Chapter 4: He Begins to Speak

The edges of Stiles' vision still remained a little blurry form the pain medication but he was lucid. His heart sank a little when he saw a uniform walk into the room. He knew it was coming but he'd hoped he could have had a little more time. He didn't want to think about what had happened, he didn't want to relive it just yet. "Stiles, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to take your statement. I thought it would be best if it was me, just in case there was anything…supernatural involved." Deputy Parrish stood at the end of the bed nervously. He hadn't seen the kid since they found him. "I'm sorry. I've held them off as long as I could but everyone wants answers."

Scott and Derek moved defensively to the sides of the bed not wanting Stiles to feel alone or pushed but neither spoke, wanting desperately to know what had happened. Stiles had remained evasive about his disappearance, injuries, nightmares, and scars. Not that he had been silent. No, true to his Stiles nature, the boy had been non-stop talking during his lucid moments since realizing this was in fact real. He gave one nurse the full history of morphine while she was injecting his hourly dose. He'd talk about anything except what he'd been through but no one wanted to push him.

Stiles tried to shift into a sitting position, only to feel pain slip past the strong medication. "You're not wearing a badge." Stiles eyes could only focus on Parrish's missing badge, allowing his mind to delay the panic from the truth. He knew the missing badge would lead to a conversation he didn't want to have either, but today was going to hurt anyways. "You're sheriff now, aren't you?" The boy was smart, no one could deny that. The deputy, uh sheriff, was foolish to think he could dupe the boy. But Stiles understood Parrish was only hoping to save the boy a little bit of pain.

Parrish looked at Stiles with guilt-filled eyes. Wearing that badge had been a constant struggle for him. He might have known the sheriff the shortest out of most of the people working at the station but the loss seemed to affect him the most. The sheriff had instantly taken the young law enforcement officer under his wing but after learning of his own supernatural abilities and the confusion that came with it, the sheriff took even more of a fatherly role. "Stiles, I'm sorry, I didn't want to upset you…"

"No, dad liked you; he wouldn't want it any other way." Stiles laughed a little. "I said I was going to keep you around, didn't I?" Stiles tried to smile but the image of his dad lying in blood came to mind. He shifted again uncomfortably, wincing at the pain he caused himself. "He wanted a normal morning, you know. We were eating breakfast together. We hadn't done that in forever. He just wanted a normal morning and I couldn't even give him that." Guilt panged his heart. Finally, after all this time, he began to speak about what happened. "I was calling him delusional when a group of people with guns came in. They shot him in the shoulder to disarm him and grabbed me." Tears started streaming down his face but he made no move to stop them or wipe them away. His eyes glazed over, lost in the memory. "They didn't want him, just me. If he had just let them take me he'd be alive. But he put up a fight when they took me and they…" His voice broke. "He just dropped."

A warm hand wrapped around Stiles', he looked up half expecting to see the men who had grabbed him but it was Scott, tears streaming down his face too. "It's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done. He just wanted to protect you."

Stiles shook his head. There was nothing, not a single word or string of words that could take his guilt or pain away. "We're supposed to protect each other." And just like that something clicked in Stiles' head. How could he be so stupid? "We have to protect each other! Shit! Why didn't I see this? He's not done with me. His lessons aren't over. Scott, where is everybody?" He turned to Scott and gripped his arm, ignoring the pain in his body protesting the movement. "Liam, where's Liam?"

"Everyone is fine Stiles, it is okay. Calm down." Scott went to run a smoothing hand over Stiles' back to calm him but stopped when Stiles flinched, remembering the terrible slashes. "Sorry, Stiles, just…" He didn't know what else to say.

"Just calm down?" Stiles began to shake. "I can't! He tortured me with a purpose Scott! He wanted me to hate you! To hate werewolves, were-coyotes, foxes, and whatever else! He wanted me to hate all of you, kill all of you!" His breathing and heartrate were quickening to an almost alarming rate. Flashes of his torment, what was called his "therapy", took over his mind. "The last session, the last thing I remember, was him telling me that you would choose them over me if it ever came down to it. He said Liam was your pup, your pack and I was just a human. I told him he was wrong and instead of lecturing me he got all weird and injected me with something. Next thing I know I'm rescued. He's setting up another test. I know it. I know this guy." How had he not thought of this? He couldn't just be let go. It's never that easy.

Scott tried to gently push Stiles back into the bed. "Or maybe he realized how stubborn you are and that he'd never change your mind so he gave up." He tried to give a reassuring smile.

