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“Who is her alpha?” Scott questioned as he playfully wiggled his fingers in front of the baby. He smiled down at her as she made a soft cooing noise, hands reaching up to grasp at Scott’s jaw.
“Alpha Williams, back in Mass, was,” Stiles answered, a fond smile crossing his lips as he watched Scott play with the baby.
“She’s gorgeous, dude,” Scott stated with a smile.
“Do you want to hold her?” Stiles asked.
Scott looked up at Stiles in surprise. “Would that be okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it?” Stiles asked with a small roll of his eyes. “You’re not going to hurt her, Scott.”
“No, I meant with scents and stuff,” Scott explained, standing off to the side as Stiles picked the baby up in his arms.
“Alpha Williams knows about you,” Stiles explained. “She said it would be okay if other werewolves held her. It’s up to me anyways.”
“Because you’re the emissary?” Scott asked, his eyes glued on the baby as he gently took her from Stiles, nestling her in the crook of his arms.
“Yeah,” Stiles replied, a small tick in his heartbeat made Scott look up at him. “Because I’m their HR pretty much,” he elaborated, knowing Scott heard it. He sighed when Scott didn’t question that.
“Why is Scott holding a baby?” Lydia questioned the minute she walked into the loft.
“I’m an uncle!” Scott announced with a smile. “Well, an unofficial uncle. This is Stiles’ surprise!”
“Why does Stiles have a baby?” Isaac was the first to question as he came to stand beside Scott, peering down at the baby.
“Because Stiles has been put in charge of caring for orphaned children of the pack,” Stiles stated with his hands on his hips.
“Oh, Stiles, she’s beautiful,” Allison cooed as she looked over Scott’s shoulder.
“She was orphaned?” Lydia asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she closely inspected the baby.
“Yeah,” Stiles stated. “Father isn’t in the picture. Mom couldn’t take care of her there, so here she is.” It didn’t register as a lie, because it wasn’t. That was the reason Stiles brought her back to Beacon Hills, his dad knowing the full story.
“How’s the Sheriff taking it?” Kira asked with a soft smile.
“He’s actually really excited about it,” Stiles stated.
“She’s so cute,” Scott stated to himself, moving his arms to protect her from getting whisked away by the others.
“Stiles, tell Scott he has to share the baby,” Allison announced when her attempts to take the baby were foiled.
“Scotty, buddy, she’s not going anywhere,” Stiles stated, smiling to himself as he watched his friends—his pack—fighting over who got to hold the baby.
“What’s her name?” Lydia asked as she stood next to Stiles, speaking softly enough that none of the others heard her.
Stiles didn’t bother turning his attention towards Lydia—she was the one Stiles was worried about convincing. “Claudia, after my mom,” he stated.
Lydia nodded. “She has your nose,” she finally stated.
Stiles took a small, calming breath. “I know,” he answered.
“You going to tell them?” Lydia asked.
“I’d rather not,” Stiles replied.
“Okay,” Lydia answered, moving her hand to hold Stiles’.
Stiles missed this—the reassurance of Lydia’s hand on his, the way she had his back despite the situation.
“What the hell is that?” A familiar voice questioned from the loft entrance.
Stiles whipped his head around to stare at the owner. “What the hell is he doing here?” He demanded.
“I’m wounded, Stiles,” Peter answered with a smile.
“He’s here for his annual check in, that’s it,” Scott stated, glaring at Peter as he cross his arms over his chest having handed Claudia off to Allison. “We can’t kill him or keep him locked up, so this is the best we can do.”
“I vote to kill him,” Stiles calmly stated.
“I missed your straight forwardness, Stiles,” Peter quipped.
Stiles glared at him as he moved to take Claudia from Allison, despite the woman’s protests. “If he’s here, I don’t feel comfortable having Claudia here,” he explained, placing her back into her car seat. He started buckling her into it, arranging her clothes so her entire body was covered.
“Derek has him under control,” Scott stated. “But we’ll just tell him to leave, no big deal,” he explained to Stiles, not wanting his best friend to leave.
“Derek’s not even here,” Peter added as he leaned against the doorframe.
“Leave,” Derek’s voice barked from behind Peter, causing everyone to turn and look at him.
Stiles’ hands fastened around the handle of Claudia’s car seat, instantly wishing he let his dad keep her for the first pack meeting. He wasn’t ready. Not for this.
“Ow, dear nephew,” Peter mockingly answered. “You wound me with your callous nature.”
