—
After texting her dad that he didn't have to pick her up, and receiving a detail explanation that she shouldn't be home too late, Ryder made her way to Austin's car. Derek had insisted that the girl went with him, while she knew she shouldn't be around him, Stiles' pleading expression had convinced her.
So, she sat in the passenger seat of Austin's vehicle, the pair following closely behind Stiles' jeep as they waited to see where they would be stopping.
They had been driving around for what felt like forever, truthfully only being about fifteen minutes. The two were going back and forth and telling each other about their families.
"And you have a step sister?"
"Yep, she's thirteen, her names Josephine." Ryder says, "She prefers Josie, though. You?"
"No, i'm an only child."
Ryder's brows raise, "Seriously?"
He chuckles, "Seriously. It's just me and my mom."
She hums, "You give off 'i'm an older brother' vibes."
"Do I?" He laughs out
"You do. You just have a defensive brother demeanor."
Austin hums at her words, taking his chance to question her, "So, it's just you, your sister, and your dad?" He asks, not entirely sure if his question came off as insensitive or not.
"Uh- no. My moms sick."
Panic rushes through his veins as he heard the words fall from her lips.
"Oh god, i'm so sorry. i am so sorry." He rushes out, taking his eyes off the back of Stiles' car so he can turn all his attention to her.
"It's fine." She says.
"It's not. I'm sorry, Ryder." He continues, his rambles going on to the point where she has to place her hand over his mouth to quiet him down.
"I promise you, it's okay. You didn't know."
While he knew she was right, he didn't know, that doesn't mean he felt any less bad that he brought it up. From the looks she's given him, he can tell that she truly cares for her family,
"Look." She points, "They're leaving."
Her phone buzzes, indicating that she got a text, looking down, she notices it's from Stiles.
'animal clinic'
"How ironic."
•••
Austin didn't waste time in assisting Stiles in helping Derek into the animal clinic. Ryder, on the other hand, took as much time as she wanted to even step foot into the establishment. Not only was she weary of being around Derek, but she wasn't the biggest fan of whatever was gushing out of his arm at the moment,
"Okay. You know, that really doesn't look like anything some echinacea and a good night of sleep couldn't take care of." Stiles says, his eyes are watering with disgust and uncomfortableness as he stared at the wound.
"When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me." The a hale panted out.
"Oh." Ryder smiled from her place by the door.
Stiles scoffs, " 'Positivity' just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?"
Austin rummages around the room, hoping to find something that'll help the man. He wanted to voice his concerns of how and why something he grew up thinking was fictional was sitting in front of him. However, he didn't want to be seen as weird since no one else thought anything of it.
Ryder kept her distance from Derek, silently watching as Austin moved around the room, looking for what? She didn't know. What she did know, though, was that this was his way of coping with the fact that the supernatural exists. She knew that he didn't take their conversations with Scott and Stiles to heart until now. Him seeing a werewolf in front of him seemed to set him off in a way.
The only way she could get to Austin was to brush past Derek, she was aware that if she so much as got the smallest scent of Derek near her, then her father would have her head. So, with a sigh, she waited until he glanced in her direction to signal for him to come her way.
"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time - Last resort."
"Which is?" Stiles asks, head turning to Derek.
"One of you is gonna cut off my arm."
"Excuse me?" Austin frowns, clearly not fond of the idea.
"Oh, God."
•••
It had been about five minutes of Stiles putting the saw against Derek's arm and taking it away last minute.
While Ryder found the situation funny, she knew it shouldn't be taken lightly. Derek could die, not that she cared much. It wasn't like he felt bad knowing her mom was sick because of his family's issues.
"Oh, my God. What if you bleed to death?"
Derek sighs, lifting his head to reassure the Stilinski, "It'll heal if it works."
"And if it doesn't?" Austin wonders out loud, earning a glare from the werewolf.
"He no longer has an arm." Ryder chuckles.
Stiles groans, "Ugh. Look - I don't know if I can do this."
"Why not?"
Ryder could tell that the man was getting irritated with the stalling.
"Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!"
Derek scoffs, "You faint at the sight of blood?"
"You'd be surprised at how many people do." Austin mumbles, his words going unheard by everyone except Ryder, who glanced at him with a soft smile.
"No, but I might at the sight of a chopped - off arm!"
"All right, fine. How about this? Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head." Derek threatens, Ryder rolling her eyes at his words. The girl removes herself from near the door, picking around at anything that didn't look too bad to touch.
"Okay, you know what, I'm so not buying your threats any—", His words are cut off by Derek reaching forward and grasping him by the shirt, "Oh, my God. Okay. All right, bought, sold. Totally. I'll do it. I'll do it."
Derek moves away from him to throw up, Ryder scrunching her face.
"That's disgusting."
"He can't really control it." Austin reminds her in a soft voice, his eyes snapping to Stiles as he groans.
"What? What are you doing? Holy God, what the hell is that?"
Derek pants, "It's my body - Trying to heal itself."
"Well, it's not doing a very good job of it."
"Now. You gotta do it now." His heavy breaths are directed towards the pair who stand a little ways away from him.
"Oh, no thank you." Austin denies, putting his hand out to bring Ryder behind him, "We're good. Stiles can do it."
Stiles shakes his head, "Look, honestly, I don't think I can."
"Just do it!"
"Why are you shouting?" Ryder mumbles.
"Oh, my God. Okay, okay. Oh, my God. All right, here we go!"
"Stiles?"
"Scott?"
Scott rushes through the doors, his eyes landing on Ryder and Austin who are stood near the window, then moving towards his friend who has a saw against Derek Hale's arm, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares." The Stilinski let's out a huge sigh of relief.
Austin stood with a neutral look on his face, not really knowing how to react with everything going on. On one hand, he was a little freaked out that he was in the presence of a dying werewolf, and on the other he was a little excited that he was in the presence of a dying werewolf.
He looked over to notice that Ryder looked pretty bored at the sight of Derek writhing in pain in the floor. Moving closer, he feels her jump at the feeling of his hand brushing against hers.
"You ready to go?"
Austin didn't see it, but Derek's head snapped in their direction at the question. Knowing she technically wasn't allowed to speak with him, he watched the girl leave with a frown on his face.