Teen Wolf Fic: A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas (2/12)
A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas - Teen Wolf - Gen with background pairings, (Sheriff Stilinski, Ensemble) - Chapter 2/12 - Words (this chapter): 2,168. Total so far: 3,968
Summary: With the holiday season rapidly approaching, and a werewolf pack taking up residence in their home, it might be time for the Stilinski family to celebrate Christmas for the first time in seven years.
Content Notes: Discussion of (canon) dead family members and grieving. Canon typical violence. T.
Author Notes: This is second in the 'Live with the Wolves and You Learn how to Howl' series, and chronologically takes place between chapters two and three of 'Beyond the Call of Duty and Family', though I suggest simply reading that entire story first.
This fic will be live posted through the holiday season, each chapter takes place on the day it is posted. Chapter Three will be posted December 4th.
On AO3: A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas - Chapter Two
On DW: A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas - Chapter Two
Previously: Chapter One
Chapter Two: Christmas Lights and The Mistletoe Game
The sight that greeted him when he arrived home the afternoon of December 1st, slowly pulling his patrol car into the driveway, gave him pause and he stared through the windshield as he parked and then sat for a moment to consider the activities. When he got out of the car his first instinct was to check that none of the neighbors were paying undo attention, because if most of Beacon Hills hadn't been clued in about werewolves before, this was probably a pretty good hint. No one seemed to be watching, undoubtably they all had things to do on the first Saturday in December, and he walked over to where most of the pack was gathered around Lydia and Danny on the front steps. Derek was standing in the middle of the grass in front of the house, his head tipped up as he watched Scott and Boyd pinning lights along the front edge above the garage.
Danny was typing furiously on his laptop while Lydia was half watching over his shoulder and half examining the coils of stringed lights that were set out in neat rows. "Red along the south window edges," she directed, picking up a coil and handing it to Erica.
Erica took the lights and bounded over to Derek, and for the first time the Sheriff realized that there were no ladders in sight. He discovered why a few seconds later when Derek cupped his hands together and boosted Erica in a single motion up onto the roof. Derek waited until she had gained her balance and moved to the windows before he stepped back and continued to observe with an expression that was somewhere between bored and grim.
"Is this a good idea?" he asked, half to Derek and half to anyone who was listening, and watched as Erica unrolled her string of lights and started to clip them to the window ledges.
"It's going to move in patterns," Danny said, not looking up from his laptop as he worked. "We were going to set it to music but no one could agree on a song."
"And we thought that music might have been a bit much," Allison added from where she was sorting lights with Jackson.
Stiles looked up from the paper he was examining with Lydia. "It would have been epic if we'd done the Trans-Siberian Orchestra like I suggested."
"Uh huh," he said, deciding to thank whoever had vetoed the music when he figured out who it was.
Lydia got up and moved to look at the house and then at the paper in her hands. "Okay, we need blue strings across the upper ledge, but they need to loop. Boyd, can you boost Isaac and Scott to the upper level?"
"Yep," Boyd called, placing the last clip on the lights he and Scott were currently working on.
Jackson brought over four coils of blue lights and looped them around Isaac's arms. Isaac didn't wait for Derek to lift him onto the lower part of the roof, instead he jumped and swung his legs up in a movement that wouldn't have been out of place for a gymnast.
The Sheriff took another step back and shielded his eyes so he could better see Boyd lift Isaac and Scott up onto the steeper roof that covered the second story of the house. "Be careful up there," he called when Scott wobbled on the very edge before Isaac grabbed Scott's arm and pulled him down flat against the slope.
"Don't worry!" Scott shouted back, waving down to them. "It's not like I haven't fallen off the roof before."
Stiles, who had joined his dad to watch his friends up on the roof, grinned broadly. "And he wasn't even a werewolf for at least one of those times."
"Why don't I feel reassured?" the Sheriff asked, though he thought it was at least partially because he'd once driven Scott to the emergency room after Scott had fallen out of one of the trees in the backyard.
Derek gave a low grunt and then vaulted up onto the lower level of the roof. He helped Scott and Isaac to loop the lights from below, the twitch of his eyebrows when he looked back down at the yard seeming to ask 'Happy now?'.
"I need more red for the windows," Erica called, coming to the edge of the roof and leaning down so that Jackson could toss her another coil.