Erica snorted as she moved through the doors, waltzing by Peter. Her eyes landed on the car seat, causing her to freeze mid-step, which caused Boyd to collide with her back. “Did I miss something? Who had the baby?”
“Stiles,” Isaac answered.
Stiles closed his eyes, calmly counting as he felt the blood pounding in his head. He heard Isaac release a wounded noise, likely Allison not to subtly stepping on his foot.
“She’s an orphan from the pack Stiles had been staying with,” Scott explained—bless his heart.
“I said, leave,” Derek barked again at Peter. “We see you’re alive and haven’t heard anything about you scheming,” he stated before Peter could talk. “Now leave.”
Peter placed his hands up in a fake placating manner. “Leaving. I don’t enjoy the company of babies, anyways.”
Stiles ignored looking at Derek, not bothering to stand up either as he stared down at Claudia.
Claudia stared straight back at Stiles. She smiled at Stiles, nothing but her two little nubs of teeth showing—bunny teeth; Stiles had cried when he first saw them breeching the surface. She made a soft cooing noise that sounded like a giggle before she suddenly froze. She started squirming, a look of discontent crossing her features. Then, she started wailing.
“How old is she?” Derek questioned, suddenly a lot closer to Stiles than he thought he was.
Stiles pressed his hand over Claudia’s stomach, trying to calm her down. It seemed to only make her cries worse when her eyes suddenly flashed gold, her instincts taking over her. “She’s only nine months,” he answered.
“What’s wrong with her?” Scott questioned when Claudia let out a particularly loud wail.
“She’s scared,” Derek easily stated. “There are two unfamiliar Alphas in the room with her—it’s causing her to panic.”
Stiles knew that was part of the reason. The other part he didn’t want them to find out. “I’m going to head home with her,” he finally stated, moving to stand.
“No,” Erica protested. “I didn’t get to hold her,” she pouted.
“I’m going to be at my dad’s,” Stiles started, grabbing the handle of the car seat, hoisting Claudia up as he started to move towards the safety of the door. “You guys can stop by, and if it’s not a big deal, I’d like to start coming to pack meetings.”
“Totally!” Scott joyously stated, knowing that Derek wasn’t going to argue him on this. They argued about a lot, but Stiles wasn’t one of those things.
“Claudia is going to need a lot of help with the full moon when it comes up,” Stiles stated, looking back at them for the first time. He swallowed, his eyes connecting with Derek’s. He tried to ignore the warmth moving through his stomach as he recalled the last time he saw Derek.
Last time he saw Derek, Stiles was being pinned to the bed as they went for their second round of sex. He remembered the feeling of Derek holding him down as he begged him to claim him. It was a stupid slip, something Stiles still regretted saying—not as much as he did for talking post-coital. But when Stiles said it, Derek lost it, acting almost feral in his instincts to claim what was his, the pull of the full moon making him act out.
Derek must have fucked Stiles in almost every comfortable position Stile could think of. He somehow made him feel used but loved, and it made him think stupid things. It made Stiles think that this wasn’t a one time thing—that this wasn’t Derek’s wolf taking over so close to the full moon. He thought that it meant something besides the sexual tension finally hitting its breaking point.
It became painfully clear, when Derek slipped out of the bed in the middle of the night without so much as a word, that it wasn’t meant to be a long-term arrangement. Stiles’ argument with Derek the next day didn’t make things better, either. He was just happy that the rest of the pack was out when he confronted Derek; he was glad that no one was there to see how humiliated he felt when Derek told him it was a mistake.
“We’ll be here,” Derek’s voice broke Stiles from his thoughts.
Stiles nodded, quickly turning to leave, hoping that Claudia’s screams would cover up the erratic beating of his heart.
~*~
The pack came by in pairs, most of them volunteering their free time to spend taking care of Claudia while Stiles worked or ran necessary errands.
“What was her first word?” Scott asked as he lay on his stomach, sprawled across the floor as he watched Claudia struggle with trying to crawl towards him.
Claudia moved surprisingly well, collapsing into a fit of giggles whenever Scott flashed his eyes at her. She loved putting her hands into his hair, pulling on the strands as she spouted made-up gibberish at him.
“Mama,” Stiles fondly stated.
“That’s kind of sad,” Scott answered with a frown.
“She called me ‘mama’ for a long time,” Stiles corrected him. “She calls me ‘dada’ now.”
