Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of it's characters. If I did, Sterek would be canon.
A/N: Stiles gets good news from Coach, the big plan is revealed, and Derek reunites with someone he never thought he'd see again.
The Hale Pack: Home Is Where The Pack Is
"He's healing slower than usual, but he is healing." Melissa assured gently. "I'd say he'll be fully healed in two days at the most."
Derek nodded and thanked her, eyes never leaving Stiles.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"Derek, I'm fine!" Stiles insisted as his mate carried his school bag to the car for him. Again. "I can carry my own bag!"
"Stiles, you were tortured!" Derek reminded him in a pained voice. "You need to take it easy! Speaking of which, are you sure this early morning practice is a good idea?"
"I've been taking it easy for two weeks, Der! I'm completely healed, and I want to play! I finally got a chance to play, and I was good! Without using my abilities! But if I keep missing practice, Coach won't put me on first line. I want to be on first line, Der. I promise you that I'm okay, sure there's some emotional trauma, but nothing I can't handle, with you by my side." Stiles stated softly. "But it's hard to move on when you're treating me like a breakable little doll."
Derek sighed as he pressed his forehead to Stiles' "You're right, I'm sorry. I just hate that I wasn't there for you, that I didn't protect you."
"Derek, it's not your job to protect me and it wasn't your fault!" Stiles insisted, placing a hand on Derek's cheek "Sure, you could blame yourself for not stopping it, my dad could also blame himself, I could blame myself for not being alert, or, we could all grow up and place the blame where it belongs: On Gerard."
Derek nodded, and repeated. "You're right."
"Of course I'm right!" Stiles grinned. "Now give me a kiss, and give me my bag, I've got to go to school."
"But-"
"Nuh uh, I've finally got Roscoe back, I am driving him today!" Stiles announced, with a determined look on his face and Derek chuckled.
"Fair enough." Stiles grinned triumphantly, then leant in to kiss his mate goodbye. Derek grabbed Stiles' hips, intending on deepening the kiss, only to be interrupted when the horn from the Jeep sounded. "Mum! We're gonna be late!" Isaac called from the passenger seat.
"I'll be right there pup!" Stiles replied, then gave Derek one last kiss and grabbed his bag. "I love you."
"I love you too." Derek smiled, then looked to Isaac as Stiles jogged to the jeep. "Love you, pup."
"Love you too, dad!" Derek smiled and waved goodbye as the pair drove away.
The mum and dad thing was fairly recent. Although everyone had accepted those two roles a while ago, it wasn't until Stiles woke up the day after being tortured that it was first said. Isaac had hugged Stiles and, in an emotional state, said: "I was so worried mum!" No one really noticed that he said it at first. It wasn't until the sheriff came home and asked why the Pack were calling Stiles and Derek, mum and dad, that it registered. They didn't mind, in fact they both liked it, but some of the pups, such as Allison and Scott, found it weird, so never called them it consciously. Others, like Isaac and Jackson, were more than happy to refer to the pair by those titles.
Derek was happy either way, as long as his Pack was happy, so was he.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"Stilinski! Get over here!" Coach ordered during Lacrosse practice. Stiles sent a hopeful look to Scott, who simply grinned at him, as he jogged over to Coach, he noticed that most of the team were grinning at him.
"Hey Coach, what's up."
"First, I have to ask, you're alright, right? I know that you were beat up by a bunch of sore losers, but you're fine now, right?"
"Yes Coach." Stiles nodded, hope taking over.
"Good, that's good. Cause after your performance the other night, I want you on first line." Coach grinned and a huge smile took over Stiles' face.
"A-are you serious?!"
"As long as you carry on playing like that and keep your grades up, of course." Coach promised with a grin. "What do you say?"
"Yes!" Stiles agreed immediately, barely containing his excitement. "Thank you, Coach!"
"Thank me by grabbing your gear and showing me what you've got!" Coach ordered and clapped Stiles on the shoulder, "Alright everyone, line up!"
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"So, Hale," Deputy Posey greeted, sitting on the alpha's desk. "What's up with you and the sheriff's kid?" He asked with a grin as the other deputies, not so subtly, turned to listen.
"He's my mate." Derek told him simply, the sheriff knew and was fine with it, so there was no point in lying. "Like regular wolves, werewolves mate for life. Most wolves only have one mate, like Stiles and I, but others can have two. Those mates are also mated to each other." Derek explained. He'd heard the others whispering about Scott, Isaac and Allison, and the trio gave him permission to tell the deputies, if it was ever brought up.
"Ah, so is that what's going on between McCall, Lahey and Argent?"
"Yes."
"What about the others?" Tara asked curiously. "Are any of them mates as well?"
"Boyd and Erica are, as are Jackson and Lydia." Derek explained, feeling like he was back in high school, dishing out gossip.
"Is it weird? Dating a teenager?" Sharman asked with a raised eyebrow.
"At first, yes. But once the sheriff knew and accepted it, it was less so." Derek said thoughtfully, then paused before adding. "And it doesn't really feel like I'm dating a teenager. He may have his immature moments, but those aren't very often. He's more focused on Pack, and protecting the people he cares about." A fond smile appeared on Derek's face and he momentarily forgot where he was as he spoke about his mate. "He's the most stubborn person that I've ever met, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. When I was convinced that pain and anger were the only things that could control the shift, he showed me another way. When I thought I could never love again, he proved that I could. When we all felt defeated and thought we couldn't stop Gerard, he came up with a plan. He is brave, and smart, and loyal, and determined. He made me realise that I wasn't at fault for my family's deaths. Something that my sister couldn't accomplish in six years, he did in two months. He is the best thing that's ever happened to me, I just hope I can make him at least half as happy as he makes me."
The deputies stood and stared at Derek in shock. "Wow." Posey spoke up. "Can I date him?" Derek's eyes turned red and he growled at the man. "Woah, woah, I was only kidding!" Posey defended immediately, stepping backwards, hands raised in defense, and Derek's eyes went back to normal, and he smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
During lunch, the Pack sat at their usual table to eat, listening with a range of emotions as Scott was bragging over how well Stiles did at lacrosse practice.
"You should have seen it! He scored four goals in a row and dodged every tackle!" Scott told the girls with a proud smile.
"Okay, Scott, you can stop now." Stiles muttered, red faced.
"No, I can't! They all got to see you kick ass at the game, and brag about it. I was busy trying to find Gerards hunter, so I missed it! It's my turn to brag." Scott defended, then continued bragging like nothing had happened.
'I have taught him well' Stiles thought with a fond smile.
"So, when's the next Pack night?" Lydia asked Stiles, blocking out Scott's rant.
"Saturday, dad said no for tonight, and Derek's working night shifts for most of the week, but he has Saturday off." Stiles explained, with a slightly sad look on his face. "But on the bright side, it means I have more time to finish working on the thing."
"True," Lydia nodded in agreement, then a thought occurred to her. "Oh, Erica knows now."
This caught the rest of the Packs attention. "What? Erica knows? Why does Erica get to know, but I don't?" Scott whined in annoyance.
"Because your a blabbermouth." Stiles stated simply, taking a bite of food. "And, besides, it's good that Erica knows." He stated, then looked at the girl in question. "What night are you free next? I need your help with something."
"Well, my parents are both home tonight, so we're having a family night, and Boyd and I have a date tomorrow, so how about wednesday?"
"Sounds good, oh, hey. Isn't tomorrow your one month anniversary?" Stiles asked with a smile, and the couple linked hands and nodded. "Congratulations!"
