Through the years

46.

Beacon hills - 2023

The pack had been patiently waiting for the ten minutes to be up, none of them were talking as they were all too busy thinking about Stiles. Moreover, Peter, Derek and Cora all seemed to be too deep in their own thoughts to spare them time to answer their questions anymore. It was as if the three of them were all suddenly lost in their own world. 

The time was almost up. 

They all knew it and it seemed to be worrying the Hale family even more. Noah could distinctly remember Derek telling them that Stiles would come back the day of the fire which completely ruined the Hale family. Noah had been there that night but he had arrived too late. He had always felt guilty about it and even more now that he knew Derek so well. But Derek never seemed to be holding it against him. And somehow that had always made him feel even worse. 

"The ten minutes are up." Deaton announced, breaking the silence and they all looked around, waiting for something to happen. 

Yet, nothing happened. 

"Where is he?" Noah asked as some time passed without any sign of the brunette. 

His son was supposed to be back. 

Why wasn't he back? 

Derek had assured him it'd be not more than ten minutes. 

Had something gone wrong? 

All his worries seemed to flare up as there were still no signs of his boy until something happened.  It was a loud sound, one they had heard before. They had heard it when Stiles had left. A cracking sound was heard, startling everyone and there he finally appeared. 

Stiles was finally back. 

And it had felt like years since they had last seen him. 

However, Stiles wasn't coming back the way they had all expected him to. 

"-NO!" Stiles' voice rang loudly inside the room as he appeared mid-run into the loft, nearly crashing into the coffee table as he did so. Fortunately, Derek was faster than anyone else and wrapped his arm around the brunette's waist, stopping him right before the brunette could collide with the furniture. "No! Please, no! Take me back! Take me back!!" Stiles cried out in desperation, a sight shocking every single soul in the room as they watched the boy visibly crumbling under the weight of his own emotions. Stiles was known to always be happy and mischievous. Seeing him like this was a first for many of them. They didn’t like the sight of it at all. "They need help, please no!" Stiles shouted as he fought in the wolf's grip who held him in place tightly. The brunette struggled in his arms for a while before Stiles' legs eventually gave up under the exhaustion and pain, and Derek slowly brought them down to the ground, sitting down and holding Stiles quietly against his chest as the brunette sobbed his heart out. "They're gonna die. Please. He's gonna be alone. Please don't make me do this to him. I don’t want to do this to him." Stiles said helplessly, breaking the wolf's heart. "He's gonna hate me."

"He's gonna be fine." Derek replied, seeing Stiles shaking his head in return. "He's fine, Stiles. I'm fine." and hearing this statement had the brunette turn his head only to see Derek again. 

But it wasn't the one he had grown so attached to. No, this was the older version of him. The one he had been so afraid of seeing again. The one who wasn't his boyfriend anymore. The one who hated his guts. Seeing him again brought a new wave of tears to Stiles' eyes and Derek didn't know what to do to calm him down. The wolf hadn't comforted anybody in years and frankly he was utterly lost.