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Derek opened his eyes to the harsh morning light and sighed. His bed didn't smell right. Hadn't for a long time. There was no warm body curled around his and no drool on his chest. He couldn't wake his lover with small kisses and whispered promises.
Down the hall, he heard his daughter waking from her sleep. Dear Selene, his oldest and strongest. Alpha of their own small pack. She would be the one to take over for Scott one day. Scott, who's own two children had both been born human and both refused the bite. Their mother was still human and just as integral to the pack. Derek smiled at the thought of another Talia Hale leading the pack. His mother would be proud.
CC was skittering around her room doing god knows what. So much like Stiles, that one, Derek thought fondly. She even looked like him with the same upturned nose and whiskey colored eyes. Where Selene favored Derek, CC favored Stiles. Stiles. How he missed him.
Derek focused hard on his sons. Sky was still snoring away in his bed, but Derek could hear the restless flutter of his heart that said that he would wake soon. He waited silently in his room for his three born wolf children to go to the youngest and wake him, the way they did every year on this day. The only human child he had would sleep until his siblings came to pounce him awake in his bed. They did it every year on their birthday. Ryder would protest and whine about it being his birthday and just wanting to sleep, but the rest would keep at him until he eventually gave in and tried to take them on. The girls would let him win, although they could easily overpower him, but Sky would pin him every time.
"Gotta learn to defend yourself, little bro," he'd say while he messed up Ryder's hair.
The boys each turned out a perfect mix of Derek and Stiles, but in different ways. Sky had Derek's dark hair and sharp jawline with Stile's nose and eyes. It always surprised him when he looked at him and saw the mix of the two of them rather than one or the other. Ryder, though, named for Stiles' father, had Derek's green gold eyes set in Stiles' face. Derek often cursed himself for tainting his son with his genes. If he could have a perfect clone of his husband he would have never wanted for anything ever again.
They were creeping down the hallway toward Ryder's room now. He tried not to make any noise, but they knew he was awake, even if they didn't know he was listening. He flopped onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow to stifle the laughter he knew he wouldn't be able to hold back.
The bedroom door burst open and he heard the sharp uptick in Ryder's heartbeat. He was scared shitless. His siblings all screamed and he listened to the bed springs creaking as they all jumped on top of him.
"Wake UP, little brother!" Selene yelled!
"Happy Birthday, Ryder!" came CC's voice next.
"Wake up, douche bag, we got shit to do," Sky said.
"Sky, watch it," Derek growled lowly. He knew his son heard him when his heart beat skipped momentarily.
"How old are we now?" Ryder asked sleepily.
"Eighteen last I checked," CC told him.
"Shit, does that mean we have to move out now?" Ryder asked.
"Pop said we can stay as long as we want. Which means I'm probably going to be raising kids here, so you losers need to get out," Selene told him.
"We can just add on to the house. Pop's been talking about it for years anyways."
"Do you really want to raise kids with all of us around anyways?" Sky asked.
"The girls would be fine. I don't know about you."
"You know, there's enough land here that we could just build new houses. We'd all probably be able to have at least 3 acres and be comfortable," Selene reasoned.
Derek smiled. He loved that his children wanted to stay close, wanted to raise families on the land where he'd been raised and raised his own family.
"Well, what are we doing today?" Ryder asked.
"I figured we'd go get some flowers and go to the grave yard first then maybe go get some lunch, see a movie, maybe talk pop into getting us some cake later?" Selene said.
"Can we go to the mall at some point? I want to get some new jeans," CC said.
Sky groaned though Derek knew that they would get her way.
"Only if we can see the new Spiderman movie," Ryder said.
"Another Spiderman movie? When are they just gonna stop with this? They've been making them since we were kids!" CC exclaimed.
"They'll stop making them when people stop seeing them," Sky reasoned.
"Okay, okay you guys. How about we go get the flowers, go to the graveyard, go get some lunch then hit the mall to get C's jeans and the movie and then we can call Chandra, Alexis, Stella, Jack and the twins and go get dinner? Maybe we can have like a pack birthday party or something later," Selene said.
"Sounds good," Sky said.
