Drabble #22 –"I could kiss you right now."
Pairing: Scott/Allison and Stiles/Lydia
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Summary: Eager to try for another child, Allison prepares a romantic evening for herself and Scott. However, her plans are ruined when their kids are brought back home in tears. Their night turns a different kind of special when they end up discussing marriage, parenting, friendship and love. In the end, rethinking their wish seems like the right way to go.
Tags: AU, Established relationship, Fluff, Romance, Parenthood, Friendship, Humor, Slice of life
Author's note: Okay, please read this first to understand the setting of the story.
This drabble is as much for Scallison as it is for Stydia because I'm biased af and because I miss writing for my multi-chapter fic "Know better"! If you are familiar with that fic, this drabble can be read as a side story set in the same universe in the future, and more focused on Scott and Allison rather than Stiles and Lydia. It won't be a chapter of "Know better" per se, but parts of it will be mentioned in the story after Stiles and Lydia are already married. Since it's set in a somewhat near future, lets see which hints at what's coming you guys will be able to pick up on *smiles deviously*
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please assume that this is an AU where Scott and Allison are married, and that the fact that their daughter is named Claudia is completely unrelated to Stiles' mother's name. Lydia and Stiles are also married and are raising a five year old girl named Ariel, who is Lydia's daughter with someone else. They met when Lydia moved with her daughter to Beacon Hills to escape her past and, by then, little Ariel was already 4. These are little details but they'll help you understand the setting, otherwise it wouldn't make much sense. There are no supernatural elements involved whatsoever.
Take this drabble as wishful thinking, if you will. We all want Allison back and god, do I miss her.
A giant thank you to bebethsas on tumblr, who beta'ed this drabble 3
Dedication: For Hannah, stilinski-stiles on tumblr.
xxxxxxxxxx
"I could kiss you right now," Scott whispers as soon as he gets home and enters their bedroom, eyes glimmering in the candles' lights as they rake over Allison's frame, the only thing she's wearing a silky, light pink robe that hugs her figure tightly and that, despite being long, leaves little to her husband's imagination.
The brunette stays where she is, across the room from him leaning against the doorframe of their en-suite bathroom, checking him out in return as Scott takes in the atmosphere, a light smirk on her lips.
She's always loved how disheveled he looks when he comes home from practice.
"Well, I'm not stopping you," she replies enticingly, slowly making her way towards him and taking her time while Scott gawks at what she's done for him, for them, for this night.
There are candles scattered around the bedroom, barely lighting up the space as their scent sweetly sets up the mood. Along with it, soft music plays in the background but Scott pays no attention to the details.
His eyes focus on Allison and Allison alone when she nears him, her curls bouncing slightly with every step, her heartbeat starting to race much like his own when she slowly opens her robe, familiar skin being unveiled as Scott does nothing but to stare in awe as if it's the first time he's seeing it.
It's been a while since they had the chance to be by themselves for a night and god, do they need it.
Allison lets her robe fall until it's hanging on the crook of her elbows for a moment as Scott admires the view, her fair skin breaking into goosebumps both because of how endearingly Scott is looking at her and from the cold that can be felt on that early December evening. Her robe falls the rest of the way to the floor unceremoniously before she finally meets Scott when she deems him satisfied, not refraining from letting her fingers graze his jaw gently, pulling him down until their lips meet.
Needless to say, Scott gives in to a naked Allison in no time at all.
His hands hold her waist firmly as they kiss, moving up her flanks as his mouth leaves hers to kiss her cheek and down her neck instead, the scent of honey on her skin mixing with the one of roses around their bedroom. In return, Allison tugs at the hem of his shirt to lift it up and over his head, throwing it to the side mindlessly not to waste any more time.
"I should take a shower," Scott manages to mumble right before her mouth eagerly returns to his, her fingers running through his wet hair. "I'm all sweaty."
"Have I ever minded?" Allison replies teasingly before placing a kiss just under his chin and tasting the saltiness there, fingers moving down brushing his bare chest.
Scott can only smile in return. "Not really."
She smiles wickedly. "Then stop stalling," she chuckles. "It's been too long."
In her defense, it really has been. In between work and classes and the kids, neither of them can really remember when the last time they were intimate was and it's been taking its toll on them, understandably, making them miss the other in a way as if they didn't see each other every day. As if, somehow, the other is out of reach. More so when the desire to have another child makes everything feel much bigger and important, and the other's distance weighs on them and doesn't let them have their way.
There's a moment of silence and a loving glance shared between the two before Scott lets out a laugh as well, turning them around and pinning Allison against the wall on a whim, lips happily meeting again as they enjoy some time alone for the first time in weeks.
Allison fumbles with the string on Scott's sweatpants almost immediately, and is about to push them down when her husband stops abruptly, breaking the kiss.
"What?" she asks, surprised at how startled he looks all of a sudden.
