Title: Welcome Home
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Tags: Teen Wolf: The Movie Spoilers, Angst, Fix-It, Re-Established Relationship
Summary: Coming home after so long seemed bittersweet.
Word Count: 9,448
Beta: Grammarly
Stiles stepped inside Beacon Hills for the first time since Derek broke up with him. He didn't want to be there, but it was kind of needed. Something was brewing in the Supernatural world, and it was something that needed to be taken care of. Stiles had been pulled off his hunt for the rapist in New York City and told to report to San Francisco.
Most of the team in San Francisco had been messing with the supernatural longer than Stiles had, but they didn't have the kind of knowledge that Stiles had glutted himself on while in college. They had always been on the outside looking in instead of the dead center like Stiles. It was why he was loaned to them on occasion.
The scenery of the area leading into town hadn't changed at all. Stiles wasn't sure why he thought it would have, but then again, he was not used to seeing it at all.
"No wards," Janice said as she crossed the same line that he did.
"No, I wouldn't say so. The druid for the Beacon Hills Nemeton is in LA now. The Nemeton is not dead in the water like he thinks, but I've kept my eyes on it."
"From afar?" Joe asked.
Stiles looked at the twins, and he shrugged. He had eyes and ears in the city, and they made sure he knew all that they thought he needed to know.
"Stiles," Peter said as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"Creeperwolf." Stiles stood up and faced Peter Hale for the first time in person in nearly five years. "Where is your prettier half?"
"You have shit taste. He's in Japan doing a little looking into something for me."
"Japan, where Liam followed that girl he met in college?"
"Yes. That exact person. There are some whispers in the underground about someone going after Scott and using that Nogitsune to do it."
"Scott's the one that bit it, but why would it go after him?" Stiles had been the reason why everyone had tried so hard to capture it, and it had been stuck in the damned box for years.
"That was our thought as well. Who is your team?"
Stiles gave introductions for the team.
"Derek's house is not big enough for you all, and I doubt he'd want so many there anyway. I have a place that would work, but it's not the most eye-pleasing place."
"The loft that got wrecked?" Stiles asked.
"Ah, Derek told you about that, huh? Yes. The crew has taken a break from the place to take care of a few more pressing needs at other places that Derek and I own, where actual people live. It's got running water, and we can get enough beds. You said you all wanted to be under the radar."
"We do. It's best. The Sheriff and a few others can know," Leroy said as he stepped up. He shook Peter's hand. "I've always wondered what I would say to you, and I guess I'm sorry is first."
"Sorry?" Peter asked. He looked at Stiles, a little lost.
"If my team had been allowed to go in and take care of things. You might not have been burned alive a second time and gotten the help you needed long before you started to wake up trapped in your body."
"I'm really confused."
"This team has been together for a long time. Well, Leroy's been part of it since the 90s. He was a fresh-faced agent back then. People whose lives had been touched. There was someone in the San Francisco office who deemed it not supernatural. From the fire to you waking up and going after people associated with the fire." Stiles had read all about it as well as what Leroy had done to root out the traitors who were covering that kind of thing up for the whole country. An Argent lackey who was paid to make things not get the FBI's attention, or at least if there was no way to block it, make sure that people who had no idea came there.
"Things started to change when Rafe started to pass around the picture of the Oni after he was attacked."
"That's how Monroe got stopped long before she ever got that far. Well, at least before she killed too many. The FBI standoff outside of the Sheriff's station was the end of things for her."
"Yes. She wasn't expecting all of that. Let's get to the place, and Leroy can tell you all about what he's done to make sure that a hunt like that will never happen again."
---
The loft wasn't the same one that Derek had lived in for so long. No, it was the one on the top floor of the place; the rest below were all rented out, with Beacon Hills blooming again when it came to having people moving back. The Nemeton being free of the Nogitsune had changed things greatly. It was happy a happy city again.
"How long has it been since you were home?" Joe asked.
"College. I got into massive with the guy I started to date then. When I told him it was over because I couldn't take the way he was anymore, he told me to leave and never come back. I still saw my dad, but it was in San Francisco after that."
"That's like a decade ago."
"I can be a petty, spiteful bitch when I want to be. I just don't want to see him happy without me. I love him still, and I wish he had been able to see that he needed help. He needed it, and I couldn't just keep on like that. I was killing myself to make him happy and try and change him for the better when it wasn't on me to do that. I was still doing the internship as well, and well, that meant I had little time for myself, and it was all to deal with him. So, I told him to get help, or I was leaving."
"And you let him dictate you weren't allowed back?"
"No, I made sure that he knew nothing of me ever again. My father doesn't tell him anything; even Peter doesn't."
"Derek? You've always talked about him glowingly."
"He's a good man, but the world fucked him."
"Agreed."
"I wasn't expecting as much scenery as there is in Beacon Hills. I mean, the city is talked about like a ghost town is by others. How did you come from here?"
Stiles laughed at Joe's words, and he nodded toward the kitchen area of the loft. There were mattresses everywhere to allow them to get sleep. Janice had laid down wards to make sure that no one crossed them without her knowing. Her magic was pretty strong, but it was stronger with her so close to the Nemeton.
"How are you feeling today?" Stiles asked.
"Still like something is crawling under my skin. I need to see the Nemeton."
"Sounds good. Let's go and do that now. I need to see if I can still find it or not." Stiles looked at the rest of the team; all of them were ready to go, just waiting on the last of them to get ready, which had been the Stone twins since Janice needed to meditate to clear her head for the magic she was going to be doing today.
---
The Nemeton was just as easy to find as it had been the last time Stiles had tried to find it. He laid his hand on it, and he felt the warmth of it despite the fact that the sun hadn't gotten high enough yet to clear the trees and warm it up.
"This is not good," Janice said as she stepped into the muddy area around the Nemeton. Joe was right behind her, his eyes taking it all in.
"Oh, this...don't worry about that." Stiles sat down on the Nemeton. He laid his hand on it again, and this time the visage changed. There was a massive tree visible to all of them. Stiles was sitting on a bit of the old stump that had stayed behind to become a bench seat.
"How in the hell?" Joe asked.
"You are connected to it." Janice stepped up and touched the tree. She cocked her head to the side. "You've protected it."
"Yes. No one else can see this ever. I can always, but even if someone else were to come up and sit down, they would sit inside the Nemeton. Deaton never protected it, and even I only have a small amount of magic inside of me. A spark, as Deaton once called it, is attached to me, and I can't break it."
"You've always known that something was happening." Leroy stepped up to touch the tree as well.
"No, not really. The Nemeton felt like this the last time it was wildfire season. It's not like I keep that attached to it all the time. I feel what it feels when magic is a little messed up, but again, that feels like the wildfire season."
"You never talked about this," Leroy said.
"Nope, I have a lot of PTSD from my time in Beacon Hills, and I would never betray the tree. Since we crossed the boundary around the town, though, I have felt it. It's scared of something, and the sense memory it's showed me is that it's something to do with the Nogitsune. So we shall see what is going on with that."
"You have too many layers. I wouldn't even call you an onion, more like those games where you wrap things in cling wrap and hide small things inside of it. You drop some good things from those layers, but sometimes it's pure shit."
"Hi," a person said.
Stiles looked to the side to see it was a teenage boy. It hurt to see him.
"This is private property," Eli Hale said.
Stiles couldn't help but laugh at that. He shook his head, and he stood up. The others didn't move.
"It's okay. We are kind of allowed to be here given the nature of why we are here."
"No, you really aren't. My father and I didn't give you permission to come onto the land."
"Exisent circumstances." Stiles pulled out his FBI ID and badge, flashing both at him.
"I'm still going to tell my father." Eli pulled out his cell phone, and Leroy moved, but Stiles held out his hand, and Leroy stilled. "Dad, there are five FBI agents here at the tree I've been sleepwalking too."
There was no way for Stiles to hear the words on the other end from Derek, but Eli flinching, said that Derek wasn't happy about something.
"Fine." Eli hung up with a glare at his phone. "I've been told to leave you alone. I guess that I should leave."
"We could give you a ride back to town, Eli," Stiles said.
That had Eli freezing and glaring at Stiles. Yeah, that was the Hale glare.
"You can call Peter or Malia and ask them if it's safe to ride with me."
"Not my father?"
"Well, you could. I would gladly allow you to call him. He just won't like hearing my name."
"Stiles," Eli said.
"Yes. That's me. It's been a decade since I've seen you; I'm not shocked you don't remember me."
"No, I don't. I saw a picture once years ago, but it was mostly focused on Uncle Peter and Chris."
"Are we done here, Stiles?" Leroy asked
"Yes, we are. I have everything I need. So Eli, tell me about this sleepwalking." Stiles didn't like it. He had done it before, but the sleepwalking he had done while he was being slowly taken over by the Nogitsune was front and center in his mind. He didn't want that for Eli. It would probably be impossible or him to go into Eli, but then the worries Peter had about him not shifting for the first time yet was there in Stiles' mind as well.
---
Stiles dropped down into the chair in the middle of the living room area of the loft. He had a book in his lap and a cup of hot tea ready to be sipped on since he couldn't sleep.
A knock at the door had Stiles looking up. It woke up every single member of the team as well. He reached for the gun that was lying on the table beside him.
Just like last time, no one had heard Eli's approach, and given the way that Ashley was sniffing the air, it had to be him. There was something about the teenager that made it hard for even shifters to hear him coming.
Stiles got up and opened the door to find that it was Eli. He seemed to be sleepwalking.
"Shit," Janice said.
"I'll call his father. Whatever is going on, Derek's not noticing him leaving the house, which is not good."
"No, it's not," Ashley said.
Eli came in with a gentle prod. The smell of Stiles on him would piss off Derek, but it was better than having one of the others who were fully known people.
Stiles got Eli settled in the chair Stiles had been about to sit in, and he snagged his phone as it started to ring. It was Jordan Parrish.
"Parrish, it's a little late, isn't it?"
"Eli Hale went sleepwalking again. Your father wanted me to call you even if I don't understand why."
"I'm in town with my team. Is Derek with you?"
"Yes, he came to the station as he couldn't track him by scent, which is always the worst of this."
