I Walk With You To The End {Book One}

04.

After dinner, the Sheriff pulled Stiles into the study while Cora went to the bedroom.

"What's up?" Stiles asked, trying to be nonchalant because he knew what this was going to be about.

"What's up? Really, Stiles?" He sighed and sat down at the desk. "Sit, we've got to have a talk." Stiles nodded and brought an extra chair in front of the desk. "Okay. I've had time to think about this and I'm still angry but you seem to have your head on straight. This doesn't mean I approve of what you did, not in the slightest, because at least when Claudia and I..." He sighed. "When we accidentally got pregnant, it was after our wedding."

"You...wait, what?" Stiles sat up straight, frowning. "I was an accident?"

The Sheriff raised his eyebrows. "Kind of. I mean, we were married and both wanted kids but yeah, you were a surprise. And let me tell you, kid, I was not ready to be a father. I'd read all the books and taken classes with her and had long talks with my own dad, but I was not ready. There's no way to be ready, not with your first. So I want you to get it out of your head that you know what's going to happen. I want you to stop thinking that you've got it all planned out just because you think it's some John Hughes film."

"Dad, I don't-"

"Shut up. I'm trying to impart fatherly advice, okay? So listen." Stiles nodded and leaned back in the chair. "You have no idea what you're getting into, and by the time you figure it out, they're in high school already." The Sheriff fixed him with a stern glare. "But you're in it for the count now, you know that, right? You told her you'd stay and you better follow through with that or I will not arrest her for killing you."

"I'm not gonna leave her, Dad," Stiles said, scooting forward on the chair. "I swear. She's...she's the one."

"Oh, Christ," the Sheriff said, pinching the bridge of his nose again. "If you ask me for your mom's ring, I'm going to reach across this desk and slap you."

Stiles bit his lip and slouched in the chair. Yeah, he wanted Mom's ring. She'd been buried with her wedding ring, but the engagement ring was still hanging out above-ground because the Sheriff wanted Stiles to use it. (Stiles wanted to use it, too.) He'd been thinking about it for a while, before he found out that Cora was pregnant, and this just seemed like a catalyst.

"Look, Dad, I just...I love her and I want to be with her forever."

"Forever is a shorter time than you think." He fiddled with his wedding ring, and Stiles immediately regretted bringing it up. Of course it probably hurt his dad to see him walking in his footsteps. It probably hurt to even mention his mom's ring. "One thing at a time, okay? Have the kid and we'll go from there. You can still stay here, both of you and the baby, once it's here. Just get a job, start saving for everything, and tell her brother."

Stiles gulped. He really, really did not want to tell Derek. At all. He knew he had to, and he wasn't about to send Cora to do it alone, but just the thought of Derek's reaction...the thought of telling him what he'd done...he shivered visibly at the thought.

"Yeah, I get that," the Sheriff said laughing. "I don not envy you for that conversation. Get out, I have work to do."