Not The Roads We Follow
Epilogue to: Not The Roads We Know

Broken!Stiles

The second Stiles started his decent down the spiral stairs, he felt the eyes of his friends on him. He didn't know how much they knew about the universe he'd been in, but he could see by the looks on their faces that he still carried the scent of those they had lost.

Scott was the first to surge forward, completely ignoring Derek who took a step back as Scott lunged at Stiles. He was wrapped in the young Alpha's arms in seconds, Scott's nose buried in his shoulder where Allison had laid her head as they hugged not even an hour ago. Stiles didn't' care, he allowed Scott to have this, the comfort of the scent of his first love. He knew Scott was crying even before his friends shoulders started so shake.

No one said anything as they watched their Alpha brake down, but Stiles wasn't worried about them. Scott's hug was bruising and painful and still he couldn't bring himself to complain.

"Allison…" Scott moaned a little around the name. He knew that Scott missed her. Even with Kira there, no one really forgets their first love.

Stiles looked up at that thought, not having to search very hard to find Lydia's eyes staring at his. She looked like he was about to fly apart herself.

Unwrapping an arm from around his best friend's shoulder, Stiles held out the picture to her, hoping that even through the tears and pain, it would make her smile. Her long strides took her to his side in seconds and then the picture of Allison's 19th birthday party was ripped from his hands.

He allowed himself to watch the emotions cross her face as she analyzed the picture. First was the smile, a reaction of happiness to seeing all of her friend's content with their lives…but then came the tears.

Lydia tried to blink through them so that she could keep her eyes on the picture but soon the tears were falling too fast. Her other hand came to her mouth as if to keep her scream inside. She crumpled in on herself, falling to the ground and hiding her face as her sobs became too loud to ignore. Instantly Kira was at her side, a hesitant arm around Lydia's shoulders.

Scott released Stiles and all but yanked the picture from Lydia's hand, not that the emotionally broken banshee even noticed.

The reactions couldn't have been more different. While Lydia had smiled at first, Scott just got angry. The howl that echoed the walls was probably audible around the whole county, but Scott couldn't stop. Only he did stop. On his third howl in, just like Lydia, he crumpled to the floor on his knees, his hands clenching at his hair as the howls turned to human screams.

Stiles watched all of this with a heavy heart. The two of them needed this, Stiles had realized this at some point while he'd been hugging Allison in the other universe. Scott and Lydia had cried, but they hadn't allowed themselves to grieve, not really and not publicly. They needed to do this, to tear everything down, if they ever hoped to rebuild something stable. He'd come to his own peace in his mother's arms, now it was their turn.

Slowly, he turned to Derek who was shedding his own tears in silence. He'd smelled it too without a doubt. Erica, Boyd, and Isaac. Stiles had hugged all three and he was sure that Derek could pick their scents out like the most well trained police dog.

Not really giving himself the chance to think about it, he walked up to Derek and leaned his body against the stronger, bigger one of his mates. He couldn't and wouldn't ever feel the bond like Derek, but he felt the buzzing of magic between them, and for him it was enough for now. He didn't even have to wait very long for Derek's arms to come around him and for the large wolf to bury his nose against Stiles' temple, smelling his hair and the lingering scents of a pack that they had lost a long time ago.

Slowly and tentatively, Liam made his way to Scott, kneeling down to put a hand on his Alpha's shoulder.

No one moved or spoke as they let the room quickly fill with the sounds and smells of sadness, grief, pain, and anger.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

"How was she?"

Scott's face was a billboard advertising how tired he was, but then again so was everyone else's. Still, they all managed to migrate to the couches and sit down together, just feeling each other there for a long while. It took a long time before anyone was comfortable enough to break the silence, but apparently, Scott was going to be okay.

Stiles smiled a little sadly, sitting next to Derek and leaning his head against the wolf's big shoulder as Derek's arm draped around the back of the couch. He was so worn out that he'd relaxed into this possession even if this thing between him and Derek was still so very knew and unusual for him.

"She was…" He had to pause because he honestly didn't know how to put it. He didn't know the words that would help him explain exactly what the other universe had been like when all he'd known was this one. This horrible and sad one. "She was happy Scott." God it sounded lame. So Stiles scrambled to continue. "You and…You and Allison were still together you know. The group had a name for you guys, like a couple name."

