Taking Care of of the Job by Dreaming of a Bright Sky

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen wolf or the characters!

This is a future fic and might be considered AU. Stiles has become a hunter in this fic. BAMF!Stiles

Chapter 5

Tim had called to let him know that he was ok. It was great to hear him. "It's good to be a werewolf. I love the healing. Not so fond of the brow ridge thing we have going on, but it's a tradeoff."

Stiles laughed. "Well, I'll be seeing you soon, then. I'll wrap things up here and be back at headquarters by the end of the week."

"Stiles...do you think that's what's best? You have a mate. You have a father."

"I won't be coming back to stay, Tim. I'll need to put in my severance paperwork and clear out my room. My dad is freaked, but I can't just leave Derek."

Tim heaved a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear, kid. I like Hale, and that's a bad way to die. Sure, you could probably visit or something, but he'd never be at full strength. I was going to beat you over the head with the whole guilt trip thing, and frankly? That probably would have earned me a wolfsbane bullet. So, I'm glad that you came to your senses." A voice could be heard on the other end. "The nurses are angry that I wandered off. See you soon!"

Stiles hung up with a smile. He dug through the old newspapers, checking out apartments. He wasn't sure yet what he'd do to occupy himself. He had enough in saving to tide him over for a while. He'd lived on base the entire time and they'd paid him moderately well. Stiles had always secretly suspected that GT was a government run agency. He couldn't prove it, of course, but he still suspected it. Not that it mattered.

Derek showed up to the hotel room that night at his usual time. He sat next to Stiles, leaning into his space. "It's all wrapped up?"

"Pretty much. I've got some paperwork to finish and I'll turn it in when I'm at headquarters."

"So this is it then."

Stiles looked at his mate. He smiled. "I thought about torturing you and dragging this out, but I won't. I'm coming back. To stay." He waved some of the newspapers at Derek. "I've already started apartment hunting."

Derek snatched the papers from Stiles. "I've rebuilt the house and there's plenty of room. Stay with me."

The hunter nudged Derek in the ribs. "Sure that you can put up with me?"

Derek didn't verbally respond. Instead, he pulled Stiles in for a kiss. When they broke off, Stiles was short of breath. "I'm not waiting ten years for another of those."

"Then move in with me and we can do that every day."

"Sounds like a plan."

###

Stiles went back to headquarters. He got stuck there for a week, tying up loose ends and filling out paperwork. Tim threw him a party. "Call if you need anything, kid. We're still friends." He handed him a GT phone and some keys. "Besides, you're not actually quitting, not unless you want to. I managed to get you assigned to be our adjunct to the Beacon Hill's area. That place is a supernatural hub of activity, and with two packs there, it would be good to have a permanent liaison. So in a way, it's your job to take care of Derek now."

Stiles gave his friend a hug. "That sounds great. Thanks!"

Stiles drove away in his official vehicle. It was loaded with gear and more could be sent if needed. Teams could be called in if a situation called for it. It made him responsible for the entire area, and he was a bit nervous about that, but he knew that he'd have help. It was late when he finally pulled up to the rebuilt Hale house and Derek was standing outside waiting. By the time Stiles had his duffel out and the door shut, Derek was at his side.

The alpha rubbed his face into his mate's neck, inhaling deeply. Stiles held him, knowing that Derek needed to reconnect and ground. When Derek lifted his head, Stiles could see the shadows under his eyes. "Come on. Let's get some sleep."

The next day, Stiles made Derek call in sick. The alpha was pale and still tired. "You should have called me. I'd have come back sooner."

"I knew you were coming back. It's not that bad."

Stiles wanted to smack the alpha upside the head but instead he kissed him. "I didn't know a week would be a problem. You lasted ten years."

"It's because I was so close to the edge before you came. Deaton had been pushing me to call you. He says that I'm going to need regular physical contact with you for a while before we can be separated any length of time."

"You realize that would have been nice to know before I left for a week?"

"And then you wouldn't have gone. You had things to do and I survived."

"Idiot." He pushed Derek back under the covers and held him as he slept. The warmth and quiet sucked him under, and soon he was asleep too.

Stiles woke to Derek lightly tracing his fingers over the rough scarring visible above his waistband. "Tim says that you never let it heal properly. Does it still bother you?"

"It doesn't stop me."

"That's not an answer."

Stiles shrugged. "It'll probably always hurt. At least the back doesn't itch anymore. The itching while it healed drove me crazy."

"You never have let me see."

Stiles sat up and hooked his fingers under his shirt. As he pulled up, Derek could see four long claw marks across Stile's back. He gently traced along them one by one. "Do they hurt?"

"Not anymore."

Derek tugged Stiles back down. He tried to see the scar on Stiles hip, but he was blocked by the hunter's jeans. Stiles unzipped his pants and pulled the top over so that Derek could see. He knew that it looked ugly. The scar tissue was still red looking and mildly swollen. It had been a deep wound and it hadn't healed smoothly. Derek sucked in a breath. "This came close to the artery."

"Just above it, yeah. I got lucky. A little lower and I would have bled out before they could have gotten me to surgery."

Derek smoothed his hand over the scar and Stiles grabbed his wrist. "Don't. If you're planning on taking pain, you're in no shape for it. It's fine."

"I won't. Not right now."

Stiles let go of his wrist. "Ok."

Derek traced the ridges and edges of the scar. He ended with putting his hand over the area, as if he were protecting it from further harm. "Does it affect your mobility?"

