Teen Wolf Fic - Battered and Broken (R) 4/12

[luvsbitca]

Masterpost - contains all story information
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Battered And Broken
by Moonbeam (luvsbitca)
Part 4


/ / / Lydia \ \ \

Lydia waited until the sheriff was down the hallway before she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “My battery is almost dead babe, can I use yours?”

Tom handed his phone over without a comment.

“Do you remember the part of Stiles’ skull? I can’t quite remember,” Lydia didn’t know why she couldn’t remember. She’d held onto the name, she’d tried to hold onto the name when she’d been told but she didn’t want to search for information when the sheriff was around. She was glad no one but Tom was here when she did it.

“Do you want me to search?” Tom asked. Lydia was had been so surprised when they first met, he was so very quiet but he watched the people around him and noticed things that other people missed. He knew her, he knew her better than anyone else and he knew she didn’t want to know but she needed to be prepared. Lydia wished for a moment she didn’t love Stiles so badly so she could do it herself but she handed the phone back to Tom and tucked her legs under her body so she could watch over his shoulder.

Tom searched for temporal bone fractures while she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder until he had found something.

Lydia met Tom in her second year of university. There was a small fire in her building and Tom had come out to put the fire out. She was standing outside in her pyjamas when he rolled up to the building. He stood easily head and shoulders above all of the other firemen. They put the fire out but Lydia hadn’t been allowed back into her apartment until the next morning. Tom had waited and watched over the residents of the building when the fire was out while the other fire fighters did their after fire activities. Lydia had noticed him but didn’t think much of it until a couple of weeks later when she was walking into a class and he was sitting in the very back hunched down into a desk too small for him. Lydia had gone to sit next to him, he smiled at her and said hello and then they had said nothing else. Lydia said she remembered him at the end of the lesson and she’d been put off when he said a few very short sentences and then ducked his head before saying goodbye. Lydia hadn’t seen him when she went into the room for the session next week so she sat one desk over from where she had the week before, an empty desk, not particularly interested in trying to chat with someone new, and people were creatures of habit that tended to sit where they had before. Tom had rushed in moments before the beginning of the lesson and Lydia had watched as his eyes flicked between her table and the table they had used last time before he folded himself down into the seat next to hers and said a very quiet hello.

Tom had sat next to her every week for almost a month before Lydia asked him to go and get a cup of coffee. He agreed with a look that somehow managed to be both shy and happy. They had had a cup of coffee and Lydia realised that he was that quiet all the time. He spoke but he didn’t rabbit on. Lydia could see that he always thought about things before saying them. By the time they were finished with the course, he liked to draw and she needed to take an art class, they were dating. When he kissed her the first time, curled down and in on himself like he wasn’t sure what to do with all his height, he blushed afterwards and smiled at her when she pressed herself closer and stretched out until they were both comfortable. It took her another couple of months to convince him to stop stooping around her; she didn’t mind that he made her feel so much shorter than she normally did even in her insanely high heels.

Tom was as quiet as she’d found on their first meeting but when he did speak he meant every word. He was incredibly reluctant to lie, didn’t hide things unless you counted things like buying her an engagement ring and her birthday or Christmas presents. They’d been dating only six months when he told her that he was special. She already knew that, she’d known it from the first time he took her to the zoo just so she could see the koala and the rock wallaby. She had always wanted to go to Australia and see a wombat. She had said something and the next weekend he had off, when things at university were calm, he drove her out to the zoo so she could sit in front of their enclosure and just watch them for a while. Afterwards she went with him to see the alligator and elephant which were his favourite animals. They’d gone for ice cream and it was the first time they had sex, after they’d gone back to his apartment and it was…lovely.

Six months into their relationship he’d told her that he was special and she had been unsure what to say when he explained to her that she needed to listen to him and not just assume that he was telling her a lie. He’d started by telling her that he’d been born different, his father had been special too, Tom’s father was Austrian, born there but he moved with his family to America when Thomas, Tom’s father, was a very young boy. Tom’s grandfather, had told Tom when he was very young that his family was originally from somewhere in Africa, a place with many animals. That was when they had started to change. Tom’s grandfather had said one of their ancestors was a shaman, the man had taken the evil spirits from a woman he loved so that she would live and he had walked into the bush, he had left the camp and wandered in the desert for days. His spirit animal, a giant panther bigger than any ever seen visited him and saved him. But he had been changed from that night on. He was part man and part animal, stronger than normal when he was in either form. The man had apparently gone on to marry the woman he saved and they had many strong sons and daughters, each special like their father and able to call on the animal that protected their father to help them in times of need. They became the protectors of their tribe and great warriors that had made their people strong. Then the strangers from the north came and one of the warriors was injured and forced to go with the invaders. He had been healed and made to fight, not for his family’s protection or for honour but for the enjoyment of strangers all wanting his blood. The warrior had proven himself stronger than any they had seen before with the help of his animal soul who was able to save him from the most ferocious and blood thirsty of the beasts he had to face. They had given the man his freedom and he had travelled far hoping to return to his family when he met a woman who was both in need of assistance and unwilling to allow anyone to do things for her that she felt she could do alone. The man travelled no further in the end, living instead with that woman until the end of his life when his spirit and the spirit of his animal were freed to travel across land and ocean to return to the home of his ancestors. Over time they moved around and eventually the lands changed names until Tom’s grandparents moved their family to America. Tom had smiled at her weakly when he got to that part of the story. Then he had told her in a quiet voice that showed her how worried he was, that his family was still special. He was special. He could turn into a panther. He had looked at her terrified, utterly terrified.

