Teen Wolf BigBang Fic - My Isabella (Teen) - 4/9
Previous Parts:
Masterpost | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
“Get your coat,” Lydia said, when Stiles opened the door.
“What?” Stiles hid his yawn behind his hand and looked at Lydia with confusion.
“Get. Your. Coat.”
Stiles shook his head and turned around, heading for the kitchen and the coffee. He figured if Lydia really wanted something she would follow him - he was right.
“Stiles, this does not look like you putting your coat on.”
“Lydia, I love you, but I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”
“A coat is a piece of clothing normally worn in colder weather when the protection of clothing is needed to maintain peak body temperature. You have a number of them; there is a black one next to the door with a stuffed teddy bear the size of my fist in the left pocket. You need to put it on.”
“Why?”
Lydia looked at him like he was stupid.
“Lydia,” Stiles said, with sudden worry. “Did we have plans?”
“No,” Lydia said slowly. “But if you would only put your coat on we could have plans.”
“I’m wearing pyjamas,” Stiles looked down at the red tartan pyjama pants. He had been wearing a shirt earlier but Isabella had been sick on the shoulder and he had never bothered to find another one.
“I know,” Lydia said, with a wink. “And may I just say fatherhood has had some positive effects on your physique.”
Stiles looked down at his chest - it was just as long and slim as it had always been. He was never going to fill out like Derek but he wasn’t too shabby, so long as he wasn’t shirtless next to any werewolves he was quite happy with his body.
“I wouldn’t kick you out of bed,” Lydia continued, winking at him.
“You kicked me out of bed four years ago.”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you are still bitter about that.”
Stiles sighed and sunk into a chair with his hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. “Don’t flirt with me this early in the morning. Izzy is sick; she couldn’t sleep so I haven’t slept. She is with Dad at the moment because if she lies down she vomits and he was giving me a break. I need to take over in about fifteen minutes so Dad can get some sleep before work.”
“He called me,” Lydia said. “Apparently you haven’t slept in three nights.”
“She just wasn’t sleeping well before and then last night she started vomiting. I had to stay up with her.”
“Of course you did,” Lydia said. “But, he called me. He said to come and collect you so that you could get some sleep.”
“He’s going to work.”
“He’s called in.” Stiles twisted around to look at his dad, Isabella wrapped in a soft green blanket and cradled to Sam’s chest. “You haven’t slept in three days and I know for a fact that you kept getting out of bed when I took her off you so that you could sleep.”
“I…” Stiles drifted off when his father stared at him with silent judgement. “I kept thinking I was hearing her.”
“I had her.”
“I know,” Stiles said. “But, she’s my responsibility not yours and you shouldn’t be missing out on sleep because of her.”
Sam’s entire face fell into something that was a twisted mass of pride and exasperation. “She is my granddaughter.”
“I know,” Stiles sighed and looked down at his hands. “I just know I’ve been taking advantage of you. Ever since she was born I have been taking advantage of everyone.”
Sam shook his head and walked over to Stiles to slap his son on the back of the head. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Dad!”
“He’s so right,” Lydia said, harshly. “Stiles, you have never raised a baby before, of course you need to rely on your father - who has raised a child, thought apparently a stupid arse one, and your friends who are family even if we aren’t blood. You are not taking advantage of anyone, we want to help. Isabella is amazing and we all love her. Now, stop being deliberately masochistic and accept that your father wants to help.”
“Lydia,” Sam said, looking at her with an indulgent smile. “You are always refreshingly blunt.”
“Thank you,” Lydia said, with a bright, wide smile.
Sam turned back to his son. “I told you, when you were talking about keeping Isabella and doing this alone that I would help you. Everything I am doing, and will do, is about helping you and Bella. I don’t need you to worry about taking advantage of me but Izzy needs you to be at your best and if you don’t get some sleep then you are going to be useless.”
“So you called Lydia?”
