Chapter Twenty-Four

My first day at the diner is absolutely terrible. I break three plates and spilled someone's cold half-drunk coffee down my white shirt while trying to balance it on another cup. But Lisa smiles at me reassuringly and says, "You should have seen me on the first day we opened. I spilled iced tea on some guys lap."

It earns her a smile.

I stand in the back to catch my breath. Cold sweat on my forehead, and I really just want a to smoke something to knock back the nausea in my gut. Only an hour left.

"Hey."

Jumping, I turn to see a puffy haired teenager standing beside me. He has pretty soft blue eyes and a warm smile.

"Hello," I say.

"My name is Matt." He holds out his hand and I shake it. His gaze flickers to the coffee stain down the front of my shirt. "You're new?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, my name is Halden."

He smiles wider. "Interesting name."

"My mom is an interesting person."

"Are you closing?"

I shake my head. "I opened. I'll be leaving at four."

"Oh, that stinks! Do you work any weekends? I only work on Wednesday's and Thrusday's after three, but I sometimes work on Saturday's or Sunday's."

"I work Monday's, Wednesday's, and Sunday's. You go to Beacon Hills High?"

Matt nods. "Yeah, do you? I haven't seen you around."

"No, but my brother does. His name is Scott McCall, if you know him."

There's a slight glint in his eye at my brothers name, and I'm not sure what kind of reaction that is, but he nods. "Yeah, he's on the lacrosse team."

"That would be him."

"He's very great at playing."

"I know, right? I have no idea when that happened. Well, to be honest, I never saw any of his games until I moved back in with my mom and him, but he's never been quite so cordinated before."

Although, I do know when it happened. When he was bitten by an insane werewolf.

"Yeah," Matt chuckles. "So, how did you get a job at Lisa's?"

There's that underlyning question. The unspoken one. Phrased in a way where I can either answer honestly or tell him my dirty laundry. At first I want to say a lie. Tell him something like my mom got me the job. But this place is for people like me. People who are fucked up in the head.

Maybe I should get Derek a job here. He'd probably get a lot of tips…

"I'm, ugh, recovering from a drug addiction," I tell him. "The Narcotics Anynomous counselor recommended this place when I said NA wasn't for me."

He nods. "My therapist recommended this place. I told her I wanted to be a photographer, she suggested I get a job to save up money to buy a new camera."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"I finally bought it!" Matt enthuses. "You work this Sunday?"

I nod.

"What time?"

"Mid-shift."

"Me too! I'll bring it with. I can show you it on our break, if you want."

"Sounds cool."

Matt beams.

"I should probably get back to work," I say reluctantly. I really don't want to go back on the floor and stick my fingers in someones leftovers again.

"Oh yeah, sorry." He rubs the back of his light brown curls.

I shoot him a small grin before returning to work. At least I might have made a friend today. A slightly awkward teenage friend, but he seemed a lot more friendly than the other co-workers.

The clock in the far right corner of the restaurant tells me I only have thirty minutes left. It's busy as hell, and I'm cleaning off one of the tables that were just freed as quick as I can. I'm wiping the top with disinfectent when the waitor for this section comes up with a familiar teenange boy, and one unfamiliar one.

"Hey Jackson," I greet with a wide nervous grin.

He flashes me a smirk. "Halden, hey, long time no see."

"Staying out of trouble?" I joke, but it's not really a joke.

Jackson shrugs. "This is my best friend Danny. Danny, this is Scott McCall's older sister Halden."

"No shit," Danny, a very attractive boy, flashes me a beautiful smile with dimples and everythig. "I didn't know McCall had a sister."

"It's nice to meet you."

The waitor gives me a rushed look. He has other tables he needs to get to, I realize, and I'm causing the two teens to drag.

"I should get back to work. It was nice seeing you Jackson, and meeting you Danny."

"I'll see you soon," Jackson tells me with a smile.

Unfortunately.

I just shoot him a grin because I don't trust myself to say anything nice. Not that I don't like Jackson, but right now I know he's dangerous. Dangerous to me. Dangerous to my baby. Dangerous to my family. And dangerous to Derek.

Not to mention, Jackson currently has a restratining order against Scott and Stiles at the moment. Yikes.

When did everything become such a mess? Scratch that. When did everything get even messier?

I catch Matt's eye where he's leaning against a wall waiting for his shift to start. Something tells me he was watching the entire enconter with Jackson.

The day seems to get a little better when I head over to Derek's secret lair. We agreed to go house shopping today, and I am extremely excited to get this show on the road. I need to make sure he has someplace my child can call home. His pack, too.

A huge fuzzy spider crawls on the steely walls of the abandoned train stairwell and I cringe. Gross.

Derek appears at the bottom of the stairs. He gives me a short grin as I slowly come down, because if I walk any faster I think he will scream at me. When I reach him he glances down at my top.

"Looks like you've got something on your shirt?"

I glare down at the coffee stain.

"Hmm. Appears so."

He grabs my arm gently and takes me into his train car. The one he sleeps in, with sleeping bags in the corner. My eyes widen brightly at the ultra-sound photo taped to the wall near his makeshift bed.

