Disclaimer: Teen Wolf does not belong to me

Author's Note: So... I haven't updated in weeks, and I'm sorry. I also apologize for this extremely short chapter, it's the shortest chapter that is and will be in this story. I was busy with jetlag, airplane business, and ugh! Catching up on all the stuff I missed was the worst. Anyway, I probably won't be able to write for a while again either, because I'll be busy with other stuff, real life, and IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Yay! If you drop me a happy birthday, it'd be appreciated! And, story requests, ideas, and feedback are always welcome!

Chapter Six

"Isaac, stop."

Scott sighed and kept his eyes fixed on the TV screen. His littlest brother was up to no good today. Isaac, the little devil, kept pestering Derek even though the man clearly seemed busy. Derek was wearing glasses as he muttered to himself, scribbling on a bunch of papers. Derek had called it 'paperwork'.

"Isaac!"

Scott winced at the irritation in Derek's voice. It was the 'you're-going-to-get-in-big-trouble-if-you-don't-stop-now' look. Isaac pouted.

A month had passed since they had first been adopted by Derek, and the man had explained to them that he had to start going to work again. Derek was away from the house from 9 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. Jackson came over to watch over them. Scott remembered when he had asked Jackson where Theo was, and the man had said that his son was at school.

Eventually, they would have to go to school as well, Derek had explained to them. Soon, but not yet. Scott preferred not to go to that place called school. School meant different ages, which resulted in different grades and classes, therefore the trio being separated. Scott could never handle being separated from his brothers for long.

"Isaac. Hale."

Scott froze, and heard Stiles' sharp intake of breath at Derek's stern, raised voice. Scott glanced over and saw that Isaac had frozen as well, looking apprehensive of what was about to befall him. When Derek stood up, they all flinched.

"I've had enough, Isaac," Derek said, swooping down and picking up the now remorseful child. "I've told you many times before – I'm sorry I can't play, I'm sorry I can't spend as much time with you as I could before I started working again."

Scott watched as Derek carried a tearful Isaac over to the corner, saying, "You're going to stand here for two minutes, and then I'll call you over. You're going to apologize to me, and I'll hug you, but then you have to go and play with your brothers, all right?"

"Yes, Derek," Isaac sniffled, and Scott winced. Oh, dear. His brother was almost about to burst into tears. Feeling sympathetic but knowing that he shouldn't interfere, he continued to sit on the couch, watching the cartoon that was currently on the TV with Stiles, who also looked quite sympathetic for Isaac. But then again, he had brought it upon himself.

After apologizing and getting a hug and a kiss to the forehead from Derek, Isaac scampered over and pouted at his older brothers. Scott just shrugged and said, "Your fault, little brother."

Isaac pouted even more and sat down beside Stiles, sighing and leaning against him. Scott watched Stiles absently stroke Isaac's curls, and jumped when he heard Derek talking. He glanced over to see him on the phone. Derek looked slightly distressed, and worried at the same time.

Scott gently wriggled off of the couch and went over to the man who he now thought of as his father, and looked up questioningly. Derek barely shot him a glance, continuing to speak.

"Yes, alright, I understand. How long will it take?" There was a pause, then a frown from Derek and a huffed reply. "Five hours? Alright, fine. Very well. Goodbye."

"Derek?" Scott asked tentatively. "What's wrong?"

The man took off his glasses and picked him up gently before heading over to the living room. Isaac immediately jumped into Derek's lap beside Scott and Stiles leaned against Derek's shoulder.

"You know Laura, right?" Derek stroked Scott's hair and he pushed into the large hand, finding it comforting. "Well, she was getting better, but something went wrong and now she has to get something called surgery."

"You said it was a little accident, though, Derek," Scott said with a confused frown. "Why was she so hurt and weak if it was little?"

"Well, normally we wouldn't have been as worried, but the reason Laura was so weak was because she's also expecting a baby. Now, imagine if you had a baby in your stomach, and then you got into a car accident. Wouldn't you be worried as well?"

"Yes," Scott murmured. He looked up at Derek, who was gazing anxiously again out of the window. "Will she be alright?"

"The doctors think so," Derek said with a small smile, ruffling his hair again. "She'll be fine."

"I wanna see the baby," Isaac chirped, sighing in comfort as he leaned against Derek's sturdy chest.

"Later," Derek said, stroking his curls. "The baby hasn't been born yet, Zac."

Scott opened his mouth to speak, when he was interrupted by the doorbell ringing twice, echoing loudly throughout the house. Derek stood up, gently placing Isaac and Scott on the couch. Scott jumped off and followed Derek to the door, watching him open it hurriedly.

"Hey, buddy!" Scott heard Derek say with a kind smile. "How've you been doing? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Good, thank you, Derek," a quiet voice answered.

"Theo?" Stiles breathed, sounding puzzled, beside Scott.

Scott watched as Derek allowed the guests inside. "Hi, Jackson!" he said with a grin when he saw the man.

"Hey, Scotty!" Jackson smiled down at him, then ruffled Stiles' hair and patted Isaac's curls. The littlest boy grinned brightly up at him. "You wanna meet my son, bud? He's the same age as Stiles, I think."

Theo appeared from behind Jackson. Scott glowered at him when Theo eyed him coolly with his sharp and narrowed blue-green eyes. Scott had heard about the grumpy kid who had punched his older brother during lacrosse practice, but it was his first time actually meeting and talking to him. Sure, he had seen before out of the corner of his eye during practices, but never before had he talked to him. He wasn't that eager to, either.

"I'm Theo," was all he said.

"Scott." Scott stuck his hand out, and jerked his chin toward Isaac, saying, "My little brother, Isaac, and I'm sure you know Stiles." He narrowed his eyes challengingly.

