Chapter 6: Home Care

SUMMARY: Malia's not well, Scott steps up to the challenge.

Saturday rolled by quickly, not that Scott was complaining. In fact, for the most part, the year had just zoomed by. He pulled on his long sleeve shirt on, smiling almost instantly when he recalled Malia telling him to stop wearing those if he wanted the girls to start swarming around him. He figured he might have taken her advice if indeed he wanted girls to be all over him but he preferred his life just the way it is. Aside the fact that he felt overwhelmed by the little attention he even got from girls, he slow believed it would be a challenge dating normal girls.

At what point would it be alright to tell a girl you're a werewolf and what reaction would you consider to be normal or over the top? It was too much just thinking about it and maybe he was feeling a little lazy and lackadaisical towards his love life but he really wasn't in the mood to work excessively hard just to get a girl. Love was going to come or go as it pleases. No point in fighting that.

He walked down the stairs, grabbing his helmet and bike keys along the way. He took a detour to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange juice, munching hurriedly on some chips. He quickly rinsed the glass, not wanting to be late for training because that'll mean a grilling from Liam he wasn't prepared for. The boy was getting uncontrollable everyday and he wondered if perhaps he should give Derek s call and ask if extreme curiosity was a side effect to be expected in some cases. Shaking his head, he walked up to the door and pulled it open only to see Malia, well technically, whimpering from where she sat weakly against the banister. The pain was what hit him first and his brows furrowed in concern and a little bit of panic. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, stepping forward toward the were coyote and hoping she would shift back long enough to tell him what was causing her pain. Later, he would wonder about why he couldn't sense her presence until he saw her but not now.

It was a normal day. Well at least that was what Malia had hoped it would be when she went to sleep the previous night but she had been woken up at dawn by a splitting pain in her abdomen. She wasn't sure where it came from but what followed afterwards gave her a fair idea. The only problem was that she has never had to deal with cramps because of her body's ability to absorb pain and yet this time, it didn't feel like the pain had any intention of leaving her alone. She forced herself to go to sleep, hoping that might help but she woke up feeling worse so she just took her bath, shifted into her coyote form and made her way to the McCall house. Scott would know what to do, she thought. She had a moment to feel relieved when Scott opened the door but the pain was just too much to handle. Bracing herself, she shifted into her human form, groaning out her answer. "I'm in pain."

Scott squinted at her reply, then without meaning to, he heard himself giving a typical Stiles response, sarcasm and all. "I think... I think I already knew that."

"Shut up." Malia couldn't help the small smile that ghosted across her lips then she shifted on her feet. "It's never hurt this much before." She supplied.

"What?" Scott was totally lost. He moved to the porch bench and grabbed the blanket on it, finally realizing that the neighbors won't find it normal to see Malia nude even though he was used to the sight.

"My cramps." She provided definitely.

"Which part of your body do you feel it?" An oblivious Scott asked curiously, carefully walking toward the coyote only to be stopped momentarily in his tracks.

"My period, you dumbass! I'm in my period. It's my time of the month. My menses. Cups of blood are flowing out of my-" Malia had plans of making it as obvious as possible for the alpha, only for him to cut through her words.

He was scarred for life, that much was certain as he moved quickly to wrap the blanket around her. "I get it. I get it! You don't have to go any further than that. You've made your - oof!" She slumped heavily against him.

m

"I don't feel too good." Malia finally confessed, fully aware that Scott was bearing her weight now.

"I can tell." Scott replied softly then in one move, scooped her practically limp body into his arms, heading back inside. His helmet and training forgotten. "Do you think resting will solve it?"

"Hopefully I'll pass out from the pain. Would that be the same as solving it?" Malia mumbled from where she was in his arms, chuckling lightly to lighten Scott's worry. Even through her pain, she could smell that.

"Lemme just get you into bed for the meantime." Scott managed as he headed up the stairs to his room.

"Are you going to take advantage of me?" Malia managed I a voice that would have been seductive if she wasn't in agonizing pain.

"No." And apparently Scott was having none of her antics today.

