The Life of a Pack Mom

Stiles pulled the Jeep up to his dad’s house and turned to his young companion.

“Ready?” He asked the girl bouncing in the seat next to him. She nodded vigorously and went to open the door. Mora hopped out after her and bounded around the yard taking in the scents that came with this new house.

Stiles chuckled at how excited his girls were for this sleep over, Pamplemousse in particular. He got out of the car, grabbing his bag as he did, and went up to the front door. Mora and Pamplemousse both entered with a little caution. Since they had never been in the house before they didn’t want to break anything.

“Hey guys!” The sheriff called from the living room.

“Hey Dad, I don’t know if I properly introduced you to her, but this is Pamplemousse. She’s staying with us at Derek’s.”

“Hello!” The young girl waved enthusiastically at the sheriff. Clearly excited to meet a new person, even if she had met him that morning.

“Hello.” The Sheriff answered. “Pamplemousse, huh? That’s a unique name, it means grapefruit in french doesn’t it?”

“Yup, Brooke called me that when we first met and it kinda stuck.”

“Interesting, say Pamplemousse do you like football?”

“Yes! That’s the one where they throw the ball really far and run around the field chasing each other right?” She asked her eyes shining with excitement.

“Yes, it is and I have a game recorded from last Sunday. Would you like to watch with me? We can make popcorn.”

“Yes!! But, only if Alphie can watch too.” She said holding up the small stuffed wolf.

“I think that would be okay.” He said smiling. “You pick your spot and I will go make popcorn okay?”

“Okay!” Pamplemousse sat in front of the couch and patted the floor next to her. Mora ran up and plopped into said spot and snuggled in. Stiles smiled as he followed his dad into the kitchen.

“You two sure clicked fast.” He commented as the Sheriff reached into the cupboard for the bag of popcorn.

“Yeah, I love kids. There entertaining when they aren’t your own.” He said, looking at Stiles with a knowing gaze. The sheriff reached into the cupboard under the counter and pulled out an old air popper. “Haven’t used this in a while. Wonder if it still works.”

XXXXXXX

After making the popcorn the three of them, plus Mora sat in the living room watching tv. The football game was a good one, very close in the end. It even had Stiles sitting on the edge of his seat, and he wasn’t really interested in football.

Towards the end of the game there was a cheap move as one of the players had a late hit on the quarterback of the opposing team.

“Oh, come on! Unsportsmanlike Conduct! Throw the flag!” The Sheriff yelled at the recorded game.

Stiles heard a growl come from over by Pamplemousse and Mora. Mora was staring at the young girl and Pamplemousse had a terrified look on her face. She was looking at the sheriff hoping he didn’t just hear the sound that had emitted from her chest.

“Was that the dog?” The sheriff asked turning towards the two on the floor.

“Yeah, yeah, it must have been. She must be an avid football fan. Right, Pamplemousse?” Stiles rambled out quickly trying to cover for the young girl.

“Yup.” Smiling up at the two men in the room she rubbed Mora’s back. “You don’t like mean men like that dirty cheater right Mora?”

The dog just stared at the girl as if she were nuts and place her head back onto Pamplemousse’s leg, huffing as she did. Stiles heart stopped racing and he gave Pamplemousse a ‘be more careful, dear’ look.

Pamplemousse gave a small nod and went back to watching football, enjoying the rest of the game.

XXXXX

After the game had ended Pamplemousse rummaged through Stiles’ movie selection and yipped with delight at the sight of her favorite movie.

“I can’t believe you have this movie! Everyone seems to ignore it!” She said as she held up a copy of ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog’. Stiles smiled at the girl’s choice, clearly she had a good head on her shoulders.

“Sheriff, can we please watch it?” She said using her signature puppy dog eyes.

“Yeah, why not? I know it’s a short one anyway then you should get to bed. Between the recording and watching that mini-marathon of ‘Criminal Minds’, it’s gotten pretty late. I want you in bed by 10 o’clock okay? So, please go change into your jammies. And Sheriff is too formal, call me.....hm. What should you call me? Any suggestions Stiles?”

“I don’t know. Old Man, Gramps, Mr. Tickles, Pop.....”

“I like that one!” Pamplemousse interrupted, skidding back into the room, now dress in footie pajamas covered in cupcakes.

“Which one?”

“Pop! It’s fun to say and who else would I call Pop right?” She said smiling up at the Sheriff.

“Then Pop it shall be.”

“Yay! Come on Pop! Let’s watch the movie!” She said, grabbing the older Stilinski’s hand and pulling him to the couch.

“Geez, you are a lot stronger than you look.” the Sheriff said plopping down on the couch. Pamplemousse put the movie in and hopped up next to him. Mora followed suit and laid next to Pamplemousse. The Sheriff looked as if he were going to say something, but just waved it off and settled into the couch. Pamplemousse shifted and laid so she was next to Mora and placed her head on the Sheriff’s lap.

XXXXXX

The fifty minute movie went by really fast and Pamplemousse had dozed off about half way through. She snuggled into the Sheriff even more and had Mora pinned underneath her arm. Stiles smiled at the sight, his dad not looking so content in years.

“Stiles.” His dad called to him softly. “Help me get her off to her bed.”

