Well hello there, my lovelies ! It's been quite a while hasn't it? First of all, I owe a huge apology to you all for taking over a year to update this story! Throughout the year I kept on getting comments telling me to come back to finish this story, so thank you very much for encouraging me to keep writing! This was my first year away in college and it has been a crazy and extremely busy time! (Go Buffs!) I told myself that once summer came around, I would begin writing again but after finals weeks I was in Argentina for a bit, then took a summer class, and now I am in Los Angeles for an internship! Though I am still busy here, I missed writing so much and I missed Derek and Kayleigh so I forced myself to make time for it. I will be finished with my internship and returning home in about two weeks, which means that I will be able to publish more chapters, yay!

I started writing this chapter last summer and came back to it several times throughout the year, but could never find the inspiration to finish it. It's very nerve-racking to come back to writing after such a long time! I know that my writing skills are a bit rusty therefore I apologize in advance if this chapter seems choppy. Also, I have been keeping up with the show therefore I have added some details to the story that come from this season such as the new characters. For some reason, it was a difficult chapter for me to write but I am excited to write the next one.

What do you guys think about the new season? I still love Derek and though I am not pleased with the abruptness of how they introduced Miss Blake, I do like them together, but seriously… the writers could have done something more smooth. For those of you who have read my other Derek fanfic, Redemption, please let me know if I should continue it! I'm really not sure what to do with it since I like the Blake/Derek pairing. Anyways thank you all for staying with me even though I took a very long break. I hope you somewhat enjoy this chapter and are having a great summer xoxo M

Derek and I stood there side by side, arms crossed, and eyebrows furrowed as Kayleigh sat quietly at her tiny desk coloring on a dozen or so sheets scattered before her. A small crease was tattooed in between her two green eyes as she concentrated very carefully on what looked like a pink and purple mess. She was completely oblivious to the fact that we had been staring at her for the past 20 minutes.

"Are you sure?" Derek once again asked.

"Seriously? You're still questioning me?" I rolled my eyes. His body was so tense and his eyes were unreadable.

"Yes," he said.

I huffed in frustration. "I remember it clearly, Derek. That is what she said, I'm sure of it," I said for the millionth time.

From the corner of my eye I saw him shaking his head. He was in denial.

"Last time, I checked it's not normal for a child to have super-hearing," I added.

He turned to me, peering down," Well last time I checked, kids weren't exactly strangers to lying either!" he hissed.

I took a deep breath, trying to control my tone. "No, Derek," I responded in a calm voice. I could sense his temper flaring and the last thing I wanted to deal with right now was the mess that his anger would bring.

He was quiet for a moment. "Maybe, I was just snoring loudly. That's why she was able to hear me," he said. His tone was not assuring and a sense of doubt was obvious in his voice. He sounded disheartened, as if he were trying to convince himself that what he just said was the truth. But it wasn't. Derek may have been a loud snorer, but not loud enough to be heard by human ears several rooms away.

I didn't respond to him, instead I just shook my head. He knew it wasn't the truth

After Derek had woken up, I franticly told him about my conversation with Kayleigh and her unusual comment about hearing his snoring - his eyes immediately glazed over in a mixture of shock, confusion, and fear. He sat in silence on the black leather couch for a long while.

The stress of what was going on with Allison and the shock of finding out that Derek had a daughter still hadn't sunk in completely which is why it hadn't crossed my mind until now to question what Kayleigh was. Kayleigh was the daughter of a human and a werewolf – but not just any werewolf, a born werewolf, not bitten. How had Derek not thought about this? There had to be non-human DNA in her. He sat there stone cold staring into nothing.

I left him alone. Never had I seen him this way. Fear. It was clear in his eyes.

Not only was his reaction unusual, but in a way it was relieving. The fact that Derek was showing this type of concern for the girl was a sign that maybe he wasn't completely fucked over for this parenting job. He was scared.

If she turned out to be like us, what would happen?

"What are her chances?" I asked him after I couldn't stand the silence any longer. It was common knowledge that if two wolves mated, their offspring would also be a wolf, however I had no clue what the circumstances were when it came to this particular situation.

