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Post by malia on Dec 10, 2023 10:21:53 GMT -5
She hears his words as she shuts the door behind her, and she can’t help but smile. She doesn’t think about things like this very often, but in this moment as she looks at her naked body in the mirror of their bathroom, she feels really lucky. Like, she doesn’t deserve the life she has. She’s just a coyote girl, who killed her family, and lived in the woods for all of her formative years. She doesn’t do well in crowds and she’s not good at keeping up appearances. She’s not very easy to get along with sometimes and she knows she isn’t always the best partner. But she loves her little family fiercely. And she loves Stiles in a way that she could never put in to words. So as she turns the water on and let’s it get hot so she can wash the sticky remnants of their lovemaking from her body, she thanks whatever deity exists in the universe for letting her have him. For letting her love him, and keep him safe, and have his baby.
And as she steps into the hot water on the day she turns 29, she vows to never take it, or him and Ava for granted.
The warm water feels good as she washes her hair. It’s gotten long again and she lets the suds from the shampoo run down her body as she enjoys the moment of revelry. But she misses being with them almost immediately and she can smell the familiar scent of coffee as it drifts from the kitchen and her mouth begins to water. So she finishes her shower and dries her hair with a towel before pulling on a clean t-shirt, one of his shirts, and nothing else.
She pads her way barefoot to the kitchen, stopping and smiling when she gets to the entry way. She leans against the wall, watching him as he holds the baby, talking softly to her as he pours them both a mug of hot coffee. There is very little she loves more in life right now than watching him with the baby.
“Smells good,” She finally says, making her way across the room so she can rest her chin on his shoulder, her arm wrapping around his waist. Ava is dressed, but he’s still only in his boxers and the skin of his belly is warm against her hand as she takes her coffee with her free hand. “When are we leaving?”
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Post by stiles on Dec 10, 2023 16:38:43 GMT -5
Ava begins to fuss against his shoulder at the same time that coffee starts to drip into the pot. “Okay, Aves,” Stiles says. He begins to bounce her gently with that arm as he surveys the contents of the fridge. “I hear you.” He just wants to double check that the ingredients he had forgotten to tell Malia to leave untouched until this morning are still there, but Ava wails. The kind of wail that can break his heart even at two in the morning when he’s paced the length of the living room with her enough times to add up to a mile. “Oh, Baby,” he sighs as he moves her to settle in the crook of his arm. “What’s wrong?” he asks her, but already she’s calm again, staring up at him with her big eyes.
His lips part in a smile as he smooths down all of her dark hair. “Did you forget I was here?” He moves her pacifier to her tiny mouth, and she takes it greedily, content once again. And his heart swells. Last night as he had wrapped the gift from Ava, now sitting on the kitchen table, he had thought back to where he had been a year ago. He had no real memory of the date, outside of knowing he had sent Malia a generic text wishing her a Happy Birthday. And now, a year later, he was holding their baby in the middle of the home they now shared. And he’s still not entirely sure how they got here. “That’s better, isn’t it?” he asks the baby as he reaches for the coffee pot, beginning to fill a mug for Malia, and then a mug for himself. “You just needed to be able to see.”
Malia’s footsteps catch his attention before he hears his voice, and his heart swells again. There’s just something about lazy mornings like this, when it’s just the three of them. He catches her gaze out of the corner of his eye as he finishes pouring coffee, and by the time he turns his attention back to the mug, her warm body is pressed against his. “As soon as we’re ready,” he tells her as he holds out her mug and she unwraps her arm from his waist to take it. If it were up to him, they’d be on the road immediately, but this would be their first night away from Ava, and he wasn’t going to rush her on her birthday. “I’m gonna shower,” he tells her as he adds cream to his own coffee, “And we can eat something. And then we can drop her off with my dad whenever you’re ready.”
She pulls her arms entirely away to take a sip of her coffee, and Stiles finally turns around to get a good look at her. She sets her mug down and scoops the baby from his arms, talking softly to her, but he misses it as he takes in her appearance. His t-shirt just barely brushes the tops of her thighs, leaving her long, tanned legs bare. Her wet hair clips to the front of the shirt, leaving dark circles across her breasts, and he can make out her dark nipples. If he had to bet money, he’d guess that she wasn’t wearing any underwear either.
