CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
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: 12
Later that evening found Derek arriving home from completing his errands not long after Hermione and Teddy, and dinner had been prepared. After the four residents of the cottage sat down and ate together as a family, Teddy had all but begged Derek to go rabbit hunting with him and much to Hermione's amusement, he hadn't even tried to tell the little boy 'no' despite her knowing Derek was tired. She had yet to see him refuse the blue haired boy anything.
Teddy and Derek didn't return until it started to get dark were he convinced Teddy that it was bed time and he was in bed ten minutes later. Andromeda called it a day, too, so Hermione and Derek decided to follow their example and go to bed, but just as Hermione had gotten herself comfortable and Derek climbed in beside her, there was a knock on the bedroom door and it was pushed open to reveal Teddy.
"What's wrong, Teddy Bear?" Hermione asked the sleepy looking child.
"Uncle Derek hasn't read me a story," he told her with a frown.
She and Derek shared an amused look, it was their nightly routine as of nearly two weeks ago and now Teddy refused to sleep if Derek didn't read him a bedtime story first. Derek threw the covers off himself and climbed out of bed.
"Come on then, Pup, but you're going straight to sleep when we're done, it's already past your bed time," He said, putting his hands on Teddy's shoulders and pushing him out of the room and back to his own bedroom.
Hermione only had to wait ten minutes until Derek returned, shutting the door behind him and climbing into bed, pulling her against him and wrapping his arm around her.
"He fell asleep a few pages in and Magic's asleep on the end of his bed," he said. Hermione chuckled and shook her head lightly. "Why does he call me 'Uncle Derek?'" He asked. "And he calls you 'Aunt' too, instead of just saying your name."
"It's his way of showing us how important we are to him," she explained. "With everyone else he'll just call them by their name, but by putting 'Uncle' or 'Aunt' in front of our names, it's him telling us that he sees us as family, pack. He doesn't do it with any of the Weasleys despite the fact he likes the majority of them. He refuses to do so with Ginny or Ron, and she hates it," she said, sounding smug and he chuckled at her. "So, Teddy calling you 'Uncle Derek' is him saying you're his family, his pack and he loves you."
Derek made a humming sound as he turned his head to place a kiss against her forehead. "I think we should enrol Teddy in school." He felt Hermione's unease in the way her body tensed. "Hermione, I understand that he's different and it'd be a risk to have him in public and with hundreds of witnesses to his shifting or magic, or that something might happen and he'd say something he's not supposed to, but I think we should take that risk. It's all well and good that he spends his time outdoors in the woods and with us, but he's with us twenty-four-seven. He needs to be around children his own age. He needs some independence and to make friends. He's a smart kid and he knows that he can't shift or talk about magic so I think we should trust him with this responsibility. I know that he'll go off to magic school when he turns eleven, but I think this could be good for him. He might even really like it."
"Derek, it's a big risk. He's already displaying signs of magic, you saw him accidentally levitate the coffee table and set fire to one of the couch cushions. His emotions are tied into his outbursts much like mine are, only he doesn't have a wand to help conduct the flow of magic in his body, which makes him volatile and prone to outbursts."
"I know that, but maybe he's lonely. Having friends his own age will allow him to develop relationships and it may even help to prepare him for when he goes off to school. I know everything will be different, but at least he'll understand the routine of school and he'll have a better understanding of how to form relationships. I know you don't want to let him out of your sight and that's your mothering-wolf instincts kicking in, but I really think this will do him some good and it'll give him a distraction."
"Distraction?" She frowned.
"He's a very smart kid, Hermione. Don't tell me you think he's clueless to what's going on?" She looked up at him with a confused look on her face. "He's not stupid, he knows something's not right with Andy. He knows there's a reason he's been moved here with us, he might be young but he understands a lot more than you give him credit for. Going to school will give him a distraction from what's going on here and it'll allow him to better understand this world. Besides, it'll be suspicious when people start noticing that we've got a five year old attached to our hips and he's not at school."
She bit her lip and appeared thoughtful. "I don't like it,"
"I didn't think you would," he said.
"But I can understand your reasoning, so I'll talk to Andy about it and see what she thinks before we mention it to Teddy," she spoke and he nodded. She shifted away from him to get more comfortable and he moved to lying beside her on his side, propping his head up with his hand and elbow and he pressed his other hand against her stomach.
"Ready for tomorrow?" He asked.
