𝟎𝟕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒖𝒎𝒂

tw- description of a panic attack, mention/descriptions of tuberculosis

✯☾✯

𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕 𝑴𝒄𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔. During the course of the previous night, he had stupidly turned up at Derek Hale's house in hopes of answers. However, it seemingly turned into a fight which the older werewolf won. But Scott did manage to learn a few things that didn't make his plan a total disaster.

Derek Hale was not the one who bit him, he wasn't an alpha.

That's what dumb and dumber were discussing during their history class in which, conveniently, they were sat close together. The buzzcut boy pelted his friend with questions from the seat behind. Even he didn't believe there was any redeeming intellectual level in Scott. Stiles impatiently tapped on Scott's shoulder to get his attention.

"If Derek isn't the alpha and if he didn't bite you, then who did?" The hyperactive boy questioned. Scott sighed, as if he had any idea. It's not like he could ask Derek any of these questions. The last time he went to him in search of answers he got his ass beat.

"I don't know." Scott shrugged. His reply only made Stiles more irritated. He sat back in his seat a bit before another question popped into his head and he leaned forward again.

"Did the alpha kill the bus driver?"

Scott replied with another tired I don't know, and it wasn't long before a millionth question was asked of him.

"Does Allison's dad know about-"

"I don't know!" Scott turned around and yelled at his friend. The loud disturbance caused the rest of the class to plant their eyes on him.

"Why do you never ask Lizzie these questions?" He continued in more of a hushed manner.

"Well one, because she's not a werewolf," Stiles glanced around the room until his brown eyes landed on Lizzie's empty seat on the other side of the classroom. "And two, she's not- where the hell is she?"

Scott followed Stiles' gaze to the empty seat and saw that indeed their friend wasn't there. However, they didn't have to miss her for long as the classroom door slowly creaked open. In came the petite brunette. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail a little messily and she wore a cream and brown stripped jumper and a pair of dark grey baggy jeans. Her face was glossed with her usual make up and her neck cluttered with necklaces.

"Miss Brown, what time do you call this?" The teacher glanced at her watch and scolded the late girl. Lizzie ducked her head down and stared at her feet, her face wasn't plastered with her usual grin and her eyes weren't as sparkly. They were dull and anxious; her lips pressed in a thin line. Something was definitely up.

However, it wasn't Scott or even Stiles that noticed the changes in her. It was the boy she briefly glanced at as she took her seat at the back. The boy that went by the name of Isaac Lahey gave her a small smile as she passed him. It was a concerned smile. He watched her sit down with narrowed eyes, wondering what on earth could have got the usually bright bubbly girl so down.

✯☾✯

Ten Hours Earlier

Lizzie had arrived home from Scott's house just after midnight. She crept in through the front door and although she knew there was no way in hell her dad would be mad about her coming home late, she didn't want to awaken any of her sleeping family members. 

Carefully, she treaded her way up the stairs and to her small bedroom. From there, she'd quickly changed into her pyjamas and crawled into the comforts of her bed. She always seemed to be exhausted at the moment. Scott and Stiles had her staying up late almost every night to deal with this werewolf shit but although it was taking a real toll on her sleep schedule, Lizzie did not mind at all.

In fact, she believed that venturing into those woods on the night of Lydia's party was one of the best things she'd ever done. It had landed her real friends who actually cared about her and also gave her a thrill in her life. Every day was a new adventure for her, a new excitement, a new step in the supernatural. Moreover, she absolutely adored the sarcastic boy who had the same abundance of energy as her and she also loved the awkward, hopelessly romantic wolf-boy too.

As she slept, her dreams were filled with shadows of her life and blurry faces she couldn't quite remember. They danced, sung, chatted. A strawberry blonde girl caught dream Lizzie's eye. She was staring at a building that had just appeared. Her eyes were clouded with fear as she opened her mouth. An ear-piercing scream amplified out of her open mouth. At first it sounded horribly high pitched and girly but then it turned into a scream that sounded an awful lot like-

"Davis!"

Lizzie awakened from her sleeping state and shot up off her bed. She followed the sound of her brother's screaming to his room, as she opened her door, she spotted Bobby and her father rushing out of their own rooms too. When the three burst through into the room, they found the little boy lying on his bed screaming. Tears flooded down his pink cheeks. Andy was the first to kneel down next to him, but he was closely followed by his other children.

"Davis? Davey, what's wrong? Where hurts?" Andy tried to steady him as he asked frantically, his eyes were wide with worry. Lizzie reached to grab her little brother's hand and Bobby sat himself on the bed itself and rested Davis' head on his lap.

"It hurts. Daddy, it hurts." Davis cried out, writhing and jerking around on the bed.

"Where does it hurt, baby?" Andy asked softly and to which Davis lifted a shaking hand and pointed at his chest. Andy snapped his head to his daughter, tears forming in his own eyes and a broken look on his face as he watched the pain his son was clearly in. "

"Call and ambulance, Lizzie please call an ambulance."

✯☾✯

A few sheets of paper were dumped in front of Lizzie on her desk. In the top corner, a large red B was scribbled. The girl didn't care. She couldn't care less; she barley even noticed it was there. She didn't notice because it didn't matter. Nothing mattered at the moment, she just needed to get through this day as quick as possible so she could get back to the hospital.

