Chapter Text
Usually Derek gets his work done during the day on his computer while Stiles plays in his playpen a few feet away. The bulk of his work has changed in the past few months— protocol now is to reach out to located werewolves online, feel them out and slowly introduce them to the idea of the community, before just flying out to get them. It’s supposed to cut down on risks, like the ambush Derek had stepped into a few months back. Still, it’s not especially taxing, so Derek gets it finished by dinnertime and spends the rest of the day with Stiles.
Today, though, Derek has to go back to work after he’s put Stiles down for the night. He’s been in contact with a family up in Canada, but they’ve had no contact for forty-eight hours. All of his messages have gone unanswered. He has a sinking suspicion that he knows what that means, but he’s put off actually confirming it until the house is quiet.
It doesn’t take him long to find the truth online. Two days ago a house fire killed the entire family. The news articles online are full of questions, but Derek knows the answers. He knows why the family was trapped in the basement, why the source of the fire hasn’t yet been determined. He knows.
Hunters found them.
He can’t stop poking the wound— reading the articles and the hopeful emails he’d exchanged with the family, looking at their photos and comparing. Remembering. Fire is the most effective way to kill werewolves in bulk, he’s not surprised more hunters have started using it.
Every member of the family has been confirmed dead. No survivors this time. Maybe that’s a blessing. He feels a shade of the grief and fear and guilt twist at his insides and it’s like no time at all has passed, like he’s still that teenage boy watching it all burn—
He closes the internet tabs, throat closing up, and finds himself staring at his screen background. Stiles, last Halloween, dressed as a pirate. Derek had found him a toy parrot to sit on his shoulder and an eyepatch. Derek’s desk is cluttered with pictures of the baby, even though he’s usually right there in the room while Derek works. He just likes it that way.
He’s not still the boy who trusted the wrong girl and let his family die. Look how far he’s come. Look what he has. The only humans in his life now aren’t a threat, and he doesn’t even hate them as a species anymore. How can he, when they’ve given him the best thing in his life.
They’ll never come for him again. He’s in control now. He’s always in control.
He feels marginally calmer, but there’s still something whining beneath his skin and he shuts off his computer, unable to do any more work tonight. He should just go to bed, but instead he walks down the hall to the nursery, creaking the door open to look in on Stiles.
The baby is so sweet when he’s asleep. Derek can see him perfectly by the glow of the Mickey Mouse nightlight Stiles had recently become so attached to that he refuses to sleep without it. His thumb is in his mouth, legs tucked up in a loose fetal position. He doesn’t sleep with any pillows or blankets— that’s not safe for cribs and he’s plenty comfortable as he is— but Sheriff is clutched close to his chest as always. He looks young and peaceful and almost angelic.
Derek walks softly over to the crib. He can’t stop thinking about the family of dead wolves and it fills him with a need to protect his pup. He unlatches the crib and reaches down, lifting Stiles out so he can cuddle him tight against his chest.
Stiles yawns, eyelashes fluttering adorably. “D-Dada?”
“Sh, sweetheart. Daddy’s got you.”
Stiles smacks his lips as he wakes up and turns to look towards the window. “Daddy, it’s not even morning yet!”
“I know, pumpkin. It’s just after midnight.”
The baby’s eyes fly wide open, Derek has never let him be up nearly this late. “Wow!”
Derek smiles and presses his lips to the baby’s forehead. He has to work hard to make sure Stiles has just the right babyish scent, but he’s pleased to see when he inhales that all he smells is power and lotion and No-Tears shampoo and the underlying sweetness that belongs to Stiles alone. There had been a sourness when he first came, Derek remembers. The faintest scent of something just starting to curdle. A product of being trapped with all those humans who didn’t care. Derek had saved him from that. “I’m sorry to wake you up, but I just missed you so much that I had to come say hello.”
“I missed you too, Daddy.” Stiles snuggles against him willingly, always happy to be loved. “I miss you all the time when you’re not here.”
God, he so perfect. So sweet and adoring, so willing to let Derek be in control of everything. And that’s what’s most important in a relationship with a human, isn’t it? Control. The one thing he’d let Kate have completely.