"Bummer." She giggled. She actually giggled when he set her down gently onto his sheets. Carefully, he pulled another blanket over her when he saw her shivering and took hold of her hand to take some of her pain away. When he pulled his hand back, they both released shaky breaths, one from relief, albeit temporarily, and the other from pain.

Scott sighed. He was crouched on the floor beside his bed, one hand still holding hers and with the other, he pulled out his phone and hit his speed dial number. Melissa picked up on the first ring. "Hi mom."

"Is there a problem? Who's dead, or dying?" Melissa's voice responded from the other end of the line, eliciting another giggle from Malia who could hear the conversation as loud as she would have if the phone was pressed to her ear.

"No one. Don't be such a pessimist." Scott chastised fondly.

"I'm a realist. You hardly ever call me." Melissa defended.

"Right." At least he agreed with that to some extent. "Anyway, onto why I called you. What kind of things do you have to do to handle menstrual cramps? You know, the severe and painful ones."

"Did someone change you into a woman, because I swear I'm going to-"

"Mom! Will you let me finish? I'm just asking for a friend." He glared at Malia who was just having a field day at Scott's expense.

"Oh. Right. Uhmm get a heating pad and hold against your -her, hopefully- abdomen." Melissa provided calmly.

"Does it stop the pain?" Scott asked, standing up and letting go of the were coyote's hand.

"No. It only calms it down." Melissa replied

"More importantly, where do I get one?"

"You can make one yourself. It's pretty easy to make and won't take more than 5 minutes."

"Sure." Scott was already out his door and heading to the bathroom. He listened to his mother's instructions on what he will need and how he should go about it. "Thank you. I'll call if there's something else, okay?"

"You're sure you're okay?" Melissa asked again, needing to be sure.

Scott paused in his rush and smiled to himself. It was normal for Melissa to worry after all. "Yeah I am."

"Okay." She seemed to finally take his word for it.

Scott made his way quickly downstairs to the kitchen, dampening a towel and putting it in an open Ziploc bag. Just as Melissa had said, he microwaved it on high for 2 minutes and carefully pulled it out, wrapping another towel around it and making his way quickly up the stairs to Malia. "Here. I heard this helps." He mumbled an explanation before pulling the blanket down on her body and placing the heating pad in her abdomen. Malia sighed, a little relieved but grateful anyway that Scott was trying so hard to make sure she was okay. After a few minutes of silence, Scott began to lament from where he crouched by the bed. "Deaton is out of town. Mom didn't know it was you so I'm sure she gave remedy for humans and we know that hardly works. I have to make sure I learn everything I can from Deaton. He knows all the herbs."

Malia turned onto her side to smile at him then reached out to tussle his hair lightly. "Don't beat yourself up over it." And when it seemed the alpha was set on doing just the opposite of that, she added more sternly. "I mean it.

Scott nodded slowly, "Is this the first..?" He recalled Stiles telling him something about female werewolves losing control twice a month instead of once, because of this but he never really paid much attention to the menstrual cycles of his pack mates.

"Yeah. I'm usually immune to pain so I don't feel it. Aside the days when I lose control and go running through the woods, that is. But it's still never painful for me. It's my first time." Malia's voice was dropping every minute and she felt her body adjusting to the heat already which meant the pad would stop being effective in a few minutes.

"Have you been somewhere weird in the last month? Maybe you came in contact with someone weird or passed out sometime and have no memory of what happened?" Now Scott's mind was coming up with all manner of conspiracy theories. But to be fair, who wouldn't? Kira had no idea she had been operated on right in the middle of traffic until weird things started happening to her.

Malia managed to shake her head. "No. I've been with you every day for the past few weeks now."

Scott's brows furrowed as he noticed the rapid rate at which she was starting to sweat. He stood up. "Wait here." And went downstairs to get a bowl of warm water and another towel. He set the bowl down on the floor when he came back and this time, moved to sit beside her on the bed. Scott squeezed the excess water out of the towel and set out to wiping off the seat from her skin face, arms and further down her chest. "Here."