"I'll be back in a few hours, alright, Theo?" Jackson ruffled his son's hair and said, "Thanks again, Derek."

"No problem." Derek smiled and clapped Jackson on the back. "You're the one who was always babysitting my kids."

"We're not babies," Isaac chirped up, making Jackson and Derek chuckle.

Jackson exited the house and Derek said, "You four can play, watch TV, do whatever you want, alright? Just try not to break anything, and please be careful." He raised an eyebrow at Theo and Stiles meaningfully and murmured, "And no fighting." He headed toward the kitchen once more.

Scott saw both Theo and Stiles flush, but he said nothing about it and thankfully Isaac had the sense to stay quiet, for once.

"Hi, Theo." Isaac's tentative words made all of them look toward him, and he scowled and crossed his arms. "What?"

No reply.

Isaac just scowled and picked up Moon and clutched the wolf plushie to his chest, muttering about annoying people and how they wouldn't reply to anything he said. Scott caught Theo rolling his eyes and glowered at him. Touch Isaac and I'll knock out your teeth, he threatened silently.

"Is it always this tense between you three?" Theo asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Nah, it's just because you're here," Stiles shot back, scowling. "How come you have to stay at our house?"

"Believe me, it wasn't me that made the choice." Theo rolled his eyes again. "Blame my dad. I'm just glad that I wasn't there whenever Derek dropped you three off at my house to be babysat."

Scott huffed. "You were at school." It wasn't a question.

"Duh." Theo sighed, as if he were irritable. "Do you even know anything about school?"

Scott narrowed his eyes and said, "If you're going to start showing off, let's go to the living room. It's uncomfortable here."

"What? Can't handle a little discomfort?" Theo sneered, but he followed the three to the living room, plopping down on the couch. "School's pretty boring, actually," he said slowly. "The teachers say that school's for our own good, but it doesn't do anything to us besides keep us there for a bunch of useless lessons."

Beside Scott, Isaac wrinkled his nose. "I don't wanna go to school. Theo, if you don't like school, then why do you go?"

"I have no choice," Theo snorted. "It's apparently 'proper' for kids to go to school. You'll have to start going as well, soon."

"I'm not going to!" Isaac announced, bouncing up and making the other three boys wobble on the couch. "I'm not going to school!"

Theo just snorted.

Scott eyed the boy warily and said, "There's a lacrosse practice today."

"I know that," Theo huffed, glaring at him. "The Coach is my dad. Of course I know when the practices are. And you guys are wasting your time at the lessons; you barely know the rules and you're too weak to swing the stick."

"And you aren't?" Scott snapped, tired of the other boy's grumpy attitude.

Theo puffed up indignantly and announced, "Dad says I'm big and strong. He says I could be one of the best lacrosse players one day, just like him."

Scott saw Stiles roll his eyes and make a rude gesture behind his back. He tried to stifle his laughter, but was unsuccessful. Theo frowned at him and said, "What?"

"Nothing," Scott managed, as calmly as he could. "Just got reminded of something." He looked away quickly, avoiding Stiles' grinning face. If Derek had seen what Stiles had done behind Theo's head … well, Stiles wouldn't exactly be too comfortable sitting down.

As time passed, Scott got to know more and more about Theo. The other boy was eight, Stiles' age, and enjoyed playing lacrosse and video games. He had gotten his greenish-blue eyes mostly from his mother, but the tint of blue in the green had been from Jackson. He had started lacrosse since the age of four with a mini lacrosse stick, and his favourite colour was turquoise.

At one, Jackson returned to pick up Theo. The other boy was still wary and slightly grumpy around the trio but he obviously felt more comfortable than before, for he didn't sneer that much now. It was an improvement, Scott thought wryly.

Derek looked troubled as he turned to face them. "Boys, I know you have a practice today at one thirty, but I have to go see Laura. Her surgery finished, and I can't afford to drop you off at the field—"

"What's the worry?" Jackson slung an arm around Derek, grinning in a relaxed way that made Scott smile. "I'll drive them, Derek, don't worry. The practice finishes at 3, so you have plenty of time. You can pick them up after the practice is over."

Derek looked unsure but Jackson shook it off, soothing the obviously apologetic and troubled man while he swooped down to pick up Isaac, tickling his stomach and making the curly-haired boy giggle.

Derek reluctantly agreed, and that was how Scott ended up in the back of Jackson's Porsche, the man driving to the field for practice. They arrived at one forty-five, which gave Jackson plenty of time to prepare while he threw a lacrosse ball as far as he could. "Go on! Whoever gets it first will get to throw it next!"

Scott took off almost in sync with the other boys. It turned out that Theo was incredibly fast, racing the others while his usually neatly combed hair was ruffled around by the wind. Theo reached it first, picked up the white ball and threw it. It went far, but not as far as Jackson's.

Poor, small and littlest Isaac was always last. Eventually he stopped trying to outrun the other older and faster boys, instead pouting and crossing his arms. The game was halted when Scott saw the five-year-old's eyes glistening in the sunlight – the first symptoms of a whining tantrum.

"Hey, it's okay," Scott soothed as Isaac continued to pout. "You'll be faster and stronger than any of us when you're older, I bet!"

"Not me," Theo growled. "You'll never be better than me."

Scott gave him a look and opened his mouth to speak, but his attention was pulled back to Isaac when the boy whined sulkily. "Ignore him, Zac," he said. "You'll be better than him, soon."

"No, he won't."

Will you please shut up? Scott glared at the boy, one strand away from kicking the other arrogant boy. It would get him in trouble with Derek, but it would be worth it.

Before anyone could respond to Theo's words, the sound of the whistle blowing echoed throughout the field. Practice was starting.

End of Chapter Six

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Please review, it'd make my day, and a happy birthday would be nice. Love you all! ;)