Derek shakes off the thoughts and turns his attention to the little boy in his arms. Stiles has his eyes closed and his thumb back in his mouth, more than ready to fall asleep again right in Derek’s arms. Derek can’t stand the thought of putting him back in his crib and leaving him. “Hey,” he whispers. “How about you sleep in Daddy’s room tonight, huh?”
Even half-asleep Stiles’ grin could light up the room. Derek pauses only to grab his night-light out of the outlet before hurrying down the hall to his own bedroom. “Am I sick, Daddy?” Stiles yawns.
“No, you’re absolutely perfect. Would you like to sleep in the bed, or do you want Daddy to set up your bassinet?”
Stiles wrinkles his nose, he sometimes gets resistant to something as babyish as the bassinet. “Bed, pretty please.”
“Okay.” Derek draws back the covers and carefully lays the baby down. He enjoys tucking his little boy in and he wonders if maybe he can introduce a blanket into the crib now that he knows Stiles can be trusted with it. Once Stiles is all snuggled in Derek gives him some goodnight kisses before getting into bed himself.
Stiles makes a sleepy noise of protest. “No bedtime story?” he says imploringly.
“You got a bedtime story earlier, pup.”
“But that wasn’t real bedtime ‘cause now I’m woken up again.”
“Hmm, I guess that’s true. Okay, here’s your story.” Derek curls around his little boy so he can watch as Stiles drifts back off to sleep. He doesn’t feel like making up some elaborate fairy-tale tonight, so he just fall back on an old favorite. “Once upon a time…there was a Daddy wolf who had a little pup. But the pup lived far away from him, in a bad yucky place, so the Daddy wolf had to stage a daring rescue. He had some nice people grab his pup and fly him away before anyone noticed, and then Daddy got to bring him home and make sure he stayed there safe forever and ever.”
“That’s me,” Stiles coos happily. “I’m the pup.”
“That’s right, you are! Maybe you should be the one to tell this story, since you know it so well.”
“Nuh-uh. You’re the teller.” Stiles yawns. Seconds later there’s the faintest of snores from the little lump on Derek’s bed. Derek smiles, fumbling in the dark to land another kiss on the baby’s cheek before laying down and closing his eyes.
Everything is all right. The human world might still be a dark, ugly place where werewolves aren’t safe, but Derek isn’t part of that world anymore. And more importantly, neither is Stiles.
X
When Stiles wakes up he’s confused for a moment about where he is before he remembers that Daddy came and got him last night. Daddy’s never done that before but Stiles is glad he did, he loves sleeping in Daddy’s bed.
He turns his head and sees that Daddy’s already awake and on his laptop. Daddy smiles and kisses the tip of his nose. “Good morning, sweet boy, did you sleep all right?”
“Uh-huh.” Stiles tries to clamor into Daddy’s lap. Daddy shuts the laptop and pulls him in for a cuddle. “Why’d I have to sleep in here, though?”
“I told you, I missed you so much that I just had to come see you.” Daddy strokes the top of his head.
“Maybe I should sleep in here every night so you don’t miss me again,” Stiles says craftily. He never ever has nightmares when he sleeps in Daddy’s bed.
Daddy just laughs and tickles him until he’s squealing. “Now Stiles, do babies sleep in big-boy beds, or do they sleep in cribs?”
Stiles pouts. “Cribs.”
“That’s exactly right.” Daddy gets out of bed with him and walks him toward the nursery. “Now, we have a special day planned, don’t we?”
For a second Stiles doesn’t remember, but then he claps his hands excitedly. “We’re baby-sitting Ally today!”
Allison has been here a long time now but she still doesn’t understand completely that she’s a baby. This is the first time she’s ever been with a babysitter, Stiles is going to help so she doesn’t get scared.
After Daddy changes his diaper and puts him in play clothes Stiles crawls all around his play area getting out toys for them. He’s excited. Allison is his cousin, he loves her a lot even though she can be fussy sometimes. It’s forever before Uncle Scott and Aunt Kira come over. Allison is in Uncle Scott’s arms, hiding her face in his shoulder.