“That’s actually cute,” Scott stated. “So,” he started, cautiously planning his words. “You think Derek should take the lead in teaching her control for the full moon?”
Stiles paused his writing, his pen hovering over his checkbook as he focused on all the damn hospital bills he still had to pay for Claudia’s post-birth visits. “You think that would be okay?” He softly questioned.
“I mean, Derek loves kids,” Scott stated, rolling onto his back as he held Claudia up in the air, smiling to himself as she giggled.
“He’s been avoiding Claudia like she’s the plague,” Stiles answered, remembering how at the last pack meeting, he stood as far away from the person holding Claudia as possible, never offering to hold her.
“I think that’s because she cries the minute he gets near her,” Scott answered. “I really think he needs to just hold her once, and she’d calm down.”
“Maybe,” Stiles answered, turning his attention back to his checkbook.
“So, are you going to tell me who the mom is?” Scott suddenly asked.
Stiles jerked so hard his pen made a line straight through the neat grids of his checkbook. “What do you mean?”
“Dude, she’s your kid,” Scott finally stated as he sat up with Claudia in his arms. “I know I’m oblivious some times, especially when it comes to pretty girls, but I’m not dumb.”
Stiles turned his attention towards Scott. “What made you think she’s mine?”
Scott rolled his eyes. “For starters, she smells like you.”
“I’ve been caring for her—”
“She smells like a part of you,” Scott specified. “Almost like she’s an extension of you. Even Derek asked me who her mom was.” He partially frowned as he looked down at Claudia. “I’m not going to push you, but it would be great if—”
“I am,” Stiles suddenly blurted, unable to stop himself.
Scott stared up at Stiles, his eyebrows furrowing. “Dude, that’s not funny. I’m concerned about you, and you’re making fun of me.”
“I’m not,” Stiles softly stated. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his tired features before he stood up. He lifted his shirt up, pulling the waist band of his pants down to expose a long, sharp cut running horizontally low across his abdomen.
Scott stared at the scar before looking down at Claudia, quickly looking back at the scar. He noticed the series of stretch marks running along Stiles’ sides as well. He looked up at Stiles, his face completely blank as he processed what Stiles just showed him. “You mean …”
“Yeah,” Stiles answered, dropping his shirt down.
“You carried …”
“Yup.”
“But that’s …”
“I assure you, it’s not impossible,” Stiles explained, sitting down in his chair. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone. My dad is the only other person who knows—besides Alpha Williams’ pack.”
Scott barely nodded as he stared off to the side before looking down at Claudia. He knew she was Stiles’ daughter, just by the way her nose turned upwards like his, even her cheeks being puffy round like his—not to mention the beauty marks. But the fact that Stiles carried her for nine months before getting surgery seemed insane.
“Wait, so,” Scott started, still staring down at Claudia. “That means someone else is her dad, right?”
“Yeah,” Stiles cautiously confirmed.
“Who is her dad?” Scott asked as he looked up.
“An Alpha,” Stiles answered, knowing it wouldn’t register as a lie. “He doesn’t know.”
Scott’s eyes widened. “Dude, you have to tell him. He’s going to be pissed if he finds out that he has a daughter that you hid from him,” he explained.
“He won’t care,” Stiles stated, more in an attempt to convince himself than to argue with Scott.
“Come on, Stiles,” Scott argued. “Look at her, how could he say no?”
“He told me it was a mistake,” Stiles answered. “If I had told him … he would have wanted me to get rid of her.”
“You can’t know that, man,” Scott answered as he looked down at Claudia. “If he’s an Alpha, he has a sense of family.”
“Family is important to him,” Stiles commented, the knot in his stomach refusing to calm.
“See?” Scott reassuringly questioned. “He’d be happy to know you gave him such an adorable daughter.” He smiled when Claudia pawed at his shirt.
“He doesn’t see me as family,” Stiles stated.
“I’m sure that—” Scott immediately stopped. He was staring at Stiles now, unable to take his eyes off of his best friend.
“What?” Stiles asked, somewhat alarmed by Scott’s sudden silence.
“You left here more than a year ago,” Scott stated, the wheels in his head spinning as he did the math—not his strong suit, but he could add and subtract well enough to pinpoint Claudia’s likely month of conception. “You were living here when—” His eyes widened.
Stiles looked away from Scott, knowing he put it all together.
“Is she his?” Scott asked, courteous enough not to mention his name.
“Yes,” Stiles weakly answered.
