After the meeting, it had been decided that Lydia was going to crash at Stiles' apartment. He had an extra room, from when he and Scott lived together right after college, and all Lydia was going to have to do was set up Kristy's stuff in there. She had left most of their furniture and things in their apartment in Boston, so she'd have to go out and get a few things. She had purposely left them there just in case she decided not to stay in Beacon Hills. She knew her mom'd be happy to get her back, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure if she was going to stay. It'd depend on what happened with Deucalion and the alpha pack.

"You're kidding me, right?" Stiles said to Lydia that evening. "I don't do babies."

"You act as though I asked you to adopt her – which I didn't, by the way. I just need to go to the store to get a few things, like a crib. A few necessities. I just don't have anybody to watch her while I'm gone, and do you know how hard it is to shop with a baby? Let me tell you, it's not that easy."

Stiles still seemed pretty hesitant, "Why not ask Allison?"

"C'mon, Stiles," Lydia said, sighing, "Even Boyd babysat for me back in Boston. It's easy. She's had food and been changed, so all you need to do is entertain her for maybe an hour. She's got toys in her bag, or, hell, put in one of her DVDs. She hates girly shows, won't pay attention to them for anything, but she loves Transformers and the Ninja Turtles. Just sit her down and watch TV with her."

Stiles sighed, clearly thinking it over, "But, what if I break her?"

"You're kidding me, right?" Lydia asked. "You've chased down werewolves, kanimas, ghouls, witches, and things that could easily slice you up than look at you, and you're afraid of a baby?"

Stiles shrugged.

"Look, Stiles, it's fine. It would really help me out a lot if you would watch her while I run to the store. Please, do it for me."

Stiles sighed, and that's when Lydia knew he was defeated. "Look, I appreciate this. I shouldn't be gone too long." She kissed him on the cheek as thanks and then made her way out the door.

"So," Stiles said to Kristy after Lydia left, "I guess we should see if we can find something to watch." He rummaged through her bag until he found a Ninja Turtles DVD and then picked her up, placing her on the couch. He put the DVD in and as it started to play, Stiles sighed to himself, "This is really weird for me, kid. Is it weird for you?"

Kristy just stared.

"Yeah, it'd be easier if you could talk," Stiles said, mostly to himself. Kristy just giggled.

-x-

That night at Stiles' apartment was one of the worst Lydia had ever had with Kristy. She wouldn't sleep. She cried and cried, and accidently let out a few banshee screams. Around four AM, Stiles finally showed up at Lydia's doorway, "Look, Lyds, I know that I don't exactly keep regular hours, but night is for sleeping. I love you, and your daughter, but I don't know how much more I can take."

"It's because she's at a new place. She doesn't recognize you. Even when we stay at Mom's it's not this bad." Finally, Lydia got so incredibly frustrated that she just whipped her shirt off.

"Um…what are you doing?" Stiles asked, still in the doorway.

"I've got a sports bra on, don't have a fit. Werewolf babies need skin on skin touch. It helps them feel safer." Lydia started rubbing circles on Kristy's back just as they heard a knock on the front door.

She heard Stiles go and answer it with, "Hey, Dad, what's up?"

Lydia rolled her eyes and went out there, "Hey, Sheriff. Let me guess. Someone called the police on me."

"More than someone. We've had about four calls. And I could swear I heard her across town."

Lydia nodded, "Yeah, well, I'm not abusing her. Look at her," she said, still rubbing Kristy's back. Finally, finally, the baby stopped crying. After yawning, Kristy's eyes involuntarily closed.

"I wish I could say that this is the first time I've had the police called on me, but I would be lying. I've had the police called on me a number of times in Boston. I'm not abusing her. She just doesn't like new places. She's definitely got a pair of lungs on her, though." Lydia laughed awkwardly.

"He knows about stuff, Lyds." Stiles said. Turning back to his dad, Stiles said, "Kristy's part banshee. She just can't control her screams just yet."

"Is she going to be alright?"

Lydia nodded, "Yeah, she'll be fine. I'm sorry you got called out. I'm sure she'll be okay now that she's asleep."

"Well, alright. Goodnight, Ms. Martin, Stiles," the sheriff said in succession between the two of them. After he was gone, Stiles sighed, "You hear that Lyds?"

"What?" she asked, confused. "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly. 'Night, Lyds."

-x-

"You want me to what now?" Allison asked Lydia, practically squeaking into the phone.

"I just wanted to ask if you'd take Kristy overnight tonight. So, will you?"

"And what are you going to do?"

"Look, Ally," Lydia said, sighing. "I need a break. I love my daughter and I need to protect her, but I can't do that if I don't get a break once in a while. Besides, I know that you and Scott can protect her. Also, Mel was so excited to see her before. It's been a long time since they've seen each other."

"What are your plans for tonight, Lydia?" Allison asked.

"I'm gonna get drunk," Lydia stated. Allison let out a disapproving sound so Lydia continued, "I don't want to do it while Kristy's here, and I just want some wallowing time. Ever since I got pregnant with her, I haven't had time to just sit and wallow. I've been too busy taking care of her. So just give me one night of wallowing, and I should be right as rain. I'd appreciate it if you and Scott would do this for me, please."

Allison sighed in defeat, "Fine, we'll do it."

"Awesome," Lydia answered. "Can I bring her over in about an hour? I need to go to the store anyway."

"Sure."

When Lydia hung up with Allison, she started getting herself and Kristy around to leave. Lydia Martin was far from fabulous as of lately, but she was going to try this time. A couple of hours later, she was on her way up to Scott and Allison's apartment, with Scott meeting her at the door.

