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"I wish you didn't have to go back to school so soon." Lydia raised her head from where it was resting on Derek's chest.
"And why is that?"
"Because I hate you being so far away. And I don't sleep well without you. And I worry – you're special enough but having a banshee can be a status symbol for many packs and someone might try to take you away." Derek shifted slightly in the bed so that he could hold Lydia a little closer, just the thought of someone taking her or trying to hurt her upsetting.
"All very valid points, but Derek – this is one of my dreams and I'm not giving them up. I warned you when this began to get serious that school meant a lot to me."
"I don't want you to give up anything. I know how important your work is – I just – I miss you." He rubbed his chin gently on the top of her head. He knew that she knew he was scent-marking her but she let him get away with it anyway. No one else in either of their packs really got close enough to Lydia to notice that their scents were so intermingled but it soothed Derek to know that when she went back to school, any other supernatural would know she was with someone. That she was protected.
"You know I miss you too, right? I may not be as tactile or demonstrative as you, but the feelings are there." Feeling like there wasn't going to be a better time, Derek kissed the top of her head before gently moving her so that he could get out of the bed. "Where are you going?"
"I have something for you." The present had been burning a hole in his pocket for weeks now – even when he visited her on campus. "It's nothing big – a little trinket really." He rummaged through his jacket quickly before he could change his mind about giving it to her.
Lydia sat up in the bed, not bothering to pull up the sheet so that he was momentarily distracted by her nakedness. She really was so beautiful: fire-red strands of hair tumbling around her shoulders, flawless pale skin almost gleaming in the lamp-light.
“So that’s for me?” Her gentle question jolted him out of his reverie and he nodded before climbing back onto the bed, settling at the bottom facing her.
“If you don’t like that – “
“Derek – just hand it over.” He gave her the box, sitting stiffly as she lifted the lid. He couldn’t sense any disappointment but he also couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
He’d commissioned the earrings the last time he visited his mother in New York and was almost satisfied with them. A triskelion in platinum, they weren’t ostentatious – he had just really wanted to see her in his Pack symbol. And he knew she wasn’t ready for the ring he wanted so badly to see on her finger –
“I noticed you had a second piercing and thought they would look pretty. And you don’t have to worry – they don’t have to symbolise pack membership.” She was silent, staring at the earrings and Derek began to panic. “They don’t have to mean anything and if you don’t like them – “
“Will you help me put them on?” Derek scrambled up the bed with none of his normal animal grace, sitting next to her as she removed the plain studs from the second piercings in her lobes. She tilted her head gracefully, waiting patiently as he fumbled with the small pieces of jewellery.
Once they were in, she turned to face him fully, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
“Do they look the way you thought they would?”
“They look – you look – “ Unable to find the words, Derek leaned forward and kissed her, tasting the salt of her tears as they trickled down her cheeks.
“Thank you – they’re beautiful.” Derek let her push him over onto his back, sighing as she straddled his body, the delicate scent of her shampoo surrounding him as her hair cascaded around his face.
“Not as beautiful as you.” She smiled, leaning down and kissing his forehead. Sometimes, he wondered why the moments like this, gentle, stayed in his mind for longer than even the passionate sex – often sending him to sleep with a smile on his face.
“I will wear them with pride. And maybe it’s time we stopped hiding this? I know you hate the smells of hotels and I would love to see your childhood bedroom – it will tell me so much about you.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“I could even leave a few things there – make it smell a little more like us instead of just you?” Derek couldn’t stop himself from surging up and kissing her hard, his entire body reacting to the thought of having Lydia in his private space, the scent of the two of them slowly taking over. He moaned as she pulled back, and again as one delicate hand slid down his chest towards his groin. “Besides, you already have an impressive collection of my underwear – yes, I had noticed you taking them whenever we meet.”
“You never said anything.”
“Derek, when will you realise I notice everything about you? Now lie back – I want to say thank you for my gorgeous earrings.” Before he closed his eyes, Derek made sure to memorise the twinkling look in her eyes and the soft smile she gave him as she slid gracefully down his body.