Sterek(oneshots)

As the seconds tick by

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Derek's promise lasted about two days. He was home exactly when he said he would be, however, he spent almost every moment on the phone or buried in his sketches for his client, so he hardly left his office.

Day three and four was when Derek started coming home late again, however Stiles almost preferred the silence of the house to the constant swearing coming from Derek's office.

Day five Stiles walked into the restaurant anxiously to see if he would be stood up. It was his and Derek's anniversary. He had never had to remind Derek of that sort of thing before and so he hadn't but now as he walked into the restaurant with high nerves, he wished he had.

However, much to his surprise, Derek was already there, waiting. A sigh fell from Stiles' lips as he neared to table where his husband was waiting.

"Hey," Stiles smiled.

Derek smiled up at him, but it didn't quite reach his eyes the way it normally did. "Happy anniversary," he pressed a kiss to Stiles' lips briefly.

"Are you alright?" Stiles asked, frowning at Derek.

"Yeah, why?"

"You look stressed," Stiles knew Derek. He'd always been good at reading people, but he was extra good at reading Derek.

"Things aren't going well with the job. We ran into a slight problem. There's a mineral in the dirt that they're digging in that-" Derek cut himself off. "It's not important."

"It clearly is, you're visibly upset about it," Stiles frowned.

"It just puts the job back a bit, I was hoping to be done with this by the end of the month," Derek ran a hand over his face.

"So more time away is what you're saying," Stiles quipped. He didn't want to start a fight, but he couldn't help it.

"Yeah, trust me, I'm no happier about it," Derek huffed out.

Stiles was about to respond with a snide remark, but their waiter approached then. It was probably for the best since it would surely have started a fight.

After the couple ordered, they managed to turn the conversation towards Scott and Allison's engagement and Boyd and Erica's newest addition. However, that turned the conversation slightly bleak. Stiles and Derek had been wanting to adopt for a while but finding an agency that would allow same sex couples to adopt were rare and expensive.

"Do you think it'll ever happen for us?" Stiles asked, pushing a crouton around his salad bowl.

"Of course it will, it's just taking a little time," Derek assured him.

"We don't even have half the fee saved up, it's so expensive," Stiles glanced up at Derek.

"Hey, you can't put a price on family," Derek's frown deepened. "I don't care what I have to do. I'm gonna make this happen for us."

Stiles only nodded, his eyes falling back to his food. He knew Derek had wanted a big family. He grew up with one before an accidental fire took his parents and his younger brother. Now all he had was his uncle Peter and two sisters, Cora and Laura. Laura and Peter were practically siblings with how close they were in age, so they had helped raise Cora and Derek after the accident.

Stiles only had his dad. His mom had died when he was only eight. But he had always been fascinated with the idea of having a big family. He saw the pain and determination on Derek's face anytime they talked to an agency about adoption. Even now he saw it.

At that moment Derek's phone rang pulling Stiles from his thoughts.

"Oh shit," Derek sighed down at the name.