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After the camping trip that went a little sideways, the Emery-Hale pack had managed to settle into a domestic life that was calm and collected.
Scott McCall had been removed from Eichen House by Melissa after Melissa had gained compensation from the FBI for something to do with her ex-husband’s pay and pension being given to her because of what the man had been allowed to get away with while in their service. Stiles had received something similar from Beacon County, but it was being held in a trust until he was old enough to touch it. Melissa had approached Deucalion to see if there were any packs that he knew of that could help set the young Omega straight before he went feral.
Luckily, Kali had contacts and had managed to get one of her old friends to take the boy in and help his mother get a job in a good hospital. Melissa had made herself allies with how she treated Stiles as a second son even when her own son had destroyed the friendship; she had helped keep their bundle of mischief going when he had no one else in his life to be a guideline.
It hurt all their hearts when they realized that Stiles knew about Raphael and tried to irritate the man every so often so he would keep the anger away from Melissa, but Melissa had been so downtrodden by her husband that she had never noticed John’s treatment of Stiles.
The relationship between Deucalion and Peter had gotten stronger since Stiles had caught them two months previously, the pack learning about their relationship two weeks after Stiles, while none but the human knew of the relationship between their two teachers and the hunter of their pack.
Allison was still being kept away from the Pack, and Chris didn’t seem to mind his daughter being with the French branch of his family; he and Allison had always been close but that was before his sister and wide had gotten their claws into his little girl and created a monster. He thought he would have missed seeing his baby girl, but the budding relationship between himself, Bobby and Adrian; as well as the bonding trips that the Pack went through routinely helped soothe the lost bond.
The only one that no one had heard from was Derek.
Stiles had become increasingly worried about the lack of appearance from the sour-wolf. He had become integrated with the pack, had been adopted by Peter alongside Cora and had managed to also bring Isaac into the fold too; but there was still no sign of the Alpha appearing to search for his pup.
Thankfully, Isaac had been taken under the wing of Kali and Ennis alongside Erica and Boyd. Kali had managed to get the teenager to talk to her about his past, to work through the trauma that he had suffered at the hands of the man who was supposed to protect him. She had learnt about his mother and his brother who had left him feeling abandoned even though they had no choice in the matter; and in learning those facts, it had also come out that Isaac had already formed a sibling bond with Erica and Boyd and nearly losing them could have turned him feral.
Due to Ennis being the opposite of his father, Isaac had come to trust the Alpha, no longer phased by his hulking figure since the man was a teddy bear when he wasn’t being stern; and when he was stern, it was a caring stern rather than one filled with anger.
But because Isaac had been staying at the penthouse with Erica, Kali and Ennis, it meant that Derek was alone, and it was making Stiles worry even more. It had gotten to the point that Stiles was beginning to have nightmares of Derek going feral or harming himself due to his social isolation from a healthy pack.
“Cora!” A weak voice argued as the door of the apartment opened, the entire pack basically had an open-door policy now, so none of the apartments in the building that Deucalion lived were locked. Especially since Ennis owned the one below Deucalion’s, Chris owned the one below that and Peter had managed to invest in the one below that. The four floor apartment building had basically become the Pack house, even though it wasn’t a house.
The moment the voice registered to Peter and Stiles, Peter was on his feet and headed straight for the entrance way, there was something wrong with his nephew’s voice; and there was something wrong with the chemo signals filling the penthouse. Even Stiles could tell that there was something wrong and he couldn’t sense the same as his family.
“Enough is enough!” Cora told her brother firmly, a fire in her eyes as she dragged him into the Hale apartment by his ear, she knew that something was wrong with her brother the moment he saw him; and then she noticed how easily she managed to get him by the ear to drag him to the penthouse.
She needed their pack to help him, or she was scared she was going to lose him. When Cora had gone to the old train warehouse that he was shacked up in, she was overwhelmed with worry and fear for her big brother; he didn’t even realise she was there for the first ten minutes of her being there. When Stiles had admitted that he was scared about Derek and his health, she had originally waved it off because her brother didn’t need help; he had always been strong in her eyes. But she decided to humour her new brother and went to where Isaac had told them he’d been staying.
