home is a fire

chapter four

They have a weird chemistry going on, Sam decides once he's watched them for long enough.

After Dean, Cas and Charlie leave, Chris Argent is next, and the Sheriff is in the middle of his shift, so he leaves too. The pack decides to relocate to their Alpha's place for the time being, and Sam goes along, because that's his job right now, along with research.

He knows Kevin is looking through every available book in the House of Letters, and that Charlie is looking through internet resources as well, but when the kids – mostly Lydia, who's the red head, and Stiles insist on looking through the pack's archive, he can't help but agree.

He goes with Derek and Stiles, and they bicker the whole way there – Derek doesn't smile, not even once, and Stiles seems to take great pleasure out of annoying the man, which seems a strange combination for a couple, but Sam's track record for relationships isn't that good, so he's not pointing any fingers.

They get to the loft – open and airy, with lots and lots of windows – and the others don't take long to follow.

Once they are all in, Sam stands awkwardly to the side, watching them.

"I think introductions are in order, right?" Stiles says, coming to his side, and Sam smiles at him briefly.

"The red head is Lydia. She's a genius, so don't get on her bad side. Plus, her boyfriend used to be an Alpha, he's not one now, but he's still pretty powerful, and he's also really smart – his name is Aidan, by the way" he says, pointing to the boy reading something over the girl's shoulder, "The blond over there is Jackson – he used to be Lydia's boyfriend and a lizard, but then he got unlizarded, and ran away to London. When he got back, Lydia had moved on to the good twin over there, so he lost his chance. He's trying to get together with Cora" he indicates the girl with dark hair and tanned skin, "but she's his Alpha's sister, plus a badass, so it's not going all that well. The creepy guy over there is Peter, he used to be the Alpha, but then we helped Derek kill him, so when he came back, he did it as Derek's Beta. He's alright now, but still creepy. The other blond is Isaac, he's the first one Derek turned, and beside him is Scott, who's my best friend, and Allison, his girlfriend, and an Argent, which should be enough to tell you how much of a badass she actually is" that earns the kid a glare, which he returns with a grin, "And, last but not least, our dear Alpha, Derek Hale. This is… it. The Hale pack."

"You're a part of the pack" Sam states more than asks, and Stiles nods a bit.

"Yeah. They are my friends. My family. Plus dad and Melissa, who's Scott's mom, by the way. I need them with me, and I know they'd do anything for me, just as I'd do anything for them."

Sam nods, because he gets that – the whole doing anything for your family thing.

It does seem as if it's a trait passed on by blood, or maybe this is just who Stiles is, all by himself.

"So… on a scale from one to completely impossible, how difficult is it going to be to make these angels forget about me?" he asks, and Sam takes a deep breath before answering.

"I really don't know. We are looking into it, and we won't give up, because we just… don't do that. We won't let anything happen to you."

"I'm not a damsel in distress, you know" Sam raises his eyebrows in surprise, because he wasn't expecting this as an answer, "I'm not. I'm useful. When I say we are a pack, I don't mean that the humans stay home knitting as the big, strong wolves go out to fight our battles. Lydia and I took out a Darach all by ourselves not even three months ago, and we have always been decisive to winning our battles. You don't have to worry about not letting anything happen to me, that's my pack's job. You have to worry about showing us a way to figure out this mess, because you have more knowledge in this field than we do. I'm not looking for a hero to save me in this situation, I'm looking for a solution."

Sam considers the boy by his side, taking in the determination on his face, the anger he's feeling, probably by being in this mess because of the guy who slept with his mom and skipped town.

He nods firmly at the kid, his nephew.

"I get it. We'll find a way" he says, and Stiles stares at him for a long moment, before leaving him on his corner and joining Lydia at the table.

Sam sits on the stairs and takes that moment to watch the pack interacting, and that's when he realizes that yes, they have a weird chemistry, but they work. They're obviously different kinds of teens, and they probably wouldn't have even interacted if they weren't in the same pack, but they work together.

He can't help but think about what has happened to these people to make them work together like this, because this is not something that time has brought together, they are way too young for that – and there's only one thing that can bring people together this fast: danger.

It's a few hours later, the sun is already setting, when Charlie calls him and lets him know they are coming to relieve him of his duty. He says they don't have to, but Dean wants to be there anyway, so he agrees to have his shift with Dean.