Scott stops her hands and looks over his shoulder suspiciously, leaving her to walk all the way across the bedroom and move away the curtain slightly, peeking through the window. "I think I'm hearing-"
He doesn't get to finish the sentence because sure enough the yelling grows clearer when he approaches the window, realizing that their six year old son Eric and their almost two year old daughter Claudia are on their driveway, crying their eyes out and screaming while Stiles and Lydia, obviously rather unsuccessfully, try to calm them down before they slam the car doors shut, Ariel quietly trailing close behind them.
Allison lurks right behind her husband, stunned to find that their kids are crying in such a way that Stiles and Lydia, from where Scott and Allison are watching them from behind the curtains on the second floor, seem completely desperate and at a loss on what to do.
Scott closes the curtain swiftly and urges to pick up Allison's robe from the floor, worry flooding him. "They weren't supposed to come home for another two hours," he exclaims with slight panic in his voice when he realizes that Allison is stark naked and both their kids and best friends are about to burst through the front door any moment now. "What the hell happened?"
"No idea," Allison replies with just as much concern, taking the fabric from his hands and quickly enveloping it back around her frame. She ties the robe with a tight knot and blows out all the candles while Scott puts his shirt back on, the mood completely ruined much to their dismay.
They're running down the stairs before Stiles and Lydia can calm down the kids enough to make their way to the front porch and ring the doorbell.
With Allison in tow, Scott opens the door frantically to find Eric clutching Lydia's arm, throwing a fit worthy of waking up half the neighborhood if it were the middle of the night, little Claudia softly crying in Stiles' arms, fat tears steadily falling down her chubby cheeks as she nuzzles in her uncle's arms. For her part, Ariel just stands behind her mother and Stiles, in silence and a little startled at all the commotion.
"What happened?" Allison echoes Scott's question immediately, reaching out to take Claudia from Stiles and into her arms.
Stiles lets go of the toddler almost reluctantly, kissing Claudia's forehead before he passes the little girl to her mother. "We are so sorry."
It's noticeable on both Stiles and Lydia's features that they truly are sorry for whatever happened, and something in the way they share a glance screams We screwed up instead of a We put your son and daughter in danger and that's why they're crying for dear life kind of look.
It's actually odd that the pair could have done something to upset the kids so much. It isn't the first time they've babysat for Scott and Allison and they're great with the kids, especially since Stiles is their godfather, so it's natural that amongst concern and fear for whatever it is that happened to their children, Scott and Allison can't help but also feel curious about the look just shared between their best friends.
"It's nothing much, but we can't get them to stop crying," Lydia explains, eyes wide. "We really didn't mean to interrupt you two," she states bluntly, knowing exactly why she and Stiles had been left to take care of the kids.
It was a debt being paid for what had happened at their wedding, after all.
"Really," Stiles adds, scratching the back of his neck nervously, "I think they just need you for this. I doubt anything we say will ease them right now."
Scott motions for all of them to enter the house and closes the door behind him, Eric leaving Lydia to pull at his father's shirt instead, calming a little when Scott starts running a hand through the boy's hair soothingly.
"What happened?," he repeats when everyone is sitting in the living room, the girls all murmuring comforting words to Claudia to stop her little sobs as Stiles rubs a hand up and down his nephew's back.
Stiles and Lydia share another look, and Allison can't tell if they're sorrier for what happened or disappointed in themselves.
It seems to be a mix of both.
"We spent all afternoon watching movies with the kids while Claudia here took her nap, as we'd planned," Lydia starts explaining, fondly stroking the girl's cheek. "And when we were having dinner, we commented about how we'll have to shop for dresses again soon, what with the wedding coming up."
Another wedding in the family. The festivities never seem to end.
"So we were talking about weddings," Stiles continues, "and we suggested that maybe Eric could pick his tie this time, the same way Ariel could choose her dress since it's only the second wedding she's attending ever. And, you know, her first was our wedding," he motions between himself and Lydia, "and she was the flower girl and Eric was the ring bearer, so they didn't have much of a say on their attire then."
"So we were talking about it," Lydia picks up, sighing sadly when she notices that Eric has calmed some, but Claudia still seems a little bewildered with a situation she doesn't really understand, tears still pooling in her eyes as she hiccups. "And Ariel mentioned that she loved our wedding. That she had a lot of fun that day and that she wished we'd get married again so that she could relive that weekend because it was the best weekend of her life."
All of the adults smile a little at that. It's not every day that someone gets to see a parent marry someone who they love so much and Ariel, for sure, was still thrilled that it happened even though Lydia's wedding to Stiles was over a month ago.
They can't really blame her for it, though. It was a beautiful ceremony and all three of them deserved it. Stiles, Lydia and Ariel deserve each other and there's nothing wrong with wanting to celebrate it.
"So Eric got curious and asked her why," Stiles mutters, looking down at his hands self-consciously.
