Spell of Forthcoming's Spent

Chapter 11: Peter Will Always Be Stiles' Papa

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, or the Characters.

Mary nervously clutched the phone. She wasn't sure about this, but she had to try. For many years she's felt repressed. Repressed by her upbringing, expectations of her person and her family, and even more recently the lifestyle she had been given by her husband and how very sheltered it all seemed. But it wasn't until someone had said something to her that she actually stopped and thought about it.

It had been but five months ago. She had been volunteering at the hospital, like she had been doing every Thursday afternoon going on twenty years now. A woman had come in with severe chest pains and no family in the area to be with her. Mary was relatively the same age and had been assigned as her buddy for an unforeseeably amount of time.

They didn't hit it off right away, having nothing in common. But then Mary thought she struck gold mentioning that she had a grandson. This tidbit enamored her to the woman, but as she listened she began to realize her own failings.

This woman knew everything about her grandson: his favorite color, ice cream, fears, dreams, and wishes. She hadn't known there was that much to know. She hadn't even known most of those things about her own son. This revelation made her wholly uncomfortable.

She had eventually come clean to Joanne Winters about her shortcomings. Jo had just laughed, asked if Mary loved Stiles and told her it wasn't too late, as long as love was involved. Jo had passed away shortly after that, her grandson arriving with his parents and crying over her like his world was ending. And while Jo comforted and reassured the boy, Mary could tell, she felt loved and at peace.

Mary wanted that.

So when she had saw Stiles next she had tried to ask more questions, to listen to him and learn about him. For example she now knew his favorite color was blue—but he secretly had a fascination with the color purple. That he was smart with a remarkable memory. That he loved to read, and that his best friends were Scott McCall who resembled a puppy dog and Derek Hale his Knight. She learned that he feared being taken away from his parents, who he loved, and that he could hold a grudge like nobody's business. And now Mary could honestly say she loved her grandson because now she knew him—even if it was only a piece.

But now she had a dilemma. What to get her grandson for his birthday.

She dialed the number and prayed for this to go well.

"Hello, Stilinski-Hale residence," Mary winced, this was not her son, but rather Peter Hale.

"Hello, this is Mary Stilinski; I was hoping to speak with my son."

"I'm sorry Mary, but John is currently on a call. There was a break in at the high school." Peter informed her. "May I take a message?"

"No," Mary sighed. "I was just calling to ask if there was anything in particular Stiles would like for his birthday?"

"Oh, well I can help you with that. 'The Hobbit' on tape would be fantastic. He's recently been trying to multitask, listening to a story while he completes a puzzle or game." Peter offered.

"Thank you Peter," she said smiling.

"You're welcome Mary."

She hung up and grabbed her purse, heading for the door. That had gone far better than she had expected.

Stiles excitedly looked around the party room. This morning had been the best morning he had had in a very long time. His Papa had woken him up to breakfast in bed, and his Dad had followed shortly after with a blueberry muffin decked out with a sparkler candle. And then all three of them ate on his bed, his parents listening to him as he told them about how much more grown up he felt.

They had gone to pick up both Derek and Scott then, heading for the zoo. He was surprised when he got there and Lydia Martin was standing there with her mom. He had known her when they went to school together before she had gotten into that special private school. She was so smart and pretty, and he liked her sparkly nail polish, and even told her so.

His Papa led them around the zoo, always asking where Stiles wanted to go next. The reptile house was so neat, and one of the snakes even rose up to his height it was so long. The visited the lions, and Scott giggled with him when it yawned real wide. The exotic birds were really pretty and he even got to go into a sort of bubble and watch them fly above him. But his favorite exhibit had to be the wolves. There was a large black one laying with a soft caramel colored one and they gazed at him and Derek.

Then when lunch time rolled around his Papa and Dad brought him to the private party house that looked like it belonged in the rainforest, or a jungle. It was so amazing, and there were so many people there to celebrate with him. They had even yelled surprise when he walked in.

Mary walked into the little party room that John and Peter had rented for her grandson, and tried her very best not to cringe. It was cramped and filled with a fair number of people, mainly adults. She hadn't known Stiles had so many adult influences in his life. There were a few children as well.

Though the kids were stationed in the middle of the room giggling as a zookeeper was introducing them to what had to be a wolf. Who in their right minds would allow such a dangerous creature near the children? She held her tongue though as she spotted Peter standing protectively over Stiles. Stiles was stopping every so often to look back at the man with a grin that got wider every time.

"Mother," a voice spoke behind her. Mary startled and turned.

"John," she greeted meekly.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to show up," John tells her.

She pauses for a moment and before she can stop herself, she says, "I've been in the parking lot for the last 30 minutes trying to decide if I should come in."

"Then why did you?" His head is cocked as he asks.

"I have come to the realization recently that I do not know my grandson, or my son, that I have no real friends, and that I haven't really lived much of a life. My friend passed away recently, my only friend, and I came to the realization that I have no idea of who I am." She tells him.

"That isn't my fault mother," John tells her, "And it isn't Stiles fault either."

"I know." She reassures him, "It's my fault. I know where to place this blame on, and that is myself."

John sighs. "We just finished cake, and were about to begin presents. I'm sure Stiles would love to open your gift to him." He gestured at the present in her hand. He raises his arm then, turning slightly from her. "Peter, hun, I think we should get the presents going." He calls out only slightly above his normal voice.

Mary turns to Peter, who is across the room, shouldn't hear him. But he must have because he was turned back to them with a demure smile on his face. Peter nods, and leans down to Stiles, whispering something to him. Stiles screams ecstatically, earning more than one wince from the crowd of people.

