Summary: Flashbacks of Derek and Sheriff Stilinski meeting the fox and Stiles does something only Stiles can do...

Chapter 3 - Painting the night with sun

Nine years ago, three months after the first anniversary of Claudia's death

Derek didn't know what to do now, Paige was dead by his own hands because the bite from Ennis didn't take. He had thought that giving his girlfriend, and mate, the bite, she'd be able to stay with him forever. His Uncle Peter had given him the idea, but the older man had stressed to the teen that he should ask his mother, the Alpha, to give the girl the bite. But he didn't listen and decided too ask the Alpha of a visiting pack to give Paige the bite.

Unfortunately, Alpha Ennis didn't think to do the kind thing when Derek realized that Paige would be a part of Ennis' pack and not his mother's. The Alpha had attacked and bit Paige before Derek got there and realized that it was too late. He then took his mate to the Nemeton and cried as he broke her neck, mercifully ending her pain. He howled loudly, the pain he was feeling seeped into the howl.

The teenaged werewolf kept on crying, holding the girl's lifeless body, rocking himself back and forth in the throes of grief. However, he then heard hesitant footsteps but realized that these steps were not made by any human, just an animal. He lifted his eyes which flashed a bright blue before seeing a young red fox nearby. The sounds the fox was making sounded sad as it carefully crept closer to the werewolf, as if it wanted to make him feel better.

" No, go away," Derek growled out, flashing his now blue eyes at the kit trying to scare it away. He was surprised when the young fox made a gekkering sound at him, challenging him to make him leave. This surprised Derek so much that he didn't notice that the fox had gotten closer, so close that it had placed a paw on Paige's lifeless arm.

Just as Derek was about to push the fox away, the creature howled mournfully for a moment before making some soft sounds as if it was trying to talk. Suddenly, a soft glow appeared to emanate from the Nemeton and surround them, calming the young werewolf. His eyes widened when he realized that Paige's body seemed to dissolve into many tiny glowing sparks, making area full of twinkling stars.

" It's like painting the night with the sun, or rather hundreds of tiny stars," Derek murmured, awe filling him as the flickering sparks began to move, swirling around him and the fox before dispersing throughout the Nemeton and then the forest…

Present day...

Stiles was still lying on the bed in his fox form and sighed, nuzzling into his tail and Scott's leg. The Beta had fallen asleep on the bed leaving the fox to his thoughts, which could possibly prove detrimental to those around him. He was a prankster before he turned into a fox and now even more so. He whined slightly when he tried to move his leg again, but now he could feel a difference. It wasn't as stiff as it was earlier when the nice smelling Alpha had rescued him.

He remembered when he first met the Alpha when he had gotten his head stuck in his pickle jar. The fox was grateful for the help, but he was still very wary about the strange werewolf. However, he noticed how the man was trying to be nice to him and so he went up to him and sniffed the outstretched hand and licked it. Stiles had never smelled anything so wonderful in his young life and had to give the man a lick, the closest thing to a kiss he could do.

Stiles let out a sigh through his nose and was about to nuzzle into Scott's leg when the door opened, the younger Alpha entering the room. The fox let out a growl when Derek gently shook the Beta awake, motioning for the teen to get up and leave.

"But Derek, it's Stiles! He's my best friend and I haven't been able to talk to him in years," Scott whined as he got up and off the bed, scratching Stiles behind the ears. The fox made a sound that was suspiciously like a purr before playfully biting his friend's hand, causing Scott to jump and yell out. "Hey!" However, he then hung his head and gave off those sad puppy eyes after Stiles made some sounds and yips.

Scott scratched the fox's ears once more before leaving the room dejectedly. Once he was gone, Derek stood away from the bed and tilted his head to one side as he studied the fox on the bed, his gaze lingering on the bandaged hind leg. Making sure that no one was in hearing distance, the young Alpha closed the door and sat on the bed next to the fox, tentatively scratching behind the creature's ears.

"I didn't recognize you at first," Derek began quietly, struggling to find the words to say to the fox. "But I remember you now. You were there after I had killed Paige and… and you made me not feel so guilty about what had happened. I'm sorry that… I'm sorry for glaring at you."

Stiles' ears perked up at that and he yipped at the Alpha and then placed a paw on the other's leg. 'It wasn't your fault, Alpha Derek. I may have only been nine years old then, but I felt a great need to make you feel better.'

Derek was startled to hear a voice in his head as he stared in wonder at the fox. "How… how are you able to speak to me like that?" he asked, not able to stop staring at Stiles.

The fox seemingly shrugged and yawned widely, showing all of his teeth as he did so. 'I think I can only do this to Alphas. Dad's a Beta so he couldn't understand me whenever I had seen him. No wait... Dad's a human Alpha. Maybe he couldn't understand because he's human.'

"Then how was Scott able to understand your fox gibberish? He's a Beta as well." Derek then yelped when the fox snapped at his fingers, biting one digit but not hard enough to draw blood.

'It's not gibberish, Sourwolf!' Stiles then growled at the Alpha as the man had glared at him. 'Scott always had been able to understand me because he is my brother, no matter who our parents are! Do you even think before you speak? By calling my vocalizations as gibberish was really insulting to me.'

Derek still couldn't help but keep staring at the fox, wondering how this Stiles had an excellent grasp on vocabulary since he hadn't been in school for the past decade. The Alpha shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "Sorry," was all he managed to get out, still not able to believe that this was the same fox that helped him with Paige nine years ago. But then… he started to remember other incidents involving said fox and he glared even more at the creature.

"You! You were the one who slashed the tires of my car two years ago!" The Alpha exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowed as he narrowed his eyes. "I come back to Beacon Hills and the first thing that happened was that! At first I thought it was hunters, but that didn't explain the scent I picked up! You are evil, aren't you?"

