Title – Christmas Bells Are Ringing
Sequel To – Wednesday's In Town
Author – Moonbeam
Rating – Teen
Warnings – Nothing
Summary – Stiles has gone to the Christmas dark side and is going BIG in his celebrations.
Disclaimer – Don't own either universe – I'm just loving this 'verse so hard!
Author's Notes – Okay, so I'm holding Christmas this year. Super excited and I am leaning into the intense Christmas baking and cooking. So, basically I thought – hey wouldn't it be fun to make Stiles do the same thing while planning for Christmas with the Addamses. But why would he go full on English Christmas (I'm doing it because I'm Australian and I like roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and roast veggies and cheesecake at Christmas – even though it's hot as hell and we either go British or we go barbecue and beach and seafood). Why it would be because someone is coming who is English – GRANDPARENT!
This will be updated as I complete each step of my Christmas baking. So, come on this questionable ride with me.

Christmas Bells Are Ringing
by Moonbeam

/ / / Mixed Peel \ \ \

Derek walked into the house and then froze for a moment. The whole house reeked of citrus – he could smell grapefruit, mandarin, lime, lemon, and orange…and sugar, lots of sugar. Derek threw his jacket over the post at the bottom of the stairs and then followed the sound of Stiles' heartbeat into the kitchen. Stiles was sitting at the table – computer in front of him. On the bench there was a cutting board covered in fruit juice and pith and there was a collection of pots, containers, and sieves next to the sink.

"Stiles?"

Stiles looked up from his computer and smiled. "You're early."

Derek nodded. "I finished up quicker than I thought."

"Excellent," Stiles stood up, strode over to him, and kissed him thoroughly.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked when Stiles pulled away.

"Planning."

"Planning what?"

Stiles' heartbeat kicked a little and Derek frowned.

"So," Stiles started. "Don't get mad…"

Derek laughed and pulled away from Stiles. He walked over to the large pot on the stove and looked down at the strips of peel in the sugar water. "What are you making?"

"Candied peel," Stiles said. "And mixed peel…basically the same thing except one of them is coated in sugar."

Derek nodded. "I'm not going to get mad."

"I'm having a family Christmas dinner here."

"Okay."

"You see…okay?" Stiles frowned and cocked his head to the left. "Just okay?"

Derek nodded.

"But you don't like Christmas."

"I had no reason to celebrate Christmas," Derek corrected. "Now, I have a reason."

"And that reason is me," Stiles exclaimed loudly throwing himself at Derek who caught him and held him securely. Stiles pressed a kiss to Derek's lips and then all over his cheeks and eyebrows and forehead.

"Yes," Derek agreed. "The reason is you."

"Then I can have everyone over for Christmas lunch?"

Derek nodded. "Did you really think I would have an issue with it?"

Stiles shrugged. "I didn't – until you were standing there in front of me and I thought; I really should have asked you first."

Derek smiled. "So, next time ask me first."

"Next time?"

Derek pinched Stiles' backside and then let the other man slid to the floor. "There will be a next time."

Stiles made a face and then nodded. "Probably."

"Now, why are you making mixed peel?"

"I need it for my mincemeat and plum pudding."

"What?"

"Dad's Mum is English."

"Your Dad's mum?"

"Yeah."

"Is alive?"

"Yes!" Stiles said, part indignant – part surprised.

"Oh," Derek said, slightly dumbfounded. "I thought that…you didn't have any."

"You're heard me talking about her."

Derek shook his head.

"Lucille."

"You call your grandmother Lucille?"

"If I call her Nana she cries and throws herself onto beds and asks the sky why she was given such a horrible grandson."

"What?" Derek asked, confused.

"She was an actress," Stiles said with a shrug.

Derek couldn't work out what to make of all of this. He had heard Stiles talk about Lucille but he would never have thought she was his grandmother. He thought he knew Stiles – he really thought he knew the other man. He wasn't surprised that Stiles had invited… "Stiles, who do you mean when you say everyone?"