“I thought about calling Derek but I didn’t think you’d enjoy him throwing you over his shoulder and dragging you out of the house,” Sam said, with a shrug.
Stiles blinked at his father slowly. “I…he wouldn’t.”
“He would,” Lydia said. “If he needed to do it he would.”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “Is she sleeping?”
“She is,” Sam said with a smile. “Now, go and put your coat on and go to Lydia’s.”
“I can’t leave you here with her, she’s sick.”
“A couple of hours. Then come back in time for the doctor’s appointment.”
“What if she gets worse?”
“I’ll call you.”
“What if something happens?”
“I will call you.”
“What if you need help?”
“I think he might call you,” Lydia said, sarcastically.
Stiles glared at her.
“She will be fine - I think she’s just got a little cold and lying down makes all of the rubbish in her stomach upset her.”
“I thought that was right but she doesn’t normally vomit like that.”
“And that is why you are taking her to the doctor.” Lydia pointed out. “Kiss your daughter on the head, then get your coat and some shoes.”
“I can’t leave her.”
“Are you trying to tell me that I’m not capable of looking after her?” Sam asked, raising a greying eyebrow.
Stiles closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face.
“Stiles,” Sam said, firmly. “I am your father. And I am going to try this parent card out again. You need to sleep or you are no good to Isabella.”
Stiles nodded slowly, he knew his father was right. He was so tired his muscles felt almost useless and the coffee had stopped working sometime yesterday morning just before lunch. He knew he needed to sleep but he constantly felt like he was just taking advantage of his father. And he knew, logically, that his dad wanted to help and enjoyed his time with Isabella more than Stiles would have believed before she had been born. None of that changed the fact that Stiles found himself relying on his father, and his friends, more than he felt he should be. He should be better at this by now - he should be able to help his daughter but he couldn’t do anything.
“You need to sleep, for Isabella as much as for you.”
Stiles nodded slowly and suddenly Lydia was at his elbow towing him past Isabella - for a kiss and a deep breath of the comforting scent that clung to Isabella, though it was tarnished by the scent of vomit and wasn’t as pleasing as normal. She pulled him to the front door and the jacket she held out for him and pointed at the shoes next to the door with a raised eyebrow. Stiles slipped his feet into the shoes and by the time he was sitting in the passenger side of her car he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open.
He woke up hours later in Lydia’s bed but he couldn’t remember how he got there.
In the end Sam was almost right, Isabella had a cold - and a little stomach bug that was making her vomit. The doctor told him that he didn’t need to worry unless she still wasn’t able to keep anything down in a day. Stiles heard what the doctor said about it being normal for babies to start picking up the odd illness at this age but that didn’t really make anything better when she was still so tiny and sick.
“So…” Stiles said, smiling at the pack in Derek’s lounge room.
Isabella was lying on her back on a mat playing with a stuffed wolf that Stiles had found in Isabella’s little box of toys that seemed to grow all the time. He hadn’t been sure why Derek had one at all but about a month after she was born it appeared in Derek’s living room with a big soft blanket for the floor and a few toys. Sometimes, when Stiles and Isabella came over there would be something new in the box. Stiles had said something but Derek always ignored him and simply enticed Isabella with the toys. Now, Stiles had stopped bringing extra things with him when he was coming to Derek’s. He never left the house without the spare blankie-bear though. Isabella loved her blankie-bear - a square of material, satin on one side and cotton on the other, with the head of a teddy bear in the middle.
“What?” Derek asked, his eyes coming back from staring out the window.
“I’m moving Isabella into her own room. Does anyone want to help me paint?”
“I thought you weren’t going to paint.” Scott said.
“I wasn’t,” Stiles said, with a roll of his eyes. “However, Grandad, thinks it would be nice to freshen the room up a bit for his granddaughter.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Derek said, seriously even while most of the rest of the pack were looking amused. “It’s always best to start with something new. Maybe pink?”
“Dad suggested purple,” Stiles said. “But…you think it’s a good idea?”
