Shout out to:
*Serena Sterling: Thank you! Yes, part of his want for Jessie to be happy and have her own family, and for him to have some more added to his family, will simmer his reaction to the news too :) You're very welcome!
*Tesla424: Yay, you're back! Oh, I'm so glad I could make you feel that way :) It's okay, just review whenever you can :)
*Guest: Here's the update!
*jayesh dms (ch44): Yes, he does get quite insecure when it comes to Jacob. Hehe!
*jayesh dms (ch45): Yes, it is! It takes while, but they will make up!
*jayesh dms (ch46): He should grow some balls, and he will..just not yet :P
*jayesh dms (ch47): Yay! :)
*jayesh dms (ch48): Deaton will come in, you'll see!
*jayesh dms (ch51): Hehe, she will be soon :)
*Bre: I'm taking that statement back, I said last chapter :) I'm just trying to find the right time for them to say it :)
*jayesh dms: Yay, you've caught up to everyone else! I didn't introduce Allison and Lydia because..I'm not actually sure. I mean, I am now, but in the beginning I intended to use them..but then I liked it without them. I liked Scott not being so blinded by his love for her. I don't know..having the two main couple feels like enough, I think. Hope that answers your question! And what's a faceclaim?
Again, I'm blown away by the numbers of reviews! Maybe, just maybe, we'll bet my record on 297, from my other account, on this fic before it ends! Sending hugs and kisses to all you supportive readers!
..
The next morning
Stiles wraps his arms around Jessie from behind, rubbing her stomach lightly with a smile. Yes, he's scared, terrified, but he loves this girl a lot and he knows he's going to love their baby too, surprise or not.
Jessie smiles too, putting her hands over his and leaning her head againist his.
"I'm sorry about yesturday." She says. "About getting so upset. It just really got to me, I don't know why."
"No, it's okay. I get it." Stiles says, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "But we can do this." He says.
Jessie turns around so she can face him.
"Are you absolutely sure you want me to keep this baby, Stiles?" She asks him.
"Yeah." Stiles nods. Then his brow furrows a little. "Um..unless you don't want too." He says reluctantly, because it is her body and her choice.
But Jessie shakes her head, because she couldn't do that.
"No, I do." She tells him. Her hand comes up to caress his cheek and Stiles' frown softens into a smile now. "It's just..it's just a lot to take in, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." Stiles nods, putting his hand over the one she has on his face. "But we can do this." He says again.
Jessie smiles and nods, because she does want this, even if she's almost 19 and Stiles is barely 18 himself.
"We should go to the doctor's today, and see how far along you are. Because-"
"Because we need to tell the pack." Jessie finishes for him.
"Yeah." Stiles nods.
"Oh, God. I'm so scared of how they're going to react." Jessie sighs, leaning into him until he wraps his arms around her.
"They're gonna be as happy as we are, shocked at first, but happy all the same." Stiles assures her.
"Okay." Jessie nods, pulling back. "I'll just shower and then we'll go."
"I wanna shower too." Stiles says.
"Oh, then you go." Jessie says.
"I'll just shower with you." He says.
Jessie smiles, taking his hand.
"C'mon then."
Jessie comes out 10 minutes later, wrapped in a fluffy towel. She digs through her drawers, getting dressed into a loose-fitting v-neck long sleeve and leggings. The vomitting, which has turned out to be morning sickness, is kicking in again and she finds she doesn't want to wear jeans or any kind of tight clothes. She had to dive from the shower, and her boyfriend, to throw her head into the toilet and vomit..for the millionth time. Jessie really wants to get past this stage of the pregnancy, really badly.
Stiles comes out of the shower after her, a towel wrapped around his waist, his wet hair sticking up in all directions as he's no longer sporting just a buzzcut anymore.
"Feeling a little better?" He asks Jessie as he looks through his bag he brought back with him from the animal clinic since he's been staying with Jessie. Yes, his Dad's a little weary, he wants him to come home more, but he'll understand once Jessie and Stiles give the big news. To him..and everyone else.
Who is Stiles kidding? It's Derek and Peter that's scaring him.
If you get her pregnant, you're dead
Derek's words ring in Stiles' ear, making him gulp.
"Not really." Jessie sighs, making Stiles snap out of it and look over at her again. "This morning sickness is kicking my ass."
"Hopefully the Doc will have something for it." Stiles says, zipping his jeans up and messily towel-drying his hair.
"I hope so." Jessie says, because she's really hating this cycle. Wake up, throw up, repeat. She hates it.
..