“Good God,” he mutters as he steps closer, wrapping his own arm around her waist. “Is it your birthday or mine?” He pulls her as close to him as he can with the baby in her arms, kissing her gently. His hand slides down from her waist to slip beneath the hem of the shirt, cupping her cheek. “We’re not going to make it out the door with you dressed like this.” She laughs as she pushes playfully at his shoulder, telling him that she wants to go. And he does, too. He had planned this night so meticulously, thinking it’d be when he asked her to spend forever with him. And he didn’t want to give up a moment of it. “Okay,” he tells her, slapping her ass playfully before finally pulling away. “But no opening your gifts while I’m in the shower.”
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Post by malia on Dec 10, 2023 23:28:07 GMT -5
As much as she doesn’t want to admit it, her heart does skip a small beat at the thought of leaving the baby. This woudln’t be their first time away from her, but it would be the first time they’d been gone overnight. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Noah, she did….with her own life. But Ava was so small, and she was nursing, and well….she didn’t think anyone could protect her and care for her the way that she and Stiles did. And the thought of leaving her makes her have to swallow a lump in her throat as the bitter coffee warms her belly. She tries to hide it from him as she smiles when she sees his eyes wander her body.
She hadn’t tried to get his attention with the way she was dressed, not really….okay, maybe a little. There’s a flutter in her belly as she sees the slight bulge begin to form in his boxers, but she can’t focus on that or they’ll never leave. She takes Ava’s warm little body into her arms so he can finish with his own coffee. She kisses her head, and Ava fusses a little. She would be hungry again soon, but this fussing seems like maybe she’s saying she’d preferred being in her Daddy’s arms at the moment. She’s relieved when he wraps an arm around her, allowing her to focus on the way his hand cups her ass instead of the sound of the baby’s whimpers. She laughs, a laugh that truly does sound like happiness….even to hear ears.
He pulls away before she’s ready, but she turns to watch him leave after he slaps her playfully. His words draw her attention to the table where she sees the carefully wrapped gifts that he’s placed there and she really wants to disobey his orders and just rip into them immediately, but she knows better. So she grabs her cup of coffee and sits down at the table with the baby in her arms. She turns her chair so she can look outside while she takes Ava’s pacifier from her mouth with a smack. The baby stares up at her and she can feel the familiar feeling of her tiny body tensing up. She was on the verge of getting very angry, very fast. Malia can’t help but laugh lightly, pulling her close for another kiss before she lifts her shirt. “It’s okay my love,” she says quietly. “I have what you want.”
She positions the tiny baby in the crook of her arm, pulling her legs up on the chair in front of her and cupping her breast so Ava can latch on to her already waiting nipple. The milk had started to bead there as soon as Stiles had placed the baby back in her arms. And Ava is hungry. She wastes no time, latching on and nuzzling in, her eyes wide as she drinks lazily. Malia smooths her hair down before lifting her cup of coffee and taking a sip, her gaze focused on the trees outside as she tries to keep her mind off of the presents in front of her on the table while she waits for Stiles to finish his shower.
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Post by stiles on Dec 11, 2023 19:34:47 GMT -5
It feels too quiet in their bedroom as soon as he’s back there. It’s the benefit of working, he guesses: he moves in and out of their world, so when he is home, they’re both just constantly there. Like Malia wants to soak up every second she gets with him, and he can’t bear to not be with the baby in the hours he’s home. So it’s odd to be anywhere in the house and for it to be silent. And if he was honest with himself, he’d have to admit that he misses them (which is ridiculous when they’re just down the hall.)
But it spurs Stiles on. Well, that and the gifts that he left on the table. He trusts her, but he’s also desperate for her to open for them. It’s the smallest gift, the one from Ava, that he’s the most excited about. He had spent hours picking all of his favorite pictures of his two favorite girls together, including the first one he ever took in the first hour of Ava’s life, to cover the coffee mug, save for the single square that said “I Love My Mama.” And it’s the only one that’s wrapped, sitting on the table. Beside it, he had set the ring box, which had always been supposed to be her gift. But he had asked her that weekend of the funeral instead, and now, the ring had just been returned to him, resized to fit on her finger. Her last gift waited for her in their bedroom. Ava had permanently changed her body, and shopping was still a subject she avoided at all costs. So to avoid a meltdown over clothes not fitting heading into their night away, he had enlisted Lydia and Braeden’s help to buy her a few new things to help round out her new wardrobe. It was all packed away for her now in her new luggage to replace the threadbare duffel bag she had arrived with almost a year ago.
