Author's Note: Wow. Okay I am so so so sorry for not posting since August! But I had a really busy semester and unfortunately this upcoming semester probably won't be any easier. I would write more often for this story but I have a lot of writing to do for my classes so sometimes I just get really burnt out even when it's fun fan fiction writing. And if you don't care about any of this, I'm sorry! I will try to post as often as I can but like I said I will be busy and I am also running out of ideas to write really long chapters about, so I hope that you still enjoy my chapters that are really lame and cheesy and possibly really short. So enjoy this chapter for now and maybe this hiatus will inspire me to write more? And hopefully once summer comes along I will also be in the mood to write more. Sorry all of these chapters are so cheesy and lame okay? Like I only know how to write fluff and cute stuff with no real point, but Stydia deserves happiness so that is what I try to give them. Alright that is it for now, hopefully you like this new installment.
Lydia quickly and carefully peeked into her daughter's pink and grey painted room to see if her little one was indeed as awake as she sounded on the monitor. She could see Cassidy sitting up in her crib playing with her (previously Lydia's) stuffed giraffe and babbling away. She only could say a few words clearly, but they were the important ones like 'mama' and 'dada'. Once she saw that Cassidy was indeed awake, she opened the door so that she could fully enter the room.
"Mama mama mama!" The little girl chattered with excitement, causing her pacifier to fall from her mouth, and she immediately dropped the stuffed animal and stood up, grasping the bars of the crib for support.
"Hi sweetie, did you have a good nap?" Lydia asked, turning off the white noise maker and the monitor.
"Mama." Cassidy said as she reached one hand in her mother's direction.
"Hi baby." Lydia couldn't help but smiled widely as she picked up Cassidy and pressed their noses together. "You're my favorite, did you know that? And you're one today, when did you get so big?" Lydia cooed as she walked to Cassidy's changing table and proceeded to change her into a swim diaper and a pastel pink baby bathing suit with large white polka dots with a matching sundress over top of it.
It was Cassidy's first birthday and Stiles was currently out in the backyard of their rental home, filling a small inflatable kid's pool with water in preparation for Cassidy's first birthday celebration. It was just going to be a few people over to celebrate but it was still important to Lydia that they did.
Lydia brought her daughter downstairs and placed her on the carpet in the somewhat small living room. It had been the perfect size for Stiles and Lydia when they had moved in but the room had quickly gotten smaller once Cassidy came along. The room had grown considerably claustrophobic with a small toy box, baby swing, and baby bouncer now taking up space there. Lydia set out a few of Cassidy's favorite toys to play with while she put the finishing touches on the food and decorations in the kitchen and dining area.
She was finishing frosting the two cakes she had baked earlier, one for the party guests and a smaller one that Cassidy would have all to herself to eat and make a mess of. As she was finishing up, Stiles walked in from the backyard through the sliding glass door with a goofy smile on his face.
"All finished outside?" Lydia inquired as he grabbed a bottle of water out from the fridge.
"Uh-huh." He said taking a swig of the cold beverage. "Kiddie pool is filled, table is set, drinks are in the cooler, I think we're good to go."
"Did you tie all of the balloon down tight?" She asked as she was spread the pink icing on Cassidy's small cake.
"And will the burgers and hot dogs be ready to go when everyone gets here?"
"Yeah we can put them on the grill when everyone is here." He told her as he put the water back in the fridge and leaned against the counter, observing the pink balloons and matching streamers hanging all around the small house, proud of all of his wife's hard work on the decorations inside.
"Okay did you get all of the plates, cups, and utensils and everything out?"
"Lydia yes I have it done, and I put all of the tablecloths on, outside is decorated, the extra chairs are out, and I even got the sprinkler out just in case. It's all covered. You're worrying too much, it's going to be great."
"I know I'm worrying, I just want it to be special for her."
Stiles smiled and leaned over and kissed her on the cheek making her smile. "It's going to be perfect Lydia, you already put so much into this. Like you took time and made a photo album for today, I think it's going to be a special day. So just try to calm down a little bit okay, make it a fun day. And even if it's horrible she's only one, she won't remember." He said and she smiled shyly and let out a small giggle, he knew just the thing to say to calm her down.
"Okay. Yeah you're right" She agreed, knowing there was no real reason to get overly stressed over a one year old's birthday party. "I just want it to be a nice day for everyone." She said, remembering how much effort she had been putting into the event.
