Sadie drifted in and out of consciousness, trying to focus on the muffled panicked voice she could hear in the distance. She felt an oxygen mask pressed to her face, bright lights overhead as she rattled back and forth on her back. There was a pinching pain in her arm, an IV. She realized she was in the back of an ambulance. The muffled voice was Stiles, sitting down by her feet as the paramedic hovered over her. Stiles had his phone pressed to his ear, his mouth rapidly moving.

"Ma'am? Sadie? Can you hear me?" The paramedic had noticed she was awake. Her brown eyes slowly shifted to the woman moving over her and she felt a comforting hand on her ankle, Stiles.

"Sadie?"

"Don't call me ma-" she couldn't finish her sentence, eyes screwing shut tightly as she felt a stabbing pain in her ribs.

Unable to curl up on herself due to being strapped to the gurney, Sadie cried out. She felt Stiles' grip on her ankle tighten. He was talking but she couldn't understand anything he was saying.

"We're almost to the hospital," the paramedic reassured, "Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"

The pain returned again, this time lingering. She wanted to claw her hands into her ribs at the pain, tears were streaming down the side of her face. "Can't stay pregnant. Can't get pregnant," she moaned, feeling the darkness creeping in at the edge of her vision again, her head lolling to the side of the gurney.

Stiles was in a frenzy, knee jiggling nervously as he gripped his cell phone tightly in the waiting room. They wouldn't let him back into Sadie's room since he wasn't family. He was as good as family, he thought stubbornly. He briefly considered flashing his FBI badge, but with his new transfer just accepted, he didn't want to risk it. Sadie would be furious if he did anything to jeopardize his move. The phone in his hand vibrated, not even ringing once before he answered.

"Scott?"

"I'm in the Preserve. I can smell their tracks, but they're not close by anymore. They still won't let you in to see her?"

Stiles stood, angrily running a hand through his hair, "No! I don't want to worry your Mom, but if she could call and give some MD pull I bet they'd let me in."

"I don't want to worry her until I know what's wrong with Sadie. Let me put Allison on the call….Allison, anything on your side of the Preserve?"

Stiles waited impatiently for the former hunter to answer, "Their tracks are fresh here. I think I hear-" Allison yelped as muffled sounds of a scuffle ensued followed by a roar.

Stiles jumped, briefly looking down at his phone before waiting for an answer as Scott shouted Allison's name in worry. He could hear Allison panting as she gripped the phone tightly in her hands, "Let go of me! Cora, I'm here trying to help!"

It sounded like the phone was ripped from Allison's hands, "Who is this?"

Cora Hale wasn't one for pleasantries. Or apparently utilizing Caller ID.

"It's Stiles and Scott, are you with Derek?"

"I ran ahead, why? What do you need him for so badly that you'd send the zombie out looking for him?"

"I'm NOT a zombie Cora!" he could hear Allison protest loudly in the background.

"Sadie's in the hospital! She passed out at dinner-" Stiles started to explain, but Cora cut him off.

"Sadie? Is she okay? What happened?" he tried to answer, but was cut off again by her loudly roaring. She must be signaling Derek and Eli. He held the phone away from his ear, wincing at the volume.

"I don't know, we were having dinner and it just happened so fast. They won't talk to me or tell me anything since I'm not family. You need to get Derek here."

"Where's here? Hustle up zombie, we don't have time for your human speed to slow us down!"

"Alta Bates Hospital. We're in Berkeley."

"Berkeley! Fuck, that's far! I see them coming. Derek! Stiles, we'll be there soon." and with that Cora hung up Allison's phone.

Stiles sat for a moment in silence before Scott quietly spoke, "Stiles, are you still there?"

He sat back down in the uncomfortable plastic chair, glancing up at the clock. They'd been there for over an hour. Stiles stood back up immediately, a determined look on his face. "I'm going to try something. Are you on your way?"

"Yeah. I'll be there as soon as I can. Good luck."

