A Place to Hide Away- Sterek

Love and Lies

"How old would you say you are?" Derek asked softly, approaching the pair although Stiles looked more like he didn't want to be anywhere near Derek.

"I'm 12." Stiles said briskly. "I can't believe that I would ever forget my mom... dying." His voice broke at the mention of his mom, but he was all cried out from the last sob fest. The stench of grief filled the room, making it hard to breathe. The whole pack was gathered around the them, wishing they could offer him some comfort, even if the young werefox couldn't exactly remember them.

"Well, I'm guessing that you want your dad now?"

"Yeah, I want my dad." Stiles bit out. He gave a glance around the group. "I don't who you guys are. I mean, I remember from when I was a baby, but it's not the same. I don't really know who you guys are, and my dad always talks about stranger danger." He turned to Scott who looked pained, and Stiles threw his arms around Scott's neck, hugging him tight which seemed to soothe the werewolf. It made Derek's wolf simultaneously anxious and angry, because it wasn't fair that Scott was given such trusting gesture when Derek wasn't allowed to.

"Do... do you still live with your sucky dad?" the young werefox asked, leaning back from the embrace. "Is your mom still living with him?" The worry in his tone was audible to anyone in the room, even as the preteen tried to whisper it. There was a moment where Scott only looked at him before he drew him back into a hug.

"No, we don't live with Rafael anymore." There was a wetness to his words, like if he was trying not to cry. "You helped us to get away from him. He wasn't a very good man."

"That's good." Stiles smiled. "That's great. I never thought your dad was a good person, so it's good that you and your mom don't live there anymore."

"What else do you remember?" Derek asked, frowning, thinking back to what Peter had told him last night. Why wasn't Stiles remembering that they had met before? It didn't make any sense. The memory charms were only supposed to have been put on the Hales, something that Derek couldn't help but think bitterly about.

"I don't know. What do you want from me? Get off my back, man." Stiles growled at Derek, one of his fangs flashing.

"Hey, why are you being so mean to Derek?" Scott asked, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"He lied to me. He said that he loves me, but he didn't tell me about my mom." Stiles said angrily, his ears twitching agitatedly on his head. The stench of pain started emanating from the Alpha who kept a passive look on his face.

"Well, that was no thing to tell a child." Derek sneered, hiding how hurt he felt at the werefox's words. Although his tone was rather cold, Derek felt that he was within his rights to be hurt. The reaction from Stiles was a jerk of the head and trembling lips.

"Well, you know what?" Stiles shouted, pushing away from Scott and moving towards the door of the living room. "Fuck you!" Then with a burst of speed, he ran out of the room. The sound of the front of door slamming set the pack in motion, scrambling after the emotional twelve year old.

The entire pack ran through the forest, but it seemed that Stiles' previously dormant werefox abilities had given him the boost he needed to evade werewolves. Although Derek suspected that his were being a fox had something to do with the fact that he was managing to avoid an entire pack of werewolves. That or their failure to capture past monsters made a lot more sense. The Alpha made a note in the back of his head to re-continue the training session they used to have.

"I liked him better when he was a kid." Jackson muttered as they followed the sound of the hummingbird heart through the forest. "At least then he was cute and didn't throw tantrums like this."

"You're 19 and still throw tantrums like that." Scott growled at him. The sound of police sirens cut through the sound of the forest, and Stiles seemed to have heard it to because his feet changed the direction they were running, and he was suddenly going to the road that led to the Hale Mansion. Their hearts pounded and they ran faster as they collectively thought what could happen if Stiles ran out onto the road a little bit too quickly.

Derek almost tripped over himself when he heard squealing tires attempting to stop. There wasn't sounds of pain but the horror was still coursing through him. They got to the road and let out a sigh of relief when they saw Stiles desperately hugging his dad who looked like he was about to cry himself.

"Dad," Stiles repeated over and over, and John was rubbing circles in his back while hugging him back.

"It's okay, Stiles. It's okay."