Ella disappeared out of the house a half an hour after our visitor. After, of course, making a highly awkward atmosphere. Why did she have to say it like that? Derek was going to be all quiet now, brewing over that stupid "competition" comment. And it was all Ella's fault. Damn that girl and her unfiltered mouth.
"I'm hungry, you want anything?" I smiled as I got up to go to the kitchen. I was hoping to get a reply that would indicate no hard feelings.
"Let me get it for you, I wouldn't want to be out-competed by your alpha's greatness now" he got up quickly.
"Derek. Don't start" I warned. I was not ready to go down the ex's path right now. Besides, I'm pretty sure Laura said he used to get it on with their family's archenemy. I would of course never use that against him, it must have been hard. But he of all people should be familiar with the word "mistake" after that.
"What? I'm not starting anything. You have an ex. That's normal right? It's not like I was praying for a white wedding or anything.." he grinned as he left the living room. Motherfucker. Did he just say "white wedding"?
"Excuse me? What is it you think of me?" I exclaimed as I stood up a little too quickly. My head was spinning and Derek's arms were around me before I fell back onto the couch.
"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it. I'm just saying everyone has a past.. So what?" he said indifferently. Whoa. That was easy. I smiled at my accomplished plan to not make a big deal out of this as he walked back into the kitchen.

"But with an alpha?!" Derek stormed back in with a shaking plate and a glass of water five minutes later. It couldn't be that easy right? Why the fuck not. Derek gave me a calm but inquisitive look, but failed to prove his stability.
"Hey, hey, calm down. We weren't in love or anything. It was just a little mistake. He was a werewolf, I had just been turned, I needed someone to talk to, he was there. We started out as friends, things happened, yes, but it was never more than just a flingish thing" I raised my hands in defense.
He gave me a doubtful look. "Are you seriously doubting my commitment to this relationship?" I growled, rubbing my little bump.
"No. I just.. Why is he here anyway?" Derek said genuinely calming himself down.
"I don't know. But I'm sure he has a reason..." it couldn't possibly be a good one I added in my head. I may not have been too serious with Joshua, but I knew him enough to predict some kind of 'disturbance it the force' – which is what Ella called our relationship at the time.
"Urgh. Boys are so stupid sometimes" I said to my bump. "If you're a boy, you better be nicer than the others" I continued as I pushed my empty plate away.
"I am nice. You agree, don't you?" he addressed to the bump. His eyes widened as my body stiffened. I stared at the bump. "Did he just agree?" Derek's eyes widened even more as I nodded. His hands flew to my stomach as another little thud made an abdominal movement.
"Ouch" I cried as the bump expanded again. "You know I love you, but could you keep it down just for now? You're a fierce one, you know" I smiled as I rubbed my belly trying to calm the little one down.
"He's strong" Derek said, "like his mom" he added.
"He? What has gotten you convinced?" I asked giggling at Derek's assumption.
"Well, he agreed to what I had to say. You're all spiritual and whatnot, don't you take that as a sign?" he explained his hypothesis.
"Or she agreed with her mother" I strongly suggested. "While we're on the topic, our next appointment is in a couple days. Do you still not want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" I raised my eyebrows.
"I- I never said I didn't want to. But I just… I like surprises" he lied.

Derek was getting more and more nervous as the little nudges got stronger and stronger. As confident as he looked in his black leather jacket he didn't really send out too convincing vibes about being ready for this. I could hear his heart beat faster every time I felt a kick – he tried to play it off as excitement as he plastered on a sticky smile.
"Hey, Derek, it's normal to be scared of becoming a dad" Scott comforted joining his friends at the dining table after having raided the fridge. Derek seemed to have forgotten that I wasn't the only one who could catch his emotions. Considering we hadn't even officially mated, I hadn't had the kiss of wolf yet, I assumed Scott could feel him almost as well as I could. Allison quickly gave Scott a 'that was uncool' look before smiling politely at Derek.
"I would be more scared of being the one sharing a kid with that dad…" Stiles shot a warning yet playful look at me. Allison took a cue from me and slapped Stiles on the back of his head. "Hey! I've officially been claimed for further abuse. Ella's the only one who can touch me from now on" Stiles said touch in a bit too icky manner for my taste. Ella slapped the back of his head. "That's more like it" Stiles said slightly annoyed.
"Scott, Allison, keep an eye on Stiles for me would yah? We've got to be off now" I waved at the group of teens.
"Let us know what the verdict is!" Stiles shouted as we hurried to the car.