"No, agreed. Tell Derek he can pick up Eli here where I'm staying. If he doesn't know, Peter does."
Stiles listened to Parrish telling everyone who was there where to find Eli.
"Derek says he'll be there as soon as he can. How many people are there?"
"Six with Eli. I trust my team. We have a set of twins, and they use magic and a shifter than a plain old human."
"And then you," Parrish said.
"Well, duh. I didn't think I needed to list myself as a human."
Parrish laughed before he hung up.
"Derek hale is n his way over here?"
"Yeah, I'll work on getting Eli awake. He's still suppressing his wolf traits, as far as I have been told, but he is a threat. I would have you do it, Ash, but we don't need to react to worse if he thinks you are a threat."
"Agreed. Is he okay?"
"Yes, the Nemeton wants him for something, but I think it might be drawing Derek there, and someone else is always finding him. I'll have to see once we get Derek there as well."
Stiles reached out and touched Eli's face like he had done once when Eli had a nightmare while Stiles had been watching him. Eli's eyes fluttered open, and he jerked in the seat, reminding Stiles of himself so much. The energy he would normally let out as a wolf had to go somewhere. Suppression didn't work in the long run, but not having therapy was hurting Eli on that front.
"Stiles," Eli said. He looked around. "What am I doing in the loft? Was I hurt?"
"No, not hurt. Just sleepwalking, and instead of going to the Nemeton, you came here. Your father is on his way, probably with your Great Uncle and cousin. I'm sure that he will want the numbers to feel safe."
"I smell tea. Can I have some?"
"Sure." Stiles pointed at the cup he had made. It was cool enough to drink now, so it would be fine for him. Stiles hadn't drank out of it yet.
Eli picked up the cup and wrapped his hands around it, taking the warmth.
"Cold?"
"No, not really, just a little freaked out. I don't like this."
"No, I bet not. That's why my team is staying away. Though, you have Ashley fully freaked out on why he can never smell or hear you."
"It's how I get passed Dad. We can't figure it out as well."
"Then I guess the best thing is to do what the Nemeton wants. We can all head there later if we need to before I leave town."
"Uncle Peter wanted you called in. Well, the name was never said, but he kept talking about someone else the Nemeton liked. I put two and two together when I followed the call while I was awake."
"Ah, so you feel that pull when you are awake."
"No, not really. Not often. I was bored and did it the other day. I just have no idea what is going on, and I don't like it."
"I bet not. Just sit there and relax. I'm going to talk to my boss."
Stiles walked over to where Leroy was and looked back at Eli, who looked a lot smaller than his fifteen-year-old self should look.
"The Nemeton wants you and him there."
"Actually, I think it wants his father. I can't figure out why, though." Stiles wondered if the Nemeton needed both Stiles and Derek for something that it was unable to make him understand. It was not something that Stiles wanted to think about too much.
Nothing was really said as they waited for Derek to arrive. It wasn't too long, given the time of night, and Derek probably speeding to get there. The door was still open, so when Derek got there, he just came inside. His eyes found Eli with ease. Derek's body relaxed enough that even Stiles could tell it.
"Dad, I didn't mean to come here."
"I know. It's okay. I'd rather you come here to Stiles than be out in the Preserve with everything being weird here right now."
"I think-" Stiles stopped talking when Derek looked at him. He waited to see what Derek was going to do, but he just kept on looking at Stiles. "Okay, well. I think the Nemeton wants you, Derek. Not him. And it's just going to get worse if you don't do what it wants."
"I told you years ago that I am never going there again."
"Yeah, when you were still kind of young and stupid and scared out of your head. You have been raising Eli for the last decade and aged up to match that. You cannot tell me you are still scared of what might or might not happen. Just do it, and don't worry about what else might go wrong."
"The last time I had shit go wrong, I nearly lost everything. I'm not giving that tree anything else in my life!" Derek yelled.
"Oh boo hoo. You know the damage that was done to it. I didn't want to come back to this fucking town, but I did. Like you, this town had me losing nearly everything in my life, so don't pull that shit with me, Derek Hale."
"Okay, we need to calm down," Leroy said.
Derek turned to look at Leroy.
"If you will not come to me, I will come to you," Eli said.
"What?" Derek asked as he turned from Leroy to look at Eli, who had shining silver eyes.
Stiles wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't stop Derek from rushing over to touch Eli. Which was exactly what the Nemeton wanted. It had connected with Eli enough to use him to do whatever the Nemeton wanted from Derek.
Eli reached out and grabbed Derek's face, holding on tightly. Derek started to struggle, and even Stiles could see he was using his Werewolf strength to try and break free, but not enough to hurt Eli. Still, Eli should never have been able to hold onto him.
"I took this from you to heal it. It was always meant to be given back to you, but you kept on resisting the call of the wild, as it were. I protected it from the Nogitsune. I protected it from everything and used it to clean and protect the lands. I had thought that Stiles coming out would mean you would as well, and then he was gone. He left, and he made sure I was safe, but I was unable to do what I needed."
Stiles stepped closer, waving off Janice and Joe. Ashely had Leroy on the far side of the room and didn't seem to want to let the man get any closer.
"I need a connection to do this, and your son was more than willing to follow me out to there to foster that. I never hurt him, even though you have to allow him to wallow in the fear of the essential part of who you are. You love your son, but you have a few issues that stop you from doing what is best for him. So, Derek Hale, this is your wake-up call. Do better, or I'll take it back again."
Eli's eyes started to shine even brighter, and then it was so bright that Stiles had to look away. He kept on glancing toward the two Hales and waited for what was happening to stop before he did anything else. It was several minutes of silence before the light started to fade. Stiles walked over to where Derek was on his knees with Eli in his arms.
Derek looked up at Stiles with red eyes. Alpha eyes.
"Shit," Stiles said as he dropped down to check Eli's pulse. "He's just asleep. Lay him on the couch. He'll be fine. I'm sure being the conduit for the Hale alpha spark going back to you wore him out."
Derek stood up, his legs not even hesitating in the movement. He laid Eli down and then covered him up, brushing the hair that had fallen on his face off. He looked so damned young, younger than the fifteen years he was.
"How is this possible?" Derek asked.
"You gave it up to save Cora, but that's not how it works, really. I looked at it years ago using what we had. The spark was supposed to come back slowly. Saving the life of a packmate is the highest honor. I assumed that you never getting it back had to do with you dying, but then Cora and Peter never became alphas. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but I didn't realize that you weren't following the pull of the Nemeton. Eli followed it, but you never were the one to go and get him. It makes sense."
"I'm not worthy of being an alpha."
"Derek, you already are an alpha," Peter said.
Malia and Parrish were right behind Peter in the doorway, looking like they were shocked at what had happened.
"No."
"Yes. Scott's not been here for years. He doesn't do anything to hold the bonds for all of us and make us not omegas. We know that pack can go elsewhere, but there has to be intent on the alphas part to make sure the pack doesn't become omegas. We have never had that. He ignores what Deaton tells him because Deaton doesn't try and force him to do what he needs. The pack is in tatters, and it's only been you that has held us together."
Stiles knew that, in this case, he and his team were outsiders and didn't really need to be there for it. Still, he didn't want to move and draw attention to them.
"Dad, the three were talking to me," Eli said.
"Hey," Derek said as he dropped down to sit at Eli's side.
"Why does the tree want you?"
"It gave me a gift it would have given me years ago if I hadn't been a stubborn asshole."
"What?"
Derek swallowed, and he looked to the side. It took a few seconds for Stiles to realize that he was looking at him and not at Peter, who was just off to the side.
"I'm sorry that I haven't pushed over the years. You are so scared of something that is ingrained to you. I know that I talk all the time about how the Hales are always Werewolves, but I'm lying to you. I do it hoping that it would help you get over this fear of your other self. Of the Hales who are alive right now, we are all shifters. Malia's a Werecoyote, but there were humans. We had aunts and uncles who were born human. I had a little brother who was human. He loved life and was so happy, and he was too small and wasn't able to take the smoke and the fire. He was so alive and so happy, and he died for being born into a family of Werewolves. He wasn't even the only human child there. They killed us for being born this way, and I have never really worked that out in my head. I'm sorry for everything I have done or not done to help you become one with who you are, Eli."
Eli shot up, wrapping his arms around Derek and holding on tightly. Stiles started to back away. He didn't need to be here for this. No one on the team did.
None of the Hales noticed their leaving.
"Hey, Dad," Stiles said when he saw his father standing outside of his SUV on the ground floor.
"I figured that there were enough people up there that I wasn't needed to make this anything big. What did I miss?"
"Derek's an alpha again. It was why Eli was sleepwalking to the Nemeton. I guess it has been holding the spark and healing it up from the death of Talia while holding it, Laura's disregard for her family, and then Peter holding it while he was insane. It explains a lot of what went on. It was damaged, and when Derek used it to heal Cora, there was something going on. The person was never supposed to lose it when that happened; it was supposed to settle into the wolf, heal up on its own, and come back."
"And what's going on in Beacon Hills now?"
"Now, sure. The Nemeton used the brute for the attack on things, so I have a feeling it knows that we are going to need an alpha that actually means something. I'm not even sure that Scotty felt the whole pack leaving him."
"Whole pack?"
"He's not here. The pack is going to go to someone who is close. Only time will tell on that. Now, let's head and get some sleep. Since the Hales took over this place, mind if we sack out at home?"
"You aren't trying to hide anymore?"
"No. That feeling of danger is gone. I think the Nemeton was trying to force me here to do this to make sure that this happened. Whatever else is coming, it's not too worried, it seems."
"And so you aren't worried?"
"Not too much. Let's go, Daddio. We need sleep."
---
Derek grabbed Stiles and hauled him around to slam him into the tree truck just seconds before an arrow landed in the side of the tree Stiles had been standing beside.
Whoever this person was, they needed a reality check on using arrows with them as the retort of gunfire sounded.
"Quit being an idiot."
"I wasn't being an idiot." Stiles grabbed Derek's hand, which had its claws out, and he dragged it across his person. The claws hit something. "Janine's really good at this kind of thing. I'm puncture-proof. I can piss people off and draw their attention to me with this. Then they can't get me, and my team can get them. We are good at what we do."
