Chapter 4- Things Are About to Change.

By summer's end Stiles had saved every penny he could while working two and occasionally three odd jobs. Thankfully the peace on the supernatural front was only disturbed a few times so he wasn't stretched too painfully thin.

Malia was six months along and completely miserable. She wanted nothing to do with him or the pack and instead spent her time in solitude either at the loft or in the preserves. She did keep her cell phone on and always answered when he called. That was the one thing he asked of her and she was at least willing to follow through with that if it meant they were off her back.

According to Melissa who'd done an ultrasound on Malia at Deaton's the baby was in fact a little boy. Stiles was elated. He had combed through numerous baby name books on his lunch breaks. He'd tried discussing it with Malia but she said that he should choose the name.

He'd switched his enrollment over to the community college and Scott, true to his word, had done the same. They'd had a week of good byes as they watched Lydia head out in her car to the Berkley campus and Kira head out on the bus to Washington. It was bittersweet, the only thing that made it okay was that Stiles knew it was temporary.

Things with Lydia had been a little more stilted even more so than when he and Malia had been together. After her exit though, she seemed to reach out to him more. They were constantly texting, emailing, Facebooking and even Skyping. Some of the texts seemed to be even more flirtatious and playful than ever. It gave Stiles hope.

And he desperately needed hope as he sat on Amazon reading the reviews of cribs and high chairs and car seats trying to get the safest ones. There were piles of books haphazardly piled next to his computer. Some were about Werewolves and some about babies… it was strange, but it was his life.

He and his father had decided to remodel the guest bedroom next to Stiles's room and turn it into a nursery. Stiles had spent his last day off before starting classes painting it a deep forest green. Boxes sat in the center that the UPS man had dropped off that still needed to be assembled.

"Stiles?" Scott called from the front door.

"Up here." He'd yelled back as he hammered the lid back on the paint can.

"Woah." Scott said as he peered into the room. "Looks pretty sweet dude." Scott smiled as he looked over the improvements. Stiles just shrugged. He did that a lot now.

"So what brings you to me casa?" He asked as he continued picking up the mess.

"Well, I know we have class tomorrow, but I want you to come check out something with me." Scott said looking anywhere but at Stiles.

"What?" Stiles asked with a touch of a whine to his voice.

"Well I think we may have stumbled across some sort of altar near the Nemeton and I want to get your opinion on it." Scott said as he started making his way out the door.

Stiles followed grumbling the whole way. "Couldn't you, you know ask Deaton or someone who actually knows something?"

Scott laughed as he bounded down the stairs. "I did ask him but he told me that I should be asking you. He seems to think that you are my official emissary by the way."

Stiles snorted at that. "Great… file clerk, single dad and Emissary, perfect." Scott laughed before looking back and seeing the serious look on Stiles's face.

"You alright dude? You kind of are my go to person anyway. Who cares about the title?" Scott opened the door to Stiles's jeep and abandoned his bike at the Stilinski house.

After a quick drive and hike to the Nemeton Stiles had campused the area and took photographs from every angle noting anything and everything he could. He gathered samples of some of the foreign substance to try and identify later and chatted with Scott to see if there was anything they might have missed. They took their information back to Stiles's where he compiled it on his now fairly blank board and printed off the documents off the computer.

Stiles, never one to let a mystery go, began researching. They were interrupted by the Sheriff who'd come home without them noticing. "You boys eat?" Both shook their heads as they checked another promising link. "What's going on?" The Sheriff entered the room and began examining the various pieces of evidence on the board. He shook his head and exited the room. "I'll bring you both up a plate. And don't work too late you both have school tomorrow!" He called as he stomped back down to the kitchen.

Stiles smirked to himself, just like old times. They scarfed their sandwiches while perusing the various information they could find. Searching one way, chasing another clue a different way and before they knew it was quickly approaching 11. A swift knock and a look from his father had them closing up their books.

He walked Scott to the door promising to pick him up for their 8AM psychology class and turned to switch off the kitchen light and was nearly startled when he saw his dad was standing there. "Jesus don't do that to me!" He grasped at his chest mocking a heart attack.

His father chuckled. "Trust me your son will scare you far worse than that, especially if he's yours. Stiles," he began growing serious, "I don't have to tell you to be careful. You have someone else to think of now."

The weight of the Sheriff's words hit Stiles. "I know. That's what I'm always chasing after you. But Dad… if anything did happen to me… I mean you know… you'd take care of him right?" He found himself getting slightly emotional at the thought.

His dad nodded his head solemnly. "Nothing better happen to you son. Your mom would kick my ass."

Stiles chuckled a bit at the humor before making his way to bed. His sleep was broken and disturbed as he dreamed of the different creatures in the book he had been reading. He dreamed of dying, of his son crying and not being able to reach him, of Lydia crying in the dark. When his alarm sounded at 7 the next morning he was tired and irritable.

A quick shower and some toast and he was out the door to pick Scott up on his way. Scott was his usual jovial self. Either he slept well or he could hide it far better than Stiles. "Rough night?" He asked Stiles as he climbed in. Stiles just shrugged and Scott laughed. "Oh well might as well get used to it now. Soon the baby will be keeping you up all night."

Stiles shot him an evil glare as he navigated down the street. "So," Scott continued determined to keep the peace, "Any more thoughts on what we are dealing with?"

"I'm still leaning toward faeries." Stiles answered as he pulled onto campus and looked for an empty space to put the Jeep.

"Faeries? You're serious about that?" Scott said chuckling. "What are they going to do? Take our teeth?" Scott said as Stiles finally stopped the Jeep and shut it off.

"Not all faeries are the good kind Scott." That shut him up.

"Oh."

"C'mon let's go learn about Freud. " Stiles said as he grabbed his bag from the seat.

The two set off for class… that was the last time things were normal. The calm before the storm that thundered ominously in the distance.