“Would you show me?” Lydia asked him.

He had nodded and stood, pulling his shirt off over his head. When he was standing in front of her wearing just his comfortable pants he frowned at her and changed. She had watched the other wolves changing and even knowing it was different from her own transformation she had always been intrigued by watching them. Watching Tom was completely different. He was tall and broad and he seemed to shrink in front of her until finally he changed, his tanned skin turning black in places as he began to spot. She could see the fine hair on his arms darkening until she could see them. He dropped down onto all fours and eventually she was watching him shift completely from human to jaguar. He had spots but then as she watched he started to transform again and darken in colour until she was left staring at a black jaguar, a panther. She reached forward and touched him, between the ears his fur so soft between her fingers.

“Is this okay?” she asked.

The giant black cat in front of her looked her in the eye and nodded and she could see Tom within the strangely yellow eyes. She couldn’t help herself she had to touch him, his ears and the long slide down his nose, the space between his shoulders and the length of his side and flank. She dropped down onto the ground next to him and wrapped an arm around his middle pressing her face into the soft fur like she did with the soft skin in his side during the night when they were curled up together in bed. As she listened to his strange feline heartbeat she knew she could tell him her secret too. Not because he had shared with her but because in the months they’d known each other, that they’d been dating, she felt more comfortable with him, more herself than she had ever felt with anyone. The closest she had ever come was when she dated Stiles but they had realised that as much as they liked each other she didn’t feel as strongly for him as he deserved and she wasn’t a good fit with him. Though even back then she knew that he had conflicting feelings about Derek not that she thought he even knew back then that he could be interested. It wasn’t until after university that she knew he’d worked it out, that Stiles had started to be obvious and aware of his feelings and perhaps he saw what Derek felt for him as well.

Lydia pulled away from him and sat with her hand between his shoulders. “You can change back if you want to.”

Lydia pulled her hand back when she felt the shifting of his body beneath her hand. She stayed where she was and waited for him to turn back into himself again before she moved to sit back on the couch.

“I never expected you to react so well,” Tom said pulling her close to him until she was tucked under his arm.

Lydia pulled herself out from under his arm and pressed a kiss to his mouth before curling into him again and tugging his arm around her. “I’m glad you told me. But you know all of this about your ancestors?”

“They are the things of our bedtime stories,” Tom had explained quietly as though all the talking before had been too much. “I don’t normally tell people but…you are different.”

Lydia had smiled at him and told her own tale, of being attacked, of the coma, of waking up not knowing what was happening, of discovering she was special, that the incident had awoken something in her that no one knew about before. She had transformed for him then, allowing him to see the part of her that would always be a wolf even though she was not technically a werewolf. She was a shifter but unlike Derek and the rest of the pack, she was not tied to her animal. She could take on the shape of the animals that had been introduced into her body so she could turn into a wolf but unlike the rest she was not bound by the same constraints to pack and strength. Lydia had chosen to become part of Derek’s pack later when he calmed down and was slightly less ‘lone wolf’ and more willing to allow people into his life and pack rather than being the dictator who put Scott off.

Tom had pulled back and asked if he could see and she’d changed, her eyes flaring green while her nails and teeth grew. She allowed him to look at her for a moment before explaining that because she was special unlike most werewolves she could change completely. Different to the change available to a beta, like she was at the moment, and different to the nightmare that was a complete alpha transformation. She had pulled back and pulled off half her clothes blushing at him before she allowed herself to change down to a wolf with faintly red fur. She was a little bigger than a normal wolf. Tom’s change had been obviously larger than any leopard she had ever seen, her wolf was only a little bigger than a normal wolf, easily ignored. She walked over and rested her muzzle on Tom’s knee. He looked down at her and held his hand out above her head. She lifted her head up to press into his hand. He petted her for a second before asking her to change back.

From that evening on they had been almost inseparable. She told her mum she was still living at her apartment but honestly she was spending all her time with Tom, half her things in his apartment and they spent all their time not dedicated to work or her degree together. She took him home to Beacon Hills and introduced him to the rest of the pack. Derek had been supportive but distant as he always was and she could see that Jackson was torn between happy for her and protective but Stiles had taken Tom outside and warned him to do the right thing, even knowing everything that was amazing with Tom, and the things that made her want to scream sometimes. By the time they came inside Stiles and Tom were friends and Stiles had pulled her close and said that he liked Tom. She had been surprised how much his easy approval meant to her. Lydia’s mum told her to play the field, to enjoy these years because settling too early would be a terrible idea. Her father didn’t have much of anything to say but he had a new family and he had been pulling away ever since he had married the new wife.

