CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Summary: Hermione Granger, one of the brightest minds of her generation, makes a decision that will ultimately change her future plans. At twenty-three, she finds herself moving to a strange town that's a hell-mouth for supernatural beings, pregnant, and in way over her head. And the father of her unborn child? The tall, dark and handsome werewolf, Derek Hale. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and the creators of Teen Wolf and MTV. This is purely for entertainment purposes and I am not making a profit from the posting of this. This is set after Season 3, and everything from season 4 onwards doesn't happen; so no deadpool, Beast, Dread Doctors, Wild Hunt or Hunters. Allison still died, Liam will still be appearing, and there is no Kira or Malia. Derek is 22 and Hermione is 23. I'm fudging the time line a bit, too.
Page count: 10
Two weeks later...
The last two weeks had been wonderful for Hermione. Not only was she happy with her job, with her blooming relationship with Derek, but she was happy with her life, too. Genuinely happy, and she couldn't remember a time when she'd felt such happiness.
Since her return from her visit to Britain, she and Derek had grown closer, he'd taken her on several dates, one of which involved a walk along the beach as they watched the sunset and Magic bounded across the sand happily, and another being bowling since he'd learned she'd loved it as a child. Of course he'd beaten her by a landslide, but she didn't allow her loss at the game to put a damper on the night.
And since her return, in the last two weeks she'd caught the trail of three potential supernatural cases, two were confirmed to be muggle but the last one had seen Hermione tracking a dementor that had escaped the Wizarding World and taking care of it, and giving how happy she was in her life, casting her patronus had been one of the easiest things she'd ever done.
Hermione was now fifteen weeks pregnant and she was convinced her stomach was growing by the day, and Hermione had to go out and purchase more jeans and bottoms as she was no longer able to magically alter her other ones without ruining the fabric. She couldn't understand why her stomach was so big given she wasn't even half way through the pregnancy, but then she wasn't sure if she actually was that big, or if it just appeared as such because she had a small frame. In any case, Derek loved seeing her baby bump growing, it being evidence of their child developing and being one step closer to being in their arms. Most of the time she had to bat his hands away as all he wanted to do was touch her, and touch her he did.
They were now currently sat in the diner, Hermione and Derek sitting opposite each other and with Magic laid partially on the bench and partially over Derek's lap. They'd been chatting comfortably as they waited for their food to arrive and the moment it did Hermione tucked into it, pulling a snort from her official boyfriend of three weeks.
He'd ordered a cheese burger and fries with a vanilla milkshake, where she had opted for a chicken pot pie with mash potato, gravy and a chocolate milkshake, and halfway through eating she paused and titled her head to the side, looking at his place with a thoughtful look on her face.
"What is it?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.
She bit her lip before she reached over and stole one of his fries from his plate and dipped it into her chocolate milkshake. He pulled a face at her actions and she made a noise of surprise, her eyes widening.
"Merlin, that's amazing, you've got to try that," she told him, dipping the fry back into her milkshake.
"No, thanks," he replied.
"What? It all goes to the same place anyway and it's surprisingly good," she spoke, before sipping from her milkshake, her eyes locked on his plate. "You wanna do a swap?" She asked.
He looked down to his half eaten food and then over to hers, amusement filling him at the way she wasn't looking at him, but at his plate. He wasn't a big fan of chicken pot pie but he'd never been able to refuse her anything, especially as she was carrying his baby, so without thought he swapped their plates around and chuckled at her when she picked up several fries and dipped them into her milkshake, putting them in her mouth while she removed the top slice of the bun from the rest of the cheese burger, filled it with fries and then put the bun back on and taking a large bite.
"You're strange," he commented amused.
"You're one to talk, you're like a human sniffer dog," she retorted around a mouthful of food and he snorted at her. She lifted her milkshake to take a sip from the glass, when she caught sight of two familiar faces entering the diner, and one of them looked very confused.
"Scott, Stiles, what are you doing here?" She spoke loud enough for them both to hear.
