Lil' Red Riding Hood | Derek Hale

58: Breathe In and Breathe Out

"Break it."

"What?" Stiles gaped, thinking of his hard work and the kanima trapped inside, "No way."

"Stiles-" Paige huffs, grabbing her chest as she tries to calm the connection with Scott, "Scott is dying. Or it at least feels like he's dying!"

"Okay, what?" He wasn't entirely sure how to react to this at all, "How do you know?"

"Please, I am in so much pain. I obviously know! Just break it!"

"But the kanima-"

"Oh, my God, Stiles!" Derek yells in irritation, "Break it!"

"Ah-"

"I'll do it." Paige knew she could touch it just fine, so she dropped down to the ground and pushed the ash apart with her hands. Derek didn't hesitate to go running in and all Paige did was curl up in pain.

Stiles fell to his knees and placed his hand on her lower back, "Hey, hey, you're okay."

"My lungs are burning. Whatever is happening to Scott is actually killing him-"

"Is this worse than cramps?"

Paige groaned loudly and wished she could smack him, "Stiles!"

"Right, inappropriate timing. I'll ask later." He listened to another one of her groans knowing he should have just kept his mouth shut,"Or never... I'll ask never."

"Oh, my God!" Paige cries out, her own voice dropping into a deeper octave as she sent him a dirty look for his usual sexist comments. And then another wave of pain crashed through her, "This hurts so friggin' much!"

Stiles wasn't sure what to do, so he just winced, "Uh, uh... How do I help?"

"I just-I think I need to ride this out." She shrugged his hand off of her back as she curled herself further into a ball, pressing her forehead against the asphalt. Paige breathed in deeply and began to focus on herself in hopes that she'd feel better. "Stiles, breathe with me."

"What?"

Paige threw her head up, her tear filled eyes meeting her childhood best friends', "Keep me focused on my own breathing."

"Keep you... anchored?"

With an annoyed glare after realizing his connection, Paige just groaned, "Sure."

"Uh-uh-right-" Stiles was a little flabbergasted with this entire thing, he was used to having one supernatural best friend, not two. "Okay, well... uh, breathe in through your nose." He watched Paige repeat the motion with him, "And breathe out through your mouth. And uh- say I am relaxed while you breathe out. In your head or out of your head."

Paige just nodded his head and repeated everything. Her eyes locked with his the entire time as she focused on staying relaxed. And soon the burning pain in her lungs disappeared, there was just this dull drumming pain as she breathed a bit.

"Are you feeling better?"

Paige leaned back so she was sitting on her ankles and feet, "Yeah, I do." She didn't ask where he learned his breathing technique because she remembered him doing it. Stiles learned to do this after losing his mom. She didn't need to remind him of it. "Thanks."

"No problem." Stiles helped her stand up to her feet, he could hear the sound of sirens wailing in the distance and growing louder as they approached, "We should head out before my dad catches us at another crime scene."

"He shouldn't be shocked if we're at crime scenes to be honest." Paige reached into her back pocket, "Do you have Derek's number?"

"Unfortunately, I do." Stiles tossed his phone over to her, "He's in S."