Work Text:
When Stiles arrives at the clinic, Deaton comes quickly to meet him at the door.
"Hi, Deaton. Everything okay?" Stiles asks, because it looks like Deaton wants to tell him something.
"Yeah, everything is good, but Laura is here. She came around fifteen minutes ago. I thought you should know before you went in, y'know..."
"Yeah," Stiles nods. "Thanks."
"Anyway, when was the last time you talked to her?"
"Around a week ago, she called me to ask if I needed any help with Daniel. She usually talks to my father."
And it was so weird, talking to somebody else he should know but can't remember. She seemed nice, but it was uncomfortable and he couldn't wait for the short conversation to be over. With Jackson's father, who he's met a few times since Jackson fainted, things are different because at least he remembers him. It was still awkward, but less strange than meeting someone in person for the first time.
"Well, she's inside now," Deaton repeats.
"That's okay. We had to meet sooner or later." And when he thinks about it, he's surprised it hasn't happened before. "I'm guessing there's no change with Jackson."
"No, I'm afraid not. But he's gaining weight, which was the main goal, and I'm sure he'll feel stronger when he wakes up."
If he wakes up, Stiles thinks, like he has so many times before.
"Good, that's very good Deaton, thank you." Saying thank you doesn’t feel like enough; after all, he doesn’t know what they would have done if it wasn't for him.
Deaton simply nods.
"I'm gonna go see him. I'll see you later."
"Okay," Deaton says before turning around to get back to work.
When Stiles enters what has become Jackson's room, he finds a woman sitting on the bed next to Jackson, carefully shaving him.
She probably looks younger than she is with her perfectly styled hair, expensive suit and perfect make up. Stiles knows she's a busy doctor with a private practice and he figures she came here before going to work.
"Hi," is all Stiles can think to say.
Laura is startled for a second as she looks behind her towards the door.
"Stiles, hi, come in. Why don't you get that chair," she says, pointing to the table under the window on the other side of the room.
"I'm done here." Laura leaves the razor in a glass on the little table next to the bed before using a small towel to clean the remains of shaving cream on Jackson's face. Next, she sits on the chair close to the bed and turns to the left to look at Stiles.
Stiles looks at Jackson and wonders if maybe he should do it too another day. Just because his mother always does it doesn't mean he shouldn't help as well.
"I know he'll probably freak out when he wakes up and finds out that I've been shaving him... but I'm sure he'd freak out even more if he wakes up and finds himself with a beard. I know he hates it."
"Yeah, probably," Stiles says, although that is another thing he doesn't remember.
He has no idea what else to say in that moment, so he's grateful when she starts speaking, probably feeling as uncomfortable as he does.
"Look, Stiles, I'm not sure what Jackson told you, but David and I wanted to visit you at the hospital when you woke up. Still, Jackson said it wasn't a good idea... he said it would only upset you because you couldn't remember... so, we respected his wishes. Later he told us to give you time... to give you space… and that's what we did, but we asked Jackson how you were doing and well, we know things weren't going as he hoped. But I mean, I hope you don't think we didn't want to see you or weren't worried about you, because we care about you very much and like I said on the phone, you can count on us for anything you need."
"Thank you, but really, you don't need to give me any explanation." The thing is that it sounds very much like what Jackson had told him. He knew that Jackson tried to give him time before bringing his in-laws into the picture.
"I think I do since you suffer from amnesia. From what Jackson told me, you don't remember me or my husband and I know that Jackson would like you to know that you're like family to us. You're our son-in-law and Daniel's dad and we care about you. And you can ask me anything you want to know. I'll be happy to help you if I can."
The truth is Jackson had told him that he had a good relationship with his parents and now he feels kind of guilty for not meeting them before. At the same time, the last thing he remembers is from his dream and if that happened, then things have changed between them with time.
"Well, since you say that... I do have questions," Stiles admits.
"Okay, good. Then ask me whatever you want," Laura repeats.
"I never asked Jackson... How did you find out...? Y'know..." Stiles hesitates, unsure about the best way to say it.
"I think I know what you mean," Laura smiles briefly. "You want to know if he told us the werewolf detail, right?"
