Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Incunabula This word means "the earliest stages or first traces of anything."
It had taken a lot more than six hours for Stiles’ adoption to kick in. In fact, it had taken a little over three weeks of constant questions and assessments until Kali and Ennis had been allowed to take the boy home. They had faced roadblocks on all fronts, from the hunters who had murdered their previous packs that didn’t want them to make another, to Mellissa McCall who thought she’d do a better job as Stiles’ guardian, especially after hearing how they planned to move away from Beacon Hills as quickly as they could.
She had argued for hours that Stiles wouldn’t want to be away from her son, Scott McCall, after such a tragedy. Mellissa had even made a point of trying to verbally spare with Kali and Ennis on several occasions over the weeks, telling them that they had no idea how much Stiles meant to her, that they couldn’t just come in and steal him from her like that.
“You talk as if you’ve got a claim on Stiles,” Kali had said, crossing her arms with a feral smile on her lips. “And yet, it took us putting in a claim for adoption for you to actually come looking for him. His father has been dead for three days and yet you called only once and that was right after we submitted our papers.”
“I was busy consoling my son, John was like a father to Scott!”
“Like a father. And yet Stiles, who had been the one to actually lose his last parent, was left to fend for himself, for three days. That tells me that Stiles was a mere afterthought to you, that the only reason you came here to fight us for custody was because your son doesn’t want to lose his best friend.”
Deucalion had been shocked that Kali had been able to remain so calm while speaking to the naive woman, but Ennis knew better. He had spotted the cameras the moment he’d stepped into the hallway and knew that Kali was doing her best to build a case against Mellissa for being unfit to take another child. After all, if she only truly cared for her biological son, then what was to stop her throwing Stiles out the moment Scott found new friends?
“Now, my husband, brother and I may not have known Stiles for his whole life – as you claim to – but we do know him now. We were the ones to console him when his father died and he’s been staying with us for those three days until social services came to take him to a motel. We were the ones to convince him that it was okay to go with them when he didn’t want to leave. We are the ones battling tooth and claw to make sure that if he doesn’t end up with us, that he’ll end up with a family that actually give a damn about him because of who he is, and not because their son wants to keep his playmate.”
Kali’s verbal destruction had worked in their favour at the next court hearing when their lawyer – who Deucalion had hired from his pack fund, that had cost him over ten grand but they needed to make sure Stiles remained with them – pulled out the tapes for everyone to hear. Of course, Mellissa’s lawyer had tried to spin it as manipulation but it had immediately been shot down when Mrs Reyes had confirmed Kali’s suspicion when she’d been called to the stands.
“Scott was complaining to Erica that he’d lose his only friend when he came to ours in the afternoon,” Mrs Reyes had recounted, “but had told Erica that his mother was going to fix it for him so that Stiles would stay and remain his friend, until he found new friends.”
That had been the killing blow and Mellissa had been denied custody of Stiles. She had also had her ability to foster children placed under review until they could be sure of her intentions once again.
However, when one door closes, another one must open.
This time, though, their fight had been against Talia Hale. Mellissa had reached out to the Hale Alpha and had begged for Talia to attempt to adopt the boy. For some reason, Talia had agreed to the request and had begun the legal battle to adopt Stiles once again. She had her brother, Peter, representing her and Deucalion had begrudgingly admitted that he was rather good at what he did.
Peter was a cutthroat lawyer, never willing to let a session end unless he couldn’t find anything to pick apart. It was because of his approach that the adoption had taken so long and eventually Stiles, himself, had been asked to enter the court and tell them who he wanted to be with.
Stiles had, of course, said he wanted to be with Ennis and Kali. Peter tried, again and again, to make the boy understand that the Hale house would be a better alternative since he’d have lots of people his age and would have a large family.
“But I was raised as an only child,” Stiles had pointed out during the court session. “And I don’t really get along with anyone from your family, besides I’d rather stay an only child with people I know like me for me!”
That had ended one argument, but Peter had also used it as a bases for claims of ‘influencing Stiles.’
The court hearings had gone on so long that Talia and her husband had confronted the three Alphas in order to question them about their intentions with Stiles. This time, Deucalion was the one to verbally rip Talia to shreds, very aware of the cameras everyone else had missed. He was hoping that using the same trick twice would be enough to guarantee their custody of Stiles – he had been correct.
When the court had discovered the only reason that the Hale’s were attempting to adopt Stiles was more Mellissa McCall, the case had instantly been dropped and custody awarded to Ennis and Kali. Stiles had sprinted towards the trio with a smile that put the Sun to shame when he’d heard the verdict, further solidifying that the court had made the correct choice.
“Can we get curly fries now?” Stiles asked, the moment they stepped outside the courthouse. His big brown eyes stared at Ennis and Kali intently, seemingly accepting them as his parents with little to no trouble. “The social workers wouldn’t let me have any, said it was bad for me and that my new family would help me cut down on the junk food. I told her it’s not junk food, it’s my food and I like it.”
They let Stiles ramble for the next few minutes while they got into the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Kali grinned, carding a hand through his fluffy hair, and hummed in agreement when Stiles eventually stopped to breath.
“Sure, Stiles, we can get curly fries.”
“Yes!”
Deucalion chuckled from his place in the front seat. He, too, had practically fallen in love with the boy after spending a few hours with him. He had already made a mental note to make sure that anywhere they moved to had access to Stiles’ favourite treat – he justified it by thinking that it would make Stiles’ adjustment easier.
“Eat in, or take away?” said Ennis, pulling near to the diner.
“Take away,” answered Stiles, instantly. “Miss McCall knows that this diner is the only one that serves curly fries, she’ll probably be waiting inside for us. I don’t want to see her, not after she basically ignored me and what I want in court.”
“Understandable,” said Deucalion. “I’m impressed at your reasoning skills, we’ll have to get you an IQ test before we enrol you in a school. Yes, you will be attending school, even young werewolves attend school, and I value intelligence above physical strength.”
Stiles pouted but it was quickly wiped away when Kali and Ennis returned to the car holding three large meals and two large serving of curly fries. Mellissa had been inside but both Ennis and Kali had ignored the other woman and left without saying a word. Stiles didn’t need to know that.
“Any preferences for where you want to move?” asked Ennis once they had returned to the rented apartment, they lived in.
“Somewhere with a huge forest! And far away,” said Stiles, “I don’t want to accidentally run into someone from here…”
Ennis nodded in agreement and grinned as Deucalion began crossing off places on the map he had brought out. Kali was busy packing things so that they’d be able to move almost instantly, she was almost sorting out Stiles’ room so that she and Ennis could fit in as well. They had learned quickly that Stiles was just as tactile as they were and so they planned to sleep in a ‘puppy pile’ as Stiles had affectionately named it for the next few nights until they found a new home.
~{Eris}~
Stiles was staring out of the window, watching the scenery fly by with his head resting against the pillow Deucalion had bought him specially. Said Alpha was currently the one sitting beside him, reading a huge leather tome. Stiles knew that Deucalion was watching him out of the corner of his eye but he didn’t mind.
Kali was driving this time, but only for the first half of the trip and then Ennis would switch places with her for the rest. Ennis was reading the map and was enjoying the quiet music they had playing on the radio.
Stiles felt his eyelids turn to lead as a very familiar sign passed through his field of vision.
YOU’RE NOW LEAVING BEACON HILLS.