The Wolf Amoung Us
Summary: After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late? Season 5: Peter Hale/OC
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.
Chapter 7:
Ethan had grown concerned for his alpha, once he had voiced his worry to his brother, Aidan had seemed to take Sydney and her behaviour seriously. Nearly a week had passed since they had hosted Charlie and her father and once the night had ended, Sydney had turned quiet, too quiet in Ethan's honest opinion.
She hadn't said much to either twin since saying goodbye to her newest beta, even when asked, specifically about her ultrasound appointment, which had come and gone, before anyone really knew what was going on. Aidan had suggested trying to get into her head the same way she had done to Charlie but neither twin had mustered enough courage to try, no, for now, they'd wait her out. She'd have to say something eventually, right?
Ethan had taken up a seat at the table in the kitchen, his eyes scanning over the newest book in their bestiary research, as he tried to find anything that seemed even remotely relevant. Aidan had gone upstairs once the sun had set to lay with Sydney, whose withdrawal symptoms were no worse, nor did they seem better. She was still struggling to sleep soundly at night and the nightmares hadn't eased up at all. Ethan, as well as his brother, were terribly concerned for her well-being, but there wasn't much they could do about it.
His mind wasn't really in the research though and the longer Ethan sat at the table, the more anxious he became.
What had happened at her appointments? Had she gotten bad news? Maybe the doctor had figured out a way to determine whether or not the baby was anything supernatural and if it was, maybe it wasn't a werewolf. The idea of watching Sydney struggle to raise something she wasn't familiar with nagged at the back of Ethan's mind but he knew better than to push her.
She could get rather vicious when pushed and the impression Steve had given the twins was that she didn't need more stress than necessary. Ethan hoped that she'd talk to him, or even Aidan, sooner rather than later, they could help her, they could comfort her if she was upset, they could take care of her like she had taken care of them so many times before.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Ethan relaxed into the chair and glanced up at the ceiling. He focused his hearing in on the second floor and tried to listen in for Sydney's even breathing, which would mean that she had managed to fall asleep. No such luck, all he heard was footsteps, angry footsteps and they were getting louder, more prominent as whoever he had tuned into was loping down the stairs. When a second pair of equally frantic footsteps followed the first, he knew that both his brother and his alpha would show up in his line of sight soon enough, and he wasn't wrong.
Sydney strode into the kitchen and headed right for the fridge where she paused and leaned her forehead against the cool outer shell. Aidan stopped dead once he was inside the kitchen, his eyes meeting Ethan's with a concerned gaze, Ethan raised an eyebrow but Aidan merely nodded in Sydney's direction, the two brothers watching intently as she pulled a little rectangular piece of paper out of the front pocket on her jeans.
"What's that?" Ethan asked in a low tone, fearful that if he spoke too loud, he might spook her and scare her off.
"Something you should see." Sydney replied with a little shrug and Ethan pushed his chair back, standing up and wandering closer to the fridge.
Sydney grabbed a fridge magnet off the surface of the door, pressed the paper against it and put the magnet along the top edge, letting Ethan and Aidan see what she was posting in the kitchen. Ethan's eyes widened in realization and he took a step forward, slipping his arm around her back and gently tugging her against him, holding her in a comforting embrace.
His eyes studied the dark and light swirls carefully and he tried to locate anything within the picture that looked even remotely like a baby, or even a wolf, but the more he looked for it, the more the swirls blurred together. His grip tightened on her and she glanced to the side, catching the confused look on his face before lifting her arm up and using her index finger to make an invisible circle around a dark spot on the sonogram.
"What are you two looking at?" Aidan asked but slowly stepped forward, closing in on his brother and Sydney. He came up behind her and took up a stance on her other side, gently taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. She traced around the dark spot again and let out a nervous chuckle.
"That's my baby," She murmured and let her head gently drop against Ethan's shoulder, "my teeny, tiny little baby."
"Wait, this is the ultrasound?" Aidan questioned and Sydney gave him a firm nod of her head. Ethan's lips turned upwards into a smile and he leaned forward, moving closer to the picture to get a better look. "What is it?"
"A baby." Sydney answered nonchalantly and Aidan turned his head to face her, a slight glare directed right at her.
"But like, a wolf, a dragon, a human? Is it a boy or a girl?" Aidan pressed and Sydney tilted her head the tiniest little bit.
