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There was always a benefit to your alpha being an unobservant puppy and for Stiles and Derek it was the reason their relationship had stayed secret for almost six months. They doubted that it would have stayed a secret had Lydia been living in Beacon Hills, but alas the strawberry blonde banshee had chosen to study in England for the past semester instead of her chosen school of Stanford. However, she was coming home at Christmas, so they doubted it would remain secret long after that. So, for the time being Stiles and Derek were enjoying their secrecy.
Yeah, Scott’s werewolf senses were picking up Stiles’ scent on Derek and vice versa, but they played it off that it was because Stiles had been helping Derek get the Hale house back to habitable conditions and in return, Derek had been helping Stiles control his Spark that had developed after his 18th birthday. Of course, Scotty was so believing of anything Stiles said, he accepted these stories at face value, yeah there was a slight lie in there because he hadn't included the fact they were dating, but they were doing the other things that they told Scott.
***
One night when Stiles and Derek were walking through the preserve after a tough pack meeting where Stiles was sure Scott was going to figure out the truth, Derek heard a small whimper coming from behind a copse of bushes. Taking calculated steps, Derek led Stiles over making sure the clumsy human didn’t cause any unnecessary noise that could startle whatever was whimpering.
Upon reaching the bushes, Derek and Stiles were surprised to find two small babies and they appeared to be wrapped up in an old Beacon Hills High School lacrosse hoodie. If their appearance wasn’t confusing enough, the fact that the hoodie was one of Stiles’ was definitely confusing.
Derek automatically went into wolf mode and started to sniff out the area to see if he could scent someone around them that could answer why there were two babies left in the middle of the preserve. The scents that hit him straight off were “pack” and “family” and they were coming from the babies. He could tell that they were of Hale blood and from that they could tell that they had been left there with a purpose.
“What is it, Big Guy?” Stiles asked when Derek remained silent and just stared at the babies, twins actually. “What do you smell? And I’m telling you, I have no idea why they are wrapped in one of my old hoodies.”
“Smells of pack,” Derek explained with a grunt as he followed his gut to lift the twins into his arms. “The scent that’s coming off them is pack and family. They are of Hale blood.”
“So that means what?” Stiles asked as he saw a letter fall from the pocket of his old hoodie.
“Their mom is either Cora or…”
“Malia!” Stiles exclaimed as he began to read the letter. “Their mom is Malia; she’s left a letter for whoever found them.”
Derek’s eyebrows rose inquisitively and Stiles knew straight away that Derek wanted him to read out the letter since his arms were full of two babies who were trying to get as close to him as possible.
To whomever finds my babies,
These babies are my life, but I’m in able to care for them. I have family here in Beacon Hills and I would love if they could be safely delivered to them. My cousin is Derek Hale of the Hale family preserve; however, I do not know his current address. So, if you are unable to locate him, could you please hand the babies over to Sheriff Stilinski or Deputy Parrish as they will be able to locate him. I would be eternally grateful if you are able to do this and please, give them the rest of the documentation that I have included in this envelope.
Thank you very much,
Malia Hale.
“Handy we found them then, huh?” Stiles smiled as he touched the head of the head of what appeared to be a boy. “This way there’s no middle man getting child services involved.”
“Yeah,” Derek agreed as he began to walk back towards the newly built Hale house. “Especially since one of them is a were-coyote like their mom and the other has the same scent you had before your spark fully developed.”
“Whoa!” Stiles said as he pulled on Derek’s jacket. “If you’re saying…”
“No, Stiles, I’m not insinuating you’ve cheated on me with my little cousin. I’m just saying that one is a spark as well. Not all werewolves bear cubs, some of my family were born human and there was a spark as well.”
“Ok, I’m sorry I jumped again,” Stiles explained. “Now, my dad is off shift tonight, so why don’t we go over to mine and see if he still has some of my baby things.”
Derek nodded and continued back to the house so they could drive back into town and go and see the sheriff.