"I'm nervous," she admitted.
"Melissa's doing the scan, she's had it arranged and she knows the reasoning behind your wolf traits possibly making an appearance."
"That's not what I'm worried about. You know my magic's wonky and volatile, even if I wasn't pregnant there's a high chance of my magic rendering the equipment useless or it short circuiting."
"Nothing happened last time," he shrugged his shoulders.
"Exactly, so it could very well this time."
"If it happens we'll deal with it then, there's no use in worrying now, you're just going to stress yourself out and that's something we want to avoid."
"I know," she sighed. "I'll be glad when it's all over, I can't wait until the babies are born."
"You and me both," he muttered, lowering his head to nuzzle at her neck.
"There's something I need to talk to you about."
Sensing her trepidation he pulled back to look at her. "Alright, what is it?"
She bit her lip before shaking her head. She knew she had to tell him, her instincts had never let her down and Teddy's words had been niggling at her.
"When Teddy and I were in town today, someone approached me. I felt him watching me and before he even came over to me I knew he was a werewolf." Derek stiffened beside her and the look on his face told her to continue talking. "He asked if I knew you, he said he could smell the babies were yours, so he obviously knew you well enough to know your scent. He said I must be important to you because you've never given a woman the protection of your pack, and he said he's known you since you were born."
"What's his name?" He asked, a rumble coming from his chest and he shifted her closer to him.
"Jonathon Pierce," she answered.
He frowned. "I don't know that name."
"He said he was an allied pack member and he would be seeing you soon."
"I suppose it's possible he's a member of an allied pack, not every pack is made up of family members or has the same name."
She shrugged. "I just thought I should tell you, he was adamant that I not mention my meeting with him to you."
"There's something you're not telling me, what is it?"
She sighed. "You know me too well," she muttered and shook her head. "I just didn't get a good feeling from him, and to make matters worse, Teddy came out of the shop and immediately picked up on him being a werewolf. When he left Teddy told me he didn't like him."
Derek frowned. "I don't like the sound of that," Derek said.
When Hermione had told him about Teddy's ability to tell a good person from a bad one, he believed her, after all, he didn't like Hermione's ex-boyfriend or his sister, and he knew they were both awful people so he promised himself to take Teddy's warnings seriously.
"Until we know who he is I don't want you going anywhere by yourself, I want you to always be with someone, even if it's Teddy or Scott and Stiles."
Despite her annoyance at his words she nodded, seeing no point in arguing. Even if she didn't agree with him, she knew he just wanted to protect her and the babies.
"And when we're done at the hospital we'll make a detour to the Sheriff's Station, there's something I want to check."
"Alright, and I'll talk to Andy about Teddy going to school in the morning."
"We've got a busy day tomorrow so we should probably get some sleep," Derek said.
Hermione nodded. "We should,"
"But?" Derek raised an eyebrow.
"But I can't stop thinking about chocolate milkshakes," she sighed.
~000~000~000~
"Uncle Derek?"
Derek's eyes opened slowly, blinking in the darkness of the room until his night vision kicked in. He looked to see Hermione sleeping peacefully beside him and when he heard the quiet voice again, he lifted his head to see Teddy stood in the door way and Magic was sat by his side obediently. He turned his head to the alarm clock on the bedside table, seeing it to be not long after three o'clock in the morning.
"What is it, Pup?" Derek asked, his voice groggy from sleep.
Teddy shuffled on his feet nervously. "I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you?"
Derek eyed the child carefully, seeing that whatever he'd dreamed about had truly frightened him and he remembered from his own childhood that the only thing that could help him sleep after a nightmare was climbing into his mother's bed.
"Come on then," he said quietly, not wanting to wake Hermione.
Derek made to shuffle closer to Hermione to make more room behind him for Teddy, only much to his amusement, the child climbed onto the bed, pushed Derek aside and situated himself in-between him and Hermione, lying down and burrowing under the covers. Derek noticed that despite Teddy jostling Hermione's monster of a cat and waking him, he didn't receive a glare; it seemed the ugly fur-ball only reserved those for him. After Magic had jumped up onto the bed and curled up in a ball next to Crookshanks, Derek laid back down and got himself comfortable.
"Alright, now go to sleep, your Aunt and I have to be up early."
Teddy nodded and closed his eyes and Derek waited a few minutes before allowing himself to fall back to sleep, and just as he was dozing off, he was woken by a quiet voice.
