Claudia had loved John why else would she have married the man?She’d loved him enough to have a baby with him. However much Claudia had loved John, however much she loved their son and the family they’d made there was just something about Talia Hale that made her feel alive and happier than what she’d ever been. It had been love at first sight even if Claudia had never believed in such nonsense.
Because of John and their son she’d fought against the feelings the single mother of three evoked inside her, but eventually as John focused more and more on his job and less on their family the battle was lost as Talia became the person she leaned on when handling Stiles became too much or when Claudia just felt terribly alone and unfulfilled in her life.
The affair started out slow with just her and Talia talking over cups of coffee every time she came into the city and daily phone calls and messages, Talia never judged her when all she needed was to vent about everything that weighed on her shoulders, but eventually their relationship that had started as a friendship developed to lunches and dinners whenever Talia came into town for work and quickly enough they moved into passionate kisses and gentle touches,and by the time Claudia found the courage to confess to her husband the affair and her plans to divorce him the affair had reached the point where she was more Talia’s than John’s: by the time Claudia finally told her husband about the future she had been planning with Talia Hale and her children she’d already grown close to Talia’s children, but although Claudia had met the Hale’s none of them had met her son.
John’s reaction was far worse than she’d imagined, the man had never yelled at her before not once not even when she’d crashed his car, he’d never shown any violent tendencies until that night after Claudia had tucked their son into bed and finally revealed what she’s been up too for the past ten months;of course she’d expected him to be angry, furious even after all she’d betrayal him in the worst possible way, and yet although she’d expected anger from him the form it came in was startling as well as terrifying, the language alone was atrocious and brought her to tears causing her to feel a little bit less of a human being, she was shocked by the way he took out his anger on a couple of the pictures that showed their family, but the worst part was when he suddenly blamed her for all of Stiles problems only stopping when the sound of the front-door opening caught their attention the bells singing their dreadful alert.
Turningtheir attention away from each other and towards the foyer both of them see a couple of things that has them running outside into the late autumn night screaming for their son, it was the sight of one of Stiles baby blanket and pillow as well dumped carelessly on the floor as well as the one thing their son always carried with him be it to the store or the library and that was his stuffed toy wolf Scotty.
It’s raining cats and dogs as they run after their son who’d headed down the street, he’s running as best he could while wearing nothing but his diaper and already drenched PJ’s, they’re screaming for their son to stop but the little boy doesn’t and eventually he darts into the street and right into traffic.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion even if it wasn’t possible, suddenly there was an old Ford pick-up with a broken light and the other glowing weakly and both Claudia and John knew what would happen, she hears John scream for their son and suddenly he’s running a little bit faster and pushing their son away from the speeding rust bucket that struck him hard into the side and that’s how Claudia Stilinski became a widow instead of a divorcee.
~*~
Pulling up to the impressive house which stood in the middle of the woods like something out of a fairytale Claudia turns of the engine and turns to look over at her silent four year old who looked up at the house warily clutching tightly to Scott, her son hadn’t been as keen as Claudia was about the move going as far as trying tounpack their things during the night and throwing a horrible tantrum when it was time to leave the only home he’d ever known.
Then again Claudia wasn’t entirely sure whether or not her son understood that his daddy wasn’t coming back, and not only that she had no idea what was going on inside his little head since he hadn’t spoken a word since the accident that killed John.
Claudia hoped that the move would do them both the world of good.
`Ready? ´ Claudia asks her son hoping her son would be a little bit more open to this change now that they were there, especially since Talia and the kids had set up a welcome home sign and there were balloons too, Stiles had always liked balloons.
Stiles just hugs Scott a little bit tighter and shakes his head before burying his face against the soft toy, Claudia’s heart break a little as she looks at how small her son really is compared to the world outside and the things he’d already suffered through. Claudia turns her tearful gaze away from her son and sees Talia and her brother appear from within the house and onto the porch, and although both Hale’s were smiling encouragingly at her she could tell both of them were almost as nervous as she was about how everything would work out between Stiles and Talia’s kids; sure, they’d told them about his unfortunate quirks and although Laura and the others had seemed to be sympathetic you never could tell.
`Stiles, baby, I know this all very new and a lot to handle, but I really need you to try, okay?´ Claudia struggles with not sounding as desperate as she truly is, but she was desperate to make this work after all she’d sold the house and quit her displeasing job. Claudia was also unwilling to lose Talia after everything that had happened.
Claudia’s heart sinks a little when her son shakes his head again, but she will have none of this simply because there’s nowhere else for them to go. Claudia had no one else but Talia and Stiles well he had no one but Claudia left, this was where they now belonged and the sooner her son got that the better it would be for the both of them.
`Stiles, we’re going to get out of this car,´ Claudia put as much authority into her voice as possible hoping John’s trick to handling their son would work for her too, after all the last thing she wanted was for Talia to rethink this whole moving-in thing, ` and you are going to behave, alright? You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but you are going to be respectful towards me and everyone else.´ Stiles sniffles against Scott but nods none the less.´ Claudia turns her gaze back up at the two Hale’s and she catches a frown on Talia’s face and what looks suspiciously a lot like disapproval in the way Peter looks at her, she’s suddenly left with a feeling she’d done something wrong but shakes it off and focuses on unbuckling her son from his seat which isn’t easy to do without bumping into the arm with the cast at least a few times which is the reason for Stiles being a little bit green around the gills when they do finally get out of the car which they do with Stiles clinging on to her and hiding behind her legs.
There are thousands of displeased butterflies flying around inside her stomach as she moves towards Talia and Peter, Claudia does her best not to show Talia how nervous she is about introducing her son to her and her family, however the moment she and Stiles were standing up on the porch facing their new family her voice becomes surprisingly weak and uncertain.
`Stiles, this is Talia, mama told you about her, remember? ´ Stiles nods but doesn’t even look at Talia Hale who crouches down so that she and Stiles were at an eyelevel to each other.
`I’m so happy to finally get to know you in person Stiles, your mother has told me so much about you.´ sadly not everything Claudia had told Talia about Stiles was good but then again Talia hadn’t seemed too put-off by Stiles problems, `hopefully you’ll like it here.´ and with that Talia stood right back up turning towards Peter who stepped forward ready to be introduced to their newest family member or at least that’s what Claudia hoped Stiles would become.
`Stiles, this is Peter my brother.´ and with that Peter Hale kneeled down in front of a still very much hiding Stiles.
`It’s a pleasure.´ Peter says while bowing his head rather theatrically, `May I ask, is it true you enjoy the lovely color blue?´ Stiles gave a hesitant nod which had Peter smiling lightly before asking, `And what of books, do you like them too?´ once more Stiles nods and Peter positively beams at him before saying, `Excellent, and one last question.´ Stiles leaned in even closer to Claudia now, `And do you like those glowing little stars one can put on the ceiling?´ Stiles nods and to Claudia’s shock he mumbles, `But mama says they too expensive.´
A bright smile rises on Peter face while Claudia fights back the foolish reaction of tears, Peter claps his hands together which does cause Stiles to jump a little where he stands, `Brilliant, what nonsense there’s no price too great when it comes to good glowing stars.´ then he stands up straight and looks mighty pleased with himself as he says, `I dare say I have created the perfect room for you master Stilinski, shall we go and see? ´ Peter offers his hand to the Stiles who looks hesitantly up at the hand and then at his mother who smiles down at him, `Go on, Peter has been working on your room for days sweetie.´