WOW! This so long over do it's not even funny! I just want to Thank all of you for sticking with me during my extremely long hiatus and I hope you enjoy this chapter. As always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! PLEASE REVIEW! :D

Chapter Four: Human-Daughter

Stable ground. I reminded myself for the millionth time this morning; my hands tightening around the phone in attempt to choke my mother through it. "I've got it." I repeated; sighing tiredly as she raddled on with another fifty gifts she wanted me to pick up for Layla's Christmas this year in her absence. Better you pick them up yourself then have to drag her along too. I thought.

"And I also think we should get some more of those Leap Frog games." Monica added.

"She's already got five. How many more does she need?" I huffed.

"They're educational, June. There's nothing wrong with giving her a variety to better her education."

"And there's nothing wrong with a coloring book either. You know like the ones you used to give me when I was kid?" I pointed.

"Yes, but that was the best they had back then and I want the best for Layla." And I want a gun to blow my brains out. But we don't always get what we want, do we?

"What about something fun? You know, tooooyss? Kids love those too." Which Derek and I had already been stocking up on them during our outings for the house. He loved toy shopping for Layla more then he liked shopping for the house.

"I've seen the things you've got packed in the back of Stiles' jeep. I'm pretty sure you and Derek have the fun things covered." She noted and I couldn't really argue with her. "Just stick to the list I gave you."

"When am I supposed to do all of this? Derek's sick so I can't exactly leave Layla with him."

"Call the babysitter." She offered and I grumbled in distaste.

"I'll just take her with me and put a blind fold on her." I grumped.

"I don't know why you have such a hard time with the babysitter. She's perfectly capable."

"She's a bitch." I huffed. And she had the hots for my mate. And she wasn't my pack. AND SHE HAS THE HOTS FOR MY FUCKING MATE! Need I say more?

"She's a sweet young girl."

"Who's also a bitch."

"I wish you would stop using that word."

"And I wish she would stop being a bitch so I could stop calling her that." I shot back; waiting for the sure argument to begin but was instead disappointed as Monica let it go.

"Take Layla with you. I don't care anymore. Just figure out a way to keep her from seeing what you're picking up."

"She's one. She's not going to remember anyway." I pointed out; knowing it was a lost cause. This had been an ongoing debate for the past three months now. Mom didn't want Layla to have any idea what she was up to because she thought it would ruin the surprise. And as much as I hated to admit it, I agreed. I didn't want Layla knowing what Derek and I had got her. But I didn't see the big point in Mom trying to hide her gifts since they were no fun anyway.

"If you can't figure out a way to keep her from knowing then you can let the babysitter watch her while you shop."

"No-no. I'll find a way." Maybe.

"Good." Monica agreed happily having won this round. Don't puke. It's not worth it. "I would have waited until your father and I got back to pick them up myself but the sale ends in two days."

"Yeah, I know."

"But I'll be home in four days and then we can finish shopping for Layla and the boys together. I want to get Derek, Scott, and Stiles something but I need your help."

She's trying to be better. "Sure Mom. I'll help you. See you in a couple of days then?"

"That's the plan." She said. "Oh, and June? I love you."

I held my breath for a moment; still trying to get used to hearing those three little words fall from her mouth before whispering back, "Me too" and hanging up. Flopping back on the bed I stared up at the ceiling; Derek's coughs echoing into the bedroom from the living room where he sat alone watching Supernatural. Stiles and Scott had both gone back to their respective homes now that the weekend was over. They were still sick as dogs but both Ms. McCall and Sheriff Stilinski wanted their kids to actually spend time with them for a change. Which I couldn't blame them.

A couple weeks back Derek and I had went Thanksgiving dinner skipping; starting off eating with Scott and his mom before hopping over to the Stilinski household where we ate another dinner and watched a football game and finally landing at my parents place for the rest of the evening. By the time Thanksgiving was over both Derek and I was lucky we could even walk and spent the rest of the night digesting in bed. Then Friday we gathered the boys and some left overs and took them to the hospital to spend with Peter. Whom still hadn't talked since last year when he helped saved our lives. That I had been able to keep under safe wraps in my head. So far. I had no clue why he didn't want Derek to know but I owed him as much of my trust that he had a good reason.

After the hospital the guys and I geared up with a list of Black Friday ads that my family had prepared for each of us to get during the door buster sales. And it actually proved to be a lot of fun. Or so I thought. Derek wasn't too thrilled and the highlight of the night was watching him knock a prick off of his feet. Ahh the memories. With a renewed smile on my face I decided to keep up my marry mood and wondered into the living room with Derek who welcomed me with open arms and drug me down on top of him for warmth; Layla played in her play pen, happily pushing a car around that Derek snuck to her as an early gift.

