Was hoping to have it out sooner, but oh well. Also wished it was slightly longer, because I want to keep this at a short amount of chapters, but I felt it needed to end where it does. Enjoy!

It had been about another week since the drunken rampage incident with Scott and Derek. Scott had shown up at least once more though, Stiles sober when he did. Neither talked about what Stiles had said drunk, because Scott was almost hundred percent positive that his best friend didn't even remember it. Derek had knocked him out pretty hard. Mostly Scott tried to coax some kind of reaction from Stiles. Instead he just sat on his bed staring out the window, every so often tilting his head and sighing when birds began to change their tune.

A huffy sigh left Scott before he could really help it. It wasn't Stiles' fault that he was being difficult, but Scott's heart rate was starting rise so he decided he better leave before his frustration got the better of him.

Halfway down the hallway he almost ran face first into Derek, who stood eyes darting back and forth between the room and Scott. "Did he say anything?" His eyebrows rose up, but Scott just shook his head so he nodded and moved around the smaller werewolf to enter the boy's room. Stiles didn't even bother turning around.

"You know what's really great Scott?" Stiles asked, head resting on a hand he had propped up on his knee. "I didn't even really talk to my dad that week. I was so busy trying to figure out a plan for the kanima that I skipped out on a couple of dinners. Ignored my dad's request to watch some movies. I gave up time with my dad for this werewolf bullshit. This bullshit that doesn't belong to me. That shouldn't concern me. And you-" Stiles raised his head, gripping his knees tightly and took a shuddering breath. "you were so busy…so fucking busy with Allison. What am I- no hold on- how the fuck is that fair?" When Stiles turned around to glare he was shocked that he wasn't talking to Scott at all. "Ah...um well shit. You could have made yourself known." Derek's head cocked as he thought he heard sarcasm. Too optimistic?

"Figured you wouldn't really speak. You haven't until now, except for the drunken night." Stiles nodded, a red tint starting to work its way under his skin.

"Uh-yeah. Sorry about that and uh-well yeah. Sorry." He dropped his head a little ashamed of how he acted. He hadn't meant to get that wasted. Well, at least for no one to see.

"I'm not going to brush it off and say it's fine because being that reckless isn't fine, but I understand why you did it." Stiles snorted. Trust Derek to act like the Alpha even in a situation like this.

"Yeah. Everybody always say they understand." Derek's chest clenched and he rushed Stiles, anger coursing through his veins when he slammed the teen against the wall.

"Don't you dare think for one second I don't understand," His voice had bled out to growly. "I understand very well considering I lost everyone. My sister still very recently." Stiles eyes widened, because shit, he had forgotten that Derek's family had died and shit he was an asshole.

"Sorry." Stiles whimpered out. Derek's clenched grip released a little and his eyes softened as Stiles' eyes watered up.

"I'm sorry too." He didn't whine or whimper, but his tone and volume softened greatly. After a heavy sigh he let Stiles all together and pushed away, running a hand through his hair as he did. "Look, I didn't mean to-" Derek was interrupted by the doorbell. The werewolf cocked his head to the side and concentrated for a moment. "There's two of them."

"Jesus fucking christ." Stiles sighed, moving to his window to see a police car parked out front. "Of course." Another frustrated sigh left him and he turned to stare at his bedroom door for a minute, contemplating, before rolling his eyes and going to get the door. Derek stayed put. It wasn't like he had the best reputation with the police. Besides, he'd be able to hear everything from up in Stiles' room.

When Stiles opened the door he was greeted by a familiar looking police officer and a woman in a dress suit.

"Officer Jones, hey."

"Stiles, how are you?" His dad's longtime partner greeted him softly, a sad smile adorning his face. Martin Jones had known Stiles practically since he had been born. He'd been with his dad through everything, including the death of his wife.

"I'm, uh, I'm doing good. Um..come on in." Stiles moved over and let the two adults into the silent house.

"Listen, Stiles. We need to talk with you. This is Sherry Farce with Child Protective Services." Stiles' honey eyes widened and his mouth dropped open a little, a small stuttering noise escaping. "Don't worry. We're going to go ahead and lay everything out on the table. Why don't we take a seat in the dining room." Not waiting for an answer the policeman strode down the foyer hallway and hailed a left. Of course he knew where the dining room was. He'd been over here probably more times than Scott had. The CPS agent named Sherry followed him, giving Stiles a moment to let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Now with that out of the way his heart started to speed up and his palms began to sweat. Just exactly what was going to happen to him?

After the three of them were all seated Officer Jones cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. "Stiles, I'm sorry for your loss, truly I am. Your father was a great man and I know this is hard on you, however we need to start processing the paperwork to put you into the foster care system." Stiles' mouth dropped open and his chest constricted.