It was no doubt Bobby was feeling exactly the same a few classrooms over. Neither of them wanted to be there. They wanted to be with their brother. Lizzie held her shaking hands that were clasped tightly on her lap and her gaze was focused on the edge of the desk. Her eyes were rimmed with fresh tears, she was surprised she hadn't run out of them yet.

How could she sit here whilst Davis was laying a hospital bed? How could her father have forced her to go to school when her brother was dying? She needed to be there, not only for Davis but for her dad as well. He couldn't do this on his own.

Lizzie's breaths started to speed up. They matched the tempo of her racing thoughts and worries. Every second sat in this classroom could be her brother's last. Any moment now a teacher could walk in here with a solemn look on her face and tell her that her baby brother was dead.

Her heartbeat had also quickened, and Lizzie was now struggling to catch her breath. The room seemed to be getting smaller. Was everyone looking at her? Did they know? Her clasped hands became sweatier and shakier. She needed to get out of there.

With a scrape of her chair, Lizzie rushed out the room. The tears she'd been harbouring were overflowing now. She ignored the shouts of her teacher and ran through the hallways. She felt as though she couldn't breathe. There was nowhere to go.

Her vision was blurred so she ended up pushing through the first door she saw, hoping beyond hope it wasn't a classroom. Luckily, she had stumbled into the empty girls restrooms. She leaned over the edge of the nearby sink and stared down into the smooth marble bowl. Her chest was heaving erratically as she found herself gasping for air.

✯☾✯

Nine Hours Earlier

Davis had been ripped from the Browns and taken away in an ambulance to Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Only Andy had been allowed to go with them in the ambulance, leaving a distraught Bobby and Lizzie to follow behind in the car.

Once they had arrived at the building, the siblings had wasted no time in rushing through to reception. The hospital was bustling with patients and nurses, none of which were Davis. They made their way to the reception desk and met a smiling woman behind it.

"Welcome to Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. How can I help." She asked cheerily. Lizzie hated her. How could someone working at a hospital be this happy? How could she smile whilst telling families which room their dead daughter or sister or uncle was in?

"We're wondering which room Davis Brown is in." Bobby spoke quietly. The woman nodded and turned to the computer. She tapped on the keys and scanned the screen.

"Davis Brown, room 129." She smiled at them. No sooner had the words left her mouth, the Brown siblings were gone. They'd sprinted down the white hallways, dodging past others. They spotted their dad, head in his hands, sat on a chair outside one of the rooms. He looked up when he heard the shouts coming from his children. Standing up, he embraced both of them in a hug. Three pairs of eyes were brimmed tears and anxiety.

✯☾✯

Lizzie pressed her back to the brickwork of the restroom wall and slid down it so that she was sat on the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest as she tried to slow her breathing. Her usual techniques hadn't worked. Rocking back and forward against the wall, Lizzie started to count to try and distract herself.

"1"

"2"

"3"

With every number, her breathing only seemed to quicken. The waves of emotions she was feeling had decided not to set her free yet and only push her further into the sea of panic. Her eyes stung a little from crying and her jaw ached. A bruise like pain had also appeared in her chest due to her aggressive inhales.

Suddenly, the door a few feet away from her swung open. The sobbing girl didn't see who it was at first but as they knelt down in front of her, she immediately recognised those beautiful blue eyes.

"Hey, Lizzie." Isaac murmured softly. He had known something was wrong when she abruptly left the classroom so he'd made an excuse to also leave so that he could check on her. Here she was, curled up against the wall of the girls restroom. "I want you to try and  breathe with me, okay?"

His heart physically hurt seeing the girl in this state. She looked so different to her usual self, so broken and vulnerable. Lizzie met Isaac's gaze with her teary orbs and although the thought of him being there brought her a sense of comfort, her heart was still pounding, and she struggled to find the room in her lungs to breathe properly.

"Okay- in.." Isaac started. He took his own deep breath in so that Lizzie could do it with him. "Hold it for five seconds."

Lizzie's mind was still battling her worries and thoughts, so she found it extremely difficult to concentrate on anything the boy in front of her was saying. She needed something to land her softly back down. Something to ground her.

Isaac reached out and unwrapped both of the girl's arms that were hugged around her knees and intwined her hands with his. The gesture seemed to trigger something inside of Lizzie and her blue met his gaze properly this time.

"There you go... we're going to breathe again now. Ready? In and out." Isaac spoke softly as he coaxed her. He'd had many the panic attack himself, but he'd never had anyone to help him or guide him through the process. But now, as he kneeled hand in hand with the girl he had such complicated feelings for, he made a silent promise to her. The promise being he'd always be there for her, no matter what the planetary of life threw at him.

She was his first real friend and for that he knew she'd always be special to him.

Lizzie complied to his asks as best as she could. Her breathing was shaky but slowly she took a deep inhale of oxygen and exhaled. She repeated the process to the gentle tones of Isaac's voice, and she felt the rapid beats in her chest slow a little.

"You're doing so well, L." Isaac quietly praised as he watched Lizzie take her trembling breaths.

In and Out

In

Out

In

Out

✯☾✯

Eight Hours Earlier

When the door to the hospital room opened, it snapped all three of the Browns out of their silent, melancholy states. A tall doctor emerged from the room with a clipboard in his hand. When he noticed the family, who had tensed up on the chairs they were seated on, he gave them a sympathetic look. Too sympathetic for Lizzie's liking.