It took him a few minutes to respond. I could sense Derek's stress level increasing by the second; his posture was so tense. "It's 70/30. Wolf genes are dominant," he finally spoke with an assertive tone. Derek suddenly jumped to his feet and made his way over to the balcony door, stepping outside. I followed him and stood behind as he slumped over the railing looking down to the 20-story drop beneath him.

Derek looked weak. It was something I never thought that I would see, but there it was in front of me and I couldn't imagine what was running through his head.

"Does it mean that she is one of us?" I asked carefully. I knew he didn't want to hear those words, but I had to put it out there.

He hesitated, "There's still a chance that she is normal," there was definite uncertainty in his voice.

"How will we know for sure if she's a wolf or not?" I asked. "Can transformation even happen at her age?"

"I'm not sure. I've heard stories of kids transforming as young as six or seven, but I have never seen it for myself. If she is…" he shook his head, not even able to finish his words. Shivers ran down his spine - Derek couldn't even think about Kayleigh becoming a werewolf. "No," he whispered, closing his eyes as his head drooped forward. He looked defeated. Distraught. Scared. Nothing like I had ever seen before.

He wanted her to be normal. A human. And I completely agreed with him. Being a wolf is not something that I would have chosen for myself if I had gotten to choose, but for Kayleigh, it was all up to chance and though Derek wanted to believe that his daughter would beat the odds of the gene pool, we knew the odds were not in our favor.

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Poptarts. Fruits snacks. Juice. With a million things racing through my mind, the grocery store was the last place that I wanted to be at the moment.

I looked down at the full cart of food in front of me while Kayleigh sat well behaved in the shopping cart seat as she examined a colorful box of cereal in her lap without a care in the world - me on the other hand... I felt as if I was going to lose it at any moment.

Just when I had recollected my thoughts and somewhat calmed down, Scott dropped another bomb on me. Tonight was the full moon.

Again, my stomach flipped, my head throbbed, and my body felt weak. Not only did I have extreme pressure of worrying about what species my daughter was, but now I also had to worry about her safety during the full moon. This day was turning into a complete shit hole.

xxx

"She will be safe from me, Derek. I'll make sure that I stay as far away as possible. You have nothing to worry about," I recalled Scott saying. I shook my head.

"It's not you that I'm worried about, idiot. I'll make damn sure that you stay a town or two away from Kayleigh tonight," I said.

"Okay… then what are you worried about?" he asked.

"Me," I replied.

"What about you? You can control yourself during the full moon, Derek. What's the problem?" Scott questioned.

"I know that I have the capability to control myself during the full moon. But any wolf, no matter how experienced they are, can lose control at any moment. I will not take the risk," I stated boldly, "I will not risk putting her in danger."

He looked away, knowing that I was right. "Well what are you going to do Derek? Leave her here by herself?"

"I'm thinking," I whispered, pinching the bridge of my nose, "Just keep quiet." I could feel my head throbbing.

"Do you have any friends that can babysit?" he asked. "Or… do you even have friends?"

"No."

Scott mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, "thought so." I didn't have the energy to care about what came out of Scott's mouth anymore though I would have liked to punch him in the throat at that moment.

"What about my mom? She can watch her," he suggested. I was not comfortable with anyone taking care of Kayleigh except for Miss Nelson however the last time I had spoken on the phone to Miss Nelson was when she was still ill in the hospital. She refused to let me take Kayleigh to see her, saying that she didn't want the little girl to see her in the weak condition that she was in. Thinking of the poor woman alone in the hospital actually made my heart heavy. She was a good woman and the first person that I genuinely trusted in a very long time.

For a minute, I liked the idea of Scott's mother watching over Kayleigh, but of course finding a solution was not going to be that easy.

"No," I said.

"Why not? My mom isn't dangerous, Derek. She doesn't pose a threat," he defended.

"But Kayleigh does," I snapped back.

"What do you mean?" A quizzical look appeared on his face.

"Look," I huffed, in frustration, "We don't know if Kayleigh is wolf or not, but if she is," I mentally winced, "we need to be careful. They usually don't start turning at the full moon at her age, but anything can happen. So for your mother's safety, she needs to stay away from Kayleigh tonight." Scott leaned back against the wall as his shoulders slumped forward. The thought of his mother getting hurt at the full moon made him shiver.

