#whew . sorry this took a while! my ability to write died there for a minute

[furysblade]

@vierandancer \ plotted

⇶ To be most candid with himself, Aymeric would not be going out of his way like this if he believed he could handle the situation himself. And oh he certainly could, but his position as Lord Speaker has thus made it more difficult to personally attend such matters. At least: attending it alone. And he would rather not have knights throw themselves upon a sacrificial knife for his sake.

He would not doubt their skills, obviously, considering 'twas he who inducted most of them into the Temple Knights. But this particular matter is sensitive. One that requires a more delicate hand than that of a militia. Thus did he request for correspondence with Meiko; he's aware that she must be busy, what with being Eorzea's hero. If there is anyone he trusts to assist him in this without Lord Artoirel's quiet brashness nor Ser Handeloup's tendency towards a good fight, it would be her.

Now he awaits in his office, papers spread out before him of the vital information over this latest woe.

[trekkingbeaconhills]

Sterek AU - I Remember You Part 6/?

Derek walked me through the rain and to the doors of the hospital and checked the service desk. He asked for Melissa. The lady guided us to a small room with chairs and told us to wait for her to come. We sat down and I stared at the snack machine. I sure wanted something from it, but I wasn’t sure about my stomach behaving. It growled in agony.

    Derek sat there, very quietly, watching me with anticipation. He knew what I wanted.

    “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked, smiling at him.

    I startled him. “What do you mean?”

    I wasn’t used to someone caring so much about me like he did. Not even my own father forced me to go to the hospital when I was sick. “You made me food. You comforted me after I puked all in your toilet. You brought me to the hospital.”

    His eyebrows scrunched together. “I,” he said, “care about you. I want you to be healthy.” His voice was small and quiet. “I don’t want to spend the first full day with you with you being sick like this.”

    “First full day?” I asked.

    He dropped his head and chuckled. “If this sickness goes away by morning, I’m taking you out.”

    My eyes widened. “What? You are? What are we doing?”

    “I was going to take you to see an old family house of mine. One I used to visit when I was a kid. It’s my grandparents’ house.” He grabbed my hand and started to rub it. “It’s not much, but I’m pretty sure it’s abandoned like mine was. They died way before the fire. We just never inherited their house because it was too far away for Laura and I to go to school here in Beacon Hills. Plus, my father and mother were alphas to the old pack they had together. They couldn’t just abandon them. So, the house remained untouched. Or, at least I hope it did. Hopefully, it’s too far out there for anyone to care about it.”

    I listened to his words about the old house. I was fascinated. I couldn’t wait to see this. “That’s awesome.”

    Just then, a door opened, and Melissa McCall stepped out, smiling at us both. She wore a blue scrub outfit, her hair tied up in a loose ponytail. “Hello, boys,” she said. “It’s nice seeing you here, Derek.”

    He returned her enthusiasm and we both stood up to follow her down a long hallway and to the right into a small room with a bed and a swivel chair. I sat down on the edge of the bed, and Derek stood by me. Melissa came into the room, holding my information on a clipboard, seeing all of my medical history. My temperamental dementia. I shivered. Derek noticed and rubbed my back, careful not to show Melissa the gesture.

    “So,” Melissa said, sitting down, “what’s up?”

    I looked to Derek. I said, “Well, it didn’t start until this morning. I woke up and my stomach was acting up.” They both watched me as I spoke. “I made myself some breakfast, just some pizza. Uh, I was reading one of dad’s reports and I just puked everywhere.” They waited. “Then, when I got to feeling better, I went over to see Derek, and he made me macaroni and cheese. I threw that up, too.”

    Melissa jotted down everything I said. “So, you’re puking everything you’re eating?”

    “Pretty much, yes.”

    “Have you considered food poisoning?”

    “No, I just ate pizza and macaroni. I don’t understand how I could get food poisoning from eating pizza.” I hung my head.

    “Well, let me go get Dr. Layman in here, and I’ll start running some tests,” she said, patting my hand and giving me a courtesy smile.

    Not even five minutes of silence between Derek and I, the doctor walked in with another clipboard and his glasses were in the lower bridge of his nose.

    “Good afternoon, Mr. M… Mi… Okay, never mind. Good afternoon, Mr. Stilinski,” he said taking a seat in the swivel chair, never looking at me. It made me nervous. I hated the doctor. He had dark gray hair and a tall stature. His nose was rather large, and his lips were tout. He wore a white coat with a name tag. “Ms. McCall told me you’ve got some stomach issues, yes?”

    “Yes, sir,” I said.

    He washed his hands and pulled on some tight latex gloves. He rolled toward me and held up his stethoscope. “Alright, Mr. Stilinski, straighten up for me.”

    I did as I was told and he put the scope to my chest and then my back. He tutted.

    “Your lungs sound great.” He turned back around and started to write on his paper. He stood up and pulled out a scope. First he checked my left ear, then my right. “Okay, say ‘ah’.”

