Human is Just a Word 37/?
Chapter 37
Derek had brought snacks for the ride and Stiles had the suspicion that he used them to shut him up by shoving them in his face every time Stiles' rambling became too much.
To cut him some slack, Stiles asked about Laura's pack. He had checked her out when he had been searching for an alpha solution for Scott but he'd quickly settled for Derek, closer, smaller pack and the tendency to pick up orphans, and hadn't really looked into Laura and her pack.
"How many pack members are there?" Stiles asked.
It took Derek a moment to answer, he was clearly counting heads in his mind.
"Including Laura? Sixteen." He finally answered. "No, wait. Miranda had her baby a few months back. Seventeen."
"Seventeen." Stiles needed to wrap his head around that. "Is that big for a pack?"
Derek shrugged. "Average, I think. Peter's is bigger."
Stiles didn't want to think about Peter right now, he would do that more than enough once he had the chance to talk to Laura so he focused back on her pack.
"How many humans are there?" From Stiles experience humans were a rare thing in a pack. As far as he knew Lydia was the only human pack member in Peter's, if you only counted the ones who were there by choice and not as claimed pets. And Lydia was only there because of her relationship with Jackson. Why Peter hadn't turned her Stiles didn't know, though.
And he was thinking about Peter again, dammit.
Derek had used the moment of distraction to count again in his head. It somehow felt good to know that Derek couldn't just give him hard numbers. Like it didn't really matter if a pack member was human or a werewolf, it was nice.
"Eight or nine." Derek finally answered the human members question.
"You're not sure?"
"I don't know if the baby is human or a wolf." He admitted.
"I thought it would be quite obvious right from birth." Stiles sat back in his seat. "I didn't know that it shows later. When? When the kid hits puberty? Man, that sucks. Dealing with zits, morning wood and sprouting fangs at the same time. Bet the sideburns are hell on a teenage ego." He stopped because Derek was staring at him. "What?"
"Miranda knows what her daughter is." Derek said in a tone that clearly showed that he thought Stiles was an idiot. "It just didn't come up when I spoke to her."
Stiles gaped at him. "How is that even possible? That's kind of an important information."
"Why?" Derek challenged him. "I know that Stacy is a healthy little girl, that she keeps her mother up all night and that the sun comes out when she smiles." His eyes got a dreamy shine and he was looking straight ahead as if he wanted to hide the expression from Stiles.
"You're a big softy, you know that?" Stiles gave him a playful punch to the shoulder. The look on Derek's face made him wonder if he wanted kids of his own. Not exactly a possibility with Stiles, but still. Maybe Boyd and Erica would have kids one day, Derek would be an awesome uncle.
They stopped at a road-side diner for dinner.
Stiles had a cheeseburger and fries and he was eyeing the pie for dessert.
"Don't stuff yourself too much." Derek warned him. "Laura won't let you off to bed without a midnight snack after the long ride."
"She's the motherly type?" Stiles guessed and flagged down their waitress to get his pie. Midnight was hours away.
"More the annoying type." Derek muttered into his cup of coffee. "You'll get along great."
Stiles kicked him under the table.
Derek just glared at him as if that had proven his point. Which it totally didn't.
Stiles fell asleep in the car around ten and when he opened his eyes again, they had stopped.
"Are we there?" He stretched and glanced at the clock in the dashboard. Almost midnight.
Derek made a confirming sound and got out of the car. He stretched as well which gave Stiles an excellent view on his butt. Too bad that they would spend the night in a house full of werewolves. He let his eyes linger on Derek's butt for a moment longer before he got out of the car and took in the house in front of them.
It was too dark to make out the details but the building was huge. Images of Peter's mansion crept into his mind but even in the dark Stiles could tell that this was totally different. This was an old farm house with warm light shining welcoming through two of the windows, not an impersonal block of ugly architecture out in the woods.
While Stiles was still taking in the surroundings, a wide area dotted with trees and not a hint of civilization beyond the house and the driveway, Derek had opened the trunk to get their bags.
Suddenly the front door flew open and a woman charged out, heading straight for Derek. He calmly put the bags on the ground and closed the lid of the trunk just in time for her attack hug.
Stiles stood awkwardly at the side while Derek and Laura, who else could it be, nuzzled and scented each other.
"I missed you." She said and for a moment they just stood there, embracing each other.
Stiles knew that they were siblings, that they hadn't seen each other in a while and they just really had missed each other but that was only the human part of his brain speaking. Something deeper, more animalistic and definitely new, just wanted to rip the other alpha off of his alpha, his mate. He knew it was stupid but he couldn't help that feeling. And he wasn't even a werewolf.
When they finally let go of each other, they turned to Stiles.