"You're kidding me right?" The question came out two octaves higher than Stiles would have liked, but his mouth was too dry and bile was rising in the back of his throat. He was on the verge of a panic attack and he couldn't control any of his body. Instead of Officer Jones answering him Agent Sherry took over, her face not nearly as pained as the police's.

"I'm afraid not…Stiles." She paused before saying his name, like she was going over the sounds of it in her head. "You're still a minor in the state of a California and with no guardians left you'll have to become a ward of the state until we can place you in a proper home."

"I'll be turning seventeen in a month!" He protested, brain rattling away trying to find any possible escape out of being some foster care kid.

"Seventeen is still a minor as far as the state of California is concerned." Ms Sherry Farce didn't miss a beat and it pissed Stiles off some. Like she was going to be a roadblock for every idea he could spitball out.

"It's not like I don't have the means to support myself! I have the job down at the autoshop!" Which was true. Ever since Jackson killed the last mechanic they had been looking for someone to fill the position, which of course no one did. Why would anyone want to work as a mechanic where the last one died? Stiles was a bit ill fitted for the job, but he picked up on everything easy enough, so the manager let him stay. "I can get some small, cheap apartment, finish up high school and you can check in on me every month to make sure I'm okay." Sherry sighed, staying silent for a moment afterwards, like she wanted to give this kid what he wanted, but had to stay true to her job instead.

"Stiles, I'm very sorry, but I can't allow that. That would be irresponsible on my part." Stiles scoffed,

"Oh yeah, letting a teenager learn responsibility to take care of himself is extremely irresponsible. Yeah, no, that totally makes sense." His tone was starting to give away just how agitated he was becoming. Showing agitation was better than showing fear. It was the fear that was going to lead to a panic attack. He just had to distract himself from it.

"Mr. Stilinski, I'm sorry you feel that way it's just the way it is." So, she was getting agitated too. Good. Glad to see she wasn't made of stone and Stiles felt a sickening pride in being able to get under skin. There had to be another option. He wasn't just about to be shipped off quietly.

"What about the McCalls? Can I stay with them till I'm an adult?" Stiles blurted, hands slamming down on the table in excitement. Sherry turned to Jones, an eyebrow raised. He tried to hide the smirk and shrugged.

"I imagine your dad would have had no problem with that. And it would be best if you did stay at the same high school in my opinion. Moving at this age can be so much harder." Sherry's mouth pursed in thought before she made one decisive nod.

"Fine. I'll give-" She looked over at Jones again, who filled her in with the blank.

"Melissa McCall."

"I'll give Melissa McCall a call and we'll see if she agrees to that. If not, then I'm sorry to say you will be coming with me Stiles."

"Call her." He shoved his phone towards her and she didn't appreciate the gesture. Pushing it back towards him, she took out her own phone, waiting for officer to give her the number.

When the phone call ended Stiles' heart sped up. He couldn't believe it. Ms McCall had said yes! He'd be living with Scott from now on, which would probably end up getting annoying real fast between the two of them, but still it was better than being shipped off to some fucking stranger's house to never see any of his friends again.

"There are some conditions first. 1. You will start attending school again. You can't afford anymore weeks like this last one. 2. You will stay under Melissa McCall's roof as a dependent, therefore anything she says goes. 3. I'll be checking up on you monthly to make sure everything is going smoothly. If it's not I've reserved the right to pull you out of there and put you in the custody of the state of California. Do you understand Mr. Stilinski?"

Jeez, did this woman ever stop being so serious? "Crystal clear Ms Farce."

"Good." She stood from the table, waiting for Officer Jones before walking to the door. "I'll be seeing you soon Stiles."

"Yeah. You too." He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. One minute they were on a first name basis and the next she was being an uptight, strict business woman. After he closed the door he turned around and leaned on, letting a huge sigh of relief. When he opened his eyes he saw Derek standing at the base of the stairs, watching Stiles with one of his pondering blank stares. If blank stares could be pondering. "Well I'm here to stay!" Stiles tried to smile, but it came off as shaky and Derek cocked his head to the side. "No." Stiles answered sternly before Derek could even ask.

If he heard the question: 'Is something wrong?' one more time he was going to scream and go on a rampage.

"Okay." Derek answered simply which didn't so much as surprise Stiles, but threw him off.

"Okay?" He questioned, eyebrows raising.

"Okay."

"Huh…well then, uh, okay then."

"Stiles, are we done saying okay?"

"Yeah sure. You know I never got the chance to ask you why you were here to begin with?"

"Does it matter?"

"What? Of course it matters." Stiles looked mildly offended, though all in all he was just trying to get some information out of him. "I'm very curious as to why the big head honcho werewolf is in my house and I believe I deserve some answers."

