When the time came when Stiles actually had to leave to head over to the Hale House – and yes, yes he was secretly praying it wouldn't still be a burnt down shell, because that would be a creepy place to hold a children's party – he couldn't stop himself from shrugging into clothes that weren't his own. He had on another one of Rory's shirts, Lee's jacket, Brady's skinny jeans because they were exactly the same size and height and he even had on Lucas' Converses.

It comforted him a little bit, but he was still a nervous wreck as he drove over, taking his new car so that he could nervously blab to Maggie on the phone while he drove. "It'll be fine," she told him for like the thousandth time as he pulled up into the driveway of the Hale house and saw that the place was in fact sort of perfect looking.

If you hadn't have known, you wouldn't have even had a clue that it had been burnt down once. It was all new and awesome looking and Stiles sort of wanted to see the inside almost as much as he wanted to run. And he definitely wanted to run because there were people, obviously the Pack milling about in front of the house, where tables with balloons and a bouncy castle had been set up. There didn't seem to be any kids though other than one or two, Lexie not included and Stiles was guessing this was actually more of a Pack party for her than an actual birthday party.

It made him feel out of place.

"Oh my God, I'm going to die," he muttered, but of course Maggie could hear him and all of the wolves could too.

Stiles was pretty sure he spotted Derek, but he looked away quickly, staring at the radio like he could see Maggie through it or something. He would have given anything to have had her or one of his other Pack mates next to him right then. Absolutely anything.

Of course, she laughed at him, because Maggie was a lovely person like that.

"Stiles, just get your ass out the car," she told him and he knew she was rolling her eyes, "You're going to be fine. Worst case scenario is that you have to run, but we all know you're good at that." Of course he was good at that. He'd been running from Beacon Hills for nine years now.

He nodded numbly before he remembered that she couldn't actually see him.

"Okay," he said eventually, "I'm going, if I get through this, you have to argue my case and get Rory to let me have a puppy."

Maggie's laugh was full blown and hearty this time and he was pretty sure he could hear Rory in the background. "Sure thing," she told him, "But you still know it isn't going to happen, you'd let the thing run riot."

He pulled a face that she must have known he was going to pull if the way she laughed again was anything to go by. "Right," he said, running a hand through his hair. His fingers twitched with the need for a cigarette. He really, really wanted one. Just to help calm himself down. Just one. "I'm going, be safe."

"You too," she said, laughter in her voice and then hung up. Leaving Stiles to meet his fate and the Pack of werewolves that were all now staring at his car. It made him even more glad that he'd brought his new one, because it wouldn't quite have had the same effect if he'd pulled up in his jeep he didn't think. Not that he was entirely sure what the effect was, but that so wasn't the point. Not at all.

Taking a deep breath he climbed out of the car, tucking his phone into his pocket as he did so; which was actually a bit of a difficult task given how tight his skinny jeans were. Although saying they were his was a bit of an overstatement.

He briefly wondered what he smelt like to them, because he knew he had multiple other scents mixed in with his own. Subtle but there. It was comforting to him, but all of them were glaring at him now. Like they wanted to tear off his head.

And then he relaxed as a small body came flying at him, ankles locking around his back as Lexie grinned into his face. "Stiles!" she cuddled into him after he'd caught her easily and he laughed because there wasn't a single thing about this little girl that wasn't adorable. "You came!"

He shifted her a little so that he could actually breathe.

"Of course I did," he told her, because really, there had been no way that he wouldn't turn up. He opened his mouth to say something else to her, he wasn't completely sure what. No doubt, he was going to comment on the fact she was wrinkling her tiny little nose at him, but then there was a shout from across the driveway.

He knew that he was practically vibrating from nerves, his hands clenching repeatedly into fists down by his side. Honestly, the only thing that was keeping him from getting straight back into the car was the way Lexie was staring at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

He gently lowered her back to the ground and flashed Scott a sheepish grin where he was standing over by what looked to be the food table. Derek's Pack had grown by about four from what Stiles could tell, not counting Lexie even though she had flashed him the most adorable fangs in the world when she'd smiled just.

"Stiles, will you come on da bouncy castle wiv me?" Lexie asked, tugging at his sleeve. When she smiled at him, his heart melted.

"I'd love to," he told her, which wasn't a lie at all, because come on, bouncy castles! Lexie slid her hand into his and started tugging him towards the bouncy castle, which was actually a pretty kick ass looking bouncy castle if he did say so himself.

Stiles was a child at heart, he didn't think there was any shame in admitting that. Not really.

"Stiles?"