"Uncle Derek?"
"Pup?" He mumbled.
"Did Aunt 'Mione tell you about the strange man?"
Derek's eyes opened and he found himself wide awake at the question. "Yes, why?"
"Good, I don't like him," Teddy said. "He smelled bad."
"Bad? Bad like Ginny?"
Teddy shook his head. "No, badder. He scared me," Teddy whispered.
"Pup, was your bad dream about the man?" Derek asked. Teddy nodded slowly and Derek felt the child shift closer to him. "You know I won't let anyone hurt you or your Aunt, right?"
"I know," Teddy said quietly. "You're an Alpha; you protect the pack, like my daddy did. My daddy died when I was a baby."
"Mine did, too, Pup."
"My mummy's dead."
"Mine, too."
"You're like me," Teddy muttered. "I've never had a daddy before."
"Me either," Derek sighed, feeling sleep beginning to claim him.
"Uncle Derek?"
"Hmm?" Derek hummed questioningly.
"Will you be my daddy?"
Derek's eyes flew open, he forgot how to breathe and he almost choked. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Do you want me to be?" He asked the little boy cautiously.
Teddy nodded. "I think you're a good daddy."
"If you want me to be, then I will be."
"Can I call you daddy?"
"If you want to," he replied.
"Do you think Aunt 'Mione will be my mummy?"
"I know she will be; she loves you."
"Can I call her that?" He asked.
"If you want to, but she'll probably cry; the babies had her crying because the bar of soap she bought was the wrong colour," Derek said.
Teddy giggled before he turned on his side to face away from him. "Night, Daddy."
Derek would swear to every deity there was that his heart just melted into goo and he felt warmth fill him. So, that's what it felt like to be called that by a child. From that feeling alone he could understand why parents couldn't wait for their children to start talking.
"Night, Pup," he said quietly, before they both fell asleep.
Unknown to him, Hermione had been awake and silently listening into his conversation with Teddy, and tears fell down her face and she had a smile on her mouth.
~000~000~000~
When Derek next woke it was to sunlight seeping through the window, the loud snores of a blue haired little boy, and to see Hermione sat up in bed and watching him with tears in her eyes.
He sat up quickly, being careful not to wake the little boy beside him and he looked at her worriedly.
"What's wrong?" He asked quickly.
She sniffled and shook her head. "Nothing," she said, her voice strained as she tried to hold back her tears.
He frowned. "Obviously there is," he replied. She shook her head. "Tell me."
She shook her head once more before she climbed out of bed and left the room, and after he made sure Teddy was covered with the blanket and sleeping soundly, he quickly followed after her, stopping her in the living room.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
She shook her head and tears escaped from her eyes.
"I need you to tell me," he said seriously. "My wolf's getting rattled."
She gave a sniffle, looked up at him before the damn burst and she broke out into sobs, clinging to him tightly and burying her face against his t-shirt, her tears soaking the fabric. Derek felt worry fill him as he wrapped his arms around her, rubbed comforting circles on her back, made rumbling sounds in his chest and he tried to understand what she was mumbling but couldn't for her sobs, so he was forced to wait until she'd calmed herself down enough for him to make any sense of her.
"What's wrong?" He asked again, bringing his hands up to cradle her red face and looking into her puffy eyes. He hated seeing her sad.
She sniffled. "I just..." She burst into tears again and buried her face back against his chest.
Derek wrapped his arms around her again and moved over to the couch, pulling into his lap and holding her against him until she quieted once more.
"Try again," he told her. "Remember, we made a pinky promise to be honest with each other. You can't break a prinky promise, it's a serious oath."
She sniffled, her mouth tugged at the corners and she took a deep breath to calm herself, wiping her face with the backs of her hands.
"Yes, it is," she agreed.
"Come on then, I'm waiting."
"I just..." She trailed off, looking away from him and down at the ground.
"Just?" He prompted, and he brought his hand to her face and gently made it so she was looking at him again, but she lowered her eyes. "You know you can tell me anything. So, you just?"
She took a deep breath. "Te amo," she whispered.
"What?" He said dumbly.
Slowly she lifted her eyes to lock with his, seeing him looking at her in surprise.
