A Place to Hide Away- Sterek

Journals, Flashbacks, and Goodbyes (Pt.1)

      Hey guys. I thought since Wattpad seems to be set up for smaller chapters I would break it apart. And once I finish a full chapter I'll put it on AO3. So, yeah.
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Derek dragged him out of the room by his arm, leading him out  of the house before he turned to him with questioning eyes.

      "What?" Derek said succinctly, crossing his arms as he turned to his uncle who reached into his jacket and pulled out a worn out journal, which seemed to be crumbling of old age. As soon as the scent hit Derek's nose however, he drew back, taking back a step as a sudden grief rose. It was the scent of all the old Hale stuff. A scent he hadn't smelled since putting all of their old stuff in the storage unit with Laura.

      "Why...why did you go?" Derek said before Peter could even let out a word. "Peter, why the fuck would you go there after all the good that's been happening? Can't you just enjoy having some happiness for a moment?"

      "I didn't understand it at first, Derek, but I get it now." Peter laughed almost emptily. "Stiles is my son--"

      "Stiles is not my cousin, Peter." Derek's lip curled in disgust.

      Peter let out a frustrated breath.

      "That's not what I meant. Listen!" Peter snarled, his hand tightening around the journal. "This whole time that Stiles has been turned small, I couldn't get the thought of my son out of my head. But the more I thought about him, the more I couldn't remember him. His face. The color of his eyes. How he laughed. Nothing. It was like those memories that blurs when you think too hard about it. But how could I forget everything specific to my son? I had to find out what was happening. I had to remember, and the only place where I could go for that was the storage unit."

      Peter looked down at this and he licked his lips before raising his eyes to the Alpha was frowning.

      "I never had a son, Derek. It's hilarious that I didn't even question having a son before. Derek, I'm asexual. How the hell was I supposed to have a child if I hated sex? And I could never have adopted because I moved around too much." Peter snorted. "Someone messed with my head. They made me think that all the memories I had of Stiles when he was younger were memories of some son I had, that I guess when the fire happened I just assumed died in the fire."

      "Wait, I don't get it. You never had a son?" Derek frowned. "But I remember..." Derek's eyes widened as his eyes shifted, trying to remember. The memories seemed to be there, but the more Derek sought them, the more they eluded him.

      "Exactly." Peter's lips settled into a straight line. "There is nothing to remember. Because whatever spell was put on us makes us forget the details of my supposed son."

      "But, wait, how do you know it's Stiles? It could just be a spell to put fake memories in your head."

      Peter silently handed him the journal.

      "You know there's no one I trust more than myself. So imagine my not surprise when my past self explained to me exactly what I was missing."

      Derek opened the journal cautiously and managed to catch the photo that slipped out of the pages and he froze when he saw what it was. It was a picture of a younger tween version of him laughing as a young Stiles tackling him to the ground...But that was impossible because he hadn't met Stiles until he had met Scott which was only a few years ago.

      "I thought you might like that certain photo I found from among the albums." Peter sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Sit down. It's going to take you a while to read all of it."

      Derek wordlessly opened the journal as he slid down the trunk of the tree next to them.

        The first time Peter had met Claudia Stilinski was through Talia. Claudia and her pack had moved from Los Angeles to the small town of Beacon Hills, and they had come to ask permission from the Alpha of the main pack of the territory, Talia Hale. As it turns out, the werefox and werewolf had a lot in common and became instant friends.

      It helped of course that the minute Claudia stepped foot inside the door with her husband right behind her, the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs suddenly filled the air.
     
      Talia turned on her heel, ready to scold her oldest son, Derek, from letting his younger siblings out only to find herself shocked at the sight of her eldest speeding past her and towards the young Stilinski child who was holding his mother's hand.

      "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't help it. He smells amazing." Derek babbled as he leaned into the young werefox's space. The golden-eyed child giggled and pressed his hand on Derek's cheek. Talia stared in horror, her eyes flickering to the werefox alpha only to find her equally amused and surprised at the turn of events.