"Alright," the Sheriff said after he watched them for a few more minutes, mostly satisfied that none of them were going to fall off the roof anytime soon. "You guys seem to have this under control so I'm going to go inside. Holler if you need anything."
He stepped around the teens gathered on the front steps, opening the door and blinking at the sparkly garland that had been wrapped up and down the staircase banister. He turned back and raised his eyebrows at Stiles.
"We already did most of the inside," Stiles called and shrugged. "I couldn't find the wreath though. Do you know where it is?"
After combing through his mind for a second he nodded slowly. "I think it's out in the shed. I'll take a look in a little bit."
"Oh," Lydia said, having returned to her spot next to Danny. "We left a box of decorations next to your office door."
Allison finished with her last roll of lights and climbed the steps. "Also, beware of the mistletoe. It's currently in the living room," she said and grinned brightly.
"Noted," he said, raising his eyebrows because the mistletoe certainly hadn't been among the decorations Stiles must have dug out from the basement.
The girls both just giggled and returned to their tasks and he shook his head fondly and went inside. A quick peek in the living room confirmed that there was indeed a sprig of mistletoe hanging near the window. The rest of the house was in varying states of decoration, though the boxes full of ornaments for the Christmas tree had been stacked in the corner of the hallway. He went into the kitchen, looking for something to tide him over until dinner, and discovered that someone had unearthed the crock pot and a stew of some kind was slowly simmering. After a minute of breathing in the aroma, his stomach growling with about as much ferocity as a werewolf, he went to the fridge and found that someone had been shopping lately and had already bought eggnog. He poured himself a cup, knowing that the carton wouldn't last long, and sat down at the kitchen table with the newspaper.
He made it all the way through the cup of eggnog and most of the newspaper when he heard a loud thump outside followed by a low moan. With a sigh he folded the newspaper, put his cup in the sink, and went out the backdoor and around the side of the house. "Everyone alright?" he called, doing a quick head count.
Stiles was kneeling over Scott and holding his hand above Scott's face as everyone else hurried over. "How many fingers, buddy?" Stiles asked, looking more amused than concerned.
Scott squinted up at Stiles. "Two. Although the real question is can I feel my legs," he said.
Allison peered over Stiles' shoulder. "Can you feel your legs?"
"Mostly?" Scott asked.
Two more thumps heralded Derek and Boyd dropping down from the roof, both landing neatly crouched on the grass before they came over and helped Scott up to his feet. "You're fine," Derek said, roughly dusting the dirt and dead grass from Scott's shirt.
Scott cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. "Easy for you to say, you didn't just fall off the roof."
"Then don't fall off the roof," Derek suggested, though he was watching closely as Scott took a few steps.
"He's fine," Lydia announced with a roll of her eyes. "Were you nearly finished up there?"
"We just reached the end of roof. Isaac was putting the last clips on," Scott said.
Everyone turned and looked up at the roof, Isaac and Erica peering down from over the edge.
"Come on down from there, you two," the Sheriff called, nervous despite the fact that he'd just seen Scott bounce back up almost like he hadn't just fallen nearly two dozen feet to the ground. He blinked when seconds later Erica leapt gracefully from the roof, her hair streaming out around her, and she rolled neatly and popped back to her feet as she hit the ground. She laughed brightly when Boyd reached over to pluck a leaf from where it had stuck in her hair.
Isaac tossed the cord down from the upper set up lights and dropped down onto the next level of the roof, plugging it into the extension cord before he jumped down to the ground, landing between Erica and Stiles with a flushed grin.
"That was the last of the upper level. Jackson, did you finish putting up the strands circling the garage?" Lydia asked, rolling up her diagram as she went to survey the front of the house. The rest of the pack followed and the Sheriff took one last look at the indent in the grass where Scott had landed before he trailed along while shaking his head.
"We're ready here," Danny said, jogging into the garage to what appeared to be a switch board and looking back expectantly at everyone.
"Okay, wow us with your mad skills," Stiles called and everyone waited with an air of barely contained anticipation.
The Sheriff glanced around the street. It was early enough in the evening that the sun hadn't quite set but it was growing darker outside, and only two of their neighbors had their Christmas lights out yet. He suspected that his house was either going to be much more spectacular than it had in years past or it was going to start a fire. Either way he already had the fire department programmed on speed dial in cellphone, and not just because he was the Sheriff of Beacon Hills.