Stiles shoved Derek away from him, and he looked at where the man who had been nearly about to set fire to the copse of rowan trees was. Whoever wanted that much Mountain Ash powder wasn't good.
"Who is it?" Stiles asked Ashley as the body was turned over.
"I am not sure. I don't know him. Wait. The face is changing."
Stiles stepped over to see who it was, and he frowned. The person looked like Mister Harris, but then the face was distorting, and it seemed to be fighting something before it smoothed out into a face that Stiles didn't know.
"I'll have someone run a match," Janice said as she snapped a picture.
"Who was it before?" Ashley asked.
"He looked like a teacher of mine, but that would be impossible. The body was never found, but the Darach who killed him was able to complete her ritual, so the body was counted as dead since no others went missing in that time that fit the type of person he was. He was a warrior sacrifice."
"Hmm, a face to throw you off." Leroy stepped up and tapped at the dead man's arm with his boot. The arm moved in a normal manner.
"So this person was trying to what?" Janice asked.
"Probably release the Nogitsune. It's fine. It was stopped. We have people all over," Peter said.
"Who are you again?" Ashley asked.
"Peter Hale. My husband, Chris, was able to stop this person from getting the Nogitsune's prison open. He was finally able to get a lock on the person. They got out of Japan faster than him, and so they were able to get here faster. He just landed and wasn't able to figure out where he went, but he swore he knew the guy's face, and if this guy was wearing Harris', well, that means it was probably him. Chris is on his way home."
"So the Nogitsune, the face of a dead teacher, what else?" Ashley asked.
"Chris had been dreaming of Allison for the last little while, but I assumed it was just him thinking about her more. Her birthday was in January."
Stiles looked at Derek. "Do you want to reach out to Scott? Make it seem like a welfare check after things went a little weird here?"
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because the last time I talked to Scott, I told him I wanted to never speak to him again since he was a shit alpha. Lydia also hasn't spoken to me since then, either. I have no friends in that circle of people."
"Fine," Derek growled as he jerked his phone from his pocket hard enough that if he lost, his grip on it would have flown at least a mile.
Derek glared at Stiles before he headed away.
"I think he's going through puberty again," Peter said.
"Well, no shit. He's adjusting to being an alpha and feeling how disjointed his relationship with Eli is. They love each other wholly, but while Eli might submit to his father, he won't submit to the alpha that Derek is now."
"You have gotten smarter on packs," Peter said.
"Yes, I have. I have tried to become someone who would be able to help all of the people in the world, no matter who they are. Part of that is making sure I understand them. You know this full well."
"I do. I do know that. What you have done has been good, but I didn't realize you had delved that deep into what makes a pack a good pack. Talia was heralded as the best alpha, but that was our mother. Talia rode the coattails and thought she was great. If there had been a good pack at the base of who she was, there would have been no way that Talia wouldn't have ever known about Kate."
"And you?"
"I was neutered in my role. I had to look for things that went bump in the night, but I wasn't allowed to touch hunters. I wasn't allowed to keep track of them. The last time, Talia broke most of the bones in my body and left me to heal up slowly in cages underground. I learned well to stay in my lane then. I regret that I didn't see kate coming."
"Peter?" Ashley asked as he came up. He held out something to him.
Peter gasped, and he took it. It was small, and Stiles couldn't tell what it was.
"I was poking around the grounds the other day and found this at the base of the Nemeton. The scents are very faded, but I think that's yours."
"This was Spencer's. Derek's little brother. He adored it, and on the last beaver moon, he buried it at the base of the Nemeton to help protect it. I'm sure with everything going on, it came up. Thank you."
Ashley nodded, and he headed away.
"Let's regroup at the lofts. It's neutral enough territory. I don't think Derek wants us at his place anytime soon."
"No." Peter looked down at the dead body again and then at the rest of the FBI agents. "So, who is claiming this one?"
"I shot him," Joe said.
"Good. I'll tell Noah," Parrish said.
---
Paperwork sucked, but it at least didn't suck any less than most everything else that was mundane on the job. He signed his name to the last report and dropped it into the pile he was going to be scanning later and sending off for his former boss to finalize everything for his transfer.
Leroy wanted him on his team full-time. Stiles worked well with them, but also, the supernatural people they came across all trusted him. he still had the name of the Hale pack attached to him even though he was with Scott more than Derek when it was all going on.
Stiles held Peter Hale's trust, Chris Argent's confidence, and the FBI's name. He was someone who was literally able to get in doors that were shut to other people. Leroy wanted that on his team. he wanted to be able to help more people, and with Stiles' name attached to the team, he thought that was possible.
"You have a visitor," Ashley said as he waved toward the doorway.
Stiles looked up, pausing at the sight of Derek Hale standing there with his arms behind his back.
"Alpha Hale, welcome. Do we need privacy?" Stiles stood up to escort Derek to one of the smaller conference rooms. This whole floor was theirs, and it had pissed off a few people who had wanted offices on the floor, but they needed the ability to have contained cell spaces for those who were not under arrest but needed a safe space to come down.
"This is personal, but yes, I would like it to be private."
"Okay. Follow me." Stiles tapped a few buttons on his phone to forward all calls to Ashley's desk for the time being. He wasn't sure what tiswas about. He snagged his work and personal cell phones and found nothing on either. So it wasn't that big of a thing.
Derek didn't take his hands out from behind his back until they were in the conference room with the door shut. One hand held a shoe box and the other an envelope with writing on the front that Stiles didn't know.
He trusted what was inside because it had gone through security, both the metal detectors as well as the magical ones that Janice had laid to check for supernatural. It logged everyone who came through and what they were. It had saved them a time or two when someone unsavory and supernatural had made it through but wasn't on human radars.
"What can I do for you?" Stiles asked as he sat down on the corner of the table. He didn't glance at the shoe box even if he wanted to. He wasn't going to show any interest in what he brought with him. For all he knew, it was a thank-you gift for the team for what they had done in Beacon Hills.
"Peter gave me an update on what is going on with Allison. The scans show that she's aged while she was trapped where she was in that weird underworld place that the Nogitsune held her in. She's still mentally about seventeen, though; the captive part makes it hard."
"Yeah, Peter's been updating me as well. Chris is happy to have her back, but he knows there is a long road ahead. Scott's railing about Chris kidnapping her to France, but in the eyes of the law, the doctors have deemed her unfit to make her own choices since Chris is her father. It's not going to go well. He keeps trying to get the FBI to step in on the kidnapping part of it."
"Scott's been unhappy for years. He can't let Allison go. even the relationships he's had otherwise have failed. He wants kids, and he wants them with Allison, and as much as he's pined for her, he can't see that she didn't feel that way about him in the end. She had moved on with Isaac." Derek relaxed a little, and he put the shoe box on the table before handing over the letter. "This is from my therapist. I've not read it. I told her what she was allowed to tell you about my visits with her, but it's just...it's tangible proof that I'm seeing someone."
Stiles wasn't sure why he cared about it. Unlike Scott, Stiles hadn't been pining for Derek over the years. He was upset about how it ended, but in the end, he wanted to make himself happy while he was alone before adding anyone else in there.
"And?"
Derek exhaled and frowned at Stiles. "I've missed you."
"I get that part of it, but I don't mean this to hurt, but why should I care?"
Derek looked taken aback at that, but he seemed to be thinking about it. Then he nodded his head. "I can see where I might be thinking that you are wanting more out of this than a friendship."
"Derek, I moved on. I'm not where I am fully happy with my life, but I'm getting there. I want to be happy alone before I pull anyone else in. I'm sorry if you thought I was pining for you."
"No, I didn't think you were pining for me, but I thought that maybe we could try. I don't want to jump into anything right now, just...friendship and maybe more if we are both up for it."
"Well, I have no idea what I'll feel about that. Let me read this." Stiles moved to sit fully on the table instead of just a single ass cheek. He found the better was pretty short.
It was a simple thing about how Derek was doing well in therapy, especially around relationships, and how he was open with them. The therapist was honest that Derek had a ways to go and that both Derek and Eli were seeing her. Stiles was glad of that because the Hales all needed therapy, and the only one that Stiles knew was getting it was Peter, and that was because Chris dragged his ass there years ago. I that been entertaining to see, honestly.
"I have no clue what to do with this. I just...I would have trusted you to tell me, Derek. I would have taken your words. I trust you on those kinds of things. You've never lied to me."
"I tried not to. I just was overthinking it. My therapist told me that I was taking it too far, but I didn't trust her on that. I should have."
"What's in the box?"
"Oh, that's chocolate for your desk here. I wanted to make sure that no one else saw what it was, and then I realized that you work with a shifter. He would smell it."
"He did, I bet." Stiles understood the shoe box now. He had kept his chocolate in something like it when he had been in college since his roommates the first year thought it was shoes inside of the box. Stiles had been more than happy to allow him to keep on thinking that. Stiles looked at Derek and frowned. He wasn't sure what kind of person the man was now. There was a lot going on in Derek's life, and Stiles was sure that Derek was freaked out about being an alpha again.
Cora had come home because of it. She hadn't been able to live under Scott's thumb and had gone back to her pack in South America. Stiles hadn't blamed her one bit for that. Scott was really the worst when it came to how he treated her. Stiles would have done worse than just leave.
"We can text," Stiles said.
"Okay. I still have your number." Derek pulled out his phone like he was going to rattle off his number and wait for Stiles to text him or something.
"I still have yours as well. I don't remove numbers. Give them horrible names in my phone, yes, remove them wholesale? No. Look, I am making no promises on this. I have changed. You have changed, and I hope you will keep on changing as time goes on, but this is not a promise of anything. We might not be compatible anymore."
"I understand. I know what you mean, and I agree that we might not be good together at all anymore. I just can't move on right now."
"I get that. I'll text you when I get off work, and we can catch up that way for a few days."
