Teen Wolf BigBang Fic - My Isabella (Teen) - 5/9
Previous Parts:
Masterpost | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
“It’s the full moon on Tuesday,” Derek said, at breakfast on a Friday. Sam was making pancakes while Stiles was feeding Isabella yoghurt mixed with baby cereal.
“Mmmm,” Stiles said, scraping the plastic spoon along Isabella’s bottom lip; scooping up left over breakfast.
“You haven’t been to a full moon in over six months.”
“Yeah,” Stiles opened his mouth to show Isabella how to do it and tried to get the next spoonful in without so much mess.
There was silence while Stiles fed Isabella her next few bites and by the time someone spoke again Stiles had forgotten what they had been talking about.
“Wait until he’s finished.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What doesn’t?” Stiles asked, putting the plate down onto the table. “Does that feel better? Being all full?”
Isabella looked around.
“No?” Stiles laughed. “You are such a little glutton. I suppose you can have some milk.”
Isabella made grabby hands at him when she heard milk and Stiles laughed as he stood up to finish her bottle. He smiled at his dad as he poured out her formula and shook the bottle. He handed it to Isabella; he didn’t need to hold the bottle anymore but he kept a guiding hand on the bottom while she sucked the formula down like she hadn’t just eaten cereal.
“Stiles,” Derek said, firmly as Stiles wiped Isabella’s chin and put the empty bottle on the table.
“What?” Stiles asked, turning around. “What’s wrong?”
“Stiles,” his father said. “Derek has been trying to talk to you and you’ve been ignoring him.”
“Have you?” Stiles asked. “I…I didn’t realise.”
“It’s not a problem,” Derek said, waving his hand looking down suddenly. “It isn’t important.”
Stiles frowned at Derek. “Are you sure?”
“He wants you to go to the full moon on Tuesday,” Sam’s voice was so heavy with exasperation that Stiles turned to him. “I am very proud of how well you have taken to being a single father but you need to stop focussing on Bella to the exclusion of others.”
“I-”
“You have,” Sam said. Stiles stopped and looked at his father.
“I…”
“It’s normal,” Derek said. “It’s not important.”
“It is,” Stiles said. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
Derek accepted the plate of pancakes and dedicated himself to cutting a hole in the middle and pouring maple syrup into the area left behind. Stiles had never seen anyone do that before but he’d tried it and it was the best way of eating pancakes he had ever experienced.
“Derek,” Stiles said, when it became obvious that Derek was not going to say anything to him. “What did you want to ask me?”
Derek shrugged and shovelled some food into his mouth. “No-in.”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “It must have been something if Dad said something.”
“You have new parent blinders,” Sam said. “Completely normal but also quite rude most of the time.”
“Oh.” Stiles looked at Isabella and then at Derek.
“I don’t mind,” Derek said, pausing between quick bites.
Stiles pulled Isabella from her high chair after cleaning her off and put her on the thick blanket in the corner with her toys while the adults ate their breakfast. He accepted the plate from his dad and slid into the chair across from Derek. Stiles knew he would need to get to the bottom of what Derek had been trying to say to him - especially if he father had felt he needed to bring Stiles’ attention to it.
As soon as Sam was finished eating, he scooped Isabella up and declared they were going to the park, slipping out of the house before Derek or Stiles were able to say anything.
“You are going to tell me what you were talking about?”
“It’s nothing,” Derek said, pushing the plate away from him with at least a quarter of his pancakes left on the plate.
“I know it has to be something,” Stiles said, pointing at the plate. “You never leave food on your plate, ever. In fact there are another five pancakes on the bench waiting for your second plate so you’re not getting away with ‘it’s nothing’ right now.”
Derek’s face closed down even more, darkening around his eyes until Stiles was worried that Derek was simply going to stand up and walk out.
“I’m sorry that I was ignoring you.”
Derek’s eyes flicked to Isabella’s high chair and his eyes relaxed before he looked back at Stiles. “She should be more important.”
Stiles shook his head and then paused and smiled. “Yeah, she is more important than almost anything else in the world to me but that doesn’t excuse me from treating others like they are less important. Dad said you were saying something about the full moon…I can’t remember when it is.”
“You always used to know.”
“I think I still have them programmed into my phone,” Stiles frowned and pulled out his phone, Izzy’s bright face the first thing he saw as he pulled up the calendar. There was nothing in there but a reminder about the swimming class he was taking Izzy to, the days where he had to go into work, and…a reminder that the day after tomorrow would be Cora’s birthday.
