▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐎𝐧𝐞 ━︎━︎ 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 having a few classes, she left early. With Stiles and Lydia at the hospital trying to follow one of Lydia's feelings, that left Elaine unsure of exactly what to do. She decided driving around wouldn't hurt. She got in her car and drove off. She turned up the radio, tapping her fingers along the wheel. If she was being honest, she was nervous. She'd woken up early enough to finish the book this morning and from the way Scott and Lydia had reacted when they'd received their memories, she didn't want to get one. But when did Elaine ever get what she wanted?

As she was driving, her eyes landed on an ice cream store. A little girl with red-brown hair was standing there, tears in her eyes. Elaine frowned as she pulled over, climbing out of the car and walking up to her.

"Hello, darling, where's your parents?" But it wasn't Elaine who asked the question.

"I don't know." Seven year old Elaine stood there, continuously wiping at her face. She stared at the man in front of her who had kneeled down to meet her eyes. "My daddy said he would be right back. He told me to stay here."

"I'll keep you company." The man offered.

"My daddy told me not to talk to strangers." The young girl sniffled. "He's not my real daddy though. My brother is his real son."

The man frowned. "What do you mean?"

The young girl sniffled again. "I'm adopted. My real parents didn't want me. Daddy doesn't see me as his real daughter." The man led her over to a table and she sat down. "Why aren't I good enough?"

"Sweetheart, you very much are. I'm sure your daddy loves you so much."

"No he doesn't." The little girl shook her head. "I bet if my real daddy knew me he would like me."

"Elaine!" A rough, loud voice yelled at her and 18 year old Elaine turned her head to see Rafael storming over. "What have I told you about talking to strangers?" He grabbed her wrist, pulling her away.

The stranger stood. "I meant no harm."

"Stay away from my kid." Rafael started, dragging Elaine away who struggled in his grip, crying.

"She's not yours."

Elaine snapped her head towards the stranger, watching as he watched Rafael and young Elaine in the distance. A gasp left her lips when she saw who it was.

Elaine blinked, looking up in time to see she had in fact never gotten out of the car. She was still driving and there was a car coming straight for her. She tried to swerve but the truck hit her back tire, flipping the car. It flipped twice, landing on its hood as it squealed to a stop. The glass in all her windows completely shattered as she slammed her head on the steering wheel. She couldn't move. Her body felt paralyzed. Blood dripped into her eye forcing her to close them. Just before she blacked out, she could hear the sirens in the distance.

"Car accident victim. She's lost a lot of blood!"

"Where's Melissa? Someone get me an OR!"

"Elaine?! What happened to my daughter?!"

"Melissa, I need you to stay back."

"That's my kid!"

"We've got her, Melissa. She's. . ."

The voices faded away as she went back to being unconscious. She came back to when she was in the OR, slowly blinking and looking around her. She could hear voices but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She turned her head as they placed a mask on her face, telling her to count down, but she couldn't. Ten seconds. Five seconds. Suddenly, the doctors weren't doctors. They were the Dread Doctors, hovering over her. Three seconds. A drill was in one of their hands. Two seconds. She was going to die. One―︎everything went black.

When she awoke again she was in a hospital bed. A groan fell from her lips and she winced at how loud the heart monitor was, shooting her hand out and using her magic to turn it off. "Hey, that's expensive machinery." She slowly opened her eyes to see her mom standing there.

"Mom? What happened?"

"A lot." Melissa said. "A lot has happened. The Dread Doctors were here. You were here. You got into a car accident, El."

Elaine frowned. "What?"

"Honey, what happened?"

Elaine winced as she tried to sit up but Melissa gently pushed her back down. "I don't―︎I don't know. I was leaving school and I saw. . . I saw the ice cream place."

Melissa frowned. "The ice cream place?"

"Downtown." Elaine mumbled. "And then. . . then I saw a memory. I saw. . ."

"What did you see?" Melissa softly said.

Elaine shook her head. "Not what. Who." She swallowed, forcing herself to sit up right. "I think. . . I think I saw my biological father."

"Oh." Melissa pulled up a chair, taking a deep breath. "O-okay. Well, do you want to try and contact him? I mean, Rebekah wasn't so bad. Maybe he'll be decent too."

Elaine shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. I already have enough trauma as it is, I don't want to go through that. I'm happy and content with the family I have now."

Melissa nodded. "Alright."

"Can I go now? I'm sick and tired of this place."