"It's going to be great." He knew it would all pan out, especially with all of the attention to detail Lydia had put into it. "Speaking of which, where is the little one this party is for? Is she still asleep? Can I go wake her up?" He loved waking her up; she was always so happy and giggly after her nap.
"No, I just got her up actually. I put her in the living room so she can play with her toys."
"Oh, alright, I'm going to go play with her before everyone gets here. Unless, well unless you need me to help with anything else."
"No I just have to finish putting the frosting on this cake and I'll be there in a little bit. Besides I've left her alone for approximately eight minutes by herself and she's probably doing something other than playing with the toys I put out for her." Cassidy was a good baby but she had the habit of getting into things when she was unsupervised for blocks of time.
He walked into the living room and found Cassidy happily playing with some DVD cases she must have pulled off of the lower rung the book shelf that housed their movies. "What are you doing?!" Stiles asked loudly in a joking tone, a smile forming on his face at how cute she was despite her somewhat destructive tendencies.
Cassidy immediately looked up at him and giggled at his tone of voice. "Dada!" She squealed as he walked over and began to take the movies off of her and back to their rightful place on the shelf.
"Mommy was right; you're always into something you aren't supposed to be." He picked her up and sat on her on his lap as he grabbed the nearest toy and presented it to her. She took it willingly and promptly began to push the buttons on it that queued various noises and music to play.
"So what was the little one into this time?" Lydia asked as she walked into the living room, straightening up a few party decorations along the way, and sat down on the floor in front of the two of them.
"Oh the DVDs again."
"Hmm, she's been partial to those lately; maybe we have a cinefile on our hands." Lydia responded, pushing a strand of strawberry blonde hair behind the baby's ear.
"There are worse obsessions I suppose."
"Very true. Do you mind if I change and fix my make-up really quick before everyone arrives."
"Yeah, yeah of course. Go ahead and get ready babe, we'll just play for a while." He said with a wide and genuine smile as Cassidy got off of his lap and crawled over to a teething ring.
Lydia took about twenty minutes to change, fix her hair, and retouch her make up. When she came down the stairs she observed Cassidy transfixed by a toy car Stiles was pushing around on the floor. Just as Lydia stepped of the last step she heard the doorbell chime signaling the first guests had arrived.
"I'll get it." Lydia told Stiles who continued to play with the baby as she went to the door and opened it to find Melissa McCall and John Stilinski on the other side. "Hi guys! So glad you could come." Lydia grinned as she hugged each of them "Come on in." She opened the door wider and moved out of the way so that they could come inside.
"Well of course, there is absolutely no way I'm missing my first grandkid's first birthday party." John replied as he and Melissa walked in the small entryway.
"Well Stiles and I are really glad you could make it. They're both over here, playing in the living room, come on in." She said, urging them to follow her just a few steps into the living room.
"Hey Stiles, your dad and Melissa are here." Lydia said, interrupting his movement of the toy car back and forth.
"Dad! Melissa! You're here. It's great to see you." Stiles stood up and hugged both of them tightly. He wished they lived closer so that they could see each other more often. Both Stiles and Lydia were hoping that they would eventually be able to find jobs and move back to Beacon Hills to be closer to the family. But until then they were here and so were Scott and Allison so it was better than not knowing anyone around.
"Oh here Lydia, this is for Cassidy." Melissa handed Lydia a neatly wrapped birthday gift.
"Thank you so much I'm sure she will love it. I'll go put this on the table in the dining room and you can all take a seat in here." She gestured to the couch before going to the dining area and setting the gift next to the ones her and Stiles had gotten for Cassidy. When she returned everyone was already on the sectional couch and the Sheriff already had Cassidy sitting on his lap, a proud smile on his face while she babbled on and on.
After a talking and relaxing with John and Melissa for twenty minutes Cora, Isaac, Kira, Scott, Allison, and Asher had all arrived. Everyone had brought a present for Cassidy, and Derek had even sent the one year old one with Cora on his behalf. The men retreated to the patio to start up the grill and the women played with the babies for a little while before Lydia suggested taking them to play out in the small kiddie pool outside that Stiles had set up earlier.
"Oh my gosh they love it!" Cora squealed as both Cassidy and Asher sat and splashed about in the small pool, both with the grip of their respective mother's holding onto them from the grass around the pool to prevent any accidents. Cora was quite the fan of babies and kids, and she was very partial to Cassidy and Asher, as well as her niece and nephews.