They pretended to look as though they hadn't noticed her until she'd called their names. Derek had his back to them and he looked over his shoulder, before making a sound of annoyance and turning his attention back to his food, giving Magic a command to stay where he was as he looked as though he were about to jump down and bound over to Scott.
"Hey Hermione, Derek," Scott smiled, his eyes darting between them and more specifically, their food.
"Let me guess, another free period?" She said, giving them both an amused smile and a knowing look while dipping a fry into her milkshake and they both pulled faces of disgust.
"Sort of," Stiles said and she snorted at him.
"Do you want to join us?" She asked.
Stiles opened his mouth to speak, but Scott beat him to it. "Actually, I've just remembered that we have that thing we need to do, but thanks anyway."
"What thing?" Stiles frowned in confusion.
"You know, that thing, so we better go," he said, clapping Stiles on the shoulder, turning him around and pushing him out of the diner, throwing a 'see you later' over his shoulder.
Hermione and Derek shared a look as the two teens disappeared from sight.
"He's lying through his fangs," she commented. Derek sighed and dropped his forehead against his hand. She grinned at him.
Meanwhile Scott was pushing Stiles away from the diner and onto the other side of the street.
"What was that all about?" Stiles asked.
Scott waited until he was sure Derek wouldn't be able to hear him. "You saw what I did; he shared his food with her."
"And?" Stiles said slowly, obviously not understanding what Scott was trying to tell him.
"You don't get it; Derek willingly let her take food from his plate."
"People share food all the time," Stiles shrugged.
"Yeah, people, but not werewolves," Scott replied. "We don't share our food with others, when was the last time I let you take food from me without me hitting you?"
"Since before you were bitten," Stiles answered with a frown.
"Exactly, Derek's sharing his food with her, I didn't share my food with Allison because my wolf wouldn't let me. We're very protective of our food, and he's letting her eat his food from his plate."
"If it's something that never happens, why is he letting her do it?" Stiles asked.
"That's a good question," Scott replied, his eyes watching Hermione and Derek through the window of the diner from across the street.
~000~000~000~
Two days later...
"Hermione, is that mine?"
Hermione looked down at the grey hooded jumper she was wearing, before looking back up to Derek as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, his arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame.
"No," she replied, going back to eating her cereal which she was having for lunch.
Derek raised an amused eyebrow. "No? Then why is it two sizes too big?"
She shrugged. "I like my jumpers baggy. It's not yours, it's mine. I've had it for ages."
"Alright, then why is the price tag still on it?"
She reached up with her hand to feel for a price tag, and sure enough there was one. "I said I've had it for ages, not that I've worn it before."
"Okay, then why does it have my old high school jersey number on the back?"
"Just a coincidence," she assured him.
"Hmm, so you didn't go digging through my things in search of something you could wear?"
"Absolutely not," she said, sounding outraged that he'd even suggested it, and he burst out laughing.
"You're something else, Witch," he chuckled, shaking his head. "You know, I don't mind you wearing my clothes?"
"You don't?" She asked.
He didn't like the way she suddenly went nervous, her head lowered and she looked up at him through her lashes.
"Of course I don't, why would I?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Ron didn't like it, he hated that his clothes would smell like my perfume."
A low growl rumbled in his chest before he shook his head, clearing his thought of her arsehole ex-boyfriend who he couldn't wait to sink his teeth into and then rip out his throat.
"Hermione, you can wear my clothes as often as you want, in fact, I think you should do it more often."
"You do?" She questioned in surprise.
"You'll be hard pressed to find a man that doesn't like seeing his girlfriend wearing his shirts," he shrugged his shoulders, making his way over to her and he took her by the hands and pulled her up from her chair. "Especially when they smell as good as you," he muttered, pulling her into him and burying his nose into her neck, nuzzling her hair aside so he could get access to her skin. "Besides, I imagine my clothes are a lot comfier for you than yours are, especially with the baby growing so quickly," he said, his hand working under her jumper and t-shirt –his too, he thought- and pressing against the bare skin of her growing stomach.
