I woke up alone to the sound of voices beneath me. "What's going on in here?" I asked as I wrapped my robe around me. "Hcrrhm" I coughed to make myself visible. No response – go figure.. "Excuse me?" I called by the foot of the stairs. Time for physical measures. I picked up the newspaper and rolled it up. *SMACK* I hit the back of Stiles' head.
"Wha- what the hell, Evy?" Stiles rubbed the back of his head. "I see your baby-daddy is rubbing off on you" he said annoyed yet smiling.
"Ella! You told him!" I accused while she attempted to wipe off the smeared lip-gloss.
"I'm sorry Evy, he noticed your mood, and then Derek walked out of here with the hugest grin, I mean, he's not stupid" Ella defended herself. I gave her a doubtful look.
"Soooo.. I'm gonna be an uncle!" Stiles ignored my look.
"I forbid my child from calling you uncle" Derek walked in just in time to hear Stiles' excitement.
"Evy, I found this gorgeous white dress the other day, it would be perfect for you! You have to see it come on" Ella pulled me back up the stairs.
"You already showed me the dress, Ella" I said when we got to her room. She'd found the dress the night after we told her we were engaged, to be honest it really was beautiful.
"Hey, do you want juicy details or not?" she whispered beaming towards me. She continued before I could answer, probably anticipating my response. "We talked last night. For hours. And I told him how I felt. Like all of it" she said excited. "And we didn't have school today, so we went for a walk this morning. And he kissed me!" she squeezed my hand. "Can you believe that? We're together" she giggled. Ella had gotten so girly these last days – it was so unlike her old self.
"I can, I just saw you. You were.. erh… rather fierce" I said wiping away the lip-gloss she failed to remove.
"Yeah, sorry about that… Didn't see you" she shrugged.
"So what's up with them?" Derek asked as Stiles and Ella walked out the door.
"They're a thing now" I smiled as I turned on the stove. I was starving even though I had my breakfast only a couple hours ago. This pregnant thing was really getting to my appetite.
"That can't possibly be good" Derek laughed as he wrapped his arms around me. Oh my God he smelled so good. I pulled his face to my mouth. He tasted so sweet. My breath was getting unsteady and I could feel my heart beat pick up speed. "Slow down there, what's gotten in to you?" he smiled. I sincerely didn't know.
"Nothing, but Charlie's at daycare and Ella's out, and soon enough we won't be alone for years…" I pouted childishly.
"Well, when you put it that way" Derek kissed my lips wildly. He wrapped my legs around his waist and made his way to the bedroom. His body felt warm and soft against mine. "I love you" he whispered between our kisses. His hands were unbuttoning my blouse and I found mine unbuckling his belt. I felt him growing in my hold. He fell back on the bed, pulling me on top of him. It did not take long before my entire body convulsed on top of him.
I was in my own little blissful world when Derek leaned over me. "You have to eat" he said as he pulled me up.
"No just let me stay in bed for a minute. I have to recover from your dazzling bedroom techniques" I teased.
"No way, your stomach is growling" he protested. I gave him a challenging look. "I guess we're doing this the hard way" he said as he lifted me up.
"OK. OK, I'll go eat" I giggled as he started to walk. "You're such a bossy person" I taunted as I pulled my clothes back on.
. . .
"Merry Christmas!" Ella jumped into the room. The wolf's eyes widened of surprise when she took another leap and landed on his feet positioned at the end of the bed. "Sorry" she said as she adjusted her placement.
"Merry Christmas!" I beamed back even louder than she had. "Oh my God, I slept in" I shrieked as I saw the time. I was supposed to be up half an hour ago – everything was ruined!
"No, no you haven't. I turned off the alarm so I could get things ready downstairs for once" Ella said apologetically. "I thought you needed the sleep" she answered my slightly disapproving look. "I'll go get Charlie" she said as she disappeared out the room.
"Merry Christmas Wolfy!" I surprised Derek with a huge bear hug. "Hurry up, hurry up!" I called as I pulled on my thick Christmas socks.
"What are those?" Derek asked pointing as Santa's little helpers warming my toes.
"They're my Christmas socks… Hurry!" I said pulling his arm like a little child.
