AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This story is dedicated to kmgproductionz and princessjames21.
It occurs to me that this is more Life Unexpected meets Parent Trap meets Supernatural meets Teen Wolf meets Chicago PD…but I'm enjoying it a lot so I hope you guys are too. I love your feedback!
WARNINGS: Language, Dark Themes, Crime, Blood, Sexual Situations
ENJOY!
xxxx
Erin wasn't entirely convinced.
Dean didn't want to bring her into the fold of the supernatural yet, but Lydia wanted to and that made Dean every once in a while move to cover Lydia's mouth. Stiles and Erin both gave the two looks as Lydia would then push his hand away and tell him that he needed to just let her speak. At one point though, Erin just laughed and then took it with a grain of salt that Dean was framed—after all he said he could prove it if she let him and right now it was about Lydia. She had never thought that Dean was dangerous and if Lydia trusted him, something had to be up.
Besides, there were a lot of people that had nothing but nice to say about the Winchesters: that they helped them, saved them, etc. Erin was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt considering the things she had done herself in the past, and so she took a deep breath and decided to just go with it. Smiling at Lydia, Erin sat down next to her and the two made eye contact, Lydia feeling her heart beat faster in her chest because this was her biological mother—this was her flesh and blood and she'd been dying to meet her.
"I think that I owe you a lot of explanations on my end too," Erin told her taking a deep breath. "I just don't know where to begin."
Lydia nodded and then waved it off. "You don't have to explain anything right off the bat, I just…I wanted to meet you."
"Well, I'm glad you made the trip," Erin admitted honestly. "I guess all this time I just assumed that you didn't want to see me because I gave you up."
"I didn't know that you existed until a few days ago," Lydia said as she shook her head. "Had I known earlier, I would have seen you earlier."
Erin smiled more at that, wondering why it was that the maternal instincts were already kick in, seeing her daughter right there in front of her, almost a grown up. She was a truly beautiful young lady with the best of both of her parents making her up and it made Erin a little proud. Just because she hadn't wanted to do what she did all those years ago, didn't mean that she didn't think at the time that it was what was in Lydia's best interest. She couldn't take care of a child…she just couldn't.
"So what made you take the trip?" Erin asked Stiles slowly, wanting to give the young man attention too.
He had obviously come all this way with her because he cared, but Erin wanted to know if maybe there was something else there and suddenly Dean was alert about it as well. Dean wasn't entirely sure how to be a 'dad', but when faced with the possibility of this gangly kid being with his daughter, something protective boiled up inside of him. He was opening up his mouth before he could stop himself, Erin sitting right next to him enjoying her beer.
"Is sex happening here?" Dean asked quickly, looking between Lydia and Stiles.
Stiles looked at Dean. "I promise you both, okay…"
Lydia looked at her laughing mother. "'No', obviously."
She didn't know why that statement upset her, but it did and it hurt Stiles too, who was going to just be chivalrous about the question. Still, they both sucked it up when faced with Erin and Dean, Erin of whom noticed right away how they were both feeling—part of her job was to read people. Dean would have been reading them, but he was too busy thinking about the last time he and Erin had indulged themselves all those years ago.
"You're not missing a thing," Erin told Lydia with a shrug, the two smiling as Erin sipped her beer again and Lydia drank her coffee, Dean pulling himself out of his thoughts.
"Just be careful," Dean said, and then it was time to change the subject.
Stiles and Lydia were both flushed because it suddenly things had taken a turn in a direction they hadn't anticipated and Erin moved to change the subject.
"We, should, uh…probably contact your parents," Erin explained to them. "Who should I call?"
Stiles stood up. "Probably my father—he's the sheriff of Beacon Hills."
xx
Dean had chuckled when Erin had said that Stiles was 'good people' and then reluctantly agreed to take Stiles with him in his car with Sam when Erin insisted on taking them back home. Erin wanted to spend time with her, but she also didn't want to be charged with kidnapping or anything and thought that Lydia's parents should know where she was. So, they got everything together before Lydia hurriedly asked a different question.
"Do you mind if we just spend this one night here?" Lydia practically pleaded.
She didn't want to seem needy, but at the same time she knew that she wanted to spend a little more time with her parents. Sure, they hadn't raised her, but they were the reason that she even existed and while she was reluctant at first, Erin was beaming because she wanted that. So, she got everyone some bed clothes and helped them to 'set up camp', only to linger a little as she watched Stiles watch over Lydia: that right there was true love.
It warmed her heart to know that Lydia was taken care of and in the morning after some breakfast and some coffee, they all piled into the two cars and they headed out, Lydia and Erin in one car to bond a bit, Dean, Sam and Stiles in the other. Stiles had wanted more than anything to get to ride in the vintage car and he was very upbeat, Dean and Sam not really as excited as he was.
"You are chipper," Dean commented, reaching over to slap Stiles' hand as Stiles leaned forward from the back seat to change the radio station. "No…"
Stiles looked at him with a pained expression and held his stinging hand. "Tapes are outdated, Dude."
"Don't, 'dude' me," Dean retorted lamely. "Tapes are cool."
"Sure they are," Sam said sarcastically, Stiles chuckling.