The day after she graduated Tom handed her the job offer he’d received from Beacon Hills Fire Department. He knew she wasn’t sure if she should stay at Caltech or accept the offer to work in a lab near her home town. She didn’t need to be at the university to get the Fields Medal. Lydia had excelled at her studies, she could work anywhere she wanted and the pack, the family she chose rather than the one thrust upon her, was calling her home. He handed her the job offer and said wherever she went he would go. They stayed in Pasadena for twelve months after she graduated so she could work with some of the people from there before she left to do independent work. Tom had smiled when she suggested it and moved the few bits and pieces still at her apartment to his.

Halfway through the year Tom took her to the zoo again so much more nervous than he had ever been. She had joked about him not being allowed to dump her when she was sitting in front of the koala exhibit. He swallowed and turned very pale as he dropped down in front of her. She grabbed for him thinking he’d managed to faint for some reason but he shook his head and pulled the box out of his pocket. She didn’t even let him ask before she pulled him into a downright inappropriate kiss given they were at the zoo and said yes. He looked much more relaxed when he asked her properly minutes later. The older couple who had also been looking at the koalas looked at them both indulgently as they left the exhibit, the zoo and went home to celebrate.

They fought and they got annoyed, they yelled and occasionally one of them would glare and refuse to do things but Lydia loved him and he loved her and the bad things were well outweighed by the good and Lydia hadn’t ever been as happy with any decision she had ever made as much as she was with the one to ask him for a coffee and starting their relationship. They moved to Beacon Hills and Lydia started working at a lab one town over with a number of other independent scientists. Technically she was still employed by Caltech and often had to return to participate in lectures and other things but she was able to work from home or in her office working towards proofs and other projects. Tom transferred to the Beacon Hills Fire Department and helped Danny become part of the volunteer brigade for bush fires.

Since they had come back to Beacon Hills they had become more deeply a part of the pack, Tom had agreed to tell them of his abilities choosing to tell Stiles first. Stiles had been so excited and asked so many questions Tom had completely relaxed about telling the rest of the pack. Having Tom out on the full moons Lydia went to made everything very different. He was a great, if somewhat unusual, addition to Derek’s pack. Not that he was officially pack, more like a special member just like she and Stiles were.

“Okay,” Tom said pulling her out of the memories she’d become lost in. “Temporal bone fractures can be very bad.”

Lydia pressed closer and closed her eyes. “Tell me.”

“The bone looks after parts of the ear, the facial nerve and other nerves. Issues in the area can range from concussions to damage to nerves - things like facial nerve paralysis and hearing loss. It can cause other things I don’t understand, none of which sound good.”

“Shit,” Lydia said. “He better come out of this okay.”

“I’m sure he will,” the sheriff said stepping into the room. Lydia straightened and frowned at him. “Can I have a look at that?”

“I’m so sorry sheriff,” Lydia said.

“I was going to look it up anyway,” he said coming inside and sitting down. “You can call me Samuel.”

“I am sure he will be fine Lydia. Sheriff,” Tom said handing his phone over.

/ / / Jackson \ \ \

Jackson sat in Stiles’ room; they said it was fine that he hadn’t woken up yet. They said he had a head wound and it was normal for him to not wake completely and that he was likely to come close to waking, perhaps opening his eyes or talking without being completely aware of anything. The pack had agreed not to leave Stiles alone, they knew the sheriff would have sat by his side the whole time if given the option but that wouldn’t be good for him so they did what they could to help. They wouldn’t be allowed to see Derek properly for another couple of days, the burn specialist was seeing him today but all they had been allowed to do was a very quick viewing from outside his room. He was too pale and even through the glass plate between them Jackson had still been able to smell the burned flesh. Seeing him hadn’t made any of them feel that much better because he still looked like he was close to death. Scott had whispered a story to them of wolf’s bane poisoning and Stiles almost cutting Derek’s arm off, Scott had been quiet as he said Derek had looked better then. Seeing Stiles was not much better, covered in bruises steadily darkening as the day progressed and bandages that worried them as they turned red and were changed. They said it was normal; they reassured the sheriff that things were progressing in a pleasing manner. Jackson didn’t feel any better about looking at him even knowing things were going well. He looked terrible and Jackson worried about what would happen to Derek if Stiles didn’t wake up. Jackson refused to accept that Derek wasn’t going to make it out of his injuries. Stiles would make a joke about Derek and Peter being related and that Derek was stronger so he really should be waking up already. Jackson could hear Stiles’ voice in his head even though he really didn’t know how he’d managed to pay enough attention to him for Stiles to have become a voice in his mind.

Jackson leaned closer. “Stiles, you better wake up.”

Jackson sat back and tried to work out where to look. Looking at Stiles was depressing and made him think of things that he would prefer not to think about at the moment.

Danny was due to be released soon, his head wound had led to a concussion but the werewolf healing abilities had been enough to fix the problems quicker than they would have with anyone else. His shoulder was going to heal faster than it would have normally but he couldn’t go home alone so Jackson was going to take him to his apartment and look after him instead. Danny’s mum hadn’t been able to get a flight until tonight so she wouldn’t be home until sometime the day after tomorrow, not that Jackson thought Danny would need to leave him when she came home. He was sitting with Stiles until they released Danny and then Danny wanted some time with Stiles himself. Jackson refused to be jealous about it, just because Danny had had a small crush on Stiles a long time ago was no reason for Jackson to be jealous. He heard Lydia down the end of the corridor and the unmistakable step of Danny. He squeezed Stiles’ hand one last time before he stepped back and opened the door for Danny.

