A/N: Sorry this chapter took a little while to get up. This ended up being so much harder to write than I thought it was going to be. I really struggled with this one, so I hope it's up to snuff! Also, here's a small warning: I personally wouldn't consider this to be all that graphic, but without giving too much away, there is a medical situation in here. Just a heads up if you're squeamish about that kind of stuff.

And here we go . . .

Fifteen minutes later, Stiles's jeep came to a screeching stop at the veterinary clinic. Scott carefully lifted Malia out of the backseat. "See, no problems. Our faces are still intact."

"Yeah, let's just get her inside before you jinx it," Stiles said as he ran ahead to open the door for him. They rushed inside and Scott called out, "Doc?"

Deaton appeared from the back room and approached them. He put a gentle hand on Malia. "How has she been since you called?"

"Mostly the same, drifting in and out of consciousness, but then she started whining a couple of minutes ago. I think her pain is getting worse."

"Let's get her in the back."

Scott laid her on a table in the exam room. He and Stiles watched anxiously as Deaton examined her. He shined a bright light in her eyes, checked her gums, and cleared her throat. He searched every inch of her and saw nothing external that could be causing her pain. Then the slight bulging of her abdomen caught his eye.

"Got anything yet?"

"You were right," Deaton said. "I don't see any wounds or feel any broken bones. But if you notice, her abdomen looks distended. What are some usual causes of that?"

"She could have swallowed too much air by eating too quickly," Scott answered. "Intestinal blockage, fluid build-up, a cyst –"

"Very good," he replied as he began to feel her belly.

"Yeah, Scott, great job. What a wonderful teaching moment, you guys. Now could you just fix her already?" Stiles knew he was being snarky, but he couldn't help it. The longer her ailment took to diagnose, the more it worried him.

Deaton continued feeling her abdomen. At a certain spot, his hands suddenly stilled. Scott noticed his surprised expression even though it only lasted for the briefest moment. "Doc?"

"Scott, can you get the portable ultrasound machine? I feel . . . a mass."

"A mass?" Stiles asked, "Like a tumor or something?"

"Possibly," he said, though his tone was oddly non-committal. Scott handed him the ultrasound machine and Deaton ran the wand along her abdomen, trying to get a clear picture. What he saw confirmed his suspicions and suddenly the vet became a flurry of action, handing the machine back to Scott and gathering medical supplies.

"Deaton, what –"

"Stiles, cover her with that blanket. Scott, I need you to howl, right now. She needs to be human for me to help her."

Stiles threw a blanket over her while Scott turned, his eyes glowing bright red. Scott shook her gently, calling her name until her eyes opened. Then he howled, and she started to shift back to human almost immediately. Within moments, Malia was a human girl again, curled up under the blanket.

She looked up at Scott, her features pinched in confusion. "Scott? Where are we? What's going on?" The last thing she remembered was making the decision to return to Beacon Hills, though she wasn't entirely sure why. Instinct maybe? And there had been pain, so much pain. She remembered that too.

It was Stiles who answered her question, causing her to turn her head in surprise at the sound of his voice. She managed a weak smile at the sight of him. "We found you unconscious in the woods. You seemed hurt so we brought you here."

"Hi Malia," Deaton said in his most soothing doctor voice. "I'm Deaton, remember? How do you feel?"

"Really awful actually," she answered, her voice quaking. Her skin was pallid, and her whole body was trembling.

"What's wrong with her?"

Deaton ignored Stiles's question, his total focus on his patient. "I'm going to tell what's happening. It'll be a big shock, but I promise that I will help you."

Malia looked between Stiles's and Scott's confused expressions and Deaton's gravely serious one, and her anxiety grew exponentially. She didn't like the sound of that at all. "What is it? What's – ah!" The pain was so sudden and brutal that she cried out, curling in on herself even more. "What's happening?" she asked through gritted teeth. "Why does it hurt so much?"

"Let this pass first," he said. Let it pass? She couldn't imagine how or why it would, but nearly a minute later the pain faded away.

"Is it over?" he asked. She only nodded her head, her eyes still tightly shut. "Malia, you're in labor."

At first, that meant nothing to her. In labor? But then a foggy memory resurfaced, one of her hearing her mother groaning in pain behind a closed bedroom door as she gave birth to her little sister. Being in labor would mean that she's pregnant, and she definitely wasn't pregnant . . . right? She looked over at Stiles first, and he appeared about as disbelieving as she felt. Scott had a totally dumbfounded expression on his face, his mouth hanging open as he glanced between her and Stiles.

