CHAPTER 22

Christmas came and went, and then Stiles's due date, the 27th, came and went. She'd given up on physically therapy. Learning to walk was impossible when she was the size of a hippo. She spent most of her time in the pool, trying not to sink under the weight of her belly and useless legs.

And then, on New Year's Eve, it happened. She'd just gotten back from a swim and was settling in for a nap – not exactly the New Year's Eve she'd expected to be having before she got pregnant – when she suddenly felt a twinge of pain, like a period pain, only one hundred times worse.

Time had been moving very slowly for Stiles the past few months, but the rest of the night moved very quickly. She was in labour. She'd heard that labour/contractions could be a slow build-up, that it could be hours until she was in active labour.

This wasn't the case for Stiles. Once the first contraction hit, they didn't stop or slow down. After all the physical pain her body had been put through lately, she thought labour would be easy. She was naïve. It was agonizing. At first she only had Derek by her side until the Sherriff arrived, and Derek was reluctantly ordered out of the room. Stiles felt bad for him – she knew how much he wanted to be there.

After 6 hours of labour, and 1 hour of pushing, her daughter arrived in the world just before midnight on December 31st, weighing 7 pounds and 10 ounces, and all it took was one look at her – at her perfection – for Stiles to know there was no way she was ever going to give her up.

Derek was downstairs in the cafeteria getting a coffee when he heard it.

It was almost a mix between a cry and a call, and he knew straight away that it was his daughter. He dropped the cup of crappy coffee he was holding and raced upstairs, and overwhelming urge coursing through him. By the time he made it upstairs and was permitted into the room, the clock had struck midnight, and the sound of fireworks popping outside echoed through the hospital. He entered the room and saw her for the first time – his daughter – to the sound of fireworks ringing the new year in, but to him it was as if the whole world was celebrating the arrival of his child.

Stiles was holding the baby to her chest, her face exhausted, covered in sweat, but also full of joy and love. The Sherriff was on the far side of the bed, leaning over his daughter and granddaughter, staring in awe. Derek approached the side of the bed cautiously, hoping he wouldn't be kicked out by Stiles or the Sherriff.

But the opposite happened.

Stiles looked at him and, using the free arm that wasn't cradling the baby to her chest, grabbed his arm and guided him closer. Derek looked at his daughter's face. She was beautiful. He had always thought all babies looked the same; but his girl was different. She had a mat of thick, dark hair that covered her head and a cute little button nose like Stiles.

He realised he was grinning uncontrollably, and his eyes met Stiles. She was smiling at him too. Out of impulse, he leant forward and kissed her on the lips, long enough not to be a peck but nothing passionate or inappropriate. Derek could feel the Sheriff tense up, but he didn't care.

Stiles adjusted her position and bed and gently – so delicately – offered their daughter to Derek, who welcomed her gladly into his arms. She was so small, so fragile, he was worried about hurting her, though at the same time he didn't want to let him go. He wasn't sure if it was the territorial wolf, protective father – or both- inside of him.

"Eve," Stiles said softly, "this is your Dad".

Stiles and Derek both heard the Sheriff sigh, but they ignored him. Nothing could ruin that moment.

''Eve?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, Eve. Her name. Do you like it? Is it okay?" Stiles asked anxiously. Derek looked down at his daughter, sleeping peacefully in his arms. Eve.

"It's perfect" he said.

They stayed that way for a while longer, and then she began to fuss, so the midwife came in and helped Stiles to feed her, and little Eve went straight back to sleep. By that point Stiles was exhausted, and she fell asleep to the sight of Derek leaning back in a chair, Eve curled up like a frog on his chest, and she felt something new inside, something she had only got a hint of before, and an idea came into her head of what their life could be like.

She would tell him when she woke up, she decided.

She only hoped he fell the same way.