He showers and dresses quickly, his hair still drying when he makes it back to the kitchen. Malia is still feeding the baby when he returns, and he freezes for a second in the doorway. Her t-shirt is now hiked all the way up on one side so the baby can nurse, which means that his belief that she’s not wearing anything underneath is confirmed for him. Her legs rest on the chair beside her, one knee bent. It sways back and forth as she talks softly to the baby, so he just catches glimpses of that space between her legs. But even that is enough to make his cock strain against his jeans again.
Malia finally looks up from the baby, raising an eyebrow. “Listen. You need to put on underwear before we go. Or we’re never going to make it out the door.” Her head falls back as she laughs, and he can’t help but laugh, too, shaking his head as he makes his way back into the kitchen. “Waffles sound good?”
It’s peaceful as he moves around the kitchen with her there as company. He whisks the batter together while she tells him about how often Ava was up to eat the night before and he updates her on Derek’s latest attempt to save what’s left of the preserve from developers. They talk about a show she’s been watching, a case he’s been working, the way the baby is smiling in her sleep now that she’s drifted off again. The thought crosses his mind more than once that every morning could feel this way, and he has to fight to ignore it before he can convince himself that yes, he should quit the job that he hates. And in no time at all, breakfast is ready. “Happy Birthday, Mal,” he tells her again as he slides her plate in front of her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
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Post by malia on Dec 11, 2023 23:38:33 GMT -5
The waffles me makes are delicious and she’s ravenous from their early morning activities. She finishes her entire plate and then eats half of a waffle he can’t finish. Ava falls asleep in her little bouncy chair that they keep on the table when they’re eating meals together and she’s not in one of their arms. Every day her little personality blooms more, and her lips do curl into a soft smile when she sleeps sometimes now. It’s one of Malia’s favorite things. But then so is sitting there eating breakfast with Stiles, and the way he smells right after a shower, and the way his smile reminds her of Ava’s and the way he rests his hand on her thigh as she takes the last sip of her coffee. It’s everything.
Every little mundane thing. Every simple morning just like this. With them, it all seems better than anything ever has before.
It hadn’t even been a full year that she’d been back. Oh how things had changed. And oh how she can’t imagine them ever going back to the way they were before.
She thinks she might die without them.
Finally the excitement of the gifts sitting in the middle of the table is more than she can bear. She grins, reaching for the wrapped gift and pulling it into her hands. “Can I open now?” She asks him with a childish excitement. She has no idea what this present could be, but she has a pretty good idea what might be in the box resting beside it. It’s not wrapped, and even though she doesn’t wear jewelry, she recognizes a ring box. It makes her heart flutter a little in a way that makes her feel like a silly, stupid girl. But she doesn’t really mind that much.
He nods and she doesn’t waist any time before she’s tearing into the paper, making her way through the layers of tape he’s used to wrap and pulling the mug from the box that it’s been carefully placed in. It takes her breath away and she’s silent as she looks at it. It’s marked from Ava, and it’s filled with pictures of them, from the moment she was born to just a week or so ago. Moments that she’d already let slip from her mind, and some that were tattooed there forever. Each one of them precious and perfect and something that she cherished more than any words could ever express. She doesn’t know why, but she can feel the way her eyes grow glassy, her heart swelling with love for her Ava, and her Stiles.
“It’s perfect,” She says honestly, smiling at him even though the gift is from their daughter technically. She leans in, stealing a kiss, her thumbs stroking his cheek as she tastes the sweetness of maple syrup on his lips. She would drink her morning coffee out of this mug until the pictures began to fade and Ava was old enough to be embarrassed by some of the pictures. “Thank you.” Ava is still sleeping peacefully in her chair and Malia kisses her fingers, reaching them out to touch the baby’s warm cheek. “And thank you.”
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Post by stiles on Dec 12, 2023 20:07:39 GMT -5
Her eyes shine brightly with her excitement as she asks her questions, and Stiles can’t help but laugh. “Go for it,” He tells her. He leans back in his chair as his hand reaches for her thigh, rubbing her warm skin and hoping she doesn’t notice it’s as much to touch her as it is to sooth him. Malia reaches for the wrapped gift before her, and his stomach drops. Her birthday gifts probably don’t warrant this level of anxiety, but he can’t shake it. For one, the last time he bought her a birthday gift, he was 17 and stupid. Her gift had been the money it cost him for a night at the county campgrounds - a night his father hand insisted Scott and Derek join them for - and her favorite hoodie from his drawer. But beyond that, this birthday feels important. Not because it’s the last year of her twenties or because it’s their first official birthday they’ll spend together, but because she’s given him so much in this single year. And all he wants is for these gifts to measure up.
