When Lydia got out of the hospital two days later, Stiles took her directly back to the apartment. She figured that he'd be a little more protective of her since finding out about the pregnancy, and boy, was she ever right.

"Jesus, Stiles," Lydia said exasperatedly as he helped her up the stairs, "You're starting to act like I'm in my last month. I'm only five weeks, and I need to do certain things by myself, you know."

Stiles looked at her, "Sorry, Lyds, but I need to make sure you're okay. Just let me do this, okay? I don't want to go all macho bullshit and say that you're carrying my child, but Lyds…you're carrying my child."

Lydia rolled her eyes, but Stiles said, "You didn't have this the first time around, and it's my first kid, so you had to have known I was gonna be like this."

Lydia sighed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I kinda did."

When they made it to his apartment, the whole pack was sitting there in the living room with…was that Boyd and Erica?

Erica jumped up when she saw Lydia and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay," she mumbled into her hair. It made Lydia laugh.

"I should slap you, Martin," Erica said after they broke apart. Even Boyd – big, serious, stoic Boyd – gave Lydia a hug, and she thought that was a little odd, but didn't say anything. "You scared me half to death! Hell, you scared everyone here half to death! When Stiles called me, I was almost sure that they killed you!"

"Well, I'm grateful that you aren't slapping me," is what Lydia went with. Erica rolled her eyes as both Melanie and Kristy came out. Lydia picked up her daughter and hugged her tightly.

"The only reason I'm not slapping you is because you're pregnant, and if I do, I have a feeling that I'd be murdered," Erica said. Lydia laughed nervously, putting Kristy back down on the floor.

"Aunt Lyds," Melanie said, "Are you okay? Mama said that you were hurt."

Lydia glanced over at Allison before saying, "I'm fine, sweetheart. Really."

Melanie nodded and before long, she was dragging Kristy back, probably to her room where they were going to play. Scott cleared his throat.

"Come on over here, Lydia. We need to have a talk."

"Was it really necessary to have everyone here?" she asked. "I mean, even Peter's here." She motioned over to the armchair in the corner, where he looked like he was lurking.

"We need to talk, and this is a pack thing," Scott said, like it was obviously the answer. Stiles helped her over to the couch and she sat down in-between Derek and Ethan. Scott sighed and said, "Now that we're all here, I want you to explain to all of us all at once why you did what you did. You've probably explained it over a hundred times to certain individuals, but I still have no idea why you did what you did and I think I'm owed at least an explanation."

Lydia nodded. "You guys have been so good to us," she started, looking at the entire pack. "The only reason I came back to Beacon Hills when I knew I was in trouble was because of Erica. I hadn't even thought of coming back before that because I had been away for so long, without any word to anyone but Allison. I figured Allison would have told you guys updates about us and everything, so I knew you guys hadn't forgotten about me, but I was nervous about coming back at all. When Erica suggested it, I almost didn't come, but I was desperate and needed some help." She took a deep breath, watching Scott nervously, "I got a text message a couple of months ago. It was from Deucalion, telling me to meet him in the preserve alone. I knew that if any of you knew I was going to meet him, you wouldn't have allowed it, and I also know that if I had told you I wanted to meet him and even take someone with me, you guys would have been on high alert."

"That's because it's a pretty huge deal," Allison said quietly. Scott nodded.

"Yeah, I know that now," Lydia said. "All I was thinking at the time was that I needed to protect Kristy. C'mon, Scott, Allison," she said, looking at them individually, "if Mel's life was in danger, you'd do anything to protect her, right? Even die for her, if you had to?"

"I'm not upset that you were willing to die to protect your daughter," Scott said, and that surprised Lydia.

"Really?" she asked. "I was sure that that was the reason."

"Lydia," Derek said, speaking up, "we're not angry that you were willing to die for Kristy. We were angry that you didn't tell anyone about it."

"I refused to let anyone die to protect me and Kristy. I mean, we've had some close calls, right? And what if someone had died trying to protect me or my daughter? I don't think that I could've lived with that. I just…I needed to do this."

Scott watched her silently for a few minutes. Lydia felt somewhat like he was trying to figure out what to say to her. He finally said, "I just wish you would have trusted us."