Ryder and CC hummed in agreement.
"Alright then, we'd better get going," Selene said.
They all scrambled out of Ryder's bed to go to their own rooms and get dressed. Derek sighed and stood out of his own bed before digging through his drawers to find a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He dressed, slipping on one of Stiles' old t-shirts before going downstairs to make his kids their birthday breakfast.
"What is it this year guys?" he asked quietly.
Sky was the first to answer, "As long as there's bacon, I'll be happy."
"Chocolate chip pancakes!" CC exclaimed.
"I could go for some crepes," Selene said.
"Ryder!" Derek yelled.
"Biscuits and gravy." He said.
'Good lord, I'm going to be cooking forever,' he thought.
He put the bacon on to fry first while he mixed pancake batter. He wished, not for the first time, that Stiles was here. He was always better at cooking than Derek. He poured the pancakes on the griddle and popped open a can of biscuits. He placed the biscuits in the pan and popped them in the oven before turning the pancakes and bacon and starting on the crepes.
Sky was the first to come down, as he was every year. Derek shoved a mountainous plate of bacon in front of him and smiled when his son's face lit up.
"Thanks, pop," he said.
"Eat up, kid," Derek said.
Derek dumped flour into the bacon grease and started to slowly add milk to the pan, he used a fork to mix it all together before pulling the biscuits out of the oven. He folded some strawberries into Selene's crepes just as she walked into the room and sat down next to her brother.
"Smells delicious, pop," She said, stealing a piece of bacon from Sky's plate.
Sky growled lowly and scooted away from her.
Derek put his daughter's breakfast down in front of her smiling as she immediately picked up her fork and dug in. He frowned at the plate of chocolate pancakes waiting for CC on her plate.
"CC, these pancakes are going to get cold if you don't get down here," he said.
Two minutes later, his daughter was skidding into the kitchen and grabbing up her breakfast, tearing into them before she even made it to the table. Her hair was still up in a clip and she only had makeup on one eye.
"What am I going to do with you?" He asked her.
"Sorry! I got distracted arguing moon phases with Jack!" she said.
"You're so much like Stiles it kills me," Derek said.
CC hummed and kept eating.
"RYDER! Food!" Derek yelled.
Ryder came bounding down the stairs, running into the kitchen and grabbing up a plate and some biscuits. He scooped a huge amount of gravy on top of them and sat down with his siblings. Derek snickered as he grabbed a plate and some biscuits.
When they finished eating, they sat in the living room waiting for CC to finish getting ready. Derek would forever regret the day he had allowed Lydia to take the girl shopping. She had been a fashion and makeup fanatic ever since. Still smart and loved to read like Stiles. But she had to look good doing it. Just like Lydia.
"She's their child, you know. Not mine," Derek said.
"Pop, if CC belonged to Lydia, then we would too, and I look too much like you for you to even argue with that," Selene said.
"True enough," Derek conceded.
Finally, CC came downstairs, looking flawless as always, her tawny eyes shining as she smiled at her siblings and picked her keys up off of the table in the hallway.
"Alright losers, let's go!" she exclaimed.
Selene and CC kissed Derek on the cheek and his sons waved from the door.
"Bye, pop, See you later," they said.
As they walked out the door, Derek wondered how it was that he'd managed to raise four children.
******
6 hours later, Derek was surrounded by his pack. Isaac and his wife Ky and their daughter Stella, Boyd and Erica and their son Alexis and daughter Chandra, Scott and Allison and their twins Henry and Ryan and Jackson and Lydia with their son Jack. Chris and Melissa were there as well. There were only three missing and two were halfway around the world doing diplomacy with a Chinese pack in Beijing. There were four small cakes set around the table as well as a big one for everyone else.
Derek was excited. He couldn't wait to surprise his children with a party. They hadn't had one since they were ten years old and he couldn't wait to see their faces.
Derek heard a car pull up in the driveway and his face split in a wide smile.
"They're here," he whispered.
Scott smiled a small smile and Derek bounced on the balls of his feet.