"Well, by the looks of things, you're about a month and a half along." Doctor Syder tells Jessie.
Jessie's mouth falls open. A month and a half. Jesus Christ. She just thought with all the stress she was missing her period because they've been under more than enough stress, that the stress made her feel sick, that being kidnapped by Skinwalkers and hunted by Vampires had a little to do with that too.
"Congratulations, Miss Hale." The woman smiles.
Jessie snaps out of her shock, forcing herself to make words into sentences and speak.
"Thanks. Um..I just, I've been having really bad morning sickness the last week or so. Can I get something for that?" Jessie asks her.
"I'll see what I can do, dear." The woman says, patting her arm. "I will give you two some time and be right back with a copy of the tape for you to take home." She says.
"Thank you." Stiles says as she leaves.
Jessie pulls her shirt back down, looking up at Stiles.
"I know." Stiles says, knowing what she's thinking.
One and a half months.
"I don't think we were as careful as we thought." He says. They've always been safe..well, obviously not. But sometimes, when you're too far gone..you..forget. And Stiles is now thinking back to the time when that happened.
"I don't care." She smiles. "I'm so happy, Stiles."
Because hearing her baby's heartbeat melted away all her fears. Well, not all her fears, but a whole lot of them. Jessie just can't wait until she's further along and she gets to see her baby in an ultrasound.
"I'm happy too." Stiles smiles down at her, still clutching her hand in his. "I love you so much, Jess. And I'm gonna love this baby just as much." He says.
"Me too." Jessie smiles back up at him, kissing the back of his hand.
..
Later on that day
"Oh, my God. I'm so happy to see you." Ash smiles widely, scooping up Jade from out of Scott's arms and taking the toddler into her own. She hugs her tightly, pressing kisses all over her face.
Scott smiles, he can see how much better Ash is now doing. Deaton was right, two days later and she's herself again.
Completely herself.
"Hey, why don't you have a shower or bath or something?" Scott suggests. "I gotta make Jade something to eat anyway, you can play with her afterwards." Scott says, because he's only just picked her up from Nevada and brought her home.
"Okay." Ash nods, because she hears the small protesting growls her stomach makes as she's quite hungry.
Ash kisses Jade's forehead.
"I love you, baby." Ash tells her, and with such promise and sincerity too.
"Love you too." Jade smiles as her, pressing a wet kiss to her cheek.
Ash can't help but beam, and she just feels a hell of a lot better, just like Derek promised she would.
Ash sets Jade on her feet, her mind ticking over to the alpha wolf now.
Derek. Derek, who's looked after her the past two days even though he could have said no. Derek, who was more than reluctant to leave with Peter this morning to do their weekly Hale border check. And Derek..who Ash misses being with so much.
"You okay, Ash?" Scott asks her, pausing when he sees her eyebrows have furrowed.
"Yeah." She nods. "I just.. Nothing. It's nothing." She shakes her head.
Scott turns back around to face her properly now, and he gives her this look like he's reading her mind. Because he can read her like an open book, he knows his sister well. And he knows there's only one thing left that's bothering her, and it's the same thing that's bothering Derek too.
"He misses you so much." Scott says.
Ash's eyes shoot up to him.
"How did you-"
"I know you, Ash." Scott says. "And I know Derek. And I can see how much he misses you."
"I've been at his place the last two days." Ash weakly justifies.
"You know what I mean. He misses being yours, and he misses you being his, even if he won't say it out-loud." Scott says. "Listen..you almost died, Ash. We almost lost you. I almost lost you, so did Derek. What if we had? Would you be happy with the last moments you spent with him?" He asks her.
Ash thinks back to before she took off for the nest.
Sure, she got to kiss him and say goodbye, but that was only a small part of it.
She remembers slapping him.
She remembers arguing with him.
She remembers refusing to listen to him.
She remembers being more than a handful, but he still stuck with her and came to her rescue, more than once.
She remembers how every time they did kiss, even if they still were fighting, it always felt right.
Ash meets Scott's eyes again, and doesn't answer, because they both know the answer's no.
"I'm gonna go have a shower, maybe get some sleep too." Ash says, because as much as she wants to play with Jade..she's exhausted. She's been exhausted for 2 days despite sleeping as much as she has.
"Okay, we'll be here if you need us." Scott assures her.
Ash gives a small smile and a nod. She scruffs Jade's hair lightly before making her way up the stairs. She normally likes to have baths, but a bath isn't going to cut it this time. She needs to shower, she needs to wash all of this down the drain.
