Lydia jogged up the walk to the Stilinski household. She had gotten a text from Scott 20 minutes before saying "It's over, you should go see him."

She wiped the tears that were beginning to fall from her eyes and knocked on the door frantically. The Sheriff answered the door with weary look on his face.

"Lyd-" he started arm resting against the doorjamb

"I need to see him." she was quick to interrupt desperate to see her friend.

"Lydia it's been a long night and he's in the shower and then he's headed right to sleep." he said as he rubbed his hand along his forehead into his hair.

"I need to see him." At this point she was becoming anxious. The tears from before had started to creep back in her eyes as she nervously rocked back and forth on her heels twisting her hands together.

With a sigh the sheriff stepped aside, "He's upstairs, guest bedroom tho, second door on the right."

"Thank you," Lydia uttered relieved looking at him gratefully and scurried into the house and up the stairs.

Before making it to the top, she turned to look at the Sheriff. "He's not going to be able to sleep for a long time." She turned back continuing her ascent.

She thought about all of the other times she had been here… When Jackson had "died", doing research about Barrow. This time she was just here for Stiles.

She approached the second door on the right. It was open a jar, a sliver of moonlight shone through the door. She knocked lightly on the door.

There was no response. She pushed the door open slowly peeking her head in.

She found Stiles sat at the end of the bed with his head in his hands hair still wet from his shower.

"Dad I said I'm not hungry." he said as he rubbed his eyes

"Stiles.."

His head perked up at her voice leaving his hands to rest on his knees as one bounced up and down. He went to speak but no words came out. He stood slowly taking in a shakey breath and furrowing his eye brows.

Lydia could tell there was a lot of emotion in that one breath; Sadness, relief, anger, grief and anxiety. She kicked off her shoes and slowly crossed the carpeted floor.

"Stiles you're okay it's over. He's gone," she said sympathetically, even though she knew no words could really help right now.

When she finally reached him, she took his hand into hers. He was starting to shake a bit.

She squeezed his hand tightly and looked into his eyes.

"You're you." she said as she raised her free hand to wipe a tear that had escaped from his eye. She left her hand there slowly stroking his face with her thumb trying to calm the boy.

"You've been so strong trying to keep him out and keep everyone safe. But he's gone now. It's just me and you. You can let go."

There was no stopping his tears at this point. He let out a strangled sob. Lydia hugged him fiercely trying to keep the poor boy from falling apart. She tried to transfer all the love she had for him in one hug.

"Shhh Stiles. C'mere let's sit," she said as she slowly moved their embrace to the ground. Lydia rested her back against the end of the bed. She maneuvered the tall boy to sit sideways encouraging him to put his legs over her lap. She still hugged him with his head on her shoulder. Even thought he was so tall, he managed to curl himself into her. He was broken she could feel it in the way his body wracked with every sad sound he let out.

He let out another sob on to her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he hiccuped "I'm so sorry for everything. I should've kept him at bay. I shouldn't have let him out."

She let him get on for a few minutes. She stroked his head and waited till his breathing steadied.

"Stiles look at me," she slowly lifted his head from her shoulder. She wiped some more salty tears from his face with her sleeve. She kept her hands there.

"Listen to me. I was in your head I saw what he was doing to you, how far he pushed you back and beat you down. You fought for so long Stiles, you were so brave, you were a hero."

"Lydia," he took her hands in his. His breathing was slowing but tears still fell from his eyes. "I saw what he did. I saw everything. To Kira and Scott. To all those people at the hospital. And even though I'd been separated from him we were still connected somehow, I saw what he did to you. It was disgusting. I'm just…"

He sighed heavily. He unlatched their hands and ran them over his face, rubbing away the remaining teras. He re-situated himself so he also resting his back against the bed with his legs in front of him. He looked toward her.

"I'm just worried about the repercussions. Of course everyone's saying now that it wasn't me that did those things and I know that. You and I both know that I could never do anything like that".

He gestured between them.

"But even though it wasn't me it was still my face, my body, voice. Hell, I already have a feeling that I'm going to have a hard time looking in the mirror." He said as he let his head fall back on to the top of the bed.

