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1989dreamer · 6 years

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More Than a Face in the Crowd

AO3

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Title taken from Anthonio by Annie

Summary: A one-night stand with a mysterious man, who disappears without a trace leaves Derek pregnant. At least he isn’t alone; he has his sisters. Of course, between Laura the cop and Cora the tech savvy, they track down Derek’s one-night stand. Now, all Derek needs is for Mieczysław to answer his phone.

Warnings: No happy ending, unconventional Mpreg

~ * ~

Derek spends a full thirty seconds staring at his sister before he breaks down.

He covers his face, trying to hide the tears. He can’t be pregnant. He just can’t be.

Laura sits next to him, letting him lean against her. She rubs his back and pats him when he starts hiccupping from crying too hard.

Cora comes back from school and joins the group hug. Eventually, though, she nudges him up and kisses his cheek.

“We still love you,” she says. Of that Derek has no doubt.

“I always thought I’d be the first one to have a baby,” Laura says. “But, I’m glad it’s you. Now I get to be the cool aunt and see how to do it right.”

Derek halfheartedly smacks her, but he has to admit, his sisters are making him feel much better.

“I need to tell the other father,” he realizes. “But, all I have is his name.”

He has more than a name; he has memories of dancing, of grinding on a lithe man with moles speckled over his skin, constellations spelling his future if Derek could just learn how to read the language. He knows the language of the rising member against his backside better, and sweet kisses exchanged with fevered bites.

He sighs softly. “Mieczysław,” he says.

“What.”

Derek grins before it fades quickly. “His name,” he clarifies. “It’s Polish. But, I don’t have his last name.”

He just has a bed covered in rose petals, high quality lube, and four fingers in him. He doesn’t remember the coupling, but the sticks he urinated on yesterday and this morning say it happened.

“And how do we find Meechum?” Laura prompts. The answer she wants is for Derek to say, ‘He left me his number’—he didn’t—or ‘We’ll find him by scent’—but they’d all been wearing scent blockers at the club and they hadn’t worn off before the night was over and Derek was left alone sleeping in a bed still covered in rose petals with lube and semen dripping from him.

He sighs again. “It’s not a common name. I’m sure a search will turn him up, especially if he’s in the city.” He doesn’t want to say that he thinks Mieczysław fled. Why else hadn’t he left his number when he woke before Derek?

Rejected.

Laura loops an arm over his shoulders and rocks with him. “We’re going to make it through. We’ll find him.”

“I’ll post something online. How do you spell that atrocity of a name?”

Derek spells it carefully, watching as Cora pulls out her phone to tap at the screen. A moment later, she shows him what she’s made:

Wanted: Mieczysław Last Name Unknown

Please Call: 718-xxx-xxxx

Reason: To Discuss Delicate Matters

“I’ll put this on my Tumblr, I’ve got like a million followers that reblog my content,” Cora says.

Derek nods even though he doesn’t know how a cup and/or acrobat can help him or why Cora has that many people invested in a cup/acrobat. Or even what exactly a “re-blog” does.

“Let’s order in for supper,” Laura suggests, grabbing a take-out menu from the coffee table. “Deep dish pizza sound good?”

~ * ~

Over the next few months, Cora keeps Derek updated on her Tumblr—which he has learned has nothing to do with either cups or acrobats (he isn’t sure if he’s disappointed about that).

The initial post has been shared (re-blogged) hundreds of times. A few people have added comments (Tags too, Derek. What is a tag? Ugh, you’re impossible) about helping the omega find his true love.

Derek cringes at those comments. Just because he and Mieczysław had sex that resulted in a child does not mean that they are truly meant to be together. Especially if one of them does not wish to be told of the child. (Also, Derek is NOT an omega, which Cora again had to explain to him.)

Laura runs into the apartment one day, a piece of paper clutched in her hand, excitedly yelling.

Derek smirks into his hot chocolate while Cora barely looks up from her advanced physics homework.

“I found it!” Laura all but yells when the door slams shut behind her.

“Found what, your sanity?” Cora asks innocently. Laura glares at her.

“I found Mychaw’s phone number!”

“Mieczysław,” Derek corrects absently. He’s beginning to suspect that Laura will forever refuse to say the father of his child’s name correctly.

“Really?” Cora says, looking up finally. “How? Where? Gimme!”

“Nu-uh.” Laura sticks her tongue out. “I found it!”

“Through less than legal means, I’d bet,” Derek says dryly. He reaches over and snatches the paper from her hand. Laura shakes her head.

“He applied at my precinct,” she explains. “It stood out, so I copied it down.”

“Less than legal,” Derek admonishes. He folds the paper without looking at it and tucks it into his pocket. He rubs his stomach on the way back up. It’s only just starting to round out. Laura is fond of ambushing him to touch it now.

“Aren’t you going to call him?” Cora demands.

Derek shakes his head. “Not right now,” he says. “Maybe later, after my doctor’s appointment tomorrow.”

Laura squeals loudly. “You’re going to get the updated sonogram tomorrow!”

“Can I come with?” Cora begs. “Please?”

“You have school,” Derek says. “And you,” he points at Laura, “have work. I’m perfectly capable of going by myself.”

“Well, if you’re not going to call Mychow’s number, can I have it back?”

“No.” Derek rinses his mug out and sets it in the sink before heading to his room. He pats the pocket with the note. “I know you’ll call him once I’m asleep.”

Laura pouts.

Derek tries not to laugh as he shuts his door.

~ * ~

Everything progresses normally. Derek’s stomach grows with each minute it seems until it’s difficult to rise in the morning, and oft as not, he just falls back asleep. He called Mieczysław’s number the day of the ultrasound and got a disconnected message.

He thinks he misdialed, with his fingers that keep swelling because of water retention, but he’s a bit too afraid to try again.

Derek should give the number to one of his sisters and have her call for him, but again. He’s afraid.

He knows he won’t be able to get the phone back in time to prevent either of his sisters from yelling at Mieczysław—or whomsoever is unfortunate enough to be holding onto the phone. And apparently, Mieczysław is Polish through and through because his last name is Liszewski, which means fox.

Derek sighs and rubs at his eyes. It’s 2:00 in the afternoon. Laura will be home soon. Thankfully, Derek’s job as a translator for fiction books can be done anywhere, and his agent is understanding of his condition—he’s pregnant with his third right now too, and he promises that what Derek is experiencing will only get worse as time goes on.

Derek digs out the number again and one of those sticks Cora uses on her tablet when she doesn’t want to use her fingers. He pokes the buttons on his phone, checking and double-checking the digits before he presses send.

The phone rings four times before a groggy, familiar voice answers with “’Ello, whosits?”

Derek swallows, overcome with a sudden urge to be held by Mieczysław again.

“Hello?” the voice says again, clearer. Derek thinks of mole-speckled skin, soft lips, kind hands. Fingers and tongue and.

“I’m hanging up now.

“Wait!” he says, but it’s too late, the call has ended and he’s left staring at his home screen. Faintly, he hears the front door open and close.

He isn’t aware of whining, but Laura drops to her knees next to his bed, hands on his shoulders, saying, “Derek? What’s wrong? Tell me, Derek, are you hurt? Is the baby okay?”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” Derek wipes at his eyes and crams his phone under his pillow. Laura eyes him, but thankfully doesn’t say anything about his lie.

“Come on.” She grabs his hands and tugs him up. “We’re going out to celebrate a successful ultrasound. Tacos on Sixtieth.”

Now it’s Derek’s turn to eye her. “That sketchy food truck that gave me food poisoning?” he shakes his head, sticking his tongue out at her. “No thank you. I’m sure Cora would prefer if we ate from that much more reputable shop on Fiftieth, considering then she might actually still have siblings.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Laura smiles at him. “Go, take a shower. I’m going to call Cora and make sure she’s actually coming home after class today.”

