A/N: This is set about a month before Up to You and is canon up to 'Riddled'. I don't own Teen Wolf. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first part of this. Hope you enjoy :)
When everyone found out Stiles was sick, they knew there would be hard days to come. One of the hardest days, that turned into weeks, was when Stiles realized he needed to give the keys of his beloved jeep up. His father had mentioned it to him before, but Stiles had quickly shut him down. It wasn't until one day he was driving home from Scott's and couldn't remember his way home. Stiles didn't want to call his father and spent what felt like forever trying to remember his way. He didn't even realize he ran one stop sign, was going ten over the speed limit, and was weaving in and out of his lane. Then Deputy Parrish pulled him over.
"Hey, Stiles you okay there? You're weaving a little bit and you're just a little over the speed limit," Parrish said. He knew what was going on with the poor kid, everybody did. It was a small town and news of the Sheriff's son dying spread quickly. "I'm going to let you off with a warning, but drive more carefully next time." Parrish said and mumbled a quick goodbye then started to leave.
Stiles looked at him and took a deep breath, "Wait."
"Yeah, kid what's up," the deputy replied.
"I need you to do two things for me. One: write me the damn ticket. And two," Stiles took another deep breath and looked Parrish in the eye and said something he never wanted to have to ask,"I need you to take me home. I can't remember how to get there."
John was going over one of the unsolved murders when he heard the door open and slam shut. He looked up to see a visibly upset Stiles and and deputy whose eyes were filled with sympathy. "Hey, hey Stiles what happened?"
Stiles practically threw the jeep's keys at his father before crying, "Take them. Do whatever the hell you want with them. I don't want...I can't...don't remember."
The look on Stiles' face was something he hadn't seen on his son since his mother died, not even when they got the diagnosis. But before he could say anything, Stiles had bolted past him and up the stairs to his room. Turning to Parrish, John said, "Thanks, Parrish. "
"No problem, sir. Is there anything I can do for you or help you with while I'm here?" the deputy asked.
"No, I think I'll be able to handle this for now," John replied. Parrish nodded and headed out. He couldn't even think of what that family was going through.
As the deputy left, the Sheriff trudged up the stairs to check on his son. The closer he got the louder he could hear his sons sobs. He didn't know if he could do this. He already had to do this with his beloved wife, but now his son too? This wasn't fair. Not to him and not to his son. He opened the door and saw his son sitting against his bed trying with his head pressed to his knees, trying to muffle his cries. John quietly walked in and sat next to his son. He took him in his arms and rocked him back and forth, not knowing what to say. What could you say during a time like this? You couldn't say 'it will be okay', because it won't. So John did the only thing he could and just held his son tightly.
Scott, Isaac, and Melissa were doing there now normal dinner routine. She tried to cook a couple times a week, depending on the supernatural occurrence of the month, and they would sit at the table and eat like any other normal family. The boys would help clean the kitchen and they would go back to whatever they were doing. Melissa liked it. It felt normal.
"How's Stiles doing?" Melissa asked. She asked this almost everyday. If she didn't ask Scott she would ask the Sheriff or Derek.
"He didn't come to school today. I tried calling him a couple times, but he didn't answer. I texted him too, but he didn't respond. I'm going to call him again after we're done," Scott said not even trying to hide his concern and worry. He didn't know what to do. Deaton and Derek both told him the bite probably wouldn't take because Stiles was already sick, but he still wondered if it would be worth trying. Scott could feel his mother's and Isaac's eyes on him. He was about to open his mouth to tell them he was fine when the phone rang, making them all jump.
"You boys eat your supper, I'll get it," Melissa said and left to go answer it.
"He'll be okay. Well, for right now he will be. He's Stiles," Isaac tried to comfort Scott. He wasn't very good at this comfort thing and he wasn't exactly fond of Stilinski, but this was Scott's best friend.
"I don't know about this time," Scott muttered. Isaac gave him a pitying stare and looked like he wanted to say something. He opened his mouth, but Melissa came back in with a dejected look on her face.
"Mom, what's wrong? Did something happen? Is Stiles okay?" Scott questioned.
Melissa gave him a sad look, "He's okay. He gave his keys up yesterday and is having trouble coming to terms with it. John's going to bring him over to see if you could cheer him up. Apparently Stiles won't eat or get out of bed."
"He gave up the keys to the jeep? Man, no wonder he's wrecked. He loved that car more than himself," Scott uttered. "I'll go get some movies and shit-sorry stuff. Isaac you going to stay?" Scott asked. Usually Isaac was gone as soon as he heard Stiles would be within a few miles of himself.
"Uh, um, maybe?" Isaac said, unsure. The two boys still argued and he didn't want to get in it with Stiles right now. No matter how nice he was Stiles got under his skin and made the cocky asshole come out in Isaac.