He stood at the reception station, impatient for the nurse to return from behind the half wall where she'd disappeared behind. She spotted him and came back out, "Can I help you?"

Stiles swallowed thickly and squared his shoulders and tried to channel his fiancée.

"Hi! I need to know my wife's room number, she was brought in by ambulance about an hour ago? Sadie Hale. Five foot six, brown curly hair?"

The nurse glanced down at her computer and back up at Stiles again. "She's your wife? What happened to the guy that brought her in?"

He waved his hand as if to clear the air, "Biles. He left to go get coffee. She is my wife. That is correct. We are super married, have a whole child and everything."

Rolling her eyes, the nurse continued to type, not bothering to look up at Stiles again. "She was moved to the fourth floor about thirty minutes ago."

Stiles didn't bother to say thank you as he ran for the elevator, throwing himself inside the open doors, his fingers anxiously hovering in the air over the floor numbers as he read the department names attached to the floor numbers. His fingers froze over the number four, eyes going wide as he pushed the button.

There had been many times in Stiles' life that he was convinced Derek Hale was going to kill him. They were all completely unfounded of course. But seeing him run towards him in the hospital lobby with Eli, Cora and an exhausted Allison hot on his trail was a different feeling. The werewolf was vibrating with a raw energy that scared Stiles, despite the expression on his face. He didn't look murderous, eyes weren't flashing electric blue. Instead he looked how Stiles had felt when he'd run in those same double doors earlier that night, but multiplied by a hundred. Weak. Frantic. Moving with one singular thought. Sadie. Stiles tried to keep his face neutral as Derek approached him.

The werewolf reached Stiles quickly in steady strides, "Where is she? What happened?"

Stiles peeled the visitor sticker reading 'Derek Hale, spouse' off his own shirt, slapping it onto the werewolf's henley. "Fourth floor, room 410"

Derek glanced down at the sticker for a moment, completely bewildered before breaking into a run into the stairwell, not even bothering with the elevator. Cora spun Stiles on the spot. She definitely looked murderous. "Start talking Stilinski"

Guilt. Fear. Anger at himself. Derek reeked with emotions as he burst through the stairwell door onto the fourth floor. He could barely see straight as he all but ran down the hallway, eyebrows drawn tightly together with worry. He counted the door numbers shakily under his breath until he reached room 410. He hesitated for the briefest of seconds on the door, anxiety churning in his gut at what he'd find behind the door, inhaling deeply. There was a lingering scent of Sadie's blood, but it was stale so she was no longer actively bleeding. There was a familiar sweet smell on this floor that he didn't smell downstairs. He couldn't quite place it, but he knew he'd smelled it before. Pushing it away, he opened the door, quietly stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

Sadie was laying in the hospital bed with her eyes closed, her hair fanned over the pillow behind her. The lights in the room were dimmed, but he could see her clearly in the light. To the naked eye she didn't look like she'd been hurt, but it didn't reassure Derek in the slightest.

She was hooked up to several machines and monitors. Derek's hands were shaking as he dropped to his knees beside her bed, taking her hand in his. Bringing her hand to his lips for a kiss, he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down to listen to her heartbeat but he couldn't focus. There were too many other noises in the room and what sounded like a galloping horse loudly over the top. It was the loudest sound in the room he realized, focusing in on it. He lifted his head from where he held her hands, frowning as he realized he knew that sound. Derek turned over his shoulder to look at the monitors Sadie was hooked up to.

"You hear it now, don't you?" Sadie said quietly, carding a hand through his hair gently, a soft smile on her face.

Derek turned back to his wife, eyes wide. His mouth opened, but he couldn't get the words out. It felt like his heart was going to burst through his chest and he felt tears starting to burn his eyes. Sadie was already crying, tugging on Derek to come closer. Rising from his knees instantly at her tug, he pressed a gentle kiss against her that was more crying than kissing. She laughed, holding his face to hers as she kissed him again. His right palm slid through the front opening of her hospital gown, just above the monitor that had been secured around her.

