Archive of Our Own ^beta

When they get asked about how they fell in love, they always give the same answer: It just happened. Stiles doesn't know the exact point his heart understood that his adoration for Lydia was nothing more than the crush of a young teenage boy and realized that he has actually loved someone else for a long time, that he loved Derek. He just woke up one day and knew that living without Derek wasn't something he wanted to do. Ever. Derek on the other hand swears that he noticed his feelings for Stiles grow steadily, until he couldn't deny it anymore, as much as he wanted to. But how they finally managed to get together? Well, it just happened.

_______________

They are not sure how they even start their relationship; it’s something else that just happened along the way, just another change that happened gradually without them fully noticing. A change that began with Stiles’ hoodies on Derek’s couch and ended with his clothes in their joint bedroom. Stiles remembers the moment when he first noticed that he was possibly, maybe falling for Derek…falling hard. It’s not one of those moments where secret lovers stare into each other’s eyes and realize they feel the same way, quite the opposite really because Stiles realized he cared about Derek a lot more than he wanted to let on when they are fighting about cushions in the middle of Ikea.

They had already decided on a new couch for the newly renovated Hale house after Derek finally gave in to his pack’s wishes. He’d never thought about decorating it before, never thought he’d stay long enough for it to make a difference. Now there was not only him in the house but Erica and Isaac and Boyd too. Lydia and Allison made themselves at home in Erica’s room, having sleepover parties almost every weekend. His cousin, Malia, had her own room too although she had taken up a habit of staying over at Kira’s place. Scott, as the pack’s alpha, was around often and with Scott came Stiles, of course. And then there was Peter, too, who had finally found a way back to being normal (or at least a bit more normal than before) and was travelling around the world with Cora. They sometimes came around to visit the rest of the pack; there was an undecorated room in the house ready for whenever Cora decided that she wanted to come back to stay.

So that’s how Stiles convinced Derek to go to Ikea in the first place. Derek had taken the pack to the shop in his ‘soccer mum car’, as Stiles liked to call it, and they spread out in different sections. The betas (they weren’t really his betas anymore but he still liked to think they were) went off to choose their own furniture and decorations for their rooms. Allison, Kira and Lydia had tagged along with Erica and Malia. Scott had followed Isaac around like a shadow, looking at him like he’d hung the moon all by himself, which left Stiles, who had stood next to him, looking into every possible direction except for his. Derek hadn’t said anything and Stiles had just strolled along beside him.
“So, uhm…what are we getting? What are we decorating?” Stiles had asked after a few seconds of silence and Derek had shrugged.

“I don’t know, guess we’ll start with the living room?” he’d said.

Deciding on a couch had been easy and they’d quickly agreed that fabric in a dark colour was probably the most fitting because of all the blood stains and dirt they all carried into the house on a daily basis. They’d chosen a big, family-sized, dark couch pretty quickly and after that; things just went on easily between them because it turned out that they agreed about a lot of furniture choices… which brought them to the moment Stiles so distinctly remembers.

He remembers the warmth, standing next to Derek in the bed section, trying to explain why a pillow with medium hardness was the best choice while Derek stubbornly refused to even hear him.

“Stiles, I want my pillow to be soft and I don’t care if you think I will suffocate in my sleep because I won’t, okay? I will not get killed by my pillow.” Derek groans and gives Stiles a confused look.

Stiles sighed. “But listen, if the pillow is too hard, you can never relax your neck and god knows you need to relax for once in your life. You always act like you have a stick up your butt, seriously, one would think your neck was stuck like that. So a hard pillow is definitely the wrong choice beca-”

“Which is why I want a soft one, we already discussed that.” Derek interrupted him and Stiles threw his head back in agony.

“Yes but a soft one is way too dangerous, dude. Do you know how many people were already suffocated in their sleep because a soft, mushy pillow just swallowed their face?”

Derek groaned again and stared at Stiles. “No, and I actually don’t care. I just want a soft pillow, end of discussion.”

Derek picked up three pillows and put them in the wagon that was filled with various decorations and some parts for the new coffee table he’d already decided to buy. He stopped for a moment when he heard Stiles let out a sigh. Stiles smelt genuinely worried and tense. Derek looked back at him.

