Chapter Twenty-Six

You're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece

And now you're tearing through the pages and the ink

Halsey

"Let's get them something to eat," I tell Derek after a couple hours on waiting for Erica to wake up. We are once more curled up on his sleeping bag, and my back is stiff even if I'm happy being cuddled; it's the hormones. Totally the hormones. Definitely not how much I missed being wrapped around Derek's muscular body every night; the warmth of his skin on mine. Nope.

God, it totally is.

These hormones make me all fluffy and gross.

Derek sits up and pops his shoulder. "Sure."

"I want pickles."

He chuckles. "I remember."

"But instead of ice cream, I want pizza."

"What a relief."

"I want pickles on the pizza. With pineapples."

Derek pinches the bridge of his nose.

"And I want a banana milk shake."

An hour later, Derek lis carrying two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas, one small pineapple and pickle pizza, four large bags of fries, and four banana milk shakes. He refuses to let me carry anything, but he did let me hold open the doors for him.

I really think he should start waiting tables. The tips he would get…

Erica is awake by the time we get back. Even I can hear her small giggles echoing through the staircase as we make our way down. I smile broadly as we find Erica, Boyd, and Isaac sitting outside the train carts sitting around going over homework on the floor.

They immediately quiet when we enter, nervously peeking at Derek and me.

"Erica! I'm so glad you're awake. How are you feeling?" I stride over to her and lay a palm on her forehead to check for a temperature. She feels hot, but Derek always feelings overly warm, so it's almost pointless to check.

"Still a little dizzy, but I think my system flushed out most of the venom."

"That's great. You guys hungry? Derek and I got pizza, fries, and milkshakes!"

Derek sets the boxes on the floor beside the teenagers. I plop down on the floor alongside Erica and greedily reach for my own personal pizza. I'm craving this, so the baby better not puke it up. Hear that baby? You better like this. Please.

"Ew," Isaac groans. "What the hell is on your pizza?"

"Pickles and pineapples."

Erica gags, while Boyd looks disturbed.

"She wanted ice cream with pickles earlier," Derek informs them as he takes a seat close beside me, our knees brushing innocently.

Isaac cringes. "That's revolting."

"I can't control what the baby wants."

The three teens set aside their homework and begin to dig into their own food.

"I like your hair," Erica compliments after a few moments of awkward silence. I'm so into my pizza I hardly realized the tension between the small pack around me. "I think this suits you better."

"I totally agree," Isaac adds. "You look way hotter now. I mean, you looked hot before, but now…" he trails off when Derek shots him a heated glare. "Just kidding. You look awful."

I elbow Derek. "Stop it, grumpy."

Derek huffs.

"Thank you guys. I thought it was time for a bit of a change. Not that I think any parent with blue hair is a bad parent, but I just… I kinda need it to make myself feel more stable, you know? Fake it till you make it kinda thing."

Erica frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I'm really fucked up in the head," I laugh, even if I don't find it funny.

"No you're not," Derek disagrees quietly.

"I'm a recovering drug addict who overdosed a few weeks ago, and that's how I found out I am pregnant. That's a little fucked up."

Derek shakes his head. "Everyone makes mistakes."

I'm about to blame myself. Tell him that my mistakes caused death, but then I realize that's like blaming Derek for his entire family being burned alive. He didn't know Kate Argent was using him. Just like I didn't know I am pregnant. Sure, we made some vital mistakes that cost us a lot, but it's not like we intentionally wanted to hurt anyone.

I never meant to hurt anyone.

"Anyway," I stuff a huge bite into my mouth. "It feels good to be feeling normal again. Even if it's a new hair cut and making my hair brown again. It makes me feel more grounded."

The blonde tugs a strand of her once perfectly styled hair. It's a mess now, and their are black bags under her doe eyes from where her makeup smeared due to tears and sleep, but she still looks strikingly beautiful. She says in a small voice, "I think I understand."

"Scott joined the pack," Derek abruptly alters the subject.

Boyd raises his eyebrows to encourage him to elaborate, while Isaac nearly chokes on his pizza.

"I'm going to discuss with him tonight what I intend for him to personally do about the Kanima situation, after I drop off Halden."

"Why not here? As a pack?" Isaac asks with an edge to his voice.

"Because I need him elsewhere for the time being," Derek tells them. Meaning; because Scott probably would talk back to Derek, and Derek doesn't want his beta's to hear him treated that way by a pack member.

Isaac scowls. "Why did he decide to join? Why now?"

"If he doesn't he will go feral…" Derek says. "Which is what happens to omega's without an alpha. He also wants to help stop the Kanima."