"So, why did you leave Erin?" Stiles asked suddenly.
Silence fell on the car for a moment and then Dean swallowed and Stiles could tell that he hit a nerve. Dean's grip on the steering wheel had tightened as well and Stiles took in a sharp breath of air before he just nodded and settled into the seat. Sam also noticed the tension and took a deep breath so that he could fill the silence with something.
"We were young and we just…" Dean tried but then he shrugged. "It was a mutual decision. We were fighting and she told me to walk and I walked. I didn't even know that Lydia was…"
Stiles nodded at him as they made eye contact in the rearview mirror. "I know, I just wanted to make conversation. Get to know you. She already had one dad walk out on her and she really doesn't need another one doing the same." Stiles looked back to the car following them as the words sunk in with Dean. "What do you think they're talking about?"
"Lydia, you can ask me anything," Erin told her with a smile.
Lydia nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay…was I planned? You know, before the whole adoption thing?"
"Honestly? Not at all," Erin admitted, glancing at her.
"I figured I was a statistic," Lydia nodded as she glanced up at the Impala ahead of them, taking a breath and then looking at her mother. "Dad's still looking good…"
"Wow, you really are my daughter," Erin responded shaking her head—she didn't want to talk about Dean at all. "I'd like to hear about you, Lydia."
Lydia nodded even though she'd rather play matchmaker with her birth parents, Erin smiling at her from the driver's seat as Lydia made a face. Giving her up for adoption had been hard, but it warmed her heart to know that Lydia had still turned out somewhat like her—at least the new her.
"My parents are divorced," Lydia told her with a sigh. "I live with just my mother right now, and even though I almost got strangled at one point…I don't see her as much as I would like."
Erin's face suddenly changed. "You almost got strangled?! What happened?"
"I…" Lydia began and then she stopped.
The lack of answer caused Erin to glance at her, slightly panicked, but then Lydia smiled because honestly she felt like someone gave a shit. She felt like even though Erin hadn't raised her, right in that moment Erin was her mother and she wanted Lydia to be safe and she wanted to hurt whomever had tried to hurt her little girl. Lydia decided instead to give the police report version of what had happened though, and Erin looked like she was going to cry.
"I wanted you, you know?" Erin said, nodding when Lydia gently shook her head. "I just didn't think that I could raise you—no, I knew I couldn't. I was so messed up and if I had kept you…I did until you were 26 months though."
Lydia swallowed. "You did? I don't remember that…"
"Well…I hadn't given you all that much of a life, so I'm glad," Erin told her honestly. "I taught you how to walk, read and I had you potty trained before you were at 21 months. You were my little girl but my life was dark, and it was dangerous."
"It's okay, you don't have to explain," Lydia said, shaking her head. "Let me tell you a bit more about myself though…since you asked."
Erin nodded, thankful that Lydia could tell how hard this was for her, and Lydia began to tell her all about the happier parts of her life and even some of the sad ones. She told her about her IQ and her grades and her aspirations and she spoke about Stiles in a way that Erin was absolutely convinced that there was love there between them. They might not know it yet—or at Least Lydia didn't—but Erin knew.
"You're everything I wanted, Lydia," Erin told her with a shrug, glancing at her with a smile on her face. "I'm proud of you."
xx
Erin and Dean wanted to get motel rooms when they got to Beacon Hills, but Lydia insisted they stay with her because her mother was going out of town the next afternoon. After making quick introductions and Stiles checking in at home, Erin settled in for the evening because she had promised Lydia some quality time together. Dean even wanted to stay because of what Stiles had said to him, but he was sleeping while Sam dealt with their case.
"You doing okay?" Stiles asked Lydia slowly, looking at her from the doorway of her room. "I just wanted to check on you before I went back home."
Lydia smiled at him and took a deep breath. "She isn't what I expected at all."
Stiles didn't look very happy to hear that, but it was because before Lydia smiled he thought that maybe something less than happy had happened there. Lydia smiled, however, and it made Stiles smile a little bit too because he had felt so stressed out and yet here was Lydia, happy for the first time in a long time.
"She said she was proud of me," Lydia told him smiling.
Stiles felt much better knowing that Lydia was pleased and she definitely needed to be able to get to know her biological parents. She had felt so alone and ignored for so long and now there was a chance that that could change but at the same time…what would that even mean? Would it mean that she left? Would it mean that she moved? Stiles was pulled out of his thoughts by Lydia before he could ask anymore internal questions.
"Why'd you come with me?" Lydia asked him as she looked at him with soft eyes.
Stiles hadn't seen that look grace her face in a long time, but it was always with him and he felt his chest constrict. He loved her so much and while she knew that he had liked her since the third grade, she didn't seem to understand that he had picked her and it was only her. It was only her for him and it would always be that way, so his answer was simple.
"Well…I care…" Stiles said calmly.
Lydia didn't know why, but her heart warmed at his words and she smiled even more.
Note: I wanted to set up Lydia bonding with her birth parents and her potential future with Stiles, but Sam's and Dean's case? There's a focus on it next chapter and at some point, Erin will learn the truth, just not yet. Feedback is always appreciated!