“Fine.” he then said and put two of the soft cushions back to exchange them for harder ones. Stiles smiled behind him, the smell of relief waved off of him. Derek shook his head, still confused, wondering why Stiles was so scared of him suffocating in his sleep.

“If I don’t get any sleep at night, it will be your fault.” He says and pushes the cart forward.

“But Derek…Derek…hey…don’t walk away. Trust me, you don’t want fluffy pillows. You made the right decision.”

Derek only heard Stiles from far back, having already walked away to flee this unnecessary discussion. Stiles looked after him, still smiling, ignoring the nagging question of why he was so relieved that Derek wouldn’t die in his sleep. He told himself that he only cared about Derek getting a good night’s sleep because they were friends now and friends wanted each other to have nice pillows. He knew he was lying as soon as Derek turned around to wave him along. He cared about Derek Hale but not just because they were friends.

_______________

It gradually changed after their little fight at Ikea. For some reason Stiles had decided that the Hale house was his new favorite place, Derek blames the new couch they chose. He doesn’t mind Stiles’ company though, quite the opposite, he finds himself enjoying it. Most of the times Stiles brings his homework and comes to sit in the new library right after school. Stiles says that the smell of all the old books that Peter brought in from god knows where relaxed him and made it easier for him to concentrate on his work. Derek nods because he feels the same. He loves the smell of the books, the feel of the old paper against his fingers and the silence in the big room. It reminds him of the past, when he’d done his own homework in this very room just a few years ago. He sits in the library in silence with Stiles, who rarely says a word when they are in there. Maybe he doesn’t want to destroy the silence, maybe he just feels that this place is sacred to Derek and doesn’t want to ruin it. Derek knows that Stiles picks up on things like that, he wouldn’t be surprised if Stiles knew what this room meant to him.

The rest of the house starts to smell like Stiles too, not because he’s always around but because he leaves things. It’s almost like he does it on purpose, just to have a reason to come back. Derek asks himself why Stiles feels like he needs a reason to be here, when everybody else waltzes in all the time like it’s their place. In a way, it is their place, too. It’s the pack house, not Derek’s, at least that’s how he felt about it. The rest of the pack seems to think so too but Stiles…Stiles is different. He leaves little clues around the house, just so he can come back and pick them up. Just so he can come back. Derek wonders why.

He picks up Stiles’ red hoodie from the couch one day and brings it back to Stiles’ house only to find Stiles lying outside on his roof, staring at the sky. He’s wearing a different hoodie and doesn’t even look up when he hears Derek climb up. Derek sits down next to him, holds out the red piece of fabric.

“I brought your hoodie.” He says and Stiles nods.

“I totally forgot about it but I would have come around tomorrow to get it. You didn’t need to bring it over…but thanks.” Stiles rushes out and gives him a little smile before he stares back at the sky.

“It’s okay, I wanted to go for a walk anyway.” Derek follows Stiles’ eyes and sees something move in the skies. “Are those shooting stars?”

Stiles smiles softly again. “There’s a string of comets passing earth tonight, that’s why I left the pack meeting early today. I wanted to see them.”

Derek doesn’t say anything but continues to stare up in the sky. He’s never seen Stiles this relaxed and quiet except for the times he does his homework in the library. Something about this side of Stiles interests him. Maybe it’s because Stiles normally talks a mile a minute that Derek misses his voice, misses his thoughts and opinions. He feels like he’s missing a big part of the puzzle that is Stiles while being right next to him and he feels weird about it. He wants to know why Stiles is up here, all quiet and alone. He wants to know why Stiles leaves things at his place, wants to know why he spends his time in the library quietly working alongside him. He wants to know all the things that move and make Stiles.

“My mum used to be pretty interested in astrology. She showed me all the different constellations and on the weekends we often looked out for shooting stars all night while dad was at work until I fell asleep in her lap.” Stiles eventually says, but there’s no indication of sadness.

Derek reaches out to put his hand on Stiles, squeezes it lightly because he knows that sometimes memories like this hurt more than they should. Stiles smiles at him, squeezes back but doesn’t move away. Derek slides down a bit to lie down too. For a second he stares at Stiles but doesn’t say anything. He knows that whatever he’d say wouldn’t help Stiles. Words never help, he knows it firsthand. So he stays silent, holding onto Stiles’ hand and staring at the sky with him.

