So let's dance a little,
Laugh a little,
And hope a little more.

Without You, For King And Country
__________________________

Stiles' arm is slung over Isaac's shoulder as they walk towards the entrance to the institute. The other arm is slung over Allison. The blood from the wound on the back of his head has crusted into his hair. Stiles' toes drag on the patio leading to the door back door of the building. At first he had insisted that he could walk in his own. Soon after that he fell into a heap of burnt flesh and a yelp of pain. Allison and Isaac had scooped him off of the pavement. Stiles has actually begun to cry at his inability to help himself. "I can't even fucking walk!" He screams. Allison cringes as he yells. "I'm a fucking useless, worthless piece of shit," Stiles claims in a mumble.

"Hang in there buddy," Isaac whispers so Stiles doesn't actually hear him.

"I should of died there," Stiles whispers, "I was ready," he tells himself.

"That's enough Stiles," Allison demands. Thunder booms and rain begins to slowly drip from the dark looming clouds above. Stiles sighs in relief as the rain cools his burns. He taps Isaac's back.

"Here, leave me here, the rain feels good," Stiles requests. Isaac looks to Allison for permission before laying Stiles carefully onto the green grass just to the right of the stone patio. Weakly, Stiles manages to pull off whatever remain of his jacket and kick off his burnt shoes.

As Lydia passes with Cora helping her carry Scott she looks down at Stiles, "the material of your pants, it'll have melted to you," she informs him. Stiles looks up at a pale Allison who is far to worried about Scott. Her eyes follow his body as Derek meets Cora and Lydia at the door. He throws Scott over his shoulder and rushes him inside.

"Hey Argent, he'll be fine," Stiles tells her as she stares down at him sadly. "Mind helping a guy out?" He asks referring to the clothes that are stuck to his skin. She forces a smirk and squats next to Stiles ankles. As she begins to rip off Stiles' pants she gasps.

"Stiles your skin is literally stuck to the pants," she claims, shocked. As he cringes, Stiles replies.

"I've noticed." Allison takes a deep breath.

"This is going to hurt, ready?" Allison asks for confirmation. Stiles squeezes his eyes shut and nods. Allison pulls on his pants and reveals Stiles bare peeling legs with odd pink and red marks. The top layer of skin coming up is black with ash. Stiles screams and then bites his lip to hold it back. When it's over Allison chucks Stiles' pants at Isaac who catches them reflexively.

"How do they look?" Stiles asks jokingly. Allison raises her eyebrows.

"The burns are starting to bleed, want me to wrap them?" Allison offers. Stiles shakes his head no.

"Go inside and relax," Stiles insists, "you too Lahey." Isaac smirks at his friend before walking into the dry institute. Stiles just stares up at the dripping with rain tree tops. The rain begins to come down harder. The burns cool down and Stiles sighs in relief, closing his eyes to better listen to the sound of his surroundings. The rustling of leaves in the breeze, the rain dropping into bushes and slamming into the stone patio. Then, the sound of bare feet traveling through the grass, a soft shuffling. Stiles opens his eyes and finds Lydia dropping slowly to the ground, to lay next to him. He watches her intently. Her wet hair swings as she moves. One of her hands travels to her stomach and rubs it slightly. She stares up at the sky as he did only moments ago. Soon, he commits the same peaceful action. "Are we gonna talk civilly?" He questions.

"Sure," Lydia replies casually. "I see what Allison, Isaac, and Scott are talking about now," Lydia states after a few moments of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think I can do this anymore," Lydia exclaims calmly. Stiles furrows his eyebrows.

"Your gonna start this bullshit now?"

"It's not bullshit," Lydia tells him, "I thought you were dead. You looked dead and you said your goodbyes and I thought I lost you forever. When you were in there alone, I could hear your breath fading through my ear piece. I was sure that you had left me," Lydia explains. Stiles weakly grabs Lydia's hand. She grabs his back gently.

"I'm not leaving anytime soon," Stiles insists, turning his head to the side to look at Lydia. She follows suit and gazes into his eyes dreamingly. He stares back at her emerald eyes in a daze, never wanting to turn away. "You know you can tell me anything right?" Stiles asks. Lydia gulps and thinks about the child slowly growing inside of her. Nodding, she replies, "yes." Stiles smiles. "You really did used to hate me," Stiles states with his famous smirk. Lydia blinks slowly and shakes her head.

"Never, I just knew you were trouble for me."

"I'm trouble alright." Lydia smiles, clearly amused and begins to sit up.

"C'mon, we better get you cleaned up," she suggests. Stiles groans.

"This is gonna hurt like a mother fucker," complains Stiles. Lydia takes his hands and helps him stand up. He cringes in pain and holds back from screaming. Lydia leads him up to the infirmary where Derek is hovering over Scott who is once again conscious. Stiles slowly lays down on on of the small beds. Derek glances at Stiles, taking a quick break from working on Scott's wound. "Alright Der, what do I need to do so I don't look like fried dough?" Derek rolls his eyes.

"Pop any bubbles forming in the skin and slather you in cream and medication," Derek tells him as he returns to working on Scott as the others watch. Stiles smirks that's classic smile.

"Who wants to do the honor of slathering me?" He asks knowingly.
__________________________

"So all of us are convinced we should quit except who?" Isaac asks as he, Allison, and Lydia sit around the small table in the loft.

"Stiles and Cora," Allison fills in. Lydia sighs.

"Cora won't quit, she was born into this, this isn't just her job, it's her life," Lydia states, rubbing her forehead as if it will rid her of stress. Isaac takes a sip of his beer.

"What about Stiles?" Allison asks. Isaac shrugs.

"Right now I think he is just doing it to distract him," Isaac claims. Lydia nods.

"Distract him from what?" Allison asks. Lydia sighs yet again.

"From drugs and thinking about his father," Lydia explains. Allison pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I know I can't do another mission, if I had a reason to continue like to avenge someone then I could probably stay, but right now I feel like I'm just murdering people because I'm bored, I'm like a terrorist without a reason to terrorize," Allison exclaims, looking at Isaac and Lydia with dismal eyes. Lydia nods.

"I just can't see another one of us get hurt, I can't watch that again," Lydia claims. Isaac shrugs.

"I knew I didn't want to do this anymore the day we got in that car accident and Cora almost died," Isaac explains, "I thought maybe coming back to the institute would remind me of why I do this, but obviously it didn't." We nod in understanding.

"I know Scott hates this, after killing that little girl he hasn't been able to forgive himself, he doesn't want to ruin someone else's life," Allison speaks for Scott. The three of them brain storm how to get Cora and Stiles to quit.

"What if just the four of us quit, then they would be fighting with just the two of them, more danger would occur then maybe they would quit," Isaac suggests. Lydia shakes her head remorsefully.

"Stiles lives for danger as a distraction and Cora is used to it, you saw her run into that building even though it was about to collapse today," Lydia reminds them. Allison nods in agreement. A thought pops into Lydia's head. It's something that makes the blood drain from her face. Her stomach twists and is pulled taught. Allison must notice her sudden change of expression. She furrows her eyebrows.

"Lydia, what's wrong?" Lydia takes a deep breath before responding.

"Cora is going to be the real problem, I have a way to make Stiles quit, but it might take me awhile," she tells her friends who stare at her confused.

"What is it?" Isaac asks, itching for information.

"I can't say, you're just going to have to trust me." Little do Allison and Isaac know, Lydia's plan to make Stiles quit includes her telling him she is pregnant.