“Of course.”
“She’s four months old.”
“Four months and five days,” Derek corrected automatically.
Stiles didn’t even bother being surprised that Derek remembered Isabella’s age to the exact day. “What I mean is that she really doesn’t care what colour her bedroom walls are.”
“Not right now,” Lydia said, throwing her opinion in. “But eventually she will. Do you want to be painting then?”
“She can pick what colour she wants then.”
“So you’re just going to put her into a boring white room?” Derek asked.
“She’s four months old.” Stiles said again.
Lydia sighed at him. “What does it matter, don’t you want to give her a lovely bedroom to sleep in.”
Stiles shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t want to give her a nice bedroom I just don’t think we need to stress out about painting it before she goes in. I went online and bought some of those wall stickers, a giant tree with different shaped ‘fruit’ hanging off it. I was going to put that on one wall and her cot on the other wall.”
“Need to paint first,” Derek said. “When she’s not in the house. You’ll have to come over here with her while we do it.”
“Umm-” Stiles started, before Derek began talking over the top of him.
“Would need at least a day since it should be primed first. Has your father planned on what he’s going to do with the furniture in the room?”
“He’s getting rid of the bed, we won’t need it for a while and it was just an old one. The chest of drawers will become Izzy’s, she has more clothes every time I turn around. I think Dad might be buying things and then just putting them in her drawers.”
“I do,” Lydia said, with a bright smile.
Stiles rolled his eyes at her. “Of course you do. We’ll have to clean the cupboard out since it’s where we’ve been storing stuff over the years. I think there may even be some of Mum’s stuff in there still.”
Derek nodded at him. “We’ll come and help.”
“Will we?” Jackson asked.
“Yes,” Derek said, firmly.
“You don’t need to,” Stiles said.
“I’ll look after Isabella,” Lydia offered.
“Thank you.” Stiles said, beginning to resign himself to the fact that he would be painting Izzy’s new bedroom.
A week later, on a Saturday, Stiles drove his daughter over to Lydia’s house before going back to his place to find Derek and Scott carrying the old spare bed out and pretending that they were struggling a little with the weight. Jackson was up in the room pouting while he unscrewed the curtain rod with Danny at the other end helping. Stiles smirked and mixed up the plaster to fill in the few holes. He started on one side of the door while Derek and Scott moved the other items out of the room.
By the end of Sunday the room was pale purple with a new mutli-coloured rug that had come out of the back of Scott’s car along with the cot from Derek’s house. There were new curtains that Lydia had told him to buy as he ‘had no taste’. Stiles had bought a mattress and some bright sheets not that he was sure if Isabella was really ready for the move to the cot from her bassinette. The move out of Stiles room was right though, she was sleeping for longer and he only had to get up for her once in the night most of the time now. According to the websites he didn’t need to move her until she was about six months old, if then, but something about it all felt right and he would be happy to have his room back so he could stop creeping around in there like a guilty teenager.
Before Stiles went to pick Isabella up he closed the door up, he wouldn’t move her into the room until the paint smell had gone completely and even then only for her naps to begin with.
“Thank you,” Stiles said. “I thought about giving you all something but I didn’t know what to do.”
“Never make me decorate again,” Jackson said.
Stiles smiled. “Deal.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Derek said. “I was happy to help.”
“Me too,” Scott said. “She’s our goddaughter.”
“That makes it sound like you two are involved,” Isaac said, with a smirk.
Scott looked at Stiles instead of Derek. Stiles frowned at him.
“Of course not,” Derek said, his voice full of disbelief. He turned back to Stiles. “Are you happy with it?”
Stiles thought about the room and nodded with a bright smile. “I think it’s great. It’s a good thing we did it.”
Derek nodded sharply and everyone left so that Stiles could go and collect Isabella. He missed her after not seeing her much over the weekend.
