Welcome back dear readers. Thanks to the reviews so far! You guys are all sweethearts and if I could hug you all I would. Now then, let's go peek in on our poor victim-I mean bunny.

This chapter is pretty Stiles-centric hence the chapter title. So much internal trauma for that poor little bunny.

Which reminds me, again, startling lack of a mention of ears and tails. Apologies. I'm so used to not having to describe them every chapter in The Wolf and The Rabbit that I kinda drop them all together in some chapters and side fics. But for reference, Ennis is a wolf. His ears are kinda torn so he's a bit rougher looking and, going by what color his hair used to be, they're, along with his tail which is also kinda beat up looking, a light brownish color. If that's wrong someone please tell me so I can appropriately correct it. Everyone knows Derek's a wolf and Stiles is a bunny. The Sheriff is a bear, the entirety of the Beacon Hills pack (as far as the wolves go) all have wolf/dog(in the case of Scott who I'm officially placing as a German Shepard, Boyd who's a crossbred Rottweiler/Akita, Erica who's an Akita, Jackson who's an American Sheppard [think Bolt] and Isaac who's a Lab puppy. No he's not actually a puppy but his ears flop over and his tail is shorter. I'll officially be adding their breeds to the main fic at some point I just felt that because none of them are actual wolves, dog breeds would work.)ears, Lydia is a Mountain Lion, Allison is a cheetah, BAMF Argent is a Lion, Mama McCall is a cat and the other natural born wolves are as would be known. Any wolf bitten has to be some breed of dog.

Now that that's out of the way, back to the chapter.

Chapter 3: Contemplation

Stiles woke with a start. He couldn't even remember falling asleep. Though his hearing wasn't as advanced as Derek's or Ennis', he could tell the house was silent. He climbed the crib rails, successfully managing to get out this time without a sound although nearly spraining his ankle as he landed on the floor. He quietly looked around for his clothes or a pair in the closet that wouldn't look absolutely weird as he walked home. He was not staying here tonight. Not after what had happened earlier.

He shook his head, quickly blocking the memory before it could plant its roots again. He found his clothes folded up in a drawer and quickly took off the blue Perry the Platypus sleepers, tossing them and the diaper in a pile on the floor. After getting dressed he reached in the crib for his pillow, hand brushing against the wolf plush next to it. He looked at it for a second and against his better judgement he grabbed it as well and tipped out into the hallway.

As he figured it was late and once he got downstairs he realized it was after one in the morning and while he shouldn't be walking home he had no choice since he hadn't driven his Jeep over. He looked around the kitchen before finding what he was looking for, a pen and a scrap of paper, and started writing on it. He left it on the table and left, heading home. It was a bit cool out as it was mid October, where the days were still warm enough to not need a jacket. He shivered a little and held his pillow close as he walked.

When he got home he grabbed the spare key from under the mat and headed inside. His dad was still at work so he warmed his hands up under some hot water before making a cup of tea. He took it and his pillow and the wolf plush up to his room, changing into some flannel pajama pants and a blue T-shirt. He sipped his tea, trying to sort out the mess he had gotten himself into. Maybe he could talk Derek out of this, convince him to get Jackson or Isaac to be their baby. Everyone knew they were the two that needed that kind of re-parenting the most.

He did have to admit, it was nice not having to worry about anything supernatural for the few hours he was there though. It was way better than sitting in an empty house to his own devices for boundless amounts of time. At least there he was paid attention to. Derek wasn't slamming him angrily against walls and lockers and steering wheels and Ennis wasn't snapping at him in a rage and he hadn't seen sign of Peter all day so that was even better. But he couldn't get over what had happened earlier. That was unpleasant. And highly humiliating at that. He shook his head again, finishing up his tea as he ran his fingers over the soft, fuzzy fur of the wolf plushie.

It was a shiny slate grey color and made of velveteen, fluffy fleece and thermal fabrics. He smiled at it, it reminded him of Derek with its big blue eyes. He hugged it, feeling a bit conflicted as he weighed his options. Stay alone all day indefinitely or go back and be Derek and Ennis' baby. Part of him was screaming to go back, the part of him that was screaming for that comfort and attention and love, the part that missed his mom and his dad being home to play with him. The part that desperately wanted to lay snuggled safely in Ennis' arms and contently drink from a bottle. The other part, the rational, non fantasizing part of his brain that he was adamant on listening to was telling him to forget it. This was his place in this fucked up pack of theirs. On the fringe where a normal human would be. Stay isolated, stay by yourself. Stay lonely. You'll only get in the way otherwise.

He sighed, hugging the plush tightly as he pulled up the blankets, cocooning himself in the thick comforter as he drifted off to sleep.

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Derek slowly woke up and shut off his alarm. It was a little after seven thirty and he yawned as he got out of bed and headed to check on Stiles, leaving Ennis to sleep.

"ENNIS!" He yelled, waking his mate. Ennis quickly jumped up out of bed and raced down the hall to the nursery.

"What's wrong?!" He asked.

"Stiles is gone!" Derek said, panicking. Ennis sat him down and rubbed his back.

"Derek, breathe. He probably woke up hours ago and headed home. I'll go look for a note or something." He said softly, trying to soothe his shaken mate. He headed down to the kitchen and found the note Stiles had left earlier that morning. "'I'm invoking the safeword Wolfsbane. I'm at home, and no I don't want to talk about this. Stiles.'" He read from the paper. He sighed and went upstairs to tell Derek.

"Do you think we pushed him too hard?" Derek asked. "That was probably a little much to make him do that."

"He'll be fine Derek, relax. It probably was a bit much but he'll be fine. He just needs some time to think about it. He's just not ready right now." He said. "Come on, how about some breakfast? I'll make your favorite pancakes." Derek perked up a little at that and followed Ennis to the kitchen. He was still going to check in on Stiles afterwards but he would give him some space for a while. He didn't want to push him into this after all.

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Stiles rolled over as he woke up, squinting against the light filtering in through the window. His sleep was fitful, he was either too cold or too warm, couldn't get comfortable. Even with his pillow he couldn't sleep and that was bothering him. How was he able to fall asleep so easily in that crib but not in his own bed? It was nice and plush, the mobile was adorable, and the room was soothing with the paint job. He actually missed the little wolves chasing each other around the blue walls and his room felt a bit empty without them. True he had only spent a day and a half in the room but he had grown attached to it. He even missed the blocks and his Tonka truck.

He sighed and rolled back over, absentmindedly stroking the ears on the plush as he thought again. Would Derek and Ennis even want him back after he just up and left? Sure he left a note but he did say he didn't want to talk about it. At this point he wasn't sure what he wanted. He felt so confused. Torn between a deep rooted need for attention and to feel useful and keeping his pride intact even at the cost of social isolation. One thing was for sure though, whatever decision he eventually came up with would change his life either for better or for worse. The question was, which decision should he make?

I know, I know. I'm a terrible evil person for leaving with a cliffhanger. Apparently they're all the rage in writing lately. Anyway, mostly Stiles-centric chapter that I think captured his internal drama nicely. The power of good reviews prevails when it comes to me writing out chapters, I work on happiness~ So a big thank you to everyone who reviewed this, you guys power my batteries so I can write stuff like this.