Chapter Forty Nine - Secret Santa
Milo's P.O.V -
We were all sat in a circle with the gifts in front of us. Lincoln was clinging onto my hand, he had hardly let go since my dad called me.
"How do we decide who goes first?" I asked.
Cora shrugged. "Who want's to give their present first?"
"I will." Lucy offered.
She had arrived about half an hour ago during the game of Who am I. She picked up her presents, there were three in total and handed them to Cora.
Cora smiled at her and began to open them. It was clothes.
"I heard you talking to Victoria about how maternity clothes are ugly, but I found this great shop and got some things from there." Lucy explained. "There's a card with the shop details on it."
"Thank you so much." Cora pulled Lucy into a hug before sitting down. "I'll go next." Cora spoke quickly as she placed her gift in front of Lucy.
Cora also got clothes for Lucy but rather than the practical maternity clothes Lucy had brought, Cora had found Lucy some short dresses to wear on a night out.
Lucy gasped and her face lit up. "I love them!"
She pulled out each dress, each one shorter than the other. I laughed at Wyatt's slightly annoyed face.
"Thank you Cora." Lucy grinned.
"Yeah thanks Cora." Wyatt grumbled picking up a black dress with a deep v neck and an open back. "What is this supposed to cover?"
"Shut up Wyatt." Lucy laughed taking it off him.
Victoria walked in and smiled at us opening the presents on the floor as she took a seat on the couch. I asked Victoria why she wasn't included in the secret Santa yesterday and she said 'I'd rather spend my money on things I actually like rather than pretending to like something someone else got me'. So she just watched.
Wyatt rolled his eyes at Lucy before a smile spread across his face. "My turn."
He pushed the wrapped presents towards me, I smiled at him.
"Thank you." I mumbled picking one up.
"No." Wyatt told me. "Do the one at the bottom first."
I nodded picking it up and tearing the paper off. Once I looked at the half unwrapped gift I looked up at Wyatt with a deadpanned expression.
"Seriously?" I asked him, his shoulders shook as he contained his laughter.
"What is it?" Lucy asked with an amused look.
I tore off the rest of the wrapping paper and turned it towards them.
"A collection of flavored lube." I suppressed a laugh as I spoke.
Everyone started laughing except Lincoln who took the box and looked at it.
"We already have that one." Lincoln spoke pointing at the picture on the box.
"Shut up Lincoln." I told him as their laughter got louder.
Lincoln chuckled handing it back to me.
"Which one do you already have?" Wyatt spoke with interest.
"None of your business." I spoke lightly.
I waited for their laughter to die down before turning to the next present. "Is there an order for the rest?"
"Uh." Wyatt looked at them. "No go ahead."
I nodded picking up a rectangular present. It was a book called 'Werewolf 101: When you're mated to a werewolf'.
"Could be helpful." I told him as I passed the book to Lincoln who flicked through the pages.
I picked up the last but largest present. I opened it, a pillow. With Lincoln's face on it.
I laughed showing it to Lincoln who smiled at it.
"Where am I going to put this?" I asked Wyatt amused.
He shrugged. "I just thought that when you move back you might miss him, I got Lincoln one too."
"You did?" Lincoln smiled. "Thanks."
I put the pillow down and then picked up the present I brought for Cole and passed them to him.
"Should I be annoyed that I'm the only one who only got one present?" Cole asked but I could tell he wasn't being serious.
"Be grateful." Cora elbowed him.
He unfolded the wrapping paper carefully which seemed like a very odd thing for Cole to do. He pulled out the black backpack with a faint camo design.
"It's a baby bag." I told him. "I found that most of them were for mums so I thought I'd find you one that doesn't look awful."
Cole nodded as he looked at it. "It's heavy."
"Yeah there's things in it." I spoke awkwardly.
"Oh." Cole mumbled opening the bag, his mouth twitched in a slight smile as he started pulling things out of the bag.