"I was thinking that maybe I should go away for a while you know not—."

"Stiles, have you ever seen Spongebob?" Lydia interrupted.

"What?!" He gave her a dumfounded look "Lydia I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you right now what the fu—"

"Yes or no Stiles?"

"I mean yeah of course. I'm surprised you have tho."

"I only watched it in passing when I would babysit. But there was this one episode. Spongebob drew another SpongeBob, Drawbob or something."

"Doodlebob, that was one of my favorite episodes." Stiles was quick to correct.

"Well you know how he looked similar to SpongeBob; same build same general features. But like there were some obvious differences. Like his eyes and the way he walked and talked and the way he carried himself over all."

"And his laugh that was creepy as all hell," added Stiles

"That too," she said. "But everyone knew the difference. They could separate the two. That thing was not you. It was…" she swallowed hard looking down at her hands " stone-cold, always had this evil glint in it's eye, with this devilish smile. It was void of any real human emotion. The way it talked was so manic, slow and calculated. The way it carried itself was so stoic, unflinching like a cold steel robot. It had a darkness about it. It was evil inside and out. It was a sociopath."

She looked at the family photo that hung on the wall. The Sheriff, Stiles and his mom. Stiles was beaming in the photo. He held tight to his mom's hands that were wrapped around his waist as he sat in her lap. She must've said something to get Stiles attention because he looks like he had just heard the funniest thing in the world. She continued to study the picture as she went on.

"But you Stiles are light. Oh man, you are exuberant and filled with a range of emotion; happiness, laughter and love amongst other things. You have these eyes that light up when you tell a joke or fill with sarcasm when you're giving Scott shit, or apology when your dad's caught you up to no good. You're so kind to everyone, even when they don't always deserve it. And when you speak you talk a mile a minute. It's like your mind is processing faster than you can speak. God you get so animated, and sometimes flail a little bit, but its loveable. You're loveable." She nudged his shoulder with hers while delivering the last line.

"Yeah?" he asked with a little laugh nudging her back.

"Yes" she said softly, looking him in the eyes.

"Stiles, we all have so many memories with you. So many memories. So that's what we'll think of when we think about you. And we want to make many more memories. So no you are not allowed to go away, not even for a little bit." She said with conviction.

"I won't be going anywhere. Don't worry." He said "And thank you for coming here and being with me while I process this. This, our friendship, is what's going to get me through. As long as I have you I can get through." he said gratefully.

She gave him her signature close lipped smile.

"But now that you reassured me that I'm not DoodleBob why don't you tell me some of these memories," he smirked.

"Sure. But first lay down," she says as she patted her lap. "You could use some rest."

Stiles laid down and put his head in her lap. He looked up at her as he waited for her to begin.

"Okay so one of my favorite memories of you," as she started to tell the story she unconsciously began to run her hands through Stiles' hair, "was when Allison and Scott had first started dating. You had planned this whole evening for us. You snuck us into the ice-skating rink. Do you remember this?" She paused to look down at Stiles. He was half asleep.

"Keep going I'm listening," he yawned groggily.

Lydia went on until Stiles was asleep. He looked so peaceful as he snored quietly with a goofy grin on his face. She wondered what he was dreaming about. She secretly hoped it was about her. She brushed her hand through the un-gelled hair that laid flat on his forehead.

"God, I'm so in love with you." she muttered

"Lydia, you got him to sleep."

Her head shot up eyes wide. She found the Sheriff stood at the door looking upon them.

"Uhh yeah I did. Umm I think he probably just needed someone to sit with him for a bit," she said quickly.

"I'm sure that's what it was," he said unconvinced. "Feel free to stay. Sleep on the bed if you want, or you can take the blankets and pillows on the floor. That kid is gunna have such a neck ache tomorrow form sleeping on the floor, try and put a pillow underneath him if you can. Sleep tight Lydia."

"Thanks Sheriff," she said wondering how long he had been there.

"Oh and Lydia.."

"Hmm," she responded

"Don't make him wait too long. He loves you too," the Sheriff said with a grin.