Title: you're the message i was heeding
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Stiles/Derek
Categories: AU, two universes colliding, a male Stiles & a female Stiles, a werewolf Derek and a human Derek
Length: Medium (12,057 words)
Warnings: Frequent mention of past major character death: details below

Author on LJ: magneticwave
Author Website: magneticwave

Author's Summary: Stiles Hale: Schrödinger’s widow.

Review:
In an alternate universe, a female and heavily pregnant Stiles is grieving the death of her husband, Derek. Then she gets pulled into the universe we're used to, where she meets werewolf Derek and a younger, male version of herself. In this universe, the Hale fire and Stiles' age mean that these two have different issues than she'd had with her Derek, and they've been avoiding their feelings for one another.

This story is fantastic for the new perspective on the Derek and Stiles we know, and especially for the incredibly well done characterization of the other Stiles. She's doggedly brave in making herself get up each morning, and she's a smartass in any universe. I loved her one-on-one conversations -- first with Derek, then with male Stiles -- in which she's a stranger with an insider's view of their relationship (and their mothers). I also loved the strange dissonance between the people she knows and their counterparts here -- Peter and Derek being the most dramatic examples, but her first scene with Scott is great too.

Since she's just lost her husband, there's bone deep grief and anger, and magneticwave does a beautiful job of showing how Stiles feels, especially in the moments when she's talking to herself. The death of the Derek we never meet hangs over everything. But to me there's also something uplifting about Stiles here, in how hard she's struggling to keep going and how likeable she is, and for that, I'm so glad I read this. I hope you love it as much as I do.

you're the message i was heeding (AO3)
On LJ