Author's Note: This is a short-story that happens in the To Save A Life/Stalia Ever After Universe. Enjoy.
Malia was only a quarter mile from the county line when she sees flashing red and blue lights in her rear-view mirror. She eases out of her lane and onto the shoulder of the road, giving the patrol car the right of way. But the patrol car follows her onto the shoulder and signals for her to pull over. Malia grumbles under her breath as she eases her prized '68 Camaro Z/28 to a stop and turns off the ignition. It was 6:20 on a Saturday morning and the roads were quiet. Didn't the Beacon County Sheriff's Department have anything better to do?
She reaches out and turns down her radio as she watches the patrol car pull up behind her in the rear-view mirror. The deputy stays behind the wheel, lifting his radio and talking to dispatch. Malia's eyes dart to her watch again, she starts drumming her fingers, impatiently. She's doesn't have time for this.
Eventually, the sheriff's deputy steps out of his patrol car, and starts walking toward her car. Malia's eyebrows perk up, the corner of her mouth quirking upward. Her fingers abandon their tapping as she can't resist giving him a slow once over. He was tall, with broad shoulders and dark brown hair, and he filled out his uniform in all the right ways. Malia smirked to herself. Just because this whole thing was an inconvenience, didn't mean that she couldn't appreciate an attractive man in a well cut uniform. These were her tax dollars at work, after all.
The deputy swaggers up to her window and taps on the glass. Malia rolls down her window and the handsome deputy plants a hand casually against the roof of her Camaro. He offers her a cordial grin as he pulls off his dark aviator sunglasses and hooks them on his shirt pocket.
"Hi." He says, flashing her a crooked grin.
"Hello, Deputy." She replies warmly.
He just casually leans against her car for a moment, just watching her, his big brown eyes full of mischief. Malia arches an eyebrow up at him after a minute wondering what he's up to.
He chews on his bottom lip, probably to keep himself from laughing.
He clears his throat, "Licence and registration please, Miss." He says, in a gruffer more serious voice, but his eyes still give away his amusement.
"Seriously?" Malia huffs.
He presses his tongue into his cheek and gives her a nod. Malia rolls her eyes at him and reaches for her glove compartment and digs out her registration. She plants it in his hand with a little more force than necessary. Then she turns and fishes out her licence from her wallet. He flips open a leather writing pad and starts jotting down her information.
"What seems to be the problem, Deputy?" She asks, without even attempting to cover up her annoyance.
The corner of his mouth quirks up but he doesn't lift his eyes from his notepad.
"It's Sheriff, actually." He corrects, tapping the star pinned on his chest, with the cap of his pen.
Malia blows out a breath. "Aren't you a little young to be the Sheriff?" That little jibe gets his attention and he lifts his head.
"Nice try, but flirting with me isn't going to get you out of this ticket." He says, with a cocky smirk as he rips the ticket off the pad, and presents her with it.
Malia's mouth falls open. "For what?!"
"You blew through a light back there." He says, pointing toward the outskirts of Beacon Hills.
"The light on Devon street? Pfft—everyone runs that red light because it never changes, and the county," she says gesturing toward him "Hasn't fixed it yet."
"It's still a traffic violation." He says, with that damn smirk again.
Malia raises an eyebrow at him. "You're joking right?"
"Sorry, no special treatment." He says, innocently. Malia swipes the ticket from him and stuffs it in purse, making sure to crumple it loudly. He nearly cracks up at the look on her face.
"Am I free to go now, Deputy?" She says, with a little growl slipping into her voice around the last word.
He casually leans against her car door again, he seems to know he's toying with fire but it doesn't seem to dissuade him.
"You've really got to stop flirting with me, Miss." He baits. "So what's your hurry, anyway? You got somewhere to be?"
Malia shakes her head at him, annoyed. He knows perfectly well that she does.
"I've got a flight to catch."
"A flight to catch." He repeats, "And what about your husband?" He says gesturing to the white gold art deco ring on her left hand. "What kind of guy makes his wife drive herself to the airport when she's going to be gone for a week?" He asks, a little hurt.
Malia's eyes soften, her annoyance slipping away as she looks up at him.
"My husband just got off shift, probably like two minutes ago. He was working all night and I didn't want him to have to drive me to the airport."
"Did you ask?" He asks, shrugging his shoulders, and dropping his eyes. "I hear that guys really like to do that sort of stuff for their wives."
"…Stiles." she says, in that soft sweet tone she only uses when they were alone.