Ash can finally shower without pain, or without having to have someone stand at the door in case she's sick or passes out. She can shower all on her own, and under steaming hot water too not that her temperature levels are back to normal now.
She stands under the spray, exhaling softly because it feels like heaven against her skin, pelting down her front, washing away the terrible week she's had.
Derek hears Scott clanking around in the kitchen as he speaks to Jade, and Derek makes a mental note to greet the young girl later on, because maybe he's missed her too. But, for now, he climbs into Ash's window. He told Scott he'd fix it once she was better, and she's better now. He doesn't want to wait anymore. He was annoyed that he had to leave early this morning with Peter, because he wanted to fix it right then, but he couldn't. He has a commitment to this town, on his family's behalf, that had to come first.
He's done with this separation, with this break or whatever the hell it is. He needs to know if Ash still wants him, if she wants to make it work and keep doing what they were doing.
But that idea's ruined, because when he steps into her room, he hears the shower running.
He walks over to the bathroom, finding Ash in the shower with her back to him, two large angel wings are the only thing looking at him.
He juggles his choices for a few moments, but he knows which he's going to go with. The one he should have gone with the first day she was staying with him.
He takes his leather jacket off first. Then he pulls his shirt off over his head, dropping it to the floor.
Ash hears movement and turns her head to investigate.
Derek meets her eyes evenly as he unbuckles his belt, taking his jeans off, because he's getting in with her, and know she knows it.
Ash turns back around, but can still hear the shower door open and close behind her as Derek steps inside, now completely naked as well.
He knows that she knows he's there, because she looked him in the eye seconds ago too.
But she stays facing the shower spray, letting it dribble down her face. She finds she doesn't have the objection to him getting in with her that she thought she might.
He didn't really think this through though, so for a few seconds, he just stands there, unsure what to do.
"You could wash my back." Ash breaks the silence, without turning to him.
Derek doesn't object, he pumps a large helping of lavender bodywash into his hand before starting to gently massage her shoulders.
Ash's eyes shut and she leans a little closer to him because it feels really good to have all that crap from the past week washed and worked away from her.
One of Derek's hands starts to wash her back now, and that's when he notices it.
He very gently traces his finger over the large scar the comes around her side, and up her back a little, from the wicked wound she got from her fight with Jacob.
The fight that almost killed her.
Despite having healed as a Vampire, Ash didn't give herself nearly enough time to heal the scar, none of her older scars either.
With Ash feels him touch it, because she discovered it 2 days ago, she flinches a little.
Derek's hand immediately snaps away from it, because he doesn't want to cause her any pain or discomfort.
"Pain?" He asks her.
"No, just..memory." She says. It's like that with her old scars too, sometimes the memory hurts more than the wound itself.
Derek hesitates, but he can't help it. He leans forward and kisses the back of her neck softly.
"I'm here. You're safe with me." He tells her.
Ash turns around to face him now, because she's been dying to hear him say that for awhile now.
"Why are you being so good to me?" She asks him.
"What do you mean?" Derek asks, like the question confuses him.
"I mean, we haven't been..an item, in over a week now. I don't even know if you still want me after what happened." Ash says with an anxious frown.
Derek's hands drop back to his sides. He looks at her, words on the tip of his tongue, but as usual, he's having trouble forming the sentences.
"Ash, I.." He tries.
She just waits patiently, because she knows this isn't an easy task for him. The guy's an alpha, he's killed Skinwalkers and taken down Vampires..but his own emotions have always been his biggest enemy, ever since the fire, maybe even before that too.
"I don't care if we had a fight. I don't care that you slapped me. If I didn't want this-" He says, gesturing between them. "-then I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be at your side, I wouldn't have sat at your bedside for 2 days watching over you. I just..you matter too much to let this go over a stupid fight." He says.
Ash swallows loudly, nodding.
"You know..I am sorry I hit you." She says.
"No, you're not." Derek corrects with with a soft look, because he knows her well. "I deserved it, I..I shouldn't have said that. I was just..I was..jealous." He says the last word quietly, looking away from her.
"What?" Ash asks, her eyes widening. "You jealous of..him?" She asks him.
Derek focuses himself to look at her, his eyes now harder than before.
"Sorry.." Ash sighs. "Derek..you have nothing to be jealous about. Here, give me your hand." She says, holding her's out to him.
He looks at it, and up to her eyes and then down to her hand again.
Ash wiggles her fingers impatiently.
Derek gives in, putting his hand into hers.
Ash steps closer to him, bringing his hand over her heart..and her naked chest.
