Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf.

A/N1: After watching 3.11 I couldn't help but think what if something went drastically wrong with the sacrifice. Yes, my mind went there. And here is the end result. With that said this is major AU after that 'Alpha Pact.' Also, keep in mind that I'm not a medical expert, but I did do research so please forgive me for any medical mistakes. I tried my best.

A/N2: This is my first Teen Wolf fic, so be gentle...

The New Norm-Chapter 1 (Change in Plans)

"It's fine, sheriff…No, it's no problem at all…Does he know you're not picking him up?" Derek asks into the phone as he makes his way down the hall. "I'm here now, let me go. Stiles is probably driving them up the wall…See you, later," Derek says just before he hangs up and opens the door, making his way to a desk.

An attractive blonde in hair twenties looks up when she hears the door open. She smiles as she greets Derek, "Hi, Derek. How are you?"

Derek shrugs his shoulders. "Not bad, how about you, Rachel?"

Rachel laughs, "So far so good," She then looks over her shoulder to the open recreation room behind her. She speaks in a louder voice. "Well, that was until about ten minutes ago when someone started driving me nuts, kept asking me every two seconds what time it was."

Derek rolls his eyes as he sees Stiles get up from his chair and makes his way to the two of them at the desk. Some things don't change. Stiles can still annoy the shit out of anyone even one of the most patient nurses in California, if not the country.

"Does he know I'm picking him up?" Derek asks lowly so Stiles can't hear him. Stiles hates it when people treat him differently than from before, before everything went to hell. Before he, Scott, and Allison did that godforsaken ritual sacrifice to save their parents, before Allison and Scott regained consciousness and Stifles didn't…

But, Derek has had a long day and he doesn't know if he can take a Stiles meltdown right now. Routine has been a staple as of late fro Stiles, was as routine as things can get in Beacon Falls where werewolves are part of everyday life. And any little change in the routine sets Stiles off. If it's Monday night and if the accustomed Chinese dinner was exchanged with cheeseburgers. When Scott's usual Saturday afternoon video game/movie time was interrupted because Scott's long lost father decided to take his son out of town for the day. When Dr. Henry was called away because of a family emergency and Dr. Fehan took her place. All have sent Stiles into a tailspin to the point where all his father and Scott on a couple of occasions can do is hold him close and whisper reassurances into his ear, telling him that everything's gonna be okay.

And at the moment Derek is silently praying that he picking Stiles up on a Thursday, when the sheriff usually does, doesn't send the teenager into a meltdown.

"Melissa volunteered this afternoon before her shift. She told him. He seemed okay with it," Rachel explains.

The tension Derek has felt in his shoulders since the sheriff called him earlier in the day, all but begging him to pick Stiles up dissipates a little. The shuffling of feet brings his attention from Rachel to the boy in question. The teenager gives the werewolf a small smile that is so Stiles. He shyly puts his hand up in greeting "h-h- hi-hi."

Just a couple of months ago, the stuttering caused anger to curse through the older one's body. But, now it's something that Stiles has been working hard on. Part of what he's going to the outpatient program four days a week for.

"Stiles. You ready to go?" Derek asks

The teenager eagerly nods his head as he moves towards Derek.

"Bye, Stiles. Good work today. See you tomorrow, bud," Rachel says.

Stiles doesn't say anything as he nods his head and starts to walk away. Derek puts his hand on the younger one's shoulder. The little snot is not going to get away with that because his father's not there. "Say good bye, Stiles."

Difficulty in speaking is part of the brain damage that occurs when one is resuscitated after drowning. They all know this now. The pack, the sheriff, Melissa, hell the whole damn town knows. After it became apparent that something was wrong when Stiles didn't wake up after the sacrifice Deaton rushed the teenager to the hospital where he told the doctors some story about finding Stiles face down in a local pond on the outskirts of town. After the parents were found by Scott, Allison, and Isaac, after the Alpha Pact was defeated, and Jennifer vanished they were all overwhelmed with information about the brain damage that occurs to a victim of a near drowning, about what happened to Stiles. And if what the doctors didn't say was enough, Lydia has become a medical encyclopedia about the subject and about the treatments for it. Derek still wonders how much of her tenacity has to do with the fact that it was her who held Stiles under water. From what Isaac has told him the redhead became nearly hysterical when Stiles wasn't waking up after Allison and Scott were both revived.