"I don't understand why your Mom wants to hide Layla from all of this. It's not like she's going to remember." Janice confirmed my argument. Since I was a best friend down and Derek thought I needed a female companion he had talked me into going out on regular girl dates with Janice; resulting in my having a new bestie. Who I had chosen to drag along on my new shopping assignment to help me get done quicker while Derek sat out in the car with Layla. We wound up taking my mom's four wheel drive SUV since the snow was now a whopping six inches deep and the roads were slick; but that wasn't what had convinced Derek to come. Noooo…it was the dual front and rear heaters and the luxury heated seats. Needless to say, he was more than happy to keep the car warm and watch Layla while Janice and I did the shopping. My poor mate.

"Yeah, she doesn't make any sense." I said agreeing; pushing a little faster to get the crap we needed so that I could get Derek home. "So how have you been? Has your family calmed down a bit?" I asked; remembering our last conversation where she had told me her and her family had had one big falling out.

"Not really. My dad's still pissed at my mom and my brothers and sisters are all at each other's throats. I'm just trying to stay away until the waters cool." She said; removing the bright red trench coat to reveal a black backless dress that clung to her skeleton like frame.

"I think you have your seasons backwards." I chuckled.

"Man, I don't know what's wrong with me. I've just been really hot lately. Like seriously, the other day I just laid in the snow for an hour and I was still hot."

"Are you getting sick?"

"I don't feel sick. I just can't get cool."

"Have you been to the doctor?"

"Yeah. He said it was my hormones." She waved it away. "It's probably just a faze, ya know?" I looked at her doubtfully when she squealed. "OH! Isn't that one of the things on the list?" I watched as she plucked it off of the shelf and compared it to the ad and my mom's list before plopping it into the cart. "What?" She asked; whipping her hair off of her shoulder and met my gaze when I just shook my head, going about my business and choosing to ignore the niggling of doubt in my stomach. "Hey, you know what would make Derek feel better?"

"A miracle?"

"Nooo…some new sexy lingerie." She winked and danced in place.

"It's nice that you're thinking of him but I don't think he feels up to roll playing just yet. His pride is already wounded." I teased lightly.

"I meant for you, not him." She rolled her eyes and grasped my hand. "They have some seriously naughty Santa cameos here. And I bet if we look around hard enough we could probably even find a whip." I watched as she bit her lip impatiently; mischief gleaming in her eyes as she waited for me to give in. "If anything, you should get it to have on hand for when he does feel better. At least it'll give him something to look forward to." She did have a point.

"Ok. But only after we get the shopping done." I caved finally. Hell, I might as well make the best of the situation.

Pushing the cart I hustled out to the car as snow swirled around me in a cloud of white; trying hard to keep from busting my ass on the slick pavement and leaving Janice to her own demises behind me. The cart was heaped with Mom's toys for Layla and a few small surprises of my own for Derek hid in the bottom wrapped up in pretty little boxes. Oh I knew it would be pure torture on him. But at the same time I was only thinking of his well-being. Popping the trunk I worked to shove the bags in, not really giving a crap on how they were stacked, before slamming it shut and turning to look for Janice. I found her standing beneath one of the parking lot lights; staring out into the cloud of white that disappeared into the dark, just watching. "Is she ok?" Derek's voice whispered through my ear and I turned to find him standing next to me; pulling the collar to his black wool coat around his neck tighter.

"I don't know. She was fine in the store." I answered honestly before calling out, "Janice! Are you coming?" She didn't acknowledge me for a moment; still staring out to the nothingness before finally shaking her head and turning back towards us. A gust of wind brought the fury of a blizzard and briefly pushed me against the car; Derek's arms snaking around my middle to steady me. But Janice in all of her 100 Ib. glory didn't even budge as she sauntered through the snow effortlessly with her coat wide open. "You alright, Jane?" I asked; climbing into the car as she dusted the snow from her hair and seemed a bit offish.

"I'm fine." She said finally; turning a reassuring smile to Derek and I before returning to staring out the window. Derek arched a questioning brow at me.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. Sheesh, aren't you burning up?" She asked and removed her coat.

"I'm comfortable." I said; noting the 78 degree setting of the car. "I have the temp set on high because of Derek and Layla."

"I know. But I was just wondering because you're not sick so I thought you would be hot like me. Guess my hormones are going haywire again."

"You should probably see a specialist about that." I offered disbelievingly and she just waved it off.