Jackson stepped out and watched Danny as he walked into the room and sat down. He took the seat just outside the door and smiled at Lydia who was going to sit with Stiles after he and Danny left. Melissa was making the sheriff eat something and hopefully have a nap before she would allow him to came back in. The sheriff had sat in the hospital all night, Jackson had been with Danny but Lydia said they sat upstairs with him until the early hours when Tom had taken her home after he tried to convince the sheriff to go home. Tom reminded the sheriff he wouldn’t have been able to see Stiles again until this morning but the sheriff had been adamant; he wouldn’t leave. He had been outside the ICU for most of the night but had sat with Melissa watching over Scott for a while and spoke to Chris Argent who had apparently come to the hospital late, when no one else was likely to be there. The sheriff refused to say what they had talked about beyond that he had did not believe that the Morgans would have blown the barn up with their own people inside. The sheriff agreed but had looked so exhausted when Jackson and Melissa came down that Jackson hadn’t pressed.

/ / / Danny \ \ \

Danny sat down knowing that Jackson was standing outside the door. He had been hovering ever since the explosion. Danny knew Jackson had feelings for him, he knew Jackson better than he had ever known anyone and he knew that even though Jackson never said it he did care for Danny. Danny was happy waiting for Jackson, when they were alone Jackson didn’t feel like he had to watch what he said and did to make sure the people around him perceived him correctly. Jackson had always been relaxed around Danny, people used to wonder why Danny was friends with someone who came off like a jackass. They didn’t see the Jackson that Danny had, the one who would share his ham sandwich with Danny just because it was his favourite and eating half of Danny’s cheese even though he preferred ham. The Jackson who had sat next to Danny and held his hand when he told his mother he was homosexual and who had always stood by his side even when people used to whisper things that weren’t nice. Most people had always supported Danny but when his dad left and it was just Danny and his mum having Jackson meant the world to him.

Danny had never once allowed his crush on Jackson to be anything at all. He made sure he didn’t act differently, he did everything he could but after they’d come back from university when Jackson kissed him he wallowed in it. They went so slow, Jackson was terrified and uncomfortable but Danny knew Jackson and he would never have kissed Danny if there was no reason for it. Danny was happy to wait, but every once in a while he needed to vent and he’d never told a soul what they were doing because that needed to be Jackson’s decision, he wasn’t going to force Jackson to go anywhere or do anything he wasn’t ready for. He never told anyone but then Stiles had dragged him to the pub one night and they drank too much but before Danny got completely drunk Stiles had grabbed both their drinks and pushed them to the side and looked at him closely.

“So,” he’d started. “You’re fucking Jackson.”

Danny had been so glad he wasn’t still holding his drink, or trying to drink it because the flailing that accompanied that statement was both embarrassing and all encompassing. When he’d calmed down Stiles said he wasn’t going to say anything to anyone and he didn’t care what Danny and Jackson were doing but he thought Danny might need someone to talk to. Danny had spilled his guts and Stiles became his confident; Danny was still a little surprised Stiles was so good at keeping the secret. He was fairly certain everyone knew but Stiles hadn’t been the one to tell any of them.

Danny talked loud enough for Jackson to hear him outside of the room without allowing anyone passing to hear him. “Go get a cup of tea or something and come back for me in fifteen minutes.”

Danny could hear Lydia laugh before she grabbed Jackson and dragged him away. Danny stood looking down at Stiles and frowned, he looked horrible and Danny couldn’t work out how he looked worse now than he had lying on the ground just after the explosion. Stiles’ hand was cooler than Danny expected but he held on tight anyway. The bruises were distracting and Danny could see that there wasn’t much of Stiles that seemed to actually be uninjured but the skin under his hand, dry and smooth was safe for him to touch. Danny just wished he could do something for Stiles, it felt utterly unfair that his shoulder would be healed in a few weeks and Stiles was going to be recovering for months given the timeline Lydia handed him earlier today with the warning that she was using the internet for her research. Danny could tell she hadn’t slept the night before, Danny shook off the memory of that list; they would have to all come together to help him.

“Stiles,” Danny said leaning in close to Stiles’ ear and whispering hoping no one was listening. “Please get better. I…I need you to get better, who else is going to help me when Jackson is acting like a jerk? I need you to wake up and tell me what to do with him now; he’s been strange ever since the explosion, I don’t want him to do something he is going to regret just because I got hurt. I want us to be honest with everyone but I don’t want him to…oh hell I don’t know what to want at the moment, see I need you so just please get better.”

