Peter watched as Derek watched Stiles, who was out on a date again with a lovely young man. It was their third if Peter remembered correctly.

Derek looked like the floor had fallen out from under him as Stiles laughed at something his date said. It was horrible, but there was nothing that Peter could do. Derek was as stubborn as an ox about not telling Stiles that he liked him. Peter had tried to point out to Derek that Stiles liked him back, but Derek had just told him that he saw what he wanted to see, which was Derek happy in a relationship.

No one could convince Derek otherwise. So they all backed off and hoped that one day, Derek would break and tell Stiles. It had been five years, though, so Peter was pretty sure it was never going to happen. Derek was always there in the background whenever Stiles went on a date. He was afraid that Stiles' dates were doing to hurt him, and therefore he was there, always.

So far, Stiles dates had ended well enough. Only one had ever ended horribly, and from what Derek had told Noah, Stiles had put the guy on the ground faster than Derek could even get into the place.

"What are we going to do about that?" Noah asked as he sat down on the bench beside Peter and handed him his ice cream cone.

"I have no clue," Peter said.

"He's going to push Stiles away so far that Stiles will get over him. He goes on dates to make me happy when I keep trying to get him to just ask Derek out."

"He has. The last time, Derek made it a Pack night of movies when Stiles asked him to Chinese and a movie."

"What?" Noah asked.

"Yeah, it was rather horrible. If Derek hadn't turned into such a good Alpha, I would consider stripping him of the Alpha Spark. It's quite horrible. I assume that Derek invited everyone along, so he wasn't alone with Stiles, but Stiles took the hint and stopped asking him to do things with him. Which has also upset Derek. It's like watching two children tug on each other's braids and not realizing that they want the same thing."

"What are we going to do?" Noah asked.

"I have a favor from the Stone Pack in Vegas. The Alpha and three of her children all owe me a favor. They want to make an alliance with Derek. I bet that I can make it so that the Alpha wants it through marriage but is lying about that. The twins would marry Stiles in a heartbeat, even without liking him. They like pretty things, and their relationship is too involved in each other to want someone for each of them. Stiles would be well cared for, married to the two of them."

"That sounds..."

"It's not like that couple on Game of Thrones. They don't have sex with each other, but they are self-involved enough that they would only ever be able to share one person."

"That sounds like a lot of fun for that person. Two lovers with no guilt?"

"Shush you," Peter said with a laugh.

"I have a plan," Chris said as he leaned against the back of the bench that Peter and Noah were sitting on.

"Yes?"

"I like your plan, so I wanna go with it."

"Your plan is to do my plan?" Peter asked.

"Yes."

"You are lucky I love you, Christopher. I'll call the Stone Pack, and we can deal from there."

Peter heard the laughter from the bed. He looked at his two lovers, and they were still dead asleep to the world. Being human had its advantages. Peter just hoped that Stiles had made coffee.

The kitchen was full of laughter when Peter slipped into the room.

"Good morning, Peter," Stiles said.

"Good morning. Early start?" Peter asked.

"Not really, late to bed."

"You've not been to sleep yet?" Peter tried to sniff around to make sure that the twins were staying to their part of the deal, but there was no smell of lust from any of them.

"We went bowling, and then they had this laser show skating, and when we were done, we were all too keyed up to sleep, so we went into the Preserve. I was going to make breakfast and then crash for a few hours."

"Sounds like a plan but go ahead and crash unless you are hungry."

"Nah, they fed me. We hit Mel's as soon as it opened."

"I can handle breakfast. I'll not get any more sleep."

Stiles nodded his head and stood up, dragging the twins with him. Peter was pretty sure that the twins were going to be staying in Beacon Hills anyway. They had chaffed under their mother's rule in Vegas, and the Hale Pack was much more relaxed.

Peter shooed them up to sleep in Stiles' bed. The smaller bed of his youth had been swapped out for a king-sized bed when He had gotten home from college. Peter and Chris had talked Noah and Stiles into having Stiles stay there. It made Noah happier, and it was what Stiles needed. Peter also thought that Stiles wouldn't be living there this long. He didn't mind it. Peter loved having the family together. He had just thought that Stiles would be gone to live with Derek within a year.