"You sure you don't want company?" he asked as Kristy raised her arms, indicating that she wanted to be held by him. He lifted her out of Lydia's arms and into his own. "Ally told me what you're doing, and it might be easier with someone with you."

"I'm drinking tonight, alone. Well, unless Stiles is home, then I'll gladly accept company." She sighed, "Look, I know what you guys are thinking. I'm an irresponsible parent, having the two of you take care of Kristy while I'm getting drunk. But think of it like this: I don't want to do it while I'm supposed to be taking care of her. I want to make sure that Kristy's well taken care of, and for you, it'd be easy, since werewolves can't get drunk. For me, it's not that easy. I may not be a lightweight, but I still worry."

"I guess I can understand that," Scott said as he took Kristy's bag from Lydia. "So, how exactly do you take care of a baby banshee, anyway?"

"Just like a normal baby. Really, I honestly think she's more were than banshee, because she acts more like a werewolf. She does, however, let out banshee screams every once in a while, just so you know. She can't control it, and the pack medic said as she gets older, she'll be able to control it better."

"Okay."

"Look, I'll call or text you guys when I'm coming to get her tomorrow. Probably won't be until afternoon, though, depending on how bad of a hangover I get."

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow."

-x-

That night, when Stiles came home, he was secretly glad that both Allison and Scott had texted him to let him know what Lydia had planned, because he walked in a drunk Lydia. Her bottle of Absolut was on the coffee table – and she wasn't using a glass, she was just drinking from the bottle – and she had the radio on and was dancing.

"Hey, Lyds," Stiles said uncertainly. "What'cha doing?"

Lydia noticed him and then grinned, "Hey, Stiles. What's up?"

"What's up?" Stiles asked, somewhat incredulously. "Lyds, in case you haven't noticed, you're kind of being…loud."

Lydia checked her watch, "Hey, it's only half past eight." Lydia stopped dancing around and went over to the couch, patting the cushion next to her, "Come on, have a seat. Be my drinking buddy."

"Did you drink three quarters of that bottle all by yourself?" he asked, somewhat intrigued.

"Yeah," she nodded, "but I'm still not that drunk. Just a little."

Stiles came over and sat next to her, taking a swig of the vodka, "Why are you doing this, Lyds?" he asked her.

She shrugged, "I can't let loose very often. I wanna wallow, Stiles. I haven't been able to wallow because I have to take care of Kristy, to be responsible for her."

"What are we wallowing about?" Stiles asked, taking another swig of the vodka. He wasn't going to drink enough to get trashed, he had built up a pretty good tolerance trying to compete with Scott and the other werewolves (although, he realized a while ago that they can't get drunk, but hey, it took quite a bit for him to get drunk now, so that was always good).

"Aiden."

Stiles' face fell, "What about him?"

"Aiden's not a good guy," Lydia said, taking another swig. "He's really not. When I got pregnant, I wished to God that I had someone in my life to share it with. I was bringing a baby into the world, and I had no help. I had no one to share the excitement with, the excitement of the first ultrasound, the first time I ever heard her heartbeat. I had no one to make fun of me when I was eating chocolate ice cream and bananas at three in the morning."

"Chocolate ice cream and bananas?" Stiles asked with a look on his face. "Well, as far as pregnant lady food goes, I guess that's not that bad."

"You should hear some of the other stuff I had. But, anyway, Aiden isn't a good guy, and that's what I wanted in my life. A good guy. Someone I could count on no matter what, someone that'd be there for both me and Kristy. But that's not what I got 'cause I don't deserve it. Do you know that I haven't had a single date since I got pregnant with her? Nobody's ever interested. They find out that I have a kid and they run in the other direction. I don't understand. What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you, Lydia," Stiles said. Man, this was starting to get depressing. "Those guys who weren't interested just didn't know you. Anybody who got to know you would love you."

Lydia watched Stiles for a long moment. Finally, absentmindedly licking her lips, she asked, "Wow. You really believe that, don't you?" Her voice was soft, almost so soft that Stiles didn't hear her.

"It's true." Okay, so now his crush was showing. While she was gone to Boston, to MIT, Stiles had tried to move on. Late in high school, they had become really good friends, especially with research. Lydia was a fucking genius, and Stiles was pretty smart too. So while she was gone, Stiles had tried to move on. Without Lydia being here to, well…be Lydia, Stiles had casually dated in college, dating a few different people. But when Lydia had showed up on his doorstep, everything he knew about moving on had flown out the window. He wasn't obsessed with her anymore, not like he used to be, but he was still very much in love with her.

Lydia placed her hand on his cheek, stroking his cheek with her thumb. Stiles licked his lips nervously; he wasn't sure what to expect here.

She leaned in and kissed him. A moan left his mouth; his crush, his very first love, was kissing him right now, and it felt phenomenal. He lost his mind for a moment while she attacked his mouth, but then, realizing what he was doing, he broke the kiss.

"What's the matter?" she asked, breathing heavily.

"I can't, Lydia. I'm sorry, but you've been drinking and I can't take advantage of you like that."

Lydia bit her lower lip as she thought (it was a bad habit she'd picked up back in Boston – Erica did it). Finally she said, "You wouldn't be doing that."

Stiles held her hand in his as he said, "You're drunk, Lyds, and I'm sorry but I can't do that to you. You may want something different when you're completely sober."

Lydia nodded, taking her hand out of Stiles' and ran it through her hair, "Yeah, I guess. Sorry about that, Stiles."

Don't apologize to me, Stiles thought to himself. Lydia just sighed, took another swig of the vodka, and then stood up, holding her hand out to him, "C'mon, Stiles, dance with me," she said, smiling. "I wanna fucking dance!"

Smiling, he took her hand.