Danny sat back his hand gripping Stiles’ as his eyes burned and he refused to cry. When Danny was growing up he’d only had Jackson and his mum and that was all he thought he would need but then Stiles asked if he was attractive to gay guys, and was so completely and utterly unashamed of asking, of putting Danny on the spot - most people were accepting but few people asked him about it and no sane guy in high school asked if he was attractive to gay guys unless he was trying to come out in an unusual way. Stiles didn’t worry about it, didn’t care to have boundaries, he’d used Derek…Miguel…against Danny like a pro and had forced his way into Danny’s orbit until they’d become friends even when Danny wasn’t sure what to make of Stiles most of the time. Danny had gone off to university to study and he’d thought he wouldn’t hear from Stiles but he’d get e-mails and calls and on one embarrassing occasion an unplanned visit where Danny’s dorm mate let Stiles in and they both got a view of Danny and the captain of the football team none of them were expecting. Danny still didn’t know what Stiles had done or said to the guy to stop that story getting out into the general population but no one knew about it and the football captain was still deeply in the closet. Stiles didn’t let Danny go as a friend and was the reason Danny had ended up a wolf as well, Danny knew about Jackson but one night when Danny and Stiles were out with the rest of the pack they were on their way home when it happened, a driver on the other side of the road drunk and stupid had swerved into their lane. Stiles had broken his arm, Derek was fine, a few cuts but he waved Stiles off when he tried to check on him. Danny hadn’t been as lucky, a shard of glass had embedded itself into his neck and Stiles told Derek to bite him, Derek had asked his permission but he remembered the light-headed feeling and he was surprised he’d even been able to answer. The bite had taken effect by the time he’d made it to the hospital and they had been able to operate. The doctors had been surprised he’d survived, his mum had sobbed when she heard about it and about the fact that his recovery was something of a miracle but Danny was just happy that he wasn’t going to die before the end of his first year of university. After that he supposed he couldn’t get rid of Stiles even if he wanted to. Later he’d asked why Stiles wasn’t a werewolf. Stiles had shrugged and asked what being a werewolf could do for him. He reminded Danny of all the times that he’d saved the day with nothing but his brain and the assumption made by too many wolves that since Stiles was human he was weak. Looking back Danny wished like hell he’d been able to think of a good argument that day, that he hadn’t just accepted it as a reasonable reason and moved on. Holding onto Stiles’ hand while he laid there still made Danny wish, harder than he had since his father left, that he could go back and fix things.

Danny heard Lydia coming down the hall and took a deep breath watching Stiles’ face before the door behind him opened and Lydia walked in.

“Danny?” Lydia asked when she saw him next to the bed. “Do you want me to come back?”

“No, come in.” Danny didn’t take his eyes off of Stiles as Lydia came in running her hand along the back of Danny’s shoulders before she went around to the other side of the bed and sunk onto the chair there wrapping Stiles’ other hand in both of hers.

“The nurse is in one of the rooms so she can’t say anything about more than one person in here,” Lydia said quietly.

Danny nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Jackson will be here soon, he got a call from his mother, apparently one of the nurses here is a friend of hers and mentioned that he’d been here.”

“That’s fine,” Danny said. Jackson’s mum loved him but Jackson never managed to think it was going to be there forever and he was always a little stressed when she had been particularly affectionate. He didn’t know what had come before Jackson’s adoptive parents, Jackson said he didn’t remember anything either, but something there must have been the reason he was so eager to prove his worth to everyone and yet so reluctant to accept their affection.

“He looks so…” Lydia didn’t finish the sentence but Danny knew what she meant. Danny nodded when his ears picked up the unmistakeable sound of Jackson’s steps outside.

“That’s Jackson,” Danny said standing up. He walked around the bed and pulled Lydia into a hug. “He’s going to be fine.”

Lydia nodded and didn’t say anything but she did snake her arm around him and hold him close for a moment.

Danny left and smiled when Jackson grabbed and squeezed his hand before they started walking away. They stopped outside of Derek’s room on the way out of the hospital but like normal they couldn’t go in and see him. He was still sedated, would be until at least tomorrow.

When they got home Danny allowed Jackson to help him strip so he could get into the shower and properly wash the smell of bomb off his body, he had to ask Jackson to wash his hair, his shoulder tender and sore as the pain medication wore off. Jackson touched him with love and soft hands before they left the bathroom and crawled into bed. Jackson pulled Danny close as he allowed the pain medication to pull him down and into a deep sleep the warmth of Jackson keeping him comfortable and safe.

/ / / Lydia \ \ \

Lydia held Stiles’ hand, the weight of Tom’s arm heavy over her shoulder. She knew he was worried about her; she hadn’t slept the night of the incident spending it researching all of Stiles and Derek’s injuries instead. She had barely slept last night either, Stiles should have woken up properly today, she needed him to get better. Her world didn’t feel right when he wasn’t there in it.

“You need to go home and get some sleep Lydia, Scott is going to come up and sit with him for a while and his dad is coming back after Melissa has fed him.” Tom said pressing a kiss to the top of her head as though he was apologising for making her go.

Lydia nodded and stood up, she pressed a kiss to Stiles’ head and whispered in his ear. “Love you Stiles, wake up by the time I get back or else Mister.” She kissed him again and turned to press her face into Tom’s arm as they walked out of the room. As she passed Scott in his wheelchair she gripped his shoulder, he smiled up at her and his face set as he wheeled himself inside.