"I know Scott hasn't been on board with everything you guys have been doing, but he doesn't entirely understand all sides of the situation. Derek's style is a little unorthodox for my brother and makes him uncomfortable. Sometimes it just takes him a tad longer to get the full picture," I offer with a light grin. "Scott has never hated you guys. He just doesn't get it."

"And you do," Boyd states more than asks, but I respond with a firm nod in agreement.

"My brother has a big heart. Once he allows himself to realize that you aren't trying to ruin his life and kill everyone, he will take to you guys much better. Promise."

"Why does he think we are trying to kill everyone?" asks Isaac.

I shoot a glare at Derek. "Maybe if someone's first response wasn't to kill them…"

Derek rolls his eyes.

"Anyways." Slurping loudly on my milkshake, I risk a glance at my phone when I hear it vibrate. It's Mom: What time r u coming home? Night shift. I shoot back when letting her know soon. "Mom has the night shift. I should be getting home soon though. It's kinda late, and you guys have school tomorrow."

"Yeah, I have to head home…" Erica grumbles. She glares down at the maroon stain on her clothes. "I need a shower."

The teenagers start packing up their belongings. Boyd is swinging his backpack over his back while Isaac is picking up the empty pizza boxes on the floor.

While Erica waits for the two to finish, I grab her in a quick hug. She looks confused as I pull away. "If you ever need anything. You can always call me," I tell her.

"But I don't have your number?"

"Here." I hold out my phone to Erica, who snatches it up and quickly types in her information. "Boyd, Isaac, I want your phone numbers too."

Once they are all finished, Isaac waves goodbye before he exits into his "bedroom," while Derek and I tag behind the two werewolves as they head upstairs.

"Halden, I'll meet you at your house. I'm going to drive Boyd and Erica home," Derek explains as he unlocks the Camaro.

I salute him fair well.

Scott immediately greats me at the door. He swallows me up in a big hug, and Stiles is hovering behind him.

"What took you so long?" Scott questions with wide eyes.

"It took awhile for Erica to wake up. Then Derek fed us."

Stiles grins. "What did you guys eat? Rabbits?"

"Pizza with pickles and pineapples."

He gags.

"They had sausage and pepperoni…" I explain with a shrug. Scott is still hovering over me with a worried expression. "Are you okay? You're kinda… affectionate?"

"I don't know. I just feel…" he huffs. "Like I need to… I don't know…"

"Your confusion makes me believe that something werewolf related is happening to you," I say. "Unless, Stiles, do you have the weird need to hug and smother me?"

"Hug? Yes. Smother? Only if you're into that."

Scott pushes the lanky teenager. "Oh, gross! That's my sister."

Stiles just cackles.

I move around them to head upstairs. I'm in dire need of a shower. I still have my work clothes on, which is gross all on it's own. Figuring, I clean up after nasty people all day.

Both teens follow me.

"Derek should be here soon. He had to drop off Erica and Boyd."

"Cool." Scott plops down on my bed. Stiles takes the chair at my desk. I sigh and start to gather my pajamas for when I'm given a free second to actually shower.

"Any games coming up?" I ask.

"No, but there's a rave," Scott says.

"You want to go to that too?"

Stiles frowns. "Too? Who else?"

"This kid at my work."

"We think the Kanima might show up there. Stiles and I are going to tell Derek about our plan to catch Jackson."

"Sounds foolproof already. A rave. With hundreds of underage, sweaty, doped up teens."

Stiles snorts.

My window is shoved open and Derek climbs inside. Scott gives him an exasperated expression. "You can just use the door. Everyone in the house knows you're going to be around now."

Derek scowls.

"Oh yeah, Mom wants you to come over whenever she has work off and you're free."

"I'm never free," Derek says with wide innocent eyes.

I glare. "Rethink what you just said, because your life is depending on it."

"I'm free always," Derek revises. "Unless someone or something is trying to kill me."

"Which is always," clarifies Stiles.

Derek points at Stiles like he has all the answers. I think this might be the only time Derek will ever whole heartedly agree with anything that kid says.

"Shut up. You're going to be free, and you're going to like it."

Scott rolls his eyes. "ANYWAY. Stiles and I wanted to tell you what we thought-"

"-And I am going to shower!" I announce while shaking my pajamas. "Have fun using my room as your secret lair."

In the shower I stare down at my protruding stomach. It's still pretty small, but my hand caresses it like it holds the world. I guess it kinda does.

