The security office at the Beacon Valley Zoo is near the admission gate. There’s a stamp of a giraffe on the back of Derek’s hand as he makes his way towards the office. There was too much ink on the stamp, so it’s already dripping and turning the animal into a morph that he’s confident Stiles will insist on naming then giving an entire fictional history to because that’s a no brainer. Stiles is going to be finding anything to distract Derek from what’s happening, after all. And, while Stiles is remarkably unpredictable in many ways, Derek’s had a dozen year, fifteen if you count from the first date and twenty if you count from first meeting, to learn how to predict his husband’s chaotic subterfuges.
Twenty years.
That thought actually stops Derek in his tracks because, seriously, has it really been that long since he caught Stiles and Scott trespassing? God, time passes too quickly the older he gets, it seems. Maybe there’s just a little truth to that cliché of time flying when you’re having fun because he can’t deny that the years with Stiles have been the best ones of his adult life. No question.
When he enters the office, he immediately sees Stiles sitting on a bench by the wall, sulking like a scolded teenage instead of being thirty-six years old. Stiles looks up when the door opens, and it’s obvious he’s spent the hour it took Derek to leave the station and drive to the zoo thinking up an excuse to explain why Derek’s been called in the first place.
“It’s not my fault,” Stiles says, getting to his feet and huffing when Derek rolls his eyes. “Hey, for once, it really isn’t, Derek.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Derek crosses his arms and moves his eyebrows in a deliberate way just to make Stiles slightly paranoid. It works because Stiles is soon sighing and admitting defeat.
“Fine. It’s sort of my fault, but not really.” Stiles shrugs. “You know I hate zoos. I mean, sure, I understand the whole preservation, conservation, bringing animals to people for education and shit but---“
“Daddy! That’s a dollar in the swear jar.” Nora shuts the bathroom door before running to Derek. “Hi Papa. Did the mean man call you to come get us?”
Derek picks up their daughter and kisses her nose. “What mean man, sweetheart?”
“When I tried to free the zebras, he got all red and grr.” She scowls and makes a grr face before grinning. “It was funny. Then he got loud and scary.”
“When you tried to free the…” Derek trails off and looks at an oddly smug Stiles.
“See? Not my fault.” Stiles is gloating as he steps up and runs his fingers through Nora’s curly hair. “Our daughter thought it wasn’t fair that the zebras didn’t have a lot of room to run, so she wanted to release them so they had more space.”
“Their area is so small, Papa!” Nora wrinkles her nose. “They smelled really sad, so I just wanted to help them.” Her bottom lip quivers as she looks up at him. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, baby girl. You aren’t in trouble.” Derek kisses the top of her head before giving Stiles a look that lets him know he’s in trouble for teaching her the lip thing that always lets Stiles get away with everything because Derek can’t resist it. Nora’s seven now, and she definitely takes after her daddy. God help them all when she becomes a teenager. He just hopes that Maura and Matthew take after him more instead of Stiles. They’re only four, though, so it’s hard to know which adopted parent they’ll emulate.
“I don’t know why the zoo cop had to call you,” Stiles says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and running his fingers through his hair. “I was with her when she started to run and grabbed her before she got anywhere close to the door.”
“Daddy told the mean man that it isn’t right keeping the animals locked up,” Nora confides in a whisper against Derek’s neck. Of course. Stiles went into protective mode, probably scared about Nora being as stubborn and daring as he’d been as a kid, and probably pissed off the zoo security with some lecture about the ethics of zoos. That makes sense, and Derek can’t stop his lips from quirking into a slight smile because, well, Stiles is pretty amazing when he goes into passionate lecture mode.
“You’d better be glad they called me to come pick you two up instead of trying to press charges,” Derek points out, stroking his hand down Nora’s back while trying not to smile at Stiles. Smiling would just condone the behavior and encourage it. Stiles is incorrigible enough without permission.
“Please tell me you didn’t tell Dad or anyone else.” Stiles makes a face. “All I need is to go into work tomorrow and get teased about getting zoo arrested while chaperoning our daughter’s field trip.”
“I didn’t know what was happening, so I didn’t say anything.” Derek arches a brow. “But I’ll definitely fill them in tomorrow. Unless you somehow buy my silence, of course.”
“Buy your silence, huh?” Stiles waggles his eyebrows and leers before leaning in to kiss Derek lightly. “I think I might have a few ideas for tonight.”
“I’m sure you do,” Derek says dryly, shifting Nora’s weight in his arms. “Grandpa gave me the rest of the day off to deal with whatever mischief Daddy got into, so why don’t we go get ice cream before picking up the twins from Uncle Boyd?”
“Ice cream!” Nora nods eagerly. “Daddy, don’t forget my bag. Look Papa. Daddy helped me pick it out for Uncle Jackson’s birthday.”
Stiles shows Derek the stuffed lizard in Nora’s bag, not even trying to hide his amusement. Derek shakes his head before smiling at Nora. “I’m sure Uncle Jackson will love it.”