"Scallison." Scott whispered with a small smile. Stiles didn't know how Kira felt about Allison, but he saw her sympathetic sadness clearly as she laid a hand on Scott's arm. Scott didn't push her away, just leaned back on the sofa and drew himself a little closer to the Kitsune.

"Yeah." Stiles smiled too, eyes flicking minutely to Lydia who was still silently staring at the photo with near lifeless eyes.

"So was she the only one?"

They both knew she wasn't, but Scott asked it lightly all the same. It was a request. An inquiry of everyone else's mental state. If anyone didn't want to hear, they could speak up now. Only, no one did. So Stiles decided to tell them everything.

He started with Derek in the woods in front of the Hale House ashes. He talked about what it was like seeing Erica standing there. Scott and Kira and even Liam laughed as he went on to Boyd and Allison, not skipping over any of his snarky back talk. When he got to the punch on Derek's face, Stiles wasn't above smirking sideways at Derek who rolled his eyes and rubbed his jaw. It had the added bonus of finally grabbing Lydia's attention.

He told them about Aiden and Ethan, about Isaac and having to drive to the clinic in the Camaro with Derek. He made sure to comment on the hoodie on the floor of the passenger's seat and the radio station making Derek grin and everyone snicker. When he got to his mom, his voice went soft as he described her. He used as many details as he could and everyone let him, listening intently with a small smile that made Stiles smile too despite never being able to see her again.

Stiles went on to talk about the freak out he had, then his little moment with Scott in the car, and then to the morning talk with the McCalls about Peter Hale. Stiles knew that Peter was lurking around the loft somewhere, listening in. He went into details, mostly made up since no one actually talked much about the other Peter, in the hopes that the creep werewolf would hear it and feel incline to better himself. He knew Derek knew what he was doing the moment Derek frowned and glared at him, though never pulling away.

From there he talked about the pack meeting. He stumbled a bit over the recounting of his farewells, and everyone seemed to have shed at least one tear by the time he got to his mother casting the spell.

When his tail was told, everyone lapsed back into the chilling quiet. They were all replaying the story they had been told in their heads, focusing on the people that mattered to them. When Scott's phone started to ring, the tension that had surrounded them all seemed to have been broken.

Scott stood and answered his mother, who kept asking when he would be home. The young Alpha even took a moment to smile at Kira and squeeze her hand before he went further into the loft to have some privacy.

Stiles sighed as he pushed himself to stand too. He looked down at Derek for a long moment, who stared back up at him with a question in his eyes that Stiles could read clearly because he was thinking the very same thing. 'What now?'

"We need to talk." Stiles decided. Derek only nodded. "Come over tomorrow?" Again Derek nodded, so Stiles grinned and nodded back. He leaned down to kiss Derek's lips one last time, much to the amusement of Kira and the disgust of Lydia and the chagrin of Liam. "Come on guys, I'll take us all home." Stiles said just as Scott re-entered the room.

"Awesome!" Scott called as he made a b-line for Kira. "'Cause my mom just said that if I'm not home in ten minutes I'm grounded."

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Fae!Stiles

His mom didn't stick around other than giving him a peck on the cheek and a big hug, telling him he did good and a very Deaton-Level-Cryptic way.

The second she was gone, Derek was on him, dragging Stiles back onto their bed with minimal protest.

Stiles chuckled and laughed as Derek all but ripped at his clothes.

"Derek! Derek we have a room full of people downstairs!" Stiles tried to argue through his grin. "Don't try to tell me we don't, I know what day it is. Friday is Pack Night Derek!"

There was a pitiful, gutted moan from Derek as he stopped the teeth, lips, and tongue assault he had been launching on Stiles' neck. A move that so very nearly had Stiles giving in. But to be honest, he needed to see his friends. He needed to see Scott with Allison, and Erica and Boyd together, and the twins arguing about who would win against who in a fair no-werewolf-powers fight, and Danny's personal rays of freakin' sunshine, and Isaac and Cora talking and flirting with each other but never doing anything, and Jackson and Lydia arguing venomously even as he gently tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. He need to see his pack whole and alive and happy.

