Twenty-two with a degree in teaching and a four-year-old little girl. Who would've guessed?
She'd purposely avoided Beacon Hills for the last five years for obvious reasons. The only two who knew were Scott and Stiles, and after multiple threats of ass kickings and never speaking again both were sworn to secrecy.
It'd been a dumb one night stand, one night before she went away to university. But apparently her life had other plans, and coming back to Beacon Hills after five years was one of them. The fact that she'd bump into Isaac at the local park when he'd just pulled over for no apparent reason? Was terrible. Completely terrible and she prayed little Charlotte would stay far away on the slides.
"Isaac-uh long time no see."
Scott and Kira had plans that evening, hence the reason why 'uncle' Isaac had beem entrusted with Kassie for the remainder of the day, and so the current course of plan was the neighborhood park.
Of course when he pulls over, the beta male is not only surprised-but his world is shaken to the point of apocalypse at seeing the familar face-hearing the familiar voice.
He has to squint, /really/ squint to make sure he isn't seeing things, isn't dreaming the scene in front of him.
The sight is very real, very welcome, and he finds that a thousand watt smile is breaking across his face like rain through the clouds all at once.
"Lydia? F-...God, I didn't know you were back in town!" It was needless to say that the pair of them had left on very, very good terms, and so is exclaimation of joy upon seeing her is purely genuine.
"How the hell are you? What are you even doing here?"
The small child that ran along side him wasn't missed as she practically flew towards the swings.
"You have a daughter?" Oh that was awkward really badly awkward. "I mean I'm good, I'm actually in the process of moving back." Which was true and as of now she was staying the local hotel.
"What?" Isaac is looking over Lydia's shoulder to keep his eyes on Kassie, it seemed that she'd found someone to play with over by the swings.
"No-no. That one belongs to Scott and Kira, just taking her out for the park and maybe some ice cream later." Moving back? That was great!
"Seriously? You're teaching here now then?"
Oh so Scott and Kira had a little girl then, well maybe that was good.
"Yeah I decided that Beacon Hills was a good place for me-" Shallowing. "and Charlotte." Lydia shifted her purse nervously on her shoulder before feeling a tug at her back dress.
"Mommy I found a friend so can she come with us to dinner she says your talking to her Uncle." Charlotte gazed up at her with sparklingly blue eyes.
Charlotte?
Before Isaac gets the chance to even question it, there is a gorgeous-Isaac stops the thought immediately.
There are no words that could possibly compare to the little girl tugging at the skirt of Lydia's dress. He can see the banshee in this little girl already, the shape of her face, the full yet tiny pink rose coloured lips, the slight tinge of strawberry toned copper in her hair.
The childs skin is creamy, unkissed by California sun, as flawless as her mothers with pretty blooming red cheeks.
But it's the eyes that makes Isaac stare far longer than he should. They are blue, /crystal/ blue that puts shame into the any diamond that claims to be the heart of the ocean. They are prettier than eyes he's ever seen with the tiny flecks of green and electric seeming current, and he sees the strength of her delicate jawline and the straightness of his nose and he just can't help but wonder...
"This is Charlotte?" The inquiry is very soft, curious and because of this, he doesnt feel Kassie swatting lightly at his thigh. "Can I, can we gooooo uncle Iz she has dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets!"
"Charlotte this, /this/ is Isaac."
The small girl glanced up at the male, studying his features before glancing back towards her mother. "He's really tall." Was her only comment before reaching out to take Kassie's hand with a knowing smile. "When my mommy doesn't answer right away it means yes!"
Lydia sighed before brushing her palms against her floral printed dress. "Isaac would you like to join us for dinner in my hotel room apparently? I'm sure Charlotte would love to hang out with Kassie and it's only a short walk from here." Maybe he wouldn't notice the familiar eyes or nose shape.
"I-" Yeah he was. He'd put on five more inches since he was a teenager that was for sure, and it was almost scary how much she sounded like Lydia too. That matter of fact sort of tone, even the trade mark semi eye roll that came right after she looked away.
Her profile. Charlotte's profile, was not Lydia at all.
Not even close.
"Yeah, that's fine-I just hold on, hey Charlotte, how old are you?"
Smiling pretty just like her mother had taught she smartly held up four fingers. "I'll be five in April though." The little girl tipped her head to the side so her curls fell, framing her round cheeks. "Why? Are you my Uncle too, because I remember Uncle Scott and Auntie Kira." She says nodding her head with a proud grin.
Theres a moment where he doesnt answer Charlotte, and in the background is Kassie with her tongue sticking out, making airplane noises simply to amuse herself as the silence ticks by.
Where does Isaac's gaze go?
Straight to Lydia.
