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Lydia can’t help but smile at the sight of Liam and Hayden curled up on the couch together, fast asleep, and she wonders how it feels like to be that young and innocent and in love, because she’s never personally experienced it before.
Grabbing the blanket draped on the edge of the couch, she gently covers the two of them with it, making them slightly flinch before they end up cuddling even closer to each other. And Lydia’s smile grows a little wider.
“Thank god, they’re okay.”
She turns at the familiar voice, seeing Jordan making his way towards her, still in his uniform. “Yeah, they are. Safe and sound,” she says, looking at him with a light smile. “What brings you here?”
“I just got off my shift and the Sheriff thought it might be a good idea to check up on you guys to make sure you’re okay.” She can already see his face turning a slight pink.
She raises a brow and tilts her head, curious. “The Sheriff’s idea? Or yours?”
Jordan full on blushes when she catches his little lie, and she can’t help but giggle a little. “It’s okay, you know. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I just…” He hesitates, but then she touches his arm again, gesturing him to go on. He sighs, “I just don’t want to be a bother. I’m not really…part of this, you know? Part of the pack.”
Lydia sees the sadness that crosses his expression when he says those words, but he quickly tries to hide it with a shrug and a small smile, but she can see right through him. “Oh, Jordan. Who says you’re not part of the pack? You are,” she tells him, her hand gently caressing his arm now. “You’ve helped us out so much. Not just with the Dread Doctors, but the deadpool six months ago too. So, don’t say that, okay?”
He nods, his smile reaching up to his bright green eyes now even though he’s still all red, but Lydia thinks it’s cute as she gently takes her hand away from his arm, but not before giving his bicep a little squeeze. He glances around the room then, not seeing any of the others. “Where is everyone?”
“Scott and Kira are probably upstairs. Stiles, Malia, and Theo are somewhere around here, and…the puppies are asleep,” she says, gesturing towards a sleeping Hayden and Liam with a smile.
Jordan chuckles. “You guys must be hungry though, right? How about I order some pizza?”
She’s pretty sure no one’s even thought about food, and even though Lydia’s sure that no one’s probably in the right mood to eat, she also knows that a little pizza isn’t going to hurt anyone. “That sounds like a good idea, actually.” She smiles at him and he grins back.
“Great. I’ll order for pick up, then?” She nods, watching him call up the pizza place and placing an order for three large pizzas, which she thinks is definitely more than enough, especially since he’s paying, but Jordan won’t budge on it. After hanging up, she expects him to turn and leave but then he suddenly moves towards her and bends down, just enough for him to be at level with her to place a chaste kiss against her cheek, and he does it as if it’s the most natural thing to him. “I’ll be back in twenty,” he says absentmindedly before finally walking away, not even realizing what he just did, and Lydia just stands there, not knowing what to think.
He probably didn’t mean to, that much she knows, but that doesn’t stop the warm feeling from bubbling up inside her like butterflies. She can’t remember the last time she’s felt like that, if she’s ever felt like that, and she tries to shake it away, the thought and the feeling. She walks towards the kitchen, deciding to focus her mind on something else, like preparing some herbal tea that Deaton showed her because she remembers Malia complaining about muscle pain and tea is great for that kind of thing. But even as she places the kettle over the stove, the innocent little kiss is still bothering her in the back of her mind.
Twenty minutes later, Jordan comes back with the pizza and just like Lydia suspected, he doesn’t say anything about what happened earlier. Lydia decides not to bring it up either, instead just helping him as they take out plates and cups to place the pizza slices on and pour the drinks and put leftovers away for Hayden and Liam to eat when they wake up.
Malia and Stiles are the easiest to convince to eat, since they’re practically five year olds who flail at the sound of pizza, and so is Mason, who hasn’t eaten all day, while Scott is the hardest and for good reason too. But no matter how many times Lydia tries to convince him to eat, he just won’t. It’s only when Jordan enters the room, placing his hands gently on Lydia’s shoulders to let her know that he’ll take care of this, does Lydia nod and slowly leave the room, Jordan’s warm touch still buzzing through her body.
He comes downstairs ten minutes later while she’s washing dishes and gives her a thumbs up. “How did you do it?” She asks, genuinely curious.
