Chapter 07: Just Keep Breathing

Grace motioned for Noah to follow her out the door to leave Corey with Melissa, she wasn't about to break his confidentiality but she could also see that his presence was slightly off-putting for the teenager. Noah followed Grace out of the room, where they were almost instantly met with Scott, Stiles, Mason and Liam staring at them. Derek and Theo stayed sitting where they were after leaving Doctor Geyer and Grace's office. Grace shot the teenagers a look, Liam smiled innocently at her before grabbing Mason and making him help him back to the seats. Scott and Stiles stared at Grace and at Noah before reluctantly moving to the seats.

"Look, leave him today. When they're scared they won't talk," Grace said before she motioned for Derek to join her for a second. Derek nodded standing up and heading towards them while Theo stayed where he was sitting.

"Are you always this stubborn?" Noah questioned, Derek heard the end of the question as he arrived and nodded.

"She is, and if she's told you something then I'd suggest you wait," Derek told him, Noah let out a disappointed sigh and agreed to leave it another day before walking off and telling Stiles that he would see him at home.

"Thank you," Grace smiled at him before having him follow her into the room with Corey and Melissa. "Mel, can you get Scott and Stiles to take Mason home?"

"I can try but they'll put up a fight," Melissa told her sighing, both women knew what the teenagers were like.

"I know, and they have to honestly get over it," Elizabeth said watching as Derek went over and talked quietly to Corey. "We're going to have to work out the discharge papers,"

"I can sign them," Corey mumbled, he'd signed his fathers signature enough times.

"It's okay, Sheriff Stilinski's still outside. We can have him sign them," Melissa said as she quickly walked out of the room and grabbed Noah dragging him to the nurses station while shooting glares at the teenagers.

Derek and Grace stood talking quietly to Corey while Melissa talked with Noah before telling the boys that they had to go home. Grace asked Derek to take Liam to her parents, and that she'd drop Theo off at the loft after her shift was over that was until the five teenagers barged into the room. They'd heard Melissa tell Stiles and Scott to take Mason home, but nothing was said about Corey so they wanted to know what was going on.

"Okay, one at a time. No Corey's not going home, nor is he going to Mason's," Grace said, Mason shot her a why not look as did Liam and Stiles. Theo and Scott shared a look that said they semi-understood why.

"Fine, if you must have a sleep over," Derek sighed, sending Grace an apologetic look. "What?"

"No, no sleep overs tonight. Mase go home – Li go with him," Grace smiled at him, glancing at Corey as she spoke before her eyes settled on her little brother. "Look, everything will be explained in time,"

"Mase," Corey's voice was almost inaudible as he looked at Mason and only Mason. Mason moved to hug him but Corey shook his head, not quite ready to be hugged. "It's okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he smiled slightly at him, Mason nodded deciding on a kiss instead.

"If he's not going home where's he going to stay tonight?" Mason questioned looking between Derek and Grace – concern written all over his face. "You said he wasn't going home,"

"He's not, he's going to stay with me tonight and then tomorrow with Melissa and Scott," Grace answered, which explained why she was sending Liam to Mason's instead of her original plan of sending him home.

"Theo and I are going to head back to the Loft," Derek said, before quietly telling Theo that Grace was planning on dropping him off after her shift was over.

Scott and Stiles reluctantly walked from the room dragging Mason and Liam with them. Liam threatening to kick up a stink, Grace watched as he started balling up his fists – a sign that he was about to hit something. Derek glanced at Grace and then at Liam, moving quickly and grabbing hold of the teenager in both of his arms. Grace nodded at him before she moved from talking with Corey to standing in front of Liam and taking his hands in hers.

"Li, kiddo take a deep breath," Grace looked at him, her voice as calm as she could it had been a while since he'd been completely angry. "Look at me," Liam tried pulling his hands back but struggled as both Derek and Grace had a good grip on him. "Come on,"

"Liam...you're scaring Theo," Derek whispered in his ears not loosening his grip on the teenager.

"Li, breathe with me," Grace said calmly as she continued to hold his hands while Derek let go of him.

"Gracie..." Liam mumbled starting to take deep breaths as he looked at Grace and then at Derek.

"Don't Gracie me, now go home with Mason," Grace sighed before she let go of Liam completely and hugged him tightly.

"Sorry,"

Theo went towards Corey and stood beside him, taking the younger boys hand in his to calm him down slightly. He could see himself in him to an extent and he didn't like it. Mason, Scott, Stiles and Derek situated themselves between Grace and Liam, and Corey and Theo though the three teens were a little unsure of why they had done it. Though things were starting to click in Scott's head, while Mason was just concerned about both his boyfriend and his best-friend.

"You four go home," Grace re-iterated hugging Liam again before she stepped away. "I want Corey to stay here while I do my shift,"

"Fine," Liam huffed as Mason cautiously grabbed hold of his hand and started to drag him out.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Mason nodded, as Liam hobbled after him trying to regain his balance.

"Mase! Cripple here!" Liam exclaimed as his best-friend slowed down outside the room so they could wait for Scott and Stiles.

"Why do we have to take them home?" Stiles whined, it was his car and he wanted to go do something fun.