That’s right. Cora has a girlfriend that she’s spending all her time with. A pretty brunette she had mentioned last week when Laura confronted her about staying out all night.

They’d thought it was some underground club for werewolves. Turns out it was just his little sister discovering that she liked girls better than boys. Of course, the fact that her girlfriend is also her best friend bodes well, Derek thinks.

“Is she bringing Allison?” he asks. He knows Laura is waiting for him to leave the room so that she can look at his phone. He’s tempted to go back to the bed just to get it, but he decides it doesn’t matter.

“I called Mieczysław’s number,” he tells her. She fights the interested look off her face, and he smiles at her fondly. “I wasn’t fast enough with my words before he hung up. Please don’t call him again. We’ll all do it Saturday.”

Surprisingly, that’s the end of it.

~ * ~

Saturday, Derek is soaking his feet while he watches Rachael Ray with Cora. Laura marches into the living room and throws his phone at him. Derek lets it bounce off his chest.

“Call Mouse Chow,” Laura commands.

Derek sighs. He picks up the phone and stumbles over the buttons with his swollen fingers. The number he types isn’t right so he hands the phone to Cora and rattles off the number he wasn’t supposed to memorize.

Cora puts it on speakerphone and they all lean close as it rings four times.

When the answering machine service kicks on, Derek fumbles the phone back and accidentally hangs up when he just meant to take it off speakerphone.

Laura grabs it out of his hand and redials the number. She waits until the service picks up again before growling into the phone and then hanging up.

Derek covers his face. “Laura, how does that help?”

“It shows that I’m not screwing around,” Laura says, proudly.

Cora shakes her head. “All you did is call someone and leave growls in his voicemail. Derek’s right, that doesn’t help him at all. It just labels his number as a creep.”

Laura looks contrite.

“I’m sorry, Derek,” she says, and he accepts the hug she gives him.

“Maybe we can try again later?”

He puts his phone back under his pillow and then joins his sister as they watch some reality TV show. It makes him drowsy, and he imagines Mieczysław’s lips on his, his fingers tripping down his front, over the swelling of his belly.

Laura clears her throat and points to his bedroom. Derek would be embarrassed, but he’s actually smelled her before when she’s been in love. She doesn’t smell any less weird than he probably does.

His phone, when he digs it out, has two missed calls and one voicemail.

The calls are from Mieczysław’s number.

Derek brings up his voicemail, and follows the prompts. When the message plays, Mieczysław’s angry voice barks in his ear, and his heart sinks. He fights back a sudden onslaught of tears.

Cora was right: Mieczysław does think he’s a creep because of Laura’s growl.

“If you contact me again, I will involve the authorities,” Mieczysław says on the phone and the message ends. Derek deletes it and the missed calls. He tears up the little slip of paper with the number and throws it and the phone against the wall.

His sisters slam open the door, and that is the final straw. He buries his head under his pillow and sobs. This, more than anything else, even when Mieczysław left him for the first time, makes Derek believe that Mieczysław doesn’t love him at all, that the impregnation was an accident more than an oversight.

“I don’t ever want to contact him again,” he tells Laura when she removes his pillow. “He hates me! He doesn’t want this child!” Laura soothes him, her hand firm in his hair. Her eyes are almost red, but she fights the color back, somehow knowing he needs his sister more than he needs his alpha.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “How can we make it better?”

Cora picks up the pieces of the phone and sets them on Derek’s desk. She pokes at them and sighs.

“Maybe it’s not what we can do to make it better,” she says, “but rather where we can go. Obviously, New York is upsetting Derek. We could move?”

“Where?” Laura demands.

“Beacon Hills,” Derek answers. “Back to our old house.” He hiccups a little, drying his face and sitting up. “We could remodel or rebuild or whatever. I could raise my baby on Hale land.”

“See?” Cora says, triumphant. “Better already.” Laura moves to put her hand on Derek’s stomach, but it’s too close to what he was thinking about earlier, and he shoves her hand away.

“Of course, we probably have to wait for my graduation ceremony before we can go,” Cora adds.

“Two months, Derek.” Laura places her hand on Derek’s stomach, and he lets her even though it still makes his skin crawl. “Can you do that for us, for your child?”

Derek lifts her hand so that he can rub his stomach unfettered. The ultrasound says the baby is moving. Sometimes, he thinks he can feel it, but then it turns out to be just gas. Two more months and outsiders (Laura and Cora) will be able to feel it move too. Two more months of being in the same city as Mieczysław. Two more months and then he’ll be free.

He sighs. “I should reach out to him again, let him know about the baby.” Laura nods, an alpha answer as much as a sister answer. “I’ll do it after I get my phone replaced.”

“Sound plan, little brother.” Laura hugs him, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Cora pats his head, ruffling his hair. “Get some rest. We’ll be right here if you need us.”

The door closes behind them, and Derek turns over, burying his face back in his pillow. He’s still upset, feeling more than rejected, but the solution they’ve come up with gives him hope that he can move forward.

~ * ~

A week passes before Laura is able to take time off to go with Derek to the kiosk in the strip mall a few blocks from their apartment. Derek drags her down to the taco stand and gets the spiciest thing he can stomach. When Laura gives him a disgusted look, he shrugs and says, “Cravings.”

She smirks when a few minutes later, he starts complaining about heartburn.

Of course, since Laura is the account holder and has to be there, she forces Derek to pick the least advanced smart phone he can find.

“What am I going to do with this?” he asks her. “I don’t acrobat like Cora and I don’t work on my phone like you.”

“Acrobat?” Laura says. “Do you mean Tumblr?”

Derek remains silent while Laura doubles over laughing. When she doesn’t stop after ten minutes, he says, “I’m feeling a little queasy,” and leans over her. She quickly straightens and marches him to a unisex bathroom.

Then, she smacks his arm when she realizes he was pulling one over on her.

On the way home, they detour through a tiny park hardly large enough for the double swing set or the miniature twisty slide. They sit on the lone bench and Laura grabs his phone, entering Mieczysław’s number from memory.

When he answers, she hands the phone to Derek.

“Um, hi,” he says, softly.

“Hey,” the voice on the other end says. Derek frowns. It isn’t Mieczysław.

“I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong number,” Derek says. “I was trying to call Mieczysław Liszewski.”

“Oh, yeah,” the man says. “No, yeah, this is his phone. He’s just in the shower right now. Can I take a message?”

“Yes, please. Can you have him call me back at this number? I really need to discuss something with him.”

“Sure, sure. Ready whenever you are.”

Derek rattles off the new number Laura just got him.

“Got it. Any names to attach?”

“Derek.”

“Got it. Thanks, buddy. I’ll have St—uh, Meechie-slav give you a call later.”

The phones goes silent and Derek stares at it in confusion. At Laura’s questioning eyebrow, he shrugs. “He doesn’t know how to say my baby’s father’s name either.”

“Odd,” Laura agrees. “Well, ready to go home?”

Derek nods. So ready. All he wants to do is curl up in his bed and maybe eat another burrito.

Laura laughs when he tells her this, but when he’s under covers and ready to pretend to read over a manuscript because he still does need to work, she brings him one anyway.

“Thank you,” he says.

“What kind of alpha would I be if I didn’t provide for my pack members?” Laura smiles at him fondly before she reaches out and ruffles his hair. “Even if that Michael-slaw doesn’t come through for you, you’ve still got Cora and me. Remember that, okay?”

Derek bites into his burrito. “I will. I love you. Baby loves you too. Now leave me alone while I muddle through this French romance that is decidedly nonromantic.”

Laura laughs and kisses his forehead. She does a finger wave at him before closing his bedroom door.

Derek cradles his stomach, smiling down at it. “You’ll always have your aunts and me,” he tells his baby.

~ * ~

Mieczysław does indeed call Derek…one whole week later.

“Hey, so my buddy Scott said you needed to get a hold of me?”

