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Derek woke up with a start and brusquely sat up in his bed. “You’re far too young to date anyway,” he said apropos of nothing. He blinked a few times, confused. The loft was empty and dark and the last dregs of his dream were already escaping his mind. There had been a young girl, about twelve or thirteen, and she had been crying. He had tried to comfort her but she got upset with him.
That was a new one. He never remembered his dreams but when he did, they were nightmares; his family house ablaze, carrying Erica’s lifeless body out of the bank, Boyd impaled on his claws, Cora spitting black goo and dying painfully…
Well, no use trying to get back to sleep now. Derek glanced at his alarm clock that was reading 5:06 a.m. and got up. Nothing better than a good morning run to clear one’s head, and he would need a clear head to face the day he had ahead of him.
The engagement ring sitting uselessly in its box on the bedside table was mocking him so he turned away, got dressed, and ran out the door.
***
Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital visiting hours start at 9 a.m. so of course, Derek had been waiting in his car on the parking lot since 8. When the time came, he finally made his way into the building and to Stiles’s observation room. John was there, asleep in a chair, holding his son’s hand.
Derek silently sat on the other side of the bed and watched Stiles. His naturally pale skin looked ashen and the large hospital bed made him look smaller than he really was. The car accident had left his body broken and he had lost a lot of blood. He was still in a critical condition and the surgeons were not sure he would pull through.
Derek would have given him the bite but he knew Stiles’ body couldn’t withstand the transformation in this state. It would only kill him faster. All he could do was wait for him to wake up and he hated that. It only reminded him too much of the days spent at Cora’s bedside.
Again and again. The words floated in his mind and then were gone. Derek let the steady beeping of the heart monitor lull him into daydreaming. It seemed like a lifetime ago but it really had only been three days since he was supposed to have dinner with Stiles on New Year’s Eve and ask him to marry him at midnight under the fireworks.
He had planned everything perfectly but Stiles had to stay a bit late at work to finish things before the year ended and so they had planned to meet at the restaurant; except Stiles never showed up because some drunkard decided to celebrate early and thought it was a grand idea to drive his car that night and crashed right in Stiles’ left car door after running a red light.
The sudden acceleration of the beeping sound pulled him out of his thoughts and several things happened at the same time. A team of doctors rushed into the room, John woke up in a panic, and Stiles started seizing. They were pushed out of the room while the doctors tried to save Stiles life but Derek could still hear everything that was happening inside. After a few minutes, all he could hear was the uninterrupted beep that indicated that Stiles had flatlined. He heard the time of death be called and rushed out of the hospital, barely containing his shift until he was alone in the nearby woods.
Watch your world crumble around you. He ran. Without restraint or direction, he ran until he couldn’t anymore. He had lost his anchor, once again. He ran to prevent himself from thinking, from feeling. After several hours, he finally stopped, empty, cold and exhausted and sat against a tree. How could this happen to him again?
Miserable love life. More than twenty years ago, he had lost Paige, dead because he selfishly wanted her to be a wolf like him. Then Kate had killed almost his entire family because he was foolish enough to trust her. Jennifer killed Cora, trying to coerce Derek into helping her against the Alpha pack. Braeden hadn’t been as bad and they actually had a few good years together but even her had left him without a second thought when a new contract called her away and she had promptly gotten herself killed.
And now, after several years of saving each other’s lives, supporting each others, becoming pack, becoming friends and eventually lovers, after beating all the odds, Stiles too had died on him and left him all alone in the world. He could hardly believe it. Stiles used to say that one was an incident, two was a coincidence, and three was a pattern. So what was fucking five?
“A curse,” he realized with a gasp. He was cursed.
The words that had invaded his mind throughout the day rearranged themselves and he could hear them as clearly as if someone was yelling them to him from two feet away. Terrible words uttered by a young, almost childlike voice :
"I wish you knew what's it’s like to be cursed with a miserable love life and watch your world crumble around you again and again"
Derek’s physical and mental exhaustion finally caught up to him and he fainted.
