As the hours passed, Hayden only got worse. Her whimpers grew endless, and no matter how many deep breaths she tried to take, air always left her in gasps. Liam had continued to absorb her pain, but we all eventually agreed he had to stop. Each time he attempted to ease her suffering his efforts only affected him. Hayden's pain had grown too powerful to dwindle and he was just draining himself.

Melissa stood at the head of the table, her eyes focused on her watch while her fingers pressed themselves into Hayden's throat, patiently measuring her pulse. I can tell by the frown that digs into her face that it's not good.

The placement of her hand also draws attention to the jagged bumps on Hayden's neck that began to appear as the day passed. They look like raised half-rosettes of dark gray that go from her clavicle to the base of her jaw, and her arms have smaller scattered partial dots, too.

"Why do they look like that?" Liam asks from over my shoulder. He cringes at the portions of Hayden's lumpy and damp skin as we stand at her side, watching as the time that goes on only weighs on her.

Melissa mirrors his revulsion, and confusion. She shrugs in response to his question, as none of this was taught in traditional graduate programs. She was way out of her depth and has no idea what Hayden's sudden breakout means, but I do.

Hayden's condition truly was failing now. Her body was trying to compensate for that by drawing out her shift so it could heal itself. As a result, the mercury she had been injected with was revealing aspects of her altered DNA. I knew that the blemishes of liquid metal weren't abnormal. They were a sign of what supernatural creature she was outside of a werewolf.

It had been difficult to discern at first, but as the spotting took shape, I recognized them and remembered another who had been cursed with the same marks.

"It's because she's part werejaguar," I force myself to explain.

Melissa and Liam visibly pause at my words, both aware of what they meant.

"Like Kate," the McCall woman mutters knowingly.

I nod numbly, unable to bring myself to do much else. The mention of the Argent woman had done its job to dull my already low spirits. If I didn't know any better, I would assume the Dread Doctors did this on purpose. Turning my best friend into the same creature as her was sadistic, but we had seen them do worse.

Liam's hand comes to hold the side of my arm, the warmth of his palm spreading to the rest of my body. His touch helps to ease a bit of the strain that taints me. I'm thankful for him being here. Through all of the chaos this month brought, he never wavered at my side, and remained there even now. His presence was enough for my sanity to remain intact.

He pulls away after a beat though, his chiming phone requiring attention. He brings out the device from his pocket to check what was the cause of the disruption, and a frown works to downturn his lips.

"What is it?" I watch him carefully, preparing myself for more bad news.

Perhaps Scott texted his Beta to let him know he hadn't found Valerie, and now it was our responsibility to tell a rotting Hayden she couldn't see her sister.

"It's Mason," Liam replies absentmindedly. Most of his focus goes on responding to his best friend. He types rapidly and I don't make any efforts to slow him down, as I was eager to hear from Mason, too.

Last night, we repeatedly reached out to him but stopped when we realized he wasn't going to answer. After what happened to Corey, we assumed he needed some time to be alone. That didn't make the radio silence any easier, though. I wanted to be respectful of Mason, as it was clear he and Corey were in the middle of a blossoming crush, but I also didn't want him to be left in danger without proper support.

"Is he okay?" I ask Liam.

His eyes go back and forth on the incoming texts he receives from Mason, and his posture sinks, defeated.

"They got to Corey," he says woefully.

His words may seem cryptic to those unaware of what had been transpiring these past few weeks, but to us, they were another nail in a coffin someone was trying to shove us in. Corey was dead. We barely knew him, but that didn't lessen the grief we had for Mason, or stop me from wondering if that meant the Dread Doctors would be coming for Hayden next.

They hadn't tracked us down yet, but it would only be a matter of time. The clinic wasn't a place removed from existence, it was discoverable and hardly a long-term defensive position. The Doctors could find us here and kill us. It put me on edge to think about what was taking them so long to do so.

"I'm telling him to come here. He should be with us," Liam mutters, texting Mason.

"No," Melissa interjects, stopping him.