“It’s Cora’s birthday,” Stiles said quietly.
“I know,” Derek said, with a frown.
“But I didn’t,” Stiles said. “I would normally have a present for her by now and…I’ve become horribly self-absorbed.”
“No, Isabella-absorbed.”
“I don’t think that makes it better.”
“It makes it understandable.”
Stiles rubbed his face.
“Stiles, do you honestly believe there is a single new parent in the world…well, the ones who are good parents, whose lives don’t become centred around their child.”
“What are you doing on the full moon?”
Derek’s face showed his judgement.
“Well…obviously you’ll all be running off your aggression and everything else and acting like a group of blood thirsty puppies but other than that.”
“Blood thirsty puppies?”
“Yeah, you don’t lose control anymore and you all get really friendly and want to play but there is also something dark about the way you look at each other and, to a lesser extent, us humans.”
“I was simply asking if you wanted to come back to the full moon. Allison can’t come but the whole werewolf pack with be there. She has to go to some work thing and since she isn’t turned…” Derek trailed off.
“I don’t think that Isabella’s quite ready for all that howling.”
“She’s welcome, I would be able to hear her sleeping in the house from almost anywhere in the woods but I was thinking you could leave her with your dad.”
“Leave her with Dad?”
“Yes.”
“I haven’t spent a night away from her. She’s still not sleeping through the night. I don’t know if I can ask that of him.”
Derek nodded. “I understand.”
“More pancakes?” Stiles asked, searching for something to say.
Derek looked hesitant.
“They are my Dad’s pancakes.”
Derek caved and pulled the plate back in front of him so that he could eat the rest of the pancakes.
“I do want to do more pack things,” Stiles said. “And I will try to be better.”
Derek shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
Stiles didn’t believe him but of all the people in his life Derek would be the one most willing to ignore these bad manners, at least since Isabella had been born. Scott and Lydia would just call him on his crap but Derek had been different ever since Isabella. Derek finished his breakfast and disappeared out of the back door to…supposedly, run back to his place.
Stiles called Scott.
“Hey, man.”
“Have I been ignoring everyone?”
“What?”
“Have I been ignoring everyone? And just focussing on Isabella to the exclusion of everyone else?”
“Oh yeah, most of the time. Except when we’re there or make you focus on us.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Scott said. “I prefer Isabella to most of the pack too.”
Stiles didn’t feel any better about his actions for that comment. They talked for a few more minutes and Stiles thought about what to buy Cora for her birthday.
“Derek asked me to come to the full moon.” Stiles finally said, just as the conversation was winding down.
“Would Isabella sleep through all that howling?”
“She wouldn’t come.”
“Oh,” Scott said. “So you won’t be coming either.”
“I can’t really ask Dad to have her all night so that I could go to the full moon.”
“Of course you could,” Sam said, startling Stiles into turning around to find his dad standing behind him with Isabella still strapping into her pram.
“Scott, I gotta-”
“I heard, talk later.”
Scott hung up on him and Stiles shoved his phone back into his pocket.
“Dad.”
Sam rolled his eyes and started up the stairs. “Your daughter needs to be changed.”
“Give her here.”
Sam ignored him and started walking up the stairs. “I’m not working on Tuesday so I’ll look after Bella.”
“I can’t ask you to give up your one night off to look after her.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Stiles sighed and followed his father into Isabella’s room. He didn’t bother to go past the door though, just rested his shoulder against the jamb and watched Isabella squirm around on the changing mat. Stiles couldn’t help but be pleased he wasn’t the one that would have to wrangle her this time.
“You have to go, Stiles.”
“I’ve never left her overnight before.”
“Exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
“She is the best baby in the universe and you are turning into the type of father I knew you could be but in the end you have to also find time for you. When was the last time you did anything that wasn’t Isabella or work?”
Stiles shrugged, then frowned, and thought a bit harder. “It can’t have been that long ago.”
Sam finished pulling Isabella’s pants up over her fresh nappy and then slid her down to the ground. Isabella giggled and started crawling towards Stiles who dropped down and pulled her up into his arms.
“It has been that long; it’s a good idea for you to try and find time to do things that have nothing to do with her.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s healthy.”
Stiles shrugged.
“Derek has been more patient than anybody has any right to ask for, even you.”