***
When he came to, it was to a strange reversal of situation. He was lying in bed and Stiles was at his bedside, holding his hand. He could hear faint crying in the distance and Stiles was muttering something repetitive as if he was… chanting.
He squeezed Stiles’ hand and Stiles looked up swiftly at him and stilled. He closed his eyes and exhaled a long sigh of relief.
“Derek, you scared me there, big guy.”
“Wha-” Derek croaked, “What’s going on? Did I die too?” he asked, trying to sit up.
“Easy,” Stiles pushed him back down. “You’re not dead, neither am I. No one is dead, Derek.”
“I-”
“Shh, I don’t have a long time to explain.” Stiles said, brushing Derek’s hair back lovingly. “I was able to wake you up because you already did half the work. You realized something was not normal, that you are cursed.”
“It’s true, then.”
“Yes. By mistake, but it’s true. Now you have to realize that what you think is your life is only a powerful illusion. You life, your real life is here with me and our family.”
“Our family?” Derek was more and more confused.
“I know it’s hard to believe but you have to. You have to, Derek. Only you can break the curse.”
“But how? I’m not a wizard or anything…”
“Maybe not but the basis of any magic is always the same: belief. You have to believe, to really believe that our life is real and whatever nightmare you just woke up from is not. The curse is powerful and I can’t keep you awake for very long. All I can do is send your mind back in time, only a couple weeks ago, before the curse. You’ll be in your own body so that should be easy enough.”
“How are you going to do that, I don’t understand?”
“You’re not the wizard in this relationship, Derek, I am,” Stiles answered with a smile.
“A wizard?” Nothing made any sense at all.
“However,” Stiles added gravely. “You can’t disrupt the way things have already happened too dramatically or you’ll be sent back in your cursed illusion. So no running to Vegas to become a gogo dancer, okay?”
“What?” Derek felt very tired and Stiles’ words were confusing, more so than how his usual rambling was.
“Believe in us, Derek. I love you.”
And with these sweet words, Derek felt himself fall asleep.
***
Derek regained consciousness but he felt so comfortable and lazy that he didn’t open his eyes. He was in bed, he felt warm and cozy and his nose was buried in Stiles neck, where his scent was the most concentrated. Stiles smelled relaxed and happy, which was a rare occurrence.
Derek wrapped Stiles’ sleeping body more tightly against him and inhaled deeply. This was heaven. This was… impossible.
Stiles had died.
Derek tensed abruptly and opened his eyes. Never had a dream seemed that real. He could see Stiles, smell his unique scent and the remnants of their love making on the sheets. He could even almost taste him.
Derek untangled himself from Stiles and peered at the alarm clock. It was barely 8 o’clock and the date was Sunday December 19th 2027. He had gone more than two weeks back in time! He was about to get up when the door of the bedroom opened abruptly and a four or five year old boy ran in.
“Papa, it’s snowing! Come! Look, it’s snowing!” he cried, jumping on the bed and climbing all over Derek. “Can we make a snowman, please, please, please?!”
Derek was astounded. He held the child to prevent him from falling from the bed.
“Nathan, I…”
He interrupted himself. How did he know the child’s name?
“Not so fast, Sugarbug, where’s my morning kiss?” Stiles asked sleepily.
Nathan clambered over to Stiles and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. “Morning, Daddy.”
“Hi Baby,” Stiles responded, kissing the little boy back. “You remember that Eva, Abel and Lana are coming after lunch. I’m sure they’ll want to build a snowman with you so you’d better wait for them.”
“Okay…” Nathan replied dejectedly.
“Okay. And if you ask very nicely, I’m sure Papa will make pancakes for breakfast,” Stiles added with a wink.
Nathan turned hopeful eyes to Derek. “Pretty please Papa, can you?”
“Sure, Baby.” Derek answered automatically.
