You've got the love I need to see me through - Baby in the Pack

3

They're still staring at the baby when she begins to stir. "Oh my god," Stiles whispers panickedly. He's still gripping Derek's shirt and now his other hand comes up to his bicep, blunt fingernails digging in his skin. "She's waking up."

Derek can only nodd, watching with trepidation how the little girl scrunches up her nose and smacks her lips. Her head moves from side to side and then her eyes open. "She has your eyes," he immediately notices out loud, because it's true; Billie has her father's honey gold eyes.

"Oh my god," Stiles moans and his breaths come shorter as his heartbeat speeds up.

Billie watches them with curiosity, her eyes going from one to the other and back. Derek is grateful she isn't scared, because her father is inching steadily towards a meltdown and a wailing baby would send him over the edge for sure.
"Stiles," he says slowly, carefully trying to turn towards his packmate though that is made difficult by the way Stiles clings to his arm.

"Derek!" Stiles' voice breaks on a sob. "I don't know anything about babies! What should I do?" The words come out haltingly, hindered by his shallow and hurried breathing.

"Stiles, it's gonna be fine," Derek promises, because it will be. He'll make sure of it, one way or another. He gently pries Stiles' fingers from his bicep and lifts his arm up and over so he can take hold of the young man's shoulders. "Stiles, look at me, it's gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. We can do this."

"Why is there a baby in the kitchen?" Malia's voice rings through the room, startling Stiles and even Derek. He inwardly curses his inability to hear people coming this morning. Before he can say anything his cousin leans back towards the hallway and calls out to the rest of the house: "Hey guys! Come see! There's a baby!"

Multiple things happen at once: Billie starts crying, Stiles tips over into a full blown panic attack and the whole pack crams into the kitchen. It's utter chaos for a few minutes, until Derek bellows "Everybody out!" over the ruckus. The Alpha timbre in his voice even makes Billie stop crying, though only for a short moment. He regrets raising his voice when her face scrunches up and she starts wailing again, this time even louder.
It's Lydia who speaks up and starts ushering people out. She orders Jackson to grab the duffle bag from by the door and Isaac to tote the maxi cosi with a crying baby towards the living room. The redheaded girl throws Derek a look that tells him to take care of Stiles, who crumpled to the floor, and then he hears her shooing the others back to their rooms so they don't scare the baby.

"Her name is Billie," Derek says in his normal voice, knowing one of the werewolves will hear it and pass it on. He has to concentrate on Stiles now, who is sitting in a heap on the floor, tears streaming down his face and his breathing laboured.

It's been a while since Stiles had a panic attack, but he's had them often enough in the past that Derek knows what to do. His instincts tell him to gather the younger man in his arms and hold him close, offer quiet words of comfort, stroke his hair until he calms down. However, Stiles doesn't like to be held when he's like this. He feels trapped when you hold him and Derek doesn't want to make him feel that way ever. So he pushes down on his instincts and sits on the floor in front of Stiles but a little to the side. He puts one hand lightly on his shoulder so he can hold him up if need be and uses the other to gather one of Stiles' hands flat against his own chest.
"Can you feel my chest move with my breathing, Stiles? I want you to concentrate on that," he says in a low voice, coaxing the other with gentle instructions until Stiles is breathing with him, trying to match his pace.

It must be close to half an hour later before Stiles is calmed down enough to be responsive again. It's then that Derek can finally gather him close and hold him while his packmate bawls his eyes out. He makes soft shushing sounds and lets him sob a wet patch in his shirt until Stiles gathers himself and pushes himself back a little. He draws his hands down over his face, wiping away most of the tears. "Fuck," Stiles mutters, heartfelt.

"That was the start of this whole thing, I reckon," Derek deadpans. Stiles hits him in the arm and calls him an ass, yet the younger man smiles through his tears and that was the goal.

"I'm a dad," Stiles says then, sounding awed and scared at the same time.