Stiles frowned. “The pack have always come and gone according to life. We barely met up except for important meetings while we were at university. It’s not like this is the first time that someone has disappeared for a while. It’s just the first time that I haven’t been the one that was always there. I can’t be there all the time now. The pack understands that and Derek understands that.”
Sam stopped in front of Stiles and shook his head. “He does understand that but that wasn’t what I was talking about.”
“Then I’m confused.”
“Why does Derek like Isabella so much?”
“Because she is amazing,” Stiles said, looking down at his daughter. “Who in the universe wouldn’t love her?”
“True,” Sam said slowly. “But, he knows her schedule as well as I do and-”
“Dad,” Stiles interrupted. “The pack were picking on him about this too so I had a word to him. He’s just enjoying being a godfather and having a baby in the pack again, I think he’s been missing that aspect. The pack he grew up in was always one where there were children and babies, at least that’s what I’ve been able to garner from the small amount of it that he will talk about. It’s almost a good thing Peter is still around since even though you can’t believe eighty percent of what he says at least you can get something out of him about the old Hale pack.”
“He does like having Isabella in his pack.”
“So maybe we’ll just go down and see them for a little while before she needs to go to bed.”
“Then I will bring her home and you can stay on to do whatever you lot do during the full moon.”
“They do lots of silly full moon things. Then they collect together on a few huge blankets and just sleep the morning away.”
The sheriff smirked at Stiles. “It sounds like it will be fun.”
“Dad.”
“You’re going, if I have to call Derek myself and accept and then tie you to one of the trees out there. Bella and I will be fine for one night and it will be good for you.”
Stiles nodded and then slumped down against the wall. “Fine, thanks.”
Sam nodded once sharply and finally left the room to wash his hands.
Tuesday came around quickly and they bundled Isabella up in something warm before driving out to Derek’s house. Stiles had spent the hour before they left making sure there was enough of everything and then double checking that everything was where it needed to be. Sam refrained from saying anything but he did stare at his son judgementally. Until Stiles had moved the can of formula three times.
“Do you remember when she was first born and you were always asking me what to do? Here we are a few months down the track and suddenly I’ve forgotten what the formula can looks like so obviously I need to have it placed on the bench…just in case.”
Stiles looked at the line of clean bottles next to the formula can and flushed. “I just don’t want you to have any problems tonight.”
Sam looked down at Isabella who had a rusk shoved into the right side of her mouth. “She’s not going to be a problem. Are you, Bella?”
Isabella looked up at him.
“See…no problems at all.”
“Right, well I’m just going to go and pack her bag.”
“I’ve done it,” Sam said.
“Did you pack-”
“Yes,” Sam interrupted. “And anything that I didn’t remember we can do without. Derek has a room with stuff for her - she’s not going to miss out on anything.”
Stiles nodded. “Then I suppose we can get going.”
Sam nodded and turned for the door, he grabbed her bag and his keys. “We’ll meet you there.”
“Are you sure you want to take her? I can.”
Sam shook his head and headed for his cruiser, which he had installed a car seat in - against quite a few regulations - not that he cared at all. He buckled Isabella in and started off for Derek’s knowing Stiles would be a complete mess until the pack took his attention.
Derek was out of the door before his car even stopped. The dark-haired werewolf was standing on the porch obviously holding himself back from bounding down the stairs for Isabella. Sam bit back his smile and climbed out of the car.
“Can you come grab her so I can take her bag?” Sam called out. Derek was next to him immediately, lifting Isabella out and hugging her to his chest with a bright smile.
Sam followed behind his happily babbling granddaughter and the man who would obviously like to be her step-father.
Stiles arrived moments later and Isabella happily threw herself at him, out of Derek’s arms like she hadn’t seen him in days rather than minutes. Moments later she was wriggling back out and trying to get to Derek again. Stiles put her on the floor and she happily made her way around the room between the wolves for the next half hour, each of the wolves picking her up and happily scenting her while she giggled and pulled at hair, squeezed noses and cheeks as her scent was joyfully shared around in the pack. Stiles couldn’t smell it but he had a feeling she would have reeked of the whole pack by the end. They ate dinner together, the pack touching more than they normally did and Isabella never stayed in her chair; being passed around between the members of the pack constantly between bites of slightly more rare meat than either Stiles or his father liked though Boyd had been nice enough to cook their meat longer than anyone else’s.
