The Immortal Queen

Chapter 4

No matter how much she wanted to stay and try to regain every lost moment during childhood with him, she couldn't help but remind herself that she couldn't. She was a woman, not a child. Even if she was still just 16.

Although, it wasn't just that. She was afraid. Afraid that after getting to know him, she'll loose her respect for her mother, and that was something she didn't want. She loved her mother and respected her decisions and never had dared questioned her. She didn't want to start now.

However, sitting here looking at her father, she could tell her mother had run away from something special. She didn't know how she knew it, but she believed it blindly. He was the true source of what could have been her mother's true happiness, and she had walked away from it.

"Are you alright?" Derek couldn't help but ask. He had been pulled from his troubled thoughts by his daughters rising heartbeat. It was panicked, racing faster yet oddly calming as fast as he had spoken.

"I'm alright, father. I was just thinking of mother and how mad she'll be," Scarlett said truthfully, there was no point in hiding her emotions. He would have been able to pick up on it anyways, but it hadn't been a total lie. Her mother really worried her. What would she do when she finally decided to　return home? She'd probably forever forbid her from leaving again, yet she wasn't sure she would obey. She had met her father, and wanted to continue knowing him. She still wanted her opportunity to have a father like her siblings had the luxury of knowing.

"Dad, what happened between you and mom?" Scarlett said almost without realizing it. She wasn't sure that what she had asked had been what she had meant to ask. She knew what had happened between them, her mother had told her, herself. She supposed she wanted to know her father's side of the story, and to at least give him the chance to defend himself. Her mother hadn't been able to hear him explain himself, but she wanted to hear it now.

A sigh escaped Derek's lips, despite being surprised by the fondness that 'dad' had been said with. It was her need to know the reason that had him sighing. "It was a misunderstanding," he found himself saying as he let himself relax in the single couch. It had been a misunderstanding. "I intend to ask him to be my mate that night, but he'd fallen asleep. Peter called, there had been a rising business with a nearby pack that needed to be tended too. I couldn't keep it on hold longer, so I left."

He could remember that night like it was yesterday. It had been the first time he had wolfed out during intimacy with Stiles, though he wouldn't tell his daughter that. He had intended to mate Stiles then, but he had decided against it. He had wanted to tell him first how much he actually meant to him. How much he wanted him to stay by him, and clear the air about everything that was going on between them and the pack. Although he had said something like it to him during it, but like always Stiles had been too worn out after that he had fallen asleep.

~~~

"I love you, Derek," Stiles had mumbled as his eyes had slipped closed.

He knew those words were the truth, Stiles loved him. "I love you too," he whispered as he placed a kiss to Stiles bare shoulder. His hand had slipped around Stiles waist and pulled him closer until his back was pressed to his chest.　

Stiles was a human living amongst them, and even though it put him in the worst possible position, he had stayed with them. With him. The mere thought of it had made Derek nuzzling into the crook of his sleeping mate-to-be's neck. Stiles had endured so much suffering for them. He would admit that at first, he had zero care for him, but slowly Stiles pushed his way into his heart, just as he slowly was pushed out of the heart of those who had initially loved him.

Isaac, Boyd, Jackson, and Erica didn't necessarily love Stiles like Allison, Lydia, and Scott did, but they hadn't hated him either. The things he had done to him had them protecting the weakest in their pack, but slowly they had stopped and realized this was 'instinctual behavior' towards the omega of the pack and soon began to act on it themselves. Even Allison, who was human just like Stiles.