Chapter 26: Happy Birthday Theo
Parrish watched as Liam and Theo followed the twins up the path of the next house and stood at the bottom of the steps before he got in his patrol car and headed back to the station to get his car. Soon Theo and Liam were carrying Thalia and Caleb back to the house, well Theo was carrying both the twins while Liam carried their buckets. Thalia and Caleb had decided after the fourth house that they didn't want to walk any more and only wanted to be carried by Theo.
"Mom..." Theo almost whispered the word as Liam stood beside him. "Help?" Liam glanced at Theo it was one of the first times that he'd officially heard Theo call Elizabeth 'mom'.
"Ace is getting changed..." Scott said as he opened the door and saw his little cousins hanging tightly onto Theo. "Here, give me one of them," he let out a little laugh and held his hands out for one of the twins to climb into his arms. "Derek's apparently helping her," Scott shrugged as Thalia jumped from Theo's arms into his.
"We lost them!" Theo exclaimed, Scott looked at Liam who rolled his eyes as Theo rearranged Caleb on his hip.
"Parrish called Ace, told her what happened. She had a little laugh," Scott smirked, he knew what had happened he'd been watching them from his room.
"Oh..." Theo muttered, almost annoyed that Scott was smirking at him causing him to glare back at him as the three walked into the house with Liam setting the buckets down in the kitchen.
"Dude, Ace and I had them run off on us last year. Was it the pumpkin house?" Scott questioned as he remembered when the twins were two years old and had ran up the path of one of the houses.
"Yeah, what is it with that house?" Theo asked, as he attempted to put Caleb on the ground but the little boy just held on tighter. Theo watched as Scott tried doing the same thing with Thalia but she did the same.
"We found them talking to Parrish, Thalia apparently told him about what they'd dressed us as," Liam said as Derek walked down the stairs with Elizabeth close behind him.
"Mom should be here in twenty, said something about her and Chris wanting the twins to watch 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' with them," Scott said as he remembered getting a text from her before Theo and Liam had returned. "You know they're in love with pumpkins,"
"Alright, well we'll take the twins and get them into their pj's if you boys want to change," Elizabeth smiled at them as Derek took Thalia from Scott and she took Caleb from Theo.
The second that Theo was free from his little brothers grip he planted a kiss on Liam's lips and pulled him into a hug. Thalia and Caleb both covered their eyes making 'ew' sounds; apparently kissing was for mummy and daddy, and only for Theo and Uncle Liam when Thalia and Caleb were asleep – at least until they were older. Even Scott and Malia; Isaac and Cora hadn't been allowed to kiss without Thalia and Caleb making sounds.
"Tali, Caleb let Uncle Liam kiss Theo it's his birthday remember?" Scott questioned, offering a smile to the boys as Thalia sent a little glare towards her cousin. "Please?"
"But kissing is icky!" Caleb announced, causing Derek to laugh and lean across to kiss Elizabeth almost in spite of the children. "Daddy!"
"Okay," Thalia grinned, from her position in her fathers arms. "Kiss Uncle Liam,"
"Thank you Tali," Theo smiled at her kissing Liam again, while not moving from his arms.
"Come on you two, lets get you ready for Aunty Mel and Uncle Chris," Elizabeth said tugging gently on Derek's elbow to get him to follow her to their bedroom. "We'll be back in five,"
"You know...I think that's the first time I've heard you call Ace mom," Liam mumbled into the kiss, dragging Theo up the stairs to his bedroom.
"No it's not..." Theo said, his eyes falling on his boyfriend as he heard his heartbeat falter slightly. "When?" Theo started carefully tugging the tutu that he was wearing off while Liam tossed the cape, mask and hat onto the bed before helping his boyfriend.
"A couple of years ago...you started to say it and then stopped," Liam answered thinking back to before the twins were born and when Theo was having the nightmares.
"Oh...why didn't you say anything?" Theo questioned, pulling Liam into his bedroom and closing the door behind him.
"I...I didn't know how. It was when you were having the nightmares again," Liam replied, he knew that Theo still wasn't entirely comfortable with anyone hearing him say the words. "You know you can say it, it's what she is after all,"
In Thalia and Caleb's room, Derek and Elizabeth were struggling to get the twins out of their costumes as they wanted to keep them on to show Melissa and Chris. Scott was left standing in the kitchen waiting for everyone to turn up, while he waited he tried to find some Halloween music. The only song that he could find that was remotely child friendly while his baby cousins were still in the house was 'This is Halloween' so it was currently filtering through the house.
