Hey, Cakes and Cookies, I am starting fresh. I understood Sterek, but I couldn't see it in the show until Aconithart, aka Dear-Massacre, my mutual on Tumblr, pointed something out, and now here we are. I'll try to be more involved with fanfic, but I'm finishing a collection of short stories to publish, so we will see.

"Did we vet any of these boys?"

Stiles had just sat down, coffee with caramel creamer in one hand and his magazine in the other. Derek was sitting on the same couch, a cushion away, expecting a response.

"Did we vet any of these boys? Derek, Eli was invited to a sleepover, not a cartel."

"I know that, but we don't know any of their parents."

"No, Dere, you don't know any of their parents. I know the moms from the PTA meetings you and their husbands weasel out of. Are there Were Weasels?"

"Fortunately, no, and I don't weasel out. They don't talk about anything important. How many bake sales can a second grader have?"

"As many as it takes to destroy Kelly's Mom. Family recipe, my ass. I don't need your nose to sniff out Betty fucking Crocker." Stiles cut off his rant to see Derek checking his phone.

"You better not be texting him. Derek."

"I'm not, just checking."

"Eli needs to hang out with other kids besides his cousins."

"I know that. Don't you think it's a little mean, though, that Noah wasn't invited?"

"Noah was invited, but Scott and Malia had something planned, and Noah wanted to go. Eli can handle not having his wingman for a night." Derek cocked a brow at his husband.

"What?"

"Stiles, Scott is still your emergency contact." There was no rebuttal from the master of wordplay.

"Is this a wolf thing? Deaton and I made the bracelets to ensure they don't wolf out, plus the kids have been working on their emotions, well, as much as eight-year-olds can."

"It's not that. Well, not all of it." Derek kept his Biscayne blues on the fire. Stiles scootched over to his husband.

"Talk me through it, big guy." He could see Derek was searching for his words. Family life had done a great deal of softening Derek from the brooding 19-year-old Stiles and Scott met in the woods. He had thawed significantly beforehand, but there were still walls Derek was trying to turn into windows, and Stiles had more patience and understanding than a saint.

"I want Eli to grow and see the world, meet new people of all stripes to have everything life offers, and on the other hand, hide him in the vault where no one can get their fingers or claws in him."

"It's natural to want to protect your kids from the outside world, but you said claws and fingers. Eli lives in two worlds, and yeah, there is a privilege in knowing that and a great fear. There are supernaturals we haven't faced, not to mention hunters."

"Stiles, we didn't get to enjoy our teen years. We have more bodies than signatures in our yearbooks." Stiles couldn't deny that. The pack started as a bunch of teenagers, simple kids with simple pancake lives, and buttered with 90's movies about how things should be. Then, one bite in the middle of the woods brought on dark druids, dread doctors, and Alpha pacts. More blood than Carrie White was doused with. They were scared in more ways than one, as a family and individually. Derek and Stiles had both been violated in every sense of the word and though their scars were healed, they were still there.

"Can I be honest with you?" Asked Derek, breaking his husband from the web of his thoughts.

"Of course, Derek. That's all I ever want. No judgment." Derek seemed to hesitate, but he resumed.

"There was once a time that I wish you didn't return. You lived on the other side of the country and forgot Beacon Hills."

"My Dad would agree with you." Said Stiles.

"You sacrificed so much; the FBI then adopted," he stopped. Stiles' brows furrowed. It was not anger but a point to make.

"You listen to me. I didn't give up anything. Someone needed to be Nemeton's guardian. Not to mention the Emissary to the pack. Deaton can't do it forever. And as for adopting Eli, best fucking choice I ever made." He took Derek's face in his hand and made his blue's look into his whisky browns.

"And loving you has never been a sacrifice." Derek's eyes were wet. He brought his lips to Stiles', and they kissed deeply. After all their years together, that spark had never dimmed. When their lips parted,

"Duncan Hines," Derek breathed.

"What?"

"Kelly's mom uses Duncan Hines." Stiles had no choice but to laugh, and his husband joined.

"I fucking knew it."

The End of Part 1