***
Arriving at the Stilinski house, Derek frowned. “Your dad’s not alone,” Derek said scenting the air again. “Unfortunately, it’s Peter.”
“Damn,” Stiles cursed, only to receive a dirty look from Derek as if to say not in front of the kids. “How strong is the scent of family off them?”
“Strong,” Derek explained. “But it is just that, family. If Peter asks, we could say that, that…”
“Cora left them at your place with a note?” Stiles suggested hopefully.
“I was going to suggest that I got some girl pregnant,” Derek replied. “And she dropped by and left them with me because she couldn’t cope.”
“What one would Peter believe?” Stiles asked.
“No offence to your idea, Stiles,” Derek apologised. “But Peter has joked with me, asking if I’m sure that I haven’t got any kids toddling around that I don’t know about. Going with my story might put a stop to the pestering. Also, he won’t try to contest any parenting if I say I’m their natural father.”
“Alight,” Stiles accepted. “You know your uncle better and the pack dynamics better, so we’ll go with your story. Don’t worry; Uncle Derek will protect you from scary grandpa Peter.”
Derek just looked at Stiles and the way he was with the twins, he knew Stiles was the one that his mom had told him about when he was younger. He just had to figure out when would be the best time to broach the subject with him.
“Let’s go in now,” Derek suggested. “Only one of these babies runs warm constantly, so we better get them inside before this little girl develops a cold.”
Stiles nodded and rushed to grab hold of the door handle so he could go around and open Derek’s door for him.
***
“Derek and Stiles have just arrived,” Peter explained to John. “And it appears that they are not alone. I can smell two young scents. I wonder who they have with them.”
John began tidying up the paperwork that was scattered around them. Peter had since cleaned up his act and gone back to practising law and reopened the law firm he had with Derek’s dad before the fire. Currently, he was working with the Sheriff’s department trying to track down a small-time serial arsonist before they became big trouble for everyone.
“Dad, Peter, we’ve got something to tell you guys,” Stiles called out as he led Derek into the house. “Derek’s got kids.”
“I knew it,” Peter called in return. “Now let me see them.”
“They won’t let go of Derek, Creeper,” Stiles said as he slapped Peter’s hands away.
“Stiles,” John warned.
“No, Dad, I’m serious,” Stiles explained as he tried to take the little girl from Derek’s arms as they had deducted that she was the Spark. “Look, she won’t let go of him.”
True to what Stiles was saying, neither child looked to be letting go of Derek, so they all resigned themselves to settling in to listen to the story.
“Remember at the start of the year I went to New York to catch up with the pack who trained Laura how to control her alpha side?” Derek asked and everyone nodded. “Well, they had a were-coyote and on the full moon we fooled around. I thought nothing of it since I never heard from her again, but I guess I got her pregnant.”
“And you’re fully sure of this?” John asked. “I mean that you’re the father?”
“I can smell the family bond,” Peter explained. “So, dear nephew, who is this mysterious were-coyote? And shall we be blessed with her presence?”
“Aldona,” Derek said. “Her name is Aldona, and no, you won’t meet her. She’s gone back to her pack. She said she wasn’t cut out to be a mother.”
“So, do the children give off any other scents than family?” John inquired. “I mean are they wolves or human or what?”
“Well,” Stiles began as he approached the chair Derek had occupied. “This little cutie here, according to what Derek said, is going to be a Spark when she’s older. And her brother smells like a were-coyote. I mean, they haven’t shifted or anything yet but that’s what their scents are telling Derek.”
“Hm,” Peter said as he scented the air around both children. “So they are. Have they got names yet?”
“I’m thinking of going with Polish names,” Derek explained. “Since their mother is of Polish descent.”
“Whoa! Hold up,” Stiles exclaimed. “Polish names? Listen to the one who was landed with his great grandfather’s monstrosity when he tells you Polish names are not the way to go.”
“Pipe down, kiddo,” John said as he pushed Stiles away from Derek. “I happen to remember some of the Polish I learned when I was younger from some of the stories babcia told me, I could help out. How about the Polish words for spark and coyote? Iskra and Kojot.”
