Chapter Text
Okay, first off, I am sooo sorry it's been so long. Secondly, the reason why is I just couldn't put everything I wanted into just one more chapter, so there's going to be at least two more. The third chapter will deal with the whole Nemeton/Darach stuff, and the fourth will deal with the Alpha pack again. I'd originally planned to try to have the two story lines running at the same time, but it wasn't working out so I decided to split them. It helped a lot, but I've been having some major writer's block with this story. The next chapter is about halfway done. I feel terribly about leaving this fic out there for so long without adding to it, and just wanted everyone to know that I'm still working on it as much as I can. Between writer's block and college, I've had a major drawback on the amount of writing that gets done on this story. I won't abandon this story though, I still love Derek and Stiles with little Zoe too much to stop writing it, and I have got to write that Erica and Boyd don't die tragically because that just about killed me. I actually think their deaths are what put me off writing this story, I was just so upset by it. That being said, spoiler, I won't kill either one of them off unless I feel like it will really mean something, and so far, that's not in my outline cards.
Enough of my rambling, here's a snippet from Chapter Three: The Darach~
Note: Zoe is seven in chapter 3! Also, Stiles is looking to go away for college...
Stiles shrugged off the weirdness quickly and went in search of his wayward little girl. She was standing on the third branch in one of the trees, looking down at him with a pout on her face, “Who was that?”
“A friend of Dr. Deaton’s.” Stiles responded, settling against the base of the tree.
Zoe dropped down next to him, landing on her feet cleanly where human kids would have injured themselves without fail. That was Zoe though, highly athletic with a preference for raw meat. Stiles didn’t look at her as she settled against the tree, mimicking his posture but on the opposite side of the trunk. “She was pretty.”
“Yeah, she was.” Stiles replied non-committally.
“What’s a Darach?” Zoe asked him.
Stiles shrugged, “I’m not really sure, Blue Eyes.”
They stayed in silence for several minutes before Zoe was suddenly right in his face. “Why do you want to leave?” Zoe took a breath, “Why do you want to leave me?”
The look on her face, so serious and brooding, made Stiles’ heart ache, and he pulled her to his chest, “Oh, Blue Eyes, I don’t want to leave you!” He squeezed her for all he was worth and pressed his lips to her forehead, “I don’t want to leave at all! But I’ll have to, for school.”
“Why can’t you stay?” Zoe said, her voice thin.
Stiles fumbled for words to make her understand, and settled for blaming his dad, “Well, Blue Eyes, your grandpa wants what’s best for me. He knows how happy I am here with you and Derek, but he wants me to continue my education because he thinks that will make me even happier.”
“Will it?” She asked.
Stiles shrugged, “I don’t know, Zoe. I think it might, but it won’t be easy.”
Zoe sighed, “I want you to be happy. But aren’t you happy enough with me and Uncle Derek? If you go, we won’t be happy. None of us will. Grandpa included.”
Stiles stared at her, astounded by how assured she was. He’d known it, but somehow, hearing the truth from Zoe made it sound so much harsher. “I’m being incredibly selfish, aren’t I?” Stiles said in realization, feeling like Scott had punched him in the gut too strongly. Zoe looked back at him, her eyes wide and steady, and he felt tears fill his own. He stood and started running.
Hopefully that will tide you over, and hopefully season 3B will bring my muse fully back to Teen Wolf! As always, your comments and kudos are greatly appreciated and go so far to help me churn out the rest of this story.
Thanks for reading!
-Jenn
1/8/14