There is a duffle bag he digs through with his clothes, apparently. He pulls out a gray shirt and hands it to me. I strip off my soiled shirt, and before I'm able to change Derek places a hand to my abdomen. He smiles at my stomach.

"It's getting bigger," he says.

I nod. "Soon I'll be a balloon."

"I can't wait."

I laugh and slide the shirt over my head. Instead of moving to leave, I take a seat on one of the uncomfortable plastic railway chairs.

"I have a question about something werewolf related."

Derek takes a seat across from me and waits patiently for me to continue.

"Scott said that omega's die without a pack, what does that mean?"

He purses his lips. "Omega's eventually go crazed without a pack. They scum to their bloodthirst and will kill anyone in sight. Omega's die because they get caught by hunters. Or get killed by other werewolves before they hurt anyone else."

"That will happen to Scott?"

Derek draws his brows in. "Yes, if he doesn't join a pack."

"I don't want that to happen to my brother…"

"I don't think it will," he says. "A pack doesn't always need other wolves."

"No?"

He sighs, "It needs more than one… but it doesn't need them all to be wolves. My family was a mixture of humans and wolves. A human and wolf mating doesn't mean it'll be born a wolf. Just like our pup, it could be a wolf or human."

"Will it matter to you if they aren't a wolf?"

Derek growls, "Of course not."

Feeling a sense of relief at his comment, I pat his knee. "Come on, let's go look for houses."

The real estate lady is a real piece of work. She latches immediately to Derek's side while we are being shown the houses. Her perfectly clean nails toying with the sleave of his leather jacket, and she walks far too close to his side for my liking. And Derek just smiles at her. This stupid charming smile.

Because Derek says, Two Can Play That Game. Whatever the fuck that means.

Well, I know what it means. It means Derek is playing the real estate lady to get us a better deal on the houses. To show us the houses that are way nicer than the ones they show other people. The good houses.

I hate that it's working. She totally pulls out two additional nice homes on the market that she says were "exclusive."

Bitch.

It's like she doesn't even realize I'm here. She thinks I'm Derek's sister or reject cousin. Or something. She clearly doesn't think I'm good enough for Derek, but she's not being rude about it because she doesn't realize that… well, she doesn't realize that Derek and I are trying to work our shit out together right now.

Not that I'm not itching to pull her teeth out of her mouth one by one. Because I am. Totally. Having visions of it right now.

"You are going to love this one," she coos as they pull to a stop in front of an abandoned looking lot. "These are all the rage right now. They are really popular in the city. It's a little more industrial, but it's totally the look people are going for right now."

I narrow my eyes. This piece of junk looks like a damn abandoned warehouse.

It's also a place for a single people. Or maybe a couple who isn't interested in raising a small child and a pack of teenagers. Hah.

Derek's eyes light up at the place. He glances at me with a smile, and I shake my head sternly.

No. Fucking. Way.

He defaltes. He seems to like the darker appearing places. While I prefer my child to be able to go outside in the backyard and play. Like I did. Before things went bad.

"We are looking for someplace a little more… homey," I object. The woman, Caroline, turns to me with a thoughtful expression. "Someplace to raise a child… not to, I don't know, do whatever people do when they live in a place like this… like, brood in corners gazing out at the nightlife. Derek, you aren't Batman."

Caroline giggles. "Well, you sure could be. But you're right. If you are looking for something a little more comfortable, I wouldn't suggest a one bedroom loft."

"Do you have anyplace closer to the preserve? Not so much in the preserve, but closer? I'd like to be near my mom's place in Beacon Hills. Not really near downtown Beacon Hills. It's too… crowded." Tempting. It's too tempting. The more people, the more opportunities.

"I think I have just the place you are looking for," Caroline grins.

And she is right.

As soon as I see the place, I'm in love.

I hate to admit, it's closer to the richer side of Beacon Hills, and I don't think we will be able to afford it, but I want it so bad. It has a cabin theme. Oak wood on the entire exteriror, except the left side of the house has mustard panneling. The roof a beautiful bronzed brick. Two stories, with two large windows on the top and two in the back. A rap around porch. It even has a chimney. And the backyard leads into a forested area, but it's close to the main road. There is also another house on either side far away that it'll give them space, but close enough to bring comfort.

I haven't even seen the inside yet.

Caroline unlocks the front door and I bypass her to dart inside. The interior is made of more oak wood, and it's glorious. It feels like a cabin, a cozy cabin people dream of disappearing to for weeks on end.

I'm sold already. Derek knows the moment I turn around and give him the biggest smile, he smiles back just as bright.

She shows us the kitchen. I fall in love.

"The only problem is the house needs some maintance. There are a few busted pipes, and there is a little bug problem at the moment. It's going to need an exterminator. The last people that owned the house didn't keep it up to code," she rattles off. "But it has a beautiful view, is close to all the local schools, and there is enough room for a family."

She leads us to the second floor into one of the four bedrooms, and I claim it mine. That is, until I see the master bedroom. It has these huge windows that has a beautiful forest view. There is a glass door that leads to a little porch, and it's glorious. The bedroom has it's own bathroom with a bag big enough to be considered a jacuzi (and it has jets). I want it.