"Why what?" Allison asks, confused.
"Why it had been the best weekend of Ariel's life, since Eric has been to a few weddings himself and thinks that they are fun, but not really all that exciting or life-changing."
"And what did you say, Ariel?" Scott questions, looking at the little redhead that had yet to speak a word since she got there.
She looks lost for a second, glancing at her mother first and then at Stiles as if asking permission to say it again. Even though they both nod, the girl shakes her head. "I don't want Eric to get mad at me again," she whispers, hiding behind her mother slightly and blushing because all eyes are on her.
Stiles is by Ariel's side in a second, kneeling beside her and taking her hand. "Hey, Eric is not mad at you." The little redhead looks at the boy in question, ashamed of causing all this trouble. "I promise you, munchkin. He's just upset."
The young boy crosses his arms at his chest defensively and huffs audibly. "I'm not upset," he complains stubbornly, stomping his foot on the ground for show.
"Actually," Lydia intervenes, "I think he's not so much upset as he's hurt."
"But why?" Allison asks exasperatedly, still not understanding what all the fuss is about.
"Because I said that I liked mommy's wedding because it was her wedding to Stiles, and I really love mommy and Stiles too and they love me back. No one from my class at school went to their parents' wedding," Ariel says almost in a hum, not wanting to disappoint her friend again.
Three things happen at once.
Stiles' heart falters when Ariel refers to him as her parent which, albeit not being for the first time, he's still getting used to.
Eric looks like he's gonna start crying again.
Scott and Allison, almost at the same time, let out an Oh in unison when they start realizing what the problem is.
"Eric doesn't understand why he wasn't able to go to your wedding," Lydia resumes. "We've tried to explain it but we think it's just better if you guys handle this one."
"Yeah," Stiles agrees. "And Claudia mostly started crying because Eric was crying so uh… Again, we're really sorry for this," Stiles offers with an apologetic smile.
Both Scott and Allison go to dismiss the apology immediately but Eric talks before either of them can, a fresh new tear falling down his cheek. "I thought you loved me." It's but a whisper let out from his quivering lips, but it hits Scott and Allison right in the chest as if he'd shouted it. "You're always saying that you love me-"
"Oh, sweetie." Allison rushes to put Claudia down and kneel in front of the brown haired boy. "Of course we do. Both of you," she says, extending one hand for Claudia to take as the other softly cups Eric's cheek.
The boy takes a step back, clearly bothered. "No, you don't."
"Eric…" Scott tries, in vain, to explain.
"Then why weren't we at your wedding?" He replies in an almost shout, wiping at his tears. "If you loved us, we would have been there, like Ariel was for Uncle Stiles and Aunt Lydia."
The boy's words border on contempt a little and really, it doesn't help at all that this happened right when Eric and Ariel are in that phase of their childhood where they think a child from the opposite sex is, in their own words, Ewwww. What had been a beautiful friendship ever since they met over a year ago is now vulnerable, so being jealous of something Ariel had that he never did has Eric liking her a little bit less.
It doesn't help much either that, right before this phase started, they sort of had a little crush on each other.
Before anyone can really react, Eric turns around and leaves for his bedroom, running up the stairs and Stiles feels himself at a crossroads not knowing what to do. He's the one who started the conversation, he let it get to this point and now both his godchildren and his stepdaughter are hurting. Furthermore, he doesn't even want to think how stressful this is being for Lydia on top of it all.
Scott, sensing his best friend's dilemma, gets up from where he was sitting on the couch and holds Claudia's free hand, facing the other family. "We got it from here. Why don't you guys go home?"
Sometimes, Stiles thinks, it's actually annoying how kindhearted Scott can be. "Should I go talk to him? We never meant for this to happen, I swear. We were just talking and then Eric-"
Allison makes her way to Stiles and places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. We'll talk to him."
"We're really sorry for ruining your night," Lydia says, pursing her lips. "We owe you one, Ally. We…" Lydia lifts a hand to her stomach instinctively, thinking about what they did without meaning to, voice shaking. "We weren't thinking. We didn't know he'd take it so personally. I can imagine it's upsetting for someone so young like him to find out that someone else got to experience such a thing and that they never got the chance to."
Allison takes Lydia's hand in hers. "Hey, it's okay. We'll talk to him and everything will be okay, alright?"
"Really, guys. Just go," Scott forgives even though he doesn't really have to. "I'm guessing it's not just that he wasn't at our wedding, but also because of little miss red hair here," he chuckles to dissipate the tension in the room, pointedly looking at Ariel. "You two haven't been the best of friends lately, Ariel, have you?"
It's the boys-are-gross/girls-are-gross predicament typical of their age and it started showing when they began elementary school a few months ago. Eric and Ariel had taken a liking to the other so quickly and irrevocably when they first met that, when new friends came, their friendship was put on the sidelines in favor of something new.
