You've got the love I need to see me through - Baby in the Pack

1

Derek is doing the dishes with Stiles that Saturday night. It's the first weekend of summer break and the whole pack is home for the summer. The ones that left for university anyway, the ones that went to the local community college in town never left, of course. Erica and Boyd share a small apartment in town and Isaac still lives with Mrs. McCall most of the time. Weekends are for pack, though, and the large Hale house in the woods is filled with young adults in high spirits. Derek feels the strong connections between him and his pack, wolves and humans alike. It makes his chest expand and his body sing; he feels like running, racing through the woods of the Preserve. There's an energy to him that needs to be unleashed, whether it's by running, fighting or fucking. He hasn't had to fight a real fight in a long time and with his pack home he will not go looking for a one night stand in some bar. Not with his loved ones reunited again, not with how happy everyone is to be together once more.

"Earth to Sourwolf," Stiles teases, splashing some soapy suds on him. They have a dishwasher, yet after the copious homecoming meal they had not everything fit inside the machine, even though Derek purchased the largest model. It's so big, Derek often washes his dishes by hand if it's just him and Malia in the house. Even when Isaac stays over they rarely have enough dishes to warrant starting up the machine. It gets used a lot on the weekends though. Tonight Stiles offered to wash if Derek dried. He took the opportunity to update his Alpha on his secondary studies: his training to be the pack's emissary. "Am I boring you?"

Derek realises he'd zoned out. "No, sorry, I -"

"Feeling a bit jittery, huh?" The younger man smirks at him as he plunges his hands in the warm water again. He nods when Derek makes an agreeing sound. "A good run with the pack will fix that."

Stiles always knows how to read him, and it's not just because he's a perfect study in the non-verbal language of Hale Eyebrows (his words, not Derek's). He feels like Stiles knows him, understands him, even back when he didn't understand himself yet. He's come a long way since then, having his own pack grounds him, gives him a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging.
And once he had solid ground beneath his feet, felt like he could stand on his own two feet without having to tread water all the time, he started to give back that sense of security to the people who gave it to him. He offered his first three Betas a solid base to fall back on, left them free to explore the world and made sure they knew they could always count on him to be there for them, only to find they never wanted to go far at all. And for the ones that did, like Lydia and Jackson who went to college at the other side of the country, he made sure to keep in touch, to keep them involved in the things going on in Beacon Hills. He found a way to broker peace with his uncle, clearing up their communication as much as possible. Peter would always be a sly one, yet Derek can honestly say nowadays he can trust him to always have the pack's best interest at heart. Thanks to Stiles' relentless efforts he and Scott were also able to finally bury the hatchet between them. The True Alpha has his own small pack with Allison, his mom and a young teen called Liam, but still defers to Derek when there is any supernatural trouble.
Not that there was much trouble to speak of, not for the last year or two. Sometimes Derek dared to think things were like they were back when his mother was still Alpha of Beacon Hills. Even better maybe, with the Argent family firmly in their corner.

Derek watches the younger man next to him fondly, pressing their shoulders companionably together when he takes a wet plate from Stiles to dry. He never would have made it to where he is now without this stubborn, brave human. Derek owes him so much, if not everything.

Stiles glances back at him, huffing a laugh when he sees how Derek's watching him. "Such a fucking marshmallow," the young man whispers quietly, more to his own ears than Derek's. Derek hears him anyway.

An hour later everybody is gathered on the front porch of the house. The werewolves are all barefooted and bare chested, except for the girls. Not that Erica is wearing a lot, opting to go for just a sports bra and foregoing covering up with a top like Malia. The humans are dressed in track clothes and running shoes. Derek is still wearing his jeans, but he'll be losing that soon when he changes to his four legged form. He's not the only one of the pack who can, yet he's the only one who will. Being stuck as a coyote for years has made Malia hesitant of transforming fully. Or, as she prefers to explain it: "I've had my fair share of being furry already."

Derek looks out over his pack, the young adults that have been through so much and pulled through. They're all here, except for Peter. Derek knows his uncle will drop by later, unannounced yet not unexpected. And there's Cora, his younger sister. She's still with her pack in South America, but she'll visit like she does every summer. He's supposed to pick her up from the airport in a week.

"Ready, big guy?" Stiles appears at his shoulder, giving him an anticipating grin.

Derek throws his head back in response and howls. It's not the full moon but his pack is here, they're all here and he feels the Alpha energy coursing through his veins. The other wolves join his cry and even the humans join their voices with the rest. The Hale Pack is home.

Author's note:
Hi! Welcome to the story! :-) I hope you'll like it, but it has cute babies, cute Derek and cute Stiles, so what's not to love? :-D 
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