“Yes!” Nathan exclaimed. He jumped from the bed and ran out the door, probably going to the kitchen.
“Dibs on the shower,” Stiles said, leaning in to kiss Derek on the cheek and getting up before disappearing in what Derek supposed was an ensuite bathroom.
Derek took a moment to compose himself and order his thoughts. He remembered everything now: Stiles dying in the hospital; running in the woods and passing out; waking up to Stiles explaining that he was cursed, that what he believed was his life was not real but the result of the curse; that in reality he was with Stiles and they had a family…
Could it really be? It honestly seemed too good to be true. He was not sure what was real and what was not anymore.
“Papa!”
Well, for now, duty called.
***
Derek had discovered that in this reality or whatever, they had a cat and she had greeted him by wailing in front of her empty bowls. He had quickly fed her before starting on the pancakes. He was almost finished with them when he realized that he had instinctively known where to find the utensils and ingredients to make them. He had prepared a mountain of them because for one, he felt ravenous and second, his… well… son had quite an appetite too for a five-year-old, werewolf metabolism notwithstanding.
Derek was flipping the last of the pancakes when he heard footsteps as someone was entering the kitchen.
“Morning,” a tired voice said. “Oh wow, pancakes!”
Derek froze; it was the same voice, the voice that had cursed him! He turned around brusquely, his eyes flashing and his body tensing as if preparing for an attack, and then promptly deflated. It was a young girl in her early teens and she was all but menacing with her blonde hair in disarray and bunny sleepers. She had hopefully not noticed his reaction, focused as she was on the plate of delicious food on the table. She came up to him and hugged him around the waist.
“Thanks Papa,” she mumbled in his shirt.
“You’re welcome, Princess,” he answered belatedly, retuning the hug and feeling a sudden wave or warmth and love in his chest.
This was his daughter, absolutely no doubt about it. ‘Eliana’, his mind supplied. It was weird how he didn’t know anything about this life until he needed the information and then it was as if he had always known. What he knew now was that he had two beautiful children and he loved them unconditionally. He kissed Eliana on the top of her head and released her.
“Grab a pancake before your brother eats all of it,” he said fondly.
“He wouldn’t dare because he knows I’d give him a little piglet tail if he did. Right, Nate?” She teased her brother, ruffling his hair and making him squeal as Stiles was coming in the room.
“No cursing at the dinner table, Lily, you know that, and I don’t mean bad words,” Stiles admonished her flippantly, kissing her on the cheek to greet her.
“You’re no fun,” she joked.
“Excuse you, young lady! I am the funnest in all of the land!”
Stiles came up to Derek and kissed him too, slipping him a little bit of tongue. “Hmm, morning,” he sighed against his mouth.
“Ugh, gross,” Eliana quipped, her nose in her mug of hot chocolate.
“Daddy’s not gross!” Nathan exclaimed in outrage. “He just took a shower and he smells like soap!”
Derek and Stiles laughed and sat down to have breakfast as well. Derek couldn’t remember the last time he had felt his pack so strongly. His family.
He was still not sure he wasn't hallucinating the whole thing but damn, he would enjoy every last bit of it while it lasted.
***
After lunch, Nathan demanded to watch Frozen, once again. He was at that age when he could watch the same cartoon again and again and never have enough of it. He had had his Lion King phase a few months before and he had spent two solid months running on all four and “roaring” and singing Hakuna Matata. Now it was Frozen and apparently, Stiles couldn't wait for him to let it go already.
Still, when Derek sat in the middle of the couch to watch the cartoon with Nathan curled in his side, Stiles came and sat next on Derek's other side and cuddled with him, nursing a mug of hot tea. Derek felt like he had never been happier.
He was about to doze off when there was a loud knock on the front door and someone let themselves in. Immediately chaos broke loose and Derek was on high alert. Children came running in, a woman yelling behind them to slow down. Nathan jumped down from the couch and ran to greet them with cries of joy. A big black Labrador soon joined the fest.