"Andrew Brown?" His voice was deep. He scanned the trio, then pointed at the older man sat in between his kids. "Ah- that's you. We have some good news and also some bad news, I'm afraid."

Lizzie's heart dropped at the last part of his statement. Andy coughed slightly.

"Is he okay?"

The doctor sighed and looked around him as if he was trying to find the words to tell them. "Unfortunately, we do believe your son will need further treatment."

"Treatment? Treatment for what." Bobby asked, his voice was hoarse from crying.

The doctor paused again. Lizzie just wanted him to get on with it, just come out and say it already.

"Have you ever heard of tuberculosis?"

All three hearts infront of the doctor plummeted down as far as they could. Just for a moment, the world came speeding to a halt. Tears welled in the teens' eyes, spilling from Lizzie's and threatening to from Bobby's. Andy Brown only shook his head in denial.

Tuberculosis. The deadly disease that Amelia Brown had suffered and died from.

"No..." Andy said almost as if he hadn't spoken at all.

"Tuberculosis is a contagious infection caused by bacteria that mainly affects the lungs but can also affect any other organ including bone, brain and spine. It can be dangerous or life threatening if untreated." The doctor started but the trio had been told this before. Of course they knew what it was. Bobby and Lizzie's own mother had been sick with it for four years.

"However, the good news. The good news is that we've caught it at its early stages meaning it will be more accessible for treatment."

A very small weight lifted off Lizzie's chest. The treatment hadn't worked for her mother but that was because she was diagnosed quite late. This time, there was a chance. A chance Davis would live.

✯☾✯

Her heartbeat had slowed, and her breathing was more stable. Her sweaty limbs weren't jumping up and down as frantically as before. She shut her eyes and manged to gulp a large intake of air. Although she was feeling calmer, that didn't stop the wailing voices shouting at her in her head. The thoughts of her brother, lying in that stupid hospital bed like her mother once had.

They said they could help him get better, she had to hold onto that hope. That one glimmering shine of hope that materialised in the form of Davis Brown.

A silent poignant tear emerged from her closed eyes and ran down the side of her right cheek as she leaned her head back to hit the noticeable coldness of the wall. Lizzie felt a sudden squeeze around her hands. She felt comforting fingers swathed with hers. Creasing her eyes open slowly, she noticed a curly haired boy sat in front of her.

He was still there.

He was on his knees and bent down a little, his face smothered with concern and empathy. He smiled as he watched the brunette open her eyes. A final few tears escaped them and his heart unclenched at the sight of it.

She was okay.

The two sat in complete silence whilst Lizzie took her time to breathe. She couldn't help the swell in her stomach when she realized Isaac had helped her. She was so unbelievably grateful. And even though she knew nothing would have come from the panic attack,  it was so refreshing to understand that someone was there.

Yes, she sort of had Stiles or Scott but they kept accidently making it quite obvious that they didn't completely trust her yet. She'd kept the secret for only a couple of months, but she hadn't exactly done anything that would stand out to them yet. She sort of had Kayla too, she may not be truly honest with Lizzie, but she meant well.

However, even so, it wasn't Stiles, Scott or Kayla with her right now. It was Isaac. Beautiful, sweet, loveable Isaac Lahey. Him who held onto her hands now whilst she got over the remains of her panic attack. Lizzie forced her lips into a shy smile.

"T-thanks." Her voice was croaky and broken from the recent events. The back of her throat tingled and throbbed slightly. Isaac only nodded his head in acknowledgement to her gratitude. All the confidence he had to help her was shrinking back into the depths of his conscience now she could actually acknowledge he was there.

Lizzie's eyes drifted down to her smaller hands clasped in his still. A strong surge in a her stomach erupted. Isaac noticed what she was looking at and quickly untangled his own hands as if he didn't want to make her uncomfortable, even though the feeling of his skin against hers was doing the polar opposite.

"I'm sorry." Lizzie murmured softly. She felt a small sense of guilt for letting Isaac help her. She should've been able to deal with it on her own. She couldn't go back to relying on everyone else like  she had selfishly done during freshman year.

Isaac ultimately seemed shocked that Lizzie even felt the need to say sorry. "What? No, don't apologize."

The girl smiled feebly and bowed her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Isaac offered as Lizzie uncurled from the hunched up ball she'd been in. She chewed on the inside of her lip in thought.

"I- my brother-" Her eyes re-filled with more tears. She was so sick of crying in front of people, Isaac must have thought she was pathetic.

"You don't have to, I'm here though." Isaac tried to be as comforting as possible, but he doubted he was being very helpful.

Oh, how wrong he was.

"No I- I think I just need....need to," Lizzie was cut off by strong arms wrapping around her seated frame. Almost immediately, her muscles and mind relaxed at Isaac's touch. Whenever she was upset, Lizzie seemed to find acts physical of touch the most reassuring. She also found it much easier to just hug people, hold their hands or even just brush her arm against theirs, than talking to them.

She nuzzled her face into his shoulder and one of his hands came up to rest of the back of her head. Her wet eyes dampened his loose cardigan, but he didn't seem to mind at all. His scent was a mixture of what Lizzie deciphered as the smell of rain and a small hint of aftershave. He was warm and homely and the girl flushed closer to him, their bodies seeming to fit perfectly like pieces of a jigsaw.

