"Where are you off to?" Derek asked with a slightly raised brow as he finished cleaning the dishes in the sink, setting them into the strainer next to it. He glanced over to where his older sister and roommate, Laura, was tugging on her favored leather jacket.
Laura smirked as she tugged the strands of her hair out from under the collar of her jacket. She spoke as she quickly tied the length of her hair into a braid that hung over her right shoulder, tying it in place with a rubber band. "Dinner with Lydia's family," she answered. Once her hair was finished, she crossed her arms over her chest and studied her two years younger brother for a moment. "You should come with me."
Derek laughed awkwardly with a shake of his head as he crossed the room to the fridge to grab himself a beer. Spending his Sunday night with his sister's girlfriend's family did not exactly seem like a good time to him. "Nah, I think I'll stay here." Derek leaned against the kitchen island as he opened the beer bottle, setting aside the cap before taking a sip. "Have fun, though."
"They're going to have that pie you loved so much from Christmas last year."
Laura smirked again, and it made Derek's eyes narrow slightly as he studied his sister. After a moment, he pointed the top of his beer bottle at her as he said, "No." Then, he pushed himself upright and started to walk toward the connected living room. "You're up to something again, and the answer is no."
The eldest of the two siblings groaned as she walked over to grab her purse off the small table located just around the corner of the entrance hall. "There's just someone that I really think you should meet, Derek. You'd like him. He's funny, and-"
"Laura, the last time I let you set me up, she turned out to be a stalker." Derek arched a brow slightly and grabbed a notebook off of the coffee table where he set his beer down. "I'd rather not go there again."
"Jennifer was a mistake; but, I didn't know her like I know this guy. He'd really be good for you, Der." Laura seemed to be pouting a little, but the way that she watched Derek put all of his focus on whatever he was writing down made her eventually sigh and give up. For the time being, anyway. "This isn't New York, Derek. It's Beacon Hills. You need to get out of this apartment and meet people again." Without another word, Laura turned and left the apartment, locking the door behind her.
Derek sighed heavily, tossing his notebook onto the coffee table before tilting his head back and pinching the bridge of his nose between two of his fingers. He loved his sister; but, sometimes she could be a bit much. He was thankful that she had agreed to share the apartment with him until he could save up for a better place on his own. It was nice being back in his hometown, however, and nicer still to actually know someone. He was sure that his mother was glad that he and Laura no longer lived so far away.
"Szcęsny, are the potatoes done yet?" questioned Melissa Stilinski as she came into the kitchen of Authenticity, tying an apron around her waist as she went.
Stiles pulled a face at her, hip checking her with a nod to the boiling pot while he continued to work on finishing the salad. "Mama, must you call me that?" he asked with a slight groan to his voice, narrowing his eyes when Melissa simply smirked in response.
"Ah, mijo, it's part of my job." Melissa grinned as she put her focus back onto the potatoes, draining the water in the pot so that she could mash them and add the seasonings that she deemed appropriate.
Stiles was the real cook of the family, but every Sunday, when they closed down the restaurant for their weekly family dinner she or someone else would be in there helping him. It was one of the ways that he found new dishes to add to their ever growing menu. That Sunday they were having a simple baked chicken dinner with a lot of potatoes, vegetables, and salad. There was raspberry lemonade for those that wanted it, and wines for the adults. "Can I have the special juice?" they heard Karolina ask someone out in the dining room, making both Melissa and Stiles chuckle.
Moments later, Erica came waltzing into the room with one of the wine goblets in order to get some sparkling grape juice for Karolina. "Kaja wants to feel adult tonight," she stated as she swept her blonde hair over her shoulder and poured the juice. "Aren't you two finished yet?"
"Lydia's not even here yet, Rica," chuckled Stiles with a shake of his head as he checked on the chicken once again.
"Test," Melissa demanded of Erica, holding a spoonful of the potatoes out for the other woman to try as she walked past.
Erica ate the offered spoonful, and seemed to think about it as she pushed her way out through the swinging kitchen door. "A dash more salt and we've got a winner!" Erica called back over her shoulder for Melissa to hear.
