Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stiles woke from his nap smelling something wonderful in the air. He lay on his new, well new-to-him, comfortable bed and enjoyed a moment where he knew he was was safe and warm.

He knew he had to get up, otherwise he would be awake into the night. He rolled out of bed and used the bathroom. He splashed water on his face and put on fresh clothes. He needed to do laundry after almost a week of traveling but tomorrow would be a good day for that.

He wandered into the kitchen, to find a surprising number of people. He stood in the doorway and they all turned to look at him at the same time.

"Damn 'wolves," Stiles said with a huge smile. "Can't sneak up on you!"

"STILES!" Kira called. She ran over and jumped into his arms.

"Oof!" Stiles said as he caught her. But he wrapped his arms about Kira, to return the hug.

That broke the log jam and everyone came over to greet him. Stiles hugged -- was scented by - Derek, Cora, Jackson, and Ethan. He held on to each of them for a long time.

There were four other people he didn't know. Stiles nodded at them and they nodded back.

Peter came over when the hug-fest was done. "Feeling better?"

"Better than I have in a long while," Stiles admitted. "And whatever you're cooking smells wonderful."

"Pot roast," Peter admitted. "As you can see, we have quite the crowd." He waved a hand at the group of people. "Come and meet the others," Peter said, drawing Stiles' attention to the people he had not met.

"I'd love to," Stiles nodded.

"Ben and Mabel Kloche handle the horses," Peter said. "They live in the house closest to the barns but come here more often than not for meals."

Both Kloches had a firm handshake.

Stiles was slightly surprised that one of the remaining people was a teen-age boy.

"Harold and Will Finlan are prospective Pack members," Peter said. "They're living in the house just behind this one."

Stiles shook their hands, finding that the teen, Will, was a 'wolf but his father was not. There was a story there, Stiles knew.

"Dinner is ready," Peter announced.

Stiles didn't want to ask a lot of questions of his friends in front of the others but when Peter asked about Beacon Hills, he figured it was all right to share what had happened. He recounted the last Pack meeting with Scott, how Scott had been ready to let Stiles again financially support Scott's Pack.

Stiles appreciated the murmurs of support. It felt good to be appreciated and respected for doing the right thing.

"Do you think anyone will be looking for you?" Peter asked.

Stiles shrugged. "Probably not? The only person who really cares is dad, and he knows I was looking for you. But there are more than a handful of adult 'wolves in town that have essentially avoided Scott and his Pack. Scott doesn't even know they are there, but dad had turned into a point of contact for some of them."

Peter frowned for a moment. "Is that because of you?"

Stiles shook his head. "Dad's not a 'wolf but, well, he's been around enough to feel like an Alpha, if that makes sense? Being the Sheriff helps that along but some of it is him. Scott ignores anything that isn't in his face, so he had no idea."

"Is that dangerous?" Cora asked.

"The entire department is in-the-know right now, so he has plenty of backup, in case he needs it," Stiles replied. "We've talked about it, and he's not ready to retire just yet. He thinks that maybe one more term as Sheriff, which is six years, will either see Scott shaping up or failing completely. My money is on failing, and so is dad's, but he's willing to hang around to help where he can."

"Let him know that if he needs anything, that we'd be more than willing to help," Peter replied.

"I will, thank you," Stiles shot Peter a thankful smile.

When they were done eating, Stiles got up to help with the cleanup. "Dinner was excellent!" he said. "Let me help."

"Nope, not today," Kira said. "Your first week is as a guest. Once you get your feet under you, then you'll have chores like everyone else."

"You sure?" Stiles asked.

Kira nodded. "Don't worry. You'll be doing your share real soon."

"Okay, then," Stiles replied. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Kira grinned. "So glad you're here." She set down the plates in her hands and hugged him again.

"I am, too!" Stiles replied.

"Kira does a lot of the organizational things for everyone," Peter explained. "She organizes the chores, keeps the inventories, and manages most of the online ordering. So talk to her before you do any ordering, since mail pick-up is in town."

"Good to know," Stiles nodded.

The Kloches and the Finlans waved good-bye and went back to their homes. The Pack gathered in the living room..

"Where do all of you live?" Stiles asked.

"Derek and I have one of the two bedroom houses," Kira said. "I'll show you around tomorrow."

