"No, no no no...don't stall on me. No. I refuse to acknowledge this, baby," Stiles kept tapping his hands on the side of the jeep's steering wheel, letting out an irritated whine as he tried to hit the gas. The jeep came to a stop, and the check engine light came on. "I've got school. We are literally twenty feet from my school. Why. Why do you hate me so much right now."

He tried switching the car on and off, and he could hear the engine rear into action again. With a frown, he turned the car around in a nearby driveway and then started off to the car shop. He'd have to get a ride from Tyler, the Beacon Hills High graduate who worked there, back to school and hitch a ride from someone else after the day was done. When he pulled in, he noticed a familiar vehicle sitting in the parking lot.

"Not them..." He groaned loudly, parking in front of the work space lift. Stepping out, he nodded in acknowledgement to Larry. "Hey Larry. Yeah, did the thing again." The technician motioned for him to go to the waiting room.

"Just give me a few minutes, Stiles," He said as he waved him off, and Stiles accepted his orders as he headed to the building. This wasn't an unfamiliar circumstance - his jeep had issues. Walking into the small waiting room, he looked around and spotted a familiar item. Right there, the baby carrier. And in it, familiar feet sticking out the exposed side.

"Awww..." He looked over his shoulder, trying to figure out who was with her. He didn't see anyone in the room, so he ambled over to a seat where he could look at her, but not close enough to touch her. He was surprised to find her wide awake and smiling.

"Eh...hey. Hey baby." He said quietly, waving at her. She giggled and kicked her feet, then tried getting her buckle off as she looked at Stiles, expecting him to play with her. "No...no, don't get any ideas. I'm not here to watch you. I mean, I don't think I'm supposed to be talking to you either. Just act like I'm not here, okay, little girl?"

Stiles looked away, finding the baby's lost expression bothersome. After a few minutes of him staring at the clock, he heard a loud, "AH." His eyes darted back to the carrier, and he found the baby staring at him again, this time looking upset.

"...no, no, don't get me wrong. It's not you. It's me. Your father doesn't like me. Don't cry," He attempted coaxing her from afar, motioning for her to lower her tone. Luna's lower lip jutted out, quivering slightly as she stared at Stiles. The boy felt his heart breaking as he watched her, cursing under his breath. "I really, I'd like to give you a big hug. I wish. But it's not going to work out."

That was it. Something about Stiles' tone of discouragement set the baby off. She started shaking and let out a pitiful whimper, green eyes watering.

"No, no don't. Oh god." With a quick jump to his feet, he rushed over to the crying baby. On queue, she reached her tiny chubby arms out to him, still trapped in the carrier. Stiles unbuckled it and lifted her out like she was a bomb, not sure how to hold this thing. How did people make it look so easy? "I...okay, you're free. You're a free baby. Don't cry?"

She looked at him, then looked at the distance between them. A tiny giggle erupted from her lips.

"Oh, you think it's funny I don't know how to hold a baby?" He said with a smile, then slowly brought her in closer, and tried supporting her padded bottom. "That better?" He looked at her, both hands supporting her. She looked up at him and then started feeling his chin, which made his heart melt. Oh, this baby was a manipulative mastermind.

"You're adorable. Look at those crazy dark curls. It's amazing you can see, you little heartbreaker you." He sat down in his chair, putting her upright on his lap. "So what should we do? Can you talk yet? Say 'ball'. Buh. Buh." He pronounced the beginning of the word, which just made her laugh. "No, that's not it, but cute. You goofball." She leaned forwards and rested her head on his chest, and he pet her messy locks with his hand. "Awww, someone's tired." She grunted at the comment, which Stiles grinned at. She was only what, less than two years old and knew she didn't want to nap. For some reason he was reminded of himself, which made him think of his mom. He didn't remember much about his childhood, and when he did, it came back in pieces. It was probably him forgetting the more painful parts to save himself the constant ache of remembering what went bad.