Derek nodded his head and looked down at the box of chocolate. He smiled at it before he looked at Stiles again. The look he was giving Stiles, Stiles knew well. So Stiles slipped off the table and walked around it to give Derek a hug. It was the one big thing that had changed about Derek with their relationship. Derek had learned that someone touching him wasn't going to hurt. Stiles had taught him that a little bit before they got together, but it was mostly after that Derek had learned it applied to other people as well. There was nothing to fear from most people who wanted to touch him. There would always be ones who had bad intentions.
Stiles didn't try and pull out of the hug, he didn't mind it, and it seemed like Derek needed it. He allowed the man to hold him and even turned his head in and scent him.
"Eli wants to get to know you better, understand the thrall the Nemeton had on him and everything else. Peter's normally the go-to for that, but he's out of town, and you know why. So do you mind that?"
"If Eli texts me? Sometimes calls? No, it's fine. I get it. If he needs to see me in person, you can bring him up here. I'll try and get down there as much as possible, but I can't guarantee that. I will be down to see dad a lot. He has come here or LA to see me over the years."
"You never had to do that; you know that, right?"
"Beacon Hills was yours. You had already been run out once. It wasn't like my job could happen there anyway. It's fine. I'm not upset. I was doing as much as I could to mitigate your pain."
"You were so angry at me, and I was so angry at you, and then you did that?"
"Look, I am a spiteful bitch to all who mess with my family, but you were my family, and things went wrong. We weren't right for each other then."
"You don't have to sugarcoat it. I wasn't ready for any kind of relationship, especially not with someone who I felt like I had a chance at a life with. It was doomed to fail, and you did your best. I wasn't ready to hear it, and I'm learning that well now."
"Like your complicated feelings for my Jeep?"
"Your father told you?"
"Everyone told me. Even Eli did. He thinks that you'll give him the Jeep when he is old enough to drive."
"I debated it, but it's yours. My name might be on the title and everything, but it's yours, Stiles."
"Nah, it's the Hales' Jeep now. You have complicated feelings about it. Eli likes stealing it even though he doesn't even have a learner's permit yet. Having to leave it on the side of the road to wait for you to come and tow it back had been the worst moments of my life, but even though we were not speaking, not on good terms at the time, I knew you would never do anything to Roscoe. I am not worried about Eli having it. At least he'll know more than sticking duct tape on the thing to keep it running."
Derek laughed, finally letting go, stepping back but not too far away from Stiles.
"I've missed you."
"I missed you too, not just the us we were, but the us we were before that. I think that's the biggest issue we had. We had tried to become people we weren't."
"I never thought of it like that. The want was there. The love. It just wasn't the best time for it, was it?"
"No, I think if I hadn't pushed you going into therapy so hard and made it why I left, you would have maybe got help sooner, and I'll always feel bad about that. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I was the stubborn one, and you were right to leave. I have that video that Peter recorded so that I could see how I was treating you at the end, and I showed it to my therapist. She wasn't happy with how I was acting then and how I never got help. I was focused on you and not on myself. I wanted you to change, to become someone you weren't. You wanted me to be someone you knew I could be if I got rid of the horrible things I was doing to keep myself wrapped in misery. You understood me in a way that no one really had before. I should go. Eli's in the car, and we are going to have a relaxing weekend, just the two of us doing what we want."
"Have fun."
"If we go see a movie tomorrow, are you free?"
"Only if you both want it. I missed seeing him grow up. I want to see who he is now that he's almost grown."
"Oh, you'll see a lot of yourself, and I don't just mean the clothes."
"I noticed the plaid and the overshirts. The flailing, the getting into trouble. I wish I could say that I'm sorry, but I'm not. I made an impression on that kid."
"You did, and he didn't realize it until recently. Thank you for helping him with his sleepwalking, even if all it was was getting us in the same place, and he could give me the spark through the Nemeton. It was enough, I think."
"I'm glad I could be of help there."
Stiles waited for Derek to nod and then leave before he exhaled. That was not how he thought it was going to go. He walked the letter over to the shredder and got rid of it. No one needed to know any of that.
---
Stiles lay down, and he finally looked at his phone. The case had been horrible, and all he wanted was to crawl into bed with someone and pretend the world didn't exist. It wasn't sexual; it was just wanting a body beside him. To tell him he wasn't alone in the world.
The door to the hotel room opened, and Ashley came in. He grabbed his shirt and jerked it over his head before shucking his pants and leaving them where they were. Next, he crawled into bed with Stiles.
"Who are you talking to?" Ashley asked.
"No one. Just checking messages. Wanting a body beside me to remind me I'm not alone. I guess this is why you are here?"
"Yeah. Everyone else is paired off as well. It's a horrible case, only made worse by the idiot groupies who are trying to get the person doing it off by claiming they are making the killing. It's horrible."
"It's a cult of some kind. It has to be. I have someone coming to help. Peter should be here in the morning. We need a better understanding of packs that involve a lot of humans, and he knows a lot of them."
"Good. Leroy will be happy about that. Will he work with us or in the shadow?"
"With us in the spotlight of sorts. No one will know why. Chris is still with Allison in France, so he won't hang around long." Stiles rolled onto his side, and he let Ashley wrap himself around him. It felt good.
Ashley wasn't like the other shifters Stiles knew, but then he had a good life. He had been happy with his family but then felt like he needed something else. He had lucked into being talked into applying for the FBI.
Stiles looked at the message thread from Derek. Derke understood that Stiles couldn't always text, but he would text anything and everything that he wanted with the knowledge that Stiles would reply when he could. It worked well for them so far, and Stiles was happy about you.
Every time Eli and Derek came to San Francisco for some weekend out, just the two of them, they went to a movie with Stiles. It had been good getting to know them both that way without any pressure.
No one understood that Stiles wanted Derek to be happy, and even if all they ever were was friends, he would be okay with that. Derek was okay with that as well. It was all very grown up. There was nothing wrong with them being friends. It had been hard-earned with the distance between them for so long, but in the end, Stiles felt like Derek was a lot better off with a friend who wasn't going to judge him for his feelings. It was something that would be hard to do with anyone else because they had a stake in the game of being mad at one or the other for how things ended when neither of them had ever asked for it.
"Are you going to go on that date with him?" Ashley asked.
"Not right now. The date is just kind of hanging on there. It's a future thing with no end date unless one of us says no. Why?"
"You are happy when you are talking to him. You just are. It's nice. I never realized how bone-deep your lonely went. You've done things to make yourself happy, but before you joined the team, things were different. Even just the team made you happy. I think you need a pack even if you are human and just have a spark of magic in you. You were made to be in a pack."
"And you were made for someone else, weren't you?"
"I knew a long time ago that the person for me was dead. I am not sure who they were or where they lived, but I know they are gone."
"How?"
"It's a part of me that feels like it's empty, and when I asked someone else about it, that's where their soulmate was. It's something that not all really believe in, but I feel it. I'll try and find someone to love, but I think that one great love of my life is gone."
"That sucks." Stiles laid his phone down as he wouldn't respond to Derek since it was late at night. He would in the morning, and no matter what Derek said, Stiles wouldn't wake him up to text with him. It was nothing too bad, but he didn't like it.
"It does, but at least I know why I don't have that feeling of connection that so many others do. I will never just know who I'm supposed to be with. It would have been work no matter what, but at least this won't be some feeling that I have to worry about following."
"That's one way of looking at it." Stiles laid on his back, and Ashley just settled in there beside him, starting to drift off with the silence.
Stiles picked up his phone and looked at the last few days of messages from Derek. There was something comforting about having Derek there for him. He wanted more of it.
Stiles: How about that date when I get done with this case? We will have a few days off, and I can head to Beacon Hills to see you.
The little dots started to move, telling Stiles that Derek was typing nearly as soon as the message was sent. He smiled and pulled the blankets up a little.
Derek: Whenever you want. I'm up for anything as well.
Stiles laughed and then stopped as soon as he started to ensure Ashley hadn't woken up. It didn't seem like it, so Stiles turned back to his phone. He smiled as he thought about the look on Derek's face.
Derek: Eli's giving me a look.
Stiles: What are you both doing awake?"
Derek: The tree across the street got hit by lightning. We are both a little too worked up with the sirens outside as it's being put out. So we are sitting in the living room watching the movement outside. The power is out as well.
Stiles thought about what he and his father used to do in the dark of the night when power outages had made him unable to sleep. It hadn't been long, really, since there had been rolling blackouts during one summer when it was so hot that the electric grid kept going down. He typed it all out and waited to see what Derek said back.
Derek: You did all of that with Noah?
Stiles: He's the one that made up most of it. After my mom died, I was not doing well in the dark. So he found ways of making sure I was okay during the nights when I couldn't sleep. Then when there were nights when I was having trouble sleeping, even years later, he would bring that up. It's why I read on my phone when I have trouble sleeping and am alone. It's not the best thing in the world, but it's a thing.
Derek: It sounds like fun. I'll see what Eli thinks of it. Maybe next time this happens, you could be here to help keep us both entertained.
Stiles: Maybe. Who knows. I should try and sleep. Ashley's here with me now. None of us want to be alone tonight.
Stiles figured that Derek would not be upset about someone being in bed with him. It wasn't like he hadn't seen the pictures of the Hales all piled together back when Derek was younger. He had thought it looked like the kind of thing that would be awesome, just laying down with someone and existing in the same space as them. It felt good even with just Ashley here with him.
Derek: It's understandable with what you do for a living. Eli's pressed to my side even now. The crack of the tree being hit and then the smell of burning has me freaked out, and he's freaking out from that.
Stiles: Then go do something. I'm heading to sleep. I'm having trouble typing. Good night, Derek.
Derek: Good night, Stiles. Maybe your dreams be sweet.
Stiles smiled at the words and dropped his phone to the bed after locking it. He didn't want to have to deal with Ashley getting the idea he could look at the stuff. Even if his phone would lock on its own, Ashley was dead asleep.
There was a lot of horrible to think about, but as Stiles slipped into sleep, his mind was full of Derek and Beacon Hills. The way that they were back then before things had turned horrible. Before the end of the relationship. He wasn't upset about it, and he hoped that maybe one day they could get to where they were that happy again. When things were better, and the world wasn't as dark for Stiles.
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Tags: Teen Wolf: The Movie Spoilers, Angst, Fix-It, Re-Established Relationship
Summary: Coming home after so long seemed bittersweet.