"Congratulations! Right, so Wednesday?" Lydia began. "Great, we can make a night out of it. Planning, make up, movies. It'll be great."
"Ooh, yeah!" Allison agreed excitedly. "We can finally watch the new Iron Man!"
Stiles chuckled, as the other male members of the Pack looked either amused or annoyed. "Who says you're invited?"
"Yeah Ally, maybe me and Batman just want some alone time." Erica grinned wickedly, winking suggestively at Stiles. She knew that Boyd wouldn't be worried. She always made it clear that he was the only person that she wanted to be with.
"We're inviting ourselves." Lydia stated. "And we're bringing food."
"Fine." Stiles jokingly conceded with a sigh. "But only because you're bringing food."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
After lunch, Stiles was excused from his fourth period class to see the guidance counselor, miss Morrell. He didn't want to, but apparently, once you've been kidnapped and tortured by a psychotic geriatric, therapy wasn't optional. At least, not when you have a sheriff for a dad, and an overprotective alpha werewolf for a boyfriend. Plus, Lydia had given the french teacher her stamp of approval, so that was something. Deaton had also informed the Pack that Morrell was his younger sister, and also a druid, meaning Stiles didn't have to hide any supernatural related details from her.
To be honest, Stiles was actually glad that he'd been forced into it. He'd never admit it though, because that would mean admitting that he hadn't mentally recovered from what happened as well as he made out to the Pack.
"You know, when you're drowning, you don't actually inhale until right before you blackout." Stiles explained, threading his lacrosse stick. "It's called voluntary apnea. It's like no matter how much you're freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head's exploding. Then when you finally do let it in, that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore, it's… it's actually kind of peaceful."
"Did they do that to you?" Morrell asked calmly. "The ones who kidnapped you. Did they drown you?"
Stiles hesitated for a moment before answering. "Yeah." He admitted without her eye. "Yeah, he did."
"He?"
"Yeah, uh, you probably already figured this out, but it wasn't angry lacrosse players who kidnapped me." Stiles stated, fiddling with the lacrosse stick.
"Then who was it?"
"Gerard Argent."
"Because of what you are?"
"Partially." Stiles stated, hesitating for a second before continuing. "Partially to anger Scott and Derek." Stiles sighed, not meeting the woman's eyes. "Things have been kinda tense since then. Scott told us that Gerard had threatened his mum and mates and forced Scott to work for him, we knew the second it happened, because Scott came home and told us. It's just-" Stiles sighed, becoming more aggressive as he threaded the lacrosse stick. "Derek always had a problem with it. Not so much Scott pretending to work with Gerard, because he told us and only fed him information that we wanted Gerard to know, to lead him on."
"Then what was the problem?" Morrell asked politely with a raised eyebrow.
"It's the fact that Scott felt that he had no other choice but to help Gerard. Or, at least pretend to help him." Stiles explained sadly, hating the problems within his Pack. "Derek feels like Scott doesn't trust him. At least not enough to count on him to protect his mum and mates, and that hurts Derek."
"Do you think that Scott really feels this way?" Stiles' eyes widened at that question.
"God, no!" Stiles protested immediately, leaning forward and almost dropping the lacrosse stick. "Not at all. Scott's not good with being subtle or hiding his feelings. If he didn't trust Derek, or doubted him, we would all know." Stiles told her confidently, not a single trace of doubt in his mind. "He's also not very good at picking up on other people's emotions, so he probably has know idea that Derek is worried about Scott's trust. I want to give Scott a hint and talk to him about it, but Derek would figure out that it was me and be upset, thinking that Scott was only saying things to make him happy. Even when he can hear that Scott isn't lying, and I can't ask anybody else from the Pack to talk to Scott about it for the same reasons."
"So what you need is for Scott to know, but without interference from anyone in the Pack?" Morrell asked vaguely, and Stiles could tell that the woman had an idea, and wasn't going to let him in on it.
"Yeah."
"Okay then." Morrell nodded, then changed the subject. "How about we get back to you." Stiles looked down at that, avoiding the councilors gaze. "Stiles?"
"I'm fine." He insisted, looking up at the woman, but the look on her face showed that she wasn't buying it, and wasn't going to let it go. "Yeah, aside from the not sleeping, the jumpiness," Stiles ranted. To be honest, he was tired of keeping things in. Tired of having to pretend that he was okay when he really wasn't. Sure, he'd spoken to the Pack and his dad when everything built up too much, but this was different. He told them those things because he couldn't bottle it in any more and he couldn't stand the worried looks. Talking to Morrell was easier, she was the guidance counselor, it was her job to listen and not judge. Well, she had to judge a little in order to get an accurate read on his emotional and mental state, so he could accept that. But Pack… The Pack worry about him, they might even question his ability as Pack mum. No, they could never know how he felt about this. If he kept talking to Morrell, he could let out all of the things that were bothering him, then he wouldn't break down in front of the Pack. "the constant, overwhelming, crushing fear that something terrible is about to happen."
"It's called hyper vigilance. The persistent feeling of being under threat." Morrell informed him, no tone of judgement or pity in her voice.
"Maybe it's not just a feeling though, it's…" Stiles explained, knowing the horrid feeling from experience. "It's more than that, like with all of the supernatural mixed in. It's like I'm not even myself anymore, like I've completely changed. On one hand, I like it, I like the more mature person that I've become. I love having my Pack, my mate but.."
"But?" pushed when several moments had passed without Stiles saying a word.
"But I feel like, sometimes, they'd be better off without me. I'm the reason that all of this has happened. I dragged Scott out into the woods that night, I got all of my friends dragged into all of the supernatural craziness. More than that, I've dragged the only remaining parent I have into it. Because of me, he's in far more danger now than he was as just a sheriff. I hate the thought that one day, I could watch him die because of a supernatural creature, or because of someone like Matt. A kid who went off the handle and found the supernatural through chance." He let it all go, every deep dark thought and feeling that had snuck into his head over the last few months. "It's like it's a panic attack. Y'know, like I can't even breathe."
To her credit, Morrell didn't bring up what he'd just said about the supernatural, which Stiles was happy about because he really didn't want to talk anymore about that. Instead, she focused on the panic attack comment. "Like you're drowning." It wasn't really a question, more of a statement, but Stiles felt the need to answer anyway.
"Yeah."
"So, if you're drowning, and you're trying to keep your mouth closed until that very last moment… what if you choose to not open your mouth? To not let the water hit?"
"Y-You do anyway, it's a reflex."
"But… if you hold off, until that reflex kicks in, you have more time, right?"
"Not much time." Stiles shrugged, not really getting what the woman was trying to say.
"But more time to fight your way to the surface" Morrell stated.
"I guess."
"More time to be rescued."
"More time to be in agonizing pain. Did you forget about the part where you feel like your head's exploding?" He exclaimed, anger slipping into his voice. Stiles could never be rescued, not from this. "That's the difference between Tammy and I, or even between myself Isaac, or Boyd, or Erica. There is no escaping what holds me under."
"And what makes you so sure of that?" Morrell asked, not a single hint of curiosity in her voice, like she was only asking for the sake of asking.
"I have felt like he was drowning since my mum died, since my dad started drinking himself into a grave right beside her, since my own dad was scared of me because of what I am. Since I was paralysed and helpless, watching an innocent man die right in front of me. Since the pressure of the world, both human and supernatural, started to crush me because I can't handle it all. The pressure to be a good student, a good friend, a good mum, a good player, a good werewolf, one who doesn't randomly kill people. And since I first realised how little I care about myself in comparison to others. Since I realised how insignificant I am."