Stiles sang along to the CD as he measured out some of the formula and dropped it into the boiling water. He closed the lid and started to shake as he turned around and smiled at Isabella. She didn’t look at him, her eyes locked onto the bottle in his hand. Stiles laughed and opened the bottle to top it up with cold water before giving it a final shake and offering it to Isabella who dragged it joyfully into her mouth. Her eyes lifted up to Stiles now that she had what she wanted.
“You are such a little glutton,” Stiles said, bending down and kissing Isabella on the head. “Granddad’s coming home for lunch today, what should we make him? How about nice ham rolls with lots of salad? You won’t let him pick out the salad will you? In fact,” Stiles said running his fingers through the lengthening hair on the side of his head, it had started to curl like his mother’s had though it was light like Sophia’s rather than Claudia’s. “You, little girl, are perhaps the best thing to have ever happened to your Grandad’s health; when he argues about no salt or what I cook I can just show him you and remind him that he wants to be around for as long as possible.”
Isabella finished her bottle and looked at him like she wanted more. She didn’t seem that interested in anything that Stiles had to say.
“It is beginning to worry me that I’ve basically just started talking to myself,” Stiles said, with a sigh. “I should probably try to have more adult conversations. I am fairly certain I have been ignoring everyone since you were born…I’m still doing it.”
The doorbell rang and Isabella tilted her head.
“Just a minute,” he called out, and started pulling Isabella out of her chair. “I wonder who that could be, Grandad has a key and it’s much too early for lunch.”
Isabella dropped her head down onto Stiles’ shoulder as they walked to the door. “Maybe it’s Uncle Scott, though he never knocks does he, just terrifies me.”
Stiles threw open the door and found Cora on the other side looking at him sheepishly.
“Cora?”
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” Stiles asked, even as he opened the door wider and motioned her in.
“I needed to talk to you.”
“You’re supposed to be up at school,” Stiles pointed out.
“I know,” Cora said, with a shuddering sigh and then she pushed past him so that she could throw herself down on the couch.
“Cora?” Stiles followed her and put Isabella down on the mat before he sat down next to Cora and pulled her into his side. “What’s wrong?”
Cora didn’t say anything but she curled into him and sobbed against his neck. Stiles frowned, Cora - like all Hales, didn’t know how to be weak. She had come out of that bank vault fighting and had kept going ever since. He was worried about what could possibly make her cry and come to him - of all the people in their pack he didn’t know why she would come here to him. He kept one eye on Isabella as he rubbed her shoulder as he held her. She didn’t say anything for a long while but she stopped crying not long after she had started, she stayed close to him though.
“Are you ready to talk?” Stiles asked quietly. Cora shook her head. “How about some tea? That fruity one you love.” Cora nodded and pulled slightly away from him.
Stiles scooped Isabella up and carried her into the kitchen with him. He pulled his phone from his pocket and thumbed through to Derek’s number. He shook his head and put his phone back into his pocket before he put the kettle on and dug out the fruity, herbal tea that both Derek and Cora loved. He went upstairs to put Isabella down for her nap and by the time he’d made it back to the kitchen the kettle was boiled and he could make the drinks.
Cora was sitting on the couch with her sock covered feet tucked under her and she was staring down at her fingers as she picked at one of her cuticles. She attempted a smile as she took the tea from him but it was one of the most pathetic he had ever seen.
Stiles sat next to her and thought about what could possibly make the werewolf cry…and he had to remind himself that she was a werewolf and that he could discount a number of the terrifying options that came to mind.
“I think I might be pregnant,” Cora said suddenly.
Stiles choked on his coffee.
“Have you taken a test?”
Cora’s face twisted.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
Cora nodded sadly and stared down into her tea.
“Do you have one or do I need to go and buy one?”
“There is one in my bag. I bought it on the way.”
“Why did you come to me and not your brother?”
“The um…the guy who is the father if I’m…you know, pregnant, cheated on me and Derek shouldn’t kill him until there’s a reason.”
“Cheating on you is a fair reason for at least scaring the shit out of the guy.”
