Dating the teacher

Part 3

Stiles woke up the next morning holding on to Derek as if he was afraid to let him go.

"Hey", Derek whispered softly as he noticed that his boyfriend woke up.

"Are you okay?", was the first thing that came to Stiles' mind.

"I'm fine", Derek half lied. He was good now next to Stiles but he was afraid still.

"I'm sorry", Stiles whispered, hurt obvious in his voice.

Derek turned to face Stiles and ran his thumb over his cheek soothingly.

"First of all, none of this is your fault, okay?", Derek stared at him intendly until Stiles nodded hesitantly "and second thing is that I understand your dad. I am older than you and I have been nothing but stress and terror for your life...".

"Shut up!", Stiles said seriously "you know what you have been for my life? Nothing but love and happiness. And now stop that. My dad wants to protect me, but that doesn't mean he can keep you away from me".

"I love you", Derek said softly.

"I love you too", Stiles pecked his lips "and we should probably get up before he comes back with his gun".

Stiles tried to lighten the mood but wasn't convinced himself. They got out of bed and dressed and got to the door of Stiles' bedroom. Before Derek could step out, Stiles held on to his wrist.

"Whatever happens down there, it won't change anything. It won't change how I feel about you", Stiles stated and Derek smiled at him and nodded.

He took Stiles' hand and they made their way down to the kitchen to find the sheriff making breakfast.

"Hey dad", Stiles greeted hesitantly.

"Hey son", he smiled weakly, regret showing on his face "hello Derek".

Derek smiled at him politely. Stiles didn't really know what to say so they just stood there awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Sit down", the sheriff gestured for them to sit down.

As they had sat down and the sheriff put the food down on the table Stiles suddenly blurted out a question.

"Why?", was all he said.

"I wanted to protect you, Stiles", he sounded sad.

"No, I mean why didn't you go through with it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I am glad you didn't, but I don't get why you left it alone all of a sudden", Stiles explained his question.

"See, when I got together with your mother, her dad was anything but excited about it. Your grandpa was really protective of his only daughter. He didn't like the fact that I was a policeman and that I could get hurt or be killed and his daughter would suffer through it. So he forbid her to be with me", the sheriff told them.

"So you pulled a grandpa yesterday", Stiles stated jokingly and the sheriff actually laughed.

"I did", he then continued his story "I went up to him someday and told him that I loved his daughter and that I wouldn't leave her, even if he didn't like it. I said that I'd rather die than live without her".

The sheriff smiled at Derek.

"Did it convince him?", Derek asked.

"No, he was a very grumpy guy. We only got his blessing after weeks. But it convinced me", the sheriff said and fixed his gaze on Derek "when you said you didn't want to live without my son, I knew you weren't lying. I knew you really do love him. And that's not something I could or want to change".

Stiles stood up and went to hug his father.

"I'm so sorry Stiles. I just wanted to protect you. I never wanted to hurt you", the sheriff said into his son's shoulder.

"I understand", Stiles assured him "you scared me there. Please never do that again".

"I won't", the sheriff promised.

When Stiles had settled back next to Derek his father wanted to have some questions answered.

"So how long has this been going on?", he asked.

"Um...ten months", Stiles whispered.

"Wow", his father raised his eyebrows "maybe I am not that good of a detective as I thought".

"Yes you are, dad. We are just really good", Stiles said and the sheriff sighed, laughing a little.

"Derek you said something I didn't quite understand yesterday", the sheriff said and Derek signaled him to continued "what is a mate?"

"I nearly forgot about that", Stiles said and turned to Derek, smiling over his whole face "I am so happy, Derek".

Derek smiled at him and pushed down the urge to lean forward to kiss his mate. Instead turned towards the sheriff to answer his question.

"A mate is someone your inner wolf chooses for you. As your soulmate you could say. It's very rare to actually find a mate. It's like my human and my wolf side both agreeing that Stiles is the one person for me. The only person I would ever love. If we are apart that makes me weak and if I would have to live without him by my side I would slowly die", Derek explained and the sheriff looked at him in awe.

"You weren't kidding when you said you'd die without him", he half asked half stated.

"I wasn't", Derek confirmed, then added just to show the sheriff his intentions "I would never do anything that could hurt him".

The sheriff nodded and Stiles was tense, still not knowing the outcome of all of this.

"Well then", the sheriff sighed "welcome to the family Derek".

Stiles released a breath he had been holding and then smiled over his whole face.

"Thank you sir", Derek actually smiled too.

"My name is Noah", the sheriff said and outstretched his hand for Derek to shake. He did, then took Stiles' hand in his own. The sheriff found that the two of them actually were a really cute couple.

"Who knows about you?", the sheriff asked eventually.

"You", Stiles said.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?", Noah asked.

"Are you really asking that question dad?", Stiles sassed and his dad raised his hands in defeat.