Chapter Forty-Seven

Baby Shower

𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭! 𝐎𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭 . . . The sound of Journey drifted from the headphones, playing loud enough so I could faintly make out the words to 'Any Way You Want It.'

I was resting in Scott's bed, leaning against the headboard with my legs crossed and stretched in front of me. I was bouncing my foot to the beat of the song, lightly humming along to the song while flipping through my 'Mommy To Be' magazine.

The sound of Scott's bedroom door opening and closing, caught my attention but, I didn't look up. I was too focused on the article on breastfeeding with multiples, my boobs hurt just at the thought.

I could hear Scott's soft chuckle, followed by the sound of his dresser drawer opening. I glanced up from the magazine, resting it on my bump, careful not to move the headphones. Scott was standing by his dresser, putting some clothes away with a crooked smile on his lips. He looked so... hot with his messy hair and smile. He hadn't smiled much since the whole Allison thing, which is completely understandable.

"What?" I mused, glancing back to my magazine article, marking the page to put it away. "Are you playing Journey for them now?" Scott asked. I felt the bed dip beside me as I set the magazine on the bedside table.

Scott was lying on his stomach, his face right by my belly while he looked up at me. I smiled and shrugged, "I want them to have varied musical knowledge." His palm rested on my belly, his thumb lightly rubbing at the exposed skin at the base of my stomach. "Yesterday, you had them listen to Motzart, the day before that it was Beyonce, and now it's Journey?"

I nodded, "and Metallica." Scott's eyebrows knitted together but he was amused, "metallica?" I let out a breath-like-laugh, "I said varied." I let out a yawn, my eyes getting watery as I did so. Honestly, I always feel exhausted anymore.

"What time is it?" I asked, grabbing the iPod and headphones while turning off the music. I set the IPod on top of the magazine pile, relaxing back into the pile of pillows. "Eight thirty," Scott mumbled, his head moved to rest in my lap while he held the top of my belly with his hand.

I hummed in response, playing with his hair with one of my free hand. My eyes fell closed and I felt myself becoming tired. "You ready for the baby shower tomorrow?" I asked, smiling as I felt Scott's lips move slightly against my stomach; he did this whenever he talked to the babies.

"Uh, yeah, what happens at these things anyways?" Scott moved his position, my hand fell from his hair and onto my lap where he was previously resting. He rested beside me on the bed, propping himself up on his elbow.

My tongue flicked out to wet my lips and I hummed, thinking, my eyes were still closed as I began to respond. "Well . . . Danny and Lydia came up with some games for us to play. There'll be food, uh... gifts for the babies and cake. Ugh," I popped my eyes open, only to see that Scott's face was right above mine, his brown eyes staring into my own.

"I can't wait for that cake. It's vanilla with strawberries... it's gonna be so good!" I could already feel my mouth watering at the thought of the strawberry and vanilla cake. I really hope Danny gets ice cream too, maybe chocolate or maybe like a mango shorbet.

Scott laughed lightly, his minty breath fanning over my face as he dipped his head. I brought my hand up to his cheek, rubbing my thumb across his chin and jawline. Scott moved forwards, his nose rubbing against mine lightly as our eyes stared into one another. He has the most amazing eyes, like a soft, puppy-dog brown with small flecks of gold if you look closely.

I tilted my head upwards, catching his lips with my own, my eyes falling closed and my hand moving to the back of his neck. Electricity and heat spread through our lips, across my chest, and down to my toes; igniting every inch of my skin and setting me on fire. With just a kiss.

Scott went to deepen the kiss, but I pulled back, a yawn left my lips and I laughed afterwards. "Sorry, tired." I pressed a kiss to his smiling lips, as if to make up for my poorly timed yawn. Scott pulled back, "it's fine. Are you gonna stay here tonight?"

I nodded immediately, "yes." Home was... different now. Malia stays over with Stiles almost every night and I can hear them having sex through the too-thin walls. I loved her though, honestly, the fact that Malia is attached to my hip is so sweet.