    I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out.

    “No signs of severe irritation, probably just some from the regurgitation,” he mumbled. He then took my arm and wrapped a cuff around it to take my blood pressure, and placed something on my finger. The machine started to squeeze my arm for about 30 seconds. “And lastly, before we bring Ms. McCall back in here, I’m gonna take your temperature.” He put the bar under my tongue until it beeped. “98.9,” he sighed. “Well, kid, nothing too serious here. Melissa will be in here shortly to take some blood samples and cotton swabs. And then I will be back in here later. See ya.” He stood up, his new shoes squeaking off in the distance.

    I turned to see Derek’s face stuck in a children’s book. What was he reading? “Derek?” I smiled.

    He blushed as he looked up. “Yes, Stiles?” He closed the book and laid it back on the counter that he was leaning on.

    “Were you reading a child’s book?”

    He crossed his arms. “Yes.” It took all he had not to crack a smile.

    “So,” I prolonged, looking at the book, “does ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ have anything interesting in it?”

    He laughed and made way to me. His hands cupped my face, and he gave me a small peck on the lips. “You’re so weird.”

    “Yeah, but you like it.”     “Sure, sure,” he mumbled, leaning in for another kiss.

    As soon as our lips touched, Melissa came through the door.

    Her eyes shot wide open. “Oh, gosh, guys. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” She started to ramble.

    “Don’t,” I quickly said, readjusting myself onto the bed, breaking away from the other man. “Do not tell Scott, please.”

    Derek was already on the other side of the room, his face a deep shade of red.

    “I apologize,” he whispered, keeping his head down.

    “No,” she reassured, “no, that’s my fault. I should’ve knocked. I just… didn’t know what to expect, really.” She tried not to make eye contact. “And you have my word. Don’t tell Scott. Got it. I will not do that.” Her hands fluttered about, pushing a cart from the hallway into the room. “Whew, it’s not everyday that MY heart gets jumpstarted.”

    Silence.

    “Okayyy…” she muttered. “Let’s get this over with.”

    After the awkwardness seemed to disappear, she struck up a conversation with Derek while cleaning a spot on my middle finger.

    “So, Derek, how long have you been back?” She squeezed my finger, letting blood rise.

    “Uhh,” he replied, “about a week. I just moved back in.” There was still some tension in his voice.

    “And your sister? Cora?” Melissa tried so hard to ease it.

    Derek hesitated. “She’s fine. She moved further into Mexico with another alpha from San Angel, and I’m pretty sure she’s married now. I think his name is Emilio Jimenez? So she’s now Cora Jimenez. Not Cora Hale.” He sounded sad. I think he missed her.

    She pricked my finger. “Ow,” I said aloud, listening to Derek’s story. She looked at me and smiled.

    “And,” she started, “I don’t mean to be… nosey, but how did this-” she gestured to me and Derek, “-happen?”

    I blushed. “Uhh, well. It’s a long story.” I looked to Derek and he smiled, embarrassed, covering his face.

    “I’ve got all day,” she said, obviously wanting to push me.

    I said, “Okay, then. Well, Derek and I have… a lot in common. We like a lot of the same things, and he is sometimes sweet. Uh, anyways, we just… started. Neither of us really asked, but it was a mutual feeling. It was a bit awkward at first, but no one else knows. Well, besides you, now.”

    “Oh, so did you just start… dating?” Her curiosity sparked in her eyes. How could I deny answering her questions?

    “Yes. We just started dating, and I’m not ready to tell my dad just yet. Or Scott. I’m not sure how Scott would take this.”

    She threw her hands up in the air, shaking the tube of blood she just took from my finger. She capped it and laid it on the rolling table. “Scott shouldn’t care! You’re like his brother! God, if anyone should be uncomfortable with it, it’s you all. You both have a lot of responsibility to carry now. Stiles, there are more important things in this life than worrying about who you love and who accepts you. You have a lot on your plate. You’re going off to college, and Derek is… here.” She sounded confused. “Scott is getting promoted at work. He’s now doing surgeries. With his healing abilities, it makes it a lot easier for Deaton to do the procedures, especially since he can calm the animals inside. But either way, don’t worry about what Scott thinks. If he has a problem, he can come to me about it.” She placed a nice puppy bandaid on my finger.

    I smiled really big. “Thanks,” I responded very happily. I looked at Derek, his eyes already on me. He gave me a small nod. I really felt right with Derek. This truly felt like we were meant to be.

    “You are more than welcome,” Melissa said, picking all of her stuff up and throwing her gloves into a red trash bag along with the poker thing. “This might take a while to do, but I’m going to take your blood and see if it’ll tell us about your stomach virus, okay? So, you two sit tight, and I will be back as soon as I can.”

    She walked out, pushing her little cart, and she shut the door behind her. It was quiet. I couldn’t hear anything other than the faint short breaths of Derek.