“We’re a little fussy this morning,” Scott tells Daddy as he pats Allison’s back. “Someone doesn’t want Mommy and Daddy to leave. But we’ll come back very, very soon, and we’ll bring lots of surprises back for our little princess, won’t we?” He brushes hair away from Allison’s face and kisses her cheek. She whines and grips him tightly.
“It’s the diaper changes,” Aunt Kira says to Daddy softly. “She’s never been changed by anyone but us and it’s making her nervous. So just…make them quick, and be sure to check up on her, she won’t tell you when she goes. She’s been good lately, so we’re trusting her without a pacifier, but there area f ew in the bag if she starts acting up.”
“No problem.” Daddy reaches out for her as Scott gently unpeels her fingers from his shoulder. Allison wails when she’s finally transferred into Daddy’s arms and she reaches out for Scott. “No, Daddy!”
“Oh, my baby! You’ll have lots of fun with Uncle Derek and we’ll be back tonight.” Scott kisses her about a hundred times, then Aunt Kira does the same thing before they’re finally ready to leave. Ally cries when they go and Daddy walks around with her, patting her back until she calms down. She’s got a stuffed bunny she’s clinging to, just like Stiles hugs Sheriff whenever he feels sad.
“How about we play with your cousin?” Daddy says softly, sitting down on the floor and settling Allison between his legs. “Stiles, what do you want to play with?”
Stiles hesitantly holds out his new Avenger figures, he knows Allison likes superheroes. He got them for his birthday. The have hinges at the arms and knees so they can bend, he loves them a lot. Daddy smiles at him and nods. “Okay, let’s all play.”
Stiles gets Iron Man, since that’s his favorite, and Daddy takes Thor. Stiles thinks Allison should be Black Widow or Scarlet Witch since they’re girls but she shakes her head and reaches for Hawkeye instead, his bow can shoot real arrows. The best part of being Iron Man is getting to be in charge and Stiles sets up the battle against Captain America. He can’t wait to see the new movie. Daddy doesn’t like for him to watch grown-up movies like Avengers but Uncle Peter always lets him watch them when he goes over to his house. It’s their secret but Stiles is pretty sure Daddy knows, Daddy knows everything.
It takes Allison a little while but eventually she stops being upset and plays enthusiastically. Stiles has almost forgotten about her earlier tears when all of a sudden she freezes and glances nervously at Daddy.
“Uh-oh,” Daddy says. “Did you use your diaper? Let’s get you clean, honey.”
Ally shakes her head. “N-no, Uncle Derek! I didn’t!”
“It’s okay,” Daddy says calmly, standing and walking over to the closet where he keeps the travel mat. “We’ll get you clean right here and then we’ll all have a snack, how does that sound?”
“No!” Allison seems different, kind of older when she yells.
“You don’t want to be in a yucky diaper until Mommy and Daddy get back, do you? No, that’s no fun.” Daddy lays out the mat and grabs Allison when she tries to kick him away. “Ally, sweetheart, you’re being silly.”
“I hate you! I hate you!”
Stiles feels sort of panicky. He doesn’t like when his friends are upset. “I’ll hold your hand!” he blurts, scooting over so he can grip her hand tightly. Allison stops screaming and stares at him, eyes wide and frightened. “It’s okay, Ally, Daddy goes really fast. And see, the diapers have Spiderman on them!”
Daddy smiles at him. “That’s a good idea. Stiles will hold your hand and talk to you and I’ll be so quick you won’t even know I’m there.”
Stiles lays down so he can put his head close to Ally’s. “Daddy says you’re going to have a birthday soon,” he says. “Birthday parties are the best, everyone brings you presents. I never had a birthday party ever before I came here. It can be a swimming party or a pirate party, and one time one of my friends had a party at the zoo…”
“All finished!” Daddy says cheerfully. “Now how about that snack?”
Allison doesn’t cry again, but she’s subdued after they have their snack. Daddy leaves them to play while he goes upstairs to make some calls, but once he’s gone Allison puts down the blocks they’d been playing with and turns away.
“I don’t want to play anymore,” she mumbles, crossing her arms tightly.
“Oh. D-do you want to play racecar, or…”
“I don’t want to play anything.” She’d starting clutching the bunny again, but suddenly she tosses it across the room. “I want to go home!”