Stiles grabs hold of a boy's hand that must be his age, with floppy bangs and a crooked chin. Then he wraps his arm around another boy's. This one was taller, older, and had a scowl on his brow. Then her grandson is zooming towards them, Peter walking confidently behind them in a calm manor that she has never seen associated with a boy as rambunctious as Stiles.

She remembered even Claudia had a tough time keeping up with him. She always looked like she was run ragged. In fact the last time she had seen Stiles, it was the best he had ever looked. The nice clothes he was in weren't covered head to toe in stains. His hair was nicely done, and he was able to sit still through the whole dinner. It was a remarkable improvement.

Stiles is upon them in only half a minute and as Mary looked down at him, she couldn't help but be intimidated. "Grandmama lookie here. This is my bestest friend Scott." He presents the floppy haired boy. "And this is my Derek." This is directed at the boy with a permanent scowl. She half expects the boy to object to this, but no, the scowl disappears, and he seems calmer.

"It's very nice to meet you both." She smiles at them.

"Is that present for me?" Stiles asks.

"Yes dear," she says handing them to him. He takes them gleefully, he makes to move away but then it's like he thinks better of it.

He turns to Peter, "Is it time to open presents yet?"

"Why yes birthday boy, it is time to open them." Stiles squeals again and runs for the present table. Mary watches as he opens her gift first, presenting the audio book and 350 piece puzzle. He shows them first to Derek for inspection then Peter before turning to Scott.

It's an hour later, the small group of kids are playing on the ground with Stiles' new toys and the adults are mainly mingling. Mary is watching for the most part. Not really comfortable enough in her own skin to mingle as she would usually. She notices that a great majority of the adults here are part of Peter's family, and that they all treat Stiles and John as one of their own. It was like the majority of the room acted as a unit. Of course there were the deputies that worked under John, who revolved around one another. But other than that it was Ms. McCall, Scott's mom, and the Hales. All of them. Even the distant cousins. And they were all revolving around Peter and Talia. Talia being Peter's older sister. It was strange.

She also noticed how it wasn't John who Stiles turned to first. It wasn't John he ran to first. It wasn't John who he needed reassurance from. He still sought it out from John… but never first.

"Mother," she turned to see John standing behind her. "Are you having a good time?"

Surprisingly she was. So she answered him truthfully, "Yes."

"That's good." John mumbled. "What were you thinking about that had you so wrapped in your head?"

"I was just thinking about how close Stiles is to Peter." She smiled at him.

"You think it's weird," John told her matter-a-factly. She didn't answer confirming his suspicion. "Peter is Stiles' Papa. I made a mistake a while back. It hurt Stiles, and he couldn't trust me for a while. Peter was his rock and I tore them apart. I am still making up for my mistake to Peter, and it will take a while for me to regain Stiles' trust. But one thing became very apparent due to my mistake. Peter is Stiles' Papa; he will always be his Papa. If something were to happen between me and my m—partner again, then Peter would still be Stiles' other parent. More so than Claudia ever was. That was actually a present we gave Stiles, Peter has full rights over Stiles now, and it's helped."

Mary just nodded her head. She didn't really understand, but that didn't mean she wouldn't in the future. If anything though, it just meant that Peter wasn't a fling, he would always be in Stiles' and John's life.

Peter walked into the office, the Tupperware that held a late dinner in hand. John had been having to work late the last few days and go in early, meaning Peter had only saw him out the door and felt him crawl into bed. Peter couldn't let that stand another night. So he dropped a sleeping Stiles off with Talia and drove down to the station with leftovers from dinner.

Janet was at the front desk as he smiled at her.

"Hey Peter," she greeted.

"Janet," he nodded, "You look lovely this evening." And she did, dressed in a silk blue dress and her hair in a stylish up-do. "Any special plans for the evening?"

"Yes, it's my seventh anniversary with my husband tonight; I was just wrapping up to go meet him at the restaurant." She answered.

Peter smiled at her, "Ah, isn't that lovely."

"You headed back to the Sheriff?" She asked kindly as she got up and grabbed her purse.

"Yes, he missed dinner once again, and I can't have that now, can I?" Peter charmed her.

She giggled. "No, I suppose you can't."

"Where are the other deputies," Peter asked.

"Everyone on duty is out on patrol; they shouldn't be back for another hour."

Peter's grin widened if possible.

"Well I will see you on Monday then," Janet asked, "You are still coming in to update the system right?"

"Yes that was the plan," Peter said, "It's the only day my sister can take Stiles for more than an hour."

"Alright then, see you," Janet waved him off as she exited the building.

Peter turned then and walked past the front desk. He made his way into the hallway and to John's door. He saw that the door was cracked open and John was hunched over a file on his desk.

"Hey there working man," Peter greeted.

John's head snapped up and a smile spread across his face. Peter turned closing the door and the blinds. John lifted an eyebrow at the action. "Hey back, is that my dinner?" John asked.

"Mmhmm, sure is." Peter said, placing it down in the chair and walking around the desk. "But I thought you may want a taste of dessert before dinner?"

John grinned, Peter climbing into his lap. "Dessert huh? Won't that spoil my appetite?"

"Oh most definitely," Peter purred. John surged into a kiss, taking Peter's breath away. When he felt John shift forward and a clatter sounded, it still surprised Peter when he was lifted bodily onto the now trashed desk. He could feel the heat of John pressed against him and couldn't hold back the groan. John was an animal when you got him revved up, and Peter was very good at that.