He looks up at her, puzzled. I mirror his reaction, unsure of why Melissa would say such a thing. She ignores our questioning stares and steps away from the table, moving to the stand for Hayden's IV bags, the one connected to her, and its spare. She pulls them from their hooks and settles for carrying them with her own two hands.

"Tell him to meet us at the hospital," she demands.

Liam instinctively looks in my direction, gauging my reaction to her claim.

"Melissa, they can't know what she is," I say, rejecting her plan.

If we dragged anyone else into this to aid Hayden, it would almost be selfish.

They wouldn't know how to help her any more than we did, and we would only be endangering them with knowledge. It would also be hell for Hayden to be poked and prodded by strangers. She had enough of that from childhood physicians and the Dread Doctors. I couldn't allow that to be how she spent her final hours. Melissa and her needles were already more than enough.

The McCall woman remains adamant against me, though.

"I said we're going to the hospital, I didn't say we were going through the front door," she argues, and stares at me with defiant expectancy as if daring me to debate again.

Liam's watching me, too. His thumbs hover over his phone, waiting for whatever my answer will be so he can pass that information on to Mason. I don't care for the fact that this decision has fallen onto my shoulders, as it feels as though I'm the one who has to pick between safety and saving Hayden, but I understand why the choice is mine.

I had always believed that those who chose to argue with Melissa were foolish and didn't want to pick today to willingly be an idiot, so I give Liam a slight nod in confirmation. He reacts accordingly and goes back to texting, telling Mason of our change in plans for the night.

We acted fast after that, packing up everything required and loading it into Argent's SUV, as well as Melissa's car. I carried Hayden back outside while Liam held her IV bag so she didn't have to be detached for long. We had no idea the concoction within those tubes was what was keeping her alive so far, but it was best not to find out the hard way. Hayden barely noticed the change of scenery and passed out in the backseat before we were out of the parking lot.

Melissa drove behind us to the hospital, keeping up with our semi-hurried pace. I didn't want to risk speeding as the roads were still slippery and covered with small bodies of water from the storm last night. They were all accidents waiting to happen. When we arrive at the hospital, I pull into the lower parking garage upon Melissa's previous instructions, as she said there would be less of a chance of us being spotted there, and it would optimize discretion.

Melissa claims another stall nearby and rushes to climb out of her car before we exit ours. I roll down my window as she jogs over, curious as to why she seemed more urgent than need be.

"I'm going to get her a wheelchair. Just stay put," she commands quickly.

She leaves us afterward and goes to the garage's elevator, presumably about to go steal a chair from somewhere inside the above hospital. I appreciate her doing so, as hauling Hayden about in my arms had become tiresome. It would have been different if I was at peak performance, but I wasn't. I was exhausted and too distracted not to accidentally drop her if things went haywire.

I shut off the car in Melissa's absence. The engine being cut makes my ears pop as we're left in an abrupt silence. I don't do anything but stare out of the windshield at a cement wall, unable to find it within myself to move. It had been some time since I felt such a numbness dwell inside of me. I wanted to reach inside of my being and tear it out, but I couldn't. That feeling would last until this was over, however it ended.

Liam's hand stretches across the middle console to rest over mine on my thigh. I glance toward him and see his concern over my actions. I force a smile for his sake, but I'm sure he can see it's less than genuine. I still try to make it real for him, though. Always for him.

"Where are we?" Hayden pants from the backseat.

I twist in my chair to see her, watching as she trembles and buries herself deeper into a blanket. The heat had been on only a second ago but she was still freezing through her scalding fever. I had to take off my jacket because of the temperature, as it was getting too uncomfortable for layers, but she was desperate for more coverage.

Her chest rises and falls at an unusual pace, too. She can't even do something as simple as breathe normally, and barely registers Liam and I observing her.

"We're at the hospital," I reply softly, unable to speak any louder.

Hayden winces. "I hate hospitals."

The pain in her voice makes it difficult to listen. I didn't want her to be in a place where she couldn't find peace, but if Melissa could somehow save her life with the resources here, it had to be worth it. At the same time, it was also growing increasingly more difficult for me to witness all Hayden was going through and not think of others who had died in front of me.