Stiles' heart stuttered in his chest at the sound of Derek's voice, the commanding Alpha-tone running through it and making him shiver. He could feel the entire Pack freeze in response to his voice and Stiles would have been lying if he'd said it didn't affect him just a little. And at that point he had no choice but to look over at Derek, freezing in his tracks even though Lexie was still trying to tug him along.

Derek looked tired, but other than that he hadn't changed at all. He was staring at Stiles like he was seeing a ghost and Stiles assumed that meant that either he hadn't believed Scott when he'd said Stiles was back in town, or Scott had been too much of a dumbass to fill him in on that point. He was guessing it was probably the latter if he was being honest.

The wind was blowing towards him, which made him wondered if they'd realised yet that he wasn't completely human. Not all of them and especially not Derek were going to be such dumbasses that they could miss the change in his scent. He wasn't sure what to make of the way Derek was looking at him though, he didn't know if that weird look in his eye was because he'd realised that Stiles wasn't quite human anymore.

Taking a deep breath, Stiles tried not to choke on the fact that Derek's scent seemed to be the only thing filling his lungs. Which, should not have been possible in any way because hello, they were outside! Outside meant less prominent personal scents! But hey, apparently not! And Stiles wouldn't admit it, but looking at Derek hurt too, because, well just because. Because that was Derek and he'd been pretty intent on avoiding him until a certain female McCall child with Allison's eyes came along. Fuck my life! was really all Stiles could think at that moment.

Thankfully what came out of his mouth was really a very curt-sounding, "Derek," and he even nodded. And sure, okay, he knew that wasn't really correct etiquette considering he was on another Alpha's territory and his own Pack weren't here to save his ass, but at the time he didn't even consider that. He was back to being a teenager again and speaking before he even had a chance to register what he was saying.

He didn't look at Derek long enough after that to gauge his reaction, although he could smell the tension in the air that felt like a noose around his throat. Thankfully, he was given an excuse when Lexie carried on pulling him towards the bouncy castle.

Once he got past the fact that people were still openly staring at him, he actually managed to relax – a little bit. He had no shame in admitting that he adored the bouncy castle, he even texted the entire of his Pack quite simply saying: Be jealous losers, I'm on a bouncy castle right now! :D Amazingly, a lot of them ignored that. . . he couldn't think why. Maggie and Lee texted him backs saying exactly the same thing though and it wasn't polite. Which was exactly the reason he didn't explain to Lexie why he was laughing.

As soon as he stepped off the bouncy castle, he felt like he was leaving a safe haven or something. Especially when he was rugby tackled the minute his feet hit solid and non-wobbling ground. He almost laughed when Lydia wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging to him like some sort of retarded monkey. He almost laughed because having her face buried in his neck like it was then had probably been wet dream material back when he was a teenager. The only problem was, Lydia wasn't an idiot – and she also apparently wasn't very human anymore either – and jerked back almost immediately, staring at him with wide eyes.

"You're a wolf?" she asked and he was pretty sure the entire of Derek's Pack, the Alpha included froze again. He was pretty sure he could hear crickets chirping somewhere in the undergrowth of the woods. It did however confirm that he'd done well staying downwind for so long.

He shifted back on his heels a little awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, "Surprise," he said, flashing her a nervous smile that made a muscle in her pretty little forehead twitch.

Lydia had aged, but she'd aged well. Nine years wasn't all that long though and she still looked as mean as a snake all bundled up in a strawberry blonde package. He could definitely still understand when looking at her why he had been so obsessed. He was also a little bit scared, because she looked like she wanted to tear his head off and feed it to Jackson. Jackson who was standing just behind her with his jaw slack.

Jackson hadn't changed either. Stiles wondered if he was still all scaly. He thought probably.

"What the hell do you mean, surprise, you can't just turn up here and not be human! You could have told us! Do you have any idea how worried we were about you being all vulnerable and human? No, obviously you don't, otherwise you actually would have had some consideration before just turning up here and dropping that bombshell!" she actually did smack him then, hard on the arm and he winced even though that didn't actually hurt. He lived in the same house as Lucy and she punched like a pro-boxer. He was pretty sure his arms and stomach were eternally numb.

Especially since Lucy just did it for shits and giggles. And so did Maggie.

Actually, all the women in his Pack were kind of mean.

"Yeah, well I was kind of hoping it would stay a secret," he said, shrugging a little bit, "I managed to fool Scott."

Lydia gave him an incredulous look. "You fooled Scott?" she scoffed, "Congratulations on the easiest feat possible, Stiles!" He actually felt like he wanted to curl up in a ball and cower under the weight of his gaze. But instead all he did was laugh when he met Scott's eyes and saw him looking like someone had just smacked him with a truck. Saying he was surprised was an understatement.

