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"Wait," Peter said to Stiles. "Take the mountain ash with you."
"What?" Stiles frowned.
Peter pointed to the pile of 'dust' that Greenie had pulled from him.
"That's how they kept me under control," Peter said. "A line of mountain ash will stop almost any supernatural creature."
"Umm..." Stiles dithered, obviously not sure how to collect the dust.
"Here," John said, handing Stiles a plastic glove. He carried them all the time, so he was ready when he had to deal with evidence. "This should do."
"Nice!" Stiles grinned. He carefully swept the pile into the glove before sticking it in the pocket of his jacket.
"Which way home?" John asked.
Stiles stood still for a moment, then pointed. "That way," he said.
"What about your car?" Derek asked. "We left it at the hospital."
John grinned. He pulled out his phone. "Black, long story but my cruiser is at the hospital. Can you get someone to drop you off there and take it to my house? No hurry, I'm not home this minute, and it'll be at least half an hour before I get there."
He put the phone back in his pocket. "The advantage of being the sheriff."
Stiles laughed. A good laugh. One John hadn't heard in a while.
"Since you can, call for pizza delivery," Stlies said. He looked at Peter and Derek. "Meat lovers."
Derek hesitated but added, "Order four pizzas. Peter and I can eat one each. 'Wolves can eat their weight in food on a normal day. Peter probably needs to catch up on his calorie intake."
Peter nodded. "After hospital food, even the worst pizza will be like ambrosia."
John shook his head. He called their usual pizza place and ordered two large meat lovers pizzas, another just pepperoni, and a fourth with sausage and onions. He asked for delivery in about a hour. He figured it would take them a bit to get out of the Preserve and he'd rather wait for delivery than have the delivery person wait for them.
Stiles shook his head but didn't say anything.
The hike back to the Stilinski home was almost anti-climatic. Nothing happened and it was as if the forest made the hike even easier than normal. John wasn't going to think too hard about that.
Black was waiting alongside the cruiser parked in the Stilinski driveway when they got back. Anton Black was tall, broad shouldered, fair haired - in spite of his last name - and only a few years younger than John. He was a steady worked and John considered Black to be his best deputy. Not that he could say that aloud.
John knew he would be curious about what had happened. His eyes went wide at the sight of Peter. Black had been there the night of the fire and had seen Peter's injuries.
"Ummm..." He nodded at Peter. "Should we be expecting a missing person call?"
"Huh," John said. "Maybe?"
"Although, he looks pretty good for a person who's been in a coma for a couple of years," Black said.
"I am feeling much better," Peter admitted, with a small grin.
Black straightened. "May I share the news that the Hale Pack has returned to Beacon Hills?"
Peter had to poke Derek, who was startled for a moment.
Derek nodded. "The Hale Pack has just returned to Beacon Hills," he said, obviously uncertain of the words to use. "We welcome connections with those who were left behind or are in need of us." He glanced at John with raised eyebrows, who nodded.
"Those who need, should contact the Sheriff and we will do what we can, since we are still in the process of establishing ourselves," Derek finished.
Black looked at them and nodded. "There are many who will be pleased," he grinned. "Now that that's done, can someone give me a ride back to my place?"
"Sure," John replied. He turned to Derek. "Come on, if you come with us you can get your car. Stiles and Peter can wait for the food."
"A hot shower," Peter said reverently. Like heaven and gold, wrapped up together.
"It's finite, but you can start while they're gone," Stiles said.
Derek dug into a pocket and held out a credit card for Peter to see. "It's all I have, do you know what kind of limit is on it?"
"None at all," Peter admitted. "That card should be paid automatically through the family trust."
Derek huffed. He turned and handed the card to Stiles. "Use it to pay for the pizza."
Stiles gingerly took the card. "Dude..."
Derek huffed. "Don't call me dude," he said.
Stiles colored. "Sorry. Umm... thanks."
"Let's get going," John said. "We should be able to get back about the time food is delivered
Derek got into the back as Black took the front seat. John went to the Sheriff's Department first, since that was on the way to Black's place.
"See you back at the house," John said as Derek climbed out.
Derek nodded and moved toward the Camaro.
"What can you tell me?" Black asked.
John debated. "You seem to know enough and I don't know everything but Derek is now the Alpha. Peter seems to be cured of whatever was being done to him. Oh. And there's a Nemeton in the Preserve." He wasn't ready to share Stiles' magic with anyone.
"You've been busy," Black laughed.
"You don't know the half of it," John admitted. "I'm making some of this up as I go along."
"It'll be good to have a Hale Pack back in town," Black said. "There's been like a black hole that's needed filling since they left."
