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I blinked away the haze of sleep, finding that Stiles’ arm had slipped further around my neck. His fingers clung to my shirt tightly and at some point, I had reached up to grab at his sleeve as well.
I pulled away from Stiles without waking him up and softly walked to Stiles door, wondering about the possibility of mimicking Stiles’ gait. I decided that it was too erratic to even try, but I couldn’t just stay and hope for the best. The sheriff would probably slip in and check on his son to find a man that was wanted for murder camping out in his room. I doubted that an invitation to a holiday covered the night before.
I opened the door and stepped out of Stiles’ room, shutting the door behind me so that he wouldn’t wake. “Sheriff.” I said when I reached the top of the stairs.
He looked at me in surprise and squinted as he tried to discern my figure from the shadows. His hand reflexively went to his holster and popped the button holding the gun in place loose. He couldn’t figure out my identity, and he ordered me to stay where I was when I started down the stairs. His fingers finally found the light and he let out a sigh when he saw me.
“Derek, son, you gave me quite the scare. What are you even doing here?” He asked cautiously, eyeing his son’s room.
“Some kids were trying to scare him. He said he didn’t want to bug you at work and Scott’s been hard for him to get to lately so he called me.” I replied, leaning against the railing.
He nodded and let out a sigh, waving for me to follow him into the kitchen. “Is he okay? Did he get to sleep?” He asked, grabbing a bottle of whiskey and pouring a finger before offering me the bottle.
I refused the offer with a shake of my head before answering, “He’s asleep. He took it pretty well. Gave them a pretty good beating once he realized who they were.”
“That Jackson boy?” Stiles’ father asked, swallowing his whiskey and rubbing at his forehead. I gave a nod and he leaned back, shaking his head softly. “I always just thought Stiles was trying to get me home more.”
The sheriff looked completely ashamed of himself as he admitted it to me. It was a self-loathing that I recognized easily.
“No one was ever around by the time I would get home when he was younger. It never happened often, but after a while I just started ignoring it. I thought he was just crying wolf.” My brow perked at the accuracy of the idiom this time.
“Its understandable. You had to provide for him. He knows that.” I answered, not adding more when the elder man stared at me appraisingly.
“You know, I had the papers drawn up to adopt you after the fire.” He said abruptly. Suddenly, I was very uncomfortable under his gaze. My whole body tensed. Where had this come from? “Your sister was too young. There was a chance that Social Services would have tried to take you away from her. The papers were ready before I took you two to the hotel room, but I didn’t want to make you decide so soon. When I went back to the hotel, you were just gone.”
The alcohol along with his fatigue and probably empty stomach were getting to him. It was throwing me off. I wasn’t sure what I could possibly say to him in reply to an admission like that.
“Maybe if I had made the offer that day when you both were right in front of me, things would have ended up differently. Maybe Laura... maybe you wouldn’t be alone. Stiles would have been a lot better off with someone like you around, that’s for sure. And after the funeral, he liked you and your sister so much. Whatever you did made that day so much easier on him.” He continued, his head lolling down into hands that tried to rub him back to consciousness.
I took the bottle from him and put it back in its place before I pulled Stiles’ father to his feet. I put one of his arms over my shoulder and guided him upstairs. He didn’t refuse me although he did squeeze my shoulder. As I helped him into bed, he settled down comfortably. He looked too tired to care about getting out of his uniform, though I did make sure to get him out of his belt so he wouldn’t find a way to accidently hurt himself. “It’s a shame what happened to your family. No one deserves that. This town shouldn’t have been so ready to turn its back on any of you.”
I left before he could say more. Somehow, it felt incredibly wrong to have gotten any of that information. I’m sure I wouldn’t have known had it not been for the sheriff’s fatigue. Unless he had some when he first walked into the house, he hadn’t consumed enough alcohol to explain it. My mind was reeling as I returned to Stiles’ room, finding him completely awake and staring eagerly at me.
“He didn’t shoot you! He didn’t, right? I mean, its kind of hard to tell with super werewolf mojo doing its thing. But you don’t look like he shot you, and I didn't hear anything. Oh my God, he did! He shot you! Dad!” Stiles started freaking out, his voice going higher and getting louder with every word. I glared at him, holding a finger up to my lips so he would calm down a little.
“He didn’t shoot me.” I answered with a sigh. “Now go back to sleep before I rip out your tongue.”
Stiles looked hurt momentary, but quiet was too much to ask for from him. I took my place on the floor next to him again as his chatter once again filled the air. I just hoped that he would fall back asleep pretty quickly. “I’m here worrying that my dad was going to put a bullet in your head or something and you’re threatening me for it. Really cool. Thanks for that. Can werewolves survive being shot in the head? Like how much of a beating can you guys take? Are you basically like Wolverine? Do you think what happened to him in Origins would be true? Like, if you got shot in the head, do you think it would wipe out your memory or would your body heal back how it was before, synapses and all? I don’t know why they wanted him to forget the girl. I always felt-“
“Stiles. Sleep. Now.” I growled, and Stiles let out an exasperated sigh. He actually got comfortable this time, his hand resting on my shoulder once more.
“Anyway, I always felt it was important to his character that he lost the woman he loved.” Stiles continued, and I let him talk now that he would actually be able to talk himself to sleep. He fell asleep after a while of going on about the X-men and somehow making a leap to cereal and how raisin bran got a bad name even though it was pretty good if you sprinkled a little sugar on it and maybe threw in some banana.
It took me a long time to get to sleep after Stiles’ unconsciousness left the room quiet. There was so much to think about with what Stiles’ father had told me. Why would he possibly want to adopt me? I wasn’t his responsibility. I would have to make sure I was around when his tongue got loose again so I could ask some questions.