He can't risk leaving his brother all by himself with the kids, because they'll either murder him, or he'll kill any positive impression he could have made on his son.

Derek gives him the address and instructions on how to get to his place, and Stiles frowns at Dean when he comes in, but keeps on looking through books even after most of the teens have already gone home – Cora, Peter and Derek are the only ones left.

Dean sits by Sam on the stairs and doesn't say anything, just stares at them for a long moment, clearly wanting to ask Sam a million questions, but knowing the werewolves would hear them.

"You know, there's one person…" Stiles begins, but Derek's shaking his head.

"No" the Alpha says firmly.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Yes, I do, and no. We're not asking for his help, ever."

"You are being unreasonable."

"According to you I'm always unreasonable" Derek answers, his tone dry as a desert.

"You are always unreasonable, but in this stance, I agree with my nephew, we can't trust the man" Peter adds, and Sam frowns.

Who are they talking about?

"I'm not saying invite him to our wedding and ask him to be your best man, Derek, I'm saying ask him if he knows something. Knowledge is knowledge, no matter the source!" the kid argues, his tone exasperated, "Come on! Cora, tell me you agree with me" he appeals to his boyfriend's sister and the girl nods.

"I agree with you. No, hear me out" she says when it looks like the two other men are going to argue, "We don't have to tell him the whole situation, and we don't have to say who the information is for, we could just use him as a source."

"Come on, Derek, you know there's a good chance that if anyone knows how to open the doors to heaven or make me untraceable by the angels' GPS it's him!"

"Stiles, that man left you and Lydia to fight a full on Darach, who killed nine humans and two Alphas on her own. You and Lydia, when you had nothing more to go on than some vague knowledge about beliefs and immunity working well together. You didn't even know how to work that together. If you hadn't figured it out, we would all be dead right now, because that man was too busy trying to save the Alpha of the Alpha pack. Our enemy. And you want to ask for his help."

"He knew we could do it" Stiles says back, and Sam sees Cora and Peter trade a look and come closer to them, standing by the stairs beside Sam and Dean, as if they know better than to stay close when the other two are arguing, "He believed we could do it, and we did it. You're here, I'm here, Lydia's here. Blake is not. So we're good."

"He didn't know you could do it, it sounds more like he didn't care if you could do it or not. We're not going to him."

"You can't tell me what to do" Stiles says, taking a step forward, Derek taking a deep breath and rolling his neck, as if trying to control his temper.

"I am your Alpha" his voice is low, and Stiles narrows his eyes.

"And I am your boyfriend, and this shit won't fly with me. I'm not saying we promise our first kid to him or anything, but we have to ask."

The two of them keep staring at each other angrily, and Sam has to give the kid kudos for not backing down when facing an Alpha werewolf.

Although they are together, so it must be a pretty common occurrence.

"Last resource" Derek hisses, and Stiles grins at him, leaning forward fast and giving him a kiss on the nose.

Sam chokes back a laugh, and sees Cora and Peter smiling fondly at the two.

He isn't brave enough to see what Dean's reaction is, but Peter, who looks down at the other hunter, seems amused by it, and Sam has the feeling the man finds his amusement in other's discomfort.

"Last resource. And now let's get some food, 'cause I'm starving."

The Alpha werewolf actually sighs, rubbing his eyes, as if tired from the argument.

"Do we have the time to? Because your dad wants you home early, and I'm not repeating the whole thing from the last time you got home late."

"His problem last time wasn't curfew, it was the blood" Stiles answers, and Sam has to choke back a laugh again, "But you're right. I should head home soon." The kid turns to the hunters on the stairs, "I assume you guys will stay the night, then?"

"It's better if we do. We may not be able to actually stop the angels, but we can delay them, talk to them, even. You'll be safer with us there."

Stiles shrugs and turns to Derek.

"What about the pack?"

"We'll keep watch outside. Take turns during the night."

"Okay" the kid says, nodding, "I'll keep up the research at home, Lydia will help too, I'm sure. I'll get my stuff and some books and we can go."

Stiles goes to the table to get his things, and Derek looks at Sam and Dean fiercely. Peter and Cora seem to get the message, and make themselves scarce fast, leaving the hunters to the Alpha.