"Yeah... When did you know?"
"He didn't tell us, which I'm sure won't surprise you. I'm sure that he wouldn't have told us, at least, he wouldn't have any time soon. Actually, it was Derek who told us."
"Derek?" Stiles raises his eyebrows.
"Yes. When you two were kidnapped in the woods and we lost contact with Jackson, we didn't know what to do. He had no idea where he was and nobody would give us any answer, so we went to the police station to fill a missing person report. Of course, your father knew that you were missing too and he could't find you anywhere. Then Derek came to the station and he told us the truth. He also explained what had happened to both of you, and I admit that we had a hard time believing him at first... we knew it wasn't just something you see in the movies..."
"You must have been shocked..."
"Y'know what? Yes, of course, we were shocked, but we realized that both of you were in real danger. So we were scared... more than anything, we were terrified that we would never see him again, so we didn't really have time to be shocked or even upset because he did something like that... I mean, everything he went through with the whole kanima ordeal, his actual death... and he never told us a thing. Do you have any idea about how that made us feel?" Laura sighs and shakes her head as she remembers.
"We felt like we didn't know him... like at all. And it made us feel like we failed him because we weren't there when he needed us... really needed us."
"I mean," Laura continues, "his father and I, we're very busy people and we knew we hadn't always given him the attention he deserved and we tried to compensate for it by giving him everything he wanted. And of course, he became a very independent kid... and somewhere along the way, he stopped trusting us... so much that he didn't bother to tell us that he wasn't human anymore... that he couldn't control his own actions."
"There was nothing you could have done," Stiles says with sincerity in his voice. "We tried... and, in the end, Lydia was the only who was able to help him."
"Yes, I know that but still, he didn't think he could count on us. He didn't have our support and if he had died that night instead of turning, we would never have found out the truth. So, what happened in the woods... finding out everything... it was a wake-up call. We realized that if Jackson came back to us we needed to start again, we needed to fix what was broken between us."
"And I guess, it worked, right? You fixed things?"
"For the most part, yeah. It wasn't easy... with Jackson, it never is," Laura shakes her head. "But at least he was honest with us, and I think he finally realized he could trust us. That we might not be his biological parents but it doesn't make any difference to us. He is our son."
Stiles is speechless for a moment. At least it's good to know that finding out helped to heal their relationship after such a huge mess.
"So when did you find out about Jackson and me? Did he tell you?"
"Yes, he told us." Laura smiles as she remembers. "He was nervous, even if he wanted us to think that he wasn't. One night during dinner he simply said something like I think you should know that Stiles and I are together, he's my boyfriend, any questions? and that was it pretty much."
"Oh god... I bet you weren't expecting that..." Stiles licks his lips as he tries not to laugh.
"No, we weren't. Of course, we were surprised, we had only seen him with girls before but we also knew he wasn't the same person after what happened. I guess that after almost losing him and the whole now I'm a werewolf, we dealt with it better than we would have before."
"Besides," Laura continues. "We had noticed small changes in him and we knew you two were in the pack. All things considered, it wasn't so far-fetched. Plus, he was happier. He had been happier for a while and we didn't know if it was being part of the pack or something else we didn't know about, so when he told us it kind of made sense."
Stiles listens and if anything, it doesn't sound as weird as when he first heard about it. It still surprises him, but this time he gets it and he believes her.
"I know all this must have been like a shock to you." Laura says. "From what Jackson told us, you didn't believe them when they first told you about your marriage and that's normal..."
"I know I was a jerk--"
"Nobody blames you," Laura interrupts him. "He's my kid, Stiles. I know perfectly well how he was when he was in high school before things happened... He was vain and proud... not that he isn't now, but I think he's got other redeeming qualities and that's why you're still together after all these years."
"I know he's changed. You don't need to convince me."
"Don't worry, I'm not trying to. I just want you to know that I get why you reacted that way. I think any sane person who only knew him back then would have reacted like you did. I know he wasn't exactly kind to you and my husband told me about the restraining order, so yeah, your past... it wasn't the most affable..."
