Stiles and the girls move in right after New Year's Eve: Derek explained the plan to the boys, who eagerly helped drawing and putting up the banner Lydia had suggested, whilst the little girl and her sister had to lure their father to the Hale house for Christmas dinner. Derek told them to be there exactly two hours before everyone else with the excuse of helping out setting up the tables and cleaning up the mess the boys had left after the unpacking of the presents. Stiles obliged, mostly because he knew exactly how much chaos could come out as a result of too many presents on the same day: he had had to ask Melissa for help, after an awkward encounter in the kitchen on Christmas morning whilst trying to slip out of the house without being seen. She stayed for breakfast and the girls couldn't stop smiling at their grandfather, dropping a well-placed finally here and there.

The three Hale boys stood under their masterpiece and waited until Lydia and Erica joined them after having rushed off from the car.

"You know it's not nice entering someone else's place without entering?" Stiles entered the living room without looking up, his eyes too busy trying to catch any more sign of snow on his jacket.

"Well, if you say yes they won't have to knock anymore" was all Derek could say, his arms surrounding the four kids with an hopeful smile on his face.

Will you move in? was all the banner said. And it only took a brief nod coming from Stiles for the children to erupt in a noisy, excited chatter while their fathers exchanged kisses under the mistletoe Isaac had insisted on hanging that year. The families get there right on time for dinner and congratulate them, no one of them pointing out that it might be too soon because, seriously, they do deserve some happiness and it couldn't possibly be worse than anything either of them has been through.

Except it can.

It's a slow Saturday morning, the kids are still asleep after having spent the previous night with Laura's kids playing tag for hours, so Derek and Stiles lay in bed planning the next two days, thinking about how great it would be for them to go somewhere sunny during the brief spring break the kids are going to have: the sheriff bought a small cottage near the sea when he married Stiles' mom, somewhere calm and peaceful where their family could spend some time away from the routine in Beacon Hill. It sounds like a good idea, maybe he could take some days off and Stiles is going to be out off work anyway, it's actually the only good thing that comes with being a teacher, that the vacations are always on the same time with the kids'.

It takes twenty minutes for Stiles to convince Derek to let him out of the bed: the children are going to be up soon and he knows his daughters enough to know that they will demand food as soon as they realize they are awake. And time also taught him that Jackson and Isaac are going to be dragged into complaining, weather because his girls posses some sort of magical power that makes them capable of convincing anyone of them being right or simply because the boys have realized how weak he is in front of some good performed pout.

He's nearly halfway to the kitchen when the doorbell rings and he unwillingly changes path to open the door. He doesn't understand how could there be anyone so cruel to want to wake up a perfect stranger on Saturday morning. Ok, he was awake the doorbell rang, but the sound had probably woken up the kids, meaning Hell was going to break loose sooner than later. Just great.

"Hello, no, we're not interested in buying anything" he opened up the door to a slightly older woman, short cut blonde hair, looking more like a model than a door-to-door seller, but her looks didn't stop him from slamming the door into her face to head back to the kitchen, ready to fix up breakfast for the army that was his family.

He could feel Isaac and Erica rushing down the stairs, meaning Lydia and Jackson must've already slipped right behind him to tackle him. Oh, the glory of morning 's routine.

"Morning daddy" Lydia sat on her now-usual seat trying to fill her glass with orange juice without spilling it on the table with Jackson helping her by holding the bottom of the jug.

"Morning, you all. Now what would you like for breakfast?" he asked seeing Derek joining them into the kitchen.

"Why does it sound like someone is trying to burst our door open with the bell?" the man asked scooping up a running Erica and going to the entrance door to open it.

"Hello, Derek"

"Kate" he breathed, though it mostly sounded like a whine if anyone ever asked her.

"Who is she, Dada?" the little girl had started calling him that soon after he asked his permission to move in with their dad: she never truly had a mother figure, only her dad, meaning she got easily attached to whoever she approved of. And Derek had soon gotten her approval.

"No one, kiddo. Go back to the kitchen and I'll be back in a minute, ok?" he whispered into her ear before putting her back to the ground and watching her skip to the other room.

"Dada? Really, Derek, it didn't take you that long to marry again" Kate smirked to her former husband. He caught her arm and followed outside, moving as far as possible from the kitchen window where the rest of the family could see them.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he had to keep his temper down to avoid bursting out screaming.

"Came to see my sons, isn't it obvious?" she said sitting down on the bench in front of the house.

"You have no right to see them. The judge took that right away from you" he said forcing her to her feet, pushing her towards her car. "Get out of here, you are not wanted"

"It's not up to you. Let Jack and Isaac decide" she said, her hand moving towards Derek's cheek to caress it "Come on, what your wife doesn't know won't hurt her"

"Won't hurt me, indeed" Stiles. Stiles was right there, his hands trying to find warmth in his pockets and the scarf his mom had knitted for him that Christmas trying to prevent him from getting pneumonia "Isaac wants you to cut his toast. Apparently my smiley face is not up to his standards"

"Who the hell are you?" Kate asked confused, her eyes moving from Stiles to Derek.

"Stiles meet Kate, my ex-wife. Kate meet Stiles, my…" ok, he never truly had to define their relationship in front of others simply because they had been Stiles&Derek since the beginning.

"Boyfriend, partner, companion. Whatever you want to call us, I'm still Stiles and I'm still freezing, so if you don't mind, we got kids to feed and it really isn't in my top ten to die disemboweled by four kids under the age of ten"

Stiles turned to look at Derek, a simple gesture of the head telling him to drop her arm and come to him. Derek let go of Kate, sliding his hand into Stiles' and pulling him towards the house.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what she's doing here" he said once they had closed the entrance door and he leaned into it as if trying to get strength from it.

"It's going to be ok. We're going to have breakfast with the kids and then we're going to drop them off at my dad's where we are going to ask him if there's any way for keeping Kate away from the boys" he said, his voice low not to be heard by the kids, but firm as Derek had never heard him.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's back for a reason and I have no intention to have Jackson meet her again. That boy has been through too much"

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Derek asked pulling Stiles down for a kiss.

"You might have mentioned it, once or twice. Breakfast now" he grinned breathlessly.