Chapter 2

Stiles is used to Scott asking some stupid questions by now, having known Scott all of his life and all that, so this isn't the first time and he's sure it won't be the last, but Stiles can't help but to roll his eyes at Scott when he asks "Where did the baby come from?" Oh, the irony.

Stiles takes the baby carrier and the bag inside and away from the cold while Scott stays outside to try and catch a scent. When the Alpha returns, Stiles is sitting on the couch with the carrier placed beside him, one hand caressing the baby's little hand, the other holding the letter as he reads it.

"Werewolf," Scott says, getting Stiles' attention. "She was a werewolf. And I'm not sure if it's still her scent lingering here close to the house but I think the baby might be a werewolf too."

Stiles looks at his best friend worried, lowering his voice. "He is," he mutters, waving the letter. "At least his mom is. He's just a cub, I guess." Stiles glances at the baby affectionately as the child wraps his tiny hand around one of Stiles' fingers, still sound asleep. "His name is Holden."

Scott gets closer to get a peek at the baby, whispering too not to wake him up. "What does the letter say?"

"Scott, the mom… She's not coming back. At least not any time soon, anyway. I need to call my dad. And your mom, call her. They need to come home, like, right now." His tone reflects how nervous he feels. Never in his wildest dreams had Stiles imagined this. "And we should call the girls, I think we're gonna need help. And Derek, we need Derek. He's the reason why the baby is here."

"What do you mean?"

Stiles takes his phone from his pocket and starts dialing the Sheriff's number. "Just make the calls, Scott."

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Twenty minutes later, Scott gets up from the couch and tiptoes to the front door before the girls, who he'd heard arriving, ring the doorbell. As soon as he opens the door, they rush inside, urgency in their tones.

"What's the matter? What happened?" Lydia asks concerned.

"Is everything okay?"

Stiles still shushes them in a vain attempt to try and get the girls to be quiet but the baby starts to stir. "No, no, no. Hush baby, shh. It's okay," he murmurs, trying to get the baby back to sleep but he starts to wake to a humming cry. "Guys!"

As Scott closes the door, the girls just stop and stare at the sight in front of them. Stiles, their Stiles, is caressing a baby's cheek in a not very successful attempt of quieting the child. That's new. Surprisingly, Lydia is the first to move, quickly taking off her jacket and hanging it on the coat rack behind the door, then almost running to meet Stiles. Allison takes a few seconds to do the same thing.

"You have never picked up a baby, have you?" Lydia asks. Stiles, abashed, shakes his head. "Where did you get this pretty thing?" She picks up the baby from the carrier because the crying is increasing, sneaking a glance at Stiles.

Okay, obviously this has to be a day for stupid questions, Stiles thinks as he narrows his eyes at Lydia. "I made him, what do you think?" He replies, frustrated. Lydia rolls her eyes waiting for an answer. "He was left on the front porch."

"What do you mean, left?" Allison asks, getting closer to see the teary baby, closely followed by Scott.

Stiles doesn't answer, instead focusing on hovering close to Lydia and running one of his hands on the baby's back to quiet a cry that just keeps increasing volume. Scott ends up answering the hunter; Stiles seems to be in a trance. "We were upstairs just goofing around when the doorbell rang. When Stiles opened the door he found the baby on the carrier and there was a woman in a car. We're assuming it was his mom. And then she left, that's pretty much it. And then we called you."

"Oh and she's a werewolf, by the way," Stiles adds. The baby seems to calm down a bit with whatever Lydia is whispering in his ear. "And we think Holden might be too."

Lydia looks up at Stiles over her shoulder and he's too close. Lydia takes a deep breath, hoping Scott won't pick up on her fastening heartbeat. "Holden? Is that his name?"

"Yeah," Stiles smiles, taking a strand of Lydia's hair from the boy's hand but that only makes the kid scream. "God, you have some lungs, uh?" he chuckles, talking to the baby, who pouts. Stiles can't help but smile.

"Wait. But if that was his mom, why would she leave her baby behind?" Allison asks confused, an uneasy feeling setting itself on the pit of her stomach.

"Did she really leave the baby? Like, really leave?" Lydia adds, turning around to face Stiles, who seems to get closer absentmindedly with every passing second.

"Yeah, she did," Stiles answers while looking down at Lydia, the smile vanishing from his lips. "There's a letter explaining everything. I think this little guy is gonna stick around for a while."

Lydia moves around the room, rocking the baby on her arms softly to try and calm him down. And maybe to distance herself from Stiles too, probably. Not that she'd admit it. "Have you called your dad? And Melissa? She should check the baby, see if he's okay."

"My mom should be getting here any minute now," says Scott.

Stiles runs his hands through his hair, then his face. "Uh my dad is gonna take half an hour, at least. He was out of the Station on a case."

Lydia notices his nervousness. "You haven't told your dad, have you?"

Stiles huffs. "What was I supposed to say? 'Hi dad. Yeah, our day is going fine, we're having lots of fun, me and Scott. Oh and fyi, someone left a baby on the front porch!'"

