A/N: I am SO sorry that I haven't updated. I was at MegaCon in Orlando this weekend- met John Barrowman and Carlos Valdes (for any Doctor Who, Torchwood, Arrow, or The Flash fans)- AND it took me like 5 times trying to upload this chapter for some unknown reason. There's also another Author's Note at the end as well, so without further ado...

06242022

Beacon Hills, Ca.

2023 hours

Stiles and Lydia's Apartment

Stiles walked up behind Lydia, wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned down to kiss her neck.

"Stiles." She giggled. "You have to get off of me. They're going to be here soon, and dinner isn't even close to being ready. Besides, you've been glued to my side all week. I thought you'd want some space."

Stiles groaned. "No, I've been glued to your side all week, and now being away from it for one second is torture." Lydia turned around and patted his chest.

"Oh, my poor baby." She cooed, then smacked his face lightly. "You'll live." She moved past him and toward the small island in the middle of the kitchen. He scoffed.

"Excuse me!" She turned and gave him a smug smile. "You'll pay for that later." He told her as he took a step in her direction.

"Oh, I will, will I?" She smirked as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her back against the island.

"Yeah." He said with a smile and put his hands on her waist again. She got up on her tiptoes and he leaned down, their lips meeting in the middle. As the kiss deepened, he picked her up and sat her on the island. Lydia wrapped her legs around his waist to be rid of any space they had between them. She was beginning to wonder if they had time before anyone got there when they heard a knock on the door.

Stiles gave a frustrated sigh as he pulled away.

Lydia giggled. "Coming!" She called to whoever was on the other side of the door.

"Unfortunately, not." Stiles mumbled as they adjusted themselves, receiving a smirk from Lydia. He went to the door while she went back to cooking.

Scott was there, then several minutes later Derek and Braeden showed up. Malia and Isaac showed up a little after. For awhile there Scott and Malia seemed to be spending a lot of time together, but then Stiles and Lydia's wedding happened and Malia showed up with Isaac, throwing the bride and groom for a loop. The coyote and the wolf insisted that they were just friends, but the rest of the pack questioned it, especially now that they were showing up to dinner at the same time. Sure, they may have driven separate vehicles, but that didn't mean anything.

It wasn't until dinner was in full swing that they found out, although Lydia should have realized something was up when Braeden declined the wine she offered. The banshee had been too busy answering Malia's question about where Liam was. (The answer was on a date.)

"So, how are you enjoying married life?" Derek asked Stiles and Lydia.

"Well, it's only been a week," Stiles started, "But from what I can tell, it's not much different than before. Maybe less stressful, you know, since the wedding is finally over."

"You guys have been married longer than we have," Lydia told them. "What's the biggest difference for you?"

"It's..."Derek started, then smiled widely and turned to Braeden. "Should we tell them?"

Lydia and Stiles exchanged looks. "Tell us what?" Lydia asked, smiling in confusion.

Braeden gave a tiny shrug before announcing, "I'm pregnant."

Lydia's eyes widened in surprise, and tried to keep the smile on her face as she felt like she had been punched in the gut. "Oh...That's great." Stiles grabbed her hand under the table and rubbed his thumb over it.

"Congratulations, guys." Stiles told him, having a far easier time of being happy for the new parents-to-be.

"I'm going to have a new cousin?" Malia asked. Braeden nodded happily. Malia got up and hugged Braeden while Scott and Isaac gave Derek hugs and congratulations.

"We found out the day before the wedding." Derek proceeded to say. "But we didn't want to steal anyone's thunder so we waited until after you got back from the honeymoon."

Lydia nodded and plastered a smile on her face again. "That's great." She repeated as she bit her lip. The conversation then shifted to babies.

"Have you thought of names?"

"Is it just one baby?"

"I'll bet it's twins."

"Boy or girl?"

"What do you want it to be?"

Stiles and Lydia stayed quiet. Stiles was attentively listening as he continued to shovel food in his mouth, but Lydia had started moving the food around on her plate and not actually eating it. Stiles could feel his new wife, slowly falling apart beside him. The grip he had on her hand kept getting tighter until he was almost sure he was cutting off the circulation. Then it happened, the moment they had both been dreading since Braeden's announcement.

