Chapter Thirteen: Isolation
Author's note: So sorry for the length of absence, I have a new full time job which is of course taking up a lot of my extra time but I am not going to let go of these stories and series. I promise you!
It took a couple days for anyone to realize something was wrong, Ricky had spent so much time sleeping then watching over Stiles while he finished healing. Derek watched their omega closely but the beta was just pleased that they weren't constantly dealing with Stiles running off and getting hurt because he's incapable of thinking things through. Now Stiles was resting, eating and stayed in bed with pack mates whenever he wasn't in bed with Ricky or Derek. They decided that they were stay the week before classes went back into session, heading back the weekend before which would give them the time to clean up, go book and supply shopping before Monday started with classes. Stiles hadn't fought when Derek made that decision but Ricky continued to just be happy that Stiles would be safe.
Until Cora invited them all to the park on the last day, staying in the Preserve but wanted everyone to go for one more run together before they headed back to the college but Stiles just smiled and brought his pack sister into bed and they curled up close to one another. Then Ricky walked out of the bedroom, pulling the door closed on the two cuddle bugs and wandered down stairs in the Stilinski house and found himself in the kitchen where Derek, John and Talia were sitting at the table with coffee and tea sitting out between them.
"Something is wrong with Stiles," he blurted and Derek shushed him gently as he tugged a chair out for the beta to settle next to him.
"Did you close the door?" Derek questioned gently.
Ricky nodded and took Derek's hand, "I didn't notice. I didn't worry but he won't go for a run, he hates staying still. He hates being in the same place for too long."
Derek nodded and Ricky shifted his gaze to Talia and John, sighed unhappily.
"He's scared huh?" Ricky whispered miserably. He'd been so happy to see Stiles okay and safe, that he'd forgotten about Stiles. And suddenly Ricky hated himself for that, he didn't fall in love with a whimpering weak omega, he fell in love with Stiles but that wolf had disappeared since they left the hospital.
"He's scared but I also sense from him that he doesn't want to be a bother to us," Derek said in return, even as his fingers gently stroked between the knuckles of Ricky's hand. The motion was soothing; it warmed a place inside him where Derek's love and affection always touched. It was a slightly different place than Stiles held inside; it came from a place if protection and devotion instead of the comfort that Derek always gave him. That's what made it even worse, his wolf and his human half only really agreed on one thing for sure, and that was doing everything in his power to care for the omega. Right now, that place was filled with guilt and shame.
"He's not going to bother us, what's happening to our beautiful mate?" Ricky whispered.
Derek reached out with his other hand and pulled Ricky in to press their foreheads together before he shoved his nose into the alpha's neck and rubbed his scent there even as the tears leaked from the corner of his eyes. Derek could scent them on the air; there was no hiding them in the room so Ricky didn't try. He just accepted the hand to the back of his neck, the gentle message of his skin there and he let the negativity slink away. He pulled away and gave a tremulous smile, and looked to the three alphas. It was strange to think the possibility of sitting in the same room with three alphas because even the thought of one alpha used to freak him out. Before Derek, he hadn't even wanted to be in a room with one, and now he was equal in their eyes.
He didn't feel like a lowly beta here, he felt like an alpha without all the instincts that went with it of course.
"How do we help him?" Ricky asked resolutely.
John and Talia looked back and forth then shared a look with Derek and Ricky. There was something there, unspoken and under the surface because both older alphas had been so used to leading their respective packs that taking care of something like this could almost be done without speaking or possibly because they were parents, Ricky didn't know really.
"You and Derek should take him for a run, coax him out somehow and go from there. Maybe all he needs is a reminder that he loves being carefree and silly Stiles," Talia responded finally.
"Remember to be carefree and silly with him, protect him for sure but don't make it obvious because he'll know and if he knows then he's a burden which you are trying to prove he's not. Maybe he needs to run on two legs but more likely, he really needs to on all four. To an omega, running with one's mates is a blessing and for Stiles its doubly so because he stayed hidden for so long."
Ricky nodded and he stood up, Derek followed quickly but leaned over to kiss Talia on the cheek gently before leaving the room. Ricky waved to the other two alphas before he followed his alpha upstairs and got there in time to open the door and they walked into the bedroom where Stiles was alone again, Cora must have left only moments ago. The omega smiled but kept staring at the ceiling, listless, as he'd been for days. Ricky flinched at the realization and refocused on what they were going to do to fix it. Derek walked over to the bed and surprised everyone when he gripped Stiles by the shoulders and lifted the omega off the surface and planted him on his feet.
"Derek, I was resting," Stiles whined as he tried to remove Derek's fingers from his thinner arms.
"You've been resting long enough Stiles and its time to get up."
Stiles shook his head, his nails lengthened and swiped at Derek's arms but the alpha just gave Stiles lithe form a little shake and his claw tipped fingers slipped away once again. Ricky was surprised that Stiles was allowing Derek to manhandle him. Derek wasn't hurting him and Ricky had too much instinct to get into the middle of it.
Then Stiles spoke, "I don't want to get up Derek, I want to stay in bed where I'm safe and where you know I'm going to be okay. I don't know if I can go back to school."