"How long have you been a wolf?" Danny asked, always the one to ask the right questions and Stiles was actually pretty glad to see Danny. He'd always liked Danny, even if the guy had never answered his question on whether or not he was attractive to gay guys. He already knew that answer now, but he could have done with the confidence boost as a teenager.

He smiled at Danny properly, relieved when the guy smiled back genuinely. But then there wasn't anything about Danny that wasn't genuine.

"Just over eight years now," he replied, even though it felt like a lot longer. It felt like he'd been with his Pack for his entire life. But then that could have something to do with his attempt at blocking out everything to do with Beacon Hills. It hadn't really worked.

He couldn't even remember that one year in between leaving and joining the Pack. He'd been all alone, human and that was about all he could think of. That year had dragged on forever it had seemed, but it had also melted away in his memory all too easily.

"Eight years!" Scott and Derek both shouted that together and Stiles didn't miss the way that the entire of the Hale Pack flinched at Derek's tone. Stiles however, wasn't fazed as much. He was the master of handling Derek's threats and that added with the fact he was now able to defend himself better meant that he had more confidence in dealing with Derek. Admittedly, it made his stomach churn to look at him and he sort of wanted to blanch under the weight of Derek's anger that he could smell in the air. It was basically choking him, especially coupled with the other scent. . . what was that? Betrayal? Concern? He didn't know. He didn't think he particularly wanted to.

He didn't even flinch when Derek stalked towards him and sniffed his neck, even though he did tense up a little bit at Derek's proximity. He wondered what his mate would think. He couldn't actually see her around which was strange. He would have expected she would have been there, clinging to Derek the moment she noticed Stiles.

"Yeah," Stiles replied, forcing himself to keep calm, forcing his wolf to stop pacing inside of him, to stop trying to freak out. But more than anything, he was having to stop himself from pressing closer to Derek, from responding to that damn gorgeous scent that was wrapping around him. It was intoxicating and addictive and it was so completely Derek. But more than anything, it was confusing and wrong and not something Stiles should be feeling at all. "Eight years, eight years since I was bitten, eight years since I became a werewolf. Eight. Years. Would you like me to write it down for you?"

A small part of Stiles knew that nobody else could get away with talking to Derek like that. Back when he'd being allowed to hang around the Pack as a teenager, he'd seen Derek fling wolves into buildings for less. And he thought maybe it was something left over from thinking of Stiles as delicate and human, as breakable, but Derek doesn't lash out at him. Admittedly he backs him up and slams him into a table with not as much force as he could have done. Derek bares his fangs, snarling low in his throat as he pins Stiles by his shirt.

And Stiles, Stiles just bares his fangs right back at him and snarls equally as loudly, eyes flashing. Because Derek isn't his Alpha. He doesn't have to cower before Derek. He doesn't have to cower before anyone here; and he won't. He refuses to. And he knows that the look on Derek's face is nothing short of full blown surprise. He's literally stunned that Stiles is standing up to him, that Stiles has fangs. But he really doesn't care.

"You should have come home," Derek says and it's in the most pathetic voice that Stiles has ever heard him use, even though he's not sure anyone else recognises it as that; because it's still a growl and it still sounds almost like an order, "You were still Pack, you could have come home."

And in response Stiles tipped his head back, fangs and claws vanishing as he laughs. He knew it wasn't a nice laugh, it was actually pretty horrible. He can tell from the way Derek tenses up. He laughed because of what Derek just said, because he called him Pack. Because Derek just spouted so much bullshit it was unreal. Especially given that he apparently thinks from the way he said that that Stiles is all alone. He can tell that's what Derek thinks, what they all think. They think he's a lone wolf, they think he has no Pack, that he would be wanting one, craving one. Wanting and craving, this one.

But he isn't. He doesn't want this Pack, doesn't want what they have to offer, because he has a family that actually wants him now. So he just laughs and then he shoves at Derek's chest, slamming the heels of his hands into Derek's pecks – and he doesn't think about how hard and amazing they feel in that split second, not at all. He knows that the only reason he managed to get Derek to let go of him was because he caught the Alpha off guard.

"I was never Pack," Stiles spat out, his eyes flashing again, "So why the hell would I have wanted to come back?"

And with that he just turns around and leaves, giving Lexie an apologetic smile. He doesn't stay long enough for anyone to say anything, long enough to see the expression on Derek's face. He doesn't stick around, he just leaves, getting back into his car and slamming it into reverse. Because really, Stiles doesn't think there's anything left to say anymore.

Weirdly though, he does feel a little better. Like he's let go of the past almost. It's strange. Of course, he still curled up in a ball that night and cried, but that was more habit than anything else, he was sure.