"Good," Stiles replied. "I'd like to get a basic idea of where everything and everyone is."

"Ethan and I are just past Kira and Derek," Jackson said.

"I gotta admit, I'm surprised to see you both here," Stiles admitted. "I thought you'd still be in London or wherever."

Jackson shrugged. "We hadn't planned to come back, to be honest. But, well, Peter called and we talked about it for a couple of months. Both Ethan and I have professions we can find remote work for, which is helpful. And the Pack we were working with in London got a new Alpha that demanded we join or leave. They didn't want to deal with us as Pack adjacent. So we took Peter up on his offer to come here, so here we are!"

Stiles nodded. "I'm doing remote work, too. We'll have to compare notes."

"Yeah, you'll probably need to beef up your hot spot," Ethan put in. "You'll be fine for a bit, but when the weather is crappy, you need something that will give you better access."

"Good to know," Stiles nodded. Although he knew that he already had about the best access there was, since it was boosted by his magic. So he wasn't worried about being online. He'd see what Ethan and Jackson were using and see if he could boost their access.

"I'm here in the house," Cora said. "I like being in the main house and have one of the bedrooms in the back."

"Ah. Then I'm glad I took the bedroom I have," Stiles grinned. "No offense, but glad I won't have to share a bathroom with you."

"Damn," Cora grinned back. "I was hoping to con you into doing most of the cleaning."

"Ha, ha, no!" Stiles laughed.

"Good try," Derek teased.

Cora stuck her tongue out at him as everyone laughed.

They sat around and chatted for another hour before Kira got Derek moving toward their own home. Jackson and Ethan followed and it was just Stiles, Cora, and Peter.

"I'm out early patrolling tomorrow, with Ben and Mabel, so I'm calling it a night," Cora announced as she left them.

Wide awake after his nap earlier, Stiles asked, "What do you do for entertainment around here?"

"Jackson and Ethan have set up an entertainment system for us," Peter said. "One of the smaller houses has been modified to be a theater slash gaming hall. So there is a local network between the buildings. We do get a handful of satellite television networks that can be played on any of the televisions. The tiny bit of live news and sports that we pay attention to are on that feed also."

Stiles nodded. "That makes sense. I'm kind of surprised you haven't hacked into some of the major satellites and gotten the live feeds from there."

"Oh, we've considered it but, really, how much do we want to know?" Peter shrugged.

Stiles laughed. "Too true!"

"The good news, bad news is that keeping the place running takes up a lot more time than you'd think," Peter admitted. "Jackson and Ethan work remotely, bringing income in to the Pack, so they do some patrolling but less than the others." He waved a hand at the house. "All of the buildings are at least thirty years old, and one of the barns is over seventy. There's a lot of maintenance, a lot of which we do ourselves. Derek's our construction manager and some of the ongoing chores involve helping with renovations. Some of the buildings we're not living in are being renovated and, once we're finished, someone will move into the updated buildings so we can renovate the building being used."

Stiles nodded. "Makes sense."

"And we're on the lookout for more Pack members," Peter admitted. "So being able to offer someone someplace to land is helpful in that."

"Is that where Will fits in?" Stiles asked.

Peter waggled a hand. "Harold was married and he and his wife adopted Will as a baby when they were living in Texas. The now ex-wife freaked out when they figured out Will was a 'wolf. She took off, did the divorce through lawyers and the mail, gave Harold full custody and walked out of their lives. Will doesn't remember her, he was a toddler when it happened."

"Whoa," Stiles breathed. "That's incredible."

"Harold found a Pack that would at least talk to him but, since no one knew where Will came from, they were leery of taking them into the Pack," Peter went on.

Stiles snorted. "That's exactly the sort of thing Scott would say."

Peter nodded. "It's common enough and a variation of what Jackson and Ethan ran into in London," he admitted.

"How'd they end up here?" Stiles asked.

"Friends of friends," Peter replied. "Someone I knew years ago heard that we were moving out of Beacon Hills and asked if we were interested in working with Harold and Will."

"And, of course, you took them in," Stiles beamed. "You softie!"

"Brat," Peter said. "But, yes, I did. It's a good test case for bringing new people into the Pack, and it gives us all a chance to see what we're looking for and how to test to see if they fit."