After dinner Isabella’s happiness at being passed around to everyone, except Jackson who held her for as short a time as possible, morphed decidedly into displeasure. She started to fuss in Derek’s arms and reached out pleadingly to Stiles. He pulled her into his arms ignoring the wounded expression on Derek’s face and she curled into Stiles and gripped his shirt tightly. Stiles swayed with her until she became a dead weight in his arms, her little breath puffing against his neck. Stiles twisted down to look at her, checking that she was asleep.
“We should get home,” Stiles’ dad said, coming to stand behind Stiles. “Let you all get on with your happily wolfy full moon.”
“You are so a Stilinski,” Lydia said, shaking her head. “It always surprises me when you say things that Stiles would.”
“I taught him everything I know,” Sam puffed his chest out.
“Mum taught me a lot too,” Stiles pointed out. “She was the one who believed in crazy Sundays.”
Sam laughed. “Are you going to give Bella crazy Sundays?”
“’Course.”
“Crazy Sundays?” Isaac asked.
Stiles smiled, his grin so wide his face ached. “Mum created crazy Sundays after I was diagnosed with ADHD, they were days when the fact I was hyperactive and couldn’t concentrate didn’t matter because we were supposed to just do anything that took our fancy. One Sunday we all drove to Los Angeles and went to the zoo.”
“Seriously?” Boyd asked.
“His mum used to invite me,” Scott said. “We made cakes of frosting one Sunday and let me tell you, they do not work!”
“It seemed like the best idea in the history of cake,” Stiles defended.
“Claudia would have never let you do that on any other day.”
“I know, just like I would never make an icing cake on a Tuesday with Izzy but on Sunday, anything goes.”
“Right,” Sam said, firmly. “Give me that granddaughter of mine.”
“Are you sure?” Stiles said, hugging Isabella more tightly to him.
“Stiles,” Lydia said, firmly. “Hand the baby over to your father.”
“But, I’ve never spent the whole night away from her.”
“Have to cut the strings eventually,” Jackson said.
“Thank you for that wonderful perspective,” Stiles said, sarcasm dripping off his words.
“Stiles,” Derek said, quietly - dragging the room’s attention to him. “If you don’t want to stay then go with Isabella. Maybe we can do it next month.”
Stiles silently turned back to his father and held Isabella out. Sam scooped her up and smiled at Stiles. Stiles knew his father was proud of him.
“If anything happens-”
Sam shook his head. “Don’t. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Stiles stooped down and kissed Isabella on the head before he took a step back - he really didn’t want to watch her leave and he knew it was…insane. She would be ten minutes away, with his father, who knew her almost better than anyone but him. There was no chance that anything would go wrong and even if it did then he could be there so quickly and his father knew what he was doing. Stiles knew all of that, he knew it but at the same time he just wanted to snatch her back and hold her tight. It was ridiculous.
Stiles plastered a smile onto his face and stepped back. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
The pack stepped forward and very gently brushed their hands over her hair in goodbye. Sam nodded and left the house.
Scott walked up next to Stiles and shoved him over with his shoulder.
“What?” Stiles demanded and returned the move.
“You look like someone has been torturing you.”
“I do not.”
“You do, and it’s pathetic,” Lydia threw in. “She’s at your house with your father, so just get over it.”
“Or Derek is going to think you don’t want to be here,” Isaac said.
Stiles turned to the alpha who was watching him with dark eyes and a closed down expression. “Of course I want to be here.”
“We need to go out and run,” Derek said, turning around and slipping his shirt off. He threw the shirt over the stair’s balustrade and threw the door open. Jackson and Boyd threw their shirts off happily and shifted before they had even made it out of the door. Isaac did so much more reluctantly and followed behind them until Stiles was left with no one but Scott and Lydia. Cora was up at school with a big test the next day and she hadn’t been able to get back.
“Sometimes I am so pleased I’m not a werewolf,” Stiles said, slapping Scott on the back. “I don’t have to get shirtless to go running through the woods.”
There was a loud howl outside and the three of them turned to look out the door.
“We should probably go,” Scott said. “Haven’t run with Stiles in a while, the pack is going to be so hyperactive.”
“You’re always hyperactive,” Stiles said, walking out of the house. He could see flashes he knew to be werewolf eyes and started heading out into the darkness.
Stiles had forgotten how energetic the night of a full moon was. And he thought running around after a baby was hard work. As he had walked out of the house the wolves had run back towards him, circling around joyfully. The air was full of happy howling as Stiles allowed his body to be used as a scenting post - the werewolves happily sharing Stiles’ scent while the full moon made everything more powerful for them. Stiles looked past the bodies to find Derek standing a few feet away, transformed and watching the pack intensely while he let out a low, long growl that even Stiles could hear. Stiles smiled at the older man and suddenly the group seemed to part around him - leaving enough space for the alpha to step into what amounted to a vertical puppy pile.
