Erica grabbed him by the ankle and flipped him neatly on his back, before grabbing a handful of snow and stuffing it down his shirt. By the time he got back on his feet, she was already tearing over the wide expanse of grass towards Isaac – his snow fort already destroyed by Sarah.

"Taking casualties!" Isaac howled, before being jumped by Erica. While in mid-air, Stiles hastily thrown snowball landed perfect centre – hitting the back of her blond curls and exploding into white flakes. He was starting to get used to his wonky vision – left eye never really healing right.

The snow had fallen overnight, a proper blizzard that wasn't expected and whited out everything. Sarah had suggested they build snowmen – the army of misshapen sentinels lined the driveway, before Erica smacked Stiles on the back of the head with a soft snowball, running full speed behind the house.

"Take one for the team!" Stiles called out, before a wet splat hit him dead on the jaw, filling his mouth with cold snow and making him splutter and cough.

"Yeah, Stiles," Sarah laughed – a proper laugh that had taken weeks to coax – "Take one for the team!"

It descended into a cold, damp wrestling match after that, no one even bothering to make balls, just grabbing handfuls of snow and covering each other – Isaac was getting the worst of it though, he was already soaking wet when strong hands pulled them apart, laughing and shoving even as Peter tisked at them.

"This is how you behave with guests in the house?" He reprimanded, brushing snow from Isaacs curls.

"Just us here, Peter." Sarah said, air around her mouth steaming with her breath.

"You'll go upstairs and dry off," He said, mostly to Isaac, but Stiles understood he meant them all. "We have guests and I expect you all to look at least half presentable." Which was totally meant for Stiles. Peter hated the way he dressed. So did Derek – well… Derek hated the fact that he got dressed, the man would quite happily keep Stiles naked and tied to the bed.

"What guests?" Sarah said, startled. Not so much fear though, as last time. There had been a lot of guests. Hard looking men in suits and long meetings. They were all interviewed, made to go over the fighting and talk about everything they knew about the lead-up to the attack.

They asked about everything, read personal emails from Sarah mentioning him… and then as though something had just clicked, they stopped. Kevin's pack were gone, all of them – it was like they never existed. No one mentioned it on the news – no reporters or online news blogs, nothing. Stiles was slightly freaked out that they could just make people disappear.

"Who?" Erica asked, eyes shining. Her transformation was complete, she was twice as strong as Isaac and Stiles – faster than even Peter and Derek who took them running in the woods – but struggling all the time to keep control. She spent a lot of time with Laura who was the only one who could keep her in check.

"Some old friends of mine from New York." Peter shrugged. "I was hoping that I'd be able to introduce them to Isaac, but look at this," He said, holding up a damp curl. "Terrible."

"I can fix it." Isaac rushed, and it just showed Stiles how different they are were. Isaac had a desperate need to please Peter all the time, did nothing he didn't like – dressed how he was told, did anything the older man asked him to do… and loved it. You could tell he loved it, from the way he changed his whole body language and his eyes and that stupid self-satisfied grin. Erica had her temper and her constant drive to prove herself better than everyone. And then there was him. Derek lost his temper a lot with him, because Derek wanted someone like Isaac and he ended up with Stiles, who didn't do a damn thing unless he wanted to do it. Who argued back and slammed doors and drove Derek up the wall until he snapped – angry sex was the best.

He'd talked to Isaac a lot about sex, because Derek didn't ever talk about it. Isaac knew a lot more than Stiles, because Peter wasn't verbally handicapped, and he was more than willing to share the information with Stiles. They talked about blow-jobs and bottoming (Peter and Derek topped all the time, Stiles wasn't sure if it was a power play or just what they liked) but the biggest thing Stiles had learned was that Isaac was… well... totally submissive. Peter wanted, Peter got.

Derek wanted, Derek could damn well wait till Stiles was finished doing whatever he was doing. And no matter what, Stiles called the shots. He might be the bottom, but he sure as hell wasn't going to be the bitch.