"And warmer," she added, letting out a sigh when he pressed a kiss to her neck and gently nipped with his teeth and she brought her arms up to wrap around his neck. "Hey, are you busy?"
"I'm heading out to meet with another allied pack later, why?"
"Just how many are there?"
"A few," he said amused. "Why do you want to know if I'm busy?"
When she didn't answer he pulled back to look at her, seeing her biting her lip and her eyes trailing his clothed figured. He'd seen that look more than once.
"Hormones?" He said knowingly, a smirk pulling at his mouth.
"Hormones," she sighed.
"I've barely even touched you," he said amused.
"I know, but now I can't stop thinking about it," she all but whined.
"Come on then, if I'm late they can wait, it's not as if they haven't done the same to me."
"Oh thank Merlin," she sighed, and he chuckled as he took her by the hand and pulled her towards her bedroom –well, it was their bedroom really since he hadn't slept in his own room for weeks- and told Magic to stay where he was.
"You're not going to bite me again, are you?" He asked, but he sounded amused.
She flushed bright red. "I said I was sorry, I didn't even realise I had bitten you that hard."
"Luckily for you it only hurt a bit and it stopped bleeding and healed within minutes."
"It's not funny, Derek. I still can't believe I did that to you, do you not think it's strange that I'm taking on wolf traits? The full moon, the growling, the biting, it shouldn't be happening."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Neither of us have dealt with a pregnancy like this before, so all I can say is that due to your change in behaviour, I'm confident in saying the baby's going to be like me, and I think that's why you're more wolf-like. Given how badly you suffered with your morning sickness..."
"Thank Merlin, it's over," she interrupted.
"I think that may have had something to do with the baby making your senses more advanced, at least with your sense of smell," he said.
"That's certainly possible, I did smell things quite strongly," she mused.
"And if the baby is the cause of your wolf-like traits, it's safe to assume they'll disappear once the baby's born."
"I suppose so,"
"Good, now stop worrying, I've been given the dreadful task of dealing with your hormones."
~000~000~000~
Later in the day found Hermione stood out in the middle of the woods with Snowball perched on her shoulder. After casting a quick Time Charm to determine the time, she put her wand in her boot and reached her hand up until the little owl hopped onto it, and she brought him to her eye level.
"Alright, Snowball, it's the moment of truth," she told him. "Let's see if you're ready, shall we?" She held her hand out away from her and watched him expectantly, but he stayed put. "Snowball, your wing should be fully healed now, you can fly again, you can be free." He made a hoot of disagreement and she snorted at him. "If you want to come back with me, that's fine, but I need to know if your wing's healed and the only way to know that is if you can fly. You must want to go hunting." He tilted his head slightly. "That's what I thought, you know where to find me, so, off you go."
When Snowball didn't move Hermione chuckled and shook her head, before she carefully positioned him so his wings were folded against his body and she held him between her two hands.
"Fly, Snowball," she said, before she gently tossed him in the air, letting go off him.
It took a small moment for him to get his wings working again but before he hit the floor, he flapped his wings and took off, flying up to the sky and soaring, hooting as he circled high above her head.
She laughed joyously, spinning in a circle to follow his movements before he swooped down past her face and took off into the distance. She wasn't worried, she had a feeling he'd be back, he'd grown too attached to her not to be and since living in her cottage, she'd somewhat domesticated him.
She waited a few minutes and when she was sure he wasn't coming back to her, she turned on her heel and started making her way back to the cottage, and given that she wasn't that far away from it, she was almost home after a ten minute walk.
It was quiet as she hummed to herself and happily made her way home, until she came to a sudden stop when she heard the sound of the ground being disturbed, heavy thuds and twigs snapping under a heavy weight.
Hermione frowned and reached for her wand until she realised that the sounds were too loud and heavy to be a human. Slowly she got onto her knees and leaned forward, pressing her hands to the ground and hovering her ear above it, trying to see if she could determine the cause.
