A Place to Hide Away- Sterek

Best Left Unremembered

"That's horrible." Derek couldn't help the revulsion he felt directed towards the former Alpha Stilinksi. No amount of reasoning could justify what she did to his mate. Thinking back he could see now why his wolf was always so temperamental compared to his siblings. After being exposed to his mate for so long and to have it suddenly ripped away, it was no wonder that his wolf had felt so lost when he was younger. Perhaps it was also the reason he always got in trouble in his teen years too. Going to the police station had always felt a little too much like going home.

"I know." Peter sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Halfway through his story, he had relocated to one of the porch armchairs. His wolf had been shifting restlessly since he read in his own handwriting the atrocity that his son, because Stiles was his son even if they weren't related by blood. "And we haven't even gotten to the worst part, Derek. It gets worse."

"I don't see how it get worse, Peter. Stiles has had his fox suppressed for years, all because his mom had a freaking paranoid attack basically." Derek growled, tilting his head towards the window where they could see the pack sleeping with Stiles, gathered around him in a weird combination of misplaced limbs and drooping slobber. Seeing Stiles cuddle into Scott was something that made his heart lurch now that he knew what Stiles had gone through. This was something that his Stiles had missed out on-- something that as a were, he should never have had to miss out on. He didn't know what it was like to be part of a pack that loved him and would protect him with their last breath. HIS pack wouldn't have ever even considered hiding his werefox self, no matter the danger.

"I need a break." Derek rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This... is too much for me to handle right now. Is there anything you found out that could help us figure out how to turn him back?"

"No, it only talks about him being a werefox, and us getting our memories getting taken away. I think you need to hear the rest, but it's not anything really useful." Peter sniffed as he crossed his legs and turned his face towards the forest in front of them. The moon was almost directly above them which meant it was almost the middle of the night.

"Goodnight, Peter." Derek went back into the house.  This cleared up a bunch of things, like why Peter was so overprotective of the young werefox, but at the same time, it didn't answer any questions at all. Like if Stiles was at this age, why didn't he remember being in Hale Pack? Derek felt a headache coming on and he checked his phone as he went in the door. 12:02 AM. God, he was exhausted. Dealing with overactive hyper Stiles made him respect the sheriff so much more that he almost regretted all the trouble he caused in his teen years.

The Alpha froze as he suddenly heard whimpers coming from living room  where the pack had settled down, and he strode in, seeing his young mate shifting around restlessly. Just laying a hand on Stiles' head was enough to calm the young werefox but he could still see the tears on his eyelashes which made Derek's wolf whine. 

He yawned as he climbed into the pack cuddling fest and hugged Stiles close to himself, falling asleep almost immediately.

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The sound of a despaired wail made the entire pack startle into of alertness. Erica accidentally kneed Isaac in the shin on her way to her feet and Boyd faceplanted onto the floor. Derek narrowly avoided getting the wind knocked out of him by dodging Scott's hand, but his eyes blinked toward the source of the sound.

Stiles was wound up in a tight ball, arms wrapped around his knees with his back against the couch, hiding his sobs from the pack. But the thing that caught his attention the most was the fact that he had grown. His limbs had grown out and his hair had gotten shorter, into the buzzcut that they now knew him by, and Derek sighed in relief as he saw a pair of fox ears still on his head. 

"Stiles, what's wrong?" Derek frowned, placing a hand on the young boy's arm, and the other violently flinched away from him even as he struggled to breathe. Derek stared as he saw that Stiles was having a panic attack and before he could recover, Scott was there, murmuring instructions to him. 

"Come on, Stiles. Take a deep breath for me, yeah?" The beta said softly. "I'm going to count and I need you to breathe in as I do, okay?" He pushed a hand on Stiles back to straighten him out and the young boy gasped in a breath, desperately holding onto Scott's shirt. "Again, I know you can do it, Stiles. You're safe here. There's no danger and everyone here is alive and healthy." Together they breathed in and out until all that was left was a tear streaked Stiles looking at Derek with the most betrayed look on his face.

"Stiles, do you remember who we are?" Scott asked, taking the initiative to lead the questions. It was obvious to everyone that their little bright eyed werefox had turned into a less innocent preteen. 

"Yeah, I remember being a little kid and meeting you guys." Stiles said, rubbing a hand across his face. 

"What else do you remember?"

"You guys are freaking liars." Stiles' voice hitched as he said this as a new wave of tears came round. He didn't have another panic attack as he began sobbing. "My mom isn't alive. S-She's dead." Scott let out a hurt sound as he pulled Stiles into his arms, hugging him tightly to him.

"I HATE YOU. I HATE ALL OF YOU! YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD ME MY MOM WAS DEAD!" Stiles yelled into Scott's shirt, crying and hitting the werewolf's chest. The only thing Scott did was rock the boy as he bawled into his shirt, making comforting noises. "My mom's dead, she's dead, and I loved her so much. I saw her die! She was i-in front of me when she stopped breathing." 

Derek swallowed the lump in his throat as he turned his face away from Stiles and took out his phone, speed dialing the sheriff. 

"What's wrong?"

"Stiles remembers."

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So, yeah, after months of waiting, here's some more pain. Don't worry; we'll go back to the memories after a few chapters and I'll try to add some fluff in, but meh, no promises. I do want you guys to know that I am about to go to college and I still don't have a laptop so sorry about the slow updates. Also, please PLEASE do not hesitate to give me suggestions, cuz all that cute stuff back there was things y'all wanted in earlier chapters. So, yeah, please comment and suggest! Thanks!