"I'm not trusting you with his safety, I hope you get that. One of my pack will be outside the house at all times, and if we hear a single thing we don't like, we're coming in and you are going out."

He doesn't wait for an answer before going to get his car keys, and Dean and Sam trade a look.

Overprotective Alpha Werewolf Boyfriend Alert.

Okay.

"Isaac took the truck, you'll have to take the other car" Peter chimes in, before smirking at the hunters and disappearing up the stairs. Cora gives Stiles a half hug and goes up too, leaving the four men alone.

Stiles gathers his backpack and leads the way out of the loft and into the garage of the building, where they go to a Camaro.

A black, sleek Camaro, that Derek unlocks and gets into.

Dean whistles quietly, but the werewolf is smirking by the time they actually leave, so Sam is counting on him listening to it anyway.

It doesn't take long for them to get to the Sheriff's house, and he has to almost drag Dean out of the car before Stiles gets out to give him and his boyfriend a moment of privacy.

Soon, the car is leaving, and Stiles leads them inside.

By the looks of things, it's going to be a long night.

X

"You guys hungry?" It's what Stiles asks as soon as he drops his backpack full of old books on the couch in the living room, going straight to the kitchen.

"I could eat" Sam answers, and Dean looks at him. His brother shrugs and they follow the kid into the kitchen.

He's opening and closing doors in cabinets, taking out pans and ingredients for pasta, apparently, and Dean can see the resemblance.

He didn't know Sarah for very long, hell, he didn't even know her very well at all – he was such a mess as a teen, trying to act as if he cared about nothing but himself and hunting, lost half the time, trying to take care of Sammy and at the same time resenting his dad for it. Getting to know Sarah hadn't really been one of his priorities, but he had liked her.

She was smart and funny, she also had a very calming presence, something that Stiles didn't seem to have inherited from her – actually, he didn't seem to take after her, or Dean, of even the Sheriff with his mannerisms and behavior – he was pretty much… him.

He wasn't even all that much like his own friends, now that Dean had spent some time watching them. Stiles was quite unique.

"I hope you guys aren't very picky about food, because I'm not great at cooking or anything."

"We eat pretty much anything" Sam answers, sitting at the table. Dean takes the seat beside his and just watches the kid for a bit, moving around the kitchen easily. Used to it.

Being the Sheriff's kid can't be easy either. Not like being a hunter's kid, but all the same, the pressure, the long hours, the danger – Stiles has to know how to take care of himself, right? Especially if he walks around with a bunch of werewolves.

"How did you get involved with… the pack?" Dean asks, hesitating before the word, because he's not sure he should call them that or not. This is all so weird.

Stiles looks up from where he's washing his hands and stares at him for a few seconds before turning back to the sink.

"I took Scott out to the woods one night, to try and look for a dead body. I heard dad talking, and I wanted to see it. Scott got bitten by the old Alpha that night, and it all went from there, you know? I couldn't let him face this alone." He finishes with a small shrug, and Dean wishes he had a beer in his hand, to take a small sip out of before being brave enough to ask the next question he wanted to ask.

Sam seems to know what he wants to ask, because he's shaking his head very discretely, but Dean ignores him.

"What about Derek? I mean, you guys been dating for a while?"

Stiles actually stops what he's doing and arches an eyebrow at Dean, telling him just how unimpressed he is with his attempt at subtlety.

"Three months. And we actually told my dad before we even started going out or anything."

"And your dad gave you guys his blessing" Dean states, not completely able to leave the judgment out of his voice, "And he had no issues, not even with this guy's age" Dean continues, "Or species."

Stiles snorts.

"He has issues, but he trusts me. And he loves me. So he supports us, yes."

Dean keeps quiet, but shakes his head a bit, looking down.

Of course the man had no problem with Derek's age – he himself was ten years older than Sarah.

"You are not really going there, are you?" Stiles asks, leaning against the counter, and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Dean startles a bit, because the kid's voice is angry, and he's sure he hasn't said anything out loud.

"I didn't say a word."

"Oh, I know, but you look like you're judging my dad for Derek being in my life and it's absurd. My dad doesn't see himself in Derek or any crap like that, okay? My dad never did anything wrong in his life. The first time I talked to Derek, he was being arrested. He was then exonerated, but he was arrested twice, because I accused him, by the way. Also, being an Alpha is not exactly an easy job, so, yeah, he had to get his hands dirty once or twice, but so did I – but my dad? He never did anything wrong. Hell, he wouldn't even date mom properly until she was eighteen. Not that you had a problem with that, right?"

