Talia lifted her head the moment she heard Derek howl. She'd already been tracking her son's footsteps, and had reached the stream that he had paused at, if his tracks were anything to go by.
"Laura, I want you to run as fast as you can back to the house, alright? Do you know the way?" Talia chuffed, turning to Laura, who was standing at her heels, still fully shifted
"Yes mom," Laura whimpered, nodding her head in reply.
"Alright, go, and don't stop until you get there,"
Laura turned and bolted through the trees, and Talia watched her go for a moment, before she splashed through the stream and up the bank on the other side, following her son's scent as she ran at full speed, desperate to reach Derek and find out what had happened.
From the tone of his howl Talia was confident Derek wasn't injured, nor was he in any immediate danger, but there had been a touch of urgency, of desperation, and a hint of fear in the noise that had her concerned. As she ran she monitored her surroundings, taking note of everything around her. She noticed the smell of death almost immediately, and the scent of the humans that had crossed the path she was following two days before, although Talia was certain they were long gone. In her head Talia knew that Derek had followed the scent of death, curious about the scent after he'd first encountered it when his poor classmate had been ill.
Still, Talia expected it to be a rabbit, or some other woodland creature that was in it's death throes, and she mentally prepared herself for Derek, and probably Laura as well, trying to fix the poor creature, before it, of course, eventually would die, and leave her with two very upset young pups to deal with…and then Cora would latch onto her older siblings distress and then she'd have a distressed ten year old, a emotionally distraught seven year old who would blame himself for the creatures death, even though he hadn't done anything, and a cranky two year old.
Still, even though the scent of human grew stronger, mixed with Derek's own scent the closer she got to her pup, Talia wasn't prepared for the sight of her son, still wolfed out, although obviously unharmed, curled around a sleeping baby. Talia skidded to a stop in the muddy grass and cautiously approached the two as Derek blinked up at her, nosing the baby's pale skin nervously. The baby, however, didn't respond. Talia listened to the baby's heart beat from where she stood, and the sound of its strained little breaths.
"Derek," she chuffed, "It's okay, you're doing the right thing. I'm going to call to daddy and Uncle Peter, and then I'll be able to help you, ok?"
Derek nodded and Talia threw her head back and howled to her pack, to her husband and her brother. It was quite possible that one of them was on the way already, having heard Derek's howl, but pups were a little restricted by the range of their howls, and it was possible that Derek's howl hadn't travelled far enough to be heard by the rest of the pack at the house.
Having called the pack, Talia shifted back into her human form, knowing that she would be able to do far more for the baby in that shape than as a wolf. Derek whined and cocked his head to the side questioningly, but Talia shook her head. Derek needed to stay in his wolf form, he was warmer in this shape, and if the baby was hypothermic then Derek would be good for keeping it warm.
"Come here little one," Talia crooned gently, crouching down and picking the baby up in her arms, cradling it to her naked chest. She rocked back onto her knees as Derek got up and moved closer to her, resting his head on her knees as he watched her cradle the unconscious baby.
Talia guessed that the baby was about a year old, maybe 15 months, at most, even though he or she felt lighter than a healthy one year old should. What caused Talia to frown, however, was the bruising on the baby's face, as if he'd been stuck. The bruising was mottled blue and green, with flecks of yellow, and marked both cheeks of the baby. The few patches of skin that were unmarked with bruising were alarmingly pale, and if Talia wasn't focused on the sound of the baby's heartbeat with her Alpha werewolf level hearing, she would have thought the baby dead.
Still, at the same time, Talia was mentally preparing herself to administer CPR on the baby, not liking one bit the fluttering of his or her heart.
Talia had no idea how much time had passed before she heard the familiar heartbeat of her mate rapidly approaching, as well as the sound of his footsteps as he raced towards her position in his partial shift. Just like the rest of her pack Andrew could fully shift, Talia herself had coached him through the process once he'd developed good control after he'd become a werewolf, but he preferred the partial shift rather than going full wolf. It wasn't unusual with bitten wolves, and Talia was immensely grateful for it now, knowing that Andrew would have changes of clothes for her, and for Derek, and a phone on which they could call the emergency services. Despite being a little warmer now the baby in her arms was still unconscious, and Talia knew that he or she needed to be in hospital.
Eventually Andrew ran into the clearing, skidding to a stop as he took in the scene. He let the backpack slide off his back and onto the ground and approached Talia and Derek.
"Andrew, call 911, he or she needs hospital, now," Talia directed, although Andrew already has his phone out and was dialing. Talia cradled the baby in one arm, and ran her fingers through Derek's fur with her free hand.
"Derek, I need you to shift back and get dressed, okay? An ambulance and the police will be here soon, and you need to be ready before they get here."
Derek nodded, moving away from his mother and shifting back until he was a normal looking boy once again, although a naked one at that. He dived into the bag and grabbed his spare clothes out, disappearing into the undergrowth to get changed. Talia waited until Andrew had finished calling for help before she carefully passed the baby over to him.