Needing to distract myself from that, I remove my hand from Liam's, and open my door.

"I'm gonna call Scott," I say, climbing outside before he or Hayden can refuse.

I venture away from the SUV to get some distance and bring out my phone to dial Scott's number. There's not even a single ring before the line defaults to voicemail.

"Unbelievable," I mutter begrudgingly.

It had been like this for hours. Since sunset, I had been calling him for an update on Valerie, but none of those calls went through. I pushed aside my grievances with him to see if he had succeeded as Hayden grew more desperate for her sister, but it seemed like Scott couldn't match my desire for communication.

I debate leaving him a message when another car pulls into the garage. It wasn't unusual, as the hospital always had a constant stream of vehicles coming and going, but it was off-putting when the car comes to park in the same spot I stand by. I glare into the tinted windshield, as there were over a dozen other spots the driver could have chosen. My irritation slips when they step out, and Mason looks back at me.

Without thinking, I smile.

His appearance brings me a bit of relief and makes me forget about everything going on. But, then I remember. I remember the dire circumstances we're under, and the grief the boy before me has recently endured. There were a million things I wanted to say to him, but I'm at a loss on how to put them into actual words. I can't think of any way to provide him with condolences as death continues to loom over us both.

Mason comes forward, his expression weary yet relieved. I can only assume he's grateful to be in the company of someone not bleeding mercury.

"Whose car is that?" I blurt out, unable to come up with anything intelligible to say. It's not entirely disastrous, but given what Mason's been through, I could have strived for something better.

Mason looks back at the standard tan sedan he arrived in. "My dad's. It's not the best, but it works," he says. "Pretty sure him and my mom are gonna get me my own car for my birthday next week."

His words only work to wound me.

"It's your birthday next week? I- I had no idea," I stutter out shamefully.

Mason was one of my closest friends, but the anniversary of the day when he came into this world slipped my mind. It was such a simple thing to remember, too. A familiar fear creeps up on me as I wonder again what else I had allowed my lack of attention to let pass by.

"You've been a little busy," Mason says, giving me the benefit of the doubt.

The slam of the SUV passenger side door draws our focus away from one another. We find Liam climbing out to speedily round the vehicle. He makes his way to Mason, reaching to lay a gentle hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"We're sorry about Corey," he says for the both of us, able to do what I can't. It only makes me fall for him more.

Mason places his own hand over Liam's, offering as much of a smile as he can muster. It's not because he's happy, furthest thing from it, it's only so he can show us he would be able to bear this pain a little while longer. I admire his will, one that rivals that of a True Alpha.

"Let's just make sure we don't lose Hayden, too," Mason says shakily. His voice betrays his display of composure, but none of us comment on it.

Melissa returns a minute after Mason's appearance, bringing a wheelchair down with her. She exchanges pleasantries with the Hewitt boy, but it doesn't last long. Time is of the essence and we needed to get Hayden inside the hospital to avoid being seen.

I help her out of the SUV, lowering her into the chair. Liam and Mason carry her two IV bags while I wheel her into the elevator behind Melissa. I watch as she presses a particular button on the floor panel, seeming to already have a set destination in mind. I still have some hesitancy over this plan, but I swallow it down as Melissa had never failed us before.

"Guys," Mason calls out softly.

He and Liam stand on my left, looking down at the bag in his hands. He was holding the one that was currently attached to Hayden. At the base of its opening to the tube that was fed into her arm, a stream of ebony started to leak into the abundance of clear liquid. Blood return wasn't anything to worry about, but that was under normal circumstances. Hayden bleeding black blood, was a sign she couldn't go on like this for much longer, and if we didn't perform a miracle, she was going to die before the night was over.

Hayden's oblivious to it all as her head droops to the side, her condition keeping her under.

"I didn't know she was this bad," Mason murmurs.

I flinch at his words and tighten my grip on the handles of the wheelchair. It's all I can do to remain composed as I try to stave off unwanted emotions. Distracting myself was more palatable than facing the truth of what would happen.