Melissa scoffed. "Absolutely not! Elaine, you just got into a car accident that involved you going into surgery. You are not leaving."

"Mom, I love you, and I know you're only doing what's best for me, but Scott and the others need me."

"No, you're not leaving this time and I mean it." Melissa sternly said. She walked over to the heart monitor, turning it back on. "You're not allowed to use your magic to heal yourself. You need to give yourself a break. If your wolf powers heal you, fine. You just need to rest, sweetheart."

Elaine sighed. "Alright." She laid back down. "I guess I could use the rest."

Melissa's shoulders relaxed. "Yes, yes you could. I'll be back to check on you in a little while." She pressed a kiss to the top of her head before walking out and closing the door. Elaine stared after her, a sigh leaving her lips before she forced herself to get comfortable and before she knew it she fell asleep.

She slept through the night and when she woke up again, she felt someone holding her hand. She slowly blinked and a small smile fell on her face when she saw Stiles sitting there. He was staring a the television, running a thumb over her hand. "Hey."

Stiles instantly turned his head to look at her. "Hey." He moved his chair closer to her. "How are you doing?"

Elaine nodded. "I'm okay. Just tired. What have I missed?"

Stiles let out a breath. "A lot. But we can worry about that later. Right now, I'm just worried about you."

A small chuckle left her lips as he used her own words against her. "Stiles, I'm fine. A few broken ribs, internal bleeding, and a concussion. Could've been worse. I could be dead."

"How are you healing?"

"I'm almost completely healed." Elaine nodded. "They did have to do surgery to stop the bleeding. Naturally they were confused when they couldn't find the source cause I had already healed."

"Melissa told me you tried to leave last night."

"Yeah, she wouldn't let me get out of bed."

He reached forwards, pushing a strand of fallen hair behind her ear. "Good. I'm glad. You needed the rest. We had it handled."

"Mom mentioned that they were here." Elaine softly said. Stiles nodded. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Scott had another asthma attack, but he's okay and so is Malia."

Elaine frowned, searching his eyes. "What aren't you telling me?" Stiles shook his head. "Hey, just because I'm in the hospital doesn't mean you don't get to tell me things."

He let out a sigh, focusing on their hands. "It was another chimera. He's dead now. And. . . and Theo killed him." Elaine's eyes widened. "He was trying to protect me. Or, so he claimed. But, Laney, he knows."

"Knows what?"

"About Donovan. He knows."

Panic coursed through her veins, her heart monitor spiking. "What? He can't know. That's impossible, I didn't say anything."

"He was at the school."

"Is he going to say something? I mean, what do we do? I can try and wipe his memory."

Stiles furrowed his brows. "You can do that?"

"Stiles, I can do a lot of things you don't know about. I'm part witch, remember?"

"Right." He then shook his head. "No. He said he wouldn't say anything as long as I didn't say anything about Josh. On top of all that, we found out that Hayden is also a chimera. We actually have a plan to keep her safe at the school."

"I can help." Elaine said, getting ready to sit up.

Stiles gently pushed her back down. "El, you need to rest. You've over exhausted yourself too much. We've got this one."

Tear brimmed her eyes. "I hate feeling helpless. Just. . . just let me do something."

"Laney, your mom isn't going to let you leave, even if she knows you can heal. We'll be okay for one night. I promise." He gently caressed her cheek and she met his eyes as he gave her a reassuring smile. "You just got into a car accident. We all understand."

"No, you don't." Elaine whispered. "You don't understand. I cannot just lay here in this bed and do nothing while knowing you guys are out there fighting for your lives. I can't, Stiles. Not after. . ." Stiles frowned. "Not after what I saw."

He sat up a little straighter. "You got a memory?"

"It was the reason I got into the accident."

"Well, what'd you see?"

Elaine shook her head. "I wish I hadn't seen it. We shouldn't have ever read that stupid book." She clenched her jaw. "Stiles, I saw my biological father." She watched his eyes widen, mouth parting slightly. "He's known I've existed this whole time. And Stiles, I know who he is. We know who he is."

Stiles swallowed, suddenly nervous. "Well, who is it?"

Elaine cleared her throat. "I don't think I'm ready to admit it out loud."

"It can't be that bad. . . right?" Elaine sent him a look. "Okay, so it's bad. Who is it?"

She sighed. "Okay, but you can't tell anyone. Promise?"

He nodded. "I promise."

Elaine sat up, staring at her and Stiles' hands before looking up to meet his eyes. "Deucalion." She took a deep breath. "My father is Deucalion."