"The good news is that I have evidence that the Hale fire was deliberate," John said. "With both Derek and Peter, I can use what I have to give them some justice."
"That will be good," Black said. "I should tell to that there are Argents that have recently moved into town. A family of three -- dad, mom, and teenage daughter. The kid's likely a similar age to Stiles."
John nodded. The Argent name had popped up in his search for evidence about the Hale fire. So their presence was suspicious. It wasn't that common a name.
John debated for a moment, but Black knew enough to share this. "Scott McCall is a 'wolf. I need to hear the entire story soon, from someone that isn't Stiles, but he got bit that night we were in the woods looking for that body."
"Oh, man!" Black sighed. "I'm not so sure how that will turn out."
The entire department knew Scott as Stiles' best friend. Although John suspected the Deputies didn't think Scott was necessarily a good best friend.
"Yeah," John nodded. "I'm going to have Peter and Derek deal with that as soon as they can."
"Good idea," Black nodded.
John pulled in front of Black's house.
"I know enough to be dangerous," Black said. "I'm still human but, well, there are some of my family that aren't. Which is why I know about some of the locals. They'll be glad to have a Pack in residence, even if it's small."
"Even with Hunters in town?" John asked.
"I suspect the town will step up on that," Black said with a grin. "Just as a warning, I'm going to suspect we have either some disappearances or some unexplainable deaths in the near future."
"Darn," John grinned. "More paperwork. I'll be prepared."
"Better you than me," Black laughed as he got out of the cruiser.
John drove home to find the Camaro in the driveway, and the house lit up in a welcoming way. It hadn't looked like this in a long time. Probably not since Claudia died. John vowed to do better from now on
Inside, he found that Peter looked even better with a shower and clean clothes. John's clothes. Stiles was not done raiding his closet on behalf of the Hales.
Pizza had been delivered while he was gone and Stiles and the Hales were sitting around the table eating heartily.
"Didn't we just eat?" John asked, looking at Stiles.
"That's the magic," Peter said, waving his piece of pizza. "Uses a lot of energy. And Stiles did a couple of major things tonight, connecting with the Nemeton and getting rid of that chaos demon."
"Huh," John said. He sat down and took a slice of the meat lover's pizza. He never got to eat it. Any pizza was largely vegetables in the Stilinski house, so he was going to take advantage of the opportunity.
"Umm... if it's okay, Peter was explaining about 'wolf things and that he and Derek should stay together. So we can put them in your room tonight and you can use the guest room, if that's okay?" Stiles babbled, uncertainly.
"We don't want to put you out..." Derek started.
"No, that makes sense," John admitted. "I don't know enough about 'wolves, so if it's better for you to be together, it's not a problem."
"I have an apartment in town that I can have opened up," Peter said.
"Isn't that going to be nasty?" Stiles frowned.
"Meh. More likely musty than anything," Peter shrugged. "There should have been a monthly cleaning service, and inspection for bugs and such. So it should be fine. IF it's not, then that's a different problem."
"It's been, what? Six years?" Stiles asked. "You've been paying rent on an empty apartment for that long?"
"I can afford it," Peter grinned. "Older Packs like the Hales know how to invest money, and the Pack has done well for itself. If Laura hadn't panicked and run away, she would have realized the Pack Fund would be the beneficiary of everyone's life insurance."
Derek frowned. "Laura refused to contact anyone," he admitted. "We had some money but it was pretty lean at the end. I did some part time work, mostly under the table, to contribute to groceries and such."
Peter sighed. "Even if you didn't want to be found, the family Trust was available to you. You both could have taken money from that. There's more than enough."
"Like the credit card," Derek said. "Laura wouldn't let me use it for anything. She didn't want anyone tracking where we were if I used it. And... mom gave it to me, so I didn't know anything about how it was paid or the limit or anything."
Peter shook his head. "Your mom and I talked about that. I told her that you wouldn't learn anything about managing money if she just gave you a credit card and didn't explain how it worked. And how to access your share of the family Trust should be basic knowledge once you're old enough to spend money on your own."
"Well, now you have some time to work all that out," John said. "You're welcome to stay here until you're ready to move out. Evidently, there's quite the collection of supernatural folk in the area who will be happy to learn the Hale Pack has returned. So you also need to be prepared to deal with that."
Derek's eyes got wide. "I... I don't know anything about being the Alpha."
"Hey! We'll help!" Stiles said immediately. "It's not something you have to do alone."
"And you can ask for time," Peter added. "You're newly the Alpha and need to learn more about what is going on before doing anything that's not simple." He grinned. "There will be a number of folk who just want to meet you and be known to you. Talia would never do that but it's common to be known to the supernaturals in the immediate area."