"How is everything?" Derek asked as he slipped into the kitchen.

Peter hadn't thought he would be far. He had probably followed behind Stiles and the twins all night long and was trying to figure out right then how to get them out of Stiles' bed.

"Good. Staying for breakfast?" Peter asked.

"No. I just wanted to check in before my shift," Derek said.

"Everything is fine here. Stiles is in bed with his suitors, and I'm sure that any day now, they will be asking to be allowed to court him," Peter said.

The growl was there, and unless Peter had been listening in close, he never would have heard it. "You gave him up, Derek. You chose not to take his advances and instead see everything as me thinking that he loves you. You can't fault the boy for moving on."

"Moving on?” Derek asked.

"Oh my God, yes. Moving on." Peter spun around and looked at Derek. The eggs weren't cooking yet, so he could focus on his stupid nephew. "He came home for his father and you. He never would have come home as much as he did unless it was for someone other than his father, considering that most of the weekends he was home, his father worked. He wished that you would stop seeing him as the kid who had gone looking for an inhaler and saw him for the adult he was. He asked you out on dates, Derek, and every single time you made it a pack thing. The last time had been Chinese at home and a movie, and you turned it into a Pack night. He took it as what I meant that you didn't want him like that, so he stopped, and then he started to date."

"No," Derek said. He shook his head.

"Fucking yes," Peter nearly yelled.

"He's never...his smell..."

"Yeah, his smell, he's always smelled like that around you, starting after the Nogitsune and you helping him ground himself so he could get it out since Scott, and his Alphaness wasn't enough. You are his anchor Derek just like he is yours. You are the only reason he didn't spiral into suicide and depression after the Nogitsune left him. You, you fucking jackass."

Derek took off running, the front door slamming loud enough that Peter was sure that Chris and Noah would be waking up.

Soft footsteps, though, told Peter that someone else was coming down. It was Janice. The steps had been too light for it to be Chris or Noah.

"My mother said that the Hale Alpha was stubborn, but I never thought he was this stubborn. Stiles is in love with him, and he only dates people who are trying to get family off of their backs."

"What?" Peter asked. He hadn't known that.

"Yeah, all of the dates are set-ups. Men and women who don't want to date don't want the hassle of dating or finds dating too time-consuming when they want to focus on work. He gets good food out of it, and they get to have people get off their backs. I guess he runs an ad of sorts around town. Or it's all word of mouth."

"Fuck." Peter said. He rubbed at his eyes. He had heard Noah talking about the fact that he had thought he wouldn't love after Claudia again. that loving Chris and Peter had snuck up on him.

"Yes, well, Stiles is a delight, and if he would have us, we would snatch him up in a heartbeat. He's lonely. I don't understand how that happens in a pack this size."

"The other Betas tend to not monopolize his time so that the Alpha can. The only ones who don't see what is in front of their faces are Stiles and Derek."

"Is Derek," Janice said.

"No, it's Stiles too."

"No, Stiles is well aware that Derek loves him. He's just respecting the fact that Derek doesn't want anything to do with him like that. He wants to move on, but he keeps being drawn back in. I think he's nearly there, though. He's nearly ready to move on. Joe and I have told him that when he's ready, we will be there to help him or date him."

"My nephew is going to kill me one day. Go back up and cuddle. Stiles needs that more than anything right now."

Janice nodded her head and went back up the stairs.

Peter really just wanted to stick the two of them in a room and force them to talk, but it wasn't going to work, not with Derek. It seemed that Derek wasn't even going to do a damned thing about it, and now Stiles felt like he wasn't enough. They were both bull-headed and stubborn to boot.

Derek was going to put him in an early grave, again,

Peter pulled into the parking spot that had been his since he had moved in with Noah not long after Stiles had turned eighteen. Noah and Chris were not home, but Stiles was, which was on its own wrong for the time of day. In fact, Noah and Chris should be at home. It wasn't good.

Getting out, Peter turned his hearing up to listen in the house and found that while Stiles' Jeep was there, he was not. There was no heartbeat in the house. Peter unlocked the door, and he knew that something was wrong the moment he stepped inside. The house felt off. He laid his keys on the stand just inside the door and then went up to check on Stiles' room. He found the door open, which was normal. The only time it was shut was when he was asleep or jerking off. Though he did that in the shower more than anywhere else.