"I dunno, why dont you ask your mommy?"
He swore on all things holy-he couldn't-he just needed-this had better just been some sort of weird coincidence of something was getting set on fire.
"So about dinner, like I said my hotel is just down the road, Charlie sweetie why don't you lead but not to far ahead." She says watching the two girls skip about three feet in front of them.
"Oh and I'm sure she could call you Uncle Iz if you'd like." Breath, in and out like a normal human being.
"Why am I the only one who doesnt know about this?" The question is asked, completely desergarding her propsal. "Scott knows about this, Kira knows about this-she looks..." There is a moment of internal struggle, a hand running through his curls.
Time to be straight about this.
"Lydia if she's mine you need to tell me, right now."
"You look good Isaac, you've definitely grown into yourself." A compliment from Lydia Martin was a huge thing, but still she was avoiding a subject. A subject they both knew they couldn't avoid. "Her eyes don't lie do they? But you know I've always loved your eyes Isaac, and I feel like I've been looking into them for the last four years." That was her response.
How the hell was he supposed to respond to that?
Was that compliment meant to work? Was that supposed to distract him and somehow make the absolute shock easier to handle? Fuck that no. Isaac catches Lydia by the wrist-and even though his stuck on the fine line between furuous and amazed, manages to keep his eyes on the girls ahead of them.
"You never picked up the phone once-I don't...you think you could have fucking mention that I have a daughter? What the actual /fuck/?"
"Isaac not /now/." Emerald hues flickered up to his blues as she sent him a hard glare. "We have two little girls only a few feet away and they don't need to hear about this.
Isaac would have Scott's and Stile's neck for this and she'd be to blame. "We can discuss this later if we must but-"
Charlotte's voice interrupted her quite rant. "Are you and Uncle Iz holding hands? Kassie they're holding hands!"
Lydia only missed one beat before she quickly laced her fingers through Isaac's. "Yes sweetie I am, Isaac and I are very old friends."
There's a growl. It's harsh, paired with the flash of a single fang as his upper lip curls upward in both distaste and aggrevation, before he immediately looks away from her. Off into any direction in general as the muscle in his jaw jumps.
"Your mommy and uncle Iz look pretty." Kasumi says, and she even squeals a little before all but squishing Charlotte into her side.
Lydia heard Kassie's whispered words and she couldn't help but feel partly responsible for the annoyed sounds coming from Isaac. "Isaac isn't pretty Kassie he's handsome."
They'd manage to walk through the lobby and take the elevator upstairs where Lydia opened the hotel room. "Charlotte why don't you take Kassie in and show her your toys, I'll be just outside with the door cracked alright?" Both girls nodded eagerly and disappeared into the room.
Surprisingly upon entry, Isaac is so quiet that, the possiblity of hearing a fly fart, is extremely high, even if one is not gifted with the sensitive hearing of an animal of prey. He doesn't sit either, instead he folds his arms over his chest, and presses his back against the creamy coloured wallpaper, and does nothing but look at her.
His lips are pressed into a hard aggitated line, his shoulder taught and rigid and the only motion that is given?
A sharp raise of an eyebrow.
Swallowing Lydia folds her arms over her own chest and takes a stance similar to his against the wall.
"We had sex and I got pregnant, we weren't dating and it was no strings attached." She starts off adverting her eyes towards the back wall before releasing a sigh and finally making eye contact. "I figured a father who didn't know about her was better than a father who knew and choose not to be around." That way when the time came the only one Charlotte could be mad at was Lydia, never Isaac. "It wasn't like you liked me even Isaac."
"/What?/" It is said in the most acidic tone possible, the emphasis is even harder than a snarl, and his eyes are squinted hard enough to create lines just above his nose.
"Who do you think you are? Just assuming what choices I'd make, /assuming/ what I feel-you've-you have no idea what I would have wanted or what I would have done, I'm giving you five seconds to come up with a better reason as to why you kept this from me."
"Because it was my life, my body?" Her gaze was almost as accusatory as his by now. "You weren't the one who had to go to college as huge as a fucking whale Isaac! All the judgmenty stares I got, the whispers. I was alone." It was her right not to tell him and she was sticking to it.
"I haven't gone on a date in five years because of this, I gave up everything for Charlotte. It was worth it but it doesn't mean it wasn't hard."
"Because you're also capable of impregnanting yourself right? Because I dont have a right to know what happens when you have a part of me in braided pigtails walking around and probably thinking that I didn't want her? Lydia she's so beautiful and I didn't even get the chance to know her, let alone hold or-"
He'd gone off, his voice had raised considerably, a finger pointed towards the room in which Kassie and Charlotte-his daughter played merrily together, completely oblivious to the turmoil between the banshee and the werewolf.