Lydia rolls her eyes playfully. "Freaking out much?"

"Yes!" he blurts out. "Of course I'm freaking out. Isn't this more than enough reason to freak out?"

Scott and Allison just watch the scene unfold on the sidelines, glancing at each other and hiding their smiles. "Stop it. You'll scare the baby," Lydia says nonchalantly. "He's already surrounded by strangers. You don't need to make it worse. Come here." Lydia returns to her place beside Stiles and grabs his wrist to catch his attention, smirking when he jumps at her touch, even blushing slightly. "If I pass you the baby, you're not gonna let him fall, are you?"

Stiles takes a step back, reticent. "Oh I don't know, Lydia. You hold him."

She stands straighter, giving him a stern look. "Stiles," she hisses.

"Of course I'm not letting him fall. I just… What if I hurt him?" He asks, serious.

"You're not gonna hurt him, Stiles. You just need to relax so he doesn't get more scared. See…" She distances the baby from herself and onto Stiles' chest. The amount of contact between her and Stiles for those brief seconds makes her stomach flutter. "Hold him like I was doing, okay? Sit him on your forearm. And watch his head."

Stiles, probably more carefully than necessary, handles the baby like the boy is about to break but still does as he's told. The intoxicating, characteristic smell of baby oil engulfs him and Stiles smiles, inhaling deeply. Losing his anxiety when the baby tugs at his shirt and holds on to him, Stiles whispers "Hey little guy. It's okay, you're okay," he mutters to hush Holden's cries, caressing the baby's head.

Lydia is not sure what is it with guys and babies that has this absurd appeal, this heartwarming feeling, but looking at this nerd, the nerd she can now call her best friend, the nerd she kissed not long ago as he absently smooches the baby's forehead… Yeah, she feels like she's melting, like her heart might rip through her chest and fly away. And there's no escaping Scott now. When she glances at the Alpha, he's already smirking back at her. She blushes, pursing her lips.

Allison tries to distract Scoot. If there's anyone who gets to tease Lydia about this, it's Allison. Scott can tease Stiles if he wants. "What's in the baby bag?"

Scott shrugs his shoulders. "We don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"We uh… We haven't looked inside," Stiles answers, embarrassed.

"You haven't looked inside?" Lydia repeats, sitting on the couch and pulling the bag closer to her to see what's in it. "What did you two do for the entirety of the twenty minutes that took us to get here, exactly?"

Stiles can foresee a roll of eyes even before he answers her. "We were watching the baby." Lydia rolls her eyes. "What did you want us to do? We were making sure he wouldn't wake up before you got here. You're girls; babies are kind of your thing."

Allison answers first. "Actually, I'm not that into babies, if I'm being honest. All the crying and being clingy and all… It's not really my scene." She glances at Stiles. "Even if I'm a girl."

"And for the sake of our friendship, I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear your last sentence, Stilinski," Lydia says amused. "In fact, you're not a girl and you're doing just fine." He is. The baby is calming down a bit and the group starts speaking in lower tones not to frighten him again. "What did you do, sit together looking at the baby in silence for all that time?" she mocks.

Scott and Stiles exchange a look and answer at the same time. "Yeah." "Pretty much."

Lydia and Allison laugh softly. "I can't believe you two…"

Scott comes in Stiles' defense, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, Stiles has a point. We have never been around babies before so we kind of didn't know what to do…" He suddenly turns his head to the door. "Oh, mom's here."

Scott makes his way to the entrance to, again, open the front door before Melissa can ring the doorbell, but even before doing so he notices that instead of a pair of footsteps, he hears two. "Uh Stiles." he glances at his best friend. "Your dad is here."

Stiles pales a little. "Oh boy."

Like the girls, Melissa comes in in a rush. She looks around until she finds the baby and quickly makes her way towards Stiles. "I knew you wouldn't tell your dad, so I called him," she explains, placing her medical kit on the coffee table. Seeing his questioning expression, she adds "I've been around you and Scott for a long time. I know you two like the back of my hand."

Stiles nods, conceding. "Where is he?"

"Parking. You just told him to come home so I called him to make sure he knew it was an emergency. He picked me up on the way here."

Stiles gives her a devious smile. "So you also didn't tell him about the baby?"

Melissa shrugs her shoulders, a little embarrassed. "You know your dad. It's better if he just sees for himself."

"He's coming," Scott tells them.

The room quiets and the only one moving is Melissa, who's rummaging through her kit to find all the things she needs. Everyone else just stares at the door, waiting for the Sheriff to appear. Even Holden stopped crying.

The Sheriff knew it had to be something important, something big, if Stiles stalled him on the phone - even if wanting to make sure he'd come home as fast as he could - and if Melissa called him not two minutes later to let him know that it was, in fact, urgent. Still, he can't say he was prepared for this. Stepping inside his house and seeing the kids are there, his eyes run through the room until he finds Stiles, his seventeen year old son, holding a baby in his arms beside a very wary Melissa. The man can only mutter "Ah hell."