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There are two things to know about Derek Hale: he loves wolves, and he loves babies.
You wouldn’t think that with the way he looks – Stiles remembers the first time he saw his husband (then dubbed Hotty McScowly in his head) in his leather jacket and skinny jeans. You could cut glass on those cheekbones, he’s pretty sure, so he doesn’t really blame people for doing a double take when they see a big, scruffy looking lumberjack bouncing a toddler on his knees.
And Derek does that a lot, because the Hale Family is ever growing.
Derek is the third eldest of six children, because Momma and Daddy Hale got busy. He has an elder brother and sister, Laura and Eric, followed by a sister only a year younger than him, Cora, and the twins Fiona and Jonah. And, yep. Stiles still can’t get over the rhyming names, if he’s honest, and wonders how good the drugs Momma Hale got really were – because seriously? Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but thrice is a full-on pattern, Mr and Mrs Hale!
He’s not really complaining about it, though, because one: he loves introducing the siblings to new people and watching their faces twitch as they hold back from laughing, but also because two: practise with three younger siblings means Derek is awesome with babies.
And when Stiles stays awesome, he really does mean awesome.
Derek’s like a baby whisperer. As soon as he walks into the room, all the babies automatically wave their arms at him, want to play with his beard, like his gifts the best. There was a full-on two weeks where Scott was actually jealous because his two-year old was happier to see Derek then she was to see Scott, which lasted until Kira slapped him around the head and reminded him that it was because Derek was the fun, loving uncle who always came around with boys, and because he wasn’t the one who lectured little Sammy when she didn’t want to take a bath.
Scott got over that pretty quickly, especially after Stiles and Derek offered to babysit one time and Derek was thoroughly disgusted when it came time to change Sammy’s diapers. Stiles had laughed at his face for days even though he was just as disgusted, because gross.
Despite that, though, Derek still loves holding babies, and playing with babies, and talking to them and singing to them and – Derek was good with babies, alright? Stiles practically melted every time he was his husband with a toddler in his lap which, considering that all their friends were getting married and starting to make their own families, was actually quite often.
Laura had her own seven and four-year-olds. Erica and Boyd had a baby only a year ago. Scott’s little pumpkin was almost three now. Even Cora and her fiancé were talking about kids already! It felt like every corner Stiles turned he was accosted by an adorable, giggling like kid, and he was literally going to have a heart attack if he didn’t get himself one of those soon.
Stiles remembered the day he told Derek well. They’d spoked about having kids of their own, little Stiles-and-Dereks running under their feet and around their homes, but Stiles was still nervous. It was still scary. He knew Derek wanted a family, but was this the time? Were they ready? Did they have good enough jobs, a good enough home, did Derek want to make a human being with Stiles of all people?
He had approached Derek carefully, hopeful and eager but cautious, only to have Derek sweep him off his feet and detail him all the reasons he was more than happy to get Stiles knocked up. Very enthusiastically, tiles might add, because they’d done less talking that night than, uh… ‘other’ things. (Insert winky face.)
Of course, it wasn’t that easy.
Stiles had been taking T for years and his doctor had warned him it might impact his fertility, so they’d been worried about whether they’d be able to have kids of their own. Stiles wouldn’t mind adopting, of course not, it’s just that Stiles thought Derek’s bunny teeth would look absolutely adorable on a baby. He wanted a baby of his own DNA, was there something wrong with that? Was he not allowed to want to be pregnant, to carry his own baby, to make a miniature replica of himself and Derek?
Damn right he was, and he’d fight anyone who said otherwise.
Despite all his worries, they were in luck, because all those myths turned out to be false and Stiles was A-okay to make a baby.
Unfortunately, Derek was not.
Stiles remembered that day well, too. They had been trying for months with no results, and Stiles had been heavily convinced that it was something wrong with him – they’d both been so focused on comforting Stiles that it came as a complete shock when the tests came back to reveal Derek had low sperm production. It was devastating, and Stiles remembers holding Derek against his chest as he cried, wondering if the family they’d both been dreaming of for years would never come to fruition.
