“Stand there and look into my eyes, and tell me that all we had were lies... Yes I’ll leave you without a word.”
~~~
I watched the blood drain from Stiles’s face.
“Maebh, don’t say that.” He choked out. He looked at me pleadingly. “Is he alright? Is he?” Stiles shouted.
“Shh.” I said soothingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He ran the other through his hair.
“Sorry.” He said, calming down. “I mean, he’s not dead right?” he asked quietly. I looked at him.
“No, he’s not dead.” I assured him. “He’s just hurt. There was an animal attack at the school.” I told him, and felt him tense under my hand. He looked at me, anger clouding his features. “Not the alpha, an honest to God mountain lion. Mr. Argent shot it.”
“What happened to my Dad?” he asked impatiently.
“Well, there was a frenzy, and people were trying to get away. Someone backed into your dad and knocked him over. They didn’t run him over, but he fell pretty hard.” He nodded, and then dropped his head.
“Good.” He said, and I looked at him, surprised. “Because I can’t lose another parent, Maebh.” He said quietly, but it carried one hell of an impact. It was odd to see him this vulnerable.
“I know.” I told him, squeezing his shoulder lightly. He was silent for a minute or two before he snapped his head up at me.
“You said you talked to Allison?” he said, anger on his face.
“Yeah, why?” I asked confused.
“So she was there when it happened?” he asked, anger rising.
“Yes. Why, Stiles?” I asked, alarmed.
“Because that means that Scott was there.” He said, through clenched teeth. “And he could have helped my dad.” He shook his head, looking away from me.
“Stiles.” I said, meaning to reason with him, but I didn’t have one. Scott probably could have helped Stiles’s dad. And that part was irrelevant really. Stiles had a right to be angry. His phone beeped and he walked over to the desk to look at it.
“They’re taking him to the hospital for some x-rays.” He said in monotone. He put his phone in his pocket. “I should probably go over there.” I nodded, standing up. I walked over to him, to see him staring at Lydia’s phone. He was watching the video on loop. I glanced at his face before stepping up behind him, and reaching my arm around to take the phone from him. He didn’t fight me, but let it drop from his grasp. He followed the object as I pulled it to me, and deleted the video.
“They wouldn’t understand, even if they saw it.” I explained. He nodded woodenly. I handed the phone back to him, and he sat it on his desk.
“Are you going to be alright?” I asked him. He wasn’t talking or doing much of anything, really.
He let out a breath. “Yeah.” He said. “I’m just going to head over to the hospital now.” He said, and looked up at me. I could see the anxiety in his eyes, and it made him look older somehow. As if all of our recent burdens had aged him. “Walk out with me?” he asked, and I nodded and followed after him.
We walked out of the house and he locked the front door. He turned around and I engulfed him in a hug. He wrapped his arms around me in response.
“He’s going to be fine.” I told Stiles. “And we’ll deal with the rest.” I felt him nod against my head and I let go, stepping back. I gave him a reassuring smile. I went to turn around, but he stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Thank you, Maebh.” He said, and I nodded before walking over to my car.
Thank you, Ailill. I thought.
~~~
After checking on my mom when I got home, I walked up to my room. She was apparently fine, and had worked with Mrs. McCall to help Mr. Stilinski at the school. She used to be our school nurse part time, which was always nice when once of us felt like skipping class. She said that he would be fine after he saw the doctors. She guessed that he had a sprain or fracture, nothing life threatening.
I walked into my room, just standing in the doorway.
After visiting Stiles, I felt more relaxed, among other things. It felt so incredibly nice to tell someone about the insanity that my life had turned into. I also felt like he was the only person who would understand. Scott had his own issues to deal with, whereas Stiles had a broader view of the situation. Yeah, that’s why I confided in Stiles. It had nothing to do with feelings. Or visions of him half naked. Or the fact that when he touched me, I literally felt sparks on my skin, and they were definitely the good kind. No, that couldn’t be why I decided to spill my guts out to him.
To be perfectly honest I had nearly lost my mid when he touched my scar. When he had started asking me questions, my brain could not think of a suitable response with him touching me. I’m surprised I managed to even speak.
Really, it’s fine. I’m a blubbering idiot.
I decided a shower would be ideal to release some physical tension. Hot showers were my escape.
I turned the water on, and within seconds steam started filling my bathroom. I hopped in and started washing my hair. I was humming to myself when I realized that there was another voice, humming along with me in perfect harmony. I listened to the beautiful sound before I realized that there shouldn’t be another person in here. I froze and slowly pulled the shower curtain back. I peaked around it and screamed at what I saw. Like Deirdre had materialized in the library yesterday, Ailill, or Stiles’s identical twin, had materialized in my bathroom. He was just like I had seen him in my vision: shirtless with leather pants and boots. He was leaning back against the counter of my sink, with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked over at me with a devilish smirk on his face.
“What are you doing here?” I shrieked, quickly pulling the shower curtain around my body to cover myself. I was so sick of this shit! Couldn’t I be left alone?
“What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t spend time with my wife?” he asked teasingly. My mouth dropped open and I stared at him. He laughed, and I let myself really look at him. He was pretty muscular, but nothing crazy like Derek was. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what Stiles looked like shirtless, too. His smirk and his laugh reminded me so much of Stiles, and I looked up at his eyes to see him raising an eyebrow at me.
“See something you like, Maebh?” he asked.
“Get out!” I shrieked. He laughed again.
All of the sudden I heard a loud banging on the door, and Ailill vanished before my eyes.
“Maebh!” I heard Shea shout.
“What are you doing?” I shouted back.
“What?” he yelled back. “Are you kidding me?”
“We could hear you screaming from across the house!” I heard Tyler shout. “We came to see if you were okay.”
I had to smile at their protectiveness. “I’m fine.” I assured them. “I just saw uh… a spider. Like, a really big one.” I said. “Are there poisonous spiders in California?” I asked.
“Good to know you’re okay!” I heard Shea say dryly.
“Thanks for the heart attack.” Tyler added. I didn’t hear anything else, so I figured they left. I finished my shower without anymore unexpected appearances and threw on some sweats before climbing into bed. For what seemed like the millionth time, I silently pleaded with Deirdre to let me sleep.
~~~
A/N
Shorter chapter, but it felt right to end it there. So! This is all I wrote. I’m currently writing this note at noon and I don’t get home for a few more hours and all I want to do is upload these chapters : ( It’s killing me. So what do you think of the Stiles POV? Should I do it more? I know I’m going to do it at least one other time just because there’s a scene that I need his POV for. I’m also doing a Scott POV soon too, but it will probably be the only one. I'm almost done the next chapter, so I might post it later. Anyways, thanks for reading, I LOVE YOU ALL.