Then we are officially done when she shows us the kids bedroom. Metaphoricaly speaking, there is still a lot more to the house. But Derek and I share this look, he's all eyebrows and I'm all dimpled grins.

Derek nods at me, our silent conversation clear. "How much?"

Caroline gives a ridiculous price. It's high, but assuming by the sparkling look in her eyes when Derek shoots her a wink, it's significantly lower than listed.

"We will take it," he says. My eyes are wide, I shake my head. How can we afford? I can't afford to make payments like that at the restuarunt. I hardly can afford to put groceries on the table with my wimpy paycheck. What about diappers? Hospital visits? Toys?

Derek rubs my shoulder tenderly. "Don't worry about the cost, I can afford it."

I don't know why I'm so surprised that he can.

We go back to her office to sign the official paperwork. Derek puts my name down as the co-owner. Derek and I have a house. We have a freaking house.

In the car ride back to his dumpy train station, I realize a horrifying fact. "Oh god, I didn't tell my mom I was planning on moving out. And we bought a house."

"We won't be able to move in for a few weeks. I'll have to inspect the house to see any major damage, check for things human's can't always see-mold and stuff like that. Then we are definitely going to get a deep cleaning," he scrunches up his nose. "There were a lot of bugs in there, but once that's all taken care of…" He reaches his hand out to take the one I have folded in my lap. He squeezes it tenderly. "Then we will need to buy furniture."

"We can have a house warming party," I say.

He frowns. "A what?"

"It's where people buy you stuff for your house. Not the big stuff, like beds and couches, but little things we will need. Plates, a microwave, random junk that people find necessary to have."

Derek frowns. "I need to invest in a security system."

"We will need a baby shower, too. I'd prefer it to be gender neutral. I don't want our baby growing up to stereotypical gender norms. If it's a boy and he wants to wear pink, then he will wear pink. Got it?"

"Maybe I'll invest in a safe room. A fire proof safe room…"

"We should add a pool. That backyard is gorgeous. Wouldn't it be nice to have a pool?"

"I need a new car," he pouts at this. "Something bigger. That can hold a carseat."

"We are going to have to invite all my shitty relatives and mom's work friends. They are awful, but they will give us gifts."

Derek and I both grow silent.

He squeezes my hand again, and I squeeze back.

We bought a house today.

SO. Raving time. I started posting this story on archiveofourown under the username lovesavetheempty, which is what LSTE stands for. It's a song by Erin McCarley if you've never heard it. It's like MY life. But anyways, I started posting the story on there and apparently no one understands Halden's character. I'm raging because YOU all know at this point how far Halden has come from her previous OBSESSIVENESS with drugs, and everyone reading it is so focused on her being a drug addict in the first two chapters they are leaving these horrible comments about how she deserves to die and stuff like that. Because she's taking drugs. These are the people I would like to burn in the fiery pits of hell. Because, yeah, Halden was out of control, but she REALLY wants to get her shit together. And for them to say that about a human being... it's disgusting that they feel all these terrible things about her. She's not even real, but I'm so angry at them for making her out to be a bad person when Halden loves so much and is just super misunderstood. Ugh. ANYWAYS, for abandoning you guys for so long I tried to get a chapter out sooner than later :D

THANKS to all you super supportive and great people. I know everyone goes through rough times, and one thing I love about this site is that everyone can be super great about making people feel good! So thanks: WickedlyMinx, Emmettluver2010, msspicyjalapeno, Catarina Persephone, kiwime, Guest1234!

Devious Neko Boi: I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. I'm not sure what your situation with that is in specifics, but my cousin went through something quite similar a little over a year ago. It's definitely not something that is easy to go through and not something I would ever wish on anyone. And thank you for your kind words!

megladon1616: I'm sorry you had such a crappy day the other day! I hope today isn't like that :) #HAREK

RenTenTen: To be totally honest, I almost forgot what happened in the last chapter too and had to re-read it to carry on (WAYWARD SON) where I left off! haha, I'm sorry I waited so long that this happened to you!

saltysalsa: YOU MAKE ME SO HAPPY! Throw all this supernatural puns my way! I EAT THEM UP haha. My friend and I always say OH MY CHUCK - since Chuck is rumored to be god hahaha! So, that's totally awesome. But OMC for Castiel is so much better (I worship Misha Collins). I totally feel the same way BTW. There are so many people on here that I've met that I have such a strong connection with that I've never met in real life, but it's all about the connection with me. I don't have to physically see someone to appreciate them as a person, so I'm so happy you feel that way! AND YES I've watched the new episode. These episodes are getting so FUNNY I can't even. Like the episode with the DINNER OMG hahaha THE POTATOES. And then how Dean stole the viagra. And just everything with Dean is perfect. I can't wait to see what happens in the next episode with Cassifer. Lucstiel. (My friend and I totally see him more as Mishafer, because Cas as Luc is basically Misha Collins). AND HAPPY V-DAY to you as well!