49Epilogue
Stiles gently run his finger along the faded scars that decorated his arm. He was surprised to find Derek's hand suddenly laying on top of his own, halting the movement. Stiles looked up into his mate's eyes and his heart melted at the gentle smile he saw on Derek's face. That look of love and adoration would never get old.
"It's been a year." Stiles whispered in amazement glancing back down to their hands entwined on top of his arm.
Derek didn't say anything, but he lifted Stiles' arm to his lips and tenderly kissed the marks upon his skin. There was a flash of pain in Derek's eyes, there always was when he looked at Stiles' scars, but it was gone quickly and Derek pulled Stiles closer as he murmured, "I'm proud of you." into his hair.
They didn't often have moments like this. Derek and Stiles had come to an unspoken agreement that they just didn't bring up the topic of Stiles' brush with death unless it was needed. Even a year later the memory was still too fresh for both of them and it incited feelings they would rather not deal with. For Stiles, the topic always brought with it the anger he felt towards himself for being so stupid. For being so weak. Derek felt the fear of losing his mate and the helplessness of not being able to do anything as Stiles' heart had struggled to keep beating. All in all, it was a topic best avoided.
This was an exception. For once the memory had a twinge of happiness to it because it was being brought up with the knowledge that Stiles had been clean for a year.
"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you." He told Derek seriously. "You know as well as I do that there have been times this past year that I almost caved in. You were always the one who held me through them."
An indignant voice piped up from the next room, "Excuse me? Hate to eavesdrop on you two lovebirds but I would like to state that we all helped too."
Stiles and Derek started laughing, the seriousness of the moment broken by the teasing tone in Scott's voice. Through his laughter Derek sighed, "I guess that's our signal to get up."
Stiles slowly stretched as he clumsily rolled out of bed, spurring more fond laughter form Derek who stood up with much more grace. They could hear Scott and Allison getting up in the room next door and on the other side of them Erica and Boyd were beginning to stir. Derek was pretty certain Lydia would already be downstairs, probably micromanaging Isaac as he attempted to cook breakfast.
In the past year, Derek's pack had moved in with him one by one as their 18th birthdays had come and gone. Together they had completely rebuilt the Hale House from the ground up. Finally, Derek could say with certainty that his pack was a family and not just a pack of abused teens. The love he had once had with the original Hale pack had been reborn in this wonderful pack he had cobbled together.
Stiles finished dressing first and turned to give Derek a quick kiss before heading out of the room. Scott was leaving his own neighboring room at the same time. Scott grinned at Stiles and wrapped him in a hug. "All kidding aside, Stiles, Congratulations. I know this hasn't been an easy journey for you and we're all just glad we still have you."
When Scott released him Stiles noticed Allison standing behind Scott waiting for her own chance to hug Stiles. He felt tears of happiness start to prick at his eyes as he was flooded with the thought of how much his pack loved him. As Allison pulled him in for a hug Stiles told her, "If this is what you guys are going to act like all day today I'll just kidnap Derek and escape from you guys for a while. You're going to make me all emotional."
Scott scoffed, "And you think being alone with Derek will have fewer emotions?"
"Well it will have fewer clothes." Stiles said with a grin.
At the same time that Scott faked retching noises; Derek emerged from the bedroom and stated, "I am completely on board with that plan."
Allison just shook her head at the group of them and headed down the stairs laughing. She called out behind her, "Well you may not want to stick around for the one-year celebration, Stiles, but you'll be missing out on what smells like some delicious blueberry pancakes."
"Well I'm sold. We can always escape from the rest of the pack later." Stiles told Derek with a wink before he raced down the stairs.
Isaac shot him a smile from where he was flipping over a pancake. Lydia was at the kitchen table with a book in her hand, but the flour in her hair suggested she had also helped with breakfast. Stiles slid into the seat next to her and she turned to him with one of her most radiant smiles. It was so bright it almost hurt to look at.
Lydia didn't say anything, but the brief hand squeeze she gave him before returning to her book told Stiles that she was just as happy as the rest of the pack today. Scott and Derek had joined the breakfast crowd and the stack of pancakes on the table started to slowly diminish.
With a yawn, Boyd rounded the corner into the room. "Hey, don't eat all of those." He demanded, snatching a pancake up and eating it with his hands.
Erica followed behind him and playfully snatched the half eaten pancake from him before finding her own seat at the table. "Way to go, Batman." She cheered as she looked at Stiles.
Isaac dumped the last batch of pancakes on the table and sat down himself to dig in. There was a companionable silence as they pack ate and the room practically oozed with contentment. Stiles noticed the looks that kept being aimed at him, but they were looks of pride so he didn't mind. This was a good day and a good thing to celebrate.
Besides, the pack needed this celebration. Lately it seemed every time the news was turned on there were stories of a new thing headed across the country; some strange occurrence that had started happening in New York and spread west. Stiles and Derek had talked about it a few times, trying to decide if the reports had to do with something supernatural or not, but they had not come to any conclusion. Ultimately it seemed that whatever was coming was going to hit California in a matter of weeks, maybe less, and they still had no idea what it actually was.
So in light of the uncertainty, it felt nice just to sit around as a pack and celebrate life. In particular, celebrate the life they almost lost. For one day they forgot about the troubles of the world and they just hung out together. Sprawled across the floor of the living room they marathoned movies and devoured junk food. Derek's hand never once left Stiles' and Stiles was pretty certain that Derek was spending more time watching him than the movie. Derek did that sometimes. It was as if he needed to reassure himself that this wasn't a dream. He had to be certain that Stiles really was sitting here with him and not lying dead in that hospital room.
For dinner, Stiles' dad showed up with pizza and Scott's mom provided cake. The night wound down with smiles and laughter. Stiles got more hugs than he typically got in a month. Slowly the pack dozed off, still tucked together with blankets and cushions on the floor in front of the TV. Stiles and Derek smiled sleepily to each other as they joined their pack in sleep, hands still wound together. This was one day that the difficulties looming on the horizon could not touch.
I added an epilogue so I could make the official announcement of a sequel. I will get to work on it immediately. If you guys have anything specific you want to see in the sequel let me know :) Thanks for liking my story so much.