Lydia had both arms wrapped around one of Tom’s big arms as they walked down past Derek’s room. She was surprised to find the door open and couldn’t stop herself from stepping into the doorway. She was surprised with what she saw. Derek, looking almost normal again, his face turned towards her and looking so very peaceful in his sleep, and next to him a doctor she didn’t recognise and …

“Dr Deaton?” Lydia said surprised.

“Mrs Bradley,” the older man said with the hint of a smile. Lydia didn’t know why he called her that sometimes but he had always refused to answer the question.

“What are you doing here?”

“This is Dr Pierce,” the vet said gesturing to the older man, tall and thin with salt and pepper hair and sparkling blue eyes who smiled at her. “He is the burn specialist looking at Derek’s injuries and an old friend.”

“Old friend?” Lydia asked looking the vet in the eye and hoping he understood the question she was asking.

“Yes,” Dr Pierce said pushing his hair back. “Given his abilities I have asked he be taken off the sedative and I’ve looked at all his other wounds. The shoulder wound and the one that pierced his liver are the only other ones of concern but his healing will take care of that in time. I have had his care moved to me which should solve the problem of attempting to explain away the lack of scarring we would normally see. I have bound his back, as you see, in a special burn bandage that will allow us to hide the healing that I have already been able to observe occurring to the worst affected areas. He should wake up some time this afternoon.”

Lydia felt like collapsing at finally getting some good news. Tom wrapped his arm around her keeping her standing against his side.

“We are done,” Dr Pierce said. “If you would like to sit with him.”

Lydia nodded and walked over to the bed quickly grabbing onto his hand and dropped her head down onto the mattress next to his head. “Derek, we’re all here and Stiles is going to be fine,” Lydia hoped that in this state Derek would not be able to hear the uncertainty in her voice.

Lydia pulled back and sat down in the chair. Derek was still secretive, distant and liked his own way, as any alpha did she assumed, but he was still the head of their pack and they all cared for him deeply in their own ways.

“I’ll go and call everyone,” Tom said standing behind her.

“Thank you love,” Lydia said looking up at him.

She heard him leave and sagged down into the bed. Derek had always had a better chance than anyone else to make it through his injuries but to know he was going to be okay and to have a doctor that knew about him made this one less thing that was worrying her. Now she just needed Stiles to wake up and be himself, to be fine apart from injuries that would heal and they could deal with it. She knew without a doubt they would all do everything they could to make sure they were both healing properly and help where they could. She wanted something she could do, something she could work on or fix but there was nothing she could do at the moment and it made her feel helpless, a feeling she truly hated.

/ / / Sheriff \ \ \

Samuel smiled at the doctor as she made her way into the room with him and Stiles.

“Sheriff, I’m Dr Oh.”

“Hello Dr, please call me Samuel.”

“Samuel, we have the results back on the scans we performed on Stiles. There is still some more swelling in his brain than we would like to see. He has been coming close to consciousness so things look good but we don’t want him to wake until the swelling is down. We are going to have to extend his sedation.”

Samuel nodded and tried to think about the phrase ‘things look good’ but nothing short of his son actually waking up and talking to him like he did normally would make him relax. He was glad Derek was awake, he’d only ducked his head in but Derek had immediately asked after Stiles. Samuel had worried about Stiles’ feelings for Derek but the look on Derek’s face told him that he didn’t need to worry about Stiles’ being hurt if Derek didn’t return his feelings, there was no mistaking the desperation of love in Derek’s eyes.

“For how long?” Samuel asked.

“We will rescan tomorrow and we’ll keep a close eye on things as soon as the swelling is gone we will be able to pull back the sedation and wake him.”

“Okay, thank you Doctor.”

“He is getting better Samuel.”

“Thanks but until he wakes up I just don’t think I can believe that.”

The doctor nodded and stepped back out of the room leaving him alone again. He stared at Stiles, who he had to admit was getting more colour in his cheeks and looking a little more like himself everyday but he still wasn’t moving and Stiles had never been the type of person to be still. Possibly a side effect of the ADHD but more likely it was just Stiles.

Stiles had told him he wasn’t going to become a wolf when Samuel learned about werewolves being real and Samuel had been pleased, he’d wanted Stiles to be safe and he’d thought for some reason that being human would save him from the hunters. Now Samuel wished that things were different if only it meant that Stiles would be okay.

The sheriff still remembered that day, he’d found out about werewolves the day before and the very next morning he’d driven out to Derek’s house Stiles next to him in the patrol car ranting the whole way. Samuel had asked Derek a hundred questions and was happy…not happy, he was well informed by the end of it. Then he asked the question that Stiles hated. He had asked Derek what Stiles being in the pack meant, what Derek would do for Stiles and whether he would protect Stiles.

“I know Stiles is an adult and he can make his own decisions. I can’t order him not to be in the pack but you promise me that being part of this won’t end with him dead,” Samuel had started at the very end. “Because he is all I have left and I need your word.”

“Dad,” Stiles had said looking at him with such sadness. “I will be careful, I promise.”

“I know you Stiles,” Samuel had said. “You will run into dangerous situations to save people you care about so I just want to make sure someone is watching your back.”