His eyes dart up to her, "Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?"
Her eyes spark with laughter. "We said goodbye before you went on shift, several times."
Stiles rubs at the back of his neck. "That doesn't count, that was like eight hours ago. And I'm not going to see you for, like, a whole week."
Malia smirks, unclipping her seat belt and leans through the window, "Well, if that's all you were after, then c'mere." She says, sweetly.
Stiles bites his lip and shakes his head. Malia cocks her head up at him confused. He reaches out and pulls open the driver side door.
Offering her his hand he says, "Miss, I'm gonna need you to step out of the vehicle." He teases. She takes his hand and she laughs as he tugs her up to her feet and she ends up practically nose to nose with him. She slides her hands up to rest on his chest and they stand their for a moment, just enjoying the closeness.
He reaches up and tucks a lock of her silky brown hair behind her ear. Malia smiles, leaning into his touch, all her nerves about missing her flight melting away. His thumb brushes over the corner of her mouth before he leans in and kisses her slow, and sweet. Malia grins into the kiss, lacing her arms around his neck. Stiles backs her into the door of the Camaro.
"I guess I don't have to worry about that ticket." She mumbles into his mouth.
Stiles shakes his head. "I was dead serious about that," he says, his voice a little rough. Malia grips the collar of his shirt and pulls back to look at him, frowning. "Sorry, no special treatment, Baby." He says with a smirk.
Malia shakes her head up at him. Stiles laughs and goes to kiss her again, but she turns her head away so he kisses her jaw instead, and Malia squirms. He chuckles smugly knowing what he's doing to her. Malia socks him in the stomach, lightly but Stiles just guffaws against her neck and catches her hand.
"I have a flight to catch, Deputy." She says, trying to sound unimpressed, but she can't help sounding the slightest bit effected by his attention. She dodges his lips again, but Stiles is undeterred he kisses along her jaw, before stopping to nuzzle against the shell of her ear.
"Aww, c'mon, Mal, don't be like that." He coaxes.
His words tickle against her ear and she pushes him away good-naturedly. She shakes her head up at him.
"Ooh, you're lucky I love you, Stilinski." she says with equal parts exasperation and affection.
Stiles just gives her this slow dopey grin, while he stares at her with those big brown eyes of his. Those stupid big brown eyes of his have gotten her into more trouble than any supernatural creature that has ever crossed her path. Not that she regrets any of it.
Giggling tickles her ears and Malia's head whips toward the patrol car. She spots a beautiful sight. Her four year-old, and six year-old daughters, were leaning out the driver's side window. They were still dressed in their pyjamas and they were giggling at them.
"Daddy's funny." The littlest one Chloe, snickered. The two girls were almost identical with dark brown hair, caramel brown eyes and fair skin dusted with moles.
Malia turned back to look at Stiles for a second.
"I was actually off shift half an hour ago." He says with a shrug. "I went to pick up the girls from you're dad's and Chloe was crying she wanted to say goodbye again." He says conspiratorially.
Malia's heart swells and she rushes over to the patrol car, she wraps her arms around her daughters Chloe and Lindsay. She kisses the tops of their heads.
"Did you and Daddy play a trick on me?" She asked as she tickles them. The girls squeal with laughter and squirm. She turns her head back and forth and pressing a quick series of kisses on their faces.
Malia pulls back and they are both grinning from ear to ear, but Chloe's smile quickly crumples, her chin wrinkling, as fat tears swell at the corner of her eyes.
"Do you really have to go, Mommy?"
"Oh, don't cry, Chloe-bear." Malia pleads as she reaches down and scoops Chloe up from out of the car and hugs her tight. The little girl sniffles, dissolving into sobs. Malia rubs her back, shushing her. Lindsay reaches out to touch Chloe's head trying to sooth her sister.
"It's O.K., Chloe, if you're scared you can sleep in my bed." Lindsay promises. Malia reaches out and touches her other daughter's cheek, fondly. Lindsay's eyes were watery even as she smiled encouragingly up at her little sister. Malia ducks down and kisses Lindsay's head.
"I'm so proud of you. You're such a brave big sister." Malia sniffs trying not to cry.
Stiles steps up beside Malia and touches the back of Chloe's head comfortingly.
Then seeing the tears in Lindsay's eyes he says "Aw, c'mere, sweetheart," as he scoops her up out of the car and squeezes her tight. The six-year old wraps her arms tight around his neck.
"Hey, it's O.K., Daddy's here." He soothes.