A book 'How to traumatize your child', a hat which said 'daddy' on the front, and a baby onesie with 'Daddy's drinking buddy' on the front and another one with 'Mummy and Daddy's little mistake'.
"The baby was not a mistake." Cora objected it.
"Who are you trying to fool Cora, of course it was." Cole told her amused.
She pouted. "Fine, but a good mistake."
"We'll find out when it's born." Cole mumbled pulling out a box of condoms, he raised a brow at me. "To prevent another mistake?"
I laughed and nodded. "That was my thinking behind it."
"And underwear?" Cole spoke confused as he pulled out the last item.
"Protective underwear so the baby can't kick you." I chuckled.
Cole had a smile spread across his face. "Thanks."
"I was going to by you a bottle of whisky but it would've gone over the price limit." I explained.
"This is great." He told me.
Lincoln picked up his presents and handed it to Wyatt. "Here."
Wyatt smiled. "I was hoping you'd have me."
"The thing I wanted to get you was above the price limit so I got it as a non-secret Santa gift, I'll give it to you later." Lincoln told him. "This goes with the gift."
Wyatt opened it. "Printing paper?"
Lincoln nodded with a small smile.
Wyatt's eyes widened. "For one of those portable printer things!"
"Yeah." Lincoln told him.
"I love those." He exclaimed and pulled Lincoln into a hug.
"You're obsessed with taking photos." Lincoln smiled into the hug.
I had noticed that too, Wyatt had been taking photos of the family all morning.
"And I thought Cora might consider this cheating." Lincoln said to which she nodded. "So I also got you this."
Lincoln passed over a rectangular present which Wyatt opened quickly. It was a digital photo frame.
"Thank you Lincoln." Wyatt said as he opened the box to look at his gift.
We all looked over at Cole expectantly, he was the only one left. By now we all knew he had Lincoln. He handed the gifts to Lincoln without saying anything. There was a card on the top of the pile, no one else had bothered to give anyone a card.
Lincoln picked up the card and opened it slowly.
"If you let anyone read that I'll kill you." Cole threatened.
Lincoln stared at him confused as he opened the card, I glanced at it quickly and saw a large paragraph of writing but looked away since Cole wouldn't want me to read it.
Everyone sat silently as we waited for Lincoln to finish reading the card. The longer it took the more annoyed Cole got, he seemed to regret writing anything at all.
Lincoln's face pulled into a smile and he closed the card glancing at Cole. I expected him to say something but instead his eyes glazed over as did Cole's.
Cora looked between them confused. "What did the card say?"
Lincoln's eyes returned to normal. "Oh, it's private."
Cora frowned but didn't ask anymore questions. Lincoln opened his first present but frowned when he pulled out a baby onesie which said 'The Godchild' with the godfather movie poster.
"Open the other one." Cole told him.
The next present was a t shirt which matched the onesie but said 'The Godfather' instead.
"I'm pissed." Wyatt mumbled glaring at Cole.
"You want me to be the baby's godfather?" Lincoln asked looking between Cora and Cole.
Cora nodded with a grin. "We'd love you to be the baby's godfather."
Lincoln looked over to Wyatt with a smirk. "Ha, I win."
Wyatt crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Lincoln. "It's just because you're the alpha."
"It's because they like me more." Lincoln replied.
"Actually." Cora interrupted. "It's because Cole and I flipped a coin and Lincoln won."
Lucy, Victoria and I laughed as Lincoln's face dropped.
"Why would you tell me that? Now I don't feel special." Lincoln grumbled.
Cole just rolled his eyes while Cora laughed.
***
"What did the card say?" I asked Lincoln once we got back to his room.
"Uh, it was just a thank you." Lincoln mumbled. "I'm not going to get into it."
I nodded in understanding as I sat down on his bed and laid my crutches down on the floor.
"So." Lincoln stretched out the word standing a few feet away from me.
"So." I copied him with a small smile. "You have questions."
Lincoln nodded. "I do."
"Fire away." I told him.