"A baby," he breathed against her mouth, kissing her again, unable to stop himself from smiling widely.

He pulled back suddenly, looking seriously at Sadie then to the monitors. "Is everything okay? Are you okay? Is it like last time-" he panicked out in a rush, stopping only when Sadie pressed a finger to his lips. Her smile was so strong he felt blinded by it, wanting to soak in the sun of her.

"I have preeclampsia, sort of like the postpartum-eclampsia like I had with Eli. It's why I passed out and had the pain-"

"Pain?!"

She shh'd him gently, scooting over in bed to allow him next to her. He immediately wrapped his arm around her, his other palm not straying from where he'd placed it moments ago, his thumb softly running over her stomach. His nose dragged up the side of her neck, breathing deeply to reassure himself she was truly here and she was okay.

"It's apparently common with kidney issues and people who have had it in the past, so with both a slightly damaged kidney and having had it with Eli, I was a prime candidate."

It didn't feel real still, to either of them. Even Sadie, who'd had the knowledge for at least an hour at that point. She paused, waiting to drop the other bomb on him. She smiled slyly, snuggling up closer to Derek.

"She's due to make an appearance around the time of Stiles and Lydia's wedding, so we might not be going to that depending on how I'm feeling."

Derek froze, looking at Sadie as he did the mental math.

"April? How didn't I notice or hear the heartbeat? How didn't you-" he broke off, rubbing his hand across her abdomen gently in wonder.

Now that he was looking for it, there was definitely a small bump on his wife's slight frame. Sadie laid her hand over the top of Derek's, kissing the side of his neck. He was still panicking. After several miscarriages after having Eli, Derek and Sadie had all but given up hope they'd have another baby. It wasn't for lack of trying and tests never showed a reason for it. "Unexplained infertility" is what they'd called it at their last doctor's appointment. Looking back, Sadie realized she had experienced symptoms over the last few weeks, but chalked it up to being busy, never dreaming to hope she was pregnant again.

"And everything is okay? You haven't gone to any appointments or taken prenatals-"

Sadie pointed to the stapled paperwork beside the bed. Derek reached over to snag it, his eyes scanning furiously down the information as she talked, "Apart from me having preeclampsia, she's healthy and right on track. Picture perfect, is what they said. Blood work came back about ten minutes ago too confirming it. There's pictures from the ultrasound on the last page, I'm sorry we couldn't wait for you to do it. I made Stiles leave the room so it was just me if that makes you feel better."

At the mention of ultrasound photos, Derek immediately flipped to the last page, his fingers gently tracing over the very clear shape of a baby in the black and white images. He'd just looked at the last one, his heart surging with happiness when something finally clicked in his brain. Derek tipped his face down to Sadie, who was looking very smug.

"Have you been saying 'she' this entire time for a reason?" he asked, already knowing the answer based on his wife's grin.

Sadie nodded, unable to keep the grin off her face. Derek matched it, ducking his head down to kiss her again. They'd pulled apart at the sound of a scuffle outside the door.

Derek rolled his eyes, "Cora doesn't want Stiles or Allison to come in. She called them useless humans and they're fighting outside." he told Sadie, listening for the rest of the conversation outside.

"What about Eli, did he come with you? Does he know?"

Derek was still listening to the noise outside the door, the smile returning to his face after a moment.

"He can hear us. So can Cora obviously, but she's too heated about Allison and Stiles right now to care. He says to tell you that as long as you're going to be okay, he's very excited to be a big brother," he paused, "Especially now that he can teach it and I quote, 'cool werewolf shit'"

Sadie snorted at her son's remarks, remembering the reason they'd been gone in the first place, "So 'Werewolf 101' went well then?"

Derek nodded, still beaming from the news. "Apart from Eli falling in several holes, he's a really fast learner. You should have seen him-"

The door burst open, Stiles falling in first to the floor as Allison and Cora stepped over him, pushing their way in. They both glared at each other for a moment before shifting their gaze to the couple on the bed.