“Derek wouldn’t stop at just scaring him.”
Stiles took a moment to think about it and then nodded. “Probably not.”
“If he loves you there is no halfway with Derek. You know that.”
Stiles nodded slowly. “I suppose that whole first year after Scott was bitten was proof of that.”
Cora frowned at him.
“Can you pee?”
Cora frowned at him.
“For the test, can you pee?”
Cora took a moment to think about it and then shook her head.
“Then drink your tea.”
“Where’s Isabella?”
“Asleep, it’s nap time.”
“She’s the reason I came here. I mean, I knew you would be supportive of anyone that you knew who came to you. It’s the reason you made it past all of Derek’s crap and into the pack.”
“Wow, thanks.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “You scared the hell out of him.”
“What?”
“You are human and smart and involved. You were Scott’s and you never, ever just did what you were told. You got under Derek’s skin because he kept coming back to you and didn’t just wipe you from his notice. You refused to just act like a human or to be scared.”
“Your brother terrified me, he kept threatening to rip my heart out or kill me in some other viciously violent way. I kept expecting him to sneak into my room in the middle of the night and kill me rather than just ask me for help.”
Cora smiled at him widely and for a moment the heaviness lifted off her face.
“But you never ran away. You refused to be ignored or subdued. You were always going to push him until he let you in and he knew it. That’s what worried him.”
Stiles shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Cora sighed. “I know.” But she refused to say anything else. She simply began sipping her tea.
Eventually, she stood up.
“I’ll be back.”
“We can wait out the three minutes together.”
Cora nodded but she turned and started to walk away. Then, she paused and turned around. “I knew you wouldn’t judge me because I made a mistake.”
“Of course not,” Stiles said, quickly. “None of us would.”
“But, you’ve always been different.”
“Cora, I will always been here for you, regardless of what you need or what you’ve done.”
“Do you know the stupidest part,” she said with a sigh. “I never even really liked Thomas.”
Stiles smiled weakly. “I know the feeling.”
Cora nodded and turned around, leaving Stiles standing behind her.
Four minutes later, Cora stared down at the plastic in her hand and smiled. “Is it wrong to be happy about this?”
“No.”
Cora rubbed her hand down her face. “I really don’t want kids yet.”
“Then it’s a good thing that you aren’t pregnant.”
Cora beamed at him. “I’m not pregnant.”
“No.”
“Thank God.”
Stiles plucked the plastic stick out of her hand and wrapped it in toilet paper before throwing it in the bin. He would have to take the bin out in case his father saw it. He didn’t want to give his dad a heart attack. He washed his hand and then pulled Cora up.
“Come on, Dad is coming home for lunch and I need to make something. What do you feel like?”
“Oh you don’t need to-”
Stiles waved a hand at her. “Don’t be silly. You have to stay.”
Stiles led Cora down to the kitchen where he started making lunch. She began picking at the food as he cut it - almost faster than he could cut it.
“You hungry?”
“I haven’t eaten since I realised that I was late.”
“I am making ham and salad but I can make you something more.”
“No,” Cora said, shoving more carrot into her mouth. “That’s fine.”
Stiles smiled at her and set himself to making her a sandwich to tide her over for a while longer. She took it and happily began eating. Stiles was always a little surprised by just how much werewolves could eat without it seeming to make any difference.
“Stiles, can I ask you something horrible?”
Stiles stopped and turned around to look at her. “Sure.”
“Do you ever wish that Sophia hadn’t gotten pregnant?”
Stiles froze.
“I’d never even thought about it before today.”
“It’s hard,” Stiles admitted. “Every time I think it is going to get easier something new happens that I don’t know how to do and leaves me feeling utterly useless. It would be easier, my life would be easier if I didn’t have a daughter - I would just be doing the same things as other people who have just graduated university. I would be trying to find a job, moving out of Dad’s house. The usual. But, I would never, ever go back and change anything. I wouldn’t want any life that wasn’t this one with Izzy, even if things would be easier. She is amazing and I never expected it was possible to love having someone in my life like this.”