"Insignificant?" Morrell asked. "You see yourself as insignificant? I don't. Can I tell you what I see when I look at you, Stiles?" Stiles shrugged and the woman took it as a yes. "I see a young man with so much potential and far too much pressure. I see a young man who, even before learning about a whole other side of the world, is loyal, determined, courageous and independent. I see a young man who could have turned out much worse. A lot of people who have been through what you have, at any age, often take a different route, allowing their depression and anger at the world to take them over."
"You think I'm depressed?"
"Perhaps not at this moment in time, but I believe you were. Possibly just after your mother's death and at the start of your father's drinking. I find it highly unlikely that a ten year old could deal with all of that without suffering with a bout of depression. The trouble with depression is, once it hits, you never completely get rid of it. It cannot be cured, it's always there, in your head, lurking waiting for a chance to take over. With the thoughts and struggles that you're currently going through, I believe that it could show itself again."
"so, what? More pills? Cause they don't exactly work anymore." Stiles sighed, frustration taking over.
"No, I don't want it to progress that far." Morrell informed him calmly. "What I do want to do is see you regularly. Once a week would be preferable."
"Fine."
"Fine?"
"Yeah, I know I'm not really showing it right now, but talking about all of this is helping." Stiles admitted, trying to push back his frustration.
"That's why I believe in you Stiles, so many in your situation wouldn't admit that they want help. So scared of seeming helpless, not realising that the feeling will only grow if they continue to hold themselves under. Continue to let themselves drown."
"It's just that I don't know how much longer I can handle this." Stiles stated, "The 'not letting the water in'. There's just so much agony."
"If it's about surviving, isn't a little agony worth it?"
"Maybe not." Stiles wanted to agree to make her happy, but he knew that Morrell would just see right through it, so instead he asked, "I mean, what if it just gets worse? What if it's agony now and… then it's just hell later on."
"Then think about something Winston Churchill once said:'' Morrell replied, as if she'd anticipated the question. "If you're going through hell, keep going." Stiles didn't speak as he processed the words. In a way, they reflected Stiles' own way of coping, way of living. He's going through hell, he can't breathe, he wants nothing more than to open his mouth and let the pain go away. To have peace, but he refuses. Instead, he lives with the pain, because other people need him to survive. His dad, Derek, his pups, Melissa. No matter how worthless and insignificant he feels, they don't view him the same way. In fact, they feel the opposite. Stiles doesn't know why, but he knows that it's true.
So Stiles is willing to deal with agony and the hell, because he cares about those he loves more than he cares about himself. He'll live in hell if it means everyone he cares about gets to live. He will carry on, and maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to make it to the surface. Maybe he'll get out of the water and be able to be the person he really wants to be, the person the Pack see's him as. Maybe he'll be able to breath again.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"Hello Scott." Miss Morrell smiled at the crooked jawed boy, who shuffled uncomfortably.
"Uh, hi?"
"I'm sure that you're wondering why you're here." Morrell stated, either not noticing the boy's uncomfortableness, or just not caring. "I've called you here because of something that Stiles said in our session."
"Isn't that supposed to be confidential?" Scott asked, annoyed that the woman was betraying his best friend's trust.
"Usually, yes. However, Stiles expressed wanting someone to talk to you about this, but knew that it wouldn't be a good idea for you to hear it from someone in the Pack."
Scott was worried now. Was he being kicked out of the Pack? "A-about what?"
"Concerns that only you can put to rest." Before he could ask anything else, the woman explained what Stiles had told her, assured him that Stiles didn't agree with any of Derek's fears and informed Scott that the only reason that Stiles hadn't told Scott himself, was because Derek wouldn't believe any assurance Scott gave if he had learnt Derek's fears from Pack.
"So you're telling me so that I, and the Pack, have plausible deniability when I tell Derek that all of his fears are completely wrong?" Scott asked for confirmation.
"If you choose to talk to him, I wouldn't phrase it that particular way, but yes." She stated, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Thank you." Scott smiled slightly at her, standing up and grabbing his bag. "Any chance you can get me the rest of last period off, so that I can think over what I'm going to say?" He asked hopefully, giving the woman his best puppy dog look.
"Alright, but just this once."
"Thank you." Scott repeated, then rushed out of the room.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Once he had thoroughly thought over what he wanted to say, Scott texted Derek, asking the alpha to come over to his house to talk in private. Halfway through practicing in the mirror, for the third time, Scott heard Derek's car approaching. He took a deep breath, then walked downstairs to let the man in.
"Scott. Is everything okay?" Derek asked in concern when the beta let him into the house.
"Yes." Scott lied. "Actually no, we need to talk." Scott stated then nervously gestured to the Coach for Derek to sit down. Once the alpha did, Scott sat opposite him, everything he had thought through and planned had gone from his brain and the two sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.
"Scott?"
"Do you trust me?" Scott finally blurted, throwing the alpha for a few seconds.
"Yes." Derek said honestly. "Absolutely."
"Do you trust me when I say that I trust you?"
"Did Stiles talk to you?" Derek asked with a sigh.
"No." Scott stated honestly, and Derek listened again. "He hasn't said a word, but this isn't about Stiles, or any of the Pack, really. This is about you and me. I need you to know that I trust you. With my life, my mum's life, even my mate's lives. I didn't agree to work, or pretend to work, for Gerard because I didn't trust you, I agreed because I trusted you. I trusted that you could use it to your advantage. I trusted that you would be able to use that inside access to end what happened with Gerard and you did." Scott insisted, maintaining eye contact and being completely honest with his alpha, knowing that Derek was listening to both his words and his heartbeat. "At first, I thought that you were just acting, when we were in the warehouse and you were angry at me for working with Gerard. I thought that you were just saying those things to make it more believable for Gerard. I never thought for a second that you actually meant them, that you actually thought that I trusted Gerards word more than I trusted you. Then I thought about it over and over again, and I realised that there was no skip in your heartbeat and that I could smell the sadness and betrayal coming off of you. I hate that, I hate that I've given you reason to think those things and I promise that I will do everything that I can to prove to you that I trust you. Please, Derek, give me a chance to prove myself." Scott finished, tears in both his own and Derek's eyes.
The older wolf, simply stood up, walked over to Scott, tugged the boy to his feet then pulled him into a reassuring hug, and Scott knew. He knew that his alpha didn't hate him, his alpha believed him, believed in him. But Scott still planned to prove himself. He had no intention of giving his alpha reason to doubt him again.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Derek crawled into the bed he shared his mate later that night, feeling more content than he had in years. Stiles was already curled up, but not sleeping.
"Hey." Stiles whispered, looking over his shoulder at his mate, rolling to see him fully.
"Hi." Derek grinned and leaned forward to give him a soft kiss. "How was your session with Morrell?"
"Good, it helped." Stiles admitted softly causing Derek to smile.
"That's good." Derek smiled happily. "I'm glad. Are you going to see her again?"
"Yeah, she wants to make it a weekly appointment." Stiles admitted semi-nervously. Worried that it might make Derek think less of him, or worry about his mental state, but Derek just smiled.
"I didn't want to say anything, but I think it's good that you're talking to someone about all of this. Especially someone who knows about the supernatural." Derek admitted, burying his nose in Stiles' hair. "It's not good to bottle things up, I've learnt that the hard way."
"so have I." Stiles whispered. "Are you going to talk to anyone?"
"I do, sort of... I talk to dad a lot. At first it was a little weird, because he's your dad and my boss, but it really does help." Derek informed him, and felt Stiles grin against him. "What?"
"You called him dad." Stiles smiled, pulling back to look up at Derek, who had turned bright red. "About damn time, too. He's wanted you to since the night the two of you hung out when I was with Ally and Lydia."