So he holds his breath as she opens it, ripping through the paper and then popping a single claw to slice through the tape on the box. She breaks the styrofoam protecting the mug in her rush, but that excited energy stills as soon as she has it in her hands. Stiles memorized the pictures on the mug in the hour he had stared at it on his computer, so he watches her instead now as she turns it over in her hands. She’s so silent for so long, he’s just about ready to blurt that there’s other gifts when he notices the tears in her eyes. It startles him to see her so emotional. Anger had always been her emotion of choice for so long, but motherhood had softened her in some ways. Now, tears don’t feel quite so foreign, and he finds himself still adjusting to this change.
Her smile is soft when she finally lifts her gaze to his. He leans in to meet her halfway, lingering there against her soft sweet lips until she pulls away to thank the baby. “You’re welcome,” he tells her as he leans back in his chair, still rubbing her thigh. “It was all Ava’s idea.” Malia laughs again, and the thought crosses his mind that he wishes he could bottle up her happiness this morning. To keep it on hand for the next time Ava was up all night or they argued over the way she filled the dishwasher or his insistence on taking another overtime shift. Instead of reaching immediately for her next gift, she looks at him expectantly, eyes still bright. That nervous feeling settles into his stomach again as he nods towards the ring box. “That one’s from me.”
Malia has already seen the ring. It’s how they figured out it didn’t fit, despite his best efforts. But now that it’s been resized and cleaned for the first time in over 30 years, it hadn’t even looked like the same ring to Stiles. And it’s almost like she knows that as she reaches far more slowly for this second gift. She cups the box in her hands before slowly lifting the lid. He can’t see it from here, but he’s memorized the white gold band, the three small diamonds gleaming. “I was going to ask you tonight,” he tells her even though he’s told her this every day since he did ask her. “But now that’s yours - if you want to wear it.”
She already said yes. He has no idea why he’s so nervous. Still, he looses a breath when she lifts her gaze again, her eyes lined in silver once more as she turns the box to him and holds it out. He scoots his chair closer as he takes the box for her, gently easing the ring out before taking her left hand in his. He stills there, looking back up at her with a raised brow. “So is that a yes? You’ll still marry me?” She laughs again, even as one of those tears spills down her cheek when she nods. It’s a perfect fit this time when he slides the ring onto her finger, and he barely has a chance to straighten again before her lips are crashing into his, this kiss far more passionate than the last one. She tastes sweet from the syrup and salty from her tears, and the thought crosses his mind that this is what forever will feel like. And that thought brings no anxiety at all.
He pulls away when he needs to catch his breath, and her gaze falls to her hand, turning it back and forth as the diamonds gleam in the morning sunlight. “Is it bad,” he asks her with a crooked smile, “if I say seeing that ring on your hand really makes me want to fuck you again?”
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Post by malia on Dec 13, 2023 16:24:34 GMT -5
She doesn’t have to think about if she “wants” to wear it. That was never a question. Well, she thinks maybe she’d never thought about wearing a wedding ring. Definitely not when she was a coyote, and then she’d never even considered the idea of getting married after Stiles. There just hadn’t been anybody else she could even imagine wanting to spend that amount of time with. So she’d spent so long not having to think about whether she would wear a ring, even though she really didn’t wear much jewelry. It had just always seemed to be in the way. She didn’t like the feeling of things hanging from her wrists, and rings weighing down her fingers. Or even watches to tell the time. But this ring, this was different.
She stares at it, watching the way it sparkles slightly as it catches the morning light. Even as a coyote she’d like sparkly things. But this? This was beautiful. She knows the weight it holds, the meaning it has to him. And she knows how big of a deal it is that she’s the one he’s asking to wear this ring. This ring that had belonged to his mother. She bites her bottom lip as she holds the small box out to him. She wants to wear this ring more than anything. Her hand tingles in his as he holds it, ever so gently sliding the ring onto her finger. It fits perfectly this time, and it already feels like it was meant to be there. She doesn’t realize she’d been crying again until she tastes the salt of her tears when she kisses his lips, soft and tender, her hands coming to his cheeks so she can cup them and stroke them with her thumbs.
Of course the answer was still yes. The answer would always be yes.
The next kiss is hard and insistent, as if she needs to impart upon him just how much she means this vow. How serious she is about it. He is her mate, and she is his. There will never be anybody else.
