Pookas bled a mixture of brackish water and what smelled like rotten pond slime and both Derek and Stiles were covered with it from head to toe. Together they stumbled through the forest back toward the main road as Stiles texted Scott for the twelfth time that night.

"I know he hasn't seen Allison all semester and all but what could they be doing that takes THAT long?"

Derek's only response was an elegantly raised eyebrow and just the slightest hint of a smirk upon his lips.

"OH! Fuck! You have got to be kidding me? There is no way werewolf's have that kind of stamina. That is so unfair. Fuck! I've changed my mind. Bite me Derek, bite me now." He clutched Derek to his chest, wrapping one leg around his waist and leaned back in his best black and white movie heroine pose.

"Smart ass," Derek chuckled as he dropped Stiles to the forest floor. "If you really wanted it I would bite you in a second but we both know your strengths lay elsewhere."

Stiles smiled as he pulled himself up dusting the leaves off the muck that coated him so that he didn't quite look like some sort of forest monster. It was nice to know that Derek appreciated how far it had come in the last few years. At college he was taking classes for a double major in forensic crime and anthropology while learning how to control his powers as a spark. Latin had become his bitch and he could make other ancient languages roll over and play dead.

Well, he thought if they weren't already dead.

Stiles bumped shoulders with the werewolf, enjoying the extra inch he now had on the older man. "Why do all the creepy crawlies wait until I am on vacation to come out to play?"

"Your just popular that way, I suppose." Derek bumped him back sending him tumbling back down into a pile of leaves. He emerged with the dead foliage plastered to every inch of his body, from his hair down to his ankles where they seemed clump together in a huge ball around his feet.

Stiles beat at the leaves, trying to dislodge them, as Derek chuckled. Stupid werewolf, Stiles thought, glaring at the back of his head. There was barely a leaf on him.

He was contemplating dumping an armful of leaves on Derek's head when the werewolf stiffened and leapt to the side. Stiles didn't have time to do anything but open his mouth in shock before a light was shined right into his eyes.

"Stiles? What are you doing out in the middle of the forest at two o'clock in the morning?"

Shit, Stile grumbled internally. He had nothing. He was about to blame the wonder that is alcohol for his strange forest trip when his father let out a hiss and unsnapped the safety on his gun.

"Stiles, I need you to move toward me son." His dad's voice had taken on its 'sheriff' cadence and Stiles turned to see what had upset his father.

Standing slightly behind a tree, which Stiles could see he had left his clothes, a large black wolf appeared in the glare of his father's flashlight. His green eyes reflected the light was an eerie glow as he slowly stepped closer to Stiles' position.

The sheriff had his gun out and pointed in a split second. "Crap! No Dad, don't!" Stiles threw himself down on the wolf, knocking him to the ground and covering it with his own body. "Don't shoot him! He's friendly. Scott lost him from the clinic and has been looking for him. I saw him on my way home tonight and I just now caught him. I know he looks scary but he's really a sweet heart."

To prove his point Stiles pushed Derek further over onto his back and rubbed his tummy as he smiled up at his father. "Isn't he the cutest widdle puppy you have ever seen? Look at this big boy. How could you be afraid of him?"

Derek lifted his head off the leaves and gave him a look of disbelieve that crossed the species barrier. Stiles could have sworn that one of the wolf's eyebrows went up.

Stile couldn't help himself at that point. He continued to rub Derek's tummy, working his way down to his hip to see if that magical spot that was found on all dog could also be located on a werewolf. After a second or two of scratching Derek's legs started to twitch, his surprisingly pink pads making little circles in the air.

The sheriff holstered his pistil and walked over to where Stiles was kneeling by the large wolf and reached down to pet Derek behind his ears. "He's a handsome dog. What's his name?"

"Derek." Stiles wanted to face palm the moment it came out his mouth but it was too late. Derek whined in dismay from his prone position in the leaves and covered his muzzle with a paw.

"Derek? You named a dog after my deputy?"

"Well, no." Stiles hedged. "If I was naming it after your deputy I would have named him Deputy Hale and who says I'm the one that named him?"

"Did you name the dog 'Derek' Stiles?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he came pre-packaged with the name." Derek huffed and stood, shaking the leaves all over Stiles, re-coating him in browns and golds. "Could you take me by the clinic? I'll drop him off so that Scott won't be worried."

"It's the ass crack of dawn son. I think the clinic is closed. Why don't I take you home? Derek can sleep with you tonight and Scott can pick him up tomorrow." Derek stepped on Stiles' foot making sure to twist his claws just right before moving toward the cruiser.

"Ouch, damn, shit." Stiles mumbled as he hopped after his dad and the werewolf who was walking with the stiff legged gait of the highly annoyed. "I'm going to pay for this one."

The sheriff opened the passenger door and Derek hopped in, sitting ramrod straight in the seat with his tail curled around his legs.

"Oh no. You get to sit in the back." Stiles snarled as he pulled on the ebony wolf. Derek sat as if made of stone, his only response a low, warning growl.

"I think your dog as just called dibs." The sheriff chuckled as he opened the back for Stiles. Derek turned and leaned into the mesh separating the two as the sheriff walked around the back of the car. With a canine grin and a roll of his tongue, he let out a sneeze that coated Stiles in a fine mist before turning back around.