It wasn’t impossible, the doctor had said. “You can certainly keep trying, and there are treatments for male infertility that might help. Past that, there’s IVF and surrogacy if medication doesn’t work. And, of course, adoption.”
So they’d kept trying. Money wasn’t that much an issue but they still needed to save up for treatments and possible IVF and, if truly nothing worked, adoption. And gain, while Stiles had no problems with adopting, it was still… soul-crushing. Horrible. Heart-breaking. They tried to keep a positive outlook, tried to smile for their families and grin for the cameras, but it was hard to grieve for a baby that had never even been there in the first place.
So, while they did that, Stiles still held Derek close and Derek still whispered sweet-nothings into his husband’s ears. It was hard, but it was possible, so they’d just keep trying.
Which brings Stiles to his second point: Derek loves wolves as much as he loves babies.
Derek had been fairly downtrodden recently after another negative test, which Stiles totally got. He still didn’t like it, though – seeing his husband so hopeless and heart-broken, and he needed to find some way to cheer him up.
Which is why, for their five-year anniversary, Stiles bought Derek tickets to a wolf sanctuary.
Because the Hales? The Hales absolutely loved the heck out of animals.
When Stiles was a kid, he thought he was the biggest fan of dogs in the world – he and his dad had taken in a few K-9s while they were being trained, and Stiles always snuck them treats and bacon and thought he was the most indulgent dog owner on the planet
That was, at least, until he met Derek and his family – because the Hale family seemed to be Snow White, collectively.
Their house was in the middle of a town preserve, and apparently worked as a massive beacon for all the wildlife in the area. Squirrels and birds regularly stopped to eat from the many food-dispensers set out around the house, foxes regularly came around to eat meat left on the back porch, and they’d even once found a family of skunks hiding out in their shed. Derek once told Stiles about how he’d helped nurse a baby deer after it got separated from its mom, and just the other week Momma Hale called to tell them about the bird whose wing she’d helped untangle from some wiring.
If Stiles was honest with himself, no matter how much he loved seeing his dad and his old friends, he always looked forward to visiting the Hales at Christmas just a little bit more because of the amount of animals they undoubtedly had on the property at any given time.
Not just because the house was in the preserve, though, but also because various family members had tons of pets of their own – Laura had gone on to be an animal rights activist, and had her own parrot she’d presumably stolen from a pirate (or gotten from a shelter, whatever, that was less interesting); Eric trained guide dogs fill-time, and always had a brand new Labrador for everyone to get licked by; and Fiona even went on to become a vet and adopted pratcially every dog and cat that had made puppy eyes at her.
That was how Stiles met Derek, actually – Fiona and Scott were co-workers, and Stiles had been visiting the place to give Scott a ride home one day, when a literal Adonis walked out with Fiona in a super-hot leather jacket and stubble Stiles wanted to get to know intimately.
He did. It was awesome.
Anyways, back to the point – whilst Derek didn’t follow the rest of the family in getting an animal related job (Stiles was married to a literature professor who wore old-man sweaters and hipster glasses, how lucky was he?!), he’d always had a life-long interest in wolves. As a kid, he’d apparently fall in love with every wolf they met at the zoo, pretend their pet husky was a wolf-dog, and even wore a wolf-onesie for a full year.
Did Stiles ask for pictures from Momma and Daddy Hale? Why yes, yes he did, and they are so adorable that he put them on the fridge for everyone to see. Every time Derek passes it he scowls, which only convinces Stiles he made the right decision even more.
To summarise: Derek loved wolves, and he loved babies, but he couldn’t get a baby right now, which meant Stiles, as Husband Extraordinaire (patent pending) had to do something to cheer him up.
So he got him tickets to a sanctuary that actually let you get up close and personal with the wolves!