“Yes, hi,” Derek says. He’s sitting at his desk, nervously tapping his fingers on the wood. The desk, his bed, and a box of clothing are the only things that are still in his room. He’s already packed, ready to go even though Cora won’t graduate for another month and a half. To be fair, they all are packed and Laura’s already shipped most of their belongings out there. She’s on a trip now making sure the house is set up and good to go, minus a few things that can’t be done until they’re in Beacon Hills.

“Um, I need to talk to you about—”

“Are you that asshole that kept calling me earlier?” Mieczysław breaks in, startling Derek badly.

“Uh,” he stutters.

“You are, aren’t you. Well, now I’ve got your number. I told you I would send the cops after you if you didn’t stop bothering me.”

“Please, don’t hang up on me,” Derek begs. “I need to tell you something!”

It’s too late. Mieczysław is gone, the line disconnected. Derek puts his head down and tries not to cry.

Cora finds him about an hour or so later.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Is baby okay? Are you okay?”

Derek tries to smile at her, but he’s just too tired. “I’m fine, baby’s fine. I called Mieczysław again today. He refused to listen to me again.”

Cora helps him to the bed and then sits and runs her fingers through his hair while he curls around his stomach. He can feel the baby kicking, as if reacting to the fact that her carrier is still upset. He rubs at a particularly hard kick.

“I have an idea,” she says and digs out her own phone. “Laura said you talked to one of Mickey’s friends. Did you get a name?”

“Scott. He called him Scott.”

“Got it.” Cora dials Mieczysław’s number with her phone. When he answers, she says, “Hello, yes, this is Cora. I’m trying to reach Scott?”

Through the phone’s speaker, voice tinny and more like the breathy moans Derek recalls, Mieczysław yells for his friend.

“Hi, yes, Scott, this is Cora, sister of Derek.”

Derek can hear Scott say hi before Cora passes the phone to him.

“So, Derek, what can I do for you?”

“I need to tell Mieczysław something important but he refuses to talk to me,” Derek says.

“Well, maybe you can tell me, and I can pass along the message?” Scott offers.

“It’s a bit disconcerting to hear. Can you ask him to sit down when you tell him?”

“Sure.” Scott sounds amused. “I can do that. What am I telling him?”

Derek draws in a deep breath and rubs his stomach for courage. “I’m pregnant and the baby is his.”

Scott remains silent.

Derek hurries to continue before Scott decides to hang up on him too, “Last Halloween, at Los Lobos, it’s a bar that caters to the supernaturally inclined, I met Mieczysław. We—” made love “—had sex and that is how I came to be with child.”

“But how are you ‘with child’?”

Derek sighs softly. “I am a born werewolf.”

“Oh no way, dude! I’m a bitten wolf!” Scott interrupts, and then immediately says, “Sorry, continue.”

“Sometimes, biology gets mixed up—” this is the explanation Derek’s mother gave him when he wanted to know why he had both Mommy and Daddy parts under his unisex tunic “—and then a wolf has two sets of working sex organs.”

“Meaning you can get pregnant,” Scott breathes.

“If the semen goes in the right hole.” Derek refuses to look at Cora—his whole face feels hot and Baby kicks him hard in response to the tightening in his stomach.

“Oh, Jesus,” Scott sounds strangled, “I’m going to have to tell my best friend that he knocked some dude up. No offense, Derek.”

“Some taken,” Derek replies. “I’m not ‘some dude.’ Mieczysław actively participated. I thought we’d used condoms, but I guess not.”

Scott snorts. “Not if you’re pregnant. Gotta wonder, though, were either of you inebriated?”

“I don’t think so,” Derek says. “I don’t like imbibing, and I didn’t smell anything on Mieczysław. We danced for a bit before we—”

“No offense, Derek, but I really don’t want to hear about my best friend having sex. He’s like my brother! I’m sure you don’t want to hear about Cora’s sexual exploits.”

Derek thinks of Allison and wonders how that works, two women having sex. He knows good sex isn’t limited to putting things in holes.

Cora smacks his chest, and Derek hunches over the flare of pain in his tender breast. Cora looks apologetic and takes the phone back.

“Sorry about that, Scott, but Derek’s incapacitated right now. Oh, just you know, baby things. So anyway, how can we get Meek-ser to listen to my brother?”

“Mieczysław,” Derek says, a little bitterly. Cora waves him quiet, humming at whatever Scott is saying.

“Okay, will do. Thanks a bunch, Scott.” She hangs up her phone and sets it on Derek’s desk.

“Well?” Derek demands when she just sits there. “What did Scott say?”

“He suggested writing a letter. Apparently his friend really likes getting mail. Thinks it’s a dying art or something. He’s going to text me the address in a bit. He also said that Michael-so is moving soon, so he’ll get the updated address after that happens.”

“A letter?” Derek stares down at his hand. Letters are more personal than phone calls with less return. But, since Mieczysław hasn’t decided to allow Derek to speak with him, it’s going to have to be letters. Maybe Derek can include some sonograms and pictures. Ask for some in return.

Yeah, writing letters will be fun.

“Oh, Allison is moving too. She’s going back to her father’s local sport and gun shop out in, guess where, Beacon Hills! We’re going to get to keep having our relationship too!”

Derek hugs her, happy for her.

“Why are you crying in my hair?” Cora asks.

“Hormones,” Derek replies, sniffling loudly. “Now I want ice cream. We should call Laura and update her on things.”

“You do it; I’m off on a mission as your temporary alpha.”

Cora scoots off the bed and grabs her phone on her way out.

“Strawberry swirl, please?” Derek calls after her, already dialing Laura. He wipes away the drying tears and sighs. Things are going well, he thinks.

~ * ~

The first letter is written and hidden under his bed by the time Laura comes back from California. The next step is helping Cora study for her finals while she and Allison work through rooming issues at their chosen university.

Cora tells Laura all about the letters Derek is going to send because My-coleslaw is being a stubborn butthead. Derek would be mad, but Laura buys him a book of stamps and fancy stationary to write on. Cora uses some of her graduation money to buy him a quill set.

“What’s wrong with ballpoint pens?” Derek wonders, practicing his cursive with large, swooping lines. He signs his name a dozen times and then starts outlining a novel idea he’s had for a few years now. When he goes on leave to care for the baby, he plans on writing as much as he can. Since the baby will be born in early August, Cora and Allison should be around to help babysit for a short while.

“Nothing’s wrong with them,” Laura says through a mouthful of Mu Shu Pork. She swallows before adding, “They’re just very, y’know, lowbrow.”

“As opposed to what?” Derek raises an eyebrow. “How is this not hipstish?”

“What?” Laura asks while Cora falls over laughing.

“He means hipster-ish,” Cora clarifies when she can breathe again. Allison, curled in the armchair—the only piece of furniture aside from the couch left in their apartment—waves a hand at Derek.

“I think I agree with Derek on this one,” she says. “Really, Cora, a quill? What, is he trying out for Hogwarts?”

“I never got my letter,” Derek mutters, jokingly. He grabs a container of fried rice and stabs at both Laura and Cora when they try to wrestle it from him. Graciously, he scoops some into Allison’s bowl when she puppy-eyes him.

“The ink doesn’t dry fast enough for my liking,” he admits. “Maybe I can draft the letters and then re-write them?”

“Whatever works,” Cora says. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to kicking your butts at Rummy.”

~ * ~

Of course, Derek would still be pregnant during the heat wave that strikes during May. Somehow, miraculously, he’d forgotten. Cora’s outdoor graduation has a heat index of 105ºF and Derek swelters in the thinnest tank top and button-up shirt he could find that still fits over his almost-eight-month swell.

Cora is wearing shorts and a crop top under her gown and she still looks like she wants to kill the sun. Laura has a ridiculous sunhat that Derek is honestly thinking about stealing because it feels like his head is about to combust off his body.