"Just take a small nap, okay? I'm here. I'll rub your back as you fall asleep." He said quietly, starting to rub her back as she put her forehead against his chest, rubbing her face on his shirt. With one thumb in her mouth, she started to doze off. The door opened and Stiles looked up, and it only occurred to him in the moment of how awkward it was to be holding a baby of someone who said they wanted to kill him a week and a half before.

"Um...so this is awkward." Stiles said, still rubbing Luna's back. "...I guess you want your baby back. But in my defense, you just abandoned her."

If looks could kill, Stiles was pretty sure he would've died then. Derek walked over to where Stiles was sitting, staring at his daughter, then looked back up at Stiles. Stiles slowly lifted the sleeping baby off of him and made the trade off. The other grabbed the carrier and started for the door, carrying Luna in one arm. He stopped, and turned to look over his shoulder.

"You shouldn't go into school today." He opened the door by pressing it open, then slipped out.

Stiles sat there, completely confused. At first, he furrowed his eyebrows together and then left his mouth ajar. "Is he some sort of doomsday prophet? Does he get off on that crap? Well fuck him. I'm going to school." He stood up with his backpack, then walked out to talk with Larry. Larry motioned to Tyler, who was sitting out in his blue junker. He climbed in the passenger seat, and then sat there a moment before he turned to Tyler and pointed to the beat up pick up truck. "What do you know about that guy?"

"Derek Hale? His family's pretty influential. Don't think anyone talks much about it, they keep to themselves. He was a senior when I was a sophomore at Beacon Hills High," He started off down the road. "Heard his wife Paige died last February, something about it put Derek Hale under investigation for awhile. Grandmother got custody of the baby and everything. But I haven't seen anyone with that baby more than Derek. Loves his kid. Why?"

"I don't know, I just wondered. I've talked to him a few times, trying to get a feel for who he is. It's kind of amazing I haven't heard more about their family, my dad's the sheriff," Stiles said as he watched the view of the work shop disappear into the rear view mirror.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, but...you don't want to get involved with the Hales." The blond boy gave Stiles a warning look, and then turned to look back at the road. "They're influential. And pretty...weird. Things happen in Beacon Hills that probably shouldn't, and most of them are connected to the Hale family. There's a ton of rumors going around town about them but all you need to know is you don't want to get involved. It's safer that way. Your dad probably knows that and that's why he's not telling you when they're involved in cases. They have enough money to pay people to keep things quiet. Old family money."

"...really?" Stiles couldn't help but be curious, and he leaned on the window. "I did hear this rumor they're cannibals."

"Well," Tyler said, shrugging. Stiles whipped his head in Tyler's direction, shocked.

"No. Really?" He asked, and the other shrugged.

"Possibly. Not saying for sure but let's just say the Hale's are involved in a lot of dead body cases. And not all those dead bodies are complete when they find them."

"How do you know this, man? You're barely older than I am. What's your connection?" Stiles gave Tyler a suspicious look. "I swear, if you are pulling my leg on this Tyler, I'm going to get back at you for it. I swear."

"I'm not shitting you, I know because Larry tells me, and Larry's a family friend of the Hales. He's got a real issue with keeping things on the down low and he's always talking to me about it because I'm the only guy around in the shop most of the time. I'm actually shocked with how shady the Hales are that Larry's not seen as expendable, but I don't know."

"You're acting like they're some sort of mafia of Beacon Hills," Stiles commented idly, leaning back in his seat.

"...well, they kinda are, Stiles. Think about it, you never hear things about them, they're connected to all these strange things that are never published in the news, and people disappear and they trace it back to Hales and no one does anything? It sounds like a mafia situation to me. Just don't tell anyone I told you, okay?" He started to look nervous as he pulled into the circle drive at the high school.

"I won't, oh god I won't. Trust me. I'm not going to tell anyone about this." He got out of the car, giving the other a nod. "See you Tyler. Thanks for the ride."

"Welcome Stilinski. Remember, loose lips sink ships," He grinned and sped off, leaving Stiles staring off towards Beacon Hills High.

Stiles stared at the entry sign for the high school, thinking about what he was just told.

"Wonder what my dad knows."