Peters friends were… well – a lot like Peter. They were all very fond of Isaac, at least, who was fitting in well in his black suit and bottle green skinny tie. His sandy blond curls were styled messily and he looked… well, he looked a lot like Ricardo, the young 'companion' that Peter's oldest and best friend, Louis, had brought. Prettier though, Stiles thought proudly, Isaac was much prettier – and the stuck up little shit from New York seemed more than aware of that. He was sitting in the corner, pouting and glaring as Isaac lounged at Peters side, the older men occasionally throwing him sly looks.

Stiles grinned. Poor Ricardo – he'd thought Stiles was his competition at first, going on the sneer that had he had thrown him as he brushed Stiles greeting aside with. Yeah, so although Stiles was wearing his funeral suit – he'd put his bright red converse on, and his flash t-shirt under his suit jacket. He thought he looked awesome. Ricardo didn't. Poor guy preened about for a good half an hour before Isaac wandered in, all suited and styled, with Erica and Sarah on each side. Then he'd gone a really dangerous shade of jealous.

It was actually a pretty fun crowd, for all they dressed like gangsters and talked like… Peter. They were happy and laughed and there was no difficult silences, a few puffing on large cigars and acting like they had all the time in the world.

They had brought a few younger wolves too – like Ricardo, who was a Beta and not an Omega like Stiles had originally thought (go figure) – three guys about their age, maybe older, who were currently crowding Erica against the wall with primal grins. When one of them sailed overhead and crashed into the sofa, Erica shrugged a silk clad shoulder and smiled. The older men laughed and shook their heads.

"Poor boys, you'll learn." Louis grinned at Peter. "She's just like Cara, no? Wild." He waved a hand at the guy picking himself up from the floor with an indulgent smile. "We tell them all the time, yes? Nothing more dangerous than a beautiful female. She'll rip your heart out of your throat." He nodded. "I hear you did that."

"Only once." Erica said, trying to look demure and failing, much to the uproar of laughter in the room and enthusiastic clapping. Yeah, they liked Erica.

They had brought another Beta though, who was standing beside Stiles and watching Sarah, who was in conversation with her aunt and another female wolf. He was talking to Stiles with a heavy Irish accent about the current weather, eyes never leaving the girl – Sarah hadn't even looked in their direction.

"You should see it now, though, inches thick, so it is." He said, trying to pull his eyes away from Sarah. "Me sister took me skating in the park."

"Yeah? I've never been." Stiles smiled, looking at the Beta. He was tall, just about as tall as Isaac, with jet black hair and bright green eyes that twinkled. Good looking, with the kind of body shape Stiles wished he'd been blessed with. He was wearing a suit, like everyone else, but – just like Stiles – he'd opted for the Robert Downey Jnr look and had a t-shirt instead of a shirt and tie. Stiles liked him already, mostly because the shirt was the Green Lantern. "I bet you're always doing stuff like that." He added. "Not much to do around here, we mostly spend out days just gaming."

He remembered Patrick. How he was the one Laura and Peter thought would be a good match for Sarah. Only now Sarah was aware of this, because of all the interviews and meetings – and Patrick had no chance of getting anywhere near her now. Sarah had flat out refused to even talk to him. Poor guy.

"You game?" Patrick asked, looking at Stiles for the first time really.

"Well, duh, dude. Look at me!" Stiles grinned. "I'm an 85 hunter and just dinged 90 on my boomkin."

"Horde?"

"Alliance."

"I've got me a 90 combat rogue." He grinned, pulling Stiles back from the group who were already rolling their eyes. "Undead."

"Sweet!" Stiles nodded. "What do you think of the Panda pack, then?"

About 5 hours later, and half way through the massive meal that was put on, Stiles had a new best friend.

"Dude, if it doesn't work out with Derek, we are getting married." He enthused, using his fork to steal the last of Derek's parsnips and ignoring the way Derek's hand, previously relaxed on his leg suddenly gripped. "What happens on Nar Shadaa stays in Nar Shadaa."