Yeah, Stiles knows he’s an awesome husband. Giving his boo something he’s wanted since he was a child is just what he does. The other husbands on their street better watch out, because Stiles just knows Derek’s going to babble about it excitedly for days after Stiles gives him the tickets.
Which, you know, it pretty dependent on Stiles actually giving them to him. And that’s actually surprisingly hard, because any time Derek isn’t working he’s busy reading or writing or cooking or whatever else is too important for him to spend any time with his husband.
Stiles may be pouting. Maybe.
He lets this go on for about a full week before he grabs Derek by his shirt collar, shoves him onto the couch, throws himself onto his lap, and – despite the ideas Derek seems to be having, if the way his eyes darken is any indication – shoves the tickets in his face and says, “I’m taking you to get some wolf kisses, damnit, now pay attention to me!”
Derek blinks once. “Huh?”
“Wedding. Annivsrsary. In two weeks,” Stiles says, hitting his forehead with the tickets. Derek takes the tickets and starts reading them as Stiles keeps talking. “Five’s a pretty big number, and I know we’ve been having a rough time recently, so I thought I could take you to meet some wolves at a sanctuary.”
Derek looks up, eyes shining and a big, fat grin on his face. It seems Stiles’ words have finally caught up to him, especially with the way he’s wrapped a hand around like Stiles’ waist like he’s resisting shaking him in excitement. “Wait – really?”
“Really, really.” Stiles boops him on the nose and laughs as Derek scowls. “In two weeks, you’re going to get to play with wolves and, hopefully, not end up running away with them to live and dance naked in the woods or whatever.”
Derek just looks up and down, switching between Stiles and the tickets. Like he doesn’t know which is more unbelievable. “Stiles, this is… God, you’re amazing!”
He grabs Stiles around the waist and spins them, cushioning his husband’s fall onto the couch. He quickly attacked Stiles with kisses and bites and Stiles is not complaining. In fact he’s doing, and when he pulls Derek into a proper kiss he lets it linger and all that sexy stuff.
When he lets go, Derek doesn’t look any less excited. He’s still eyeing the tickets like they’re the greatest thing ever, and Stiles is sure if he wasn’t currently exuding some Super Sexy Husband Looks that Derek would go off to Google the place or something.
“Seriously, though – you’ve got to promise me you won’t end up running away with them. Who’ll be left to do my laundry for me? It’s a real concern with you, Hale, I need to hear it in words.”
“Well, Hale,” Derek says teasingly. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem when I have the best husband in the world.”
Stiles blushes but nods wisely, taking the compliment to heart. “True, true. I am the best, after all. So,” he says, wining his hands around Derek’s ass and giving it a sublte-or-not-so-subtle squeeze, “maybe you want to ‘celebrate’ this with me, hmm? Say thank you to the best husband in the world, maybe?”
Derek’s grin is straight up predatory, and Stiles shivers when Derek leans down and takes his breath away with his kissing. He’s not kidding – Derek’s kisses are legendary, even if Stiles only has a limited sample pool of having had sex with 2.5 people before meeting Derek (his childhood friend in high school, the dude who introduced him to gay porn in college, and a mannequin he’s pretty sure he went to second base with when he was drunk. Scott has photos. It’s horrifying) and he’s not missing the opportunity to unwind with his sexy as hell husband.
Stiles has only just started to feel Derek up, though, when the man moves back and pulls away to grab his phone. Stiles makes a confused noise, mind still hazy and lust-fogged, and says, “uhh, excuse me, what are you doing? Come back here, you’ve got a job to finish, mister!”
Instead of leaping across the couch and valiantly returning to the love of his life to finish their business, Derek simply brings the phone closer to his face and says, “I need to look the place up, see what it looks like, what we can do. How many wolves are there? Can we touch them? Can we feed them?”
Stiles watches, mouth open, as Derek starts researching the sanctuary’s website and reads up on every animal they house.