“I’m not happy about this,” Lydia said.
Stiles twisted around to see her and someone’s hand rubbed against his backside. “Hey!”
“Sorry,” Jackson said, managing to sound, through his teeth, like Stiles should be the one apologising.
“You annoyed you’re not getting groped by Jackson? Because, I could do without it.”
“Like you could get anyone as hot as me.”
Stiles looked Jackson up and down before scrunching up his nose. “Sorry, I really prefer my men a little more manly.”
Jackson looked at Stiles with disgust.
“Tag!” Isaac called, and slapped Stiles on the back so hard he stumbled forward.
“Oh, for…” Stiles span and slapped Scott who was the only wolf not to have run off. He laughed and ran from the spot. He could see Derek watching him from the trees.
“You suck,” Scott yelled out from behind Stiles.
“Isaac picked on the slow, weak human,” Stiles called out. “I’m just paying it forward.”
After that the forest was mostly silent except for the pack, the animals normally disappeared on nights when the wolves were out. While they were loud in the evenings when the pack was simply out after dark. Whoever thought wilderness was quiet hadn’t spent much time in the actual woods. Stiles had never learned how to be silent when going through the forest not that it would have mattered against a pack of werewolves anyway, though Derek or Scott would always appear when Stiles was tagged to help him get the rest of the pack. Somehow, and Stiles had never been able to wrangle it from her, Lydia managed to avoid being tagged at all.
The game lasted until well after midnight. Stiles had forgotten how energetic the full moon made the werewolves. When he, and the other humans, didn’t come the werewolves would run for hours through the woods and forests around the area until the sky started to turn. However, on nights like this when Stiles, or Lydia and Allison, came out and ran with them it was more like a night-time, moon lit evening of play.
The wolves were slightly more vicious with one another under the full moon, faster to growl and snarl as well as fighting amongst themselves but it never impacted on the humans - Derek would never allow them to release their moon caused tension on the human pack members. That was why Stiles knew bringing Isabella to the pack tonight had not been dangerous. He trusted his pack, with his life and with hers.
Stiles stopped and pressed his back into one of the trees breathing heavily. He could feel the bark pressing into his flesh even through his shirt and he wished he could lie down and curl around the base of the tree for a little nap.
Boyd stopped in front of Stiles. Stiles tried the puppy dog eyes and shook his head. Then Boyd cocked his head to the side and smirked before he ran off into the night. Stiles followed along behind to find Scott and Jackson circling each other with grins on their faces. Stiles shook his head and went to sit down next to Lydia where she was perched against a tree. Scott and Jackson ran at one another, fighting in a way that would have to be called play fighting here but would not be out of place in UFC match. Then suddenly they sprang apart and Scott ran over to Stiles pulling him to his feet and dragging him away into the forest.
“What?”
“Deer,” Scott said.
Stiles sighed, he didn’t care about deer but he knew that the pack would chase the animal for a while until one of them ‘caught’ the thing. Then they could brag for the rest of the month about being the best werewolf and Bambi could spend the month getting over the terror of having been chased by a predator - though it would still be alive so that was something.
Stiles ran with Scott, shifting direction with his friend since he couldn’t sense the animal himself. When they passed the lake Stiles slowed down now that he could see the buck running in front of them. Stiles didn’t need to chase the thing; now he could just sit back and watch them all get in touch with their inner animals. He much preferred the animal coming out on a deer rather than on himself.
Danny won, laughing at the pack around him before patting the deer quietly for a moment and letting it go to run and play.
Stiles yawned and stretched out, he hadn’t been up this late since before Isabella had been born. He was normally safely in bed, exhausted, by ten each night. He would have been embarrassed about acting like an old person if it weren’t for the fact he kept falling asleep on the couch if he didn’t get enough sleep for Isabella’s middle of the night wake up and her early morning ‘I need food’ crying. He walked the rest of the way to the large flat boulder that sat half in and out of the lake and stretched out on top of it. It would be nicer when it got to be high summer and the stone held the day’s warmth while around Stiles wolves howled and played and ran.
Stiles could hear the crunch of leaves, the snap of twigs as one of the wolves ran towards him.