"Stiles, honestly-" Derek stopped short and sniffed the air, before his hazel eyes cut to the door behind Stiles. "Scott's here." Stiles' brow knitted and he opened his mouth to be a smart-ass, but sure enough the doorbell rang, making Stiles jump. He turned around and opened the door, making a disbelieving face at Derek over his shoulder when he revealed Scott, standing there with his hands shoved into his jeans pockets and a sheepish, goofy grin on his face.

"Mom said I should come and help you pack?"

"Yeah fine. But while we're doing that we seriously need to hash some things out because I'm not going to be angry at you constantly if we're living together. I'm too exhausted for that shit as it is." Stiles started towards the stairs, a frowning Scott behind him. Derek watched them both go by and figured that they would manage to work it all and he wasn't needed. "Where are you going?" Stiles stopped half way up, leaning on the railing.

Derek didn't even look back at the boys. "Deal with one thing at a time Stiles. I'll be around whenever you're ready to talk." He waved over his shoulder as Stiles called out at him.

"How do you know when I'll be ready to talk?"

"I just will." With that, Derek shut the front door leaving Scott and Stiles to pack up his entire life and put it into boxes that would fit into both of their vehicles.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Two months had passed since Sheriff Stilinski had passed and though Stiles wasn't back to his old self he was a tiny bit better than the original catatonic mess he had been immediately after his father's death. Scott and Stiles had managed to talk, which was inadvertently yelling at each other, and work what problems had surfaced out. Scott promised to not disappear with his cell phone turned off anymore and Stiles had promised to not steam over problems Scott didn't even know existed, because in reality Scott had no idea that this problem existed to begin with. Stiles rolled his eyes at this. Scott being dumb and oblivious like always.

Derek hadn't been around as much, though he did checkup on Stiles whenever the usual supernatural crap would occur and the "pack" was forced together in some dangerous situation. Stiles still didn't understand why Derek took a sudden interest in caring. Sure, they did have a lack of family as a common interest, but that didn't mean they were suddenly BFFs. Every time Stiles tried to question Derek about all his motives Derek walked away with a smirk and the same 'ole one-liner of, "You aren't ready." The mysterious bastard.

Sherry Farce had also been checking up on Stiles and was pleased at the site she found. He hadn't missed a day of school since their little meeting and he followed all of Ms McCall's rules. Eh, well, mostly. Scott and Stiles still snuck around and broke the rules like they did before; they just didn't go on constant dates with trouble.

"You sure you're okay with tonight?" Scott asked, eyebrows raised brown eyes open and searching for Stiles' true answer.

"Dude, yes. Just shut the hell up and go on a date with Allison."

"You sure?" Stiles growled and flung his arms around, settling on biting one of his knuckles to keep from screaming at his best friend.

"I'm going to punch you in the nuts if you do not go. End of story. I can take care of myself. Go get laid man. You're getting edgy." Scott blushed and grinned because both of them knew Stiles was right.

Later on that night Stiles was in his room, still weird to think of the McCall's spare bedroom as his but it was, listening to music and finishing up some chemistry when a shuffle of leather scared him. "Jesus Derek!" He flailed, falling off the bed, papers going everywhere. Derek looked mildly amused by it all. "Seriously, there is nothing wrong ever with using a door. Try it once and find out how awesome it can be. Really, using a door is so awesome is can be more addicting than crystal meth."

"Glad to see your sarcasm has returned." The Alpha noted, not moving from the spot in the corner of the room.

"Couldn't keep it away for too long I guess."

"It's a good thing. It's not you otherwise." Stiles stared at Derek for a moment, eyes wide in curiosity. Where the hell was all this coming from suddenly?

"Any particular reason why you're here?"

"I think it's finally time you and I talked."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, timing isn't going to get any better, so I figured why not now. How are you holding up?"

"Ah, jeez. Really this dumbass question?"

"Stiles, just answer it." The tone Derek's voice was holding made Stiles pause from making another very sarcastic quip.

"I'm fine." He answered quickly. "Is that all?"

"I can smell that you're lying. Even if I couldn't, I'd know you're lying. Stiles, how are you holding up?"

"I'm holding up just fine. Holding up and actually feeling something are two very separate things. If you're meaning to ask me how I'm feeling, then here let me give you an honest answer, since you want one so fucking bad. I feel terrible. I feel like lying in bed every single day because I have no motivation to get up. The only reason I do get up is so I won't get shipped off to some strange family. I feel like everyone is looking at me to watch me break down again the way I did with my mom. I feel like they're whispering behind my back and giving me these disgusting, pitiful looks and you know what? I fucking hate it all. This helplessness feeling, the constant ache in my body and the goddamn memories that bring on so much pain I can't even hold back tears. So there you go Derek. That is how I'm feeling."

"There's not a lot I can do to make any of this better. I understand personally, that yes losing everything you've ever had is one of the most painful things to endure. However, I can offer you something." Stiles narrowed his eyes at Derek.

"What?"