"Te quiero mucho,"
His eyes widened and his lips parted slightly as he sucked in a lungful of air. He hadn't been expecting that. He'd come to terms with the fact he was in love with her and he had been for weeks. How could he not be? She was smart and witty, and beautiful and a pain in the ass when she had cravings at odd times of the day, and she demanded that he get her what she wanted because it was 'his super sperm that had knocked her up, not with just one baby, but two'. She was kind and understanding and she calmed his wolf, brought him peace, give him a pack, and she was the mother of his babies, so of course he loved her.
He just hadn't said anything to her, not because he was afraid of being the first one to say it or he was afraid of being rejected, he just didn't want to overwhelm her and make her feel as though she had to say it back if she didn't mean it. He was waiting for a sign that her feelings for him were deeper than attraction and she hadn't been acting any differently lately, so he just assumed those feelings weren't there for her, so it was a surprise for him to hear those words, and in Spanish, too. He didn't even know she spoke Spanish.
"Tu hablas Español?" He said.
"Estoy aprendiendo para ti," she replied.
He blinked in surprise. "Estas lleno de sorpresas. Eres la mujer perfecta, Pequeña Bruja,"
"I have no idea what you just said," she spoke.
He shook his head and his eyes bore in her teary ones. "Te amo,"
"What?" She said dumbly, blinking slowly.
He chuckled at her. "Te amo," he repeated.
"You do?" She whispered.
"Sí," he nodded.
She left out a breath and sagged against him. "Gracias, Merlín," she sighed.
He chuckled at her and lowered his head until he pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth. "You really got so worked up over that?" He asked her, glad to see that her eyes were losing some of their puffiness and her face some of the redness.
She shrugged. "Couple my feelings with my hormones and that's what you get, and I heard you with Teddy."
"You did?"
She nodded, feeling tears welling up in her eyes again. "It made me realise how much I love you," she told him. "You're going to be so good for him, I've already seen a difference in him, as has Andy, she told me the other day she's never seen Teddy behave the way he does with you. He's closer to you in two weeks, than has been with Harry in five years."
"I understand him," he shrugged.
"Don't sell yourself short, Derek. You don't just understand him, you encourage him to be who he is, not to hide that part of himself away. You don't try to stop him from being who he is, you embrace it and he's grown so much emotionally and in confidence in the little time he's been here and it's because of you. Harry gave him presents; you gave him love and acceptance, and that's why Teddy loves you, that's why he asked you to be his father. He's never asked that of Harry, not even once. You don't realise how special you are, to me, to the babies, to Teddy. To your pack. Teddy's right, you're eyes might not show it, but you're an Alpha and a damn good one, too. And to be honest, I much prefer your blue eyes over red ones. You might not have the power of an Alpha, but you're our Alpha, and we love you for it. I love you for it."
~000~000~000~
"Hello, Hermione, Derek," Melissa McCall greeted with a smile as she met Hermione and Derek in the waiting area, her eyes falling down to the sandy haired boy beside Derek and holding his hand. Her eyes moved back to Hermione when she heard her sniffle and Melissa noticed that she'd been crying. She looked to Derek questioningly.
A smile played at his lips. "Teddy called her 'mommy' for the first time," he explained, his smiled widening when Hermione burst into tears again and covered her face with her hands as he pulled her into him and wrapped his free arm around her.
Melissa blinked in surprise. "Adoption?"
"Kind of, but not quite," Derek shrugged, confusing her.
"It's the babies, Daddy said they make her cry 'coz her soap's the wrong colour," Teddy spoke up.
Melissa blinked in surprise again when Derek's smile widened, but she shook her head breaking out of her shock and she laughed at the little boy.
"Yes, babies in mommies tummies can do that," she said. "So you must be the Teddy my Scott told me about," she smiled down at him.
Teddy nodded. "Scott's a werewolf." She didn't look surprised by his knowledge so Derek assumed Scott had already told her about Teddy. "I like him."
"I know he likes you, too. He said you're very smart." Teddy stood taller.
"His weird friend asked lots and lots of questions, I didn't tell him anything," he said proudly. Melissa chuckled and Derek snorted.
"That makes you very, very smart, not a lot of people can do that." She turned to look at Hermione, seeing that she'd calmed down now. "Shall we see what's going on with the little ones?"
Hermione nodded and the little group followed Melissa through the halls and to an examination room, where Hermione went through the routine of shifting her clothing, having cold gel put on her skin and the scanner running over her stomach.