Word Count: 9,448
Beta: Grammarly
Stiles stepped inside Beacon Hills for the first time since Derek broke up with him. He didn't want to be there, but it was kind of needed. Something was brewing in the Supernatural world, and it was something that needed to be taken care of. Stiles had been pulled off his hunt for the rapist in New York City and told to report to San Francisco.
Most of the team in San Francisco had been messing with the supernatural longer than Stiles had, but they didn't have the kind of knowledge that Stiles had glutted himself on while in college. They had always been on the outside looking in instead of the dead center like Stiles. It was why he was loaned to them on occasion.
The scenery of the area leading into town hadn't changed at all. Stiles wasn't sure why he thought it would have, but then again, he was not used to seeing it at all.
"No wards," Janice said as she crossed the same line that he did.
"No, I wouldn't say so. The druid for the Beacon Hills Nemeton is in LA now. The Nemeton is not dead in the water like he thinks, but I've kept my eyes on it."
"From afar?" Joe asked.
Stiles looked at the twins, and he shrugged. He had eyes and ears in the city, and they made sure he knew all that they thought he needed to know.
"Stiles," Peter said as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"Creeperwolf." Stiles stood up and faced Peter Hale for the first time in person in nearly five years. "Where is your prettier half?"
"You have shit taste. He's in Japan doing a little looking into something for me."
"Japan, where Liam followed that girl he met in college?"
"Yes. That exact person. There are some whispers in the underground about someone going after Scott and using that Nogitsune to do it."
"Scott's the one that bit it, but why would it go after him?" Stiles had been the reason why everyone had tried so hard to capture it, and it had been stuck in the damned box for years.
"That was our thought as well. Who is your team?"
Stiles gave introductions for the team.
"Derek's house is not big enough for you all, and I doubt he'd want so many there anyway. I have a place that would work, but it's not the most eye-pleasing place."
"The loft that got wrecked?" Stiles asked.
"Ah, Derek told you about that, huh? Yes. The crew has taken a break from the place to take care of a few more pressing needs at other places that Derek and I own, where actual people live. It's got running water, and we can get enough beds. You said you all wanted to be under the radar."
"We do. It's best. The Sheriff and a few others can know," Leroy said as he stepped up. He shook Peter's hand. "I've always wondered what I would say to you, and I guess I'm sorry is first."
"Sorry?" Peter asked. He looked at Stiles, a little lost.
"If my team had been allowed to go in and take care of things. You might not have been burned alive a second time and gotten the help you needed long before you started to wake up trapped in your body."
"I'm really confused."
"This team has been together for a long time. Well, Leroy's been part of it since the 90s. He was a fresh-faced agent back then. People whose lives had been touched. There was someone in the San Francisco office who deemed it not supernatural. From the fire to you waking up and going after people associated with the fire." Stiles had read all about it as well as what Leroy had done to root out the traitors who were covering that kind of thing up for the whole country. An Argent lackey who was paid to make things not get the FBI's attention, or at least if there was no way to block it, make sure that people who had no idea came there.
"Things started to change when Rafe started to pass around the picture of the Oni after he was attacked."
"That's how Monroe got stopped long before she ever got that far. Well, at least before she killed too many. The FBI standoff outside of the Sheriff's station was the end of things for her."
"Yes. She wasn't expecting all of that. Let's get to the place, and Leroy can tell you all about what he's done to make sure that a hunt like that will never happen again."
---
The loft wasn't the same one that Derek had lived in for so long. No, it was the one on the top floor of the place; the rest below were all rented out, with Beacon Hills blooming again when it came to having people moving back. The Nemeton being free of the Nogitsune had changed things greatly. It was happy a happy city again.
"How long has it been since you were home?" Joe asked.
"College. I got into massive with the guy I started to date then. When I told him it was over because I couldn't take the way he was anymore, he told me to leave and never come back. I still saw my dad, but it was in San Francisco after that."
"That's like a decade ago."
"I can be a petty, spiteful bitch when I want to be. I just don't want to see him happy without me. I love him still, and I wish he had been able to see that he needed help. He needed it, and I couldn't just keep on like that. I was killing myself to make him happy and try and change him for the better when it wasn't on me to do that. I was still doing the internship as well, and well, that meant I had little time for myself, and it was all to deal with him. So, I told him to get help, or I was leaving."
"And you let him dictate you weren't allowed back?"
"No, I made sure that he knew nothing of me ever again. My father doesn't tell him anything; even Peter doesn't."
"Derek? You've always talked about him glowingly."
"He's a good man, but the world fucked him."
"Agreed."
"I wasn't expecting as much scenery as there is in Beacon Hills. I mean, the city is talked about like a ghost town is by others. How did you come from here?"
Stiles laughed at Joe's words, and he nodded toward the kitchen area of the loft. There were mattresses everywhere to allow them to get sleep. Janice had laid down wards to make sure that no one crossed them without her knowing. Her magic was pretty strong, but it was stronger with her so close to the Nemeton.
"How are you feeling today?" Stiles asked.
"Still like something is crawling under my skin. I need to see the Nemeton."
"Sounds good. Let's go and do that now. I need to see if I can still find it or not." Stiles looked at the rest of the team; all of them were ready to go, just waiting on the last of them to get ready, which had been the Stone twins since Janice needed to meditate to clear her head for the magic she was going to be doing today.
---
The Nemeton was just as easy to find as it had been the last time Stiles had tried to find it. He laid his hand on it, and he felt the warmth of it despite the fact that the sun hadn't gotten high enough yet to clear the trees and warm it up.
"This is not good," Janice said as she stepped into the muddy area around the Nemeton. Joe was right behind her, his eyes taking it all in.
"Oh, this...don't worry about that." Stiles sat down on the Nemeton. He laid his hand on it again, and this time the visage changed. There was a massive tree visible to all of them. Stiles was sitting on a bit of the old stump that had stayed behind to become a bench seat.
"How in the hell?" Joe asked.
"You are connected to it." Janice stepped up and touched the tree. She cocked her head to the side. "You've protected it."
"Yes. No one else can see this ever. I can always, but even if someone else were to come up and sit down, they would sit inside the Nemeton. Deaton never protected it, and even I only have a small amount of magic inside of me. A spark, as Deaton once called it, is attached to me, and I can't break it."
"You've always known that something was happening." Leroy stepped up to touch the tree as well.
"No, not really. The Nemeton felt like this the last time it was wildfire season. It's not like I keep that attached to it all the time. I feel what it feels when magic is a little messed up, but again, that feels like the wildfire season."
"You never talked about this," Leroy said.
"Nope, I have a lot of PTSD from my time in Beacon Hills, and I would never betray the tree. Since we crossed the boundary around the town, though, I have felt it. It's scared of something, and the sense memory it's showed me is that it's something to do with the Nogitsune. So we shall see what is going on with that."
"You have too many layers. I wouldn't even call you an onion, more like those games where you wrap things in cling wrap and hide small things inside of it. You drop some good things from those layers, but sometimes it's pure shit."
"Hi," a person said.
Stiles looked to the side to see it was a teenage boy. It hurt to see him.
"This is private property," Eli Hale said.
Stiles couldn't help but laugh at that. He shook his head, and he stood up. The others didn't move.
"It's okay. We are kind of allowed to be here given the nature of why we are here."
"No, you really aren't. My father and I didn't give you permission to come onto the land."
"Exisent circumstances." Stiles pulled out his FBI ID and badge, flashing both at him.
"I'm still going to tell my father." Eli pulled out his cell phone, and Leroy moved, but Stiles held out his hand, and Leroy stilled. "Dad, there are five FBI agents here at the tree I've been sleepwalking too."
There was no way for Stiles to hear the words on the other end from Derek, but Eli flinching, said that Derek wasn't happy about something.
"Fine." Eli hung up with a glare at his phone. "I've been told to leave you alone. I guess that I should leave."
"We could give you a ride back to town, Eli," Stiles said.
That had Eli freezing and glaring at Stiles. Yeah, that was the Hale glare.
"You can call Peter or Malia and ask them if it's safe to ride with me."
"Not my father?"
"Well, you could. I would gladly allow you to call him. He just won't like hearing my name."
"Stiles," Eli said.
"Yes. That's me. It's been a decade since I've seen you; I'm not shocked you don't remember me."
"No, I don't. I saw a picture once years ago, but it was mostly focused on Uncle Peter and Chris."
"Are we done here, Stiles?" Leroy asked
"Yes, we are. I have everything I need. So Eli, tell me about this sleepwalking." Stiles didn't like it. He had done it before, but the sleepwalking he had done while he was being slowly taken over by the Nogitsune was front and center in his mind. He didn't want that for Eli. It would probably be impossible or him to go into Eli, but then the worries Peter had about him not shifting for the first time yet was there in Stiles' mind as well.
---
Stiles dropped down into the chair in the middle of the living room area of the loft. He had a book in his lap and a cup of hot tea ready to be sipped on since he couldn't sleep.
A knock at the door had Stiles looking up. It woke up every single member of the team as well. He reached for the gun that was lying on the table beside him.
Just like last time, no one had heard Eli's approach, and given the way that Ashley was sniffing the air, it had to be him. There was something about the teenager that made it hard for even shifters to hear him coming.
Stiles got up and opened the door to find that it was Eli. He seemed to be sleepwalking.
"Shit," Janice said.
"I'll call his father. Whatever is going on, Derek's not noticing him leaving the house, which is not good."
"No, it's not," Ashley said.
Eli came in with a gentle prod. The smell of Stiles on him would piss off Derek, but it was better than having one of the others who were fully known people.
Stiles got Eli settled in the chair Stiles had been about to sit in, and he snagged his phone as it started to ring. It was Jordan Parrish.
"Parrish, it's a little late, isn't it?"
"Eli Hale went sleepwalking again. Your father wanted me to call you even if I don't understand why."
"I'm in town with my team. Is Derek with you?"
"Yes, he came to the station as he couldn't track him by scent, which is always the worst of this."
"No, agreed. Tell Derek he can pick up Eli here where I'm staying. If he doesn't know, Peter does."
Stiles listened to Parrish telling everyone who was there where to find Eli.