Peter found Stiles' room had been raided for clothes, and his smaller suitcase was gone. The larger of them was sitting out like it had been stuffed and then discarded when it was found to be too big. Peter dialed Noah.

"Peter, I'm a little busy at the moment."

"Are you working?" Peter asked.

"No, I'm helping Derek with something."

"Pertaining to Stiles?" Peter asked.

"No."

"Well, Stiles' suitcase is gone, and his Jeep is here. Looking at the clothes that are left, I can only assume that he went with someone to someplace a little bit warmer than where we are as his over shirts are mostly still here."

Peter could hear the phone being covered and Noah talking to someone. He figured that it was Derek.

"He went to Vegas," Chris said.

Peter turned around. He hadn't heard Chris come into the house. He hadn't even heard him pull up.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Vegas. I heard him talking to Joe about it last night and then Janice this morning. They are not getting married or anything like that; I think they are just going to blow off some steam."

"Peter, Derek says that he doesn't think that Stiles went for fun."

"Well, my nephew has decided that he wants nothing to do with Stiles, so Stiles is an adult, and if he comes back married, he comes back married. I'll welcome my new son-in-law or daughter in law with open arms."

Peter heard the growl over the line and figured that the noises he heard otherwise were Derek destroying shit. Peter hung up. He wasn't dealing with Derek and his tantrum.

"Stiles thinks that Derek loves him but doesn't want to be with him. I was talking to Janice about that this morning. I guess the Chinese and movies that turned into a Pack night was the last straw for Stiles. He's chosen to be happy in the only way that he can be." Peter sat down on Stiles' bed and rubbed at his eyes.

"Well, he's going to come back married or sexed up. I say that either is good for him. I've never liked how he pined after Derek anyway."

"You knew that he knew that Derek loved him."

"Yes, I clued him into it. I'm the one that pushed him to ask out Derek."

"You've been scheming behind my back."

"He comes to me. I mean, he doesn't want to ask his father about how he was with his mother. That way lies too much pain, but I loved Victoria, and he knows that. He wanted someone else to tell him how relationships should be."

"What do you think is the best outcome?" Peter asked.

"I have three answers on that. The best outcome for the Pack is that Derek gets his head out of his ass and follows him to Vegas, gets on his knees, and begs forgiveness. The best thing for Stiles is that he gets over Derek and finds someone who didn't need to be bullied into a relationship that he wanted. The best for Derek? That he gets fucking therapy."

Peter snorted at that because he had tried to get Derek into therapy for years to deal with what Kate had done to him, Laura's keeping him on a war footing for six years, his being used by Jennifer Blake to try and get him to protect her over his own Pack. He wasn't sure that Derek would actually go for it, but he could hope. He could fucking hope that this was the thing that had Derek finally getting the rest of the help that he needed.

The sound of a car pulling up had Peter looking at the time. Chris and Noah were in bed because they both had to work early in the morning. A phone ringing upstairs had Peter looking that way, and he tried to focus on the call when Noah answered it, but all he heard was feet on the stairs. He pulled his hearing back as Noah ran by him and out the door.

"STILES!" Noah yelled.

Peter raised an eyebrow at that. Stiles had gone overseas with the twins six months before. They had stayed in Vegas only for a week before just taking up going wherever they wanted. The twins had more than enough money, and they were at loose ends after being given over to the Hale Pack. Alpha Stone had been happy that they had found a place where they could be happy, so she had been glad to give them up for the alliance. She loved her children, and she wanted them happy, and they were not happy in their birth Pack.

Stiles was standing on the lawn with the twins behind and Noah holding him close.

"I'll call the station and call him out for the next two days. Parrish can cover his shifts," Chris said as he clasped Peter on the shoulder and slipped back into the house.

Peter watched as Noah started to cry, but it looked like Stiles had started that first. Peter was pretty sure that the last six months had been the longest that Stiles had ever been away from his father and not come back for a visit of some kind. Christmas had happened over a laptop. It had sucked for all of them, but Stiles had looked better than he had in a long time. He looked happy, and that was something that Peter wanted for him. He didn't want Stiles' happiness to the detriment of Derek's, but Derek had made his bed, and he needed to lie in it.