By the time the blonde got back to the dining room with Karolina's juice, Lydia and Laura came in, their fingers linked between them as they talked quietly amongst themselves. The moment they walked in, everyone called greetings toward the couple and Laura let go of Lydia's hand so that the redhead could pick up Karolina when the little one came rushing over to her for a hug. "Auntie Lydia!" Karolina said with a bright smile, giggling when Lydia complimented her on her dress. She then was passed off to Laura for a hug, and began asking Laura all about working with her grandpa on the police force. Laura was one of John's favorite deputies.
"Well, just yesterday..." Laura started telling a new story to Karolina as the two of them sat down at the table, Karolina wiggling in her seat excitedly as the deputy spoke.
"Dinner's ready!" Stiles said with a smile of his own as he and Melissa came into the room with a few serving dishes to add to the middle of the table. Melissa beamed a smile when John kissed her cheek before the sheriff went to help the two carry in the rest of the serving dishes.
All talking overlapped and mingled together as the large make-shift family sat around the tables that were all pushed together in the middle of the room. Stiles could not keep from smiling smally as he took a drink of his wine, glancing over everyone's smiling, happy faces. "I tried to get that brother of mine to join us," Laura told John as she handed the plate of rolls to the man. "He declined, again."
"Maybe next time Derek will join us," replied John with a slight nod, passing on the plate to Melissa, who sat on his other side. "It would be nice to see that kid again."
"Ah, you know him. Anti-social as ever." Laura chuckled a little, while Lydia rolled her eyes and mumbled something about him needing to get out more.
"Derek?" questioned Karolina as she took the buttered roll that Stiles offered to her, tilting her head to the side slightly before wiggling away when Stiles tried to wipe some gravy off her chin. "Daddy," she said with a giggle, ducking away when he tickled her.
"Your teacher, Derek... Mr. Hale is Laura's brother," Lydia explained to Karolina, whose jaw dropped a little at the information, "and my best friend."
Karolina then tugged on Stiles' shirt sleeve in order to make him turn to her instead of continuing to listen to Allison talk about the drapes that she had picked out for the house she and Jackson were finally moving into soon. "Daddy, did you know that?" Karolina asked in awe. She liked her teacher a lot and was surprised that people she had known her whole life knew the man she had only met recently.
"Hmm? Know what?" replied Stiles, his brow furrowing as he looked from his daughter to Laura and Lydia.
"Derek's my brother," Laura answered with a slight chuckle and a smile.
Stiles' eyes widened slightly in surprise at the information. Somehow, he had never quite put two and two together. He knew Laura was a Hale; but, he had not really thought about how all the Hales in Beacon Hills were related (unlike some families like Smith and Jones). "Br- Right, no. I should have figured that out. That's cool. You should definitely get him to join us sometime. We've always got room for one more, and he's easily become Kaja's favorite teacher ever."
Karolina nodded rapidly with a bright grin before she launched into a story about everything that Mr. Hale had said they would be doing that year, and how when they had to take turns reading out loud Mr. Hale would even read some too. By the end of dinner, everyone had gotten to hear all about Karolina's favorite part of the fourth grade was so far; her teacher because he was amazing.
After dessert was served, and Karolina was sent to finish working on her homework at one of the empty tables in the room while the adults were picking up, Melissa seemed to remember something as she stopped and said, "Oh!" Everyone turned their attention to her then, waiting to see what it was that she had to say as she put her focus on Allison. "What was the news, sweetheart?"
Jackson started smiling widely then, reaching over to take Allison's hand as they shared one of those loving looks that always made Stiles roll his eyes and grumble about them being a Halmark card, something that had happened starting in high school. That day was no exception. "Well, everyone knows that Allison and I are moving into our house soon," Jackson said, smiling over at Allison again.
"Are you going to tell us the news or let us die of old age?" questioned Chris, Allison's father with a chuckle as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Allison rolled her eyes fondly at her father with a slight shake of her head and a smile. "Daddy," she said as she tucked her hair behind an ear. "It looks like we've got amazing timing with moving because... I'm pregnant!"