"I didn't want Jacob, I still don't." She says slowly, letting him feel her heartbeat, not just hear it. "Yeah, I know that was weird for you, and I'm sorry, but I just wanted to give him another chance. But I want you, I only want you." She tells him sincerely.
She leans her forehead against his, the water flowing over both of their heads now.
"He could never give me what you give me." She tells him.
They lock eyes, their lips almost touching, so close they can practically taste each other's breath.
"I need you, Derek." Ash says.
Derek's eyes dart between hers, unable to summon a reply, so he just nods, because he needs her as well.
It's Ash that closes the distance, taking his lips with hers and kissing him.
And Derek doesn't hesitate now, not one bit, he kisses her back whole-heartedly.
When their kiss quickly starts to turn to deep kisses, the shower stall feels much hotter than before.
Ash presses the tap down, turning the shower off.
They find themselves stepping out of the shower, and even out of the bathroom, going for the bedroom without so much as pulling away from each other's lips once.
It isn't until both naked wet bodies are laying on Ash's bed do either of them realise where this is going.
"Are you okay with this?" Derek asks her, looking down at the girl.
Ash finds herself nodding.
"Yeah. Are you?" She asks.
"Yeah." Derek nods.
"Then love me." Ash says, her hand resting on the nape of his neck.
Derek captures her lips with his again, moving up between her legs.
Ash moans softly as he slides into her, because God, it always feels so good with him.
He's very careful with her this time, like he's afraid he'll undo her healing or something. Or maybe it's just because he hasn't been inside her in awhile and he has to get used to how good that feels again.
Derek's kissing her with as much passion as he's been missing out on during their separation. And everything feels so good. Her lips feel like silk, they just feel amazing wrapped around his. And her body..she feels incredible underneath him, her skin smooth and soft under his hands.
And him..Ash can't even describe it. She can feel herself quickly approaching her finishing line, because she can't deny how good he makes her feel. God, being with him like this again just feels like coming home. He feels like home.
Then Derek notices the tear that slips from her eye, sliding down the side of her face. He slows to a stop.
"Ash? Am I hurting you?" He asks, wearing a concerned frown.
"No." She shakes her head, a smile coming to her lips.
"Then why are you crying? Am I doing something wrong?" He asks, because he hates seeing her cry.
But he's got the wrong idea.
She chuckles softly, bringing her hand to his cheek.
"I've missed you so goddamn much, Derek." She says, her eyes sparkling with happy tears, relieved tears, because they're finally together again.
"So have I." He tells her, his hand coming to caress her face and wipe away her escaped tear. "Never leave me like that again." He says, leaning his forehead against hers, and Ash has never heard him sound more vulnerable before.
Because their separation tore at him in emotionally inflicting ways. Even if he didn't say it all out-loud like she did, he felt the sting of their 'break' just as much as she did.
"I won't." Ash says, meeting his eyes. "I promise." She says.
She draws him back to her lips and begins kissing him again. She tugs at his hip too, so he knows he can keep going.
Derek kisses her like she's the only thing that matters as his hips start to rock again, making love to her gentle, romantically, like she deserves.
..
Afterwards, Ash lays on his chest and Derek couldn't be more content as he trails his finger up and down her arm gently, and she traces lazy patterns over his chest lightly.
"I've missed you." Derek says.
"I've missed you too." Ash replies without missing a beat, looking up at him.
Derek meets her eyes, just staring at the rainbow of different blues swirling her irises, now clean of that filthy red ring that could have ended in her death.
"Wait here." He says, slipping out from under her and getting out of bed.
Ash frowns a little but watches him go back into the bathroom.
He picks up his leather jacket and digs through the pocket for something. He looks at it and closes his fist again, putting his jacket on the desk chair instead of leaving the beloved item on the floor.
He slips back into bed with her, bringing his arm around her so she'll lay on his chest again.
And she does, snuggling into his side once again.
Derek takes Ash's left hand in his. He opens his other hand, slipping the item onto her middle finger before threading his fingers through hers.
Ash looks at her hand and her eyes widen. She can only stare at the gold ring with a the ruby gemstone, her birth stone, that sits on her finger.
"You can relax, this isn't a proposal." Derek says, because she looks stunned. It's why he put it on her middle finger.
Ash tears her eyes away from the ring to look at him.
"Derek..it's beautiful." She says, shocked and surprised, but pleasantly shocked and surprised. "I..I don't know what to say, thank you."
"It was actually Jessie's idea. She told me not to let you go, that a ring would show you I want you to stay." He tells her, meeting her eyes. "I didn't know when we'd work it all out, but I knew we would." He says.