Only the faint ringing of the school bell broke them apart reluctantly. They both stood up, Isaac at his comical height towering over Lizzie. As she stood, the girl caught a glimpse of herself in the dusty mirror opposite. Her hair was a little messed at the back but still sat firmly in its ponytail. Her mascara wasn't running as much a she'd expected it do but her eyes were red raw and bloodshot from crying.

The boy next to her watched as she inspected herself. She lifted a finger under her eyes to wipe the black substance.

Isaac thought she was beautiful. But not in the way Lydia Martin was or even the new girl Allison Argent was. She was a pretty-sort of beautiful and had a real sense of natural magnificence about her.

He liked her eyes the most, they were almost as blue as his even though the white of her eye had multiple red streaks through it. However, when he looked closely, he could see the depth of colour swimming around her iris. Waves of grey and darker blue blended perfectly with the rest.

He also liked her many freckles that were dotted here and there along her nose and cheeks. They embodied her personality flawlessly.

In Isaac's opinion, the girl in front of him was the most beautiful he'd seen.

Lizzie finished cleaning herself up and turned to her friend with a newly recovered smile daubed on her pink lips.

"We better get you out of here before anyone comes in." She stated. Isaac shuddered at the thought of the backlash he'd get if he was discovered in the girls toilets. The duo made their way out of the restroom, Isaac being particularly cautious in case he was spotted exiting.

With a final few words of appreciation, the two split their separate ways to their next class. For Lizzie, it was shop. Hopefully her favourite class could take her mind off the mess of last night's events. Briskly, she pushed herself through the ocean of students bustling left, right and centre.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't properly paying attention to her surroundings of dull lockers and grey walls. Her body rammed smack into the back of two girls stood just before the stairs. Lizzie only just managed to catch herself before she would've embarrassingly toppled over.

"Watch where you're going, honey!" A patronising voice scolded her. The brunette looked up to see the girls she had crashed into as Allison and Lydia.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I-" Lizzie started, smacking a hand to her forehead in mortification.

"No, Lizzie, don't even worry about it. We shouldn't really be stood here anyway. I think we're blocking everyone else." Allison reassured. She gazed around her and then gestured for the two other girls to start to walk up the stairs. Luckily for Lizzie, the shop workshop was in that direction. The tall brunette and red head continued their ongoing conversation.

"So, what were you saying before, Lyds?" Allison asked her friend. Lydia sighed at Allison's naivety.

"I was just saying, you know, make sure he covers up." Lydia vaguely informed the taller brunette with a chuckle. "Hello, Snow White, I'm talking about a condom."

Allison's mouth dropped in disbelief and Lizzie snorted. She hoped they were talking about Scott as she already had enough problems to deal with and mending a werewolf's broken heart was not one of them.

"Are you kidding? After one date?" Allison scoffed. The two stopped walking randomly in the middle of the staircase causing Lizzie to also stagger into an abrupt halt too.

"Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste." Lydia gave Allison an encouraging pat and they began their climb once again.

"Well, how much is a little taste?" Allison stammered out the question, they'd stopped walking again triggering another sharp freeze in Lizzie's tracks also. Lydia pulled a half shocked, half scorned face at Ali.

"Oh god, you really like him, don't you?"

"Well, he's just different. When I first moved here I had a plan, no boyfriends till college." Allison used her hands to show Lydia and sort of Lizzie her old perspective. "I just move too much. But then I met him, and he was different."

The tallest girl smiled to herself dreamily. "I don't know, I can't explain it."

Lydia didn't seem impressed. "I can. It's you brain flooding with phenylethylamine."

Woah, big word.

Ali laughed. "What?"

"I'll tell you what to do." Lydia pointed at both Allison and Lizzie. "When's he coming over?"

"Right after school."

Lydia set her forefinger on her chin for a while. "So, here's what's gonna happen. Lizzie here, is it Lizzie?"

The smaller girl nodded.

"Lizzie's friends with Scott so she's going to find out what he thinks is happening tonight."

Lizzie's brows furrowed and a small crease formed on her forehead. "I am?"

"You are." Lydia confirmed. "And no matter what he says, you, Allison, we are going to look incredibly hot this evening."

✯☾✯

Shop class was over and Lizzie had successfully managed to distract herself for a short while. She'd ended up creating a small wooden horse which she would be gifting to Davis when she visited him later. Her father had already messaged her to let her know the timings for visiting hours which had drastically changed since her last set of regular visits. So, after learning she couldn't see Davis until around seven o'clock, Lizzie had to find a way to kill time. Maybe just getting out of the stupid school building would be a start.

At the bottom of the corridor she was walking down, right by the exit door, was the back of a very familiar head.

"Stiles!" Lizzie shouted from quite a few feet away, so she sped up her walk tempo. The boy she'd very blatantly called whipped round at the yell. The two exchanged multiple energetic waves until Lizzie caught up to him.

"Where the hell have you been? I haven't seen you all day!" Stiles playfully hit the girl's shoulder when she reached him. Lizzie thought about telling him about Davis however something inside her stopped her from even mentioning it, she didn't want to unload her problems onto people. She already felt guilty enough for what happened with Isaac

"Sorry, just had some family stuff to sort out."

Stiles and Lizzie began to walk through the double doors to leave. With last period being over, they were both just as desperate as each other to leave.