He shook his head, erasing that thought. "Well," he looked up at me, "what about Allison?"

"Allison!" I scoffed. "Good one, Scott. I'm sure that she will be thrilled when suddenly Kayleigh turns into a little wolf in the middle of the night. " I rolled my eyes. "And if her family ever finds out about Kayleigh," I cringed at the thought. "I couldn't imagine what would happen," I mumbled quietly.

"Lydia?"

"She can't even take care of herself. You expect me to leave her with my daughter?" I shook my head.

"Fine," Scott put his hands up like he was surrendering, "what do you suggest, Derek?" he asked in a weary tone.

I turned away from him, taking a deep breath in as I closed my eyes. There was only one person left and though it brought shivers down my spine to think about leaving Kayleigh in his care, I knew I had no choice. I knew he could handle himself if anything bizarre happened tonight with Kayleigh and though I hated him and wished I could throw him out the window each time he spoke, I had some trust in him.

xxx

My mind wandered back to the present moment at the grocery store. I stuffed the cart with more than what Kayleigh needed to get through the night and hustled to the cash register. I wanted to make sure that her babysitter had no reason to leave the house tonight - I wanted them both within the safe confines of the loft.

Once we arrived home, I started the process of preparing the nightly routine for Kayleigh and once dinner was on the stove, I sat down next to Kayleigh who was occupied watching her some movie while laying on the floor of her room. The little girl laid flat on her stomach with her chin propped up on her hand. Her green eyes glittered at me for a moment when she found me beside her, something that she always did when I entered the room. The unusual warmth inside of me was present once again when I saw her familiar eyes.

"Hi Daddy," she squeaked before retreating her gaze back towards her TV.

"Kayleigh," I said softly, "I need you to do something for me, okay?"

"Okay," she peered up at me again, "do what?"

I hesitated for a moment. I still wasn't quite good with my words when it came to speaking to her and I was constantly reminding myself that she was a child before I said anything. It had been years since I actually needed to communicate with anyone younger than Scott – not since my younger sister, Cora, was alive. "I'm not going to be able to put you to bed tonight. But someone else will." It was just how I practiced it.

She stretched her neck up to look at me again. Her expression was almost angry. "No," she responded simply.

My eyes widened. Her boldness caught me off guard for a moment. "Yes," I replied back slowly. It almost sounded as if it were a question.

"I want you to put me to bed," she stated.

"I can't, Kayleigh. I won't be here tonight. Someone else will take care of you," I explained. Her small blond eyebrows pulled together.

"Where are you going, Daddy?" she sounded as if she were interrogating me.

I had planned out my response to this question earlier. "Work, Kayleigh. I have to go to work."

"Can I come?" she responded quickly. As much as I hated saying no to her, I reminded myself that it was necessary. But her angelic face always threw me off. I sighed.

"No, Kayleigh," I leaned down closer to her, "someone will be here to take care of you tonight, but I promise that I will be here by the time you wake up in the morning." I kissed her quickly on the forehead and stood up.

Her scrunched up expression lasted for only a few more seconds before her eyes softened at the statement of my promise and she returned to continue watching TV. Her blond curls fell gently over her shoulders as she propped her tiny head against her palm again - she was a spitting image of her mother and though it was painful and difficult each time Kate slipped into my mind, the only thing that I hoped Kayleigh would inherit from her mom besides her beauty was being human. I hoped that Kayleigh would be able to be a normal girl and though I was different, I hoped that she could still have a normal childhood. I would try my greatest to provide her with a normal life – the last thing that I wanted, was for her to suffer that way that I did.

Suddenly I was drawn out of my thoughts when I heard the doorbell ring. I shut my eyes tight and let out a big sigh. I knew who was at the door and I wish I could have kept him waiting out there forever. Here it goes.

Dragging my feet on the way to the entrance, I immediately hated myself for ever agreeing to this arrangement. I opened the door and just looking at him standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets already making me annoyed – I was tempted to punch that boyish smile off of his face.

"Hello Derek," he nodded.

I rolled my eyes. "Get inside, Stiles."