Only their legs were covered by the shallow water in the pool but there was enough splashing and giggles for them to make fun out of. The pool was more bath tub like than a swimming pool but it was keeping Cassidy and Asher entertained by the various rubber ducks and plastic cups and maintaining cool in the warm June day and that was all that really mattered.
"I know I'm really glad, I guess it's probably no different than bath time for them though." Lydia said, happy that so far the day was going very well so far and that Cassidy was having a good time.
"Yeah I'm not so sure how they would feel about a normal sized swimming pool though." Allison chimed in as she removed a rubber duck from Asher's mouth as he whined in protest.
"Well we'll get to see soon. There's going to be a pool at the cabin we're renting for the fourth of July." Cora interjected as she offered Cassidy one of the plastic nesting cups.
"Oh yeah I forgot there's going to be a pool, that should be fun. And if not for the kids, at least we can put it to good use." Allison added mentally picturing how enjoyable it will be to have a relaxing vacation by the pool.
"Yeah I'm excited to go. Kira are you sure you won't be able to join us on the trip?" Lydia asked.
"I'm going to visit family with my parents for the holiday; I wish I could come though." Kira said, responding to the question.
"That's too bad."
"I know, I would love to see you guys more often, especially now that you have these cute little babies."
"So you only like us for our babies now?" Lydia joked with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you blame me?" She smiled as she splashed Asher a little, causing him to giggle.
"Not at all." Lydia said.
"Hot dogs and burgers are ready!" Stiles called out from the patio over to the yard a few minutes later. Lydia and Allison removed the babies from their happiness in the pool and wrapped them up in warm towels.
"Cora, would you mind holding Cassidy for a minute while I help get the rest of the food out?" Lydia asked the brunette as they made their way to the patio.
"Of course I will." Cora replied, reaching her arms out excitedly in preparation to hold the one year old. Isaac's eyes might have popped out of his head when he saw her take Cassidy so enthusiastically.
Lydia went inside and began to bring out all of the various side dishes including a fruit tray, a vegetable tray, pasta salad, and a few other dishes too. Everyone had their plates filled and they were all sitting and eating when Lydia finally got a chance to fill up a plate and to sit down. She retrieved Cassidy to feed her, from Stiles who had already managed to take her off of Cora's hands.
Once lunch was over Lydia had Stiles bring out the gifts for Cassidy so she could open them. They put her on a blanket in the grass so everyone could watch her open all of her toys. She was very unsure of what to do with her gifts, even putting some of the wrapping paper in her mouth quite a few times, and she did get pretty annoyed when Asher crawled over and tried to open one of her presents.
After that it was decided that it was time for cake. Stiles moved the high chair out on to the patio and put Cassidy in it. Everyone sang for her and she giggled and smiled at all of the attention. Once given her cake she was even more excited and went to town. Half an hour later there was cake and icing all over her, but it was the cutest thing ever, despite the mess.
After everyone enjoyed their cake that Lydia had made and Cassidy was properly cleaned up it was starting to get late so everyone began to say their thank yous and goodbyes.
"We'll see you in a few weeks!" Isaac called out as he and Cora exited the house towards their car.
"Alright, sounds good!" Stiles replied from the front door where he was standing with Lydia next to him and with Cassidy waving 'good-bye' from his arms.
"Bye!" Cora said with a wave and wide smile as her and Isaac got into the car. They were the last to leave so once they were gone Stiles and Lydia retreated into their home and into the living room.
"Hey, Cass do you want to play with your new toys?" Stiles asked as Lydia plopped herself down onto the couch, a little bit exhausted after the day.
"No. Dada." She yawned as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, indicating that she wasn't interested in playing, just cuddling.
Stiles sighed, his heart warming at feeling of her wanting to cuddle with him instead of playing with toys. Granted this reason was probably only because she was extremely tired but he would take what he could get, especially knowing that she was one now and no longer a baby.
He sat on the sectional couch right next to Lydia as she leaned into him and softly rubbed her daughter's back. "I guess we should probably clean up soon." She sighed after a few minutes of snuggling with her two favorite people in the world, unbelievably content.
"Can we wait until she falls asleep?" Stiles asked, knowing it would be any minute now as her yawns became more frequent.
"Yeah that sounds perfect. Happy first birthday Cassidy, I hope you had a good time." Lydia smiled looking at her baby and reflecting on how happy she was and how well the day turned out despite all of her stress. She determined that it was all worth it.