Stiles nodded and stood, he walked over to the trio on the couch. Lifting Pamplemousse’s arm Mora slipped out fluidly and stretched. Stiles got his arms under the small girl and lifted, she wasn’t too heavy, sighing as he headed for the stairs.

He brought her into the spare bedroom and placed her under the covers, tucking her in. Mora jumped up next to her and settled in. He leaned down and placed a kiss on the girl’s forehead.

“Hmm, Mom.” The girl mumbled. Stiles heart did a little flip at the feelings he had bubbling up inside his chest. He backed out of the room slowly and turned to head back downstairs, his father was standing there, in uniform.

“Tonight? Really?”

“Yeah I just got the call, Greenberg couldn’t make it in.”

“Well, be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be back for breakfast. You two stay safe.” And with that the Sheriff turned and went out to his police cruiser. The engine started and the vehicle took off in the direction of the Police Station.

Stiles cleaned up the mess in the living room quickly and headed upstairs to go to bed. He plopped onto his bed and felt a cool breeze sweep across his back. He inhaled deeply and started to doze off.

The corner of his bed started to indent and Stiles’ eyes shot open, he turned his head to look towards the disturbance. Only to see Derek crawling up the bed towards him.

“Jeez, I thought the ‘grrr, grrr, I’m an angsty wolf who climbs through windows’ phase was over, but I guess not.” He smiled down at the wolf.

“Shut up. I couldn’t sleep. So I came to find you.” Derek settled down next to Stiles on the bed. Placing an arm around his waist, Derek pulled Stiles closer and nuzzled his neck.

Stiles just froze.

“What are you doing?” He asked, voice full of wonder.

“I’m scenting you. You are mine now, right?” He answered simply. Derek continued to nuzzle Stiles’ neck. Stiles just sighed and loosened up, after a few more seconds Derek stopped and just gazed up at Stiles.

“I missed you.” He said innocently. Stiles’ heart pained at how he sounded. It was sincere and heartfelt. Stiles’ smiled and leaned down to kiss his boyfriend.

Derek accepted the kiss and deepened it. Derek started to lift his hand up Stiles’ side, but was interrupted when a scream erupted from Pamplemousse’s room.

Stiles shot up and was running for her room, Derek not far behind. They burst through the door, and could only see a pile of blankets sitting in the corner of the bed, Mora was sniffing the blankets trying to find a way inside. Sniffles, whines and little growls were being emitted from the pile of blankets. Stiles approached the bed slowly.

“Pamplemousse? Honey I’m coming over to the bed, okay?” He said, not wanting to be bitten by the small wolf. He sat down on the bed and pulled the covers off of the girl. She was slightly wolfed out, but had tears running down her face.

Stiles turned slightly as movement was made behind him. Derek moved around him and sat behind the girl on the bed. He placed an arm around her and held her close.

“Pamplemousse, you can bite me, okay? I heal faster, and we don’t want Stiles getting hurt.” He said softly to the girl. She didn’t bite him but leaned into the crook of his arm and breathed deeply, calming herself down.

“What was it Pamplemousse? What happened? Did you have a bad dream?” Stiles asked leaning in closer as Pamplemousse’s face was now back to normal.

She nodded weakly and continued to hold onto Derek’s arm. She unhooked on of her arms and reached it out to Stiles, he grabbed it and started to rub it with affection.

“Want to tell us about it?” He asked, hoping it would help her calm down and get back to sleep.

“I don’t really want to....can we lay back down though. I want you both here. You can chase the bad lady away.”

“Sure.” Stiles and Derek went to adjust on the bed, Stiles was against the wall and Derek was on the other side. Pamplemousse was snuggled in between the two them. Mora placed herself in between their legs, wanting to stay next to the young girl. They all cuddle closely together and comforted the young girl.

“If you want to talk about it you can. Otherwise, try and sleep okay?” Stiles said to the young girl.

“I-it was really scary.” She started. “I was walking in the woods with Mora and we came back to the house. The door was wide open like Ezze’s was.” The girl paused for a moment and snuggled closer into Stiles’ chest. He looked up to Derek with a knowing look in his eyes. They know what happened at Ezze’s.

“I walked up to the porch and it was really quiet. No one was making a sound. I tried to listen really hard, I couldn’t hear anything. I walked into the room and you were all there. But, it was all wrong and you were all covered in blood and I-I couldn’t do anything. I tried to wake you up, all of you, but you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t wake up.” The girl started to hyperventilate.

Stiles started to stroke the small girl’s back, shushing her and holding her close. Derek scooted closer and put his arms around the two of them, holding them close as well, careful not to squish the girl.

“It’s okay. Pamplemousse, I would never let anything happen to anyone in the pack. Especially Stiles.” Derek said softly to the girl as he looked into Stiles’ eyes.

“Nothing will ever happen to us. We will all protect each other.” Stiles reaffirmed.

Pamplemousse’s tears ceased and her sniffles quieted a little. She looked up to Stiles.

“I just don’t want to ever have to see my family dead again.” She said weakly.

“You won’t.” Both men answered simultaneously.

“Okay.” She answered.

“Now, try and get some sleep okay? Would you like us to sleep here with you?” Stiles asked.

“Please stay here.” The trio let the room fall into a comfortable silence and fell asleep snuggled together.