"Hey, baby! Merry Christmas" I kissed Charlie on the cheek. It just hit me that this was his first Christmas, and he'd be spending it with me, instead of his parents. I quickly wiped away my tears and grabbed the Christmas cookies I'd made the night before. "Let's open some presents!" I let out.
"Oh my God, Derek! You bought me something from the list!" Ella said pointing at her wish list which hung above the stockings by the chimney. She gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for the iPod newfound wolf brother" she gave him another quick squeeze before handing him his present.
"I hope you liked the color, they have it in purple too if you want to exchange it" Derek said pointing at the pod.
"It's great! Open yours already!" she giggled as he struggled to open it in a respective manner. She had taped the lid on the box several times and Derek had to use his teeth to get it lose. The box contained a green tie with Rudolf and his blinking nose and a scrapbook. The scrapbook at large capital letters reading "A werewolf's guide to Hallock".
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"It's our family" she said "There are bullet points of likes and dislikes for me and Evy, so you never make a mistake… Evy's favorite recipes are in there, so you can cook her something great when you're married. There are pictures of Evy, and me from when we were kids, and Bryan and Laura. And that's the picture Evy took of us the day Charlie was born" she finished pointing at a picture Derek had taken out. He looked sincerely stunned.
"Ella, that's… very thoughtful" I said. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the picture – almost a year ago we were all gathered around Laura and her newborn baby boy.
"Uhm… Ella, this is great. This is perfect, really, thank you" Derek couldn't bring himself to look any one of us in the eyes even when reaching out for another hug from Ella.
"Here, open it" Derek gave me a box which was wrapped. When I unwrapped the gift paper I saw the most marvelous little silver box. The box had what looked like ancient symbols all over it. It was like one straight out of a fairy tale.
"Oh my God, Derek, it's beautiful. Where did you get it? It's amazing" I was mesmerized by its beauty.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Open it..?" he asked with a slight sarcastic undertone. I stuck my tongue out as if that was my plan this whole time. I tried opening it, but it just wouldn't budge.
Suddenly Derek grabbed my left hand. I looked up at him in surprise. He brought my ring finger to the front of the box and placed the diamond on my engagement ring on the lock. It opened. The inside of the case was black velvet and in the middle laid a gold necklace. I gasped at the sight of the tiny blue sapphire stone placed at the middle of the pendant. "My mom gave that to me a while before she died. It was given to her by her mother-in-law, my dad's mother. It's been in the family for centuries. My mother told me that I'd know who to give it to when the time came… What do you think?" he asked unsure of himself. My heart fluttered and the tears started streaming. "Y-you don't like it? That's.. That's OK" Derek said with his heartbreaking kicked puppy look.
"Are.. you.. kidding?" I asked as I threw myself into his arms. "Derek, it's beautiful, I love it. It's wonderful" I sniffed. It took me some time to calm myself down, but eventually my heart rate was healthy again.
The pile of wrapping paper was at its peak and we were now down to one gift. A long, broad, flat gift. Derek's gift. "Merry Christmas, I hope you like it" I said as I gave it to him. He unwrapped it and discovered the big photo frame, in the middle was a picture. "Laura gave it to me when she was pregnant with Charlie. She wanted to show me her only family left" a tear escaped my eye once again. There was a picture of a young Laura Hale sitting on a bench in a park on a sunny day, and a little toddler with dark hair sitting on her lap. It was the only memory Laura had left after the fire. Derek's eyes widened.
"I-I.. I don't have any pictures of her. Of us from when we were kids. They all burnt down" he whispered. "Thank you" he whispered once again, kissing me softly.
"You are one fat person. You suck" I told myself as I struggled to zip my dress up. Just for today I wished I'd had my old body back, the slimmer version.
"You are a liar" Derek said walking in the bedroom door. He unzipped my dress and held a bag in front of me. "You are beautiful. You're more beautiful then you've ever been" he said placing his hand gently on my stomach. There was only a slight visible difference – a tiny little bump on my belly.
"What's this?" I asked staring at the bag he dangled in front of me.
"It's a little gift from me and Ella" he said. "Well, go ahead" he motioned to the bag. I slipped into the wonderful red dress that they'd gotten for me. And it fit.
