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

6

Billie is not crawling yet, but she can roll over like a champ and uses that to move around a bit. Isaac and Malia are making a game out of it, trying to coax her to roll their way by calling her name. Derek sits on the other side of the room in one of the large armchairs by the front windows, trying to read his book. He can't help but look up at his packmates every other paragraph though, from Isaac and Malia with the baby to Lydia and Stiles on the sofa. The latter are working on their online bestiary, which is more of a scientific research project than a life-saving necessity nowadays. Stiles is doing a minor on Mythology and Folklore and has been able to use his research for the pack for college assignments pretty often. Peter brought them some rare books he found on his recent trip to who-knows-where, much to Stiles and Lydia's delight. They've been cataloguing their new finds for a good hour now. Their benefactor is sitting in an armchair across from Derek, engrossed in an obscure crime novel. The name of the author looks Scandinavian.

"Here Billie-Billie-Billie," Malia calls out, stretching her arms out to the little girl.

"You make it sound like you're calling for a farm animal instead of my daughter," Stiles admonishes her lightly. He doesn't look up from the laptop, so he's not really angry.

"I tried calling her Bill, but that sounded weird," Malia answers with a shrug. She and Isaac have been calling her all sorts of versions of her name in their attempts to get her to roll their way.

"Come on, baby girl, come to uncle Isaac." The werewolf cheers when Billie turns her head his way, leaning over far enough to roll to her side and towards him. He crawls closer to her, calling her a pretty baby. Billie chatters back happily.

"You're cheating!" Malia gripes good-naturedly. "You're supposed to call her by her name, not just call her Baby all the time."

Derek notices how Stiles looks up at that, frowning a little in thought. Next to him, Lydia cocks her head. "She does respond well to the name Baby, doesn't she?"

"That's because you're such a cute baby girl, aren't you?" Isaac coos, leaning over Billie and making faces to get her to laugh. She rolls to her back and grabs at his face instead, trying to pry her fingers inside his mouth.

"Didn't Cristina say they called her Baby most of the time?" Lydia says it gently, yet Derek can sense the more serious undertone in her voice. Stiles can too, judging by the way he narrows his eyes at her.

Malia looks up. "Like in Dirty Dancing?" Stiles and Erica had overseen Malia's cultural education, basically marathoning movies and tv-shows with her every weekend to brush her up on pop culture. The werecoyote didn't care much for movies, though she liked the ones with song and dance in them.

"I always thought that was condescending," Lydia comments primly. "Her name was Frances, not Baby."

"But Billie is still a baby. Why wouldn't I call her that?" Isaac tickles her tummy. "Isn't that right, baby girl?"

"It's not a problem, Isaac," Stiles assures quickly, his eyes still trained on Lydia. "What are you saying, Lyds?"

"I don't know," Lydia answers slowly. "I was just wondering why Cristina would call her Baby all the time."

"Just wondering." There's enough disbelief and sarcasm in the young man's response to make Derek wonder if he has to step in. But, like Stiles, he wants to see where Lydia is going with this.

"Is Billie a family name?" Lydia asks suddenly.

Stiles shakes his head, the corner of his mouth ticking up a little. "No, Cris had a thing with Green Day."

Lydia lifts an eyebrow. "Really? I'll have to teach Billie how to use eyeliner properly, in that case." She says it like she wasn't planning that already from the moment she laid eyes on the little girl. Derek has heard her and Erica discuss how they would take her shopping as soon as she was old enough.
Stiles doesn't react, he just waits for his packmate to continue her train of thought.
"Anyway," Lydia says with a subtle toss of her hair, "if Billie was the name of her favourite singer, you'd think she would be using it more for her daughter."