A few seconds later, Cora passed the living room door and right behind her...
“Laura,” Derek gasped as he felt his heart still in his chest from the shock. In three long strides he came up to her and embraced her tightly, overwhelmed with emotion. She was alive! Laura hugged him back somewhat awkwardly.
“Hum...”
“Well, hello to you too, Brother dear,” Cora commented sarcastically.
Derek shook himself mentally and let go of his twin sister. He turned back to Cora and hugged her too.
“Hi Cora, sorry. It's just that- uh, I had a nightmare last night that Laura died and it just came back to me,” he stammered, hoping they wouldn't pay attention to his heartbeat that would betray the lie.
“Well, you can rest easy. I'm alive and kicking even if I sometimes think that these monsters that I call my kids will be the DEATH OF ME,” she raised her voice at the end of her sentence to try and hush the children. It was only partially successful.
Eva and Abel, respectively 9 and 6 years old, were Laura's children. Lana was 7 and Cora's daughter. The girls were werewolves and Abel was human. Of course, the cousins spent a lot of time together, playing games that they invented, chasing each other around in the nearby woods and generally being excitable kids with bucket loads of energy to spare.
It was unanimously decided that this snowy Sunday couldn't be wasted inside. Nathan absolutely wanted to build Olaf, the snowman from his favorite movie. While the other adults were preparing the children, getting scarves and mittens, Derek was still trying to wrap his head around seeing Laura.
Her death had maybe been the most traumatic of all the losses he had suffered. His last link to pack and to family. The coup de grace after losing everyone else. Peter had not really counted in the state he had been in.
Looking back on it, her death -in his world? In reality or in illusion?- it didn't really make any sense. Peter wanted to get healed in order to get revenge for the murder of his family. Even in a mind as crazed has his had been, it seemed really counterproductive to kill even more family. It was like finishing Kate's job for her and that was really the last thing Peter would have wanted. Even so, Laura had been an Alpha and Peter had been recovering from almost lethal injuries. Even with the element of surprise, in no world could he have overpowered her. It was... strange.
Nathan pulled him from his thought, tugging on his sleeve.
“Papa, come! We're building Olaf!”
Derek smiled at him and followed everyone in the garden. The girls were already rolling balls of snow around to make the body of a snowman and Abel was collecting stones and sticks and leaves to decorate it. Nathan ran among them and started to gather snow in a big pile.
Derek came to stand next to Stiles and wrapped an arm around his waist. Stiles turned to him with a smile and pecked him lightly on the lips.
“Hey,” he greeted him.
“I hope they spend all their energy so that they're nice and calm tonight,” Laura sighed. Everyone groaned in agreement.
“Hey, where's Eliana anyway?” Cora asked.
“Oh!” Stiles exclaimed. “She said she wanted to study some spells after lunch but I'll bet you she's on Facebook again. She's been talking to a boy lately,” Stiles added with amusement.
“A boy!” Cora cooed. “Oh, do tell!”
“I don't know much,” Stiles said dejectedly. “She's turning into a proper teen girl and she's being secretive. Maybe she needs a feminine touch in these matters,” he added, turning hopeful eyes to Cora and Laura.
“Of course,” Laura agreed. “I'll go get her, maybe that'll give us an occasion to talk.”
Cora huffed as Laura left. “So not fair! She gets the boy talk and I got the periods talk...”
“Don't worry,” Stiles laughed. “I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities. “After all, I'd much prefer you advise her in love matters rather than Erica!”
Derek tensed. Was Erica alive as well? How did she fit in this reality where Derek had never been an alpha? And just as suddenly as the question had popped in his head, he had the answer. The alpha pack routinely turned young people that had a better chance to survive the bite, and once the pack bond had settled -willingly or not-, they murdered them to absorb their power. Erica, Boyd and Isaac had been bitten and were just waiting to be slaughtered when the time would come.