    “Come sit beside me, please?” I asked him.

    Derek pushed himself off of the counter and leaned against the bed. He examined my puppy bandage and let his eyes wander all over my hand and to my arms until his eyes landed on mine. His eyes were so green, and his eyelashes complemented them so well. He tilted his head and squinted. “Stiles,” he spoke, very, very softly. He took my hand and rubbed it with the pad of his thumb. “I know I’m rushing, but I’m very serious.” My mouth propped open. “Nothing makes me feel the way that you do, and you know I’m not the committed type. You are all I’ve thought about for the past week and a half. I just can’t get you off of my mind. No one has ever made me feel this way.” My heart jumped happily. “Stiles, your beautiful face. Your lips. Your mind. Everything about you is amazing.” He stopped, looking for a reaction, but I was stiff. “I guess, what I’m trying to say is that… I love you, too.”

    “Too?” I gasped. My heart was definitely going insane.

    “Whenever you fell asleep on me last night, you said ‘I love you’, and I never said it back. I guess I needed confrontation before I was sure this is what I wanted, but now I know. I do. I love you, Stiles.”

    My head was spinning. I didn’t remember telling him that I loved him, but I did. He loved me back. He really did love me. I couldn’t help but smiling. Out of everyone telling me they loved me, this one… This one felt real. I could feel my chest swell up with excitement. I placed Derek’s hand over my heart so he could feel it racing. He smiled.

    “I could already hear it,” he said.

    A small oh escaped my lips. “Are you sure, Derek? About everything? About us?”

    He kissed me. My eyes shut and let the sensation take me. His lips tasted sweet. Very musky. Very woodlike. His hand went from my heart to my neck, and he pulled me closer. His tongue swiped my bottom lip, and I wanted to open my mouth, to let him in, but I knew better. I didn’t want to get too excited. Instead, I pulled back and let our foreheads touch. I could feel him staring at me through his dark eyelashes until he leaned forward and rubbed our noses together. I shrunk back and let out a snort.

    Still smiling, he whispered, “I’m sure. I love you, Stiles.”

    I laid my head on his shoulder. “I love you, too, Derek.”

    For about 20 minutes Derek and I talked about school and what I planned on majoring in, and I told him that I wasn’t 100% comfortable about my choice. He understood. He never got interested in college because of his parents’ fortune. He was basically set for life, and if it were possible to, he could live three lives on the money they provided. From start to finish. He told me that I didn’t have to go to college because he would provide for me, but I told him about my father and how much he wanted me to go to college to get a better education than Beacon Hills had to offer, although I made a 34 on my ACT, and I had the highest GPA out of my class besides Lydia. It was so low class for me to go to a knock-off college for an Associates Degree in business, but it didn’t matter. If that’s what it took for me to have my father’s approval, then that’s what I would do. I just hated to be so far away from my friends and family that I was really contemplating on not going and just suffering my father’s wrath later. Plus, I had Derek now. He was everything I wanted. If I told my dad that, he would definitely not approve. Me, spending my amazing talents on a man that I had just acclaimed I loved. Definitely not.

    But one thing I was definitely sure about, I was starving.

There was a very quiet knock on the door that made Derek snap his head up. He was suddenly on his guard. I looked at him very carefully as he eyed the door.

It opened, Melissa stepping in with a very cautious look on her face. It was drained of all blood. She looked pale like she had gotten sick. She first looked at Derek, with her mouth slightly open, then she looked at me, and frowned. She tried cheering herself up by playing a fake smile. “Uh, your blood test came back. The good news, you’re not sick! You don’t have the flu, and you don’t have a stomach virus.”

Derek was still curious, but he kept his posture upright.

Then, she looked at him again. “Derek, if I could have you step out into the visitor’s room, that would be very appreciated.”

My gut churned. I watched Derek as he hesitantly dropped off the side of the bed, sliding his hand out of mine. He straightened his shirt and looked at her. “No problem.” I could tell he wasn’t happy. I wasn’t either. I didn’t want to be away from him. Not at this point.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Derek,” she assured.

He stepped through the door, and Melissa shut it carefully, leaning up against it, making sure Derek was out of hearing range. “Stiles,” she whispered, shutting her eyes. She finally opened them after a few seconds, and then proceeded to advance toward me. “The doctors can’t explain it, and neither can I. I’ve never heard of this in my entire life. It should be impossible.”

By this time, I started to freak out, thinking about the Nogitsune. Had it come back? No, that’s impossible.

“Stiles, I had to make something up. I knew it was yours. I had to tell the other doctors that it was someone else’s. This has to be something to do with the werewolf thing because I have no other explanation for this.” She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know how to go about this.” She licked her lips. My heart was waiting in painful anticipation. “There’s something inside of you.”

My eyes fell to my stomach. “Like?” I was hallucinating. My breathing became ragged.

She cracked a smile out of fear. “Stiles, there’s a baby inside of you.”