Author's Note: Hey guys! So sorry for the delay, school has been kicking my ass. Thank you so so much to those of you who reviewed the last chapter, it means so much to me! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 13

Once Lyssa was both out of the apartment building and out of earshot, Amy spun around to face Derek and demanded, "Do you trust her?"

Unfazed by the force with which she'd uttered this question, he looked pensive for several moments before replying, "I hardly trust anyone, so no. But I think we should at least give her a chance to prove herself. Regardless of whether we can trust her or not, I think we can agree that we have to keep an eye on her, wouldn't you say?"

Her irritation was obvious before he'd even finished responding. Instead of answering, she mumbled under her breath, "Just what we need… yet another complication."

"She could be an asset," he reasoned evenly. For the moment, he was far more concerned by his girlfriend's clear and seemingly unwarranted annoyance.

Amy held back a snort of disapproval, but her chagrin was still obvious.

"What's up with you?" Derek asked, unable to resist any longer. He'd wanted her to tell him on her own accord, but it was quickly becoming apparent that this was an unfeasible expectation.

"Nothing." Her arms were crossed defensively over her chest, though, which even he knew to be the universal sign for not 'nothing.'

"Something is obviously bothering you – and it has been all day," he pressed.

"She was really beautiful," she replied snippily, as if it were somehow relevant to the conversation at hand.

"Lyssa? We're still talking about that?" he scoffed in disbelief. "I didn't notice," he added tersely.

"Yeah right – how could you not notice," she spat, "She was, like, Vogue-level beautiful."

Derek wasn't quite sure he even knew what 'Vogue' was. "Are we really having this conversation?" he snapped in agitation. "I can hear your heartbeat – is that seriously what's bothering you so much?" Rightly so, he seemed incredibly unconvinced that Amy – who had made such strides in the past months – could be behaving so immaturely. He might have expected this sort of thing from her at the start of their relationship, but certainly not now. Plus, it didn't explain why she'd been in this state of anxiety since the morning.

"Yes!" she blurted out shrilly. However, he didn't need his werewolf powers to tell that she was lying to him – it was perfectly evident in way that she was gnawing on her lower lip. Caught, she finally admitted in the softest of voices, "No."

"Then what is it?" he asked more gently, stepping closer to her.

"It's nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing." His eyes bore into hers, trying desperately to understand what had her so on edge and so unwilling to share with him. He wracked his brain to think of what could possibly be the source of her secretive dismay, but he could think of nothing.

"Please," she murmured, gaze cast downwards. "Please don't make me tell you."

At this, Derek was thoroughly concerned. He brought one hand to her face, his thumb moving reassuringly against the skin at her jawline. His face was mere centimeters from hers when he said, "What do you mean make you tell me? Why wouldn't you want to tell me on your own?"

She sighed heavily and turned her head away from him, eyes cast to the floor. "It's complicated."

"Nothing's ever complicated," he said. "Not with us."

She laughed darkly, rolled her eyes, and corrected, "Everything's complicated with us."

He said nothing, but she could sense his disappointment at his inability to convince her to confess her troubles; she found this difficult to ignore. "I'm afraid," she finally admitted vaguely.

"Afraid of what?"

"Of everything."

"You're going to have to be more specific." He gave her hand a squeeze with his free one, urging her to continue. He genuinely could not fathom what she could be so fearful of telling him.

"I'm late," she said finally. "Only a few days, but still… That's a lot for me. And the week before the full moon – we weren't as careful as we usually are."

There were several beats of paralyzing silence before, to Amy's utter shock, Derek looked immensely relieved – he even cracked a smile. Her astonishment was obvious, so he said, "You were afraid you afraid you're pregnant? That's what this is about?"

For some reason, she suddenly felt incredibly stupid and defensive. "That's a valid worry, wouldn't you agree?" she hissed, jerking away from him.

"You're not pregnant," he told her matter-of-factly as his hands fell to his sides.

"Wha-what do you mean I'm not pregnant? How can you know that?"

"I'd be able to sense it right away," he explained. "As you probably know, pregnancy causes enormous hormonal changes. You'd have a different scent to everyone, but especially to me. Male werewolves always know when a female is carrying their children."

"So… I smell the same?" Before he could even answer, Amy collapsed against his chest, her knees weak as her relief overwhelmed her like a tidal wave.

He held her and rested his chin on the top of her head as he confirmed, "Exactly the same. You're not pregnant."

"Thank god," she mumbled into the cotton fabric of his shirt.

"This is why you should tell me if something is bothering you," he said into her hair. "Most of the time I can help."

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Amy, even if something like that did happen – we'd be in it together. It wouldn't be your burden to carry alone and we would work through it as a team, just like everything else."

"Yeah, but that's just it – we have so much else going on… The last thing you need is me causing more issues."