"You must be …"
"This is …"
They spoke at the same time, then stopped and, sharing a glance, waited for the other one to continue speaking. Stiles sighed.
"I'm Stiles." He introduced himself. "Nice to meet you."
"Laura." She said and offered her hand. When Stiles took it, she drew him into a half-hug with her other arm. "Nice to meet you."
She let go of him before it could get awkward.
"You must be hungry and tired from the long ride." She said, already heading back to the house.
Derek rolled his eyes at her but got their bags and followed her towards the warm light shining through the open front door. Stiles just trailed along. He couldn't deny that he was curious, for obvious reasons, he was about to enter an alpha's den, not many humans ever got that honor. At the same time he was a bit wary because, hello, he was about to enter an alpha's den. Not his alpha's, another pack alpha's and that did things to him he couldn't control. He felt somewhat itchy under his skin and he felt a prickle on his neck as if somebody was watching him.
He wondered if Derek felt the same. He was in another alpha's territory without most of his pack. But this was his sister and he had called this place and this pack home for quite a while so maybe he wasn't as wary as Stiles. It did however raise his pride in his mate for visiting his uncle without any backup back when they had first met.
They entered the large kitchen, built for a big family and quite some farm hands, but at this time of the night it was abandoned. Almost.
"Miranda." Derek greeted the woman sitting in a rocking chair at the far end, breast feeding her baby.
"Derek." She smiled at him and didn't seem to be fazed by the fact that Derek and a stranger just had interrupted some quiet mother child time. Stiles could see a little hand and the back of the baby's head dusted with dark hair. This had to be baby Stacy who might be or not be a werewolf.
Once they were alone he would ask Derek when werewolves started to shift. Because as peaceful as this looked, and he was totally not looking, this could turn ugly really quickly if the baby suddenly sprouted fangs. Stiles doubted that fangs came before the human teeth but he would like to know for sure before he let a werewolf baby chew on something.
Derek didn't even hesitate before he went over to shove his nose in Miranda's neck while he gently cradled the baby's head with one hand. Miranda angled her head to give him better access and at the same time she nuzzled Derek's neck.
Werewolf, then, Stiles guessed and fought the urge to intervene. Miranda wasn't an alpha so his instincts weren't screaming that loudly but this was a beta from another pack with her fangs only inches from Derek's jugular. It spoke of Derek's trust in her that he allowed the scenting at all.
"I have stew on the stove, if you want some." Laura was already getting bowls out. "Just a hint, no is not the right answer." She didn't even bother to wait for Stiles' response and a few seconds later he sat at the largest table he'd ever seen with a bowl of steaming stew in front of him. He couldn't quite tell what was in the bowl but it smelled delicious.
"Derek, stop bothering Miranda and sit down." Laura ordered her brother around and after another few huffs to Miranda's neck Derek obeyed.
"How was the ride?" Laura joined them at the table.
"Long as always." Derek answered, is eyebrows telling her how stupid the question was. Stiles guessed that was half the reason she had asked in the first place.
She glanced at Stiles without outright staring at him and he wondered what questions were on her mind. He wasn't sure what Derek had told her, if she knew about the claiming. She probably did, that was part of the reason she wanted to talk to him. Not about Derek claiming him but about her uncle's shitty behavior that had led to it.
However, before she could start asking, Stacy was done eating. Miranda burped her and then joined them at the table, the sleepy baby on her shoulder.
Stiles couldn't help but stare. He was an only child and didn't have extended family. Babies were a rather theoretical concept to him. Like wallabies. He knew they existed, somewhere, but they didn't effect his daily life.
"So you're the one who dares to put up with Derek." Miranda teased fondly.
"I'm not sure who's putting up with who." Derek muttered before Stiles had the chance to answer her.
Stiles only made a half-hearted "hey" at that, his eyes on the baby.
Stacy was smacking her lips and her little hands were twitching as if she was searching for something to hold on to. Stiles was tempted to offer her his finger but wasn't sure if he would cross a line with that. Different packs and all that aside, just going for a child without permission from the mother holding her was just rude. He had never understood people who just shoved their faces into random strollers. And don't get him started on stupid baby language.
"Do you want to hold her for a moment?" Miranda asked.
Stiles recoiled and almost fell of his chair.
"I don't think that's a good idea." He told her. "I tend to drop things. Just ask Derek. The other day I had to clean the whole kitchen because I dropped a glass of orange juice."
"You'll do fine." She assured him and just like that Stiles had a baby in his arms. Stacy looked at him with bleary eyes but her gaze became more focused when she noticed that there was a stranger looking down on her. Stiles held his breath because he was sure that she would start crying any second now. Instead she reached out with a little starfish hand and grabbed his nose.
Chapter 38
Masterpost