"So," Isaac started, turning to the newlyweds. "When are you two going to start having kids?"

Stiles gave a nervous laugh. "Well-"

He heard a sob next to him and Lydia abruptly stood up. "I'm sorry. Excuse me." She said quietly before running into the bedroom and slamming the door.

The entire table got quiet, then Scott turned to Isaac. "What the hell, man?" He asked before slapping the back of his head.

"Is she okay?" Braeden asked Stiles.

"Uh...yeah...it's just..."Stiles felt a lump rise in his throat, but he swallowed it back. "Lydia.."He took a deep breath, having a hard time getting the words out. "We haven't told anybody yet...um...she...we...God..." He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "Lydia can't get pregnant."

Braeden covered her mouth, Isaac and Malia just sat in shock. Scott was the first to speak, "Dude, why didn't you tell anybody?"

Stiles shrugged. "It wasn't anybody's business and you would just blame yourself, even though it wasn't anyone's fault."

"Why would I blame myself?" Scott asked. Stiles realized he may have said too much.

"No, it's not import-"

"Stiles!"

"It's because of Kira!" Stiles snapped and the room fell silent once again. Stiles cleared his throat. "I should uh... I should go check on her."

"No," Braeden said, standing up. "Let me."

Lydia was curled up and laying on her bed, tiny sobs escaping her chest. She heard a small knock at her door. "Lydia?" She heard Braeden's voice. The banshee didn't trust herself to talk, but it didn't matter. Braeden opened the door anyway. "Hey," she said softly as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Stiles told us." She let that statement resonate for a few moments before continuing, "I'm so sorry...if I would have known I wouldn't have announced my news in front of everyone."

"No." Lydia told her and sat up slowly. "It's great news. You should be excited. I'm sorry I brought the mood down." Lydia sighed. "Look, Braeden...I'm going to be honest. I want to be happy for you and Derek, really I do...but I just can't. Not right now...just... give me some time."

"No...no I get it. It's fine. I'll tell you what...I won't talk about baby stuff around you unless you ask me first. Deal?"

Lydia nodded, "Deal."

01232023

Beacon Hills, Ca.

1958 Hours

Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital

Stiles paced the hospital waiting room anxiously. "Hey!" Lydia said sweetly, but with force. She grabbed his hand to stop him. "Sit down. It's okay."

"Sorry." He apologized and sat down next to her. "Was I pacing again?"

"Yes!" Came the collective announcement from the rest of the pack- the remaining members of the pack at least. Everyone was still in their black attire from Liam's funeral earlier that day. Now, aside from Lydia and Stiles, all that was left was Scott, Malia, and Isaac. Well, them and Derek and Braeden, but those two were a little busy at the moment.

Stiles looked over and the far away expression on Lydia's face. He picked her hand up and kissed it reassuringly. She looked over at him and leaned in to give him a peck on his lips.

"You okay?" Stiles asked her quietly.

Lydia nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Stiles knew better.

"It's okay to be sad." Lydia nodded again, tears brimming her eyes. Stiles placed his arm around her and pulled her into him.

"Thank you for saying that." She told him. "But it's not. It's not okay to be sad on the day two of your best friends are having a baby. What it is, is selfish, and any other day it would be okay to be a little selfish, but not today. "

Suddenly, Derek appeared in the waiting room in a pair of scrubs. Everyone sat up quickly and looked at him expectantly.

"I have a daughter." he announced, choking up a little at the end. They all congratulated him and he let them know that they could come back and meet her.

Braeden was lying on the bed holding the baby when they walked in. Derek sat down on Braeden's right side. Lydia and Stiles stood closest to Derek on the right of the bed, while Malia stood on the left side nearest Braeden. Scott stood next to her while Isaac stood next to him. Malia was the first person to hold her since she was the only actual blood relative there.

"She's beautiful." Malia told them.

"Thank you." Braeden smiled.

"What's her name?" Scott asked.

"Laura Blayke Hale. Laura after my sister, Blayke after Braeden's brother. But I think Laura-Blayke kind of rolls off the tongue."

