Heavenly. Teen Wolf (s.s)

xxxvii. sixteen hours

"Um, I got by dad's badge," he told everyone, staring at it sadly. "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"It doesn't need to look good if it has meaning," Deaton assured him. Stiles nodded and pressed his lips together.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac spoke up, looking at the token that Allison was holding. She nodded.

"My dad made it. It's a kind of ceremonial thing," she explained. "When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

"Scott?"

Scott held up a dainty watch.

"My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital," he scoffed lightly. "She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."

"Okay," Dr. Deaton started to explain what they needed to do. "The three of you will get in. Gracie, Lydia, and Isaac will each hold you down until you're essentially...Well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether." Gracie quickly looked up.

"Gracie," Deaton called out the Hale girl's name when he got to her last, Lydia standing with Scott and Isaac with Allison. "...you go with Stiles."

Stiles and Gracie shared a look, both of them both not really shocked at the turn of events. She nodded and took her place by Stiles.

Allison was the first one to step in, deeply inhaling at the freezing cold water. Scott got into his tub as well.

Stiles looked back at Gracie before he got into his tub and she gave him the most reassuring smile that she could. It worked for him, though. He stepped into the tub fearlessly.

They were all having trouble breathing from the freezing cold water as they fully submerged themselves.

A second later, Gracie took her place behind Stiles with her hands on his shivering shoulders. Lydia and Isaac did the same for Scott and Allison, respectively.

Teeth chattering, Stiles looked to his left to speak to Scott. "By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something. Your dad's in town."

Tears slipped down Gracie's cheeks as she pressed down on Stiles' shoulder at Deaton told them to begin. Stiles kicked and struggled underneath the water, but she kept going, knowing that this was what he wanted. It was just heartbreaking to keep him under.

After a few seconds, Stiles, Scott, and Allison all stilled at the same time.

Sixteen hours after they first fell unconscious, Stiles, Allison, and Scott all woke, sitting up out of the water with loud gasps.

Gracie, Lydia, Isaac, and Deaton rushed over to the tubs, the ice long gone, and handed the three of them towels. 

"I saw it, I know where it is!" Scott claimed, taking the towel that Lydia held out for him.  Stiles nodded.

"We passed it," he confirmed as he climbed out of the tub soaking wet. "There's-there's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore, it was cut down. But it's still big, though, very big." 

As Gracie wrapped a towel around the Stilinski boy, Scott added, "It was the night we were looking for the body." 

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter." 

"I was there, too, in the car with my mother," Allison was still sucking in huge gulps of air. "We almost hit someone." 

"It was me. You almost hit me," Scott told her. Allison gasped in amazement while he turned to the others. "We can find it."