Temporarily Permanent

Chapter 19

It's been a few days. Stiles is different. He feels like he was broken into a million pieces when he died. When he came back one of those pieces was gone. He didn't know what piece though.

He would sit on the porch swing every night after saying goodnight to the kids and every morning before anyone got up. It wasn't to watch their little house and see if they were safe though. Well, that was part of it. But it was mostly because he needed peace. He needed to look out at the darkness of the forest around him. It gave him a weird sort of comfort.

Liam would always go out in the mornings and give him tea while Derek would go out at night and coax him inside to bed. The pack was a bit weirded out about it. The fact that he'd just sit there staring at nothing. Liles sat with him today.

"Why do you sit here like a creeper uncle Sti?" He had asked the man who looked at him.

"It's a good spot to think," Stiles responded with sipping his tea that Liam had brought out earlier. They both turned back and looked out at the forest around the property.

"What do you think about?" He asked hearing the other kids laughing from the backyard. It was Sunday lunch for all those who could come. Most did.

"Anything and everything kid," Stiles said while Liles looked back up at him. "Mostly you kids and the rest of the pack. The past and the future." Stiles said making him nod understanding his care for the people around him.

They sat there for a few minutes. Liles wasn't bored, he liked the silence, it was nice to get away from the other loud children. He was like Theo in that way. As much as he loved the family he had around him and never wanted to let them go, he thought they were annoying as hell. Cause they were. The youngest was four. Annoying. As. Hell.

"Wanna hear something creepier than me sitting here day after day staring at nothing?" Stiles asked the child named after him.

"Is there something creepier?" Liles said jokingly but his uncle didn't laugh he just turned to him.

"Three trees left of your guys' house is a large pine tree," Stiles said turning back looking away from said tree. Liles looked over at it and saw nothing but the tree. "Up six branches from the ground is the witch who gave you life," Stiles said and Liles trailed his eyes up the tree and froze.

Stiles was right. Six branches up Liles' eyes met with a pair of grey ones. They were narrowed but didn't seem to hold any evil. Next to the white-haired woman was another. Why was his uncle so calm about this?

"What do we do?" The young boy asked seeming to hide his fear and look up at his uncle as if he'd fight to his last breath at this moment.

"You aren't going to do anything. You're going to go inside and to the back yard. Then you're going to tell your parents and Derek. Alright?" Stiles said making the boy shake his head. He wasn't leaving his uncle.

"I'm not leaving you here," Liles said making Stiles look over and glare at him.

"Yes, you-" Stiles said but then was interrupted.

"Stiles?" The two immediately stood from the porch swing seeing the witch along with another girl beside her.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Stiles said quite aggressively as he moved to the top of the stairs making sure Liles was behind him.

"I'm not here to harm anyone. If I'd known you'd died earlier I would have come and brought you back but I had no idea." The witch said making Stiles look at her a bit confused.

"You brought me back?" He asked making her nod and smile up at him.

"I wanted to apologize for not coming back sooner and helping you. I have some memories from the others that I think you'd like for yourself as well." She said reaching up with two fingers pointed at him.