“Did I seriously just get cockblocked by my own anniversary present?”
Derek ignores him, of course, because Stiles married a nerd and his husband has just gone into full nerd mode and he literally jinxed himself. Stiles knows from experience that this is going to last a few hours, and so resigns himself to sitting back and thinking of what great sex they’ll have later on.
Surely.
Eventually.
***
Two weeks later, Derek’s excitement has not tempered down even a bit. Stiles was right – he calls up his family to brag about meeting wolves in person, never mind that he’s not even done it yet, and the offended noise Jonah makes when he asks why Stiles didn’t buy him a third ticket is frankly hilarious.
Derek gets him a present too – a cute, customised jigsaw puzzle of them on their honeymoon which Stiles just knows he’s going to lose the pieces to at some point – and then they start packing. The sanctuary’s in a different state, so they plan to make the most of the weekend and find a near by hotel that doesn’t cost too much – because, Stiles won’t lie, those tickets were expensive as hell, and he’d like to be able to put food on the table next month, thank you very much.
They plan a three day trip, with the sanctuary visit on the last day, and spend the first two being the most obnoxious tourists in the world. It’s fun and exactly what Derek needs, though the Mexican place they went to must have no agreed with Stiles’ stomach because he spends the morning of the last day throwing up into the toilet.
“You okay, babe?” Derek asks, rubbing his back like the good husband he is. Stiles could seriously kiss him right now, except his mouth still tastes like bile and that’s definitely not a kink he’s developing any time soon.
“Maybe we should sue that place,” he groans into the toilet. “Call them and demand a refund. Egg it.”
“It’s not their fault you ordered the spiciest thing on the menu, Stiles.”
“If you’re not going to live life on the edge, what’s the point of living?!”
Derek just rolls his eyes and keeps rubbing his back, humouring him about suing the restaurant until Stiles stops being sick and they head out for the road.
The whole drive over Derek is bouncing in his seat like an over-excited child, and Stiles would make fun of him if he weren’t doing the same. He doesn’t even like wolves that much, isn’t obsessed and in love with them like Derek is, but the idea of meeting wild animals – especially grizzly, dangerous ones like wolves – is pretty damn cool.
The place is called Beacon Hills Wildlife Centre, and they’re greeted at the entrance by a man called Deaton and a woman called Allison, both more than happy to answer any of Derek’s questions – of which he has a lot, by the way. They go in with a group of thrilled kids and secretly thrilled parents, and Stiles keeps elbowing Derek every time he sees a kid being cute and funny. First, there’s an education class and for a second it’s like Stiles is back in high school, Deaton and Allison pointing their fingers at a PowerPoint while Derek leans over to enthusiastically chatter in his ear about some fact they mentioned or didn’t expand on. Every. Five. Minutes.
Highschool Derek was probably a goody-two shoes, Stiles realises, and makes a note to ask Laura about that when they get home.
Then they finally get to the good part – meeting the wolves.
“Now remember,” Deaton says, leading them out to the enclosure. “Even though wolves aren’t the dangerous creatures you see in books and movie, they’re still wild animals. You can’t rub their bellies and give them treats, because wolves live out in the wild and they don’t know that means you’re trying to be friendly. They just know you’re touching them, or what you’re holding out some food, so they don’t be as nice as your dogs at home.”
He says this looking at the kids, waiting for each of them to parrot back a ‘yes, Dr Deaton!’ that is so cute it makes Stiles coo out loud. No, seriously, one of the moms sends him an amused look and he feels like he’s blushing for a full two minutes. Derek just laughs at him, but Stiles can feel all those glances he keeps sending the children. He isn’t alone in baby fever.
The enclosure they come up to is massive with no wolves in sight, but Deaton assure everyone that there’s a full-proof way to find out where the wolves are.
“Howling,” he says, “is something wolves do to call their pack together or figure out who’s where. Kind of like roll call at school. So let’s all howl together and call the wolves.”