"Not sure what it is. The ultrasound tech didn't seem too concerned so I'm going to assume it looked relatively normal for a human but it's way too early to tell if it's a boy or a girl."
"How far along are you?" Ethan spoke up and Sydney let out a small sigh.
"She said around seven or eight weeks. I can go back in about two months and they can maybe tell me what the gender is, if the baby itself is cooperative." Sydney explained and shut her eyes, trying to imagine herself with a baby. She still had a good seven months to go but that didn't help her feel any better about it now.
At this present moment, she was still skinny, still fit and trim, what the hell was she going to feel like when she was bigger and more uncomfortable? Questions flooded her head: where was she going to put the baby once it was born? Would she prefer to stay in Colorado or would she make an attempt to raise her baby in Beacon Hills?
What gender would she have preferred her baby to be? Part of her imagined raising a little girl and every time she even considered the option of a little boy, she couldn't help but have her mind trail back to watching her very own daughter running around in the back yard.
"What are you hoping for?" Ethan asked in a hushed whisper and she opened her eyes, looking at the sonogram stuck to the fridge.
"A werewolf." She answered, her tone equally as low as his. She was afraid that if she spoke too loud, she might jinx the entire thing.
"But girl or boy?" Aidan threw in and gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.
"Um, I think maybe I want a girl." Sydney's tone was soft and Ethan proceeded to tighten his grip on her, proving that he was right there with her, he wasn't going to let her struggle with anything on her own. She let out a contented sigh and relaxed the slightest little bit, tugging Aidan closer to her so that he was pressed up against her other side.
"Have you thought of names yet?" Ethan inquired lightly, wanting to hear anything and everything that he could about the baby.
"Uh, no, not really. Up until I saw it on the screen and heard the little heartbeat, it didn't even feel real. Is that bad, that part of me didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes?" She countered, clearly feeling a flood of different emotions.
"No, it's not bad, I was just wondering." Ethan let out a chuckle and turned his head towards her, pressing a reassuring kiss against the top of her head. "I personally like the name Sydney Junior if it's a girl."
"Ha ha." She replied, sarcasm lacing her tone. "Real funny."
"You don't need a name for sure until you actually have the baby in your arms." Aidan pointed out but the smile on his face clearly signified that he rather enjoyed his brother's comment. "You've got some time."
"Yeah and in that time, I have to figure out where I'm going to put it and where I want to live."
"Considering your house in Beacon Hills was burned to the ground-"
"Oh my god, you're right!" Sydney cut him off and stiffened in his hold. She squirmed her body free of their grasps and turned around, heading for the table before flopping into one of the chairs and letting out a frustrated growl.
Aidan and Ethan followed her lead and sat down in the chairs on either side of her, trying to provide her with any bit of comfort that they could. She lowered her head to the table and sucked in a nervous breath, wondering what the hell sort of mess she had gotten herself into.
"Why don't you just rebuild it?" Ethan suggested and ran his hand across her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.
"Rebuild it?" She lifted her head up and faced Ethan, a confused expression on her face at his words. It sounded so simple coming out of his mouth but was that something she could do? And if she did manage to rebuild her house, would it be ready by the time her baby was born?
She knew one thing for sure, she wasn't going to be stuck in Peter's tiny little apartment with a newborn, so that was out of the question, but could she be comfortable enough in Colorado, with her pack, to raise a child? If that was the case, what about all of her friends back in Beacon Hills? Wouldn't the sheriff, and Stiles, want to see her again and would they not want to be part of her child's life? What about Parrish, he seemed like a decent ally to have, could she just leave everyone she knew, and cared about, clueless in California?
"Yeah, you said at dinner the other night that you wanted to take Charlie to Beacon Hills and show her around, why don't you set up a meeting with a contractor or something and get started on rebuilding your house there? You've got the time and if it's not quite ready by the time you want it to be, you can just stay here a little longer, if you even really want to go back there to start with." Aidan explained, his palm giving her arm a gentle pat.
"It's that easy?" She turned her attention in Aidan's direction, looking at him with the same confused expression that she had given Ethan seconds ago.
"Yeah, why not?" Aidan shrugged and Sydney shrugged right back at him. He did have a point, why couldn't it be that easy? She had the time, she had access to money, plus she had connections to Beacon Hills.
"Well if I rebuild in Beacon Hills, where would you guys end up?" She looked between them, studying their expressions for a few seconds and hoping that they'd be willing to go with her so long as she needed them.