Derek looked surprised at that. "Really?"
"Dude, he liked you so much, that he invited you to live with us the next night!" Stiles exclaimed. "And not just in the guest room, he let us share a room. Do you really think he'd do that if he didn't trust you or see you as family?"
Derek stammered for a few seconds, before finally speaking. "Don't call me dude." Stiles burst into laughter, burying his head in Derek's chest.
"You're such an idiot." Stiles stated, shaking his head. "Now kiss me, dumbass."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
After school the next day, John, Chris, Allison and Lydia were helping Victoria and Tammy with self control and teaching them how to fight. Well, mainly teaching Tammy how to fight, and helping Victoria with her technique. Derek wasn't there as he had to get ready for work, and the rest of the boys, except Boyd, had lacrosse practice. Boyd had convinced Coach to excuse him from practice for his anniversary. He had to lie and say it was one year rather than one month, but it still worked.
"Why do they still have practice if the season is over?" Tammy asked curiously, taking a swig of water.
"It's Coach." Lydia reminded her in explanation.
"True." Tammy shrugged, setting down her drink. "Okay, I'm ready."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"How are they doing?" Derek asked John when the man walked into the station later on.
"They're doing good." Stilinski told him with a smile. "Of course, we'll have to see how they do on the next full moon, but they've both pretty much mastered everyday control."
"That's good." Derek agreed with a nod. "How are you?"
"I've got my self control mastered. Mostly."
"You know what I meant." Derek chuckled.
"I'm good, son." The sheriff assured him. "A little stressed about the Daehler trial, next week."
"Is this the one where they determine what's going to happen to him after Juvie?"
"Yeah." John sighed, rubbing his forehead. "In theory, it could run smoothly. But it could also go badly." Derek raised an eyebrow in question. "He could say that Tammy did it all, thanks to Danny there's no evidence to support that, but if he mentions a Kanima-"
"They could plead insanity and get him institutionalised." Derek stated in realisation.
"Not that that's necessarily better, but depending on where he goes, he could have a better chance of escaping." John explained. "Or he could convince people in an institute of the supernatural, making them a hell of alot worse."
"Or there could be someone who knows of the supernatural on the jury, and they could contact hunters and send them after Tammy." Derek stated worriedly and John sighed once again.
"I didn't even think of that."
Derek started to speak, only to be interrupted by Deputy McDougall, who was currently working with dispatch. "Sheriff, we have a robbery in progress."
"Thanks Jenna." John replied as Derek stood up and grabbed his gun and badge. "We'll talk at home."
"Of course, dad." Derek nodded, then walked past the shell shocked sheriff.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"Really? Again?" Stiles sighed as Allison walked over to him with nail polish. "That stuff stinks, and I just pick it off every morning, so your efforts are in vain." He argued, shuffling backwards on Lydia's bed to put some distance between himself and the brunette.
"It's still fun." Lydia grinned. "And you won't be picking it off tomorrow because you'll be with one of us in every class, and we will stop you."
"Oh, come on!" Stiles groaned, but the grin's on each of the girls faces showed that he wasn't going to get out of this. "Can you at least make it more manly this time then? So no pink!"
"Alright." Allison agreed. "We can work with that."
"So, Erica, how did the date go yesterday?" Stiles asked, trying to distract himself from the thought of having his nails painted.
Half an hour later, Erica had just finished telling them about the date, and Stiles was halfway through painting Allison's nails, doing quite well, if he did say so himself. Allison had painted his nails whilst Lydia painted Erica's. Now Erica was painting Lydia's, Stiles prefered this to being tag teamed by two girls, then having to help paint both of their nails, so he wasn't going to complain… much.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"If you see my dad or Derek, tell them I'll be home late after school." Stiles sighed as he opened his locker.
"Why?" Boyd asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Harris gave me detention and confiscated my phone."
"What for this time?" Jackson smirked, expecting an answer like 'talking back' or 'texting in class' or something.
"For 'highlighting too much' apparently." Stiles grumbled, shoving books into his locker and pulling out his maths textbook.
"What?" Boyd growled, "That's ridiculous."
"Tell me about it."
Jackson opened his mouth to offer to threaten Harris, only to pause then ask. "Are you wearing nail polish?" He laughed and Boyd's lips tugged upwards, Stiles simply blushed.
"Blame your girlfriend!" He muttered, then looked at Boyd. "Yours too."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Stiles shuffled into his house a little after five o'clock, to find Scott in his living room. "Hey man, what's up?"
"Nothing, I just felt like hanging out, is all." Scott shrugged. "You're home late."
"I know." Stiles sighed, dropping his bag on the floor and flopping onto the sofa next to his best friend. "Blame Harris. That asshole really hates me."
Scott chuckled at his best friend. "Well I think I can cheer you up. I brought over some video games, movies and snacks. I also ordered pizza like half an hour ago, so it should be here any minute now. My treat." Scott promised with a grin.
"Aww Scotty, that's so sweet!" Stiles teasingly gushed. "Y'know, this new found chivalry is making me very attracted to you. You wanna try making out for a second?" He asked jokingly as a knock sounded at the door. "Just to see how it feels!" He called as Scott stood and walked to the front door, chuckling slightly.
He returned a few minutes later to see Stiles searching through the DVD's. "You got Star Wars!" Stiles grinned, looking over his shoulder at Scott who shrugged.
"I got sick of you going on at me about it." Scott stated. "Did I get the right one? Cause, I remember you saying that 'A New Hope' is the first one, but it says number four… So.."
"Yeah, it's the right one buddy." Stiles assured as he set up the DVD.
"Then why does it say four?"
"The numbering didn't show up until The Empire Strikes Back and then was added retroactively to A New Hope. The reason 'A New Hope' became number four, was because the other three were prequels, so in the Star Wars universe they, technically, came first." Stiles explained, looking at Scott, who nodded, but still looked slightly confused. "The numerology isn't important, just the fact that these are amazing movies." He stood and walked over to the Coach. "So sit back and relax, while you still can, because these movies will have you on the edge of your seat!"
"Okay, sur- Dude why are your nails blue?"
"Blame your girlfriend."
"Oh… My… God." Scott whispered two hours later, staring at the screen in shock as the ending credit began to roll. "That was…"
"I know, right?!" Stiles beamed.
"Dude, I wish I had gotten the second one!"
"I have it." Stiles told him immediately, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it kinda was. "It's in my room. Want me to go get it?"
"Yes!" Scott agreed immediately, a huge grin on his face.
"Alright, I'll go get it, you grab us some snacks and drinks." Stiles half heartedly ordered, chuckling as his friend nodded enthusiastically.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Isaac and Allison shared and exasperated, yet fond, look as Scott rambled on about how amazing Star Wars is. He was literally running off of adrenalin as he and Stiles had been up all night watching all of the movies. According to Derek, he and the Sheriff had arrived home a little after six am to find the best friend's sat on the couch, watching 'Revenge of the Sith', surrounded by empty pizza boxes and junk food wrappers, staring at the tv screen as if their lives depended on it.
"How are you even still awake?" Isaac asked incredulously, cutting off Scott's rant.
"I have no idea." The crooked jawed boy admitted with a shrug, his eyes wide as they walked into the cafeteria. "Although, I did start to fall asleep in Economics, but then Coach blew the whistle in my ear, and I was fine, apart from my ears ringing. I got over it though and-"
Isaac shook his head and shared a smile with Allison as the trio made their way over to their table.
Stiles and Lydia were already sitting at the table, talking animatedly about something, fading off when they noticed the others approaching.