Cora face softened and for a fleeting moment he could see Derek in her face - the same soft look Derek would get around Isabella. Then Cora’s face shifted again and Stiles knew she had more questions.
“What else?” Stiles asked.
“Do you worry that having Isabella will stop you finding someone to love? To share your life with?”
Stiles shrugged. “I couldn’t love someone who couldn’t love Izzy so I suppose I will just have to wait and see. Why?”
Cora looked down at the remains of the sandwich that she was pulling apart. “No reason.”
“You have the same look Derek does when he wants to talk about something but he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“Most of the werewolves I know are arseholes…and I wonder…”
“Ah,” Stiles said, understanding suddenly. “You are an amazing woman, you’ll find someone who is either already in the know about the supernatural and not an arsehole or you are going to find someone who will love you enough not to care.”
Cora’s face darkened.
“Not that you are worried about that of course. I swear, you Hales are such hard work. Eat your sandwich and remember that you deserve better so it’s okay to wait for someone you actually like.”
Cora glared and started eating her sandwich again, ignoring the ripped up bits on her plate.
“We all have our baggage,” Stiles finished just as the front door opened.
“Ow!” Isaac said. He turned to frown at Stiles. “Your daughter just bit me!”
“What?” Stiles said, with confusion. “Her tooth has finally come through?”
“Yes! And it hurt!” Isaac said standing up and giving Isabella back to Stiles. “I’m surprised she didn’t break the skin.”
“You’re a werewolf,” Jackson scoffed. “Don’t whine.”
Everyone turned to look at Jackson with incredulity.
“What?” Jackson asked.
Derek turned to Isaac. “Her teeth have to be sharp to break through her gums.”
“My God,” Jackson said. “Do you spend your nights reading baby developmental books or something?”
“He is a creepy stalker,” Stiles said with a laugh. Derek looked at him darkly. “It was a joke. You’re right though, they have to be sharp and then as the other teeth come in the sharpness is worn away through grinding like with ours.”
“She almost cut my finger open,” Isaac said again.
Stiles rolled his eyes. “She’s a human baby, get over it. I can’t believe you found her new tooth before I did.”
“I wish you had,” Isaac said, grumpily.
Stiles twisted Isabella around on his lap and smiled at his daughter. “Are you going to show me your new tooth?”
“Don’t put your finger near her mouth,” Isaac warned. “She just dragged mine in and bit me.”
“Stop acting like Jackson,” Lydia said, at almost a whisper that, of course, everyone in the room could hear.
“Hey,” Jackson and Isaac said at the same moment.
Stiles tried to get Isabella to open her mouth so that he could see the offending tooth. She refused to oblige him. Finally, with a sigh, he slipped the tip of his finger into her mouth. She quickly, and happily, grabbed his finger and yanked it further into her mouth until it was pressing against the sore gum.
“Oh,” Stiles said, looking up at Isaac. “That is sharp.”
Lydia and Derek looked interested while Isaac simply looked vindicated.
Stiles answered the phone with one eye on Isabella who was shoving the edge of her bear blankie into her mouth. “Hello?”
“Stiles.”
“Sophia?”
“Yeah, hi.”
“Hi,” Stiles said, his stomach tightening as he stared at Isabella.
“I know you haven’t heard from me in a while.”
“Not since you let me know you had made it to New York. Is everything okay?”
Sophia was silent for a few long heartbeats and Stiles’ stomach tightened more every second she didn’t speak.
“Sophia?” Stiles dropped his head down and realised that the fear that had been hiding in the back of his mind and the pit of his stomach since the moment he had seen his daughter and fallen in love might have come to pass.
“I’m sorry, Stiles,” she said, and she sounded distant from the phone. “I just…I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. She’s almost six months old and…I was wondering if you would send me a photo.”
