nativity ☆ teen wolf

five

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"Over here, honey!"

A seven year old figment of Stiles climbed loosely over a fallen tree trunk, in a red hoodie he was practically living in. "Coming мати!" He leapt down, his dirty converse thudding on the thick, cool ground of the Beacon Hills Preserve.

Claudia laughed at the sight of her son's knees and the determined look on his face, causing her to hold out a hand. "Just a bit farther." She'd lost her accent over the years, only certain hints of Unkranian remaining.

Stiles wrapped his hand around Claudia's, small legs of his slightly fumbling on the uneven ground. "Why do you like to come out here?" he asked curiously as he glanced up to his mother.

"Because it's pretty," replied Claudia lightly.

Stiles sniffed, a familiar fume reaching his small nose. "It still smells burnt."

"That happens when there's a fire, Stiles. It'll smell a bit like that for a while." Claudia, the wind picking up wisps of dark hair, stopped the two and lifted up Stiles. She balanced him on her hip gracefully, motioning ahead of them. "See? Isn't it pretty?"

"Half of it's missing," Stiles objectively said with a soft scrunch to his nose.

"That's part of the beauty, син." Claudia walked a little closer with Stiles on her hip. "Mother Nature is taking it back for herself."

A crumbled and charred building stood before them, windows blown out and chunks of the building caving in. Plant life was curling into it, latching onto the corpse of the old church that had been set on fire over a year before.

Claudia set Stiles down, in a neat pea coat over nice jeans and top. A soft smile stayed indented, enjoying the beauty of the church almost as much as the time with her son.

"What do you do here?" questioned Stiles as he loosely held his mother's hand.

"I explore."

Stiles' face lit up at just the idea of discovery.

And up until Claudia became too sick to be able to be in the same room as her son without accusing him of trying to kill her, they explored every Sunday afternoon.

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As the last kids cleared out of the church sanctuary, Hope left her script on the edge of the stage as she waved off Scott, who had to go grab a shift at the clinic.

Lydia jingled her car keys, "Catch you guys later."

Stiles, lingering around, gave a goodbye as Lydia and Kira left together. He walked up to Hope, the girl already motioning for him. "What was it that you wanted to show me?"

"Come with me," she directed as she headed towards a side exit of the sanctuary.

"Do I get any hints?"

"Absolutely not," Hope said with half a laugh.

Stiles looked around as they took a long, winding corridor he'd never been in since its rebuild.

"What do you remember from this place?" questioned Hope, breaking Stiles' train of thought.

"It was nice, but, you know some wouldn't say it was an accident, what happened here," Stiles told Hope. "I'm not sure if you've heard that."

"Vaguely," she replied. "But not enough to point fingers." Hope stood outside of a door he didn't remember, looking to him. "What do you think?"

"I think that people, even ones of faith, can be monsters when they think they're better than everyone else." Stiles kept his eyes on her, "But nothing's confirmed, so what do I know?"

Hope, however, understood. "Well, at least some beauty came out of it."

Stiles quirked an eyebrow, "Why would you say that?"

Hope opened the door, letting Stiles go in ahead of her. "See for yourself." Leaning in, she flicked on a light against the wall.

Stiles' expression immediately changed, his smile grew. "Oh my - you, how did you do this?"

The room was spread with vines and pressed leaves, forest flowers and tree limbs, all that had once been within the collapsing carcass of a church before it was renovated.

"I thought the overgrown beauty of it was too nice," said Hope as she walked into the room behind Stiles. "I didn't want them to get rid of it all." Hope went around the edge of the space, lightly touching the vines that once laced through exposed ceiling beams. "I thought maybe it meant something to someone."

"You thought right," Stiles told her softly as he ran a thumb along a flower that now grew out of a clay pot instead of the forest floor.

Hope looked over to Stiles, "What did this place meant to you?"

Stiles didn't look up, instead touching the petals of a sweet leilani flower. "It means everything."

"Do you want to take it home?" asked Hope as she leaned back against an oak table that held the leftovers of the nature that used to hold the church captive.

Stiles, still touching the flower, lifted his head. "Take what?"

"The flower," Hope said. "Do you want to keep it?"

Stiles was going to say no - that it should stay at the church. However, he quietly accepted it and lifted the stem from the vase.

Hope watched his gentle actions, it causing a soft smile. "There's, um, there's one other thing." She shifted, opening a drawer in the oak table and lifting out a ring mangled from time. "Do you by chance know where this is from?"

Immediately narrowing his eyes, it was clear on Stiles' face that he did in fact recognize it. "Where did - where did you find that?"

"Here," replied Hope, "before we redid the building. It was in the dirt, on a vine."

"Hanging on a thorn," Stiles finished with a change in his expression.

Hope brought it over, holding out the silver ring to Stiles. "Whose is it?"

"Mine - well, it was going to be." Stiles, holding the flower, looked over the ring. "It was a family ring. My mom never actually passed it down. I lost it before she could."

"How'd you manage that?" Hope questioned at his explanation.

"I liked looking at it. She left it in her office and I would sneak in and put it on even though it didn't fit me yet." Stiles ran his thumb along the ruby gem. "I pocketed it one day when she came home early and I went out here with her. I was maybe seven and I was messing around while she wasn't looking. I wasn't able to get it back, and when I came back alone I couldn't find it for the life of me."

"Does it fit now?"

Stiles hesitated, slipping it onto his right ring finger. "Yeah," he said with a light smile, "I guess it goes." He looked up to her, "I prayed forever to find this thing."

Hope softly smiled, "I guess someone heard you."

"I'm just waiting for the cheesy, 'it's a Christmas miracle' line to happen," admitted Stiles with a laugh.

Hope only gave a warm laugh that seemed to suggest their Christmas miracle hadn't occurred quite yet.