An Early Gift

As the sky outside swirled an orange brown on the horizon, Teddy looked out the window as he rested against his hand with his elbow on the table. As Daniel received an update in his mind, he glanced to his new family members and cleared his throat.

Turning his attention back to his King, Teddy sat up straight and nodded his acknowledgement.

Damien turned to Teddy and Gretchen then took her hand and kissed the back of it. "I must apologize. I told you there'd be no more secrets, but I have one last surprise for you."

Gretchen pulled down her brows and turned her face slightly to the side. "It better not end in me crying again, Damien."

He smirked to himself and said, "I can't promise that, but I can promise you'll both like it." As Daniel rose from his seat, Damien nodded towards the door. "Come on. We have a bit of an early gift for you. It just couldn't wait."

Walking through the Great Hall with Damien's arm around her, Gretchen's senses picked up on a familiar smell beyond the aroma of food still wafting through the room. She lifted her nose into the air and inhaled deeply as the subtle scent of jasmine filled her nose. Steepling her hands over her mouth, she turned to Damien with tears in her eyes as she realized who was waiting. He smiled and said, "I think they say Happy Christmas, don't they?"

Gretchen swallowed down her tears and clutched her chest as her shakey voice whispered, "Mommy?" As Damien nodded, Gretchen looked to Teddy. "It's Mommy."

As Gretchen took off running through the foyer, Damien looked at Teddy. He stood there trembling as his eyes slowly rose to meet Damien's. "Did she?"

Damien shook his head no. "Haldir brought her." Teddy huffed out a relieved chuckle through his nose then wiped his mouth with his hand. As his eyes filled with tears, he wrapped his arms around Damien and patted his back. "Thank you, son." He sucked back his tears then bit his lip and laughed as he pushed his hands back through his dark curly hair and walked to the fireplace.

When Gretchen rounded the corner, she slid to an abrupt stop as she saw the thin blonde woman beside Haldir, wrapped in a warm blanket in front of the fireplace admiring the Christmas tree.

Stella sighed and closed her eyes as the room filled with Gretchen's warm, balsamy scent. "Are you really there? I dream about you every night, but you're never there when I wake up. Is it really you?"

Gretchen softly approached Stella from behind then wrapped her arms around her neck. "I'm here, Mommy."

Stella gasped as Gretchen's words reached her ears and she slid her shaking hand up Gretchen's arm. Finally falling into a full on sobbing fit, Stella turned around and cried into Gretchen's chest. "Gretchen, my baby! I missed you so much. Please don't fade away"

Gretchen pulled away and bent her knees until they were eye to eye then pushed Stella's hair back from her wet face. "Not anymore. Never again."

From the corner of her eye, Stella saw Teddy round the corner and she held her breath. Gretchen ran her fingers through Stellas soft hair, messing up her perfectly cut bob haircut. "He's real too, Mommy."

Teddy laughed out loud then opened his arms wide. "You best get on over here, woman. Don't keep me waiting."

Gretchen released Stella from her embrace and she walked quickly to Teddy then collapsed into his waiting arms. "I'm sorry, babe. I'm so sorry I left you all alone. Please forgive me."

Stella shook her head and pressed her lips against Teddy's then put her fingertips over them. "Shh! It doesn't matter anymore." A smile curled up under her fingers as Teddy took her hand away and kissed it. He closed his eyes and rubbed the tip of his nose and lips gently across her knuckles and said, "I sure have missed you, honey."

As the Alpha wolf caught the scent, Stella turned her focus back to Gretchen. She looked her daughter up and down, then she put her hand to her lips. "You're pregnant."

Gretchen curled her lips under and nodded as she came to her parents side. Stella wrapped Gretchen in her arm and pulled her close to them. After she kissed Gretchen's cheek, Stella said, "Oh, baby. I'm so happy for you. I was so worried about what was happening over here."