“Water?” he asks Laura and she digs into the cooler by her feet to hand him a reusable bottle. He uncaps it and liberally pours it into his mouth and over his head. Laura smirks at him and raises the camera.

Immediately after the ceremony, Cora drapes an arm over Derek’s shoulder and gulps down water, some of which drips onto his still-wet hair. He sighs in pleasure at the relief it brings.

“I left my forwarding address with the school,” Cora says when she finally stops chugging. “All we gotta do is pack the last of it and go.”

“One more night in our apartment,” Laura says, almost wistfully. “At least Derek can still work on the road with his intellectually stimulating magical theory book.”

“The next Harry Potter,” Cora adds. “Why can’t I read it too? Please? I’ll be so fucking bored on the trip.”

“You’ll be sleeping so you can take over driving when Laura needs to sleep,” Derek says. “Considering that I have to be awake at least most of the time—” Baby likes tap dancing on Derek’s bladder and kicking his kidneys which makes it difficult to sleep “—I think you’d be glad you get to drive.”

“Whatever,” Cora scoffs. “You’re still naming her after me, right?”

Derek rolls his eyes. “I’m not naming her—it—after anyone.”

Before they leave, they stop to say goodbye to Allison—at least for a couple of weeks. She will fly out later to meet with them before school starts up again in the fall.

Her father eyes them coolly before stiffly shaking hands with all of them and congratulating Cora.

“Come now,” he says gruffly to Allison. “Your mom will want to go out to celebrate.” Allison makes a face.

“I’d rather celebrate with my girlfriend,” she tells him honestly. “Why can’t I go with the Hales now?”

Chris frowns. “You know why.” He leans in to kiss her forehead, and Derek notes the sour-sad tinge to his usual woody scent. Lowly, he murmurs, “If it were up to me, you’d go with them in a heartbeat.”

Chris is a reformed hunter. His wife Victoria is not.

Allison is in the middle—or rather, she was before she had a decided side-change when Cora kissed her at Prom last year.

Derek still feels nervous around Chris, but Laura trusts him, so he pretends he does too.

“It’s too hot to keep Derek out in the sun any longer,” Chris says. “Let’s go, Allison. You can see Cora again tomorrow before they leave.”

“I wanted to have sex again,” Allison says as she and her father walk away.

Cora turns bright red in embarrassment. “You weren’t supposed to hear that,” she says to Laura.

“Hey, you’re almost eighteen.” Cora won’t be eighteen until September. “Anyway, I already knew you were sexing it up. Just because you can’t end up pregnant like Derek, it doesn’t mean I can’t still smell when you’re aroused or wearing your girlfriend’s clothing after spending the night with her.”

“Please stop talking,” Cora begs. “I will pay you to stop talking.”

“Will you buy tacos?” Derek asks. “I think I want tacos.”

Cora stares at him, incredulous. “You always want tacos. I think that’s your pregnancy craving.”

“Could be worse,” Derek says. “Could be fried pickles and cheese. And not the good kind, that plastic stuff inside the wrappers. Or in the can.”

Cora turns to Laura. “I feel like tacos, tacos are good. Let’s go get tacos.”

Laura laughs and makes Cora carry the cooler.

~ * ~

Allison and Cora kiss for a long time while Derek scribbles notes onto the back of the manuscript he’s working on. Laura waits patiently—for an alpha, and for Laura—before she presses the horn.

The girls jump apart and Cora hurries to the truck, throwing her bag into the back with Derek and buckling into the passenger seat.

“Gimme,” she says, snatching the pages from him.

“Hey!” he grabs them back and slides behind Laura’s seat so that she can’t take them again.

“Leave him alone,” Laura orders. “I brought you a bunch of trashy romance novels. Maybe you and Derek can discuss their finer points while I drive us to our destination.”

“Maybe,” Cora says doubtfully, holding one up so Derek can see the cover, a shirtless, muscular man embracing a fainting woman.

“No thank you,” Derek says, scratching a line through a block of text that vaguely resembles the cover. He rewrites it to better reflect a more equal scene, and then, because his hand is cramping and they’re finally out of the city, he lets Cora read over it.

“Not bad,” she says when she hands it back. “But, why does your character have an unpronounceable name? That seems a little on target, don’t you think?”

“Fine, what would you suggest?”

“I don’t know, something normal, like George or Evan or something normal.”

“You are the last person to lecture me about normal,” he says, because he can, and predictably, Cora stretches out of her seat and thumps him soundly on the head.

“Screw you, Allison and I are normal. You’re the odd one out.”

Derek grins at her, but he falls quiet, wondering. He doesn’t tend to gravitate toward relationships but he really thinks he could have something with Mieczysław even if it is just for the sake of their child.

“Maybe you’re right,” he says quietly. “Maybe I am not normal.” He puts his hand on his stomach. “Maybe that’s why her father doesn’t want anything to do with her.”

“No, hey, you can’t think that way,” Laura says at the same time Cora squeals, “Her?!”

Laura immediately pulls over and unbuckles her seatbelt. Derek cringes. Of course they’d latch onto that little detail.

Laura kneels in her seat so that she can look at him. “I thought you were waiting to reveal the sex,” she says.

Derek shrugs. “It wasn’t like you wouldn’t be able to hear her heartbeat soon anyway.” He hasn’t let them put their heads on his stomach because he doesn’t like the extra heat, but Laura’s already been able to pick up the baby’s heartbeat, which is discernible a few feet from Derek.

He pulls out his travel box, with his laptop and a charging cable, pens and pencils, the quill and stationary, and tucked in the front pocket, the most recent ultrasound. He passes it to Laura first, because she’s alpha.

“Right there,” he taps the picture, “that means it’s a little girl.”

“Have you thought about names yet?” Cora asks when it’s her turn to hold the ultrasound.

Derek sighs. “I know I said I wasn’t naming her after anyone, but I thought the name Emily would fit.”

“After our aunt,” Laura says, wiping away a tear. Aunt Emily died the same night as their parents, the lone human adult and the only one unaffected by the wolfsbane used to incapacitate the rest of their family. She had managed to break the ash barrier laid by a rogue group of hunters but had been killed when the hunters had discovered her. All the children made it out but the adults hadn’t. It’s been ten years. It’s time to go home.

“Emily is perfect,” Cora says. She passes the ultrasound back to Derek and he puts it away. Laura buckles again and pulls back onto the highway. Cora glances back at Derek and smiles, watery. “Keep your unpronounceable name. It suits the character.”

~ * ~

Derek dozes most of the way to Beacon Hills, about a three-day journey for werewolves driving a truck, and when he isn’t sleeping or begging for a bathroom break or eating more spicy food, he writes. By the time they pull up to the seedy motel at which Laura booked a week’s stay, he has the first hundred pages of his story done. Plus, he finished the translations he was working on before he officially goes on leave and most of Laura’s stupid romance novels. If he reads about one more ‘heaving bosom’ he might just chuck the whole crate of them out of the truck.

“I have a meeting with the Beacon County Sheriff’s department tomorrow,” Laura tells them as they drag in pillows and blankets and some bare necessities. “There’s a supernatural clinic out toward the preserve that can help with your birth, especially since it’s your first one. Cora, I want you to stay with Derek at all times until we can establish that Beacon Hills isn’t the same way as we left it.”

“And how was that?” Cora whispers to Derek.

“Full of hunters protesting the fact that the Sheriff was arresting everyone who had something to do with the murders of our family,” he whispers back.

“It’s been ten years, but grudges don’t fade. I want both of you to be very careful. If you find yourself in a situation where you feel unsafe, call for me and I’ll be there. For now, though, we all need to rest. Good night.”

“Dibs on shower!” Cora calls, grabbing her pajamas and sliding into the bathroom uncontested. Derek crawls onto the bed furthest from the door. Normally, as Laura’s second, he would take the bed closest to danger, but Emily excuses him.