“Tired?” Derek’s voice was gravelly around his transformed teeth and Stiles smiled but didn’t bother to open his eyes.
“I’m not used to being up so late.”
There was silence for a moment and then Derek spoke though Stiles knew the werewolf was not talking to him. “Jackson, shut up.”
“Yes, Jackson,” Stiles threw in, he didn’t even need to ask to know it would have been a comment about him going to bed like one of the Golden Girls. For some reason, and Jackson would hide the reason to his grave, the blonde werewolf used the characters as his go to insult for half the pack. Everyone but Lydia, who had simply flipped her hair and told Jackson that she was going to be Sophia when she grew up. It had led to her coming to Stiles’ place at university and a three day long marathon of the show until Stiles was a convert and decided that he was decidedly a Dorothy…though he wished he was Sophia - that was definitely Lydia’s role. “And Golden Girls are more excellent than you.”
“I worry about you,” Derek said. “Do you want to go back up to the house?”
“I see a full moon,” Stiles said, throwing his hand up. Seconds later a hot, rough hand wrapped around his wrist and moved his finger in another direction. “So I’m not going anywhere. Besides, you’re all going to decide a water fight is an amazing idea in…about twenty minutes so I’m in the perfect position.”
“Oh man,” Scott said. “We haven’t had a water fight in ages.”
“See?”
Minutes later there was a lot of splashing, howling, and a steady rain of cold water hitting Stiles. He sighed, opened his eyes and threw himself down into the frigid water with the rest of the pack before one of them dragged him in.
As they were slowly walking out of the lake a long while later, the sky was lightening to the east. Stiles knew it was time to head back to the house, where they would all have very brief showers, eat the platter of sandwiches that were in the fridge and then curl up together in the lounge room and sleep the morning away. Stiles would have to make sure he was on the outer edges of the pile so that he could sneak out later to call his father. His mobile had been up as loud as possible on the porch the whole night but none of the wolves had heard anything and the distinct sound of Jonny Cash, which he had given to his father, would definitely have elicited a reaction.
Stiles yawned and found that he had to stop walking because he was so tired he could not possibly walk and yawn at the same time. Suddenly, an arm slid beneath one of Stiles’ and then Lydia was dragging him towards the house through the steadily lightening forest. The pack seemed to close in around them as they walked back which took much less time than it had taken them to get out to the lake the night before.
Derek pushed Stiles into the bathroom as soon as they were inside. Stiles yanked his wet, cold clothes off and stood under the hot spray with his eyes closed while he tried to defrost. There was a knock on the door and then, almost instantly, the door opened.
“Have you fallen asleep in there?” Lydia asked.
“No,” Stiles said. He washed himself quickly knowing she wasn’t going anywhere and then opened the curtain only far enough to take the towel from her.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“Yes,” Stiles said, stepping out with the towel wrapped around his hips. “But, also not something I’m planning on showing you again.”
Lydia grabbed his cheek and kissed him. “I do love you, but you need to find someone to show it to.”
“I don’t.”
“You might forget how.”
“The last person I slept with gave me Izzy, can’t top that.”
“God, you disgust me.”
“Thank you,” Stiles kissed her on the forehead and then walked out of the bathroom to change in one of the spare rooms. He pulled on his warm, old sleep clothes and sunk down onto the couch. Seconds later there was a ham and cheese sandwich in front of him. Stiles was so tired he wasn’t even hungry but he knew he’d wake up starving if he didn’t eat now. He smiled his thanks up at Derek and grabbed the sandwich. Derek sat next to him on the couch, perhaps a bit closer than normal and the heat of his body caused the clean scent of Derek’s skin to wrap around Stiles. Stiles hadn’t been hungry and yet before he could remember taking a single bite the sandwich was gone.
“I can’t believe I’m still awake.”
“I’m pleased you came tonight.”
“It was fun.”
“You’ve been thinking about her all night.”
Stiles shrugged and the plate in his hand disappeared for a moment only to come back heavy with food again. Stiles cracked an eye open to find a chicken sandwich on his plate. He didn’t think Derek had moved but he didn’t know who else would bother to get him food.
“You’ve been thinking about Is all night.”
Stiles twisted around to look at Derek even as he started eating the second sandwich. “How did you know?”
“Because I know you.”
“You really do,” Stiles said with a smile. “I’ve just never left her before. I’ll call Dad later to see how everything went.”
“He sent me a message,” Scott said, coming into the room. “Everything’s fine. Tell him to stop worrying.”