"No. Come on Scott, there's a difference between optimistic and stupid." Stiles pushed further. "He would kill me if he gave up and he'd use me to take you guys out along the way. He's not the type to just give up or to not have a Plan B or Plan C. I know what I'm talking about here Scott, trust me. I've spent every day with his man for what felt like forever. All he ever did was talk, more than me even. The best way to get into someone's head is to let them into yours. I got into his head as much as he got into mine. You have to find everyone. You need to protect them, please." He pleaded.

"Stiles, what did he do to you?" Scott couldn't hold back the question any longer. He wanted to know even though he didn't. The idea of someone hurting his best friend like this and he did nothing to stop it made his stomach turn. He'd never felt so much guilt before.

Stiles looked down at his hands gripping his best friend's forearm desperately. "Nothing I couldn't handle. Just…just go help Liam before it's too late. Please, I can't let someone else die because of me. I've had enough of that for one lifetime." He tried to stop the tears.

Scott looked at his friend then at the others in the room who both nodded, letting him know his friend would be protected. "Okay, I'll make sure they're all safe, but I'll be back. Because he was wrong, you know. You're not just some human; you're my best friend, my brother. You are pack." Scott squeezed his best friend's hand one more time before taking off at werewolf speed already pulling out his phone to call his pack. No one would be hurt on his watch again.

Parrish cleared his throat awkwardly after a few minutes. "Stiles, I know this is hard but what happened after they took you? We caught the men who took you and shot your father but they knew nothing and the trail ran cold. We tried so hard but…" He was at a loss for words.

Stiles shifted uncomfortably already feeling exhausted. "I woke up in a dark basement. A twisted hunter psychologist paid those guys to grab me. He knew whoever took me would be tracked. Between the police and the werewolves there was no way they could get away with it. So he hired some idiots with a few skills. He kept me locked up in complete darkness for what felt like forever. He'd ask me about the pack and punish me when I said nothing or when I lied. I wasn't going to give up anything so for every question he'd…" Stiles flinched at the memory, unable to say it out loud. "I don't know how he knew what he knows about Beacon Hills but he knew everything. He wanted me to join him. So then he tried to convince me that the pack wouldn't do the same for me. He did everything, anything to make me hate the supernatural. On the days he let me relax, when there was no pain, he would play videos of killing werewolves and other supernatural creatures. Or he'd inject me with stuff. He tried to get in my head." Stiles shook his head trying not to remember everything. Those details wouldn't help them anyways. "He didn't hide much. He was so confident I would become his apprentice that he just said everything. His name was Dr. James Carter. His had short blonde hair and blue eyes. He's about 6'2", I think, normal build. He's so normal looking before he picks up his tools and starts in with the lessons…"

Derek put his hand on Stile's shoulder, hoping to remind the boy he was safe, seeing a far away, vacant look in those haunted whiskey eyes. "Stiles, it's okay, you're safe now. He didn't break you." After all these years the boy's strength continued to amaze and surprise Derek.

"Yeah and my stubbornness has all of you in danger. I should have played along. Maybe he would have let me free long enough to do something useful, like kill the bastard." Stiles suddenly felt his muscles relax, tiredness taking over him. "I was stupid though, I thought I could prove him wrong." Blinking became harder, his eyes not wanting to open back up. "Not all monsters do monstrous things…" No longer able to hold it off, Stiles slipped into sleep.

Parrish raised an eyebrow noticing the black veins traveling up Derek's forearm as the teenager slowly fell back into the bed and drifted into a deep slumber. "What are you doing?"

With a final deep breath Derek took the last ounce of pain he could handle. "He's been having pain even with the medication. He hasn't been sleeping because of it. But his stubborn stupidity won't let Scott take the pain. So I took my chance while his guard was down, paying attention to something else. You got your information, enough of it anyways. He doesn't need to relive it." He could remember everyone trying to make him relive his past tragedies when he just wanted silence, painless sleep.

Somehow Parrish seemed to understand, nodding knowingly looking at the boy with something other than pity. "It would have killed Stilinski to see his son like this." He didn't know why he said it, it just slipped out. "Who does something like this to a kid?"

Derek sat down in a chair by the bed. "Stiles doesn't get to be a kid. In a world like ours you grow up or you die. It's not fair but that's just how it is. He's brave, strong, and smart. He's going to be okay. It's going to take time and a lot of help but he has a good pack, a good family even if he doesn't see them as a family right now. He's going to be okay."

Parrish pulled the other chair up to the side of the bed. "I'm sure you're right but I think the sheriff would want me looking out for the kid. And yes, I still said kid." They exchanged a stare and then turned back to Stiles sleeping restlessly in the hospital bed. And they sat in silence until Stiles woke up screaming an hour later…

/I'm sorry for the long wait for this update! I didn't have internet but I promise to update again really soon to make up for it! I hope you enjoy the update still. Thank you for reading, please review to let me know what you think, and have a great day! :)