Derek had originally thought that she was a ghost coming to haunt him for his failures, and that was what had Cora grabbing her big brother by the ear and dragging him to the apartment. It was amusing for many to see the eldest living Hale child being dragged through the streets by his baby sister; several of the citizens of Beacon Hills fondly remembered a similar scene where Talia had dragged Peter through the streets for one reason or another.
“We’ve been waiting for you to follow your pack bonds!” Cora scolded her elder brother, tears already forming in her eyes as Peter appeared in the doorway followed by Stiles; Stiles stayed a step behind the eldest Hale so he wasn’t in the way “I’ve been in Beacon Hills and out in the open for months Derek! I’m not a ghost! Your beta’s are safe and living here in this building and yet you didn’t know?!”
Derek winced at the scolding from his little sister, he hadn’t left the depot other than to get food, he hadn’t heard anything being spoken around the town; nor had he been keeping up to date with any newspapers.
Peter took a step forward and froze at the wince that Derek gave off when he noticed his uncle as well as sensed the alpha power within him, he was worried and scared for what that may mean; and still hadn’t relied on his own senses to tell him that there were other familiar scents surrounding him.
Stiles’ eyes narrowed at the sight of the wince from Derek, as well as how stiff Peter had become; he watched the sour-wolf carefully before he sighed and moved passed his papa-wolf. He went straight to Derek who, surprisingly, didn’t react to Stiles heading his way but he did stiffen when Stiles threw his arms around Derek and held him close. He may have had a little growth spurt, but Derek was still taller than him, except in this instance it was like the wolf had shrunk and could be held comfortably in his arms with his head tucked against his neck
“Damn sour-wolf” Stiles sighed lightly as he ran his fingers through Derek’s hair softly in comfort “You really take self-loathing to a whole new level, dontchya?”
Derek huffed lightly against Stiles’ neck, but it was weak as he automatically clung to the human that had always annoyed him but still supported him and looked out for him whenever he needed someone’s help to research issues or when his beta’s needed help in their initial phases. Stiles may have been a major annoyance to him since he had stepped foot in Beacon Hills after losing Laura, but he was always a constant for Derek and Derek needed that,
“Like you’re one to talk” Cora muttered loud enough for Stiles to hear which gained a playful glare from the human.
“Excuse you! I’m getting much better thank you very much” Stiles poked his tongue out at his adoptive sister, smirking lightly when he noticed Derek shaking a little with laughter at the playful banter; he also noticed that Cora looked satisfied with herself too.
“Yeah, only because dad, papa and Aunt Kali are making you speak up” Cora sniped back, using the familiar terms without thinking before she winced at how Derek stiffened from where he was curled close to Stiles.
Stiles rolled his eyes at Cora before he ran his fingers through Derek’s hair softly, his fingers trailing down the nape of his neck like he usually did with Isaac when Isaac was having a bad day. His own relationship with the beta having blossomed into something after the whole thing with Raphael and Melissa.
“How about we go sit down and I catch you up on everything sour-wolf?” Stiles offered to Derek softly and sighed in relief when Derek hesitated before nodding lightly in agreement. Stiles easily noted that Derek was touch-starved considering just how clingy the werewolf was with the human of the pack “You want your sister and Uncle here for it?”
Stiles was hoping that the answer was yes, especially since it would probably help him stay calm too; but he knew that Derek probably needed safety, and Peter hadn’t been a safety to him while Cora was a new aspect for him too. When Derek hesitated a little longer than necessary, Stiles made a small noise of soothing as he continued stroking his hair.
“Pete and Cora can go upstairs, they can tell the beta’s that you’re here too” Stiles offered to him lightly, offering his dad and sister an apologetic look but they both knew that Derek didn’t have the best interactions with Peter and didn’t really know Cora enough to feel safe in this mindset. “Maybe we can keep the beta’s upstairs until you’re ready to see them too?”