"I'll get changed," she told him, before she retrieved her own clothes out of the backpack and quickly got dressed, before taking the baby back into her arm, tucking him or her into her jacket to try and conserve their temperature.
"I'll go wait by the road and flag down the ambulance when it gets here," Andrew told her, getting to his feet and racing away, as Derek emerged from the bushes, fully dressed. He sat on the ground next to his mother and peered at the baby she was holding.
"Where do you think they came from? Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked. Talia cringed and undid a few of the snaps on the little jumpsuit the baby was wearing, trying to ignore the smell as she glanced in the baby's filthy diaper.
"Boy," she confirmed, doing the snaps back up, "but I don't know where he come from. The police will find his parents though. You did the right thing calling me, Derek, I'm very proud of you."
"I wonder how long he's been out here." Derek thought aloud. Talia shuddered, not wanting to think about how long the baby boy had been left alone in the woods. She was certain the humans she could smell had been involved, but their scent was two days old. If it had been them that had left the baby here it was a minor miracle that the baby had made it so long, especially when he already had injuries.
"He woke up, not long after I found him, he smiled at me and touched my fur." Derek told her. Talia smiled and ruffled Derek's hair affectionately.
"Make sure you tell the paramedics that he was awake, briefly, when you found him, and that he looked at you and smiled, but we'll leave out the bit about fur. We'll tell them that we were going for a walk together, and you wondered off a little and found him and screamed for your father and I to come, alright?"
Derek nodded, and Talia was glad that she'd taught her children from an early stage how to accept a plausible cover story for anything that happened that was supernatural in origin. Already in the distance she could hear the sirens, but she knew it would at least be another ten minutes before they arrived at the roadside closest to where they were, and then at least another five minutes for Andrew to bring the Paramedics and the police out to the sight. Talia considered moving closer to the road, but she didn't want to risk accidently exposing her secret by being able to lead the police straight back to the clearing, especially when the small clearing was identical do many other such clearing in the woods.
All they could do was wait and hope that the little baby boy lasted long enough for help to arrive.
TEEN WOLF
Relief washed over Talia's body as Andrew finally led three men into the clearing. The first two were paramedics, loaded up with the tools of their trade, while the third man was young deputy Stilinski. Peter brought up the rear, having only just beaten the ambulance to the scene in his own car
"Ah, crap," Stilinski muttered the moment he saw the baby lying in Talia's arms, "who the hell leaves a kid out here alone?"
Nobody answered the question as the Paramedics began to examine the baby, cutting away his jumpsuit and passing it over to the deputy, who immediately put it in an evidence bag. The Paramedics changed the baby's diaper, and Talia cringed sympathetically as she saw the rash that covered the baby's bottom from the diaper he'd had on before. Dutifully, Deputy Stilinski bagged the diaper as well, before he began photographing the scene, and began questioning Talia and Derek gently. Derek, obviously shaken from seeing the state the baby had been in, the bruising on his face seeming so much less significant when compared to the bruising and cuts on his back, chest and legs, answered the deputy's questions confidently, sticking to the story Talia had given him.
"I was running, I wanted to explore, and Mommy and Daddy said I could go a little bit away from them," Derek explained, "And then I ran into the clearing and he was there, and I just curled up next to him to try and keep him warm and called for mom and Dad. He opened his eyes and smiled at him, but then he fell back asleep and wouldn't wake up, even when mommy and Daddy got here." Derek explained. Deputy Stilinski smiled kindly at Derek and patted him on the back.
"You did good, kid," He'd praised the younger boy, "If you hadn't found him who knows what would have happened to the little guy. You saved his life, I think. That makes you a hero."
Talia saw the affect the deputies words had on her son, and beamed with pride at the way Derek's chest puffed up a little, his eyes shining as he looked up at the deputy with some sort of awed respect from where he stood beside Peter, who had a gentle, reassuring arm around her son's shoulders.
It didn't take long for Andrew and Talia to give their own statements, and Peter to add his own comments. By then the Paramedics had finished doing all they could for the baby, and were carefully taking him out of the preserve to their waiting ambulance so they could rush him to Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital.
"Thanks for everything," Deputy Stilinski nodded, shaking hands with Talia, and then with Derek, "I might need to come back and have another look at the scene, see if I can get some prints, although I doubt it, what with the rain we've been having lately."
"Feel free," Talia offered, "I only wish we could do more to help. Would…would it be alright if we checked up with the hospital, maybe visited him when he's a little stronger?"
"We'll see how he responds to treatment over the next 24 to 48 hours," the deputy conceded, "I'll start searching for his parents, and we'll go from there. I'll give you a call when the hospital Okays visitors."
"Thank you," Talia inclined her head, taking Derek by the hand gently, knowing that when Deputy Stilinski had mentioned seeing how the baby boy responded to treatment he was really saying that he didn't know that the baby would survive his ordeal.
Only time would tell.