“Can I listen for a moment?” Laura asks, and Derek nods, making room for her. She lays her head on his raised abdomen, gripping his hand loosely while she sings her niece a lullaby. Derek recognizes it as one Mom used to sing to him when he had bad dreams.

“I miss them,” he says softly, running his hand over Laura’s head.

“I do too,” she says. After a quiet moment, she adds, “They would be so proud of you. I hope you know that.”

“I think they’d be proud of all of us,” Derek says. “Cora graduated a whole year early. You’ve been a good alpha to us for ten years, and I’m successful at my job.”

“And you’re making the first grandbaby.”

Derek laughs softly. “Would they have approved of how I got knocked up, though? Just a simple one night stand.”

“I wouldn’t call what you’ve gone through ‘simple,’” Laura says, sitting up. “Derek, I know Meechum hasn’t responded to any communication that you’ve sent, but just because he doesn’t want to be in his child’s life, it doesn’t mean she won’t be loved. And besides, aren’t you excited to meet Scott? He runs the supernatural-friendly clinic you’ll be visiting tomorrow.”

“That sounds more promising than anything,” Derek says. And Scott knows Mieczysław. He can finagle a meeting between them. It’ll be harder for Mieczysław to ignore Derek when they’re face to face.

Laura goes back to singing to Emily, even after Cora comes out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head while she brushes her teeth. Derek yawns, letting himself drift off, feeling peaceful in spite of how it hurts to be back in Beacon Hills after so long.

~ * ~

Cora wakes Derek up by throwing open the curtains and yelling, “Rise and shine, sleepyhead!”

“Just for that, you can buy breakfast,” he says. “I feel like hot sauce omelets.”

Cora grouses, muttering about always eating spicy things while Derek hauls himself upright and lumbers to the bathroom where he multitasks and brushes his teeth in the shower.

When he comes out, wearing only the strained button-up over his girth, Cora has a backpack packed full of essentials, like her tablet and Derek’s medical history.

“Let’s go get heartburn,” she says, like a battle cry and charges out into the sunshine. Derek moves slower, taking time to close the curtains again and make sure the things they brought in last night are out in the truck. Laura must have walked to the Sheriff’s Station since it’s still here and they didn’t have time last night to rent another vehicle.

“You’ll have to drive,” Derek says, once he’s locked the motel door and climbed into the passenger seat. Cora shrugs.

“Oh, also, Allison texted me last night. She and her dad are flying out tomorrow. Apparently her parents are getting a divorce. She’ll explain more when she gets here.”

“Is that a good thing?” Derek asks. He remembers the one time he met Victoria, shortly after they moved to New York and Cora and Allison were assigned to work together for a project. Derek, just turned sixteen, had been tasked with retrieving his sister after her homework date. Victoria had scared him, cornered him in the front hall of the Argents’ brownstone, and threatened him with a knife dipped in wolfsbane. Chris had caught her and gotten Cora and Derek out of the house safely.

Because of that, Laura trusts Chris more than she probably should. Derek just wonders why it took Chris nine years after that incident to decide to divorce his wife.

“I think so,” Cora says. “I hope so. Allison seems happy at least. She was so excited.”

Derek nods, but he doesn’t know what else to say. He hopes Laura won’t offer to share a house with the Argents. Reformed hunters are still hunters to Derek.

The tires hum pleasantly on the pavement all the way to clinic, but the closer they get, the more nervous Derek feels.

He clutches the straps of the backpack tightly, afraid that if he lets go, something bad will happen. “We’re meeting with Scott, right?” he asks as Cora pulls into a parking spot just left of the door.

“That’s what Laura said last night, isn’t it?”

Of course Cora could hear them over the running water of her shower. Derek doesn’t know why he’s surprised by that.

Cora helps him out of the truck and doesn’t let go of his arm all the way up to the door.

Inside, a man with a wide grin and long, dark hair pulled back into a bun on the top of his head greets them.

“Welcome,” he says warmly, and Derek sags in relief. This is Scott.

“Hello,” Cora says. “I’m Cora and this is Derek.”

Scott’s eyes widen and he sniffs pointedly. “Welcome,” he says again and it sounds impossibly warmer. “Shall we?” He leads them into the back and then detours into a replica of a doctor’s office. Derek needs both their help to get on the examination bed. He would be embarrassed but he’s nearly eight months pregnant. He’s allowed to waddle places and be unable to climb onto ridiculously tall beds without the help of a boost or two.

Scott goes through a thorough checklist before he even wheels in an ultrasound machine. This is the first time one of his sisters has been in the room with him, and Derek blinks back sudden tears. He grabs Cora’s hand and holds on tight while Scott spreads the gel and starts moving the wand over the swell of his belly.

“There’s the little one,” Scott says happily, as the magnified sound of the baby’s heartbeat fills the room. Cora looks a little misty herself.

“There she is,” Derek says softly, in awe.

“Yep, there she is. She’s looking healthy and active. Did you want a picture today?” Scott grabs a soft towel and wipes off Derek’s belly. Then he pushes a little button on the side of the machine and hands Derek the developing picture. “Emily,” Derek says, sighing a little. He thinks he could almost count her fingers and toes if she wasn’t so active. Even in the still frame, he can see a bit of blur around her limbs.

Cora leans over his shoulder, staring down in awe at the tiny person living inside Derek’s womb. “I want one,” she says, wistfully.

Derek laughs. “You’re seventeen,” he reminds her. “Even if you want one now, wait until she’s here to see if you really want one then.”

Cora socks him lightly on the arm. “Just for that, I’m going to spoil her rotten.”

“If we’re all done?” Scott interrupts. He looks amused. “Now, have you given thought to how you want to deliver your baby?”

Derek raises an eyebrow. He’s done nothing of the sort. He always thought he’d give birth through the usual means, vaginal, like his mom.

Scott nods. “So, we’ll try for a vaginal birth—which means I have to examine you sometime soon. Can you have your doctor fax over your records?” He holds out a business card.

“Sure.” Derek puts the card in his wallet, then he reaches for Cora and she helps him off the bed. Scott eyes him with concern.

“You appear to be about eight months along.”

“I am.”

“Do you know your due date?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

Cora rolls her eyes. “He’s due the first week of August. A full ten months since he last had sex.”

Derek growls at her. “Just remember, until your birthday, you can’t have sex with Allison. Especially since she’s already eighteen and you’re still seventeen.” Cora punches his arm hard.

“Hey now!” Scott scolds. “Derek, no picking at your sister, and Cora, no hitting your brother.” He flashes his eyes at them and they both bow submissively. Scott’s an alpha, apparently.

“Okay. Derek, I’ll see you in two weeks. Tell your sister I said hi.”

He hands Derek a lollipop shaped like a cat’s head and sends them on their way.

Safely tucked back in the truck, Cora steals Derek’s sucker—not that he was actually going to eat the defenseless animal—and heads back to the motel. They detour for their omelets, and despite the fact that he knows he’ll pay for it later, Derek empties an entire bottle of Tabasco sauce onto his plate.

Laura is back from the Sheriff’s Station and she appears pleased (and sated, but Derek choses to ignore the stench of fading arousal).

“Wonderful news, oh siblings of mine,” she chirps.

Cora crunches through the remainder of the sucker. “You got laid?” she guesses. Laura colors slightly.

“Well, yes, but also, I got the job! Apparently I impressed my new partner so much that he threatened to disown the Sheriff if he didn’t hire me.”

“That sounds unprofessional.” Derek frowns at her.

Laura waves a hand. “My new partner is the son of the Sheriff. Don’t worry,” she says to Derek’s deepening frown, “it wasn’t nepotism.”

“Still,” Derek says. “You impressed him so much that he wants to disown his own father? And who exactly did you sleep with? Not your new partner?”

Laura punches his arm, and Derek scowls. He’s had it with being hit. He has a bruise that isn’t healing because all Cora and Laura do is smack him.

“No, you asshole. It was the baker on the corner.”

