AN: As someone who has been single for every Valentine's day in my life, I honestly have nothing against the day of love.
Which means you all get this really cute glimpse of "baby" Bex. She's actually like six or seven but Baby Yoda is 50 so......

BABY BEX!

My nose tickles with the smell of barbecue, constant chatter fills my eardrums,  and the white patio table I'm sitting at contrasts perfectly against the outdoor tan deck. Even though I'm sitting at the edge of my chair, my feet don't touch the ground.

"I win!"

I make sure to scream it loud because Ric sometimes keeps playing like the game isn't over. I hear clapping so I slide off my chair and curtsy just like mommy taught me. Ricky misses it when I trip a little because he's looking down.

He goes over all of my cards until he gets to my last one, making sure I matched all my cards. I jump back in my chair big smiling and he sticks his tongue out. 

"You cheated."

I take a deep breath in. My hands ball up to hit Ric but I don't because last time daddy told me that hitting only makes me look guilty.

Instead, I call for an adult.

"DADDY! Ric called me a cheater!"

Daddy walks over to us but I meet him half way. He catches me when I jump and I wrap my arms around his big neck.

"I won fair but he says I cheated." I complain easily to my dad because this isn't the first time.

And this time I'm not going to get in trouble, Ric is.

"That so?" Daddy's voice rumbles in his chest and I giggle.

It tickles whenever he's holding me and talks.

"She cheated." Ric stays in his seat and points to my cards. "See?"

I look over my cards and see an extra one lying on my side.

"That card's not mine! You're lying!" Daddy holds me tighter even though I squirm to get down.

I'm not a cheater. I squint my eyes hard at Ric to let him know that he's gonna pay for lying on me. He squints back accepting his doom.

"hmm...Maybe you shouldn't play together if someone's always cheating."

Our eyes snap to my dad. Alpha Hawthorne, Ric's daddy, laughs from where he stands at the grill.

"Noooo." Ric says.

"Daddy I didn't want to stop playing." I chorus, with my eyes starting to sting.

"Oh leave them alone! You're about to make them cry." I don't know who says it but Daddy's blank face turns into a smiley one and he laughs.

"I'm kidding...! Aww Bexy, don't cry. There's only one real way to settle this, and that's a duel. But... since you both are too young, a race should suffice."

My blurry eyes clear when Daddy mentions racing. I always win when we race.

Well, not always but I win a lot of them.

He finally lets me down and I get face to face with Ric. He's a little shorter than me so I get on my tip toes to make myself taller.

He does it too but he's still short, which makes me smile again.

"No! She's in a dress." I look at Ric's mom and pout.

Luna Hawthorne, Ric's mommy, hates it when he and I play because our clothes never look the same after. Or it might be because last time something broke.

It was Ric's fault.

"I race in dresses all the time." My protest is cut short because my dad sweeps me off my feet in a bear hug.

While the backyard fills with laughter he whispers in my ear, "Let's not admit that out loud, you know how your mommy is about your dresses."

I nod my head hard because mommy can get scary when she sees that I've spilled something on my dress, or if I play outside in it.

Daddy and I turn to where she's sitting while feeding Micheal. I give her my big eyes and Daddy copies me. Micheal smears food on his face but I know he's on my side.

"We've already taken pictures." She waves her hand in yes and I grin. Micheal's chubby grin matches mine and Daddy laughs.

Ric starts stretching so I jump out of daddy's arms so I can do it too. The other kids join in but I know that I'm only really racing Ric.

The adults laugh at my serious face, but not my daddy. His face looks like mine because he knows that this is serious. Mommy says that I get my competitiveness from him and I agree.

But Ric and his daddy are the same way so I think this is an Alpha thing.

Whatever it is, I'm going to win and rub it in Ric's face since he lied on me.

Ric's daddy holds out his hands for us to hit and my daddy makes sure that we're touching the fence with both hands with our back to the finish. This way no one starts too early.

Daddy does this now since the older kids complain that I cheat when I have to run against them in training. I get to hit them because I know Beta John won't tell on me.

No one calls me a cheater.

Adults are making bets in my name and I smile at the tan fence. Daddy sees me smiling and growls.

"Bex, focus. You haven't won... yet." He gives me a small smile to let me know that he's not really mad at me but then his face gets serious again.

I hear Ric's daddy growl but I don't turn around. Ric tries to growl like his daddy but it doesn't come out right. My Daddy says that I growl real good but I need to save it for when Ric really makes me mad. He says to wait until then because then Ric'll know that I'm really REALLY mad.

"Ready..."

I bounce on my toes, happy that mommy made me put on sneakers earlier. She made me switch so that my sandals wouldn't get dirty. Ric's backyard is all grass but sometimes we like to kick at some of the ant piles we see.

"Set...."

I lean in so close to the wooden fence that I can feel the the bumpy wood with the tip of my nose.

"GO!" Ric's daddy yells.

Putting all my strength into my arms, I push off of the fence and use the boost to turn around towards the finish. Eric does the same thing but he's a second slower than me because he didn't lean in close like I did.

The other kids just turn around to see our backs.

Daddy always tells me to breathe while running but my chest feels too tight. Eric is a little ahead of me but I let him keep it until I'm ten feet away.

Then I take a deep breath and duck my head a little.

My legs move faster and I reach out my hand as far as it will go.

I feel skin touch mine but I don't stop until I'm past Eric's daddy. Beta John always tells us to run through the finish line because there's no point in stopping until you're beyond where you need to be.

I know that I've won because Eric looks angry.

"I win!" I barely get out.

Eric is breathing just as hard as I am but it doesn't stop him from squinting his eyes for a rematch. He gets a nod of my head and then I'm looking at all the other kids running in to slap Alpha Hawthorne's hands.

I hear clapping again as the wind blows. I curtsy again and Daddy laughs as he picks me up.

"Why are you doing that Bexy?"

I look at him confused.

"The trees are clapping because I won, don't you hear it?"

~~

I smile in my sleep as I relive the memory.

Daddy had wanted to go over to Alpha Hawthorne's house because the student counsel had started getting more permanent members after several years of duds.

I was sitting in his lap drinking lemonade as they discussed the newest member, for the life of me I can't remember who it was. He also explained it to me because I was confused.

I remember telling him that I didn't want to be on the Counsel because that would mean I couldn't run our pack. Eric nodded in agreement with me but he did that a lot when we were kids because I was mostly right about nearly everything in his eyes.

My dad praised me as a little genius but he never agree that I was always right. Instead, he kissed my forehead and smiled.

"Bexy, being the female werewolf representative on the Counsel is a greater responsibility than being Alpha of our pack. But, I'll never stop you from becoming either."

Alpha Hawthorne "Hear, Hear"d that and we all took a drink from our respective cups.

Little me swore that the trees clapped then too but Daddy told me that it was just the wind blowing so I refused to acknowledge it again.

AN: Well, I'm going to take my single self out to see a movie. I consider you all my Valentine's so consider this chapter my gift.