"But I do trust you!" Lydia exclaimed. "Look, with everything I went through with Aiden," she started, shooting a sympathetic look to Ethan, hoping that he wouldn't hate her forever, "I mean, Aiden wasn't that great of a guy. And over the years, he became worse, you know? And I just…as I've already told Stiles, I just don't really trust werewolves anymore. You guys have so much power, and I know control is really fucking hard for you guys sometimes, and what if you just snapped? You could tear out my throat without even thinking about it. It wouldn't be that hard at all."

Everybody's eyes went to Peter, and he shrugged, "What? It was a necessary evil at the time."

Scott rolled his eyes at Peter like it was a normal thing, and who was Lydia kidding? It probably was. Then he said, "Lydia, we're not going to hurt you."

"Look, I know you're a good guy, Scott," Lydia said. "And I know that Stiles is the one who taught you control. You've never lost control around me, but it doesn't mean you couldn't right? Like, any of you can lose control and not find it again. It's probably really fucking easy, you know? I can't take that chance. Aiden showed me a few things, and I…" her voice trailed off. She looked over at Ethan, "Ethan, I'm so fucking sorry. It doesn't matter what he did to me, and it doesn't even really matter what kind of person he really was, he was still your brother. He was your family, your brother, and I made you kill him for me."

Tears started to fall from her eyes and she started crying. This was one of the things she hated about pregnancy; she was so goddamn emotional. He reached over and held her for a long minute, rubbing her back. After a few minutes, she sniffled, cleared her throat, and said, "Sorry about that."

"I want you to understand something, Lydia," Ethan said when they broke apart. Lydia watched him intently as he said, "You didn't make me do anything. Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do, okay? When we got there, you were bleeding out on the ground and I kinda lost it. Because even though Aiden did terrible things to you, I've always respected you. For a while, when we were here with the alpha pack, I know Aiden felt a connection to you. I've always been the more compassionate of the two of us, but I guess without me, he seemed to go off of the deep end. But I didn't kill my brother because you made me, okay? I've just gotten to know you, and my niece, and I just…I would've never been able to live with myself if something happened to Kristy's only capable parent. After you told the pack about how sadistic Aiden had gotten, I thought a lot about it, and I realized that the brother I loved, the brother I knew, no longer existed. I made peace with it, so when I had to go up against him for you, it was not a hard decision. And I would do it again."

Lydia just nodded.

"I know that you're going to have trust issues after everything you've gone through," Scott said after a few moments of silence. "I get that, I really do. But if you really would have died, I don't think any of us would have been able to forget it. You know Stiles had a hard time forgiving you."

Lydia looked down at the floor and was silent. Stiles, however, said, "Lyds and I have already had words about it, and it's all good."

Scott nodded. Then he looked at Lydia, "We're not going to hurt you, okay? It might be hard for you to believe us right now, but I promise, we're the good guys."

-x-

Erica and Boyd had decided to stay a while, so Stiles let them stay in the spare room that Kristy's crib was in. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked Lydia, almost as an afterthought.

"What, she's my daughter so you thought that you should get my approval?" Lydia said. Stiles looked worried, so Lydia laughed, "I'm just messing with you, Stiles. I don't care. It's good to see them again."

That night, John and Melissa volunteered to watch Kristy so Stiles and Lydia could go out to dinner with Erica and Boyd. They went to a pretty fancy Italian place that was just outside of Beacon Hills, and as they sat there, Lydia kept looking at Erica.

"You okay?" Erica asked gently. It was way too gently for Erica, but Lydia didn't really know what to say.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's really good to see you guys," Lydia said honestly.

Erica nodded, "Yeah, we missed you."

Stiles cleared his throat before saying, "Erica and Boyd were telling me the other day that they're thinking about moving back."

Lydia's face just lit up, "Really? I mean, truly?"

Erica nodded, "Yeah. Now that we know that Deucalion is dead, I don't think that we have much to fear."

"There's always Ethan," Boyd said, getting a look from Stiles and Lydia. "What? He was one of the ones who kidnapped us, let's be honest here. But he seems to be…better."

"He is," Lydia said, immediately jumping to Ethan's defense. Stiles looked at her like she had grown another head. She just watched him for a moment before saying, "What?"

"When you first got here, you avoided him like the plague," Stiles said. "What's changed?"