Stiles didn't dignify that question with his apparent telepathy, just giving Derek a rather toothy fox-grin and made a chuffing sound, seemingly laughing at the whole situation. The werewolf sighed in exasperation and realized that this fox was someone that would bring life into the pack, despite a werefox's penchant for pranks. And apparently this fox also had a gift with magic as well, something that most werewolves don't have.

Nine years ago, a month after Derek and the Nemeton

Sheriff John Stilinski stared at the missing child posters that he had of Stiles, missing his son terribly. It was all his fault as to why Stiles disappeared and he had been hoping that he would be able to beg his son for forgiveness. It had been more than a year since Stiles disappeared and he was actually starting to lose hope of ever seeing the boy again. He will say though that Melissa McCall and her son Scott had been filling the emptiness of his heart and home as soon as he saw the photo of Claudia and Melissa with their sons.

The Sheriff picked up the frame and sighed as he studied each person in the photo. He still missed his late wife but things had been getting better with Melissa around. Also, Scott helped by being the good boy he always was and keeping an eye on the older man. However, that was when he realized that the bag from the local burger restaurant had been torn open. He knew that his cholesterol was not the greatest but there was no one around to make him eat the healthy foods.

Narrowing his eyes, John heard a chuffing sound and followed it to the floor. What he was not expecting to see was a young red fox under his desk, muzzle deep into a bag of curly fries and a wrapped double bacon cheeseburger next to him. He felt his eye twitch because this wild animal had somehow sneaked into the station without anyone noticing and was now eating his rather unhealthy lunch.

"Hey, give that back, you mangy fox!" John cried out as he lunged for his burger. Unfortunately for him, the fox growled at him and then took the burger in his mouth and darted out from under the desk. It stopped at the office entrance and the Sheriff could have sworn that the creature was judging him somehow. It then turned around, it's tail sticking up straight and the hind-legs scratching on the linoleum flooring, making horrendous sounds. It was like the fox was challenging the Sheriff to come and get him.

A little over an hour later, the entirety of the Beacon Hills Sheriff's department had tried to catch that little red fox and have it taken back to the woods. However, the creature managed to evade everyone and caused some of the older deputies and the Sheriff himself to be out of breath and totally exhausted. Finally, the fox escaped when someone had entered the building and it ran out the open door.

"This would have been the exact thing Stiles would have done," one of the deputies remarked, making everyone smile for once when the boy's name was mentioned.

John let out a small chuckle and for the first time in a year, a real smile broke out on his face. "Yeah, Stiles would have done this and loved it all the same.

Present day…

Sheriff John Stilinski drove his police cruiser into the long driveway that led up to the Hale House, and saw the blue Jeep that Scott drove. It used to belong to his late wife Claudia and was planning on giving it to Stiles when the boy became sixteen. However, it was decided to give it to his stepson, Scott. He loved that boy almost as much as he did Stiles and was glad that he and Melissa got married seven years ago.

The Sheriff parked next to the Jeep and saw Peter Hale standing on the wide porch waiting for him. He was curious why the older Alpha werewolf was there, but then again Derek was the one who had called him to come to the house as soon as possible. It made him wonder if there was something wrong, something going on with the pack. He wouldn't doubt that since Scott was bit by a rogue Alpha werewolf during the teen's sophomore year. However, before he could ask what was going on, Peter opened his mouth.

"We found Stiles."

John couldn't move as soon as those three words left the werewolf's mouth. As much as he had hoped that he would see his son after all these years, it was still nearly impossible to believe. So after a couple of minutes, the older man shook himself from his thoughts and quickly went up the steps to the front door, Peter right behind him.

The Alpha tried to get the human Alpha to stop and listen to him, but he knew that the man wanted to see his only blood, the son he had missed for so long. Peter understood that so he directed the man up to the second floor and to the guestroom Stiles was in. However, he had to stop John from bursting into the room.

"Before you go in there, John, there are a few things you have to know. The only reason I found him was that he was caught in a hunter's trap. Otherwise, Stiles would more than likely still be out there in the Preserve."

"What do you mean by that, Peter? Is he okay? How could he get into a hunter's trap in the first place? He's human." The Sheriff was completely confused by that since the last time he saw his son was when the boy was just a small child.

The Alpha werewolf sighed and went to open the door. He heard Derek talking to the fox and laughed when he heard his nephew exclaim loudly about the tires on his car. When he knocked and then opened the door, Peter saw the look of shock on John's face and the eyes widening on the fox's face. Somehow, there was instant recognition between the two and the Sheriff headed straight to the bed, Derek quickly getting out of the way.

"Oh my god, my dear boy," John said, emotions lacing his tone as he sat on the bed and gently picked the fox up. He was mindful of the injured leg when he saw the bandages. "All this time… I didn't know you were that damned fox. I missed you so much, son…"

At that, Stiles started to whimper and whine, trying to tell his father how much he had missed the man as well. He remembered what Deaton had said that he should wait until he was fully healed before transforming back into a human. But Stiles being who he was…

The fox yowled loudly as he pushed away from his father, a translucent glow surrounding his body. The people in the room stared as they watched the creature's limbs lengthen and the fur melting away. The crunch of bone was painful to hear when the injured leg was forced to heal quickly in order to accommodate the body shifting into human. The cries of pain were so loud that it caused the rest of the pack to rush up to the room, crowding around the open doorway.

To Stiles, it seemed like an eternity as he transformed back into a human form when in reality it only took seconds. It was the pain of forcing the shift in his injured state that caused it to come out. Before long, lanky pale limbs reached out and grabbed John in a tight embrace, his whiskey colored eyes shining bright with unshed tears. When he finally spoke, his voice was husky and deep because of years of not being used.

"I'm so sorry, Dad… I'm so sorry."