A/N: I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last time I updated this! I've been dealing with some real life drama and haven't had much time to write. I don't know how long I'm going to be dealing with this stress in my real life, so I hope this will tide you guys over for a little while.
Once again, reviews & con crit are welcomed.
After picking up Kristy from Allison and Scott's, Lydia took her back to Stiles' apartment and decided to start dinner. Stiles was the cook, he liked it and was good at it, but Lydia did know how to make a few things. She knew enough to take care of herself and Kristy, so she figured that she'd just make something she knew how to make.
Spaghetti and meatballs sounded nice and easy, and she was rolling the beef into balls when Stiles came through the front door. He saw Kristy sitting on the couch, watching a Disney movie and then noticed Lydia in the kitchen, making dinner. He pulled out one of the barstools at the kitchen island counter and looked at her. "What's for dinner?" he asked.
"Spaghetti and meatballs," Lydia answered. Silence came between the two of them, though it wasn't uncomfortable – it was never uncomfortable, thank God – as Lydia continued making the meatballs and Stiles just watched her. Finally, he said, "Are you mad at me?"
"Why would you say that?" Lydia asked.
"Because," Stiles answered, watching her roll the last of the meat up into a ball, "You just seem a little...upset."
"I'm not exactly upset," Lydia said. Then she put the meatballs in the spaghetti sauce and continued to cook them on the stove. "What I'm feeling is pretty complicated."
"Well, tell me what you're feeling," Stiles said.
Lydia sighed. "So I went and saw Allison today," she said, stirring her sauce. She put the spoon down on the stove and looked at Stiles. "We had a conversation about something."
Stiles nodded, "Was it about moving?"
"Nope," Lydia said. She looked at Stiles, "Were you ever gonna tell me that you had Erica keep tabs on me?"
Stiles almost fell out of his chair. He just watched Lydia for a good minute before saying, "How, uh, how do you know about that?"
Lydia shrugged, "Ally told me."
"Of course she did," Stiles groaned.
"Don't get mad at her," Lydia said. "It was just an accident. It kinda just slipped out And I was angry at first, but then I went and talked to Erica, too, and I'm not pissed anymore. I'm feeling about a thousand different emotions at once and I'm not one hundred percent sure what the fuck I'm feeling. They're all swirling around in my head, like my body can't pick one to feel so I'm feeling them all."
"Is it a pregnancy thing?" Stiles asked hesitantly. "Because I remember when Allison was pregnant with Mel, she had the same problem."
"Just do me a favor, Stiles. Tell me why you felt it was necessary to stalk me, and then why you didn't own up to it at all when I came here? You already knew about Kristy, you knew she was Aiden's, so why did you just let me talk? You could've told me months ago."
"I wouldn't exactly call it stalking," Stiles said. Lydia turned around to stir her meatballs and sauce and Stiles continued, "I just needed to make sure that you were okay. Lyds, you're the love of my life. I love you, even back then, and I needed to make sure that Aiden wasn't going to kill you and hide your body, okay?"
"I can take care of myself," Lydia said.
Stile just watched her.
"Besides," she continued, stirring her sauce before tasting it and adding salt, "You know Erica. Ever since the two of us became friends, she's been fiercely protective of me."
"I just worry," Stiles said. "I'm sorry if it seems like I went a little overboard on the protecting thing, but...Lydia, I just had to make sure you were safe, okay?"
Lydia nodded, turning the burners to the stove off. "Dinner's ready," she said to him as she dished herself up some. Stiles just sighed and got his own dinner.
-x-
"Why, Ally?" Stiles asked Allison a couple of days later when he was helping them move furniture into the McCall house. "Why did you tell her that I had Erica watch over her?"
"It was an accident," Allison said. "We were talking, and I forgot that it was supposed to be a secret."
"I just...I can't take the way she looked at me," Stiles said. "I've loved Lydia Martin for a long fucking time, okay, and now she thinks I'm a total creeper."
