I looked at Derek. He was holding our angel in his arms, just looking at her as she was sleeping.
"Angelica" I said, "It's perfect". Derek looked up at me, and smiled in agreement. For the first time ever, there was no pain in his eyes. No ghost of the past haunting him. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Oh my God" Ella wiped her tears as she entered the room. Stiles followed, holding Charlie. "Can I hold her?" she whispered. Her eyes widened as Derek handed her the baby.
Charlie reached out for me, and I took him in my arms. He had a baby sister now. He had a family again. "You're a big brother now, sweetie" I told him as he hugged my neck.
"Your daddy used to hit my on the head really hard, and call me really bad names, I hope you've changed him" Stiles laughed as he cradled Angelica. "You know baby girl, you're very lucky you look like your mother" Stiles exclaimed. That comment earned him a slap on the head. Stiles flinched "I guess he still needs some working on.. We'll get there" he told Angelica.
…
Derek opened the door to our home. "Welcome home" Scott smiled as I got in. There was a huge banner in the living room, it read "Welcome home baby Angelica". The kids had cleaned the house, they had even baked a cake.
"Awe, guys, this is really sweet" I said as I dried my eyes. Lydia and Allison gave me a big hug before they went closer to the stroller and both their eyes melted.
"She's so beautiful" Lydia cried. Derek picked the baby up so the girls could see her clearly.
"She really is" Derek nodded as he rocked her back and forth. Next up were Scott and Jackson, their eyes widened when they saw her. Jackson smiled widely.
I heard a knock on the door, to my surprise the rest of Dereks pack were standing in front of me. "Congratulations" Isaac beamed. Boyd and Erica smiled as they handed me a giftwrapped box.
My eyes lit up as I unwrapped it. Inside was a blanket with flowers stitched on and at the bottom Angelicas name was stitched. "We made it" Erica smiled.
"Thank you, it's beautiful" I hugged all three of them and motioned to Derek. He brought the baby closer so they could see their newest pack member.
For just that evening everything felt normal, we felt like a normal big family. Stiles had even brought his camera and we took a family picture, it felt right. I'd never ever expected this. Somehow with everything that had gone on in my life, I didn't think I'd ever get to experience this, a big warm family. I couldn't even imagine how Derek was feeling right now.
"We should probably have gotten rid of this before the baby came along" Derek carried the box labeled "Junk". To make room for the baby we had to clear out a lot of stuff from the spare room, most of that stuff was lined up in boxes in the hallway now.
"Who knew someone as small as you needed this much space" I teased the infant in my arms.
"What's this?" Derek picked up a dusty old box with inscriptions all around it. My eyes widened as I saw the box. I assume Ella brought it along when we moved back. Shit, what do I say?
"Oh that's just a memory box, you know us girls" Ella came running up from behind. Derek raised his eyebrows as her heartbeat picked up. Thankfully her heartbeat distracted him from my own.
"I'll just take that" Ella grabbed the box and kept her eyes glued to the floor as she walked past me. For some reason Stiles looked just as nervous as Ella walked towards him. What did Ella tell him?
"That was strange" Derek said as he picked up another box. I shrugged as if I didn't get what he meant.
"How about you go to daddy, so mommy can fix us some dinner?" I handed the baby to Derek.
"Hi sweetie" Derek said as he sniffed the baby's head. Hmmm.. I still haven't gotten used to seeing a little piece of me in Derek's huge protective arms.
"Ella, a word please" I called from the kitchen. She kept her eyes on the floor as she entered the kitchen.
"Why didn't you tell me you kept the box?" I whispered. I was hoping to God Derek didn't feel the need to use his superhearing right now; hopefully Angelica could keep him distracted.
"I'm sorry Evy, I just thought we should have it in case we ever needed it" she looked up at me. Stiles entered the kitchen seconds later. Holding the box.
"What the f.." Ella held her hand over my mouth so Derek couldn't hear my outburst. "You told Stiles?" I said calmer than before.
"To be honest, Evy" Stiles looked at Ella before revealing more. She looked like she was about to strangle him. His eyes pleaded. "I knew way before you left Beacon Hills. Ella told me when we were kids. She showed me too" he continued. I hissed as a string of profanity escaped my lips.
"You keep your mouths shut. OK? And keep the box shut. I don't want to hear a word of this again, got it?" I pointed at the teenagers.
"What don't you want to hear of?" Derek asked as he entered the room. Oh fuck.
"I insulted the Breakfast Club" Stiles lied smoothly; I guess all this time around werewolves taught him a thing or two about lying. Derek shook his head as he kissed my forehead in disbelief.
So there are a few things about my past I haven't mentioned to Derek. But none of that matters, not now. It made no difference whether Derek knows who I used to be or not, or who my family is for that matter. I rationalized not telling him about all this stuff by the fact that he rarely spoke of his own family. Who knows, maybe Derek has some freaky secrets in his past too – doesn't mean he has to tell me? Oh my God. Does Derek have dark secrets? No. Snap out of it Evy. Focus.