𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 | | { 𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞 }

𝟎𝟎𝟖. 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡

〚　 ҉ ⋆。˚☽ | 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡 | ☽˚。⋆ 　 ҉ 〛
"I don't want to hurt you."

OLIVIA LEANED against the wall from the hallway as she watched Scott place a ribbon on the wreath. She glanced over at Eli who stood at the other part of the hallway. She sucked in a breath as she adjusted her arms that were crossed over her chest.

"The first night I met Derek Hale, he saved my life. Then he said we were brothers, and  thought that he was crazy. But no. No, he was right." Scott looked over at Eli before continuing. "Eli, from that moment on, we were brothers."

Olivia's heart broke as she watched Eli's eyes gloss over. She wanted nothing more than to comfort him, hold his hand, hug him until he felt okay. But she was afraid. She couldn't bear to see him be like this when she couldn't do anything to help him. She turned down the hallway and went to hide in a room.

Eli caught the sight of her retreating figure and quickly went to follow after her, wanting to get the stares from everyone off of him.

Sheriff Stalinski saw the young boy begin to leave and quickly tried to catch up to him.

"Hey." Stalinksi whispered to him, making the boy stop and turn to the man who gave him a sad smile. "You know, I'm not sure how you dad would feel about me giving you the Jeep. But, um, something tells me it's the right thing to do." He finished as he held the keys out to Eli.

Eli smiled at the memory. "He hated that Jeep." He sighed.

"After my son left it behind, Derek towed it in, thinking it was probably beyond repair. But then he opened up the hood and he pulled off all the duct tape Stiles had stuck on it. And he managed to fix it. That Jeep, no matter what's been done to it, it just keeps running. He could never figure out why it wouldn't break down and stay down. And I don't think he ever realized that that's exactly the way we saw him. I have never seen anyone take the kind of punishment that Derek Hale took...and kept taking in order to protect the people he loved. And he kept going. He kept standing back up...until the day he couldn't. Hey. Your dad had complicated feelings about that Jeep. But it doesn't mean it needs to be complicated for you."

Eli looked down at the keys before reaching out his hand and accepting them.

"All you got to do..." Stalinski continued. "-is keep it running. Just keep it going."
Eli gave him a small smile as he sniffled.

"Thank you." Stalinski patted him on his shoulder before going back to the living room without another word.

Eli looked down at the keys before tightening his hand around them and putting them in his pocket. He turned back to the room Olivia had retreated into and walked towards it. When he opened the door, Olivia had her face in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees as she sat on a couch.