"Well, for starters, he killed his fucking brother for me," Lydia said, with a little more bite than was necessary. "He saved my life, Stiles. What more do you want from him?"

Stiles was just silent.

"You trust him?" Erica asked after a few moments of silence. She just watched Lydia.

"I don't know if I'd call it trust," Lydia said slowly. "I just…he really loves Kristy. You should see him around her. And he wanted to get to know me, and he was worried about me enough to tell the pack and to stalk Stiles' apartment for what had to be hours. I feel like he cares. Besides, I know you probably don't know this because you never spent any amount of time around the twins, but Ethan's always been more compassionate than Aiden ever was. Even back when they first showed up in town, Aiden was supposed to be keeping an eye on me, and Ethan was supposed to be keeping an eye on Danny, and Ethan's heart of gold kinda shown through. Danny trusts him, and I know he's not all bad."

"I don't know, Lyds," Erica said after a few moments. "I mean, I get that he saved your life. I understand why you could feel a little…obligated to him."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "It's not obligation I feel towards him," she said. "I just feel like I owe him one, y'know? You should really try to get to know him before you make any rash decisions, though. He and Aiden are as different as night and day."

Erica just shrugged and they went about their dinner. They ate and chatted, and Lydia realized how much she had truly missed them. She and Erica had spent a lot of time together back in Boston, and Lydia figured that if Erica and Boyd moved back to Beacon Hills, things were definitely going to go in the right direction.

After picking up Kristy, Lydia and Stiles were pretty much silent on the ride home. It was late, and Kristy was asleep in the back seat, but Lydia kept stealing glances at Stiles every few minutes. She knew he still wasn't very happy with her, and she figured she'd have to find a way to make it up to him eventually, but part of her wondered if she was good enough. Stiles was a good man and he deserved the best of everything. Lydia was just sorry that she hadn't realized that years ago. If she had, she wouldn't have been in this predicament to begin with. But then again, if she had, she wouldn't have Kristy right now, and she was thankful for that little girl every day that she woke up.

Lydia put Kristy to bed when they got back to Stiles apartment, and she and Stiles stayed up for a little while to have some tea. Even when she was in the hospital, Lydia kept having nightmares, but tea before bed sometimes helped calm her nerves. Maybe it was going to help, and maybe it wasn't – there really was no telling either way, but Lydia figured she'd give it a try. As Lydia and Stiles sipped at their tea, Lydia cleared her throat, "So I'm thinking about trying to find my own apartment. A place of my own, y'know? I'm putting my place in Boston up for sale and I think that I should make a place for me and Kristy."

"Wait," Stiles said, and Lydia was sure that Stiles was going to object to her finding her own space. She was surprised when he said, "That apartment in Boston – you bought that?"

Lydia nodded, "Yeah. Before my dad died, he put aside money for me. So I used that. My mom had no problem with me buying that place; she always worried about me being safe. And then, when Kristy came along, Mom wanted me to continue to be safe and that place was pretty secure. It had a doorman and security cameras and everything. I know it was always on her mind."

Stiles nodded, but then said, "So why do you need your own apartment? I mean, you can just live here with me. I don't mind."

"I know, Stiles," Lydia said, taking another drink of her tea. "I know all of that. But I need to do a few things. I need to look into college courses. I need to find a job. I need to make sure I can provide for myself, for Kristy, and for the new baby. I can't do that if I'm homeless and jobless."

"You know you're always gonna have me and the pack," Stiles said. "All together, the pack really has more money than we know what to do with."

"Then do something else with it. I can survive on my own, Stiles. I did in Boston. I worked at a campus coffee shop during the week and I worked in the same gym as Erica on the weekends."

"Doing what?"

"I assisted a self-defense class. It wasn't great pay, but I could put Kristy in the daycare there for free while I was working and I got to work with Erica. I need to do something to keep myself afloat."

"I've got money," Stiles offered. When he noticed the look that Lydia was giving him, he said, "What? That's my kid inside of you. I want to help you any way that I can."

Lydia sighed and nodded, "Okay. We'll talk about it in the morning, okay? I need some sleep."

Stiles nodded. Lydia stood, offering her hand to Stiles. He took it and they went to bed together.

A/N: In case anyone's interested, I'm taking fic prompts on my tumblr. The link is on my profile.