Malia lifts her head from Chloe's hair and watches him comfort Lindsay. They lock eyes and not for the first time she feels this deep sort of pride in him, this pride that she can share this huge overwhelming responsibility with him. Pride that he is and will alway be the father of her children.
"Hey, c'mere." He entreats, holding an arm out to her. Malia slides under his arm and they wrap their arms around each other and envelop their daughters in a big hug.
"It's only for a few days, girls." He soothes kissing the tops of their heads. His eyes flick up to Malia and he leans forward and kisses her sweetly. "And you're Mom, always comes back to us." He promises them.
Malia holds his eyes, "Always." Malia agrees.
"She's gotta go soon girls. But she's gonna miss us. So we better make this hug count." Stiles says, with a smile. "Ready? We've got to squeeze her good and tight." The girls nod their heads and Stiles counts down."Three…two…one…get her!"
Stiles and the girls squeeze their arms tightly around Malia's shoulders, and she chuckles. Stiles envelops his girls in his arms and leans in blowing raspberries on the girls cheeks, and they giggle. Laughter bubbles up in Malia's throat when he turns his head and blows an unexpected raspberry on her cheek as well. She trashes in surprise. He chuckles and stops, pressing a kiss to her cheek instead. Then with one last squeeze she slowly pulls back and their arms slip down off each other.
Still holding, Lindsay on one arm he lifts his wrist and checks his watch. "O.k. now you really do have to go." he says, urgently. Malia nods, and she adjusts Chloe in her arms, reluctant to let go.
Stiles smirks, "Here let me take that for you." He teases as he scoops Chloe up in his free arm. He adjusts his hold on both Lindsay and Chloe so that he's got the pair of them tucked under either arm like luggage.
"Daddy!" Chloe cries out in a giggly voice. Malia laughs at the sight of him with their two girls.
"I love you girls. Be good for, Daddy." Shaking her head she leans in and presses a quick firm kiss on his lips.
"Bye, Deputy." She teases.
"That's Sheriff to you, Mrs. Stilinski." He calls after her, grinning stupidly. He sets his daughters down on their feet, and leans down putting his hands on his knees as he speaks to them. "Hey girls," he says loud enough for Malia to hear. "Should we escort your mom to the airport?"
"Can we put on the siren and the lights?" Lindsay asks, beaming.
"Uh…yeah!" Stiles replies.
"Yes!" Lindsay and Chloe cry, and give each other a high-five.
"Stiles no!" Malia calls exasperated, from where she's stopped near her car door.
"Uh, this is daddy-daughter time. It doesn't concern you." He jokes, gesturing for her to stay out of it. He lifts the girls into the backseat of the cruiser and as he starts buckling the girls into their carseats.
"I don't need a police escort to the airport." She grouses, as she slides into the driver's seat of her Camaro. Stiles shuts the back door and gives his daughters a thumbs up. He straightens up and opens the driver side door of his patrol car.
"Well, you're getting one." He says as with a wink, before slipping on his aviator sunglasses.
Malia shakes her head at him, smirking. "Ass."
"Love you too, Baby." He says blowing her a kiss. Then he slides into his patrol car and buckles up. He flicks a switch and the light-bar on the top of his patrol car lights up and starts flashing. He pulls out onto the highway and starts driving. Her daughters wave and make funny faces at her as they pass. Malia rolls her eyes and starts up her Camaro and follows after them.
She makes it to the airport with just enough time to get her luggage checked and get through security. She settles down in her window seat and clips on her seatbelt. She turns off her phone and stuffs it in her purse when she finds a crumpled up piece of paper.
She pulls it out and unfolds it and starts reading it. She giggles when she realizes that its not a real ticket. It was one of those gag parking tickets that she had bought for Stiles at the dollar store for a joke. Her heart clenches when she sees that Lindsay and Chloe had scribbled all over the front. Surrounded by cartoon hearts and a crude drawing of an airplane, was childish squiggly letters that spelled out We love you Mommy. She turns the ticket over and sees Stiles' lazy scrawl.
Ms. Tate,
For attempting to leave town without properly (and thoroughly),
kissing your husband goodbye.
You are hereby fined: 50 Kisses
To be paid to your local sheriff immediately upon your return.
The plane was just picking up speed as it moved down the runway as Malia finished reading the ticket.
As the plane launched into the air, she grinned and folded the ticket up into the palm of her hand.
"Oh, you're on, Sheriff," she grins.