She’s lost in the shimmer of the ring when he speaks again, and she looks up at him with an amused grin on her face. She’s been apprehensive about leaving the baby, she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t. It’s the longest she’ll have been away from Ava since her birth. She doesn’t trust anyone to protect her the way she and Stiles do, even Noah. But she’s excited, really excited, to spend this birthday away with him. “No,” she tells him, reaching for his hand and pressing it against her breast before she steals one more kiss. “Because it makes me want you to fuck me again.” Her eyes sparkle with mischief as she pulls away. “Let me get dressed and we can go,” she tells him, hopping off the chair and still staring at the ring as she wanders down the hallway to put her clothes on and get the rest of the baby’s things together.
So far, her birthday had been more than she could have ever dreamed of.
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Post by stiles on Dec 13, 2023 20:22:15 GMT -5
Stiles groans against her lips as she tells him she wants him to fuck her. Her full breast is beneath his palm, and her lips are less than an inch from his, and she’s still wearing nothing beneath that t-shirt, and… And he really needs to get a fucking hold on himself, or they’ll never make it out the door.
Luckily for him, Malia seems to have the same realization. It’s a much more chaste kiss she presses against his lips and then jumps up from her chair. “Hey,” he calls after her as he gets to his own feet and starts to clear the table. “You’re all packed to go.” She stills on the threshold of the kitchen, finally looking away from the ring on her finger. “That’s you’re last gift,” he explains with a nod towards their bedroom. “Braden and Lydia helped with new clothes. And I was tired of feeling like your duffle was about to give out every time you packed it.”
He leaves out the part that her bag now matches his, like they’re a real couple with matching luggage. Just like he leaves out the part that he had brought some of her favorite clothes to Braden and Lydia for size reference and had sworn to forever withhold Ava from anyone who bought Malia something that didn’t fit. But it doesn’t seem to matter that he had taken that much care to keep her from getting upset about her changed body again. Even without that knowledge, Malia is suddenly back in front of him, flinging her arms around his neck before she kisses him again.
Stiles’s hand finds its way back to her ass, kneading her warm skin as she wordlessly thanks him for that gift. And then he has to use all of his restraint to pull himself away. “Okay. Seriously. Go get dressed.” She spins on her heel, disappearing into their bedroom, and Stiles is left to the kitchen. Ava sleeps soundly on the kitchen table while he cleans up from breakfast. He’s just finishing loading the dishwasher when Malia returns in one of his flannels and cutoffs, her hair up in a messy bun. She’s there long enough to scoop Ava for a diaper change, and he starts on the car. And within the hour, they’re finally out the door.
It’s a quick drive to his dad’s, but he can feel the knot that starts to form in his stomach as soon as they turn off their street. He had asked Malia if she wanted to do this night away more than once before he booked it because of this moment right here. That knot pulls tighter as he pulls into the driveway. And when Malia immediately pulls Ava out of her carseat as soon as they’re inside the door instead of leaving his dad to do it. And when he slips down the hall to check the Pack ‘n Play Ava will sleep in that night, just to make sure that it’s all secure before their baby is laid down there to sleep. That tightness has spread to his chest by the time his dad is reciting Ava’s routine to prove that he knows it, and Stiles is trying to gently pry the baby away from Malia.
He feels a little guilty for the way he immediately steers her out the door as soon as the baby is safely in Noah’s arms. But not guilty enough to stop until they’re both in the Jeep again. And then he lets himself sit there instead of starting the car, looking over at her to catch the way her bottom lip trembles as she stares ahead at the door they just walked out. The door her baby is now behind. “You okay, Mal?”
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Post by malia on Dec 13, 2023 22:53:40 GMT -5
The excitement of the morning, the sex, and the presents, and the breakfast….it all seemed to keep her mind off of the fact that they would be dropping their baby off and leaving her for an entire night. She’s lost in her ring, and the mug, and the way Stiles grabs her ass. On the fact that he got her luggage that matches his own and took the time to work with the only two girls who really knew her well enough to go shopping for her and get her some new clothes.
She felt lucky, and happy, and excited for the rest of her birthday.
Until they’re driving down the street that leads to Noah’s house. She usually loves going over. They spend almost every Sunday night there, with Melissa and sometimes Scott. They’re evenings filled with laughter and good food and family, and a little but of a break as Melissa and Noah dote on the baby. But now they’re leaving her, and with each turn they make she can feel her stomach tighten more and more.