"You took that from me, you took four years from me and then you justify it with it being just about you? You wouldn't have had to be alone if you had just fucking told me from the beginning."
"Eighteen." Pause. "We were eighteen, you wouldn't have wanted a kid at eighteen with a girl you didn't know." So many times this conversation had been played over in her head, and so many times it had a thousand different outcomes.
"We promised no strings attached and Charlotte is a steel cord." A few tears slipped down her cheeks then as she felt her weight sag against the back wall. "We were so young Isaac and I wanted you to be happy, I didn't know you but I wanted that for you, after everything that had happened before." She released a sigh. "I was so alone." He was right this shouldn't be about her but yet it she couldn't help it because nothing had been about her for the last four years.
"Stop it, stop assuming!" It was making him sick to his stomach, it was churning like a storm of acid and aperhension in his abdomen.
"I would have gotten a shitty job, I would have worked my ass off, until I fell the fuck over-"
Happy?
"Mission accomplished right?" Isaac had ripped himself away from the wall, and turned his back on her. He was ready to go, they couldn't this conversation to the magnitude that he would like with the kids in the other side of the room.
"Look how happy I am."
"Just take Kassie and go alright." She'd straightened up as well, the formal mask back in place. This had all been a mistake, how could she have thought that life wouldn't come back to bite her an the ass.
How was she suppose to know that Isaac would've stayed.
"I'll call you sometime this week."
"I don't want to hear from you." It was said straight a plain, and solid.
"Unless it's something for Charlotte, don't bother. Kass!" It was ridiculous how easily he could switch his voice from strained to pleasant. "Come on baby girl, we're going to get that ice cream now!" The little girl pads out of the room, there is a little plastic tiara on top of her dark waves, a white feather boa and her newly painted red lips and dropped into a pout.
"Already? But...the chicken nuggets."
"We can just forget this ever happened if you want." The words were more whispered but she knew he could hear, he had too.
Charlotte on the other hand had no intention of letting anyone leave. "But you said we could eat dinner together and I wanted to watch a movie, remember Mommy? You said we could watch Frozen and Kassie hasn't seen Frozen yet." Everything was said matter of factly. "I also think you should spend time with Uncle Iz, he looked really happy to see you before." Why was it that her little girl was knowledge about everything. "You looked happy too though, and your never happy Mommy so I think we should all stay plus I said Kassie could borrow my lipstick."
Lydia only opened and closed her mouth before staring at Isaac, for once at a loss for words. "Up to Isaac."
As if it wasnt enough to have Kassie look up at him with watery brown eyes-it was even worse with his own set of blues staring back at him.
In fact, every pair of eyes were latched on to him. There is a long moments pause as he struggles with himself internally before he lets out a huff.
"Fine, Lydia, do me a favor and keep an eye on Kass, I'm gonna go grab a tub of ice cream-she's extremely particular about he Superkid."
"Here let me give you some money or something." Already she was reaching forward to dig through her bag and pull out a ten dollar bill. "Maybe you could get something for Charlotte if you don't mind, she really likes cookies and cream."
"I can pay for it." Jesus Christ four years of child support unpaid. He could at least start with buying her ice cream with his own money. Isaac is already heading towards the door, feeling for his wallet to make sure that he had indeed, brought it with him.
"You going to give the key or what?"
"I know you can but you don't have to." She'd followed him out towards the hallway and away from the girls. "You don't have to do any of this Isaac." But already she was digging out the plastic key card to hand over to him.
It's the way he looks at her-its barely even angry anymore. What it is, is a disappointed glance that is empty and devoid of any other purpose other than to communicate, that : Yes. He did.
"I'll be back in fifteen. " The card was taken from her hand and he exits immediately before she can try and offer anything else.
Moving back towards the girls Lydia does her best to force a smile, the edges of her lips looking more like a grimace than anything else. But the girls didn't notice as they brought out even more toys to play with and the banshee began microwaving a large amount of chicken nuggets for them to share. Once she was done she took to the couch where she sunk in feeling defeated in more ways than one as she waited for the wolf to return.
Fifteen minutes was an over shot of the time it actually took to reach B&R. He used the extra five minutes to call up his alpha-and yes, he was unkind, and loud and rotten and without a moment to let Scott reply he hangs up.
Ultimately, he is feeling slightly better-but the embarrassment he feels is even greater than his rage. Isaac had been so happy to see her and now that he knew that even up until their night together, Lydia had never saw him.
Not even enough to know his feelings. Feelings that had him think of her everyday she was gone, even have the only one good picture of them on his bedside table in his apartment made for one.
Idiot.
/You didn't even like me./
/I wanted you to be happy./
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