He just smiles. “I have two younger siblings who wouldn’t eat either when they were sad, disappointed, broken. I was usually the one to get through with them.”
She smiles back. “That’s sweet of you.”
He blushes at her words as he picks up one of the dish rags, “Let me help you clean up.”
Scott’s mom has another double shift at the hospital, and Lydia’s sure she’d at least be relieved and appreciative to come home to a nice clean house instead of one with, well, a dead body on the kitchen counter. While she washes the dishes, Jordan dries them, and every once in a while their shoulders end up brushing, making them both steal glances to each other, and Lydia has to try her best to bite back a smile every time.
“You two reek of arousal.” Malia’s voice suddenly has both of them turning, Lydia bumping into Jordan and almost falling, but he grabs her by the arms quickly to keep her balance and her heart beats so fast when she realizes how close she is to him.
“Wow, a lot of arousal,” the werecoyote says again. “Not to mention you two look like some domestic married couple taking care of their kids.”
“Malia,” Lydia finds herself saying in a warning tone as she gently pulls herself away from Jordan, her skin on fire from his touch. “The pizza’s in the fridge if you want more.” She reminds her, hoping that she won’t say anything else.
Malia shrugs, heading towards the fridge and grabbing a thick slice of pizza, not bothering to warm it up as she shoves it in her mouth before walking out of the room. And when the strawberry blonde steals another glance up at the deputy beside her, she notices how his face is probably at its reddest the entire night.
**
It’s a little past midnight when Lydia plops down on one of the couches that isn’t occupied by someone from the pack. She just finished covering everyone with blankets (giving Malia a few extra, since she remembers the werecoyote gets cold easily) since they all crashed on the couch or the floor after eating. Lydia yawns tiredly, ready to crash herself, when Jordan enters the room again and sits down next to her.
“Just did a perimeter check of the house. Everything looks good, nothing suspicious,” he tells her, not realizing she’s only half listening until her eyes flutter close and she leans into him, burying her face into his shoulder comfortably. Lydia feels him freeze under the sudden closeness for a moment, but then he slowly relaxes. “Tired?” He asks.
“Mhm,” she manages to murmur, half asleep already as she links her arm with his, not even realizing it.
“Do you want me to get you a blanket?”
“No, this is good.” Her voice is soft, breathy. “You’re warm.” She’s nearly curled up into his side now, reveling in his warmth as she starts to drift off.
“You did good today,” he whispers, gently moving a strand of hair away from her face and Lydia can’t help but smile as she opens her eyes a little to look at him again.
“You too.” She leans in close then, placing a soft kiss against his cheek, and although half asleep, she’s fully aware of what she’s doing.
Jordan doesn’t say anything in response, but she definitely sees him blush and smile before she’s back on his shoulder, closing her eyes again. Moments later, she feels him shift on the couch slightly before wrapping a strong arm around her, pulling her closer until her head is resting against his chest like a pillow. She feels his fingers start to gently brush through her hair soothingly, and Lydia dozes off just like that easily, falling asleep soundlessly in his arms, her lips still curved up in a small smile.
**
It’s around five in the morning when Malia stirs awake, stretching out her limbs as she groans, still tired. But she also has to pee, so she untangles herself from Stiles and tiptoes to the bathroom. She passes by the living room on the way, and nearly freezes when she catches the sight of Lydia and Parrish cuddled up in each other’s arms, fast asleep.
She definitely wasn’t expecting that development that fast, despite the fact that she’s been catching the scent of arousal from the both of them for the past few weeks now. She knows they’ve been dancing around each other and their feelings for the past six months, even though it’s so obvious how much they like each other. She was so sure that they would never reveal their feelings to each other by themselves, and Malia was contemplating locking them up in the station break room if she had to. But now, seeing them like this, Malia’s genuinely happy for her friend, and she’s about to leave them alone and go pee, when a brilliant idea strikes in her mind.
She pulls out her phone, and just like Kira showed her, she turns on the camera and snaps a few pictures of the two lovebirds. She figures she can post them on Instagram later, maybe even hashtag it with “#PackParents”. It’ll be fun watching their reactions later.