And then they’re there, and she’s holding her baby and it’s a whirlwind as they leave him instructions and he assures them it’s going to be okay, and then Stiles is prying Ava from her arms and pulling her out the door and they’re in the car. Alone.
She can feel the tears before they even leak from her eyes. Her throat gets tight and her lip quivers and Goddammit she hates herself for crying, but she can’t help it. He asks her if she’s okay and that’s when the dam breaks. Her first sob is more of a choke as she tries to hold it in. Her heart aches for their pup, but her heart and her mind also really want to go on this trip with Stiles.
It’s just 24 hours. They had to leave Ava sometime. She would be okay. She trusted Noah with her life. Noah had raised Stiles. She loved him.
“Yes,” She finally moans, angrily wiping at her eyes. “Please…just drive.”
She’s begging. She knows the longer they sit there the less she’s going to want to actually leave. The more tempted she’s going to be to run right back to the door and pull her baby back into her arms.
“She’ll be okay,” she says, more for her sake than his, as he puts the car into reverse.
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Post by stiles on Dec 14, 2023 18:24:00 GMT -5
Malia was never a crier before becoming pregnant, so this is still new to Stiles, the way there's tears suddenly streaming down her face. And he'd feel like an asshole if he just watched it happen without saying a word, but then he's silently cursing himself when his question is the thing to set her off. Her shoulders shake with the force of her sobs as her hand comes up to cover her mouth, and he's torn between wanting to hold her and wanting to go back inside to grab their baby. Neither of which Malia asks for.
His own mouth forms a tight line as she tells him that she's fine and asks him to just drive. It's counterintuitive to do the thing that will cause her more pain. Plus, it suddenly feels much harder to him to just drive. Tonight is the longest they'll have ever been away from their baby. He had been so focused on his excitement surrounding her birthday, he hadn't thought about this part where they left Ava for the night. Now, it felt like he had left his heart inside of his childhood home, and he was just supposed to move on without it. So it's not just for her benefit that he wants to tell her it's not too late to change their minds and stay home. But a bigger part of him wants this night with her. And he knows that the actual leaving is the hardest part.
His hand finds its way to her leg after he backs out of the driveway, squeezing her knee before moving up to rub her thigh. "She's going to be fine," he agrees, stealing a glance at her. "She loves my dad and Melissa. And they've watched her before. This is harder for us than it is for Ava."
Malia's still weepy as she nods her agreement. His hand keeps moving on her leg, trying to sooth her as her sobs slow into wet gasps and sniffles. Tears still roll down her cheeks. "I'm really excited to have tonight with you, though," he tells her honestly. He steals another glance to find her bottom lip still quivering.
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Post by malia on Dec 14, 2023 22:52:16 GMT -5
This wasn’t how she’d planned it. She’d fully prepared herself for leaving Ava. At least she thought she had. But the baby had become such a huge part of her life, her ENTIRE life (along with Stiles), that now that they’re separated…she’s not sure can do it. She closes her eyes, picturing the baby in her mind. Her sweet little face, those eyes that seem to know her so intimately even though they’re still so new. The feel of her little mouth against her breast and her warm body in her arms. The way it feels to walk into a room and see Stiles laying there with the baby on his chest.
God Malia, it’s just one night. Pull yourself together. You survived a whole 28 years without Ava, you can do one goddamn night.
He might not realize it, but the feel of his hands against her leg is comforting. She wipes her cheeks with her sleeve again, nodding in agreement at what he says. Sure, it’s harder for them than it is Ava. She loves Noah and Melissa. Hell, she probably doesn’t even realize they’re gone.
Then that thought just makes her begin to cry again. Maybe she’s already forgotten them.
They sit in silence for a little while as he drives, and she wipes her cheeks and her sobs slowly begin to turn into sniffles. She looks at him as he drives and she scents him, reaching for his hand. He was apprehensive too, she can smell it on him. She interlocks her fingers through his and lets her head rest back against the seat as she looks watches him drive.
“Me too,” she agrees. She means it. Her heart is torn because she really does want this night with him, but she also really didn’t want to leave the baby. But it was done now. The hardest part is over.
But what if she needed them while they were so far away?
Then the tears come again, but she doesn’t really register them for long because a sudden and intense exhaustion overtakes her. The combination of that, her tears, and the comfort of riding in the car lull her into a deep sleep that seems to sweep away her tears finally once and for all.
