Burn It Down || Stilinski || Book One

Thirty-Three

Stiles was rushing around, not really putting any thought in his clothes. After they had talked with Deaton, he was busy with homework (and avoiding the talk he knew was inevitable about what he said) and completely lost track of time until Sierra knocked on his bedroom door, asking if he was ready to leave. Sierra watched as he came running into his bedroom from the bathroom, where had earlier disappeared to brush his teeth. "Okay, I'm ready," Stiles exhaled deeply. "Are you?"

Sierra chuckled and stood up from the chair. "I have been for about ten minutes, Stiles." Due to the fact he hadn't managed his time well, he at first hadn't noticed the girl's outfit. But once he did, his brown eyes widened and he stuttered awkwardly. The dirty-blonde tilted her head and placed her hands on her hips. "What?"

"W-well, I was t-thinking you might get c-cold, yeah cold," he replied, obviously lying.

She rolled her eyes as she passed him on her way to the door. "It's a rave, Sti. As in, many people dancing in a squished space. I'm pretty sure I won't get cold." Sierra was already down the steps in a second while he stood frozen, trying to clear his head about how amazing and confident Sierra was to him. "Stiles!" she called, knowing they were running a bit late, and he snapped out of it immediately.

"Coming!" The two quickly exited through the garage, just as Sheriff Stilinski was climbing out of his car to go inside. "Hey," Stiles greeted his father as Sierra smiled kindly from beside the passenger side of the jeep. "Can't talk, gotta run!" His father didn't say anything; he just closed the car door and went to walk to the garage. Noticing the odd behavior, Stiles called out to him in concern. "What's wrong?"

Noah turned back to the pair with his hands in the pockets of his khakis. Acting nonchalant, he simply shook his head. "Nothing," he replied, though by now Sierra knew something had happened. She watched as Stiles observed verbally that his father's gun, that normally rested in the holster on his side, was missing. Noah pursed his lips as he looked down at the concrete and released a heavy sigh. "I, uh, left it at the station along with my badge," he revealed, which caused Sierra to slightly drop her jaw in surprise.

"What?" Stiles asked in disbelief, hoping he had heard him wrong. The older man brushed it off, though it obviously hurt him to leave his stuff behind, and told Stiles they'd talk about it later-which meant privately, without Sierra around to hear everything. However, the sophomore didn't care. "Dad," he said his name again desperately, wanting to find out what happened.

Once again, Noah sighed as he thought about his next words carefully. He couldn't even look his son in the eyes. "It was decided the son of the police chief...stealing police property and having a restraining order filed against him by one of the town's most respected attorneys, did not reflect well on the county."

"They fired you," Stiles concluded with a few tears in his whiskey eyes, his heart heavy with guilt. He never meant to get his father in trouble. He had been trying to protect his friends, but by doing so, he had forgotten to protect his family.

Noah slightly shook his head, but still didn't fully raise it. "Nah, it's- it's just a leave of absence. It's temporary."

"Did they say it was temporary or?" Stiles questioned softly and watched as his father exhaled deeply.

"No," he responded with a whisper. "It's- It's fine. Don't worry about it. We're going to be fine." Noah went to turn on his heel but Stiles once again stopped him.

"Dad," he started out in confusion and a moment passed before he continued. "I don't get it; why aren't you angry with me?" He wanted his father to yell. He wanted him to scream, or curse at him because anything would be better than the look of disappointment that stretched across Noah's face as he said that he didn't want to make himself feel worse by yelling at his son. Sierra watched sadly as the sheriff headed inside his home without another word, leaving Stiles standing there by himself as he tried to calm his emotions down. He harshly bit down on his lip, staying still for only a moment until he quietly unlocked his jeep and climbed inside.