"You're having a baby! Oh my god!" Allison was the first one to speak, coming around to Sadie's side of the bed to give her a gentle hug. She had tears in her eyes when she pulled away, tucking one of Sadie's curls behind her ear.

"I'm so glad I'm here for this," she whispered to her and Sadie nodded in agreement, "Me too Allison."

Cora pulled Stiles to his feet by the back of his jacket before perching on the end of the hospital bed. Her expression was still worried. "You're okay though, Sadie? The baby? What happened last time with Eli, they won't let that happen again right?"

Sadie shook her head, giving Cora's hand a reassuring squeeze. "No. They're aware of it this time so I'm going to be on medication to keep my blood pressure down, monitoring that daily and if it comes down to it, bedrest. It's easy to treat and prevent issues if they catch it early."

That seemed to reassure Cora, who had been flashed back to being in the room with Sadie when she'd nearly died before, clutching her sister-in-law's hand desperately as Derek held a newborn Eli, both of them completely helpless. Cora kissed Sadie's forehead, looking over her shoulder at Eli with a pointed look.

"You've got to get rid of that demon lizard now. You can't have that in the house when my niece comes home."

Stiles looked over at the teenager in the doorway, wrinkling his nose in a grimace, "Dude you have a lizard? Gross. At least get a snake, I had a boa once you know."

Eli had been lurking in the doorway, biting nervously on the side of his lip just like Sadie did when she was nervous. "Uh, Potato is an angel. He wouldn't harm a fly. Well, he eats flies actually, but you know what I mean."

"Eli," Derek gestured for him to come over. Cora looked between the remaining Hales of the room before ushering Stiles and Allison out and back down to the waiting room to give them some privacy.

"I know this is probably weird for you. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or think that this baby is going to upheave your life in any way Eli….how do you feel?" Sadie prompted gently.

The teen sat down in the chair beside the bed, leaning forward on his knees. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings Mom-" Derek let out a warning low growl, not liking where he was heading, but Eli held up a hand, "-Dad, let me finish."

Sadie nodded at her son to continue, heart in her throat. Eli had always been really open with her, but never once had mentioned a sibling.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings Mom, by telling you how much I wanted a sibling my whole life. I knew…I knew something was going on and sometimes wrong. You'd suddenly be bleeding and Dad would rush you to the hospital while Grandma came over to stay with me."

Sadie sucked in a breath, not realizing how much Eli had heard or seen.

He didn't notice and continued his explanation, "Or that one time Sheriff Stilinski came and played Uno with me for hours, then put me to bed. He told me that you were going to be okay, but I should give you extra love when you got home."

"You tried to give her your bike as a get well present," Derek said softly, remembering.

Eli nodded, "So I didn't ask for a brother or sister…and I made it seem like I didn't give a shit, because I didn't want to make you sad like you were when you'd get home from the hospital. I didn't want you to be hurting," Eli finished, his hands red from twisting them nervously as he spoke.

"Oh Eli," Sadie sniffed, pulling her son to her from the chair. He hugged her like she was made of glass, sniffling his own tears away into her hair as she smoothed a hand down his hair in comfort like she used to do when he was younger.

"It's going to be different this time honey. It is different. The baby will be here by spring and they're going to watch me super close until she does arrive. We're already past the point I was with the other pregnancies, so that's a really big good step."

Eli pulled back, a watery smile on his face. "She? I'm getting a baby sister?"

Sadie nodded, swiping a thumb to clear her son's tears off his cheeks.

He shook his head in disbelief, laughing loudly, "Oh my god! That's so awesome. Aunt Lydia is going to spoil the crap out of her, isn't she?"

Sadie laughed loudly with her son, realizing she had more than the people who were present to share the news with. "She got you a three piece suit the day after you were born so you could be presentable for guests. I can't imagine what she'll do with a girl."