“Uncle Scott—”
“Not with them! My real home.”
Stiles sighs, she’s being silly again. If she keeps saying this dumb stuff Daddy will have to give her a pacifier and then they won’t be able to play at all. “This is our real home.”
“No, it’s not! You used to live somewhere else, remember? That was your real home, this is just a…a prison!”
“No! Stop it!” Stiles draws his knees up to his chest. “That place before was bad, and I wasn’t even supposed to be there.”
Allison’s face is red with anger and her lip is poked out. “Yes, you were, stupid!”
“Not stupid! I was Daddy’s pup all along but didn’t know it, Daddy knew and came and found me. Just like you were always supposed to be Uncle Scott and Aunt Kira’s little girl, and now they found you, and you’re where you’re supposed to be and you can’t ever leave, so there!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Daddy hurries into the room and picks Stiles up, hugging him tight. “What’s going on in here?”
Stiles’ eyes get hot. He feels bad for yelling at Allison, even though it wasn’t nice for her to call him stupid. “I…I…”
“Was Ally having big-girl thoughts?” Daddy asks gently, sitting down on the couch with Stiles and reaching down so he can pick Allison up too. “Oh, honey. It’s okay. All those silly thought will go away soon, I promise. Won’t that be nice? Stiles remembers how nice it is when you can finally put all those bad thoughts away.”
Stiles nods and then hides his face in Daddy’s shoulder so Allison won’t see him cry. He can hear Ally sniffling a little. “I want my bunny,” she says tremulously after a few minutes.
“Okay, honey.” Daddy gets it for her and then they all just cuddle on the couch for a long time. Stiles likes feeling Daddy’s chest rise and fall and he almost drifts off to sleep. Eventually the doorbell rings and Uncle Scott and Aunt Kira come in. Allison is asleep and Daddy carefully gives her to Scott. Ally mumbles in her sleep and snuggles in tight, thumb in her mouth.
Daddy makes a bottle for Stiles and carries him upstairs for bedtime. “Daddy?” Stiles asks a little nervously after he’s in his jammies. “This is my real home, right?”
He’s afraid that Daddy will be mad at him for asking such a silly question, but Daddy just smiles and kisses his forehead. “Of course it is! Do you know why?”
“Because…because…”
“Because I’m here,” Daddy says simply. “Your home is wherever I am, and my home is wherever you are because we’re each other’s favorite people in the whole world. There’s a saying that home is where the heart is, and, well, you already know that you’re my whole heart, don’t you?”
Stiles smiles, it always makes him happy deep inside when Daddy says nice stuff like that. “Uh-huh.”
“So it doesn’t matter where we are, we’re always in our real home when we’re together.” Daddy gives him five whole bedtime kisses and Stiles gives him one back before Daddy puts him in the crib with Sheriff. “Goodnight, pumpkin.”
“Night-night, Daddy.” Stiles closes his eyes, His last waking thought is of Allison. It’s sad that she’s still so fussy about things. He hopes that someday she can be a happy baby like he is.
One Week Later
Today Derek is taking Stiles to the beach. It isn’t really a beach, at least not one made by nature. There’s a lake in their community and sand was added at its shoreline. A maintenance crew makes sure there are plenty of seashells and little minnows and crabs so the little ones can play to their hearts’ content.
Stiles doesn’t care that it’s man-made, of course. He’s so excited that he was up at four a.m., shouting for Derek in the monitor. Derek knew full well that he wouldn’t just fall back to sleep, so he went to go get him. He lifted the yammering Stiles from his crib, carried him into Derek’s bedroom, and got back into bed, letting the baby sit on his chest and talk excitedly while Derek half-dozed. Eventually Stiles tired himself out, stuck his thumb in his mouth, rolled off of Derek, and promptly fell back to sleep.
They’d gotten a bit of a late start because of it but Stiles is once again raring to go as Derek dresses him in his swim trunks and tosses an old t-shirt of Derek’s over it as a cover-up. “Hurry, Daddy!” Stiles urges as Derek puts him into his carseat.
“Ah-ah, what does Daddy always say?”
“Buckle up for safety, buckle up for fun,” Stiles says obediently, sitting still while Derek buckles him in.
