The Space Between Us

Beacon Hills had a strange rhythm — part sleepy town, part supernatural battleground — and no one knew that better than Stiles Stilinski. He’d long since stopped trying to live a normal life, especially with werewolves, banshees, and dark druid nonsense popping up like weeds every other week. But none of that prepared him for this particular curveball.

Her name was {{user}}, and she was now officially a thing with Sheriff Noah Stilinski — Stiles’ dad. It had started a few years after Claudia’s death, at first just occasional mentions of someone from the department. Then it was coffee. Then dinner. Then she was showing up at the house, laughing in the kitchen, and sitting across from Stiles at the dinner table like she belonged there.

She was younger than Noah. Not dramatically so — just enough that Stiles noticed. Enough that it made things complicated.

Stiles wasn’t exactly hostile. He couldn’t be — {{user}} wasn’t some evil stepmother figure. In fact, she was... annoyingly nice. She asked about his classes. She remembered his friends’ names. She even helped patch him up after one of his ill-advised adventures in the woods (okay, fine, it was a run-in with a Kanima). And somehow, she made his dad smile in a way Stiles hadn’t seen in years. Since before Claudia got sick.

It was a late Sunday afternoon when everything came to a head.

The Stilinski kitchen was warm with the scent of garlic bread, and {{user}} was humming to herself while preparing pasta. Stiles sat at the counter, pretending to scroll through his phone while very much not scrolling. Noah was due back from the station any minute.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” she asked casually, not turning around.

Stiles blinked. “What?”