Who: Derek Hale, Elena Michaels, and Natalie Laura Hale What: A guest for breakfast Where: their house When: Saturday morning Warnings: nope Status: complete gdoc
Derek woke up before his girlfriend so he decided to go downstairs and start breakfast for them. He wasn’t sure where Erin was or when she might be home, but he’d make enough to leave some for her in case she came home hungry. He and Elena didn’t have any plans that he was aware of, but it was only a few days until Christmas, so they may have some last minute shopping or errands to run.
All those thoughts immediately went out of his mind when he walked into the kitchen and spotted a tiny blonde sitting at the kitchen table. She beamed at him. “Morning, Daddy! I got milk.” It was clear that she’d made quite a mess doing so, but Derek couldn’t even be mad.
“Hi, Natalie,” he said. “Your mom is going to be happy to see you.” And surprised. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to Elena to let her know they had company and then went to start getting food out of the fridge. He could clean up the milk mess later.
*** Elena was still buried under the warm covers when Derek departed for the kitchen to cook them up some breakfast. Comfortable, Elena knew she was merely being lazy and she was simply waiting for the smell of cooking sausage to lure her from bed. It was familiar, but one that she had not smelled in quite some time. Natalie. Her future daughter with Derek was do doubt in the kitchen and in a few moments, her guess was confirmed and she could not help the smile that formed upon her face.
It was enough to pull Elena from bed (along with the following text from Derek) and tossing on her robe she padded to the kitchen in a pair of warm slippers. Nudging open the door, she was not surprised to find her daughter seated at the table and a mess of milk spilled on the surface. However, much like Derek she could not find it in her heart to be mad about the mess. Instead, she offered the young girl a smile and walked over, unable to help, but wrap the girl in a tight hug.
“Hey sweetie.” She flashed Derek a smile over the top of the fridge. “It’s so good to see you again.” She released the girl and went for the paper towels to clean up the mess.
***
“Mommy! Do you live here now?” Natalie asked, remembering that the last time she’d time traveled was before her parents were living together. “Is Erin still in my room?”
Derek very pointedly hadn’t asked any questions about when she might be born the last time and he fully intended to do the same this time. He had no idea if she was really going to be in their future or not, but he didn’t want to know either way and risk changing things. “Yes, your mom moved in a while ago,” he said. “And Erin is living here.” He didn’t bother to mention that the teenager had moved out and returned because it seemed unnecessary. “So we’ll have to fix up the guest room for you as long as you’re here.”
She didn’t seem too bothered by that and shrugged as she took another drink from her milk.
*** Elena was much of the same mindset as Derek about when Natalie might be entering into their future. She didn’t want to disrupt anything or mess with time by finding out when Natalie might be arriving. It was not as if she had not thought about it, but there was no guarantee a future with Natalie would come to pass even. It was an unfortunate circumstance of Madison Valley and really life in general. Anything and everything could change quickly, but that didn’t mean she was any less happy to have her daughter back, especially around Christmas.
“Like your daddy said, I’m living here now and we will get the guest room all set up for you,” Elena replied, moving to ruffle the girl’s hair gently. From the shrug, it was clear Natalie was okay with the arrangement. Part of Elena felt badly that Natalie could not get the room she was use to, but the guest room was pretty cozy and they could fix it up to be temporary child’s bedroom thanks to the last time Natalie was here. “We can make it all cozy for you like we did before.”
***
Derek figured he should probably warn Erin about their house guest, but figured it could wait until after breakfast. Of course, it was possible she’d have guests of her own. If so, they’d figure out how to make it work. The house was big enough to accommodate a few extra people for a week or however long the kids stuck around this time.
“And it’s almost Christmas,” he said, glancing over at the table, unable to keep the smile off of his face. This was the life he once imagined having with Paige and thought he would never have after her death. Even if Natalie wasn’t going to exist in this universe, it was enough to know she existed somewhere.
Her face lit up at the mention of the holiday. “Ooh! Are we gonna go the Pack house and see everyone?”
*** Much like Derek, she was not worried about needing extra room because the house itself was big enough to handle whoever Madison Valley decided to have show up here.
When Derek mentioned it was Christmas, Elena looked over at Natalie, eagerly anticipating her expression and the blond was not disappointed in the least. It lit up and as expected she asked about them going to the Pack house. Elena looked over at Derek before responding carefully. “Well, we will definitely visit there for a while, but we could have our own small Christmas here too,” Elena replied softly. “We can do both.” ***
“YAY!” Derek winced a little at how loud his daughter was, especially to sensitive werewolf ears. “I gotta buy presents for everyone,” Natalie said.