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Post by stiles on Dec 15, 2023 16:15:52 GMT -5
Stiles lets her lace her fingers through his when she takes his hand. There's not much else he can offer her in that moment. It feels insincere to keep telling her that the baby will be fine when it's Malia who isn't fine in this moment. And if he confesses his own apprehension to her, there's a good chance they'll end up turning around to pick up Ava before they ever even make it out of Beacon Hills. So he hopes the chemosignals he's inevitably throwing off are enough to let her know that he's just as anxious about leaving their daughter for the night. And he tries to just be okay with the sound of her soft sobs, knowing there's not much more he can offer her than just being there.
Her tears ebb and flow. At one point, she starts crying so hard again, he eases his foot off the gas and hovers over the break, ready to just turn back around. But then they quiet again as she wipes at her face with the sleeve of her shirt, and he offers her hand a gentle squeeze instead. By the time they leave Beacon Hills, her tears have become quiet sniffles. And by the time they're merging onto the expressway, she's fast asleep beside him.
Stiles smiles to himself as he glances over at her sleeping form. He doesn't remember her falling asleep in the car back in high school, but when she was pregnant with Ava, she had fallen asleep a handful of times in the short drive between home and his dad's. Now, with neither of them ever getting a night of interrupted sleep, it feels like the Jeep is always the thing to lull her to sleep. He rubs the back of her hand as he realizes that he's not even sure how much of the night before Ava was up. For the first month of her life, he had felt this responsibility to be up with them, like if Malia had to be up for a feeding, he should be up, too. But after four weeks, he had realized it was pointless for both of them to be up at the same time. Now, he got up with her for a bottle sometimes or when Malia shook him awake to change her diaper, but he mostly slept so he could take her while Malia napped in the afternoon or went to bed a little earlier.
He keeps his hand in hers until he needs to pull it away to change lanes. It's early in the day and the middle of the week, so there's no real traffic, and they make it up the coast in seemingly record time. Malia sleep the whole way, even after they get off of the expressway. She's still curled up in her seat with her cheek pressed to the seat when he pulls into their spot. Unlike the campgrounds they're used to, their spot is right beside their campsite - if campsite is even the right word for it. He's poured over the pictures of this spot a hundred times, but still, it's different to see it in person. The firepit with the white adirondacks. The raised platform with the small deck. The flaps of the canvas tent (if tent is even the right word) pulled back so that he can see inside to the large bed, the small table for two.
The perfect place to spend her birthday.
He turns the Jeep off before he turns to her. His hand is gentle as he brushes her hair back from her face, then bringing it down to her shoulder and rubbing her arm. "Mal? We're here."
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Post by malia on Dec 16, 2023 0:06:33 GMT -5
Malia’s not sure how long she sleeps. It’s a deep sleep, restless, but only in her mind. Filled with dreams of the baby, of Stiles, of the future and the past. She doesn’t even stir until he hears the sound of his voice. Even that isn’t enough to fully wake her. She doesn’t open her eyes until she feels his hand brush her hair from her cheek, his fingers as they gently rub her arm. She looks over at him with a groggy smile.
It dawns on her that she doesn’t even know where they are. She knew very little about their night away, only that they were taking it. He’d made sure they talked about it before he planned anything so they could decide if they were ready to spend the night away from Ava. And once she’d agreed to that, the rest of the planning he’d kept mostly a secret from her. She knew it involved camping and that they were going to be going out of town. But she didn’t know how or where.
“Where are we?” She asks as she takes in their surroundings. The woods are unfamiliar and this doesn’t look like any kind of camping she’s ever seen before. There’s a beautiful lake, a dimly lit structure that is like a more stationery version of a tent. A fancy tent. There’s a place for a fire outside and some chairs to sit and enjoy the view. It takes her breath away.
For a moment, she almost forgets that they’d left Ava hundreds of miles away. She swallows the lump that’s forming in her throat. She wasn’t going to get upset again. It was one night. She wanted to spend this time with him and she wasn’t going to ruin it.
“It’s beautiful,” she tells him before she climbs out of the car. She can’t help but take in the scents, the smell of the territory, to make sure that it’s safe and there doesn’t seem to be any threat. She looks around, moving to his side of the car as he climbs out to join her. He has a crooked grin on his face, one that tells her he feels kind of proud of himself for picking this out.
She loves him so much.
“It’s perfect,” She says, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Yes, Ava would be just find without them for one night.