Derek pulled back a little, hovering over Stiles on his elbows as they legs tangled together. He face was screwed up in concern and worry, and Stiles rolled his eyes as he pushed gently at Derek's chest.

"We can have a moment to ourselves tonight Derek, but right now I want to see my friends." He bit his lip and looked away, wanting to admit that the thought of a world in which they were dead or had left the pack had honestly scared him, but not wanting to say the actual words.

Derek didn't need the words though. With a suffering sigh, he pushed himself off the bed and held his hand out to help Stiles. "Fine. Okay. We'll get through Pack Night, but no one is sleeping over tonight, don't ask them."

Stiles flashed Derek a toothy grin and grabbed the shirt Derek had torn off from the floor and slipping it on. Good thing it had really ripped. He'd wanted to keep it as a memory of that world. A reminder like the other Stiles had said. A reminder that you never really know how long you have with a person before they are gone or ripped away from you.

The ones who knew about the parallel universe business, looked up at them as Stiles and Derek made their way down the spiral stairs. The first one to greet him was Scott, of course, who dragged Allison into a three way embrace.

Allison's smile had a quirk to it that Stiles couldn't place, but when Scott let them go, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple quickly before stepping away. "I love you Allison." He said seriously. Her absence in the other universe had been a palpable thing, it had been oppressing and jaded and he needed to tell her that he appreciated her existence here now. Her smile seemed to ease at his words before she returned them in kind.

"I love you too Stiles."

Derek's arms were around his waist the second they walked away, with the big wolf walking behind him step for step as they made their way through the crowd to the first three betas Derek had ever turned.

The trio was on the couch playing a very intense, werewolf version of the card came: Bullshit. When they looked up and met Stiles' eyes, he wanted to rush up and hug each one. He'd missed their roughhousing and their person brands of puppy rebellions.

The first one to reach him and Derek though was Isaac and Stiles beamed as the werewolf hugged him, not even caring about Derek at his back, just dragging the Alpha into a hug as well.

"He was very different from you." Isaac said with a frown. "He felt wrong…" It wasn't supposed to be an insult, and no one took it as one. Isaac and Stiles had been close ever since Scott and Allison's second break up that ended with them back together and Isaac heartbroken. Stiles had comforted Isaac and in no time at all, Isaac had become attached to him. In fact, when it came to all three of Derek's Betas, he kind of felt like the Pack mom. He didn't really mind though.

"I know…if felt wrong over there too." Stiles admitted, running his hands through Isaac's soft curls.

When Isaac let go, Erica was next, pecking him on the cheek before practically pressing her neck in his mouth with her attempt to stretch behind him and kiss Derek's cheek too. She laughed though as she pulled back and Stiles flushed a bit. Geez, Erica was such a flirt.

"You're cuter than he was." Erica said with three separate tilts of her head. Left, right, left. She had a way of doing that and making even the motion feel judgmental.

"I'm cuter than myself? Thanks Erica, at least I can put that on my new male model job application." He replied sarcastically, only to get a growl from Derek and a sharp bite to the nape of his neck that made him gasp. Erica practically cackled as she crowded back up against Boyd's chest.

"Don't listen to her. He was cool. I think he might even be snarkier than you." Boyd smirked as Stiles comically widened his eyes to fake a look of pure horror.

He turned sharply in Derek's arms and glared up at his mate. "Boyd just committed the worst insult of my people. What are you prepared to do to defend my honor?"

Derek smirked down at him with a raised eyebrow. "You need me to go around defending your honor now?" The Alpha wolf asked with the teasing lilt that Stiles will never admit to loving.

Stiles huffed in indignation instead. "We haven't seen each other for two days and one night and you won't even defend my honor? I'm going to go find Lydia. She's always willing to belittle people for me." He tried to pry Derek's arms from around him, but Derek didn't even struggle to keep his hold. Stiles was at a very large disadvantage since he would never use harmful magic on a pack member. Not since he'd gotten into a nasty fight with Jackson that turned the poor boy into an actual wolf for two weeks. Lydia had been very amused at him for the first five days, and then she promptly used every resource she had to make Stiles' life miserable for the next nine days of the two weeks. "Let go Derek." He growled playfully. He was trying to glare, he really was but it was so hard to keep from smiling that Stiles eventually just stopped trying.

Derek just hugged him tighter. "Never again."