"Laura-Blayke?" Stiles asked.

"It's a beautiful name." Lydia told Stiles as her eyes narrowed.

"No, I mean...It's pretty. It's just... It's a mouthful. I'm just gonna call her L.B."

Derek chuckled. "Sure, sounds good to me."

Braeden looked at Malia, "Hey, let Lydia and Stiles hold her." Stiles met Malia halfway and took the tiny infant from her then brought her back to stand next to Lydia.

"Hey, L.B." Stiles cooed.

"It's Laura-Blayke." Lydia corrected him as she ran the back of her finger along the baby's smooth skin.

"Derek said I could call her L.B., I'm calling her L.B."

Isaac chuckled. "It sounds like you're saying Elbie. Like E-L-B-I-E."

"Don't give him any ideas." Lydia told Isaac when she saw Stiles's eyes light up.

"Too late." Stiles said with a smirk. He turned to his wife, "Do you want to hold her, Lyd?"

Lydia was about to decline, but the infant's blue eyes popped opened and looked at her expectantly. "Okay." Stiles carefully handed her over to the banshee, but just as he was pulling his hand away, the infant grasped his finger.

"Whoa, she's got quite the grip."

"Guys," Derek started. "Braeden and I wanted to ask you ...we want you two to be her godparents."

Stiles looked at them and asked barely above a whisper, "What?" It looked a little comical having such a serious moment and Stiles standing there with his finger still be held tightly by the baby. Lydia felt tears springing to her eyes.

Braeden spoke next. "We know you guys would make wonderful parents and if anything happens to Derek and I, we want you to take care of her."

"I..."Stiles started. "I don't know what to say."

Derek shrugged. "You could say 'yes'"

"Of course." Lydia finally said. A tear slipped down her cheek and Stiles used his free hand to wipe it away.

"We'd be honored." Stiles told them.

07012023

Beacon Hills, Ca.

1323 Hours

Stiles and Lydia's Apartment

"Well if you hear from her let me know." Stiles was telling Scott over the phone before he hung up. Stiles was talking to Lydia about what they were going to do for the rest of that Saturday afternoon. They had decided on staying in, cooking dinner, and maybe popping in a movie. Lydia was going to start on dinner while Stiles hopped in the shower (he'd been working on the jeep all morning). When he got out, there was a pot of pasta boiling over, smoke everywhere and Lydia was gone. He tried calling her, but her phone was still sitting on the counter and he had no idea how long ago she had left.

Stiles closed his hand around his phone and propped his forehead on his fist, then tapped his knuckles on the table with his other hand. His phone suddenly began to go off in his hand and answered it without looking at who it was.

"Hello?" He asked hurriedly.

"Stiles!" Lydia said. He voice sounded panicked and Stiles could hear her sobbing.

"Lydia? Are you okay?"

It took her several moments before she finally got it out. "They're dead."

"What?" Stiles said, his stomach dropping. "Who?"

"Derek and Braeden. They're dead."

Stiles felt a panic attack sneaking up on him, but he was able to calm himself back down. "What about the baby?" Stiles asked. "Do you know if she's okay?"

"She's fine. Stiles...please just get here. I'm at their house. I need you."

"I'm on my way."

A/N 2: And now you know.

One of the biggest mysteries/most common questions I got from It's Just a Matter of Time was "Who is Laura?" Several people guessed that Elbie was Derek and Braeden's daughter, others guessed that Laura was Lydia and Stiles's daughter. So, I guess everyone was half right. Elbie and Laura are, in fact, the same person. (Just to be clear, the Stiles and Lydia that went time-travelling learned that Elbie was their adoptive daughter, but they never found out who her biological parents were.)

I don't know if you guys who read IJAMOT remember, but I said that I wrote Elbie's back story awhile back, and the middle section was basically a copy and paste. I took out a few lines about how Lydia couldn't have kids and about Kira and Parrish dying because you already know that, but I didn't add anything. And it feels so good to finally get this out and tell everybody.

So, did you guys have any idea that Laura and Elbie were the same person? When did you realize that's where this was going? Were you expecting a bigger reveal? Please Favorite/Follow/Review!