But back to the task at hand, through the plethora of information that was bombarded at all of them through many heated debates, Lydia's voice echoes in his head. "He's going to be stubborn as shit. There's going to be days when he's going to fight us all the way, when he's going to want to just give up. But, we can't let that happen."

So there's no way in hell he's going to let Stiles get away with not talking. Stiles knows that the only way he's going to get better is by speaking. Just because the werewolf is not keen on words, he's not going to let Stiles get away with not using his. The kid has come so far, he's not going to let the kid regress now on his watch.

"Come on, Stiles. We're not leaving until you say good bye to Rachel," Derek says.

With his expert hearing he hears Stiles let out a small growl. Derek fights to keep back the smirk that he's feeling at the corners of his lips. Who's the sourwolf now?

"B-b-b-bye, R-r-r-ra-ra-ch-ch-el," Stiles says quietly.

Rachel beams and Derek removes his hand from Stiles' shoulder. "Let's get going then."

Stiles nods his head and the two walk quietly and slowly out the door and to Derek's car. Derek has to consciously slow down his pace because walking is still a struggle for Stiles because of the problems with his equilibrium. When they do reach the parking lot, Derek can't help but notice the look on Stiles' face when he sees the Camaro. Stiles has always loved the car. With a little more perk in his step, Stiles moves a little faster to the car.

It's mostly silence in the car. Stiles has his head against the window, his eyes closed. He's had a long day at the center. Derek has no such excuse. He's never been good with words and Stiles' near death hasn't changed that. Why did he agree to pick Stiles up and stay with him until Scott get out of lacrosse practice? Even Cora would have been better at this than him. No, wait. She wouldn't because Stiles doesn't know Cora now. Memory loss is another effect. The last year has been a blank slate for the teenager. Sure Stiles know who Cora is. They had no choice but to tell him after he gave them all a blank look when Derek's sister came to visit him for the first time. But, he doesn't know Cora. To him Cora is essentially someone he just met for the first time in the hospital.

Derek's mind recalls the heated fight between him and Scott. Where Scott blamed Cora for what happened to Stiles. He knows that deep down inside Scott was more pissed at Derek than his sister because in Scott's eyes Derek abandoned them and put all his attention on Cora when he could have tried to help the three teenagers find their parents. If he was there with them then maybe they wouldn't have tried such drastic measures. It didn't help matters that Cora didn't have the most sunny disposition. Most of the pack couldn't stand her and the only one who could didn't even know who she was.

Derek's reverie is broken when he hears a "H-h-home" as the Camaro pulls up to the Stilinski house. Derek follows the teenager to the door and waits patiently as Stiles attempts to unlock the door for the third time, hands shaking. Once inside Stiles makes his way to the couch and plops down.

"What do you want to do? TV? Go on your computer?" Derek asks.

Stiles rubs his eyes tiredly, "Th-think g-g-go-go-ing t-t-to n-n-nap."

Derek nods his head. He knows that his is part of the routine. From what he has picked up on at the pact meetings after Stiles gets home from the center, the teenager is usually pretty tired. Speech, occupational, physical therapy, along with catching up on the last year and a half of school work pretty much exhausted the teenager. "Okay, Scott should be here around six. He's picking up cheeseburgers and fries on his way from lacrosse."

"D-d-dad?" Stiles asks uncertainly.

This is what Derek was afraid of. He calmly replies, "When I talked to your dad he said that he hopes to be home by ten." He sees Stiles' eyes get bigger. He knows that the sheriff is always home when his son gets ready for bed. Even though Stiles now has the ability to bathe himself there have been some other….issues when Stiles has been showering. Issues that from the look on the kid's face now tells him that he only wants his father to bear witness to. Not only does equilibrium plague the teenager but so do seizures. He's overheard Scott and Isaac discussing how the sheriff has called Melissa frantic because Stiles hit his head in the shower while having a seizure asking her advice whether or not to take his son to the hospital to be checked out.

"B-b-b-b-b-but-but-but," Stiles says frantically, his arms flailing in an all too familiar manner.

Derek closes his eyes for a second. He knows that anxiety causes the stuttering to get profoundly worse. "It's okay, Stiles. I talked to your dad. He said that you can take a shower in the morning. Don't worry."

Stiles doesn't say anything but the way he keeps moving his mouth tells Derek that he wants to say something.

"You want to call your dad?" Derek reasons.

Stiles bites his lip but shakes his head no. "N-no, I'm-m g-g-good."