She was sure it was an animal of some kind and pushed herself back up and just as was about to climb back to her feet, out of nowhere came a large blur of brown, Hermione's eyes widened and she threw herself off to the side.
~000~000~000~
"See you next year, Derek."
"You too, Chris," Derek replied, clapping his friend and ally on the shoulder to signify the end of the meeting and walking away to climb into his car.
Thankfully the meeting place had been in Beacon Hills as Chris was passing through, so it meant he didn't have to travel far and he could get back to Hermione as quickly as possible. It wasn't a long drive and he parked his car beside Hermione's before trekking through the woods until he came to the cottage.
Trying the door he frowned when it was locked, before removing the keys from his pocket, opening the door and stepping inside and seeing there to be no lights on and there was no sound in the cottage except for the breathing of Hermione's ugly sleeping cat and an excitedly barking puppy that bounded over to him in greeting.
Derek removed his jacket and placed the keys on the kitchen table, before scratching Magic behind the ears.
"Where is she, Buddy?" He asked the energetic dog, who barked and jumped up at him in response. Derek chuckled, pushed Magic off him and made his way through the cottage. "Hermione, you here?" He called but received no reply.
After checking her bedroom, bathroom, her library and her potions lab, he walked back into the living room with a confused frown on his face, before he spotted the empty cage in the corner of the room. And that's when he remembered Hermione explaining a few days ago that she would be taking Snowball out into the woods to see if he could fly again.
Given that Magic had been left behind it meant she either wasn't going to be gone long or that she didn't want him running off when she was in no fit state to run after him, and he thought it was probably both. Deciding there was no harm in going to look for her, he slipped his jacket back on, grabbed his keys and locked the cottage up.
Knowing her scent as well as he did –so well in fact, that he'd be able to find her in a crowd of people easily- it barely took him no time at all to lock onto her scent and he followed the trail through the woods, keeping an eye out for any tracks or disturbances in the ground.
He came to a stop in an area he assumed she'd stopped at, because not only did her scent surround the area, but he found a white owl feather on the ground, too. With no sign or her or the little owl that was so fond of her he guessed she'd left the area, but seeing as he hadn't seen her on his trek he knew she'd taken a different route back, after all, she knew the woods better than most at that point, including him.
Just to be sure, he followed her scent and made sure not to deviate from the path he was following and as he neared the cottage his nose was invaded by the scent of her, meaning she was nearby. He picked up his pace and searched his surroundings with his eyes and ears, as he wouldn't put it past her to try and sneak up on him if she knew he were nearby, it certainly wouldn't be the first time. He'd almost had a heart attack when she'd jumped out at him a week ago after using her magic to hide herself from him.
As he just cleared walking through a rather thick group of trees, the area opened out and when he stepped over a fallen tree his hearing picked up on the sound of a heartbeat, only it was a little slower than usual.
Frowning, he quickened his steps and kept his eyes and ears open until he stepped from behind a tree and he had fear and worry like he'd never felt before almost knock him off his feet, when his eyes landed on the crumpled heap on the floor and it wasn't moving. Not only did he recognise the hooded jumper, but he'd recognise those wild curls anywhere.
"Hermione!" He called, sprinting over to her, closing the distance between them and dropping onto his knees beside her.
She didn't respond and he carefully turned her onto her back, seeing her eyes closed, her face pale, and a cut on forehead with blood trickling down the side of her face.
"Hermione!" He said, his voice taking on a tone of panic and he gently shook her shoulders, but she didn't open her eyes.
He took a deep breath and brought his hand to her neck, checking for a pulse. It was little slower than he thought it should be but she had one. Feeling the coldness of her skin despite the thick jumper she wore, he pulled off his own coat and draped it over her form, not caring the slightest as the cold bit at his skin.
He shifted her weight into his arms and picked her up, carrying her through the woods as quickly as he could while trying not to jostle her, his intended destination being his car. It was a lot quicker to drive to the hospital than it would be to call for an ambulance and have to wait for it to arrive. Ideally he would've preferred to take Hermione's car so he could lay her out on the back seat but he didn't have time to return to the cottage and search for her keys, not when she had a head wound, was pregnant, unconscious and had been outdoors in the cold for God knows how long.