“He messaged you?” Stiles asked, digging his phone out and looking at the blank screen again. “Why didn’t he message me?”
“Because you are insanely attached to your child,” Jackson said, coming in still shirtless but obviously just out of the shower.
“Insanely?” Stiles asked.
“Yeah.” Jackson nodded and grabbed his own sandwich.
“There is nothing insane about how attached I am to Izzy.”
“No, but that explains Jackson’s issues beautifully,” Lydia said.
“I just meant that it was a smart idea not to message you, Stiles, because you were having enough trouble actually being here as it was, you just would have assumed it was something bad.”
“You did spend a long time staring back at the house,” Isaac said. “Though I don’t think there is anything strange about how attached you are to Isabella.”
“I told Dad he could contact me if something went wrong.”
“What could have gone wrong? Especially with your dad watching her,” Lydia asked, shoehorning herself into the space next to Stiles, on the opposite side to where Derek was plastered against his side.
“She could fall off something and hurt herself, or start vomiting, or cut herself, anything could happen.”
“Or,” Boyd pointed out. “She could be completely fine, don’t be so negative.”
Stiles nodded and yawned. “Can I go to bed now?”
“It’s about that time.” Derek stood up and looked down at the mound of blankets and pillows in the middle of the lounge room. They had tried this in a bed and all over the house but this seemed to be the best option - the lot of them on so many blankets it was basically a mattress with pillows around the place and the overwhelming heat of werewolves to keep them all warm.
Stiles slithered down off the couch and over to the blankets. He yanked one of the pillows over to him and shoved it under his head. He didn’t bother to open his eyes again when someone used his lower back for a pillow or when someone pressed into his left side…and then there was nothing.
Stiles woke hours later, sandwiched between Derek, behind him, and Isaac, who was in turn curled around Lydia. There was very little sunlight passing through the window above them all but Stiles figured enough time had passed to call his dad.
“She’s fine, he’ll be here for lunch,” Derek mumbled, his breath hot against Stiles’ neck.
“My alarm,” Stiles mumbled, but the warmth of the werewolf pile was dragging him back down to sleep.
“I turned it off and called him.”
“I am not happy about that,” Stiles said, but he allowed himself to fall back to sleep anyway.
The next time Stiles woke up it was to the sound of his daughter laughing. He opened his eyes to find Derek holding her though seconds later Isabella was placed on his chest and she looked at him happily while he hugged her close.
Stiles looked around the room as he pulled himself up and realised that he and Derek were the only members of the pack that were awake. Scott and Isaac seemed to be lying underneath Lydia and Boyd mostly sleeping alone except for a hand wrapped around Jackson’s ankle, there was something vaguely possessive about the hold and Stiles resolved to try and work that out…later. Stiles stood up and walked over to his father and Derek.
“Was she all right?”
“Looked a little confused that I collected her this morning but it was all completely normal - exactly like it goes when you’re home.”
“That will make him think he’s replaceable,” Jackson mumbled from the floor. Stiles kicked him as he walked past to hand Isabella back to his father so that he could go to the bathroom.
“I’m a unique snowflake, Jackson,” Stiles threw over his shoulder.
“Just like everyone else,” his father said slowly.
Jackson’s laugh followed Stiles out of the room but when he returned Isabella reached out for him joyfully and he just didn’t care what Jackson said to him.
Sam kissed Isabella on the head when he left for work on a Friday night.
“Don’t be too hard on your father,” Sam said, into the soft hair on her head. “I know you’re an awfully good little girl.”
Isabella smiled up at her grandfather with a wide, gummy grin and Sam jostled her, kissed her on the forehead and then handed her to Stiles.
Stiles held Isabella and helped her wave goodbye to Sam.
“Stiles, you don’t need to do this when I’m not here.”
“I really do,” Stiles said. “I need to do it tonight.”
Sam looked at his son with something like pity but then his face cleared. He placed his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “You’ll do an amazing job.”
Stiles buried his nose in Isabella’s hair and looked at his father disbelievingly.
Sam let out a sigh and left.
Stiles fed and bathed Isabella and then held her close to him in her bedroom.
“My Isabella,” Stiles said quietly. “We are going to try something new tonight. I’m going to give you a hug and a kiss after your bottle and then I’m going to put you into bed and I’m going to leave. I want you to go to sleep, I want you to know that I am here and I love you even if I don’t come when you cry.”