That made Derek realize that they were probably going to need to buy presents for their daughter too since she would likely be here at least that long. “Maybe you and I can go shopping,” he suggested, shifting his gaze to Elena and hoping she would understand why he made that suggestion. If he took Natalie out to pick up gifts for other people, Elena could go shopping for her. He knew he was ill equipped to shop for a young girl.
*** Elena could not help, but wince right along with her boyfriend. Natalie was loud, but at least it was the good kind of loud at the moment. At the mention of buying presents for everyone, Elena couldn’t help, but smile though. It was adorable and she knew Derek and herself would do whatever they could to help with that. Even if it sounded somewhat crazy too.
When Derek offered to take Natalie shopping, shifting his gaze to Elena, the blond returned it knowingly. It would be easier for Derek to take Natalie shopping verses trying to buy Natalie Christmas presents. It made perfect sense to Elena. “I think that’s a good idea,” she replied automatically. “You and daddy can do a little bonding time too.”
***
Natalie bounced in her seat, sloshing more milk on the table. He had a feeling he was an indulgent parent since he didn’t even wince at the mess, choosing to keep mixing the pancake batter he was preparing. “But you gotta take me to get a gift for Daddy,” she said earnestly to Elena.
“We have a few days,” Derek assured her. “We’ll get everything done.” He had a feeling they wouldn’t be the only ones doing some last minute shopping. In fact, he should probably check the network to find out just how widespread this was.
*** As Derek worked on the pancakes, Elena moved to once more mop up Natalie’s milk spillage. Since they were both present, Elena felt it was a team effort to keep Natalie’s minor mess at bay and to keep the cooking going. “I will. I promise. It’ll be the best gift he ever had,” Elena replied, ruffling the girl’s hair and, unable to help herself, she shot a playful look over at Derek. They would certainly have their work cut out for them this season.
And that would include last minute shopping which Elena did not hesitate to cringe inwardly at, but she kept any sign of the dislike from her expression. “There is still plenty of time.” Elena tossed out the paper towels and firmly blotted away any last bit of stickiness with a rag before moving to pour herself and Derek a much needed cup of coffee.
***
“Breakfast first though,” Derek said. “I think we still have the clothes we got you last time you visited us.” They were tucked away in a box in the back of his closet, partly out of pragmatism in case this very situation occurred and partly out of sentimentality that he would never admit to.
He didn’t want to go too overboard on Christmas presents since she likely wouldn’t be here too long past the holiday, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get a chance to spoil her for real, so he was probably going to buy far more than was necessary.
“‘Kay!” Natalie said. She seemed completely unphased by this whole thing and Derek figured that was likely thanks to her being born and raised in Madison Valley.
*** “Yes. You need a full stomach to get things done,” Elena echoed Derek with a smile. For two people who didn’t consider themselves actual parent type material, they were actually not all that bad at it. And yes, Elena knew they still had a lot of Natalie’s things from her last trip here. Of course she also knew that Derek and herself would no doubt buy more in an attempt to spoil the little girl for at least the time she was here. After all, there was no guarantee she would ever come to be outside of a strange sort of situation like this.
Natalie was unphased by all of it and like Derek, Elena figured it was because she was born in a place where literally anything could happen. “We can go through the clothes after breakfast too. We might need to buy you some more warmer outfits.”
***
Derek glanced over and smiled at his girlfriend. They slid into this whole parenting thing pretty easily and it made him wonder if she wanted to have kids some day. It wasn’t something they’d ever really discussed and it wasn’t something Derek ever planned for himself back home, but Madison Valley was different and he wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to the idea.
“And I’ll text Erin and let her know that you’re here,” he said. “She’s out at her cave since it’s the full moon.”
Idly, he wondered if Natalie had inherited the werewolf genes from either of them. If so, he kind of hoped she was more like her mother since her kind had far more control than his did. Of course, she was still young enough that they may not have any idea yet.
*** It was a little odd how easily the two of them slipped into the role of parents, but Elena saw it as mostly a good thing. It meant that maybe, if they did have kids, they would be already seasoned to a degree thanks to Madison Valley’s weirdness. “Yes, send a text to Erin so she isn’t completely thrown off guard,” Elena agreed, nodding.
There was the wonder on if Erin had inherited their wolf side and part of Elena was worried about that, but at the moment, Natalie seemed like a normal little girl and Elena was not going to worry about something that might not ever happen. She was simply going to attempt to enjoy breakfast with her family. ‘Well, let’s enjoy some breakfast and then shopping,” she added after another moment. ***