Talia had put an end to the alpha pack with help from other packs from the west coast as well as other creatures, including... Holy shit, including Stiles who was a fucking mage and a powerful one at that. He could remember how he had put alphas on fire left and right. He had been barely 17 but so incredible that Derek had fallen a little bit in love right then.
Derek was abruptly pulled from his thoughts by a snowball right in the face.
“STILES!” he roared and ran to make a snowball himself to get his revenge.
The whole thing quickly escalated and everyone joined in the snow war, including Eliana and Laura who had arrived in the middle of it. After about twenty minutes, everyone was wet and cold and tired. They came back inside to dry by the fire and have hot chocolate with marshmallows.
This was perhaps the most perfect day Derek had ever spent.
***
The next morning, the whole family piled in the car to go to the Christmas tree farm. Christmas was only five days away and Stiles and Derek had been so busy with work that they hadn't had the time to go pick a tree before their vacation, which was a scandal according to their children.
They walked among the trees, looking for the perfect one to bring back home. Nathan was running around picking a tree and then immediately changing his mind. Stiles and Derek were walking leisurely hand in hand, enjoying the sunny if crisp day and Eliana was trailing behind, texting every now and then.
“This one! This one, Daddy!” Nathan exclaimed, jumping in place next to a tree that looked undisputedly perfect.
“You're sure?” Stiles asked, “You can't change your mind after it's cut.”
“I'm sure!” Nathan nodded eagerly.
They had realized they had forgotten to get an axe about 30 minutes in their stroll but Stiles had decreed that it would be an excellent opportunity for Eliana to practice her magic.
“Okay. So Lily remember, just visualize the tree being cut at the base and concentrate.”
Eliana rolled her eyes and came closer. Cutting a tree wasn't anything challenging honestly. She lived and breathed magic since she was born. She had inherited Stiles' magical talent which was by itself pretty impressive. After all, the mere fact that her and Nathan existed attested to the fact.
Eliana's birth had been a welcome accident to be honest. Stiles and Derek had been together about two years and Stiles had been barely 20 years old and Derek 26. Derek's wolf had been kind of restless. He had found his mate and his inner instinct insisted he had to impregnate him with his cubs. The man knew it was not only too soon but also impossible; but the wolf wanted. He had had to come clean after weeks of growing tension between him and Stiles who didn’t understand why Derek was acting so strange. The make-up sex had been fabulous and Stiles had wished he could give Derek what he wanted.
And just like that, boom, he was pregnant. A strong desire had been enough to turn the laws of nature completely upside down. So yes, Stiles was undeniably a very powerful mage and his magic had passed on to his daughter along with the blond hair on his father's side and the upturned nose on his mother's side.
But Eliana's other father was a werewolf and while she was only human unlike Nathan, the magic in Derek's blood somehow fueled her powers even more. She was more gifted than Stiles had ever been and honestly, they were not sure she wasn't the most powerful magic practitioner of her time. It was very dangerous and it meant that they had had to teach her control at a very young age.
That's why Stiles regularly asked her to do simple spells, like cutting a tree right now. There was no doubt she would succeed but the real challenge for her was to be precise and cut only the one tree and not the whole damn forest.
After she cut the tree, with surgical precision to Stiles' pride, Derek picked it up and they made their way back to the car. Nathan wanted to “help” so he picked the top of the tree that was trailing on the ground and held it up. Of course, Derek was bearing almost all the weight but Stiles praised Nathan profusely nonetheless, making the little boy beam.
They came back home and had lunch. Derek tried to make Nathan take a nap but despite a tiring morning, he was just too excited to decorate the tree to sleep.
“Remember the first tree we got?” Stiles asked Derek. And Derek did remember.
“Oh yes I do. You were pregnant to your teeth with Eliana and ordering me around because you could barely move.”
“Good times,” Stiles winked at Derek.
They got the Christmas decorations from the closet where they lived the rest of the year. Stiles was handing ornaments to Nathan who was so very cautious not to drop them while hanging them on the lower branches of the tree. Eliana was putting the garlands around it and Derek was left with the thankless task of untangling the lights.