While Malia's reaction was confusion quickly followed by denial, Stiles only felt complete and utter panic. At the words "in labor," that familiar ringing began in his ears. His hands started to shake, his vision growing slightly blurry as he tried to draw in a breath that the pain in his chest just wouldn't allow. Malia was not only pregnant but actually going to give birth today, at any moment. He silently cursed himself for doing this to her, to both of them.

"Malia?" Deaton said, interrupting both teenagers' racing thoughts, "Did you know you were pregnant?"

She looked at Deaton as if he was the one who was confused. He had to be, because the alternative was too terrifying to contemplate. "No, I, I've been a coyote for months. I –" she was choking on her words. "Are you sure? This has to be a mistake. I'm not pregnant."

Deaton motioned for Scott to give him the portable ultrasound machine. "It might be difficult to get a good picture now that you're human, but it should work well enough to see it." He pulled the blanket aside only enough to put the wand on her belly again. When he got a clear picture, he turned it around so the others could see. And right there on the small screen was a baby, just as he'd said there'd be.

Neither one of them could ignore the reality of their situation with proof like that. In a daze, his eyes never leaving the screen, Stiles moved closer to put a hand on her shoulder. Malia barely felt his touch; her whole body had gone numb in that moment. She frantically pulled the blanket aside to see her belly for herself. It wasn't very big at all, but there was an unmistakable roundness that could only mean one thing. With a shaking hand, she touched her stomach, and suddenly the weight of everything was all too much.

"Oh God." Her eyes filled tears. Frantically, she thought, this can't be happening. She didn't want this to be happening. The horrible cramping was starting to return, and she could feel herself shifting, becoming a coyote again. That was what she wanted, to be a coyote again and pretend this wasn't happening. "No, no, no –"

"Malia, don't –" Stiles said when he noticed her eyes start to glow, but she pushed him away, sending him staggering back. At that moment she felt more animal than human, her fear giving way to anger and wildness.

"Scott, we can't let her turn. If she does we'll lose them both."

Scott took hold of her flailing arms and howled again. She stopped fighting, and her eyes returned to their normal shade of dark brown. Scott lowered her tense body back onto the table. Malia took a moment to catch her breath, to find a way to calm her racing thoughts. She looked at Scott, then Stiles, who looked as wary as a kicked puppy. "I'm sorry. I didn't – ah!" She cried out in pain again as the contraction reached its peak.

Deaton checked his watch. "That was only a minute and a half. This baby is coming right now. Malia, are you feeling a lot of pressure, like you want to push?"

"Y – ah, ye –" The pain was so intense she could no longer speak. Once the contraction started to subside she pleaded to Deaton, "Please, I want it out."

"I'm going to help you." He gave her a reassuring smile before he and Scott continued to gather all of the supplies they would need.

"Have you ever delivered a baby before?" Stiles asked nervously. Seeing Malia that way had unnerved him. He felt like he was about to be sick, and the sudden flurry of movement was making him dizzy.

"One or two."

"Of course you have."

"Scott, do you have everything?" Deaton wondered as he turned on an overhead light.

Scott had just finished lining up the sterilized instruments on a tray. "Everything's here."

"Good. Malia, we've got to get you into a better position. I need you to sit up as much as you can and move closer to the edge of the table, okay? I'm afraid I don't have anywhere more comfortable for you to do this. Stiles, you stand behind her and support her weight."

Stiles helped her sit up and stood behind her, his hands braced on her shoulders. "Lean back on me if you need to."

She practically collapsed against his chest, surprising him, but he took her weight. She looked up at him, her bottom lip trembling. Finally addressing him since this whole thing had started, she asked, "Stiles, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know." He wished he didn't sound so terrified, for her sake at least. He pushed her sweaty hair away from her face and then adjusted the blanket from behind to cover her better. "We'll figure it out. One thing at a time, okay?"

Malia nodded, then suddenly cringed and lurched forward. "Ah!"

"Deaton!" Stiles cried.

Deaton finished pulling on a fresh glove and stood between her dangling feet. He put a hand under her right knee and started to lift it. "Scott, help me get her feet onto the table. Get her knee up, just like I'm doing."

Scott followed Deaton's instruction, lifting her left leg as gently as possible and setting her foot on the table. Deaton pushed the blanket up to her upper thighs. "I'm going to take a look now, okay?"