The sheriff merged back onto the road and headed for town. Stiles sat, arms crossed and knees braced, in the back of the cruiser while Derek ignored him except for the occasional flick of an ear.

"You know son, the saying 'you'll catch more fly with honey' is popular for a reason." The sheriff looked in the review mirror at his pouting son.

"Good to know dad. I'll keep that in mind next time I go out to catch some flies."

Sighing, the sheriff ruffled the fur at the ruff of Derek's neck. Stiles watched with a combination of fear and envy as his father's fingers sunk into the thick fur. "You would have a better chance of catching his attention if you stopped with all the silly pranks and jokes. Let him see you for the mature young man you are becoming instead of the lanky teen you once were."

Stiles' felt a growing sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know where his father was going with this conversation but in his memory THAT tone of voice never boded well for his mental health.

"Who are you talking about dad?"

"Derek. I know you like him but all the constant teasing is not going to get him to notice you the way you want."

Stiles had never been so happy to be behind the thin mesh of steel in his father's police car in his life as Derek swung around to stare at him with piercing eyes. "What? No, dad. I don't know where you're getting your information but, really? Derek?" He tried to scoff it off, make a joke but his father had been reading his ticks for years.

"Stiles, our walls aren't that thick and you are very vocal when you think I'm not home."

"Oh God!" Stiles squeezed lower in the seat and wished that he could throw himself out of his father's moving cruiser. Damn, the back doors of the police car that could only be open from the outside. "Please stop! Just stop the car, I'll walk home. Or better yet, just shoot me."

His father chuckled in the front seat. "You've always had good taste, Stiles. First Lydia and now Derek. You really pick out the great ones."

Stiles' brain slid to a halt. "You think Derek would be good for me? Don't you think he's too old?"

"You're about to start your sophomore year. I think you are fully an adult know. Well, most days I think you are an adult but then I watch you eat curly fries and I'm forced to reevaluate my stance." Derek snuffed a wolfie laugh and leaned closer to the sheriff.

"But Derek? He's a good man, Stiles. He's honest and he truly cares for people. He has had some hard bumps but he has managed to pull himself up where other people would have let the depression and distrust pull them under."

Derek stared at the sheriff, mouth agape and tongue rolling out to the side. With a soft whine he placed a paw on the sheriff's shoulder and brushed his nose against his neck.

"I'm pretty sure he likes you too." The sheriff looped his arm around Derek's furry shoulders and scratched his back. "He asks about you all the time. Seems to be genuinely interested in my fatherly rants about what a genius my son is with his full scholarship and double major. He even asked if I was bringing you to the station this week."

"Oh My God!" Stiles buried his face in his hands and willed himself to have a quick, painless aneurism before he had to face Derek in human form again. Why couldn't dying of embarrassment be a real thing?

"You know." The sheriff gave Derek another friendly pat. "We never had a dog because your mother was allergic. But it would be nice to have someone in the house now that you are away at college. Do you think Derek here needs a home? We would have to change his name though."

Stiles let his head thump against the window trying to drive those images out of his head. "He already has a couple of people interested in him but if that falls through I'll tell Scott to let you know. But you may want to look at something smaller. I don't even think Derek is house trained."

Derek rested his nose on the back of the seat and stared at Stiles. There was no menace in his glaze but an intensity that made Stiles uneasy and nervous.

By the time they pulled into the drive Stiles was a bundle of nerves. "I won't be home until almost noon. I can take you to get your jeep then and you can drop Derek off at the clinic."

"Thanks dad," Stiles mumbled as he exited the cruiser. Derek hopped out as soon as the door was open and walked straight to the front door and sat as he waited to be let inside.

Stiles followed on dragging feet as his father pulled away. Derek turned and gave him a canine grin that made his stomach turn a slow somersault. He barely had the door open before Derek was in and heading up the stairs. Stiles, thinking that his continuing survival might depend on giving the werewolf some space, crashed on the couch to watch infomercials.

He was half way through watching the wonders the Ab-Rocket when Derek came back downstairs wearing a pair of his sweats and a shirt that was just a size too tight, which if Stiles was honest with himself, was a perfect fit.

The werewolf flopped onto the couch making it seem graceful and sexy all at the same time. "I'm just interested in what you are saying that makes your father so sure that I'm the one you are attracted to when he is hearing you through the thin walls of your house."

"If I asked you nicely, would you just kill me now?" Stiles could feel the heat of his blush all along his body. He could see Derek tracking the flow of red from his face and down his neck to where it disappeared in his dirty shirt.

Scooting forward, Derek leaned in to Stiles' personal space and whispered in the shell of his ear "no" before grabbing the human's hips and pulling him flat on the couch.

"Derek! What the hell are you doing?"

"Payback." Stiles stilled at the smile that lighted Derek's face and crinkling the corners of his eyes before wiggling helplessly under the assault of his strong fingers as they relentlessly tickled his sides and belly. "You rub my tummy and I'll rub yours."

Stiles was breathless with laughter by the time Derek stopped. They lay on the couch in comfortable silence as the Ab-Rocket's ad came to an end. "So payback?" asked Stiles.

"mmmmmm" Derek answered in agreement.

"So if I were to…." Stiles rolled over and slid between Derek's thighs, his hands cupping the wolf's hips. He let his lip ghost over the sweats, nudging the ties with the tip of his nose.

"Yeah," Derek gasped. "There would be payback."

"I think I can live with that."