Stiles crawled down onto the floor and settled next to Isabella with one hand around her pudgy ankle. She looked at him and went back to drooling on her favourite toy. “Of course. Only, you said you didn’t want any.”
“I just want one. I don’t want you to keep sending them or anything but I’d like just one photo.”
“Sophia,” Stiles swallowed heavily and closed his eyes. “Do you want to come down and see her?”
“No.” Sophia said firmly. “I just want to know what she looks like.”
Stiles sagged down onto the floor until he was lying curled up on Isabella’s play mat. If he could have managed to make his body into a circle he would have completely encircled her. He wasn’t sure how to take this request. He would do it, of course he would, but was this just the start…was Sophia beginning to change her mind.
“I know I made the right decision,” Sophia continued, when Stiles had been silent for a few long moments. “I don’t want to come there and take her off you or anything. I know I’m never going to make a good mum and I don’t want to be one but I’ve been thinking lately and I would like to know what she looks like. I only just remember her and sometimes I forget what colour her eyes are. I know it’s silly because I never wanted her, and I still don’t want to have her with me, but I do like knowing she’s out there and…I’d just like to know what she looks like so I don’t forget.”
Stiles licked his lips and blinked a few times. “Of course. I’ll send you something straight away. Do you still use the same email address?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to send something every-”
“No,” Sophia said. “Just one photo of her.”
Stiles wondered if he’d get another call from her in six months when she was close to a year old but he supposed the fact she hadn’t changed her mind needed to be a positive sign or he would spend the rest of her life worried about Sophia coming and taking Isabella from him.
“I’ll send it today.”
“Thank you, Stiles. I should have asked. How is she? And how are you?”
“We’re good,” Stiles said, looking down at Isabella again. “She’s got a couple of teeth but I am never the one who finds them she keeps biting people.”
“Oh.”
“No,” Stiles said, smiling. “She’s teething so her gums hurt and she will pull anything into her mouth to rub against them, it just happened to be Isaac and Derek’s fingers. Luckily they are both tough and only Isaac complained about it. She’s started lifting herself up on her hands and knees but she hasn’t started crawling and she doesn’t last very long when she does it anyway.”
“You sound happy.”
“It was hard,” Stiles admitted. “Still is sometimes but I’ve never regretted taking her.”
Sophia let out a large sigh. “That’s so wonderful. I’m so glad. We did the right thing, didn’t we? Well, send me that photo and I’ll let you get on with your life. Bye, Stiles.”
“Bye, Sophia.”
Stiles didn’t climb up off the floor for a good long while.
“What is she doing?” Boyd asked, with a frown.
Stiles swore as his finger slipped onto the hot metal of the oven tray and didn’t bother turning around; if she was doing something dangerous Derek would have stopped her.
“It’s normal,” Derek said.
“She’s going backwards.” Boyd said.
“Seriously, dude,” Scott said, sounding petulant. Stiles want to the turn around and see what the problem was but he needed to focus on the pie or it would fall apart…or he would burn himself again. “Why do you insist on making me look like the lazy, stupid godfather?”
“He doesn’t need to try very hard,” Lydia said. Stiles chuckled even as he poured the hot fillings in, followed by the custard mixture, and then laid the top piece of pastry. He twisted around to find all four of them standing at the other side of the kitchen looking down at Isabella who was happily shuffling backwards on her knees. He smiled and then turned back to the pie in front of him.
“No!” Scott complained. “I just don’t spend all my time reading about baby development but it ends up making me look like the bad godparent.”
“You don’t look like a bad anything,” Stiles said, finally finished and turning around. “Though…well, I suppose it does beg the question - why do you know so much about child development, Derek?”
Derek’s face tightened and his eyes became flat and distant as they always did when he was asked something that he simply did not want to talk about. “Isabella is a member of my pack.”
“You don’t put that much effort into knowing about any of us.” Lydia pointed out.
“You,” Derek said firmly, “are all adults who are more than capable of knowing your own development.”