"Derek says he'll be there as soon as he can. How many people are there?"
"Six with Eli. I trust my team. We have a set of twins, and they use magic and a shifter than a plain old human."
"And then you," Parrish said.
"Well, duh. I didn't think I needed to list myself as a human."
Parrish laughed before he hung up.
"Derek hale is n his way over here?"
"Yeah, I'll work on getting Eli awake. He's still suppressing his wolf traits, as far as I have been told, but he is a threat. I would have you do it, Ash, but we don't need to react to worse if he thinks you are a threat."
"Agreed. Is he okay?"
"Yes, the Nemeton wants him for something, but I think it might be drawing Derek there, and someone else is always finding him. I'll have to see once we get Derek there as well."
Stiles reached out and touched Eli's face like he had done once when Eli had a nightmare while Stiles had been watching him. Eli's eyes fluttered open, and he jerked in the seat, reminding Stiles of himself so much. The energy he would normally let out as a wolf had to go somewhere. Suppression didn't work in the long run, but not having therapy was hurting Eli on that front.
"Stiles," Eli said. He looked around. "What am I doing in the loft? Was I hurt?"
"No, not hurt. Just sleepwalking, and instead of going to the Nemeton, you came here. Your father is on his way, probably with your Great Uncle and cousin. I'm sure that he will want the numbers to feel safe."
"I smell tea. Can I have some?"
"Sure." Stiles pointed at the cup he had made. It was cool enough to drink now, so it would be fine for him. Stiles hadn't drank out of it yet.
Eli picked up the cup and wrapped his hands around it, taking the warmth.
"Cold?"
"No, not really, just a little freaked out. I don't like this."
"No, I bet not. That's why my team is staying away. Though, you have Ashley fully freaked out on why he can never smell or hear you."
"It's how I get passed Dad. We can't figure it out as well."
"Then I guess the best thing is to do what the Nemeton wants. We can all head there later if we need to before I leave town."
"Uncle Peter wanted you called in. Well, the name was never said, but he kept talking about someone else the Nemeton liked. I put two and two together when I followed the call while I was awake."
"Ah, so you feel that pull when you are awake."
"No, not really. Not often. I was bored and did it the other day. I just have no idea what is going on, and I don't like it."
"I bet not. Just sit there and relax. I'm going to talk to my boss."
Stiles walked over to where Leroy was and looked back at Eli, who looked a lot smaller than his fifteen-year-old self should look.
"The Nemeton wants you and him there."
"Actually, I think it wants his father. I can't figure out why, though." Stiles wondered if the Nemeton needed both Stiles and Derek for something that it was unable to make him understand. It was not something that Stiles wanted to think about too much.
Nothing was really said as they waited for Derek to arrive. It wasn't too long, given the time of night, and Derek probably speeding to get there. The door was still open, so when Derek got there, he just came inside. His eyes found Eli with ease. Derek's body relaxed enough that even Stiles could tell it.
"Dad, I didn't mean to come here."
"I know. It's okay. I'd rather you come here to Stiles than be out in the Preserve with everything being weird here right now."
"I think-" Stiles stopped talking when Derek looked at him. He waited to see what Derek was going to do, but he just kept on looking at Stiles. "Okay, well. I think the Nemeton wants you, Derek. Not him. And it's just going to get worse if you don't do what it wants."
"I told you years ago that I am never going there again."
"Yeah, when you were still kind of young and stupid and scared out of your head. You have been raising Eli for the last decade and aged up to match that. You cannot tell me you are still scared of what might or might not happen. Just do it, and don't worry about what else might go wrong."
"The last time I had shit go wrong, I nearly lost everything. I'm not giving that tree anything else in my life!" Derek yelled.
"Oh boo hoo. You know the damage that was done to it. I didn't want to come back to this fucking town, but I did. Like you, this town had me losing nearly everything in my life, so don't pull that shit with me, Derek Hale."
"Okay, we need to calm down," Leroy said.
Derek turned to look at Leroy.
"If you will not come to me, I will come to you," Eli said.
"What?" Derek asked as he turned from Leroy to look at Eli, who had shining silver eyes.
Stiles wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't stop Derek from rushing over to touch Eli. Which was exactly what the Nemeton wanted. It had connected with Eli enough to use him to do whatever the Nemeton wanted from Derek.
Eli reached out and grabbed Derek's face, holding on tightly. Derek started to struggle, and even Stiles could see he was using his Werewolf strength to try and break free, but not enough to hurt Eli. Still, Eli should never have been able to hold onto him.
"I took this from you to heal it. It was always meant to be given back to you, but you kept on resisting the call of the wild, as it were. I protected it from the Nogitsune. I protected it from everything and used it to clean and protect the lands. I had thought that Stiles coming out would mean you would as well, and then he was gone. He left, and he made sure I was safe, but I was unable to do what I needed."
Stiles stepped closer, waving off Janice and Joe. Ashely had Leroy on the far side of the room and didn't seem to want to let the man get any closer.
"I need a connection to do this, and your son was more than willing to follow me out to there to foster that. I never hurt him, even though you have to allow him to wallow in the fear of the essential part of who you are. You love your son, but you have a few issues that stop you from doing what is best for him. So, Derek Hale, this is your wake-up call. Do better, or I'll take it back again."
Eli's eyes started to shine even brighter, and then it was so bright that Stiles had to look away. He kept on glancing toward the two Hales and waited for what was happening to stop before he did anything else. It was several minutes of silence before the light started to fade. Stiles walked over to where Derek was on his knees with Eli in his arms.
Derek looked up at Stiles with red eyes. Alpha eyes.
"Shit," Stiles said as he dropped down to check Eli's pulse. "He's just asleep. Lay him on the couch. He'll be fine. I'm sure being the conduit for the Hale alpha spark going back to you wore him out."
Derek stood up, his legs not even hesitating in the movement. He laid Eli down and then covered him up, brushing the hair that had fallen on his face off. He looked so damned young, younger than the fifteen years he was.
"How is this possible?" Derek asked.
"You gave it up to save Cora, but that's not how it works, really. I looked at it years ago using what we had. The spark was supposed to come back slowly. Saving the life of a packmate is the highest honor. I assumed that you never getting it back had to do with you dying, but then Cora and Peter never became alphas. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but I didn't realize that you weren't following the pull of the Nemeton. Eli followed it, but you never were the one to go and get him. It makes sense."
"I'm not worthy of being an alpha."
"Derek, you already are an alpha," Peter said.
Malia and Parrish were right behind Peter in the doorway, looking like they were shocked at what had happened.
"No."
"Yes. Scott's not been here for years. He doesn't do anything to hold the bonds for all of us and make us not omegas. We know that pack can go elsewhere, but there has to be intent on the alphas part to make sure the pack doesn't become omegas. We have never had that. He ignores what Deaton tells him because Deaton doesn't try and force him to do what he needs. The pack is in tatters, and it's only been you that has held us together."
Stiles knew that, in this case, he and his team were outsiders and didn't really need to be there for it. Still, he didn't want to move and draw attention to them.
"Dad, the three were talking to me," Eli said.
"Hey," Derek said as he dropped down to sit at Eli's side.
"Why does the tree want you?"
"It gave me a gift it would have given me years ago if I hadn't been a stubborn asshole."
"What?"
Derek swallowed, and he looked to the side. It took a few seconds for Stiles to realize that he was looking at him and not at Peter, who was just off to the side.
"I'm sorry that I haven't pushed over the years. You are so scared of something that is ingrained to you. I know that I talk all the time about how the Hales are always Werewolves, but I'm lying to you. I do it hoping that it would help you get over this fear of your other self. Of the Hales who are alive right now, we are all shifters. Malia's a Werecoyote, but there were humans. We had aunts and uncles who were born human. I had a little brother who was human. He loved life and was so happy, and he was too small and wasn't able to take the smoke and the fire. He was so alive and so happy, and he died for being born into a family of Werewolves. He wasn't even the only human child there. They killed us for being born this way, and I have never really worked that out in my head. I'm sorry for everything I have done or not done to help you become one with who you are, Eli."
Eli shot up, wrapping his arms around Derek and holding on tightly. Stiles started to back away. He didn't need to be here for this. No one on the team did.
None of the Hales noticed their leaving.
"Hey, Dad," Stiles said when he saw his father standing outside of his SUV on the ground floor.
"I figured that there were enough people up there that I wasn't needed to make this anything big. What did I miss?"
"Derek's an alpha again. It was why Eli was sleepwalking to the Nemeton. I guess it has been holding the spark and healing it up from the death of Talia while holding it, Laura's disregard for her family, and then Peter holding it while he was insane. It explains a lot of what went on. It was damaged, and when Derek used it to heal Cora, there was something going on. The person was never supposed to lose it when that happened; it was supposed to settle into the wolf, heal up on its own, and come back."
"And what's going on in Beacon Hills now?"
"Now, sure. The Nemeton used the brute for the attack on things, so I have a feeling it knows that we are going to need an alpha that actually means something. I'm not even sure that Scotty felt the whole pack leaving him."
"Whole pack?"
"He's not here. The pack is going to go to someone who is close. Only time will tell on that. Now, let's head and get some sleep. Since the Hales took over this place, mind if we sack out at home?"
"You aren't trying to hide anymore?"
"No. That feeling of danger is gone. I think the Nemeton was trying to force me here to do this to make sure that this happened. Whatever else is coming, it's not too worried, it seems."
"And so you aren't worried?"
"Not too much. Let's go, Daddio. We need sleep."
---
Derek grabbed Stiles and hauled him around to slam him into the tree truck just seconds before an arrow landed in the side of the tree Stiles had been standing beside.
Whoever this person was, they needed a reality check on using arrows with them as the retort of gunfire sounded.
"Quit being an idiot."
"I wasn't being an idiot." Stiles grabbed Derek's hand, which had its claws out, and he dragged it across his person. The claws hit something. "Janine's really good at this kind of thing. I'm puncture-proof. I can piss people off and draw their attention to me with this. Then they can't get me, and my team can get them. We are good at what we do."