Derek looked at the twins and considered John’s suggestion. He tried both names out in his head and they did actually sound quite nice. “Thanks John,” Derek said. “I think they really suit the names. Don’t you think so, Iskra and Kojot?”
“So, Stiles,” Peter interrupted. “Other than to tell your father and I about these little darlings, was there anything else you and Derek wanted?”
“Yeah,” Stiles said, remembering why they came over in the first place. “Since this was sprung on Derek with no notice, he doesn’t have anything for the babies I said we might still have some of my old baby stuff. Do we?”
“Uh, I think your old crib and some old baby clothes your mom wanted to keep are still up in the attic. Let’s go and check so Derek can get those two settled in at his and start to get them into a routine.”
So, Stiles followed his dad up to the attic where they found more of the baby stuff than they expected. Eventually they got everything down and after playing some real life Tetris, they managed to fit everything into the jeep and the crib was secured to the roof.
“Thanks again for all this, John,” Derek said. “I don’t know what I would do without all this.”
“That’s what pack is for, son,” John explained. “Now, get those kids home and if that son of mine gets too annoying while helping you out, you know to tell him where to go.”
Derek just nodded and rubbed his cheek on the babies’ heads. The night was starting to call him out and all he needed now was to get back home and settle in with Stiles and the twins.
***
The journey back to the pack house was quiet, the tension was so strong but Derek didn’t want to say anything in case it erupted into a fight and disturbed the twins who had fallen asleep again. Instead, Derek remained quiet until he and Stiles had the crib set up and both babies had snuggled in to each other with the hoodie underneath them.
“What was with the tension?” Derek asked as soon as they were downstairs. “On the way here, you were wound really tight and I was scared to say anything in case you boiled over and upset the twins.”
“Was all that true?” Stiles asked as he spun to face Derek. “About Aldona? Did you really hook up with her back in New York? And, seriously, who calls their kid ‘unknown’?”
“She was called Aldona because her mother didn’t recognise what her scent was when she was born,” Derek explained. “Her pack had never heard of a were-coyote before her. And no, nothing happened between us. The story I told was basically her story; she told it to me when I asked about her name’s origin. What’s with all the questions?”
“I know we weren’t exclusive back at the start of the year,” Stiles replied as he settled down on the sofa. “But my heart was already beating only for you long before then, so I guess I was a bit jealous.”
“That’s understandable,” Derek reasoned. “I was a little jealous earlier when we found the twins in your hoodie; I thought you had gotten someone pregnant. My heart has been in this long before we started even fooling around. In fact, I think my heart has been in this from that moment we met in the woods after Scott was bitten.”
“Wow, just, wow,” Stiles said, absolutely stunned. “And I thought I was bad, being all in since the kanima, but you’ve got it really bad. I hate to tell you this Derek, but you’ve just ruined your big bad wolf image, I can’t wait to tell the pack you’re really just a great big teddy bear.”
“So, are we telling them about us at Thanksgiving then?” Derek asked; glad because he was going to rely heavily on Stiles at Thanksgiving to help him out with the twins. “Instead of Christmas.”
“Well, now that we’ve got Iskra and Kojot, there’s no chance of hiding from Lydia,” Stiles explained. “And I want everyone to see that I’m not as inept as they thought I would turn out to be after high school.”
“You’re not inept, or anything else negative anyone has ever said about you,” Derek defended. “And those two little ones upstairs are going to show you that you are going to be one of the best people, best fathers ever to walk this earth. You have a huge heart with plenty of love to go around and just because there was some negative events in your past does not mean you are going to have a negative future. Now, there is a whimpering little girl upstairs. So why don’t we go up to bed and the four of us can settle in and get familiar with each other’s’ scents and maybe we’ll be able to clue our oblivious alpha into our little family before the queen descends on us once more and fusses all over them and spoils them rotten.”
“Yeah,” Stiles agreed. “Let’s go upstairs for lots and lots of cuddles and kisses with our two babies.”