Derek pulled away from her, but kept a grip on her shoulders; he suddenly seemed very vexed. "Don't say things like that," he scolded fervidly. "You obviously wouldn't be the only one responsible, and it's not as if you would have done something wrong. You should never feel alone in any situation like that."

Wide-eyed and taken aback by the passion with which he delivered this statement, she could do nothing but concede, "I guess you're right."

"But you have a point that we should probably be more careful during the full moon," he admitted with a trace of discomfort. "By design, you're most likely to get pregnant during the full moon, which is probably why your… schedule is a little off."

She wanted to giggle at the fact that big-bad-Alpha Derek Hale couldn't bring himself to utter the word 'period,' but instead she nodded slowly – this made sense. She supposed they would just have to be more diligent.

Feeling emboldened and carefree after having this weight lifted so suddenly from her shoulders, she questioned, "What would we do if I were pregnant?"

Derek sighed deeply and turned his attention everywhere else in the room before he turned it to her. "I don't know," was his tight-lipped response. "I suppose it would depend on what you would want to do."

Amy thought about it – she didn't know what she would want to do with any real certainty, but she was inclined to say she didn't want to be a teen mom. "Do you ever want kids? Just in general, I mean?"

She hadn't thought he could be more uncomfortable until she asked his question – his whole body tensed. "I don't know," he repeated. Turning the tables, he asked, "Do you?"

"I don't know," she echoed, suddenly sharing his intense feeling of awkwardness. Before everything that had happened, she'd always assumed she'd have children at some point far, far in the future, but now, she wasn't so sure. It seemed cruel to bring kids into a world wrought with such danger and turmoil. On the other hand, though, that was what werewolves did. Like all creatures, they were hardwired to procreate, and familial lines – from what she could gather – were of the utmost importance. She didn't know if she would be able to outrun her base instincts for her entire life.

"This isn't something we have to discuss now," he said finally. "I'm just glad that's all that was bothering you."

"I still don't like Lyssa," she grumbled in a dark tone.

Derek grabbed her tightly and pressed a kiss to her temple. "You have nothing to be jealous of," he whispered huskily into her ear.

She cheekily wriggled out of his grasp and quipped, "That's what you say now. After we start spending time with her… It might be a different story." Her voice was playful, but her misgivings were not insincere.

"You have nothing to worry about," he insisted. "Sometimes it frustrates me that I care about you so much, that I can't get you out of my head. You're the only woman I've thought about in nearly a year."

Amy's standoffish demeanor wavered at this comment, and she allowed herself to be engulfed by his strong arms once more. Derek was so rarely sentimental that she figured he must be telling the truth. She kissed him softly and when they pulled apart she said, "We should tell the others about our new comrade."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I have a feeling they're going to be just as distrustful as you are."

"And rightly so. I'm surprised that you're so willing to give her a chance, what with all that's happened."

"Omegas are almost always telling the truth when they say they want to join a pack. It's like I've told you guys many times before – it's a dangerous world out there for werewolves in general, and it's a hundred times more dangerous for Omegas. She's probably desperate."

"You can say that again," she scoffed. "She chose the worst pack to try to join. What do you think about her story that the other hunters are coming?"

"It's not impossible that the Grimm family might have flown here from the East Coast. It does seem kind of fishy, though… Hunter families don't usually collaborate. Plus, that would mean that they've left that whole area to it's own devices, which seems like a really stupid thing to do. Upstate New York and New England and teeming with the oldest werewolf families in the country."

"You have family members still there, don't you?"

"Yeah, in New York. But we're pretty distantly related."

"Are you related to the original Hale family? Like, as in Nathan Hale?"

"The Revolutionary War soldier?" He was evading the question, which indicated to Amy that he was related to him.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I am."

"Holy shit."

"Let's just say he wasn't hanged and it wasn't for being a spy…"

"He was a werewolf?"

Derek nodded curtly. For some reason, he didn't seem too keen on answering her questions.

"Was he at least still killed by the Red Coats?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly. He was killed by Hessians."

"What's a Hessian?"

"Someone didn't pay attention in American History," he chided lightly. "Hessians were German soldiers hired by the British."

"… German? Like the Grimms?"

"Exactly like the Grimms," he confirmed.

"So your family has a history with them?"

"You could say that."

Author's Note: So I'm just gonna let that sit there... A lot happened in this chapter (kind of... we got some answers) so let me know what you think! Happy or sad that Amy's not preggo? What do you think of Derek's family background?

Full disclosure, I just started watching the show Sleepy Hollow (and I also wrote a one-shot for it, if you're interested) and that's where I got the Hessian idea. It's a great show, you should all watch it! I need my supernatural fix now that Teen Wolf isn't airing anymore.

But yeah! Please review!