Isaac laughed as he watched the couple, Erica grinning and Boyd shaking his head. Stiles couldn't be happier, especially when he thought about the ones who were left behind in the other universe.

He remembered once, telling Lydia that 'death doesn't happen to you. It happens to the people around you. To the friends and family that have to stand there at your funeral and figure out what they were going to do now, without you'. He honestly hadn't known how true the statement was until he'd seen it with his own eyes. What the death and loss had left their pack like.

They only socialized for another hour before everyone slowly started to leave. Deaton and Chris Argent leaving first, soon followed by his mother who had hugged him tightly and told him that she expected him and Derek over from lunch. Danny, Ethan, and Aiden left next, Ethan and Danny smiling and holding hands. Apparently they'd talked whatever problem they'd been having out and were now back together. Stiles swore that those two were worse than Scott and Allison but better than Lydia and Jackson, who were both the next couples to leave.

Soon even the beta puppy trio made their way to the car Derek had gotten them to share for graduation.

Once left alone, Derek gathered Stiles into his strong arms as they stood there, at the door to the loft feeling the energy of another successful pack night.

"I wonder how he's doing…" Stiles thought aloud, allowing himself to be cradled and snuggled even as Derek's face was getting further and further into his neck, where Derek would eventually start to nibble and lick, bringing the familiar need Stiles was so attached to now a days.

"Stiles, the boy who was here while you weren't, that was still you. Things happened in a different way, you were different, but every day, we are all different than the person we were yesterday." Derek's logic wasn't off, but Stiles couldn't help but feeling like that wasn't true.

"Derek, don't you ever wonder what you would have been like if you had never met Kate? Or Paige?" Stiles didn't react as he felt Derek stiffen in his arms. He knew it was always a hard topic for Derek to talk about, but it wasn't the open wound it had once been.

As if to prove Stiles' point, Derek relaxed after a while, nodding into Stiles' shoulder and consequentially burying himself further into the freckled and pale neck.

Stiles was putting up a valiant effort to ignore the affects that Derek's affection had on his body.

"You wouldn't be the Derek I know. Could I still love you? Yes, most likely. But you wouldn't be the same, wouldn't even think of yourself as the same person. You disconnected with the child you were in the past, so why is it surprising that I would disconnect with the Stiles I am in another life?" He wasn't pushing for a fight, even though it seemed like it. He had a point here, he just needed to reach it. "I think we are all shaped into the people we become due to the things we faced in our lives. I've had it easy here. Sure it wasn't perfect, life never is, but I've had my mom, my powers, a way to protect myself and those I care about, the other Stiles…he doesn't have much of anything. He's probably closer to his dad than I am to mine. He's probably closer to Scott too, maybe enough that Scott wouldn't have done what he does when he first became a werewolf."

Derek snorted, the breath blown into his neck making him shiver. "Stiles, you might have been different, but Scott wouldn't be. He'd have still ditched you for Allison."

Stiles smiled as he rolled his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd stopped looking at that point in time with anger and jealousy. "Yes fine, but I think it still stands. I am who I am, he is who he is. We aren't the same."

Derek sighed before nodding and resuming his assault on Stiles neck. Stiles only laughed loudly as he allowed Derek to take him. But still, his mind was caught up with the other Stiles.

He wondered briefly if that Stiles would ever feel this. This happiness and this joy. He hoped so, he hoped that mates would always find each other, even in different universes.

"Good luck." Stiles whispered into thin air before his words were lost in a moan.

~!~!~!~!~!~~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Broken!Stiles

Stiles was expecting a Hale. In fact, he'd left the window open. He just wasn't expecting this Hale.

"Malia…" Stiles breathed out, weak and helpless. He'd been smiling as he turned around on the computer chair to look at the open window, but the smile dropped when he saw the girl standing there. A scowl on her face, her eyes shining blue with hurt and anger and her fangs bared.

"So what? That's it? You're choosing him? From one minute to the next you're choosing him?" Her words were growled, but the pain thrummed in the air around them.

Stiles honestly didn't know what to say to her. He hadn't thought about it actually…Malia herself had slipped his mind and he felt the guilt curling ruthlessly in his stomach. She could smell it on him, he was sure, because he didn't say anything at all, but she seemed to get the hint.