"Hey." Stiles greeted with a grin once his Pack mates sat down. "So are you smiling to try to trick your body into thinking that you want to be awake, too?"
"Absolutely." Scott nodded. "I usually enjoy this new metabolism, but I hate that it makes coffee useless."
"Me too." Stiles agreed with a slight groan. "I could really do with a red eye right now."
"That's what you get for not sleeping." Lydia smirked, munching on a piece of cafeteria chicken. "It's really bad for your health to not sleep."
"Lyd, it's not just us." Stiles rolled his eyes. "Everyone's experienced the fatigue, short temper and lack of focus that often follow a poor night's sleep, or lack thereof."
"An occasional night without sleep makes you feel tired and irritable the next day, but it won't harm your health." Lydia agreed as Jackson and Danny walked over. "However, after several sleepless nights, the mental effects become more serious. Your brain will fog, making it difficult to concentrate and make decisions. You'll start to feel down, and may fall asleep during the day. Your risk of injury and accidents at home, work and on the road also increases. If it continues, lack of sleep can affect your overall health and make you prone to serious medical conditions, such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes." By the time she had finished, Erica and Boyd had joined them, and Scott was looking at her bug-eyed.
"Okay, so no more late nights watching Star Wars." Stiles stated with a nod and Jackson groaned.
"Really? Star Wars. What's the big deal about those movies?"
"Dude! They're amazing." Scott insisted immediately.
"They sound lame."
"Sound?" Stiles asked with an unreadable expression. "You haven't seen them either?"
"No, and I don't plan to."
"The only people in the universe who have never seen Star Wars are the characters in Star Wars and that's cause they lived them, Jacks, that's cause they lived the Star Wars." Stiles announced, flailing his arms wildly. "Yesterday I would have forgiven you, but even Scott has seen it now, you will be the next!" He looked around at the rest of the Pack "Who else hasn't seen it?" He demanded and Danny raised his hand.
"In my defence, I wanted to, but my parents hate Sci Fi and Jackson wouldn't watch it with me. By the time I could make my own decisions, I had other priorities, such as getting laid." Danny semi joked with a grin.
"Okay, you're forgiven for your crimes." Stiles jokingly sighed. "The same can't be said for your best friend."
"Well, I guess we know what the movie will be on Pack night." Erica told Stiles with a chuckle.
"Oh, yeah. It's my turn to choose." Stiles remembered with a grin, and Jackson groaned again, hitting his head against the table, regretting his confession with every fibre of his being.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Danny sighed as he and Stiles walked to Maths together, the slightly shorter boy ranting the entire way. "Are you nearly done?"
"No! That guy was-"
"Hitting on me, so what?"
"Well, A) You can do so much better than him, and B) He was talking to you like you were a piece of meat! If anyone had spoken to any of us like that, you would have yelled at them and told them to show some respect!" Stiles all but growled as they walked. "Why is it different when it's you?"
"Because I like dominant guys."
"There's a difference between being dominant and being a douche." Stiles stated knowingly. "For example, Derek is dominant. That guy was a douche."
"I guess you're right." Danny admitted, besides, the rest of the Pack didn't like him either, all of them glaring at him the entire time he stood by their table made that clear. So that guy would not be getting a date with him. "Alright, I won't go out with him. If you agree to tell me exactly how dominant Derek is." He bargained as they arrived at the classroom.
"Deal." Stiles grinned easily. He always wanted to talk about Derek's sexual side, but most of the Pack didn't want to know about it. The girls did, though Allison never wanted too many details, but Stiles knew that Danny, like Erica and Lydia, would want to know everything.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
The weeks flew by to summer break. It was exactly two months since the showdown with Gerard and now the town was almost completely cleared of hunters. The ones that were still around respected the treaty and left the Pack alone. The Pack had enjoyed the downtime and spent a lot of time together, but now it was time to say goodbye to Tammy. They hadn't gotten to see her much apart from classes and training. Her parents made her come home for lunch everyday, and tried to spend every waking moment with her. They still felt guilty over what had happened, like if they had paid more attention, they could have stopped Matt somehow. Derek tried to explain that had they figured out what was going on, Matt would have just forced Tammy to kill them, then sped up the time between kills, ending a lot more lives. Unfortunately, this did nothing to ease their guilt.
Matt's trial came and went without any mention of the supernatural or Tammy, and Matt had been sentenced to Juvie until he was 18, then life imprisonment. The Pack was very happy with that outcome.
"Okay, if you don't like the new Pack, you're more than welcome to come back here." Derek reminded the family, again.
"We know, Derek, thank you, but I really think we could do with some space from Beacon Hills." Tammy's father told him politely, as the Pack helped put the last few boxes into the moving van.
"Of course." Derek smiled. "But if you have any problems, please don't hesitate to call me." The elder man nodded at Derek's request, and sent him a grateful smile. "Alright, uuh, I'll be down in a few days, once you've settled in, and I'll introduce you to the Pack."
"Thank you." Tammy's mother smiled, walking over to the pair, having heard what Derek said. "So, just as a refresher, when we get there, Tammy needs to leave something with her scent on it, slightly buried behind the town's welcome sign?"
Derek nodded. "Yes, I know it sounds weird, but it's so that the Pack can start to familiarise themselves with her scent. Also so that if an Omega comes through before you are introduced to them, they know not to attack Tammy." The couple nodded in understanding.
"Okay, I think that's everything." Tammy's mother said with a sad smile as the final box was placed in the van. "Let's go."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Stiles was cuddled up with Derek as the Pack sat in the Stilinski living room, watching The Notebook, when his phone rang. Stiles untangled himself from his mate and went outside before answering the call. "Hello?"
"Hello." A deep voice came through the speaker. "I'm calling for… uh… Mr Stilinski?"
"Speaking."
"Hi, I'm Jake Hardy from PCL, I'm calling to let you know that the work has been completed."
Stiles' face lit up in an excited smile. "Thank you, that's wonderful. I will come round tomorrow for inspection and payment. I understand that you and your men will be tired, so what time is best for you?"
"Is noon alright for you?" The man asked with a chuckle.
"Great. Thank you. See you then Mr Hardy, Have a good night."
"You too, Mr Stilinski."
Stiles smiled, then hung up the phone. "Yes!" He cheered, pumping a fist into the air, before heading back inside. When he got back to the living room, he found that the Pack had paused the movie and were all staring at him curiously.
"What was that about?" Derek asked curiously.
"Uh, the first part of the thing is finished." Was his reply, causing Danny to cheer. Allison and Erica followed suit, as Lydia laughed at the three of them, and Jackson rolled his eyes.
"This is great!" Allison smiled. "I am so coming with you to check it out!"
"So am I" Lydia stated, and Erica did the same.
"Alright," Stiles smiled, but the others just looked annoyed that they didn't know what was going on.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Two days before Derek was scheduled to travel down to South America, Stiles called a Pack meeting. Scott, Boyd, Isaac, Derek, Melissa, Jackson and Erica were sitting and listening. Stiles was standing in front of his Pack with Allison and Danny to his left, Lydia and his father to his right.
"Okay." Stiles started, he tried to appear confident, but you didn't need super senses to know that he was nerve racked. "So, uh, I know that you're all curious as to what it is we've been hiding from you, and why I've told some about the plans, but not others." As he spoke Lydia and Allison collected some papers and held them out to Stiles. "We've been planning this for a while, and I hope that you all like it and don't hate me." He took one of the rolls of papers from Allison and set them on the table, spreading them out for the Pack to see.
"These are the blueprints for the official records."