"I'll be fine." She said before turning to face Derek. "You're really going to like what June got you."

"I'm sure I will." He croaked hoarsely.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about your voice. You poor guy I feel for you." She offered good-kindheartedly. I knew in the past year she had come to think of Derek as a brother of sorts as she often times liked to poke fun of his grumpy nature. Derek returned the favor by poking back at her.

"Well, we still have a couple of weeks until Christmas. If the guys are feeling any better maybe we can go shopping together for fun stuff." I offered as I pulled up in front of her apartment building.

"That'd be nice. I have a coupon to Spencers'." She said with a teasing wink; looking back to Derek who just glared. Ahh….the memories. Also one of the worst days of my life. Reaching over I gave her a quick squeeze before she shuffled out the door and I pulled away; making a slow trek back to my house as the snow came down harder.

"Something's not right with her." Derek exclaimed as he crawled into the front seat; Layla whined at the loss.

"You don't say." I shot back and he leveled me a glare. "Sorry. It's just that she was completely fine in the store and then suddenly she changed." I apologized.

Pulling into the garage I killed the engine and shut the door behind me. Layla had dosed off in the backseat during the ride and Derek seemed pretty content in his seat as he reclined back; trying his best to get some rest but that damn cough wasn't allowing him the luxury. Outside, I could hear the whistle of the frigid wind, piling snow against the garage door and I couldn't stop my mind from sidetracking to the conversation I had had with Eleanor. Against my better judgment, I found myself checking the weather forecast every day for the entire state of California and sure enough, Beacon Hills was the only place being hit by the extreme weather. Even the best of weathermen seemed baffled by the phenomenon. But this year's winter seemed especially harsh; never could I remember a time that it had snowed so much in one week. Maybe throughout the entire winter season when the snow would begin to slowly melt another dusting would sweep in; providing a nice white blanket until the peeks of spring would arrive, but this was just ridiculous. Goosebumps prickled against my skin and an uncomfortable feeling settled in my gut; decidedly I chose to shake it off, turning my attention back to my sick mate who was coughing up a lung and I ran a soothing hand through his hair.

"Let's go in." I whispered and he nodded; climbing out of the car and ambling inside. Grabbing Layla from her car seat along with one of my special boxes I took her on upstairs, doing a quick diaper change before putting her down for the night with little fuss and hurried to the bathroom. Stripping my cloths as quick as I could I worked to slip on the tight fitting red number and rolled up the white thigh stockings when suddenly I heard a thump from downstairs. Rushing out of the bathroom I hurried down the steps and slid into the bedroom to find Derek lying on the floor, coughing violently, and holding a bucket; dinner clearly wasn't going to stay down either. Running some cold water in the sink I rinsed a fresh washrag and filled a glass before moseying back out to Derek who managed to sit back up on the bed. "Here." I offered; handing him the glass of water and pressed the cold rag to his forehead. His skin was pale and his cheeks seemed sunken in as dark circles highlighted beneath his eyes but there was no denying the glint of desire that flashed in the dull depths.

"Chicken soup…no good." He mumbled; dragging me forward into his embrace and planting his face between my breasts with a hum of approval as he slid his cheek against the soft fabric. I couldn't help but giggle when he refused to let me go; instead he just buried his face deeper before tumbling backwards and rolling me over with him. "Christmas has come early." He teased desperately, his hands snaking up beneath the cameo had me arching into his touch when suddenly it stopped; rolling over to the side of the bed he begun to get sick again.

"I'm calling Deaton again."

"No." He protested through gags.

"Derek, you're not getting any better."

"There's nothing he can do, June."

"You can't hold anything down, Derek. No food, no liquids, nothing. You're cheeks are caving in and your skin is paper white. I've spent enough time around Doctors to know that you're dehydrating."

"I'm not going." He said defiantly.

"Fine! He can make a house call!" I shouted; putting my foot down as I refused to give into Derek's stubbornness.

"It's a fucking blizzard out there, June. And you're going to drag him out into it?"

"Yes! If it means you're getting better." I willed; cupping his face. For the first time I was actually afraid that I would be able to crush him if I squeezed too hard.

He glared at me and I'm not sure if it was from the fact I had won the argument or from my fear of crushing him. Grasping my hands he squeezed them hard to prove a point before falling back against the pillow and dragging me down with him. "Call him in the morning, June, when the snows calmed down. In the meantime, let's get some sleep." He curled me tighter against him and I knew sleep was a long ways off for the both of us.

SO I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to release another chapter here soon. Please please please, (yes, I'm begging) REVIEW! :D 3 Thank you guys so much!