It's been a challenge for the adults lately, to say the least.
The only thing the little strawberry blonde says in her defense is that "He's a boy!" as if it excuses her behavior in the last few months.
Allison can't help but to let out a laugh. "It doesn't mean that you can't be friends. You were friends before," she reasons, offering the girl a warm smile. "And you like Eric, don't you?"
She means it in a friendly way, but the girl immediately makes a face of disgust that, in all honesty, has all the adults biting back a laugh. "Ewww. I don't like boys."
Stiles kisses the girl's cheek on impulse. "Good! Now keep that in mind until you're at least 25," he jokes.
Scott chuckles at his best friend's behavior. "It's funny how before you wanted nothing but to be Eric's wingman when he grew up, and now suddenly it just isn't like that anymore," he teases Stiles, who narrows his eyes at him in response.
"New perspective," Stiles replies, knowing all too well that if Ariel grows up to be even a tenth as beautiful as her mother, her youth is gonna be a hell of a ride for sure. And the worst part is that he's almost positive the girl will grow to be at least as beautiful as Lydia, if not more. "I can still be his wingman. Just… Far away from…" He gestures vaguely to where Ariel is standing in front of him. "Maybe on the next town over, perhaps," he suggests playfully.
Ariel looks up at Stiles quizzically and he just grins back. The girl can't help but to lose the stubborn attitude and give in to a smile at how contagious Stiles can be.
For her turn, Allison smacks Stiles lightly in the head. "You're the worst." She bends down to face Ariel, who's not really following the conversation. "Tell you what. Me and Uncle Scott are gonna talk to Eric and help him understand why it was different for you. And tomorrow maybe we can all get together and you two can make amends. I know that Eric doesn't want to be mad at you and I'm sure you don't want him to be mad either, am I right?" The girl nods almost imperceptibly after a moment. "You and Eric don't have to be together all the time, but that doesn't mean that you can't still be friends, right?"
"Okay," Ariel mumbles after a moment, resigning with a faint blush on her cheeks.
She just misses her friend.
"We should get going," Lydia says, a knowing smile on her lips. "I'll call you tomorrow," she tells Allison and Scott, reaching out for Stiles and Ariel's hands.
"And again, we're so sorry. We owe you one. Really," Stiles offers, squeezing Lydia's hand, "if it hadn't been for you guys…"
Scott and Allison hide a smile from the little redhead, knowing far well that if it hadn't been for them, Stiles and Lydia would have never had their wedding night.
Or well, morning…
"We know," Allison chuckles. "We'll make sure it isn't forgotten."
Lydia kisses her best friend's cheek and hugs Scott, Stiles following close behind trailed by Ariel, who's tickled and kissed on top of her head before all three head out the door.
Scott picks up his daughter and lets her nuzzle against the crook of his neck, her tired eyes weighing at the late hour.
"Why don't you go get changed while I prepare them for bed?" Scott suggests, sighing at the turn of events. They sure weren't counting on this night ending like this.
Allison pecks his lips briefly and kisses her daughter's temple. "Alright," she agrees rather regrettably, making her way to her bedroom to change into something more comfortable.
When she meets her family again, both Eric and Claudia are in their sleepwear and tucked into Eric's bed, just waiting for her mother to meet them so that the situation can be sorted out.
Allison sits on the bed beside her daughter while Scott sits by Eric, who is still frowning and noticeably upset. Claudia, for her part, is mostly dozing off.
"So, Eric, do you want to tell us why you're so upset today?" Allison starts after sharing a glance with Scott.
"I told you. You didn't invite me to your wedding," the boy replies nonchalantly, a defiant tone in his voice as he crosses his arms defensively again, staring right ahead.
"And do you know why?" The boy shakes his head, not meeting his father's eyes. "Well, then maybe you should ask us, don't you think?"
He looks up at Scott then as if wondering if he's allowed to do that, fidgeting on his lap nervously before he finally decides to tug at his father's sleeve. "Why didn't you invite me to go to your wedding, daddy?," Eric murmurs lowly, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"You know," Scott answers, slowly running a hand through the boy's hair, "what happened to Ariel wasn't what usually happens with most families," he tries to explain. "Usually, when a couple likes each other very much, they get to know each other first. And if that goes well, then they start dating. And after a while, if things are going really, really well, then they marry. And to get married is a very big decision, Eric. If the couple wants to marry, then they have to think about a lot of things, like where they are going to live or make sure that their jobs give them enough money to make a living together, for example. And they have to talk about having babies. Some couples want to have children, others don't.
"And if the couple loves each other very, very much and they do decide that they want to have a baby one day," he continues, "then that usually comes after they are already married. By then, the couple already has a house where the baby can grow up in, and the couple earns enough money to make sure that they can take care of the baby properly. They have a plan set that revolves around the baby's education and future. They have thought about the baby's health and all these other important things that come with the responsibility of being a parent. And that's what happened to us."
