Stiles was having a memory. It played in his head slowly and slightly garbled. Snippets of a golden badge that said sheriff. A man with blue eyes and a kind smile. Something felt familiar. Safe.
Then there was a mismatched jaw line and a big goofy grin. They were playing some type of game with sticks and a ball.
Then there was a scarf and curly blond hair.
What was he seeing? He reached out as if trying to grasp the memories. Trying to understand them.
But then suddenly there was blood and pain and ...
Screaming he thrashes away from the memories and scrambles away slamming himself into a corner of the room and huddling down into a crouch as he tried to flinch away from the fear and pain filled memory.
"Stiles!"
His eyes blink open and he sees a blurry figure in front of him. There is something glinting in the light. Something gold. The badge. He lets out a sob of fear and relief as he reaches out grabbing hold of the figure and clinging to them as he touches the badge and murmurs the word. "S-s-safe. S-safe..."
The figure lets out a sob of its own and wraps him in a warm embrace and holds him to his chest. He didn't understand what the figure was saying as it held him and rocked him slowly. "I've got you son. You're safe. I won't let anything happen to you. I love you son. I'm here I've got you."
Stiles closed his eyes and cried into the chest of the man holding him. He felt safe.
...
...
Derek watched from the halway as Stiles finally let his father touch him. Let him hold him. Derek stood there and felt relief fill his being knowing that his- that Stiles was coming back to himself. Slowly but surely. He stood guarding the man that had saved his pack too many times to count. He would do whatever was needed to help him heal.
He suddenly got a text from Deaton.
-peter has an idea. I actually agree with it-
Derek arched a brow in surprise and texted back.
-what is the idea?-
Deaton's text came back quickly.
-let the pack shift around Stiles. See his reaction-
Derek blinked down at his phone.
-what are you up to deaton?-
There was no reply. Derek sighed and then texted the pack to come over later tonight. They would try it and see what happened.
.....
A few hours later Stiles was calmed down and Derek had actually gotten him to come outside into the back yard. But he had only gotten to the back porch before gripping the banister and not coming out onto the grass. Sometimes Stiles got very clingy to the house after a bad memory.
He was holding John's sheriff's badge in his hand. John had handed it to him after Stiles kept touching it and gripping it and mumbling under his breath. Stiles held It to his chest and he wouldn't look out into the night.
Derek heard his pack coming long before they showed up in the back yard. "We are going to shift. All of us. And we are going to see how Stiles reacts to it. Stay still and if he gets frightened just shift back." Derek was still shifted into his half shift.
He looked to each of them and saw that it dawned on them that this might have Stiles see them like he saw Derek and Peter. They all shifted in the next few breaths and stood there watching Stiles as he was looking down at the golden badge in his hand.
Derek turned slowly back to Stiles and let out a growl.
It worked to get his attention. Stiles looked up seeing Derek's shifted face and smiled and mumbled "Wolf." Derek held out a clawed hand and Stiles stepped out and towards Derek. He put the badge in Derek's hand and smiled up at him.
Derek shook his head and pinned the badge to Stiles' shirt. Stiles then smiled brighter as he looked down at it and touched it over his heart.
Suddenly there was a soft whine from somewhere close. Stiles looked up and saw another wolf. Oh there were more. This one had a scarf around his neck and a worried look in his big golden eyes.
Stiles steped over towards this wolf. He heard the whine come from him again. He reached out and touched the soft blond hair and his pointed ear. Stiles petted him softly like he would a puppy.
A whimper came from him and suddenly Stiles was wrapped in long lean arms and the puppy's face was buried in his neck and there was never ending whimpering and whining. He put his arms around the puppy and pet his back and hair trying to calm it down.
"Isaac calm down. Don't frighten him." Wolf was talking but Stiles couldn't really understand what he was saying yet.
"I can't... I can't let go..." The puppy was crying into his shoulder.
Stiles didn't know what was going on but he did know that the puppy was sad and that made him want to make it happy. So he turned his face into the side of the puppy's face and nuzzled it. "Shhh." He made a shushing noise and petted the puppy.
The puppy leaned back so he could look into Stiles eyes and there were tears streaming down his cheeks. Stiles wiped them away and pressed his forehead to the puppy's and held him.
Derek stood back watching. He felt warm and cold at the same time. Derek understood what Deaton was wanting to do. To see if it was Stiles mind reacting to them or his spark.
It was the spark. The spark inside Stiles was connected powerfully to the pack. Seeing them as shifted were's was the only way to wake Stiles from his walking fugue.
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to be continued
