Chapter 1

The inside of the hospital is warm and bright, full of the buzz of a busy evening shift. Stiles sits hunched over in the emergency waiting room staring through his blood covered hands, a lonely island in a constantly moving sea of people. Anyone who knew him would walk right by and not recognize this still and quiet boy as their energetic, sarcastic, and fun loving friend.

"Stilinski."

Stiles looks up to see a doctor standing in the entrance of the waiting area scanning around the many faces in the room. He leaps up and goes straight over to the doctor charged with nervous energy as the doctor repeats herself. "Stilinksi?"

"That's me, my Dad, Stilinski, Sherriff Stilinski. How is he?" His words trip over themselves in his nervous excitement to find out something, anything about his father.

The doctor guides Stiles over to a couple of chairs and sits motioning for him to take a seat next to her. "Due to your fathers injuries the doctors have decided that they need to operate so he has been taken up to theatre."

"Operate? Is he gonna be okay?" Stiles can feel his chest tighten as his mind starts to race and fill with worry.

The doctor looks over at the Sherriff's son and is struck by how young he looks, just a kid, still covered in his father's blood, terrified that his dad might die. Reaching out a hand she gently puts it on the boys shoulder in an attempt to provide even a small amount of comfort. "Your dad is in good hands okay, they're doing everything they can but he'll probably be in surgery for a couple of hours yet so why don't you go and get cleaned up and get some rest and we'll let you know if anything changes. Is there someone here with you that can take you home?"

Stiles shakes his head and drops his eyes down to stare at his hands, the blood already drying on them … the blood … his dad's blood "No, I'm just, it's just me and my dad, I don't, I'm here alone."

"Do you want us to call someone for you?"

"No thanks, I'm okay; I've got my phone with me."

"Okay," the doctor stands up, "Make sure you get some rest okay, you look like you're ready to drop."

Stiles looks up at the Dr, "I will, thanks" and as the doctor walks away, Stiles eyes fall back down to his hands and his fingers start trying to rub some of the blood off.

The tap sounds like a raging waterfall; the water running red with blood in the white sink as Stiles washes his hands in a hospital bathroom. Red against white, like the red lights of the ambulance that flashed a warning through the streets as they raced to the hospital, the most terrifying ride of his life. He can still remember the feeling of his father's hand grasped tightly in his own, warm and slick with blood, gripped so tightly as though he could keep his dad alive and with him by sheer force of will. Just one thought screamed through his head I time with the sirens, "Stay with me dad, I'm right here, just stay with me, stay with me, stay with me …" over and over. He remembered the howling sound of those sirens as the ambulance sped towards the hospital but it wasn't fast enough, why couldn't they go faster, how far away was the damned hospital! It had felt like forever before they finally arrived and rushed his dad into the hospital then away from him, pulling his hand from Stiles' grip, leaving Stiles alone in the waiting room with his bloody clothes and hands, surrounded by strangers all caught up in their own troubled lives.

In a daze Stiles wanders back to the waiting room to grab a snack from the vending machine; he knows he should probably listen to the Doctor and get some rest but he can't bring himself to leave his dad here all alone. He has no idea how long he has been standing in front of the machine just staring without selecting anything before the sound of his name being called snaps him back to reality.

"Stiles? Stiles! How is she? Do you know where they've taken her?"

Stiles jerks his head around to see Lydia's mother rushing towards him, "Mrs Martin, hey, what are you doing here?"

"I'm her mother of course I'd be here."

A confused Stiles realizes that Natalie must be talking about Lydia, that she has come to the hospital to find her. "Is there something wrong with Lydia? Is she okay?" Oh God, not her too, don't let Lydia be hurt too.

Mrs Martin's eyes start to glisten, "I don't know." Her voice shaking as she answers him, "They called me and said they were bringing her here.

Trying to ease her hurt in any way he can, Stiles leads her to one of the seats, "Sit here and I'll find out what's going on, I'll be right back okay."

Natalie looks up into his worried eyes with gratitude, "Thank you."

Stiles is only gone a few moments before he rejoins Mrs Martin and takes the seat next to her "Someone has gone to find out if Lydia is here yet and will come and find you a soon as they have some information." He attempts to give her a reassuring smile but he just can't bring himself to believe it right now and he sighs as he leans back into the chair.

Natalie looks over at Stiles and really sees him for the first time since she rushed into the hospital, she notices how young he looks and how sad his eyes seem, and then she notices his clothes, is that blood on his top? "Stiles, is everything okay?"

Stiles raises his head and looks over at her, "No..."

She puts her hand on his and gives it a gentle squeeze, "What's wrong? Why are you here? … Why do you have blood on your shirt?"

Stiles looks down at his shirt, at the dried blood that still covers him, and when he answers his voice is quieter, "It's my dad, he got hurt," Stiles takes a deep breath, "they needed to operate so they've taken him up to the theatre."

Natalie has raised a hand to her mouth at this upsetting news and her voice fills with genuine concern, "Oh my God, how is he?"

"I don't know." As he says the words it all hits him, his breathing starts shaking and his voice cracks as he repeats those terrible words, "I don't know." Stiles drops his head into his hands and starts to cry almost whispering once more' "I don't know."

Natalie pulls Stiles towards her and wraps her arms around him trying to comfort this scared and heartbroken kid as he waits to find out if his dad is going to live or die.