"Where's Scooter?" The girl acknowledged the lack of their love-struck friend.

"He had to rush home to prepare to 'study' with Allison." Stiles smirked at Lizzie suggestively and the pair burst out into giggles. They bounded down the steps outside of the school and into the busy parking lot.

"So, since Scott's probably off losing his virginity-"

"Ooh, big step for Scallison."

"Sure- big step for Scallison. Anyway, you wanna finish A New Hope round mine?" Stiles offered. Lizzie scrunched her nose up in a mini debate. She definitely had a few hours before she could head to the hospital and spending time with Stiles would be nice, it might even cheer her up a bit.

Lizzie lifted her shoulders into a shrug and nodded. "How can I say no to anything with a bit of Star Wars involved?"

Stiles clapped the girl on the back as the two approached his tired-looking jeep. He fumbled with his keys and unlocked the car. Both backpacks were chucked in the backseat and two bodies occupied the front. As soon as Lizzie was seated and Stiles had begun to reverse out his parking spot, she leaned forward the flick through the radio stations. They were all mostly playing shitty dance music however Lizzie's face lit up when she found one currently playing Snap Out Of It by Arctic Monkeys.

"Oh my god, Arctic Monkeys are just something else." Lizzie crooned as she formed her hand into a fist that was meant to be a fake microphone in which she energetically sang the into.

"I gotta tell you the truth yeah," She swayed her head to the music and Stiles drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the beats.

"I wanna grab both your shoulders and shake, baby."

Lizzie increased the volume. "Snap out of it!"

There was a screech of tires when Stiles suddenly immobilized the car causing Lizzie's singing to conclude and her eyes to amplify. Through the filthy windscreen, a very off looking Derek Hale could be seen holding his hand up in front of them which had been the thing triggering Stiles' curt stop.

"Oh god." Stiles blurted out in surprise and Lizzie leaned over to honk the horn at him to try and get him out the way. After all, the dude was stood in the middle of a parking lot. Derek refused to move and instead collapsed the concrete floor dramatically.

"You gotta be kidding me. This guys everywhere." Stiles threw his hands up annoyedly.

"Just run him over." Lizzie told him, earning a disgusted look in response. Cars lined up behind the blue jeep and starting honking at them which drew a large amount of attention from passers-by. Luckily, Scott appeared running to save the day.

"What the hell?" The shaggy-haired boy muttered as he ran to Derek. Stiles proceeded to exit the car and follow Scott, Lizzie however decided to stay within the safety of her car-seat. There was no way she was stepping foot near Derek Hale especially when he looked like that. He scared the shit out of her plus she didn't want to be infected by whatever had caused him to collapse.

She watched as Scott and Stiles hastily tried to figure out what the hell was going on. A profusion of angry beeps came from behind the car Lizzie was sat in. She leaned her head out the window to see exactly how many people they were holding up. Getting out from his expensive car, Lizzie spotted an aggravated Jackson Whittemore.

Oh shit.

"Hey guys, you might just want to chuck him in the car." She called out as a warning to her friends. Scott and Stiles took her advice and hurled Derek's limp bodyweight towards the vehicle. Lizzie climbed over the seats to sit in the back so Scott could just dump the man in the passenger seat.

Derek looked like shit. His face was white as a sheet and tiny beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.

"I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used." Derek weakly told Scott who had a look of irritation displayed on his honey brown face.

"How the hell am I supposed to that?"

"She's an Argent, she's with them." Derek said indicating to Allison who was also part of the traffic jam they had caused.

"Why should I help you?" Scott pushed back at him. Derek started at the boy and panted slowly for a short while.

"Because you need me."

Scott glanced back to the angry people in cars lined up behind the jeep. "Fine, I'll try."

Stiles clambered back into the front seat and started the car back up. He turned to Scott. "I hate you so much for this."

The other boy took a step away from the car and gave Lizzie a reassuring thumbs up through the windows. "Make sure they don't kill each other."

To which Lizzie nodded and Stiles sped off out of the parking lot.

The vehicle was filled with an awkward disturbing silence. Lizzie slowly reached her hand through the gap between the front seats and towards the radio. Much to Derek's displeasure she turned the dial up, increasing the volume of Mr Brightside.

✯☾✯

"Text Scott." Stiles grumbled at the girl in the back seat. Hastily, she glanced down at the phone in her hand and scanned the seven other messages she'd been forced to send Scott.

"Again?" She questioned and Stiles rolled his eyes before turning back to stare daggers at Derek, barley looking at the road ahead of him.

"Yes. Text him again."

Lizzie sighed before typing out another frenzied message.

Scooter McCall

Lizzie  :)
Sorry if I'm interrupting anything again... but Stiles wants to know if you found it yet. Xx

There was a couple more seconds of awkward silence where only the pained groans of Derek could be heard. Lizzie was sceptical to sit so close to him, if you looked past his good looks there was something a little off about him and it wasn't the fact he howled at the moon. Next, she felt a vibration of her phone in her lap signalling a message which she picked up and read.

Scooter McCall
one new message

Scooter McCall
Yes you did interrupt something shithead. I need more time.

Lizzie scrunched her face up. Now she'd have to tell an already inflamed Stiles.

"Scott wants more time." She braved weakly and Stiles bashed his head to the back of his seat in aggravation.

