Work Text:
It has been many years since John Stilinski had had a reason to not trust Derek Hale. The man had grown, healed, and he’d put himself to service to their community.
Hell, the man had married his son. Derek was family.
But standing in the forest now, Derek hinting about calling the FBI, something felt off.
“Or maybe,” Derek said, “you should be calling your son?”
Yep. Something was going on, he could feel it in his gut.
“Maybe you should be calling your husband?”
“You’re the sheriff. This is about work.”
The sheriff narrowed his eyes, “what happened?”
Derek put his hands in his pockets, an attempt at innocents in John had ever seen one. “I just think his resources would be useful for-“
“Is this about the goddamned jeep again?”
Now Derek was crossing his arms. His jaw clenching so hard it had to hurt, even for a werewolf.
John rolled his eyes. “What is it now? Is it about giving Eli the Jeep? You know how important it is to Stiles that Eli has a connection to Claudia.”
“But why does that connection have to be through a death trap- no, never mind,” Derek ran a hand over his face. “It’s not about the jeep.”
John put his hands on his hips, “sounds like it’s about the jeep.”
“It’s not about the jeep. Can you just-“
“You know the worst thing that will happen is it breaks down in the middle of the suburbs. Eli is hardly running after danger the way Stiles did at his age.”
“It’s not about the jeep-“
Mason stepped up beside John to back him up, “I mean, we all know how Eli feels about the jeep. Would be hard to have two against one.”
“It’s not-“
“He’s a werewolf, for Christ's sake.” John went on, “what are you so worried will happen?”
“I’m not- can we get back to-“
“You know I always thought Stiles would be the overprotective one,” Mason said. “With all his anxiety and paranoia, ya know? It’s funny-“
“I told him to quit his job!” Derek snapped.
John blinked, surprised. Mason decided to check in with some other deputies.
“You told Stiles to quit his job? At the FBI? The job he’s worked at for years and talks about how much he loves at every chance he gets?” John shook his head. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“I just- I have enough money to last for Eli’s whole lifetime. Stiles was saying how much he missed us when he was gone, and I… it was a mistake. Clearly.” Derek looked at the ground, kicking up some dirt. “We haven’t spoken since he stormed out two days ago.”
John rubbed a hand over his jaw, thinking.
The dramatics of his son and his son in law.
”So you wanted me to call him in, bring him back home, and then you could tell him he’s good at his job now that you’ve seen him doing it… was that about the plan?”
“Um,” Derek shrugged. The man didn’t even have a plan. John shook his head.
“Send flowers, lots of them. And chocolates, you know his favorites.” John said. “Make sure the note has the apology visible to read, if it’s in an envelope he might just rip it in half.”
Derek winced, but he nodded.
“Claudia had a temper too. We’re lucky they don’t hold a grudge with the people they love.”
Derek nodded again. He looked a little calmer this time
“And Derek, after you get the confirmation that the flowers and chocolates have been delivered, the last step is the most important.”
“…what is it?”
John rolled his eyes, “call your damn husband.”
With that, John turned to head back to his deputies. He had other fires to put out.
—