"To be sure." Patrick nodded, mouth full of steak. "But I would never cheat on Corso."

"Well, duh, the dudes hot as hell – that what you're playing now?"

"I'm working on a Sith warrior right now." Patrick said, swallowing. "Can't get off Taris."

Stiles was ignoring the press of Derek's hand on his leg, because Derek had no clue what they were talking about and was worried Stiles might have been serious. "I love Taris. Me and Sarah are doing to bonus missions right now on our Hunter and Imp." He added. "I'm the Imp, obviously."

"How you liking it?" Patrick asked, not looking at Sarah, who had, for the millionth time looked like she wanted to join in the conversation. "You've got the cover of the Smuggler, right?"

Patrick was awesome – awesome and smart – because when he'd been forlornly staring at Sarah across the room, she'd ignored him solidly. Now he was ignoring her, and completely focused on Stiles (much to Derek's annoyance) and she was desperately wanting to join the conversation. Every time Stiles would brush of a game she loved, like Guildwars, and Patrick would try to defend it, she looked ready to burst. And still Patrick completely ignored her. Smart lad.

The meal was over, and the 'adults' were settling down in the much more relaxed family room. Stiles produced a couple of board games from under the couch where he and Sarah had stashed them and Patrick, Isaac and himself were in the middle of an incredibly rowdy game of Scrabble.

"Dude, that's not a word!" Stiles argued, punching Isaac in the ribs. "Urban dictionary doesn't count!"

"Neither is LEET." Sarah commented from the couch behind them. Stiles turned, grinning. It was the first time she'd spoken to Stiles since he'd become seriously in friend-love with Patrick.

"You no play-a the game," He said, in a thick over the top Italian accent. "You no make-a the rules." He pointed to Patrick. "Two of us versus one of him." He pointed to Isaac. "We win."

Derek wasn't impressed when Stiles finally crawled into bed. He'd ended up playing Uno, of all things, with Isaac, Patrick, Gabe (one of the betas who was only playing because Erica was), Erica and Sarah. They'd been happy and hyper, supplied with snacks and soft drinks all night. It was only when Gibson came in and told Isaac that Mr Peter had been expecting him upstairs for the last hour, that they even noticed the time.

Stiles knew Derek was pissed, because he was pretending to sleep – but his shoulders were tight and his body still firm. When he was actually asleep, Derek was snugly and soft and made little pleased huffy noises when Stiles cuddled up. Stiles shrugged and turned, back to the Beta, and waited.

"Patrick is only here to see Sarah." Derek finally said. "Not to spend all night talking to you."

"I like him."

"I could tell." Derek snapped. "Everyone could tell."

"The last time a guy liked Sarah I went blind on one eye." He said, voice calm. "Pretty sure I don't need to worry about that this time."

"Not if he thinks you're more than willing to fuck him."

"Yeah, he wants me." Stiles mocked. "He pretty much told me as much when he kicked my ass at Clue."

"I don't think it's funny." The wolf bit off, turning in the bed and glaring at the back of Stiles head.

"I think it is." Stiles shrugged. "I'm going to sleep, where I'll dream of a world where the idiot I'm in love with actually understands the difference between romance and bromance."

He woke up with Derek still pressed hard against his back. He'd only just started to drift off when Derek pulled him close and muttered something in his ear. He wasn't exactly sure what he was saying – because Derek hated apologising and made sure half his words were lost in snuffles and hot kisses – but he heard 'Sorry' and 'idiot' and something about trust, so he was quite happy to lean over after a few minutes and grab one of the bottles from the bedside drawers.

The bedroom door was opening, slowly – trying obviously hard not to wake them.

"He'll sleep like the dead." Stiles said, pulling away from Derek, who rolled over into the space Stiles had left and pushed his face into the pillow. "You okay?"

It was Sarah, looking flushed and a bit pink. "I thought you might be sleeping." She said guilty.