Allison gives the boy a moment to absorb the information before carrying on. "Exactly. The thing is that sometimes it doesn't work that way, and a lot of things can go differently than that. Like maybe that order is all mixed up and couples have babies before getting married. Sometimes they don't even get married at all. Sometimes the couple doesn't love each other as much as they thought they did or maybe the house they're in isn't big enough for someone else to live with them, even if it's a baby. Sometimes parents just don't have enough money or time to have a baby, even though they really want to. And sometimes parents just can't have babies for all sorts of reasons.
"What I'm trying to say is that for us, your father and I, it turned out to follow that order. With Ariel and Aunt Lydia, it wasn't like that at first. You know that Ariel's father isn't around, we've told you that."
They had, around the time the first Christmas that the Martin family spent with them came around. The boy had been curious and asked Ariel why her father wasn't there and the girl had replied that he just wasn't, but that it was okay.
Only when they're teenagers will Eric find out that, by then, Ariel was already seeing Stiles as a father to her, and that his uncle had had to break it down to the little girl that unfortunately he wasn't. Those were some hard few days for them and Lydia.
But that's when he'll be a teenager. Right now, Eric doesn't know much of anything about the girl's past. "Why isn't he around? Doesn't he love her?"
Allison sighs and looks exasperatedly at Scott, who proceeds to explain. "It's more complicated than that, Eric. When Ariel is old enough, Aunt Lydia will tell her everything she needs to know about her father, and maybe one day Ariel will tell you all about it too."
And she will, when they're teenagers.
A lot will happen between them, then.
"So, you see," Allison continues, "Aunt Lydia had to take care of Ariel all by herself. So when Uncle Stiles met Aunt Lydia, Ariel was already born. But you know that," she says pointedly. Eric and Ariel met each other just when Stiles and Lydia did, after all. "So when Uncle Stiles decided to marry Aunt Lydia, of course Ariel would have to go to their wedding because she was born by then. Ariel was right and, like she said, both Uncle Stiles and Aunt Lydia love her very much. And of course she went to their wedding, she was already-"
"Born," the boy finishes, understanding. "But-"
"But that doesn't mean we love you any less than they love Ariel, alright? Your father and I just happened to have met before we even decided we wanted to have you. We met, we dated, we moved in together and we got married. And only after that did we think about having you. Do you understand that?"
The boy takes a moment to ponder, nodding afterwards.
"For us, it was different from them," Scott tells him in a murmur. "And it's different for every family, Eric. Only after I married your mom did we decide to have you, so you couldn't have gone to the wedding because you weren't born yet, just like Claudia." The boy looks down sadly at his hands so Scott hugs him sideways, throwing an arm over the boy's shoulders and pulling him closer. "Take me, for example. I'm like Ariel. When your grandma married my father, I didn't get to go to their wedding either because, just like you, I wasn't born yet. But I did get to go to grandma's wedding to your grandpa John because I was already born then, just like Uncle Stiles. Do you see what we're trying to say?"
The boy swallows hard and nods slowly again, understanding even though he feels bad about it. "Ariel said that Aunt Lydia and Uncle Stiles love her very much, and that that was why she was invited to their wedding. I thought you didn't love me," Eric whispers, a stray tear escaping.
Allison glances at Claudia, who's fast asleep nuzzling against her mother's body. Allison kisses her forehead before carefully leaning over the girl to wipe the boy's tears. "Hey, we love you, both of you," she enunciates slowly, looking between her son and her daughter fondly. "We love you more than anything."
"I know," he mumbles, sitting up a little more and resting his head against Scott's chest comfortingly.
Scott shares a glance with his wife, who purses her lips in a suppressed smile. When he mouths to her Ariel, she nods and gives in to a full smirk. "Hey, buddy? Can it be that maybe you weren't just upset about that, but maybe you were upset with Ariel too?"
"No!" The boy blurts out immediately, his quiet crying stopping to give way to frowning instead.
"Well, I think you are," Allison says. "Not only have you two not been the best of friends lately, but now this. It's not her fault, you know?"
"We're not friends," he replies. "She's a girl."
"So what? You were friends before," Scott states matter-of-factly, shrugging. "Me and your mother are friends too and I'm a boy and she's a girl."
"But that's different," the boy exclaims stubbornly. "You're grown-ups."
"So? You and Ariel were friends before, when you met," Allison says bluntly. "What changed?"
Eric drags each word. "I don't know…"
"Well, I think you do."
There's a moment of silence as both adults wait for their son to express what he's feeling. A whole minute passes before the boy can bring himself to say anything. "Ariel has new friends."
The girl, having always had little contact with other children until she moved with Lydia to Beacon Hills, had made new friends both in the family and now in school, which made for less time with Eric when before most of her time was spent with him.