Nothing happens for a few minutes, it’s just the wind in the trees and the stars in the skies, until a dozen lights glides through the dark and Derek can’t help but let out a sigh because it’s beautiful.

“Make a wish.” Derek whispers and looks over at Stiles, who’s suddenly really close.

“It’s a comet, not a shooting star, but I’ll still make one.” Stiles smiles and closes his eyes.

Derek looks back up at the dark night sky, suddenly feeling vulnerable looking at Stiles up close like this while they are still holding hands. Stiles moves beside him and Derek can feel him look away.

“You don’t need to leave things to have permission to come back to the house, you know?” Derek says after a while and he feels Stiles move again next to him. He looks back over at him and sees him grin up at the sky.

“I know.” Stiles says. He puts his head closer to Derek’s, rests his head on his shoulder.

“This okay?” he asks. Derek nods. It’s okay. It’s more than okay.

He wonders how the light in the sky knew that this is what he wished for when even he didn’t know it.

_______________

After that night on the roof, things are different between them. Suddenly there’s hidden glances and secret smiles. Their touches become electric and there are sparks whenever their hands meet when they do the dishes. It’s not a bad feeling, Derek decides. He likes it, he likes it a lot. He especially likes the slight blush that creeps up Stiles’ cheeks whenever Derek catches him staring during a pack meeting.

Derek is no idiot, he knows what this means. He knows what’s happening and he thinks it’s been happening since the very first day they met. He’s pretty sure that whatever is happening now hasn’t started that night on the roof, it had been there from the very beginning. And he’s also sure that his feelings for Stiles had been very clear to him for a long time but he’d chosen to ignore them, to fight against them…until now. He was tired of fighting, tired of denying himself something good. Everybody had already noticed, he’d heard Erica whisper about it to Isaac at the dinner table and Lydia had had the guts to ask Derek himself, warning him that if he hurt Stiles she would stomp all over him in her Jimmy Choo Stilettos.

So yes, Derek is ready to take the next step. He is ready to talk to Stiles about whatever is happening between them and it seems like the chance has finally arrived when Stiles stays back after another pack evening to do the dishes. Isaac has gone over to have a ‘sleepover’ at Scott’s and Boyd has taken Erica on a date to the cinema. Malia hasn’t stayed in her room for weeks, Derek is actually quite sure she lives at the Yukimura house now but he hasn’t asked her yet. He feels that she’ll tell him whenever she is ready. The house is empty apart from them and Derek walks into the kitchen, carrying in the last plates from the dining room. Stiles turns round to him at the sink, blushes and turns back. Derek clears his voice as he puts down the dishes and walks over to stand next to Stiles.

“Stiles, I think we should talk.” he says, his voice steady but nervous nonetheless.

Stiles puts the plates he’d just been cleaning back in the sink and turns around. He swallows as he stares at Derek, his hands are shaking and Derek feels the urge to take them into his. There’s the smell off anxiety in the air so Derek decides to make this a quick deal and just say what wanted to say when Stiles takes a deep breath.

“Okay, listen, Derek, I know what you are gonna say. I know I’m younger than you and you’re werewolf and I know you had really bad luck in the past but I don’t care, okay? I…I want you and I have wanted you for a very, very long time now. I didn’t realize it before, not until that night when that stupid harpy got you and nearly ripped you to pieces. I thought you were dead, I thought I’d seen you die. I thought…I didn’t know you were alive but then you were and I was so fucking relieved. I woke up the next morning, remembering that night and I thought to myself that I couldn’t deal with you dying. Ever. I wouldn’t know what to do because I…because I care about you and I care if you live or die. I care if you are sleeping well and eating well and if you are sad or happy. I just…I care about you constantly.”

There’s a slight pause and Derek thinks he should say something, wants to say something but all he can squeeze out is a whispered “Stiles” because he doesn’t know what else to say. He had it all thought out, he’d prepared what he’d say but he hadn’t planned for Stiles to be quicker than him.

“Please…Derek…please don’t shoot this down because I know there are about five hundred reasons this is a bad idea but I only care about the five million reasons we should be together anyway. You know we’re supposed to be together. I knew it the first time I saw you, and you knew it, too. I know you do.” Stiles breathes and suddenly he’s so close, almost as close as that night on the roof.