Isabella sucked down her bottle with her usual gusto and burped happily into Stiles’ shoulder. Then he kissed her on the head and put her into bed. She looked up at him with shock and confusion for a moment and then her bottom lip started to quiver. Stiles kissed her again and then rushed to the door and outside. He first cry made his stomach clench but he kept going down the stairs and into the lounge room.
He turned on the television. Then turned it off again when he couldn’t hear anything but her cries. He went into the kitchen and got himself a glass of water and went back into the lounge room.
Her cries quietened for a moment and Stiles let out a sigh before she started again. Stiles dropped his head down into his hands as she continued to cry.
Stiles stood up and started for the stairs. When he cleared the top step Derek stepped in front of him. Stiles looked up from the expanse of stretched black cotton to Derek’s grey-green eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
“Where are you going?” Derek asked, instead of answering.
Stiles looked past Derek and towards the door to his daughter’s room.
Derek stepped into Stiles’ view. “That is what I’m doing here. You said you needed to teach her to self-settle.”
“But she’s crying,” Stiles said.
“I can hear her.”
Stiles folded his arms across his chest. “Right, I shouldn’t go in there.”
Derek shook his head.
“It’s hard.” Stiles admitted pitifully and twisted to sit on the top step.
Derek sat next to him.
“I only just got to the point where I didn’t feel like I was screwing up all the time. Now she’s crying and I’m ignoring her.”
“You’re not ignoring her.”
“I am. I’m her dad; she should be able to rely on me and I’m just ignoring her.”
“She’s learning a valuable skill,” Derek said. “As you said when you appeared at my house to tell me all the reasons you had for deciding to teach her to self-settle.”
“They were crappy reasons,” Stiles said. “I didn’t know what I was saying.”
“Something about having to wake up in the middle of the night to settle her.”
“Yeah,” Stiles turned his head at a momentary break in Isabella’s whimpering cries. She was only quiet for a few heartbeats and then started again, more quietly.
“She’s starting to settle,” Derek said, and when Stiles looked at him Derek’s eyes were red and his head was cocked back towards Isabella’s room.
“Can you hear her?”
Derek nodded.
“Sometimes I wish I could hear like you do,” Stiles said quietly.
Derek’s lips quirked.
“Derek,” Stiles asked, his voice getting quieter still as he leaned against the wall next to him. “Why are you here?”
“I knew you were starting tonight and I know your father’s at work.”
Stiles looked down the stairs, away from Derek. “I didn’t want to fail in front of someone else.”
“You aren’t going to fail.”
“That’s because you’ve come,” Stiles said, with a sigh. “If it was just me I would be in her room now holding her.”
Derek shook his head. “You’d never have opened the door.”
Stiles scoffed silently as he counted the beats between Isabella’s snuffling cries.
“I could leave,” Derek said. “Then you can prove it to yourself.”
“No,” Stiles said, and wrapped his hand around Derek’s wrist.
They were silent, Derek’s wrist hot and soft beneath Stiles’ fingers.
“I never meant to imply I didn’t think you could do this.” Derek said quietly, when Isabella had completely stopped making noises that Stiles could hear.
Stiles flexed his fingers and pulled them away from Derek’s wrist, he missed the steady thrum of Derek’s heartbeat beneath his fingertips. “I know.”
Derek pulled his hand back to into his lap and watched Stiles intensely.
“I appreciate you coming,” Stiles said. “I didn’t think I wanted anyone to be here.”
Derek’s head twisted around so that he was looking at Isabella’s door. “She’s asleep.” He stood up. “I wouldn’t have even come inside if you hadn’t been rushing up the stairs.”
“Were you outside sitting on the roof like a creeper?”
Derek started down the stairs.
“You can come inside any time you want,” Stiles said. “Next time just knock on the door.”
Derek shook his head.
“Do you want some hot chocolate?”
Derek stopped on the second last step. “I should go home.”
“Why?” Stiles said. “I might need you to hold my hand again when she wakes up next time. I think I have little marshmallows.”
Stiles walked past Derek who followed him into the kitchen.
“Wow,” Scott said, walking into the kitchen. “That is a lot of mess.”
“Izzy is feeding herself.”
Scott watched her for a few minutes. “That doesn’t seem like it was the best idea.”
Stiles shrugged. “She’s having a bath as soon as she’s done.”
“You might need to scrub her down.”
Stiles barked out a laugh. “I’ll just soak her for a while.”
TBC...
Masterpost | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9