"And so do you, Eric."
"She never plays with me anymore…" He lets out with a tired sigh, finally getting sleepy. "Her new friends are always saying that I'm a boy and that we can't play together."
"And let me guess, your friends say that she's a girl and you can't play with her either?," Allison asks and the boy nods sadly once more, his heart a little bit broken because his friend has all this new attention and he misses her. "You like Ariel, don't you?"
His cheeks turn a dark pink almost instantly. "No!"
Allison lets out a chuckle and glances at Scott. "It's okay if you do," he tells his son. "It's perfectly natural to have feelings for other people, Eric, be it boys or girls-"
He just shakes his head. "I don't like boys. Or girls. Not like that," he replies rather unamused, knowing what his parents are implying.
"Well, it won't always be that way. And you and Ariel were pretty good friends. It doesn't matter what others say, Eric. What matters is that you should always keep your friends close, always."
"Exactly," Allison tries to wrap up. "And you know what? Tomorrow we'll all hang out together and you and Ariel can make up and have some time just the two of you. And if you still wanna be friends after that, at school or wherever it is, it doesn't matter that she's a girl and that you're a boy. What matters is that you like Ariel and want to keep being her friend, and that she likes you and wants to keep being friends too."
"Really?" The boy questions, a hint of hope on his pretty brown eyes. "I miss her a lot," he confesses.
"Really," Scott assures. "So why don't you sleep on it and think about what you're gonna say to her tomorrow? It's getting late, and the sooner you fall asleep, the sooner you'll wake up and see Ariel again."
It's all the encouragement the boy needs, his first crush making his little heart beat just a tiny bit faster as he starts wondering what he can do with his friend tomorrow. "Okay."
"And be nice," Allison adds. "I don't want you two being mean to each other again."
"Okay, mommy," the boy swears solemnly. "I promise."
It's a good run, an Allison from the future will think, that her boy managed to keep that promise for almost ten years. He and Ariel are fifteen when they have their first real fight, one that keeps them apart for months, and it isn't until the girl's father really comes back into the picture that they make amends. Granted, it's not the first time her father makes an appearance in their lives, but it's enough for Eric to be by her side as if nothing had happened between him and Ariel in the months prior, and that will change everything between them.
"And you know what?" The boy looks between Allison and Scott expectantly. "Your father and I will think of something to make you feel better about you and your sister not having been there for our wedding, alright? We'll make it a surprise," she singsongs with a kind smile, leaning over again and kissing her son's forehead when he nods.
Scott smiles too and tousles the boy's hair. "Sweet dreams, Eric."
After wishing his parents goodnight, the boy settles comfortably and Scott tucks him in while Allison picks up Claudia as carefully as she can as to not wake the little girl, leaving Claudia in her room and only after that finally meeting Scott in the hallway.
They both sigh in relief and hold hands as they make their way back to their bedroom, alone at last. Silently closing the door behind him, Scott stops and stares at the love of his life, still in the middle of the room looking right back at him with slightly apprehensive features.
"We've got great kids, uh?," Scott comments, pulling Allison closer.
She complies in an instant, hugging Scott by the waist. "Yeah. We did good," she mumbles against his chest, her voice coming out muffled. Looking up, she rests her chin against him, eyes doubtful. "Do you still think we should try for baby number three?"
Scott pretends to think about it but his lips betray his true will, tilting up almost immediately. He wraps his arms around her shoulders. "Hmm, lets see. Maybe we should think about it the way we just told Eric. If you do end up pregnant again, we'll actually have to explain it to him this time and god, the birds and the bees talk is gonna be another challenge."
Allison grins and nods lively. "Alright. Agreed."
"I still have to take a shower though," Scott murmurs, resting his forehead against hers. "Care to join me?," he teases, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Allison muffles a chuckle. "Come on," she answers, leading the way to their en-suite bathroom.
She chooses to just keep him company instead, brushing her teeth and removing the little make-up she had on while Scott quickly undresses and hops in the shower.
The water is already running when he speaks again. "Okay, so…" he starts. "We've done all the getting-to-know-each other thing."
Allison smiles softly, her mind wandering to when they first met. "Check."
"We've dated, moved in together, got married and moved somewhere else when we really discussed having kids," he mumbles, washing his hair.
"Check, check, check and check!"
"We had baby number one, which proved to be challenging at first. After that, came baby number two. Albeit parenthood being a bit more familiar to us by now, baby number two has given us a few more headaches if we are to discuss development, which we should definitely equate into this decision."
Allison's smile fades a little when she nods to her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Little Claudia's development seems to be somewhat delayed when compared to Eric's, and even though the doctor has told them that she still has time to learn the things she hasn't yet, the girl having had a few - frankly scary - health issues in her almost two years of life that they have never had with their son is starting to nag at both Scott and Allison, especially lately, concerned that it might be something more.