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Post by stiles on Dec 16, 2023 13:10:29 GMT -5
He holds his breath as Malia slowly wakes up in the front seat. She’s been the picture of peace and calm in the front seat for the past two hours, but her brow furrows in confusion as she blinks a few times. He catches the way her eyes grow wide as she takes in her surroundings from the lake to the tall pines that serve as almost a privacy barrier behind their spot to the tent itself. “Big Sur,” he answers her question, bracing himself for the tears to return as it really sinks in just how far away they are from Ava. The part of his brain that needs to always be right is ready to remind her that they agreed to an overnight, and they agreed to two hours away, and he stuck to all of that, but he pushes it away as his hand goes to her thigh again. Ready to comfort her and offer to drive the two hours back before they even set foot out of the car.
But then that soft smile lights up her face, and Stiles can breathe again. It is beautiful. Camping has been one of the things they’ve both loved since they first started dating. It was the first overnight they had ever done away from his childhood bedroom. It was their first trip away together after she came back, too, just days after she told him she was pregnant. Now, he’s already started planning a trip to the county campgrounds this summer with Ava. But this is a far cry from that county campground. This spot where he had been supposed to propose.
He gets out of the car right after she does, and he stands still as he watches the way she takes in their surroundings, her smile growing. Stiles’s own smile grows in response as he feels that warmth spread through his chest, knowing this was the right decision. He had wanted to see this exact expression on her face in this moment. It feels even better than he had imagined it.
She rounds the car, and he’s not sure who reaches for who first as his arm wraps around her waist. “I’m glad,” he tells her, returning her peck with a kiss of his own. His hand comes up to the nape of her neck, sliding into her hair as he holds her against him for just a moment. Maybe it’s the fact that they have a whole night to themselves, or maybe it’s this place, or maybe it’s that ring still so new on her finger, but already, he desperately wants her again.
She’s the one to pull away first, though. She wears that same wistful expression as she begins to wander. And Stiles takes it as his cue to begin to unpack. With all of the heavy lifting done for them, it’s not nearly as hard to set up as it normally is. Malia has just finished exploring the perimeter and set foot in the tent when he finishes bringing in their two bags and the cooler. He watches her as she slowly takes in this, too, coming up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder. “We’re not far from the beach,” he murmurs softly. “And there’s a hot spring somewhere.” He moves his hand to brush her hair behind her shoulder before pressing his lips to a spot just below her ear. “What does the birthday girl want to do now?”
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Post by malia on Dec 16, 2023 22:00:21 GMT -5
Big Sur. That made sense. She should have known with the huge trees and the sound of the surf nearby. The smell of the air and the beautiful country side. His kiss is tender, but somehow insistent as he pulls her even closer. She breaths him in, the combination of the fresh air and his aftershave making her tingle a bit.
It’s impossible to describe the love she feels for him in that moment, in every moment. It makes her heart feel full to the point it could almost burst. But there are some things that are just instinct to her. Some things that will never change. She can’t stop herself as she pulls away, her senses on high alert as she walks around the outside of the tent. She scents out the area, she wanders to the lake front, she crosses her arms in front of her chest and admires the view while she lets her eyes scan the shore of the lake to make sure nothing seems out of place. That there’s no possibility someone is out there looking at them from a distance. That Stiles is safe.
Once she’s decided that everything seems to be okay, she makes her way back to the small dwelling. It’s not really a tent. The foundation seems permanent ,but the material that surrounds them is like a tent. She’s never really seen anything like it. She has to admit it’s beautiful.She stops in the door way, watching as he settles their luggage in the corner of the tent. Her heart flutters slightly when he wraps his arms around her again, his chin resting against her shoulder. She moves her arms to rest on top of his, tilting her head slightly so he can press his lips to her neck.
A beach, and a hot spring. It all sounds amazing. And there didn’t seem to be anybody else around, which meant that they could go swimming naked if they wanted. Or she could at least. It was a little harder to get Stiles to agree to those kind of things. But she closes her eyes, almost moaning as she feels the warmth of his lips against the sensitive skin just below her ear. She enjoys the feeling for a moment before turning around in his arms. She moves her hands to rest against his chest, smiling at him playfully she as she slowly moves her hands to the hem of his shirt and lets them slide underneath to the warm skin of his belly.
“Sounds nice,” She mumbles, moving in to press her lips to his. Right at the corner so she can move to kiss her way along his jaw. “But the birthday girl only wants one thing,” she whispers, taking her turn to kiss her way to that sensitive skin just below his ear.
“You.”
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