Cora nodded and easily slipped past the two of them, her hand running across both males to scent mark them gently while Peter still hesitated; his wolf wanting nothing more than to comfort the pup. He sighed weakly and ran his fingers through Stiles’ hair in reassurance before he went straight upstairs to curl into the comforting embrace of his partner.
“Come on sour-wolf” Stiles hummed lightly as he pulled away from the elder but kept his hand on his wrist in reassurance that he wasn’t leaving before he led the Alpha to sit on the couch with him.
“I guess it’ll be easier to give the clip notes version, easier for you to keep up and easier for me so I don’t have a panic attack”
The sharp look from Derek at the comment about having a possible panic attack made Stiles offer the Alpha a small, sad smile before he shifted so he could rest against the Alpha until Derek decided that he’d had enough contact.
“It started the night of the game where Jackson ‘killed’ himself” he started carefully and easily noted that Derek knew what night it was, especially since he remembered the betrayal that had ran through him when he thought that Stiles knew what Scott had planned with making Derek bite Gerard “When the lights went down, I was grabbed from the field and taken to the Argent house by Gerard and his men”
Stiles’ voice shook as he spoke but he took calming breaths to keep the panic low so he could help Derek understand the situation with the mixture of packs and hunter.
“The bastard had Erica and Boyd there too… he wanted to use me as a message for Scott” Stiles informed Derek, and relaxed against the man as Derek wrapped his arm around Stiles to offer him support since he knew Scott had meant a lot to the human, yet he didn’t scent the other boy around the human “He…”
Stiles took a deep breath as his heart rate began to spike, the feel of fingers running through his hair managed to ground him “He raped me” he told Derek in one quick breath, keeping his focus anywhere but the wolf as he continued “He was going to go for Erica but I kept distracting him… when I got to the warehouse that night, it was after it all. Scott didn’t even notice…”
Derek growled low in his throat at the idea of the human getting violated in such a way by a hunter that was after him and his family; guilt washing over him at the thought of Stiles being hurt because he had been dragged into Derek’s issues.
With a small smile of amusement, Stiles placed a hand on Derek’s knee to reassure him that he was okay. The memories of that night still haunted him, mentioning it still made his panic spike; but he held no issues with Derek, nor did he feel worry with telling him considering Derek understood the danger that some of the Argents brought with them.
“One of my teachers noticed and made a deal with me to get checked. And that day Peter found me too” Stiles continued and nudged Derek lightly to keep him calm at the mention of Peter “Peter looked after me Der… he figured something was wrong, he allowed me to stay with him when I needed someone there for me; became my strength when I felt like I was going to fail. He got his sanity back after coming back from the dead.
“It wasn’t long later where I ended up bumping into Ennis and Kali, they requested that we meet up and told us that they weren’t here to hurt anyone sour-wolf; they had found Boyd and Erica and Cora too. Brought them to Beacon Hills to heal and wanted to see if you could sense their bonds”
Derek let out a small whine at that, he hadn’t been able to sense the bonds with his betas; he had never been taught how to do so. His mother had never thought to teach any of the others about how to be an alpha just in case something went wrong.
“Kali became my therapist” Stiles continued as he moved to scratch at the nape of Derek’s neck lightly, “Ennis was the one to help me through other things and Deucalion became a rock for us all… they helped Peter through his own issues, helped him become an Alpha so he could protect ‘the pups’. They hunted Gerard down… Peter adopted me Der, me and Cora.”
Derek stiffened again before he turned his full attention to Stiles in confusion and worry since he had no idea why Stiles would be adopted when he had his father at home.
“My dad was abusive” Stiles informed him bluntly, that admission wasn’t as anxiety filled as Gerard; he had grown up with John Stilinski being an abusive asshole, so it no longer made him anxious. Especially since he knew the asshole would never see the light of day again. “Had been since before my mom died, it came to a head a few weeks ago and the bastard has been arrested and locked in a mental institution thanks to the pack who made him seem nuts. Peter put in to adopt me to make sure I was safe”
“Peter isn’t the same as he used to be Der” he told him lightly “Deucalion and the others aren’t a danger… neither is Chris Argent. Chris is part of the pack. We also have two other humans in the pack, Bobby Finstock and Adrian Harris… they already knew about the supernatural from when Peter was in school or because of Kate… We want you to be a part of this too Der… if you want that?”