"Well, one can never know what to expect when they're expecting," she replies, meaning every word. "And that should never stop one from trying."
A moment of silence stretches between them as they both think about their options, and they don't speak again until Scott's all done and hops out of the shower. Allison nears him, taking the towel from his hands when he's finished drying himself to place it on the sink and handing him his boxers and pajama, leaning against one of the walls while Scott quickly dresses himself and brushes his teeth under her contemplative gaze.
"There will be just as much love as there would be if there was to be a child who had no problems at all," she says calmly, still thoughtful.
Scott looks up at her reflection in the mirror, finishing up. "Of course there would be," he tells her, turning around to face her. "But maybe what happened tonight was a good thing. Maybe we need to think this through some more."
Scott had been reluctant when Allison first shared her intentions of having another child, then truly excited with everything that was happening around them. Now truth is, maybe his first instinct was right. Maybe Allison had gotten a little carried away with all the baby talk in the family lately, and maybe he got carried away right along with her.
"I know," she sighs, and Scott doesn't waste a second to cross the bathroom and hold her hands, squeezing them comfortingly.
He leads the way back to their bedroom, to the bed where by now, if everything had gone accordingly to their plans for the evening, they would have probably already tried for baby number three. And likely more than once at that.
They get under the covers and Scott turns off the lamp on his bedside, turning to face Allison to stare at her features only illuminated by the moonlight. "What are you thinking?" He whispers, looking for her hand to hold absentmindedly.
Allison closes her eyes for a moment, trying to rearrange her thoughts, trying to find the words to explain what she wants to say, how she feels. "I'm thinking that maybe we're both right." She moves closer and Scott adjusts on the mattress so that Allison can rest her head on his chest, one arm pulling her closer as she entwines their fingers together. "Maybe we should take everything that's happening right now into consideration before we make a decision, but I can't shake this…" She purses her lips and wets them out of reflex as she struggles to let out the words. Scott tucks her hair behind her ear and kisses the tip of her nose softly, encouraging her to continue. Allison sighs and gives in to a smile. "I still want to have another child."
Scott grins, stupidly in love with his wife. "I know," he assures her. "And I… I think I want it too. The fact that every time someone in the family tells the others that they're having a child, my mind always wanders to having another baby with you, it just does. Hell, that's how we had Claudia!" It's how it happened, right after his mother and Stiles' father told them that they had decided to adopt little Emma. "But I don't want that to cloud our judgment. I'll always want to have more children with you," he says, "but we should do it on our own terms."
"I get it," she murmurs, releasing his grasp to lightly brush her fingers up and down his chest. "Maybe we should just focus on what we have on our hands right now. Eric just started Elementary school and we're gonna need to be here for him more now." Both she and Scott had been spending more time out of the house lately, so he knows what she's trying to say. "I want us to be more present for him. To help him with his homework and to see him learn new things. I want to know that we know what's happening in his life; that he's making friends, that he knows we're here for him. God, I want him to make amends with Ariel and for him to spend more time with his sister too.
"I also want us to be here for Claudia. I…" She pauses, catching her breath. "We need to help her, encourage her to develop her skills more and I know that it's been hard lately. Between me taking some night classes to finally get my degree and you working so much at the shop…"
"Actually," he stops her, telling her the news. "We finally decided to hire the new crew, so I'm back to my normal daily schedule in about a week or so." Allison looks incredulous at that until Scott nods in confirmation. "I'm serious. Stiles and I discussed it with dad and we'll take alternate shifts for like a month to see if it works out for us, which means that I'll be home more. You still have your classes but we'll figure something out, you'll see. What matters is that we're here for the kids."
Allison can't believe her luck and beams, kissing Scott's knuckles and he can see a faint blush on her cheeks despite the low light. "I'm really happy to know that. That not only we'll have a little more time for the kids, but for us as well." She lets go of his hand to cup his cheek and move even closer, her lips brushing his enticingly. "I miss you."
Scott pecks her lips, then her forehead, and she swears she can see his eyes glimmering through the darkness. "I miss you too."
There's a moment of comfortable silence as they think about everything some more, equating all available variables to come out with the best solution for the situation at hand. "I have a proposition," Allison mumbles against his neck, where she starts planting feather-like kisses.
Scott sighs softly. "Do tell."
"We leave it to fate," she states simply.
Scott distances himself from her a bit, looking down at his wife with a raised brow. "We leave it to fate?"
Allison nods, propping herself up on one arm to face him better. "Yes, having another child. We leave it to fate, and if we're meant to have another child we will, in due time. For now, we focus on the present."
"We leave it to fate…" he repeats, testing the words out on his tongue as if wondering if they're the answers to their situation.