"Just do it." Malia already had very little modesty on a good day, and this wasn't one. She honestly didn't care who saw what. She just wanted the pain to stop.

Deaton adjusted the light and looked between her legs. "I can see the very top of the head. Is the pain still intense?"

She nodded fervently.

"Let's try pushing. You can push while counting down from ten, take a few breaths, and you'll keep doing that until the contraction stops."

Malia nodded again to show she understood, and then looked back at Stiles. "Count."

"Wha – me?!"

"Count!" yelled both Scott and Deaton.

"Okay! Ten! Nine! Eight –"

And she pushed. She made it through that contraction and two more the same way, with Stiles counting down and Deaton's words of encouragement helping her along. She screamed her way through it, but they stayed trapped behind pursed lips and gritted teeth. With each throaty scream she pulled him closer, reaching behind her to take hold of the neck of the old "Jawesome" T-shirt he wearing, effectively stretching it out beyond repair. At one point she had pulled him down so far that his forehead came to rest at her temple as she worked, so that only she was in his field of vision. He winced in sympathy at every cry and grimace on her face that he couldn't help but see so up close and personal.

As she rested between contractions, he finally braved a glance and his eyes landed on a smear of blood on her inner thigh. "Oh God, I had to look, didn't I? That was blood. That was definitely blood." He hung his head as he took in shuddering gasps of air, his vision going fuzzy around the edges again.

Scott noticed his friend had grown even paler. "Stiles, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure, don't worry about me," he panted. "It's just – the blood –"

"Don't you dare faint," Malia ordered. Before he could assure her that he wouldn't dare, he felt her body tense up again. Stiles automatically started to count and she pushed, but he only made it to four before she gasped and crashed back against him. "No, I can't do it anymore!"

"Come on, you have to keep going," Deaton said.

"It hurts too much. I ca – I can't –" She couldn't even get out the rest. She already felt stretched way beyond capacity, and she didn't know how she could do more than she was already doing.

"It hurts so much because the baby's head is crowning. This is hardest part. But if you can just get past this, the rest will come easier."

"I can't do it."

"Malia, look at me." Deaton moved in closer to look her in the face. "It's an unbelievable pain, isn't it? Doing this feels impossible? I promise you that it isn't, and the pain will stop. Just get through this moment and it'll be over soon."

The thought steeled her and she tried again, but Stiles didn't even make it to six before she gave in again. Malia hadn't known there could be pain like this. She could feel herself starting to panic, as it seemed that anyone feeling this much pain should be dying, not giving life. She couldn't stop the sobs that escaped her raw throat, or the tears that slid down cheeks. At that point, both teenage boys were teary-eyed as well.

"Can I help her?" Scott asked, his voice shaking with emotion.

Deaton looked between those three sad faces. They were children who'd already had to deal with so many things beyond their years and now this. He nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, but only for a few seconds. I know it seems cruel, but she needs to feel them."

Scott immediately put a hand on her knee, and for the second time that day, he watched the spidery black lines crawl up his arm. This time he felt some of what she was feeling. The pain was sudden, hitting him like a wave crashing down on him, and just when it felt like he could get his breath, another wave would come. Scott felt it ripple across his stomach, and a deep, throbbing ache settled in his hips and his groin. He managed to hold on another five seconds before Deaton pulled his hand away.

For Malia, the relief was immediate. Oh, the pain was still there and even still awful, but somehow more manageable. The intense tightening in her lower abdomen didn't feel quite so vice like, and the diminished pressure in her pelvis made it feel less like she was being ripped in two. The hazy fog had cleared from her mind a bit, and somehow doing this didn't seem quite so impossible anymore.

"Thank you," she told Scott, breathless with relief. "You can stay."

Scott smiled, "I'm not going anywhere." Stiles caught Scott's eye and nodded once. The look of gratitude on his face was so apparent he didn't have to say it. Scott nodded back his own wordless, You're welcome.

"Malia," Deaton said, trying to gain her attention again. "Keep going."

It was amazing what a little pain management could do for her resolve. She pushed as hard as she could, and by the end of the next contraction Deaton was supporting the baby's head in his hands.

"I need you stop pushing now."

"No," she grunted as she continued to push, even though she could feel the contraction waning.

"We don't want it to come too fast –"

"I want it out!" she cried. "Please, just get it out."

"I don't want you to hurt yourself. Rest first, and if you give me one more really good push, then this will all be over, okay?"