"Lucille, the pack, and the Addamses, and Cora, and...I suppose Peter if he's around."

"That's a lot of people."

"I know," Stiles said. "I thought we might do a spit in the backyard. I know it's Winter but, well, it's a lot of people to be feeding so if we can do a side of beef on a spit then I can handle all of the vegetables in your very nice oven."

"We can do a spit and it's our oven."

"And, I thought I might invite cousin Calpurnia."

"The one who was supposed to seduce a priest?"

Stiles nodded. "I thought it might be a nice way to remind her that some of the family are okay with the fact that she's not going to be burned at the stake."

"Does anyone get burned at the stake anymore?"

Stiles shrugged. "You're a werewolf…so there are endless possibilities in the world."

"And if she did seduce a priest away from the church would it really be that big a deal – maybe not a good thing depending on your view point, but surely no one would…of course they would."

Stiles kissed Derek. "I love that you are optimistic sometimes now."

Derek smiled. "It still surprises me."

Stiles curled his arms around Derek's shoulders and snuggled his head into the other man's neck. He pressed a kiss into Derek's skin. "I will reward you for it every time."

"I love you," Derek said, the words feeling like they were escaping from his body rather than being something he meant to say. He meant it, and would say it every other second, but sometimes it literally felt like he couldn't have held the words in if his lips had been sewn shut again.

"Why did you look sad when I told you about Lucille?" Stiles asked quietly.

"I didn't realise there was still so much I didn't know about you," Derek admitted, just as quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault I didn't know that Lucille was your grandmother."

Stiles pulled away. "Please, please, call her my grandmother at Christmas. I will pay you cash money…or even in sexual favours."

"We could sit down and-" a timer went off. "Just hold that thought." Stiles walked away and looked down into the pot on the stove – he stirred the citrus peels and frowned. "Come help me – does this look translucent to you?"

Derek walked over and looked down and frowned. "Some of it."

Stiles scrunched his face up in annoyance. "Another ten minutes."

"Have you made mixed peel before?"

Stiles shook his head. "I did a lot of googling when Dad said Lucille was coming over for Christmas this year."

"Do you normally see her at Christmas?"

Stiles shook his head. "She hasn't really been over since Grandpop died."

"He was allowed to be Grandpop?"

Stiles nodded. "He liked being a grandparent – he would make sure they came every year and he'd call me all the time but she's not really that into family. I get a nice envelope of money around my birthday and at Christmas though."

"Tell me about her, and then tell me about why you're making your own candied peel."

"I said – for the plum pudding."

"But why?"

Stiles dragged Derek over to the table and sat down in front of his computer. "So Lucille is British, and when they would come over for Christmas Grandpop would make plum pudding and mince pies and it was amazing so I thought, since Lucille is coming, I thought it would be fun to do it up all British."

"Okay," Derek said – not surprised about this, he fully expected to follow Stiles' whims about stuff like this until he died.

"And," Stiles said, barely contained excitement bubbling up. "I thought since I'm doing it I should do it and make as much from scratch as possible."

"Okay."

"You think I'm insane."

Derek shook his head. "No, I think this is going to be fun."

"Really?" Stiles asked. "Because I've got lists."

Derek sat back. "Let me go have a shower. Then we can sit in the lounge room and you can tell me all about our plans."

"Our plans?"

Derek nodded. "Our – we're getting married, it's our plans."

"Then go shower. I will finish the peel and clean up. Is the smell getting to you?"

"Smells very sweet, and tart, and like an over ripe orchard."

Stiles made a hum of interest and then pushed Derek. "Shower."