Sadie was released from the hospital the following morning with blood pressure medication and an arm cuff with strict instructions on how to check it herself at home. Thankfully they didn't think bed rest was necessary at the moment, but Derek didn't care. He carried her from the car to the bed the second they parked in the driveway.

Sadie couldn't say she hated the attention that was paid to her over the next few weeks. It felt like a dream, having their friends and family so close to home to be able to celebrate with them. Cora had flown back to Columbia just before the holidays, missing her pack but promising to return when the baby was born. Stiles had closed on the house and was now commuting to work via public transit while Lydia drove into the city from their new shared home. Derek had wrapped up Peter's estate the week before Christmas, coming back from their shared storage facility with a cardboard box in hand.

He set it on the coffee table in front of Sadie where she'd been working on wrapping the last of Eli's gifts. Derek didn't say anything, just nudged the box towards his wife expectantly. She gave him a teasing poke in the chest and pushed the box away from her slightly, "You can't wait another week for Christmas?"

Derek tilted his head at her teasing, raising his eyebrows at the box, "This isn't from me. It's actually from Peter."

Her curiosity increased, so she set down the ribbon, scooting closer to the edge of the couch and pulling the box back to her. Slowly lifting the flaps keeping it closed, she slid a hand between them. Frowning as she felt something soft at the bottom of the box. "If this is a pile of v-necks Derek, I'm going to kill you."

"Just open it," he prompted.

Sadie released the fabric in her hand, withdrawing it to fully open the box and peer down into it. She sucked in a breath, her eyes looking up to Derek for a moment before going back into the box, her hands lifting the gift out and onto her lap. It was a blanket. A soft dusty mauve baby blanket, carefully folded into a rectangle with a ribbon, a name embroidered in the corner in a darker mauve color. Sadie traced over the letters with a finger, biting her lip as she looked up to her husband.

"Talia," she breathed and he nodded his head, soft smile on his lips.

"Peter bought that after I told him you were pregnant with Eli. When I told him we were having a boy he told me there was no way, because he knew I'd have a little girl…a little girl named after my Mom."

Derek reached out, touching the soft blanket in her lap. Tracing over the name like she had just done. "I found it when I was cleaning out his apartment, but had it in storage until today. Peter had saved it…all this time." Derek handed her a white notecard, "This was tucked in the ribbon."

Sadie took the card, staring down at Peter's handwriting in shock as she read. 'To the littlest wolf. May you be beautiful and fierce like your Mother and an extraordinary wolf your namesake. Love, Great-Uncle Peter'

All the times Peter had teased her, hassled her, outright insulted her…he had been holding onto this blanket the entire time. Beautiful and fierce like your Mother. Sadie was speechless, her mind racing with the last interaction she'd had with Peter before Derek slid a hand over hers.

"Stop it. He sacrificed himself for everyone, for us…we can't let it haunt us. Not now. Not with something so wonderful happening. He wouldn't want that."

Sadie stifled a sob in a laugh, "I don't know about that. He told me once I was an ugly crier and it was entertaining to watch."

Derek chuckled, pulling Sadie onto his lap, "It's okay to say you miss him, I won't tell."

She sniffed, burrowing her face in his neck, "I miss him. I miss his stupid insults and stupid cigars. Stupid v-necks. Stupid buying Eli Potato for his birthday. Our stupid wine nights. You know he brought over his own ashtray when you were literally dying? I wish we could tell him we're having a baby girl…that Talia will be here next year."

Derek's arms tightened around her, "You like Talia? You really do?"

Sadie nodded, pulling back to look into his green eyes, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. "It feels right. If that's okay with you?"

Derek didn't answer her, instead adjusting her to straddle his lap, capturing her mouth with his.

"Thank you," he breathed against her, running his nose down the long line of her throat.

Sadie pulled away to look at her husband, confused, "Thank you? For what?"

"Everything."