Through the years

31.

It took a week for Cora to recover fully. 

The girl was so young and still fragile, it meant that every injury she was to have would take longer than a full grown wolf to recover from.

It was the same for Waylen, Mia and Asher. And after experiencing the fear of losing Cora, Peter and Eviana couldn’t help but keep their children close to them more than necessary. They were scared that something would happen to them. However, after recovering from his own injuries and mental breakdown, Stiles reassured them that there was no way the hunters would come back after them again. 

Derek could see that Stiles wasn't feeling that much better and he didn't particularly enjoy having his mate hide his true feelings from him. He could see the truth behind those fake smiles, he could see the pain and distress in his eyes and the guilt on his face. Stiles wasn't alright at all. And Derek hadn't a clue what he should or should not do to help him feel better. 

The wolf wanted to help him like Stiles had helped him when Derek wasn't doing alright. But he wasn't used to it, he wasn't sure what was the right thing to say. He was afraid of messing up and causing more sadness than anything else. 

But sometimes, people need to be forced out of their hidden place to face reality and then proceed to heal from those inner struggles and wounds. 

So that was what Derek decided to do.

"Why do you keep on acting like this?" the wolf asked one day as they were about to go to bed. 

"Like what?" Stiles asked, confused as he glanced at Derek with a questioning look. 

"Like everything's fine."

"That's ‘cause it is?" Stiles replied, the questioning tone to his sentence only confirmed to Derek that Stiles was just lying to himself. 

"You're not alright, Stiles." Derek walked up to him and held his hands softly. "I know you too well. You can't fool me anymore."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Derek." he said with a forced laugh as he tried to get away from the wolf and the situation all together but Derek wasn't about to let him do that. 

"Stop lying to yourself." the wolf begged, which took Stiles by surprise. "You need to face what happened. If you don't, you'll never feel better. I know you want to cry. Why do you keep holding yourself back?" he asked just as he noticed the teary eyes staring back at him and Stiles scoffed bitterly. 

"You don't understand." the brunette said as he shook his head. "You don't know the reason why I hold myself back."

"I think I do.." Derek replied softly despite the harsh glare he earned in return. Stiles was angry. It was good, it was better than this continuous fake happiness he had been shoving in everyone’s faces for a week now. 

"I don't even know why you think I want to cry," the brunette suddenly put up his facade once more, lying to the wolf's face with a forced smile. "Cora is doing fine anyw-"

"I know you care about my little sister a lot." Derek interrupted. "You love her so much and she loves you just as much. But let's be honest for one second, Stiles. She's not the reason why you want to cry all the time." he said and noticed how Stiles' facade started to falter. "She's part of it, yes, but it's not just because of her. It's also because of that hunter who shot her."

"What are you even saying?" Stiles scoffed softly, his voice wavering as he spoke. "That bastard could've killed your sister why wou-"

"'That bastard' meant something to you, Stiles." Derek cut him off in his lies again and he watched as the brunette's lower lip trembled. "He was your friend."