John thought Derek looked slightly freaked out at having to deal with others like that.
"Are there other Packs in the area that we can call for help?" John asked.
"Good idea," Peter said with a nod. "Satomi Ito has, well, had a small pack on the other side of the Preserve. If she's still the Alpha, we'll want to reach out to her. At the very least, we want to let her know that we've established ourselves in Beacon Hills. She may be willing to spend some time with Derek, to talk about being the Alpha."
"And I need to be the voice of, well, not good news for a moment," John said, looking at both Derek and Peter. "There are Argents in town. A family of three -- mom, dad, and a teen."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Allison Argent. Scott is in lur-r-ve already. She's like a Disney princess, all bright-eyed and shiny."
Peter growled.
John held up his hand.
"Two things," John said. "First of all, now that you've allowed word of the Hale Pack return to spread, Black thinks that the Argents will be, well, run out of town sooner than later."
"Really?" Stiles was surprised.
John nodded. "And, more importantly, I have evidence that the fire wasn't an accident. I have a variety of names that lead back to a teacher, who has disappeared."
"Ms. Silver," Derek whispered.
John nodded. "Derek?"
Derek looked down at his pizza. "She... she was there that night. Laughing. Bragging how she had tricked me."
Peter immediately moved to wrap Derek in his arms.
"You were a kid," Peter said gently. "No matter what, you were tricked by an adult who likely had done the same to others."
"I didn't want to raise suspicion by asking too many questions, but I've kept an eye out for families that were killed supposedly by accident," John said. "You can help me figure out if any of them were Packs."
Peter nodded as he held on to Derek.
Stiles leaned in and put a hand on Derek's shoulder. "Being a 'wolf doesn't mean you're not human," he said softly. "Whether Allison is a Hunter or not, I can see Scott being lured into telling her whatever she wants to know." He huffed. "Being a teen isn't for the weak."
Derek gave a small snort.
"What do we need to do about Scott?" John had to ask. Maybe it would make a good distraction.
"What is Scott like?" Peter asked.
"Well, before he was bit, Scott and I were the dweebs," Stiles admitted honestly. "I'm the son of the Sheriff and automatically a narc. Scott has asthma, and honestly, he's pretty lazy, relying on me to pull him through school. Now that he's a 'wolf, he has a girlfriend and has made first line on the lacrosse team." Stiles shrugged. "Scott doesn't know the meaning of discretion."
"Not a good thing," Peter shook his head.
John saw Stiles go still, tilting his head in thought.
"Oh. Huh. Okay, there are things we could do," Stiles said. "Some of them are pretty skeevy, to be honest. But there are a couple of things that might work."
"Like what?" John asked.
"One of the only slightly skeevy things is there's a thing the Alpha can do with their claws," Stiles made a claw with his hand. "They can put their claws in the back of someone's neck and, well, mess with their memories."
"As you say, at least slightly skeevy," Peter admitted. "And I don't think Derek is ready to try something like that."
Stiles nodded.
"I understand," Stiles agreed. "As an alternative, I have enough magic to take his 'wolf away from him. Less skeevy but, well, it would take a weekend to do it."
"Stiles!" Peter breathed. "Okay, you just learned a lot of this. I believe that you can do it but that is not something you should tell anyone you can do. It's... well, it's believed to be impossible."
"Oh." Stiles thought for a second. "Greenie used the word spark. Like a title?"
Peter blinked. Then laughed. "Sparks are also myths. In theory, you are magic and can do anything you want."
Stiles sat back, eyes looking a little wild.
"Your mom said the word Spark," John admitted. "Once. She said to remember it but never say it. Like she needed to tell me but didn't want to admit what you might be."
"You said there were books or things she left?" Stiles asked. "Maybe we should dig those out at some point."
John nodded. "We will. But first, we are all going to get some sleep. It's been a long day and we're running on fumes." He pointed at Stiles. "You're going to school in the morning and you will not do anything about Allison Argent or Scott McCall. Derek is the Alpha, I'm the Sheriff, and we all need to be involved in what goes on."
Stiles huffed. "I hate it when you're right," he said with a wry smile. "Okay, I'll behave."
"Derek and I will check out the apartment tomorrow. Probably do some clothes shopping," Peter said. "We'll stay here for at least a couple of days, but we'll want our own space sooner than later."
John nodded. "And I have a day job that doesn't involve the supernatural that I need to get to. So no shenanigans tomorrow, from anyone. Hear me?"
They all nodded.
John wasn't going to hold his breath.