~*~
Scott surprisingly didn’t lose it. He had been nice enough to promise not to say anything, although he demanded that Stiles tell Derek eventually, stating that he was going to find out on his own, sooner or later, and that would only make it worse. He took it better than the Sheriff had when Stiles first told him—the Sheriff wanted to drag Derek down to the station and demand to know why he impregnated his son before breaking his heart, words the Sheriff never thought he would ever utter. Despite the strange technicalities of Claudia’s birth, everyone who knew took it better than Stiles had when he found out. He guessed it was because he was the one with the new life growing inside of him.
It was the morning after the full moon, Stiles waking up in the loft’s spare bedroom. He heard the pack coming in only a few hours ago, Derek having stayed with Claudia downstairs.
Scott had been right, all Claudia needed was for Derek to hold her in order to soothe her wailing. The minute Derek held her, she stopped, staring up at Derek in awe. She was suddenly at ease, a soft rumble coming from her chest as Derek’s red eyes glowed down at her. She lost herself in a fit of joy when Derek shifted into his wolf form. She pulled at his fur, even tried to stick her little chubby hands into his mouth to inspect his fangs—she scowled at Stiles when he pulled her hands away from Derek’s mouth, and Stiles was certain Derek would be able to tell from just the eyebrows that she was his. Needless to say, she absolutely loved Derek, demonstrated by her attempts to climb all over him.
And Derek, for his part, let Claudia do all that. He patiently sat there, watching her lose herself. He released a faint huff of amusement when Claudia toppled herself over, falling onto Derek’s other side. He ended up resting against the couch, Claudia crawling until she settled herself in Derek’s side. He gently moved once she was asleep, her need to turn having passed once the moon reached its waning point. He stood, sneaking off to shift back.
Stiles was shuffling his way into the kitchen when he caught sight of Derek’s bare feet poking out from next to the couch. He moved to come around the side of the couch, seeing Derek sandwiched next to the furniture as he lay on his side, Claudia tucked into his arm as they both slept.
Claudia was drooling onto Derek’s white tank top, her face mushed into Derek’s chest as she soundly slept. Her hand was wrapped around one of Derek’s fingers, her small fingers twitching every now and again as she caressed them, thinking about the small horns of her stuffed ram that she normally clung to as she drifted off to sleep. It was the most at peace Stiles had seen her during a full moon, and it twisted at his heart.
Stiles snuck into the kitchen to start the coffee before sneaking back upstairs, not wanting to break Derek’s moment with Claudia. He wasn’t surprised that it was Isaac who loudly trumped down the steps, catching Derek with Claudia sleeping on his chest. He heard Derek bark something at Isaac, making Claudia giggle in reaction.
Stiles was happy to find a majority of the pack awake and gathered around the couch that morning when he came down the second time, Claudia resting on Boyd’s knee as he softly bounced her, causing an eruption of giggles to leave her.
Derek remained quieter than usual as he and Lydia prepared breakfast for everyone. He tried to keep himself from staring at Claudia, knowing he was failing whenever he noticed that Lydia caught him looking. He told her it was nothing as he turned back to the food. But he knew that she knew he was lying, despite not being able to hear his heartbeat.
“Mama!” Claudia joyfully exclaimed when she saw Stiles.
“Hey, baby girl,” Stiles softly cooed as he placed a kiss in her hair, picking her up from her place on Boyd’s knee.
“She calls you ‘Mama’?” Isaac questioned.
“That’s adorable,” Erica yawned as she pressed into Boyd’s side, refusing to act like a morning person.
“She calls me Mama when she is hungry,” Stiles elaborated, turning his attention towards the diaper bag he had Scott bring over. His eyes widened in panic. “Scott, did you pack a bottle?”
Scott’s eyes widened in a similar panic. “I thought your dad did,” he immediately stated, moving to stand next to Stiles as he rummaged through the bag.
“It’s not here,” Stiles stated in earnest. Normally, he’d just feed her the old fashioned way, but it had been increasingly hard to get her to latch as of late. That, and he was in a loft filled with werewolves.
Scott knew what that meant, understanding why Stiles’ scent suddenly turned sour with anxiety and fear. “Didn’t you pack some in your bag?” He calmly offered.
Stiles looked up at Scott, about to call him an idiot when he realized what he was doing. “You know, I think you’re right,” he stated, taking a deep breath. “Sometimes I feel like I became a worse spaz as a parent than I was as a teenager,” he tried to softly laugh to take away from the awkwardness.