"I doubt that very much," Allison said. "She didn't even seem that mad when I told her. Besides, Stiles, you should've told her when she first showed up in town. You shouldn't have kept it from her."
"I see the way that you and Lydia look at each other," Isaac piped up as he stood in the doorway to the kitchen, where Stiles and Allison were talking, and took a few gulps out of a bottle of water. "It's actually pretty disgusting."
"Yeah, well nobody asked you," Stiles snapped. Isaac just shrugged before going back to help Scott move some more things out of the moving truck.
"Look, Stiles," Allison said after a moment. "The two of you need to open up to one another. Yeah, she knows about you and Erica, but you need to tell her about your past relationships."
"Why?" Stiles asked. Allison gave him a look that clearly said, You are an idiot.
"Because," she said, continuing to fix lunch for the guys, "she needs to know. She's not going anywhere, you know. But you're acting like she might just be gone tomorrow."
"You never know when she's gonna get sick of me," Stiles mumbled, but Allison heard it.
"Now you listen to me, Mikolaj Stilinski," Allison said, and Stiles looked around. There wasn't anyone around, but Stiles looked at Allison unbelievingly.
"How the fuck do you know that?" Stiles asked. "Nobody knows that."
"Scott told me," Allison said. "I know you know Scott knows your real name, and when he's drunk on wolfsbane infused alcohol you wouldn't believe what kinda stuff he talks about. But anyway, you listen to me good, okay? Lydia isn't going to get sick of you. She loves you, you asshole. She is in love with you, and you guys are expecting two children together! Two! So if you think she's just gonna cut and run, then you obviously don't know Lydia as well as you think you do."
Stiles was bewildered. He just got told off by Allison fucking Argent, and that didn't happen very often. He watched her for a moment before Allison finished the sandwiches she was making and then said, "I mean it, Stiles. Get to know her better, because once you do, you'll see that once Lydia commits herself to something, she goes all in. She's not gonna get sick of you, okay? Go home, talk to her. She's been talking about wanting to buy a house with you, you idiot. If you think that she doesn't want you like that, you need to look at it a second time, okay? She wants to make a life with you. Would she want to buy a house with you if she was going to cut and run at the first sign of trouble?"
Stiles was silent. He wasn't sure what to say.
"Take these sandwiches out to the guys," Allison said. "Then tell Scott you're going home because you need to talk to Lydia."
Stiles nodded. He had learned a long time ago that when Allison Argent gave you an order, you did what she said.
-x-
Lydia was surprised when the front door to the apartment opened around two o'clock that afternoon. Stiles told her that he was helping Scott and Allison move and it would probably take all day. They had told her that they wanted her to stay home to take care of Melanie and Kristy, and it wasn't like they were going to let her do any lifting, anyway. Everybody made a big deal about the pregnancy, and ever since they found out that it was going to be twins, they had been extra protective of her.
She had been browsing Netflix, trying to decide on something to watch, because Kristy and Melanie were taking a nap. She couldn't decide and was about to turn the TV off when Stiles came over and sat down beside her.
"Baby, we need to talk," Stiles said. Lydia looked panicked for a moment, and it must've shown, because he said, "It's not about something bad. I just got told off by Allison."
"Why?" Lydia asked, turning the blu-ray player and then the TV off. She looked over at Stiles, "What did you do?"
Stiles looked surprised, but then Lydia said, "Ally doesn't tell people off unless they do something to really piss her off. So what'd you do?"
"Look, Lyds," Stiles said, taking her hands. Lydia watched him closely, knowing that he was trying to form a sentence, so she just waited. "I've had a few bad relationships since you've been in Boston. I think we should talk about them."
Lydia nodded, "Sure."
"So the first relationship I had after high school was sophomore year of college. Her name was Melinda and she was a nice girl, I thought. She seemed to really like me and even got along with Scott. That's one of the biggest things for me, you know, that you get along with my family. Derek, however, didn't like her – he said her scent was off and he didn't trust her. So anyway, Melinda and I dated...we went on dates, we doubled with Scott and Allison, I really liked her. I lost my virginity to her."