The eruption of noise in the room was enough to make Karolina look up from her school work as everyone rushed to Allison to congratulate her and Jackson, giving hugs to both of them. Chris pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead, making her and Jackson promise he'd be one of the first options for babysitting duties. Erica and Lydia both volunteered to help with the nursery while Isaac and Boyd gave simple yet heartfelt congratulations. John and Stiles each hugged the couple tightly; and, when Karolina figured out what was going on, she pressed her ear to Allison's stomach and said, "I don't hear a baby in there."
Everyone chuckled at her words while Allison toyed with the blonde girl's hair idly as she knelt down and said, "The baby's still too little to hear; but, when it's bigger, I'll let you listen."
Karolina beamed up at Allison and thanked her with a hug before falling into a million questions about babies that resulted in Jackson leading her back over to Stiles and saying, "I think we should leave the rest of these questions for you, Dad."
Stiles groaned and ran a hand through his hair, shoving at Jackson's shoulder with a smile and a laugh. "Soon it'll be your turn, Dad," countered Stiles with a smirk before he smiled at his daughter. "Wanna go get your coat and backpack so we can head home, Kaja?"
"Okay, Daddy!" she replied, smiling before she practically skipped off to go get her things.
All-in-all, Stiles decided it had been a great evening when he finally locked up the restaurant after everyone had left to head to their respective homes and he took his daughter's hand in his own so that they could walk the few blocks down the street to their apartment.
"Whatcha working on?" Laura asked Derek as she walked into their apartment and tugged off her jacket. She rolled her eyes with a fond smile when she received a mumbled response from Derek. Then, she made her way over to the couch and sat down next to him, resting her head on the back of the couch as she turned her attention onto her brother. "So, Stiles says that you really should join us next week."
Laura smirked when Derek's pen jerked across the page enough to leave a long black line and his gaze lifted to where his sister was. "What?" Derek replied, his brow furrowing a little as Laura's grin grew.
She nodded as she stretched over-exaggeratedly, attempting to get more comfortable where she sat. "Mmhmm. Got to hear all about how you are such an amazing teacher from Karolina, and Stiles says there's definitely room for his little girl's favorite teacher on Sunday night." Laura could not keep from laughing when Derek continued to look at her as if she had grown a second head. She then reached up to ruffle Derek's hair despite his protests. "If I had known the cute parent you talked about the other day was Stiles I would have made you show up."
"Wh-? Who said it's Stiles?" Derek finally found his voice as he set aside his notebook and crossed his arms over his chest, while Laura simply stood up and smirked once again.
"Why, you did baby brother, when you reacted like you did when I said that Stiles wanted you to be at dinner." Laura reached out to pat the side of Derek's face twice before she then walked to the back of the apartment where her bedroom was. Maybe, just maybe, she thought as she got ready to take a shower, she would no longer have to play match-maker for her brother.
Stiles reclined next to his daughter in her bed, his arm around her as he held the book with both hands so that they could both read the words as he spoke them. Karolina smiled sleepily as she snuggled into her father's side, trying her best to keep her eyes open even as Stiles stopped reading to press a kiss to the top of your head. "It's time for sleep, Princess," Stiles said quietly. Karolina gave a muffled sort of protest, which only made Stiles chuckle a little as he marked the page in their book. He then carefully moved his arm from around his daughter, standing up to cover her up with a soft promise of her turn to read the next night. "Sleep well, baby."
Once he was sure that Karolina wasn't going to wake back up, Stiles turned off her bedside light and then made his way to the hall. He closed the door behind him, leaving it open a crack, and went into the living room. Stiles sighed heavily as he dropped down to sit on the couch. He had no idea what to do with himself once Karolina was asleep. He did not really watch television, and he had read all the books in the apartment. He was caught up on all the cleaning. It was in those few hours of quiet alone time that Stiles realized just how alone he really was. He was typically too busy for it to bother him, but that night, it was a twinge he could not get rid of.
Stiles worried at his lower lip as he sat there, picking at his nails for several long moments before he forced himself to get up and take a shower if only to have something to do while anxiously waiting for morning.