"See. You're beautiful" Derek repeated. He zipped me up and it felt perfect on my body – for the first time in a couple weeks I felt like I wasn't an elephant.
The doorbell rang and Ella rushed to answer it. "Hi Mr. Stilinsky, Merry Christmas!" she hugged him.
"Merry Christmas, honey" I heard him reply. I was the next to greet him with a big hug.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's Christmas, act civilized you two" the sheriff said as Ella gave Stiles a bit too welcoming Christmas kiss. "Derek, Merry Christmas!" Mr. Stlinsky shared a rather awkward handshake with Derek.
"Dinner's ready, let's eat!" I said as I lead everyone to the dining table.
"I see the cravings they speak of on Discovery channel are kicking in" Stiles commented. I gave him a replying slap on the head.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Christmas day went by quickly, it was hard not having Bryan or Laura with us, but we still felt like a family – and that was all that we really needed. The next weeks flew by, the New Year had started, whatever time Ella wasn't spending with me planning the wedding, she was spending with Stiles. Derek spent a lot of time with the pack, preparing them for some independent training when the time came. I was glad to see that he felt a commitment to me, to our family. The doctor's appointments were going well, our little dot looked like an oversized orange by now. The next appointment would reveal the sex of our little one, Derek didn't really seem too excited about it, I don't really think he even wanted to know, but I couldn't wait. By March the wedding plans were done, Derek really wanted to get married before I delivered, but I couldn't imagine looking like a swollen potato on my wedding day so that was out of the question.
"We could be legally wed by the end of the week, Evelyn" Derek whined as I brushed my teeth.
"Derek. We talked about this, I do not want to have a parachute for a wedding dress" I complained.
"All I'm saying is, I would like our child to be born into a normal family. I mean, my family doesn't even practice the tradition of marriage, so if we're going to do this, why not do it the right way?" he argued.
"A normal family?" I flashed my eyes at him. "What's the 'right way' anyway? No one is forcing your hand here wolfman. You can still call this whole thing off if you want to. And when our little boy or girl eventually asks me where Daddy is I'll tell them he had a technicality problem with our arrangement" I blurted out.
"Whoa, hormonal much there momma-bear?" Ella entered the room.
"It's just a bit too early in the morning for Mrs. Wolf" Derek answered her.
"That's Ms. Wolf to you two… As I've made abundantly clear, I am still a Ms., and will continue to be one until I can see my toes again" I warned.
"Yeah whatevs… But, uhm, Evy... You should go downstairs, we've got company" Ella informed looking away from Derek.
"Josh? Erh… What are you doing here?" I asked as I placed myself in front of the tall alpha. The tall man leaned down and kissed my cheek before pulling back slightly.
"I- I was in the neighborhood" he joked. "So, I might be wrong, but are you… bigger?" Josh gave me a nervous smile as he asked that question.
"I'm pregnant stupid" I felt like punching him. "Uhm, come inn… You want some coffee?" I asked.
"Preg- pregnant? Woah... That was… quick. Well, is it mine?" he raised his eyebrows and smiled broadly.
"You jerk. It's been a year and a half, no it's not yours" even though we weren't the friendliest of people the last time we spoke, he still made me laugh.
Derek's cleared his throat. Oh shit. I hadn't thought of how awkward this situation would be.
"Derek, honey, this is… an old friend. Joshua. Josh, this is my fiancé, Derek. Laura's brother" I added.
"Nice to meet you" Joshua shook Dereks hand. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be in town for a couple days, I'll be in touch" he gave my hand a squeeze before giving Derek a nod. He walked towards the front door. "Oh, and Evy? Congrats with the pregnancy, I'm happy for you, love" Josh flashed a brilliant smile before leaving.
"Josh left already? I didn't get to say goodbye…" Ella said sarcastically. "Oh well" she faked a frown.
"Who was that?" Derek seemed a little too curious. His eyes were slightly darker than before, was that the scent of jealousy I smelt?
"That.. He's the alpha of a pack from Maine. Laura and I met him once when we accidentally stepped into his territory. We stayed in touch a while after that little misunderstanding…" I tried to explain. The words came out a bit too fast to seem casual.
"That. That would have been competition if you hadn't knocked up my sister" Ella finished for me.