"I would think a teen like Will doesn't have some of the control issues a younger child might have?" Stiles hazarded.

"True, although puberty is always a concern," Peter replied. "But his control has been good, which is a good sign. There is a local high school, so he goes there, which is also good for him. Associating with humans is something that has to be worked on. Harold's done a good job with Will, and we'll probably be making them Pack soon."

"Good!" Stiles nodded. "It's good to see a happy ending for someone."

"Come on, you don't think you're tired but you should call it a night, too," Peter said. "You're come here physically exhausted from managing Scott and the trip. Now that you're here, you can relax and we'll take care of you."

Stiles nodded. "I feel better already," Stiles admitted. "And this being taken care of thing will take some getting used to."

Peter grinned. "That's what we're here for. All of us."

"But especially you," Stiles said softly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Peter said gently.

As Stiles was going off to bed, Peter called, "Oh, by the way, breakfast is at six. If you're not up then, you'll be on your own. Everyone picks and choses whether to show up or not."

Stiles flailed. "Six? Is the sun even up then?"

Peter laughed.

When Stiles checked the time when he woke, he found it was just before six. Ouch. Whomever made breakfast had to have been up for an hour already, to serve the crowd. He crawled out of bed, used the bathroom, threw on some clothes and wandered out to the kitchen.

"Breakfast is usually buffet style," Kira pointed out. "Coffee, tea, and juice over there," she pointed, "Fruit, cereal, and oatmeal over there. There's frequently an egg-based casserole, and toast."

"What? No pancakes?" Stiles asked as he moved to the coffee.

"Only on special occasions," Kira replied. "We can eat our weight in pancakes and it needs to be planned for."

"Ah!" Stiles nodded.

He got more coffee, orange juice, took a plate of casserole and a roll, and sat down at the table.

"Good to meet you, again," Stiles said to Will and Harold.

"Peter says you might be able to help me with chemistry?" Will asked. "No one else is any good at it, and I'm stuck on a couple of things."

"Man! What is it about chemistry?" Stiles laughed. "We had a ass-- umm, really bad teacher, so I learned a lot on my own and then tutored my friends. Sure. I've moved in here, so find me later and we can look at what you're doing."

"Thanks!" Will nodded.

"No promises I remember anything helpful," Stiles warned.

"It's better than anyone else has," Will grinned. He finished his food and took his plates to the sink. "Gotta run, the bus waits for no one." Will grabbed his backpack and hurried out the door.

"Wait!" Stiles was startled. "He has to go to the end of the driveway for the bus?"

Harold nodded. "When it's really bad weather, someone will drive him. But most of the time, Will walks it. Says it's a good way to get his head into going to school. And the reverse is true when he comes home. And, being a 'wolf, it's safer for him than it would be if he was human."

Stiles nodded. "I can see that."

"He knows they're there, but there are cameras up and down the driveway," Harold went on. "That's part of the general security for the property."

Ah! That explained how Peter knew he was coming. Good to know.

Kira came over to the table. "Eat up," she said. "You need the general orientation and now's a good time for that."

"Sure!" Stiles replied. He finished the casserole and the roll, He swallowed the coffee, remembering Peter's advice to drink more water. He'd get some at some point.

Kira led Stiles to the back door, that opened to a view of the other buildings.

"Rule number one, that is a hard, fast, never to be broken rule," Kira said seriously. "No matter where you are, if you cannot clearly see the next building, you stay where you are. Blowing sand, blowing rain, blowing snow, dense fog. Never, ever, ever try to make it to another building when you cannot see it long enough to cover the distance between them. The 'wolves can see better, for the most part, and move fast, but even they are supposed to stay when it gets bad. And, believe me, it gets bad and quickly. The wind can take a 'wolf down in an instant."

Stiles took a step outside and looked around at the flat land that surrounded them. "I can believe that," he admitted as he turned around slowly.

"In the winter, we put up ropes between most of the buildings, to have a guide," Kira added. "But even with the ropes, if you can't see where you're going, stay where you are. When in doubt, stay where you are. You never go wrong with that."

"Makes sense and good to know," Stiles agreed.

"Okay, come this way and we'll start with where Derek and I live," Kira said.