Author's Notes: Stiles scans were faked by the nogitsune, but it was just building on what was already there, what he had pulled from Stiles' mind. It made Stiles appear sick because he was. It just wasn't as bad as his mother's yet.
Summary: "Love is watching someone die". The Sheriff is going to watch Stiles die.
Who's Going to Watch You Die?
The Sheriff shakes his head before the doctor is finished speaking, heart in his throat.
"No. No no no, that scan was-" The game of a demon fighting for his son's mind. A trick. Stiles isn't sick. "A fluke. It was a mistake when the power fluctuated."
The doctor's eyes are sympathetic, but set. He holds up the scans, both of them, again. Stiles' first one matching identically, impossibly with Claudia's.
His second one doesn't match.
There's not as much color yet.
"It was a horrible mistake that the power surge created on that image, but this one...we've tested him three times in two different machines." John can't look at the man, just stares at the print out. "I'm sorry."
He said that before. And he'd been wrong. He was wrong.
He wasn't.
"The effected areas are much smaller, less severe." The doctor tries to sound upbeat, like this was good news. "We should have known something was wrong with the initial scan. It was too pronounced for his age. This is more what we'd expect to see-"
When your son is sick. When your son is dying slow and painful like his mother. The Sheriff can't hear the other man's words anymore. He's picturing Stiles in Claudia's place. Increasingly confused and less and less lucid. Her pale skin and dark-ringed eyes, lips dry and cracked from screaming, from the fear that unnerved her so badly it had become a fight to get her to keep anything down.
She forgot him sometimes, looked at him like he was a stranger she didn't know she could trust.
She forgot Stiles. But she never let that show.
John could remember opening the door to her room and Stiles flying past his legs before he could catch him. He'd fling himself up onto Claudia's bed, always avoiding the leads attached to her with dexterity he'd never possessed in any other aspect of life.
"Mommy, mommy!" He'd squeal as he launched into her arms. Arms she always had open for him, like a reflex. Something the disease couldn't take away. Even when she'd forgotten his name, when she looked shocked at the strange child barreling into her, it had only taken her seconds to wrap her arms around him, let him burrow his little face into her neck.
"Hi, baby." Never his name on these days because she didn't know it, but she played the part she knew was hers. None of the love in her eyes was fake.
These times, Claudia would look up and catch her husband's eye, smile tentatively. She didn't ask any questions around Stiles. She didn't rage or scream in frustration. These were the times the Sheriff would allow himself to forget for a little while too. He'd sit next to his wife and son, clutch her hand and she'd hold his back with unsure fingers as Stiles told her about school and friends and life. Stiles was her grounding point when she was sure of nothing else.
The Sheriff hadn't been able to make it better. He wasn't able to save Claudia or prevent any of their heartbreak.
And now it was happening to Stiles.
The doctor was still droning on. John felt Melissa move beside him in silent support and shared grief.
It wouldn't matter in the end.
'Stiles has it. Stiles has it'. His son is going to slip through his useless fingers just like his wife.
John hadn't been there when she died. Out at a car accident he could have passed off to someone else but hadn't because he'd needed to get away. Couldn't face his wife's deterioration day in day out anymore.
The Sheriff let out a choked sob that caught him by surprise. He couldn't control it then. Melissa did her best to hold him and commanded the doctor out of the room with fierce warning in her eyes.
'Love is watching someone die.'
John loved Claudia with all he had and her death had broken him. He loved Stiles with all he had left. He sobbed into Melissa's shoulder and clutched at her back. He had to get it all out now because Stiles would not see him cry. He had to be stronger than he was last time. He hadn't been for Claudia and he had to be now.
Even when Stiles started to forget his name.
John took deep breaths and started building up his composure.
He was going to watch Stiles die.