“What corner? The one with the prostitutes? Or the one with the cops?” Cora ducks behind Derek when Laura jumps at her.

“Hey!” Derek shouts when Laura’s claws swipe a little too close for comfort. “Knock it off!” Then, when they don’t settle down, he grabs his manuscripts, a notebook, three pens, a random muffin box, and the keys for the truck. He settles in the back seat with the windows cracked enough for a breeze, the muffin box open next to him, and starts scribbling more of his novel.

He ignores when first Cora and then Laura come to apologize or entice him from the vehicle. Finally, hours later, when he’s eaten all the muffins and completed at least three chapters, he unlocks the doors and heads into the motel. Cora is asleep, and Laura is on the phone.

Derek waits patiently while she finishes. It sounds like she’s got their home ready to move into tomorrow. So they won’t have to stay here too much longer. Good.

As soon as she hangs up, Derek tosses her the keys. “I want burritos,” he says. “And ice cream.”

“Sure,” she says. “There’s a restaurant Mom and Dad used to take us to. Wanna go there?”

It shouldn’t hurt, this reminder of their parents, but Derek feels the twinge in his heart. Cora, perhaps smelling the sudden sadness rolling off him, sits up and flashes a worried glance at them.

“What’s happening?”

“We’re trying to pick a place to eat. Derek is in the mood for burritos.”

“Again? Can’t Emily give it a rest yet?”

Derek cups his hands over his belly, hurt again. Cora smells guilty but doesn’t apologize nor does Derek expect her to.

Inexplicably, he wants to cry, wants to go to his childhood home and have his mother hug him and kiss it better. His sisters are great and he’s thankful that he still has them, but sometimes he wishes he could spend an hour with his parents again.

Instead, he’s stuck here in this moment where he doesn’t feel right or ready or anything resembling the loving brother he knows he should be.

“The house is ready, right? There is no reason we have to stay here.”

“Yeah,” Laura says. “But, what’s one more night here?”

“This place stinks of other people and I don’t care if the house smells like other people too; it can’t be this bad.”

“Fine. You want to move into the house? Go ahead, take the truck.”

Cora climbs off the bed. “I want to go too. I know, you think it makes us stronger when we spend time submersed in other people’s lives, but I think we all need our own place.” She wraps an arm around Derek’s waist, her hand stroking the underside of his belly. He grips her hand because it tickles too much and makes him want to pee. He realizes though that this is her apology, so he settles her hand on the top of the swell, and Emily obliges by kicking her palm.

“Burritos sound awesome, actually,” she says.

Derek shakes his head. “I don’t really want to deal with the heartburn. What do you want?” Cora is too young to remember the restaurant their parents always took them to, so she won’t have the memories that are ingrained in the wood of the booths, in the cheap art printed over the walls, the ambient lighting hiding the dried spills and scuffed carpet.

He sneezes recalling the scent of the peppers used to cover the stench of too many unwashed bodies and the reek of the restrooms.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to go back there again,” he suggests to Laura. She nods.

“How do you feel about Italian?” Cora asks.

Emily beats a tattoo against Cora’s hand while Derek thinks about it. Fettuccine with a side of broccoli and chicken.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

~ * ~

The house stands at the end of a dirt lane all by itself. The nearest neighbor is a young couple who waved from their front porch, the woman’s belly big enough to rival Derek’s. Cora whistles sharply. Derek forgets that Cora was young and probably didn’t remember as much of their old house. To him, this is decent, not too large, not too small. Laura even had someone install a set of swings and slide on the side of the house. There’s a garden too. Derek hurries as fast as he can to where he can see Canterbury Bells and lavender stalks. Nestled amongst the greenery and bright spots of color is a metal bench. He sinks onto it gratefully, rubbing at Emily.

Cora joins him, her hand over top of his.

“It’s nice here,” she says.

Derek nods in agreement. “Dad used to have a garden like this,” he tells her, pointing out the different flowers. “We’ll plant hyacinths to edge the yard.” He nods at the playsets. “They mostly symbolize playfulness.”

“Like wolves,” Cora says. “Is Emily a wolf?”

Derek shrugs. “We won’t know until she comes out. Right now, her scent is overpowered by mine.”

Cora shifts her hand and leans down, ear against Derek’s stomach. “I can hear her moving,” she says.

Derek opens his mouth to respond to her and clamps it shut when a wave of something breaks over him. He clutches at his stomach and groans lightly. It’s more of a twinge than outright pain, but the promise is there. Cora rubs her hand over him, and it helps.

“You’re in pain,” she accuses, and he stares at the black veins standing out on her hand.

“I am,” he says. “Why?”

“Well, is it time?”

Derek shrugs. This is his first child. How is he supposed to know if he’s never done this before? “Maybe? Do you think we should go back to Scott?”

When he curls on himself and breathes through the pain despite Cora taking some of it, she nods. “I’m calling Laura too.”

Derek doesn’t argue.

~ * ~

Laura practically flies into Scott’s examination room, and in his slightly hysterical state, Derek starts laughing at her.

He’s on an IV for fluids because Scott is worried about his saturation, and Cora has a hand on his wrist, pulling pain nearly constantly even though he told her she doesn’t need to do that.

Otherwise, his labor is progressing normally, according to Scott, who also thinks that the shorter gestational period of wolves is a factor in his early birth.

It isn’t until they pass the eighteen hour mark that Derek starts complaining. His back hurts, he has to pee again, Scott keeps telling him to push and breathe, and Cora isn’t fast enough with the ice chips, and Laura won’t stop pacing. Laura and Cora take his vitriol well, Laura offering to find Meechum’s number so she can threaten to castrate him.

Derek shakes his head and pushes one last time. If he can’t get Emily out, then Scott will have to perform a C-section. No one wants that since anesthesia won’t work.

“Keep going,” Scott encourages him once, and then he says, “Here she comes.” Scott lets Laura cut the cord while Cora holds Emily.

The baby is beautiful with Derek’s large eyes and his pouting mouth. The nose, though, is all Mieczysław.

Her lungs are all Cora and Laura though when she decides she’s had enough being passed around and cooed at. Derek tucks her in close, letting her find his nipple and suck. Scott gives him a receiving blanket and a little cap and pacifier and then excuses himself while they bond with their newest pack member.

Looking at his daughter, Derek knows they’ll be all right. She’s a wolf like him. Her only feature from her other father is her nose. Derek had plenty of cousins with that nose. He can play it off as a family trait.

Emily nurses a lot, and Derek works on his novel, using voice recognition as he holds his daughter.

They move into the house before she’s a day old, and during the ensuing months of settling in, Derek edits his novel into something a little more coherent and without the exclamations of pain as his daughter uses her surprisingly hard gums to bite him.

Life goes on.

~ * ~

Laura invites Derek and Cora to the annual Sheriff’s Department 4th of July barbecue cookout at her boss’s house.

Allison tags along. She and Cora are rooming together college, but now that they’re on break, Allison has moved in with them. Derek likes her more than he ever thought he’d like an Argent. She’s quiet, and she likes watching Emily when he needs a break.

Plus, she’s great at making pancakes. None of the Hales have the patience not to undercook their pancakes.

Derek’s novel is with an editor, Emily is starting to walk, and Allison showed Derek the ring she picked out a week into dating his sister.

“We’re bringing the cake,” Allison tells him when he manages to make it downstairs the morning of the barbecue. Emily is already in her high chair being fed mashed bananas by Cora. Allison and Laura are frosting the big sheet cake they made last night.

Derek nods at them. “Anything else we should know?” he asks his sister. “Like, does your boss know that we’re werewolves?”

Beacon Hills doesn’t have as large of a supernatural population as New York did mostly because it’s smaller than New York. They have a higher percentage though.

Laura nods. “He made me show him my shift when I first started.”

“That’s why you work in cold cases,” Cora says. “Because of your heightened sense of smell.”