Derek stayed quiet as he relaxed into the light touches of the teenager. Derek knew that he was a terrible Alpha, his mother had never taught him anything to do with the possibility of becoming an alpha; he had chosen the three betas he had because he knew they needed something. Erica wouldn’t have lasted the year if she hadn’t accepted the bite, Boyd probably would have ended his life if he wasn’t given a purpose; and Isaac… Derek couldn’t bring himself to ignore the pup when he saw him that night in the cemetery,
He remembered Deucalion from his teenage years, knew that the man was a good man until he lost his sight, so he was a little worried about that aspect. But Stiles had been a good judge of character since Derek met him, if Stiles felt calm around the man, then maybe he was back to his old self.
“Can you text the others?” Derek requested softly, deciding that he wanted to give it a shot.
“We could go up to Dukes?” Stiles offered instead, smiling lightly when Derek hesitated but nodded in agreement.
Stiles got up from the couch and held his hand out for Derek to take, he grinned lightly as he tugged the Alpha behind him. “Word of warning” Stiles hummed lightly as the elevator started taking them upstairs “Duke has his eyesight back” he informed him with a small grin at the surprise in Derek’s eyes “Turns out the whole Spark thing means that I can do whatever I put my mind to, and I used it to heal Duke”
“Thank you” Derek spoke up just as the bell rang to tell them which floor they were on “I remember he was my mom’s friend… he never deserved what happened”
Stiles gave Derek a small grin before he took a hold of his wrist when the doors opened and led him into the penthouse, he cackled lightly in surprise at how shocked Peter looked from where he had been laying on the couch with his head in Duke’s lap.
“Mieczysław” Deucalion scolded with fond exasperation at the surprise on his boyfriends face as well as the shock on his Godson’s, although he couldn’t remember if Derek was aware that Duke was his godfather “You could have given your ojciec some warning”
Stiles snickered as he released Derek’s wrist and nudged him lightly “Sorry tata, Derek wanted to see the other pups”
Before Stiles could even finish his sentence, Isaac appeared in the doorway and threw himself at Derek, hugging the elder wolf tightly and basking in the fact that Derek hugged him back. It wasn’t long before there was a blonde blur colliding with Derek and the Alpha whimpered softly as he clung to Erica and was soon engulfed in a group hug as Boyd joined and wrapped his arms around the other three.
Stiles grinned lightly and moved to drop down next to his tata and his ojciec. Peter was thrumming with desire to hug his nephew, and he could tell that Cora was too. The moment the beta’s calmed down and took a step back, Derek’s arms were full once again with a beta clinging to him, this time it was his baby sister which resulted in Peter getting up from the couch to grab his family into a tight hug which Derek allowed.
Derek broke down into sobs the moment Peter pulled him into an embrace, apologizing to his Uncle and the beta’s, his words became soft babbles as he cried for everyone he had lost and everything he had gone through since the fire. It was the first time he had had a hug from his Uncle since before the fire, and he didn’t realize how much he needed one.
“I don’t want to be an Alpha, Uncle Peter” Derek sobbed softly into his Uncle’s shoulder as the apologies tapered off, the betas moving to cuddle with the trio of Hales to offer Derek comfort as he broke. Stiles stayed curled up against Deucalion as his tata traced random shapes on his back soothingly considering the anxiety that had been thrumming through him not even an hour ago.
“We can fix that” Peter promised his nephew thickly, tears of his own falling down his cheeks as he clung to his eldest. Derek had always been the one in his family that he was closest too and there were always a few things between them but no matter what they had done; they were still each other’s best friend until Peter left high school and Derek had to face school alone.
He wasn’t going to let his nephew face anything alone again.