In nine weeks I'm scheduled for my twentieth week pregnancy checkup. I'll find out the gender of the baby. A part of me wants to keep it a secret, but another part of me can't wait to shout to the world what gender it will be. It's fascinating.

I wiggle my toes as the water drips down my tanned skin. Pretty soon I might not be able to see those. Maybe. Do your toes disappear when your stomach gets bigger? I guess I'll find out.

When I return from my shower, Derek is sprawled across my bed with his eyes closed. He peeps one open when I shut the door behind me.

"Figure out what you're gong to do at this rave?"

He grunts out a noise that resembles 'yes.'

I slide onto the bed beside him and snuggle up to his side. This is good. This feels nice. Especially when he raises his arm to tuck me even closer to his side, even if my dripping wet hair is soaking through his shirt.

"Do I wanna know what you have planned?" I ask.

He squints. "No."

"Just be safe, and keep everyone safe, okay?"

Derek squeezes me against his chest. "Okay. Just stay home. Don't go out that night."

"What night is it?"

"Friday."

"What a stupid night for a rave. Rave's should be done on Saturday's."

"Well, it's not like we are going there to party…"

"No? Not planning on picking up any hot single chicks?"

He snorts loudly.

"Rude, those single chicks are probably going to be upset… look at all this man candy they aren't going to be getting."

Derek turns his body so that his right hand curls around my hip. He gives it a teasing squeeze, nipping at my bottom lip with his bunny teeth. His husky voice is hot on my skin as he growls, "You're the only one I need."

"Oh?" I smirk. "You're satisfied with all of this?"

His mouth is now gently sucking on that spot on my shoulder he loves. "I'm always satisfied with you."

Scott's voice suddenly is screaming from the other room, "OH MY CAS! SHUT UP! YOU'RE BOTH DISGUSTING!"

Derek lifts his head and meets my gaze. We both roll our eyes.

"A few months ago I was so pissed he wasn't watching over you, and that he couldn't figure out that I was breaking into your bedroom every night…" Derek huffs. "Now I'm pissed that he can't help listening in."

"What a freaking creep. Scott, stop being a creep!"

There is a pause.

I glance at Derek who snorts. "What did he say?"

"He said if I do anything inappropriate with you while he's in the house he will kick my ass," he says it in such a mocking tone, like he knows Scott's threats are empty. Which they totally are. Scott wouldn't hurt a fly, unless the fly is trying to kill him. Even then he wouldn't kill the fly. He'd just guide it out the fucking window.

Derek kisses my cheek, a lot less intimate and more sweetly this time around. Apparently Scott being able to hear us is a huge mood killer. Definitely, definitely a mood killer. Freaking Scott. I mean, have you seen this guys abs? Hmm. Maybe it's not a mood killer after all.

"Shhh." Derek puts a finger against my lips.

"Don't shush me. I didn't even say anything, why are you shushing me?"

He dips his head so that his lips brush against my earlobe. Than he whispers, "I can smell you're arousal."

"Oh my-seriously?" I laugh. "Is that a thing? Oh god, that's kind of disgusting. What does it smell like? Ew."

"Smells sweet." He nips at my neck. "Delicious."

"You're such a freak. You're sexy talk is the absolute worst."

"You weren't saying that the other night."

"The night where you said you wanted to fill my pussy with your cum? That was hot. This? I don't even understand what this is. You think my arousal smells delicious?"

"STOP TALKING ABOUT SEX!" Scott shouts, clearly outside my bedroom door at this point. He pounds on it angrily. "I CAN HEAR EVERYTHING."

I roll my eyes. "Don't you have a girlfriend to go have sex with? If not, there's always Stiles. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Haldey, why? Why are you like this?" It sounds like his forehead slams into the door.

"Because I'm your older terrible sister. Deal with it, brat."

"JUST shut up! I'm trying to do homework!"

"Yeah, right. Homework…"

Scott mutters a few more things that go unheard by my human ears. When his bedroom door slams shut I roll to my side to face Derek. He has a lazy grin on his face, which is adorable on his typically stoic face.

Then I yawn.

"I should probably get going…" Derek sighs unhappily. "Isaac won't sleep until I get back."

"Can't leave him alone for too long. He might eat all your shoes and pee on the furniture."

Derek's brows raise. "Did you just make a dog joke?"

I giggle. "Maybe."

"You know what that means right?"

"What?"

"I'm going to have to punish you."

"Oh really?" I mock. "What ya gonna do, ya big bad wolf?"

A low growl fills the room. "I'm going to…" the noise grows, but the playful smirk on his face doesn't make it sound as threatening as it actually sounds. "I'm going to…" he moves so that he's straddling me, and I already know where this is going and I can feel the panic rising in my chest.