From the corner of my eye, I see Liam lightly jab his elbow into Mason's side. It makes him look over, allowing Liam to discreetly shake his head, wordlessly telling Mason not to be so vocal on the subject of Hayden's health. I understand it's entirely for my sake, as does Mason, which is why he promptly falls into a sheepish silence.

The elevator lets out a timid ping as we arrive on our designated floor. As the doors open, Liam, Mason, and I stop to stare in surprise at what waits for us.

This floor had obviously been closed down for renovations. Part of the walls were removed and covered with plastic tarps and there was construction equipment scattered around the open space. There was hardly any light, either. The area was dimly illuminated by tripod lights left behind by whatever crew had been managing the development. My eyes fell onto the various signage also displayed near the elevator, all of it cautioning people not to enter unless they wanted to be penalized under trespassing laws.

"After being under attack from multiple supernatural-whatevers, it was time for an upgrade," Melissa explains the state of the floor as she steps out of the lift, ignoring every single warning.

The four of us follow behind her, Hayden doing so with less than optimal awareness.

Melissa takes us into an empty room near the middle of the hall, the only one that didn't seem to be altered yet. There's still some medical equipment inside, none of which I understand with all of their buttons and wiring. Melissa seems hopeful about it, though. She starts to turn on various devices, allowing an electrical hum to fill the quiet.

"Put those there," Melissa orders the boys, referring to their IV bags while pointing at an available stand. She then looks at me. "And put her there." She motions to the observation table at the center of the room.

I hesitate at her command, as a thin metal slab would do nothing to bring Hayden relief. The surface would only make her colder, and the lack of flexibility would cause her spine to ache. She was already in constant pain and I hated having to knowingly add to it. None of the equipment here would change the truth that this wasn't a proper place to die.

It takes great effort to force that notion from my mind. I have to tell myself that this will work, that Melissa can save her. I had seen her do it with countless others and this would be no different.

"Hayden," I say to get her attention, warning her of yet another move.

I wheel her as close to the table as possible. Hayden grunts as she raises her arms, treating each limb as though they weigh hundreds of pounds. It gives me easy access to lift her, and it doesn't take much energy for me to place her on the table. I help her to lay down fully, ignoring the sharp intakes of breath she swallows from the shock of cold metal, and change in posture.

"Better?" I ask as I adjust her blanket, tucking it under either side of her for the illusion of warmth. Hayden nods slowly, doing her best to respond as her agony only intensifies.

Melissa calls for our attention after the basics are set up and Hayden is situated. She pulls out a folded piece of yellow notepad paper from her pocket and holds it out. I saw her scribbling a bunch of words on one of Deaton's pads before we left the clinic, but didn't understand why or what it was until now.

"I made a list of things I need. One of you has to get it for me," she says, looking between the three of us.

I give the two boys a desperate look, as I couldn't bring myself to be away from Hayden for long. They understand right away, and then it's Liam's turn to wordlessly beg Mason to be the one to volunteer. If I needed to be here for Hayden, he wanted to be here for me.

Mason doesn't question anything and takes the piece of paper from Melissa, unfolding it to scan the list of necessary items. She also hands him a singular key that she urges him to pocket.

"Use that to get into the storage room. It's on the fifth floor. Be careful no one sees you, and get everything on that list. Understand?" Melissa orders sternly.

Mason accepts her command and complies easily, walking back out into the hallway to catch the elevator to the aforementioned floor. When he's gone, Melissa begins to prepare an ECG machine. Her concentration goes between the computer-looking device and the wires that would connect it to Hayden.

Hayden herself tilts her head in the opposite direction, keeping her gaze on me.

"Val," she gasps, her voice inquiring.

I take a step closer, putting on a false smile that I hope is convincing enough not to trouble her. My own worries were insignificant in her presence. I don't want Hayden to feel the need to fret over anything more.

"Scott's going to find her," I say. "He's going to find her, Hayden."

I'm not sure if I believe my own words, but they do their job to make Hayden relax.