“Good boy.” Derek kisses him and shuts the door. He’s in a good mood. Stiles is going to love the beach, Derek is bound to get some adorable photos of him, and Scott messaged this morning to say that the babysitting last week definitely helped with Allison’s regression. Things are going well for everyone.
“Daddy, can we collect seashells?” Stiles asks as Derek starts up the car.
“Well, of course, pup, how else are we going to decorate our sand castle?”
Stiles squeals and swings his feet. Derek has packed several buckets for seashell-collecting purposes. Tomorrow he’ll give Stiles a chart so he can identify what kinds of seashells he’s picked, his baby loves research-type games like that. And he figures there are probably arts and crafts that use seashells. Derek refuses to get Pinterest, so he doesn’t know, but whenever Isaac over to babysit he loves to get out the glue and glitter so Stiles can proudly present a dilapidated craft to Derek up on his return.
He turns down into the main street of town, mind drifting to whether or not he’ll be able to get Stiles home in time for a nap or if they should just skip naptime today. He’s just pulled to a stop at the light when there’s a bang right from the center of town.
Derek freezes and throws the car in park. He can hear screaming and see smoke— an explosion. Something terrible has happened. Without a second thought he unbuckles and opens the door. “Don’t move,” he barks at Stiles, catching a single quick glimpse on him in the rearview, frozen in fear with his thumb halfway to his mouth.
The smoke gets thicker as he moves closer, and when he inhales it stings his lungs. A wave of dizziness overtakes him. Someone is running towards him, a werewolf he barely knows from another pack. Her skin is blistering. “Wolfsbane,” she shouts. “It’s a wolfsbane bomb!”
Derek’s skin prickles from fear and the poison. Someone has brought wolfsbane into the community. Humans are here. He starts to turn back towards his car when shots ring out.
He drops automatically, covering his head. He can smell them now, through the smoke. They must have rigged the explosion to go off remotely. He doesn’t know how they found the community, or how they got past the guards at the border. It doesn’t matter right now. He starts to crawl back to the car, only to feel the ground rock with a second explosion.
There are more screams.
Derek flattens himself on the ground. He can see people in what looks like riot gear running into the stores on the main street. The gunfire is constant and deafening, like the drumline at a football game. They must be trying to take out the whole town.
He has to get back to Stiles. His eyes are stinging with the poison smoke, skin blistering and lungs burning, but he forces himself to move. A white van speeds past him and shudders to a stop. More humans jump out, armed to the teeth.
A piercing shrieks breaks through the sound of gunfire and he watches as a human half-drags someone towards the van. The person is writhing and screaming, calling for their Mama. One of the babies. The invaders aren’t killing the humans, they’re kidnapping them.
“Daddy! Daddy!”
Derek looks back towards his car and sees two humans pulling Stiles out. They try to get him on his feet, but his legs buckle. He’s frantic, sobbing and trying to push them away. “Daddy! Help me!”
“Stiles!” Derek forces himself to get up. He shifts in midair, charging towards his baby. They’re trying to take his pup, his sweet boy. He has to stop them. His teeth bare in preparation for the kill.
Something hits him and knocks him out of the air. It burns him up from the inside, a deep spreading pain in his midsection. The fuckers shot him. He blacks out for a second and when he wakes up he’s human again and he can hear Stiles screaming and screaming.
“Stiles,” he mumbles, trying to turn. His vision is blurry but as he watches the humans toss Stiles into the back of the truck.
The sound of the gunfire changes— there’s a volley, and then a reply, as though someone is shooting back. The police, or maybe the people who guard the border. Derek tries to stand but he can’t move. Stiles…
“Retreat!” someone shouts.
The back doors to the van slam shut. Humans are running towards it, and seconds later another one pulls up. They’re jumping inside, doors shut behind them, and then the vans start to move. They’re getting away.
There’s still gunfire, but a desperate voice cuts above it: “Don’t shoot the trucks! There are babies in there!”
Shoot the tires, Derek tries to roar, but he can’t make his voice work. All that comes out is a furious, strangled roar as the vans disappear through the smoke, racing towards the border with his little boy inside.