"Thalia Erica McCall-Hale and Caleb Rafael McCall-Hale you will do as you are told!" Derek's voice boomed in the room, that was when the children knew they were in trouble from their father. Elizabeth and Derek rarely raised their voices let alone used full names, though Scott and Theo had been on the receiving end once or twice.
"Mommy, daddy's scaring us," Thalia's little voice cried out, Elizabeth shot Derek a look that said they'd be having words later.
"Well, daddy wouldn't be scaring you if you did as we asked," Elizabeth said as calmly as she could as she picked up both children. "Caleb go with daddy. And daddy apologise to them,"
"Caleb, Tali, daddy's sorry," Derek said as he walked over to Elizabeth and the twins planting a kiss on top of both of their heads. "Can you please get your pyjama's on,"
"No!" Caleb giggled, but started peeling of his layers slowly one by one and putting them on top of Derek's head.
"Caleb!" Derek laughed as he took the toddler from Elizabeth and shook his head letting the clothes fall to the floor.
"Daddy...don't use your scary voice ever again," Thalia said as she hugged her mother before starting to take her own clothes off too.
"I won't," Derek smiled at her as Elizabeth leaned over the top of twins and kissed his cheek.
After a few minutes of wrestling to get the children sorted into their pyjamas, Elizabeth and Derek carried the twins down the stairs into the living room as the doorbell rang. The ringing doorbell was what had the twins practically leap for their parents arms and race to the door only to be stopped by Scott who scooped them both up. Derek and Elizabeth laughed, they knew they weren't allowed to answer the door.
"Tali, Caleb let Scott answer the door," Derek said, motioning with his head for the younger man to open the door.
"Has my son got both his baby cousins in his arms?" there was Melissa's voice on the other side of the door as the handle turned.
"Of course I do mom," Scott laughed, as he somehow managed to grab the door handle and pull it open to reveal his mother and Chris, and behind them Malia, Lydia and Stiles. "Here you take Thalia, and Chris can have Caleb,"
"How about you let us put this stuff in the kitchen, the stuff that your lovely girlfriend asked us to help her with," Argent said shooting a glare to Malia who smiled innocently at them, she wasn't carrying anything other than her bag and a present.
"Malia? What did I tell you?" Scott sighed, still juggling his cousins in his arms as his mother and Argent walked past them into the kitchen. Melissa stopping briefly to kiss Scott.
"Aunty Mel! Uncle Chris!" Thalia grinned starting to squirm in Scott's arms as Theo and Liam emerged from the bedroom sans costumes.
"Scotty put us down please," Caleb grinned and started to squirm so that Scott had to put them both down.
Scott glanced at Elizabeth who nodded as she followed Melissa and Argent into the kitchen, while listening to Scott go off at Malia for making his mother carry what she was bringing. Lydia took the tote that Stiles was carrying with what they had brought for the party and took it into the kitchen. One by one the rest of both packs arrived, with Melissa and Argent both taking leave while holding onto a child each.
"Happy Birthday Theo," Melissa said with a smile as she kissed him on the cheek while holding onto Thalia. "Enjoy your night,"
"Happy Birthday," Argent smiled at him shaking his hand while Caleb snuggled up to his shoulder.
"Thanks," Theo said, a little surprised by the kiss from Melissa but he was getting used to it due to the number of times he'd picked up his brother and sister from the house.
"Mel, Chris thanks for taking the twins tonight," Elizabeth said as she ushered everyone into another room so that she could talk with Melissa and Argent for a second. "They may have a nightmare tonight..." Elizabeth said before she spoke silently to the two of them. 'That husband of mine used his scary voice as Tali puts it,'
"You're welcome, come by tomorrow whenever you feel like it," Melissa answered nodding in understanding of why the twins might have a nightmare that night.
"You deserve a night off," Argent laughed, his eyes sparkling before he and Melissa headed out the door with twins waving excitedly over their shoulders.
Once Melissa, Argent and the twins had left Elizabeth joined the others in the living room where everyone was sitting around talking. Scott had managed to get out of Theo what his favourite music was so they had that playing. Stiles wanted to know when Theo had planned on telling them that his birthday was Halloween.