There's a sense of mourning that stings me as I realize that I can't trust Scott without caution anymore. I had done that for so long that it became like second nature to me, but here and now, face to face with the consequences of both of our broken promises, I'm unable to bring myself to even try. It carries forward feelings of loss, forcing me to grieve what once was.

"I'm going to call him again, see where he is," I tell Hayden, needing a moment to myself.

She lets out a disgruntled grunt in response, her way of asking me not to go.

"I'll be right outside, don't worry," I assure her before walking away.

I take out my phone in the hallway, dialing Scott's number hurriedly. I grip the cell with more pressure than necessary, white-knuckling it as I press it to my ear. The line defaults to voicemail without any preamble, nothing changing in the time that's passed since my last attempt to contact the McCall boy.

Refusing to admit defeat, I call him again. And again. And again.

Each time it's the same result, but I keep calling. I call him even after my fingers grow numb from how tightly I hold my phone, and after thick tears blur my vision out of panic. I keep calling him because though that trust between us is gone, I don't want to admit that Scott would do this to Hayden; to me.

"Dammit, Scott. Come on," I grit out through clenched teeth on the hundredth failure.

A surge of aggression tempts me and begs for relief. I do my best to suppress it with Hayden in the adjacent room. Even with her weakened haze, she would hear me driving my fist through the plaster walls or kicking out the legs of one of the tripod lights.

I settle for squatting on the floor and burying my head into my hands to keep my knuckles from colliding with any foreign objects. I close my eyes, too, and take grounding deep breaths as if I've woken up from a nightmare. I can feel that edge of fury sitting beneath the surface, lying in wait. It takes all I have to ignore it.

I soon hear the subtle scuff of footsteps drawing near. That's all I need to identify Liam, as he and Melissa had two different patterns of walking. He comes to kneel in front of me, and his fingertips softly graze my eyelids as he asks me to open them. I comply with his request, allowing him to see the dampness that waits for him.

His expression remains steady, but I can see his lip twitch as he tries to bite back a scowl. He shakes off his own grievances with all of this and grabs my hands, pulling them away from my head to hold them in his.

"He's not answering," I explain. "He knows she's going to die, and he's not answering his phone."

I'm unable to suppress another wave of silent tears that pour down my cheeks. I bow my head to glare at the tiled floor beneath us, as if that would stop Liam from seeing them.

"What if this is all my fault, Liam?" I whisper, beyond terrified.

It was a simple truth that if I had kept my promise, Scott would have kept his. There was no debating that. My desires for normalcy and affection blinded me from what might happen if my worst fears came to fruition.

"Jac-"

"He wouldn't be doing this if I didn't lie, he practically said it himself," I cut Liam off, my anxiety growing.

"Jac, stop," he urges me, lifting my hands to his lips. He peppers them with light kisses to put my focus solely on him and nothing else. I look back up at him, watching the care his actions exhibit. It calms me, and soon the two of us are just sitting together, hand in hand.

After a while, though, I'm forced to ask the question I'm dreading.

"What are we going to do?"

Liam observes me on his own accord, allowing his mind to race to whatever answer he'll deem best. I see his eyes shift for a moment as if his thoughts are pulling him elsewhere. He nods to himself as he comes to a decision that I'm not privy to understand outside of his head.

"You don't have to do anything," he tells me. "I'll find Scott and I'll fix this. All of it."

His eyes find mine once more, holding something unreadable.

"Hayden needs the bite to live, so I'll make sure she gets it," he says in a low voice.

I retract myself from his hold with dismay, rising from the floor. His suggestion to go search for Scott wasn't logical by any means. Not only was tonight a full moon, but it was also a supermoon. That endangered him more than ever, and I was appalled that he would think I would ever approve of him going out alone.

"It's too dangerous," I counter dismissively.

Liam stands after me, seeming like he wanted to discuss this further. However, I didn't. My mind was made up and I wouldn't support putting him at risk. If Scott wanted it to be like this, then that was his choice. I was done trying to please and convince him, as none of it was going to make a difference anyway.