After about fifteen minutes of struggling his way through knots and tangles, he let escape a growl of frustration. Stiles came to him and placed a calming hand on his before he just tore them apart.
“I hate Christmas lights. I swear they are sentient and want to bring chaos and destruction on the world,” he pouted.
“Stop this bah humbuggery and go help Nathan reach the higher branches. I'll take care of the lights.”
“Thanks,” Derek sighed with relief.
Derek took Nathan in his arms and Eliana, who was done with the garlands, held the Christmas decoration box up to him so he could pick and place the ones he wanted.
Stiles seemed to make quick work of the lights, which was completely unfair, and wrapped them around the tree with disarming ease.
“How did you-” Derek started.
“Don't you know, dear husband of mine, I'm magical!” Stiles quipped.
“Cheater,” Derek mumbled
“Never,” Stiles answered leaning in and about to kiss him.
They were interrupted by Nathan who ran past them with a yell. “Yee haw!” He was waving a garland around and chasing the cat who escaped under the couch.
“What are you doing, Pumpkin?” Stiles asked barely containing his laughter.
“I'm a cowboy Daddy! I have to catch the bull!”
Stiles picked up one of the left over garlands by each end and threw it around Derek's neck.
“Well, looks like I caught myself a cowboy!” He pulled on the garland and Derek stumbled into him. “Now what to do with him?” and he gave him the kiss he had wanted earlier. Derek closed his eyes and melted against Stiles' mouth. He was so in love with this man.
He never wanted to go back to his world.
***
On the morning of Christmas Eve, everyone got up pretty early. There was a lot of preparation to do since the Stilinski-Hale would be the one hosting dinner. Between the parents, the children and the members of the pack with nowhere better to be, they'd be more than twenty.
Derek still didn't realize that he would see his parents tonight. It felt like he had not seen them in sixteen years. For him, it had been that long. For the Derek everyone knew in this reality, it had only been like a week. He would have to refrain from being too emotional.
He started to push furniture around in order to make some place for the tables in the living room but Eliana interrupted him.
“Come on, Papa. You're too old for that. Let me do it.”
And then, she started levitating couches and tables around as if it was nothing. Derek still had difficulties wrapping his head around just how powerful she was.
They placed two big tables for the adults and then another one on the side for the children. They set the table cloths and candles and decorations and then set the table.
Stiles was busy in the kitchen and Nathan was “helping” him. Stiles would give small tasks to the little boy like mashing the potatoes and fetching ingredients.
When it was time to bake the pies and cookies, the whole family wanted to participate. No one really knew how it started but the whole thing degenerated into a food war. Nathan accidently dropped flour on his sister who retaliated, and somehow Derek ended up with a broken egg on the head. After that, the kitchen fell into chaos and laughter.
A few minutes later, they were panting on and giggling on the floor, all of them completely disgusting.
“No worries,” Eliana said. “I'll pull a Mickey Mouse and enchant the mop or something.”
“As long as you don't flood the house, be my guest,” Stiles replied.
Eliana did just that and then pulled Nathan on his feet. “Come on Bug, Santa doesn't give presents to dirty little boys!”
Nathan scampered upstairs to let Eliana give him a bath.
Derek and Stiles shared a shower where they spent as much time kissing as they did cleaning themselves.
***
Christmas dinner went as well as anyone could expect. It was obnoxiously loud, the food was delicious, the children spent their time running around and some adults had a bit too much of spiked eggnog and had stupid political arguments. It was the best time of Derek's life. All the people he loved were around him, alive and well, and he had never felt happier. He had teared up when Talia hugged him hello but dismissed it as a speck of dust in his eye.
He had been surprised to see Jackson come with Braeden. Jackson was not a werewolf and even less a kanima. Thinking back on it, his version of Jackson didn't make sense. He had died on the lacrosse field, been pronounced dead at the hospital, and yet no one had batted en eyelash when he had reappeared the next day, very much alive.