"Companionship." If Stiles had been drinking something he would have spit it out in that moment.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm offering a sense of relief from the loneliness." Stiles stared hard for a moment at the older male and then his jaw dropped some.

"Are you…are you offering me what I think…you're offering me?" Derek smirked, because of course Stiles caught on. He was sharper than Scott was, though most people didn't give him credit for it.

"Yes, I'm offering you the bite." After a moment of silence Stiles finally found something to say.

"You realize your uncle offered the same thing and I refused right?" Derek's eyes widened by a fraction and his mouth dropped slightly as if he was going to blurt something out but thought better of it. There was another pause as he reflected on this new information.

"I wasn't aware."

"Well he did and I declined, because being a werewolf looks like a major pain in the ass and you guys are always in trouble and I always somehow end up in the same trouble because of you guys and especially because of Scott and you. Fucking Scott. No, being a werewolf just doesn't seem like something I want to do." Stiles let out a deep breath and Derek took that as a sign he was done with his semi-angry ramble.

"Well, if you were a werewolf you'd be better equipped to handle yourself and I wouldn't always have to save you. There's also-"

"Hey! I've saved your furry ass a couple times too if you recall!"

"There's also the fact that you'll be part of a pack now," Derek continued as if he was never interrupted. "which was the main reason I was bringing it up. With a pack you won't be lonely. It'll be somewhat of a surrogate family that has some assets."

"Companionship." Stiles played with the word.

"Companionship." Derek repeated with a firm nod.

"What if I say no?"

"Then the answer is no." Derek shrugged. "I'm not saying you have to make your decision right now. I'm giving you the option because I think it'd be better for you. With a pack you won't have to constantly feel that slow-burning ache of isolation you have. You won't constantly feel detached and bare."

"Is that how it is for you?" Stiles frowned, mulling over Derek's words and Derek considered the boy's question for a moment.

"Being part of a pack has helped show me that being alone is much more painful that I originally had thought."

"I have Scott."

"Doesn't mean you aren't lonely."

"I'm not lonely!" Stiles defended, anger starting to flare up. It wasn't like Derek could or couldn't tell Stiles what he was feeling. He didn't give a shit if the two were in the same boat or not. Just because they both were practically orphan boys didn't mean they dealt with it in the same way.

"Stiles," Derek growled. "You can't lie to me. I can sense it and smell it on you. You're surrounded by people, but that doesn't mean you aren't lonely!"

"And how is it different for you?" Stiles yelled, his frustration level rising with Derek's. He ignored the thoughts of him and Derek not dealing with things in the same manner for the sake of this argument. Whatever it would take to shut Derek down.

"It's not!" Derek's admitted. His voice was at full volume and Stiles thanked whatever cosmic being existed that Melissa worked nights at the hospital. The next words coming out of Derek's mouth were softer and his eyes held more pain than they had in the previous moment. "But it's getting better. It's easier being surrounded by those three, knowing that we're all in something together and we're a pack."

"A family?" Stiles questioned and Derek just nodded silently. Both of them stayed silent for a couple minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Like I said, you don't have to make a decision tonight. Just think about it. You'd make a great werewolf really. You're practically involved in most of our affairs anyways. I'm just putting the option out there for you. Let me know when you make a decision." Derek left before Stiles could open his mouth to speak, so he just closed it and clamped his jaw tight.

What exactly was he supposed to do in this kind of situation? He really needed to write a manual for future reference. It should be titled: What To Do When You Find Yourself In Fucked Up Supernatural Situations. He liked to imagine it would be a bestseller. Hell, even Oprah might endorse it.

Stiles didn't let Scott know about the offer Derek had given him. Of course he knew he had been in the house, with his werewolf super-nose and all, but Stiles had said he came by looking for him and Stiles told him in the most sarcastic and Stiles-like manner that he was out on a date with his girlfriend and maybe Derek should start working on trying to do the same thing. That had made Scott laugh.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It took another two weeks before Stiles reached a decision. He spent most of his time thinking about the possibility of becoming a werewolf. Every free minute he could muster would be weighing the pros and cons and every little detail in between. Stiles had worried his nails so much that they were sensitive to the touch because the raw skin underneath was exposed. Then there were the two days of pondering over if he made the right decision when he finally did come to a conclusive decision. There was no decisive answer on that one but he supposed there really couldn't be. Wasn't like there was some manual to guide you through, which again, he decided it was high time he wrote one for other people.

After the third day of making his decision Stiles showed up at the warehouse with the abandoned subway car in it after school, locking eyes with Derek. It was surreal for Derek to see Stiles' face so devoid of humor that he almost didn't recognize him. Those honey brown eyes held a determined stare.

"I've made my decision."

I'd love some reviews to know how I'm doing. This is my first Teen Wolf fic after all. Hopefully I'm doing some kind of justice to Davis' characters.

Looking forward to writing the next chapter!