Derek opens his mouth, closes it again. He’s speechless. All the words he prepared are blown away because Stiles has already said it all. So he nods, like he always does, let’s his eyes speak instead of his mouth, like he always does and Stiles understands…like he always does.

Derek puts his hand on Stiles cheek, slides his thumb over his lips and steps closer.

“I do know.” he says. “My wolf knew the minute I saw you, I was just too stubborn to listen.”

Their first kiss is the exact opposite of what he expected. It’s not filled with passion, not hot or wet or fast. It’s soft and gentle, testing, teasing but firm and sure. It’s perfect. It’s everything he didn’t know he needed.

______________

It’s far from perfect after that, even though the Sheriff reluctantly agrees with their relationship. People on the streets stare at them with judging eyes; they whisper things about them as soon as they have passed. Stiles squeezes his hand tighter, kisses his cheek on purpose just to show them how little he cares. Derek hates the stares, hates the whispers but most of all he hates that little voice in his head that tells him Stiles is going to get tired of this, is going to get annoyed by all of the people telling lies about them, about him.
He tells Stiles one night, tells him that he thinks they should break up because he doesn’t want people to think Stiles has anything to do with the things they put on him. He tells him he’s scared that Stiles will one day wake up and realize that he hates walking along the streets with piercing stares following them at every step.
Stiles kisses his neck, pulls Derek in closer and kisses his hair. He whispers praises into Derek’s skin like a prayer and Derek believes every word. He knows that Stiles would never lie to him.

“When you love someone, you just don’t stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy… even then. Especially then!” Stiles says and gently holds Derek until he falls asleep.

Derek feels safer when he wakes up and with every day the stares get milder, the whispers quiet down. After a few months, people even smile at them.

_______________

Almost half a year into their relationship the harpy that nearly killed Derek comes back and for some reason it seems to be much stronger than last time. Derek ducks away as the creature claws at him, shrieking voice echoing through the tunnels. He can hear Scott from far away, running after them. Stiles is right ahead of him, running for his life but always looking back to Derek, making sure he’s still behind him.

“Derek…Derek come on, there’s a door. If we are quick enough we can lock ourselves in here for a little while until the others have the elixir ready.”
Derek speeds up, trailing after Stiles. The harpy has ripped open his left leg, he feels it healing slowly but painfully. His heart is beating in his chest and he feels tired but he keeps on running, following Stiles’ voice.

At last a door closes behind him and he hears another shriek as the harpy runs into it with full force. Stiles is heaving heavily next to him, heart and mind racing. He smells scared and tired and exhausted and…angry. Really, really angry.

“I can’t believe you did this, Derek.” he presses out, his voice almost as sharp as the harpy’s claws. “I can’t believe you lied to me about this. I asked you not to do anything stupid, to not put yourself in harm’s way this time because this fucking bitch almost got you once already and what do you do? You just vanish in the dead of night to fight this thing alone? What is wrong with you? Do you have a death wish?”

Stiles is staring at him angrily. That little vein on his forehead pulses, his eyes are dark with fury.

“I wasn’t alone, Scott and Isaac were with me. Scott called me and told me that Lydia had been kidnapped. I didn’t want to wake you, we didn’t know it would attack us outside of the house. We just went outside to discuss things, to make a plan to get Lydia back as quickly as possible. I was gonna go wake you and then it all happened so fast, there was no time.” Derek explains and Stiles lets out a laugh that sounds more like a shout of frustration to Derek.

“No time? There was no time? What the fuck, Derek? Why did you even leave the bedroom without me? Why didn’t you wake me in the first place? Lydia is my best friend, next to Scott. I care about her too and you don’t have the right to decide what I should or should not hear or discuss. I am a part of this pack, too, accept it or don’t but don’t keep me out of things. If you don’t want me in this pack anymore, then tell me and I will leave.”

Derek lets out a shocked breath and feels himself crumble. “I…no…I don’t want you to leave, Stiles. I would never want you to leave. I know you are part of the pack, I just…I-“

“Then treat me like it, Derek. Treat me like a part of the pack instead of a porcelain doll. If you want me to be part of this then let me be a part of it. Don’t just run off without me, don’t exclude me from conversations, don’t tell me lie to me, don’t leave me alone in our bed worrying about you.”

There’s tears running down Stiles’ face and Derek isn’t sure if he is crying because of him or because the whole situation is overwhelming right now.

