Chapter Text
Tears filled Scott’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was mourning, relief, some mix or complication of it all. He was so overwhelmed. Even without knowing what he wanted, some part of him was proud in his own way that there had not been some kind of massacre in the situation.
Maybe that was Stiles’ effect on the situation? That didn’t seem fully right, but it was hard to say for sure. Certainly, it wasn’t to Peter’s credit.
If he’d felt better, Scott would shake his head at himself. This was too much thinking right now. Thinking could wait, right? He was ready for a break from it for now.
Still petting his fellow teen’s hair, Stiles said. “Please take your meds. You’re safe now. We won’t let anything happen to you. That’s why you’re here, in this room, with others you can trust.”
Scott nodded; a bit numb with the overload even as he took the medicine with a swig of water. He couldn’t deny he was insanely thirsty. He drank a little for the meds, and then after swallowing that he drank the rest of the glass of cool water. He couldn’t believe what little he knew of what was happening.
Exhausted, Scott already felt himself start to drift. With the last of his consciousness, Scott managed to get out—“Thank you… please don’t kill Allison…”
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After Scott had succumbed fully to a deep sleep, Stiles looked at Peter.
No words were said aloud, but Peter shrugged in response in answer no less.
Stiles sighed, then looked to Derek.
Seeing his fellow Alpha looking a bit lost, Stiles understood he was likely taking lead on whatever came next.
Mel looked to each of them before asking, “Are you going to kill Allison?”
Stiles admitted, “I don’t know. It’s not fully up to me.”
Frowning, she said, “But you’re the Alpha, right? You said that means you are in charge.”
Running his free hand threw his hair while still helping to pull Scott’s pain, Stiles explained. “I’m charge of my pack. However, this doesn’t involve only my pack as well as that part of being in charge of a pack is taking into consideration their wants and needs. I’m not Santa Claus or anything. Being in my pack is something they could chose not to be.”
Still frowning, Mel asked, “So like a politician?”
Stiles shook his head no, saying, “Not really?”
Derek huffed, clearly not volunteering to help but finding Stiles’ efforts to explain nearing humor if it weren’t so important a position as well as the seriousness they were still needing to sort out.
Peter took over, saying, “It’s more like the head of a family. Now, the rules and expectations are not exactly the same and the bond goes far deeper than blood, but that is kind of the structure.”
Aiden added cautiously: “It can be like that, I guess, but isn’t always.”
Mel looked down and away for a moment, seemingly needing to process things for a moment. “You’ve already explained that this goes beyond what the police can handle, so what are you going to do?”
Answering slowly while keeping an eye on his Alpha, Peter said, “We’re going to talk to everyone before deciding that. Chris also will want to have a say, and we’ll need to deal with that as well. That doesn’t even count that outside my pack with Stiles as Alpha, there’s Derek’s pack and the Alpha pack. There’s a whole lot to be sorting out. More than can probably be done right this moment.”
Stiles nodded, appreciating Peter stepping in. Sometimes adults respected others they perceived as fellow adults. After taking a deep breath to steady himself and the animal within, Stiles said, “We should all probably fuel up and get in a good chunk of rest. It’s been a lot.”
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The next day…
In fresh clothes, Derek stood over the still sedated Kate Argent, staring at her.
Peter sat, fiddling with a knife, on a counter in Deaton’s back room of the clinic. He seemed to be thinking hard.
Standing near the back door, Stiles said, “Derek, you don’t have to be here for this.”
Derek looked at Stiles. “How can I not be? She killed my family.”
Speaking up, Peter said, “You don’t have to be though. Cora chose to let me handle it. You can do the same. It’s okay to not want to see this, be a part of it.”
Derek didn’t look away from Kate’s sleeping face. “She took so much.”
Stiles pushed himself off the wall and moved to Derek, touching his arm to pull his attention away from Kate. “Hey, she can’t take anything from you anymore. She won’t survive this time. I swear.”
Eyes teary, Derek moved closer to Stiles, stroking the side of his face, saying, “Promise?”
Blushing at the touch, Stiles nodded his head, saying, “I promise. She won’t survive this time.”
Peter flinched.
Stiles turned his head slightly toward Peter, “Come here creeper wolf, no one is blaming you for this. How could you have known what would happen? Also, you were crazy at the time. That you didn’t destroy the whole town was a win there.”
With a shrug to hide his feelings, Peter set down the knife to approach his chosen Alpha. “I may have been crazy, but I had an intent in mind.”
Nodding, Stiles pulled both men into a Hales and Stiles group hug to both give and receive comfort. “Mistakes happen. It’s done now. Kate ends here.”
Derek snuffled at Stiles’ neck on one side as Peter nuzzled the other side.
Stiles felt like the comfort animal of this embrace. He didn’t let either man go, just letting them take any and all comfort they may need while he could provide it. It was so weird sometimes, but providing for others had a more visceral positive feeling than it had when he’d been human.