Stiles laughs instinctively, turning to share a glance with Derek, only to find him listening intently to the advice Deaton is giving out on how to make your howl “as wolf-like as possible.” Stiles blink for a moment, then says, “wait, are we actually expected to do this?”
Derek frowns at him. “Of course. How else are we supposed to summon the pack?”
“Uh, I don’t know – food? Meat? Some roadkill?”
“You want the keepers to lug a massive dead deer in front of kids and toddlers?”
Stiles opens his mouth, then closes it. He harrumphs and turns towards Deaton, quietly saying, “fine, but there is no way I’m taking this seriously.”
It’s a little ridiculous – as he suspected, some of the parents are looking dubious and a bit embarrassed, but the kids go all out. They howl their little hearts out, putting more effort into it than they probably do any of their homework, and Stiles is about to break into laughter when—
The wolves howl back.
He stays there for a second, mind blank, only to come back to himself when the kids in front of him start cheering and giggling. They howl again and there comes a second round, far away and echoey but still hauntingly beautiful. Next to him, Derek has a massive grin on his face, probably only half happy because of the howling and more so because he’d proved Stiles wrong.
Still, Stiles is willing to let that go because those howls are pretty damn breath-taking.
Allison and Deaton take them around the enclosure, sharing facts and answering questions (in which Stiles leans that wolves are way bigger than he’d ever thought they were, that the term ‘alpha’ is outdated and incorrect, and that he’s apparently real angry at a bunch of white guys two hundred years ago for thinking that there would be no impact if they just hunted all the wolves on the continent for funsies.) They eventually locate where the howling is coming from, and Stiles comes face to face with a wolf.
“This one here,” Allison waves her hand at a beautiful grey wolf behind the enclosure, sniffing at the fence and eyeing everyone cautiously, “is called Fysa. Fysa’s a timber wolf that was born in captivity, and she’s the most curious of all our wolves here, so you might end up only seeing her.”
They don’t, though – Fysa stays close to the fence the entire time, following Deaton’s hands like she expects a treat, but two more wolves join her, too: a black male wolf called Aaro who stays on the hill, watching the visitors calmly, and Sanna, a gorgeous brown wolf that endears everyone to her the moment she rolls onto her back and kicks her legs into the air.
Derek looks like he’s only a second away from climbing into the enclosure the entire, but Stiles has to say he’s pretty psyched himself. Deaton lets them all watch the wolves for a few minutes, standing back to answer private questions as the kids wave their hand and try to catch the wolves’ attention.
“Can we go up to the fence?” Derek asks Allison. “Not to touch or anything – I’d just really like to get a closer look at them.”
“As long as you don’t put your hands through the enclosure,” she says, smiling. “Feel free to take pictures, just don’t let them bite at your fingers because they probably will, and we are not being sued again.”
Stiles raises his eyebrows. “There’s a story behind that.”
Allison just rolls her eyes. “Grown adults thinking they know better than the keepers about what constitutes as ‘too close’. It didn’t go anywhere, luckily, but I don’t want to go through that again.”
Stiles laughs and they start talking while Derek crouches down. Allison shares stories of annoying tourists all while Stiles watched Derek from the corner of his eye. He watches the wolves intently, perking up every time one of them walks by, even if they don’t stop or seem to notice him at all. He looks like a kid in a candy shop, and soon enough he turns back to Stiles and waves.
“Come here,” he says, practically flailing his hands with a grin. “Come here, they’re so cool!”
Stiles shares an amused glance with Allison but sits down next to Derek. Derek starts whispering to him about the wolves, how this one was clearly the pack leader because so and so and how this other was younger because of this and that, and Stiles nods along like a good husband while the information goes over his head.