"I thought you loved me!" Malia crouched low a little, looking at Stiles through her lashes, but in the most menacing way Stiles had ever seen from a girl. She was looking at him like she wanted to eat him. Like he was prey she'd scented in the wild and she was ready to pounce. He felt cornered, felt helpless and defenseless. So he started talking.

"I do love you!" He insisted. He was proud of his heart when it didn't stutter in the form of a lie. She was thrown off just enough to drop the stance of attack. "I do love you, like I love Lydia, like I loved Allison at one point…I've looked you all differently but equally but Derek…" And that was it, she pounced.

Stiles managed to catch her wrists but he was thrown off balance, falling back onto the ground and slamming his head onto the hardwood floor. He winced at the pain but he needed to worry about Malia who was quickly overpowering him.

"You were mine! I got to you first! I claimed you first! My scent is on you, all over everything! This is my territory!" She was repeating herself as she tried to reach for his throat, for his face, for his blood and he was fighting her off with strength that he wasn't sure would last.

"Malia!" He yelled, desperate. "Malia! I met him first! I loved him first, I've been his all this time he just never…Malia! Stop!" His strength was giving out and his left arm buckled.

Her claws came straight for his face and caught the side of his cheek, drawing blood and a sharp yelp. "Malia!"

"Stiles!" Derek's booming voice filled the room a second before Malia's form was pulled off of him and thrown against his bedroom door.

Stiles felt the fear round through him one last time as he held a hand to his face and the other out to Derek so that he could be pulled up.

Derek didn't though, he went straight for Malia, who was already ready to pounce herself.

"No!" Stiles yelled, catching the edge of Derek's jeans before scrambling to stand. "No! Stop!" He tried to pull at Derek but the werewolf wouldn't budge, standing in front of Stiles like a shield or a wall. Derek's didn't move nor crouch for an attack. He was just prepared for one to come his way.

"Stop it!" Stiles yelled over Derek's shoulder to Malia. "Stop please!"

Malia looked at Derek with loathing and hatred so deep that Stiles shivered with it. Then her eyes fell on Stiles' face behind Derek's shoulder and her expression broke. Tears fell from her eyes and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Tense silence spread between them as Derek struggled to relax his tense muscles. Stiles didn't have any trouble relaxing once Malia was gone. His shoulders sagged and his head fell onto Derek's shoulder as his legs struggled to keep him up right.

Derek's sudden whirl around almost dropped Stiles to the floor, but strong arms came around him to keep him from dropping.

"I'm sorry…" Derek whispered into his temple.

Stiles could basically feel Derek's regret through his skin, but the second he brought his own arms to wrap them around Derek, the werewolf had let go of him.

With one long suffering look, Derek tossed himself out the window like he was trying to rip himself away from Stiles.

Stiles wasn't sure what to do. So he stood there, staring after Derek like he'd been slapped.

He didn't know how long he stood there, until his attention was caught on something shining on his bedside table.

It was the picture. The one he had taken from the other universe, the one his mother had given him.

"Hey! Genim!"

Stiles was caught by surprise as his own voice called out his real name. When he looked at the picture he saw his face staring back at him, except, the differences were there, defined and pronounced.

"Hey…" Stiles said numbly, not reaching for the picture of moving at all. What was with this, everything happening at the same time and throwing him off so bad he wasn't ever sure what actually had happened.

"I'm sorry. I saw what happened. Mom put a spell in the picture, she wanted to watch over her boy, both of us you know. It's connected to everyone's pictures, all you have to do is touch the picture and say their names…Allison said it'd be okay if you ever wanted to talk to her or if you wanted to let Scott or Lydia talk to her." The Stiles in the picture frame looked unsure if it was a good idea, and Stiles himself didn't really think it was a good idea either. Lose should be final, it should strike once and fade to dull aches.

"Tell her thank you, but Scott has Kira. He needs to move forward and talking to Allison would just encourage him living in the past." In a way, Stiles was glad for this distraction, it allowed him time to think about something other than the events that just took place in his bedroom.

The Stiles in the picture frame looked relieved and the smile showed it.

"Good. That's what I thought too. So…" Fae!Stiles paused, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Mom told me about the picture today and I…I don't know. I wanted to tell you about…but when I called your name and saw you and Derek and Malia I didn't know what to say."