“You’ll always be our little spaz,” Allison fondly stated.
“Thanks,” Stiles dryly answered as he moved to take Claudia upstairs with him. He was thankful no one questioned why he was bringing Claudia with him—why he wouldn’t feed her in front of everyone. Because you will all freak at seeing me breast feed my kid, seemed to be too forward of a confession.
Stiles settled into the bed, taking off his shirt before situating Claudia just right. He had managed to feed her for the first few months, but ended up pumping later when she refused to latch. Part of him was scared that she would get antsy and maybe bite down and practically rip his nipple off—which, in theory, was possible for a werewolf child. He calmly hummed to her as he finally got her to latch. He resisted his urge to fist pump when the small familiar pain of breastfeeding coming back to him. He gently rocked her as he continued humming the wolf lullaby Alpha Williams taught him.
Almost half an hour passed, having switched Claudia to his other nipple when he felt like she was half way fed, moving to burp her every so often—he was still afraid of not burping her enough, something his father told him to calm down about. He shifted his hold on Claudia, gently rubbing her back as she fed.
That was when the door open and Stiles was certain he was going to have a heart attack. Derek had started to announce his name, the soft knock on the door only coming as he started to open it. That was how they came to be silently staring at each other, Stiles having grabbed his shirt to cover Claudia up before he realized it wouldn’t change the fact that Derek wasn’t an idiot and could still figure it out even if he physically covered everything.
Derek was staring at Stiles, before his brain started to function again, turning his head away out of privacy.
Stiles held Claudia tighter to his chest, unsure what he could say to possibly make the situation better.
Scott suddenly burst into the picture, not making it any better when he uttered, “Fuck, I tried to stall him, I’m sorry, Stiles.”
Derek suddenly whipped around to look at Scott, glaring daggers into him as his shoulder grew taut and rigid. “You knew?” He quietly asked.
“Knew that Claudia was Stiles’ or that he could breastfeed?” Scott cautiously asked, a small attempt at humor that was poorly received.
Claudia added to the situation as she suddenly pushed away from Stiles, her screams slightly gurgled from the milk she had just been consuming. She started wailing, not understanding why there was an upset Alpha in the room with her and her father.
Stiles tried to shush her, gently rocking her as he patted her back. That was when Stiles heard the fight escalate.
“It’s not like it’s any of your business,” Scott suddenly stated, loud and clear enough that everyone in the loft could probably hear him.
“She’s half werewolf, half human—”
“She was that before hand,” Scott challenged back. “Just because she is biologically Stiles’ doesn’t make that fact any less true.”
Stiles loved that Scott was coming to his defense, but he also wanted him to shut up because if Claudia’s uneasiness was anything to go by, Derek was extremely pissed.
“I don’t know if you’re stupid or blind,” Derek snapped. “But Stiles is technically Claudia’s mother which means she has an Alpha father out there. Probably looking for them both—for her.”
“No one is looking for us,” Stiles suddenly interrupted them, his need to calm his daughter more important than their stupid argument.
“Then why lie?” Derek asked, not bothering to look at him.
“Maybe because Scott is right,” Stiles defiantly stated. “This is no one’s business besides mine.” He was happy when Claudia’s wails subsided, her tears drying up as she looked at Stiles. “Could you both please leave so I can burp my baby and put my shirt on?”
It was eerily quiet when Stiles descended the stairs. He frowned when he found most of the pack staring at him and Claudia when he reached the floor.
“Wait,” Erica paused, staring between Scott and Derek. “You’re both not freaking out about this. I mean, cool—I’m glad she’s your little bundle of joy, but sex education did not cover this.”
“Male Alphas can … reproduce with male mates if the timing is right,” Derek answered, his voice somewhat soft, as if he was embarrassed to admit that he knew this.
“How the hell do you know that?” Scott questioned, not believing Derek’s Zen-Yoda like lifestyle just handed him this information.
“Because I asked Deaton,” Derek snapped.
“When?” Scott challenged.
“A year ago,” Derek stubbornly answered, not making eye contact with anyone.
“Why would you—” Scott stopped himself. He looked from Derek to Stiles. The entire room was silent as they watched them.
“I think we should give them some space,” Lydia took hold of the situation, easily moving everyone to get up.
“Come on, Lydia,” Erica moped.
“They’re going to have to explain it sooner or later,” Isaac added.