She let out a frustrated yell and crashed back against Stiles, but she did as she was told, especially when Stiles whispered against her hair a simple, "Please." When the last contraction came, she pushed with everything she had. She could hear Deaton say, "I've got a shoulder," and "slower, Malia," but she was so focused that she paid him no mind. He'd said she only had to make it through one more, so she would hold him to it.

After the other shoulder was delivered, she felt a tug as Deaton pulled the baby from her body. The moment the baby passed through her, she felt a powerful rush of adrenaline, a rush that left her skin tingling and her breath stilted. It was as if all of the blood in her body was flooding her brain and overwhelming her senses, making her unable to focus on anything other than what was happening to her own body.

When Stiles heard Deaton say, "We've got a baby," he literally went weak in the knees. He couldn't believe he'd actually witnessed someone give birth, and even less so that it was his own baby with Malia. Their baby. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. To imagine himself with a child was too big, too abstract a concept to actually be real. But there it was, right in front of his eyes, an actual baby he'd helped create. Stiles could only make out its tiny legs before he quickly turned away. If the baby wasn't alive, he wasn't sure he could handle seeing something like that.

Scott held a clean towel at the ready and Deaton placed the baby inside. The baby tried to cry, but its attempts sounded wet and gurgling. Deaton used to a bulb syringe to suction out its mouth and nose. Next, he clamped off the umbilical cord.

"Scott, cut the cord."

"What?" He glanced over at Stiles, as if asking permission. Stiles nodded. Scott took a deep breath, grabbed the umbilical cord scissors, and with a slightly shaky hand he cut through it. As soon as the baby was detached, Deaton took it to another table, his back to the others to hide it from view. Scott joined him, handing him everything he asked for.

"Stiles, I need to lie down."

He'd been watching Deaton so intently that the sound of her voice startled him. He looked down at her and saw how pale and tired she looked. He laid her down as gently as possible. "Are you okay? Are you still in pain?"

"Not like before," she said groggily. She was crashing fast. "But I ache everywhere."

At that moment the baby started to cry, and it was a surprisingly strong. Stiles's heart leapt in his chest at the welcome sound. "That's quite a set of lungs for a preemie," Deaton said, smiling back at Stiles and Malia. "This baby can't be more than five pounds, which makes me think it's at least a month early, but it appears to be breathing fine on its own."

"So it's okay?" Stiles asked. When Deaton assured him the baby was fine, he was sure he'd never felt such an intense feeling of relief.

"And there's one more thing, but I'll let Scott do the honors."

Scott looked at his best friend with tears in his eyes and a grin on his face. "It's a girl."

"A girl?" And with that, it wasn't just an "it." It was no longer just "the baby." It was now a she, a daughter. Stiles turned to Malia in wonder. "Did you hear that? It's a girl."

She nodded as silent tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Deaton brought the bundled baby over to her. "Malia, do you want to hold her?"

She turned away from them all. "No. I – I don't want to see her."

"Malia –"

"Stiles, I don't want to see her, okay?" She was crying in earnest then. He tried to touch her, to comfort her, but she shrunk away from him.

Deaton went over to Stiles instead. "Would you like to hold her?"

"I . . ." Honestly, he was terrified. He couldn't remember the last time he'd even held a baby. But a sad glance at Malia convinced him to try. He figured at least one of them should hold her. "Yeah, I'll take her."

He put the baby into Stiles's arms. "Why don't you take her out of here so I can look after Malia. Scott, you go with them and make sure to listen to her breathing. Get me right away if there are any problems."

Stiles barely had any time to appreciate the fact that he was really holding her before Scott was guiding him out of the room. He managed one last glance at Malia and saw that her body was still shaking with barely suppressed sobs. Even though he was reluctant to leave her in that state, he did as he was told. He turned away and left her there with Deaton.

A/N: Well? *waits nervously* I know a pregnant Malia is a well-worn concept, but there was a reason I couldn't let this idea go. A few years ago I came up with this story about a human man/werewolf woman who go through this same situation. I soon realized it was never going to get past the idea faze, but I still wanted to write it somehow, in some way. Then that (possible) sex scene between Stiles and Malia happened, and it sort of felt like the perfect opportunity to finally write it. Generally I'm not even into pregnancy storylines in my TV shows, but in fic for some reason I can get into it. And I'm also really fascinated by the whole "I didn't know I was pregnant" phenomenon and just really wanted to try my hand at writing it.

Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Thanks for reading, and for everyone who reviews and favorites. It's great encouragement when writing gets too hard.