WHO: Paige Krasikeva and Elena Michaels WHAT: BFF Times WHEN: Sunday morning (February 7th) WHERE: Coffee shop on campus WARNINGS: Nah STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Paige and Elena always met Sunday morning at the coffee shop to have breakfast and chat about life. It was something that had become part of their routine, something Paige very much looked forward to. And it was absolutely necessary this morning.
First, she had to somehow tell Elena that she was dating a werewolf hunter. Sure, he wasn’t like his family and he wasn’t dangerous, but she still needed to know. And also...she needed to know that Derek had moved in. She still wasn’t sure exactly how that had happened, but she didn’t regret it. They’d made it two days so far without having sex, but she really didn’t know how much longer that was going to last. She was pretty sure she didn’t want it to last much longer. She wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her, and why the hell not?
Although she had a feeling that Elena would have other ideas. Paige was just happy that werewolves couldn’t get hickies. At least not ones that lasted more than a few minutes.
She was sitting looking over the network and checking her email when she smelled Elena and looked up, waving hello.
***
Elena had plenty on her mind when she finally showed up at the coffee shop to meet Paige for their regular Sunday breakfast. Her date with Chris the other night had gone well and she was looking forward to seeing him again, but finding out that she was going to have children in the future, with Clay was forefront on her mind. She never expected to have children at all, and having children who were going to be werewolves? Was unfathomable.
Those thoughts didn’t prevent her from having a smile plastered on her face when she joined her friend. There would be plenty of time to discuss her issues, but there were more pressing matters to attend to first. “Your performance on Friday was incredible,” she said.
***
That brought a broad smile to Paige’s face. She always truly enjoyed performing for the performance’s sake, but she always appreciated hearing that people enjoyed it. She was confident enough in her talents not to be caught off guard by the compliment, and she took it graciously. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it,” she said. “I loved getting up there and playing. I miss the stage every time I’m not up there.” Teaching kids to play musical instruments was satisfying, but not as much as playing herself was.
“Oh,” she said. “Did I tell you I met Chris?”
***
“No, you didn’t,” Elena said, instantly on guard. “I hope you didn’t say anything embarrassing. We only went out once so far.” Sure, it went really well and she was hoping they would do it again soon, but not if Paige scared him off.
It was totally different than Elena meeting Derek for coffee. There was far more of a chance of Derek hurting Paige than there was of Chris hurting Elena.
***
“What would I have said, Elena? We just had coffee at my apartment. Derek knows him from home.” Her eyes went distant for a while, and a dreamy little smile briefly crossed her face. “What did you think of him? Derek, I mean?”
***
Oh, Elena recognized that dreamy look. Apparently Paige wasn’t taking it slow after all. At least not if the faint scent of Derek clinging to her was any indication. “He seems nice enough,” she said. “And I think he has good intentions when it comes to you.”
That was the most important thing, in her eyes. “We had a nice conversation before your concert.”
***
She blushed, shaking her head a little.
“You’re going to tell me I’m stupid,” she said. “And you’re probably right. But he moved in Friday night. After the concert. We went out for coffee, then back to my place. And he moved his stuff in. It just felt like the right thing to do.”
***
Elena’s eyes widened and she glanced down at her mug. Part of her wanted to caution Paige to be more careful, to take her time trusting the man who changed her life, but another part of her understood being swept up in the throes of young love and being optimistic about it.
“If he breaks your heart, I’ll kill him,” she said. Her tone was frank and matter of fact. “But I hope that doesn’t happen.” She really wanted Paige to be happy.
Thinking of that made her remember the conversation with Kate though and her eyes clouded over. What kind of future was she going to have? Apparently one with Clay. And children. She still had trouble believing that.
***
“He won’t,” she said softly. She didn’t know why she was so sure about that, but she was. He’d never hurt her. At least not intentionally. Sure, he’d been a stupid kid and it had cost her a lot, but she was pretty sure that had killed Derek almost as completely as it had killed her. And she knew that he’d never meant it to turn out that way. She couldn’t deny she was still a little angry about the fact that he hadn’t even asked, but she could forgive. Never forget, but forgive.
She was going to say something more, but saw Elena’s eyes cloud.
“Hey, you okay?”
***
“I… “ Elena wanted to lie, wanted to say that she was fine and not burden her friend with her concerns, not when things were going so well for Paige, but she realized the futility of the gesture. It was nearly impossible to lie to a werewolf. “Not really, no.”
How to even begin? None of it really made sense to Elena which meant explaining it was going to be more difficult. “There are new students here. Who claim they are my children. With Clay.”
***
Paige blinked. She didn’t even know what to say to that, right off. It was pretty certainly one of the strangest things she’d ever heard. People showing up and saying that they were your kids??
“I - “
She swallowed.
“Okay, that’s awkward.”
***
Awkward didn’t even really begin to cover it as far as Elena was concerned. “Twins. Kate and Logan. Apparently they were born in 2004. Which is about four years in my future.” It was hard to imagine how things could change enough in that short an amount of time that would lead to her having children with Clay, but their last name was Danvers and she could see a resemblance in their pictures online. She hadn’t braved actually meeting them in person yet, but when she did, she would know without a doubt based on their scent if they were telling the truth.
***
“Well, I mean, it’s not all bad, right? I mean, finding out that you have kids isn’t as bad as finding out you’re going to die. Or marry McGee or something.” She reached out and took her friend’s hand across the table. “I mean, sure, it’s a shock, but in a good way, right?”