      "What is he doing to our child, Claudia?" John let out in a desperate tone after realizing that no one was going to say anything about the young boy nuzzling his son. Claudia laughed.

      "They're true mates, John. Genim, do you wanna go play with the young Hale?" She said sweetly to her son. Talia let out a sigh of relief. She was worried that the Alpha werefox would rightfully tear Derek a new one.

      "Yes, mama." Stiles toothily smiled as he took Derek's hand.

      As her eyes shifted to the father, she quickly realized that her problem wasn't going to reside in the Alpha but in the father who was currently glaring intensely at her son. Derek seemed to be over the moon as he looked at their joined hands.

      "Why don't you two go upstairs and play with some of your toys, Derek?" Talia gently suggested. Stiles whirled towards the young werewolf with shining eyes.

      "Toy?!" Stiles gasped excitedly. Derek nodded and tugged them up the stairs to his room, leaving Talia with Claudia and John Stilinski.

      "So, I believe we will be getting to know each other very well." Claudia smiled as Talia led them to sit on the couch.

      "I do believe you're right." Talia laughed, breaking what was left of tension in the room.

      Peter who had stayed quiet during the whole exchange spoke up.

      "While my sister may trust you blindly, I would like to know why you conveniently decided to move to Beacon Hills." Peter sniffed as he suspiciously glared at John who seemed happy to have someone to direct his annoyance to.

      "My husband is going to get an interview to be the new Deputy." Claudia responded gently, squeezing their conjoined hands. "We moved from Los Angeles because it was too busy and there were simply too many eyes watching. Genim hasn't been able to fully control his shift and we wanted to make sure he would be able to practice without getting caught."

      "You do know that a whole family of hunters live here, right? The Argents are the most well-known hunters of the west coast." Peter sneered, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall. He could feel the glare that Talia was directing at him, but he kept the eye contact with the werefox. In the corner of his eye, Peter saw John visibly stiffen and turn his head questioningly to Claudia whose sunny disposition faltered.

      "I know, but I also know of the pact between the Argents and the Hales. The Hales can allow other packs to settle in the town with the protection of secrecy as long as there are no more than two magical beings in the pack. I was hoping you would be willing to let us settle here, considering we're only a pack of three, with one human, one fully developed werefox, and a child werefox." Claudia had shifted her gaze from Peter to Talia halfway through her speech.

      Now it was Peter's turn to glare at Talia and his sister seemed all too aware of the power she had in her hands.

      "I would be happy to welcome you to Beacon Hills, Alpha Stilinski." Talia said succinctly and Peter's mouth dropped open indignantly.

      "Talia-!" Peter began to protest but was interrupted by Claudia.

      "Thank you so much, Alpha Hale." Claudia enthusiastically said with a wide grin.

      The beta werewolf huffed as the two Alphas began to talk about which neighborhoods were the best and when a dinner should be set up as thanks. Sneaking away angrily, Peter climbed the stairs by two and he turned to head towards his room. These were the reasons that made him question why Talia had turned out to be Alpha.  She was too trusting! This werefox pack could easily be looking to exploit the biggest pack of southern California.

      Halfway through his mental rant, Peter's attention was suddenly on the sound of a light giggling laughter coming from Derek's room.

      He silently walked towards the open door.

      Stiles was enthusiastically playing out a story with some of Derek's Power Rangers in front of the young werewolf. Talia's youngest children were there too, enraptured by their brother's new friend and his stories. When Stiles and the other kids noticed Peter standing at the entrance, there were two very different reactions. His nephews and nieces flinched and looked anywhere but at his cold eyes; Stiles, on the other hand, smiled and stood up, much to young Derek's chagrin. Peter kept a cold look on his face as the young werefox walked to him.

"Pretty."

Peter's eyes widened as Stiles wrapped his arms around his calves and hugged him, looking at him with bright golden eyes. This was the moment where it all went downhill.