"Because Derek and I have work to do," Grace said, this caused Scott and Stiles to raise their eyebrows at Derek they didn't exactly know what the older man did.

"He has a job?" Stiles questioned incredulously, pointing at Derek. "Him? Mr Sourpants?"

"Yes, I have a job," Derek stated not saying any more before he grabbed Stiles hand to stop him from poking him. "Stop. Now go!"

Derek pushed Stiles out of the room sending Scott and apologetic look as he shut the door behind them. Scott looked at Grace and then at Theo and Corey noticing that both of his friends were slightly shaken by what had happened with Liam even though they knew he'd never hurt them. Scott gave them what he had hoped was a reassuring smile before he left the room leaving Theo, Grace and Corey.

"I'll take you both into my dad's office and you can chill there until I'm done with my shift okay?" Grace questioned, looking at both boys as she ran a hand over her face. "I'll be done in around three hours,"

"Can we have a minute?" Theo questioned, looking at Corey who nodded they both needed a minute. "I know Liam'll never hurt us but..."

"We've never seen him that bad," Corey finished, sure they had seen him seething before but not in front of Grace and not after being told no.

"I know, look Liam keeps things bottled up inside until he reaches boiling point," Grace explained, she wasn't sure how else to explain it. "And it can be the littlest thing that sets him off. It's part of his IED, that's why Scott stepped between you,"

"Scott knew?" Corey questioned, wondering how the older teen had known about Liam having IED.

"Yeah, Liam told me his first week at the High School that Scott and Stiles found out, made fun of him and then had to take him under their wing," Grace answered as she leant against the counter before helping Corey off the bed so that she could get the two teenagers into her fathers office. "Li knows that he scared you both,"

Grace guided both teenagers to fathers office switching the TV on and letting some home makers show play before she headed off to finish doing her rounds. As she did her rounds nothing out of the ordinary happened, a few broken bones and a couple of people needing stitches. By the time she'd made it back into her fathers office, both Theo and Corey were sleeping lightly while her father filled out some paper work.

"Grace, how long have the boys been in here?" David questioned, he'd entered the office an hour earlier and they had been sleeping then.

"Around three hours, I sent Liam to Mason's for the night," Grace replied taking a deep breath before she continued. "We nearly had a situation,"

"What kind of situation?" David raised an eyebrow, before running his hand over his face as he yawned.

"A Liam outburst situation," David nodded in understanding, after seeing the way that Corey had reacted when he'd first entered the examination room hours earlier. "So why is Theo still here?"

"Not now, I'll fill you in later. I'm going to take this pair home," Grace said, taking off her coat and hanging it up on the coat rack before going and crouching down in front Corey and Theo on the couch. "Boys, it's time to wake up,"

"Mmhmm," Theo mumbled, slowly opening his eyes and looking at where Grace's voice was coming from until he focused on her. The same sound coming out of Corey as they both woke up.

"Come on, let you sweethearts home," Grace said she stood up and then gently pulled Theo up before pulling Corey and ushering the two out the door.

Theo and Corey followed Grace out to where her car was both boys looking every which way out of nervousness. Grace let out a little sigh she knew that they were on edge but they didn't have any need to be while they were in a public place. Corey climbed in the front seat while Grace grabbed a blanket from the back to cushion this chest/ribs against the seatbelt while Theo sorted himself out.

Two days later and Theo was going back into surgery to have the pins and plate removed from his elbow while Corey and his younger siblings had been taken from his parents – his younger siblings being put under the care of his grandparents while he temporarily moved in with the Hewitt's. Derek and Parrish had gone with Corey when he'd gotten his belongings as he'd told them about his father after Theo had talked with him. As much as he loved Mason he hadn't been able to talk with him about it. Theo hadn't told Liam everything that had happened as they were still in the not sure what was they were stage.

"Gracie, are you sure he's going to be okay?" Liam questioned as they sat in the waiting room of the hospital, Grace wasn't working so one of the other doctors was doing the surgery.

"Liam, yes I'm sure he'll be fine," Grace wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "He'll be unable to use his arm for a couple more weeks,"

"Is that all?" Liam asked again, resting his head on her shoulder briefly before he realised that Derek had finally gotten to the hospital. "Where have you been?"

"There's this thing called work," Derek answered sitting on the opposite side of Grace as he quickly pulled off his name tag and shoved it in his pocket.

"And you couldn't get out of it because?" Liam questioned, shooting a glare towards him not understanding how he couldn't be there twice now.

"Because Mrs Abernathy is visiting her sister," Derek said, this just left Liam with even more questions than answers.

"Abernathy...Abernathy..." Liam repeated the name and continued to think abut it causing Grace to laugh when realisation hit. "She's the daycare lady!"

"Pipe down," both Derek and Grace hissed at the same time glaring at Liam who clamped his hand over his mouth.

"You work at the daycare...since when?" Liam questioned raising his eyebrow at the older man.

"A few years, does it matter? And if you say anything..." Derek trailed off as Grace punched his shoulder and then looked at Liam. Derek had worked two days a week at the daycare for two years and the rest of the time at the mechanic's that he owned.

"Liam, what he's trying to say is keep it to yourself," Grace said pointedly before putting her head on Derek's shoulder and continuing to talk. "He should be done in around an hour, and he'll have a splint again,"