"Wherever you want us." Ethan answered. "If Peter's going to be spending the rest of his life locked away in Eichen house, then we will stay with you, wherever you want to stay. If he gets out and you want us out of the way so you guys can all be a family, then we'll come back here. No matter what though, you're not going to lose us as pack."
"Really?"
"Really. Syd, you gave us a home when we had nothing, we owe you, a lot."
"No, I think at this point, we can call it even. You two have helped me out more than you could ever understand." She confessed and sat up straight, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well even if we are even, we're not going anywhere." Aidan stated firmly and tossed her a smile. "We're your pack and that's never going to change."
Sydney gave them a nod of her head to acknowledge that she had heard him but she didn't say another word. She let out a sigh, relaxed in the chair and forced a smile right back at Aidan.
"We could always put the baby upstairs with you, Ethan and I can move down into the basement and stay out of your hair, that is, if you want to stay here." Aidan suggested and Sydney raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, or if you want to do a rebuild in Beacon Hills, we could easily find somewhere else to live nearby." Ethan added quickly.
"Well I mean, you could stay in that house too, at least until I'm ready to let you guys step away." Sydney pointed out and suddenly the smile that she had forced at Aidan turned into a genuine grin.
"Whatever you want us to do, we'll do it." Aidan nodded.
"Good, then you two can help me clean out my grandparents' old bedroom." Sydney let out a laugh. "You don't have to move out of it right away but I think we should get rid of the stuff that doesn't need to be in there anymore, especially in the closet."
Ethan reached his hand over and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, Aidan resting his palm on her knee before giving it a reassuring squeeze. She looked between them once again and felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders.
"When were you planning on taking Charlie to Beacon Hills?" Ethan asked, breaking the blanket of silence that had fallen over them.
"As soon as Steve will let me." Sydney answered and let her eyes fall shut as she took a moment to breathe.
Before she knew it, everything would become a big, chaotic mess again and she was going to seize every second of peace she could get before that happened.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Making an attempt to sleep soundly through the night had failed once again, which left Sydney nearly wide awake, shivering and shaking. If this was what withdrawal from her mate was like now, she couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse it would be months down the road.
Instead of lying in bed, tossing and turning, she decided she was going to make the most of her inability to sleep. Within a few seconds she had tuned her ears into the rest of the house and easily pinpointed the location of the twins, what they were doing in the living room though, she didn't know for sure but she could make the guess that they were probably still trucking along at the bestiary they were attempting to put together.
She sat up in her bed and ran her hands over her face before catching a look at the clock. At just past midnight, it wasn't nearly as late as she had first believed, and hearing the twins still up wasn't as shocking. Part of her knew that they waited for her to call on them, that way she wouldn't wake them from their own slumber when she was suffering too much to handle by herself, but she'd never admit it out loud that she knew their plan all along. No, she preferred to pretend that nothing was wrong, that their schedules weren't mixed up because of her because eventually she would've like to be able to fall asleep on her own and sleep soundly through the night.
Sydney sucked in a breath and swung her legs over the edge of her bed, scooting forward so that the balls of her feet resided against the carpeted floor below. She hauled herself up, off the bed, and lifted her arms into the air, stretching the muscles out in a lame attempt to avoid them from shaking, but she could already feel the unsteadiness in her limbs. Maybe if she kept herself busy enough, she'd be able to keep herself from experiencing every single painful symptom that she had been dealing with every night since she had arrived in Colorado.
Turning around and pulling the covers up, she tucked them loosely under the pillows and made a move to grab the pajama shorts hanging over the end of the bed. Slipping the shorts on over her legs, she sucked in a breath and shook her head, trying to clear her mind.
If the twins were still up, and downstairs, well that meant that her grandparents' bedroom was currently empty and ultimately available for her to clean out. Yes, if she couldn't sleep, she'd do something productive, something that would only help her, and the baby, in the long run.
As swiftly as she could, she crossed the carpeted hallway and tiptoed into what had once been her grandparents' room. The twins had their stuff set up where they deemed it necessary, clothes were laid out on the dresser, phone chargers were plugged into the walls near the bedside tables, the bed that had once been a queen sized bed had been moved to the basement for storage and had been replaced with two smaller beds so that the twins could easily share the room.