"Wait so Theo, when you were planning on telling us when your birthday was?" Stiles questioned, his arms firmly wrapped around Lydia as they sat on one end of the lounge.
"Uh...I wasn't..." Theo muttered, shooting a glare towards Elizabeth who smiled at him, she could tell that he was lying.
"Theo..." Scott trailed off as he too received the same glare which turned into a semi smile. Scott shot Liam, Cora, Isaac, Ethan and Jackson looks that said don't say anything.
"You kind of already knew though," Theo said pointedly as he continued to glare at Scott, it was true Scott had known since Elizabeth had told him.
"I know and I didn't tell anyone, just like I said," Scott smiled at him, Liam raised an eyebrow how had they all gone that long without really celebrating his birthday.
"Liam there has been a bit going on," Elizabeth laughed, she'd accidentally read the younger boys mind. "Sorry bad habit," Liam stared at her blinking.
"Ace?" Derek raised an eyebrow at her before he realised exactly what she'd done. "When was the last time you did that?"
"Did what?" Scott questioned, Elizabeth just smirked before deciding on whether to answer them on or not.
"Kind of...sort of...read his mind," Elizabeth answered with a slight shrug causing Liam to launch himself at her from beside Theo. "First time I've done it in a long time," Elizabeth easily dodged the Liam attack and the beta found himself sprawled on the floor. Theo rolled his eyes and pulled him into a hug.
"Can we just focus on the birthday boy now?" Derek said, trying to take the attention off of Elizabeth and put it on to Theo.
Elizabeth stood up and headed into the kitchen, she'd put the lasagne in the oven just before Theo, Liam and the twins had returned home. Cora following close behind, she wanted to know what had been cooked. Cora grinned when she saw what it was, they'd fast discovered the Theo liked lasagne when Elizabeth had first cooked it.
"Who's hungry?" Elizabeth called as she pulled the lasagne out of the oven and Cora leaned against the counter watching. "Well? Everyone to the kitchen and line up and then the dining room,"
"Is that...Lasagne?" Theo questioned, his eyes going wide as he entered the kitchen and was pulled to the front by Cora.
"Yeah, one of Elizabeth's specialities," Derek smiled walking around to Elizabeth and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Which piece do you want?" Elizabeth motioned to the lasagne which she had cut up into equal size portions so that the only fighting was over who got an edge piece or corner piece.
"Corner piece," Theo grinned, the corners were his favourite part and Elizabeth knew it. "Thanks," Theo's grin got wider if that was possible as Elizabeth served the lasagne and they all made their way into the dining room.
The dining room was a mixture of birthday and Halloween decorations, some of the Halloween decorations stayed up well into the New Year and that was purely because they were from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Elizabeth refused to remove them. Theo looked around the room, he still couldn't believe that they'd gone to the trouble just for him.
"Still can't believe you did all of this for me," Theo mumbled in between bites of lasagne and swatting Liam's hand away from his plate. "Stop trying to eat mine!"
"You deserve it," Scott was the first one to speak with everyone agreeing with him, even Stiles. "With everything that you've done from helping Ace to helping me at the clinic,"
"I have one thing to say to all of you. Please never ever say 'We're brothers now,'," Elizabeth smirked, looking at Derek and Scott as she spoke she knew that both of them had said it.
"Wait...you know about that?" Scott looked at his aunt incredulously wondering exactly how she knew about what had been said.
"Yes, you never were a quiet sleeper," Elizabeth answered, before she burst out laughing at the looks on everyone's faces. "What? Liam told me about what Scott had said to him,"
"Liam?" Theo raised his eyebrow at his boyfriend as he swatted his hand away again.
"Oh relax, Derek's the one that talks in his sleep," Elizabeth laughed, wrapping an arm around Derek as she spoke. "I also know how much of a dick he was,"
"You know the speech?" Liam questioned, wondering exactly how much she actually knew about it.
"Oh yeah...the whole 'That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that most people would kill for. The bite is a gift...we're brothers now.' speech, yeah not either of their brightest moments," Elizabeth said composing herself as Derek kissed her. "Enough of the how I know about shit, lets eat and then party I mean that's what this is for right?" Elizabeth shook her head laughing, the others had never heard the speech before, Derek and Scott looked sheepishly at the table.