I do not own the characters of Teen Wolf. I only own this idea and the characters I have created for the purpose of this story. Reviews are appreciated. I love to know what you think.
"Dinner is served! Ladies get to make their plates first and choose where to sit, then Scott will be able to make his, the rest of us will go after." explained the blue eyed Beta, choosing to honor the new Alpha's rank, as well as to stall in order to figure out just how much of what he would like to have.
"Me first!" called out Erika as she raced across the kitchen to grab a plate, Allison and Lydia following shortly after her. Every time one of them reached towards something that Erika was reaching for, the blonde wolf let loose a small growl to give them a brief warning, simply saying "It's mine first."
"Take it easy, there's plenty here. Stiles, if you want to invite your Dad over, go on ahead. Scott, if your Mom isn't working late, she's more than welcome here, too. Parrish is already on his way thanks to Lydia, who stole my phone while I was cooking." explained Derek as he finished rinsing his hands off in the sink, drying them off on his jeans.
"He should be here –." started Lydia, but was soon cut of by the sound of a knuckle wrapping on the front door, a smirk on her lips as she said "now". Derek smiled softly at her and nudged her towards the food, before making his way out of the kitchen and through the living room to the front door, where he was not only greeted by Parrish, but by John and Melissa.
"Your boys must have texted you fast. Get on in here, the food is all in the kitchen and there are drinks in the fridge. If the others haven't started making their plates yet, you three should probably be the ones to make yours up before they do. Or there will be nothing left." explained Derek as he moved out of the way to let the trio into the house.
"You can have one serving of dessert, Dad, and if I see you sneaking more than one it will be nothing but salad for the next three weeks." explained Stiles sternly as he led his Father into the kitchen, where everybody was making up their own plates. Scott weaved his way through the now crowded kitchen to hand his Mom a plate that was piled high with the different creations, as well as with two servings of the grilled chocolate sandwiches.
"So you wouldn't have to fight your way through an entire Pack of wolves. Facing off against Erika was enough." explained Scott as he handed over the plate to his smiling Mom, who leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek.
"I'd rather not take that chance, I like keeping all of my limbs attached. Who did all the cooking?" asked Melissa as she took a seat at the table, where multiple other chairs had been pulled up in order to make room for the others.
"Derek did all the cooking, he was at it for about two and a half hours." explained Lydia before she popped a piece of an edamame into her mouth, her eyes lighting up like sparks at the taste, a satisfied sound leaving her lips.
"I didn't know you could cook." explained Melissa as she twirled her fork in her linguine, her eyes lingering on the wolf's form.
"I may have taken a couple courses." explained Derek as he reached around a bowl on the counter in order to grab his red Gatorade, twisting the top off to raise it to his lips, taking only about four small sips of the liquid, seeing Erika's proud smile beaming over at him. The wolf, as well as Parrish and Stiles were the only ones left to make their plates. Stiles had a plate in his hand that was almost pilled high to the point of spilling over the edges, silently making a move to hand it to Derek, being quickly stopped by Allison.
"No, Stiles, that plate is for you. Derek needs to be able to make up his own plate in order to be able to handle making his own portions of food as well as to be able to physically touch the food once it's been prepared." explained the female Hunter as she tugged the teen down into a seat on her other side at the table. The blue eyed Beta shot her a grateful look as he made his way into the dining room with Jordan at his side, each of them making their way around the multiple choices of food. You could see the portion differences and the differences in arrangement on each of their plates: Jordan's food was touching and seemed to have no order of placement on his plate, as Derek's food had space between each item with the order of what would be eaten first to what would be eaten last. He even went as far as giving himself a single serving of the dessert, the chocolate that had melted spilling over the sides of the toasted bread in brown rings that were now on the plate.
"I've come to a conclusion, Derek. No, no, wait until I've swallowed first so I can finish what I'm going to say." explained Melissa around another mouthful of her pasta, chewing and swallowing with a pleased smile as she looked towards the Beta who was between John and Jordan at the table.
"What conclusion is that, Mel'?" asked Derek, using the nickname that he knew the woman preferred at times, still a bit shocked that he was allowed to call her that, it had always been 'Melissa' or 'Mrs. McCall'.
"That every time that you cook, you are going to send a heaping portion to my son who can bring it to me at work. Also that you keep me updated on your progress." replied the woman as she reached across the table to give the wolf's hand a gentle and comforting squeeze.
"How did you?" asked Derek, his eyes wide in surprise at her words, earning him a giggle from her.
"Sweetie, I'm a Registered Nurse of the ER. I know an ED case when I see one." replied Melissa as she took a long drink of the water that was in front of her.
"On that note, I called Callie, my cousin; she agreed to meet you down at the stables. She seemed really excited to get to meet you. How does tomorrow around noon sound?" asked Allison with a bright smile on her lips, excitement coming off of her in strong waves.
"Noon tomorrow sounds just fine to me." replied Derek as he popped an edamame into his mouth, savoring the automatic burst of the salt with the heat from the pepper.
"I will let her know." replied Allison as she tossed an almond into her mouth, crunching down into it with a pleased sigh.
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It was when the meal was coming to an end and everybody started in on their dessert, or started to pile their dishes up, that things started to get a bit harder for Derek. It's not that he was ashamed of having cooked the meal, of having touched the food, it was the thought of now having to accomplish eating his own serving of the dessert. Of the toasted white bread with the melted milk chocolate pooling between the slices, flowing over the edges of the crisp bread to lay in tiny ringlets on the plate. Jordan must have sensed the wolf's anxiety and reached over to give his knee a firm but gentle squeeze, sliding his thumb in tiny circles over the joint under his skin.
"It's okay, Der. If you feel like it's too much, you don't have to. You did really well with the main meal." praised Jordan as he soothingly rubbed at the wolf's arm in an attempt to calm him down a little.
"I want to, I really do, because of just how long I took to make all of this. But – I just – I can't. I know what will happen after and it's not something I'm looking forward to again." explained Derek as he slid the small plate with the dessert on towards John, who gave him a gentle smile before sliding the plate towards his son, who gave the wolf a confused look before tucking down into the treat.
"What's holding you back, sweetheart? After preparing this entire meal and managing more than half of what was on your plate, you deserve to indulge a little." asked Melissa as she tucked her hands under her chin to look at him.
"I feel like I've indulged enough, if that makes sense. I ate more than I normally would in an entire week in just one meal. Eating something like the dessert, would basically be a taste of freedom, and I know that something like that would never happen again. It's been years since I have allotted myself something sweet like that, part of me wants to wipe that slate clean and start over, allow myself something like that, while my other half doesn't want to ruin the twisted sense of progress that has been made." explained Derek as he subconsciously started to play with the tube of the IV that was still hooked to his arm.