She flipped the light on and stepped into the room, checking out what they had done since the last time she had been inside. Their beds were half made and there were a few articles of clothing residing on the floor but it wasn't really all that messy at all. She dropped her gaze to the floor and wondered what the hell she was going to do once her baby was born.
Was it acceptable to ask them to vacate the bedroom so that she could turn it into a nursery? Would the baby be better off set up in her room until it was older? Then there was the ever dreaded question that everything hinged upon: was she going to remain in Colorado and raise her child in the house she grew up in?
"Syd?"
She turned her body around and faced the doorway, listening as two sets of footsteps mounted the stairs. At Aidan's call of her name, she had been pulled back to reality, her mind back in the present as she considered why they were coming up the stairs, calling her name.
"In here." She called back and stepped into the bedroom, lowering her butt down so that she was sitting on the end of one of the beds. Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked straight ahead, her eyes locked on the closed door belonging to a closet that Sydney hadn't seen inside of in years.
"What are you doing?" Ethan asked as he rounded the corner, wandering into the room with Aidan trailing behind him.
"I uh, I couldn't sleep." She answered in a soft voice. "I thought maybe I'd look around, see if I could get started on cleaning out this room."
"It's the middle of the night." Aidan pointed out and pushed past his brother, moving quickly to take a seat next to her on the end of the bed.
"I know." She dropped her gaze to the floor and looked at her bare feet, wiggling her toes in the process. "I just think that if I can't sleep then maybe I could be productive."
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Aidan replied and shot a look towards his brother, almost daring him to object.
"I'm not going to disagree but I just think there are bigger things to worry about, like getting you to sleep. You can't keep missing hours upon hours of sleep, it's not good for you."
"Or the baby." Sydney added in a murmur. "I know, I'm just…"
"Anxious?" Aidan supplied and she shook her head no.
"Excited?" Ethan tossed out and, once again, she shook her head no.
"Terrified." She said firmly and lifted her head back up, looking at Aidan for a few seconds before setting her sights on Ethan. "This is terrifying. I never wanted kids and now I'm pregnant with a kid whose father is currently residing in the nuthouse. What the fuck right?"
"She has a point." Aidan remarked and Ethan shook his head at the two.
"She does." Ethan hesitated but found himself agreeing too. "But that doesn't mean she can just forfeit sleeping. There's no way that it's good for anyone, baby or not."
"Well, why don't you two help me for a little while, then I'll try to go to sleep?" Sydney offered and pushed herself off the bed. Both of the twins watched her as she headed for the closet and grabbed the knob, turning it so that the door swung open.
Sydney let go of the door, stepped just inside and went up on her tiptoes as she made a grab at the old boxes lining the top shelf. Ethan stepped up behind her, his chest pressing against her back, as he grabbed one of the other boxes, moved it over her head and made his way towards where his brother sat, Sydney following his lead with a box of her own in her hand.
"Do you have any idea what's in these?" Ethan questioned and sat down on the side of the bed before lifting the lid off.
"Uh, no, not exactly." Sydney shook her head and lifted the lid off her own box, her jaw dropping at the sight inside.
Aidan turned around and crawled up further onto the bed, his eyes dropping down to look into the box that Sydney had just opened. He stuck his hand in and grabbed the stack of pictures residing near the front. Once he had a firm hold on them, he lifted his arm out and began flipping through the photographs, most of which contained Sydney as a little girl, most likely before she had even ended up in her grandparents' care.
"What?" Ethan leaned forward to steal a glance at what had made Sydney's jaw drop but before he could get a good look, she lifted out a small stack of envelopes, which were tied together with a piece of brown twine.
"I think they're letters from my dad." She answered in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. "From before he died."
Aidan continued to flip through the pictures in his hand, laying the photos on the bed once he had studied them enough. Ethan gently grabbed them as he set them down, looking at the toddler smiling in most of the photographs. He paused and looked back at Sydney, who had slipped the twine off the stack of letters and was now flipping through those.
"Here, this one's pretty old looking." She announced and pulled out a yellowing envelope from the stack, carefully pulling an aged piece of paper from inside.
As carefully as she could, she unfolded the letter and checked for a date, finding one at the top of the page. She furrowed her eyebrows but moved her eyes down the paper, reading her dad's messy chicken scrawl as she went.