In the middle of the night, when I go to the bathroom, I come back to my room only to find Malia in there, waiting to check on me. And from the moment I wake up, Malia is there, making sure no one hurts me. Oh! And she doesn't let me carry anything. At school, she even carries my bag.

She also growls-- and I mean actually growls-- at anyone who comes too close to me. At first I found her overbearing and annoying but, now I love it. It's such a sweet gesture and it makes me feel safe knowing that someone is willing to protect me and my babies at any cost. Scott and Stiles find it completely amusing, which isn't surprising, and Danny thinks it's weird that my brother's girlfriend is so close with me... he thinks she's in love with me, but he doesn't understand that Malia is a werecoyote who spent the last nine years as a coyote; her protectiveness is just her instincts.

I rolled onto my side, facing Scott. I placed a quick kiss to his jaw, "goodnight." I mumbled, my eyes falling closed. Scott pressed his lips to my head, "goodnight."

♥♥♥

The baby shower was so perfect, Danny and Lydia helped Scott and I set up the pastel decorations. The theme was so cute with pink, blue, and yellow pastel colored balloons and streamers in the house. There was pizza along with a bunch of snack foods that looked really good. The cake looked amazing too it was a two tier cake that was pink and blue.

I finished curling my last strand of hair, Malia was sitting on the toilet lid, waiting for me to finish getting ready so we could head to the living room where people were starting to arrive. I turned off the curler and set it on the counter to cool down while I looked at my reflection.

My hair was in bouncy curls that went to my shoulders, my makeup was done simple and not over the top. I was wearing a dress, for the first time since before I was pregnant. The dress was a white tank-top dress that ended at my knees and hugged my figure, making my bump extremely prominent. I paired the dress with a cute soft, baby pink cardigan and my necklaces.

I turned to Malia, "do I look okay?" I asked, frowning as I looked down and could barely see my toes. Malia looked me over, "yeah. You look good." Malia paused to look toward the door, "people are here. We should go down."

"Yeah, let's do this," I let out a breath before following Malia out of my room and toward the main room where everyone was. The sound of conversation echoed down the hallway and I was momentarily worried about who was all invited... maybe I shouldn't've let Danny and Lydia handle invites.

The living room wasn't as packed as I thought it'd be, thankfully. I could see Danny talking with Vincent Greenberg who I knew was on the team with him; Lydia was talking with Kira, Stiles, Bailey, and Mrs. Martin; my dad was visiting with Melissa, Mr. McCall, and Mr. Tate; Scott was talking with... Peter Hale? Why was Peter here? That just makes no sense. Scott was also talking with Deaton.

Once Lydia caught sight of me, she smiled and began walking over, Bailey and Kira following behind her. "Victoria, you look amazing!" She gushed, looking over my outfit. I smiled at her, she was wearing a cute floral dress with a cardigan and heels. "Me? Look at you, Lydia, you're gorgeous, as always." I laughed lightly.

"No, Lydia's right, you're like... glowing," Bailey complimented slightly, moving to put her hand on my shoulder. None of us missed the way Malia glared at her and growled slightly. Bailey retracted her hand and backed away sheepishly.

I laughed slightly at Malia, my eyes moving to scan the room until they landed on the snack table. Food of every kind was laid out beautifuly and I could feel myself salivating at the sight of the turkey wraps.

"You're hungry, let's get you food," Malia grabbed my arm and guided me through the people, everyone saying hi to me and complimenting my outfit. I wasn't paying much attention to it though, I was starving.

I grabbed a plate, filling it with a turkey wrap, a couple of the small cheeseburger sliders, some chips, and some broccoli and carrots. I bit into the wrap, moaning as the taste filled my mouth, it was so good.

A hand rested on my lower back and I felt Scott press a kiss to my head. I looked up at him, giving him a closed mouth smile. "Hi," I spoke around my food, holding up my hand to cover my mouth. Scott laughed slightly, amused with me.

I quickly swallowed my bite and began munching on some broccoli while looking around at everyone. For the first half of the party, I spent the whole time at the food table, snacking on everything. People kept coming up to me and talking with me, visiting. Peter left before saying anything to me, which makes me think he was just here to talk with Scott about something.

