Amber Waves of Angst

Chapter 1

Stiles fidgeted nervously, as he always did when he was called to the principal's office. Of course, he thought he was done with all that being that he was in his freaking mid-thirties. But no, his wild-child daughter was in trouble once again. He looked over at Laura Gennifer Hale, who seemed unable to sit still and was alternately snapping her fingers and beating a fast tempo on the arms of her chair to a tune that only she could hear. Stiles remembered the music only too well, but the ADHD had gradually tapered off after he became a father. Laurie looked not at all worried, though that might change by the time Derek found out about this. A glance to the other side revealed his son Erik Steven Hale, who of course had his nose buried in a book. Stiles peered at the title: "The Ethno-Biocentric Morphogenesis of the Mephisto Phallacy" by Dr. Ian Matheson. Stiles had forgotten the first part of the title by the time he got to the end and had to read it three times before he could hold it firmly in his mind. He had no idea what it could possibly be about, but his first guess would be erotic horror. At least it wasn't 'The Notebook'.

Stiles thought back to how eager he and Derek had been to have children, once they had both gotten over themselves enough to actually admit their feelings for each other, followed by the long courtship which mainly consisted of "I'm not good for you, Stiles. My life is too dark and dangerous, because I am the Almighty Alpha and will be dodging aconite-laced bullets fired by Hunters for the rest of my life, and you are only human and don't need to be brought into all this and blah blah blah." As if he hadn't already been brought into it. But after all of that was over, they had gotten married in a quiet civil ceremony (Scott was the best man, while Allison was maid of honor. Not to be outdone, Lydia promptly had herself ordained over the Internet and insisted on performing the ceremony.), and turned their thoughts to the future. Derek's sister Laura, in a magnificent gesture, had several of her eggs harvested before her untimely death as soon as her brother had admitted to her that he preferred the company of men. They had just lost their family a few months before, and Laura teased him by saying she didn't want it to be solely up to her to carry on the family name. After the eggs were fertilized with Stiles' help, the two that proved viable were implanted (after much discussion with their mates and the Pack) into their two female members. Allison gave birth to Laurie nine months later, and Lydia brought Erik into the world. Bizarrely, although the two surrogate mothers did not contribute anything DNA-wise, Erik was book-smart on a par with Lydia herself, complete with an eidetic memory and speed-reading ability, as well as being a living calculator...and no sign of ADHD, though he did have a tendency to brood. Laurie on the other hand showed natural proficiency with the bow, and was an accomplished gymnast for her age just like her surrogate mother, but was so hyperactive she seemed almost to vibrate in place...and she had a natural talent for getting in trouble. The two fifteen year-olds were like oil and water, and fought on almost a daily basis...except when other people messed with one of them. Then it was the two of them against the world.

"So explain to me again why you punched Jimmy Porlock in the face?" Stiles asked quietly.

"Because I looked at it. It just screams 'Punch Me'. Besides, he almost threw Erik's book into the dumpster!"

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Laurie. I can take care of myself!" Erik mumbled from behind his book.

Laurie rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't think your plan of whining and jumping up and down while Jimmy held the book out of your reach would work."

Stiles rubbed his forehead. "Your father is going to kill us all, me included."

Both kids snickered at that, and Stiles joined them after a few seconds.

The door opened, and Mr. Woodard called them in.

"Mr. Hale, so good of you to come-" the principal extended his hand.