Stiles nodded before he sat down on his computer chair again and dropped his head into his hands.

"I don't know what just happened." Stiles confessed quietly.

"Well, it looked to me like Derek was being a stupid self-sacrificing jerk again." There was a soft 'Hey!' from somewhere outside the frame that had Stiles smiling just a little bit. "So I'm going to let you know what I did when it happened the first time."

There was a pause and Stiles looked up from his hands and into the picture frame, seeing himself and Derek kissing sweetly.

His heart warmed in an unexpected way and suddenly, he knew what he needed to do. This wasn't the other Stiles Derek, this was his Derek and he knew how to handle his Derek.

"It's okay." Stiles smiled a bit. "I know what to do."

The other Stiles and Derek broke apart and looked at him with a smile, they understood too it seems, which was good because Stiles didn't think he could explain if he wanted to.

"Keep in touch okay?" The other Stiles smirked a secret little smile and Stiles copied it before he nodded.

"You too." Stiles breathed. In a second the image of himself and Derek faded and the picture of the pack on Allison's 19th birthday part was back.

Stiles didn't waste any time on slipping on his sneakers, grabbing a jacket and his keys, and making his way out the door. He was just lucky his dad was over at Mellissa's tonight.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Fae!Stiles

"You think he's going to be okay?"

Derek rolled his eyes as Stiles repeated those same words for the fifth time that night.

"Stiles why are you so worried?"

Stiles hesitated as he leaned his head back into Derek's shoulder. He was sitting between his Alpha's legs, leaning back against his chest with strong arms around his waist keeping him from pacing around their room in the loft.

"I want something good to happen for him. Just once in his life. I feel like it's unfair. He has this broken life while I…"

"I thought you said you two are different people." Derek chimed in, earning himself an elbow to the gut.

"Not what I mean Derek." Stiles huffed. "I don't say that because he is me, I say it because he is human. I say it because he has been given a shitty life and I don't know…I sort of care about him. I care about all of them."

Derek snorted into Stiles neck but didn't respond. Instead, he sucked a mark into his mate's skin.

"He'll be okay. You two may be different people, but from what I head, his Derek is still the same as me. He'll know what to do, just like you did. When it's meant to be, love finds a way."

Stiles couldn't hold back the snort of laughter at the outrageously cheesy lines that usually never come from Derek.

"I can't believe you just said that! What is this, a Disney move! Derek!" Stiles laughed for a while and Derek shook his head, smiling fondly at the man in his arms.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Broken!Stiles

Derek wasn't at the loft. So there was only one other place the werewolf could be.

The Hale House.

Stiles could barely remember the drive there. His mind was caught up thinking about what arguments to make, how to counter every excuse Derek gives, ways to convince Derek that they are worth it. He scrubs roughly at his cheek when it starts to itch and winces when he remembers how Malia's claws had scratched him. Whatever, that wasn't important.

Once he reached the Hale House, he could feel a shift in the air. Like this moment was important, like this moment was another choice that could create another universe. This time though, Stiles resolved to not be the one who ended up with the short end of the stick.

"Derek!"

When Derek came out of the house, eyes hard and ready to push him away, Stiles said the one thing he was sure would throw Derek off his game.

"I want to become a werewolf."

And then he rushed at the 'caught off guard' Derek and pounced, sealing their lips together and holding on tightly to Derek. So tightly that hopefully even Derek's own protests wouldn't keep them apart.

This was his life to live. All of the pain, all of the grief and the death, they all lead him to who he was and he couldn't change any of it. But he could become stronger. He could fight to protect those he still had left. Without his mother there to teach him magic, Stiles only had one option to become stronger.

"I want to be a werewolf." He breathed again, against Derek's lips, laying kiss after kiss. He noticed minutely had he'd thrown his legs around Derek's hips and the wolf was holding him up with both hands under his ass, but he was too focused on both Derek's lips and his new realization.

Human Stiles would find a way to protect everyone, but he would make mistakes in the end…Stiles didn't think his life had any more room for mistakes. He was going to protect his mate, his friends, his Alpha, and himself. He wouldn't be the weak one anymore.

"I love you…" He wouldn't be weak or by himself ever again.

He would never let Derek walk away again.