“Yeah,” Scott said, looking much more interested suddenly - like a dog with a cat to chase. “But, you seem awfully focussed on Izzy.”
Derek shrugged. “She is the only baby in the pack.” Derek looked down suddenly and ignored everyone to bend down and pick Isabella up when she bumped into his leg. She threw her body forward when she was close to Derek’s chest and happily drooled on his black t-shirt. “And I like her, so of course I am interested in her development.”
Stiles watched as Derek undid the wrapping around a hard rusk and gave it to Isabella to chew on. She shoved it straight into her mouth and to the left where her gum was obviously annoying her. He looked at the mulish expression on Derek’s face and wondered why he was even pushing it. It was nice that Derek liked Izzy enough to actually learn about some of this stuff. Derek obviously didn’t want to talk about his reasons for being so interested in Izzy and Stiles decided not to push it.
“It’s time for her nap; can I put her down here?” Stiles asked.
Derek frowned at him. “That is why she has that folding cot thing.”
“Would you like to do it?”
Derek didn’t say a word, simply turned and left the room.
“I like that he is so good with her.” Stiles said, a minute later.
“I don’t think anyone is questioning that he is good with her and that he cares for her,” Boyd said, quietly. “He cares about every member of the pack.”
“He’ll tell us why when he’s ready.” Stiles said. “Until then, I’m just happy she has so many people who love her.”
Lydia sighed at him and left the kitchen. “Call me when the pie’s ready. I can’t handle any more stupid.”
Stiles watched her go with confusion. Stiles shook his head and left the kitchen to go and kiss his daughter on the forehead before she fell asleep. Derek was just pulling the blanket up and over her when Stiles came to the door.
“I’ve never been a godfather before,” Derek said, not turning around, leaving his back to Stiles. “I don’t know anyone with kids. I don’t even remember Cora as a little kid. You gave me responsibility and you had the first baby in this pack. I imagine more will come eventually but she’s the first baby I’ve spent any time around and I-”
“You don’t need to explain this to me. I like that you are so good with her and that you so obviously like her.”
“I want her to like me when she gets older and I want her to like being in the pack. How else was I going to do that when I know nothing about kids?”
“Derek.”
Derek turned and walked out of the room without looking at Stiles.
Stiles twisted to watch him walk away. “I’m so happy knowing she’s part of the pack and that you care for her so much.”
Derek paused for a beat and then nodded once and continued walking away.
“No.” Jackson said firmly.
Stiles looked at him questioningly.
“I refuse.”
“You refuse to hold Isabella?”
“She cries.”
“Sometimes.”
“No,” Jackson said, firmly. “She always cries when I hold her.”
“She does not,” Stiles said. Then he looked around the room at the rest of the pack.
“She does.”
“Come on,” Stiles said. “She does not. No one else thinks she does.”
Lydia laughed and walked over, collecting Isabella from Stiles’ arms and placing her into Jackson’s. Isabella started to cry and Jackson’s face turned dark and…Stiles refrained from calling it pouty. Lydia dragged Isabella back up and into her arms.
“She cries whenever Jackson holds her,” she said, and Stiles couldn’t help but see the amusement on Lydia’s face and hear it in her voice.
“You can’t say that from one trial,” Stiles said. “Jackson wasn’t even holding her.”
“Fine,” Jackson said, and reached up to take Isabella from Lydia’s arms.
Lydia shrugged and walked away while Isabella’s face fell and she started to cry. Stiles shook his head and was about to step forward and take Isabella back when a black shape appeared silently in the corner of his eye and then Derek was swooping down and pulling Isabella into his arms. She had reached her arms up to him as soon he got close.
“I’ve got her,” Derek said, bouncing Isabella into his chest. “You can’t give her to Jackson, she cries when he holds her.”
Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
Derek nodded and turned around, before he sunk onto the floor in the middle of the room with Isabella in his arms.
“I told you,” Jackson’s words followed Stiles out of the room.
TBC...
Masterpost | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9