Derek nodded and walked out. He went upstairs and stepped into the shower, trying to reconcile the fact that Stiles had a grandparent he had no idea about. When Stiles had spoken about Lucille he had known she was family but he hadn't realised that she was his grandmother. He washed himself and when he heard the dishwasher start below he turned the shower off, shaking water out of his hair in a way he refused to let Stiles see, and then towelled off. By the time he made it downstairs, t-shirt sticking to his still damp skin, Stiles was sitting in the lounge room – his laptop sitting on his lap and his glasses perched on his nose. Derek slid into the space next to Stiles who pressed into his side. Moments later Wolverine, Rogue, and Tesla were surrounding them.

"What's that?" Derek asked, pointing to the paper on the coffee table.

"That's a Stiles Stilinski family tree."

Derek leaned over and looked at the hand drawn family tree. He tracked Stiles to his parents – Claudia through the Addamses. Then Sam through his parents – Lucille and Jack, both of Stiles' parents were only children. Hale families were never single child families, but it seemed to be a Stilinski family tradition. The family went back farther on the Krolak side than the Stilinski side but Lucille and Jack's parents were both there.

"I can do much farther back on the Addams/Krolak side," Stiles said. "But it gets really detailed and that's a better job when we have a heap of time."

"There is a Hale one in the vault," Derek told him quietly.

"Why is it still in the vault?" Stiles asked.

Derek sighed. "I would have to put in dates of death for so many people."

"Then it can stay in the vault until we have someone to add to it."

Derek felt the smile and Stiles' warmth keeping the melancholy at bay. "Thank you for this."

"You're welcome, after all they are going to be your family too soon enough. And I realised that if I'm having Christmas I had best invite cousin It and his family."

"Okay, I have been wanting to meet It since I met everyone else."

"There is something I should say about It…he's hirsute."

"Like me when I'm transformed?"

"Like something magical and other."

"How is your grandmother going to handle that?"

Stiles shrugged. "Lucille doesn't see what she doesn't want to see. She's like all of the best things about muggles and humans in books."

"She just won't notice?"

Stiles shook his head. "No one knows how she does it but Mum swore she was able to ignore almost anything that wasn't acceptable to her."

"She doesn't sound…" Derek wasn't sure how to end that.

"She's not like Dad. Dad took after Grandpop."

Derek put down the family tree and looked at the laptop over Stiles' shoulder. "Talk to me about Christmas."

"I'm going to make my own mincemeat – which does not have meat in it. But can have suet."

"Which is?"

"Beef fat."

"Why?"

"Higher melting point than butter. And as I'm steaming the plum pudding for eight hours that makes sense."

"So…plum pudding."

"Has no plums," Stiles explained. "Just raisins and sultanas and currants which were all called plums at some point, or some variation of that word."

"And you steam it for eight hours?"

Stiles nodded. "I need to buy a pudding steamer."

"Why do I feel like that is only the beginning?"

"The mincemeat I'm going to turn into mince pies. And then I'm going to make a Christmas cake."

"That's a lot of baking."

"It's okay – because I'm going to make the pudding and cake in November."

"How?"

"Because you then soak it in brandy or sherry or whiskey every week until Christmas."

"Okay, so it will be really boozy?"

"It will be really fruity. Look," Stiles pulled up a spreadsheet on his computer and showed Derek all of the ingredients and the different things he was going to make with the amounts of everything he would need. Derek stopped reading after he saw 590g of raisins, 240g of sultanas, and 615g of currants. They were all basically the same thing – how could they possibly need that much of them…though he knew they all tasted different. He decided to leave that side of things to Stiles – better for his sanity if he didn't get too deep into the details like that.

"Is that it?"

"I think so…except for the Christmas decorations."

Derek took a deep breath. "I will assume that means I'm going out into the forest to cut you down the perfect tree."

"That would be perfect," Stiles told him. "But you don't have to."

"I'll make some of the pack help."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Do I get to wake up with you on Christmas morning?"

Stiles nodded.

"Then I'm pretty okay with anything."

Stiles put the computer on the coffee table and then curled into Derek's side. "It's going to be so much fun!"

Derek wasn't sure he fully believed that but he was going to do everything he could to make it as good as Stiles was hoping for.

/ / /