Chapter Text
She was small, and beautiful, and unquestionably his. She was dressed in a white sundress with little yellow and pink flowers all over it and white sandals on her feet. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in pigtails on either side of her head. Her skin was milky pail except for a small mole on her cheek and her eyes were so much like his own; but filled with an innocence that he had lost such a long time ago.
There was a suitcase much too large for her to even attempt to pick up by her side and a stuffed wolf clutched against her chest.
As he looked at her; her eyes flashed amber before settling back to their natural color.
“Are you my daddy?”
“I…um…”
In his hand he held a letter that the girl had handed him upon his arrival at the burned out shell of his childhood home. Really, this was no place for anyone to leave a child; especially not with the alpha pack in town.
He looked back down at the letter in his hands and reread it.
Derek,
You probably don’t remember me. It’s probably best that we keep it that way. The girl’s name is Artemis, but she likes going by Artie. She is your daughter. She is five and her birthday is in January. She was born on the Wolf Moon. I remember you telling me about the wolf moon when we were together. It seems fitting that she was born on the wolf moon.
I can’t take care of her anymore. Don’t try to find me. She’s your responsibility now. I’ve left her with plenty of clothes for a while as well as all of the important paperwork for her.
Take care of her.
Derek sat down heavily on the ruined steps of his ruined childhood home. The girl looked up at him with those big eyes. He crumpled up the letter and shoved it in his pocket.
“Yes. I’m your father.”
The little girl smiled brightly before running towards Derek and wrapping him in a hug. His heart swelled with love in a way that it hadn’t in so many years. For the first time since the fire; he was warmed by another person. He wrapped his arms around the girl and buried his nose in her neck; taking in her scent and committing it to memory.
Things were about to get very complicated. But if it meant family; he could deal with that.
***
The Hale family had never been poor by any means. They had been well off while living in Europe many generations ago; and had done well for themselves when they arrived in the new world. Then had headed to California during the early days of the California Gold Rush back in 1849. As they were werewolves; they had incredible luck. Not only where they able to hunt for themselves and provide sustenance for themselves in that way; but gold and other metals all had their own special scents. It wasn’t hard to sniff it out.
Add on great investments and by the time Derek was born; they family had more money than they really needed. Then had come the fire and with it…more money from the insurance company. He and his sister had lived off of that money for a while before dipping into the money they had inherited when the family was killed.
It was because of preference and the fact that he believed that he didn’t deserve any better that had caused Derek to live in the burned out shell of his former home and then in the abandoned train depot.
But now he had a child to take care of; and he had never felt so relieved that the local Inn had its Vacancy sigh lit up. Artemis was already asleep in his arms as he walked into the room and lay her down on the bed. She curled up into a small ball on her bed and pulled her stuffed wolf closer to her chest.
What the hell was he supposed to do now? Well, for one, he needed to invest in a house. He refused to let his daughter call that old train depot her home. So he would at least need to rent an apartment. That was no problem. He could afford that. He would need to enroll her in preschool…or would it be kindergarten? How did he even take care of a kid?
He needed to call someone.
Peter? Hell no! The man may be his uncle but he had killed his sister. He couldn’t let him know about his daughter, not yet. Isaac? No. Isaac had gotten close to Scott and would probably tell him about Artie, and then Scott would tell Allison and things would become dangerous for his little girl.
God…his little girl…he was actually thinking of her as his.
He sat down beside her and ran his hand through the hair that now hung free around her head. She looked like Laura.
Stiles? Yes. He could call Stiles. He knew for a fact that Stiles was good with children. He had seen the teen interact with children Artie’s age before and they seemed to love him. Furthermore, Stiles was trustworthy and good at research. Stiles would be able to help him.
Derek stepped outside of the room and pulled out his cell phone before scrolling through his contacts and finding Stiles’ name.
He opened the door and looked in at Artemis as he waited for the teen to pick up. It was only about four, so the boy should answer.
“Derek? Why are you calling me? Is everyone okay? Is Scott in trouble? Is Peter trying to kill you?”
“Peter isn’t trying to kill me and Scott is always in trouble; but this has nothing to do with either of them.”
“Is it Isaac? Erica? Boyd? Jackson? Oh my god, it’s not Lydia is it?”
Derek growled and tried to keep from getting too irritated. “No. Stiles, everything is fine. But I need your help. Just come to the Holiday Inn in town. Room 209 and bring your laptop…and some food.”
“If no one is in danger then why the hell would I come help you?”
“Stiles, please.”
***
Something was really wrong with Derek. Stiles knew because the wolf wasn’t being his normal grumpy self. He hadn’t threatened him and he had even said please. Maybe Derek was dying. Maybe he got shot with another magic bullet.
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
He hung up on Derek and put his fully charged lap top into his bag before grabbing his wallet and keys and heading out to the jeep. He hoped that Derek would be okay.