S͟T͟E͟R͟E͟K͟ I͟M͟A͟G͟I͟N͟E͟S͟

Till death do us apart

When Stiles was 6 years old there was a picture stuck on the wall of the living room, next to the television. It was one of those things that always made him stop and stare for a while, because of how pretty it was.
It was a picture of his mother and father, dressed up in simple wedding clothes with the most radiant of smiles on both their faces. John Stilinski was grinning at the camera, rice pieces all over his face while Claudia was staring at her husband instead, the happiness and love in her smile almost tangible.
Before she died, Claudia took down the picture, to keep it somewhere safe, and Stiles still remembered what she had said to him that day. "One day you are going to meet a person who is so perfect and beautiful that it's going to make your whole chest feel tight. You're going to fall in love with them and it's going to be beautiful." She had smiled. "And you are going to marry them and be happy for the rest of your life."
And Stiles had immediately pronounced one name. "Derek?"
His mother had laughed at him, but there was a knowing glint in her eyes, proof that she knew more than she was letting on. "Sure. One day you and Derek are going to be the happiest couple in the world."
And now there he was, trying to breathe as Scott tightened the tie around his neck on his very own wedding day. His throat felt dry and he couldn't even crack a joke about the bow tie around his best friend's neck.
"There you go." Decided the shorter boy, finally stepping back and admiring his work. He smirked, pleased with himself. "It's not half bad. You actually look pretty nice, dude."
"Pretty nice?" asked Allison, walking inside the room with a huge smile on her face. "You look dashing, Stiles."
Stiles cracked a smile at that. "You clean up quite nice yourself, Robin Hood."
The girl narrowed her eyes at him in surprise. "Stiles... are you nervous?"
"Who's nervous?" asked another voice as Erica finally made her way inside the preparations room.
Stiles really had no idea of how her or Boyd or Derek had managed to keep the fact that she was pregnant from him. He had been feeling some weird things in the pack bond, but he had put it down to the Cora/Isaac/Jackson/Lydia situation. Just thinking about Lydia made his head and his heart hurt a little. 3 months she had been gone and still it hurt to think about it.
It was even more ironic, that she had left before finding out that one of her closest friends, her packmate was also pregnant, and Erica was had been 4 months along when Lydia left, and now was just 2 months away from her due date.
The blonde girl arched her eyebrow at her best friend. "Stilinski, you are nervous? Why on Earth would you be nervous."
He glared at her. "It's supposed to be the best day of my life. In less than 20 minutes I'm going to stand and Aunt Talia is going to walk me down the aisle and me and Derek are going to be married forever. I wonder what could possibly have me worried, gee?"
Allison exchanged a look with Erica and Scott, before the trio moved closer to him. "Stiles... You and Derek are mates. You are literally meant to be together forever! You love him and he loves you, now what's scary about that?" she asked, running a hand through his hair, careful not to mess it up.
Stiles sighed, leaning into the touch. "It feels like the end of something. Like when we finished high school." He shook his head. "I don't do well with endings, you know that. Already I have Lydia who left the pack, we still have no idea who hurt Cora that night, and I'm about to marry Derek and I just... what if it's not a good thing? I mean, I'm still learning stuff about myself. Until a few years ago I didn't even know Ally was my sister! Hell, I kept memories of our first meeting from him, I-"
"Guys, would you let me have a quick chat with Stiles?" asked a voice.
For a group of two werewolves, one huntress and a mage they were way too easily startled. Talia watched them hurrying out in amusement, before meeting Stiles' eye head on.
The brunette sighed. "Did you sense that I might leave your only son standing on the altar?" he asked, starting fussing with his tie again.
Talia snorted. "No, although, with this many werewolves present we could probably find you, mage or not mage." She said, smugly.
Now it was Stiles' turn to snort, arching an eyebrow. "Care to wager on it?"
"On a day where you are not getting married, perhaps." She chuckled, gently taking his hands away from his tie. "I am actually here to tell you a story."
"Lucky me." whispered Stiles, earning a smack on the back of his neck. "Sorry, Tals."
The Alpha wolf just sat down on the chair next to him, admiring the way the blue of his suit and her purple dress complemented each other. Thank you, Isaac, Jackson and Erica, for taking over every single wedding detail.
"I was there, you know. The day your mother got married." Started Talia, immediately getting Stiles' attention on her. "Sure, the wedding pictures make them look amazing together and show how happy they were together. What they don't show is the fact that your mother ran away the day before the wedding."
Stiles looked at her in shock, but Talia just laughed. "Yup. Right after her bachelorette party, my girl took off by jumping out of the window. Took me hours to track her down."
A sudden though struck the man. "Is that why you made both Jordan and Malia come to my bachelor party instead of Laura or Cora?"
The wolf didn't answer, but her smirk told all the tales. "When I finally found her, she begged me to cancel the wedding and let her leave the state under a false name. And you know what I told her? I told her that she could go home and get a nice restful night and get married the next day, with the most beautiful dress money could buy, with the prettiest veil and the shiniest ring, to the man she loved more than herself. Or she could run away and let someone else marry Johnathan instead." She glanced at Stiles' reflection on the mirror. "You look very much like her, you know? The older you grow, the more you look like Claudia."
Stiles watched Talia stand up and press a small kiss on his cheek before going outside again and turned his attention back to the mirror. He had the same eyes and hair as his mother, and according to everyone he knew, the same temper too.
And he thought about his father talking to him with tears in his eyes only a few hours before, when they had had breakfast together. And what he had told him.
"I always knew this day would come. The day when my only son would go and get married, starting a new life in which he wouldn't need me anymore. And I figured, when that day would come I would cry in sadness and watch you leave with a heavy heart. I figured I would keep on hating whatever man was there to take you away from me.
But it's Derek. It's you and Derek, finally marrying each other. And no matter how far I look, I can't find an ounce of bitterness in my whole body. The only thing I can find is happiness, because you, my son, have found something so beautiful and yet so rare. You have found true love. And I know my mother would be ecstatic to find out that you and Derek are going to get married and use the rings that me and your mother used, that my mother and my father used to unite you on one of the most important day of your life. I love you son. "
And then he thought about the picture, that picture he hadn't seen in so many years with his mother smiling brightly next to his father, the love in both their eyes, and he stood up.