He walked over sitting beside me on the bed and grabbed my hand. "What did your dad say to you?"
"Nothing really." I shrugged. "He wished me a merry Christmas, asked about mum and I told him I was living with you."
"How did he react?" Lincoln questioned. "To you living with me."
"He didn't really say anything about it." I mumbled. "I thought he'd be openly against it but he wasn't."
Lincoln nodded slowly. "So he didn't mention anything about what he did?"
"He wants to apologize and talk about it in person." I explained. "So I agreed to visit him."
Lincoln clenched his jaw and his eyes darkened slightly. "You're going to see him? Milo I don't think I'm comfortable with that."
"I knew you'd say that, so I got him to add you to his list of visitors so that we can go together." I tightened my grip on his hand.
Lincoln let out a shaky breath. "Can I think about it?"
I smiled at him a pecked his lips. "Of course you can."
He sighed pulling me into a hug. "This really stresses me out, I don't want you anywhere near him. It scares me."
"I know, I'm sorry." I mumbled into his hair.
"It's not your fault." He reassured me. "I'm just paranoid when it comes to you."
"You are." I rubbed my hand up and down his back.
"I booked an appointment with a therapist from the pack hospital." He said not pulling away from the hug.
"Really? That's great Lincoln." I told him. "I'm really proud of you, I hope you know that."
"I do." He whispered. "I'm proud of you too, for being so strong through everything. You're incredible."
I smiled widely. "Thank you."
We remained silent for a few moments just enjoying each other's embrace.
"When's your appointment?" I asked him.
"The 28th." He answered.
I pulled away from him but grabbed his hand once again. "I have a doctors appointment that day too."
"What time?" Lincoln asked me. "And what for?"
"Uh, three I think. It's just a check up for my leg maybe an x-ray to see how it's healing." I explained.
"I won't be able to take you." He told me. "I have my appointment and then Wyatt, Cora and I have to go to a meeting at another pack. It's a two hour drive away so I'm going to be gone most of the day."
"That's fine." I smiled. "I can probably get Lucy to drive me, and we can talk about your appointment when you get back, or the next day depending on how late it is."
Lincoln nodded. "I thought about it and I think you were right to make me go."
"Really?" I felt some relief in the fact that he wasn't going solely because of me.
"Yeah." He looked down. "I was watching Lucy and Wyatt together and when they're apart and it made me realize that I was acting weirdly. When Lucy is gone Wyatt is not constantly panicking so I shouldn't be either."
"I understand why you feel like this Lincoln." I spoke quietly. "I scared you. I know what it feels like to see someone you love suddenly so close to death and it's the worst feeling because you're completely helpless."
The day my sister died flashed in my head. I remembered sobbing in the car on the way to the hospital. It felt wrong to be sitting, I felt like I had to do something, anything, but there was nothing I could do.
"I think how suddenly everything happened has put you on edge, because now you're scared that something will happen without warning." I leaned into him. "So now you're always alert because you're under the impression that something can go wrong at any moment but that's not true. I know that's hard to believe because you thought everything was over when you got your mum and I back but then the thing with my dad happened."
"Exactly." He looked up at me. "How do I know something like the thing with your dad won't just happen again?"
"Because Lincoln, even then you knew there was still one hunter left but you didn't know who it was. So it was never really over then but it is now, they're all gone now." I stroked his arm.
"How do we know they're all gone? Because Oliver's dad said they were, he could be lying. What reason does he have to tell the truth?" Lincoln gritted out.
"I don't know the answer to that Lincoln." I sighed. "Maybe he wanted you to go easy on him."
"I'm so scared." He laughed humorlessly. "I can't believe how scared I am of you doing the simplest things like going home to your family."
"This is why you talking to a therapist is a good thing." I forced a smile. "They'll talk through these concerns with you."
"Yeah I guess." He mumbled as our names were called from downstairs. "I think it's time for Christmas dinner."
I stood up. "Well let's not keep them waiting."