As for Braeden, she didn't have a scar on her face and she was a regular marshal, not a hunter for hire. That scar had never made sense either. No one survives of a ripped throat unless they turn like Kate had. Since Deucalion was an Alpha, his version of Braeden should have turned, or died.
The more time he spent here and the more he was starting to think that it was true, that his life had actually never existed and that his life here and now was the only version of reality that existed. He desperately wanted it to be true but he had suffered so much that it was second nature to wait for the other shoe to drop. To never accept a good thing at face value.
When midnight struck, everybody wished everyone else a Merry Christmas and they exchanged very small gifts. The true presents opening extravaganza would happen the next morning. About three hours later, the children were all mostly asleep and the adults not far behind. People left in small groups until it was just the four of them.
Nathan was asleep on the couch so Derek took him in his arms and took him to his bedroom while Stiles started to straighten the house a bit. Fifteen minutes later, everyone was in bed. Stiles placed his head on Derek's shoulder and they fell asleep in each other's arms.
***
“Please, Dad, can I go? Please, please Daddy?” Eliana begged.
Oh that was so cheating. She never called Stiles 'Daddy' anymore unless she was trying to get something out of him. That something, in this case, was going to a New Year's party organized by an older kid from school and where 'everyone would be, please Daddy!'
“I'm sorry Lily, but that's a no,” Stiles refused.
“But why!? I'll be the only one that won't be there! Evan will be there!” she insisted.
“Lily, you're not even thirteen yet-”
“In less than a month!” she interrupted
“-and I seriously doubt that the parents of all your classmates will allow them to go to a party hosted by a high schooler, even if there's supposed to be supervision. Plus, you know that we're all going at Cora's and she worked hard to prepare games and a treasure hunt and everything.”
“I don't care about her stupid games!” Leliana snapped back.
“Careful,” Derek intervened. “I advise you to stop right there if you don't want to be grounded on top of everything.
“That's so not fair!” she cried and stomped up the stairs.
Derek wanted to go after her but Stiles stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Let her. She needs to calm down and learn to control herself. She needs to focus right now and I think we'll only make things worse.”
“Yeah, you're right. I just thought we had more time before we had to deal with teenage angst and drama,” Derek sighed.
“Well, she is your daughter after all,” Stiles joked.
“I wasn't that bad...”
“Oh please, Talia told me everything about how you pouted for a month because she refused to give the bite to Paige.”
“Hmm, you may have a point,” Derek conceded.
“I'm always right, haven't you noticed?”
Stiles smiled and give Derek a quick peck on the mouth before going to the kitchen to start preparing the dinner.
***
Eliana did mope for a few days but what finally derided her was a family trip to the ice skating rink where she was allowed to bring Evan. The boy was now officially her boyfriend, as official as pre-teen romances go.
He was very nice and polite to a fault, but Derek just felt off around him. He supposed every father was ill-at-ease with the boy stealing their little girl away. Well, if spending the afternoon together could prevent more scowling from Eliana during New Year's Eve, he'd take it.
Nathan was oblivious to everything and talked everyone's ears off. He took a lot after Stiles in that respect. When they were finally on ice, he zoomed around everyone and laughed in delight.
“Come Daddy!” he pulled on Stiles' hands.
Nathan was very skilled for his age because Boyd still had free access to the rink and he took advantage of that to bring the pack kids regularly. Of course being a werewolf also helped a lot. Eliana was just a natural at it.
Stiles was not as graceful on ice as the rest of the family and he had never really gotten the hang of it, but he suffered through these outings on the regular because the children loved it so much.
He skated with Nathan just to please the little boy and they made a few circles around the rink. Stiles' main problem was that he didn't know how to slow down and stop so he usually waited until he lost momentum or slammed into the sides of the rink. Or slammed into Derek.