"You're actually sick enough to call in to work, and you're worried about a months old injury? Maybe we should be talking about you."

Derek didn't remove his hand, but he did stop asking questions.

The two of them had relaxed most of the day. He filled Derek in on what had been going on, and that he was now the official GT liaison to Beacon Hills. He joked that he was taking care of his job by taking care of Derek. The alpha just told him to shut up and go back to work. So he did; he scrounging around at the pitiful pickings of Derek's kitchen and cobbling something together to eat.

The alpha went back to work the next day and Stiles brought lunch to his dad. He could tell that his father hadn't expected to see him. "Hey, dad. I brought baked sweet potato fries, roast chicken, and steamed broccoli!" He laid the containers out and handed the Sheriff a fork.

"Stiles."

"I'm back in town. Well, you can see that, I guess. But I'm here to stay." He stabbed a broccoli. "I realize that you're dealing with a huge shift in your world view and that now's not a good time, but here's a new one for you: I'm bi. In fact, Derek and I are a thing. A permanent thing. So, yeah." He munched on the abused broccoli and waited.

"Ok, that? I can handle that. What I can't handle is seeing my son butcher a person!"

Stiles leaned back in his chair, peering out into the hall to make sure that nobody had been around to hear that. He closed the door and put all four legs of the chair back down. "I'm a hunter, Dad. I have been for about six years now. Before that, I was up to my ears running in a world that included hunters, werewolves, and other strange and scaly things. What I do isn't so different than what you do. I catch bad guys. In my case, they sprout claws and get furry."

"Stiles, you didn't 'catch' that creature, you slaughtered it. You put two clips into it. One in the chest and one in the head, and then you slit its throat. You didn't even flinch!"

"Dad, you saw what that thing was capable of. All of the 'cougar attacks' where his doing. He enjoyed it! The group I work with only kills when we have solid evidence. We get the proof, and we take the rabid ones out."

"Just like that?"

"Trust me, we pay a price for it. Most human hunters don't have a high survival rate. Look at the Argents. They were a well-known hunting family. They were so large that they spread across the country. Now it's just Allison and Chris. The rest are dead."

Stiles stood and showed his father his back. "That's not the worst of it, and I was lucky."

His father was horrified. "That's lucky?"

"I walked away with a month of physio." He showed him the edge of the scar along his side. "But I walked away. It's why we try to recruit werewolves. They can take more damage and heal faster. In the last few years I've seen more friends leave in body bags than I care to count. I've seen others left so crippled that they'll spend the rest of their lives in nursing homes."

"Then why do it?"

"Why are you a cop?"

"To protect people. To make the world a safer and better place."

"Exactly. That's my reason too."

The Sheriff ate his food, grimacing a bit at the broccoli. "It's a lot to take in, Stiles. You'll have to give me some time to absorb it."

"Ok."

Sheriff Stilinski gestured at the food. "Is this going to a regular event?"

"Every day, dad. Every day."

###

It became a thing. He'd drop Derek's food off, and go spend time with his dad. Sometimes, when Derek wasn't on patrol, the three would eat together. His dad came to terms with everything after a while, though he still struggled with how often Stiles had thrown himself into danger as a teenager.

Derek looked better. He was more at ease and even smiled sometimes. He lost that tense, stretched-too-tight vibe that he'd had going.

Stiles had run a couple of assignments in neighboring areas, but he hadn't needed to call in for help from headquarters. Both packs helped out, and Allison came along with her bow. In fact, when Allison wasn't busy, she started helping Stiles watch the news to spot weird activity.

Stiles helped keep Boyd in business. He'd had his dad's porch fixed and built him a car port. Stiles was thinking about getting double paned glass for the windows, and a new furnace, but Sheriff Stilinski was happy with what he had.

At Derek's, Stiles took over a whole section of the house for his GT operations. He even had a few rooms set aside in case a group ever was called in. Tim had come down and helped set up the computers and other equipment. He stayed for the weekend and met the entire werewolf population in Beacon Hill's. He slapped Stiles on the back, "Keep this up and you're going to have your own unit. The higher ups have liked your progress so far."

"Tim, you are the higher ups. Unless you're going to finally admit that this is a secretly run government agency, I'm pretty sure that you're running the show."

"You know that I'll never admit to either, right?" He winked at Stiles. "Seriously, though. Good job. That last hunt was looking ugly and you handled it with no injuries."

"None that required medical to be involved, no. As you said, werewolf healing is awesome."

Scott wandered into the conversation. "Yeah. He used us as cannon fodder and sent us into the building first."

"Hey! You agreed to that! In fact, if I recall, you refused to let Allison and I go first. Next time, I lead!"

"Like hell you will." Derek had joined them. "The place was rigged. We could smell it. There was no way we were sending you or Allison in first."

Scott responded, "Like I said, cannon fodder!"

Derek growled at him to shut up as Stiles yelled for Allison, "Hey, Argent! Your hubby wants to send us in to get blown up next time!"

Scott look betrayed. "Oh CRAP! Stiles...that's just cruel!"

Allison yelled back, "Do I need to get my bow?"

Scott was frantically waving his hands at Stiles. "Dude! No!"

"Maybe. What do you think?"

Allison shot him a grin and gave them all a wink. "It's ok. He'll be good. Won't you, Scott?"

"God, why are all the humans in my life so evil?" The beta moaned.

Tim laughed. "You've got good people here."

"Yeah. I really do." Stiles watched Derek bantering with Scott and Allison, and it made him smile. "They're family in the best ways possible."