The wolves are beautiful up close, though they’re still too far away to really appreciate – or at least, they were a second ago, because as soon as one of the wolves (Sanna, he’s pretty sure) catches sight of Stiles, she stops and makes a straight bee-line towards him. Stiles feels a flash of alarm for a moment, but all Sanna does is sniff around him, tail beginning to wag more and more as she fidgets in front of the fence.
Stiles looks at Derek, bewildered, but Derek seems just as confused as him.
“Maybe you’re a wolf whisperer,” he says jokingly, and Stiles scoffs and hits his shoulder right back—
Right up until Fysa comes around, too.
Sanna must have given some secret signal or something, because Fysa creeps up to Derek and Stiles slowly, more cautious than her packmate was but still way friendlier than Stiles ever thought she would be. Even Aaro comes closer! He doesn’t come up to the fence like the others, but he does linger outside their little bubble, looking Stiles up and down like he’s dinner or something, and Stiles is seriously weirded out.
Capital ‘W and O’ Weirded Out, because he didn’t buy those tickets just to get gobbled up by some scary-ass wolves! This was meant to be Derek’s anniversary present, damnit, not a three-course meal for the wolves. Even some of the other parents are giving them a curious look now, so Stiles gets up and takes a step away from the fence.
“Uhh,” he says and turns to Allison. “Why are they looking at me like that? Am I a wolf whisperer? Am I a tasty snack? Do they want to eat me?”
Despite Stiles’ very real concerns about becoming dog chow right now, Allison just laughs and shakes her head. She instead says, sounding completely casual when she says it, “oh, that’s just how wolves act around people who are pregnant.”
Which is—
It’s—
Hold on. what?!
Allison doesn’t seem to notice the way Stiles has frozen, or the way Derek’s eyes have gone wide and straight to Stiles’ belly, because she continues speaking. “Wolves love puppies, you see, so they’re generally a lot more interested and friendly to people who are trying to grow their own little bun in the oven. They won’t hurt you, don’t worry about it.”
Which is absolutely not what Stiles is worried about right now – in fact, Stiles isn’t worried about anything right now, because his brain is currently being taken up with the words ‘people who are pregnant’ on repeat over and over again.
He turns to Derek, who looks just as shell-shocked as him, except – except not.
Because Derek doesn’t look so much shell-shocked as he looks happy and delighted and like his world has just been rocked for the better. He looks like someone who’s just found something they’ve been looking for forever, like someone who’s day has been made – like someone who’s going to be a dad soon because Stiles is apparently pregnant!
It all comes back to him, then. Stiles has studied the early signs of pregnancies so much, practically tattooed them to his eye lids, yet he’d apparently missed something as obvious as morning sickness. Really, brain, really – that Mexican restaurant? It tried to convince him that that was the reason he’d been sick that morning, not because he was growing a mini Derek-and-Stiles junior in his body right now?
When Stiles comes back to himself, Allison is still oblivious, ratting off facts about wolf pregnancy, but all Stiles can see is Derek. Derek, who stares at him for just a moment. Then, his voice light and watery, he whispers, “you’re pregnant?”
It’s then that Allison realises something is wrong, because she suddenly looks between them with a panicked expression on her face. “Uhhh,” she stutters. “Hold on – you did know, right?”
Stiles blinks at her. “No? We didn’t? We absolutely did not know that I’m pregnant, holy shit, am I actually pregnant?!”
Allison’s mouth flaps open and closed, and she looks rather helpless. There’s footsteps behind them, and Stiles turns around to see Deaton walking towards them with a cautious expression. “Is everything okay here?”
Stiles turns to Derek, who’s already staring at him.
Then, before Derek has any time to prepare, Stiles jumps straight at him.
They fall down to the floor almost instantly, spooking the rest of the tour and even eliciting a confused huff from the wolves, but Stiles doesn’t give a flying fuck because he’s pregnant!