She only gives Scott one more second before straddling him slowly, cupping his cheeks and leaning down so that they're eye to eye. "It doesn't mean it's not in my plans for the very, very near future because it is, but right now we might just have a little too many things on our hands. So lets make sure we're ready for it first. Or well, as ready as one can ever be."
His hands roam up her thighs until they stop low at her waist, his thumbs slipping underneath her shirt to caress the skin there. "And in the nearest future?" He asks teasingly.
"We focus on ourselves. You focus on your job and I'll focus on my job and my classes. We'll make more time for the kids and we can't forget about ourselves either. It's been a while," she whispers with a mischievous smile, grinding her hips just a little bit. "It's been a while…"
Scott purses his lips in amusement. "I know."
"We can finally start renovating the attic to get some more room," she continues, "make sure we have some savings in place. And when the time is right, it'll happen."
"Okay, so… Very, very near future and nearest future are decided." Allison leans closer to kiss him fully on the lips, her smile completely ruining it and Scott following suit, her lips brushing along his jaw after to softly nibble at his ear with her teeth. Scott closes his eyes and lets out a breath, his grip on her waist tightening. "What about right now?"
"Right now…" Her breath ghosts teasingly close to his skin, and suddenly the December night doesn't seem as cold anymore. "Now I'll be damned if we're not gonna finally have sex," she teases, a blush taking over her cheeks. "And tomorrow, we can have sex again in the morning for good measure." Scott chuckles. "And after breakfast, we'll just spend all day with the kids. Maybe we can discuss with Eric what we can do about our wedding. I was thinking we could show him our wedding album again or even the video, ask him if he's curious about anything-"
Scott interrupts her with a bright smile on his lips. "That is a dangerous question to ask a six year old."
Allison laughs lowly, conceding. "I meant about the ceremony and only that, but you're right. It doesn't matter anyway, those are questions for tomorrow," she mutters, sitting up on top of him again. "We'll think of something."
"So let me get this straight. Sex. More sex. Quality time with the kids. Wedding talk. Crush talk, since Stiles and Lydia are probably gonna stop by with Ariel. Sex again…"
"I don't remember saying we'll have sex tomorrow night," Allison quips, already unbuttoning his pajama shirt.
"Just because we're not having baby number three right now, doesn't mean we can't have some quality time ourselves anytime we can, now that we'll have some more free time."
"Fair point," she agrees easily. He had her at sex again anyway.
Scott sits up to help her get rid of his shirt, which ends up absently thrown to the floor somewhere to his right. "So that's for the weekend. After, more of that whenever we can. We find a balance between more time with the kids and more focusing on our careers. We make sure we make all the arrangements we can for another baby, and then we'll see. Is that it?"
She nods in confirmation, her shirt following his in a second. "And we leave it to fate," she says simply, eyes shining in the moonlight just waiting for his approval.
"I can live with that," he murmurs sincerely, his fingers tilting her chin down enough for their foreheads to touch.
Allison bites down on her lower lip hard enough that she thinks it'll draw blood. "I could kiss you right now," she repeats his exclamation from before, her heart stammering in her chest.
It's but a mere whisper, but Scott hears it loud and clear, a grin forming on his lips. "I can live with that too," he murmurs before finally giving in to what they should have done as soon as he got home, and if they end up going for round two before falling asleep they blame it on fate as well.
xxxxxxxxxx
Their plan works.
They find the balance they had lost sight of for a while and things work out exactly like they're supposed to.
They wait for Christmas to surprise all the kids in the family - especially since the other children found out about Eric's fit and, understandably, started asking questions to their parents too - gathering everyone together at John and Melissa's to spend the afternoon of the 24th watching all their wedding videos, much to everyone's delight. Wedding albums are passed from hand to hand and the kids have a blast realizing how different and younger, yet familiar, their parents and uncles were then and how things have changed ever since, while the adults revisit the memories of one of the most important days of their lives.
By dinner, all parents have promised to celebrate their marriage's yearly anniversary with the kids when the time comes so that their children can be more involved this time around, which turns out to be one of the best ideas they've ever come up with, bringing both generations closer together. It becomes another one of their group traditions.
As for Scott and Allison, their marriage becomes even stronger over the next few months. They become closer and both work hard on what they had planned, just waiting for the inevitability that fate will hopefully present them with. Their son does well in school and is best friends with his crush again. Their daughter, as it turns out, was just a late bloomer and the extra time with her parents definitely helped with her development.
Their jobs are going great and Allison's classes are almost done when it happens, so in truth it doesn't take them all that long to have their wish come true.
She's pregnant by the time Lydia's baby shower comes around.
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Author's note: If you already knew "Know better", I wanna know what you guys think about this flashforward!
If you didn't, let me know if you liked the fic and tell me, if there was any, what were your favorite parts.
Also, it wasn't exactly easy to write that speech in a way that a six year old would understand, so let me know what you thought about it.
Regardless, feedback is much appreciated and I hope I did Scallison justice :)