The Sicilian Defence [Derek Hale]

Epilogue

Passing the snowball to the six-year-old girl in front of me, I bit back the cheeky smile which so desperately wanted to escape onto my lips. The girl grinned in turn as I passed a few to the eleven-year-old girl and the three-year-old boy who had a small stuffed cow toy clutched beneath his arms. The three looked to me for permission and I guided them to look at the figure cloaked in black who was stood a small distance away.

The three charged forward and soon enough he was being pelted by a dozen snowballs and he whirled around to look at the attackers. Grabbing onto some snow for myself, I pushed myself up from my knees and crept around running up to him and pushing it down the back of his jacket. He whirled around again but I'd already jogged back as far as I could. The same old amused glare was settled on his eyes and it was hard not to burst out laughing.

Laughter was all that could be heard from the powdered covered clearing although it was muffled by scarves. The snow was still falling.

The eldest, Talia, looked just like her father although she acted like none of us. She was in her own world most of the time thinking about the next way she could prove her intelligence. As of this moment she wanted to be an author and write a story that will move the world to tears.

The second eldest, Laura, was dressing up in every outfit she could find and as of this moment wanted to be a princess. She too looked more like a Hale and she had a scowl that could kill. Her temper was as bad as Derek's, but she was a sweetheart really. Very fragile on the inside and a beautiful soul. Just last week she made us have a funeral for a bird she'd found.

Then there was the third, Alastair, he was always sleeping and always cold and ever so slightly lazy. He clung to his cow as if it was a genie lamp and he still couldn't speak properly. He didn't like talking much. He'd just jog over to you, use you as a pillow, and sleep. That was all. He was a soft heart.

"Right..." he began and he started his stomping through the snow towards me. I waited for him to reach me and in the last second ducked beneath his arms jogging over to the three children. They could protect me from his false wrath. He whirled around a grin on his face his eyes lighting up blue.

"Oh no, children," I called, "come here. Protect your mother," I urged and they did because I was the bringer of cake. Meaning naturally they were inclined to side with me. The laughter continued like bells to a fae's palace as they all picked up more snowballs and soon there was a war. A good one though.

Jumping down onto the bed, I quickly grabbed onto the duvet bringing it over my body to keep warm since the jumper and fluffy trousers weren't doing anything. Snow came with many amazing things but one of them was not how cold it made you and everything else around you. There was a dip in the bed beside me from where Derek was always leaning back against the headboard a book in hand. Steve, who was a Birman cat, was lying on his chest. Funny how he was the one preaching about no animals and he seemed to love him the most. He didn't have any top on and he looked like he wasn't even fazed by the cold.

"Are you sure you weren't destined to be an abominable snowman?"

He stopped looking at the words on his page and lifted his furrowed brows over to me. I raised my own brow to counter him before he snapped his book shut tossing it on the bedside table. "Are you sure you weren't destined to be a cat?" He countered. Rolling my eyes, I shifted closer to him before throwing myself over the free part of his chest that Steve wasn't lying on.

"Talia was refusing to go to bed."

"I heard," he mused.

"That's you that. Being stubborn," I pointed out and he shifted his weight bringing his arms around my shoulders and it was suddenly so much warmer to the point that I forgot there was snow outside. Although, I did get some cat fur in my face.

"I'm sure you had no problem with Al."

"I'm convinced he fell asleep whilst he was walking to his bed." A chuckle left him and his chest rose and fell with it.

"You looked like you were falling asleep whilst walking to this bed," he teased and I would have rolled my eyes but I was already settled in a cosy position where I could fall asleep in. "Although, I do still feel the need to remind you that revenge is needed," what was he waffling about now? "I mean snow down the back..." before I could even process things a ticklish jab came at my side and a shriekish laugh fell from my lips and I couldn't help but jolt to the side.

Steve jumped from his chest and walked off. He looked a little bit fed up.

"No, no, no, no," another jolt came and I used every fighting technique he had ever taught me to get away but it was hard when you wanted to cry from how much you were laughing from the jabs and the tickles. Instead of escaping him, all that happened was that I managed to push us off the bed and we ended up in a mess of tangled sheets on the floor. "Oof, oweee..." we still had concrete floors. "That was your fault."

"You started it," he countered a laugh tumbling from him.

Laughing, I cleared my throat to ignored the blithe tears which had climbed into my eyes. He was lying beside me laughing himself. It was strange, you don't get many moments like these anymore. Rolling over, I returned to the state of throwing myself over Derek trying to fight the laugh which kept escaping. His eyes were so full of softness and love that it was hard to remember that he was the same Derek Hale I'd fallen for in the Beacon Hills preserve.

Biting back a cheeky smile, I shifted my weight so that I could see his eyes better, "Hello there Derek Hale."

"Hello there Grace Hale."

And now it was like the sun, moon, stars, flowers, and all things beautiful had manifested within us.

And once more, we'd come to an end of the story and this time... it was truly the end.