It was a struggle to put her in the car but he was able to buckle her in the passenger's seat and he was sure he broke every road trafficking law possible, not caring for the fact he was doing well over the speed limit or if he were to be caught by the police in doing so. His main concern was getting Hermione to the hospital and making sure she and the baby were going to be fine and he'd deal with the consequences later.
When he reached the hospital he didn't bother locking up the car, not caring if it were to get stolen no matter how much it may have cost, and he carried her into the hospital, his grip on his emotions finally breaking.
"Help! I need some help!" He called out, and thankfully two nurses came rushing over along with a gurney and Derek placed her on it gently, being pushed out of the way so the nurses could fuss over her and transport her through the corridors.
He made to follow after her but he was stopped when a familiar looking woman stepped in front of him and prevented him doing so. He looked down at her, a growl rumbling in the back of his throat but she looked unfazed by the clear threat, after all, her teenage son was a werewolf, too, and an Alpha at that.
"You need to let them do their job, Derek," Melissa McCall spoke, her voice soft but authoritative.
"She needs me," he bit out, trying to get past her, but she held firm in her stance and brought her hands up to grip his upper arms.
"And you can see her when they've tended to her. They're doing everything they can for her. I need you to tell me what happened."
He blinked at her, a stricken look on his face she'd never seen from him before. In fact, she'd never seen him so emotional. Angry, yes, sarcastic, sure, broody, definitely, but never had she seen him worried, panicked and genuinely terrified.
"I don't know; I found her in the woods."
"Do you know who she is?"
"Hermione, my girlfriend," he replied.
Her eyes widened in surprise before a softer, more understanding look filled her face. "We'll take care of her, Derek, in the meantime I need you to fill out some forms for me, it'll keep you distracted until you can see her."
She made to turn around to the nurse's station to grab said forms but his words stopped her.
"She's pregnant,"
She spun around so fast it was a wonder she didn't fall over. "What?"
"She's pregnant."
"How far along is she?" She asked him, her brown eyes watching him. "Derek!" She snapped, drawing his eyes from the ground.
"Fifteen weeks, give or take a few days."
"Okay, I'll alert the doctor and we'll make sure they're both taken care. I know you're worried but I need you to stay here and be patient, I'll let you know when you can see her."
The older woman passed on a message to a passing nurse asking her to give the correct forms to Derek, before she disappeared down the corridor in search of where they'd taken Hermione.
In an effort to distract himself Derek paced in the middle of the room, forcing others to walk around him and they gave him a wide berth when he'd caught someone staring at him and he snarled at them, before returning to his pacing and tugging at his hair. He did his best to control his wolf but it was futile, he didn't have the focus to do so.
Another nurse slowly approached him and cautiously handed him the forms and a pen, and he sat down long enough to fill out the fields he knew the answers too and admittedly, it wasn't a lot. He was able to answer the questions about her name, date of birth and such, but when it came to her address –since she lived in the woods she technically didn't have one- and existing health conditions that ran in her family he was at a loss, as it was he'd put himself down as her next of kin, since he knew she didn't have anyone else.
The nurse had looked unimpressed at the uncompleted form but Derek just glared at her and slammed the pen on the counter before he returned to his pacing, his worry for Hermione and the baby palpable.
He paced for what felt like years but in reality it had barely been half an hour and when he caught sight of Melissa McCall coming down the corridor, her eyes watching him worriedly –she was a mother, after all- but a smile on her face, he felt himself relax a little, but it wasn't enough to calm him or the wolf.
"She's going to be fine," she spoke and relief flooded him. "She's got a bit of a concussion but that's common with head injuries."
"And the baby?" He asked, his voice thick with worry and hope.
"There are no outward signs of there being anything wrong, but we're about to do a scan now. She's awake and asking for you."
His relief was evident and without another word he walked around her and made his way down the corridor, relying on his nose to pick up on her scent and leading him straight to her.