Stiles shoved Derek away from him, and he looked at where the man who had been nearly about to set fire to the copse of rowan trees was. Whoever wanted that much Mountain Ash powder wasn't good.
"Who is it?" Stiles asked Ashley as the body was turned over.
"I am not sure. I don't know him. Wait. The face is changing."
Stiles stepped over to see who it was, and he frowned. The person looked like Mister Harris, but then the face was distorting, and it seemed to be fighting something before it smoothed out into a face that Stiles didn't know.
"I'll have someone run a match," Janice said as she snapped a picture.
"Who was it before?" Ashley asked.
"He looked like a teacher of mine, but that would be impossible. The body was never found, but the Darach who killed him was able to complete her ritual, so the body was counted as dead since no others went missing in that time that fit the type of person he was. He was a warrior sacrifice."
"Hmm, a face to throw you off." Leroy stepped up and tapped at the dead man's arm with his boot. The arm moved in a normal manner.
"So this person was trying to what?" Janice asked.
"Probably release the Nogitsune. It's fine. It was stopped. We have people all over," Peter said.
"Who are you again?" Ashley asked.
"Peter Hale. My husband, Chris, was able to stop this person from getting the Nogitsune's prison open. He was finally able to get a lock on the person. They got out of Japan faster than him, and so they were able to get here faster. He just landed and wasn't able to figure out where he went, but he swore he knew the guy's face, and if this guy was wearing Harris', well, that means it was probably him. Chris is on his way home."
"So the Nogitsune, the face of a dead teacher, what else?" Ashley asked.
"Chris had been dreaming of Allison for the last little while, but I assumed it was just him thinking about her more. Her birthday was in January."
Stiles looked at Derek. "Do you want to reach out to Scott? Make it seem like a welfare check after things went a little weird here?"
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because the last time I talked to Scott, I told him I wanted to never speak to him again since he was a shit alpha. Lydia also hasn't spoken to me since then, either. I have no friends in that circle of people."
"Fine," Derek growled as he jerked his phone from his pocket hard enough that if he lost, his grip on it would have flown at least a mile.
Derek glared at Stiles before he headed away.
"I think he's going through puberty again," Peter said.
"Well, no shit. He's adjusting to being an alpha and feeling how disjointed his relationship with Eli is. They love each other wholly, but while Eli might submit to his father, he won't submit to the alpha that Derek is now."
"You have gotten smarter on packs," Peter said.
"Yes, I have. I have tried to become someone who would be able to help all of the people in the world, no matter who they are. Part of that is making sure I understand them. You know this full well."
"I do. I do know that. What you have done has been good, but I didn't realize you had delved that deep into what makes a pack a good pack. Talia was heralded as the best alpha, but that was our mother. Talia rode the coattails and thought she was great. If there had been a good pack at the base of who she was, there would have been no way that Talia wouldn't have ever known about Kate."
"And you?"
"I was neutered in my role. I had to look for things that went bump in the night, but I wasn't allowed to touch hunters. I wasn't allowed to keep track of them. The last time, Talia broke most of the bones in my body and left me to heal up slowly in cages underground. I learned well to stay in my lane then. I regret that I didn't see kate coming."
"Peter?" Ashley asked as he came up. He held out something to him.
Peter gasped, and he took it. It was small, and Stiles couldn't tell what it was.
"I was poking around the grounds the other day and found this at the base of the Nemeton. The scents are very faded, but I think that's yours."
"This was Spencer's. Derek's little brother. He adored it, and on the last beaver moon, he buried it at the base of the Nemeton to help protect it. I'm sure with everything going on, it came up. Thank you."
Ashley nodded, and he headed away.
"Let's regroup at the lofts. It's neutral enough territory. I don't think Derek wants us at his place anytime soon."
"No." Peter looked down at the dead body again and then at the rest of the FBI agents. "So, who is claiming this one?"
"I shot him," Joe said.
"Good. I'll tell Noah," Parrish said.
---
Paperwork sucked, but it at least didn't suck any less than most everything else that was mundane on the job. He signed his name to the last report and dropped it into the pile he was going to be scanning later and sending off for his former boss to finalize everything for his transfer.
Leroy wanted him on his team full-time. Stiles worked well with them, but also, the supernatural people they came across all trusted him. he still had the name of the Hale pack attached to him even though he was with Scott more than Derek when it was all going on.
Stiles held Peter Hale's trust, Chris Argent's confidence, and the FBI's name. He was someone who was literally able to get in doors that were shut to other people. Leroy wanted that on his team. he wanted to be able to help more people, and with Stiles' name attached to the team, he thought that was possible.
"You have a visitor," Ashley said as he waved toward the doorway.
Stiles looked up, pausing at the sight of Derek Hale standing there with his arms behind his back.
"Alpha Hale, welcome. Do we need privacy?" Stiles stood up to escort Derek to one of the smaller conference rooms. This whole floor was theirs, and it had pissed off a few people who had wanted offices on the floor, but they needed the ability to have contained cell spaces for those who were not under arrest but needed a safe space to come down.
"This is personal, but yes, I would like it to be private."
"Okay. Follow me." Stiles tapped a few buttons on his phone to forward all calls to Ashley's desk for the time being. He wasn't sure what tiswas about. He snagged his work and personal cell phones and found nothing on either. So it wasn't that big of a thing.
Derek didn't take his hands out from behind his back until they were in the conference room with the door shut. One hand held a shoe box and the other an envelope with writing on the front that Stiles didn't know.
He trusted what was inside because it had gone through security, both the metal detectors as well as the magical ones that Janice had laid to check for supernatural. It logged everyone who came through and what they were. It had saved them a time or two when someone unsavory and supernatural had made it through but wasn't on human radars.
"What can I do for you?" Stiles asked as he sat down on the corner of the table. He didn't glance at the shoe box even if he wanted to. He wasn't going to show any interest in what he brought with him. For all he knew, it was a thank-you gift for the team for what they had done in Beacon Hills.
"Peter gave me an update on what is going on with Allison. The scans show that she's aged while she was trapped where she was in that weird underworld place that the Nogitsune held her in. She's still mentally about seventeen, though; the captive part makes it hard."
"Yeah, Peter's been updating me as well. Chris is happy to have her back, but he knows there is a long road ahead. Scott's railing about Chris kidnapping her to France, but in the eyes of the law, the doctors have deemed her unfit to make her own choices since Chris is her father. It's not going to go well. He keeps trying to get the FBI to step in on the kidnapping part of it."
"Scott's been unhappy for years. He can't let Allison go. even the relationships he's had otherwise have failed. He wants kids, and he wants them with Allison, and as much as he's pined for her, he can't see that she didn't feel that way about him in the end. She had moved on with Isaac." Derek relaxed a little, and he put the shoe box on the table before handing over the letter. "This is from my therapist. I've not read it. I told her what she was allowed to tell you about my visits with her, but it's just...it's tangible proof that I'm seeing someone."
Stiles wasn't sure why he cared about it. Unlike Scott, Stiles hadn't been pining for Derek over the years. He was upset about how it ended, but in the end, he wanted to make himself happy while he was alone before adding anyone else in there.
"And?"
Derek exhaled and frowned at Stiles. "I've missed you."
"I get that part of it, but I don't mean this to hurt, but why should I care?"
Derek looked taken aback at that, but he seemed to be thinking about it. Then he nodded his head. "I can see where I might be thinking that you are wanting more out of this than a friendship."
"Derek, I moved on. I'm not where I am fully happy with my life, but I'm getting there. I want to be happy alone before I pull anyone else in. I'm sorry if you thought I was pining for you."
"No, I didn't think you were pining for me, but I thought that maybe we could try. I don't want to jump into anything right now, just...friendship and maybe more if we are both up for it."
"Well, I have no idea what I'll feel about that. Let me read this." Stiles moved to sit fully on the table instead of just a single ass cheek. He found the better was pretty short.
It was a simple thing about how Derek was doing well in therapy, especially around relationships, and how he was open with them. The therapist was honest that Derek had a ways to go and that both Derek and Eli were seeing her. Stiles was glad of that because the Hales all needed therapy, and the only one that Stiles knew was getting it was Peter, and that was because Chris dragged his ass there years ago. I that been entertaining to see, honestly.
"I have no clue what to do with this. I just...I would have trusted you to tell me, Derek. I would have taken your words. I trust you on those kinds of things. You've never lied to me."
"I tried not to. I just was overthinking it. My therapist told me that I was taking it too far, but I didn't trust her on that. I should have."
"What's in the box?"
"Oh, that's chocolate for your desk here. I wanted to make sure that no one else saw what it was, and then I realized that you work with a shifter. He would smell it."
"He did, I bet." Stiles understood the shoe box now. He had kept his chocolate in something like it when he had been in college since his roommates the first year thought it was shoes inside of the box. Stiles had been more than happy to allow him to keep on thinking that. Stiles looked at Derek and frowned. He wasn't sure what kind of person the man was now. There was a lot going on in Derek's life, and Stiles was sure that Derek was freaked out about being an alpha again.
Cora had come home because of it. She hadn't been able to live under Scott's thumb and had gone back to her pack in South America. Stiles hadn't blamed her one bit for that. Scott was really the worst when it came to how he treated her. Stiles would have done worse than just leave.
"We can text," Stiles said.
"Okay. I still have your number." Derek pulled out his phone like he was going to rattle off his number and wait for Stiles to text him or something.
"I still have yours as well. I don't remove numbers. Give them horrible names in my phone, yes, remove them wholesale? No. Look, I am making no promises on this. I have changed. You have changed, and I hope you will keep on changing as time goes on, but this is not a promise of anything. We might not be compatible anymore."
"I understand. I know what you mean, and I agree that we might not be good together at all anymore. I just can't move on right now."
"I get that. I'll text you when I get off work, and we can catch up that way for a few days."
Derek nodded his head and looked down at the box of chocolate. He smiled at it before he looked at Stiles again. The look he was giving Stiles, Stiles knew well. So Stiles slipped off the table and walked around it to give Derek a hug. It was the one big thing that had changed about Derek with their relationship. Derek had learned that someone touching him wasn't going to hurt. Stiles had taught him that a little bit before they got together, but it was mostly after that Derek had learned it applied to other people as well. There was nothing to fear from most people who wanted to touch him. There would always be ones who had bad intentions.