Slowly, Derek let go of Stiles first. His ears were blushing ready even as he shook his head, Derek said, “I think I’m going to go… check on Cora. I… I—thank you.”
Peter let Stiles go next, nodding his head to Derek’s words. “Good idea. I’m sure she’d love the company.”
Stiles nodded in agreement.
With those words, Derek bowed out and left the clinic.
Looking at Stiles, Peter asked, “Are you wanting to be here for this?”
With a faint tilt of his head, Stiles said, “I was about to ask you the same.”
Shaking his head fondly, Peter said. “I need to see it, do it.”
Stiles nodded. “I understand. Do you want me to leave?”
Peter asked in return, “Do you want to?”
Smiling, Stiles said, “I do not feel the need to leave. She’s a threat to my pack, my father, and Beacon Hills just to start. It’s my place to put down this problem. Also, even fi you need to be who kills her, I do not mind being here for it. I accept you as you are. I’m not going into things blind.”
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Later that day…
Isaac was sitting on the Stilinski’s couch beside Boyd and Erica—the later still unconscious but doing better than before—listening to Peter trying to briefly explain what had happened to not only the teens, but also to Noah, Mel, and Chris in the last roughly twenty-four hours.
Stiles cut in, saying, “Look, let’s keep it even simpler, okay? Allison tried to murder people as did two Dararchs and the Surgeon, an immortal supernatural scientist. I was murdered. And, as explained before, Werewolves are real, and I have magic, but things are better now.”
Mel frowned, “Better? My son is upstairs sleeping on the guest bed, having undergone surgery, and you’re calling it better now? Peter said Scott has additional organs right now.”
Sighing, Stiles said, “Yes, he has additional organs, but he’s also not rejecting them. Probably means he can never go to a normal doctor again, but considering he’s alive and has woken up a few times now, I would call things better. I’m sorry, Mel, and I get you’re new to all of this, but I’m still calling this better.”
Noah then asked, “So, obviously, you’re grounded for forever. However, am I looking at new bodies popping up?”
Quickly shaking his head, Stiles explained, “No. The Darach bodies were given to the Nemeton. It’s part of what Marin was up to yesterday in not coming back here with us right away from the Nemeton.”
Chris Argent frowned. “And the Surgeon? The Alpha pack?”
Peter cut in here, saying, “Well, we’re working still on tracking down the Surgeon. They are so far working hard to outright disappear, so we’re having trouble there. And the Alpha pack? We made an alliance. It’s basic but benefits both parties including but not limited to them not attacking us and us not murdering all of them for taking betas from Derek as well as Cora, let alone Deucalion killing Stiles.”
Stiles chuckled, “Yeah, he was not prepared for what we proposed we’d do if we did not come to a deal on an alliance. I’m not as soft-handed as Scott nor do I take being murdered lightly.”
A touch paler at the mention of Stiles not being as soft handed as Scott, Argent asked, “And Allison?”
No longer chuckling, Stiles looked Chris dead in the eyes like a challenge but didn’t growl or even flash his eyes. “My preference is to kill her. She’s a massive risk to let loose; however, she is your daughter, and Scott did specifically ask me not to kill her. I’m not taking death off the table, but I am willing to allow her to be relocated to somewhere that we can keep an eye on her but is no longer a risk to us.”
Mel asked, “Are you suggesting leaving the country or Echo House?”
Stiles looked to Chris.
The hunter grit his teeth before sighing. “She’ll be put in, as you call it, Echo House. They have an underground supernatural wing where she can be contained and kept safe from herself and others like the few past hunters that have been put there.”
Stiles nodded. He accepted the situation and then asked, “Are you intending to stay in town?
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Three days later…
Splayed out in a starfish pose in sweats and a baggy t-shirt, Stiles was laying on the floor in the middle of the front room in the loft. He was half asleep with his eyes closed, but still aware in his own way.
Beside him was one not-so-grumpy Derek Hale who had a sleepy smile as he laid on his side beside Stiles. The speaking brows of a man leaned down and kissed Stiles softly on his lips.
Curling his toes and smiling into the kiss, Stiles hummed, “I’ll never get sick of that.”
“Hmm?” Derek murmured in response.
Stiles opened his eyes slowly, smiling. “How soft your kisses are…. It’s like I’m a pretty China Doll you don’t want to risk breaking.”
Derek hummed, “Well, you are pretty and precious.”
Rolling over onto his side to face Derek, Stiles began kissing down the man’s neck. “You sure have a way with words.”
Derek rumbled some, almost like a purr. “Seems like you’re trying to start something, not me.”
Stiles smiled, “Start something? More like finish something.”
Suddenly Erica burst into the Loft and landed on Stiles, hugging him close.
Boyd sauntered in behind her with Isaac. “Couldn’t convince her to wait.”