Stiles is a Winchester

Chapter XII

Scott's POV

Things have slowly been getting better. Most of the pack have been able to find reasons to smile again, and the rest no longer cry themselves to sleep every night.

But the one year anniversary came up, and all that "getting better" went down the drain.

Some of us were closer with Stiles than others, but his death hit us all like a ton of bricks. He may have been human, but he was pack; he's what held the pack together. Losing him was like losing ourselves.

I think some of the pack were surprised to see Derek so broken. Sure he tried to hide how much he liked Stiles, but I could see straight through all his grumpy faces and eye rolls and shoves. I think it's because I'm the Alpha, but somehow I just knew that Stiles was Derek's mate. This was only confirmed when I caught the former Alpha staring at Stiles when he thought no one was paying attention.

When Stiles died, Derek dropped the act. He didn't try to hide how broken he was. He didn't talk, or sleep, and I had to force him to eat the bare minimum.

Sometimes I sneak into Stiles' room now. I don't think the sheriff knows, but I climb in through the window and just be in the room. His scent is still there. I found out that Derek does the same. Sometimes he'll crawl through the window, walk past me, and lay in his bed, his head in Stiles' sheets, just breathing it in; sometimes he'll be there before me.

And the Sheriff, oh god. Noah collapsed. He started drinking, more so than when Claudia died. For months, we would visit him, bring him food to make sure he was eating, try to take away the alcohol, which he would pick back up after we left. Then a couple months ago he made it clear he didn't want us there.

I think we remind him too much of Stiles.

He wants to feel numb.

We all do.

I still check in on him, but I can't intervene too much or it'd upset him. It's been a whole year and I don't know how to help him; I'm barely able to help the pack, or myself.

I lost my brother, and while I tried to be a good Alpha, and put my betas first, at the end of the day it was too much.

Liam and Mason were new to the pack, they never met Stiles, but they knew of him. It didn't take them long to learn what his place was in the pack.

There's always an empty seat at the loft, and there's always an empty silence when we know Stiles would have spoken.

🥀🥀

Derek's POV

I'm in Stiles' room. Again.

His scent is still here.

But something's wrong. His scent has slowly been fading over the past year. His faded scent still lingers, but someone else was here.

The sheriff, who never comes in here, two strangers, and finally, a scent that has been missing from my life. It made me want to break down, but I knew it isn't him. While my heart wants to hold onto hope, my brain knows. It's not even actually his. The scent is missing parts—he smelled like coffee, and Adderall, and old books, and just parts of him that were always there, but they weren't.

It must've been the remnant of his scent from his stuff being moved.

Other parts of it were still there, like how he smelled of rain and nature.

Just as I'm standing in the center of the room, shoulders tense, focusing my senses, Scott begins to crawl through the window. I can tell he's surprised to see me, usually I ignore him and I lay down in Stiles' bed.