"Blueprints?" Derek asked in slight shock
"For the new and improved Hale house." Stiles announced nervously
"You have spoken about rebuilding it, so the Pack can have a place to hang out and relax." Allison continued happily.
"And you, Isaac, my dad and I can move in straight away, I told dad when I first thought of it and he understood that we would want to live together, but he doesn't want to live away from me yet, and I don't either, so... yeah. The others will all have their own rooms for when they want to stay over and stuff. Or if any of them want to move in permanently."
The Alpha hummed as he flicked through the well drawn plans. "Did you hire somebody to make these?"
"No." Stiles informed him, pride clear in his voice. "Lydia made them. She did a great job" The redhead preened at the praise
"Jackson's dad got us the planning permission and things. Allison and I worked on the design," The Banshee explained next, far more confident than Stiles was that Derek would be happy with their work. "Stiles thought of the layout and structure and the sheriff was in charge of making sure no one outside of the Pack and working crew knew about it, so that it could stay a surprise. Of course, we had to be wary with the construction crew, but thankfully gave us this magic herb mixture to slip into their drinks-"
"Please tell me that you didn't kill them." Derek all but begged, causing the girl to roll her eyes at him.
"No, the herbs just made sure that they can't tell anyone. If they ever try to, they will become disoriented and forget what they were going to say, instead their minds will jump to the official plans, without the secret tunnels. The same thing will happen if they ever come back to the house, it's irreversible." Lydia explained and Derek nodded, impressed at how thought out it all was. "Danny has been working the security angle and Erica has been running interference whenever you guys are on your runs, keeping you from seeing it before it was ready, she also helped with the design a little, mostly with hers and Boyd's room."
"You've done a good job." Derek stated. "I can't see where these tunnels are meant to be, though. What I do is that there are a lot of large rooms here, especially in the basement. Maybe we could make a panic room of sorts?"
Stiles, Allison and Lydia looked to each other, proud of the idea they'd had while designing the layout for the house "Like we said, those are the official blueprints," Allison stated and handed Derek the second roll. "These are the actual blueprints."
Derek nodded, looking through the plans. There were no more too large rooms, but discrete tunnels running through the house. In the basement, there were two rooms in the space Derek had thought of for the panic room, one of which was written as being made of mountain ash. The most noticeable thing was the extra page.
"Two basements?" Scott asked, speaking for the first time.
"Yes, the second one will be a panic floor, connected to twelve tunnels, but six have been filled in from the inside. They're still there, and the exits to the sealed tunnels are in easier to find places. That way, people can think that they've found a way in, only, when they get close to the house, they will be met with several layers of dirt, stone, mountain ash, concrete and titanium. The six that aren't filled in, require a member of the Pack to use their claws to access it. The members without claws will be given an alternative."
"What kind of alternative?" Derek asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, we've been discussing it with Deaton, and he recommends artificial claws, infused with Pack DNA and magically altered to only work for those who are actually Pack. So if they ever get stolen by hunters or something, they won't work." Allison explained with a smile we have prototypes made." She held up her hand to show off the simple silver band on her index finger. "Danny helped create them using nanotech." She used her thumb to tap the side of the ring three times in quick succession, immediately the ring morphed itself into a new shape. It coated her hand like a glove, tipping earache of her fingers in silver claws, amazing the pack members who hadn't seen it before.
"That's amazing." Derek commented with awe, turning to look at Danny. "Well done!" He then looked at the other pack members involved individually. "All of you, this is amazing."
"That's also part of why we needed Erica," Jackson stated from where he was sitting, trying to keep the joy out of his voice that was caused by his Alpha's compliment. "We needed to make sure that all Pack could get access, Stiles, Allison, Erica, Danny and I each gave a drop of blood to ensure that."
"As each of us, except Danny, are mated with someone, our blood will allow them access." Stiles explained, all traces of nervousness gone thanks to Derek's positive response, replaced with excitement and confidence. "So, my blood will give Derek, and my dad access to the tunnels. Allison's gives Scott, Isaac, Chris and Victoria access, we got some of Scott's blood, so Melissa has access too. Although, the family thing gave us a little trouble, as we had to find away to exclude Peter and any other Argents who get turned, but we got that sorted." Stiles stated, a glare appearing on his face at the thought of the former Alpha and the rest of the Argent family.
"Wait hold up." Scott jumped in. "How the hell did you get my blood?"
"Remember that time that Derek accidently cut you during training, and I helped clean the wound before it healed?" Allison asked sheepishly and Scott nodded, realisation dawning. "Yeah, then."
"I set up an electronic security system." Danny spoke up before Scott could say anything, a proud grin on his face. "It runs on my own private network and has a direct, secure line to the sheriff's station. Motion sensors, camera's, all of that. Dr Deaton did give me a little magical help, so that the motion sensors trigger a silent alarm and send an alert to the station and each of our phones the second someone who isn't Pack steps onto our land."
"Wow, that's great." Derek praised, pride clear in his voice. "When will it be ready?"
"Now." Stiles said sheepishly, and Derek's eyes widened. "The construction was completely finished on Saturday, Danny, Deaton and I have been going in for the last two days to set up the security. The girls have started up the decorating, that still needs completing once everyone decides what they want, and furniture needs to be put in, but the kitchens and living rooms are finished."
"Rooms? Plural?" Isaac asked curiously, trying to hide his excitement over having a home. His father's house hadn't felt like home since the abuse started. The Stilinski house was close to home, and he loved it there, but something just didn't really feel right. He hadn't even seen the new house yet, and it already felt like where he belonged.
"Yeah, the second basement will be kind of like a bungalow, ish, mixed with a panic room." Stiles stated an edge of uncertainty in his voice. "Sorry I can't think of any other way to describe it."
"I think that's probably the best we're going to come up with." Allison stated with a shrug. "It's split into multiple rooms." She pointed to two identically sized rooms in the center of the basement. "The one on the left will be a training room. The one on the right will be the sleeping quarters, we all talked it over and decided that because we will only ever sleep there in case of emergency, we'd all be better off in the same room."
"That's probably a good idea." Scott hummed in appreciation. "What about the rest of these rooms? I get that one is gonna be a bathroom and another is gonna be a kitchen, but what else is there? There's a lot of rooms."
"Weapons rooms, living room, library, a pantry, a theater room, a closet room and a laundry room." Stiles listed thoughtfully, trying to remember if he had left anything out. Lydia answered that for him.
"And a game room. For, you know, if we get bored." The redhead shrugged. "Depending on the threat, it might not be wise to leave the property, so we're better off having everything we could need."
"What if they cut the electricity?" Isaac asked.
"I'm glad you asked!" Danny grinned. "The second basement runs off of it's own generator and has a private phone line."
"Where will this generator be?" Derek asked, looking intently at the plans, counting the rooms. He realised then, that they had listed twelve rooms, and there were thirteen.
"Here." Stiles said, pointing to the smallest room in the north west corner. "A generator and a boiler will be in here. The boiler has a direct pipeline to the lake. The pipeline was already there, from the old house, except it previously went upwards and supplied the entire house. Now, where it used to go up, it's split into two pipes. One for the basement, one leading up to the whole house."
"When can we see it?" Isaac asked.
"Now, if you'd all like to."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
The first thing Derek thought when he saw the house was that it was big. Way bigger than the house he grew up in. Not that he minded, growing up with such a big Pack, they had always been short on space. He doubted that they'd run into that problem again. The house was three stories tall, the walls to the house were made of stone rather than wood, and painted a nice white colour. There were two curved staircases, leading from the ground to balconies on the first floor. There were two more balconies on the second floor, but they weren't accessible by stairs. There were a lot of windows, which concerned Derek slightly until Stiles spoke up. "Bulletproof glass has been used for all of the windows, double glazed."