“Sheriff,” Derek had said quietly. “Stiles is pack, I will ‘have his back’ and we’ve already talked about it. If something happens I will do whatever I have to to save him.”

“You’ll bite him?”

“Yes,” Derek’s answer was immediate. Looking back the way Derek had looked then was maybe the first hint that there was affection there but nothing really developed until Stiles came back from university.

“Dad I told you I had this sorted out,” Stiles pointed out no longer annoyed.

“Your father wants my word,” Derek said. “He wants to look me in the eye as I give it to him.”

Samuel had smiled, he liked that Derek had worked out the reason for this request. “He’s right Stiles.”

Then Stiles had nodded and sat back, waiting.

“Stiles is pack and pack is family. I will do anything I have to to protect my pack,” Derek’s voice was fierce and his eyes burning as he’d said it and Samuel had to wonder if he was thinking of the family he hadn’t been able to save last time.

“Good, you need anything you come and see me,” the sheriff had said before they left.

Samuel knew it wasn’t Derek’s fault, Melissa had told him what it had been like at the ambulance, because he’d seen Derek’s quietly fierce protectiveness of his pack over the years. Derek had a quiet way of looking after his pack, he could be demanding and authoritarian, which never sat well with Stiles, but when it came down to it and one of the pack needed something or was in trouble Derek would be there supplying it and saving the anger and demands for less important things. This wasn’t Derek’s fault but Samuel wished with everything he had that Stiles was okay…then he remembered that Derek had been between the explosion and Stiles and he remembered that things could have been so much worse if Derek hadn’t been doing everything he could to fulfil his promise. Samuel knew the pack would help Derek but he’d already organised the spare room for the wolf when he was able to come out. The sheriff had organised to take his long service leave, which he had planned to use for an overseas holiday, to look after Stiles, and Derek until his healing made him safe to go home. If the werewolf would let him.

Samuel knew he needed to go and tell everyone else about Stiles but he just didn’t want to leave the room. He only forced himself to go when Melissa yanked him out and made him sleep or eat. The only thing that allowed him to rest was knowing that not one of Stiles’ pack would allow him to be alone just in case he woke up. Stiles had made good friends, a good second family for himself and Samuel was so proud that Stiles was the type of person to inspire that love and devotion from his friends. Stiles had to wake up, and soon, he meant too much to too many people.

/ / / Stiles \ \ \

The roof was white and his side was burning.

The world went black.

His hand was warm and there was a breeze rolling over his cheek. The room around him was white and obviously a hospital room. There was a head resting on the bed beside his hand. His dad. Stiles gripped his father’s hand tight causing his dad to jolt up and look at him, his smile wide. Stiles was so tired.

The world went black again.

There were gnomes running up his legs while Derek spoke without sound next to him. He told the gnomes to go away and then his dad was grabbing his hand and talking soundlessly as well.

Stiles frowned and then shook his head which made his vision condense down to a tiny spot in the middle of his vision. His stomach rolled just before the world went black.

It wasn’t very bright the next time Stiles woke up, the world was quiet and the moon was shining in through the open blinds. Lydia was sitting in a chair on his left, her hair covering most of her face where it was tucked into her shoulder while she slept. His dad was on his other side, his neck was going to be killing him given that he woke up with sore necks in his actual bed sometimes.

“Dad,” Stiles tried but Stiles didn’t hear anything. He tried again. “Dad.” Still nothing. Stiles frowned and tried again louder. “Dad!”

His dad sat up straight but Stiles was trying to work out why his voice wasn’t working. He couldn’t hear himself. Something was wrong.

After that there was a flurry of activity and his father and Lydia disappeared while a nurse and doctor rushed in and started testing his hearing. Their faces were closed off but grim by the time they were finished. Stiles was expecting it but his stomach twisted when the doctor held up a sheet of paper.

There is a problem with your ears. Can you read this?

Stiles nodded slowly trying to wrap his mind around the idea of being deaf, of his entire life changing. Everything would be different now. Stiles bit down hard on his lip and keep his eyes open and wide making sure he didn’t cry.

Knowing he could read, after a couple of comprehension questions written on the paper, touch your left nostril and hold up two fingers on your left hand and three on the right, they apologised and asked him to wait while the doctor called his father back in. Stiles could see Derek through the door but he didn’t come inside. They explained to him using terrible handwriting that he had a longitudinal fracture of the temporal bone. They had called in a specialist, they were sending him for another CT, there were several options and they shouldn’t assume the worst until they knew more. They wrote about him having a burst ear drum and then they told him about all his other injuries. Stiles tried to watch his father but he kept his face averted which told Stiles all he needed to know; it had been incredibly close. Finally, with nothing more to tell Stiles and with no questions to ask them the doctors left him alone with his father. His dad sat next to him and reached out for his hand, holding it tight. Stiles didn’t need to be able to hear him to know what he was saying and he wanted to believe him but he couldn’t get past his disbelief, this couldn’t be happening to him, it had to be happening to someone else. Stiles stopped watching the motion of his father’s mouth even as he was looking at him. He tried to remember, he could remember the day before. He could remember sitting with his father in their lounge room talking about his mother, about Derek. Stiles had been so surprised that his father had known and then he’d been surprised it took his father so long to call him out on it. They had talked about the fact he shouldn’t wait for Derek to get over his issues and Stiles should at least say something, he might get shot down but that wasn’t Stiles’ biggest fear, if it was he wouldn’t have pursued Lydia for all those years until she finally went out with him, she was always going to be his absolutely favourite ex-anything. Stiles could remember them going to the overlook where they had scattered his mother’s ashes. She had loved going up there for picnics and when it was too cold for that they would go up and sit in the car and drink hot chocolate with too many marshmallows. They had prepared the hot chocolate but Stiles couldn’t remember going up there, he could vaguely remember eating Chinese but there was nothing after that not even the gentle flicker of half-memory like that of eating garlic beef.