"No, it sure wasn't," Stiles agrees.
"Stiles, he tried. When you came back to the house he tried really hard to make it work again. And when you left, it really broke him. He put this mask on whenever he brought Daniel over or talked to us on the phone, but we know him. I guess he didn't know how to deal with the situation anymore and being with Daniel alone again... it was too hard for him."
There is an uncomfortable silence after that, because Stiles doesn't know what to answer. He regrets leaving, but he did what he felt he needed to do at the time and he's done apologizing to people. The only person he wants to apologize to can't hear him right now.
"Stiles, excuse me if I'm being too forward, but have you thought about what you are going to do when he wakes up?"
When he wakes up, how is it that everybody has so much faith that he's going to wake up?
"Well, I'm back at the house and I plan on staying there. Jackson and I... We have a lot of things to talk about. We need to figure out things. We need time, y'know?"
"Of course. And I'm glad you say that." Laura smiles. "Daniel needs you. He needs both of you."
Together. She doesn't say it, but Stiles knows that is what she meant.
And there's something he's curious about now, meeting her after he had that dream.
"I know this is gonna sound weird... " Stiles waves his right arm, "but how is it that you like me now?" Subtlety has never been one of his more defining strengths.
"What do you mean?" Laura frowns.
"Just that... I mean, when Jackson and I got together, you didn't like me, right? And now things seems to be different..."
"Well, that was a long time ago, and David and I... we're not proud of that. We didn't make it easy for you, that's true. But you have to understand, you are very different from Lydia... and despite everything that happened, it was still unexpected. A part of us thought it was some kind of phase. So, at first, we honestly never thought it would last and I admit it," Laura nods, "I know we were blind for too long. When he told us you were getting married, we realized he loved you beyond the shadow of a doubt. And we understood that you felt the same way. It wasn't overnight, but our relationship with you and your father improved after that. I know he'll tell you the same if you ask him."
"Your father is a good man and we know he loves Jackson." Laura continues. "When you were at the hospital, he was a great support for him. I'm sure he helped more than we did... Did Jackson tell you anything about the accident? I imagine he did, right?"
"Yes, he did. At the hospital, I asked him about it. He didn't really want to talk about it but it's something I needed to know." Stiles looks at Jackson briefly before he continues.
"I needed to know what really happened."
"That night... the night of the accident, he called us from the hospital. So, we got there and I've never felt more useless in my entire life. Not even when we didn't know his whereabouts when he was kidnapped. When your child is hurting and there's absolutely nothing you can do to help is the worst feeling in the world. And now with Daniel, it's the same thing all over again and I just want it to stop..." her voice quivers with emotion and Stiles can see that tears are quickly falling down her cheeks.
"My son deserves to be happy," Laura says as she wipes the tears away with her fingers. "And I'm glad he's found you. I'm glad he's got a family and you need to take care of them. They both need you, Stiles... so much."
He's not sure what he expected when he came into the room, but obviously he had the wrong idea about her. If he's being honest with himself, he had never met her and had no right to imagine her a certain way. This woman, though, doesn't match that idea. She seems to genuinely care about his son, Daniel, and him... and given everything that is going on right now, that can only help.
"Y'know, he never gave up on you. He was sure you were coming back to him. It was the hardest thing he had ever been through and he never lost hope. He couldn't accept the idea of this world without you," Laura says, taking Jackson's left hand between both of hers.
"Now it's our turn... and I know you don't feel like you used to anymore... but please, don't give up on him," she says, looking at Stiles.
"I won't, I promise... And believe it or not, I love Daniel." He says that without thinking, it just came out naturally because that is how he feels. "I might not remember his birthdays or when he was born, which totally sucks, but he is my son and he's part of my life now."
Laura smiles briefly.
"I'm really glad to hear you say that," she says with sincerity.
"It's the truth." Because it feels like he needs to make that clear.
"Y'know? Life is full of second chances and you'll get yours when he wakes up, I know that." Laura nods.
And it's weird, but the way she's looking at him doesn't make him uncomfortable anymore; if anything, he wants to believe her. He wants that second chance.