"I woke up before you tried to sneak in." He said, shrugging. He no longer felt uncomfortable with being naked, and slipped out of bed, picking up his sleeping pants from where Derek had thrown them and pulling them on. "You okay?"

"I wasn't sneaking." She hissed. "I just didn't want to wake you."

"Because you desperately wanted to borrow a book at 5am in the morning?"

"Because I need to borrow… I need… umm…" She trailed off. Stiles sniffed the air, sure, it was heavy with the smell of Derek and really, really hot sex – but there was also the smell of really, really hot sex that wasn't coming from him.

"Lube?"

"Condoms!" She flushed. "Just tell me if you have some."

"Nope." Stiles shrugged. "No chance of little baby wolves in this bedroom." He pointed out. "Don't need em. Have you asked Erica? I think she's taking out shares in White Wolf, the amount of them she's going through."

"She's still awake." Sarah blushed. "She's got both those Betas and I'm not going through there to ask."

"Want me to go through?"

"Would you?" she asked. Hard to think this girl grew up in the same house as 'Peter - Let's fuck anywhere – Hale'.

"Chicken." He grinned at her as he walked past. She punched his arm.

Erica was still awake. And extremely flexible, apparently – as Stiles knocked and opened the door without awaiting a reply.

"You got any spare White Wolfs?" He asked, glancing around at the floor – littered with foils.

"What do you need em for?" Erica asked, arching an eyebrow. Gabe was glaring, paused mid thrust, the other Beta with his hands gripping the headboard.

"I'm gonna make balloon animals with them." Stiles shrugged. "Have you got any?"

"I'm going to need them." She pouted. "You don't even use them."

"They aren't for me, idiot." Stiles laughed. "Sarah doesn't want to see whatever the hell kind of kama sutra poses you've got going on."

"Sarah?"

"Yup."

"Top drawer." Erica said. "Take the box."

"We're going to need them." Gabe half whined.

"I've got enough for your whole pack." Erica smirked. "If you think you can last that long."

Two days later the New York pack left. Well, most of them. Gabe stayed, which no one expected, and Patrick stayed, which everyone expected.

Gabe, it turned out, was the son of the Kildranoch Alpha, and was more than strong enough to keep up with Erica. After a month or so of knocking heads as well as boots, they settled into a pretty solid routine. Erica was allowed to leave for New York when Laura went, Stiles and Isaac still under house arrest.

Well… Isaac was still under house arrest because he still lashed out without thinking. Stiles went home and had dinner with his dad once a week, after a pretty awkward conversation with his dad about Derek. Sometimes Sarah or Patrick would come, which was great – because they were mostly normal and didn't just sit silently through the meal like any moment his dad was going to pull out a gun and shoot them. Which was what Derek did.

Others didn't get married. They just sort of promised never to screw around, under the full moon. It wasn't a big deal, really. Not to Stiles.

Apparently it meant a bit more to Derek though, because not long after they'd stood under the moon and promised not to sleep with other people, the Beta had moved their relationship from 'snuggles in bed' to 'snuggles wherever'. Stiles favourite was snuggles on the couch, watching TV in the games room. Derek's favourite was cuddling while reading. Nothing else changed, not even yearslater. They still had arguments and if Stiles slept on the floor to prove a point, he woke up in bed warm and safe, with strong arms wrapped around him and huffs of warm air on his neck – words of apology lost in the hot kisses.

It was a pretty good life.

The End

I want to say a huge 'THANK YOU' to everyone who read this story, who followed and reviewed and supported me. I've adored all your comments and notes - I would like to give an extra special Thank You to those who kind of understand what its like to have another story burning in your mind while trying to finish off the one you are writing - I've been in HELL ;)

For those who've been following me since I start 'Out Of Milk' I hope you stick around to read 'Haven't Thought Of A Title Or A Plot Yet' - my new story that I'll start... this week at some point.

I think.

Once again,

Thank You. It means more to me than you might know.

-74days