Temporarily Permanent

Chapter 18

He looked the exact same as the one who'd just been shot in front of them. The kids were crying some screaming as well. They growled eyes flickering while guns were lifted into the air.

"Come on guys. Damn just cause you got seemingly the quietest life now doesn't mean people aren't trying to hurt you. God, he could have killed you." Stiles said motioning with his gun toward the man who lay on the ground.

Derek looked back to see that he no longer looked like Stiles. He instead looked like someone completely different in the same clothes. A much older man with a small beard, blue eyes, and slicked back blonde hair. Derek looked back at Stiles who held the gun at his side with a confused look on his face.

"Shifter. He's been after me since I came back. He figured out where you guys lived and wanted to hurt you to draw me out. Don't worry he's gone now. As you can see." Stiles said looking at the body disgusted.

"How do we know you aren't like him? A shifter?" Lydia said making Stiles nod putting the gun in the holster on his hip. Then he leaned down to his boot a growl coming from one of the other wolves.

"Woah, woah, I'm just getting the silver knife from my boot. Silver burns shifters it won't burn me, you can test it on the body." Stiles said pulling the shiny shiny knife.

He rolled up his sleeve pressing the knife to it. But Derek wasn't really looking at the knife against his skin. He was looking at the scars on his arm. What in the hell?

"Here," Stiles said throwing the knife toward the body. Theo picked it up and pressed it against the dead body's skin. He was right it did burn.

So this was Stiles. The real Stiles, that they knew of at least. Some still weren't convinced though because of what just happened and because Stiles had been dead for years.

Stiles stepped forward but a few growled making him put his hands in the air and step back. His eyes shifted to the kids on the porch and his face turned to one of sadness. He'd missed so much.

"Tell us something only Stiles would know," Chris said making Stiles think for a moment about something personal that wasn't embarrassing but was personal enough for them to believe him.

"I uh, fuck, um," They then growled raising their guns making him almost freak out himself. "When Liam and I found out we were pregnant we freaked out in his bathroom and sat in his bathtub hugging each other! When I was 16 when we just met Derek, when Scott had just been bit, I complained to Derek about how much Scott was obsessed with Allison and didn't want to be a werewolf! When Monroe first came around and started hunting us all Theo and I had a real conversation. We said apologized to each other and-" Stiles said rushing to get something out that would be sufficient. But he got cut off before he could say anymore.

"Okay! Yeah, that's Stiles I think that's enough!" Theo said making Stiles smirk at him chuckling a bit.

"I wasn't gonna say what you think I was going to say. And whether that happened or not shouldn't even matter anymore." Stiles said but Theo still grumbled out something that no one else heard while crossing his arms.

Before Stiles or anyone else could say anything more the young man was attacked with a hug by Derek. He smiled putting his arms around the man returning the hug. Stiles could feel his shoulder getting wet and pulled the man from him just so they could look into the eyes of each other.

"Hey, sourwolf. Hey, I'm okay. I'm right here." Stiles whispered hand cupping Derek's cheek and wiping his tears with his thumb. "I'm always here," Stiles said making the man smile down at him.

"You weren't. You weren't here."

"I am now."

Then the two were kissing like it had been forever since they'd seen each other. And for Derek, it felt like forever. For Stiles, it'd only been a few months but it was still too long. They both smiled into the kiss feeling so very happy at this moment. But then their kiss was broken by little voices at their sides.