"So, you've been carrying it around this whole time? Waiting to give it to me?" She asks, because that is just..that's more than sweet, that makes her feel more than wanted, that makes her feel loved.
"About 4 days now." He tells her honestly. "I had to fix it somehow..I had to show you that I want you to be me, always." He says.
"Are you sure this isn't a proposal, it sounds like one." She jokes softly.
Derek chuckles a little, making Ash smile even more because she's missed his awkward little laugh and half-smirk.
"Like you'd actually marry me." He scoffs jokingly.
Ash swallows, the joking draining from her face, as she really thinks about it.
"I mean..I..I would." Ash says.
This catches Derek off guard.
"What?" He asks, the joking falling away from him as well.
"Well..I don't wanna be with anyone else, only you so..it would make sense..I guess." She says, feeling awkward now.
"You would seriously marry me?" He asks her. Derek's known since the fire took his family that he probably wouldn't ever have one of his own, his own baby, his own kids. And he was okay with that, with the way he was going, he didn't have anyone to have kids with. And engagement? Marriage? That all seemed pointless, crazy, and completely out of the question.
But then Ash came along.
And things changed.
"I don't know.. Yes, I guess. If you're into that sort of thing." She says, fiddling with her ring as she admires it, because she feels nervous to be admitting these things to Derek, even though she knows she shouldn't be.
Derek studies the girl laying over his chest and he reminisces.
He thinks back to how much he missed her when they were fighting. He thinks back to how genuinely scared he was when they thought she was going to die. He thinks back to how mad he was when Ash tried to convince them to just kill her. He thinks back to how relieved he was when they saved her and Jessie from the Skinwalkers. He thinks back to the first time they had sex. He thinks back to when Ash finally gave in and let the truth about her attack slip and how mad he was. He thinks back to their first kiss. He thinks back to carrying her lifeless body to the hospital after her father attacked her. He thinks back to how protective he's been of her since the word 'go'. He thinks back to how they would always be at each other's throats but they were still attracted to each other. He thinks back to the girl trying to be so strong to hold her little, broken family together. He thinks back to sitting outside her cell for hours with the rest of the pack. He thinks back to how angry he was when he caught her with those drugs because he didn't want her to hurt herself. He thinks back to when he and Jessie checked on her not long after Melissa's passing and the girl screamed at them to leave. He thinks back to finding her crying leant against her car in the rain, late at night, after her Mom passed. He thinks back to when Ash brought him over to her loft to look at files with her and Stiles, and how awkward they both were, neither trying to fill the silence. He thinks back to how her and Scott had an argument in front of all the pack and how Scott's words stung Ash. He thinks back to when he introduced Jessie to them and Ash and Jessie bumped heads right away, but now they're as close as sisters. He thinks back to when he first met Jade and how he thought she belonged to Ash because she was just too good with her to only be a sister. He thinks back to how he seeked out Ash to help him with Jessie, and how she surprisingly agreed. He thinks back to their disagreement about Erica and Boyd, when Derek caught her bad-mouthing him to Scott. He thinks back to how they purposely ignored each other and created more distance on the sidewalk that time they passed each other in town.
And lastly, he thinks way back to when this gorgeous dark-haired Queen stepped onto his and Jessie's land with her brother and Stiles, and into their lives.
Ash can feel him looking at her, so she looks at him too.
"What?" She asks him.
"Nothing." He says, just looking at her, his mind intently thinking over the conversation they just had.
"Well, thank you. It's really beautiful." Ash says to him.
"You're welcome." He says, kissing her head. "You tired me out." He says with a yawn.
Ash blushes wildly, but she smiles smugly too, because he's hers once again.
"Maybe we should get some sleep." He says. But then he sees the way Ash is looking at him. He only sees desire in her eyes. "Or later?" He suggests, moving closer to her.
"Yeah, later sounds better." She nods with a grin, before they're wrapped around each other again, their lips glued together.
..
..
Hmm..how do you feel about their conversation on marriage? And Jessie's been pregnant for a little while now, hehe! But they're really happy about it all now and they need to tell the pack ASAP! So, look forward to that! I also have another surprise or two, one of them isn't about the pack though..that's all I'm giving away :P I also have another idea, it's a dark one, but I don't know about it, because you readers have had enough heartbreak! But, we will see! Once the pack have settled and they know Jessie's pregnant, I'm going to be doing some time jumping, because the end of this fic is slowly approaching! Favourite, follow and review!
