. But I never meant for you to shut him out so completely that you guys never talked again. I was relieved when you calmed down, and God knows you've done a world of good to both Lydia and Jackson, and I don't think any parent could have asked for a better boyfriend for their kid than Danny, but if you and Scott were to ever start talking again, if you want that to happen, I want you to know I'm fine with that, okay? Not saying you have to do anything, just… letting you know."

Stiles doesn't answer for a few minutes, letting it all sink in.

"Melissa came by last night."

John looks determinedly at the TV, as if afraid that if he looks at Stiles he'll stop talking.

"Oh?"

"She came to tell me that Scott misses me. That he wants to talk."

When it's apparent he's not going to elaborate, John nudges him a bit with his shoulder.

"And what did you tell her?"

"Something that if I repeat will get me into trouble. You'll probably try to ground me."

"Stiles!" his dad reprehends and Stiles laughs a bit.

"I don't know, okay? I really don't."

"Okay. But if you do…"

"You're okay with it. Got it" he tells his dad with a nod, and they fall in silence again, watching TV until the Sheriff has to go to work, and Stiles gets back home.

He refuses to think about the whole Scott thing.

It's too… soon.

X

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Laura?"

"Can I have a question?"

"Can I ask a question, Laura, and yes. What do you want to know?"

"Why don't you have a wife?"

Derek stops pouring milk into Laura's bowl of cereal for her breakfast and turns very slowly to stare at her, who's sitting innocently on her chair, waiting for her Froot Loops.

"A wife?" he repeats, and Laura nods at him, very seriously.

"Yes. 'Cuz Kate's dad has a wife. And Kyle's mom has a wife too. You should have a wife."

"Kyle's mom has a husband, honey" he tries to correct, but Laura is shaking her head.

"No, she has a wife. Everybody has a wife" she tells him spreading her little arms out, as if to show him the huge amount of people who have wives.

"Not everybody has a wife. Uncle Scott doesn't have a wife" he points out, "Uncle Boyd doesn't have a wife. Aunt Melissa doesn't have a wife" he keeps talking, and sets the bowl in front of her.

She spoons some cereal into her mouth, chews and swallows before going on. Derek is at the table with his own breakfast, but he knows he's not getting away from this conversation just because she has food now.

She just isn't that kind of kid.

Not anymore, anyway.

"Can Aunt Melissa be your wife?"

"God, no, Laura. She can't."

"Because she's old" his daughter tells him, nodding, as if agreeing with his judgment, "Uncle Scott could be your wife."

"Husband, honey. He could be my… but he isn't going to be. Uncle Scott likes girls."

"Kyle's mom likes girls too! That's why she has a wife."

"That's very wise of her."

He would give anything not to be having this conversation right now.

Anything.

"It's not fun to be alone, daddy. I don't like it anymore. It's fun to play with the others" she tells him, and Derek feels incredibly guilty for keeping her just to himself for so long, but, well, she has friends now, right?

"But you are not alone. You have me, and Kyle and Kate" he tries very hard not to imagine a tall, beautiful blonde when he says that.

"And Mr. Styls. He's mine too, right?"

"Yes, honey, he's yours too."

"Can he be my wife? When I'm big?"

"I don't think so" he tells her, trying very hard not to laugh.

"Why not?"

"Because when you are old enough to have a wife, he'll be old."

"Like Aunt Melissa?"

Derek stares at the little girl on the chair, the perfect blend between him and Nicole and sighs deeply.

"Yes. Like Aunt Melissa."

She frowns a bit, sighs and eats some more.

"Okay."

Derek waits for a few more minutes, but that's apparently all she has to say on that particular subject because a few seconds later she's off about My Little Pony, and how she needs one.

He hopes she's talking about the dolls and not an actual pony.

He also hopes this is the last of the marriage subject between them.

He's not quite sure he can handle any more questions about it.