The door opened slowly and Derek's smile dropped off of his face. The familiar heartbeat, the smell of home hit him. His heart stopped as Stiles stepped over the threshold and dropped his bags next to the couch, smiling wearily at Derek.
“Surprise!” he said tiredly.
“Oh my God,” Derek said as he rushed forward to pull Stiles into a bone crushing hug. He buried his face in Stiles’ neck and inhaled deeply.
Stiles peppered kisses all over his face as he whispered ‘I love you’ and ‘God, I missed you.’
Derek looked into his eyes and kissed him hard and rough. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait for everyone to leave so he could ravage his husband, who he hadn’t seen for two months, off on a diplomacy mission in China with Peter of all people.
“Where are the kids?” Stiles asked.
“They went out for the day. They should be home any minute.”
“Did they go to the cemetery?”
“They do every year. They miss your dad a lot, you know?”
“Yeah, I think Ryder does the most. I tried to keep him healthy, but, after a stroke, there’s only so much you can do. I miss him too. They take flowers for all of them?”
“Probably. They always do. Where’s Peter?”
“Found a girl in China. Decided to stay a while.”
“Ah. Good.”
“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Stiles asked as the pack surrounded him and squeezed him. Scott wrinkled his nose.
“You don’t smell right, dude.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not smelling so fresh yourself,” Stiles told him as he hugged him, “Thanks for not telling Derek I was coming home today. The look on his face was totally worth it.”
“You knew?!” Derek asked.
“Dude, I’m the alpha,” Scott said, “I know everything.
“I’m starting to regret that decision. Maybe I should have given it to Isaac.”
“No way, man. I would not make a good alpha and we all know it,” Isaac responded.
“Ah well, one day Selene will take over and this pack will have a real leader,” Derek teased.
“Hey!” Scott protested.
“What’s all the commotion? I heard my name. Oh my god,” Derek heard from the doorway.
“Surprise!” he said as Selene lead her siblings into the house.
“DAD!” CC exclaimed running to Stiles and throwing herself at him, the other three close behind him, completely ignoring the rest of the pack and the cake waiting for them.
******
Once everyone settled down and the kids dug into the cake, Erica turned on some music and Derek found himself pressed tight against Stiles in the middle of his living room. He couldn’t get close enough to his mate. He’d missed him so much.
“I’m so glad you’re home, Stiles,” he said.
“Mhmm. Me too. I missed you,” Stiles said, picking his head up from where it had been resting on Derek’s shoulder. He paused for a brief moment, eyes flicking to Derek’s mouth before kissing him deeply.
Derek tightened his arms around Stiles’ waist and hummed into the kiss contentedly. He broke away and buried his face back in Stiles’ neck.
“I lost you, eighteen years ago today, I lost you,” he said quietly.
“But I came back,” Stiles told him.
“You did. You came back for me.”
“I will always come back for you.”
Derek looked into Stiles’ eyes and willed himself not to drag him upstairs and show him how much he loved him. Right. Now.
They were interrupted by Ryder who cleared his throat very pointedly.
“Sorry,” he said as Derek and Stiles stepped away from each other.
“What’s up kiddo?” Stiles asked.
“Well, Jack invited us to the cabin tonight with Chandra, Alexis, Ryan, Henry and Stella. CC and Selene really want to go and Sky thought you guys could use some time alone. Do you care if we go?” he asked.
Derek looked to Stiles, who quirked a brow at his husband.
Derek put his hands up, palms out and shook his head.
“This is, and always has been, your call. You gave birth to them. This is your day,” Derek told him.
Stiles gave his son the side eye before nodding his head.
“Go ahead. Have fun. And keep your brother away from Ryan! We don’t need any of you with babies just yet!” He told him.
“I think we need to worry about her and Alexis more. She’s got it bad for him,”
Stiles quirked a brow again and looked at Derek.
“Those boys are going to kill each other. Ryan would be a good mate for either of them,” Derek said.
“I guess it’s up to her, though, isn’t it?”
“Yep, and I’d rather not think about the kids’ love life tonight. I’ve got my own to rekindle.”
“Is that so?” Stiles asked.
“You better just be ready. I missed you too much to go easy tonight.”
“I can’t wait.”