Bravely Courageous

24

"What?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah, Jackson's dead. It just happened on the field."

Isaac frowned. "Okay, why is no one taking this as good news?"

Peter turned to Isaac. "Because if Jackson's dead, it didn't just happen. Gerard wanted it to happen."

"But why?" Derek wondered.

"Well, that's exactly what we need to figure out. And something tells me the window of opportunity is closing. Quickly."

Maggie's phone chimed with a message. She saw that the sheriff had texted her. 'Stiles came home. You're welcome to come by and see him.'

She glanced up at Scott. "He came home."

Scott nodded. "Go. We got this."

Caleb patted her shoulder. "We'll be fine."

---

Maggie made her way to the Stilinski household and knocked on the front door. The sheriff answered and smiled. "He's in his room."

She climbed up the stairs to Stiles' room and hesitated before knocking the door. A voice answered. "Dad, I said I'm fine."

Maggie didn't answer, and the door opened to reveal Stiles looking at her. "Your dad let me in."

Stiles frowned. "He did? Yeah, of course he did."

She studied Stiles' face and saw a busted lip and numerous other cuts. She looked at him with concern. "No, Maggie. Oh, uh -- yeah, no, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Do you want to come in? How are you doing?"

"Stiles, please don't lie. Who did this to you?"

He sighed, knowing he'd have to tell her, as she wouldn't let up. "Gerard. Promise me you won't go Scarlet Witch on him."

She made her way to his bed and his phone chimed. "You have 17 missed messages from Scott."

He nodded. "I know."

"You gonna keep ignoring him?"

"No. No, not really."

Her attention was drawn to his dresser. "Why do you have women's jewelry?"

"Oh. Uh, nothing, it's just some stuff I bought, you know, for your birthday."

"My birthday is in July. It's April," she told him.

Stiles let out a sigh. "Yeah, I just -- I kind of didn't know what to get you, so I just bought you, like, a bunch of stuff. Like, a lot of stuff. You know, I was gonna return anything that I didn't give you."

Maggie raised a brow and frowned. "A flat screen TV?"

He laughed softly. "Yeah, that I'm definitely returning."

His phone went off again and she looked at the message. "Stiles, this seems important. Scott and Caleb need help." He read the message as she said, "I have help them."

"Are you kidding me, Maggie? You know this whole thing is a freaking nightmare!"

Maggie shook her head. "I don't care. I need to help. Caleb is all I have left. If I lose him..."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "See, that's the problem. You -- you don't care about getting hurt. But you know how I'll feel? I'll be devastated. And if you die, I will literally go out of my freakin' mind. You see, death doesn't happen to you, Maggie. It happens to everyone around you, okay? To all the people left standing at your funeral, trying to figure out how they're gonna live the rest of their lives now without you in it? Huh? And look at my face, huh? Come on. You actually think this was meant to hurt me? Um -- I'm so sorry."