Scott rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath how those two were ridiculous. Then he went upstairs to search for the Star Wars movies he borrowed but never ended up watching.
"Okay, I have all the Star Wars movies, Mario Kart, tons of red bull, and meat-lovers pizza," Scott rambled to Stiles. Scott shot a concerned look at Stiles as they made their way to the living room. Scott could smell the sorrow and sadness on him and it unnerved him. Even Isaac could smell it as he walked through the house, clapped Stiles on the shoulder, and left to go to Allison's. Stiles looked awful. There was no other way to put it, no sugar-coating it. He had deep circles under his eyes, they were now almost permanent with the nightmares, and his hair stuck up all over the place. His weight had dropped and he lost the amount of muscle he had gained from chasing supernatural creatures. The most disturbing part was the empty look in his eyes that was there more and more often.
"Cool, that's...cool," Stiles muttered. Stiles didn't really want to be here but he didn't want to lay and mope in bed, either. Scott was giving him those puppy dog eyes and he could never refuse those. So he was going to watch some movies, play some video games, and eat junk food just like every other normal teenager.
Scott went to put in the movie while Stiles started picking apart the pizza. Scott was glad to see him eating. The two watched the movie, but Scott wasn't paying attention. He was paying attention to how Stiles had barely said anything since he got there, and how he was staring off into space instead of watching the 'greatest movie known to man'.
"How are you really holding up?" Scott asked. Stiles jerked up right and looked at Scott with a desperate look that told Scott everything his brother was feeling. Scott paused the movie and pulled Stiles in to a hug. He could feel Stiles start to shake, so he just held tighter.
"Are you sure your okay to go to school?" John asked Stiles for the millionth time. Stiles had missed three days of school last week and he didn't want to miss anymore.
"Dad, I'm fine. I can't just hide in my room forever," Stiles replied. He was going to be fine. Besides his very minor freak-out when he remembered he couldn't even drive himself to school, Stiles was doing fine.
"I know, I know. I want you to call me if anything goes wrong or you want to go home," John sternly told his son. He got a nice eye roll in return and his son was out of the car like a bat out of hell. He was worried. Worried was an understatement. Going over Scott's did nothing to lift Scott's spirit and he didn't know what would.
Stiles headed towards the school filled with dread. He didn't want to be here, with the looks of pity and gossip filled students. Making his way to his locker, thank god he remembered where it was, Stiles tried blocking everyone out. He had made it to his locker with not problems and was working on unlocking it when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Holy shit!" he shouted as he jerked around to see who it was. He saw Scott and Kira looking at him with expressions of amusement mixed with concern. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Sorry, man I thought you heard us," Scott said with a sheepish look on his face that cause Stiles to sigh. They were checking up on him like he was a child who needed to be babysat. He knew they were all worried, but he just needed ten minutes to himself without anyone checking up on him to make sure he hadn't lost his mind yet. About to start ranting, Stiles stopped himself when he saw Kira holding a Tupperware bowl.
"What's that?" he asked.
Kira shoved the bowl into his hands, "They're brownies. I thought you might like some brownies today. Not because I figured you were upset over your jeep or anything. Just thought you were a brownie guy."
Stiles took a deep breath and tried to smile at her. He took the brownie and forced out, "Thanks. They look great." Scott could hear the stutter in his heart beat and shot him a look, but Kira didn't notice anything. "Well, I should probably get to FInstock's early, just in case I missed anything important," Stiles said and practically ran away from them, brownies still in hand.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kira asked sounding upset.
"What? No, you're fine. He's probably just overwhelmed so don't take it personally," Scott answered her with a small smile and grabbed her hand.
Stiles walked into Finstock's hoping nobody was in there. Unfortunately, he didn't get what he wanted. Right by his usual seat sat Lydia and alpha douche number one. Great, he really didn't want to deal with them right now. It wasn't that he didn't love Lydia, maybe not in the same way he used to, but he just didn't want their questions or stares. He couldn't just leave because they were now looking at him. So he let out a small sigh and trudged towards them.
"Hey guys," he muttered.
"Stilinski," Aiden greeted. Lydia didn't say anything at first. She just looked at him with that stupid concerned look that he was damn tired of getting. Then she reached over and grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He almost recoiled in surprise.
"It's good to have you back, Stiles," she said quietly.
"I wish I could say the same to you, but I don't actually want to be in this prison called school. Though, it is great to see the fabulous Lydia Martin again," Stiles replied. He hoped this was an acceptable answer for her and that she would leave him alone. Lydia, being the genius she is, seemed to understand he wanted to be by himself and flashed him a sad smile before turning back to Aiden.
Later during that class, Lydia dropped a note on Stiles' desk as she went to turn in her Economics essay. It read: We're going to help you through this.
A lump formed in Stiles' throat as he tucked the note away. He then came to the realization that he had incredible friends.