Danny typed a few more things on his laptop, hit a button on the switch box, and the lights decorating the house sprung to life. He hurried out to join them, and then grinned and gave a little jump when he saw that it was working. The Sheriff didn't think he'd ever seen Danny so visibly excited before - Danny was one of the more reserved members of the pack.
The Sheriff looked at the sequences of lights dancing across his house and he had to admit that it was well done, even if the neighbors would probably hate them by the end of December. "Very nice. Is the white circle...?" he trailed off, uncertain if he should voice what he was thinking.
"A full moon in a night sky? Why, yes it is," Stiles said proudly, rubbing the back of his head when he was immediately cuffed by Derek. "What? It's thematically appropriate."
"I think the stew is ready by now," Boyd said, neatly intervening before anyone else had the opportunity.
The suggestion of food was eagerly accepted by the teens and the Sheriff found himself one of the last remaining outside with Danny and Lydia looking up to admire their handiwork. "I think we need to adjust the lines on the north edge of the roof," Lydia said, frowning critically.
"Do you think the sequence on the windows need to speed up?" Danny asked.
"No, but maybe we should increase the loop around the moon so it's more frequent," Lydia suggested.
"I think it looks fine and I don't think anyone is getting back on the roof until it's time for the lights to come down," the Sheriff said, not leaving any room for argument. "Now, somebody mentioned something about stew."
They made their way into the house, the excitable chatter at the dinner table almost entirely focused on rehashing their light hanging and house decorating adventure. It was a nice change from discussions that focused on bodies in the woods or pack politics. He was just turning to leave the kitchen after the meal, heading toward his office, when Erica called out: "Wait!" He turned and raised his eyebrows at Erica, hoping that his house wasn't actually booby trapped or something similar.
"Mistletoe is now out that way, I'd go through the living room if I was you. Scott and Allison went that way a minute or two ago," she said with a knowledgable nod.
"Wasn't the mistletoe in the living room?" he asked, because he was certain he had seen in there only a few hours earlier.
Erica grinned mischievously. "What's the fun if it stays in one place!"
He shook his head at her, but he was smiling when he left through the living room and went to his office, nearly tripping over the box of decorations that had been left for him there.
Next: Chapter Three
Summary: With the holiday season rapidly approaching, and a werewolf pack taking up residence in their home, it might be time for the Stilinski family to celebrate Christmas for the first time in seven years.
Content Notes: Discussion of (canon) dead family members and grieving. Canon typical violence. T.
Author Notes: This is second in the 'Live with the Wolves and You Learn how to Howl' series, and chronologically takes place between chapters two and three of 'Beyond the Call of Duty and Family', though I suggest simply reading that entire story first.
This fic will be live posted through the holiday season, each chapter takes place on the day it is posted. Chapter Three will be posted December 4th.
On AO3: A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas - Chapter Two
On DW: A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas - Chapter Two
Previously: Chapter One
Chapter Two: Christmas Lights and The Mistletoe Game
The sight that greeted him when he arrived home the afternoon of December 1st, slowly pulling his patrol car into the driveway, gave him pause and he stared through the windshield as he parked and then sat for a moment to consider the activities. When he got out of the car his first instinct was to check that none of the neighbors were paying undo attention, because if most of Beacon Hills hadn't been clued in about werewolves before, this was probably a pretty good hint. No one seemed to be watching, undoubtably they all had things to do on the first Saturday in December, and he walked over to where most of the pack was gathered around Lydia and Danny on the front steps. Derek was standing in the middle of the grass in front of the house, his head tipped up as he watched Scott and Boyd pinning lights along the front edge above the garage.
Danny was typing furiously on his laptop while Lydia was half watching over his shoulder and half examining the coils of stringed lights that were set out in neat rows. "Red along the south window edges," she directed, picking up a coil and handing it to Erica.
Erica took the lights and bounded over to Derek, and for the first time the Sheriff realized that there were no ladders in sight. He discovered why a few seconds later when Derek cupped his hands together and boosted Erica in a single motion up onto the roof. Derek waited until she had gained her balance and moved to the windows before he stepped back and continued to observe with an expression that was somewhere between bored and grim.
"Is this a good idea?" he asked, half to Derek and half to anyone who was listening, and watched as Erica unrolled her string of lights and started to clip them to the window ledges.
