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Derek goes to the witch because he really really needs to talk to Laura. He’s so done with all of this and not knowing what he’s doing and he’s tired. He doesn't know what to do and he's so sick of not trusting anyone. Then, he remembers, a long time ago, Peter mentioning a witch in the next town over. So he gets in his car and drives until he smells witch. He finds her in a jewelry shop of all places, but she sees what he is and he knows what she is. He takes out his checkbook and asks her to do a recalling spell.
But instead she smiles and tells him that she can do one better. In a lilting voice, she says she has a potion that will give him an hour alone with the lost one he seeks. It sounds so good that Derek ignores all the warning bells that go off in his head and agrees immediately. After he writes the check, she leaves him alone in the room with a small vial and instructions to drink it all and close his eyes.
So he does without hesitation and his last thoughts are that Stiles' reckless behavior is rubbing off on him. Then he isn't in the jewelry store. He isn't anywhere, really. Everything is white and the only thing he sees is a a woman with his back turned to him. But he knows right away it isn't Laura.
When she turns around it's her eyes that Derek notices, they're his eyes. Her hair flows over her shoulders, shining faintly with the white-light of their surroundings, and there are crinkles at the corners of them but the eyes are the same. The exact same eyes Derek stares into when Stiles looks at him expectantly and the exact same eyes that make Derek's stomach flop and his chest swell with a feeling he hasn't felt before.
“Mrs. Stilinski?” Derek asks, his voice quiet as he steps closer to the woman, verifying her identity even though he's been sure since she turned around.
She nods and smiles a sad, soft smile, “Derek Hale. I remember you, when you were little, you and your siblings.” She pauses, “And, of course, Stiles has mentioned you once or twice since then.”
Derek starts, because there’s knowledge in her eyes, more knowledge than just knowing him because Stiles threw his name into the story once or twice when he was visiting her grave, but it doesn’t really surprise him. Of course Stiles told her, it was her or his dad, and Stiles isn’t dumb.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t been reading up on werewolves, so I can’t help you with your problem, and I’m sorry I am not your sister. But I can tell you this, and I have a feeling your sister would’ve told you this, too. You’re not alone, even though it feels like nine days out of ten. Your pack trusts you, Derek, no matter how fractured it may be.” She smiles again and Derek can’t help but compare it to Stiles’, the way her eyes light up like his do. “Your pack is larger than you think you know,” her brown eyes are sparkling when Derek looks up at her, ignoring the way his stomach flipped again.
“You’ve had a hard life Derek, don’t wait forever to be forgiven.” She starts to fade but it can’t have been an hour, Derek feels like he needs to reach out, tell her to stay, get her to visit Stiles, ask her to tell him more.
Almost as if Mrs. Stilinski reads his mind she says, “Give Stiles my love all right? Or…show it to me for him.”
And then she’s gone and Derek is alone in an alley and his face is wet and all he can think is Stiles.
———
Derek almost doesn’t tell him, but he’s found it’s harder and harder to keep things from the hyperactive seventeen year old that’s staring at him with his knee bouncing up and down under his hands.
Stiles sputters thankfully ignoring the fact that Derek just put blind faith into a witch, “You saw my mom?”
Derek nods, “I wanted to see Laura but she appeared instead.”
When Derek doesn’t continue, Stiles makes a wide gesture with his hands, “Well? What did she say?”
“She…she told told me my pack was bigger than I think…”
“And then what? Did she say anything about me?”
Derek gapes, he doesn’t know what else to tell him because he can’t, he-“She…she..”
Stiles’ face falls just a bit, and all Derek knows is that he need to wipe that look off Stiles' face because sadness doesn’t belong there. He surges forward and captures Stiles’ mouth with his and Stiles makes a noise, and it's the best noise. When Derek pulls away, they’re both panting and Derek whispers, “She says she loves you, and she told me to do that.”
Stiles searches Derek’s eyes for a moment, and looks like he’s about to cry but then he laughs. ”Only my mom would be able to set me up with someone from Heaven.”
And Derek feels his chest swell again but this time he thinks that it must be happiness, it has to be, but he kisses Stiles again, just to make sure.