I move to go back to the room and return to Melissa and Hayden, knowing their presence would table this conversation indefinitely.

"When was the left time you slept?" Liam asks, stopping me.

I don't face him yet, as his words shame me. I had thought I was being discreet with my lack of sleep but if he was asking that, it proved I hadn't gotten it past him. It's proof that I could lie to our friends and myself, but I couldn't lie to him.

Liam's footsteps draw closer until he's directly behind me.

"When was the last time that you ate?" he presses further even though I don't answer.

His hand cradles my upper arm, turning me so I would face him properly. Shame still sits within me, making it difficult to meet his gaze. Liam waits until I do, revealing his eyes hold no desire for humiliation, only empathy. It's more than I can take and I already feel my resolve crumbling.

"Liam," I say his name pleadingly, asking him not to leave. I needed him here. I needed to be assured that no harm would come of him, which it might if he were to go off on his own on a night like this, with the foes we faced lurking in the shadows.

If something happened to him and I wasn't there to stop it, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"I can see that you're not taking care of yourself again," he says softly, ignoring my request.

His hand comes up to brush away loose strands of hair from my face. My hair was tied in the standard braid I usually kept it in for the past two days, so with all of our running and fighting, it became a mess. That combined with the bags under my eyes and endless slouching from below-average energy probably didn't make me appear like the most put-together person.

Liam saw all of my dismissals for rest for what they really were; he saw that I was punishing myself.

It was becoming like how it used to be when I allowed my grief to drive all that I did. I had let that consume me for so long and thought I had gotten past it, but in truth, it had only been hidden away, waiting for an opportune moment to strike again.

I lean into the tenderness of Liam's touch, no safe haven in the world comparable to his hands.

"I'm done standing around and doing nothing while you take the blame," he whispers. "I'm done watching the girl that I love hurt herself when I can do something to stop it."

Liam's indirect admission leaves me stunned. He may not have said it outright, but that one word still changes everything.

I try to find something to say, maybe even work up the courage to say it too, but I can't. A mixture of bliss and fear burdens me. I used to believe those who loved me were cursed, that my affection was almost a plague, and though I thought I had conquered that, I was terrified that there were other aspects of who I was that remained inside of me. If any of it touched Liam, twisted him in the way it twisted me, I would have no right to claim that was love.

Liam doesn't seem to mind my silence. Like with everything else, he understands.

"Do you remember what I told you the night I first kissed you?" he asks, his thumb caressing my cheek as he continues to hold me.

I nod, unable to forget. My gaze falls to his lips, remembering the pure heaven I felt within his kiss.

"That you'd keep me safe," I reply breathlessly.

"If you let me," he adds, repeating what he first said months ago.

I'm aware that this is his way of urging me to surrender. Just as I wanted to take care of him, he wanted to take care of me, and it wasn't fair for either of us to withhold such a simple declaration of adoration from the other.

"Okay," I concede, as difficult as it is to do so.

Liam's body starts to lean away from me as he's ready to take off. I refuse to let him slip through my fingers just yet, and grip his shirt to pull him back into me, greedily capturing his lips. I may not have been able to voice how I truly felt, but I could do this. I could show Liam how much he was ingrained into my existence, and how everything inside of me belonged to him. He meets my actions fervently, his hands grabbing at my face and hips, while our lips consume each other like old lovers.

When we part our shared breath passes between us, as does undeclared confessions.

"Come back to me," I whisper against him, saying what he once had. 

Liam presses another kiss to my lips, this one light and fleeting.

"Anything for you," he vows as he always does, but this time his voice is deep with devotion.

We separate after that, and I watch him as he walks away, getting into the elevator at the other end of the hall. Our eyes remain on each other until the doors shut, dividing us until he would return to me.

||| A/N |||

vote and/or comment if ya want!

there are two more chapters of 5A, and there will also be a third-person POV chapter to break up the seasons like what I did with Valack.

ALSO -- we reached 2k votes earlier today!! that's seriously so unreal. thank you to everyone who cares about this story in any type of way, i appreciate it all, and hope you stick around for what's coming next 

<333