Part 1 of 2

It was raining outside. For days the air had been damp and cool, Fall drowning in its death this year, but now it was raining and the wind was picking up with it. Jennifer stood by the window and watched it. The house around her was quiet; Isaac was stretched out by the fire with a book on the floor, his cheek resting on the pages as he snored softly, Scott and Allison using his back for a pillow. Jennifer reckoned Allison was playing Candy Crush but Scott just seemed to be absorbing the people around him. Jennifer had watched Derek do it often enough. Cora and Stiles were on the couch, tangled together, bickering about the movie they watched last night. Boyd was sitting opposite Peter, staring the older man out but it was Derek that held her attention, Derek was sitting on the floor, his back against the couch, and Erica, the girl who yesterday had been dead, was resting half in his lap.

Last night in bed Derek had been intense, more so than normal, his mouth and hands everywhere, teeth catching her skin, words of love mixed with filth whispered in her ear. 'Erica,' Derek had gasped as he thrust against Jennifer, his eyes widening in shock. He got out of bed in a flash, tugged his clothes on as Jennifer tried to talk to him, tried to stop him, and tried to understand. Three hours (and several gallons of tears and a bottle of red) later and he returned with a girl, both of them covered in mud and filth, like they had been digging with their hands. Erica hadn't left him since. Even in the bathroom, well Jennifer didn't know how they washed up, didn't want to know, she was too focused on catching her breath and convincing herself not to just leave.

Jennifer wasn't ashamed to admit she was jealous. Derek kept shooting her these long hurt looks, like she'd said someone else's name when she should have only been thinking of him. Jennifer could see him now, reflected in the glass as the day outside darkened. Jennifer ignored them, instead focusing on Derek's fingers running through the girls hair. And that's all she was, a girl, a seventeen year old who was frightened, who was clinging to her Alpha, the man who had literally dug her from the soil. Jennifer understood, she did, but that didn't help the envy coursing through Jennifer, not one bit.

Erica had kissed Derek when he first turned her, Derek told Jennifer that night when he called. He promised her it was once, but he admitted he moved his mouth back against Erica's for a second or two. Jennifer was annoyed, but not hurt, she loved Derek, and she trusted him. Derek hated lies, she knew that. She believed him when he said nothing more would happen. And nothing more did, but Deucalion had tempted her with thoughts of them together, Jennifer brushed it off. And she wouldn't have been annoyed right now if Derek hasn't have gasped Erica's name last night when they were supposed to be making love Jennifer knew she would be trying to do everything in her power to help the seventeen year old girl lying in her husband's lap.

'I'm hungry,' Peter suddenly said.

'Starving!' Stiles added half sitting up. Jennifer caught sight of Derek looking down, of the intimate way he cradled Erica's face to look towards him.

'Are you hungry?' Derek's voice was soft. Jennifer closed her eyes, she couldn't watch it. She turned back to the window and watched their reflections instead; from her she could pretend it was a dream.

'Y-yes,' the girl's voice was hoarse from screaming, from lack of use, from being dead for three months.

'Hey we could watch Batman,' Stiles suggested and Jennifer took a deep breath.

'I'll treat everyone to dinner,' Peter said.

'Pizza!'

'Chinese!'

'Thai!'

Jennifer ignored the voices, the talking. She squeezed her fingers into fists. 'I'm not buying everything, choose one thing!'

'Pizza's good because varieties.' Cora said. Everybody around her agreed and they found a menu, discussed quantities to order as Jennifer broke into little tiny pieces because she was jealous of a silly girl.

'I think we need soda,' Isaac piped up.

'I'll get it!' Jennifer said moving so suddenly she almost hurt herself. She pointedly did not look at Derek as she went to the hallway, meeting Lydia as she came through the front door. She pushed her feet into boots, reached for her coat but at the last minute snagged a dark woollen jumper that Derek had been wearing the day before.

In the car the scent of his aftershave surrounded her and Jennifer compared the tears flowing from her face to the window of her car washing with rain. She parked at the supermarket and squeezed her eyes closed. It hurt so much, not being the most important woman in Derek's life. Things were changing, because Derek had beat himself up so much over Erica, and now Erica was back and she was so obviously his, and Jennifer just ached. This was different than children, a child would be theirs but Erica was all his.

She got out of the car and filled a trolley with soft drink, cookies, breakfast cereals and other treats. A few tubs of ice cream were added to the mix, and in an erratic movement she headed to the clothing section. Jennifer needed to fix this somehow, but she didn't know what to do.

She bought pyjamas, soft pink ones, warm ones, and a thick dressing gown, the bed socks were an afterthought. She found a hair brush set, one with a mirror, and a pack of bobbles.

She paid for everything from the joint bank account, drove home and had Isaac and Allison help her carry everything inside. The pizzas arrived as Isaac was putting cookies away, and Peter paid for them with a roll of cash he retrieved from his shirt pocket. Jennifer took a bag with the things she bought Erica and walked into the living room.

Derek looked like a lamb, but Jennifer ignored him as she knelt down beside Erica who eyed her warily. 'I got you a few things, I guessed your size.'

Erica reached out for the bag and looked inside, pulling the contents out one at a time, spreading everything across her and Derek's lap. Her legs were tangled around his, her hand clutching at his arm from time to time. 'T-thank you,' Erica looked up at her with wide eyes.

'You're welcome.' Jennifer said. Erica fingered the brush before handing it to Jennifer. 'Shift forward a bit,' she said sitting behind Erica. Erica did, and Derek moved with her, but he kept trying to catch Jennifer's eye. Jennifer refused to look at him; she couldn't that, not yet.

Jennifer had just started to work through the tangled mess of Erica's hair when Derek's hand pushed the leg of her jeans up and curled around her ankle. Jennifer didn't shake him off but she didn't acknowledge the touch either. As his thumb worked around her ankle bone she knew he was hurting, that he wanted to mend things, that he wanted to celebrate Erica's life but his groan of pleasure mixed with her name kept rolling around in Jennifer's skull, echoing against the bone.

Erica sat still as Jennifer took her time; Jennifer refused pizza when it arrived. 'I'll keep you some,' Boyd offered kindly. Erica nibbled at hers at first, and then ate with enthusiasm. When had she last eaten, Jennifer wondered, what was it? How did this girl even cope with being alive, and what had happened to her when she was dead?

As darkness fell Jennifer noticed Erica grow tenser, and smoothing her hair was no longer helping. Jennifer put it into a loose braid, and the pack turned the television on, tuning in to Batman Begins.

'You should sit up on the couch Erica, I'm sure your butts numb,' Stiles said. Jennifer noticed Cora shoot him a filthy look.

Erica didn't answer, but she curled tighter against Derek. Derek shifted slightly, resting the hand not on Jennifer's ankle on his knee as Erica pushed into his lap once again. Jennifer watched until Bruce Wayne got talking about spelunking and she excused herself. Boyd had put her pizza in the microwave and Jennifer heated it quietly, eating it with a glass of fizzy orange juice. Afterwards she poured herself a large glass of wine and took it to her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind herself.

No one disturbed her the rest of the night.