Derek relaxes when he hears Stiles' isn't stuttering as much. The kid is calming down. "Okay, then. Get some sleep. Scott will be here in a bit."

Stifles nods his head as he burrows his head deep in the couch cushions. Derek sticks to the first floor, alternating between watching tv and going on his computer in the kitchen. He knows not to go far. Even though Stiles has been seizure free for nearly two weeks, the werewolf knows that one can strike at any time. It was just about two weeks since Derek was witnessed to Allison's desperate phone call to Scott. Apparently she stepped outside for a minute to talk to her dad, Stiles was fine watching tv. When she came back she found him in the throes of a grand mal seizure, or tonic-clonic as Lydia informed them later on.

Derek is grabbing himself a drink when he hears the kitchen door open and Scott comes walking in, food in hand. "Hey, Derek."

"Scott."

Scott places the bag of take out on the table and looks into the living room. "How was he?"

Derek shrugs his shoulder as he takes out a burger from the bag. "Fine, basically fell asleep as soon as we got home."

Scott nods his head as he snacks on a fry. "Yeah, that's the norm. He's usually dead on his feet by the time he's picked up." The young werewolf looks at Derek. "Did he freak out about his dad getting home late? Mom said that he was fine when she told him that you were picking him up. But, he gets really twitchy when he thinks his dad isn't coming home until late." Scott starts taking out the rest of the food from the bags. With his eyes looking down, he says quietly "it's the seizures."

Derek nods his head silently. He feels for the young Alpha because before the alpha pact came to town, before Allison, Lydia, and Isaac became part of their circle, before Peter bit Scott, he and Stiles were best friends. This has to kill him, seeing Stiles like this. In a rare sign of emotion, Derek puts his hand on the teenager's shoulder and squeezes it lightly, just like how Stiles did to him after Boyd died.

"He was starting to get worked up, but I was able to talk him down. If his father can't make it back tonight he's going to take a shower tomorrow," Derek explains.

Scott nods his head, voice breaking "Good, my mom is gonna come over if Stiles' dad can't make it back tonight. They want an adult with him. His seizures happen mostly at night because his brain is kinda on overload after being at the center all day."

Derek nods his head and squeezes Scott's shoulder again before he drops his hand. He remembers Lydia telling everyone that because the way the doctor worded it was just so damn confusing. "Well, then. We better get his ass up before he has either his dad or your mom up all night because we let him sleep so late."

Scott chuckles as he moves closer to the living room, "Stiles! Food's here!"

Scott laughs and Derek rolls his eyes when they see Stiles' arms flail in the air. "Come on spaz, or I'm gonna eat all your curly fries," Scott teases as he moves back to the kitchen taking out cans of soda from the fridge. They laugh when they hear Stiles mutter something about whether or not being pissy is contagious in werewolves. When Stiles makes his way to the kitchen he has a huge smile on his face, a genuine one. The type that used to be so common but has been so rare over the last couple of months.

"Re-re-relax, Sc-sc-otty, d—don't g-get y-y-our p-p-pan-pan-t-ties in-in a-a-a- tw-tw-ist."

Derek shakes his head as Scott hands Stiles his unwrapped burger, "keep that crap up and I'm gonna eat all the curly fries."

Stiles looks at his friend in fear. He wouldn't dare would he?

"Jesus, Scott. Don't be an ass." Derek says as he takes the curly fries out of the bag and places them in front of Stiles in one hand and smacks the back of Scott's head with the other. Stifles can't help but laugh when soda comes out of his friend's nose.

Scott and Derek takes turn talking about various subjects, ranging from what's going on with Lydia and Aiden to the newest supernatural baddie in the area to Scott's father latest attempt to be part of his son's life. Well, Scott talks and Derek says a word here and there when needed. Stiles doesn't say much, but that's okay. From this facial expressions and the way he moves his arms and hands, they can tell he's taking everything in. But, it's still unnerving to not have Stiles interrupt every two seconds, but this is the way things are now. This is the new norm. And as long as they're all in this together, they can deal with it. They have to.

I really hoped you guys liked this. Each chapter is going to be a one-shot dealing with the after effects of Stiles nearly drowning. It's going to be kind of like my Suits fic "Just Another Day." Let me know what you guys think!

Chapter 2 Preview: We go back in time. Back to when Stiles wakes up and the doctors give Stiles a grim diagnosis. Scott wants to give Stiles the bite, so he goes to Derek for advice. But, the voice of reason comes from a very unlikely source.