“I just wanted to protect you.” Derek whispers and Stiles lets out something that sounds like a sob.

“You always want to protect me. That’s what you always say. You want to protect me but you won’t let me protect myself. You don’t give me a chance to protect you. You never give me a choice.” Stiles says and Derek swallows.

He didn’t think about it. Not really. He always thought he knew what he was doing. He was protecting Stiles; he never thought it might hurt Stiles so much.

“I am sorry, Stiles.”

Stiles lets out a broken sigh and walks a bit closer to Derek, close enough to reach out and touch his chest right over his heart. He pressed his hand against his ribcage, felt Derek’s heartbeat for a bit before he sighed again.

“Do you know what it feels like to wake up alone in a giant bed in a dark room when you fall asleep in the arms of the person you love, only to hear them shout for help outside your window? I thought you were dying, I thought I’d lose you this time, for sure. I didn’t know what to do, so I called Erica and Boyd but by the time they got to the house, you were already gone. I didn’t know where, I could only hear you but I couldn’t locate you. I was fucking helpless, listening to you dying…or at least I thought you were dying.”

Another tear rolls down Stiles’ cheek and Derek catches it with his thumb.

“I am sorry” he says again and Stiles puts his head against Derek’s chest.

“Please don’t make me feel this way again, Derek. Include me. Trust me to be strong enough to protect myself. Let’s protect each other, okay? Together.”

“Together. I promise.”

Derek wraps his arms around Stiles and they stand there, hugging in the dark room of the tunnels. Outside they can hear Scott and Boyd give them a sign that the harpy is now eliminated.

Stiles lifts his head and looks up at Derek.

“You know, I am still mad at you. Very mad. But when this is over, we should really have angry sex.”

Derek grins and kisses Stiles forehead. Stiles steps back and opens the door. Scott gives him a disgusted look and Stiles just knows that he’d heard his comment about the angry sex. Stiles considers it payback for all the times Scott told him about Allison…or Isaac.

_______________

Only a few days after their spring wedding Erica and Boyd announced their pregnancy.

“My pregnancy!” Erica said and Boyd nodded quickly.

“Of course, you are pregnant and I am just the sperm donor.”

Erica giggled.

_______________

Lucy, Erica & Boyd’s child, was a beautiful young girl and grew up really fast. She was a born wolf, of course, but they got her under control really well with Derek’s help.
Stiles fell in love with the little girl immediately, as did Derek. Erica and Boyd chose Derek as Lucy’s godfather and Stiles could see that Derek had lied when he’d said he wasn’t good with kids. Derek was a natural with kids and Stiles loved watching him.

Over the years Lucy stayed at their house a lot. Erica’s room had been remodeled into Lucy’s room, just in case she wanted to have a sleepover at their house.

It’s Halloween when Derek comes home from a run and hears Lucy laugh hysterically from the bedroom. Just mere seconds after he hears a frustrated groan from Stiles.

“Lucy, this is not funny. Come on and help Uncle Stiles get out of this thing.”

Lucy giggles even more and Derek can’t help but grin. At least Stiles didn’t seem to be hurt, it couldn’t be that bad. He walks up the stairs to Lucy’s bedroom only to see her rolling around on the floor, laughing happily.

“Uncle Delek, Uncle ‘tiles is a ghost.” She giggles and Derek starts laughing when he sees Stiles’ from under the huge, white duvet, wiggling around wildly.

“Derek is that you? Are you there?” he asks and Derek laughs even more. “Oh my god, this is not funny. I tried to change the duvet and I got stuck when I tried to entertain Lucy. I can’t get out of this, I can’t find the opening anymore.”

Derek picks Lucy up from the floor and pops her up on his side.

“Do you want to help Uncle Stiles, Lucy?” he asks and Lucy shakes her head.

“Nooooo, Uncle ‘tiles is ghost now. He’s funny.” she laughs

“Well, you heard the lady, Stiles. Seems like you need to live your life as a ghost now.”

Stiles groans under the blanket cover. Derek kisses Lucy’s head and puts her on the bed.

“I think Uncle Stiles has been a ghost long enough. I think I like him better when he’s just Uncle Stiles.”

Lucy pouted for a few second and nodded reluctantly. “Al’ight.”