Lydia nodded, so Stiles continued, "Turns out she was a witch who'd heard of the true alpha and was trying to destroy him. She didn't like werewolves because apparently her son had been killed by a rogue alpha on a full moon. She didn't want to go after him violently until she had learned what he was about, how he fought, things like that."
Lydia nodded.
"Girlfriends two and three were just there to use me. They were basically in the relationship because they wanted everything they could get from me, but they were fucking other guys on the side. Scott had warned me about Linda, the second, and Derek and Isaac both warned me about Sally, the third, but I didn't listen because I'm stupid."
"After Kayla, the fourth girlfriend and the second person to use me to get to Scott, I decided to swear off dating. Nobody wanted to be with me. Everyone who was with me had decided to do it to use me or to get to Scott, and nobody's gonna use me to get to my brother, okay? So I decided not to date.
And then you showed up in my life, just being so Lydia, and I just couldn't help myself. And when you asked me out, I just couldn't resist. I love you, Lydia, and I've been in love with you since the third grade. I just don't want to live my life without you in it. But, please, if you decide you don't want me anymore, you need to tell me, okay? Don't play around on me. It might just kill me someday."
Lydia watched Stiles for a moment before saying, "I would never do that. You should know me better than that, Stiles. You should know that when I'm in something, I'm in it to win it. And that's how I feel about you. I promise."
She got up and straddled Stiles' waist, covering his lips with hers. It felt so good to kiss him, and man could Stiles kiss. He definitely knew what he was doing. Lydia reached up and caressed his cheek, stroking her thumb across his cheekbone. She tilted her head just a little and deepend the kiss, massaging his tongue with hers. He tasted so good, like cinnamon and spice, and she moaned into the kiss.
Lydia wrapped her arms around Stiles' neck as the kiss continued, and he reached up and caressed her cheek. As Lydia licked into Stiles' mouth, she thought that life just couldn't get any better than this.
"Uncle Stiles?" came a voice from behind them, and Lydia broke the kiss. Great, she thought, Mel's up. She looked over Stiles' head and indeed saw the brunette girl. Lydia just sighed.
"Yeah, shortstack?" Stiles said. As Lydia got off his lap, he turned around to look at her.
"I had a bad dream."
"Come here, sweetheart," Stiles said to Melanie, motioning for her to come over. She did, and Stiles lifted her up and onto his lap. "Do you wanna watch something? Maybe My Little Pony or even The Little Mermaid?"
"My Little Pony," Melanie said almost instantly. "I wanna watch that."
Stiles sat her down on the couch and queued up Netflix, clicking on My Little Pony. He started to get up, but Melanie grabbed at him. "No," she said, "you can't leave. I need someone here with me. Please?"
Stiles nodded. "Sure, pumpkin," he said to her. "Do you want Aunt Lydia here, too?"
Melanie didn't say anything, but she did nod.
As Lydia settled in beside Stiles, he looked over at her. She leaned back so he could whisper in her ear, "Sorry."
"Not a big deal," she said. "If anybody understands nightmares, it's me."
They spent the next hour watching TV with Melanie. Around four o'clock, Lydia heard Kristy starting to cry, so she went to get her. She picked her up and kissed her daughter on the top of her head. She set Kristy down on the floor, and the little girl crawled over to play with her teddy bear. Lydia sat down in the rocking chair that was in Kristy's room.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there, just watching her daughter play with her toys, but before she knew it, Allison was coming into the room. She watched Lydia closely.
"Hey," Lydia said. She glanced over at Kristy, who was playing with her blocks, and then back at Allison. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Allison said. "Scott and I want to take you and Stiles out to dinner – you know, as a thank you for Stiles having came out and helped us. There's that pizza place down on Main with the games – Scott loves that place as much as Mel does. How's that sound to you?"
Lydia nodded, "Sure. Let me get Kristy ready."
As they sat at dinner that night, Lydia watched her best friends interact, and the thought hit her again. Life definitely could not get any better than this.