"But you're not alone," Derek urges, wanting to drive home that particular point no matter what.

His packmate takes a deep breath and nods. "I guess I better go check on her." Derek helps him up from the floor and Stiles takes a moment to wash his face at the sink before he takes another deep breath and squares his shoulders, collecting himself before walking into the living room.

They find Billie sitting in a corner of the large sofa, pillows propped up around her. She's happily munching on something, smudging it out over her fist and cheeks. On the coffee table there's a bright orange box with a yellow bear on it, promoting high fibre, sugar free cookies. Derek guesses that's what she's eating.
Isaac sits on the floor in front of her, toying with a bright pink baby bottle in his hands. Like the others, he's still dressed in his sleep clothes. "We gave her some water," he says when he sees them looking. "It was in the bag."

"There's a whole baby inventory in there," Lydia says, gesturing to the large duffle that sits next to the coffee table. "Clothes, formula, a bottle warmer, stuff like that. There's also a list that shows her daily schedule and things she eats besides formula."

Even though Cristina is very low on Derek's list of favourite people at the moment, he's glad that she didn't expect them to magically know how to take care of a baby.
Jackson is in the corner of the room, flipping through papers in a manilla folder. He guesses they're the custody papers; Jackson is studying law, so he's the one most likely to make sense of the legal terms in them.

Lydia walks up to Stiles and puts a gentle hand on his arm. "Stiles? Is she really yours?"

The young man takes his eyes off the baby and looks at his packmate. He nods. "Yes. Cristina wouldn't lie about something like this."

"But she didn't tell you she was pregnant."

"Nope, she sure didn't." Stiles sounds resigned. "That doesn't matter anymore now, does it?" He takes the last couple of steps towards the sofa and sits down in front of Billie. Isaac moves over so he's out of the way.

"Hi, little one," Stiles greets curiously and Billie looks up from her cookie only to promptly stick out her little fist to offer him her snack. Stiles looks taken aback by the sudden act of kindness and Derek can hear his heartbeat pick up again. The young man smiles waveringly and carefully folds his fingers around her wrist, away from the mess she made while eating. Under the watchful eyes of Derek, Lydia, Isaac and Jackson, Stiles moves his hand over her arm, up her shoulder and then down her side and leg, ending at her foot. The little girl follows his ministrations with curious interest, temporarily forgetting about her cookie. Stiles moves his hand to her head, petting her dark mop of hair and then her full cheeks, eliciting a laugh from the little girl. Stiles laughs too, though it sounds a little wet.

Behind Derek, the rest of the pack quietly files into the living room. They're showered and dressed and a lot more subdued than when they first saw Billie.
"She's got your eyes, Stiles," Boyd says, voice a pleasant rumble. Derek feels the corners of his mouth tick up, pleased he isn't the only one to notice that little fact.

"My mom's eyes," Stiles answers thickly and Derek quickly has to trample down his instincts again. Stiles is an adult, he can deal with this without being coddled by his Alpha the whole time.

In a few quick sentences Derek explains to his pack how Cristina showed up at their door early that morning, leaving her daughter behind. There are some angry exclamations about her qualities as a mother, yet Derek shuts those down immediately. "She must have her reasons for doing this. It looks like it was a well-considered decision."

"The custody papers were made up almost two months ago already," Jackson informs them, closing the folder with a firm snap. "As far as I can tell they're in order, they only need Stiles' signature. They're done by a firm in Seattle."

"That's where Cristina's pack is from," Stiles answers absently, letting Billie play with his fingers. Her hands are covered in moist cookie mush, which he doesn't seem to mind.

"So," Malia pipes up, rocking back and forth on her feet and swinging her arms, "what do we do now?"

The pack falls silent while they look between Stiles and Derek, expecting an answer from either or both of them. When Stiles keeps silent, Derek speaks up. "That's up to Stiles. But we'll figure it out together, because we're pack." He waits until Stiles looks up to him to catch his eyes. "She's pack."