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Derek glanced at his phone again. Stiles had texted him non-stop for the past half an hour. He’d gotten a text from Jackson saying he was coming to visit and bringing Angelina, his and Ethan’s four-year-old daughter. He peeked over his shoulder into the backseat. His passenger, who had dozed off within five minutes of being in the car, shifted slightly. Derek held his breath.
At the next stoplight, Derek asked Siri to call Stiles and put the phone on speaker. “Why are you freaking out?” he asked as soon as the call connected.
“It’s the first time they’ve brought Angelina to the house!” Stiles exclaimed.
Derek had to acknowledge the truth of the statement. Jackson and Ethan had adopted the little girl the previous summer; this was their first trip to the US with her. They’d talked on skype several times, and the little girl referred to them as Uncle Sterek, but this was the first time they would get to hug her and play with her in person.
“Just keep yourself calm and make sure all the animals are fed, so they behave while we have company.” Derek’s passenger began making noise.
“What was that?” Stiles asked.
“What was what?” Derek asked, trying to keep his eyes on the road and reach into the backseat in an effort to calm his passenger.
Derek could picture Stiles narrowing his eyes. “Are you trying to hide something from me?”
Derek bit his lip and made a graveling sound with his throat. “Sorry, going into a tunnel. Have to call you back.” He hung up the phone and pulled to the side of the road. Getting out, he opened the backdoor and just managed to keep his passenger from jumping out. “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?”
The tiny dog looked up at Derek and barked several times in a row. Derek quickly flashed his eyes at him. “I don’t know why I decided to bring you home,” he muttered, snapping on the leash and putting the dog down to do his business.
He hadn’t left the house that morning intending to bring home a dog. He’d gone out for groceries. Before he’d entered the store, his ankles had been attacked by a foul ball of fur. He tried to pick it up and got bit three times for his trouble. Finally, he flashed his eyes, and the dog went limp. Shaking his head, he looked around for an owner but found none.
Sighing, he knew that if he told Stiles about the incident, he’d fret if he found out Derek just left the dog alone. Picking up the dog, who was starting to make noises again, he headed to his car and drove to Deaton’s clinic.
An hour later, he loaded the yet again yapping, but thankfully clean and healthy, dog into the back of his car. There had been no microchip, and Scott and Deaton encouraged Derek to take the animal home. “Stiles will love it.” They weren’t wrong, so he begrudgingly agreed.
He’d taken the dog with him to the market, having to flash his eyes a couple of times to stop the barking. Derek was to the point where he considered facing Stiles' wrath just to leave the dog on Peter’s doorstep with a bow around its neck. Except the thing was almost endearing when it was quiet. It also seemed to like Derek.
Once the dog was done, they got back into the car. This time, the dog in the front seat barked until Derek flashed his eyes, and then it crawled into his lap and went to sleep. Sighing, Derek pulled back onto the road and headed toward home.
He pulled up at the same time as Jackson and Ethan. He could hear Angelina shouting from inside the car, calling her daddies liars, and he wondered what that was all about. The dog woke up and started barking just as Stiles came racing out of the house.
“Where’s my little Angel- What the hell is that?” he asked, skidding to a stop as Derek opened the door, and the dog jumped out and started barking at him.
“I know with all the strange pets we have, it might not be obvious, but this is a dog,” Derek said. “A teacup chihuahua, apparently.”
Stiles raised his eyebrows and looked between the dog and Angelina, who was in Jackson’s arms, still screaming “Liars!” at the top of her lungs. Derek could see Stiles’ mind working. The dog’s barking and the screaming began to be a bit much. He flashed his eyes at the dog, laughing when it quieted and hurried to Derek’s side.
Stiles looked at the dog and back up at Derek. “I’ll deal with you and Finstock later,” he said.
“Finstock?”
“Don’t tell me that yapping doesn’t remind you of my lacrosse coach,” he said, turning away with a smile when Derek burst out laughing, startling Finstock into barking again.
“What’s wrong, Angelina?” Stiles asked, moving closer as Derek picked Finstock up, trying to quiet him with a hand over the nose and getting bit in the process.
“Daddy lied!” she cried, trying to throw herself at Stiles to get out of Jackon’s arms.
“Honey, I didn’t lie,” Jackson said, his lips twitching at the corners. “I thought you’d like to see Uncle Sterek.”
“You told me we were going to the zoo!” she screamed.
Stiles’ mouth dropped open, Derek’s laughter rang through the woods as Finstock started barking, and three of the cats escaped through the door Stiles had left slightly open, drawn to the commotion in the front yard.
“Sweetie, I didn’t lie,” Jackson said to his daughter. “This place is a zoo.” He laughed when Stiles made an outraged sound before dropping his head in defeat.