"NO. DEREK. NO. Stop. Keep your hands to yours-AHHHHH!" And his fingers dig lightly at my sides as he starts to tickle me. "You. ARE. THE. WORST."

He only tortures me for a few seconds, before he almost gets a knee to his balls. Then he stops. The only reason I don't decide to attack him in fury is because of the rare laugh that is bursting through his chest. The wide-toothed, belly laugh is so perfect on him, it almost hurts. The dimples, the bunny teeth, the crinkles of his eyes…

I push myself upon my elbows to steal a swift kiss against his smiling mouth. He melts into it, lips molding against mine.

A smile breaks out on my face as I flop down on my back. Derek kisses my forehead.

"I guess I should be going," he says.

"Goodnight."

He kisses me once more. "I'll stop by tomorrow."

"Hmmm. For dinner? With my mom and Scott? Sounds great." His expression is of pure panic. I pat his cheek happily. "Seven o'clock. Be there, or be ready to get kicked in the balls. With a steel wolfsbane tipped boot."

Derek eyes me skeptically.

"Don't worry about how I'm going to do that. Just understand that, that's the end result if you're not here at that time tomorrow."

"Okay," he grumbles. He goes over to the window, but pauses at my noise of protest. "What?"

"Let me walk you to the door," I tell him with a smile. I reach out my hand as I sit up on the bed, wiggling my fingers invitingly. "Boyfriend's use doors, not windows."

Derek perks up at that. He takes my outstretched hand lets me tug him down the stairs. It kinda feels like a cheesy romance movie. The way both of us hover in the crack of my open front door. How Derek's hands tighten loosely on my hips, thumbs rubbing lovingly. And let's not forget the end of the night kiss, him leaning down to leave a warm, wet kiss that's so passionate it makes my head spin.

Then he is walking off somewhere down the street. I laugh, placing my hands against my hips as I loudly tell him, "Park in front of the house tomorrow! My mom is going to love your car."

He waves goodbye. That is when I notice the elder women across the street eyeing Derek with an appaled look. Her wide petrified eyes focus on me, and she glares. I shoot her a wink before coming back into the house. Whatever. People can think whatever they want about us.

Halden is gonna find out the sex of the baby soon! WHAT WHAT. It's approaching. OH MY GOODNess haha

THANKS for the reviews guyz: untilmynextstory, WickedlyMinx, meangirl8, Nanda21, Samcasdean (BTW YOU'RE FREAKING USERNAME IS GLORIOUS), Lucy Greenhill, Emmetluver2010!

RenTenTen: omg do itttt. Loquacia would be an awesome name haha!

megladon1616: I'm glad that your day was better! I know the feeling. All I ever wanna do is sleep and relax haha. I bought some great tea that is good for bedtime and helps make me feel all calm and toasty haha.

Micky-Moo: oh gosh! I remember feeling my friends belly when she was pregnant and it was the strangest thing when you could see the baby pushing and kicking at her belly!

Psychotic Demonic Angel: I am so sorry to hear about your mom! My mom is very addicted to pain medication, and I honestly have no idea what to do about it. She needs help, but refuses to get it. So, I'm happy that your mother realized there was a problem before it became too severe. AND I have no idea what I'm going to do about Boyd and Erica, honestly. I do want them to live. In other stories I've written I had them killed off, and I want to write one where they live. So, they most likely are gonna still be kicking in this story. Because I want. haha

saltysalsa: I was gonna make her say "OH MY CAS" in this chapter. Actually totally gonna do it. Right now. I'll have you know, this one part it was supposed to say oh my god, but officially changed it to Cas. Haha. AND THANK YOU SO MUCH. I'm so glad you liked Fields Where I Run. I love characters with a lot of issues, they are my favorite to write. It's so difficult to write "happy" characters for me, that's what I love about Halden & Leora. They have so much more than what's right there! Tee-hee! And I actually am writing a story that's NOT fanfiction. It's going to take me forever to write, but one day when it's finished I'll let you know if you'd like to read it lol

Guest: you might be taking the same drug as Halden takes, but if you're not abusing it and taking it at the dosage that she's taking it at, then it's going to have different effects. If you take that drug at a really high dose it messes you up, it's literally like cocaine if you are at a dosage as strong as Halden has taking it. AND I personally know from experience when I was in my "experimental" phase and decided it would be fun to try once. It liteally messes with your mind. SO I DO NOT suggest you ever abuse that medication. PLEASE don't.