"Hey" Dean starts, fighting the urge to get up from his chair, "I was seventeen too, okay? I wasn't exactly known for making the best decisions back then, and I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch with Sarah, but I didn't know. Things weren't as easy back then as they are now."

"And if they were, would you have? Would you have kept in touch, come back when she told you she was pregnant?"

"If I had known, I would have never left" Dean says, his voice thick with emotion, because he hadn't exactly let himself think about this yet. Not really, "Family has always been everything to me, and Sammy would have had dad, and I would have stayed. I would have tried to help."

Stiles stares at him for a long moment, his eyes determined and hurt, and Dean thinks he almost gets it – he loves his father, the one who raised him, but this is the guy who got his mother pregnant and skipped town, and now the kid doesn't know how to deal. Dean finally gets up and out the door. Sam calls his name, but he just waves him off, and sits on the steps on the porch.

He himself doesn't even know why he's doing what he's doing. Sam could keep watching the kid by himself and call them if there's any trouble, but he wants to be around. He wants to get to know this kid, because it's his kid, and yeah, maybe Stiles doesn't want anything to do with him yet, maybe he never will, but it's probably Dean's only and last shot at having any kind of family outside of Sam.

Even with Ben, it was different. The kid had way more in common with him than Stiles did, and yet Lisa had known he wasn't Dean's, and it mattered. The whole year they spent living together, Ben was always there, but he wasn't Ben's dad even if he liked pretending he was. And it was so easy to erase himself from their lives, as if he never existed, even if for their own good – it was easy.

In Stiles, though, there was no erasing that, it was in his blood, in the shape of his eyes – hopefully in other things too that he would learn if he could have more time to do it, and the angels didn't screw everything up.

The door behind him opens and Dean doesn't even turn, knowing Sam's footsteps.

The younger brother sits by his side and offers him a beer.

"Stiles asked me to bring you this, and to say he's sorry. I guess out of all the things he could have inherited from you, your short temper is what comes out the fastest."

Dean snorts but doesn't say anything else.

"They are good together, you know? Not only Stiles and Derek, but the whole pack. Watching them this afternoon, Dean, they are a team. They work well together, and while they are kids, mostly, they are older than we were when we started helping dad, and it's not like they don't have a support net if anything happens. That Peter guy is older, and Derek too. They have the Sheriff by their side, and Stiles' best friend's mother is a nurse, and one of the kid's father is the best lawyer in town – they are covered in all and every aspects, and they are careful. You don't have to worry."

"I'm not sure I'm worried, I'm just…" he struggles for words for a few seconds, because he truly doesn't even know what his problem is, "It's my son, Sammy. A kid of flesh and blood that is half mine. For real. And I don't know, man, that's messed up."

Dean shakes his head and takes a sip of his beer, looking down the street. He hasn't seen anyone around yet, and has to wonder if the werewolves are that good at hiding themselves, or if there isn't any werewolf there tonight.

"I know the situation isn't ideal, but, well, is it so bad?" Sam asks, and Dean shakes his head again.

"Angels are trying to kill him, Sam, just because I am his father. And even if they weren't, what kind of kid needs someone like me in their life, as a father figure? It's just… That year with Lisa and Ben, the only reason it wasn't the best year of my life is because you weren't there. But I thought, it's never gonna happen, I don't have a single shot at something like this, I'll never have that again. I'll never be a dad, I'll never have a kid, and now this happens, and it's just cruel, man, that's what it is, it's damn cruel, because I can see it, but I can't have it."

"Maybe you can" Sam starts, and raises his hands when Dean makes to interrupt, "I'm not saying tell Stiles to drop everything and adopt the Winchester lifestyle. I don't wish that on anyone, you know that. But he seems to be a great kid, hell, he didn't abandon his best friend when he became a werewolf, Dean, and his boyfriend clearly has a lot of issues, and yet he's there for them. Maybe you can have this, you can have a relationship with him" Sam puts a hand on his shoulder and comes closer, "And as far as I'm concerned, you are a great father figure to have around" then he gets up and gets in, leaving Dean to look down the street.

This is so messed up.

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