Stepping up to greet the returning trio, he stopped when he smelled pregnancy.

"Told you," Stiles said, and he laughed. He opened his arms for a hug from Peter. Peter stepped into the hug. He hugged Stiles tight, finding that he had missed him more than he thought. His heartbeat racing from his medication, and the scent of him everywhere.

"And who is the lucky father?" Peter asked as he looked at Janice.

"His name is Henry, and he'll be arriving next month. He had to close down his house and find a new job here in Beacon Hills. Thankfully he found one very easily."

"You ought to have seen him courting both of these idiots. It's why we stayed in Poland for longer than we planned on and then decided to come home when he knocked her ass up the first night that they had sex without a condom. They could all smell it the next day." Stiles was smiling, and it was going to his eyes.

"Well, congratulations."

"We found a house on the edge of the Preserve, away from where the Hale Pack stays that we are setting up." Janice looked to be glowing with the words. She seemed very happy to be back in Beacon Hills.

"You are part of the Hale Pack now," Peter said.

"We are on the edge of it," Joe said.

Peter heard the Camaro before it turned the corner to be visible. He looked at his Alpha, glad that looks couldn't kill or Derek would be dead. He wanted to keep that smile on Stiles' face.

Janice reached out and tapped Stiles' shoulder. He turned, and the smile didn't slip off of his face. He turned back around to look at his father. He rushed in for another hug before hugging Peter as well.

"Don't wait up!" Stiles yelled as he took off after kissing Janice and Joe on the cheeks. He was inside of Derek's car, and they were leaving before Peter could ask what was going on.

"You look shocked, Peter," Joe said.

"What is going on?" Noah asked.

"Oh, he told no one? Just a month after we left Vegas, a letter arrived in Italy delivered by the Pack Alpha whose area we were in. It was from Derek, who was apologizing for fucking up so badly. Stiles emailed him back since the letters took too long. They spent the next few months slowly transitioning to texts and then phone calls. Derek is the one who found the house for us and found Henry a job. He's done well at getting back into Stiles' good graces. Stiles did not say if tonight was a date or not. I would have assumed that he would have told you three above anyone else. This has been planned for two weeks. Us arriving and Derek picking him up for them to talk in person."

"No, Derek and Stiles were tight-lipped on all of it," Peter said. He glanced at Noah to see he was looking happy but worried as well. Peter understood that. The last times that things had hit a head between the two of them, Stiles had left for six months. If this didn't go well, Peter didn't think that Stiles would be back.

"Don't worry. Derek's been a wonderful gentleman, and they spent a long time talking in email. Even Derek's therapist talked to Stiles with Derek's permission about how Derek handled everything and his fears and such. Don't worry. He's already been warned that if he hurts Stiles at all, we will pick a random Pack member and make them Alpha, and he'll be stuck as Omega." Joe looked serious about that.

There was a reason why twins were revered in some Packs and ostracized in others. Twins were strong and could deal a lot of damage. Not all were like the twins from the Alpha Pack and had power in obvious ways. These two had yet to fully figure out what they could do, but with Stiles, it wasn't going to be long.

"So you are staying here tonight?" Noah asked.

"If that's okay with you. The house will be ready in a few days, and Derek offered the Pack house, but given how things went with Stiles leaving with us and my pregnant state, Stiles didn't want us staying there. He offered up his place. We will stay in his room."

"Let's get you guys inside. Clothing and such?"

"We have a bag each in the SUV. We packed pretty light but we had a few things we amassed and they are coming by ship and then being shipped across the country to here. Those will arrive when they want," Joe said.

"Let's get you both inside," Chris said.

Peter wasn't sure what was going to happen, but at least Stiles was home. It also looked like Derek had gone about fixing himself to someone who knew he was worth love.

Peter didn't trust Derek, so when he was sure that the house was asleep, he slipped out and headed over to Derek's working loft. It was the only place where he could be with Stiles. The Pack house had too many of the Pack that lived there full time and would be a place where they would get no alone time.