Seeing Damien and Daniel leaning against the stone wall waiting for their introductions, Gretchen sniffled back her tears and wiped her eyes. "Mommy, I want to introduce you to some people. Putting her arm around Stella's back she pulled her from Teddy and ushered her to the warlocks. "Daniel, this is my mother, Stella. Mom, this is Daniel Darke."

Daniel took Stella's hand then kissed the back before letting her go. "Welcome to the Darke, Mrs. Mason."

Stella said, "Haldir's told me how you took Gretchen in. How you've cared for her. You have no idea how grateful I am to you."

Shaking his head, Daniel sighed. "I wish I could say things have gone smoother,but, " he glanced to Damien then back to Stella and shrugged, " you know how chidren can be."

Stella raised her brow and nodded as she looked over Gretchen. "Yes, I understand completely. Believe me. Just wait until my sons get here"

Gretchen slid out from Stella's arm then wrapped hers around Damien's back. "Mom, this is Damien."

As she crossed her arms, STella looked over Damien slowly then raised her brows and nodded."Well done, Gretchen."

Gretchen laughed out loud and glanced to the floor. "I agree."

Stella opened her arms and motioned for Damien to hug her. As she wrapped her arms around Damien's back she gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Congratulations, Damien. You're getting yourself a fierce woman. I hope you know that."

As Damien breathed a sigh of relief, he said, "I'm very aware. You've raised a goddess."

Flinching as Stella slapped his arm, Damien smirked uncomfortably. Even being a beautiful and delicate looking woman, she was still a Hexom through and through. "You got that fucking right."


Teddy rubbed the back of his head as he went to Haldir. " Thank you for watching over my family."

Haldir pulled on his beard and shook his head as he looked down to his feet. "You don't need to thank me. They're my family too."

Teddy awkwardly put his arms around his father and patted his back before he quickly pulled away. "I know things haven't always been great between us, but I can't ever thank you enough for everything you've done for me." He looked back to Stella and Gretchen and pointed his thumb back to them. "I'm not just talking about this. You took me and Tess in when everyone in our world wanted us dead and, being the complete spoiled, miserable shits that we were, that couldn't have been easy for a confirmed bachelor like yourself. Thank you for everything you did for us both."

Haldir looked away to the fire as his throat began to burn, then he cleared his throat. "No, no Teddy. Sure dragging you guys around everywhere wasn't ideal, but I loved every minute of it. When you...when you both moved on it was hard. I'm glad you both found happiness and all, you deserved it after all the shit you went through, but my world's just not been the same since you left. And uh..according to Daniel, I may not be a bachelor forever."

Teddy's eyes widened in surprise and he coughed out a snicker. "No shit? Damn hell, I can't wait to meet the woman that could make my father finally give up his wicked ways."

Finally hearing Teddy acknowledge his postion in his life, Haldir's face flushed with pride. "Yeah...She must be something. Unfortunately, he didn't tell me where to find her. Not even a damn clue other than I haven't been looking in the right places. Shit, I'm a thousand years old, I've been looking every goddamn where. There's nowhere left."

Teddy scratched his stubble and mulled it over when it suddenly occurred to him. "How long has it been since you've been back to that God forsaken block of ice?"

Haldir chuckled and shook his head. "You don't really think that it could be that fucking easy do you?"

Teddy cupped his chin in his hand and shrugged. "It's always best to start from the very beginning, isn't it?"

Haldir bit the inside of his lip and squinted at the fire then he felt the prickly stare of Daniel on him. As he looked over Teddy's shoulder, Daniel smiled at him then disappeared around the corner.


*Hey everyone!! I hope you're having a great day. As Damien starts coming to it's end, I wanted to get your opinion on my next story. I have three others to release before the final book for this thread of characters ( well, I may release a few shorter novellas about some other characters like Jason, Eason and Michael the angel) . So, who would you like to hear about first? Rhett and Hazel's twins, Drago or Haldir (my personal favorite).*