"It's going to move in patterns," Danny said, not looking up from his laptop as he worked. "We were going to set it to music but no one could agree on a song."
"And we thought that music might have been a bit much," Allison added from where she was sorting lights with Jackson.
Stiles looked up from the paper he was examining with Lydia. "It would have been epic if we'd done the Trans-Siberian Orchestra like I suggested."
"Uh huh," he said, deciding to thank whoever had vetoed the music when he figured out who it was.
Lydia got up and moved to look at the house and then at the paper in her hands. "Okay, we need blue strings across the upper ledge, but they need to loop. Boyd, can you boost Isaac and Scott to the upper level?"
"Yep," Boyd called, placing the last clip on the lights he and Scott were currently working on.
Jackson brought over four coils of blue lights and looped them around Isaac's arms. Isaac didn't wait for Derek to lift him onto the lower part of the roof, instead he jumped and swung his legs up in a movement that wouldn't have been out of place for a gymnast.
The Sheriff took another step back and shielded his eyes so he could better see Boyd lift Isaac and Scott up onto the steeper roof that covered the second story of the house. "Be careful up there," he called when Scott wobbled on the very edge before Isaac grabbed Scott's arm and pulled him down flat against the slope.
"Don't worry!" Scott shouted back, waving down to them. "It's not like I haven't fallen off the roof before."
Stiles, who had joined his dad to watch his friends up on the roof, grinned broadly. "And he wasn't even a werewolf for at least one of those times."
"Why don't I feel reassured?" the Sheriff asked, though he thought it was at least partially because he'd once driven Scott to the emergency room after Scott had fallen out of one of the trees in the backyard.
Derek gave a low grunt and then vaulted up onto the lower level of the roof. He helped Scott and Isaac to loop the lights from below, the twitch of his eyebrows when he looked back down at the yard seeming to ask 'Happy now?'.
"I need more red for the windows," Erica called, coming to the edge of the roof and leaning down so that Jackson could toss her another coil.
"Alright," the Sheriff said after he watched them for a few more minutes, mostly satisfied that none of them were going to fall off the roof anytime soon. "You guys seem to have this under control so I'm going to go inside. Holler if you need anything."
He stepped around the teens gathered on the front steps, opening the door and blinking at the sparkly garland that had been wrapped up and down the staircase banister. He turned back and raised his eyebrows at Stiles.
"We already did most of the inside," Stiles called and shrugged. "I couldn't find the wreath though. Do you know where it is?"
After combing through his mind for a second he nodded slowly. "I think it's out in the shed. I'll take a look in a little bit."
"Oh," Lydia said, having returned to her spot next to Danny. "We left a box of decorations next to your office door."
Allison finished with her last roll of lights and climbed the steps. "Also, beware of the mistletoe. It's currently in the living room," she said and grinned brightly.
"Noted," he said, raising his eyebrows because the mistletoe certainly hadn't been among the decorations Stiles must have dug out from the basement.
The girls both just giggled and returned to their tasks and he shook his head fondly and went inside. A quick peek in the living room confirmed that there was indeed a sprig of mistletoe hanging near the window. The rest of the house was in varying states of decoration, though the boxes full of ornaments for the Christmas tree had been stacked in the corner of the hallway. He went into the kitchen, looking for something to tide him over until dinner, and discovered that someone had unearthed the crock pot and a stew of some kind was slowly simmering. After a minute of breathing in the aroma, his stomach growling with about as much ferocity as a werewolf, he went to the fridge and found that someone had been shopping lately and had already bought eggnog. He poured himself a cup, knowing that the carton wouldn't last long, and sat down at the kitchen table with the newspaper.
He made it all the way through the cup of eggnog and most of the newspaper when he heard a loud thump outside followed by a low moan. With a sigh he folded the newspaper, put his cup in the sink, and went out the backdoor and around the side of the house. "Everyone alright?" he called, doing a quick head count.
Stiles was kneeling over Scott and holding his hand above Scott's face as everyone else hurried over. "How many fingers, buddy?" Stiles asked, looking more amused than concerned.
Scott squinted up at Stiles. "Two. Although the real question is can I feel my legs," he said.
Allison peered over Stiles' shoulder. "Can you feel your legs?"
"Mostly?" Scott asked.
