Meltdown [Derek Hale]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

She looked at him in surprise. Did she tell him that she was there? That she was the one who alerted ambulance services. Did she tell them that they weren't shooting at each other, but instead people who were trying to stop a homicidal lizard from killing someone else?

Wanting to distract herself, she nodded to the stress ball. "What's that about?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I'm just feeling antsy, you know? Like something's about to happen..." he mused.

Scoffing, she shut the file in front of her, "tell me about it."

"Are you ready for a busy day and night?" Melissa called out, as she walked past them. The pair looked at her confused, "it's a full moon tonight, brings out all the lunatics," she admitted.

Both Joe and Julie looked at her startled, "sounds great," Joe droned.

______

"Dr. Stilinski," a voice called out, and she turned around to see Dr. Moore, one of the neurosurgeons. "I'd like you to take care of patient interactions," he said as he handed her a set of files, "informing the patient of their post-op reports. Giving them the good news."

"Oh, thank you," she said, as she flicked through them to see if she recognised any of the names from patients she'd already seen. "I'll get to it," she added, as she began to walk away.

She was three patients in, and it was all saying the same thing with how well it had went and how they would be kept in for observation. A smile for show and a grimace for the heart. They were the hunters. She didn't respect them. She didn't respect what they did, she could have done but after they'd attacked Scott, after knowing how they caught out werewolves, after knowing how they torture them. It was a good intention turned barbaric.

Entering the last room, she went in with her usual smile. "Mr Swanson," she greeted, "my name is Dr. Stilinski, I'm pleased to say..." getting a good look at the man in the bed before her, her smile fell. She could feel the heat fall from her body as that same old fear churned inside her.

The very same hunter.

"You," he rasped out.

Clearing her throat, she took a deep breath before continuing, "your skull fracture repair went perfectly and you're due to make a great recovery. They'd like to keep you in for a couple of weeks, if you have any more questions Dr. Moore will answer them," she dismissed before quickly making her way out of the room.

All noise had gone except the echo of her own breath and heart beat. Leaning against a wall, she closed her eyes trying to catch her breathing. She couldn't seem to remember how to do it. The mere thought of getting the oxygen into her lungs was foreign to her, like the first time you see a complicated algebra equation and you can't fathom how you ever did even the simplest of maths.

The gun was right there.

That coldness, the nausea, the emptiness, what if there was nothing afterwards?

Feeling it all arise within her again, she stumbled away feeling the burning sensation in her eyes. She couldn't breathe.

Bringing her quivering hand to her neck, it fell down as she pressed it against the walls keeping her from collapsing into them.

"Juliette? You okay?" A voice sounded, but she couldn't quite figure out who it belonged to.

Running away from them, she found an empty room and forced her way in. Shutting the door, she brought her hand to her throat trying to clutch for air. She must have been getting it somehow otherwise she'd be unconscious by now, surely.