Ricky reared back at that, shocked him into speaking, "What? Stiles when did you decide this?"
Derek looked over at Ricky and the beta shrugged before he quieted again.
"Stiles, you are going back to school and you are going to stop hiding in here. Nowhere is ever going to be perfectly safe and that will not stop you from living your life. Ricky and I are going to be with you, but you are going to do this on your own like you always have."
Stiles jerked away from Derek again this time the alpha released him, anger wafting from his scent all of a sudden, "Why should I? Derek! Huh? Should I do what you say because you're my alpha and you have the right to tell me what to do? Screw you! No get out!"
Derek just smiled, which made the omega growl deep in his throat and shoved the alpha. Ricky could understand the little obnoxious smile that was pissing Stiles off so much, the omega was more full of life right this second than he had for all the days since he'd left the hospital. Since Stiles couldn't get Derek out of the room, Stiles shoved him back a step and walked towards the door and exited the room, his two mates close behind him.
"This is what you want right? The omega's leaving his bedroom and leaving the house! Are you happy?" Stiles shouted, bringing people from the other rooms in the Stilinksi house, trying to find out what the omega was shouting about. Stiles walked out the back door and stripped off his clothes and quickly changed into his red-gold coated form and jerked into a run before Derek and Ricky even had time to start undressing. Ricky tripped over his feet in the process of stripping and shifting then Derek and Ricky were both running after the beautiful scent of their irate mate, Ricky could scent when the smell leaking from Stiles changed from the anger to the contentment then Ricky's wolf yipped in happiness. They caught up with Stiles quickly, since his legs in either form were much smaller than Ricky's or Derek's stride. Then they were running together and Ricky enjoyed watching Stiles prance around the woods before they headed back to the house but Ricky knew there was still more to be done when Stiles whimpered and had a hard time returning to his human form and going back inside the house. Derek and Ricky returned to two feet and quickly dressed and led Stiles inside who quickly ran back up the stairs and into their room. Derek sighed and gave a shrug to John and Talia who were staring after the little wolf in the house. Derek motioned to John and the father of their beloved omega walked up the stairs and into the bedroom. Ricky and Derek settled in the kitchen again with Derek's mother and sister.
Ricky hoped that John could reach his son in a way that maybe his mates couldn't.
John closed the door behind him, finding his son's beautiful wolf self tucked into his bed, head under a pillow and his tail pressed into his stomach. John sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed a gentle hand into the warm body and smiled, "I know it's hard to actually see what danger there is for omegas, it's hard to accept that this is what you could be dealing with."
Stiles whimpered and there was a little growl at the end, like that wasn't the reason here. "You're worried about Derek and Ricky then?" John continued.
Stiles shuddered, resettling his fur as if in answer. It had been too long since John had to guess at his son's non-verbal cues so he just continued talking, "You know that they love you as the brash, stupid never-gonna-stop-this fight Stiles, right?"
Stiles snorted a little.
"I mean it Stiles, they didn't fall in love with some omega that follows his alpha around with his tail between his legs, they fell in love with you dammit!"
Stiles flinched at his father's angry words and John settled him with a gentle hand slipping through the wolf's fur and John enjoyed the feel of his son's warm and soft coat since he hadn't been able to touch his son as a wolf for a lot of years, from the time Stiles had gone through his puberty and would have gone into Heat without the suppressants.
"I know this is hard for you to understand, but they need you." John whispered and watched as his son's bright wolf gaze locked on him and waited as John continued to talk. "Derek and Ricky need you to be who you truly are, they want you to be the brass balls kind of Stiles that takes on VP's of the college and won't back down when he should. I hope you don't lose that person just because of what happened. I can promise you, it terrifies me to no end that people know what you are but this fight is important and I hope you can find the way back to it in a way that honors who you are but also allows Derek and Ricky to stand beside you in the journey."
Stiles sniffed in agreement and suddenly he was shifting and dropping his wolf's coat as John moved away from his son's instantly bare skin and stood to grab a robe from the chest at the end of the bed. John handed the robe over and Stiles slipped into the sleeves and belted the soft fabric quickly before the young omega gave John a tight backslapping hug. John didn't know what to think of it until he heard the telling sniffle and tightened his hug for a second before pulling back just enough to catch sight of Stiles' tear glistening eyes, "Come on little man, you can do this."
Stiles nodded, "I know I can Dad, I just don't know if it's worth all the happiness I could have with Derek and Ricky. I am making Ricky insane, I am constantly worrying Derek with my shenanigans and I don't know how to meet somewhere in the middle with all this."
"So ask them, talk to them about meeting you in the middle and believe me, they would do anything for you."
"Well that seems way to straight forward to be of any help," Stiles returned sarcastically and moved away from John who gripped his son's shoulder for another second before he walked back out of the room. The boys only had this one more night before they were heading home and they would need time to talk out at least some of what's going on before returning to their classes and lives on campus and away from the extra care and concern of the pack.
John wasn't worried though, his boy loved his mates too much to do anything but his level best to make Derek and Ricky happy and the alpha and beta were just as love-struck.