Two more thumps heralded Derek and Boyd dropping down from the roof, both landing neatly crouched on the grass before they came over and helped Scott up to his feet. "You're fine," Derek said, roughly dusting the dirt and dead grass from Scott's shirt.
Scott cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. "Easy for you to say, you didn't just fall off the roof."
"Then don't fall off the roof," Derek suggested, though he was watching closely as Scott took a few steps.
"He's fine," Lydia announced with a roll of her eyes. "Were you nearly finished up there?"
"We just reached the end of roof. Isaac was putting the last clips on," Scott said.
Everyone turned and looked up at the roof, Isaac and Erica peering down from over the edge.
"Come on down from there, you two," the Sheriff called, nervous despite the fact that he'd just seen Scott bounce back up almost like he hadn't just fallen nearly two dozen feet to the ground. He blinked when seconds later Erica leapt gracefully from the roof, her hair streaming out around her, and she rolled neatly and popped back to her feet as she hit the ground. She laughed brightly when Boyd reached over to pluck a leaf from where it had stuck in her hair.
Isaac tossed the cord down from the upper set up lights and dropped down onto the next level of the roof, plugging it into the extension cord before he jumped down to the ground, landing between Erica and Stiles with a flushed grin.
"That was the last of the upper level. Jackson, did you finish putting up the strands circling the garage?" Lydia asked, rolling up her diagram as she went to survey the front of the house. The rest of the pack followed and the Sheriff took one last look at the indent in the grass where Scott had landed before he trailed along while shaking his head.
"We're ready here," Danny said, jogging into the garage to what appeared to be a switch board and looking back expectantly at everyone.
"Okay, wow us with your mad skills," Stiles called and everyone waited with an air of barely contained anticipation.
The Sheriff glanced around the street. It was early enough in the evening that the sun hadn't quite set but it was growing darker outside, and only two of their neighbors had their Christmas lights out yet. He suspected that his house was either going to be much more spectacular than it had in years past or it was going to start a fire. Either way he already had the fire department programmed on speed dial in cellphone, and not just because he was the Sheriff of Beacon Hills.
Danny typed a few more things on his laptop, hit a button on the switch box, and the lights decorating the house sprung to life. He hurried out to join them, and then grinned and gave a little jump when he saw that it was working. The Sheriff didn't think he'd ever seen Danny so visibly excited before - Danny was one of the more reserved members of the pack.
The Sheriff looked at the sequences of lights dancing across his house and he had to admit that it was well done, even if the neighbors would probably hate them by the end of December. "Very nice. Is the white circle...?" he trailed off, uncertain if he should voice what he was thinking.
"A full moon in a night sky? Why, yes it is," Stiles said proudly, rubbing the back of his head when he was immediately cuffed by Derek. "What? It's thematically appropriate."
"I think the stew is ready by now," Boyd said, neatly intervening before anyone else had the opportunity.
The suggestion of food was eagerly accepted by the teens and the Sheriff found himself one of the last remaining outside with Danny and Lydia looking up to admire their handiwork. "I think we need to adjust the lines on the north edge of the roof," Lydia said, frowning critically.
"Do you think the sequence on the windows need to speed up?" Danny asked.
"No, but maybe we should increase the loop around the moon so it's more frequent," Lydia suggested.
"I think it looks fine and I don't think anyone is getting back on the roof until it's time for the lights to come down," the Sheriff said, not leaving any room for argument. "Now, somebody mentioned something about stew."
They made their way into the house, the excitable chatter at the dinner table almost entirely focused on rehashing their light hanging and house decorating adventure. It was a nice change from discussions that focused on bodies in the woods or pack politics. He was just turning to leave the kitchen after the meal, heading toward his office, when Erica called out: "Wait!" He turned and raised his eyebrows at Erica, hoping that his house wasn't actually booby trapped or something similar.
"Mistletoe is now out that way, I'd go through the living room if I was you. Scott and Allison went that way a minute or two ago," she said with a knowledgable nod.
"Wasn't the mistletoe in the living room?" he asked, because he was certain he had seen in there only a few hours earlier.
Erica grinned mischievously. "What's the fun if it stays in one place!"
He shook his head at her, but he was smiling when he left through the living room and went to his office, nearly tripping over the box of decorations that had been left for him there.
Next: Chapter Three