"Does twenty-one weeks sound right?" Melissa asked. Hermione nodded. "Well, I can't see any issues, everything looks fine. Do you want to know the sexes?"
Hermione and Derek nodded so fast Melissa couldn't help chuckle. She spent a good ten minutes trying to discover the gender of the twins, but unfortunately, no matter what she did, they weren't cooperating with them either facing the wrong way or wriggling about too much.
It was safe to say Hermione left the hospital in a mood and she fumed silently as Derek drove her SUV to the Sheriff's Station.
They all stepped out of the car and Derek led the way into the station, ignoring the other deputies that were eyeing Hermione, her stomach and Teddy curiously and he knocked on the Sheriff's door before walking in without waiting for a response.
"Please, come in," Sheriff Stilinski said sarcastically as he looked up from his desk.
Hermione wasn't sure whether she should be surprised that Scott and Stiles were both sat on the couch in the room. It was a Saturday but why they'd be there was a mystery to her. They looked just as surprised to see her, especially when they caught sight of Derek holding Teddy's hand, and the little boy waved at the teens in greeting and sent them a large smile.
"I need your help with something," Derek said.
The sheriff frowned. "You said you'd handle the supernatural," he replied, nodding to Hermione.
"It's not a case, I just need a favour," Derek said, and something in his voice and his eyes had the sheriff sitting forward and crossing his arms on his desk.
"What is it?" "I need you to gather as much information as you can on a Jonathon Pierce."
"Why?"
"He approached Hermione in town yesterday. He's a werewolf and claimed to know me and be a member of an allied pack, but I don't recognise the name."
"I don't like him," Teddy said, shifting closer to Derek's side and the sheriff looked down at him curiously.
"You don't?" He asked Teddy as though he knew.
She sent a look to the two teens and they smiled sheepishly. It seemed they were rubbish at keeping information to themselves and she rolled her eyes; she should've known.
"No," he shook his head, frowning deeply. "He smelt bad. Badder than Ginny."
"Who?" Three voices asked confused.
"My ex-boyfriend's sister, the red headed bitch," Hermione explained.
Teddy gasped. "You said a bad word," he told her.
"No, I didn't, Teddy Bear. A bitch is a girl dog, it's perfect for her."
He frowned, the other three looked confused and Derek looked to be struggling to contain his amusement.
"That's the babies talking," he said.
"No, the babies talking would be me saying I wanted to rip the she-demon's throat out with my teeth."
"That one's got nothing to do with the babies; that's all you," he spoke, and when he looked at her his eyes flashed blue, his wolf coming to the surface for a small moment.
"Right," the sheriff spoke, getting them back on topic. "You think he's a bad man?" He asked Teddy.
Teddy nodded. "He gave me bad dreams, he scared me. I don't like him."
The sheriff gave Teddy a soft smile, reminding her of the fact he was a father himself and his teenage son had once been Teddy's age.
"We're not gonna let anyone hurt you," he said.
"I know, Daddy will protect us," he said.
Noises of surprise were heard and Stiles appeared to be choking on his breath while Scott thumped him on the back and stared between the three of them.
"Sheriff, if Teddy says this guy's bad, then he is. I didn't get a good feeling from him either and my instincts are on point, not only from the wolf traits I'm suffering with, but from the fact I'm a war veteran."
"You are?" The three humans asked together, looking her up and down.
"Yes, and stop staring."
"My mummy and daddy died in the war," Teddy spoke up, plunging the room into silence. "But it's okay, I got a new mummy and daddy," he grinned up at Hermione and Derek and they both smiled down at him.
The sheriff cleared his throat. "Right, Jonathon Pierce, a bad guy and a potential threat to you and your pack?"
"That's it," Derek nodded.
"I'll need a day or two to see what I can find."
"I'll come by on Monday."
"Derek?"
He turned his head to look at Hermione, seeing the sheepish smile on her face he knew what was coming.
"What?" He asked, trying to stop a smile from pulling at his mouth.
"I really want a chocolate milkshake."
Courtesy of Google Translator
Te amo – I love you
Te quiero – I really love you / I love you very much
Tu hablas Español? – You speak Spanish?
Estoy aprendiendo para ti – I'm learning for you
Estas lleno de sorpresas. Eres la mujer perfecta, Pequeña Bruja – You're full of surprises, you're the perfect woman, Little Witch.
Sí? – Yes
Gracias – Thank you