Stiles didn't try and pull out of the hug, he didn't mind it, and it seemed like Derek needed it. He allowed the man to hold him and even turned his head in and scent him.
"Eli wants to get to know you better, understand the thrall the Nemeton had on him and everything else. Peter's normally the go-to for that, but he's out of town, and you know why. So do you mind that?"
"If Eli texts me? Sometimes calls? No, it's fine. I get it. If he needs to see me in person, you can bring him up here. I'll try and get down there as much as possible, but I can't guarantee that. I will be down to see dad a lot. He has come here or LA to see me over the years."
"You never had to do that; you know that, right?"
"Beacon Hills was yours. You had already been run out once. It wasn't like my job could happen there anyway. It's fine. I'm not upset. I was doing as much as I could to mitigate your pain."
"You were so angry at me, and I was so angry at you, and then you did that?"
"Look, I am a spiteful bitch to all who mess with my family, but you were my family, and things went wrong. We weren't right for each other then."
"You don't have to sugarcoat it. I wasn't ready for any kind of relationship, especially not with someone who I felt like I had a chance at a life with. It was doomed to fail, and you did your best. I wasn't ready to hear it, and I'm learning that well now."
"Like your complicated feelings for my Jeep?"
"Your father told you?"
"Everyone told me. Even Eli did. He thinks that you'll give him the Jeep when he is old enough to drive."
"I debated it, but it's yours. My name might be on the title and everything, but it's yours, Stiles."
"Nah, it's the Hales' Jeep now. You have complicated feelings about it. Eli likes stealing it even though he doesn't even have a learner's permit yet. Having to leave it on the side of the road to wait for you to come and tow it back had been the worst moments of my life, but even though we were not speaking, not on good terms at the time, I knew you would never do anything to Roscoe. I am not worried about Eli having it. At least he'll know more than sticking duct tape on the thing to keep it running."
Derek laughed, finally letting go, stepping back but not too far away from Stiles.
"I've missed you."
"I missed you too, not just the us we were, but the us we were before that. I think that's the biggest issue we had. We had tried to become people we weren't."
"I never thought of it like that. The want was there. The love. It just wasn't the best time for it, was it?"
"No, I think if I hadn't pushed you going into therapy so hard and made it why I left, you would have maybe got help sooner, and I'll always feel bad about that. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I was the stubborn one, and you were right to leave. I have that video that Peter recorded so that I could see how I was treating you at the end, and I showed it to my therapist. She wasn't happy with how I was acting then and how I never got help. I was focused on you and not on myself. I wanted you to change, to become someone you weren't. You wanted me to be someone you knew I could be if I got rid of the horrible things I was doing to keep myself wrapped in misery. You understood me in a way that no one really had before. I should go. Eli's in the car, and we are going to have a relaxing weekend, just the two of us doing what we want."
"Have fun."
"If we go see a movie tomorrow, are you free?"
"Only if you both want it. I missed seeing him grow up. I want to see who he is now that he's almost grown."
"Oh, you'll see a lot of yourself, and I don't just mean the clothes."
"I noticed the plaid and the overshirts. The flailing, the getting into trouble. I wish I could say that I'm sorry, but I'm not. I made an impression on that kid."
"You did, and he didn't realize it until recently. Thank you for helping him with his sleepwalking, even if all it was was getting us in the same place, and he could give me the spark through the Nemeton. It was enough, I think."
"I'm glad I could be of help there."
Stiles waited for Derek to nod and then leave before he exhaled. That was not how he thought it was going to go. He walked the letter over to the shredder and got rid of it. No one needed to know any of that.
---
Stiles lay down, and he finally looked at his phone. The case had been horrible, and all he wanted was to crawl into bed with someone and pretend the world didn't exist. It wasn't sexual; it was just wanting a body beside him. To tell him he wasn't alone in the world.
The door to the hotel room opened, and Ashley came in. He grabbed his shirt and jerked it over his head before shucking his pants and leaving them where they were. Next, he crawled into bed with Stiles.
"Who are you talking to?" Ashley asked.
"No one. Just checking messages. Wanting a body beside me to remind me I'm not alone. I guess this is why you are here?"
"Yeah. Everyone else is paired off as well. It's a horrible case, only made worse by the idiot groupies who are trying to get the person doing it off by claiming they are making the killing. It's horrible."
"It's a cult of some kind. It has to be. I have someone coming to help. Peter should be here in the morning. We need a better understanding of packs that involve a lot of humans, and he knows a lot of them."
"Good. Leroy will be happy about that. Will he work with us or in the shadow?"
"With us in the spotlight of sorts. No one will know why. Chris is still with Allison in France, so he won't hang around long." Stiles rolled onto his side, and he let Ashley wrap himself around him. It felt good.
Ashley wasn't like the other shifters Stiles knew, but then he had a good life. He had been happy with his family but then felt like he needed something else. He had lucked into being talked into applying for the FBI.
Stiles looked at the message thread from Derek. Derke understood that Stiles couldn't always text, but he would text anything and everything that he wanted with the knowledge that Stiles would reply when he could. It worked well for them so far, and Stiles was happy about you.
Every time Eli and Derek came to San Francisco for some weekend out, just the two of them, they went to a movie with Stiles. It had been good getting to know them both that way without any pressure.
No one understood that Stiles wanted Derek to be happy, and even if all they ever were was friends, he would be okay with that. Derek was okay with that as well. It was all very grown up. There was nothing wrong with them being friends. It had been hard-earned with the distance between them for so long, but in the end, Stiles felt like Derek was a lot better off with a friend who wasn't going to judge him for his feelings. It was something that would be hard to do with anyone else because they had a stake in the game of being mad at one or the other for how things ended when neither of them had ever asked for it.
"Are you going to go on that date with him?" Ashley asked.
"Not right now. The date is just kind of hanging on there. It's a future thing with no end date unless one of us says no. Why?"
"You are happy when you are talking to him. You just are. It's nice. I never realized how bone-deep your lonely went. You've done things to make yourself happy, but before you joined the team, things were different. Even just the team made you happy. I think you need a pack even if you are human and just have a spark of magic in you. You were made to be in a pack."
"And you were made for someone else, weren't you?"
"I knew a long time ago that the person for me was dead. I am not sure who they were or where they lived, but I know they are gone."
"How?"
"It's a part of me that feels like it's empty, and when I asked someone else about it, that's where their soulmate was. It's something that not all really believe in, but I feel it. I'll try and find someone to love, but I think that one great love of my life is gone."
"That sucks." Stiles laid his phone down as he wouldn't respond to Derek since it was late at night. He would in the morning, and no matter what Derek said, Stiles wouldn't wake him up to text with him. It was nothing too bad, but he didn't like it.
"It does, but at least I know why I don't have that feeling of connection that so many others do. I will never just know who I'm supposed to be with. It would have been work no matter what, but at least this won't be some feeling that I have to worry about following."
"That's one way of looking at it." Stiles laid on his back, and Ashley just settled in there beside him, starting to drift off with the silence.
Stiles picked up his phone and looked at the last few days of messages from Derek. There was something comforting about having Derek there for him. He wanted more of it.
Stiles: How about that date when I get done with this case? We will have a few days off, and I can head to Beacon Hills to see you.
The little dots started to move, telling Stiles that Derek was typing nearly as soon as the message was sent. He smiled and pulled the blankets up a little.
Derek: Whenever you want. I'm up for anything as well.
Stiles laughed and then stopped as soon as he started to ensure Ashley hadn't woken up. It didn't seem like it, so Stiles turned back to his phone. He smiled as he thought about the look on Derek's face.
Derek: Eli's giving me a look.
Stiles: What are you both doing awake?"
Derek: The tree across the street got hit by lightning. We are both a little too worked up with the sirens outside as it's being put out. So we are sitting in the living room watching the movement outside. The power is out as well.
Stiles thought about what he and his father used to do in the dark of the night when power outages had made him unable to sleep. It hadn't been long, really, since there had been rolling blackouts during one summer when it was so hot that the electric grid kept going down. He typed it all out and waited to see what Derek said back.
Derek: You did all of that with Noah?
Stiles: He's the one that made up most of it. After my mom died, I was not doing well in the dark. So he found ways of making sure I was okay during the nights when I couldn't sleep. Then when there were nights when I was having trouble sleeping, even years later, he would bring that up. It's why I read on my phone when I have trouble sleeping and am alone. It's not the best thing in the world, but it's a thing.
Derek: It sounds like fun. I'll see what Eli thinks of it. Maybe next time this happens, you could be here to help keep us both entertained.
Stiles: Maybe. Who knows. I should try and sleep. Ashley's here with me now. None of us want to be alone tonight.
Stiles figured that Derek would not be upset about someone being in bed with him. It wasn't like he hadn't seen the pictures of the Hales all piled together back when Derek was younger. He had thought it looked like the kind of thing that would be awesome, just laying down with someone and existing in the same space as them. It felt good even with just Ashley here with him.
Derek: It's understandable with what you do for a living. Eli's pressed to my side even now. The crack of the tree being hit and then the smell of burning has me freaked out, and he's freaking out from that.
Stiles: Then go do something. I'm heading to sleep. I'm having trouble typing. Good night, Derek.
Derek: Good night, Stiles. Maybe your dreams be sweet.
Stiles smiled at the words and dropped his phone to the bed after locking it. He didn't want to have to deal with Ashley getting the idea he could look at the stuff. Even if his phone would lock on its own, Ashley was dead asleep.
There was a lot of horrible to think about, but as Stiles slipped into sleep, his mind was full of Derek and Beacon Hills. The way that they were back then before things had turned horrible. Before the end of the relationship. He wasn't upset about it, and he hoped that maybe one day they could get to where they were that happy again. When things were better, and the world wasn't as dark for Stiles.
The End
About
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fan_flashworks is an all-fandoms multi-media flashworks community. We post a themed challenge every ten days or so; you make any kind of fanwork in response to the challenge and post it here. More detailed guidelines are here.The community on Livejournal:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
fan_flashworks Designed by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chasethestars
chasethestars