Running helps him clear his head. When he's in the woods there is nothing to worry about: no screaming kid under the age of ten demanding his whole attention, no best friend desperately trying to earn the right to propose to his high school sweetheart, no fear of losing his father to an heart attack if he keeps sneaking burgers in his daily diet.

In the woods, Stiles is alone and his mind is free. He only hears the thumps of his feet, fading under the volume of the music pumping in his ear, the low sound of cars passing down the road when a song leaves the place to the next.

Stiles used to go running every morning before Ann died. He'd woke up smiling, happy and cozy in his marital bed waiting for his two little girls to barge in and interrupt any morning interaction he managed to get out of his wife. She would laugh at him groaning and push his trainers in his hands.

"Better than a cold shower" she used to say grinning.

Now he only gets to go out on a run when his dad doesn't have to work and instead spends his time spoiling his granddaughters. Somehow, him becoming a widower has pulled some invisible string and his father is closer than ever: they truly are peers now. He grimaces at the thought.

His mind flow is interrupted by a movement his eyes caught on his left. Probably another runner.

But this is no stranger. Running a few yards away from him is none other than Derek Hale; he also was running alone but with no music. From the look on his eyes, he seemed to enjoy the sound of the nature surrounding him, a delighted look covering his usually firm features. It looked like nothing could stop him from running, as if he were completely lost in the trees surrounding his moving body. His very sweaty, sexy and strong body.

God, he had the hots for a dad. As if his life could not be more complicated.

And it was when he felt someone tap his shoulder that he reminded himself not to get lost in his thoughts: he was gonna get killed one of this day for losing focus. Yet he had promised his dad to stop with the pills on his senior year and he had made it this far, meaning he wasn't going to break his promise because of him being assaulted.

"Hi there" Derek said startling him with the cheery tone of his voice. Even though he had seen the man smile and grin just a few days earlier, Stiles still couldn't believe the man to ba capable of genuine smiles and cheers.

"Hi, sorry, the music. I sort of lose myself in it" he excused himself.

"I got that considering I tried to get your attention for some minutes now Derek told him and he had to stop himself from babbling that, fear not, he had his whole attention.

"Yeah, sorry again. Anyway. You out on a run, too? Well, obviously you are on a run too, you're wearing running gear and you look like you've ran for quite some time. Not that you look tired or anything, you actually look quite good" and with that he cursed and hoped for some god to open a hole right under him to make him disappear.

"You look good, too" was the simple reply the man gave him "Listen, would you like to go grab some coffee? I feel like I've had enough for today"

"Sure. I actually have to meet my dad at the coffeehouse. Why don't we go pick up the boys? I'm sure Lydia and Erica would love the company" he suggested while turning off his mp3 player and throwing it back in his backpack.

"Why not? I'll go get them and meet you there, ok?" Derek asked getting into his car.

"See ya there" he replied, silently thanking his dad's peeve for keeping deodorant in the car: at least he wasn't going to smell like a goat.

They met twenty minutes later, the kids chirping happily about the lack of homework for the following Monday whilst arguing about the supremacy of pancakes over waffles: Jackson and Erica seemed to be partial to the latter, both of them supported by the girl's grandfather, but Isaac was being helped by none other than Lydia. Pancakes were going to win with such an adamant speaker on their side.

Stiles laughed at his daughter's capacity of having his ideas accepted even by the most reluctant listener and fantasized about her future in the White House.

"If she keeps up like that, you got the next President of the United States in your hands" Derek whispered not to be heard by the kids.

"Dad, can I have bacon with my waffles? Pretty please!" Erica asked pouting

"Why, yes, miss Erica, you can" Stiles answered teasingly while glaring at his father slipping a double portion of maple syrup in his coffee.

"It's Sunday, son, I get to do this sometimes. Plus, I have to sweeten it for little Lydia here who's gonna steal some like last week, won't you" the sheriff said.

"It's good, grandpa" the little girl said matter-of-factly.

"I know it's good, but it's mine, Lyddy!" the Sheriff retorted.

During the conversation, the Hale family kept quiet. It was fun watching this exchange considering they were used to more calm and silent breakfasts: Jackson would wake up before his brother and get himself some cereals and a glass of milk, whilst Isaac had soon learned to prepare the two toast with butter he craved daily. As for Derek, he barely got time to get a cup of coffee before dropping the boys at school and going to work. Sometimes, on special occasions, Amelia or her husband, George, would come early and prepare breakfast for the three loner of the family. Usually Derek kept away from family meetings, mostly to avoid the pitiful looks Jackson and Isaac would get for having been abandoned by their mother.

The chaos in front of them was fascinating. It was new, it was different and they liked it.

"Dad, can we have breakfast with them again? They're funny" Isaac whispered in his ear getting an approving nod from his older brother.

"We'll see" he answered.

Their breakfast proceeded without much drama, except another small fight about the importance of white chocolate chips inside pecan cookies: that one was won by the fathers, who exchanged a low high-five that got them a weird stare from the Sheriff and Lydia.

"it was fun" Stiles said at the end of the meal after having paid and getting his dad from keeping Erica from jumping off the chair in some sort of Superman rendition in the middle of the diner. Yep, she sure was going to be a geek.

"It was" Derek said smiling at Jackson following Isaac around to get his game boy back.

"Daddy" Lydia appeared out of nowhere from behind her father.

"What?"

"Ask him out!" she said pushing him near Derek, who had to stop him from falling to the floor in shock. He wanted to tell her to shut it, but he turned around in time to see her skipping gleefully towards her grandfather. Now he remembered why he never let those two alone without Erica supervising.

"I'm so sorry. It's just my dad has got this weird plan of making me settle down for the sake of the girls and he has been trying to convince me to ask out everyone catches Lydia or Erica's fancy for the past few months and that's seriously becoming very embarrassing. Really, I'm sorry" Stiles tried to excuse his weird family. Those two were gonna get a mouthful once they got home.

"Don't be sorry" Derek said "She actually helped me getting a date out of you"

Ok, he was now starting to wonder if his pills were finally starting to give him those hallucinations he had been warned about years earlier.

"What? A date? With…with me?" he spluttered making the older man snicker.

"I did ask you if you wanted to get coffee"

"Yeah, but I thought. With the kids and everything"

"I never mentioned the kids this morning. You did. But I'll forgive you if you'll meet me tomorrow at eight out of the Clearview" Derek said before picking up a running Isaac and giving back his toy to Jackson "And that was not a question. I'll meet you there. At eight"

"O, okay!" Stiles said, his mouth completely dry "See ya tomorrow. Bye, Isaac. Bye, Jackson" he managed to say before the Hale family exited the diner.

Maybe his dad and Lydia weren't actually going to get a time out this time.

Author's Corner:

Hi, guys,

I just wanted to say thank you to all those who started following or like my story enough to put it into their favourites. It really means a lot to me.

Let me know what you think about this chapter and I'll make sure to update again by the end of the week.

Before letting you go, one last question: are you team waffles or pancakes?

Bye for now,

Lilylovesbones