Derek saw him coming this time and braced himself for the impact.
“Oomph” Stiles gasped as he grabbed Derek's midsection.
“Almost fifteen years and you still swoon into my arms,” Derek smiled.
“Almost fifteen years and you still catch me.” Stiles answered.
They kissed tenderly, letting the other skaters zoom around them. Every time, it felt like they were alone in the world.
***
On the Tuesday after The New Year, the kids had to go back to school and Stiles back to the station. Derek tried to work on his research on South American pre-colonial culture but he just couldn't concentrate. The house was too calm without his family.
He finally gave up and started cleaning, waiting for Laura to bring the children home. It was her turn to play chauffeur this week. He was vacuuming fallen fir needles and thinking about how they'd soon have to remove the Christmas tree altogether when the front door opened brusquely and he heard Eliana run up the stairs, crying.
Laura and the other kids followed and Derek sent her a questioning stare.
“From what I understood,” she explained, “Her boyfriend 'cheated' on her on Christmas Eve, at a party. She kinda blame you and Stiles for not allowing her to go to the party. I tried to explain that it didn't matter if she was here or not, that he shouldn't do that anyway and that he wasn't worth it but she's upset and won't listen to me.”
“Oh God. Boy problems. I'm so not ready for that...” Derek grimaced.
“If Lily’s boyfriend is mean to her, I'll beat him up!” Nathan exclaimed, an adorable frown on his face.
“You'll do no such thing, Sugarbug. Remember, we can't solve our problem with violence,” Derek explained. “I should go talk to her.”
“Okay, I'll fix everyone a snack while you two talk,” Laura said.
Derek went upstairs and knocked on Eliana's door.
“Lily?”
“Go away! I don't want to talk to you, it's all your fault!” the teen screamed in between sobs.
Derek sighed and pushed the door open. It broke his heart to see his little girl lying on her bed and crying in her pillow. He came and sat at her side, placing a comforting hand on her back.
“You deserve someone good, Lily. Not a boy who will kiss other girls just because you're not there. If he's gonna act like that, you're better off without him anyway.”
She turned to him with furious eyes. “It's easy for you to say, you found your perfect love match and you didn't even have to look that hard,” she spat. “For me it's different. People don't know I'm a powerful mage but it's as if they feel it somehow; I scare them so they avoid me. No one wants me. Some boys have asked me out on a dare, to see what it's like to kiss the scary girl! Evan was the first one to really want to be with me and you ruined it because he wanted to kiss someone at midnight on the New Year and I wasn't there.”
Derek was dumbfounded. Eliana was so young, only a few weeks away from turning 13 and she already sounded like a jaded woman. Fuck, as far as he was concerned, she was far too young to date anyway.
Wait, it was like déjà vu...
“I wish you knew what it's like to be me.” Eliana said harshly. "I wish you knew what's it’s like to be cur-”
Derek stopped her with a hand on her mouth before she could finish the sentence. Eliana was so surprised that she clammed up, looking up at Derek with big eyes.
“Stop right there, it's bad form to curse your own family,” Derek scoffed.
Eliana looked horrified at herself. She sat up and embraced Derek, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. “Oh my God, Papa, I almost cursed you! I'm so so sorry!” She was starting to cry again.
“Shh, Lily, it's okay. I'm fine,” he patted her on the back.
And it was true, preventing the curse from happening was erasing his memories of what he had believed was his real life. He tried to remember but they were escaping him like smoke in the wind. After a minute they were completely gone and he just felt an unexplainable relief, like a weight had been taken off his chest but he didn't know what exactly.
Eliana finally let go and Derek gave a tissue to blow her nose and dry her tears.
Nathan entered the room at this moment and offered two Oreos to his sister.
“Here, I saved these for you,” he smiled. “And if I see your boyfriend, I'll kick him in the shins!”
“My hero,” she laughed, messing his hair.
Eliana would be fine, Derek thought.
Everything was just fine in the world.
The end