Derek grabbed the duvet on the bottom, looking for the opening and then pushed it over Stiles head. Stiles’ face was beet red, he huffed when he finally got out. Derek’s grin got wider.

“Boo!” he said and kissed Stiles nose.

“I seriously hate you.” Stiles huffed.

He kissed Derek anyway.

_______________

It’s a sunny day in July, two years after they had their first kiss, when Stiles can finally call Derek his husband. Officially with a wedding ceremony and all. They are not the first ones to get married, Erica and Boyd tied the knot way before them almost the minute they were out of school. Lydia has met some new deputy that Stiles actually learned to like a lot and he couldn’t even say he had been surprised when Lydia had come around one day with a sparkling ring on her finger.

“It doesn’t have to be right away…it’s more like a promise.” she’d said. Lydia still doesn’t have a date for the wedding but she has a dress that she had chosen together with Stiles and Allison.

The wedding ceremony had everyone in tears, including the Sheriff. The girls looked beautiful in their bridesmaid dresses. Stiles couldn’t choose just one of them to be his maid, so he chose all of them. Derek had agreed to pay for all of their dresses and had later on proceeded to put all of the guys into tuxes. Danny had been invited to the wedding and Stiles was really surprised he actually agreed to come. He hadn’t seen the guy in ages.

“So, you are marrying your cousin Miguel?” Danny asked, a grin on his face.

“Looks like it.” Stiles said and shrugged. “Guess the heart wants what the heart wants.”

Later on, when the ceremony was over, Derek and Stiles danced their first dance as a married couple and Stiles can’t remember ever feeling this happy before. Derek looks handsome in his suit, even more handsome than normal and he can feel the happiness radiating all around him. He looks around, sees his father dance with Melissa and smiles even more. For some reason, everything has turned out perfect. Erica and Boyd were giggling like teenagers in a corner; Allison was dancing with Scott and Isaac, smiling brightly. Lydia was happily chatting away with Parrish who looked like every word she said revealed a new miracle to him. Danny had snatched Cora from the seats and swung her around the dancefloor gracefully. Kira was awkwardly dancing around Malia, who smiled fondly at her girlfriend. Peter was chatting to some ladies from town at the tables, drinking water after deciding that he wanted to stay clear from alcohol as it made his mind blurry.

He looked back at Derek, only to see him staring at him with a dreamy smile on his face.

“What?” Stiles asked.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Derek smiled and Stiles laughed.

“And you are a sap.” he grinned.

Everything was perfect.

_______________

It turns out that after only a few months their life became even more perfect. Stiles had been feeling weird for days, his appetite had changed and he’d felt this sickness in the morning that he can’t explain until suddenly he can. He talks to Erica about it and when she says that she felt exactly the same way when she was pregnant with Lucy, it all seemed so clear to Stiles. They haven’t talked about kids yet but Stiles knows that Derek wants some, probably more than one. Stiles wants children too, so it’s not like he’d be opposed to them. It’s still a surprise to him. They didn’t plan this at all. It just…happened. He stands up without finishing his cake and drives home, buys three pregnancy tests on the way.
At home he locks himself in the bathroom, even though Derek is at work. He unwraps all the tests at once and pees on the strips. He waits. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. When his timer beeps he’s at the other end of the room, stuck-still. He doesn’t know why he’s scared. He knows this won’t change anything. Yes, they hadn’t planned on getting kids right away. They hadn’t talked about it but he just knows this won’t ruin anything. He doesn’t know why he’s so fucking scared anyway.

Slowly he walks over to the sink, his eyes closed. It takes him half a minute before he’s brave enough to blink and one blink is enough to see the result. Every single test says the same. Positive. A pink plus. Pregnant. He swallows and puts his hand on his stomach.

There’s a child inside of him. A little human being is growing inside of him. Derek’s and his little human. He smiles at himself in the mirror. This is a good thing, he knows it. He knows this is the right time. Where there was anxiety and worry only minutes before a calm feeling settles in. He wants this.

There’s a noise at the door, keys in the lock and he knows Derek is home, still he can’t get himself to move away from the mirror. He turns to the side to see if there was already a bump he could show off but his stomach was still flat as always.

“Stiles?” he heard Derek ask in the living room.

“Up in the bathroom.”

He hears Derek walk up the stairs.