A few little trinkets that Stiles has made over the years concealed Peter even from Derek's hearing and scent. The Camaro was parked where it normally was when Derek was working. The rest of the lofts in the building were all rented out to people from the town. Peter wasn't sure what he would do if things were not good between Derek and Stiles. Stiles was almost like his own child, but Derek was blood. Peter had done a lot to avenge his blood before. He wasn't someone who drew that line, but in this case, one was blood by heart and the other blood by blood. He couldn't hurt either one of them.

"I missed you," Derek said just as Peter was getting close enough to where he could hear everything inside of the loft instead of just the voices.

"I missed you too but not in the same way," Stiles said.

"I know. My therapist said that I shouldn't get upset that I needed the push that you gave me when you left. I needed to see what pushing you away would actually get me."

Peter wanted to see how they were sitting, but he couldn't do that without going inside, and there was no way inside without them knowing he was there. He would just have to listen.

Someone moved on a piece of furniture, and the sound of the other moving at the same time came from close. Maybe they were on the couch or something. Peter wasn't sure.

"A yearish before we get to anything serious," Stiles said.

"Stiles," Derek said, and he sounded broken.

"No, you've told me that every single relationship you have been in has sex before you were emotionally there. I get that both of them were using you but fuck that shit. We aren't having sex until we are both fully emotionally invested. If that happens before a year, that's fine, but we will talk about it. You are scared, and I'm not having you run away. My heart couldn't take that, Derek. It would break me."

"I don't..." Derek stopped speaking, and Peter could just see him running his hand through his hair or dropping his face into his hands. "I don't want to hurt you. I know I did. I know that I kept on pushing my own thoughts into your actions without asking."

"Derek, ad nauseam, we have been through this. Broken record. The past is the past. we have discussed it, and we need to move on."

"I know. I just want to do this in person. Once. Once in-person, and then we can move on."

"Fine," Stiles said.

"I didn't listen to anyone who was talking to me, telling me that I was reading everything wrong. I didn't listen, and it hurt us both. I am so very sorry about that. I should have listened to Peter years ago when he told me I needed therapy. I'm going to keep it ongoing. The doctor thinks that even once I'm mostly better, that I should go at least twice a year, just to make sure I don't spiral."

"That sounds good. I talk to someone in a nonprofessional capacity, but they help me. I'm pretty happy with it. We can do this, but it's going to take talking, even if it's over email. We've learned you do well at starting conversations in it."

"Can we kiss?" Derek asked.

"Dude, we can make out as much as you like but no sex. not like full-on sex. Clothes stay on and shit, and no hands-on dicks. Frottage is good, down the road. I like kissing, and I like cuddling, so as long as you don't mind those, we can work on our issues while cuddling."

Issues? Peter asked himself.

"We can do that. I need to take you home. I'm happy Janice is happy with the OBGYN that I referred her to in the hospital. I think she will like her, and she knows all about us."

"I think so as well. I can stay here, or we can all cuddle in bed. I think that they need their Alpha little since we were gone when they moved from one Pack to another. I know the formal ceremony needs to go through, but they said they could feel the bond with you."

"Yes, it grew stronger every single day through you until it was its own thing. Are you sure about me joining in?" Derek asked.

"Yes, Derek. I never would have offered if it wasn't okay. Though first, we might want to send Creeperwolf home."

"Peter's here?" Derek asked.

"Yes, been there for a few minutes. Listening in, probably to make sure we weren't hurting each other."

Peter slipped away before he could hear anymore. He went home and found that Noah and Chris were awake in bed. He saw that he had left his phone.

"Sorry, I didn't even think," Peter said.

"It's okay; Chris said you were probably checking on the kids."

"Derek's gonna come back here, and the four of them are going to pack pile in the bed. I think that Derek's touch starved. Talia never had an issue with it, and Derek's touched more than she was. I know that everyone is different, but I forgot that most of the Pack is paired off. He gets time in when more than one couple is together but not a lot. We will have to change that."

"Yes, we will, in the morning. When it's daylight, and I wasn't kept up the night before with sex," Chris said. He grabbed Peter and pulled him into the bed, putting him between him and Noah.

Peter allowed himself to be put where they wanted him, and it was only when the scents of his lovers surrounded him that he started to calm down enough to sleep.

The front door opening and emitting the sounds of Stiles and Derek wasn't enough to fully wake him up, but he was glad that they were both home where they belonged.

The End