A Dish Best Served Cold

Title: A Dish Best Served Cold
Author: Ladyholder McCaffrey
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Characters: Derek
Genre: Gen
Word Count: 698
Warning: No Beta
Word Prompt Fic: Revenge

Eight years.

Eight years since his family had burned to death in their own home.

Derek had felt the burn for revenge move through him for more years than he really cared to think of. He had come back to Beacon Hills to find out what had happened to his sister, because he knew what happened to his family. Discovering Laura’s corpse had broken him.

The next couple of years and been insane, weird and right out of a horror movie. He had done everything he could to keep people alive and it was a mixed bag on his success. Falling for Jennifer had been a complete surprise. His pack had been suspicious of her and kept a wary eye on the whole relationship as they had fought the Alpha Pack.

With their defeat, things had settled down and Jennifer had told him she was pregnant not long thereafter. Derek had set aside the revenge that burned in his gut and concentrated on his new family. He had rebuilt his home on ground that had been in his family for more than three centuries, but away from the shell of his childhood home. He couldn’t face starting a new family among the bones and ashes of the worst day of his life.

Things had been good for a while. He had wrapped himself around Jennifer and his Pack and started to dream of a time when they could live in peace. When his children could grow up in a world where they wouldn’t be hunted because they were different. The events that had changed that were a nightmare.

The cry of one of his children snapped him out of his contemplations and Derek went up to the nursery. The twins were in a shared crib and curled around each other in comfort. He drew in a deep breath and savored the sweet smell of the babies.

Healthy and overall happy, the two of them were starting to fuss the diapers they were getting damp and Derek settled in to wait. He had learned a very wet lesson to changing the boys too soon not long after their birth. It wouldn’t hurt the boys for him to wait a few minutes.

Thinking of their birth brought the urge for revenge to the surface again. But Stiles had taken care of that for him. He had fully avenged Jennifer and the Hale Pack with the death of the Alpha that had killed Jennifer. And then had managed to save the lives of his children.

Thinking of Stiles lead him to grasp the line that led him to his Emissary. The grief that was moving through the younger man puzzled him, but he would be asking him when he came over to see the boys. He expected the visit would be soon, because his Emissary seemed very attached to the kids.

If there was ever someone who loved his kids as much as he did, it was Stiles. And he knew, down to his bones, that if something happened to him, his kids would have someone to go to. His Emissary was in some ways even more dangerous than he was. He had no worries about his kids on that front.

Derek pushed his need for revenge down deep again. Down where it wouldn’t affect his day to day life or hurt his kids. Because his want, his need, would not impact the two innocents in his care. Down where the heat of the need turned cold and hard and very mean.

Drawing in a deep breath he nodded. The boys were done making their messes and it was time to change them. That was the most important thing in his life right then. When Stiles came over, he would try to nail the younger man down to find out what had brought the grief to the surface.

His need for revenge could be used in many ways. Sometimes to get people to talk, sometimes to get the blood he craved, sometimes to fuel his patience. Right now, it was making it easier for him to wait. And he would get right to that.

Right after he changed the boy’s diapers.