Teen Survivors 💰 S.S.

Nexus

A/N: With this 'episode', the rating of the story has officially gone up. Originally, this was meant to be one chapter. But it got so big that I had to split it into two. I hope you enjoy it.

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Talia Hale was inside the vault, pulling out a jar of the Reshi mushrooms that she still had in there from Satomi. She gazed at the one she pulled out to the one that was still there.

"One left," she mumbled. "I better talk to Satomi and see if she could grow some more." Talia really did like this tea. She found it quite soothing, even if her two youngest weren't big fans of it.

Talia moved to exit the vault and had the entrance closed behind her. The high school was empty right now as summer vacation was still in progress for another week. Her son Derek would be starting his senior year. She sighed as she turned away from looking at the deserted building as she thought of her only son. The last few days, he hadn't been speaking to her and he had been going off on his own a lot more than usual. Derek had been detached and secretive all summer and had been going out of his way to avoid her when he was in the house. He was also going out of his way to keep what he was doing out of the eyes and ears of everyone, even Laura, possibly because he knew that she might tell her. Talia had reached out to Derek's known friends but they all claimed that they'd been spending time with Derek no more than usual. Maybe it was nothing and he was just off trying to be alone, and away from her. Talia knew that she wasn't his favorite person in the world right now, and it wasn't simply because of him not being able to play basketball again. A week ago, he had asked her if he could go to the Senior Scribe event that would be held the night before school started up again. The problem was, that was the night of the full moon. Derek was still having trouble keeping himself grounded and she had already told him that it might not be a good idea for him to go. His cold shoulder had now become frigid.

With all this new stress, she hoped that some Reshi tea would help. Well, she would pray that Ray's wedding would help to lift some spirits. Laura was coming back to town to celebrate and Cora was ecstatic at being chosen to be the flower girl. She hoped the good cheer would help his mood. It wasn't easy being both a mother and the Alpha. She was only doing what she thought was the best for everyone's sake. She hoped that Derek would understand that one day, when he was older.

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Cora was slouching back into a giant plush armchair as she was on a video call with her brother Derek. They hadn't really spoken for a while, given what had been going on. But, with the Deadpool finally over, the two siblings were now trying to help each other get to speed on what was going on. Cora was in her last trimester and was now bigger than anyone could ever remember her being. She was not very happy with that fact.

"Wow," Derek said as Cora moved her arm back to give him a wide view of herself. She was in a fraternity dress and his eyes fell on her giant belly. The place where his future niece or nephew currently was. "Cora, you look-"

"I look what?" she said narrowing her eyes at him, a bit of warning in her tone.

He just smiled lightly at her. "You look beautiful," he said honestly. Actually, Derek thought that Cora at the moment looked exactly like their mom. She was just how he could remember her when she was carrying Cora. "Mom and Laura would be saying the exact same thing you know," he added a little softly with his eyes lightening a bit.

Cora huffed. "Yeah, well I feel like a sack of pumpkins."

Derek let a small laugh loose. "You do know, you only have yourself to blame for that."

"Hey," she said indignantly. "It wasn't exactly intentional."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that's how this kind of thing usually goes," he joked a bit.