“Hey, what are you doing up here?” he asks as he comes through the door and Stiles turns around to look at him.

“Stiles, is everything alright? You look a bit green in the face. Are you feeling sick again?”

There’s worry written all over Derek’s face and Stiles lets out a small, happy laugh.

“I am fine, Derek. I am perfectly fine.” he grins.

Derek gives him a weird look and nods. “Uhm…okay…so…are you coming down for dinner then? I brought Chinese.”

Stiles can’t stop smiling, he feels like it’s bursting out of him.

“Derek,” he finally says. “Derek, I am pregnant.”

For a moment, every emotion falls from Derek’s face. His mouth is open, his eyes are wide and Stiles can’t read if Derek is happy or shocked or sad before a smile spreads on his face that Stiles swears is brighter than the sun.

“You are pregnant?” Derek asks and Stiles just nods happily. “Oh my god, you are pregnant. I can’t believe it. This is…this is amazing. I can’t…oh wow.”

Derek laughs and wraps his arms around Stiles tightly.

“You are amazing.” he whispers. “And I love you. I love you so much, Stiles.”

He kisses Stiles passionately; right on the mouth and Stiles can’t help but laugh out loud in happiness. Everything seems overwhelming; he doesn’t know what else to do but smile. Derek kneels down before him, puts his hands on Stiles’ stomach and strokes over it.

“Hello little one. We can’t wait to meet you…” he says and Stiles nearly cries because he’s never seen anything better than this.

“I love you, Derek.” he sniffs and Derek kisses his stomach.

“I love you, too. Both of you.”

_______________
Stiles grows heavy and round pretty quickly and soon he had to do his work from home. He writes some articles; starts writing a new book and Derek makes sure Stiles eats healthy all the time. He cooks for Stiles and makes him smoothies. He even runs him baths whenever Stiles complains about his swollen feet or his stinging back.

“Just relax, I’ll wash your hair for you.” Derek says as he guides Stiles down into the bathtub.

He gently rubs his fingers into Stiles’ scalp, massaging the shampoo into his hair, trying to make Stiles feel as relaxed as possible.

“You are the best husband ever, Derek.” Stiles mumbles, half asleep already.

Derek rinses out the shampoo and then pulls Stiles out of the bathroom to dry him off carefully. When he’s done, he picks Stiles up and carries him into the bedroom, putting him to bed and wrapping the blankets around him. He kisses his head and then his stomach before lying down next to him in their bed.

_______________

It’s the 3rd of May when Stiles finally gives birth to Claudia Stilinski-Hale. He cusses at Derek, tells him everything is his fault and afterwards he cries that he loves him forever. Claudia is a loud baby, a born wolf, too. Stiles and Derek spend the entire night and the following day staring at her. The Sheriff comes to meet his granddaughter, Scott follows suit because he’s the godfather and also Stiles’ brother (even in law now, because the Sheriff and Melissa got married). Scott coos at her, takes her off Derek and takes a walk with her around the hospital so Derek and Stiles can sleep. They cuddle up in the hospital bed, holding hands and fall asleep almost instantly. Scott shows Claudia to Allison, Isaac and his mum (who has already seen her of course because she helped Stiles give birth to her.) When he brings her back, her parents are already waiting for her impatiently.

Over the next days the whole pack comes around to meet her, bearing gifts and flowers for Stiles. Erica gives her Lucy’s first mobile to put above her bed, Allison made her a little necklace and Isaac gives them a handmade scarf for when she is a bit older and it’s getting cold again. Scott had taken up a habit of bringing around stuff every time he comes around. He brings stuffed animals and little socks with wolves on them. Lydia has already thought of the future and brings a dozens of baby books with her.

“Just in case she’s a genius.” she smiles.

After a week Stiles and Derek can take her home to the house, into her new room. Derek has built a crib for her, all by himself and a table to change her nappies, too.
The first few nights are rough but Stiles wouldn’t have it any other way. They take turns getting up to look after her but sometimes Stiles can’t fall asleep again so he joins Derek and watches him sing to Claudia. They watch her sleep together.

Stiles tries to remember how this started. When he first realized that he loved Derek but he can’t remember. He thinks he always has and it’s probably true. He doesn’t know though. He doesn’t know how it came to this. It just happened. Everything just happened.

And everything happened perfectly.