"Everything looks great, your child is growing quickly, you're doing a wonderful job" the doctor complimented me. It felt great to know that everything was going well – no matter how many books I read nothing assured me as much as the healthy results. And now, knowing what I know, I couldn't stop grinning. The drive home was pretty quiet. Derek was getting pretty pissed, but he knew that if he commented my joy I would reveal my little secret.
"Congrats, Evy! Allison has been waiting to go gift shopping for weeks now, but she said we had to wait until we knew if it was a boy or a girl…" Scott hugged me as he made his way out of the house.
"Thanks, Scott, but don't say anything, Derek insists on waiting for the surprise" I quickly warned. Allison gave me a huge hug too telling me I was going to be the best mother. I loved this – everyone is so nice when you're pregnant.
"You told Scott? That means…" Derek growled.
"Mamawolf! This is so exciting. Do you have another picture?" Stiles called as Derek's annoyance grew. Stiles kept making weird toddler noises at the picture and it was freaking me out. Even Charlie looked slightly confused when Stiles continued.
"We'll take Charlie out for a while, see yah later" Ella called as she kissed my cheek.
"You just had to tell everyone?" Derek complained as he took my coat off.
"I just found out what kind of parenting will be required for at least the next 18 years of my life, excuse me if I'm a little excited" I snapped.
"What do you mean?" Derek seemed genuinely confused.
"Well, I mean I just found out what kind of teen-crisis's I'll be faced with, and what kind of questions will be asked etc." I smiled. "You didn't think puberty was the same for a boy and a girl now did you?" I teased.
"Puberty.. That's.. I didn't think.. I mean that's like.. In a long time" Derek's nervous look was back – he actually broke a sweat.
"Well, I just got a head start on the preparations, and besides, now I can tell the shopkeeper at the baby store to suck it when she asks if I want neutral colors" I giggled. "I remember Laura was always so frustrated when they told her that she should've chosen to know the sex so she could buy suitable clothes" I smiled to myself remembering how Laura got all watery-eyed when people kept asking her what the sex was. She too, like Derek, didn't want to know the sex of her child, though Bryan, unlike me, decided to stay oblivious too for the sake of his hormonal partner.
"Suitable clothes? Like pink dresses and stuff?" Derek asked.
"Or a black leather jacket" I stated simply for the pure fun of keeping him annoyed.

I dragged my feet to the door to see the cause of that familiar scent. "Joshua. Hi" I said slightly annoyed by the unannounced visit. Derek swiftly joined my side greeting Josh with just enough of a smile to not be construed as a jealous maniac.
"I'm sorry to just drop in like this, but I needed to tell you something" Josh explained once we were all seated in the living room. "I stumbled upon some other packs a couple months ago, one of them were headed here. They said they were looking for Peter Hale… I know you have nothing to do with him, none of you, but they might stir up some trouble simply because you're related" Josh warned. "I would advise you to come along with me, but I see you've got your own pack of protectors here, just be careful" Josh smiled cheekily. I swear I saw Derek's hand twitch, but his manners were in place.
"What do you know about this pack? Why are they after Peter?" Derek asked.
"I don't really know much. All I know is that they had some unfinished business with Peter. I don't think they're an aggressive pack by nature, they were Equus, but even they can get pretty riled up if they've been confronted by the wrong people" Josh answered. They both seemed to ignore my lack of knowledge about.. Egus?
"Thank you Josh" I put my hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for warning us even though…" I trailed off.
"Hey, anything for you darlin'" he smiled as he opened the front door. "By the way, is it a boy or a girl?" Joshua asked.
"Erh… I can't really say anything – Derek doesn't know yet, and I sorta promised him I wouldn't reveal it to him" I said apologetically.
"I see… Hot wheels or Bionicles?" it surprised me that he remembered that personal gender analogy. It was the different toys that me and my brother used to play with, Bryan and Josh struck up a conversation about it once when Laura was stressing about gender based clothes.
"Hot Wheels" I giggled, he gave me a congratulatory peck on the cheek and I could sense Derek's stiffness.
"I won't be coming back to Beacon Hills in a while, so… Good luck with all this. Let me know if you need our help" he referred to his own pack.
"Thanks, say hi to the others for me will you?" I said slightly guilty for cutting off all bonds with my other werewolf friends after leaving Josh almost two years ago.
"What was that about?" Derek asked slightly annoyed by the internal joke with my ex.
"What? He wondered if it was a boy or a girl.. I told him.." I rolled my eyes innocently.
"I thought he was just a fling? Flings usually don't have too many memories to bond over" he shrugged accusingly, though he was smiling, probably just to make sure I didn't take it too seriously.
"We were friends long before we were a fling. We got together right after Charlie was born, and it didn't last too long…" I explained.
We were interrupted by Ella and Charlie. "I just saw Josh, he's leaving?" Ella actually looked slightly remorseful for her earlier comments about his arrival now.
"Yes, you can both live peacefully as before" I joked.
"It's not that I didn't like him or anything, come one Evy, you knew we were tight… It was just- he wasn't meant for you, and Laura thought…" she looked a little guilty.
"I know, I know, Laura told me several times, and I agreed, sorta why I broke up with him in the first place…" I let her off the hook.
"What did Laura think?" Derek asked curiously.
"She said she knew we weren't a good match. She told me she could feel that it was wrong… That it was some kind of alpha power to feel when things weren't right" I explained. Derek's mouth widened to a smile, he looked up "Thanks, sis" he whispered before helping me up the stairs.
"What?" I asked as we moved.
"It's not that she could sense that you weren't meant for Josh, but she could sense that you were meant for someone who either was in her original pack, or would later be a part of it" he explained, "That is the alpha power… To sense a potential bond in the future" he smiled. I couldn't believe Laura never told me that, why couldn't she just have said "The love of your life is going to be my brother" or something like that? Regardless of what she did/did not say I felt really happy, that meant she had a feeling we'd end up together…