"Come on!" He exhaled angrily through his nose and glared at the road in front of him. Derek's upset winces only got louder which just peeved Stiles even more and he turned to him.

"Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay?" He sneered at the man. "We're almost there."

"Almost where?" Derek managed to ask mutedly. Honestly, Lizzie felt bad for the poor guy. He was literally on deaths door and was stuck in a car with two teens he barely knew for the little bit of life he had left. Stiles let out a large sigh when Derek didn't catch on.

"Your house." He told him.

God no. Lizzie thought, when she said she wanted a distraction she meant like watching a movie or hanging out with some friends. She didn't mean sitting in Beacon Hill's most haunted house with a chilling, dying werewolf. Derek seemed to have a similar thought.

"What? No, you can't take me there." Derek shook his head.

"I can't take you to your own house?" Stiles threw back exhaustedly.

"Not when I can't protect myself."

Stiles had had enough of this. Frustrated, he slowed the jeep and pulled over by a near by park. Then he exploded.

"What happens if Scott doesn't find your magic bullet? Hmm?" He aggressively questioned Derek and Lizzie face palmed at the interaction. "Are you dying?"

"Not yet. I have a last resort." Derek morbidly informed him.

"What do you mean? What last resort?" Stiles persisted.

"Stiles, honey, take a breath." Lizzie attempted to cool the situation and rubbed her hand on her friends shoulder. In response, Stiles calmed a little but was still very on edge. Who could blame him? He was sat in a metal pod with a half-dead wolf man.

Derek slowly pulled the sleeve of his sweat drenched V-neck in response to the boy's queries.

"Oh my God! What is that?" Stiles instantly looked away in disgust. Lizzie leaned forward to glimpse Derek's forearm and immediately regretted it. A small hole was dug inside the werewolf's skin, crimson blood spewing from it like a frickin' volcano. Lizzie scrunched her eyes shut at the sight.

"Ew, that's nasty."

"Ugh, is that contagious? You should probably just get out." Stiles advised as if he was going to be sick. The brunette in the back shrunk as far into her seat as she could so that she could be away from Derek. Was that thing actually contagious? She lifted the hem of her shirt up over her mouth and nose just in case.

"Start the car. Now." Derek ordered through breathless pants.

"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look." Stiles said firmly. "In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead."

Derek looked frankly offended and exhausted at the boy. Lizzie had shuffled so far away she was now pressed up against the car door behind Stiles and was making rhythmic retching noise into her shirt.

"Start the car, or I'm gonna rip your throat out with my teeth." Derek threatened causing Stiles' mindset to completely change and he did as he was told.

Once they were back on the road again, Lizzie lowered her shirt down and shifted upright again.

"Are you like genuinely okay? Or are you actually dying. I know CPR if you are. In fact, I'm great at it. My third grade teacher gave me a gold star for it." She leaned forward a little as she spoke. Her offer managed to spark a tiny smile on Derek's paled lips and he closed his eyes a little.

"I- I think I'll be okay...but thanks. I'm sure your great at CPR."

✯☾✯

Stiles drove around and around in circles for over an hour and the sky had begun to darken. No-one had said anything in a while and Lizzie had mainly passed the time texting Isaac. He'd tried to ring her a while back to see if she was okay but she hadn't told Stiles anything yet, so they'd texted instead. It had only just gone six o'clock so it wouldn't be long before Lizzie would have to leave to visit her brother. The girl's phone now made an echoing beep as she sent another message to Scott.

Scooter McCall

Lizzie :)
Hey, how are things with you? Right now we're harbouring a dying werewolf in a crappy jeep. Might wanna do something about that. X

Scooter McCall
Sorry. I need a little bit more time, Allison's dad just caught us making out in the garage and now I'm staying for family dinner...

Lizzie :)
HA! U R so screwed dude. I want to know everything tmr but for now just HURRY UP PLEASE x

The light from the phone in Lizzie's hand illuminated her features for a few seconds longer before she switches it off.

"Do you guys wanna play a game?" The girl asked lightly. Stiles groaned in response and Derek kept silent, probably conserving his energy. "Or, yaknow we could like turn the radio back on?"

After earning a stroke of silence as an answer, Lizzie huffed and sat back in her seat with a loud thump. Her phone vibrated once again and she turned it on eagerly, hoping it was Scott with some good news.

Nope. Instead it was just a stupid email alert telling her this weekend she could get twenty percent off on kitchenware at some random ass shop. She groaned and tossed her phone into the seat beside her.

It took twenty minutes of Lizzie's bored humming and Derek's loud groans of displeasure for Stiles to give up and call Scott out of sheer monotony and frustration.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Stiles asked Scott down the phone as if Derek was some child he didn't know how to look after.

"Take him somewhere. Anywhere!" Lizzie could barely hear Scott's desperate reply.

Stiles sighed. "And by the way, he's starting to smell."

"Like what?"

"Like death."

"Okay. Take him to the animal clinic."

"What about your boss?"

"He's gone by now. There's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster."

Lizzie snorted. Taking a werewolf to an animal clinic.

Ironic.

"You're not gonna believe where he's telling me to take you." Stiles said as he passed his phone over to Derek who grabbed it and pressed it against his ear.

"Did you find it?" He asked. The wolf was getting extremely desperate now, and he looked it.