“How about you all be great friends and pack and leave it alone,” Lydia tersely stated, scrunching her eyebrows together in anger.
“Everyone get out,” Derek stated, not looking at any of them, Stiles included.
“Yeah,” Scott agreed. “It’s not our place.” He looked at Stiles, moving to stand by him as the rest of the pack got up to leave. He placed a fond hand on Claudia’s head, smiling when she cooed at him. “If you want me to stay—”
“No,” Stiles stated. “You were right, buddy.” He gave Scott a sad smile before looking down at Claudia.
They both remained silent as Scott left the loft, closing the door behind them to give them some privacy.
“Clearly you want to talk,” Stiles stated, moving to sit Claudia on the floor as he allowed her to play with her few toys the pack got her to keep at the loft.
“Does he know?” Derek asked, not bothering to turn and look at Stiles.
“Does who know what?” Stiles questioned.
“Does Scott know about what happened between us?” Derek elaborated through clenched teeth.
“He doesn’t know the specifics, but yeah,” Stiles curtly stated, keeping his eyes fixed on Claudia. He couldn’t help the smile pulling at his lips when she stuffed the plastic duckie’s tail in her mouth, turning to look at Stiles with the duckie hanging from her mouth.
“When did it happen?” Derek asked.
“God, Derek, would you stop being a riddle for a few minutes and talk to me?” Stiles snapped.
“When did you fuck your best friend?” Derek growled as he turned to look at Stiles for the first time. “Before or after me?”
Stiles stared at Derek, completely shocked by Derek’s insinuation. “Was that meant to … what? Humiliate me, somehow, by implying that I slept around with other people besides you? With my best friend?” He watched as Derek remained blank faced. “My God, you really are that much of a pigheaded idiot,” he bitterly snapped as he moved to pick up Claudia. He pulled the duckie from her mouth, tossing it onto the floor despite her protests. He snatched his bag from the couch as he started walking towards the door.
“Oh,” Stiles paused, turning to look at Derek once he got the door open. “And if you didn’t have your head shoved so far up your ass, you’d see the obvious staring you right in the face,” he tried to blink back the tears burning his eyes as Claudia played with the buttons of his Henley. “You’d see that she looks exactly like your sisters.” He saw the wheels in Derek’s head starting to turn as he looked down at Claudia in disbelief. “Her full name, by the way… is Claudia Laura Hale Stilinski.”
~*~
“Hale,” Sheriff Stilinski stated as he stood in the doorway.
“Sir,” Derek answered, pressing his hands into his jacket’s pockets.
The Sheriff turned to look around inside the house before he moved to step out onto the porch beside Derek. He left the door ajar some to prevent it making noise, alerting Stiles that he was confronting Derek like he said he wouldn’t.
“I don’t know why you are here, now of all times,” the Sheriff started. “But the two most important people in the world to me are upstairs right now, and I have a feeling if I shoot one of their fathers, the other one is going to be very angry with me.”
Derek nodded, fully agreeing with the Sheriff’s desire to shoot him. “I just want to talk to Stiles,” he finally stated.
“A little late for that, don’t you think?” The Sheriff questioned.
“That’s what I want to talk to him about,” Derek answered.
The Sheriff carefully eyed Derek, a surprisingly calm demeanor about him. “You broke his heart.”
“And nothing I say can fix that,” Derek simply stated.
The Sheriff clicked his tongue, sighing as he surveyed around the house. “If you want to talk to Stiles, you have to tell me why.”
Derek looked at the Sheriff out of confusion.
“Why did you tell Stiles that whatever it was between you two was a mistake?” The Sheriff elaborated as he placed Derek with a look. “Hell, Scott can tell that you still care about Stiles. Doesn’t take everyone else as many clues to piece things together as it does him.”
“Because he deserved a normal life,” Derek replied.
“And leaving him to take care of a werewolf baby was a normal life?” The Sheriff asked him.
“He didn’t tell me,” Derek finally admitted.
The Sheriff’s expression went from judgmental to slight anger—and for a moment, Derek thought it was directed at him.
“Stiles!” The Sheriff yelled, opening the door to the house as he started to go inside. “Get your ass down here right now!”
Derek was surprised by the turn of events. He arched his eyebrows when the Sheriff turned to look at him.
“Get in here,” the Sheriff instructed, a slight growl in his voice.
Derek didn’t protest, quickly slipping into the house.