"I had a bath before coming over." Malia says with a pout.

"I'm not cleaning you because I think you're dirty. Or that you stink but because you have a fever and you're sweating." He calmly explained, moving to her back so he can clean the sweat there too.

"But I feel cold." And the chattering of her teeth sold the story more than she could have done with just her words.

That's how fever works really. You're cold but your body is sweating profusely that's why I'm using warm water. I don't want you to feel colder than you already do." Scott managed to clean her upper body, squeezed the water out of the towel again and left the damp material against her forehead. He knew she had started to feel the pain again but wasn't saying anything because he could smell it all over her. He pulled out his phone, pacing the room as he googled easy ways to deal with menstrual cramps but none of those seem to be what he was looking for. Giving up, he went back to his position on the floor by the bed. "It says fish oil and Vitamin B+ but I think all those are things you should be consuming at least some days prior. It doesn't magically stop the pain." He didn't like the feeling of helplessness that washed over him.

Malia's eyes cracked open when he smelled the anguish from Scott. She knew he was going to beat himself up for not finding solid solutions to her predicament and that was why she hadn't told him when the pain started again but she should have known he was going to find out anyway. Slowly, she lifted her hand again and this time gently run her fingers though his hair, smiling in a way she hoped was comforting. "See? I knew daddy would take care of me."

It didn't even cross his mind to correct her. He didn't want to. Smiling back at her, conscious of her fingers in his hair, he nodded in agreement. "That's right. I will." When her hand moved back onto the bed, his moved to her face, gently rubbing a thumb across her cheek. "Did you eat already?"

"I don't have much of an appetite." She replied honestly. In fact, it hadn't even crossed her mind that she hadn't had anything to eat all day and judging by the bright light seeping in through the curtains occasionally, it was either noon or almost noon.

"Still need to. I'll be back in a few, OK? I just have to heat some soup for you." Scott was up again. It has always been just him and his mom and Melissa rarely fell ill but when she did, because of her training as a nurse, she practically walked Scott through the process. 'Get me this. I need that so I'll be able to do this. This will help me do that.' That kind of care. He's never really been on his own in this way but he was glad his memory was at least serving him right.

"But..." Malia started to say, but Scott was already out of the room. He was doing all manner of things today. She lay in bed wondering, perhaps just thinking... what or who really was Scott McCall. She considered the possibility that she may not have known him at all in the past year and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. She wondered how it was that she was finding new and more things about him in the last few weeks than she had known all year and wondered it perhaps it was because now she saw Scott McCall as *her* friend and not Stiles' friend or her alpha.

Scott made his way down the stairs and to the kitchen. Melissa always had soup ready and frozen for just times like these. He couldn't wait for it to thaw naturally so he microwaved the whole thing and dished only a little into a bowl and headed back upstairs. He placed the bowl on his bedside table and moved her into a sitting position. "Just a few spoonfuls okay?" He lifted the bowl into his lap and fetched a spoonful but seeing the frown on her face, smiled sweetly. "For me."

Malia wanted to grumble to the very end but she succumbed, not because of something as dramatic as her finding Scott's smile to be irresistible but because she appreciated the effort he was putting into taking care of her and didn't want him to feel bad. "Anything for you."

Scott fed her spoonful after another till finally the bowl was empty then made her sit in bed for a while before lying back down. He went downstairs to wash the bowl and came back up to sit beside her, taking hold of her pale hands. Gently, he siphoned some of the pain from her before finally seeming to not want to remain idle, said; "I'll go to the hospital and get you some painkillers OK? I think that'll maybe work better in bringing down the pain."

"Stay." She didn't know what came over her. She just knew she didn't like the idea of being alone at the moment.

"I won't be long but I'll leave only after you sleep and make sure I return before you wake up so you won't even notice I'm gone, ok?"

She didn't like the idea but she was too tired, and drowsy to complain.

Scott waited for her to sleep before leaving. He had every intention of being home before she woke up and judging by the short naps she was having, he had less than 30 minutes to get back.