***
Elena managed a wan smile at Paige’s attempt to lighten the mood. “It’s confusing,” she said. “I mean, here I am, finally putting myself out there and dating and now I learn that I’m apparently destined to marry Clay.”
Sure, she could do a lot worse. And part of her always knew that she and Clay would find their way back to each other some day. It was just pretty heavy having a timeline and seeing proof of that.
***
Paige had heard a great deal about Clay, of course she had. He’d never been here, so she didn’t know him personally, but from what she did know, he sounded like a good person.
“Does that...upset you?”
***
That was a loaded question and Elena sighed, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “I… don’t know. I mean, I always figured that we’d end up together someday,” she said. “But… I’m not ready to forgive him yet. And it makes me wonder what’s going to change and when to make me do that.”
She also wasn’t sure how she felt about being a mother. It wasn’t like she had good role models in that area.
***
“Maybe just time?” She asked. “How many years in the future is it that the kids are born?”
Paige had a hard time keeping track of all the timelines, even with her best friend.
***
“Four years,” Elena said. That seemed both really far away and right around the corner at the same time.
She sighed and sipped her drink again. “Let’s talk about something else for now. I need time to process.” And she needed to meet her kids face to face. Make sure they were legit. Even though she had a feeling they were.
***
Paige nodded. She wouldn’t push her friend, especially when it was something that had to be so difficult to process.
“I think - I think I may ask Derek to move in.”
There, that was a change in topic.
***
That was definitely the kind of change in topic that managed to make Elena push aside thoughts of her potential future with Clay and children.
“Wow, already?” she asked. “It seems… sudden. Are you going to stay in the dorms or move to an apartment?”
***
“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “He stayed last night. We didn’t do anything, unless you call falling asleep on the floor in each other’s arms doing something. But it just felt so right. And I felt so safe.”
Shaking her head, she ran a hand through her dark hair.
“The thing is, I know if he moves in we’ll start having sex. I mean, I want to. Did you see him?”
***
Elena couldn’t blame Paige for her physical reaction to Derek. He was an extremely good looking man. So was Clay, for that matter. And it seemed like every time she ended up at the Pack house, she ended up in his bed, which was a big part of the reason she stayed away these days.
“If that’s what you really want, Paige, then you should go for it,” she said. “You deserve to be happy.”
***
She didn’t know if she deserved to be happy or not. She didn’t know whether happiness was a thing of deserving. Most of the time, it felt more like luck.
She nibbled on her bottom lip a moment.
“Do you believe in soulmates?”
***
“I don’t know,” Elena said. “I never really thought about it.”
That was a lie. She thought about it all the time. Was Clay hers? Was that why he bit her? Were they destined to be together? Sometimes, she thought they were. After all, before he bit her, things had been amazing between them and she definitely wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. It was the first time she could remember having any sense of security or belonging.
But she didn’t want to drag down Paige’s happiness with her worries, so the lie was easier.
***
“Me neither,” she said, also lying. As a sixteen year old, she was full of romantic and childish notions about soulmates, and was utterly and completely convinced then that Derek had been hers. After she’d come here, after everything that had happened, she convinced herself it was nothing more than romantic delusions making her think that way.
But with Derek back...everything just felt right. Complete. She felt like she’d come home.
“We never had sex while we were dating. We were just kids, you know? And I think maybe he was afraid he’d hurt me, since he was a werewolf and I wasn’t.”
***
Elena remembered how careful Clay had been when they first started having sex. It was definitely a valid concern when werewolves hooked up with humans. Of course, in her world, they didn’t have any other options.
“Do I need to give you the birds and bees talk?” she teased, knowing full well that her friend wasn’t by any definition a virgin.
***
That brought a happy laugh from Paige. She hadn’t been a virgin for a good long time, and she and Steve had enjoyed a very happy sex life for the two years they were together. And Steve wasn’t her first.
“I think I can kind of wing it, you know? On my own.”
She blushed a little.
“I think it might be different with Derek, though. I mean, there’s something between us. A chemistry I haven’t fel with anyone else.”
***
“I get that,” Elena said. “And I think you’re probably right.”
Even with her background and aversion to most physical affection, Elena had slept with a few other guys besides Clay and none of them could compare. She assumed it had something to do with the connection they shared from the bite.
***
“I’m glad it wasn’t Derek who actually bit me,” she said thoughtfully. “I mean, yes, it was his fault I was turned. But he didn’t actually do it. He couldn’t. Because, you know, how it all works in my world.”
She’d told her all this before, but she was having to think through everything again now that Derek was here.
***
If things worked the same way in Elena’s world, she never would have been bitten. At least not without her consent. Jeremy wouldn’t have done such a thing. Of course, that may have gotten her killed, if Clay decided to break Pack Law and tell her the truth. All in all, she supposed things weren’t so bad.
“That probably makes it a little easier to forgive,” she admitted.
***
“Yeah, I guess it does. It was wrong...but kids do stupid shit,” she said, with a sigh. “You should come over for dinner sometime. Maybe bring Chris. It would be nice to just do something fun.”
***
Elena nodded. She wanted to make sure that she and Chris were really compatible before they started presenting themselves as a couple in public, but a casual dinner with Paige and Derek might be a good test run.
“That would be nice. But let’s get through the Valentine’s Day dance first,” she said.