“Dad, what’s wrong? Claudia just fell asleep—” Stiles stopped half way down the stairs, staring at Derek. “What do you want?” He finally forced himself to ask as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“You didn’t tell him about Claudia?” The Sheriff demanded.
Stiles looked at his dad before looking back at Derek. “You said—”
“Stiles,” the Sheriff sighed. “I don’t want to know what happened—what happened, happened. You two clearly need to talk about this.” He quickly grabbed his jacket, snatching his keys up. “I’ll be back for dinner. I would like to come back to no dead bodies,” he commented, making his exit before Stiles could protest.
Derek looked from the door to Stiles, keeping his hands in his pockets. He rolled his shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension from them.
“I’m sorry,” Stiles finally uttered. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck before he looked at Derek. “I know it’s childish of me to say it now. And it doesn’t fix anything. But I … I wanted to tell you,” he genuinely confessed. “I didn’t find out until way later—after we fought.”
“The reason I asked Deaton about,” Derek paused, thinking about the way to word it. Despite the evidence, knowing that it was possible for him to have a biological child with Stiles was still difficult for him to completely grasp. “You had smelled different the last few days you were here—before you left for Boston. My mom had mentioned it before that it was possible for an Alpha, but I always thought it was just some myth. If I had known … Stiles, I’m the one that should be apologizing. Because of me—”
“Don’t start that,” Stiles immediately stated, ducking his head. “Don’t devalue what happened.”
“I’m not,” Derek answered as he took a step closer to Stiles. “I’m expressing regret for not holding on when I should have.”
Stiles looked up at Derek, hope flickering across his face.
“I know it doesn’t change what I said,” Derek continued. “And there isn’t enough that I could do that would erase what’s happened. But if you’ll let me,” he started, taking another step closer, the tips of his boots brushing against the first stair as he looked up at Stiles. “I want to be there for you. You and Claudia.”
Stiles drew in a deep breath, sighing some when he heard Claudia’s cry coming from upstairs. “She knows you’re here,” he softly stated. He looked up the stairs before looking back at Derek. “I’d like having you around,” he quietly confessed. “To have you in Claudia’s life. I already took a lot from you by keeping her a secret.”
“I took a lot from you, Stiles,” Derek shamefully replied.
“You gave me a lot,” Stiles answered. “It’s going to take a while, but I think we could make it work … If you want to try.”
“I do,” Derek quickly answered. He wanted to be with Stiles since before their night together. He wanted nothing more than to be with him; conscious of the way he felt hollow since the day he hurt Stiles’ feelings. The way his life felt whole the moment his eyes caught sight of Claudia in Stiles’ arms. The way his wolf was finally at ease once more—the first time since the fire—when he fell asleep with Claudia against him.
It wasn’t easy. Nothing in their lives ever was. They never fought about little things, making a point to never go to bed angry. Claudia brought them together. They were finally a family.
There was one night in particular when Stiles knew he forgave Derek, completely. They had been living together for almost a year, Derek having refurnished the old Hale house to share with not only the pack, but with Claudia and Stiles as well. Derek made it clear that Stiles had complete control of one half of the house, Derek the other half while Claudia retained control of the whole house. They were slowly knitting their lives together, remaining close but not romantically entangled—at least, they denied any and all closeness that resulted from their time spent together.
Claudia was nestled between them in bed, having pulled Stiles from his room to Derek’s. Claudia ignored Derek’s question in asking what was wrong as she silently climbed into bed with him, leaving Stiles to stand awkwardly by the edge until Claudia moved the blankets for him to slip in behind her. Stiles looked at Derek to make sure it was fine, a small smile crossing his lips when Derek approvingly nodded.
Derek was gently rubbing his hand up and down Claudia’s back in a comforting manner as she clung to his shirt. He pressed a soft kiss to her hair as her head dipped from exhaustion, her small fingernails scraping against Derek’s chest in small tickling motions. He looked up at Stiles when he felt Stiles’ nimble fingers run over his own.
Stiles admired the way Derek cared for Claudia—the way he doted on her, making her want for nothing. He offered a warm smile when he noticed Derek looking at him. He ran his thumb along Derek’s knuckles, letting his head fall back against the pillow. He felt at home.
Claudia happily stood by Derek and Stiles as she held the rings, excited and overjoyed that her fathers were getting married. She didn’t fully understand what a wedding was, but she could see the love and devotion in her parents’ eyes—she understood that, for them, it meant forever.