"Whyyyyyy?" I mumbled into my pillow.
"Evelyn, what's wrong?" Derek asked sitting up quickly.
"You. You are my problem" the cranky pregnant woman came out at hours like these. "Why are you tossing and turning. We came to bed two hours ago and you're still fidgeting!" I hissed.
"I'm sorry, Evelyn… I didn't mean to keep you awake, I'm sorry" he whispered in a hushed, sad voice. Great, now I had to feel bad for him.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I turned on the little lamp on the bed stand. Now that there was some dim lighting I could see Derek's facial expression. He looked like he was one hormonal comment away from crying. His eyes were deep and dark, but not in the usual scary grumpy wolf way, this was different. I hadn't seen him like this before, and to be honest he kinda broke my heart a little. This was way past the kicked puppy stage. "Sweetie, what's wrong? Are you OK?" I was unsure of how to comfort him so I just laid my head on his bare chest. "You can tell me if something is wrong" I offered, hoping he would tell me why he looked like a kid who had lost his Ernie.
"Was it a boy or a girl?" Derek whispered.
"I thought you didn't want to know?" I was surprised by the topic.
"I didn't, but now I do. I want to be prepared. I mean we haven't even fixed up the room yet. What colors should the walls be? Which prints – flowers or cars? And names, fuck. We haven't even decided on what to call the poor kid. How am I supposed to be good at this when I can't even think of a name?" his words were stumbling out so quickly I almost felt like laughing, but I held it inn.
"Derek, oh God. Honey, why didn't you tell me about all this? It's not unusual Derek. But we've got months. Ella asked me the other day if we wanted to get started on the room next week. Does that sound good?" I asked as if I were speaking to a child. "We've got time for all that. You're going to be a great Dad! Most parents don't even give a shit about the wallpaper in the room. You should have seen my walls as a kid… Clowns, urgh" I shuddered of the memory. "And you'd be surprised by the amount of baby x *insert last name*'s there are born every day. There's no need to rush" I soothed him.
"But… erh…" turned his head away from mine. "Could you still tell me if it's a boy or a girl?" he asked blushing slightly of embarrassment.
"Nu-uh, you said you didn't want to know. Look at yourself, you weak supernatural being, can't even go one day without knowing!" I giggled. He turned around and faced me. His lips started tracing mine. He moved them up to my ear, my jawline…
"Can you tell me now?" he asked innocently. I couldn't reply. I knew I'd reveal it if I opened my mouth. He moved his lips down my neck and back up to my ear. "How about now?" he teased. It should be considered torture to tease a pregnant woman, especially when her partner looked like a Greek god. Derek moved his lips to mine once again, this time attempting to part them. He succeeded.
"M-okay, get off!" I pushed him away. "I'll tell you" I laughed. "You are going to be the father of…" he rolled his eyes at my dramatic drum roll. "A baby girl" I smiled.
Derek's eyes widened and the biggest smile reached his lips in no time. He rubbed my belly saying stuff like "you are going to be a princess!". It was cute, but it was also kinda freaky – he attempted to wear one of those childish voices Stiles always speaks in. I let him talk to our little girl for a while before entering the conversation with my evil laughter. "Why are you laughing like that? You're going to scare our baby" Derek complained. It was the first time I heard him say "our baby" and it kinda sent butterflies through my whole body.
"Oh, well, you know those preparations I was talking about?" Derek raised an eyebrow at where this sentence was leading.
"Well, guess who's going to be chasing after boys when she turns fifteen! And you know what kinda boys live in Beacon Hills? Stiles-like boys…" I continued to laugh even after seeing the horrific expression on Derek's face.
"That's just plain mean" he mumbled before kissing me good-night. For the first time in a week or so he didn't go to bed with that same nervous expression, though the Stiles-comment did leave his eyes temporarily scarred with fear…