"How am I supposed to find one bullet?" Scott hissed down the line. "They have a million! This house is like the freaking Walmart of guns!"

"If you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?" Derek told the boy and Lizzie couldn't quite catch the next thing Scott muttered but the man didn't look impressed.

"Then think about this," He began again. "The Alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time, you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you want to stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet."

And with that Derek hung up and aggressively handed the phone back to Stiles.

Well wasn't he a real ball of sunshine.

The car engine roared to life again and the trio started their short journey towards the vet clinic, god knows how taking him there would help.

✯☾✯

It took both Stiles and Lizzie at least ten minutes to haul the dying werewolf into the vet clinic, both of them weren't very gifted when it came to co-ordination. However, after a few small unneeded arguments and Stiles dropping Derek on multiple occasions, they managed to get him inside and dump him in one of the storage rooms.

During the time it took Scott to send them an update, Stiles paced constantly up and down the length of the small room and Lizzie rattled through every cupboard, draw or cabinet until she was able to find something remotely useful for Derek.

When Stiles' annoying text chime ringed out it was a relief for all three of them. Stiles stopped his striding to produce the small device from his pocket. His face twisted into a cringe and he stared blankly at his screen before turning it round and presenting it to Lizzie, who also cringed at the words.

"Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?" Stiles asked Derek although he wasn't expecting much of answer seeing as the man could barley talk.

Yet, Derek clutched onto his wound tighter and parted his lips to speak slowly. "It's a rare form of wolfsbane. He has to bring me the bullet."

"Why?" Stiles asked and Lizzie sat down on a random bag of something unknow. Why was werewolf shit so confusing?

"Because I'm gonna die without it." Derek said morbidly and Stiles' face fell. With a groan, Lizzie's head fell down into the crook of her arms.

The trio slowly gravitated to the main area of the clinic. It was a little dark and the only source of light was a searing one that shone right above the metal table. Stiles leaned on the wall, head in his hands whilst Derek decided it would be a good idea to take his shirt off. Now, Lizzie wasn't one to drool over men's bodies, unless it was Tom Cruise's, but she did somehow manage to find herself looking at Derek's unusually toned torso.

Stiles reached up and flicked her on the forehead to snap her out of her strange trance state.

Immediately, she shook it off and scolded herself quietly.

"Ew, old man. Dying man. No."

With Derek's shirt off, his wound was another thing now in plain sight. It seemed to have gotten worse since he'd last shown the two teens as more and more blood was seeping out of it by the second and black veins treaded up his arm. Stiles leaned on the table, trying to divert his eyes to look anywhere but the injury.

"You know, that really doesn't look like anything some echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take car of." Stiles breathed optimistically and nuged Lizzie to follow suit too.

"Yeah uhm... I'm sure it's just a scratch, nothing to worry about. Maybe if you put a band aids-"

"When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me." Derek cut her off without even sparing either of them a glance. He breathed heavily and leaned on one of the counters for support.

"Well okay, Mr Negativity."

"Positivity just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?"

After Derek had caught his breath, he began searching through the storage units which Lizzie had already done. "If he doesn't get here in time, i have a last resort."

The two teens looked at him expectantly and when he didn't say anything, Stiles persisted. "Which is?"

Slowly, the man turned around with a weird handsaw thing in his hand. "One of you is going to cut off my arm."

Stiles looked as if he was about to sick and rested her head on his shoulder in annoyance and fatigue. Derek slid the saw  across the reflective surface od the table for Stiles to reluctantly pick up. The buz cut boy took one look at the weapon he could potentially be using to chop off someone's arm and was utterly disgusted.

"Oh, my god!" He slammed his fist on the table and gestured to Derek who was currently prepping his arm to be dismembered from his body. "What if you bleed to death?"

"I'll heal if it works." Derek said, barely distinguishable due to the piece of string he had in his mouth.

Stiles heaved a great appalled sigh again. "Look I don't know if I can do this. Lizzie? You wanna.."

The girl's eyes widened in horror at the idea. "Me? You want me to chop off his arm?"

Stiles and Derek both nodded vigorously. Lizzie backed away from the two and her back crashed into one of the trolleys. She spun round to see on the surface of the trolly was a box of band aids which she quickly picked up and brought over to Derek.

"Maybe these will work?" She said in a frenzy and she reached out to grip Derek's arm, eyes scrunched up so she didn't have to look at the wound.

Then, something happened. Stiles' eyes bulged out of his sockets and Derek's mouth fell open. Lizzie's hand, clamped around the wolf's wrist, began to glow a sharp purple colour. The purple flooded from the veins in her hand and transferred to flow up Derek's arm until it reached the bullet hole. When it got to it, Derek started to feel a little less like death. He wasn't in so much pain anymore.

Completely freaked out, he ripped his arm from her grasp and stared at her, dumbfounded.

"What the hell was that?" Stiles asked incredulously. Was that magic? Werewolves and magic? Oh, Stiles' life had gotten so much cooler since summer.

"Sorry, I really don't want to cut off his arm. I don't even know why I picked up the band aids." She chucked the box on the floor and sighed. The males in the room only gawped. She was completely oblivious. Completely oblivious to whatever the hell she'd just done.

"L, your hands. Th-they glowed purple-" Stiles stammered. The smaller girl frowned and flicked her eyes between the two.

