I'll Always Know It's From You (A Sterek Novella)

Chapter 16

Derek's POV

December 20th - 5 days until Christmas

A couple days later, Stiles went over to Scott's house to help him make the house Christmas-like while Melissa is at work her shift at the hospital a double.

So Sheriff and I decided to do some wrapping of Christmas presents. Well it was his idea, but I have to wrap Stiles' gift too, since there's less than a week until the special day, December 25th.

Plus I need some help.

It's been over 6 years since I've done shit like this.

And yes I'm admitting to needing help.

Shut up.

"Derek!"

Bringing my attention back to the task at hand, I run down the stairs, gift in hands, to meet Mr. Stilinski in the kitchen, wrapping paper and other wrapping necessities strewn over the table.

"I was wondering for a minute if you abandoned me when you went upstairs."

Setting my gift that need writing on the table, my features contort, resulting in a weird look towards the Sheriff.

"And how would I have been able to do that?"

I earn a "Seriously?" look. "Oh come on, you could probably fit through the window, jump down, and I would never see you again. As a cop, things like these run through my head, it happens." He shrugs at the end, a quick laugh exiting his mouth.

"As a werewolf, I could do that, but as a human being and your son's boyfriend whose house is here, I would never do that. Plus I enjoy spending time here with you too much." I lug him in the shoulder comically, grinning and winking at him.

Sheriff laughs and shakes his head in response. "Alright lover boy, keep your heart eyes away from me and keep them towards my son. We have things to do."

"You need to get new jokes there Pops."

"If you call me Pops again I won't be afraid to arrest you. I won't care about animal abuse."

He shoots me a look, a serious one. He holds the look for about 5 seconds before the look drops, and his lips curl up into a smile, a laugh escaping his mouth.

Mr. Stilinski's laugh is infectious. "You can never really be serious, can you?"

Grinning, he shrugs as he picks up the plastic bags of Stiles' stocking stuff. "Guess we know where Stiles gets it, now don't we? Ya learn something new every day."

"I guess so. Now how do we go about this wrapping thing correctly?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After about 10 attempts and an entire roll of wrapping paper, I finally got Stiles' gift right.

"It still looks pretty shitty there Pops."

Stilinski looks down at the wrapped gift, a smile on his face. "It actually looks better than how Stiles used to wrap gifts. We're lucky I bought extra wrapping paper. I guess I had a feeling we would be needing it. But don't feel bad, it looks really good. He'll never know what it is!"

I look down at the poorly, but attempted, wrapped gift, a small smile pulling at my lips. "Yeah, you're right. And if he guesses what it is before he wraps it, I'll strangle him."

"Derek, I don't think violence is the right answer for that."

I shrug, picking up the gift and grinning anyway. "I'll strangle him with love. Make you feel better?"