Then it was time for the games. Stiles, Scott, Danny, my dad, and Scott's dad all put on blindfolds. Their job was to see who could put the diaper on the baby the most accurately while blind, they had one minute.

I laughed while watching as Stiles put the diaper on upside down and backwards, Scott put it on slightly sideways, Danny and the dads put the diaper on very accurately though. I leaned toward Lydia, laughing while I spoke, "I don't think Stiles will be babysitting any time soon-- not without training that is."

Lydia laughed with me as the timer went off and the boys took their blindfolds off. Scott held up his baby excitedly, "I did it!" His brown eyes found mine and I looked at him with an amused smile.

Stiles frowned at his doll, like he couldn't understand how he messed it up so badly... I don't understand either though, so I don't blame his confusion. Danny clapped excitedly, "time for presents!"

He quickly stood up and pulled me over to the couch, forcing Scott down beside me. I briefly saw the flash of a camera coming from the direction of Bailey, she was an incredibly photographer. Danny quickly put two gifts in front of me, "open mine first."

I laughed before opening the first one it was a small gift bag. My eyes began watering as I looked at what was inside, a receipt for a plane ticket from New York to California for the end of March. "Oh, Danny," my lip jutted out and I tried so hard not to cry.

Danny smiled at me, "that way I'll be here when my godchildren arrive." I set the package aside, wiping at my eyes, thank god for waterproof mascara. Scott helped me pick up the next one from Danny, this one was a bigger bag.

Scott let me open this one too. Inside was a couple things, first there was two binkis that had little mustaches on them. I laughed at that one, obviously. There was also a black jack daniels black t-shirt for myself and then two little onsies that had 'drinking buddy' printed on each one with bottles on them. He also got us a think of diapers, a disposable camera 'for the hospital', and a candle that said 'I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom.'

Next we opened a gift from Bailey, she got us these cute little outfits for the babies: a pink dress with matching shoes for our baby girl and a pair of pants with a blue t-shirt and matching shoes for our boy. Vincent got us a gift card for target that had $100 on it along with a promise to 'buy Scottie a drink.' He got scolded by Mr. McCall and my dad for that one.

Kira got us some baby cloths, some bottles, binkis, and a couple unisex onsies. She also got me a cute self-care kit that had bath stuff in it with lotions and perfumes. Deaton gave Scott time off work, thankfully, and got me some herbs that he said he would explain later, which told me it was something supernatural.

Peter even left us a check for $300 that he said was for me and not Scott, which was sort of amusing. Mrs. Martin got me a twin breast feeding pillow, a couple parenting books that she swore by, some diapers, and a package of socks that were fluffy and white.

Malia handed me my gift, it was wrapped messily, but I didn't mind. "That's from me and my... dad." She explained. I nodded, smiling at her. I opened it to see that it was a nice grey diaper bag full of diapers, bottles, and some wash cloths. I smiled at her, gratefully, "thank you Malia, Mr. Tate."

"I wanted to get you a giftcard to that burger place you like, but he told me not to." I laughed at that, Malia had gone with me to get burgers from Tony's Burger Shack at least five times now, each time it was at nine p.m. and Malia went with me to make sure I didn't crash my car due to sleep deprivation.

Lydia went up to me next, a big bag in her hand, she smiled sadly at me while handing it over. I opened the bag with a smile, confused as to why she looked sad. Inside was two matching quilts, the first was pink and white and the other was blue and white, there was also two stuffed animals an elephant and a teddy bear. I felt my eyes burn at the gifts, I was so emotional. "I also got you a bassinette for your room..." She swallowed thickly, "Allison and I picked it out a couple weeks ago... it was on sale and we knew you'd like it."

I set the gifts on Scott's lap and stood up, with a push from Scott. I put my arms around Lydia tightly, "thank you, Lydia. I love it... all of it." I can't believe Allison had a gift picked out for me. I didn't expect it, not at all.

Scott's parents along with my dad and brother decided to give us our gifts later, which I didn't mind. I was getting hungry again and I couldn't stop eyeing the cake. Scott gave my knee a squeeze, gaining my attention.