Stiles didn’t hear the door fly open, or the slam of it hitting the wall behind it, he didn’t notice the flurry of activity outside the door trying to keep someone out but he saw his father turn and it pulled him out of his memories. He followed the direction of his father’s eyes and caught sight of Lydia just before she grabbed his hand and pressed her face into the hollow of his neck. He could feel the hot splash of tears on his skin and that was the end of the shock. With a great hit of clarity because he could feel the wet heat of her tears and could feel her body shake against him but he couldn’t hear her. Stiles held onto her in the only way he could and tried to tell her everything would be okay without screaming at her. She just cried harder.

Lydia pulled away finally, her eyes red as she mouthed ‘sorry’ to him, he told her not to be silly and her face crumbled before she shook herself off and smiled at him. She pulled a notepad out of her back pocket and a pen and started writing.

What have they said?

“They are going to run tests,” Stiles said trying not to yell but every time he opened his mouth he expected to hear himself but there were no words. “A scan and they are getting a specialist to come and consult.”

Lydia nodded and wrote again. Whatever you need we will do, you’ll be fine regardless. Lydia looked so fierce that Stiles wanted to hug her but he couldn’t find the strength to even try to move. He nodded at her and she returned the gesture before sitting in the chair his dad had pulled over next to him.

“What happened?” Stiles asked suddenly feeling so weary.

Lydia looked horrified at the question but she dropped her head and started to write.

What do you remember?

“Going up to the cliff with my dad on the anniversary of her death.” His dad looked surprised that he knew a lot of time must have passed between then and when he was injured.

That was the day before. Lydia wrote waiting for him to read it before she went back to writing. The Morgans set off some of your sensors. Derek called us but you were already there, I don’t know what you were doing there and you didn’t tell me. You were acting odd; I was going to ask you about it after. We went out and Derek left you at home with a gun. When we got out there they seemed surprised to see us and then one of them dragged you in and Derek demanded you be let go. The explosion happened just after they let you go and Derek put himself between you and the bomb. You didn’t wake up.

Stiles stifled a yawn and he knew he wouldn’t be awake for much longer, all of his limbs were heavy and he didn’t feel like he could even move but before he slept again he wanted to speak to Derek.

“Can you get Derek?” Stiles asked. Lydia had only just nodded and gone to stand when the door behind her opened and Derek stepped in. He looked battered and beaten but he was limping in by himself. The cane he was meant to be using held in one hand.

Derek looked at him in question and Lydia handed her note book to him.

“Thank you,” Stiles said looking Derek in the eye. The werewolf dropped his eyes as soon as he finished and Stiles couldn’t work out why. “Derek, what is it?” Derek stepped back and refused to look at Stiles. “You saved my life.”

Derek said something and left the room. Stiles looked at Lydia and she started to write.

He thinks he should have done more, he thinks he caused your injuries.

“Get him back in here,” Stiles said firmly fighting the desire to sleep. Lydia nodded and left the room.

Stiles was almost asleep when she returned, Derek looking like she was leading him to his death. Stiles forced himself to wake up completely, he reached out and grabbed Derek’s hand before he started. “If you had not been there I’d be dead,” Stiles deliberately didn’t look at his father as he said it. “The doctor told me about my injuries. About your injuries. If you hadn’t protected me I would have burned, I would have probably died Derek. Thank you.”

“No,” Stiles didn’t need to hear him to read his lips. “I could have done more. You were hurt when I tried to protect you and now you are deaf,” Stiles couldn’t catch that but Lydia was scribbling furiously behind him and then flicked the paper up so he could see.

“Yes I am,” Stiles said. “But I’m alive and I am not horridly burned and I will heal.”

Derek looked sceptical.

“If I don’t heal then I’ll deal.”

Lydia stepped forward and frowned at him while she wrote. WE!

“Fine,” Stiles smiled at her thankful. “You’ll help.”

Lydia smiled and stepped back.

Stiles’ dad said something to Derek but when Stiles looked at Lydia she shook her head and refused to tell him what they said. Stiles felt his chest deflate a little knowing that would happen again. Then he noticed the pad of Derek’s thumb stroking along his knuckles, it surprised Stiles at how reassuring he found it.

“Thank you Derek,” Stiles said again and this time Derek didn’t turn away and his thumb pressed into the space between his knuckles for a moment before returning to sliding along them.

Stiles didn’t intend to close his eyes but he must have because he didn’t remember anything else.

###Picture by pariahsdream###

TBC...

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