"You were healing me." Derek confirmed, he too was wondering what the fuck just happened.

"I- I was what?" Lizzie furrowed her eyebrows, today had been such a long day, she just wanted to get this done with so she could go see her brother. Derek and Stiles only stared at each other in shock before the older man gave a groan of pain. The occurrence was therefore forgotten for now.

"Stiles, I need you to do it now." Derek instructed through gritted teeth. The boy only shook his head.

"You faint at the sight of blood or something?" Derek taunted.

"No. But I might at the sight of a chopped-off arm!"

Derek sighed at the boy, he was being unreasonable. He gave Lizzie a free pass but only because she just did some freaky shit that actually took some of his pain away but Stiles just needed to man up. "Alright, how about this? Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head."

Stiles rolled his eyes and scoffed. "You know what? I'm not buying your threats anymore-"

He was cut off as Derek reached forward and aggressively yanked the hem of his shirt causing Stiles to retract his statement.

"Stiles, let's just do it. I can help... we'll do it together." Lizzie began to beg, her voice coming out a little more high-pitched than she anticipated. She really didn't want to see her friend's head ripped off by this stupid sour wolf.

Suddenly, Derek loosened his grip on Stiles and doubled over the table. He made disgusting retching noises although it wasn't as vile as what came out of his mouth. Oozing black liquid came flying out of his parted lips, coating a small section of the floor. Lizzie took it as an advantage and pulled Stiles by the arm so that he'd be a little further away from harm.

"Holy god! What the hell is that?" Stiles whined. Derek looked seriously bad right now. Like he could die on them any second.

"It's my body trying to heal itself."

"Well it's not doing a very good job of it. Lizzie, can you try and do the purple-glowy thing you did before?" Stiles asked through a grimace.

Lizzie through her arms out to the side in confusion. "What purple-glowy thing? What the hell did I do?"

Before Stiles could reply Derek yelled out in anguish once again. "You two have to do it now."

Stiles and Lizzie exchanged dreading looks and the girl reached out to push her friend forward a little. Better him than her.

"Oh my god. Okay. Okay. Oh my god."

Stiles picked up the handsaw and started it a little before placing it to Derek's arm. Lizzie brought both hands up to her eyes to cover her vision. Nope. This was all on Stiles, there was no way she was getting involved in this. She didn't need another act of trauma to add her list.

"All right here we go."

Derek braced himself, Stiles scrunched his eyes shut and Lizzie backed into the wall wincing.

Then, a fricking angel called out to them. "Stiles? Lizzie?"

Scott's voice echoed from the front of the clinic.

"Scott?"

"Scott! Scotty!"

Panting, a sweat drenched Scott McCall came bounding in. He took a long look at the scene before him. Stiles was holding a SAW to Derek's arm and Lizzie was backed into a corner, peaking through the gaps between her fingers.

"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled. Stiles let out the breath he'd been holding and chuckled nervously.

"Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares."

Scott ignored him and he and Derek began to bustle around with a bullet Scott produced from his pocket. Meanwhile, Stiles made his way to Lizzie and peeled her hands away from her eyes. She was tentative to look in case there was a dismembered limb lying on the floor somewhere but when she saw there was nothing, she let out a sigh of relief.

"You okay?" Stiles briskly asked in a hushed tone and Lizzie nodded softly.

Cling

Thump

Stiles and Lizzie whipped their heads round to see Derek collapsed on the floor.

"No, no, no." Scott muttered to himself and he lay himself on the floor to try and reach the bullet that had rolled through a grate. The two other teens leapt into action and crouched down to Derek.

"Derek? Derek, come on. Wake up!" Stiles repeatedly slapped the mans cheek. He turned his head to seek Scott's advice. "Scott, what the hell are we gonna do?"

"I don't know!" Was yelled back.

"I know CPR...well... sort of." Lizzie's eyes broadened and she lightly pushed Stiles out the way so she could assist. Entwining her own fingers on top of each other, she raised her hands just above Derek's breast bone on his chest. Then she began to use her body weight to press down and release in rhythmic motions. The girl didn't even know whether he'd stopped breathing in the first place, her mind was hysterically going wild.

When Scott managed to reach the fallen bullet he hurried over to the other three where he saw an anxious Stiles and Lizzie doing something that looked like CPR but at the same time it looked like she was giving him a massage.

"Lizzie! What the hell are you doing? He's still breathing." Scott cried out. The brunette girl's mouth opened into an 'O' and she removed her hands. Turns out he was just unconscious.

Derek only woke up once Stiles punched him slap bang in the face. Once he regained consciousness,the man snatched the bullet from Scott's hands and used his teeth to bite the tip off. The three teens managed to pull him up to a standing position and Derek poured out a white-coloured powder from the inside of the shell.

Using the lighter he had just randomly produced, Derek set fire to the powder. A large spark shot upwards however it did quickly die down. Derek  pinched up a small amount of the grains and slapped it straight into his wound. The teens winced.

A loud roar of pain filled the air again as Derek stumbled back down to the floor. He writhed around and screamed for a while until finally the hole in his arm healed itself up.

"That was awesome! Yes!" Stiles yelled and punched the air. This earned some disbelieving looks from his friends.

"God, I think I might have thrown up a little there." Lizzie groaned. Thank the lord that was over.

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
edited ✓