The second thing he thought was 'of course they put in a pool' between the entrance to the clearing and the house, was a large pool, already filled with clear blue water, protected by a clear plastic covering. Comfortable looking lounge chairs were set around the pool in an organise fashion.
"A pool?" Isaac and Scott asked excitedly in unison.
"Yup," Stiles grinned, leading the Pack around said pool, towards the house. "It was Lydia's idea. Summer is coming up and a lot of people go to the public pool or the lake, by having our own pool, we can keep cool and let our supernatural sides out, without having to worry about other people seeing us." Jackson peered over the edge, into the pool.
"How deep is it?" The boy asked, this was the first he'd heard about the pool, so he wanted to know if it was deep enough to practice for swimming competitions. After all, as the team captain, he needed to stay in shape.
"Ten feet at the deepest end, three feet at the shallowest." Lydia stated, pointing to the side of the pool they were walking past. "That's the shallow end, and you can see steps at the bottom. Those steps bring you down to five feet, the there's a black line represent the start of the slope that gradually brings the pool to ten feet." She had moved her hand so that she was now pointing towards the deep end. "As you can see, we have a diving board over there, Ally's idea."
"Alright, enough about the pool." Derek snapped playfully. "Can we see inside the house now?"
"Yeah, of course." Stiles grinned. "Follow me." When they reached the double glass doors, Stiles pulled out his keys, and searched through them, before stopping on a silver key, with the letter 'H' embroidered into it. As Stiles unlocked the door, Derek found himself excitedly looking through the glass, at his new home. Stiles put his keys back in his pocket, and set a hand on either handle, looking over his shoulder at the Pack with an excited smile. "Welcome, to the Hale house."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Back in Stiles and Derek's bedroom at the Stilinski house, three hours later, Stiles closed the bedroom door, then turned around only to be shoved against said door by Derek.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Derek all but growled, eyes glowing red.
"B-because I-I I wanted it to be a surprise."
"Stiles." Derek let out, in a sort of growl/sigh combination. "I wish you had told me before you'd done it."
"I'm sorry." Stiles whispered, trying to fight back tears, he thought Derek was happy about what he'd done. He'd sure played it well.
"God Stiles, I know I said I wanted a new home, and I'm happy with what you've done, but I wish that you hadn't blown your money on it, it must have cost a fortune!" Stiles' eyes widened as realisation hit him.
"No! I-I mean yes, it did cost a lot, but it wasn't my money, not all of it at least." Stiles defended immediately, hoping to calm Derek down.
"What do you mean?" Derek asked, eyes fading back to their normal colour.
"Well, dad and I paid for the paint and flooring, Jackson and Lydia both contributed towards part of the construction cost and bought some furniture, but most of it was uh.."
"Yes?"
"Most of it was your money." Stiles blurted nervously, looking horribly guilty. "Hear me out, I'm sorry, okay, but you said that I could use it for anything, and you've still got loads left and-" Derek cut the boy off with a kiss, and Stiles eyes went wide, before fluttering closed as he melted into this kiss. "You're not mad?" Stiles asked in confusion when they pulled apart for air.
"No." Derek chuckled, shaking his head. "Although, I wish you had only used my money, rather than your own, and Lydia's and Jackson's" Stiles looked confused, so Derek explained. "As alpha, it's my job to look after the Pack, that includes providing them with shelter. I know how you and dad struggle for money, so I didn't want you putting yourselves out, just to do something that I should do." He explained, still pining Stiles to the door. "And like you said, I've got plenty of money, and a job."
"If you're not mad, why am I still pinned to the door?" Stiles asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because it's fun." Derek grinned, and kissed the boy once again.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
Two days later, Derek was driving into a small town in South America, following the directions to Tammy's family's new house. A familiar scent was drifting in through the open car window. It wasn't Tammy or her parents, Mr and Mrs Harley, it was someone else, but it was too faded and overpowered by other scents for him to place it. It was driving him crazy.
Within twenty minutes of arriving, he had met up with the Harleys, and was now pulling into the grounds belonging to the Jardine Pack. As they got further into the grounds, the familiar scent got stronger. Derek forced himself to push it to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand. He pulled over when he saw a proud brunette woman standing, flanked by four male werewolves. Once the car had come to a stop, he looked to the family and gestured for them to get out of the car, before doing so himself.
"Alpha Jardine." He greeted with a pleasant smile, once he was close enough, he held out his hand and bared his neck for the alpha. "It's a pleasure to see you." He stated, then stayed still as the woman shook his hand and sniffed his neck. It felt wrong to bare his neck as an alpha, but this wasn't his territory so he needed to be respectful.
"Alpha Hale." The woman greeted, then let go of his hand and stepped back.
"So this is her?" She asked, gesturing to Tammy.
"Yes." Derek nodded. "I understand that you may be hesitant to take her, especially giving the colour of her eyes, but as I said over the phone, that was not her fault. She is a good kid and deserves a good Pack."
"You don't have to worry, alpha Hale." Jardine assured him with a smile. "I know of the situation and, no offense to you, did some research to find the full extent of the situation. Therefore, I understand that this girl shouldn't be held responsible for what happened, at least that's how I see it." Derek smiled at her gratefully. "I'll admit that I was surprised to hear from you, I believed that you had perished in the fire, like most of your family."
Derek shook his head, then paused. "Most? Who are you referring to?"
"Your sister." The alpha said cautiously "Are you aware that she is alive?"
"I'm sorry but she's not." Derek told the alpha sadly, and the woman looked at him with an unreadable expression. "Laura and I lived together in New York for six years, but she passed away six months ago." The alpha opened her mouth to say something, but a fresh wave of the familiar scent hit Derek, and a switch flipped in his mind. "Cora?" He gasped, his head snapping to the side to look at the girl.
"D-Derek?" A brunette girl, who looked to be about sixteen called out in shock. "Is it really you?" She asked, cautiously walking over to him.
"It's me, Cor." The girl squealed excitedly and ran over to her brother, wrapping him into a hug. "Wow, I think this is the first time you're willingly hugged me." Derek teased as tears flooded his eyes.
"Don't get used to it." Cora teased, but Derek knew that she was crying too.
"I thought you were dead." He told her, breathing in her scent like his life depended on it.
"I thought you were." The girl replied, taking a deep breath as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "Did anyone else make it out?"
"That's a long story, I'll tell you all about it later." Derek promised. They continued hugging for a few minutes before alpha Jardine spoke up.
"I assume this will now be an exchange, rather than a drop off?" The alpha asked, a hint of amusement in her voice, rather than the anger that Derek had expected.
"Wait." Cora gasped, pulling out of the hug to look up at Derek, when the realisation hit her. "You're the new alpha? The up and coming alpha in Beacon Hills?" Derek nodded and flashed his eyes at his baby sister. Cora gasped, a huge grin appearing on her face. She then looked at the female alpha with a semi-nervous, hopeful look on her face. "Tay?"
"If you wish to go with him, you may. I won't keep you from your family." Cora's smile grew wider, if possible as she turned to look at her brother.
"How long will it take you to pack?" Derek asked, a grin taking over his own face.
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
"Wow, seriously?" Stiles asked in shock. His phone was on speaker on the floor of the main hall in the new Hale house. The entire Pack, except Derek of course, were there painting the walls.
"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either, but she's here, she's alive." Derek's joy filled voice came through the phone.