"When's that from?" Aidan asked and flipped through a couple more pictures, stopping as he caught sight of little baby Sydney cradled in the one arm of a young boy, another baby residing in his other arm. He flipped the picture over, looking for a date, names, something, and when he read what was written there in loopy cursive writing, he immediately shoved it at Sydney, who was clearly distracted by the letter in her hand.
"My dad sent my grandma this letter the day I was born. This is my birth announcement." She murmured, more to herself than anyone. "There's a blurry picture glued to the page, I think it's me as a baby."
Ethan gently took hold of the top of the letter, Sydney relinquishing her hold as she handed it over. Ethan looked at the blurry picture and let out a little chuckle, clearly amused by the baby in the photograph, glued to the letter. Aidan rolled his eyes and jerked his arm towards Sydney again, this time she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and took hold of the picture in his hand.
She stared at it, looking at her as a baby before a smile broke out on her face. She studied the baby in the boy's other arm and furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why the baby looked so familiar. She shook it off and finally looked at the young boy holding the two babies but it was hard to make out his face since he was looking down at the tots in his arms.
"Turn it over." Aidan advised and watched with a smile as she flipped the photograph over in her hand.
"No way." She gasped and memorized the words written on the back of the photograph which were clearly put there by her mother. "This is me, Derek and Peter."
"So it says." Aidan grinned and motioned for her to turn it back over. "Peter's holding you two wee little babies, isn't that cute?"
Sydney could tell that he was teasing her a little bit but she couldn't help but stare at the picture, her eyes locked on the boy, Peter apparently, who was holding her and baby Derek with great care.
"Are there more pictures?" She asked without tearing her eyes off the one in her hand.
"Not with Peter or Derek." Aidan shook his head and offered her the last few photos that he had in his possession. "Lots of you with your mom and dad though."
Sydney gave him a nod, acknowledging that she understood him. Her eyes were still glued on the photo in her hand, her index finger running along the edge. Sucking in a nervous breath, she gently set the picture on the bed and grabbed the stack of letters, searching for more information on her parents, or even her grandparents.
"Did you want me to get the other boxes down, I can take them to the living room?" Ethan offered and made a move to get up but Sydney's hand shot out, stopping him mid movement.
"Can you take them to my room instead?" She asked in a hushed whisper. "I promise I'll try to sleep tonight, after I've read a few more letters. Please?"
Ethan bowed his head and continued to make his way off the bed. Aidan quickly gathered up the loose photos residing on the covers before tucking them into the box. He then stood up, grabbed the open box and lugged it across the hall into her room before returning for the second open box.
She continued to study the picture, as she picked it up and held it in her possession, for a few seconds longer before cautiously climbing off the bed. She shook her head and tore her eyes off the people in the photo and immediately headed for her own room, Ethan following soon after with the last remaining boxes from the closet, three in total. He gently placed them on the floor next to her bed and smiled as she sat down, running her hand over the dust covered lid of the box on the top of the stack.
"When you two come to bed, can you check on me?" She questioned, her voice laced with anxiousness.
"Of course." Ethan chirped in response and gave his brother a nod, waiting at the side of her bed for Aidan to join him. "We shouldn't be too much later, I just wanted to see if I could find some more information on Emissaries before I called it a night."
"Sounds good." Sydney nodded and hesitantly set the picture of her, Peter and baby Derek on her nightstand. "Thanks."
"No problem." Aidan countered and happily left the room, a smile on his face at their recent discovery.
Ethan hung back for a few more seconds and stole one last glance at the picture on her bedside table. When he looked at her, she was already rifling through the box with the letters in it.
Without bothering her, he gave her a smile and disappeared from her room with the promise that he'd check on her before he turned in.
Part of him knew that she'd be having more trouble sleeping tonight than any other night before: there was far too much she didn't know that she could potentially find the answers too in the boxes, Ethan just prayed that nothing bad would come from it.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Here's an update for you guys! Thanks so much for the reviews!
Oh the twins and Sydney are such a cute little pack, don't you think? How'd you like the little glimpse into her past?
poorxbrokexcollegexkid: cruel and funny, it can certainly be both!
cecld16: Sydney won't think too highly of anyone that Stiles isn't too fond of either! Sydney is wholeheartedly behind Stiles, no matter what!
Xhex1: Thank you so much! It's coming, I swear lol
sarahmichellegellarfan1: :) thank you so much!
Jenny:Why thank you! I hope you continue to think that!