"I'm starting to think you like the food table more than me," he teased slightly. I pulled a face, "well that's awkward..." I joked right back. Scott laughed with me and it was nice. After we had cake and everyone left, Danny won almost every single game except for the baby game, Kira beat everyone at not saying baby all night and just stealing everyone's clips. It was great.

After everyone left, leaving Scott, Stiles, my dad, Melissa, and Mr. McCall, we began picking up. Well, they began picking up, I sat on the couch with my feet propped up on the coffee table while I folded the cothes and such. I put the bottles and binkis into the diaper bag, the clothes and wash clothes went into a neat pile and the blankets and stuffies went in another, all other items were set aside to be put away later.

I was folding the 'thing 1' and 'thing 2' onsies when my dad sat beside me, picking up the grey and pink elephant as he did so. He was staring into the beaded eyes with furrowed brows, I wonder what he's thinking.

He looked into my eyes, noticing my staring as I'd paused my folding for a moment. Dad gave me a smile, it wasn't as forced as I expected. This smile was genuine and had so many layers to it, I couldn't even begin to decode everything that was hidden within.

"You're going to be a great mother," his words came out slow, but I felt them hit my heart and then my eyes. Damnithormones! "I know I don't say this enough, but... I'm proud of you. You're doing great in school, you've got a job, you're-- you're growing up,"

I watched as he dipped his head, his words were slightly choked and I realized he was crying. My eyes watered even more and my grip on his hand tightened. "You're, uh, you're doing great, Victoria. Your mother would be so proud of the young woman you've become." I leaned over to him, wrapping my arms around him tightly.

My face buried itself into his shoulder as I held him tightly, my tears wetting the cotton. "Thanks, dad." He rubbed his hand up and down my back, "of course, Kiddo." I placed a kiss on his cheek before pulling back and giving him a smile.

He's proud of me. My dad is proud of who I am. Him saying that means more to me than anything. After a moment of silence, everyone else came into the living room, joining us. My dad looked up at Melissa and Mr. McCall, nodding like it was code or something.

The adults stood up and Scott stood beside where I sat on the couch, I sat straight as they all looked at us. It was like they were about to give us the safe sex talk, with their serious facial expressions and all. A little late though, I suppose. I smiled slightly at my internal thoughts.

Melissa was the first to speak, "for your baby shower gift, we all pitched in and got you guys something." I glanced up at Scott, but he was already looking at me. I rose a brow, silently asking if he knew about any of this, he shook his head.

"We're getting you two cribs, one for each house," Mr. McCall spoke and I felt my heart swell at the kind gesture. Oh my god, they're getting us two cribs? My dad cleared his throat, "we also got you carseats and a stroller thing."

Melissa smiled at me, "and I got you a rocking chair for the your nursery." I looked up at Scott, unable to form a sentence. It was unbelievable, how were they so... accepting and more than willing to help us with all of this.

My breath was gone as I tried to think of what to say, Scott seemed just as shocked but, he was better at dealing. "Uh, thank you guys, so much. Really, you didn't have to." I nodded, still unable to speak, my mouth just kept opening and closing like a fish out of water.

My dad cleared his throat, "of course. Also, we've been talking, and..." he glanced to Melissa for some help. She nodded, taking over, "we think it's best if you guys stay at one place once the babies are first born, and to make it easiest for the both of you, we're going to allow you guys to stay with one another. Biweekly of course."

"As long as there's no more baby-making, that is. Two is enough." My dad quickly added. So not only are they pretty much buying all the big items we need for the babies, but they're going to let us live together? One week at my house, one week at his? That's... incredibly.

I laughed lightly, shaking my head, "thank you guys... so much."

♥♥♥

After everyone went home, Scott included, I was lying in my room, reading a magazine as usual. A soft knock sounded at my door, interrupting my concentration, "yea?" I called, not glancing up.

"Hey," Stiles called back, walking into the room with a gift in his hands. "I didn't get the chance to give this to you yet." I looked up to look at the two bags, one was pink and the other blue. I smiled up at my brother. "Aw, Stiles!"