"That's incredible. I'm so happy for you." Allison called out, a big smile on her paint splattered face.
"We all are." Lydia stated.
"Thank you."
"Wait, we're not moving to South America, are we?" Jackson asked cautiously, causing Derek to chuckle.
"No, but Cora will be coming back to Beacon Hills with me, if you're all okay with that?"
Everyone made a sound of agreement, and Stiles stated. "As long as she's nothing like Peter, we're all cool with it."
"Alright." Derek chuckled, then there was a sound of shuffling. "Okay, I- uh I'm gonna go and catch up with Cora and help her pack her things. I may be here a little longer, but I love you all, stay safe, and don't do anything stupid. Okay?"
The Pack agreed and said their goodbyes before the call cut out.
"What do you think she'll be like?" Scott asked, wiping the back of his hand across his brow, spreading more paint there.
"Like a female Derek." Jackson chuckled.
"Hopefully less grouchy than Derek was when we met him, though." Stiles commented with a fond eye roll.
"I hope she has a better fashion sense than him." Lydia stated, a thoughtful look on her face. "Sure, his look works for the 'I don't give a damn' bad boy thing, but it's not that great, especially when it's the only thing he wears." She rolled her eyes. "Let's hope that Cora has a wider range of colours."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
It turned out that Cora had the exact same fashion sense as her brother. That was clear when the two Hales showed up at the new Hale house, four days later, wearing near identical outfits. Both Hales were wearing black jeans, but Cora's were skinny jeans. The pair wore black leather jackets, trainers and grey tops. Derek wearing a henley and Cora wearing a tank top.
"Derek, you're home early." Stiles beamed as he weaved past Stiles and Isaac who were carrying a king size mattress towards the stairs. He lept into his Mate's arms and hugged him tight before reluctantly letting go and turning his attention to Cora. "You must be Cora, I'm Stiles." He grinned, holding out his hand for the girl, who gave him a firm handshake.
"Yeah, you're Derek's mate, right?" Cora asked, taking a whiff of his scent, probably catching the still rather strong scent of Derek on him. "I've heard a lot about you. All of you." She informed them, glancing around the room, where the Pack had begun to gather to reat her.
"Yeah, that's me." Stiles grinned. "Whatever you've heard, it's all lies."
"Oh, really?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, and boy did her eyebrow game rival Derek's. Stiles could already imagine having conversations with her eyebrows, like he did with Derek. "So, you never went out in the woods to look for my sister's body, and got bitten by my psychotic uncle in the process?"
"Uh.."
"-Or help Derek track down said uncle and get justice for Laura?"
"Well-"
"-Or give my brother a home when he was living in the burnt out shell of our old house?"
"Um-"
"Or help him open up, let go of his man pain, and finally stop blaming himself for things that weren't his fault?"
"I-"
"Or-"
"Okay, so he may have been telling the truth, sheesh, woman!" Stiles exclaimed, flailing his arms at Cora. "And I thought I could ramble!"
"I heard about that too." The girl smirked. "I just wanted to prove that I can out ramble the rambler. Don't get used to it." She said with a soft glare.
"Wow, you are so Derek's sister." Stiles chuckled, shook his head, then gestured around the room. "We're obviously not finished yet, but would you like a tour?"
"Sure."
"Great, oh Derek, here." Stiles called out then tossed his mate his keys. "Could you take Isaac to your storage locker to pick up some stuff? There's a trailer attached to my jeep that you can use."
"Sure thing." Derek smiled, and turned to Isaac, "Are you ready, pup?"
"Yeah dad." Isaac smiled and started walking towards the door.
"Wait." Lydia called out, stopping him in his tracks. "On your way back, can you swing by the Locksmiths? The extra keys are ready."
"Yeah, no problem." Derek smiled, then walked over to Stiles and gave him a soft kiss goodbye. "Love you all."
There was a chorus of 'Love you's' before Derek and Isaac left, and everyone's attention returned to Cora.
"Okay, so who would you like to show you around?" Stiles asked politely. "Batman, Clark Kent, Banshee Queen, Sassy Katniss, Catwoman, Teal'c, Daredevil or Dannyboy?"
Cora gave him the second greatest bitch face he has ever seen, only losing to Jackson. He sighed and shook his head and explained while pointing to each member of the Pack as he said their names. "I am Batman, Scott is Clark Kent, Lydia is Banshee Queen, Allison is Sassy Katniss, Erica is Catwoman, Boyd is Teal'c, Jackson is Daredevil and Danny is Dannyboy, obviously. So who would you like to give you the tour, whilst everyone else continues working?"
Cora hummed as she looked around at the Pack thoughtfully, eyes lingering or Erica and Boyd, looking the pair up and down appreciatively before returning her attention to Stiles. "I'm gonna have to go with you, Batman, I want to get to know my brother's mate."
"Fair enough, follow me."
-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-
By one o'clock the next morning, the ground, first and second floors were almost completely furnished, only the kitchen and Cora's bedroom needed completing. Cora's bedroom had been painted already by Allison and Lydia, once Cora told them what colour she wanted. The second coat of paint would be put on the next morning, then hopefully the carpet could be put down in the afternoon, then they'd move her furniture and personal effects in.
For now, the Pack, including Cora, were huddled together in a puppy pile, the air con on full blast whilst they watched Avengers Assemble. The buzz of the machinery was slightly irritating the wolves, but that was the price they had to pay for bulletproof glass.
"How are they all talking to each other?" Cora asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That is the question that the directors hoped would never be asked." Stiles stated, eyes fixed on the screen, a content smile on his face.
"I guess," Cora stated, trying to shrug whilst being wedged between Derek and Erica. "It's stupid though. You would think that with the budget they had for this movie, they'd be able to afford some small pieces of plastic to pose as ear pieces."
"Shush! We're trying to watch the movie!" Jackson whispered in annoyance, he flicked popcorn at the pair, some of which landed on Derek, who was sandwiched between them.
Derek let out a sigh of annoyance. "Children." He muttered and seconds later, was met with a rain of popcorn.
A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter! xx
Half Alien: You guessed Cora and you guessed right! Congratulations! Have a virtual cookie! Thank you, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter! xx
mks 12 98: Correct! Have a virtual cookie! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter xx
Squidaloodaloo: Tammy is kind of an OC, she's based off of the girl talking to Stiles in the first episode, and talking about Kate in season 2. Peter will have an appearance in the next chapter, and Cora won't be happy with him, So… The twins (mainly Aiden) will still be a bit douchey, but will progress faster than in the show. I hope that you liked this chapter xx
Lynette Serina Jones Harkness: Thank you so much! I hope that you like this one too xx
Chikacookie: It's fine, thank you for reviewing this time. Yes, I did, they are one of my favourite bands! Thank you so much, that really means a lot. I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter xx
Candy Lof: Thank you so much! That really means a lot! I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. xx
Guest: Yes, Cora, you guessed right! Have a virtual cookie! xx
XxZessxX: *Ding dong the douche is dead* Yes, there will be a little action next chapter, but nothing cannon related, sorry. The next two or three chapters will focus on Pack time over summer break. Yeah, I get that I didn't really show that the way that I wanted too, but I tried to clear all of that up, which I hope I have. Please don't be angry at Scott :3 I plan to write more Coach later on, especially during the season three timeline. I am aware of how people look at you funny on public transport, as I had to get a public bus to school everyday for five years, so I know your pain xD I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter xx
Alie-yaoi: Thank you so much, I hope that you're happy with this chapter xx
Daddys little crazy bitch: Thank you so much! I hope that you like this chapter xx