“Exactly. And it helps that my partner isn’t too shabby in the intelligence department.”

“Yes, the fabled Stiles.” Cora pretends to swoon. Emily growls at her until she feeds her another bite. “Do we get to meet your partner finally?”

“Words, Emily,” Derek reminds his daughter, taking over feeding her. She chirps happily at him and then bites the spoon when he gives her the next mouthful.

“You can meet Stiles,” Laura says. “I never stopped you before. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t met him before now.”

“Done!” Allison throws her icing bag into the sink and starts washing her hands. “I’m going to take a shower and get dressed. I might need some help.” She winks exaggeratedly at Cora, who shoves her chair back and leaps to her feet.

“Bye!”

Derek shakes his head while Laura wrinkles her nose.

“Young love,” she says wistfully.

Derek waits until the water starts before he asks, “Do you have anyone you’re interested in?” The baker from their first week in town is a long-gone memory.

Laura shrugs. “Maybe, but I know he doesn’t see me the same way.”

“It’s not Stiles, is it?”

Laura shrugs again, which is telling. Derek sighs and sets aside the bowl of banana. He lifts Emily up and rests her against his hip.

“How do you know that he isn’t interested in you?”

“Maybe because he never calls me anything but my last name. Maybe because I invite him out for drinks and he always begs off. Maybe because I never actually see him outside of work. I don’t know, Derek. Maybe he just isn’t interested.”

Derek bites back any response to that he has. It’s obvious Laura doesn’t want his opinion or advice. She’s dealing and that’s all she needs to do. He lets it go.

“I’m going to clean Emily up a bit before we head out. Do you need help with anything?”

“No, I’ve got it under control.”

Derek leaves her smoothing the edges of the cake.

~ * ~

Cora and Allison carry the cake to the picnic table serving as a buffet line while Laura heads off to bump shoulders with her coworkers and Derek works at undoing Emily’s straps. She sits patiently for him, patting at his cheek when he swoops in to press a kiss to the crown of her head.

He settles her onto his hip and hefts her diaper bag, squaring his shoulders as he turns to face down the lawn full of deputies.

He makes it all the way through the gate without being accosted.

Derek finds a seat and drops the bag down to claim it. Emily wriggles until he sets her down and she toddles a step before dropping to her knees and scrambling away. He keeps an eye, ear, and nose out for her as he makes his way to where Laura is talking to her boss, the Sheriff.

“Derek,” the Sheriff says, clapping him on the shoulder, “how are you, son?”

“I’m fine,” Derek says. “It’s nice to see you again.”

The Sheriff laughs. “When I’m not giving you a ticket for speeding, you mean,” he corrects. “Where’s that rambunctious gal of yours?”

“Over by the sandbox,” Derek says, pointing out Emily, already surrounded by the other kids of the deputies.

“Adorable,” the Sheriff says before he goes back to his conversation with Laura.

Derek wanders aimlessly, dodging friendly greetings and touches with practiced ease. About an hour in, Emily needs a new diaper, and Derek seeks the Sheriff’s permission to go inside.

As he heads up the porch steps, he freezes.

There, standing in the doorway, carrying a tub of potato salad as large as his head is Mieczysław. Derek can feel his mouth opening, and he shuts it hard enough to click his teeth. at his hip, Emily hiccoughs, and the man Derek has spent the better part of a year wondering about even as he told himself he didn’t owe him anything looks at them, eyes widening in what Derek can see is attraction until he takes in Emily’s diaper bag and his eyes dull considerably.

Derek doesn’t need this. He doesn’t deserve this. Emily doesn’t deserve this. He moves forward, brushing past and murmuring, “Excuse me,” as he goes. He does not cry. He doesn’t. He finds the bathroom and uses the wide counter to lay out the change pad. Emily reaches up as if to brush the liquid from his face, but he is not crying. He isn’t.

Once done, he warps the diaper into a plastic bag and throws it away. He washes his hands, washes Emily’s hands, and buttons up her little romper, already dirty with grass and dirt stains.

He neatly packs his supplies away, splashes water on his face, and picks up his daughter and the bag, heading back outside. He makes it all the way to the car before Laura catches him.

She draws him into a long hug. Behind her, Mieczysław stands, watching with interest.

“What’s wrong?” Laura asks. She doesn’t inquire about Emily, because it’s obvious it is Derek who’s upset. Emily is just fine, fingers in her mouth as she babbles.

“I can’t,” Derek says around the lump in his throat. He risks a glance at Mieczysław, and Laura follows it. She looks back at Emily, at her nose, and then back to Mieczysław. Her eyes narrow. She’s putting the pieces together, he knows. It’s a relief when she whirls away from him and marches up to Mieczysław instead.

“What the hell, Stiles!” she growls.

Stiles is Mieczysław? Stiles is Laura’s partner. Mieczysław is Laura’s partner. Derek didn’t move away from him; he moved right to him. The fact that it’s been nearly a year means nothing.

Mieczysław does a full-body twitch. “What?” he demands, nasally. Derek doesn’t remember his voice sounding like that.

Laura looks like she’s about to shift. Derek rumbles in his throat, pulling her attention back to him.

“Emily,” is all he says. She subsides, and lets him position himself between her and Mieczysław.

Derek clears his throat. He sticks out his hand, and Mieczysław stares at it wide-eyed. “Hi,” Derek says. “I’m Laura’s brother, Derek.”

“Yeah,” Mieczysław says. “She talks about you often.” He stares past Derek’s head at where Laura is leaning into the car to speak to her niece, distracting herself because Emily sure as hell doesn’t care about shoes right now.

“Can we talk?” Derek asks. He winces at the bluntness. All those letters he sent even after he promised himself he wouldn’t. Scott had been a great help, agreeing to make sure Mieczysław actually received the letters. The only thing Derek had included were updates on their daughter. Looking at Mieczysław now, he shouldn’t have bothered. Anyone who fathers a child and then turns their nose up at the child shouldn’t have the privilege of knowing the child.

Mieczysław pauses before nodding. “Inside?” He jerks his head at the house. Derek shakes his head. Right here is fine. That way Mieczysław can go back to the barbecue and Derek can go home when they’re done.

“You were in New York,” he starts. Mieczysław snorts.

“Not for a while.”

“No, I know. But, do you remember Los Lobos?”

“The bar that caters to the supernaturally inclined? Yeah. I only went there a couple of times. Why?” Mieczysław’s eyes narrow in suspicion, and he looks at Laura and Emily again. “You trying to tell me something, Derek, brother of Laura?”

His voice is cold, so different from when he was whispering endearments and forevers in Derek’s ear. More like how he was on the phone.

Derek says, “I just wanted to let you know about your daughter. I’m not asking you to be in her life or to give us anything. I just wanted you to know about her.”

“I had sex with you?” The disbelief hurts.

“Yes,” Derek says, defensive. “You did. And I got pregnant.”

“What, are you an omega?”

“No,” Derek snorts, unamused. “I’m a born werewolf. Sometimes we come out with both sets of equipment. It’s rare, but not unheard of.”

“And you can get pregnant?” Mieczysław looks ill. Derek is glad he wasn’t there for the birth, the long labor, or for Scott pushing on Derek’s stomach to help expel the afterbirth.

“If you manage to get semen in the right passageway.” Derek shrugs. This is 9th grade sex ed.

“And that’s my daughter?” Mieczysław cranes his neck to look at Emily again. Instinctively, Derek steps between them again.

“I wrote you dozen of letters,” he says softly. Mieczysław turns back to him. “I mailed them to the address we got from Scott. He felt bad about you yelling at me.”

“I never yelled at you,” Mieczysław snaps. “I kept getting calls from a blocked number. I yelled at that asshole.”

Derek nods, waits. Mieczysław’s eyes go wide. “You?” he says. Derek nods again.

