*****

That night Stiles and Derek lay curled up in Stiles' bed, talking quietly about everything. It was grounding, normal, okay. In many ways, Stiles felt it to be perfect. Beautiful – as cliche as that sounded, even to him – but he needed this, they both did.

Calling it a hard few months would've been a bigger understatement than calling Scott a bit of a bother. So, Stiles cherished the quiet moments. Having Derek next to him didn't get rid of all the bad, just made it easier to cope. It was moments like these that reminded him that one day the bad days would be overshadowed by the good.

He knew, realistically, that he would always have bad days but everyone did. And that was okay, because he wasn't alone, not anymore, and neither was Derek.

Though the nightmare of everything – from his mother's death to Scott being bitten, and everything after – would never truly leave, staining his heart and his thoughts, they would fade, with time. With patience. With Derek and The Pack. They would help each other through everything, the good and the bad. He loved them for that, for everything.

He made a promise to himself: no matter what happened with Scott over the next few weeks, months, years, he wouldn't let him ruin The Pack. Not like he had before. Even if none of them had noticed at the time... And if it meant saying goodbye to him once and for all, then, well, he would deal with that if it came to it. He hoped it didn't.

~~~~~

Derek looked down at the young man now sleeping on his chest, holding onto him tightly as if afraid he'd disappear, and smiled. He was exceedingly lucky, he knew that. Just like he knew that if it weren't for Stiles he would still be lost, drifting in the vast expanse of sea that was his mind. Stiles allowed him to unlock his lips; talk freely. To feel happy.

One day, he, Stiles, and The Pack would all be okay again. They would be able to have as normal a life as a supernatural could. They would mend and heal each other, as they had been doing since they first met.

This was what hope felt like, Derek realised with a start. Real hope.

Stiles was so strong, he astounded Derek every day with his persistence to continue fighting, to continue to love, despite how often the world pushed him down. Stiles may be the human in a Pack of wolves, but he was beyond that in ways Derek didn't quite understand.

He didn't let what happened to him define him, not like Derek had, but he never made Derek feel lesser for their different ways of coping. Maybe it was too soon, maybe not, but he loved Stiles for that, and for everything.

Derek made his own promise: he would never let Stiles fight alone again.

+++++

"Scott, you're home?" Melissa asked, voice cracking halfway through her son's name. Of course, Stiles had told her that he was going to talk to Scott, try and bring him home to her and she had been incredibly surprised, though she now felt she shouldn't have been. She had almost asked to come with them, except if Scott had refused right to her face, she... Well, she wasn't entirely sure what she would've done, but it would've ruined her more than watching Scott drive away.

Maybe it was an act of cowardice, maybe it was simply one of self-preservation, she didn't know and, right now, she didn't care because Scott was standing at her door, bags behind him like he planned on staying, and dried tears on his cheeks. What he had done didn't matter, nothing mattered. Not right now. Because her boy was home, and he had been crying.

She pulled him into a hug, a long string of "you're home, you're home, god, you're finally home" fell from her lips. Scott held her back just as tightly, he had lost track of the days, had no idea how long it had been since he'd last seen his mom but he had missed her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," his voice was hoarse from crying and maybe from hours of talking, hours of more apologies, all genuine. "I fucked everything up, mom. I said that I would try to fix it but I don't even know where to start, I don't know how to do this." And the sincerity behind his words stung. He sounded lost, confused, burning with self-loathing and wishful hoping.

"Let's start by getting you inside." She helped him bring his bags into the house and up to his room. They stayed in relative silence, Scott unsure of what to say and Melissa still trying to process everything.

A conflicting and persistent thought crept into her mind: what about the way Scott had acted? How should she approach making sure he understood that she was disappointed in him?

+++++

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are, Scott." Melissa said, dropping her head into her hands, her hair falling over her face, "Why? I need to know: why did you do all of this, why did you leave, why did you cheat on Isaac, why did you call Stiles all of those horrible things?"

Scott stood up and walked away from the couch, his back towards her, ran a hand through his too-long hair and took a few slow breaths. It was painful, seeing her son battle with himself with no way of helping him, seeing him not able to understand what was going on inside of his own head, and she knew this wasn't the first time.

After Scott had been bitten, he and Stiles had had to figure out a lot of things alone and, though Derek tried to help, it really wasn't easy. Scott was already struggling to make his way through high school and then he had this extra pressure added on top of it all. To make matters worse, after she'd found out she had stopped talking to him for almost a week. So, once she realised that he had the intention to use his newfound abilities for good, she made a vow to herself never to jump to conclusions that may end up with Scott getting hurt by her actions again. But she still fought against the regret that she had left him alone when he needed her most.

She wouldn't do that to him, not again. So she sat in the pounding silence, waiting while Scott thought. Letting him come to a conclusion that he might understand.

"I left like I did because it was easier, I thought that... I knew that you could convince me to stay, to fix things with Stiles, if I told you that I was leaving with Kira, because you would be able to see right through me. My lies. How I didn't want any of this. I think I knew, deep down, that I didn't blame Stiles for any of this, I blamed myself." The way he said it made it clear that he was only now becoming aware of how real it was, how deeply his self-loathing ran, how this was what had caused all of this. Those three words were the root of everything. She resisted the urge to hug him, to wipe his tears and tell him it was all going to be okay because it wasn't. And wouldn't be. Not for a long time. "I- I blame myself." He turned around, eyes wandering along the walls, dancing over the door.

"I blame myself, it's all my fault, I should've made sure he was safe. It's all my fault. Oh, God, it's all my fault!" He sank down, back pressed to the wall, eyes wide and drowning in dread. "I should've protected him when the vampires came to town, I should've broken up with Isaac, and instead I left them both completely alone. I never let myself think about the consequences and... shit!" he was talking more to himself than to Melissa now, "Stiles was human, and if I had paid closer attention to him then I would've known something was off. Maybe I would've been able to prevent all of this shit from happening.

"And Isaac! I don't even have a real reason. I was scared of losing him, so I pushed him away? I didn't want to lose him like I lost Allison, but..." Finally, he looked back up at Melissa, "what the hell is wrong with me?"

"Sweety, nothing is wrong with you. You've made a lot of mistakes. Everyone does."

"But not like this!" He stood up, walked over, fell down next to her on their couch.

"No, you're right there, not like this. But it wasn't your fault that Stiles got turned, any of The Pack could've made the decision to keep an eye on him, but it's not their fault either." Scott made a noise of disagreement, but Melissa ignored him and went on, "While you taking the anger you held for yourself, unknowingly at the time, out on them was completely unfair. And then continuing to do it, even after you'd cooled down a little, made it worse. And on top of that, you hurt your now-ex boyfriend--"

"Mom." Scott groaned, dropping his chin to his chest and hunching forward.

"I'm sorry, but you have to know that I am disappointed in you. But, Scott, you are my son, I will help you fix this." She ran a hand over his back, "Starting with: when you apologise to The Pack, do not make excuses. If they ask you questions, answer them honestly, if they tell you to leave, you leave, if they want to talk to you individually, you do that. And, for god's sake, don't argue with them. It is possible to be forgiven, but you're gonna have to be incredibly patient." She knew they had more to discuss but this was a good place to start.

"I know, thank you."

Melissa pulled Scott into another hug, soothed his hair down and sighed. "Just try your best, and don't fuck up any more."