He’s aware, in the back of his mind, that they should probably get up and explain something, anything, to Deaton and Allison. But all he can really think of right now is him and Derek being parents – Derek changing diapers, Stiles preparing milk bottles, Derek reading bedtime stories, Stiles teaching his kid to talk. It’s been their dream for years now, to have a family of their own, but it’s now a reality.
Stiles is pregnant.
He is so fucking happy right now.
He keeps holding onto Derek for a few more moments, and when he pulls away there are some not-so-masculine tears in the corners of his eyes. Derek looks much of the same, though. He’s smiling and grinning and laughing and, yes, even crying, and Stiles dives in for a kiss before pulling back to whisper, “I’m pregnant, Der.”
“I know,” Derek laughs. He’s smiling wide and beautiful, then he looks over Stiles’ shoulder and flushes bright red. Stiles looks up to see they’d attracted the attention of everyone in the area. They’re probably waiting to be attacked or something, or getting ready to cover their kids’ eyes, because Stiles imagines this doesn’t look very PG right now.
He gets up from the ground with a sheepish shrug. “Sorry, sorry, just some personal revelations is all.” He pulls Derek up with him, wrapping Derek’s arms around his waist. Derek’s hands quickly go to his stomach, stroking almost reverently, and Stiles feels like he’s only a second from vibrating out of his skin.
“Soooo I didn’t mess anything up?” Allison asks, nervously wringing her hands together. “Please tell me I didn’t just break up your marriage or something.”
Stiles shakes his head and pulls Derek closer. “No, no, it’s all good! Perfect, actually, we’ve been trying for forever now and are very happy about this, don’t worry.”
Allison lets a breath out, finally smiling. Deaton still looks a bit confused but his shock seems to be melting, and after a few minutes he goes back to sharing some wolf facts with the kids.
Throughout the rest of the tour, Stiles and Derek are kind of in their own little bubble. Which is ridiculous – this visit wasn’t cheap and they have literal wolves sitting in front of them, but Derek can’t seem to take his eyes off Stiles. Or Stiles’ stomach, really – or belly? It’ll be a belly in a few months, right? And now he’s thinking of having a big, round belly in a few months and having a baby and raising a kid with Derek and he literally cannot stop smiling, someone is seriously going to send him to an insane asylum in a minute.
They hear Deaton talking, follow him as he leads them around the fenced territory, but they’re too caught up in each other to pay attention to much else. When it’s time to leave, Stiles waves at Sanna and pretends she’s interested in his hands because she knows it’s a signal for ‘thank you for finally giving me and Derek what we’ve wanted for years now’, not just because they look like tasty sausages.
Derek looks sad and mournful to leave, but he looks even more excited to go back to their hotel and maybe get a pregnancy test, maybe get a real confirmation and set up some appointments and buy baby clothes and start working on the nursery. Okay, maybe it’s not just Derek who’s excited for that, and maybe they can’t go all of that in one night, but like hell is Stiles going to try.
The first thing they do when they’re back in town is pick up a pregnancy test from the corner shop.
It’s positive, and Derek doesn’t let Stiles out of bed for the rest of the evening.
***
Five years later, Stiles and Derek are back at Beacon Hills Wildlife Centre, and this time they’re not alone.
Stiles has both his hands occupied by leading Lily and Millie (because come on, how was he not supposed to carry on the tradition? Besides, twins with rhyming names were adorable, Derek, get used to it) up the path, while Derek is trying and failing to stop Jake from picking his nose in public. It’s a losing battle and they both know it, and soon enough Derek just gives up, picking the boy up and walking back over to his family.
The last five years have been a fucking trial and Stiles is glad to be back here, where they, for all intents and purposes, started their families. He’s delighted to see Deaton still here but finds out Allison recently got married and went to work somewhere else, but the promise of seeing wolves again tides him over.
Just before they start the tour, the guides stops half-way through their explanation and says, “and, just as policy here from something that happened in the past, we always start the tours by asking: so if you’re pregnant, do you want to know or not?”
Stiles laughs for a full five minutes.