“Cora called the number from her phone and Scott answered. We were able to explain to him why we wanted to reach you. We all agreed that you did not remember me, and Scott gave me your address so I could write to you instead of calling you again.”

“I never got those letters,” Mieczysław says.

“Bullshit, Stiles,” someone says. All eyes go to where Scott stands behind Mieczysław. “I watched you shred each and every letter as you got them. I was able to salvage some of the pieces, but,” he shrugs, “a majority of whatever Derek sent you is gone.”

Mieczysław wavers on his feet. “I got you pregnant, you had my daughter, and somehow you managed to never tell me?”

It’s too late to be acting like a victim, Derek thinks bitterly, for BOTH of them. The only victim now is Emily, and the immediate curtailing of attraction is telling. Derek refuses to let Mieczysław hurt her.

He bristles. “I reached out dozens of times only for you to shut me down at every turn. I am fine with being a single parent—that’s not why I wanted to tell you.” Derek softens his gaze. It may have been one night almost two years ago, but there is a part of him that still wants to love Mieczysław in spite of his actions. “I wanted you to know so that you could choose whether you wanted to be part of her life or not.”

“Obviously,” Scott says, not kindly, “you did not. I even told you why this ‘stranger’ was reaching out to you and you still chose to ignore him.”

“Well, can you blame me?” Mieczysław says. “I mean, look at him. If I’d told you I’d bagged something that hot, would you have believed me?”

“Excuse me?” Derek says faintly. “‘Bagged’?” Laura growls behind him, but he’s feeling too stunned to do anything about it. He’d thought it was love, pheromones at the least. Instead, Mieczysław only slept with him because he was hot?

“And you’re here to, what, entrap me with a child?” Mieczysław shakes his head. “Why are all the hot ones crazy?” he asks Scott.

Scott winds up and punches him in the mouth.

If he hadn’t, Laura would have, Derek realizes belatedly, his wolfed-out sister standing over Mieczysław’s prone body.

“I’m going to find Cora and Allison and then we’re leaving,” Laura says. “Get in the car and keep Emily calm.”

Derek climbs into the back with his daughter. He feels dazed and stunned, like Scott punched him instead of Mieczysław. Emily picks up on his distress and starts babbling, edging into crying. Alpha order, he recalls numbly. Keep the baby calm.

He finds her rattle-keys and shakes them for her. When that fails, he starts singing softly. That only makes her cry harder.

He begins crying himself, overwhelmed and rejected again.

Allison climbs behind the wheel while Cora takes the front passenger seat and Laura squishes in next to Derek.

“Are we staying in Beacon Hills?” Cora asks softly when they’re almost home.

“That depends on if the Sheriff is going to keep me on considering I was about to murder his son.”

No one says anything else, and immediately after they disembark, Derek takes Emily and hides in their rooms.

He can hear Laura pacing downstairs while Cora makes an excuse and she and Allison head out.

A few hours later, Laura leaves too.

Emily is asleep, and Derek is playing Minesweeper on his phone when he hears a strange vehicle pull into the lane.

A low-level hum of danger, danger starts in his chest, and he fumbles a text to Laura. Then, he goes downstairs and stands on the front steps staring down the blue Jeep sitting in the driveway.

Mieczysław opens the driver’s door and steps down. Scott climbs out from the passenger side.

“Go on,” Scott says, sharply. “Say it.”

Mieczysław scuffs his shoe before mumbling, “I’m sorry.”

“Again,” Scott says. “Louder. Clearer.”

“I’m sorry,” Mieczysław repeats. “For those things I said to you. For looking at your daughter like she was a mistake. For disrespecting you and your family.”

He rubs at the bruise on his mouth, wincing as he cracks open a clot. “I’m sorry that I was such a shitty person to you.”

Derek looks at Scott, who shrugs, and then back at Mieczysław. “I don’t accept your apology,” he says. “I made my peace long ago. My daughter is too young to accept your apology. I don’t know about my sisters.” He closes his eyes to fight back the tears he knows are coming.

“I only wanted to do the right thing,” he says softly. “I accepted that you were not receptive of me. And then I ran into you again and you looked at me like nothing had changed, like you still wanted me.”

“I do,” Mieczysław says.

Derek shakes his head. “You might have until you noticed Emily.”

“Emily? Our—your daughter?”

“She doesn’t deserve to be subjected to disinterest from her father.”

Mieczysław raises a finger before ducking back into the Jeep. He reemerges with a large scrapbook in his arms. “Scott made this from the things he salvaged from your letters,” he explains. “I just spent the last three hours reading everything. And there’s so much missing.”

“Because you shredded the pictures,” Scott reminds him.

“Dude, not cool. You promised you were going to protect me if an angry werewolf decided to attack me.”

Scott snorts. “You forget which angry werewolf punched you,” he says.

Laura howls from the bottom of the lane, and Scott ushers Mieczysław into the Jeep.

“What is he doing here?” Laura demands when she skids to a stop next to Scott.

“He’s trying to apologize,” Derek says. “It’s not working.”

“Legally, I have rights,” Mieczysław says from behind the closed door.

“Shut up,” Scott says over Laura’s growl. “You are not helping yourself right now.”

“Stiles, I liked you,” Laura says. “I enjoyed working with you. I should have known that it was you who knocked up my brother, but I didn’t. I would have been willing to forgive your oversight except I saw what you did to him. I saw how you rejected him again and again without giving him any chance to defend himself.”

“I’m giving him that chance now,” Mieczysław says.

Derek shakes his head. “I already explained. I wanted to give you the opportunity to be in Emily’s life if you accepted her. You don’t. You haven’t. I sent you updates, and you destroyed them. You have given me no choice here, Mieczysław.”

“What?” Mieczysław says. “You can actually pronounce my name?”

“Get off my property or I’ll be forced to call the Sheriff about a trespasser,” Laura says.

“What if I can prove that I want to be in Emily’s life, that I want to be a father to her?”

“You have three seconds,” Laura says.

“Wait,” Derek grabs her shoulder, “let him try.”

He steps back, pulling Laura with him. Scott opens the door, and Mieczysław climbs out, the scrapbook held in front of him like a shield. He flips to the front of it and starts reading it aloud. When he’s done with the scraps, he closes the book.

“There’s Emily in these pages, and my own stupidity is keeping me away from her,” he says. “I want to start small, meet her, learn her. These letters, if I’d read them the first time, would have more than convinced me to be there for her. Thank you, Derek, for writing them.” He pulls out an intact photograph. Derek remembers taking that a month ago, sending it in the last letter he’d mailed. Why it isn’t damaged, he doesn’t know.

Mieczysław smiles down at the picture. In it, Emily was standing on the table while Derek tried to dress her in coveralls and a hat for an outing to the park. She’d had none of it until he pulled out his camera and started taking pictures of her. She’d started posing like a model for him, even letting him put on her shoes without fuss.

“I stopped letting him have the letters,” Scott explains. “I didn’t realize this was the last one.”

“He wouldn’t give it to me at first,” Mieczysław says. “I’m glad he kept it though. It showed me just how much I was missing and how much more I would miss. Derek, I know you are within your right to not accept my apology, but please, don’t deny me time with our daughter because of it.”

Derek doesn’t know what to answer. And Laura can’t answer for him. All he can think to say is, “Give me time.”

He goes back inside, goes to his daughter and crawls onto the bed with her. She is still sleeping, and he just lies there, watching her breathe.

He could give Mieczysław another chance, could maybe have the love he’s been dreaming of for the past two years. Or, he could excise the wound, let his daughter spend time with her father but keep their contact minimal. But, even that might not be enough to guard him from falling in love with Mieczysław again.

Risk his heart or his daughter’s well-being?

It’s a no brainer.

Derek just wishes it would stop hurting already.

~ The End ~

#Teen Wolf Fanfiction #Derek Hale #Stiles Stilinski #Laura Hale #Cora Hale #Not Happy Ending #My Story/My Writing

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